Evening My Lovelies :)
Hope everyone's day went well and that you're all looking forward to a new chapter :)
Notes On Reviews:
Deana: Thanks for the review - I was tempted to have it be Athos, especially as everyone seemed to think it would be him but Porthos was the least injured hence him waking up first. Enjoy the new chapter! x
watlocked: Thanks for the review - I love the idea of D'Artagnan getting chastised by Louis so that's definitely happening :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
pain in the mikta: Thanks for the review - Louis was very nearly his usual annoying self but I figured we'd let him be a bit more mature (a tiny bit) Angsty-meter might move a bit more today. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - We're getting to the documents... slowly but we're getting there. Glad you enjoyed D'Artagnan's outburst bit. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Tidia: Thanks for the review - Glad you liked it, we're slowly getting to the documents. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Issai: Thanks for the review - Louis was going to be his stupid self but figured given the situation that we'd let him be a tiny bit more mature. I'm hoping you'll like what I have planned for Ortiz it'll be a little bit till we get there but hopefully it'll be worth it :) Glad you're loving the story so far. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Helensg: Thanks for the review - I'm slightly worried that I'm forgetting injuries with our boys as I've whumped them that much lol Enjoy the new chapter! x
Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - I was tempted to have it be Athos just because it was everyone was expecting it to be him.. then I figured why not throw a curveball (in a sense) and so Porthos :D Glad you liked the outburst scene, Porthos was quite cute yesterday so I'm glad you like it :) We have a small snuggly(ish) moment today :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
A reader (Guest): Thanks for the review - Gotta love sleepy musketeers :) almost as cute as snuggly musketeers :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Cookies and cream cakes for you lovely people following/favouriting/reviewing/reading this story, Love you all!
Enjoy!
xxx
Chapter Twenty-Seven: In The Infirmary
Shortly after Treville had left to go and inform the King of the perceived threat against him, both Athos and Porthos's bodies could hold out no longer and both felt themselves being dragged back into the abyss of sleep.
It wasn't too much later that Aramis awoke, feeling quite sick and had it not have been for the sharp reflexes of the person tending to him, he would have emptied his barely full stomach all over the infirmary floor instead of into the bucket that was quickly thrusted under his chin.
"Easy Aramis," the voice soothed, a hand coming to stroke the sharpshooter's hair as the man dry heaved into the bucket.
"Et...Etienne?" croaked Aramis, his voice feeling rough and raw after his ordeal. Upon hearing the scratchiness of his voice Etienne was quick to help the man drink a small cup of water.
"You're in the garrison infirmary," Etienne informed him, a frown on his face as he took note of the gleam of sweat covering the Spaniard's face as well as the fever-pink tinge to the man's cheeks. Sighing he added, "I must apologize my friend."
Shifting slowly back onto his front so the strain was off of his back, Aramis looked curiously at the guilt stricken musketeer before him. "...For what?" he coughed, truly not understanding what the man had to apologize for; they had found them, rescued them and brought them back home, what could he possibly have done to feel the need to seek forgiveness?
"I..." stammered the musketeer, in his heart knowing that Aramis was likely to forgive him but still wary of the man's reaction all the same. Taking a deep breath to steady himself he continued, the words flying out of him the second he opened his mouth. "I completely forgot about your shoulder wound... With everything else that happened and with all your other injuries I left it alone. It had been tended to so I let myself forget about it and now it's infected and you're suffering because of my mistake." Finishing his guilt-prompted rant the musketeer let his head fall to his chest as he awaited the medic's reaction.
Etienne's head shot up as he felt the weak pat of a hand on his head.
"Not your fault" Aramis said as strongly as he could, "Fever aint gonna kill me" he added with a smirk... or at least a weak attempt at one.
Etienne smiled, blinking back tears before he stated that he should leave the man to rest as he moved to leave the room.
As soon as he was sure that Etienne had indeed left Aramis began the painstaking task of moving to sit up. Several times during his endeavor he was forced to bite back a scream as the pain in his leg or his back intensified.
By the time he was sitting up, the gleam of sweat that had been coating his skin had now increased and he was forced to take a moment to allow the dizzy spell being upright had caused to subside.
"What the hell do you think you're doing 'Mis?" scolded a voice, startling the medic from where all his focus had been on getting his legs over the side of the bed without jarring the broken one too much that he passed out.
"Checking on D'Art," defended Aramis as he attempted to stand, a small cry of pain tearing from his throat as he failed to do so and fell back onto the bed.
"Look the doc's bound to be back soon, just rest till 'e gets 'ere then you can nag him till your hearts content" pleaded Porthos weakly, hating hearing his brother in pain.
Unfortunately for the larger man Aramis was determined to go ahead with his plan. In his eyes the marksman had been denied the chance to properly check over the boy at every chance he got.
The first chance he had had the room the boy had been in had been too dimly lit to truly see properly and they had very little time to work in.
The second chance had come when the four of them were reunited again, but he couldn't check there as the boy was in too much pain to move from Porthos's side and he himself lacked the ability to get closer to him.
The other chances had emerged once they had been rescued but even then, the opportunity to tend to his brother had been denied him... Now that he was separated from the boy by only a couple of beds he was not going to pass up the opportunity... Injuries be damned!
Porthos watched silently as his friend once again tried to stand, only this time he managed it. Sure he was shaking like a leaf in a storm but he was vertical. The larger musketeer understood the desire his brother had, seeing the boy in such pain had broken all of their hearts and to listen to him scream for them whilst they were unable to reach him was too much.
He knew from his brief discussion with the Captain earlier that D'Artagnan's outburst had done him more harm than good as he had managed to re-open a lot of his wounds and had jarred his hand enough that each of the broken bones in his hand had to be re-set. Hell it had taken hours apparently for the doctor to finish repairing as much of the damage as he could afterwards.
His focus on remembering what Treville told him was interrupted by a whimper from the bed next to him.
"D'Artagnan…" called the larger man softly, absolutely hating the way his brother's face had screwed up in pain.
"I've got him," Aramis announced determinedly before trying to make his way over to the boy. His progress was severely slowed by the damage to his leg and even though he tried to hide it, his pain was clear for Porthos to see.
Thankfully being in the infirmary meant that there were a fair amount of things in the room that Aramis was able to lean on whilst trying to walk. Distantly he could hear Porthos trying to wake D'Artagnan as the boy's nightmare continued to trouble him, but from the sound of his brother's pleading, he wasn't having much luck.
Having somehow managed to reach the end of D'Artagnan's bed, something the medic wasn't sure he could explain, Aramis was now staring a bit apprehensively at the distance between him and his sleeping brother. The marksman's energy, which was practically non-existent from the start, was now almost completely gone. He honestly didn't know if he had it in him to take another step let alone get back to his bed later.
"Aramis?" called a groggy voice, startling the medic who was lost in his contemplation.
"What are you doing?" the voice asked again, his tone a mix of weariness, exasperation, amusement and concern.
"He's trying to check on the whelp." Porthos offered helpfully, fully enjoying Aramis's apparent embarrassment at being caught by their brother.
"Traitor!" pouted Aramis, leaning heavily against the side of D'Artagnan's bed.
"It's pretty obvious 'Mis," laughed Porthos, though his eyes betrayed his worry for the flagging marksman.
"I trust you warned him against this?" enquired Athos dryly, wincing as he tried to move and felt the tightness of his burns.
Porthos sent his brother a sympathetic look before adding, "Yeah, but it's 'Mis." To which Athos simply nodded tiredly before his fever pulled him back under.
By this point Aramis had decided his legs weren't going to continue to hold his weight much longer and had gently slid down so he was sitting on the floor, shuffling slightly so he could grab his little brother's hand in his own.
Both Porthos and Aramis noticed that their banter seemed to be helping D'Artagnan with his nightmare so the pair pushed aside their overwhelming desire to sleep and kept up a tirade of banter about absolutely nothing until the stress that Aramis had placed his body under by forcing himself to move caught up with him and he dozed off mid conversation.
"You gotta fight whelp," whispered Porthos, his voice quiet but thick with emotion as he looked pleadingly at the sleeping boy covered in bandages and bundled under a mountain of blankets. "You aint alone so don't you dare leave us." He ordered, though it came out almost beseeching.
Grunting as he was pulled on his many injuries Porthos then proceeded to gently throw one of his blankets over the sleeping form of Aramis who was now gripping D'Artagnan's unbroken hand tightly in his own with his head nestled against the boy's hip.
Once satisfied that his brother was as comfy as he could make him given his injuries Porthos allowed himself to close his eyes and rest, slightly annoyed at how tired his body felt given his injuries in comparison to his brothers, though he supposed the annoying infection in his wrist had some part to play in that.
Arriving back to the garrison hours later Treville was exhausted, he had been forced to wait while the King dined with some noble and his wife for over an hour before he could even get an audience with the young royal and then when he did, the monarch had nearly had a panic attack over the insinuation of a threat to his life – barely even registering the other numerous lives that were at risk should whatever plan Ortiz had in the works be set in motion.
By the time he had managed to reassure the King enough to leave, having explained that getting the information from D'Artagnan would be their best lead in uncovering the other perpetrators behind the plot, therefor foiling it before it could truly begin, that he had been dismissed and allowed to leave.
His body was crying out for a warm meal and some rest but he refused to indulge in them until he had performed one last check on his men.
It was worrying him much more then he would ever feel comfortable admitting out loud that D'Artagnan still remained asleep. Even Athos who had a terrible fever had been conscious several times briefly, whereas D'Artagnan seemed determined to remain unconscious.
Walking into the infirmary Treville nearly had a heart attack when he noticed Aramis's bed empty. He was all but ready to go and send a search party for the man when he noticed a peculiar lump nestled down by D'Artagnan's bed.
"Heaven's above Aramis" moaned Treville quietly as he spotted a head of familiar hair just popping out from the blanket covering the man. Honestly he was expecting this at some point but he had hoped the man had enough foresight not to try it just after his leg was broken.
"He… Wanted to check on D'Artagnan," croaked Athos tiredly, followed quickly by several grunts and winces of pain as the man tried to sit up.
"I trust the pair of you warned him against it?" Treville asked, unknowingly mimicking Athos's own words hours earlier, as he helped his lieutenant to sit up and drink a cup of water laced with a draught for the pain and fever.
Smirking as he realized his Captain's exasperated tone of voice Athos confirmed that they had tried but that it was Aramis they were discussing.
The pair started a quiet discussion for several minutes until Treville noticed the medicine starting to take effect, at which point he helped Athos lay back down on his front and the man was asleep before his head had even touched the pillow.
Sighing he then made his way over to where Aramis was lying, fully intent on carrying the man back to his bed when a voice he had been dying to hear finally spoke up.
"…L…Leave him…" D'Artagnan whispered weakly, his whole voice sounding frail, scared and weak, all things Treville had not come to associate with the boy. Turning to face him he was surprised by the vulnerable, pleading look in the boy's eyes as he asked, "…Please?" while trying vainly to increase his grip on his brother's hand.
Remembering then what he had been told of D'Artagnan's outburst earlier when his fever had convinced him that his brothers were dead Treville didn't have the heart to move the man away from the young boy clinging to him as a lifeline… He knew he made the right call when D'Artagnan visibly sagged in relief when he nodded his acceptance that he would not move the marksman.
"We need to talk D'Artagnan" Treville said softly, hating himself when he saw the boy's eyes fill with fear, guilt and shame and his whole body tensed.
"…m'sorry Cap'in" slurred the boy tiredly, "…Messed up… didn't mean… them… hu't…"
"Easy D'Artagnan," Treville implored worriedly as he saw the boy about to have a panic attack. "I don't blame you for anything that happened. I know you didn't mean for anyone to get hurt." he soothed softly, barley resisting the urge to stroke the boy's hair in an effort to comfort him. "I just need to know about the documents you hid."