Though Killian had his suspicions before, it soon became glaringly obvious that Emma was not the type of person used to being coddled. Her incessant pacing every few hours and mutterings about going above deck and resuming her work was going to drive him bloody insane. He was trying to be sympathetic, knowing that he himself would most likely be going stir crazy, but that didn't make him feel any less edgy. His own stress was mounting as they were quickly approaching Violet Hill, the final port before they reached their destination. With Rack and Vance still being kept in the irons, the entire crew was beginning to feel restless and in need of a break.

In the three days since Killian had insisted she rest, they had spoken very little to one another, both trying to preoccupy themselves rather than admit that they were intrigued by the other.

On the third night, Killian finally cracked when he saw Emma's exposed bruises, and her struggling to bandage her ribs.

"You know Swan, as much as I love seeing you get all bothered, I would much prefer if it was by my doing rather than a few measly bruises."

Emma glared at him, but when she saw he was smirking rather than leering at her as she was expecting, she decided to let it go.

Killian saw her take a deep breath, and she looked pained when she finally turned to him and tried to maintain an intimidating and strong voice even as she asked, "Hook, would you care to verify your earlier claim as being a gentleman and please assist me in securing my bandages?"

Hook decided to goad her for a minute before offering his help, and his smirk widened into a smile when he said, "Why Miss Swan, are you admitting that I may have been telling you a truth? That you have been swayed by my incredible charm and dashing good looks? I always do love a damsel in distress."

Emma snarled and turned from him, her voice cold as she said, "Fuck off, Hook. I don't need anyone's help. I'm not some bloody damsel. I can save myself. And no, I'm not swayed by your charm I just thought you'd be a decent goddamn human being."

Killian nearly leaped back in surprise. He had known that she was a stubborn and strong lass but he had not expected her to be so defensive. Usually he would have been furious with someone speaking to him in such a manner, but this only added to the peculiarity of the woman before him. Though they had remained in the small confines of his quarters for the last three days, both had sequestered themselves in opposite sides of the room and he had thought that she would be more comfortable with him than this blatant display of distrust.

This was not merely the anger of someone off-put by his innuendos, this was something much deeper. To his own immense surprise, Hook felt the faintest flicker of guilt for upsetting Emma on such a level that she would react so strongly.

Approaching her quietly he sat beside her on the bed. The stiffening of her shoulders and her upright posture betrayed that she had clearly felt his weight beside her, but she did not turn to meet his eye.

In a low voice that he hoped conveyed an apology – he was not a man to apologize outright very often, he said, "Swan, please turn around so I may assist you."

She turned to face him but made no motion to show that she was accepting his aid. Her eyes narrowed and she muttered, "I am not a weakling. I can handle myself and I will not be treated otherwise. I must already be seen as simply your whore by the crew of this ship, but I will not have you thinking of me on that level as well."

Killian nodded sharply, and she shifted closer to him, only wincing slightly as she lifted her arms above her head so he could continue to wrap bandages around her ribs and the side of her abdomen. Their silence was not awkward, both were deep in thought. Their eyes met, and the questioning looks in Emma's eyes showed she was clearly trying to find evidence of whatever motive she was imagining in his own.

He stared back, caught in the trap of her gray eyes. He was entranced. Her beauty was so deeply ingrained, not just on her surface but in the way she moved, her fierceness, and at that moment Killian knew that he was doomed. He needed her to trust him. He wanted to keep this warrior before him safe. She was something that should be protected, and he would not let any more harm befall her.

I don't care about her. She's just…. Different. I DO NOT care about her. The very mission I'm on is revenge. The death of my love – the death of my capability to love at all.

Emma blushed, and he realized that they had been looking into one another's gaze far longer than a mere glance. His newfound revelation made him feel compelled to reassure her.

"You don't need to be strong all the time," he murmured, continuing to bandage her, but meeting her eyes once again.

Emma let out a sigh, not one of exhaustion or anger, but one that seemed sad and nostalgic. A small smile painted her lips that were marred only by the quickly fading scar that was a reminder of the beating she had received day before, but it showed no happiness. Her own whisper nearly gave him goose bumps and he could barely hear her response of, "I really do though."

Finished with the necessary dressing of her wounds, Killian moved away from her, lying with his hand and hook behind his head, which rested on his pillow on what had become his side of the bed.

Relaxing into his position, he turned his head to appraise her. She seemed to be reprimanding herself, and he guessed that it was because she had briefly opened up to him. This was not the type of lass to throw herself into trusting someone, and he acknowledged that her admission, however innocent, must have cost her quite a bit to say out loud.

Killian knew that the next few minutes could change everything. If he did anything she classified as untruthful or offensive after the moment of vulnerability she had just chosen to share, there would be no hope for him to ever capture her sliver of trust again.

A smile spread on Killian's face as he knew exactly what would show her that he would not use this information against her. This girl was not one to be strung along with words, only actions at this point would display his intentions. He sat up and nearly threw himself off of the bed with his renewed energy. Pulling on his leather jacket over his relatively thin button down shirt, she looked at him quizzically and clearly confused by his suddenly giddy demeanor.

"Well, Swan, come on, I don't have all day," he said, no real impatience in his tone.

She slowly shrugged into the jacket he had given her days ago, now able to move more freely with her wounds healing and covered. "What on earth has you so excited?" a bemused expression crossing her face as he nearly bounced on the heels of his feet in sheer excitement.

His smile seemed to grow even larger and he caught sight of Emma's blush, something that made him feel pleased, and announced, "We're finally breaking you out of this place. Though I don't know why you would want to escape when you have the sexiest man alive sleeping right beside you."

Emma could not be annoyed with him right now if she tried as she became equally excited. "Oh thank the gods, I'm fairly certain I was close to losing my mind."

He opened the door that led to the deck and bowed with a gesture of his hook, "After you, my lady."

"What do you know, Captain Hook actually has manners," she snorted, but she sent a smirk his was to let him know that there was no malice or actual insult behind her banter.

Killian immediately enjoyed the repertoire, having not conversed with a woman conversationally in decades. The last woman he had spoken to for any length of time without the intent of seducing her and then leaving her was Tiger Lilly in Neverland, and that was only because the Chief was right beside them and his men would have run him through with their spears if he so much as leered at her. He laughed softly at the memory, and followed Emma to the deck, breathing deeply as the cold wind of the sea assaulted his senses. This was where he belonged.

If his own joy had not made him happy enough, he turned and saw Emma in a pose similar to his own. She had walked to the edge of the ship, face upturned to the sky with her eyes closed peacefully, her smile lit only by the moon as her curls billowed around her face. She reminded him of a mermaid, but the knives at her side and the sight of his leather jacket on her made it even more picturesque.

He cared about her.

His revelation made him feel as though someone had knocked the air from his lungs. He had been resisting his feelings since the moment he had seen her, spinning in a deadly dance as she subdued his men and locked her gaze on his. His old loyalty to Milah had made him feel incredibly guilty all of these years whenever he had found any meager happiness, as it reminded him of her demise.

It was this woman in front of him – this infuriating, belligerent, glorious woman – that forced him to truly look at his situation.

He was no longer in love with Milah.

He loved her, of course, and he knew that he always would. She had been the first person to make him feel as though he was worth anything. As much as it caused him pain to admit it, he knew she would have been furious with him of she could see him now. Not for his pursuit of the Crocodile, no, his revenge was justified, but his descent into cruelty and the hardening of his heart would have disappointed her beyond anything else.

A deep peacefulness settled over him with the realization that he no longer had to deny himself feeling, and with a sense of rightness that he had not possessed since leaving for Neverland, he walked up to Emma and stood beside her, leaning his own elbows onto the bulwarks that lined the deck and peering at the sky and then turning to her, only to find her already looking at him.

She looked back to the sky, her eyes tracing constellations, and in a voice that conveyed transparent sincerity she said softly, "Thank you, Captain."

Emma had always had an affinity for the stars. No matter where she was or how terrible her situation growing up, they were constant companions. Even when she could not see them, knowing they were there had instilled the only sense of stability in her life of running from place to place.

Her life had never been quite so unstable as it was in this moment. She knew where she would sleep every night, sure, but she had no control of her situation, something she had never been faced with before. Her fate was in the hands – well, hand – of the man standing beside her.

She was scared. Not because she worried he would harm her. It was quite the opposite. He was making her happy. The last time she had relied on another to bring her happiness, it had ended with her in prison, fighting for her life and eventually taking another's.

That was another thing that terrified her. He was getting to know her. It seemed as though he wanted to know her. She had already opened up to him in a way she had not since meeting Red years ago, and those had been entirely different circumstances. Every time he looked at her though, she felt as though she was burning from the inside out. He was the most attractive man she had ever seen, but it wasn't his looks that made her feel this way. It was the intensity at which he looked at her. When he pleaded for her honesty or even when she caught him looking at her, he always seemed to look deeper than simply her eyes.

He was trying to figure her out just as she was trying to figure him out. It hadn't really occurred to her before her first nightmare, but she now realized she was just as much a mystery to him and he presented to her. She had betrayed her own sadness and vulnerability, shown him her cracked soul for a moment unintentionally. She seemed to slip around him more often than she had in years combined. Many would use it against her, or even dismiss it as insignificant.

She had thought that was what she wanted. She would have been content for him to simply treat it as though it had not happened. But then he had shown her understanding. He had not betrayed her brief showing of weakness when she had revealed her murder, nor when she had admitted the farce behind some of her seemingly constant strength. She almost laughed when she thought about it. Captain fucking Hook, one of the most dreaded men in all of the realms, was the same man who made her feel as if some of her cracks were closing.

But maybe this wasn't Captain Hook. Maybe this was the man he had been before taking up his mantle as a pirate. Maybe she had just met Killian Jones.

After she had thanked him, they remained in a comfortable silence, both watching the sky and its reflection on the dark sea that illuminated by the nearly full moon. A deep pang of sadness cut through her when she realized that Red would be transforming without her by her side. She knew that she couldn't see Red or Granny again until she was no longer being pursued, but that knowledge did nothing to appease the deep hollowness she felt at having to leave her makeshift family. She may be chased until the day she died, whether that was soon or in decades.

She turned to Hook, breaking their silence as she asked, "Hook, what is our destination?"

He replied automatically, almost with a bored tone, "Violet Hill, the port town. Need to trade and drop off Rack and Vance. The crew is uneasy with them still on board. We all need a few nights of rest."

"I know that is where we are going now, but I've seen you pouring over our maps. What is the larger destination? I may be uneducated in the typical sense, but I'm not ignorant. I know what a larger scheme looks like," she said, the final part with a smile as she remembered all the plotting she and fellow orphans had done when they planned larger heists.

Hook turned and met her gaze, and she saw a deep look of contemplation. She immediately realized that this was not a simple looting journey. Recalling the understanding he had showed her earlier that night she quickly said, "You don't have to tell me, I was only curious. I didn't mean to pry."

He bit down on his lip, and Emma cursed her hormones when she felt the urge to jump him. He slowly nodded to himself and finally drawled, "How about this. A truth for a truth. I'll tell a bit of my tale and you share yours."

Emma considered this. If he felt as though he needed to make a deal in order to tell her, it was clearly a subject that was significant to him in some way. If his earlier behavior was any indication, she could afford to lend him a bit more trust.

This is only temporary. I can just shut him out again whenever I want. Really. I can.

She squared her shoulders and decided to go out on a limb as she said, "Fine. A truth for a truth. Answer my question and I'll answer any one question you want to know the answer to."

Hook nodded and looked back out to the water before turning suddenly and meeting her eyes. "This does not count as my question, but have you ever been in love, Swan?"

The question caught her off guard, and she responded with, "I thought I was once," letting out a short, bitter laugh she finished, "but I don't think it can really be love if the one you are infatuated with doesn't feel the same way."

She was glad to see Killian accept her answer without further prodding – for now – and he stared back out over the ocean when he began to speak.

"I was in love a long, long time ago. Her name was Milah," he gestured with his hook to the tattoo she had been quietly wondering about since she first spotted it, "and for a while we were happy. But he had been a married woman, with a son. She was married to a coward, but he was a good father, and when she begged me to take her away, I obliged. Her husband would not fight for her, and so we left." He smiled wistfully, but then his face became angry and anguished as he said, "Her coward of a husband however, was no longer the man he had been when we left, and the next time I encountered him, he was barely a man. We dueled, but just as he bested me Milah tried to come to my aid. He took her heart and crushed it before me, and then took my hand as well." His eyes clenched shut and his teeth ground together before he let out a heavy breath and opened them once again, a steel resolve having replaced the raw emotion. "So now, Swan, we are sailing to retrieve a weapon that will finally allow me to exact my revenge on my Crocodile. After reaching Violet Hill we shall be finding the dagger that will kill Rumpelstiltskin once and for all."

Emma let out a gasp of horror and he turned his head to meet her eyes. She felt as though she were choking, her words not leaving her mouth. She had put them all in danger. She had transferred her own burden onto the crew, and if they were found it would multiply tenfold.

"I have to leave."

Killian's surprise morphed into a look of deep hurt and then rage.

"So that's fucking it, Swan? Hear my story, skip off, and hold my secret to your heart for whenever you choose to use it against me?"

"No, Hook, wait –"

He turned to leave, but Emma's arms shot forward and grasped the sleeve of his jacket, spinning him around and meeting his angry eyes. Upon seeing the expression of horror and fear rather than the contempt he had expected, he froze.

"Swan...? Are you okay?"

"No, no, no, no. You need to leave me. As soon as we reach Violet Hill. Maybe I could take one of the lifeboats and leave tonight," she muttered to herself, hands now twisting around themselves in sheer panic and anxiety.

Hook grabbed her upper arms and gave her a quick shake, snapping her out of her growing hysteria. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

Her whisper rasped and her voice cracked as she forced herself to look him in the eye and reveal the treachery she had not known she was committing, "Hook, the reason I snuck onto your ship wasn't for the adventure. There is a bounty on my head. I've been fleeing from The Dark One. If he someone locates me he will come for me. I've put us all in danger," she took a shuddering breath and her voice became strong as she stated, "so you have to leave me."

Hook became quiet, and Emma looked to her feet as she prepared herself for his judgment. She would not blame him if he chose to make her walk the plank or off her immediately.

She leaped nearly a foot in the air when she felt his hand softly land on her shoulder. His hook gently lifted her chin to meet his eyes and he said quietly, "I'm not leaving you, Swan. I intend to find my dagger, and kill The Dark One. You can watch if you like," a smirk covered his face, but his eyes continued to be locked on hers, showing blatant honesty as he continued, "when he's dead, I'll have my revenge, and you'll have nothing to worry about."

Emma stepped back from him, glaring. How could he be so stupid.

"You cannot put the ship in danger because of me. If he finds me, he finds me, but I will not let the entire crew die because of me. You deserve your revenge; do not let your pride cloud your judgment."

He looked bemused, which only made her anger increase as he said almost with a laugh, "Why do you seem so dedicated to jump ship? Surely The Jolly Roger has not treated you so terribly?"

"I will not have you in danger, you complete and utter stupid ass!"

Her words grew to nearly a shriek, and as soon as the words left her mouth, Emma froze, shocked at herself.

She cared about him. Captain Hook, no, Killian Jones, was standing before her, laughing at her only a moment ago, and she cared about him. Deeply.

Oh shit.

Emma cleared her throat and turned from him as his own shocked expression mirrored the one she wore only moments before.

"I think I should like to go to sleep. I'd like to rest before tomorrow. I would like to try to resume my duties in the morning, if that is okay."

She quickly looked over her shoulder to see his slow nod, an unfocused expression on his face still. She nearly ran to the door and stripped off the jacket she wore as well as her breeches, remaining in his shirt as she crawled into the bed.

I am so stupid. He is going to leave me as soon as his revenge is through – his revenge for his TRUE LOVE, and then what? I was cracked the first time, I don't think there would be anything left. I'm not capable of love. It is only an attraction. I'll get over it in days.

Emma could spot a liar from miles away, and deep down she knew she was lying to herself. She curled into a ball beneath the covers, and promised herself that she would not let her emotions cloud her judgment ever again.

She heard him enter the room minutes later and walk to the bed before sliding into his side. He turned to face her back and she feigned sleep. She could feel his eyes trained on her before he settled into his own sleeping position. Just as she began to drift off to sleep she heard him whisper to what he thought was her sleeping form, "I don't know who hurt you, but I am not him. I will not leave you."

She felt him shift, presumably turning from her to settle into the position he usually slept in.

Halfway into the night, both Emma and Killian were shifting in their sleep, and only when his hand met hers and loosely held it did they both fall back into a peaceful slumber.

let me know how you lovelies that have made it this far are liking it! it's always fun to hear some of your predictions. their journey is far from over ;)