A/N: HEY. So glad so many of you like this... It was honestly just supposed to be a one shot about how imagined it going down after Emma and Killian's kiss, but after the good response I got, I had an idea for something more. I have not written anything on it yet and I have an exam on tuesday, but I will try to get it done before the weekend. ENJOY my fellow shipmates.

Hook doesn't move for a while after Pan leaves – maybe for hours, maybe minutes. How is it even possible that Bealfi-, no Neal, is still alive? Had Emma not seen him die?

When his thoughts brush past Emma, his hand lifts up to his lips in an unconscious gesture. He can still feel her there, taste her.

Well, if it's one thing that's for sure it's that he isn't about to let some psychotic child be right about him; he will tell Emma and the others that Neal is alive and in Neverland and he will tell them before Pan gets a chance to beat him to it. He gets up to join the group with his news.

Emma sees him coming to their campsite and she's glad he waited more than those 5 minutes she asked for. His soft and shocked voice saying "That was…" still lingers in Emma's mind. She have an idea of what he was about to say. That was… amazing, earthshattering, shocking and probably one of her top 5 moments in her entire life. This is why she had to leave, of course. It was too many intense feelings being thrown at her at once, making her walls press her even more tightly and making it harder to breathe. If she was looking at it on the bright side, Hook didn't die like Graham did when he kissed her. She didn't think she would survive history repeating itself.

Emma has never been shy about these things and has no intentions to start now, so she walks up to Hook intending to tell him it really was just a onetime thing she did because he dared her to.

"Hook, I –"

"Not now, Swan. I just had a chat with our favorite little boy Pan. Oi! Mates, get over here", he yells to Snow, David and Regina. They walk up to him and Emma, a question in their eyes.

"I just had a chat with Pan", again he finishes in his head while he locks eyes with Charming. "He told me something quite interesting. Bael- Neal is alive and apparently he is currently here in Neverland, captured by Pan." Hook says it all in a kind of rush, managing to sound both happy and broken at the same time. He doesn't dare to look at anyone, so instead he takes up his flask and have a mouthful of rum. It tastes horrible, making him think of Emma and her lips against his, so he puts it back on his belt. Regina is the first one to say anything.

"Why would we believe him? Maybe it's just another one of his mind tricks and I'm getting real sick of it." Her voice sounds like poison and disgust.

"You don't know Pan like I do. He doesn't do lies. He loves his mind tricks, but he always make sure to tell the absolute truth. He does leave out details for his own amusement, but if he says he has captured an alive Neal, he has." Hook sighs – his eyes still haven't left the ground.

"So why tell us? What does he get out of this?" Charming wonders. Hook can feel his eyes burning on him so he looks up.

"You know why and you know why now", he says so quietly it is almost not audible above the wind rustling the trees around them. "Emma, how do you want to play this out? Go after Bae- Neal and then Henry or the other way around?" he asks in a louder voice, his eyes not meeting hers.

"I don't – " she begins in a strangled voice, but it is Regina who takes command.

"Here's how we're gonna do this. I go after Pan and Henry, while the four of you go find Neal. We need Neal if we are ever going to get of this damn island."

"Regina, you can't seriously be thinking about leaving alone, what if something happen to you and Henry and we have no way to find you", Snow says with a affection in her voice.

"Oh please, like any of you care what happens to me. You just want Henry, as do I, which is why we're going to do it this way. Unless our Savior has any other ideas?" she asks Emma, voice deep with sarcasm. Emma just shakes her head, and Regina leaves without any more words being said.

"Emma, has something happened?" Snow wonders later when they are walking alone, a couple of feet behind Hook and Charming. "I mean, other than Neal being alive. I thought you were a bit odd even before."

Emma can see how Hook angles his head a little bit to make sure he hears Emma's reply. That cocky ass, she thinks while a smile wants to spread on her lips. She presses them into a thin line, refusing to let him see how all of this has shaken her. "No, nothing at all", she answers with a poker face. "Everything is fine, I promise."

However, as she says the word fine she can feel a tight pressure on her chest and she has to suck in a breath as it's suddenly hard to breathe again. A lump in her throat has formed, threatening to release all sorts of emotions if she doesn't get a grip.

"Emma, I may not have raised you but I am your mother and I can tell you're not fine", Snow says with a concerned voice. She reaches out for Emma's arm to comfort her but Emma quickly jerks her arm away. Charming and Hook, having stopped just 2 feet away when Emma and Snow stopped walking, watches them quietly before Charming walks up to his wife and daughter when he sees Emma pulling away.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asks with a warm voice and a small smile.

"GOD, why do you guys always have to be so GOOD and PERFECT and CONCERNED for everyone all the time?!" she says with a tone as if those are the most awful insults she can give them. "You were even concerned for Regina, Mary Margret, and that woman tried to kill you not once but COUNTLESS times!" Emma can feel her chest getting tighter and tighter with every breath, tears only seconds away, so she turns around and starts walking. "Give me a couple of minutes, will you", she adds in a strangled voice because she knows either Mary Margret or David will want to follow her. When she is finally alone she leans up against a tree, starts to hyperventilate and the tears escape her closed eyes.

Hook can hear her sobs when he gets close but it is not until he's standing right in front of her that he realize she is hyperventilating.

"You need to breathe calmer, lass, otherwise you'll pass out", he says without moving any closer to her. She clearly can't do this because her breathing only gets harder when he speaks. Without thinking, he closes the distance between them and pick up her head with his hand under her chin. Her face is only inches apart from his, noses almost grazing.

"Hey, Emma love, please look at me." He watches her tears stop running down her face, just a few left that lands on her already wet eyelashes. Her breathing doesn't calm down but when she opens her eyes it's like someone hit him over the head because God she's beautiful. She gives him a look – sorrow? He can't tell – and he lets out all the air from his lungs to make her do the same. "Come on love, take a really deep breath for me, can you do that?"

She watches him and in the midst of her panic she feels a calmness spreading through her body. She manages to inhale deeply and is further calmed when all she can smell is him; rum, sweat and just Hook.

"So, um, thanks for that back there." Emma sounds so small, so innocent, when she says it that Hook can't help but smile.
"No worries, love. You can thank me later", he says with a wink at her, grinning even wider when her jaw drops. He walks away from her then, letting her walk with her parents.

"Sorry for my outburst", she says with an apologetic look at both David and Mary Margret. They stop to listen to her. "Sometimes I just get too many feelings at once and when that happens I need to be alone because that's how it's always been. I can't handle someone wanting to comfort me, and that's my problem and clearly something I need to work with…. So, yeah. That's how it is", she finishes awkwardly when neither Mary Margret nor David says anything. After a couple of seconds of suspense, they both smile. "How is me apologizing anything to smile about?" she asks them, and their smiles grow wider.

"You see, since we didn't get to raise you we didn't get to have any teenage-arguments with you, so it's nice when we get to have family moments like these", Snow explains. Emma doesn't have anything to say about that so she just gives them a small smile of appreciation.

"Killian! How far until we reach the place where Pan keeps Neal?" Emma shouts at him as he's quite a bit ahead of them. He turns around to look at her and walk towards them, eyes a little bit wider than usual and filled with shock. Snow and Charming just stands there, looking just as surprised. That's when she realizes what she did, what she called him, making this kind of a big deal. Emma hates big deals, so she ignores them all. "Hello? I'm talking to you?" she says, waving her hand in front of his face as if checking to see if he's alive. He smirks and understands her, just as he always does.

"Impatient lass, aren't we?" And that's the feeling he can't shake. The one of Emma being impatient to see Neal and run happy into his arms, forgetting all about some silly pirate with just one hand. Because in all honesty, who is he compared to the love of her life? Just someone friendly enough to help save her son. Hook does not let any of this shine through though, and cover up all his feelings with a lame wink. "It's just up ahead."

"Neal! You up there?" Emma shouts as she looks at the two cages hung above their heads. They hear a grunting yes and Emma feels relief wash over her – Henry will still have his father. She looks over to Hook with a plea in her eyes for him to get the cages down. A small sigh escape his lips as he walks toward the tree – he needs to climb it in order to reach the rope that holds up the cages. He is stopped by a hand.

"I can do it, mate", Charming says, no sarcasm in his voice when he uses the word mate like there were the last time he said it. Hook looks at him gratefully; there are not many things Hook cannot do but climbing a tree with one hand is indeed a lot of work. Then he remembers the beanstalk with Emma and stops Charming.
"We'll do it together David", feeling for the first time in a very long time that he does finally belong somewhere, that he does have friends.

They slowly lower the cages to the ground with Emma and Snow helping them the last part. Emma is the one who opens the cage Neal is in and greets him with a hug and a smile.

"Neal, I'm so glad you're alive." Hook can hear the relief in her voice from all the way over where he's standing, making a knot in his stomach.

"And I'm glad to be alive", Neal laughs. Hook has to look away because he really wants Emma to be happy; he just wishes that was with him. He can hear Neal being greeted by Snow and Charming, everyone chatting happily. Hook leaves because he really doesn't want to destroy a family moment.

"About that thing right before I died –", Neal begins before Emma stops him with a hand in the air.

"Neal, I honestly do love you but not in any romantic way", she says quickly. "I just… I'll never stop loving you, you were my first love. But I can never trust you romantically again." She looks directly at him, not knowing what he's going to respond to this.

"I understand", he says, shocking her. "I love you too, probably more in a romantic way but I won't pressure you. "

"Look at you Neal, being all grown-up" Emma smirks at him before turning serious again. "Just so you don't get your hopes up, I won't change my mind." Neal looks at her intently for a while, without saying anything. Then he smiles a sad smile.

"There's someone else, huh?"

"You know, I really missed you Hook", a voice says behind him, making him jump.

"Baelfire", Hook says in a warm voice, arms extended towards Neal. "I'm so glad you're alive." He pulls Neal in for a hug, genuinely glad to see that he's ok. Neal hugs him back without hesitation.

"It's been a while. You seem different", Neal says while he looks at him as if trying to see what it is that's changed.

"I feel different. Not so sad, not so angry. Must be working with Snow White and Prince Charming that's rubbing off on me", Hook manages to say with a grin, while also sounding like he doesn't really believe it's because of Snow and Charming.

"You know, I never really saw you as the villain you were supposed to be", Neal answers and takes him in for another hug. Hook smiles.

"Good to have you back, lad."

"So, I hear you're stealing my girl", Neal says after a while with laughter in his voice. Hook pulls away to look at him, his brows furrowing clearly not understanding anything. "No hard feelings, just promise me you'll take good care of her", he continues with a pat on Hooks shoulder before he walks away, leaving Hook looking dumbfounded.

He finally finds Emma gathering firewood a couple of minutes later.

"I thought I gathered more than enough last night", he says, startling her. She turns around to look at him, so many questions in her eyes. "I talked to Baelfire."

"Oh", is all Emma says, understanding exactly one of the things they had talked about. "I thought you knew", she says without meeting his eyes.

"Knew that you love Neal? Aye, that I do. Which is why I'm even more confused about my conversation with Ba-Neal", he explains. She puts down the firewood on the ground and steps closer to him, letting him inside her personal space.

"Yes, that I love him but also that I don't love him in any romantic kind of way", she says, her voice almost a whisper. "Okay, so here's the deal. The last man I kissed was a very kind man. He was a huntsman in the enchanted forest, sent out to kill Snow Wh-… my mother, but decided to let her go and instead give up his own life. In Storybrooke he was the Sheriff. We kissed, and it was sweet and wonderful. Then he died seconds later in my arms." In an unconscious gesture, she had wrapped her arms around herself while she was talking, as if to protect or shield. Hook reaches forward and wipes a tear of her cheek with his thumb.

"Just like Milah did", he says with a sad smile. She nods.

"Then there you were, and you dared me to kiss you and I thought it would be fun and it wasn't", she continues. "It was too many raw emotions being thrown at me at once. I was wrong; I was the one who couldn't handle it." She sighs and gives him a rare smile. Hook feels something in his chest and recognizes it as hope. He can't hold back a grin as he leans forward, stopping only a few inches away from her face.

"Then you won't be able to handle this either", he murmurs in her ear before lightly kissing her on the cheek. She looks taken aback by this, to Hooks amusement. "What, did you expect something else?" he says cockily. She feels his breath on her face and while she really wants to respond something witty she forgets it all. She leans in slowly before finally pressing her lips against his. No, this wasn't a onetime thing at all.

Hook, Emma and Neal join the Charming's at the same time. Neal looks over at the other cage and sees that they haven't opened it.

"Why the hell haven't you let her out yet?" he asks them, obviously upset by this.

"We weren't sure… It could be anyone in there. Do you know who it is?" Snow asks him carefully.

"No, I just know that it's a woman who's been here for a while. Let's let her out." He takes Emma's knife as he walks past her and walks toward the other cage.

Hook joins Emma on her left and she takes his hand. She squeezes hard before intertwining her fingers with his, letting him know she's not going anywhere.

The other cage opens up and a woman steps out. Neal gasps.

"Wendy?!"