As always, thank you all who are following, favorite-ing and reviewing. You mean the world to me. Here's chapter 12. I have no idea how long this will get but I mean… There's still a long ride home! :)

Twelve.

Next time Aramis woke up, a few hours later, Athos and Porthos were still sleeping in their beds. D'Artagnan's bed was empty, and Aramis smiled to himself as he guessed their young friend was down in the kitchen with Annette again.

Aramis got himself out of the bed and got dressed in his linens, before walking down towards the stables. There were few things in this world he loved as much as a morning with the horses – the soft sounds of them nibbling their hay, a horse or two sprawled out on it's side sound asleep, some of them whinnying as he entered. Belle did, as always, but this time he was also met by Roger and Zad, and he smiled gently as he walked up to the stallions, scratching their foreheads, before checking them through one at the time, carefully and thoroughly palpitating their entire bodies, feeling for soreness and aches, looking for cuts and swelling. Both of them were stiff and sore in some places, but nothing that worried Aramis – the horses had just been moving a lot, covering great distances at fast speed. Their muscles would be sore, but they would be okay.

He walked over to his own beauty, the black mare bobbing her head as he walked up to her, and as he leaned over the stable door, she lifted her head to lower it onto his shoulder, as she usually did. Her muzzle was leaned against his cheek, and he leaned his head into hers, his hand rising to scratch underneath her chin. She loved that, and Aramis knew it. They could stand like that for what felt like an eternity, and he always made sure every day to give her the affection she deserved.

Aramis pulled up a piece of a carrot that he handed to Belle, still scratching her head. He could see Buttercup coming up behind her as the two of them shared the big stable, and he broke a piece of the carrot to give her as well. In the beginning of reaching Paris, Belle had been so jealous whenever he interacted with other horses, but she had soon grown to understand that he would always chose her when it came down to business. And that was all she needed.

The horses already had clean water in their troughs and hay in piles, and Aramis smiled to himself as he guessed d'Artagnan had seen to the horses before going to the kitchens. You could trust a farm boy to always make sure the animals were cared for. They would take them out later, either for a walk or for heading home to Paris. Decision-making was always up to Athos.

Aramis walked over to the main house, washed his hands, arms and face in the bathroom right inside the doors, before walking over to the kitchens. His intuition had been right as he saw d'Artagnan sweating by the ovens, a happy smile on his face as he was once again making bread. His shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and he had tied his long hair up into a pony by a leather string. He had an apron on, and his hands were white from flour. Annette was in there too, stirring at pots, and she was the first one to notice Aramis.

"Good morning monsieur." She smiled. "How are you this morning? You look cheerful."

"As good as could possibly be, madame."

"Charles told me of your friends return. I'm glad to hear they made it back unharmed."

"So are we all." D'Artagnan smiled as he handed Aramis a piece of bread. "Try this."

Aramis raised an eyebrow as he took the bread from d'Artagnan, who had a great grin on his face, his eyes sparkling. Aramis bit down on the bread, and his eyes lit up.

"Oh, my." Aramis quickly ate the entire piece, even licking his fingers to get all the yummy taste. "D'Artagnan, that is great. Did you make it?"

"Yes. It's just like normal levain, sourdough bread, but then Annette had some lemons so I had a lot of it in the dough… I like the outcome."

"D'Artagnan, this is great. Is there more?"

"I made several loafs of it."

"As a thanks for all Charles have done for me, I will send you off with a big basket of food when you do leave. Several of those loafs will make their way down into the basket." Annette smiled, wiping her hands off on her apron before grabbing onto d'Artagnan's cheek, pulling it slightly. "He's such a good boy to have around, I will miss your company."

D'Artagnan flailed a little, causing flour to fly through the air, and Annette laughed as he let him go, leaving the kitchen to attend to her guests. D'Artagnan's face was bright red as he rubbed his cheek, unconsciously wiping of white flour all over it. Aramis grinned, but remained quiet.

"You two seems to be getting along well." Aramis smiled, as d'Artagnan handed him more bread, complete with different spreads and a big cup of freshly pressed oranges.

"She reminds me a lot of my mother." D'Artagnan smiled quietly.

"You don't talk of her much." Aramis stated. "Is she still living?"

"No." D'Artagnan said, his face growing sullen. "She died of sickness when I was twelve."

"I'm sorry." Aramis said, his hand reaching out to grab onto d'Artagnan's flour-y fingers.

"It's okay, it was a long time ago."

"Time will heal a wound, but it will not remove the scars." Aramis said quietly, meeting d'Artagnan's eyes.

"Those are wise words, my friend." D'Artagnan smiled as he squeezed Aramis' fingers, before pulling them back, to continue with his bread, removing another loaf out of the stone oven before continuing to kneed the loaf he had been working on as Aramis had come down. "Are Athos and Porthos still asleep?"

"No."

Both Aramis and d'Artagnan turned their heads upon hearing a voice they knew, and smiled widely as Athos and Porthos came inside the dining area, sitting down on each side of Aramis. Both of them looked up with questions sprawled across their faces at d'Artagnan in the apron kneading dough by the ovens.

"What's going on here?" Athos asked, looking from d'Artagnan to Aramis.

"Oh, would you believe it, this little sneak has never told us what a good cook he is. Here, try this!" Aramis ranted happily, tearing pieces of his bread to share with his friends. Both of them tried it, and it was easy to tell just how much they enjoyed it as their faces showed of surprise.

"You made this?" Athos asked, as d'Artagnan put his loaf into the oven, smiling happily to Athos. "I didn't know you could cook."

"His mother taught him." Aramis smiled. "He's been helping Annette here while I was sick, giving her all sorts of recipes and ideas."

"Annette?" Porthos huffed, not really keeping up with the conversation, as he looked Aramis in the eye, all while sneaking the bread away from his plate, as he wasn't watching. He stuffed his mouth with it before Aramis had time to react, but he certainly did as he saw his bread disappear.

"Hey!"

"Guys, easy. There is plenty of bread to go around." D'Artagnan grinned, loving that they were all back together, and loving that they all enjoyed his bread so much. While talking he put a loaf in front of them, complete with butter, marmalade and roasted ham. He gave them a bread knife and Athos immediately dug into it. D'Artagnan also placed a big jug of pressed oranges and two more cups by his friends.

"Who's Annette?" Porthos asked again, looking up at d'Artagnan. The younger man swiped his hand in a wide gesture, and all of a sudden a woman appeared on Porthos' free side.

"Let me introduce myself, I am Madame Annette Lavoie, and this is my inn. It's good to see the two of you back and healthy."

"Thank you for looking after our friends." Porthos said immediately, bowing his head. "My name is Porthos."

"Oh, the pleasure has been all mine. Charles have been helping me so much, I'm not sure how I got along before he came here, and I'm not sure how I will get along after you leave. Which I assume will be soon?"

"Not today, but we will leave by morrow." Athos answered as they all turned their heads to their leader, expecting him to answer.

"You will be greatly missed."

"We will make sure to stop by every time the roads brings us your direction. Your hospitality has been everything desired. If you ever find yourself in Paris, be sure to ask for us." D'Artagnan smiled from inside the kitchen, where he had moved to stir the big pots.

Annette smiled shyly, her cheeks turning slightly red as she nodded her promise. She liked these men, they had been good to her, paid her well, helped her a lot, and she had always been in a bit of awe of the Musketeers. Her father had taken her to Paris once when she was a lot younger, and she had seen the men on their black horses with the blue cloaks, and she had been amazed by their stoic presence. Ever since then she had wanted to meet them, but they just never seemed to be coming her way. Therefore, when there were suddenly four of them on her doorstep, one badly injured, she greeted them with open arms. And they had been just as noble as she had dreamt.

"I will make sure of it." Annette smiled. "Now, how are those pots coming along?"

"Ready to serve." D'Artagnan smiled, as Annette rounded the corner into the kitchen, coming up next to him.

The other three men smiled at their youngest as he explained to Annette just how he could tell that the chicken was done, and why it was so important to get chicken completely done before you could eat it. They enjoyed listening in as d'Artagnan was full of ideas for the kitchen and knew a lot about the subject. Athos turned to the two men on his left.

"So, he's been withholding key information. I hope none of you are an expert in something I don't know about?"

"Aramis brags too much to be able to withhold anything." Porthos grinned, earning a glare from Aramis.

"And you mean you don't brag?"

"Never said that did I, ey?"

Athos grinned to himself as he listened to his friends' happy banter, and he was just so glad to have them all back together. It had only been a few days but that didn't matter, any moment away was too long. He hoped it would be a long time coming before they would have to split again.

And he hoped they wouldn't figure out what his expert skill was…

They spent the day enjoying each other's company. Annette had told them about a lake not too far away, and lending them some soap all four men took their horses by their halters and walked down them to the lake. The men washed their horses first, guiding down into the shallow water and scrubbing them with soap, before rinsing them until their coats were shining. Then they turned the soap onto themselves, playing in the cool water, scrubbing their bodies as clean as could be. Annette had good bathing facilities that they had all used by the inn, but there was always something special about cleaning off in a fresh lake.

Athos was pleased to see the bruises fading by d'Artagnan's ribs as the man had taken his sweater off, and even though they were still sore and would be for another week or so at least, the pain was a bearable throb and it was something d'Artagnan could toughen out.

Athos helped with cleaning off Aramis' back, old skin peeling off as new skin was slowly coming on. Aramis had his eyes closed and inhaled deeply at the touch, but didn't complain, and told Athos to continue. It needed to be cleaned, and they would cover it with salve again later. Athos gently washed away all the loose skin with the soap, before rinsing it thoroughly with cold water.

Exhaustion soon taking over, Aramis only had to look at d'Artagnan once before the younger lad had spread out their cloaks in the shade, allowing Aramis to lie down for a rest. Athos and Porthos didn't say anything, but observed with worried eyes as d'Artagnan helped Aramis down, and covered him with his own cloak. Aramis drifted off in seconds, and d'Artagnan made his way back out into the lake to rinse off all the soap from his hair. He dunked his head into the water, rinsing it best as he could. As he stretched back up, he saw the worried eyes of his friends, darting between him and Aramis.

"Aramis is better, but he's not fully recovered. That fever kept him out for days. We took a ride day before yesterday, we just walked for about an hour, and he near fainted on me from exhaustion. I haven't been able to get more food into him than broth and stew as he was out, and not until yesterday did he actually have a proper meal." D'Artagnan explained. "He's as said, a lot better, but the fever took its toll on him and he just appears to run out of energy after a while. It comes on sudden, as just now, and I don't think he can even tell before he just has to lie down."

Athos and Porthos nodded in understanding, before Athos spoke up. "So when we are heading home, we will have to keep an extra eye on him and take a lot of breaks."

"He lasts longer for each day, he just has to gain his strength back. Don't worry." D'Artagnan smiled, tossing the soap that was floating by his legs over to Porthos. The bigger man smiled, and caught the soap, but the slippery bugger jumped out of his hands, and a loud laugh coming from d'Artagnan was soon heard accompanied by a lot of splashing water and Porthos flailing around trying to catch the soap. It was a good sight to be seen.

As Athos attention was on Porthos, with a big smile showing off his teeth, d'Artagnan remembered the bet they all had, and he just couldn't help himself. He found a small log floating close by, and carefully lifting it, he swung it against Athos.

Athos didn't even look away from Porthos as he firmly grabbed onto the log with a big hand, twirling it and knocking d'Artagnan over within the slice of a second, before dropping the log. Athos turned his eyes, stern but gentle to flash d'Artagnan a smile, as the lad spat water out of his mouth. So not today then.

D'Artagnan giggled as he walked over to Buttercup grazing by the lakeside, and he took her by her lead rope, walking back out into the water. The mare followed with gentle steps, and d'Artagnan kept walking with her, past Athos and Porthos, until the water got too deep for him to walk. He held onto Buttercup's long mane as he floated next to her, and she didn't hesitate as she kept going out to the deep end, before the ground disappeared underneath her too, and she happily begun swimming, her ears prickled forward, her long legs working underneath her. D'Artagnan was laughing as he kicked his legs next to her, allowing her to guide him as she swam. This reminded him so much of home, the hot days after working the farmland, he and his friends would take their horses down to the lake down the road, allowing their horses to cool off as they did too. They could spend hours just playing in the cool water.

Looking back towards the beach, he couldn't help but laugh at loud. Athos was on his way out to him, holding onto Roger who was paddling fast with his long legs, Athos barely keeping up, Roger's ears prickled forward as well as he whinnied happily. Belle had laid down to rest next to Aramis, but her head was raised as she was looking towards her friends, wondering what the heck they were doing. Then Porthos and Zad was a completely other story. They were standing in the shallows, Porthos with water up to his knees, and Zad next to him. But as Porthos tried to walk deeper, getting his horse to swim as well, Zad just anchored his feet into the ground, refusing to walk any further. Porthos was begging, bribing and doing everything in his power, but Zad just lowered his head, snorting against the water, then jumping back as water splashed up onto his face.

This movement was repeated over and over, before a hoof came lashing out, slashing the surface, and Porthos had to jump away so Zad wouldn't accidentally hit him. From there, it was like Zad just realized that it wasn't too bad, and he made the biggest buck any of the men had ever seen a horse do. He leapt out of the water, knocking Porthos down in the motion, and then bucked all the way until the water got too deep, and that's where he begun swimming, whinnying loudly to Roger and Buttercup. D'Artagnan and Athos were both very much enjoying the sight of Porthos getting up from lying position, spitting lake water out of his mouth.

"Damn horse!"

Zad's ears were like glued forward as he swam like possessed out to the other, and Athos quickly collected his lead rope, hanging it over his neck to make sure it wouldn't entangle his legs as the horse swam. D'Artagnan was laughing loudly as Porthos huffed up on the beach, annoyed.

"Come on Porthos!" D'Artagnan laughed, but Porthos just shook his head. Instead he sat down in the shallows with his arms crossed over his chest.

The two men soon steered the three horses back towards the shore, and all three horses gave a good shake as they walked back up on the beach. Athos patted Porthos' shoulder as they reached him.

"Next time he will not be as fussy, now when he tried it once." Athos smiled. "You should take a swim anyway, the water is nice."

"Mmm…" Porthos mumbled something, his hand coming to scratch the back of his neck as he met Athos' eyes. "There's just one thing."

"And what is that?" D'Artagnan asked as he walked out of the water to fetch his towel.

"I dunno how to swim."

Both Athos and d'Artagnan turned to look at him, confused expressions drawn on their faces.

"I just… There's no lake in the Court. No one ever showed me. I tried to learn by myself a few times but it never ended well, someone always had to drag me up."

"I can teach you." D'Artagnan smiled. It was not a smile of mockery, he was no way teasing the older man, and Porthos could easily tell. He only wanted to help. Porthos nodded, a shy smile appeared across his face, and that's how they came down to spending the rest of the day teaching Porthos how to swim.