(AU setting in which Emma Swan is a criminal private investigator. Her life takes a turn when her boss tells her she must now work with a man named Killian Jones who doesn't even have a clue what a private investigator does.)
Thank you guys for taking the time to read my story. So glad you guys like it :) And please do continue to tell me what you think. I appreciate it :)
"Wait an accent? Is he hot?" The other voice on the phone call said.
"Mary Margaret! That's not the point." Emma exclaimed. During her lunch break she usually talked with Mary Margaret an editor at the city's newspaper company. Mary Margaret was her best friend since college and if Emma were being honest Mary Margaret was her only friend. She was the only person Emma truly trusted.
"What? Men with accents are always hot." Mary Margaret replied.
"This man is so annoying that I can't really categorize him under hot or not hot right now. Can you just let me finish talking?" Emma laughed. Of course her best friend would first be interested in knowing if the new guy was good looking.
"Okay okay. I'm listening."
"As I was saying Mr. Jones is literally handing over the company to Killian and honestly I feel like that's disrespectful to people who have actually worked hard to get where we are now. The man is rich."
"I mean you can't blame him. His father is the one who wants to give him the company. It doesn't sound like he asked to be a part of the company."
"Mary Margaret I have every right to be angry. Killian is such a nuisance. He kept messing with the things on my desk and even propped up his feet on the table as if everything was there just for him. He seems so self-centered and even winked at Pam my coworker and then he winked at me before he left!"
"Oh my gosh he is hot." Mary Margaret gasped.
"What?" Emma asked confused.
"I found his profile page. He is extremely good looking. I wouldn't be complaining if he were my partner. Maybe you should stop and fall into those strong...muscly arms."
"Mary! Could you stop that? Okay fine he is good looking, but I dare you to spend two minutes with the guy. You'll hate him as much as I do."
Emma continued to complain to Mary Margaret about Killian. Emma loved talking her because no matter what she was always on Emma's side...even when the man was good looking.
"Well good luck working with him. I'm sorry you can't work alone anymore, but hey just deal with it. Maybe he'll learn fast and you'll get rid of him." Mary Margaret replied.
Emma sighed. "I hope you're right."
"Oh and sorry I can't make it to dinner with you today. When do you start working with Killian?"
"It's fine if you can't make it. You have a lot of work to do especially with that new article you have to write. And he starts working with me tomorrow."
"Wow. That is really soon. Well don't forget to call me and tell me how it goes."
"Oh I will call you. Well break is over gotta go."
"Talk to you soon!" Mary Margaret chimed and the phone call ended.
The next day Emma drove into the parking lot of the Jones and Co. building. She was taking her folders out of her bag when her car door opened. In stepped in the rude dark haired man.
"Detective Swan. Please remind me again why I am meeting you here at 6:45am and I am not sleeping in my cozy bed."
Emma felt in urge to punch him but she let it go. "Don't call me detective. And because in order to do work properly we should always do research first. If we do research earlier then the more time we have to go investigate during the day."
Killian yawned and took a sip of the coffee in his hand. "Alright Swan. What kind of research are we doing?"
Emma showed him the folders. "Your dad's secretary sends out the cases that come in nightly. I have chosen an easy one for us today."
Killian nodded slowly. "And what's this easy task?"
Emma slipped out a copy of the case and handed it to him.
"Robbery. Should be easy to handle."
Killian smiled recognizing his own wording. "Of course, love. Just tell me what's first on the to do list."
Emma broke out into smile. She was passionate about her work and getting down to business was her favorite part.
"Another perk about coming into work early is that we get free, full access to the facial cues detector 3000."
Killian shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "The what?"
Emma shook her head. "You're the president to be of this company and you don't even know of its beauty and magic."
Killian scoffed. "I'll believe in the magic when I see it. Shall we go?"
Emma quickly got out of her car and Killian followed. She got the keys and opened the front door of the building. Killian took the door and gestured his hand so she would go in.
"After you, m'lady." He smiled.
"You're gonna be a gentleman now?"
Killian tilted his head and almost looked offended. "I'm always a gentleman."
Emma rolled her eyes and walked through the door. Up the stairs and 3rd door on the left. She knew this building like the back of her hand. Emma quickly went the machine to turn it on. Killian walked in slowly behind her.
"So this contraption here is going to help us solve the case?"
Emma sat down in front of the screen of the machine and nodded.
"Owner of the store sent us the video clip from the security camera." Emma held up the USB drive where she had saved the file and plugged it in the slot.
"In a few minutes we should see if this culprit is a match with anything else in a few minutes."
For a few minutes the only thing that could be heard was the whirring of the machine and emptiness of the building. Killian was getting bored of staring at a loading screen.
"How long?" He said behind the chair she was sitting in. He was staring blankly at the screen.
"Probably a couple of more minutes."
More silence.
"So does my father give out the keys to the building to all his employees?" Killian asked.
Emma took her eyes off the screen and spun the chair around to face him. "What?"
"The keys. You opened the front door." He pointed to the keys on the table beside her.
"Oh. He gave me a copy last year when he realized I liked to get a head start on cases."
"No wonder he appreciates you. You're the only one who takes the job so seriously."
Emma shrugged. "I guess so."
Emma was about to ask him a question as well when suddenly the machine stopped whirring and a ding followed. Emma turned back around to face the machine.
"Bingo! We got a match," Emma said excitedly as she began typing and clicking away. Killian just stood behind her staring at her every move.
"Looks like he's wanted for robbery in another case. Hmm it used to be Janice's case but she marked it down as unsolved as of yesterday."
"Well that's great. Now we have this match. It's our case now. We just show the evidence." Now Killian was getting excited. Finally something was happening.
"Hold on there, tiger." Emma laughed. He was new. He really thought it was that easy.
"We have to find the culprit first."
"We have to find him?" Killian said shocked. "Why can't the police do that?"
Emma sighed. Patience she told herself.
"If the people are coming to us it means the cops aren't helping. That's why we have so many customers. We get things done around here."
"Alright if you say so, Swan. So how exactly do we go about catching this thief?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
She raised an eyebrow back. Why did it sound like he was questioning her capabilities?
"By visiting the scene of the crime. If there's one thing I know about thieves is that they never go to the place they stole from once."
Killian was catching on. "I see. So we go back to the store. Check the security cameras to find more information, predict their next move and then stay one step ahead of the thief."
Emma smiled proudly. "Exactly! You're a lot smarter than you look."
"Actually I just saw detectives do that in a movie" He muttered to himself while trying not to laugh. Then he realized what Emma said.
"Wait. What do you mean? I didn't look smart before?" Emma had already left him alone in the room and he chased after her.
After retrieving both video security tapes from other stores Emma and Killian were back in the room.
"I'll look at the paperwork to see what other information we have before we start analyzing the videos."
Emma ruffled through the papers as Killian fiddled with the video files in his hands.
Might as well get a head start. Killian thought. He'd just place both videos in and analyze the data. Simple as that. And he thought this job was going to be hard.
As if suddenly aware that something was wrong Emma looked up and saw what Killian was doing.
"What are you doing?"
Killian smiled. "Relax, love. I'm handling this."
Emma dropped the folder. "No you're not. Stop that!"
Killian didn't stop. "All I'm doing is -"
The machine made a weird buzzing noise. In a lo voice and through her teeth Emma said, "You son of a bitch."
Killian didn't understand. The machine had ejected the files.
Emma snatched them away from him. "You damn idiot!" She yelled. "You just erased all of our data."
Bewildered Killian asked, "What do you mean?"
Emma waved the CDs in his face. " The machine rejects CDs and when it does it deletes the file. You were supposed to save the file onto a USB drive first!"
"Well how the bloody hell was I supposed to know that?!"
"You could have asked stupid moron!"
Emma narrowed her eyes. She knew exactly why he hadn't asked. "You're probably trying to sabotage me. You want to make me look bad. I knew you were trouble. I never wanted to work with you. My gosh you're such a son of a bitch."
Killian stood up. "Enough. I'm not just going to listen to you insult me!" He yelled.
"Well maybe you should have thought about that before sabotaging me!"
Killian's face twitched. "Swan, look at me. Do you really think I'd sabotage you this way? The files were deleted. My father's going to assume the mistake was mine. He'd never believe you'd make such error."
Emma didn't say anything. It was true. Deleted files would make him look bad not her.
"I didn't know about the files. I should have waited and asked. I just didn't want to seem like a useless man who can't do anything. I guess that's the man I showed you I am now. I'm sorry about our only copies. Truly I am."
Emma reached for her leather jacket on the chair and her messenger bag from the table.
"Yeah well sorry doesn't bring back our evidence, does it?" She gave him a disappointed look and walked out the door.
"Swan!" Killian called out, but there was no response.
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