A/N: A set of 5 unconnected AU's that saved Mary and Francis' relationship from the pain of Mary's affair and one encounter many of us wanted to see.

Warning for chapter 1: it begins as Mary is about to be raped.

1.

"Hold her down." Mary heard the voice of one of her attackers as though he was speaking down a hallway. Her vision began to blur. A million different, and useless, thoughts flooded Mary's mind of what she could say or do in this moment to keep this from happening to her. None of it was going to make a difference. She struggled against their strong arms and received a smack to the side of the head for it. She searched frantically for a weapon of some type that would be within her reach but to no avail.

This was going to happen.

And what would happen once this one man was done? The other two had seemed hesitant about this plan to begin with, but once one man had his fill would the other two take a turn? Her stomach turned with the idea as a man hovered over her into her line of vision. Would they kill her when they finished with her? She felt blazing and freezing at the same time and couldn't make her arms move more than a few inches as his hot breath fell on her face. He was removing her undergarments, but in his haste, he was struggling to move them out of his way.

Suddenly his face morphed to one of pure pain. Why would he be in pain? He was inflicting pain on her.

The weight holding her arms fell away and she was aware of the clanging of metal, shouts, screams of pain. Pushing herself into a seated position and half-crawling, half dragging herself backwards, she settled into the bedcurtains, trying to shield herself from the din. Looking around the room, tears pouring down her face, she managed to make out a halo in the midst of the clanging.

No. It wasn't a halo. It was golden hair, flashing in the candlelight.

Francis was here. Francis would save her. Francis would make everything all right.

Faith that she hadn't felt in her husband in weeks came flooding into her. Mary's vision started to clear as the panic seeped out of her. Bodies lay dead or dying on the floor, the only man still alive was fighting Bash, giving Francis the opening to draw a short blade across his throat. As the last man fell, both of her rescuers, panting and covered in blood, turned to face her.

Bash turned his attention to Francis. "You'll be all right here? I want to go check on Kenna."

Without removing his eyes from Mary, Francis replied, "Yes, go. See that she's unharmed."

Bash exited the room swiftly and, as his footfalls faded, the sudden silence was jarring. Francis knelt to set his blade on the floor. He was moving as though Mary was an animal he did not want to spook. "Mary. It's over. They're dead."

Mary looked at him but said nothing. She was still concentrating on piecing together what had just happened. From the time those men had entered her room until now couldn't have been more than five minutes, but time wasn't making sense. Each stroke of Francis' sword had seemed to move agonizingly slowly. His voice and Bash's had sounded garbled as most of what she could hear was her own heartbeat, pounding.

He stood back up slowly, showing both of his hands, palms out, to her. "Mary, I'm going to approach you. Is that acceptable?" His voice was growing clearer, but so was a harsh rasping sound. With a start, Mary realized it was her own breath and fought to calm it.

Francis had taken two steps toward her, still at a slow place, still with a very concerned look gracing his features. "Mary?" He stopped his advances. Mary wondered why. All of his behavior was strange. Usually, Francis would have come to her side swiftly and embraced her.

Mary became more aware of her body and realized that she was clutching at the bed curtain harshly enough to tear it, tears still fell and felt hot on her face, and that she was shivering. She must have still looked terrified.

Francis was waiting on her to say something, "Francis?" At least, that's what she tried to say. What left her mouth had been strangled out in her throat. It had hurt to try to speak. Reaching up to massage the outside of her throat, she felt the flesh was tender to the touch. Clearing her throat, despite the pain, she said more clearly this time, "Francis."

He crossed the rest of the space between them and fell to his knees beside her to gather her into his arms. The tears that had been slowing started again as her weight fell against her husband. Sobs wracked through her body. Their heads both snapped around as they heard rustling near the door.

Catherine was standing there, framed by the light of the hall and flanked by guards. Relief shot through her face as she saw the two of them on the ground clearly alive. "Francis, Mary, what happened?" She took in the state of the room, bundled up her skirts, and crossed to stand in front of them.

Turning to her guards, she said, "You two, remove the bodies from this room, but don't dispose of them. We will need to investigate and check their bodies for affiliations. You two, find servants to prepare the queen's old chambers for the king and queen tonight."

Twisting back to Mary and her son, her voice grew more tender. "Child, if what I think transpired in this room did indeed happen, you will need to lock that away for the moment. Both of you need to come with me, need to clean up, and will need to address your people as soon as possible. It will be hard, but you are a strong woman and you can do this. You cannot show weakness right now." Catherine held out her hand.

Francis started to protest, "Mother, you've no idea what I saw when I entered this room tonight."

The look Catherine gave him could have turned a running river to solid ice. "Francis, I believe I have a very good idea."

Francis tried again, "Mother-" but this time was interrupted by Mary.

"No, she's right." Mary sniffled and consciously slowed her breath for a few moments before taking Catherine's proffered hand. Francis stood with her, not fully removing his arms from around her, the three of them walked down the corridors until they reached Catherine's rooms.

Leaving the guards outside and securing her door, Catherine let Mary and Francis have a moment together before she interrupted.

"Mary, Mary, I'm here. I've got you. You're safe now." Careful of the bruises he could see forming around his wife's neck, Francis gingerly cupped her face in his hands, gazing into her eyes. "I love you. I will always protect you."

Meeting his eyes, Mary laced her fingers with his and drew his arms around her again and then raised hers to cling onto him. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't made it to me in time. I don't know what they would have done to me, what line they wouldn't have crossed. I can't thank you enough, Francis."

Catherine cleared her throat, drawing their attention, "So that we're all clear on exactly what we're dealing with and how to proceed, I will only ask you this once, Mary. Were you raped?"

Looking at Catherine, Mary responded in a voice that she hoped wouldn't catch, "No, Francis made it to my side in time. He stopped them."

Looking into the loving eyes of her husband, she continued, "Francis saved me."