The Hook & the Compass

"Let's find the compass and go home." – Emma Swan from "Tallahassee"

Part 1

Hook had shot Belle and struck the Crocodile where it hurt the most—his heart. But it had not been enough to satisfy the pirate's thirst for revenge. Belle had no memory of her love but he was still alive and breathing and Hook was resolute to finish the job—to plunge his dream shade tainted hook right in to the Crocodile's chest.

Hundreds of years of traveling between realms on the Jolly Roger had not erased the memory of holding Milah in his arms as he watched the life drain from her body. But worse was the image of the Crocodile sneering at Hook as he crushed Milah's heart to dust right in front of him. In that moment, Hook's love turned to rage. Vindicating her death was all he could think about.

Now he just needed to find his damn hook. The Swan girl, Emma, had taken it from him in the hospital foiling up his ultimate plan.

The irony of it all was that seconds after shooting Belle, he had been struck down by a car.

It was Emma who had eventually found him, lying on the side of the road in the wet mud suffering from several contusions and cracked ribs. However, through all the pain he didn't relent. He had survived worse than this.

"Now you know what it feels like to have your love ripped from you Crocodile," he bellowed. "Just like you took Milah from me."

The Crocodile had charged at him but Emma and Charming were able to hold him off. Karma was a bitch. Kill and be killed. Hook was not afraid of death as long as he dragged the Dark One to the bowels of hell with him.

After a few days spent in the hospital in Storybrooke, he was almost good as new except for a slight hobble and battered rib cage. He picked up his step now, pillaging through the sheriff's department, looking high and low for his hook. He knew full well Charming or Swan could show up at any minute.

In the corner of the room he eyed a filing cabinet. Perhaps his hook was in there? He pulled open the drawer. There it was nestled in a pile of other confiscated trinkets. He locked the hook back into the stub of where his hand had been before the Crocodile sliced it off. Hook was again complete.

And then he caught a glimpse of a gold round object shimmering like an orb of light—something of obvious value his pirate instincts told him.

It was the compass he and Emma had retrieved from the giant's castle in the Enchanted Forest. Hook picked it up by the chain with his hook and dangled it within eye view. It was even more beautiful now than when Emma had shown it to him the first time.

She was definitely a feisty lass. What had captivated him the most was her gumption coupled with the lost, soulless look in her eyes—a look he had grown accustomed to seeing amongst the Lost Boys in Neverland. A brave woman with abandonment issues was most certainly a paradox in his world.

And of the scores of women he had flirted with and bed in his long lifetime, Emma was the only woman who had actually ever bested him and been immune to his charm.

"You would make a hell of a pirate," he had told her.

And yet Hook was also a man with a code, practicing good form when it was warranted. So when Swan had shackled him to a pillar and left him to rot on top of the bean stock, it had offended him.

"Emma, look at me, have I told you a lie"?" he had pleaded. "I brought you here. I risked my own safety to help you."

His true intentions fell on deaf ears; Emma had made up her mind.

"Hook, I'm sorry. I can't take a chance that I am wrong about you."

Right. "You can't trust a pirate," he had thought.

It was he who would never trust Swan again. And then he heard her all too familiar authoritative voice behind him.

"Hook what are you doing here?"

He flashed around to see her standing in front of him, the leather of his coat tails swooshing as he moved.

"This," he replied in his usual raspy, sing-song accent.

"Your hook," she retorted.

"Well it does belong to me love and perhaps this too since you probably no longer have use for it."

He pulled the compass out from his inside coat pocket. "It will fetch a nice price or come in handy once I kill the Crocodile."

Emma looked at him with furrowed brow. Was he really that stupid?

"Look Hook unless you want to write your own death certificate, give me back your hook and that compass. I don't want to cuff you again," Emma said, glancing towards the cell block at the back of the sheriff's office.

Hook's eyes followed hers.

"Aye, I bet you would like that Swan wouldn't you," he replied coyly, with cocked brow. "Turn the tables since I left you behind bars."

Emma just glared at him in disbelief. He really was a cold, pompous ass.

Hook slowly pulled his sword out from its satchel. If the Swan girl wanted a fight, a fight she was going to get. It wouldn't be the first time.

But before Hook could even take one swing of his blade, Emma fired one gunshot followed by another. The bullets whizzed through the air, one lodging right in to Hook's shoulder, the other in to his one good hand. He loosened his grip on the sword, dropped it with a clang to the floor, and fell to his knees.

Emma walked towards him with an angry scowl on her face, pointing the gun right at his head of tousled raven hair. She scooped down and unscrewed his hook and then reached in to the inside pocket off his long duster coat to retrieve the compass.

"I'm sorry Hook but you gave me no choice," she scolded. She could see the pain spread across his face as he winced, cradling his shot hand and shoulder with his unhooked arm.

"A hand for a hand," he responded, somewhat shocked. He didn't think Emma had this type of retaliation in her.

A hand for a hand? What did that mean?

And then she recalled. Emma had cut her hand climbing the bean stock and Hook had been kind enough to sterilize it with rum and wrap it with his scarf using his mouth and hook.

But all of this she had forgotten until now. She felt a pang of guilt rise up in her stomach and lodge in the back of her throat. She hated using violence as a means to an end, but she had also been right not to trust Hook. He was a pirate and a villain after all?

Not quite…not like Regina or Gold. Hook's villainy was rooted in his insatiable appetite to right a wrong. A man as passionate as him, felt everything too deeply, whether it be love or revenge. It was both his strength and downfall.

Part of her pitied him for loving so hard and another part of her envied him. After Neal had abandoned her and she was sent to jail, she vowed never to trust another man again. All these years later she was still incapable of letting down her guard.

"You're somewhat of an open book," Hook's words echoed in her head.

Maybe she had bested him back in the Enchanted Forest, but he had bested her too; he had seen right through her tough bail bondsperson exterior to the lost and vulnerable girl she was underneath.

"An orphan is an orphan." The words stung her even now. She had always felt alone until Henry.

Hook gasping for breath jarred her back to reality. He was now crumbled in a heap on the floor, blood and black leather pooling around him.

"Hook. Hook," she screamed.

She pulled him over on his side and laid him face-up down on the floor, propping his head on top of her lap and cupping his pale face in her hands.

"Hook," she called his name out again, realizing it was too late. He was unconscious.

Blood trickled from his shoulder and hand onto her starched, white shirt. She watched as his skull pendant, rose and fell against his chest with each taxing inhalation and exhalation. Putting her ear down to his mouth, she could tell his breathing was shallow and fading.

"Oh god I can't do this again," she deplored. Emma suddenly felt the pain of losing Neal and Graham fill up every inch of her body.

She grew frantic; something was more wrong with Hook than just two superficial gunshot wounds. If she didn't get him help soon, he would die.

Part 2

"Don't worry Emma," Dr. Whale assured her.

"He suffered some residual internal injuries from the accident but we've taken care of them now. He's in critical but stable condition."

Emma let out a heavy sigh. It felt like she had been holding her breath for hours. She was relieved she wouldn't have Hook's blood on her hands today.

"Can I see him?" she queried.

"Not now…he's still out…I'll let you know."

"Thanks for everything Dr. Whale."

"Emma, I know this wasn't easy but you did what you had to do. You were protecting Storybrooke. This is isn't the Enchanted Forest. Someone needs to keep the order here."

"I know…thanks." Dr. Whale's words didn't bring her any peace.

Just then Snow and Charming rushed through the hospital's front doors.

"Emma…Emma are you okay?" called Snow. "We heard what happened."

"I'm fine but I shot Hook," she said, the regret apparent in her voice.

"He didn't leave you much of a choice Emma," Charming intervened, putting his hand on her shoulder and offering her some parental comfort.

"He can't be trusted."

But Storybrooke was a town full of people who couldn't be trusted and their lives had been spared on more than one occasion. Gold. Regina. Sometimes Emma wondered why they got to live at all. As for Hook…she could have found another way.

"Why don't you take the rest of the day off? I'll cover things at the sheriff's office," said Charming.

Emma agreed.

"Just one minute…can you put these in a safe place where nobody can find them?"

She pulled the hook and compass out from her jacket pocket. Holding them both together in her hand, something inside her hesitated.

"On second thought, I'll keep them for now," she responded.

Perhaps hiding them under the floorboards in her loft apartment would be a safer bet.

"We'll check in with you later. Go home and get some rest," Snow advised in a motherly tone. Time could not make up for all the years they had missed, but Emma appreciated how she tried. She gave her parents a half-hearted smile and left. Sleep was all she could think about now.

Part 3

She opened the door to her loft apartment and leaned against it, staring at the compass and his hook cradled in the palm of her hand.

The hook glistened a metallic silver and Emma could partially see her reflection in it.

"You're just going to leave me here to die…for that beast to eat me and crush my bones?"

She had been convinced it was for the best. Emma had survived jail by operating on instinct and hunches not emotion or loyalty.

"You're not going to die," she had assured him.

But today he had come close and it affected her in ways she couldn't quite fathom. She was not herself.

Laying down on top of her patchwork quilt covered bed, Emma closed her eyes, hook and compass clenched still in her hand. The past few months of adventure and policing Storybrooke had left her wiped. She quickly dozed off and dreamed of that ill-fateful day they had climbed the bean stock together to steal the compass.

"Have you ever been in love?"

"No I have never been in love."

Images of Hook…the tattoo of Milah on his forearm… circled around in her subconscious mind.

"Who's Milah?"

The moment she figured out what Gold did.

"He took more than just your hand."

Him grabbing her arm with his hook, pouring rum from his flask on her wound. Bandaging it with his mouth.

"Come give me your hand."

Her saving him from the trip wire, pinned tightly against his chest as he swaddled her up in his arms.

"It's about bloody time."

And the smell of leather, ocean and blood mixed together. Taking him in. His hot breath on her face as he leaned in to her to look at the compass.

"It's more beautiful than legend."

Hook holding out his ring-cladded hand to take hers…together.

"Come let's go."

The look of shock and rejection in his eyes when she shackled him instead.

"What are you doing? What are you doing?

Disbelief. Betrayal.

"Swan! Swan!" she could hear his voice calling to her, clear as day.

"Try something new darling. It's called trust."

Emma woke up in a feverish sweat. She felt strange and looked down at her hand grasping the compass and his hook so tightly, her hands were red and swollen. It was as if the objects she was holding possessed some magical quality and she couldn't let them go…didn't want to let them go. Now she wondered.

Only one person would have the answers she needed.

Gold.

Part 4

"Aye dearie…where did you find this"? Gold asked inquisitively. He owned almost every enchanted or magical object and yet his search for the legendary compass had always alluded him.

"I retrieved it with Hook from the giant's castle when I was back in the Enchanted Forest."

"Hook? Where is he…I want to kill that SOB for what he did to Belle?" Gold squealed.

Damn she should not have mentioned his name.

"It's been taken care of. I shot him," Emma told Gold, hoping to divert his attention back to the compass, somehow.

"Shot him…he's dead?" Gold asked, alarmed but delighted.

"Not quite…but he's out of commission. Let's just leave it at that."

That seemed to appease Gold's rage for the moment.

"What do you know about it dearie…the compass?

"We needed it to navigate our way home…back to Storybrooke," Emma explained.

Maybe Gold wasn't as familiar with it as she had assumed.

"Ah yes…home. But home is not what you think," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, desperate for answers.

"In this world, home is a place, a physical location but back in the Enchanted Forest, home always meant the place your heart resides. That is the true power of the compass," Gold continued.

"I don't understand," Emma replied.

"The compass was created to bind true love together. That is its sole purpose. And as you and I know, true love is the greatest magic of all," Gold quipped.

Emma felt an uneasy feeling swell in the pit of her stomach. Fate. Destiny. Magic. At one time she would have been skeptical but now she knew better.

"Hook," she muttered under her breathe.

Gold eyed her with disdain.

"Thanks for your help."

"What about the compass?" Gold yelled after her as she headed towards the door of his pawn shop.

"The magic from the compass is too powerful. You won't be strong enough to handle it dearie," Gold called out, trying to connive her.

Regardless of what he thought, Emma knew magic was more about emotion than intellect. And right now her emotions were running rampant. She also knew Gold wanted the compass for his own selfish gain because he knew what was coming. Redemption.

Despite all his power, Gold couldn't just take it.

It was linked to her and now Hook. They had been brought together because of it.

"That's where you are wrong," Emma glared back at him. "You're totally wrong."

Part 5

Hook slowly woke to see Dr. Whale hovering over him like a ghostly silhouette. The outline of his face hardly visible to a drug induced pirate.

"How's my patient? Good to see you awake."

"Aye, feel like I've been hit by a thousand cars," Hook grumbled. His body was wracked with pain from his neck down to his legs. He could barely even move.

"Well on top of getting shot twice, you sustained some residual injuries when you got plowed by that car. Emma almost did you a favor if you think about it," said Whale.

Swan. Hearing her name made him twitch.

"Perhaps," Hook said softly and slightly incoherent. It hurt too much to even speak.

He tried to pull himself up on the bed to get a better view of Whale and his surroundings. The pain ripped through his body like thousands of tiny sharp daggers piercing his flesh, especially where the bullets had lodged and ricocheted inside his shoulder and hand. He let out a scream of agony.

"Easy…easy…don't exert yourself," Whale advised. "You have a long road ahead in terms of recovery. Sorry but you're not going anywhere for a while."

Whale's words were like music to his ears. Hook had nowhere to go anyway. He was truly alone and hook less.

Part 6

Emma held the compass and the hook in her hands. All she could do was stare at them in disbelief, shock even. Deny magic and fate and she would be denying the reason for her very existence.

She needed to get it together. Henry would be home from school any minute.

Just then the front door to their tiny loft apartment burst open and in tore Henry.

"How was school today?" Emma asked him, trying to be the mother he deserved, amongst all the distractions.

"Good. What is that you have?" Henry asked curious, as he seated himself down on a stool at their breakfast nook adjacent her.

"Hook's attachment and a magical compass," Emma replied, holding them up for Henry to see. She did her best not to keep secrets from him. He always seemed to have a way of finding things out anyway.

"Hook as in Captain Hook from Neverland?" Henry responded with feverous excitement expected from a boy with a passion for fairy tales.

"He's here in Storybrooke?"

"Yes he followed Snow and me through the portal with Cora when we returned from the Enchanted Forest."

Henry was aware his infamously evil grandmother was back in town but he didn't know about Hook.

"So what's he like?"

"Who?"

"Hook of course?"

"He's your typical pirate I guess," Emma explained.

What else could she say about him to a kid who sometimes blurred the lines between fantasy and reality?

"Anyway that's why I have been preoccupied lately Henry," Emma said apologetically. "There's been a lot going on."

"That's okay. You are the town saviour. That's your job," Henry spilled with an enthusiastic smile on his face.

He always believed in her. Sometimes she was uncomfortable with the whole hero complex thing.

"Henry can I ask you something?"

"Sure what is it?"

"Why did you come looking for me…I mean why were you so convinced I could break the curse?"

"Magic," Henry replied, not fully understanding her question. "It was your destiny."

"What do you think is the real purpose of magic?" Emma asked. Henry always saw the good in everyone, even Regina. He had always believed with a true heart.

"That's simple. Hope."

Emma smiled at Henry and traced the outline of the hook with her fingertips. She knew now exactly what she had to do.

Part 7

Emma rolled her yellow bug into a stall of the Storybrooke hospital parking lot. She was nervous as hell. Would Hook even want to see her? She didn't feel like a saviour but at least she had hope, the hook and the compass on her side.

She checked in with Whale first for a status update.

"How is he?"

"Sore and weak but he'll survive," Whale confirmed. "You can go in and see him. He's conscious now." That was exactly the news Emma needed.

She walked down the hall towards the same private room Hook had been wheeled to days before following the accident. Gold had stormed the hospital emergency room looking to kill him. She knew nothing would ever be easy in Storybrooke—a town full of fairy tale characters intertwined with complicated histories. And now she too was part of all the madness.

She peered into the doorway and saw Hook, head turned to the side, bare chested, asleep in his hospital bed. His shoulder and hand were heavily bandaged, traces of blood leaking through.

A pang of guilt hit her. "I can't do this."

She turned around and was about to head back to her car when Hook saw her and called out her name.

"Swan. Is that you?"

Shit. She recoiled and spun around to face him.

"Hi…I uh." She could barely speak.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, sounding stunned.

"I have something for you."

Hook looked puzzled as she walked closer towards his bed. Her stomach fluttered. She was about to call him by his more popular moniker but it didn't feel appropriate given the situation.

"Killian…I'm sorry," she blurted out, withdrawing his hook from her purse and resting it beside him on the bed.

"I believe this belongs to you."

Hook appeared confused and taken aback. Nobody ever called him Killian anymore. That part of him died years ago.

"I don't understand. Why?" he asked her.

Magic. Destiny. Trust. Hope. Emma reached down into her coat pocket gliding her fingers over the smooth surface of the compass. It grew hot the more she touched it.

"I should have trusted you…given you a chance to prove to me you were a man of honor," she said glancing down at the floor. "I shouldn't have left you."

It was too hard to tell him directly to his face— to see the vulnerability and hurt in his ice blue eyes. It was like staring down her own pain.

She gripped the compass in her pocket even tighter, until her hand clenched and stiffened.

And then she felt the stub from Hook's handless arm press up against her chin ever so lightly, forcing their eyes to meet.

"Emma."

The way he called her name made her feel like she was free falling through space.

"It's not your fault. I provoked you but you saved me."

Saved him? What did he mean by that?

Emma looked straight at him now, their eyes locked.

"When those bullets hit me I realized there was something more I wanted than revenge…that is to live," Hook explained with honest candour.

"Revenge is not as sweet as I imagined…it leads to no happy ending."

Emma was at a loss. Did the pirate actually say happy ending?

"My Milah is gone and it's time to end this vendetta," he added. "I am done."

His words filled her like a warm sea breeze. She felt light and ecstatic.

"And I believe you will find it because I believe in you," she smiled back at him as she proceeded to fasten his hook back into his stub.

She then leaned in, gently planting her lips on his cheek to kiss him ever so delicately—a confirmation of her own openness.

Killian seemed completely lost. He looked at Emma baffled but in awe and then down at his hook. He raised it up in the air before meeting her eyes again. It felt completely different, almost like it was really no longer a part of him.

"I have hope for all of us," he heard Emma say.

The compass was already working its magic.