Chapter One: Sir Killian Jones

Her hair was braided back behind her face, tucked beneath a dark hood. Every so often, the young woman would shuffle, disgruntled, and try to blow the stray flyaways from her eyesight.

She was focusing, dammit! Couldn't her hair stay put for one minute?!

Distracted from the task at hand, she almost missed the sight of the unicorn passing through the forest. It was meandering through the brush lazily and the girl's face split into a wide smile. Finally. She'd been waiting hours for this.

But just as she was about to approach it, a loud thump to her right caused the girl to lock eyes with the unicorn in those few seconds before it fled and she inwardly cursed whatever spawn of the devil had made that sound.

When she came up from behind her bush, there was a fury in her eyes that was firmly directed at the man who had made the sound, sprawled upon the ground in disarray after tripping over a fallen log.

"Sir Jones!" Emma yelled angrily, watching the man stand to attention, grass and leaves still stuck to his body. Ignoring the desire to laugh, she continued, "Why are you here?!"

"Forgive me, your highness," the knight slightly bored, his mishaps completely ignored, "But your parents were worried. They only entrust me with your safety."

"Only entrust you, my arse," Emma answered, stalking past him and through to the clearing where their horses were now tied side by side. She swung up on her horse, not waiting for the knight to follow her, far too angry with him for that.

"Princess…" he began warningly as she made to trot off without him.

"Don't say another word," Emma warned. "Or I'll be tempted to do something drastic."

He gave a smirk, as though whatever he pictured her doing drastically could be something quite enjoyable.

"You doubt me?"

"Not at all, your grace," he answered quickly, trying to hide his smile as he averted his gaze. "Maybe I just doubt your delicacy in dealing with unicorns," he muttered under his breath.

Emma almost didn't hear him, but judging by the shock that masked her face as he mounted his horse, she had. And she was beyond any pleasant thoughts towards Sir Killian Jones.

"It was your blundering idiocy that scared that beautiful creature away," Emma hissed as she rounded him upon her white horse. "And don't you dare mention this to anyone, capisce? I was in the castle the entire time and you just don't know how to search properly." And with that order, Emma was flying through a well worn path towards the castle, Killian following moments later, trying to figure out another way to cover her without embarrassing himself.

He was Sir Killian Jones. He failed at nothing.

When Emma arrived back at the stables, Jones was close behind her. She dismounted quickly, the stable boy running towards her closely followed by her mother, her kindly face suddenly giving way to that of a stern berating.

"Emma Ruth White, where on earth have you been?"

Er…

"I took her for a ride to work off that magnificent dinner, Your Grace," Killian answered, pulling off his gloves as he rounded the corner to stand beside her. "And of course, our Princess wanted to go alone, but at this time of the evening, that is never a good idea."

Emma gave him a curious glance through her fringe that had once again flipped into her eyes. He was covering for her? She frowned when she realised it wasn't how she'd told him to do it.

"Is this true, Emma?" Snow White glared at her daughter.

"Yeah," she murmured, suddenly feeling five years old rather than seventeen. "Sorry mom."

"Let us know next time, Emma," Snow said in exasperation, reaching for her daughter's hands and clasping them tightly. "Please. Winter's coming and there's darkness on the horizon."

"Of course, mom," Emma answered, inclining her head, "I'll try and remember." But that unicorn…gods she needed to see it again…

"Thank you, Sir Killian," Snow said gratefully with a small smile, turning to the knight. "Your fealty in these past few months has been a great contribution to the kingdom."

"Anytime, my Queen," Killian grinned with a short bow. "Allow me to escort you both back to the castle."

They walked in relative silence up to the front doors with the knight walking a few steps behind them the entire way. Emma was acutely aware of his untimed footsteps, yet surprised by his lightness of step. He moved like a dancer, not a warrior.

But as her mother retired to her bedchamber, Killian continued with Emma towards her bedroom and the Queen thought nothing of it. Emma was even more so aware of the knight now that it was just the two of them, and tried to speed up her pace ever so slightly, the sound echoing through the empty stone halls.

As she reached her door, she chanced a look back to find that Sir Killian had an arrogant smile on his face, suppressing laughter that said he knew what she'd been doing with her speed. He knew the effect he had on people...women in particular.

"Well, this is my room," she said pointedly, expecting him to leave. He merely cocked an eyebrow and put his hand over hers on the door handle.

"One minute, Princess," he answered, his body entirely too close for any sort of propriety. Despite her earlier demonstration of her power over him, right then, she was suddenly feeling her age.

"I don't want to have to go searching for you again," he muttered lowly. If they weren't alone, she would have thought he was trying hard not to be overheard. But they were alone, and the way he was practically breathing on her was far from necessary!

"Then don't," Emma finally managed coldly, trying to avoid looking at the intense blue of his eyes. She'd heard maid's discussing his good looks, but his eyes – up close – were whirlpools that you didn't want to get lost in. Emma was quite happy not drowning, thank you very much.

"Ah," he chuckled, "But it wouldn't be good form to let a Princess go off on her own. We knights have a code, Princess. And I intend to stick by it."

"Well, while you're sticking by your code," Emma muttered, her face hard "Learn that there's something called personal space." Her hand pushed his stomach. And whilst her muscle mass wouldn't have moved him on it's own, he gathered the point and stepped back. She refused to note that her hand on the doorknob felt remarkably cold after his departure.

"I'll be joining you at 8 tomorrow night for your ride, Your Highness," he said, offering no alternative and Emma simply sighed.

"Fine."

"Goodnight then," Killian answered, already walking away. Emma watched his retreating back curiously before finally opening her door and retiring to her bed.

And as he walked away, Killian Jones felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards in a smile; the place where their hands had touched still tingling beneath his fingertips.

A/N: Hey guys! CaptainSwan. More CaptainSwan. Well, it was supposed to be Lieutenant Duckling, but then with the ideas I had, it really made more sense for Killian to be a knight. I've only seen it done a couple of times before so I thought I'd give it a go.

Yes, this is most definitely M rated. Gonna be some kinky shit later in the piece, but, you know, we'll get to it eventually (probs sooner rather than later).

So, review if you love me (and I love you simply for reading) – and fuel my writing motivation in the process!

Hugs and butterfly kisses!

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