The last seven months went by with ups and downs. The downs were mostly about Axton getting an anxiety attack in the middle of a school day and Gwen had to schedule in some emergency sessions to get the little boy calm again, with the help of his parents which gave him lots of love that was a tremendous help in these situations.
Nowadays, Merlin and Arthur could see amazing progress in their son's behaviour and he was almost as he was before the kidnapping that had occurred almost a year ago. Axton still had his moments of anxiety though, but the amount of times that happened was far smaller than what it used to be.
The more happy and so up times were that they've finally finished going through the long process of finding a female donor and a surrogate. They were invited to interview a few possible donors at the agency for fertilization and they had a few possible candidates, but they had the best click with Elena – a beautiful blonde down to earth girl who might be a little clumsy at times but otherwise had a loving and caring personality.
Elena told them that she was not only willing to be a donor, but also told them she was willing to be surrogate mother, if they would agree with that. At hearing that, Merlin and Arthur felt even happier with their choice and a huge burden fell off their shoulder at not having to find a surrogate anymore, which would take gods knows how much more time.
After reading the contracts that were drawn up by their lawyers, and getting the validated results of the intense research in Elena's family background to see if there was any case of genetic deceases or perhaps criminal activity, Arthur, Merlin and Elena had signed all necessary papers.
To Arthur's relieve it was excluded from the background check that Elena was family of him in any sense of the word, so when they heard that news, Arthur and Merlin agreed that Arthur would be the one who would be the male donor this time. Arthur kept saying that there was a big chance that the child could be a blonde girl, but that was just some tease talk. He would be happy with any hair colour and gender as long as the child would be happy and healthy.
Within two months, they went in for their first IVF treatment, but they kept their actions silent for the prying ears of their family (and Axton) for the time being. They first wanted to be sure that the treatment worked and that Elena was indeed pregnant, but unfortunally the first try failed and Arthur Merlin were gutted, even if they knew the chance was big that the first try was not always successful. They secretly hoped that it would just go as the time with Morgana, success in their first try, but unfortunally.
In good spirit - that was mostly due to Elena staying positive and telling them to keep hope – the couple started the second attempt one and a half months after the initial date they found out that the first attempt failed. This time the doctor had better news, the treatment was a success; Elena was pregnant.
Now they couldn't wait to share the good news with their family, and their son. Who would certainly blab it all to his grandparents if given the chance, so they wisely kept it between the two of them and of course Elena, until today. Merlin had gone to the printers yesterday to pick up the shirt he had let made, after Elena had her twelve week ultrasound, two days ago. The ultrasound technician had revealed by looking at the ultrasound, that it was ninety-eight per cent certain that the child would be a girl.
~oOoOo~
Merlin and Arthur stood in their bedroom, their hyperactive son jumping on the bed. Merlin looked at Arthur with a playful glare and shook his head.
"What?" Arthur asked, completing his tie of his suit. Their family would be here any time now for the diner they had arranged so they could tell them they were expecting another child. Arthur could already hear the disappointed tone in his mother's voice at not being informed by this, but he'd be dealing with that when it's time.
Merlin jabbed a finger on his left peck. "You know what. You shouldn't have given him that lolly just twenty minutes ago. He'll be hyperactive for quite some while now."
Arthur just shrugged. "Oh come on Merlin, he's a child. Not a seventy years old, let him for once."
Merlin narrowed his eyes to his husband for a moment before holding out the tiny shirt in front of him that he had picked up by the printers. 'I'm going to be a big brother´ it said, with a tiny pacifier just to the side of the text. Their plan was to let Axton put it on under his buttoned shirt and when the time was right, they'd opened the shirt to let everybody read it. At least that is the plan, you never know how it would go with their six, almost seven, year old son. They still hadn't told him that he would going to be a big brother, they wanted him to still keep his mouth when the family members would pour into their home one by one.
Arthur wrapped his hands around Merlin's still bare waist. His mouth nuzzling in the crook of his husband's neck and breathing in that unique smell that made him crazy at times. He drew back a little and saw the look in Merlin's eyes as he watched his son, who now sat on the bed cross legged playing with two toy soldiers he brought from his playroom.
Merlin inhaled deeply and breathed out. "In just two weeks, he'll be seven already. Time does fly doesn't it?"
"Yeah, we're getting old." Arthur commented lightly, receiving a light slap on his upper arm.
"We are not old, we're in the prime of our life Arthur. With another baby on the way, we need to keep young for the sake of our children." He joked. "And if the baby will be really turning out to be a girl, well then we have our work cut out. I can already imagine Morgana and our mothers swarming this place like snakes. We'll never get rid of them!"
"I can always trust on you for dramatic statements, Merlin." Quickly pecking a kiss on his cheek and grabbing the shirt out of Merlin's hand. "You, get changed. I'll get this little monster dressed." He ended with an entertaining growl in his voice as he approached his son with wiggling fingers, making Axton squeal in delight and jumped off the bed.
"You gonna catch me first papa." He ran off squealing into the hallway, tiny soft footfalls could be heard as their son ran over the parquet flooring. Arthur turned around and winked to Merlin before he set off in his mission to find his son, who, no matter how many times, would always hide in the closet in his room.
Merlin chuckled and grabbed his buttoned shirt and dress jacket from the hanger and pulled them on. In time to hear the closet door opening and his son's high pitched squeaked laughter, yelling; 'papa, you're always finding me so quick!'
~oOoOo~
Merlin was pleased to see everything ready and the table being set beautifully. For this special event he hired in a few chefs and staff to make the food perfect and the table magnificent. But also, so he wouldn't have to do it himself and getting stressed about that on top of everything. Looking further around the room he saw that his husband and son sitting on the sofa and Arthur had managed to dress their son in one of his own little tuxedos – with the shirt hidden underneath the white buttoned shirt – and he even managed to drive a comb through that unruly mob of black hair. His husband looked perfect, his son looked perfect, the room looked perfect. Everything was. Now it was just waiting for their family to arrive, which could be any moment now.
"Breathe sweetheart." Arthur had sneaked up on him and entwined their fingers together. With the ginger touch and the sweet tone of voice Merlin breathed out and nodded.
"I'm sorry, I'm just a bit nervous."
The bell rang and Axton jumped out of the couch, running around his parents to reach the front first. He reached up and managed to draw the handle down, making the door open and revealing every invited guest standing on the other door.
"Granda Ufer!" Axton happily exclaimed. For some reason his grandfather was his favourite person, but maybe that's because he'd usually brought a present for him, every time he visited. This time was no difference.
Uther bent down on eyelevel, bringing out a small bag from behind his back that Axton recognized as his favourite toy store. "Look at you, so dashing in your outfit. And I got you something."
Axton giggled, but grabbed the bag out of his grandfather's hand, followed by a clearing of Merlin's throat. Turning slowly around, Axton looked up to his father's disapproving face.
"Don't you forget something Axton?"
Axton thought for a moment, wiggling his lips from right to left before turning to his grandfather. "Thank you grandpa Ufer." He leaned forward to give a kiss on his grandfather's cheek, who then stood up with the brightest smiles and gave a ruffle through his grandson's hair, which then became tangled again. Merlin just rolled his eyes, at least his hair had been fine for just a few minutes that's already an accomplishment.
Arthur was a bit more hospitable than his husband and quickly gestured everyone in their home and out of from the biting cold weather. "Dinner is ready… and we have news to share." He announced.
~oOoOo~
Everyone had found a seat around the table. Uther and Ygraine sat on the right of Merlin while Balinor and Hunith sat on the left of Arthur. Axton was wedged between his parents at one end of the table and Gwaine and Morgana sat on the other end of the table with Morgana continuing to sip from her water instead of the expensive wine that filled the room with its aroma, like anyone else.
Chatter filled the room and Merlin trying – pleading – to get Axton to eat some of his veggies, but he just scrunched his nose and continued eating only his French fries and sausage. Arthur snorted inwardly, it was a battle that was being fought with every meal that included vegetables.
"Fine, than don't eat your veggies. Then also no ice cream for you." Merlin put the spoon with a couple of beans on top of it down on the plate and got back to eating the cold remains of his own meal. Axton looked at his daddy with big eyes and then shifted them to his papa's who solemnly nodded.
Feeling defeated, Axton sagged his shoulders and with a face that could only be describes as real horror he guided the spoon to his mouth, first touching one bean with the tip of his tongue and immediately his nose scrunched up again in disgust.
"Come on Axton, they're only veggies. They're good for you. Just eat what's on the spoon and then you get the ice cream." Arthur tried bribing his son with the oncoming sweets and it seemed it was starting to work as his son's eyes lit up at the prospect of getting ice cream. He looked one last time suspiciously to the spoon and then delved it into his mouth in one go. Chewing them slowly with distaste written over his features, but he finally swallowed and got his hands on the cup of water that his daddy put in front of him, drinking gradually from it to get the vegetable taste out of his mouth.
"See that it wasn't so bad little cracker." Gwaine chimed from the other side of the table when he had overheard the conversation to get Axton eat his vegetable and it made the little boy smile a little more again after his 'horrible' encounter with the veggies.
"Okay." Merlin dabbed the corners of his mouth with his napkin and scooted his chair back. "I'll fetch the dessert. Arthur, Axton will you help me?" He asked on a way he hoped wouldn't sound all too played or suspicious. Axton started complaining that he didn't want to help, but Merlin just whispered in his ear that he could get two scoops of ice cream if he'd come to the kitchen now. This made the little child comply just a little more easily.
Before they could dash out of the room, they were shortly held back by Uther speaking up. "But what was that news you were talking about? You still haven't told us." Multiple agreeing noises followed by the rest of the occupants in the room and Merlin felt himself deflate. He had no answer to it. Arthur, sort of, had but it wasn't really a satisfying answer for their guests.
"Just wait a few minutes and then we'll tell." He moved quickly away to the kitchen, his son in front of him and Merlin hot on his tail.
Axton waited anxiously for the ice cream, mouth already watering once he heard it was his favourite kind; strawberry. But before he got a bowl of it, his daddy bent down and started to unbutton his shirt and tugging the shirt he wore underneath it from out his pants, letting it fall over it. He knew the shirt said something, but he couldn't read it. He could only understand that there was an 'a'. He knows that one really well, because that's the first letter of his name.
"Axton, papa and I need to tell you something. About something you really want."
"A new ball?" Axton asked.
"No something better. Remember that me and papa talked about a baby?"
"Yeah! And I will be the best brother ever. When will the baby be here, it takes too long daddy!" The little boy started to pout. And got frustrated once both his parents started to chuckle and laugh.
Arthur knelt down besides his son. "Well, the baby will be here in just a few more months, but now we're going to tell auntie Morgana, uncle Gwaine, grandpa Uther and Balinor and grandma Hunith and Ygraine. But we're too scared to tell them. Can't you do it for us?" Arthur ended his made up scared story with a little pout himself, letting his son giggle.
" I'm a big boy, I'm not scared."
"Good." Arthur said. "So you just have to go back to room and tell everyone to look at your shirt. Can you do that?" Axton nodded heavily, looking down to the shirt but still not understanding what it said or was about.
"Okay." Axton said and already ran out of the room. Arthur and Merlin quickly followed, not wanting to miss the faces of their family. Entering the room empty handed caused a few raised eyebrows from the people in the room but was quickly replaced by looking at the little boy who kept saying 'look at my shirt, look at my shirt!'.
Hunith was the first to fully understand the message and gasped followed quickly by Ygraine, both looking up to their son and son-in-law who stood side by side at the door with Arthur having drawn an arm around Merlin's waist, wide smiles spread across their face. Morgana was the next one and looked gobsmacked and wide-eyed, whispering something in Gwaine's ear who's facial expression was similar to Morgana's. Balinor and Uther took a little bit longer for the message on the shirt to sink in, but then finally got it too.
Morgana stood up from her chair. "How?" Morgana asked. "We didn't told anyone yet that we're expecting. We wanted to keep it to ourselves until I'd be showing."
"Wait, what?" Was Arthur's reaction. Turning his attention away from the couples around the table to look at his sister. "Morgana, are you…"
"Pregnant? Yes. Five weeks as of tomorrow." Morgana finished smiling down to Gwaine. Gwaine stood up and kissed his wife.
Axton stopped telling people to look at his shirt and started to look confused and yelled from the spot he stood – opposite than Merlin and Arthur – "Has auntie Morgana our baby in her belly?"
"This is not how I imagined it to be." Merlin mumbled to Arthur. He responded with a shake of his head. "Me neither." Before turning his head to Morgana. "Congratulations! Both of you." More congratulations followed by the rest of the room, while Axton moved slowly toward his parents, confusion still written over his face. "Papa." He said with a tug on his father's pressed pants. Arthur looked down. "Don't we get a baby?"
"Oh Axton." Arthur said, picking up his son and balanced him on one arm and Axton putting one arm behind his father's neck. "We will. But auntie Morgana does too."
Together with Merlin and Axton still perched on his arm, they walked back to their spot on the table and settling Axton down. He got everyone's attention with a clearing of his throat and a tapping of his butter knife against his wineglass. Axton mimicking his actions, by tapping his cutlery against his plastic cup.
"Morgana, not that we want to spoil your attention, because we genuinely are happy for both of you, but you misunderstood the t-shirt. We," Arthur said, pointing a finger between himself and Merlin. "are getting another baby."
"Yeah and I'm gonna be a big brother." Axton chimed in.
Morgana's eyes bulged and a blush crept up from her chest up to the tip of her ears. She know knew that it wasn't about her, it was about Merlin and Arthur. Then a broad smile spread across her and everyone else's face in the room. Everyone started talking at once and questions were directed to Merlin and Arthur who had no clue what was said by the too many voices speaking all together.
Axton put his hands on his ears by hearing all the noise.
Merlin stood up, holding up one hand and chuckling. "Please, just one at the time. But let us tell our side of the story first and then you can ask questions."
"Arthur suddenly confronted me one day that he wanted another child, maybe blonde he had joked. We have talked about it a few months back and I told him that I wasn't sure if we were ready for another one of this one." Merlin said, shaking his son's shoulders playfully. "But then we, well I because Arthur was already ready for it, finally decided that we should do it." Questions emerged again from a few people and Merlin flapped his hands up and down, shushing the lot. "We looked at the agency for possible donors, because nothing against you Morgana but you know how Arthur feels towards you being donor. Which would be impossible now anyways." He snorted.
"After a few interviews we found a lovely and kind hearted woman Elena. She not only agree for donating but also for being the surrogate. And she's also blonde may I add." He looked at Arthur who just shook his head. "We started about seven months ago."
"What!" Ygraine immediately yelped. "Seven months and not once neither of you spoke of this to us."
"Mom…" Arthur tried, but Ygraine didn't stop.
"So you're saying that there is a woman, who we don't even know, carries my grandchild for almost seven months?" Uther grabbed his wife's shoulder and eased her back at the chair, mumbling some words to her to calm her a bit.
"Er, no. Well not exactly." Merlin took a deep breath. "The first try was about five months ago, but unfortunally the embryo didn't hold." Compassionate sounds filled the room, but Merlin still continued. "Two months later we tried our second attempt and this time it worked. Elena is pregnant for about three months." Merlin slid his hand in one of the pockets in his suit and retrieved a rectangular picture out of it and gave it to his mother-in-law first who sat directly next to him. On it was the picture taken during the ultrasound. "It's almost certain it will be a girl."
Merlin sat down with a sigh. He'd be ready for any questions now. Axton was playing with one soldier figure on his lap – that he had slipped into his pocket - and not really understanding what his father told him.
Ygraine's angriness disappeared the moment she saw the picture of her grandchild and immediately started cooing and showing Uther and the rest of the table the picture. Merlin looked to his side to his husband who offered him a smile and nodded his head. "This was more of what I had in mind." Arthur mumbled towards Merlin over his son's head. Merlin turned his head when his mother asked a question.
"So what about this Elena, where is she, I'd love to meet her."
Merlin bit his lip. "She was invited but kindly declined it. She's still suffering from morning sickness, although she doesn't get that name, because she has it all day round. She's told us though that she can't wait to meet every one of you. And she's married and has two children of her own, so when we asked if her husband agreed with this all she told us 'yes' and that she and her husband just wanting to try and help other people who aren't able to get children on their own. And don't worry, our lawyers have everything registered."
"That's my boy." Uther muttered under his breath and rose from his chair, wine glass in his hand and raised it. "To the grandchildren!" Everyone gripped their wineglasses – except Morgana, who still gripped her glass of water – and raised it in the air. Axton looked around when he heard his grandpa raising his voice and saw him and everyone else raising their glass. He picked up his own cup with two hands and brought it up over his head with a big smile.