Title: Relentless

A/N: I know I'm barely updating, but trust me. I will finish all of my stories. Anyway, thank you to all who have reviewed the past chapters. Thank you all so much. I hope you guys like this chapter. Let me know what you think!

-McDiggin'It

…

Chapter Seven:

...

It's dark and raining outside when Gwaine hears a soft knock at the door. He furrows his eyebrows and grumbles as he gets up to answer the door. "Merlin, you better be dying or else I'll punch you in your throat for forgetting your bloody key again-" he cuts himself off upon pulling the door open, not seeing his bestfriend, but rather, Morgana and her lovely roommate. His eyebrows furrow further as he looks down at Morgana. This is the first time he's ever seen her here. "What do you want?" He snaps at her.

Mithian raises her eyebrows at the handsome man. "Well that's a rude way to speak to a woman." She says loudly.

Gwaine looks at her and quirks an eyebrow at her. "Well I learned from your little friend here." He says sarcastically as he shoots a nasty look at Morgana.

Mithian rolls her eyes but doesn't try to hide her smile as Gwaine glances back at her.

Morgana sighs heavily and tries to look past Gwaine. "Is Merlin here?"

Gwaine shakes his head, though his eyes stay trained on Mithian's face. He thinks she's one of the most beautiful girl he's ever laid eyes on, right next to her evil little roommate. He's always admired Mithian, but never tried to hit on her because she always seemed untouchable and unamused by his jokes. He glances between the two girls. Perhaps Morgana has rubbed off on her roommate, which is a shame because he really likes Mithian.

"Where is he?" Morgana asks, pulling Gwaine from his musings.

"He hasn't been back from... whatever he's been doing."

There's a subtle hint of something in his tone that Morgana doesn't like. "That doesn't answer my question."

"Well I bet that annoys you." Gwaine says mockingly. "Not knowing where Merlin is."

Morgana inhales slowly, trying to keep herself composed. "Do you know where he is or not, Gwaine?"

Gwaine narrows his eyes at the girl, "Why should I tell you? What do you want with him?"

"That's none of your business."

"Well this is my room, and you have no business asking me questions about my roommate's whereabouts." He takes a step back and goes to swing the door closed, but Mithian leaps forward jamming her foot between the door and the frame. Gwaine swings the door open again and stares at her.

Mithian smiles sweetly at him and bats her lashes. "Gwaine, was it?" She doesn't wait for a reply before laying a hand on his chest and gently caressing his pectoral. She's practically feeling him up, but she thinks she deserves a reward for helping Morgana. "I know that Morgana is probably the last person you wish to speak to right now, but why don't you do us all a favor and just throw us a bone?"

Gwaine swallows hard. Damn, he's never been this affected since his first crush on that hot blonde Anchor lady on channel 5. He quickly gathers himself and smiles seductively at the girl. "For you? I'll drive you to him."

"Oh?" Mithian quirks an eyebrow at him. "Quite the selfless man you are, taking me to meet another man."

Gwaine laughs at that, noticing the annoyed look on Morgana's face. "Your roommate there wouldn't like that very much, now would she?"

Mithian smiles at him. He has, possibly the sexiest smile she's ever seen. "And you?" She asks seductively. "You're not worried that I might like your roommate more than you?"

Gwaine licks his lips as his eyes flicker to the girls' lips. "I don't think he's your type."

"Oh I didn't know you were an expert on my type of man." Mithian laughs.

Morgana couldn't believe it. Here she is, nervous as hell about talking to Merlin again, and these two are shamelessly eye fucking each other. "Are we going to find Merlin, or not?" She cuts in with a hint of disgust in her voice.

Gwaine and Mithian break away from their little conversation to look at her. Mithian glares incredulously at Morgana while Gwaine narrows his eyes at her. He sighs and rolls his eyes. "Let me get my jacket."

Mithian turns, winking at her roommate. "Thank me later."

...

Gwaine breaks the update to Morgana and Mithian on what Merlin has been up to since Christmas break.

Morgana is quite surprised by the news. Drinking, staying out late, barely eating, and getting into fights with random people at the bars he's been frequenting.

"I've never seen him like this before." Gwaine murmurs softly. "I mean we used to go to a lot of parties, but he's always been the responsible one…" he glances at the passenger seat beside him at Morgana and gives her a pointed look. "And then you went ahead and broke his fucking heart."

"I didn't know!" Morgana sighs in exasperation. "How was I to know that he'd been in love with me this whole time?"

Both Mithian and Gwaine gape at her. Gwaine answers first, the annoyance he feels, evident in his voice. "Are you seriously asking that?"

"Morgana," Mithian chimes in from the backseat. "Merlin hasn't exactly been hiding away his feelings for you. He's basically asked you out everyday for 3 years straight."

Morgana frowns, not really liking the fact that Gwaine and her roommate are teaming up on her, but knowing that they're both right. "I know… I just— I guess I misjudged him."

"You guessed?" Gwaine asks sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he turns his car into an almost empty bar parking lot. He parks close to the front door before pointing across the lot towards a silver BMW. "He's here."

"He drove here?" Morgana asks incredulously. "What if he tries to drive home and gets into a car accident?"

"And you care?" Gwaine asks snappishly.

Morgana glares at him. "I'm not some heartless bitch, Gwaine."

"Could've fooled me." Gwaine retorts.

"You know what?" Morgana glares, "I don't have to explain a damned thing to you."

"Didn't ask you to."

Morgana grits her teeth and takes a deep breath. "I know he's your best friend, but you have to try and understand that what I've heard about Merlin had been cemented when I first met him. He wasn't exactly a saint, and he always came across as arrogant whenever he spoke to me."

"That doesn't mean he just wanted to sleep with you."

"I didn't know!" Morgana snaps at him angrily. "I admit, I'm not the best judge of character, but if you were in my shoes with my personality and raised the way I was, you'd have seen him the exact same way."

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to even mean?" Gwaine asks confusedly.

"It means I have trust issues, okay?" Morgana sighs, shaking her head. "I was born because my mother cheated on my father with some rich, controlling, manipulative man… my mother lied to me and my father for years, and he died thinking I was biologically his… so when my mother passed away, she left me in the care of a man who I thought was just a close friend of my parents, but turns out to be my real father… and he knew the whole time, yet never breathed a word of it to me until I found out in a letter that my mother had written to him the day she found out she was pregnant with me… my first boyfriend was a lying, cheating sack of shit who constantly tried to get me to sleep with him, so after I broke up with him, I stopped dating altogether."

Gwaine seems to have calmed his anger and annoyance by then, and he stares at Morgana, seeing her in a slightly new light. Never one to get sentimental, he says jokingly, "You must be extra sensitive to have trust issues from that."

"Well when you've lived with my biological father for as long as I have, you tend to get sensitive about everything in your life." Morgana replies seriously. She bites her lip and decides to just tell him the truth of how she feels. "I know this may sound insane, but... since the night I unknowingly broke Merlin's heart, I haven't been able to stop thinking about him. And then you told me the truth about Ambrosias, and it just... it made me realize that I've been falling in love with Merlin without even knowing it." She conveys the seriousness of her words through her eyes.

Gwaine gawks at her, not sure of what to say... well, all he can say is, "Jesus, you have the worst timing in the history of this world. All you had to do was go out with the man once and he would've told you that he was Ambrosias!"

"I know... so you'll let him know that I wish to speak with him?"

Gwaine nods, "Fine... I'll talk to Merlin, but I can't guarantee he'll agree to see speak to you."

"Thank you." Morgana smiles gratefully.

Mithian sighs loudly from her seat in the back and rolls her eyes at both Morgana and Gwaine. "Can we go inside now?"

Gwaine nods and hops out of the car, not waiting for either of the girls before walking straight to the door and pushing it open.

It's fairly empty inside, save for about 2 people playing at a pool table, and one man, hunched over by the bar, nursing a glass of dark brown liquid. Gwaine frowns at the man and walks over to him, not saying a word as he slides into the stool beside him.

The man doesn't look at him, but he asks, "What are you doing here, Gwaine?" Merlin's tone is that of disinterest.

Gwaine glances at his friend. "I can't have a drink with my best friend?"

"You can, but you don't usually like going to empty bars."

Gwaine nods, "This is true." he waves at the bartender and points at Merlin's glass, conveying the fact that he wants whatever Merlin is having. "But I'm not alone." Gwaine notices the door to the bar swing open, and Mithian walks in, followed closely by Morgana.

Merlin takes a swig from his glass, not even realizing the two new occupants of the bar. "Who'd you bring?" he asks nonchalantly.

Gwaine nudges his friend then. "You might want to see for yourself."

Merlin glances up then, seeing the two girls, staring directly at him. There's the tiniest hint of surprise on his face, but then it's gone. "What the hell are they doing here?"

Gwaine shrugs, "Morgana wants to speak to you."

"No."

Gwaine stares. "No?"

"No." Merlin says again, a little more sternly. "I don't want to speak to her. And quite frankly, I don't want to see her either."

"Now we both know that's a lie, Merlin."

"And how do you know this?" Merlin asks sarcastically, his peripherals showing the two girls now moving a little closer to the bar.

Gwaine sighs heavily as the bartender brings him his drink. He takes a deep pull of the whiskey and winces as it runs down his throat. He then turns fully in his seat and looks at his best friend again. "You've been in love with her for three years. You don't just stop loving someone, let alone not want to see them because of some misguided accusation."

Merlin laughs bitterly. "And you're an expert on love all of a sudden?"

"No, but I know that what you felt for Morgana was real. It was genuine… and I think you still love her."

Merlin shakes his head. "I'm not speaking to her."

Gwaine groans before he downs the rest of his drink. "Look, I personally would prefer that you just go back to being the womanizing, party animal you were before you met Morgana, but I know that's not what you really want… this is your chance to tell her how you feel and finally be with her. If you don't at least speak to her, I know for a fact that you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Merlin's jaw clenches hard. He too downs the rest of his drink before getting up, pulling a wad of notes from his pocket and throwing it on the counter. He turns to Gwaine and stares hard at him, "You have no idea what I want, Gwaine." with that, he storms right past Mithian and Morgana, and out the door.

…

It takes a moment for Morgana to process what had just happened. Mithian turns to her with a sad look, but before her roommate could say anything to console her, Morgana turns and runs out of the bar. No matter what happens, she's going to talk to Merlin.

"Merlin!" The rain is pelting harshly on the ground now, slowly flooding the parking lot. Morgana runs after Merlin, but he's already a little whiles away.

Merlin ignores the call as he jumps into his car.

"Merlin, wait!"

He starts up his ignition, revving the engine and switching his headlights on. He sees her run past his car door and stand behind his car so he can't backup and drive off. Gritting his teeth, he revs up the engine again, but Morgana stubbornly stands her ground.

Without shutting his car off, Merlin jumps out and storms over to the girl. "Move!" He shouts.

"No!" Morgana shouts back. They're both completely soaked to the bone in rain now.

He's pissed, and downright confused now as he grabs her by the arm. "Why not?!"

"Because I'm trying to talk to you!"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Merlin snaps.

"I'm not going anywhere until we talk, Ambrosias!" Morgana stomps her foot stubbornly and glares at him.

Merlin's eyes widen in surprise, then narrow in anger as he lets go of Morgana's arm. "Gwaine had no right telling you my family surname."

Despite the menacing tone with which he said it, Morgana is just glad he's actually speaking to her again. "It was you." She says, ignoring his statement. "This whole time, three years to be exact, it was you."

Merlin looks away then, staring off to the side. "It doesn't matter anymore."

She shakes her head harshly as she takes his hand and squeezes it. "Yes it does... it matters a hell of a lot more now that I know." She cocks her head to the side and looks questioningly at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Merlin rolls his eyes. He doesn't want to do this again. "Look, it doesn't matter. I get it, you hate me, you don't want to see me ever again, you'd never date someone like me, whatever. Now get away from my car." He goes to turn away, but Morgana grabs his hand and tugs.

"Please!" She begs.

He rips his hand from her and glares harshly, "What do you want from me, Morgana?"

"I- I want to talk."

"About what?" he asks in exasperation. "I spent three years of my life trying to talk to you, and you made it pretty damned clear that you had no interest in ever talking to me, so why do you suddenly want to talk now?" he's breathing heavily, glaring angrily at her. But he's more angry at himself. Seeing her here, talking to him, wanting to talk to him, he can't help but feel elated. But he doesn't know if he wants to hear what she has to say. So he continues to glare at her. "Are you here to laugh at my expense? Perhaps rub it in my face that I'm a complete fucking idiot for falling in love with you? Is this your revenge?" he suddenly spins, looking around. "Do you have a camera crew hiding somewhere, recording how stupid I look right now?" he laughs humorlessly as tears spring to his eyes, and he pulls out his phone, determined to call a cab. He struggles for a few moments, trying to unlock his phone, but its really hard to do when you've got tears in your eyes, and rain pelting down on your phone screen. Swearing loudly, Merlin chucks his phone off towards the road in anger and frustration. He's breathing heavily as he looks at the girl in front of him, hating how it hurts so much to look at her, and know that he'll never have her. "Go ahead, Morgana." he says in defeat. "Do your worst." he raises his arms in surrender and looks at her through tear filled eyes, his breathing slowly evening out as his shoulders slump in defeat. "There's nothing you could possibly do or say to me right now that could make my life worse than it already is." with that, Merlin turns, and walks away, not towards his car, but towards the road.

Morgana can honestly say that she did not see that coming. To hear him speak like that, such a contrast to the boy who followed her around school with his ever present grins and smirks. The boy who would smile at her as if she were a christmas present being handed to him. The boy who asked her out every possible chance that he gets. The boy who told her from the first day she rejected him that he would never give up asking her out.

This was not that boy. This boy was broken. He's been broken, and she had no idea what all her constant rejections were doing to him. She had no idea that she had been breaking him everyday for the last three years… and now he's broken beyond repair.

And it breaks something deep inside her. It breaks that scared little girl that hid behind her perfect facade. That little girl who stopped trusting people from a young age. That little girl who thought she could take on the world by herself. That little girl who trapped herself behind the walls she built. That little girl breaks for the first time ever in her life. And behind all of those things, she finds the real her. The woman who has been wanting to come out. The woman who craves friendship and love. The woman who wants to be seen as something other than just another notch on a bedpost. The woman who had slowly, secretly fallen for this broken, beautiful man. That woman, finally breaks through, and she runs… Not away, but to the only person who had constantly tried to break her out of her shell.

"MERLIN!" Morgana calls, her eyes thick with tears and raindrops. Her heart lodges into the back of her throat when she sees exactly where Merlin is now standing, on the side of the road, staring across the street. There's a large truck approaching from his left, and Morgana's body propels forward into a sprint.

Everything happens so fast. She hears Gwaine and Mithian's panicked yells, she sees Merlin take a step into the middle of the road, she sees the truck speeding, a loud truck horn blaring, and then she's there, her hand wrapping around Merlin's wrist, and she's pulling with all of her might, pulling him back with so much force, that she ends up falling back into her pull as well.

Bright lights glare at her, a piercing scream leaves her lips, a sharp pain shoots up her elbow as it connects with the ground, and a weight falls on top of her, knocking the air right out of her lungs. The sound of the truck passes, and then there's a large puddle of water pelting her... except there's still a weight on top of her.

Groaning lightly, Morgana blinks her eyes open, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Then it skips several beats as a pair of striking blue eyes stare into her green ones. There are multiples splashes of footfalls in the rain approaching them, but all she cares about, is right in front of her... or more accurately, on top of her.

"What are you doing?" Merlin asks softly, confusedly.

Morgana's eyes well up with fresh tears as she buries her face into his neck and lets out a strangled sob. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you step out in front of that truck?!" she cries.

Merlin pulls away and stares at her. "I was trying to get my phone before the truck ran it over." He says incredulously and then glances at the road where what's left of his phone currently lays, shattered into hundreds of pieces. "But that's too late now." He mutters dejectedly.

"Wait, you weren't..." Morgana trails off as she stares sheepishly at the man above her.

Merlin sighs as he gets up and helps her up. "I wasn't trying to off myself if that's what you were going to ask."

"You almost got hit by a truck!" Morgana snaps at him.

"I thought that would be doing you a favor." Merlin says sarcastically. "It's not like you care."

Anger boils up inside her as she glares at him in disbelief. "Okay, so maybe I wasn't the most receptive person on the planet, but I'm not a complete monster, Merlin!"

Merlin doesn't say anything, he just stares at her.

Morgana runs a hand through her completely soaked hair. She can see Mithian and Gwaine in front of the bar, watching them but she doesn't care. "I'm sorry, okay!" a fresh batch of tears begin to form in her eyes again and she grits her teeth frustratedly.

"You're sorry?" Merlin asks in disbelief. "You think that saying sorry is going to change anything?" he shakes his head at her. "Because if that's the case, then I guess all my past sins are forgiven. I guess my family didn't really die in a fire, and I was never an orphan! I guess my life is just all better now, right?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying—,"

"Then what are you saying?" Merlin snaps. "Are you saying that I'm just supposed to tuck my tail between my legs and just keep following you around like a lost puppy? Is that it?"

"No!" Morgana stomps her foot angrily. "Damn it, Merlin! I'm trying to apologize, okay!" she steps up right in front of him and asks, "Can you please let me do that?"

He doesn't think it matters what she's sorry for. But he doesn't say anything.

Taking a deep breath, Morgana lays a hand on his chest and looks into his eyes with the sincerest regret she feels. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch to you. I'm sorry for never giving you a chance. I'm sorry for always assuming the worst in you. I'm sorry for ignoring you for all these years. I'm sorry that I never tried to understand you. I'm sorry that I never stopped to think that maybe you were Ambrosias this whole time. I'm sorry for being such a selfish idiot." she blinks away her tears and brings her hand up to his face, hoping and praying that he won't turn away again. God, this must've been how he felt every single time that he had asked her out. Its such a horrible feeling, and she hates herself even more for treating him the way she did for the past three years. "I'm just so… so sorry, Merlin."

He honestly doesn't know what to say. There is really nothing to say. Except, "I'm sorry too."

Morgana looks confusedly at him. "For what?"

Merlin shrugs, "For yelling at you and getting mad."

She actually laughs at that because. "Really? You had every right to be mad at me, Merlin."

"No, I shouldn't have yelled at you… I just. I didn't know how to react." he looks down, ashamed of himself.

Morgana shakes her head and caresses his jawline with her fingers. He really is the most attractive man she has ever laid eyes on. She smiles, because this is the first time she's admitting that to herself. She has always been attracted to him, but she never trusted herself to ever truly believe that until now. She smiles because this man has done nothing wrong to her, and thinks he's wrong for being angry. This man has sacrificed his time, money, and feelings just to make her smile, or to ask her out, and yet he thinks he's wrong for being rightfully frustrated. This beautiful, broken man truly cares about her. Truly sees her. Truly loves her. And she knows for certain now, more than anything else in her life, that she feels the same way. "I know I don't deserve your time or forgiveness… but I want you to know that I love you."

Merlin's eyes widen comically for a second before turning suspicious. "What?"

"I love you."

He stares, mouth hanging open. "No you don't."

Morgana blinks at him. "Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"Merlin, this isn't a negotiation. I. Love. You."

Gaping at her for a few silent moments, Merlin wonders if she's serious. "How do you know?"

She smiles at him, having expected the question after he tried to deny that she loves him. "Because you gave me no choice… these past couple of weeks have been the worst of my life… I realized that your constant presence in my everyday life, is a huge reason why I was able to make it these past three years…" she takes his hand and looks up at him. "…when you stopped speaking to me, I felt empty. When you stopped sending me flowers and notes as Ambrosias, I felt lonely. When you stopped looking at me, I felt invisible. When you stopped being there," Morgana pauses and stares into his eyes. "I realized exactly how much you mean to me." She shakes her head, and leans up on her toes. "I think I started falling for you a while back… seeing you hurt made me realize that I was wrong about you. Finding out you were Ambrosias cemented that. Seeing you almost get run over by a truck scared the hell out of me. And right now, I just feel like I might explode if I don't tell you how I feel about you."

He's terrified to blink, afraid that this might be a dream, or a figment of his imagination. But he has to know. "You really love me?"

Morgana nods. "Yes." there's no room for hesitation in her voice. "I truly, completely, wholeheartedly love you, Merlin."

With that final confession, Merlin leans down, pulling her against him, and kissing her with all the joy, and love, and passion that's coursing through his veins. Their kiss grows quickly, before someone coughs rather loudly from behind them. Pulling away from each other, Morgana and Merlin turn to find Gwaine and Mithian, grinning widely at them.

Gwaine first looks to Morgana, quirking an eyebrow at the girl. "Took you long enough."

Morgana smiles gratefully at both her roommate and Merlin's roommate. "I know."

Gwaine then offers an apologetic look towards Merlin. "Sorry about outing your identity, mate."

Merlin chuckles softly and nods to him. "Its okay… at least I got the girl now." he jokes.

Gwaine grins widely and casts a side glance at Mithian. "You might not be the only one." he mutters softly.

Mithian hears him clearly and quirks an eyebrow at him, smiling mischievously. "Oh, you might have to work twice as hard as Merlin to get me, Gwaine." she says with a laugh, to Gwaine's horror.

"But Merlin waited three years!"

Mithian couldn't resist teasing him further. "Then you'll be waiting six if you don't step up your game."

Gwaine splutters as the small group dissolves into a fit of laughter before Merlin looks down at Morgana and asks, "So does this mean you'll finally go out with me?"

Mithian and Gwaine stare wide eyed at Morgana, daring her to disagree.

Morgana only laughs, pulling Merlin's head back down to her and kissing him again. She'll give him her answer later. For now, she just wants him.

…

A/N: Ugh… I'm a total sap. But I can't help it. I just write everything like its sunshines and rainbows. It's my weakness. So I apologize if some of you wanted some more angst. I realize that this whole fic doesn't even have a plot. Well, maybe just a tiny one. But it's good enough to read, right? Let me know what you all think! I'm thinking of writing an epilogue for this fic, maybe throw in a bit of Gwaine and Mithian.. what do y'all think? Yes? No? New story? No story? Let me know! Thank you for all the reviews on the previous chapters. I truly love and appreciate all of you!

-McDiggin'It