It had been November before all the treatment was finished and the two men could begin to rebuild their lives once more. The whole experience had made to two men even closer. Arthur was in no hurry to start any work at the moment preferring instead to spending the time with Merlin. They made to most of the weather and went out for walks or messed about tidying the garden before the winter weather set in.

Geriant announced that after Christmas he was going to hand in his notice. He was the oldest of the bodyguards and wanted to get himself a small part time job and spend more time with his own family. It would be sad to see him go he had been working for them for over twenty years. Arthur spent some time deciding what to do. In the end he decided not to replace him as he was now home most of the time. It would be hard to have someone new in the team.

He had been informed that it was highly unlikely that the prisoners would be released for the foreseeable future; every parole request had been turned down so far. Arthur would review the situation again if they were ever released. He didn't intend to let any of the other men go unless they wanted to.

That Christmas was a quieter event. Gwaine Mithian and their children went to Mithian's parents. Miranda and Mordred wouldn't be coming until Boxing Day as they were going to his parents. Even Percy and Freya were going away to stay with Percy's family. But even so they had a nice time. Penny helped her Mum in the kitchen and even Hunith helped with the lighter work. They had a White Christmas; luckily it was mostly gone by the next morning. But Finna and Gi loved the snow and spent ages out in the garden running around before coming back in to get warmed up on Merlin's lap by the fire.

Merlin had brought Arthur a powerful telescope for Christmas and they all spent ages setting it up and looking at the stars. It was an inspirational choice on Merlin's part and Arthur loved it but once he had seen the night sky through it trouble started.

"Seeing this I think we need to update the planetarium in our bedroom we could get some of the smaller stars in. Just think we could have a sky with no light pollution." Arthur was getting enthusiastic.

"Don't be daft, think of the mess! The ceiling would have to come down." Merlin was just imagining the upheaval.

"Don't worry we could move into one of the other rooms while it was done." Arthur was actually serious.

"Won't the plaster on the walls have to come off as well? I seem to remember the work behind there as well." Morgana butted in.

"No way! You've' got to be mad. Why did I buy you that thing? You'll keep on and on now until I agree won't you?" Merlin glared at Arthur.

"Oh love, don't be like that, you know it will be worth it. I'll get some quotes."

"Why bother with quotes, that's the problem with you having money, you want something it's no problem. You should have had to struggle like mum did. You'd appreciate value of money then." Merlin was getting riled.

"Merlin! We never that short of money! You never did without." Hunith butted in.

"I didn't say we did mum, but you never threw thousands away for no reason." Merlin surprised his mother had almost backed Arthur.

"Merlin, it's for a good reason, you love the planetarium and must know every star by now. Accept the change and enjoy." Arthur knew all od Merlin's weak spots and knew he'd win.

"Now, now boys no fighting. Just move in with us while he gets it done Merlin. He won't like sleeping alone." Morgana offered.

"No way, I don't like sleeping alone either." Merlin gave up. With a bit of luck Arthur would forget about it.

Boxing afternoon the whole crowd was there once more, and the bungalow was full and very busy. Both the men loved having everyone there, but at the same time they were pleased once it was quiet once more. As always everyone was back on New Year's Eve to see the New Year in. It was no surprise that the two men wished for a better year.

In early February Merlin had a down spell and became withdrawn then a few days later come down flu. Arthur started his oxygen and called out the doctor. Merlin continued to get worse and started to get chest pain, he was taken to hospital for an x ray. He had developed pneumonia and was put on antibiotics. His weakened respiratory system couldn't cope, and this time he needed to go into hospital. Even there his condition worsened, and Arthur was told that Merlin needed to go to ITU and be ventilated, as he was unable to maintain adequate oxygen levels, and his body was getting tired. Merlin stayed on the ventilator for ten days and it was touch and go for awhile, once more Arthur stayed with him only leaving his side when forced to do so. It was a further two weeks after he left ITU, before he was well enough to come home. By then he was very down. His PTSD was back, just being in hospital was enough, it held to many memories for him. Iseldir visited him to help him with coping strategies, but told Arthur he didn't think Merlin's mental state would improve until he got home. Arthur even got permission for the dogs to visit on a couple of occasions to see if that would help.

Merlin remained weak for several months and his mood continued to suffer, as he was restricted in what he could do. The doctors had told them that Merlin was going into stage two of COPD and might well need his oxygen more frequently. Which made them both worry for the future.

Hunith and Merlin had had hundreds of extra bulbs planted in the autumn and the whole back garden was a blaze of colour from the snowdrops through to the tulips. So although Merlin had missed the early flowers he at least had something colourful to look out on which helped a bit.

It was June before Merlin was back in his pool once more and started to rebuild his strength. One day, in early July, as he came back from the pool with Gwaine he found Arthur and Kay emptying all the cupboards in the bedroom and moving everything into the spare bedroom next door.

"What are you doing?" Merlin asked.

"I thought I told you to keep him there for longer this morning!" Arthur said to Gwaine,

"Sorry princess, he wanted to come out." Gwaine laughed.

"I asked what is going on." Merlin demanded.

"Well I wanted to do something nice for you. You've had a bad time and you deserve a treat." Arthur appeared hesitant which made Merlin suspicions. "We need to clear the room; the electricians from the planetarium specialists are coming in two days to start work to update the system."

"Arthur! I thought we decided not to waste the money." Merlin glared at Gwaine who was sniggering behind him.

"It's not a waste; you love it you know you do. The wiring needed redoing anyway so it was a chance to update that's all." Said Arthur trying to justify what he had planned. "It will only take a couple of weeks."

In truth Arthur had only decided to do the update when Merlin came out of hospital. When doctors warned him that Merlin's chest was getting weaker, and he was going to be more prone to chest infections and breathing difficulties, he wanted to do something special. The damage done during his kidnap was finally taking its toll. If Merlin might have to spend long in bed, Arthur wanted Merlin to have everything to make life better. He was also having piped oxygen put in both the bedroom and lounge so they could dispense with the large bottles. He had been lucky that the firm had time to get the job done quickly before winter came once more.

Merlin was cross for a few days but was also secretly pleased as it was something they both enjoyed, sleeping under the stars but in a very comfortable bed. In the end the job took three weeks including the redecorating of the bedroom and lounge. The result was a great success and there were twice as many pinpricks of light so Merlin forgave Arthur. His husband was just pleased that Merlin never knew the cost.

Arthur would have had a hard time justifying the price to Merlin. The system had been specially commissioned and the lights controlled by a computer so the stars would twinkle and move. They could change the sky to anywhere in the world. There was a new blind to cover the window so the starlight sky would cover the whole room and further down the walls. It was a completely new type of system. It had cost Arthur over twenty thousand pounds, and he thought it was worth every penny when he saw Merlin's face, the first night they had it on. If Merlin ever needed to sleep sat up he would still be able to fully enjoy it.

When Morgana saw the system in action she made Merlin blush, saying she was convinced Arthur would do literally anything for Merlin, he had after all, just brought him the moon and stars.

The thing was Arthur and Merlin both knew it was true.