#couldn’t sleep last night due to baby cousin's shenanigans

[hadikaesque]

Eid is so hectic for adults

[calamity-queer]

Just Another Dressed Up Heartbreak

In all my glory I managed to erase the original post with this story, so I'm plopping it back into existence with this post.

Anne was standing before Henry in court. It wasn’t the first time she’d had this nightmare, and it was starting to just get old. Those who were testifying against her lined the walls, sneering at her as Henry ranted on about what she was charged with. Honestly, she wished the nightmare would just hurry up until it got to the point where she would be killed. That way she could wake up, and would be able to go get into bed with Parr in order to calm herself down. However, the next thing from Henry’s mouth chilled her to the bone.

“I hereby sentence you, Katherine Howard, to death.”

“What?” Anne said in disbelief. She shot a look back at the stands of the court, but instead of her accusers sneering down at her, there was Henry Mannox, Francis Dereham, and Thomas Culpeper, all standing with smug expressions on their face. She followed their line of sight, and gasped as she saw Katherine standing before her, guards standing on either side of her, seizing her arms.

The second she laid eyes on Kat, Anne was moving to rush towards her, but suddenly she was being held back by guards, blocked from reaching her baby cousin.

At the same time, Kat laid eyes on her. “Anne! Annie, please don’t let them hurt me! Annie, help! Please help!” She screeched, looking at her with wild desperation in her eyes as she struggled against the guards dragging her towards the guillotine.

As much as Anne tried to reach Kat, to help her, save her, she couldn’t break through the hold of the guards restraining her.

“Let go of me, let me go! Kat! Kat!” Anne watched in anguish as the guards continued to lead Katherine towards her doom, forcing her to her knees before the guillotine. “Don’t you fucking touch her! Let her go!”

“Please, Anne, help! They’re going to hurt me! Annie!”

The cousins both continued to try to fight to get to each other, both continued to scream for each other, until there was a flash of metal and half of the screaming stopped.

Anne shot upright in bed with a shout, tears soaking her face.

In an instant, she raced down the hallway, not caring about the level of noise she was creating as she desperately tried to reach Kat’s room. In her peripheral she saw Jane and Parr both poke their heads into the hall, and behind her could hear Cleves open her door as well, but none of that mattered as she reached Katherine’s bedroom and threw her bedroom door open.

Kat, who had been beginning to get up out of bed due to the thunderous sounds in the hall, startled for a second as her bedroom door swung open, letting out a small squeak of fright, but within a second her fear turned to concern as Anne practically flung herself into her arms, gripping her tightly and sobbing against her chest.

Katherine wasted no time in quickly wrapping her own arms around Anne, holding her close and gently cooing to her. In the back of her mind, Kat vaguely registered that she’d never had to comfort anyone before, had always been the one being comforted, and began to think maybe she shouldn’t be the one to comfort Anne, given she really didn’t know what to do. However, as she felt how violently her cousin was shaking against her, how she was clinging to her like a lifeline, she knew that there was no way she was going to let Anne go.

The other queens had gathered around the doorway, peering into the room with concern written across all of their faces. Jane began to enter the room, but as she stepped on a creaky board Anne clung tighter to Katherine, whimpering. Kat was quick to hold up a hand, signaling for Jane to stop, and shook her head. “I’ve got this mum.” She said softly, before looking at the rest of the queens. “Why don’t you all head back to bed? Anne and I are going to be just fine.”

Jane slowly retreated, and the other queens somewhat reluctantly let them be, closing the door on the way out.

Kat turned her attention back to Anne, and continued to hold her close, gently rubbing circles into her back and allowing to her to sob against her chest.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Katherine asked softly, and Anne quickly shook her head, eyes shut tight as though that would block out the memories of the nightmare. “That’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it. Do you want to try to get to sleep again?” Anne hesitated, before nodding slowly. The two girls barely separated as they got under the covers, Anne resting her ear directly over Kat’s heartbeat as she tried to will herself to sleep.

As Kat began to drift back off to sleep, she vaguely heard Anne murmuring over and over to herself, “She’s safe, she’s alive, she’s safe…”

~~~

For the next few days, Anne was basically Kat’s shadow.

Katherine in no way minded the way Anne was following her around, hell, she acted the same with Jane, but she was worried about her cousin. The girl who was normally so loud and reckless had gone quiet, barely speaking except for during the show, and even then it seemed that her spark had been dimmed significantly. At home, no more mischief transpired as Anne sat by herself, but always in the same room as Kat, shooting nervous glances all around as though someone were going to swoop in and strike at any time without warning. Kat knew for a fact that both Parr and Jane had once again offered up the option of talking through exactly what transpired in Anne’s nightmare, but she had vehemently refused both their offers.

Nighttime led to even odder occurrences. Anne refused all offers to have someone sleep with her. Every one of the queens had offered. Parr first, figuring that Anne might be the most comfortable with her, seeing as how she was her girlfriend. But Anne refused her. Kat was obviously next, since Anne’s initial nightmare had been about her and during the daytime she was practically glued to her side. But Anne refused her. Aragon, as much as she pretended to be annoyed by Anne, offered to let the girl sleep with her at almost the exact same time Jane offered, both of their motherly instincts kicking in. But Anne refused them both. Cleves offered last, never really expecting it to get to her since she was probably the least equipped of all the queens to do any calming techniques, but nonetheless was genuine in her offer. But, not surprisingly at this point, Anne refused her as well. All of the queens were reluctant to let Anne suffer alone, but it wasn’t as though they could force the girl into wanting their comfort.

It wasn’t until late the fourth night into the week that Kat managed to find out why. She had woken up around three in the morning and slipped out of bed to get a glass of water. Upon opening her door, she nearly tripped over her cousin, who was sleeping outside her door, clearly guarding the room. Anne started awake at Kat’s gasp of surprise, and looked sheepishly up at her, quickly making up an excuse about sleepwalking before darting off to her own room. After fetching her glass of water, Kat stayed up, carefully listening to the hallway outside her door, and in a matter of time, she heard feet softly padding across the ground, and then a soft grunt as someone, presumably Anne, sat down on the ground outside her door.

Kat quickly opened the door, once again startling Anne, and directed her into the room. “Okay, what’s going on Annie?” She asked, softly but firmly.

Anne just shook her head, folding her arms across her chest defensively. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She murmured, not making eye contact.

“Annie, you’re clearly still shaken up about that nightmare. You’ve been attached to my hip for the last few days, which is fine, but it doesn’t seem like you. Maybe if we talk about what happened…”

“Kitty, I don’t want to talk about it.” Anne said briskly, starting to turn away and head towards the door to leave.

Kat was quick to grab her wrist, not hard enough to cause any panic but firm enough to make it clear that she didn’t want her to leave. “Anne, please, talking through things helps so much, we could even get Parr in here, she’s been helping me cope with my nightmares, and-“

“You died, Kat! You died with my name on your lips! You died screaming for me to help you, and I couldn’t do a thing! They took you from me!” Anne whirled around at her, visibly trembling although she tried to hide it. “They took you, they killed you, and I just had to watch! I saw your blood pouring from your body, Kitty, I heard you screaming, and every time I close my eyes I just see it, and hear it, all over again.” There was no holding back the tears or hiding the tremor in her voice as she continued, “God, Kitty, you sounded so scared. You were terrified, and so was I, and I couldn’t protect you. So I’ve,” She took pause to take a gulping breath through her tears, “I’ve been so worried, that something was going to happen here and now, and that I wouldn’t be able to protect you.”

Katherine softened, and pulled Anne into her arms. “Annie, for starters, as far as we know, nobody else from our past who would want to harm us reincarnated with us. Secondly, even if they had, it isn’t your job to protect me. You need to protect yourself by taking care of yourself. It’s hurting me to see you like this, so not like yourself.” She whispered into her cousin’s hair, causing her to whimper softly. “You need to sleep, you need to stop worrying yourself sick, because I miss you Annie. I miss us pulling shenanigans that drive the others crazy, I miss laughing together, and most of all I miss that sparkle in your eyes. I’m okay, but I won’t be if you continue suffering like this.”

Anne took a quivering breath, but nodded against Katherine’s chest. “I know. I know, but it’s just so hard. I don’t know the last time I’ve been this scared. The nightmares about my own death don’t scare me that much when I wake up, but I can’t handle thinking about you getting hurt Kitty. I can’t handle the thought of any of the others getting hurt.”

Kat took a deep breath herself, trying to think of what to do to ease the situation. She wished Jane was here, she would know exactly what to do in and instant, but she wasn’t, and it was up to her to help her cousin. “Okay. Here’s what’s going to happen,” She started off hesitant, before steeling herself and taking on a decisive tone. “We, are going to get some sleep. In the morning, we’re going to take to Parr and Jane about coping techniques, and possibly some therapy.” Anne started to refute her at that, but Katherine with quick to cut her off. “I know you don’t like the idea of therapy Anne, but you’re suffering alone. And my therapist has helped me so much. Please, at least consider it.”

There was a moment of silence, before Anne reluctantly sighed. “Okay. Okay, I’ll try it. I’ll try anything to get those images out of my head.” She admitted softly, and Kat felt a pang of sadness in her heart at just how shaken her friend was.

After a few more minutes of clinging to each other and Katherine internally planning how she would be able to aid in this endeavor to get Anne help, Anne began to yawn, which Kat took as the perfect opportunity to gently tug her towards the bed. The two girls quickly snuggled up in the bed, with Anne holding onto Katherine’s arm like a lifeline. Kat laid her free hand over Anne’s, soothingly rubbing her thumb over Anne’s hand. She was just about to fall asleep when Anne piped up softly.

“You’re really good at this whole comfort thing, Kitty.” She whispered, causing a shy smile to spread across Kat’s face. She kissed Anne gently on the forehead like Jane usually did for her, and slowly fell asleep.

~~~

When morning came, the girls sought Jane and Parr out together. Katherine stood by Anne’s side holding her hand as Anne anxiously explained that she would like to start therapy, and smiled brightly at her as both Parr and Jane pulled her into a hug, Jane quickly telling her that they’d make an appointment for her to start next week, and Parr kissing her gently, telling her how much she loved her and how proud of her she was.

There wasn’t an immediate fix in therapy, Anne would still keep a close eye on Katherine, and sometimes at night Kat would wake up to the sound of her door opening, peeking one eye open to see Anne making sure she was alright from the doorway before returning to Parr’s bedroom, where she had pretty much taken up residence for the time being. However, slowly that twinkle began to return to her eyes, and much to the chagrin (but secret delight) of Aragon, her shenanigans soon returned with full force. Slowly and surely, things began to return to normal, even if normal meant utter chaos for one Spanish queen.

~~~

“Boleyn what the fuck happened in the kitchen?!”