"She's not with you?"

Loud drilling poured through his phone. "No! Maybe she's out. Maybe she's asleep." Merlin's voice struggled to keep above the noise.

"I went to her favourite café and bookshop. She is not at either place."

"Maybe she's in the shower and can't hear you. I have to go. Drop me a message when you find her."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at Gwaine's. We're working on his kitchen. I have to go." Without a goodbye, Merlin hung up on him and Arthur stared at his phone nonplussed. Raising his fist, he knocked again on the door.

"Hey mister, whoever you're looking for clearly isn't home so can you stop it?" Arthur turned to see a clearly unhappy lady frowning at him through the slight opening of her door.

"Sorry," he muttered. Pulling up Guinevere's number again, he called for the sixth time that night, the tightness in his chest increasing with every ring he heard.

Someone shook him gently. Something trailed against his cheek. Slowly, he opened his eyes, slightly confused at why his back hurt so much. The first thing he saw was dark curls. He blinked and Guinevere's worried face came into focus.

"Arthur? Why are you sleeping in front of my door?" Her hand was on his shoulder.

"Guinevere!" He scrambled up, pulling her with him. "Are you alright?"

A frown formed on her forehead. "Are you alright? Come on, let's go in before my nosy neighbours seeing you camping out here."

"What time is it?" It was the first time he's been in her apartment and he was slightly taken aback by how run down and tiny it was. He moved his shoulders trying to ease the kink in his back.

"It's 2 am. Why are you here?"

"Why are you only coming home at 2 am?"

He watched as Guinevere shrugged off the coat she was wearing, hanging it behind the door. "I'm an adult. I can come home any time I want." There was a note of annoyance in her voice and guilt filled him.

Gently, he touched her arm so she turned to face him. "I'm sorry. I heard about my father firing you so I rushed here and then you weren't home and I couldn't find you and –" He sucked in a breath, pulling her towards him, relieved when she went willingly. "- and I was worried."

Guinevere buried her face in his neck but said nothing. He tightened his hold on her, pressing kisses into her hair. "I will talk to my father. He can't fire you just because –"

"No." She stepped out of his arms. "I admit I was upset when it happened but I'm feeling better now and I am not going back to work in Pendragon Holdings as long as your father is there."

"Ok. That's fine. I can pay for Elyan's university fees and my apartment has extra room so –" Her fingers covered his lips, the frown returning.

"I am not taking money from you!"

He wrapped his fingers around her wrist. "I have more than I need. And you –"

"No." This time, she spun away, putting a distance between them. "I am not taking money from you."

"Don't be stubborn. You rather suffer instead of letting me help you? This is as much my fault as yours."

She stared out of the window and for a worrying few minutes, said nothing. Arthur stood awkwardly in the middle of her apartment, unsure if he should push his case. As she stood, he studied her – the strength in the way she carried herself, the stubborn tilt of her chin – and wanted nothing more than to take care of her. But clearly she wasn't going to make it easy for him.

Eventually, she turned back to him. "You're right. Without my job, keeping up with all my financial commitment is close to impossible. But I don't want to just take money from you."

"You would take money from your husband." The words came out of his mouth before he could think about what he was saying.

An amused smile spread on her face and she stepped towards him. "It's been less than two weeks and you're proposing?"

"I love you Guinevere." He hadn't thought about marriage before but now that it was in his mind, it didn't seem like a bad idea at all.

Her smile got bigger. "I was thinking more along the lines of you giving me a loan. I was with Elena tonight. We have always talked about expanding our baking business and I guess this is as good a time as any. Would you settle for being my investor instead of my husband?"

"For now," he said with a grin. "We can revisit the husband idea another time. Also, if we're going to do this properly, I'll need a business plan from you. The good thing is that the person in love with you happens to be quite experienced at business plans."

She slipped easily into his arms. "I guess we'll be spending a lot of time with each other then."