Episode 3x01

"Faith"

Personally, Hook was glad to no longer be in the company of Rumplestiltskin—or Gold, as the others now called him. While he did not necessarily like the idea of the crocodile being at large somewhere in Neverland, at least they would not have to suffer his presence or cooperate with him directly.

But the Dark One's departure seemed to disturb the others, as though they had been counting on him to be a key part of this collaboration. Evidently, they relied on him for help on a somewhat regular basis.

When Hook saw Emma go belowdecks, he decided to follow. She was clearly having a hard time. In the past day, her former lover—perhaps her first love—had died, and her son had been kidnapped. Then, at the very time when they should have been plucking up their courage and determination, Rumplestiltskin had seen fit to tear apart her entire worldview, to shake her confidence rather than boost it.

The annoying thing for Hook was that some of the things Gold had said aligned with his own thoughts and perceptions of Emma. He knew she had a difficult time with trust, and faith was very similar, if not exactly the same. They were both forms of belief, and belief was essential to survival in Neverland.

But physical weapons would also help. So after a brief word of encouragement, Hook pulled out something that had long lain hidden away: the cutlass that Baelfire had used during his time on the Jolly Roger. Emma accepted it, along with a drink from his flask, which he raised in a toast to the newly departed man.

Hook figured this might be the last moment of peace and privacy they had before the real adventure began. So he sat down on the bench opposite Emma.

It was not lost on Hook that this was their first time sitting together and having a conversation, not just exchanging barbs or planning an escapade. It was not the way he would have liked to share a drink with her. Neal's memory hung between them like the presence of a third person. It was strange to think that they had both known him, but at such different times in his life, so far removed from each other.

Unsure whether he really wanted to hear the answer, he asked, "Did he suffer?"

Emma's voice was hollow. "I didn't actually see him die. Tamara shot him, and then a bean opened up a portal. I tried to hold on to him, but he said to let him go … because Henry needed at least one of us." Emma hung her head, and Hook was fairly certain he heard self-loathing in her tone. "The last thing Neal said to me was not to let Henry grow up like we did—orphaned, alone. That was his dying wish. And it took me just a few hours to lose him."

"Well, if it's any reassurance," Hook said, "no one grows on Neverland. However long it takes to find your boy, he won't grow up without you."

She finally looked at him, instead of gazing off to the side. "You think it'll take a long time?"

"It depends on what Pan has in store for him, and for us when we get there."

She gave him a look he did not understand, blank and searching at the same time. "Pan," she repeated. "Peter Pan. That's who Gold was talking about, the one we should all be afraid of?"

"Aye. And if the crocodile spoke truly, then he's the one Greg and Tamara were working for, even if they didn't know it. They believed they were getting rid of magic in their world. Pan must have manipulated them into doing his dirty work. Making someone do the opposite of what they think they're doing … seems like just the sort of game he'd play."

Emma's brow furrowed as she tried to understand. "So they weren't trying to steal magic, or reveal it to the rest of the world? They just wanted to destroy it?"

"Aye. They seemed to think magic didn't belong in their world." Hook tapped his flask against his knee, remembering. "That woman, Tamara … she said they were believers, that they had 'faith in the sacredness' of their cause. That's why they would go to any lengths."

"I guess that's one reason why I don't believe easily," Emma said, her hardness and bitterness returning. "It makes people do insane things. Even things that hurt themselves and other people. It's put Henry in danger before, more than once. I almost couldn't save him." She shook her head incredulously. "He believes in me way more than he should."

"Has he ever been wrong to believe in you? You said 'almost,' so I assume things worked out."

"Yeah, they did, but they almost didn't. The only time he was really wrong … was when I lied to him. I didn't want him to know what his father had been like. Neal was a thief when I knew him. I told Henry he'd been a hero, because I knew that's the kind of father Henry would want."

That jogged Hook's memory. "He was a hero on one occasion. Right before I met him, he'd been staying with a family in your land, by the name of Darling. The Shadow that brings children to Neverland had been paying them visits, and was going to take this family's sons away. Bae sacrificed himself so they could stay together."

Emma blinked in surprise. "The Darlings? Neal knew them … and saved them from Peter Pan's shadow?"

"Sounds like you're familiar with them."

"I know some versions of their story," Emma muttered before taking another draught. After a few moments of silence, with neither of them looking at each other, she asked a question of her own. "How long was he with you?"

Hook was not even sure. Time worked strangely in Neverland. He knew Baelfire could not have hidden from the Lost Boys for very long, yet it had been long enough for Baelfire to learn how to sail and navigate, and for Hook to grow attached to him.

He settled for, "Long enough for me to know I miss him too."

Their eyes met, but the peaceful moment was broken when they heard, and felt, something crashing against the hull of the ship.

Suddenly, each of the Jolly Roger's new passengers was trying a different line of defense: David availed himself of the cannon; Snow and Emma threw a net into the water; and Regina conjured fire to scare off the mermaids.

Despite the fact that it was Hook's ship, and he was the only one there who had firsthand knowledge of the realm they were entering, no one so much as asked for his opinion, let alone permission.

As he strained against the wheel, striving to keep the ship steady, all he could think was, What do these landlubbers think they're doing?

Snow and Emma managed to drag a mermaid up with the net, but that only set off a round of arguments, as if they did not have enough things to disagree about already.

It seemed that Regina could be counted on to make things worse. As soon as she turned the mermaid to wood, the ocean rose up before them in a wave as tall and treacherous as a mountain.

"Undo it!" Hook hollered at Regina. "Put her back in the water!"

Regina complied, but the storm raged on.

Emma managed to grapple her way to the helm, and held the wheel alongside Hook. Under different circumstances, he might have welcomed her company there, but they were too close to entering a watery grave for him to think much of it.

Regina and Snow began shouting at each other, and the next thing anyone knew, they were exchanging physical blows. The prince stepped forward to intervene, but Hook pulled him back, thinking it better not to come between two women who had such an infamously bitter rivalry. But his poor choice of words prompted the prince to turn on him. It seemed David chose that moment to vent all his fury that had built up toward the pirate. Hook acted on his instinct to defend himself, and neither of them held back.

They could only dimly hear Emma's words through the wind and waves. It was actually their end that caught Hook's attention, as well as the way the ship's movement changed when she left the wheel. When they glanced her way, they saw her stand on the railing, turn around, and gracefully dive into the raging waters.

Hook had seen many strange and incredible things in his life, but he had never witnessed anyone deliberately jump overboard in a storm. Was the Swan girl actually mad?

While her parents were understandably panicked, Hook's mind went into emergency mode. He had seen many a crewman fall overboard, and he knew how to rescue them safely. He stopped David from following immediately and handed him a rope to tie around himself. Once the prince found his daughter in the water, the others had to work together to pull them back on board.

For a moment, Emma's parents held her between the two of them, while Regina and Hook watched in suspense. Had Emma Swan, the powerful woman whose life had been so maddeningly tangled up with theirs, just died?

When she finally coughed up water, Hook felt more relief than he had expected—more, perhaps, than he had a right to feel. She could not move right away, but her eyes flickered up to the sky above them, where the clouds were parting to reveal the full moon and stars. The waves, too, had calmed around the ship.

"I told you," Emma breathed. That was what she had been yelling about, the warning they had neglected to heed: the storm conjured by the mermaid had been fueled by their discord.

She had risked her life because she knew they needed to cooperate in order for the storm to calm. Like Henry, she had put herself in harm's way trusting that her parents would save her.

Despite his annoyance and consternation at her recklessness, Hook was satisfied to see that the Dark One had been wrong about her. She had taken a leap of faith—and it had been rewarded.

Hook directed the worried parents to a storage compartment full of blankets and other necessities. While they tended to Emma, he pulled Jolly Roger into harbor and let down the anchor. Regina followed him as he assessed the storm's damage to the ship, which she said she could repair with her magic.

The fact that they had already been dealt such damage was not encouraging to Hook. They had already nearly died simply trying to get to the island. And they had every reason to believe that their actual mission, finding and rescuing Henry, would be even more difficult.

After drying off and wresting herself away from her parents, Emma reappeared and asked what their next move should be. Pleased to finally be asked for guidance, Hook replied, "I suggest we make shore. My ship is out of shape, and if we remain on board, Pan will only try to prevent us from reaching the island itself."

It was a short ride by rowboat, with Hook and David rowing. But the moment they set foot on land, the bickering seemed about to begin again.

This time, Emma was ready to command their attention, and they were ready to hear her. She was even more intense now than when she had accosted Hook in the diner—perhaps because she had more people to convince, or perhaps because the stakes were higher now.

Despite all the other shifts in circumstance since Captain Hook met Emma Swan, one thing had not changed: her determination to reunite with her son. But this time, she understood that she needed to cooperate with others to reach that goal.

"It's time for all of us to believe—not in magic, but in each other."

Now that was a new tune from her. She had deliberately chosen not to believe in Hook when they scaled the beanstalk together. Was she truly willing to do so now, when her son's very life was on the line?

When she alluded to the history and hatred that existed between some members of their party, Hook could not help interjecting that he did, in fact, fancy her, at least some of the time. She shot him a brief but pointed look, as though to say, Now is not the time.

"We don't need to be friends," she said firmly. "What we need to know is the only way to get Henry back is cooperation."

Regina had the audacity to ask what Emma's particular "skill" was. She did not quite fit the labels she gave to the others—hero, villain, pirate.

Hook could have named a few useful qualities of hers: boldness, cunning, intuition, resourcefulness, tenacity.

Emma looked at her former enemy—her mother's stepmother and her son's adoptive mother—and replied, with no room for doubt, "I'm a mother."

That was something, Hook supposed. Parenthood, and particularly motherhood, was extremely rare in Neverland. And they had three mothers in their little crew.

"And now I'm also your leader," Emma concluded. "So either help me get my son back, or get out of the way."

Maybe her inner princess was coming out, a capacity for leadership inherited from her parents. She was certainly as fierce as any decent captain. Once she had made herself clear, she turned on her heel, drew her sword, and marched into the jungle without a backward glance to see who followed.

David and Snow White came after her at once, with proud and determined expressions on their faces.

As he fell into step, Hook cast a glance at Regina, smiling slightly, as though to say, Shall we? It could be fun.

He knew one thing: if he could not be the one giving orders, there was no one from whom he would rather take orders. As dire as the situation was, he looked forward to seeing how she would do as their leader.


Author's Note: It is unclear what happened to the mermaid, so I came up with my own headcanon.