The moment her face broke the surface of the sea, she was drinking in deep gulps of air, savoring each as if she had never tasted anything so sweet. Her hand was clenched around his forearm, his fingers tight around her own as he pulled her back on board the tiny rowboat that they had paddled into the cove. She flopped heavily into the bottom of the boat, her body suddenly spasming and coughing to get the sea water she had swallowed out from her burning lungs.

A strong reassuring hand cupped her face, gently soothing and caressing her as she tried to breathe properly. The hand was attached to a man, and she looked up into his face with a flutter of recognition. Killian Jones was sitting with her on the floor of the boat, cradling her body as she expelled the last of the burning salt water from her throat. She could hear his voice as if through a tunnel, the whooshing sound of water still in her ears. Her vision was blurred, and she struggled to make out his features as they swam in front of her. She blinked several times, and saw his clearly.

She tried to take several deep breathes, only causing her body to be wracked by a fresh wave of spasms as the air scraped past her aching throat. She heard him laugh beside her as she regained her breathe, only to have it stop again as he pressed a sudden ecstatic kiss against her temple. His arms were still wrapped tightly around her, keeping her propped upright and steady in the rocking vessel. She closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself to relax into him as her body slowly regained its use.

"You naughty girls haven't changed a bit have you?" he shouted, causing Emma to wince away from him as her ears began to drain of water. "Still looking to kill anything prettier than you, eh?" he gave a hearty chuckle.

"We were only trying to drown her," Emma heard a delicate female voice protest from somewhere behind her, "It's her own fault for leaning too far over the edge anyway. She fell in! We just...helped!" the voice finished with a giggle.

That was enough to put some strength back in her. She fumbled for her holster at her side, having ever intention of shooting the mermaid with the annoyingly cheerful voice.

"Easy love, what do you think you're doing?" Killian questioned, sniggering.

"Trying to find my gun," she rasped, her voice hoarse from her struggle, "Where the hell is it?" she shouted, grimacing when her throat throbbed in protest.

"Oh you mean this hunk of metal?" twittered the mermaid, "What exactly is it anyway?"

Emma's head whipped around, an angry scowl marring her features a she located the source of the high-pitched voice. It was the same one who had pulled her into the water to begin with. She hadn't been wrong earlier. Emma had been leaning over the edge of the boat, peering into the waters when she spied the gleam of their shining tails beneath the surface. But she hadn't fallen in. She'd been grabbed and dragged over the side, her scream cut off quickly as water had filled her mouth. They'd played an ugly game with her, dragging her down, letting her go until she almost broke the surface, and bringing her down to the bottom again. Her world had begun to go dark around the edges when Killian had managed to grab a hold of her. If they had pulled her down once more, she wouldn't have made it.

She glared at the creature, wanting nothing more than to have her gun back in her hands. The mermaid stared placidly back at her, a smile slowly creeping across it's lips, challenging her.

"It's a gun," replied Emma as calmly as she could manage. "You point the end with the hole at your face and pull the trigg-"

"Hey now! Easy there darling!" chortled Hook infuriatingly. "The girls were just having a bit of fun!"

She rounded on him, forgetting completely that he had saved her life just moments ago. "She WHAT?!" Emma shrieked, hitting him with her fists repeatedly across his chest. "She. Almost. KILLED ME!" she yelled, punctuating each word with a savage blow.

Killian grabbed her by her wrists, holding her tired and worm body still with frustrating ease. She glared at him as hard as she could, wishing once again that she had her damn gun.

"Is she your new plaything Killian?" simpered the mermaid. "You always did have a thing for blondes. At least...strawberry blondes," she finished with a wink.

Emma fumed, wondering how this murderous creature had the audacity to flirt with the man who had just saved her life.

"Well you would know wouldn't you darling?" returned Hook with a wink and a smirk of his own.

Or how he had the audacity to flirt with her.

He had loosened his grip enough for Emma to wrench her hand free. She brought her hand back to slap him across the face. As her hand cut through the air he caught her wrist again easily before the blow connected. Her looked at her, eyebrow raised in amusement at her anger.

"You pig-headed son-of-a-"

He yanked her wrists so she fell heavily against him, too weak to hold herself steady. His lips rested against her ear as he whispered quickly into her ear. "Now love, just know this. If I could kill these bloody mermaids here and now for what they tried to do to you, I would. However, seeing as we rowed all afternoon to reach the cursed cove to question them about your son, you had damned well better hold back your jealousy for five bloody seconds and allow me to flirt with them, because I can guarantee you that's the only way we're going to get any sort of information out of them. Now, if I release you, will you promise not to attack me again?"

"Yes," Emma muttered, her pride, and her body now aching equally.

"There's a good girl," he said, smirking as he pushed her down into the bottom of the boat where she landed with an undignified huff. He turned back to the mermaids. "Now, ladies...where were we?" he asked with a grin.

Emma folded her arms across her chest and stared out at the open ocean, doing her damndest to block out the grating, tittering laugh of the mermaid on the rock. Whether this worked or not, Hook was going to get an earful back on the Jolly. Jealous, she scoffed to herself. As if I'd ever be jealous of him flirting. But as the irritating giggle sounded behind her, the pang in her stomach told her otherwise.

"Damn pirate," she mumbled under her breath as she fixed her eyes more determinedly on the horizon.