"I stayed in one place for too long
got to get on the run again
I saw the one thing that I want
help me get out of bed
I'm throwing rocks at your window
You are trying to put sheets together
They say we are dreaming too big,
I say this town's too small
(Dream!)

Set me aside, turn back the clock
give me some time
I need to break out
and make a new name
Let's open our eyes
to the brand new day
It's a brand new day

I've taken hits like Apollo
but I'm getting back up again
And from the moment I saw her
I was hell bent with heaven sent
I'm throwing rocks at your window
We are leaving this place together
They say we are dreaming too high
get used to looking up.
(Dream!)

Set me aside, turn back the clock
give me some time
I need to break out
and make a new name
Let's open our eyes
to the brand new day
It's a brand new day!

I know it's a brand new day!
Come on to the brand new day!
(Dream!)

Set me aside, turn back the clock
give me some time
I need to break out
and make a new name
Let's open our eyes
to the brand new day

It's a brand new day"
~Brand New Day by

Anne was saddened by the King's attitude. She would have expected more decorum from His Majesty following her brother's ambassador's reports that she was ignorant when it came to notions of what he and his court called courtly love. There was no such thing in Cleves, furthermore how was she supposed to act when a stranger dressed in shabby clothes started fondling her breasts and tried to kiss her?

Was it stupid of her to act like a lady of her station would if she were in her position? Of course not! This was outrageous and only when he pulled down his hood and revealed his royal seal, did she understand who he was and tried to make up for it with idle chatter.

The damage though, was already done. And today when it was supposed to be the lady of Cleves' happiest day, she walked to the altar with a gloomy expression, barely looking at her groom.

Henry as his bride was dressed for the occasion. In fine rich clothing as she was, silver and gold with the regal of France as he called it (the ring he had torn from the infamous Archbishop of Canterbury, the Catholic saint, Thomas Beckett's dead finger when he desecrated his grave) on his middle finger, reluctantly saying the words that he would be with her until death do them part.

Certainly until death does her part –some people thought. Since she would be the first that went to her grave quite literally for displeasing the King. All the others who died were because of childbirth and trying to give the King what he most wanted: a son. One succeeded and the other had a child in the care of her worst enemy, surprisingly being cared for better than any of her relatives ever would have cared for her.

When the Mass ended and Thomas Cranmer pronounced them man and wife, everyone clapped (a nervous clap) and said "Amen" and joined the couple for the ongoing celebrations in Greenwich's great hall.

Everyone was inwardly praying that this marriage would last. People were whispering amongst themselves that the last time he married a foreigner it lasted. "How long though? First or second time?"

"How do we know when he is going to drop the axe? Literally drop the axe and say I don't want to be with this woman anymore or worse, create an international crisis that makes England more isolated?"

"King of England? More like King of Nothing." Was the general sentiment but no one dared to voice it except John More, and he was careful when he did because he knew the King and his master secretary had spies everywhere. Henry VIII saw himself as a god but he was just a puny little man, a child trapped in a man's body.

He felt a tug at his shirt and saw Anne standing next to him. The former Queen of England looked gorgeous. He could not deny her that. Black fur, red gown with a golden coronet like the ones he remembered from the days when she was Queen of England. She wasn't the one tugging his sleeve however, it was the baby she was holding. His one year old half-sister, Princess Katherine Isabella Tudor.

"She likes you. She only does that with me and Bess. Let him go Bella, it's not nice to do that to our family members." Bella didn't let go and it took a gentle nudge from Anne to release him. "She gets too excited when she is around family. That's a very nice suit little John. Who bought it for you?"

"Thanks, the King did. He's been treating me really well." He said, there was apprehension in his eyes as he looked from Henry to his sister.

"How well?" Anne asked, a legitimate question she considered given the boy's short and unsatisfying answer.

"Well enough." He said in a strong voice that reminded her of his father.

Anne didn't pry any further. She switched topics and talked about his sister and asked him if he wanted to visit her. "Your mother would have liked to see you two together. And she likes you which is more than I can say for most people. She has quite a grip too, last week she broke her wooden toy soldier. Isn't that right Bess?"

"Yes, she did." Bess said coming from behind her with her cousin hand in hand, Annie Boleyn.

"So what do you say?"

John could feel Henry VIII's eyes on him. He wanted to take the Lady Marques' offer but it would anger the king. "With all due respect my lady, I think you hardly –if ever- knew my mother and it seems like Her Highness has everything she needs in your care." The answer stunned Anne whose daughter opened her mouth to give him a strong response but before she could, he said "If you will excuse me" and left the scene.

~o~

"That little twerp."

"Elizabeth."

"We come here in peace offering him paradise and this is how he turns you down?" She let go of Annie and crossed her arms against her chest, and shook her head "I hope that little idiot gets more punished." He deserved it. She felt sad for him when she first saw him, there in the high table, next to her father staring with sad eyes at their sister in her mother's eyes. She wanted to take his hand and tell him that she and his mother could make things better for him. But after the way he talked to them, Bess didn't think he deserved any pity.

"Come Bess, let's go back up. I am sure he had his reasons."

Bess didn't think he did. What could make him be so rude and turn down something so great? As far as she was concerned, if she heard anything more about the More boy complaining or suffering at the hands of her father, he deserved it because if he thought that wallowing in self-pity and having others cry for him and beg him was going to solve anything, he was wrong. If she learned one good thing from the bible and her tutors, it was that God helps those who help themselves, not needy cry-babies like John More who seemed to have inherited their sister's self-pity syndrome.

The Cleves Ambassador was nervous –and he had every right to be so. The marriage was not consummated by what his lady told him, and worse, the King didn't want to be near her. This was bad. Very bad. If word got back to his master by anyone other than him, he would be recalled or worse, replaced and he knew for a fact that the person who would replace him would not talk too kindly of him.

The way politics work, you had to take the fall for your master. His mentor had taught him that. If your master looks bad, all the realm look bad, so even if it stains your reputation, you must take the fall (for the greater good).

Carl hated this. If his lady would just have learned about these things. He felt like she had been set up. After all, she tried very hard when she arrived to Calais a month ago, to learn about English customs. She even asked Viscount Lisle to teach her how to play cards and various Earls about the different dances that were popular on her adoptive country. When she asked the Duke of Suffolk upon reaching the Bishop's Palace at Rochester if there was anything else she should be aware of, he said "No, there is nothing. I think you are well versed in England enough." The Lady of Cleves was suspicious and relied those suspicions on her ladies who relay them back on him and he tried to get there in time to tell his lady about what the king might try to do but when he reached her it was already too late.

Sometimes I think these English people love fucking with everyone just for the sake of it. He would not be surprised if it turned out that they were plotting to overthrow her and push one harlot in his path to make her his Queen. After all, with them, everything was possible.

Tomorrow would be the anniversary when her mother rejected that heretic Thomas More and went back to her father. And the day that she also failed to include me in the line of succession ahead of my sisters as Princess. Her mother paid though. She paid in full when God took her from this earth.

Sometimes Mary thought about where her mother resided now. Heaven or hell? Or neither? Was she in purgatory paying for her sins until she repented or maybe she was nowhere like the atheist of More believed, and she just ceased to exist altogether? Such things were hard for her to fathom and sometimes she didn't bother to think about them at all. Today wasn't one of those days. The Emperor showed her to his son's chambers and she was excited when she saw the young Philip. He was far too serious for a boy and despite Mary's best attempts to get him to show him all his drawings and translations to Spanish, it proved futile.

Charles excused his behavior as any parent would with the old 'he is just shy' but Mary knew better. There was too much of his mother in him. He wasn't shy. He like so many saw her as an impostor and was ready to fight her. For what? She wanted to ask him. She didn't come here to Spain to destroy or take over. She had a clear path in life and she believed that God had given her the necessary tools to make that happen. It would be foolish of her -and even lazy- if she didn't make use of them.

"I am sure he will." Mary said, deciding to go along with her cousin, and waved away at her second cousin who turned his back to her in an unsavory manner muttering something in his breath (in terrible Latin).

"I have something else to show you." He took her back to his study. "I made this last week."

"It is wonderful." She said as he placed it in her hands. It felt so light unlike the other ones but not fragile like the one he said he gave Isa (his nickname for his wife, and their petulant cousin Isabella of Portugal). "You made this in just one week?"

He shook his head, laughing at her remark. "Of course not. I did it in a day."

"What?"

"I did. You don't believe me? Ask Adrian."

"No, I do believe you, it is just that wow. This is amazing. I have never seen such a beautiful design. It looks so ... so like it was taken from another time and place and landed here, with you, on your Imperial hands."

"You have a way with words, cousin."

"Please call me Mary. If we are going to be on first name basis, it must be mutual don't you think?" He nodded smiling at her wit and boldness. Clearly Virgil was right when he wrote on his celebrated Aeneid, that fame favored the bold. "So," she continued putting her hand on the table, nearly leaning on him. "what motivated you to do a design this fast?"

He blinked.

"What?"

"Nothing ... It is just that ... I thought it was obvious by now. It is for you." He turned serious now and with their faces so close, he could not fight back the urge that had been eating him ever since he laid eyes on her for the first time in years since she was five. How little, puny she had been that it was almost impossible to believe that she had blossomed into the beautiful woman in front of him right now. Almost impossible.

"Me?" She asked. "But... but what about Isabella?" She took her hand off from the table and leaned back. "We can't." But before she could say something more he kissed her.

A/N: That is all for now. I tweaked the Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII's wedding. Originally they did marry on that date and wore lavish clothing and had the wedding and reception at the Queen's Closet and the grand hall at Greenwich but the color of their clothing was very different. Secondly today is the day that Catherine of Aragon died (7 January 1536) so I wanted to make a tribute to both dates. I hope you like it and please review!