A/N - Well here is the final chapter of 'Arthur Knew'. I hope you've enjoyed reading this just as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited, and followed this story, it's really nice to know that you like it.

I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please let me know what you think!

I still don't own 'Merlin', by the way.

-JKelly

Arthur knew.

Suppressing his grin at what he was sure he was about to discover, he checked with the guards which way Merlin had gone, before heading in the same direction. When he realised that he wasn't on his way to the kitchens, or laundry, or any of the other places his servant really ought to be spending his time, he really did grin. He was certain that Merlin was off to a clandestine meeting with his love.

Arthur knew.

A while later though and he started to get an uneasy feeling about it all. Because, of all the places that he might have expected Merlin to be going, the dungeons hadn't made the list. And yet that seemed to be where he was leading him. Merlin's sweetheart couldn't be a prisoner there...right?

After a moment of racking his brains over everyone currently in the cells, Arthur had to conclude that none of them really fit the bill for Merlin - not that Merlin really seemed the sort to fall in love with a criminal anyway. Merlin was about the furthest thing from a criminal that Arthur could think of (at least, if you didn't count the many occasions when he'd said something that probably technically crossed the line into treason...and if you ignored the fact that he'd tried to punch Arthur the first time they met...and the times that he'd lied to Uther on his behalf...in fact, you had to ignore quite a lot of treasonous things that he'd done under Uther's reign in order to help Arthur in some way, but that doesn't make him a criminal, Arthur mused, just a good friend), so the dungeons seemed like a very unlikely location for Merlin's go-to romantic spot.

This was only confirmed when he got there to find that Merlin was nowhere in sight, and the guards had seen neither hide nor hair of him all morning. As he began to traipse back the way he came, he tried desperately to think of where Merlin could have gone between the corridor where he'd last been spotted and the dungeons. As far as he knew, there were no other doors or passageways along that path. It was almost as though Merlin had just vanished into thin air...which was a ridiculous notion, because Merlin couldn't do that. Just as he was about to give up, Arthur felt a draft coming from his left, and turned to see a tapestry flapping slightly, revealing behind it a passageway that he hadn't known existed. This had to have been where Merlin went!

The passageway was dark, and the stairs were steep. Arthur had trouble imagining his servant coming down here without complaining incessantly about the risks of falling and breaking their necks. He must really be in love, Arthur thought. Eventually, the rough hewn walls and narrow stairways opened out into a ledge overlooking one of the biggest underground caverns that Arthur had ever seen. How had he not known about this? More to the point, how did Merlin, of all people, know about this before him?

But as soon as he spotted Merlin, all thoughts of secret caverns left Arthur's head. Because there was Merlin. With a woman. Quite a nice looking woman too, although naturally he felt that she couldn't quite match up to Guinevere. They seemed to be having some sort of passionate conversation - he could hear the tones of their voices echoing around the cavern - but he couldn't quite make out the words. He edged forwards, trying to hear, but in his eagerness he failed to notice the pebbles and shards of rock that his foot pushed off the edge of the ledge, making a clattering sound that seemed to resonate around the stone walls even louder than the two lovers, and was forced to hide behind a rock. It occurred to him that this was quite a strategic position - a little known entrance, rocks to hide behind. He would have to remember this place for times of siege.

But there was no time to be pleased with his new strategy, because all of a sudden, Merlin and the woman seemed to be kissing. Well, it was either that or she was strangling him, but the latter seemed unlikely to Arthur. As he watched in fascination (Merlin! Kissing a woman!) the woman pulled away and ran quickly down a passage he hadn't noticed on the other side of the cavern, probably leading outside, looking as though she half expected to be pursued by an angry mob.

Merlin just stood there for a second, apparently getting his breath back after that kiss, and Arthur decided that this was as good a time as any to make his presence known. With a look of mock anger on his face, he called down:

"So Merlin, anything you'd like to tell me?"

When Merlin spun around, wide eyed and pale at having been caught out, he had to fight to maintain his stern expression.

"Arthur! I- I can explain, I promise."

"I should hope so, Merlin." His face began to hurt from the effort of not grinning from ear to ear at his friend's discomfort.

"Well, uh, you see--"

"I have to admit, Merlin. I would have expected better of you. I mean, this location! It's hardly got the right ambience for this kind of thing." In truth, Arthur really was very confused about why Merlin would feel the need to meet his girlfriend in a damp cavern hidden beneath the castle. He would have expected them to meet when he was 'herb gathering' in the forest or something.

"Um, well I didn't exactly have much choice of location, Arthur-- is that really your only problem with this?" Asked Merlin, the shock evident on his face even from Arthur's great distance.

"No Merlin, my problem is with the whole way you've gone about doing this. I tell you what, as we're fri-- as what you do reflects on me, I'll help you."

"What?!"

"Yes, perhaps I could give you lessons or something. After all, I am clearly better at this than you."

"You mean...you know..." Arthur was almost insulted by Merlin's disbelief.

"I am married to Gwen; give me some credit."

Arthur turned and began walking out of the cavern, knowing that Merlin would follow him.

"Come along, Merlin, and I'll teach you the basics of how to write a love poem..."

Merlin, meanwhile, was simply standing and staring up at where Arthur had been standing, slowly piecing together just what exactly had just happened. The strange conversation that morning, Arthur's decision to follow him (and as someone who tried to be aware of his surroundings, Merlin felt that he really ought to have noticed him), his wild misreading of the situation. Arthur thought that the sorceress was his girlfriend. Merlin scoffed. As if he would have the time to have a girlfriend, what with how busy he was.

He'd have to be more careful in the future, he decided. If even Arthur had picked up on his unusual behaviour, then he wasn't being nearly as careful as he'd thought he was.

As he finally began to climb the steps after Arthur, he smiled. Arthur was a good friend, really. He might have the wrong end of the stick, but he was clearly determined to help his friend's love life go smoothly. Maybe he wouldn't mock him for saying that he was his best friend after all.

"Oh, by the way Merlin," Arthur called, "what's her name?"

Merlin froze for a moment, suddenly realising that his new alibi for all his magical escapades didn't have a name.

"Merlin?"

If even coming up with a name was this difficult, Merlin decided that he and...Sara, sure, why not, would have to break up as soon as possible.

And if his dramatic romance seemed to borrow fairly heavily from the tales of a particularly chatty kitchen maid named Brenda, then Arthur would probably never find out.

Arthur enthused over the potential for sibilance from Sara's name, and Merlin smiled again. Seeing how much Arthur truly cared for him, he knew that when the time came, Arthur would accept his magic. Not yet, but someday.

Merlin knew.