*I know I need to work on my other Reign fanfic, but I really wanted to write this oneshot so here it goes. For those of you who watch Grey's Anatomy, this was kinda inspired by a clip between Meredith and Addison."
Queen Catherine can hold her own, and then plenty more. She shows weakness to none, and acts as if she doesn't care. She puts up with her absent husband and his mistress and the occasional side whores like Kenna. He's been rather fond of her recently, but it hasn't lasted long. Attending to her usual duties, Catherine tries hard to forget what is going on in her husband's chambers. As he walks out of his room with nothing more than a robe to cover his bare chest, Cathrine cannot help but look towards him. She sees the carefree smile on his face and she tries to hold her composure; however, it falters ever so slightly. She wants him. He is her husband and she lost him all on her own.
The servants look at her with pity in their eyes. "Finish your tasks and then you are dismissed," Catherine tells them in a harsh cold voice. She rushed off to find cover, tears threaten to fall and Catherine de' Medici does not let others see her cry. She is not to be seen as weak. The nearest escape from the public eye is an old music room. It hasn't been used in years. An old table and chairs covered with cloth and dust are the only objects in the room besides a broken harp in the corner near the window.
Catherine grabs the first thing she can get her hands on, which happens to be an already broken chair, and throws it at the wall as hard as she can. It shatters to pieces and wood fragments cover the stone floor. Tempted to scream to the top of her lungs, she settles for banging her fists on the stone wall. Her anger slowly succumbs to hysterical sobs as she slides down the cold wall onto the dusty floor. With her head in her hands, crying to herself, she wonders how much more pathetic she can get.
"Catherine, what in Gods name are you doing?" The King questions, his voice harsh with no sound of concern. Catherine looks up to him from where she sits on the floor, "I'm crying you fool, what does it look like to you?" She yells back at him. Surprised by her outburst, he takes a moment to think his next words carefully. Something's not right. She's visibly shaking now. It pains him to see her like this. Weak, vulnerable.
"Catherine do I need to get N-"
"No! No more! I'm finished with all your words and accusations, Henry! Stop pretending like you care because both of us known that you don't!" Anger is beginning to find its way back into Catherine. It's her defence, her shield. The only thing she can ever be sure of that will protect her. "Pick a room and stay in it with your precious whore and I'll pick a room and stay in that! I just need a minute or two without you!"
Henry says nothing, silence takes over and they sit there for a long while. Catherine stares off into space like her mind is somewhere else, and it is. Henry is first to break the silence, she seems calm now. Less explosive at least. He moves from the doorway to take a seat beside her against the wall.
"Please just leave me alone," she whispers quietly. "I believe that I have been leaving you alone far too often," he sounds concerned. She snorts at the sound of his words. Now of all times.
"Why now, Henry? Because I'm at my breaking point is that it? Waiting to kick me while I'm down?" She's looking him in the eyes now, "Well, what are you waiting for? Take your best shot."
"Why must you think so little of me and my affection towards you?" He demands, "I care for you Catherine, whether you like it or not. Yes, I am an unfaithful husband but not because of my lack of trying with you! You pushed me away. You wouldn't let me and you never have. I'm asking you again, let me in and let me help you. I-" he stops short. She looks away from him.
"I care for you." More silence.
"It pains me to see you with her. Is that what you want to here? It breaks my heart because I don't know how to love you. I so desperately want what she can give you so that I could give you everything. Then maybe you wouldn't have look for another's arms to lay in," Her voice cracks. Catherine de' Medici, the most powerful woman Henry has ever known, is falling to pieces right in front of him. Oddly, it pains him more than he thought it should.
"You have never let me love you."
"Love is for fools."
Henry can bear no more, he stand up to leave.
"Oh, stop. Just stop. You act as if you are better than the world and that you must be nothing less than a Goddess. Get ahold of yourself, Catherine! I love you!" His words come out wrong. Or did they?
"I loved you."
Catherine stands up, not done with this argument yet.
"You can't love me and no one ever can! I -"
"Oh, and why is that? Because a Medici bitch can't be loved by a simple human like myself?" His words make her blood run cold. The last time she heard that name was many moons ago.
"Don't you ever call me that again. You have no right! You have no idea what I've been through! I-" He stops her with the wave of his hand.
"Then tell me! God willing we both know that is the last thing you would ever do!" She glares at him, and she only speaks out of anger.
"When I was eight years old, rebels stormed the Florentine Palace. Both my parents were already dead, but my name and my family's fortune made me a target. I was held hostage for years. Until finally, they had to decide what to do with this Medici girl. Many of the soldier's men, they demanded that I be turned over to them so that they would- so that I would be shared." She pauses to regain her already fragile composure.
"Catherine I-"
"And I can still hear their laughter outside the common. That sicking laughter." He looks at her. Unable to understand completely.
"Why didn't you tell me when we were first wed?" She huffs slightly.
"Why? So you could behead me for not giving you my virtue?" She turns around and walks towards the window.
"I would never-" She cuts him off.
"Then why are you now?"
He has no answer.
"I loved you."
She turns back to face him.
"I love you," he corrects himself. Then without another word, he turns and walks out the door.
"I love you, too Henry," She says only to herself and the broken harp in front of her. She turns back to the window that is overlooking her favorite child and Mary. They look peaceful, walking next to one another holding hands. If only she could be as happy as them. Unknown to her, her worlds had reached Henry's ears. He glances back to see if she's realized. With her back turned to him, he decides to leave her be and instead decides to make his way back to his chambers still dumbfounded with this new information, but determined to make things right with his wife. His Queen.