Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, and I make no profit from this story. This is in D'artagnan's POV. Enjoy.
_

He believed that by using the same sweet words and phrases he used back home on the women of Paris he could attract them as well. For a few hours he had been successful upon arriving; he was able to charm a few women into giving him some food and supplies at the entrance bridge to the city, and again hours later he got some apples for himself and Buttercup. He had felt like he was on top of the world that morning.

All it took was one girl, on female to make it all crash and burn.

He had been fighting the Cardinal's guards who had gotten in the middle of what was going to be a friendly duel when D'artagnan saw her. Dressed in silks and laces of tan, green, and yellow, long blonde hair, dark brown eyes, a large basket carrying an enormous bundle of flowers; she was the physical picture of what a warm summer day on his farm would look like, and it pleased him. He admits that he may have been acting just a little bit cocky that day but he was just trying to compliment a beautiful female as he fought the Cardinal's guards.

Too bad she didn't see it that way.

The next day when he was summoned to the palace along with his new roommates at the request (more like demand) of the Cardinal, he saw her come in with the queen and the rest of her ladies-in-waiting. If she was beautiful before she was stunning now in multiple shades of blue silk and lace with blue flower ornaments and pearls done up in her hair. He sent her a small smile but she kept her gaze towards the ground and her face stoic. It was when the king addressed him personally that she lost her mask and his spirits rose with hope, only to fall when he saw that she had a look of pity on her face as he told the king the depth of his poverty. He didn't want her having any negative feeling towards him, especially not pity. He met her gaze briefly when she turned back to watch him straighten up from his bow, then turned away and she was gone with the queen.

He approached the queen's entourage later that day to try and speak with her, to apologize for the way he had acted the day before, but she shot him down on both suggestions that they meet and talk, rather painfully as well in front of the queen's group so that the other ladies would hear the argument, and insulted him by taking a jab at his class level to remind him of where he stood on the ladder compared to her. Which was why he was reluctant to help her at first when she showed up where he was staying to ask him and his friends to go to England (enemy territory) to retrieve the queen's diamonds which (may not be, but possibly) were in the possession of the Duke of Buckingham (biggest enemy and biggest arse in all of England. He wasn't buying it. Then she kissed him, and like the poor, love-struck idiot that he knew he was, he was convinced to help her.

The kiss he gave her at the port of Calais before they parted was the first time they had communicated to one another without using their words. She had offered to be the distraction the men needed to get on the ship, but D'artagnan didn't like it. The kiss they shared conveyed the intimate conversation they couldn't say in front of the others.

"Please be careful."

"I will. I promise."

"The Cardinal won't care if you are the Queen's lady-in-waiting."

"You let me worry about that when it comes; you just concentrate on coming back in one piece with the diamonds."

He hoped to not see her again till they got back to Paris, her safe and sound alongside the queen as they waited for him and his friends to return before the king's ball started, but the Fates were that cruel to him. Rochefort and his men had shown up with a fully upgraded and much bigger version of the airship he and his comrades had commandeered, Constance tied in between the ribs of the enormous skeleton the smile on its face mockingly eerie. He felt his anger double as Rochefort contemptuously indicated Constance's predicament, her face full of naked fear. Since they couldn't fire upon the bigger ship without injuring Constance in the process he agreed to swap the diamonds for her, knowing full well that Rochefort wouldn't keep his word; he just didn't want her to be surrounded by enemies when all hell breaks loose. They were again able to say so much to each other without speaking when they met in the middle of the gang plank between the two ships.

"This is suicide!"

"You'll be away from that monster though."

"You may not come out of this alive. You promised!"

"You let me worry about that."

"Please be careful."

"You as well."

When they saw one another again it was after she had delivered the queen her diamonds and they had met with the king and the Cardinal in the courtyard. She had washed herself clean of the soot and gunpowder, but she still looked a little frazzled from the adventure and she had never looked more beautiful. The quick glances they shared with each other while Athos spun the tale of Rochefort's betrayal and the Cardinal finding him out were to hide their laughter as the Cardinal's countanence grew stony and hateful when he fixed his gaze upon him and his friends. Only after the Cardinal had left and the king and queen walked away to occupy themselves with each other's company did the two of them address one another. The two of them shared one last kiss with each other, both agreeing that they would take a chance with one another and see where this new part of their relationship would take them.

Through their actions only of course, because after all words aren't needed to express your feelings to the one you love.