A/N: Before you all read my super short epilogue, I want you all to know how honored I am to have had your support and reviews and reads all throughout the story. This fic is my baby, it is more than two hundred pages on word and more than one hundred thousand words. Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting and putting up with all my crazy and my excuses. I hope you enjoyed the fic and will continue to enjoy my work in the future.
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Three months later
When sunlight flooded through the window in the morning, Cassie sighed in contentment. She had settled back into Camelot rather well and her life was perfect.
She did miss her family and her band, but she had a family here.
"Rise and shine!" Merlin burst through the doors without knocking as always and then turned bright red, seeing Cassie.
She laughed and rolled her eyes as she sat up, he should have been used to finding her in Arthur's room by now.
The blonde who's bed it was, stirred next to her but didn't wake up. "Come on princess" she poked him and teased. He grunted and swatted her hand and she laughed again.
At the sound of her laugh, Arthur rolled over, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the sun streaming through the open window.
"I'm just gonna leave this here" Merlin said holding up the tray of breakfast he'd brought then setting it on the table.
He backed out of the room quietly while Cassie proceeded to tickle Arthur awake. The sounds of their laughter following him down the hallway.
Wandering upstairs back to Gaius's room he thought about everything that had happened in the past few months.
The torturous time when Cassie was missing or gone home or whatever, when they all missed her and Arthur was so moody that his bad mood infected everyone, the King included. Then when she returned it was like light had come back, like a long awaited spring after a particularly brutal winter.
Things had steadily improved when Cassie was around. Her laugh could be heard throughout the castle if you stopped to listen hard enough and the way she spoke for the people made her a favorite among them.
Merlin held back a chuckle as he thought of Arthur's official proposal to her. She had turned him down, in front of everyone too. The entire room had been shocked, even after she explained.
"No" she'd said, "I am nineteen years old. Where I come from, I'm not even supposed to have alcohol. I refuse to marry anyone, even the love of my life, until I'm at least twenty two."
The entire banquet had erupted in scandalized whispers and Arthur's horrified expression had only made the fake princess laugh more.
He had been angry with her for a few days but Cassie's perpetual good mood and optimistic outlook eventually held out longer than the Prince's annoyance.
Then there had been the trouble with something Cassie claimed looked like a Teridactyl, whatever that was. But after a week or so of conspicuous attacks on outlying villages, during which the huge winged reptile stole sheep, cows and even once several chickens, they had to do something about it.
So using, or really it was more of an abuse of his powers Merlin thought, they took down the flying creature. And Cassie continued to insist it was a dinosaur.
Then there was Linda. Morgana had taken a liking to the red-head and insisted she stay around as her lady in waiting. It meant he saw a lot more of her.
Over all, Merlin was happy with the way things had turned out. He had his best friend, even if Arthur wouldn't call him that, his crazy friend from the future and a girl he very much liked all with him. It was the happiest he'd been in a long time.
"Whatcha up to?" Cassie asked, sitting on the arm of Arthur's chair and leaning over his shoulder to observe the map he was looking over.
"Crop patterns" the prince said, his boredom evident in his tone.
"How fascinating" the brunette next to him teased.
He smiled, "You're more interesting" he said, finally turning to her. Before she could scoff at his compliment he kissed her, pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her.
When they broke apart he looked at her hard, "I need to ask you something" he said quietly.
"Yes?" she whispered back.
"What happened, all those months ago? Where did you go and why did you come back?"
Cassie sighed and buried her face in his shoulder. That was one question she didn't want to answer. It was hard enough convincing them all she was back to stay and that she hadn't meant to hurt them in leaving.
"Cass" he said and she could feel the words vibrate through his throat, "I love you, I always will, but I need to know what happened. Who are you?"
She wanted to cry, it killed her to think about all she had left behind. She was happy with her choice but afraid the questions would follow her forever. Sighing, she looked up, "I'm not going to give you details, because I don't even understand the details" she told him.
Arthur nodded, he was willing to accept whatever of the truth she could give him.
"I went home when I left. I'm not quite sure how I got there, but I did. I saw my family, my mom and dad, and Ryan and the girls and my Tio Antonio. I saw my band, Ben, Jon, Tom and I missed them. I'd been gone for months, but they took me right back and I was home again" she stopped, taking a deep breath in and letting it out, pushing all the bad emotion out with it.
"Then I missed it here. I missed Camelot, I missed the adventures, I missed Merlin and Morgana and Gwen and even Uther and Gaius. But I missed you almost more than I could stand" his arms tightened around her and she leaned into him.
"In the end I had to make a choice, here or there. I chose."
Arthur pressed a kiss into her hair and sat in silence, contemplating what she had just told him. finally, after a long moment, he answered her "I'm glad you chose here."
THE END
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A/N: Please review with all the things you liked/disliked, the things that bothered you, favorite chapters, favorite moments, where I could have fixed the characterization of one character or another, what I can do in the future to improve. This is a learning experience for me so anything you can tell me is helpful. I hope you guys liked it! 3 Holly.
