All one shots will be made in collaboration with CreditlessKumo.

This one shot features Captain Swan and Captain Charming.

Disclaimer - I do not own the rights to Once Upon a Time (although I wish I did) so I own no characters apart from Alyssa. We do own the plot of this idea though.

The Jolly Roger was buzzing with activity as the clock on the wall hit twelve on a busy monday lunchtime. A blonde head could be seen darting between customers and tables as she juggled dishes ladened with piping hot food. A slightly smaller, dark haired man followed closely behind, seemingly entrapped in everything that the blonde woman was saying.

"The aim is to get the food to the table without dropping any, hitting anybody and also, make sure it's still hot. Working front of house means that you not only get to be the face of 'The Jolly Roger' but also means that you are responsible for maintaining high standards." She turned to a table and placed the plate she'd be carrying down on the table in front of a rather small man with glasses and a pickaxe with the name 'Doc' inscribed on it. "Here you are sir. Your toad in the hole with extra onions. If you need anything else then don't hesitate to ask. Enjoy!" She flashed a beaming smile then moved towards the door where two new people were waiting to be seated. She began to talk to the young waiter once again. "Now I'll show you how to-'

"SWAN!"

Emma stopped immediately, spinning towards the bar where a man was serving behind the bar dressed as a pirate captain. Her trainee collided with her front and stayed there for a second before seeing the murderous look Emma was giving him.

"I'm sorry. I just-" he began.

"Will Scarlet. First day. Don't make me mad." Emma interjected.

"SWAN! The phone!"

"I've got to deal with this, you sort out these customers." She turned towards the two people who had appeared behind them and beamed brightly, "I'm sorry about the wait, my employee here will make sure that you are seated now."

She spun and looked at Will with a withering look and a lowered voice, "After they're seated, get their order and carry on putting the dishes out onto tables. Don't mess it up. I'll be a few minutes."

She then stormed towards the bar without a further word.

Will stared longingly after her before muttering "But you haven't shown me how to do that yet. I only arrived half an hour ago." He sighed then turned towards the waiting customers and tried to copy Emma's smile. Somehow it didn't feel as warm as he intended and the customers looked at each other apprehensively.

"Uh...Hello! My name is Will and if you just bear with me a minute I'll...uh... get you seated in no time." He tried to smile confidently as he picked up the heavy brown book that was on the pedestal. It had 'Reservations' on the front of it in gold calligraphy. He smiled at the customers again then opened it to the right date. There was nothing written down at all. Damn, had he really forgotten to record all the customers so far?

Will quickly asked the customers' names and scrawled them down. He closed the reservation book and put it back before turning around and looking for a table in which he could lead these two people, who were becoming increasingly restless. He mentally cursed until he saw a perfect table in the corner in front of the windows.

"Just follow me please." He asked and then led them to it. They sat down and Will noticed the lack of menus at the table. "I'll be back with the menus in a second," he gushed before rushing off. He headed straight to another couple who seemed to have finished with theirs as they put them down.

"Are you finished with these? Good," he said before whisking them off the table and heading back the way he'd come. He thrust the menus into his customers' hands before darting away. He scanned the room and noticed the build up of dishes which had occurred on the kitchen partition while he had been occupied trying to sit people down.

"Bloody hell!" Will swore to himself as he hurried towards it.

"Excuse me! Waiter!" He heard someone shout. He sighed internally then turned, attempting a pleasant smile, and saw the couple that he'd taken the menus from. The man was the one who had called him as he still had his arm raised. He made his way over to them.

"Yes?"

"We'd like to order now as you did take the menus off of my date and I so gracefully,"

"Of course, what would you like?" Will said before realising he had no paper to write on. He looked at the table and saw the complimentary place mats and and pencils. He shrugged and grabbed one of each as the man began to recite their orders.

"We'd both like the hamburger and fries with apple juice and apple crumble please."

Will hastily scribbled it down then nodded, smiled and went off towards the place where he presumed all of the orders were clipped. He noticed how they all stated table numbers and swore again when he realised that he had no idea. Instead he wrote 'Middle table, brunette pretty girl, creepy guy' on the bottom of the order before pinning it up. With that done, Will turned around and picked up two dishes. '2' was written on a card next to them so he turned around and looked for a table near the door which hadn't been served food. He saw one and focused in on it so intently that he didn't notice the chair pulling out until it was too late. He collided with it and went flying forward before landing on top of the plates and getting lasagne plastered onto his front. He looked up at the shocked people who he'd landed at the feet of. Smiling feebly as he got up, he picked up the plates and prayed that most of the meal had stayed on the plate miraculously, although he was a mess.

"SCARLET!" He heard Emma shout from behind him. He flinched and turned to see Emma's look of murderous intent. "Get to the kitchen. Clean yourself up and then see me. Okay?"

He nodded slightly then rushed to the flip doors which would allow him entrance to the kitchen. Plates still in hand as he heard her begin apologising to all customers involved and offering a drink and dessert on the house to please them.

As soon as he was in the kitchen he dumped the plates next to a large sink and let out a large sound of exasperation.

"How can this get any worse?" He asked himself out loud before running the hot tap and grabbing a cloth from the cupboard beneath it. Once the water was warm enough he soaked the cloth and began furiously rubbing his black shirt. Cursing all the while about how his day better not get any worse. "This is my first shift for fuck sake," he grumbled before hearing a very familiar voice and frowning in confusion.

"You must be the the new front of house staff that Emma was telling us to look out for earlier. It's tough working here at first but it gets better. We're like one big happy family once you get to know us. What's your name?"

Will turned around and his blood ran cold. Before him stood the father of the ex that he had recently and unceremoniously dumped and left in Boston last week. He cursed every god that he'd ever heard of as he saw the recognition fall into David's face.

"Scarlet right? Will? Alyssa's ex boyfriend. I remember you, what did you do to her again?" David had gone dangerously quiet. The sizzling of the food that he was preparing was the only thing filling the silence as Will began to hyperventilate.

"Um… Funny thing that. Umm… well...Uh...Emma wants me." He stuttered as he ran out again, exhaling in relief at being able to leave the situation.

"Scarlet is hopeless. He's bloody useless. Who writes orders on a placemat with no table number then goes ahead and ruins two dishes by being careless enough to collide with a chair. Now I've had to clear up his mess and carry on his duties which he'd been running behind with. I don't work well with other people, Hook. How do you expect me to keep that monstrosity of an employee on past today? Tell me because I have no idea at all,"

Emma slumped behind the bar as Killian listened to her ramblings in silence. When it seemed as if she'd finished, he turned around and grabbed her hands tightly between his right hand and hook, giving her the physical reassurance that she was too tired to realise she needed.

"Swan, we opened this restaurant together but we can only do so much. We own this place-"

"I own this place,"

"Right, you own this place and we are only two people. We need more staff in order to cope with the higher demand. We've had this talk before which led to us asking for help. We have it now. He's not entirely competent I admit-"

"That's putting it lightly. He has been nothing but-" Killian placed his hook on Emma's lips and she stopped immediately, looking straight into his eyes in confusion.

"Give him a chance Swan. He's new. Anyway, it looks like you need distracting. Stay here, I'll pour you a glass of rum and you can sit here, admiring the view,"

He lowered his hook, winked at Emma and quickly pecked her gently on the lips. She smiled and admired him adoringly.

"Killian, you know exactly how to make me feel better, do you think we should close up early?"

Hook smiled wider then shook his head.

"We have six reservations tonight, two of them large families. That would be a huge loss if we didn't let them in,"

Emma sighed in discontentment, stood up and leaned closer to Hook.

"I really appreciate everything that you've sacrificed to help me open up this place. I really do appreciate it and… I lo-"

"I'm all cleaned up now Emma!" An all-too-familiar voice interrupted. "I'm terribly sorry about the mess I caused. It won't happen again."

Emma and Killian both gave each other a look at their disrupted moment until Killian turned away to serve a customer at the bar and Emma turned to face Will.

"It's okay. Mistakes happen. Just don't let it happen again and focus on the task at hand. For now, I just want you to seat people, check reservations - there's six tonight by the way- and take orders. Okay? Think you can do that?"

Will was taken back by how calm she seemed until he noticed the flushed cheeks and glimpses that her and the bar man were having.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything. I didn't know! Honest to god I didn't know!" He apologised. Desperate to make sure that Emma didn't get even more upset with him.

"It's okay. If it wasn't you, it would've been a customer. It was a stupid idea in the first place," Emma pondered to no one in particular. "Just go and do what I told you."

Will nodded slightly then rushed off to stand behind the pedestal by the front door.

Emma sighed when she heard a plate smash and a customer jump up. An apology written on her face as she looked around erratically.

"Scarlet! Sort that out!" She shouted. Her mood quickly declining again as a customer came up to her to complain about their food being slightly too cold for their liking.

"What was it you ordered?"

"It was the hot apple pie with extra vanilla ice cream,"

"And it was too cold for your liking?"

"Yes. I want a refund immediately for this,"

"You've already eaten half of it. Why would I refund that?"

"I don't understand,"

Emma sighed irritably before taking a deep breath and explaining further. She noticed Killian listening in. "That would be a terrible loss of profit, if you don't like cold food then why did you order extra ice cream to begin with? That's your fault unfortunately. It's not ours,"

"I wasn't expecting it to be so cold. Especially with the hot apple pie,"

"It's ice cream, what did you expect?"

"You are very rude. I don't like your attitude. I want to speak to the manager,"

"Um.. I am the manager,"

"I want to speak to the owner of this establishment then,"

"I'm also the owner. If you don't like our food then please just pay your bill, then never come back. It's simple."

The customer harrumphed heavily then took the drink that they'd been carrying and threw it at Emma. Emma gasped as the juice soaked into her clothes and dripped down her face. She gave the customer a venomous look which was met with a smug grin.

"Scarlet! Get this customer to pay her bill then escort her to the door." She stared back at the customer, furious. "And you don't ever return here. You're barred as of now."

Will looked up from where he'd just finished mopping up the spilt food and nodded. The customer simply returned to their table.

"Swan. There's a-"

"I don't care, Hook."

"But Swan. You need to-"
"Am I in a state to do anything that needs to be done, Killian? Really? I have just been publicly humiliated in my own restaurant, so you know what? I don't care. You never helped me either. You just stood there and watched it happen. You could have have stepped in at any time, but did you? No. Bar's closed now. Just go. Help David or something. Just get out of my face,"

"Swan-"

"GO AWAY!"

Hook gave her a deflated look before putting up the 'Bar Closed' sign and trudging his way to the kitchen. Will gave him a look of pity as he passed.

As soon as he reached the kitchen he went to the sink and leant over it, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall due to Emma's harsh words. God knows he loved her but she's right. He didn't do anything to help. He's a disgrace.

"Hey, Captain," David greeted as he wiped his hands on a grubby towel and approached Killian.

"Hey, Prince Charming," Killian murmured back.

"What's wrong?" David queried upon seeing the small tears gathered around Killian's eyes.

Hook looked up with a fake exaggerated smile on his face.

"Nothing. Everything's shipshape."

"It's obviously not. I can tell." David stepped towards him after turning the temperature on all his utensils down, which would allow him a few more moments with Killian.

Will walked over to an old man after being called over.

"Yes Sir?"

"Could I have some more napkins, please? I've just had a little spill." On the table was a little puddle of what looked like wine.

"Certainly, Sir." Will replied before going straight to the secondary door of the kitchens which was closest to where the cutlery and napkins were stored. He entered them, and noticed Hook and David through the shelves and ducked, only peeking out once he was sure they hadn't seen him.

Once David had stepped close enough, he put both of his hands on Killian's arms and focused on his eyes. Once David was sure he had his undivided attention he began to rub Killian's arms gently in a sign of comfort.

"Tell me what's wrong?" David suggested.

After a short silence, Hook began to explain.

"It's Emma. She got angry and ranted about Will being incompetent and I calmed her down enough to make her act civil but then a dodgy customer started arguing with her and now she's had a drink thrown at her in her own establishment. She took it out on me and she's right to. I didn't do anything to help her. I'm useless."

David absorbed the information before replying.

"You're not useless. You're anything but. You're a great man so don't let her run you down. She's just angry. She doesn't mean it. Believe me."

Hook stared curiously into David's eyes. "You think so?"

"I know so."

There was silence between the two, both locked in eye contact, before David began to steadily lean closer, the space between their lips slowly closing. Killian stood entranced for a second, then quickly placed his hook on David's chest to stop him. David gave him a pleading look which fell to a disheartened one as he finally turned to move away. He was about to apologise until Killian pulled him back around.

"Thanks, but not in the workplace." He smirked at David, then winked and walked out of the kitchen, seemingly in a better mood than when he came in. David smiled to himself, understanding the double meanings of that sentence. He returned to check on his food until he heard a bang and a curse coming from behind the shelves across the room.

He stormed over and saw Will, crouched behind the unit and clutching napkins.

"Dropped these, sorry." Will blurted out.

"How long have you been there?" David demanded furiously, picking Scarlet up by the scruff of his neck.

"Not long. I didn't see anything between you and the barman."

"Then how did you know he was in here?"

"Umm… well…"

"Don't you dare say anything about what happened to anyone. After what you did to Alyssa and now spying on people, I'll dice you into little chunks and make you into a pie. Understand?"

Will eyed the large knives in a silver rack behind David. He didn't doubt that David could probably wield one of those just like a sword. "Crystal. Please let me go." Will begged.

"Give me a reason why?"

"Umm… I work here so..uhh...you can make my life hell once I've delivered these napkins. I have no other place to go so I'm stuck working here."

David thought this through, then let him go.

"Go away. If you ever do anything like that again, I'll know and you won't just get a warning from me. Tread carefully, Scarlet. It may be your last step otherwise."

Will nodded and ran out of the kitchen. David smiled to himself as he turned, picked out a knife from the rack, and grabbed a handful of vegetables from the fridge.

"Please come again soon!" Emma called as she watched the last customers leave. She shut the door, locked it and flipped the closed sign before sighing in relief. Today had been a whirlwind to say the least. She turned to Killian who was behind her and hugged him before kissing him softly. She then turned to Will.

"So. How did you like it?"

Will had to think for a moment before answering.

"It's definitely hectic and needs a lot of hard work but I love it here regardless. It's busy and I need busy right now."

"I'm happy with how you worked today, even if you did have a…rocky start. But you improved immensely and god knows I need the help so if you're happy to stay, I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning."

Will was stunned.

"Really?"
"Really. Welcome aboard the Jolly Roger."