AN: I was really nervous to post this chapter, because I know how much this episode really shaped and defined the CS relationship. I hope that it lives up to expectations, and that no one is out for my head after this. Also, I apologize if Hook is OOC - my excuse is that the events of Your Undoing changed him from what he is the the show.
As always, the genius belongs to Eddie and Adam. I just like to play with them.
"Tallahassee"
As the women began talking about the ominous nature of the beanstalk, Hook began trying to devise a way to ensure that the counter spell Cora gave him would go to Emma, allowing him more time with her. The only way he would ever get her to fall in love with him again was to once again gain her trust, and he couldn't do that if she wasn't with him.
"Well, your compass awaits. Shall we?" Mary Margaret's face told him that she would not be very likely to volunteer on a trip up the beanstalk with just him. More than that, it assured him that winning over Emma's parents might be the real challenge in their relationship.
"Wait. If these beans create portals, why not just pick one and go home? Why the compass?" Emma asked, waving her arms to emphasize her point.
"Because there aren't any more beans. Whatever story you think you know, my dear, is most certainly wrong." Hook said, slipping in the endearment out of habit. Luckily, it didn't seem to register with Emma as odd, and she continued on with the tale.
"There was a guy named Jack and a cow and something about an evil giant with a treasure and a golden goose. Or harp." Emma said.
"Sounds like a lovely tale, but the truth's a little bit more gruesome. The giants grew the beans, but rather than use them for good, they used them to plunder all the lands. Jack and his men fought a terrible war, defeating all but one of the evil giants. The beans were destroyed by the giants as they died. If they couldn't have their magic, then nobody could. It's really very bad form." Hook explained.
"Evil giants who made magic portal beans? Why doesn't anyone just go up and grow some more?" Emma asked.
"Because one giant survived – the strongest and most terrible of them all. And we'll have to get past him to…" Hook answered.
"The magic compass," Mary Margaret interrupted, and Hook was suddenly reminded that this was not a private conversation.
"Indeed. The treasure remains, and amongst it is the compass. Now it will guide us to your land. Cora has the means to open a portal with the wardrobe ashes, but she can't find your land without the compass. Once we get it, steal the ashes from her, and we're on our way." Hook explained. He silently applauded himself on having such a reasonable contingency plan. He didn't think that either Emma or her companions would think it odd for him to suddenly switch sides as he did, because it made sense to work with them.
"How do we know you're not just using us to get the compass for Cora?" Mulan asked, obviously distrusting his plan and calling his bluff.
"Because you four are far safer company. All I need is a ride back. I'll swear allegiance to whomever gets me there first," Hook said. If he were completely honest however, he would swear allegiance to Emma, and whoever was going along with her.
"Then we'd better start climbing," Emma said.
"Right. So… I failed to mention that the giant enchanted the beanstalk to repel intruders," Hook said.
"All right, so how do we get up there?" Emma asked, annoyance taking over her tone.
"I've got a counter spell from Cora, if you'd be so kind." Hook held out his hands to get them untied.
Mary Margaret freed his hands, albeit more roughly than necessary. "Thank you milady." He tried to endear himself to her, hoping that one day she would approve of his relationship with Emma. The manner in which she stamped off didn't seem to carry any more affection for him however. He brushed off the interaction, and held up with right hand so the women could clearly see Cora's cuff.
"I've got one more of these. Cora was to accompany me. So…which one of you four lovelies shall take her place? Hmmm? Go on. Fight it out. Don't be afraid to, you know, really get into it." He looked directly at Emma, hoping that she would be the one to take possession of the cuff and they could finally have a chance to be alone. He considered offering the cuff directly to Emma, but what he really wanted was for her to choose to be with him.
As the women fought, Hook considered the best way to try to gain Emma's trust. He knew a great deal about her from the stories she had told him about her life before Neverland, but just knowing things about her life wouldn't be enough to truly convince her. It sounded like Emma had convinced the other women that she should join him. Now was his chance to assure that the decision wouldn't change. "Ladies. In this world, we are slaves to time. And ours is running out. In other words, tick-tock."
Emma walked over, and his suspicions were confirmed. The amount of effort she put into finding a way back to her son from Neverland was no different than her determination now. "I was hoping it'd be you," he told her.
"Just get on with it." Emma said, offering her wrist.
"Put your hand right here. That's a good girl." Hook caressed her wrist gently as he placed the cuff on her wrist. "This will allow you to climb. There are other dangers. Thankfully, you've got me to protect you."
Hook gestured to get his hook returned to him. "I can't climb one-handed, can I?" he asked her incredulous expression.
She handed the hook to him. "Don't think I'm taking my eyes off you for a second."
"I would despair if you did." Hook smiled and clicked the hook into place.
"Let's go," Emma said. They each chose a section and began the ascent. Hook was content to allow them to climb in silence for a while, but eventually he got bored and needed the chance to capitalize on this alone time with Emma.
"First beanstalk? Well, you never forget your first. You know, most men would take your silence as off-putting, but I love a challenge." Hook said, smiling at her to break through the ice.
"I'm concentrating." Emma retorted.
"No, you're afraid. Afraid to talk, to reveal yourself, to trust me. Things will be a lot smoother if you do." Hook assured her, remembering just how difficult it had been for her to trust him in Neverland. The thought punched a tiny hole in his confidence. If that was still in Emma's future, was there any point in gaining her trust now?
"You should be used to people not trusting you." Emma said.
"Ah. The pirate thing. Well, I don't need you to share. You're something of an open book." Hook said, only slightly relying on his previous experience with her. Even if she didn't trust him completely, getting her heart open just a tiny bit wouldn't hurt his future.
"Am I?" Emma asked.
"Quite. Let's see. You volunteered to come up here because you… were the most motivated. You need to get back to a child," he said, avoiding saying Henry's name. He could fill the remainder of the climb with everything he knew about Henry, but that probably wasn't going to help him.
"That's not perception. That's eavesdropping," Emma said, disbelieving his "skills."
"Ah, but you don't want to abandon him the way you were abandoned," he added, knowing that this was a better way to get to her.
"Was I?" Emma asked, and he could tell she was slightly impressed by his perception.
"Like I said, an open book," he replied.
"How would you know that?" Emma asked.
"I spent many years in Neverland, home of the Lost Boys. They all share the same look in their eyes... the look you get when you've been left alone," he explained. He failed to share his own experience with abandonment and loss; first his father, then Milah, and finally Emma herself.
"Yeah, well, my world ain't Neverland," Emma replied, returning to concentrating on her climbing.
"But an orphan's an orphan. Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn't it? Have you ever been in love?" he asked. He knew that love would come into her life eventually, but he felt like he needed to remind her about past loves to open herself up to the future that was right before her.
"No. I have never been in love." Hook knew immediately that she was lying, but he wasn't going to call her on it, not just yet.
The remainder of their climb was again quiet and more focused on the beanstalk than conversation. Finally after several hours, they reached the top and jumped off the edge of the wall surrounding the stalk.
"What happened here?" Emma asked, eyes gazing over the destroyed palace.
"It's where the final battle was," Hook said, walking through the carnage with few emotions displayed on his face. As Emma walked past, he noticed her left hand was cut.
"Give me your hand," he said.
"What?" Emma asked. She looked at her hand as if she hadn't noticed earlier the blood now drying and crusting on it.
"Your hand... it's cut. Let me help you," he insisted.
"No. No. It's fine." Emma tried to play off the injury.
"No, it's not." He hooked her hand and pulled her closer to him. Seeing her bleeding, he remembered how carefully she had taken care of him after being stabbed by the fairies, and he was determined to return the favor.
"So now you're gonna be a gentleman?" Emma asked, her tone doubting his intentions.
"Giants can smell blood, and I'm always a gentleman," he assured her. He pulled out his rum bottle, opening the cork with his teeth so that his hook kept Emma exactly where he wanted her to be. He poured the bottle on her hand to cleanse the wound.
"Ah! Oh! What the hell is that?" Emma asked, suddenly angry at Hook's aid.
"It's rum. A bloody waste of it." He inspected the wound, then pulled his scarf off his neck and carefully wrapped it around her hand, reminiscent of her care of his side wound. As he wound it around her hand, he began to talk through a theory. "Here's the plan. We wait for the giant to fall asleep. When he does, we'll sneak past him into his cave. It's where the treasures are, where the compass lies."
He could tell Emma was slightly flustered as he tied off the scarf with his teeth. He purposefully gave her a sultry gaze through his eyelashes to further throw her off balance.
"And then?" Emma asked.
"And then we run like hell." Hook couldn't think of any other option that they had after that.
"I don't have time to wait for a giant to fall asleep. The powder Mulan gave us...we need to use it. We gotta knock him out," she said.
"Well, that's riskier," Hook said. He was concerned for the risk involved in actually having to confront a giant. If something happened to them, to Emma, he would be devastated.
"Than waiting for a giant to fall asleep when we need him to?" Emma pointed out.
"Point taken. Ooh, you're a tough lass. You'd make a hell of a pirate," he remarked, remembering just how much of a pirate she had become eventually. He handed her the bag of powder from his satchel.
"Who's Milah on the tattoo?" Emma asked. Hook suddenly became very embarrassed. In his efforts to make Emma fall in love with him again, Milah just had to be drawn in.
"Someone from long ago," he replied. Before I met you, and long before we fell in love, he thought.
"Where is she?" Emma asked, drawing out his misery.
"She's gone," he said, walking away to avoid the conversation.
"Gold. Rumplestiltskin. He took more than your hand from you, didn't he? That's why you want to kill him," Emma said. Hook could have told her then that Rumplestiltskin was the least of his desires now, but keeping the ruse going would help him keep her trusting him.
"For someone who's never been in love, you're quite perceptive, aren't you?"
"Maybe I was once," she said, making Hook's heart beat just a little faster before he remembered that she was not talking about him. But she would eventually.
They found the entrance to the palace and discovered a fairly workable plan. Emma climbed on top of a statute to the right of the entrance, bag at the ready to shove into the giant's face as soon as he emerged. A large shield was to the left of the doorway, and Hook picked up a large bone to use as a stick to alert the giant to their presence.
"You ready?" he asked when Emma appeared balanced on the shoulder of the statute. Her position was out of the way, unseen, which reassured Hook that she wouldn't be hurt by the giant.
"Yeah," she replied. Hook rushed over and began banging the bone on the shield, a musical tone echoing loudly through the deserted space. It only took seconds before a man at least 30 feet tall emerged from the palace. Hook could see that he was taller than expected, rising 10 feet above Emma's head. She wouldn't be able to get the powder directly into his face, unless he did something.
"Oi! Hey! You big git!" he called to gain his attention. When the giant turned to him, he stepped out further to show him exactly who he was. "Yeah, you. Huh? You wanna kill a human Huh? You want to kill a human? I'm the worst human around. Come on! Come on then! Come on then!"
He moved around until the giant was in the perfect position. Emma threw the bag, and hit him squarely in the face. As the giant dropped, Hook scrambled to get out of the way of the tumbling giant. Unfortunately, the heavy weight falling to the ground creating enough of a tremor to knock him to the ground as well. Fortunately, he was uninjured.
"Hook? Hook!" He heard Emma calling for him, a distinct level of panic in her voice.
"He's out cold," he assured her. "I don't mean to upset you, Emma, but I think we make quite the team."
"Let's go steal a compass," Emma said. She slid down the statue awkwardly, and Hook prepared himself to catch her at the bottom. He hadn't centered himself well enough, and they both fell to the ground.
"Great catch," Emma said sarcastically.
"If you like being on top,we can try that," Hook replied with his cheeky grin. Emma didn't reply, but he could tell she was slightly flustered. She walked away into the palace, and he struggled not to bring to mind their previous encounters, knowing it would only distract him from the present.
"They hoarded all of their greatest stolen treasures in here—piles of jewels, and every room filled with coins," Hook said as they entered the treasure room. He got sidetrack by the immense wealth represented around him. He picked up a coin and held it to his face. Despite his feelings for Emma, he would be lying if he said that being a pirate wasn't a part of him.
"Let's get to it. The compass," Emma said urgently.
"What's your rush?" Hook asked, still savoring the money.
"How long do you think magic knockout powder lasts?" Emma asked.
"I have no clue," he responded.
"That's my rush," Emma explained.
"Too right, lass. Come. Everything we need is right in front of us," he said, pressing onward as they began their search.
"They kill all the giant housekeepers, too? How we going to find a compass in this mess?" she asked.
"By looking. Start searching. I wonder how much treasure we could carry down the beanstalk… in addition to the compass, of course," he added when he saw her face.
"What the hell?" Emma asked, looking at a normal sized skeleton on the ground.
"That… would be Jack," he explained.
"As in Jack…"
"The giant killer," he interrupted.
"With that toothpick?" Emma asked incredulously.
"Well, it packs quite a wallop. You'd be surprised." Hook recalled them being run off of the island in Neverland that were about the size to them as this "toothpick" was to the giants.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Emma called out, pulling him against her.
Hook smiled down at her, finally satisfied at having his love back into his arms. He swung her slightly from side to side, reveling in the memory of their dance upon the Jolly Roger. "It's about bloody time," he murmured.
"It's a trip wire. Quite a security system," she said, pushing him away from her. Hook's mind cleared and he realized that she was not holding him out of memory and sentimentality. But he was determined that she would eventually.
"Well, that's a plausible excuse for grabbing me, but next time don't stand on ceremony," he said.
"Let's find the compass and go home. After you," she said, gesturing ahead of them.
Hook stepped over the line, still slightly proud of himself that he had gotten some form of contact with Emma. Unfortunately, he would have to wait just a little longer before all his desires came to fruition.
"So it's just...in here somewhere?" Emma asked.
"Allegedly. Give me a boost would you, love?" Hook asked, staring at a gilded cage.
"So I can't see what you're pocketing? No way. You give me a boost," Emma replied.
"Try something new, darling. It's called trust," he said, looking into her eyes, reassuring her that he was indeed telling the truth.
"We do it side by side and fast. Who knows how long before the –" Emma didn't need to finish her sentence, the subject becoming obvious by the shaking of the ground around them.
"Someone's up. Quickly. Get under something." He reached out to take her hand, trying to find a palace that they could hide. Emma dropped his hand immediately. He looked behind to see where she was, but his view became blocked by a falling chunk of ceiling. Hook covered his head, but it didn't save him from getting knocked out by another piece of stone. The last thing he heard before being engulfed by blackness was Emma calling out to him.
"Hook," Emma murmured, holding out her hand for him as he began to gain consciousness. He realized that she must have neutralized the giant somehow, and that she must have the compass now.
"You are bloody brilliant. Amazing. May I see it? The compass." As she pulled out the compass, he was grateful that this woman was one who, by her own admission, could take care of herself. "It's more beautiful than legend. Come. Let's go."
When his extended hand was met by a handcuff, he stood up in shock. "What are you doing? What are you doing?"
"Hook, I... I... I can't..." He could tell that she was stalling, she was unsure about what she was doing, but that wasn't going to stop her from doing it. He had to try it though.
"Emma, look at me. Have I told you a lie? I brought you here. I risked my own safety to help you. The compass is in your hand. Why do this to me now?" he asked, feeling completely betrayed.
"I can't take a chance that I'm wrong about you. I'm sorry." The pain was obvious in her voice.
"You're sorry? You're sorry?! I got you here! I got you the compass!" Despite how he felt, he was still angry with what Emma was doing.
"I got the compass," Emma insisted.
"You're just going to leave me here to die? Have that beast to eat me, to crush my bones?" Suddenly, Emma's apology before she left made complete sense.
"He's not a beast. And you're not going to die. I just need a head start. That's all." She walked away without another word.
"Swan. SWAN! SWAN!" he called. He had to try to get her back, whatever way he could.