"Angel" (Rose)
Not long after the sun rises, Gwaine stirs and coughs, finally waking.
I quickly stand, a wide grin spreading across my face. "Merlin!" I call out.
"Wha- Where am I?" he asks, as the door pushes open, revealing Merlin.
"What is it?" Merlin questions quietly, staring down at the tray of breakfast he gathered. Once he looks up, the situation explains itself. "Oh! You're awake!"
"What am I doing in this bed?" Gwaine asks with growing tension.
"You were wounded," Merlin answers, crossing closer to the foot of the bed. "Arthur wanted to make sure you were treated by his physician."
"Arthur?" Gwaine quizzes.
"Yes," I say as Merlin nods once.
"Prince Arthur," Merlin elaborates. "You saved his life."
To that, Gwaine scoffs a little. "If I'd known who he was, I probably wouldn't have."
"What do you mean?" I ask, baffled by the comment.
"He's a noble," he says with an odd smile.
"Yeah, but he's a good man," Merlin says, placing the breakfast tray on the side table.
Gwaine's laugh is full of disbelief. "If you say so."
"He is," I reaffirm. "And you-"
"You're a hero," Merlin finishes for me, and we both smile. "The king wants to thank you in person."
Gwaine spits back out the bit of his drink he was sipping. "Please, no. I've met a few kings … Once you've met one, you've met them all." He reaches for some berries.
"He'll probably give you a reward," Merlin counters.
"I'm not interested," Gwaine insists, popping a blackberry into his mouth. "Besides," he says mid-chew. "I've got everything I need," he pats his bag, "Right here."
"Why did you help us?" Merlin asks with innocent curiosity.
"Your chances looked between slim and none," Gwaine places his hands behind his head. "I, uh, I guess I just kind of like the look of those odds."
Merlin's face scrunches into an expression of amusement and confusion. "Is insanity also something you normally dabble in?" he teases.
"Some would say so," Gwaine smirks.
"I still toy with the fact that I may never understand the male mind," I shake my head as they laugh.
"That's alright," Gwaine waves his hand signifying to forget about it. "How could an angelic creature such as yourself ever comprehend the thoughts of carnal men?"
I pray my eyes haven't popped out of my skull in shock, although they certainly feel as if they have. Merlin looks like someone just forced him to drink a gallon of some sort of tranquilizing potion.
"O-oh," I stutter, turning a highly uncomfortable shade of pink. "I don't think your assumption is quite as accurate as all that … More like the feminine brain functions in a much different way."
"No, no," Gwaine corrects, "You will never be able to convince me that a face like yours does not belong to a higher sort of being. You must be an angel sent from the heavens above." He flashes a rather suave grin.
"Well, I thank you for your compliment and must grant you your own," I give a little embarrassed laugh, causing Merlin's stunned gaze to snap from him to me. "There have not been many times in my life in which I am rendered speechless such as I seem to be now."
He chuckles in a deeper tone. "That's also one of my specialities … Speaking of, what are yours?"
"What are my specialities?" I reconfirm his question. He nods, squinting carefully in my direction. "I don't know that I truly have any …" my voice fades into uncertainty.
"Oh, yes, she does," Merlin jumps in, almost instinctively. "Don't listen to her. She's too modest. But she's also brilliant, diligent, I see you noticed the beautiful part, and she's the most wonderful person I've ever met, through and through."
Well, now there must be not one pale inch of me left.
An intuitive glint appears in Gwaine's eyes. "I see," he says thoughtfully.
"Seriously," Merlin insists with eyes wide, "You should see her with Gaius, masters of medicine."
"Seemed like you knew a bit yourself, assuming you helped with this," he gently pats his injured leg.
"I know some stuff," Merlin admits shyly.
"He knows way more than 'some stuff'," I correct brightly.
Gwaine smirks with that same tint in his expression. "I believe it."
A moment of silence settles within our little group. "Well, you might also believe that being a noble, Arthur has a manservant, and that is me. So, I leave you in the trustworthy hands of my lovely friend here. I will be home by supper." His last comment is directed far more toward me. I don't think he thought Gwaine would have been at all concerned that he made it home in time for a proper meal.
"Have fun," I call after him.
"HA-HA," he responds as the door shuts behind him, shutting the rest of the world out from Gwaine's ever-searching brown eyes.
"Shattered" (Merlin)
As uncomfortable as I now am leaving Rose with a handsome stranger who flirts (and does it well), I'm still careful to keep up the quality of my work, so as to not to give Arthur reason to nag and nitpick.
I straighten up Arthur's curtains as he stretches.
"How's Gwaine?" he asks, voice strained from the stretching.
"Recovering," I answer shortly, opening up the window to see three horses approaching the castle. "Who's that?"
Arthur saunters over to the window and peeks out. "Ahh, Sir Darien. He's here for the melee."
"Oh, yeah," I say, now remembering. "The tournaments where the knights ride around hitting each other with blunt weapons for no good reason."
"A little more to it than that," Arthur contests my mocking tone.
"Really?" I question. "All I've ever seen is people getting the seven bells knocked out of them so that the last man standing can be called the winner."
"The melee," he begins, tightening his belt, "Is the ultimate test of strength and courage."
I look to the side and then back at him. "Are you sure we're talking about the same thing?"
"Well, I wouldn't expect you to understand. You're not a knight," he chides.
"Well, if it means I don't get clobbered 'round the head," I almost snort. "I'm glad of it." With that, I turn around, ready for the next chore.
"I'm afraid it doesn't," Arthur's voice resounds behind me and a hard metal object conks me in the back of the head and clatters to the floor.
"Ow!" I exclaim, glaring at Arthur with incredulity.
"I need that lot cleaned by noon," he motions with a tilt of his head to his armor as I massage my shoulder and crane my neck, letting an "ah" escape my lips.
Paying no heed to my wound sustained by his head, Arthur leaves me behind feeling two different kinds of sore as I spend the next half hour scrubbing his metal works.
"Why is it I most often stumble upon you polishing Arthur's armor?" Rose's light soprano voice fills the room.
"Ah, yes," I wince. "My everlasting reward for saving Arthur's neck for the first of about a million times since." We share a small laugh.
"Do you by chance have any inkling of where Gaius is at the moment?" Rose quizzes. "I thought he would be at the Motley's delivering the oil that Madame Motley is convinced washes her wrinkles away, but when I arrived, they said they had not seen him today. I then proceeded to listen to a fifteen minute rant on how I should strongly consider applying the oil to my potential wrinkling areas to remain as youthful as I can for as long as nature permits me."
I roll my eyes and chuckle. "I am fairly certain he is with the King. Uther may or may not have sent the royal guard to fetch Gaius when he was sure he found a bald spot on his head this morning," I try to hold in my laughter … and, of course, am completely unsuccessful.
"Really!" Rose exclaims with a giggle. "What is it with the Pendragon men and their looks?! I've never known a man to be so vain."
"I've never known a woman to be so vain!" I retort teasingly.
"Well, then," she smiles. "I'm glad you don't think me vain, by that account … or at least not AS vain as a Pendragon."
"I don't imagine you've ever had a vain thought in your life," I reply, raising an eyebrow and tilting my head down at her.
"Oh, I don't know that that's true," she admits in a disappointed tone, frowning down at her sleeves and fondling the white fabric. "I remember feeling very.. almost.. pretty when I put on this dress for the first time."
"Feeling pretty and thinking you are pretty are still two different things! … I think," I puzzle. "And besides, you couldn't even think you WERE pretty. 'Very almost' does not count."
She perks up a bit and grins. "I suppose you are right … Anyways, Gwaine is utterly restless and eager to roam about, but I promised I would not let him leave until I had permission from Gaius. Perhaps I'll see you again before daylight vanishes to give day to others far away."
"Perhaps," I return her smile. But as she goes to step through the door frame, I catch myself calling her name. She turns and blinks at me in question, waiting for my words. Every time she looks at me this way, I really want to say something entirely different than what comes out of my mouth. But since I can't say THAT, I grab her hand and say, "You should know … you are far more than very almost pretty."
"I'm very, very, very nearly almost pretty?" she teases.
"You …" I pause, taking in a small and much shakier breath than expected. "Are the most beautiful … well, anything that I've ever seen." That did not come out correctly. At. All.
Yet still she throws her arms around my neck. "You are too good to me," she whispers as I bend a little to wrap my arms around her waist. When she pulls back and doesn't let go, her eyes search my own, then venture across my face. A strange calm rushes over me as my heart begins pounding. My eyes flicker from watching her own carefully down to her lips.
I lean in ever so slightly.
What am I doing?
Her eyes shoot back to mine, both pairs locking into a much deeper understanding of what is happening.
I can't believe it.
One of her hands stays on the back of my neck and the other travels to my cheek. Her hazel eyes trail to my mouth and flutter shut for just a second.
This is it.
All of the courage I've ever felt surges through my body as I shut my eyes, ready to close the gap between us-
"Rose!" Gaius calls out from down the corridor, and we break apart faster than a lightning strike.
"I'm here," she responds in a frail voice. She sounds how I feel: weak.
"I thought I heard your voice," he says, appearing around the corner.
I love Gaius as if he were my father, but right now I am shattered to see him.
"How is Gwaine?" he asks.
"He urged me to ask you if he might be allowed to get out into the open air and see the town," she smiles, attempting to give reason for her thoroughly blushing cheeks.
"If he is truly feeling up to it, I see no reason why not," he concedes with reason.
"I will tell him," she nods, then turns her gaze to me and manages a tiny smile of knowing.
Now I'm blushing.
( ( This is the first thing I've written "hot off the presses" in a very, very, very long time. I hope you love it! ) )