That evening presented itself as the perfect opportunity for Merlin to pay Morgana a visit; Gaius fell asleep early and there were next to no guards wandering about the castle.

'Knock-knock,' Merlin whispered, making Morgana jump.

'Saying 'knock-knock' does not actually substitute for knocking, you know,' she hissed, looking at him in her large mirror – she had just been brushing her hair before bed, having given Gwen the night off – whilst clutching at her chest to try and calm her breathing. But she was not really angry and they both knew it which made Merlin grin.

'I'm not the only one who's forgotten how to knock, am I?' he asked sarcastically. She frowned. What was he on about? 'This morning… you barged into my room…' he reminded her. Oh, that. That morning seemed like so long ago that Morgana had quite forgotten she'd gone storming to the physician's chambers in search of Merlin, finding both him and Gwaine undressed and asleep.

'Oh,' she muttered.

'Oh,' he repeated, raising his eyebrows. 'Anyway, I came to see you because Arthur mentioned something about Morgause being banished this morning?'

'Yes,' Morgana answered, rising from the stool to get into bed. 'She went to Uther with some story about me consorting with a druid man-'

'I'm not a druid,' Merlin interrupted.

'I know,' she nodded. 'Well anyway, I denied the claims, obviously, and Uther banished her for lying about me.'

'Right…' Merlin mumbled, not looking anywhere near as happy as she expected him to.

'What's wrong?' she asked. 'This is good news, isn't it?'

'Of course,' he replied, but his face didn't seem to agree with him.

'What is it?' she queried, crawling along the bed until she reached the edge where she sat, patting the duvet for him to sit next to her.

He plonked himself down and looked at the floor. 'Morgana, you don't think she's going to just leave and move on, do you? I mean, she was really angry last night. I doubt very much she's just going to let this go.'

'But she has to,' Morgana insisted. Why was he being so negative? The one person who could cause them any trouble had been banished from the kingdom on pain of death. 'If she comes anywhere near Camelot again, she'll be executed. Merlin, we don't have to worry about her,' she assured him, taking his hands in hers and looking him straight in the eye.

'Fine,' he nodded, but something told Morgana he still had doubts.

'Why don't you stay the night?' she asked, trying to distract him from his thoughts. She was happy and felt safe again; the last thing she wanted was for him to ruin that by putting a downer on it. He did have a habit of over-thinking things.

'Morgana, I don't think my back can take another night on that stool,' he said, making a noise that sounded something like a laugh.

'Well then don't sit there,' she replied simply.

'Where else am I supposed to-' He stopped when she motioned her head towards the bed. 'No. No, we're not ready to-'

'I wasn't suggesting we do anything!' she protested. 'I just mean why don't you lie on the bed? I'm sure we're quite capable of sharing this rather large bed without touching each other and you'd be far more comfortable,' she pointed out, sounding somewhat disappointed, or maybe offended that he didn't want to.

It wasn't that he didn't want to; Merlin would have loved nothing more than to take things further but the risks were too high, for both of them. He battled with his opposing thoughts for a moment or so before looking at the woman beside him – as much as he could in the dim candle light. She was looking at him eagerly, a very expectant look on her face. Did she have to look at him like that, it wasn't fair.

'Separate sides of the bed?' he asked.

'Of course,' she replied, smiling a pearly white smile.

'And I leave before dawn,' he stated.

'Don't you always?' she asked, rhetorically, biting down on her lip, unable to conceal her pleasure. He stood up and allowed her to move to the left side of the bed. She lay down on her back, hands on her stomach, waiting for him to get in the other side. He climbed into the right side of the bed, being very careful not to touch her as he lay down awkwardly on his back, before pulling the covers over them both.

'Merlin?'

'Hmmm?'

'Do you make a habit of sleeping with your boots on?' she giggled, biting down on her finger.

Shoot! He leapt out of the bed, accidentally dragging the duvet with him. Hurriedly, he pulled off his offending shoes and tucked them neatly underneath the bed, cursing himself. He couldn't have been more embarrassed if he'd tried! He was just thanking his lucky stars that he'd cleaned them the day before so they weren't too dirty.

Gingerly, he lay back down, taking care to put the duvet back over Morgana without touching her. He didn't want to give himself anymore temptation to battle against. He stared up at the ceiling feeling more than a little bit uncomfortable. He couldn't help thinking about what would happen if someone were to walk in right now.

'Are you alright?' Morgana whispered, rolling onto her side so she could see him.

'I'm fine,' he murmured, turning his head to face hers. 'You?'

'I'm fine too,' she said. Merlin didn't really know where to take the conversation from there so he remained silent.

'This is silly,' she declared after what must have been fifteen minutes. Before Merlin had the chance to ask what she meant, she grabbed hold of his arms, held them in the air and cuddled into his chest, then letting his arms drop so they formed a sort of protective barrier around her. His stomach immediately responded by turning over and not in a 'feeling sick' sort of way. He didn't think this was the wisest idea she'd ever had but he didn't stop her; a, because he didn't want to hurt her feelings and, b, because he just didn't really want to. Deep down, he liked lying with her, holding her. It made him feel like they were a proper couple with no troubles or responsibilities.

'Comfortable now?' he asked, bemused at her forwardness.

'Very,' she breathed, stroking his back with her long, slender fingers.

'Good,' he whispered in her ear. And they lay like that until, eventually, they both fell asleep, seemingly without a care in the world.

A/N … N'awww isn't that sweet? My best friend, Kim, whom you will all know by now because I keep mentioning her, has finally made a video for the story, YAY! I l know links don't work, but you can copy and paste it into your preferred search engines, so here you go: watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BQCn0wb5sL8

I strongly advise you watch it, it's great!

Feel free to review…