4. COMING TOO CLOSE.

"You should see Maleficent now, she's really pretty. Isn't she, Regina?" the former Evil Queen rolled her eyes, 'idiot' she thought.

The group was walking towards the beach where the Jolly Roger had arrived three weeks before. They had spent the last days going to and exploring Snow White's castle and its surroundings, along with the nearest kingdoms, with nothing to do there. The buldings were destroyed and there weren't any survivors, but that was a fact they had been expecting. Nobody had scaped the curse and, in the haven, where they had been after, they didn't have more luck. So the new plans were to return to the Jolly Roger and use the ship to travel to the furthest kingdoms. Regina'd said that everyone had suffered the effects of her curse, but she agreed to do that tasks because, since her mother had protected an area of the Fairytale land, maybe someone else had done the same with another one. If not, they would return to Storybrooke and start with the B-plan: to convince their neighbours to return to Fairytale Land and work all together in its restorage. They still had many magic beans of the ones they'd stolen from Greg and Tamara, so travelling between the two realms wouldn't be a problem anymore.

Killian had approached Aurora: he wanted to speak with her since he'd had a lot of conversations with the 'modern family' aboard the Jolly Roger and was not particularly interested in sharing a chat with Mulan or Phillip, who totally agreed with him. Aurora, on the other hand, was absolutely different. A bond between them had been created since the day he'd decided to start over. He just felt more confortable in Aurora's company than in anyone else's and they had started to spend more and more time together. It could seem strange, but, althought he was many years older than her (without taking into account the centuries he'd spent in Neverland), she felt quite protective towards him, as if she had the mission to make sure he didn't start complaining about his miseries again. It turned out that that 'mission' wasn't really necessary, because as days went by, he became the one she had known months ago, and she'd found out that his personality didn't annoy her, in fact, he made her laugh with his jokes and attempts to seduce her. That attempts were fake, of course, and both knew it: Emma's issue was very recent and, for the moment, he was not on the mood for thinking about a new romance, as it had happened when Milah died: decades passed until he started to consider the possibility to interact with another women. But, after all, if he didn't flirt with a woman, even if he had no further intentions, he wouldn't be Killian Jones. Sometimes, since they were so different, they ended up arguing about a topic, she would say 'stupid pirate' and he would answer with a 'spoiled princess' and, after having calmed down, they always made up and laughed about the argument.

When Phillip, who was leading the way, saw what was happening between the princess and the pirate, he pretended to have something in one of his boots that was hurting his foot, so he said he'd stop to remove it and catch them up later. Of course, he just wanted an excuse to be at the end of the group, where Aurora and Killian were talking. He didn't like that pirate. He knew that Hook was part of the group now and wasn't going to betray them, but that didn't mean he trusted him in another areas: he spent so much time with Aurora, and that wasn't funny for the prince. First of all, he was a bad influence: a pirate (a thief, a cheater, etc. etc.) Who knew how many crimes he had committed in the past? Secondly, he wasn't known for being a gentleman with women: Phillip feared that all that the captain wanted was to seduce her, nothing more, nothing less, and then drop her when he saw a new woman to do the same. He couldn't understand how they had become so close, but he denied to explain it with the word 'friendship'. It was just impossible, Aurora was not the kind of person who would develop that relationship with a scoundrel like him. What'd happened that night on the ship?

"Better?" Aurora asked with her usual smile.

"Yeah" Phillip answered.

"We were talking about Maleficent." she continued. "Hook was saying he saw her in the land without magic." Phillip faked a smile.

"Interesting" he said.

"Yes, it is" said the captain. "If she hadn't wanted to kill me I would have taken a photograph."

"A what?" the 'couple' asked.

"It's like a portrait made by a machine." he answered.

"And what is she like?" asked a curious Aurora.

"She's like a ghost... a very angry one. Believe me, I've suffered her anger."

"And how did you escape from her?" her blue eyes widened with expectation. Killian pleased his public:

"It wasn't easy, she almost killed me" he made a little pause "When I'd hit her, she'd become bigger" Aurora's impression encouraged him "but I had a hidden weapon..."

Mr. Gold, who was near them because of his bad leg, cut his speech:

"If you refer to Tamara's 'magical' gun"

"Thank you, Crocodile, but I don't remember having asked for your help" said Hook.

"Always a pleasure" replied Rumplestilskin hiding his smile. Hook wanted to say something but Snow stopped him.

"Enough" she said. "The two of you".

They remained silent during a couple of minutes until Killian whispered to Aurora:

"Are you tired, sweetheart?"

"I'm fine. I'm not so weak." they both smiled.

"I'm still not convinced." she gave him her 'stupid pirate' glance "If you need help..." started Killian.

"She's got me." an angry Phillip interrupted.

"I was just being a gentleman, prince, I thought you knew the meaning of that."

"Excuse me?"

"Hey, hey, stop" said Aurora. They stopped arguing but kept their distance from each other.

After some minutes, the Jolly Roger's sails appeared on the horizon. They went straight to it, since they hadn't nothing left in the refuge to pick up. Once they were on the ship, they decided to rest until next day in order to recover from their journey and start the new one with renovated energies. Aurora was sitting in the same place where she and Killian had had their first conversation when the pirate approached her with a smile.

"Do you want to see something beautiful, princess?" he said.

"Yeah, why not." she answered.

"Follow me" he guided her to the main mast, in which top the lookout would be. "So, let's climb."

"Hey, hey, wait, do you want me to climb that?"

"Yes."

"I can't."

"Of course you can. Some time ago you were willing to climb that beanstalk, and it was surely taller than this."

"I wasn't really ready for that. It was just because..."

"I know. But I also know you can do this."

"If I fall..."

"I'll catch you." he said very convinced. "After you, princess... and don't look downwards."

She started to climb. It was quite easy in the start, but, as they were ascending, she felt more and more tired. He noticed that and proposed her to rest for a couple of minutes, but she refused to do it and finally they reached the top.

She couldn't help saying "Whoah". Before her there was the most beautiful sunset she'd ever been. The orange sun made a perfect contrast with the clouds which were in front of it and the sky was a combination of red, orange and blue tones. The last sun rays were reflected in the dark blue ocean.

"I knew you would like it" he said. "And I knew you wouldn't come here if I didn't tell you to do it."

"It's awesome. It looks so different from here."

"Yes, it does."

"I didn't know you were so..." she didn't find a suitable word for what she was thinking "romantic... I mean, you, coming here just to watch the sunset with me instead of... I don't know... opening a rum bottle" he laughed.

"There are many facts about me you don't know. But you are quite right, I haven't done this for many, many years, even being alone... but you're so special that I had to do it for you" he hugged her with her good arm, but he removed it quckly from her shoulder "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it."

"No, it's fine... Wait a moment, you're respecting a woman." she said with a surprised tone.

"Yes, I am... I told you I'm a gentleman but you didn't believe me." he put a victim face. She smiled at him.

"Thank you, for showing me this." said Aurora.

They didn't noticed that they had a spectator. From the deck, Phillip had been watching them during some minutes before he decided he'd seen enough. Later, at night, he approached her.

"Can we speak in private?" he asked.

"Of course." she answered, and guided him to her cabin. "So, what do you want to speak about?"

"Hook."

"Hook?" she hadn't expected that.

"Why do you spend so much time together?" he asked.

"We are friends. Is that so bad?"

"Friends? Are you kidding me?"

"It's true."

"A selfish pirate like him can't have friends." he replied very convinced.

"He's human! Like you and me."

"He's not like us. We're totally different."

"I don't think so."

"I don't want you to come so close to him."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" her tone raised, and his did it too.

"Who am I? Do I need to remind you all that we've been through together?"

"Of course not. Phillip, I don't want to argue with you."

"Neither do I. I just want to protect you."

"He doesn't want to hurt me."

"How can you know it?"

"I trust him."

"Why?"

"I..." That was an interesting question, why did she trust him? "I don't know, but I do. I've discovered things about him that nobody here knows and I do know he's a good person."

"You'd say there's a good person hidden deep inside the scoundrel. That doesn't mean he's good for you."

"Enough, I'm not listening to anything more. Hook is my friend and if you don't like it it's your problem."

"Alright, but when this 'friendship' ends up bad, which is what's going to happen, don't say I didn't warn you" he left the cabin without saying anything more. Aurora couldn't help starting crying.

It had to be at least midnight, but Aurora couldn't sleep. Her conversation with Phillip still sounded in her head. She felt really bad because she owed him so much... and she loved him, of course she did, but Killian had become an important person in her life and she knew he wanted to change for good, she knew she could trust him... and she liked being with him, was it so bad? Why didn't he want to understand it? Why did he have so many prejudices which kept him from seeing that Hook was a good person? She was staring at the ocean and didn't notice that a man approached her.

"Why are you here?" Hook asked.

"I can't sleep."

"Are you fine?"

"Phillip and I have had an argument... about you."

"Me?"

"He doesn't understand that we are friends." she explained.

"Who would? This kind of friendship isn't exactly frequent. I'm quite surprised myself." she smiled. "Hey, you've smiled. You're prettier when you smile."

"Oh, shut up."

"He's jealous." he said very convinced.

"Why would he...?"

"Well, just look at me, I'm a threat to him." she shook her head.

"You'll never change, will you?"

"Why? You think I'm funny. See, you're not sad anymore."

"I am."

"Do you want me to keep my distance?" he asked, and in that exact moment he realized how much he cared about her: he needed to do something to make her happy, to help her with her problems.

"No, we don't have to hide or avoid anything. We're friends and he has to understand it sooner or later." she answered. "I don't want to choose between you two."

"And your warrior friend? What does she think?"

"Mulan? We haven't spoken about it, but she doesn't have to say anything, I know she thinks like Phillip."

"Let's do something. Why don't you spend more time with them until they calm down a little? More than what you spend with me, I mean... I don't want you to argue with your best friends because of me. Do you think you'll be able to survive?" he asked smiling and winking to her.

"Stupid pirate, of course I will."

"If you can't, look for me at night, I go to bed late. You know, out of sight, out of mind. Maybe it's me who will have to look for you." she rolled her eyes "Hey, I was being serious."

"So we have a deal, captain Hook"

"Killian, my name is Killian... and don't talk about deals."

"Alright then, Killian." she made a pause. "I think I'll go to bed." she stood up.

"Goodnight prin... Aurora."

"Goodnight." she waved her hand and went to her cabin. Hook kept sitting there for a little more.

.

The next days Aurora tried to make up with Phillip, but the prince seemed to have forgotten their argument and treated her as usual, although he still didn't like her relationship with the pirate. Killian and Aurora saw each other less during the days, but they still made sure they spent enough time together. Sometimes they would spend that time during the nights, meeting on the deck. They usually talked about what the day had been and their life stories. They got to know each other so well that one could think they had met many years before.

One day, while she was walking near Hook's cabin, she heard music coming from it. She was quite surprised, he hadn't shown any interest in music before, so she couldn't avoid knocking on the door.

"Hello, sweetheart" he greeted her "Come in."

"Am I disturbing you?" she asked. "I heard the music and..."

"Of course not. Welcome to my cabin. It's not a palace, but it's fine."

"It's clean" she observed. He laughed.

"I can be a scoundrel, but I'm not a pig... So you're here for the music."

"It's beautiful."

"It helps me to relax."

"In my palace there used to be music like this."

"So you can dance."

"Of course I can, have you forgotten I'm a princess?"

"Show me."

"You want me to dance" 'uh huh' he said. With you."

"Being a pirate doesn't mean I don't know how to dance. Try me."

"I wonder where you learnt to do it."

"Figure it out."

"Did you want to seduce a governor's daughter or something like that?"

"Probably" he answered "So, may I have this dance?"

"Sure."

He took her hand and guided her to the centre of the cabin. For her, who had attended a lot of balls since she was a little girl, it was easy to catch up and it reminded her of her happy years at her kingdom, but, since she had so much experience, she could confirm that he was a good dancer too. They didn't say anything while dancing, but that wasn't important at the moment. They just kept doing it, looking at each other in the eyes and smiling like stupids. What was happening? Why was her heart beating so fast? Why couldn't she think about (or look at) anything but him? Why was his heart also beating as it hadn't done in a long, long time? Why did he want to be closer? Why did they came close and she rested her head on his shoulder? Why did his heart literally race when she did that? Why didn't she want the song to end?...

...But it ended. They separated and Killian was the one to break the silence.

"You're a great dancer." he said, too confused to say anything more.

"You too... Mulan must be wondering where I am so I should..." she pointed to the door.

"Yes" he opened it "If you want another dance, you know where I am."

"Of course. See you later."

"See you."

She closed the door after her, with a million thoughts related to Killian and what had just happened crossing her mind. In the cabin, Hook's one wasn't very different.