AN: This was just written all at once, so I hope there aren't too many mistakes…..

Random Extra Scene: Special Christmas Interlude.

Shivering, Merlin rubbed his hands together, his breath coming out in small puffs of white clouds. Pink tinged his nose and cheeks, as he continued to warm his hands together by rubbing them vigorously. Why is it so cold?! He took the opportunity to look out a nearby window and his mouth dropped open. The window was foggy. He dragged his arm across the window, clearing a small space. Peering out of it he saw strange white clouds, clouds that were falling. There were hundreds of these white flurries that were floating down from the sky until they met the ground and lay there.

What is that?

"Have you never seen snow before, Merlin?"

Merlin looked over his shoulder to find Prince Arthur standing there, arms folded over his chest, one eyebrow raised.

"Snow? Is that what those white things are?"

He returned his attention to the window, his hands braced on either side of the pane as he pressed his nose against it, trying to get a better look. Within a few moments, the window was again foggy. Another swipe of the arm, and the slave was back to watching the sight of this thing Arthur had called 'snow'.

"Merlin, I need something out in the courtyard. Follow me."

It was not a request. Dutifully, the slave glanced once more out the window before he followed in the Prince's steps. Every so often, Merlin brought his hands together in front of his face and breathed warm air into them. It helped, for about a moment, before they were once again aching. Each step seemed to bring them closer to the cold of the outside. More than once, the slave had to catch himself on a particularly slippery patch. He noted that Prince Arthur didn't have such problems. Perhaps, he got some sort of training when he was younger? How to walk in the cold without slipping and falling flat on his face, humiliating himself and the crown. Not fair.

A gust of cold wind assaulted the ill prepared slave with his thin shirt and breeches. Shivers wracked his body as he fought the urge to freeze in order to preserve body warmth. When the Prince didn't stop, Merlin groaned and forced his feet to continue after him. Out in the open, Merlin could readily see his breath coming out in puffs of white. Tremors shook his body without ceasing, and he really didn't care to see the strange white descending clouds anymore.

"Keep up Merlin!"

Easy for you to say, with your fur lined coat, and dense breeches, and thick woolen socks stuffed into boots. He wiggled his toes in his own worn boots; he grimaced at the pricks of pain at the effort. Grumbling to himself, he sped up his pace, and tried to follow the Prince but it was becoming increasingly harder as the visibly fell as a blanket of white seemed to envelop them as they walked from beneath the covering of the castle.

A stiff wind nearly knocked the thin-framed slave off his feet. He gasped at the extreme cold that seemed to freeze his lungs with each breath he drew. The ground beneath his feet seemed to crunch as he tried to find Prince Arthur. Feeling his ankles becoming wet, he glanced down and saw that the ground was also covered in white. The white was soaking through his boots. Bending down, he used his index finger to prod the white substance and found it to be very cold, wet, and slippery. Hunching down, he examined the substance more closely. It was solid and yet, somehow it was as not. As he shifted the crunching echoed against the quiet, causing him to look down at his boots. Moving his foot, he heard the crunching again. He straightened and brought his boots up and down repeatedly. The crunching followed each time the boots came down on the white snow.

Strange.

"Why does it-?"

The slave trailed off, where is Prince Arthur?

"Prince Arthur? Sire?!"

He could barely see a few feet in front of him, he turned, more white. Which way did we come from? Which way did the Prince go? Blindly, he stretched his hands in front of him and tried walking a few feet.

"My lord? PRINCE ARTHUR?!"

crunch. crunch. crunch.

Spinning, the slave tried to identify where the sound of boots on the snow was coming from but they were still too far away. Merlin wrapped his arms around him, rubbing his hands up and down vigorously as his body convulsed in the cold. Breathing into his hands, he shifted the sleeves of his shirt until they were covering his hands. So cold. His feet were starting to prickle again. He stamped his feet in response, creating crunching sounds that echoed around him, eerily. Where could he be?! Small flurries of the white snow kicked up as wind blew in, casting the blanket of white aside for brief periods of time, he was able to see in the distance. He saw a flash of green and brown, a tree he thought, the gray stones of the courtyard. Flash of Camelot red. Arthur! Jogging forward to where he had seen the brief glimpse of what he was sure was the shirt of the Prince; he called out ahead of him, "Sire!"

When he had gone several feet, he paused, his eyes darting around the area; waiting for another blow of wind to clear the air, if only briefly. Merlin threw an arm in front of his face as a large burst of wind threw snow in his face and eyes. Through a small opening under his arm, he could see the back of the Prince.

"Prince Arthur!"

The brown jacket didn't move, he was standing in front of a tree if the brief glimpse of dark green covered in patches of white was anything to go by. Is something wrong with him? Is he hurt? Why isn't he moving? It took him a bit longer than he would have liked to make it within a few feet of the Prince. Reaching out a hand, he grabbed onto the back of the jacket and pulled. It dropped to the snow. Shock marred the slave's face, his eyes were wide, his mouth dropped open and hand still outstretched.

"MERLIN!"

The slave spun at the sound of the Prince's yell. He staggered backwards, face flared in pain; blinding white covered his eyes and dripped down his nose, mouth and chin. Wet seeped through the back of his shirt and pants as he lay in the snow, his mind frozen. He could hear the crunch of the Prince's boots as he ran towards him. Wind threw the Prince into perspective; he stood before the slave, grinning from ear to ear. His nose, and cheeks also pink from the cold. In his gloved hands he tossed a ball of white, snow Merlin presumed up and down.

"I see you have meet the snowball's acquaintance. Great isn't?"

"Wh-wh-wha-t?" Merlin's teeth were chattering against the sudden assault of snow.

"It's a snowball. We throw them at each other. It's fun."

"Fu-un? To be cold? You call that fun?"

"Sure. Try it. Come on. Give me your best shot. This will probably your only chance."

"Oh, no, I couldn't my lord. It wouldn't be proper-"

"Proper? I give you permission."

"-to beat you so sorely that it would cause you great embarrassment should the knights find out about your utter defeat."

"Oh ho. Brave words, from the man laying down in the snow. Defenseless."

"Who said I was defenseless?" Without missing a beat, the slave curled his hand and brought it up, with a little help of his natural abilities, hurled a wave of snow at the unprepared Prince. Arthur staggered backwards in surprise at the abrupt barrage. Grinning, Merlin gathered as much snow and packed them into balls, as his nearly numb fingers would allow. Chucking one at a time in order to throw the Prince off balance. He heard the cries of outrage, as the Prince had to dodge several so he was not hit.

"What was that, Sire? Oh, you surrender?"

Sputtering, the Prince threw several of his own balls of snow at the slave, who weaved with barely a flash of unseen gold.

"Me, surrender? NEVER?!"

Merlin grinned as the Prince rejected his offer. You asked for it. The air became thick with different size balls, some loosely and other hard packed.

"Ow! I thought you said you hadn't seen snow before?"

"I haven't"

"Then how can you-"

"-be so amazing? Just natural talent. It's hard to explain, to one who lacks it."

The Prince grinned back, and the slave saw it. I have a bad feeling about this. Sure enough, balls of ice were slamming on either side of the boy in rapid sequence, and he was hard pressed to move in time to miss them; having had to resort to using magic to help. Laughter filled the air combined with shouts of outrage and pain. Completely spent, Merlin collapsed in the snow, arms numb. His cheeks were so red that it looked like he had been attacked by a crazy woman; who smeared rogue on him liberally. A giggle escaped him now and again as he remember a particularly spectacular throw, which caught the Prince unawares in the face. The snow had slowly dripped from his face as Arthur opened on eye to peek over at him. The grin which took its place had worried the slave, and rightfully so as he was attacked with several snowballs at once; getting hit multiple times, though not as many had he not indulged in his natural abilities.

Closing his eyes, he was able to somehow not feel the cold that was surrounding him and just lay contently for the first time in a long time. A tingle zipped from his toes to his shoulders and neck the same time as a shadow feel across his face. Opening one eye he squinted up to see the Prince standing over him, the sun shining behind him, casting a shadow over his face. The slave opened the other eye; he blinked. The Prince raised his arms above his head, which Merlin noted were held together as if he held something in them. Held something...uh oh! Merlin tried to roll to the side, but he was too late. A cascade of white showered him and he was not proud to say that a very unmanly scream burst from him.

Aiiiiieeeeeeee!

"ARTHUR! You'll pay for that!"

The slave scrambled to his feet, slipping several times, as the Prince ran away laughing hysterically. Of course will say that is what caused him to fall, and not the fact that he slipped. Landing face first, it was as if by magic that it turned out that way. Fortune smiled upon Merlin as he was able to slide on his knees, somewhat painfully, to the Prince's side; his hands full of snow and with a swiftness that belied his small and usually clumsy frame he pulled back the shirt and jacket of the Prince and dumped the handful down his bare back.

It was the Prince's turn to scream, quite shrilly in Merlin's opinion. It was several more minutes of horseplay with the other trying to one up on the last. Finally they both collapsed. Chests heaving, breath coming out in short pants of white puff.

"I-I can't feel my fingers! Issss th-at ba-add?"

"Wh-aat's the-e matt-ter, Merrrrrlin? To-o-o coo-old? Y-you-u s-sou-nd lii-ke a g-url."

"Lo-ok whose ta-alkin-gg."

They caught each other's eyes and burst in more hysterical laughter.

"Hey, Ar-thur, what's that?" The slave pointed to a spot in the distance where a light glowed.

The Prince squinted, "Ah, a stable. Looks likes someone's there."

"Oh. Why?"

"Well, sometimes if they're traveling and there's no room, they will stay amongst the stable animals; it's actually quite warm in there."

"No room? It's soooo cold outside."

"They should be fine."

A faint sound caught Merlin's attention.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"It sounded like a woman. She was crying or yelling? Uh, maybe both?"

The Prince stopped making funny faces at the slave and titled his head in an effort to hear what apparently only the slave could.

"You're right. I wonder if they need help..."

Merlin was already up and held a hand out. The Prince grasped his arm just below the elbow and allowed the boy to pull him up. They started over towards the stable, when they heard it more clearly. It sounded as if the woman was in pain. Serious pain.

Picking up their pace, they were almost upon it when a new sound filled the air, that of a baby's cry. Prince Arthur threw his hand out, which caught Merlin in the chest.

"What was that for?"

"I know what happened. That was a woman, she just gave birth."

"In a stable?!"

The soft cries of the baby quiet, and the murmuring of the woman, tired, and that of a man's voice echoed.

"Come on, we should leave them in peace." The Prince directed the slave back around towards the castle, a slight smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling?" Merlin asked suspiciously, nothing good comes from him smiling.

"Just, it's a good day. That's all."

Merlin cocked an eyebrow, ooooook.

As they approached the castle, Merlin hung back a few steps, head bowed and hands clasped behind his back desperately trying to quell the trembling of the cold. Standing in the doorway was Gaius, a knowing look on his face as he regarded the two.

"MERLIN!"

An: MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope you enjoyed this little treat. Look forward to a real chapter on Saturday, I'll probably replace this chapter with the new one. This is a little stand alone piece so doesn't really belong here, but ah well. Maybe I'll post it as a one-shot at a later date...rambling...

Love you all! Did I already say, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wooo, we're almost at 200 reviews!