A/N: So I'm really into Reign at the moment, and I was hoping there would be some Christmas fanfiction posted this week. Unfortunately, there wasn't so that meant I had to go write something…and it takes me forever to write so this is sadly posted a bit late! But hey, we're in the 12 days of Christmas now…so I'm still good, right? ;)

Anyways, this fic is sorta Christmas-y but really, it's more like a one-shot taking place after the events of episode 1x08 set at Christmas time. I don't think you necessarily need to be in the Christmas-y mood to read it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Reign!

Tossing and turning the whole night, Francis was prevented from having a restful sleep. His thoughts were completely occupied with Mary and how she ran away, and they interfered with his dreams, turning them into nightmares.

His nightmares usually involved something happening to Mary. She'd either be captured and taken prisoner by a ruthless bandit, tortured and killed, or he would see her share intimate moments with his brother, Bash.

It had been six weeks since she ran away. Six weeks since he had last saw her and heard of her. Yet, she still continued to haunt his dreams.

A knock on the door to his chambers finally woke Francis from his restless slumber. When he opened the door, one of his servants walked in and bowed before him.

"Sir, they have been spotted."

Francis's eyes widened. "Thank you," he quickly replied. "Please inform the stable boy to prepare my horse for a long journey. I intend to leave by mid-day."

A few days later…

In a small bed at a convent far away from French court, Mary could not sleep. She was constantly turning back and forth, plagued by nightmares of leaving Francis. At one point, tears welled up in her eyes and her body began shaking.

When she rolled over to one side of her bed, she crashed into something hard. Then she felt a hand run through her hair and heard a voice whispering her name.

Mary slowly opened up her eyes and looked to find Bash beside her and staring at her.

"Mary, are you okay?" Bash asked her gently.

Mary used the back of her hand to wipe away her tears. "It's Francis," was all she said and Bash nodded. She had been having nightmares quite frequently throughout the past six weeks they've been on the run together. Bash understood Mary's troubles as she had gradually revealed to him her reasons for running away.

A few moments of silence passed before Bash spoke.

"Merry Christmas, Mary," he said softly.

Mary's eyes widened in surprise, not realizing it was that special day.

Bash worriedly smiled at her as he got up out of the bed. "We'll probably be heading off to Mass with the nuns here soon. I'll leave you to get ready," Bash stated while opening the door.

"Wait, Bash," Mary said, causing him to stop in his tracks. She ran up to him and put her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest. "Thank you Bash…for just being here with me…and for always putting an end to my nightmares. Thank you for going along with the story that you were my husband so you could stay with me…I don't know what I'd do without you."

Bash smiled and hugged her tighter. "There's no need to thank me, Mary. I am grateful for your company too."

Mary pulled away from him and happily smiled at him. "Merry Christmas, Bash."

Later that day, Mary decided to take a walk. Trudging through the snow, she walked amidst the forest that surrounded the convent. All she could think about was Francis and how she wished she could be spending this beautiful day with him.

She wondered if he would be thinking of her today…if she had stayed, they would already be married and would be spending their first Christmas together as husband and wife. Part of her hoped he had forgotten about her so he could move on and find someone else who wouldn't lead to his death. The other part of her hoped he would never forget her.

Finding a large rock, Mary wiped off the snow with her hand so she could sit down. She then let a few tears escape from her eyes. She didn't know what to feel. The pain of leaving Francis was almost too much for her to bear.

After a few minutes, Mary took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. There was no use in crying anymore. She ran away from Francis to save him, to protect him. She did what she had to, and now she had to move on.

She stood up and walked back up to the convent. Along the way, she ran into Sister Claire, one of the older nuns who permitted Mary and Bash to stay in one of the rooms at the convent for the past few days.

"Merry Christmas, Marguerite," Sister Claire told her, using the fake name Mary gave her the day her and Bash arrived.

Mary smiled warmly back at her. "Merry Christmas, Sister Claire."

"Your husband is looking for you…I think he's tending to the horses."

"Thank you Sister," Mary said before heading off toward the stables.

When she approached, she saw him grooming their horses. He looked up and instantly smiled at her.

"Mary…I have a gift for you," Bash told her excitedly.

"What?" Mary giggled. "You didn't have to get me anything!"

"You looked like you needed some Christmas cheer," Bash said as he pulled out an object wrapped in a cloth pouch and handed it to her.

Mary took the gift from his hands. "I don't even have anything for you!" She stated, feeling embarrassed for failing to remember Christmas was approaching. Her thoughts were simply too occupied with other worries and another man.

"Don't worry about it," Bash told her. "Just open it!"

Mary reached in the pouch and pulled out a gold necklace adorned with rubies. "Oh Bash, it's beautiful! Thank you."

"Here, let me put it on for you," he said, taking the jewelry and wrapping it around her neck.

"Thank you," Mary repeated and put her arms around him to hug him. Bash returned the hug and kissed the top of her head.

"Would you like to go for a ride?" Bash asked, gesturing towards the horses.

Mary nodded. "That would be fun."

"I will go inform Sister Claire," Bash stated as he pulled away from Mary and walked out of the stable.

Mary stood next to the horses, running her fingers over her necklace and admiring it. She was so thankful she did not have to run off alone…she was able to be with someone she knew…and she had someone to spend Christmas with.

After a few moments, she heard some footsteps enter through the stable door behind her. "Back so soon?" Mary asked in a joking tone without turning around.

"Merry Christmas…Marguerite."

Mary froze. The voice she heard was not Bash's, but was a very familiar one.

Quickly, she turned around. "Francis?! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Francis responded seriously, while feeling tremendously relieved to find her alive and well.

Feeling too shocked, Mary could not find the words to speak.

"I know why you left," Francis began. "I talked with your ladies in waiting and convinced them to tell me. Mary, this is-"

"No, Francis. Please, let's…let's not talk about this right now," Mary interrupted.

"But Mary, you've been gone for six weeks! You left me with no explanation…You left me constantly worrying for your safety…We could've been married! Instead…you left me to spend a Christmas without you!" Francis angrily told her.

Mary's eyes immediately began to well up with tears, and she turned away from him. Seeing her face, Francis's anger started to fade away.

"Please…spend Christmas with me," Francis pleaded with her as he wrapped his arm around her body to pull her back up against his chest.

"Francis…" Mary said, as she continued to face away from him. "How did you find us?"

"Well, you didn't think I'd let you run away, did you?" Francis asked incredulously. "My father has had men searching the country for you two. I instructed them not to capture you if they found you. Instead, I asked them to send for me…I couldn't have them arrest you and risk my father punishing you…I wanted to protect you."

Mary, not able to stand being so close to him again, stepped away from him. She could not allow herself to get caught up in him…she had to keep her distance and convince him it was for the best that they be apart.

Francis sighed. "What have you been doing, Marguerite? Gallivanting around the country with your husband?" He asked with a pained expression upon his face.

Mary shook her head and finally turned around to face him. "Have you been spying on me?"

"You didn't answer my question," Francis sternly replied.

Mary looked away again. "You know I would have to use a new name to at least try to protect myself and prevent myself from being found…as for Bash, he is not my husband. We just had to pretend to be husband and wife so the nuns would let us stay at the convent together."

"Together?" Francis asked, feeling suspicious of what exactly has transpired between Mary and his brother.

"Nothing happened." Mary looked down at the ground. "He just…helps me when I have nightmares about my running away."

"So you have them too," Francis smirked to himself.

Mary quickly looked up at him again. For a brief moment, she was thrilled to hear that he was so concerned for her well-being. However, that fear quickly transformed into anger.

"You were supposed to forget about me!" Mary shouted at him as she approached him. "Forget about me and move on with your life!" Mary pushed him with her two arms in frustration.

However, her shove proved to be ineffective as Francis grabbed each of her arms to pull her close.

"But, Mary, I love you!" Francis exclaimed. "Despite all that you've done I still love you!"

He then leaned down and kissed her.

At first, Mary tried to pull away, but she ended up returning his kiss.

After a moment, Mary finally found the will to pull away. "Francis, we can't…the prophecy!"

Francis sighed in frustration. "Mary, enough about the prophecy! You're risking everything for superstition!"

"Francis, I would not be able to live with myself if something happened to you because of me."

"And I will not be able to properly live at all if you aren't there beside me!"

"Brother?" Bash stated in a confused tone as he entered the stable.

"Hello Bash. Merry Christmas," Francis sternly replied.

"What are you doing here?" Bash asked.

"I've come to bring Mary back to French court…to bring her home," Francis replied, his voice full of hope.

Mary shook her head. "I can't Francis…I can't, I can't risk it!"

"Mary," he said as he grabbed both of her hands. "If you honestly believe in that silly prophecy, I'd rather die after a day of being married to you than to never be with you again!" Francis explained as he looked into her eyes.

Mary smiled sadly back at him. "I love you, Francis…but I…"

"Mary," Francis desperately said. "What can I do to convince you that everything will be okay?"

Mary shook her head. "I don't know."

Francis touched the necklace around Mary's neck. "Is my brother the true reason you refuse to come back with me?" He asked, his eyes darting between Mary and Bash.

"Brother—" Bash began just as Mary exclaimed "No!"

"Francis, I love you…let's just…let's just stop and go for a walk or—" Mary began to say, but was cut short by Francis.

"No, Mary! Are you coming back with me to French court or not?" He sharply questioned her, before pulling her face to his for a brief kiss. "Will you marry me or not?" He softly whispered across her lips.

After a few moments, Mary took a deep breath. "I can not," she tearfully said and turned away from him.

Francis stepped back from her. "Then you leave me no choice but to let you risk being captured. When I return home without you, my father will instruct his men to find you and take you both as prisoners for treason against him. Your running away broke off our arranged betrothal, and you ran off with Bash," Francis explained. "So if you're not coming with me Mary, I think it's time for me to go."

"Francis, I—" Mary attempted to say something.

"Goodbye Mary…goodbye Bash," Francis said, looking at both of them before walking away. "Oh, and Merry Christmas Mary," he added as he threw a small cloth pouch at her feet. He immediately walked out of the stable to his horse that was tied up to a tree outside.

Mary, with tears streaming down her face, bent down to pick up the pouch and opened it. Inside, she found a small, bejeweled dagger with her name engraved on it…she assumed Francis must have fashioned it himself.

While grasping the dagger and holding it close to her heart, she looked at the dark-haired man beside her. "Bash…"

"We'll leave tomorrow at dawn," Bash told her as he placed his arm around her.

A/N: So I'm actually Team Frary, but I don't if this fic really portrays that, haha. But I do love love-triangles! And don't get me wrong, I do love Bash! I just lean more to Team Frary. This oneshot wasn't supposed to be so long, but I decided to add a bit more Bash-ness and then things got complicated and these characters just didn't want their story to end.

I also actually had no idea how I was going to end this oneshot as I was writing it, haha. At one point, I was going to have Mary return with Francis, but somehow, that just felt…too easy. Like I couldn't see Mary giving in so easily. I guess I was more in the mood for a bittersweet-ish ending.

Anyways, I wrote this pretty quickly in an attempt to get this posted since Christmas has already passed! So it's probably horrible and contains errors…But I hope you enjoyed it and please review! It would make a nice belated Christmas present :)

I also may have an idea for another Reign one-shot that would sort of a sequel to this…let me know if you'd be interested it that!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! And happy New Year!