The In-between

Disclaimer: Musketeer are not mine, sadly. Belong to BBC and Dumas.

A/N: Third story, came to me when again thinking of the last episode of season 1
'Musketeers Don't Die Easily'
Some look at what might have been going on with and around our foursome during
their 'play-acting' assuming the whole regiment wasn't in the ploy.
Hope you enjoy-Montez

Upon their return from the convent and the several meetings between Captain Treville and the Inseparables tension seem to be running high between the five men, especially D'Artagnan and Athos. It had surprised many how quickly the older man had taken to the boy, but there seemed to be strange undercurrent between the two as of late and no one seemed to know why.

"It's Athos, he's taken a woman hostage, he's threatened to kill her." Porthos words as he ran into the garrison had Arimas and D'Artagnan rushing out the gate behind him.

Treville had been on the balcony and came running down the stairs, "Sir!" a couple men in the yard who'd been sparing had heard Porthos and moved toward their Captain.

"Stay here, we'll handle it!" Treville shouted as he followed his men.

"Did Porthos say Athos had taken a woman hostage?" one of the men asked the other dumbfounded. They all knew Athos to be among the most accomplished and honorable men among their ranks, surely they had heard wrong.

Nearly thirty minutes later the men observed an obviously drunk or injured Athos being led into the garrison by Arimas and Porthos, Treville right behind, "Take him to my office, we need to figure out what the hell just happened!" the Captain ordered, the three men making their way up the stairs.

Treville stopped in the middle of the yard, running his hand over his face before turning to the few musketeers still in the yard. "No one but musketeers are allowed in the yard tonight, do you understand? No one!" This was going to be handled inhouse and Treville didn't need any outside interference from any Red Guard who might get wind of what was going on.

"Sir, where's D'Artagnan?"

"He's none of your concern, right now his loyalty to this regiment is in question, so no one, not even D'Artagnan is allowed in tonight." Treville knew the boy wouldn't be anywhere near the garrison, they had allowed that woman to take the injured man with her. The Captain knew by morning most of his men will have heard about the altercation and that Athos had inadvertently shot the younger man.

"CAPTAIN! WE NEED YOU UP HERE!" Porthos loud voice boomed across the yard, Treville took off up the stairs leaving his men in the yard just as concerned and confused as before.

"What happened?" Treville asked as he reached the top of the stairs.

"He got sick and passed out…" The two men stepped into the Captain's office to see Arimas leaning over an unconscious Athos on the floor.

"Arimas?" the Captain knelt on the other side.

"Between the drink, the adrenaline, and the shock that D'Artagnan lost consciousness…" Arimas looked up, "We need to get him off the floor, he may be out a few minutes or the rest of the night, I'm not sure."

"On my bed, we need to keep an eye on him." Treville helped his two men move their third to his cot in the corner. Running his hand over his face again, he took a couple steps away then turned back, "What the hell happened? The shot was supposed to hit his arm, not his side…Arimas were you able to get a look before we left him there?"

The Medic had just finished positioning Athos on his side incase he got sick again before moving to stand next to his best friend and his Captain, "It looked like the ball just grazed his side, it was the shock of the wound that caused him to lose consciousness. Let's just hope that woman is as invested in him as we think and that she has him looked at."

"You've got someone watching them, right? Someone who won't be seen?" Treville turned to Porthos.

"They won't be seen, and they'll get word to me by morning as to where they're staying." Porthos replied.

"Okay." Treville moved toward his desk, Arimas moved a chair near the cot containing Athos, Porthos went to look out the window.

"Are we doing the right thing? This is becoming more complicated than we expected." Arimas asked quietly, his fingers moving some of the sweaty curls from Athos's forehead, "He's not going to take his messed up shot well."

"I plan on visiting D'Artagnan in the morning as soon as we know where they are, if there seems to be anything wrong we'll scrap the whole thing and get the boy out of there. Until then we need to stick to the plan as best we can or this whole ordeal will be for nothing." The Captain said quietly.

"The rest of the regiment?" Porthos asked, "What are we supposed to tell them?"

"The men tonight only know that D'Artagnan's 'loyalty' is in question, we'll leave it at that for now." The room fell silent as they contemplated just how much more messed up things could get.

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"Is he dead?" Athos's quiet voice broke the silence of the Captain's office. The sky outside just beginning to hint at the dawn to come.

The three men in the room had been contemplating the events of the night and what their next steps were to be. Porthos's informant had managed to get a message to the large man. "No, by all accounts she sent for a doctor, things appeared alright for now."

Arthos moved to sit up, "we never…I never should…"

"He knew what could happen and this seemed to be the only plan that might have any chance of catching both Milady and the Cardinal." Treville interrupted his Lieutenant.

"HE DIDN'T KNOW I'D NEARLY KILL HIM!" Athos stood, shouting. Arimas stood at the same time, Porthos moving closer, blocking their friend from reaching the Captain's desk. "I Should have just shot her, God what have I done…all because I was a damn coward…"

Treville rounded the desk to stand in front of Athos. "Listen to me…" Treville started then grabbed the younger man's arm to face him, "You are not, nor ever been a coward. You were grieving your brother, devastated by that woman's betrayal and the burden you carried to uphold the law on your lands. I don't know of any man who could have stood and watched the person they loved the way you loved her die. None of what happened or has happened because of her is your fault. D'Artagnan knew the potential risk of this. I will be leaving shortly after dawn to set the next stage of this operation; he should come to the garrison by mid-day and we'll reevaluate everything then." Treville gave Athos a small shake, "Do you understand?"

Athos didn't like feeling vulnerable and that's exactly how he was feeling now. Treville knew more about his past than his brother's, had known the impact of that woman's betrayal and the effect it had on him. Treville had spent months looking for Athos after he dropped from sight following the events in Pinon. A quick nod was the quiet man's reply. "Good, now I need you two to take him and get him cleaned up. Like I said if anything appears off when I visit we will pull him, but we need to see this through as far as we can."

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It was just after noon when D'Artagnan made his appearance, "You're not dead." Athos's tone gave nothing away as to his relief of seeing the boy with his own two eye's, regardless of what Treville had told them after his visit.

"You're not drunk" D'Artagnan replied. A few of the musketeers who were in the yard had stopped what they were doing, subconsciously moving closer to their Lieutenant, especially since the 'loyalty' comment had filtered through the rank and file. "I'm still a Musketeer, no matter what you might want."

Treville had stepped out on the balcony upon hearing the boy's voice, he quickly took in the tension from the other men in the yard and knew they had to play this as careful as possible, not only did they need to worry about what Milady and the Cardinal might attempt, the Captain had a fine line to walk to keep his men in line with regards to D'Artagnan. "My office, now!" Treville ordered.

Once the door was closed the tension nearly vanished as relief crossed everyone's face that not only did it appear their youngest was no worse for wear, especially when Athos comment about just how much he'd needed to drink to actually go through with pulling the trigger, though they all could still see the haunted expression in his eyes. A quick hug was shared before what had transpired between D'Artagnan and Milady was discussed.

Once it seemed the plan was indeed on track the boy threw a potential wrench into the whole thing, "She wants me to kill you."

"She what?" Porthos was the first to find his voice.

D'Artagnan looked nervous, stepping away from his friends. The throwaway comment he had made all those months ago when he was still grieving and looking for a fight, looking for revenge, he had never told them about it, "I…When we first met and I saw the scar on her neck, I…"

"You what?" Athos asked.

"I may have promised her I would kill the man who gave them to her." The younger man turned looking at his mentor, "I never gave it another thought, that was before, when everything was still a mess. I never realized."

"That's not an option, this is pushing things too much." Arimas commented, looking between both men.

"How do you purpose we do this?" Athos asked quietly, waiting for the explosion he knew was coming.

"What the hell?"

"You can't be serious!"

"How else are we going to stop her? this needs to end, if this is the only way", Athos responded moving to look out the window.

"Athos, this is getting too dangerous, maybe we can think of a…" Treville started.

"Think of what? Another plan? She's too smart to fall for anything else if we pull out now. I've already lost one brother and injured another because of her." Athos turned, motioning toward D'Artagnan. "This is happening because of me, if I had followed through all those years ago none of this would be happening."

"Athos." Arimas moved closer to the older man.

"No," Athos held up his hand, 'If she wants him to kill me to prove himself, then he'll kill me."

D'Artagnan paled, "I can't," he whispered, "Athos, you can't expect me to do something like that, I won't."

"It's just another plan, we'll have to figure out the when and where, it needs to look real." Athos looked at the other men in the room, "I'll have to disappear for a time, everyone will need to believe that I'm dead."

Treville was leaning against his desk, deep in thought. "If we can figure out a believable ruse."

"Captain, you can't be serious?" Porthos rounded on the older man.

"It would have to be public, leaving no doubt." Treville continued.

"You are serious?" Arimas looked between his Captain and Lieutenant. "You both are serious about this."

"Can you think of another way?" Athos moved closer to his brothers.

D'Artagnan had moved back, leaning against the wall near the door, his head tilted back, not believing they were actually entertaining this whole crazy idea. "A duel?" He said quietly.

"What?" Arimas turned to their youngest.

"A duel." D'Artagnan's voice became a little stronger, his eyes meeting Athos's as he moved back toward the Captain's desk. "I promised her I would kill the man who gave her those scars, I now know who it is. I can play off my anger from you shooting me, then leaving me in the street with her, you all effectively turning your back on me. My temper is known, you're always saying I don't always think before I act." Glancing at Treville than back to Athos he continued, "I'll challenge you to a duel for what you've done to me and her, on the edge of the market where there will be witnesses, but not enough people where anyone else can be hurt.

"Oh my God, you all are really serious about this!" Arimas couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It could work." Porthos was the next to comment, Arimas turned to his best friend in shock.

"You too? Am I the only one to see just how messed up and dangerous this is?" Arimas threw his arms in the air before putting them on his hips.

"Just wait a second," Porthos looked at each of his friends before looking at Athos, "in the heat of the moment, you both draw on each other, only D'Artagnan won't have a ball in his weapon, but we all know how a body reacts to a shot, Athos would just have to make it look believable. We get some pigs blood, before anyone else realizes it we get it spread on you…it just might work."

Arimas had started pacing as the other's seemed to be forming an insane plan. Admittedly he could see the logic in the plan, it could actually work if they played it right. The other men started talking logistics when something occurred to the Medic that the other's obviously hadn't thought about, "Gentleman?" Arimas turned, getting his friends attention. "There is just one little problem with this whole thing that is being overlooked."

It took a second, but Treville was the first to realize what Arimas was alluding to.

"What's that?" Porthos asked.

"If we go through with this and D'Artagnan 'kills' Athos, exactly how are we going to keep the entire regiment from hunting him down and taking matters into their own hands?" Arimas continued. "Think about it, it's what we would all do if one of our own was gunned down in the street."

"You'd have to go into hiding, stay close to Milady and try to get in with the Cardinal." Treville looked at the younger man.

"I can do that." D'Artagnan nodded.

"I'll also assemble everyone afterward, let it be known no one is to go after you, that I'd have to take the issue up with the King before anything could be done. The threat to their commission should be enough to keep the men in line, but you'd still have to stay out of sight until this is played out." Treville finished.

"We need to do this soon. Tomorrow about mid-morning, that gives us time to get what we need together." Athos said, "We need to orchestrate an argument as you leave today, for the men in the yard to believe what is going on incase word gets out about this meeting."

The tension in the room returned, the next few days was going to be the most dangerous with regards to their plan, but a course had been set and they all knew in order to keep the Queen, Athos, and even D'Artagnan safe it had to play out. Just as everyone was getting ready to leave Athos walked up to D'Artagnan, putting his hands on the younger man's shoulders, "I am sorry you have been pulled into the middle of all this, I cannot believe I have allowed another brother to be put in danger because of her. I can only ask that when this is all over that you can forgive me."

"There is nothing to forgive, we'll finish this and afterwards you can buy me a drink." D'Artagnan gave a nervous smile.

Athos pulled the boy's head toward him, touching foreheads, "I believe when this is over I will be cutting back considerable on my own drinking." His voice dropped to just above a whisper, "please, please be safe, do not underestimate her, I cannot lose another brother." The older man's voice choked slightly, as he placed a kiss on the younger man's head.

A few moments passed before Treville spoke, "Ok let's get this over with."

Nodding toward his friends D'Artagnan moved toward the door, jerking it open, "THIS ISN'T OVER!" He yelled exiting the Captain's office.

"What I told you will hold, now I want you out of the garrison!" Treville said back to the furious young man.

"Just because Athos wants something doesn't make it so, he's a coward, what kind of man threatens a woman?" D'Artagnan made to step back toward the office as Athos exited.

Porthos moved between them, "That's enough, you need to leave!" giving the boy a shove toward the stairs.

D'Artagnan quickly made his way down the stairs, "This isn't over Athos, you better just watch your back, I'm not some hot-headed farm boy anymore, I've learned from the best!"

"GET OUT OF MY GARRISON NOW!" Treville yelled, having noticed that all the men in the yard were watching and a few seemed ready to fight.

D'Artagnan made his way quickly across the yard toward the gate also noting the men around him, throwing one last comment back before disappearing under the archway, "Be seeing you around!"

Tension filled the air as silence settled over the yard, a few men looking up toward the Captain and the Inseparables, a few others appearing to move toward the gate, "Stand down!" Treville shouted across the garrison. Everyone watched as Athos, Arimas, and Porthos made their way down the stairs toward the stables.

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"CAPTAIN!" Arimas yelled as he jumped from the cart that had just entered the garrison, "Get him to the infirmary now!" The medic shouted as several men came forward helping Porthos with their injured comrade.

"What happened?" The older man shouted running down the stairs.

"It's Athos," Arimas replied, following the men through the doorway.

"How bad?" the Captain asked, his heart dropping at the shake of the younger man's head.

Treville was stopped by the amount of blood on his Lieutenants doublet. In reality he knew what was going on, what to expect, or at least he thought he did. He just never realized how real this was going to look. "Everyone out!" the Captain shouted as Arimas and Porthos situated Athos on the exam table.

"I need this off my hands." Porthos stated, his voice shaking slightly, as were his hands.

"We're alone now, just don't move in case there is anyone watching through the window." Arimas said softly, touching Athos's shoulder, before quickly moving around the room, pulling supplies like he was going to attempt treating Athos.

"Was he alright?" Athos asked quietly, his eye's watching Arimas as the medic worked quickly to remove the bloody jacket.

"I believe so, I don't think he realized how much blood we were going to use, for just a moment he seemed to hesitate." Arimas replied, putting hands on the edge of the table.

"We need to wait a bit before we can sneak you out the back." Treville added, keeping his back to the window.

"The men in the yard need to believe this. Porthos…" Athos called to his brother.

The larger man made his way to the table, Athos could see that this was waying on his friends more than they thought it would, "Just a little while longer and this will be over."

Porthos put his head down on his friend's shoulder, "the sooner the better, feels to damn real." Looking up he met blue-green eyes, giving Athos a sad smile before looking at Arimas and Treville, "Time to sale the reality." The larger man turned, letting out a near-primal yell before flipping a nearby table.

The men in the yard had been quiet, those that had helped carry Athos into the infirmary saw the blood, they knew it wasn't good. It was several minutes before an inhuman yell tore from the room along with the sound of breaking furniture. They all looked at one another, each dreading what that sound meant.

It was a few more minutes before the infirmary door opened, the few men who were close enough to see inside as the Captain exited would be haunted by what they saw. Porthos could be seen leaning over the prone body of his friend, their heads touching. Arimas was sitting on the floor, his back against the exam table, the look of utter loss in his expression. Their Captain pulled the door closed, his hand resting against it for a moment before he turned to face the men gathered.

"Captain?" one asked quietly.

Taking a deep breath, "He's dead." Treville never realized just how hard those words would be to say even knowing it was all a ruse, pushing past the men moving toward the stairs he continued, "Athos's dead."

"Who?" that one word growled from one of the men behind him reemphasized his need to make sure he kept these men reeled in.

Stopping mid-way up the stairs he turned, "I want everyone assembled in an hour, send word to the palace and through the market that I want everyone here."

Another musketeer spoke up from the back, looking toward the closed door, then back to the Captain, "Was it D'Artagnan?" he had been one of the men in the yard the day before and witnessed the heated exchange.

"Everyone is to stand down until I know exactly what happened. One hour." Treville responded then made his way to his office.

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The next morning was the first anyone had seen Arimas and Porthos since the afternoon before. They did not speak as they followed the horse-drawn cart carrying the coffin of their friend. Their comments during the funeral were overlooked by those assembled, no one seeming to be able process the death of their Lieutenant, nor how his closest friends were dealing with it. D'Artagnan had not been seen, though their Captain had told them in no uncertain terms that no one was to go after the younger man, it did not stop the hostile undercurrent that each man was feeling wanting to avenge the 'murder' of one of their own.

Again, the two remaining Inseparables were not seen until the morning following the funeral, disappearing into the Captains office, only to exit a short time later quickly making their way toward the stables, leaving just minutes later. Treville leaving right behind them.

It was late afternoon when the men returned only to shock those few still in the garrison; not only had the Captain, Arimas, and Porthos returned, they had D'Artagnan and a very much alive Athos with them. The four men disappeared into the armory while the Captain assembled those in the yard to explain what was going on and the need for the deception in order to catch the person responsible for putting the life of the Queen in danger. Many of the men did not appear happy, but seemed to understand, yet Treville knew it would take some time before everything settled down and it understood that neither D'Artagnan nor his friends had really turned their backs on each other and if nothing else the whole ordeal had only strengthened the bond between the three, now four Inseparables. Now they just needed to survive the coming ambush.