Let's Forget What Happened
Four pairs of boots stomped their way back into the musketeer garrison. It was more like two pairs of boots were walking and the other two were being dragged. Siroc adjusted Ramon to fit his shoulder a bit more comfortably while d'Artagnan half carried an incongruous Jacque. "d'Artagnan… my bed wants I," she said in a muttered voice. She had already passed out at the tavern shortly after the incident with Ramon.
Siroc turned his head toward d'Artagnan. "Take care of him. I've got this one." He then followed the hallway that led to Ramon's room wondering if he should be nice enough to throw him on the bed or drop him on the floor.
D'Artagnan made it to Jacque's room without effort. He went to her side when she fell over knowing full well that if Siroc or Ramon aided her, they would find out that she was a woman. Already, she had been saying things to him that uncovered her secret. "You're pretty heavy for a woman," he said, pushing her door open. She said something under her breath, but he could barely hear her. "I doubt that you can change yourself, so you'll have to sleep in your uniform."
Jacque spun herself in his arms, so that she faced him. She drew her arms around his shoulders and gave him a light hug, giggling like a little girl. He could smell the alcohol in her breath.
"Um… Jacque?" d'Artagnan asked, unsure of what to do.
"You don't think I'm pretty do you, d'Artagnan," she asked, but it sounded like more of a statement.
D'Artagnan could feel the heat from her cheek against his own. 'She's had way too much to drink,' he thought. "It's not that at all," he said, gently pulling her away, but she stayed right where she was.
"If I wore a dress and pranced around like an idiot, would you love me like you do them?" she asked. Her forehead rested against his shoulder and she sighed. She began toying with his hair, rubbing a few strands between her fingers.
"Jacqueline," d'Artagnan dared to say her name. "I think you are beautiful. You know that I only act like that because Ramon and Siroc are with us."
Then she started laughing , and she hugged him even tighter. "I know," she said and pulled her head back to look at him. Her eyes bore into his, and he stood speechless. None of the women he courted ever looked at him the way she did. It was pure affection. "I love you, d'Artagnan," she whispered, and she pressed her lips to his.
His eyes widened in shock, but he didn't know at the moment if it was the confession or the act. Suddenly, she collapsed in his arms and passed out again. "Oh god…" d'Artagnan had no idea what he had just been through. He managed to get her into the bed and pull the covers over her. He prayed to God that she would not remember what happened in the morning. The last thing he wanted was a rapier through his heart when the sun came out.
D'Artagnan closed Jacque's door shut, but a small smile formed on his lips. If things were different, he would have said goodnight in a more intimate way, but for now he blew her a kiss.
"Women punch exceptionally hard," Ramon moaned, touching his right eye. He sat at the edge of his bed where Siroc had placed him. He fell over to his side and hugged his pillow.
"That was not a woman, Ramon," Siroc said trying to hide his laugh. Seeing Jacque knock Ramon out was a worthwhile moment that he would never forget. "That was Jacque. Remember? Jacque Laponte? Our friend? Our MALE friend?"
Ramon looked at Siroc and winced when he tried to focus in on his friend's image. "I could have sworn that Jacque was a woman! Have you really looked close at him? His features are the most feminine I have ever seen!"
"I'm too busy observing people's actions rather than appearances, my friend," Siroc said. "If Jacque is indeed a woman, then I'll create that little pill which hides bad breath by tomorrow."
"And what will you call it?" Ramon asked climbing into bed, forgetting to pull his boots off.
"I need to make it first," Siroc said leaving the room. "Good night, Ramon."
"Si, night, comrade…" Ramon drifted off to sleep, letting his eyes fall shut.
Siroc shook his head and let out the laugh that he had kept inside of him. He turned and met D'Artagnan in the hallway, the two apparently going in opposite ways. "Isn't your room that way, Siroc?" d'Artagnan asked.
"But my lab is this way," Siroc said and continued walking away from the resting quarters.
"Had another idea, have you?" d'Artagnan asked. "What are you trying to figure out this time?" He had no idea how Siroc had the slightest bit of strength to come up with a new invention.
"It's more of a test of fate and coincidence than science this time…" Siroc's voice faded out as he rounded a corner.
'What did he mean by that?' d'Artagnan thought, but he was too tired to care. His feet took him to his own bed, and he welcomed it. He pulled off his uniform, rapier, and boots then stretched his body over his bed. Sleep fell over him in a hurry, and he was sure that he would be dreaming of a certain female musketeer tonight.
The next morning, d'Artagnan found Ramon sitting at the breakfast table, his head buried in his hands. "Headache?" d'Artagnan asked, sitting next to him.
"Like you would not believe," Ramon said, rubbing his temples. His eyes were half closed, well one of them were.
"Jacque gave you a nice one," d'Artagnan observed, seeing the blue and purple that formed around Ramon's eye. "You should put cold water over that before it gets worse. Do you remember anything about last night?"
"Only what happened when we came back," Ramon said. "And that is not much. D'Artagnan…have you ever thought that Jacque looked like a…" but he was cut off when someone else walked into the dining room.
Jacque emerged from her room, her heart and stomach set on food. Her face showed lack of sleep, and her body looked as thought it fought not to stumble over. She felt two pairs of eyes on her, and she looked up to see d'Artagnan and Ramon watching her. "What?" she asked, pulling on her right glove.
"Er… nothing," Ramon said. "Rough night?"
"Well, I must say that last night will be the only time I ever go drinking with you," Jacque said. She stopped right next to d'Artagnan and both could feel the uncomfortable tension between them.
"How are you feeling?" d'Artagnan asked, breaking the silence. He could not exactly tell her that he remembered every detail about what happened in her room, but he would have to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"All right," Jacque said curtly, straightening the rest of her uniform.
"Do you remember anything at all?" he asked, his mind replaying the night before. 'Like when you wrapped your arms around me?'
"No… nothing… you?" she said. 'Please don't remember that I kissed you…'
"Nothing," he answered back in a horrible imitation of a dumbfounded expression. 'Who would have thought that you loved me.'
Silence.
The looked at each other letting out forced laughs. "Right, well," Jacque began, "how about breakfast? I'm starving."
Then Siroc came running around the corner, short of breath. The three stared at him because he appeared to be drenched in water, apron and all. "I did it!" he exclaimed, breathing heavily. He held his hand up and in between his thumb and fore finger, was a little green ball. "Jacque! Do you remember that pill we were talking about last night?"
Jacque nodded. She couldn't remember all of the conversation, but she did remember something about a pill.
"Well, I've done it! I call it… the gelid mint drop!" he held out the little green ball for them to behold.
D'Artagnan looked over the inventor from head to toe. "That's well and good, Siroc, but why are you completely saturated in water?" Siroc's hair was slicked back when he ran a hand through it, and his shirt tended to cling to his arms and chest. "Well, I tried countless trials of experimenting, and since all of you were sleeping when I needed a host, I ingested the pills myself. The last one I tried had such an alarming taste to it! The mint flavoring was so incredibly strong that it burned my mouth. I did not have water available in the lab, so I went to our water supply."
"Did you swim in it?" Jacque asked.
"No, I merely had to submerged my head. I could not find a glass for the life of me!" he said, but he could care less about how he looked, his nerves were on fire. He accomplished a creation of convenience in such a short amount of time, and he was not modest about it at all. His smile fell from his face when he looked at the green pill, then he glanced over to Ramon.
Ramon, with his one good eye, caught Siroc's gaze. Then both men stared at Jacque, uncertain and unsure of what this discovery meant. Siroc had said that if he managed to invent the pill overnight then Jacque was most certainly…
"What are you two staring at?" Jacque asked in a more demanding tone, the man in her started to come out. She was annoyed greatly now because of all the attention she was receiving. It made her uneasy. "If you two are done, I'm going to get breakfast, and d'Artagnan, wash up. You smell like a woman."
"I do not!" d'Artagnan fought with her till they left the dining room.
Ramon and Siroc stood there, wondering if their little assumption proved true. They looked at each other. "Nah, he couldn't be," they said a the same time. Ramon stood and clapped his hand on his shoulder. "Siroc, we are loco in the head indeed."
Siroc smiled, agreeing with Ramon in appearance, but he thought, 'I wonder…'