A/N: Timeline wise, lets say this takes place after 1x05 but before 1x06.
"You know you didn't have to come with me." Graham said over his shoulder to Emma as she followed behind him putting on her jacket. "Well it was either that or continue working on the mountain of paperwork on my desk. This sounded better." When Emma took the job as Deputy she was hoping for a bit more action, instead she found herself mostly doing tediously boring paperwork. She was actually a bit excited to finally get out of the office, she always hated sitting still for long.
"Remind me what we're supposed to be doing again." Emma had now caught up to Graham and the two were walking beside each other. "Granny said she thought she saw something in the woods behind her Inn, she wants us to check it out."
The Inn wasn't to far from the station so it didn't take the duo long to get there. But it was now fairly dark out because it was fall, not to mention the forest floor was covered with fallen leaves. So much so they came up a bit past Emma's ankles, you couldn't even make out where the ground was.
Graham removed his flashlight from its holder on his belt and turned it on. He pointed the light forward and scanned the area with it. The sound of rustling leaves shortly followed. The two looked around trying to find the source. "Maybe we should split up." Emma suggested. Graham shook his head "I don't know about that." It was dark and Emma didn't know these woods like he did, so he wasn't so keen on the idea. "Come on we can cover more ground this way. I'll be fine I can take care of myself."
Before Graham could even argue Emma was already off in the other direction. Not that it would have gotten him anywhere, he knew there was no arguing with Emma, she was as stubborn as they come.
It was hard to sneak around quietly thanks to all the leaves, anything that was out there could hear her coming from a mile away. As Emma made her way deeper into the woods she suddenly felt her foot get snagged on something under the leaves, which sent her tumbling down a steep hill. She let a scream as she fell which caught the attention of Graham.
"Emma!" Graham called out frantically as he looked around for her. Emma let out a pained groan as she grabbed her ankle. "Here." She managed to yell out as she tried to gather herself. It didn't take long for him to find her.
He knelt down beside where she was sitting, "Can you stand?" he asked. Emma pushed herself off the ground to her feet as Graham offered her some assistance. She went to take a step forward "Yeah I'm fine, see-" Just then a shooting pain shot up Emma's leg, causing her to drop to the ground clutching her ankle. She let out a sharp exhale as she touched the area. A look of concern washed over Graham's face. "Emma your not fine. We need to get you to a Doctor."
He was probably right, but Emma hated to appear weak so she continued to try and play it off despite the pain. "It's just sore. Look, if you let me lean on you I can make it the rest of the way." Graham shot her a skeptical look as he stood there. "There's no way you'll be able to make it up that hill by just leaning on me." Emma fell a lot farther then she'd realized, they'd have to take a different route back. "Then what, you want to leave me here?" As tough as she was, the thought of sitting in the woods injured by herself at night seemed a bit much. Of course Graham would never leave her there like that.
He took a deep breath before saying, "I know you're going to hate me for doing this but..." "Hey! What are you doing!" Graham bent down scooped her up into his arm, picking her up with relative ease. 'He's actually a lot stronger then he looks', she thought for a moment before going back to being annoyed. "This is your solution!"
"We'll get back to town much faster this way." He turned to look at her and spoke in a heartfelt manner, "I'm not going to let my deputy limp back at the risk of her further getting injured." Emma pouted at the comment, but none the less appreciated the concern. Fighting anymore over it seemed rather pointless so she left it alone.
Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember a time where anyone had actually held her like this before. She leaned her head into his shoulder some, his body felt so warm against hers in the cool autumn night. Though she would never admit it, it was actually kind of... nice. Excluding her injured ankle of course.
She quietly enjoyed the moment until Graham spoke up. "You know, you don't have to act so tough all the time." Emma gave a breathy laugh, 'But I do, the tougher I am the less I get hurt.' she thought to herself. He continued, "It is okay to let people help you, it doesn't make you weak." Sincerity coated each of his words as he spoke.
"Who said I'm acting?" She quipped in an effort to redirect the conversation. "Alright, whatever you say." Granted, Graham had only known Emma for a couple of weeks now but he didn't quite believe her. Sure she was strong, but she cared a lot more than she let on. He actually felt like he could relate to her more than he could to most people.
They both fell back into silence until it was Emma who decided to break it this time. "Hey Graham?" She asked. "Hm?" She took a deep breath before responding. "Thanks... for this." Graham smiled at her words "Of course." he said giving her a reassuring squeeze on the arm "Anytime." People have a tendency to say that type of thing all the time. But the funny thing was though, when he said it, she knew actually he meant it.