Disclaimer: I do not own anything. They're just playing with me in my head for awhile
J: And Voila! The sequel to Good Morning. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
He can sense Gwen hovering there by the doorway, biting her lip, unsure what to do, how to deal. The world begins to spin around him as he lifted his head from his morning breakfast in the basin. Wrinkling his nose as he took in a whiff of the smell, he muttered, "I'm fine Gwen. Really." He managed a smile in the general direction of where she was. Over the wetness in his eyes, he could sense he tentative smile; the one she gave when she didn't really particularly believe in something.
Gwen comes in as Merlin starts to get up from his kneeling position. "You really should stay in bed." She says eventually as she props him up in bed. "That's the second morning this week you've retched up everything you ate." 'Fourth. If you count the time I made it disappear from my sheets and the time I retched onto Lady Valisa's morning potion that she took everyday to keep slim. Although the blubber that stood out in silk still had no sign of shrinking down.' Merlin thought wryly. Gulping down the potion from the goblet Gwen held to his lips, he took in another breath.
"Guinevere can you leave us, please?" Gaius said quietly from the door. They hadn't seen him arrive, but the maidservant nodded nonetheless. Smiling as she turned, she kissed her friend's sweaty brow. Whispering a soft promise to be back after she has tended to her lady, the door closes with a soft thud.
It's not often Merlin sees Gaius this way; lips thinned into a worried line, eyes narrowed, and eyebrows high, hands clasped in front. The only times this expression comes through, someone is dying, almost dying, died. So, this does not bode well. The court physician had taken some urine samples from him earlier on, besides a myriad variation of bodily fluids. "C'mon Gaius. Spit it out. It can't be that bad, can it?" He managed a grin as the old man bends to sit in the chair.
"You're with child Merlin. How bad is that for you?" The eyebrows furrowed.
For his part, Merlin merely widened his blue eyes comically, and widened his lips into a little 'O'. And then, it began.
First was the furniture around the room that lifted a few good inches off the ground and began to shake violently. Then were the vials of simmering potions on the work table that became little volcanoes. Next were the bowls, glasses and bottles that came smashing down onto the floor as the whole room vibrated and shook.
"Merlin! Merlin!!"
"A-Am preg-nant. With child. A child. A baby." He muttered dazedly to himself. Absently, he clasped a hand over his clothed belly. "A baby. In me." Blue eyes began to gain focus again. As he looked at his mentor, the room began to settle down. Gaius sighed and looked him straight in the eye.
"Well, you're certainly taking this well." After a beat. "It is Arthur's. Isn't it?"
Mirroring the earlier eyebrow, Merlin retorted, "What do you think? Is my virtue so easy, you think?" Swallowing the building bile, "Of course it's his. It can't be anyone but his. How did this happen? How could it have happened? I'm a man. And Arthur's….a man… How could it?" The other man simply took his hand in his and smiled sympathetically. "What now, Gaius? What now?"
"We… have to tell the king-"
"NO!" Merlin shot up. Instantly dizzy again. "We can't. We can't tell him. We just can't. Please." Making a grab at Gauis, his eyes were blue and crazed. "Gaius. We can't tell him. He'll see this as magic. As evil. A-And I can't…. I. This child." Placing a hand over his belly, "This is wrong. I could die. Gaius, I could die."
The hand that landed against his cheek was more to wake him up and calm him down than in anger. "Are you listening to yourself Merlin?" The physician asked, eyebrows dangerously raised higher into his hairline. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair. "The theory I have, the only theory I have as to why this happened is because of your magic. A sudden surge caused by…." He gazed softly at the man in the bed looking at him intently. "Caused by Arthur's… Disappearance." He finished cautiously, watching. Blue eyes merely looked down, and then turned upwards towards the window. Shaking his head slowly, he looked straight into his mentor's eyes.
"He's not dead, Gaius. I can feel it. I know he's not dead."
"We haven't heard anything…"
"He's not DEAD!" Merlin shouted eyes ablaze. I'm.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't have done that." He was immediately stopped short by warm arms enveloping him in a flurry of spices and herbs. "Gaius…"
"I believe you, Merlin." Quietly. "If you say he's still alive, then he must be. All I'm asking you to do now is to think about the predicament you are in. You're a man. And above all, pregnant. The best thing I can think of for you to do now, is to go back to Ealdor- No, Merlin listen to me." He cut Merlin off just as he was about to speak. "Go back to Ealdor. Let Hunith take care of you. When the child is here, you can pose it as your cousin, or Gods! Even my unbeknownst grandchild if you must." Grasping him by his bony shoulders, he sighed. "You have to be safe. You can't think about yourself anymore. Not with Arthur's child in you."
"His WHAT??" Both of them jumped at the voice of Uther Pendragon, Turning slowly, they saw his face in a rather fetching shade of puce. "He's pregnant??? With my grandchild???" Striding over to his bedside, the king frowned and then softened, "Are you sure? Is he really? He still looks like a pile of bones stuff into a sack of pallid skin."
"Yes, my lord. It is true. I have done every test I can think of. Timing the pregnancy with the time that the prince rode out to the borders, it all coincides. And…. I believe it to be a little spell casted perhaps in unawares, Sire." Here, he shot Merlin his eyebrows, as if telling him to keep his pie hole shut. "The prince and his manservant would never have known of it."
"Is there anyway to undo it?" Uther's eyes were still on Merlin. "More importantly, is this… child, normal?"
"There's noth-"
"It is still too early to tell, but I am confident the child will be born healthy." Another shot of the eyebrow of doom. "The condition is irreversible, I'm afraid. Merlin will just have to carry the child to term." The two older men shared an unspoken gaze. Merlin cleared his throat.
"Do I get to have a say in this?"
Piercing him with a withering look, the older Pendragon had a sudden air of purpose again around him. "No you don't. Pack whatever you need. I'll send some servants round here later to pick up your things."
"Um… Are you dismissing me, Sire?" The brunette swallowed thickly.
A blink and a furrowed brow later, "I always thought you had a mental affliction." Getting up, he clapped him on the shoulder and smiled, unnervingly. "You are moving into Arthur's quarters, where you probably spend most of your time already." Straightening his jacket, he huffed, "You're a prince's consort now. You're carrying an heir to Camelot's throne. My grandchild. Arthur's child." Smiling again, only this time a little more endearing, "He'd want to know that his child and its mother had been treated well while he was gone." With that he left the room, stopping by Gaius to whisper something in his ear. Merlin took note of how his eyes widened and then softened, his lips turning upwards in a smile. When he was gone, the court physician sat on the bed next to his protégé.
"Looks like you've amounted to something. The king wants you to be acquitted from your duties henceforth and for me to attend to you personally." Grimacing, Gauis merely stared as laughter began to fill the room only to die down a few seconds later.
"Wait…. Did he… call me, its mother??" This time, Gaius laughed harder and smiled wider in the bright afternoon sun than he'd ever remembered him to. Merlin couldn't help but smile along as well.
"Wow. Family moment. Touching." Morgana's soft voice from the doorway broke the spell. Although when she came closer into the room, her eyes were nothing but bright and her lips curled up into a soft smile. Sitting down on the bed next to him she took his hand, worrying her bottom lip, contemplating what to say. "Merlin, Uther told me… About the baby." She started slowly.
"My lady…"
"Merlin, let me finish." A nod from Gaius from the other side encouraged her on. "Please keep the child. Not for my sake, nor for Uther's, nor for yours. Keep it… Keep it for Arthurs'." Looking him straight in the eye, she lowered her voice down to a whisper. "You know he's still alive. You can feel it can't you?"
"My lady, have you… have you seen something?" Merlin asked quietly. "Morgana, tell me!" He exclaimed.
Pale slender fingers extricated themselves from his hands and cupped his face. "Yes." She said sadly. And the child in him hummed.