Welcome to Home Surveillance, I do hope that you enjoy this story as I know I have enjoyed writing this first chapter for it. please read the bottom note when you have finished reading the chapter thank you :-)

Home Surveillance

Chapter 1: Mess in the kitchen

It was the first day of summer break and still I had found no one to look after my 7 year old son while I was at work. I had placed up adds in the different supermarkets, in newspapers and even online and still no one had come forwards.

"Arthur stop panicking, I will take Alex with me for the day while you go to the office alright, you'll find someone soon" said a women with long dark black hair which flowed down to her waist area.

"I know Morgana, but it's just so stressful, I need to make sure the person offering isn't a criminal, I need to check Alex will be alright with them, I need to…" I started before being interrupted by someone else.

"Arthur, breath dude come on, Alex will be fine he's a big boy now and he knows who to call if anything goes wrong, I mean come on his mom won't get anywhere near him, not after what happened when he was 4 you know that" said a strong male voice as more people joined around the table in the local bar.

"I know Gwaine but it's not that simple, Morgause's case is being previewed this week and she might be let out early if not in the middle of next week for her good behaviour, I'm worried it will hurt Alex" I said as I looked at my phone hoping beyond hope that someone will answer my ad's.

"Honestly Arthur I wouldn't worry about it too much, you still have a court order against her from coming anywhere near Alex and yourself and you have all of us, I mean come on, Leon's your layer, Percival, Lancelot and myself are your best friends not saying that Leon isn't but come on you have everyone backing you up" Gwaine said as he clapped me on my left shoulder reassuringly as I once again looked at my phone.

"Arthur, Arthur!" I looked around to see where my name was being called from and found my oldest friend and ex-girlfriend walking towards our table with a young man behind her.

"Gwen, it's good to see you, I was wondering where you had gotten too, Alex misses you at school" I said as I got up and hugged her before backing off knowing that her fiancé was sitting next to me.

"Awww, it's good to see you again, it's ben to long, and I miss Alex too, I've not seen him since I left and moved to another primary school in Ealdor. Oh, this here is Merlin he's an art student at Ealdor University, he's on summer leave and I think he would be wonderful to look after Alex while you're at work." Gwen said in one big rush as she usually does when you speak with her.

"Hello Mr. Pendragon, I've heard a lot about you and your son from Gwen here" the boy known as Merlin said as he shook my hand which I hadn't even noticed I had offered out because I was too fascinated with his high cheek bones, his ocean blue eyes, his pearly white alabaster skin and his raven coloured locks which framed his face perfectly.

"Arthur, you can call me Arthur" I said automatically as I offered Merlin a seat next to myself as we were the only ones now standing up seen as Gwen had made her way over to Lancelot.

"So Merlin, you're an art student right? How are you doing with that at the moment?" Lancelot asked as he looked over to the young man.

"I'm doing well thank you, and yes I'm studying art" Merlin said quietly not used to being with this many people.

"You don't get out much do you kid?" Gwaine inquired as he slung his right arm around Merlin's shoulders.

"N…N…Not really no" Merlin stuttered not quite sure how to act around us all.

"Here Merlin, this is my address and my number, give me a call in the morning and I will introduce you to my son" I said handing him one of my many business cards I carry around with me.

"Erm, thank you" Merlin said pocketing the card after giving it a once over.

"It was lovely seeing everyone again but me and Merlin have to go, he's promised to help me with things for school sorry" Gwen said as she and Merlin got up and made their way towards the bar doors.

"You like him I see" Morgana said as she elbowed me in the side knowing full well that yes I did like him, especially if I place a goofy smile on my face like Merlin did.

"I think I do Morg, I think I do and I think Alex will like him also" I said finishing off my beer before getting up with the others and heading home.

It was the following day that the phone rang early in the morning.

"Hello, Arthur Pendragon, speaking" Arthur answered as he stretched out in his king size bed knowing that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep now.

"Erm Mr. Pendragon, its Merlin, Merlin Emrys you gave me your card yesterday and told me to ring you in the morning" Merlin said in his usual shy voice as he stood nervously in his apartment waiting for what was required of him.

"Ah, Merlin, sorry wasn't expecting you to call so early" Arthur said as he got up out of bed and made his way over to his closet to get changed.

"Erm that's the thing, it's not exactly early, its 12 noon" Merlin stated getting a little more confident in talking to him.

"Oh right, give me half an hour and I'll get everything sorted out for when you come over, if that's alright?" Arthur asked as he pulled his trousers up using one hand.

"Yeah, that's fine see you soon Mr. Pendragon" Merlin said as he was about to hang up.

"Oh and Merlin, please call me Arthur, not Mr. Pendragon" Arthur said smiling when he heard a nervous laugh and a yes Arthur on the other end before they hung up.

As soon as the phone was thrown onto his bed Arthur ran around the room quickly getting changed into his casual clothing seen as it was Saturday before hastily walking over to his sons door and knocking loud enough to wake his son but not too loud to annoy him, he made his way inside to see his son already awake and playing on his play station like usual.

"Alex, a friend of Gwen's is coming over, he wants to see you so that hopefully he can look after you while I am at work, alright?" Arthur said knowing this would be hard on Alex for a while.

"Sure dad, when's he coming over?" Alex said in a clam voice, which surprised Arthur immensely but then he remembered what he had said, 'it's one of Gwen's friends' remembering that he had said that would have calmed Alex down before anything bad could happen.

"I want you dressed and down stairs in 20 minutes alright, I'll make some lunch how about that" Arthur said which got a huge smile out of Alex as he loved his dads cooking.

"Sure, let's have pasta bake, I like that, especially when you add lots of cheese onto it" Alex smiled as he jumped up off his bed and ran to his chester-draws and pulled out some clothing to wear.

Later that day as Arthur was putting Alex to bed he recapped over what had transpired only hours ago. As soon as Alex saw Merlin everything was going well, he hadn't panicked that the man was a stranger but had been excited when he saw Merlin's t-shirt. Merlin wore light blue jeans, trainers, and a doctor who t-shirt which had caught Alex's eyes instantly.

'"Hello Mr… I mean Arthur, it's good to see you again" Merlin said as he held out his hand for Arthur to take.

"Merlin, it's a pleasure, this here is Alex, my son he…" Arthur started but was cut off when Alex blurted out saying.

"Oh, my, gosh you like doctor who!" Alex had stated as he walked forwards eager to hear what Merlin had to say.

"Yeah I do, I like torchwood as well seen as it has Captain Jack in it." Merlin said looking down at the 7 year old who was smiling with glee filled eyes.

"I love Torchwood, I even like Doctor Who, Merlin; Wild at Heart and there's a new one, Pol…Pol…Pol…Erm?" Alex started but soon forgot what he was trying to say.

"Do you mean Poldark?" Merlin asked knowing it was probably the right answer.

"Yeah, Poldark, I like Demelza even though she's a girl" Alex said pulling a slight face when he mentioned her being a girl. This made Arthur and Merlin laugh a little before they made their way into the kitchen where the dining table had been set ready for dinner.

"Hope you're hungry. Alex chose to have Pasta bake with lots of cheese on" Arthur said as he dished up three bowls of Pasta and placed two on the table before placing his own down and sitting down.

"I love Pasta bake, have you ever tried it with Garlic bread or a fresh salad? That's nice" Merlin said digging into his food along with Arthur and Alex.

"No Dad always makes Pasta bake from scratch, I don't even know how he makes the source which is always creamy and yummy" Alex said as he placed more food into his mouth getting the source all around his mouth.

"Alex slow down, it's not a race, there's plenty more in the dish" Arthur said as he gestured for his son to slow down.'

"So what do you think of Merlin then?" Arthur asked as he was tucking Alex in after reading another couple of chapters of Harry potter.

"He's nice, I like him" Alex said simply which was too simple for Arthurs liking.

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked as he sat down next to Alex on the bed watching how a small smile crept onto his face.

"I like him because he makes daddy smile" Alex said looking up to Arthur who was shocked to hear what his son had said.

"You like him because he makes me smile? I always smile Alex what's wrong with smiling?" Arthur was so confused as he placed his hands onto the top of his sons whose hands were on top of the covers.

"I mean, Merlin makes you smile like you're really happy lie when you play on the Play Station with me, not like when you meet other people" Alex said as he yawned and slowly settled down for a good night's sleep.

Arthur was so confused for the rest of the week; Alex had shied away from him since confronting him about the smile he had given while Merlin was at the house. It was the first day where Merlin was going to be looking after his son and was to be honest a little nervous about what was going to happen, so he carefully placed some surveillance cameras around the house just for extra comfort on his part without telling Merlin or Alex what he had done.

"Alright, my numbers and Morgana's numbers of on the refrigerator if you need anything, I'll be back before 7 sharp. Alex I want you to start at least some of your summer homework today please" Arthur said kissing his sons head as he opened the front door still unsure whether to leave him alone with Merlin.

"Alright Arthur, we'll see you at 7, do you want me to make any dinner?" Merlin asked as he came and stood behind Alex who looked a little upset about Arthur leaving.

"That would be lovely, and Alex don't worry, if you need me to come home early just get Merlin to ring me alright, look I have to go but both of you have fun" Arthur said as he made his way towards his car.

It had been several hours since Arthur had left and things seemed fine, no calls had been made yet and Arthur had finally managed to catch up with most of his paper work. It was during his break that Arthur decided to try the surveillance cameras to see where they both were, but what he saw shocked him.

Arthur had clicked on 5 of the different cameras and had finally found them both in the kitchen, cooking, but that wasn't what shocked him, it was the huge smile Alex had on his face as he helped mix the ingredients in the bowl which was up on one of the counter tops.

"Keep mixing it Alex, I'll get the tins to put the cake mixture in, but when I go to put it in the oven make sure you're not near it, I don't want you to get hurt" Arthur heard Merlin say as he walked away to one of the other counter tops where two deep circular tins were placed.

"Daddy is going to love this surprise cake" Alex said as he helped to pour the mixture into the two tins. Arthur was shocked again when Alex said they were making it for him. Just before Arthur was about to turn the camera off so that he could continue with his papers, he noticed Alex grabbing a hand full of flour while Merlin had his back towards him as he was placing the cakes into the oven. As soon as the oven door was closed and Merlin had turned around he was bombarded by a handful of flour, which made both Arthur, Merlin and Alex laugh before Merlin was grabbing some flour and throwing it at Alex.

"Merlin you look funny" Alex said as he threw more flour at him.

"Arrr, you little monkey, get her so that I can hug you" Merlin had said as he chased Alex around the island counter in the middle of the kitchen which was covered in flour. As soon as Merlin had hugged Alex, they both decided it would be best to start cleaning up before the cake was finished so that they could decorate it. "Come on Alex lets clean up before Arthur kills me" Merlin had said as they each grabbed different things to start cleaning up.

As soon as they started cleaning Arthur turned off the Camera surveillance and focused himself back with his papers, a big smile plastering his face out of shear happiness that Alex was happy to be around Merlin, it even made Arthur feel a little tingly inside when he was watching the way Merlin interacted with Alex.

Dear readers just so that you all know, I got my inspiration from a Deviant Art picture as I was looking on the internet for ideas for a Merlin story when I came across texasfandoodler on Deviant Art. I was so pleased to have found the pictures they have done and have decided to write a story about it. the story is my idea, most of the characters not mine apart from Alex who is, but what I didn't realise was that texasfandoodler had also used Alex or Alexander as the young boys name, so I apologise if you think I copied you as I honestly didn't know. I do hope you enjoy the story and please Review. there will hopefully be 4 chapters to this story, a chapter for each picture but I am not too sure at the moment as I am currently starting a new position in my job and my hours are being mixed around so please don't be upset if I don't update for a while, I will try my very best to update as soon as possible, thank you :-)

P.S. this link bellow will take you to the first of four pictures on deviant art - texasfandoodler.

art/Merlin-Modern-AU-Home-Surveillance-part-1-450355483