Title: The Wrong Emotion

A/N: Hello, lovelies! Thank you all for reading. And to the people who reviewed, thank you so very much. I appreciate it. I'm also not ignoring anyone's requests, and I've taken into consideration some of the reviews. Not to worry, no one will end up lonely in this fic. At least I hope they don't.. I just have the main plot of the story outlined. Anyway, thanks again and let me know what you think, aye?

-McDiggin'It

...

Chapter Four:

Morgana bites her lip as she stares at the clock above her fireplace. Twenty-three minutes to 8, and she has yet to make up her mind.

Three more minutes go by before she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. A flash of blonde wavy hair, brown eyes, pointed nose, and almost feminine lips smiling back at her. Then there's another flash, this time, of dark unruly hair, blue eyes, high and defined cheekbones, and quite possibly the most annoyingly mesmerizing lips set in a near permanent frown

Really, this decision should've been easy. But something inside her still couldn't choose between the two. And bloody hell, it's not like they're both asking her out on a bloody date! One is asking for dinner and the other is asking for a meeting at the office, probably to reorganize all the paperwork he had tossed around in his office earlier.

She opens her eyes and takes her purse as she gets to her feet and heads for the door. She was going to make up her mind on the way to the car.

She's suddenly driving towards The Shard, and she begins to relax. Merlin will understand, right? A part of her mind scoffs and laughs at her. No he bloody well won't understand. He's Merlin!

Just as The Shard comes into view, Morgana comes to a stop light. She stares at the light and watches as it turns from red to green. As if possessed, she takes the next U-turn up the street and drives towards Camelot Stocks Company, her right foot heavy on the gas pedal as she glances at the time on her cars dashboard. She curses loudly as she exceeds the speed limit, hurrying to get to the office. She's already late!

As she drives, she grabs her phone and dials Arthur's number again, leaving an apology on his voicemail, for not showing up.

She tells herself she's going back only because she needs the job, but that other part of her, the one that annoyingly always seems the more rational, tells her it's for a whole different reason. She refuses to voice said reason to herself, so she turns the volume up on the car radio, and begins to belt out the lyrics to 'Fire Meet Gasoline' alongside Sia.

...

When Morgana walks into the office, the whole place is dark, save for a single computer screen brightly shining from her boss's office. She hesitantly walks towards his office, wondering what the hell is going on and why the lights are still off.

"You're late." His voice startles her upon reaching his door.

She looks around and edges slowly towards the light switch beside the open door. "I ran into some traffic." She fibs. She could barely make out his whole face, only one side illuminated by the computer screen.

He looks up, his blue eyes squinting to try and lock onto her green ones. "I told you not to be late."

She's thankful for the darkness for once because she could roll her eyes freely then without him noticing. "Look, I don't control the traffic, ok? I thought I was going to make it on time, but I thought wrong, so I apologize for being late." She really wishes she could just go back home. Being near him is just so exhausting!

He gets up from his desk, and Morgana nervously fidgets with a tiny piece of thread from her purse. He was walking towards her now, until he stops right in front of her and leans forward really slowly. Morgana closes her eyes and holds her breath as she waits for what he's about to do.

Suddenly, there's a click and a bright light begins to flood right through her closed eye lids. "I need you to make a list of all the people from Pendragon Stocks who will be transferring here." He says, and Morgana forces her eyes open. Her face reddens as she lets out a shaky breath, not really sure what she had expected.

Merlin turns and heads back to his desk. "I'll need that list immediately."

She first notices his casual attire. A simple black fitted long sleeved shirt that clings to his lean, but muscled frame, and white khakis. She doesn't think she's ever seen him in anything that isn't a suit. It's odd. He looks a little more human right then and there.

She then notices how the paperwork that had littered his floor earlier was now sitting in a neat stack on his desk. She wonders why he hadn't made her do it like he used to. She pushes the thought to the very back of her cluttered mind.

She moves to go to her desk to begin on that list, but he call her name and looks at her as if he expects her to read his bloody mind. "Yes?"

He shifts uncomfortably, reaching up to pull at the neck of his shirt and clears his throat. She wasn't entirely sure, but she swears she sees him blush. "You should work in here tonight. So you don't have to turn on all the lights out there, you know? It's way too bright in here anyway." He doesn't wait for her answer before he's returning to his paperwork.

She couldn't help the way her lips lift into a tiny smile as she goes to sit on the empty chair in front of his desk.

Their work is done in silence, until Morgana is pulled from her work by Merlin's alarmed voice.

"What is that?"

Morgana looks at him questioningly. "What is what?" she's confused for a moment, and then she hears it. The small buzzing sound of a bee. She sees the little intruder a moment later, whizzing by Merlin's head and announces the fact to her boss. "It's a bee."

"A WHAT?!" Merlin jumps to his feet, knocking over a stack of paperwork and backs up against the wall, his eyes wide with fear and his already pale complexion draining of even more color.

Morgana's eyes are wide from surprise. The great, almighty Merlin Emrys who fears no man, animal, or machine, is deathly afraid of a little insect?

Honestly, she should've thought it was funny, but she doesn't. As she stares at him, blindly flailing his arms in a horrible attempt to swat the bee away, she wonders why he fears something so small and measly.

Normal men fear snakes, and vicious creatures. For most women, they feared spiders. But this man, who seemed inhumane just a few hours ago, now seems too human in his casual clothes and fear of bees. The thought is unsettling. The most unsettling thought that flits through her mind though, is her wish to kill the bloody bee.

And she does exactly that, jumping to her feet and grabbing a clipboard from Merlin's desk. She pauses as her eyes follow the bee to the edge of his desk. With one swift smack, she manages to kill the culprit.

An audible sigh of relief comes from Merlin as he slumps against the wall and swallows audibly as he closes his eyes. Morgana makes out the sweat on his forehead as he reaches a hand up and pulls at a silver chain around his neck. One she's never noticed him wearing before.

She's not sure what to do now, so she puts the clipboard back after making sure the bee was indeed dead. She takes a piece of paper and uses it to pick up the lifeless bee, crumpling it into a ball and throwing it in the trash bin beside Merlin's desk. "It's dead." She tells him.

Merlin opens his eyes and stares at her with wide eyes as if he had forgotten she was still there. He pushes away from the wall and clears his throat loudly. "Err... Morgana, I'd like to ask that we keep this-" he pauses and gestures at the trash bin with the dead bee, "between us."

Morgana doesn't say anything, but she nods.

He nods too a moment later, and moves to his desk, slowly sitting back down in his chair. She notices his slim fingers shaking as he wipes the sweat from his forehead. One would think he'd just finished battling a dragon. "Err," he pauses and looks at Morgana with a look she's only ever seen on his face once before. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Merlin."

They continue their work until the 10th hour and Merlin releases her to go home after her list was complete, with a promise of a bonus for coming in to the office at a late hour.

She leaves, but her thoughts linger in the office with the blue-eyed man who feared bees. He's been full of surprises lately.

That night, she changes the name "Sir Jerks-a-Lot" in her phone contacts to just "Merlin". She thinks he's kind of earned it.

...

Merlin is well aware of the fact that he's staring. But he can't bring himself to stop, and he doesn't want to. His face is... well, it's probably a sight no one is ever going to behold because right now, he's grinning like an idiot, teeth showing and all.

She really has no clue what she does to him just by wearing those skimpy little skirts, and those 3 inch heels that make her legs look even longer. He swallows hard as he scoots away from his desk when he feels a certain part of his anatomy get a little too excited.

A moment later, his eyes widen as he watches Morgana turn around from her desk and walk to his door, knocking before poking her head inside. "Merlin, you have Uther on line 2."

He merely nods and goes to reach for the phone. He stops, inwardly groaning and cursing himself for putting the phone so far from his reach. Not too far that he'd have to leave his desk, but far enough that he'd have to get up and reach for it.

He glances over at the door, watching Morgana watch him with a questioning look. He feels his face warm up as he looks down at his desk. "Ok." He tells her with a nod, hoping she'd leave. She doesn't. Instead, she stands there and continues to stare at him.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" She asks incredulously. He's only been waiting for the bloody call from Uther Pendragon for the past 3 days!

"Yes," he nods and looks around frantically for something to cover himself with. He settles for the piece of paper in front of him, grabbing it and holding it low in front of him as he reaches for the phone and pulls it towards him. Immediately, he sits back down and presses the number 2.

Nothing can quite take away a mans boner than another mans voice demanding why his son is not worthy of handling stocks exchange between companies.

Morgana stares at Merlin, wondering what the bloody hell is wrong with him today. He's been acting really weird, and he kept looking at her. She looks down at herself while blindly reaching for her back to see if maybe there were a sign taped to her back by one of her other coworkers, but nothing looked or felt different on her. Shrugging mentally to herself, she goes back to her desk.

As if on cue, her work phone rings, and she answers it the way she always does. "Mr. Merlin Emrys's office, my name is Morgana. How may I help you, sir or ma'am?"

"Hmmm, how about dinner tonight at my place?"

Morgana pauses, pulling the phone away from her ear to look at the caller I.D. "Arthur?"

"Yes, Milady." He chuckles. "The perks of being the son of the man who runs the company which is currently undergoing a merger with your boss's company."

"And what might that perk be?"

"Well, I get the direct number to Merlin's office, which I happen to know, goes through his lovely assistant before it gets to him."

Morgana chuckles in response, "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Ah, and there's another perk."

She rolls her eyes as she laughs, "of course. Being the son of the boss must have its perks."

Arthur laughs from the other end. "So how about dinner tonight? My place? Sayyyy, 7:30-ish?"

"I'd be glad to-"

"MORGANA!" Merlin yells from his office, startling her.

"I have to go." Morgana sighs, sliding back from her desk.

"But-"

"I'll talk to you later." She cuts in. With that, she hangs up and gets out of her seat to see what Merlin wants now. She stomps over to his door and looks at him.

"Yes, Merlin?"

He narrows his eyes at her from his desk. "Who were you talking to?"

"No one." She answers a little too quickly. "I mean, a friend of mine just called to see if I would be available tonight for dinner." She shrugs nonchalantly.

Merlin's eyes continue to narrow suspiciously at her before he gets up and out of his seat. He walks around it, his right hand going to the buttons on his suit, and slowly, very slowly, he unbuttons it. He looks at her with dark eyes as he leans onto his desk and crosses a foot over the other. "Does your friend know that you're working right now?"

She stares at him with her mouth slightly open. How could he make such an innocent task of unbuttoning a damned suit look so mesmerizing? "Ermm... I think so."

Merlin slides his hands into the pockets of his pants and cocks his head to the side. "Well, please let your friend know that you can't have dinner with them tonight."

"What?" She asks incredulously. "Why not?"

He gives her a look as if it were obvious. He seems to do that a lot. "Because you're helping me with this stack tonight." He gestures to the paperwork on his desk and then gives her a sly smile. "Someone on Uther's side of the company is not doing their job, so... It's up to us to do it."

She wonders if he somehow knows that Arthur was her friend on the phone. "Merlin, I understand that there are a few incompetent people not doing their jobs, but I can hardly see why we have to do their job for them."

Merlin laughs at that, and she could instantly tell that his laugh held no humor in it. "Well, as the CEO of this company, it's my job to ensure that everything is okay, and nothing is ruined because of some people's incompetence." He then pulls a hand from his pocket and gestures at her, "and as my assistant, it is your job to assist me with whatever I need assistance with."

She nods, inwardly groaning. "I understand."

He nods at her and smiles, "Good." He straightens back up and buttons his suit back up as he turns to go back to his seat. Morgana turns to do the same, grumbling under her breath about incompetent bosses.

"Oh, and Morgana?"

She grits her teeth, takes a deep breath, then plasters a fake enthusiastic smile on her face. "Yes, Merlin?" She queries all too sweetly.

"Extend my apologies to Arthur as well, will you?"

Morgana's eyes widen in surprise. "Errr, pardon?" She knows she didn't hear him incorrectly, but she wishes he would elaborate on the matter.

Merlin grins at her, "I'm sure he's feeling a little... Deprived. Tell him I send my sincere apologies for stealing you from him yet again." without another word, he returns to his work, obviously dismissing her.

He knew all along?! Was he making her work at night on purpose?... Hm, of course he's deliberately doing this! She bites her tongue to keep from shrieking in frustration as she stalks back to her desk angrily.

...

A/N: Ok, so the next chapter will have a small time jump, and there will be more mentions of Uther, Freya, Arthur, and Gwen. I apologize for this slow chapter, but I promise that it's all building up to the awesome plot bunny I had in mind when I first began to write this fic. Thank you for reading. To those who left reviews, I love you all very much! Thank you!

-McDiggin'It