Some may have assumed that the young prince would remain as calm and even-tempered as his mother under any circumstance. In truth, he was usually so when they made appearances outside of the castle. Being that he was starting to develop his personality, people were really looking at him to see what sort of child he would be. (All while not-so-secretly hoping he would take after his kind-hearted mother rather than his petulant child of a ‘father,’ the king.)
Unfortunately, that was not the case as they had arrived in Atlantis and undergone the intake procedure. He’d been jostled in the arrival and alarmed by the unfamiliar sights. It was Anne’s fault, in part. She’d lost a bit of her own calm, overwhelmed by what she was seeing and the feeling of being alone in this new world, aside from the child in her arms. She held him close, and was polite but quiet to those who spoke with her. She asked her questions, knowing well that they were only trying to help, but their answers did little to appease her concerns.
And they did nothing for the baby, who was growing steadily more and more unhappy in her arms.
It hadn’t been too long since her arrival, and they’d sent her on her way with a housing assignment and information. While all of it was fascinating and terrifying, there were parts that shone like beacons of hope. The most important were the familiar names, and she could only hope that one of them would find her of their own accord. Much as she tried to figure out the little device they’d given her, Louis was not having it and she was left to try to quiet him, rocking him on a bench outside of the intake office and trying not to draw more attention than she knew she was in her outdated royal wear with a screaming child.
Keeping his cool was an Aramis trait as old as time - until he hit the moment of panic, and given he had just had a conversation with Porthos a few days before… Meeting up with Athos had been cut short for him by receiving the notification that Anne was here as well. His tongue had caught in his throat, and he’d excused himself with very little explanation - and unfortunately not as much Porthos reassuring as he might’ve needed.
He’d started out by just walking at a perfectly normal, respectable pace, until he got closer to the intake office and heard infant/toddler tears, he ended up jogging fast enough that he slid into the room and caught a hand on the doorframe. Half expecting to see some … other Queen Anne. Aramis slid to a halt, and even with her hands full, he couldn’t help but smile. He bowed his head, but not before reaching out to touch the Dauphin’s mass of blonde curls - he was older than when Aramis had last seen. “Your Majesty.”
She’d been told that Aramis was in this world as well, and that had left her with a sense of relief and hope and even more anxious tension as she wished she knew more about the device so that she could contact him. Somehow, though, she’d known that he’d come. They’d announce her arrival, they’d said, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d found them. He was a good protector, they all were. It was why she so favored the Musketeers. The fact that she was herself and her son was also his son would certainly quicken his step.
Still, there was very visible relief in her expression and in her body language when he appeared. “Oh, thank goodness,” she breathed. “I did not know how to reach out to you, and he… well,” the baby continued to cry, though he’d looked up at Aramis at the touch to his head. “Perhaps you can calm him. He is too upset and can not catch his breath right now to calm himself.” At home, in France, she could not so freely and so publicly offer Louis to Aramis. Here, though, those rules were not important in this moment. Her nerves were frazzled, and he was stability and comfort. They both needed that in this moment of great upheaval.
“It would be my pleasure,” and it truly, truly was. He didn’t want to seem too eager, without Anne’s explicit permission, so with that well in hand, he reached out to take the prince from his mother’s arms. It had been a few months since he had seen either of them, and he knew his absence had not been welcomed from all ends, but his son’s weight settling into his arms was like a comfortable blanket.
Reaching out, he leaned in to press a kiss to Anne’s forehead, gently. Louis was starting to quiet now, staring at this - as far as he would remember - stranger, now holding him, studying as only infants could do. “Athos and Constance only just arrived today, as well. Porthos and I have been here for a while now.” He gave her a meaningful look, “That’s it.”
In truth, it was a joy to Anne to see father and son united like this. While she was grateful for their history and the results of it, it bothered her that her son would grow up believing someone so horrid was his father. This, the sight of the two of them together, was right. And she was delighted to see that it was working, that Louis was becoming distracted by Aramis and beginning to settle. It made her own anxiety lessen somewhat.
She smiled, her eyes closing at the gentle gesture before opening again as she observed him. At his words, she was quiet a moment, considering their implications, and then she nodded. “I’m very, very glad to hear it,” she said, that same carefulness in her words. They were accompanied by relief. “And it is reassuring to know that he and I are not here alone.” She twisted her hands together in her lap. “Aramis, I believe I am very far out of my element in this world. I’m not sure how to proceed,” she admitted, worry in her brow and in her words. “Is it safe here, for us?”
Aramis walked along in front of her, Louis in his arms, chatting in baby talk between the two as he kept looking at Anne. Even if he was glad to see them both, he could understand the apprehension. “It’s-- very, very different here. Safe, though, yes.” He knew explaining the laws and rules would take a while, and Porthos was far more pessimistic than he was about this place.
“Are you ready to lead a fairly normal life, Your Majesty? There is no monarchy power here, just a democracy.” The question was directed at her with a grin, which he turned on Louis, who was chattering away in his own language, which Aramis responded to in kind.
Anne was accustomed to standing out in a crowd, all things considered, but she actually found herself even more acutely aware of being out of place. The many, many layers of clothing she wore and her very ornate dress didn’t help. That wasn’t the priority, though, and she was focused on his response to her question as they walked, nodding thoughtfully to it. Reassured enough. Having him here, and the other Musketeers, meant that she’d stay. The King wasn’t around. That was a tremendous development.
At his question, she offered a laugh. “Like you wouldn’t believe,” she said, smiling back at him, and then at their son. “You can claim him publicly here, can’t you,” she added after a moment, the thought striking her with a visible happiness. “You can be his father here.”
Aramis had a feeling she would enjoy the freedom this place offered, just like most women from their time would. He wanted to tell her the long list of opportunities afforded to her, but was thoroughly distracted with the second thing she said.
Having something of a meltdown in the middle of intake while holding a child was probably a bad idea, so Aramis just blew out a breath and turned his focus back on Louis. Who, as he got older, thankfully took after Anne to a shocking degree. There was none of the King there, if that had even been a worry, and the curls were reminiscent of Aramis’ own childhood. Thoroughly distracted, he glanced back at Anne with an expression full of surprise and hope. “I-- Well, that would be your choice, of course. But I would like that, very much.”
She watched them both, and she was sure she could see wheels turning in Aramis’ mind. She knew her words held weight. She knew, at least from her own perception, how he felt about the child, and how he must surely hate (as she did) that the King was raising him. But that did not need to happen here, and she was overjoyed to take advantage of that fact.
“No,” she said, smiling. “It is not only my choice, Aramis. As you said, there is no monarchy here. I am not your queen, not here. Not technically. You and I, we -- we both -- are responsible for him. He is your son, and you are well within your rights to claim him,” she said. Then her brows lifted. “After all, he most certainly gets these passionate fits from you. I am all calm collection.”
Aramis would have been a fool to say no, and while he could be foolish at times (and arguably stupid), he was not about to be a fool about this. He might’ve been grinning like a fool, though, that was inevitable. “I-” Normally he was a little more put together than now, face flushed as it was. “Yes, absolutely. Nothing would make me happier, Yo-” Catching himself using the title, he tilted his head a little in her direction. “Anne.”
His attention was shifted back to Louis, who was wiggling in his arms like a struggling fish, but Aramis only laughed and lifted the boy up and over his shoulder, to dangle him safely. “Though I am on the verge of becoming offended over this fits claim.”
She smiled, and leaned to press a kiss to his cheek at the correction. And because she could, because she was a woman free to do as she wished in this world and that meant returning the gesture from before, of his kiss on her forehead.
“It’s a fair claim. Only one of us seduced a married royal,” she commented, her rare, private playful streak coming out in the wake of the freedom she felt in this new environment.
Aramis barked out a laugh, taking care not to lose concentration on the wiggle worm over his shoulder. “Oh, I was the seducer? Well,” He bowed a little, as if taking credit. “I suppose one can’t deny a force that is to be reckoned with.”
The kiss left him a little uneven - Porthos had just brought up how stupid he got around Anne, and he wanted to be able to deny it. But the truth was right there. He knew where his heart was at this point, though, and how it rested with the people in his life. He gave her a fond smile, and quietly murmured. “I should speak to you of Porthos, later, if you are willing.”
“One cannot, it’s true,” she agreed, smiling at his laugh and the bow.
At his quiet voice, her head tilted in curiosity, but she still smiled. “You may speak to me on whatever you like, Aramis. We have no need for much secrecy,” she said, and it was a very truthful statement on her part. She wasn’t open with most, but he was her child’s father, and that came with a need for honesty. “I’m happy to listen.”
As Louis continued to wiggle, she reached to poke at his side, eliciting a sharp giggle from him. “He walks,” she said, warmly. A bit sadly. Aramis hadn’t witnessed that, not recently. Not really.
“I’m glad,” Aramis replied, just as honestly. He didn’t quite know how to broach a subject that was forbidden for them, but had no desire to lie about it, either - just, perhaps not right in the middle of Intake. When Louis was finally tired, and they were alone. Gesturing to the door so she could walk through first, he swung Louis around back into his arms, looking at the boy. “Does he really?”
It had already hit him just how much time had been missed, and deciding to give it a shot, he gently put Louis down next to him, keeping a firm grip on his hand. “If you’d like, I’ll give you both a tour, you’ll need to go to the hospital first, I think, we’re very much out of our time here. There’s also seeing your house, and Porthos and Athos will likely want to meet you there. Clothes, too. You can wait a few days to see them about a job, at least?”
Anne nodded in response, and watched as he put Louis down. The boy was content on his feet, as that had been the aim of his wiggling, and he continued to babble as he toddled along beside his father.
“Yes, please. They mentioned medical to me, and I did want to make sure we were both checked over. Him, moreso, of course. He is still very small, and they are further advanced that we could possibly have been in terms of care for young children,” she agreed readily. “I’ll be so happy to see them both, and it’s perhaps strange how the idea of a job thrills me.”
He glanced at her with a look of pure affection, a laugh on his lips at the fact that this Queen, born to rule, was excited about a job. And that pleased him, greatly - her life at the palace had been less than perfect, and she had always been kind to everyone around her that deserved it. Fitting in here was going to be easy for her, and it gave the Dauphin a chance to have a normal childhood, for as long as he remained.
“To the hospital we go, then. I know most of the people there now, it should amuse you to know that I work as a nurse at times, when they need it.” Walking along with his son, hand-in-hand, was enough of a novelty that he couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face if he even tried. “I’m glad you’re both here. I think you’ll like it a great deal, as I do.”
Anne laughed at his admission, looking at him with interest. “It does not surprise me. There is little that does, where your skills are concerned,” she said, then lifted an eyebrow. “Which is not, in fact, strictly meant to stroke at your ego.” She nodded as he continued, teasing aside. “I like it already.” A delighted giggle came from their son, and he pointed at something in the distance that had caught his eye. “He does too.”
Louis’ hand slipped from Aramis, and he went off running, which left Aramis chasing after him - how could something with such small legs run so fast? He still tossed one parting comment over his shoulder at Anne, before taking off. “The dragon is friendly, if we run into that. Don’t panic.”
Anne sighed the sort of long-suffering sigh that comes from many, many experiences with the little one running off just like this. She was glad, in this instance, that Aramis was quick to take chase. The parting comment caught her by surprise, though, and she nearly misstepped. “Did you say dragon? Aramis!” she called after him, quickening her step to follow after the boys.