A/N: *rises from the ground like Mushu* I LIVE! Now on to the story, I made this chapter extra long to make up for the long delay and as a thank you for all the amazing reviews I've been getting. A 15 page long thank you to be exact!

Special thanks to my amazing beta Rupunzel215! Who helped me out so much with this chapter.

Chapter 5

The group spent the rest of the day hiking through the forest in an effort to keep Cora off their trail, as they thought of a plan. Emma spent much of that time throwing curious looks in Hook's direction, trying her best to determine what was going on inside of his head. After her announcement earlier, she hadn't known what to expect from him. She wouldn't have minded if he'd been distant with her, because at least then their relationship would have made sense. Wait, no, not their relationship, their business arrangement; because that's all this was, a business arrangement. They each had something the other wanted and they both wanted to get to the same place, nothing more.

Emma glanced at him again and bit her lip as she thought. The moment they'd gotten back she'd noticed a change in him. He no longer even attempted to wear the mask of the charming and flirty pirate. Not that there hadn't been brief moments where he'd thrown a smirk or a quip her way, but those were few and far between and only if they were away from the group. In fact, he'd outright refused to deal with the other three women at all. If he had a question or he wanted something he spoke to her, otherwise he walked a few paces ahead of her in silence. Actually, now that she thought about it from his perspective, it made a weird kind of sense. The rest of their party hated him, and he had to be on constant guard around them. But he had a deal with her, and he knew she wasn't about to try anything where he was concerned. She must have proven her 'loyalty' to him the moment she'd told him about the favor she owed Gold.

Which was both a good and a bad thing.

Good because it meant that while she might not trust him, he did hold some kind of trust for her. And bad because having him focus solely on her, without a buffer, did horrible things to her self-control. The amount of attraction she felt for him was bordering on the ridiculous and it needed to stop. He was not the guy to have a fling with, and he certainly wasn't the guy for a serious relationship. She knew how it would end; life had drilled that hard lesson into her years ago. It would be good for awhile and then, when he got bored, he'd leave her like everyone else, and she would go down in flames. It would be nothing but a repeat of her relationship with Neal, and she knew it. Hell he was Neal 2.0 and she refused to let that happen, not again, no matter how drawn to him she was.

Finally, as the sun began to set, and the light faded, they stopped for the night and set up camp. The clearing they chose was surrounded by large, tightly packed trees that would shelter them from both the elements and the sight of anyone passing by. Once finished, they all moved off to their separate tasks. Aurora, who hadn't been sleeping well, was the first to lie down and she quickly fell into a sound slumber. Then Mulan headed out into the woods to forage for some food, and Mary Margaret headed off to find water. That left Emma to 'guard' the camp with the still-pensive pirate and she decided to end this current bout of silence between them. They needed a strategy for getting home and not talking wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"You know, when men like you get this quiet for this long, I start to get worried," she said, walking over to stand near him with her arms folded.

"Know many men like me, do you Emma?" Killian looked up at her for the first time in what must have been hours, and the quirk of his eyebrow was almost incredulous. Thankfully, he looked more amused by her interruption of his thoughts than anything else, and she noted the way he fiddled with something attached to a necklace.

"I've meet my fair share," she snorted in derision, and he raised an eyebrow at her expression. "You're not as original as you'd like to think, Hook."

"My name is Killian, lass." corrected her, and she frowned at him. "You didn't have a problem saying it in the giant's castle when you left and yet, for some reason, we're back to Hook now."

"I felt it was warranted at the time," she said simply, ignoring the way her heart jumped into her throat at the piercing look in his eyes.

"And it's not now?" he asked, and she could tell he was frustrated with her attitude when all she gave him an indifferent shrug. After a brief search of her face he sighed and seemed to decide to move on. But she knew him well enough now to realize this conversation was going to come back up when she least expected it. "So do tell Swan, how would an innocent young girl such as yourself, come across such rough company so frequently?"

"Well that's rich coming from Captain 'I'm always a gentleman' Hook," Emma snorted at his attempt to wind her up. She then put her hands in the pockets of her jacket, relaxing slightly now that he was at least acting somewhat normal. He wasn't picking a fight exactly but his was trying to annoy her, and it made sense after she shut him down about his name. "In answer to your question, yes I have. You tend to come across the dregs of society when you work as a bounty hunter for five years."

He stopped his fiddling and sat up at little straighter, looking at her differently now. He seemed both impressed and intrigued by this latest tidbit about her past. "That wasn't something I was expecting."

"Yeah, well, there's a lot about this open book you don't know, Hook." She walked over to the tree across from him and slid down to the base. Then she made herself comfortable under his speculative gaze before continuing. "So, what exactly is your plan for Cora? Or is this one of those; step one: be sulky, step two: I don't know, step three: we go home kinda things?"

"I'm not sulky."

Emma rolled her eyes; this was one of his more frustrating habits. He'd pick one part of her question and ignore the part he didn't want to answer. She knew she had a tendency to do the same, but it didn't make the tactic any less irritating to deal with. She refused to go tit for tat with him, not over this. She needed to know what was going on, and exactly how prepared she should be.

"Stop it and answer the question," she said folding her arms again, her legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles. "How are we going to get the wardrobe ashes from the most powerful person in this crazy-ass place and open a portal home?"

Hook eyed her for a moment before he reclined back against his tree as well. With one of his legs bent and the other outstretched before him, she was struck by the surreal knowledge that, sitting like this, they looked like two friends having a conversation. He definitely seemed more relaxed, and the knowledge that he felt he could act this way around her sent a tingle of warmth down her spine. It was a reaction she did her best to ignore.

"We're not," he said as he began to fiddle with the thing in his hand again, and she realized the action must have been unconscious, a nervous tick. Which meant she probably wasn't going to like what he had to say. "I've no idea how the magic's supposed to work, and I highly doubt any of you do either. That's why we need Cora to open the portal."

Emma's utter disbelief almost choked her, and it distracted her from asking about the strange habit. "Oh and she's just gonna … open it and then let us go through is she? Hook, that isn't a plan, it's an idea and not a very well thought out one. Please tell me there's more to it or we're screwed."

"Cynical," he drawled and made a tsking sound, dismissing her like she was a young child. "My plan will work."

Emma tilted her head, "Mm-hm, so where exactly are my group and I in this insane strategy of yours, O Great Mastermind?"

"Love, while I'm flattered that you think so highly of me," he teased with a boyish smile. In response Emma groaned and placed her head in her hands as she tried and failed to hide her amusement. "I must ask that you trust me."

"Trust you huh?" Emma responded dryly, dropping her hands and then very pointedly looking from her bracer to him and back. "Yeah, I'll get right on that."

In response he laughed, and she was instantly struck by the warmth in that sound. This wasn't the hollow, mocking sound she'd grown used to hearing from him and for a moment even he seemed surprised by it. Then he shook his head and opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off when the movement of his hand caught her attention again. "What are you doing, what is that?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Hook asked genuinely confused by the question.

"That," she nodded at his hand. He looked down at it and seemed surprised by the fact that he was even holding anything, let alone playing with it. Then she gasped in horror as he held the necklace before him, allowing her to see it clearly for the first time. "That's the giant's! How the hell did you get it?!"

His eyes snapped up to her and then he rolled them, "A pirate always takes reminders of their conquests. So I took this." Emma's eyebrows furrowed as both disgust and anger welled up inside her and he sighed in response. "I filched it off him when he let me go. I didn't kill him. I know that's what you were thinking, don't deny it. "

Emma pursed her lips, but didn't get a chance to respond because frantic yells of "Snow" cut through the stillness of the night. Instantly both of them were on their feet, back to back, with their swords drawn as they tried to pinpoint the source of the yelling. It took them less than half a second to locate the now awake and frantic young princess on the other side of the clearing. Quickly both of them moved to her side, though for entirely different reasons.

"Aurora, are you okay? What's wrong?" Emma asked as she tried to calm the panicked girl. Aurora didn't seem to hear her, and she continued to whimper and cry out as Mary Margaret came running out of the trees to also crouch down beside the young woman.

"Would you shut her up!" Hook hissed and Emma turned to glare at him as Aurora, shocked out of her panic by his outburst, breathed heavily trying to control herself. He returned Emma's glare with equal ferocity. "What? Do you want her to bring the ogres down on our heads?"

"It's okay, you're safe, it was just a nightmare," Mary Margaret said as she caught Emma's eye and then looked pointedly at Hook before turned back to Aurora, stroking her hair. The message was clear: he seems to tolerate you so you deal with him. Well, at least Mary Margaret seemed to have come to terms with the fact that she was an adult that could fight her own battles.

Emma rolled her eyes with a sigh before standing and rounding on him. His stance shifted and she could tell that he was prepared to fight with her over this. They would have fought over it, had Aurora's next sentence not frozen her cold. "No, this time was different. There was a little boy. He-he put out the fire, he talked to me."

"A little boy," Mary Margaret asked slowly, almost reluctantly. She and Emma both knew instinctively who the boy was. Emma watched as Hook's tense posture loosened and his eyebrows rose as he took in the expression of utter dread on her face. He looked back and forth between her and Aurora, and quickly grasped what her heart knew but her mind was screaming at her could not be true.

"What did he say?" Emma finally said getting the words out around the lump in her throat, still refusing to look at the younger woman.

"He said his name was Henry." The silence that followed the statement was impressive considering they were in the middle of a forest. Then, as soon as her brain started functioning again, Emma quickly rifled through her pockets, her movements jerky and panicked, searching for the one thing that could prove that this nightmare was indeed happening. Finally, ignoring the interested and slightly concerned gaze that Hook was sending her, she found it and spun to crouch down in front of the young princess.

"The boy you saw in your dream, is that him?!" Emma asked, doing a poor job controlling the panic in her voice as she held the picture in front of Aurora. Henry had given it too her two days before she'd broken the curse. He'd wanted her to put it in her wallet like all the other parents but at the time she hadn't had it. So she'd slipped it into the pocket of her jacket to be put away later. She'd almost completely forgotten about its existence in the insanity that followed.

Aurora took the small square and, after staring at in fascination for a moment, she looked back at them, "Yes, this is Henry."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Mary Margaret stood and walked away to the opposite side of the clearing. The action unintentionally left Emma alone to deal with this latest horror and she felt the loss of support acutely. Almost as soon as the emotion came she pushed it away; her issues were not what was important at the moment, not by a long shot. "That's impossible, it was a dream. How could you dream about my son?"

Aurora looked both confused and sympathetic. "I have no idea."

"Maybe it wasn't a dream," Mary Margaret said, answering for the princess. She stood a few feet away and Hook stood slightly behind her, watching the proceedings with an unreadable expression. A part of her wanted to know what he was thinking, and how this conversation was being worked into his plans. But a large more incessant part wanted to know what the hell her friend was talking about.

"What?" Emma hissed, standing to face her. The idea that Aurora could be dreaming about her son was panic inducing enough, the concept that it might not actually be a dream at all was flat-out terrifying.

"That room," Mary Margaret hesitated, before taking a deep breath and continuing. If Emma hadn't been so upset she might have felt bad about forcing the other woman to relive a clearly traumatic experience. "I've been there."

Aurora's reaction was instant, and angry, "When I told you about it, you didn't say anything."

"You were terrified," Mary Margaret tried to reason. "I didn't want to make things worse by telling you I thought it might be real."

"A room in a dream is real?" Mulan asked, and Emma wasn't quite sure when she'd gotten there but it was clear she didn't believe such a thing was even remotely possible.

"I've heard of stranger things," Hook said finally speaking up, and Emma looked over at him to find that he was watching her. There was something about the fascinated look on his face that put her on edge. "Is there something that might link them together?"

"The sleeping curse." Mary Margaret answered, almost reluctantly, after a brief glance in his direction. "It has to be, I went through it, Aurora went through it-"

"Henry's been through it, because I wouldn't believe him." Emma said, and she could feel the beginnings of tears in her eyes as her heart sank. This was all her fault. Her ten year old son was living in a burning hellish nightmare night after night, and it was all her fault. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hook take a small step towards her but didn't know or care why. He was probably ecstatic about all the new information he was going to be able to use against her at some point.

"Emma…" her friend breathed sympathetically. Mary Margaret moved as if to comfort her, but Aurora beat her to it and pushed past Emma to confront the dark-haired woman.

"What else did you lie about?" she snapped, and it was clear that she was thinking about more than just the dream. Emma realized distantly that she was probably thinking about what had happened to Philip, though she couldn't bring herself to actively care about the younger girl's loss, not when Henry was in danger.

"I-I wasn't lying. I was protecting you," Mary Margaret replied defensively. Emma couldn't say she blamed her for bending the truth. The last thing they needed was for Aurora to have been exhausted and useless because she was afraid to sleep.

"What did he say, Henry, in the dream?" Emma asked trying to refocus the conversation onto what was important, at least important to her.

"He just said his name, and then I woke up. I'm sorry," Aurora replied after a moment's hesitation and she seemed genuinely sorry that she couldn't help further.

"Emma," Mary Margaret said as she moved to rest a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay."

"We are so far from okay!" she snapped back, her eyes flashing angrily as she knocked the woman's hand away. How could she even think that let alone say it? Henry was in danger six ways to Sunday and she was stuck in the middle of the freaking Enchanted Forest with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Mulan, and Captain Fucking Hook. She was not where she needed to be, and definitely not where she wanted to be. She was letting him down, just like she always knew she would. This was why she'd given him up! She was crap at this parenting thing, and this situation, right here, was just proving it to her.

"No," Mary Margaret replied, trying again as she took a step back and out of hitting range. If Emma hadn't been so lost in her own anger and self-hatred she probably would have notice how everyone but Hook shifted away from her. "We have a way home now."

"We have a compass," Mulan sighed, and Emma's gaze switched to her and she could see that the warrior, if no one else seemed to agree with her that this situation was not okay. "The wardrobe ashes are still with Cora."

"I concur. I'm not seeing how this information, as fascinating as it is, changes things. Cora is still out there, and still very dangerous." Emma's glare slid to him and he cocked an eyebrow at the look, more interested than intimidated by her fury. His reaction confused her, but most of all it calmed her. She realized she was making a spectacle of herself and giving him way too much information about which of her buttons to push and how to push them. He knew how to read between her lines better than anyone she'd ever met.

"Not anymore," Mary Margaret said, glancing quickly back and forth between them. She'd noted the way Emma's demeanor had changed as she looked at him and seemed unsure as to what it meant. "We can stop her."

"How?" Emma asked looking away from his searching blue eyes to her friend's again, now not calm but defiantly collected.

"I don't know, but I know someone who does: Rumplestiltskin. He'll know a way." The second the words were out of Mary Margaret's mouth Emma knew there was going to be trouble, and she was right. Hook was so focused on watching her that it took take him a moment to register what her friend had said; but when it did he stiffened and the very air around them seemed to turn cold.

"I'm sorry, I must have misheard that," he said carefully with an unpleasant sneer on his lips as he moved forward to join them. Emma felt the last of her anger disappear as a shudder ran through her. This wasn't the same kind of panic that had driven her moments ago; it was more controlled and more primal than that. This wasn't emotional, it was physical. The kind of fear ingrained in a person's very bones; the fear of being in the presence of a large, very angry, and very powerful predator. Mulan placed her hand on her sword hilt as Aurora moved behind Emma, away from the pirate, and Mary Margaret stepped back a few paces under his glare. This left Emma, the only one thinking rationally it seemed, to find a way to diffuse the powder keg that was Hook at the moment.

"H-Hook," Mary Margaret said stuttering at first and then pressing forward after a deep breath. She was a queen, after all, and refused to be intimidated by anyone. Emma wanted to grab the woman, pull her away and shake some sense into her. Right now he was not in the frame of mind to be reasoned with, especially when the person doing the reasoning was someone he didn't particularly like. Emma bit her lip, thinking fast as the way Hook tilted his head reminded her very much of a wolf eyeing something it found interesting. "I know you have a vendetta against him but it's our best chance!"

The Queen was stunned into silence again by the unholy light she saw appear in the pirate's gaze in response to her words. He continued to stare and Emma was afraid he'd actually attempt physical harm against her. But thankfully all he did was lean forward and respond, his voice a deadly calm. "I refuse to work with that demonic son of a bitch. We find another way."

His tightly controlled rage was truly something to behold, and disturbingly enough Emma found herself drawn to him even now. He may be virtually threatening their lives, but he looked damn sexy doing it. She, shocked by her own strange thoughts, shook her head, crossed the distance between them, and grabbed his arm, attempting to pull him away before he did bodily harm, something she could see him doing very easily at the moment.

Instantly that malevolent look was transferred to her and in response Emma tilted her head, narrowed her eyes, and pulled at his shoulder again. She wanted to talk to him and there were things she knew he didn't want themto know. He seemed to get the message, and with one more spiteful glare he allowed himself to be pulled away. Thinking quickly, Emma tried to come up with the best way to sell this idea to him. They needed Gold's help in this, and she couldn't allow his vendetta to get in the way of her ride home.

"Listen Hook," she said once they were out of earshot of the others; her voice as calm as she could make it under the circumstances. She noticed the way his shoulders sagged in relief, if only slightly, now that they were alone again. She hoped that meant he was really listening to her. "Gold may be a bastard but he's also really good at the magical know-how."

"I am well aware of his abilities," Hook snorted and his slight hesitation before speaking told her there was more to this than what he was saying. "I know them better than most."

"Well good," she said, and frowned at his demeanor. He seemed more tired and frustrated then angry, when not five seconds ago she'd thought he was going to completely lose it and kill them all. "So you also realize that if anyone knows about a way to defeat Cora, it would be him. Plus, I think it's a little bit of poetic justice that he's unwittingly helping the man who wants to kill him get to Storybrooke, don't you?"

Hook was nonplussed at the idea. "He's the one that made Cora into what she is, Emma. Working with him will do none of us any good. I will notwork with him."

Emma filed that tidbit away for later analysis and closed the distance between them. She made a split decision and gave up on reasoning with someone who was clearly unreasonable. It was time to force him to listen. So, with as much force as possible, she grabbed the lapels of his shirt and roughly pulled his face to hers. He was so surprised by the action that it actually worked and she saw something in his eyes shift as she growled at him. "Listen. I'm not saying we work with him. I'm saying we use him and his knowledge. Don't get me wrong Hook; I don't like the guy anymore than you do. The last time two times I got pulled into his bullshit my son almost died and I ended up stuck here!"

She watched as his brow twitched at the new information and she figured that her revealing her debt to Gold suddenly made even more sense to him. So she decided to comment on it, to let him know that while she might be an open book to him, it was definitely a two way street. "That's exactly why I don't want to speak to the man again, let alone ask him for anything."

"Yet you would still seek his help?" he asked, his voice quieter but still defiant. He moved forward, and the action was probably supposed to be intimidating but, as the tips of their noses brushed in a barely-there Eskimo kiss, her mind quickly moved in an entirely different direction. Emma felt her breath catch as slow fire moved through her veins and the sudden urge to close those scant few inches between them almost overpowered her. For a scary half second, as the warmth of his breath ghosted over her lips and his salty sweet scent invaded her senses, it seemed like a genuinely good idea to kiss him.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind she let him go like she'd been burned, and would have stepped back had he not grabbed her arm and held her in place. She knew instantly she had let go of him too late, and that he'd seen her momentary lapse in control. Now he wasn't willing to let her walk away, not this time. She looked from the hand on her arm to his face and was captured by twin pools of unfathomable blue. She watched them darken as he stared at her, and felt the warmth of his hand slide up her arm to her neck leaving a trail of sparks in its wake. She knew she should be moving, she knew she should be pushing him away, but she found that she was completely unable to find the will to do what she should. Slowly, almost languidly, his fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of her neck and his thumb gently stroked her jaw line as his eyes dropped to her lips. Her mouth opened slightly and her heart sped up as he moved in to close the distance between them. He was going to kiss her, and when he did she would be lost.

Instantly, she crashed back to reality as her self-preservation instinct kicked in and she forcefully knocked his hand away before she back-peddled. The action stunned him and his momentary pause gave her the time she needed to collect herself and reinforce her shields. Still staring straight ahead he took a deep, frustrated breath through his nose and stood up straight before looking at her. Then a determined light entered his eyes, and he took a step toward her, so she quickly deflected by answering his earlier question. She wouldn't let him corner her again, because she knew if he did right now she was going to break. Her emotions were too close to the surface and he was too far under her skin.

"Of course I would. I'd do anything to protect Henry from Cora," she said, her voice growing stronger with each word and it stopped his advance on her. His eyes were incredulous, but that look of determination was still there and she saw the way he clenched his jaw before his expression became flat and neutral again.

"Really now? Anything?" He asked, his voice flat and guarded. She shifted forward again, but only slightly. She was trying to threaten him, not initiate another moment like the one they'd just had. In hindsight, grabbing him that way had been a bone-headed move; of course he would turn it into something it wasn't. In response, he leaned back from the dangerous look in her eye, all thoughts of even attempting to kiss her gone. It was the instinctive reaction of any trained warrior who was facing a dangerous opponent, he was getting better footing.

"Don't get in the way Hook; it's not a good place to stand." From almost kissing to making death threats in less than a minute, that had to be some kind of record for her. He watched her for awhile and she could tell that he was weighing the pros and cons of the situation in his mind.

Finally, he sighed and shook his head, "Do as you will, but know that I will not help you in this."

"Fair enough," Emma said, nodding; she wouldn't want his help with this anyway. Then she turned away to head back to camp, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she went. She was thrilled that she could get even this much of a compromise out of him. Truthfully, at the moment, she didn't care what he did, as long as he wasn't actively trying to be in the way, or trying to kiss her, they were good.

"Your son is a very lucky lad to have such a good mother," he called after her and the quiet words stopped her in her tracks. Everything that had happened, every choice she'd made, since the moment she'd met Neal flashed through her head in an instant.

"No. I'm not," she sighed, throwing the words over her shoulder without thinking and continued to walk away. She didn't look back to see what he thought of that, she didn't need to, it was the truth after all.

O0ooo00o0oo

"But what if-" Emma started again and was quickly cut off by her frustrated mother telling her not to worry. Hook had to bite his lip to hold back his amusement at her antics; she was adorable this way and he didn't use words like adorable often. But alas, there was no better word to describe how he saw her at this moment.

Climbing over a fallen tree, he shook himself both mentally and physically. He needed to stop this; it was getting ridiculous. The amount of time he spent thinking about her and analyzing her was really starting to concern him. It was true that Emma Swan was a beautiful woman, and it was also true that he wanted her; he had from the moment he laid eyes on her. He loved a challenge, and Emma was a challenge wrapped in a puzzle. The combination drew him in like nothing else, and from the moment she'd figured out why he wanted to kill Rumplestiltskin he'd irrevocably switched sides in this game. She'd told him about her lost love and he'd seen in her the same loss he felt daily. She understood him in a way no one ever had, save Milah, and that was a notion he definitely didn't want to consider in the slightest. Not only could he not afford to think about such things, he didn't want to. He wasn't interested in weakness at the moment and that's all she'd be, a weakness and a distraction.

Then there was the fact that she clearly still didn't trust him worth a damn, and while he found it intelligent of her, it was also trying. At this point he wanted her trust, not to use it against her like he'd original planned, but simply because he wanted it. He wanted her as an ally for all he didn't want to entertain certain … ideas about her. Yes, she'd told him about Rumpelstiltskin, but only a fool would think she'd told him because she trusted him, and he was no fool. She'd wanted him to know how the board was set so that he wouldn't turn on her, because she was still convinced he would. So that he wouldn't, as she so aptly put it 'include her in his plans' which was something he had no intention of doing in the first place. The idea that she owed that demon a favor ignited a slow burning rage in the pit of stomach, and the last thing he wanted was for her to be anywhere near the bastard. Really, if he had his way the two would never see one another again.

Hook wondered as he watched her march ahead of him with her head held high, what or rather who had caused her to build such strong walls around herself. Was it the love she thought she once had, who'd hurt her? Had he been the one to break her so irrevocably that those defenses were, given her reaction last night, an instinctual default now? Even her own mother couldn't get beyond them. He wasn't blind; he saw the way she interacted with the older woman, and the distance there. Honestly, after last night, it would seem that the only person to have breached those walls was her son and, though it was utterly ludicrous, he couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of the lad. Then again…

Your son is a very lucky lad to have such a good mother

No, I'm not.

Hook rubbed his forehead roughly with a quiet growl. There he went again, analyzing the woman. This needed to stop! He shook his head and looked away from her back to scowl at the trees around them. She was in his head, especially after their almost kiss, and after seeing exactly how much she wanted him. It was taking vast amounts of his self-control not to walk right up to her and simply take her. Killian Jones was not a man to deny himself the things he wanted. To be honest, the only reason he hadn't at this point was because he didn't want to jeopardize their partnership by pushing her too hard. He needed her trust if his plan was going to succeed, and he knew he'd lose what ground he'd gained if he pushed. Emma was slippery like that, and again he wondered who had broken her. He also wondered if that person was in this Storybrooke so that he could punch them for his troubles.

"We can stop on that rise over there," Snow said from ahead of him and her voice pulled him out of his own head. He nodded, to acknowledge that he'd heard her, but didn't say a word. He had no cause to, the only one here worth his breath was Emma and at the moment she wasn't doing much outside of fretting over her son. He ground his teeth and began to fiddle with his hook; he did not like this plan, not even a little. But Emma was determined and she cared little about his feelings on the matter so he found himself without many options.

It was about an hour later, after they'd set up camp, that Hook finally had enough of sitting and staring at trees. Emma was still too busy pacing back and forth ignoring everyone, including himself, and he was intolerably bored. So he stood up and with a brief comment to Snow, who watched him with no small amount of suspicion, he headed to a small nearby stream to fill his water skein.

"My dear Captain, it seems you have been busy." Hook groaned quietly and capped the water skin as he turned to see Cora standing off to the side of the stream. He had been hoping that he had just a little longer to set his plan into motion before she showed up. As it was, her expression told him he was going to have to do some serious fast-talking to stay in her good graces.

"Hello Cora, lovely to see you again," he said, his coy smile firmly in place as he fought the instinct to run in the opposite direction, and instead sauntered over to her.

She was unimpressed by his charm, not that it was all that surprising. "Where's the compass?"

"Aha, yes that," he said, having to fight to keep his mask in place. "I'm in the process of obtaining it actually. I just need more time to enact my plan; the details are a bit of a bore. But rest assured I'll bring it to you."

"Really," she chuckled, and the look of disbelief on her face told him his charm offensive was failing badly. "Stealing my protection spell and climbing the … beanstalk without me might seem a bit of a bore to you. But to me, it's a betrayal."

Hook wanted to laugh outright at that statement, and the way her voice caught on the very idea of climbing the beanstalk. No, if he hadn't gone to Emma and her little group he would have been climbing that bloody plant and dealing with the giant all on his own. This was why Emma had turned on him, because even though it had been the truth, he himself hadn't believed it, so neither had she. Pushing his bitterness aside at the idea, he tried to calm the situation. "I was going to bring it to you. Our agreement remains, we are going to Storybrooke together. I'll get the trinket."

"And what exactly are you waiting for?" She took two steps forward and he felt his breath catch in his throat as a tremor passed through him and he could feel a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck. Cora was not a woman to be underestimated or taken lightly; only a fool wouldn't be terrified of her and she had taught him that lesson well in Wonderland. "You've been back with them for over a day and a half now. If you were honestly working with me you would have it, why do you not?"

"It's part of my plan, a bit of a divide and conquer. Once I'm done they won't be a problem anymore," he said reasonably, "Then you can open the portal without the threat of them intervening."

"They weren't a problem to begin with," Cora sighed; she seemed both disappointed and frustrated. "I don't have time for your games. I've crossed through too many worlds to be stopped at the brink of success. What makes you think you can separate them to begin with? I know Snow White; she'd never allow that to happen."

"The Swan girl – Emma," he said correcting himself without thinking and then quickly moved to explain away the mistake when he noticed her eyes widen. He want to hit himself, how could he have slipped like that. Fear was no excuse, "She trusts me, I can use that. I still have to pay her back in kind for her double cross."

"Ah, petty revenge is that what this is really about?" She chuckled and he knew she didn't believe a word of it. Then she tilted her head and eyed him like she saw something. "You chose her, and the consequences of that decision."

"Oh," he breathed, his head moving back slightly. If there was one thing he hated it was being threatened. "Are you going to kill me now? Go ahead. Try."

"So brave," Cora shifted her shoulders and smiled at him like she found him arousing. It made his skin crawl, "No, I'm not going to kill you. I have something far more satisfying in mind. I'm going to leave you here, with your thirst for revenge unquenched; while I continue our journey without you."

"There's no need to be rash," he managed to say around the lump in his throat, he had been afraid of this. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. So with as much charm as possible he moved forward. "We can…discuss this."

"Your pretty face buys you a lot," she said with a smile, then her face turned dark. "But not my time, it's too valuable."

"I can do this, you need me," he tried desperately. He needed her to open the portal and in order for his plan to work he had to be there when she did. "You shouldn't underestimate them, this plan will work."

"I don't need you Captain," she laughed, and it was then that he heard a yell of 'Emma look out' coming from behind him, back from the camp. Spinning around he looked in that direction, through the trees as angry self-deprecation ran through his mind. Of course this had been a setup! Cora would never have come to him, come so close to getting the compass, only to taunt him. She would wait for the perfect opportunity and there wasn't a chance they wouldn't think he had something to do with this, especially Emma. Apparently Cora favored divide and conquer as well. "You had your chance, now it's my turn to do this the right way."

He spun back to look at her, fury etched on every line of his face. He'd worked hard for what little trust Emma had given him, damn it! Now the witch was breaking their agreement and the girls weren't a viable option. "Cora, you cannot leave me here!"

"Oh, but I can," she said as she continued to laugh at him. In a fit of rage he ran at her and tried to skewer her with his hook. The attempt ended how he thought it would, with her disappearing and him face down in the dirt. He lay there for a moment as his plans crumbled around him and he felt a feeling he hadn't since Milah's death: crushing defeat.

Hook only allowed himself to wallow there for a moment before he punched the dirt and pushed himself back up. Standing there, he looked back in the direction of the camp and he could still hear the sounds of fighting. Rolling his eyes, he growled and turned in the opposite direction, he knew where he needed to go. It was time for Plan B. He needed to salvage this mess as best he could; he refused to lose his ride to Storybrooke.

No matter who it was with.

I give you Emma/Killian, and then I take it away. It's kinda my thing. Anyway, this chapter took forever and I re-wrote it like three times. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but I know that if I let myself I'll work on it forever and still not be entirely happy.

Please R&R They make me happy and give you longer chapters!