Let me go home

I'm just too far

From where you are

I wanna go home

Let me go home

It'll all be alright

I'll be home tonight

I'm coming back home

'Home'-Michael Buble

Lance Corporal Arthur Pendragon joked around with his comrades as they returned from one of their patrols to Camp Bastion. He and his mates were halfway through their second tour of duty in Afghanistan. Arthur had seen some terrible things in his time in Afghanistan but he also held a passionate belief in doing his duty for his country and for the people of Afghanistan as they fought to defeat the Taliban. As they ate dinner, the conversation turned once again to their loved ones back home. Leon had a girlfriend as had Lancelot. Percival had a fiancé and Gwaine was happy enough living the single life. Out of the five of them, Arthur was the only one who was married.

"What about your woman Pendragon?" Gwaine asked.

"I was talking to her on Skype the other night. Any word of when any of us are getting leave?" Arthur asked.

"Nothing yet, weird to think you could get homesick for British rain." Leon commented jokingly. Aside from the obvious danger of being soldiers in Afghanistan; the harsh Afghani sun burnt them on a daily basis and to those who grew up in rainy Britain and Ireland in Gwaine's case it took some getting used to.

"When I go home all I'm thinking of is a proper pint of Guinness in my local back in Dublin." Gwaine commented fondly. As the men chatted and joked, their commanding officer Tristan summoned the men to announce the names of soldiers who were due for leave within the next few weeks. Once the names had been announced, Arthur hung his head and went to make a phone call.

"Excuse me, Mrs Pendragon?"

Gwen looked up from the homework she was marking while her class worked on English worksheets based on nouns and looked at the Year Six pupil who was standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"What is it?" Gwen asked.

"There's a woman in the office here to see you." The boy replied. Gwen looked at her students and knew better than to leave twenty seven-year-olds alone and turned back to the boy.

"Can you take her up here and then return to class?" Gwen asked. The boy nodded and Gwen trying to control the sudden burst of butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't get ahead of herself. It was probably Morgana dropping into the school for some reason, Morgana was impulsive like that. There was no point worrying over nothing. As she paced around the classroom pretending to observe the children's worksheets and offering corrections, the pupil returned and Gwen glanced at the doorway before turning to her class.

"I'm just stepping outside for a moment. I'll just be outside the door so continue with your work and I don't want to hear any talking." Gwen said as she walked out the door. Naturally before the door had even shut, she could hear the babble of children chattering and messing around. Gwen stepped into the corridor and turned to see her sister in law who was looking uncharacteristically serious.

"Morgana what's wrong?" Gwen asked. Please let nothing terrible have happened to Arthur, please God I'm begging you.

"Arthur rang me last night when you were at Elyan's. He hasn't been granted leave until the end of his tour." Morgana replied.

"But he was due to come home at the end of the month." Gwen reminded. They had worked it out that Arthur was expected leave around the date of their third wedding anniversary. Morgana shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"What else can he do? I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you but he couldn't get through to you last night and well, you know." Morgana trailed off, unsure of how to add 'we don't know if he'll get himself killed someday soon'. Gwen nodded and attempted to hide her disappointment and Morgana wrapped her arms around her best friend and sister-in-law and hugged her tightly. As they broke apart Morgana looked around the corridor and grinned at Gwen.

"Is old Mr Monmouth still the principal here?" Morgana asked.

"You know he is, he wouldn't retire even if he wanted to." Gwen replied with a wan smile. They had all attended Excalibur Primary school; she, Morgana, Arthur and Merlin. Four lifelong friends who had grown up together. While Gwen now taught Year Two, Morgana was a social worker and Merlin was a doctor. Arthur had joined the army whenever he turned eighteen, had served in Iraq and was currently deployed in Afghanistan.

"Interesting," Morgana nodded to herself. "I'll see you later, still coming round for dinner on Sunday?"

"And miss Merlin's roast dinner? I think not." Gwen replied as she returned into the classroom and Morgana slipped down the corridor towards the office.

The next evening Gwen was curled up on the sofa lazily surfing the internet whenever she saw that someone was contacting her on Skype. Gwen quickly answered the call and Arthur's grinning face appeared on her laptop screen.

"Hi Guinevere," Arthur smiled.

"Hello yourself," Gwen smiled. He was here, he was safe. For now. "Morgana told me that you couldn't get leave."

"I know, Gwaine got my spot and for what? For him to go about Dublin and get wasted." Arthur commented shaking his head.

"Hey beautiful!" Gwaine called as he appeared over Arthur's shoulder. Leon, Percival and Lancelot also appeared on her screen and shouted their hellos. Gwen couldn't help but laugh. She had met Arthur's friends and she knew that they were funny and friendly men who loved messing around and were clearly good friends to Arthur. Even Arthur was trying to hide a grin as he tried to get his friends to leave them alone.

"Come on lads, I'm trying to talk to my wife, leave it!" Arthur insisted.

"Alright, we'll see you soon." Lancelot smiled at Gwen.

"Bye Gwen," Percival added.

"Here add me on Skype for whenever the princess here bores you. My username's-" Gwaine began but Leon clapped a hand over his mouth and smiled at Gwen.

"Ignore him, he's just jealous that no girl's ever liked him. See you!" Leon commented.

"Bye boys, stay safe." Gwen advised.

"We will," the men replied as they left Arthur and Gwen to their privacy. They looked at one another before laughing.

"They're a funny group." Gwen commented.

"They drive me mad sometimes but they're the best friends I've ever had. Except for you, Merlin and Morgana of course." Arthur replied.

"Thanks. I wish you were coming home. I miss you and I worry about you all the time." Gwen confessed. It was more than just worry. Every news bulletin that announced that a soldier had been wounded or killed had Gwen on tender hooks until the soldier's name was revealed and she could breathe again. Every time the phone rang or there was a knock on the door, fear bubbled in the pit of her stomach and panic threatened to control her mind due to her fear that she was receiving That Phone call or That Knock on the door. The one that every person with a loved one fighting in a war dreaded to receive. The one that told them that their loved one was coming home but in a flag-draped coffin.

"I know but we can't do anything about it. I'll see if I can arrange for some leave soon. Promise," Arthur reassured with a smile.

"Alright, how are you all getting on?" Gwen asked.

"Can't really complain and the job has to be done. I am sorry I couldn't get home but listen to me, no matter where I am or what I'm doing, I'll always be thinking of you."

"I'm always thinking about you," Gwen said with a smile as Arthur stifled a yawn.

"Got to head to bed now; I'm on foot patrol tomorrow morning with Lancelot and Percival." Arthur explained.

"Be careful," Gwen advised.

"Yes Mum," Arthur quipped with a grin. "I love you."

"I love you too." Gwen said honestly as they signed off. Gwen looked around the living room before her gaze fell on the framed photograph of her and Arthur on their wedding day on the mantelpiece. Gwen couldn't deny it was tough being an army wife. It was hard juggling a day to day life with the constant fear that Arthur could be killed at any moment hanging over her head. She was lucky therefore to have her family's support. Morgana, Merlin, Elyan and Uther worried about Arthur too and none of them even wanted to consider the possibility that Arthur wouldn't make it back from Afghanistan. As Gwen looked at the picture; her in her white dress and Arthur in his uniform she could only hope that he would be alright.

A few weeks later in Camp Bastion, those who had been allocated leave were packing their belongings up, chatting to friends and making phone calls to loved ones informing them of the approximate time of their arrival back on home soil. Arthur had managed to get himself onto one of the few computers on base and briefly talk to Merlin and Morgana before signing off. He still had his duties to do and couldn't afford to waste time. At six pm the soldiers piled into the trucks which would take them out of Camp Bastion and on the first part of the long journey home.

That same afternoon in England after the pupils had headed home; Gwen was cutting out and pinning up the artwork done that afternoon by her pupils who were currently learning about undersea life for science whenever there was a knock on the classroom door. Gwen jumped off the chair and crossed the classroom to let the principal into the classroom.

"What's wrong Geoffrey?" Gwen asked, she still sometimes got nervous around Mr Monmouth, the principal had a way of making Gwen feel like she was seven years old again and about to get in trouble for roofing a football.

"Nothing's wrong, there's a special assembly being held tomorrow for the pupils and it came to us at short notice. I'm just letting you and the other teachers know now." Geoffrey explained.

"Assembly? What about?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Just something for the students, nothing to be concerned about. It will take place after break time and shouldn't last too long." Geoffrey explained.

"Ok, I'll inform my students tomorrow." Gwen replied as the principal left the room and she returned to pinning the pictures to the wall. It was a bit unusual; Mr Monmouth was always extremely organised about things like this; it had even been a running joke since her Excalibur days about the principal's need to have everything perfect and organised. Special assembly's had to be planned weeks in advance and the teachers informed as soon as possible. A last minute one was not a common occurrence at Excalibur. Gwen shrugged her shoulders and kept pinning pictures of dolphins, starfish, crabs and a few mermaids to the wall before gathering some extra paperwork and heading home.

The next morning Gwen's mind drifted to what she had been doing on that day three years prior. Half eleven, she would have been getting her hair and make-up done while her stomach clenched with excitement and nerves. Gwen glanced out the window, wondering where and what Arthur was doing at that moment as her class returned in from their morning break. Gwen silenced them quickly and the students piled into their seats.

"Ok we have to go down to the assembly hall now for a special assembly. Come on, quickly." Gwen instructed as she led the students down to the filling assembly hall. The pupils were being sat in rows on the floor from the reception class to the Year Six students and the noise generated by a hundred-odd pupils in the one room echoed off the walls. As she got her class organised, Gwen looked around the hall for a clue as for what was going on. She noticed Nimueh fixing the projection screen and connecting the projector to a laptop. They must be showing the children a film or something. Finally all the pupils were settled in and Mr Monmouth stood at the front of the hall. It wasn't just the teachers and pupils in the hall, the classroom assistants, the two work experience students and even the dinner ladies were loitering in the hall for the assembly.

"Good morning everyone. Today we have a special treat; we've been able to get a very special and brave hero who wishes to pass on a special message to one of you. Can anyone guess who it is?" Mr Monmouth asked.

"Superman!"

"Batman!"

"Harry Potter!" Various voices suggested various heroes from comics, TV shows and films and Mr Monmouth shook his head and held up his hands for silence.

"Actually this person is a real hero, he's fighting for our country in Afghanistan and he's here now." Mr Monmouth replied as a Skype contact piped up and Nimueh pressed the accept button. Gwen's hands flew to her mouth as Arthur's grinning face appeared on the projection screen and she stepped forward to get closer to the screen. Gwen was so focused on Arthur that she didn't notice some of her colleagues producing cameras or their phones to record this assembly.

"Hi everyone, my name's Arthur Pendragon and I'm married to Mrs Pendragon and today is actually our wedding anniversary so I just wanted to surprise my lovely wife Guinevere because I couldn't get home. How are you?" Arthur asked Gwen.

"Better for seeing you, I can't believe you arranged this. How?" Gwen asked.

"Merlin, Morgana and Elyan helped." Arthur replied through the distorted screen. "The signal's quite bad my end, can you still hear me?"

"Yes, I wish you could have come home." Gwen replied. She should have realised that Elyan, Merlin and Morgana had been acting strange but she had been so upset with Arthur being unable to get his leave that she had barely focused on little else.

"I know, I just want you to do one thing for me," Arthur said as the screen jerked around as though the computer was about to fall or something.

"What's that?" Gwen asked but before Arthur could reply the screen went blank and Gwen and the students were staring at a blank desktop image. Gwen stared disappointedly at the screen and didn't notice the doors opening or the figures entering the hall. The leader was holding a laptop under his arm and two others were following with their own cameras. The fourth was still wearing his camouflage clothing and he studied the woman who still had her back to him.

"Turn around."

Gwen spun on the spot and pressed her hands over her mouth in shock as tears sprung to her eyes. She should have known! Arthur was standing with Merlin, Elyan and Morgana who were grinning as the latter two held up their cameras. Gwen ran down the hall, half-blinded by tears, jumped into Arthur's open arms and buried her face in his shoulder as everyone began applauding. This was real, he was here! He was home! Gwen removed her face from his shoulder and kissed Arthur to loud wolf whistles and louder cheering. As they broke apart, Arthur thumbed the tears from Gwen's face and she stared at his tanned, handsome and grinning face.

"How are you," Gwen began and Arthur gave her his usual heart-stopping grin, the one she hadn't seen properly for so long.

"I was due home all along but I wanted it to be a surprise." Arthur laughed as he kissed her again.

"I can't believe this," Gwen stated, still in slight shock. She hadn't even considered the possibility that Arthur had gotten his leave and that the others had helped pull this off without letting anything slip.

Arthur just kissed her again and held his wife as close to him as he could. "Happy anniversary Guinevere."

AN: This one was inspired by the videos on YouTube of soldiers surprising their loved ones by returning from Afghanistan earlier than expected. Hope you enjoyed it.