Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, it is owned by BBC, Syfy, and its creators. I do own Anne, Caylene, Fastion and Amyntas.

A/N: In my defense I had planned on Anne having the baby right after the Sins of the Father part, and I have people who can collaborate that, so the good news in the United Kingdom at the Duke and Duchess's new arrival was not in any way responsible for this part happening right now as I have had it planned that way since before I ever put this story up on FanFiction. Anyway on with the story...


I smiled as I watched Arthur and Merlin come riding back from another day of hunting. Arthur was obviously yelling at Merlin about something and Leon sat in the horse behind his shoulders shaking from the laughter he was trying to suppress. It had been two months since Morgause had used her magic to lie to Arthur about the circumstances of his birth and since that time Merlin had stayed close to Arthur as he worked through the emotions that had been made and dragged up due to that lie.

I felt arms slip around me, and heard a soft chuckle near my ear, "The boy probably made Arthur miss a deer again."

"Or does Arthur just blame Merlin for his bad aim," I teased Uther.

"Never! My son is the finest knight Camelot has to offer, which means his hunting skills are also the finest Camelot has to offer," Uther declared turning me to face him.

"Not a single bit of favoritism in you, is there?" I grinned, waiting for him to take the bait.

He did so with a grin, "Nope, not one bit." A few seconds later his face straightened into a look of seriousness, "But Arthur has to be the best or his knights will not look up to him when he becomes king." I looked down at that reminder and felt tears pricking my eyes, as I cursed my fluctuating emotions, Uther smiled at me, "I don't plan on giving up the throne any time soon, Anne. There is no need to worry that my death will come soon, first I need to fight off every man who tries to court, let alone look at Caylene with interest before I die."

"Poor boy," I remarked in false sympathy as I turned back to watch Arthur and Merlin walk into the castle. I rubbed my face, and pushed away from the window ledge and Uther, "I'm heading to bed." Uther nodded, kissed me and then headed back to his desk to work on the last of his paperwork for the day.


"Uther! Uther!" Uther groaned as a hand urgently shaking him and a voice filled with stress dragged him mentally kicking and screaming out of his sleep.

"What?" he grumbled as he turned around to pull the warm body next to him close, he felt the muscles under his hand tighten up. His eyes snapped open as he looked into Anne's pain-filled ones that seemed to fill with more pain as the muscles he was resting his hand on clenched tightly once more. "I'm getting, Gaius!" He yelled and jumped up dashing across the room, and swearing when his knee and bare toes ran into the chair he had pulled away from the table earlier in the day to watch Caylene play.

He sidestepped it and continued to head for Gaius's chambers as he ignored the castle guards and servants who watched the king sprint down the corridors. As he arrived at Gaius's chambers he threw the door open, and watched as his friend awoke mid-snore, knowing he would have laughed if he was not worried and in a hurry at the moment.

"Anne?" Gauis asked, and with a nod from Uther, the physician was up and throwing open Merlin's door. "Merlin, come quickly I might need your help with Anne once more." He watched as Gaius quickly backed up as Merlin trotted down the stairs, pulling on his blue shirt as he did. Gaius turned to grab a few bottles, his physician's bundle and walked toward him.

He fell into step with Gaius discussing what he knew of Anne's condition as they went. When they reached his and Anne's rooms, the door flew open as Morgana stepped out of the room holding Caylene. "Morgana?"

"A maid who saw you running woke me up. I thought I would come and see what I could do to help, I thought maybe Caylene wasn't feeling well again," Morgana explained.

Uther nodded, "Will you watch Caylene until Anne is feeling better?"

"Of course," Morgana smiled as Uther rested his hand against the side of her face in thanks, kissed her forehead and followed Gaius, who had pushed by Morgana as she was talking, into his rooms.

When he was inside of the room, Anne and Gauis were talking to each other about the pain she was in and how everything was going so far. After confirming his suspicions Gaius moved back to Uther. "I will need you to leave until we are through here, sire."

Uther nodded hesitantly before moving toward Anne. After he kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand, earning him a bruising grip from Anne in return as her nails dug into the flesh of his hand, he straightened up, "I'll be right outside if you need me for anything." She nodded as she gritted her teeth against the pain and the tears that were forming in her eyes. Uther quickly moved out of the room before Gaius could yell at him.

Merlin shut the door behind Uther and stood next to Morgana as they worked on quieting Caylene, who kept yelling "no" at them. Finally, Uther shook himself from his worry and moved toward Caylene, "I'll take her until she falls asleep and then I'll bring her to your chambers, Morgana."

Morgana nodded before turning to Merlin, "Could you go get Gwen and have her come and help me get a sleeping area ready for Caylene?" Merlin nodded before heading off in the direction of the castle courtyard and the lower town, as Uther started pacing the hall with Caylene in his arms trying to soothe her back to sleep and keeping a hand over one ear and her other ear pressed against his chest so that she did not hear any of the shouts or screams coming from the closed room.

As the new day dawned, Uther continued pacing outside the room as Arthur leaned against the wall near him, watching him as he moved. It had been twelve hours since this had started, and eight since he had finally gotten Caylene back to sleep and taken her to Morgana's room to sleep for the night. He stopped as he heard giggling coming down a connecting hall and watched as Caylene came toddling around the corner, her hair wild from sleep and a big smile on her face.

As Arthur was closer she saw him first and moved toward her older brother, who automatically bent down and picked her up before tossing her lightly in the air and catching her on her way down. "Good morning, Cay."

"Morn, Artur," Caylene replied as she wrapped an arm around his neck and began tracing his facial features with her other hand. After a few minutes, she pulled back and asked, "Dada?"

Arthur pointed at Uther and Caylene followed the direction his finger was pointing in as he said, "Father is right there." As Caylene caught sight of Uther, she wiggled hard in Arthur's arms. "Nope, you don't get Father until I get my morning hugs." Caylene sighed in annoyance and gave Arthur a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug before demanding "me down" to Arthur.

Uther dropped on to one knee as Caylene worked on running toward him, when she reached him she dropped forward in his arms and tightened her arms in a circle around his neck. He pulled himself back up to a standing position and continued his walk with her as she chattered to him and sometimes Arthur about Amyntas, Morgana, Gwen, Merlin, Gaius and the rest of the family, though they were only able to pick out the names Mtas, Gana, Gen, Merin, and Guys in her conversation.


I smiled softly as a huge cry bellowed throughout the room, and Gaius moved toward a nearby basin full of water before wrapping it and turning toward me, "Congratulations, Anne, it's a boy." As he was working on the baby, Gwen came over and helped me get myself presentable, before Gaius was back and placing the baby in my arms before heading for the door.

He was halfway there when the door opened and Uther peeked around the edge of it. I smiled at him and beckoned him to come closer with my free hand, he stepped around the door, the sounds of Arthur and Caylene laughing filtered into the room. Uther turned to send Gwen to get Morgana, as I began to feed the baby and Gaius finished on tidying up the room, before turning back to me and slowly sliding on to the bed next to me. He stretched out his legs and crossed them at his ankles as he caressed the top of the baby's head. "Is it a boy or a girl?"


(Evil grin) Yes, I absolutely had to end it there, those of you who have read this from the beginning know I love cliffhangers, they make me smile...unless I am the one having to wait for the cliffhanger to end...curse you NCIS.