Author's Note: A guest pointed out my friend/fiend typo. It was definitely supposed to be friend lol. But this friend may also be a fiend DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN.

Anywho, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 14: Be There For

Arthur had been passing through the main hall when George answered the door. The man on the other side was well dressed, his dirty blond hair was slicked back, beard perfectly trimmed, and his blue eyes were sharp.

Arthur dismissed George and addressed the man. "May I help you?"

"I am Alvarr Beaumont of Neahtid Industries. You must be Arthur Pendragon," the angular man said shaking Arthur's hand. "I met your sister, the Lady Morgana, last night. I wanted to make sure she is well."

Before Arthur could question Alvarr further, Gwen appeared. "She's feeling under the weather. Shall I relay a message to her?"

"Ah," Alvarr smiled in a way that made Arthur's insides twist. "Gwen, was it?" He took her hand and as he began to lift it to his lips, Gwen pulled it away. Arthur's eyes flicked between the two of them before settling his glare on Alvarr.

"A message, sir?" Gwen's tone was sharp.

Alvarr smirked and turned to Arthur. "Very abrupt, this one. Was so last night." His smirk fell when Arthur's glare didn't ease up. Alvarr cleared his throat. "We didn't get to complete our exchange of numbers. Please give this to my lady and tell her I await her call." Alvarr pulled a business card from his inside pocket and handed it to Gwen. "It was a pleasure to meet you, my lord," he said to Arthur with a slight bow. "And you again, Gwen." His eyes lingered too long on her.

"Thank you, Mr. Beaumont. We'll make sure Morgana gets the message," Arthur said and closed the door in Alvarr's face. He leaned his back against the door and crossed his arms. "You and Morgana had some fun last night?"

"Not quite," Gwen said, quickly ripping up the card. "Your sister has terrible taste in men."

"It's a good thing she has you to look out for her, then," Arthur smiled lightly. "Who knows what kind of trouble she got into in New York?"

"One can only imagine." Gwen looked down at the pieces of card. "I was just heading downstairs to make her a small breakfast. I tried waking her earlier, but she has quite the hangover."

"I can ring Gaius, and he could bring his vile hangover cure?"

"You would get a lot of pleasure out of that, wouldn't you?" Gwen laughed. "I think there's enough tension between you two for now. Maybe you should be trying to make peace. It'd be nice to have some in this little time left with each other."

"So it's official, then. You're leaving before the wedding."

Gwen nodded. "I finalized my decision last night. I think Morgana needs me more than you do now."

"Did she say something to you last night?"

Gwen laid a hand on his forearm and gave it a light squeeze. "Talk to her, Arthur." They stood there in silence in their own time bubble until the chatter of housemaids popped it. Gwen dropped her hand which had slipped down his arm, close to his hand. "Well I should…"

Arthur blinked in realization. "I need to…"

They smiled bashfully at each other when they realized that they needed to walk in the same direction. At their point of separation, Arthur said, "What will I do without you, Guinevere?"

"You'll still have Merlin," she teased. When she turned away, she was stopped by Arthur catching her hand. She looked down at their entwined fingers before looking up at him. He was much closer.

"Guinevere, I…"

"I know, Arthur." She gave his hand a squeeze. "I know."

Tending to Morgana for so long, Gwen knew her mistress' sleeping habits like clockwork. She timed it perfectly so Morgana would wake up to a warm breakfast.

She set coffee and a light breakfast on Morgana's nightstand just as she began to stir. Morgana sat up and stretched. "Morning, Gwen," she yawned. "My tongue was quite loose last night, wasn't it?"

Gwen passed Morgana the cup of coffee. "Actually it's the afternoon, and only a little more than usual. I take it that you don't want to talk about it."

"Not now, no." Morgana sipped her coffee. "Mmm. That hits the spot."

Gwen poured herself a cup and sat on the bed folding her legs under her. "So, tell me about these adventures you plan on us having in America?"

Morgana's eyes lit up. "Well the men for starters…"

Late into the afternoon, every staff member passing Morgana's room could hear their giggles through the door, knowing that only the young governess could lift the spirits of a Pendragon.

George snuck looks at Uther as he picked up his laundry. "Rough night, my lord?"

Uther grunted. "Pardon?"

"I tried to stay up to attend to you, but I couldn't and I'm sorry. I take it you came in very late?" George looked down at the white shirt in his hand. Lipstick was smudged on its collar. His face reddened.

Uther rubbed his brow in annoyance. "What on earth is wrong with you?"

"N-nothing, my lord! I'll just attend to these." George didn't remember the actual walk downstairs to the laundry room. He stood over the sink staring at the stain on the shirt. He jumped when Percival appeared behind him asking if he needed help with the wash. George whipped around, hiding the shirt behind his back. "No! No," he tried calming his nerves.

Percival craned his head. "What's behind your back?"

"Nothing," George squawked.

Percival raised an eyebrow. "O…kay?"

When Percival turned away, George turned back to the sink, but not quick enough. Percival snatched the shirt from his hands.

"And what's this?" Percival asked holding the shirt up high out of George's reach.

George tried to grab for it and failed. "It's his lordship's shirt!"

"And why are you being so sneaky about it?"

The commotion brought an audience. Mary stepped through to the front of the group. "What's going on?"

"George is being weird over Uther's washing," Percival said.

George sputtered. "I am not being weird over his lordship's washing!"

Mary shook her head. "Percival, I think you've been here long enough to know not to tease George," she winked at him when George wasn't looking.

"Right," Percival said. "My apologies, George."

"Accepted!" George snapped. He held out his hand for Uther's shirt.

When Percival passed it, he saw the lipstick stain. He unfurled the shirt and the others saw the print as well. George's face turned beet red while the others laughed.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Looks like Uther's got a new lady friend."

"Ooh la la!"

"His lordship's private affairs are none of our business. Everyone get back to work!" George exploded.

The staff stood in silence at George's outburst. "You heard him," Mary said. "Shoo." She waved them away then turned back to George. "Do you need help, dear?"

George cooled down and his face returned to its proper color. "Just how…how do you…"He stared at the stain with intense concentration.

Mary smiled at the frazzled and overzealous butler. "Here, let me show you."

Arthur sat across from his father in Uther's study. A wave of disgust washed over him and he fought back the instinct to retch. "You're going to do what?!"

His father smiled. "I'm going to ask for Lady Catrina's hand in marriage."

Arthur shook his head. "No. No, no, no, no. NO!"

The rare look of joy fell from Uther's face, replaced with the usual frown of disapproval. "I'm your father. I don't need your blessing."

Arthur lurched forward in the chair. "You can't marry her!"

Uther leaned over his desk in an intimidating and composed manner. "What do you have against Catrina? She's smart, affluent, strategic—"

"That woman is not going to be my mother!" Arthur punctuated his statement by pounding his fist on the desk.

"I'm not trying to replace Ygraine!" Uther shouted back, and Arthur recoiled.

Arthur ruffled his hair. This was madness. "She's up to something, she must be—"

"What, Arthur? What is she up to?" Uther challenged.

"I don't know!" Arthur's mind was in shambles. His father went off on a tirade about acting childish, so Arthur walked out on him. The world seemed to be coming apart around him. He shut himself in his own study and tried to drown himself in work. He didn't know how long he'd been holed up in his office until Merlin brought him up dinner.

Merlin set the tray on the desk and sat down uninvited into the opposite chair. "George showed us the most peculiar thing today."

"What?" Arthur grumbled, pushing around the food.

"There was lipstick on the collar of your father's shirt!" Merlin fell back in the chair, laughing and clapping as if he told the world's funniest joke. Noticing Arthur's lack of reaction, Merlin stopped. "I guess you had to be there."

Arthur pushed the plate away and tucked his head into his arms on the desk.

"Arthur?" Merlin poked him. "Arthur?"

Arthur's response was incoherent.

"Do you, uh, want to try saying that again?"

Arthur lifted his head up, glowering. "Father is going to ask Catrina to marry him."

"Oh that's—" Merlin took in Arthur's horrible appearance, "not as lovely as I initially thought. What's so bad about her? Other than the obvious, I mean."

Arthur blurted out the first thought he had of Catrina when he met her as a young boy. "She's a troll!" Maybe his father was right. He was being childish.

"She's not that bad."

"I thought things couldn't get any worse," Arthur said getting up to pour himself some whiskey.

Merlin sucked in a breath through his teeth. "If you ask me, things were going to get worse anyways with Gwen and Morgana leaving and your marriage."

"Well I didn't ask you!" Arthur downed his glass and refilled it. "But what do you mean?"

Merlin made himself comfortable in the chair ready to reveal his analysis. "Asking Gwen to come back was the worst mistake you could make. You could've hired a housekeeper, but no, you charmed Gwen into coming back and now you two are pining after each other. And let's not forget Mithian! You've made quite the emotional mess."

Arthur put down his glass, lowered his head, and gripped the table's edge. "Merlin?"

"Shut up?"

"Please do."

The house was retiring when Arthur and Gwen ran into each other once again. He pulled her down an empty hallway of guest suites.

"Arthur, what—?"

He held both her hands in his and looked her strongly in the eye. "Marry me," he said. "We can leave when everyone is asleep."

Gwen came to her senses before Arthur's romantic plan took root. "Have you been drinking? You've been drinking." He looked haggard. "What's troubling you now?"

"Merlin hasn't blabbed to the downstairs yet?"

"No?"

Arthur was surprised. "Father is going to ask Catrina to marry him."

A laughed slipped through Gwen lips before she caught herself. "Oh, Arthur." She gave him a sympathetic look. "Catrina?"

"Catrina." Arthur loved that Gwen always understood him. He leaned against the wall next to her. "This is happening too fast."

"They were at the Dorchester last night. Maybe it has been going on for a while in private. You know what it's like to hide a relationship."

Arthur crossed his arms. "Whose side are you on anyway?"

Gwen copied his pose. "You know the answer to that."

He leaned in a little and whispered, "Seriously, let's just leave. Escape this madness." Her light, disapproving look brought a sober smile to his lips. "It was worth one more try. You are the only constant in my life, Guinevere."

"Running away together won't solve anything." Gwen had to fight the little devil on her shoulder telling her it would.

Arthur leaned in again, this time closer to whisper in Gwen's ear. "But I'd have you."

A/N: Oh boy more drama! A little bit of Beauty and the Beast references, Merlin droppin' truth bombs, some downstairs fun, some arwen. I wonder where all this is going? *cackles*

Thanks always for reading and reviewing! This story is almost a year old, guys. I can't believe it! Thanks so much for sticking around!