A/N: Thank you everything for your patience through the upload troubles. I've started work on the third story so there will be 39 chapters in this part. Once again, I think there'll be a break so I can get ahead with the writing before I start uploading. This story doesn't really have a proper end just because part three follows on. Enjoy :D

Chapter 32

The rest of the holiday was actually spent walking in the weather which remained consistently rainy. They all enjoyed it but were ready to never see a grey cloud ever again by the time they were on their way home. Arthur and joked about being concerned that Killi's fur would be stained with mud forever. The poor dogs had never had so many baths.

"Happy to be home?" Arthur asked Merlin while they were unpacking.

"Definitely. Those kids are exhausting, how do they look after them all the time?"

Arthur shrugged, "No idea. Did you call Freya?"

"Not yet. I'll do it tomorrow."

They were in for a busy few weeks. Merlin would going back to work and starting physio sessions so he could start using a prosthetic leg again. Work would be busy enough because they'd be opening their new branch, Nemeth, very soon. And if that wasn't enough, in about a month, they'd be going to Ireland for the sixth anniversary of Will's death. It would be the fifth time Arthur and Merlin had travelled there for it as last year, they'd been on holiday in Scotland instead.

They were a little bit worried about it all being too much for Merlin but he was recovering really well and everyone was keeping a close eye on him, just in case.

"Can you remember what the offices look like?" Arthur teased him when they were in the car on their way to work for the first morning.

"Could ask you the same thing," Merlin said, "You've been off nearly as long as me."

"I still went to work when you were in hospital," Arthur said, "It was just when you were discharged that I stopped."

"Some managers we are, eh? Months off work, leaving everyone else to do it for us."

"And the first day we're back, we're leaving early," Arthur added with a chuckle. They'd be heading off about an hour early to go to the hospital for Merlin's third physio appointment.

"Right," Leon said when everyone was gathered in the meeting room, "Nemeth is opening next week, who are we sending?" Nemeth was a couple of hours' drive away from them.

"Not us," Arthur spoke for himself and Merlin, they'd already discussed it, "We'll let things go well for once and stay here."

"I'd love to take Mary," Elyan said awkwardly, "If no one minds."

"We'll go," Gwen volunteered on behalf of her and Lancelot, "Will's old enough to come now, I think."

"We'd rather stay with the kids," Leon said.

"So we'll go, then," Gwaine said, looking at Percival.

"Excellent," Leon smiled, "Are you lot all alright to make sure everything's sorted for it, then?"

"Ok, now that's sorted," Gwen said, "We need to give ourselves new jobs."

"Yes," Gwaine said, "We made a list, didn't we? Of what needs doing?"

Gwen nodded and flicked through her notes, "Here. So we need five branch managers for each of Albion, Ismere, Camelot, Nemeth and Mercia. Then an overall accountant, maybe someone on customer services and then we need to think of another job for the last person to do."

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"Because we couldn't think of anything else that we need. Between us at the moment we've got everything else sorted, we just want it to be more organised. There's nothing else left that we do here that wouldn't be covered by someone else's job either here or at one of the branches."

"Ok, let's assign what we've got so far, then."

"I'll do accountancy," Lancelot said immediately, "It's what I always used to do."

Gwen scribbled it down quickly.

"I'll take Mercia," Elyan offered, "I don't mind travelling and it'll be furthest away in Wales."

"I'd happily do customer services," Gwen said in between her writing people's names down, "If no one else wants to."

"We've got the oldest child," Percival said, "So I can help Elyan with Mercia for the time being and Gwaine can take Nemeth because they'd both involve travel but Eira can cope with only one parent at home."

"That's fine with me," Gwaine said, "Elyan?"

"Of course."

"Ok," Gwen noted that down too, "So that leaves Camelot, Albion and Ismere."

"Well at the minute, Freya and Matthew pretty much manage Ismere on their own," Morgana said, "But they'll have their hands full soon so they'll need more help from us."

"Once the baby's older they'll take it up again, though," Merlin said, "So it won't be really hard work forever."

"I'll do it," Morgana said confidently, "I can manage."

"I'd rather not do Camelot," Arthur said, glancing at Merlin, "We're not really comfortable there."

"I'll have it then," Leon said.

"Are you sure?" Gwen asked, "That's a lot of work for both of you."

"There's nine of us all together," Morgana said, "And we've got nearly one hundred members of staff working for us elsewhere who are more than willing to do whatever we ask. We'll all be able to help when we have to. No one's going to be over-worked, we've never done that. We're about being a team and sticking together."

"So that leaves me and Merlin to manage Albion," Arthur said, "Maybe we could work together?"

"We already do everything else together," Merlin laughed, "Might as well be stuck hip-to-hip at work too."

"Albion's the biggest," Arthur said, "It'll might need two people. And we live closest to it."

"Right," Gwen read down the list and then looked up, "Is everyone happy with that?"

Everyone nodded.

"We'll sort it all out, then. Anything else that needs talking about?"

"I have a question," Merlin said, "Why is my desk stacked with files and paperwork?"

"Because we bought a new shelving unit but the person who was meant to put it together didn't," everyone looked pointedly at Gwaine.

"I'll do it this morning," Gwaine said, "And I'll file everything away."

It felt like Merlin had never been away. Within days he was more than used to being back in the office behind his desk all day. A letter had been sent out to all their employees to explain the changes in how management was running and apologise for the time it would take to adjust. Things might be a little disorganised for a while but once they got the new setup sorted, they were hoping it would run more smoothly than ever before.

Everything was completely chaotic when half their team went up to the opening of Nemeth which had ended up being very similar in structure to Camelot. For two days, those still in the office had been left to deal with absolutely everything, something they hadn't anticipated to be quite as stressful as it turned out to be. The dogs spent all of those two days walking around and sniffing at people's chairs, trying to figure out where they were.

Before they knew it, Arthur and Merlin were driving up the country to catch the ferry to Ireland. It seemed to be a bit of a running theme of Merlin not having much sleep on road trips because yet again, he'd been plagued with nightmares for the past couple of days. No amount of sitting outside with a coffee and watching the stars before going to bed would keep them at bay.

"You know when you said that everything had come full cycle and the tumour coma was the end of things?" Merlin said when the car was stopped in traffic, "Could that cycle not have included the nightmares?" He took a sip from the water bottle in the holder next to his seat.

"I didn't make the cycle," Arthur said with a little laugh, "I just evaluated it."

Merlin sighed and massaged his temples with his fingers, "We're going to miss the ferry if this traffic doesn't lighten."

"We left early for a reason, Merls." Amongst their extensive checking of the weather forecast to make sure they wouldn't be caught in a storm when on the ferry, they'd also checked the traffic news and were aware of the slow movement on the roads. They were just glad that they'd decided not to take the dogs, leaving them with Gwen and Lance. If they'd been in the car, they'd have been winy and agitated.

Once they got out of the traffic jams, the rest of the journey was fine. They were going to be staying with Freya and Matthew while they were there for five days and despite the reason for their visit, everyone was looking forward to seeing each other. The last time Merlin had seen his mother face-to-face was before he'd even been diagnosed with the tumour when she'd come over and stayed with Gaius for the opening of Camelot.

"You've seen Freya more recently than me," Merlin mused when they were about five minutes away from his sister's house.

"Yeah, I know. Because they stayed to help me look after you after you had your surgeries but you decided to go all Sleeping Beauty on us for months."

"How long did they stay?"

"A couple of weeks. I think they wanted to stay for longer but your mum was all alone over here so they came back to be with her."

"And none of them came back to visit me when I woke up," Merlin feigned being hurt, "Some family they are. Remember the first time and they all rushed over within the same day to see me?"

"I know you're kidding," Arthur said with a small smile, "But don't say that in front of your mum. She'll definitely cry and feel really bad."

Merlin nodded, "I know. I guess last time I didn't have a big, strong husband to look after me, did I?"

"Too right you didn't. Ok," Arthur stopped the car, "Here we are. Bets on Freya being at the bottom of the drive to hug us before we've got out the car?"

"Oh, definitely."

As predicted, Arthur had barely closed the car door when the front door to the house they were parked outside of opened and Merlin's sister appeared with her husband, waving happily. Arthur shouted a greeting and got Merlin's crutches off the back seat to hand to him. All four of them hugged each other and said hello quickly before Arthur and Matthew went to get the bags out the car and Freya led them all inside.

"Don't you look slightly more alive than the last time I saw you?" she teased Merlin while Matthew was showing Arthur which room to put their bags in.

"You look ill, Freya," Merlin said, looking closely at the dark bags under her eyes and how gaunt her face looked, "I thought you'd be glowing."

"What would you know about how girls look during pregnancy?"

"I work with two girls who both have kids. I've seen them through every day of their pregnancy. I know more than you'd think. What's going on?"

"It just hasn't exactly been an easy journey," Freya said, "Complications and such."

"Complications?"

"Nothing serious or anything to worry about," Freya assured him, "But not everyone's pregnancies are as easy as Gwen's or Morgana's were."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I told mum and she said there's no need to worry because she felt like this when she had you. And my doctor said everything's fine, the babies are ok."

"Babies?" Merlin repeated, "Why did you say that as a plural?"

Freya cursed quietly, "It was meant to be a surprise," she moaned, thoroughly annoyed at herself, "I'm having identical twins."

Merlin grinned, "That's great. Come over here so I can hug you."

"You should see our shopping bills now," she said when she was sitting down again, "I'm eating about five times as much as I used to because I'm so tiny and apparently I have to be stronger to give the babies a better chance."

"I mean you are very small," Merlin said, "Your bump's going to end up being bigger than you."

Freya put her hand on her stomach, "Only a few more months now," she said excitedly.

"Are you getting them 'Thing 1' and 'Thing 2' outfits?"

Freya laughed, "That would be cute."

"Boys or girls?"

"Don't know. We're still not sure if we want to know."

Arthur and Matthew came into the room and after taking one look at his wife, Matthew said, "I knew you would."

"Shut up," Freya blushed.

"Knew she'd what?" Arthur asked curiously as he sat down beside Merlin and slung an arm around him effortlessly.

"Let slip," Matthew took a seat on the on armchair, "Go on, Freya. You've told Merlin, may as well tell Arthur too."

"We're having twins," Freya said, "It was meant to be a surprise."

"We can pretend we don't know," Arthur said after congratulating them.

"Don't worry about it," Matthew said, "She's already told her mum and my parents."

"I bet mum's over the moon," Merlin said, "She's been desperate for grandkids."

"Now she's getting two at once," Freya nodded, "She's really happy."

"She's coming for dinner tonight," Matthew said.

"Oh great," Merlin said, "Let the double fussing commence."

"Aren't you glad it's me mum will be worrying about instead of you?" Freya asked.

"I would be," Merlin said, "If it weren't for the fact I haven't seen her in person since I fell into a coma for four months and she'll fuss about that as if it was last week not well over half a year ago."

"Oh, you haven't seen her since Freya told her we're expecting," Matthew said, "Every time she comes round she brings a full supermarket's worth of food with her and she cleans the entire house from top to bottom."

"Wow," Arthur whistled.

"No doubt she'll bring even more now that you're here."

"She'll be in overdrive," Merlin said, "Is she ok? Given what day it is on Tuesday and everything."

"That's why we wanted her to come over," Freya said, "One child sick, one child pregnant and the anniversary of the third child's death. We just want to keep an eye out."

"At least we're in her good books," Matthew said to Arthur with a grin.

"As far as she's concerned you two are saints," Freya said, "Merlin and I still get told off like little kids."

There were a few hours until Hunith was due to arrive where they didn't do much except sit in the kitchen, cook and chat. When Hunith did get there, she asked everyone in great detail how they were.

"You're still on crutches, Merlin!" she said after spotting them in the corner of the room.

"Mum, I had three major surgeries within the space of a couple of months and was in a coma. You can't expect me to be jumping around no problem at all. I don't want to rush things."

"No, of course not. But you are getting there?"

Merlin nodded, "I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry I didn't come over to see you," she gushed, "I know I should have, I don't know why I didn't!"

"Don't worry," Merlin said, "We managed just fine, Arthur looked after me."

"But I'm your mother! I should have at least come to see you."

"You called me every day, mum. And I know if I asked, you would have been there."

"In a heartbeat," she said, grabbing his head, pulling it down to her height and kissing his temple, "And Arthur, are you ok?"

She quizzed everyone at least three times before apparently being satisfied that no one had any issues for her to worry about and settled down happily. Until they sat down to eat in the dining room and she was full of comments like, "Freya, you need more vegetables. The babies need plenty of vitamins," or, "Merlin, that's not nearly enough, you need more to get your strength back," and even, "You should be drinking more water to keep your fluids up."

They always replied patiently and calmly, knowing what a stressful and upsetting time it was for her.

"Please," Merlin said to Freya once their mother had left, "Please tell me she hasn't been like that all this time."

"She hasn't," Freya said genuinely, "It's just because of Will. This time of year affects all of us."

"You're telling me," Merlin snorted.

"Nightmares again?"

"Can't you tell?" Merlin snorted, "Arthur regularly tells me how bad I look because of them."

"Well baring in mind what you looked like last time I saw you, your appearance now is a great improvement."

"Thanks. I think."

Arthur walked into the room, yawning loudly, "I don't know about you, Merls, but I've had a very long day and I want to go to bed."

"We don't have a stairlift," Freya said apologetically.

"It's fine, I can manage," Merlin said easily, grabbing his crutches and forcing himself to his feet. He and Arthur went upstairs, got ready for bed and crawled under the sheets.

"Your poor mum," Arthur said sadly, "It must be so hard for her."

Merlin nodded, "I feel bad living so far away. I hate to think how much she'd suffer if Freya weren't here."

"But Freya is here. And soon she'll have two grandchildren to love as well. She knows she has us if she needs."

"Yeah. You should get some sleep," Merlin said, "You drove all day today."

"Aren't you tired?"

"I'm past being tired," Merlin said, "All through the day I feel like I could fall asleep anywhere but as soon as I go to bed at night, I'm wide awake."

"So what, you've become nocturnal?"

"Seems like it. How does it feel to be married to a bat?"

Arthur laughed, "I hate that this happens to you."

Merlin shrugged, "It's for two weeks a year. That's still fifty weeks of normality for us."

"I know. But it's still two weeks of pain I wish you didn't have."

"We all wish that," Merlin said.

"We have to find a solution for this," Arthur said, running his fingers down Merlin's cheek, "We're only a few days through and it's awful already."

"I'm not taking any medicine."

Arthur shook his head, "I know. But there has to be something. Go for a walk, have a nice bath, stargaze, a hot drink. Something or some routine that helps."

"We'll figure it out," Merlin said, "You know it'll get worse in the next couple of days?"

"Which is why I want to find something that helps."

"Alright. We'll try something tomorrow."

They had a quiet day staying inside. Hunith came for lunch but it was an informal affair. They just wanted to make sure that they saw her every day and were planning for the day after which would be day they all hated so much when they'd be going to the waterfall in memory of Will. Merlin barely left the bed. He felt awful, not spending time with his family but his dreams through the night had been so bad that his entire body was shaking and he didn't have the energy to move.

"I'm fine," he'd insisted to Hunith unevenly, "It's just that I'll need as much energy as I can muster up tomorrow so I need rest today."

"We're going in the morning," Hunith said as if he didn't know this, "So you'll have plenty of time to rest before dinner."

Merlin nodded, "I promise I'm alright, mum. Just tired."

"Oh, Hunith, there you are," Arthur came into the room, "Freya's wondering where you are, she wants your opinion on decorations for the babies' room."

Hunith stood up, pressed a hand quickly to Merlin's forehead and then left with a lingering look at her son.

Merlin rolled his eyes and looked at Arthur gratefully as he got onto the bed.

"You should tell her. She'll worry you're sick."

"I can't," Merlin said, "In many ways she went through more than me that day. I can't imagine what that flight must have been like for her. Knowing there was every possibility that she'd arrive and be told both her sons were dead. Mourning Will, not knowing whether to mourn me, being strong for Freya, the uncertainty of what she'd be told when she arrived. She still remembers all of that. I don't remember any of it and if she knows that every year since I've been tortured with horrible memories that might not even be real when she has to cope with all of that- I can't."

Arthur started massaging Merlin's scalp through his hair. Merlin melted into the touch and lay back.

"What do you want to try tonight, then?" Arthur asked.

"A hot drink and a bath," Merlin said decisively, "And then will you do the waterfall thing?"

"The waterfall thing?" Arthur struggled to figure out what Merlin was talking about.

"Like when we were in the hotel on the way to Scotland and I couldn't sleep. But you told me to imagine the waterfall."

"Yeah," Arthur nodded, "I remember now. Of course I'll do that."

"Thank you."