Thanks so much all, for your kind encouragement and your response to "An Extraordinary Man." I struggled along with those boys all the way through, as well! It's one of the hardest tasks, as a writer, to be ruthless with your own work. To cut scenes where they do not forward the plot, or to leave scenes out that change the "flavor" of the end of your work. In this case, I had two scenes that were almost fully written, but which did not work as proper epilogues, and so they were unceremoniously cut out when the boys decided to end the story at the point they did (that's the other hard task—having no control. The characters decide everything for themselves!). Having said that, there were several points where my thought was, "I wonder what THIS would have looked like," and so those as well as the two epilogue scenes, will be included in this little series of story-related one shots. If you haven't read "An Extraordinary Man," these will make little sense but may intrigue you to read it and comment!

If there's something you wanted to know the background of but didn't see, or wanted to see someone else's POV, speak up!

Meantime, here's the first missing scene: It takes place in the middle of Chapter 24, after Joubert has been captured by the musketeers, and he finally succumbs to Porthos's powers of persuasion and divulges Baudin's plans for when they get back to Paris. What happens when Aramis discovers his son is in danger?

* TM * TM * TM *

Porthos flexed his fingers, trying to soothe the throbbing in his knuckles that had been used so effectively on their prisoner. "They're going after the Dauphin," he announced.

Aramis, who was kicking dirt onto the last of the dying embers from their fire, snapped his head in Porthos's direction at the announcement. "What?" he said. His face paled alarmingly.

Porthos frowned but didn't comment on the change. "Joubert talked," he explained as Athos came up alongside Aramis to listen. "The Dauphin gets taken on an outing every midday," he said. "Baudin's got men ready to capture him and use him as leverage to make the King ease up on the restrictions on the Protestants."

Aramis knew all about the daily outings. Sometimes he was lucky enough to "happen" to be near the palace when they were about to take place, and he was invited along. Other times, when they weren't needed at the garrison or out on a mission, he would watch from a discreet distance, unseen, unheard, but seeing and hearing all.

The marksman's breathing shallowed, he felt himself trembling. "We've got to get there," he breathed.

"Yeah, I've got our friend all trussed up and ready to go." Again, Porthos frowned. "You all right?"

"I'm fine," Aramis answered, his voice strangled.

"You know d'Artagnan will stop this, right?"

Aramis nodded, his movements stilted, his voice caught in his throat.

"He won't let anything happen to 'im," Porthos persisted. Aramis wasn't meeting his eye, his own mind caught up in all the worst possibilities. "Aramis. He's on our side," the big musketeer reminded him, his face serious, earnest.

Aramis blinked then, looked at his friend. The only thing holding him together right now was the idea that d'Artagnan was closer to the Dauphin than he was, and that perhaps he could avert this disaster. Porthos couldn't know that his real fear wasn't about losing the Dauphin—it was about losing his son.

"I know," Aramis managed to say. "I'm just—d'Artagnan's alone. He'll be outnumbered. He may not be able to stop it on his own. He may—he may be putting himself in even more danger."

"That's what a musketeer does," Porthos replied. "Now let's just catch up with him, yeah? I'll get the horses."

Porthos gave his friend one last concerned look and walked away. Athos spoke softly beside the marksman. "He's right; d'Artagnan will stop the worst from happening."

"D'Artagnan is one man," Aramis said. "Baudin will have many."

"And the Dauphin is never without protection. You've been witness to that yourself."

"Athos, if I lose my son, even if I can never call him my own publicly, I—"

Athos put a hand on his friend's shoulder, trying to ground him before his fears took full flight. "D'Artagnan will ensure that doesn't happen," he assured the man. "Meantime, it's several hours before the outing will take place, yes? Let us make haste. Perhaps we can get to the location where this is to happen before the Dauphin even arrives. Then d'Artagnan will be not one, but four. And there is little that can defeat us when we are four acting as one."

Aramis tried to slow the blood racing through his veins, tried to focus on the truth of what his brother was saying. D'Artagnan would never allow harm to come to the Dauphin, even if it meant his life. And there was still time, if they moved now. There was still time. He let the words play over and over again in his head. There was still time… there was still time…

"All for one," he breathed.

Athos squeezed Aramis's shoulder a little tighter. "All for one," he agreed. "Finish dousing the embers and let's go. We can't count on the incompetent Red Guards to back up our young Gascon for very long."

Aramis clapped his hand on top of Athos's, blinked several times, and offered his friend a watery smile. "D'Artagnan will save him, Athos. We will all save him."

It was a statement, and it was a question. Athos thought of d'Artagnan facing this enormous challenge virtually alone, thinking that he had lost his brothers and that he was on his own on this mission, and in his life. It was not just of the Dauphin that he spoke of when he replied, "We will save him."