Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT.
Summary: Emma had never met someone as infuriating as the captain of the Jolly Roger in her 28 years of being a talented thief. When he requires her help to find a dagger to "skin" the Dark One as he likes to say, what she's really agreeing to is late night fights, breaking her walls, falling in love, oh, and winning the war with her parents she knew nothing about. Emma Swan doesn't know what she should be mad about. How about that coin purse he tried to steal that started this whole thing….
Warnings: This is AU. There is no Curse. Hook returns to the Enchanted Forest from Neverland when Emma is 28. Emma is still an orphan. Reasons being that I prefer her to have that lost boy/lost girl connection with Hook. Henry does exist and will be explained for as the story progresses.
A/N: Happy Sunday! AM I THE ONLY ONE WISHING TIME TO HURRY SO I CAN WATCH MY EPISODE?
Anyway ahaha. Questions time!
Somehow I believe that he'll have greater success in abducting her if she goes of her own free will; however I don't know what he could have to entice her aside from that intimate knowledge that he just burned. Please tell me that he won't be so stupid as to abduct Henry in the hope of making a deal with her. More likely to interest Henry by apologizing to the lad for his behavior on the docks the previous day. Then when she comes along he can promise her all of the answers to her questions will be revealed if they put on the premise that he's "kidnapped" her. -JWBritt-
All concerns answered in this chapter.
I LOVE THIS STORY! its getting good I wonder when robin shall look when he sees the letters missing? shall he blame emma?
how well hook kidnap henry and emma? I doubt emma and henry are going to be nice towards hook... for now
All your questions will be answered in this chapter and the next! And of course Emma and Henry aren't going to be nice to Hook haha. He's not going to be very nice to them either.
Enjoy and please don't forget that I love feedback!
The next day, Emma found herself in the tavern of the village. She was drinking heavily, but she could hold her liquor well enough. Or so she liked to think.
Robin never left the library it seemed. Once she shut the door, and rested for a few hours, past midnight, she crept to his room to confirm her hopes that he was in bed and found it empty. Trying not to let that get to her, she thought perhaps he might have chosen to relieve one of his men from guard duties. But when she approached the second floor library, she saw light and moving shadows from door that was left ajar. She could only guess that Mulan or Little John was in there too. Whoever, she couldn't sneak in.
Though it had only been a whole day since she made her decision, Emma was growing nervous and impatient. What would the Queen do if Emma never gave her an answer? Nullify her offer? Emma groaned and drank some more. She would have to plan this better…
Henry was practicing archery today—it was a perfect chance for her to get away. When the burning sensation from the drink cooled down she thought: what was stopping her from taking her son anyway? She shook her head. Oh, she knew why, it was something she avoided for years when she was on her own. She earned a stable home. She got comfortable with the past eleven years living with Robin and his Merry Men. She had actually grown to care about their opinion and feelings. She couldn't just leave without considering all the things they had done for her.
She could just bolted over to the castle without a word to Robin, but what if Emma needed a passage to get in? What if there was a specific phrase or code she needed for entrance? What if the guards threw her and Henry in the brig without considering that she might be telling the truth about how the queen offered to foster the thief's son? This seemingly endless war made everyone wary.
Emma lowered her head to the table and sighed. It all sounded so stupid. She needed to send her answer. She waited for Robin to leave the library earlier that morning after having to run out of ideas on how to sneak in and past everyone. She laid herself out in the open. And when he saw her outside, he gave her a grim smile and left her without usual morning greetings. She remembered cocking her head in confusion. Something had happened. There was only so much that could make Robin somber—even though most of it, strangely, had to do with her. And with that, she went along with her urges to not go for the letter. Instead, she spent the day close to Robin in case there was something important he needed to say.
In her slight drunkenness, she gasped loudly and thought of his son. Roland… had something happened to him? Had the queen got her long talons on the man? Suddenly, she forgot her worries about Henry and bit her lip. She was being selfish. She bent her head and sent a prayer, something Odette taught her how to do as a little girl, to the skies and good fairies to watch over Roland. He was a very good friend of hers, and she couldn't bear to hear that something terrible had become of him.
Henry adored Roland, and always thought of the man as an older brother because of their similar situations. Roland kept leaving hints that he wanted to be more than a brother to Henry and a friend to Emma. Her excuse was that she wasn't ready, she was still hurting from what Neal did to her. And when Henry started getting older he grew more persistent, trying to involve himself in Henry's life more so she could see that the boy really needed a father figure. But when she started taking more raids, Roland took them along with her, leaving her son behind. He didn't know how to balance his affections correctly and Emma told him they were better off being friends, and that his father, Robin, was the only father figure they all needed.
She took another gulp back and hung her mouth open to cool the taste.
"A thief with a drinking problem, I see? Well… don't we make a pair, lass?"
Emma's shoulders tightened and she sighed with exasperation. She felt the table creak as new weight was added to it and cursed her luck. She glanced up and saw that stupid smirk she wanted to smack off his face.
"The hell do you want?"
He pointed at her bottle and plucked it from her hands before she could reject him. "This would explain why you had a bottle to smash me with on the docks. Bad form, Swan. A waste of perfectly good whiskey." He pressed the bottle to his lips and tilted it back, keeping his blue eyes trained on her.
"I really don't have time or patience for you," she straightened up but then leaned back against the post behind her when the room started to tilt right. Shit. The pirate's timing couldn't be any worse, her drinking had dulled her sense enough to make her lose anything he threw at her. She bit the inside of her cheek and went through with the challenge.
The man laughed, his tongue sliding over his teeth. "Clearly, you do, and you should, love. I believe I have something that would interest you."
Emma refused to take the bait but threw up her arms. "How did you even know I was here?"
"I have eyes around this town, Swan. Only for the time being that I'm here. Don't fret." He leaned forward and lowered his voice as people passed by them. Some, Emma had noticed, looked ready to send a speedy courier to Robin, as was customs should any of the villagers feel that their thieves were in trouble. They were just waiting for a fight to start or her to give them a signal.
She placed her hand on the table, rapping all of her left hand's fingers against it once, twice, and her index finger tapped it one last time. A sign to them all that she was fine. They resumed their duties. She worked the muscles in her jaw to appear irritated to the man—and she very much was—hoping the signal to her town was wasted on him. The pirate didn't seem to think much of her movements.
"Robin mentioned you wanted some dagger…"
"Aye, dreadful thing that'll help me get what I want. But Robin refuses to help me."
"What made you think we would help you, pirate?" she spat out his occupation in spite and he smiled, tilting his head down low so that she only saw an evil smile and bright, dangerous eyes.
"Times are different it seems, Swan. In my time, thieves and pirates were strong allies. I was hoping it would apply to this turn of the century."
"You're time? Don't tell me Robin was actually telling the truth about you."
Hook leaned back, his long legs propped themselves over the table. "I had traveled to Neverland to stop my aging so that I could force favor upon myself to get my revenge."
"Neverland? That place lost boys go to?" Emma wrinkled her nose. Odette had told her about Neverland before, about Peter Pan, and how the shadow only took lost boys to their new home. Only lost boys. There was as much adventure as there was danger, for the boys had no one to tell them what to do. When she was younger, Emma was upset that she was born a girl instead of a boy, the treasures and tales of Neverland sounded like paradise to her.
"Actually, I think it's safe to say the boys are stolen. Best keep an eye on your lad, Swan."
Emma reared her head back, poised and ready to bite. "You are not allowed to speak of my son. Besides, Neverland is just a fairytale."
Hook laughed and slapped his hand on the table. "You and I live in the Enchanted Forest but Neverland is a fairytale? You slay me, Swan."
Emma's eyes darted to his arm that he kept hidden under the table. She saw it last night. The hook… Neverland…
"Who the hell are you?"
The pirate leaned forward, too forward, and grabbed a lock of her hair, twirling it between his fingers. "And here I thought you'd never ask. Killian Jones. But most people have taken to calling me by my more colorful moniker." There was a clear thud. She looked away from his face and down to the hook that had embedded itself into the table. "Hook."
Emma gulped and turned her attention back to him. "As in…Captain Hook?"
"Ah, so you've heard of me," he whispered. Hook flashed her a wolfish grin and grazed the hook—that he yanked out of the wood without her noticing—along her cheekbone.
Any murderous man missing a hand would love to tell others that he was Captain Hook, but this man looked like he had actually lived through it all. She received no internal signals that he was lying. This man's story was also told to her by Odette several times when she wanted to hear adventure stories before bed. He pillaged and killed for no reasons other than to watch the realm burn because the king had taken everything from him. It was dreadful and nasty and was one of the stories that taught her that revenge was never the answer.
"Yeah, but you're just a bedtime story. So, I'm not afraid of you." Emma hissed through her teeth and shoved the hook away from her face, and instantly regretted it.
Before she could even open her mouth, his hook swung around and cradled the back of her neck, the curve nestled perfectly around it. She grunted, but didn't fight. It would alarm the people in the tavern and have them send for Robin when he wasn't needed. Hook pulled her closer, dragging her from the post behind her to the middle of the table where he was waiting for her. He licked his lips and trailed his eyes, slowly, over the contours of her face. Emma started to struggle but there was nowhere she could turn her head without getting a nasty cut from the hook. She didn't enjoy his fondness for bursting through people's personal boundaries
"You should be, love," he whispered to her with so much venom in his voice that it dripped onto the floor. He freed her from his hook and pulled it back under the table. "It isn't just for show as I'm sure you've noticed already."
"So why hide it," she seethed, rubbing her neck that was prickled with goosebumps.
"I plan to make a grand entrance coming back to this land. Rumors never hurt of course. But enough about that," he waved his hand and sat up properly, "I believe I have something you want."
"What the hell could you possibly have?" Emma asked snatching her bottle away from the man to take a long swig.
"Well… there's always this," his hand slipped into his pocket, and from it he pulled out a letter with a familiar five-pointed flower seal on it. Emma froze. Not possible…
"Where did you get that…?"
"Pirates are still skillful thieves too, my dear Swan, one of the oldest tricks in the book" he said to her in a hushed voice, dangling the letter in her face. She moved to grab it and his hook swung out again, holding her hand to the table. He dared to chuckle. "I have a proposition for you, love."
She took one bait foolishly but she wasn't about to take another. "How do I know that you're faking it?"
"What? That I could have possibly forged it in the short amount of time since I've obtained it? No, darling, I did no such thing." He opened the letter and observed it in such a mocking way that she bristled. "I've read it. It mentions you, Swan, and your son. Curious that the King and Queen would offer fostering your son. The son of a thief."
Emma bristled and clenched her fists so tight the knuckles turned white. "He's the only boy in the castle. Everyone else is all grown up. Robin and Snow White are friends. Let's not forget she was a bandit when the Evil Queen was still in power." She honestly didn't know why she was telling him this, and immediately blamed the whiskey. She pulled her hand against the hook, but much like last night, there was no way for her to free herself.
"Touching. But why are you not allowed to go?" he tilted his head to the side, feigning concern, which only seemed to infuriate her more.
Emma snarled and leaned forward so their faces with inches apart. "That matters not to me. He's my son, and I'm not letting him leave without me."
Hook's eyes fluttered. He leaned forward as well, closing part of the gap between them by pressing his forehead against hers. Emma's heart stalled before beating franticly. What was with the strange dose of intimacy? He turned his head, looking like he was about to kiss her and she couldn't back away. It was almost like she was spellbound. Her grip on the neck of her bottle tightened. No. No, it was the damned whiskey. She hoped he didn't want to get smashed in the head again, this bottle was just as good as the last one she wasted.
"I can provide you and your son with safe transport. From what I gather, Regina no longer has a powerful navy fleet." He spoke to her in such a voice that made her think of men speaking sweet nothings to their spouse in bed. It made the inside of her palms sweat and her stomach clench tight.
"It was smashed years ago by the pact the King and Queen made with the mermaids." She answered, feeling her voice waver from him being so close.
"Aye, the letter mentions dangers on land. Regina would know who you are to Robin. She would kidnap you and Henry, all of that messy stuff that involves pissing others off. But she has no forces at sea. What's stopping you from taking that path?" He moved closer and tilted his head up a few inches, his lips barely touching the tip of her nose.
"I've no ship," she whispered as he turned his head the other way. His blue eyes were heavy and stared deep into her green ones.
"But I do, darling." He practically sang that line to her, and his smirk returned.
"Why are you even offering transport?" Something smelled rather fishy.
Hook finally pulled back and she inhaled deeply through her mouth, trying to shake off the uncomfortable feeling of having her personal space invaded. Did the man know anything about that? It was so unsettling for a woman like her who refused to ever back down but still wanted to run the moment someone got too close and personal. He bit his smiling lip at her reaction, possibly to hide the laugh he had lodged in his throat. He folded the letter back and tucked it away in the pocket inside of his coat "The King and Queen might have clues to what I'm looking for. If not that, they have a prisoner I'm dying to meet. The man who took my hand."
Emma gulped and looked at him. The sensuous feeling that bled from the pirate's body had vanished entirely. It was now overflowing with another emotion: rage. "Robin mentioned that you should've died hundreds of years ago…."
"Aye."
"The only person who could've possibly be around that long enough would've have been…"
"Rumplestiltskin," he growled, removing his hook once more. Emma yanked her hand back and held it to her chest. "You and your son, are my passage to getting what I want. And I, a devilishly handsome pirate with a ship made of enchanted wood, am a passage for what you want for your son. We both gain the upper hand in our individual situations by working together." He stuck out his jeweled hand, and Emma stared at it. "Just a shake of my hand is all I need to seal a deal, love."
He wasn't lying to her. Not a single sensation in her body was giving her a sense that he was. She sighed. She really was running out of options. And the more she spent trying to find others, the more she was wasting time on sending her answer. Especially now that she knew the pirate held her letter hostage and not Robin. She bent her head and glanced at the grains of the table.
He was just a pirate. Nothing she couldn't handle. She's been dealing with Regina's black nights for years. If he did anything that would go back on his word, she'd just grab Henry and leave. She could bring up most of Regina's regular trails to memory for her to able to navigate on land without running into them. But they would need to steal horses, food, and other supplies to travel to the palace safely, bringing up the chances that hers and Henry's faces would grace wanted posters in the kingdom. Which, of course would make things all the more difficult.
She licked her lips and furrowed her brow. His ship was made of enchanted wood did he say? She had no idea what sort of enchantment ran through the boards, but him being a pirate, it probably made it sail faster, which would mean that she would get to the palace in no time, and spend so little of it with him. The deal didn't sound that bad but she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was making a deal with Rumplestiltskin himself. Hopefully, the pirate didn't have any magic up his sleeves.
She looked up at him, keeping her chin tucked in. "You will get Henry and me to the castle safely?"
Hook straightened his back and gave her a small, simple smile. "I will do everything in my power to see to it that you do."
Emma's hand went forward, shaky at first. What would she tell Robin? Could she even trust this pirate? Before she could clasp her hand around his, she faltered, pulling her hand back ever so slightly. It was all for Henry, but like when she first met Robin, she couldn't bring herself to trust the nightmare in front of her.
"Do yourself a favor, darling, and trust me."
Emma bit her lip. For Henry.
She took his hand and shook it.
And as if it wasn't bad enough, he twisted his wrist so that her knuckles faced him, and he planted the most sexually empowered kiss she had every experienced upon her knuckles, with that wolf's grin smacked back into place. He stared up at her, too blue eyes framed by kohl and long dark eyelashes. She felt her cheek flare; it's the whiskey, she reminded herself. He watched her as she gulped and as her breath hitched, before grazing her knuckles with his teeth. She immediately tried to pull her hand back, but he kept a firm grip on it, and all she succeeded in doing was bringing him closer to her. He gave her a once over and whispered to her "You won't regret this at all, Lady Swan."
He released her and left the tavern.
Review please!