Trigger Warnings: Mentions of fighting/arguing, referenced panic attacks, indirect references to Kat's past (if I missed anything, please let me know!)
(A/N: Thanks to @Red_writes for the ideas! And thank you to everyone who's read, voted, and commented on this so far! I appreciate each and every one of you! Sorry, this took so long!)
The grocery store was almost completely silent, save for the squeaking of the cart Anna and Kat were pushing and their soft footsteps. Both of them were half-asleep, only having woken up an hour or so ago. Ahead of them was a hopefully exciting morning. A stress-free morning just to themselves.
But right now finding the one kind of chicken nuggets little Cathy would eat was the top priority. Anna ran a hand through her short-hair, suppressing an irritated sigh. Kat was a few strides further down the aisle. She was peering into one of the freezers before she let out a noise that was just shy of a shriek.
"Oh, thank god. Anna! I found them!" The youngest queen walked back towards the cart and Anna. She looked down at the package she held. She pointed a finger accusingly at the chicken nugget dinosaur, "You and I, mister, were this close to having a problem. If Cathy didn't love you so much, I would have thrown you into the trash."
Anna chuckled softly at her girlfriend. "Poor dino."
Kat said nothing, but did throw the box into the cart with a little more force than necessary.
They continued on in the store, as boring as it was. They passed a few people but other than that the store seemed almost deserted. The fourth queen would occasionally glance at Kat. She was biting her lip and curling a piece of her hair around her finger. She was relatively quiet, but Anna could tell her thoughts were going a mile a minute.
It took a bit before, "Anna, could I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead, Kätzchen."
"Okay. I just, like...who regressed first? I mean, I know you do, and Annie does, and Cathy does. Maybe I do too," she shrugged, throwing up her arms, "I don't know. But like out of you three, who did it first? 'Cause you're all so comfortable and I..."
Kat trailed off, looking over at Anna, who remained silent. A dazed look was in her eyes and she stared forward as they walked. Kat felt more anxious with every step. Did I overstep some boundary? Is she going to get mad? Are Annie and Cathy going to be mad too? What if they-
"Anne did first."
"Really?" She turned her head to look over.
"She doesn't like to talk about it."
"Why?"
Anna replied, "It happened during the early times; when only a few of us were back."
"You guys don't talk about that...like ever."
"That's because it wasn't very good then. And now it's better."
Kat mouthed a silent oh. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna. It's okay. Whatever you want. I understand. I didn't mean to bring up a bad subject." Kat set her hand on top of Anna's on the cart.
"It's...complicated, I guess. That's probably not the best wording." The red queen ran a hand through her short hair.
Kat pressed her lips together into a thin line. She nodded, saying nothing. Her thoughts continued to run wild, even more so now, but she waited.
"Catherine, Anne, and Jane fought a good amount when they first came back. It's not like they were huge life-or-death fights or anything; thank god. It was just little things, honestly. Like 'oh, you left so and so sitting out here' or 'blah-blah-blah, why'd you look at me like that,' you know? Not detrimental things, necessarily."
"But they happened a lot?" Kat softly questioned.
"Oh yeah; at least a few times a day when I was there. I can't speak for before I came back. Asking them about that now is like messing with fire. I can't imagine it was very pretty, though. It was hell, Kätzchen."
Kat's brows knit together in worry. She gently guided the cart to the side so she could grab what they needed without straying too far away. "Did they ever like...work things out," she asked hesitantly. "I mean, I assume they did because they don't fight too bad now."
Anna helped load the assortment of food into the cart before replying. "I think they did. I'm not really sure... I tried to not get involved. I kind of just, I don't know, hung out in my room for most of the day. I, uh, eventually got involved, though."
"Because of Annie?"
Anna shrugged. "In a roundabout way, yes. Honestly, I have no idea what happened. There was some more shouting than usual- not a clue about what- and I think that's what set her off initially. There I was in my room when suddenly a sobbing, inconsolable Anne Boleyn comes in and collapses onto the bed."
"That's...Oh god." Kat mumbled, her hand once again finding its way near Anna's. She wordlessly interlocked their fingers.
"It was not good. To say the least. The worst thing was that I couldn't go to Catherine or Jane. So I had no fucking clue what I was doing. I hadn't even been back for more than a month or two, tops. She was just crying so much. There was nothing I could do to stop her. But I somehow ended up with an exhausted Anne sucking her thumb tucked under my arm."
Kat involuntarily let out a soft aww. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, wincing. "Sorry," she apologized.
"It's alright, Liebling. It was pretty cute, looking back on it. I managed to turn on some kind of show on my computer and we watched that. She wasn't saying a word, though; but I wasn't going to press. Eventually, Anne fell asleep. And that was that."
"What happened when she woke up?"
"It was bad. She panicked: lots of apologizing, a good amount of French. She rushed out and wouldn't talk to me for a few days. I was worried about her. I didn't know what had happened at the time."
The two former queens had gotten most of what they needed, except some of the ingredients Catherine wanted. They eventually made their way through the long checkout line.
As they walked out, Kat sighed gently. "I'm sorry, Anna."
"Nothing you could've done. They eventually worked things out and life's better now. Bad things were bound to happen if you ask me." Seeing Kat's puzzled expression, she elaborated, "I think there were things that needed to be said between the three of them about things that happened in the past. And now there's no King or threat of death looming over you. And suddenly you have three confused, hurting queens with years of repressed emotions."
Mulling over her words, Kat remained quiet for a bit. "No. Wait, I mean, yeah; I get that. It makes sense. I just...I meant I'm sorry for always leaving and not being there for you. Don't look at me like that, I'm serious. I too left early last time and I was too late this time. I just can't do it right."
Now by their car, Anna stopped the cart and turned to Kat. She gently cupped the side of her face with her hand. "No. No; it's not your fault. I know I say that a lot, but it's the truth, Kätzchen. All that matters now, no matter what happened before, is that you're here now."
"You know," Kat sniffed, her eyes just a light red color around the edges, "you can be so sappy sometimes."
"I have my moments, I'll admit." Anna smiled softly as she began to pack in the bags.
"They're nice moments."
"Well, you know, that's kind of the intention."
The pink queen kissed her, grinning. After happily reciprocating, Anna shoved the cart towards Kat. She chuckled, "I'll get the car ready; you put that away."
<><><><><>~<><><><><>~<><><>
"Are we going to the fun place you mentioned before now?" Kat glanced over at her from the passenger's seat. They had been driving for about fifteen minutes by now. Which normally wouldn't have been a big deal...except Anna had promised to take her somewhere after they were done shopping. And it felt like it had been hours already; every minute passed by at an excruciatingly slow pace.
"We are."
She frowned. "You gonna tell me what place that is?"
"Not yet."
"Should I be worried?"
"Nope."
"Anna..."
The aforementioned queen briefly looked over. She smiled reassuringly. "It's fine, Kat. I promise. It's nothing bad. Really."
Kat spared her another suspicious glance but nodded. They were soon in front of a small shop. In the building's two front windows sat an assortment of children's toys framed by a strand of soft white lights: a blue and white bicycle with a matching tricycle next to it, a selection of books and puzzles, and a variety of stuffed animals. Surrounded by a small army of stuffed bears was an oversized, fluffy unicorn.
"What...what're we doing here?" The fifth queen asked, confusion evident in her voice.
Once out of the car and standing next to each other, Anna turned to her, the same smile she had earlier on her face. "To look around and get stuff, if you want."
"Oh! Does Annie or Cathy need something?"
"No," her face fell a bit. "Let me rephrase- if you want to get anything."
She was silent for a few moments. Then, in a small voice, "Really?"
"Yeah! Of course! Because we all have our trinkets and stuff, but you don't. So I thought you might want to get something...but only if you want to. We can go-"
She was cut off by Kat tightly hugging her. The younger queen mumbled something the fourth queen couldn't quite fully make out, but definitely ending with a soft thank you. Anna grinned widely as she let herself be almost dragged by Kat to the storefront window.
Kat stared into the window for almost two minutes without saying a word. Anna was about to say they could go inside and look further when her girlfriend spoke up. "I want the unicorn."
"Yeah? You're sure you don't want to look inside to see what else they have?"
"I'm positive. And his name is Mr. Fluffington Sparkles."
Laughing, Anna grabbed Kat's hand and the two began to walk inside. "Alright. Let's go get you your Mr. Fluffington Sparkles."
(A/N: This was barely edited and I've only read it fully through once, so sorry if there are any mistakes!)