Chapter Four

A.N.- Just a quick word of warning- I'll save my main A.N for the end of the chapter- this one is a little bit... well, let's just say this is where the story starts to live up to its T-rating. Enjoy!

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The lighting was dim, but she could still see his face.

His blonde hair was sticking slightly to his forehead, and his bright blue eyes bored into hers. Slowly, he edged his naked body closer to hers and gently brushed his lips against her jawline. One hand worked itself into her hair, making fists in the already tangled mess, whilst the other began to trace her neck, her shoulder blade, her stomach, her thigh-

Gwen sat bolt upright in bed and looked across at her clock: five forty-two a.m. Her heart was hammering as if she had been running, and she felt hot and clammy. She should not be thinking about Arthur Pendragon in that way- if she was going to think about anyone in that way, why couldn't it be someone perfectly reasonable, like Orlando Bloom or Leonardo DiCaprio? It was just her mind playing tricks, what with the events with Lucas and Arthur saving her. Completely ridiculous. Unrealistic. Stupid. Embarrassing.

But as she rubbed the shampoo into her hair, she couldn't help but think just how good the dream had been.

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'Where did you go last night?' exclaimed Morgana, throwing her arms around Gwen's neck the moment she entered the restaurant for breakfast. 'Leon and I were worried sick! I knew you had gone off somewhere with Lucas, but then you wouldn't pick up your phone and I began to think that-'

'I'm fine,' said Gwen quickly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Arthur watching her closely, a concerned expression on his face. 'We just went outside for a bit of fresh air, and then he tried to kiss me, and then Arthur came outside and walked me back home.'

Morgana narrowed her eyes. 'Did Lucas hurt you?'

'No!' she replied quickly; in the background, Arthur raised his eyebrows. 'No, not at all. I just got tired, and decided to go back to bed.' They went to sit at the table and Gwen poured herself a cup of tea. 'So, you were with Leon while I wasn't there?' she asked, smirking while she stirred in some milk.

Morgana blushed and looked down at the toast she was buttering. 'Shut up,' she muttered. 'Nothing happened.'

'Did you want anything to happen?' she enquired, lowering her voice as Leon, Gwaine and Percival entered the restaurant.

Her friend squirmed in her seat, fiddling with the ends of her long hair. 'Maybe. No. Yes. I don't know!' she sighed and slumped back in her seat. 'Why does it have to be so difficult?' she moaned. 'Why should either of us have to make the first move? Why can't we just wake up one day, and bam, we're an item? It's so complicated!'

'What's so complicated?' asked Leon, sitting down opposite them.

Morgana hitched a grin onto her face, her eyes lighting up. 'Oh, nothing,' she said airily. 'We were just talking about dress sizes.' She really was an excellent actress, thought Gwen admiringly.

Leon pulled a face. 'Boring. What scenes are you shooting today?'

'I've got one with Percival when Mordred is bought to the castle, and the one with Vivian. What's so funny?' she added bemusedly as both Gwaine and Arthur burst out laughing at her sentence.

'You sound... fine about shooting with Vivian,' chortled Gwaine. 'You're obviously never met her before, have you?'

Morgana frowned. 'No. She didn't come to France with us straight away because she isn't in any of the scenes we've already shot, am I right? I've never met her before, but I'm sure she's lovely. What?' she looked amused as once again Arthur burst into peals of laughter. By this time, half the restaurant were staring at their table.

'Yes,' said Arthur, trying and failing to keep his face straight. 'Gwaine and I have worked with her once before, and as you say, she is... lovely.' He glanced across at the Irishman again, and the two of them smirked.

'Come on, guys, tell me what you know!' pleaded Morgana. 'Is she horrible?'

'No! No, of course not.' Another sly grin was exchanged. 'She's just... well, she's as much as a perfectionist as father as, put it that way.'

Morgana groaned. 'Great. This means it'll just be another relaxing, stress-free day. What about you two, what are you doing?'

The two men grinned at each other. 'We've got our first fight scene!'

Morgana rolled her eyes and then muttered to Gwen, 'Boys and their play-fighting, eh?' Gwen laughed and drained the rest of her tea from her mug. A minute later, everyone else was also finished, and they all began the walk to work.

On the way to the castle, Arthur watched as Gwen chatted happily to Merlin in front of him. It was strange, he thought, how normal she was acting after last night. There were moments, though, where he was sure it was all an act and her confidence had actually been sapped a bit; moments throughout the day like when a group of male photographers appeared to take pictures of the cast and she crossed her arms protectively over her chest, or when Tom the cameraman accidentally brushed against her from behind and she jumped violently.

Overall, the morning went well for both Gwen and Arthur: yes, Gwen was a bit shaken, but she had Morgana's dresses to keep her occupied and Arthur spent the morning in the makeshift training ground out on the lawn, going over the choreography for the fight scene later on. After lunch, however, the day took a rather unpleasant twist when a certain loud, fake, blonde actress arrived to shoot her first scene for the film.

She appeared with a bang, striding through the main gates as if she owned the place and seemingly in the middle of a very loud, attention-seeking argument with her personal assistant struggling to keep up with her. 'I'm sorry, miss, I truly don't have any idea where she could have gone -' the assistant was saying desperately.

The woman turned on the tiny man, a look of anger of her beautiful features. 'Well, I need her!' she shrieked, and the whole film crew turned to see what the commotion was. 'How am I meant to shoot my scene without my costume assistant?'

'I'm just- oh, look, here's your father, why don't we just ask him?' the assistant's expression turned to one o relief when he spotted a man hurrying towards them. The stranger, who was tall and had a slight receding hairline, took the blonde's woman's hands in his own.

'Vivi, darling, what's the matter?' he asked. The woman, or "Vivi", burst into tears.

The penny dropped for Morgana and Gwen at the same time when they realised this was Vivian, the "lovely" actress who would be working with them.

'My costume assistant's disappeared!' she wailed. 'How am I meant to shoot my scenes without my costumes? All the people here are depending on me, daddy! This film will be nothing without my work! How can this have happened?'

'Shh,' crooned her father, 'Don't cry, sweetheart, you'll ruin your makeup and then we'll have to wait for your eyes to go back to normal.' He turned to the cast and crew, who were all standing around in disbelief. 'Somebody get my daughter some tissues!' he ordered. 'She also needs a strong black coffee with two sugars, a costume assistant and a makeup team to prep her immediately, please.' Nobody moved. 'Now!' he barked, and everyone jumped back into action.

Within a minute, Vivian had stopped snivelling and was being led away to the changing trailers, with a black coffee in her hand, photographers circling her whilst all competing to get the best shot, and a few miserable crew members who had been assigned in assisting Vivian for the duration of her filming. Gwen watched the scene unfold with amusement, but it quickly lost its humour when Uther came up to her and said, 'You're Morgana's costume assistant, aren't you?'

'Yes, sir,' she said nervously. She glanced across at Morgana, who simply shrugged to show she didn't know why the producer was talking to her, either.

'Well, I need you to go and be Vivian's costume assistant until we can find a replacement for the one that's gone AWOL. She's been put into trailer number seven, go and attend to her straight away. There's a folder in there that should tell you all the costumes she needs, get going.'

Gwen stared at him. Two jobs? 'You want me to go and work for... her?' she said faintly. 'I'll be working extra hours?'

'Yes,' he said impatiently. 'Is there a problem with that?'

'For the same amount of pay?'

He glared down at her. 'I beg your pardon?'

'Well, I'll be working twice as much, so surely I'm entitled to -'

'Don't you answer me back, young lady!' he growled. 'You should be happy. This will look excellent on your CV. Now, I want you to go over and help Vivian, and if I hear even the slightest whisper that you haven't been treating her with the respect that she deserves, I promise you your job of working for Morgana and your new position with Vivian will be given to someone more grateful. Do I make myself clear?'

Gwen sighed, defeated. 'Yes, sir.' She glanced across at Morgana, who was looking furiously at her guardian, before walking out of the gates to wear the trailers were parked. She was just passing through a small gap between two trailers when a voice made her stop.

'Hey, wait up!' she turned round in disbelief to see Arthur jogging towards her, drenched in sweat from his training for the fight scene. 'Hey,' he said again once he had caught up with her. 'Look, I just heard that you have to work for Vivian, and I came to wish you luck.'

Gwen laughed. 'Thank you. This might be the last time you see me as a sane woman.'

He grinned. 'If you want to survive working with her, listen carefully. These points might just keep you in the correct mental state. First, she has a dog called Sugar. The moment you see it, comment on how adorable it looks in its diamante collar and pink jacket. That dog is her pride and joy. Second, agree with everything she says. Believe me; it'll save you a lot of crying and insulting. Third, insist you need to know what she's going to be wearing for the next week so that your outfits don't clash. Vivian loves shallow women who believe that looks are the highest priority.'

'Wow.' She blinked. 'You seem well informed on how to act around spoilt brats.'

He shrugged. 'I had a fling with her for a few weeks when we worked on a film together a couple of years ago. I'm surprised you don't remember it, it was all over the tabloids.'

Gwen raised an eyebrow. 'Well, you sure know how to pick your women, don't you?'

Arthur laughed. 'You know me, Gwen. I don't do relationships, I do sex.' They both looked uncomfortably down at their feet, and before she could stop it, the memory of last night's dream flew back into Gwen's mind.

'I've often wondered what your lifestyle would be like,' she admitted quietly. 'You know, not having to worry about the whole romance thing and just have a fling.'

He grinned. 'It's good. You get to be carefree. Maybe you should try it sometime, Guinevere you could do with something meaningless in your life. You need to stop worrying about everything.' All of a sudden, their bodies seemed much closer than they had been a minute ago. 'You need something to take your mind off your work.' Her lips were close enough to kiss now. If he just moved forwards a few more inches...

A loud shout from inside the trailer they were next to made them both spring apart, and Gwen glanced at Arthur, who ran a hand awkwardly through his hair. 'Um,' said Gwen, and he looked up. 'I don't know what just didn't happen there... but I think it just came a bit too close to something -' she was rambling, she knew, but somehow she couldn't stop speaking. Why did this always happen to her?

Arthur gave a groan. 'Our relationship is completely messed up, isn't it? I mean, we both secretly loathe each other, but in a way we're both aware of that, but then things like this happen, and -'

Gwen smiled slightly. 'We're messed up people, Arthur; it's only to be expected. Now, if you'll excuse me...' she retreated and disappeared round the corner, leaving a very confused and thoughtful actor in her wake.

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She knocked on the door of trailer seven a minute later, willed for inner strength to get her through, and then let herself in.

Gwen couldn't believe her eyes: she had literally never seen anything like it in her life. Every surface of Vivian's trailer was bright pink and glittery: the walls, the furniture, the lights, the carpet, the lining of the numerous mirrors, the small iPod docking station blaring out music and the dressing table that was choc-a-bloc with makeup. She cleared her throat to announce herself, and at once the team of seven people who had been attending to Vivian's appearance, along with Vivian herself, stopped what they were doing to look at her.

'Who are you?' asked Vivian rudely, putting down her magazine.

'I'm Guinevere. I'll be your costume assistant until we find you a full-time replacement,' said Gwen with as much politeness as she could muster.

'Guinevere really is one of Camelot Film Company's finest,' interjected Sally quickly, the woman who Gwen knew and liked who was currently attaching extensions into Vivian's scalp.

Vivian looked Gwen up and down with obvious disgust at what she was wearing: a flower-patterned short dress that she had made herself with a cropped denim jacket. 'Then I fear for Camelot!' she laughed, before going back to her magazine. Sally exchanged raised eyebrows with Guinevere, who felt like slapping the stuck-up actress there and then, but instead she simply went over to the small costume rail that someone had thought to bring in and started to search through for the one that had been allocated for today. There it was: slutty, a very low neckline, a tight bodice that laced up at the back.

She held it up to show to Vivian. 'Do you want me to help you put it on now?' she said sarcastically, as Vivian didn't seem to be making any effort to the scene she would be shooting in just less than half a hour.

Vivian turned to look at her. 'Go on, then,' she huffed, standing up. 'If you must.' She stood up dramatically and put her arms out to the side, looking as if she was trying to impersonate the Angel of the North.

'Um, don't you want us all to turn away while you change and then I'll just do it up for you?' asked Gwen timidly.

The actress raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. 'No. Honestly, Gemma, I've posed for Playboy six times, do you really think I still worry about my dignity? Believe me, those days are long gone.' And without further ado she peeled off her top to reveal a perfectly toned stomach, before kicking off her shoes and unbuttoning her shorts, so that she was standing there in nothing but a matching pair of lacy black underwear. She pulled a ridiculous pose and pouted in what she must have thought to be a seductive way. 'What do you think?' she asked, spinning round. 'I chose a strapless bra because I didn't know if it would go with the dress, so actually, I'm doing you a favour by dressing like this!'

'Thank you,' said Gwen awkwardly, holding out the dress for Vivian to slip into whilst the rest of the team averted their eyes. Ten minutes later, after many complaints, several near-tantrums and a lot of pouting, Gwen had managed to tie the dress tight enough to stop her cleavage spilling out. Yes, Vivian had had to hold onto a chair whilst both Gwen and Alice had sorted out the corset, but it really had been worth it: it pained Gwen to say it, but Vivian really did look beautiful. It complimented her hourglass figure perfectly and flowed out at the bottom, making a quiet rustling sound every time she moved. Vivian, however, simply sniffed when she was shown her refection in the full-length mirror, and stuck her chest out slightly, muttering, 'I could do with another boob job,', before plonking herself back down in her seat and commanding the makeup team to get to work.

Five minutes before filming was scheduled to begin, a man walked in with a dog in his arms, which he handed to Vivian. Then he put down a small pink glittery suitcase next to her and left the trailer without a word. Vivian screamed in excitement as the dog (if you could really call it a dog- it had no fur and was dressed in a pink diamante collar with a matching sparkly jacket) was placed on her lap, and at once she began to fuss over the small creature, talking in goo-goo language. Gwen had never seen a more nauseating sight. 'Your dog is lovely,' she tried, remembering Arthur's advice.

Vivian looked up and for the first time gave Gwen a genuine smile. 'Thank you!' she said happily, rolling the dog over so it was on its back. 'Did you hear that, Sugar? Gemma thinks you're a lovely dog! She loves you almost as much as she loves me, but no one loves you as much as Mummy does!' she cooed, kissed the dog on its wet nose just as a man with a clipboard came in.

''scuse me, Miss,' he said nervously, 'But filming is about to begin. If you would like to make your way to -'

'All right!' she snapped, standing up and adjusting her dress so that her cleavage was sticking out so much that her dog could have sat upon it. She snapped her fingers and pointed at Gwen. 'You, Gemma -'

'Gwen,' she corrected her quietly.

'Oh, whatever your name is- carry Sugar for me. I want her at the side of the set twenty-four seven; if I stay away from him longer than an hour I get terrible headaches. Come on, let's go, we haven't got all day!' Sugar was thrust into Gwen's arms, and the pair of them walked back to the courtyard, where Morgana and the rest of the film crew were already assembled. Quite a few men's jaws dropped when they saw her outfit- it seemed even more daring as when she walked, her chest bounced- and she walked over purposefully to Uther, who was tapping his foot impatiently while having a heated discussion with Aggravaine.

'Uther!' trilled Vivian, and a wide smile appeared on Uther's face as he welcomed her into his open arms. They kissed each other's cheeks.

'Excellent to see you again, my dear, simply excellent,' he said warmly, taking her by the hands and leading her to the top of the steps. Gwen trailed along, trying not to look miserable. 'Now, we're a couple of minutes behind schedule, so as soon as your costume assistant has sorted out your dress we're going to start, okay?'

Vivian nodded eagerly, and Uther went back to stand behind the camera again. Gwen bent down to smooth out the dress, which was easier said than done as she still had to hold the squirming dog in her arms, as she smoothed out the material. Just as she was straightening up, Uther called out to her, 'Hurry up, girl; you need to sort out Morgana, too!'

Gwen smiled tightly and hurried over to where Morgana was standing, before bending down once more to sort out the hems of the cloak she was wearing. 'You look like she's giving you hell,' said Morgana sympathetically in a low voice so no one else would hear.

'Let's just say that they had better find a replacement for Vivian's costume assistant soon, or I might kill myself,' Gwen muttered back. Morgana chuckled. She walked out of the shot, and a moment later, Aggravaine shouted, 'Action!'

Vivian began walking up the steps towards the castle, as Morgana ran into the scene and called, 'You won't find him in there, you know.'

The blonde turned to face her. 'What are you talking about?'

'We've taken him,' said Morgana triumphantly, 'To a place where -' but then she stopped when Sugar made a high-pitched whining sound in Gwen's arms, its small eye focused on its mistress. Everyone turned to look at them, and Gwen blushed crimson.

'Sorry,' she muttered, but the dog continued to whine and struggle. At once, Vivian came rushing towards them and scooped Sugar up.

'What's wrong, my little sweetie pie?' she crooned. 'What can Mummy do to make it better?' at once, the dog stopped making weird whining sounds and sighed. Vivian smiled. 'All better!' she kissed the top of the dog's head before shoving him back into Gwen's arms and going back up to her starting position, chest bouncing all the way. 'Carry on!' she called to where the crew were all standing, looking slightly bemused.

Aggravaine sighed. 'Scene thirty-six, take two, and... action.'

Vivian began walking up the steps towards the castle once more, as Morgana ran into the scene and called, 'You won't find him in there, you know.'

The blonde turned to face her. 'What are you talking about?'

'We've taken him,' said Morgana triumphantly, 'To a place where he's safe from you. You won't be able to damage him anymore.'

'Believe me when I say he hasn't seen the last of me yet,' said Vivian quietly. 'I'll find him and then bring him back, just you wait.' She retreated back down the steps and walked past Morgana, accidentally-on-purpose knocking into her shoulder, before gliding out of the scene.

'Cut,' said Aggravaine, and Morgana relaxed her pose. 'Morgana, you're a bit too far to the left when you walk forwards, so we'll just do it a few more times and see if it looks better then, okay?'

He turned to where Vivian had disappeared. 'All right, Vivian, come back now, we're shooting again!'

An hour and a half later, when both Uther and Aggravaine were satisfied, and Gwen had become very tired of having to do everything one-handed because of a stupid dog, everyone began to pack away. Gwen was more than happy to hand Sugar back to its owner, and her and Morgana began their walk back to where the trailers were parked. Just as they were passing the lawn, they saw something odd; two men lying on the grass next to each other, perfectly still and splattered with blood. The two friends glanced quickly at each other in alarm, and then made their way over to see it was-

'No!' gasped Morgana when she saw the faces of the two people.

It was Arthur and Gwaine.

She crouched down next to Arthur and pressed her ear against his chest. 'He's got a heartbeat,' she confirmed before moving over to check his companion. 'Gwaine? Gwaine, if you can hear me -'

Gwaine's chest began to move up and down rapidly, and then his breath started to come out in short and shallow gasps. Then his eyes opened at exactly the same time that Arthur's did, and they both yelled, 'Got you!' Gwaine once more dissolved into laughter.

'Guys!' said Morgana crossly. 'That wasn't funny, I thought something had -'

'Trust me, sweetheart,' said Gwaine, wiping tears from his eyes, 'It really was.'

'Why are you covered in blood, anyway?' asked Gwen, puzzled.

Arthur grinned. 'We're about to shoot our fight scene. What do you think?' he stood up and turned round to show them the whole effect.

'It's brilliant,' said Gwen admiringly. 'No wonder you managed to trick us...' she was glad that there was no awkwardness between them since this what had happened this morning. Just then, Uther called over to them.

'Arthur and Gwaine, we need you here now!'

'Bye, guys,' said Gwaine miserably, and the two of them walked off back towards the castle.

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Later that evening, Gwen and Morgana headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner, and found they were the last ones to arrive at the round table that had been reserved for them. It was enjoyable meal, with everyone glad that they had a Vivian-free evening, and all too soon the clock was striking eleven and the restaurant had to practically kick them out. They said goodbye to everyone in the usual fashion, with more and more people going into their respective rooms until it was just Gwen and Arthur left.

'So,' said Arthur, running a hand through his hair when they reached their doors. 'Um...'

'Don't,' said Gwen quickly, 'Don't say anything about what happened... what didn't happen... earlier.'

Arthur groaned. 'Don't you see, Guinevere? We can't carry on like this! We can't we enemies, or friends, but then we get so close to something happening -'

'Don't call me that!' she burst out.

'What, Guinevere? Is it because I'm the only one who says it like that? Is it because it makes you think of certain things? Because believe me, I don't care anymore. I just want you for- oh, sod it. Here's what I'm thinking.' And he lunged forwards and kissed her.

It was unexpected, and Gwen found herself pinned between the door and Arthur's chest. She tried to pull away at first, but after a moment she relaxed into it, and before she knew it her fingers were knotted into his hair. 'You can come in for a drink, if you want,' he muttered, and his key card let them into the room; he kicked the door shut, their lips never leaving each other's. They stumbled over to the bed, and all of a sudden Arthur was on top of her, and their lips were on fire, and his hands and mouth were everywhere-

'This is wrong,' she managed to gasp out, 'This is what you call a drink?' But even as she said it, she continued to slip her fingers under his t-shirt. 'I don't- even- like- you -' she punctuated every word with a kiss.

'Haven't you worked it out yet?' growled Arthur, kicking off his shoes. 'We've already established that we're never going to fully get along- we're too different. So if we just don't speak, then -'

'What, you mean...' Gwen finally paused to look up at him. 'Just, like, a one night stand?'

'Pure, meaningless sex,' he grinned down at her. 'I told you you should try it sometime, and admit it, you've thought about sleeping with me before, haven't you?'

She thought of the dream from last night, and blushed. 'Well, perhaps a little.'

'So what do you say? One night, never to be spoken of again?'

Her head was screaming out for her to say no- it was irrational, it was careless, it wrong. But her heart...

'Just for tonight.'

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A.N. Hello, strangers!

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lengthy wait for this chapter. I've had writer's block, and believe me, it's taken me a while to try and get the long-awaited kiss to work: this is my twelfth version of how it happened. So... what do think will happen next? Will it just be, as Arthur put it, "pure, meaningless sex"? hmm. I told you it would live up to its T-rating!

I'd also like this opportunity to thank all my reviewers so far: my target for this entire story was to have 50 reviewers, and what do you know, we're over halfway there and the story has barely begun. I love you guys *gives virtual hug to reviewers*. It doesn't hurt to review more than once, you know! ;)

p.s. I apologise for the shortness of this chapter, but again, it seemed a good place to stop.

So, I think I've said everything I meant to say now, except this: I apologise in advance that the wait between chapters is very unlikely to get shorter. I have a lot of coursework that I'm already drowning in, as well as family commitments, a social life and other random crap that I don't like doing but is compulsory to my education. *sniggers* Education? Pah! I'm joking, kids. Don't listen to me. School is very important. Anyway, I'm rambling, so I'll just upload this now and let you review *hint hint*! xxx