The next morning, Arthur put on one of his business suits for the first time in months. He knew he looked good in it, after all it was Armani; not something he could afford now but a relic of the past. He had checked and updated his CV the night before and had copies of all his relevant certificates. Arthur left the flat early after having a good luck hug from his sister. He no longer had his car so instead travelled by tube. As he travelled he thought about how his life had changed and hoped he was due for an upturn in his luck, he was sick of jobs that didn't last or use his skills.

After arriving in plenty of time, he was directed to the CEO's office. Arthur decided to use the stairs as he had time to spare and, knowing his luck recently, the lift would break down making him late. He was nearly to the right floor when someone running down the stairs collided with him. Arthur caught the other man and stopped them both falling. However as he did so he dropped his folder, causing the papers to spill out and fly in all directions.

The man, no make that boy as he couldn't have been more than about eighteen, was slender and had a mop of unruly black hair. He was dressed in trousers and a white shirt but no jacket with his tie loosened and the top button of his shirt undone.

"Sorry mate, shouldn't run but I need to get down to the reception to collect something," the stranger hastily apologised

Arthur was somewhat surprised by the episode and his already frayed nerves sharpened his words more than he intended. "You could have hurt someone, now I suggest you walk or take the lift. And I am not your mate," Arthur added as an afterthought.

The younger man looked at Arthur in surprise, "I said sorry. No need to be such an arse about it."

Arthur's eyebrows shot up, "Does your boss know you talk to visitors like that?"

"I don't usually unless they're rude first!" The slender man had pulled himself away from Arthur and collected the papers, shoving them in Arthur's hands with a hurried "Got to go," before he ran off downwards.

Arthur continue through the building and soon found himself in front of Gwen. He had tidied his papers and started to calm down from the incident on the way which had unsettled him, due he thought to the nerves he knew were building up. He couldn't help but think of Uther, who would have told him Pendragon's didn't have nerves.

"Mr Pendragon to see Mr Emrys," he smiled at Gwen.

"I'll tell him you are here," Gwen went through the doors behind her. Clearly no one got past her to her boss unless she said so.

Coming back out, she smiled, "Just a couple of minutes, a client has just phoned." She looked at Arthur, "You look a bit flushed, nervous? Because you have no need to be."

"No some idiot ran into me on the stairs and nearly knocked us both down them" the blonde told his friend.

"When you come out describe him to me and I'll have a word. Health and safety and all that… Good Luck, not that you need it," Gwen repled just as the buzzer went.

"Come on," Gwen grinned as she opened the door, "Mr Pendragon to see you Sir," with that she was gone, leaving Arthur stood before a large mahogany desk. Arthur couldn't help but briefly think of the last time he had stood before such a desk and how it had changed his life. Holding out his hand he looked at the man in front of him, the contrast between Balinor Emrys and Uther couldn't be starker. The large man was smiling for a start. After a firm handshake Balinor gestured to the chair, "take a seat Mr Pendragon."

The chair was comfortable and in funny way made Arthur even more nervous. He looked at the CEO as the other man spoke, "you come highly recommended by my P.A. I trust her judgement. So please relax, may I call you Arthur?"

"Yes Sir," Arthur said.

"Please I have enough of that from Gwen, I have been trying to get her to call me Balinor for the last three years. Now, call me Mr Emrys or Balinor please." Balinor paused, "I suspect Gwen has filled you in on the vacancy, now I realise you have been a V.P yourself so it might be hard to step down to a P.A, but I assume as you are here you think you can?"

Arthur gave a small grin, "Mr Emrys my present job is as a Barista so I don't see that as a problem at all."

He handed Balinor the file, "here is my CV and certificates I have, including my recent jobs as the only other one I have had was as my father's V.P. To be candid, I'm surprised you are even considering me with all the good candidates out there."

"Normally you would be right but, as I said, I trust Gwen, and I don't think for one moment you deserve to have the problems you have had getting a job to match your skills. I won't beat about the bush Arthur, if I thought you weren't up to it I would never have agreed to see you, but my P.A seems to think you could work well with Merlin. He is a very bright man but less careful than he should be of his own welfare. I won't pretend he will like having a P.A but I'm sure once he has one, he will wonder how he coped before."

Balinor took the CV and read it through picking out the salient points then he looked Arthur in the eye before asking, "why did you hand over your father's secret accounts to the law?"

"I couldn't see all those people hurt, he was wrong, it was the pension money that did it, if it had just been the tax I would have confronted him first, but I need to make sure the people had a chance of getting something. I had that responsibility, I just wish I had acted sooner," Arthur said truthfully, after all it was something he had thought a lot about.

"Why then?" Balinor continued looking thoughtful.

"We had had a conversation that day, father wanted me to try to sleep with Morgause, the tax inspector, to use sex to stop her. He would do anything; it was then that I realised more was going on than I thought. To be honest, it made me sick," Arthur looked down at his hands. "We had always had a difficult relationship but I thought he loved me. But that made me realise I was just a tool to be used." He looked up, "what has this got to do with this interview?"

"I wanted to know what made you tick. To be honest Arthur, I am happy to give you a chance. Your behaviour after the case, giving away your share of the company, says a lot about your character," Balinor responded.

"It wasn't mine. I had no right to it, Morgana, my sister, felt the same way. I had my flat and the ability to work. Those people had given all their working lives to my father's company. What was left was theirs not mine. In all honesty, I think I should have given up the flat but we needed a roof over our heads and it was all I had of my mother's. I also had to think of my sister. She had been living at our father's so lost her home when I sold it."

"You did the right thing. The company assets made up the losses to the pension fund. As for the tax man, it's about time the loopholes were closed. It makes for dishonest practices," Balinor looked up as he spoke, "you deserve this chance so I am giving it to you, if it works out you can ask to be transferred to a management pathway, but let's see how you get on with my son first. The salary you start at is for three months you will get a raise if you are still here then." Balinor held out his hand smiling," Welcome aboard!"

Arthur took the hand and shook it, "How did you know I was going to accept?"

"Because you would be a fool not to! Anyway you don't have the qualifications to be a barista! Now all that remains is to get the paperwork signed. When can you start?" Balinor said confidently.

"Monday, the place I'm working at were kind enough to give me a job and I won't just drop them," Arthur pointed out. He knew, like the CEO said, he would be a fool to turn down the chance especially as he could really do with the money. A rise of over four times as much per hour was, as Balinor said, too good to miss, even without the chance to get back into the type of work he trained for.

"I will leave you with Gwen to sort out. Please try to be patient with Merlin, he can be... prickly sometimes if he thinks he is being pushed but he has a heart of gold, he's like his mother for that," Balinor said. "If you can get him to eat properly and take time off you will have my never ending gratitude."

Arthur spent the next couple of hours going through the paperwork and getting passwords. Gwen also showed him Merlin's office and his own desk. "I was hoping to introduce you but Merlin was called out to a meeting," she explained, gesturing to the empty office.

"Before I go, I start eight thirty Monday so can you tell me what drinks he has and any dietary problems, so I can make sure to try to get the idiot to eat," Arthur said grinning. "As that seems to be the most important part of my new job."

"He is not an idiot Arthur, far from it," Gwen chided. "Just conscientious. But he has any drink as long as it has soya, he is lactose intolerant. As for food he is a vegetarian. Oh, and while I think of it, there is an Epipen in the top draw of your desk. Just in case, as he is anaphylactic to nuts. Do you know how to use them?"

"Yeah, we had a talk at one of the cafes I worked in," Arthur admitted. "Well thank you Gwen, I owe you and when I get my first cheque I will take you and Lance out for a meal. After all, you have fed me and Morgs often enough."

Arthur left the building in high spirits, he would have liked to have met his new boss but Monday would come soon enough. And no matter what the man was like, Arthur knew he would cope, after all he had worked for Uther Pendragon. It wasn't until after he had left, that he remembered he hadn't described the idiot on the stairs to Gwen. Never mind, if it happened again he could always chase it up then.

Morgana was over the moon when she found out her brother had been successful. The coffee shop he worked at weren't surprised he was leaving, they had a high turnover of staff. When he got home after his late shift, Morgana had a drink waiting for him.

"Tonight we celebrate, pity it's so late and I'm working in the morning but we can at least have a drink," she said, handing it to him with a smile.

Arthur hugged his sister, "first pay check I'm taking you, Gwen and Lance out for a meal at a good restaurant. So you can wear some of those glad rags I know you still have hidden away. Hopefully this is the start of a new life for us both."