Who: Elizabeth and Athos What: Meeting to discuss eloping Where: Elizabeth’s house When: Early July Rating: PG Status: Complete
Elizabeth was just checking on the dish she had made for Athos and the garlic bread she had prepared which were in the oven when she heard the doorbell go. Shutting the oven door, she wiped her hands on the front of her trousers and headed for the door. Opening it, she greeted Athos brightly and invited him in, shutting the door behind him. “Come in, come in, you’ve got perfect timing because dinner is ready,” she smiled, leading him back to the kitchen. “You find the place ok?” she asked, starting to get plates and cutlery out.
Luckily D’Artagnan had been working that evening so he hadn’t realised Athos was going out, which meant he hadn’t had to make up a reason and his secret planning could continue with no worries. Part of him felt bad for hiding it but the other part knew it would be easier for everybody. D’Artagnan tending to overthink things too much and that led to panic and he didn’t want their wedding to be like that.
Smiling as he entered the house, “I found it fine” he assured her, “And as promised I come with wine” he held up the bottle.
“Excellent, thank you very much,” Elizabeth smiled brightly at him, and pointed towards the glasses she had set out on her dining room table. “Would you mind pouring for us while I serve up?” she asked. Picking up the oven gloves, she took out her attempt at a French dish that she had found online. Except she had added a little twist to the recipe and added some garlic to the sauce and cheese on top. She served up on to the two dishes and brought the plates over to the table, setting them on the placemats before heading back to the kitchen. Placing the garlic bread from the oven in a basket and bringing that and the bowl of salad she’d prepared earlier over to the table, she smiled at him. “So did you have to sneak away tonight or is this all above board?” she asked going to pick up the cutlery and bringing it back over to the table before taking her seat.
“This all looks amazing Elizabeth” he told her as he uncorked the wine and poured out two glasses for them before taking his seat. “Thank you so much” he smiled, “D’Artagnan is working so I left the house without needing false pretences”
“You’re welcome,” Elizabeth smiled, picking up her glass and holding it up for a toast. “I figured this sort of planning deserved something special to commemorate it, congratulations my dear friend,” she toasted, clinking glasses with him before taking a sip. “Oh, now that is lovely, thank you Mr Connoisseur,” she smiled at him, putting the glass down and putting her napkin on her lap. “So, elopement...I must say, I never thought I’d hear those words coming from you,” she teased. “How did it come to this then?”
Athos clinked his glass with hers, “Thank you and thank you for your help” he added a small nod acknowledging her thanks for the choice of wine. “There are a number of things I’ve said and done since meeting D’Artagnan I never thought I would” he admitted, “D’Artagnan has a tendency to overthink things, he allows them to overwhelm him to the point he gets worked up. The dreams don’t help that so I thought one way to stop all that would be to arrange everything and whisk him away”
“Ah, I see,” Elizabeth nodded, serving herself some salad with the tongs. “Well I think it’s a beautiful thing you’re planning on doing. Especially considering your shared Dreams,” she smiled at him. “So how big a ceremony do you want it to be?”
“It really had to be Paris if we were going to elope somewhere” Athos agreed, “Oh not big at all. Myself and D’Artagnan of course and then hopefully Porthos and Aramis all being well. Just something small and intimate. We’re having a party when we return home”
“Ok, well, I’ve been doing some poking around and talking to some of my contacts. I don’t know if you know, but in France you’re supposed to have lived in the country for at least forty days before you intend to marry,” Elizabeth told him, reaching for her tablet which she had left on the table earlier. Turning the screen on and using the cover to prop it upright so they could both see, she made it open an internet page. “I’ve managed to find a way around it for you. I’ve got some friends in the French embassy who managed to pull a few things and they’ll sort everything out for us. So firstly I really need a date so I can get them working on the paperwork, have you had any thoughts about that?” she asked, taking a bite of her meal.
“Late August. Sharon isn’t due to have her baby until later on in July and I want to give her time to have the child and settle before dragging Porthos and Aramis away from her. So perhaps, the 29th? Would that be okay?” he asked her, pleased he’d asked her since he really really wanted it all to go smoothly and hadn’t known about the forty day thing.
“Yep, the 29th should be fine,” Elizabeth said, reaching over to her tablet and bringing up the document with all the details about Athos’ wedding and filling in the date. “I’ll let my people in France know. I imagine it’ll only be a few days before I hear back from them. I also need to know a venue. Have you had any thoughts about that?” she asked, reaching for a slice of garlic bread.
"Thank you" Athos said, she really was going above and beyond for him and he was truly grateful. "Beyond small and intimate not really. I mean it doesn't have to be a church, an attractive looking old building would be fine"
“Ok, so why don’t we look at what sort of place you’re imagining. Are you thinking of a venue in the city or would you be ok with travelling a bit outside to the countryside?” Elizabeth asked, resuming eating her meal while Athos responded. She had already looked at a few places both in and outside of the city and had written them down in her document, but she needed to know what sort of thing he was after.
“Outside the city would be fine, the countryside might actually be nice” Athos said as he considered it, they’d stay overnight in the city but the actual event could be outside the busy more cosmopolitan feel of the capital.
“Well in that case, I looked at a couple of chateaux outside of the city,” Elizabeth reached over and opened up the first link and slid the pictures across to the 8th one to show to him. “What do you think of this one?” she asked.
“Honestly, they’re all a little too large” Athos said, “It will be myself and D’Artagnan and then Porthos and Aramis. The four of us will make up the entire wedding party” he explained to her, “I don’t want something so huge that D’Artagnan panics. Just small and simple”
"Not a problem, I was just looking at places which might have some connection or relevance to your Dreams was all," Elizabeth smiled at him before frowning a little. "You keep saying D'Artagnan is going to panic. Why do you think he would?" She asked. "If you're taking all the over-thinking out of his plans then I can only imagine he would be over the moon to marry you," she asked, turning back to her meal while he answered.
“I appreciate it but honestly we just want to be married. No pomp and circumstance just simple, elegant and nice” Athos said, “Things overwhelm him. Even if I’ve planned everything if I take him to a grand house like that and tell him we’re marrying there his mind will run ten to the dozen with worries. The dreams you see, they’re constantly on his mind. He gets rather upset about them. And that bleeds over into our day to day lives”
Elizabeth nodded, finally understanding Athos' worry about his fiancé. The Dreams were harder on some than others. "I see. Does he talk about them much?"
“When they get bad but mostly he broods until I make him talk. He tries not to worry which then causes him more worry” Athos smiled a little sadly, his D’Artagnan could be a sweet silly soul sometimes.
"When you say bad...how do you mean? How bad are they?" Elizabeth asked gently, putting her fork down and focusing all her attention on her friend.
“There’s a lot of political intrigue in our dreams and we aren’t always the most...moral people. Currently I think he’s finding some of the things we do hard to handle” Athos told her.
“I’m sorry to hear that. How are you doing with the Dreams?” Elizabeth asked. They’d talked a little about his Dreams, but she didn’t know details. From the sounds of it his Dreams could be pretty dark, which she could sympathise with. Although most of the time she seemed to live out of the action, she had to make hard decisions. Bore that responsibility, the weight of the guilt, for her team so they didn’t have to. After all, that’s what a leader did.
“I’m able to separate them from my life much better. Perhaps it’s my background” CIA training it seemed had it’s uses in many ways. “And our dreams differ slightly, the ones we shared were lighter than the ones he has now. I do not have those”
Elizabeth nodded as she listened intently. “A different set of Dreams? That’s interesting, I’ve not heard of that happening before,” she replied, fascinated by the concept. “There are others from your Dreams as well, is that right? Do they have a similar kind of dichotomy like D’Artagnan? Or are they more like you?”
“Yes, almost like different versions of the same story I suppose” Athos explained, he’d heard a few people with similar experiences but only thanks to research done by the Agency. “I believe Aramis struggles sometimes, but he doesn’t really talk of it. Porthos is much more like me”
“Fascinating,” Elizabeth shook her head before clearing her throat. “Well now I know a bit more about what you’d like to avoid I’ll have another look for you. Give me until tomorrow night and I’ll find a couple of other venues for you,” she smiled, reaching for her wine. “Is that ok?”
“Perfectly fine. Thank you again Elizabeth, your help is invaluable” Athos told her, picking up his own wine, “And dinner is superb”
“You’re more than welcome my friend,” Elizabeth smiled. “My door is always open if you ever feel like coming over. I may not know exactly what to say, but I’ve always been a good listener. Plus you coming round forces me to use my oven for something other than storage,” she winked over the lip of her glass at him.
"Thank you that is very kind. I'll have to cook for you one evening for the three of us. You need to see Grim now, he's definitely growing fast" It was good for him and D'Artagnan to socialise more and Elizabeth was a good person.