Sorry this took so long to update, I promise the next chapter won't take so long!
The next morning Hook was the last person to get out of bed and up onto deck, he scanned the deck for Regina, she was at the other end of the ship having a heated discussion with Rumple. It was usually best to stay out of the way of this kind of conversation, but in light of recent events for some reason Hook thought it might be a good idea to join them.
"You knew about that all along and you never said anything?" Regina practically screamed at Rumple. Emma looked up then, wondering what information the dark one had been concealing, even if it was some magic thing that she didn't understand yet, she realised she might need to know so she began to approach the angry pair too.
"I was merely going to release the information when I saw fit." Rumple seethed, glaring at Hook as he approached them. Regina spotted Hook too and her expression softened, only for a second, before she turned back to Rumple.
"We could have saved days if we had headed for it from the moment we got here."
"Yes, but whilst speeding towards a specific piece of land that may be of no use to us, we may have missed something useful in the meantime."
"THIS IS USEFUL" Regina shouted in Rumple's face, he barely flinched.
"What's useful?" Hook put his hand on Regina's arm, signalling her to back down.
"I know of a village on the coast of one of these islands that might be able to help us locate Henry, but seen as it's been nearly one hundred years since I've been here, I'm guessing it's abandoned by now."
"You're guessing?" Emma snapped from behind Rumple. "How dare you not tell us something this important."
"And we've been heading in the opposite direction to where the village is directed." Regina chipped in.
"Well if I had attempted to direct our Captain here," Rumple said sarcastically "then things would have gotten a bit nasty."
"Not if you had told us what you knew in the first place." Hook stated, raising his voice. How dare this man think he could control everyone, even now, Hook thought he would have learned better, or at least put aside his manipulating ways for this mission. "Where is this village, I know most of the populated areas in Neverland. It should be familiar to me."
"Then why are we heading in the opposite direction?" Emma snarked.
"Because dear, there is more than one town in this land. I was heading in this direction because that's where Neverland's main city is." He turned back to Rumple. "What makes you so sure these people can help us?"
"Because they helped me once before, to find you." Rumple smirked, Hook looked taken aback.
"You found me here? Then why didn't you kill me?" Regina looked at Hook, there was something in his voice that she recognized, it was if he wanted to be killed, Regina recognized the tone from when she herself had been close to death.
"Do you want to know where this village is or not?" Rumple brushed off the question, he didn't know himself why he hadn't been able to kill the pirate, maybe it was seeing that ship again for the first time, the ship where he'd murdered his wife. Besides, living for hundreds of years with absolute heartbreak and the memory of having the one you love die in front of your eyes may just be a better punishment than death. Rumple limped off then, leaving Hook to turn the ship around and Emma to storm off angrily and find her parents.
"Hook, I'm sorry you got dragged into that, I know how much he infuriates you. I just needed to know what he was planning." Hook looked from the horizon to the beautiful woman standing beside him.
"It's quite all right dear, and the crocodile never needs an excuse to hold things over others, he thrives on the power. We're heading for a lead to Henry, that's all that matters." Hook went back to concentrating on turning his ship around. Although he had enough people to help him, he preferred to work alone on his ship so some tasks could prove more difficult than normal. Regina put a hand on his arm lightly then left him to work and cautiously approached Snow, Charming and Emma.
"We're headed in the right direction now." Was all Regina stated. Emma nodded, but that doesn't explain why you touched his arm back there, she thought. Now that they had to change course, the group still had a few more days of sailing ahead of them, whereas Hook had hoped they'd reach their original destination within just one day. He didn't enjoy being parted from his ship but he couldn't wait to get some space between him and the rest of his ship mates, all except one of course. He was watching Regina now as she paced the deck. Hook wished he could do something to calm Regina. But he knew the only thing he could do to really help was to get her to her son safely as soon as he could. Which is what he was doing, no thanks to the crocodile.
After a full day of sailing after the initial argument in the morning, the Jolly Roger had remained a quiet place to be, a thing it was not however was relaxing. The tension from the morning had stayed around the ship for the entire day, weighing down its inhabitants. All Hook had wanted to do for the all day was hold Regina in his arms. He hadn't seen her in hours and now that is was dark he was able to anchor the ship and find her. He stroked the wheel and whispered "thank you" as he stepped down onto the main part of the deck. The Jolly Roger had served him well through yet another day. Hook soon discovered that Emma, Snow and Charming were in the bunk room hastily discussing one matter or other, Hook expected they'd been doing that for some time, but then there was little else to occupy their time. The crocodile was sat alone in the 'mess room' as it was known to Hook, however his ship mates preferred the 'dining room', not that the food ate inside it reflected that title. Hook found Regina curled in a ball at the end of the same room where him and Cora had kept Archie prisoner.
"Tough day." He said more as a statement than a question. Regina jumped and sat up straight at the sound of his voice. However as soon as she realised it was Hook standing in the doorway, she relaxed. "Sorry." he added.
"It's okay," Regina stood up and began to walk towards Hook. "It's been a tough day for me too." She gently leant her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Regina put her arms around Hook's back, sighing as he lightly stroked her hair. Regina could have stayed quite happily in his arms for hours. But eventually Hook stopped stroking her dark hair and leaned back, as did Regina.
"It should only take us a day or two more to reach this town. I hope it's still populated."
"Why wouldn't it be? I thought no one here could die." Regina said quizzically.
"Ah, no one here can age. But anyone can die. From either natural or unnatural causes."
Regina nodded "So I'll be able to kill those two bastards when we catch up to them then?" Hook looked slightly taken aback at Regina's sudden change of tone, she'd gone from casual questioning to murderous in under a minute. Her eyes had started to burn with rage at the mere mention of Henry's captors. Hook simply nodded in reply and leaned in to lay a soft kiss on Regina's forehead, hoping he could put out the fire burning behind her eyes. Regina closed her eyes which Hook noticed as he pulled away from her. He swiftly leant down and placed a kiss to her lips which Regina deepened almost immediately and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. She grabbed the back of Hook's head to pull him in closer.
When they drew apart Hook couldn't conceal the smile that dawned his lips, Regina smiled back and leaned into his chest. Hook couldn't explain the effect Regina had on him. In her presence like this, this intimate, he managed to forget all about their current quest and how much stress it was causing him, that's why he said "Do you want to sleep in my room tonight? It's a lot more comfortable than the bunks." Hook regretted the proposal as soon as he'd said it. It had been said in perfect innocence which he had to admit, for him was rare, but he knew Regina wouldn't fall for the swaggering pirate routine. With her he was able to be himself.
Regina pulled out of their embrace to study Hook's face. He didn't seem to have an angle, but like Regina, Hook could be an expert at hiding his true emotions and thoughts.
"I just mean so both of us can get a better night's sleep tonight, I don't want you wandering around the ship on your own again." he said with conviction. Regina could tell the pirate wasn't after anything more than he had stated, she also sensed that Hook was having his own troubles at night, why else would he have been on deck at that hour last night?
"As long as I get some decent sleep." Regina gave in. It was good to know she could be of some comfort to Hook as well. She, today had felt guilty, Hook was doing so much for her and still offering her comfort. Regina was just glad she could give something back to the pirate. "How are we going to do that without all of the others noticing my absence?" Regina queried tilting her head to the side slightly.
"How do you feel about sneaking across the room into mine after everyone's asleep?" Hook raised one of his eyebrows cheekily.
"I feel perfectly fine about that Captain. But I'll have to sneak out just as carefully in the morning. Goodness knows what the two idiots would do with you if they found the 'Evil Queen' in your bed." She smirked, Hook smiled back, he adored the way Regina's eyes lit up when she smiled properly.
"I dread to think what punishment would await me. Perhaps I would be made to walk the plank of my very own ship. Then you'd all be stranded in the middle of the ocean in Neverland."
"Oh you're far too valuable to them to merely throw in the sea. They'll just set their modes to passive aggressive until we've found Henry, then you'll definitely be thrown overboard." Regina laughed loudly, Hook was surprised, he'd never heard Regina laugh before, not like that. He laughed along with her.
"But surely you won't let them drown me?" Hook put on his most innocent face, Regina smiled and then looked to contemplating an answer.
"We'll see." Was all Regina replied. She smirked again and gently placed both of her hands on either side of Hook's face. She pulled him into a soft kiss. "I'd better get to bed now Captain." She said softly, stepping away from Hook and walking out of the room, Hook watched her as she went, taking in her gorgeous figure.
As soon as Regina sensed that all of her ship mates were asleep, she slowly slid out of her bunk and crept across the room to the double doors that lead to the Captain's Quarters. Before she opened the doors, she did a final sweep of the room, she couldn't see very well, there was only a dying candle at the other end of the room to light it, but she couldn't see that anyone in the room was awake. She carefully turned the handle on one of the doors and pushed it open, it squeaked, but not loudly. Hook was still awake, he watched Regina as she tip toed through the door and closed it behind her. She smiled at him as soon as she had done so, walking softly but normally over to him. He shifted over to the far side of the bed and lifted the covers for Regina. She climbed in and snuggled up to him. Hook wrapped both his arms around her as Regina rested her head onto his chest. It was always a comfort to hear someone else's heart beating in their chest. It calmed her, she shut her eyes. Hook began stroking Regina's hair with his good hand, she soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Hook took slightly longer to fall asleep, choosing to enjoy the moment instead. But before long his eyelids refused to stay open and he found himself falling into a sleep without the nightmares that usually plagued him.