Hi, I very much appreciate your feedback, especially larasmith for not only reviewing all three of the latest chapters, but for taking the time to write each in a paragraph. I greatly enjoyed reading them, thank you :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any other recognisable franchises mentioned in this story.
Enjoy

xx

Arthur's POV

He laughed. Laughed. Like this was some kind of joke.

"What's so funny?" I asked, clenching my fists at my sides in annoyance.

"Well, of course, you can't be serious." He replied, still a note of humour in his voice.

"I am, Father." His laughter ceased, but I knew he still wasn't really taking me seriously.

"Arthur, I don't know what has gotten into you, but you need to get it out. You are marrying Vivian and that is the end of it." He turned, hand stretched towards the door, as if it was okay to just walk away from me right now.

"I can't marry someone I don't love!" I yelled, "I won't."

He kept his back turned towards me, tensed his shoulders and let out a deep sigh through his gritted teeth.

"You can and you will." His tone took on a deep and threatening tone, and if it was used in any other situation I would have retreated at the sound of it.

"Father, you can't make me do this" I argued, though I knew full well that that was not necessarily true.

He spun around to face me at this point, and if I thought his voice was menacing, it had nothing on the look on his face.

"Arthur, you will marry Vivian and you will do it with a smile. Now, I don't want to hear anything more about this." He turned away again, pulling open the door and stepping out but I made no move to follow him.

"And if - no, when I don't?" I inquired, crossing my arms over my chest with an expression on my face that was far too smug.

My Father stayed exactly where he was, completely still and silent, until he turned his head to address me over his shoulder.

"Then you will be disinherited." His voice was quiet, dangerous, and I think I preferred it when he was yelling, "You will leave this company and you will take all your little friends with you."

xx

Merlin's POV

'You can't stop an avalanche as it races down the hill, you can try to stop the seasons girl but you know you never will'.

"Remind me again how I always get roped into watching these girly, romantic movies?" I asked, looking between the two girls who were singing along to the music and the TV screen that was currently playing 'Hairspray'.

"Oh, sweetie, I don't seem to remember you needing much convincing." Morgana laughed beside me, leaning further into my side.

"Can we just once watch something without so many... frills and kisses?" I knew I sounded whiny, but when I'd already watched mean girls, legally blonde, 27 dresses and all the Bridget Jones films just this week, enough was enough.

"Merlin, no one's forcing you to watch with us." Gwen giggled, "And, if you dislike the film choice so much, what is it doing in your DVD collection, because this certainly didn't come from our apartment."

"Yeah, there's no way I'm going to win here is there?" I sighed, already knowing the answer.

"Nope." Their reply was in perfect sync, both popping the 'p' as if it was something they'd rehearsed a hundred times over - it would not surprise me one bit if they had.

I heard a faint ringing sound breaking through the blasting music from the TV and, after a few seconds, realised it was my phone.

"Turn it down," I told the girls, "phone's ringing."

Morgana leant forward to pick up the remote and the volume decreased as I pulled my mobile out of my pocket.

"Who is it?" She asked as she returned back to her place tucked into my side.

I looked down at the caller ID and frowned; clotpole. He should still be in his meeting.

"Arthur," I greeted as I slid my thumb over the 'answer' button, "what's up? I didn't expect to hear from you for at least another hour."

"The meeting's still going on, but I don't know what to do, Merlin." His voice was quiet and calm, but there was an underlying edge to it that made me feel uneasy.

"What's going on, Arthur, has something happened?" Morgana had switched the movie off entirely now, her full attention on the call between her step brother and I, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Gwen leaning forward in her chair.

There was silence on the other line for a moment before finally Arthur's voice returned.

"I told him I didn't want to marry Vivian; my Father, I told him." He sighed, "He didn't respond well."

"You told him that? To his face?" I was on the edge of my seat now, sending wide eyed glances at Gwen and Morgz.

"Yes, Merlin, I don't know why you find that so surprising." He growled.

"Well, it probably has something to do with your unwillingness to disagree with anything your Father says and then there's the fact that you've gone such a long time without saying any such things. Oh, and-"

"Merlin." Arthur hissed, his voice dripping with annoyance.

"Shut up?"

"You're learning. Look, I just- 'Arthur!'," A voice cut him off before he could finish what he was saying, followed by a long sigh travelling through the phone, "That was my Father, I have to go."

"Good luck." I said finally, just keeping a slight chuckle out of my voice, and then hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" Gwen asked, jumping in the second the phone left my ear, "Is Arthur okay?"

"He spoke to his father, told him that he didn't want to marry Vivian."

"He what?" Morgana demanded.

"It didn't go down very well, though." I said, shaking my head sadly.

"I bet it didn't," She snorted, "What's Uther going to do about it?"

"I don't know, we didn't get that far, he was calling Arthur back before he could tell me. The meeting with Vivian and Olaf is still going on."

"I take it Uther overlooked what Arthur had to say, then?" Gwen pointed out, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Of course he didn't! He's a stubborn fool who will never listen to reason!" Morgana spat, her bad temper taking over her at a rapid pace, "It's not Arthur I should have been angry with, it's his soul sucking father who has the real problem."

"Why don't you talk to him then?" She stared at me as if I'd grown two heads and I self consciously ran my hand over my face.

"What good would that do?" She replied.

"Well," Gwen jumped in, "Uther may not be your real father, but he looks at you like you were his own daughter. I've never seen a man wrapped so tight around someone else's finger before."

"Exactly, exactly, thank you, Gwen. If anyone can talk to him, convince him of this, it's you, Morgz."

"Then that is exactly what I'll do."

xx

I'm not really sure how, but I never end up going where I originally intend to go with these chapters, so forgive me if this isn't my best work.
I hope you enjoyed reading it and I thank you for doing so. Please let me know what you think with a review, all feedback is appreciated, good or bad.
Thanks again, L x