Merlin was flabbergasted. In front of him was a familiar face, but not one who he had expected to see. "Gaius?" He then looked at the other person who appeared behind Gaius and his eyes widened. "B-but that's –"
"That is my son, yes." Gaius answered soft and moved Merlin inside and out of the cold. Uther followed suit and closed the door. Once inside, Merlin turned again to face the two men.
"But how! You – you said you hadn't…" Merlin rubbed his temples, he felt confused and a headache was starting to play up.
"It's all a long story," Gaius sighed and moved Merlin towards the couch. "I'll put on the kettle," Gaius said and moved towards the kitchen, leaving Merlin and Uther alone in the room. There was an awkward silence and neither men knew what to say to the other, only when Gaius reappeared again, they noticed the tension faltering, but only a little.
Gaius looked at his son and then back at Merlin, "I'm sure you want to know how I found him."
Merlin only nodded slowly, he couldn't speak.
"But we first need to talk to Arthur, alone." Gaius told him and looked around him when he finally caught up with the fact that Arthur wasn't there in the room, neither did he hear anyone else in the house. "Where is he?"
Merlin swallowed. "I – I don't know. I was about to go out and find him. He hasn't come home after the appointment with Allisandra, and also hasn't been home for dinner."
"What! But that's so unlike him."
"I know!" Merlin breathed in deeply. "I tried his cellphone, I tried our friends, I tried the contact number of Allisandra's contact, I tried everyone I could think off." Merlin took a deep breath, his face turning sad. "What if something happened?"
Gaius put a hand on Merlin's knee, "We can't assume that -"
Suddenly Merlin's phone rang and his hand shot out to his trouser pocket and retrieving the ringing phone. It was an unknown number to him when Merlin looked at the caller-id, but his gut made him still pick up the phone. He had this feeling it wouldn't be something good.
"Hello?"
"Is this mister Emrys?" A female voice asked from the other side of the line.
"Yes, it is." His eyes briefly flicked up to Uther and Gaius.
"Mister Emrys, this is the receptionist of Avalon Hospital calling. We have admitted a," There was a brief pause and Merlin heard some papers ruffling before the woman continued, "Arthur Pendragon to the ER, and he has you listed under his Emergency Contact."
Merlin's lower lip started to quiver. "Is he okay? What happened!" He put the phone away from his mouth to tell the two men next to him, "Arthur is in the ER.", before putting the phone against his ear again.
"It seems that Mister Pendragon has been in some sort of fight, but he didn't tell the hospital staff about what has happened. He had allowed us to examine him and they found some minor injuries, such as a concussion and two lightly bruised ribs. Therefor we only discharge him if someone is able to pick him up from the hospital."
"I'm on my way." Merlin told the receptionist and disconnected the call. Gaius immediately overwhelmed him by questions and inquiries about what happened, while Uther looked shocked and didn't said anything.
"They don't know exactly what happened." Merlin explained. "Only told me that they believe he has a concussion and a few bruised ribs. I'm going there now."
Gaius also made movement to stand up, but Merlin turned to him and put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes first went to Uther and then back to Gaius. "I think it's better if I go alone, and," He looked at Uther again. "I don't think it would be a good idea if you're here when we come home. I don't know what happened, but I don't think he could handle the shock if he would see you here when he came home."
"But he's my son!" Uther said. The first thing he had said all the time he had been inside.
"I know," Merlin sounded hurt by saying it. "but we need to think of Arthur's wellbeing." Merlin turned and walked to the desk in the living room and came back with a set of keys. "It's from the pharmacy next door, Gaius owns that. There is a small studio in the back, perhaps – perhaps you could stay there for the night. Until we know more about what happened to Arthur."
~oOoOo~
A nurse brought a nervous Merlin towards one of the cubicles and told Merlin Arthur was in there before moving along again. Merlin swallowed. The whole ride to the hospital had been a nightmare, because the initial shock had died down and then he fully realized that he could've lost Arthur and he figured out what the young teen really meant to him.
Inhaling deeply, Merlin retracted the thick curtain that divided the cubicle and stepped in. His eyes immediately fell on Arthur who sat on the edge of the bed and was now also looking back at him. Without even realizing it, Merlin rushed to the bed and put his hands on either side of Arthur's head and crashed their lips together. It wasn't until their lips touched, Merlin realized what he was doing and tried to back off, but Arthur's hand came up to his neck and held him there. Only after several seconds, Arthur let go and smiled at Merlin.
"I – I – I," Merlin stammered. He didn't know what this meant, did Arthur liked him back?
"I like you, Merlin. For some time actually." Arthur tried to move off the bed, but winced and his hand flew up to his side. Merlin was immediately with him again, he first needed to know what happened to Arthur before he could even converse about what the kiss and Arthur's profession could mean.
"What happened?" Merlin asked softly, easing Arthur back down on the bed.
"I don't want to talk about it." Arthur turned his head away.
"Please,"
Arthur still kept looking to the side until he felt a hand slip into his own. His head turned towards Merlin and he could see the concern in his eyes and it made him crumble. After a deep inhale through his nose, he said; "I found my mother." His hand went to the locket he still wore under the hospital dress. He wanted to throw it into the water, but he couldn't do it.
"What?" Merlin's head not yet spun. What were the odds that Arthur would find both his parents on the same day. "H-how? Who?" Merlin nearly asked the Five Ws.
Arthur knew there was no point in beating around the bush and just spilled the name out. "It's Allisandra Qussaint. Or Ygraine du Bois, as we now know."
Merlin's jaw literally dropped. His eyes blinked rapidly as he looked at Arthur with almost disbelief. "W-what? But – but. No, that can't be. We have seen her ourselves. She doesn't look like the picture in the necklace – well," Merlin thought back at when he saw the picture. It could be…
"People's appearances change." Arthur added as some kind of explanation. "And she told me herself." Arthur muttered soft.
"Oh god," Merlin sank down on a plastic fold out seat, his hand rubbing his forehead. Then his head snapped up. "And now?"
"It changes nothing." Arthur answered, harsher than he had spoken all this time. "She didn't want me then, she doesn't have to care now." Arthur moved off the reclining bed, no matter how much pain it did, and searched for the plastic bag that held his belongings.
Merlin stood up from the chair and placed his hands on Arthur upper arms, making him stop what he was doing. Merlin's expression was soft again as he asked, "But how did you got hurt." After a small pause he added, "Did, did she do it?"
"What? No. I – I ran after I found out." Arthur said. "I just ran and didn't really had a sense of direction of where I was going. I ended up at the harbour and I was planning to throw the necklace away, I just didn't want to have anything to do with them. But I couldn't." Arthur let himself being pushed towards the plastic chair Merlin sat on earlier.
"I had to wrap my head around it, because how could I miss something big like that… after having met her, twice!" Arthur shrugged to his best abilities, "I lost track of time and when I realized how late it was, I made my way home. I knew you would be home already, so I wanted to call you that I was on my way – only, there was a group of guys who seemed to come out of nowhere. They demanded my phone and money, and when I told them to fuck off, they started bashing me."
"Arthur," Merlin breathed out, his hands covering his mouth.
"If it wasn't for Tristan, I don't know how much worse I would've gotten hurt."
"Tristan?"
"The – uhm, that guy we came across the other day." Arthur looked down in shame. He didn't want to see Merlin's face.
"The guy – oh!" Merlin realised who Arthur was talking about and gently placed his hand onto Arthur's neck. His thumb stroking the skin gingerly. "I'm glad he did." Merlin added soft and Arthur looked up.
"He made sure I was okay and stayed with me until the ambulance came."
"I'm so sorry I haven't looked for your sooner, Arthur." Merlin sank down onto his haunches so he was more on the same eyelevel as Arthur.
"Don't be. As you said, be glad that Tristan was there. He never - he never treated me badly. How weird that may sound. He was the only one I felt just slightly loved."
"Oh Arthur," Merlin began, but he had no idea how to finish that sentence. And there wasn't time either, because the curtain of the cubicle was pushed away and a nurse came in with a small tray, announcing that she would do the final check-up and administer some pain-relieving medication and then he was good to go.