This story is D'Artagnan's part of the 'Future' series. Like the others this tackles ideas of their lives after series 3. D'Artagnan and Constance are the main characters but there will be scenes involving the other characters as well in later chapters.

Updates will be slow as I'm concentrating on A Devil's Plan but I will have more time for this series when I've finished that fic.

I hope you enjoy this my idea for D'Artagnan and Constance. :)

Now Life Begins

Three months had passed since Athos had left him in charge of the garrison and D'Artagnan was finally starting to overcome the challenge of being Captain. It was far more tiring than Athos made it look and Tréville had hardly ever looked troubled, apart from when he was disciplining the Inseparables. D'Artagnan chuckled at his thought. Tréville had certainly kept his composure in the wake of their escapades and not to mention the fickle King Louis XIII.

He sighed as he looked at his mountain of paperwork. So much to do. He had a temporary office in the street next to the garrison and the property also held his and Constance's chambers. The musketeers and cadets were all housed in the old Red Guard garrison which was unfortunately a fair distance away from the Musketeer garrison. General Robert was currently overseeing the men as he was injured during the war and was more than happy to keep an eye on things. It wasn't ideal but it allowed for the musketeers and cadets to have living quarters but D'Artagnan had wanted to stay as near as possible to the garrison that he had called home for so many years. The builders had done remarkably well and the garrison was taking shape quickly. Currently, Constance and Elodie were watching over the construction while D'Artagnan was accounting for all the men in his regiment and interviewing recruits. Some of the men who had applied had never even held a sword before but D'Artagnan was determined to give them a chance. After all, where would he be if he hadn't been given his chance?

Thankfully, the training grounds at the back of the garrison, which mainly consisted of a large field, were still operational and D'Artagnan wanted training to occur where he could oversee it. He took one last glance at the paperwork and decided to leave it for later, although he knew he'd regret it.

He made sure the office was locked and made his way down the street towards the nearly built garrison. Some of the other properties in the close vicinity had been damaged when the fire had torn through the Musketeers' home and the people had been rehoused. This had allowed for the garrison to expand and D'Artagnan and Aramis had gone over the finer points together. Elodie had also been really helpful as her eye for detail was amazingly good after her time building a village in the forest.

D'Artagnan strode through the gate and spotted Constance giving out orders. He looked up to see who she was shouting at and was glad he had thought to wear his hat to shield his eyes from the sun. He had become rather attached to it and was starting to realise why Aramis loved his hat so much. Of course, the former marksman was rarely seen in a hat now.

'Have you done all your paperwork?' Constance's voice floated across to him making him look back to her. 'Of course you haven't,' she said as he approached.

'You know me too well,' he smiled as they kissed quickly.

'It's taking shape,' she said looking around. 'Elodie's slightly changed the plans as we discussed.'

'Does Aramis know?'

'I don't see why he should,' she grinned back. 'It'll be a nice surprise for him. He's getting far too used to knowing everything.'

'Are you saying Aramis might want to escape from the palace?' D'Artagnan questioned but he couldn't hide his smile.

'I just think that maybe he might want to stay here occasionally, that's all,' she winked back. 'Besides, there is surely going to be a time when all four of you go out and get so drunk the only place you can sleep it off will be here,' she said matter-of-factly.

'So you can give us a lecture in the morning,' D'Artagnan huffed.

'Naturally,' Constance beamed. 'Oh, and you'll probably make so much noise that I can send messages to the Queen, Sylvie and Elodie to inform them of their men's digressions.'

'I'll suggest finding an inn,' D'Artagnan said under his breath so Constance couldn't hear. He had to admit that he liked the idea of the others having rooms at the garrison. It just felt right and kept them close.

He made his way to the training ground and for a few minutes stood unnoticed as he watched the established musketeers train the new recruits. The recruits had come from far and wide and were a mixture of high born and low born. The nobles had originally found it difficult to accept the 'lower class' as they called them but D'Artagnan had made it clear from the first day that all men in this garrison were equal. Nobility was no advantage here. Only skill and dedication would make them musketeers and he would have no qualms about throwing anyone out.

One such young noble had taken D'Artagnan to task and D'Artagnan had told the young man to leave straight away. He had to be ruthless and he knew it. Two days later the young man's father arrived and demanded to know why D'Artagnan had dismissed his son. D'Artagnan had told the Comte that his son thought he should be treated better than everyone else because he was a noble and didn't agree with D'Artagnan's methods of treating all men equally. The Comte had blustered about how it was 'preposterous' and went to seek the help of the First Minister. D'Artagnan couldn't help but inwardly smile. He never saw the family again and Aramis had informed him that he had told the Comte and his son that 'good soldiers follow orders' and that the orders came from the Captain. Apparently, the Comte had swept form the room very unhappily and was chuntering to himself about the 'common folk'.

'Captain?' Herbert called to him bringing him out of his thoughts.

'Herbert,' D'Artagnan called back and made his way over towards the ginger haired man whose face sported many freckles. 'How's it going?'

'Not bad,' the young man smiled. He had been one of the new recruits along with Brujon and Clairmont and was now a fully qualified musketeer. 'Some showing real promise,' he pointed to a couple of young men who D'Artagnan was desperately trying to remember the names of. How Tréville ever managed to know all the names of his men and their backgrounds he would never know.

'Any problems?' D'Artagnan grimaced slightly as Herbert pointed towards two young brothers of noble bearing. Their father had been adamant that they become musketeers. D'Artagnan later found out from Aramis that these young men were the sixth and seventh sons and their father was desperate to be rid of them.

'They have no idea about hard work,' Herbert said with a sigh. 'Moan every time they get dirt under their nails or start to sweat.' He shook his head.

'I think we need to organise a camp out just outside the city,' D'Artagnan smirked. 'If we do it in small groups we should be fine and have enough musketeers compared to cadets.'

'Can we do it while it's raining?' Herbert looked hopeful before he burst into laughter. 'Never mind. That's a bit harsh,' he said eyes twinkling. 'Let's see whether they can cope outdoors first.'

D'Artagnan continued to watch and he could see the improvement in the cadets but he also knew that there was a long way to go for most of them. He wanted to pitch in and help train them but he also knew he had his paperwork which really needed to be done. He was about to leave when heard a call.

'Captain?' this time it was Dupont that called him. 'Do you have time for a demonstration, sir?' he asked with a grin.

Dupont was a good swordsman but not at his Captain's level. D'Artagnan was strongly reminded of himself and Athos once upon a time.

'Alright,' he said as he moved towards them and a cheer went around the cadets. D'Artagnan realised he now had the attention of everyone on the training ground. He removed his doublet and hat so he was just in his shirt and stood en guarde.

He was about to attack when he heard, 'Still looking as handsome as ever!' Constance was beaming as D'Artagnan was distracted and Dupont took a chance. D'Artagnan managed to block and watched Dupont closely as they circled each other.

'Do you want to see me in pieces?' D'Artagnan called back to his wife but his gaze never wavered from Dupont and they started to spar in earnest.

'I thought you were good enough to fight amidst distraction,' she teased back but D'Artagnan still kept Dupont at bay as the musketeer tried to disarm his Captain.

'Well, I had a lot of practise with Athos, Porthos and Aramis trying to distract me all the time,' he chimed as he attacked and nearly disarmed Dupont who looked more distracted by the conversation than D'Artagnan himself was.

'Are you calling those three a nuisance?' Constance laughed as she approached with Elodie in tow.

'Yes,' D'Artagnan responded defiantly as he stopped Dupont from talking his legs out from underneath him.

'Did you hear that Elodie?' Constance faked astonishment. 'He just slighted your husband, the General, as the well as the First Minister and the regiments previous Captain.'

'Terrible,' Elodie said with fake disappointment as she shook her head. The cadets watched in confusion at the scene before them as D'Artagnan finally managed to catch Dupont off guard and disarmed him. Applause rang out and Constance and Elodie were joining in.

'And that gentleman is how you keep your concentration amidst distraction while being aware of what is going on around you,' D'Artagnan announced to the cadets who were all still slightly surprised at the turn of events. 'Good job,' he said to Dupont, 'just be careful about guarding your left side,' he smiled to the musketeer before walking over to Constance.

'Not bad,' she teased as he drank from the water-skin she offered him.

'Not bad!' he said retorted. 'Nothing is more distracting than you.'

'Now you can go back to your paperwork, Captain,' she grinned and D'Artagnan sighed.

Constance walked back to their lodgings after seeing all the workers away from the garrison and making sure there were guards outside of the gates. They had made sure the gates were fixed first so that the under construction garrison could be protected. She moved inside quietly and opened the door to her husband's 'office' a crack and saw him looking adorably confused at a piece of paper. She suspected that he hadn't eaten and made her way to the kitchen to finish the beef stew she had started earlier in the day.

Once the stew was ready she made her way back to the 'office' and cleared her throat loudly when he didn't notice the door open.

'The stew is ready,' she chimed as D'Artagnan stared at her.

'I'll be there in a minute,' he said as he looked back at the paper in front of him.

She sighed and rolled her eyes and moved towards him.

'It's ready now,' she said more forcefully.

'Yes, I heard you,' he said distractedly. She sighed again and snatched the paper from his grasp. 'Go and wash your hands. You're dinner's ready.'

D'Artagnan looked up at his wife and knew there was no arguing. He got up so he could wash his hands while Constance had a rather pleased grin on her face.

'This is nice,' he said as he finally tucked into the stew with the bread Constance had placed in the middle of the table.

'Are you saying that my cooking isn't always nice?' she retorted and D'Artagnan smiled.

'No, my darling. You're an excellent cook,' he smiled back and leant across for a kiss.

They ate quietly and talked about the progress of the garrison and how Elodie was coping on her own without Porthos.

'You're going back to your paperwork aren't you?' she asked as she cleared the table.

'I really need to stop putting it off,' he grumbled as he disappeared back to his work.

Many hours later and Constance was yawning after a tiring day. D'Artagnan was still working, although he was sipping the brandy Athos had sent when she last looked in. She crept up to the door to find her husband slumped forward on his desk and fast asleep. She giggled quietly as she took in the sight of him sprawled on the desk.

She carefully approached and shook his shoulder but he just shirked away and grumbled in his sleep.

'D'Artagnan,' she called as she shook his shoulder again and she heard a sleepy 'Hmmm' in response.

'Oi!' she kicked his leg and shot straight up.

'Wha...What?' he looked around and saw his wife and he looked confused. Constance tried and failed to hide her grin as he finally realised there was paper stuck to his face. He peeled it off looking disgusted as Constance who burst out laughing.

'What?' he asked.

'You have the names of your new cadets on your face,' she giggled as D'Artagnan groaned. He had fallen asleep while writing down the names of the new men who he had interviewed that week.

'Urgh,' he groaned before Constance pulled him from his chair and he willingly followed.

She sat him down on the bed while she cleaned his face. The ink was rather difficult to remove which suggested he'd been asleep a while. He just let her do it as he knew he wouldn't win an argument if he said he'd do it himself.

Soon she was satisfied that his face was clean and they got ready for bed. Their lodgings weren't exactly home but they both knew that their time there was only short. The garrison was taking shape and soon they would all be moving back in. A family of sorts.

'Can't wait to move back in when the building has finished,' D'Artagnan said as Constance moved into his arms and rested her head on his chest.

'I know,' she said while circling his nipple with her finger.

'What's wrong?' he asked as he noticed her seeming down.

'Will it be the same?' she asked distractedly.

'Without the others?' she nodded. 'I suppose not but it is the same ground where all the memories are. I do miss having them about though,' he admitted.

'You see Aramis rather a lot!' Constance chuckled.

'Yeah, but it's not the same is it?' he huffed.

'Things can't stay the same forever,' she sighed before kissing his chest.

'No,' he mused. 'But maybe things will be different anyway. I'd love to hear children laughing around the garrison.' He kissed her hair lightly

Constance didn't reply.

A/N: I know that was a bit of a horrible place to leave it but I do intend to carry on eventually. Please let me know what you think. :)

The other stories in this series are:

So Near and Maybe Not So Far - Aramis

Fight For the Respect You Deserve - Porthos

I'm working on Athos. :)