So this is based on a conversation I had with a Tumblr friend after watching the sneak peek for the upcoming episode Good Form. If you haven't watched it and don't want to be spoiled don't read! As for those of you waiting on my other fics to update I am working on them both, but this plot bunny just sunk its little teeth in and wouldn't let go. Enjoy!
They were settled around the campfire preparing their gear for whatever danger came next. David was tending to his sword while Mary Margaret was inspecting the fletching on her arrows. Regina was finishing up one of the nets they'd been making and Hook was filing his already sharp appendage to a deadly edge. Emma had her own sword out but wasn't able to do more than look it over for nicks - she'd certainly never learned how to sharpen one as a bail bondsperson. Out of the corner of her eye she saw David watching her and turned to look at him, eyebrow raised. He smiled and put aside his own blade, walking over to sit beside her.
"Wanna learn?" he asked quietly, handing her the whetstone that he'd been using along with a polishing cloth.
She stared at them for a moment, hesitant. Then she nodded and reached out for them. He dropped them in her hand and watched a she fumbled with them, trying to figure out how to hold her sword and the whetstone at the same time. He smiled and reached out to cup his hands around hers.
"Here, let me help." He said.
He adjusted her grip on the sword, laying the hilt in her left hand and showing her how to move the stone along the edge so that it sharpened and strengthened the blade. It took a few tries and she tried to ignore the ecstatic smile she could see on her mother's face from across the fire as she worked. When David felt she had the hang of it he let go of her hands and watched her go at it on her own. It was nice, she thought, sitting next to her father and listening to him explain what motions worked best but that most people had to find their own rhythm when caring for a blade. She heard a slight cough from Hook's direction at that comment and glanced over to see him watching them, biting his lip against a smile. She rolled her eyes, understanding immediately that he'd taken the comment to the completely wrong direction. She cocked her head to the side and sighed.
"Why don't you make yourself useful there, go get some more firewood Hook." She said, nodding toward the fire that was starting to burn low. He grinned at her, a slow smile that spread over his face in a knowing way before nodding. He rose laying aside his file and bowed slightly to her.
"As you wish."
A strangled snort from across the fire made them all turn. Mary Margaret had slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise but her shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. Emma caught her mother's eye in confusion and the look she saw there made her cringe. Suddenly memories of Sunday evenings on the couch with ice cream and The Princess Bride flitted through her mind. Of course Mary Margaret would catch the reference, she'd forced Emma to watch the movie often enough that she had started to memorize the lines, something her mother had long ago accomplished. She knew! She knew and she was going to out them, Emma could just see it now. Mentally she prepared herself for the onslaught.
"You alright there princess?" Hook asked in mild concern. He obviously had no idea what was going on and Emma couldn't blame him, but damned if she was going to step into the line of fire before she had to. Let him take the brunt of it.
She watched as Mary Margaret waved a hand in the air, still trying to contain her giggles as she sputtered through her fingers.
"I'm fine it's just - firewood. As you wish. It's just that's my favorite -" the rest of her sentence was drowned out by a fresh wave of giggles and Emma suddenly realized this conversation wasn't going in the direction she'd thought.
Hook's expression of concern had faded to one of bewildered unease. He clearly thought Mary Margaret had lost her mind judging by the way he was looking at her then turning a questioning gaze toward David who just shrugged with small smile playing over his own lips, his own shoulders beginning to tremble with laughter. Emma rolled her eyes at them both and sighed internally at the image of her parents giggling like children but couldn't stop a small grin of her own now that it looked like she might avoid a messy confrontation.
"Well I for one find it inconceivable that you three find this funny." Regina's voice rang out suddenly bringing all mirth to a stop as Emma, David and Mary Margaret looked at each other in surprise.
They all turned toward toward Regina at the same time who was sitting in the midst of her half constructed net with a smirk on her face that said she knew exactly what she'd just done. They all lost it at once, laughter ringing out like bells around the clearing. Hook stood off to the side, wide eyed and worried as he wondered if the madness was catching. Was this some odd plot by Pan? Had he drugged their food or water?
"I don't think that word means what you think it means." Emma was unable to keep herself from saying to Regina through a fit of giggles. This sent both her parents into fresh gales of laughter and Regina even started to chuckle. Who would have guessed that the woman had it in her, Emma thought. This was the most relaxed she'd ever seen Regina and to think it was over something like The Princess Bride.
A low roar sounded distantly in the jungle causing Mary Margaret to gasp suddenly and look over at David with comically wide eyes. She clutched her hands to her chest in mock fear.
"You don't think there are ROUS's in Neverland do you?" she asked with a fake tremble.
"What, rodents of unusual size?" Regina interjected in with a grin. Mary Margaret looked surprised for a moment before sharing a conspiratorial look with her. They each nodded to the other before turning to David who was sputtering with barely contained merriment.
"Don't worry, I don't think they exist." David tried to say it with a serious tone but he failed utterly as Regina started making growling noises at him and Mary Margaret pointed at the underbrush in feigned terror. A bush moved near her, courtesy of Regina's magic and she shouted before jumping onto David's shoulders screeching about it coming to get her. Regina covered her mouth with a hand but her eyes were dancing with amusement as she watched the two. She shared a glance with Emma, the look on her face undeniably one that meant she'd never let them forget this.
"Get back witch!" he yelled, trying to shake her off. Emma's eyes popped open at and she clapped a hand over her mouth as her mother yelled back.
"I'm not a witch I'm your wife!"
Regina lost her own battle against her laughter at that point, collapsing onto the ground and muttering, "Humperdink! Humperdink! Humperdink!" in David's general direction, who pretended to be physically injured at every utterance, flinching at the name and covering his ears.
"What are you four going on about?" Hook shouted. He'd evidently had enough of being the only one not in on the joke, throwing his arms up in the air in exasperation. Silence fell over the group at his outburst. Emma swore she could have heard a pin drop as they all stared at Hook who glared back at them all with a frown, eyebrows raised as he waited for an explanation.
David sighed and stood, putting Mary Margaret back on her feet.
"Well it goes like this." He said clasping his hand in front of him and turning to face the group.
"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam." David imitated in a spot on impersonation of the priest from the movie.
The second the first word was out of David's mouth Emma was already snickering which ended up with her on the ground grasping her side in laughter by the end of it. If they ever got back to Storybrooke Emma promised herself that she'd show Hook the movie. It would be worth it just for the look on his face.
"I'll just go get that wood shall I?" He growled as they all tried to get control of themselves and failed miserably.
"Bloody insane the lot of you." He muttered as he disappeared through the foliage.
"Hook wait!" Emma called through breathless giggles getting to her feet. As fun as it was to tease him she didn't think it was a good idea to off into the jungle alone, not with Pan and the Lost Boys about. She waved her parents off, who were still chortling but looking at her with mild concern.
"He shouldn't go alone, it's dangerous. I'll go get him." She said picking up her sword and taking off after Hook.
He wasn't far ahead of her, he'd slowed his pace after hearing her call and she caught him easily. She stayed back for a while, content to let him work himself out of his bad mood. They walked until they found a small clearing where an old palm had fallen, taking many of the younger trees with it but providing an excellent source of firewood. He made as if to continue on but she reached out grab his arm.
"This looks like a good place Hook."
He turned to her with a sour look and she had to fight down a laugh.
"Oh come on don't look at me like that. You started it." She said.
He looked at her incredulously before leaning down to pick up some of the wood littering the ground. Emma rolled her eyes with a little smile.
"I suppose you want me to let you in on the joke?" She asked mischievously.
"Well it would be nice to know just how exactly I made a fool out of myself love." He muttered.
Shaking her head at him she bent to pick up some stray branched that lay across their path before answering.
"It's not that you made a fool out of yourself per se. It's more that – okay while you were in Storybrooke did anyone tell you what a movie is?" She asked turning to look at him. From the blank look she received in response she gathered the answer to be "No." She huffed a bit and raised her eyes toward the sky. Why her?
"A movie is sort of like, uh what did you guys have – theatre maybe?"
He nodded at that and she smiled. Thank god, she really wasn't up to explaining how a television worked to a 300-year-old pirate who probably thought electricity was really just magic.
"Well it's sort of like that but you watch it in the comfort of your own home through a little box. Don't ask." She said as he opened his mouth to reply, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"Anyway, what you said – the 'As you wish' thing? It's from a movie called The Princess Bride. It's about a farm hand who falls in love with his boss' daughter but then gets killed by pirates, but then she gets engaged to a prince and he comes back to save her after he becomes a pirate himself." She put air quotes around the word killed unaware that he probably had no idea what that meant. She glanced back up at him to see that he had a bemused sort of look on his face. She groaned inwardly. Of course he'd latch onto the pirate and princess thing.
"In the beginning of the movie the girl, her name's Buttercup, always gave the boy – Wesley – orders but he never said anything except for 'As you wish' in reply. One day she asks him for firewood and she realizes that Wesley's been telling her he loves her every time he says it. So that's what set off Mary Margaret. She loves that movie, has it memorized. Guess she showed it to David too though I had no idea that kind of movie would be Regina's kind of thing." She said, trying to blurt out the love bit then cover it with useless information in the hopes that he wouldn't catch the meaning.
She didn't look at him but bent to gather more wood, starting in surprise when his hand landed on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. A gasp rose in her throat as she realized how close they were, and she froze when he took the wood from her hands to set it on the ground. Emma shifted uneasily as he stood back up and looked at her with a smirk. He leaned in so that she wouldn't have to strain to hear him as he whispered to her.
"So when I said that last night…." He trailed off, his tongue flicking out over his lips in an unconscious memory of their kiss. Emma bit her own lip as she dropped her eyes to catch the movement. She raised her eyes to his, seeing the same emotion in his eyes that she knew was probably in her own. That kiss had been more than either of them had been prepared for. She swore that she could still taste him on her lips and the memory made the burn of desire that she'd felt come flooding back. Her breathing deepened as she looked back up into his eyes.
"I knew you didn't mean it like that, it was a one-time thing, remember?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
He hummed, tracing his gaze over her face before drawing away from her. She had to stop herself from leaning in to follow as he stepped back. The intensity of his gaze had been almost palpable, almost as if he were trying to burn the image of her face into his memory.
"As you wish." He said before kneeling to pick up the firewood he'd placed on the ground and walking back toward the camp.
Emma stood frozen as she realized that he'd done that deliberately. It hadn't been an unintentional reference to something he was ignorant of. He knew exactly what it meant now. She let out a shuddering breathe as the implications slammed into her. No, this was not happening. She couldn't let it, if it did – oh but how badly did she want to. She could still the feel of his hand tangling in her hair, the feel of his leather coat in her hands as they'd each pulled the other closer. That kiss had shattered them both, though Emma had done a much better job of hiding it. She ran a hand over her face as she tried to get a handle on the emotions running through her. A voice was screaming at her not to let this go any further, to firmly and rapidly put a lid on this and forget about the warmth of his skin against hers as she rested her head against his, the silky feeling of his hair as she'd run her hand through the short locks, that feeling of finally having found something that made the world feel like was crumbling at her feet. The screaming voice in her head was drowned out by the memory of the way he'd moaned when she'd deepened the kiss. She shuddered at the memory of his lips on hers, the way he'd nibbled at her lip and teased her with his tongue. She suddenly wondered if a second kiss would be as good as the first, opening her eyes to stare after him.
Was she ready to let this go? She thought as she watched his form weaving through the trees back toward the camp. This was the first time in nearly ten years that she felt indecision about pushing someone away. What if he hurt her? That voice in her head demanded. He would be just like everyone else, he'd leave and then what would she have, just another hole in a heart already riddled with them.
That's not true, another part of her argued. He'd already come back once, why wouldn't he do it again? After all it wasn't like he didn't have enough incentive. She remembered the look on his face that day on the beanstalk, the way his face had crumpled when she'd locked the cuff around his wrist and realized what she was going to do. She felt a stab of guilt over that even now but she'd had to do it hadn't she? It had been the only way to get back to Henry.
And that worked out so well didn't it? The smaller voice asked causing Emma to sigh. He'd asked her to trust him then, and she hadn't been able to. She thought about everything he'd done since they'd gotten to Neverland, every time he'd surprised her by not looking out for himself first. The way he was always making sure that she was alright, even when he himself wasn't. She recalled the way he'd looked in the cave, when he'd seen Neal's drawings on the stone. He'd looked lost, like something precious and irreplaceable had been taken from him but despite the pain he'd still noticed hers, had noticed and pushed his pain aside in favor of comforting her. That was something she'd always wanted, to see someone finally choose her and she couldn't lie that he'd been doing that more and more often since they'd landed here.
Emma shut her eyes, her breathing coming in ragged gasps as her body trembled and she fought the urge to run after him. There was still that voice in her head, the one that told her she had to look out for herself, to make sure that no one could ever hurt again, that it was safe behind her walls so long as she stayed there. That thought made Emma gasp, her eyes popping open. She was suddenly assaulted by the memory of Mary Margaret looking at her pityingly as she told Emma that her wall would indeed keep her safe, but they wouldn't be able to make her loved. She'd fought against it then, insisting to herself that love wasn't that great anyway. Now, after the feelings that had come bursting out from behind the damn she'd built around her heart when his lips touched hers she wasn't so sure. She hated feeling weak, and the fear that gripped her heart at the thought of letting him in, of giving him that kind of power over her made her tremble.
She'd been down this road before and had been utterly destroyed. Her chest ached when she thought of Neal even as her blood bubbled in anger at the thought that he'd never know how much he'd hurt her, that she'd never get to tell him how he'd completely broken her when he'd left. How getting out of prison to see that yellow bug had only broken the thin strings of healing that had begun to form around her heart. She'd been so hopeful when she saw it that she'd gone to Tallahassee to find him and wasted two years looking after every dark haired man who crossed her path until she realized that the car had been a goodbye, not a promise. That day her hope had shattered for good, and she'd vowed to never let anyone get close enough to do that kind of damage again. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she cried for the love that she'd lost. She knelt there on ground face buried in her hands as she sobbed quietly.
A twig snapped near her causing her to reach for her sword but then Hook came into view. He was wary, looking around the clearing for her but when he saw her he dropped the wood in his arms and almost ran to where she was still kneeling on the ground. He dropped to his knees in front of her, his eyes softening as he took in her tears. He raised a hand toward her but hesitated before he made contact with her hair. She looked up through tearstained lashes to see the worry and concern in his face, but beneath that she saw pain. Not the kind of pain she'd seen in the cave or when he'd spoken about Milah on the beanstalk but the kind of pain she'd seen on her parent's faces when the other was hurt. The kind of pain she felt when Henry was hurting. She'd seen that look so often on his face that she didn't know how she'd ever mistaken it for something lighter. The realization made her gasp, as the last of her walls started to crumble. She bit her lip as new tears welled in her eyes but these tears weren't sad. This was a good sort of crying, the kind that made her feel lighter as all the things that had been holding her back started to melt away.
"Emma, love it's me. What' wrong?" He asked quietly, running his eyes over her in search injury. When he found none he searched her face for an answer and was met with a tremulous smile. She didn't give him a chance to ask again, reaching out to caress his cheek with a hand. She wasn't going to run this time. She didn't know if it would work out, if he'd stay, but she had to try.
"Nothing. I just realized something." She said leaning forward to place her forehead against his. She felt him hesitate, and understood that it was because he was afraid he was going to scare her away. She couldn't blame him, she'd certainly done more than her share of running up till now. She reached up to take his hand and drew away to press a kiss against the palm. His mouth dropped open in surprise but no sound came out. She smiled as she looked back at him and laced her fingers though his leaning in toward him.
"Kiss me." She whispered just before their lips touched, feeling his smile as she pressed her mouth to his.
This kiss wasn't as heated as their first but it was no less potent. He didn't hesitate this time, melting into her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying the fingers of her other hand in his hair as she ran her tongue along his bottom lip. He opened for her and she tasted the dark burn of rum on his tongue. She moaned into his mouth and he drew back to nip at her lower lip before untangling their fingers and running his hand along the curve her shoulder then up her neck to cup her face. His thumb traced light paths along her skin as their lips met again and she let him pull her closer, his other arm wrapping around her shoulders. For a moment she tensed at the feel of his arms around her, the old fear of letting someone in rearing up in her again but the next moment he moaned her name against her mouth and the feeling was lost in the euphoria of hearing her name on his lips. Not Swan, not love but Emma. The way his voice caught as her said it had her running her free hand over his chest trailing along the edge of his open shirt to trace her fingers along the expanse of his exposed chest before traveling upward to curl around his neck. She broke away from his mouth to trail butterfly kisses along his jaw before moving down to kiss along the sensitive skin of his neck. The gasping moans that issued from his lips spurred her on as he ran his hand up and down her back, those long fingers catching in her hair as she ran her tongue along the shell of his ear. He shuddered against her and she giggled softly. She took pity on him, drawing back to look into his eyes. The look in those eyes, normally a bright blue but now darkened with desire until they were nearly black was hypnotizing. He took advantage of her momentary pause to drop his own mouth to the junction of neck and shoulder. This time it was Emma who couldn't hold back a moan as he caressed the skin there with lips and teeth and tongue. His good hand slid beneath the fabric of her shirt to trace patterns on her bare back and she gasped as his tongue flicked out to tease her collar bone before rising back up to claim her mouth.
"Mmm, Killian." She whimpered against his mouth. The sound of his name made them both freeze, and they parted slowly both panting for breath. They stared at each other for a moment in silence, just staring into each other's eyes. Then he blinked and a slow smile spread over his lips. It was the kind of smile that lit up his entire face, the kind of smile she'd only seen once back when they'd beaten the giant together. She tried to burn the image of that smile into her memory, it was something she never wanted to lose.
"You called me Killian love." He murmured. His voice was breathy, as if he was afraid to startle her and it made her smile.
"I did. Why, would you prefer something else?" She quipped, cocking her head to the side.
"No. Killian is fine." He said reaching up to cup her face with his hand the cool metal of his rings blessedly welcome against her heated skin.
She leaned into the touch letting her eyes flutter closed as he leaned in to press a kiss against her forehead before resting his cheek against her hair. They stayed like that, her arms around his shoulders, bodies pressed close until voices began to call in the distance. She drew back and looked in the direction of the camp. They were still a good distance away but if they didn't get back soon there would be hell to pay she knew. She sighed and untangled herself from him. He ran his hand through her hair, smoothing out some of the tangled he'd helped create before getting to his feet. He reached out to steady her as she stood, knees weak from kneeling for so long in one position. He opened his mouth to ask a question but she pressed a finger to his lips.
"Later. For now, can we keep this between us?" She asked.
She fought the urge to trace the outline of his mouth with her finger, pulling it away so that he could answer. He looked at her softly and she leaned forward as if to kiss him again but then Mary Margaret's voice rang out clearly, yelling for Emma. They were getting closer.
"As you wish, Emma." He whispered with a grin. She laughed and didn't bother to stop him when he leaned in to lay a last lingering kiss on her cheek.
"Let's get back darling, before they really start looking for us." He said picking up the stack of wood he'd dropped earlier.
"We're coming!" She yelled in the direction of camp before grabbing her own pile and striding out of the clearing ahead of him.
The walk back to camp was shorter than she'd have liked, than either of them liked she would bet. Just before they reached the circle of firelight she turned to smile at him, still enough in shadow so that no one would see but him. He winked at her and the smile became a grin that she couldn't hold back. He reached out to take the bundle of wood from her arms running his thumb over her palm before striding into the camp. She lingered for a moment, watching him before schooling her face into its usual serious lines. She wasn't ready to share this yet, but the secret of her new found hope was enough for her, for now.
Well there you go! I hope you enjoyed it!