To much fun, just to much damn fun, enjoy :)

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It was an agonizing hour and a half later, where Hook had begun to consider calling someone in to help (only number he had was Swan's, damnit!), when the fever finally broke. Hook sighed as he removed his hand from her cheek, feeling the marked difference in her temperature.

"It's about bloody time," he sighed, noting her eyes had closed yet again. He laid a few of her fluffy towels on the floor, then scooped her out of the tub and laid her down on them. He patted her dry before wrapping her up and carrying her out of the bathroom.

"Think it's time for a change of scenery Emma," he told her, taking her into her room. He laid her on the bed, still wrapped up in the towel before going back to the bathroom to reattach his hook. As he did so Hook looked down at his shirt which was now completely soaked. He shrugged out of it and threw it over the shower curtain rod to wait for it to dry. As he walked back into Emma's room he noticed she was still shivering slightly. He pulled another wicker chair up to Emma's bed side and sat down.

"You're missing me shirtless Emma" he told her sleeping form, using his hook to pull her blankets tighter around her.

"Not a show most women want to miss," he said smugly. She was saying something under her breath that he didn't catch so he leaned forward trying to hear her…

"… Neal," she whispered.

"…You know it does irreparable damage to a man's ego when a woman says another man's name in bed Swan." Who the hell was Neal? Why was she thinking of him and not, well, him? For the first time in a very long time Hook felt the niggling of jealousy.

Hook tucked a strand of her wet hair behind her ear as he watched her peaceful face and her easy shallow breaths. For some reason the name was echoing in his head and he was surprised to find it was actually bugging him a lot.

"Who's Neal love?" he asked softly, trying not to rouse her to where she would actually know she was giving him answers. She sighed softly in her sleep, brow pinching together ever so slightly like she didn't like the question. Guarded even when sleeping, did she ever relax? Hook would have left it alone if… never mind there was no way he could leave it alone now. He soothed her as he continued to smooth her hair back from her face until the wrinkle on her brow disappeared before trying again. He leaned in close...

"Who's Neal Emma?" he whispered in her ear. She answered so softly he very barely caught it at all, two words that a light breeze would have taken away forever if there had been one. Hook pulled back to look at her face, caught off guard as he saw a tear run down her face.

"Broke me," he said, repeating her answer back softly. He reached out and used his thumb to tenderly wipe the tear from her cheek. His teasing smirk had turned into a tight frown, yes he very much did not like this Neal.

"Bastards will do that," he told her, pulling wet towels out from around her and tugged more blankets up around her chin. He should know - he'd been one for a very long time. Hell, deep down in a lot of ways he still was. But the thought of that accusation being thrown at him however made him feel… mildly ill.

He had no desire to break Emma Swan.

"Sometimes it hurts to lose the game of hearts love," he told her sitting back in the wicker chair and watching her lay there, peaceful once more. But that bespoke more of the opposite player than the game itself. He'd wear her down, carefully; She was a tough lass alright, but hurt hearts often had to be. He knew a thing or two about that.

"But just cause it hurts doesn't mean you're going to die."

Well he was probably going to spend the rest of the night in this chair, and though his sleeping blond firecracker was certainly a wonderful view he wondered how he would pass the time until she woke up and he could resume matching her in the battle of wits; And his particular brand of courtship. That's when he spotted a curious book on her nightstand and picked it up.

"50 Shades of Grey…" he muttered to himself, opening the book.

Emma sighed and rolled over in her bed, she loved not having to get up early for work, there was nothing like waking up in a comfortable bed and knowing you didn't have to go anywhere. For some reason though that didn't feel right, did she have some other appointment?

She wondered about the nagging feeling as she pulled the blankets up tighter around her chin. Wait a minute… hadn't she been in the bathroom? She pried her eyelids open and blinked, how had she gotten in her bed? She rolled over to look at the time but saw Hook sitting there watching her with no shirt on instead. Emma sat up with a gasp while continued to watched her, clearly amused.

"Hook? What are you doing here!?"

"A good morning to you as well sheriff," he greeted, "how are you feeling?"

"What the hell happened? Why are you in my room shirtless?" she demanded, ignoring his question.

"It's your birthday?" he tried

"Hook, where are my pants?" she growled, feeling her bare legs under the blanket.

"On the floor of your bathroom," he informed her looking in the direction of the bathroom, "they weren't exactly helping to cool that rising core temperature." He looked back at her like he could see through the blankets that covered her

"Besides, it's such a shame to hide those legs under such ugly sweat pants." She opened her mouth to say something particular scathing but he was already cutting her off.

"I'm guess this means you don't remember much from last night," he deduced leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms, watching as she put a hand to her head and squinting like she was trying to remember through the fog of a hangover.

"I suppose you were in quite a state," he conceded, "It was a rather wicked fever you were running."

"I… I remember… I heard gun shots and thunder… Then you." It hit her, yes she remembered. A brief moment anyways - she'd been in the bath and he'd been there saying something about him not letting a fever get the best of her...

"You took care of me last night," Emma realized, looking surprised. He'd taken care of her, stayed by her side all night it seemed, no one had ever done that for her before…
She felt a weird lump in her throat before coughing in an attempt to clear it while Hook continued.

"I broke in and found you fevered and delusional, what kind of gentleman would I be if I abandoned you?" he asked.

"Do me a favour though love," he said leaning forward in his chair, forcing her to hold eye contact with him.

"Next time you become dangerously sick - call someone," he said to her seriously, "If I'd not walked in you'd have been in terrible trouble."

"… Thank you Killian," she said quietly, sincerely. Hook smiled that rare genuine smile of his an leaned back.

"My pleasure Swan," he told her with a nod of his head.

"That doesn't explain why you, umm…" she gestured to his bare chest, which she was having some trouble not staring at although she did try. Hook didn't fail to notice and felt a smug satisfaction fill him.

"Figured I'd reward you for being a good patient with a nice view when you woke," he said winking, she laughed at that.

"Course you did," she sighed shaking her head at him, smiling ever so slightly. Then it was as if she caught herself - like him making her smile and laugh was not allowed. Emma suddenly looked uncomfortable, not entirely sure what to do with the genuine moment and the fact she was… touched that he'd taken care of her. Hook saw it all, open book that she was to him and felt as if he'd worn his way through one of her defenses, a step closer to victory. However he understood why she was uncomfortable so he decided to give her more stable ground to stand on again, something she would know how to react to.

"Now we have something important to discuss Emma," he said soberly.

"…What?" she asked warily. Hook held up the book he'd busied himself with while she slept and swore her face paled and grinned wickedly.

"I'll be filing this away with a bright red tab in things I now understand about Emma Swan."

"It's not mine," she said, stumbling to explain.

"If I'd know how much you liked to be called a 'bad girl' I'd do it more often," he told her, waggling his eyebrows and tossing the book on the bed.

"It's not mine!" Emma said, sounding horrified.

"Course not, it was just on your night stand. In your room. By your bed," Hook said nodding his head mockingly with his sarcastic smile.

"There were things in that novel that made me blush love - and I'm a pirate," Hook admonished, shaking a finger at her, "You're a bad girl Swan."

"Shut the hell up Hook! Ruby gave it to me!" she snapped, previously pale face now flushed.

"You cuffing me in the giants lair makes a whole new kind of sense," he went on, pretending to ponder back on the event, "as well as tying me to that tree." He had to reach up to deflect the pillow she'd just thrown at his head.

"Nice to see your strength is back," he laughed, getting up out of the chair and side stepping the second pillow aimed at him.

"I'll check up on you later, if you're not tied up that is," he added suggestively. He had to dodge the book itself that time, hitting the wall were his head had been

"Bloody hell, you've stellar aim love," he observed, impressed while laughing as he ducked out of her room.

"Yeah you better run!" she yelled, her voice following him as he laughed. He opened the front door and exited her apartment and closed it behind him, turning to leave -

Where he promptly ran into Snow and Charming. Nearly ran into them actually. Snow's jaw just about hit the floor when she realized it was him, struck speechless.

Charming looked like he was too thrown off by Hook's presence to react immediately but Hook was sure that was going to wear off in about ten seconds - since he just realized they were seeing him exit their daughters apartment shirtless. Oh this was simply too good Hook thought, ever the shit disturber.

"Morning!" he greeted pleasantly, stepping to the side so as to better get past them both.

"M'lady," he said with a cheeky nod of his head, "M'lord." He danced around Charming before he could recover his wits, disappearing down the hall to take full advantage of his head start. At first all Snow and Charming did was stare after him; Finally Charming spoke

"Ok, I'm going to go kill him," he said, going after Hook as Snow opened her daughters apartment door

"EMMA!"

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Hope you all enjoyed that! that you for reading and commenting, really makes my day! luvs!