Part 1: Emma
He meets her on the dock; he has normal dock worker clothes on, trying to blend in. He is trying to gather intelligence on a ship with a large amount of wealth on it, it was either on The Darling, or it was on The Firebird. Considering both were going in opposite directions it was vital that Killian figures out which had the gold.
A hit this big would set his crew up for a while and really stick it to King Frank of Oz. Killian wanted more than to annoy the greedy king, but stealing all his money would do…for now.
He notices her immediately considering how out of place she is. She's clean for one thing, crisp even in white linens and furs to combat the cold, not an ounce of dirt anywhere on her person. Her blonde hair striking and beautiful, she looks angelic.
She doesn't look like she belongs anywhere near a pirate ship in the middle of the night. But she just stands in front of it with her arms crossed. In fact, she looks like she's been crying.
Before he decides what to do, she spots him, green eyes filled with nothing but fire. He knows immediately that if he's not careful he'll burn from those eyes alone.
"Is this your ship?" She asks suddenly, blocking his path back.
"No." He says curtly, "I just work on it, why do you need something?" He asks curiously, someone like her doesn't want to talk to Captain Hook. They shouldn't. Captain Hook is dangerous and dark.
"I need to speak to the captain." She says sharply, he feels her eyes looking him up and down. He was absolutely right about those eyes.
"Well love, you can't speak to him unless you can tell me why you need to speak to him." He assures her. He comes up with a dozen possible answers, most of them involving a man as good and perfect as she seems to be.
Her answer is absolutely the last thing he expects.
She points to the cat on his ship, a mouser that crawled on the Jolly a few ports back. "Your cat looks sick." She utters. "If you're not going to take care of your animals, you might as well not have them." She utters sharply.
It completely throws him for a loop.
"You're here in the middle of the night, confronting a captain you do not know…because of a cat?" He confirms.
"Well I'm not here specifically for the cat." She corrects. "The water calms me." She admits. "I have a lot on my mind right now, a lot I can't fix. But one thing I can fix is that cat so are you going to let me talk to your captain or not?"
He smiled at her. "I too use the ocean to calm me. You can see the Captain if you so desire." He assured her, inviting him onto the ship, and down to his cabin. He poured them both shots of rum. He knows it was the right decision when she takes it in one swig and practically slams the glass back on the table.
"Now, what's on your mind lass?" He asks, settling into his chair. "I can assure you, now that it's been brought to my attention, I'll see to the cat's welfare."
"I knew you were the captain." She assured him. "I can tell you were lying."
"Oh?"
"Plus you are too hot to be a simple deckhand." She says boldly, lifting her chin and sitting on his bed.
"I assure you lass; there is nothing simple about me." He assures her, drinking his own rum. "Why are you really here?" He asks, getting up from his chair, strolling over to her.
"The water calms me." She repeats, breaking his gaze, looking out the port window.
"So you've said." He places a hand on her shoulder feeling how soft her cloak is. She lets him. It feels more like feathers than furs.
"Your cat looks too skinny." Her fingers rise to untie it, allowing him to push it down her shoulders. Her eyes are back on him.
"I promise I'll fix that." He pushes golden hair behind her ear and lets his hand rest on her cheek. She bites her lip.
"Good." She rises from the bed quickly and suddenly, her hands on his coat pulling him into a kiss. It was fast and commanding. Her hands trying to push his jacket off his shoulders, he helps her along, his hand finding her waist.
He breaks the kiss. "Lass-" But her mouth just finds his neck and he groans at the sensation. "You're not here for that cat…"
"No." She says, practically pushing him into sitting on the bed. "I'm not just here for the cat." She smirks, eyes blown. "I think you can figure out what I'm here for."
He knows that this woman was going to ruin him.
/
He expects never to see her again. He expects her to be some aristocrat housewife, angry at her husband and wanting to bed a dirty pirate to stick it to him.
(It reminds him of another woman, one with dark hair, bedding him for the same reason, at least at first.)
He never got a name, but he calls her Swan in his head for the feather like texture the cloak had.
Regardless, he asks the cook to feed the cat any scraps he could spare. The man laughs at his request, but complies.
She does indeed show up next time he's at that port, dressed less ostentatious than before, a simple burgundy dress. He tries to remain casual, tries to pretend that he hasn't been thinking her of the months since they parted.
(Since she snuck out in the middle of the night with no word)
She looks more relaxed, almost peaceful as she stands by the dock.
"I have something for the cat." She announces with a smile. There's a container of milk with a bow on it.
"I assure you, the cat has gained some weight since we last parted." He assures her.
"I'll be the judge of that." She declares, inviting herself on his ship. Once she seems satisfied by the mouser, she helps herself to some rum and his chair.
"You have very good rum." She insists.
"That's your reason." He asks with a smirk.
"Yup."
"Not looking for anything else?" He asks leaning in. "Someone else."
"Not at all." She insists, taking another gulp of rum. "But seriously, where do you get this stuff."
He promises he'll bring her some next time he visits.
"Oh there is no next time." She assures him. "Better make this one count."
He does, he definitely does.
/
There is a next time, and a time after that, and a time after that. He eventually loses track of the times. Killian just knows that once he makes ports within a few days she appears with a bottle of milk for the cat, Henry as Swan has named him.
"You know Swan, one of these times; you're going to have to tell me your name." He tells her as she rests her head on his shoulder, hair ending up in his mouth, like it always does.
"But I like the Swan, Killian." She replies. "Anyway, this…this is just this right? IT's not like we're…" She trails off.
He knows, he always knows.
It's just sex.
/
He learns that she's just as feisty with a sword as she is in his cabin. He offers her dinner on the deck, she accepts gladly, watching him look over his ship and prepare to depart the next day when one of the crew makes a rude remark about her.
He orders the man to stop, but it was too late, Swan was pissed.
She goes over and decks him in the jaw and when the man draws a blade, she picks one up herself. Swan demands that he fight her if he is to say such rude things about her.
It doesn't take long for her to disarm him, a blade to his neck.
"Swan, please don't kill my crew, they are hard to come by so close to the castle." He says in a complaint, but really he's truly mystified by her.
She jolts back to herself, helping the man up, who apologies for his comment and returns to his quarters, tail between his legs.
"You know Swan." He says on the way back to his cabin. "I knew there was a little pirate in you."
She beams.
/
They return after a nasty battle with the Oz Navy, they were almost caught. They'd evaded thankfully, a canon nearly taking off his head. They'd been boarded and he had a nasty cut in his side, but the Jolly Roger was victorious at the end.
He decides it's best to drown himself in the bottle, as old thoughts and demons come about.; thoughts about Liam and the royals who killed him.
He didn't intend on seeing her. But it was the closest port and they needed repairs done.
She finds him in his cabin, nursing his wounds. "The cat's chasing a nasty rat in the kitchen." He slurs.
"I didn't come here for the cat."
"Well you didn't come here for me, so what do you want Swan?" He says; Killian's too tired and too angry for these games.
"I heard you got hurt." She snaps back. "I wanted to see if you were ok."
He rolls his eyes leaning up in bed, despite the pull on his injury. "I'm fine Swan. I'll be ship shape next time you need me to scratch that itch of yours, for now just leave me in peace."
She gasps at his words.
"You think all I see you as is sex?" She demands. "Damn it Killian I was worried! I was worried that you wouldn't come back! But if you don't want me here, I'll just go."
He doesn't want her to go. He catches her hand with his. She stops, fire in her eyes, but she stops. He doesn't say he's sorry. He doesn't say anything at all.
Swan just sits in the bed next to him.
He eventually cracks, rum loosening his lips.
He rambles about the fight the battle, his endless crusade against the people who were responsible for Liam's death, against all the royals, because it didn't matter which crown you served they were all the same.
He never felt good enough for his brother his entire life, and now he can't even avenge him.
Killian eventually falls asleep, head on Swan's lap as she runs her hands through his hair, whispers of affection in his ear.
For once, when he wakes up that next morning, Swan's still there
/
But all good things eventually end.
She comes to see him after a really ha
"Killian I need to tell you something." She admits one night.
He expected this, expected the 'husband talk'. He never cared with Milah, why should he care now?
(Why should he care about how she likes to raid his book collection when he has to chart their courses, she likes adventure book, why should he care that she loves the exotic spices he has the cook use when she's here, or how some times she wears expensive earrings but curses them when she remembers them, like she forgot to take them off before coming here.
Why should he care after she sat with him as he was drunk and spewing nonsense, hurt and angry at the world.)
"I'm not who you think I am." She practically blurts out, hands behind her as she shifted her weight constantly. "I'm so sorry."
He doesn't quite understand why she's so nervous.
"I don't understand." He insists. "You haven't told me so much as your name, I don't have any idea of your life apart from this."
She averts his gaze, staring at his feet. "That's because you'd know who I was the moment you heard my name." She says. "I liked being Swan with you, just Swan, no backstory, no drama, nothing, just Swan and Killian on a pirate ship."
He likes that too.
"Just who are you Swan?"
Green eyes flicker to his, burning just as brightly, but looking sad.
"My name is Emma." She says as a whisper. "Princess Emma of Misthaven."
Princess. He repeats the word in his head until it makes sense. Swan-no Emma- is a Princess.
"I know how you feel about royals, how they killed your brother, and what happened wasn't fair. It wasn't what my family would ever do." She continues. "But I can't just ignore your feelings like that."
He was sleeping with a princess, a princess who kept bringing milk to the cat, who he cares for intensely.
"If you never-…if you never want to see me again, I'll understand." She says ducking her head. IT breaks into the shock he's feeling, hearing how…dare he say, heartbroken she sounds.
"Never want to see you again?" He repeats. "Darling, that thought never ever would cross my mind." Green eyes snaps to his. He closes the distance between them, kissing her. He wants her to know, even if he can't say it. "Because of the cat." He says when they break apart. Henry would be devastated."
Swan, Emma smirks. She wipes tears from her eyes, tears he pretends he doesn't see.
"Because of the cat." She repeats. "Who would give him milk?" He presses another kiss to her lips.
"He'd miss you terribly."
"He would wouldn't he?"
"Absolutly."
/
After finding out about her identity, Killian expected things to be easier. She finally told him things. Killian learned that her father taught her how to fight, how to lift your chin and weather the storm.
Her mother was a spit fire, never doing as she's told, but having the grace to make you think she had. Killian learned that Emma's best friend was Queen Elsa of Arendell, she often had her Aunt Ruby cover for her, but the woman didn't know who she was seeing.
He learned why she was crying that night oh so long ago.
"I heard my parents consultants talking about me." She says into the darkness, his arms tightly wrapped around her. He was tracing shapes into her hips with his hand. "They called me trouble, a rebel. They said I would never be like my parents, they put the kingdom before all else. I was too selfish for that…"
"Swan…"
"They said that no man would ever want to marry me. They said that I was too rebellious, too much for any prince to ever think about touching me…"
"That's not true, any man would be lucky to have you. You're strong and beautiful and passionate." He insists, turning her over so she could see him. "You're nothing if not selfless; you're going to make a wonderful queen."
/
"Are you sure you're feeding Henry enough? He's so skinny." She insists, lying entirely in the nude under his blankets, the ship's cat curled up on her lap. He glances over at her from his spot at the desk, finishing with his logs, months after her midnight confession, ever since then things had been bloody brilliant.
"I assure you Princess, he gets plenty to eat, along with the mice, he gets all the scraps from the crew along with the fresh milk you bring him." He says looking up at her putting the grey cat's head. Kilian can hear him purring from here.
She rolls her eyes at him. "I told you to quite the Princess talk, got it?"
He nods. "Of course, your highness." He assures her.
"If Henry wasn't asleep, I'd go over there and smack you." She confirms. Killian has no doubt that was true. "We had a deal, no princess pirate talk while in bed, Killian"
"I'm not in bed."
"That's your own fault."
Killian chuckles at that. "What time do I have to take you back?" He asks, glancing out at the sea all around them, he could see the port from here, but being a ways away was nice. Emma shrugs.
"I'm supposed to be out with Ruby, so maybe in a few hours?" She asks. "After this I won't be able to meet after the b-" She cuts off, Killian knows she thinks she's said too much.
"The ball?" He repeats. A blush appears on her cheeks. "What's so wrong about telling me about a ball, doesn't your mother throw one every other month?" He asks.
Killian can already sense there's something more to this one. People have been speaking about it far more in other ports in the area.
"She invited suitors to this one." Emma murmurs softly. "She thought it was time, made me promise to keep an open mind.
Suitors. The word is a jab to the chest. Because it's an all-too real reminder of what this is their doing, playing with fire on a ticking clock; one day Emma would belong to someone else and he would just be a distant memory.
"Anyone interesting?" He asks casually, trying not to act bothered. He wasn't bothered.
"Why do you care?" She spits back. "We both new this isn't anything Hook."
Hook.
"You're right." He snaps back, clenching the pencil in his hand tightly. "I guess I don't care."
He doesn't, he doesn't care one bit who she's going to meet that his ball of hers; he especially doesn't care if she meets her future husband. He doesn't care because it's not going be him.
"Killian…" Emma says trying to backtrack. He can tell, but he's already too angry.
"I hope you have a fabulous time at your ball." He utters standing up.
"Killian don't be like this." She snaps. "You don't get to be hurt by something you knew was coming." He rolls his eyes.
"Of course your majesty, how silly I've been, just bedding the local pirate to blow off some steam."
Swan stands up suddenly, making Henry meow loudly in complaint as she stalks up to him.
"You know damn well it's about more than that." She hisses. "You know that I care, and you know that we can't keep doing this."
Of course he knows.
"Then why do you keep coming back?" He asks. "And don't say it's about the cat."
Emma shakes her head. "As if you don't already know." She insists, turning around and gathering up her clothes, changing in silence. "I guess this is goodbye Hook." She says fully dressed on her way out of his cabin. She sounds sad and he instantly regrets his behavior.
"Until next time?" He asks, pleads really.
Emma looks back at him, cold flames burning him in her gaze. "No, I don't think there will be a next time." She insists.
And she's gone.
/
Perhaps he is being foolish. Killian thinks, all decked up in clothes he considers royal, weeks after his fight with Swan. He was a stubborn ass and he needed to make it up to her. He needed her to know how sorry he was.
How lost he's been without her, how much he needs her, how much he misses her.
How he had completely and utterly fallen in love with her.
"Invitation?" The woman at the front of the castle asks. He hands her one, he'd stolen it of course. He wonders if it was reported, "Prince Charles, we've been expecting you!" The woman gushes.
"The pleasure is mine." He says kissing the woman's hand, flashing her his charming smile. The woman blushes before letting him inside.
He was just one of the 'suitors' tonight, which arguably wasn't a lie. One could argue he had been courting Emma since the day they met, just in a less traditional way.
Killian exchanges pleasantries with a few of the men, they don't seem too terrible, but Killian is confident that none of them could handle Swan. She would chew them up and spit them out without even trying given half a chance.
One of the suitors didn't even bother conversing with the other guests, decked out in green and gold, he stood apart, analyzing the ballroom as if he was waiting for something interesting to arrive.
Killian couldn't help but approach the man. He rationalized that if he couldn't be with Swan, he wanted her to be someone worthy of her. "What do you think the Princess is like?" He asks the man casually.
He looks him up and down. Killian knows that look; the man was looking at him like one does an insect, something beneath you. "Far out of your league." He says with a toothy smirk.
"Oh?" He asks. "I believe I received the same invite you did." He replies.
"Your was just to be polite." He says in an attempt to be kind. "She's a princess, of one of the largest kingdoms in the realms; she needs to be at the side of someone powerful if her kingdom is to grow." He insists. "Besides you've heard the rumors, she's wild, untamed, un-princess like at all. Her parents are dying to have her tied down so she won't get into any more trouble."
"I always heard that King James and Queen Snow married for love and wished the same thing for their daughter." That's how Emma put it at least.
"Love is nothing compared to power." Killian decided that he definitely wanted to punch this man at some point this evening.
"Who were you again? I'm sorry, I don't come to these things very often." He got an eye roll from the man.
"Prince Walsh of Oz." He explains. "Take my advise, find some lady here, have your fun and then go home to your tiny kingdom and forget all about Princess Emma, perhaps I'll even invite you to the wedding if you stay out of my way." With that Walsh, passed by him roughly, hitting his shoulder with his own causing Killian to stumble slightly.
Oh he wanted to punch him.
Until he sees her, and God almighty, she's beautiful.
And Emma is always beautiful when she comes to his ship, a breath of fresh air after long days at sea, but this was different. Tonight she looks truly like a princess. Her dress is red and flowing, seeming endless. Her hair is braided and up, like a halo. She looks like an absolute angel.
"Now introducing Princess Emma." Someone announces as she enters the ballroom, Killian notices her father take her first dance, whispering into her ear as the music plays. Whatever he says makes her laugh, a bright real thing.
As soon as she finishes, a crowd of men greet her, hoping to have the next one. Just as predicted, Walsh seems to push past the others the hardest, speaking the loudest. She eventually accepts the offer, but Emma doesn't look please, not one bit. He didn't expect her to be.
If he knew Swan, and he definitely did, Walsh wouldn't last one dance before opening his mouth and saying something insulting causing Emma to lash out at him. Killian waited with baited breath to see the man being knocked down a peg or two.
Killian feels his entire being go ablaze when the man moves his hand too low. Emma looks absolutely repulsed by whatever he's saying. He practically marches over, wanting to rip him away from his Swan.
Except of course, Emma being Emma, the usual spitfire she is, detangles with him sharply, and hisses a few words at him and not too subtly stomps on his foot.
And that's when he makes his move.
"You're going to regret that." The man snarls as Killian nears, the other suitors are too distracted to notice what's happening.
"Watch me Walsh." Emma snaps back. "I'd rather die than marry you."
The man moves towards her once again, grabbing at her arm but this time Killian is in the way.
"The dance is over mate." He confirms, stepping between this, his eyes daring him to challenge him. "If I were you I'd go find an unaccompanied lass and then go back to your kingdom tail between your legs." He hisses with a smile on his face. The man stands there fuming, but backs away when he notices the King, Emma's father looking their way suspiciously. The man's hand was resting on his blade.
"Perhaps I can step in." He says, turning to offer his hand to Emma. The look on Emma's face is absolutely priceless. "You-" She says. "You look…"
Killian smirks. "I know." He says kissing her hand gently. "Prince Charles your highness." He introduces. Emma catches on quickly, agreeing to his offer of a dance.
"What are you doing?" She hisses once they're alone in the midst of a dance.
"I'm a pirate, stealing treasure is part of the job." He teases, because he's dancing with Emma in her castle, he's holding her close, and flying far too close to the sun. One misstep and he'd be in the dungeon or on his way to the gallows.
"You're lying to me." Emma adds, the bite in her voice fading.
"Well you're heart is the most valueable treasure here so I think I'm telling you the truth." He counters.
"Seriously Killian." Swan asks, face soft and pleading. It breaks his heart because she looks to be in pain by his presence and that's the last thing he wants.
"Perhaps I'm apologizing." He says in a softer tone. "Perhaps I do care."
Emma hesitates as he twirls her. "You know we can't." She says softly. "What we are, what we have, is temporary. I have to find a husband, someone to lead by my side."
He knows this. He's always known this. She needs someone, anyone but him.
"I couldn't stay away. I couldn't stand knowing that these boys who care more about your power or wealth than you get to dance with you while you're mad at me." He utters. "I didn't want your last memory of me to be me being an ass because I was jealous."
She pauses, looking to be caught off guard by his admittance.
"I'm sorry too. I know you care Killian, but you know this is only going to end one way right? Now or later, it's going to hurt like crazy."
He knows.
"Now that I've started looking for a husband, it should probably be now."
No, please. This isn't what he wanted.
"If you must, what your heart desires Swan, that's all I'll ever want." But he's not like her, at his core he's still selfish, he is a greedy pirate when it comes to her. "But if this is what you want, will you give me this? One night of being the Fairytale Prince you deserve?" Just one more night to pretend that he could ever deserve his Swan, which she could possibly love…
"Ok." She breathes. "Just one more night."
Emma dances with all the suitors, but saves him a few dances throughout it. She tells him all about the others, laughing about the stupidity of it all.
If they did disappear into one of the empty bedrooms of the palace for 'one last fling' well, that's their own secret.
/
"I thought we said last time was the last time." Emma asks. Killian shrugs, pulling her closer. Her bare back pressed against his chest as he wrapped himself around her.
"You came to me." He reminds her. He hadn't expected the Princess of Misthaven to come in midmorning in a hood and pants, practically dragging him back to his cabin for one last good time.
"I had to say goodbye to the cat."
"Of course." He tells her. "You can always come to see Henry." He insists. A stray blonde hair finding itself in his mouth, making him spit it out.
"Killian."
"I'm serious…you don't have to call this off. This can be whatever you want it to be." Emma turns over, pulling the sheets over herself.
"You know I have to Killian. You deserve to find someone too." He does, he knows he does, but he believes in his soul that he already has.
"Run away with me." He blurts out.
"What?"
"We can be together, we can be happy, you always talked about the places you wanted to go, how you want to be just Swan, you can do that. Come with me, sail away with me and we can be together."
It's crazy, absolutely insane.
"I can't just disappear." Emma says.
"Why not?"
Emma doesn't have an answer right away. "My family, my people." She says eventually, "my friends, my life."
He shakes his head. "You can still have that, eventually, you can write to your parents, see them, same thing with your friends, your parents are young, you can come back, we can be happy Emma, truly."
Killian wants her to say yes.
"I'm sorry Killian."
But understands when she can't. He understands that Emma isn'tselfish, she puts everyone before herself. He loves that about her.
"I love you." He says, watching her leave the Jolly for the last time.
"I know."
"There won't be a day I won't think of you." He says, she turns back and smiles.
"Good."
/
"It appears Princess Emma of Misthaven is as wild as they claim." The conversation peaks his interest, months after the last time he's seen her. He was true to his word, letting her break it off without making it harder for her than it already was.
He tries his best to never stop at that port. He dies however, because sometimes it's unavoidable. He's still a captain and has to put his crew first.
She doesn't come.
"Running away with some prince in another kingdom." The sailor says with a disappointed sigh. "I bet she's pregnant."
Run away? It doesn't sound like the Emma he knows. But really it hurt to think that she could have fallen in love with someone else so quickly, would be willing to run away with someone else.
Killian should just walk away, forget her, forget Swan. She deserves better, she was happy.
"What were you saying about the Princess?" He asks the two old sailors. They are more than happy to gossip with him. He's always been a glutton for punishment.
Apparently, Swan was on her way to the docks, but never made it home. The kingdom searched for her until a letter was sent from Emma herself explaining how she's fallen in love with Prince Walsh of Oz and she was marrying him despite her parents' reservations.
Oh bloody hell. He curses, storming back to his ship. Killian remembers the man's threat, his vow to make Emma pay.
Captain Hook was going to Oz and was getting his Swan back. Heaven help anyone that stood in his way.
/
Saving Emma was exactly what he intended to do at least, but when he burst into the throne room, he saw Emma bashing Walsh with a club, how she'd gotten a club, he had no idea.
"And that's what you get for kidnapping me!" She shouts as the man moves to duck her blow. Killian can see he's bleeding pretty badly. "Think this is going to trap me into accepting your ridiculous proposal?" She demands. He can feel pure fire in her entire being as she goes for blood.
"Guards!" He shouts.
Except Killian's already knocked them out cold on his way here.
"Let them save you!" Emma hisses, going for Walsh again. "Take me back to the dungeon because all you're getting from me is a kick in the-" He approaches slowly, pressing a hand to her arm.
Emma spins around and punches Killian square in the nose.
Killian recoils sharply, nearly dropping his sword ad he cups his face from her right hook.
"You-" Emma says, breathing heavily. She looks dumbstruck. Her face is smeared with blood and dirt, her dress is torn and ruined, she has one shoe on. It's obvious that Emma hasn't changed clothes since she was taken, weeks ago.
"Easy Swan." He says. She doesn't move, doesn't drop her weapon, if anything she grips it tighter. "I'm here to save you." He looks around at the bleeding prince on the ground. "But you seem to be depriving me of a dashing rescue."
Now that elicits a response. "No one save me but me." She says it stubbornly, glaring at Walsh.
She lets him place his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "I know Swan. I know." She collapses into him. "I've got you."
At this moment the prince choses to gather some courage, "What are you doing in my castle?" He says, grabbing a weapon. "I knew you were no prince." He seethes. "Get away from my fiancé."
Rage surges through Killian as he strikes, knocking him on the head with the blunt end of his hook.
"Come on Swan. Let's go home."
/
It takes her a while to calm down, adrenaline keeping her tense and battle ready. She refuses to stop until they're back on The Jolly, and already cast out to sea, and the only reason she agrees to rest at all is because he's seen the wounds on her wrists, the dried blood on her hair.
He wants to go back and gut everyone who even thought about hurting his Swan.
She doesn't say much as he bandages her wrists, lost in her own head, a place he himself frequented often.
"It'll take a few days to get back to Misthaven." He says eventually. "I'll bring you in a bath and I have some clothes you can change into." He offers.
She nods.
"Henry misses you." The cat was curled up beside her, acting like it hadn't slept since they parted. His comment gets a smile. "Are you alright love?" he presses gently. Her silence isn't normal; it's the shock of the last few days.
She shakes her head. "The whole kingdom thinks I'm marrying him." She utters softly. "I was running away in the middle of my night; put a decoy in my bed. I didn't intend to run away, but I intended to sneak out. It's going to ruin everything." She says exasperated. "An international crisis they'll say. But I can't marry him Killian, I can't-" He stops her, pulling her close to his chest, shushing her.
"You won't."
"I'll look like I was just using him, seeing what I can get from him and dumping him, that's not me." He knows. Walsh has her between a rock and hard place.
"I'll never get married; I'll be a disappointment to my family."
"You won't. Your parents love you, you're never a disappointment Swan, you're bloody brilliant, we'll think of a way out of this mess." He assures her. "And until then you can rest here, recover." He won't let anything happen to her.
"How did you find me?" She eventually blurts out, looking up at him. Life was slowly returning to her face. It was a relief if he was being honest.
"I heard a rumor about you that couldn't be true. I went looking for the source and I found you." He adds.
"But we're not…anything anymore." She adds.
He stares at her dumbfounded. "You know why Swan." He reminds her, "We are never going to be nothing, because since we parted, I kept my promise, every day."
There's tears in her eyes as she kisses him.
"I was running away." She repeats. "To find you, to tell you…" She trails off. "But it doesn't matter now Killian. After all the rumors, I have to go home, I have to fix things." He kisses her back. Knowing the words she can't say.
They were always playing with fire; they always knew they'd both be burned.
"Until the end of my day, I'll always love you." He whispers into her hair. "And that's why you are going to tell the truth. Tell them a pirate took you, you never made it to Oz. Tell them after this ordeal you need to rethink your plans, your love for Walsh." He says it bitterly and sarcastically
Emma blinks in surprise. "Killian…"
"It'll get you out of this mess. No one will suspect anything, there will be no international crisis." He assures her. Because Emma cared about her people, and a war on Oz for her abduction was the last thing she wanted.
"I'd have to point the finger at you, Killian, they'll be hunting for your head; my father, Oz, everyone. You've been safe because no one cared to hunt the Jolly Roger, not like this, you could never come back to Misthaven…"
He knows. "But you'll be safe. You'll be safe from Walsh, safe to find a husband who deserves you."
"I don't want to lose you."
"I don't want to lose you, but it's the only way."
He doesn't expect her to start to cry, practically sobbing into his chest, he just holds her as she does, the stress of everything hitting her all at once. He tells her it'll be ok.
She doesn't call him out for lying.
/
They spend the next few days hold up in his cabin or laughing on the deck, anything they can do to forget what will happen when they make port in Arendelle. The story is that she'll 'escape' there, running to her friend who will give her safe passage home.
It takes longer than it usually does; Killian is greedy, knowing this will be the last he sees of her, so he takes the long way, going around storms rather than through them.
"You should take Henry with you." He says when they reach their destination.
"He's your mouser." Emma argues, but he doesn't care.
"I'll come back for him." He insists. "I know you'll take care of him, and you'll know that someday I'll come back, for the cat of course." He says with a wink.
"Of course."
There's a pause, he shifts uncertainly on his feet. He wants to kiss her, but he knows it's goodbye.
Emma makes the decision for him, surging forward holding on to him for dear life. She kisses him like she's drowning.
"I'm going to fix this Killian, I promise. I'm going to fix everything." He asserts.
He knows she will, as he parts, watches her with the cat in hand, he knows that she'll fix this, that he'll come back to her someday.
Hopefully sooner rather than later.