A/N Thanks as usual to LyricalSinger for the beta.

Overlooked - Chapter 14

Later that evening, Gaius was sitting at his table with a freshly made pot of tea when a knock sounded at the door. It was soon followed by Sir Lancelot hesitantly coming into the room.

"Good evening, Gaius," said the dark-haired knight. "I saw Gwen a little while ago and she told me that Merlin was doing better … I guess I just wanted to see for myself."

"Yes, he is," answered Gaius, indicating that Lancelot could go over to his friend's bedside. "His fever broke a little while ago."

The knight smiled at the news. Looking down at the young warlock he said, "He certainly looks much more peaceful now than he did last night!"

"Indeed," Gaius agreed, "although he is exhausted from his struggles, and I believe he will stay asleep until at least morning."

"You must be tired too, Gaius," said Lancelot, turning to face the elderly physician. "I know you've sent Gwen home, but if you'd like I could stay and keep an eye on Merlin while you get some sleep. I've rested for most of the afternoon after all."

The physician looked at Lancelot intently for a few moments before nodding slowly. "Yes, I believe that may be a good idea," he admitted. "It has been rather a strenuous day."

As Gaius expected, Merlin slept soundly, barely even moving during the night. In turn, both the physician and Sir Lancelot also slept well. Gaius had once more taken Merlin's small room, and had insisted that the dark-haired knight should rest on Gaius' bed. Unlike the previous night, Merlin did not require constant surveillance, so there was no reason for Lancelot to spend the entire time sitting at his friend's bedside.

The sun was fully up by the time Gaius came downstairs. He stretched and with a last yawn headed over to check on his ward. He was happy to find that Merlin was still comfortably asleep and had only the slightest remnants of fever.

Lancelot stirred as Gaius was preparing breakfast. "He had a quiet night," the knight said, taking the cup of tea that Gaius pushed over to him. "I sat up with him for a while after you'd gone to bed, but he didn't wake even once."

"I'm not surprised, really," said Gaius, after swallowing a bite of the cheese he'd cut from the large piece that the Steward had left the night before. "He is still recovering from that spell he used on himself. Once his fever broke his body demanded rest."

Lancelot cut himself a piece cheese and asked, "When do you think he will wake?"

"It could be any time, I suppose," answered Gaius, "although more likely towards lunchtime or even afternoon." The physician looked over towards his ward, "The fact that he is still not moving around very much tells me that he is not yet ready."

Lancelot nodded, "In that case, I had better go to my training session," he said. "I missed it yesterday, and I do not want to do so two days in a row… unless you need me of course," he added.

"No, I should be fine," Gaius answered, "Gwen has promised to stop by right after breakfast. I had intended to leave her to watch Merlin while I go out to make my deliveries."

Gwen was sitting beside the young warlock doing some mending when Gaius returned from his rounds. "He's rolled over a few times, but has not shown any signs of waking," she said to the physician as he hung his bag on the hook by the door.

"Has he?" asked Gaius, coming over to join Gwen by the patient bed. "Well that's more than he was doing earlier. He is slowly regaining his strength."

"I'm glad for that," Gwen said with a smile. "Are you going to be here for a while, Gaius?" she asked.

"Yes, I need to prepare another batch of cough medication before I can go back out. Merlin is not the only person still suffering from this illness, I'm afraid. But you don't need to stay, Gwen. I can keep my eye on him as I work."

"If you are sure," she said as she stood and collected up her sewing. "I promised Arthur that I would sit with his father for a while this morning, so that's where I'll be if you need me."

After he had walked Gwen to the door, the physician came back to his workbench and took out the things he would need for his cough remedy. He decided to examine Merlin before he got started but just as he took the boy's wrist to check his pulse, the door burst open and Arthur, followed closely by Gwaine, Elyan, Percival and Leon bustled in, fresh from the training field. The physician had banned them from the room the previous evening in order to make sure they did not wake their young friend, but now they were desperate to see the improvement that Lancelot had told them about.

Unfortunately, Merlin did not want to cooperate. Just as the group neared his bed … quietly … after having had Gaius' eyebrow pointed threateningly at them, the young servant sighed in his sleep, turned on his side so he was facing away from everyone and pulled his blanket up almost to his ears.

Gaius chuckled but suddenly snapped, "If you touch that boy, I will not allow you back in here for a week, Gwaine," when the fun-loving knight reached out as though he might try to give Merlin a shake.

Gwaine snatched his hand back with a laugh, but soon turned serious. "Really, Gaius, how is he doing? Lancelot said his fever had broken…?" he added hopefully.

Gaius smiled, and gestured that they should move a few steps away from Merlin's bedside. "Yes, he does seem to be over the worst. His fever is down, and there is no sign of lung fever, which is almost a miracle given his history," he said.

"What do you mean 'history', Gaius?" said Leon with a frown.

The physician hesitated a moment before continuing. Merlin would probably not want his friends to know about his past, but Gaius reasoned it would be better if they understood the basics. That way they could look out for the boy. After all Merlin, for all his talent, seemed almost unwilling to look out for himself and his reluctance was likely due to that very history he wanted hidden.

"He had a very deprived childhood and unfortunately that left him susceptible to illness, lung fever in particular," Gaius said finally.

Percival nodded, "I know that he does not have a father. It must have been difficult to grow up as a widow's son."

"No, not a widow," Gaius corrected. "His mother was unmarried and so Merlin grew up with all of the stigma attached to such children.

Percival's eyes widened in surprise at this news, but he kept silent, waiting for Gaius to continue his story.

"It is hard enough in Camelot for families in that situation," said the physician, "But at least Uther provides a minimum sustenance for the poor here so they don't starve and have some sort of shelter."

Gwaine narrowed his eyes, not convinced that the Camelot's King would care what happened to his poorest subjects, but he could not deny that most were better off than he'd seen in other Kingdoms.

"In Essetir, where Merlin is from, there is no such surety," Gaius continued. "Such children are rarely encouraged to live or thrive, and Merlin was no exception. He was only seen as a drain on resources and not as having any useful future."

"But that is barbaric!" spat Leon.

"It is, yes, but you must understand that they do this out of necessity," Gaius explained. "If there is not enough food to go around then a sacrifice sometimes needs to be made. Unfortunately for Merlin, when he was a child he was always at the top of that list. Of course his mother shared what she had, but both of them suffered greatly."

"They let him starve?" asked Elyan incredulously.

Gaius nodded, "And not only that," he continued, "in order to 'pay his upkeep', as it were, Merlin was expected to take on many of the dirty or dangerous tasks that the other townsfolk did not want, and from a very young age. As you may expect, it let to frequent illnesses and injuries for him; he has had lung fever more than once."

Arthur could only shake his head in anger at how unfair life had been to his servant.

It was becoming obvious to the group of knights why the young man had decided that his own health had been less important than his duties to them all. However, just as Gaius had hoped, each one of them was determined the Merlin would never put himself second like that again.

Nobody noticed Merlin's frown or the tightening of his lips. The young servant had begun to waken and had regained just enough awareness to realize that people were talking about him, and that he did not like what they were saying.

The young man struggled to open his eyes; he wanted a chance to explain things, to deny Gaius' words and tell his friends that it was all lies.

Except… except that... it wasn't. It was all true.

The realization that he couldn't fight those words hit him hard, and Merlin lost his eagerness to face his friends just then. So, with a small moan – just enough to have Gaius come hurrying over to check on him, Merlin let himself fall back into slumber.

Once Gaius had ensured that his ward was not in any danger, he straightened the boy's blanket, gave a fond rub to his shoulder and turned back to the group of worried knights.

"He is fine," said the physician. "Still fast asleep and will stay that way for some time I believe. However, I do think it will be best if you leave Merlin to his rest and come back once he has woken."

Gwaine frowned, "But Gaius, shouldn't one of us stay with him?" he asked. "Lancelot has gone to Westmoor for the rest of the day, and Gwen has gone to sit with the King. What if you get called away?"

"One of us will be with him," answered Arthur. "Since there is no official business until the day after tomorrow and since I am not visiting with my father until this afternoon, I find myself with some time on my hands. I may as well sit here as in my chambers, especially since they are now sorely in need of a cleaning with this idiot being laid up."

"That seems very… reasonable… Sire," said Leon, sharing a smile with Gwaine.

Knowing it would be pointless to suggest any alternatives, the group of knights soon left Gaius and Arthur alone with the young servant.

As soon as the room had emptied, Arthur took the chair beside Merlin's bedside. "Is there anything I should do for him?" he asked.

"No, just let him sleep and call me if he makes signs of waking, Sire," said Gaius, heading to his work table and pulling out his mortar and pestle.

It took the elderly physician about an hour to prepare and bottle his medication. "Sire, would you mind staying while I make some deliveries?" he called over to the Prince once he'd finished. "I'd like to get this distributed before lunchtime as I've found it is more effective when taken with food."

Arthur woke with a start; he had somehow dozed off as he sat by the patient bed. Giving his head a shake to clear it, he answered, "Go ahead Gaius; I'd already intended to stay until then."

"Thank you, Sire. I won't be long," the physician said as he began putting bottles carefully into his medical bag. "If Merlin wakes up, he may have a few sips of the water from that cup on that table by you. Oh, and make sure he stays in that bed!"

"I won't let him go anywhere, I promise," Arthur said with a laugh.

The bored Prince was sitting by the patient bed reading a scroll on headache cures that he'd found on Gaius worktable, when the sound he'd been waiting for two days to hear finally materialized.

"Arthur, what are you doing here?" came the weary but entirely coherent voice of his young manservant. "Don't you have a Kingdom to run?"