Walking towards the hospital nursery, he saw a young blonde woman standing alone in front of the viewing window. She didn't seem to be some sort of family member, she wasn't leaning towards the glass and trying to see a particular child, she just stood there, gazing into the room. As he got closer he could sense an air of sadness about her; arms crossed and hands gripping her elbows, but he could also see that she was smiling softly as she looked into the room.

When he stopped a couple feet next to her in front of the window, she gave a small jump and put a hand to her chest, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there, excuse me," she quickly apologised, stepping back to give him more room in front of the window.

"No, no, you're fine," he insisted, staying where he was. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

She gave a light shake of her head. "I was just lost in my thoughts." She pointed her eyes towards the nursery. "Is your baby in there?"

"No-that is, I don't have kids, but I helped deliver a little baby girl yesterday on the train," he explained.

"On the train did you say?"

"Mhm, the crew were quite relieved when my friend and I answered the call for medical assistance and informed them we were EMTs, the woman in labour even more so."

"How frightening," said the woman. "But everything turned out alright?"

"Oh yes," Aramis smiled. "The baby was right on track-no pun intended, so we were more of a calming presence than anything. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and see how they're doing." He held up the tupperware container in his hand. "And drop off some of my famous tarts."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Famous?"

"Why yes, my famous Tart with a Heart. I promised one to Mum if she gave us one more push."

A quirk of her lips. "A bribe?"

"A reward. And you haven't tried my tart." He held up the container once more and opened it to her. "Try one," he encouraged. "I had brought a bunch for my friends so there's plenty."

She hesitated, but leaned closer to peek inside. "Chocolate?"

"And strawberries." The halved berries were what made the heart in the centre of the tiny chocolate tartlets.

"How could I say no to that combination?" Taking one of the tartlets, she bit into it. "Oh, that's delicious. She ought to name the baby after you after all this."

He smiled, remembering the new mother's face when she had heard his and Marsac's names. "She already did, actually. Named her Renée," he said proudly. "Though only my mother and my school teachers ever called me René." He held out his hand. "I go by my middle name, Aramis."

The woman took his offered hand. "Anne."

"Nice to meet you, Anne," he smiled, and gave her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it. "So what brings you here?"

"My fiancé's sister just had a baby boy. He's not in there," she said, motioning towards the nursery again. "They brought him to her room, it was just getting crowded in there, so I thought I'd step out and let the family be with them."

"You're not considered family yet?"

"Not entirely, and not officially, as my future mother-in-law likes to remind me."

"She doesn't approve of you?" he asked, surprised. The woman was certainly attractive, and seemed perfectly polite and well put-together. Nor did she come across as flighty or shallow, not when he saw the depth behind her blue eyes.

"Oh no, she approves of the match very much. The ring is from her collection, actually," she said, looking down at her left hand where a large, sparkling diamond sat on her fourth finger. "She's just…impatient." With a small sigh, Anne looked up from her hand. "So, what were you travelling to Turin for? Before you got involved in delivering a baby that is."

"My friend has family near here that we're staying with for the holiday weekend, and we're meeting with some other friends from school to go snowmobiling. Today though I might check out the Chapel of the Holy Shroud once I'm done here. It claims to hold the shroud that Christ's body was wrapped in after the crucifixion," he explained.

"Yes, I know. My father will be coming from Spain to see it with me when it's put on display next week, but I've been to the chapel already. The architecture is quite beautiful, and even though you couldn't see the shroud, even if you don't believe that the shroud itself is the real thing, it still feels like such a holy place. The atmosphere has a weight to it that makes you want to kneel down and pray, to meditate, to contemplate-" she stopped herself, her cheeks flushing "I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

He frowned, not knowing why she would think he wanted her to stop. "Not at all," he assured her. "You've made me even more interested to go."

"Anne! There you are!" A dark-haired man strolled up to Anne, paying no mind to Aramis. "I thought you needed to get away from all the crying babies, not that you wanted to torture yourself even more; I was going to head down to the gift shop!"

"Sorry, darling," Anne apologised. "I was just talking to Aramis here. He's an EMT, and he brought these delicious chocolate tarts for a new mother he helped."

"Like to try one, monsieur?" Aramis offered.

"They're very good, Louis," added Anne.

Her fiancé, Louis, curled his lip as he glanced down at the tarts and then shook his head. "No, thank you. You, um, work in this area then?"

"Ah no, I'm based in Paris," he replied, "but I'm on holiday here."

"Some ski and sport, eh?" said Louis, smiling widely, showing off a large set of gleaming white teeth. "You should go to my brother-in-law's spot, he's going to be offering half-price drinks, free cable car rides, discounts on rentals and such all weekend to celebrate his new son." Taking out a sleek silver card case with what looked like initials and a family crest engraved on it, he handed Aramis a business card for one of the ski resorts nearby.

He pocketed the card. "Thank you."

"Oh, Louis, do you have a card for the shop?" Anne asked.

With a sigh, Louis brought the case back out and retrieved another business card.

"A chocolate shop?" said Aramis, reading the card. The Garrison was the name of it, and a large fleur-de-lis was stamped on the card. The address was in Paris.

"Yes, it just opened up," said Anne. "Louis owns the building it's in," she explained. "You should visit it when you return home."

"My dear, we should say our goodbyes before we head out to lunch," said Louis.

Anne looked somewhat regretful when she met Aramis' eyes. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

"You too," said Aramis. "Congratulations on your nephew. And have a Happy Easter."

Hello!

First off, to anyone waiting on the next update for The Future's in Our Hands, I have not abandoned it. I fully intent to return to it, but this au took over my mind and I wanted to keep the writing juices flowing and have some fun.

This fic is all outlined and more than half of it is already written. I wanted to post the prologue, as well as the first chapter today though, being as it's Good Friday. I also wanted to pop in, give a little update, and hopefully hear from some of you. I hope you're all doing well :)