"You be careful, alright?" Arthur said as he held Merlin's face cradled in his hands and leaned in for a kiss. It earned them some wolf whistling from the men around them. Arthur did not pay attention, he was used at getting that kind of reaction from his men by now.

When he pulled back and looked at Merlin, he noticed how Merlin had this pink hue on his cheeks. Even after all this time Merlin wasn't used to always having people around them.

Merlin tried to move away, but Arthur was not willing to let him ever go, especially not after what happened last week when his dearest Merlin passed out in the middle of the living room and giving him the scare of his life, but it seems he had no choice now.

"I will, you know I will." Merlin replied, gripping Arthur's hands from where they still were on his face and moved them down. "And I have Oliver and James with me, I'm sure I'll be alright. It's just a quick trip to the shop and back, what could happen? You know how picky I am now the symptoms have started and I'm in serious need of some food right now." Merlin chuckled, but Arthur's face remained serious.

"I just don't want you to strain yourself too much and put yourself into danger." Arthur moved his hands to Merlin's midsection. "Or our child."

Merlin smiled, putting his hand over Arthur's. "I'm sure we will be fine. And if you're so worried, why don't you just come with me, instead of the thing you have to do." Merlin said, his smile dropping.

"We'll have to go now, sir." Gwaine said tapping Arthur's shoulder. Arthur turned to him and glowered deeply at which Gwaine backed off with his hands raised. Turning back to Merlin, Arthur placed his hand back on Merlin's cheek. "You know I would love to come with you the next time, but you also know I have this urgent matter to take care off."

For a moment, Merlin leaned into the touch with his eyes closed, but when Merlin opened those big blue eyes again, Arthur saw that there was a kind of sadness was harbouring within them.

Merlin knew what these urgent matters usually meant and it wouldn't be something good. "Please, do not kill another person. If not for me, do it for our baby."

"Merlin-" Arthur sighed, "I would do anything for you, but when you married me, you knew that this is what I do. This person defied me, thinking he could borrow money without paying it back. I cannot let this go without repercussions, what message would it send if I would let this go unnoticed? It's business, nothing more. Don't get yourself worked up about it."

Arthur guided Merlin towards the door with his arm slung behind the lither man's back when Merlin sighed at Arthur's answer. The door was being held open by one of his men and Arthur saw that the sleek black car was already waiting on the cobblestone driveway, with Oliver holding the car door open for Merlin.

Merlin got in and bend forward to get one last kiss from Arthur before he would go. As Arthur backed away, Oliver shut the door and Arthur eyed the brown haired man at the side of the car. "You better keep him safe or you wish you would've never been born." Arthur told Oliver with a dark and warning tone, the other man gulped deeply, nodding his head.

"Of course, sir."

"Good." Arthur replied curtly and saw two other black cars pull up the driveway. He watched the car that Merlin occupied drive off and as he watched he brought his hand to his back. Arthur pulled his gun from the holster on the waistband of his pants and pulled back the slide, hearing the click to confirm that the gun loaded.

"Men." He said with a jerk of his head, getting into the first car while five other men followed to get into the second car.

~oOoOo~

Merlin picked several items out of the food shelves and put them in the little basket that James held. Oliver was discreetly watching the store to see if there were any intruders that may want to cause Merlin harm. He seriously did not want to feel Arthur's wrath as even so much as one of Merlin's hairs got damaged while he was on duty.

"Uuh," Merlin looked around the shelves. "I'll combine this chocolate bar… with this barbecue sauce! Yum!"

While Merlin's face burst out in almost glee, the two men that were accompanying him were scrunching up their noses. They'd seen some freakishly food combinations in the past month and a half since Merlin's food cravings were unleashed, but this one was probably topping that list. They wouldn't comment on it though, because since Merlin's pregnancy he could be just as intimidating as Arthur.

"Oh and a 'Curly Wurly' of course. You know, for Arthur. He can't have enough of these things. How he's able to keep that body in shape is a mystery beyond my understanding!" Merlin prattled on to his friends - who were his bodyguards as well - as he made his way further down the aisle and closer to check out.

As the items were placed in a plastic bag and notes being passed over, Merlin said goodbye with a broad smile to the girl behind the register and walked into the cold fall weather, shivering as the cold air hit him after leaving the warmth of the store. He noticed the two men besides him eyeing him with caution but Merlin just drew his collar up higher and wrung his hands together, blowing some air in them to get them just a fraction warmer.

"We're almost at the car Merlin, then I'll turn up the heater for you."

"Thanks James, I will need it, my fingers are free-zing!" Merlin laughed and saw the orange lights of their car light up as James hit the button on the key to unlock it. Merlin quickly slid in the back of the car and clicked his seatbelt close in the holder. As soon as James put the key in the ignition, he turned on the promised heating and the seat warmers as a bonus, making Merlin relax into the seat with a satisfying feeling and he drew his phone out of his pocket.

To: Arthur

From: Merlin

On our way back.

Merlin texted that to Arthur when James started to back out of their parking spot in the parking garage. He wasn't expecting an answer back seeing that his husband was currently engaged in something else and didn't had the time to respond to something meaningless as a message from him.

Merlin was busy putting his phone back into his pocket when he heard a car accelerating and seconds later his head collided with the car window, making his vision blurry for a few moments and his phone fall out of his hand and onto the floor. The car was pushed a few metres to the side by the impact and Merlin could hear the screeching tires. There was someone yelling something at him as well but he had no idea who or what.

Then the car came to a stop.

Putting his hand in front of his eyes and onto his brow, Merlin heard the two front doors open and still heard someone talking to him. Just a few words filtered through his hazy daze, before the doors were shut again.

"Merlin… stay… car... hit… Cenred."

"Wha?" Merlin asked. His head felt as if he had drank far too much alcohol.

He was happy thought that his vision finally started to clear up a little bit and noises and voices were getting more coherent again. Merlin unclasped his seatbelt and at the same time was trying to find his phone, but he couldn't find it. When the passenger door opened and someone in a black suit appeared in his blurry vision, he jumped.

"Merlin, we need to move." Merlin recognized the man in front of him by his voice - it was Oliver.

Merlin could hear shooting close by and felt Oliver tugging on his arm. He almost stumbled out of the car but Oliver held him upright. Blinking heavily to get rid of his dizzying vision, Merlin tried to follow the order Oliver gave him.

"Merlin you need to keep moving." Oliver urged, glancing back to see that they were chased by three men. Oliver fired some shots, turning his body just the bare minimum as well as keeping Merlin upright and moving forward. Then Oliver suddenly stopped, with Merlin almost lurching forward if Oliver wasn't there to stop him. Merlin lifted his head to see how a big black SUV came towards them with increasing speed. Oliver's grip on Merlin's arm tightened as he flung himself on Merlin, effectively pushing him out of the way of the oncoming car. Merlin groaned loudly as his head came in contact with something solid for the second time this evening, increasing his now throbbing headache.

He felt the weight lifted off him and two pair of arms hooked under his shoulder, pulling him upright in one swift movement. It caused his head to feel as heavy as stone and his headache reaching another level of soreness. He stood unsteady on his two legs.

"Yeah that's him." Merlin heard an unfamiliar deep voice say. He wasn't able to move his head to look who the person was, but he didn't sound all too friendly.

From left as well as the right side of him he heard his two friends shouting words and calling his name, but he just didn't have it in him to look around him, let alone reply to them. He could hardly move a finger without a flair of pain searing through his head and making it throb even more than it already did.

There was now a blackness forming in front of his eyes and he enjoyed the feeling of the pain ebbing away that came with that darkness.

"Merlin, run!" James said as he was pushed past Merlin and thrown on the ground next to Oliver. The message was vaguely heard by Merlin, but he felt far too good being in in this oblivion that he didn't had the energy to acknowledge his friend. In fact, his legs weren't able to carry his body anymore and he started to sag, only to be caught and held upright by the two unfamiliar men that were already holding him.

"What to do with these two?" Another unfamiliar voice asked.

"Kill them." The same dark voice said.

And that was the last Merlin heard before the darkness fully consumed him.