Arthur took one step towards it, then stopped. He didn't want to get more involved than he was already was. But, considering the fact that the baby was in a box on his table, Arthur suspected there wasn't much more involved he could get. Rubbing his forehead, Arthur moved in the opposite direction, towards his door, where he could hopefully find Merlin and Morgana - the two fools who had embroiled him in this mess.

He had just turned the corner when Morgana barrelled into him. Instinctively, he grabbed her shoulders, surprised when something hard jabbed into him. Looking down, he noticed that Morgana seemed to have, in the few hours since he'd seen her, developed a large, squarish stomach. There was movement, a rustling of the cloak she was wearing and the next thing Arthur knew was that a box was being shoved into his hands.

"Take care of him," she'd whispered.

"Wait -"

"Just for a while. And don't tell anyone!"

And then, she'd cast a furtive look around before running off. Him, Arthur soon discovered when he returned to his room, was a tiny baby with large, blue eyes that stared unblinkingly at him when Arthur opened the box. Arthur did what any sensible young man who'd never interacted with a baby before would do - he yelled for his manservant.

Unfortunately for Arthur, his manservant was Merlin.

The baby whimpered.

Arthur glanced at the box. Whimpering was perfectly normal for babies, wasn't it? It was crying that meant trouble. So it was perfectly fine that Arthur continued to hover at his door, wishing that Merlin would return from whatever "urgent matter" he had to attend to, moments after seeing the baby.

The baby's whimpering got louder. And before Arthur could decide if he should have a peek at the infant, the whimpering turned into a full scale bawl. Swearing under his breath, Arthur walked to the table and peered into the box. Much to his horror, the baby was all red, his cheeks wet, his eyes scrunched up and his mouth wide open.

"What's wrong, baby?" Arthur asked, before realising how dumb that was. The baby was hardly going to tell him what was wrong. Even Arthur knew that. He vaguely remembered seeing some of the ladies deal with crying babies by carrying them, bouncing them gently while rubbing their backs. There was no way Arthur was going to pick up the baby - he might hold him too tight and break him or drop him - but he supposed touching the baby wouldn't be too difficult. Slowly, he reached into the box and touched the baby's chest.

For a moment, the baby stilled and the crying stopped. His bright, blue eyes stared at Arthur again. A smile spread across Arthur's face. He was good - no monster, army or baby would defeat him. Arthur brought his hand to the baby's cheek.

"You're a good boy," he murmured as he stroke the baby's soft cheek. "Such a good boy."

The baby's mouth moved, and then he started to cry again. Jerking backwards, Arthur scowled at the baby. Then, he rubbed the baby's chest, but that only seemed to make the baby more upset, his short, stumpy legs kicking violently. The baby started to hiccup in between sobs and panic grew in Arthur.

Just then, his door swung open. Finally, Merlin was back, thought Arthur, but when he looked up, it wasn't Merlin. It was even better than Merlin.

It was Gwen.

She licked her lips, her eyes darting from the box to Arthur, then back to the box again. "I - uh - I didn't mean to disturb you, my -"

"I'm so glad you're here," said Arthur as relief flooded through him. Gwen would know what to do with a crying baby. With a couple of strides, Arthur closed the distance between them. She yelped when he took her hand, then attempted to tug her towards the baby. "You see, I have a baby -"

Instead of moving willingly with him, Gwen seemed to have grown roots, not budging an inch even when he tugged harder at her hand. He glanced at her face, noting with some trepidation that Gwen seemed somewhat unhappy. Did she hate babies? Well, that didn't matter right now. Not when the box baby was screaming his head off. Soon, the whole castle would be descending on him and discovering that he was hiding a baby in his room, and then the rumours would start flying.

He tilted his head towards the box and put on the most sympathetic expression he could. "I really need help with the baby."

Baby. Arthur had a baby. The words swam in her head as she stood just inside his room. Was the baby his? And if so, who was the mother? And what did the kiss two days ago mean, then? But before she could gather her scattered thoughts, Arthur was staring pleadingly at her. Only then did she hear the baby's frantic cries.

She didn't have much experience with babies, but there was no way that cry was a good thing. And seeing that the only other person in the room was Arthur, who was clearly incapable of doing anything useful when it came to babies, she had to do something. Walking over to the box - why was Arthur's keeping his baby in a box - she gingerly lifted the baby out of it. It was a squirming, slightly damp, somewhat slippery mess but Gwen managed to manoeuvre it into her arms. The baby continued to cry, it's little face all red and scrunched up. Occasionally, it hiccupped, before crying again.

"Maybe you should do something," said Arthur, who was still hovering some distance away from the them. "Rock her? Or something?"

Gwen narrowed her eyes at Arthur. "Of course, my lord."

It elicited the response she expected. He moved towards her, her name on his lips, a mix of contrition and pleading in his tone. The moment he got close enough, Gwen thrust the screaming baby at him. His arms came up and Gwen nestled the baby into them.

"Gwen!" Arthur took a step back, his eyes wide as he stared at the baby. "I don't know what to do with it."

"But I do?"

"Well, you're a girl!"

"I have chores to do, my lord. I'm afraid I am already late."

Gwen turned away. She wasn't going to leave, of course. It would be unconscionable to leave the poor baby in Arthur's care, but neither did she want Arthur to think that all he had to do was crook his finger and she would do what he wanted, just because they happened to share a kiss some hours ago. It was a very good kiss, one that she had replayed in her head several times since, but Gwen was no fool.

"Gwen. Please?"

"Arthur," Gwen said quietly as she turned around. "I don't know much about babies either."

"I don't want to do this alone."

And how could Gwen resist that?

It took Arthur pacing the room for several minutes before the baby's cries subsided, turning into pathetic little sniffles. Carefully, Arthur sat down, his hold tightening on the baby. Then, he looked at her, his eyes still wide with what appeared to be shock and a little bit of awe.

"Now what?" Arthur looked back at the baby when it whimpered.

"I was thinking, perhaps it's hungry."

"What do babies eat?"

Gwen blinked. "Milk? Curd? Eggs?"

"Well, it doesn't have teeth so maybe not eggs." Once again, his eyes met hers. The shock and awe had faded, replaced with a tinge of amusement. "We should probably stop calling it it too."

"Don't you know it's name? Is it a boy or girl?"

Arthur shrugged, then lifted up part of the cloth the baby was wrapped in. "Looks like he's a boy."

They called him Amhar. Arthur had seen that name once during some boring history lesson, and for some reason it had stuck in his mind. So after they cleaned up his bottom and fed him some milk that Gwen got from somewhere mysterious, Arthur suggested the name. Gwen lifted an eyebrow, shook her head, then smiled.

Arthur had to pace up and down for quite a while before Amhar finally stopped fussing and fell asleep. Just as he was about to put Amhar back into the box, Gwen stopped him and he ended up settling Amhar on his bed. He'd mentioned something about himself not having anywhere to sleep, but Gwen had just rolled her eyes at him. Clearly, Amhar had supplanted him in her heart in those few hours.

Speaking of hearts, Arthur suspected his own had melted earlier when Gwen had cradled Amhar in her arms, cooing at him as she fed him. The desire to walk to the two of them and slip his arm around Gwen's shoulders took him by surprise with its strength. So he'd done the sensible thing - made a silly comment and retreated to his desk where he pretended he wasn't taking surreptitious peeks at her and Amhar.

"I'm going to go now," whispered Gwen, her eyes still on the snoozing Amhar.

"What? No. You can't leave me here alone."

"What would people think if I spent the night in your room?"

Arthur edged closer to her, his shoulders brushing against hers and they both stared down at Amhar. Slowly, he entwined his fingers with hers, pleased when she didn't pull away. "I can't do this without you."

She lifted her head and their eyes met. "I know."

The moon was high in the sky and Arthur's lids were heavy. Amhar, however, was heavier and apparently, not interested in sleeping. At least, he wasn't crying. After three days, Arthur could tell when a whimper was a prelude to a hearty cry and when it was just a simple whimper.

"He's still not sleeping?" Gwen shifted in the chair at the corner of Arthur's room.

Arthur turned to look at her. The bun that her hair had been in was loose and stray strands framed her sleepy face. He'd offered her the bed that first night, but she'd refused, then sat on his chair, tucked her feet under her and snuggled into the upholstery. She'd dozed off some time later, and Arthur had spent the rest of the night alternating between watching her, watching Amhar and short naps.

He hefted Amhar higher onto his shoulder. "No. I thought that I would take him out for a walk. Perhaps the fresh air will calm him down. Would you like to come? It's late. No one will see us."

She stood, smoothening the dress she wore. "I've always wanted to see the Royal Gardens."

Amhar secured in one arm, he offered Gwen his other, his heart tripping a little when she placed hers in his.

She'd lied to Arthur about never being in the Royal Gardens. She'd snuck in a few times, snatching quick looks at the sprawling area before the guards could catch her. But hand in hand with Arthur, with no worry about getting caught, this was a completely different experience. They strolled under the stars, occasionally tending to Amhar who quickly became sleepy, occasionally indulging in castle gossip.

It felt strangely like home - Arthur, her and Amhar. When the thought struck her, she glanced at Arthur who was staring intently at her.

"Arthur."

His free hand cupped her face, his eyes dropped to her lips - lips that suddenly became dry. Gwen licked her lips, her tongue disappearing just as Arthur kissed her. It was a gentle brush of his lips across hers, and one of them groaned. They broke apart for a moment before she leaned towards Arthur and kissed him again. His hand tangled in her hair, his lips parting to tease hers with his tongue.

Then Amhar wailed.

Arthur was pointing out the various parts of the Upper Village to Amhar when Morgana marched into his room.

"Where's the baby?"

"Why hello Morgana. Nice of you to visit after saddling me with Amhar for a whole week!"

She arched an eyebrow. "You look like you managed well. Now can I have him back."

Arthur tightened his arms around Amhar. Nothing to do with the sense of protectiveness towards the little boy who was poking his face with his finger. He just wasn't about to hand over Amhar to Morgana when she owed him answers to a million questions.

"Who is he?"

"Him?" Morgana shrugged. "A baby I found."

"And why have you been keeping him a secret?" Amhar was now trying to stuff his fingers into Arthur mouth. "You didn't steal it, did you?"

Morgana gasped. "Would I be capable of something like that?"

Arthur didn't dignify that question with a response.

"The baby? Surely you haven't gotten that attached to it."

"I'm not handing over an innocent, vulnerable baby to you when I am not sure about your intentions."

The door to his room swung open. "I'm done with the kitchens. Is Amhar hungry - oh. My lady."

Morgana let out a low whistle. "You named the baby? And now I why the baby is still alive in your care."

"I should go," said Gwen. "I'm sorry to have interrupted." Before Arthur could reply, she scurried out of the door.

"So you and Gwen?"

"Tell me about the baby," said Arthur.

Morgana stuck to the story of finding the baby in the forest, embellishing it with a few more details that Arthur wasn't quite sure whether to believe. Then, she mentioned the Druids.

"This is a Druid baby?" Amhar whimpered at Arthur's tone. Immediately, Arthur cuddled him closer and nuzzled his head. "Morgana!"

"That's why I told you keep it a secret." Morgana reached for Amhar. "Now pass him to me. I'm going to bring him back to his family."

"You know where the Druids are."

"And I'm not telling you. Baby?"

Arthur looked into Amhar's face - the wide, green eyes and the slightly damp cheek - and his heart clenched. Without thinking, he dropped a kiss on Amhar's head. Then, Arthur handed him over to Morgana.

"Thanks Arthur." Morgana smiled, spun on her heels and stalked out of the room.

Gwen hesitated outside Arthur's door. With Amhar gone, there wasn't really any reason to visit his room. But if Arthur was feeling even the slightest bit like her, he might appreciate the company. Sucking in a breath, Gwen knocked.

"Hey," said Arthur. He leaned against the door and smiled at her.

"Yeah."

"Let's take a walk in the Royal Gardens." He offered his hand, and Gwen took it.

They laughed at Amhar's antics and speculated what he was doing now as they walked in the Gardens. By now, it seemed natural to hold hands and they stopped near a fountain. With a tug, Arthur pulled Gwen closer to him. She leaned into him, inhaling his scent. For a week, the three of them had seemed like family, and the thought that they would be going back to being Prince and servant made her feel a little hollow.

"I miss him. He was pain in a lot of ways, but I miss him."

"Me too."

"Maybe one day -" Arthur cleared his throat and looked into the stars. "Maybe we'll have our own one day."

Gwen looked at him. He looked down and smiled, almost shyly. Leaning her head on Arthur's shoulder, she smiled as well.

"Maybe."