Author's note: OH MY GOD! THE FINALE! I WAS LIKE CRYING AT THE END! CANT WAIT TILL MARCH FOR THE NEW EPISODES!

Chapter 17: Counterproductive

Hook paced around the apartment; he'd been doing so for the last four hours. At this rate, he was going to wear a hole through the shiny wood floors. But that hole would be nothing to the hollow feeling inside.

He had to kill her. And not just that. He had to kidnap Henry. An innocent child. Knowing Cora, whatever she had planned for the lad was not going to be pretty. In fact, he had a pretty good idea of what it was and the very idea made him shudder horribly.

What was he going to do? Half of him wanted to go directly to Emma's parents and tell them everything, but he knew that would only earn him a punch in the face. Not that it wasn't well deserved, of course.

Who could he get to help him? From what Cora had told him, Emma possessed magic that was maybe even stronger than Cora's, but knowing his Swan, she had no idea how to use it.

Regina? That was certainly a possibility, especially when it came to the safety of her son, but who knew what kind of lies Cora had been telling her daughter about him? He wasn't entirely certain that she would even believe him. And besides, Cora would likely be there.

So that left Rumplestilskin. His sworn enemy. The only other person strong enough to stand up to Cora. Wouldn't that be counterproductive though? Going to his enemy for help, when it was his life goal to kill the Crocodile? But for the first time, his need for revenge was overshadowed by something else. Love.

Except why would Rumplestilskin want to help him, especially if there was nothing in it for him? He'd probably rub his hands together with glee at the thought of the pirate's death. But there was the fact that Henry was his grandson. If something were to happen to him, Hook was fairly certain that Baelfire would never forgive him.

Now that was a possibility. But very risky. It wasn't as if Rumplestilskin would welcome him with open arms.

Hook groaned aloud. For the first time, he regretted the fact that he'd made so many enemies. And alliances with the worst people.

Just then, he was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of the door flying open. For a moment, he feared it was Cora, with another malevolent request, but to his surprise it was Emma, looking weirdly shell shocked. Right. He'd forgotten that she had a key.

Hook crossed the room towards her, any thoughts of Cora rushing out the window. "Is everything ok? I thought you'd be with Henry today."

Emma had a faraway expression on her face, seemingly confused that she was in his apartment. "What am I doing here?"

He snickered quietly. "Looks like your subconscious wanted to see me so much it brought you here." But upon noticing the blank look on her face, he immediately grew concerned.

"Funny." She murmured, looking around distractedly.

"Is something wrong?"

"Hmm? What? No." She said curtly.

Hook could tell that she was obviously lying. "You're a terrible liar."

"Well, nothing's wrong." Emma snapped. "I must've been so distracted I ended up here."

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." He said softly. "You can trust me. I think I've proven myself worthy." But seeing that she wasn't budging, he sighed, heading towards the kitchen. Perhaps some coffee (or maybe rum) would get her to spill.

"He has a fiancée." Emma blurted.

Hook froze, almost shattering the mug he was holding. Immediately, his fists curled and he could feel a low growl rise up in his throat. It seemed as though his hatred for the Crocodile had transferred to his son. "What?"

"He has a fiancée." She repeated tonelessly.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Well, don't be." Emma stiffened. "It's not like I care."

"Then why do you look so upset?"

"I'm not."

"Really, now." He raised an eyebrow lazily. "Because I'd beg to differ."

"I don't care." She repeated, sounding very much like a petulant six year old. "It's not like I'm not over him. I am. I'm totally over it."

"Sounds to me like you're not." He walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders. "It's perfectly normal to be upset, love."

"Except that I'm not." Emma argued. "I mean, the asshole that sent me to jail has a tall, gorgeous fiancée with ridiculously straight hair and teeth so white it hits you in the face. But I don't care. How unfair is that? He ruins my life and gets away unscathed."

Hook blinked, for she was ranting so fast that it was practically incoherent. "Listen to me, Emma. Whoever this lass is, you're ten times more wonderful than she is."

"Sure."

"Yes, you are." He responded. "Not many women have bested me, let alone multiple times. But you have. And that makes you special." He stared deep into her eyes, and for a moment he could see her melting. See something stirring inside.

If he wasn't mistaken (and he usually never was), she was falling for him.

She pulled away. "I've gotta go."

Emma paced around her thankfully empty apartment, unable to sit still and finish the mountain of paperwork waiting on the kitchen table. She drummed her fingers on the table's hard surface, and then shot up. Maybe some coffee would help.

Why couldn't she just get over and it and move on? Or at the very least, block it out? 11 years ago, she'd done just that. Stuck all of the painful Neal memories into the back of her mind and let herself go numb. Eventually, she'd mostly forgotten about it, though there was the occasional déjà vu moment. Emma was so good at hiding her emotions that sometimes she forgot she even had emotions.

But now? Now, all she could picture was their entwined hands, the perfect way they fit together. Damn her and her ability to picture things so clearly. It had taken everything she had to maintain her poker face when she'd seen her for the first time. All her strength to keep her voice steady.

God, it was so unfair. Though now Emma knew why Neal had done what he did, it was still so unfair. She was the one who'd taken the blame for his crime, suffered in jail, given up her kid, and he got away scot free, moving on with that stupid woman.

It would be so, so easy to just let go and let herself fall in love with Hook. In fact, she was almost there. It would be the perfect distraction from everything. He'd proven himself worthy, hadn't he? It'd been a little over a month since he'd first arrived and there hadn't been any sign of trouble. If he really was here for some nefarious purpose, wouldn't that have shown already?

Plus, there was the fact that he'd listened patiently to her rant about her problems. And even more surprising, he'd been perfectly sympathetic. There weren't very many people in the world who could do so. Or many people that she was willing to show her weak side to. Shouldn't the fact that she'd subconsciously let him in tell her that Hook was the perfect way to move on?

Her heart. That was what was stopping her. That, and her overarching fear of abandonment and rejection. That was stopping her from talking to her parents very much (and God knew how hard they'd been trying), and now it was stopping her from being with Hook.

Of course, she could always revert back to her old ways of dealing with emotions: lots of alcohol and meaningless sex. It would be so easy to do so. But for the first time, that didn't sound appealing at all. Had the short time in Storybrooke really changed her that much?

Before Emma could contemplate this further, her phone vibrated loudly on the kitchen table. She reached over and scooped it up, and nearly spat out her mouthful of coffee as her eyes scanned the text.

Swan, bee reddie at 11 tomarrow. Wil bee a serprize.

Though there were many errors, she got the gist of the message. Since when did Hook know how to text? But then again, he was pretty resourceful.

A surprise, huh? She thought wryly. Maybe that was just the thing she needed to get Neal out of her mind.

Author's note: Yes, so Neal has a fiancée. But it's NOT Tamara. I hated her so much I cheered when she died, so the fiancée is going to be a made up character named Olivia.