Hey all, thanks for the reviews

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and got everything that you wished for. Hope you have a good New Year and I'll see you in 2010


He'd had great fun on Christmas Day, enjoying the festivities and unable to keep a smile from his face. Alethea had been quite taken with everything that was going on and everywhere she looked she found something new, which made Arthur smile. He had wanted to give her the perfect Christmas considering this was their first one together and it seemed that she was having a lot of fun. Both couldn't stop laughing by the time they went to bed that night, soaked through with melting snow and the odd flakes sticking to their clothes. Neither had won the snowball fight between them, though they were certain that the odd nobleman and peasant threw snow at them when their backs were turned. Eventually though, as it became darker and colder, they had all retired to their rooms where the comforts of warm fires and dry clothes awaited them.


Waking early the next day, Arthur found Alethea still sleeping and smiled sadly. He'd had fun yesterday, and had been genuinely happy for once, but it was times like these where he was alone that he really missed his father. The loss still hurt him and it was no better now even though it was a month since… Well, Arthur still couldn't truly believe that Uther was dead and that he was King. Everything had gone so fast since the end of the battle and, well, he hadn't really had chance to grieve properly. What with all the arrangements and documents needing to be sorted and signed and any threats removed, plus getting everything together for Christmas, he just hadn't had the time. And now, in his moments alone he got the chance to mourn.

He had loved his father. He had been the only parent he knew, and yeah, he hadn't always agreed with his policies but Arthur knew that it was only natural for a child to rebel against their parents at some stage in their life. It was just that Arthur could easily stand up against his father when they were alone, but when he openly objected in public he would be punished. He'd known from the beginning that this was only because Uther didn't want anyone to believe that they could stand up against him and not get punished, so most of the time he was quite obliging in staying in his room for a few days or spending a spell in the dungeons. It was when his father punished him for something that had been right that Arthur hadn't understood. There was that instance where Merlin had been poisoned by a drink meant for Arthur, and the Prince had ridden out for the cure against his father's wishes. He'd been arrested when he returned, but it had all been worth it in the end. His friend had lived and he knew that Merlin had only gone and repaid his debt many a time since then. Having a magician for a friend did have it's advantages, Arthur supposed, but then again now he had removed the ban on magic, would Camelot actually be worse off than it had been?

It had taken a lot of thought and debate to finally make the decision, and a lot of talking to from Alethea, but Arthur still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would come out of it. No matter how much reassurance he was given, he was certain that something would go wrong. After all, he had been brought up to believe that all magic was evil and that no good could ever come out of it. However, Merlin had proven him wrong on more than a few occasions so perhaps it could be used for good. He was struck by a thought then. If magic had now been allowed, did that mean that people wanting revenge for what had happened twenty years ago would come to Camelot? And if so, who would they target? His answer was clear to him. Anyone wanting revenge only had to threaten Alethea and Arthur would do anything in his power to stop them. His one weakness, and one he knew that people would exploit without a second thought.

Wondering whether he should get up and dressed, the young King couldn't help but wonder if his servant would show up for work today or if the warlock would be too busy running around after the de Ravenscar girl. He had seen them both yesterday, Merlin doing everything that the young lady asked of him. It was obvious to everyone that saw them together that Merlin was in love with her, but Arthur knew that there were so many things that meant that the two of them could never be together. Arthur didn't mind so much about their social standings considering he could easily make Merlin a noble whenever he chose, but the girl was due to leave any day now. Lord Edgar had seemed quite keen to return to his home in the Northern territories the moment that the roads had cleared up, which meant that pretty soon Arthur's love struck servant would be a heart broken one. Arthur didn't know which one would be worse, but there was nothing he could do. The only way he could keep the girl here would be by either demanding that her father let her stay, or by arresting her. Whichever way, he would certainly cause tensions between Camelot and Ravenscar, which wasn't a good thing at all. Well, Arthur supposed, perhaps he could let Merlin off just this once. After all, the next time Lord Edgar and his family returned, his daughter could be married or at least engaged, so why not let Merlin spend his time with her?

Deciding that he may as well get up, Arthur stoked the fire to try and get a bit more warmth into the room before adding a few more logs. Usually this was a servant's job, but today he couldn't care less. He wanted Merlin to be happy for once, and he didn't want Alethea to come down ill, so he didn't mind. Picking out some clean clothes to wear, he couldn't help but smile at the amount of times that people had strolled into his room first thing in the morning and had been surprised to find him dressed. He wasn't a total fool when it came to things like this, he just liked having company, and generally winding up his servants. Putting on one of his blue tunics, he found the dark jacket that went with it before looking around for his boots. Seeing one of them sticking out from under the bed, he could not help but wonder how they had gotten under there and lay on the floor, shoving his arm out to get it. The top of one of them was just within reach when he found something was poking his back.

"What on Earth are you doing Arthur?" Alethea asked with bleary eyes. He mumbled something or other but she couldn't hear him as he was now half under the bed. Repeating himself, Arthur managed to grab hold of his shoe and began to pull, only to find that it was being moved in the opposite direction. Letting go of it, Arthur found Alethea's head looking back at him, blocking what little light he had.

"Trying to get my boots." he told her with a smile. Alethea just stared at him before pulling herself back onto the bed.

"Right… What are they doing under there?"

"I have no idea." he said as he tried to pull himself back out into the open. He nearly swore when he found that he was just a little bit stuck.

"Can I have a hand here?"

"Left or right?" Alethea joked, unable to keep herself from joking. Arthur realised that she must be finding this situation rather amusing though he really didn't want to be stuck under his bed for any longer than necessary.

"Alethea, please." he begged. Hearing her sigh, Arthur found that he was being pulled a few minutes later but though he moved a few centimetres more out into the open, he was still stuck.

"It's no use. I'm going to have to go and get some help."

"No." he said automatically, not wanting to be humiliated any further.

"Well, unless you want to stay under there all day…"

"Go on then, but be quick."

Hearing her footsteps echo down the corridor, Arthur sighed. Why was it that he had to go and get himself in these situations when he really didn't want to? Wondering who Alethea would turn to for help, he groaned when he heard them come back. He had been trying to get himself out whilst she'd been gone but he still hadn't had any joy. Hearing the unmistakable voices of Sir Gerard and Sir Oliver, he hoped that they would not tell anyone else of this, but he knew deep inside that he wasn't going to be allowed to forget this.

"Right, we've got two options. Either we lift the bed up or we try to pull him out." Alethea told them.

"I think someone needs to eat a little less." Sir Gerard said quietly, but not quiet enough for Arthur to not hear him.

"I heard that!"

"You take one leg, I'll take the other. On the count of three, pull." When this didn't work, they tried to lift the bed. As the two knights strained to lift the heavy piece of furniture, Alethea pulled her husband into the main room just before the men let go. Taking a deep breath, the two knights and Alethea couldn't help but laugh at the state of their young King. Arthur, feeling rather embarrassed already looked in the mirror to find that he was coated in dust and his hair was all over the place. It turned out that the one place Merlin didn't clean was under the bed, but this was soon to change.

"Gerard, Oliver, you can go, but breathe one word of this to anyone and you will be thrown in the stocks for a month. Got that?"

"Yes sire." the two men bowed and took their leave before Arthur turned to Alethea.

"Why did you have to go and get them two?"

"They were the only ones awake." she smiled. "Now come here." she said as she fetched him some clean clothes and sorted out his hair. "What am I going to do with you?" she sighed.

"I didn't mean to get stuck under there."

"I know. Perhaps Gerard was right though." Arthur's face fell. "Perhaps you do need to go on a diet." Arthur bit his tongue and grabbed one of the cushions off the bed.

"Care to repeat that?"

"You'll have to catch me first!" she laughed, glad to see her husband smile once more as she ducked the pillow.


After making the bed, the two of them headed down to breakfast where they found the hall mostly empty. It seemed that everyone was enjoying the chance to have a lie in and Arthur couldn't blame them. However, a few of the knights had caught wind of Arthur's misadventures and as he walked by they all burst into laughter. Alethea had to stifle a giggle and, well, Arthur just laughed with them, though he did make a mental note to follow through with his threat. The day passed by fairly quickly with nothing out of the ordinary happening though this was to be expected as the roads were treacherous at this moment in time, for the snow had turned to ice and more ice had formed, creating something tantamount to a skating rink, or at least that was how Alethea had described it. This meant that Lord Edgar couldn't get a move on, but Arthur also knew that once the ice melted Camelot would get an influx of visitors. With little else to do to entertain them as they were trapped in the castle for the time being, the men began to tell tales of their adventures and entertained everyone inside. The druids, who had stayed with them, began to show off some magic tricks, creating figures out of smoke and sparks from the fire, as well as causing candle flames to float about. As all this was going on, Arthur found Morgana joining him.

"Arthur, how are you?" she asked whilst Alethea was transfixed watching the show.

"I could be better. How about you?"

"I… I'm sorry for what I did. I had no choice." she apologised

"I understand." he said, looking straight ahead.

"I never meant for… Well, I had no idea what was going to happen."

"Morgana, I understand." he said, turning to face her. "Now, I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to stay here at Camelot?" he offered. It had been Alethea's idea originally but as she was busy watching the magic tricks, he thought he may as well ask.

"For how long?"

"Indefinitely?" he suggested. He had no problem with her staying considering she was like a sister to him and she had saved Alethea's life. Morgana looked to the young boy who was currently making two napkins shaped like birds dance around people's heads.

"I can't…"

"He can stay as well…. I mean, if you want to stay that is." he told her. "I'm not going to force you."

"I… I don't know Arthur. The druids… I've made plenty of friends and I can't just leave them."

"That's alright. I understand."

"I'll visit though. Someone needs to advise Gwen on her wedding." Morgana commented.

"What?" Arthur asked, this being the first he'd heard of any wedding.

"Have you not seen how she is around Lancelot?" Arthur smiled at that.

"So nothing has been said?"

"Not yet, but give it time."

"Yeah, I suppose." he smiled, before spending the rest of the evening watching these magic shows and listening to tales of the exploits of his men, just happy to sit back and forget about everything else for once.