Title: Gwennie Get Your Gun
Fandom: Merlin
Characters/Pairings: Gwen, Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, mentions of Uther; OT4ness, slight Gwen/Arthur
Rating: T
Word Count: 2,013
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. All I possess is my adoration for it.
Summary: Gwen should have known she'd run into trouble as soon as the wanted criminal, Morgana "Le Fay", walked into her saloon.
Author's notes: Written for the Fluff Fest at the LJ comm thefuturequeen. The prompt was "Gwen is the saloon owner of the wildest bar in the Old West. (Shut up I know Im making them American) The other OT3 are gunslingers. Make it as shippy or as gen as you like. ;D" LJ user threemeows' prompts were too tempting. How could I not love the idea of our kids in the Wild West? And I found a way to keep them all British while being in America! Is it likely/believable? Who knows.
I also have to thank threemeows for the title suggestion when I couldn't think of anything decent.
llllllllll
Two thoughts occurred to Gwen the moment she saw Morgana "Le Fay" walk into her saloon.
The first was that she wanted to like Le Fay. Any woman who wore trousers and carried two Colt revolvers automatically deserved some respect in Gwen's book.
Unfortunately the second had been that the wanted posters didn't do Le Fay justice.
"I'd like a room for the night," Le Fay said, dropping some money on the bar, before adding a sizeable amount more. "And some privacy."
Gwen eyed the money. "That's generous of you. But tell me why I shouldn't just turn you in and get the full reward."
The wanted woman pulled her hat lower, not that it really did a good job of hiding her face. "Because you look like a decent woman, and I've done nothing more than make myself an enemy of Uther Pendragon."
"Nothing more?"
"Alright," Le Fay answered with a smirk. "Perhaps a bit more."
"Well the Pendragons are no friends of mine," Gwen sighed, reaching for a key below the bar to hand to her newest guest. "Rooms are upstairs. First door on your right."
lll
Night fell, bringing in the usual amount of customers to the saloon, some familiar faces, some not.
Among them was a striking blond stranger. He sat down at the far end of the bar and signaled for a drink. Once she worked her way down and began to pour, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket along with his money. Once unfolded, he set it on the bar for her to look at.
WANTED
Morgana "Le Fay"
$700
Underneath was the illustration Gwen knew well.
"Have you happened to see her around?"
Gwen studied it for what she hoped was a reasonable amount of time.
"Only on her posters."
He nodded but left the wanted poster on the counter.
"May I speak with the owner?"
"You already are."
"Really?"
"Really."
"I didn't know women owned saloons."
"Well, I do."
"How'd that happen?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do you own it with your husband? Or did your late husband leave it to you?"
"No husband. Just my father." She began to move away, but he kept talking.
"So he left it to you."
Gwen shook her head. "He had a gun-making business. I would have continued it, but people won't buy guns from a woman. So I took the money and bought this."
"They won't buy your guns but they'll go to your saloon," he said, puzzled.
"You can get a gun from Sears and Roebuck, but you can't buy a stiff drink through a catalogue. Besides, pouring drinks and making beds are closer to a woman's job than guns."
"What do you do when there's trouble?"
"Same as any other saloon owner. Get the rifle from behind the bar."
The blond smiled and stared at her for a moment, still not touching his drink.
"Naturally, I've noticed you're a fellow countryman. How'd you get to be here in Camelot territory?"
"With my father. Of course, guns are in high demand in these parts. And he thought right that there'd be a good amount of Englishmen near the Pendragon mine so that it'd be a bit more like home. That was before he knew Uther Pendragon did more harm here than good."
The man leaned forward. "And how's that?"
"For starters, he treats his workers horribly, especially the Mexicans and Chinamen. His profits grant him the power to practically owns these parts and do what he pleases. And more personally, his unreasonableness caused my father to be gunned down for selling ammunition to some men who planned to steal from him, despite my father having no idea who they were."
The man's eyes narrowed and he pressed his finger to the wanted poster. "You're sure you haven't seen Le Fay?" he asked as if starting a new topic instead of clearly working off her hatred of Uther Pendragon.
That had been careless of her; she shouldn't have let her issues with Pendragon take over like that.
"Positive."
"What about anybody else in your saloon? Anybody from earlier today still here I can ask?"
"The ones in during the day are the types who'd already be passed out from their liquor."
"What about your piano player?" he asked with a jab of his thumb in the direction of the music.
"Merlin works as the physician's assistant during the day, so I doubt he'd have seen her."
The man rubbed the stubble on his jaw but said nothing more. Gwen would have been a fool to think he didn't suspect anything.
"You should actually drink that," she said with a nod to his whiskey.
Gwen moved on to some of the others at the bar, making sure to spend enough time refilling drinks and talking. Then she made rounds at the tables. All the while she kept tabs on the blond stranger.
She worked her way to the piano, pouring the last slosh of liquor into Merlin's empty glass on the next to his sheet music.
"Got your rifle, Merlin?" she asked beneath her breath.
He didn't even look up. "Behind the piano, like always."
"Good. Help me keep an eye on the blond sitting at the bar. If he heads toward the stairs, start playing Clementine."
Merlin snuck a peek sideways to the man in question. "You know I hate that song."
"Well you'll remember which one I said. Spruce it up all you want, as long as the first bars are recognizable."
Gwen headed upstairs as casually as possible and knocked softly at Le Fay's door.
The door opened cautiously as the woman's head peeked out. Upon seeing who it was, Le Fay let Gwen in and snapped the door shut, replacing a gun in her holster that she had probably pressed to the door while answering it.
"Listen," Gwen said. "Some guy's downstairs looking for you, so you need to get out of here."
"Who?"
"He didn't give a name. But he's blond, with blue eyes, tall. English."
Le Fay's jaw dropped. "That sounds like Arthur."
"Uther Pendragon's son?" Gwen hissed.
"Yes. Uther and his goons are vile, but I didn't think that Arthur would –"
Gwen hushed her at the sound of Clementine. "That's the signal. He's coming," she whispered. "There's a hiding place in the wall behind that dresser. Pull the chest forward and get in."
Le Fay followed her instructions, swinging the dresser out on its hinge to reveal a cramped place to crouch and hide in the wall. There was a reason Gwen had Le Fay stay in this room.
"What about you?" Le Fay asked as she watched Gwen hurriedly take off her dress to be down in her undergarments.
"I'll take care of him."
The other woman said nothing and pulled the dresser back against the wall, hiding her just in time for the door to burst open.
Gwen let out her most convincing shriek, dramatically yanking her dress up to clutch in front of her undergarments.
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
The man, Arthur, had his gun drawn, looking around the room before setting his eyes back on her. "I could ask you the same question."
"I was going to have a lie down for an hour in the privacy of my own room."
"While your saloon's busy downstairs?"
"The piano player was going to manage it in the mean time."
Almost as if on cue, the sound of the piano died away.
"Hear that? He's stopped playing to work the bar."
But Arthur didn't back down.
"Now either tell me what you're doing here or get out."
He stepped closer, his gun lining up with her hip. "I'm here because I think you're hiding something. Or, rather, someone."
"You mean Morgana 'Le Fay'? If I knew where she was, I'd turn her in for that seven hundred dollar reward."
"No, because you seem like a woman with principles."
"And if you had any principles you wouldn't be harassing a woman while she's in her underthings."
"I wouldn't have to harass you if you just cooperated." He came closer still, so that he was mere inches from her, towering over her in a way that was surely meant to be intimidating. "You just tell me where she is and I'll let you go."
Gwen brought up the pistol she was hiding under the dress in her hands – the same pistol she always kept in the deep pockets of her skirts – and pressed the barrel under his jaw. The metallic click of the hammer being brought back gave no question as to what was concealed by the material. Arthur raised his chin a fraction against the push of her gun, swallowing involuntarily.
"How about you leave my saloon and I might just let you go."
"I don't think you'd really shoot me."
Gwen scoffed. "My father died on Uther Pendragon's orders. I'd say it'd be only fair if I kill his son."
"Unless I shoot you first."
"And if you do," Merlin punctuated with the sound of his rifle being cocked before pressing it against the base of Arthur's skull, "I'll shoot you second."
Gwen grinned at her friend's sudden appearance. "Good to see you've got my back, Merlin… Or his back, rather."
"All right," Arthur said, slowly raising his gun so that it hung useless around his pointer. "You have me. I just want to speak to Morgana."
"Somehow I don't think that wise, you trying to hunt her down and all."
"Whoever said I wanted to hunt her down?"
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Oh, I suppose she'd be worth more alive."
"I'm not bringing her in, either. I've just been trying to find her. I want to help her."
"Merlin, why do I find that so hard to believe?"
"Because you're not an idiot?" her friend offered helpfully.
"Okay. You two might not believe me, but Morgana will. If you just told her, she'd want to see me."
"I think that if she believed such a thing, she'd be here right now." Gwen waited a few heartbeats, before nodding. "Just what I thought."
Except that there was the sudden scrap of wood on wood, the dresser swinging forward to reveal Le Fay stepping out from inside the wall.
"Strangely enough, I do believe him."
Gwen's eyebrows rose. "You do?"
"If he can convince me, that is," Le Fay said with a shrug.
"You know I've disagreed with my father in the past," Arthur answered.
"But you've always respected him. He's your father."
"Things change."
"Like what?"
Arthur sighed. "I found out… that he killed my mother."
Merlin's and Le Fay's mouths fell open and Gwen was sure her expression looked similar. Everyone knew Uther Pendragon's wife died giving birth in England… Or at least, that's what everybody had been told.
"How do you know that?"
"A woman named Morgause told me. She said she knew my mother."
"You believed her?"
"I did once I told my father what I'd heard. He denied it, of course, but I knew he was lying. He doesn't feel guilt about many things. And when he does, he isn't good at hiding it."
"Why did he kill her?"
"She found out about his dirty dealing from a woman named Nimueh and the two planned to expose him. When my father discovered her, he locked her up until she gave birth to me, then had her killed."
Gwen had been having a hard time reading him that night, but she could tell from the look on his face he was telling the truth. She lowered her pistol, seeing Merlin follow suit behind him.
"Now you want revenge?" she whispered.
"Yeah. I'm guessing Morgana will be up to helping me."
"Got that right," Le Fay muttered.
"And what about you and your piano player?" he asked Gwen.
"I'd say I'm in, although I can't speak for Merlin."
"Well I'm with you," the brunet piped up.
"Okay then," Le Fay said. "How 'bout we all sit down for a drink together?"