A/N: Having a tad bit of writer's block with chapter 12 of my other fic, but felt I at least needed to write something Gremma related. I've had this idea for a fic for a long while, but never really got around to writing it until now. Fair warning, unlike my usual fics in which the endings are rather fluffy, this one is kinda bittersweet considering it takes place around 1x08.
As Emma walks out of the station, she glances down at one of the tires on the police cruiser. It's probably about time she checks out the tire pressure on it. Taking out her keys, she sticks them in the driver's side and opens the door.
Leaning over the seat, she reaches for the handle on the glove compartment and pulls it open. Some of its contents fall out onto the floor, including the tire pressure gauge, and she groans in annoyance. Letting her hand skim the car mat, her fingers come across something, in which she then pulls up to see what it is.
Her eyes widen slightly as her other hand goes to cover her mouth. Staring down at the object, Emma's mind flashes back to something that happened a few weeks ago.
A Few Weeks Earlier
"Are you serious?" Emma asked, arms folded across her chest, eyebrow raised slightly in disbelief. "You really want me to have my picture taken? I thought you said the badge already made it official."
Graham chuckles slightly as he adjusts the camera in front of him. "It does, but I had mine taken when I became Sheriff. Call it a tradition." He explains, hoping that might convince her some.
Sighing in defeat, she agrees to the matter, hoping to hurry up and get it over with. He stands behind the camera and looks through the lens. "Smile." The mans tells her.
But Emma remains with her arms crossed, and with a small stubborn scowl on her face as he took the picture. Graham knew Emma well enough now that he probably wasn't going to get a decent smile out of her when she was doing something that she didn't really want to do.
"One more." He says.
"What? But whhhyy?" Emma whined, already sick of having her picture taken. Having her photo taken reminded her far too much of getting a mug shot, which considering where they were, intensified that feeling.
Graham shakes his head in amusement at her whining. "I want to take one together. I've never had a Deputy before." She stares him down a moment before he pouts slightly and flashes her his puppy dog eyes.
Darn that man and his stupid puppy dog eyes, they got to her every time. The blonde groans and throws her hands up in the air, "Oh fine." The man smiles victoriously and sets the timer on the camera in front of him.
He then makes his way beside the women. "Smile Deputy." Graham says, hoping to coax one out of her this time. "You're a total dork, you know the right?" Emma asks looking up at him for a moment. Sometimes she found it hard to believe that he was the Sheriff of the entire town. Most cops she knew were stiff, rigid, and rough. Basically the exact opposite of him.
"I know." He says turning to her, a cheeky grin on his face. She couldn't help but laugh at the admittance. Graham then slipped his arm around her shoulder, just as the camera went off to take the photo of them.
As the flash faded out, the two blinked off the spots in their eyes. "There. All done." Emma says brushing her hands off. "I still don't understand why you felt the need to take these, it's not like your going anywhere soon." She points out. From what she heard, nobody ever left town.
The Sheriff shrugged slightly. "I know. But sometimes having a physical memory of something is nice too." Emma wasn't really the sentimental type, but she could still understand the logic behind that.
"Well, I'm gonna got out and do some patrolling around town for a bit." The Deputy never did like sitting still for long. She always prefered to be on the go if she could.
"What do you want me to do with these?" Graham asks, just as the blonde is almost out the door. Emma shrugs her shoulders, "Do whatever you want with them." She tells him, before shutting the door behind her and heading out to patrol.
Emma could feel the tears prickling at her eyes as she stared down at the photograph of the two of them in her hand. "I can't believe he kept it..." She mutters in disbelief. Back when they took this photo, she had no idea that this would be the one and only photo they ever took together.
He's got the goofy smile on his face, the one she knew so well. The one that she was afraid that she might one day have forgotten what it looked like anymore. But with this photo, now she can't forget it.
She's laughing in the photo. It's rare enough for her to smile in a photo, let alone laugh in one. But Graham had somehow managed to get her to. He manged to get her to do a lot of things she never expected to do, like opening up to a man.
Running her thumb over the edge of the picture, she then flips it over for a moment and the tears that had been just laying on her lids, being kept at bay, start to spill over. On the back of the photograph is written, "Me and my Deputy." in his handwriting.
"Oh Graham..." She whimpers, shutting her eyes tightly in an effort to fight back the tears.
It takes her some time to finally get herself composed, and to swallow back down all her tears. Staring at the photo one more time, she slips it back in the glove compartment. So that even when she's out at night patrolling alone, she really isn't so alone. He's still there with her in some way.
