"Gwaine I cancelled, so... Gwaine?" Merlin said as there was a very ominous pause.
"To whom am I speaking," a polite, female, distinctly not Gwaine, voice asked.
"I'm Merlin, why do you have Gwaine's phone?"
"My name is Elena, I'm a Police Constable," the voice announced. "I tried ringing the emergency number in, Gwaine's..." she said the name nervously, "phone, someone called Arthur."
"You won't get an answer, he's in court at the moment," Merlin said. He knew Arthur was busy today. He was now very familiar with Arthur's schedule, as it affected their lunch dates. Then Merlin went back to the situation in hand. "Is Gwaine, all right. What's he done?"
"Nothing. There was an incident, a hit and run, your friend pulled someone out of the way but was caught by the car in the process..."
Merlin was vaguely aware the woman was still talking, but the world around Merlin went horribly grey and wavy. Gwaine; something was wrong with Gwaine, who was annoying and silly and always said he loved and wanted Merlin. He couldn't not be there to do that. It was almost as a reliable thing in Merlin's life as Arthur was.
"Sir?" the voice asked at the end of the phone. Merlin hadn't been aware of his sitting abruptly down on the warehouse floor, but his nearby colleague was, who ran over to check Merlin, talk to the constable on the phone and then try to rouse Merlin.
"Merlin?"
"Gwaine! It's Gwaine."
"Your friend is in the hospital."
"Where? I need to...?"
"Merlin, the police are going to pick you up out front, I told them where to come."
"But my shift, I should..."
"Merlin, you need to go to your friend. We'll find someone to cover for you."
"I can't go. What if... I need Arthur... I should call Arthur. He's in court though."
By the time that Merlin had been taken out front and installed in a police car. As he snapped back to reality and looked around he was pulling away from the kerb. He gave a giggle.
"I look like I've just been picked up for shoplifting!"
"But that's not the case, Sir. You don't have a car and you want to get to the hospital." It was the same voice he had heard on the phone. He gave the woman a vague smile.
"I'm not worried," Merlin said. "About work. Why did you ring me?"
"I couldn't get through to the other number on the phone. Arthur, he was listed as an ICE number. Then there was you."
"I was another of Gwaine's ICE number's?" There were plenty more people that Gwaine could list.
"No, you were listed as 'the love of my life', there were no other contact numbers."
"No," Merlin remembered. Frowning as he thought about it. "He had a strop one night and deleted all his contacts. Except Arthur. You wouldn't delete him even if you wanted to."
"You said he was in court?"
"He works for the CPS and... oh, I know what I can do."
Merlin knew who to call. He fiddled with his phone and called Mithian, and as he started to talk a competent male voice came on the line.
"Merlin?"
It was to Leon, therefore, that Merlin waffled out the story.
"Don't worry Merlin, I'll deal with it. I can get hold of Arthur, where are you going?"
"I don't know, the hospital, where..."
The competent PC gave Merlin the information again, which he reiterated word for word to Leon, then hung up. Merlin sat in the back of the police car clinging to his phone.
"He'll get everyone."
All Merlin thoughts were consumed by one thing, he wanted to get to Gwaine.
XxxxxxxxxxxxX
"You, Merlin, have the patience of an absolute saint," Lancelot announced as he opened the front door of Gwaine's house.
"We brought some stuff. Some beers and..."
"Who is that!" Gwaine bellowed from the living room.
"Me! and Will!"
"Two of you! Good, you can help me get dressed for the pub!"
"You haven't told him."
"No. Have you ever tried telling Gwaine anything?"
Merlin tutted and went into the living room. Gwaine was half up, using one of his crutches to lever himself up from a sitting position.
"Sit down!"
"It's Friday, pub night!" Gwaine said.
"I know, and since you can't go to the pub, because you can't, you have a hairline fracture in your leg, we are bringing the pub to you. So behave!"
Merlin turned his head as there was a bang on the door, then Arthur pushed his way in, using his key.
"Hello!"
"Wow!" Merlin heard Will said.
"I brought a few spirits as well as beer; vodka, gin, and the strange blue stuff we picked up during my stag do, which Gwaine tends to drink when he's cleaned me out of beer."
"Bring me blue stuff!" Gwaine bellowed from the next room. Arthur raised his eyebrows looked at Lancelot, then at Merlin, who appeared from the lounge.
"Has he been like this since yesterday?" Lancelot asked Merlin.
"No, he's been fine with me. I made him poached egg on toast for lunch, although he probably shouldn't drink too much," Merlin said.
"Blue stuff!" a voice repeated loudly from the lounge.
"Excuse me one moment," Arthur said, going into the lounge, closing the door behind him. There was a murmur of voices. Merlin looked confused but Lancelot continued to unload the box Arthur had brought, behaving as if everything was perfectly fine.
"Are we going to drink all this?" Merlin asked.
"Arthur invited a few of the secretaries from the office, for authenticity," Leon announced, with Mithian tailing him. "It's not a complete pub night without Gwaine trying to find Arthur a woman."
"I am said token woman then?" Mithian said, seeming to be un-offended by such an epitaph.
"Gwen will play pretend if she needs to," Lancelot said. "Plus I think Arthur invited Morgana. Although definitely no setting up with Arthur on that one though."
"Who's Morgana?" Merlin asked.
"My sister," Arthur said as he returned from the lounge. He opened a bottle of beer and took it in to Gwaine. Merlin followed him. Gwaine was sat back on the sofa, looking sulky.
"Merlin makes a nicer attendant than you do," Gwaine told him.
"Just behave yourself. You need to rest, you have just been hit by a car. We brought the pub to you, although we are not letting Merlin wait on you hand and foot."
"Fine, you can do it then," Gwaine informed Arthur, who smirked.
Merlin went back into the kitchen and got himself a beer and then went back into the lounge, sitting next to Gwaine in a careful manner.
"Don't sulk," Merlin said. Gwaine retracted his pout and grinned at Merlin. Sitting back, wincing slightly, Gwaine put an arm around him.
"I'm not. I'll play to my audience."
"Arthur looked very worried when he got to the hospital."
"Arthur's specialist power is worrying," Gwaine said.
"I was worried as well. And then I ran into fucking Cenred."
"I hope that wasn't literal," Gwaine said running his fingers through Merlin's hair. Merlin frowned in confusion.
"What?"
"Fucking Cenred," Arthur clarified.
"No, but Cenred looked rather pissed off when Gwaine bellowed for me."
"Did I?"
"Rather high on whatever you were given," Merlin told him. "Bellowing for me quite loudly, then announcing to the very nice nurse that I was the love of your life, just as loudly."
"So Cenred heard all this?" Lancelot said with a grin, then turned as he heard a sharp knock at the door.
"That sounds like Morgana," Leon said. Arthur grimaced.
"And what was Cenred's face like that this pronouncement?" Arthur asked.
"He looked surprised," Merlin said.
"Who did?" Gwen asked going over to kiss Merlin on the cheek and she handed Gwaine the present she was carrying.
"Thank you! See, someone loves me!"
"Hard to work out why," a voice drawled. Merlin's jaw dropped slightly as he looked at the regal looking woman who walked in the room, her dark hair cascading down her back.
"Cenred," Merlin told Gwen, while Gwaine enthusiastically ripped the paper off his present.
"Is this the famous 'bell-end' I have been hearing so much about," the regal woman asked.
"Morgana," Arthur warned her.
"You started it," she said.
"Yes," Merlin said.
"Yey! Look at my present! I'd much prefer to snuggle with Merlin though," Gwaine said as he waved his hot water bottle. Gwen took it off him before he could bash Merlin, who was already ducking out of the way.
"I'll fill it for you," Gwen said.
"No need for now, I have Merlin," Gwaine said, pulling Merlin back next to him. Merlin carefully nestled against him, mindful of the fact that Gwaine was still very bruised.
"Have you told them what Cenred was doing at the hospital?" Gwen asked. Merlin glared at her, then looked around at everyone else, who stared at Merlin expectantly.
"Merlin, tell them," Gwen added.
"Looking for me, he handed me an agreement for me to sign, to finalise the divorce and share out the... house and things. He turned up at the shop and they told him where I was."
"And why you were there?" Arthur asked.
"Yes."
"So, one of your friends was seriously injured in hospital, and he turned up there to hand you some agreement?" Arthur said.
"I told him that, he said I didn't have any friends," Merlin said. Arthur's face darkened so dramatically that Merlin huddled into Gwaine, who took advantage to hug him tighter.
"You have friends. Friends, who know the law. I want to have a look at this agreement. I hope you haven't agreed to it, or signed anything."
"No, it's been in my bag for the last few days."
"Right," Arthur said, getting up and heading over to Merlin's rucksack, he opened it and rummaged, pulling out the envelope that Cenred had handed to him. Arthur sat back down and pulled out the sheaves of paper. Morgana crossed the room and elegantly perched on the arm of the chair, Arthur glowered at her, but let her read over his shoulder. She took the pages off him as he finished each one and handed them over. Morgana looked thoroughly unimpressed.
"I have an overwhelming urge to go over this with a red pen. You are not to sign this, until my office has gone over this and made amendments. I presume this Cenred has a solicitor?"
"I guess," Merlin said with a shrug. "I can't afford one."
"You don't need to afford one," Arthur said. "We'll do this. Not quite your speciality," he added to his sister.
"I know enough," Morgana said. "And I have friends, who are therefore friends, of friends, of Merlin. You are quite correct in your assessment, this man is a bell-end. He is wording this to make you give up your share in the house, or at least thin it down."
"He paid more for it than I did," Merlin said, trying to be fair.
"That does not mean as much as you think. You worked on the house, and cared for him. You have rights," Morgana said. Then she looked up sharply. "I presume there is not a pre-nuptial agreement?"
"No, otherwise he would have brought that into play," Arthur said.
"No. We sort of discussed it but it never happened. He really wanted to get married and it... we sort of forgot it."
"Has he put anything in your name?"
"Jointly some things, and he set up an account for me."
Morgana's eye narrowed. "Have you ever signed anything without really looking at it."
"I don't know," Merlin said. Arthur gave a cough and held up a sheet of paper. Morgana scanned it, raised her eyebrows and handed one sheet to Leon, who gazed at it, and then took the pages Morgana had already read off her and sat down to start reading.
"The cheeky fucker," Arthur said. "He is using this to try and retrieve some assets that he put in your name. I'm guessing he doesn't know what your friends do."
"It's not illegal is it?" Merlin said, realised he had handed a legal document to people who worked for the CPS, at least in Arthur's and Leon's case.
"No, that's why people do it. It hides certain things, and it's only sleight of hand."
"I don't want anything that links me to him. I am quite happy to hand them back. I don't even care about getting half the house and things."
"Fine on the first point. We're not allowing that on the second. It's a joint asset and he's not stiffing you on it. He's banking that you will sign what he hands you, thankfully Gwaine had you too distracted to just do it."
"When are you supposed to hand this back?" Arthur asked.
"I'm supposed to take it back to the solicitors."
"Which solicitor?"
Merlin reeled of the name. Morgana smirked.
"Take Arthur. We'll make sure he's primed and ready."