Sliding a hot chocolate topped with cinnamon over to Hook, she watched as he fiddled with the handle. They'd been stuck in silence for an hour now and before that, a week. Things had been quite awkward since Zelena came to town. She had everyone on edge, but it seemed something was really under Hook's skin. Emma had taken an easy approach as he usually didn't refuse to talk to her, but today seemed to be the exception. "Okay, what is bothering you? Honestly?"
Hook glanced at her before averting his eyes back to the whipped cream that topped the hot drink. "I'm just not thirsty," he said blandly.
"Bullshit."
That made him finally look to her for more than three seconds, "Pardon me?"
"I think you heard me; bullshit. You've been cold and removed for a week now, I'm tired of it. Tell me what's going on, Hook," she had thought about calling him by his true name, but felt it too personal for now.
Hook gazed at her coolly; his face was void of emotion. "Did you ever think that maybe you're my problem?"
Her eyes dropped for a second before she made herself look up at him again. "Why would I be your problem?" She asked evenly.
"You act like you care, you kiss me, you get me to confess my feelings, and then you just pretend nothing ever happened. You keep everyone at arm's length, even your parents. I'm not even sure you know what love is, Swan. Your first love was based solely on theft, so I guess I can't really blame you. I'm not sure Baelfire loved you; you were probably just a good person to have on hand in case the going became rough. I'm sure you couldn't afford those little rubber things, so Henry was probably just an accident, right?"
Emma stood up. Smack!
Hook looked at her, stunned, before again assuming his cocky smile. "What, love? Can't handle the truth?"
"You bastard," she spat, "I thought you'd changed, that you were better, but you're still just a filthy pirate." Her words were like daggers, and she aimed to kill.
Hook threw back his head and laughed heartily. "A filthy pirate, you say? Well, sorry to inform you love, but I am a pirate, always have been."
Tears stung her eyes. "You know what, at least I tried. At least I didn't let it fester inside me for years on end and turn me into something horrendous. That's what happened to you, isn't it?" She knew she'd probably regret this later, but for now it felt good. "You let one insignificant woman get so inside your head that it destroyed you. To be honest, you didn't know her for that long, are you sure she truly loved you? Or just loved your money? I'm not so sure myself."
The words were out and she couldn't take them back, only watch as Hook cracked open. She took one look at his raw core and turned around and left him sitting there, not regretting it one bit.
-)(-
"I'm going to kill him."
Emma and David were sitting on the couch in their house; she had just explained to him what went on the night before. She shook her head, "You can't. I told you what I said to him. We're both wrong now."
"No," David shook his head, "you reacted, and I'm not saying you were right, but he caused this mess. Those things he said to you were awful and never should have been uttered. I don't know what's gotten into him lately."
"I don't know," she whispered and leaned her head on her father's shoulder.
Charming kissed the top of her head, "You both will figure it out, your mother and I always did."
"She's your true love though."
The door opened and Snow came in with a worried expression, David and Emma got up to meet her at the door. "Is everything okay here?" She asked as she touched Emma's hair.
Emma nodded, "Yeah, why?"
"I was walking downtown and saw Hook passed out on the dock with a few bottles of rum. He looked okay so I left him there, but I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"Wait, he's passed out on the dock?" Charming repeated her statement.
Snow nodded, "Yes, I'm sure he needed to sleep off large amounts of alcohol he consumed last night, though I don't know why."
"He's a drunkard. This is probably a normal thing for him."
Snow looked at him oddly, but decided not to say anything. She turned, "Maybe you want to go see if he's okay, Emma?" There was a hopeful note in her voice that tore at Emma's heart.
She shook her head, "No, I'll just let him sleep it off. I should get back to Henry anyways."
"Is everything alright?" Her mother put her hands on both sides of Emma's arms; concern was etched into her features.
Emma nodded, "Don't worry, everything's fine." She hugged them both and then left the apartment.
-)(-
Emma landed down on the couch with a huff and set her hot chocolate down on an end table. Henry was absorbed into a videogame, but put it down as she sat in the chair. "Were you with Hook?" He asked right away.
Emma perked up her eyebrows, "What makes you ask that?"
He shrugged, "I just figured you'd be with him."
"Yes, but why?" It felt odd to push him on the subject, but she put it off to mild curiosity.
"I can't explain it, just a feeling." He seemed to be unwilling to say more on the subject as he went back to the game in his hands.
She sighed and sipped her hot chocolate as she watched the news. Her thoughts rolled around the conversation of the night before, it just seemed so unlike him. Come to think of it, he'd been very different in the last week, it was only small things at first, like moving away from her a few inches when she stood near, but lately, it was bigger things. It bugged her so much that Henry began to look at her strangely and when she questioned him, he smirked and said that she looked like her brain was about to fry.
"I'm just thinking, kid," she smiled.
"Don't think too hard, you'll ruin us all," he joked.