Chapter Text
Sun streamed into the decorated living room, managing to directly catch Jane Seymour in the eyes due to the position of her chair. It had taken the woman hours to fall asleep. Anne had arrived back home safe close to twelve in the morning, then it was at least one thirty before she and Catherine of Aragon had gotten Anne calm enough to lay to rest. In addition to that, Jane had been sitting in the same spot for at least three, maybe four hours before she had drifted off into a restless sleep, filled only with dreams of Henry and seemingly nothing else.
Jane had awoken with quite a start, whenever the sun streamed into her eyes, but also due to the fact she could sense some shuffling or movement coming from Anne Boleyn. Eyes still closed and yawing, Jane’s mind began to replay the sequence of events from the previous night and she shivered. Jane had never been particularly close to Anne, not often being the one that she’d go to immediately, but the night had almost been an out of body experience for both of them. It didn’t matter that Anne and Jane weren’t by any means close. Along with the sequence of events which happened to Anne playing in her mind, the same happened for the events which had happened for Catherine too. Jane’s heart glowed a little, extremely grateful for the other queen’s help that night. Then it sank again. Jane remembered the way that Catherine had abruptly left after discussing Katherine and Henry. Making a mental note to talk to the woman about that and ignoring the heavy sinking feeling, Jane cracked her eyes open.
Anne was not on the sofa and the clock was only shining six thirty in the morning. Taking a deep breath, Jane ran a hand through her hair and yawned again before her eyes wandered to the kitchen. At the table in the middle of the neat white kitchen, sat Anne, head resting near the edge of the light blue table. Her knuckles still bruised and a little bloody, make-up still a mess and not having changed her clothing yet. Jane sighed. Fear coursed through her for a moment before she pushed the thin blanket that she’s wrapped around herself and stood up.
Walking through the small archway that lead to the kitchen, Jane took a seat on the stool beside Anne and placed a gentle hand on the small of her back. The poor love was shivering.
“Anne?” Jane inquired, only resulting in a groan from the woman, indicative that only she was conscious. “How about I get you a cup of coffee or some tea, okay sweetie?” Jane asked, rubbing her back in slow circles. She rarely called anyone but Katherine “sweetie”.
Anne sat up a little, looking at Jane before shaking her head. “No thanks,” she croaked.
Jane, without pushing, nodding back to her. She could try again with that later. For now, getting her somewhere comfortable, maybe in her pyjamas and hopefully in bed. Coaxing Anne to sit up fully, Jane supported her as she leaned in, head on Jane’s chest. Anne groaned again, her head was pounding, and her hands hurt. The last night seemed only like a blur apart from one thing that stuck out strongly. Henry Tudor. Images of that man played and played and played over and over in her head, not matter how much she wanted it to stop. And the memories of her child too – all she wanted was Elizabeth.
Why hadn’t Elizabeth come back too? It wasn’t fair, she got her Maggie back, but she couldn’t get her daughter back? It plagued her relentlessly. But she tried to not allow it to bother her; not having Edward probably hurt Jane more anyway, her problems were more important than Anne’s were.
Without realising, Anne had started to cry into Jane, tears filling up her eyes and dampening Jane’s fluffy white dressing gown. Jane, noticing, pulled her closer (well, as close as they could be sitting on two separate stools) and began to whisper comforting statements. Anne felt empty. If Henry was back and not with her Elizabeth, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Shaking her head in saddened anger, Anne pushed away.
“What is it, love?” Jane asked, her tone curious and light.
“What if…” Anne paused, harshly wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “What if Henry is back but n-not my Eliz- “Anne stopped, sobbing almost uncontrollably. It didn’t often hit her this hard, it never had before. Anne had only really noticed it hitting Jane this hard, usually around Edward’s birthday.
Jane nodded. Anne understood that she didn’t need to speak about it again. Jane understood. It was hard, however, to get the imagery of her beautiful daughter out of her head as she moved in closer to Jane to calm down. Jane raised a hand and began to carefully play with Anne’s hair, gently touching and twisting it in an attempt to calm her down.
It was a Sunday – Catherine would be waking up and making her way to church soon, Anna would probably be asleep until the late morning, Cathy would probably spend today writing, Katherine then helping Jane around the house, with Anne milling about and filling in wherever needed. Ideally, that’s what would happen every Sunday. After the morning, usually Joan and Maggie would come to their home for a roast lunch and then they all would play cards, watch a movie, or go out somewhere.
Last week, Jane had decided to take a trip to Kensington, to the ice rink outside of the Natural History museum. Jane had managed to drag all the queens and all the ladies with them, for a nice “family bonding”. It had ended up a slight disaster, with Katherine and Cathy falling once too many times until Katherine had bruised her leg from knocking directly into Anne and then the floor. Afterwards, Jane had bought (almost) everyone hot nuts coated in sugar. (The ladies in waiting had insisted on paying for their own and so had Catherine of Aragon).
Reminiscing on the week that had just passed, Jane smiled, laughing breathily. This Sunday would not be like that and she was trying to brace herself for exactly what was going to happen. Ending her small moment of reminiscence, she focused all her attention back to Anne. They could have fun again whenever everything was right – she had a list of trips and places she wanted to go.
“Jane?” Anne asked, pushing up from Jane again, her face ghost white and eyes red with tears.
“Hmm?” she mused.
“What was Elizabeth like?”
The question caught Jane a little off guard, pulling her fully from her happy memories as her face paled a little itself. “Elizabeth was…” Jane started, stumbling over her words. Thinking of the children past a simple conversation caused her mind to wander over to Edward and it was hard to come back from that.
However, almost on cue, Jane heard the pitter-patter of light feet wander down the stairs. It was immediately recognisable as Katherine Howard’s footsteps. “Mum?” Katherine yawned, walking into the living room first of all, a little confused whenever she did not see Jane Seymour nor Anne Boleyn.
Gently, Jane spoke: “We’re in here love.”
At that, Katherine walked in, her face neutral. She took a seat beside Anne, taking her hand gently and holding it tightly in hers. Katherine could see the sort of state which Anne was in immediately, so she did the thing that Anne did to her whenever she was having a panic attack.
“Thanks Kitty,” Anne stated bluntly, too harsh for what she meant. But Katherine didn’t recoil even if it was harsher than what Anne sounded like. Instead, she looked toward Jane for instructions. Mums always knew what to do.
“I’m going to get Anne to bed, okay? Kat, could you please make two cups of tea and bring them across the hall in a few minutes?” Jane asked, her head tilted to the side a little so that she could see Katherine clearly. Katherine nodded and stood up.
Anne began to push herself up off the stool by herself first. Jane took position beside Anne, snaking an arm around her waist as Anne leaned her head onto Jane’s, face furrowed in pain. They began to walk together, Anne finally reaching her room after a few moments. She took a deep breath as she sat on the edge of her comfortable bed, just wanting to melt into the bed as Jane carefully helped Anne into pyjamas and then into bed.
Promptly, Katherine brought in two steaming cups of milk tea, handing one to Jane and one to Anne.
“Thank you love. I think Catherine will probably waking up soon; tell her I need to speak with her if you see her, please dear?” Jane felt slightly guilty for the fact she had already asked two things of Katherine. It made Jane’s chest constrict slightly, she was worried that Katherine would get angry or upset with her, even if it was fully out of her nature too and the queens often asked a little of each other. “And,” Jane paused, about to ask the girl another favour. Swallowing, she apologised first of all, earning a confused look from Katherine.
“Why are you apologising?” Katherine asked, genuinely confused.
“Because I’m asking a lot of you this morning…” Jane admitted, earning a confused look from Katherine once more and a confused look from Anne also. Anne had just worried every queen in the household and had practically gotten three of them to look after her. How was Jane asking a lot of Katherine? Sitting up slightly, Anne placed a hand on Jane’s shoulder in the same comforting fashion that Jane had been doing.
“What was the other thing you want me to do, mum?” Katherine asked, completely fine with the two requests asked of her.
“Uh, I just need you to text Joan – but you don’t have to – and tell her to send Maggie over later today…” Jane took a breath, forcing down the guilt and anxiety that was pressing on her chest. Jane wasn’t even fully sure why.
“Of course! That’s not hard!” Katherine beamed, making Jane’s chest constrict a little less.
“Thank you lovely,” Jane smiled as Katherine left the room, heading up stairs as she heard the first noises of Catherine waking up. “Anne,” Jane stated, turning back to the girl who was melted into her bed, her hands barely holding the tea. It was lovely to see Anne calmer now, and some more rest would do her the absolute world of good. “Try to get some rest, I’ll be back soon. I need to go have a talk with Catherine, do some tidying and then I think I’ll nip down to Tesco to get a nice lunch,” Jane smiled, a bit of a forced smile, but she did love going shopping for the girls.
Sleepily, Anne perked up at the mention of Tesco. “Chocolate?” she asked, hopeful.
Jane let out a laugh, the girl could be in the absolute worst of states but would still happily suggest chocolate for lunch. Jane truly admired her. The fact Anne could still stay playful and sarcastic while in a terrible state really brought her some peace and happiness – slight awe and wistfulness lingered too; Jane wished she could have the demeanour of Anne whenever she was at her worst.
“We’ll see,” Jane smirked playfully, kissing the top of her head as she headed out of the room.
Katherine Howard and Catherine of Aragon were situated at the top of the stairs, seemingly in wait for Jane to arrive. Catherine was dressed but didn’t look like she had to leave anytime soon. Jane thought back to last week, whenever Catherine had told Jane that their service was going to be pushed back an hour or so the next week. Jane couldn’t remember the exact reason why, not completely sure if Catherine had told her. Jane began to walk up the stairs to meet the two girls idly staring down at her.
“Jane I- “Catherine began to speak as Jane did too. Letting out a small huff of laughter, Jane motioned to Catherine’s bedroom, but Catherine shook her head.
“Cathy’s still asleep, the dear was up until the early hours of the morning. Let’s talk downstairs,” Catherine suggested to Jane’s agreement as the two began the descent down the stairs, leaving Katherine staring at them wondering for her next instruction.
“Do you want some coffee?” Jane suggested as they both took a seat at the kitchen table, a little nervous to hear what the other had to say.
“No thank you…” Catherine took a breath, not sure of where to start with what she was going to say. “Jane, I need to tell you something,” she stated, elongating the process of telling Jane more than it needed to be.
Jane nodded, chest constricting for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Catherine was so rarely apprehensive about her speaking and words, often jumping straight into talking. “What is it?” Jane spoke, keeping her voice rising from nervousness.
Catherine was feeling the same way. Her hands shook a little as she gently set them on her lap. “Henry,” she spat out suddenly, much to Jane’s confusion. A careful nodding prompt urged her to go on. “Remember what Anne said about him? How she saw him – or at least someone who looked similar to him?” Catherine spoke as the realisation of what she was about to say hit Jane, even if she was bracing herself for impact. “I think I saw him too…” Catherine’s words went a mile a minute, barely able enough time to get a breath out as she uncharacteristically rambled on. “It was after the show on Wednesday, I decided on a scenic park route home because I had a headache. You remember, right? Anyway, I saw him. I was walking through the trail when I saw someone with that strawberry coloured hair and same build and face that made me double take. I don’t think he saw me, but I picked up my pace,” Catherine finished. She was prepared to take that story to the grave unless any more information came to light.
Jane went pale. Completely pale; ghost white. Barely able to speak, it felt like she was swimming, Catherine’s voice seemed so distance. Jane felt her face flush, dizziness crashed over her in waves, terrified that she was going to faint, Jane began to try to steady her breathing. She hadn’t felt like this in sometime and she had never gotten so afraid over the thought of Henry. Jane, despite how much the queens tried to convince her, couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she had also been horribly manipulated. Jane still hated Henry for what he did to her Katherine and the other Queens, but she still struggled to see what he did to hurt her.
“Listen to me Jane,” Catherine spoke, her voice swimming in Jane’s ears. “He won’t hurt any of us, okay? I promise.”
“Henry never hurt… me… worried about,” Jane took a choked breath, “worried about Katherine.”
Catherine nodded, knowing that Jane was not in the right state to hear Catherine’s talk on how she was treated wrongly and unfairly. Jane could not let Katherine know; it would literally destroy the girl; she didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t fully confirmed however, and Jane was yet to hear Anne’s side to the story. It provided comfort somewhat, knowing that this could easily be a simple misunderstanding rather than the genuine fact of Henry being back.
Slipping from the trance she had been in, staring at the wall beside Catherine, Jane and Catherine both heard familiar footsteps. It was not the time to see another queen, even if the queen who entered the room was a sleepy looking Cathy Parr.
“Kat said that Maggie would be here around eleven or twelveish,” Cathy stated, not looking up from the counter where she had begun to make herself a mug of coffee. It was only until she didn’t get a reply did she look at the two queens sat at the table. One was looking sheepish, eyes wide and worried, the other looked even worse. Ghostly pale and visibly shaking.
“Jane? Cath?” Cathy spoke, taking a step forward, eyes worried and sleepy.
“It’s a long story, love,” Catherine started. “Promise you won’t mention this to Katherine yet, yeah?”
“I promise,” Cathy nodded, taking a seat beside Jane, and taking Jane’s hand and rubbing slow circles on it. “Tell me as much you want to.”