It was the day before Halloween, and Merlin had wanted to make sugar cookies in the shape of pumpkins, that had been his plan when he woke up that morning. However, around eleven he still hadn't done it. And then something happened, something that was almost as scary as any horror movie. There had been a knock at the door and Merin, not thinking much on it, walked over and answered it. Like any respectful person would do. Except he really shouldn't have, he should have gone and hid until the person left. John K was back, wearing possibly the same exact suit as before and looking mildly amused at Merlin's horror-struck face at the sight of him.

"Long time no see, I expect," said John K, as he didn't wait to ask to be let in, he only pushed passed Merlin and carried on into the sitting room. This was a nightmare, a disgusting turn of events. Merlin wanted to throw up and also throw hands already. "Is Arthur home?" he asked, as he made himself comfortable on the sofa. Merlin watched him with pursed lips. Yes, Arthur was home, but that didn't mean Merlin wanted to get him, so he didn't answer, John K hummed then and wrote something down on his clipboard. Merlin didn't know what, but he seriously wanted to punch him. Arthur came downstairs then and stopped dead in the hall when he saw who was sitting on the sofa. His eyes got wide and they met Merlin's with concern. Merlin sighed and shrugged. John K seemed to catch on that someone else was in the room now and looked over to see Arthur there. "Oh, Mr. Pendragon. Good. Please, let's chat."

Arthur looked like he wanted to say no, but walked in anyway and sat down in the armchair. Merlin continued to stand. "Forgive me," said Arthur now, politely. "But I had no idea we would be interviewed so many times. I thought it was only once or...or twice...?"

"Oh, these little visits are not the interview," said John K, sounding delighted by this. "Let's call these...my little check ins."

"Why do we need to be checked on?" asked Merlin now, and his voice was not polite at all. John K smirked.

"That is for me to decide."

Arthur let out a long breath and leaned forward in his chair, staring at John K. "What can we help you with then?"

"As you may be able to tell, I am trying to paint a picture of you two as a couple, what makes you tick...perhaps," said John K, a sly smirk rolling over his hairy lips. "I have a few questions I would love to know," he said and then flipped over the page on his clipboard and didn't wait for the go-ahead." Arthur, my records show you have been engaged previously, before your marriage to Merlin, I was able to locate a marriage certificate drawn up for Arthur Pendragon and an Elena Picket no more than five years ago, is this correct?"

Arthur's jaw set in a tight line and he nodded. "Yes."

"Yet is was not completed and you were not married to her?" asked John K.

"No, I was not, we never got married," said Arthur. John K nodded and wrote something down on his papers. Arthur only glared at him now and Merlin wondered why his attitude suddenly changed. Arthur normally forced himself into politeness to John K, but now he looked at him as if he were a disgusting bastard. Which, he was. Merlin continued to say nothing though, until things got too out of hand, that is. Then Merlin wouldn't be afraid to tell John K what a low-life scum he was.

"And, if you do not mind me asking, who was it to call off the marriage to this Miss Picket?" asked John K now and looked up at Arthur with a keen sort of smirk. Arthur however, did not look pleased at all. He threw himself back in the chair and threw his arms up in the air.

"Oh, I don't know...must've been God," said Arthur, pointedly now. "As she died two weeks before we were meant to be married."

This seemed to stun John K into silence for a moment and it surely stunned Merlin into much more than that. He stared down at Arthur with his mouth hung open. He didn't know that. He had known Arthur had been engaged before, but he had just assumed...just like John K, that they had just broken up. Not that she had died. He gulped and stepped a bit closer to Arthur. He wanted to comfort him, to tell him that he was sorry this utter bastard was bringing up such bad memories for him. But he didn't know how while John K was still in their house. Or really, even after he left.

"I see," said John K, trying to recover from this blow. He wrote something down and then looked back up at Arthur. "I'm sorry for your loss." Arthur didn't react to this, not at all. He just continued to stare at John K, with a dirty look now. "Moving back to this relationship. At what point in your dating did you realize you wanted to marry Merlin?"

Arthur sighed, licking his lips and taking his sweet ass time to answer. "I knew right away. You can sometimes just feel it..." Arthur looked over to Merlin at this, and Merlin tried not to look back at him. But he did and their eyes met. Merlin could see the hurt in Arthur's eyes, still ringing in him from the last question this fraud had asked him. Merlin wanted to throw him out, he really did. "Merlin is special," Arthur continued. "He's unique in almost every way possible. In how he makes me feel about him, in how he's not like anyone else I have ever been with. I am drawn to him, I like spending time with him, I like doing nice things for him just to make him smile." Arthur licked his lips again, in between words and then looked away from Merlin, who had been staring at him as he said these things. Arthur turned back to John K, with a pointed look. "I find that rather important feelings to have for your life partner."

"Of course," said John K, and he looked a bit disappointed as he wrote something down yet again. He looked back up after a moment and smirked once more. "Merlin has been very quite today, perhaps he would like to answer a question." Merlin didn't answer and John K let out a huff of laughter. "Right...on we get. Who kissed the other first? First kisses, very important things...who was it to bend first, shall we say?"

Merlin frowned at this question, with a roll of the eyes. He didn't really know how to answer it. But he decided to go with a half truth. "I did," he said. Because their first and only kiss had been at the alter and Arthur had been afraid to lean in, so Merlin had to do it. "Arthur still was new to the...gay thing, I indicated the first kiss."

"And was this kiss on or before your first date?"

"On," answered Merlin quickly. "At the end of the night."

"Mm," said John K, and he wrote something down. "And...did you partake in sexual intercourse on your first date?"

"No," said Arthur quickly, and then stood up. "We're not answering any sex questions this time."

"Refusal to answer any question may lead to failure of the interview," said John K.

"These little check ins aren't the interview, as I recall you saying a moment ago," retorted Arthur then. His voice almost dripping with irony. That was how he talked at work sometimes, Merlin remembered. When he thought you were being stupid. Merlin hadn't liked it then, but now...he kinda did. At least directed at John K. "Funny how that works, right?"

John K stood up as well and fixed his tanned suit jacket. "I do believe that is all I have for today," he said and started heading for the door without waiting for anyone to walk him out. "I will be in touch...very soon."

And with that he stormed out of the front door and slammed it behind him. They both just stood there and stared at the spot John K had been in before and neither said a word. Merlin found he didn't really know what to say, he wanted to talk to Arthur, but he didn't know how to. Instead, he inched closer and closer to Arthur until he was standing next to him, he reached out and touched Arthur's back. As soon as he did this, Arthur's head lowered and he shook it. Merlin took his as a sign that he needed something from Merlin, but Merlin wasn't really sure what. If it were him, he would want a hug, and Arthur would give it if Merlin needed one. But Merlin had never seen Arthur upset before, angry sure, but not sad...he didn't know what he wanted.

Merlin came and stood in front of Arthur, and he reached forward, he took Arthur's hands in his own. He couldn't say he really knew what he was doing, but was going with it. Arthur looked up then and just looked at Merlin. Looked at him for a long time before he spoke. "I'm sorry," he said and Merlin shook his head. Fit to tell him he had nothing to be sorry for. But Arthur carried on. "I don't know why this man think's he needs to hound us...he must have it out for me, I have no idea why."

"Well...you are kind of a prat," offered Merlin, and then he smiled bashfully and bit his lip as Arthur glared at him. "And I'm sorry, too."

"Why are you sorry?" asked Arthur, looking confused now.

"I'm sorry he asked questions that hurt you," said Merlin and Arthur's confused look went away, but now he only stare at Merlin, a bit wide eyed. "I didn't know...you never told me."

"I don't tell anyone," said Arthur. "I don't want to."

"You can tell me...," said Merlin then. "You don't have to. But if you ever wanted to, I would listen."

"I know."

Merlin knew Arthur wasn't going to tell him now, but the offer was on the table and now Arthur could...one day, if he wanted to. He didn't seem to let on that this would be any time soon. But he also hadn't let go of Merlin either and Merlin was still holding his hands. They were an arms length away from each other, gazing at each other, really. Allowing so many things to go unspoken. Such as Arthur's past and the steady thump of Merlin's heart in his ears, every time their eyes met anymore. It was doing it right now. He had deiced he couldn't stand it, yet he didn't want it to stop either. Instead of voicing all this, or saying anything else. Merlin decided to take Arthur's left hand, which was still in his own right one and pulled forward, he put both hands around his waist and proceeded to place his arms around Arthur's shoulders. Merlin realized there was a lot simpler ways of doing this, but nothing was ever simple with Merlin.

"What are you doing?" asked Arthur now, but lightly and kind of sounding amused by this weird sort of forcefulness. Merlin pulled him closer before answering.

"Hugging you."

"You could've just asked for a hug..."

"eh...who needs to ask?"

(A/N: Sup, hi! How's it going?! This is one of the chapters I wrote a long time ago, and I must have been very tired when I wrote it, (kind of like I am right now, 13 hour shifts many days in a row will do that to you,) but there were a lot of mess-ups in this chapter, and if I missed any just please excuse them. Also, this chapter is pretty important and a bit longer than the others tend to be, I hope you enjoyed!)