Out of Time

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Here's the next part. Thrilling right? It's a lot longer than the ones I usually do. So hopefully that's okay and it's not too dull. There's a lot of Addison fluff here and most of it's going to be from Arthur's point of view because I thought it would be interesting to do it that way. Anways, I hope everyone likes it and don't forget to tell me what you think!

Shoutouts: kanae1865, Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, Nightingalephoenix, lucefatale, and the Dark Lady55

Chapter 23: Out of Jealousy

At some point in the night a feverish Addison climbed into Merlin's lap. At first this was startling. Merlin was only to sit with Addison while she rested to ensure her fevered brow stayed cool and she did not worsen. It was to give Gaius a break as he had been the one to stay up long nights with her.

Even though Merlin knew that it wasn't a good idea, once Addison ducked her head in that crook in his neck, he found he didn't quite have the heart to move her. Instead he had wrapped her up in the blankets Arthur had brought down earlier that week and then, despite promising not to, Merlin had joined Addison in sleep. And then was promptly startled away the following morning when a slop bucket collided with his head.

His first thought was Arthur had come down and found them together, but in her fever, Addison had started levitating everything in the room that was under 5 pounds. On top of that she just kept repeating Arthur's name, over and over again as her sweating brow creased in her worry. It didn't take long for Merlin to realize that the objects she had levitating were orbiting around them like a force field. Like she was trying to protect him. Or Arthur. He wondered if she was having a nightmare and was seeking to protect herself from it.

Well whatever the reason, it needed to stop. It wouldn't do to have someone walk in amidst this chaos, someone who might tell Uther what they witnessed. He didn't want Arthur to rage over that, no sir, Merlin was not getting the blame for Addison's execution.

Merlin stood, planning to dodge his way out of this minefield of floating objects, but his feet got tangled up in the blanket that had been draped around him and Addison. Merlin fell, landing almost entirely on Addison, the jolt of hitting the floor so hard waking her up and startling a small yelp out of her.

Merlin threw himself on top of her as the objects that had been levitating crashed to the floor all around them, apparently needing Addison's full attention to keep circulating around them.

He waited for the last of the objects to fall before pushing himself off of her, and yet hovering above her to make sure she was already. Addison had stretched a hand up and behind her to rub the back of her head which had taken most of the brunt of her fall.

"Was I levitating things again?" she asked softly.

Merlin took that in. So this was something that happened… often. He nodded. "Is that normal?"

"I was having a nightmare. So I suppose," she replied stretching her arms out and resting them on Merlin's shoulder. She pushed against him and squirmed a bit trying to stretch out her back. "I think I landed on a fork or something."

There was a bang of a door opened and Merlin looked up. Arthur stood there, in the doorway, bowl in one hand, flowers in the other. Both dropped out of his grasp as he stared at the two of them.

Addison had craned back to look at him, both she and Merlin were wide eyed in surprise. "It's not what it looks like," she said quickly, but Arthur's surprised look faded into a look of anger.

"Sorry to disturb you," he snapped and then vanished. Addison shoved Merlin off of her and tried to get up, but she wobbled a bit and fell over again.

"Will you please go after him and explain. He knows about the levitating and what not so it shouldn't be this big of a deal," she pleaded with Merlin.

Gaius, who had taken Merlin's bed that night, had awoken to the crash and had only just managed to get to them.

"Go, I'll watch her," he said as Addison dissolved into a coughing fit. Merlin didn't wait, he rushed after Arthur in hope of fixing this messed up situation.

Arthur was both hurt and furious. To find Addison and Merlin is such an intimate embrace when Addison had told him, not a month ago, that she did not think it wise for them to venture that far, was both an insult to his honor and his pride and an even larger wound on his heart. If he had known that the reason Addison was really halting his courtship of her was because she only wanted Merlin between her legs, he would have pushed her harder to get his way.

And why had this totally blinded him? Why had he ignored his worries as irrational jealousy when she assured him over and over again that Merlin and she were just friends? He should have never left her alone with Merlin, he should have taken her sick form up to his chambers and be damned with the consequences.

When he got back to his room Merlin was there making the bed. As soon as the door shut Merlin stopped and went to talk to him.

"It's really not what you think," Merlin said quickly.

"I don't care," Arthur lied through his teeth, anything to change the topic. He knew what he saw and there was no getting around that now. "I'm going to be taking Sophia out for a ride, you know, show her around."

"Look, if that's because of this morning… you don't need to punish Addison it wasn't her fault…" Merlin continued.

"I'm going to need you to cover for me," Arthur said stopping anything else Merlin might have said.

Merlin paused. "Cover for you? Why?"

"Well I'm supposed to be on patrol with the Guard and my Father, this morning, so…"

Arthur waited for Merlin to catch up. "What and lie to the king? No, no way, he'd see right through me. He'll have me in the stocks quicker then you can say 'rotten tomatoes'," he said. "Look, I can tell you're mad, if you'd just listen to me I could tell you what happened!"

Arthur smirked. Mainly because landing in the stocks was exactly where he wanted Merlin to be and secondly because he had no intention of listening to Merlin's lies.

"Merlin, I need you to do this for me," he urged.

Merlin sighed. "I am a terrible liar," he whispered. And Arthur had to concede that that was true, but the anger had taken hold and Arthur couldn't see past that. Merlin continued: "I start sweating, my vision blurs, my brain stops working…"

"Well no change there then," Arthur snapped earning him a wounded look from Merlin he tried to ignore. "Look, I promised Sophia I'd take her out and if I don't turn up it will burn my chances."

Merlin looked down a bit. "So this is purely because you like her then, and not because you're mad at me and Addison?" Merlin asked. Arthur felt his teeth grinding together. "Because… I d'unno, I thought you and Addison were sort of… you know… not that it's any of my business, and she obviously didn't say anything to that effect and I wouldn't say anything if you two were…"

"Merlin," Arthur interrupted. "Shut up!"

Merlin stood there staring at him a moment and when Arthur had composed himself he continued: "Yes I do like her, Sophia I mean, but I need my father off my back," he told him, lowering his eyes in that way that Addison always crumbled to, unless it was when he was asking for carnal relations, not that he did it often but still. "I can't order you to lie to the king, but you're be considered a friend for life if you did."

That part was at least true. If Merlin did this for him, even though it was going to land him in trouble, even though Arthur was tricking him into set trouble, Arthur would always be grateful for it.

They locked eyes and finally Merlin said: "Well go on then, you better not keep her waiting."

Arthur broke out in a victorious grin. "Thanks Merlin, I won't forget it." And then he ran off to go and meet Sophia.

Merlin ended up in the stocks while Arthur was out playing Prince Charming with Sophia. But his guards had almost killed the two of them, she had almost gotten hit by an arrow but Arthur had saved her again, winning more points in his favour. But upon returning Arthur realized that the burning in him wasn't because he didn't want to say good-bye to Sophia but because he wished to see Addison. But that bruised pride was stopping him from rushing things with Sophia and running off to see if Addison was alright.

There was a strange blankness in that moment before his guards struck. He remembered her taking his hands and wondering if he had it in him to kiss a woman when his mind was on Addison alone, and wondering how he could find himself in her favour, between her legs, he and he alone. And then things went a bit fuzzy before he heard the shouts and the twang of the bow. He wondered if he was coming down with Addison's illness. He hoped not. If he was his father would send her away again claiming she might start a plague. Camelot was still recovering from the last one.

He got back to the castle and found Morgana waiting for him, a disapproving glare on her face. She looked oddly impatient as she stood there eyeing Sophia as if she were some offense.

"Addison needs you," Morgana said, striding up to him as he dismounted from his horse.

As he went to help Sophia down from her horse, he scoffed. "Addison can wait, or send Merlin to her."

"Merlin is indisposed, he's in the stocks as you surely intended him to be," Morgana shot back and Arthur glanced at her wondering how much she knew. "Her fever has gotten worse Arthur."

At this Arthur straightened, he didn't want this to affect him but it did. "Gaius isn't sure how long she'll hold and… Arthur… She's calling for you," Morgana added, a soft hand on his arm an imploring, desperate, pitiful look on her face. He knew then that she wasn't lying.

He mumbled some sort of apology to Sophia before running off, or he might not of, once that fear took a hold of him that was it, he was lost to it. He was running through the corridors, desperate to get to her in time. If he had paused, if he had looked over his shoulder before leaving he would have seen Morgana and Sophia locked in a glare so dark and deep that he would have realized that something was up. But Addison was the only thing that mattered at the moment so he didn't.

Arthur threw the door open to Gaius's and slid in stopped in his tracks by the sight of Addison. She was just sitting there obviously she was completely fine because, other than a slight tinge to her cheeks, she was well enough to be eating and her eyes looked clear of any fever.

"You're not sick!" he cried accusingly.

Addison's eyebrows furrowed together but it was Gaius who answered. "Well, while she has improved slightly, she is still showing signs of fever."

"But she's not succumbing to it?" Arthur asked for clarification.

"No, did someone say I was?" Addison asked. "Did you run here thinking I was on death's door?"

There was a cocky grin on Addison's face and even though it was true Arthur spat out a venomous: "No!" he looked away from her glowing face and tried not to let his relief shine through his anger. "Look, if you're fine, I'm going to leave. You're… new suitor will be out of the stocks…"

"Suitor?" Addison echoed. "Didn't Merlin get to explain?"

Arthur ignored her and continued to talk: "soon and I'm sure he will take good care of you," he snapped and then turned on heel and walked away despite the fact that Addison was calling for him.

He got only a few steps out into the corridor when Addison suddenly fully tackled him to the floor. For a sick girl she sure did move quickly. She put her whole weight on his back, he could feel every inch of her pressed against him, the warmth between her legs, her bosoms, her hands on his shoulders, her chin by his ear, and her breath running ragged reminding him that she was still sick after all.

"You bloody idiot," she hissed into his ear. "You going to listen to me or do I have to keep you pinned?" Arthur merely grunted and he felt those rosebud lips of her turn up into a soft smile behind his ear. Despite the ridiculousness of this situation Arthur was smiling too. "Merlin and I are not courting, yes it looked rather… intimate this morning, but it wasn't like that. I put up a shield last night, I was levitating half the room, he tried to get us out of it without waking me up and we fell over, I'm pretty sure he got brained by a bucket."

Arthur tried not to laugh at this, it was a perfectly innocent story, and one he fully believed, but only because he had been in a similar situation. "I wouldn't be laughing, Arthur Penndragon, the first time I did that to you, you got brained by a chamber pot," she reminded him.

Before she could stop him, Arthur put out a hand and swept her off him, as he rolled he pushed her down and put himself where he belonged, on top of her and between her legs. Immediately her hands went to his shoulder, her fingertips dancing on the skin of his shoulders and neck. He wished for nothing more than to press down into her and take everything that should have been his, but they were in the middle of a hallway.

Arthur pulled away from her touch and then helped her up. "We'll continue this in Gaius's chambers," he whispered, pulling her back into the room.

Gaius was kind enough to excuse himself so they could talk and then once Arthur had Addison wrapped up in the blankets and resting against his chest she began to speak.

"We were just recovering," she told him. "I had hit my head in the fall and I was a bit stiff, apparently he was worried about me in the night and pulled me into his lap so he could keep a better tabs on me. You just walked in at the wrong time."

"You have to admit it looked bad," Arthur whispered.

Addison didn't reply right away as she was nuzzling a little closer into his chest. "I know, but you didn't even wait to hear what I had to say. You know me so little that you think me jumping from bed to bed?" she shot back.

Arthur winced and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I suppose I might have gotten blinded by pride and anger," he replied. "I'm sorry."

At this Addison sat up and turned to look at him, she reached out through the layers and took his hand in her one cold one. How she could be fully covered head to toe and not sweltering was beyond him.

"You are the only one I am romantically interested or invested in. You, the one who has been there through it all. And I would not be jumping into the bed of some man I met less than 6 months ago," she told him. The seriousness in her tone and voice told him how much she meant this and that was enough for him. He was going to tell her so but she just kept talking. "And while I'm at it, I understand why you got mad. You're under the impression that we're doing a mutual togetherness thing, where I don't chase other people and neither do you… or at least that's what I thought we were doing."

She had lowered her eyes and wouldn't look back up. Arthur was trying not to smile because that was exactly what he thought and he was really glad that it was her bringing it up and not him. But before he could tell her that that was what he wanted as well she continued talking.

"I don't want you seeing Sophia anymore," she blurted out. Ah, so someone had told her about that then. "I'm sorry if that's selfish, and I understand if you'd like me to end my friendship with Merlin in exchange…"

Arthur pulled her to him, crushing her to his chest but she wasn't silent until he pressed his lips to hers. His hands framed her face, his thumbs brushing against her fever colored cheeks. He couldn't care if he got sick after this, just to have her lips against his was enough.

"I won't make you stop being friends with Merlin," he whispered to her. "But if I catch him in another situation like that with you I will have him killed."

Addison half giggled against him, kissing his bottom lip in a teasing way. "You wouldn't dare. You'd miss him."

Arthur didn't want to argue about whether or not he'd miss Merlin if he had him beheaded for daring to touch the Prince's Ward again. Instead he said: "Just tell me you were jealous of Sophia and I swear to you I'll never even glance at her again."

Addison sighed at him. "Oh, you and that ego of yours," she whispered. She kissed him once more, causing stars to burst forth in his vision and temporarily cloud over his judgement and reasoning skills. "I was as jealous of Sophia as you were of Merlin."

Arthur found himself smiling despite her cop-out. "So un-ending burning jealously? Might you have challenged her to a duel?" he asked.

"Hardly, I merely would have coughed on every item of food she was going to eat so that my germs would get in her and make her as sick as I am. I have all the necessary shots to fight this off, my cold would have killed her," she replied with a haughty tip to her chin.

She blinked her eyes at him as he carefully brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "And you'll stop seeing her? Won't you?" she asked.

How could Arthur say no to a face such as that one? "Of course I will," he replied. "Tomorrow I will make sure she knows that she and I are never to be. It's only fair after all, to do it face to face, to at least explain it to her and that will be it. The last time her and I ever speak. I swear to you, on my very princehood."

"Don't swear on that. I know you'd give it up in a heartbeat for me," she whispered.

Arthur acted mock shocked at her. "And how would you know that?"

"Because if you've tried twice to give it up for me, and you keep saying you'll swear it all off and run away with me whenever I find myself in trouble," she reminded him.

Arthur leaned in a kissed her one more time, just one last time to keep him for the rest of the night. "Ah, so that's where you got that idea from."

Addison smiled into their kiss. "Yes, that would be where."

They said nothing else, Arthur merely held her to him until she fell asleep and once Merlin had returned from the stocks, covered in rotted tomato juice and other bits of rotting vegetable, Arthur apologized and left her in Merlin and Gaius's careful hands.

The following morning Arthur had gotten ready to meet the Lady Sophia with the firm intention of ending things. He was still smiling at the reconciliation between he and Addison and he couldn't wait to return to the castle to resume kissing her once more. And once she was well enough to travel and he got her outside the castle walls, well… there would be a lot more than kissing then.

Merlin was fiddling with some armour fittings, he looked up when Arthur came out full dressed. "You're dressed!" he cried as if outraged by the whole idea.

"Nothing gets past you does it Merlin?" he asked. If he had turned, he would have seen the young man roll his eyes at him.

"You're supposed to be wearing these!" he cried gesturing to the armour he hand in his hands. "Your father is bestowing a knighthood on one of your men this morning!"

Arthur half-cocked a small grin over his shoulder. "I'm giving it a miss," he told Merlin which won him a confused stare from Merlin.

"Won't the King mind?" he asked.

Arthur slowly began walking away. "Not if you… uh… cover for me again," he said. "By the way thanks for yesterday, I guess you ended up in the stocks, bad luck, eh?"

"They were throwing potatoes at me! It's only supposed to be rotten fruit," Merlin complained.

Arthur tried not to grin. Merlin had served his punishment he didn't really want him to get in anymore trouble with his father. Not much anyway. "Well I'm not sure there's any hard or fast rules but if it's any consolation it all worked out wonderfully for me."

Merlin leant in a confused look on his face. "With… uh… Sophia or Addison?"

Arthur glared at him until Merlin nodded and put a finger to his lips to signify that he got that it was a secret. "Either way I need to see Sophia one more time, to end things properly you know."

Merlin smiled at him. "Oh good, I think this much better. Just feels right you know?" he said. Arthur stared at him wondering what that boy was prattling on about now. Merlin nodded to him. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of it."

"Oh good! But make sure you don't end up in the stocks this time," he ordered as he walked away.

"I won't!" Merlin called out after his retreating back.

But of course. Merlin did.

Arthur felt bad for poor Sophia. Here he was walking her through the beautiful Camelot woods, indulging her in a bit of chase the lady where they ran through the trees and Arthur pretended that he was both having fun and couldn't catch up with such a fast little thing as her. She had no idea that he had brought her out here to end things. That this would be their good bye. At least it would be amongst a beautiful scenery and she would have a spot of fun first.

"Be careful!" he called out to her.

"Don't worry!" she shot back before sliding to a stop and giggling up at him. "I will be."

Arthur slid to a stop just out of arms reach and smiled at her. Yes, someday Sophia would make someone very happy. Hopefully in the same way that Addison made him happy.

"There is something I wish to speak to you about," Arthur started, now would be the time. Time to tell her that this was fun but was never to be. A Prince was held to high standards, and his destiny was to marry a princess. All lies of course, because if Arthur had his way he'd be marrying the Prince's Ward. Titleless and all.

And then she was speaking. Words he didn't recognized but suddenly remembered where the same words she had said to him before he got fuzzy and the arrow nearly killed them.

Arthur tried to take a step back but he was suddenly mesmerized and unable to move. A flash of Addison's happy face came before him and he found himself blinking. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Sophia merely smiled again and took his hand, and he found that while he was concerned he had no ability to shake her off. He tried to focus on what he was going to tell her, he tried to focus on Addison and returning to see her once again but Sophia was speaking those words once more and all of sudden his mind was blank.

By the time Sophia's eyes started glowing red Arthur was gone, lost to the magic she held, to the words she had whispered into his ears. He too had glowing red eyes for only a moment as he battled the words, trying desperately to hold onto to some glowing feeling of love and happiness in the back of his mind, but eventually the magic won. Taking hold of him and his mind as his eyes faded back to the normal blue they usually were.