Killian watched from the corner of his eye as the Airbus slowed to a stop where their greeting party was waiting. For a few long seconds, everything was silent until the clunk of the door opening met their ears, and the steps were slowly lowered down.

As one, the servicemen and women who had gathered to greet their Queen snapped to attention. Their legs came together and their backs straightened as they lifted their left hand to offer a salute to their Commander-in-Chief. Johnson was the first to break that pose when a woman with long blonde hair slowly approached him and extended her hand in greeting.

"Told ya she was hot," Liam whispered from the corner of his mouth.

Killian said nothing. The last thing he needed was to be caught showing any kind of disrespect for his Queen, but he had to admit that his brother was right. He'd been expecting her to be older than she looked. Sure, he'd known that Queen Emma was relatively young compared to her predecessor, who had passed away at the age of ninety-six. But he'd always assumed that she would be in her late forties, not her late twenties. After all, the stamps and notes had always depicted Queen Victoria II in her youth, so he had naturally assumed that Queen Emma had simply opted to follow with that tradition.

As his Queen made her way over to the first line of men and women waiting to greet her, everyone relaxed their stance and moved to clasp their hands together behind their backs. Killian watched on as she took a moment to offer her hand for shaking to every single person on the base. She wasn't close enough for him to hear what was being said, but there was definitely some kind of conversation passing between each individual and their Queen before she moved on to the next person. When she'd finally finished with the first line of servicemen and women and moved onto the second, Killian began to panic. Absolutely none of the training he'd received had ever prepared him for this moment, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

How does one make small talk with the Queen of England?

Taking her first step down and out of the plane was such a surreal moment for Emma. Every member of RAF Akrotiri that wasn't currently busy, had been lined up to salute her arrival. It was a sight that always left her feeling a little unworthy, and one that never failed to drive home the realness of her situation.

"Ma'am, this is Group Captain Johnson," Leroy introduced, as he steered her over to where a man in a white short-sleeved shirt, peeked cap and pressed black trousers was stood waiting to greet her.

"It's an honour to meet you," she told him, as she extended her hand for shaking. "Thank you so much for accommodating our arrival on such short notice."

"The pleasure is all ours, Your Majesty. The men and women here are very much looking forward to a day full of fun and laughter."

"Then I hope we can deliver on those expectations," she chuckled. "Shall we?"

Group Captain Johnson gestured for her to walk ahead of him, so Emma picked a side and began making her way down the line of people there, who were more than happy to introduce themselves to their Queen.

Each interaction was mostly the same, with some form of them thanking her for attending and Emma always offering her sincere thanks for their services and sacrifices. But she prided herself on taking the time to greet everyone who turned out to see her individually, and for Emma, this was even more important when it came to meeting members of her armed forces. These were people that had sacrificed so much for their country in her name, so as far as she was concerned, asking for their names was the least she could do.

Leroy didn't look too amused about the hour they spent under the Cypriot sun, greeting members of the airbase, but he knew better than to complain about it. Queen Emma would do whatever Queen Emma wanted to do. It was the way things had always been since she had ascended the throne.

"Are you okay?" Liam hissed at his brother, as their Queen made her way down the line towards where they were both stood.

"Isn't she a bit… young?" was all Killian could think to say.

His brother snorted out a laugh as he shook his head. It was a condescending action that Killian had seen many times before, whenever he'd said something Liam deemed stupid. And it was one that never failed to piss him off.

The two men fell silent as they watched Queen Emma interact with the rest of their colleagues before she finally stepped over to put herself in front of Liam.

"Squadron Leader Jones, Ma'am," Johnson introduced, as the Queen held out her hand for shaking.

"It's lovely to meet you, Squadron Leader Jones. Please allow me to thank you on behalf of your country for your service."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. And it's nice to meet you too," Liam replied confidently, before letting go of her hand and folding his own behind his back once more.

Killian had been expecting much the same thing from his interaction with the Queen, but when Johnson introduced him as, "Flight Lieutenant Jones," her eyes slid back to his brother for a brief moment before settling on his face again.

"Coincidence, or is that a family resemblance I can see in your features?" she asked.

Killian opened his mouth to respond to her question but Liam beat him to it, telling her, "He's my little brother."

"Younger," Killian threw back, before he could think it through. When his brain finally caught up he snapped his mouth shut in horror. He'd gotten so used to always correcting Liam in those situations that he'd reacted on instinct, and completely forgotten that the woman stood in front of him was his Queen.

But she didn't seem to mind too much, if the chuckles she released were anything to judge by. "I can see that's something that comes up often between you two," she remarked.

"I'm so sorry, Your Majesty," he apologised. "I wasn't thinking."

"Don't be. It's not often that I'm involved in sibling banter these days, so thank you for giving me that experience once again. And thank you for your service, Lieutenant Jones. I'm glad you at least have someone here you can celebrate the upcoming holiday season with."

The Queen held out her hand for him to take and he gave it a firm shake before she moved on to the person standing beside him.

Killian held his breath until she was fully out of his line of sight, just to be sure that he wouldn't blurt out something else completely inappropriate. The moment he released it, his brother leaned in to elbow him none-too-gently in the ribs.

"Can't say I've ever given it a great deal of thought," Liam parroted back at him, in what was quite frankly an awful imitation of his brother's voice.

"Oh, fuck off."

As a quick note, "Ma'am" should be pronounced with a short 'a' sound like you'd pronounce jam, and as we're British, "Lieutenant" is pronounced as "lef-tenant" (think Tom Mison's Ichabod Crane in the Sleepy Hollow TV series)

Thanks for being so patient with me while I battle these health issues. Hopefully once this next surgery is out of the way, I'll be a little more reliable