(no subject)

[armedagainstlove]

He'd made it to the crossroads, but not in time to do anything but find a waiting glove. The carriage had long gone and with it, his wife. Athos isn't even sure if he's disappointed or broken, because he still doesn't know whether he'd been going to see her off or to join her, but he cannot imagine abandoning the Musketeers completely, but knows that he could not leave her either. With her back in his life and all her debts gone, Athos can see them as who they are.

No more lies. No more deceit. They will simply be the people they actually are and they will try. For some reason, this is something that stirs Athos' heart in a way that he hasn't felt in years. He thinks back to Las Vegas and how Faith had been intoxicating then, with her dark hair and her knowing eyes, but even then it had just been Anne that he wanted.

And now, he has her glove, but nothing else.

He makes it back to Paris and finds himself standing at the door that he knows will bring him to the Nexus.

He doesn't wait at all before going through it, though he knows that yet again, his challenge will be finding Milady, when she is constantly one step ahead of him.

Comments

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Of course it all could have been different. Their lives, the last five years at least would be entirely, so completely different as to be unrecognizable. Foreign.

"Not as the captain of the Musketeers," she agrees, looking down as well. Her selfishness, asking to him to go when given such responsibility; she knows he would not. Could not. Milady de Winter is no fool.

She lets out a breath, forcing her shoulders back, and she looks up at his face. "So, you have come to tell me that you're returning to Paris, then."

[armedagainstlove]

"Yes," he agrees, but Athos does not take his eyes off of her completely, for he has more to say. Perhaps he would not, if not for this opportunity, but he does. "And no," he continues, hoping that he had not paused too long. "I believe we have the opportunity to strike compromise and allow us both the lives we wish, and the ones we once had."

[aspecialkindofwoman]

She had turned away some, it's true. Why linger? What could possibly be said after such a statement? What could follow that would not be crushing?

So, Milady turns, her gaze sharp over her shoulder. "And how do you propose we do that?" she asks, waiting. Wondering. (And yes hoping, despite herself.)

[armedagainstlove]

Athos feels as if she is missing the obvious answer right in front of him. "Are we not in a place that allows time to stop? Allows us to be together, yet pursue the individual lives that you and I might both want. I can still be Captain of the Musketeers, you can seek out whatever freedom you wish, and we can still be together here," he says.

"Is that not a viable option to you?"

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Facing him straight on, Milady finds her hands clasped in front of herself. "Is that what you want, Athos?" he asks. Since he hasn't exactly stated that, she doesn't assume. Taking a step forward and then another, perhaps her expression is something of a challenge, a defensive mask.

[armedagainstlove]

He nods, cautious and slow. It has been hard to admit, but his heart has not quite been ready to move on from his wife, despite how very hard it had been to admit it. "Yes," he manages, voice hoarse as anything as he stares at her, so desperate to understand what he feels. He closes his eyes tightly and leans forward to press his forehead to hers. "I want to try once more, but I cannot give up the Musketeers. Will you allow that of me?"

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Even as he speaks, her eyes slip closed. Everything about him is familiar, even with a new uniform: his scent, the feel of him so close to her. She breathes, feeling the constriction of her corset, the way her heart beats so very quickly with something that feels almost like hope.

"I would expect no less of you," she murmurs. What is Athos, now, without the Musketeers?

Eventually, though, she does pull back and look up at him, searching his face, even as she reaches up to touch his cheeks. When they are here, then, in this place, they will be together.

[armedagainstlove]

He leans into the touch, not wanting to show the rapid beating of his heart, but this close, he is sure that Anne can feel it. He feels unsteady and young, giving his heart away and to the same woman. He knows that he should think it a mistake, but cannot. For he still loves her with all his heart, even the parts of him that hate her.

Easing closer to her now, he shifts them until he can pin her up against the nearest wall to kiss her, as he has always wanted to do with her so near.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Perhaps she is unclear if it is his heart or hers. But she forgets that when she feels her shoulderblades clatter against the wall and feels his lips on hers. Her hands fist in his tunic and she kisses back just as hungrily, feeling everything in her surge closer and heat.

Beyond everything else, beyond the hate that has existed, is this. This heat and desire that obliterates all else.

[armedagainstlove]

It feels as though they have never had trouble with this. They have always been so good at the physical passion that held them together, and it bleeds right back to him now. Breathless, needy, and yet pushing it down, he eases back to breathlessly pant against her lips.

He has been so controlled, so careful, and she draws it right back out of him. "Anne," he exhales breathlessly, opening his eyes to stare at her. "Can I trust you?"

[aspecialkindofwoman]

There's a flash - like ice down her back - at being asked that. But then she remembers: we have no reason to trust each other.

Her eyes searching his, she nods. If there's one thing she's not, it's a fool. She knows what this opportunity means and she means to make the most of it.

[armedagainstlove]

He knows that he would have given her his trust, even though it might have been foolhardy to do so. Cautiously, carefully, he decreases the space between them as he drifts ever closer again to give her a longing look. "Are we going to go your room or mine?" And that begs the question of logistics, because if they're going to make a proper try of it again, do they slip back into marriage or begin ever again?

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Athos's room is near the other Musketeers'. Anne's is a goodly distance away, intentionally. And since they always were married, it makes sense that they somehow- if it's possible - find their way back to that. (That seems so foreign, though, that that isn't exactly forefront to her mind.

No, right now is that desire that she sees, that she feels. With a nod down the hall, she takes his hand, leading him to her room. It's a mimicking of her room at the Louvre, though only she knows this: big and airy with a four-poster bed that hasn't been made (she wasn't imagining she'd have company).

With the door closed behind them, she steps close to him again, chin canted up to kiss him.

[armedagainstlove]

Athos feels as if he is struck in a daydream the whole of the time they walk, made worse (or better, if he's truly honest) when they are behind the privacy of her door and he can allow so many of his walls to begin crumbling. He has always remained so staunch and steady, but she has always known how to take him apart.

He splays two, then three fingers against her neck, his gloves still preventing skin on skin contact, but lips to lips is enough for now.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Just that is enough to make her skin flush along her neck and chest, obvious around the choker she still wears. She peels her own gloves off, letting them fall to the floor to be put away later. Then even as she tastes his lips, she pulls first at his weapons belts, deftly unbuckling them so that she can get to the buttons of his doublet.

[armedagainstlove]

There should be more mistrust, but perhaps it is simply that it has been so long (not the years it should be, but certainly longer than most married men must cope with), but he feels inclined to pull away and explain something before they go further. "Anne," he murmurs, kissing down her neck and skipping the choker.

"Something happened in one of the worlds here. A place called Las Vegas."

[aspecialkindofwoman]

When he says that, Anne opens her eyes. Clearly this wouldn't be brought up if this wasn't important. She pushes away, hands still in his doublet. All she does then is arch a brow.

What now?

[armedagainstlove]

He moves his hands atop of hers, in order to hold tight in solidarity. He has no way of knowing how she will react to the news he is about to give, but does hope that it will not be taken too poorly. "While there, there was another woman from the Nexus with me, by the name of Faith. In the course of the night and many, many drinks, we married, she and I."

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Well, suffice to say that Anne was not expecting that.

Her eyes widen, and she definitely would have pulled away had her hands not been held like this.

"... married? You - " How does that work, though? "You have another wife?"

[armedagainstlove]

"Alcohol was a strong factor," Athos says, which is an understatement, but he believes it is necessary to say as much. "It was annulled the morning after, but there was also a consummation," he confesses, but it has been the first and last time of such intimacy, and he has not allowed himself that closeness again.

"The woman no longer resides at the Nexus, as far as I can tell."

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Another rainbow of emotions crosses her face as Anne just looks at him: disbelief, jealousy, affrontery and even a touch of amusement in there as well as pain that he both drank so much and that he needed to.

She doesn't think about the woman. It's probably for the best that she's no longer in the Hotel.

Extricating a hand, she touches his face, saying, her voice low, fond and warning all at once. "No more wives."

[armedagainstlove]

"Two is surely enough," he jokes with a perfectly dry and deadpan demeanour, arching his brow as he wonders if he really had just seen jealousy flicker over Milady's face. He keeps one hand on hers, rubbing his thumb in circles as he nods.

"No more wives. Or lady friends. Or people Aramis suggests I meet," he concurs.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Yes, all very funny. Milady just raises her brows at him. That's for the best too. She is one of those rare women who doesn't take to Aramis; she finds him ... overly sentimental.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?" she asks. Best to air it all now.

[armedagainstlove]

Athos cannot think of anything that she is not already acquainted with, given that she seems to have more of a working knowledge of the events in Paris than even he. He shakes his head, though there is a wry smile as he considers other recent events. "A strange robotic being thinks I drink too much," he deadpans.

"And you missed when I had the power to manipulate ice."

[aspecialkindofwoman]

"Well, I have agreed to go on something called an 'away' mission,' she tells him quite wryly. "It seems simply to involve exploring the various doors." And really, that is the extent of her experience here.

Perhaps the only mystery remaining is her youth, the start of everything.

"You do drink too much," she adds, her finger tracing his chin.