All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put me back together again
10th June 2019
Morgana woke up feeling absolutely freezing not to mention like death itself. A sore throat and runny nose, accompanied with a strange fever of sorts. Hay fever season.
"Don't you think you ought to get checked out?" Merlin asked.
"No" Morgana snorted. "It's only 38°. I'll just take some paracetamol". Given that 38°C wasn't that high she drove into work. While at going into work she had felt fine, yet over the course of the day she began to feel generally unwell and more tired, taking a nap in her free period.
The shrill loud sound of her phone interrupted—the nursery
"Amhar is unwell. You'll need to come pick him up".
"Okay" Morgana sighed. "I'll be over". Morgana quickly arranged cover and then had to take him for an emergency GP appointment since he had some red blotches on his hand, feet and mouth.
"You're going to have to quarantine your entire household for ten days" the doctor said as he put Amhar back on the bed and stepped back to wash his hands. "He has hand foot and mouth disease".
"Quarantine!" Morgana exclaimed. "Fucking hell. For ten days!".
"That's right" the doctor confirmed.
"And hand foot and mouth is still a thing in 2019" Morgana frowned.
"And you still have to quarantine" the doctor repeated. "It'll clear up by itself but otherwise you have to stay at home for ten days. Perfectly normal in toddlers and babies".
"Right...thank you" Morgana muttered as she put the baby in his pushchair and walked out. She drove home quickly and texted Merlin. 'We're in quarantine [one eyebrow raised emoji] since Amhar had hand foot and mouth disease. The whole household, for ten days or until the spots clear up. I got a doctors note so don't worry. And get Calpol, ibuprofen and the baby milk".
Merlin accidentally had gotten the SIXPLUS Calpol instead of infant's Calpol and the first infant milk instead of follow-on. At least it's 2019 so they could order some online—yet otherwise found it to be quite boring. Being stuck as home all day sucked—and they had to try to get temporary cover teachers for both of them.
"Oh boo fucking hoo" Merlin muttered with a snort. "Have you seen this? Trump says he didn't know Meghan Markle was nasty now Harry's avoiding Trump".
"Ridiculous" Morgana rolled her eyes. "I mean I don't like Trump at all, but he does somewhat have a point".
"You're not wrong" Merlin agreed.
"But, it should've been me" Morgana smirked.
"Harry's never going to be king anyway!" Merlin exclaimed with a chuckle.
15th June 2019
"Do you ever bloody eat?" Merlin asked with a frown. "I mean, you literally had a kid-sized apple for breakfast!".
"I do eat" Morgana insisted. "I just throw it back up".
"That's not normal" Merlin raised an eyebrow. "Which is why I booked you a doctors appointment".
"We're in quarantine!" Morgana protested.
"For after quarantine. Besides seeing as you're fainting all over the place I don't think it's normal".
"If you say so" Morgana rolled her eyes. "It's probably just a cold! Besides I'm waiting for my slapped cheek syndrome test results".
"Yeah and I'm gay" Merlin sarcastically replied.
"Congrats on coming out then".
18th June 2019
Quarantine turned out to be OK in the end. While Amhar spent most of it babbling to himself and watching CBeebies while Merlin and Morgana were busy making progress. It was a rather unusual situation given that no teachers had had to self isolate before—let alone two living in the same household. If only they knew what the future would hold.
The pair had tended to get on rather well even if they weren't allowed to leave the house at all, finding themselves staying up late on the sofa as they watched horrors on Netflix until late into the night.
"Hm, but she looks just like you!" Merlin exclaimed as he pointed at the tv. They were watching slasher—season 1 episode 8 and the brunette character—Sarah Bennet— had just stabbed the blond one—Cam Henry.
"She looks nothing like me!" Morgana scoffed. "He looks rather like Arthur though".
"So it's fitting" Merlin joked. The jokes soon subsided as they remembered once more. Not that it was hard to forget. Yet they did tend to forget that the whole reason they were in that situation was because of Arthur and Gwen.
"I'm gunna head to bed" Morgana announced.
"Okay. I'll get some work done. Don't wait up".
"I wasn't planning to" Morgana sneered as she stomped up the stairs.
21st June 2019
"So we've come along well with the end of year exams" Mithian announced. "I think we're doing rather well in these difficult times". Given that Morgana's quarantine had finally ended they had a meeting during a free period in Morgause's room.
"I think so too" Morgause agreed. "There's also a few of my students with extenuating circumstances yet they weren't too far off what grades they want. Well technically everyone had extenuating circumstances but some had extra worse so".
"That's good" Mithian smiled. "So I've posted some ads for new English teachers and we have had some reply. The main one I'm interested in is Sefa Ruadan".
"I know" Morgana smirked. "We used to go to school together. She did say about applying for the post".
"Ah, we're out of tea and coffee!" Mithian declared. "Morgause, please get us some".
"I'm going for a fag first" Morgause said as she grabbed all the mugs and went from the room.
"There's something I ought to tell you" Mithian said as she turned to Morgana.
"Of course. What is it?".
"There's no easy way to say this after all you've been through" Mithian sighed. "I'm pregnant".
"Congratulations" Morgana smiled. "It's nice to have some good news. When are you due?".
"February, I only found out a few weeks ago".
"That's really good, congratulations".
"Is it okay if you don't tell anyone?" Mithian asked. "I only found out a few weeks ago and given that I've had a miscarriage before".
"Of course" Morgana nodded. "I hope it works out".
"You too" Mithian smiled as she squeezed Morgana's shoulder.
"While it is nice to have this heart to heart" Morgause drawled as she opened the door. "But...look at the time. Come on, skedaddle. I have kids waiting".
"Won't be a moment" Mithian said as she began to pack up her things.
"You look pale" Morgause commented. "Have you been eating enough?".
"I told you, I'm fine" Morgana insisted as she stood up for a moment before crumpling to a heap on the floor.
"Morgana!" Morgause called as she shook her sister.
"I knew she wasn't eating enough!" Mithian exclaimed. "Merlin said too".
"Check what the NHS website says" Morgause said. "She's breathing so that's good". The door was slammed open as a bunch of giggling girls walked in. Harriet and Lucy.
"I really can't be arsed it's Friday afternoon" Lucy muttered
"OH MY GOD!" Harriet shrieked.
"It's all good" Mithian insisted. "Morgause I think it's time".
"I'll go use the school phone" Morgause sighed as she went to locate it.
"Oh my god is Miss Pendragon going to die too!" Harriet shrieked.
"No" Mithian shook her head. She noticed Morgana stirring slightly. "She's fine. Probably anaemic".
"Id be surprised if she wasn't I mean have you seen how pale she is" Lucy muttered. "—ouch".
Morgana was surprised at waking up to machines and lights—but then again not at the same time. She had been falling asleep in random places lately.
"She's awake" she heard Merlin call. She checked her watch—after six?
"Mama!" Amhar shouted from the pushchair—the car one not the embarrassing one. So did Merlin drive her car then?
"Ah, good you're awake" the nurse smiled. "I would say it's nice to see you again, but it isn't nice to see anyone in hospitals. We were sent your blood tests and it turns out you're anaemic therefore need iron tablets".
"Why do you look so serious?" Morgana scoffed.
"You're not eating and drinking enough and it's beginning to impact your daily life, and it may soon become serious".
"It's because I still have the morning sickness and I keep throwing up!".
"I'll talk to the doctor about anti-sickness medication, then hopefully you'll be able to gain back some weight".
"Did I really loose a lot of weight?" Morgana frowned at Merlin. He would've said "I told you so" if the circumstances weren't so serious. He simply nodded instead.
"I'm not well am I?" Morgana whispered.