My Once Upon A Time fanfic, You Had Me At Malfeasance is set in Season 3, and it’s a series of one-off scenes that happen around the actual episodes. In this chapter, Princess, Hook (who has recently helped Emma get her memory back) is sharing a late-evening drink with the woman he crossed realms to find again. I’ll let the two of them take it from here….

“You sticking around?” Emma asked, reaching for a wine glass.

“Would you like me to?” he asked.

Emma stared at him for a long, charged minute. Finally, she gave a shrug, grabbed a bottle of wine off the counter and walked into the living room. He followed, leaning against the door jamb.

“I suppose I’ll take that as a ‘maybe.'”

“You can stay if you’d like,” she said. “I’d offer you wine, but it’s not really your kind of drink.” She gestured toward the sideboy. “The whiskey is over there. We’re fresh out of rum. Sorry.”

“Whiskey will do.” He walked over to the sideboy and poured himself a generous portion, bringing the bottle with him. He sat in the chair opposite the couch, and put his booted feet up on the coffee table.

“Don’t let Mary Margaret see you do that,” Emma warned him. “She’ll put an arrow in your ass.”

He gave a chuckle, taking his feet off the table. “Far be it from me to provoke a pregnant woman. I’ve faced many terrible and frightening creatures in my life, but they all pale in comparison to an angry mother-to-be.”

“Especially right now – she’s got a huge ‘nesting’ thing going on. She’s been cleaning and organizing like crazy. Kinda makes me glad I missed all that.”

An image came unbidden into Hook’s mind of Emma in one of those ridiculous bowed blouses that Mary Margaret wore, her belly prominent and her skin glowing as she wiped down a countertop or dusted a table. He cracked a half-smile at the unlikely image of Emma shrouded in domesticity. It was as unlikely as it would be for him to be there on the couch, moving his feet so that she could clean around him.

But damn him if he didn’t suddenly yearn for just that. Peace, in his little corner of wherever, with Emma at his side, maybe even carrying his child.

He took a drink of whiskey and tried to get a grip on his unruly thoughts.

“How are Henry and Regina getting along?” He asked.

“Good. Really good,” Emma replied. “I know it’s got to be hard on Regina, though. I can’t even imagine – having someone you love so much right in front of you and they have no idea who you are. That’s got to be torture.”

“Indeed.” He gave her a measured look that for some reason made her shift her gaze away.

“He’s got a good head on his shoulders.” Hook continued. “He took to sailing like it was second-nature for him.”

Emma smiled. “He’s always up for an adventure.”

Hook saluted her with his drink. “Like his mother.”

“Nope. Dead wrong. I have a definite aversion to adventure. I just want a nice, calm life.” She looked around. “And I’m never going to get that here, that’s for sure.”

“I disagree. You’re as adventurous a spirit as I’ve ever encountered – when you embrace that part of you, anyway. You were born for more than a mundane life, Emma. Don’t short yourself out of it.”

Emma shook her head. “I’m not some fairytale princess, Hook.”

He placed his drink down on the coffee table. “I’ll have to dispute that, love. Yes, you are. And it’s about time you started taking the job seriously.”

She gave him an eyebrow and a smirk. “So…what? I should put on my tall hat with the veil and a ballgown and wait for my prince to show up? My life doesn’t work that way.”

“It’s certainly better than hiding in a tall building in a big city and hoping your next boyfriend isn’t a flying monkey.” He reached for his drink again as she gave him a dirty look.

“You’re looking at this all wrong, love. You are a princess. More than that, you are meant to be a savior. You’re seeing all that as endless rounds of fluffy dresses and balls in your honor and princes on white horses who’ll come courting. Being the ruler of a kingdom is so much more than that. Just ask your parents.”

“I’m not going to be ruling any kingdom.” She disagreed.

“If you were home, truly home, you would be someday. And that’s a tremendous responsibility, fit only for those who have the compassion and the smarts and the guts to do it. You’ve more of all of those than anyone I’ve ever met, save your parents.” He took a long drink of whiskey. “Don’t tell your father I said that, by the way.”

Emma curled her legs up under her on the couch, swirling her wine in her glass for a moment. “You really think I could rule a kingdom?”

“I think you could do anything you’ve set your mind to. You’re a force of nature, love. I’ve never met your like in all my life.”

Emma suddenly felt entirely too warm, and she had a good idea it wasn’t just the wine. She looked up at Hook over the rim of her glass.

“So you’ve got me ruling a kingdom. When does the Prince ride up on his stallion?”

Hook gave her a devilish smile.

“He took the subway, instead. It was faster.”

You Had Me At Malfeasance can be found on Fanfiction.net or on Archive of Our Own (AO3).