So the formatting in this chapter is still going to be a little weird. Just to explain it, in the upcoming chapters the POV is Mary and it will be in the voice of the age she is. Meaning-if she is 11 in the story it will be told in the voice of 11 year old Mary. The only few chapters where that will not be the case is chapter 1 (age 5) and this chapter just because I feel like doing the voice of a 5-7 year old is weird. The italics are still meant as an overview narration. I just wanted to get that out of the way.

Disclaimer: I do not own Reign or any of the characters featured in this story.

Without further ado...enjoy.

From the moment Francis and I met, our lives were forever intertwined. There was no way of knowing what was to come when we were 5, but looking back I feel like the signs were always there. We were just too blind to see them.

There were times where I felt as if Francis was the only one who cared, or was the one to make everyone else care.

He was the one who would hold me as I cried, who would wipe my tears. He knew I cried even hours later, with just one look.

He was the other half of my heart from day one.

Age 8

Mom and dad were gone again. A trip to Scotland to 'fix a major screw-up' as dad said. It was third time this month. The first to England, the second to Italy and now back to Scotland.

Its okay. I was used to it at this point. Dad had a lot on his plate and as the boss he had to be there when something went wrong.

I just wish that mom would stay once, or maybe they would bring me with them.

But I was used to it.

Before they left dad kissed my cheeks as always and held my open palms.

"My sweet princess. We will only be gone a mere three days. You will hardly notice that we are even gone."

I silently nodded, my eyes on the ground in hopes to keep the tears back.

"I promise my darling, we will be back before Thursday."

I nodded once again.

"Tell you what, I will be bringing you several gifts this time. Is there anything in particular you would like?"

"Just that you are back before Thursday. Will you please be back before Thursday? Please."

His hand cupped my face, "I swear to you on my life my princess. Be good for the Valois' okay, I will call you every night before you go to bed." He placed a gentle kiss to the top of my head and pulled me into his arms. "I love you."

"I love you too daddy."

He turned from me and made his way to the car outside the Valois home as he pulled out his cell phone.

My eyes moved to my mother who had remained silent during the interaction between my father and I.

"Be on your best behavior. Catherine will notify me if anything goes wrong while we are away. Remember you are representing this family. Behave."

I nodded. "Yes, mother."

Mother looked up to Catherine, who was standing just behind me in the entry to their home. "We should be back no later than Sunday."

Catherine simply nodded, but my head shot up.

"But daddy said you would be back by Thursday."

"I know, but the spa I love so dearly had an opening and I would like to spend decent time there. Goodbye my darling." She turned and started to make her way down the pathway to the car waiting for her.

I moved as fast as I could after her, hearing Catherine shuffle behind me, attempting to keep up.

"Take me with you then, please. Just this once. I promise I will. Just please!" I reached for her, but my mother never turned back. As the car door slammed shut Catherine's arms reached out for me, her hands pulling on my waist.

"Come my child. Francis is waiting for you upstairs. He got a new toy just for you to play with."

"But-." The car was already gone as the tears started.

"Shh. I know. I know."

Catherine lifted me in the air the best she could lift a 7 year old and brought me inside, to the kitchen. My face was buried in her neck as I let the tears flow faster. My breathing began to pick up and she gently set me down on a stool for the kitchen's island.

"It will be alright Mary. Your father said he would call every night and would try and be home by Thursday. Perhaps it is your mother only who will be staying long." She handed me juice box and a bowl of chocolate covered pretzels-the only thing she knew would calm me down. "Now, wipe those tears. You know that Francis would be heart broken to see those pink cheeks." I nodded as she patted my cheek before going to another room of the house, leaving me on my own.

Why couldn't they take me with them just this one time? It was different from all the others. Why not just this once?

I was used to staying with the Valois' when they were gone. It in most cases, was something I actually looked forward to. Spending more time with Francis, Bash and their sister Elisabeth was something I loved. Catherine always smiled at me and Henry made sure that I always had what I needed.

I usually didn't mind it.

But this time was different. And everyone knew that.

After eating only a few pretzels and my entire juice box I made my way up the spiraling stairs and turned to the left; past Bash's room, past Claude's nursery all the to the end of the hall.

Francis' room was the smallest of all of the rooms, but was the one with the most fun. It was painted deep blue with hand prints in rainbow colors around the lower half of the room. They were our hands. Twice a year since we were 5 Francis and I would paint our hands in a different color and place them against the blue, side-by-side.

Bookshelves and toy chests were lined against another wall with a small couch beside them. Francis' bed was in the center of the room with a table to the left of it where we would color and play marbles.

The door squeaked open and I saw Francis' head dart up. He was sitting at the table, colored pencils in hand.

"You're here!" He jumped from the chair rand forward, skidding to a stop a few steps before me. His eyes took in my face, "What's wrong?"

I shrugged, "Nothing. I missed you. It's been a whole three days since I saw you." I moved past him to sit on his bed.

He stayed silent a moment before he finally turned around. "Are you sure nothings wrong?" He moved to sit beside me.

I nodded once again. "I just, my mom said they won't be back until Sunday. She wants to go to the spa. But my dad said they would be back by Thursday."

"Well, Today is only Saturday. There is plenty of time for them to come back. Last time they were only gone for three days."

"Yeah, but my mother said-"

"But your dad said something different. And your dad never lies. He always keeps his promises right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. He's never broken a promise before."

"Plus I'll be here. Hey I got a new bag of marbles. Wanna play?"

"Sure."

My father managed to keep one of his promises as he called me every night before bed. Each night he would tell me of the roaring hills he saw outside his office window and each night I would ask him when they would be returning, only to have him avoid the answer. Deep down, from the first phone call I knew.

Francis always sat beside me as I was on the phone. Each time he would hear me sigh, he would reach out and take hold of my hand, clutching it tight. By the end of each call he would pull me close, one arm around my should and would tell me a story as I silently cried.

Each night Catherine would enter the room to tuck us in the bed together, smiling silently. I had my own room but with how every phone call went, Catherine would relent and would allow me to stay with Francis. We never had to ask, she just did it.

Thursday morning I woke up in the bed alone.

My brow furrowed as I took in the room. Francis never woke up before me, if he was allowed he would sleep until noon. The clock on his bedside table read 7 am.

"Francis?" I called, my voice coarse from sleep. I pushed the covers back and stepped out of the bed, shivering as my bare feet hit the chilled hardwood floor, stretching my arms above my head I called for Francis once again.

Silence. I moved out the bedroom, to the bathroom and started to brush my teeth as my ears strained to hear anything from within the house. All I found was more silence. Where was everyone?

Panic began to consume me. Had they left me too? It was impossible. Francis was my best friend, my partner in everything. Catherine doted on me as if I was one of her own, she cared for me more than she did Bash. But those were her own reasons. Even at 7 I understood that.

They would never leave me would they? My parents did regularly, for their own reasons of course, but they still left me. Why wouldn't the Valois'?

Leaving the bathroom I moved down the halls and down that spiral staircase, towards the kitchen. As I moved through the home, I saw Marie the house keeper and nodded towards her as she did the same. "Good morning Ms. Stuart."

"Hello Marie."

Brushing past her, I turned to see her face transform into a tiny smile, one that I wasn't meant to see.

I stopped completely when I reached the kitchen.

There stood the entire Valois family gathered around the kitchen island, standing in front the most food I had ever seen. There were hash browns, eggs-in every way imaginable, bacon, sausages, croissants, fresh fruit, yogurt; you name it it was there. Along with pitchers of orange and apple juice.

But what struck me, what brought the tears to my eyes were the decorations.

Purple and green balloons were crowding the entire kitchen, streamers of the same color fluttered from the ceiling. A banner was hung in the corner reading, "Joyeux anniversaire Mary!"

"Happy birthday!" Everyone yelled in unison.

My hands went to cover my mouth as I felt my cheeks burn. Francis ran forward and gathered me into his arms, Bash following behind.

"I'm sorry Mary, we didn't mean to make you cry."

I shook my head, "It's okay. I was just surprised. Thank you!" I looked around to everyone as I extracted myself from Francis' arms and was pulled into Bash's. At ten years old he was much taller than me and my face was pushed just above his waist.

"Happy birthday Mary."

"Thank you Bash. Thank you everyone."

Catherine was next to gather me into her arms. "It was all Francis' idea."

Henry nodded down to me with a smile on his own face. "Happy birthday Mary. I have to go to work, otherwise I am sure your father wouldn't be too happy with me, but enjoy your day. There is a lot planned for you." I nodded my head, reaching out for a strip of bacon as he exited the kitchen, each child receiving a pat on the head and Catherine receiving a nod.

"Mary, we are going to have so much fun today. Mother is taking us to the Eiffle Tower and then to the Arc De Triomphe before we will have a picnic in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Mother has food arriving from your favorite cafe with all the food from their menu. All the food!"

My eyes widened at his quickened pace and smile grew.

"And if there is any time left, we will go to the Lourve. I know that you have been wanting to go there for some time now."

I nodded as I pushed some bread into my mouth and felt Francis' hand reach for mine. Our eyes met and smiled at him. A silent thank you transferring between us. He nodded leaned forward, a single kiss pressed against my cheek.

Exhausted I followed Francis into his bedroom, wet from my bath and in fresh clothes, I threw myself onto his bed.

The day had been long but amazing. Francis was not lying when he told me Catherine got everything from the menu of my favorite cafe. I ate so much I thought my stomach was going to explode. Bash chased Francis and I through the trees of the park as Catherine bounced Claude on her lap and laughed at us.

Francis and I danced a silent dance in the Lourve as Bash stared at a portrait of a woman and man dancing on their own. The day was amazing from start to finish.

As I felt my eyes begin to fall shut I felt Francis move beside me. "Wait. Before you fall asleep I have one more thing for you." I sat up on the bed and looked around the room as he dashed out the door.

"Francis, you didn't have to get me anything. I know that the entire day was your idea. That is more than enough."

"I know, but I wanted to get you something else."

I thrust a wrapped gift into my hands and I smiled at him. Pulling the paper from the gift I found the backside of a picture frame. Flipping it over I found it was made of Popsicle sticks painted purple and green, my favorite colors. They framed a picture of Francis and I from a year before. We were on the beach in Biarritz, his arms wrapped around my shoulder as we smiled to the camera. We both had wet sand sticking to our faces and my hair was wet and the strands were sticking in multiple directions. His blonde curls were matted down to his head and his nose was bright red.

"Thank you Francis. I love it."

"You're welcome."

I leaned over and put the frame on the bedside table, facing the bed. I crawled under the covers and closed my eyes.

The day, the gift, everything Francis did he did for me.

It wasn't until the next morning that I realized my father never called.

He broke two promises to me in one day, and Francis managed to distract me from all of it.

That was the first time my father ever broke a promise, but it was not the last. And with every crushing heartbreak a broken promise brought, Francis was there to pick up the pieces.

That wasn't the last time Francis distracted me as I was left abandoned by my parents on my birthday. It was just the first of many birthdays spent alone.

Looking back now, I realize that I was never alone. Francis made sure of that. Whether it was just he and I alone, or the entire Valois family gathering around me to ensure someone celebrated with me. He made every year special.

Age 10

My birthday arrived faster than I expected. It was strange to think that I was going to be ten. There were days where I still felt as if I was five, but others where I felt I was much older.

It was the first birthday in three years that my parents would be spending it with me. My eight birthday they were both in Scotland. My father bought me pure white horse named Rose. My ninth birthday found my father with me but my mother in Rome on a personal vacation. Father spent the day distracting me with food and extravagant gifts. He remodeled my entire room and finished the night off with a diamond tiara.

"You are forever my princess no matter how old you get. Every princess deserves her own tiara." He told me as I unfolded the gift from tissue paper. Francis made sure to talk his parents and my father into taking me to my favorite cafe and we bought all of our favorites.

Francis gave me a hand made bracelet of purple, green, blue and gold strings-all of our favorite colors. There were four beads on the center of the strings, MS and FV.

This year I was turning ten and both my mother and father were in Paris with me.

But, I still felt deep down that something would go wrong. The night before my birthday I spent texting Francis as he attempted to push my fears away, but they were there seeping their way into my brain and drowning any thoughts of hope.

Franny Banny: It will all be ok. It's your birthday and theyre here.

Me: Yea I kno. But I cant shake the feeling away.

Franny Banny: Well kick it aside. You have a party to get ready for and I swear if you are all depressed during it I will kick you instead.

Me: Sure, whatever you say Franny

Franny Banny: If I didnt love you so much I would punch you for that.

Me: Sorry Franny

Franny Banny: Only you get to call me that.

Me: I know. :)

Franny Banny: Go to bed. I'll See you tomorrow.

Franny Banny: :)

He was right. My parents were there and they were even taking their presence an extra mile and were throwing me a party. I was allowed to invite anyone I wanted. I almost laughed when my father told me that.

He leaned down, all excited after breakfast and whispered it into my ear. "Anyone in the whole wide world, you can invite."

I was home schooled. I didn't really know many people. But I knew Greer and Lola through dance class and Kenna from acting lessons. Leith was Francis' friend from football that I met at one of his games. Bash would be there as would Elisabeth, Claude and the newest member of the Valois family, Charles. But that was it. That was all I knew. Their parents were invited as well but, that was it.

It wasn't exactly the whole wide world, but it was all I needed.

When I woke up the morning of my birthday, I quickly dressed in a pair of leggings and a plain black t-shirt before making my way downstairs. Workers were rushing around the entire house, hanging things here and there, pushing furniture around and pulling in tables and chairs. Caterers were rushing to the kitchen and I looked around for decorations, for anything I wanted.

When my dad told me he would be throwing me a birthday party I asked if we could have balloons and streamers-much like the Valois family did for me when I was younger-I asked for a chocolate fountain-just because I can and asked for cotton candy. I saw none of that.

I shrugged and moved to the kitchen. It was still early in the morning, the decorating was still early on. There was plenty of time to get what I asked for ready.

My father was sitting alone at the kitchen table as my mother stood in the corner pointing caterers around, giving them orders as to where to go and what to begin making.

Escargot, mussels, roasted chicken-nothing I had hoped for.

"Good morning darling." My father looked up and saw me enter the room. "How does it feel to be one year older?"

"I shrugged. Same as last year. Why is mom having all that food made? I thought we were going to have fries and soup and stuff I like?

"Well some business associates will be there tonight as well so we have to have something for them too."

"Well what about the decorations? I didn't see any streamers or balloons or anything." I sat beside him after gathering some breakfast from the food Ginny prepared.

"I'm sure they will be put out later, it's still bright and early." He smiled down at me and slid something across the table to me. "Now, open your gift." He looked at me expectantly as I open the long box. Inside was a shiny, silver charm bracelet from Tiffany & Co. The charms were of a horse head, my initials and a pair of ballet slippers.

"Thank you dad. I love it. Really." And I did.

I loved my dad, no matter how much his broken promises hurt me in the past. He always attempted to make it up to me. He never liked seeing his little girl hurt. That's what he always told me.

I clasped the bracelet on my wrist beside the one from Francis and looked over to my mother. She had finished with the workers and was looking down at her phone.

My father caught my gaze as it wondered to my mother.

"Marie, enough work for now. The birthday girl has finally graced us with her presence."

My mother looked over to us and sighed, moving towards me. "Good morning my darling. Happy birthday." She dropped a kiss against the top of my head. "I bought you a new outfit for the party tonight. It is my gift to you. Ginny will be up tonight to help you prepare. The party starts at 7. Be ready by 7:30." With that, she was gone.

The dress my mother picked out for me was everything I expected it would be. Pink, ruffly and so not me. Looking at it as it hung against my body I was reminded of the dress she attempted to get me to wear the night I first met Francis. I wished I could have hid this one like I did that one, but it was a gift. I couldn't do that.

Ginny had assisted me with my hair and left fifteen minutes before. It was still only 7:00. Mother said I didn't have to arrive until 7:30 and I wanted to hide my dress for as long as possible.

I was pulled from my thoughts by a knock at the door.

"Ms. Mary, your friends are all here if you would like to come down."

I nodded fluffed my dress once more. "Lets get this over with."

"You're not excited for the party?"

"I'm not excited about this dress. The sooner I get out of it, the better."

Ginny laughed and made her way down the stairs ahead of me.

As I reached the top of the stairs, I froze.

Silver and metallic tables were spread around the room. A pianist was playing in one corner and servers were moving around the room with hors d'oeurves. A majority of the people in the house were my father's associates. There were around one hundred people in the room.

And no decorations.

It looked more like a business gathering than it did a ten year old's birthday party.

And that's when I realized that was exactly what it was. This was no birthday party, no attempt by parents to make a child happy. It was an excuse to gather and schmooze new clients and make new deals, all under the guise of a good time.

I could already feel my face begin to burn-a telltale sign of the onset of tears. My eyes frantically searched the downstairs for the mop of blonde that I so desperately needed.

But it was no where to be found. Neither was Bash or any of the Valois'. They weren't here.

I was about to turn back to my room when my mother caught my eye. She wiggled her finger at me, becoming me to come forward. I knew that if I turned back and made my way to my room I would hear about it later so took a deep breath, pushed the tears back and moved slowly down the stairs toward her.

"That dress looks marvelous on you darling, don't you all agree?" She looked to the crowd of adults around her who all nodded and said words of praise.

I didn't care what they thought. They didn't care about me. They just wanted my mother to see them doting on me to gain her favor.

Not that it would help. A few glasses of champagne and snarky gossip was all they need for her favor.

"Your friends are in the library dear. Why don't you make your way there?" With that she turned back to the adults, leaving me on my own. My father was no where to be seen, Ginny was in the kitchen with the other workers and Francis still wasn't here.

I wanted to see my other friends, yes. But I needed Francis too.

I took in another shaky breath and made my way to the library.

At least inside that room it looked like my party. There were balloons-pink and white. And streamers of the same color. There was a table set up with a pink table cloth that held a variety of foods. Chocolate covered pretzels, steamed veggies, baked mostaccioli, baked and seasoned shrimp, mini-hot dogs and more. There were four large bowls of soda and juice and at the vary end was a chocolate fountain and cotton candy machine. I walked to the fountain and machine and saw a small hand written note.

I made sure your mother ordered these for you my princess.

At least he got that right.

Music was playing and I looked around the room to see Lola, Greer, Kenna and Leith.

"Mary! You're finally here!" Kenna ran forward, taking me in her arms.

"Sorry, my mom held me up in there."

"It's okay. We were all talking." Lola said in my ear.

"Happy birthday!" Greer handed me a gift bag.

"Thank you. And thank you guys for all coming. I know this is probably really lame."

Leith shrugged. "Naw, it's fun. Francis and all of them will be here soon."

I nodded and moved over to the table that held gift on it, placing Greer's with the others. The table was full with gifts from my father's associates. I began to wonder what kind of gifts they were. Would they be generic gifts anyone would give to a ten year old or would they have some thought behind them? I doubt that anyone even really knows much about me to give a gift of any meaning.

As the music continued to play my friends gathered around me in the center of the room as we swirled and threw our hands in the air.

For a moment I was able to forget the disappointment from before. But just a moment.

As the song switched from Avril to N*SYNC I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I spun around to see a pool of blue eyes looked down at me.

"Francis! You're here!"

He pulled me to his chest.

"Sorry we're late, Claude didn't like her dress. Speaking of dresses..." He pulled back and wiggled his eye brows at me.

"Not another word. I'm glad you're here." The silent look I sent him, he understood.

"I know." He nodded, understanding my heartbreak. "We can talk about that later. Now it is about you." He smiled down at me, his blonde curls falling in his eyes.

"Move out of the way already." Bash said, pushing Francis aside. "Some of us would also like a chance with the birthday girl."

"Well sorry!" Francis threw his hands up, "We will talk about it later okay? Before I leave?" I nodded and he moved to the food table.

"Hello birthday girl."

"Hey Bash." He pulled me in for a hug before handing me off to Elisabeth. I quickly made my way through the Valois children before returning to the dance floor.

An hour of dancing and eating and laughing passed before the library door opened once again.

My mother stepped in with a young girl around my age. Her blonde hair fell in front of her hands were fisting her pale purple dress.

"Mary, children. This is Oliva. She is the daughter of one of your father's new partners." She moved Olivia further into the room before leaving once again. I left the group of kids and moved to the library entrance.

"Hi. I'm Mary."

Her eyes slowly looked up at me before taking in the rest of the room, landing and staying in one corner. She moved past me without a word and I turned to see her moving to the corner she had been staring at.

There stood Francis and Leith. She moved past Leith and stared up at Francis, eyes captivated.

I felt my stomach drop and I couldn't figure out why. Was it all the shrimp I ate?

Another two hours passed and the party was ending. I said goodbye to my friends and Olivia and made my way towards Francis, thankful he would be spending the night. I had barely gotten a chance to see him after Olivia arrived, she had him tied up all night.

"Are you ready to go upstairs? I'm tired and will just shower tomorrow."

Francis nodded and followed me upstairs. My parents had disappeared as they did after every party. What would make my birthday any different?

"How did you like the party?" Francis asked, already in his pajamas.

I shrugged. "I wish I could have spent more time with you but you were with Olivia all night. What did you guys talk about all night anyway?"

It was his turn to shrug. "Not much."

"You spent all night talking to her and didn't talk about much?"

"I don't know Mary. We just talked. Is that okay or do I have to spend every minute talking to just you?"

I was taken aback.

The tone of Francis' voice shocked me. It wasn't as if we never fought before but this time felt different.

I stayed silent.

"Did you want to talk about the party or not?"

I laid back and turned to my side. "No, whatever. Maybe you should sleep in the guest room tonight or something. I just, I don't feel well."

I heard Francis sigh behind me as he pushed out of the blankets.

Nothing else was said as I heard his feet make their way across my room and the door close.

Tears began to flow as I stared at the picture Francis gave me years before. It sat on my bedside table as a reminder of the friendship we held.

I closed my eyes and hoped for sleep to come.

For the first time Francis wasn't the one holding me during my heartbreak. He was the one causing it.

And there it is chapter 2. I am very thankful for the reviews and comments I received from the first chapter as well as the favorites and follows I received, I was not expecting that.

I got this chapter written much faster than I thought, so hopefully that will get me more time to write some of the next few chapters.

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