Hello, there ;) This is not my first long fanfic, but it is the first one I've ever posted on FanFiction, and I'm extremely excited about it. To give you a bit of background, this first chapter picks up a few days after Emma and Co. arrive in Neverland on the Jolly Roger. I originally started it as a lovely little Hook one-shot, but it has since evolved into a beast of its own. My inspiration came from an interview the stunning Mr. Colin O'Donoghue gave (some of you may be familiar with it) where he teases that Hook could have a bit of "fun" with Regina while waiting for Emma. Of course, what you will read below has become something almost…hmm…80 % different.

It is rated M because I do not want to put any limits on this story. Be forewarned, I do not have a problem getting up close and personal in some scenes, and sometimes you just have to get down and gritty with violence and gore. Cuss words are frequent as well. I do not own these characters unfortunately, but I do own the story and cover. All rights reserved.

PS: Reviews are very much appreciated!

Chapter 1 - Cabin Fever

Her footsteps outside his cabin door had been the noise to pull him out of a fitful sleep. Out of the dreams. He'd known it was her from the telltale quick stride and the heavy, purposeful clicks of her heels. Regina had never been one to go anywhere meekly – or quietly, for that matter.

Every night of the four they'd already spent in Neverland, she'd rise while the ship rested quiet and dark in the waters, the others tucked away in their bunks. Every night she'd pace above his head, the rhythmic clip of her gait waking him more than once. It amused him to witness how this fierce, "evil" queen slid into the role of the worried mother so well, so easily.

Though, Neverland certainly had its own way of bringing unseen pieces of one's soul to the light.

The countless nights Hook had spent alone, self-banished in a world full of lost brats and a hygienically-challenged crew of men – it had nearly been enough to destroy the bit of sanity he'd maintained after watching that Crocodile plunge his hand into Milah's chest. He had admittedly become a tyrant, taking out his frustrations on his crew, demolishing what democracy had once existed amongst them. If he hadn't escaped the world when he did, there would have absolutely been no going back. As it was, his murderous wrath had bled over in the Enchanted Forest when he returned, quite literally, and had only just now begun to ebb. He wondered if his time away from this Godforsaken world had to do with his rage easing, the shroud being cast back from his eyes – and he pondered now that since he was back, would his old insanity return? The muscles in his shoulders tensed as his skin prickled. He reached for the picture of Milah that he kept beside his bed.

Something about having women aboard again must have stirred old ghosts…memories best left forgotten. Milah's face haunted his dreams, such as it had in the agonizing days and weeks that followed her murder. It had been ripping him apart, waking nightly in terror, only to face her murderer the next morning, casually gimping across the decks that they had shared. It was more than he could stand, even for the boy…

Sanity. Keep it. Distract yourself.

Hook sighed audibly, his chest collapsing down as her forced the breath out. He felt the familiar tightness of the leather straps over his shoulder, holding the holster in place over his maimed wrist. His skin had long lost sensation under the rough straps, scars criss-crossing over his left arm where it had been rubbed raw over the centuries. He twisted his arm beneath it in search of some pain, some twinge beyond the deadness, but none came. He pounded the wall beside him with his fist instead.

It was what he needed. Just a moment, a brief taste of what it meant to be alive. Emma's wide eyes and "understanding," could only complicate things. It had to be her. No emotion, no conflict.

He'd thought about it before, more than once even. Regina wasn't unattractive, quite the contrary in fact, even if she was in the nasty habit of trying to kill him. It wasn't like he hadn't repaid her bit by bit for the pain she'd caused him, though. At present, he even considered them even.

"Fucking hell," he mumbled, rising from his mattress. He tucked Milah's picture away in his desk drawer.

Swiping his shirt off of the back of the desk chair, he slipped it on over his head, covering the straps on his arm. He didn't bother buttoning it past the four he always left clasped on the bottom. He'd grown quite adept at managing life with one hand, but it was thanks to little short-cuts such as leaving his shirts and vest partially buttoned that made life just a bit more bearable.

Though not entirely so.

Hook left his cabin before he could think anymore about it, before he could consider again exactly what he was doing. He took the steps two-at a time, emerging onto the black, windswept deck before she'd had a chance to turn and see who was approaching.

"Captain?" Regina said, surprise lightly lifting her voice. She had to raise her voice above the sound of the waves. "I thought everyone was asleep."

"It's a dangerous thing to sleep in Neverland. The lost ones are not the only souls to be plagued by nightmares." The statement wasn't meant to be light, and yet it came out in his usual, airy tone.

Regina's arms were crossed, perhaps to ward off the chill in the night air, but she didn't step away as he approached. Her eyes remained narrowed…cautious, he thought.

"Well, it's a wonder any of them could sleep with the ship tossing the way it is. I've always hated sailing," she sighed, her eyes drifting towards the darkened island. He was careful not to follow her gaze. The sight of that looming dark mass was more than enough to ruin the warm rush he was working towards now. The thought of Bae's son, Emma's wide eyes…

"Are you feeling a bit green, Highness?" he asked, chasing the thoughts away. He moved behind her, and lowered his lips to her ear. "Perhaps you'd fare better in an actual bed, rather than a bunk."

One of her dark, carefully shaped eyebrows quirked. He matched the movement with his own as her dark eyes focused on him.

"And you would be the only one with a bed, I'm assuming," she said, her voice flat. Calculating.

"Aye, that I would," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smirk. His eyes remained hard as he tried to envision the different ways he could have her tangled beneath him. It took a moment, but one image of her backed against a wall and panting finally riled his lust, and he held onto it for dear life.

Regina's eyes soon sparkled with a glimmer of the fire he was now feeling.

"You want something from me, don't you?" she asked, casually adjusting the lapels of his shirt, first tugging them together, and then pulling them apart. He closed his eyes as he felt her fingertips brush his skin.

"You might say that, my Queen. But," he suddenly grabbed the hand that had been so lightly travelling down across the top of his stomach. He heard her gasp in surprise, but she didn't make a move to stop him. "But," he repeated, his voice lower, "I can see just as plainly, that you want something from me as well. I was hoping we might reach…some kind of arrangement."

Black eyes met his, and she pulled her hand back. "What kind of arrangement?"

"Well, I was thinking the first one could be with you against a wall, panting, sweat glistening over your breasts, and then perhaps, with you on your back, that black hair of yours spilled over my pillows…"

"You're trying too hard," she chided, the hint of laughter in her voice. "And with someone you know wouldn't think twice about burying a dagger into your back while you slept. Desperate much?"

If he was trying too hard, then she was laying herself out naked on the deck before him. His temperature rose. "Are you trying to rile me, Regina?"

"Don't flatter yourself. If I had ever once wanted to have sex with you, don't you think it would have happened by now? I'm not exactly the type to tip-toe around propriety." She leaned towards him, her slender white neck upturned as she hovered her lips over his. "When I want something, Captain, I take it. There's no asking involved."

He smiled. "And here I was trying to be a gentleman."

"Nice guys finish last," she said, lowering her lids briefly as she glanced down at his lips. "But you're not exactly Prince Charming, are you?"

"Indeed not."

"Hm. Do you know what happened to the last man I slept with?" she asked, now pressing the entire front of her body against his. He felt her palm over his heart.

"No, and I can't say that I care – "

His words were cut off when he felt the intense, hot pressure of her magic over his chest, seeping into his skin and deeper. He suddenly couldn't breathe. It felt as though his lungs were collapsing and smothering his heart…

"You should care, Hook, so listen well. I wrapped my fingers around his heart, just as I'm doing to yours now, and crushed it in my hand. And do you know why I did it?"

Words escaped him as the wretchedly familiar sense of helplessness he'd felt at the hands of Rumplestiltskin and Cora overtook him. He hated magic. God how he hated it…God how he hated her…

"I killed him," she said, "because of Emma. I killed him for choosing her over me. I am no man's second choice, least of all to a worthless, pitiful creature such as yourself."

In an instant her hand was suddenly gone, and he was the one left panting on the deck, heart still throbbing irregularly. A sudden image of him burying his hook in her back established itself prominently in his mind, but he had to be careful. How had she brought Emma into the equation so quickly?

"Oh don't be so fucking sensitive," he shouted at her back as he kneeled and tried to find a regular rhythm. "It must have been a bloody long time since you've been properly drilled. But then, with a personality like that, I think I'm glad to have been denied."

He stood, shakily, but managed with only a bit of support from the mast behind him. Regina stopped walked, and turned to face him again.

"You do realize that I could toss you over the ship with a mere flick of my wrist?"

"Aye. Just as you realize that once you do, there will be no one left to navigate. No way to steer my ship towards your beloved son."

She seemed to consider that a moment, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side. The gesture reminded him vaguely of the way Emma would occasionally look at him. Pondering…

"You're not worth the effort," she finally said. "But I'll be damned if after all this, I don't get something out of you."

"My soul, perhaps?" he laughed, wincing as the movement rattled his sore chest.

"Now what in the world would I want with that?" Regina was smiling, her painted red lips easy and full. "Tell me, Captain," she said, stalking back towards him. "How long before we make port?"

The question caught him off guard, but his mouth answered automatically. "Two, maybe three days, depending on the weather. Why?"

"Well then, I'd say you have two to three days to make yourself more useful than a cripple who knows how to sail. I don't see Gold letting you live much longer than that, and I don't see anyone else here giving a damn."

The words should have meant more to him than they did, but he couldn't be bothered to place much weight on them. He had considered before that, once his usefulness had been tapped, Rumplestiltskin would likely turn on him like the scaly, slimy, cowardly creature that he was. He even realized that his life was likely near its end, even from the very moment he's seen on that globe where Bae's son had been taken. Hook had already escaped Neverland once, and it had nearly cost him his life then. He wasn't fool enough to believe that fate favored him enough to allow a second escape.

"You seem to be under the impression that I give a damn, Highness." He smiled at her then, standing a bit taller. Even in her boots and heavy coat, he still cast an imposing shadow over her in the bright moonlight.

"You don't care that he's going to kill you?" she asked, more inquisitive than surprised. She regarded him with a furrowed brow.

"Why should I? Three hundred years is an awfully long time to spend in this world," he thought for a moment, "or any other, for that matter. And, quite frankly, a week aboard this ship with you lot in such close quarters...it's a wonder I haven't thrown myself overboard."

"I don't understand. You stopped the town from being destroyed, even though Gold would have been killed, because you valued your own life more..." she stopped midsentence, her eyes widening ever so slightly. "No, no that's not true, is it? There was another reason."

Hook watched her silently, noting the subtle changes in her face while the gears twisted in her head. Click. Like a clock striking midnight, the bells seemed to go off.

"Her. You did everything for her."

"Seeing as I've know several women throughout the years, you'll need to be a bit more specific - "

"Emma," she cut him off, her voice irritated. "You did it for her."

He shrugged, doing his best to appear nonchalant. "Not necessarily." He thought quickly. "I saw her son. I remembered how she and Snow White would talk about him, how desperate they were to get back to him. When I arrived back in Storybrooke in that terrible couple's carriage, and they told me their plans...well, I let my sentimentality get the better of me. Every child deserves a family. He would have been alone had I not intervened."

"You sailed away with the magic bean. We would have all died and he would have been just as alone."

"I did come back. I won't say that I'm perfect, or that some part of me didn't want to survive. It was just instinct. "

"So you're doing this for Henry?" she asked, her quick eyes watching his more carefully than before.

"I suppose so," he answered, and nearly flinched when the image of Bae's face from so long ago flashed across his mind. The betrayal, the hurt...

"You'd do anything for him?"

"Considering he is a child, I won't say that I'd grant his every whim. But, I will do what I can to protect him."

"You almost sound sincere, Hook," she smiled again. "Watch out or you'll end up just like Charming and the other idiots below." She leaned closer to him again, and he instinctively raised his hook between them. She eyed it only for a moment before disregarding it completely. "Perhaps we can come to some sort or arrangement, after all."

He raised a brow, but didn't relax his stance. "I'm afraid that offer has been closed, love. Perhaps you should have been a bit nicer."

"I don't mean that," she purred, her eyes catching on the billowing edges of his shirt, "though it may have been a bit too long since I - well..." her eyes flicked back up to his. "What I meant was about you living to see Henry safely off the island. You can't tell me you don't want that, at least. I could make it happen. You asked for my protection before, back in Storybrooke - "

"Before you threw me to Maleficent's vengeful ghost, yes I remember."

"After which you handed me over to Greg Mendell so that he could torture me to death. We could go around in circles all day, and neither one of us would ever get what we want. Or," she wrapped two of her fingers around his hook, "we could stop this silly tit for tat betrayal shit and actually work together to accomplish something."

He flicked his hook out of her grasp, but refused to step back, instead opting to use his height and size to loom over her. He beat back the voice in his head called him an idiot for trying to intimidate a woman who could likely kill him before he had the chance to blink. "And what is it," he said, "that you want in return?"

A part of him regretting even relenting that tiny bit, but her words had found a home this time. If he could ensure that Milah's grandson really was safe, at least lay eyes on the boy before the Crocodile turned on him...

"I simply want what I've always wanted. My son." Her eyes almost appeared glassy in the moonlight.

"I would assume you mean all for yourself," he said.

"It's not just that," her eyes lowered. "He's the safest with me. I am the only one who can protect him. You know better than any how twisted Gold is, and Emma...she might care for him, but she's only mortal, and I'll be damned before I let Snow and Charming take him away from me. Help me rescue him, Hook, help me bring him back to the Enchanted Forest, and I won't let Gold lay a finger on you."

"What of the others?" he asked, already anticipating her answer.

"They can stay here, or go back to Storybrooke. Either way, I don't care. I just want my son."

If anything, Regina was a least predictable. "And what would stop you from killing me once the boy's safe?"

"Nothing," she replied, her voice flat, emotionless. "But if I do decide that it's better for Henry if you're dead, at least you'll know that he's not alone."

No, only trapped with the witch who took away his entire family and isolated him in a strange world.

"You're being honest now. I've never seen this side of you before, Regina," he quipped, his own mind working out the best possible solution. He didn't intend to stand by and let her snatch the boy away from the others, even despite the fact that he'd still rather she have him than the Crocodile. But that didn't mean she couldn't still be useful. It seemed the "tit for tat betrayal shit," was the only way they could communicate. He wasn't quite through with her yet.

"You'll ensure that I will survive long enough to see him safe?" he said, holding back the bitter laugh that threatened to escape. She likely thought him a pathetic being indeed, negotiating the terms of his death with such ease. But that worked to his advantage. She could think that all she liked.

"I will. So long as you back me up when the time comes."

"And when might that be?" he asked, now feigning boredom.

"When the ship makes port, make sure that we are the last ones aboard the ship. I can fend off Gold just long enough for us to escape. We'll sail back out, and find a better position, out of their reach. I should be able to replicate my mother's camouflage spell over the ship. We'll just have to get to Henry before they do."

"And if we can't?"

Regina smiled, her white teeth flashing in a rather feral fashion. "This ship is the only way we can return home. Even if they get to Henry first, when we offer him safe passage out of this world, they'll give him to me. That's just how their minds work. They'd sacrifice anything to protect him, just as I would."

"Somehow I don't see that lovely, dysfunctional family of yours giving in so easily. I wouldn't dare assume that's all there is to your plan."

"It's all you need to know," she answered. "Do we have an agreement?"

A thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he let a wicked smile crease his face. His insides were burning while he made every effort to force his mind blank, unthinking. He was going to get as much out of this as possible, and leave her empty and used behind him. The thought of defeating her, winning for once…it was undeniable intoxicating.

"I have a condition of my own, dear Queen," he said, lowering his voice and closing the distance between them. His leg still ached from when she'd shoved him down that chasm in Maleficent's cave, but there was a deeper ache that seemed to override it. It throbbed with every heartbeat, and a loud rushing in his ears carried louder than the crash of the waves against the ship's bow.

Her eyes seemed glued to his chest. "Don't think you can dictate - "

He forced her chin with his hand, gripping it hard. He half expected her to rip his heart out then and there, but her breath caught as those black eyes stared haughtily back at him. When she didn't move, he ventured forward.

"I'm curious, why you thought that you were my second choice," he whispered, leaving his lips parted. "Milah was my first love, indeed, but I'm not looking for another. There's no other competition."

"I thought you were glad that I rejected you," she said, and he could feel her jaw working under his hand. He skin was softer than it looked, the scar above her lip now less disfiguring and more interesting than it had been before.

This is wrong. The small voice echoed in his head, but he'd never been one to listen to it much.

"I want this," he answered back, aloud.

"What, exactly?" she asked. He noticed that her eyes roving about his face, lingering on his lips for an instant, then his own scar...

"Higher stakes," he replied, his voice level. She tried to jerk her head back, but he maintained his grip on her chin. "And by that I mean, I want you to see me as more than just one of your pawns. Perhaps if we were a bit..." he slipped the tip of his hook into her coat and pulled her flush against him, "closer, you wouldn't be so willing to discard me."

It felt so exceptional to have her on the other end of his hook this time, rather than the other way around. He realized that she'd told him enough so she couldn't raise a hand...let alone spell against him. She'd shown her cards, laid her plan all but bare before him. She needed his cooperation, and taken for granted that he'd give it without a fuss. The fury in her eyes was evident, her lips pressed into a thin, vibrant red line.

It was a moment before he realized that she'd relaxed against him, though. No longer straining.

He took it as an invitation, and she only huffed a bit when he quickly closed his mouth over hers, teeth biting and worrying her taut lips apart. He could vaguely taste the paint on them, a waxy flavor, before delving deeper. It had been so long since he'd indulged his lust, and even longer since he'd actually kissed a woman. He didn't kiss whores, and he'd considered leaving that out with Regina as well, but he needed her to feel as though she could trust him. He needed her to attach…

His thoughts fled as her hand gripped the back of his neck. Whether she was trying to pull him closer, or more easily lift herself up towards him, he couldn't tell, but her thigh suddenly rested against a very sensitive place, and all his plans and plots and ambiguous intentions left him there, alone. It only took a moment before Milah's face flashed across his mind, the way she used to look beneath him, lips parted and breath coming fast…

Regina's lips suddenly broke away, less red, but plumper than before. He opened his eyes, willing the image away.

"You want to seal our agreement like this?" she questioned, her voice breathy. "With a night in bed?"

"Two nights, at the very least," he growled, and his thoughts were now back on the multiple ways he could have her, that image of her pinned against the wall glowing brighter than ever…

"Getting a bit greedy, are we?"

"Well, I am a pirate," he said, stretching his mouth into what some might have taken as a smile.

"So you've said," she answered, her own sneer widening. "Shall we take this below deck?" Her thigh pressed harder against him, and he was forced to turn a short, guttural sound from the back of his throat into a laugh.

"After you, my Queen."

The short walk down the stairs and to his cabin was spent in silent anticipation. Neither of them touched, she hardly glanced at him. He couldn't help but pause and consider as she walked through his doorway if this was really the wisest course of action. He hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. A series of images flashed through his mind…a scarf, that damned beanstalk, dainty fingers placing an iridescent bean in the palm of his hand…but Regina was already inside, turning one of his books over in her hand. The sight of a woman by his bed made his hand tremble. If only it was…

A soft noise suddenly sounded behind him, and his head whipped about automatically. Her tried to focus as his eyes scanned the deep darkness, drawn to the corner by the stairs that remained black as night, untouched by moonbeams. He shifted his weight to the other foot as he stepped forward. It almost seemed too dark. As if something…

"Captain," he heard Regina's throaty whisper, and he turned back. Her coat had been discarded, her scarf thrown over the chair. The red blouse she wore underneath shimmered, the rise and fall of her breasts smooth, deep. "We have a deal to settle."