#captkillianjcnes

Regina always knew she would end up marrying a crown prince, or a king. Her mother had named her for such greatness after all. So she smiled at the noblemen that courted her, and she tolerated the men who were 7th in line for the throne, because that’s what good ladies do.

She had never expected to be married to a king, especially not one old enough to be her father. But she had no choice, she had to accept. This was what good girls did. It didn’t take many days into her marriage to notice Killian’s kindness, his protective nature, and his beauty. He was a handsome man, inside and out. He made her feel safe, at least as well as he could.

Killian could protect her from any invasion, except one. Tonight, she was returning from a summons to the king’s chamber, tears in her eyes, trying to hold it together, when she walked into her royal guard. “Sir Jones.” She nodded, trying to hide the quiver in her voice and the redness of her eyes.

Milah paced the small cell. There wasn’t much to it, barely even a small window with bars to fit through. She didn’t like being caged. Death had been bad, but at least in the Underworld, there was some illusion of freedom. Or, at least, the perimeter of the prison was large enough that it was easy to ignore most days.

The only hint she got was a whisping whirl of smoke around her. The stone beneath her feet became soft earth, and she had to blink at the harsh sun.

“...and no harm will come to her.”

Oh, great. Her. Milah huffed. “Would you stop doing that?” It hadn’t been the first time she’d been summoned by the cloud of smoke. She didn’t like it, the way it made her feel powerless.

She blinked some more and the world came into focus beyond the glaring sun, and of course her focus came on the swath of black leather among the green foliage. Her heart - which was still weird to have back - skipped over itself as she forgot about anything else for a moment, suddenly feeling lighter. “Killian.”

She stepped toward him, wanting to reach him, already ready to forget the decades and centuries that had slipped through her fingers since the last time she’d seen him.

On the second step, she’d run into the stone wall, back in the tiny cell. Her hands moved along the wall, willing it to not be there anymore. He’d been so close. “No, no, no. Dammit!” She wanted to kick things. She wanted to scream and punch and claw and kick. But the only thing here was a bench to sleep on and that tiny, tiny window that was far too small to climb through.

Her mind worked quickly. She went to that bench and ran her fingers along the bottom until she found that snag. Taking a breath, she wrenched the tip of a finger against the snag and hissed.

It took some work and more than one snag, but with that, a bit of tattered cloth from her tattered skirt and a splintered piece of wood, she managed to get a message written. It took a little bit longer after that to convince a dove to come to that too small window. She murmured gentle instructions after tying the note around one of those small, wiry legs.

I’m fine, my love. Keep yourself safe.

And it was true, mostly. Milah often suspected the greatest danger to her was boredom.

But she didn’t expect this. She didn’t expect the leaders were actually the ones protecting the community by going out there and making sure the people were protected and fed. It was going to be a harder job than she thought. It was going to take far longer than she expected. 

That’s why when the guy that she made sure found her proposed....Mina couldn’t say she refused. This would take time to figure out. Being a wife might give her a way to blend in. 

And since she and Killian had slept together during that storm on the way back, she couldn’t say this was surprising. 

Mina sat in the home that most single woman stayed in. Women chattered around her as they did her hair and makeup. Marriages were apparently a big thing here, what else did they have to hold onto from their normal lives? 

One of the younger girls came in, “Killian’s here to see her.” 

“it’s bad luck,” the head of the house said, “To see her before the wedding.” 

@captkillianjcnes

The thing about fairy dust protection from pregnancy was that it didn't work for a while after you had nearly bleed to death. The thing about Emma was that she didn't know that. And after her adventure with Captain Hook - Killian - he had left, taking a piece of her heart away but with promises he'd see her again, to which truthfully she had a hard time believing, because she might trust him in many ways but he was still a man and men didn't really come back after going for a long quest.  Emma had meant to stay and help that kingdom for a few more weeks and then go home, only to find out she was pregnant. She had written home because unable to travel back the usual way, since fighting beasts that populated the area outside of the forest wasn't possible in her conditions, she wouldn't risk it this way, and her parents had come for her instead. There had been talking - and the ridiculous comment that she had fallen in love, who? Her? Not even a little, he was just a handsome friend she had had one adventure with, she had simply been stupid - and they had decided that they'd claim she had been married and lost her husband far away from their kingdom. They sent Pinocchio and Grace to keep her company, and the most trusted maids from the castle, because they had to go back home: there were delicate affairs to attend to. Only seven months later, eight since her conception, the baby was born. 

And it turned out that Emma had magic as well.

She almost ran away from the baby for fear of hurting her, but it was something so against her nature that she had to find a way to stay and take care of her even if magic was unpredictable. The baby was too small and needed time before going through a journey, so Emma waited, glad that at least her little girl was recovering fast. She named her Earwyn, friend of the sea, though not thrilled that her father would have no say in it. And then one evening, one chaotic evening in which the house was a disaster, she had sent the maid to get something to help the baby with her cough, and she was this close to start crying because Earwyn had finally stopped doing just that only a minute ago, a pirate sneaked in her (not so temporary anymore) house.   "Oh Gods," she blurted out, frozen on her feet while still holding a blanket she meant to bring to the crib, "Am I hallucinating you?” She was sleep-deprived, after all.

@captkillianjcnes

Emma accepted that dating wouldn't be in her future anymore. She had more experience dating the wrong guys and not realizing that until much later in the relationship. If she had such a horrible experience with various men, what was the point in trying again only to be heartbroken once more? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. 

That all changed when she moved to a new state for a fresh start and started a new job. One of the first people to introduce themselves and welcome her to the team was a guy by the name of Killian. At first she thought he was yet another guy to be cautious of, but he never showed any signs that Emma had to keep her walls up. They became friends and within a few months they were dating, and then engaged almost a year later, and then married not even six months after that. 

She was about 3 months pregnant now and experiencing various mood swings, cravings, illnesses... One of which was thinking poorly of herself in the mirror despite knowing she was carrying her child. She was currently standing in their bedroom in nothing but her bra and underwear looking at herself in the mirror. "I'm so fat." She was talking to herself, thinking that Killian was still at work. 

“Papa? Can I ask you something?” Alice rolled around in her bed as her father fiddled with something on the stove. When she was little, this tower seemed like a wonderland of adventure, but as she was getting older, it just seemed to be more confining, the walls caving in everywhere. She wanted to see other realms of magic like the ones in the books he gave her, or in the stories they made up together.

                It involved leaving Killian in the DARKNESS for days. She couldn’t visit him until he was on the schedule, because fraternizing with a vampire would be scrutinized. His GROAN upon her opening of the door made her heart sink. How had she ever thought he was not at all human? 

               “ It’s me, ” she spoke softly into the darkness, the only light pouring into the room being from the now open door. She walked down the stairs, rushing towards the cell. “ You’re SAFE. And I brought food. “