"I know you will be a good father," says Aramis, her conviction as present as ever, if more gently rendered this time. "I would pledge my life, my soul, every scrap of honor I have on it, and if somehow you are not, I know that you will learn. I will never tire of you, Porthos, and..."

Aramis pauses, waiting out the growing lump in her throat. "I could live without you, but it would only ever be a shade of life, I could never be truly happy again, I know that. That is what I fear most - that I will fail to give you family, and you will leave." It would not be the first time in her life, and Aramis does not know how to endure that again, especially when the man to be lost is Porthos.