Bad Days'

Everyone had their bad days. Athos' were evened so he had them more often than not while Porthos had a tendency to have days when he got mad for no reason so the most little thing could set him off. Take one example when D'artagnan was new to the unit. He hadn't realised that Porthos was having a 'bad day' and had taken a pen without asking. Porthos had ended up yelling at him and D'artagnan had been afraid to come back into the office for the rest of the day. Thankfully, Porthos had apologised and things had gone back to normal.

D'artagnan, being so young, didn't tend to have that many bad days and when he did it mostly consisted him of moping around about Constance. Of course, these moping periods were nowhere near as spectacular as the times Athos tried to drink himself to death in a dark corner of some bar. These days were when his friends became extremely worried about Athos' state of mind.

Then there was Aramis. Her bad days were few and far between but when they did happen they were worse than the other three by a mile. Today was one of those days.

…

D'artagnan had only been with the unit for coming on a month now and was seriously starting to hate, what Aramis called, the D'artagnan the apprentice musketeer stage. It would probably be alright if it didn't feel like he had to continuously fight the other three to let him do something, especially Athos.

Entering the office, D'artagnan was surprised to find he was the first one there. Usually it was Athos there first, even if he had drank a lot more than usual the night before. Then either D'artagnan or Aramis appeared second, depending on if Aramis had slept at her own flat the night before, and Porthos generally rolled in just before shift started.

They'd cleared the 4th desk from all of the paper, which was now stacked on the wall. D'artagnan had learnt that they avoided doing the paperwork until it either piled so high Treville shouted at them or the older man gave in and did it for them.

Speaking of the Captain, Treville walked into the room to find only D'artagnan sitting there. He narrowed his eyes at the younger man. When he'd first put their unit together he hadn't realised that they were going to become the headache of his existence and it had only grown worse when first Aramis and now D'artagnan, who appeared to have a habit of destroying property, joined.

"Where are they?" Treville asked, knowing that whatever was going on was either very bad or extremely likely to give him a headache for the rest of the week. D'artagnan shrugged in answer and Treville decided it was best not to push it any further. "Phone them."

D'artagnan did just that as soon as the Captain disappeared from the room. Taking out his phone, he dialled Athos' number. It picked up on the third ring. "Where are you?"

"Aramis'." The curt reply came from over the phone.

"Treville wants you in." Athos put the phone down and D'artagnan thought he heard voices on the other end though he couldn't make out the words.

Aramis' voice appeared on the other end then, her voice sounding a little strained. "We're on our way." The phone hung up, leaving D'artagnan utterly confused as to what was going on.

…

The night before had been fine, Aramis kept telling herself. Nothing to set the panic off. So why did she feel like someone was going to jump out at her any minute. She'd woken in a cold sweat at around 2 in the morning and had proceeded to pace the length of her living room floor for the last hour, occasionally checking the door was locked.

It hadn't happened in so long that Aramis thought the panic was gone. She was wrong, of course. The memories were never gone. The images of blood and screams as her friends were murdered all around her. Of lying on a cold ground, waiting for death. Begging for it really.

The last time this had happened, Aramis had been at Porthos' and the bigger man hadn't known what to do so he'd spent the night stroking her hair until she calmed down enough to sleep. She'd been embarrassed in the morning but couldn't deny the comfort it had brought her. Stopped the memories from appearing and the raw panic from eating her alive.

Before she could stop herself she was dialling him. She'd never been dependant on anyone before but somehow she had with Athos and Porthos. Hell, she hadn't even gotten attached to other people before Athos and Porthos. Not since Savoy.

Shit, she wasn't meant to think about that. What was it the physiatrist told her to do, breathe. She did just that, trying to even out her breaths as she held the phone in a death grip. A sudden wild thought that the door wasn't shut had her running towards it. The door was bolted. Double bolted.

A groggy voice sounded from the other end of the phone and she jumped in panic, dropping the phone in the process. "Aramis!" Porthos' frantic tones were clear as Aramis picked the object up in shaking hands.

"Porthos." She winced at the vulnerability in her voice. Why the hell had she thought phoning Porthos was a good idea.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. And do not even think about arguing." Porthos grunted over the phone before Aramis could protest that she was fine.

Aramis couldn't bring herself to speak as she sat down on the floor, leaning against the sofa as if to stay grounded. It didn't help. Marsac had left her leaning against a tree when he'd left. He'd left her there injured, cold and alone. Surrounded by the dead, flesh blood staining the crystalized snow.

The memories jumped at her, swallowing her whole and she felt warm tears trickle down her cheeks. A loud bang on the door made her jump, looking around for her gun, a weapon. Anything. Instead her hands closed around a phone that was vibrating.

Aramis stared at it blankly for a minute, not registering the name. Another bang on the door brought her a little closer to the present and she recognised Porthos' name on the screen. "Can I come in?"

She almost choked in relief to hear those words come from Porthos. Standing on shaking legs, Aramis unbolted the door but couldn't manage to get the key into the lock. Thankfully, Porthos had a key and let himself in with a gentle push of the door.

At that point the memories hit her again and when Porthos' arms circled around her waist she tried to fight him off. He only held her tighter, murmuring soft words as she calmed down. "I'm here with you, it's alright." Aramis collapsed into Porthos' arms and he manoeuvred them so they were leaning against the sofa, Aramis in front of Porthos as he stroked her hair.

"What've you been doing to yourself?" Porthos muttered as he untangled on of the knots in the long hair.

"Sorry." Aramis breathed out, wincing a little at the croakiness in her voice.

"Get some sleep." Aramis shook her head sharply. She couldn't sleep. If she slept she'd be back there. Back in that damned forest. "Okay. Okay, we'll just sit here." Porthos' voice was clam and he was rocking her a little. She hummed at the contact and felt her eyes drifting downwards as she fell into blackness.

As Aramis sagged into sleep, Porthos pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket. This sort of attack had never happened before. Not in this presence at least. The few time Aramis had ever lost control, as far as Porthos had ever seen that was, it had been nightmares and all that she needed was a few hours of gentle talking and coaxing her to sleep.

This time though, Porthos knew was different. She'd been a lot of things but never violent. Not to them. But Porthos could feel the dried blood on his face were her nails had broken skin and couldn't help but grimace at the thought of Aramis seeing them in the morning. Texting Athos, Porthos gently shushed Aramis as she stirred in her sleep, whimpering and muttering in Spanish. As he sat there, he wondered what had happened to make the strongest woman Porthos knew act this way.

…..

Aramis awoke back in the forest.

She was sleeping in a tent, next to Marsac and the only sounds being their breathing. Except that wasn't true because Aramis could have sworn she heard a twig snap. She shook Marsac awake and the man just frowned at her before turning back over to sleep again. But then a wet slicing noise was heard and a cry of pain. Adrenalin spiking through her, Aramis jumped to her feet.

"Aramis!" A loud voice pierced through her and she screamed a loud guttural scream as arms came around her. "Aramis, hey its' me its' Porthos." Porthos. Aramis sagged boneless into him.

A knock at the door made Aramis scramble to her feet but Porthos gently pulled her back down by the wrist. "It's open." He called and Aramis struggled more. Why was it open? The door wasn't meant to be open.

Athos walked into the room, silently going towards the light but a sharp shake of the head stopped him. The room was nearly pitch black, except for the little light coming from the window. He could barely make out the two shapes on the floor and wondered not for the first time, why Porthos had called him. "Lock the door." Aramis' small voice appeared. Soft murmurings were coming from that direction as well and Athos slowly walked over to them, after locking the door.

"You alright?" Aramis nodded her head but the shaking told Athos otherwise. Being closer, he could clearly make out the pale tone of her skin as she sat in Porthos' arms, shaking. Her breathes were hitching at odd intervals and her eyes kept roaming around. "Aramis." Nervously, Athos took the woman's' hand, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't flinch away. "You okay?" He repeated with more force this time.

Her small shake of her head could have been easily missed if Athos had hadn't been looking for it. "Can you sleep?" Another, more urgent shake and this time her grip on his hand tightened to nearly unbearable. "Okay, we'll just sit here."

Athos shared a look with Porthos, wincing as he saw the red mark on his cheek. Porthos nodded his head towards Aramis and Athos realised why Porthos had called him. If Aramis was being violent towards them, then something was deadly wrong.

Aramis' eyes were dropping shut but she quickly pushed them open again, staring desperately at Athos. "Please don't let me fall asleep. They won't leave me when I'm asleep. Please." Athos wanted to ask who 'they' were but Aramis' voice seemed so broken he nodded his head.

…..

When the phone rang, Aramis started against Porthos. Athos stood up to answer his phone as Porthos kept Aramis calm. "It's D'artagnan." Athos stated, putting the phone on the table. Porthos and Athos shared a look as Aramis got onto her feet.

"You don't have to go in." Aramis ignored them and picked up the phone, keeping her voice as even as possible as she told D'artagnan they'd be there soon. It was bad enough that Athos and Porthos had seen her like this, she didn't need their young friend to see it as well.

"Aramis, you need to…."

"What I need is a shower." Aramis didn't think it was convincing but Porthos didn't say anymore as she walked into the bathroom. Stepping out of her clothes, she dimly realised that having a shower might not be a good idea, not least because her legs were still a little wobbly and she really didn't want to fall. The again it was either that or have to admit defeat so she stepped in and felt the warm water run over her. It felt good, and seemed to wash away some of the panic from the night before.

Wrapping a towel around herself, Aramis walked out of the bathroom and back into her room, getting ready for work in her usual manner. Athos and Porthos seemed to be taking it in turns to hover as she dried her hair and they took turns in her bathroom. By the time she was done, Porthos and Athos were dressed and in her kitchen. "Eat." Athos stated, pushing a piece of toast towards her.

"I'm not hungry." Aramis replied but Athos just pushed it towards her anyway.

"Try." Realising he was probably right, she relented although she didn't actually manage to eat more than a bite before her stomach rebelled. Porthos and Athos looked disapprovingly at her but she ignored them, knowing if she ate anymore she probably would be sick.

"We should get going." She finally said, going to grab her car keys but Porthos took them from her grip.

"Not happening." Aramis wanted to argue but the lack of sleep the night before combined with the minute shaking of her hand stopped her.

"Okay." She was very aware of both Porthos and Athos as she waked down the stairs and climbed into the back of Porthos' car. She had aimed to be in the back so they'd leave her alone but Athos only climbed in behind her. "I don't need babysitting." She growled.

"You're the one that phoned us." Athos replied, placing a hand on Aramis' leg to stop it from moving up and down. "You don't have to go in today." Aramis only glared and turned her head away.

The view out of the window helped calm her nerves. This wasn't a forest. It was a city. A city was safe. Aramis shivered a little as they drove up to the office and she had a feeling this was going to be an extremely long day.

Decided to put this into two parts as it got a little longer than I thought, the next part should be up sometime in the next day or so (possibly today as I actually want to write).

As always, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed.