Bash takes a seat, Kenna joining on the chair to his left. "Maman," he starts, Diane's attention on the birds flying around outside. "Hi."
Diane warily turns to him, her hair thinned and greyed from her years confined to the institute. She resents him still, a little bit of her because... because he's the reason she's here and the voices are silenced. How long has it even been? She hasn't seen him since Henry stopped taking him to visit her, saying it was best for their son's health as he always had nightmares after seeing her. So, it must be about a whole full twenty-one years since she last saw him, a little eight-year-old, wide-eyed boy who never spoke to her in fear of being attacked again.
Henry always coaxed him but he would shake his head and hide in his father's frame. The thought makes Diane whimper as tears spring to her eyes and she turns to the beautiful, caramel-haired sun-bronzed-skin woman, her bright brown eyes glaring at her slightly and Diane feels intimidated by her presence despite the probable large age-gap.
"Henry said he'd stop bringing you..." Diane whispers uncertainly.
Bash smiles wryly. "I'm not a kid, Maman. I-I'm twenty-nine... My birthday was last month. Do you remember?"
The days come and go but she never forgets her son's birthday. It's like a nervous flutter of butterflies in her stomach on the day itself and she mourns his lack of presence.
"23rd of March," she manages to get out.
"Y-Yeah," Bash breathes out in slight surprise. But then again, she gave birth to him and knew all her children's birthdays. "Do you get visitors? The nurse sounded surprised." He knows Henry stopped visiting when Bash turned eighteen, sort of like since their son was now officially an adult, their lives no longer entwined together. They never spoke, Henry told Bash, he just kept her company as she stared into the abyss in her mind.
"Frannie comes twice a year," Diane starts. "Louise on my birthday... Matthew never comes. You never come. My sons hate me."
Bash sighs, leaning back in his seat. His older half-siblings lived apart from him and his mother when he was growing up before Henry got full-custody. Matthew was sent into care because she couldn't cope with being a single mother, especially after he was a product of rape. Bash thinks that probably stemmed most of his mother's mental health issues because she seldom called him 'Matty'.
With Louise and Francoise, their father Louis divorced Diane because of her issues and he abandoned her and took their young daughters, four and seven respectively then, away from Diane. He gained full custody and was surprised to hear that Diane had Sebastian ten years after as she neared her forties. Louis had visited them a few times, hoping Bash and his sisters would get along but the girls stayed away and ultimately, Louis had given up on his kind gesture which left Bash leaning to his father's other children for sibling love.
Bash scoffs when he realises he doesn't even know what they're doing with their lives right now. They could be parents or whatever now... He doesn't know nor does he think he should but Narcisse said something about healing from his past so he must confront all his demons even if they aren't demons as such. Just absent sisters and a brother he never knew in the first place.
"Okay, I'm here now," Bash says, reaching blindly for Kenna's warm hand. He sighs in relief when she squeezes it and that reminds him to introduce her as his mother's eyes fearfully look her way again. "Don't be scared, Maman. This is Kenna, my wife."
Kenna smiles wryly but she knows it's probably come out as a grimace. "Hello, Diane."
Diane blinks in surprise. "She's beautiful," she says quietly, reaching out to brush Kenna's hair from her eye and slip it behind her ear. "When did you marry her?"
"Almost five years ago," Bash replies. "Sorry, we didn't invite you. I wasn't ready to let Kenna know you..."
Diane seems to have a moment of lucidness as she scoffs softly, bowing her head. "Because I would have wrapped my hands around your throat. Well, you're not so small anymore, Sebastian."
Bash takes a sharp intake of breath before releasing it and shaking his head a little. "What do you remember about that day?"
"I don't know," Diane mumbles tiredly, covering her eyes with a hand. "I didn't want you to get hurt but then... they wouldn't stop. They said you'll hurt me. I tried fighting them, telling them that you were my sweet, little boy but they got louder and I-I couldn't... I had to because they couldn't get to you too."
Kenna looks at the other woman in shock before she turns to Bash, incredulous. Is this thing inherited? Could a child of theirs get this woman's madness? She scolds herself, she'll still love them regardless and it's not Diane's fault nor is it Bash's or anyone else's for that matter. Some people just aren't... They aren't institutionally wired the same as everyone else. And that's okay. She can't blame Diane nor can she strangle the woman and Diane seems to love her son despite it all. She was fighting against the voices but the voices won and her husband got fucked over.
"Do you know," Kenna starts softly. "If you hadn't abused my husband, he wouldn't be screaming in his sleep in my arms?"
Bash turns to her in shock. "Kenna, no-"
"Sebastian?" His mother questions quietly, tears springing to her eyes. She's truly ruined him and now this other woman hates her because he's her responsibility now. Did she know of his battles before they got together? "I-Is she telling the truth?"
"I'm not here to guilt you," Bash says firmly, eyeing Kenna pointedly as his wife sinks into her chair and keeps quiet, her hand squeezing his in slight apology but she'll make it up to him later when she's less in tuned to strangle his mother. "I'm... I'm here to forgive you and I want you to forgive me too. F-For not visiting and seeing you sooner. I just... I couldn't because I run away from things and don't like facing the truth most of the time even though I crave it and ask for it in the first place. It's toxic, I know but I'm working on it."
"It's a process," Kenna adds softly, sharing a smile with him.
Diane watches their silent conversation, wondering how on Earth he's managed to get such a strong, pure relationship with a woman despite the only woman important in his life attempting to kill him. She corrects herself, there are two important women in his life and neither are her.
She's had Catherine de Medici of all people storm into the place once or twice. The first time, she remembers her cheek stinging and then Catherine demanding to know how a woman could hurt her child if she loved him so much? She swore, so hard, that she'd never hurt Francis, Margot and Leeza as well as Baby Claude. Then she made Diane a promise.
Catherine may not have approved of the way Sebastian came to be, she was experiencing a heartbreaking miscarriage as her husband had an affair with Diane, but she couldn't hate Bash. She hated his father until they eventually had Francis and then the hate had dissipated into love after Claude came around. She hated Diane and Diane knows Catherine will hate her to her last breath, the Italian woman held grudges like no other and she swore she felt needle pricks in her skin from possible voodoo doll attempts by Catherine's hand. She laughs mentally, Catherine's just as mad as her but her madness stems from protecting her children, not hurting them.
Cather de Medici promised to show Sebastian the same love and attention she gave her biological children. She couldn't care less about him until Henry came hurrying home one day, crying and begging her to help him. Leaving the children with a nanny, she had followed him to Diane's home, finding the woman passed out on the grass of the front lawn as her son laid beside her, just as unconscious with a purpling neck. She thought them to be dead until Henry revealed what he had stumbled across, worried for his son's safety. He had a great reason to be concerned and they had saved Bash, took him into their home, sat with him during his nightmares and eventually, he broke out of his shell and became something despite his horrifying start to life.
"You love my son?"
"With all my heart," Kenna says easily. "He doesn't need to be fixed, you know? He can do that himself but I'm here to support him."
Bash presses a kiss on the back of her hand. "No matter what, Maman, I love you."
"I love you too," Diane says, bursting into tears. "Don't ever apologise to me, it's my fault. I should have sought help sooner... but... they would do what they did to Matty and take you away from me. I tried again with Louise and Francoise but Louis took them away from me too. I kept getting it wrong and I just... I just need to get it right but it's too late." She's getting frantic now, her tears inconsolable as Bash lets go of Kenna and brings his mother into his arms tightly. "It's too late..." Her voice breaks and she grips onto his shirt tightly. "Catherine was right. I should never have been a mother..."
"It's not too late, Maman," Bash says shakily. "I'm here now."
Diane looks up at him, hope in her eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I am," Bash whispers, pressing a kiss on the top of her head as she sighs in relief, falling asleep on his chest.
Her nurse later helps to unwind Diane from his arms and take her to her room and Bash sags into his seat, drained.
"Bash?" Kenna asks softly.
His glassy eyes meet hers and he smiles. "I'm okay," he assures her. "Let's go home."
"Okay. I'll cook dinner," Kenna offers, giving him a hand to help him up as she wraps her arm around his waist as they make their way towards the exit.
They sign out and Bash makes a promise to the staff to return next week before taking hold of Kenna's hand and leaving the facility.
Kenna drives them home, Bash staring out the window as he contemplates getting in contact with his estranged older siblings just to make their mother's birthday special this year. If he can forgive her for abusing him, surely they can do the same? But he doesn't want to downplay what she did to them. He's probably had it worse but Matthew was the product of rape and he'd go around knowing that for his whole life.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"So British," her husband mutters lightly. "Nothing. Well, I'm thinking about my older half-siblings but it's not set in stone regarding what I want to do about them..."
"I see," Kenna replies. "Well, you'll work it out."
"Hmm," he hums. "I love you."
Kenna smiles, her fingers entwining with his as she relaxes one hand on the steering wheel. "Love you too, mon amour."
"Hey, do you want pizza?"
Kenna laughs. "Yeah, go on then."
...
Fresh dough and Cokes, eaten at the beach. The wind drives Kenna's hair crazy as Bash stares at her from the position laying on the hood of his car. She scoffs a few times, trying to pull her dress down when the wind tries to make her flash everything and he smiles, staring at her in disbelief.
"Why are you smirking," she asks lightly and accusingly.
"Just want a glimpse of that underwear you put on this morning," he quips, receiving a hit as his wife scours the place.
"Hey, I am not going to get arrested for having sex in public."
Bash laughs, picking at his pizza in the box. "Remember our first real date?"
Kenna snorts. "Was it even a date?" She asks, her brows furrowing in confusion as a smile grows on her face. "God, I was on my period and it was so bad... Mary and Francis were busy in her room and I didn't want to go out so late into the night to grab some painkillers so I texted you..."
"I came over and walked you to the closest pharmacy. We ended up buying a whole bunch of sweets and chocolates," Bash says. "I think I threw up a lung back then because of how much we ate. Then we watched some old arse French soap on TV at three in the morning."
Kenna digs into her pocket and chucks a packet of something at him. "There you go."
Bash laughs, giving her a grin. "Peanut M&Ms?"
"You loved them," she says softly.
"I still do," he replies, kissing her softly. He opens the packet up and chucks one in the direction of her opened mouth. He awards her with a kiss when she catches it. "My little sea lion."
"Oh, fuck off," she says, laughing against his lips.
He leans back, picking an orange one out. "When did you get these?"
"When you stopped to charge the car," she says. "I thought they'd make you better in the case of our trip not going down too well... It's not much but..."
Bash's heart swells. "God, you're amazing," he breathes out in awe. "It was alright. I'm going to try with my mother and I'll let you in more when it comes to her. Just don't attempt to strangle her. There have been enough people with hands around their throats."
Kenna laughs wryly. "Sure."
"They do make me better," he finally says, plopping the M&M into his mouth happily.
"Hey?"
"Hmm?"
"Say something in French, please."
Bash raises his brows. "Uh... Okay. Je suis content quand je suis avec toi."
Kenna smiles, looking away from him towards the ocean. "I thought you were going to say something I wouldn't understand," she replies. "I'm happy when I'm with you too."
He presses a featherlight kiss on her neck and her eyes flutter close before she stops him from going further. "What?"
"My earlier observation stands," she says. "But let's finish this up and go home. We don't necessarily have to do it on a bed..." Your car's perfectly fine.
Bash chuckles, sliding off his car and helping her off as he closes the pizza boxes, Kenna disposing of their finished Coke cans. He decides to save the rest of the pizza for later when they get hungry.
As they drive off, Kenna turns and stares at the ocean through the back window and she smiles in content, feeling her husband's hand on her thigh.