"Stop looking at me like that." Her voice startles him, carrying over from where she stands at the bow of the Jolly Roger, resting her arms on the railing as she looks out to sea. He flinches like a child who has just gotten caught stealing sweets, but she doesn't turn around.
"I wasn't—"
"I can feel you looking at me." She finally faces him then, the faintest hint of a smile quirking her lips but her eyes look solemn. "And it's breaking my heart."
"Just how am I breaking your heart, love?" There is a slight hitch in his voice that he hopes she doesn't catch.
But she does, of course—she always does. For all that she's told him of her past as the cold and careful Lady Mary Crawley, the two of them are so in tune to each other's emotions right now that he wouldn't be surprised if he can read his mind.
"By looking at me like you're never going to see me again."
And there it is. Killian's own heart seems to clench in his chest, the weight of grief and pain threatening to send him plummeting to the depths of the ocean below. He crosses to her, his brow furrowing as she turns away, her eyes trained on the horizon. "I know we're getting closer," she says quietly, "I know that sooner or later we're going to have to face all of this—Regina, the Dark One, everything. But I can't have you looking at me like that."
He wraps his arms around her waist, standing behind her as the gentle sea breeze tickles their faces. His head drops into the crook of her neck, closing his eyes as he breathes in deeply, memorizing the scent of her, the feel of his arms around her. She leans into him, a soft sigh escaping her mouth as he whispers against her neck. "I'm sorry."
"Whatever happens, we face it together, right?"
"Aye, love."
"Good. I don't want to see you looking at me like that again. Not yet, anyway."
"And how shall I look at you?"
"Like everything's going to be all right, even if it isn't. Like you love me."
He grins against her skin, kissing her neck. "That, I think I can do."