Merlin really did wish he hadn't let Arthur coax him down stairs, even though his ring now sat snuggly under the dress shirt Merlin wore, he still felt irritated toward Gwen. With good reason. Another reason why he wished he hadn't joined this little dinner disaster is because, again, he had never liked Lydia and Sofia, who one looked like she had gained thirty-six pounds in baby fat even though her baby was nearly two, yet she still wore a short dress that looked like it had last fit her when Gwen was still in highschool. While the other one just looked like she had been stoned...literally stoned with rocks, one too many times. Also, not only did Merlin feel irritated with Gwen for how she had acted before her guests had arrived, but even more so after they had. She just took every opportunity to be obnoxious without cause. She made sure to tell them this was her and Arthur's house, but Arthur had been gracious enough to let Merlin stay here while he was 'going through some things,' and then after this Gwen proceeded to take every opportunity to touch Arthur. Not that this should annoy him, but it did, if not only for the reason that she was doing it completely to spite him. She would touch his leg or his arm, while she laughed she grabbed his hand. She had an entire sitting room of furniture to sit on, yet she had chosen Arthur's lap, and every time she left the room, to get some various snack or to grab a drink for someone, she would kiss him goodbye. Just to go into the kitchen...who does that in normal life?!
Maybe the best part was the baby. Yes, the baby that caused the baby fat was there, and by far the best thing about these two woman who were just as shady and catty as they were in high school. Emily, Lydia's daughter, she was very cute, she had brown tight, ringlet curls for hair and very bright, blue eyes. Merlin never thought much about having kids, mostly because he was young and gay...so kids were a long shot for him, but if anyone could change his mind about babies, it was Emily. After awhile of the adults just sitting around talking about useless, small talk things Emily got bored and started shouting in her sing, song baby voice, thus Merlin was banished to the dining room on baby duty. Honestly, this is what he much preferred. Emily was adorable, she held his hands and walked around the kitchen and dining room, wanting to touch everything, so obviously Merlin let her. Even the new, expensive china Gwen had just bought that morning with Arthur's money. She decided a spoon with a fancy swirly embroidery was her new favorite toy and threw it right across the room and nearly hit Arthur in the head, when he walked in.
"Nice throw," said Merlin and Emily happily yelled out 'ehhhhhhhhh, ehhhhhhh, ahhhhhh' in response and Merlin couldn't agree more. He grinned, because she was so cute he wanted to die. He lifted her up and held her close to himself as he walked closer to Arthur. "Yes, Mr. Guinevere, did you need something your servant should fetch? After all, you have so graciously and kindly let my piece of garage backside live in your most humble of homes..."
"Would you shut up?" offered Arthur in return and Merlin shrugged, which was hard to do holding a baby. Arthur looked at Merlin pointedly for a moment and then sighed. "If I have to listen to one more story about someone who they hated in school who grew up to be worse off than them, I will lose my mind."
"I thought you knew that we obviously wish for bad things onto people we don't like here, in the Guinevere household," said Merlin. "Guess that's how I ended up with you, Gwen stopped liking me and...poof, I'm worse off." Arthur's pointed look returned and then he rolled his eyes. but instead of commenting on Merlin's teasing, as that's all it really was and they both knew that, he offered his hands out for the baby. Merlin's grip on her got a little bit tighter. "Do you even know how to hold a baby?"
"I'm nearly thirty-five years old. Believe it or not, Merlin, I think I know how to hold a baby!" He then wiggled his hand between Merlin and the child and took her from Merlin's arms. Merlin had to say, he didn't really like that, Emily didn't seem to mind though, as instead she oohed and grabbed Arthur's nose. Merlin frowned, because he was no longer holding a baby and he walked into the kitchen, Arthur followed him. Merlin knew he was going to be forced to eat with them once Gwen's roast chickens were done in the oven, but he was still hungry now. He was denied any of the snacks as they were 'for the guests,' before and during this little get together. While Merlin looked through the fridge for food, Arthur had sat the baby down on the counter. She sat there while Arthur held both of her hands in his own. He played peek-a-boo with her by using her tiny hands to cover his own eyes and then went, "Boo!" Every time he uncovered them. She loved it and giggled every single "Boo!"
Merlin paused in his hunt for food, distracted by the two playing. He watched them, just completely overwhelmed all of a sudden. Merlin knew Arthur wanted children, they had talked about it a few times, Merlin also knew Arthur knew that Gwen couldn't give him children and he had said he was fine with adoption. He just wanted to be a father, but all of a sudden the sudden desire to give Arthur a baby was overpowering. It erupted in his chest as if it were a volcano and then spread to every single part of Merlin's body. It overtook any other thought. And of course, Merlin had even less opportunity to give Arthur a baby than even Gwen did, but the idea still stung him, bit him like a snake and pensioned him. Just the way Arthur smiled at her and the way she clung to him, it was enough to take Merlin's breath away. Gwen was walking in at this point, and the way she paused and stared at the two also, Merlin knew she felt this, the exact same thing that Merlin had just felt, and Merlin hated her just a little bit more after that.
(A/N: This chapter is a bit of a filler, I guess it does have a bit of plot furthering at the end, but in whole I was supposed to write more about the girls being over for dinner but half way through I was like...I really don't care about this and changed the chapter. Seeing Gwen being an abusive, manipulating bitch to her brother by groping their shared play thing, that's just basically how it felt, so I summarized most of it. If you all are interested in seeing the full idea I had maybe I'll rewrite this chapter later on, but in the meantime, I hope you liked this.)