I DO NOT OWN REIGN. I CAN NOT HELP BUT THINK THAT THERE MAY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SOME UNDERLYING RIVALRY BETWEEN MARY AND LOLA THAT THE INCIDENTS WITH COLIN AND FRANCIS BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE.
French Court, Kingdom of France. A week later.
After I left the jail cell, I decided that I had made my peace with Catherine de Medici. I knew that she had gone through much suffering in her life and maybe that had shaped her into the utter force of nature that she had become, but all I could offer that woman was pity. She had engaged in an all out assault on the only woman that I had ever loved or ever would love. I could neither forgive or forget. The only reason that I even considered asking Henry to show clemency was that I had no idea how different the show would be if Catherine actually died.
The Serpent Queen was a such a huge presence on the show for its entire run. If she was beheaded as Henry wanted, it would feel like something was missing. I would be responsible for doing irreversible damage to the Reign universe. Was I letting my hatred for Catherine take precedence over what was best for the show as a whole? I felt vengeful and bitter and hateful and guilty and unsure all at the same time. I had been racking my brain over the issue for a whole week and my wits were sore from the ethics of it all. I needed a 2nd opinion. My first thought was to seek counsel from my wife, but Mary had gone to Paris that day to meet some big fancy tailor who had been hired at great expense to make a wedding dress that in his own words, "would make the blessed virgin blush in the face of such beauty." Despite Bash not being heir anymore, the plot with Isobel and her pagan baby had not been removed and he'd received a message for her requesting his aid; so he had gone. There was only 1 person who wouldn't ask questions that I couldn't answer.
I made my way through the castle and knocked on the door. Thankfully, Lola opened the door and gave me Anna Popplewell's toothy smile.
"Good day Francis, if you're looking for Mary, she's..." Lola started to say.
"At an expensive tailor in Paris, I know. I was actually hoping that I could visit with you?" I asked gently as her face brightened.
"Of course, please come in." she beckoned me as she sat down on a sofa across the room from her bed and motioned for me to sit beside her.
"I'm sorry if i'm interrupting something, but with Mary and Bash away, I need someone to talk to." I admitted as Lola clasped both my hands tightly. Her hands were not like Mary's. Mary's hands were strong because she had known common work, but Lola's were smooth and gentle; as if she'd never worked a day in her life.
"You weren't, I was just reading Norse mythology. Without Mary, things can be quite dull for us ladies." She teased as we turned to face each other. "Please, talk to me."
"It's Catherine...I don't know how to feel about father sending her to the block." I admitted with frustration. "There are just too many reasons why we would all benefit from her passing. She has never really been a mother to me, She threatens, bullies, and murders anyone who refuses to play by her rules. She lets her desire for power override every and any good quality she has and then she has tried to hurt Mary in every possible way she could. She would rather see me heartbroken than to spend my remaining days with the woman I love. How can I forgive that Lola?"
"Francis...I can't tell you how to feel about Catherine." Lola replied hesitantly as I could hear her trying to phrase her words correctly. "I know that she's your mother and that you should love her...but I have my own reasons for wishing her out of our lives."
"You mean because of Colin?" I asked as I was instantly hit with a fresh wave of guilt over sending Lola's fiancee away. She got up and looked away from me. I stood up and paced, trying to let out some energy. "Lola, I'm so sorry that I sent him away, but it was all I could think to do."
"I don't blame you Francis. If you hadn't have caught him, he would have been executed for what Catherine forced him to do." Lola said quickly as she looked in my eyes. "I blame Catherine...and Mary."
"Mary, how can you find fault with her?" I asked in amazement.
"Because...I feel there may have been truth to Catherine's barbs." Lola admitted fearfully as I could see the turmoil. "When I talked with Colin about Mary...he always seemed so enraptured with how good she was. I merely assumed that it was adoration for his Queen, but then at Leeza's wedding...he was so close to her. Colin was my only love...and now I have no one to love me."
"That's Bull." I chided as I wiped away the tears that were forming in Lola's eyes. "You are loved. You have Kenna and Greer and Mary and me. We are your friends and we love you. Perhaps not romantically, but true affection all the same." Lola offered me a sad smile as she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me.
"Mary is so fortunate to have you." Lola whispered as she leaned her head on my shoulder.
"And I am lucky to have her." I replied as I thought of my impending royal wedding and how after it, no one and nothing would ever tear us apart again.
NEXT TIME, THERE WILL BE FRARY FLUFF. REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED
