Rachel took his hand, although she sent a worried glance at Tina and Gold. The whole situation had her uneasy, and she would be much happier once they were home.

Gold gestured to Tina to follow the other two.

"You will be safe with them," he said to her softly.

Tina crossed her arms over her chest, looking at him evenly for several moments.

"For the record, I don't like this," she said quietly. "I don't like any of this. But you seem to think it's necessary, so we can discuss things again once we're home."

Hook didn't go far, waiting for Tina to catch up.

"The terms are that Cora is dealt with and none of you are hurt, or we stay here," Gold replied. "And I'm not one to back down on my word. I will do whatever is necessary to keep you safe."

"I know. But I don't like this anyway. This whole thing feels wrong." Tina shook her head a bit.

"There is nothing right about Neverland," Gold replied. "There never has been. It's best we get off the island."

Tina sighed shortly. "Come back soon," she said, looking at him.

"As soon as I can," Gold promised. "I won't hold back on Cora this time. She needs to be removed."

Tina nodded. "Alright. I'll see you soon, then." She didn't kiss him like she wanted to, but she did take his hand briefly.

Gold nodded and squeezed her hand gently, and then let go. He watched to make sure the dinghy made it back to the ship in one piece, and then he turned and went back into the jungle. Time to find Cora and end things.

Once they were back on the ship, Tina had found somewhere to sit and wait it out. She wasn't pleased, but she knew there was nothing else to be done.

Rachel went to sit with Tina, waiting to see what would happen.

It was several hours before Gold returned. The sun had long since set, and the moon was full and bright overhead when Gold finally came back out of the trees. He wasn't quite limping, but there was a definite stutter in his step that indicated he probably could have used his cane again, and his clothes looked worse for wear. He paused for a moment at the shoreline before vanishing and reappearing on the deck of the ship.

Tina got up and moved over to him to help him, making him sit and checking him over quickly.

"It's done?" Hook asked, making his way over to them as well.

Gold sat down heavily on the nearest available surface, one hand on his bad knee.

"We're free to go," he said shortly.

Hook nodded and went to go pull up the anchor and finish prepping the ship.

Tina frowned at Gold, not quite fussing over him. But she wasn't about to leave him alone either.

Rachel went with Hook, gathering her magic and getting ready to set the ship to sail on its own.

Gold waved a hand briefly.

"I'm alright," he said. "Still in as many pieces as when I started."

Hook did keep an eye on Gold though as he started to steer the ship away from Neverland.

"By some miracle," Tina said, her eyes narrowed.

"Cora was arrogant," Gold said as he discreetly massaged his knee a bit. "She underestimated me. She should have known to underestimate the Dark One at her own peril."

Tina nodded. "Well, you made it back in one piece, so I'll be grateful for that."

"I'm hardly in one piece," Gold replied. "But I'm in as many pieces as before, at least." He dug his thumb into the side of his knee, trying to get the joint to loosen a bit. He'd overworked it, killing the pain with magic and compensating for the lack of mobility in the joint, and now he was paying for it.

Tina frowned and knelt in front of him, digging her fingers in gently around his knee and working to loosen up the joints and muscles in that area.

Gold sighed a bit when she did that.

"I can handle it," he said softly. "Really."

Tina gave him a look that told him not to argue and went back to working on his knee.

Gold sighed again, but didn't say anything more. He knew when it was useless to try an argue.

Tina kept that up for a bit before she glanced around. Hook seemed to have things well in hand, so she stood and offered Gold a hand up so she could escort him down below and scold him properly without an audience.

Gold accepted the help, standing carefully. His knee was definitely bothering him, enough so that he waved a hand and conjured his cane. As he settled on his cane, he slowly released the spells that were wrapped around his knee. Then he followed Tina.