This is set in a modern AU. I have no idea where the direction of this story will go but it has a lot of angst that's for sure!
Plot line: Kenna and Bash are separated, the divorce papers are written but their little child prevents them from fully letting go.
Disclaimer: I do not own Reign. If I did, probably won't allow Kennash to end nor Francis to die despite 'historically correct' facts. (Bash wasn't even historically correct so why did they screw with his love life like that?)
"Mama," her son calls out and for a minute he pauses, wondering whether to call her again. He had been for the past seventeen minutes and she still hadn't look up from her cup of tea nor the heavy papers that used to be sealed in that giant envelope.
She blows her tea once, tuts thrice and glances up at him twice. She then purses her lips and nods, making sure she read everything before deciding what to do next.
"Mama," Adrien calls out. "Mama?"
Kenna hates the fact that her son sounds more French because he sounds almost exactly the same as his father did when he was his age. She had learnt that from his mother when they were living with the matriarch back in France.
Before he broke her heart, said he couldn't handle her anymore and she moved back to England with a heavy heart and a warm hand holding hers. At least she got a place across the road from her best friend but even Mary was linked to him. She was Francis's wife, making them related by proxy.
"One minute, Adi," she finally says with a soft sigh and tears springing the corners of her eyes.
She swore under her breath, she promised never to shed a tear from him since he left her. He told her that he'd move to England to be closer to Adrien but what these papers in front of her said otherwise.
Full custody.
Now, he wanted to claim that she was an unfit mother?
All because of one kiss she didn't even respond to?
And her boss forcing himself, about to do God knows what before Francis turned up searching for him for their business deal?
Apparently, that had been the last straw. She was a tease, a woman who knew she was married yet still flaunted her charming personality and attractive looks on men, married or otherwise.
But that wasn't her.
Yes, she was attractive and she never backed down from letting everyone know that, she was blessed. Yes, she was a tease but only to her husband because she was faithful.
There was once that she caught him getting close with a work relative, Rowan and she had contemplated leaving him for Antoine but she quickly realised that that was wrong. Until, she found out that he and Rowan had a one-night stand, the redhead gingerly apologising to the scorned wife about her brief affair with her husband.
She was hurt, she had cried for days but she never let him know that she knew about it. So, she sought comfort in Antoine, his distant cousin or whatever who worked with her back in France. It was only an emotional affair, never physical as he had his own beloved wife and issues with the pregnant woman.
Their child had been born stillborn and he was heartbroken so he called her up. She comforted him after he said that his wife had been going through some serious mental health issues and that was when he decided that he'd leave Jeanne.
Then, the kiss happened.
Kenna had been horrified, pushing him back and running off. She got into her car and drove straight home to tell her husband but he had received a text with a photo of the kiss. Sent by a private number and that was when she realised that she had been set up.
Their relationship was platonic afterwards, merely holding conversations about Adrien and other familial ties. Until she found out she was pregnant.
She was overjoyed. It had been four years since they had Adrien and it wasn't as if they hadn't been trying. She had kept the pregnancy tests in her bag, hoping to tell him at a perfect time.
But he avoided her like the plague.
He would come home when she was already asleep, leave before she woke up. One night, she set her alarm for 4 AM, but he was already gone so she gave up trying.
A month later, not feeling so excited nor great about her secret pregnancy, which she was about two months along and never told anyone, she had been asked to stay behind at work for an extra hour.
Kenna thought nothing of it, it was his turn to pick up their son anyway so she sent him a quick text just in case he was worried - which he never was to be honest because she always came home like the good, little wife she was.
She went to the staffroom, starting up the hot water and searching for her beloved English Breakfast tea which she could never part from. Born in Scotland, raised in England - she always told everyone. It made her laugh when her older half-brothers had a Scottish accent but hers and her younger siblings' was English through and through. People often were confused about their relations as siblings.
That was when her train of thoughts was cut off and she was pressed into the counter, the edge digging into her stomach as she gasped.
She felt his breath, it reeked of alcohol, on her neck and his crotch on her back. He told her he was happy to see her, that he had been waiting all day to get her like this, alone.
His hands roamed her body and she stilled, fear paralysing her as tears began to run down her cheeks. Pinches and squeezes and pats sickened her as her body dug deeper, making her gasp again and him mistaking that for pleasure.
Then the vile warmth was gone and he was giving excuses to Francis, saying that he needed to get to the teabags when everyone knew he had his own coffee/tea maker in his office, let alone his floor which was five floors above.
Francis had driven her home, telling her he would explain everything to his brother, assuring her. But of course, as usual, she was guilty as charged despite Francis's pleas that it wasn't her fault - Renaude was an arsehole who preyed on women.
Unfortunately, Francis was only there for business which he immediately cut off after seeing Renaude pressed up against his sister-in-law and wife's best friend. He returned back to England to Mary and their children and his brother had another reason to avoid her.
He stayed at work or wherever he was, not bothering to come home unless it was his turn to pick Adrien up.
One lonely night with Diane and Adrien upstairs asleep, Kenna allowed silent tears to roll down her cheeks when the blood began to seep into the sofa and her cries of pain emitted from her lips.
He had come home, raging with insults after finding out she was pregnant from Delphine - an ex of his and colleague of hers who was snooping around her handbag for a tampon or sanitary towel.
One, how dare that whore? Two, who looks through another person's belongings without asking? And three, he had no right to even listen to that bitch after what she did to him.
"Not anymore!" She screamed at him.
"Was it his?!" He yelled back, the upstairs light turning on and Diane rushing down the stairs with her black, satin robe being tied around her waist.
"Bash-" His mother called out but he ignored her.
"Was. It. His?"
"She's bleeding!" Diane screamed at him, rushing to her side.
Kenna stilled, not even caring that the woman who supposedly hated her for years was tending to her. Shouting that they needed to get to a hospital immediately.
"You wanted to trick me into thinking it was mine, is that it? Do you really not care at all, Kenna? Are you that sick, that selfish?" He continued on as his mother began dialling the emergency services.
Diane glared at her son. "I don't know who has poisoned your mind, Sebastian," she began darkly. "And I don't know if you are blind but Kenna is suffering from a miscarriage."
"Let that be a lesson, dear wife," he said, turning away from Diane to her. "That's where being unfaithful gets you. Take her, I'm staying with Adrien."
Kenna sighs heavily, shaking the memory from her mind as she finally smiles at her little blessing.
"My precious baby, what do you want my attention for?" She asks the child.
"You're sad," Adrien states, forgetting about what he wanted to tell her. He stands up from his seat and reaches up to hug her.
Letting him crawl onto her lap, she returns the hug just as tight and laughs when he asks her if that was better.
"Yes, my petit fleur," she says to him, not minding the French so much anymore. She ought to take him to Scotland, break in his accent there.
"I made a picture of you, Papa and me."
He slides the sheet of coloured paper from the table and turns to show it to her. He was a talented, little boy and he always made her proud but the smile leaves her face when she sees his little creations of her and Bash in a heart.
"That's beautiful, baby," she whispers, looking away. "Uncle Francis is going to come over for you Adi, is that okay?"
Adrien nods, not too bothered about the fact that his uncle was coming to get him. He loved his older cousins and his little one named Anne. John and James were lovely boys, always looking out for him.
Soon after, with Adrien at Mary and Francis's, Kenna makes her way to her first stop of the day.
It was a small café which always catered to her preferences with her being a now, long-term customer and she loved talking to the girl behind the counter. She was starting university in Autumn and told Kenna about her degree and what went on in her teenage life. She had brought her best friends over once and the girl's boss allowed her to hang out with the older adults, gaining insight in life and whatnot.
Kenna was more like a mentor, but she stayed way clear from any matters revolving romance. Her love life was down in the sewers that tainted the River Thames, or even the ones in France.
"What's your day looking like?" Bella, the mentee, asks her with a bright smile. "Hope it's not too stressful."
Kenna smiles a fake smile though. "No," she says, ignoring the pain she had in her chest. She has to contact her solicitors at some point today, sadly. "Just visiting Aylee and then I'll stop by Greer's and help her with the children."
"Ah," Bella replies. "Leave a flower for me too."
Aylee had tragically died from a severe allergic reaction in their presence. It haunted the women until this day but her parents forgave them, knowing that they never knew about Aylee's allergy to nuts because she never told them.
"I will, thanks," Kenna replies back, genuinely happy that the girl cared so much about her friends.
"Here's your caramel macchiato. Why did you change it up today?" Bella asks, confused.
Kenna swallows deeply. Bash loved caramel macchiatos. It was his one guilty pleasure that didn't make him as manly as everyone thought. It had been their thing back when he got her one on the first day of their honeymoon.
"I don't know. Just felt like it. Might have my usual next time."
She goes to find a seat as Bella serves her next customer. Staring out the window, she smiles when she sees a young family laughing and having fun, wishing that hers was like that. It never was, but it had been like that before Adi turned one.
Her phone rings and his name flashes across the screen. Maybe, he wanted to ask if she got the papers but before she can even answer or hang up as her mind was battling with her, she looks up at the call of her name.
"Antoine?"