In the Enchanted Forest...

She wasn't exactly sure what it was that woke her. She felt comfortable, and warm, perhaps for the first time in the weeks she'd been on the road since leaving Storybrooke, and yet she became vaguely aware of the scent of sandalwood, the sound of a heartbeat pumping under her ear. She woke slowly, and it wasn't until she felt a warm weight resting on her backside that she realized the reason her pillow was so warm and firm… was because it wasn't a pillow at all. She blinked the sleep from her eyes quickly, tilting her head up to look at the pirate she was curled up against and drawing in a sharp breath. She was still working out how to disentangle herself before he woke when she felt a sharp pinch on her ass, and her gasp of surprise was met by a low, bemused chuckle. Her eyes flickered down to where his hand was still stroking her butt, before she looked back up at him with righteous indignation, pushing herself up.

Killian's eyes were still closed but there was a wide grin spread across his face, breaking into a laugh when she slapped his hand away and pulled away from him. "Killian!" She growled at him indignantly as he opened his eyes, giving her a wounded look and propping himself up on his elbows.

"What? You're the one who crawled on top of me in the night," he said unapologetically, his eyes raking over her body. Ruby distinctly remembered falling asleep with her back to the pirate.

"I was asleep!" She protested, glaring at him and the way he looked at her, folding her arms over her chest.

"So was I…" he shrugged, smiling in that devilish way that made Ruby want to throw her panties across the room. Stupid pirate bastard. "Well what were you expecting when you climbed into bed with a pirate?"

Ruby pursed her lips. "I thought you were supposed to be in love with Emma?" She demanded, that was the rumor she'd heard going around before she'd left the others.

"You mean the woman I'm never going to see again?" He replied with a quirked eyebrow. "You want me to pine away for her for the rest of my life and never glance at any other woman again?"

"I'm sure she'd appreciate it." Ruby rolled her eyes, to which Hook shrugged, looking away slightly.

"I'm sure she would," he could still remember his last words to Emma, his promise to think of her everyday… and her response. It still stung. 'Good,' she'd said, pleased at the thought that he would spend the rest of his life consumed by the thought of a woman who had never even confirmed that she returned his feelings. He looked up towards Ruby. "Maybe she'll always be on my mind… but a man deserves a distraction every now and then, don't you think?"

"A distraction?" Ruby repeated, lifting her eyebrows at him curiously, her eyes flickering down to his bare chest for a few seconds. "So… that's all you want? Something to make you forget?"

"For a little while," Killian confirmed, noting the interest in her eyes at the prospect of a little distraction. "You look like there's something you could stand to forget…"

Ruby pursed her lips, trying and failing to keep her eyes from travelling over his exposed torso. They caught on the long, silver necklace dangling from his throat, glinting in the moonlight just like his too blue eyes. She had noticed that he never seemed to take that thing off, and wondered why exactly. Her tongue slipped out to wet her lower lip, but it was the smug smirk that took hold on his stupidly pretty face that made her roll her eyes again.

"Go back to sleep, pirate." She smacked him in the face with her pillow, before she scooted over to the edge of the bed and laid down on her side, facing away from him. Killian laughed.

"Aw, come on love, not even a kiss? A little heavy petting?" His tone was teasing, but Ruby's eyes snapped open when she felt his hand on her waist, and a growl tore from her throat.

"Get your hand off of me or you're going to need another hook, Killian." There was no humor in her voice, and he seemed to sense that this was no idle threat, pulling his hand back quickly and moving to the other edge of the bed before he was able to settle down again. Ruby smiled to herself as she closed her eyes, it was good to know she could still scare the sass out of a man when necessary.

Back in Storybrooke...

"Wait, wait… you're saying we robbed a knight? For his armor?" Ruby's tone was incredulous but she couldn't help a slight giggle. "That's so bad!"

"You were a very bad girl, love." Killian wiggled his eyebrows at her in amusement, pausing to take a swig of his beer. Over the past few weeks, he had spent an increasing number of nights drinking in the bar with Ruby… well, he drank, she mostly had soda and cleared up the dishes while he regaled her with tales of their time together in the Enchanted Forest. "Well, clearly you know." He gestured to her slightly swollen tummy, already starting to become obvious despite the baggy shirts she wore to hide it. Pretty soon she wouldn't be able to hide it at all.

"Oh, shut up." She scrunched up at her face at him in that adorable way she did when she wanted to tell him off but knew he was right, and Killian smiled despite himself. "You're a bad influence." She chastised him.

"The very worst," Killian muttered more seriously, glancing down and away from her, and Ruby blinked, tilting her head at him slightly, before she rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, I can think of at least half a dozen people who make you look like a puppy dog." She told him pointedly, and Killian scowled at her.

"I've been a pirate for over three hundred years, love. I've done things you can't even contemplate, and if you knew about them, you wouldn't be so quick to take me lightly." He answered, a darkness in his bright eyes that made Ruby frown. She could sometimes forget that he was nearly as old as Rumple; it was easy to imagine that the limping man, with faded hair and lines on his face, was hundreds of years old, preserved by magic, but Killian with his pretty features and blue eyes didn't look his age, and usually, he didn't act it either. It was only times like this, when he let the weight of wasted years show, that she was reminded of his age.

"Maybe you have… but we've all done things we regret. It's what you do now that matters," she smiled sadly, reaching out to cover his hand with her own reassuringly. Killian looked down at her hand, soft and pale, the nails freshly painted with red lacquer, and his gaze moved up her arm slowly, before settling on her lips. He licked his bottom lip, the memory of what it was like to kiss those lips coming to him unbidden. She was all fire, and her kiss scorched like the sun, leaving only ashes in her wake. He resisted the impulse to lean up and kiss her now; she wouldn't want that. She had the one who had left, after all. "Killian, are you even listening to me?"

He looked up to her eyes, startled. He had been watching her lips move, but had failed to hear any of what she was saying. He grinned weakly, and she rolled her eyes. "Sorry, got a bit distracted."

"I was just saying that you've been trying to make amends for the past. That's why you've been helping out with the whole… wicked witch thing, isn't it?" He tilted his head to the side slightly, still a little hesitant about lying to her. In the Enchanted Forest, she had figured out how to tell when he was lying. She had never explained how, but it made him leery of her, even now that she'd forgotten all that.

"It's… certainly a contributing factor," he rubbed the back of his neck, his words tentative.

"Contributing factor? What the hell does that mean?" She frowned at him, giving him a suspicious look. He shrugged in return, giving her a slight smirk before he took a swig of his beer. She blinked at him for a moment, her amusement evaporating. "Are you seriously telling me this whole 'turned over a new leaf' thing, is… it's all some kind of game to get into Emma's pants?" Her words dripped with derision.

"Well, that's a rather sordid way to put it, don't you think?" He scowled, setting down his mug. "I prefer to think of it as… winning the fair lady's heart."

"And what if the 'fair lady's heart' doesn't want to be 'won'? She's a woman, Killian, not a trophy." She sneered as she repeated his words back to her, and Killian shrugged.

"Is there a difference?" He had meant his words to be light-hearted, so the immediate fury on Ruby's face took him by surprise. He didn't even have time to react before she had reached across the bar, seized the half-full mug of beer , and emptied the contents over his head.

"What in Davey Jones' locker?!" Killian bellowed, blinking through the streams of golden ale that trickled down through the sodden mop of his inky black hair. He jumped to his feet, cringing as the icy liquid reached the back of his neck and started to work its way down the collar of his shirt, he glared at Ruby, who was wearing a smug little self-satisfied smirk, arms folded across her chest.

"Difference is, the trophy won't punish you when you act like an ass." She told him defiantly, before she nodded towards the door. "Now get out of my bar, you're making a terrible mess."

Killian ground his teeth together in frustration, meeting her gaze and drawing in a deep breath. After a long moment of staring one another down, he turned on his heel and stomped off down the hallway that connected to the inn to get cleaned up. Bloody woman.