Chapter 5

Merlin woke up in a hospital. He had a lot of experience in hospitals and was more than used to remembering being in one place, then suddenly being in a hospital. He was absolutely frozen but was shivering which he knew was a good thing. He was also in a room by himself which was probably less of a good thing.

The door opened and a doctor walked in, "Oh, excellent. How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I think."

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"No, that's fine."

The doctor got a pen out his pocket and sat in a chair. "Firstly, could you tell us your name so we can access your records?"

"Merlin Pendragon."

"Alright, great. Thank you. And your date of birth?"

The doctor continued to ask Merlin a few personal questions like home address and such. "Ok, that's all the boring stuff. Do you know where you are?"

"Hospital?" Merlin chuckled.

The doctor laughed, "Anything more specific?"

"I'm guessing one in Ireland."

"What makes you say that?"

"Your accent. And the people that found me were Irish too."

"You remember that?"

Merlin nodded.

"That's great. Do you remember the rest of the accident?"

"Yeah."

"What date did it happen on?"

"The twenty-third."

"Of?"

"May."

"Great."

"Sorry, why are you asking all of these? I didn't hit my head, did I?"

"No but a lot of patients involved in the accident are struggling with remembering it."

"How long have I been here?"

"You were found two days after the storm and you've been here a further three."

Merlin's jaw dropped, "Really?"

The doctor nodded, "Don't worry. You'll be fine. You're very beaten up. Bruised and cut but nothing too serious at all."

"How long will I have to stay here?"

"A little while longer, I'm afraid."

"Why?" he asked suspiciously, "I thought you said it was nothing serious."

"It's not. But you've got a lot of deep cuts that we don't want getting infected. We just want to keep an eye on things to make sure nothing develops."

"I've been in hospital enough times to know when a doctor is lying to me," Merlin said, "You don't have the space here after an accident like that to keep someone in over a risk of infection. What's going on?"

"Lots of people have got some very serious infections from the sea water. And, erm, you're not the strongest. These infections have killed too many people in the past few days. You won't be another one. Alright, I'm going to check up on your records and update everything. I'll be back in a bit."

Merlin sighed. He didn't feel too bad and, by moving around a little bit, the only pain he really felt prominently was from sore muscles. He couldn't feel any big bandages or dressings anywhere, just a few little ones over some cuts. Reassured, the lay back and sighed. He wasn't used to being in hospital by himself with no one to talk to. And so, with no one to talk to, his mind went back to the accident.

It was truly terrifying. Merlin had been in some scary situations before but the ferry crash was definitely amongst the scariest. Normally there weren't many other people involved. Him, maybe Arthur at most. But there had been hundreds of people on that ship. All of them would have suffered in some way. The boat must have been about half-way between England and Ireland when the storm caught them. So where had everyone been taken?

A nurse came in and smiled at him.

"Excuse me?" Merlin asked politely, "Do you know if there's any way for me to contact the people who called in the ambulance for me and rescued me? I need to say thank you."

"I don't know anything about it, sorry. But I'll see what I can do for you."

"Hello?"

"Is this Arthur?"

"Yes. Who am I speaking to?"

"It's Daegal. Your dad gave me this number, do you mind?"

"No, not at all. How are you?"

"Great, thank you."

"I'm sorry, but did you need something? If it's just for a chat, would you mind if I called you back?"

"No, no. You know how I said I'd talk to my sister?"

"Yeah?" Arthur balanced the phone between his shoulder and his ear and he took Eira's cup to give her some more juice. After a few days, he was finally getting the hang of looking after a small child as well as his two dogs and himself. Eira was having a great time staying with him. He didn't have any rooms designed for children so she was sleeping in a huge double bed next door to Arthur. It was only at night when Arthur had time to think about everything. It was nearly a week since the crash. And he hadn't spoken to Merlin once.

'He's just in Ireland,' Arthur kept telling himself as if he was simply on holiday or visiting his family. Arthur felt immensely guilty. Now that the branch was open in Ireland, he was working none stop at Albion and at home, he had Eira to entertain. Arthur barely had time to search for Merlin anymore. That was eating him alive.

"She got in contact with one of our cousins, actually," Daegal said, "They have a friend who works in the one of the hospitals."

"Ok."

"They're going to ask around."

"That's great."

"Could you send across a photo of Merlin for reference?"

"Erm, yes of course," Arthur sounded a bit confused.

"It's just because, if he hasn't been identified by name, there must be a reason. If he's unconscious or something. But with a photo, they'll recognise his appearance."

"Right, yeah. Ok. I'll do it now."

"Thank you."

"It's me who should be thanking you," Arthur bent down to pick up the spoon Eira had just dropped then got a cloth to wipe the milk that had splattered everywhere.

"I'll keep you updated."

"Thank you. I have to go, but I'll send a photo as soon as I can."

Arthur watched Eira eat the rest of her cereal then took her upstairs so she could finish getting her ready for school. This was the first day he'd had to take her because it had been the weekend when they'd got home and then Arthur had called her headteacher who had kindly allowed her the day off while things started to get settled. Today, once he'd dropped her off, he had to meet with the headteacher to talk to her about what was going on properly.

"Uncle Arthur?"

"Yeah?" he looked up from digging her cardigan out her bag.

"Can you do my hair?"

Arthur faltered, "Erm-"

"Daddy always does it."

"How does he do it?"

Eira shrugged, "He makes it look pretty."

Arthur looked at his watch, "Come on, then. I'll give it a go. We've got plenty of time."

The next hour consisted of Arthur brushing, styling and restyling Eira's hair while she petted Aithusa, until she finally held up an elastic tie and said, "Daddy puts these in."

"Ah. That'll be why nothing was staying as I did it," Arthur laughed, "This time, then."

"Daddy does it quicker than you," Eira giggled.

"I'm not surprised. It probably looks a lot better too. Right. What do you think?"

"It looks nice."

"Yeah?

Eira nodded. All Arthur had managed to do was section off the top of her hair and tie it into two separate bunches. It did look pretty cute, especially with her little fringe at the front.

"Ok, hang on. Let me send a photo to auntie Morgana so she can confirm it looks alright. Do you want to go and brush your teeth? Quickly?"

"Yeah."

Once Eira's hair had been approved by Morgana, Arthur grabbed his car keys and locked up the house. "Want to choose some music?" he asked her, handing over his CDs.

The drive to Eira's school was very enjoyable. They sang along to some songs and Arthur asked her about her lessons until he pulled up outside.

"Right, where do I drop you off?"

Eira took Arthur's hand and dragged him over to the entrance her class was meant to go in. Once she was inside with her teacher safely, Arthur made his way to the front entrance to sign himself in. Before he knew it, he was sitting in the headteacher's office, feeling strangely like he was about to be told off.

"Thank you for finding the time to speak to me," they shook hands.

"Not a problem," Arthur smiled and took a seat, "How can I help?"

"I just wanted a clearer picture of everything that was going on so we know how to support Eira the best we can at school. I spoke to you on the phone the other day?"

"That's right, yeah."

"Eira faces a lot from her fellow students on a day to day basis already. Being adopted and having two fathers isn't something most children her age understand. Now, she's very good at sticking up for herself, as you could probably guess."

Arthur nodded.

"And our teachers do as much as they can but it's important we understand everything that's going on."

"Of course."

"So, you were all involved in the ferry accident in Ireland?"

"Yes, that's right."

"And she's living with you because…"

"Gwaine and Percival were taken to a hospital in Ireland when they were rescued. They're stuck there without phones or money or anything and Gwaine was quite badly hurt so they can't come back just yet."

"So she's living with you?"

"Yes."

"Just you?"

Arthur pursed his lips then nodded slowly.

"That's fine. Has she spoken to them at all since the accident?"

"No one has. It's impossible to contact them directly so we've only spoken to the hospital staff there."

"So that's probably hard for her."

Arthur nodded, "I expect so."

"Have you spoken to her about it?"

Arthur shook his head, "No. She's been coping amazingly."

"Have you ever had experience with children?"

"Only the ones in the family."

"She's probably really scared. Children rely on their parents a lot and while staying with you might just seem like a fun little holiday at first, soon enough she'll really start missing them. It'll be up to you to help her."

Arthur nodded, "I'll speak to her tonight."

"Great. We'll keep an eye on her today and either her teacher or I will give you a call later. Will you keep us updated?"

"Of course."

"Do you think you'll need any support?"

"I'm alright. We're looking after each other. She's a great girl."

"She is. I'll speak to you soon."

"Thank you." They shook hands again as Arthur left.

He stopped off at home on the way to work and got the dogs before heading to Albion. The car felt extremely empty without Merlin or Eira. Arthur missed his husband more and more with every second and he was only grateful that he was finding the inner strength to keep going and tell himself that Merlin was alright. The very thought of him being dead at the bottom of the ocean was devastating and haunting.

Before he started work, Arthur to his phone out one last time to check for any messages from Daegal. It saddened to see no notifications. But it saddened him even more to see his lock screen. It was what it had been for a few years now. A photo of Merlin and Arthur at their wedding. But, as his phone had been lost in the wreckage and he hadn't had the time to sort out a new one properly, none of his data had been transferred. The device he had was temporary and cheap because he couldn't be bothered to sit in the shop for hours while he found a decent new one and then wait for everything to be sorted so he could get all his photos and files. And so, the photo that was currently his lock screen was one he took of the framed picture on his house.

It looked awful. The flash was reflecting off the glass strangely, and although they cleaned the house regularly, there were still fingerprints all over it. The quality was bad, the light was strange. Arthur used to look at that photo and smile. Now, he would try to wipe away some dirt and feel the urge to cry.

"Arthur," Morgana said quietly as she came into the office.

He looked up sadly.

Morgana sat on the edge of Arthur's desk, "You've got through this before."

"No, I haven't."

"Arthur, Merlin's nearly died more times than I can count."

"True. But I always knew where he was and what was wrong. I could visit him, speak to him, see him! I can't even see him, Morgs. How is that fair?"

"It's not. Which is how I know he'll be alright. Wherever he is, he'll be struggling without you too. So do you know what that means?"

"What?"

"That, in a way, you're still together."

"I have to go to Ireland, Morgs. I have to find him."

"And Eira?"

"I want to bring her. I was speaking to her headteacher this morning and he said something about children relying on parents. I'm not her parent and I have no idea how to look after a child. Especially at the moment. So she needs her family and I need mine. Besides, with me there, we can be in contact with each other. Gwaine and Percy don't have phones and probably can't get back unless someone came to get them."

"Arthur, you'd have to fly."

"I don't care."

"Honestly, I think it's a good idea," Morgana said, "Do you want me to come?"

Arthur shook his head, "It's alright. Will you look after the dogs, though, please?"

Morgana nodded.

Arthur got through his day at work then picked up Eira from school. She sat in the back with the dogs and Arthur asked her about her day for a while before saying, "Are you ready for a big, serious talk?"

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, of course you're not. I wanted to ask you if you fancy going to Ireland?"

"To see daddy?" Eira liked to refer to both Gwaine and Percival when she said 'daddy'. It hadn't felt right to give them two separate names and she always managed to know which one they were talking about.

"Yeah. But you need to know that daddy isn't very well. So when we see him, you need to be a really big girl for him and cheer him up."

"Will he be sad?"

"Probably. He doesn't want to be there, he wants to be with you all at home. You know what happened don't you?"

Eira nodded sadly.

"Daddy's going to be alright, ok? He's just being a miserable old man at the minute and he needs his daughter to cheer him up."

"Can we bring him a present?"

"Of course we can. What do you want to bring him?"

"I don't know."

"Well you can think about it. You definitely want to go?"

Eira nodded enthusiastically which Arthur just about saw in the mirror.

"Ok. So do you want to watch a film when we get back and then we can find a nice hotel?"

"Yeah!"

"Whichever one you want, ok? Because I've heard from your teachers at school that you are a really good girl and you're very grown-up and clever. So, as your favourite uncle, I want to spoil you to say well done."

"You're not my favourite uncle," Eira giggled with a cheeky glint in her eye.

Arthur chuckled, "No? Who is, then?"

"Uncle Merlin," Eira said with a mischievous grin.

Arthur's face dropped but he kept up an act for her sake, "He is pretty great, isn't he?"

"When will he come back and stay with us?"

Arthur sighed, "Actually, I think we're going to see him while we're in Ireland."

"Is he there too?"

"I think so."

"We can all visit daddy together!"

"I hope so."

"Uncle Arthur?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Are we going to rescue them all like superheroes?"

"Yeah," Arthur laughed, "I guess we are. What's your superhero name?"

Merlin was bored. Very, very bored. He was in quite a lot of pain, being given lots of medicine so was also feeling quite drowsy. That, for some reason, made him even more bored. Time seemed to pass even slower and even if he'd had something to do, he wouldn't have been able to do it. No one had been able to track down the couple who had rescued him which made Merlin feel really guilty. They'd saved his life, given him tea and blankets but he couldn't thank them.

If there was one thing Merlin did have the time for, it was thinking. He'd give anything to be able to call Arthur and ask how he was.

Merlin got up and got his crutches to hop to the toilet. This wasn't anything unusual. But on his way back to bed, his chest twinged painfully and he found himself gasping for breath. He took a few minutes to calm down then got back into bed properly, still holding his chest. The cough which had been bothering him for a few days also decided then was a good time to resurface. He knew he was pretty badly bruised from two days of being thrown about while gripping onto that piece of wood. But no one had mentioned that anything was wrong aside from that bruising.

He made a mental note to ask a doctor about it later and settled down to get some rest.

Arthur was walking through the corridors of a hospital, holding Eira's hand while she skipped excitedly beside him. They'd stopped at their hotel only to check-in and drop off their bags. Arthur had pushed aside all of his sickness from the flight, both for Eira's sake and for the sake of the trip.

"Do you remember what I said?" Arthur asked her, "Daddy isn't very well so you have to be really good to make him proud. It might look scary but you don't need to worry."

"Will I be able to give him a hug?"

"I don't know," Arthur admitted, "But if you can't, it'll be all the more reason for him to get better quickly, won't it? Ok, this is it. Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"I think you're really going to cheer them up. Are you excited?"

Eira nodded and let Arthur lead her into the bay where he'd been told Gwaine was and they looked around. Percival was sitting beside a bed, shoulder slumped defeatedly as he held Gwaine's hand. They both looked pale, tired and worried. Eira let go of Arthur's hand and ran over to them. The second Percival heard an excited squeal, he looked up, and when his eyes fell on Eira, decades of age seemed to fade away. He stood up but then knelt down so she could run straight into his arms. Arthur smiled as he watched Percival pick the little girl up and spin her around a few times before kissing her nose affectionately.

Gwaine's eyes followed Eira the whole time until Arthur went over to him and clapped him on the shoulder, "You look awful."

"You don't look so good yourself," Gwaine smiled.

"I just got off a plane, what's your excuse?" Arthur grinned and moved around the bed to hug Percy while Eira clambered gently onto the bed and gave Gwaine what was possibly the most timid hug in history.

"What was that?" Gwaine asked.

"Uncle Arthur said you're not well so I have to be good."

"Well I think if you're being good then you need to give your daddy the best cuddle in the world," Gwaine said, forcing himself to sit up and wrap his arms around her.

"Thank god you're alright," Percival said to Arthur while Eira chatted happily to Gwaine, "We've had no idea what's been happening. It felt wrong to keep asking nurses to read us articles."

"We were all split up without phones," Arthur said, "My dad managed to get in contact with me through one of the other guys on my ward and he called all the hospitals to track everyone down."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"We were all hurt," Arthur laughed dryly, "But no one too badly. We all needed a few days at home to recover, but-"

"And Merlin? Gwaine's been driving himself mad with worry."

Arthur bit his lip and looked away, "We haven't found him yet."

Percival sighed, "I'm sorry."

Arthur shook his head, "We're going to find him. I just haven't had time to do anything about it and it makes me feel so helpless and useless. He could literally be anywhere and it makes it so much worse that he might be fine and he be dead and I have no idea and I'm just carrying on with everything as if nothing happened when actually we were all in probably the worst ferry accident since I don't even know when and-"

"Woah," Percival said, "Calm down. You said it yourself, we're going to find him."

"I'm sorry. I've been pushing everything to the back of my mind for Eira's sake."

"You've been looking after her?"

Arthur nodded.

"Thank you," Percival hugged him, "That means the world."

Arthur sighed, "We've got a hotel room just a few minutes' walk away from here. You look like you could use some rest in a proper bed."

Percival looked delighted, "You have no idea what it's been like. I haven't been able to go anywhere or pay for anything. I'm lucky the nurses fed me the hospital food that Gwaine was getting."

"Eira?" Arthur said, "Do you want to take daddy back to the hotel and show him our room?"

She looked up at Gwaine longingly so Percival said, "Don't worry. Your Uncle Arthur will stay here and look after daddy if you come and look after me."

"Ok," Eira kissed Gwaine on the cheek and jumped down off the bed. Arthur handed Percival the room key and knelt down in front of Eira. "Can you remember where it is?"

She nodded proudly.

"Good girl. I'll see you soon."

"Thank you for bringing me here, Uncle Arthur."

Merlin had asked one of the doctors about the painful tightness in his chest and he'd been told that he had what was called an RTI or a respiratory tract infection. The doctor had said it wasn't uncommon, especially for someone like him who had suffered so much damage to their lungs. He hadn't been told much more than that but he had been told that it wasn't serious but because of his state of health, they wanted to keep him there for a few days. Merlin didn't complain. Even if he had been allowed to leave, there was nowhere for him to go. He couldn't exactly walk home for many reasons and he had no money to get back a different way.

Eventually, Merlin's thoughts and worries got the better of him and he asked a nurse, "Have you got any way of contacting the other hospitals where people from the ferry were taken?"

The nurse looked at him sympathetically, "You weren't travelling alone?"

Merlin shook his head.

"Well, I don't personally but I'm sure I can find someone who can."

Merlin coughed harshly and winced, briefly apologising before continuing, "Thank you."

"I'm assuming you're looking for someone in particular?"

"Yes, erm- Arthur Pendragon."

"Brother?" the nurse asked curiously.

"Husband."

She smiled, "I'll go and speak to someone now."

"Thank you so much."