Emma stared Killian down as they stretched. What did Rumple see in him? He seemed like the typical macho, self important idiot. Maybe it was a punishment. A sick and twisted punishment. But what for? She hadn't done anything particularly awful to Rumple recently. Could it be that this cocky man was actually talented enough to be in a double act with her? Possibly. It was quite possible that Emma was simply being unreasonable and stubborn, but she would never admit it. Besides, why did she need a partner to be the new lead act? She under stood that the "True Loves" was a romantic act, but why did the new act need to be romantic? It was all together unfair, and she was never going to hear the end of the teasing she was surely going to receive from Ruby. She was always trying to set Emma up with someone.

Emma leaned back into her back bend and stretched her back before flipping her legs back over her head. Well you know what- I don't care what Rumple throws at me. I'll play his game. For now.

She looked back at Killian who was warming up his arms with some push-ups. He certainly looks strong, I'll give him that. She cocked her head to the side, and looked over his bare back. Definitely strong. And not a terribly unattractive face, either.

"Enjoying the view, love?" He asked as he stood, snapping Emma out of her thoughts. Her face grew red against her will.

"Don't flatter yourself. And don't call me love." She muttered, crossing her arms and turning her back to him. Killian just shrugged and walked up beside her.

"Can we get started, Robin?" Emma asked tersely.

"Indeed we can. Rumple told me he wanted an extra special routine. Something to rival my previous triumph, 'the True Loves.'"

Emma inwardly groaned. Rumple was not going to make this easy for her, she could tell already.

"Naturally, I had to pull out all the stops. We'll be using traditional acrobatics, trapeze, and aerial silk."

Emma raised her eyebrows. She's never used all three in one routine before. This would be difficult to orchestrate. She'd only ever used swings and aerial silk together, not an entire trapeze. How Robin thought they could accomplish this in two weeks was beyond her.

"Here's the story I came up with. Emma, you'll be playing a princess, and Killian you'll be a pirate. It'll open with Emma minding her own business on her aerial silk, then Killian, you'll swing in on your own rope, grab her, and swing her onto your ship, the trapeze. There will be struggles and all that, until the princess suddenly realizes she's in love with the pirate-"

"Of course." Emma groaned.

"-and you both live happily ever after."

"And exactly how long is the routine?" Emma questioned.

"About twelve minutes."

Emma moaned and ran a hand over her face.

"Oh come now, Swan. You never know. You might enjoy having these strong arms around you- you were admiring them earlier-"

"Shut it, Jones. I don't want to hear it."

He laughed and shook his head, clearly not intimidated by her venom. This only managed to piss her off further, but she contained herself. If she wanted to get an upper hand on this guy she would have to keep her cool for now.

"So let's get started, eh?" Robin said, trying to diffuse the situation. "Emma, we'll start with you by the silk."

Emma stuck her chin up, walking away from Killian with an air of pride. Might as well get this over with. She chalked her hands with the little pouch strapped around her waste before placing herself at the base of the silk.

"Okay, Emma. You'll start off in B-plus, then go up into an arabesque. Good. Now do a Russian climb about one fourth of the way up the silk. Killian, you go stand by the ladder over on that end."

Emma did as she was instructed, wrapping the silk around her foot, pulling herself up hand over hand, unwrapping and re-wrapping as she climbed higher and higher. She felt that familiar burn in her muscles, and she focused on each small movement, relaxing in her focus.

"Now, Emma, grab the second silk and go into a Back-Walk-Over." Robin yelled up to her.

Emma swung herself over to grab the second silk, it's soft material running through her fingers. She separated the silks and put her left leg through them, so it was firmly secure. She slowly slid her hands down to be level with her hips and leaned backwards, her right leg lifting upward into a split. The burning in her arms was steadily increasing and she was glad. She could feel the world zeroing in on this exact moment, her steady, cleansing breath at the center.

"Good! Now twist into a single foot tie in, then drop and swing into a scorpion."

Adjusting her weight, she shifted herself forward. She wrapped her lower legs around the silk as if she was going to climb again, but instead she pulled some slack out of the silk and looped it under her foot. Her hands were above her head and her free foot attached at her knee in a forwards posé. Taking a deep breath, she let go of the silk.

There was a brief moment of delicious free-fall before she reached out and grabbed the silk that was now behind her. Unwrapping her foot from it's tangled wrap she twisted both her calves, one in each silk, then arched her back so her feet touched her head.

"Now keep your right leg wrapped, and go into a cupids-bow! Hold that pose... Okay, Killian, when I say go you're going to swing over and grab her around her waste, and Emma you're going to unwrap your other leg. Killian you're going to swing you both over to that platform, alright? Let's try it. I'll count to three. One."

Emma looked over her shoulder as she hung upside down and saw Killian, tightening his grip on the rope in his hands.

"Two."

Killian raised an eyebrow at her, and grinned. Emma narrowed her eyes at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. And then he had the gull to wink at her. Angered and somewhat distracted by his flirtation, Emma felt her grip on the silk loosen and she slipped downward a few inches before catching herself.

"Emma! You need to focus!" Robin exclaimed, catching her mistake. Emma winced.

"Sorry!" She yelled back. Robin looked between the two, making sure they were ready before shouting:

"Three!"

Killian swung towards her, his free hand outstretched and ready to catch her. Emma bit her lip then unwrapped her leg from it's hold and slid downwards. The met in the middle, Killian sweeping Emma upwards as she let go of her silks.

"Emma, wrap your legs around his torso!"

She did as she was told, and her hair flew around her face as she hund upside down, the only things keeping her from falling twenty-five feet being her legs and his arm around her waste.

They landed safely on the platform, and Emma untangled her legs and flipped upwards, her feet planted on the small slab of wood. Killians' arm was still around her waste, and she could feel the heat from it searing her skin. She did her best to ignore his arrogant grin. And then he bent his head down to whisper in her ear, so close she could feel her lips on her ear.

"Sorry I distracted you."

But his tone implied he was anything but sorry.

"Good work guys! That looked fantastic! Let's practice up until there a few times just to make sure we've got it before we move on."

"My pleasure, Sir!" Killian yelled down to Robin. With a disgusted grunt Emma yanked herself out of Killian's grip and started down the ladder. If this man thought he was going to ruin her only happiness with his pathetic flirting, he had another thing coming to him.