Out of Time

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Hey guys! I know it's late but I had some major writer's block. But I've got it now! It's gonna be a bit of a shorter chapter but we've got some Jealousy and some drama and cute moments.

Also! I've noticed we're almost to 60 reviews! That's pretty good! I'm hoping to get close to 70 this round! Seriously the more reviews I get the more I feel the need to get a chapter out to you guys! I was honestly so down about the writer's block that I had put this aside until Sarah posted three reviews in one day and inspired me to get up off of my ass and force myself to get through this writers block. So thank her for this chapter!

We're gonna see a lot of drama between Merlin, Addison and Arthur in the next couple of chapters, and I'm hoping that this episode is only three chapters long, maybe even less. We'll see. Thanks for putting up with me guys!

Shout Outs To: bandrose111, DrPepper280, Asphodel Fields Production, crkossi, I-Was-A-Kow, Devious Neko Boi, ShikaaaXxx, canbarelyadult1, corallynblack, Daenerys86, BiteMe42, AmalieNico (YAY for liking my long chapter!), Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, Sarah (Sorry it's late and I'm glad you liked it), lollipop gurl, and Rose1414

Chapter 11: Out of Avoidance

Addison had done a good job of avoiding Merlin for the last two and a half weeks. She had done so well that she couldn't help but be proud of herself. Granted she got in a lot of trouble for escaping her cell in abnormal frequency but other than that those two weeks went well. She spent a lot of time with either Gwen or Morgana, sometimes in the Royal Library reading, and sometimes with Uther and Arthur.

That wasn't to say she never saw Merlin, quite the contrary she saw him quite frequently, she was just careful to make certain that if she were with Merlin she wasn't alone. He couldn't very well demand an answer from her about her predicament without mentioning his magic and he wasn't about to do that in front of other people.

She did feel bad though. She felt as if he deserved to know her secret, especially since she had known his from the second she heard his name. She had an unfair advantage and she didn't feel like she earned or deserved his trust that she would keep it a secret, though she would, of course.

She wanted to tell him, he of all people would be understanding and could be trusted to not tell anyone else, but Arthur had made her swear not to tell Merlin and she hated breaking her promises to Arthur. Also, how had he known that she was on the precipice of spilling her darkest secrets to Merlin? That had just been uncannily insightful of him, usually Arthur was more oblivious.

So when she woke up and decided today was the day she'd make ice-lollies for her and her friends she was very certain to include Merlin. So certain that she may have forgotten to tell Arthur. But that didn't matter to her in that moment. She had everyone important around her. Morgana, Merlin, Gwen… okay so it should have be obvious she had forgotten about Arthur but she was just so nervous about finally getting to be alone with Merlin and telling him some of the truth that she didn't even notice he was missing.

By the time Arthur had figured out that she was making iced-lollies and stormed to the kitchens Addison had finished the job. She had mixed up the liquids, filled the special canisters that Gwen's father had made for her and had already pounded the stopper in so none of the liquid would get out. Though Arthur's words and mannerisms all indicated to him being alright, all Addison could see was the hurt in Arthur's eyes

"How nice of you to remember me, Addison," he growled. He was standing at the far edge of the group, the others were all looking away, expect for Merlin who was standing by her left elbow and staring at Arthur with almost blank eyes.

Addison adverted her blushing gaze and said: "I'm sorry Arthur."

"So where's my container?" he asked, making his way around the table to Addison's right side.

"You don't have one," Morgana said for Addison, who hadn't wanted to tell him that. She had an excited smile on her pale face, as if Addison and Arthur arguing was the most exciting event in the whole kingdom.

Arthur's glare intensified, narrowing in on Addison's face who was trying very hard to not look at him. "I thought, since Merlin had never had one before, that he could get one all to himself," she told him. "I filled a large one with spiced mulled wine because you and Morgana like that flavour and I figured you could share this year."

She glanced back up to him, under hooded eyelashes hoping that he understood that this was more about feeling guilty that she had avoided Merlin all this time but not because she was choosing favourites between the two men. Of course Arthur didn't take it that way and the look on his face confirmed that.

"Oh you figured did you?" he asked in a deep dangerous voice, his angry eyes sliding over to Merlin who had narrowed his own eyes at the two of them as if finally understanding that an argument was happening right now.

"Come now Arthur," she said softly. "I was only being nice."

"A little too nice if you ask me."

"Wait until you hear who's escorting her down to the pools," Morgana teased.

If looks could kill, the look Addison was giving Morgana would have stopped her heart right there in her chest. Arthur was now glaring at her with his hands crossed over his chest his eyes demanding an answer.

Addison squared her shoulders and said quite plainly: "He was curious about the mechanics of it and I need someone to escort me around the city if I'm going to leave so it made sense to bring Merlin with me. With you being so busy and all, I figured, as your man servant, he would be a viable stand in."

Arthur's eyes narrowed at her dangerously. "I am not busy now. And besides, Merlin has plenty of things that I need him to get done." He pinned dark glare onto his manservant. "Don't you?"

It was a hint. Once that Merlin did not take. "But I wanted to see how it was done!" he complained. "You've seen this plenty of times why can't I see this for once?"

Arthur turned his outraged glare to Merlin next. "The weight attached to the end of the ball sinks the metal casing to the bottom of our caverns where the water gathering is much, much cooler. By the time Addison bring it back up in a few weeks it will be solid ice, flavoured solid ice. We chip away at it to make what we call iced lollies. There, now you know, come Addison."

He gathered up the four weighted canisters effortlessly assuming that he had ended the conversation. "Well I'm still coming. I've done all my chores for the day. Give me one of those." Merlin demanded.

Merlin grabbed at a smaller one, but even the weight of that was too heavy. Arthur glared at him as he staggered under the weight of the smaller metal globe. Addison shot Arthur a pained look and Arthur took it from the boy shaking his head at how pathetic he was before storming off.

Merlin trailed after him while Addison stayed where she was. She didn't really want to go with the both of them, she had only wanted to talk to Merlin and now it looked like they were so busy trying to outdo one another for her favor that they hadn't noticed that she was still at the table.

"Addison?" Arthur suddenly called, having stopped most likely to turn to her.

Addison winced at the guilt stabbing her now. Arthur may have been oblivious but he never forgot about her. She'd have to make it up to him somehow. Addison jogged over to him, already wondering what she'd have to do to prove to him that he would always be her favourite.

Was Arthur mad at Addison? Of course he was.

She had never done anything like this before. He had always been the first person she told when she made iced-lollies, he had been the one who custom ordered the containers just for her, and he was the one who got his father's permission for her to do it in the first place. Alright so that first time she did it, he didn't have permission but Uther had loved the iced-lollies so much that he had quickly overlooked that in favour of the new treat.

Was Arthur going to forgive Addison? Well of course, once she grovelled, apologized and made it clear to Merlin that Arthur was her favourite, always was her favourite and forever would be her favourite.

He still couldn't believe she didn't send for him, that she had given Merlin his own treat instead of Arthur. Arthur had always gotten his own, he hadn't had to share ever before. Could she really like Merlin more than Arthur?

She had been distant with him since the events with Valliant. There had been no more stolen kisses though Arthur had wished for more. And Addison had been acting weird around Merlin since then, like she was nervous or uncomfortable and Merlin had been trying very desperately to get alone with her. Were they carrying on a secret affair?

Arthur glanced to Addison who was making her way down the steps of the catacombs very carefully. She had a hand on Merlin's arm, at first thought Arthur concluded that this was because his arms were laden down with weighted canisters filled with liquid but now he doubted that she would have taken his arm if it were free. Arthur glared at them as they walked, step by step, synchronized, as if they were the same being. That used to be Arthur and Addison. He'd be damned if he let this happen, some stupid servant snatching Addison from him right from under his nose.

They made it down into the caverns and Addison—to Arthur's delight—immediately let go of Merlin's arm. She moved closer to Arthur as they neared the basin to help him secure the chains to the stake. Once they were secure she let Arthur throw the canisters in and the three of them watched them sink below the surface and disappear.

"There, now you've seen how it's done," Arthur snarled to Merlin. "If you're truly done your chores, though I doubt they've been done to my liking, I can give you more? Though clearly, I need to start giving you more to do, since it's clear you're likely to get into mischief."

The two boys stood staring eye to eye. Merlin's brow creased with confusion, while Arthur stared at him with a challenging indifferent glare.

"Actually I was hoping that Merlin could escort me back to my cell," Addison suddenly piped up and Arthur felt his heart stop in his chest.

"Why would you want Merlin?" he asked through grit teeth.

"I need to speak with him," she said with a shrug. Merlin was smiling at this, beaming like a giant idiot. Arthur wanted to smack it off of him. Before he could ask Addison what she wanted to talk to him about she added: "It's a bit of a private matter."

"How private?" Arthur shot back. He knew Addison kept secrets from him but he wasn't about to let her tell Merlin them all and be out of the loop.

She leant in and gave him a quick hug. As if she had read his mind she said: "Don't worry, it's nothing you don't already know about."

"I forbid you to tell him where you're from," he hissed and that only made Addison laugh.

She opened her mouth, probably to tell him that wasn't it either, which would have sparked an argument about what else could she possibly have to tell Merlin then when she suddenly stopped. She was staring at the water, she blinked her eyes and scanned the surface.

"What is it?" Arthur asked her, his hands still resting on her hips, both of them caught in the hug that she had frozen in.

"I thought I heard something," she whispered. She had withdrawn a hand and was rubbing the spot below the column of her throat, she called it her sternum. She did this when she was nervous, when she was suspicious of something. Calamity always followed that motion.

Arthur glanced out to the water and saw nothing. "Probably just the canister's sinking. You know they release bubbles sometimes," he told her, hopping to quell her fears.

Addison narrowed her eyes, she doesn't believe him and while that's normal when she's frightened Arthur can't help but blame Merlin and her possible infatuation with him. Still she tore her eyes away from the water and donned a shaky smiled. "You're probably right," she agreed, probably just to appease him at this point.

It should have bugged him but with Addison suddenly so uneasy he went with it. She was making him nervous, he was starting to wonder if she really had heard something. If there was something down here Arthur wanted her out of danger immediately. So when Addison started to tug him towards the stairs, Arthur went with her and even though Merlin was there Arthur held her hand all the way up until daylight hit their shoes.

Merlin didn't know how Addison managed it but somehow, a few soft words to Arthur in the shadows and he and her were finally alone. They had been at odds since the Valiant Debacle, she had been avoiding him, most likely angry with him because he had "snitched" on her. She thought he wasn't trustworthy and she had punished him for it.

They had walked in silence back to her cell, stood staring silently at one another as the guard unlocked her cell. She turned once to the guard to say: "I'll shut myself in, promise, why don't you go back to your breakfast?" and once he was done with the door he just left them there.

Once he was gone Merlin found himself sheepishly glancing to his feet. He had a whole speech planned, he had decided what he was going to say to her but he couldn't find the courage to do it now.

"I'm so very sorry Merlin," she said, breaking the silence and sudden Merlin found his voice.

"You're sorry? I'm the one who put you peril with my inability to keep quiet. I thought you were mad at me, that you thought you couldn't trust me!"

Addison opened her mouth to say something else to him but she suddenly stopped and started giggling. "Oh, this is ridiculous."

Merlin couldn't see what was so funny.

"Look, Merlin, I'm not mad at you. I've been avoiding you because I can't be honest with you right now and I really wish I could be. You deserve to know the truth, but for reasons that are both obvious and completely unexplainable I can't tell you right now. I can promise you that, if you're patient, I will tell you as soon as I can and that I will never, ever, tell anyone what I know about you," she whispered.

Merlin wanted to argue, but her eyes were shining up at him in a way that seemed just so genuine that he believed her. "I guess that's what I'll I have to accept," he whispered bitterly.

Addison smiled at him, a few breathy chuckles of amusement escaped her. "I can tell you one thing. I've known since I met you. It was nothing you did, I just knew. You're famous where I come from, you and Arthur that is. The unbeatable duo. All you had to do was tell me your name."

Merlin took this in. He felt a little better. Now he knew that it didn't have anything to do with him slipping up and being obvious with his magic. However, this posed a whole new problem, there was a place out there that knew about him? Where he and Arthur were famous? That couldn't be good, what if more people visited?

"Where do you come from?" He managed to breathe out and smiled almost sadly.

"Somewhere very, very far from here," she said. "So far I'm not sure I can get back."

"Then how did you get here in the first place?" Merlin asked but before Addison could tell him that she couldn't answer that question—for that seemed to be what the look on her face was conveying—the guard came back.

"You're needed by Gaius, there's been a disturbance in the lower quarter. A body to inspect, I've heard," he said.

Merlin's eyebrows drew together in surprise. He turned to Addison and found that she had already stepped into her cell and was in the process of shutting the door. He knew immediately that he wouldn't be getting anymore answers from her today.

"Alright, we'll, I guess I'll see you around," he said. Addison merely nodded and pulled a book from a shelf hanging above her bed. Merlin left wondering, not for the first time, if this was how things were always going to be and if they were, well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

The body in question was that of a man. He was pale white, his veins were blue and vividly popping against the white of his skin. He had been dead less than an hour and he looked like a ghoul. Merlin had helped Gaius get the body back to his chambers for further examining. He had bumped into Gwen who was bringing flowers to Morgana she had been kind enough to give him a sprig of lavender for good luck. It had kept him smiling up until he got back to his chambers. It was there that Gaius told him that this wasn't a plague or anything caused by nature. This was magic. Powerful magic.

Once Gaius relayed this information to Uther, a witch hunt was demanded. Everyone was searched, even Merlin, who had stupidly left his book on magic out. Arthur had done Merlin's inspection himself. Well actually he oversaw Merlin's, the soldiers did all the work. That was until Arthur got to Merlin's room. Merlin's room got a bare glance, basically Arthur just looked around and made cracks about how Merlin was a slob.

After his inspection was done, and his worries about himself were done for, Merlin worried about Addison. Not knowing that Arthur had already talked to her. Had made it clear that she couldn't have anymore "accidents." With his father on a rampage Arthur probably worried more then all of Addison's friends combined. She hadn't been out of her cell in days, she hadn't sung, nor had she bothered to ask about the iced-lollies that she should have checked on by now. Arthur kept her confined, he visited her as often as he could, or sent Morgana or someone else to check on her, entertain her. He never sent Merlin though. He wasn't going to perpetuate their affair.

Still Arthur knew that while Addison might have picked up some sort of liaison with Merlin that he was still the one in her greatest favor. He had begged Addison for her best behavior, in a very unprincely way. He begged her in a way that was totally human and mortal and for those brief moments that's all they were.

He was a man begging the woman he loved to not take risks as she told him to get up off of his knees with tears in her eyes. He burned at night remembering that moment, that singular point when he realized this rational argument, while being shouted, wasn't getting through to her, when he dropped to his knees in front of her and let his pride go. He knew she hadn't judged him, but he judged himself. Late at night when he replayed it he saw it as a weakness that he was so desperate to get her to agree to his terms that he would compromised his pride.

If his father ever realized how weak she made him there would be nothing to keep her from the executioners block.

Hell if Uther didn't find his witch soon Addison might get the blame and end up on the executioners block anyway.

This was where Merlin came in, with his stupid, good hearted decisions.

Gwen's father, Tom, had gotten sick. By then they knew that the illness was in the water. Still there was nothing Gaius could do. There was no cure, the man was going to die. Gwen was heartbroken, she didn't want to lose her father and Merlin didn't want the kindest of his friends to be that sad. He wanted to help. He had all this power and he wanted to do good with it, something other than saving that ungrateful royal prat's life. He used magic to save Tom's life. He put an orb under the man's pillow that drew the poison out of him. Tom had recovered quickly, and for a moment Merlin got to see Gwen happy again and that had been worth it.

A lot of problems arose with Merlin actions. Firstly Uther was very suspicious of Tom's sudden recovery so he ordered a secondary inspection of their cottage. Secondly Merlin never had a chance to retrieve the orb he left. That meant when the cottage was inspected the orb was found and Gwen got the blame.

Thanks to Merlin Uther had his witch and this one was going to burn.