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Tag to 'The Exiles'
by Deana
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Aramis sighed from where he sat at the table near the stairs in the garrison courtyard. Athos and d'Artagnan were sparring, and Porthos had disappeared…probably to get food. Aramis was alone with his thoughts, which were on only one thing: Agnes and baby Henri.
A hand suddenly fell onto his right shoulder and he flinched away. "Porthos!" he said. "You know that hurts!"
The hand vanished, and a voice said, "What did you do to it?"
Aramis turned his head and found Captain Treville standing behind him, not Porthos.
"I called to you a moment ago, but you didn't answer," said Treville. "Now what did you do to your shoulder?"
Aramis shook his head. "It's nothing."
Treville frowned. "Let me see."
"But it's nothing," Aramis repeated.
"That's why I need to see it," said Treville. "The last time you said 'it's nothing', you had a musket ball in that shoulder." With that, he reached for the collar of Aramis' shirt. "The time before that, you said 'it's nothing' when you'd been stabbed in the side. The time before that—"
"All right, all right, I get the point," Aramis said, reaching to undo the ties on his shirt. He moved his right arm very carefully, and as soon as he finished with the laces, he pushed the collar down his arm as far as it could go.
Treville's eyes widened. The side of Aramis' shoulder to halfway down his upper arm were purple. "How did you do that?"
Aramis sighed before readjusting his shirt with a wince. "When Vincent's men pulled me off my horse, I struck the bridge rail on the way down."
Treville echoed the sigh before sitting beside him. "That's why I came over here, to tell you that I'm sorry about what happened today."
Aramis nodded. "At least they're free now and Agnes doesn't have to worry."
Treville frowned; that was an odd thing to say. "Free?"
Aramis nodded. "No one will know to look for them there."
In heaven? Treville just stared, wondering if the younger musketeer had lost his mind. Had he grown so attached to the baby that his mind had gone into some kind of denial, especially since Aramis was the one who'd been protecting Henri when Vincent's men had caused his untimely death? Had the horror affected him that badly? "I…think you should get some rest, Aramis," he said, reaching to take his arm but stopping before he touched the bruising.
Aramis shook his head with a sigh. "I'm fine."
"I don't think you are," said Treville.
Aramis looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Aramis…" said Treville. "Are you forgetting what happened?"
Aramis frowned. "What do you mean?"
Treville sighed. How was he supposed to tell him this, especially when he should already know? "The baby…went into the water, remember?"
Aramis stared at him for a few seconds, saying nothing, before he put his left hand over his eyes.
Treville again reached out, laying a hand on Aramis' forearm. "I'm sorry."
Aramis shook his head before removing his hand. "No, I am. I thought…I can't believe…"
"Don't apologize," said Treville. "What happened was an unspeakable horror, and you need time to come to terms with it."
Aramis shook his head again. "No, you don't understand…Henry didn't die."
Treville tightened his hand around Aramis' wrist. "There's no way he survived, Aramis. No one retrieved him from the water."
"That's because he was never in it," Aramis told him.
Treville blinked. "What?"
"It was a ruse," said Aramis. "The blankets went into the water, but Henry wasn't in them. I thought one of us told you."
Treville's jaw dropped. "You're telling me that baby Henry is alive?"
Aramis nodded, with a smile. "Agnes took him to Spain. We gave her money."
Treville blinked at him for a minute, before looking away and shaking his head. "And all afternoon, I was trying to figure out how on earth you would recover from this…taking Henry across the bridge only for him to be pulled from your arms and killed."
Aramis shook his head. "Like I told Agnes, I would never take something that precious into battle."
Treville smiled. "You have no idea how relieved I am."
Aramis nodded. "So am I."
"I assume Richelieu wasn't told?" Treville asked.
"No," Aramis answered.
"Good…that's definitely something that he doesn't ever need to know."
"Who doesn't need to know what?" they suddenly heard.
Aramis winced. "Oh Captain, he heard us talking about him!"
Porthos chuckled as he put a huge tray down on the table.
Treville stood so they could eat in peace. "You're on light duty until you can properly use that arm," he said to Aramis. "You should put it in a sling."
Aramis nodded. Using his sword was out of the question for a least a few days.
"It's a good thing one of us thinks ahead," said Porthos, sitting next to Aramis and plopping a long piece of cloth onto the table.
Treville smiled at them before walking away and heading up the stairs.
"Ow!" he suddenly heard Aramis exclaim.
"Sorry!" Porthos replied.
Treville rolled his eyes and went into his office, breathing a sigh of relief that the situation hadn't been the awful tragedy that he'd feared…for Aramis' sake.
THE END
