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It had been a couple of months since Athos had been shot during Sylvie and his dinner at their favorite restaurant. He had been on full duty at work for only a few weeks. The recuperation had gone slow and his frustration had been high making for a very stressful time. But now that he was feeling better he and Sylvie had started looking for a house for their family.
Athos pulled his car into a driveway behind their real estate agent's car. He and Sylvie sat in the car for a moment just looking at the front of the house and its yard.
"It looks promising," Sylvie said.
Athos smiled brushing a kiss over her cheek before climbing out of the car. He walked around as Sylvie got out offering his hand to her. She took it walking up to the front door hand in hand.
TM
The real estate agent had left them alone for a few minutes while they stood in the back yard. It was a good size for two growing children who would both be very mobile soon.
"Do we need four bedrooms?" Sylvie asked.
Athos shrugged. "It can't hurt. We can always use the extra room as office space or something else we think of. Unless we were planning on another child." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her close to his side.
"Oi, no, I think I'm happy with the two we have. Unless you want more?" She looked up at him.
"No, I'm quite happy with what I have." He kissed her forehead moving down to her lips. The kiss was gentle with an undercurrent of desire. They really hadn't had much quality time together in the last few weeks.
Eventually Sylvie pulled back reluctantly. "It seems to have nearly everything we need or want," she said referring to a list they had made together of things they needed and wanted for a house of their own.
"Yes," Athos said. "There is one more house our agent wanted us to look at. Should we look at it before deciding?"
"Yes," Sylvie said. "Best to be thorough."
So they went to the last house on the list. And not wanting to look too eager they decided to sleep on it. But they were fairly certain their second to last house was what they wanted.
TM
A few weeks later Athos and Sylvie stood in front of their new house. The 'For Sale' sign on the front lawn had been changed to 'SOLD'.
A moving truck pulled in front of the house. Behind it were Porthos and Elodie's SUV and d'Artagnan and Constance's car trailing behind. Constance, Elodie and Anne got out of the d'Artagnans' car while d'Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos climbed out of the du Vallon SUV.
"Thank you all for coming and helping," Athos said to the new arrivals.
"No problem, mate," Porthos spoke for all of them.
They began to make a plan. The movers brought in the heavier furniture while the rest split up boxes and smaller pieces of furniture.
The previous weekend they had painted a few of the rooms. Sylvie walked into what was to be Olivia's room. She put down the box of clothes in the middle of the room.
"One dresser," Aramis said behind Sylvie. He and Porthos were carrying in Olivia's dresser sans the draws.
"Nice color picked," Porthos said.
"It's what Olivia wanted," Sylvie said. She and Athos shown her some samples and she picked the color out herself.
The walls were a light blue. They had pink as a choice, but Olivia had made it very clear she did not like pink. The dresser was distressed off white.
The two moving men came in carrying a large box. It had Olivia's bed.
"We've got it from here," Aramis said.
Sylvie raised an eyebrow.
"Sylvie!" Athos called from the bottom of the stairs.
"Go," Aramis waved his hand. "We've got this."
Sylvie glanced at Porthos. He simply shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, call if you need anything."
She made it downstairs. All the living room and family room furniture was in the living room. She shook her head. She had never lived in a house that had a living room and family room. Actually, she'd never lived in a house before. It had always been apartments. And until moving in with Athos, they had all been slightly larger than the living room of this house.
"We need to figure out how we want to arrange the furniture and split it up," Athos said.
"Where is everyone else?" Sylvie asked.
"d'Artagnan is taking care of the kitchen. He's leaving some for our approval of course," Athos said. "The girls are bringing in boxes for our room and the bathrooms."
For the next half hour Sylvie directed where she wanted the furniture. Constance, Elodie and Anne all appeared at one point or another with lamps or boxes with decorative items.
"Guys, you wanna come in and check the kitchen?" d'Artagnan asked from the doorway of Raoul's room.
They were now in Raoul's room finishing with it. Athos pushed Raoul's new bed in place and turned to look at Sylvie where she was finishing putting away Raoul's clothes. They walked into the kitchen. Sylvie nodded approvingly. She pointed to where she wanted the last few items.
"Anyone seen Porthos or Aramis lately?" Constance asked from the kitchen doorway.
Sylvie's head came up and she looked at her watch. She realized it had been close to two hours since she had left them in Olivia's room where they were working on Olivia's bed.
Sylvie walked out of the kitchen noticing Elodie and Anne were behind Constance. They all followed Sylvie.
They stopped at the doorway of Olivia's room.
"That's it, I can't work with you." Porthos stood up from his spot on the floor. He walked over to stand next to Elodie who wrapped an arm around his waist.
"I can't do this myself?" Aramis said before realizing the others were looking at him. He was in the middle of the floor surrounded by various parts that made up a bed if it ever got put together again.
Athos looked at Sylvie and they nodded. They sat down on the floor next to Aramis. Next d'Artagnan sat down with them and then the rest followed. Except Porthos, he stood arms folded and watched.
Finally twenty minutes later the bed was completed.
"We can put the rest away tomorrow," Athos said. "Anyone hungry?"
"I could eat," Porthos said.
"We need to get going," Elodie said.
"Yeah," Porthos reluctantly agreed. "My mum's got the kids."
"Do you need someone to pick up the children?" Anne asked standing next to Aramis.
"My mum should be bringing the children over in a little while," Sylvie said.
"We should probably get going too?" Constance said. "We have a babysitter."
"We'll be going too," Aramis said.
Athos was grateful to all of them. Part of him wished they could stay, but he was exhausted and he could tell Sylvie was too.
"Thank you again," Athos said.
They all waved off the thank you. They said their goodbyes and Athos and Sylvie were alone in silence. "We'll order some food," Athos said.
Carol arrived with the children shortly after the food arrived.
"Thanks mum," Sylvie said. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"I'd love to," Carol said following Sylvie through the house.
They walked into the kitchen where Athos was dishing up food for the children. They each filled up their own plates and sat down around the kitchen table. As they ate they chatted about their day. Olivia added in a few details of her day as well.
"Maman, can I see my room?" Olivia asked as she finished eating.
They were finished with dinner so Sylvie stood up and helped Olivia onto the floor.
"Raoul, would you like to see your room too?" Athos asked.
"Yeah," he said.
Carol followed them up the stairs going with Sylvie and Olivia. "You've done a wonderful job," Carol said.
"Thank you," Sylvie smiled shyly.
"I think Raoul likes his room," Athos said standing in Olivia's bedroom doorway. He looked at Olivia and she seemed to be happy with her room as well.
Carol stepped around Athos indicating she was going to Raoul's room.
"Alright, you have an hour of playtime and then it's off to bed," Sylvie said to Olivia.
TM
Carol had left an hour ago. The children were in their beds hopefully asleep while Athos and Sylvie cuddled together on their couch in the family room. Half empty wine glasses sat on the coffee table.
"So, what do you think?" Athos asked.
"It's still a bit unreal," she said. "I never imagined living in a house much less one this big."
Athos leaned in pressing a kiss to Sylvie's lips. She moaned happily. "Bed," they said together when they parted sharing a laugh.
Athos stood up taking Sylvie's hand leading her out of the family room and upstairs.
The End
