I do not own Reign.

Sophia was frozen, but not just in the normal sense of the word. Sophia was rooted to the spot she was in and it seemed she was unable to move. She supposed that that was the very definition of frozen but it seemed more like a paralysis than anything. She was becoming dizzy and her stomach twisted up. This happened whenever she had to deal with something that she didn't want to.

She could feel his eyes on the back of her head but still she didn't move or speak. He seemed to be willing to wait for her; unless of course he had already left. She found that rather unlikely and didn't want to turn around to test her theory. She was supposed to be the one to make the decision to tell him or not and now he knew.

She supposed it wasn't a terrible thing that he knew. The only thing wrong with that was that he would feel the need to take control of the situation and that is exactly what Sophia had been hoping to avoid. She would have to be calm and collected if she hoped to be able to have any say in the matter. And she planned to have quite a lot of say.

So she took a breath and regained her composure. She turned to find him smiling at her. It was his aggravating smile it set every nerve in her on edge as if they hadn't been before. She pointed a finger at him.

"You are not Francis." She said almost accusingly.

"How gracious of you to notice" He said his smirk getting wider. "I am not in fact Francis. I came to apologize for my actions last night. You really should look who you are spouting off to before you just go on and on." He said to her. She had to take several breathes before she trusted herself to say something. She needed to leave. She resisted the urge to run. Because that is what she did. When something came up she didn't want to face she simply ran; literally sprinted off. It had worked for her in the past. However right now she would try to look like she had it under control.

"Your apology is accepted, thank you for coming to find me but I really must be going." She said she turned back around and went to walk away.

"You are not going to walk away from this Soph." He said. She heard the dead set in his tone. He would stop her if she tried to leave. She knew that but perhaps she cold reason her way out.

"That is precisely what I intend to do and you are going to let me." She said walking away faster now.

"I don't think so" Was all he said as she rounded the corner to the building. She made it along the side of the wall and when she reached the front he was standing there. He had come from the other side.

"If you think I am going to let you leave you don't know me at all." He said to her. His eyes were steel like and dared her to try and leave; so much for reason. Without a word she walked back along the stone wall of the small shack. She reached about halfway before she turned around and bolted. She was wearing men's clothes with helped greatly as she skidded to the front of the shack and started running toward the palace.

"Not this time." She heard him say. She hadn't anticipated him being so near the front of the building. She was no more than five yards off when he caught up with her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and started dragging her back to where they had come from. "I do not understand why it is that you run. It gets you nowhere."

"It would have gotten me away from you." She reminded him as she fought against his strong arms as he dragged her feet through the damp grass. She gave up and let herself be brought back to the stone wall. He picked her up as though she weighed nothing more than a child's doll and set her on the wall. He wasn't gentle about it either and she glared at him. He stepped away from her and he walked back an fourth in front of her occasionally rubbing his hand over his face.

"You brought me back here to watch you pace? This is quite interesting. I can't think of anything I would rather do today." She said. He looked up at her and her heart stopped. There was something about the way that he locked eyes with her that made her close her mouth. He was determined and something else she couldn't explain.

"Sophia Isabella, you will be quiet." He said and as he turned he thought of something else to add. "Also you will not move from that spot or I promise you I will strap you down with a bridle." She shook her head at him but she had no doubt that he would so she stayed where he had set her. He walked aback and fourth for a few minutes before he recaptured her gaze.

"You weren't going to tell me?" He asked her

"I hadn't decided yet." She replied looking away from his accusation

"You were going to leave and leave letting me think that you had planned to marry him all along?" He threw the words at hurt and they hit her as they were intended to.

"I just told you that I hadn't decided." She said but this time she almost whispered it.

"You thought that I had no right to know that the woman I loved was going to marry me? That I should live thinking that my offer of marriage wasn't good enough?" He stood looking at her and she kept her eyes fastened to her hands. " That you wouldn't marry the bastard son of the king of France." Her eyes snapped up at him

"That hardly seems likely seeing as I am illegitimate." She said.

"I thought perhaps you wanted something better than that for the rest of your life." He spoke and she wanted to comfort him but she didn't move. "Do you love him?" He asked her. NO! her heart screamed it filled her but she choked it back

"Bash…" She said but he held up his hand to her.

"It isn't as if it matters." He said and he started to walk around the wall back to the castle. Sophia was now infuriated. It was amazing to how her emotions flipped so quickly around him. She got up and followed him keeping his quick pace.

"You refuse to let me run away and yet you are doing that very thing. There goes the brave Sebastian running away." She said and he turned and grabbed her arm tightly.

As she faced him she couldn't see anything in those eyes of his; it frightened her. She could always see something but right now they were devoid of emotion and the look he was giving her was a match to the one he had given her when he had found her and Hannah. What she wanted to do in that moment was pull away and let him leave. She could marry Gerald and it would be a very secure future. She would never have to fight with Bash again. She would never have to look into his eyes again and wonder what he hid behind them. But the wall that Bash had put up now was only coming down one way.

So she did something that terrified her. She put her hand on his cheek. He tried to pull away but she pulled her arm out of his and held his face there with her palms.

"I don't love him." She said and kissed him lightly. "I love you."

His shoulders slouched and all the tension in his shoulders dissolved. He bent and kissed her. It was a wonder that it never got old; kissing him like this. It always turned her insides to nothing. It made her unable to think of living without him. She wondered of how she had thought that she could. At that thought she pulled from him. He straightened and she placed her head on his chest.

"Gerald." The word hung in the air for a moment as Bash wrapped his arms around her.

"I suppose it would be improper of me to offer marriage to you when you are betrothed to another." He said and her heart sped up.

"It may be but I would still here you say it." She said. He got down on both his knees so that he could look up into her face.

"If I were married to you I would need no one else." He said and tears filled her eyes. "I want to wake up to the sun every morning and see you lying next to me. I want you to teach our girls to be as brash as you. I want you to be there to keep me in line; I want you to need me to tell you to be quiet. Sophia will you stay with me and be mine?