Well if we're having a plot night (high-fives Spaniel...)
Previously.. she went to say sorry to Treville, had an argument and fell over again. (She's remarkably accident prone...) And there's another (shorter) post of plot before I crack on with smut again. It's another epic-length one too - sorry.
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Her head hit the floor with a hollow thud, and by the time Treville had reached her the blood was already pooling around her head and spreading across the floor. He swore and knelt down beside her, then hurried to a cupboard and pulled out a box, dropped it on the floor next to her and pulled out the dressings. He lifted her head to put a wad of material against the cut - the brief glimpse he got showed that it was now significantly larger than the original wound had been. He considered the options and sighed heavily - his stitches were fine for the battlefield, but not for this.
"Kate?" her eyelids flickered slightly "Just keep still a minute, I need to get some help..." He went out onto the balcony, surveying the yard and spotted them in a corner. Catching their eye he beckoned them up and returned to the office: they followed, puzzled by the joint summons.
......
She woke, confused. Her head was throbbing again and she could hear shouting and the sound of swords clashing together. She tried to turn her head from the wall she was facing and felt suddenly sick. Where was she? What had happened? She tried to get her brain to work... there was a hazy recollection of fighting against someone - hands holding her down, a voice shouting at her to keep still. And something else - she raised her hand to feel the bandage wrapped round her head, then gritted her teeth and turned her head. Treville's office - she'd been in his office - a sudden stab of pain shot through her head and she closed her eyes again.
The next time she surfaced she caught snatches of a conversation in muted tones "She can't... ...no fit state..." There were a few choice curses "...two or three hours. ...looking for her..." There was a pause, followed by silence. Maybe they'd left, she didn't care - her head felt unbearable, and her wrist ached. She shivered, a sudden chill running through her and she tried to curl up into a ball. "Kate?" Ignore, she decided, ignore them and they'll go away. She retreated back into the dark.
She opened her eyes again - she was lying on a bed - Treville's office. The argument came flooding back to her, and his last comment. She could recall how outraged she'd felt at the time, but somehow couldn't re-create the same feeling now - she was well aware that his reaction was fuelled by concern, and in his position she'd probably have been just as angry. The question now was how to retrieve the situation.
Treville was sitting at his desk, head resting on his hands, furious with himself for having handled the situation so badly. He knew well enough by now that shouting at her would get him nowhere, and as for his last comment - he cringed inwardly at the look on her face - how did he even begin to apologise for that. Added to that was the fiasco of trying to get her head stitched up... he had no idea where the knife had come from - it wasn't the one she had thrown earlier, but she'd been impressively fast when he'd tried to hold her still. He glanced down at the thin cut across his left hand.
"What happened?" He started, and looked round to see her propped up on her elbows, regarding him warily through the metalwork of the footboard.
"You split your head open again - we had to stitch it... You weren't overly cooperative."
She heard the understatement in his voice and winced "Was anyone hurt?"
"Nothing serious. Some bruised pride... you were ok once you'd been persuaded to put the knife down." She sat up on the bed "Please don't try to get up yet, I've had enough excitement for one morning. Kate..." his voice trailed off. "I'm sorry, what I said... it was inexcusable..."
She leant against the footboard. "It doesn't matter"
"It does! I effectively accused you of being.."
She interrupted "It doesn't matter. I haven't the energy to take offence when none was intended. Though for the record. No. I've done enough under orders to get hung several times over, but I don't whore myself out."
He picked up the bottle of brandy and filled two glasses, walked round the desk and sat down on the bed next to her, passing over the smaller glass.
She took a sip "Really, I'm sorry, it's turned into a complete mess." She closed her eyes briefly. "God knows I've stuffed this one up on so many levels... and I know you haven't a clue what's going on, but I need you to trust me, I really need you to trust me...." her voice faded away as she looked blankly across the room.
He knocked his drink back and looked at her. "Just for God's sake don't leave me hanging like that again... and whatever it is that's going on - be careful?"
He looked her over, taking in her pallor, the smears of blood on her skin, her hair an unpleasant shade of red where the blood had soaked in. She was unconsciously rubbing her wrist too. At least her dress was dark enough not to show the stains. "How are you feeling?"
She snorted, looking grimly amused "Well, how do I look...? Try that for starters and add some obscenities of your choice - I doubt you'll be far off the mark..... Mistress Fournier is NOT going to be impressed with me. Lord knows what Lady Ana's going to say... can I just hide here for a few days?"
He smiled "I suspect she'd still track you down." They sat in silence again. "What are you going to do?"
She shrugged. "Get married, unless the Cardinal blocks it. In which case..." She shook her head "I honestly have no idea - run for the hills... Is it going to cause problems? Him being married?"
"It's..." he paused, recalling Lady Ana's description of them "unconventional, but I doubt it will causes any major headaches. Unless you're expecting him start keeping regular hours and be back every night."
Kate gazed back innocently, eyes wide "Well of course?! And I was planning to retire from court and spend my days doing needlework and, um, flower arranging?" He laughed, blue eyes twinkling as he tried to visualise the unlikely scenario. She grinned back, relieved. "That's never going to happen is it. No, we'll figure it out between us."
He looked at her. There was a bit of colour back in her face, but she still looked drained. There were steps on the stairs and a sharp rap at the door. Treville opened it and had a short conversation with someone, then Mistress Fournier came in. She looked at Kate, lips tight with anger and put down her basket.
"We'll need clean water - warm if you've got it." Kate opened her mouth to speak, and shut it again as Mistress Fournier glared at her "I don't want to hear it. I told you to REST..." She shook her head, irritated, muttering under her breath. Treville shot Kate a sympathetic look and retreated to the yard.
Half an hour later the worst of the blood had been rinsed from her hair, the dressing removed and her face washed. The stitches had been grudgingly approved, and cream smeared over the cut.
Mistress Fournier left to arrange a carriage. Treville came back in, relived to see her cleaned up.
"You need to get some rest. We'll call for you on our way to see the Cardinal - I assume he wants to talk about sorting out the paperwork."
Kate left his office and saw the four of them eating at the table below, he was sitting next to Porthos, with the other two opposite. She walked carefully down the steps.
"Shove up!" she sat down on the bench, picked up some bread and dipped it in his bowl of stew. He raised an eyebrow and she shrugged and smiled faintly "I need to eat something."
He nodded at the office above them "You good?" She looked absently at the bread in her hand.
"Yep, we're good." She glanced up "Thanks for the stitches."
There was silence as she chewed on the bread. Porthos finally spoke. "Nice knifework."
She looked slightly surprised, then realised - Rochefort "Hmmm. Wasn't bad, though I was aiming for his head..." There was a momentary stunned silence, one of them choking slightly on his ale. She looked at them in blandly then smirked and shook her head at the expressions on their faces. "Honestly, are you lot always this gullible? If I was aiming for a target as big as his head I'd have hit it."
Porthos burst out laughing, clapping his friend on the shoulder, then leaned forwards and grinned along the table at her. "Norah wants to see you, by the way."
She winced, "She's designing wedding dresses isn't she?" his grin widened and she shook her head despairingly "I don't need another dress."
"She said you'd say that too..."
Treville looked down to the source of the laughter and smiled slightly. They were crowded round the table together, her chin propped on a hand as she listened to the banter surrounding her, the other hand resting on her lap under the table. As he turned away a slight movement caught his eye as another hand reached under the table to briefly cover hers. Had Lady Ana been right? She was extremely observant and, he had to admit, rarely wrong in her assessments. He stepped back into his office as Kate stood up to leave.