Episode 3x02
"Knowledge"
Hook understood all too well what Pan was doing by giving Emma a map to his camp. Mind games and manipulations were a delight to the demon-boy. Now that he knew they were on the island, he would toy with them and torment them for as long as he could. And apparently, one way to do that was to get Emma to accept some truth about her identity that she had been denying.
Hook knew that the longer they were in Neverland, the more likely it was that they would all have to face themselves, and each other, before this perilous adventure was over.
Emma finally succeeded in unlocking the map after their failed rescue mission. Only her mother was with her, and the others did not press for details about how she did it, but they knew she must have had some kind of breakthrough or epiphany. She implied as much when Hook passed her his flask in congratulations.
His eyes searched her as he asked what he had wondered for weeks. "Just who are you, Swan?"
Something flickered in her expression, but then she steeled it into her usual hardness. Her reply was cool and sarcastic as she passed the flask back to him. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Hook kept his eyes downcast as he accepted the flask, their hands just barely touching; then he lifted his gaze to hers again. "Perhaps I would."
She held his gaze for a second, though it seemed like much longer. There may have been some emotion in her eyes—fear, or discomfort, or disbelief—but before he could make it out, she looked past him and walked around him. He could only watch her retreating into the jungle.
Still closed off. Still afraid to reveal herself. Still avoiding any kind of intimacy.
It was even more vexing to Hook now than it had been when they first met. Back then, he had prodded her partly for the fun of it, and she had seen him as a threat to those she loved. Now, they had a certain level of trust and respect—enough for her to rely on him in the quest to find her son—yet she still refused to give him her confidence. And he found that he wanted it even more.
He had been trying to figure her out from the moment he met her. He had intuited some details right away, and learned of others gradually over their subsequent encounters. Within the last day, he had heard her describe herself during her early attempts to read the map. But the answers she gave only led to more questions for him, and he found that the more he learned, the more he wanted to know.
The truth was, Hook had not known many women well. Throughout his childhood and magically extended adulthood, he had lived mostly in the company of men and boys. Milah had been a rare exception, and the longest-lasting one. His alliances with other women, like Tinker Bell and Ursula, tended to be brief and shallow, formed out of convenience rather than goodwill, with little or no chance for closeness. Besides those few, Hook's only female companions for many years had been the bar wenches in the ports he visited. Those acquaintances were merely passing affairs and transactions, barely memorable in the grand scheme of his life. They gave him some pleasure to distract him from his sorrows, and he gave them gold and bragging rights for having bedded Captain Hook.
When he finally returned to Rumplestiltskin's realm to exact his revenge, he had met one disarmingly strong woman after another: Belle, Regina, Cora, and then, all at once, Emma Swan, Snow White, Princess Aurora, and Mulan. For a time, it seemed as though Hook had gone from a world of men to a world of women. None of them were his friends, and most of them treated him as an enemy; but spending so much time with them had gradually made him more respectful and appreciative of them, as individuals and as a demographic.
Each woman was outstanding in her own way, but Emma had intrigued him the most. She had a sharpness to her, different from most of the women of that realm. Hook had quickly come to admire her, seeing how clever and courageous she was in the giant's castle. That admiration had never left, even when they faced each other as enemies.
This journey was their first opportunity to spend a prolonged amount of time together, even longer than their journey up the beanstalk. If they had to hike and camp more in the coming days, there might be time to find out more about her, to truly get to know her.
Despite the dangers all about them, Hook was glad they finally had that opportunity. Perhaps they would progress beyond mere quips and flirtations. If nothing else, she could get to know the world where he had spent most of his life.
He had changed his course in order to help Baelfire's family, and he was still resolved to do so. And if this adventure allowed him and Emma to get to know each other better, on equal terms, he might look back on it with gratitude one day—if they did not die in the attempt.