InsaneJournal

Who: Anne and Athos
What: Meeting and memories
Where: Baxter's Bakery
When: Mid March
Rating: Low
Status: Complete


It had been a while since Athos had run into Anne, he was fairly sure she’d told Constance about him accidentally calling her ‘Your Majesty’ but then D’Artagnan had found that amusing himself and he couldn’t deny it would have been an amusing story to tell a friend. Thankfully it sounded like the girls were good sports about the whole thing, though he wasn’t sure about their dreaming. He thought Constance had already had a couple but hadn’t heard anything about Anne.

Entering Baxter’s he stood in line and almost as if he’d conjured her up from his mind found himself behind the woman he’d been thinking about, “Anne?” he said with a smile, “Good to see you. How are you settling in?”

Lost in her own thoughts, Anne spun round at the sound of her name, her skirt spinning out from her as she did. “Athos! Sorry, I was...lost in my own thoughts, I...how are you?” she asked, slightly taken aback at seeing one of the men from her Dreams in her waking life. Having met him once before, she had just assumed he had looked eerily similar, but now it was uncanny and she found herself staring, slightly dumbfounded by the realisation.

“Then I apologise for interrupting” he said with a small smile, “I’m well thank you. And yourself?” He noticed she was looking at him oddly but he wasn’t entirely sure why. He could guess but that seemed presumptuous and he’d already made a spectacle of himself in front of her once.

“Oh that’s, that’s quite all right,” Anne smiled and shook her head. “They weren’t particularly...constructive thoughts,” she told him. “I uh… I don’t suppose you have time to sit down and talk, do you?” she asked, gesturing to the seating in the shop.

Athos nodded, “For you I can always find time” he told her, “Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll order for us, what was it you’d like?” he asked.

“Thank you, that’s very kind, I would very much like a cup of tea please,” Anne smiled, holding her hand out to hand over a few dollar bills for him to take.

Waving off the money he said, “It’s on me” before stepping forward in the queue to get their order while she got their table. Ordering a couple of cheeky slices of cake too he picked up the tray once it was ready and took it to the table, “I took the liberty” he said as he placed the cake in front of her, “I hope you don’t mind”

“Oh, thank you very much Athos,” Anne smiled and put the bills away in her purse, heading off to sit at a table for them both. On her way there, she picked up some spoons, sugar and napkins from the station and laid them out on the table while she waited for him to arrive.

When he placed the cake in front of her, she looked up at him in surprise. “Oh, you shouldn’t have, but thank you very much,” she smiled at him, starting to prepare her tea cup. “So um...how have you been? It’s been a while,” she said, trying to ignore the urge to say monsieur.

“You’re very welcome” Athos said, sorting his own tea out. “I’ve been very well thank you. The word seems to be spreading and D’Artagnan and I have a steady stream of work now. And you? How is the hotel doing?”

“That’s great, congratulations,” Anne smiled at him as she stirred her tea. “If there’s anything I can do to help your endeavours, please let me know,” she told him genuinely. “The hotel is going well thank you. Constance and I have started looking at local competition in the area for comparison. Sort of like secret shopper work,” she told him.

“Thank you” he smiled, he really was proud of where they were at since it had been a bit of a gamble. He chuckled at that, “I imagine that would be rather fun. Constance is the one going undercover I assume?” Anne was far too recognisable thanks to her social status, even Athos knew her family name when it came to hospitality.

“Yes, I'm a little bit more well known than Constance, I do a bit more networking with local businesses after all,” Anne explained. “I think she's enjoying it though, it gives her a chance to vent any pent up anger she might have,” she grinned at Athos over the lip of the cup as she brought it to her lips and blew across its surface.

Athos nodded, that certainly made sense. “Oh I imagine she’s thriving on it” he said, he didn’t know her much at all here but if her personality was anything similar to the dreams she was a headstrong smart woman and he could see her having a lot of fun.

“That she is,” Anne grinned and put her tea down after a careful sip. “So um...I wanted to ask you something, do you...do you have Dreams? That you are in another time and place?” she asked cautiously, keeping her eyes on her tea as she played with the handle of the cup.

Smiling at the question Athos nodded, before noticing Anna wasn’t looking at him, “Ones where you might be a queen of France you mean?” he asked, really hoping he was on the right track.

Anne looked up at him in surprise, her mouth agape. “You...you know?” she asked, sounding not at all like the intelligent woman she was supposed to be. “And you are Athos? Comte de la Fere? One of the King’s Musketeers?”

“I am indeed, or rather the dream version of me is” he smiled at her, “I’ve been dreaming for a while now. Hence my accidentally calling you ‘majesty’ when we first met, you caught me by surprise” he admitted.

Anne gave a little chuckle at that. “I did wonder,” she smiled, relaxing somewhat now that she didn't think she was quite so crazy anymore. “And your husband? D’Artagnan has these Dreams too?”

Athos nodded, “He does indeed. Obviously we aren’t married in the dreams, not to each other anyway” he smiled, “But we’re definitely dreamers too. So you don’t need to worry about thinking you’re going mad or anything”

Anne sat back in her seat and smiled at him in relief. “Thank god, I was really starting to worry,” she shook her head at him and took a sip of her tea. “So how long have you been here? How long have you been Dreaming?” she asked.

“Oh I’ve been here over 3 years now” he told her, “And dreaming for almost as long, it started not long after I moved here. I used to be a trainer for the CIA” he told her, which was about the limit of what he could say about his previous job.

“Which I imagine explains why you're so good at your current profession,” Anne smiled, picking up a fork and carving off a piece of the cake in front of her. “God, I haven't even told Constance about these Dreams yet, I wonder if she’s had them yet,” she said, shaking her head as she gazed down at the cake.

“I believe she has” Athos said, “D’Artagnan certainly seems to think so anyway” he revealed before taking a mouthful of his own cake, “Some people struggle more than others to separate the dreams from reality” he told her when he’d swallowed, “Thankfully I am not one of them but D’Artagnan struggles sometimes. I think he would prefer the more adventurous musketeer life sometimes”

“That must be difficult. It wasn't exactly an easy life for you all from what I remember,” Anne looked at him somewhat sadly. “Hopefully I won't start acting too Queenly in real life. If I do, I give you and Constance permission to give me a gentle humbling nudge,” she smiled at him.

“Not easy no but we were never short of adventure” Athos said, he understood why D’Artagnan was drawn by the excitement of it. “Well I am sure Constance will have no problem doing that, I’m sure if anything it would only ever suit you though”

“So it would seem, you never exactly seem to be lacking in that department,” Anne grinned cheekily. “Oh yes, I have no doubt that she would be the first to slap some sense into me,” she laughed. “Speaking of which, we should do dinner or something when you’re next free. D’Artagnan too if he’s available?” she offered.

“I think that would be lovely and I am sure D’Artagnan would enjoy it too” Athos said with a nod, it would certainly be an interesting dinner. That was for sure.