Hi everybody! It's been a while! EEEK!

Set post Neverland. "No. You don't get to be angry because people are coming to you for help"

Disclaimer – Oh Gods how I wish they were mine. Alas they belong to Adam and Eddy.

Another Hero. Another Mindless Crime.

There was a storm in the air. That was what he will always remember about that night. It was cold, dreary and dark. The sun had barely set and already the evening fog drew in around the docks. It did nothing for his mood. He clasped the flask of rum in his one good hand tighter as his hook braced himself against the window frame. His head was resting against the aged glass as if it could cool his skin where the headache was making his brain boil.

When he became the saviour of the bloody town he didn't know. No that was HER job. He just had to be all noble and righteous and offer his ship and service to the whole sodding town – and it was giving him a headache. He moved his neck from side to side to try and alleviate the ache there. The tell-tale sign that something dark was coming. He hadn't survived 300 years without some life saving instincts and at that moment he was ignoring all of them.

Ever since arriving back from Neverland he had been playing this game of chess with her. Trying to outthink the other, surprise the other. Now that Henry was finally safe – or as safe as this town allowed – she was finally coming around to the idea that they could have something. That didn't stop her from avoiding the topic altogether if she could help it. Hence the game of chess.

It stated off as a simple unconscious act on his part. He gave her his coat. She was standing next to him at the helm as they arrived into the realm, Henry protected by a circle of Neal, Regina and herself all bracing him for the landing. As they approached the docks of Storybrooke she had shivered with the sudden change in climate. He hadn't even thought twice about it. He let go of the wheel, shrugged out of his coat and draped it around her without flourish or pronouncement and then went back to the wheel.

Nothing more was said. The townsfolk had greeted the returning heroes and he was left on his ship. Alone to brood with a bottle of rum. It was only when he awoke did he find his coat hanging over the desk with a square yellow piece of paper sticking to it with the simple statement "Thank you x". He had no clue who or what the 'x' meant but it was a start. As was the cup of brown liquid sitting next to it in a paper cup. He decided he liked hot chocolate that day.

The first time he saw her in town she was heading for the diner run by the she-wolf and her kin. He followed keeping a distance. Observed (as stealthily as one could in a small town with a curious population) what she ate. The next time she entered the diner he had already ordered her food and drink, paid for it and left instructions that anything else she ordered was to come out of his money. He received a new bottle of rum left on his ship.

So it went on for weeks. Each trying to plan ahead, each trying to show the other that they noticed things about the other, that they cared enough to do things for the other. He had always believed in actions over words.

Bae- Neal kept to his promise about fighting for her, but he found the more he observed her the less time they actually spent together, the more tense their smiles became around each other and normally Henry was there to act as a buffer between them. She seemed to direct the true smiles to her parents, Regina on occasion and even himself. He had hope.

And then that fateful day came when the townsfolk gathered in the diner, terrified and panicking. The Charmings trying to keep everyone calm and Henry demanding to help because he was sick of everyone saving him; Regina was insisting that an aligance between herself and the crocodile was strong enough to keep this new curse at bay; and Emma...Emma had slipped out of the door.

He hadn't failed to notice that despite the brave words of her parents insisting that they would save them all, despite the tentative approval the townsfolk had given Regina – all eyes were on Emma. Out of the corner of their eyes they had looked at her for help. For salvation. So before he knew what he was doing; before he could censor the words coming out of his mouth he had offered his ship and services again to get them out. They had a healthy collection of beans now afterall.

He hadn't expected to organize the whole bloody evacuation of the town or to tell people "No you cannot bring your cat" or "I really don't think the Enchanted Forest has somewhere you can 'plug in' your Ipod" His personal favourite was when one of the dwarves had asked if his ship was large enough to hold his car.

So here he was, alone in his cabin, facing a horizon as dark as this thoughts, hating that not one of the heroes had offered him help. He decided that they were waiting for him to fail. Plotting a plan B and C behind his back when his heroic and flawed attempt failed. The more he thought about it the more pissed he became with the whole situation and the ever growing lack hope that he could get everyone out in time.

He was so engrossed in his spiral into anger that he hadn't heard the door to his cabin open. Bad form Jones he thought to himself, allowing his guard to be so down. She stood and observed him a moment.

"My parents would like to know when you think you can take the first lot of people through" He didn't know why but every word pissed him off that much more. Each word driving home the fact that he was the one that was supposed to save them all. All because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Soon" He didn't look around. Just took another swig from his rum and continued to stare out at sea.

"I know you're angry but –"

"You have no clue how I'm feeling Swan. I've answered your question" His voice was too calm, too controlled and the 'Now go' was implied. He would never tell her to leave outright. It wasn't in him. He was a gentleman after all and he was coming dangerously close to losing his temper as it was.

"You feel like this responsibility has been dropped on your shoulders and it could crush you at any moment." Her voice was soft, warm inviting him to let go of the anger he desperately clung to. He spun around and without warning or preamble threw the flask across the room. Emma didn't flinch just followed the movement with her eyes as though she was expecting it.

"I suggest you leave Swan" It was the repeat of her last name that told her she was right. He never called her that anymore, not in all the notes he left in his elegant scrawl, not in all the times she had invited him to Grannies for a hot chocolate. This was not Killian Jones standing in front of her, chest heaving – this was Captain Hook and she knew what she had to do.

"Why? So you can continue to hide away drinking rum?"

He turned back around to the window hand clenched at his side and jaw working overtime in an effort not to shout at her. His damn stubborn - for -all -the –wrong- reasons –Swan was going to be the death of him. He'd end up biting his own tongue off at this rate.

"I won't ask again"

He saw her in the reflection of the mirror watching him with those calculating eyes calmly, eyes which saw every part of him that he wanted to hide away. She was a vision, golden hair falling in waves over her shoulders and part way down her black coat which she had wrapped tightly around herself. Any other day he would continue to stare at her, but her light only reminded him of the darkness of his thoughts.

"You haven't spoken to them have you? You have no idea what they are saying about you." He had no idea who the 'them' was meant to be, all he knew was that whoever it was would not have anything positive to say about him. He wished he hadn't thrown away his rum.

"Why would I do that? Are you done, love? Because I've got planning to do" At least it was a step up from 'Swan' she thought.

"They believe in you Killian. You're their sav-" He was across the room and in front of her quicker than she could blink. His eyes were dark with fury and the muscle in his jaw was straining, he pointed his hook at her.

"No! You are their saviour and a grand job you're doing of it! I just took the bullet for you because you're too bloody scared to do it yourself" She refused to back down. She had known it was coming. From the moment she left the diner under the weight of all of those stares.

She had known deep down that he would step up, offer to take her place to spare her from yet another expectation she was afraid to live up to. In one selfish moment she had left him alone knowing what he would do. She swallowed and met his eyes.

"I know" That seemed to take the wind out of his sails and he once again retreated to the window, pausing briefly to pick up the discarded flask of rum.

"If there is anything else I can do for you, Princess, let me know" It was a dismissal as clear as any she had heard, but the use of Princess cut her more painfully than anything had in a long time.

"You don't get to be angry because people are coming to you for help; that people see you as someone who can save them." She turned her back on him, unwilling for him to see the tears in her eyes, hand gripping the door with shaking fingers as she paused a fraction longer than she intended keeping her voice steady. "I can't be this town's saviour Killian. But I can be yours"

She was out of the door and halfway across the deck before he caught up with her and grabbed her arm spinning her around to face him. He could still see where marks on her face where the tears had fallen.

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" he was shouting over the wind that buffeted their bodies, he hair whipping in his face as he stared her down.

"It means that you saved Henry. The least I can do is save you from..." She wouldn't look him in the eyes, refused to allow him to see that that was only a partial truth. She prayed his anger would blind him from what she was hiding, after all neither of them had gotten to where they were without being able to stop a lie.

"I don't need you saving me out of some misplaced sense of gratitude, Princess" It was like a slap to the face. She didn't realize she needed him to call her out on her lie until he hadn't. He was already storming into his cabin by the time she got her feet to more cursing pirates in all the languages she knew (which wasn't many),

She slammed the cabin door open ready to begin her triad about stubborn pig headed pirates when she heard a sickening crack and a thump as he fell to the floor clutching his head that was bleeding down his cheer.

"Bloody HELL woman! If this is your idea of saving me then you are truly hopeless" The words said out of pain and anger still hurt, even when she pulled him off the floor and pushed him so he was sitting on his desk she did so with more force than was strictly required.

"Shut up. Let me look" The cut was small but deep, she turned his head towards the light and poked it gently causing him to hiss through his teeth. She told him to stay whilst she retrieved his rum and removed a tissue from her pocket. With a grimace of sympathy she poured the rum into the tissue and used it to dab gently at the wound. For his part he simply kept his head still, refusing to look at anything in particular, refusing to speak. The air was uncomfortable at best.

"I'm sorry" she tried to pour all the gentleness her voice didn't hold into her touch, wishing more than ever that she knew how to control her magic and heal him. Remove all the hurt from him. But she couldn't. All she had was her words and she had never been very good at that.

"I'm sure I'll live" The tone was clipped, showing more than just pain. He clenched and unclenched his fist as she cleaned the wound.

"Not just about this. I ..." she took a deep breath, one that didn't go unnoticed by her patient who kept quiet "I wasn't implying that you couldn't save us or that you needed to be saved. I certainly wasn't implying that it was just done out of gratitude. I just know what it's like to be thrust into that position, to have the whole town rely on you when you don't have a clue what to do"

She stopped to swallow, turn the tissue to a clean side and pressed it against his head once more. He let her have this time, processing the words she had already said. He knew what it took for her to say them.

"I haven't forgotten what you said to me in the cave. I guess I was just trying to give you hope. That you wouldn't have to do this on your own, that you are worth trying to save" Her voice was small. He could barely hear above the wind and the rain lashing the boat but he heard her loud and clear.

He grabbed her hand and brushed his lips over the back of it. It was a long time before either moved or spoke. His anger sweeping away like the wind as he inhaled the smell of the sea on her coat mixed with just a hint of cinnamon. It was better than rum.

"So together then?" Three words were all it took for him to see her smile. A true smile. It was that smile more than anything that chased away the rest of his dark thoughts. She brought her other hand to his face and pushed away his hair from the wound, letting it linger there far longer than she needed to"

"Together, Captain" she confirmed. He used the hand holding hers to bring her closer to him, between his legs where he rested on the desk. She raised her eyebrows at him but didn't fight or comment.

"I don't mean to upset you Emma, but we have always made quite the team" His smirk was enough to bring the spark back to her eyes. Her Captain was still in there, he hadn't been taken from her by a selfish moment on her part. When she kissed him this time it was soft, sweet and an apology for everything that she had set into motion.

He arched a single eyebrow at her, his brilliant blue eyes dancing with mischief and she knew what he was going to say before he said it. This is why she shut him up with the next kiss. Their third, and if this method of shutting him up proved to be as effective as it seemed she was sure it was not her last with him.

"You should go tell your parents that I'll take the first lot over at dawn" he breathed against the lips as his forehead rested against hers. He refused to let her go yet. Afraid it was some rum induced stupor (The effects of her fingers carding through his hair were something even his imagination couldn't have concocted though) but knowing she would need time to process what just happened.

She nodded against him and backed away flicking her eyes to his head one last time and taking a deep breath before leaving.

"And tell them that the bloody dwarves go last" he shouted after her.

"As you wish" the smile and small laugh behind the words blinded him as she disappeared from view. Yes there was a storm in the air. It was cold, dreary and dark. The sun had barely set and already the evening fog had drawn in around the docks. There was a curse heading for them enacted by an evil more terrible than the crocodile. But there was hope. There was his saviour. That is what he will remember most of all.

xxxxx