I should have given the chapter of my fanfic, Concealed, that the wolf episode happened in for those who haven't read it. The wolf part begins in chapter 17.

D'Artagnan held Aramis tighter when he saw the anguish on his brother's face, whispering, "Aramis, it's d'Artagnan! You're in Paris, not in the woods. There are no wolves. You're safe. It's all right," stroking his head as he spoke.

Aramis didn't seem to hear him, though. He was lost in memories of being left bound in a remote wooded area, with three wolves surrounding him, one of which attacked him. D'Artagnan felt the terror in his brother as he held him, tremors running through his body. The Gascon kept up a steady stream of calm reassurances, though, until at last, Aramis calmed down and became still. A few more moments passed, and then his eyes began to flutter open.

At first, his gaze looked confused, as if he didn't recognize where he was. Then, seeing d'Artagnan, he relaxed more and gave him an exhausted hint of a smile.

D'Artagnan smiled in return, then said, "Constance should be back any time now. She went to get some supplies to help you. She will most likely fuss over you like a loving mother hen!"

"The dog?" he asked, obviously not remembering everything yet.

"It's dead, Aramis. Your shot was true. It won't harm anyone else. Now, you just relax, and let us take care of you like you always do for us," giving his brother's shoulder another gentle hug as he said this.

Constance came around the corner a few moments after he finished speaking, arms filled with strips of cloth for bandages and ointments to hopefully soothe the pain.

She had no sooner begun to clean the wounds, than Athos and Porthos arrived from the other direction. As soon as their eyes spied Aramis in d'Artagnan's arms they sped up the rest of the way, dropping to their knees at their brother's side. They could see the bites on his forearm and hand, the torn flesh and open wounds already swelling.

"How is he?" Athos asked d'Artagnan and Constance.

"He is just a little the worse for wear. I will be fine," came a weary voice, startling all of them.

Aramis gazed up at them with pain-glazed eyes.

Porthos, in a worried but fondly exasperated voice, said, "You are the only man I know who would be laying in the street with your arm chewed open, telling us that!"

Aramis closed his eyes again, saying, "Takes more than a dog to get rid of...," trailing off as he gave into darkness once more.

"Probably for the best," spoke Constance. When he's out, he doesn't feel the pain. It lets me take care of him without worrying if I'm hurting him, too," and spread out her supplies.

Constance carefully and gently cleaned the red angry-looking wounds, applied some of the ointment on them, and then wrapped them well with the clean white bandages. Through it all, Aramis never woke up, moved or made a sound, for which they were all very grateful.

Porthos then gathered his brother's limp body into his strong arms, and they returned slowly to the garrison, Constance alongside her patient like the proverbial mother hen that d'Artagnan had fondly labeled her earlier.

As they walked through the streets, d'Artagnan filled them in on what had happened, as the apple vendor had not given them much information, just urging them to go to their brother, of whom he was very fond.

"Where did this dog come from?" Athos asked.

"We don't know," responded d'Artagnan,"but I overheard a bystander saying something about it being Levesque's dog, one he had been trying to tame to make a guard dog for his shop out of it. He also said somebody must have unlocked the pen it was in and let it out."

Porthos, angry now, said, "Why would anyone do that? Let a wild dog out on a busy market morning?"

Athos replied, "We will find out, Porthos. It might have been a defective lock. If it wasn't, we will get to the bottom of this. But right now, we take care of Aramis."

But d'Artagnan wasn't finished with his tale. "He was unconscious for a while after he shot the dog, and he started dreaming." Looking from one to the other of his brother's eyes, he hesitated and then said, "He got very agitated, and it was a struggle to keep him still. He was saying, 'Not again. Wolves!' "

At that, Athos and Porthos looked at each other, worry filling their eyes. They had so hoped that traumatic time had finally been buried, and that Aramis would never be troubled by it again. But it wasn't to be. What were the chances of someone who had been savagely attacked by a wolf in a remote wooded area also being attacked by a raging dog in the heart of Paris? Their hearts became even more somber as they brought their beleagured brother back to the garrison.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As they neared the garrison, Aramis became restless again. "Please, no!" he begged softly. He tried to twist free of Porthos' hold, probably thinking he was tied and helpless like before. He became more desperate in his attempt when he failed the first time. "Please!" he again begged, his voice filled with fear, and his whole body trembling.

His eyes were open now, wide open, and the desperation and panic filling them broke their brothers' hearts to see. They were remembering the time following the wolf attack months earlier. They felt as helpless now as they had been then.

"Aramis, it's Porthos! There are no wolves here, I promise, mon ami." Aramis didn't seem to hear him, though.

Constance had heard the account of what had happened, and there were tears in her eyes now as she witnessed first-hand the trauma it could still cause.

Porthos, with all of his strength, was still having difficulties trying to keep Aramis still in his arms. Athos and d'Artagnan were trying desperately to calm him down, stroking his hair, laying their hands gently on his shoulders, and against the side of his face.

"We drove them away. We will not let them come near again, Aramis," Athos finally tried saying, thinking if telling Aramis there weren't any wolves hadn't worked, maybe trying to tell him they had got rid of them would. It worked. Finally, his frantic movements and pleas gradually calmed down and then stopped.

He was exhausted, his face and hair soaked with sweat. His breathing took a few minutes to slow down closer to normal. Then, his half-open eyes very slowly closed, as he surrendered to sleep once more.

They looked at each other, pain in every one of their faces as they, too, quieted themselves down in the aftermath.

They hadn't even realized they were so close until they saw the garrison gates looming in front of them. Their whole focus had been, still was, on Aramis.

Treville met them inside the gates, having been told what had happened.

"How is he?" he asked, as soon as he saw them.

"Not good, I am afraid," Athos replied. "The attack has brought back the nightmares he had after what he went through from Jean's kidnapping." Treville's face registered shock and dismay when he heard that, as they had told him about that whole incident.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dr. Lemay came shortly afterwards, as Treville had sent a cadet to fetch him as soon as he had been told what had happened.

The good doctor was shocked to be called back to treat Aramis so soon again. "He has to be the unluckiest young man in the world right now," and the others nodded in complete agreement.

Lemay examined the bites, cleaned them again, and got to work stitching them closed. He told them Aramis did have some luck there, as the bite marks came together much more easily than was often the case. He didn't have a lot of difficulty suturing them. Then, he rubbed in some salve and bandaged them.

He told them there was no sign of rabies that he could detect, shocking Aramis' brothers. They had been so busy trying to work through Aramis' nightmares with him that the possibility of rabies just hadn't occurred to them. They all heaved more sighs of relief at this news. He bandaged the wounds, and then stood up.

Holding out a couple of bottles, he said, "He needs to take the one on the left whenever he eats. It is for pain. The other is for help sleeping, just if he needs them. Unfortunately, they will not prevent nightmares, just relax him to enable him to sleep. I do not see any sign of infection so far. I've revised my comments about luck further. He was one lucky young man in a couple of ways, as, although he will be in pain for a while, it could have been far worse, if either the wounds wouldn't close properly or rabies had been present. I will return tomorrow to check on him, unless anything else happens tonight, in which case, please send for me. Good night, gentlemen."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Not long after Lemay left, Aramis began to awaken again. Porthos, who was sitting with him while Athos and d'Artagnan talked to Treville in his office, tensed, ready to restrain him again, if need be. But when Aramis' eyes opened, he saw his brother next to him and gave him a sleepy smile.

"You all right then?" Porthos asked.

Just the tone in which he said it caused a furrow to Aramis' brows, as knowing his brother as well as he did, it told him all wasn't well with Porthos.

"What's wrong, Porthos?" he asked.

Porthos, not wanting to bring the nightmares up, said, "Nothing," but from the look in Aramis' eyes as he searched his brother's face, knew he was going to ask again.

Sighing, he responded, "Your were having nightmares," hoping against hope that his brother would accept his answer and let it be.

"They were that bad?" came another question.

"You're all right now, though," he said.

Aramis knew an evasion when he heard one, and he also knew Porthos.

"Was I talking in the nightmares?" he persisted.

Porthos knew he was going to end up having to tell him, so he quietly said, "The wolves were back in your head, mon ami."

Shocked, Aramis said, "But I haven't even had a thought about that for months!"

"But you hadn't just had anything that would remind you of it,either."

His eyes widening now, Aramis said, "The dog attack," to which Porthos just responded with a sad nod of his head.

"You were trying so hard to get away, I had a hard time holding on to you."

"I'm so sorry, Porthos."

"It's not your fault, Aramis. Jean caused the nightmares, not you or the dog attack."

"I assume Lemay has been here?"

Porthos was asking him something a little different for his sake, so he went along with it. "Lemay said the bites weren't as hard to sew as some bites are, and no sign of rabies or infection. Said you were lucky," his tone clearly telling Aramis that the dog attack itself was anything but lucky.

"God was watching over me," Aramis said softly, sending up a silent little prayer of thanks.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Standing outside the gates of the garrison, a figure with the hood of his cloak pulled tight over his face, said to himself, "That's twice. It's almost too easy."