Sorry...I'm late, I had a few obstacles in my personal life. Here it is chapter 7, there was more...but that's going into chappie 8, let me know of any spelling mistakes (Ash).

A load of burly men were bathing in the lake, their hair lay damp against their foreheads. They were laughing and harmlessly splashing about in what could only be described as a ritual of male bonding. It was a very overwhelming site for a girl. Morgana was just staring over the embankment hoping for herself to be spiritually carried closer until she was in the middle of that mass of warm and wet bodies, she blushed. She heard the sound of padding feet in the undergrowth and immediately thought someone was coming for her. Alarmed, she hid behind a tree, still eyeing the exposed men. The men's playful aggression eased, and they then began to boisterously cat call towards the forest area. She narrowed her eyes at the odd scene, it was a little hazy and disjointed, she was then distracted from this trail of thought when a man suddenly emerged from the trees from across the lake.

She gaped, Merlin had stripped down to his under-breeches, and his lean torso was exposed to the cold air. He looked amazing, though it was most likely the novelty that pleased her. She was in awe of how confident he looked despite having an audience of much more agile men.

"Get 'em off!" The men yelled.

"Get lost...I'm preserving my modesty!"

"Only girls have modesty." Morgana recognized the distinguished voice of Sir Leon. "You are among men, Merlin, free yourself out of the confines of your breeches." Morgana stifled a laugh, though her curiosity silenced her completely, when she saw Merlin fingering the band of his breeches. He was hesitant, which made the men chant, Morgana found herself mouthing along with them, she stopped breathing when his hipbone was revealed, Who would have known he could be such a teaze?

Merlin stalled, which had the men groaning with impatience. Sir Kay's voice rung out across the lake. "You can't get in until everything is off!" Morgana involuntarily nodded. It's logical.

Morgana could see Merlin's features drawn into a frown, he was embarrassed, and annoyed he was taking part in such a stereotypical man's ritual.

If only she could help? Maybe join in – remove all her clothes to make him feel more comfortable. But you would be stripping for the knights as well, not just for Merlin.

Merlin's frown vanished, he looked slightly defeated, then he casually turned away and immediately dropped his breeches. Morgana keeled over sideways into some bushes, before quickly scurrying up, slightly out of breath. "Why hello there." He had a very cute and firm looking buttocks, and by the looks of it -he was clenching, a little nervous maybe. Would it be too bold to say it was kissable? She felt a little smug witnessing her Merlin so exposed and a little tentative. He hadn't turned round yet, he was folding his clothes at a snail's pace, obviously stalling.

A ruckus voice boomed. "Come on lad, get in the water!" She saw something floating near the men in the water, some kind of ball, perhaps?

She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She considered how she could never be forced into stripping by other females, so why should he be obligated to with the men? ...And why was she still staring at his ass? Maybe it was time to head back to Camelot, she slowly moved along the embankment keeping below the bushes, there was a certain patch which was slightly shorter, so she stooped lower, sliding her hands across the dirt. She heard a distant splash, followed by boisterous cheering, she contently assumed Merlin had jumped into the lake. She briefly looked up, Merlin and the knights were throwing an object at each other, had she been paying attention to the surface she was crawling on, she would have seen the dip in the embankment...but she didn't. Her hand suddenly hit the dip, and her body tilted and eventually came crashing down the embankment, but on the wrong side – SPLASH!

The water was pretty warm, but brown, very brown. She stood up, luckily it was shallow. She automatically noticed as she was adjusting her soaked skirts, it had gone quiet...deathly quiet. She nervously turned, keeping on a dignified face.

"Morgana?" Sir Leon called, she clapped her eyes on him as soon as he spoke, though she had 7 more pairs of eyes on her. About half the men had sunk further into the water.

She smirked, putting on her confident teazy front. "That's funny, I thought only girls had modesty." Sir Leon reddened but in a rather gentlemanly way. She stole a glance at Merlin, who was sitting fully in the water, looking at everything else but her. "You all right Merlin?" He nodded still not looking at her, obviously her accidental reveal wasn't helping anyone, especially the manservant. "Well I was in the middle of a walk, and I heard yelling." She answered the question she knew had been playing on their minds, a sigh rung around the lake.

"Does the lady want an escort back to Camelot?"

"No I'm fine, carry on." They didn't, instead they watched her struggle out of the gravy- wait...gravy? She eyed the thick murky liquid around her, it smelt... delicious. With the men still looking at her curiously, this time Merlin's gaze burned into her, she licked her finger..."Oh my lord, this is gravy!" She spun around gauging for a reaction. "We're in gravy." Locking with stony faces.

"Of course we are."

She looked incredulously at the man that had spoke, Merlin had confidently stood up, the water riveted down his chest and stopped at the water's surface, at his waist. Shame. She was concerned by how unfazed they all looked, something was seriously wrong.

"But it's gravy?"

"Yes, and this is a dumpling." Merlin picked up the 'ball' she had seen floating around earlier, and threw it at her, she caught it with a squish, and examined it, before giving it a sniff and a bite, the men seemed to approve of this, and began to close the distance between her and them. She hid her squirms as their very naked bodies churned through the gravy towards her. She peered at Merlin for guidance, as he was the only less intimidating one. "Do you like beef?"

She couldn't help but snort, it had sounded like a weird pick-up line. "Do you have any?" She smiled.

Merlin was standing a lot closer than the others, and felt better to whisper. "It's your stew." Her stew, she looked through the gaps the men had made. Indeed, it was her stew; the gravy, the dumplings, and the chunks of beef littering the water's edge. And soon she discovered they weren't surrounded by an embankment, but the rim of an olla. Why hadn't she seen that before?

"My stew." She said absentmindedly, she could hear the men's breathing around her, shallow and eager, full of dark expectation. It thrilled her. A man behind her reached out and removed her cloak, the action should have unnerved her, but she just stood there, her eyes glazed focusing on the manservant, who hadn't moved, which suggested he just wanted to watch, she was self-conscious and felt she didn't want to disappoint. An array of hands began to remove layers of her clothing. It was extremely arousing, the fondling of hands scattered about her person, yanking laces, and relieving her of her silk. All that was left of her decency was her shift. She felt the hands stroke down it, looking for a quick way to remove it , it only took a second for her to realise she didn't want it off. "Can I keep my modesty?" Damn irony. "Please."

Merlin squared his shoulders, and gave her an approachful look. "Where's the fun in that?"

Laughing it off was her only option, and she breezed by the bare chested men, to join Merlin, who looked flattered by her attention. "Would you like to play a game?" She ventured.

"Hmm, what did you have in mind?"

Her finger came up to absently smear some gravy against his forearm, he watched her through hooded eyes while she marvelled his lean arm, she felt heat prickle her face when she remembered her spectators. A ghost of a smile dimpled Merlin's cheeks, it was very encouraging. Bugger, if he didn't know about her growing affections already, he would certainly know now. What must they think of her, flouncing around in her underwear, stroking men, will they think her a whore?

Merlin grabbed a dumpling and squeezed it over her head, gravy drenched her, she yelped in surprise. What the hell? He was very gleeful as he ran away, the men were cheering him on. "How dare you, and with my own dumpling!" She exclaimed. Taking some initiative, she grabbed a cut of beef and waded after her drencher, who was hobbling through the soup, holding the dumpling in the air with victory.

She wasn't angry, just determined to slaver his face with the beef. No one, not even the king could wipe off her current smile, bright and mischievous.

His bare back was slick with gravy as he moved towards the edge of the stew, she thought he might try and get out, but wouldn't that risk him exposing himself? At this moment in time she didn't mind, she felt comfortable. She could get use to this, chasing bare-assed men, Okay, last trace of self-respect...gone. She glanced around- seeing the knights had vanished, though she wasn't sure if she cared. Merlin had got to the edge of the 'lake', and had spun around to beam proudly at her for catching up.

"And here endth the chase." Merlin stated cockily, eyes full of mischief to equally match hers. He held the dumpling in front of him as if to offer it to her, Morgana knew she wasn't interested in the dumpling. She got her breath back while staring at him, still holding it out as some form of bargaining or peace treaty. The girl was confused on what kind of game they were playing. When first setting foot into the lake she was scared, then everything became teazy and frightfully grown-up, then Merlin seemed to make it playful again, unaware that it could easily slip back into something that was very...grown-up. What the hell were you thinking? You are in your underwear, and Merlin is naked...of course it's bloody grown-up!

"Morgana." He had a very sympathetic voice. "Did you want to do something?" She needed to watch his expression when he delivered this, it looked very innocent and lacked mischief for it to be that kind of offer.

"Where have the men gone?" She said calmly, moving closer.

He chuckled grimly. "Am I not man enough for you."

"-No, no, that's not what I meant-"

He raised his hand to shush her. "They left us alone." He emphasised the last word in a harsh whisper. She shuddered, very grown up. He turned to face the embankment and tossed the dumpling onto it, and wiped his hands on the grass. "But we could always save it...we only have an hour." She took in the sight of him from the back, hoping he would just instruct her, but he didn't he just stood there . She bit her lip eagerly.

"Well then let's not waste it." The gravy churned as she swooped forwards, she had gained so much momentum she ended up pinning the boy to the embankment, his face eating grass. Morgana shivered at the feeling of his bare wet flesh through her shift, not to mention her stomach was flush against his buttocks under the water. "I want it, I want it...Please give it to me." His hands wriggled out from under him to feel her behind him, but for a second it seemed like he was squirming. She pressed her cheek between his shoulder blades, her lip grazed the skin, almost testing its temperature. He murmured into the grass as she slipped her arms around to the front of his chest, fingers caressing the smooth skin, feeling for his heartbeat.

There wasn't one. She lifted her head up to ponder this. Why it's so gentle you can't feel it. Her ear pressed to his back again, listening, she gasped.

"You have no heartbeat!" Pulling back from whatever he was.

Merlin's head twisted to the side, eyeing her warily. "I'm very much alive, Morgana." This didn't put her at ease, the man before her looked distorted, she couldn't capture his every detail, as if she was viewing an oil painting.

She shook her head not quite believing it. "You're not real." She felt the moisture build up in her green eyes.

"I am real, you need to make it real."

"What does that even mean?" Anger edged her voice, was this her mind? Of course, she should have known it was a dream when the gravy appeared. She couldn't stay here, she couldn't let herself be bewitched by this imitation.

The imitation tilted its head, looking at her fully through dead eyes. "Does it really bother you?"

She snorted. "I need someone warm, with a pulse." She turned back to where she came from, hoping to find her clothes floating about. She didn't get a chance. The imitation grabbed her arm and spun her around, fusing their fronts together. The air left her lungs, his hair didn't even flutter, reasserting the fakery of it all. "Get off me."

"Why should I, you just chased and sexually harassed me." He was grinning while talking, so it came out slightly hissy. "Will I get nothing?" He gave her a mock pout. Was he seriously asking? The offer was there, but did she really want to stick around with such an accurate fake, was this some kind of evil magic, or could it be her own doing? It's odd how you can't think straight when you're in your own dream...if that's what it was. It appeared to be quite sinister due to the lack of control, almost like a nightmare.

"I just want to wake up." It came out weakly, and she graciously placed her hands on his chest and pushed away. His face was aghast, she assumed he hadn't expected to be turned down so abruptly. "No." He said gruffly wading after her. "Do you really think it'll hurt to do something out of your comfort zone in a dream?" It came across as a beg.

"So you can admit you're not real?" She countered, but kept her distance.

'Merlin' clearly missing the question. "-The gravy doesn't bother you, but I'm the mystery? I think you are so insecure." Morgana did a double take, how dare this servant call her 'insecure'. He continued heatedly. "Or are you just teasing me...is this some form of punishment?" She opened her mouth to speak, this was ludicrous; what was this imitation on about?

"Hey, I'm not a teaze!" That settles it, she was leaving. Wake up, wake up. She moodily waded to where she could climb out of the Olla. Stupid dream. She spotted her dress floating on the surface and nabbed it.

She could still hear that voice, his voice."Arthur, I can't believe you would kid about something which is very delicate to some people-how is this suppose to get me back?" She froze, had Arthur climbed into the gravy too, was he berating him from the embankment? She turned expecting to see her two friends bickering like an old married couple, but all she saw was Merlin giving her a blazing look, it was an understatement to say she was merely alarmed.

"What? I'm not Arthur...and what are you on about?"She began to put her dress on, frowning into the tent of silk. Soon as she got it over her head, Merlin moved considerably closer, and she jerked her head. "Well figment, you have exhausted your efforts to fool me." She flicked her hair out of her clothing. Merlin smiled at her like he normally did, shyly, and she caught herself blushing.

"An enchantment, or hormones – Hormones?" Merlin said looking at with curiosity, it was a completely random thing, and it had Morgana reeling. Could he be stating a fact, a logical explanation?

"Is that what's going on? Is it my magic?" She was hopeful and clutched his arm, she didn't know what made her do it, she believed she just wanted to snatch her last chance to touch that exposed skin.

"But of course... I am a genius!" He was erratic, jumping in the gravy, slopping her slightly. She laughed, it was adorable, and it made her forget he was an imitation, a very good imitation.

"You sure are, come here." She said fondly, giving him a coaxing pull on the elbow. His head snapped round to look at her tentatively, before closing the gap. Despite the hazy environment, the figure she found herself hugging was very solid. Her ears perked to listen out for breathing, but none came, but what she did hear was the pitter-patter of footsteps, and strangely enough they sounded like they were on flagstone. She literally turned her companion to peer over his shoulder to look. "Merlin?"

He spoke into her hair. "Gwen, please tell me you don't feel funny." Morgana stared over his shoulder, chin pressing into flesh and bone.

"You are a very bad imitation, I'm M-O-R-G-A-N-A." Morgana rolled her eyes. "What do you mean..do I feel funny? I'm in a weird dream; I'm in an Olla of Gravy hugging a naked manservant. It is pretty funny." Probably should loosen your grip on him a little. She pulled back slightly to look him in the face, he looked severe as if his mind was elsewhere.

"Pleasing?..Do you mean sexy?"

Morgana pulled a face at this, but didn't let go, she would never let go."Well didn't say you were pleasing...well...you're just naked, you do look nice naked..." She lost her nerve and cast her face downward to conceal a threatening blush. Morgana was running a finger along his arm, it did occur to her she did find him cute in the gawky sort of way and he had an allure that went past being an innocent boy- he was a man, well real Merlin was a man.

She finally said. "You're a good friend." She wasn't certain if that's what she wanted to say at all, it needed more strength, Merlin was more than just a friend. Imitation Merlin looked as if he was trying to process everything, she felt the unspeakable wall of insecurity crumble, and she leaned forward to capture his bee stung lips, she would have succeeded if it weren't for the boys grip on her arm, restraining her. Her eyes flew open over the lack of heat reaching them, clearly confused by his lack of interest. Okay-that was certainly not embarrassing, rejected by an imitation. It was time to start begging."Oh kiss me, Merlin, end my agony." He was very reluctant, being very squirmy. Morgana thought caressing his back would help, but he seemed to gently shove her away.

"For heaven's sake think Merlin, think!" Merlin had his fingers threaded through his hair in utter frustration, Morgana felt sheepish. She could forgive him if he's not real, if real Merlin did that...she would be a little mad.

Morgana felt she was witnessing a nervous breakdown, Merlin was completely detached from his surroundings, his facial expressions were very accurate, she was convinced the real Merlin had been transplanted into her dream. Or is this some spell? He did say enchantment...and...err...Hormones? Holy hell, what if this is real? She backed away from him, like he was an axe wielding maniac. He was babbling at her, but it seemed to echo like they were in a corridor of some sort.

"Gwen, go to Gaius tell him about Morgana, he will understand. Wait, if you start to have strange feelings towards Gaius or vice versa, just...get the hell out of there..." Okay he was babbling, but it did sound assertive.

"Why, what's wrong with me?..What's happened?" Morgana was frightful this had turned into some prophecy. She felt dizzy and sick, like she had been running, the world around her began to dismantle itself, and she found Merlin fading away. She fell backwards into the warm gravy...

Wow, it's really warm in here; it's like being in an oven. She rolled over onto her side. She feels a slight chill on her damp skin. Damp? Her eyes fluttered open...her translucent drapes were partially closed around her, giving her the impression Gwen hadn't been in to tend to them. She sat bolt upright, the room was in shambles, it looked as if a battle had took place while she was sleeping. Surely what transpired last night didn't amount to this? Suddenly scared of herself- she clawed the covers around her until eventually the bed was bare. A Dream. Everything that she had foreseen was a dream, but what type?...She had to be cautious. Then she remembered the events the previous night.

How the hell was she going to face Gwen? She had given her hell last night, she didn't want to apologize to her by filling her morning with work in this dreadful room, it would be diabolical. She grimaced, realising she would have to roll up her sleeves and clean. Okay just be quick and content, sing if you have to. She began to circle the room in her night dress, dipping to pick up bits and pieces which cluttered the floor, when her arms were full she dumped the load onto the table. There were still remnants of the olla fragments littering the table and she cut her finger with a yelp. When inspecting the slice in the finger, it welled and dripped down her arm. Great.