It was her first practice since the tournament, and Emma was relieved to finally be back in the water. The past few weeks had been so hectic that she hadn't been able to make the one practice they'd had since, and she always hated taking time off. She did her usual warm up, and began passing with Mary Margaret and Ruby. It took a few minutes for her muscles to remember the movements, but before long she was making expert passes and not dropping the ball. Her shots were looking good too, firing straight into the corner of the cage, powering past the goalie. She even managed to pull off a few skip shots, without any flopping embarrassingly in the water.

It all went downhill went they started their shooting drills. As they made their way through two lines, Emma discovered that the first person she would have to pass to was Killian, and suddenly she felt her stomach flutter unpleasantly. As she pump faked towards the goal, she felt her heart start beating out of control, and the second she released the ball in Killian's direction, she knew it was a horrible pass. It sailed about three feet out of his reach, even with his considerable ability to get up out of the water, and she felt a traitorous blush stain her cheeks.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll do it again," she apologized, and she picked up another ball.

This time was hardly any better, with her pass falling far too low, but he picked it up and shot anyway. Distracted, she fumbled the pass when it came to her, shooting wide of the cage by about a foot. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Emma tried to regain her composure, but it didn't help. The next time they were up, she might as well have taken a shot right at his head, and she didn't miss the startled expression on his face as his hand came up quickly to intercept the ball before it could crash into his face painfully. After that, Emma feigned stretching for a few minutes to try to get away from having to pass to Killian, thinking that maybe if she could gain some separation, she would be able to ease her anxiety. It worked to some extent – her passes were better, but she still found herself easily distracted by the thought of Killian's eyes on her, and she couldn't seem to get her stomach to stop churning.

David threw the caps out, and Emma found herself on the opposite team as Killian, much to her relief. Until about fifteen minutes into the scrimmage, when Killian called for August to switch positions with him, so that Emma was guarding Killian, and David was guarding August. Emma felt her stomach twist as she placed her hand on Killian's shoulder, trying to keep her distance from him so he wouldn't turn her. As she expected, he surged forward, his hand sliding down to her hips and gripping tightly as he pulled her in close, then flipped on his back and pushed off her, sending her drifting in the opposite direction. She swore and turned over her hips, legs kicking quickly to try to keep up, but he had a large head start. She watched as Regina passed to him, and Killian kicked up, his entire chest rising out of the water as he slammed the ball into the back of the net. The whistle blew and everyone turned, swimming toward the other side of the pool. Killian stayed with Emma, his hand wrapped around her bicep as he hovered between her and the goal, ensuring that she wouldn't get the ball. Not that it mattered, she thought to herself, she was playing horribly today. She anticipated David's shot well, though, and she pushed off away from Killian quickly, determined to prevent his counterattack. She raced down the pool and set up facing him, watching with mounting nerves as he swam toward her, the ball nestled between his elbows. As he reared up, the ball scooped up in his hand, preparing to shoot, Emma felt panic seize her, and before she could stop herself, her fist was connecting with his nose with a sickening crunch.

"What the hell, Swan?" he screamed in pain, as blood blossomed from between the fingers that clutched at his face.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Emma replied, horror written on her face. "Killian, I'm so, so sorry."

She followed him as he made his way to the side of the pool and heaved himself out. One of the lifeguards came running over, but he waved them away, stomping towards the locker room.

"Let me help you," Emma insisted, following him straight into the men's locker room without a second thought.

"You shouldn't be in here," he answered weakly, but she merely rolled her eyes.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to –" Emma explained as she gently pressed paper towels to his nose.

"You punched me!" he shrieked, clearly not believing her pleas of accidence.

"I didn't mean to!" she yelled back, her cheeks flushing again. "You made me nervous!"

"I made you nervous?" Killian repeated, a mischievous glint in his blue eyes.

"Yes," Emma admitted with a huff.

"Why on earth would I make you nervous?" he teased, and she marveled at his ability to joke around while nursing a [probably] broken nose.

"I – you just – you're good, and I – I don't want you to think that I suck," Emma struggled to answer, replacing the wad of paper towel in her hand with a fresh one.

"Why do you care what I think of your talents?" he pressed, smiling despite the pain.

"I – I want you to like me," she answered, her cheeks turning crimson.

"Why?" he continued, sounding like a toddler repeating the question over and over.

"Because I – I just do," she stated, starting to feel somewhat harassed.

"Well, Swan, I'm not sure punching a man in the face is the most advisable way to win his affections," he teased, his eyes meeting hers.

"I'm not trying to win anything, I just –"

"You just want me to like you," he repeated her words, and she nodded dumbly.

"There, I think it's stopped bleeding," Emma informed him, pulling the paper towel away from his face to examine the bruising around the bridge of his nose.

"Thank you, Swan," Killian answered, inclining his head towards her as he strolled back out towards the pool.

"I don't think you should keep playing!" she called out, utterly astounded by him.

"Wasn't going to, Swan, you needn't worry," he assured her with a grin as she caught up to him. "But I figured I could offer my services as a ref for the remainder of the practice."

"You don't think you should go to the hospital?" she questioned.

"The hospital will wait," he shrugged. "Now try not to punch anyone else, if you please, Swan!"

Killian grabbed the whistle from Graham, and Emma jumped into the pool, shaking her head at this utterly confusing man.