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Anna wasn’t quite sure how she felt about Christmas in the new age.
It was bright and colourful and…beautiful, but also so overwhelming that she didn’t quite know what was going on at any given moment.
Their neighbours had taken to putting up strange lights outside their houses - one even had a weird long red blow up old man that waved erratically around in the wind and had scared the ever loving shit out of Kat when she walked past it for the first time.
There were adverts for kids toys on every channel, even on ones that really shouldn’t be advertising anything to children, and Anne had gotten a bit too excited by a magic set that showed repeatedly. Even Jane had been enamoured by a certain ‘orbeez foot spa’, though Anna was confused by that certain product - the advert featured two children using it, but what did children do all day that required relaxation?
Anna was pretty sure similar things were going on downtown (weird decorations, a surplus of childrens toys - how many toys did one child need?), and she had been steering well clear of it, happy to stay at home and help the queens decorate a tree Catalina and Cathy had dragged home one day, and ordering and wrapping presents.
That’s where she found herself on Christmas Eve, struggling to wrap her glittery red roll of paper around an annoyingly shaped dinosaur onesie she had purchased for Anne.
Jane, who had decided she greatly enjoyed the festive hustle and bustle of the town centre, had purchased them each three rolls of glittery wrapping paper in their self proclaimed colours on one of her numerous trips. The third queen was actually out shopping in town at that moment, Anna remembered as she realised she hadn’t seen her all morning. Cathy was upstairs writing, and Catalina was in the lounge reading and supervising Anne and Kat who were putting the finishing touches on the tree.
Anna found herself repeatedly throwing her body toward to hide the present each time she heard Anne’s loud voice ring out across the room from where she herself was situated at the kitchen table. Perhaps she should have been doing her secretive wrapping in her bedroom like Jane had been all week, but she had committed now. She stuck a piece of sellotape on the paper, her tongue stuck out in concentration as Anne’s voice rang out once again.
”No, Kat, we don’t need to decorate the back because no one will see it - I said this when we put it up last week we aren’t changing it now.”
Anna rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to hide the present. Kat and Anne had been getting into a hell of a lot of Christmas related arguments recently, considering the fact it was the ‘happiest time of the year’.
“But it’s so bare!”
“Yeah, that’s why we’re putting tinsel on now, it will cover up the back - not that anyones going to see it - and it also means the front won’t look sparse because we’re trying to distribute the decorations to-”
“Using fancy words doesn’t make you right, Anne.”
“But I am right! Lina-”
“Don’t get me involved.”
“But you don’t even-”
“Fine, I’m on Kat’s side. Happy?”
Anna chuckled as Anne let out an angry noise in response, not unlike a teenager whose parents are ‘ruining their life’.
“Fine, whatever. The tree will be coming down on the 26th anyway.”
“No it will not .” Came Kat’s scandalised response.
“Yeah, it’s Boxing Day isn’t it? To box stuff up again.”
“…I thought it was a day when I could beat the shit out of you.” Catalina sounded genuinely disappointed. Kat laughed.
“Yeah, brilliant.” Anne huffed to herself. Anna heard the rustle of tinsel.
“Seriously though, we’re not taking the decorations down tomorrow, we’re keeping them up for another week.” Kat said.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Because it won’t be Christmas anymore.”
“So? We’ve only had it up for a few days.”
“Okay, let’s just take them down on New Year’s Day, how about that?” Catalina mediated.
Both girls were silent for a moment, no doubt having a staring match.
“…Fine.”
“Yay.”
The house lapsed into quiet again, the slight jingling of the bells on the Christmas tree as the cousins wrapped tinsel around it being the only thing to disturb the silence. And then-
“Kat. Stop it.”
“What?” Uh oh. Kat sounded much too innocent.
“I mean it, don’t.”
“I’m not doing any-“
CRASH!
Anna leapt up out of her chair. She stood, her heart in mouth, straining her ears to hear what was happening around the other side of the pillars.
“Oh no, shit-” Kats worried voice rang out.
Anna was about to run to help, then Catalina started laughing. She relaxed slightly. Lina wouldn’t be laughing if something was really wrong.
“Lina! Stop laughing, it's not funny!”
“Sorry, I- Anne, get up.” Catalina managed.
Anna listened for movement. Nothing.
“Anne?” Catalina sounded worried. “Oh fuck-“
Anna ran into the lounge just as Lina desperately yelled-
“CATHY! ANNA!”
Kat looked close to tears, desperately trying to lift up the Christmas tree which had fallen onto the floor. Catalina was doing the same on the other side of the tree, and looked up as Anna entered the room.
“Quick, help us get this off of her.”
Anna’s eyes widened and she crouched down to see Anne, led on the floor underneath the tree, face paler than usual and eyes closed.
“Is she…”
“She’s not dead Anna.” Catalina rolled her eyes just as Cathy skidded into the room, eyes wide.
Anna frowned. “Well yeah I know she’s not dead-“
“What the hell happened!?” Cathy exclaimed.
Kat looked insanely guilty.
“I was pushing the tree so the branches would slap her in the face a bit - I didn’t mean for it to fall on her though, and, oh god, is she going to be alright?”
“We’ll be able to tell a lot faster if we get this tree off of her.” Catalina said firmly.
Cathy quickly moved next to her godmother as Anna sidled up next to Kat, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly. On Lina’s count, the four of them lifted the tree back into a standing position. As Catalina and Anna steadied it, Kat and Cathy dropped to their knees on either side of the unconscious woman.
“Anne? Anne?!” Kat slapped Anne’s cheeks, becoming increasingly desperate. Anna caught her hands as faint red handprint shaped marks started to show.
“Katherine, calm down. She’ll wake up in a minute.” Catalina spoke evenly, an authoritative tone in her voice that made the teen stare at her with wide eyes, calming down slightly.
“Jane’s going to kill us.” Kat sounded significantly glummer. “The one thing she says every time she goes out is ‘Make sure no one’s unconscious when I return’, and granted it’s always directed at Catalina to keep order in the house and towards Anne as a warning against doing anything stupid but-”
“Why is she unconscious though, did the branches of the tree actually knock her out?” Anna cut her off, releasing Kat’s hands and tilting her head as she regarded Anne.
“No, she hit her head on the way down, I heard the thump,” Tears welled in Kat’s eyes. “Should we call an ambulance? Or just call 111 and get some advice or… or-”
“Kat, chill.” Anna patted her once on the head.
“Hey, hey-“ Cathy pointed at Anne with wide eyes and slapped her hand against Anna’s arm until she shoved her away. “She’s waking up.”
The other three whipped their heads around to stare as Anne’s eyes slowly fluttered open. Cathy fiddled with her phone and brought up her torch light, slowly waving it in front of her eyes. Anne reached her hands in the air to slap it away and ended up hitting herself in the face.
“Ow.” She groaned.
Anna stifled a laugh, avoiding looking at Catalina who was no doubt doing the same. Kat was staring at her cousin with wide guilty eyes as she sat up, rubbing her hands over her face.
“…Fuck, why do I feel like someone’s slapped the shit out of me?”
Kat went red and Anna grinned.
“I guess that’s just what happens when a tree falls on top of you.”
Recognition dawned on Anne’s face and she glared at Kat.
“Thanks KitKat.”
Kat wrung her hands together.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to I was just messing around-“
“Kidding, it’s fine,” Anne batted Cathy and her phone torch away from her face,“You didn’t mean to.”
“Wow, I’ve never seen you that level headed before. Maybe that hit to the head has fixed you. Made you into a normal person.” Catalina sent a sweet smile Anne’s way as she scowled at her.
“Yeah great thanks Lina, glad you’re so concerned about my safety.”
Her eyes crossed comically to stare at Cathy’s finger as she waved it in front of her face to check her pupils, her brow creased with worry.
“But… you’re okay?”
Poor Kat’s eyes were still brimming with tears.
“Yeah, I’m okay I think… wait where did Jane go?”
“She went to the shops this morning…” Kat tilted her head.
“No she was… she was like right between you and Lina, just a second ago…”
They exchanged alarmed glances.
“Uhh… maybe we should lay you down on the sofa.”
Catalina and Anna grabbed her under the arms and hoisted her up. Kat and Cathy hissed at each other in hushed tones about calling 111 behind them as they laid her down on the sofa.
Anna bent down a few centimetres away from Anne’s face and squinted at her. She definitely looked paler than usual, and she could confirm what Cathy was hysterically whisper-shouting behind her: her pupils were definitely dilated.
“I’m fine Anna,” Anne sighed, closing her eyes. “Fuck off to the gym or something.”
Anna grinned. Maybe she was okay. Except for the whole hallucinating business. That was perhaps a cause for concern.
The front door slammed shut and they looked up as Jane walked into the room. Her arms were weighed down with bags and she had a wide smile spread across her cold bitten cheeks.
Anne’s eyes opened comically wide.
“Holy shit Jane how the fuck did you do that?”
“I… what?” Jane's smile faded slightly as she looked between the other women in confusion.
“You were just in here! Next to Kat and then you like… disappeared - what the hell?”
“Kat knocked Anne out and we think she has a concussion.” Catalina provided helpfully.
“WHAT?!”
Jane hurriedly slid her bags off of her arms and onto the floor then dropped down next to Anne. The younger queen groaned and tried to hide in the sofa cushions.
“I don’t think she’s bad enough to have to call anyone right now; her pupils are slightly dilated but she doesn’t have any slurred speech at all - in fact she’s talking completely normally, though she did hallucinate you a few minutes ago, hence her confusion when you entered the room.”
Cathy spoke at a mile a minute, and Jane’s attention was torn between drinking in her every word and attempting to place her hand on Anne’s forehead as she batted it away.
“The hallucination did disappear so she might be alright now if it was just a momentary thing.”
“Well she seems alright.” Jane snatched her hand away in disgust as Anne gave up on trying to slap her away and straight up tried to bite her fingers.
“How did Kat knock her out? Did they get in a fight - is that why she’s got slap marks on her cheeks?”
“No no no no, the tree! The tree fell on her! And I was just trying to wake her up with the slaps - but I didn’t mean to do it at all!”
Anna made the mistake of catching Catalina’s eye across the room. The two of them burst out laughing. The other four queens slowly turned to stare at them, looking unamused.
“Oh come on guys, she’s fine, seriously, look.”
Anna poked Anne in her side and she reflexively swung to try and punch her in response. Anna dodged easily.
“See, response time, reflexes, yada yada - all fine. If she starts to go downhill then we’ll call 111 or something.”
Anna’s words, as per usual, seemed to have a calming effect on the other queens. Jane nodded and stood up, regathering her bags, and Cathy looked at Anne again worriedly but scooted away. Kat stayed pressed into her cousin, hands clasped onto hers, the guilty look still hauntingly present in her eyes. Anna had a feeling she wouldn’t be leaving her side any time soon.
“Okay well, before all that…” Jane rustled around in one of her paper bags. “I did come in with some news.”
“Oh really?”
Catalina dropped onto the sofa, shoving Anne’s legs off the side and ignoring her groan as she almost fell onto the floor. Kat hastily pulled her back on and wrapped an arm around her, scowling at Lina.
“Yes!”
Jane seemed to have decided to stay ignorant to whatever was going on in the room as she looked up from her bag with a grin, waving a flyer at them.
“…What is that?” Cathy asked.
“Christmas market! It’s been in the city centre for about two weeks but I hadn’t noticed because I don’t usually go down the part it’s in - but look! There’s lots of cute little stalls, and an ice skating rink, and it closes tomorrow so we’ve got to go.”
Her smile dropped slightly as the others just stared back at her.
“What?”
They shuffled awkwardly.
“…You want to go today?”
“Were you not listening Cathy - it closes tomorrow so yes, we’ll have to go today - within a few hours really-“
“Do you think she’s up for that?” Anna raised an eyebrow and nodded towards Anne who was slumped against Kat.
“Well…this was supposed to be something we all do together, we can’t do it if any of us are left behind.” Jane sounded upset.
Anna scratched her nose nervously.
“I wasn’t really planning on going anywhere tonight. I was just going to stay in, maybe go to the pub with Lina, but Christmas markets aren’t really my thing.”
“Same.” Catalina nodded, avoiding Jane’s eyes. “And look at the three of them, they aren’t going anywhere.”
Cathy had snuck back towards Anne and sat next to her, stroking her hair as a guise to take concerned glances at the back of her head - no doubt to look for any bumps when Anne wasn’t paying attention. Kat looked torn between not wanting to upset Jane, and also not wanting to hurt her cousin any more that afternoon.
Anna chanced a glance at Jane’s face and her eyebrows furrowed as she saw she didn’t look crestfallen as expected, she looked…triumphant. Like she had an ace up her sleeve.
The sight scared her immensely.
“Well okay, I mean it’s a German market with a German pub and food stalls and stuff but if you don’t want to go…”
Anna’s eyes widened. Jane was a right conniving little bastard but she didn’t really care at that moment. The third queen looked at Anna with glittering eyes.
“Anna?”
“Oh yeah, we’re all going.”
Jane turned, doing a small fist pump before turning back with a serene smile on her face.
“Oh fantastic!”
“What, all of us?” Cathy said suddenly, her face concerned.
“Yes! All of us.” Anna pushed Kat into Catalina and squashed down between her and Anne on the sofa.
“Bo, you’re fine to come right?” She asked, gripping the disoriented girl on the shoulder tightly.
“Oh I uhh… I… yes.”
“That’s hardly convincing-“
“Okay brilliant!” Anna ignored Cathy and turned to Catalina.
“Aragon?”
The oldest queen sighed.
“Yeah fine whatever, one of you had better buy me a drink though.”
Anna grinned.
“Fantastic.”
She didn’t dare look at Kat, knowing her well practiced puppy dog eyes were possibly the only thing that could ruin her plan. She instead turned to Jane.
“Okay, what time are we going?”
Jane checked her watch.
“Hmm well it’s half four now, let’s say we get ready then leave at five and have dinner while there?”
“Perfect, perfect.”
Anna pulled Cathy and Kat up and pushed them out of the room, aggressively shushing their objections. Catalina got up and followed them, Jane skipping behind her.
Anna glanced over at Anne on the sofa, who was regarding her with one open eye.
“You’re okay to come right Bo?”
“I’m fine, I’m not going to ruin anything.”
Anna frowned and sat next to her, touching her forehead.
“Truth. I’m not making you come if you’re not up for it.”
Anne rolled her eyes.
“Fine, I’m slightly dizzy and not completely with it but I’m well enough to go out, just keep an eye on me.”
Anna leveled her with a scrutinising gaze for another few moments, then came to the conclusion that Boleyn would never tell any of them to ‘keep an eye on her’ if she wasn’t being sincere. She shrugged.
“Well okay, just tell us if you need to go home at any point.”
She helped her up off of the sofa without asking, knowing she would need help up the stairs.
“Yeah right, knowing you Cleves you’d just tell me to sit on a bench and wait until you and Lina have finished your cocktails.” She shook her head, eyes flickering slightly with the movement, “Fucking alcoholics.”
Anna chose to ignore that comment in favour of pushing Anne into her room, trusting Kat or Cathy would turn up to help with anything, and going to her own bedroom to get ready.
Half an hour later, they were all standing in the hallway ready to go. Surprisingly Catalina was the last to appear, usually Anne held that spot with an extra half-hour wait.
They piled into the car for a twenty minute, pleasantly peaceful car ride, then arrived in the city centre.
As they walked towards the market, Anna slung her arms around Kat and Cathy’s shoulders.
“Lighten up a bit guys, we all know that if Anne wasn’t fine then Jane wouldn’t have let her come out. Enjoy yourselves a bit before she becomes herself again later and you want to knock her out on purpose.”
Cathy shot her a look then glanced behind her at the other three queens. Jane was clutched onto one of Catalina’s arms, shivering and red faced in the cold but beaming nevertheless. Catalina was using her other arm to firmly guide Anne along, her hand wrapped around the disoriented girl's bicep.
“Are we sure she’s okay to be out?” Kat asked, sounding uncertain.
“She’s fine.” Catalina dismissed Kat easily, pulling Anne to a stop beside her as they stood in front of the market. The six of them stood and stared at it for a moment, taking it all in.
There were dozens of food stalls, clothes stalls, very… random stalls, a large ice skating rink, a small cafe next to it, and then in the middle-
“German pub.” Anna said proudly, more to herself than anyone else.
It was a large open seating area, decked out with Christmas lights and large speakers booming Christmas music. Anna wasn’t sure she’d seen anything more beautiful. In the last like… hour maybe. It may be German and Christmassy but, it was still a pop up pub. She had lived as royalty in the 1500’s for Christ's sake.
“Okay, what are we doing first?”
Jane broke the silence, attempting to clap her hands together for attention around Catalina’s arm.
Kat, who had perked up, shivered slightly.
“Food, definitely. Then I kind of want to go ice skating, haven’t tried that before.”
Anna grinned.
“Oh definitely. Bet I’m better at it than you.”
“Dream on Anna.”
“I don’t really want to slide around on ice aimlessly for an hour,” Catalina wrinkled her nose. “I think I might just look around the market while you do that. But definitely food first, I’m starving.”
They came to an agreement that they’d all get food together then Jane, Kat and Anna would go to the ice skating rink, Cathy would go to the cafe next to it because it was “ridiculously fucking cold” and she “needed coffee”, and Catalina would bring Anne with her to look around the market until they all regrouped to get drinks then go home. Catalina hadn’t looked too thrilled by this plan, but Anne hadn’t made any comments about it so she seemed to let it slide.
There were lots of different options for dinner amongst the stalls. Anna found herself inexplicably excited over a German bratwurst stall, and she had both intrigued and reassured Jane enough in her explanation of ‘good sausage’ that the other woman had decided on the same.
Cathy was interested by the Kartoffelpuffer stall after Anna assured her there was no meat and they were potato pancakes. She grabbed Anne and pulled her along to get something from there too.
Kat and Catalina, arguably the bigger sweet-tooth’s of the group (Anne was banned from sweets on any day of the week ending with a ‘Y’ at Catalina and Jane’s insistence, so she was excluded from this demographic), decided to go for the churros stand and fill up on desserts.
The six of them split up to go to their respective stands then met up about ten minutes later (twenty for Kat and a grumpy Catalina - it turned out churros were very popular and warranted a very long queue). They sat on a picnic bench and ate their food in high spirits - even Catalina smiled and nodded along with the Christmas music, and Anne looked slightly less like she was going to drop to the floor now she had a bit of food in her system. They talked for a bit after finishing, commenting on the market and their plans for the evening, then split up once again.
Anna linked her arms through Jane and Kat’s as Cathy left them with an awkward wave in favour of ducking into the cozy fireplace lit cafe.
“Oh,” Anna grinned as they neared the ice rink. “I’m going to destroy the two of you at this.”
*
Catalina didn’t know quite how she’d ended up with Anne tagging along with her, especially when Cathy was literally sat in a warm cafe which was surely the safest place for a possibly-concussed 23 year-old in 2° weather, but Anne hadn’t complained when the plans had been made so she sure as hell wasn’t going to.
She found herself enjoying the experience, in fact, possibly due to the fact it was more her humming to herself as she dragged a silent Boleyn around to look at garden gnomes and dream catchers, but it was pleasant nevertheless. She glanced back at her a few times just to make sure she was still alive and she wasn’t dragging a corpse along with her or anything.
Catalina would never have admitted it earlier on when Anna was convincing them all to come, but she was slightly worried about the girl and a shopping trip probably wasn’t the best idea. But, she seemed to be faring… okay, at least, and she was sure a good night's sleep would sort her out and she would be back to her annoying hyperactive self - tenfold, due to it being Christmas - the next day, so she decided she would just enjoy the moment.
They had been browsing in silence for around half an hour when Anne suddenly desperately caught onto her sleeve. Catalina quickly spun around and put a hand on her shoulder to check she was alright, and upon seeing she seemed to be more awake then she had the entire night, suspiciously scanned the shoppers around them to see if anyone was causing any problems. She stopped when she felt another tug on her sleeve.
“What’s wrong Anne?”
She was taken aback to see the younger woman looking bashful as she rubbed the back of her neck.
“I need you to help me buy a present for Cathy.”
Catalina let out a sigh of relief, then raised an eyebrow.
“Really? It’s Christmas Eve, Anne, surely even you aren’t this last minute - nevermind, I take that back, of course you are.”
Anne shook her head desperately.
“No! That’s just the thing, I’ve been looking for like a month for Cathy’s present - yeah, I only got yours like three days ago,”
Lina rolled her eyes.
“But the problem with Cathy’s is that I just can’t find anything that…”
She trailed off suddenly, looking nervous. Catalina watched her curiously.
“I just haven’t been able to find anything that’s… perfect.” She said finally.
Catalina wasn’t too sure what she meant by that, but she decided that she didn’t mind this Boleyn too much, so shrugged and looped their arms together.
“Okay, well let’s see what we can find.”
The two of them searched for about twenty minutes, and Catalina found herself starting to feel sorry for Boleyn. Every stall they came to where there wasn’t anything that caught her eye, Anne seemed to shrink into herself more and more. Catalina was about to put her out of her misery and tell her she’d drive her to big Tesco when they got home so she could get something, when suddenly Anne froze, pulling Lina to an abrupt halt beside her. She followed her line of sight to see a jewellery stall. Anne let go of her arm and ran forward, teetering slightly, then crouched to press her face against the glass display walls, tapping her finger repeatedly and glancing up at Lina with shining eyes.
“That! That’s it, it’s- it’s perfect!”
Catalina crouched down beside her to see a silver chained necklace. It had a small rectangle charm on the end, decorated with a border of deep blue gemstones for a book cover with a pattern of delicate gold in the middle. Catalina had to hand it to Anne - it was perfect. She had no idea how she had seen it from ten metres away though. The woman was a mystery.
Anne pointed the necklace out to the stall runner and purchased it without hesitation, even as Catalina raised her eyebrows slightly at the price. She placed it gently into her pocket and walked away in much higher spirits, Catalina trailing alongside her and watching her strangely.
They walked towards the ice rink, knowing the three queens’ hour was soon going to be up, and jokingly theorised different ways Anna could have possibly proven she was better than Kat and Jane. It felt weird to be showing her friendship and love towards Boleyn through.. normal, non argumentative methods, but it wasn’t particularly unwelcome.
As they neared the Cafe, Catalina spotted Cathy standing outside, her finger placed between the pages of a book she held in one hand as she crossed her arms close to her body, looking miserable in the cold.
As they neared Cathy, Lina heard Anne’s small voice alongside her.
“Are you sure she’ll like it?”
She stared at her in confusion.
“Of course she’ll-“
“Hey guys.” Cathy jogged towards them, cutting Catalina off as she stood in front of them, hopping from foot to foot with clattering teeth.
“Hey Cathy.” Anne smiled.
Cathy returned the smile.
“Hi, how’s your head?”
“It’s alright now, nothing a good night's sleep won’t fix.”
The pleasantries were starting to scare Catalina when thankfully Anna’s loud voice burst onto the scene.
“Bo! Aragon - CP! Guess who is most definitely better at ice skating than Jane and Kat.” She grinned, looking breathless in the cold air.
Kat elbowed her.
“Shut up Anna.”
“I think we were all quite good!” Jane remarked from Anna’s other side. “We only fell over a few times within the first ten minutes and then we were fine - though actually Anna, you did collide with that little boy…”
Anna’s face dropped as Anne and Kat started to laugh, Cathy and Catalina quickly joining in.
“Yeah, whatever, let’s get drinks.”
“Hey, remember Cleves, you’re paying!”
*
That evening, upon returning home, they all decided to settle down and watch a Christmas movie.
Anna and Cathy were making rounds of hot chocolate, and Catalina had grabbed first dibs, taking hers into the lounge and choosing the best seat. As she sipped her drink, Anne snuck into the room like a bad cartoon spy, and not so stealthily pulled the necklace box and a bag of sellotape from her jacket. She kneeled down and the oldest queens mouth dropped open as she stuck the box to a jumble of other presents stuck together in a hamper box.
Anne hadn’t been lost as to what to buy Cathy as a present at all, she had already bought her…eight!
The others came in, still arguing loudly over ice skating talent as Kat begged Anne to come next time and not to not have a concussion so she could wipe the floor with Anna. Catalina watched Cathy and Anne settle down on the sofa next to each other, exchanging soft smiles.
The movie started and she raised her eyebrows.
Huh.
When had those two become best friends?