3 - Marvelous Chaos

Later that day, Aramis and I were sitting at the table and talking when my uncle came through the door with Raoul trailing behind him.

'Good morning, Raoul.' I greeted, as I hadn't seen him earlier that morning.

'Good morning, Marie.' He replied, giving me a quick embrace and grabbing a warm roll from the plate I had recently set in the middle of the table.

'Those are for dinner!' I exclaimed in protest as Raoul took a large bite.

Much like the day before, a relatively large evening meal was being planned, and my uncle's fellow preservers of peace were invited, if they wished to come. I knew D'Artagnan would come, he was as close to my uncle as a brother. As well as Porthos, he never passed up a free meal, or an opportunity to sweet talk a woman. Even me, if pressed for company, I suppose. Aramis was already here, and I knew once he started talking to my uncle he'd stay for quite a while, so that meant he'd be eating with us as well.

'Shall we lunch? I'm starving.' Athos stated, looking over the rolls hungrily as well. I laughed softly and stood up before responding.

'Yes, of course. There is some of last night's ham left that we can eat.' I said, moving into the kitchen slowly, followed by Raoul. As I prepared what we were going to have I glanced out the window.

'It's a beautiful day outside, isn't it?' I called out, getting concurring replies from Athos and Aramis in the next room and a cheerful nod from my cousin, who was standing beside me and helping me occasionally.

'Let's eat outside.' Raoul offered, taking up a tray filled with food. I only smiled in agreement and followed him out of the kitchen, plates in hand.

'Come. We're eating outside today.' I told Athos and Aramis as we passed them on the way out the door.

'But... I just sat down...' Aramis argued light-heartedly as Athos rose from his seat with a gentle laugh. Before following Raoul and I out the door, Athos left the room for a moment and came back with a large, worn blanket for us to sit on. For the next hour or so we just sat, ate and talked.

That is, until we heard the carriage barreling down the road in front of the house. Once it stopped, Porthos came out lugging a small trunk. With a large smile spread across his ever-friendly face, he walked over to us, dropping the trunk next to me. My eyebrows lifted curiously at the wooden box before me.

'Open it.' Porthos said, waving his hands at the trunk.

Smiling, I unlatched the buckles and lifted the lid, gasping softly as I did so. Inside the box was a lavish, quite obviously expensive dress of a gentle gold color. Almost like champagne, with the nearly impossibly small beads threaded into it acting as the bubbles.

'It's gorgeous. I have never seen anything like it.' I said, shooting an immensely appreciative glance at Porthos, who threw himself down beside Aramis.

'What's the occasion?' Athos asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at Porthos, who gave him an innocent look in reply.

'That's what's wrong with you, Athos. You never learned that one does not need a reason to treat a woman like a lady.' Porthos responded, raising his eyebrows at my uncle.

In reply, Athos only shot Pothos a sharp glance, making Porthos smile, giving in.

'There will be a carnivale tomorrow night. You will all come with me. D'Artagnan as well.' Porthos said matter-of-factly, making it obvious that he would not take 'no' for an answer.

'May I bring someone?' Raoul asked, trying to hide his eagerness.

'Is it a girl?' Was Porthos' reply.

'Yes.' Raoul said softly, almost whispering.

'A girl?' I asked teasingly, smiling at my cousin.

Raoul only looked down at his plate in response.

'Well then, of course you can bring someone! Make sure you bring someone pretty...' Porthos said, patting Raoul on the shoulder with the last bit of his statement.

'Porthos!' I scolded, shooting him a discreet glare. He, of course, replied with yet another innocent look. One of those looks of his never fooled anyone. Porthos could never pass himself as innocent in that respect. Aramis joined my effort with a chiding look of his own aimed at Porthos.

I smiled down at the dress lying gently in the trunk, picking it up gingerly and examining it. It really was gorgeous. Porthos had outdone himself...

'A carnivale...' I muttered softly, placing the dress back in it's box carefully and closing the lid.

'Yes, my dear, you will dance, drink and flirt until you become dizzy.' Porthos stated, pouring himself some wine.

'With you, I suppose.' I joked, taking a sip of my own wine.

'Preferably, but anyone will do.' Porthos replied with an airy tone in his voice and a smile on his face, making me laugh. Shaking my head, I gathered some of the plates and stood.

'Well, who is going to be enough of a gentleman to help me bring all this in.' I asked, smiling down at the four men sitting below me.

'I'll help you.' Raoul said with a smile, cutting Porthos off quickly.

'Thank you, Raoul.' I said as I watched my cousin raise himself from the ground, bringing up a tray with him.

As we walked toward the house after collecting the rest of the plates and, of course, the trunk Porthos had brought me, I smiled over at my cousin mischievously.

'So, you're bringing a girl to the carnivale, are you?' I teased gently, smiling down at the stack of plates I set on the table. I could hear Raoul sigh, knowing what was coming.

'Is she pretty?' I continued, smiling at him tauntingly.

'Marie...' He said, giving me a warning look.

'Alright, no more joking,' I replied, turning serious, 'I hope she's wonderful, because otherwise, she won't deserve you.'

'Thank you.' Raoul said finally, after a pause, smiling shyly.

'You are very welcome, cousin.'

That night I sat at the dining room table with D'Artagnan. Athos wanted to cook me dinner again, and he recruited Raoul to help him. But Porthos wanted to help as well, and Aramis followed to try and keep Porthos from poisoning us all, or burning the house down. So, it all resulted in a great racket coming from the kitchen, what with my uncle trying to cook while trying to make Raoul help him, and Aramis scolding Porthos who was doing everything in his power to annoy his dear friend. I was almost positive that irritating Aramis was like a sport to Porthos.

So, there we sat, laughing as we heard clanking, and scolding, and the occasional crash.

'They're all hopeless.' I stated finally, shaking my head in amusement.

'Well, I've known that for years.' D'Artagnan joked, taking a sip of his wine. Laughing, I took D'Artagnan's glass and took a sip of it myself.

'Well, I love it.' I said, starting to take another sip of wine, before D'Artagnan pulled it from my grasp.

'You must be talking about the wine.' He said unbelievingly.

'No, I'm talking about the noise. The marvelous chaos.' I said, leaning back in my chair.

'You're joking.'

'You have no idea how it is at home,' I began, smiling at the man sitting beside me, 'I'm the first one to say that I love my family, but it's very... Well, the complete opposite of this. It's sedate, and I think it's good to get away from that now and again. To have a little excitement.' I finished my statement with a small smile. D'Artagnan smiled at me and shook his head slightly.

'You are very strange, Marie.' He teased slightly, looking over to the kitchen doorway as a loud clanging noise ripped it's way through the house when something was dropped. The ear-shattering sound was promptly followed by reprimanding shouts.

'Very strange indeed.' I agreed, bursting into laughter.

A/N: Umm... Don't hurt me. I've been busy, I swear on my keyboard! Half of this chapter has been written for... Well, for a while, I just haven't had the chance to finish it. But for you, my dear readers, I forced myself to stay up till early in the morning finishing it, so I really hope you like it. Now, I'm going to bed before I die and can't finish any of my fics. XD Please R&R and have a great, restful day!