I know, I know… But applications are killing me at the moment. As well as a few other things. This chapter is kind of (very) short, and it may very well be the last one, unless I decide to include an epilogue.

Hope you enjoy!

Halfway back to the apartments D'Artagnan requested to be put down, and Porthos gently complied. The boy's first few steps were shaky and Porthos almost picked him up again, but the determined look in D'Artagnan's eye stopped him. He knew that the young man would see it as a sign of weakness and did not wish to brew more resentment from the young man.

It was apparent to all three men that D'Artagnan was thinking hard about something, and from the look on his face, the thoughts were not good ones.

Dusk had fallen and laid the stars bare in the sky by the time they reached home. D'Artagnan made a move to escape the conversation that he knew was coming, but the three men closed off the exits and forced D'Artagnan back onto the dreaded cot.

"Now, I do believe we have some things to straighten out while Planchet makes supper. Porthos, would you go make sure that the fool is doing his duty? And perhaps while you're in there ask how he managed to let D'Artagnan get out of the house," Athos kept his voice level, though D'Artagnan could hear the traces of anger beneath his words.

Porthos complied with the request, and left with an evil smirk on his face. Teasing Planchet was one of the older man's favorite hobbies and he looked forward to this new round of taunting the poor man.

Now, it was time for Aramis to lend his wisdom, and Athos to lend his straightforward mannerisms to draw D'Artagnan out of the shell he had enclosed himself if over the past few days of his bed rest.

"It's better to tell us your mind now boy, or would you rather this conversation be had at a later date in a more unfavorable situation?" Athos sat on the stool by the fire, Aramis settling into a chair beside the cot. Both looked expectantly at D'Artagnan, but Aramis held a little more compassion in his stare.

"No, I do think I was wrong to have my doubts," D'Artagnan spoke a little too quickly for the men to believe him right away. They shared a look, and then Aramis took up the torch.

"Even if they have passed on for now, they may return if you do not face them."

"It's just-" A look from Athos cut off his protests.

"I feel like a burden," D'Artagnan stated simply after a few moments pause. Athos and Aramis were silent for a few moments. This had not been in either of their thoughts or Porthos' over the past few weeks. In fact, it had never crossed their minds, seeing as D'Artagnan had proved himself most capable of fending off attackers upon their first meeting. Aramis opened his mouth to argue the point but the boy got their first.

"I have done nothing to help. I have relied upon your good graces to get by these past few weeks and have done nothing to repay you. I know the money I had is almost gone, and I am not yet on the payroll of the musketeers and will not even be considered until I am healed, so I am going to become a financial burden before long."

D'Artagnan looked down at his hands and the two men sent him a pitying glance. The somber mood was almost ruined when Planchet's frightened voice came echoing down the stairwell.

"It's our duty to a fellow musketeer, and friend, to help when they are hurt. You are our friend, and will soon be a musketeer, D'Artagnan. I know the healing process isn't the best time for the mind, as dark thoughts fester with inactivity, but soon you will be up and about," Aramis laid a comforting hand upon D'Artagnan's good shoulder and took it as a good sign that the boy didn't shrug it off.

Athos sighed and put a calloused hand over D'Artagnan's. The boy offered the two of them a small smile, but doubt still flickered in his sea blue eyes.

"But I am useless to you," His smile fell, "I am even robbing you of a room in your home! I can't stay here and take one of the rooms, or Planchet will be sleeping on the balcony through winter. I also shan't be much more than a troublesome burden once I am healed, for I am much too young to be with your maturity. It's not as if I don't like you, you are my role models, but I can't possibly be more than an annoying parasite to your day to day lives. If you wish me to leave immediately I should think that Monsieur Tréville could house me in the musketeers' apartments until I get enough to rent rooms of my own," D'Artagnan's voice was soft and there was evidence that he was tiring on his face and in his posture. Neither Athos nor Aramis were quite sure of how to respond to D'Artagnan without slapping some sense into his apparently meters thick skull, but thankfully Porthos was there to save the day.

"Are you ladies still chatting?" He thundered as he entered the room, startling the three into alertness.

"Come on, we all want you to stay, and right now there's wine to be drunk and cards to be played," Porthos produced a deck from a pocket in his doublet and slapped them down on the table by D'Artagnan's cot. Aramis took it and began to shuffle the cards expertly as the tension visibly lifted in the room.

Three rounds into the game, D'Artagnan was fast asleep, his cards in his lap and his head resting on Aramis' shoulder. Athos insisted to himself he wasn't jealous of his religious friend. After figuring that it wouldn't be that easy, he collected the boy's cards and tucked a blanket about him. The three continued their card game quietly and well into the night with the content feeling that comes from knowing that sometime soon, everything will be all right.

A few things to note: I may have been confusing in my wording, so here's my explanation before I get all those 'WTF does this mean?' reviews. . I try my best to say what I mean, but I'm not the most clear on things. D'Artagnan's statement "I am much too young to be with your maturity" refers to the fact that it can be awkward to be the youngest in a group of friends, especially when the age gap is so wide.