They arrived at Merlin's family home around four, which is when Hunith had said to come. Arthur parked parallel in front of the house and they both just sort of paused before getting out. Arthur looked over at him. "You don't think your dad's made the...you know?" he asked and Merlin laughed.
"The ranch potato's?" he offered back. "I kind of hope he has!"
Arthur glared daggers at him, and then they got out of the car and headed inside. It smelled like Christmas in the house and with it being less than a month away Merlin couldn't imagine eating this kind of food twice so close together, he didn't know how the American's did it. Gwen met them in the hallway, she was beaming, she hugged Arthur tightly to her and didn't seem to care if anyone noticed or not. Merlin walked away from this, because he was hungry and didn't feel like losing his apatite just yet. Merlin had a strong idea that a lot of this Thanksgiving party in Arthur's honor was actually Gwen's idea, and this annoyed Merlin for some reason. Because wasn't it Gwen who said Arthur was a grown man and didn't need fussed over and given a nice dinner when he got his job? Oh well, Merlin sighed and walked into the kitchen. There his mother was, kneading bread.
"Merlin, Sweetheart!" called his mother after him and he walked over and gave her a sideways hug, as she was busy anyway. "We've got a good spread, I tried to make it American for Arthur. Stuffing, green beans, they make it into some sort of casserole over there, I didn't do that, Gwen sautéed them for me, and then roasted potato's, had to fight your father not to make his dammed ranch potato bullshit...we'll be having turkey and Tom is roasting a pork roast outside. We've got apple pie for dessert as well..."
Merlin nodded, with a smile. "That sounds good," he told her truthfully. "When do we eat?"
"I've got to finish making the rolls," said Hunith, looking around her. "Where's that sister of yours gone? She's supposed to be melting butter!"
"I'll go get her," said Merlin and then he walked back into the hall to find Gwen whispering something to Arthur. Merlin marched right over to her and tapped her shoulder. He was always annoyed by her, just regularly, but she needed to back off Arthur here. They hadn't been around other people in awhile, so maybe she forgot that, or just didn't care anymore. "Mum wants you," he said pointedly, when she turned around and gave him a dirty look. She huffed, in an irritated fashion, and then stomped off back toward the kitchen. Merlin glared over at Arthur then, just because. "What was she telling you?"
Arthur shrugged, but he didn't look over at Merlin as he started talking. "Nothing important," he answered and Merlin frowned again. He didn't doubt that. Arthur walked ahead after this, deeper into the hall, passed the kitchen and out the back door, where Tom would be, and probably Balinor and Elyan, too. Merlin didn't want to follow Arthur outside and he didn't want to go back into the kitchen either. He figured he ought to do something though, he took off his jacket and then headed into the sitting room. Hs idea of doing something was actually just sitting on the sofa until it was time to eat, and it seemed he wasn't alone in thinking that because Jen was in there, too. Sitting and looking at her phone.
"Hi," said Merlin, as he sat next to her on the sofa. She looked up at Merlin with a smile and put her phone down on the coffee table in front of them, before leaning over and kissing Merlin's cheek.
"How are you doing, Love?" she offered and Merlin shrugged. The honest answer was not that great, but he couldn't tell her that. "Where's your husband at?"
"He went outside...with the men," said Merlin and Jen laughed.
"You'll see quick enough it's better that way," Jen told him with great wisdom. "That way he's not in here...annoying you."
"He doesn't annoy me," admitted Merlin, and this was true, Arthur didn't annoy him. It was actually probably more the other way around, but Merlin was only teasing him, so he didn't really think that annoyed Arthur truly all that much.
"Well, that's good...but he will, give it five or ten years. Then, just his face will get on your nerves."
Merlin nodded, but he didn't say anything. Mostly because they wouldn't be together in five to ten years, so it didn't matter anyway. It didn't even matter right now. About ten minutes later Hunith called them into the dining room to eat. Merlin sat before Arthur had even come back into the house and before he did, Gwen quickly sat down right next to Merlin, who was sitting next to Tom. Arthur came in then behind Elyan and sat next to Gwen, as Elyan took the seat next to Hunith, so there was no other options. Merlin knew Gwen had done that on purpose, just so she could sit next to Arthur, and honestly...who cares enough to go to all that trouble? Merlin didn't need to sit next to Arthur while they ate dinner, but apparently Gwen did.
All throughout dinner, as Arthur talked about American traditions and such, Merlin noticed every so often Gwen would reach down and touch Arthur's thigh, what was she trying to do? Merlin didn't know and he didn't honestly care, he didn't think anyone else noticed anyway. As dinner ended and Arthur told a story about how one year when he was ten him and his family went to New York for Thanksgiving, Merlin got up and headed for the kitchen. It wasn't that he didn't care about Arthur's story, it was more so Gwen's hand was now just resting on Arthur's leg and it was honestly pissing Merlin off now. He tried not to care, he really did, and Arthur had been ignoring this every single time she did it, but it was just rude and disrespectful to Merlin. What would someone think if they saw that? Merlin sighed and started putting away leftovers. A few minutes later he heard footsteps behind him and he knew it wasn't Arthur, because he could still hear him talking, but he did hope it was anyone but Gwen. Sadly, his wish was not granted, because it was Gwen.
"Merlin, can I talk to you?" she asked and Merlin didn't say anything. He only looked up, with a raised eyebrow. He couldn't wait for this, what was she going to bitch about now? He swore he might tell her off, he really did. She sighed and walked a bit closer to him, which he didn't like very much at all. "I really want to tell someone...but I don't know who..." she bit her lip and then reached out and touched Merlin's arm, he didn't like that either. "I've stopped taking my birth control."
Merlin's mouth fell open, not that this was some shocking news, it wasn't some insane breaking news story, but in all the things he imagined her saying, this was not one of them. "What...?"
She nodded seriously. "I stopped taking it a long time ago, actually," she admitted. "After I saw Arthur with my friends baby, I just couldn't help myself."
Now, after the shock of what she said wore off, Merlin was starting to feel a bit off about this. He stared at her. "So you...stopped taking it because...?"
"I want to have a baby with him!" Gwen announced, and in Merlin's opinion just a little too loudly. And, don't we all, he thought, as he frowned at her. "You can't tell him any of this, do you understand?"
"You stopped taking your birth control AND you didn't tell him?" Merlin offered, not really surprised, but flabbergasted by her complete lack of care for anyone but herself. And she thought she could be a mother?
"He would get mad if he knew!" she said, looking worried at the entrance to the hall, probably worried Arthur was going to walk in. Not to mention any of their other family she didn't seem to be considering at all. "He seems to think we can't have a baby right now...but if it's an accident, we can't do anything about it, can we?"
She was so manipulative, he rolled his eyes in his mind. "yeah…" he said. "But what about your issues...aren't you worried about miscarrying again?"
"I told you it was Lance with the problem!" Gwen retorted, and she had said this so many times before, but then and now Merlin didn't believe that. "I'm perfectly fine to carry a baby!"
"Well..." Merlin shrugged, not really caring much about this anymore. "See if you get pregnant...I guess."
"That's just it, I'm late..." she said then and all of the color in Merlin's face must have drained then, because she glared at him. "A week late, actually...I'm taking a test when I get home. But I don't want to tell Arthur until I'm sure."
"You probably should tell Arthur..." he trailed off, she shook her head no.
"No, I won't...not yet," she said, and then pointed a finger at Merlin. "And you're not going to either, or I swear-"
But she couldn't threaten him anymore, as Hunith walked in then, with hands full of plates. Merlin helped clean the kitchen, completely mute, not entirely sure what he should do. Should he keep Gwen's secret? Should he tell Arthur? What if she really was pregnant? How would that even work? Merlin felt sick, he wished he hadn't eaten so much turkey. He just wondered why Gwen was like this, it couldn't have been all Lance, even if Merlin himself has made the excuse for her before. Maybe, really what it is, is that she is just crazy. Anymore, it sort of felt like she was.
(A/N: Ya'll are gonna be mad about this one, I can tell. What I can say is...this is all happening for a reason, just hang in there. Also, I would like to say thank you for all the comments of support about me being frustrated with some things in this story, you all made me feel less badly about it. I've been able to really focus on this story again. I can't say how many chapters there will be total yet, but we're getting closer! Enjoy!)