-Present-
"Francis are you sure you don't want to go see a doctor?" Mary asks for what feels like the thousandth time. It's been two days since the fight and the headaches have not relented. They started yesterday morning, lasted well into the evening and then started back up again today.
"No, I'm- Anne." He says her name particularly harshly and Mary glares at him when their little girls' smile fades mid squeal.
"Francis." Mary snaps.
"I'm sorry." He says softly, reaching for her but she frowns and goes to Mary instead. "Annie…"
"You yelled at her."
"I didn't mean to it's this damn headache."
"I'm taking you to the hospital." She says finally, deciding for both of them as she grabs her keys and looks for Anne's coat.
"Mary, I'm fine."
"You're obviously not."
"It's late, I'm not making you drive all the way to the hospital for a headache that's going to go away in a few hours."
"What if something is wrong?"
"It's just a headache, Mary." He says on an exasperated sigh, irritated and she shifts Anne on her hip, her own sigh falling out of her mouth. There's no use arguing with him, she can't make him go and she has to get Anne to bed anyways.
"Fine." She says softly, "Are you gonna come kiss Anne goodnight?" She asks, that's not even a question, he's already standing before it's all the way out of her mouth and she smiles because she wasn't sure if he'd be able to stand, let alone walk over to them. He tells her he's sorry for yelling at her and kisses her cheek and kisses Mary's too.
"You should go to bed," Mary says softly.
"Can't argue with that. I'll be up in a minute." He says as she climbs the stairs.
She finds him in bed a few minutes later and she crawls in as quietly as she can trying not to wake him. He was already awake though and he turns to look at her.
"Does your head feel better?" She asks softly, reaching over to sweep his hair out of his face, Francis shakes his head. "I wish you'd let me take you to the hospital."
"It's fine, darling, it's probably just-"
"The result of a glass bottle colliding with your skull?"
"I was going to say the weather."
"Hm. I don't think it's the weather." She mutters, moving over so he can put his head on her chest.
"You worry too much." He tells her and she hums her acknowledgment, fingers stroking his curls.
"You'll tell me if it gets worse, right?"
"Not sure it can get worse."
"Francis." She pouts and he sighs, wrapping his arms around her torso.
"I'll let you know if it gets worse, which it won't because I'm fine."
"You promise?"
"I promise." He says softly. "Hey, Mary."
"Hm?"
"I forgive you." He tells her, voice soft as he snuggles more into her. "I know we haven't...talked about everything yet, but I do forgive you. I just wanted to let you know before my brain explodes."
"We can talk when you feel better, but thank you." She whispers, they do still need to talk. They both keep getting distracted, or things keep happening but she's happy to know at least he isn't still angry with her. "And your brain isn't going to explode."
"Feels like it might."
"Not if you see a doctor." She tells him, "If it's not better by morning I'll-"
"No."
"Francis, you're in pain."
"And you have several very important meetings tomorrow that my mother will murder both of us if you miss. So, no."
"I can reschedule."
"No, you can't."
"Francis."
"I'm okay." He says softly, "It'll be gone by morning."
-/-
Francis doesn't have to work today, but he's usually up by now, so she's confused when she wakes up with his arms still wrapped around her. She twists in his arms so she can look at him, reaching to turn off her alarm clock.
"Francis." She whispers, pushing his curls back, "Hey." He groans, rubbing his eyes. He's really warm so it must be a fever. "It didn't go away, did it?" She asks and he shakes his head, she presses a kiss to his forehead.
"It's going away." He tells her, but he sounds so pained and that makes her stomach twist with worry. She should try to reschedule. Catherine would understand, she'd all but demand she stay home with him rather than come in, Catherine might even wind up coming over and trying to take care of him.
"I think I'm staying-"
"No, you're not."
"Francis, you're sick."
"I'm. Fine."
"Please."
"I'm okay, Anne and I are just going to lay around and watch movies. Go to work." His face tells her he's not leaving this up for discussion and she gets up reluctantly.
"Call me if you need anything."
"I will."
"I'm serious."
"You always are." He's getting up too and he's wearing his smirk so that tells her he is feeling a little better. Maybe his headache was going away, but that didn't mean it was going to stay away. She feels his forehead and his cheeks, much to his dismay.
"You're warm." She tells him, "And you're sweating."
"Sweaty fever is a broken fever." He says pulling her close, "Go get ready."
She watches him smile with Anne on the couch as she digs her keys out of her purse. He looks better, less pale, he says his head doesn't hurt. So why does she get the feeling she really should stay home today?
"You're going to be late and then you're going to be mad at yourself." He teases when he notices she hasn't left yet.
"I don't want to go." She pouts, which earns her an amused grin as he walks over to her. He hooks her around the waist.
"I feel fine."
"For now."
"I'll show you how fine I feel later." He smirks, pressing soft kisses to the curve of her neck like that's supposed to make her want to leave more. "I promise." She squints at him but he really does look a lot better now. So she nods and toys with her keys, giving him a quick kiss before she leaves.
-2 Months Ago-
Francis hasn't talked to her since their fight. He hasn't tried to apologize either, she hasn't reached out. They mostly just avoid each other, she feels like she's living with a stranger. Louis is telling her something she assumes is important but it goes in one ear and out the other, she doesn't pay much attention to him. She just keeps filling out paperwork and turning the stack towards him when she needs his signature.
"Mary." He says her name but she doesn't look up, "Hey, are you still with me?" He pokes her with his pen.
"What!?" She snaps as she looks up and he jumps.
"Oh, testy." He says, "What...what's going on?"
"Nothing." She sighs as she goes back to work but he doesn't take that as a suitable answer. So he presses on.
"Hm, no something's definitely wrong."
"Louis, leave it alone." She pleads softly, "It's none of your business."
"You've been acting off the last few weeks. Are you okay?"
"Please."
"Is Francis okay?" He asks, "Is Anne okay?" He asks as he leans back in his chair, genuinely curious and a little bit worried, her face changes slightly at Francis though and she hates that he notices it. "It's Francis."
"It's nothing."
"Did you guys get in a fight?" She doesn't answer, just keeps writing.
"We did. As do all married couples." She says dryly, "It was stupid, I did a stupid, stupid thing. That's all."
"What did you do?" He asks softly like he's genuinely curious and she meets his eyes for a second but doesn't say anything. It's none of his business and she doesn't need another person telling her how stupid the decision she made was. Although, it might nice to get another person's perspective.
"Mary?" He questions, "You'll find no judgment here." She sighs again and then just lets it out, all of it and he listens, adding commentary here and there and when she's finished he clicks his tongue against his teeth.
"The thought never occurred to you to just tell him?" He asks softly.
"I didn't want to upset him."
"And this wasn't supposed to-"
"Thanks, Francis, I get it." She said through gritted teeth as she stands. "I should go home, it's late." She doesn't look back as she leaves but he grabs her before she can.
"Wait, wait." He says quickly and she turns around with a glare, "Tell me why you did it." He says softly and she makes a face, "Maybe it'll help." She nods and they sit on her small leather couch and she tells him. She tells him why she did it, what she was thinking while she did it, why she felt like she couldn't tell Francis and he listens and there's no yelling or arguing or interrupting, he just listens and she feels like it's the first time anyone has done that in a while.
-/-
She talked to Louis for too long, it's now hours passed the time she told Francis she would be home and her phone is dead.
The house is quiet but the lights are on and he isn't asleep on the couch like she was hoping. He's in the kitchen, she can hear him so she tries to be quiet as she slips her shoes off and heads into the kitchen.
"Glad to see you finally remembered where you live." He says without even turning around as he wipes down the counter, "Did you forget how to answer your phone?"
"It's dead, Francis." She says as she tugs the fridge open to get to the leftovers.
"Hm, that's convenient." She sighs as she grabs a plate, "You smell nice, is that new cologne?" There's an edge to that regardless if he meant it or not and she shakes her head as she tosses her plate in the microwave.
"Stop." She says softly as she presses the buttons.
"Are you too tired to have a conversation?"
"This doesn't sound like a conversation, Francis, I'm too tired to fight with you over nothing."
"You come home three hours late smelling like another man and I'm just supposed to deal with it?"
"What are you implying?" She asks softly because it sounds an awful lot like he thinks she let Louis take her like a thief in the night or something when that's not the case at all and it never was.
"What am I implying?" He asks but it's on a snap as he turns around, "You come home later and later with him all over you, you wanted to expand our tiny family and then suddenly you didn't. You were taking pills to prevent a-" He shakes his head, "What the hell am I supposed to think?" So that confirms it. He actually thinks she's sleeping with Louis and she's never felt more offended in her life and heartbroken that he would think she'd do that to him.
"Am I your wife or a whore?" She asks him softly.
"M-"
"I'm not sleeping with him. I never slept with him, I don't want to sleep with him." She says, "I love you, I want you, I don't know how many times I have to tell you that." The microwave beeps but she leaves it and him in the kitchen to just go to bed because that took her appetite and tossed it out the window.
She hasn't been locking the door to keep him out, but he hasn't been coming for her. He sleeps downstairs and away from her, which is probably best right now. They're officially at the stage in the rough patch where they can't share a bed. She climbs in bed after changing and is just about to fall asleep when-
"Mary." His voice makes her jump and sucks in a breath, "You didn't eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Mary." Her name leaves his mouth softly and not angrily like she had grown used to these last few months.
"Are you going to accuse me of sleeping with anyone else?" She asks softly, "Oh, maybe Bash, we haven't done that in a while." He doesn't say anything and she doesn't turn over so she has no idea if he's still leaning against the doorframe or if he's retreated downstairs.
"You didn't eat." He says again and she sighs heavily.
"I will reiterate. I am not hungry-"
"You're my wife and I don't remember the last time you ate." He says that slowly and softly and she turns over to see he has her abandoned plate of food that's probably cold now. She swallows and then sits up.
"One bite." She tells him.
"Two."
"One and a half."
"Three." He says and she rolls her eyes but sticks her hands out for the plate.
"Fine."
-Present-
Francis isn't answering his phone, he hasn't been all day. She hopes he's just sleeping but she takes her phone in her meetings so she can get it and make a quick exit should he call. He doesn't call, not for the four hours she spends listening to men try to tell her how to do her job. By the end of it she's pretty angry, one guy started listing off his coffee order before she could sit down. Another noticed her wedding ring and said he was jealous of whoever got to strip her out of her business attire after work. She's taking the hottest shower when she gets home and makes sure Francis is okay.
Sometimes it sucks being the only woman in the room.
"Catherine." She knocks softly on her office door.
"Yes?" She questions as the door open's, "Oh Mary, how was the meetings today? I'm sorry I couldn't join you."
"Well, I found out who drinks decaf." She tells her. Catherine scoffs.
"Men don't know how to handle powerful women, dear." She says dryly.
"I'm going home early."
"Is everything alright?" Oh boy, how does she want to play this?
"Uh yeah...Francis just has a thing." She stammers awkwardly.
"I gave birth to him, darling, I know all about his thing."
"Ew." She makes a face, "Not...not what I meant, he has a cold or something."
"Is he okay?" She asks, full mom voice taking hold as she rises.
"He's fine."
"Then why are you leaving?" She squints. "Do you feel like he isn't?"
"Uuuhh-"
"Speak."
"No...no."
"Mary."
"I just really want to go home and take care of him." She says quickly, there that wasn't so hard. Catherine nods but she's giving her a weird look.
"Call me if you need anything." She says slowly as she sits, "And not a moment later." She nods as she closes the door, checking her phone as she walks to her office, she tries to call him one more time but he doesn't answer.
-/-
The sky is darkening up, deep orange in the clouds and she tries not to speed but she just has a bad feeling, she has a missed call from Bash which only makes the feeling worse. She calls him back.
"Is Francis okay?" He asks, "Because he's not answering my calls." Mary chews at her lip.
"He's sick, he's not answering for me either."
"Oh," Bash says, sounding like he understands. "Well he left some things at my place and I didn't want to just drop them at your doorstep. I don't want to bother him if he's sick so can you let me in?"
"Yeah." She nods, "I'm on my way home right now so we can meet if you go right now." She tells him, or he can get there early and find out what the hell is going on. "Bash I'm worried." The worry shows in her voice too, this doesn't feel right.
"On my way." He hangs up without another word and she finally gets a break in the traffic. In a few minutes she'll be home and able to wake Francis up from this fantastic nap he's taking. She keeps thinking about that fight with Louis and the bottle and she hopes whatever's going on with his head has nothing to do with it. As she turns on her street she catches something in her headlight, a tiny body with tiny legs and she's never hit her brakes so hard in her life. Tire screeching hard, steering wheel jerking, almost flipping the whole car hard.
"Anne!?" It comes out in a shriek, "Anne!" She throws open the door and runs to her. What the hell is she doing in the middle of the street? Where is Francis?
Where is Francis?
"Anne…" She tries to calm her voice down, "Annie what are you doing out here?" She's shaking as she kneels down, Anne's screaming in a way she's never heard before and it's twenty seconds later that she hears more tire screeching.
"Mary?" It's Bash and Kenna, both looking at her and her screaming child in the middle of the road like two lunatics but then Bash sees the door is wide open and sprints inside the house. He knows Francis, he knows he'd never leave Anne alone.
"Mary come on." Kenna is easing them both away from the street, Mary pressing her child to her body like a lifeline. She almost hit her, what if she hadn't seen her? What if she didn't have her lights on?
She's headed inside faster than her legs can carry her because she needs to know what the hell Francis is doing and why the hell their daughter was in the street unsupervised and if he's okay, she doesn't know what she's going to do to him. Bash is in the kitchen and she hears him saying her husbands name over and over again and Kenna's the first to enter, a loud gasp leaving her lips.
"Mary, no." She says quickly, softly tries to keep her from entering the kitchen but she sees anyways.
"Francis!?" This scream is much like the one before but it rips its way out of her body, it shatters the walls. Francis is there but he's lying on the floor unconscious, Bash is trying to shake him awake but it's not working. It's not working. "Bash…" Her voice isn't steady, Anne is screaming in her arms, Marys trying to push passed Kenna but she's stronger than she looks. He looks up at them with an expression she's never seen before.
"I…"
"Is he breathing?!" She cries.
"No." Bash tells her and in all her years of knowing him she's never heard his voice sound like that, he's completely terrified.
Everything happens faster after that.
