Disclaimer- If I owned Merlin, I would have Colin Morgan whisk me away for Easter and not have to do homework or socialize with my family. As I have to do both, you can guess the rest…

PS- if you had problems viewing the last chapter, I am really sorry! I think it was a FanFiction problem, because when I checked the story, sometimes it would show up, and other times it would not o.O So again, I'm really sorry, and let's hope that nothing like that happens again!

April – Easter

"Gwen, this is Arthur. I tried calling you earlier, but I got your voicemail, so I thought I would try back later but apparently you're still…um… Sorry, I don't know if you're still in church or anything, but call me when you're done. Thanks, bye."

Arthur sighed and flopped back down on his couch, turning on the television so that he had something to stare blankly at.

Easter was not an easy holiday for him; everyone else had their families visit and churches to attend, but not Arthur.

Christmas was not easy either, but there were always parties, fundraisers, and festivities he attended leading up to the special day that kept him occupied and thoroughly distracted.

Morgana was always off being religious on these holidays in question, along with most of Arthur's other friends and business associates.

Religion was one of the major issues between Morgana and Uther that left poor Arthur stuck in the middle.

Ygraine, Arthur's mother, was a devoted Catholic woman, and had dragged Uther to church every Sunday that they were married. Even when faced with possible infertility, and then death, Ygraine stuck by her beliefs, choosing her child's life over her own because she would never be able to live with herself if she killed the little light inside of her, which Uther attributed to the pro-life attitude of her faith, not acknowledging that it may have just been Ygraine's butter-soft heart.

Even so, after her death, Uther refused to go to church, only entering the grand cathedral for his son's baptism shortly after he turned three months old. Even then, Uther had put up a fuss, only allowing the ceremony because Tristan and Agravaine, Ygraine's brothers, threatened to take Arthur away if Uther did not acknowledge his dying wife's wishes to have her only child baptized in her home church.

As a child, however, Arthur was never exposed to life in the Christian faith, except on the occasional weekend he spent with his uncles. This was why it was such a surprise that Uther even became involved with Vivienne in the first place, as she was a devoted Christian at the Church of England.

She came from a strange family and had an abusive husband; that was all that Arthur knew of her. When she became pregnant with Morgana and left Uther, she left Arthur with a Bible that he had hidden under his bed, knowing that his father would throw it away if he ever found it. He had read it on occasion, curious as to what all of the hype was about, but had not found the text particularly exciting.

This all changed when a nine year old Morgana arrived in the Pendragon household, devout as her mother, perhaps even more so.

The young girl's solace for her omnipresent and overwhelming grief was her mother's Bible, worn from years of use, but still holding the soothing and familiar words that comforted her in a way that nothing else could.

"You must stop this nonsense this instant!" Uther had told her one night, eight or so months after her arrival. "I will be taking you to speak with a therapist tomorrow, and she will help you move on from that- that book." He spat, his rage turning his face a bright red.

"Moving on? That's rich coming from you, Uther Pendragon. You still sit in your wife's old closet and cry, and she's been dead a lot longer than my mum has. Not that you cared about her, or about me!" the firecracker of a girl shot back, running into her room and throwing clothes into her pink schoolbag. "I'm leaving and never coming back! Maybe then I'll find someone who actually does care!" Her feet pounded on the stairs as she ran towards the door and lost herself in the gray London fog.

Arthur had run after her, knowing he would be the only one to do so for some time, searching for hours before finally finding her at the church not too far from their house.

He sat next to her as she quietly said her quiet prayers, before finally breaking the silence.

"He does care, you know; even if it doesn't feel like it. Or that's what I tell myself at least, that if he didn't care he wouldn't be so…."

"Pig headed?" Morgana said, finally looking up at the boy who was supposedly her brother.

"Well, that's a nicer way to put it." Arthur smiled, and Morgana began to cry, climbing desperately into his hesitantly outstretched arms and squeezing him for all he was worth.

The thirteen year old boy had sat in the silence of the deserted sanctuary, awkwardly patting the back of the innocent little girl who had crashed into his life and turned it upside down, when he realized something. Despite her previous outright hatred of Arthur and his home, Morgana was the first person to hug him in what seemed like a really long time.

This had been the start of their true brother-sister bond, one that would prove impossible to break.

Arthur was pulled out of his musings by the loud ringing of his phone.

"Hello Gwen, I was worried you weren't going to call back."

"Arthur, what are you talking about?"

"Father! I, er, uh, I thought you were, um, someone else." Arthur's face was bright red as he stammered into his cell phone.

"Well I'm not your girlfriend, if that's who you thought I was. Do you remember where Morgana was gallivanting off to this weekend? Some little inn called, what was it again? Eagen? Eldove?"

"Ealdor?" Arthur suggested cautiously.

"Yes, that was it. Ealdor." Uther said with mild distain and a slight sniff. "When did she say she was going to be back?"

"Tuesday, I believe. She, Merlin, and Gwen were going down there to visit Hunith for Easter."

"Hunith?" Uther asked, not being able to place the vaguely familiar name.

"Yeah, Merlin's mum. If you're trying to call Morgana, I would wait another hour or so. I'm pretty sure their Mass isn't over until one fifteen."

"Thank you. Arthur," Uther began hesitantly.

"Yes Father?" Arthur replied, overly cautious at his father's tone.

"Would you like to come to dinner sometime within the next week? I have someone I would like you to meet."

"New business associate?" Arthur asked, already turning back to his television with disinterest.

"I guess you could say that," something in Uther's tone made Arthur slightly uncomfortable, but he could not quite figure out what it was "I inform you of the details as soon as I can get a hold of Morgana."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." Arthur replied, glancing at his watch, and sighing. This was going to be a long day.

"That was such a lovely service, Hunith. Thank you for letting me tag along!" Morgana gushed, linking arms with Merlin as they left the church.

"My pleasure, Love. The Easter service was always Balinor's favorite." Hunith replied, smiling at her son's girlfriend before turning to Gwen. "Did you have a nice time, sweetheart?"

Gwen's dark curls bounced lightly when she nodded, covering her face as she attempted to inconspicuously wipe her eyes.

"S-spring was her favorite season, and she loved Easter t-too." Gwen managed to stutter out before bursting into tears, again.

"Oh, Gwen." Hunith murmured, enveloping the girl into her warm arms. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, of course. I'm just being silly, don't mind me." Gwen said quickly, blowing her nose on Merlin's proffered tissue before climbing into Hunith's car.

The drive to the cemetery was uneventful, only interrupted by Gwen's occasional sniffs and the quiet music drifting from the ancient radio up front.

"Do you want me to wait here?" Morgana asked Merlin quietly, squeezing his hand.

"No, of course not. Come on." Merlin began to pull his girlfriend towards his father's grave when she spontaneously turned and ran towards Gwen's already distant figure, off in search of her mother's gravestone.

"Gwen! Gwen, wait up!" Morgana ran and breathlessly caught up to her friend. "Call Arthur."

"What?" the young woman said, completely caught off guard.

"Call Arthur. He's going to be lonely because I won't be home, and you're going to be lonely because your family isn't here with you, so call him. Besides, talking to someone who never knew her helps; even if you think it won't." She threw a glance towards Merlin, and smiled. "Just try it, okay?"

Gwen nodded and watched as Morgana's tall frame retreated back to Merlin before pulling out her phone.

3 Missed calls and 2 New voicemails blinked from her screen, all from Arthur. She hit the redial button and listened to its quiet ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hi Arthur, it's Gwen."

"Gwen! How are you?"

"I'm- I'm," and she burst into tears again.

"Shhh, you're okay. Tell me what's the matter." Arthur soothed, and if they were not speaking over a phone, Gwen could almost imagine his arms pulling her into his shoulder and rocking her gently.

"I'm at my m-mother's grave and it's Easter and that was her f-favorite holiday and none of m-my other family is here and… I miss her." Gwen gushed, before wiping her eyes and taking a steadying breath. "I'm sorry, spring always makes me sad; it was her favorite season."

"Why?" he asked, and Gwen was struck with the simplicity of his question. Whenever she talked about her mum, people usually accepted what she said about her as fact, no one ever asked why, until now, that is. Gwen liked it; maybe Morgana's idea was not so farfetched after all.

"She loved the way the flowers bloomed in our garden; she was the biggest plant nut I've ever met…"

"Why?" Why? What right did he have to ask that question? What if she thought he was being insensitive or cruel or-

"She loved the way the flowers bloomed in our garden; she was the biggest plant nut I've ever met. In college, she majored in Botanical studies, and her lifelong dream was to open a greenhouse. Honestly though, she loved all of the seasons; she would talk about the different plant and how they lived, died, and reproduced based on the time of year. She didn't have a favorite flower; or favorite plant, even. She thought that it was unfair to other plants because by picking a favorite, she would be saying that the plant was perfect, and there was no such thing as a perfect plant. But she really loved lavender, and lemon trees. Our house always smelled like fresh flowers, or rich pine, or apples, depending on the time of year, but there was always lavender in the air. Even after she died, everything still smelled like it. I think that's why we moved, because of the smell. No matter how hard my father tried to get rid of it, by burning candles, bleaching various household objects, or anything else, the smell still wouldn't go away."

"That must have been hard." Arthur said gently, thinking of how his father was the opposite, and how he sprayed Ygraine's closet with her favorite perfume twice a year, in October on Arthur's birthday and in May, on her birthday, so he could smell her and feel just a little bit closer.

"And the worst part of it was that I wanted the house to smell like her; it was all that made me feel like she was with me, even if she wasn't there, you know?"

"Yes; she sounds like a very interesting woman."

"She was. Oh, What was that? Arthur, I have to go, can I call you later?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Thank you for listening to me babble, I'm sure I bored you to tears-"

"Of course not!" Arthur assured her, chuckling quietly into the mouthpiece. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," Gwen whispered, almost breathlessly, "good bye, Arthur."

"Good bye Guinevere." Arthur said, smiling and hanging up his phone.

"You are so whipped." A gruff voice said from the doorway.

"Leon! What in the hell are you doing here?" Arthur said, jumping from his couch and regarding his best friend.

"I was bored and figured you were bored too, so I came here." Leon said, flopping into Arthur's recently vacated seat.

"The door was locked… You know what, never mind." Arthur shook his head at his friend's ability to open any lock with his "magic fingers" as he called them. "Wanna beer?"

"Sure, can we order takeout or something for dinner?"

"Yeah, whatever you feel like." Arthur called from his kitchen, pulling out a bottle of Leon's favorite drink, as well as one for himself.

Spending the rest of the day with Leon was nice enough; they watched mindless hours of rugby before ordering food from the little Italian place down the street and drank more then they probably should have. But Arthur's thoughts were all about Gwen, processing all that she had told him during their relatively short phone call, and adding it to the complex puzzle of a woman who was making him feel… different. Different then he had ever felt before, and it scared him.

A/N: This was intended to go up on Sunday, the 8th, but Word went jenky on me, so I'm publishing this around midnightish my time, and praying my merciful readers will forgive me! :) I couldn't quite figure out how to do this one, because I don't want Arthur and Gwen to move too fast, but at the same time… argh! It's all so confusing, especially with trying to keep/setup the storyline of A Change of Plans which means I'm trying to build Mergana and Arwen, all at the same time!

arthurgwen2010- again, I'm really sorry about the viewing thing! Glad you enjoyed the chapter and thought it humorous :) (I get nervous about the funny stuff because my family has an awkward sense of humor that no one else understands, so I'm glad Merlin's pranks are appreciated)

La La Looney- is your name possibly in reference to Luna Lovegood? (She's so kewl!) Anyways, glad you love it, you totally made me smile :D

Crystal1998- I never thought about it, but all of these chapters are basically one shots that are interconnected so that they form a massive web of… story? Thank you for the review and the brain food :)

LonerSun- Glad you liked it! I'm sorry that this Easter couldn't have chocolate, but next year probably will :) Christmas will definitely happen, even if I have to write it three months in advance because my schedule goes crazy after Halloween! I'm doing St. George's Day, which is the national holiday for England because they live there, but was also planning on doing the Fourth of July, if only to give you guys an update, so maybe a romantic getaway is necessary for Arwen that just happens to be in France on Nation day ;)

Ellarose88- I am sorry, but I don't know what else I can do. I am not one of those people that is gifted in the technology department :/ (but the people who are = totally awesome :)

fdarcy1- Thank you! Your comment got "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from the Lion King stuck in my head, and for that, I applaud you :D

whitecrossgirl- Yeppers, Merlin and Arthur are going to prove to be a slightly toxic combination :) Thanks for the holiday suggestion! I know that I've established a lot of the characters as Christians already, partly because statistically speaking, that would be their religion, and partly because I am Christian, so I can better write and understand the meanings behind certain holidays and won't accidentally step on someone's toes. However, I do think that it would be interesting if Gwen had a friend or Arthur had a client of a different religion and they celebrated that way.

Thank you all for the marvelous reviews, as well as the favorites and follows; keep them coming, they help my ego ;)