On this winter's night with you

[Killian Macmillan]

It was only midafternoon and already the light outside was dimming.  Killian knew it was the shorter winter days and the building snowstorm but he still watched it grow darker through the window in what might be akin to wonder.  The snow was building fast on the ceil and had begun to frame the corners of each little pane.  What might soon be a roar outside was for now just a steady rushing whisper that filled the room.

His glass was nearly empty but the fire was still lively and warm and drew his attention to his children playing on the rug in front of him.  He watched as they exchanged words and signs in equal cadance, playing a game he lacked a certain level of childish frivolity to fully appreciate.  

Between the snow framed windows, the fire, and his family gathered gayly around the fire he thought they must look like a painting;  A portrait of an ideal winter evening.  He’d never admit it but he couldn’t blame his cider completely for the warmth he was feeling in that moment.  

He turned to his wife, the finishing touch of their idyllic scene, the one without whom he might not have all this… To find her signing an insult at him behind the children’s back and could not help the laugh that spilled from his mouth.

@'Emma Macmillan'

  

[Emma Macmillan]

Emma flushed a faint pink as she was caught; she had been practicing her swear words behind Killian's back, where Megara and Perseus could not see. But Killian had seen, and she was prepared to be defensive but then he laughed instead, and her eyes crinkled up at the corners. 

"Well it's not like I can practice on the children," Emma said, bemused, and rather pleased with herself. She was warm and comfortable, her two oldest children were playing happily (- and the baby was far away, where she did not have to think of it.)

Of course she was going to poke fun at her husband.