Author's note: this is my first modern AU and I think it will probably be about 6 or 7 parts. Hope you enjoy it x
'Merlin!' she exclaimed as she saw the person standing on her doorstep, 'what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be meeting Freya at the airport in-' she looked down at her watch '-half an hour?'
'Yep and that's kinda why I'm here actually'
'Merlin she flew all the way back from the US to celebrate your anniversary'
'Yes I know'
'Well shouldn't you be going?'
'Yes, but before I go I need to ask you a massive favour'
Oh dear, that didn't sound good. Gwen had a sneaking suspicion she was not going to like this.
'Yes?' she asked a little hesitantly.
'Could someone from work maybe stay round yours for a few days?'
'Someone?'
'It would only be for a few days.'
'Someone who Merlin?
'Arthur' he mumbled.
'Arthur as in your boss? The biggest jerk on the planet, the guy who you are constantly complaining about? That Arthur?'
He nodded glumly.
'If he needs somewhere to sleep why can't he just go to a hotel, I'm pretty sure his daddy can afford it'
'It actually because of his dad he needs somewhere to stay. Do you know anything about Arthur's mum?'
'She was a famous actress wasn't she? And didn't she die when he was a baby?'
'Yep, died in a plane crash when he was six months old or something. Given the fact that she was a big time celeb and married to one of the biggest business tycoon's in the country the police suspected it
might have been foul play, but after investigation they decided that the private jet's engine must have just failed midflight. But anyway, some new evidence has just surfaced apparently and they've taken Mr
Pendragon into custody.'
'Shit' she breathed.
'Yeah and the paparazzi have staked out the house, Arthur's apartment, work, the Pendragon Hotels, and they've even got a few at Heathrow and Gatwick.'
'Have they got no shame?'
'It's a massive story Gwen, Uther was never even suspected in the initial investigation'
'Has Arthur spoken to him?'
'Yeah and Uther's only advice was for him to lie low for a while until the storm passes'
'And that's where I come in, correct?'
'It's our one year anniversary and she made the effort to come out specially and I've got this whole romantic weekend planned and I managed to get time off work for once and having Arthur crashing on my
sofa might well dampen the mood' he said pleadingly.
'Merlin' she whined.
'Gwen' he begged, his eyes wide and pathetic.
She grimaced, she was going to regret this.
'Fine, I'll take him. But you owe me BIG time Merlin'
'Yes' he grinned, 'yes I do. Tell you what, I'll buy you some chocolates'
'For what I'm doing you should buy me a bloody factory!'
'I love you Gwen!' he said hugging her tightly, 'I will make it up to you I promise!'
'You'd better' she grumbled.
'I'll just go and get Arthur' he said brightly.
'He's here!' she blurted out.
'Yeah, he's downstairs in the car. That is okay isn't it?'
She sighed, she was too nice for her own good sometimes, 'sure that's fine.'
'You are the best Gwen' he said with a child's grin.
'You have a great time with Freya' she smiled, placing a kiss on his cheek, 'give her my love won't you'
'Will do' he beamed heading down the stairs, 'and I'll be back Monday to pick up Arthur'
What had she let herself in for?
Arthur emerged onto the landing, slightly out of breath and irritable 'you should get the lift fixed' he moaned, removing his leather holdall from his shoulder. She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes.
'You must be Gemma' he said offering her his hand.
'It's Gwen actually'
'Oh right, sorry' he replied offhandedly, oblivious to the cold note in her voice.
'Yeah and we've met before' she couldn't help mentioning, 'about a dozen times in fact, I'm Morgana's executive assistant'
'Cool' he said, clearly not having listening to a word she had just said.
'Is this your apartment?' he said moving past her and through the open door.
'After you' she fumed in a whisper. What had she let herself in for?
By the time she had bolted the front door Arthur was already on the sofa, shoes off, feet on her coffee table, TV blaring.
'You don't mind if I watch the footie right?' he said without taking his eyes off the screen.
'Erm' she began.
'Sorry but would you mind keeping it down, I'm trying to hear the commentary'
She stalked off to the kitchen snapping the door shut behind her. She paced the length of the room, which admittedly was all of about six feet. He had some nerve! He had just banished her from her own living
room, told her to be quiet in her own home. How dare he?! She was doing him a favour for Christ's sake. That jumped-up, arrogant, conceited, big-headed- And that was where reason stopped her. He was the son of
the CEO of the Pendragon Group, her superior, he could very easily have her fired. Oh shit! She hadn't thought of that. Stupid, bloody Merlin! Why had he had to dump her in this mess?
She sat down on the kitchen counter and flicked on the kettle, a good cup of tea was all she needed. Clear her head. It was only a few days after all. How bad could it be? She pulled a mug from the cupboard as the
kettle began to whistle furiously.
'Jen!' came the shout from the living room, 'if you're making a cuppa make me one wouldn't you? Milk and one sugar please'
She closed her eyes and took a cleansing breath, just a few days Gwen, that's all it is, just a few days.
'Here you go' she said handing him his tea and perching at the opposite end of the sofa, as far from him as possible.
'Thanks' he said, his eyes rooted to the screen.
She looked at the TV closely for the first time. 'You do know this is a repeat right?'
'Yeah' he said still not looking at her.
'So you've already seen it?'
'Of course. But a game is always best the third time you watch it'
'course' she said with a grin he was oblivious to, she had never pegged Arthur Pendragon as a loser, but honestly, he was beginning to make her look cool. Okay she amended, not quite cool.
Then Arthur put his mug down on her coffee table centimetres away from the coaster she had put out for him, placing it straight onto the wood of the antique oak table she had been left by her Mum. And she
couldn't hold it in anymore.
'Use a coaster for God's sake, it's not rocket science!'
He looked up at her in surprise, actually looking at her properly for the first time since his arrival.
'Sorry' he said with a sheepish look as he moved his mug.
'It's okay,' she said a little embarrassed by her outburst, 'I shouldn't have over-reacted'
He gave her a fleeting smile and the phone rang.
'Hey babe!'
'Morgana?' she asked a little surprised. Arthur turned around on the sofa to look at her irritably.
'Would you mind keeping it down?'
She grimaced at him and then retreated, once again to the kitchen.
'Sorry about that. Hi'
'Look I'm just calling to say I'm staying in Dubai til Monday. Uther thought it would be a good idea for me and Arthur to keep out of the public eye until everything blows over. Speaking of Arthur, Merlin
mentioned that he was crashing round yours'
'Yep'
'So I take it that he was one who just banished you from your living room?'
'Yep'
'Well good luck with that. You are going to need it'
'You're telling me?' she grinned, 'hang on, if you're not heading home tonight, how are you planning on getting to that buyers' meeting in the East End tomorrow morning?'
'Gwen you know how much I love you right?'
'Morgana!'
'You've been to loads of buyers' meetings with me'
'I've never chaired one'
'You'll be fine. Besides you're always talking about wanting more challenges and responsibility'
'Yeah' she acknowledged grudgingly, 'but this is big'
'Well I trust you to total kick ass tomorrow'
'Fine, I'll do it'
'Love you! And there's no point you going into work until I'm back so take the rest of tomorrow off, okay?'
'Erm'
'Relax, chill out a bit'
'You do remember Arthur's staying with me?'
'Oh yeah' she paused to think, 'get really hammered?' she suggested.
'Thanks Morgana' she said sarcastically but she grinned.
'I'm really sorry babe but I've gotta go. Don't worry you'll do great and I'll give you a call tomorrow evening to ask how it went.'
'Night'
'Night babe'
The line went dead.
She looked down at her watch, the footie had be over soon.
She slipped off the kitchen counter and returned to the living room. The TV screen was black, the sofa, empty.
Arthur emerged from her bedroom with nothing but his boxers on. She gawped.
'Thanks for making up the bed for me' he said making his way to the bathroom.
With her full attention caught by his bare torso she could only nod dumbly.
The bathroom door snapped shut behind him and the trance was broken, thanks for making up the bed? What was he talking about? She hadn't made up the sofa bed for him yet, she had been just about to get the
spare sheets out of the airing cupboard. And hadn't he come out of her bedroom. Oh no! She had just been turfed out of her own bed! This day was just getting better and better, she thought bitterly.
She ducked into her room to grab the necessities for the next day, and stashed them away in the closet by the front door, all before he emerged from the bathroom.
'Night' he said as he shut her bedroom door.
She made up her bed on the sofa. It was times like this when she wished she'd had the foresight to buy a camp bed. She had just turned over for the umpteenth, trying to get comfortable when the snoring
started. Bloody hell, this guy was going to drive her insane! She pulled her duvet over her head, but it did little to muffle the noise. She knew she ought to feel sorry for him. His family was a total mess at the
moment and what's more it was going to be splashed over the front pages of the papers tomorrow. He clearly didn't have any friends he could trust who he could stay with, why else would he be crashing
round at the apartment of some complete stranger (as far as he was concerned.) She should pity him really, and yet she didn't. He was rude, obnoxious, insensitive, thoughtless and generally a complete tool.
No, she definitely didn't pity him.
She rolled over and looked at her watch. It was six thirty. Arthur was still snoring. Still in her bed. And she was still fuming. She tumbled off the sofa and staggered into the shower. Half an hour later she was
dressed, hair and make up done and was shovelling down a bowl of Special K with one hand, scrawling a hurried note to Arthur with the other.
Arthur,
Have meeting with buyers. Will be back before three. Feel free to watch any movies or read any books you want. Help yourself to food in the fridge or freezer. Need to turn shower to hot for cold and cold for hot- it's
broken.
See you later,
Gwen
He looked down at the note. It was half eleven already which meant he only had a few hours before she was back. His tummy rumbled noisily so he decided to make himself baked beans on toast. It took him
ten minutes to work out how to turn the hob on and then proceeded to burn the beans to the bottom of the saucepan as he half watched Terminator 3 on Film Four. He had been disgusted to find that Gwen's
DVD collection had compromised of dozens of chick-flick rom-coms, period dramas and CSI box-sets, while her bookcase had been filled with the likes of Austen, Dickens and Tolstoy, interrupted only by the kind
of trashy novels they flog on mass at airports.
Once he had finished his lunch and the film was over he flung his used plate, cutlery, glass and saucepan into the sink. He looked around and at a loss for anything better to do, he jumped in the shower.
It was decidedly chilly as she made her way back from the tube station, the icy wind whipping about her, tearing at her jacket and knotting her hair. She was frozen by the time she reached her apartment
building, and she was starving too, not having had the chance to eat anything since seven that morning. And yet she was still smiling. Morgana had been right, she had totally 'kicked ass.' Her pitches had gone
without a hitch and she had even managed to get John Lewis to up this year's purchase by ten percent and get a very reluctant Marks and Spencer to renew their order for the next three years, an account
which even Mr Pendragon had been concerned that their department would lose. Yes, she was very pleased with herself. Consequently when she turned the key in her lock she was in an unusually good mood.
The living room wasn't too bad, she reasoned, it wasn't like she would be comfortable leaving the room in that state. The sofa cushions were mussed and out of place, discarded DVDs, books and magazine lay on
the floor around the coffee table. At least he seemed to have got the message about the coffee table she thought brightly. She could hear the shower running and although a little peeved she wasn't able to have
the hot bath she had been dreaming about the whole walk home, she let it go.
Oh well, she thought, she'd just have it when Arthur got out. It would be fine, and in the meantime she would just grab some late lunch.
Then she entered the kitchen. Dirty dishes lay in the sink, breadcrumbs shattered the counter top, half a can of baked beans sat on the side, tomato sauce having formed a pool around the base. One of the
gas hobs was still alight, something she hurriedly rectified. The freezer door hung slightly ajar. She checked the contents, great! It was a defrosting job.
She quickly washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen side before emptying the freezer, managing to fit most of the food, with military precision into her small fridge. Everything else was placed in a plastic bag
and she headed across the hall to her elderly neighbour.
She knocked on the door.
Mrs Clyde appeared at the door moments later, a wide smile on her face the second she saw Gwen.
'Hello my dear'
'Hi' she grinned back, 'I was just wondering if you would like some chicken fillets, minced beef and a fish pie? Only a friend-' she forced out the word, deciding the random twat who's sleeping in my bed was not
an option, '-of mine left my freezer door open accidently and now I'm having to defrost the whole thing.'
'I would love them, I'll just go and get my purse'
'Why?'
'I have to pay for these Gwennie'
'No you don't,' Gwen said forcefully, 'you'd actually be doing me a massive favour in taking them'
'Gwen' the old lady said in warning tones, 'you know I think you're a lovely girl, but I do not want your charity'
'It isn't charity'
'Well let me pay for it'
'How about we just say you owe me a favour?' Gwen suggested as the old woman became more and more agitated.
'Okay' she said slowly, taking the plastic bag Gwen offered her, 'thank you Gwen'
'No thank you Mrs Clyde' she grinned, 'and now don't you forget about that favour you owe me' she said with a wink.
'I won't' she smiled back, 'have a nice weekend love'
'You too.'
When she returned Arthur was back on the sofa and was on the phone.
'Yes I'll hold' he said testily.
'Who is it?' she mouthed, but he just flapped her away.
Gwen could hear the loud obnoxious classical music playing in the background.
'That isn't a long distance call is it?'
'It's a business call to Taiwan'
It cost her a good deal not to launch herself across the coffee table to cancel the call. 'Would you mind calling them back on your mobile?' she said in a thin, pained voice.
'But I'm holding'
'And that's costing me, what, a tenner every minute?'
'Shit, that's expensive!' but he still didn't hang up.
'Yes I know, so put the phone down!'
'Give me one more minute' he said pleadingly.
She disconnected the phone.
'Now I'm going to go and have a nice long bath and you are not going to have any more astronomically expensive international phone conversations using my landline, got it?'
He may have answered her but she had already slammed the bathroom door.
She took a deep breath and tried not to think what her phone bill was going to look like at the end of the month. She would just have a nice warm bath and relax. She turned on the taps, pulled down the
blind, wacked on the radio and lit a few scented candles before stripping off and adding her favourite bubble bath. She reached down to swirl the water in order to aid in the production of bubbles but withdrew
her hand quickly. The water was ice cold.
She wrapped a towel around herself and marched back into the living room. Arthur stood up in surprise, his mouth a little open in appreciation of the view. However this made her still more livid, if that was
possible.
'All I wanted was a nice hot bath, is that really too much to ask?'
'No' he replied with the only answer which seemed appropriate.
'So can I ask why the water is freezing?'
'I dunno'
'How long were you in the shower?'
'A while'
'How long?
'Why does it even matter?'
'Because you emptied the hot water tank!'
'I didn't know it would be a problem'
'You should start thinking about other people, you're not a child'
'Is there anything else you'd to say to me?'
She breathed heavily, biting her lip.
'Please, I'd like to hear it, if there's something you want to say, don't let me stop you'
'You don't have any idea do you?
'About what?'
'About how rude and arrogant you can be. You have come into my home and have behaved like a spoilt brat from the moment you arrived. You did not even consider the fact that you might have messed with
my plans for the evening and practically threw me out of my living room. You are my guest, and not out of my choice I might add, and you have made me feel uncomfortable in my own home. I had to go to a
meeting this morning and when I returned I found my living room in disarray and my kitchen looking like the site of a nuclear disaster. And you'd left the freezer door open so now I have work out what I'm
supposed to do with half a chicken, three jumbo packs of fish fingers and twelve veggie burgers- which I don't even eat! Then once I'm done sorting that mess out I discover that thanks to you I am going have
a phone bill equal the gross national product of a small country! And after all that, all I want is a friggin hot bath and you couldn't even give me that!' she said in rush, she drew a deep breath and then added
rather more calmly, 'and you stole my bed.'
He looked her, dumbstruck.
'I stole your bed?' he asked looking a little lost.
'Yes, the bed you slept in last night was mine, I had been about to make you up a bed on the sofa'
'Why didn't you tell me?' he asked half pleadingly.
'You didn't give me the chance' she said before adding in a low voice, 'please don't fire me'
'I'm so sorry' he said touching her arm. 'You are totally right of course. You have invited me into your home when I had nowhere else to turn to and have been so accommodating and I have behaved
appallingly. I have just been so wrapped up in myself this last day or so with everything that's been going on, but that is no excuse for treating you like-' he struggled to find the right word.
'a slave?' she helped him out, now feeling rather guilty. He did have a lot of his plate after all.
'Yeah' he agreed, 'but tonight Guinevere, I'm going to start making it up to you' he paused to think, 'I'm making you dinner'
She looked up at him in surprise both at his offer and his use of her full name; no one ever used her full name, 'are you sure?'
'Of course I'm sure' he grinned, 'now do you have a friend whose bath you could use?'
'I can't ask someone to use their bath!' she exclaimed.
'Sure you can' he said with a smile, 'just say that this total douche is staying with you and drained the hot water tank'
She paused.
'Why don't you ask the nice old lady who lives across the hall?'
'Mrs Clyde?'
'You mean Doreen?'
'How do you know her?'
'She popped over when you were in the bathroom to say thanks again for the groceries'
'You spoke to her?'
'Yeah, course, it would have been kinda rude to slam the door in her face. I mean, I know you don't think very highly of me but slamming the door in her face of a woman in her eighties is even below me'
'That's not what I meant. It's just now she's going to think your my-'
'Your what Guinevere?'
She couldn't help it but every time he used her full name it sent a shiver down her spine. Maybe it was just because no one ever called her that, she was just adjusting, that was all, it didn't mean anything.
'-my boyfriend'
'And Mrs Clyde thinks Guinevere Leodegrance is dating Arthur Pendragon' he said in the kind of voice used only by men over loudspeakers, 'it is the end of the world as we know it!'
She gave him a playful push in the shoulder and suddenly became aware that she was standing in just her towel. Her cheeks burnt.
'I should go' she said, embarrassed.
'And I should go and get cooking' he said with a smile, 'I'll try and use up some of that chicken you had to defrost'
'That'd be great' she beamed before disappearing back into the bathroom.
