Emma stood watching as Hook barked orders at his crew. Some were to stay and watch the ship for him and others such as Smee were to come with them on their journey to Rumplestiltskin's castle. She was leaning up against the mast watching as the men followed orders. She was tired as she hadn't slept well last night; her bottle had suddenly felt too small and she couldn't breathe. So she was grateful for when Hook summoned her out of her bottle in the morning.

"You coming lass?" he called to her. She looked at him and she saw the man from yesterday about to die. She'd been so worried and she wasn't sure why. Sure he was the nicest wisher she had had, but she had had countless masters and mistresses die. Why was he any different? She was going to lose him anyway. He had two wishes left. Emma nodded and sauntered over to the corrugation of men standing off the ship. "Walk next to me love," he told her.

It was late morning so by the time they would reached Rumplestiltskin's castle it would be night. They made their way through the port the place seemed so dead now in the day, without the bustle of noise of drunken men. Emma noticed that Hook purposely avoided the route where they had encountered Blackbeard yesterday. This man saw himself as a villain but she didn't see it. Hook looked down at her when he felt her eyes on him and he smiled, she quickly diverted her gaze. She was not yearning for Captain Hook. Emma Swan did not yearn. But bloody hell did this feel like yearning. No, she corrected herself. She was craving the idea of freedom and he was currently the one who gave her that. Yes, all she wanted was freedom.

"You're awfully quiet today Swan," he said as they were walking through the thick forest on the other side of the port.

"What exactly are you planning of wishing for? I mean we need to check the words are correct,"

"I've decided death would be too kind for the crocodile. I want him to suffer the way I have suffered. I want him to feel the pain, I want him to live with that for the rest of his life," Hook snarled his eyes seem to have lost their sheen, Emma looked at him and for the first time she saw a glimpse of the villain that was Captain Hook. She realised that before now she had only been seeing Killian Jones, he had let her see Killian Jones. "Will my words be misinterpreted?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think so, but sometimes you don't know until the wish has been made,"

"Good job I have two left then isn't it love? That crocodile will pay for his crimes," he smiled a crazed malicious smile, "My end is coming, and it will be so sweet." Emma just nodded, but then opened her mouth and spoke, "I have seen a lot of suffering. I have been the cause of so much suffering. You know how it feels so why would wish such pain on another even your worst enemy?"

"He took my love from me, my Milah. He deserves to suffer. I have waited for this for so long. You cannot talk me out of it Swan. Today I get to skin my crocodile."

"Okay…your wish is my command," muttered Emma.

It was a long silent trek and night found them quicker than they anticipated, Hook looked up at the stars, "Are we nearly there Captain?" asked Smee,

"We should be…Everyone rest here for a moment," he called out to his crew. The men all seemed to sigh with relief. Hook had been driven by his anger and revenge and so had not felt the exhaustion of continuous walk everyone else had. Emma felt tired but she was grateful for the walk, it was the first time her legs had truly been stretched.

"Do you really think we should do this captain, I mean the dark one is…I've dealt with him before and he is powerful. Perhaps we should just turn back and go back to the ship and carry on the way we were."

"Do you have to be such an insufferable coward Mr Smee?"

"I'm sorry Captain. It's just it's the dark one and we only have this genie, and what if her magic fails. We'll all be dead. He'll kill us all,"

"Would you shut up!" Hook snapped. "Gods, I wish you weren't such an insufferable coward." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Emma's eyes were wide and she could do nothing to stop the wish. He'd said the words she had to grant the wish. With a blink of her green eyes it was done. "Now look what you've made me do!" he shouted as he grabbed Smee by the shirt and traced his Hook carefully down the man's face. Smee didn't finch or recoil as he once would have done. "You are lucky I don't kill you here and now."

"Sorry Captain," muttered Smee. Hook pushed the man away and watched as he fell to the floor then walked away from the think enclave of trees and his men. He walked to a small clearing where he could clearly see the stars. Emma followed him.

He stood his hook in hand and was rubbing it nervously as he looked up at the stars. "That fool. I only have one wish left." He didn't even kill him. He would have killed him before…before Emma. Why couldn't he just kill him? Was Captain Hook going soft?

"I'm sorry,"

"It's not your fault lass. I just," he ran his hand through his hair and Emma followed his hand and wondered what it would be like to run her hands through it. "I just … this journey shouldn't be taking this long," he muttered. Emma stood by his side and looked up at the stars but her mind was cast back to their time on the boat when he taught her how to navigate by the stars. "He's not exactly going to make the journey to his castle easy is he?"

"I just wish," but Hook quickly caught himself before he finished that sentence and made the same mistake twice. "I mean, I want us to be there. I expected us to be there by now. I have dreamt of this moment and waited for this moment for so long,"

"We'll get there sooner or later. If we need any help you've always got a…,"she trailed off.

"Aye, I did have a wish to spare. But that coward made me waste it on him," he sighed annoyed.

"My turn to ask a question," Emma said, her green eyes still locked onto the stars. She wanted to cherish these moments, cherish them before they all became memories. She wanted them to be good memories. "If you had already achieved your revenge, what would you have wished for?"

"I…" Hook began to speak but he paused to think. He wondered why she would ask such a question as if to rub it in his face that he had only one wish. She was asking him in hope to find what he truly wanted, and highlight to him there was more to his life than revenge. "In this hypothetical universe do I have three wishes?"

"Yes,"

"I think I'd go for, gold a lot of gold as number one. Then secretly, I'd ask for, I'd want my heart mended, I mean for it to be less broken for it to hurt less, not to feel the pain."

"If it's broken it means it still works," Emma said, "There's a possibility that it'll work again. Someone once told me that believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing and that all happy endings start with hope."

"Who said that?"

"A bandit I met in my thieving days. Sometimes my thieving days seem only a couple weeks ago and other times they seem like hundred of years."

"Then I'd want hope. My second would be for hope,"

"So what would your third wish be?"

"I don't know," he answered but he did know. Because in that moment he knew that he would wish her free. This amazing woman deserved freedom and if he didn't have his revenge to think of he would wish her free. She deserved a happy ending. "How about you?" he asked, "What would you wish for?"

"I'd wish for my freedom from being a genie. I'd wish for my son to know that I gave him up so he could have his best chance and that it wasn't because I didn't want him like my parents didn't want me. And I'd wish for hope."

"You have a son?"

"Yes," nodded Emma. Hook looked at her and realised they understood each other they had both lost so much, they were both so alone. "Maybe your parents did want you lass. Maybe circumstance meant they lost you,"

"I was found by the side of a forest path. They'd just left me there. Doesn't sound like they wanted or cared for me. At least I made sure my son would be well-cared for," Emma felt like the moment was getting too intimate and so quickly diverted the conversation; she was revealing too much of herself to this pirate, "Do you think there's a river or something nearby. I could do with a drink." Hook pulled out his flask and offered it to her. She took it from him and unscrewed the cap and let the rum flow down her throat. "Thanks," she said as she handed it back to him. "I'm going to go for a walk. Just summon me back if you need me."

"Don't you want the company?"

"I'll be fine. I'll get some firewood,"

"You think we should stay here for the night?"

"Your crew are exhausted. Let them sleep, and you need to cool down. You still have one wish left you know. Just think up a battle plan around that. Make sure you have a plan B," she told him before walking away. He watched her body sway out of sight. "Be careful Swan," he called out as an afterthought, but he doubted she even heard him.