Don Corleone: You spend time with your family?
Johnny Fontane: Sure I do.
Don Corleone: Good. A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.

~The Godfather Part I (1972)

"Is Annie getting any better?" Eustace asked leaving all formalities aside. He and his son and Philipa were alone so there were no need for any.

"No it seems not" Philippa confessed to the Earl of Hertford as was his English title since he married the former Protestant English Princess. Since then he'd risen far than any English man or foreigner in English history, reasons enough to envy him and gain as much enemies as new friends. Eustace dubiously regretted the appointments given to him by the Emperor first and now his unofficial son in law, the King of England, Edward. He didn't feel like he deserved any of them, what had he done to gain such honors? He'd done no great feat, won no battles, waged no war against foreign neighbors or dangerous opponents, vanished no infidels, destroyed no heretics or eliminated the Eastern threat. He'd only married a woman he'd thought he hated because of her mother and somehow that woman had gained him his elevation, something she was content and proud for it was no different than what she expected and the life she'd been accustomed all her life. Eustace however saw no pride in such gains which he had no merit.

"Let me talk to her"

"She is in no condition to receive you or anyone at this moment. She's locked herself in that room for days, she receives no one but me and the servants, she is constantly afraid though she does not admit it so. I am sorry Your Grace but whatever she is going through she will have to go through alone" Philipa, her chief lady in waiting said. "I am sorry but I am going to have to ask you to go"

Eustace did not heed her advice and went pass through, Anthony following.

"Your Grace, Your Grace!" They heard Philipa scream after them but Anthony wheeled around and caught Philipa's arms and sat her down in a couch nearby his sister's fireplace in her parlor.

"Why don't you entertain your dear companion Tony with one of your delights?" Asked Tony holding her arms tightly, her back pressed against his chest.

"Push off! Release me this instant"

"Or what?" Anthony teased kissing her earlobe "You will tell Her Majesty? Come I just want to have a little fun" and she turned to face him, her eyes glittering. She had never known how handsome he was in the moonlight. No I mustn't! "Let me go or I shall scream" she said trying to sound convincing but she failed, her voice quivered as her honey brown eyes met his dark blue ones. Boleyn eyes, bewitching eyes, a bewitching stare that bewitched her.

"Let me go" Pippa insisted. Her voice had grown huskier and Anthony saw his opportunity and took advantage of her weakened state and kissed her.

Annie began to chuckle, Eustace was so pleased with the effect her brother's liaisons had on her though on occasion he would tell his wife that he was worried for their eldest son. He was a Chapuys through and through but he had too much of his grandfather in him that it scared Eustace.
"No bastards" was Eustace's motto when he was lecturing his teenage son about the importance of his good behavior towards women and children. "Women and children can be careless if they want but not men. You must be able to stand on your two feet, think with your head before your male organ. Your grandfather always thought with his male organ and look where that got him"

"Chapuys charm huh?" She asked locking the door and her brain from Anthony and Philippa's muffled screams. "She will be marrying very soon, don't make Anthony postpone the wedding in fear he's going to turn me into an Aunt"

Eustace shook his head vigorously. His son would not be so careess as to claim Lady Philippa's maidenhead completely. He hoped. "I will pull his hair if he does" His son could not afford to be careless, for God's sake he was going to be the future Duke of Sicily. He better learn to behave.

"Anthony? Are we speaking of the same Chapuys? He will never know chastity, it is a shame he's broken many maidens' hearts already"

Eustace agreed. Many women unaware of the plans he and his mother had for George, flaunted themselves to Anthony. He was going to be the Duke of Sicily after all, George was simply a second son. A segundon, a pazzo, nothing more.

"What? I am just saying, he is too big" Anthony had claimed poking his new baby brother's nose. Eustace told him to stop and sent him a death glare, and then his wife threatened to take his grandfather's present and he grew silent again.
Bess claimed that George was all hers, Tudor and Boleyn although his cheekbones and almond shaped eyes that bore his mother's color said differently.

With him -he and Annie had planned an alliance for Scotland. Truth be told, he'd shared his ambitions with his two eldest children since their brother's birth. "One day" he'd promised "your 'big' brother will be Scotland's Consort"

Elizabeth had shared her ambitions with her father but not the Queen despite that it was she who was responsible for Elizabeth and Eustace's glorious return to court after she told the King that she'd given birth to a robust and healthy, strong baby boy. One that exceeded in her father's expectations far more than Mary's puny little boy, Henry.

"He is a young man, give him time, he will grow" Anthony was not the one Eustace was worried about. He did not have to marry a great woman or rule by her side a great woman. His lands in Sicily would be all Anthony's, his lands to command, his to do as he pleased. George ... well George is a differnet story.

"If Philippa's husband catches them ... he is not a man to be fooled so easily, you forget who his father is"

Eustace did not need to be reminded. Lord Northumbeland's son was as a keen astute politician as his father, already he'd been figuring in government above his older and younger siblings. His wife feared him with good reason, she suspected the man to be far too above his station and that he was full of ambition like his father.

"Gay Lord Robert is not one to wait patiently when it comes to claim ladies' maidenheads, imagine if he discovers Philippa no longer has one"

"Philippa is fine, her maidenhead will remain intact. Remember your brother is not your grandfather, he may be led wild by his lust and passion for beautiful women, but he knows his limitations"

"Aye but it would not do you harm reminding him once in a while. George too"

Eustace furrowed his brow "George? What does George have to do with this?"

"You know who George has been writing to this past summer since her brother died"

Eustace sighed, he needed not reminder of the cousins' infatuation. It was the latest hot topic at court and Eustace was getting frustrated by his son's disinterests in his responsibilities. "I have talked to George but he is like his grandfather, he sees a pretty face, pretty eyes and he looses his mind"

"I thought you and Bess said his time at Hatfield made him more mature"

"I thought so too but George does not want to listen to his parents and can you blame him? He is going to be sixteen next month, a man now"

Perhaps in appearance, Annie thought. "He needs your support father, he can't be allowed to send more love poems to that witch's daughter"

Eustace chuckled "Annie you are her daughter too"

"Only by blood I am more Bess' daughter and yours" She answered her maintaining her posture but her cheeks were a scarlet red.

The restraint of his daughter never failed to astonish Eustace. He softened as he said "I promise I will deal with these things but the most important thing I must deal with right now is you. You have not attended the privy council meetings in a week, you've been to all of them since Edward's death. What is the matter here? Tell me, what happened? What are you so worried about my daughter?"

Annie bit her lip. Her father was right she should have attended the council meeting but it was just so hard. She tried to keep up with an stoic face but every time she exit privy council's doors she would be struck by the image of her dead husband, lying still in his coffin, his eyes closed never to be open again ...
She lost her self-control and cried. "I do not know if I can do this anymore. What do they want of me? I can't crown my daughter but they can't wait for my children to be born. Help me please I need your help" Yet her grave manner did not give away to her true fears.

Eustace blue eyes regarded his daughter solemnly, and there was no sign of recognition of her fears in his face or that he searched for them in her equally teary blue eyes.

He cupper hs face with his hands "You should never have to worry or be inconvenienced with the council of a few. You are their Queen they are there thanks to you and Edward, never let them forget that. And of course I will help you but you must help me too for England cannot be left Queenless, you must take the reins of government. I know you can do this"

"How?"

"Because you are my daughter" he said as a matter of factly.

Annie had grown sulkier every day with the passing of the days and Diana was no better. Mary was back to her old ways and she'd taken command of Diana's household as she had before, and with no one to stop her she raised the question to the Privy Council through her ally, Bishop Gardiner, of installing Diana as the new Queen of England.

"We must not hesitate" The bishop sparred with his colleagues. "England cannot be open for invasion, we have risked too much for this precious country to be at the feet of invaders and foreigners and by God" he said dramatically hitting his fist on the table "I will not see this country slave of savages"

The council, those of the conservative party, applauded him, his enemies recognized his speech evoked the old feelings of pride and nationalism that had not been seen since the times of the hundred years war and their former sovereign lord's father, Henry VIII.

However Eustace quick to see behind the Bishop's mask of deception and the wielder of his strings, cut his victory short: "My lords England has no need of savages and foreign conquerors, but must we bleed the whole country dry for our stubborn pride. I am not of this land and I do not share a drop of royal blood or possess such a high lineage like all of you respectable members but I have come to love this country and am bound to it by marriage and by love" Several council members snickered seeing this was verging on melodrama "Must we really exhaust the people and empty the coffers and spend it more than it should be spent on useless wars?"

"Useless how can you call it useless when we have the whole Imperial navy of Maximilian II and the King of Spain's on our shores not to mention that headstrong French King whose forces have attempted to take Calais more than once. You would have us be a beggar Kingdom my lord like Henry VI?" John Dudley, the Earl of Northumbeland said. Honestly he did not agree with the Bishop but what the Duke of Sicily was proposing was complete madness. A man who spent his life in the glittering courts of the Europe including this one, thought the Earl, you would think he'd had more common sense.

Eustace ignored Northumbeland and directed his next words more specifically at Mary whom Gardiner was really speaking for. "Our late lord may he rest in peace" he said doing the sign of the cross bringing his fingers to his front and heart and muttering 'Amen' much to the ire of the Protestant crowd and fanatic Catholics who believed he was a hypocrite for marrying the daughter of the concubine and betraying his allegiance to the Emperor and the holy church. This gesture made it clear, he wanted them to believe, that he had in no way strayed from the true path and kept himself loyal to his religion, but as a family man now and the father of the Dowager Queen of England, he owed greater loyalty to his blood.

"Was a man of vision but he was also a man who was led by ambition and his faith, he emptied the coffers on universities but did little to advance the classes which were now more fanatical in nature than they've ever been with one god at the center, the church of England"

"This debate has been going on endlessly my lord Earl, we do not need another lecture" Northumbeland said, several of the staunchly Protestant as Catholic privy members laughed.

Eustace continued to ignore the Earl and much to the Earl's chagrin he saw several heads starting to ignore him as well and distance themselves from him "If we want this country to progress we must do what the Queen Dowager stressed on many times, advance on the industry, introduce all new kinds of curriculum not only those that work to our advantage to the universities and above all open as the last true Yorkist King, Edward IV did to his England, its doors to commerce. Trade is of the utmost importance right now, whether you disagree on the fanatical and erroneous nature of the Bishop of Rome's religions on our closest European neighbors, it is of the utmost importance that we establish relations with them and cement alliances"

"How do you propose that Your Grace, my lord Earl, when you refuse to grant the right to be Queen to Her Highness, Princess Diana. She is by right unless the Queen produces a son, Edward's rightful heir" Asked Barnaby Fitzpatrick now completely intrigued, his fingers rubbing his chin, his right elbow on the table supporting his head.

Eustace knew he'd have an ally in Fitzpatrick. The enemy of one's enemy is thy friend. He learned long time in the Charles of Savoy's court.

"My lord Fitzpatrick is plain spoken but he makes a good point how do we all intend for we must supposed this is still a council of many instead of one" Bishop Gardiner said his eyes spitting fire in his direction "to open up doors without inviting unwanted guests when we have yet to have a Queen?"

"There will be a King. The Queen Dowager is head of this council and she'd be here now would she not be in her progress in the streets of London overseeing the new hospital and Academy construction for girls" As was her husband's last wish he'd granted Annie complete control over the treasury and made her the de facto ruler, Regent for Diana if the children in her belly proved to be girls, or for her son if she was carrying a boy.

"That is all very touching but what will happen when she comes? Surely we must tell her instead and rest our heads for time being and decide on our speeches better, aye my lords?" Barnaby Fitzpatrick ever playing on the two sides, and being the mediator of each, said hoping to appease, however their lord Earl was not yet done.

"Her Majesty will approve, she said so many times that she will not place the crown on her daughter's head until she delivers"

"But how long? It has been one month, one month! Must we wait the remaining two?" Barked the Duke of Norfolk his eyes showing more irritation with the lord Earl, Duke, than with himself for not being chosen by either women, Mary and Elizabeth Tudor as their spokesman. He was better than all these people, he descended from Edward III, he was a Plantagenet through both his parents, this should be his crown and his court not his cousin's husband's bastard's crown and her court. To think a court ruled by a woman! It was unnatural and against all God's laws. He hoped that one of the little buggers waiting in her belly was a boy.

England would not last long with a woman on the throne.

Bah! What an insult!

"My lords" Eustace decided to try on a different tactic "Remember the English civil war, many of you are against the laws of God and man. If we crown Diana our Queen and the Queen gives birth to our son then you can see the dilemma. That son will wage war as he grows on England and her mother militant as we've seen her on several occasions –forgive me Annie –he mentally prayed but this was the only way he could convince them- will be torn between both factions, her son or her daughter's. We all know from our experiences how volatile women can be and can we expect no less from Lady Mary's daughter?"

There were several snickers but heavy nods, and their states soon fell into a pensive state. Indeed Eustace had accomplished his goal and after much thought everyone concluded they did not want a daughter of Katherine of Aragon's, a female on the throne of England. Some of the members who were old enough to remember the stories of their fathers who fought either for York or Lancaster at the beginning of the civil war, remembered Margaret of Anjou, her cruelty was legendary.

The vote was casted, it was not unanimous, Eustace had not expected it to be but the dice was cast. They would wait one more month until the Queen gave birth.

God they hoped it would not be long.

Diana learned more about statecraft in her confinement, for she considered her bigger apartments now a prison, than she had in her previous years with her tutors when she'd run her own household.

Diana was diligent with her servants, she oversaw the comings and goings and as her lady mother told her she made a mental note of their features, their mannerisms, their voices, everything.

The little girl was exhausted but she did not tell her mother. She was doing her duty. This was what her papa would've wanted. She was a big girl and she had to act like it. She could be England's future sovereign.

"Dead as dead can be
My doctor tells me
But I just can't believe him
Ever the optimistic one
I'm sure of your ability
To become my perfect enemy

Wake up and face me
Don't play dead 'cause maybe
Someday I will walk away and say
You disappoint me
Maybe you're better off this way

Leaning over you here
Cold and catatonic
I catch a brief reflection
Of what you could and might have been
It's your RIGHT and your ability
To become my perfect enemy

Wake up
(Why cant you?)
And face me
(Come on now)
Don't play dead
(Dont play dead)
'Cause maybe
(Because maybe)
Someday
(Someday)
I will walk away and say
You disappoint me
Maybe you're better off this way

Maybe you're better off this way (×4)
You're better off this (×2)
Maybe you're better off...

Wake up
(Why can't you?)
And face me
(Come on now)
Don't play dead
(Dont play dead)
'Cause maybe
(Because maybe)
Someday
(Someday)
I will walk away and say
You fucking disappoint me
Maybe you're better off this way!

Go ahead and play dead
(GO!)
I know that you can hear this
(GO!)
Go ahead and play dead
(GO!)

Why can't you turn and face me?
(WAKE UP!)
Why can't you turn against me?
(WAKE UP!)
Why can't you turn against me?
(WAKE UP!)
Why can't you turn against me?
(GO!)
You fucking disappoint me

Passive-aggressive bullshit... "

"Passive" by Perfect Circle

Mary was furious that she had not been invited to her brother's funeral, that she had not even been told! It was an affront worse than anything her bastard had ever done to her! She was tired of waiting, tired of sitting in her couch by the fireplace shedding tears for her lost son. He was gone. Nothing would bring him back, they had to accept that.

It was time to put her plan into action.

In the Autumn of that same year she sent a letter to Annie, she was not so dumb as to have it intercepted. One of her ladies which Annie would never know would deliver it to her mistress and she, in all her arrogance, believing it was her father would reply through that very same maid and come directly to the cottage he'd purchased outside London Borough. It was the perfect plan except for one minor flaw. When Annie arrived into the house she'd not come alone as Mary believed, much to her great relief however Annie was accompanied by no one when she came inside. The people who answered her, her father's servants had been bought and would leave soon after the deed was done. If it is done –Mary thought. No, it must work. It must. She had sacrificed too much for this day to come.

Philip waited in the antechamber, bored with his books he read for three times in a row now he decided to spend the rest of his time waiting in the study. If all went according to plan his wife would scare the little country girl into submission and all would be well.

Things hardly if ever went according to plan as Philip would find later.

Annie stepped inside her father's cottage. He had not fixed much of the loose floorboards or paid the servants enough to wipe the dust of his coat of arms and the windows. It was dirty and she wondered what was so important that he cited her here through their secret code? She began to grow nervous as she wheeled around in the second floor, she heard the crack on the old door. A figure emerged from the abandoned chamber that used to be her father's and her aunt's, when they were yet young and needed a rest from court life but did not want to go too far in case they were summoned back.
"You!" Her finger went flying into her mother's direction. Mary laughed diabolically at her daughter's surprise. Oh how she dreamed of this for years.
"Welcome, welcome" she expressed her thoughts aloud. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you my darling, sweet, sweet, sweet, bastard daughter" she said spitting the last words, they sounded like big hisses only a snake would make.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, before her mother could respond, the answer came to her and suddenly she grew aware of the danger she was in.

"Dear daughter you look like you've seen a ghost"

Annie did not realize how close she was to the stairs. Her mother continued talking, raving madly at her. Lost in her madness she proclaimed what they both knew "When they tore you from my breast I did not cry because you were torn from me Annie, I cried because I did not have you with me to snap your neck"

Annie knew it had been coming but hearing it from the woman who spent long hours giving birth made her feel less like a Queen and less loved "How could you be so evil? If anyone here is evil and should have their heads or necks snapped it should be you mother!"

"Henry died because of you! You!" she cried back "It should have been you, I would have been so happy to see you die, to have you killed, you were nothing but a pest, an ugly and unwanted pest. Everything you took from me I loved Annie, I loved Henry in a way you cannot imagine Annie, but rest assured as you taught lovely Diana to say, all debts will be paid."

Annie grew more scared, she should have screamed but she was so nervous and the children inside her were moving slowly, rearranging themselves, coming closer together sensing danger near them as their grandmother took heavy steps towards her daughter.

"You ruined me, Eustace was supposed to be mine but your father had to fall for that harlot's daughter, that harlot you! You!"

"No stop it!"

"I named you Anne because you were her, you remind me just of her and Henry nearly chocked on his first breath as you came first, you could not wait to come into this world and seem dead again you harlot!"

"Mother stop you do not know what you are saying, my father loved you, I loved you, I carried you in my arms when you were sad over Henry's sickness. Don't you remember mama it was me who swung her bony arms around your neck who whispered those horrible things you say, not horrible I only wanted to tell you the truth that you were cruel and mean to me but I love you!"

"Lies all lies, all Annes are evil, Anne of Britanny another opportunistic harlot, concubine of two Kings of Frances waiting the brother to die to marry the other, shameless just like my sister's mother, if she is my sister. Anne Neville, Anne Boleyn, all Annes causing misfortune and of course the greatest harlot of all …" Mary stopped looking at her daughter, at this her daughter had grown more scare and pushed her mother "I hate you! You are nothing but an unwanted creature, you made the others believe that you are a poor little bitch driven by insanity but you were insane the moment you decided to take it out on me that your sister won my father over! He could have been yours, you could have been a mother, my mama just as I wanted you to be. Mama"

Mary could not stand it any longer "You were nothing but hell and a burden. The only good thing you ever gave this country and my brother was Diana! But you could not bare see me happy so you stole her from me just as you stole your sister's husband!"

"No that is not true I would never steal Alexei, my feelings for him were nothing but a fancy, I loved Edward my uncle, he was my husband, my love"

"You do not know what love is Annie, you ruined my family. Don't think that I did not suffer seeing your sister Bella cry every night after Alexei would fuck every other girl because they would remind him of you"

"Mother that was not my fault, I talked to Alexei –"

"It was not enough, he still hates her because she is not you. All you managed to do is postpone the inevitable that he will discard her or ignore her. You condemned your sister to a life of misery just like your namesake did with my mother. You are evil Annie"

"Stop it Lady Mary that is enough!" She said using her imperious tone, regaining her posture. She became a different woman when insulted, her blue eyes lost their supplicating gesture to her mother and her expression showed how cruel she could be. "You Madame lost your rights of motherhood when you chose to berate me for being a living reminder of what you lost. My father could have been yours if you had just left your ambitions, your self pity, but no you had to be like my grandfather who always thought the world owed him something! The world owes you nothing mother. Life is made up of choices, and I made mine right now. You are not to see or visit court ever again or see my daughter is that understood?" Mary grew pale. No, not Diana! Not her treasure. She was the only one left in this world who could bring a true smile out of the weathering Duchess. She would not let her daughter take her from her. A smile graced Annie's features, she had her mother right where she always wanted. She was not her little fearful rag doll anymore. "With your permission … oh that is right I do not need your permission mother I am Queen now. I will tell Diana we will miss you dearly" She wheeled around made her way to the stairs.

In that moment Mary recovered and she grabbed Annie's arms and made her turn to her. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

"Henry" she sniffed "The only pride in my life and you killed it! You killed it, the only thing you were good for and you are taking it away from me!"

"Diana is my daughter!"

"She is my granddaughter, I am a better mother than you"

Annie raised her eyebrows "You?" Was she serious? "You?" She shriekd releasing herself from her grasp "You? You foul, filthy witch? You and your impoverished husband made my life a living hell, every day of my life I prayed that it would be my last"

"It is a shame God did not hear your prayers. You destroyed me Annie, the only good thing I had left in this world and you killed it just as you killed your sister with Alexei's infatuation with you!"

"No, no! I have not killed anyone!"

"Yes you have and to the devil with you, I will not let you harm my family anymore"

Mary yanked her and pushing towards her she then released her but Annie did not have time to regain her balance as she fell backwards by one push.

"Mother! Mother!" She shouted followed by a faint whisper as she rolled down.

Mary brought her hands to her mouth. She gasped. She could not believe what she'd done. It was what she'd planned had she not? Why then did she feel so empty, so hollow inside?

A sly smile spread on her features then when she remembered her cousin Charles' words all those years ago. Behind every tragedy there is some fortune, behind every fortune a little tragedy. Certainly this was not all a tragedy.

She walked downstairs. Her daughter was unconscious but she began to stir. Annie's hands were still protectively around her belly. She heard the servants loudly chatter outside, they were getting drunk or too busy with the latest gossip. They would not hear what would transpire here.