8th December 2018
"What do we get a three month old for Christmas?" Arthur wondered as he pushed the pram into the toy shop.
"You're his parent" Morgana shrugged. "Why don't you choose?".
"I have!" Arthur exclaimed. "We're getting him an IKEA highchair. Only £14. As for other stuff, no clue".
"Well, we're in Smyths so may as well take a look" Morgana shrugged.
"I can't wait till Amhar's old enough for one of these" Arthur shouted as he ran down the bikes and scooter aisle to the Cozy Coupes leaving Morgana to push the pram. "I love this".
"Never mind you what about the kid" Morgana rolled her eyes.
"I ain't got a clue about babies" Morgause added. "Whenever I've looked after him he looked at me weirdly the whole time".
"I wonder why" Morgana muttered.
"Ooh!" Morgause gasped as she ran to the baby section. "You wanted a car but Amhar's too young, so let's get this!". Morgause grinned as she picked up a cozy coupe plush car. "My present to him".
"Shh! Don't let him see it" Arthur warned as he put the hood over the pram.
"He won't remember it" Morgause rolled her eyes. "He's a baby".
"But still" Arthur insisted. "It's his first Christmas and he needs it to be special. Wonder what Santa's getting him?".
"You don't still believe in that bullshit do you?" Morgause cackled.
Arthur looked absurd and covered Amhar's ears. "Do not talk about that in front of my son!".
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" Morgana muttered.
"You don't say" Morgause agreed.
"Baby Einstein tummy time pillow" Morgana mused. "Hm I'll get this for him. He's sure to be a prodigy".
"I know" Arthur smirked. "It's the genes".
"Totally" Morgause rolled her eyes.
"Did you know?" Arthur beamed as he picked up a highchair toy. "That he can start having food from four months. That's next month".
"Wow!" Morgause said as she feigned surprise. "That's amazing. Who's ready for the staff Christmas party next week?".
Both Morgana and Arthur grumbled.
10th December 2018
Gwen returned to work a week before the Christmas holidays. Although this was only a half week—they were due to break up on Wednesday the 13th so it would be gentler on the baby. While she had left the baby with others a few times and he was doing well at the settling in sessions at nursery, that didn't stop the worrying. Would he be ok, especially given his surgery?
Yet she knew she'd have to return. She couldn't betray the poor students in Elena's class—even if Mithian did give them extra tutoring. When she took Amhar through to the baby room at his nursery, he happily went to his key worker while she talked over his day routine.
"He'll be okay" she reassured Gwen with a smile. "See? He's fine!".
Amhar smiled at his mother as she said "bye-bye" and walked away.
"Thank god! Mrs Smith's back" the second period students exclaimed as they walked into class.
"That I am!" Gwen smiled. "I'm back".
"We haven't learned anything" one of them piped up. "Miss Gawant was terrible. Please stay Miss Smith, please".
"Cant make any promises" Gwen sweetly smiled. "But I'll try to stay. Anyway, have you started a Christmas carol yet?".
"No! Miss LeFay's class has been doing a Christmas carol since the beginning of October! Miss Gawant wouldn't let us do it. 'It isn't Christmas yet'. It's not fair".
"Hate to break it to you guys" Gwen sighed as leant on the table. "But life isn't fair".
13th December 2018
The last day of school was a Wednesday so it did feel rather different to the typical Friday. Instead of fish and chip friday they had spaghetti bolognese Wednesday so it did feel rather strange when all the lessons were cancelled in favour of the church service. The walk was long and tedious as usual, Morgana whining to Morgause seeing as she wore high heels so it hurt to walk.
"You knew it was the last day, you should've worn flats" Morgause shrugged.
"Yeah well the last day isn't normally a Wednesday" Morgana scowled against the cold wind. "How long do you think Arthur will last before he falls asleep?".
"Ten minutes, tops" Morgause replied.
"If you say so" Morgana smirked. "I give it three".
Morgana had won the bet as Arthur quickly fell asleep, yet found himself being woken up by Lucy and Harriet laughing over a spider and having to tell them off much to the rest of the fourth years' amusement.
"Boy am I glad that 2018 is over" Morgana sighed as they walked back towards school, making sure to shoot Merlin a dirty look.
"Meh" Morgause shrugged. "Was it that bad?".
"I don't know. I'm just glad it's over".
"Of course you are" Morgause rolled her eyes.
15th December 2018
For once, the staff Christmas party was on a Friday lunchtime instead of during the evening. This meant that at least those with children wouldn't have to arrange childcare, so Amhar came along too. As usual for the Christmas party, they went to the bar and grill "The Magic Horse" once more, and given that it was during the day and kid friendly only made more sense.
"You know what's absolutely crazy?" Arthur asked. "Last Christmas party we'd found out that Gwen miscarried. Now this Christmas party we have the baby".
"I know" Morgana said. "Last year I got my memories back and now I hate Merlin".
"Why?" Arthur frowned. "I know he did shit and whatnot, but still".
"I just don't want history to repeat itself" Morgana shrugged. "Now, are you going to tell me what's got your looking like that?".
"Tomorrow morning" Arthur sighed. "I'll come to yours. Gwen has a baby group or something like that. I'll tell you then".
16th December 2018
"So what is the problem?" Morgana sighed.
"You know..." Arthur took a deep breath. "You know how Sophia and I had a son—Dylan".
"Yeah?" Morgana frowned. "What about him?".
"He recently got in touch with me".
"Oh".
"Yes, oh" Arthur sighed. "He wants to meet with me and I said yes".
"When are you meeting?" Morgana asked slightly skeptically.
"The magic horse, in an hour" Arthur replied. "Can you drop me off? I don't want to drink drive. I'll take a taxi home".
"Does Gwen know?" Morgana checked.
"No. Don't tell her. I don't want her to know".
"How you managed to hide having a kid for eighteen years I'll never know" Morgana muttered. "Oh and any other secrets while we're at it?".
"Yeah, actually" Arthur sheepishly admitted. "I also have twin sons too. They're fourteen, Leonardo and Gideon. Again, we're not in contact".
"Right. Good luck with that then, Arthur".
Arthur sat at the bar in the Magic Horse as he had awaited seeing his eldest son. He hadn't seen him in years, having ultimately lost the custody battle while led to him being put into care. He was rather lucky though—he was adopted by a loving family and was given a great life—something that Arthur (at the age of eighteen and grieving) never would have been able to do. He had a friend with benefits arrangement in 2004 with a friend from work—Elaine Nentres. She ultimately ended up pregnant with twins and while Arthur had offered to be around, she had recently gotten into another relationship and they mutually decided that things between them wouldn't work; yet Arthur still would care for his twin sons and pay child maintenance—she had decided she didn't want him in contact with the twins.
Over the last few months, Merlin had gotten rather close with Will. So close that they found themselves day drinking at the Magic Horse quite often as they laughed and drank away (and ordered some food—it was the best place in Camelot!).
"Is that Arthur at the bar?" Will scoffed. "Thought he was too fancy for places like this".
"Appears not" Merlin shrugged. "Wonder why he's alone. Probably another fight with the missus".
"He looks depressed" Will commented. "Wonder what's up with him. Hey! Arthur!".
He began to call out to Arthur when a boy—around late teens went up to Arthur and hugged him. They noticed that Arthur was almost crying as he hugged the boy and made they made their way to a table.
A/N: I did some research and it seems rather conflicted on how many sons Arthur had. But he seemed to have four or five—Amhar, Gwydre, Llacheu, Duran and Mordred so I put a modern twist on the names (except Amhar). Also, in the mists of Avalon Arthur had a son called Gwydion so I found Gideon rather fitting!