Disclaimer: I neither own Reign, nor profit from this story.

Ch 33 - Just Breathe

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and when they finally did begin to look around again Catherine and Henry knew immediately that their plan had been successful. It was a bittersweet success.

Hating the necessity of what they had needed to do and was to come next, they called all the children over and began explaining the rest of what was to come.

"Mother, Father," Mary asked in a harried voice, "What happened to them, are they…"

Hating that such thoughts had immediately jumped to her relatively innocent daughter's mind Catherine consoled her immediately. "No Mary, they are simply drugged into sleep, and will be for several hours now thanks to a potion created by Nostradamus."

"But why?" Francis asked, having not yet fully grasped the weight of the situation.

Henry walked over to Francis and clapped him on the shoulder. "Unfortunately my son there was no reason to believe that these men would have allowed your marriage to go through only to steal Mary away, especially as we held firm on the two of you not being required to consummate the marriage tonight."

"What is comsermeting?" asked Little Henry, clearly confused by what was going on.

To this Catherine answered seamlessly, "It means that a man and a woman have agreed to and are ready to become parents, and Mary and Francis are still far too young for that."

Henry looked over at his wife at that point with a smile on his face at her seamless ability to word things just right. He then continued, "We have arranged with Ms. de Poitiers that you two will stay in her establishment for at least a week, longer if the men are especially persistent.

Making sure that he had the full attention of both newlyweds he continued, "You should stay in the house until it is deemed safe to come out and in your room as often as possible in case they decide to check through the village before they leave. You will a receive a key for the door that locks from the inside and should be as safe as we can possibly make you."

"But what if they…," Mary interrupted but Henry was not finished.

"When they finally do awaken we will inform then that you have been sent away as protection against any further misdeeds on their part, in addition to alleviating them of their swords so that they should only be able to inflict minimal damage if they try."

Catherine at this point walked over and embraced them both with a hand on their opposite shoulders. "You both have been so brave and mature to this point. You will just need to hold on a little longer before this should be finished for good."

She turned directly to Mary before she continued, "In you room we have been promised there will be be two separate cots so that you should be comfortable for the duration."

Next she turned her attention back to Francis, "I trust both of you to be respectful of each other's wishes, for as you are now man and wife and allowed to indulge in the freedoms not afforded to you before, you are indeed still young and should not rush things before their time."

Catherine turned to smile at them both before pulling them into a hug which Henry finished by drawing them all in en mass.

The younger ones moved to join in too but Claude and Elisabeth held them back. There would be plenty of time for hugs and farewells later, but for now they needed to make good use of their time.

Moving to be released from the huddle Catherine turned everyone's attention back to what needed to happen next."

"Mary and Francis you need to go pack, to be ready to leave as soon as possible."

She turned to Bash next, "If you would please escort them in to the village. I think it might be best if you and Francis both carried your swords with you as well."

He nodded his head in ascent and was glad that he could finally do something to help.

Nostradamus spoke up at that point, "We too would be happy to escort everyone to their evening accommodations," he said definitively, motion towards the priest.

Glad that this was finally almost over Catherine breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you everyone for helping us with this, it means a great deal."

"More than we can express," Henry added.

Walking up slowly the priest spoke up for nearly the first time that night.

"It is possible if they do not consummate their marriage that it might yet be annulled, or at the very least its reality could remain within these four walls."

Catherine smiled genuinely at his offer but though this was something of a last minute development, she did not think for a minute that it was unwelcome by her son and now daughter by law.

"We certainly appreciate that father, but unless Mary and Francis decide now that this was not what they wanted, I do not believe that will be necessary."

They looked over at the newlyweds who both looked at each other and shook their heads as a blush crept up their necks.

A single look downward would also reveal a pair of their hands clasped between them, happily intertwined despite their overall discomfort of what recent event has set in motion. The priest smiled at their honest admission and subtle display of affection. "Well then, my congratulations to the new couple and I pray that your marriage will be as blessed as your parent's here."

This time it was Catherine and Henry's turn to blush.

All things considered the rest of the evening and the next several weeks were uneventful.

In addition to packing up Mary and Francis, they used a cart to bring the men to the church where they laid them out on the pews to sleep for the night.

The men were certainly displeased at the turn of events and as planned woke up in the church the next morning with the priest near by to pass on the message.

As Munro was not the type of man to simply let things go he began a thorough search of the village disbelieving that the couple had been spirited away as had been reported to him. Unfortunately this also brought him the wrong kind of attention and by the time he and his men had ransacked the town and were headed back in the direction of the Valois home, a crowd had gathered ready to send them straight along on their way.

Another thing to be thankful for.

Once Catherine and Henry felt they were fully in the clear Mary and Francis left their room, or their holiday suite as they had come to call it, and returned home. Though not initially intended, they did now occupy the newest addition to the house. Henry had build them a larger bed suitable for the size of the room and not so small as to make them uncomfortable.

And life continued as usual.

One positive thing that had come out of their confinement was that Mary had the chance to witness even more of the midwife's work, and was even allowed to watch a birth in progress.

Catherine was amused at her chattiness over the whole thing once she returned.

What she was not amused at however was how much more attentive Mary had become with her own pregnancy. Every twinge, every groan, every time Catherine did something different than usual Mary was there trying to help or diagnose whatever ailed her.

It did not help Catherine's anxiety over the whole thing, especially as her time drew near.

A boring life, Catherine decided, was all that she wanted. Just a plain, ordinary, boring life.