A/N Hello! I won't even bother apologising, cos it's embarrassing. Just heed my promise that I will finish this – and reasonably soon!

Very different chapter here – a lot of it is from Athos' point of view, which hasn't happened before. Let me know what you think! B xx

On their arrival in Paris they went straight to Athos' lodgings, finding De Treville waiting for them impatiently. He stood abruptly from where he had been perched on one of Athos' old chairs, head resting in his hands as he waited. He stepped forward and grabbed Athos by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.

"Is any of it true, Athos? Could any of it be?"

Charline watched as Athos stared back at him steadily for a few moments, clearly weighing up what to tell their captain. Eventually, he gave a short nod, and De Treville dropped his hands with a sigh.

"Heaven, help us," he muttered, moving back to his chair.

Porthos nudged d'Artagnan and Athos into the room, closing the door firmly behind him and making straight for one of Athos' bottles of wine, which were always much more full these days. Athos moved to sit on his bed, and Charline followed and sat next to him, quietly taking his hand in his, and leaving them to rest on his lap.

"There is no affair," Athos said gruffly. "They recognised their error and left it at that. I was the only one who knew."

"Well, be that as it may," de Treville, answered. "We are the ones who must right the situation. How do we convince the King that it is false, before he has them killed?"

"We must find a way to convince him that Milady was not to be trusted," Porthos said.

"Yes, but how do we do that in a way that will force him to act? It must be done publicly, otherwise the King will never admit that he was taken in by her. He does not like to look a fool," Athos replied.

Porthos snorted. "Then he should stop leaving his room."

"I shall choose to ignore the treason that you just uttered, Porthos," de Treville said dryly.

Porthos just raised his wine bottle in a gesture of thanks and took a long drink.

"Whatever we do, " d'Artagnan said quietly. "We must do it quickly, and we must use it to get rid of Milady for good. She's a threat to all our necks."

Athos squeezed her hand gently and she felt saddened by the guilt that she knew he still carried for bringing Milady into her life. But she knew that the woman would never have hated her so much if Athos didn't love her, and so she took the experiences she had had with Milady and accepted them as giving her Athos, which she would not trade for anything. She squeezed his hand back, and he relaxed slightly beside her.

"The first thing we must do is persuade the King that he cannot execute without a trial. We must keep Aramis and the Queen safe until we can convince the King that the whole thing was a malicious lie from a former lover, and that the Queen has always been loyal. However untrue it may be," Athos said.

"I will speak with the King. He may listen to me, with no one else left to advise him."

That had been the beginning of it all, and this is where it had brought them. A graveside in the musketeers' plot. The eulogy flowing while they tried to prop each other up, standing amongst their fellow men, heads bowed and hats held to their chests. It was raining, it was cold, and nothing would ever be the same.

The captain's relationship with the King had proved to be their most valuable asset, and with Athos' permission, he had given the King a version of the truth. The King now knew the identity of his former mistress, and that her marriage to Athos had been one of greed and lies. It had taken several hours to persuade the King to hold execution on Aramis and the Queen, and the help of Constance's friend, the King's doctor, to persuade the King that it could be declared absolutely that the dauphin was his son, and that anyone could see it in the child's face, never mind with the medical proof the doctor could offer.

It had been Charline's idea to include Constance and the doctor in their plans. She trusted her friend, who trusted the doctor, and both would be required for the last stage of the plan. If everything went accordingly.

With an execution stayed for the moment, de Treville persuaded the King that the priority of the musketeers must be to capture and interrogate Milady de Winter, as if she was indeed lying in an effort to affect the King, then the woman had committed treason and must be suitably punished. As always, the King proved eager enough to rid himself of anyone who had made him look stupid or done him wrong, and when Treville explained that she had previously attempted to murder d'Artagnan, his vanity was appealed to that anyone who dared to attack his guards was attacking the King, and must be executed. With Treville showing such devotion to the King, that he would risk coming here to speak to him about such a sensitive subject after being dismissed from his post, the King had promised to reinstate the captain if he could prove his words to him, and save him from the threat of this woman.

(Finally, the King had found a way of reinstating his trusted captain without having to admit that he had been wrong in dismissing him on the say of Rochefort in the first place.)

That was the first stage.

The next stage included all of the rest of their plans, although slightly altered by the king and his paranoia, and soon everything would be over.

It did not feel like that to Athos, though.

The King had insisted that while the musketeers executed their plan to capture the wanted fugitive, he must have the highest protection with him, and that meant the best of Treville's musketeers at his side. And that meant Athos.

He would hear of nothing else but Athos and, having managed to persuade the King everything he had managed to so far, the captain did not want to push matters, and so Athos found himself at the King's side, and trying very hard to rein in his temper.

He was meant to be out there with his men, and with d'Artagnan. He was meant to be part of the jail break that freed Aramis, he was meant to be part of this group of musketeers that found themselves on the wrong side of the law, and part of the battle they had staged with the rest of the garrison. He was meant to be there when Milady was lured out of hiding to witness the downfall of Athos and d'Artagnan for herself, and he was meant to be there when she was finally brought to justice.

Instead, he had to wait here, watching the King building another of his ridiculous boat models as if he had no care in the world, not seeing if anything was going to plan, and not being able to make sure that his friends were safe, that his future wife was safe. He wouldn't be there when Milady was finally brought to justice, the decision having been made that she could not be allowed to be brought before the King to face her fate. They couldn't fathom why she hadn't made any comments about d'Artagnan's real identity yet, and they couldn't take the chance that she would use her final bit of information to end them all.

Mostly, he was worried that he couldn't be there with Charline if she faced Milady once again, and found himself praying to a God he had not had much faith in for some time that it would not happen. He had to hope that the musketeers they had selected to stay out of the 'battle' and wait for her would find her before she got anywhere near his love, and take her straight to the captain as planned.

All of this was going on, all of these plans and all of these deceptions, and he was here, frustrated and, yes, scared.

It had been two days.

The King was just beginning to grumble about his lunch when the doors to the huge bright chamber were opened, and Treville entered. He was alone. And he did not look at Athos.

"Treville!" the King exclaimed. "You have news?"

"Yes, your majesty."

"It is done?"

"Yes, your majesty. The lady in question was captured, and interrogated by myself this morning. She signed a confession stating that she had lied in an attempt to have the Queen executed for treason. Aramis was her chosen target simply because he was here, and a friend of Athos."

The King pondered his ship for a few moments, saying nothing.

"She has been executed?"

"Yes, your majesty. As instructed by your majesty, she was immediately executed for treason. Your own doctor pronounced her dead."

Athos felt dizzy. It had worked! She was truly gone! For what seemed like eternities of his life that woman had haunted his very existence, had ruined everything for him for years, and almost taken Charline from him, more than once. She deserved to die for her crimes the first time he had tried to execute her, but since then she had proved herself more evil and more dangerous that Athos had ever believed her then. He could hardly believe that her malevolent influence was finally gone, and would leave his life in peace.

"I took the liberty, your majesty, of sending the pardons you signed some days ago straight away. The Queen should be returning to the palace, immediately."

For the first time, Athos saw a flash of emotion on the King's face, and it looked to him like fear.

"Do you think, Treville…" he trailed off, looking at the captain with a strangely childlike expression on his face.

Trevilled sighed. "The Queen is a loving and understanding woman, your majesty. I am sure that she will understand, when you explain it all to her."

"Yes," the King smiled. "I am sure she shall. My Queen loves me. And after all, I did not send her to the gaol. She was kept in the manner she has become accustomed."

"Indeed, your majesty. But might I suggest, that you have her child ready to see her when she arrives."

"Ah, yes. Excellent idea, Treville."

The King made to move away from the table he was working on, finally, but Treville stopped him. This time, he glanced quickly at Athos.

"Before you go, your majesty. There is one other thing."

"Yes, yes, Treville. What is it?" The King frowned at him, clearly confused as to what else the captain of his guards could have to say.

"I'm afraid, sir, that there was an accident during the execution of the mission."

"And accident? What do you mean?"

"One of my men was caught in the crossfire of the gun battle we had to stage, and I'm afraid he didn't pull through sir."

"Oh. That is a tad careless, Treville. Although I am sorry to lose one of my guards. Who was the musketeer?"

Another glance at Athos, who squeezed his eyes shut.

"It was d'Artagnan, sir. D'Artagnan is dead."

A/N So…yeah. Thought I'd come back and leave you with that little nugget! Hope you enjoyed. B xx