Control. It was something that Emma felt comfortable without. As a child she'd been tossed around from foster home to foster home, going wherever the powers-that-be decided required the least amount of effort. The moment she was old enough to set herself free Emma had been the master of her own destiny. Look out for yourself and you'll never get hurt.

Since then Emma had only once made the mistake of losing control. She'd foolishly fallen in love with Neal and it resulted with her ending up in prison. Now she was having flashbacks of being told when to eat, when to sleep, being trapped under the whim of whatever authority figure was on shift. Her prison sentence had been the equivalent of the sword that Killian now held in his hands.

Now Emma's life was once again not hers to control and it rattled her to the core. Being subservient was not in her nature, and trust didn't come easy - not with her family, not even with Killian. Now with every moment that Killian threatened to use Excalibur against her she was feeling that trust betrayed.

No. No! Don't think like that Emma. Don't give up on him. Help him fight the darkness, she told herself, fighting her inner demon who so desperately wanted to see her turn against the man she loved.

Still almost cheek to cheek with Killian, she saw the smug look on his face and realised he was still waiting for a reaction - some sort of confirmation that he'd emotionally wounded her. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction she turned her head to meet his gaze. "The only thing I fear is losing the people that I love," she finally responded.

Killian scoffed and took a step back. "Perhaps that's one of your fears, but I know you, Dark One." He raised Excalibur and gently thumbed the giant ruby that adorned the sword's pommel. "You've barely taken your eye off Excalibur from the moment it was put into my hands, and there isn't an inch of you that isn't screaming to get it back. You're squirming at the thought that at any moment I could ask you to do something that you're not prepared to do." He hummed quietly as his lust-filled eyes moved up and down the length of her body, reaching out to trail the tip of his hook down over the lapel of her black, crocodile-skin jacket. "And Gods I love to watch you squirm Emma."

"I'm growing impatient." Emma folded her arms across her chest. "If all you plan to do all night is talk, then I may have to impale myself on Excalibur just to escape the boredom."

"Oh I'm just getting started Love," he murmured, trailing his hook down over Emma's right hip and thigh. "But all this talk of impaling does make me want to speed our game up a little."

Emma couldn't bring herself to swat his hook away, instead trying to pretend it wasn't making her skin tingle and her insides twitch with pleasure. She cleared her throat. "Speaking of which, we haven't discussed the rules of this so-called little game of yours."

"There are no rules Emma," he whispered as her slipped his left arm around her waist. "It's quite simple." He pulled her forward until her hips were pressed firmly against his. "What I want, I get."

Emma hummed and reached up with both hands - her thumbs toying with the collar of his shirt. "Then how about I make you a deal Killian," she suggested.

His eyebrow perked up.

"By the time the sun rises in the morning," she started ."If I have done everything you've asked, without needing to be compelled, then I win, and you give me your trust - you give me Excalibur."

Killian was clearly contemplating it as he nudged the growing bulge in the front of his pants against Emma's hip. "Oh that is quite the challenge, but now my mind run is running amok with so many delicious possibilities - so many ways in which I see you losing."

"And if I lose," she continued. "Then everything remains as is. You keep the sword, and I'll remain your faithful servant."

Emma really hoped she wouldn't have to eat her own words. This wasn't a game she was prepared to lose. Her only objective was to win back the sword or distract Killian long enough to find a way to steal it out from underneath him. However the warmth pooling between her legs said she was in this for something more. Her mind was already busy imagining the wicked things her dark pirate might have in store for her.

"I'm not sure what my incentive is here Swan?" said Killian, scratching at the base of his left ear with his hook. "You're already mine to do with as I please."

Emma took a step away and slowly began to circle him, trailing her fingers across his chest, up over his shoulders and over his back. She leaned in close enough so he could feel the warmth of her breath against his neck. "Are you telling me you aren't the least bit curious to find out at what point I might break? How far I can be stretched before you reach the limits of my free will?"

"Oh now I'm intrigued," Killian whispered before licking his lips. "What do you think Emma? Should I stretch you slowly, bit by bit, or see if you can take it all at once?"

Emma inhaled sharply and had to fight the urge to push him to the floor and straddle him in the middle of their living room floor. She glanced down to his right hand, still tightly gripped around Excalibur, then up to meet his hungry gaze. "Do we have a deal or not?" she asked, reaching out her right hand to make an agreement.

Killian smiled and instinctively started to put Excalibur aside in order to shake Emma's hand.

Emma saw her opportunity - but in an instant it was already gone. Killian had realised his potential mistake and had snatched Excalibur back up.

"Ohh-ho-ho," he laughed. "You nearly got me there Swan, devious little minx that you are." He pointed his hook at her. "I nearly put the sword down! That would have been very convenient for you indeed!"

"I never said it was a single-player game," she said teasingly, all the while cursing his name in her head. You knew he'd be too smart to fall for that.

"That's the spirit." He grinned mischievously and winked. "I wouldn't enjoy it as much if you didn't fight me every step of the way."

"So do we have a deal or not?" she huffed impatiently.

"One more little teensy-weensy condition," he added. "During the agreed period of our deal, you're not allowed to use magic."

"I don't need magic to win back your trust," Emma responded confidently.

"Then I do believe we have a deal, Swan."

The air in the room thick with a a combustible mix of anger and arousal just waiting to ignited.

"Game on," Emma replied, reaching out to shake the cold steel of Killian's waiting hook.