A/N: This was a prompt I received on tumblr for: A very fluffy scene where Emma kisses Neal for the first time after over a decade. And them being in Neverland seemed really romantic so here ya go! Enjoy!
Emma brushed Henry's hair away from his forehead, smiling as she placed a soft kiss against her sleeping son's head.
She exited the little hut Neal and Henry had put together and looked to Neal who was sitting not too far away near the crackling fire. She let out a soft sigh and approached.
Neal tilted his head as he saw her and smiled softly as she sat down on the other side of the fire.
"He asleep?"
She nodded with a small smirk. "Like a rock."
He smirked right back. "He gets that from you."
Emma scoffed lightly. "Yeah, sure."
He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees and his cocky smile illuminated by the fire made him even more insufferable. She just rolled her eyes and focused her attention away from him and out on the view ahead of her.
They were on a cliff overlooking the forest and the sea. The water sparkled and shone against the light of the stars and moon unlike any ocean she had ever seen. "It's beautiful." She whispered and a wistful smile crossed his lips.
"Yeah, it is." He whispered.
Emma lightly furrowed her brow and turned her head toward him. "So this is where you grew up, huh?"
The smirk once again returned to his lips but his eyes were warm. "This is where I didn't grow up."
She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile on her face and he chuckled softly.
"This is where I spent a good chunk of my life, yes."
She mimicked his position by wrapping her arms around her knees. "Why did you leave?"
He lifted his shoulders as he inhaled deeply, looking out at the gorgeous Neverland. "I just had enough. I had originally landed in our world and then I was taken here and Hook, he took me under his wing and pirating was fun for a time but this place still had magic and after awhile...I was just done with it all. So when I got back to Earth, I changed my name and forgot all about the Enchanted Forest, about Neverland, about being Baelfire."
Emma nodded quietly to herself, frowning slightly as she rested her head against her knees. All those years ago when she and Neal were just a couple of thieves she never imagined his past to be so complicated. Even after everything she learned about her own past and Storybrooke, she still found it so hard to believe all that had happened to him, even as they sat there in Neverland.
"Did you ever miss it?" She asked quietly.
"Sometimes." He answered with a shrug. "It's hard to ignore your past completely when it keeps turning up in story books."
She lifted her head as a vague memory suddenly slipped into her thoughts. "When we..." She paused for a moment and he eyed her curiously. She swallowed thickly, hardly believing she was about to talk about this with him. "When we were talking about settling down together...I suggested Neverland..."
"Rather sarcastically, if I recall." He grinned.
"You didn't even blink."
"What was I supposed to do? Act like I knew it was a real place?" He laughed softly.
She shrugged. "It was your home."
"It was a place I wanted to forget. It was Baelfire's home...Neal just wanted a new one."
She smiled sadly and looked down at her knees, trying not to think of the could have beens.
"Well you're here now." She said after a minute of silence.
"With you." He added with a smile and nodded over his shoulder. "And our kid."
She got a sudden very uncomfortable feeling in her chest as her heart leapt. Here she was, stuck in Neverland with Neal and their son. A situation she had only joked about eleven years ago and the circumstances now were hardly like she imagined them.
"And he is way too excited about being here." She finally said and Neal let out a laugh which caused a smile to light her face, a subconscious reaction to the happy sound.
"I think it's almost every little boy's dream to go to Neverland. He's living a dream come true."
"Yeah." She whispered, knowing Henry was more happy about being stuck alone with his parents than anything else.
Silence fell over them again as they both looked out at the water rippling in the slight breeze. After a couple of minutes, Emma snuck a look back over to Neal. His face was relaxed but just that little bit sad and she remembered what had happened just a few days ago.
"Are you okay, Neal?" She asked quietly but in true concern.
His eyes fell on her and his brow furrowed in confusion.
"I mean...about Tamara."
"Oh." He sighed and looked down for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, I guess...I always knew something wasn't right. I just never wanted to admit it to myself. I wanted something normal and I'd look past the truth to see it."
"I'm sorry." She whispered softly.
He looked up at her and gave her a warm smile. "It's not your fault and you did try to warn me. I guess that 'super power' of yours does work after all."
Emma smirked slightly and he grinned. "Except you are a horrible liar."
Her smile fell and she gaped at him. "I am not!"
He hummed at her knowingly. "Not a jealous ex?"
She gave him a look, narrowing her eyes. "Clearly I was right about her so all your suspicions about blaming Tamara because I'm a jealous ex were not right."
"That may be true." He nodded with a smirk. "But it doesn't change the fact that before you suspected her you were jealous of her."
Emma rolled her eyes. "I was never jealous of Tamara. What possible reason could I have for being jealous of Tamara?"
Neal lifted his eyebrows and smiled at her and she scoffed.
"You are out of your mind."
Neal shrugged. "Deny it all you like, Emma."
Emma huffed quietly and wrapped her arms further around her knees, burying her chin as she averted her gaze from him. She hated Neal and his smugness but the worst part about it was somewhere deep down inside she knew he was right and she got an uncomfortable twisting in the pit of her stomach.
Another silence fell over them, this one slightly more awkward and leaving Emma to her thoughts.
She was pulled out of her thoughts a few minutes later by Neal calling over to her.
She lifted her head and looked over at him curiously. There was a peculiar smile on his face and once he had her attention he pointed off to his left. "Look."
She curled herself out and propped herself on her knees to look over the fire and in the direction of his finger.
A small gasp escaped her lips at the sight before her. In the distance, over a patch of forest, hundreds of little twinkling colored lights danced above and through the trees.
"What is that?" She asked.
"Fairies." Neal answered, the smile still on his face. "They like to dance at night especially if they know they have an audience."
"They can see us?"
Neal nodded. "Absolutely. They know we're here and they probably recognize me."
"Really?" Emma looked to him.
He smiled softly. "They never forget and it really hasn't been that long since I've left. Twenty years...that's nothing to them."
Emma looked back out at the fairies dancing for them. "Wow." She whispered, a slight smile crossing her lips. Then she pressed her brow together and looked over at him. "Wait...did you know Tinkerbell?"
He grinned over at her. "Of course I knew Tink. She's actually the one that got me out of Neverland."
Emma's eyes widened and Neal chuckled at her expression. "For a long time we were against each other, because I was part of Hook's crew and Tink, of course, favorited Peter. However when I decided to leave Hook, Peter found me and wanted to make me one of the lost boys. I just wanted to get out of Neverland and Tink helped me."
Emma blinked and shook her head slowly. "This never gets any less weird."
He smiled at through the fire and Emma shook her head again before looking back out at the fairies. Her head tilted as she heard a strange sort of music in the distance. "Are the fairies making that sound?"
Neal nodded. "They sing too sometimes." He smiled as he listened, closing his eyes for a moment. "Now I know they recognize me, its something they always sang for me." His eyes opened as he grinned and suddenly jumped to his feet, walking over to her and holding out his hand. "Dance with me."
Emma lifted her brow. "What?"
"Dance with me." He repeated, wiggling his fingers at her with that smug little grin of his.
Emma scoffed. "I'm not dancing with you, Neal."
"Come on." He gave her a look. "You're in Neverland...enjoy yourself a little."
She narrowed her eyes and the longer he stared at her with that stupid grin the more she felt her walls begin to shake. Her mind was telling her no but her heart was screaming at her to say yes. For such a long time, Emma was one to listen to her mind, but a long time ago Neal was able to make her listen to her heart and she was finding now, he still had that power over her.
Emma rolled her eyes and reached out to grab his hand. He pulled her to her feet, his grin widening and led her a bit aways from the fire for more space.
His fingers intwined with hers as his other hand slipped around her waist and he pulled her as close as she'd let him. Emma swallowed thickly at the feel of his warm, familiar hand against her back and try as she may she could not look away from his smoldering brown eyes. Her free hand found its way to his shoulder, her fingers brushing against the skin of his neck.
As Neal began to move his feet and bring her along with him, Emma could have sworn the fairies got louder.
Neal led her around in a small circle, their eyes never leaving each others. His hand slowly slid up her back, resting now on her midback and flattening his palm completely against her, the tips of his fingers ever so gently gripping her shirt.
When the feeling of his eyes burning into hers became too much, her eyes flickered closed, breaking contact and when she reopened them she found her head rested on his chest.
She could feel his heart beating in perfect time to the fairies' song and the warmth radiating from him wrapped around her, holding her close to him.
She found her eyes drifting closed again as his head came to rest gently atop hers and they swayed back and forth in a constant motion.
For a moment, Emma was lost in the feeling of being in his arms again. She had forgotten how right it felt, how secure she felt, how it had been one of her favorite places to be.
His grip around her hand started to loosen and he let go of her hand only to slip that arm around her waist. As both of his arms wrapped fully around her, pressing her even closer, that feeling once again returned to her stomach but perhaps this time, it wasn't so bad.
She slowly slid her other hand onto his chest and subconsciously, let out a small, contended sigh.
"Emma?" A thrill ran up her spine at his husky voice speaking so close to her ear.
She almost didn't want to lift her head, afraid to look him in the eyes again, afraid of what she might feel if she did.
She slowly lifted her head off his chest and trailed her eyes upward, her breath catching in her chest at the deep and powerful look in his eyes.
His once again tightened his arms around her, closing any last distance between their bodies and her heart nearly stopped as his head started to dip down toward hers.
"Neal..." She whispered sharply, her fingers almost climbing to his jaw as if to push him away. He stopped, their faces only inches apart and her lips quivered ever so slightly but she made no other move to stop him. Then he let out a breath and her eyes fluttered closed as the warmth hit her face and she prepared herself for what was about to come. But it never did. She felt his warmth pull away and when she opened her eyes she found that he was not as close as he had been before. He had chickened out. He was giving her space. He didn't want to do anything to her that would make her uncomfortable. And yet she found disappointment bubbling up inside her and her brow furrowed.
Making a quick decision, one she might probably regret later, she grabbed the back of his head with both her hands, noticing his eyes widening for a split second before she leaned in and captured his lips with hers.
The second her lips touched his it was like a dam broke inside of her, all different kinds of emotions flooded her body, the most prevalent being the memory of his kiss, that wonderful feeling she always got while kissing him was back and stronger than ever, couple with eleven years of separation.
Neal only got over the shock within a second or two and then he was kissing her back, gently but full of passion.
Her arms slid around his neck, bringing them even closer and his fingers gently grabbed at her shirt.
Emma wasn't sure what she was doing. It was all she had been telling herself not to do since the day Neal came back into her life. To not give into any lingering feelings, to not even admit to herself that she did have lingering feelings, or to admit that it was a hell of a lot more than lingering feelings. It was stupid of her, he just recently came off an engagement, she wasn't even sure if she trusted him again, or even forgave him. But she couldn't deny how right it felt to be in his arms again, to be kissing him again.
The kiss drew on for another several moments until Emma finally pulled away, knowing if she hadn't, it would have gone on for much longer and led to something she was not ready for.
Not ready to look him in the eyes just yet she rested her forehead against his, both of them breathing heavily, out of the thrill more than anything.
Bravely, Neal swooped in and met her lips again, this time much softer and much shorter. And as he pulled away again she found herself following after him, kissing him once more, before finally parting for good.
Emma let out a breath, her fingers unknowingly playing with the hair at the nape of his neck and he softly nuzzled his nose against the side of her head.
After another several moments she finally lifted her head, biting down on her lip softly. Neal was staring down at her, gauging her reaction with warm and hesitant brown eyes. A small smile crossed her lips as her thumb ever so gently caressed his cheek. For now there was no regrets.
A true smile tugged at his lips and both their smiles widened for a moment before she once again settled her head back onto his chest. His heart was being significantly faster than before and so was hers.
Her eyes closed and despite herself, she smiled as she buried herself against his chest and they contently swayed together to the fairies' song well into the night.