I hereby dedicate this chapter to Linnea.E, who wrote the 100th review. Special thanks to ebonypol, who wanted to write the 100th so much. :)
31.7.2012, 8.04 am
Arthur let himself into his office, briefly contemplating if it would be worth it to snap at Gwen to bring him tea. Probably not.
His day hadn't started what you would call… overly promising. He hadn't overslept – he never did – but his water kettle hadn't worked and the hot water in his shower had run out. So no morning tea and a cold shower for him.
And then, on his way to work, he had nearly ran a pedestrian over with his car. It had been one of those young, ignorant men with their earbuds on and the music turned up so loud they didn't hear the traffic noise any more. And instead of apologising like every normal, polite human being would, the guy just looked around a bit bewilderedly and walked away without a word.
Oh, and it was pouring. But since this was London, Arthur didn't even care. He was used to bad weather by then.
After deciding not to snap at Gwen and fetch the tea personally, he turned to leave his office and go to the common room where the largest supply of teabags was.
But suddenly, something laying on his desk grabbed his attention. It was a plain, white envelope.
Curious, Arthur went to the desk and picked it up.
His heart missed a beat as his eyes fell upon the handwriting. It was Merlin's, there was no doubt. The letter was addressed to him, Arthur.
Arthur became nearly giddy with excitement. Could it be…?
Without wasting another second, he sat down and grabbed his paper knife.
30.7.2012
You're very clever, I am impressed.
Meet me at 'Kilgharrah's Coffee Shop'. I'm dying to know what you have to say.
Do me the favour and come alone.
If you're not and it's a trap, I will know and sever all further contact.
Kilgharrah's Coffee Shop
1 Warwick House Street
1.8.2012 10am
Merlin Emrys
"Yeeees!" Arthur threw his hand up in victory and fought hard not to do a happy dance.
A chuckle startled him out of his euphoria.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Lance smiled and entered the office. He curiously glanced at the letter Arthur held.
"I take it that our… efforts regarding Merlin's problem were fruitful?"
And of course only Lance would be able to produce such a sentence without sounding pompous.
"Yes, they were indeed," Arthur grinned, "He wants to meet me. Alone, of course, but that was to be expected. Jesus, I can't believe we're actually doing this."
Lance merely smiled reassuringly. "You can make it work, I know you can. We're all behind you. Elyan is ecstatic and even though Morgana keeps telling us how mad we are, I know she secretly approves, too. It's all up to Merlin now."
Arthur frowned. "Yes, that's the problem. If I were him, I would laugh in my face. Why on earth would he agree to this?"
Lance shrugged. "You won't know until you asked. And as I see it, Merlin does seem to like the extraordinary. And if this isn't unusual, I don't know what is. I think once he thought it over a bit, he will like the idea.
"And now come on, we have to tell the others. Morgana will probably sulk forever that she isn't allowed to come with you."
Arthur laughed. "Wow, Lance, that's pretty mean for your standards. But you're right, I can't wait to tell her that she won't accompany me to the meeting."
1.8.2012, 9.55 am
To say that he was nervous would be a gross understatement. He was a nervous wreck. And there was still no sign of Merlin.
Arthur sighed and ran a hand through his hair after glancing at his watch. Still five minutes to go.
The coffee shop was nondescript. It looked like any other coffee shop in London, except maybe for the owner, who seemed to be at least 150 years old, but somehow was still as agile as his employees.
Arthur stared at the tea he had ordered and tried not to tap on the table. He would be grateful for any kind of distraction; even Morgana's insufferable teasing seemed more appealing than waiting.
After contemplating their options, the team had come to the conclusion that sending Arthur alone would be the only way to contact the thief. Merlin was far to smart to fall for a trick and nobody wanted to jeopardise this – likely non-recurrent – chance.
"I must say, this is a pleasant surprise. Normally, my appointments tend to let me wait for at least five minutes."
Arthur nearly jumped out of his chair with shock. He had been so lost in thoughts he hadn't seen the ex-thief arriving.
Merlin smiled slyly. "I'm sorry if I startled you." He really, really wasn't, and they both knew it.
After sitting down and briefly scanning the menu, Merlin lent back in his chair and fixed his curious gaze on Arthur.
"Since I'm not exactly busy right now, we can take all the time we want, but I'd rather not beat around the bush and go straight to the point.
"It was quite ingenious to use your Intranet to let me know about your wish to speak to me. Although I wouldn't have put it past Elyan to send me a message composed of a scrambled firewall script."
They both grinned at that, but Merlin quickly became serious again.
"I gather you wanted to make me an offer?"
Arthur nodded and tried to look as confident as possible.
"I do. It may sound a bit crazy, but please think about it nevertheless.
"I'm hereby offering you a job. It requires intelligence and experience in stealing, and it deals with crimes. The field work is open to dispute and the social skills can be improved."
For a brief moment, Merlin just stared at him. Then, he threw back his head and laughed.
"Are you kidding me? You seriously want to tell me that I, of all people, should work for the police?! I'm not sure this would work overly well. I mean, I'm not stealing anymore, but I'm still in the top ten of Britain's most wanted criminals, not to mention other countries."
Arthur, who had expected this kind of reaction, refused to back down.
"You wouldn't be any more if you accepted."
At this, Merlin grew silent and leant forward.
"You're suggesting a deal? What are the conditions? There must be catch somewhere."
"Oh great, here it is. Why on earth did I think this would be a good idea again?" Arthur thought. Out loud, he said: "Do you want to hear the positive or the negative conditions first?"
Merlin's lips twitched upwards. "Suit yourself. I'm willing to hear you out."
"Alright. It took me ages to persuade the authorities that this won't end up in disaster, so please try not to stand up and go after five seconds of listening, alright?
"The main idea is as follows: You turn yourself in and in return, you get a deal. You will be working with a special task force that has the job to solve crimes concerning thefts, robberies, burglaries and possibly frauds as well.
You will get special conditions of probation. Your probation will last three years. If you break this probation, we'll lock you up. If not, you will be acquitted and a free man."
Merlin's expression was unreadable. He raised his left eyebrow and asked: "What kind of conditions?"
"You have to agree to carry a monitoring device with you so we can track you down any time. Kind of like an electronic tag. You're forbidden to commit any crime, but I think that one is obvious. And you will have to do what your supervisor tells you to do."
During Arthur's little speech, Merlin's right eyebrow had slowly but surely joined the other just below his hairline.
"So basically, I would have to give up any kind of freedom I have right now. Why should I do that?"
"Alright," Arthur thought, "This is it. If I mess this up now, he'll never agree."
"Because you'll be working with us. The TGF, I mean. And I'd be your supervisor."
There, he said it. If possible, Merlin's eyebrows went up even higher.
"I wasn't aware your team is responsible for this division."
"We aren't. Not yet, anyway. We will be if you accept the deal. Otherwise, we just … continue to do whatever it is we do now. Mostly whatever comes up."
Merlin made a thoughtful noise and continued to stare at Arthur as if he was trying to figure out whether Arthur was serious or not.
For several minutes, there was silence between them. Then, suddenly, Merlin leant back, face unreadable once again.
"What would you do if I said no? If I just stood up and left."
Arthur felt his heart sinking. So much for that.
"I'd let you go. That's what we agreed on, after all. I wouldn't like it, but I'd let you go."
"Hm. And what would happen if I said yes?"
"Well, I'd take you to the department with me. I would take you to Morgana and she would explain the finer points of the conditions of probation to you. And then… I guess we'd have to wait and see how it develops."
Arthur tried not to sound too hopeful, but Merlin probably noticed it anyway. If he did, he didn't show it, however.
After staring into distance for a few seconds, he sighed and stood up. Arthur followed suit.
"Alright. Give me a few days to think it over. I'll contact you to let you know what decision I made."
He smiled and began to walk away, leaving a gaping Arthur behind. Before he left the coffee shop, however, he turned around one more time and winked at Arthur.
"And by the way: your reflexes in traffic are excellent, although the honking was unnecessary. If somebody wears earbuds, they won't hear it anyway."
Arthur watched him quit the shop and smiled despite himself. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.