Italics is in Spanish

Something was wrong. Aramis wasn't her usually happy self and the smiles on her face were obviously fake. Porthos had asked a few times what was wrong but she'd brushed it off, turning to talk to Athos or D'artagnan just to get away from his curious gaze. He'd checked with Athos and D'artagnan to see if they'd noticed as well. They had.

The weird thing was, Aramis wasn't exactly panicky or ill she just looked stressed. Porthos had never seen her so stressed before now. He'd gone over to her flat just last night and hadn't recognised the place. Aramis and cleaned it so every surface sparkled and he swore he could smell wet paint. And Aramis, well she didn't look her usual self either. Her long hair was more often than not down, styled differently nearly every day. At the beginning of the week it had been curly, the next day straight and now it was up in a high bun that made her look almost respectful.

When Porthos came in the next day he completely expected Aramis to be there, acting just as weird as the last few days. Instead she was nowhere in sight. "She's running late." Athos clarified as Porthos sent a questioning look his way. Porthos frowned, curious as to what might have happened to make her late.

…

Aramis been stressing all morning. She'd been up half the night making sure the flat was clean enough and that the guest bedroom had clean bed covers and the bathroom was stocked up. Then she'd spent all morning going through her wardrobe trying to find something to wear before spending the next hour messing with her hair. Aramis had finally decided on wearing her hair in a bun and wearing a long pencil skirt and a plain white blouse, buttoned all the way up. She'd made sure this was a size bigger so there were no gaps.

The plane had landed and Aramis smoothed down the imaginary creases in her skirt, nervously awaiting. She spotted Aramis before Aramis spotted her. "René." Aramis smiled brightly as she accepted the hug from the other woman.

"Mama." Aramis replied, kissing her on the cheek. Her mother was a larger woman with long brown hair with streaks of grey in it. She had a harsh look in her eyes and Aramis had been on the receiving end of it more times than she cared to admit. "How was your flight?" Aramis asked, reverting back to her Mother's native Spanish tongue.

"Pleasant though I'll be glad to get some rest." Aramis nodded, taking the suitcase from her mother. "Is this your car?" Aramis' mother frowned when they came to a stop by Aramis' older car.

"Yes, mama." She couldn't keep the hint of annoyance out of her voice. "We should get going, I need to be back for work."

"You didn't have to come and pick me up; I could have gotten a taxi." Aramis didn't say anything, letting her Mother talk as she drove through Paris. "Annabella's had another son." She said, ringing Aramis' attention back to her. They were nearly 5 minutes from the flat and Aramis had spent most of the drive blanking out what her mother said. "That'll be her third child." Aramis sighed. Annabella was Aramis' oldest cousin, her Mother coming from a family of 4 each of whom were married and had children. Aramis was the only child of his Mothers and the only one of her cousins who had never married and had children. It was a sore subject between her and her Mother.

"That's good." Her mother frowned at the comment and might have said more if not for the fact that Aramis had parked outside the flat. She quickly carried the suitcase upstairs and showed her Mother around before saying, "I need to get to work, I'll be back around 6." She pecked her mother on the cheek, practically running out of the door as she did so.

….

When Aramis walked into the office she was met with bemused stares. "Stop that." She said half-heartedly as she collapsed onto her chair.

"Where have you been?" Athos asked as Aramis kicked off the heels she had been wearing. They were killing her feet.

"Busy." Aramis replied, not wanting to tell them that her Mother was in Paris. Knowing her friends they would want to meet her and Aramis really didn't want that. As it was her Mother wasn't overly happy about her working with the musketeers, saying it was undignified and not right for a woman. She didn't need to add more fire to the furnace. Anyway, with any luck her Mother would be gone in a few days. It wasn't that she didn't like her Mother, she loved her but Aramis found the woman could be extremely overbearing and she sometimes felt like a disappointment to her Mother.

"Well you've missed prep so you'll have to catch up." Athos said said, raising an eyebrow at Aramis as if he wanted to ask a question. Aramis ignored the look and 10 minutes later Aramis was sitting in the back of Porthos' car with D'artagnan who was going over the plan for their next job. It was a relatively easy job, arrest a known criminal. They had all the evidence sorted and now all they needed to do was arrest the man. Easy.

…

When Athos' knock wasn't answered, he sent Aramis and D'artagnan around the back of the house. There was a loud crash as Porthos broke the door in. "So, where were you this morning?" D'artagnan asked, holding his gun in position.

"I had stuff to do." Aramis shrugged as she said this, keeping an eye on the door in case the man decided he was going to make a break for it.

D'artagnan opened his mouth to reply when the back door slammed open. Aramis lifted her gun to take a shot but the man pushed D'artagnan into her, sending them both sprawling in the mud. Motioning for D'artagnan to get ahead of the man, Aramis ran after him.

When she finally caught up to him she was sweating and breathing hard, the man as faster than he had looked. "Stop or I'll shoot." Aramis shouted as D'artagnan appeared at the other end of the alley. His gun was trained on the man as well but he was waiting for Athos' voice in his ear piece to give the go ahead before shooting.

The man looked between the two of them nervously jumping from one foot to the other. Aramis tensed as he came running at her. She managed to dodge the first blow that came at her, even sending a blow to the other man but he soon had her on the ground. He was a strong man and Aramis knew she wouldn't have been able to keep up with the fight so when she hit the ground she wasn't overly surprised.

A loud shot rang out across the valley and Aramis grunted as the man fell on top of her. He was bleeding from a bullet wound, howling in pain. D'artagnan ran up and pushed the shouting man off of her, pulling her to her feet as he did so. "Did you have to wait so long?" Aramis asked.

"I didn't have a clear shot." D'artagnan replied and Aramis chuckled, ruffling his hair affectionately.

"We need to work on your aim then." Aramis grinned as Porthos and Athos came running over. They looked the two younger members of the team over and satisfied neither was injured, Porthos took the criminal to the waiting van while Athos called it in.

…

Treville was actually happy when they came back, probably because no one had been injured or killed for a change. That and he didn't have to explain any property damage so he let them leave early. Though they still had to do the paperwork, a fact Athos grumbled about completely.

Aramis disappeared to put the other clothes back on, thanking herself that she'd thought to out extra clothes in her drawer. The only problem was she didn't have a replacement to the white blouse, which was now streaked with dirt and mud. That and her hair was a complete mess that didn't seem to want to stay put. Giving up, Aramis undid the hair and left it down.

"So, the pub?" Porthos asked as she came back into the office.

"Sorry, I'm busy tonight." Aramis apologised, getting a curious look from Porthos and D'artagnan. Athos was still looking a little put out at having to do the paperwork even when the job had gone so well so he didn't seem to be paying attention as Aramis pulled the heels back on, grabbed her back and said goodbye to the three.

….

"You're a mess." Aramis' mother said as she walked into the house. The older woman was sitting on one of the sofa's drinking tea but when she saw Aramis she jumped to her feet. "Let's get you cleaned up." She said, pulling Aramis into the bathroom and running the hot water. Aramis couldn't' help but smile a little in content, having missed her Mother.

"I missed you mama." She said, causing the older woman to smile in a way that crinkled the corners of her eyes.

"I missed you too, little one. But you moved so far away and I can't visit all the time now. You should move back to Spain, give your old Mama some company." Aramis only shook her head. Her Father had died before she'd joined the army, was probably part of the reason she had joined to begin with seeing as the older man had always wanted a son to follow in his footsteps. She could understand her Mother was lonely but she couldn't move back home.

"I can't mama." The other woman just smiled a little sadly.

"Do you want me to cook tonight?" She asked, referring to the fact that Aramis was a terrible cook. Another thing to be disappointed in, Aramis thought bitterly but quickly banished the thought when she realised how unfair it was.

"I thought we could order something." Aramis said but her mother only pulled a face.

"I'll cook, I even went shopping now go and get changed out of those dirty clothes and I'll wash them."

"No, its fine Mama, I'll do it." In her temper she felt herself switch back to French.

"Spanish René." Her mother chastised and Aramis wanted to argue but knew there was no point. Her mother hated speaking French ever since her French husband had died.

"Sorry mama." Aramis replied, leaving her mother to start food. Throwing off the blouse, Aramis was tempted to grab something her mother wouldn't approve of but not wanting to start an argument settled on one of the larger ones. She also pulled off the skirt and grabbed some trousers, feeling a little more comfortable she walked out of the room.

Her Mother bustles around the kitchen, singing old Spanish songs Aramis remembered from her childhood, making Aramis feel like she was back at home. It was at times like these that her and her mother managed to get along. When they weren't talking about Aramis' lack of family or anything else, they could almost pretend those problems were gone. Maybe this visit wasn't going to be as bad as Aramis had thought.

That was until there was a knock at her door. Aramis frowned as she got up and opened the door. "Porthos, what are you doing here?" She hissed, going to close the door behind herself.

"I wanted to see what you were hiding." Porthos replied and before Aramis could stop him he had walked into the room.

"Mama, this is Porthos." Aramis said, seeing the confused look in his Mothers eyes. "And Porthos, this is my Mother." She held her breath as Porthos and her mother stared at one another.

"A pleasure to meet you Madame." Porthos said, giving the older woman a bow of the head. She actually chuckled.

"And you too Monsieur, and please call me Rosaline." Aramis cursed silently.

"Then call me Porthos."

"Would you care to join me and René for dinner?" Porthos looked at Aramis from the corner of his eye but before either could say anything Aramis' mother was ushering them into a seat, a big grin plastered on her face. "Tell me, how do you know René?"

"Work." Porthos replied, unsure of how to take the disapproving look from Aramis' mother. Then again it wasn't aimed at him. "Maybe I should…"

"No, you should stay, I've always wanted to meet René's work friends. Though I presume you're something more." She said, making Aramis duck her head in embarrassment.

"We're just friends, Mama." Aramis interrupted her, sending Porthos an apologetic look as the woman frowned. "It was nice seeing you Porthos but you should go," Before Aramis' mother could say anything, Aramis had ushered Porthos back to the front door. "I'm really sorry about her." She said as she closed the door on a bemused looking Porthos.

"He seemed nice." Amaris's mother said but Aramis could hear the undertone in the woman's' voice. "You should have let him stay."

"Why?" Aramis asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Why don't you date?" Aramis' mother countered.

"I don't want to." She replied, Aramis really didn't want to have this conversation. "Mama, why can't you just accept that."

"I accept that, sweetheart." The older woman wrapped an arm around Aramis' shoulder as they sat on the couch. "Of course I do, I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy." Aramis replied, resting her head a little on the older woman's' shoulder.

"And what in 5 years' time, what if you decide you want children then?" Aramis didn't reply, she'd never actually thought about that. "I know you don't like talking about it but you aren't getting any younger and if you carry on like this you won't get a family."

"And what if I don't want children?" Aramis said, because it wasn't something she'd ever wanted. That was all her mother. Rosaline D'Herblay went utterly silent then and Aramis felt a surge of guilt well up. "Mama?"

"Maybe not now, but when you're my age with no family what then?" Aramis bristled in anger, pulling away from the woman. "I know some lovely young men who want to settle down, why don't we arrange something. Get you settled and out of this…"

"Mama, I don't want to get married and I don't want children. Can't you understand that, please?" Aramis practically begged. This was exactly why she hated her Mother visiting.

"Can't you be more like your cousins?" The older woman seemed to regret it as soon as she said it because Aramis got up from the seat, grabbed her coat and bag and walked out of the flat.

Porthos' car was still in the parking lot when she stormed out of the building and he shouted her over. "I'm sorry." He started but Aramis only waved her hand to shut him up.

"It's not your fault. Could I stay at yours tonight?" Aramis asked, annoyed at herself for having to ask but right now she didn't want to have to argue with her Mother anymore and if she went back inside that was exactly what was going to happen.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Porthos asked and Aramis shook her head. They rode in silence up to Porthos' flat and as they drove, the guilt welled up more and more inside Aramis.

Thanks for reading. This idea sort of evolved into something I could not control so I had to split it up into two parts, as always hope you enjoyed and please review :)