The station was quiet when she entered it, Sophie was answering the phone at the counter and waved at the sheriff when she saw her, she keept walking through the few empty desks of her deputies and noticed a cardboard box on the dusty desk that had been left empty since Greg's accident.
It had to mean that the new deputy had arrived and knowing her deputies and the chatterboxes that they were they would probably all be inside the kitchen/restroom eating donuts - they loved to keep cliches alive - and interrogating the new member of the "city's protectors" as Ruby called them.
Emma was headed towards the lockeroom to drop her blazer and purse and grab her trademark red leather jacket which meant walking past the doors of the restroom on her way, she stopped to look through the door's window and saw David, Leroy and Graham leaning over one of the counters and the new guy who had his back to her, dark haired, tall and wearing a black leather jacket.
He turned to grab one of the donuts on the table and she managed to get a look at his face, handsome with a bit of scruff - definitely her type.
She continued to the lockeroom which was the adjoining room to the restroom and started to open her locker and take her jacket off when she heard them, the place was not exactly soundproof.
"So I heard the sheriff is a lass, what kind is she? One of the horrible bitchy kind? She must be hot in bed though, right?"
Irish accent and an asshole, of course, he had a pretty face and a charming accent so he had to have a major flaw.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the guys angry retort,
"You douchebag, I'm going to punch you" "How dare you speak of her like that!"
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
She heard a commotion and hurried to cross the door to the kitchen and stop her - lovely, wonderful, loyal, she thought with joy - deputies from strangling the new guy, especially David who was known to be very protective of her; too much at times but he was her brother in law, she could not blame him for that since she would do the same in his position.
Just when she was going to open the door she heard the new guy, Jones retort, "Calm down mates, I was just trying to see how loyal you were, I heard stories of course of the Swan sheriff. I even met one of her former deputies, Thomas something, who swear by her, and wanted to see how you'd react. I'm sorry I pissed you off."
She did not really believe him but she let her hand rest against the door and waited for the guys' answers, when they begrudgingly accepted his apologies she stepped back, and then walked to the door noisily.
She went straight to the new guy and stopped right in front of him, she leant on his personal space, "So. You are the new asshole I have been sent. Guess I'll see what you can do before sending you back to the city."
"Oh don't worry lass, I'm going to show you everything that I can do -"
She poked her finger at his chest, "It's Sheriff Swan to you, dickhead, and stop leering at me!"
She turned around and headed for the coffee pot that was - thank God - still warm; she poured herself a cup and looked at David, "So let's get down to business boys! How did last night go, David?"
The rest of the day went as usual, she sent Graham with Jones to show him the county and asked John to put Jones on the night schedule with David for the first week. The two quickly striked a "bromance" as Snow called it, although David still tensed sometimes at Jones' remarks.
The week after she parted from her usual partner Graham and worked alone to get Graham's opinion on Jones; she trusted Graham's opinion more than anyone else, even more than David who was sometimes very prejudiced against people.
Graham's report was good and so the new deputy was kept although she never interracted much with him, but still caught him looking at her sometimes and she sometimes looked at him too, she thought about his past, his previous life in the city and how he would be out of the job.
Three months in, they had an awful case of murders and robberies and when they finally caught the perpetrator the whole team went to the bar to have fun and relax after this stressfull case. But her deputies were spoil sports and left one after another, leaving her and Jones drunk and unsupervised.
Emma was leaning against her stool, her feet refused to let her climb it and Jones was slouching over her leaning against his stool too, as she had deunkenly complained that it made him taller than her.
He waved the bartender for two more whiskey's and stared at her silently, making her twitch and fidget under his gaze until she blurted, "You aren't the asshole I had imagined at first."
"You... You were prettier than I had expected and you're smart, quite charming and... I like you, even though I really really shouldn't." He slammed his drink over the bar to emphasize his point.
After knocking down her glass Emma decided that keeping the confessions going was good, that it was time to let herself be happy, "I was surprised when we started working together, you were better than I had expected and I like... Your cynic humour, it works, it fits mine."
She smiled at him over the bar hopping that he would understand her, and because he was perfect for her, he understood and they left together, to give this story a chance.