Merlin was sitting at the café around the corner from his apartment like he did every Monday and Friday morning. Currently, it the Monday following the weekend in which Lancelot remembered.

Merlin had had a lot to think about ever since meeting Gwen a little more than a week ago. Something was about to happen, something big. And Merlin had absolutely no idea what it might be. He was almost always on edge now, waiting for disaster to strike, following the news more closely for signs and suspicious activity.

He tried to keep up his usual routines until something happened, but he couldn't relax when he was in public anymore. He couldn't enjoy his daily walks and outings when he was constantly scanning the crowds for familiar faces, hoping for friends and fearing of enemies. The knights were coming back, so who's to say someone like Morgana or Morgause wouldn't also come back stronger than ever and with a vendetta?

A jingling of bells drew his attention to the door where an elderly man walked through the door. Merlin was about to go back to gazing out the window when he did a double take.

He looked back at the man and studied him as he walked to the counter to make his order. He was wearing a pair of khaki slacks and a grey sweater over a red shirt. There was no mistaking who it was.

It was Gaius.

He looked different, he was bald and wore black, thick-rimmed glasses, but it was definitely Gaius.

Merlin watched in shock as Gaius went up to the counter and ordered something, and then walked over to a table by the window after the barista handed him his drink. He wasn't really sure what to do now or how to go about this situation. Did he just go up and say hi? Did he wait until Gaius leaves and then follow him somewhere more secluded?

Well, no time like the present, Merlin decided.

He picked up his coffee and made his way to where Gaius was sitting and looking out the window. "Would you mind if I sat with you?" he asked.

Gaius looked up, startled. He took a quick glance around, probably trying to find out why Merlin wanted to sit with him, but couldn't find a reason, but being the polite gentleman that he was, he simply said, "Please, take a seat."

Merlin took the seat and they sat in awkward silence for a few minutes. He tried to think of a way to start a conversation and eventually settled on, "What are you drinking?"

Gaius looked slightly surprised that he spoke. "Just plain black coffee, anything with too much sugar is bad for my health."

"Oh," he replied mildly. More silence. Merlin looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Look at that bird out there!" he exclaimed pointing out the window behind Gaius.

Gaius turned in his seat and Merlin quickly whispered, "manian," at Gaius' drink before he turned back around. "I don't see any bird," he said with furrowed eyebrows.

"That's because it just flew off," Merlin said matter-of-factly. Gaius raised his eyebrow the same way he used to when he didn't believe Merlin's lies, but he refrained from saying anything.

Gaius took a sip of his coffee and started coughing and choking on his drink. It occurred to Merlin in that moment that the spell had caused Lancelot to pass out and he hoped nothing like that happened to Gaius. Or worse.

But thankfully, Gaius seemed to get his coughing under control and took a deep breath before finally stopping. He looked at Merlin with a bewildered expression. "Merlin?"

"Gaius!" Merlin exclaimed with a large grin.

"Merlin," Gaius said with an equally large grin, but it dimmed a bit as he spoke more. "But–but I–I was– and you–you were… What happened, Merlin?"

Merlin paused, thinking how best to word this. "Well it's a long story, but basically I'm immortal and I've lived since the days of Camelot, but now the knights are coming back and I think it's because we are about to face the greatest threat we've ever had to face," he let out in one breath.

Gaius raised both his eyebrows, trying to think which part of that to address first. "The knights?"

"Well, technically Guinevere was first to remember and then she brought Lance over because they're dating and I found a spell to make him remember and her brother Elyan will presumably remember as well, but he's on a trip so we have to wait for him to get back, and then I bumped into you a put a spell on your coffee so you'd remember and I can only assume that we'll soon find Arthur and the other knights as well."

"Hm," Gaius said, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "And what about this 'greatest threat?' What is it?"

He sighed. "Honestly, I'm pretty clueless. But Kilgharrah said that Arthur would rise again when Albion's need is greatest. I haven't seen Arthur yet, but I feel reasonably confident that he's out there and when the time is right, we'll find him and everyone else, which means something's coming."

"You're probably right. But are you sure you have no idea what could be coming?"

"Well, ever since Gwen remembered about a week ago, I've keeping a closer watch on the news and my surroundings for anything that might be happening, but unless we're facing global warming, I haven't seen anything too suspicious."

"Well, we'll just have to keep watching then." Gaius suddenly closed his eyes and rubbed at his temple, like he had a really bad headache.

"Gaius, are you alright? I'm sure it's a lot to take in, remembering a whole other life. Maybe you should go home and get some rest and we can talk more about this in a day or two," Merlin said worriedly.

Gaius waved off his concern. "I'll be fine, I've been through worse. Besides, this is more important."

"No really, Gaius—"

"I'm fine, Merlin," he asserted.

Merlin sighed. "If you say so."

"So, you said that you've been alive since Camelot? You were not…reincarnated? Like the rest of us?"

"No. I'll be turning 1,493 in three months," he stated. "I've just been here, waiting for Arthur. I've traveled a bit, but I mostly just stay here. Most people don't take much notice of an old man, so I don't usually have to worry about people getting suspicious as long as I keep a low profile."

"Sounds lonely," Gaius said in a carefully neutral tone.

"Yeah, sometimes," he said quietly, then, in a brighter tone, "I do have a pet tortoise to keep me company. Her name is Freya."

Gaius smiled. "I do have one last question."

"What?"

"Why do you look like that?"

Merlin looked down at himself and realized Gaius was talking about his age. "I'm 1,500 years old, what's your excuse?"

Gaius frowned disapprovingly. "I meant, why do you look so old when you could probably change that with your magic."

Merlin sighed. "Well, it may come as a shock, but I'm great at learning and performing spells, but making my own? Not so much."

"Really?

"Simple spells are one thing," Merlin explained, "like I made one that keeps bath water at the perfect temperature—course, it was more useful before showers, now I mostly use it for tea. But the point is, harder, more complex spells, I'm just not good at creating them."

"Well surely there are other sorcerers who have made youth spells."

"Yes and No. I mean, people have tried, obviously, everyone wants the fountain of youth, but very few have been successful."

"But there have been successes?"

"I don't know. I've tried a lot of spells and obviously, none have worked."

"But there are spells you haven't tried?" Gaius pushed.

"Yes, but unless you want me forcing my soul into another body or drinking the blood of babies every full moon, I'm not going to," Merlin said, putting an end to that line of questioning.

Gaius furrowed his eyebrows and was about to suggest something else when Merlin interrupted him. "Look, Gaius, it's not a big deal. I've been old far longer than I've been young and I've gotten used to it. Would I like to be young? Of course, but we've got bigger problems right now."

"That may be so, but I'm not giving up just yet. While I'm sure your magic is proficient enough for many things, a young and more physically able body might help a lot more than you think for facing any upcoming threats."

"Thank you, Gaius. You're welcome to keep looking into it. In fact, I was thinking of taking a trip while things are still quiet to my secret vaults," Merlin said with a gleam in his eye.

"Secret vaults?" Gaius asked, now quite interested.

"Well, you know, I've collected a lot of spell books and magic artifacts and relics over the years," he replied casually. "And I was thinking, some of them might come in handy in the near future."

"How many of these vaults do you have?"

"Quite a few actually, I don't like to keep too many things in one place in case someone finds one and steals stuff, or worse, uses it."

"That's smart."

"Yeah. They're all in isolated areas, mostly where civilization hasn't reached yet and they have enchanted entrances, so you'd need magic and the spell I created to see and unlock them, though that probably wouldn't stop the more determined. I have some more basic and mundane stuff in my closet-turned-library at home, but all the dangerous and more high-level stuff are in my vaults."

"Well, I think we should definitely take a look. I'm quite excited," Gaius said with a grin.

"Yeah," Merlin replied with a smile. "So, what's happened in your life? No offense, but you're getting on in years so why haven't we met until now?"

"Well, up until about two months ago I was living in Glasgow. I was born in London, but my family moved there when I was ten. I intended to return to London when I was old enough, but I met Alice while studying at university. So, I settled down there, became a doctor. We never had any kids and she passed away ten years ago. I moved here because I was ready for a change of scenery, though I suppose it might not've been my idea after all."

"That sounds nice," he said wistfully. "I'm happy you've had such a good life. Until now I suppose."

"Merlin," Gaius chastised. "Having you back is one of the best things to happen to me."

Merlin smiled. "Having you and everyone else back…it's pretty good too."

He didn't say it out loud, but Merlin felt an overwhelming wave of relief at seeing Gaius. He had matured a lot in his long lifetime and handled many situations, magical or otherwise without Gaius. In fact, his knowledge of all things magic must've far surpassed Gaius' at this point, but there was something comforting in his presence. He didn't feel quite so alone anymore. Not that he couldn't rely on Gwen and Lancelot to help him, but they just couldn't help the same way Gaius could.

They shared a quiet moment of sentiment. "So," Gaius started, "what about you? 1,500 years? I'm sure you have more interesting stories than some old kook."

Notes: Thank you for reading, comments are much appreciated. :)

In case you're wondering, they all live in Cardiff. The most popular theory for the location of Camelot is in Caerleon, but the town is a bit small, so I put them in the nearest bigger city which happens to be Cardiff.

Next chapter is Gwaine.