AN: I don't own Merlin. I am definitely grateful that the writers managed to make such a great and popular series, which I just fell in love with! I only own William! Warning: English is not my mother tongue, so it is entirely possible there are spelling or grammar mistakes in my story. Do not hesitate to point them out to me. Mistakes in Lyra's sentences are deliberate.

Summary: the family trip continued.

Thanks to larasmith, who actually prompted me to write about a family trip.

The next morning, Arthur and William left early to go hunting. Fortunately, they left Merlin behind. Gwen was cooking some water for tea above the fire, which had again been lit by Aithusa after Lyra had asked her. The princess was sitting in front of her parents' tent, petting Aithusa's head gently where it was resting in her lap. The dragon's eyes were closed, thoroughly enjoying the little girl's attention.

"Lyra, sweetie, can you go wake Merlin up?"

"'kay, mummy." Lyra gently pushed the white dragon away and ran into the tent she had shared with William and Merlin. Gwen could hear her laugh coming from inside, together with a groan from Merlin. Her daughter ran out again, five minutes later followed by a lightly scowling Merlin.

"She's definitely her father's daughter! Is it programmed in the Pendragon genes to annoy Merlins?"

Gwen started laughing. "Funny, last night, he asked me if I've had an affair with you because she has a lot of your mannerisms." Her words made Merlin go speechless. He was opening and closing his mouth, but nothing came out. It took a minute before he made a sound.

"What!? Is he completely out of his mind? I wouldn't… we wouldn't…"

"Merlin! He was joking…"

"Oh, right. I knew that. It's just, I'm tired. Your daughter woke me up by jumping on me!"

"Yes, you definitely need more sleep, you're snappy. Here, drink some tea to wake yourself up. You never had a problem with our children jumping you before, Merlin." She handed him the cup while speaking.

Merlin pouted. "I know. But she elbowed me in the stomach. Sorry, I didn't mean to be snappy. Thanks for the tea, by the way."

Half an hour later, Merlin was a lot more awake and had regained his normal good mood. Lyra was running around, trying to catch Aithusa's tail, who was flying low over the campsite. Every time the girl came close to catching it, she swung it up. Both Gwen and Merlin were watching on in amusement.

"So, a little birdie told me you had something planned for Lyra today, but you didn't explain what it is."

"Yes, I do. I wanted it to be a surprise. We have to walk a little, until the next clearing. You can come too, you know. I'm pretty sure you'll like it too."

"Oh, but who would watch the camp?" Gwen seemed reluctant to agree, although Merlin could see her curiosity peeking through. She wanted to come.

"Don't worry about that. Magic, remember. And a dragon. No one in their right mind would sneak into a camp protected by a dragon."

"Alright then. When are we leaving?"

"In a few minutes, if you're ready. If not, I can wait until you are."

Gwen was ready to go ten minutes later, having searched for her comfortable boots. She made sure Lyra was prepared to leave too. When she was sure her daughter was ready, they started walking, leaving their horses and a dragon behind. Lyra was disappointed that Aithusa couldn't come, but after a few minutes, she forgot about her new friend when she saw the flowers on the side of the path they were taking. She ran ahead of the two adults, staying in their line of view, to start picking the flowers. Gwen and Merlin kept their attention on her, but they talked with each other, like they always did. They were interrupted by Lyra.

"Mummy! Look, I got you flowers! They're pretty!"

Gwen smiled, accepting the bunch of flowers. She crouched down in front of her little girl and hugged her.

"They're very pretty! Thank you, love."

That made Lyra giggle. After mother and daughter let go of each other and Gwen had put the flowers in the basket she had brought, they continued walking. It didn't take them very long until they reached the clearing.

When Lyra got a good view of what was in it, she gasped and turned around to look at Merlin with wide eyes.

"Is that a unicorn, uncle Merlin?" Merlin just nodded, a wide smile on his face.

"Wooow." Then the princess threw her arms around his legs. She looked up at him. "Can I touch it?"

Gwen bit her lip, unsure about that. She didn't like her daughter in close proximity with pointy objects like unicorn horns. Merlin saw her doubts and tried to reassure her.

"It's okay, Gwen. She won't get hurt. Unicorns are very gentle animals. They rarely attack people, and then only because they feel threatened. Besides, they love little girls, because they are a symbol of innocence. You can come with us. I'm sure she won't mind if you stroke her, too."

"It's a girl?" Merlin just nodded his answer.

Gwen agreed after she got a pleading look from her daughter. They walked up to the unicorn. At first, Lyra could only pat her leg, since she couldn't reach any higher. Gwen saw her struggles and picked her up. Immediately, Lyra started stroking the unicorn's mane. Merlin stayed by the animal's head.

"Do you want to give her a treat?" he asked after a while.

He had a few carrots with him and handed them over to Lyra when she nodded.

"Hold your hand open, palm up, and put the treat in your palm. Like that, yes. Now, just hold your hand where she can see it, and if she wants the carrot, she'll take it from your hand. It's the same as with a horse."

The first time the unicorn took a carrot, the little girl started giggling. "It tickles!"

"I know. But you're doing great, so keep going. You want to try, Gwen? I'll take Lyra." Gwen agreed and handed her daughter over to Merlin

They stayed in the clearing for another half hour before they returned to the camp. Again, Lyra ran ahead of them. Gwen turned to Merlin.

"How did you know it was there?"

"Unicorns are creatures of magic. I could sense her when we arrived here yesterday, so I decided to surprise Lyra."

"Thank you, Merlin. You've made her dream come true, you know that? She loves unicorns."

"I noticed. She tries to draw them, sometimes, when she's with me."

"You're guaranteed to be her favorite uncle for quite some time because of this."

Merlin smiled widely. "That was what I was hoping for. Can't let Leon or Percival take my place now, can I?"

Gwen smiled at him, lightly shaking her head. "Sometimes, Merlin, I have to agree with Arthur when he says you're ridiculous. You don't have to spoil Lyra or William to be their favorite. In fact, I'm pretty sure you're every child's favorite."

Merlin shrugged. "I don't have children of my own to spoil…"

Gwen smiled sadly at him. "You still could. Or you could take in an orphan. We'd all support you, Merlin, you know that."

The warlock looked at her. "I know. But it's still great to hear."

They reached the camp in silence. Lyra was already sitting down with Aithusa's head in her lap again. She was telling the dragon about her meeting with the unicorn. The rest of the morning was spent getting lunch ready for the three of them. William and Arthur would only get back later that day. After lunch, Gwen put Lyra to bed for a while after she saw her daughter yawning. Merlin and Gwen stayed next to the fire, talking like they did before Gwen became Queen of Camelot and got busy. Being Queen and becoming a mother had taken a lot of her time, and even though the two of them still talked, it wasn't nearly as much as before. They made up for it now, far away from the castle.

AN: I'm guessing one more part of the trip, and then some Corin, for the ones who are waiting for it.

Another thing: normally, I don't personally address people in my author's note, except to thank them for a prompt. But this time, I'll make an exception, since I can't give them an answer in PM. I've received the question why it is a Gwen/Arthur story when Gwen barely figures in it twice. It's because it's supposed to be about Arthur being a father. The focus of this story is the children, not the relationship between Arthur and Gwen. I can't leave Gwen out, however, because she is the mother of his children. It's just supposed to be moments in time, not a full story of how they came to be. And to be honest, if I added another character to the list, like Merlin, then suddenly, the story became listed under Arthur/Merlin or Merlin/Gwen on my page. I'm not quite sure how to change that, so I just left out the other characters. And yes, sometimes I drift away from the children a little, like with Freya, but I didn't mean to make it seem like Gwen isn't important at all. I hope this clears up some of your concerns.