prompt: Emma takes off the Swan necklace in front of Graham
prompted by: skagengiirl
When I received this prompt, it was mentioned that it could be either set right after the 18th one of these little pieces, or not. I chose not.
Emma isn't one for Valentine's Day; she never has been. The celebration of love and whatever has always seemed more pointless to her than anything else – just a sales campaign for the candy companies.
But this year, this year she's in a relationship with the best guy she's ever met. And she wants to show him how much he means to her – but how?
She thinks on this dilemma for days, and then, one morning as she's playing with the heart necklace he gave her for Christmas, she knows.
On the fourteenth, she meets Graham for dinner at Tony's, an Italian restaurant, one of the more upscale places in town. They'd agreed beforehand to just treat it as any other date rather than anything special, although a part of Emma knows Graham must have made their reservation weeks before.
Maybe it's silly but they just get spaghetti, and maybe it's sillier that when Graham pushes one of his meatballs over onto her plate Emma blushes and wonders what it'd be like to share a spaghetti kiss with him like Lady and the Tramp. But if there's one day of the year to be sappy and cute, it's today, so she gives herself half a pass.
They're waiting for the waiter to bring them their desert menu when she decides to enact her plan.
"Graham…" she looks into his eyes, biting her lip for a moment, "There's something… Something I wanted to say."
He reaches across the table and silently takes her hand; he's always so good at listening. She pulls out of his grip gently, reaching up and unclasping the necklace that holds the keychain she'd been given by Neal. She holds it out where he can see.
"Henry's father gave me this," she says, "And I kept wearing it after he left me to remind myself never to trust again. But I- I don't need it anymore. Because I trust you."
"Emma-" Graham looks stunned at her declaration, "Your trust… It means so much to me. Especially after- After I nearly screwed us up before we even started."
"Don't remind me about that," Emma gives him a stern look as she pockets the necklace; she can't just leave it in the restaurant, after all.
"Sorry," he nods, "I just- I know you don't trust easily, and I know that when that happened, I destroyed what trust you had in me. And that I've earned it back- Emma, I just can't help feeling it's more than I deserve. That you're more than I deserve."
"Everybody makes mistakes, Graham, and you were caught up in a big one. But you've more than proven yourself since then. You're good for me and you're good with Henry and… I trust you."