Last chapter! I know it's long, but hopefully you'll enjoy it :)

Thank you to those who left reviews and holy snap, I did not expect that may people to Follow! We all must really like our fluff.

Once again, I do NOT own OUAT!

Chapter 6 of Hallow's Eve: This Kiss

Hook sat on the edge of the bathtub holding a rag to his bloody nose, trying not to stare at Emma while she rummaged through the drawers of the privy but he found he was failing miserably. He was so used to seeing her at the diner or on the street doing the sheriff thing that he couldn't help but marvel at the difference that had overcome her as soon as they had walked through the door. She was comfortable and in her element and he couldn't help but conjure what life in the Charming household must be like in the evenings when they came home from work and school to gather around a family dinner.

She turned toward him then, looking down at the tube shaped purple wrapper with an amused smile on her face before glancing at him.

"Is it still bleeding?"

He removed the rag and almost immediately felt the blood continue its trek from his nose as if he hadn't been attempting to staunch the bleeding at all. She motioned for him to put the rag back in place as she opened the small wrapped package, revealing a white cottony thing that had a little string attached to it.

She handed it toward him and he palmed it, looking at it with a raised brow.

"What is this?"
"A tampon," she said in a matter of fact tone but it was the look on her face that caused him to stare at it in distrust.

"And what the bloody hell am I supposed to do with it?"
"Remove the rag and shove it up your nose. Plain and simple."
"What will it do?"

She let out an aggravated sigh which made no sense to him since he was the one who was supposedly shoving something foreign that he'd never seen before up his nostril.

"It will staunch the blood flow," she explained before her lips quirked up in a smirk. "Try something a little different…it's called trust."

Ah. His own words used against him. Clever lass.

He removed the rag and looking past her, watched his reflection in the mirror as he shoved the white thing up his nose. He felt ridiculous and looked even more so and glancing back at Emma he knew she was keeping back laughter behind those tightly seamed lips of hers. He felt like the brunt of a bad, private joke.

She seemed to sense his distress and grabbed the forgotten rag from his hand, tossing it into the hamper under the bathroom window before turning her bright smile on him.

"Do you want a drink? You know, the adult alcoholic kind?"

"Love," he began, grateful that his humiliation would come with some sort of reward, "When has a pirate ever turned down a drink that is relative to rum?"

He stood from his seat on the porcelain tub and followed her into the living room and took a look around. Now that she wasn't rushing him to the bathroom he was able to notice the little things like the blankets, the paintings of birds, and the quaint tea cups that made this place the haven of cardigan-clad Snow White. Thinking back on Emma's myriads of leather jackets and boots he knew that if Emma had any freedom over the apartment, the frilly lace curtains would be the first things to be burned.

"Like what you see?"

He turned his attention back to Emma who gave him a brief smile before opening the door to the fridge to begin rummaging through the contents on the bottom shelf.

"Aye, it's…lovely."
"Don't lie. I know you," she grunted from her place on the floor while he perched himself on a barstool to watch. "You want to burn those throw pillows as much as I do."
"I was actually thinking of the curtains."
"Oh yes…those."

She continued digging and his amusement grew as contents started to spill onto the floor.

"What are you doing? Digging for buried treasure?"

She laughed under her breath at his joke and he knew she was grinning even though she didn't turn her face toward him.

"That's rich coming from you," she finally said as she brought out a bag of carrots. "I'm looking for mine and David's secret stash. Mary-Margaret prefers tea to calm her nerves but he and I prefer the stronger stuff."

Hook smiled as he imagined Emma and David sitting on the couch at the end of a long work day, swapping stories back and forth about their misadventures as the town's lawkeepers. Just thinking of David downing a beer was worthy of a chuckle.

Emma finally let out an audible cheer and stood to her feet with two amber glass bottles in her hands, fixing him with a jubilant smile. He smiled back as she popped the cap off of one of them and set it in front of him before bending over to throw the contents on the floor back into the fridge without any thought or method. He waited until she was done and had popped the cap off of her own beer, her eyes fixed on him before lifting his bottle toward her.

"To good times."
"And tampons," she added as they clanked bottles, Hook not missing the mirth hiding in her eyes for a moment. He still couldn't figure out what was so humorous about it.

It was quiet as they each took a swig and even though it wasn't rum, Hook enjoyed the flavor of the whiskey.

"So," Emma started as her eyes captured his, "Why didn't you punch him?"
"I'm sorry, what, love?"

He watched her roll her eyes before slacking a hip and leaning her body weight against the counter.

"Neal. He baited you, pushed you, humiliated you…you had every right to hit him but you didn't and I want to know why."

He seemed to ponder her question for a moment and she let him as she brought the bottle to her lips, savoring the flavor. It had been a long day, beginning with chiding Neal in the diner that morning and ending with her fixing Hook's nose due to the punch Neal had thrown him that evening. The man was causing more drama than she ever desired and that was somewhat rich coming from her, the woman who had just discovered a year ago that her parents were none other than Prince Charming and Snow White, that she was magical and that a town of people were actually Fairy Tale creatures in the flesh.

Now she was in her kitchen draining a bottle with none other than Captain Hook who looked nothing like the man Walt Disney or James Berry portrayed him to be. Thanks to them, her crush had been misplaced in a demon boy child instead of the pirate who sat in front of her, sexy as all get out.

"Honestly love, what would punching him have accomplished?" he finally muttered and she peered at him, curious at his answer. There was more and she knew it and he knew she knew it so he just met her gaze head on and continued. "If I had retaliated and let my anger get the best of me, you would be sitting in a hospital room with Neal right now while a doctor set his broken bones and sewed his cuts closed instead of standing in your kitchen with me drinking whiskey."

She tilted her head at him as he took another swig still feeling there was more and when he set his bottle back down on the counter and he looked at her, she knew there was.

"That and it would have humiliated you. I mean, to have two guys fight all over the ground in public like that because they supposedly love you? It doesn't sound too attractive or mature now does it?"

Her heart softened at his words. He knew her amazingly well, almost a bit too well for her comfort but he was right. She tried to imagine if things had gone wrong how she would have felt walking into Granny's the next morning. It would have been the talk all over town and she hated being in the spotlight.

She glanced back at Hook who sat there in his Prince Charming costume, a beer in his hand and a tampon hanging out of his nose. This was so much better than locking him and Neal up in a cell for the night due to disturbing the peace.

"Okay now I've a question for you, love."
"Oh? Well, then shoot."
"Shoot?"
"Ask the question," she reiterated and he grinned.

"Why aren't you and Neal together?"

She made an unladylike noise much to his amusement as she tried to swallow the whiskey in her mouth without spewing the contents all over him and the kitchen. Finally she was able to get it down, pounding her chest with her fist as her eyes watered.

"What?" she was finally able to ask and he only smirked.
"You heard me, love," was all he said as his smirk turned into a devilish grin. "I answered your question now you answer mine."

She stared at him a moment deciding whether or not she really should answer that when her shoulders finally gave out and she decided that she may as well tell him now. Now that he'd asked it, he'd continue to ask it until she gave him an answer and she wasn't sure if she'd have the time to be pestered any time later in the future.

"Fine and sure, he and I have Henry together and yes I did love him at one time. I mean, he was my first love but Neal," she stopped, trying to find the right words before she allowed her eyes to be held captive by Hook's ocean blue ones. "Neal isn't the person I would prefer to be my last love. He left me without an explanation and turned me over to the cops when he could have just let me roam free and make my own way like I did when they let me out. Then when he found out where I was, that I broke the curse…he didn't come see me. He stayed in New York yes, because of Tamara but also because he was afraid to face his Dad. He let circumstances and obstacles stand in his way and didn't even attempt to fight them for me and I, I want more than that."

She took another drink in an attempt to numb the uncomfortable feelings rising in her while Hook sat there in stunned silence, analyzing her while he fidgeted with his bottle across the counter.

"He's a fool," he finally said, a bit of aggravation lilting in his tone.

Emma snapped to attention at his words and when he jumped from the seat and started walking toward her she felt something relative to anxiety set her heart to beating faster.

"He should have come back for you. He should have fought regardless of the circumstances because dammit, Emma, he should have put you first. You deserve that."

She watched a dozen emotions flicker across Hook's face ranging from irritation to sympathy, from anger to something much more gentle. She was uncomfortable with how exposed he made her feel but funny enough, she felt safe and his fierceness made her feel protected because he knew that anger wasn't directed toward her; it was directed toward the reality of how she had been treated.

"Is that you did with Milah? Put her first?"

She watched as he clenched his jaw, his mind obviously travelling through the past while his eyes lazily glanced down at the space between them.

"Yes. Yes, I did. I was willing to die for her and almost did but she didn't listen. She made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin instead."
"You were going to die for her?"
"Aye," he confirmed allowing his eyes to meet hers once more. "It would have been better that I die happy and in love than to put her in danger. To have your love ripped from you is a cursed life and yet," he let out a sarcastic laugh, "I've still lived it."

She stilled at his last words, finding truth in them. When Neal had left, she had felt abandoned and betrayed, like her love had been stolen away. She hadn't trusted anyone since then and because of that she had been alone. Heck, she had celebrated her birthday by going on a date as a bondsman and had gone home that night solo to a cupcake before Henry had come waltzing into her life.

"And then you came along."

The words were said so softly, she barely heard them but his voice caught her attention. He was smiling at her…a soft smile. A Killian Jones smile.

"And you changed everything. I didn't want to be alone anymore," he whispered at her and she felt her heart tip at the emotion in his voice. He wasn't lying.

There was something static in the air between them as he seemed to feel her out, to figure whether or not it was safe to extend his hand or if he should stay withdrawn from her. It irritated her that he wasn't reaching and that fact alone was a shock to her system as she realized that she wanted him to touch her. Hell, she wanted to touch him.

Her eyes wandered from his eyes down his face, taking in the scar on his right cheek and the dark stubble he had trimmed for the evening until her gaze landed on his lips. She relived a distant memory of his lips crushing hers at some time they had spent on the island and her mind recalled the electric shock she had felt run through her body. The tension between them had always been there, so tangible, so real, so unlike anything she had ever experienced before and at the memory of it, she craved it.

"Kiss me."

His jaw slacked at her demand, having noticed the wonder and lust enter her eyes only seconds before but expecting her to shake her mind of it and put her guard back up. He continued to stare at her stupidly until she finally reached out and grabbed him by his coat lapels, the look in her eye more fierce.

"Kiss me, Killian."

He inclined his face toward her until his forehead rested against hers, and his eyes were gazing into hers, noticing due to their close proximity that her eyes weren't just green but were sparked with silver and spun with gold.

"If I kiss you, love, I won't be inclined to stop."

Her lips turned up in a grin and he felt her hand sneak up his jacket until it rested on the back of his neck, pulling him toward her.

"I'm counting on that."

He smiled wide then and brought his lips down to hers, crushing them in a crazed kind of passion that was only fueled by her return of the kiss. She felt him pull her flush against him, her leather bustier rubbing against the velvet of his jacket as he leaned back against the counter and pulled her closer toward him. She felt his hook rest on the small of her back while his hand moved her hair over her shoulder and rested on her pulse point, only making her kiss him more frantically.

He moaned when she tugged at his lower lip with her teeth and he slanted his mouth over hers in a way that deepened the kiss. She responded and allowed him access, tangling her hands in his hair. He kissed her thoroughly as if his life depended on it, drinking every moment up and feeling a fire burn inside when she moaned against him. He decided in that moment that if this was how his life ended he would die a happy man and no sooner had the thought flew through his mind was there someone coughing at the front door.

Emma froze against his lips and before he knew what was happening, for the second time that night she was being ripped from her arms but this time it was by her own doing. He adjusted his eyes and glanced toward the door to see Mary-Margaret standing there with her hand clapped over her mouth and David looking like he would like to do nothing short of throttling him had it not been for the tray of hot chocolates in his hand. Henry peered at him and Emma from between the two of them, shock coloring his features for a moment as an awkward silence stiffened the room.

No one dared to speak and it felt like a game of Russian Roulette, the first person to say something facing something possibly worse than death.

Hook felt like a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar only glancing at the thunderous look on David's face, this cookie jar had dire consequences.

"Is that a tampon?"

Hook glanced at the bar that Mary-Margaret was pointing at where he'd chosen to deposit the bloody cotton thing that Emma had given him. She wore a look of disgust and he felt terribly sorry that he had been too caught up in the moment to dispose of it properly

"Aye it is," he confirmed before daring to meet Emma's gaze. Her cheeks were flushed but her lips quirked up in a slight smile. "I think I'm going to have to supply my ship with them for any future injuries. They work rather nicely I daresay, staunching the blood."

The look of disgust slid off of Mary-Margaret's face almost instantly and he furrowed his brow when the same entertained expression Emma had worn previously reflected in her face. David's face looked just a bit less thunderous and a bit more amused while Henry tried to catch a glimpse of the object that Emma was quickly covering with a paper towel.

"Do you even know what a tam-oh never mind," David finally said as he handed off the hot chocolates to Mary-Margaret and walked around the bar toward his room. He let out a yawn and then turned to Hook skewering him with a look. "Don't think I'm letting you get away with anything. You can expect me at your ship some time tomorrow. I want to know exactly what kind of intentions you have in mind when it comes to my daughter."
"Nothing less than respectable," Hook quickly answered amazed at how David, in all of his time of knowing him, could go from polite to formidable in a matter of seconds when it came to Emma. Even with that ridiculous hat on.

"Yeah, well tell me that tomorrow. You coming to bed, Mary-Margaret?"
"Yep right behind you," she chimed before squeezing Emma into a crushing hug and then finishing her off with a look that plainly said that they would be talking the next morning.

Henry slowly grinned as he watched his grandparents disappear into their room and close the door behind them. Alone at last.

"So, what have you two been up to?" he asked nonchalantly as he reached for a hot chocolate and rounded the counter to sit at the bar, his glance resting on Hook. "Operation Parrot obviously worked."

A wide grin spread across Hook's lips while Emma furrowed her brows and looked from her son to the smirking pirate and back again.

"Operation Parrot? What?"
"Nothing," Henry shook his head but Emma could see it was anything but. She narrowed her eyes at Hook who gave a Henry a fond smile before fixing his eyes on her.

Anger and confusion tried to rise inside of her but as his blue eyes roved over her face in an expression that spoke of nothing short of admiration, she felt herself slowly let it go.

"Well, love…Henry," Hook nodded at the boy as he grabbed a hot chocolate, "I better get going. Tis a lovely evening."
"You're leaving?"

Hook smiled at the disappointment in Henry's voice and he reached over to pat the boy's shoulder.

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you around…more often if your mother allows it."

Emma sighed as both of them glanced at her, Henry's eyes pleading and Hook's eyes challenging. She just raised her hands in a surrendering gesture which brought a satisfied smile across the kid's face.

"Emma," Hook nodded and before she could blink he was headed for the door. She watched him unlock it and walk out, giving her a smoldering look before shutting the door behind him and effectively leaving her in the quiet kitchen with Henry.

She continued to stand there and stare at the door until Henry cleared his throat, directing her attention toward him.

He just raised his brows at her, giving her a look that seemed to scream really?

"Go after him, Mom," Henry finally said and she jolted, as if breaking from a spell.

Without another second's thought she headed for the door herself and whipped it open, not bothering to slam it shut behind her as she raced down the stairs until she finally pushed the exit door open and stepped into the brisk air. The Festival was still going on if the music was of any indication and she glanced right and then left, her heart leaping when she saw Hook's shadow swiftly walking down the sidewalk.

"Killian!"

She saw him stop and turn around and she started to walk toward him, reminding herself to breathe as she tried to figure out exactly what it was she was going to say. Finally she was standing in front of him his breath showing as white puffs in the cold air. His eyes were twinkling at her and were a crazy blue despite how dark it was.

"Emma?"
"Killian," she repeated, her mind searching for something, anything really to say.
"What is it, love?"
"You and me…what was that?"
"Well," he drawled, his eyes never leaving her face. "What do you want it to be?"

There it was. He was throwing the ball in her court.

She studied him as every imaginable memory with him played through her mind: his blacksmith ploy, their adventure in the giant's castle, their sword fight, him getting hit by a car, her knocking him out and constantly tying him up, him stealing the bean, him coming back for her, him guiding her and the others through the island, her kissing him, him finding out about Neal, them all saving Henry, him sacrificing so much to get them home, her avoiding him, him chasing her, and then her kissing him once again…all up to this moment.

"Ask me out."
"What?"
"I want you to ask me out…on a date."

He stared at her for a long moment as if he couldn't comprehend what she had just said and just when she was about to tell him to never mind, a grin stole across his face and he looked amazingly happy.

"Well, I'm sure after your father interrogates me tomorrow I'll want some form of comfort," he smirked and she rolled her eyes at him but managed to smile.
"Fine," she breathed before giving him a lopsided grin. "Your ship? 7 o'clock?"
"Perfect."

She nodded and shoved her hands in her back pockets while his grin widened, standing there like love struck teenagers.

"Well, I better get going," Emma finally said and he nodded, both of them hesitating to turn from each other. Then suddenly, as if he couldn't help himself, Hook stepped forward and captured her lips with his and sealed them in quick kiss before stepping back, leaving her to watch his retreating back.

She smiled as she brought her fingertips to her lips and began to walk back to the loft, a million thoughts running through her mind and all of them Hook. She glanced up at the building and saw Henry in the window smiling down at her and despite the blush blooming across her cheeks she waved up at him. He waved back and Emma felt, for perhaps the very first time, complete.

So whadja think? Like it? Love it? Absolutely hate it? Let me know!

I'm also thinking that I should just kind of continue this series with other holiday stories...I mean, Thanksgiving is coming up. Think I should? Let me know!