Thank you for your continued interest and support. I appreciate it.
I do not own Merlin or the characters, neither do I own Truce: The Historic Neighbor from Hell.
Just three more chapters left.
"Don't turn around," Arthur's voice sounded.
And Gwen had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
She looked up from her sewing to share a knowing look with Mrs. Barker, who was sitting on the couch across from her, and looking quite amused, with Arthur's latest attempt to sneak a kiss under her nose.
"Go away," Gwen whispered back, loving this playful side of her husband.
There was a slight pause before Arthur whispered back,
"I have something for you."
'I just bet you do,' she thought.
"I'm busy," she whispered back, not bothering to turn around or look out the window, since she already knew, he was kneeling beneath the window and out of sight.
It was the same way that he used to torment her when they were children and she was stuck inside to complete her studies.
He'd hide beneath the open window, taunting and teasing her, until she finally had enough and made some excuse, so that she could go outside and box the little beast's ears.
Not that she would ever admit this to him, but she used to secretly love it when he interrupted her lessons. It gave her something to look forward to everyday.
"Meet me outside in five minutes, minx."
"No," Gwen said, having too much fun to give in easily.
Besides, the kisses were always so much better, when she made him work for them.
There was just something about teasing and tormenting her husband, that brought a smile to her face.
And every day he found a way to sneak inside the house to steal a kiss, always doing his best to get in and out of the house, without Mrs. Barker finding out.
Not that Mrs. Barker actually cared what the two of them did. She just found the whole thing amusing and seemed to enjoy tormenting Arthur, almost as much as Gwen did.
Gwen also doubted, that Arthur Pendragon would ever allow anyone to stop him from stealing a kiss from her and was doing everything he could to tease a smile out of her, when most days, she hardly had the energy to do much more, than curl up in bed and read.
She was only five months into her pregnancy, but she felt like she'd been pregnant forever.
Her appetite was almost as large as her husband's, which truly frightened her. And she also found herself sleeping throughout most of the day, having very little energy to be much help.
If it hadn't been for Mrs. Barker, the house would still look like it was decaying, the gardens would still be overgrown with weeds and she doubted that there would be anything to eat, since she usually fell asleep halfway through making biscuits.
In truth, Gwen was terrified.
Between the first doctors misdiagnosing her, her appetite, and the intense exhaustion that she couldn't shake, she didn't know what to think, or expect from this pregnancy.
Every day she worried, that she wasn't giving the baby enough food, resting enough, or a hundred other things that could hurt the baby. And every day, Arthur did everything he could to make her smile.
He knew her concerns, and had comforted her enough times over the past month, to know that she was terrified that she was going to lose their baby.
He did everything that he could to comfort her and reassure her, that everything would be okay and when he couldn't, he held her in his arms as she cried her eyes out.
He was the sweetest man that she'd ever met and she couldn't imagine what she'd done to deserve someone like him.
"Come on, minx, you know you want to," Arthur whispered teasingly.
"I thought you were fixing the Carson's roof today," Gwen said, noting that it was barely two in the afternoon.
It made her wonder, if he'd snuck off from work, just to steal a kiss from her.
"I finished a few hours early," he answered, making her smile.
Her husband was a very hard worker, as everyone in town had learned over the past month.
At first, they'd refused to hire him, thinking that he was just the spoiled second son of an English Lord, looking for a handout, but once they saw some of his work being sold at the shops in town, they couldn't seem to hire him fast enough.
There were several carpenters in town, but none of them had the skill that Arthur seemed to have. Not to mention, he worked faster and harder than most men, at least that's all she ever heard when she went into town.
And she couldn't help but wonder, if his size or the insane amount of food that he ate everyday, had something to do with it.
"Well, I'm still working on the baby's blanket, so you'll just have to find something else to do, Mr. Pendragon," Gwen said, in the haughtiest whisper that she could manage without laughing.
Arthur sighed heavily.
"Then I guess, I'll just go fishing all by myself."
"Fishing?" she repeated with interest, her plans to torment him forgotten. She'd never been fishing before. It was one of those things that she'd always wanted to try, but her father had absolutely forbid her from ever doing.
"I was going to take you with me, but since you're not interested..." he said, allowing his words to trail off, as she imagined him shrugging, even as he grinned that mischievous grin of his, that used to irritate her, but she now loved.
"Wait!" she hissed, trying to get to her feet, as Mrs. Barker, who was smiling and shaking her head in wonder, reached over and carefully picked the unfinished baby quilt off her lap and set it aside.
Once that was done, she took her hands into hers, with the intent to help her get to her feet.
Although she was only five months along in her pregnancy, her stomach was a bit larger than most women's at this stage.
It was just another thing that frightened her.
Just as Gwen was about to scoot to the edge of the chair, with the hope that it would give her better leverage to stand up, she felt Arthur's large hands gently grip her hips, to help her stand.
Once she was on her feet, she didn't bother looking back or thanking him, since that would only give him a chance to change his mind and she most definitely did not want him doing that.
With a grateful smile to Mrs. Barker, she turned to head out the front door, when she remembered the blueberry tarts they'd made that morning.
Deciding that she was going to need a light snack to keep her energy up, she abruptly turned and headed in the direction of the kitchen.
"Already packed them," Arthur said, grinning sweetly from the backdoor, as Gwen stepped inside the kitchen.
He held out his hand for her to join him.
Smiling, she went to him, only pausing twice along the way, to grab some cheese, bread and a couple of meat pies.
As she stuffed the last meat pie in a sack, she prayed that her appetite returned to normal once she had the baby, because the thought of eating like this for the rest of her life, terrified her.
"This way, minx," Arthur said, taking the sack from her and tossing it over his shoulder, with the one he held in his hand, before he took her hand in his and led her towards the woods.
"Are you really taking me fishing?' Gwen asked, barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice.
"Why wouldn't I take my wife fishing?" Arthur asked, steering her along an easy path through the woods.
"Because most husbands wouldn't," she foolishly pointed out.
"Then, that's their loss," he said with a boyish grin, the one that made her love him even more.
"What do we do now?" Gwen asked.
Arthur chuckled at her excitement.
"Now, minx, we wait," he said, carefully placing her pole against a fallen log, near the blanket he'd laid out for her, so that they could see the pole dip if she got a bite.
"Oh," she said with an adorable pout.
"Did you think the fish were going to attack your line," he teased, as he leaned in and kissed her, unable to resist such a sexy little pout.
"Sort of," she admitted sheepishly.
"It takes time and patience, Guinevere," he said, chuckling, as her pout deepened.
"What do we do until then?" she asked, looking around the grassy bank and then at the large pond that looked very inviting on a hot day like today.
"Normally we'd sit and wait, but today," he said, pausing to pull his shirt off, "I thought we'd go for a swim."
Instantly her pout was replaced with a shy hopeful smile, as she looked at the pond.
"Really?"
"Really," he said, quickly pulling off his boots and pants, before he moved to help her remove her dress.
Her smile faltered when she looked down at herself.
"Maybe I shouldn't," she said, nibbling her bottom lip, even as she shot the pond a wistful look.
"And why is that?" he asked, stepping up behind her, so that he could undo her buttons.
"Because I'm huge," she muttered pathetically.
"You're not huge," he said, chuckling, as leaned forward and pressed a kiss against the back of her neck, "You're beautiful."
Gwen sighed heavily, as she held onto the front of her dress, so that it wouldn't drop to the ground.
"And you're a terrible liar," she grumbled, but she did let him help her out of her dress, stockings and slippers.
Wearing only her shift, she carefully walked to the edge of the pond and dipped a single toe in the calm water.
If she hadn't been carrying their baby, Arthur would've probably picked her up and thrown her in, just so he could rile her up.
God, he loved it when she was all riled up.
But she was pregnant, so he had to be good.
With that in mind, he walked over to her and scooped her up in his arms, before she could put up much of a fight. And to his utter shock, she didn't complain at all.
Instead, she sighed with pleasure, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his shoulder, while he carried her into the water.
Once Arthur was chest deep, he pulled his wife closer and simply enjoyed having her in his arms.
As he carried her through the water, he felt her shiver. Smiling, he looked down to tease her, but instead, he felt his smile slip, as he lost himself in her brown eyes.
She was so damn beautiful, so kind and sweet.
She made him so happy, he couldn't imagine going a single day without seeing her, holding her, kissing her or showing her just how much he loved her.
Every day, he did everything in his power to show her how much he loved her, but he'd foolishly never told her how he felt, because he was terrified that she wouldn't feel the same way.
He'd been so damn foolish.
It would hurt like hell if she didn't return his feelings, but he didn't give a damn. He loved her more than anything and he wanted to tell her.
He wanted to...
"I love you, Arthur," Gwen whispered, as she pulled herself up just enough, so that she could brush her trembling lips against his.
For a moment he was too stunned to react or say anything.
She loved him?
Almost a full minute in, he thought,
'Of course she does.'
With a smug smile, he brushed his lips against hers.
She did love him. It was the only reason to explain why she hadn't killed him with her bare hands by now and why she put up with all of his bullshit.
It also explained why she'd agreed to his truce...why she agreed to leave everything behind and move with him to a new country, where neither one of them had ever been before.
It was so obvious now.
She truly did love him...adored him really, but she would never love him as much as he loved her, he realized, still grinning, because he was more than fine with that.
"I love you more, minx," he said against her lips.
"Probably," she easily agreed, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and moved to deepen their kiss.
"Probably?" Arthur demanded in mock outrage, as he pulled away from her, so that he could glare down at her.
"Definitely," Gwen said with an innocent expression, as she leaned up to kiss him again, but before her lips could touch his, he turned his head away.
With a heavy sigh, he carefully placed her on her feet, then, he rubbed his hands down his face as he said,
"Run."
"W-what?" she asked, sounding confused and more than a little excited.
He dropped his hands down by his sides, careful not to splash her in the face.
"You have to the count of ten to run, before I hunt you down and make you admit, that you love me more."
"You can't be serious," she said, biting back a smile, even as she started to inch away from him.
"One."
"Arthur..."
"Two."
"Wait, let's talk about this. I was just..."
"Three."
"But..."
"Four."
"There's no way that I'll be able to..."
"Five."
"Can't we talk about this?'
"No," he said, grinning in anticipation, as she noticeably swallowed and shot an anxious look towards the shore. "Six."
"Wait," she said, taking a step away from him, her gaze shifting between him and the shore. "Can you start over?'
"No. Seven."
Gwen finally took a step away from him.
"What exactly are you planning?"
"For you to scream your undying love for me at the top of your lungs," he said with a shrug, before he added, "Eight."
Her eyes widened with that announcement, as self-preservation finally kicked in.
With an adorable little squeal of excitement, she turned around and moved to finally make her escape, but before she could take a single step, he had her back in his arms where she belonged.
"Nine," he said with a growl, as he leaned down to kiss her.
"But you said that you'd give me to the count of ten!"
"I lied," he admitted as he set his plan into motion.
For the next three hours, Arthur kept Gwen on her back, on the soft blanket with her legs spread, as he used his hands, mouth and the painfully hard appendage between his legs on her, until she was screaming her undying love for him.
Once that was done, he decided to show her just how much he loved her. And he didn't stop showing her, until his voice was hoarse, until he could hardly move and until his minx knew, just how much she meant to him.
Stay safe friends!
