Ok, so I lied. I managed to write it today :D Just took a little bit of pacing while BBQing

Chapter Four

As the holidays drew closer, Will and Merlin managed to make up and actually spend some quality time together. Halloween fell on a Friday, so after work, Will and Merlin held their traditional Halloween party. There weren't many people there, Gwen, Anita, Rebecca and a few of Will's friends from work. Lance and the others promised to stop by but Morgana was hosting her own traditional party (Merlin had been invited but in trying to keep the peace with Will, he had declined his invitation).

The small crowd was more than acceptable for Merlin though. He always enjoyed spending Halloween curled up on the couch, watching B rated horror movies and stuffing his face with candy. So he ate his fill of Cadbury scream eggs and tried the American sweets that Will's American co-worker, Ben, brought with him. Merlin became an addict of candy corn quickly and immediately informed Ben that he would have to supply him with his candy crack from now on.

The boys did stop by the party on their way to Morgana's from the pub. Lance was dressed up as a pirate, Leon wore a Zero costume and Percy came as a knight and Merlin laughed, taking pictures of them doing ridiculous poses. He introduced them to everyone but they left quickly, sensing the tension they created between Will and Merlin. Merlin refused though to let any bad feelings grow that night, so he pushed through, deciding to do a horror theme game of charades. It was a lot of fun and when the night ended, they promised to get together more often for game nights.

For the next couple of weeks, they were able to keep their promises to get together but when Uther enlisted Arthur and his team to assist on a major project, Merlin ran out of free time to spend with friends. He spent most nights working late, often not coming home until nine or ten. When Merlin informed Will that Arthur had asked him to stay on through the Thanksgiving weekend and he would thus not be able to return to Ealdor with him, Will didn't say anything but Merlin could see that the old rift between them had started again.

The project was a large contract from Rome that Camelot was acquiring and had been in talks for five years. It was the largest deal Uther had made in several years and would mean millions of dollars of either profit or loss should they fail. So emotions ran high and tension around the office grew until it became a palpable monster, lurking around the corners waiting to send a junior staff into a break down. Every department was involved in the final weeks of the contract, and the joking attitudes dissolved as everyone feared they would be the one to botch it.

As they spent every day working with Uther directly, either in the office or with the clients, Arthur became increasingly detached and stressed out. Therefore, Merlin took it upon himself to not just assist Arthur with the usual work related jobs; he made it his mission to care for Arthur personally. When the stress would get too much, Arthur would either lash out at his employees and Merlin would have to step in, creating a distraction or shifting the focus of Arthur's anger onto himself. Other times, Arthur's stress would take the form of utter forgetfulness which Merlin found thoroughly amusing but he never mentioned. His jobs then branched out from the usual filing and faxing to picking up groceries and dropping them at Arthur's flat, picking up his dry cleaning, and making sure he stopped working to actually eat. As the deadline approached near the middle of December, Merlin ended up spending a great deal of time at Arthur's flat with him. He would manage to convince Arthur to leave the office but only with the promise to continue working at home were Merlin would be able to prepare them something proper to eat. They were both more than sick of take out and Merlin worried Arthur would develop scurvy the way he held up in his office, the curtains drawn and mumbling to himself like a mad man. So Merlin cared for Arthur much the same way he cared for his mother when she was sick. Offering gentle reminders to eat, to sleep, to shower (although it was hardly gentle reminders—he usually informed Arthur that he was beginning to smell and attract flies and would beg him to please for the love of all that is good and right, would he please take a shower?!) or appearing at his side when he realized that he had forgotten his tie, his tablet or whatever it was at that moment and would wordlessly hand it over. Arthur never acknowledged needing Merlin's added assistance and he never thanked him but he also never pushed Merlin away and so Merlin took that to mean that he appreciated his help even if he couldn't say it.

On the eve of the deadline, Arthur and Merlin were still at the office at one am, putting together the final touches on Arthur's portion of the project. Merlin rubbed his eyes tiredly, having only slept a few hours the night before and the stress of the situation was wearing him down past the point of exhaustion.

"One more night Merlin," Arthur said in the dim light, "and then this will be over."

"Yea, let's hope the deal goes through," Merlin said, shuddering at the thought that it might not and fearing the wrath of Uther.

"It will go through Merlin," Arthur said and Merlin nodded. "I think that's everything..." Arthur moved away from the computer and Merlin looked over at the screen.

"Finished?" He asked, his eyes shining with the excitement of finally getting a good night's sleep.

"Yes, that's it." Arthur hit print and they both sat back in their chairs as the printer hummed and spat out the hundred pages.

When it finished printing, Arthur gathered up the pages and slid them into a manila envelope and then sealed it.

"Merlin," Arthur looked over at his assistant with the most serious expression Merlin had seen yet, "I am going to give this to you and I want you to deliver it to legal by 8:55 am tomorrow morning. Our lawyers need time to look it over before the courier comes to pick it up at ten. This is very important Merlin, if you screw this up and this deal falls through, I'm going to hold you accountable to my father, do you understand me?"

Merlin gulped and looked at the envelope. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to deliver it yourself?" He asked, suddenly not wanting to take such a responsibility.

"Merlin, I am tired, I want to go home and go to bed and come into the office for nine instead of seven and I don't want to have to think about this anymore. You're my assistant; this is your job now." Arthur explained tiredly and Merlin frowned, he was tired too and wanted to go home but he sighed and nodded.

"Fine," he took the envelope, "I'll make sure it gets to legal in time." He said and Arthur nodded.

"Good," he stood up and pulled on his jacket and scarf, Merlin watched as the muscles in Arthur's body moved. "Goodnight Merlin," he said and walked out of the office, leaving Merlin to sit alone in his office in the dark.

Merlin sat there for several minutes contemplating what he was going to do. He could go home and catch a couple hours of sleep but he would run the risk of over sleeping and ignoring his alarm. Or he could stay at the office, it wouldn't be the first time he'd fallen asleep on the couch in Arthur's office but it would be uncomfortable and he wasn't sure he could sleep anyway. He felt like he held the secret battle plans for war in his hands and the entire kingdom was relying on him and his stomach was full of knots with worry of messing it up. He wondered if he could just go down to legal now and put it in their mailbox but he knew that they rarely actually paid any attention to their mailbox and they wouldn't be expecting to find the most important contract of their careers stuffed between memos about proper work attire and Sally's birthday party invite. So he decided the best option would be to go back to his own desk and finish up some of his own work and try to stay awake until it was time to deliver the package.

He managed to make it through his work by five am and so he decided he would pull out his book and spend the next few hours reading.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled from a great distance and Merlin pushed it away.

"No, go away Arthur," he mumbled, why couldn't Arthur ever leave him alone for five minutes? He was reading for Christ's sake!

"Merlin! What are you doing?! Wake up!" Arthur grabbed Merlin's shoulders and pushed him into a sitting position and Merlin blinked up at him in confusion. He looked down at his desk and discovered that he had passed out while reading, a small drool spot marked his page and then his eyes fell on the envelope.

"Oh no!" He said quickly and Arthur's gaze followed his.

"No, you didn't!" Arthur roared and they both looked at the time. It was almost half past nine. "Merlin you idiot!" Arthur snatched up the envelope and race down the hallway, disappearing around the corner. Merlin sat frozen, his head still full of sleep and the horror as he realized what he'd done.

"Please, please let it get there in time." Merlin prayed, standing up on shaking legs. He went into Arthur's office and awaited punishment.

o.O.o.O.o

How Merlin had managed to fuck this up was beyond Arthur. He was so angry he almost walked right passed Leon's office.

"Leon!" Arthur pushed open his door.

"Arthur! Do you have the contract? Uther is on a war path," Arthur held up the envelope, silencing Leon momentarily, "Arthur... we don't have time to review it."

"Read as much as you can," Arthur said quickly and Leon shook his head.

"The courier is here," Leon said and pointed to a small man sitting in the corner of the office. "Give it to me and I'll address it. You had better go see your father and explain to him why no one but you has actually read over the contract."

"Right," Arthur nodded, his face paling as he walked out and stared at the elevator. What was he going to say? He could blame Merlin but the truth was that he was responsible for Merlin anyway so no matter how he looked at it, it was his fault. His father had finally trusted him enough to let him handle the most important part of this deal and here he had mucked itup. All the way up to his father's office, he debated what he would say.

"Arthur," Uther's tone was curt as Arthur walked into his office and he felt like he was five years old again and had to explain how he had broken his father's most prized statue.

"Father-"

"You had better have a damn good explanation for this Arthur Pendragon!" Uther roared and Arthur felt himself involuntarily flinch.

"I do not," he said honestly and looked up into his father's angry face. "I forgot to give it to my assistant last night and this morning I thought I had. When I came in I found it on my desk and rushed it over to Leon as fast as I could but unfortunately, that wasn't fast enough."

"You forgot?"Uther's voice had lowered significantly and Arthur knew that was the sign his father was about to lose it. He looked up to see the vein throbbing in his forehead. "YOU FORGOT?!"

Instinctively, Arthur took a step back from his father as he yelled, fearing that he would be so angry as to hit him.

"If this deal doesn't go through Arthur," he said, his entire body shaking with rage, "you will wish you had never been born." He spat angrily and Arthur nodded.

"I'm sorry father; I do not know what to say other than I can assure you that I put my very best into the proposal and though Leon did not review it, Merlin does have his law degree and he did read it and found no fault with it."

"I hope for both our sakes that that boy is smarter than you," Uther seethed, "because if this is your very best work then I am sad to say but I am sorely disappointed. Now get out." He ordered and Arthur nodded before turning on his heel and leaving.

"Merlin!" Arthur roared as he stepped out of the elevator and Merlin heard him all the way in his office. As much as Arthur wanted to choke the life out of Merlin, there was really nothing that could be done at this point.

"Arthur, I am so sorry," Merlin said as soon as Arthur walked in the office and shut the door. "I don't know what happened. One moment I was reading and the next you were there and..."

"Don't," Arthur held up his hand, too tired to even yell at him. All of his hard work, all the countless nights he had spent at the office working on this, all of the years his father had put into this project all jeopardized because Merlin fell asleep. It would have been comical if it didn't mean they could both potentially lose their jobs.

"Arthur," Merlin pleaded and tears shined in his eyes. Arthur looked over at him and felt his stomach lurch. He wouldn't say it, but he did notice everything Merlin had done for him in the last few months and he appreciated his help more than Merlin could ever know. And despite the fact that he was so pissed off with him, he couldn't bear to see Merlin cry.

"Merlin don't worry about it, what is done is done," he said, "Go home, take the day off and sleep. We won't know if the deal's gone through or not by tomorrow anyway. Let's just hope it does."

"But," Merlin gulped and quickly brushed away his tears, "I can stay and help out with today." He offered weakly and Arthur shook his head.

"I don't need you today Merlin. I'm not doing anything really anyway," he lied, unable to say that he really just couldn't handle seeing Merlin so upset. He shouldn't have put so much pressure on him. He should have stayed last night, made sure that it got delivered on time. He was still blaming himself mentally when Merlin finally said goodbye and left the office for the day. He wondered if he was managing to hold back his tears until he was out of the office. He should have offered him some kind of reassurance, he thought too late.

o.O.o.O.o

Merlin clenched his hands to his sides as he walked out of the office, holding his head high as he fought back the tears. Stupid, stupid, idiot! He scolded himself, how could he have let this happen? If it didn't go through, he didn't know what would happen. He would probably be fired, he thought and then the idea of having to move back to Ealdor, having failed at his first major career filling him with humiliation.

The tears fell freely as he walked through the hallway, unsure of where he was going but finding himself standing in front of Gaius' office. He pushed open the door, sobbing openly now and stumbled into Gaius' office.

"Merlin!" Gaius exclaimed, seeing Merlin fall into his office sobbing, "What is it? What has happened?" He asked, fearing the worst.

"I messed up Gaius," Merlin cried, "I really messed it up."

"What did you mess up?" He asked, bending down to the young boy and wrapping his arm around him soothingly.

"The contract," Merlin sniffed and let Gaius guide him to a chair, "Arthur wanted me to deliver it to Leon this morning before nine and... and I fell asleep and now it's on its way to Rome and it the whole thing could fall through all because of me!" He wailed and Gaius patted his back.

"There, there, I'm sure it will be alright," he soothed, rubbing Merlin's back. A few minutes passed and Merlin managed to regain control of himself, thanking Gaius for the tissue he handed him.

"I'm sorry to just burst in on you like this Gaius," Merlin said, "I'm just so tired and then this happened and I didn't know what else to do."

"It's alright my dear boy," Gaius moved away and reached into a battered cupboard and produced two glasses and a bottle of scotch. "Here, drink this," he said handing Merlin a glass and Merlin stared at it.

"Gaius, it's ten in the morning."

"And you've been up for nearly three days I don't doubt it, drink up and then I'll get you home in a cab." Gaius instructed and Merlin did as he was told. The scotch was good but rich and strong and burned his throat. It made his head feel fuzzy and lightheaded and he all he wanted to do was sleep. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.