Merlin doesn't belong to me.
Time Travel and Other Things
Gwen shook the dust off the rug and frowned. Arthur, Prince Arthur actually, although for some reason she had always thought of him as just Arthur, was having fun at the expense of the some poor boy. She had yet to meet the stranger, she'd heard that he was Gaius' new apprentice and he seemed like a nice person. Okay, so she knew absolutely nothing about him, apart from the fact that he was a scrawny person, no match for Arthur at all and she thought he was quite handsome.
She winced as Arthur hit him again but was pleasantly surprised to see that the new guy didn't fall. He stumbled but was able to hold his ground against Arthur. Gwen silently cheered him on but she knew that this would only make Arthur more determined to defeat him, which didn't bode well for him.
Arthur was such a prat. Granted he was handsome, with his well built body, his golden hair and his eyes. And inspite of the fact that he liked to show off, Gwen knew for a fact that Arthur really cared for the people in Camelot. Still, Gwen was grateful that he would never know her name, that she would never have occasion to spend any time with him, that the boundaries between them would never be breached. That he would forever be the prince, heir to the throne of Camelot and she would remain Guinevere the serving girl.
000
Gwen turned from the window and bumped into someone. "I'm sorry," she said. "That's quite alright," a man, dressed in funny clothes replied. A few minutes later, without knowing how Gwen found herself going off with the stranger on a contraption he called a 'time machine'. He wanted to show her a glimpse of her future.
"You can open your eyes now, Guinevere."
Gwen opened her eyes slowly wondering why she had even closed them in the first place. She was standing in a field of flowers and unless she was mistaken Arthur Pendragon's voice was the one that had urged her to open her eyes. She would know his voice anywhere.
She turned to face him slowly. "Sire..." she curtseyed and was surprised by his laugh. "I have to say I have not missed your tendency to revert to formality when you are angry with me, although I believe the proper err... endearment would be my husband or at least my king, wouldn't it?"
Gwen closed her eyes, it was probably a dream, and opened them to see Arthur smiling at her.
"I guess I must have gone overboard," he said. "But a few flowers wouldn't do for this."
"For what?"
Arthur pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "I wanted it to be a surprise," he said, "and judging from your expression I succeeded."
"It is indeed a surprise," Gwen managed to mumble in reply. Arthur Pendragon had just kissed her!
"Elyan and Merlin told me that you had guessed," Arthur said, "but I'm glad they were wrong."
Gwen was still looking at Arthur in shock. What was he talking about? How did he know about Elyan? Who was Merlin?
"Elyan?" Gwen asked Arthur. "Where is he?"
"Merlin and the rest of the guys wanted to come but I refused them," Arthur said, "I mean a guy deserves some privacy when he's trying to surprise his wife on their anniversary, don't you think?"
"Anniversary?" Gwen whispered.
"But knowing them," Arthur continued, and he took her hands into his, "they're about to appear any time now to bring the party to us."
It suddenly hit Arthur that Gwen hadn't yet given him an answer.
"So what do you say Guinevere," he asked her, "are these flowers enough to satisfy you?"
"Yes." Gwen couldn't honestly say she had never seen so many flowers in her life.
"Have I told you how much I love you Guinevere Pendragon?"
000
Gwen stood at the window watching Arthur, Prince Arthur, tormenting the newcomer. She didn't know why but the whole scene seemed so familiar like she had been through it all before. As she watched the newcomer take a stand against Arthur, Arthur suddenly looked up at the window and looked straight at her. Gwen stepped back and decided to attend to her other chores.
She bumped into an old man wearing funny clothes. He smiled at her and pulled out something from his pocket made a tsking sound and walked off.
Arthur didn't know what made him look at the window at that particular time. Guinevere. He wasn't surprised, the very fact that he even knew her name was telling. There was something about her.
000