HELLO! I am sooooo sorry for not updating. I've had exam after exam after assessment and I was just dying. I'm no finished yet, but instead of studying I thought I might take a break and write this. Once again I am so sorry and I give you permission to hurt me just… not the face OK?
I know many of you were happy with Uther last chapter and for now, he is going to stay that way. He is not the focus of this story. And I know most of you are dying to know about Arthur's mother, don't worry, more will be revealed in due course.
So enough from me, ENJOY!
Xox
Chapter 11
Arthur smiled widely that day as he walked into work and he knew exactly why as he walked past his father's office. Last night had been one of the most wonderful times he had spent with his father since his mother passed. They had stayed up late, talking about life, about Arthur's endeavours, his relationship with Merlin as well as Uther's attempts to conquer his own grief. Arthur had never known how much his father had been hurting and last night had put it all into perspective.
The reason that Uther had been so rough and angry with him was because he had never got over his own grief. He saw his wife in Arthur everyday, so his temper was very thin. When Arthur cried, he saw his wife crying. That was why he was so hung up on Arthur manning up. He thought that it would stop him from seeing her. Uther even apologised for the incident in the office where Merlin walked in, and Arthur had accepted it. He was not proud of what he did that day, but Arthur refrained from telling him the bit about the blood.
But now it was over. They were both falling apart on their own, and now they can try to heal together.
"Morning Morgana," Arthur said casually striding into the corridor hoping to get past her and into his office.
"Not so fast mister," Morgana said a donut in hand, "I believe we have some things to discuss." Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Such as?"
"Such as… what happened last night between you and Uther."
"I don't believe that is any of your business." Morgana gaped.
"But Arthur…"
"Nope, that was purely father-son time, not father-son-secretary time."
"He has a point Morgana," Uther said walking in, "Whatever happened late night is man on man talk. Sorry." Morgana rolled her eyes smiling as Uther continued to walk past snatching the donut out of her hand.
"Hey! I paid for that!"
"And I pay you," was the reply and suddenly Morgana was alone in the corridor smiling to herself. It's been a while since Uther snatched a donut out of her hand.
Arthur quickly shut his door behind him, leaning back against it with his eyes closed. Damn, that would have been awkward.
"Bad morning?" Arthur swore and jumped at the sound of Merlin's voice.
"God, you nearly scared me half to death." Merlin chuckled.
"Well at least it wasn't all the way to death." Arthur smirked and walked closer to him.
"Yeah," he said bringing his face closer to the other man's, "I think that was a good thing."
They lips met lightly. Arthur closed his eyes and wrapped one arm gently around Merlins waist, moaning slightly as a hand came up to caress his cheek. But they were in Arthur's office and needed to stop before they were interrupted.
"Good morning Merlin," Arthur said with a smile.
"Good morning to you too."
Arthur walked over to his desk and sat down.
"So, what we know so far is…"
"Nothing, until we get the forensics back from the matches."
"And how long do you think that will take?" Merlin asked.
"Not too long at all," Valiant said striding into the office.
"Val, what are you doing here? Where's Lance?"
"It's his day off," Arthur said, "He gets about five a month."
"Damn, that's sad. Lancelot's going to miss out on all the fun," Val said, "And Merlin, why don't I get five days a month off?"
"Because you don't work on weekends," Merlin said with a smile.
"I do if you call me," Val said.
"Yeah and then I give you the Monday off, if you recall." Arthur snorted.
"And anyway why are you here?" Valiant straightened up.
"There's been a bit of a… technicality with the evidence."
"Meaning…" Merlin said.
"That they never showed up."
Arthur stood up.
"What do you mean they-never-showed-up?" He boomed.
"Freya said she got a call from the labs today. Apparently when all the evidence came up there was evidence all labelled A to E, but there was no D. They started to get iffy so they looked around. The guy who labelled the match box clearly remembers putting it inside the box of evidence. But when it was opened in the lab, there was nothing."
Arthur growled.
"Arthur calm down," Merlin said.
"No Merlin, I will not calm down. How can a piece of evidence just go missing? There were about fifty people at that crime scene."
"Meaning there was more distractions and it would have been less likely to see if someone snatched it."
"Or misplaced it," Merlin said.
"Merlin, it was obviously stolen."
"Yeah I know. But who would have been there to steal it?"
Arthur rubbed his forehead.
"Who took it to forensics?"
"Lance did," Merlin said.
"And did they get there?"
"Yeah, I was speaking to Freya and she said she saw a dark haired guy giving something in a plastic bag to the forensic team."
"Freya was there?" Merlin asked.
"Yeah, came with the fire department, oh, and told me to say hi when I saw you which I obviously forget to do so… hi." Merlin rolled his eyes.
"Thanks Val."
"Can you please focus here?" Arthur said.
"Sorry. So we know that the evidence was in the van." Merlin nodded and Arthur rolled his eyes.
"This means that someone must have intercepted it before it got to forensics."
"Or at forensics," Merlin said.
"Right," Arthur walked around to the front of his desk, "MORGANA!"
A few seconds later Morgana came running into the office with a notepad. Merlin smiled, she probably knew that tone better than anyone.
"Yes Arthur?"
"I need a list of all the people that were present at the museum fire, sorted by department. I also need specifically the forensic team and anyone who was working with them or had access to the evidence that was given to them from that crime scene. And I need it ASAP, it's of crucial importance."
"I'll be right on it," Morgana said clicking her pen shut and running back out the door. Uther passed as she ran out and walked into the office.
"What's going on?"
"The match box is missing."
"What?"
"It never showed up to forensics," Val said.
"I'm sorry who are you?"
"Val, I'm from Merlin's station."
"Ah, pleasure. Uther."
"I know who you are sir," Val said with a smile.
"You were there at the time?" Val nodded.
"And he just relayed everything he knows to me father, and Morgana's already on everything I need right now."
"Good job. I think I should phone the Prime Minister. He might want to hear about this; removing evidence from a crime scene is a very serious matter indeed."
"You're not going to get the police involved?" Merlin asked.
"No. The damage was done in our investigation. I don't want stupid morons who think they know what they are doing walking around here; questioning everyone and talking as if they own the place."
"Here Here," Arthur said. Uther clapped his hands.
"Let's go, we need to sort this out."
"Arthur its fine; everything is going to be OK."
Arthur's hands tightened around the mug he was holding.
"I don't think so Merlin." Merlin sighed and sat next to Arthur on his couch. Merlin let the sweet hot liquid roll down his throat, washing away all the stress of the day. And indeed it had been stressful. Its like everyone's mouths were on fire and the only way that it stopped is if they talked more. Arthur's office was visited by so many people Merlin had never seen before, either to talk to Arthur or give him something. Morgana was the person Merlin felt sorry for the most. She was worked off her feet and in the end; Merlin had offered her a lift home instead of her catching the bus. After that, he had called Arthur and told him to come to his apartment.
When Arthur had got there, he looked like he was going to either pop a blood vessel or completely pass out from the amount of stress he was under. Merlin had settled him down and got him a mug of hot coffee which he had barely had any of today.
"I'm sorry Merlin," Arthur said softly.
"For what?"
"For all the mess today."
"Arthur you have nothing to be sorry for, and if you did, I would be the last person you should be apologising to. You have done nothing to me. You did your job and I helped you the best way I could. You are doing the best you can."
"If I was, we would have found out who did this by now." Merlin smiled slightly.
"You're too hard on yourself you know." Arthur chuckled to himself.
"You sound like Morgana."
"Well she might just have a point."
"This time," Arthur said. Merlin watched as Arthur slugged his shoulders and took a sip of his coffee.
"Listen…Arthur. Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but maybe it would be best if I withdraw my involvement from your department for a while." That woke Arthur up.
"What?"
"You know, just for a little while until things get settled."
"I don't want you to leave," Arthur said.
"Arthur, you and I both know that all of this shit started happening after I got invited to join your department. Maybe if I leave, everything will fall into place."
"But just because it happened when you got there doesn't mean that it's your fault."
"I know that," Merlin said, "but I just think it would be for the best."
"I need you there Merlin, do you understand? Your expertise is invaluable to our team."
"But my expertise is also invaluable to my station. Look… how about if I just take a couple of days off and go back to the fire department. Maybe you guys will have sorted it out."
"What if we don't?" Arthur said softly. Merlin chuckled.
"This arsonist made his first mistake by leaving the matches there in the first place. Then he takes them. He is starting to panic Arthur, he is going to try and be as careful as possible, in fact overcareful. And being extra anxious is only going to lead to mistakes. He will slip up again and you will be right there to get him. You will figure this out Arthur, I know you can."
Arthur put down his mug, and then grabbed Merlin's mug. Merlin stared at him curiously before Arthur turned and pushed him onto the couch. Merlin wrapped his arms around Arthur's neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. Merlin slid his hands along the blonde man's shoulder blades and when he moaned, slipped his tongue into the other man's mouth. Arthur had one of his hands in Merlin's hair; the other was running down Merlin's side to the crook of this hip. Merlin broke the kiss and moaned dipping his head to the side, allowing Arthur to attack the exposed pale skin. Arthur kissed the skin just below Merlin's earlobe before moving lower to suck on his pulse. Merlin arched his back slightly, running his nails lightly down Arthur's back.
Merlin pushed Arthur up into a sitting position looking into Arthur's eyes with dark, lustful eyes. He caressed Arthur forehead, then cheek and neck before sliding both hands along and pushing Arthur's coat off his shoulders. Arthur watched it fall behind him and turned to look at Merlin who met him with his lips. Merlin broke them apart, placing two hands lightly on Arthur's well toned chest, before forcefully pushing him backwards. Arthur let out a little oomph noise, but it turned to a groan as he watched Merlin straddle him. The dark haired boy looked at Arthur seductively under his eyelashes and without warning rolled his hips forwards. Arthur threw his head back and moaned loudly. God, he had never felt this much intense pleasure with a woman, except usually he didn't have much of an emotional connection with them.
Merlin was different, really different. And not just because of his… anatomy. He was different because of his attitude and style. He didn't rush into it, he was always so unpredictable. Arthur shivered when Merlin lightly ran a finger over his kiss swollen lips. It was so sensual. Merlin placed both his hands on either side of Arthur's head before meeting him in a passionate kiss. Arthur lifted his arms, ready to pull the other man as close as he could possible get to him…
"Merlin I'm home oh…" a voice came from the door.
Arthur sat up as Merlin bolted off of him. He turned around to see a dark skinned woman standing in the doorway.
"Well this is… interesting," she said with a large grin.
"Damn," Arthur heard Merlin curse under his breath.
Yes, Arthur thought… damn.
WOOT!
Well there you go, another chapter down. It was a bit short, but I might add another one soon.
Sorry about the cliffie though guys :P
Hope you enjoyed that
PLEASE REVIEW. This took me a while to write. Even a sentence will do. :D
Until next time,
Xox
emiliexox
