The click of their heels against the stone floors turns louder as they approach the chamber of their destination. They have been in the role of Queen and King of France and Scotland for the past eight years. (She, of course, had become a Queen at six-day-old of age but only assumed officially the post at the same time she assumed the one in France). Together they faced an outbreak of plague that decimated the French soil followed by a famine that attacked the survivors of the disease. They faced the continuous threats of the English army at the Scottish borders and rebellious Protestants lords that tried to take off their Queen of her throne. They worked together to win the respect of both France and Scotland as leaders, as their Queen and King, and now, as they find themselves in a stable rule they also find themselves walking to probably the most important meeting of their rule. Of their lives.
"Are you alright?" Francis asks his wife as they walk through the castle's hallways, the path to the intended chamber quite known by them in the last few years.
"Just a little nervous." Mary admits, locking her arm into his, and he cannot help but lean in and kiss her forehead. "How do you think they will react when we tell them?"
"They will be surprised." Francis answers, his mind hovering around millions of scenarios. "A little suspicious, you know? As we never talked about this with them before. They won't understand everything at first. But they will come around."
"And then they will be happy." She completes him and then looks up at his blue eyes, which meet her hazel ones full of love and understanding.
"And then they will be happy." He repeats her as they turn a corner of the East wing of the castle, the stone construction suddenly appearing three times bigger.
"How do you think we should break the news to them?" She asks again, the silence between them too heavy for her to handle.
"I'm not sure." He answers her honestly, looking down at her. "How did we tell Anne about James?"
"We didn't." She sighs. "I mean, she was two, she wasn't able to understand much at that time. She simply adjusted herself with the fact, I actually don't know if Anne remembers of a time without James. They will ask dozen of questions now." She says, frowning, and he kisses her forehead, taking it off from her beautiful face.
"Dozen of questions we will patiently answer." He answers her and she cannot help but raise her eyebrows at him. "At least the ones we are able to." He completes, knowing well enough the level of curiosity of their children. His mother says it is completely normal for their age. He thinks it has more to do with how much they look like Mary.
The guard that stands outside the playroom of the Princess and the Dauphin bow as he opens the heavy wooden door for the Queen and the King. The children's nurses are quickly to stand up in their feet; their movements making the kids turn their attention from their puzzle to the people entering the room.
"Your majesties." The two nurses say in unison, bowing to the Queen and the King. But before they can answer, a so used weight is felt in their legs, small arms crushing their legs together and almost making them fall.
"Maman! Papa!" A four-year-old James exclaims from between his mother's skirts, a smile plastered in his face at the presence of his parents.
"We missed you at dinner." Six-year-old Anne frowns at her father, the tone of reprehension not hidden in the voice of the only woman other than the Queen allowed to reprehend the King. "Grand-mére said you were busy." She finishes her sentence now looking at her mother from her father's legs and Mary fondly smiles at her daughter, their absence on dinner not really planned as she had to visit the physician instead of the dining room.
"You busy? I can help!" James jumps up and down in front of his mother, the excitement of being helpful to his parents in their role as King and Queen too much to be held in his small body.
"Especially if you are planning on kicking Lord Durant from Court. I can do it for you." Anne puts her hands on each side of her waist, her disapproval of the man clear in her small face, and Francis cannot help but laugh.
"Anne." Mary shots a warning look, her daughter too much like her in the aspect of holding her tongue. Anne just smiles at her mother and rolls her eyes, knowing even at a young age that the reprehension is merely a formality as she also shares a deeply dislike for the man.
"Up! Up!" James continues to jump in front of his mother, now with his arms up, and she relinquishes at his request, earning a worried glance from Francis that she sends it off with a reassuring smile.
"Jeanne, Margot, you're dismissed for the night. I'll put James and Anne in bed myself." Mary tells the nurses as she kisses James blonde curls and he plays with her necklace. The women bow, smiling at the fondness that the Queen has always taken care of her children, and exit the room, wishing the small family a good night of sleep.
"Will you tell us a story before we go to sleep?" Anne asks Francis, dragging him at the direction of the chaise by the fire, and he laughs, felling himself at the age of six again when he would also be dragged all over the castle by a brown haired little girl which at that time was named Mary.
"Actually, you father and I were planning on discuss something very important with you and James tonight." Mary answers her daughter, joining her and Francis on the chaise as he now sits with Anne on his lap.
"What is important?" James looks up at his mother, his blue eyes expectant. Mary then looks at Francis, who looks down at Anne, smiling, and kisses her head, not brave enough to start the topic. Both of the adults find themselves not knowing how to start a conversation with their own children. One of six. One of four.
"Tell us." Anne pleads, her legs swinging by as she can't reach the floor from her father's lap. Mary and Francis look at each other and laugh, taking a deep breath.
"Well, your mother and I." Francis starts looking at Mary, who nods her head for him to continue. "Wanted to tell you two." He continues, his words meeting two pairs of very anxious blue eyes. "That by Christmas you will be both a big brother and a big sister." Francis tells them and both he and Mary look expectantly at James and Anne. The younger boy frowns, not really understanding what his father's words mean, while Anne's eyes flicks between her mother's and her father's.
"But I already am a big sister." Anne reasons with her father. "To James." She points her finger at her brother, who raises his eyebrows, more lost in the conversation than ever.
"Yes, you are." Mary smiles as she puts a strand of Anne's dark locks behind her ears, and the little girl turns to her mother. "But now you will be a big sister to another baby. And James will also be a big brother." She smiles now to the young boy in her arms.
"To which baby?" James asks, looking at his mother.
"To the baby that's inside of your Mother's belly." Francis' explains and James' eyes get big.
"A baby in your belly?" James asks, almost yelling, and both Mary and Francis laugh at his surprise, the King and the Queen realizing that their son is the youngest child at court and he has never seen a woman pregnant before.
"Yes, a baby in my belly." Mary smiles and puts James' small hand over her belly that at fourteen weeks of pregnancy has a small prominence. "All babies grow inside their mother's belly. They start little tiny then they grow strong till they are ready to be born."
"Anne and I were in your belly?" James asks and Mary nods as she feels her son's other hand go to the prominence of her belly. She can see for the side of her eyes Francis smiling at the fondness of their youngest as she can also see Anne watching carefully the interaction between them.
"Come here, my love." Mary smiles and Anne jumps from her father's lap to the small space between her parents, her small hands going carefully to her mother's belly.
"Will it grow?" James asks, his head turning from one side to another as he analyzes the place where his new brother or sister is.
"Yes." Francis answers as he gets close to them, smiling fondly at Mary. "The baby will grow so your mother's belly will too."
"How is the baby inside of you?" James raises his head to Mary and her eyes get big. Of course there were going to be questions like this. Innocent questions, coming from their children, but that have no way to be answered innocently. As he doesn't get an answer for a few moments, James gets to the only conclusion a four-year-old boy can think of.
"You ate the baby, Maman?" James asks again, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
"Of course not, darling." Mary brings his body closer to her chest, kissing his messy curls that remind her so much of his father's. Still, she does not answer his first question and when she turns her head to look at Francis, he's smiling mischievously at her, having too much fun with her not knowing how to answer their child.
"Don't be silly, James!" Anne decides to interfere in the conversation, bringing her brother's attention to her. He looks at her with the same admiration as always, as if his older sister holds every answer to every question in the world. But he knows that it's not like that. His mother and his father are the ones to hold the answer to every question in the world. "Of course Maman didn't eat the baby. It's in her belly because... because..." And Anne tries to answer her brother, but the truth is that she doesn't really know why how the baby got into her mother's belly; she just knows they are supposed to stay there. "I don't really know how the baby got into Maman's belly." Anne whispers, shaking her head at her brother and he sighs as his sisters cannot help him.
"You two don't have to worry about it now." Francis says as kisses Anne's head, leaning her small frame into his chest. "You just have to enjoy the fact that our family will soon grow and you will have a baby brother or a baby sister to play with and teach to." Mary smiles to Francis, as his happiness is something palpable in the room. She can still remember how afraid he was in her first pregnancy, afraid of not being a good father to their child, as he himself did not have a good example. But as it had been made clear endless times in their lives, Francis was nothing like his father, especially when dealing with the kids.
"A boy or a girl?" James asks Mary and she smiles at Francis, happy that at least for now he has forgotten the question. She then turns her attention to him and continues to smile.
"We have no idea." She shakes her head. "We have to wait till the baby is born to find out."
"And how the baby will go out of your belly?" It's Anne's time to ask and now neither Francis nor Mary can hide their laugh. Mary hides her flushed cheeks between James curls and Francis turns back his head, trying to maintain his mouth closed, but not succeeding very much. They are transported to a time where they had Anne's age and they were the ones to bomb Catherine with questions about how a baby had gotten into her belly.
"That, my darling, is a question your mother will answer to you in a few years." Francis is the one to reply to the little girl, his answer quite satisfying for her, but not for her brother.
"I can't know it?" James asks his father, and both Francis and Mary laugh, as Mary caresses James' blonde locks. Once again she wonders if the child she carries will inherit her hair, as Anne did, or Francis', as James did.
"Of course you can, my darling. But that is something your father will explain to you as you also get older." Mary smiles and James now looks satisfies with his mother's answer. He tries to smile but it's interrupted by a yawn that makes him lean his body into his mother's chest.
"I think it's time for bed, don't you?" Francis asks Mary as he feels Anne leaning on his chest, eyes almost closing.
"Absolutely." Mary smiles back as she kisses James head.
"Can we choose the baby's name?" Anne asks, her eyes already closed and both Mary and Francis laugh.
"You can help Maman and I do it." Francis answers her, as he kisses her hair. It smells just like Mary's and deep down he hopes for another girl he can dote on just like he does with Anne. Mary smiles at the scene and quickly looks down at the little boy on her arms, hoping for another boy who will be as close to her as James is.
~0~
On the day after Christmas celebrations, the castle is filled with cries of pain.
James and Anne know something is happening as they break their fast alone just with their nurses and their grandmother fetch them just as they are about to start a new game. They are taken to a room they have never gone before and as the guard opens the door for them and they can see their parents inside, they do not wait to run in their direction.
Elena Marie and Arthur Henri are healthy and loved twins born in a cold dawn of December. They are both an exact opposition of their oldest siblings, as they both have inherited their mother's hazel eyes, Elena already having small blonde curls on her head while Arthur has little dark hair close to his nape.
As James promises to take care of them both till he gets old, Anne promises to teach them anything they want to know, from different games to different languages. Mary and Francis don't say a thing, they just smile at each other, as their promise of love and care for each other and their child has no need to be said out loud.