Thank you for your continued interest. I appreciate it.

I do not own Merlin or the characters, neither do I own, Truce: The Historic Neighbor from Hell.


Boston Harbor

7 Weeks later…

"Uh...Arthur?" Gwen started.

"Shhh, not while I'm praying," he said, momentarily losing his place, before he started again.

"Thank you for letting us survive that trip from hell. Thank you for ignoring my prayers for a quick death, when I didn't think that I'd be able to survive another day of starvation," he said, making Gwen roll her eyes in annoyance.

"You were given three full meals a day just like everyone else," she pointed out, not bothering to mention the fact that, on most days, he'd received second helpings.


She sat down on a bench near their luggage, wondering just how much longer he was going to keep this up.

"I'm sorry for all the cursing that my wife forced me to do, while I was on that boat," he continued, ignoring Gwen, even as he amused her. "As you know, she's been such a bad influence on me. Thank you for pulling me from near death and somehow giving me the strength to survive."

"Near death?" Gwen asked, frowning. "When were you near death Arthur Pendragon?"

"When was I near death?" he asked in stunned disbelief, as he opened his eyes, so that he could glare at her. "How could you forget all those times that I could barely move? When I struggled to find the will to live, so that I wouldn't leave you a young widow? Did my struggle for survival mean nothing to you?" he demanded in outrage, terrifying the people that were forced to walk passed him to get to the docks and making his wife wrack her brain, as she struggled to figure out what he was talking about.

"Do you mean those few times when you had a touch of seasickness?" she asked, unable to think of anything else that he could be talking about, since he'd been the picture of health, during the majority of the trip.

"A touch?" Arthur repeated in disbelief. "I nearly died!"

"Because you were forced to miss breakfast a few times?" Gwen asked, trying her best not to laugh or smile, but he looked so adorable just then, that she admittedly didn't put up much of a struggle.


"It was hell! Pure hell!" Arthur snapped, shocking several of the women trying to rush passed him.

"Try having seasickness every morning and night," Gwen said dryly, as she stood up and gestured for several dockworkers to help them with their luggage.

"That makes my ordeal worse!" he said, coming to his feet, so that he could offer her his arm. "I needed my strength, so that I could tend to you and keep you alive."

"The peppermint tea did that...kept me alive," Gwen said with a shrug.

His gasp of outrage was simply too adorable.

"You ungrateful brat! After everything I did for you, to ensure your survival and this is how you repay me? With your mockery?"


Gwen opened her mouth to tease him, when the reminder that she hadn't had a chance to have her peppermint tea this morning hit her, with the force of a battering ram.

"Arthur?" was all she could say.

"Damn it!" he snapped, all humor leaving his face, as he scooped her up in his arms and quickly carried her over to a stack of crates, where she'd have some privacy.


As soon as he stepped behind the crates, he put her down on her feet and helped her kneel at the edge of the dock.

He held onto her hips, so that she wouldn't have to worry about falling into the water, as she got sick for the first time in a week.

When she was done, she sat back against him, and he wrapped his arms around her, murmuring sweet endearments, as they waited for the nausea to pass.


"I'm fine," Gwen said a few minutes later, panting slightly, as she did her best to give Arthur a reassuring smile, when they both knew that she wasn't.

"The hell you are," he practically snarled, as he helped her to her feet.

And as soon as she was standing up, albeit a bit wobbly, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back towards the dockworkers, who waiting by their luggage.

"I can walk," she said, even though she wasn't entirely sure that was true.

"You're not walking," Arthur said.

"People are staring," she pointed out quietly, embarrassed by all the attention.

"Then let them stare. You're not walking!" he snapped, sounding angry, but she knew that he wasn't mad at her.

He was terrified that there was something seriously wrong with her.

She'd been ill during most of the trip, sometimes too sick to leave the bed. And when she wasn't sick she was exhausted, sleeping away most of the morning and falling asleep at night, before the sun even had a chance to set.

The ship's doctor hadn't helped matters either, when he'd tried to restrict her to their room for most of the trip.

Yes, he had examined her multiple times...at Arthur's request, and each time, he'd claimed different reasons for her illness.

But it was the last reason, that made Arthur throw the man out of their room and on his ass.


Up to this present moment, Arthur still hadn't tell Gwen what the doctor had said...the last reason.

But the way she caught him watching her sometimes, told her it was bad.

Whenever she asked him what the doctor said, he would smile and reassure her that it was nothing.

Then he would do whatever it took to distract her.

They'd walk the deck of the ship, play cards, read, and reminisce about the old days, until it was time to go to bed.

Then he would make love to her tenderly, as though he was savoring their time together, which only frightened her more.


"Take us to the finest hotel," Arthur demanded, as soon as they were within speaking distance, of the men waiting by their luggage.

"I thought we were going straight home?" Gwen asked, feeling slightly disappointed, that she'd have to wait another day to see her new home, even though the prospect of spending the next few hours in a coach, didn't really appeal to her.

"Shhh, minx, it's fine," he said, shifting her in his arms, so that he could hold her closer. "Everything will be fine."


"Well? What's wrong with her?" Arthur demanded in a hushed whisper, as he looked up from his sleeping wife to the elderly doctor, who looked confused and somewhat amused.

"You say that two different doctors have examined her in the past two months?" the doctor asked, as he adjusted Gwen's nightgown, pulled the covers up and tucked her in.

"Yes," Arthur bit out, doing his damndest to keep a rein on his temper, but it was difficult right now, when he was scared out of his mind, that he was going to lose his minx.

"Remind me what they diagnosed her with again," the doctor said with a patient smile, as he sat down on the edge of the bed by Gwen's side.

Praying that he could get through this without grabbing the elderly doctor by his shoulders and demanding that he fix his wife, Arthur took a deep breath before he answered.


"The first doctor said that she'd miscarried our child...which was true. The second doctor told me a combination of things. Sometimes he said that it was all in her head, that she was just doing it for attention. Then he would say that she had liver damage, the flu, or migraines, even though she never once complained of a headache. And the last time," Arthur started to say, when his voice broke. "The last time...he said that she most likely had cancer."

"I see," the doctor murmured, reaching up and pulling the covers back that he'd just adjusted. "How did he explain the weight gain?" he asked, placing his hand over the slight curve of Gwen's stomach, which, unknown to Arthur at this point, was becoming more noticeable with each passing day.

"He said it was from her overeating to compensate for her illness."

"I see," the doctor said, his lips twitching, as he gestured to Gwen's chest. "And have you noticed a difference there?"

'God, yes...' Arthur thought and licked his lips.

Her breasts appeared to be bigger and a hell of a lot more sensitive. He'd actually made her release, just from licking her nipples last week.

It had turned him on so much, that he'd...


The doctor chuckled, bringing Arthur's focus back where it should be.

"I'll take that as a yes," the old man said, as he pulled the covers back up.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Arthur asked, desperate for an answer.

He really didn't know what he'd do without her. He didn't want to live without her.

He...

"Your wife is pregnant."

...was going to be sick.

"W-what?' he asked, trying to make sense of what he'd just heard, as his head began to spin and his legs stopped working.

With a chuckle, the doctor helped him sit down in the chair next to the bed. Then, wordlessly, he gave his shoulders a gentle push, that had him bending forward as he struggled to take in his next breath.

"If I had to guess, I would say, that your wife is around four months along," the doctor calmly explained.

Arthur shook his head, as he struggled to grasp what was going on.

"No," he said, forcing himself to breathe, "That's impossible. She lost the baby two months ago."

"I've been doing this for over fifty years, young man, and I can tell you without any doubt, that your wife is indeed pregnant."

"She bled," Arthur said, moving to sit up, but a fresh wave of dizziness had him dropping his head, right back where it was.

"Mmm-hmm, some women do that early on. It doesn't mean that she lost the baby. Has she bled since?" the doctor asked.

"No," Arthur said numbly, as he did his best to wrap his mind around what the doctor was saying.


"What was the reason the doctor gave for the lack of bleeding?" the doctor asked, thankfully giving Arthur something else to focus on.

"He said that it took months for a woman's natural rhythm to return."

The doctor released a snort of amusement.

"That's a first."

"I should take her back to London," Arthur said, even as he realized, that he couldn't afford the passage back for both of them.

Well, that wasn't completely true.

He could afford third class passenger tickets, but he didn't like the idea of his wife being forced, to share a room with strangers. He also didn't like the idea of his wife, being forced to rest on those hard cots, that the third class accommodations were famous for.

And there was no way in hell, he was sending his pregnant wife back to London by herself.


"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the doctor said, even though it hadn't been a real possibility for them. "She's obviously having a tough time with this pregnancy. I also wouldn't recommend placing her on a ship, where the passengers could carry, God only knows what diseases. It's not good for her or the baby."

"Oh my God!" Arthur muttered, as dread crawled up his spine, when he realized that he'd done just that.

"I wouldn't worry too much about her being sick," the doctor said, obviously reading his mind. "She looks very healthy to me, just tired. Make sure she gets plenty of rest."

"I will," Arthur promised, turning his head, so that he could look at his minx. "I'll take good care of her."


Well, from tomorrow, my island will be on lockdown for two weeks, so I should have a little time to update Love and Happiness, for those of you who are still interested.

Stay safe!