What is Needed But Unexpected

scares of the past

"Has pain in the ass still not came down?" 

Catherine of Aragon asked as soon as she walked into the living room, finding everyone there but the cousins—whom she assumed where both still upstairs—although the lack of Anne worried her slightly, after all, Anne had lost a chance at seeing her daughter grown and despite their differences Aragon knew that would have taken a toll on any mother.

Even Anne.

"Kat popped down to eat dinner then went back upstairs. Anne...Has ignored everyone calling to her."  Jane answered, earning a sigh.

"I'll go see if I can figure out what's going on with Clown girl but Katherine is someone else's problem. I raised one teenager, I am not raising another." She commented before heading toward the steps.

As soon as she was upstairs she was met with a noise that made her really glad that technology hadn't been invented when she had been raising Mary because the music—if it could even be called that—that was coming from the youngest Katherine's room.

Dealing with the grown ass woman who acts like a teenager ...not the teenager that is acting like a teenager for once. 

She thought, shaking her head as she made her way down the hall and up the stairs to Anne's room.

She didn't want to admit that she was concerned for the woman who had ruined her life, however, she could still see the scared teenage girl that had came to Europe from France in Anne as well.

Knocking on the door, Aragon waited a moment to hear a muttered "go away." Before she spoke.

"Too bad, I'm not going anywhere until you open this door and stop sulking in your room like a ten year old." Aragon muttered before adding "plus something is bothering you, and don't tell me there isn't because we lived together for too long for me to believe that."

Finally the lock clicked and the door finally slid open.

"What? Come to enjoy the show?" Anne muttered, causing Aragon to groan inwardly.

Lord, please give me the strength to not  to beat the snark out of her.

She thought before replying "no, I came to see if you were okay. I'll be honest and say I didn't want to know what happened to you because I didn't care after the hell you put me through but...Three miscarriages and...well everything else... Anne, you've been through a lot. Why do you think it annoys me so much that you act like a clown all the time?" 

Anne sighed as she headed toward the bed, drawing her knees up or her chest—making herself look younger than she was.

"Catherine...I never meant to hurt anyone...honestly. when the rumors of war with France started and my father brought me back to England...I was just happy to have a role in court because at least that was familiar. I didn't even want to marry your Henry , but with Henry started getting interested in me and…then my Father started breathing down my neck about raising our family's position. I just...I caved. I mean, who knows what would have happened if i kept saying no to the king?"

Aragon vaguely remembered Anne talking about a Parry, although at that point in time she really didn't pay much attention to the rambling ons of a young girl, but she remembered finding Anne distraught in the gardens after Parry had been banished from court.

"Yeah, I can imagine. I mean I was held basically in prison for seven years until Henry came to age to be wed...We we're really just pawns in our father's power play." Catherine said with a sigh, really hating herself for feeling compassion for the younger woman.

Taking a seat beside Anne she sighed and slowly put a hand on her shoulder, noticing the way she flinched.

"My father and uncle both were a part of my trial and execution...How can you be so detached from someone...from your own child...to be so emotionless about something like that?" Anne muttered, causing Aragon to be at a loss for words.

"At least you saw your Mary nearly grown...My Elizabeth was still just a baby when I was killed. They wouldn't even let me hold her one last time. Why did we get a chance when they don't? Why did we get to start over?" 

Wordlessly Aragon put an arm around the younger queen as another wave of tears came, drawing her close to her side.

"I don't know." 

She managed to sigh, thinking back to her own daughter and what she would give to actually have her there with them.

  
                                   .                           _______★______

Katherine sighed as she flipped through the book she had taken from Parr's room, finding herself unable to concentrate even if she was really interested in the text. Her mind just kept racing, what ifs playing through her mind.

Jane had been worried about her, that much was true enough but she hated it. It was more pity than worry and she knew it. After all, who actually cared? She was just a ditzy, idle minded, whore who history basically forgot. The other queens just tolerated her because she was brought back—well maybe not Anna but she was pretty sure that was more out of pity than friendship as well, after all, why would Anna was to be friends with a teenager?

Letting out a huff, she grabbed the pillow from her bed and yelled into it—thankful that her music drowned out the sound—why did she have to care so much? Why did it matter what anyone else thought of her?

Why did it hurt so badly when she thought of them eventually leaving? Of them growing tired of her and case her to the side like some kind of trash, just like everyone else. It shouldn't hurt much, she hadn't known them for long but to remember how Jane had whispered comfortingly to her after they had finally found her, how anne comforted her just a few nights before, how Anna had tried to include her, and how Aragon and Parr had been kind as well.

It would be so much easier if they just left her alone.

"Kat!" 

She nearly fell off her bed at the sudden voice shouting at her from the doorway, although she relaxed when she saw it was Anna.

"Turn your music down, you may want to listen to a bunch of punks summoning demons or whatever the hell they're even screaming about." 

Katherine couldn't help but chuckle at that as she walked over to the radio.

"Sorry. Didn't know it was that loud."