Disclaimer: I neither own Reign, nor profit from this story.
Walking side by side, almost like a normal couple enjoying a late afternoon stroll, Henry broke the comfortable silence they had fallen into with a moment of reminiscence "I'd forgotten what it was like working with you instead of against you."
Responding with an indulgent sigh and a very Catherine smirk she replied, "You're very charming when you're not trying to kill me."
"I mean it, there is no one like you, you're gallant in full sail, all guns blazing…"
"…High on the waves, I remember."
"It's still true, you make other women tame…"
She hums at the sentiment, unsure where this flattery is going. He can't possibly want her…them, not after everything. Especially not after her admission about sending Diane away, and yet…
He continues as they pause in their forward motion and turn toward each other, "Stay with me."
Beginning to lean in, Catherine looked at Henry longingly for a moment before shoring herself up. Halting him with a hand to his chest she needed to stop him before she lost the will, "Henry, don't ruin it," she remarked, doing her best to bring levity to a situation that was fast approaching suicide…at least for her. She turned her head and then her body forcing herself to walk past him even as her heart was crying out for her to give him a chance, just this one last time.
"And what if I've changed, what if this last day, these last days…" he asked in a desperate attempt to get her to change her mind.
Halting for just a moment as she considered what she would say. Bowing her head slightly she turned just enough so that he could see the profile of her face, "And what guarantee have I this time? After those first few years, after Diane became a fixture in court, you tried this…we tried this not once, not twice, but three times!" She reminded him, hoping desperately that her quickly unraveling emotions sounded berating and not broken. "And those were just the times your resolve lasted beyond a night of bedding me followed by a day of fighting with me," she laughed humorlessly.
Even as she said this, hope and fear churned inside of her nearly stealing the very breath from her lips. She turned her head away ever so slightly and struggled to keep her tears at bay, "What guarantee do I have this time that you will not sincerely return to my arms only to shortly turn back to Diane when she comes beckoning, or the next pretty thing that catches your eye?"
Jaw slack, Henry tried to come up with some convincing answer, some reason to halt her departure, not only from the room but from his life…again. In part out of shame and in part out of having nothing to rebut her logic, he closed his gaping mouth and simply remained silent.
"For once speechless. Well I suppose this is new," she said with a huff.
She paused before continuing, "if this means so much to you, truly means this much Henry," she turned to face him just a little more, "then prove it."
Taking a breath with an attempt to reassure her, he was paused when she raised a finger and turned to faced him fully, "Not by your usual platitudes or flowery dalliances." Further tilting her chin at an angle she continued, "and it's not just me that you need to win back. It's Claude, and Charles and Henry, and Margot, and Hercule, and Elisabeth, and Francis", she said all but breathless from the effort. "Though they each have or will reach a point where they understand that you love them, even though you don't know how to show it, they still deserve better. They deserve a father, not jus a King."
Finally letting her shoulders hunch and her posture cave in protectively she finished, "and I deserve to be not just loved, as you so freely claim, but respected as you're wife. Not just a body to fill a throne or warm your bed and then be tossed aside at your leisure."
With nothing more to say, and needing some space to regain her equilibrium, Catherine de Medici turned on last time and strode away with as much grace as she could muster.
Lowering his head in defeat, the King closed his eyes as her words sunk in. This was probably one of the most honest conversations they'd had in a while, not forced by circumstance or ending in a shouting match. He also realized that for once he needed to truly take the measure of her words and his intentions instead of just acting on an impulse.
Remembering the visitor he would have otherwise been receiving later that evening, he decided to write a note to Lady Kenna, excusing her from their prearranged rendezvous…at least for tonight. He could not be certain that this would go anywhere except to become one of the one of the many secrets these Castle walls held, but he certainly had the self control to stave off one night of passion. He knew his wife was worth it, he just wasn't sure he was up for the task. He decided to take a walk in the garden to consider his own heart, as well as to hopefully ease his aching head.
Later on that night Catherine stared off through her window considering the events of the day, trying desperately to hold together the remains of her heart.
Henry meanwhile had completed his walk. Finding nothing to ease his troubled mind, he heeded a thoughtful suggestion and sought answers in the pages of his Scriptures.
Each seeking solace, neither finding much.