Chapter 23

Emma appeared to sway somewhat more than usual as she emerged from the hatch. Based on the way she tugged her cap forward over her brow to better shield her eyes from the sunlight, she was still suffering the consequences of her overindulgence the prior evening. Hook knew the feeling well, and felt no envy for her. Out of sympathy for her current condition, he handed the wheel off to Smee and met her where she stood, to let her lean against the railing rather than to find her footing all the way over to him. "Good afternoon," he teased, though that was still hours away. "How's your head?"

"Splitting," she grumbled. "Did I really sleep that long?"

"No, only a jest." His eyes ran over her and he detected more misery in her than he'd expected, and saw the uncomfortable way that her hands fidgeted. "Perhaps this is not the time for that. Tell me, how is your pain? You don't appear overly excited to be alive this morning."

The pause before her answer was longer than he trusted. "I'll survive" was the answer she finally gave him before apprehensively chewing on her lip.

"Well, out with it, darling. You're clearly preoccupied. What's on your mind, love?"

"Killian, I have to go." Her words came out in a rush, smashing into him.

"Go? Go where?" Hook asked even though he was fairly certain he already knew the answer. Though she'd said that she understood, he had wronged her. He'd caused her pain. Then, a man she'd once loved had reappeared unexpectedly. Now her intent was to leave. It didn't seem a difficult equation to solve. He had assumed that what they'd shared the previous night was good indication that his standing with her had not changed due to these new developments, but perhaps it hadn't held any meaning for her except as her goodbye to him. Had she already made up her mind then?

"I-" she swallowed, obviously trying to force down nerves.

Did she now fear him? What was causing this anxiety in her? Surely she must know by now that his capacity for violence would never be directed at her. Then again, he wasn't blameless for the wounds on her desecrated ivory skin. Tending the wounds hadn't changed that. It couldn't.

"I have to find it. T-the baby." Her hand gripped the rail so hard her knuckles began to turn white. "If what Baelfire says is true, then I have to go. If I ignore it, I'll spend my whole life knowing that I abandoned my child to the Dark One, and I can't bear that." She ducked her head down so that the brim of her hat hid her eyes, but too late to prevent him from glimpsing a wet sort of shine in her eyes. "Wherever he or she is, and whatever happens, I need to know that I gave them the best possible chance. I have to try. I have to. That means that I have to go with Baelfire."

So it wasn't fear of him that had her so rattled. In a rush of relief, Killian stepped toward her almost instinctively, and his hand found the side of her jaw, lifting her gaze back up to his. "If that is what you need, then that is what you shall have. Let's find your child."

"Wait, does-" she blinked several times. Any tears that may have threatened to spill onto her dark lashes dissolved away. "Does that mean you'll help us?"

"Aye, naturally." He arched one of his brows at her. "Did you doubt I would?"

"I couldn't possibly ask you to go against the Dark One. You must have heard the stories about him. You don't want to end up on his bad side."

Hook chuckled. "Oh, I've long since established my place on the Dark One's bad side, love. I greatly relish having an opportunity to be a painful thorn in it, truth be told."

Furrowing her brow, she stared at him for a moment. "You are simply full of surprises, Killian Jones," she told him at last. "I'll have to ask you about the story behind that when my head hurts less, but I'm glad that I'll have you on my side."

"Anything you need, love." Killian placed a soft kiss at the corner of her lips. It was only a quick one, leaving her some modesty in the presence of any nearby crewmen. Still, he could not resist one more jibe spoken in a voice lowered to reach her ears only. "You should know by now how I so enjoy satisfying your needs."

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"So I assume you have a plan, then?" Hook did his best to keep the note of derision out of his voice. "On a mission as perilous as this one promises to be, charging in without a plan would be foolhardy, and likely fatal."

Baelfire shrugged. It was not a gesture that inspired confidence. "We'll figure it out. I didn't know what I should expect to find when I caught up with Emma. I would have had to do some improvising no matter what. I definitely didn't expect to find you with her."

"Then I'm of the opinion that it's best we continue southward for now." He tapped his finger on the map that he'd spread out over the table, specifically on the seas off the Maritime Kingdom. In a place like that, there would be plenty of merchant ships for him to plunder while they took ample time to plot a course of action he had enough faith in. "We can settle upon our strategy while Emma is safely outside of the Evil Queen's reach."

"We'll lose too much time that way, especially if you're trying to go that far south." Frowning, he shook his head. "There's no reason we can't figure this out in motion. We should turn north."

"Have you forgotten what ship you're on? The Jolly Roger is the fastest ship in all the realms." Hook bristled at the slight against his ship, unintentional though it may have been.

"Even the Jolly will take at least a fortnight to get there, fast as she is. Then it's another fortnight or more to get back here, and then we've already wasted a month, and that's if you don't stop to loot every other ship you see."

"I'd say it's far preferable to wasting our lives on some heedless and rash head-first charge into danger."

"Boys!" Emma's voice interjected from the other side of the table, and it was only then that Hook realized how much their volume had risen. Her face hard and her patience thin, she chastised them both. "Will you put your dicks away? This is not a contest. We are not sailing off to get distracted by pillaging, nor are we storming into danger unprepared." Both her palms went flat to the table as she examined the parchment for herself, then circled an island with her fingertip. "What's this place here? It's not far at all and it says 'Safe Haven.' Is it actually a safe place?"

Hook's jaw clenched as he remembered the last time he'd set foot there, but things had been very different back then. The place had changed entirely. "Well, the inhabitants there won't betray you to the Evil Queen, at any rate." Mentally weighing the risks, he pinched his tongue between his teeth. "But they aren't terribly fond of outsiders, either. That's a stronghold for the Resistance forces."

Emma's head snapped up. She examined his face, as though attempting to determine whether he was serious. "Snow White and her army?"

"Some of her fighters, anyway. Rumor has it that she remains nomadic to avoid capture, but groups of her supporters have gathered there on that island."

Baelfire's brow furrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How do you know all this?"

Hook smirked, and kept his answer vague. "Spend as much time in taverns as I do, and you'll hear a lot of rumors."

"Well, if those ones are true," Baelfire mused with a heavy exhale. "Then that could be a great place to lie low and think – as long as we can convince them that they can trust us, and Emma's wanted poster might be enough to do that."

"That sounds to me like it's worth a shot." Emma glanced back and forth between the two men, looking for agreement, and she got it.

"How did you even end up with a bounty that high?" Baelfire asked her then. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Emma sighed. "I stole a purse off of some guy and it turned out it really belonged to the Queen. I don't understand, though. There wasn't really anything special in it, just your run-of-the-mill shiny stuff. The size of the bounty doesn't make any sense."

For a long pause, Baelfire only stared at her, his brows raised and arms still crossed. Then he asked.

"That was you?"