Tis sweet to sing the song of life
The song of freedom
But heartache comes with strife
Endearment is love
For the song of freedom is life
The life of freedom is song
Tis sweet to sing the song of life
Tis the reason love endures
But heartache comes with strife
Endearment is love

Katherine sang the words quietly under her breath as she played her sweet melody once more on the miraculous piano in the music room. Playing the piano was the only thing that seemed to calm her down anymore, she'd only been the Kings wife for three weeks and already she could feel the pressures of royalty weighing down on her. And it wasn't just the fact that the pressure was on for her to be with child.

Despite the newly formed alliance between her old country and the one she had now, the people were not happy. Rebellion had stirred up amongst the people of New Times Square, people had begun protesting about Central Presses laws that they now had to follow. The people in Katherine's home were not happy and it only added stress to her, which wasn't good because she already had to much of that behind closed doors.

She was sick, she was tired, and probably pregnant already but she wasn't about to tell anyone that before she knew for sure. She'd rather not having everyone looking at her like she would break if they got too close, Jack already seemed to do that to her... she didn't want anyone else to be that way.

And Jack... oh Jack. What was there to say? They were friends, they really were, best friends? Not really. Good friends? Depended on the day. But for the most part they were nice to each other and only talked when absolutely necessary, Katherine knew he didn't like it any more than she did and that kept her from being bitter. Katherine couldn't even count how many times she'd been pinned to that bed in the last three weeks, it was an almost daily occurrence and Katherine knew Jack probably enjoyed it more than he wanted to admit.

Katherine's head stated to spin suddenly as she played the piano, it had been doing this on and off recently and it worried her. She'd never been sick a day in her life which only added to her confirmation of a potential child already growing inside her. She quietly ended her piece and folded her hands in her lap and squeezed her eyes shut as the spinning subsided to a dull throb in her temple. She felt nauseated but held her breath until it went away.

"My lady, your husband requests your presence in the royal chambers."

Katherine turned her head to see Clara standing by the door her head elevated a bit toward her Queen. Despite Katherine wanting things to remain normal between them, Clara was required to be professional when out and about the castle.

"Yes, of course." Katherine said letting her hands stroke the beautiful ivory keys once more.

Katherine walked silently with Clara up through the castle hallways, over the weeks that she'd been here Katherine had gotten her self fimiluar with the castle in her spare time. She'd only gotten lost once or twice since and it had been quite and adventure trying to find her way back.

"How are you feeling today?" Clara asked tentatively.

"Great." Katherine lied.

Sensing that Katherine didn't want to talk Clara kept silent for the rest of the way only speaking when Katherine asked her a question.

"Have my mother and father returned from New Times Square?" Katherine asked quietly. They'd left about a week ago when the rebellion had first started becoming noticeable, her mother had promised they'd return shortly but she hadn't heard a word sense.

"No my lady." Clara said quietly.

They lapsed back into silence.

As Katherine reached the door to her chambers she dismissed Clara unsure of what Jack had in mind. She opened the door expecting to find him waiting for her but he wasn't. In fact, she couldn't find him at first. It wasn't until she looked out the big glass balcony doors did she spot him leaning up against the railing looking up at the deep blue sky.

As Katherine crossed to the the glass doors something caught her eye, it was a piece of paper that was folded up sticking out of Jacks coat that hung lumpy on the small couch they had. The curiosity that Elizabeth Pulitzer had tried so hard to stomp out of her daughter showed up in full swing right now as Katherine glanced up to make sure the king wasn't looking. What if it was something about her parents? Maybe it was something about the rebellion that he hadn't told her about... She snuck another glance at Jack before pulling it out of the pocket and unfolding it.

What she found was not about her parents, and it defiantly wasn't anything about the rebellion. Instead she found something she didn't expect.

It was... her.

Well, a drawing of her anyway. In the picture she was smiling sadly, and Katherine knew that was the only smile Jack had ever seen her do. The picture was incredibly detailed and gave her shivers about how accurately he had captured her face, from the heart shaped curve of her face, to the soft texture of her lips, it looked just like her. Katherine didn't even know Jack knew her well enough to capture her with such detail.

What a masterpiece.

But why her? Why draw her? Why would he waste his time to draw someone as unimportant as his wife?

Katherine shook the thought away and quickly folded the paper up and stuck it back inside the pocket where she'd found it. Feeling strangely different from before Katherine headed through the glass doors and on to the balcony where the air was warm and the sun was bright.

"Your maj- Jack?" Katherine asked softly catching herself remembering that Jack hated being called by such formal things. Especially by her.

Jack turned his head and saw her standing there, she brushed invisible dust off her pink dress trying to do something with her hands.

"Katherine." He said back holding out his hand for her to take.

She too it and Katherine's hand buzzed as he did so but she thought nothing off it. He pulled her to stand next to him but didn't let go of her hand, instead he placed a soft kiss to her knuckles his deep blue eyes seeing straight into her soul. After three weeks of being married to him Katherine still had no idea who he was, he was so mysterious and dark and wonderful... she didn't know how to handle him. Sure, they'd had their moments, but they were few and far between, and usually ended up with her getting pinned to the bed again.

But he was still a mystery to her. And she wanted to know why.

"I got you something." He said quietly against her knuckles.

Katherine's expression remained politely interested as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a silvery chain with a small purple stone dangling on the end.

"It's beautiful." Katherine said truly meaning it. She moved her hair out of the way and let him clip it on around her neck, the weight of it felt strange around her chest but she didn't mind it.

"It was my mothers, I found it in my fathers old desk last night and thought you would like it. Purple is your favorite color isn't it?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, it is." Katherine said pleased that he remembered.

He took her hand again and pressed it against his lips as if he was thinking hard about something. He moved her hand so it was now pressed against his jaw, his clean shaven face felt smooth against her fingers. She'd always had the urge to run her fingers along his perfect jaw line, and though his hair, but she had never dared. If he didn't like it then she would be screwed.

Well, more screwed then she already was.

"Thank you." Katherine said smiling, but as she smiled she realized it was just as sad as ever. She could tell Jack could see it to because he gently stroked a corner of her mouth with his thumb. She could see the true artist inside him in that moment, the way he looked at her made her feel like the most wonderful thing on the earth. Like her and only her was important to him.

"Your welcome." He said moving his hand from her cheek to the back of her head so he could pull her face to his and kiss her. He kept her hand against his jaw as he kissed her, she automatically held still while he kissed her.

As he kissed her, her head began to spin again, this time worse than ever before. She was secure under his touch but her head felt like it was rolling down a mountain, she wanted to throw up but she forced herself to stay still until he was done.

When at last he pulled away the spinning did not stop, she swayed a bit the headache almost making her go blind. Jack steadied her surprised by her sudden unbalanced feet.

"Please forgive me." Katherine said clutching his arm for support. "I don't feel very well."

"Come." He said carefully leading her back inside. "I'll send for Clara."

Katherine nodded as he sat her down on the couch, her mother would scold her for being so helpless but at the moment she didn't care. Her head spun and she felt terribly dizzy, she didn't even noticed when Jack had left.

She couldn't even wait any longer, she closed her eyes and drifted into a painful sleep.

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FINALLY got this up BabyKangaroo_fanfica  now I expect something in return...? He he he...?