incentive.
Killian looks at the tiny piece of shield-shaped metal that Emma is holding out to him warily.
It had been her idea, not his, to have him assist with law enforcement in the small town of Storybrooke. She had given him a litany of reasons from his time in the navy to his experience as captain of a ship ("all this talk of bad and good form makes me think you'd serve and protect") and he listened to all of them patiently. It was more the opportunity to aid Emma in anyway - and, to be by her side in any way she would have him - that made him acquiesce to her request, though he is not entirely sure what he is getting into.
He opens his palm and allows her to place the badge in his hand. She smiles when she does this, so he assumes his actions have pleased her. He smiles in return.
"Thanks, deputy," she says with a smile. "Time for your first ride along."
It occurs to Killian, slowly but surely (there are times when he's so dumbfounded by Emma that his brain seems to lag behind him) that he doesn't catch the fact that his new badge and new position might actually be a demotion from his previous title of 'Captain'.
He lingers at the station after work, watching Emma sort through piles of paper looking for something. He leans against the doorway, and she glances up (finally) with an exasperated "What now?"
"I'm your deputy," he tells her, fingering the badge. " 'Deputy Hook' doesn't have quite the same nefarious ring as 'Captain Hook', does it?"
Emma puts the papers she was holding down, and places her hands on her hips. "Oh really? You - who rebelled against a king - are going to protest the title of your new position?"
"It seems to me that if you were to offer something with a high rank a new position in a new enterprise, you'd offer something to their current position," Killian counters, "elsewise what incentive would they have to leave it?"
He is only slightly teasing and only slightly put-out that he ranks below a man who was once a shepherd, but there is a small amount of awkwardness that comes with the new title. He's been Captain for so long that this new arrangement makes him feel off-kilter, like regaining his balance after so much time spent at sea.
Emma raises her eyebrows. "So you need an incentive?" she asks, stepping forward and drawing near to him.
"If you want me to wear this badge, perhaps…" Killian presses, feeling tension grow between them as Emma glances to the badge in his hand and then back at him.
"If I promise to make it worth your while, will you stay?" she asks. She glances at him from underneath her eyelashes and Hook stifles a groan. She could ask for anything of him with that look and he'd agree immediately.
"For you, my lady, I would make the effort," he responds after some time, and Emma smiles.
Wickedly.
Oh.
She reaches forward and takes the badge from his hand, opening the small pin and sliding the metal badge into the leather of his jacket. "If you're going to be my deputy, then you're going to need to wear the badge." Her fingers slide down his chest, catching on the clasps of his vest and resting on his belt buckle.
"Is this an abuse of power, sheriff?" he asks, only slightly ashamed of how breathless and low his voice sounds. Emma leans forward, close to his ear.
"You wanted an incentive? You'll get one." And then her teeth brush against his earlobe and his hips jerk forwards into hers (or maybe she pulls him with the hand still resting on the belt buckle, he's really unsure of his actions because his lips come crashing down into hers and she slams the door to her office suddenly and the next thing he knows he's in her chair with Emma straddling him and this was not what he was anticipating when he decided to confer with Emma about his new title but oh god he will take this opportunity as he presses open-mouthed kisses above her breasts and sucks a bruise on her neck).
"You like this," he growls out between kisses, trying so hard and failing to not rip her clothes off in the middle of her office. "You like me working for you."
"I'll admit it's been a fantasy," she says, unbuttoning her shirt and his and throwing them behind her on the floor. "I think your complaint has been noted, Deputy Jones, and I think Sheriff Swan will handle it personally."
Killian's head falls back as Emma licks her way up his throat and then down his chest, sliding off of him in the process, and thanks whatever deity made him such a stubborn arse about titles and promotion and rigor because it has more than benefited him in the long run, this stupid stubborn way of his.