Run. Run. Breathe. Keep running.

Emma's mind was on overdrive as her mantra repeated itself over and over, a constant reminder of the mission at hand.

Run. Find him, then run some more.

Inwardly she cursed the stupid pirate for getting them into this mess, but she also knew that she didn't have to come back for him. She tried not to analyze this particular revelation and instead concentrated on evening her breathing as she careened around another bend in the trees, hearing a loud crashing noise coming from a few feet in front of her.

She kept her pace, and broke through the treeline to see him on the beach, standing nearly toe to toe with the thing (she wasn't sure what to call it, but it was enormous and had fangs, so thing seemed as good as any name). She skidded to a stop, the noise of her sudden arrival causing both Hook and the beast to snap their heads in her direction. She froze, and saw his eyes widen as he cursed.

"Hook!" She called, relief lacing her voice, and she watched as he took his eyes off of her and lunged for the beast, who let out an ear-splitting roar.

"Bit busy just now, Swan!" His voice sounded strained, and she could tell even from her distance away from him that his jaw was clenched tight.

Seeing the struggle grow increasingly one-sided, she leapt into action, running to Hook's side and pulling out her sword, watching as he grit his teeth and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "I thought I told you to get as far away from here as possible," he practically growled, taking another lunge at the beast.

"When have I ever listened to you?" She snapped. At the same time, they both saw an opening, and without words, they both lunged forwards, their swords striking and sinking deep into the beast's neck. Emma watched in morbid fascination as the thingswayed on its feet, before starting to collapse.

"Swan!" Hook's voice ripped her from her thoughts and she would have been crushed to death if he hadn't swooped in at the last second and tugged hard on her hand, causing her to fling herself out of harm's way. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted, leaping to his feet.

"Saving your life!" She shouted back, slowly getting to her feet before wincing and sinking back down to the sand as her ankle gave out from beneath her.

His gaze softened as he took her in, hair tousled from the wind (and all the running), and watched for a moment as she rubbed her ankle which was already beginning to swell. "Bloody stubborn woman…" he muttered before sinking to his knees next to her, knocking her hands away. "Let me." He pulled a scarf out of seemingly nowhere and began to wrap her ankle tightly. "You should have stayed in camp."

"And let the only one who knows how to get us off this island get eaten alive? I don't think so," Emma scoffed.

His hook dug into the sand near her leg, and he let out a growl of frustration. "You could have been killed."

"So could you."

He met her gaze then, his eyes a stormy blue rather than their usual piercing ice blue. "You finally get your son back and then you just run headfirst into trouble, is that it?" He sounded angry, his rage a silent, yet palpable thing between them.

"How dare you," Emma hissed, struggling to get to her feet despite the shooting pains in her ankle, "You know what? Next time you're facing off thirty foot monsters, I'll just let you handle it." She limped away as fast as she could, until she walked into a divot in the sand and lost her balance, falling to the ground. She stayed curled there for a second until she heard him sigh and make his way over to her.

"Swan…"

"Don't touch me." She was horrified to realize she was close to crying, and he seemed to be as well, if the wide-eyed look on his face was any indication.

"Emma—"

"Just… just leave it!"

"Stop moving, you're going to make it worse."

"I don't care!" She let out a sob and angrily wiped her hand across her face, trying to rid herself of all evidence of tears. "Look, I'm sorry for trying to help you, is that what want to hear?" He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but shut it as she kept plowing ahead, the words spilling out of her before she had a chance to think about them. "I have lost too many people in my life and I was not going to add you to the list, so suck it up and show some damned gratitude, you stupid pirate!"

It was quiet then, and when Emma looked up, she saw him wincing and only then did she notice that he had been clutching his side since she had found him facing down that beast. "Hook," she said slowly, "move your arm."

"It's nothing," he murmured, still looking at her with an intensity that she was starting to see more and more of but didn't want to think about too closely.

Emma struggled to her feet despite his protests and shoved his arm out of the way, revealing a large gash in his side, torn right through layers of leather. "You're hurt."

"It's nothing. A flesh wound," he said lightly, but she poked his wound and heard his sharp intake of breath.

"We need to get back to camp and get this looked at by Regina. She can heal you," Emma said quickly, already unwrapping the scarf from her ankle in order to wrap it around his abdomen instead.

"Swan, stop." He said, pushing her hands away. "The beast got me with it's claws. It's likely it'll have infected me with it's poison as well." He spoke softly, gently, and she wanted to smack him.

"What, I'm supposed to just let you get poisoned?"

"It's a done deal, lass."

"Over my dead body!"

"Emma…" he gritted out warningly, "Just go back to camp. Get your family back to the Jolly. Baelfire can take you home."

Emma's eyes grew wide as she gaped at him. He couldn't possibly think they'd just leave him here, could he? After all they had been through together, after all he had done to help them find Henry. Her shock manifested itself into a laugh, a manic sounding thing even to her own ears, "You're not serious."

"Emma, just go. The venom is going to make me… it's going to make me hallucinate and you and your family don't need to see me like that. It's not worth it."

Emma was embarrassed to acknowledge that fresh tears were welling in her eyes, but honestly, how else was she supposed to feel? He was the reason they had succeeded in retrieving her son from Pan's clutches, and they were close, so close to getting back home, and she… damn it all, she wanted him to come back with them. With her. "You couldn't possibly have thought I'd go along with this, could you?"

He smiled at her, small and sad, and stepped closer to her, causing her heartbeat to speed up, "Of course not, because you're the most infuriatingly maddening… wonderful person I've ever met." His voice was low, and full of emotion that made her throat feel tight. "That's why I asked for reinforcements." He said, and Emma's gaze snapped to his, his eyes full of sadness.

"What are you—" Emma was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her waist. She struggled briefly, until she heard David's voice, and she whirled around, seeing her parents.

They were in on it the entire time. They knew I'd come back for him if we got separated, she thought, and she did start crying then, in earnest. "You son of a bitch!" She yelled at Hook, watching as pain flashed across his face as her father tried to drag her away. "I'm not leaving him here!"

"Emma, we have to." David said pleadingly, "He told us about the dangers of Neverland's creatures, we have to get out of here before he…" He trailed off, not wanting to imagine what Hook was going to go through.

"We can save him!" Emma shouted, and when she looked back at Hook, her heart clenched painfully at the way he was looking at her.

"Emma, please, we have to go." Mary-Margaret was right behind her now, grasping her other arm as they continued to hold her back. Hook was starting to walk away now, and panic rose up in her.

"Killian, please!" She shouted, her voice desperate. He froze in his tracks before turning slowly.

"What… what did you just call me?"

"I… Killian," she breathed, not sure if he could even hear her as the breeze on the beach picked up. She was aware that they had an audience now, the rest of her family and Regina beginning to make their way out of the jungle, clearly having heard the struggle from where they had been waiting.

She heard him curse under his breath before he was striding forward towards her, and she barely registered breaking free of David's arms before she was meeting Killian halfway, launching herself into his arms before she had a chance to think about what she was doing. Their lips crashed together and more tears poured out of her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her so tightly that he nearly lifted her off the ground.

They broke apart, panting for breath. "Emma, I…" he trailed off, trying to catch his breath. "I am trying to protect you, you careless woman." There was a fondness in his voice that she was beginning to realize had always been there when he talked to her, and it only made her cry harder. "I knew that beast wasn't going to give up, that's why I stayed behind, that's why I told you to go… I was trying to do the right thing for once in my miserable life." His voice was hoarse, and cracked on the last part of his sentence.

"Well sorry for ruining your plan, but I believe someone once told me that we make a pretty good team." She said, squeezing his good hand.

He chuckled, but his eyes were still solemn. "Aye, that we do, love." They were quiet, foreheads pressing together, "You really have to go, Emma."

"Stop it."

"Emma." He said firmly, exasperation lining his voice, "Please, just go. I don't trust what this venom is going to do to me. I need to get away from here before it takes over."

"We can help you!" Emma argued.

"Not this time. Take your family and go where it's safe."

"Don't… don't act like you're making some great sacrifice!" Emma yelled in frustration, her hands coming up to shove him in the chest, hard. He stumbled back, eyes wide. "You don't get to make my choices for me!"

"I'm trying to save your life!"

"I didn't ask you to do that! I need… dammit Killian, I need you!"

His gaze softened, "I don't want to hurt you, Emma. I can't guarantee what this is going to do to me."

"Let us help you. Let me help you. Please. I want… I want you to come with us. Back to Storybrooke. I don't want you to leave me." She choked, a single tear streaking down her cheek.

He let out a curse and winced, and she knew the pain must be getting worse. They didn't have much time. She needed to convince him, and she did the only thing she could think of - she kissed him again. This time was slower and full of meaning, and he kissed her back without hesitation, a groan rumbling through his chest.

"What about Bae- Neal?" He asked quietly once they broke apart, looking over her shoulder to where Neal and Henry were standing.

"We'll be fine. He's not what I need anymore. But it doesn't matter if you won't let us fix this."

"Have I told you you're a stubborn one?" He smirked at her, and Emma wanted to jump for joy if this meant what she thought it meant.

"A time or two, and don't think I've forgotten."

Killian smiled at her, a real, genuine smile, and she couldn't contain the grin that spread across her face. "Let's go home." She said, and laced their fingers together before tugging him towards where the rest of their party was waiting.

"Regina, can you…"

"Yes, yes, after all that, let's get on with it. I'd like to get back to Storybrooke sometime in this century."

Killian and Emma shared a glance before Emma moved away to let Regina tend to his wound. "I can heal the wound, but the venom is already in his bloodstream. He'll live, but he's going to have to deal with the effects."

"N-no… there's got to be something more you can do." Emma said stubbornly.

"She's right, love. I'm going to have to deal with this. I would prefer to do it somewhere far away from you all, but…"

"But nothing. We're going back to the ship and we're going home. We'll get through this."

"Emma, there's not enough time, I feel…" Killian didn't finish his sentence, his vision clouding before he collapsed, Emma's arms barely managing to break his fall.

Killian Jones was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming because he felt warm, and more content than he could remember feeling in all his three hundred years. A tickle on his arm caused him to open his eyes, and he realized with a shock that he was back in the captain's quarters on his ship, a blonde beauty sleeping on the chair next to his bed, her hair spilling onto his arm and her hand tightly holding his. Yes, he was definitely dreaming.

He shut his eyes tight and re-opened them, but nothing changed. Perhaps he was awake after all? He had no idea how they'd managed to get him back to the ship, but he suspected Regina's magic had something to do with it.

He tried to move, but in doing so, he startled Emma who sat up quickly, nearly knocking heads with him. "Relax, lass, it's just me."

The tension seemed to drain out of her as she looked at him, her eyes large and so, so green as she took him in, quickly standing and moving his shirt upwards so she could check on his wound. "You should sleep," she said quietly, "you need to rest."

"I feel fine," he said gently, marvelling at how much had changed in the last twenty-four hours. "How did I get here?"

"We carried you," she said distractedly, already at work putting fresh bandages on his side.

"I…" his throat was tight with emotion and he didn't quite know where it was coming from. "Thank you." He said finally, pausing in his speech to brush a lock of hair off of her shoulder.

Emma stopped what she was doing and turned to face him, sitting very close to him on his bed. He could feel the warmth radiating off of her and couldn't recall ever wanting someone this much. "You don't have to thank me. I was rescuing you. Returning the favor, you know." He swore he saw her mouth quirking upwards in a smile, but he couldn't be sure.

"I didn't need rescuing," he said indignantly, "I'm not a damsel."

"I rescued you, end of story." She said, mischief gleaming in her eyes, and he was suddenly overcome with all the things he felt for this stubborn, impossibly maddening, beautiful, brave woman.

He leaned forwards slowly, giving her plenty of time to move if she desired to, and, encouraged by her lack of movement, pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her like he would never get to kiss her again, like he was a dying man (which he very nearly had been). Her hands delved into his hair, and he let out a sigh at the feeling of her fingernails raking over his scalp.

This was a lazy, sultry kiss, and it probably bordered on obscene when he gently sucked on her bottom lip before releasing her, keeping his eyes closed. "You stayed with me while I was hallucinating?"

"Of course I did."

"I could have hurt you," he murmured, thumb stroking over her cheek.

She shook her head, "No. You weren't really hallucinating, anyway. It was more like you were having nightmares." They were both quiet as she finished changing his bandages before she turned to face him again, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not just yet, Emma." He said in a rare moment of honesty. He barely remembered what he had dreamt about under in the influence of the venom, but he did remember images of her, bloody from his hook. He shivered at the images presenting themselves in his head, and squeezed her hand.

"What happens when we get back?" She asked, and he had never seen her look so vulnerable.

"I believe that's up to you, wouldn't you say?" He tilted her head upwards so their eyes met. "I'd like to figure it out together, though, if that's okay with you."

Emma's eyes lit up, and he swore to himself that he'd spend the rest of his life trying to get that reaction out of her if she'd let him.

"I think that'd be okay."

He grinned at her. "I knew you couldn't wait to get your hands on me, you saucy thing."

"Shut up," she laughed, a brilliant blush taking over her face. "I'm going to go tell the others you're awake. They've been worried."

He felt his chest tighten at the idea of other people being concerned for his well-being, but tamped it down, smirking at her instead, "Hurry back, love. I think I need a sponge bath."

"You wish!" She snorted, and kissed him gently on the cheek before walking out of the cabin. He chuckled lightly to himself and thanked all the stars he could see out of his window that he had found her, a new reason to live again.

My heart was hiding in a cage
Keep it far away from anything that would shake it
Oh fear, it was my closest friend,
It would paralyze me every time that I started tryin'
That's where you came in

Have I ever told you
That you're my blood and my bones
Thought I'd never find you
You're the reason I'm home