A shadow fell over her and Gwen moved the arm covering her face, squinting her eyes against the glare of the sun.

"Have you quarrelled with Arthur again?" Merlin flopped down on the deck next to her and stretched out.

"We don't quarrel that much." Gwen pushed herself up on one elbow and looked down at Merlin. "Do we?"

"More than Percy and Elena, that's for sure."

Gwen lay back down on the deck and sighed. "We did have a bit of a tiff this morning over how to allocate the funds to Ismere. He's a bleeding heart sometimes."

"And apparently you're the hard-hearted, practical one. Who would have thought?"

"Did Arthur complain to you?" Despite Merlin and Mordred's frequent visit to the druids, Merlin and Arthur had somehow struck up a friendship that was apparently close enough that he was sharing details of their relationship with Merlin.

Merlin laughed. "Are you rethinking tomorrow? You'll break his heart and he has a huge surprise for you."

"A surprise!" No wonder Arthur had been behaving weirdly, constantly distracting her with kisses and more whenever she ran into him, not that Gwen was complaining. "What kind of surprise?"

"Forget I said anything."

Gwen swung her leg to connect with Merlin's. "Give me a hint at least."

"Oh no."

"Will I like it?"

"You like anything that Arthur gives you. I mean, those wild flowers last week? They were on death's door but I saw the look on your face."

"Shut up." This time, her leg connected with Merlin's with greater force.

Merlin turned his face to look at her. "I'm happy for you. Honestly, I wasn't sure if you and Arthur would work."

"I wasn't sure either." She reached out her arm and Merlin took it. "Our lives are really different now."

"We're no longer pretending to be pirates. You're flying the Camelot flag on your ship. And tomorrow, you're going to be marrying a prince. Different is a bit of an understatement."

"Yeah."

The two of them lay hand in hand on the deck, soaking up the sun and enjoying the gentle rocking of the ship. It was a welcomed respite from their busy lives. Merlin, Mordred and Morgana spent a good portion of time with the druids while she and Arthur, together with Elena and Percy, made several trips between the various kingdoms. What had started as Arthur wanting to help Othanden and Ismere, ended up being various diplomatic trips around Albion. She went with him everywhere, mostly on The Lady of the Lake but sometimes on The Grail but until they were married, Arthur was insistent that she didn't set foot on Camelot. She wasn't a secret but Uther made his distaste of Arthur's association with her obvious and it was just easier to stay out of his way. That wasn't surprising. What was surprising was how much Gwen enjoyed helping rebuild Othanden and Ismere and solving problems.

"No one told me we were having a sun bathing party." Elena walked over, then settled cross-legged onto the deck, leaning against the side of the ship.

"Where's Percy?"

"He's talking to Arthur about boring politics," said Elena. "Before Arthur, Percy was never interested in such things. Now -" Elena shook her head, but the slight smile on her face softened her complaints. "Now he's talking about alliances and economies."

"He still doesn't want a seat in the Essetir council," said Gwen. "Arthur's asked several times."

"Sailing is in his blood," said Elena, not without a tinge of pride. "By the way, Mordred is sulking down below."

"At least he's unlikely to blow a hole through the ship."

Merlin scowled at Gwen. "You still won't let go of that incident."

"Incidents," said Elena. "With an 's'."

"Fine. Gang up on me."

Elena reached out and ruffled Merlin's hair. "You know we love you. You don't spend enough time with us anymore."

"The druids keep me busy. Not to mention Morgana and Mordred."

"I think you, Morgana and Mordred make a cute family," said Gwen.

"We're not a family. We're a bunch of people forced together. On a good day, I barely tolerate Morgana, that bossy, pushy woman."

Gwen tried not to smile. "I thought I saw you hug Mordred yesterday."

Merlin scowled again. "You probably had dirt in your eye."

Elena laughed, and Gwen was unable to stop herself from joining in. Eventually, Merlin squeezed her hand and laughed along with them.


Gwen was undoing her braid when Arthur walked into their room. He met her eyes in the mirror and he smiled, a warm, affection curve of his lips. He stood behind her and slowly, he began to untangle her hair, loosening it from the braid and pulling out the pins. Gwen closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Arthur taking care of her.

"How was your day?"

"Better if you were around." His lips brushed against her ear. "Did you enjoy your day with your crew?"

"Very much. Only you hogged Percy a lot."

His breath puffed against the back of her neck as he laughed. Then, Gwen shivered when he kissed her neck. "For a man who doesn't want to be a leader, he has a lot of opinions."

"He wants Essetir to return to her former glory."

Arthur's hands were now on her shoulders, massaging them gently. "I can understand that. But I really don't want to talk about politics right now."

Leaning back into Arthur, Gwen tilted her head up to look at him. "What do you want to talk about then?"

"I rather we don't talk actually."

And they didn't talk - not much at least - for a good, long while. Later, their legs entwined, her head resting on Arthur's bare chest, Gwen closed her eyes and listened to the comforting rhythm of his heart.

"Tomorrow," said Arthur.

"Mmm."

"I can barely believe it."

Gwen pressed her face into his chest. "Me too. But Gwaine's here and Merlin and Elena have been busy putting up what they claim are decorations. It's really happening."

"You don't have any doubts now, do you?"

"No. Not anymore." Gwen shifted so that she could see his face. "Do you?"

Arthur kissed her. "No. This six months - they have been perfect."

"Even our quarrel this morning?"

"We will never not quarrel," said Arthur with a sigh. "If only you were more pliable - ouch!"

"Maybe you should be less stubborn," said Gwen.

His laugh rumbled through her. "At least, we're really good at making up."

"That," said Gwen as she cupped his face, "we are."


AN: 3 years and 100k words later, this fic is finally done. Thank you to all of you who read and commented. You kept me going.