For camillewithlove for Captain Swan Secret Santa! Based on a prompt from alchemistc.

Emma sighed as she walked into the newsroom. The place was an absolute mess. Although to be fair, it was always a mess. But this year, management had found some extra cash in the budget that needed to be spent, and they decided the old newsroom needed a facelift. It was a change that had to happen, but the transition before the new desks were ready was going to be chaotic.

Somehow, this meant that Emma got stuck next to reporters she normally wouldn't be around, particularly Killian Jones, who was the worst. She knew the Boston Star needed someone like Killian on staff. The lists he wrote were total click bait for the newspaper's website, but click bait made them money, and money was buying her a new workspace.

Killian also had a personality that totally matched the entertainment department, which was normally the group he sat with. Fluffy, bubbly, fun. All things that Emma never had to deal with on a daily basis with her assignments. Instead, she was usually at the courthouse until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Then she would walk the four blocks to the newsroom, give a gruff nod to her editor, and dig into her notes to write her story for the day. But her tough-as-nails editor was stuck in some temporary place in some corner while she got assigned this random empty spot.

"Swan!" came the jovial voice that had been greeting her for the past few days.

"Jones."

Killian stood up and gave her a dramatic theatrical bow. "Always a pleasure to see you here, lass."

"Sit down," she mumbled as she grabbed her laptop out of her bag and unceremoniously dropped the rest of it on the floor.

Killian sat with a flourish and a flirtatious smile. That stupid smile that made Emma feel things she never wanted to feel about someone like him. All the click baiting crap was a necessary evil in the industry right now and in her newsroom, that evil was being led by a charming devil with a British accent and blue eyes.

"Oh, Swan! Bad news." He gave her a fake pout. "They pushed back the end date for construction so now you're stuck with me until February."

"Before or after Valentine's Day?"

"After. So don't fret! I promise I'll buy you that red teddy bear you so desperately want."

Emma just rolled her eyes and started flipping through her notes for the day. Usually, she had to deal with the typical criminals in the city, but today was a bit more sensational for a nice change of pace.

"Emma Swan!" She turned to see her grumpy editor, Leroy, striding over to her desk. "You've got a front-page slot for your story. Make it good."

"Sure thing, boss," she said with a smile as Leroy walked by and started barking out the names of his other writers scattered throughout the cramped newsroom.

Emma turned back to her notes with triumph. The front page was a nice grab for her, even if she got there with this flashy story.

"So what kind of fun did you have at the courthouse that got you a front-page spot, Ms. Swan?"

She looked up to see Killian staring at her, and this time he genuinely seemed interested in what she was working on.

"The Mills divorce."

His eyebrows perked up and he sat up straighter. "Anything good?"

"Yea," she said as she started flipping through her notes. "Here's a question for you though -"

"Wait, are you asking for my advice?" he asked hopefully.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't get cocky on me, Jones. I'm just trying to decide what to lead with. Can you help?"

"Definitely."

Emma started flipping through her notes. "Regina says their prenup should be voided because he didn't really love her, and Leopold says she knew what she was doing when she signed it."

"So if it's gone, she can get more money."

"Not more money, just money," Emma explained. "Apparently, she was having an affair with some stable boy at their estate in Vermont, which would mean she broke the prenup's fidelity clause…."

"And won't get anything if it stands in court," Killian replied. "Brilliant! So who gets the team?"

Leopold owned the Boston Kings baseball team, which was well loved in the city. Fans were getting antsy that the divorce proceedings could get dragged into the start of the season and be a distraction to the team.

"The details are somewhere in here," Emma said as she started to page through her notepad. "Essentially, if the prenup sticks and the fidelity clause is tripped, Regina gets nothing. But if the prenup gets tossed, she could get half the team."

Killian scrunched his face up in disgust. "I would lead with that. Because seriously, at this point, I would have an affair with her to make sure she didn't get the team."

"Really?"

"Does that surprise you?"

Emma shrugged. "I just figured, you know, you're from England so you'd probably be a soccer fan."

"Football, thank you," he replied teasingly. "And I've lived here long enough that I've learned to enjoy the finer things in American culture."

"Since when was sitting in some old stadium in Boston with a hot dog and cheap beer considered one of the finer things?"

Killian shook his head and turned to the work on his screen. "And I thought you were cool, Swan," he muttered as he went back to whatever list he was focused on.

The two of them worked in silence with only the sound of their clacking keyboards filling the air around them. Emma always liked this part of her job - focused on the page, fingers dancing over the keys as she spit out 500 words onto her screen.

"Emma Swan!"

Emma's head jerked up just as Leroy was walking over to her desk. "Hey, boss. I just need two minutes and I'll send the story over."

She polished off the last sentence and smiled as she waited for the slow publishing system to finally get her story to her editor. Leading with the baseball team really had been a good way to start the story, but she wasn't going to tell Killian that.

"Hey, Emma."

Speak of the devil. Emma turned to see him standing by her desk, wearing his trademark black leather coat with his computer bag slung over his shoulder.

"So I have this feeling that you don't always like me."

"I don't."

He smiled, undeterred. "Well, I was thinking maybe we could get past that and work together."

She leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her. "Really?" she asked skeptically.

"I think this Mills case would be great for a list. Would you be up for helping me put one together?" he asked with his trademark flirtatious grin.

Stupid grin, she thought. Stupid hot grin on that stupid gorgeous man. She grimaced and conceded defeat. The stupid gorgeous man had a point.

"Yea, we could do that."

He leaned down, invading her personal space and gave her a wink. "I look forward to it, Swan."