A/N: Happy Christmas (in July)!
"All packed and ready?" Anne asked from where she stood in front of the full-length mirror in her room, trying on outfits to make sure her tiny baby bump wouldn't be obvious. She'd started showing in the last few weeks, and while he often found himself searching for the slight curve to her stomach, he also liked the secrecy of it, of being one of the few people who knew what lies underneath the thick sweater she was currently wearing.
"For a few days in Madrid? Yes. For Christmas with your family? No," he replied, putting his phone on the nightstand before sitting down on the side of the bed and taking off his watch.
"Don't worry. If your charm doesn't win them over, then your chocolates certainly will."
"Let's just remember to ply them with chocolate, preferably the alcoholic ones, before we tell them about the baby."
"So they'll be in good moods?"
"So their coordination will be slower," he clarified, earning both an eye-roll and a smile from Anne.
"Now, let me make sure I have this straight," he said, picking up the framed photo of Anne and her siblings from a past Christmas gathering which she had left on the bed for him. "I know that Philip is married to Elisabeth, who just so happens to be Louis' sister and which sounds like something out of a telenovela-"
"Oh yes, there was lots of talk of a double wedding in the papers when they got engaged right after Louis and I, along with comments about our families being stuck in the 1600s and other rather unkind things."
"But are Elisabeth and Louis close? I mean I've never known her to visit, but do they talk on the phone regularly? Or email?"
"She calls, but she doesn't come here because she doesn't get along with her mother."
He nodded. "Understandable. Right, so then there's Maria Anna, who's married to…?"
"Ferdinand."
"But you have a brother named Ferdinand."
"Yes-but back to Maria Anna: their son and daughter, aged five and three, are both named after them. And funnily enough, Ferdinand's parents were named Ferdinand and Maria Anna as well."
His head was starting to hurt. "Are you telling me they're three generations of Ferdinands and Maria Annas? Is it some kind of requirement like how the Danish kings are all named Frederik and Christian? Are there rules on what we can name our child?"
Anne laughed. "No, but it means if you forget anyone's name, there's a good chance it's either Ferdinand or Maria Anna."
"Yes, I suppose there's that. And then that leaves…" he counted on his fingers, "Charles and…Margaret, who is named after your mother," he finished, pleased with what he managed to remember.
"Well done," Anne smiled. "Now, onto the dogs…"
MMMMMMMMMM
As they were driven down the cypress-lined driveway, Aramis looked back to see the imposing iron gate swing shut behind them.
"Don't worry, we can leave whenever we want," Anne joked next to him in the back of the car, reading his mind.
"I feel like a peasant entering the court of the king."
"My father is no high and mighty king, I can assure you." She squeezed his hand. "It will be fine."
They soon pulled up to the house. It was, according to Anne, a "small" villa, and in truth the cream-coloured stone building wasn't as large and sprawling as he expected, but with its tall walls, extra wide door, and perfectly manicured landscaping, it was still imposing nonetheless.
As soon as they got out of the car, a teenage girl ran out of the house and into Anne's arms.
"Margaret," Anne laughed, "It's only been a few months since you saw me."
"I know, but this time you brought presents," Margaret said as they broke apart. He knew what Anne's siblings looked like from the pictures, all fair-haired and blue-eyed, but it still struck him how much she looked like a younger version of Anne. "And a new boyfriend," she added in a low voice, though still loud enough for Aramis to hear. She looked at him then, and after they exchanged hellos, she went and whispered something in her sister's ear that made Anne blush.
"Go on inside before you catch a chill," Anne told her. "You'll get your gifts at the same time as everyone else."
"Yes, Mama," Margaret replied in a teasing voice before taking one of Anne's bags and carrying it inside.
MMMMMMMMMM
"The scar below your ear," said Ferdinand once all the introductions had been done and they had all settled in the living room, "did you get that while saving my sister?"
"I got it during the robbery, yes," Aramis answered. One of the first things her father did upon meeting Aramis was thank him for saving her life, which started off a chorus of thanks from the others and put Aramis in the most splendid of lights-as he deserved. And Anne was more than happy to see Aramis receive so much praise and attention.
"Did it hurt?"
"Not at first, really. The adrenaline sort of holds back the pain until things calm down, and then it only stung for a bit. It was only a graze, thankfully."
"But it was so close to being worse," said Maria Anna. "You're very lucky. And Anne was lucky that you were there."
"Indeed," commented Maria Anna's husband, and gave Aramis an approving nod of his head.
"I'm very fortunate," Anne stated. She reached over and took his hand, squeezing it as she smiled at him. "And very grateful to have him by my side."
"I can't imagine Louis doing such a thing."
"-Charles," she sharply admonished, to which her brother immediately bit his lip and looked sheepishly over at Elisabeth.
"Sorry, Elizabeth, it's not that I think Louis is a coward or anything…"
"No, he is not a coward," Elisabeth coolly replied. "But he's not one to run head-first into danger either."
Margaret, who was sitting next to Anne on the sofa, leaned over towards her and Aramis. "He's just not the romantic hero type," she whispered with a grin.
Before anyone could say anything further on the matter, eight-year-old Balthasar piped up and asked, "When can we open presents?"
MMMMMMMMMM
Once gifts were exchanged and the children were busy playing with their new toys, Anne went over to where her father was sitting, silently watching his family converse, and touched him on the shoulder before quietly asking if she could speak with him.
"Do you like him?" Anne asked once her father sat down next to her on the small sofa in his office.
"How can I not like the man who saved my daughter's life?"
"I mean it, Papa. Things have gotten very serious between us."
"Serious? How so? You've only been together for a few months."
"Yes, but things have been moving very fast for us." She took a deep breath and steeled herself to just go on and say it. "Aramis and I, we're going to have a baby."
"A baby?" her father repeated in disbelief, to which Anne nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"We're very excited, Papa," she added, in case he wasn't sure how to react. And, well, because it was the truth. She was anxious and even a little scared, but most of all she was excited.
Her father's face broke into a smile. "That's wonderful, my dear," he said. "When are you due?"
She hesitated before answering, "The beginning of May."
"Close to Elisabeth," her father said, and then his eyebrows knitted together. She could tell he was counting back. "You were already pregnant when you were last here."
"I didn't know I was until I got back to Paris, I didn't even suspect."
"But you had only just broken it off with Louis. Tell me, Ana, is he the child's father?" She knew he was thinking of Philip's situation.
"No, Papa. Louis and I had not been together like that for some time." She reached out and touched his wrist. "God placed Aramis in my path all those years ago for a reason," she said. "And now it finally feels like everything is falling into place."
MMMMMMMMMM
When Anne returned from talking with her father, Aramis was sitting on the floor in front of the television, playing a video game with her niece and nephews. Little Maria Anna, having tottered over a short while ago, wanting to get in on the action, had plopped down right next to him so that he could show her how to play. She was still too young to understand it, but she was enjoying him letting her hold the controller, and with an arm around her, pressing her thumbs to the buttons with his own so that their character moved around.
When their eyes met, Anne gave a tilt of her head, both beckoning him and directing his attention behind her. Her father hadn't come back out with her, and Aramis assumed the man would want to talk to him alone now.
Walking into the office, Anne's father motioned for him to take a seat in front of the ornate and stately-looking desk before taking his own seat in the regal chair behind it. He had noted upon first meeting him that Anne's father had a dour appearance, and looked to be far older than his age, but grief and sickness could do that to a person. Now though, sitting across from him, the man looked lighter, more at ease.
"Ana told me that we will have another little family member to spoil with gifts come next Christmas. Congratulations," said Anne's father, smiling gently.
Aramis' whole body tingled with warmth at the thought, of him and Anne here with their baby a year from now. "Neither of us expected it to happen so quickly, or at all really, but it only makes it more of a blessing."
"You know, then, of Ana's past difficulties?"
"I know about the miscarriage, yes."
"And her trying for another child with Louis?" Aramis nodded. "This is something she has wanted for a long while now, a child of her own."
"And I promise to do everything in my power to keep them safe, to see her happy."
"And you have already proven how far you are willing to go to protect her. As for her happiness…" Philip paused in thought. "All the years she was with Louis, I never saw her smile as much as she has with you today. Not since her mother passed." Philip smiled softly as he looked past Aramis and above his head. Aramis looked back over his shoulder to see a family portrait high on the wall behind him.
In the portrait, Anne's father and mother sat on an elegant sofa, surrounded by their six children. The youngest, a baby that had to be little Margaret, was cradled in her mother's arms. On Anne's father's lap sat a toddler. Charles? Or was Ferdinand the younger one? Standing next to his mother was Anne's brother Philip, his hands on the shoulders of either Charles or Ferdinand, while on the other side, next to her father, stood Maria Anna. And finally, sitting between her parents and smiling brightly while she held the hand of the toddler in her father's lap, was Anne. She must have been around eight; her hair tied back with what looked to be a bow, and little frills on her white ankle socks.
"She looks more like me there, but the older Ana gets, the more she looks like her mother," said Philip behind him, and as Aramis looked between the two, he had to agree.
"When Ana first became pregnant," Philip continued, and Aramis turned back around to face him, "Louis' mother, Marie, convinced me that it would be better for Ana and the child if she stayed in France with her and Louis. Ana needed a mother, and then she could be with Louis, so I agreed, and Ana, of course, went along with what was expected of her."
Philip shook his head. "I shouldn't have let her go. She should have stayed here, with us. Marie didn't know her. She didn't know how determined Ana can be to look strong in front of others, how she'd sacrifice her own health and happiness in order to fulfil some perceived duty." He paused for a few moments before tilting his head back up towards the portrait, though his gaze seemed to go beyond it. "The day of her mother and brother's funeral, she was either standing by my side or comforting her siblings. I didn't see her cry at all the whole day. It was only once the others had been put to bed and the lights were turned off that night that I heard her crying, that she finally let her grief show. And even when I came into her room she tried to stop her tears, to be strong for me."
Aramis sat there, knowing exactly what Philip was talking about. Anne had such burdens placed on her shoulders from such a young age, taking her mother's place in caring for her family and then only a few years later becoming pregnant and having to prepare to start her own family.
"She told me," Philip continued, "in the days following the miscarriage, that she had noticed the baby hadn't kicked in a while, but she didn't know how long was too long, and she didn't want everyone to get worried about nothing. Marie was away on a short trip, and Louis was spending the day with friends out in the country, and Anne didn't want to disturb them when it was likely the baby would be kicking soon enough. By the time she realised something was wrong though, it was too late. And by the time Louis got to the hospital, it was already over."
He clutched at his cross, his thumb rubbing back and forth over the metal, wanting nothing more than to go back to Anne and take her into his arms and tell her again and again that he would be there for her, that he never wanted her to feel like she had to hide her emotions from him.
Philip was quiet for a long while until he took a deep breath and asked, "Will you marry her?"
MMMMMMMMMM
"So, how did it go?" Anne asked once they were in the privacy of her room. It was in fact her childhood bedroom, but over the years it'd been turned into more of a guest room with her things either having been brought over to Paris or packed away.
"There weren't any threats to my person or references to friends in high places, so I think it went well," he lightly joked.
"What did he say, really?"
"He just wanted to make sure that you'll be taken care of," he replied earnestly, and went about unpacking his bag while she stood next to him.
She was quiet for a few seconds as it dawned on her what her father might have spoken to Aramis about. "Did he ask you to marry me?" She should have known to talk to Aramis about it earlier, though he could have brought it up as well, after all they'd each been through this before. She supposed that since he didn't propose right after finding out she was pregnant, then he wasn't going to. Unless he was waiting to meet her father to ask permission…
He hesitated for a second before answering, "He did ask about it, and I-"
"I don't want you to ask me," she quickly interjected. She didn't want to have to say no to him. If he wanted to marry her, she wanted it to be because he loved her, and not because he felt pressured or obligated to.
"I wasn't going to," he simply said, and a part of her was admittedly disappointed that he didn't ask why, that he didn't seem to want to marry her anyway.
Feeling deflated, she gave a small nod and went to walk away, but he caught her hand, stopping her. Looking up from their hands, she met his imploring gaze.
"I wasn't going to ask you now," he reiterated, "because when I do, I don't want you to have any doubt of my feelings for you."
She stared at him, taken aback by his admission.
"I want to be with you, Anne," he continued, saying the words clearly, strongly, passionately. "I wanted to be with you before the baby, and now I want to be with you and our baby."
She swallowed past the lump that had formed in her throat and laid her hand on his chest, needing another anchor point to hold onto. "I want to be with you too."
His other hand came up and cupped her cheek while the corner of his lips pulled back into a half-smile. "Yeah?"
She nodded, and rising up on her toes, breathed across his lips, "I want you," before kissing him. To show him how much she meant it, so that he could feel it.
His hands moved to wrap around her, bringing her closer as they deepened the kiss. Her own hands slid up around his back, her fingers grasping at his shirt as she melted in his embrace.
"You should rest before Midnight Mass," he said when they broke for air, both of them breathing heavily, their foreheads pressed together.
She gave a small shake of her head. "I'm not tired," she said, looking into his dark eyes. "Are you?"
He answered by grasping her hip and wrapping a hand around the back of her neck before his mouth descended upon her lips.
MMMMMMMMMM
When they announced at breakfast the following morning that Anne was expecting, Margaret shrieked with delight, immediately asking when the baby was due and if Anne had a bump yet.
"May fourteenth, and just a tiny one, but it's hard to tell how much of it is from the food we ate last night or the baby," Anne answered, smiling brightly.
"Our due dates are so close," Elisabeth noted in an even voice.
"Let's hope for the sake of my heart that they don't decide to be born at the same time," said Anne's father.
"Don't even joke about such a thing, Papa," Anne lightly chided.
"When it gets closer we'll have a talk with the babies to make sure they schedule their arrivals to give you enough time to recover between them," Aramis offered, and was glad to see Anne's frown turn back into a smile.
"Will you find out the sex?" Philip asked.
"Yes, we have an appointment right after we get back."
"Anne's sure it's a boy though," he told them all, smiling and giving Anne's hand a squeeze.
"Awe," Maria Anna cooed. "You know, Ana, I thought you had a glow about you, especially when I saw you before Midnight Mass. And have you been experiencing any morning sickness?"
"A bit, yeah, but it seems to be over, thankfully. I'm feeling much better now, invigorated, even," Anne answered while he did his best to hide his smirk over knowing just how invigorated Anne was last night.
MMMMMMMMMM
A few days after they returned to Paris, Anne lied in bed reading, waiting for Aramis to come home. He had gone out for drinks with the guys after work to celebrate having found out the baby's sex earlier in the day.
"Brr, it's cold out there," said Aramis upon walking into the bedroom and kicking off his shoes.
She, meanwhile, was cosy under her thick duvet, and apparently Aramis realised this too as he rubbed his hands and cupped them in front of his mouth. "And you look very warm."
"Don't even think about it," she warned, but then he looked so sad and forlorn, she very quickly gave in. "Oh, alright, come here." Putting the book aside, she turned down the duvet and bed sheet, and after throwing his coat over one of the chairs, Aramis climbed into bed beside her.
She squeaked and squirmed as he touched her with his cold hands, wrapping his body around hers. The two of them had always been affectionate people, quick to offer a comforting touch or a reassuring hug to others. Before they slept together she would never have thought anything of, say, his hand on her back as he passed behind her, or of herself brushing snow off his shoulder, but then after that night, their touches became charged, and heavy with meaning. After their night together, any touch carried with it the memory of their lovemaking, and the possibility of more, but also the uncertainty of whether they would go there again. They had kissed a number of times, held hands, and would snuggle up to each other sometimes when watching TV, but despite their sharing a bed, they'd never had sex in it. She, for the most part, simply hadn't felt well enough for anything more, and he never attempted anything beyond holding her.
Ever since they slept together at Christmas though, things had shifted once more between them, they were more secure in their feelings for one another, in what they wanted, and now all of Aramis' touches were natural and comforting to her, but they could change to thrilling if so desired.
"Did you enjoy drinks at least?" she asked once he was settled against her side.
"Oh yes. It was d'Artagnan's treat. He was the only one who thought we were having a girl."
"What, were you all betting on the baby's sex?"
"I knew nothing of it until tonight," Aramis declared. "It was between Porthos, Athos, and d'Artagnan. I had only told them before that you thought the baby was going to be a boy," he said, rubbing his cold nose against her neck and making her inhale sharply. She felt him smile against her collarbone. "D'Artagnan was the only one foolish enough to bet against you."
Anne chuckled. "Poor d'Artagnan. He still has a lot to learn, doesn't he?"
"Mhm," Aramis agreed, pressing a kiss to the crook of her shoulder. "You know, it would warm me up even faster if we were naked."
She closed her eyes as his lips started to move along her throat, leaving her skin tingling from his touch. "I won't have you stealing all of the baby's heat," she half-heartedly protested.
He kissed her jaw, her body temperature already rising along with her heart rate, and then she felt his breath on her ear. "Ah, but I also know how we can generate some more."
MMMMMMMMMM
When the bell over the shop door dinged, Aramis looked over to see Louis stroll into the shop, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. His stomach twisted in dread; Elisabeth must have told him about the baby by now.
Athos, Porthos, and d'Artagnan were all there with him, working together to finish up the last of the large amount of New Year's orders before they closed, and they exchanged looks of uncertainty as Louis approached the counter.
"Wonderful, you're all here," Louis bellowed. "Well, first I have to congratulate the lucky father-to-be!" He looked at Aramis. "You really wasted no time, did you? Come," he said, turning back towards the others, "let's give him a round of applause for his achievement." He started clapping vigorously, though none of the others joined in.
After a few seconds he stopped, though his smile never faltered, nor did the smug look in his eyes. "In honour of this marvellous news, I'd like to commission a piece: big baby blocks made out of chocolate! Ones that can be played with that have letters on the sides that can spell 'baby' and 'mama' and 'papa', and also…'sold'."
"Sold?" Porthos repeated.
"Indeed, starting in the new year I'll be putting this building up for sale," Louis announced, and the entire atmosphere in the room changed as if a gust of wind had blown in and flushed out all the joy and warmth. He turned his head and looked Aramis right in the eye. "Richelieu has been pushing me to sell it for years but I've never considered it because Anne was so fond of this place and you chocolatiers. Too fond, really."
He stepped forward. "Louis, the others don't have anything to do with what's transpired between you, me, and Anne. Don't take away their home and their livelihoods over this," he pleaded. "I'll quit, if that's what you want."
"How very noble of you. But alas, I've got bigger and better investments to make, and this place just doesn't cut it. You'll get the paperwork in the next couple of days. Have a Happy New Year."