AN : Here is another chapter, hope you'll like it ;)
Disclaimer : I don't own « Reign », no plagiarism is intended and I don't make profit of this story.
Chapter 33
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More two months later,
The King was now back on his feet, he could walk and do things as before the incident with Kenna. This woman was now nothing but a souvenir to the Royal couple.
Nevertheless, this incident stopped the King and Queen to return to the castle in time so that Catherine could give birth there. In fact, first, it was the King's state of health that prevented them to return and then, when he had begun to feel better, it was judged too late for Catherine to go through the trip back to the castle safely.
Now, Catherine's due date was quickly approaching, within days, they would have their baby.
Since one month, the Queen was suffering from hard back pains, during her previous pregnancies, she had endured this kind of pain but not as violently as now… most of the time she was forced to stay in bed or at least seated in their rooms. Her husband stayed with her with the patience of a saint, something that couldn't have been expected of him mere months ago.
"Catherine ?" Henry called his sitting wife.
"Yes" She answered her eyes founding his.
He came to lay beside her on the bed "How are you feeling, darling ?"
A smile appeared on her lips when seeing his care for her. "Quite well"
"I'm glad" he returned her smile and tenderly caressed her swollen belly with his hand. Catherine immediately put her hand above his and closed her eyes at the feeling of his hand that gave her warmth without the heat she was feeling most of the time.
"Do you think it will be a boy or a girl ?" Henry asked her.
"Hum, what would you prefer ?" She wanted to know.
"I'll be happy with whatever God has given us." He answered softly with a smile.
She smiled back, took his hand in hers and continued with her train of thoughts : "Yes, but if you could choose ?"
"Well, if I could choose, I think I'd like a girl." He said and saw the stunned impression in her eyes.
She chuckled softly "A girl ? Really ? I thought you would prefer a boy to carry on the Valois line."
"Oh darling, the line is secured, three sons we have to ensure that. A boy partly belongs to France… a girl, on the other hand, is entirely ours… And, I am not against a new little lady in my life,… one to be as beautiful, headstrong and clever as her mother." He made her melt like a candle with only his words.
"Oh Henry…" She smiled at him and he drew closer to kiss her lovingly.
"And how would we call her ?" Asked the Queen.
"Her ? Are you sure ? Can you tell ?" He asked back with excitement.
"Henry…" She looked at him feigning gentle annoyance.
"What my love ? I want to know what you think." He said and looked in her eyes intently.
She shook her head while smiling at his antics, how she loved him…
"Won't you answer me Catherine ?" He said tenderly.
"I… I think we're going to have a daughter Henry." She said without looking him in the eyes. Henry saw that and turned her chin gently with his fingers so that their eyes would meet. "Catherine ? What is it ?"
"I… it's nothing" She answered him and averted her eyes.
"Catherine, I thought we were past this… I know you… tell me, darling, what troubles you ?"
"I… I was so afraid you would be disappointed if we had a girl…" She finally admitted to him.
"Catherine, look at me please." He asked and her eyes took a moment to find his own.
"Disappointed ? Me ? Because we're going to have a girl ? How could I ever be ? A child, whatever gender it is, is a miracle… and, I have always adored my princesses... If we do have a girl, I will be overjoyed Catherine, the same as if we have a boy, I will still be the luckiest man on earth." He assured her.
She kissed him then, what could she answer to that ? When they parted, the King ran his fingers over his wife's cheek tenderly, taking in every feature of her face.
"How I hope she will have your eyes." The Queen told her husband.
He grinned at that, "And I hope she will have your hair." he ran his hand through her soft golden locks.
"Well, I hope for her she won't have yours." They both laughed at her remark.
"I see you have not lost your humour, darling." He said and kissed her cheek.
"What did you expect ?" She asked in false indignation.
"Nothing less, my love, from you, nothing less" and he kissed her.
"And how will we call her ?" She asked once he released her lips.
"I don't know, what do you think ?"
"I don't really know either, I've thought about it for the last few months but nothing really catches my eye" She answered honestly.
The both of them thought in silence for a while… until Henry came up with an idea.
He called her name to make her look at him again and continued : "I think I have an idea…" He took a breath before telling her, knowing that it would probably not please his pregnant wife. "What about Madeleine ?"
"No." her answer was immediate.
"Catherine, it…" but he was never able to finish because his wife cut him before he could.
"No, Henry." She said dryly.
"Catherine" He kept a soft tone as not to anger her any further.
"Catherine, do you remember when you told me that we should name our first child Francis ?" He explained. "I had the same reaction as you have now, it was completely out of question for me to name my son like this. But, with time, I saw that it was the best name we could give him. Madeleine is a very beautiful name, and it would honour two people I love : my sister who, with my mother, was the only one who ever cared for me, and your mother who gave birth to the woman I love more than anything in this world." He finished and saw her softening when she heard him.
He took her hands in his and continued "Catherine tell me you understand."
"I… don't know, I'm afraid Henry." She said the truth.
"Why ?" He couldn't understand why she would be afraid to give her this name.
"Because this name seems to be associated with death, Henry." She went on.
"Catherine, it's not the name that kills, how many Henrys, Catherines and Francis' have died ? Countless. We all die one day, that's life. But it's not the name that kills Catherine." He tried to reason and make her see.
"I… I suppose you are right…" She admitted and saw the truth in his words.
"Catherine, if we forgot the tragic fates of your mother and my sister, wouldn't you agree that Madeleine is a beautiful name ?" He tried his luck.
She chuckled, it seemed as if he always knew what to say to convince her : "Yes, Henry, it is indeed a beautiful name."
"Then I don't know what's stopping us." He smiled, that bright smile of his and her resolve weakened even more.
"Why don't we directly ask our baby if she'd like to be called like this ?" He offered.
"If you want Henry" She laughed slightly.
He placed his hands on her swollen belly and spoke to the baby in it : "Madeleine ? Are you awake ?" And as if she understood him, she kicked just under his hand. He laughed and looked into his wife's stunned eyes.
"Would you like to be called like this princess ?" He asked and once again the baby kicked under his hand.
"You see Catherine ? I think she likes it. And we don't want to upset our little girl do we ?" He said with a little smirk.
The Queen thought again during a little while but when she met his eyes once more, she knew she was lost.
"Alright Henry, Madeleine it is then." She smiled, in fact now that she allowed herself to think of it without the remembrance of death, she actually loved this name.
"Madeleine" she repeated while placing her hand on her husband's once more. When she did, she felt the kick through his hands and the room filled with laughter once again.
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Later in the evening
The King and Queen were taking their dinner in their chambers but tonight, Catherine wasn't really feeling like eating. The King didn't thought it really out of character for his wife since in the last month, her back pains had sometimes grown so violent that she lost the pleasure to eat from time to time.
Instead, he carefully accompanied her to their bed and helped her to lie down.
Once her back touched the propped up pillows, she sighed in exhaustion.
"How can I help ?" the King asked her tenderly.
"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do, darling" she ran her hand along his face.
"I beg to differ." He smiled and glided to the foot of their bed. Henry took of her shoes with care before taking one of her legs in his lap and massaging her swollen foot.
"Hummm…" she moaned. Then, he ran his hand up her leg until her thigh to unfasten her stockings. He then removed them tenderly and took back her bare foot in his hands.
"Oh, Henry, your hands are so warm… it feels so very good." She quietly uttered, her eyes closed in delight.
"I'm glad darling." He answered softly and massaged her foot further.
He had such hands, and when he rubbed that exact spot on her foot, she arched her back and moaned loudly "God, Henry, keep doing that."
He just smiled at her and continued to rub both of her feet.
The guards at their doors probably were getting the wrong idea of what their rulers were doing by hearing the sounds she was making…
Once he finished, he put her feet back on the bed and while her ladies helped her change, he went to the door and ordered a servant to bring him essential oils to relive his wife's pain. It was a thing he was doing every night since approximatively one month. He applied several drops of the mix on his wife's pillow and honestly, he could tell that it worked, at least to an extent…
Then, the King changed into his nightclothes and waited for his wife in their bed.
A little while later, he saw her ladies leave and his Queen emerged from the changing screen in a magnificent nightgown. The cloth was cream coloured, long sleeved and it had discreet white embroideries. She was a vision in her flowy dress, her belly now clearly more than visible.
When she saw him looking at her from head to toe, she smirked, "Henry, my eyes are here."
She spoke softly while uttering these words.
"Oh, forgive me, darling, but… I'm afraid I can't help myself." "You're so very stunning" he sighed.
"More likely as fat as a whale now." She said while laughing.
"Don't say that Caterina, Madeleine will hear." He said while she reclined beside him.
He instantly went to her and spoke to her belly "Don't listen to your mother my little darling, she loves every minute of carrying you."
Then he looked into her eyes and added "And you are not fat Catherine. You are creating a life, a new little human, that's something I'll never be able to do." He kissed her reassuringly.
When he parted his lips from hers, he saw light traces of pain on her face, it was invisible to anyone else, but he, saw it.
"Are you alright Catherine ? Where does it hurt, my love ?"
She smiled at how well he read her "My back, it's hurting me again"
Henry silently and carefully laid her on her side and came closer to place his warm hands on her lower back. She sighed at the contact, what would she do without him to ease her pain ?
He caressed her ear with his nose and breathed in her hair, "Is it better now, darling ?"
"Hum, yes, keep doing that, please" she muttered sleepily.
"I wasn't going to stop if it brings you relief, amore mio. You know how hard it is for me to see you in such pain and not being able to do anything for you." He whispered.
"Henry, you are doing so many things for me, you help me and support me all day long, meet all my needs, and you make me feel loved, darling. It's not nothing." She answered with equal honesty and love entering her voice.
"That is the very least I can do for you, my love." He kissed her neck tenderly.
"hum… I love you Henry." She whispered quietly before falling asleep under the soft and soothing caresses her King was making on her lower back.
Henry stayed awake a little longer, guarding his wife in her sleep.
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In the middle of the night
Catherine sat up suddenly in her bed when a violent pain in her abdomen woke her.
She breathed, trying to will this feeling away but to no avail, she was going into labour. She tried to get up to drink a glass of water when the pain of her contraction disappeared but once she reached the glass on the table in their rooms, her water broke and she screamed.
He husband startled awake when he heard her, in the blink of an eye he was out of bed.
He approached rapidly but stopped when he saw the floor stained with what appeared to be liquid in the dimly lit chamber.
"Catherine ?" He approached nonetheless when he saw her expression and the hand that clutched her belly.
"Henry, now. It's now. My water broke." Now he understood that the liquid on the floor was not spilled water.
"Alright, we've got this. He stayed calm for both of their sakes." He lifted her in his arms with the greatest care and took her back to their bed.
He laid her there and went to call for the midwife to come immediately. Then, he lit up the room with as many candles as he found and quickly returned to his wife's side.
She was in the middle of the bed, silently gripping the sheets with her hands and gritting her teeth to stifle the screams.
He sat on one side and took her hand in his. "I think it's best if I do not hold your hand, I don't want to hurt you, Henry" She said and tried to take her hand away from his before the next contraction. But it was without counting on Henry. He immediately prevented her from leaving his hand. "Catherine, don't even think on it, and squeeze as hard as you want, there is no other place where I'd rather be than by your side as you deliver our princess into the world and make me a father again. Just try not to break my fingers please." He smiled at her and she returned it as well as she could.
That's the moment that chose the midwife to make her appearance. But she wasn't the true midwife, she was only an inexperienced novice…
"Majesties, I… I was told the moment had come." She said unsure of herself.
She went between the Queen's legs, took the end of her nightgown and asked "If you would please, you Grace."
"Do whatever you have to do." Answered Catherine, beads of sweet beginning to form at her temples. Luckily, Henry saw that and dabbed her forehead with a nearby cloth.
In the mean time, Clemence, the "midwife", gathered the Queen's garment above her knees and assessed the state of the delivery process Catherine was in.
She gasped when she saw the Queen nearly fully dilated.
"What ?" asked the King when he heard her gasping.
"Nothing your Majesty, I'm surprised to see you dilated so quickly." She looked at Catherine.
"This is not our first child, isn't it supposed to go faster." Asked the King.
"Yes, in theory, it should." Agreed Clemence.
"I need to push" Said Catherine tearing them from their discussion.
"Not yet, your Grace. We need to wait a little more." Said Clemence, softly.
"I can't" said the Queen.
"How long ?" questioned the King.
"I can't tell exactly, it could take very little time but it could also be very long."
Fortunately for Catherine, she reached 10 centimetres in the next five minutes.
"It's good now, your Majesty. You'll start to push. I suppose I don't have to explain to you when to push ?" The young girl asked.
Before Catherine ate her alive, Henry intervened : "I think it won't be necessary, after 10 children, I'm certain she knows."
AN : Here it is, Catherine trying to give birth with a novice and inexperience girl, Henry'll have to help. :)
Let me know what you think.
Laura D.