LAST TIME: D'Artagnan's petulant response to a dismissive and angry Athos led him to begin some research on Athos' old friend...

At the Garrison a few weeks later, Aramis approached D'Artagnan with sudden urgency.

"D'Artagnan! Please take this prescription request to Monsieur Pierre's shop immediately. A Musketeer has been felled with a sickness that can prove fatal if not treated promptly. It can even lead to the loss of an appendage."

"But Monsieur Pierre's shop is not an apothecary…"

Aramis looked a bit put out by his being questioned. "He doesn't publicize such items, but he is actually an expert in such things, especially this ailment, and if asked he will sell them. Go, D'Artagnan, now."

Aramis' insistent demeanor seemed genuine.

But D'Artagnan was dead set against another setup.

"Aramis. This is- legitimate?"

"YES, now GO!"

D'Artagnan took off.

Porthos walked by. "Is it legitimate?" he asked.

"No," Aramis replied. "I heard that Pierre is recovering from syphilis, the remedy being guaiacum. He is reportedly very, very sensitive to how he came upon the affliction, so…"

"Oho! Aramis, you are one snarky bastard!" Porthos bellowed. "So, does Pierre actually sell the antidote? Or anything like it?"

"No." Another mischievous smile crossed the handsome expert marksman's face, as he adjusted his hat, watching the young Gascon running deep into his latest treachery.

"Oh, to be a fly on the wall of a certain shop in about five minutes," Porthos smiled.

"I'm sure the boy will provide a full account himself soon enough," Aramis answered.

At Pierre's shop, D'Artagnan soon tracked down the owner.

"Are you Pierre?"

"Yes, may I help you?"

He handed Pierre the note. Pierre stared at the remedy being requested.

D'Artagnan continued, "I need this filled immediately. My Musketeer friend says you would know what condition it treats; he indicated that if anyone would know of the ailment it helps with, it is you."

"I BEG YOUR PARDON?! IS THIS A JOKE?!"

D'Artagnan blanched. "I assure you, sir, it is not! I have been told that if left untreated, things might fall off…"

"THAT'S IT! OUT!", Pierre shouted, now lurching towards D'Artagnan…

…who was just now catching on…

It was probably just as well when Aramis was nowhere to be found when D'Artagnan returned to the Garrison. He had time to muse on the last conversation he had with Constance, confronting her about her love for him, and in a not very roundabout way calling her a coward.

He had meant to say that she was the bravest woman that he had ever known, but it came out all wrong- he could not understand why she was taking such a cowardly view of things. She understood what he meant, did she not? He had the moral high ground in this argument, surely.

It was that day that he received a letter response from his uncle.

Uncle Robert confirmed the time of the incident. It occurred in 1624. Robert had mentioned that Rebecca, the daughter of his father's friend Jules Daunton, was temporarily institutionalized after the rape, out now but still unmarried and troubled. The name of the assailant was not included in the letter, as Robert could not recall it.

But what was he to do with the information? While Athos had cooled to him somewhat since the altercation a few weeks back, they were at least being civil to one another again. Better to let sleeping dogs lie? Or would even offering up the timeframe to Athos be like another insult?

As Claude had begun to spend more time with Athos while getting settled in Paris and trying to begin his own practice, it became a standard occurrence that all of them spent time at the Wren after hours.

D'Artagnan decided he would investigate on his own, trying to ask questions directly to Claude, in order to rule him out of having any involvement in the rape of his father's best friend's daughter.

He swung the conversation around to his growing up in Lupiac; then he deftly asked Claude, "Athos mentioned once that you sent some time in Bayonne. That is in Gascony as well as Lupiac! Did you enjoy living there?"

"I did," was all Claude offered, looking down at his drink.

"And when were you there?" D'Artagnan asked.

"A few years ago," Claude replied.

With no objection yet from Athos on this line of questioning, D'Artagnan pressed. "Would you have been there seven years ago? That would have been 1624."

That did it. Athos said, "What is this, an interrogation?"

"Not at all. Just curious." D'Artagnan let it drop, but he couldn't help note how the color seemed to have drained out of Claude's face.

As the conversation turned to more amiable topics, D'Artagnan also could not be imagining the deadly looks that Claude was now occasionally throwing his way, as if to say, back off, or else. Or was he imagining it?

After everyone else had parted ways leaving the Wren, Athos confronted D'Artagnan on the street outside the tavern.

"And what do you think you are doing?" he demanded.

D'Artagnan's mouth opened, but nothing came out. He wasn't really sure himself.

"If you have any honor at all, you will direct your reservations regarding Claude to me directly, not go on a fishing expedition on your own, questioning him."

"And when I did come to you, I was shut down. I wrote my Uncle in Lupiac about this, and he said-"

"You did WHAT?!" Athos yelled, incredulous.

"I wanted some details confirmed for-"

"So you are investigating Claude on your own, because, why, in his eyes he is already guilty of rape?!"

"NO! I- I simply wanted more information so that I could…"

"So that you could prove me wrong in my accusing you of flying off the handle and making outrageous claims against my friend. Is that it?"

"Wouldn't you want to clear your friend of any possible-"

"NO, because the accusation is outrageous! Do me a favor, D'Artagnan- stop showing initiative in things you do not understand! Going behind my back to inquire into my friend's past is- it is unconscionable. I am extremely disappointed."

That hurt. An enraged D'Artagnan spat out: "I don't know about you, but I would want to know if my best friend was a rapist!"

D'Artagnan was unprepared for the blow to the face that Athos landed with the back of his hand.

Later, D'Artagnan would question why he didn't defend himself, and fight back. It was probably because he was in shock.

Athos walked away, leaving D'Artagnan to question himself. What the hell was he doing, really?