Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
AN: First off, I want to tell you all how sorry I am. I am sooooo late. Forgive me, please? And second, Kindly words for my kindly reviewers.
The green lama: Welcome to the Party! I'm glad you like the story. And yeah, it was moving slow. And then things start to get interesting. I hope you continue to read and review. I like getting new people.
Natalie: I don't know. Is he? ;)
:op: I'm glad you liked. Morgaine said to tell you thank you for returning her husband.
Evenstar-mor2004: I'm glad my chapter helped to brighten your day. I hope this chapter does the same.
WindsHeart: Welcome to the Party! I'm glad you like it. And yeah, you can't have King Arthur without some of the myths thrown in from time to time. I hope you continue to read.
HGandRHForever: You really make my day with your reviews sweetie. Thank you for the compliment, by the way. (Gives a little bow) I loved the cybercookies too! They were yummy!
lilstrummrgrl527: Now wait one second! Don't get ahead of yourself. (Don't tell anyone, but you're right! ;) giggle giggle) And yep, another baby. Hope you don't mind. ;)
Maeghan: Welcome to the Party! And yes, it was a Battlestar Galactica reference. You weren't supposed to know that. BG is my favorite TV show ever. I'm mucho sad that the season finale is tomorrow night. I don't know what I'm going to do without it. I hope you continue to like this story.
Babak: Hey sweetie! I'm glad you're not going to kill me. And come on, you know Bergisa (and me) better than that. When has she ever listened to anything that Lancelot had to say to her. And yes, Morgaine actually set it up. ;)
LANCELOTTRISTANBABY: I hope you like this story. Today, their relationship gets interesting.
dw: I hope you continue to like where I'm going with them. They make me very happy.
ZELINIA: Glad you liked it. Continue to read. I hope you got my email.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Returning to the tavern, Galahad showed himself briefly in the doorway. Catching sight of him, Morgaine nodded once and then let go of Tristan. He raced out, nearly crashing into Bergisa as she showed up outside the tavern. "Are you all right?"
Slammed out of her daydream, she looked up at her brother. "Why wouldn't I be all right, Tristan?"
Drawing her close, he called over his shoulder to his wife, "Isolde? Let's go home, it's late."
Isolde joined her husband, smiling at the wistful look on her sister-in-law's face. Tristan, typical male, was oblivious, but she could see that Bergisa's thoughts were firmly fixed on a certain curly-haired and chocolate eyed Knight. Reaching over, she touched the girl's arm. "Are you all right, Bergisa?"
Knowing that Isolde could see where her thoughts lay, Bergisa blushed lightly and looked down at the floor. Resolving to discuss this latest development with Morgaine, Isolde fell silent and followed her husband and sister-in-law to the stables where their horses were put up.
Morgaine and Gawain joined Galahad outside, Morgaine practically beaming. Though when Galahad didn't say anything, her impatience made itself known. "Well, tell me everything!"
"She's definitely in love with him, Morgaine. And, even if he won't admit it to anyone -not even himself- he is besotted with her. I think it frustrates him that he's so enamored with her and he doesn't understand why that is," he said, slipping an arm around his wife's shoulders. "They're playing completely into your hands."
Gawain wrapped his arm around Morgaine's waist and kissed her temple. "When you made that deal with Bergisa, did you know that you weren't going to let her fall in love with any other man?"
"Of course," she conceded, calling over her shoulder, "Melinus! Come here!"
Just then, the soldier from the tavern came over, smiling lightly. "Your Highness." He greeted her, bowing slightly.
"Gawain….Galahad, I want you to meet Melinus. My secret weapon."
Galahad was the first to see it and burst into laughter. "You evil little trickster!"
Morgaine curtsied demurely, "Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week. I paid Melinus here to talk to Bergisa. Thus, as you saw, making Lancelot insanely jealous and having him put his foot down. And if I know Bergisa, which I do, she'll completely disregard anything Lancelot told her to do and talk to Melinus anyway. And, if I'm lucky, Lancelot will come storming in once again. Thus sparking another fight. And eventually, Lancelot and Bergisa will realize their true feelings for each other. Playing them right into my hands."
Morgaine cackled with glee as her husbands watched her in awe and more than a little pride. "That is very clever," Gawain told her.
"That's what I'm good at." Morgaine insisted with a sly smirk.
The next afternoon, Lancelot was walking through town with Galahad and Gawain -on an errand for Morgaine- when he saw Bergisa talking to Melinus. He broke away from them, grabbing Bergisa's arm as he stormed past and practically dragging her away. Stopping and whirling her around to face him, he roared, "I thought I told you not to talk to him again!"
"Oh stuff it, you pompous, egotistical, pathetic excuse for swine!" Bergisa snapped, pushing her way past him.
Lancelot wouldn't hear any of it, grabbing her arm and hauling her back before pinning her against the wall behind them, hands gentle despite their firm grip. "You listen to me now and listen to me well. You are mine! And you will not speak to anyone else."
Galahad, using the spying tricks that Tristan had taught him, was hiding in the shadows to their left. Hearing those words from Lancelot caused a wide smirk across his lips. Bergisa wrenched away, snapping right back at him. "I am not yours yet! According to my agreement with Morgaine, I still have some time."
Lancelot, unable to understand why it was that he was so angry, hauled her up to his lips and kissed the air from her body. While she stood there, panting heavily to regain the air he had stolen, he turned and stormed away with the final say, "Don't talk to him again."
Galahad smirked and left his hiding place, whistling happily to himself. Passing Bergisa, he bowed slightly to her, an absurd grin on his face. "Hello, Lady Bergisa. Wonderful day we're having, isn't it?"
Bergisa, still flustered, only nodded, watching him as he rejoined Gawain at the side of the road. The two smiled at each other and went to report to Morgaine. She was standing at the window of their apartments in her shift, listening to the midwife lecture her about her pregnancy. Gawain and Galahad came in and smiled at her. Morgaine grinned at them, before turning to the midwife. "Thank you, Tia. I will take what you say into account."
Tia, realizing that she was being dismissed, humphed and left the room. Gawain slumped into a chair, one leg over the armrest. Sanora, seeing that her daddy was back from wherever he had been, got up and held up her arms to be held. Gawain leaned over and pulled her into his lap. "Hello, my little Princess," he murmured, running his fingers through her sunshine colored hair.
Galahad sat down in his own chair, Archie climbing into his lap as well. Morgaine moved to her couch, reclining there on her side. Her hand trailed absently over her belly, drawing abstract nonsense on her bloated belly. "Well?"
"You were right," was all Galahad said.
At this news, Morgaine grinned. "So, the match is set and it's game-point. Anyone willing to make a guess as to who is going to be the victor?"
Nearly three weeks later, after running into Gawain and getting into another disagreement over Lancelot, Bergisa showed up at the aforementioned Knight's chamber. "Is it just me, or is Gawain having a little too much fun baiting us?"
"It's not just you." Lancelot muttered, reluctantly.
Both of them whirled as the door slammed closed and then was barred. From the outside. "Morgaine!" Lancelot roared, coming over and shoving the door hard.
It didn't even budge an inch.
Turning to the distraught young woman, he accused, "You planned this!"
Distraught quickly morphed into furious. "Me! How do I know that you didn't plan this as another way to get me into your bed?" Bergisa snapped back, starting one of their legendary arguments. "Remember? I'm wise to your maniacal schemes to try and seduce me!"
"Schemes! I wouldn't try to seduce you if my life depended on it!" Lancelot roared back, throwing up his hands in frustration.
"Good! Because I wouldn't have you if you tried!" she screamed back, heartbroken though determined not to let him know that, the flat of her hand catching him hard across the cheekbone.
Tristan looked at Morgaine as he joined her outside the door she'd just barred. "Are you sure about this? He's a rake! Thinks that all women worship him."
"Tristan, Bergisa may be your little sister, but she's also my best friend. I have it on good authority, namely my curly-haired and youngest husband, that she loves him. And that he loves her back. It is important for their relationship that they try and move past their childish arguments."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it, does it?" Tristan grumbled, his arms crossing over his chest.
Morgaine chuckled and patted the older man's arm gently. "No, Tristan, you don't have to like it. I would worry if you did."
The rest of the Knights gathered outside nonchalantly and waited to see how long it would take for the arguing to stop. It took all of an hour before they decided to wait in the empty chamber beside them. The men started up a rousing card game while the women gathered around the window and their quilting.
Eight hours after the start of the fight, there was still no sign of the end. Galahad glanced toward the window, where the women were engaged in a quilt for Morgaine's next child. She was heavily pregnant and looking more beautiful as everyday passed by. He caught Gawain's eye, noticing that he too had been watching the sable-haired and brazen Dark Child. Looking at his fellows, he inquired lowly, "How long have they been in there?"
"A little over eight hours. I'm thinking of passing them some water." Arthur confided, folding his cards in defeat. Gawain crowed in victory as he displayed Full Colors and started to sweep in the piddling coins that they had been playing with.
Somehow, Morgaine heard this confession and dropped her needlework, lunging forward despite her bulk to join them. "Don't you dare open that door! This is good for their relationship. Let them hash everything out and go from there."
The Knights held up their hands in surrender and shook their heads in denial, yielding to her determination. Though she was a woman, they all knew what their beloved Dark Child was capable of; no one was eager to spark her wrath.
Another four hours later, there was still no relenting in their argument. Morgaine finally threw up her hands in frustration. "Oh that's it! Just throw her into a wedding dress and kick her down the aisle. This is getting ridiculous!"
"I'm with Morgaine. Let them kill each other legally," Isolde agreed, nodding at the Dark Child in acknowledgement. Bergisa had already confessed, under duress, to both Isolde and Morgaine that she loved the sarcastic Knight, though she'd be damned if she admitted it aloud. She was all for Morgaine's plan to marry the two off. The two would definitely keep each other on their toes. Tristan glowered down at his wife, discomfited by the very idea. "Now, wait one moment…."
Morgaine cut him off, smiling at her friend, "Thank you, Isolde. Come on, Arthur. They've been in there for twelve hours. Alone. We can claim that she's ruined and force them to marry."
"You just want him to kill me, don't you?" Arthur asked rhetorically.
Morgaine went to protest, when suddenly there was silence on the other side of the brick wall. All eyes turned to look at the wall, startled. Leaving the room, they stared at the heavy oaken door in shock and confusion. They had become so used to the arguing that to not hear it anymore was something of a shock. "What just happened?" Dagonet asked in whisper.
"They stopped arguing," Gawain explained, just as quietly. Everyone seemed worried that to say anything too loud would break whatever pause there was and the two prisoners would go back to screaming at each other.
Morgaine turned to Tristan. "Stay here for an hour. If they haven't started arguing again, take the bar off the door carefully….make sure that they don't know you're doing it and leave them be."
"Yes, Your Highness," he agreed, reluctantly, disgruntled that he would have to play babysitter to his sister and the rake, before bowing slightly to the Princess and taking up a watchful position against the opposite wall. As he stood, he started to come up with great and elaborate plans to sever Lancelot's head from either his shoulders or from between his legs. Whichever seemed prudent at the moment.
Distrusting her husband's motives, Isolde insinuated herself into his arms, in order to prevent Lancelot's blood from flowing in crimson rivers across the flagstones, both of them keeping a close eye on the door as the rest of their fellows disappeared. "What do you think is going on?" she inquired of her husband, looking up at him quietly. She adored her sister-in-law and was worried about what the combatants' silence could mean.
Tristan was listening, hearing things that anyone without his incredibly acute hearing would never have heard. "I think I'm going to have to avenge my sister's honor."
Isolde rolled her eyes, teasing him, "Are you sure it's not Bergisa's idea?"
"Hold your tongue, woman. Lancelot is a rogue and a rake and a villain, the vermin I crush beneath my shoe. If anything at all happens, it's all on his shoulders."
Isolde chuckled, knowing full well that Bergisa's motto was, "No bedding before the wedding." Which meant, if there any seduction, it would all be on Lancelot's shoulders. But that didn't mean she had to admit that tidbit to her husband.
An hour passed in silence and the two glanced at each other. Moving quietly, Tristan removed the bar without making a single sound. Taking his wife's hand, he led her away.
Bergisa looked up at the man, both panting as the air rang with Bergisa's inadvertent confession. Lancelot stared at her, ordering imperiously, "Say that again."
Bergisa glowered at him, opening her mouth to tell him what's what, when he said the one thing that could knock her onto her backside, "Please, Bergisa. Tell me what you said."
Bergisa nibbled on her lower lip, before bursting out, "When you look at all those other women, I'm jealous as hell!"
Lancelot stared at her, before chuckling, "Well, I'm jealous of every man that so much as glances at you as you pass. Even the Knights, and they're all married. Why do you think I freaked out when you were talking to that idiotic country bumpkin?"
Bergisa smiled shyly, blushing a pretty rose color, reaching out to run lazy hands over the bulging muscles in his arms. Suddenly looking severe again, she pushed away again and scowled up at him, "Now let's get one thing straight, though, this doesn't mean I like you. I still hate you."
Lancelot chuckled slightly, murmuring, "I hate you too, my own," before gripping her arms gently and pulling her up into a passionate embrace.
About ten minutes later, Bergisa was on her back on the bed, enjoying the feel of Lancelot's lips on her own. His hand started to drift and she slapped him, hard, across the topknot. "Ow! What?" Lancelot cried out, letting her go like she was on fire and grabbing the top of the suddenly aching crown of his head, probing with his fingers for a bump or a bloodied area.
"I don't bed before I wed, Lancelot. You're just going to have to wait," she insisted, confidently, before sitting up and moving toward the door. She adjusted the lie of her gown and curtsied mockingly, "I'll see you in the morning, Sir."
Lancelot grumbled as she disappeared from the room, before smiling goofily and leaning back against his pillows. The next morning, Sir Lancelot of Sarmatia, the only Knight to remain unmarried, asked Tristan for his only sister's hand in marriage. Morgaine had to threaten and cajole and argue and plead with the obstinate scout, before Tristan finally agreed with the match. The following week, The Last Bachelor of Camelot officially promised himself to the Queen's lady-in-waiting, the Lady Bergisa.
