Things settled down once more and the two men enjoyed the rest of the summer. They had several barbeques for everyone at the weekends and had a surprise visit one weekend when Elton and his family arrived. Merlin seemed to have made quite an impression on them. They thought the two men were coping wonderfully with the problems they had faced. Elton spent over an hour looking at Merlin's photographs, he himself had a passion for photography and they spent ages discussing various techniques. Arthur mentioned that they were going on another canal boat holiday the next year and David asked all about the special boats. The two men were offered the use of the other family's home in Windsor if they wished for a holiday but that was left on hold as Merlin was unsure. By the time the family had left Arthur had been given a very generous cheque for the charity as well as an offer to do a small concert for the charity workers and users. Arthur was amazed at their interest and offer and accepted with gratitude.

In September Hunith went in hospital for day surgery on her cataracts. Although Merlin worried all day the operation went well and she was back home by the evening. Hunith asked Merlin to put in her eye drops afterwards which he did for a month. It took a bit of getting used to but if Hunith opened the bottle Merlin managed quite well. To start with they had lots of laughs as the drops went everywhere, but Merlin soon got very good, over the years he had become quite adapt in using what limited function he had.. He liked helping his mother and it made sure they saw each other four times a day. Gwen and Mithian popped in and did a bit of housework for her and Hunith came to the bungalow for all her meals.

As the nights got darker the telescope was used more and more and Arthur was getting very good at identifying the various stars. Merlin teased him saying that was why he had the updated planetarium put in so he could practice all year. While Arthur was star gazing Merlin would be watching the gardens resident hedgehogs.

They were both much more settled after their health problems of that year. Finally they were both were learning, at long last, to take each day as it came instead of either looking to the future or at the past. It allowed them to be happier and enjoy each day as it came. Merlin's mental health improved as a result to such a degree that everyone noticed the improvement. Gwaine even mentioned it to Arthur saying it was amazing that it was strange that Merlin's improvement was down to Arthur brush with cancer. Arthur agreed after giving some thought, and even said that it almost made the whole episode worthwhile from that point of view.

In November Gwaine managed to break his arm when he was doing some work on his cottage roof and fell of the ladder. It wasn't a bad break but he was in plaster for six weeks so Percy took over helping Merlin in the pool and gym. At first Gwaine watched but soon gave in and stayed away when Percy started to get annoyed.

Gwaine still spent most of the weekdays at the bungalow as usual. Because of his work with Merlin he had nearly always worked Monday to Friday dayshift, so he more than any of the bodyguards had a regular pattern to his life. Only George came close who nearly always did the night shifts. Gwaine took the dogs out for extra walks to help pass the time. The biggest surprise was when he went to town one day and came back with short hair! He said at fifty four he thought he ought to change his image. Mithian was not amused, especially as he also went clean shaven. That didn't last long and the facial hair soon came back.

Christmas was fast approaching once more and Merlin had asked Percy and Kay to get the tree as Arthur was busy with some work for Leon. They came back with a far bigger one than normal. Kay blamed Percy saying that being so tall he thought the tree was small. Merlin was only pleased they had such a large room. Percy was given the job of putting the top decorations on. Hunith went out with Gwen to buy more as the tree was bare even with all their old decorations on. Finna as usual tried to pull off the bottom decorations even though she was getting older. Gi was less interested he would much rather stay with Merlin. He had gained a nickname of 'shadow' over the years.

Gwaine plaster came off just in time for Christmas and he was now less irritable. They were spending the Christmas with Arthur and Merlin this year. In fact everyone was there so the second table had to be retrieved from the garage once more in preparation for the big day.