AN: Gwen is probably my least favourite character in the series, but this fic just wouldn't leave me alone. It's basically a modern AU character-study on the character with influences from both the show as well as the legends and, for some reason, I imagine that if Gwen were living in modern day, she'd be a chef. I don't know why, but it seems to suit her.
Anyhow, enjoy!
Cooking was Gwen's first love. She wasn't sure if it was the comfort of its luxury or the limitless creativity she could make of it, but there was nothing that made her happier than making a great meal. She could express anything through the art of cooking. There were salts for humor, peppers for rage, fruits for serenity and spices for passion. She never even saw herself as a chef; she saw herself as an artist.
When she met Arthur she made a light vanilla cheesecake with raspberry purée toppings.
She couldn't help but fall for him. He was handsome, charming, funny and passionate. He was everything a woman would want in a man. She fell for him instantly from the moment she saw him across the campus at university. She was studying culinary arts and he law. Having his sister, Morgana, as a flatmate on campus, she had heard of his history with women; of Sophia, Vivien, Elena and Mithian, but she didn't care. Her mad crush seemed to overtake her logic.
They hung out with a bunch of friends and went to the pub every Saturday. Among the whole group, their friendship seemed to grow very quickly until he found she was upset about something–she can't even remember what it was now–and he insisted on cheering her up by making her dinner. Of course, Arthur couldn't cook to save his life, often relying on the lack of creativity that was frozen entrées and not really caring as much for food as Gwen did, but he at least made her laugh.
Naturally, they attended many other dinner dates, only on the condition that Gwen did the cooking and Arthur the cleaning, something he wasn't used to, as he wasn't a child of the middle class like Gwen was.
In time their relationship was sealed with a kiss.
When she met Uther she made a wild vegetable curry with the hottest red pepper she could get her hands on.
Growing up, both Gwen and her brother, Elyan, were no strangers to racism. Being the only black kids in school wasn't easy for them. They must have been called every name in the book and being middle class kids didn't help them either. It hurt, but growing up she'd learned to accept the fact that not everyone was quite as tolerant as her uni mates were. In fact, she was grateful for her friends in uni. She didn't expect to make this many friends, but she did and she was glad to see that they could not have cared less of the colour of her skin.
But it cut her so deep to find out the hard way that her boyfriend's father had such a serious problem with his son dating a black, middle class woman.
This seemed to cause a real issue in her relationship with Arthur, what with the on-going argument of whether he would choose his father over his girlfriend. Of course, she wasn't asking him to choose. She understood that as awful a man as Uther was, he was still Arthur's father. All she asked was for him to keep his priorities straight and to he be honest with her.
He never did either of them.
When she met Lancelot she made a sinfully rich chocolate cake with the same raspberry purée she'd used for Arthur's cheesecake.
Lance was different from Arthur. So very different. He was sensitive and poetic, possibly because of his visual skill for the camera. He saw the world through so many angles and saw beauty where others didn't. He even understood Gwen's passion for cooking. He appreciated the artistry of it when Arthur didn't. He was kind, gentle, understanding and romantic. He even told her that she was beautiful. No one had ever said that to her before, not even Arthur.
The only trouble was the fact that he was engaged to Elena and Gwen still loved Arthur, but she couldn't help but want Lance. She tried to suppress him from her mind and was finally relieved of him when graduation came.
Moving in with Arthur did wonders for their relationship. They spent more time together, they helped each other and Arthur was even beginning to learn how to cook.
The only problem was that when they made love she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming Lance's name.
She loved Arthur, she was sure she did, but a part of her couldn't help but love Lance too. She even remembered how he once took time off an important class just to make her feel better after an argument with Arthur. Arthur, on the other hand, was not a good listener and had lately grown distant. She wasn't sure whether she should have been annoyed that he didn't spend as much time with her or grateful that he gave her more solitary time to think. It felt like the only time she could be honest with herself.
When Arthur asked her to marry him, she made a chocolate and vanilla marble cake with raspberry purée.
Arthur admitted to being such a horrible boyfriend and said that he was sorry. He said that he loved her. He said that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She said exactly the same. She said yes.
She wanted to thank the Academy.
There soon came the time when Arthur was away for three weeks for "work." The day he left, she saw that Lance had arrived in the area and had long divorced from Elena.
They caught up over chocolate cake and red wine. Enough wine for Gwen to finally admit that she'd been lying to her fiancé and that she'd fancied the pants off of Lance since university. In turn, Lance confessed that the reason Elena left him was because she found out he was in love with Gwen. He tried lying to himself and getting over her, just as Gwen had tried the same, but he never stopped loving her.
They made love that night and it relieved her to no end to not have to bite her lip when she reached her climax.
The guilt she felt the next morning was terrible. She hated herself for what she'd done and immediately asked Lance to go. He left without saying a word.
When Arthur came back he didn't suspect a thing, but everything came together for Gwen when she hugged him and smelled a cologne on him that wasn't his. She knew she should have been shocked, but then it would have been a useless emotion when she remembered all the times he'd spent away from her. In fact, she was a small bit relieved to finally see that she wasn't alone, but how could she tell him?
Now she sits at the table at the university reunion dinner that she and Arthur had planned for New Year's Eve. It's almost midnight and she's had both a vanilla cheesecake and a chocolate cake prepared.
She choses the chocolate cake.