HEY GUYS! I KNOW WHERE THIS IDEA CAME FROM, BUT I'M PRETTY SURE YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW. LOL. ANYWAY, ENJOY! THIS TAKES PLACE BEFORE THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, BUT NOT ANY SPECIFIC EPISODE. ACTUALLY, IF YOU WANT TO PRETEND GRAHAM'S HEART DIDN'T GET TURNED TO DUST, IT COULD TAKE PLACE AFTER. WHICHEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT.

I DO NOT OWN ONCE UPON A TIME. ANY RECOGNIZABLE CHARACTERS YOU SEE… I'M ONLY BORROWING THEM PURELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES.

When Emma walked into the Sheriff's with exactly thirty seconds to spare, Graham knew it was going to be a good day. She was only early –albeit this time it was only less than a minute early– when she was having a good day. He was having a pretty good day himself, although he realized his day was only an hour and a half long. He had Googled his Deputy, seeing as she wasn't particularly interested in talking about herself. In fact, when not tracking down who broke into Gold's house for the umpteenth time, or hauling Leroy out of The Rabbit Hole, Graham and Emma usually played basketball with crumpled paper and a trashcan. The Google search didn't reveal much (she didn't even have a facebook!), but he did manage to find a very interesting picture.

"Good morning." He said in his typical Irish lilt, head cocked, and eyes twinkling with mischief. Emma seemed to sense that immediately.

"What did you do?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Why do you ask that?" He did his best to keep his voice nonchalant.

"Because you have that… look." It took Emma a moment to come up with the right word. "Your eyes are sparkling playfully and you only think you're hiding a mischievous grin.

"My eyes are sparkling with amusement, Emma. You see, I found a picture of you online… and can I just say 'wow'." He could see his deputy's wheels turning, and slowly watched as the pieces clicked together.

"Really?" Emma sighed and muttered her go-to catch phrase.

"Really." Graham confirmed. "And I have to say, though you're gorgeous every day, in that pink dress and heels… I'm speechless. And that never happens."

"No, no, no, no, no." The deputy buried her head in the crook of her elbow, leaning onto her desk, trying to hide the red tint to her cheeks. For a moment, Graham felt bad, but then he decided that seeing the usually cool-headed (unless angry due to provocation) blonde flabbergasted, was totally worth it. "How did you find that? And FYI, I was catching some idiot that skipped bail and to get him I had to make him believe it was a date, so I set up this fake dating profile…" Graham barely contained his chuckles as she continued rambling, "And I would never wear anything like that. I kinda have this joke, it's my costume… you know… and pink really isn't my color, or heels. I much prefer boots." Her eyes narrowed. "You're laughing at me."

"I don't know if anyone's ever told you this," he said after he got himself together, "but you're hilarious."

"You're not gonna be laughing in two seconds." Emma lunged for his computer, fully prepared to break it, but then thought better of it. She couldn't just break stuff, especially stuff that wasn't hers. So, she breathed in deeply ten times before saying, "You show that to anyone, and you're dead."

"I brought donuts." Graham smiled up hopefully, whipping the box toward her, as if the sugary breakfast could remedy the situation.