Anne did not forget Mary's words quickly. She as now constantly worried that something was worrying her, which was really just mind-boggling. She tried to glue herself to Edward at all times to make sure nothing was wrong between them. She constantly questioned him with a large range of queries about their relationship at the ready. She also made sure that they went to bed together as much as possible, to keep their relationship strong, despite his increasingly terrible work habits. Of course, lying together every day for four months brought pregnancy to Anne's life once more. She couldn't even be furious with Edward this time since it had been mostly her own fault.

Anne passed by the King one morning as she returned from Mass, and he called out to her. She turned around and curtseyed to him, luckily having no belly yet to get in her way. "Your majesty." She said. I hope he does not think I have forgotten that day.

"Lady Hertford." He said, walking over to her. He had been standing with a few men, but he shooed them away with his hand. "How are you?"

Anne was not in the mood for small talk, especially not with the King. "As well as I can be with another child in my belly, your majesty. Is there something you need?"

Henry looked her up and down, definitely regretting his decision not to force her into an annulment with Edward and then condemn her to a marriage to him. "The Earl has told me you are with child once more." He said, a hint of jealousy in his tones. The little queen still had not given him a son, nor shown any signs of pregnancy. "That is good news."

Anne looked at him, waiting for him to say more but he didn't. Just as I suspected: small talk. "It is, your majesty." Anne agreed awkwardly. She was sure that he was only saying it was good because he had to be polite. She remained silent, waiting to see if he would speak to her again; he had never answered her question. Had he stopped her for a purpose, or he was merely wasting her time?

"The court will leave on progress soon." He stated plainly. It looked as if he was regretting engaging in conversation with her to begin with. He had only wanted to speak to her, see how she was, then go, but even he knew well she was not the kind of woman to have small talk. "Will you be coming?"

Anne shook her head. What a pointless question. "No, your majesty. Edward has told me he will stay here, and so I will stay with him, as a dutiful wife should."

Henry raised his eyebrows. "Originally I had decided to leave London in the Earl's hands, but I recently had a change in heart, and insisted that he come along. Did he not tell you?"

Anne looked at him curiously. "No, he did not." She said, trying to seem neutral. "I should ask him about it then. How recently did you change your mind, your majesty?"

"A month ago." Henry said, looking out the window for a moment.

"I will go speak to him about it right away." Anne said, mock-sweetly. She was digging her teeth into the inside of her lip as she curtseyed to the King once more. "If you'd excuse me, your majesty."

The King nodded to her and then continued to walk in the direction he had been heading before hand. He knew well that he had stirred the pot between Edward and Anne, and he was quite content with himself for getting his revenge on the woman who did not like his touch.

Anne stalked off towards Edward's room, holding her anger back until she arrived. She knocked on the door heavily and hoped he was there. How dare he!

After a few seconds, Anne heard Edward's voice call "come in" and so she did, slamming the door heavily behind her.

He did not even bother to look up from his papers. "What is it, Anne?" he asked. His failure to properly acknowledge her just made her angrier. She stood in front of the door and did not come any closer.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, not quite yelling yet. "Why didn't you tell me you were going on progress again?"

Edward had to look up now, but he was not ready to face her eyes. He looked at her gown. "I forgot."

"How could you forget, you're leaving in a month." She retorted.

"Well, I didn't tell you because you're with child." He offered as an answer instead.

"His Majesty told me that he changed his mind a month ago. I was not with child a month ago. Do you not want me to come with you?" She asked, a little bit of sadness in her eyes.

Edward sighed and stood up from his desk, walking over to the other side. He approached her slightly, but dared not come all the way to her just yet. He knew she hadn't let everything out yet, and that could be dangerous for him. "Of course I would like you to come Anne, but what if you go into early labor? It was a choice I made for your own safety."

"There would be physicians with us, Edward, you must be joking. You know well the King will bring a whole team of medical persons with him because of his leg. Do not play me for a fool!" She snapped back. "And either way, I already know you knew about this almost an entire month before you found out I was with child. Why did you not tell me originally? Would you have just left suddenly, and not told me you were going?"

"No, I wouldn't have done that." He said, truthfully. He came a bit closer to her, but still didn't reach out to touch her. "Listen, I have a lot of work to do, I'm sure you can see that now, and well, progress is no vacation for the council. We're always hard at work; you must understand that I preferred you to stay home so I could get some work done. You're distracting."

Anne's mouth dropped open. "You could have just told me that to begin with! I thought we were supposed to be honest with each other, and have no secrets. What happened to that? Did you not think it applied to you?"

"You know and I know that you would have been angry no matter when I told you, and it's not like I was never going to tell you I was going! I would never just disappear on you without explanation." Edward replied, his voice beginning to reach a yell too but he then repressed his tone to a whisper. "I love you, Anne."

"But you love His Majesty and your work more." She said, turning her head to the side. She was more hurt than she could show by him keeping something secret from her; she really didn't care how important the actual matter was. He had not forgotten to tell her, he was just going to keep her in the dark until the day he left and then come up with some lie for why he now, suddenly had to go on progress.

Edward could not let her stand alone anymore. Part of him wished to yell back at her, but the other part wanted to comfort her, and explain himself. He realized now that keeping things from Anne was never a good solution. It was always best to tell her things straight up, and he was doing this for their family, for hopes of future advancements. "I don't." He said shortly, not knowing what else to say. "I could prove it in a million ways, Anne. I promise you, on my life, that I love you more than anything or anyone else on this earth."

She had to admit his words softened her up a bit, but she was still upset. She looked back to him as he touched her arm lightly, meeting his gaze. "Fine, I believe you but I still don't understand why you kept this from me, or why you think I can't be perfectly behaved and not distract you."

Edward furrowed his brow lightly then sighed. "I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking. I guess I assumed you wouldn't be able to control yourself."

Anne opened her mouth a bit. "You don't know me as well as you should then, because by now, you should know very well that I can very easily control myself."

He raised his eyebrows at her as she became angry with him once again. Can she really control herself at all? He decided to ignore the thoughts in his mind as he put a hand to Anne's cheek. "I do know you well." He attempted to assure her with only his words. He truly did know her better than she made it seem, better than anyone except Anne herself. "I promise, I just wasn't thinking straight, and I apologize for that."

Anne was surprised that Edward seemed to be giving up the fight so easily. Usually when they bickered at each other it would last longer than this, but she could tell he was tired, not of her, but from work and such. He couldn't handle a drawn out argument right now. She sighed and decided to give up her side, for now, mainly because he was not reacting the way she wanted him to, and also because the subject made her more sad than angry. "Alright." She said, looking down and then back into his eyes. "I understand."

"Good." Edward replied and kissed her on the lips. In his mind, he was quite surprised that Anne had given up just as quickly as he had, but Anne never liked to fight when winning was not a big deal. "Now, I have to get some work done, but I'll see you tonight. We can sleep together."

Anne nodded her head in reply, but was very quiet. A few moments ago she had to come to a very sad realization; something in their relationship was beginning to go wrong and though Edward was blind to it because he was severely distracted, Anne's distraction from everything else was Edward, so she noticed right away. Work is beginning to consume his life. She sighed quietly and then kissed Edward on the cheek, turning away from him and opening the door. "Goodbye husband." She whispered as she left. She felt as if she was saying goodbye to the part of their relationship she had, regrettably, grown so fond of, and that was their union, the partnership they had formed and been for so long. She left that room feeling like, if it hadn't been lost already, it was about to be. Of course, Anne was never one to give up, especially not on the one thing in her life that actually meant something to her. She walked back to her room holding back tears, but when she arrived there she realized it wasn't over; everything could be fixed.