Season 2, Episode 5

Story 18: I Told You So

Chapter 3: Awkward

Merlin hurried back to Gaius's chambers, being careful not to be seen. The last thing Merlin needed was for Gaius to see him and realize that they had failed again. He was beginning to think that it wouldn't be possible to defeat Catrina.

When he got back, Merlin tripped over a mop and a bucket, waking Gaius from his slumber.

Gaius lit a candle and when he notice Merlin, his jaw dropped. Merlin realized how awful he must look. "It didn't work," Merlin said dejectedly.

"Did Catrina do this to you?" Gaius asked horrified. He quickly got out of bed and took a step closer to get a better look at Merlin's injuries.

Merlin shook his head. "Jonas," he explained. He was barely able to suppress his yawn.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Gaius said quietly. He too was beginning to give up hope. "We'll figure out something else in the morning."

Gaius patched Merlin up the best that he could. Merlin would still have a wicked black eye and several small cuts on his face, but he wasn't going to bleed anymore. What concerned Gaius the most was the bump on the back of Merlin's head. Gaius cleaned away the blood, but Merlin would still have a pretty bad headache in the morning.

Gaius didn't have the heart to wake Merlin early the next morning. Merlin had taken quite the beating and needed his sleep. Gaius figured that Arthur would survive a morning without him.

When Merlin woke and left his chambers, he knew he had overslept. "What time is it?" Merlin asked, stifling a yawn. Despite the fact that he had clearly gotten a lot of sleep, he felt inexplicably exhausted. He sat down across from Gaius.

"Just past midday," Gaius answered absent-mindedly.

"Midday?" Merlin gawked. He jumped to his feet and threw out his hands to steady himself. He closed his eyes and waited for his dizziness to pass. "Arthur's going to kill me! I wasn't there to wake him up or fetch him breakfast."

"He'll manage. We need to figure out how to stop Catrina," Gaius said urgently.

Merlin groaned. "I wish we could just bring Uther to where Catrina sleeps at night. Then he would see the real her," Merlin wished.

Gaius's jaw dropped. "Merlin, you're a genius!" Gaius appraised.

Merlin looked at Gaius like he was crazy. Merlin knew what was in danger if a troll became queen; however, he was beginning to think that maybe Gaius was a little too desperate for a solution. "Gaius we can't exactly get Uther down there. He would never listen to us," Merlin argued. "And he's already suspicious enough of you as it is."

"You're right. Uther won't. But Arthur might," Gaius hinted.

"Arthur. You've got to be kidding. He will never listen to me. Arthur thinks I'm some kind of idiot," Merlin said dejectedly.

"Arthur cares a great deal for you. If you ask him to go with you, he will," Gaius said with certainty.

Merlin groaned. "Fine. I'll talk to him. But when he throws me in the stocks for missing my morning duties, I'm blaming you," Merlin grumbled.

Merlin wolfed down some bread before he went to Arthur's chambers. Arthur was going to be furious with him.

When Merlin entered Arthur's chambers, Arthur didn't even look up. "It's funny," Arthur said, writing something on his piece of parchment paper. "For some reason I thought you were my manservant and it's the strangest thing, as part of being my manservant, I expect you to wake me up and help me prepare for my day in the morning. It is my responsibility to admin–" Arthur cut himself off as he looked up at Merlin. "What the hell happened to you?" Arthur asked. He tried not to sound anxious, but he couldn't help it. He was starting to think that Merlin may have had a legitimate reason for missing work this morning.

"Don't worry about that," Merlin said dismissively. "I need you to do something for me."

"What do you need?" Arthur asked.

"Tonight, after everyone goes to sleep, I need you to come with me to an empty room underneath the castle. I need to show you something," Merlin requested. He honestly wasn't sure if Arthur would agree to go with him. He probably couldn't have described where they were going in a more shady way if he had tried.

Merlin thought he saw an excited glint in Arthur's eyes. The moment he noticed it, it disappeared and Merlin was convinced he had imagined it. "Of course. Meet me here after Gaius falls asleep and we'll go down," Arthur said with a nod. He turned back to his work. Merlin's jaw nearly dropped. That was much easier than he had expected.

Merlin watched Arthur as he got absorbed in his work. He looked so peaceful and innocent the way he chewed slightly on his lip as he tried to figure out what to write. Merlin wasn't sure what Arthur was working on. He could be writing up a report or responding to someone's complaint. Regardless, Arthur put the same amount of effort into everything he did, no matter how tedious. It was one of the things that Merlin truly admired about Arthur. He wasn't king yet, but he was already willing to hold the weight of his people's suffering and was willing to do his part to appease them.

After a moment, Merlin realized he was staring. He shook his head and began to complete his normal duties. His morning off meant he had more work to complete today. He tidied up Arthur's chambers, changed his sheets, and he did the laundry. When he returned with the clean laundry he had to help Arthur into his chain mail. It was a sign of how worried Arthur was about what had happened to Merlin; that he only made two or three comments about how his armor wasn't polished because someone didn't come into work in the morning.

As Arthur was leaving, he turned to Merlin. "I'll need you to draw me a bath. Practice shouldn't be long today. We just have a new recruit," Arthur explained quickly.

Merlin watched him leave, surprised that he hadn't tacked on any more chores for Merlin to do. Merlin shrugged, figuring Arthur was still slightly traumatized by the idea of his father courting someone and therefore unable to think about overworking Merlin.

Merlin went back to Gaius's chambers. "Well?" Gaius asked when Merlin walked in.

"He agreed to do it," Merlin said glumly. He hated being wrong. "Don't say I told you so."

"I would never," Gaius said with a twinkling in his eyes. "You're going tonight I suppose?"

Merlin nodded. "We have to think of something to distract Jonas," Merlin said with a sigh. That was the tricky bit.

"That will be easy enough. I can take care of that myself. Jonas feeds on human food. Slip a bit of a sleeping potion into his meal and he'll be fast asleep when you and Arthur go down to see Catrina," Gaius said with a shrug.

"Will it really be that simple?" Merlin asked uncertainly.

Gaius nodded. "We couldn't drug Catrina, but Uther couldn't care less about a servant," Gaius pointed out. "And by then Arthur will know what Catrina truly is so there should be no danger in it. I only hope that Arthur will be able to convince his father. Uther is announcing his engagement to court tonight. They are to marry tomorrow."

Merlin nodded. He wasn't surprised that they would be getting married so soon. He was anxious for nightfall. This was their last chance to expose Catrina before the wedding.

Merlin didn't have anything to do until it was time to prepare Arthur for bed. Merlin lingered for about an hour as Gaius prepared the sleeping draft, but his restlessness only grew as he watched the physician.

Gaius seemed to sense his anxiety. "Why don't you go see if Arthur has anything that he needs you to do? It would be good for you to keep busy," Gaius pointed out.

Merlin sighed. "I doubt he's back now," Merlin said. But then he was struck with an idea. He could go to the kitchen and have the cook prepare a snack for Arthur. Arthur was always complaining about how hungry he was when he got back from training. "I'll fetch him some food."

Gaius didn't say anything as Merlin ran from his chambers. Gaius shook his head. Merlin was so used to having work piled before him. Free time really didn't suit him.

Merlin went to the kitchen, excited at the prospect of killing at least a couple of minutes. It was easy time to waste. When the cook begrudgingly handed him a plate of food, Merlin went back to Arthur's chambers. He figured Arthur wouldn't be back yet, so he entered Arthur's chambers without knocking.

But when Merlin got inside, it was to see Arthur standing completely naked in front of his wardrobe.