Athos and D'Artagnan had just ended their watch at the Louvres and were heading to the garrison. Once in, they saw Aramis and Porthos talking joyfully while cleaning their pistols and two other men practicing their fighting.

''How about you show them how it's done?'' asked Aramis while pointing the fighters to Athos. Athos simply smirked and sat with D'Artagnan to serve himself some purée.

'' And you D'Artagnan?''teased Aramis. D'Artagnan pushed his hair away from his face and said '' I had my ass kicked enough for one day.''

'' How dare you fail your duty? Watching the Louvres is one the most important tasks a musketeer might have the honor to fulfill.'' said Porthos laughing as the other men started eating. They all had to do the shitty shifts when they were new to the regiment like D'Artagnan even if he had proven himself more useful than some long alleged musketeers. Athos couldn't bare the idea of following and guarding the King if Milady was hanging from his lips. Hence he was accompanying D'Artagnan in his shitty shifts.

''Do we have anymore news about mademoiselle de Senneville's come and goes?'' asked Athos.

''No'' sighed Aramis. '' And I still don't believe we should have followed her.''

''That's because you are in love with her.'' joked Porthos while pushing Aramis' hat away from his head.

''You know all too well where my heart stands.'' said Aramis' sadly while picking his long sided hat from the ground. They all knew he was referring to the queen and waited in silence for him to continue. ''I think she's innocent.''

''We know that Beaulieux' small army isn't always on the right side of justice. Mademoiselle de Senneville is no exception. And what kind of a fake name is that? I hope, in god's name, that's her real name and that we are not breaking our jaws every time we mention her for fun.'' added D'Artagnan who struggled to get her name out smoothly.

''She matches the description.'' said Athos.

''We all know somebody else who matches the description...and who is much more likely to be our man. Well woman, in that case...'' said Porthos carefully. All men fell in silence again at the mention of another one of their stories of the heart that didn't end well.

''If Milady is the cause of this, there is nothing we can do while she is under the King's protection.'' said Athos finally. The physical resemblance between the two women was small, but big enough to confuse witnesses in the dark. They both had dark hair and fair complexions. And they both could be the murderer who stroke three nights ago and stole two precious jewels of a respectable family of the French court. They were all dragged away from their dark thoughts by a jovial and somewhat familiar voice: ''How are my favorite musketeers doing?'' chanted a girl's voice. They all turned to see mademoiselle de Senneville with her self-proclaimed captain under her arm. The first to answer was Serge, who was just bringing more soup to the men. He greeted the lady like an old friend under the perplex eyes of the musketeers.

''How do you know each other?'' asked Aramis happy to see his new friend. Serge explained that he and the lady had spent quite a lot of time together with the young girl they rescued the last time she had affair with the musketeers. Her motherly instinct probably took over, making her much more agreeable than she really is, thought D'Artagnan who still didn't know how he felt about the lady. To their surprise, she casually continued Serge's conversation which was sometimes too intense too quickly. She managed to keep up and even to make him laugh.

''I was obviously speaking of you when I said my favorite musketeer, Serge!''

''Oh, silly girl. One day, your mouth will get you killed!''

''On the contrary, I believe it will save me.'' the lady winked at the old man and accepted gracefully his bowl of soup even if she had just ate. She won a promising case last night. Her client paid well and she had invited Beaulieux to the rare fancy restaurants they haven't been yet in Paris. They had just finished their last meal in good company and with good wine flowing when she thought she would pay a visit to the musketeers.

''To what we owe the pleasure of your presence?'' asked Aramis. The lady smiled flirtatiously at the musketeer. She realised she caught the attention of the men more when she was in her regular lady apparel. Or maybe the wine had flowed too much during diner.

''Well'' she said sipping slowly her soup. ''I thought you wanted to see me, after all the researches you are doing behind my back'' Athos rolled his eyes; he knew she was playing them again.

''If you are about to complain, know that we are in all our rights since it's the King's business and that not you nor your patron can stop us.'' said Athos coldly.

She looked at her companion, Beaulieux, who had rose his eyebrow really high and bit his lip to stop a laugh from coming out. They definitely had had too much wine.

''That's not why I'm here'' said the lady with a reassuring smile to Athos ' intention. ''I simply came to understand why I was in the center of all this fuzz and to prove to you that I'm not really the person you are looking for. We owe, at least, to each other honesty. After all, it's not like we are strangers.'' she added pushing D'artagnan with her shoulder.

''Why did you bring your captain then?'' asked D'Artagnan, his tone not as hard as Athos'.

Because I couldn't miss the opportunity to stare at the beautiful musketeers, thought Beaulieux so loudly that he swore mademoiselle de Senneville heard him. She covered her mouth to stop a giggle, but it came out anyway, only toned down. Sometimes, people view with a bad eye the intimacy between the lady and her captain. They were so close, they even shared Beaulieux' quarter from time to time. When you knew Beaulieux' real preferences like her favorite spy did, you didn't not worry anymore about anything un-orthodoxe happening between them. The musketeers looked at each other suspiciously. Aramis was the first one to join their hilarity, then Porthos and finally D'Artagnan also laughed at the men's contagious laughter. Only Athos stayed serious, as to expect.

''Please, now do tell me what you accuse me of so my big mouth can speak my way out of it again.'' she said after she managed to control herself. She made her voice a little louder and you could hear Serge's laugh from the kitchen. D'Artagnan poured himself a glass of wine, Porthos relaxed and kept smiling and Aramis was already bewitched by mademoiselle de Senneville. Athos did not like this. He always trusted his instincts and something told him, from the moment he had met the girl, that she was trouble and he was determined to find out why.