Out of Time
AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Hey guys! I'm still writer's blocked as you can see. There was some confusion with the last chapter so I'll clear it up. Remember back in chapter 20 (at the very end) Addison get's sent away to a Convent? And then shit goes down and she comes back on her own and I said I wrote all this stuff about her time in the convent but it got too long so I took it out? Yeah well that's that little bit. So it should be in between chapters 20 and 21. Hopefully that helps.
Now I did manage to get this chapter finished for you and ready for today. It's CHRISTMAS guys! And for those of you who celebrate it Merry Christmas Everyone! This here is my holiday gift to everyone, thank you to all my readers for continuing to read and enjoy this. And hopefully by this time next year I'll be more than little bit closer to finishing this.
So this is a proper Flashback, straight from before the story. It's Addison's first Yuletide/Christmas in Camelot and it's how she ended up setting the castle on fire. Please enjoy! And Please tell me what you think!
Out of Order: Flashback #3 – Addison's Yuletide Fire
Addison lay in her cell, her clumsy fingers struggling to pull the needle through the thick fabric. She had gotten A level in home economics in school so this shouldn't have been too hard. All she wanted to do was to sew a little golden lion into the sleeve of Arthur's favourite tunic, as a reminder to be brave. She was also thinking of sewing a little unicorn into his other sleeve to represent her, to remind him to be happy and look for the little things to create some every day magic. But she wasn't certain how he'd take that.
Didn't want the crown prince to think she fancied him.
With one violent jab she got the needle through the fabric only to jab her finger in the process. Addison yelped letting out a string of obscenities while shaking out her finger before putting the bleeding appendage into her mouth.
"What have you done now?" Arthur asked from the door. Addison stifled her gasp and shot to her feet, quickly shoving the tunic she had stolen from his laundry into her pile of blankets she had been using to keep herself warm. If Arthur noticed her jumpiness he said nothing about it. He merely unlocked her cell door and stepped inside.
"You weren't trying to train the mice again were you? I know you said something about a fairy tale princess or some Bard named Disney, but I highly doubt you can talk to the dungeon rats. And if you did they wouldn't have anything polite to say back to you," he continued.
Addison pulled her finger out of her mouth and wiped the saliva off of on her skirt. Without her blankets she was cold. Winter had come to Camelot that week and she had no appropriate clothing. Like a winter jacket or big comfy knitted Christmas jumpers. Not to mention there was no central heating and a draft coming in through her window.
"Come on," he said, offering her a hand. "I've been told to get your properly suited for winter."
"Oh? Snow jumpers and wellies?" she asked with a big hopeful grin on her face. Arthur stared at her with a perplexed look on his face and Addison's smile faded. "Come on, I've told you what those are."
"I don't approve of your slang and you know it," he growled. Addison sighed and tried really hard not to roll her eyes at him. "I wanted you out of the dungeon by the end of the century, thank you very much, and at this rate you'll be here till your dying day."
"Or until Uther's," Addison mumbled under her breath.
Arthur stopped abruptly in his tracks and turned on Addison. "You must stop talking like that," he ordered. "If he hears you he'll execute you for sure."
Addison scowled quite primly at him. "I've been having 'Lady Lessons' with Uther for weeks now and I think he's sufficiently used to my sarcastic attitude."
Arthur tugged her back to his side and continued walk. "I would appreciate it if you'd stop pushing the line with him."
Addison sighed and rolled her eyes, muttering a quick: "Fine," at him under her breath.
They walked in silence after that, all the way to the frost covered courtyard where Arthur stopped her at the doorway. One of the guards stepped aside, blocking the two of them from view and Addison turned to Arthur with worry on her gaze.
His blue eyes were sparkling in the dim morning light and she wanted nothing more than to brush that stubborn lock of blonde hair out of his eyes and kiss him. But that was inappropriate and Arthur didn't feel the same way about her.
Instead of swooping her into the kiss she had been dreaming about, Arthur bent down to retrieve something from the shadows the guard had abandoned and pulled out a pair of boots.
"These are my old boots. Father wouldn't approve of course, but I'd rather your feet be warm. So put them on quick and then we'll continue on our way," he whispered. He had dropped to one knee beside her, quickly putting a warm hand to her cold ankle and pulling her foot up to him.
He slid off her shoe and Addison held her breath praying to god her feet didn't smell. He helped her pull the tan knee high boots up to her knees, his cheeks a red color, his eyes avoiding the hem of her skirt which had been hiked up to her thighs. Though to Addison this was absolutely nothing, she knew that to Arthur and the guard blocking them from view, that this was more than just a little scandalous.
With boots on, Arthur stood quickly, still avoiding her eyes, he cleared his throat and offered her his arm. Immediately the guard stepped back into his post and Arthur and Addison continued to walk as if nothing had just transpired between them.
Arthur had stood outside as Addison got measured by the dressmaker. Against his father's wishes he was having a whole wardrobe of clothes made up for her. Shawls, shoes, dresses upon dresses, and against his better judgements a pair of boots that would fit her, a pair of slacks her size and a couple of tunics. He said it was just make her feel a bit more comfortable, like a bit of her time just Camelot style, but honestly he actually wanted it so it would be easier to run away. Nothing hampered a woman more than a skirt.
Though Addison had proved earlier that month that she had no problem lifting her skirts up and sprinting away if the situation called for it.
Arthur sometimes still dreamed of that moment. Those long creamy legs, his hands traveling up and down them, spreading for him. He had confirmed today that they were, in fact, as smooth as he dreamed them to be.
Arthur shook his head free of his inappropriate thoughts. Addison was a pure lady, sweet and kind, and she deserved better. To be courted properly and not in the secret shadows he would be forced to pull her into. He would never be able to take their courtship public, not with his father's lukewarm attitude towards her. But that didn't stop him dreaming about her, he just had to not act on his baser impulses.
But if she didn't stop blinking her big blue eyes at him in that coquettish manner she was going to get thoroughly kissed regardless of what either of them wanted.
Arthur took his deep calming breaths as he watches the wagon full of firs and holly drive by. The castle was going to get a festive make over in the next couple of days. Arthur had been in charge of the decorations this year, and after Addison had regaled him with the stories of the ornament covered trees and magical strings of twinkling lights he might have gone a bit over board with the amount of decorations he had requested.
As he watched the carts go by he failed to notice Addison step out from the hut until she was right beside him and talking. "Ohh, what's all that for?"
Arthur jumped, and turned towards her. She was in a new dress, one he requested earlier in the week. It was a deep green color, made of a thicker softer fabric that came with matching sturdier shoes. She looked absolutely ravishing in it. But most importantly she looked warm.
Arthur must have taken a long time to respond because Addison gave him an expectant look and repeated her question to him. This time Arthur had his wits about him to respond. "They're the decorations for the castle."
"Oh, I thought you said you guys didn't really decorate for Chris…. Oh, I mean, Yuletide," she said in her thoughtful tone. Arthur had to nod to agree, because he had told her that, not but a few days ago. He just didn't want to tell her that he had gotten all these decorations for her.
"Yes, well, I've changed my mind. I thought we could use a little more color in the castle this year," he told her.
Addison's smile was a large one, the kind Arthur wanted to kiss off of her. "Well, red and green are the traditional Christmas colors," she admitted, linking her arm with his before he offered it to her. He didn't even bother to remind her to wait for her escort to offer before touching him.
"And why is that?" Arthur wondered.
Addison was silent a moment before saying: "You know, I have no idea."
Despite himself Arthur chuckled at her, which she rewarded him with a playful punch to the shoulder. It wasn't a weak blow and Arthur fought the urge to tell her that he had a bruise forming from all her painful punches to the same shoulder.
"Do you think I'd be allowed to help decorate?" Addison asked after a moment of silent walking.
"I don't know if my father would be okay with that," he answered carefully.
Addison merely smiled absently, "Maybe I'll ask him," she whispered. Arthur sighed inwardly, oh how he hoped she wouldn't.
Uther's eyes narrowed the second both Addison and Arthur appeared at her weekly Lady Lesson's. He was unaware Arthur had spent the morning with her, but she was in a new dress and what seemed to be a pair of clicking something on her feet. She had a new shawl draped around her shoulders, and while he wasn't going to admit it, he was glad she had something to keep her warm as it was horribly unacceptable to sit there and watch her shiver. And it wasn't like he was going to give her his cloak.
"What is on her feet?" Uther growled and was happy to see that Arthur at least had the sense to look surprised. He glanced down to Addison's toes just as Addison lifted up her hem to reveal a pair of worn tan knee high boots that must have belonged to Arthur.
"Boots, my feet were too cold in the slippers," Addison explained.
Uther pinned Arthur with a knowing glare and Arthur nodded. "It was only for today, as she didn't have suitable shoes," he told him. "I'll go get a proper pair right away."
Arthur rushed off before Uther could say anything else and after the door shut to the great hall, Uther motioned for Addison to sit at the table in front of the maps of the known country. It was his first task to teach her about her surroundings so she could easily blend in with common knowledge.
"What is the name of our country?" Uther asked her.
"Westros," Addison shot back immediately with a cheeky grin as she took her seat.
Uther glared at her. "This is not your Tournament of Chairs, Addison," he snarled.
"Albion," Addison replied and then under her breath added: "and it's Game of Thrones."
She made the comment softly so Uther pretended that he hadn't heard her. He went on quizzing her and she answered all her questions properly after that. He moved onto proper table manners, which she didn't really have a problem with, but had to remind her that she would not be allowed to attend the Yuletide feast no matter how well behaved she was.
He was going to move onto proper etiquette when talking to an elder, a king or a man in general when she interrupted him by putting her hand up.
Uther stared at her. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Oh, well in my time, when a student needs to ask a teacher a question they put up their hand and wait for the teacher to call on them," she explained. "So I'm waiting on you to call on me so I can ask my question."
Uther glared at her. "What do you want, Addison."
"The Christmas decorations came in today…"
"The what?" Uther growled, interrupting her and Addison paused and restarted.
"Right, sorry. The Yuletide decorations came in today and I was wondering if I could help the castle staff put them up?" she asked.
"You want to help the servants?" Uther asked incredulously.
"Well… isn't that what you're training me for? To eventually join the workforce?" she asked.
Uther had to pause there, because that was not what he was training for. In fact he had been training her to become a proper lady like Morgana, who wasn't all that proper sometimes too, but mostly well behaved. He had never thought to train her as a servant, and he wondered why that thought never came to his mind before now.
"No," he answered curtly.
"Not you're not training me to be a servant, or no I'm not helping decorate?" Addison asked after a moment's pause.
"No, you are not helping," he snapped. "Lessons are done for today. Guards: take her back to her cell."
Addison got up quickly and skipped over to the guards who were already smiling. By the time the doors were closing he had heard one of his guards express how he thought the lessons must have been getting better. Uther didn't like how everyone who came in contact with Addison took an immediate shine to her. It meant that even his most trusted of spies were giving him false information and some had stopped reporting back to him entirely.
Even he was starting to like the girl and that was unacceptable.
Addison had slipped out of her cell alter that afternoon, after using her bobby pin to pick the lock. She was running out of them, she had to hope that the blacksmith Tom managed to make more for her soon. She had given him one to copy from, so hopefully she got them before the New Year.
She stuck mostly to the shadows and to the fringes of large groups of people walking through the castle hallways until she came across someone familiar. Gwen was half hanging over a railing trying to tie a bough of branches into place. Addison quickly moved to help her, which startled Gwen who wasn't expecting it.
"Does Uther know you're out and about?" she asked softly, Addison shook her head. "Does Arthur?" Once again Addison shook her head. "Then we must be quiet hmm?"
"Actually, I haven't seen Arthur since this morning," Addison said. He had told Uther he would be giving her proper shoes to wear with her dresses, but Arthur had not returned with shoes and no shoes had been delivered to her cell. She was slightly disappointed with this.
"Oh, a member of the nobility arrived today, not sure which one, but Arthur has been busy entertaining his son all afternoon," Gwen responded.
Addison tried to hide her secret smile over this. So, he hadn't want to avoid her, he just had duties to attend to. Addison avoided Gwen's eyes who was trying to hide her own smile who was equally as happy to see that Addison was happy. It had been a bit rocky for her but she had started to fit in, and she made Arthur a nicer person. Sometimes.
They moved around the castle, hanging their greenery while Addison talked a mile a minute about Yuletide where she came from, with her pottery ornaments and a huge tree covered in twinkling small candles and strings of candy or popcorn. She had recently introduced popcorn to them, dried corn kernels that you heated up until they turned white and fluffy and then covered in melted butter, salt or other toffee like substances.
They had made it down to the bottom floor, with Addison hiding springs of mistletoe in doorways and in shadowed nooks, and branches of sweet smelling pine and yew in unsuspecting suits of armour.
When the trouble hit, it was because Gwen couldn't stop laughing at Addison pretending one of the boughs was a great big bushy moustache. They completely didn't notice the approach of someone else until he was towering over Addison, smiling viciously down on her.
Addison looked up at him, immediately dropped the branches she was holding and stood up. She backed up to where Gwen was silently standing, her hands clasped in her lap, her eyes down on her feet.
"I'm sorry if we've disturbed you, my lord," she said carefully.
His eyes moved from Addison to Gwen, his smile still a vicious and untrusting as before. "No need to be sorry," he said. "What are two lovely flowers such as yourself doing this late in the evening?"
"It's not that late," Addison said quickly. "The sun hasn't even set yet."
His eyes turned back to Addison, his smile still smooth. He was wearing black pants and a draped yellow tunic with an unnecessary amount of golden details and trim. His fingers were bedazzled with jewels and a huge chain and pendant cross hung from his neck. His hair was a long, oily black color and his complexion was pale. He was taller then most nobles in Camelot, taller than Arthur even.
"Plenty of time for some fun then," he said with an acidic tone to his voice.
Addison and Gwen both took a step back. If there was ever a time for her to have special powers this would be the time for them to show up.
"We're not getting paid to have fun and I'm pretty sure not fraternizing with the nobles is part of our contract," Addison told him.
"As a noble, I can guarantee you that your only job is to keep me happy, no matter what it is I ask of you," he snarled, taking yet another step towards them. Gwen had gone an ashen color and Addison felt her cheeks redden at what he was implicating.
She didn't really want to cause trouble, but she wasn't about to go to bed with the guy who could have any sort of disease and with no protection. Luckily, she wouldn't have to worry about having to defend her honor and Gwen's with either words or her fists.
"There you are Alcott," Arthur said, appearing in the hallway. His eyes found Addison and suddenly he wasn't smiling. "I was worried you got lost on your way back to the Great Hall."
"Merely having a polite conversation with these charming servants," he said. Arthur came to stand beside him and the young noble, Alcott, shoot him a side glance. "You're quite lucky Arthur, all the female in my castle are trolls, or dreadfully boring. Which one would you like, I must say I like the little chit in the green dress, a bit fancy for a servant, she must have nicked it from Morgana. Might want to punish her for it."
He reached out a hand to twirl a bit of Addison's hair, which she promptly wanted to smack away, but Arthur beat her to it, grabbing Alcott's wrist and wrenching it away from him.
"You will not be terrorizing my servants, Alcott. If you cannot behave yourself I'll have you isolated to your quarters for the duration of your stay," Arthur warned.
Alcott hissed at him. "You think you're going to stop me from getting between that whore's legs?" he growled. "She's practically quivering for me."
That was apparently all Arthur would listen to. He lunged at Alcott his fist swinging into his jaw, but Alcott was just as well trained as Arthur and soon the two of them were scrapping it out on the floor, trying to wrestle each other for the win. And Alcott wasn't playing fair.
Still Arthur managed to get on top of him and turn to Gwen. "Gwen, could you please relocate yourself and Addison to Morgana's room until I come to get you?" he asked.
Gwen immediately nodded and took a hold of Addison's hand trying to pull her off. She almost succeeded if Addison hadn't heard the sound of a fist hitting bone. When Addison turned, she saw that Alcott had elbowed Arthur in the face and had knocked him off of him. He got on top of Arthur and hit him, over and over and with each hit Addison got angrier and angrier.
Gwen was tugging on her but Addison refused to move. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she screeched on the top of her lungs. Both boys turned to look at her, as if surprised that sort of sound could come out of a woman just as Addison felt as if a blast had gone off in her chest and was rippling towards them. In one terrifying second the boughs that had been abandoned suddenly went up in flames.
They scrambled back but there wasn't a thing they could do, in seconds that whole wing of the castle was up in flames.
Uther stood in front of Addison and Arthur, both were singed and reeked of smoke. He didn't know why but he was absolutely certain this was Addison's fault.
"Start from the beginning and tell me what happened," he ordered.
Arthur turned to Addison, the look on his face said don't say a word but she knew she couldn't keep quite with Alcott spouting all sorts of lies.
"The young lord found Gwen and I decorating…" she started.
"After I explicitly told you that you were not allowed to help with the decorations," Uther interrupted.
Addison nodded. "Yes, after you told me not to," she admitted. "Well, he started spouting all this inappropriate stuff at us about how it was our job to please him in which ever way he wanted and then Arthur found us…"
"Yes, he had them cornered and they looked terrified so I stepped in and told him to stop and we got into a bit of a tousle and we must have knocked the candles into the boughs the girls had dropped," Arthur finished.
"And then he ran like the coward he is," Addison muttered under her breath.
Uther sighed. "Half the castle went up in flames because of a few boughs? Does someone want to tell me why we had so many brought up this year? By the state of the castle you must have cleared a forest."
"I thought it would lift the spirits of our people," Arthur answered just as Addison said: "I wouldn't say it was half the castle."
Arthur nudged her and she immediately lowered her gaze to her shoes. Uther shook his head.
"The two of you get out of my sight," he ordered and then pointed a finger at Addison. "And if I hear you've gone and managed to get yourself into more trouble, to the Convent you'll go!"
Arthur bowed low to Uther and then took a hold of Addison, pulling her out of the Great Hall before Uther could change his mind.
For a whole 2 weeks, Addison was on her best behaviour. Arthur was certain to keep as much distance from her as possible, but he was only a man. After a week of not seeing her, only hearing her voice in the morning drifting up from the dungeon as she sang her morning songs, he caved and came down. He took her out for his rounds that day, and he found that he had missed her, just as she no doubt had missed him judging by the great big smile that dawned on her face when she saw him at her cell door.
Now was the day of the Yuletide and Addison had spoken of how she had always exchanged gifts wither her friends and family at this time, so at midnight, when Arthur thought the castle was asleep he was heading down to the cell to leave Addison a gift.
Except he wasn't the only one who thought that.
By the time Arthur made it to her cell he found that there was a whole group of people there. Gaius, Gwen, Morgana, and Addison was in the middle observing a pair of ankle high boots that Gwen's father had made up for her.
Addison's blue eyes found Arthur and a smile lit up her face, Arthur's smile, a smile that was only on her lips when she was with him. She got up to hug him quickly.
"Happy Christmas, Arthur," she whispered into her ear and despite himself Arthur found himself wrapping her up in a hug. He pointedly avoided Morgana's knowing gaze as he did so.
When they separated, Arthur held out his gift, a book especially commissioned just for her. An adventure story with a romance and a surprise twist at the end that Arthur had forced the castle bard to write for her.
Addison looked down to it and then back up to him. "One second," she said before quickly rushing to her bed where she then dropped to her knees in front of Morgana who lifted up her feet. Addison pulled out a parcel wrapped in rags that she then handed to Arthur.
Arthur took the package from her while Addison took his book and began to leaf through the pages. Arthur pulled the twine off and found that Addison had given him his missing red tunic.
"You found my tunic," he said. Addison closed her book and looked to him. He tried to not be disappointed but judging by what the others had gotten they had all been made something, where as Arthur's looked… rather plain in comparison.
"Check the sleeves," she whispered and Arthur sighed but obliged her. On the right-hand sleeve, he found a little golden lion stitched into his cuff, only visible on the inside, and on the left-hand sleeve a little silver unicorn.
"A lion for bravery, and a unicorn for… me…" she said softly. Their eyes met and Arthur felt his breath leave his body. The gift was thoughtful and possibly the one that she worked the most on.
"Come, we've brought sweets and Addison's going to teach us yuletide songs from her homeland," Morgana said.
Addison grabbed Arthur's hand and dragged him over to the bed. She may not have known it, but Addison had made the Yuletide just a bit more merry and bright for the whole castle.