Gaius arrived as Balinor was eating, Lance quickly filled him in. Gaius turned to Balinor "What do you intend to do?" he asked then not waiting for an answer continued "Remember Merlin has been with Arthur and Mithian for a long time to all intents and purposed they are his parents. He also has a deep mistrust of strangers and although you are his father he hasn't seen you for a very long time. I don't mean to be harsh, but the boy must come first"

Balinor stopped eating and looked at the older man "He is my son! And I want him with me" he glared at Gaius "Whatever system you have here is not legal"

Gaius snorted "I think you will find your old belief in legality holds no place here. I'm not suggesting you do not try to rebuild your relationship with Merlin, but you do need to take his feelings into account. Arthur and Mithian have another child now and Merlin thinks of her as his sister. He even named Hunith after his mother." Gaius then continued in a more gentle tone "You see his adoptive parents have tried to help him keep her memory alive"

Balinor looked thoughtful "They named their daughter after my wife?!"

"No Merlin suggested it and they agreed, all I ask is that you do not just expect Merlin to accept you and forget his guardians, for everyone's sake" Gaius sat down "There may be no easy answer to this but I am sure you will be welcome here, allow the boy to get to know you again slowly"

Balinor nodded "I can do that, but he is my son. I am grateful that he found someone to love and protect him, and I will be forever grateful that Merlin was saved given the home I couldn't. Sorry if I seem a bit rough around the edges. It's been a long time since I felt the need to be with people, I am also grieving for my beloved Hunith, I should have been with them, maybe I could have saved her from the slavers and what they did" his voice broke at that point.

Gaius put his arm on Balinor's shoulder "I am sorry, it must have been hard for you to here after travelling such a long way, you must have loved her dearly"

"She was my life, her and my son, I didn't want to go to Australia, but it had been planned for so long and I knew the men the company was dealing with, it was only supposed to be for six weeks. When I got back I was going to leave the company and we were going to get a small holding and live the simple life. Make it safer for Merlin, his powers were getting harder to hide" Balinor by now had his head in his hands. "Why did I agree to go? I was a fool"

"No one saw what was coming and it was so quick" Gaius said "The spread was just too fast, I believe it started in the Far East and Britain was one of the last to be affected. But you are here now. I suggest you get some rest. Arthur will speak to Merlin and bring him here when he is ready."

Meanwhile Arthur had returned to the families private space and went to his wife and whispered "Merlin's birth father had turned up, I need to tell him can you take Hunith off while I do it"

Mithian looked shocked but nodded "I will take her to your sister and come back"

Arthur called Merlin over as Mithian left the room. Arthur looked at his 'son' "Merlin can you come and sit with me a moment? I have something to tell you"

By the time Merlin was sat down Mithian was back and sat on the bed the other side of Merlin. Merlin looked at his 'parents' his eyes wide "Have I done something wrong?" he asked

Arthur put his arm round the slender figure "No son you have not. I just have some news for you" he looked at Mithian then took a deep breath "Good news" he added

Merlin looked from Arthur to Mithian and could see they were worried. He had always been very receptive to others moods. Arthur spoke once more "You know the person that you and Uncle Gwaine saw earlier?"

Merlin nodded "By the graves?"

Arthur have a rueful look to Mithian, there was no way other than just to say it and hope the raven haired boy coped with the news, and to be there for him. "Yes, well it turned out he was looking at your birth mothers grave, you see the man was your birth father and he has been looking for you both"

Arthur felt Merlin stiffen and draw in his breath "After all this time? Why now?" he was clearly shocked

"Your father was in Australia that's the other side of the world when the disease happened, he was working. It has taken him this long to get back….it's a very long way" Arthur paused "He wants to see you and speak to you"

Merlin sat in silence while Mithian hugged him. Then they heard his whisper "I won't have to leave you? I mean you are my family"

"It will be up to you Merlin, hopefully your father will stay here and you can get to know him again. But we will always consider you our son, we love you very much" Arthur told the shaking boy. "But your father has come a long way and searched for you, so I think you need to speak to him and see what he has to say, don't you?"