'Arthur!'

He kept walking. He couldn't face her. He had to keep walking.

'Arthur stop!' she called after him, 'you can't run from this!'

He stopped, rooted to the spot.

'What do you want?' he snapped, and he was repulsed by the bitterness in his words.

'Don't you dare' she said her voice shaking with an anger he had never heard there before, 'don't you dare blame all of this on me.'

'I'm sorry but who else's fault is it?'

'You can not seriously be so supercilious so as not to see your own liability in this mess.'

Arthur let out a mirthless laugh, 'you've got to be kidding.'

Her chest was heaving now with suppressed emotion.

'Get off your moral high horse for just one minute Arthur Pendragon and put yourself in my shoes'

He opened his mouth to interrupt but she ploughed on.

'Firstly, you have no right to be upset about my kissing Merlin. It happened over a year ago, long before you even knew I existed-'

'I did know you existed' he said indignantly.

'As anything more than Morgana's maidservant?'

That shut him up.

'Yes we should have told you, but you can blame neither of us for what is in the past.'

'So it's over between you?'

She smiled indulgently, 'it never began.'

'But you're going as his date to this wedding?'

'I am going as his friend' she corrected him.

He smiled sheepishly, 'okay, I shouldn't have flown off the handle about that, you're right. I just really didn't like the thought of my best friend kissing the girl I-' he broke off embarrassed.

She bowed her head, her cheeks a little pink, 'so that's why you came?'

'Yes' he replied as he continued to walk, Gwen keeping pace with him.

'What about Lancelot?' Arthur asked tentatively, not at all sure he wanted to hear the answer.

'Well that started when he first came to Camelot.'

'Did you look at every man in the castle before you looked at me?' he said half joking.

'Yes' she replied honestly.

'Seriously?' he exclaimed rather put out, stopping once more.

'Everyone but your father' she nodded with a serious smile, 'you were always the Prince of Camelot to me, that was all you were allowed to mean to me. Few men in the Kingdom are more unattainable than

you are Arthur' she said tenderly before continuing in a more business-like manner, 'but then the lines of decorum became fudged first at Ealdor and then when you came to stay with me. I saw you clearly for

the first time as a man first, a Prince second. But you made it clear that nothing could happen between us and of course I understood your reasons, however that did not stop me from feeling hurt and, if I'm

honest a little used-'

'Guinevere I never meant-'

'I know that now' she said kindly with a gentle shrug, 'but I didn't then. As far as I was concerned we were over before we had even started. So when Lancelot turned up with his heart on his sleeve, a heart

which he claimed was mine entirely, I did not feel as if I was betraying you. I was swept up by the romanticism of it, how very obtainable, how very real it was. He could offer me a future, a marriage, a home, a

family, everything in short that you could not.' She paused at the hurt expression on Arthur's face, 'it is not a criticism of you' she sought to assure him, 'and if this was a fairytale we could be together, but this

is real life. In real life Cinderella remains a servant, she marries a nice kitchen boy, and the Prince marries his perfect princess.'

'But if you had the choice, no obstacles, who would you choose, me or Lancelot?'

'That is not a question, there are obstacles.'

'Indulge me for just one moment and imagine there weren't any. Who would you choose?'

'You' she said simply, turning away from him.

'Even if Lancelot was here?'

'Yes' she nodded, 'I was in love with the idea of him, with his chivalry, his ideals, his feelings for me. I was never in love with him. When he left I cried because I felt betrayed. When he left I lost my hope of an

accessible future, and my back up. I feel dreadful that I viewed him like that. It was wrong of me to treat him so. And I am sorry too that I hurt you.' She hung her head.

He tilted her chin upwards, forcing her eyes to meet his, 'well that's one obstacle dealt with' he said with a grin.

'You are still Prince of Camelot'

'Who cares about that kind of thing these days?' he said light-heartedly and was consequently rather taken aback by the seriousness of Gwen's response.

'I have thought it over a thousand times Arthur' she said as tears began to form in her eyes for the first time, 'and the closest we could get would be for me to become your mistress, but I'm sorry Arthur, I

could never settle for that, I could never share you-'

'And I would never want you to' he said passionately, taking her left hand in both of his own 'I'm sorry but I am too demanding for that. If I were ever to be lucky enough to have you Guinevere, I would want

all of you, this hand included' he said with a warm smile.

She pulled her hand from his grip.

'Arthur you shouldn't say such things'

'A wise woman once told me that when I was King things could be different, I foolishly didn't tell her then that was what I wished for too.'

'I do not want you to wait for me' he continued after a moment, 'if you find love and happiness elsewhere, take it. But let me volunteer to be your fall back. I will voluntarily remain a bachelor until I become King

or you marry. That is my offer Guinevere, do you accept it?'

'Sire!' she exclaimed, slipping back into her old habits in her surprise, 'I can not accept for it would be grossly unfair to you.'

'Okay. How about we court secretly, you stop kissing other men and we review the contract every six months? Sound fair to you?' he asked with an arched eyebrow, offering her his hand.

She laughed, paused, then took it, 'you have yourself a deal.'

Author's note: sorry about the masses of dialogue again! I couldn't help it. Just wanted to justify Gwen's actions in series 2, the way I saw it. Because I never really saw that she was doing anything wrong, I always felt that she was just the victim of circumstance and was just trying to settle with what she had, however I know I was in a real minority on that. Just thought I would explain it how I saw it and hope it didn't turn out too bad.