A/N:

Hellooooooooooo my lovelies. I give you chapter 10! or 9! Depending on which way you count it.
In any case, thank you for being so patient and for reading my story, so please read, kudosfavorite and comment! I live for the comments!

Thank you so much once again!

Chapter 10: What Did You Just Say?

Punctuality had never been Merlin's strong suit, his time in the stocks of Camelot would surely attest to that, but sometimes, the wizard baffled himself with just how often he was late at key moments. As it was, stumbling out of bed and pulling on day old clothes was a staple in his lifestyle, one he hadn't been able to shake since even before his days as a servant and after.

He paused only minutely in his morning rush to take in the bruise on his neck from the previous night's rendezvous with the harpy. It was a violent purple, garish against his pale skin. He winced as he touched it and contemplated using magic to erase it. He didn't want to call attention to his activities but healing was always the least mastered skill of his. Merlin could do it under stress, but it was always shoddy and somehow managed to complicate things rather than simplify it.

Once he'd managed to make himself borderline presentable, Merlin threw himself out of the bathroom only to run smack into Rhain, who despite still looking like he could do with about a century's worth of sleep, was awake and ready to leave. They didn't need to say a word to each other, the feeling of finding each other again making them smile even as they rushed out the front door past Keyes's room.

In the elevator, Merlin kept touching the bruise on his neck, wincing at the dull ache. In the mirror wrapping around the lift, Merlin's eyes met that of Rhain's, who looked at him sympathy.

"You still suck at healing spells, huh?" Rhain didn't need to blink as the warlock lashed out an obligatory punch at the offending statement.

"Hey, some people are absolute morons in math, me, I can't seem to fix a simple bruise." He rolled his eyes at the mirth in the other man's eyes and pulled up the collar of his black turtleneck higher, willing it to cover the bruise as much as he could. It was the best he could do in the time Arthur had provided him, a simple black turtleneck with ¾ sleeves in a tight fit and tailored black trousers. He was Arthur's PA and he'd realized that for the boy to be taken seriously, even his helpers needed to look exceptionally capable. His bag was slung on one shoulder while he fiddled with a cellphone, a new one that he'd borrowed from Keyes the night before. It was one of those iPhone things, which Merlin simultaneously loved and hated. The things were bloody useful but so distracting. One could wheedle away hours if you got too carried away.

The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival in the lobby, and as they did step out on the first floor, the sorcerer noticed that the sky was dim and overcast, and under that grim atmosphere, the expensive looking Audi, no doubt belonging to Arthur, waited ominously for him. He sighed, motioning for Rhain to follow him. Follow he did, talking all the way, actually a fair bit more than the original Lancelot had. Merlin had to keep reminding himself that this was Lancelot's reincarnation, not a resurrected version of the man, they shared memories, not necessarily personalities.

"Still, I can't help but think that Arthur might not like his assistant looking like he'd had a particularly exciting encounter the night before. Might not look, y'know, professional or whatnot." Merlin shoved Rhain irately as they exited the building while checking his watch. He still had a minute on his time limit, whatever trouble he was in, he wasn't getting fined at the very least.

"I'm aware thanks. I don't remember you being this much of an ass, is that something you acquired this time around?" The dark haired man shrugged, carding his hand through his sleep mussed hair, and adjusting the sword on his hip, not even looking slightly out of place in downtown London.

There was the sound of loud honking, and Merlin realized it was coming from the Audi, and he lifted his hands in surrender to Rhain, motioning to the car and waving goodbye to the man. Merlin opened the car door and turned one last time to Rhain, ever the inciter of mischief as Merlin was discovering, motioned to Merlin's collar, winking and pantomimed pulling it up higher.

"Are you going to continue to play charades and make us all late or are you going to get in the car at some point this morning Marlin?" The acidic voice travelling from inside the car made Merlin flinch and he quickly dropped the hand he was using to wave to Rhain as he disappeared from sight and ducked into the car. He was all prepared to fling a quick retort at the 18 year old but found the will to voice it had died away instantly as he laid eyes on the stone cold look of his employer.

Nearly 9AM in the morning and Arthur managed to look like he'd walked straight out of the bloody catalogue from a GQ magazine. His hair was coiffed just so to look both unachievable and yet unbelievably easy. It made Merlin uncomfortable, more than he wanted to admit. He found himself unwillingly tracing over the younger man's form with his eyes, starting from his impeccable black leather shoes to his navy blue tailored suit and form fitting dress shirt that collared his throat perfectly to his stormy blue ice blue eyes. Eyes which were currently staring at him, in a mixture of some sort of anger and confusion. Merlin flushed, having been caught in the blatant perusal of Arthur's person.

There was an odd silence in the car, blanketing the sounds of the streets outside the vehicle, and despite the relatively short drive to the Hotel, Merlin found it stifling, nervously rearranging his shirt, hastily tugging at the neck of his turtleneck when his adjustments caused the fabric to slip and reveal the edge of the bruise on his neck.

Merlin cursed inwardly, seeing Arthur eye it, but stay suspiciously silent, furthering Merlin's irrational urge to do something to break the suffocating.

"Rough night?" The bland, conversationalist tone to the question threw Merlin momentarily, seeing him look up at Merlin briefly over the iPad he was studying. This Audi had the maddening quality of having been constructed so that that back seats faced each other, rather than one in front of the other. It meant that Merlin was subject to Arthur's scrutiny for the duration of the drive. As always, the man – well, boy – was the polar opposite of Merlin. All poise and sophistication, whereas Merlin exuded a sense of homeliness that he knew he would never escape.500 years and he still hadn't managed to achieve the same amount of poise as a boy that was a fraction of his age. As it was, Arthur was watching him, his elbow propped on the windowsill so that his arm could support his head. At Arthur's pointed look, Merlin caught on that Arthur was referring to the welts on his throat and he huffed out of nervousness, hiking the cloth to cover himself, though he already was.

"Uhm, no not particularly. It was fine. Regular night." Arthur quirked an eyebrow at that, clearly not buying it.

"A regular night for you involves looking like you fought with a luchador and lost?" Merlin could feel the blush spreading over his body, heating up in embarrassment. If he could have been just a little bit better at healing spells he would have been able to fix it, but now that Arthur had seen it, he couldn't even attempt it, otherwise it would be rather suspicious for an injury to just disappear.

"No – look, can we, can we just ignore it?" Merlin asked, sending a pleading look to him, know that Arthur would follow with questions he couldn't satisfactorily answer. There was a beat of silence, where they just stared at each other, before Arthur nodded and went back to his iPad, the car descending into quiet again. Merlin tried to busy himself by observing the London architecture as they drove by it.

"So. Met a friend last night?" Merlin closed his eyes, breathing out slowly, he should have known that Arthur wouldn't give up easily. Well, it wasn't like that particular aspect was unexplainable.

"Uh, yeah. Rhain. I've known him for – well. I've known him for a while." Arthur studied his face seemingly coming to a conclusion.

"You're close." There was an odd tone to the realization that Merlin wasn't quite sure he understood.

"He's the only one who's ever known me completely. There's not a thing I haven't told him, and there's not a thing I would ever hesitate telling him."

"Is he...?" The King incarnate trailed off, clearly uncomfortable with his own inquiries though seemingly incapable of refraining from asking them nonetheless. The insinuation behind the incomplete question was crystal clear and Merlin sighed.

"No, Arthur. If you mean to ask whether he and I have slept together, then that would be a no."

"Jesus, Marlin." His scandalized tone brought a snigger to Merlin's lips, unbidden. He'd forgotten, Arthur was a bloody prude when it came to these things.

"Oi, you asked, don't blame me if you can't take the answers to questions, YOU bloody asked."

"I didn't - I mean, I heard -?"

"I said we hadn't slept together. Not that we hadn't fallen asleep together." Arthur crinkled his nose in thought as he deciphered Merlin's sentence.

"How am I supposed to understand anything you say, when you talk like that? It's like having a conversation with Confucius." Merlin clapped in admiration, earning himself a dirty look from the blond haired man.

"Ooh good job, Confucius, that's a big one, even for you." Merlin didn't even have to blink before he moved out of the way of the binder that Arthur chucked at him. In that instant, whatever stiffness had fallen over them, dissipated. Arthur cracked a smile and Merlin grinned back, the routine from over 500 years ago slowly finding its place in the 21st century.

Once the car pulled up to Drayce Hotel, they stepped out nimbly, avoiding puddles of rainwater that had accumulated from the storms of last night.

"Alright, you menace. We've got work to do." Arthur yanked at the strap of Merlin's bag, before turning to enter the building. Merlin watched his figure disappear into the building, noting the unnatural shimmer of the puddle he'd stepped over. He muttered a quick obscurity spell and stomped rather deliberately on it as he followed the 18 year old boy inside, knowing that if you looked closely at the puddle, you would see that the clear reflections were now clouding over, as if fog were obscuring the view.

Whatever was spying on the reincarnate of Camelot's greatest King would have to try a lot harder before it got anywhere near him again. As if a puddle was adequate for reconnaissance, it was almost like he was dealing with an amateur.

He'd only been 30 seconds behind Arthur, but by the time he got inside, Merlin found Arthur already in the middle of an irate guest and much harried looking employee. Both were standing by the concierge's desk, with the employee hastily trying to tend to the other guests' needs while the man turned his attention to Arthur. Merlin glanced briefly at the man's name tag, "Gabriel"), before turning his attention to what the male guest was saying.

He was on the younger end of the spectrum, in his 30s, Merlin suspected, and gesticulating wildly as he illustrated his grievances to Arthur. His hair was thinning in the front, with pasty white skin that served to make him look crazier what with the odd way his eyes were widening the more worked up he got. The 18 year old heir listened patiently, despite the aggrieved air the man was putting on.

"I mean, I've had a long two days, half of which was spent in business class in a godforsaken plane for peons and I've not had a proper breakfast yet and now you're telling me that my room does NOT come equipped with a Butler?!"

Merlin tried to school the expression on his face as he stood a respectful distance behind Arthur, who's shoulders were stiff as he attempted to somehow address the entirely bizarre request.

"I'm sorry sir, but Hotel Drayce does not and has never employed butlers. We have bellboys and waitstaff specific to the restaurants, but we do not assign men to the penthouse suites. I am sure whenever you are in need of service, housekeeping the concierge here, will be more than happy to assist you." Arthur said this in the most placating tone of voice that he could muster. The man, whose name had yet to be mentioned, nearly turned purple at Arthur's words.

"That's preposterous! My family has been staying at this hotel for years! Every single one of them has had a butler, I've seen them with my own eyes! Usually women, sometimes men, but there were butlers. How dare you tell me that something I've seen with my own eyes does not exist?!" There was an accusing finger pointed in the young heir's face, and Merlin noted with pride that Arthur didn't give in to the annoyance he was no doubt feeling by now, and instead kept his voice as even and friendly as possible. Gabriel however, seemed very stressed, and kept rearranging the bowls of candies and mints with fidgeting hands. It seemed, to Merlin, that solution for this guest's delusion of butlers, that it was most likely that the people he'd seen were mistresses or service providers. Of course, neither he nor Arthur was going to mention that particular tidbit of information, not unless they wanted a lawsuit.

As Arthur worked on bringing the man down from his anger, Merlin noticed a shimmer in the air behind Gabriel, almost like the air rippled with the unseen causes. Then, he saw it, an orb of dark light, almost like a shadow, hovering in the air around the young Drayce heir. He narrowed his eyes, ignoring for the moment, the drama unfolding in front of him. He'd seen this before, years ago during the time he'd lived on Bakers Street and one Sebastian Moran had been sprawled unconscious on the pavement outside. The black light had been almost covering the man, reducing his pallor to ghastly and gray. He'd never gotten close enough to examine it though, so he was still unsure of what it was and what it did to people.

"What part of 'I want a Butler' do you not understand?! My status in this hotel entitles me to one!" The guest flung out an arm, completely out of control and shoved one of the giant crystal bowls of mints off the desk and towards Merlin at alarming speed. He managed to duck in time, despite being caught of guard and avoided injury, except now Arthur was looking at him slack jawed, Merlin's speed astounding him. Merlin realized he'd automatically reverted to feinting techniques he'd been taught by the Hanzo's. No matter what, it looked odd for a high schooler to be able to duck like that.

It was a split second decision but Merlin feigned a slip, sliding a foot out from underneath and wincing from even before impact, allowing his head to bang sharply against the base of the wood desk corner.

"Marlin!" Merlin flinched at the feel of blood trickling down from his forehead. He had miscalculated and hit his head harder than he had anticipated in his flustered state. Although it gave him the benefit of seeing Arthur's face twist comically in concern and that of the other man's in surprise. Merlin got up, waving his hand in dismissal as he brushed himself off, and probed at the wound on his head delicately, one hand braced on his hip.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just got knocked off balance by that great big bowl." Arthur let out a minute sigh of relief even as Gabriel handed Merlin his satchel, that had fallen to the floor in the middle of the commotion. Arthur turned to the man again.

"Mr -?"

"Arnett." He responded almost automatically, and immediately looked like he regretted it.

"Mr. Arnett, I understand you're irritated, but I'm sure you'll realize that this is something we don't want to argue over." Arthur's eyes became hard here, a look Merlin had only ever seen him wear during court. "Especially since you know I could charge you quite easily for assault towards my assistant."

Never had Merlin seen someone retreat so quickly. There one minute, gone the next. Arthur shook his head and turned back to Merlin, poking the wound on his head with a finger. Merlin yelped and batted his hand away.

"Ow, watch it. It may be a small cut but it still hurts you know!" Arthur made a derisive snort, picking up Merlin's fallen bag and handing it back to him.

"So why'd you have make yourself into a target for the moron? I've never seen someone slip to avoid one thing and then brain themselves on something else." He tossed a handkerchief to Merlin and walked towards the elevators, motioning for his PA to follow him, which Merlin did pressing the expensive cloth against his forehead.

Inside the elevator, Arthur was silent as Merlin looked at the cut in the mirror, pulling the fringe of his hair back to examine it closely. It wasn't that long, but it stung. Merlin almost laughed out loud at that, he was behaving as if he hadn't endured worse things than a small cut. His mind flashed back to an instance where he'd been flogged in a village for speaking up for a woman accused of witchcraft.

He shook the thought away, it put him in mindset that he wasn't easily able to come away from.

"Oh. You have a white hair!" Merlin nearly jumped out of skin, hearing Arthur's voice cut through the silence in surprise. He glanced up at him in the mirror, bloody tall legged arse.

"What?"

"White hair. You have one." Arthur motioned at his head, smirking as if he expected Merlin to fuss over finding something that indicated he was growing old. Merlin nearly snorted in derisive laughter. How wrong the poor boy was.

Merlin searched through his hair, thinking out loud.

"White hair? Huh, never would have thought. Well, it makes sense, at this age if I don't have at least one white hair it would just be weird."

"This age? You're only 18, you nitwit." Merlin grinned, thankful Arthur hadn't noticed the second slip for what it was.

"Oh shut it, you. Besides, I don't see it, are you sure it wasn't just the light?" He combed through his hair with his fingers, shrugging when he couldn't find it. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Oh for the love of – turn around, I'll show y-" He grabbed Merlin by the chin and hauled him around, surprise flashing on his face when he realized he'd come much closer than he'd anticipated.

They froze in that position, Merlin's back against the wall of the elevator, holding the railing for balance, and Arthur, holding Merlin's chin up and the other hand braced on the wall behind him. Despite being almost half a foot taller than Marlin, the young heir felt his heart do a nervous flip flop at the unintentional intimacy of the moment. He was suddenly hyper aware of the fact that only a very small distance separated the two from each other, a distance he felt was too far away and yet far too close.

Merlin looked as flustered as he felt, his blue eyes blown wide open, and his lips forming a small 'o' of surprise. There was a dark flush spreading up his neck, making his ears unbelievably red and Arthur could swear that Marlin had stopped breathing..

At that moment, the elevator dinged open.

"Come on, Dad. If I'm late for – whoa." Merlin and Arthur jumped and sprang apart at the sight of Nerissa and Tony, stood in the doorway, observing them. Nerissa lowered her shades a little, peering at the two of them from over top, eyes flicking between them.

"Ahem." She slid them back up and schooled her expression, though a snigger managed to erupt once before she was able to do it completely. Merlin was mortified, particularly with the way Tony was studying him. Arthur was rubbing the back of his neck and walked out of the elevator casually with Merlin walking out after a beat of uncertainty. He kept his distance from the young boy, keenly feeling his father's gaze on him as well as Morgana – Nerissa's.

The two boarded the elevator, with Tony going back to tapping on his iPad, not even glancing up at them to address his son.

"Discretion is a valuable asset, son. I trust you will use it appropriately in the future. Come see me in my office at 12." Arthur kept his face blank and his stance stiff, answering politely.

"Yes, Father."

A snort of laughter caught their attention, and they looked over to where Arthur's sister was standing. The hand strategically covering Nerissa's mouth wasn't fooling anyone, especially with the way her shoulders were shaking.

"Bye – bye boys!" She singsonged as the doors slid shut. Merlin watched as Arthur's upright posture slumped with a sigh. He let out a short cry of frustration, using both hands to mess up his hair before letting his hands drop to his sides. Then suddenly he whirled around, coming up short when he nearly ran right into Merlin, backing up before they could collide.

He coughed self consciously and sidestepped the wizard, shoving one hand into his pocket, the other one back to rubbing the back of his neck and walked into his office, pushing the door open with slightly more force than necessary. Merlin let out a small groan, hanging his head and pressing the palms of his hands into eyes.

One normal day. Just one.

"Are you coming in or not?!"

Merlin started in shock.

"Coming!"

When noon rolled around, Merlin all but ran from Arthur's office to the cafeteria reserved for staff. That had been probably the most awkward, stifling, suffocating 3 hours of his life in the last 2 centuries, barring that one moment when Sherlock Holmes had walked in on him with an rather aggressive lapful of Irene Adler. The memory still made him shiver when he remembered the look in the detective's eyes.

He hit his head with the back of a spoon.

"Idiot. Idiot. Idiot." 3 successive taps on the head. Being holed up in Arthur's organizing his schedule and arranging papers for him to sign meant he was constantly brushing against him. It wouldn't have been so bad, if it wasn't for Arthur nearly levitating out of his skin every time it happened.

It got worse while walking around in the office, putting things in binders and turning to find the heir standing behind him, watching him with an indecipherable look. He looked away only when Merlin raised an questioning eyebrow, waving a file in his face to catch his attention. Only for him to return to doing it once Merlin turned away, as if he couldn't feel the weight of it on his back. It wasn't as if Arthur wasn't trying to be normal. He still needled Merlin when he could, making fun of his handwriting, and chucking random pencils at him when Merlin sniped back. The only thing that changed was the curious glances he kept throwing at him.

After 3 hours, Merlin was at his wits end and practically bolted from the doors once Arthur dismissed him for lunch. Now, here he was, sat at his table, in front of an untouched plate of food, hitting himself in the face with a spoon.

"Oi, what did the spoon ever do to you?" Merlin looked up to see Nerissa sliding into the seat opposite, winking at him. She dropped her bag on the table, shoving her shades on top of her head and rested her cheek on a hand, while blinking innocently at him.

"Lovely scene you treated me to this morning, Merlin." Merlin rolled his eyes at the suggestive eyebrow waggling.

"Stop that. You're supposed to be an accomplished woman with a reputable public standing." Merlin snappped, aware that everyone was looking at them, wondering why Nerissa would sit with a nobody like a PA. Or why she would be in the staff cafeteria in the first place.

"Mhm. So, what was that about anyway?"

Merlin banged his head on the table in defeat.

"Hell if I know. One minute we're talking and the next thing I know, that happens. What the hell is wrong with your brother." Nerissa laughed and ruffled his hair, uncaring of his hands that smacked hers away.

"I don't know, but I do know that he's been a little different since you showed up on Friday. He's not behaving like the little brother I remember."

Merlin looked up at that.

"Speaking of memory, I wondered, how much – exactly – do you remember?" It was Nerissa's turn to look embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed pink and she squirmed a little in her seat.

"All of it?" Merlin looked at her incredulously, pulling back to properly look at her, dropping his voice lower when he realized they were still being watched.

"Are you serious? You remember all of it?" She nodded, the flush increasing.

"Then how are you even talking to me? If you remember everything, you remember that you specifically wanted me dead. Well, me and Arthur." Nerissa flinched at the statement but then her expression quickly became thoughtful.

"I don't know how to explain it really." At Merlin's raised eyebrow, she hurriedly added. "It's not like I'm not gonna try! Jeez." She laced her fingers together, elbows on the table.

"Look, I got my memories back during my second last year of high school. Starting with a memory of you passing out after drinking poison. I thought I was losing my mind at first. But when I realized the dreams were coherent and connected, I started writing them down." She pulled out a worn notebook from her bag, pushing it towards Merlin, who gingerly accepted it, stroking the cover.

"After a while I realized that the things I was seeing were real, I started to pay more attention."

"You're forgetting the intense hatred you had for Arthur and me." He looked at her expectantly. It was uncomfortable, but he would rather that he get rid of any doubts he had towards her now. By the look of her, she finally realized what he was trying to get at and took a deep breath.

"I can't explain away my ...behaviour...from back then, Merlin. I was angry, I wanted someone to blame. But now, I'm seeing things from the perspective of an outsider. I can see myself objectively, and I know the truth now. But I don't think anything you could have said back then would have made me do anything differently then. I was too angry. Just, believe me, I would never hurt Arthur, never. In that life, I was his enemy but here, I'm family, I would sooner die," she said fiercely, gripping Merlin's hand in a vice like hold, "than hurt him. Never, you hear me, Merlin?"

Merlin patted the hand that held his, calming her down and smiling.

"That's all I wanted to hear. If only I could've done this back then. Would have saved us all a lot of grief." Nerissa snorted in agreement.

"Alright, next question. Do you still have...?" Merlin trailed off, fluttering his fingers at her. She smiled in response and trailed a finger down his forearm, leaving numbers in its wake. After a moment of speechless silence, Merlin pulled out his phone.

"You could have just asked for my phone number." He grumbled, inputting the information while Nerissa laughed, eyes twinkling with mirth, lips pulling back to reveal pearly white teeth. That answers that, I guess.

"Where's the fun in that?" Merlin shot her a dirty look, making her laugh harder, reaching out and smoothing the numbers out with her hands, leaving pale skin in her wake.

"I should probably tell you, there was a manticore here yesterday. It was targeting Arthur." That wiped the smile right off of Nerissa's face. She took the sunglasses off of her head and set them down, her mouth set in a grim line.

"A manticore? I haven't seen one yet. Not around me. Where did you think it came from?"

Merlin shook his head.

"No idea. I only just found the moron and someone's trying to kill him already. After I left from here last night I ran into a harpy." He paused and then amended the statement. "Well, it ran into me. And then Rhain ran into it. Lots of people running into each other yesterday."

"Rhain?"

"Ah, Lancelot."

"Lancelot?" Nerissa was wide eyed eyes going slightly glassy when Merlin nodded.

"As in Lancelot the unbelievably tanned, gorgeous so-hot-I-could-die Knight. That Lancelot?" Merlin made a face at the description.

"Uh, sure. Yeah, that Lancelot. Listen, have you ..met anyone else yet?" He asked, looking around furtively, to make sure no one was listening. Nerissa was still daydreaming, and only snapped out of it when Merlin snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Nerissa!"

"Oh! Uh, yes. I've only seen Leon so far." She thought again. "Oh, and also Gavin. But I don't know if he remembers anything." Merlin carded his fingers through his hair, avoiding the cut near the hairline.

"Yeah, I've seen him too. I don't know if he remembers or not. He's talked to me but I don't think Gwaine – sorry Gavin, has any idea who I am, beyond being Arthur's PA."

"So he has no idea? How are you going to get him to remember?" She asked, and Merlin shrugged.

"Not sure. It's not like I can just walk up to him and say 'Hi Gavin. Did you know, 500 years ago, you were a Knight of the Round Table? Arthur's Roundtable, and you're name was Gwaine, actually. Why, yes, the Arthur who's currently an 18 year old boy. And did you know, you and I were friends? I'm actually a sorcerer who's 573 years old. You died when Arthur did but I didn't. You didn't know? Well now you do. Have a nice day!'" He deadpanned, noting that the ever present smile was worming it way back onto her face.

"What?"

A voice interrupted their conversation and heard rather than saw Nerissa gasp when they found themselves looking at Gavin, staring at the two of them shell shocked. His eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them. Merlin and Nerissa glanced at each other, unsure of what to say.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?"