CHAPTER 1: SEE NO EVIL

Arthur celebrated his thirtieth birthday at Christmastime at Minton Hall the family home, with all the pomp expected by his family. His main present was a Maserati Grancabrio a birthday gift from his father. No expense had been spared on the dark green exterior with a sand coloured interior. Friends nodded in agreement when his father suggested that the car stay in the country and Arthur stick with his Jag as his everyday car but Arthur was determined to return to London with his birthday present at least for the first week after receiving it.

After the weekend, he left to return to the city with a friend from his University days. A semi-trailer lost control swerving across the M40 taking out six cars with four fatalities including Arthur's passenger a young and upcoming lawyer and family friend. Air ambulances were used to transport the critically injured to London and Arthur was taken to the Royal London Trauma Centre. His broken bones would heal but the fact that he remained unconscious was worrying.

Uther Arthur's father had sympathised with the dead man's family but then added selfishly, "Well, at least you could mourn Rupert and get on with your life while I am in limbo was an undead heir." The family in mourning attributed the remark to stress and sorrow but Uther's closest friends knew that that was exactly how Arthur's father felt about his son's lying in a hospital bed with no future.

Following the accident, his father was in force at Arthur's bedside everyday but as the length of time increased during which the doctors would only shake their heads and murmur platitudes, the visits dropped off. Once the all clear was given that friends were permitted, Arthur's room was never empty. His friends kept a vigil for the three weeks then…the numbers began to fall.

Merlin heard one comment at the water cooler at work that if Arthur was unable to realise who the visitor was, what benefit would it be to the visitor to waste time visiting him? That attitude had made his feel very uncomfortable.

Arthur remained in a deep coma. His father had hired around the clock private nurses. He was completely involved. However as time passed and his business schedule called for more of his time, he began to rely more on the doctors' reports and the daily calls from his own nursing staff than personal visits. His son didn't even know that he was alive let alone have the ability to talk.

As time passed, only Gawaine still made the effort and if he were in town, he would visit. One day, he took Merlin aside explaining that as he would be out of town for a week, "Could you do me a favour and drop by for ten minutes so that at least Arthur will be guaranteed one visitor? You can come with me today and I'll introduce him to you."

Merlin nodded as Gawaine was his immediate superior and had been very supportive when he had first joined the company. Merlin was no stranger to hospitals as he had been a faithful visitor during his grandmother's lasts months.

"Maybe meet is over-simplifying the situation. He's in a coma but he's a good chap and I think you'll like him."

...and so, after work, he and Gawaine set out for the Royal London Trauma Centre.

-0-0-

A nurse opened the door and ushered them into Arthur's room saying, "A half hour visit and no sitting on the bed!"

The room was half filled with machines. Arthur lay as if he was asleep and Gawaine kept expecting him to open his eyes any moment. "Should we talk?" he asked.

Merlin nodded saying quietly, "Just as if he is in the conversation but has nothing to offer at the moment." He smiled sadly knowing that that statement described the severity of the situation. Arthur always had an opinion on whatever was being discussed so Gawaine just nodded sadly.

That is what they did, mentioning all the happenings during the day and making sure to say Arthur's name frequently as if to include him in the chatter.

"Arthur, you would have laughed to have seen Leon followed by his latest shadow, a young woman to whose family your father owes a favour no less. She's very attractive and people seem to perk up when Leon approaches with her in tow. Gawaine even jumped up and opened the door for them…"

"I did not, it just happened that I was leaving at the same time."

The various medical staff dealing with Arthur smiled at the two visitors who seemed so at ease in their patient's room as opposed to the patient's father who on his infrequent visits was surrounded by specialists and glared at the son who had caused him such inconvenience and who was stubbornly refusing to come out of his coma.

-0-0-

By the end of January with no change in his condition, Arthur was moved to St. Swithin's. Merlin although a newcomer to Pendragon Holdings had a flat nearby so he visited with Gawaine whenever possible, the two of them becoming Arthur's only regular visitors. Merlin was recognised by the nursing staff on the floor who agreed that his regular visits might be beneficial to their patient.

Gawaine again had to go out of town so Merlin promised to continue visiting and agreed to keep Arthur informed as to what Gawaine was up to. Merlin's mother was a little worried that the stress of daily visits might be negative for her son but Merlin visited her on the weekends, full of the news of Gawaine and how well Arthur was looking and how kind the nurses were, one of whom always managed to drop by with a cup of tea when she saw Merlin arrive.

"Mum, he's getting better I'm sure. I can read some of the machines and one of the nurses said that his heart beat increases slightly when he hears my voice. That has to be good, doesn't it?"

Hunith who had nursed before Merlin came along had nodded, the raise in heartbeat might have been a coincidence but she wasn't going to dampen her son's mood. "Merlin, just prepare yourself for the fact that Arthur may never wake up or he might even slip away while he is in the coma."

Merlin nodded but he pushed those ideas into the back of his mind and doggedly continued his daily visits.

"Arthur, I saw that they have painted your office, it is a shade of grey, well really greenish-grey." He laughed, "That sounds awful but it is really lovely and your oil painting above the fireplace looks fabulous against it. The sofa of your three piece has been redone in a deep red leather and the other two chairs have been reupholstered. You're not going to recognise the place."

Merlin paused and though about what his mother had said. Maybe Arthur would never see his office again, even if he did recover and leave the hospital. He'd been doing a bit of reading and knew that the longer the coma lasted the more difficult it was for the body to rebound.

-0-0-

Winter finally had its hold on London; Merlin noticed the evergreen and dried berry displays in some of the window boxes of the Georgian houses he walked by on his way to work. He always promised himself that one day, he would live in a row house which surrounded its own private square.

Poor Arthur, whether he liked it or not, was regaled with the antics the birds on Merlin's window sill and the condition of the icy pavements. He was no better, if anything he seemed to have shrunk in size but one nice thing was that one of the doctor's had spoken to Merlin and told him that as the regular physio treatments were important, Merlin could also help by touching Arthur during his visits.

The doctor had laughed at Merlin's look of surprise. He said, "You don't have to but you could hold his hand and massage his fingers. Physical contact is good as is talking. Did you know that many times the ocular nerves are the last to go? So keep chatting to him, sit close to him and you can even stroke his arm. Don't be afraid of him. You can't hurt him by touching him. Actually, there is a course at this hospital for family members regarding the physical side of healing, if you are interested, I can get you enrolled." Merlin's smile said it all.

"Very well, I'll put you name forward for the next course, they are held daily but I'm sure that Arthur can spare you for half an hour each evening. How long have you two been friends?" The doctor was surprised when Merlin confessed that they weren't actual friends just that he worked for the same firm as Arthur and that he had started to visit accompanying one of Arthur's friends and then it had become a habit. "I don't even know that he knows my name I'm just someone whose superior is one of his close friends."

"You'd be surprised, Merlin, at how much a person in a coma can be conscious of. I'm sure that at this moment, he knows who you are." The doctor looked at Arthur's stats seeing that the nurses had listed Merlin as a regular visitor. "He probably recognises your voice and relaxes once he hears it every day."

The doctor refrained from saying that the nursing staff felt that from the stats it seems that Arthur was attuned with the voice of the man who spent hours chatting to him.

-0-0-

Merlin did take advantage of the evening sessions of Touch Therapy. It took some courage as it felt strange holding Arthur's hand without his permission but Merlin was encouraged by the nurses to take his hand and massage it as he spoke to him. He told his mother and she agreed that the physical contact was important.

In time, it became second nature for Merlin, to walk into Arthur's room, pull up a chair, sit down and take Arthur's hand and chat with him which might have been a stretch of the imagination, as he thought chatting at him was a better choice of words. He now thought of Arthur as his 'Captive Ear'. It never refused anything he said and it was not judgemental. He realised that over the last four weeks, he was telling him things which he would never have told anyone else. How he felt, what made his heart race and even talked about things which made him sad, though he tried desperately to appear upbeat before Arthur.

One evening, he was conscious of a lot of activity in the hallway and he glanced out to see a doctor hurrying down the corridor. He recognised him as Richard Fells, the doctor who had suggested the course on Touch Therapy. He returned later, dropping into Arthur's room as he noticed Merlin was there. He smiled sadly at Merlin, "We just lost a patient, been in a coma for seven years. Keep doing your best with Arthur, I know it is unrewarding to have no response but one day Arthur might be able thank you for your perseverance."

Merlin learned later that the deceased had been a forty-five year old woman had had no visitors the whole time she had been a St. Swithin's. Bills were paid promptly by the family but there no contact. He felt sad, seven years in the prison of your body. Please God, she was not conscious enough to realise that she had been abandoned by her loved ones. The thought kept nagging him, Arthur might not be conscious but someone cared for him enough to visit him.

That night as he lay in bed, Merlin prayed that Arthur would never be without visitors. He thought, 'Arthur, don't leave me, I promise I'll be with you for as long as I am able.' He felt emotional and lonely.

Arthur was racing along in front of him. "For heaven's sake, Merlin, catch up. The tide's not going to wait forever."

'Well, if you hadn't left me to carry all the stuff, I might have been able to run faster!' Merlin said to himself.

They had spent the day on the island peninsula and now had to get back to the mainland before they were caught out by the tide. He didn't relish having to wade the last stretch and was determined to stay dry as Arthur might just make him walk home as he wouldn't want him getting the interior of the car messed up.

Arthur had reached the mainland rocks and scrambled up them, turning he reached out his hand and grabbed Merlin's. His touch caused Merlin a moment of pleasure but it was short lived as Arthur said, "Honestly, I don't know how you survive in the world without me!"

Merlin out of breath collapsed in a pile of fishing gear, books and blankets. He looked up at Arthur smiling, "I think we're going to have to get a porter to carry all this stuff in future."

"Why, Merlin, you make a perfectly good servant… Come on, your mother promised us supper and I for one am hungry and I can almost taste her stew."

Merlin smiled, his mother had accepted Arthur into the family without any question. She also seemed to treat him differently than any of Merlin's other friends. He couldn't put his finger on it but it was as if Arthur was for some unknown reason, special to her. They picked up their gear and made their way up to the headland.

Arthur smiled at Merlin as he got into the green car with the tan interior.

He woke suddenly, all his nerves on end. One part of his mind enjoying the happy dream and the other realising that that is what it was only a dream, Arthur was still immobile in a hospital bed and his feeling for him were getting stronger.

-0-0-

He'd been listening to the talk around the office and someone had mentioned that the steeple chasing was in full swing. Merlin's mind flashed back to his grandmother. He knew that Arthur rode and decided he'd tell him about his grandmother next time he visited.

He turned to Arthur and smiled, "This spring, the Grand Nation will be in April and some of the possible runners were mentioned in the paper yesterday. So, you and I are going to have bets as to who will win." He took a sheet out of his pocket and read through the possible runners' names. "See, one is called Drop Leaf as in drop leaf table and as you are King Arthur it ties in with Round Table very nicely. Don't you think so? So, that's yours and I'm taking Flight because of my name. Our second choices are Welsh Rarebit for me and I chose Lamborghini for you because you like cars, right?" His grandmother had always chosen horses for major races and now that she was gone he had kept up the tradition. He looked at Arthur and smiled and for a moment was surprised when he didn't answer. He'd momentarily forgotten as he was so involved with the names of the horses.

He sobered up wondering how much longer Arthur was going to be in his own little world. Did he even hear anything? Was his mind understanding some of what was being said or was it only picking up the tones and inflections of the speech…or maybe nothing.

"Arthur, I know you're there. You might think I sometimes talk nonsense but it my way of coping with the situation. I know there must be other people who you would like to be listening to but I'm all there is." He realised that he was becoming emotional; this was not good he was supposed to be upbeat. He suppressed a sob but couldn't stop the tears which started running down his cheeks. "I've stupidly begun to think of you as my best friend and that isn't right. If you knew more about me you would probably not be interested in even having me as an acquaintance."

He smiled through his tears. He was who he was and that was that. He got control of himself and said, "Did I tell you that Gawaine might be coming by around noon? He's picking up Bridie as they are having a lunch date."

As he spoke, Gawaine waltzed in, "Morning, Merlin! Morning, Arthur! What tall tales has he been telling you this morning?" He glanced at Merlin and noticed his tear-streaked cheeks. He put his hand on his shoulder, "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, I just for a moment forgot that Arthur wasn't speaking and I lost it. I'm all right now."

Gawaine lowered his voice, "You and I are going to have a little chat tonight. Maybe, you need to pull back a bit…"

"I'm fine really; it was just a momentary blip in an otherwise lovely morning."

"Arthur, what lovely flowers, has one of your girlfriends been around?" He glanced from the bunch of assorted coloured flowers and noticed that Merlin was blushing. He quickly corrected himself saying, "They brighten the room," before adding as he glanced at Merlin, "Someone cares…Merlin, you should have brought in some roses. They really smell lovely and they are my Bridie's favourite flower."

Merlin just shook his head laughing. He realised that Gawaine's friendship with Bridie was more serious than he realised. He only hoped that Gawaine would behave himself as he didn't have the best record with woman.

Gawaine suddenly remembered about work. "Arthur, guess what? Your PA got engaged. We even took up a collection and got her a gift. I think you probably know the man as she's been with him for four years. Wedding is in the summer, so you'd better get yourself organised as I'm sure you'll be invited and probably Merlin as well that is if he behaves himself."

The two of them kept talking about work and Gawaine also talked about football and the team. Finally, there was a tap on the door and Bridie came in. "Hi, Arthur, it's me Bridie, I'm off duty now and am taking one of your visitors with me."

Gawaine went to the side of the bed and touched Arthur's hand as he had seen Merlin do saying, "Got to go now, but will be in to see you again soon. Merlin will be staying a little longer but then he has to leave as well. He nodded at Merlin mouthing, 'Tonight, you and I will talk!'