Title: Maybe Love

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Chapter Two: Maybe Parents

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Merlin takes the week off of work, running around town, making arrangements for Arthur and Gwen's funeral. Arthur and Gwen had both voiced before, their wishes to be cremated when they die. Merlin couldn't help thinking, that he never imagined it would happen this soon. He and Morgana agreed that their friends will be cremated, like they wanted. It's probably the first time they've ever agreed on anything.

In Arthur and Gwen's shared last will and testament, they left everything they owned to their 2 year old daughter, Igraine. Everything, but their house. The 2-story suburban house, which was already paid off, is left to both Merlin and Morgana, with the specification that they both live in it. They are not allowed to sell it, but rather, pass it down to their children.

That part of the will got a few eyebrow raises from Morgana and Merlin. However, they didn't say anything. The final part, was more of a request in two parts. Firstly, a request that their ashes be scattered at the top of Rikers Peak, where they met. A task which Merlin and Morgana agreed to carry out. And secondly, a letter, addressed to both Merlin and Morgana, with the instructions that they read it aloud in front of the attorney.

Our Dearest Friends- Merlin and Morgana,

If you're reading this, then Gwen and I are no longer there. Last year, after the birth of our daughter, Igraine, we agreed that we would write out our final will and testament. We wanted to be sure that everything was taken care of in case something suddenly happened to us. This year, we renewed this letter, as Igraine will be two. We hope to continue to renew this for many years to come, but the future is not guaranteed for any of us. We had hoped that we would live to watch her grow up, have her first day of school, ride a bike for the first time, lose her first baby tooth, and so many other firsts. But, the fact that you're reading this means that we won't be able to see any of that.

We know you don't see eye to eye, but for the sake of our daughter, we hope that you both can put your differences aside. This letter is a formal written plea for the both of you to take on the responsibility of taking care of our little girl for us. You are the only people we trust, to love our daughter as much as we do. We would never ask this of you if there were any other choice. The foster system is not something we wish for Igraine to be forced into. So we ask you, from the bottom of our hearts to take her as your own, keep her safe, and love her the way we know you always have. We will never get to watch her grow up, go to prom, fall in love, get married, and someday have a little girl or boy as beautiful and special as her. But we both hope that you will be the ones to do that for us. You are our family— her family, and we hope you will continue to be her family for the rest of her life. This is our last, and final wish.

All our love,

Arthur and Gwen Pendragon

To say they were speechless is an understatement. The responsibilities of a parent are great. It's something that isn't taken lightly. It's something that neither of them are prepared for, or even expected. It's something that they never thought they'd have to be, at least not anytime soon. But... as soon as they'd read Arthur and Gwen's letter, they knew immediately that they would agree to it. They would never let Igraine become an orphan or foster child. Igraine is their responsibility now, and no one else's.

For all of Igraine's life, they'd always been Aunty Morgana and Uncle Merlin. But today, they would agree to be her parents.

When they leave the attorneys office after signing a ton of documents, Merlin and Morgana walk silently, side-by-side towards their own cars. It's isn't until they're standing at the edge of the lot that Morgana finally turns and looks expectantly at Merlin.

"How are we going to do this?" She asks, unsure of her question.

Merlin looks at her and shrugs. "Do what?"

Morgana sighs and tries her best not to glare at him. He'd almost been kind to her at the hospital last week. "We just signed adoption papers, Merlin... nothing is in the way of finalizing it, so as of today, we're her parents. I mean they're dropping her off tomorrow night."

Merlin stares at her as he sighs softly to himself. "I don't know." He says honestly. "I mean— the house— their house has been left to us. We could— we could take turns living there with her."

Morgana blinks at the man in utter disbelief. "What, like babysitters?!" She asks incredulously.

"What do you want me to say?!" Merlin snaps at her. "I don't know what to do, Morgana! You're the woman!"

Morgana forgets about trying not to glare, and glares. "I'm the woman? Really Merlin? You think because I'm a woman that I have all the answers?!" She yells at him furiously. How much of an ass could he be?!

"Well I certainly don't have them!" Merlin deadpans.

Morgana inhales deeply, trying to calm herself before she launches at Merlin and yanks his hair out of his scalp. Of all the people in the world for Gwen and Arthur to choose as Igraine's godfather, they choose the one person on the planet that she absolutely can't stand. The one person in the world who she loathes with every fiber of her being. From the moment they met, she knew she hated him. Now she has to take care of a baby with him?!

Merlin rolls his eyes and scrubs a hand down the side of his face. "Look, I don't like you anymore than you don't like me. But if we're going to be Igraine's parents, we have to do it right..." he looks down, crestfallen. "... we owe it to Arthur and Gwen."

Morgana sighs as she nods. "Fine... then we'll talk about it tonight at their house."

Merlin nods as he holds up the house keys. "I'll go there first to pack up some of their things. I'll give you your key when you get there."

Morgana nods as she checks her phone. "I'll be there around 5:30."

They go their separate ways, grateful to have a few hours away from each other.

...

At 5:48, the doorbell rings and Merlin jumps, hitting his head on the bottom of the table he'd been under, trying to pick up some of Igraine's toys. He groans as he gets to his feet and rubs his head in annoyance.

He opens the door to find Morgana standing there with her purse and a takeout bag.

He doesn't say anything as he leaves the door open and goes back into the kitchen. She follows, dropping the takeout bag onto the kitchen counter. "I didn't know if you ate already, so I got you an order of Mongolian beef." She says absently.

Merlin quirks an eyebrow at her. "I'm pescatarian."

Morgana huffs. Not even one minute in the house with him and he's already annoying. "So you only eat fish?" She asks, even though she doesn't really care about his answer.

Merlin scoffs at her, having never heard anyone ask that about pescatarians. "I don't only eat fish. I can eat other things too. I just don't eat meat that isn't fish."

"That's what I meant." Morgana rolls her eyes at him as she gets down a plate from one of the cabinets.

"Well your question was worded wrong." Merlin says defensively.

"Jesus, I'm sorry for trying to do something nice! If you don't eat beef, then just don't eat the bloody beef!" She snaps at him. "I don't know why we're even arguing about this, we have more important matters to discuss!"

Merlin stares at her for a second before walking to the cabinet, grabbing two wineglasses, a corkscrew, and a bottle of red wine, before making his way to the table and sitting down at the head of it. Morgana takes her takeout food with her and sits on the other end, facing him, but farthest away from him. She takes her time, transferring her food from the takeout box to the plate, before beginning to eat.

As Merlin pours the wine, she watches him quietly, taking note of how his hair seems to defy gravity and sticks out instead of just flopping down over his forehead. He gets up and silently places one of the wineglasses beside her plate before going back to his seat.

"It's a Benovia 2015 Grenache." He says quietly. "Arthur got it last month from his trip to California."

Morgana stares down at the wineglass. They haven't really talked about Gwen and Arthur outside of wills, cremation arrangements, Igraine, and funeral ceremonies and receptions. They haven't really talked about anything at all. That day at the hospital, they'd simply just silently cried as they stared at each other until a nurse came in and screamed when she saw Merlin there on the floor of the ladies restroom.

Tonight, she thinks they won't have a choice but to talk about what happened, and what they're going to do from here on out.

She tries breaking the ice by asking, "Do you know a lot about wines?"

Merlin shakes his head as he takes a sip from his wineglass and makes a face. "Just that I don't like them very much."

Morgana frowns at him. "Then why are you drinking it?"

Merlin shrugs at her. "There's no beer in the fridge."

Morgana raises an eyebrow at him. "And water just wasn't a choice?"

Merlin sighs as he leans back. "Water was not made for the conversation we're about to have."

Right. Morgana returns to staring at her wineglass. She's suddenly not hungry anymore. Just the mention of the conversation they're about to have takes her appetite away. She pushes the plate away, downs her entire glass of wine, and then looks expectantly at Merlin. "What should we talk about first?"

Merlin suddenly gets up, takes the bottle of wine and his glass, walks over to her, pulls out the chair adjacent to hers, and plops down in it. "Grief." He knocks back the rest of his wine before pouring Morgana another glass. "We should talk about grief."

...

As Merlin opens another bottle of wine, Morgana continues talking about the time when she and Gwen were stuck in a hotel elevator for two hours and discussed which body part they would eat first if they had to resort to cannibalism to survive.

"We both decided on thighs."

Merlin snorts as he pours the Cabernet into Morgana's proffered empty glass. "I would go for toes first."

Morgana makes a disgusted face. "Eww. Toes would be bitter from the sweat and dirt under our feet!"

Merlin laughs. "As opposed to the clean and sweet thighs?"

Morgana raises her glass towards him as she laughs. "Touché."

Merlin sighs and sips his wine. "I'm glad we talked about Arthur and Gwen... I feel like we've managed to at least accept that they're gone."

Morgana nods as she takes a drink from her own glass. "Yeah... despite the fact that I didn't want to accept it, I knew that we had to... for Igraine."

Merlin nods in agreement as he looks at Morgana with a serious expression. "That little girl deserves the world..." he shakes his head. "Arthur and Gwen would've given her the world."

Morgana smiles as tears form in her eyes. "And that's what we're going to give her. No matter how hard it gets, and I know for a fact that you'll contribute heavily to the hardships," She jokes, and Merlin laughs. She sighs and continues. "... we have to promise that we will love and protect her the way Arthur and Gwen would. She'll grow up knowing that she was, is, and always will be loved."

Merlin smiles as well as he raises his glass towards Morgana. She raises her own glass and clinks it gently against his. "To Arthur and Gwen." Merlin says softly.

"To Arthur and Gwen." Morgana repeats.

It's the first time they've ever really been civil towards one another, besides the time when they agreed to have their friends cremated. It's a small thing, and they're probably only like this because of the alcohol in their system, but they both silently think it's a good start.

...

The next day finds Merlin passed out on the floor with Morgana passed out just a foot away from him on the couch.

Merlin groans softly as he turns his head slowly, mindful of the pain in his stiff neck. "Fuck." He mumbles against the carpet as he blinks his eyes open. He first notices a hand in his face, then notices that it isn't his hand. His eyes follows the hand to its owner, sleeping like the dead on the leather couch.

He blinks as he pushes himself up into a sitting position and watches her face for a moment. He notices the state of her hair, disheveled and messy. He notices her lipstick, now smeared halfway across her cheek. He notices the way her eyelashes flutter as she snores softly. She's beautiful, he thinks for only a moment, before quickly banishing the thought. He has long since forgotten about any attraction he may have had towards her in the past.

Looking around, he tries to remember how they got into the living room from the kitchen. After several minutes of mentally retracing the last steps he remembers before passing out, he finally remembers carrying Morgana to the couch after she fell asleep with her face on the dining table. He then tried to go to the bathroom, but Morgana wouldn't let go of him, demanding that he take her clothes off for her. He'd kept trying to stop her from stripping, but he didn't really have to do much anyway. In her intoxicated state, she couldn't even find the bottom of her dress. She'd given up a few minutes later and instead grabbed his ear and told him not to go anywhere. He'd ended up sitting on the floor in front of the couch, waiting for her to fall asleep and let go of his ear. He must've fallen asleep that way and ended up faced down on the carpet.

He chuckles softly as he looks at the slumbering girl and shakes his head. Getting up, he makes his way to the bathroom to finally relieve his bladder.

When he comes back, he finds Morgana still sleeping, so he decides to get a start on cleaning up in the kitchen and making breakfast.

Morgana moans softly as she rolls over, then nearly has a heart attack when she falls right off her bed. It's then that she realizes that she's not in her own bed. She's not in any bed, but rather, Arthur and Gwen's leather couch in their living room. The memory of last night comes flooding back in (the earlier parts anyway), and she closes her eyes and huffs when she hears the sound of footsteps coming towards her.

Merlin snorts at the sight of Morgana laying on her back on the floor. "Sleep well?" He asks, though there is no sincerity in his voice.

Morgana opens one eye and peeks at him. "What time is it?"

Merlin looks at the watch on his wrist and says, "It's almost noon."

Morgana groans even louder as she sits up and rubs the sleep from her eyes. "We weren't supposed to sleep here."

Merlin nods. "I know... but you fell asleep on the table last night, so I had to carry your ass out here." He smirks at her and continues. "You wouldn't let me go after that."

Morgana scoffs as she finally gets up. "Don't flatter yourself. I tend to cling to the nearest douchebag when I'm drunk."

Merlin laughs at that. "You kept telling me to take your clothes off."

"It was hot!" Morgana says defensively.

"It was like 30 degrees last night!" Merlin returns incredulously.

Morgana glares at him, ready to explode at him. He really is the most insufferable man child in the world. She doesn't recall telling him to take off her clothes last night, but she wouldn't put it past her drunk self. She's unpredictable. Trying to hide the blush on her face, she looks around the floor for her purse.

"Your purse is on the kitchen counter." Merlin tells her, to which she says nothing, instead, walking past him towards the kitchen. He follows her quietly.

Morgana takes her phone out of her purse and checks it, finding several text messages from her co-workers. Morgana huffs as she puts it back in her purse. "I need some—". She cuts herself off when Merlin suddenly holds out a cup of coffee to her. She blinks at him suspiciously.

Merlin rolls his eyes at her. "Yes, it's coffee, and no, I didn't poison it."

Morgana smirks as she takes the cup and sips from it. She smiles as she eyes him. "Thank you."

Merlin snorts. "I didn't make it for you. I made it for me, but there's no creamer." He wrinkles his nose. "I don't like black coffee."

Morgana raises her eyebrows at him, "How'd you know I liked black coffee?"

Merlin shrugs and goes to sit down at the table, "I didn't." He says simply.

Morgana shrugs as she joins him. She'll take it. She sets her cup down and looks at him as she purses her lips. "We didn't actually talk about anything we were supposed to talk about last night."

Merlin raises an eyebrow at her. "That's because you kept talking about your college days with Gwen."

"You wouldn't stop talking about your college days with Arthur!"

"Yeah, but my stories were meaningful! Milestones! You kept going on about dresses and parties!"

"That dress was a vintage Balenciaga!" Morgana snaps at him.

"So it was old." Merlin nods. "Good to know."

"It wasn't old, it was vintage!"

"Vintage is old!"

Morgana almost growls in anger. "I'm not even going to try and explain this to you. You have the brain capacity of a fucking shrew." She shakes her head and continues to sip her coffee.

Merlin rolls his eyes at her, unfazed by her insult, and checks his watch again. "Igraine's case worker will be dropping her off in 4 hours."

Morgana looks up at him then. They'd never been left alone with Igraine for more than a few hours. To think that they'll be left alone with her for good is terrifying. Possibly the most terrifying thing about this whole ordeal. Gwen is the mother type. She, on the other hand, doesn't know what it's like to have a mother, let alone be one. And then there's Merlin, who probably thinks you can purchase babies online. She shakes her head as she stares at Merlin. "How are we going to do this?" She asks softly.

Merlin stares right back at her. "I don't know... I mean— we just have to feed her and wash her, right?"

Morgana glares at him incredulously. "She's a baby, not a dog."

"I know that!" He snaps. "I just don't know what a baby needs."

"Then that is what we should do right now." Morgana says as she gets up. "Gwen has her computer in the study. We can google how to take care of a baby."

"Google?" Merlin asks with a bewildered expression. "You want us to learn how to raise Arthur and Gwen's daughter from google?"

"Have you got any better ideas?" Morgana asks heatedly. When Merlin doesn't say anything, she nods and says, "Then shut up and follow me." She begins to walk away, but then stops and turns back to face Merlin. "And she's our daughter now... get used to calling her that."

...

The first thing that pops up on google when Morgana types in 'How to raise a 2 year old baby', is 'What to expect from a 2-Year old'.

"This looks like a good article to start on." She mumbles as she clicks on the link.

Reading through the article, Morgana feels utterly ridiculous. They'll have Igraine back in just under 4 hours, and they're googling how to raise her. Still, she doesn't say anything. This is more than she knows about babies.

After reading through the article with Merlin hovering over her shoulder, she closes the browser and turns the seat around to face him. "What do you think?"

Merlin purses his lips as he moves towards the other desk chair and sits in it. "I think we already know these things."

Morgana frowns at him. "How?"

"Gwen and Arthur. We've both seen how they were with Igraine. We've seen how much they adored and loved her. How they treated her like a baby princess. It's basically what was in the article."

Morgana is almost impressed with Merlin when she realizes that he's right. She doesn't tell him though. She just nods and pretends to have thought the exact same thing from the beginning. "Right... well, I think we should head to our own homes and start getting ready for tonight."

Merlin nods. "Right... err— before we go though, I thought I'd ask...".

"Ask what?" Morgana looks expectantly at him.

"What about the living arrangements?"

Morgana freezes at that. This is one of the things she'd been worried about. The living arrangements. She really doesn't want to live with Merlin under the same roof for long periods of time, but... "I don't think we really have a choice." She says quietly. "For Igraine's sake, it would be confusing for her to see us come and go... and for our sakes, I— I'm not keen on continuing to pay for a flat I'm not living in." She shrugs at him. "I trust you feel the same about your own flat?"

Merlin nods in agreement. "So we'll live here then." Merlin states. "There's only one problem with that."

"What?"

Merlin points out the door of the study. "There are only two bedrooms, one of which is already the baby's nursery."

Morgana stares at the door and bites her lip.

Well, shit.

...

A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone! Next up, the arrival of baby Igraine! Anyways, for those of you who are waiting for an update for The Mad Prince, I'm almost done with the next Chapter. just making some adjustments. I'll update that next. Much love and please review!

-McDiggin'It