Evening My Lovelies

Can I just take a moment to say that I'm super excited for tomorrow's chapter. Today's wasn't originally going to end the way it did but I had an inspired moment and now I cant wait to write tomorrows :D In fact I would be writing it now if I didn't have to go to bed as I have work in the morning.

Notes On Reviews:

Deana: Thanks for the review - Yeah our guys arent having a good time. Enjoy the new chapter! x

Tidia: Thanks for the review - I'm loving Etienne and Thierry as well, I hated to hurt Thierry but it needed to be done. D'Art's got a long road to recovery. Enjoy the new chapter! x

Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - Haha yeah screw the Cardinal lol :) EVERYBODY'S getting hurt lol... Except for Athos, he's gotten off fairly light so far... And Aramis i suppose nothing's really happened to him yet since they've been back. Enjoy the new chapter! x

A reader (Guest): Thanks for the review - Ahh but now you've said that I'm even more tempted to lol :D I'll try to reign in my evilness but as I said, Thierry's fate is currently undecided, though I'm leaning more towards letting him live I will admit, mainly as I love him too :D I'm glad you liked the Athos image, I loved it too :D Enjoy the new chapter! x

parisindy: Thanks for the review - Glad you liked it. Enjoy the new chapter! x

ploiuiu: Thanks for the review - You'll have to wait to see if he makes it, I havent quite decided yet. Enjoy the new chapter! x

Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - I'm not quite sure what's going on but it's stopped sending me emails when you review which is slightly annoying as you have a habit of reviewing whilst I'm in the middle of writing that nights chapter and it's always really nice to take a quick break to read what you thought of the chapter before, but for the last couple of chapters no email's been coming through :( But your reviews are still showing on here which is all that really matters :) I'm having SOOO much fun writing this story so far and am especially looking forward to writing tomorrows chapter :D Course this is made all the more fun by getting to read the lovely reviews that come in from awesome people such as yourself so thank you for that :) The investigation's going pretty well so far as they have one suspect in custody, know the identities of three others so it's the last one that we haven't addressed yet (i think) That'll probably be something for Athos to hunt down. I was really nervous about Aramis's flash back as I dont know how well I write flirty scenes but seeing as how you clearly understood it was supposed to be flirty I'm gonna take it as a win :) Yep everybody's back to worrying now but Aramis can always spare some time to help out our poor pup :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Issai: Thanks for the review - What good timing you have as I was just about to publish this when I saw your review. I dont know what's going on with the notification emails. I usually get one when I upload a new chapter and I didnt get one for the last chapter either. Sent me in a bit of a panic as I thought I hadnt uploaded it properly. ANYWAYS moving on. I like Thierry too but the evil part of me is like 'Kill him, Kill him' but the nice part of me wants to save him so we'll have to wait and see which side wins. I'm also tempted to kill the Cardinal but at the moment he's still alive... Who knows that may change later on... There's a perfect opportunity coming up in a few chapters for that to happen so we'll see. Haha Glad you liked Athos's reaction to D'Art being in the Captain's office :) Personally I think even Athos was surprised that Aramis made it back without injuries lol. There's plenty more opportunities coming for him to get hurt though so we'll let him off for now. Enjoy the new chapter! x

As always much love and thanks for following/favouriting/reviewing/reading this. You guys are awesome!

Enjoy!

xxx

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Next Morning

The following morning was a tense one for the musketeers, neither the inseparables nor Etienne had moved from their spots in the infirmary.

At some point during the night both D'Artagnan and Aramis had fallen asleep. Aramis fell asleep sitting with his back to the wall and his legs hanging off of the edge of the bed whilst D'Artagnan had somehow managed maneuver himself so that his head was nestle in Aramis's lap and his body was curled as tightly into himself as he could get. It was a rather cute position Treville found the pair in when he arrived first thing the following morning to check on his men.

He would have been tempted to chuckle if it wasn't for the grim situation the occupants of the room found themselves in… and for the fact that Athos was a split second away from yelling and demanding answers from him.

The bags under the musketeer's eyes told Treville that his lieutenant had kept watch throughout the night and the Captain couldn't help but sigh at that. Athos came across as quite a grumpy at the best of times, but make Athos exhausted, worried about an injured brother and even the slightest thing could set him off.

"How are they doing?" Treville asked quietly, not wanting to wake the sleeping musketeers, smiling sadly as he spotted Etienne asleep in a chair by Thierry's bedside, his hand gripping the musketeer's with a fierce strength despite his lack of awareness.

"Improving," Athos said through gritted teeth, "Porthos has shown the occasional sign of waking so I doubt it'll be long… Thierry is still holding on but is very weak…" grimacing he added quietly, "The doctor has told Etienne to prepare himself.

"Almost makes me wish the pair of them didn't kill the group just so I could have the pleasure of doing so," growled Treville, stealing a glance over to Etienne, frowning as he noticed evidence of tears on his face.

"You do have one in custody," remarked Athos coldly, his sense of honor being overruled by the need and desire to see some justice done to the men who caused this with his own eyes.

"The King would be forced to strip me of my commission if he could out I did that," answered Treville, sounding slightly put out at missing the opportunity. "And with the Cardinal how he is it's something he can scarcely afford to do."

"How is our good friend the Cardinal?" Asked Athos, honestly not bothered either way as to whether the man lived given all the trouble he had caused them in the past. "The King did not take the news of his injury well I'm guessing?"

Treville grimaced as he nodded, remembering the encounter with the King the night before.

FLASH BACK

Treville had made his way to the palace as soon as the chance to do so presented itself. The sight that greeted him was a very distraught and clearly panicked King Louis.

"There you are Treville!" snapped the royal as he stormed over to the now wide-eyed Captain. "I expected you here as soon as you received the news!"

"Apologies Your Majesty," Treville said calmly, bowing to the King as he spoke. "Urgent matters arose which prevented my leaving sooner, I trust no incidents like that of the Cardinal have been attempted upon yourself or the Queen?"

Louis scoffed, glaring at the Captain as he spoke, "The Cardinal's life is in danger. My city is under threat from members of a radical group and you still considered the petty matters of the regiment to be more important? Tell me Treville just what was so urgent you did not drop it immediately to see to your King?"

Treville had to grit his teeth as he listened to the King's words, had to bite back a growl as he described nearly losing two good men as 'petty'. Swallowing his anger Treville stared coldly at the monarch, who in his fretting had not noticed the fury he had ignited in the man.

"I was about to leave when two of my men were rushed into the garrison near death," he retorted coldly as Louis stood there shocked and Queen Anne's hand rushed up to cover her mouth

"How are they?" Anne asked, placing a gentle hand on Treville's arm for comfort as she spoke.

Treville nodded gratefully before explaining to the royal couple the events that led to his delay.

"Is this related to the attack on the Cardinal?" Louis asked, sounding worried.

Treville shook his head, "I don't think so but I can't be sure until Porthos wakes up to confirm my suspicions."

Both Louis and Anne nodded at this, accepting this was the best they could hope for given the circumstanced.

"What do we do now then?" Louis asked despondently, sinking into the nearest chair as he whined.

"With your permission Your Majesty," Treville said, his voice calm. "I would like to put the palace on lockdown. Nobody enters without express permission from someone like yourself and nobody leaves, also without express permission and a guard."

The royals nodded and the discussion quickly turned to how to implement the lockdown and the progress the Captain had made to root out those responsible for the attacks.

END FLASH BACK

Athos was prevented from responding to Treville's explanation by the groggy murmurs that emerged from Aramis as the medic slowly woke. It took several moments for the marksman to remember what happened the night before and why he had fallen asleep in such a painful position but when he did it took all his restraint not to fling D'Artagnan, who was still sleeping on him, off of his lap and rush to his brother's side.

"Porthos?" Aramis asked having spotted Athos's strained half-smile, his voice was tense and fearful as he waited for news.

"No infection and judging by his occasional movements waking soon." Athos replied gently, his smile becoming less strained as he saw the relief flood into his brother.

"Aramis," Treville called, diverting the musketeer's attention away from the still unconscious man on the bed. "The woman you, Etienne and the others brought back yesterday, did she tell you anything regarding what they are planning?"

Aramis frowned, "She admitted to planning to poison the brothel's ale and wine kegs. That alone would kill many people and no-one would suspect one of the working girls and she could just move on to another brothel and do the same there."

Treville cursed at the news but was grateful that his men had gotten there in time to prevent such an act from taking place. "Anything else?" he asked, not entirely sure if he wanted there to be more or not.

"Not that she said…"

"But?" Athos asked, knowing Aramis would not sound so uncertain if he was not suspicious of something.

"She was way too smug," the medic explained, running a hand over his face to try to dispel the last vestiges of sleep from his body, "She didn't put up any resistance to being captured and had this look about her that said there's a lot more going on then we know."

Treville sighed wearily, "I feared as much."

He didn't get the chance to comment further as a small distressed whine caught their attention.

"He almost made it a full night," sighed Athos sadly as he moved to kneel down in front of the sleeping D'Artagnan.

Treville frowned at his words but didn't comment, knowing that now was not the time to do so.

"If it helps," Aramis said, his smile forced, "It's technically morning now."

When another whimper, louder this time, came from D'Artagnan Aramis bent his head down to whisper to the boy words of comfort and to try to wake him.

Unfortunately for both parties he chose the worst time to do so as it was the exact moment that D'Artagnan startled awake from the nightmare, his head rising sharply in response and colliding hard with Aramis's nose.

"OW!" both men swore, Aramis gripping his nose and D'Artagnan rubbing the back of his head.

"'Mis I'm so sorry!" D'Artagnan apologized, seemingly horrified at what he had done as soon as his scared mind realized he had hurt his brother.

"It's his own fault whelp," responded a highly amused but clearly tired voice.

"PORTHOS!" the three inseparables exclaimed, all things forgotten as they raced to their brother's bedside.

"You stupid fool!" scolded Aramis, tears building in his eyes as he gripped Porthos's uninjured hand tightly in his own before going off on a rant about the musketeer's recklessness.

"Sorry 'Mis," Porthos said quietly, squeezing his brother's hand. He knew that all the harsh words the sharpshooter was saying were said only out of worry for him. Aramis had always been the worrier of the group and his worry quickly turned to anger when the cause of said worry was no longer in danger. Honestly he suspected the only reason D'Artagnan hadn't received an earful was because of the tenuous condition of the boy's health when they were rescued.

"You bloody better be!" exclaimed the medic sternly, "Do. Not. Do. That. To. Me. Again!"

Unable to promise his brother such a thing and knowing the man understood as such Porthos merely squeezed his hand and offered him a tired smile.

Noticing that Porthos's gaze had landed on the still unconscious and alarmingly pale form of Thierry, Athos was quick to fill him in on all they knew of the man's condition… As well as his chances of survival.

"It's all my fault," said the musketeer quietly, "They were after me. Thierry just got caught in the crossfire."

"How do you know they were after you?" Treville asked, coming to sit by the man's bedside.

"They… One of them had a medallion on him, I recognized it. That's how I knew."

"This?" Treville asked, producing a small medallion from his jacket.

"Where did you?"

"You left one of the men alive, if badly hurt. He's currently in our holding cells as we speak."

Porthos nodded, "There something Charon gave out to his top men, I remembered seeing them when I was taken to the Court several months ago. This was revenge for what happened there, not an attack on anyone else but me."

Aramis looked down right horrified at the information, knowing it was his shot that had ended Charon's life. Not that anyone in the Court saw it that way. Those that blamed, blamed Porthos for bringing musketeer attention into their home.

Porthos saw this and squeezed his hand again. He did not blame Aramis for what happened, the court was part of his past now and despite the occasional need to relive it, he was more focused on the brothers he had now.

Over the next several minutes the men slipped into discussion regarding what needed to happen now and sharing ideas as to what Ortiz and his group's master plan was. After all the documents suggested an attack on the King, Cardinal and Captain of the Musketeers and only one of them had happened so far and the man, whilst weak and very sore, would survive.

"Hopefully my next meeting will bring us some answers," sighed Treville as he rose from his chair.

"What meeting?" Athos asked, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

"With the crazy Spaniard,"

"I wouldn't say Aramis was crazy per say," grinned Porthos as he noted the look on Aramis's face.

"Not most of the time anyway," D'Artagnan finished with a small cheeky grin.

"He's also not the Spaniard I was talking about," smiled Treville. "With everything that's happened the King is allowing me to interrogate Ortiz," he frowned when all four men tensed at the name and D'Artagnan noticeably flinched. "Hopefully I can get something out of him that the red guards could not."

Athos nodded, reaching for his blade that laid gleaming on the table from where he had spent the night sharpening and polishing it whilst watching over his injured brother. "You should not go alone."

Knowing there would be no convincing him otherwise Treville nodded and the pair left the room.

INTERROGATION ROOM

It took all of Athos's strength not to throttle Ortiz the moment he saw him, especially given the haunted look that seemed to have taken up residence in D'Artagnan's eyes that only grew with each nightmare he suffered.

"Can you handle this Athos?" Treville asked quietly so the grinning Spaniard wouldn't hear.

Athos said nothing, his heated glare still on Ortiz's smug face, though he did grace the Captain with a sharp nod, letting him know that he wouldn't do anything foolish and ruin the interrogation.

"Why don't I save you all the trouble," smirked Ortiz as he blew a stray portion of hair away from his eyes, "I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"And why would you do that?" Treville asked, not trusting the man who had resisted every form of questioning the red guards tried.

"Because," stated Ortiz, his tone not unlike one someone would use when explaining something to a child and if anything the man's smirk grew with each word he spoke. "You're going to agree to a term of mine."

Athos scoffed but allowed Treville to continue.

"And that would be?"

"As I said, I will tell you everything you want to know… BUT I will tell it to Charles and Charles alone."