Chapter 1
Regina stood on the landing, listening to the sounds of her family down below. She grinned when Gillian's lilting voice carried up the stairs.
"It's my turn for the syrup, you've poured enough!"
"Yeah, yeah, keep your skirt on. Here." Lianna's snarky bark issued next.
Regina shook her head and started down the stairs, smiling as she heard the third occupant of the kitchen clear their throat. Upon hearing Regina's heels click on the floor, the three of them turned their eyes on her.
"You look pretty this morning," Regina spoke to her clearly girly minded daughter Gillian, who was all dolled up in a flashy pink skirt, white tights, and pink and white striped shirt. Gillian's rich, black hair was perfectly straightened, framing her face and reaching almost endlessly down her back. Regina bent to kiss her forehead before zoning in on Lianna. "That shiner of yours is fading some. Maybe you can see fit to let it go away altogether before getting a new one?" She raised her fist at Lianna, who bumped her own, albeit with still bruised knuckles, against her mother's.
"I'll try, Mom." Then both girls dug into their pancakes, one like a locomotive late for a deadline, and the other daintily cutting and chewing precisely before swallowing.
It always amazed Regina how different her two girls were. Gillian was nearly flawless in her looks and her manners. Lianna, on the other hand, always appeared as if someone had dressed her from the pile of clothes even Goodwill discarded. To top it off, her dark hair was a crazy mass of short layers that were lucky to see a comb once a month. Regina turned her attention to the third occupant of the kitchen. "Good morning, sweetheart."
"Good morning, love." Killian bent his head to peck Regina on the lips as he handed her a cup of coffee. Smiling, he couldn't resist placing a hand on her hip and pulling her a bit closer. "You look dressed to kill, today," he whispered against her ear after taking a good long look at her black knee length pencil skirt, white button down shirt – with one too many buttons undone – and crisp black blazer.
"That's the plan," she whispered back and gave him a sly grin before kissing him a bit more fully. A delicate hand rested against his chest as they broke contact and Regina looked up at him with a smile in her eyes. "If the debate goes well today, I should have the entire election wrapped up."
Killian chuckled and smiled back down at her, his lazy grin reaching his eyes, one eyebrow raised. "Sweetheart, there's no one out there who's ever buried you in a debate. I don't think they'll start now."
Regina fisted his shirt in her hand, giving him a seductively hard stare, before replying with, "I always look forward to our celebrations after my wins."
Killian pulled her hips closer to his, "As do I, love."
Taking a deep breath, Regina remembered their girls were present and backed away a hair's breadth. "What's on your agenda today? Your attire is…seaworthy." She noted the Dockers, boat shoes, and casual Henley her husband wore.
"I'm putting the Coral Medallion through her paces today. If all goes according to plan, she'll be sold and in her new Florida home by the end of next week." Killian grinned brightly. His love for fast ships and old world craftsmanship had made him a name in the boat building community. The Coral Medallion was his latest and greatest, to date, ship to set sail from their harbor.
Regina twined her fingers with Kilian's prosthetic ones on his left hand. His own wrapped around hers in return. When their lives had finally settled down in Storybrooke, and they were expecting their first child, Killian realized his hook wasn't exactly conducive to fathering an infant, not to mention boatbuilding would be so much easier with two hands. So, at the urging of his wife, he'd sought out the latest technology and acquired a robotic prosthetic hand that was just as good, if not better, than his real one.
Just then the school bus honked. Gillian carefully got up to place her plate in the sink, but Lianna shoved her out of the way, stomping one heavy black boot on her delicate slippers and elbowing Gillian in the stomach before dumping her plate in the sink hard enough to leave, yet another chip on the edge. With a mumbled "sorry" to her sister, and a half-hearted "whoops" to her mother regarding the plate, Lianna grabbed her dingy black backpack before rushing out the door.
"Tell him to wait!" Gillian called out to Lianna as she tried dusting the boot print off her shoe.
"Yeah, yeah!" Was the reply they all heard as Lianna waved her hand backwards, in too much of a hurry to be bothered with anything more.
"Are you sure she's not adopted?" Gillian asked as she gathered her own immaculate backpack and opened the door gently.
Regina nodded her head. "I'm sure. Six hours of hard labor will attest to that." Regina smiled at her oldest before Gillian practically glided down the stairs.
"Are we sure she's not adopted?" Killian snickered with a tip of his head, watching his overly feminine daughter prance away.
Regina sighed. "You were there, skillfully giving me your new hand as I bore her."
"I had to break it in properly." Killian smirked.
Rolling her eyes, Regina replied, "Your right just couldn't handle my grip."
Killian grabbed wife in his arms and bore her back against the counter. "I can handle anything you dish out, love."
"I'll keep that in mind tonight, after I win the debate." Regina pressed her lips to his one last time before extricating herself from his arms for the day.
Killian grabbed his keys off the counter and winked at her as he headed out the door. Regina stood in the doorway for a long time after he'd disappeared from the driveway. Sipping her coffee, Regina reflected that her life couldn't be more rewarding or fulfilled. For those reasons, it completely disturbed her when the nagging ache in the pit of her stomach cried for more. There was just something missing.