Did you guys see the synopsis for series 4 episode 6? Well, for those who don't want to be spoiled, I won't say anything. For those who know, you know why I brought it up regarding this story. ;)

Here we go, you guys voted and here is the resulting epilogue! Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting, alerting – can I say thanks enough? 6,310 hits, 16 favorites and 24 alerts – you guys are just way too awesome.

Enjoy!

Epilogue

Everything came back slowly in small doses. First came the sounds: the cheerful trilling of birds as they flew around outside, the steady hum of chatter from people in the lower town, and the sound of a light snore from somewhere nearby. The sound of steady breathing reached her ears, and she realized that this was her breathing.

She was alive.

She didn't know how this was significant yet, however, because she didn't remember everything. Instead, she focused on her sight. Slowly, she blinked open her eyes. The first thing she saw above her was a stone ceiling; one looking very familiar to the one she had stayed in awhile back with Keli.

But this wasn't Keli's ceiling. It was closer to her, and smoother in texture; she would know after spending her evenings staring at said ceiling. If she wasn't in Keli's room, where was she?

The next sense she turned to was touch. It became immediately apparent to her that her hand was warm, and this was due to somebody holding it. Slowly moving her head, she looked down at her hand, following the other one holding hers up his arm and into his face.

Merlin.

This brought back everything to the forefront of her mind; Merlin had been possessed by Morgana, he had killed Uther, and she had fallen off the tower. Natalie almost gasped, but stopped herself at the last moment from making any sudden movements, for Merlin.

He was wearing his normal outfit except for the jacket and scarf; one she saw hanging up over a line in the corner, and the other – his red scarf, to be exact – was being used as a pillow beneath his head. He was sitting on a stool to the right of the bed, the one hand holding her hand and the other lying next to his head. He was sleeping but looked disturbed even there: his closed eyelids were bruises on his too-pale face, and there was a slight flush in his cheeks. He almost looked like he had a fever, but when Natalie reached out her other hand to brush his bangs from his forehead, his skin felt normal to the touch.

She concluded that it was an aftermath of being possessed by Morgana. Slowly, Natalie sat up, surprised at how normal she felt. There was nothing hurting, nothing broken, and she was wearing her nightgown without any sign of bruises or any other injuries she would have sustained upon hitting the ground. To be honest, she was surprised she was alive.

Looking over at Merlin again, Natalie smiled softly. He looked very uncomfortable, hunched over in the stool with his head on the bed. Gently picking up his hand, she put it between hers and brought it to her lips, kissing it softly. Merlin flinched slightly, blinking himself to waking consciousness. As soon as his eyes met hers, he jumped up, eyes wide.

"You're awake!" he shouted, causing her to jump herself. Quickly a grin spread across his features, and he pulled his hand from hers quickly to run over to the door.

"Gaius, she's awake! She's awake!" he practically sang, bouncing back to her, hopping on the bed and sitting cross legged across from her. He just sat there, beaming at her, as she looked on, bewildered.

"How long was I out for?" she asked him. He shrugged.

"Overnight," Merlin answered, still grinning. She let out a half-laugh.

"I've been sleeping for one night and you're panicking about it?" she teased him. His face grew serious, and he took her hands in his.

"A surprise was all you needed," he told her sternly. "A surprise. Not suicide!"

Natalie looked down.

"I was thinking on the spot, I couldn't handle my magic as well as Morgana's, and I couldn't think of anything else," she said. "If it was to save your life, then I would have done it again."

"No," Merlin answered, a harshness coming to his voice that almost made Natalie concerned that Morgana was still in charge. She looked back up with wide eyes, taking in his angry features. Upon meeting her eyes his softened.

"Natalie…" he said softly, bringing her hands closer to him. "You're important. You should never have even thought about jumping off the tower. If I had been all right, I would not have wanted to live with the knowledge that you had given your life for me." His eyes were wide, truthful, and beginning to shine with tears. "You're important too, please understand. Never do that again, promise me."

Taking in his features, his honest sincerity, Natalie could do nothing but nod. She discovered her eyes were also wet with tears, and she let out a choked laugh. Merlin copied her action, leaning forward and bringing his lips to hers swiftly.

Beyond them, there was the sound of a knock.

"Merlin, unlock the door please," Gaius said from the other side of the door. Sighing, Merlin moved away and stood up again, walking over to the door.

"Tosprienge," he muttered, his eyes flashing gold as the door magically unlocked. The door then opened to reveal Gaius and Prince Arthur, the latter whose face was impassive. They both walked in and Merlin bowed his head respectfully to the prince, something that slightly irked Natalie. Then she realized he had done magic with Arthur in the vicinity. Her eyes grew wide – the prince knew.

Gaius walked over to Natalie, offering nothing short of the serious expression that he always seemed to wear.

"How are you feeling, Natalie?" he asked, setting down his medicine pack.

"I'm feeling fine," she answered absently, still watching the two friends. Arthur was noticeably not looking at Merlin, and seemed to be inching away from the other slowly. Merlin kept his head down, submissive.

Gaius gave her a quick check over before telling her pretty much the same result.

"If I may, can I ask what specifically happened…after I jumped?" Natalie asked, mostly to ease the tension from the other end of the room. Both Arthur and Merlin looked up at her. Then the prince turned his gaze, still unreadable, on the servant. Merlin pretended to ignore him.

"You jumped…and I managed to push Morgana from my mind," Merlin answered. "I was horrified at what you'd done, and I used magic to stop your descent."

And Arthur was watching. This much was left unsaid, but it was plainly in the room as if the knowledge were another person. Natalie met his gaze.

"What happened next?" she prodded the prince. Arthur looked back at her.

"I instructed Merlin to bring you back to Gaius, to make sure you were okay," he replied in a hard voice. "And then I instructed him to lock himself in his room until I came to a decision on what to do with him."

"I didn't want to leave you, so I moved you in here and locked myself in," Merlin finished. His voice was guarded now, too, and Natalie decided that she hated it. Judging by the look of it, Gaius did, as well. Merlin's eyes were flicking toward Arthur's form, but the prince gave no acknowledgement other than the cold shoulder.

"What have you decided?" Natalie asked the prince, bringing his attention back to her. "About Merlin, I mean. He saved my life, does that really deserve punishment?"

Arthur looked momentarily taken aback, at a loss of words.

"I—I mean, he used…magic," the prince said defensively. "Magic is evil."

"Oh, so I guess that means that I'm evil, as well?"

He shook his head once, still confused.

"Those who practice magic—"

"I'm going to stop you right there, Arthur," she said sternly. "First of all, Merlin and I aren't your standard sorcerers, we don't 'practice magic.' We were born of magic, and it is part of us. But you don't see us being evil." She gestured to a shocked Merlin, who apparently didn't know that she knew so much about his magic. "Morgana possessed him. That means he put up a fight, and didn't want to comply. Why would you call going against wanting to kill somebody evil?"

Arthur said nothing. Merlin's face was still shocked, but hiding under the surface was a small flicker of hope. Gaius, as always, said nothing.

"I need to meet with the council," Arthur finally said, beginning to walk away.

"What is your decision regarding Merlin?" she demanded again. Arthur stopped, not turning around.

"He will not be executed, for now," he finally said before walking out. The three left in the room stared after him.

"Well that's a relief," Merlin said softly. Natalie turned her head to look at him. He looked at her as well, and they're eyes met for a few moments. Then Merlin walked back to the bed, sitting down cross-legged again.

"Thank you," he told her sincerely. She smiled.

"I should be thanking you!" she responded. "You saved my life!"

"And you stopped me from taking any others."

They stared at each other again. From next to the bed Gaius let out a cough, breaking the moment.

"I'm going to be going now," he told them loudly, swinging his medicine bag over his shoulder. "Feel free to lock the door behind me."

Merlin turned to grin at his guardian, returning to his cheerful self.

"Thanks, Gaius," he said sincerely. Natalie echoed his words with a smile of her own. The physician just left the room, his eyebrows raised comically. Merlin's eyes flashed gold and the door closed behind his guardian. Even Natalie had to admit she was impressed with his magic. She found it…alluring.

So when Merlin turned around to find her practically attacking him with kisses, he didn't do much in the way of protesting; just grinned against her lips in his triumphant cheerfulness.

A/N: well, that's all folks! ^_^ Thanks for sticking with this story, it's been a treasure to have all of you reading my work. I plan on getting another fic up soon – perhaps something in the way of a modern fic? Thanks for reading again, guys!