Walking his way towards the palace, d'artagan was worried, Constance had become very ill in the night and he had to send for a doctor, she was incredibly sick and he feared for her life. Francois had been suffering with a fever, however it had broken early this morning and the doctor had said she would begin to convalesce soon.
Through the years he had seen aramis a lot but lately he hadn't for the first minister had been very busy for it was coming up to the dauphins birthday and he was turning sixteen. About everyone at court knew that the queen and first minister of France were 'close' but only d'artagan knew that they were more than that.
Porthos , Marie and Elody had stayed for a few years but had wanted a place of their own and they had moved away to Bordeaux to start a new life. Since then porthos and elody had been blessed with three more children, from porthos' letters they sounded beautiful and he was looking forward to meeting them soon.
Athos and Sylvie had gone to Gascony funnily enough and had birthed their son, Pierre and had also been blessed with two more girls, Anne and Charlotte. However since the birth of his children Athos hadn't written to him. That thought saddened him deeply but he thought that actually Athos probably had a very busy life and he accepted that because he did too and found it hard to reply to porthos' letter sometimes.
Walking through the halls and towards the ministers quarters he was welcomed with the clattering of swords from his right, and there he saw aramis and the dauphin, practicing their skills. Aramis was still as elegant and danced and parried around the floor like a flamenco dancer with his fire and elegance, but the dauphin was aggressive and strong like a bull with his muscularity thrusts and powerful jumps, otgtehr they made quite the pair and were entertaining to watch.
He knocked in the door loudly and they immediately stopped and turned to look at him with faces of sorrow for the woman they all loved so dearly. "How is she?" Asked aramis, there it was, the question he couldn't answer without crying, " not so good" he choked out, the dauphin could sense the emotion in the room and quietly left the two men to talk out there feelings.
Aramis could see that d'artagan was close to exploding, he could barely imagine all the emotions he had bottled up for all these weeks, seeing the love of his life and his daughter ill with a restless fever that raged within them. Staying strong for the remaining two children and the brave leader mask he put on to face, he couldn't imagine having to get up every morning and seeing his wife sick then leaving to train cadets and manage all that paperwork as well as being a father and feeding his children sending them to bed, keeping them entertained, it made him feel all the more worse for not making the time to check up on him, he felt that he should've gone to d'artagan and not vice versar.
'I need a drink, you got something strong?" D'artagan asked, he could see that the only way d'artagan was going to talk was when he was drunk to the point of not knowing what he is saying, and if that was the way to do it, he would happily comply.
Aramis passed him a drink and sat him down on the chair by the fire and said ' tell me everything my friend, I will listen'
'It's just been so hard, I can't cope anymore, I miss her smile every morning, I miss her laugh, her hair everything I do or say I expect her to be there contradicting me, telling me off or laughing at me and kissing me in the cheek, the chismeen are so quiet and all they want is their mother back and I can't be mother and father, I know Constance is strong and is a fighter, but she's been strong and she has been fighting for three weeks and she still isn't getting better, the doctor first said that she would heal in five days but then they found she had pneumonia so she had to heal from that and that was the week I was convinced she'd die, but she didn't but last night she took a turn for the worst and the doctor has said prepare for the worst, how am I supposed to do that when Francois is barely better? I almost lost Constance once before, I can't lose her now, not when I need her the most and so do our children". D'artagan said.
Aramis' heart sank at those words, he had no idea it had been that hard and he really wanted to go straight over to the garrison now and hug those poor children, but right now d'artagan needed him and he wasn't going to let him go home on his own in this state.
"Let's get you home my friend and I will look after the children for you, what you need is rest, I will notify Alaine that you need a week off and I will let you take care if the children, I will come every morning and evening for the next month and until Constance gets better, do you hear me, she will not die, like you said she's a fighter, she won't let a fever kill her will she?" Aramis replied, secretly hoping he's right because he knows that if she does die, d'artagan will need not just him but all of them.