Chapter 3
Neal is dead.
Those words echoed through Emma's mind, haunting her during the ship's journey to Neverland. In the search for her son, she had joined up with Regina, Gold, and her parents for the voyage ahead. Ah yes, and one more person who would complicate the situation: Hook.
She hadn't seen Hook intimately since their time together in the forest, after which she buried her shame once again deep down. And then, before Neal fell through the portal to his death, she and Neal had finally expressed their love for one another. But he was dead. And now all she wanted was to find her son, to protect him from the grasp of Peter Pan.
Sitting below deck, she curled up on a cot, trying to stave off dark thoughts. She wanted to kill Owen and Tamara, to torture them so thoroughly that their screams would make it all the way to Storybrooke. Cold, mean revenge. And yet, she knew that she couldn't – her heart would clouden with blackness like Regina's had when she became the Evil Queen. Her mother, Snow White, had taught her that lesson well.
Footsteps sounded from the staircase, and Emma faced toward the ship's wall so she wouldn't have to deal with whoever it was.
"I had no idea you were in love with Baelfire," said a voice she recognized as Hook's. But he spoke in a gentler tone than usual.
"I thought I'd given him up too," said Emma, brushing away a tear, still not turning toward Hook so she could hide her emotions. "Turns out when you have a kid with a guy, you never really stop loving them."
She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and looked over to see Hook sitting down beside her on the cot.
"Aren't you supposed to be a pirate? Rape, pillage, plunder. I think you're failing to fall into your stereotype," said Emma.
"Now don't rush to any conclusions," said Hook a little playfully. "You've been down here a while, so here's the update – we're offshore of Neverland. Safe here for now, avoiding detection from the Lost Boys, but who knows how long that will last. They'll want to know what we're doing here. Me and Peter Pan, we aren't exactly chummy."
"No surprises there," said Emma icily.
"See, you're already feeling better. Taunting me as per usual. Cheer up, miss, there will be many a battle ahead and we all know how you love to fight," returned Hook.
Emma just groaned, but in truth her spirits were indeed lighter in Hook's company.
"Got any rum?" she said, smiling for the first time in days.
"You know how to get a man excited," he said, grinning. Not taking his eyes off of her, he reached over to a barrel by the side of the cot. As he threw aside the lid, a couple bottles rolled out. "I'm always well-stocked. Brought some of this Storybrooke crap you call whiskey too, although I don't have a taste for it."
"Where is everyone else?" asked Emma suspiciously. "Or have they already walked the plank, captain?"
"Swabbing the deck, loading the canons, serving me graciously. No, they're plotting. Well, more like arguing. Remind me never to act on a crew with Regina or Rumpelstiltskein ever again. I would slit his throat if it didn't sign my own death sentence," he said in reply.
Emma laughed a little, and Hook flashed her a devilish smile.
"You know, he is kind of like my father-in-law. Ish," said Emma.
"Good luck with that," replied Hook.
He was sitting close to her now, and she could feel a spark of electricity running through the air, a desire almost palpable, nearly tangible enough to taste. He passed her a bottle of rum and she opened it.
"Time for you to drink the real beverage of pirates. A pirates life for you, matey," said Hook, pushing her a little in a teasing manner. She pushed back a little harder and he spread his hands out in a sign of mercy. She chugged a shots worth, and handed the bottle back to him.
"Alcohol always gets us in trouble," she said flirtatiously.
They spent the next hour drinking from the bottle, singing songs from pirate lore and Emma's world – he particularly liked her rendition of "Yellow Submarine."
"What the bloody hell is a submarine?" asked Hook.
"A ship that's underwater. Well, it's more scientific than that, but essentially it's a giant metal ship that can stay underwater for a really long time," she said.
"That's actually mad. Completely mad. What would you want to do underwater."
But Emma broke off the conversation by kissing him. He kissed back, but then Emma stopped.
"I can't do this. I just lost the love of my life and now I'm kissing a pirate," she said.
"You kissed me," he said, under his breath.
"Well you keep getting me drunk and – "
He pushed her against the wall and kissed her again, fervently. But he stopped immediately when someone began to descend the staircase. Emma separated from Hook quickly, stumbling a little as she got up from the cot.
Mary Margaret stuck her head out from around the corner.
"Hook, it's your turn to watch guard. The rest of us are going to rest for a while, then we'll switch off turns," she said.
As Hook followed Mary Margaret up to the deck, he gave Emma one last look, winking.