I'm wondering if you'd go wandering with me. Through the wilderness and woods, where the winds are blowing free through the darkness of the night. Heading toward the morning light I wonder, if you'd wander with me. And I'll spread the word, and you'll beat the drum. We'll round up the troops and get the gang to come. And we'll leave the streets and this neighbourhood. Head over the river and through the woods
4th January 2021
2021 was proving to be rather good so far for the Emrys family even though it was only four days in and they were quarantined with coronavirus—which was becoming more worrying with the new South African variant that may be resistant to the vaccines and the rumoured Kent variant (that was also rumoured to be resistant to vaccines). They all seemed to get off with it rather lightly fortunately, though Amhar needed to use his inhaler quite often as he was rather wheezy and chesty.
Amhar wasn't having any of it though. The daily walks were his saving grace and without them he was extremely restless, bored of doing the same activity over and over again, the garden didn't have enough room for him to simply run around for him to burn of energy even with everything out of the way. Out of necessity, Morgana found herself in front of the TV dressed in her gym wear doing Joe Wicks' daily exercise as it proved to be the only thing that would keep Amhar sane and be able to burn off his energy (and stop him from climbing up the walls). Merlin on the other hand rather enjoyed the workouts so would do them each morning with Amhar to give Morgana a break to look after the baby or take a shower, before he had to go shower or take a bath with Amhar and then get on with his work or the day—depending on whether he had anything to do. Amhar wouldn't be able to go back to nursery until the sixth as they were isolating, and a Morgana found Pinterest to be rather frustrating as she tried to get new ways to entertain Amhar and Alfie simultaneously (it seemed she had already used all the good ideas, so wasn't opposed to putting Amhar in front of Cocomelon or CBeebies for a while). Merlin and Morgana were both extremely close to ripping the head of "Alfie bear" that Morgause had gifted Alfie for Christmas, both kids loved it and kept on playing it all the time, while Amhar used more than one button when he played with it, Alfie only knew how to press the on and off button leading to the annoying into song being incessantly repeated.
Amhar's sleep schedule had become absolutely fucked up, with him being overtired by the time night came around and taking ages to settle, only settling and falling asleep with Merlin in the room (though he would escape as soon as he could). Amhar had also had accidents quite a few times a day and had to be reminded to go to the toilet, Merlin and Morgana were tempted to put him back into potty training pants though decided not to, figuring that once things were back to normal he'd be fine.
Though luckily normality was around the corner, with Amhar being put to bed at seven o'clock as usual, having a bath and book with Alfie, lying in his bed as Merlin read it and Morgana fed the baby before they all went downstairs (except Amhar of course). Quite a few schools had gone back already, Amhar's nursery had though he wouldn't go in until the sixth as they were still isolating. There was many rumours that all schools would go online, as Boris had ordered an emergency press conference for eight o'clock that night while he usually held them at five. While they knew that Wales was in lockdown indefinitely, they lived pretty close to the English border and all the kids were born in England anyway.
Morgana and Merlin were also considering moving back to England. While they loved the area they lived in and it was rather nice, it would've been better in England especially since they weren't in lockdown, everything was less confusing, they could get 30 hours free childcare for Amhar once he turned three (as opposed to Wales' 10 hour scheme), support bubbles were more widely available (for those with babies under one, unfortunately they weren't that way in Wales though they continued to meet with Mithian and Leon regardless) and they generally preferred it, likely looking at moving to Camelot or right in between Monmouth and Camelot. They'd also begun to outgrow their current home, with it being a two bedroom and it looking likely that they'd have to stay at home a lot they were rather cramped so would prefer to have more space along with at least four bedrooms in their house.
"Why are houses so expensive!" Merlin grumbled.
"Hang on, let's see this one" Morgana said. "It's in Camelot, it's rather cute ... HANG ON A SEC, £700,000! We can't afford that".
"Keep looking then" Merlin agreed as he hit the back button. "Are we being fussy?".
"I doubt it" Morgana sighed exasperatedly. "There's just ... simply no properties. At least not within our budget. I don't remember house hunting being this hard the first time around".
"Neither do I" Merlin agreed. "It was rather easy ... find a nice cheap and cheerful place in Northern Plains, commute into work every morning ...then again it was easy living solo, running a simple Volkswagen that actually has space for things as opposed to being filled to the brim with car seats and prams, food shopping for two instead of four and all the baby crap".
"I think we need at least one new car, I mean I love my polo but I'm fed up of it now!" Morgana exclaimed. "With two kids and all the baby paraphernalia there's simply not enough space!".
"So it looks like we're upgrading the cars and the house" Merlin remarked.
"Well there's generally so much to think through" Morgana sighed. "Do we sell the flats and use the money to buy a house? Do we keep the flats for income and sell this place? Though there's the connections with Arthur and Gwen so what do we do?".
"I think we ought to get a mortgage" Merlin said. "After we find the right place. Around £400,000 and four bed, that'd put our mortgage at around £500 a month if we sold our places".
"Then I guess that'd be our forever home" Morgana smiled. "So we can take our time in finding and choosing".
"Oh, Boris is on" Merlin said as he closed the tab and shut his laptop.
"Let's see what he has to offer then" Morgana grumbled. "At least for now we can escape to Camelot with Wales' lockdown".
"For now" Merlin echoed as the stream begun. Schools would be shut until after February half term, though nursery's would remain open. As a result, all exams in England would be cancelled for 2021 too, though Wales had already cancelled them in mid-November after the firebreak. There was also a UK-wide lockdown currently in place as the UK entered a national lockdown, though bubbles could remain and all people could go for a walk with someone outside their household (and as many under five's as they wished, as they wouldn't count towards the numbers). Non essential retail would also close, though takeaways were allowed if you didn't buy alcohol with them. Last time the majority of playgrounds were shut though they would remain open this time.
"Well fuck" Morgana muttered. "I guess we ought to start house hunting quicker after all".
"Babe, listen to Christmas number one" Merlin smirked as he began to play Boris Johnson is a sausage roll.
"Oh bloody hell" Morgana groaned. It was going to be a long lockdown 3.0.
"Welcome to 2021, the shitter show" Merlin muttered.
6th January 2021
The day their isolation ended Merlin and morgana were up bright and early, Merlin as he had to work and Morgana as they were finally able to leave the house again. While it was lovely to spend time as a family, slowly it was becoming rather torturing to be trapped in the house all day every day with a baby and a toddler who simply had too much energy, a messed up sleep schedule with lack of things to do and the incessant boredom of everything. It wasn't like she could even watch anything interesting with having to entertain Amhar, though they didn't want to send him into nursery as the risk was too high for Merlin and Morgana's likening (plus it'd be a bit of a pain to have to drive to Camelot, or take an extremely long walk, though Mithian had offered to take Amhar as she'd be taking Athena). Mithian was now back at work and Athena was attending nursery so Morgana would have to go on her walks just herself and the kids.
"I wakey" Amhar said into the monitor.
"Good morning!" Morgana kissed Merlin's cheek. "You have work today and it is a great day for us, my boobs about to explode again so I'll do Alfie can you get the toddler".
"Urgh" Merlin groaned and put his face into his pillow. "Not more working from home".
"Yeah, it sucks but you don't have a restless toddler to wrestle all day" Morgana shrugged. "I'm taking the kids out as soon as we've eaten, had coffee and all that stuff" she quickly grabbed Alfie, he had begun to stir slightly and fed him. "Right I'll get the coffee done, you make sure Amhar goes on the potty". True to her word, Morgana did the breakfast and coffee. Alfie still wasn't sleeping through though at this point they were very much in an established routine, Alfie was five months to the day and could almost sit unaided for a couple of seconds so if using the Moses basket he had to be supervised, though he did roll over a lot in the cot and decided he hated being on his back while he was awake.
She wrapped up Amhar into warm clothes with his puddle suit, put Alfie in the Ergo embrace with her baby-wearing coat on and trekking trousers, styling her hair into two French plaits. She put their wellies on and they were out the door by eight walking along the path (or in Amhar's case, scooting).
"I wike walking" Amhar announced. "Scooter is my favourite".
"I know" Morgana smiled. "You need to stay with mummy until we get to the field".
"Okay" Amhar pouted. "Why?".
"Because mummy said so" Morgana said. "Then you can do lots of running".
"And jumping in muddy puddles?" Amhar asked, his brown eyes wide.
"And jumping in muddy puddles" Morgana confirmed with a smile.
"But mummy, I want to jump in muddy puddles now awl by myself" Amhar whined as he trailed behind Morgana, she was practically dragging him on his scooter at this point.
"Well, you can't" Morgana sighed. "You can jump in puddles at the park by yourself, though on the road you have to jump in puddles while holding onto mummy's hand".
Amhar pouted and sat down on the floor. "I don't want to" he pouted and stomped his foot.
"Come on Amhar" Morgana sighed. "It takes us less than ten minutes to walk".
"I don't want to walk" Amhar insisted. "I want to jump in puddles".
"If you want to jump in puddles then you have to walk Amhar".
"I don't want to" he wailed as he threw himself on the floor and cried. "I want puddles. Puddles now!".
Morgana sighed and rolled her eyes. "Right, we're going home".
"Nooooo" Amhar wailed. "Amma no want to go home. Amma want puddles".
Morgana picked Amhar up and stood him up, bending to his level. "Amhar Tom Emrys" she said her voice low and deadly. "You listen to your mother. I said if you want to jump in puddles, you need to wait till we get to the park and then you can. Or we can go home and you can go on time out".
"Kay, I be good and hold mummy's hand" Amhar said with a pout. "Sowwy. I need a wee mummy".
Morgana sighed and they turned around, heading back home for Amhar to use the toilet, texting Merlin "remind me to buy a travel potty". Morgana had told Amhar to be as quiet as a mouse as to not interrupt Merlin's calls (even though during the first lockdown they had been at a normal noise level while either of them were on call, Morgana was not in the mood to deal with Amhar's whining). She noticed his reins hung up on the hooks in the hallway and grabbed them, put them on Amhar after layering up then went on their walk once more. Amhar was much happier with his reins on, walking ahead of Morgana and going through puddles though she made sure that he didn't go too far ahead—and with the reins it wasn't like he could anyway. It had begun to warm up slightly, sun in the sky and it was brighter than it had been when they first left the house as Morgana and Amhar walked at a leisurely pace down the roads.
"Ooh, man" Amhar announced as he saw someone walking towards them.
"Amhar come here and hold mummy's hand" Morgana said, stepping to the side so that they could socially distance as he looked rather elderly.
He looked at her and raised his signature eyebrow. "Morgana?".
"Gaius? Is that you?" Morgana asked.
"It is" Gaius smiled. "How are you and the kids doing?".
"Well, ploughing through" Morgana sighed and smiled as she ruffled Amhar's hair. She wanted to trust though she couldn't fully trust him. Not after he drugged her so many times which essentially made her now hate all types of medicine and alcohol. "We had to isolate for ten days as we all tested positive and well .. quarantine with a toddler is not fun".
"That must've been scary" Gaius remarked. "Testing positive".
"It was" Morgana agreed. "Though we ploughed through. It was a rough few days but I think to be honest that having to stay at home for the ten day isolation period with a toddler was worse than having coronavirus".
"I can imagine" Gaius chuckled. "You headed anywhere in particular?".
"Yeah, just going to the park so Amhar can burn off some energy. What about you?".
"I was just going on my morning walk. Is it alright if I join you? Alice has been on the night shifts again at the hospital and with everyone at work again.. it's a tad lonely".
"Of course" Morgana smiled. "I'd be happy to. Now that Mithian's back at work I suppose I'll end up going on my walks alone".
"I'd be happy to join you if that's alright".
"Of course it is. Now, let's get to the park, I think Amhar's getting impatient".
"And jump in muddy puddles?" Amhar asked.
"If you want to we can" Gaius chuckled. "I suppose next time I'll have to bring my wellies".
"And an adult-sized puddle suit" Morgana grinned.
"He can't be that messy" Gaius raised an eyebrow.
"He's two and he's Arthur's son" Morgana rolled her eyes. "Well, you can go play now" she smiled at Amhar as she took his backpack off him and he dumped his scooter.
"He's a little cutie" Gaius smiled at Alfie who grinned and cooed. "He's gotten so big from when I last saw him".
"I know" Morgana agreed as she kissed her son's forehead. "Five months old now. Next month he'll be old enough to have solids!".
"They grow up too fast" Gaius agreed with a sigh. "I remember Amhar as a tiny baby—now look at him!".
"A fully fledged potty trained independent toddler" Morgana completed. "I mean it's been three years since Merlin and I first met".
"Yes, I remember lecturing you on how I was not ready to become a great-uncle back then" Gaius smirked. "Though now I do rather like being a great-uncle".
"It's a shame that coronavirus has made all this so hard" Morgana sighed. "Have you been called for the vaccine yet?".
"I'm seventy-five so I'm hoping it should be soon, though obviously it's first over eighties. Captain Tom is 100 and I don't think he's had his".
"I'm pretty sure he's still in quarantine" Morgana said. "Didn't he go to Bahamas for Christmas?".
"Yes I heard about that. Though I am only clinically vulnerable and not clinically extremely vulnerable—and that's only because of my age! Alice has had it as she obviously works in a hospital though as for me, I suppose I'll get it when I get it".
"Mine isn't due until 2022" Morgana grimaced. "Though I have seen that Boris aims to get all the adults vaccinated by end of July so".
"Guy!" Amhar shouted. "Come play with me".
"It's been so long since I've interacted with children" Gaius grimaced.
"It's like that for all of us" Morgana chuckled. "Alfie's only met Merlin's parents, Mithian and Leon and a couple of Amhar's friends parents. The problems of being a lockdown baby, though it is nice to bond with him all day even though it's so hard".
"He's not even met Morgause?" Gaius raised an eyebrow.
"Nope" Morgana said popping the p. "Morgause hasn't met him yet".
"I guess this year has been rather odd" Gaius shrugged.
"So ... when are you getting a haircut?" Morgana smirked.
Gaius looked rather offended. "What's wrong with my hair!".
"I presume that when hairdressers open again that you'll be booked in then" Morgana teased.
Gaius simply looked absolutely gobsmacked. "What — what are you on about?".
"Seeing as your hair's grown rather long now I assume you're going to get it cut as soon as the barbers reopen, or are you planning to keep your hair this way?".
"I don't believe it" Gaius muttered.
9th January 2021
The thing about lockdown was that there was simply nothing to do. Morgana and Merlin had agreed that they'd avoid the shops (that and they didn't want to drag two kids out) and they didn't realise how much they actually went out. With Merlin working from home from 8:30am-4:10pm, it was usually dark by the time he had finished. January was usually a bleak month as it was, after the New Years resolution and good feeling of a new year had worn of life had become rather bleak. That usually meant that Morgana didn't want to take the kids out in the dark as it was simply too cold (Merlin agreed with her), Merlin didn't want to go running in the dark in case he slipped on black ice (admittedly he was too lazy to run, he'd rather do a Joe Wicks workout with Amhar) and he'd rather spend the time inside with his family keeping warm. That wasn't to say that he didn't miss the walks—as he did. Amhar's curiosity at everything he saw on the walk, Alfie looking around at all the new sights and colours—seeing his children's happiness was the best feeling in the world. So while Morgana would usually take the kids out for a morning walk and then again in the afternoon, Merlin was stuck at home doing his work so after having a lie-in at the weekend followed by a lazy breakfast and lunch, the family would head out for a nice long walk in the afternoon.
Morgana ended up ordering a pottete plus travel potty that unlike other ones could also be used as a toilet seat so that the child couldn't fall in. It folded and came with a few bags that went over the seat and could then be thrown away which was much more hygienic than the other style ones which were hard plastic and probably didn't have a removable part (they said they were leak-proof though Morgana didn't trust it that much), not to mention was rather cheap at £10 though it did need the liners to be replaced often. Now that they wouldn't have to worry about finding toilets for Amhar or teaching him how to pee on a tree, long outings were much better and more feasible, especially when walking through fields.
After eating their lunch and going to the toilet, the Emrys family layered themselves up appropriately for the cold January weather, if Amhar got tired Merlin would carry him while Morgana had Alfie in the sling. Fully wrapped up, they locked up the door and began to walk along the road all together, making their way to the fields. Merlin and Morgana swung Amhar between them as he giggled and squealed, chanting "again" over and over as they walked down Monk street, followed by Osbaston Road. Instead of sticking to the usual buggy-friendly paths that they tended to go down, they made their ways into the fields and ploughed across.
"Ooh! What dat?" Amhar asked. "So fluffy".
"That's a sheep" Merlin smiled. "Like your Ewan".
"He plays music and I sleep" Amhar said.
"Yeah, but that's a real one" Morgana added.
"Oooh! So fluffy!" Amhar beamed as they walked through the fields, though made sure to maintain their distance from the sheep, walking though stopping at whenever Amhar wanted to peer at a strand of grass, beam at a sheep or somehow cover himself in mud. By the time they Emrys family returned home they were all frozen, covered in mud and in need of a bath. Though even then, they didn't care as they had had a great time and come home with exhausted yet happy grins on their faces.