That afternoon at his weekly meeting with his father, Merlin expressed his concerns about how he had dealt with his visitor and the comments made about Arthur.
"Valliant Andrew's is a hard man to like," Balinor agreed. "He wanted to put in a bid, so I needed to let him, but I rather think we will get something better. As for Arthur, let him fight his own battles. It will be hard but you can't fight them for him and he wouldn't want you to. He has enough guts to cope."
Merlin took his father's advice and didn't mention the matter to Arthur further. Arthur himself did speak to his sister about it and she agreed with him that he had to try to ride above it and that, with time, his past would hopefully be forgotten.
Over the next couple of weeks, the two men gradually settled into a reasonable working relationship. There was some bickering which, everyone on the floor found mildly amusing, but as far as they could see Merlin was getting breaks and leaving on time. So they thawed towards Arthur, who many had mistrusted at first and found he could be snappy and a bit arrogant as he coped with his changing role. There were a few spectacular arguments when Merlin still didn't stop to eat or when he choose not to delegate. Balinor heard of them and hoped they would settle down, he had a feeling the two young men would be good for each other. Maybe some of Arthur's confidence would rub off on his son, and that Arthur would learn to be more tolerant from Merlin.
One day as he walked through the outer office past Arthur's desk, Merlin was amazed to see Arthur could actually type whilst listening to the Dictaphone and keep up. "Where did you learn that?" he asked.
"One of my many jobs, I took in typing to make extra money, nothing like necessity to make you learn something," Arthur said. "It's also character building, you would be surprised at the jobs I've had."
Merlin was building up a healthy respect for his P.A. On the other hand, Arthur soon realised that Merlin made a very good Vice President despite his youth, and that he really cared for those working under him. It explained the fact that Merlin seemed to have problems with delegation, he genuinely believed that everyone had more work to do than him. On Friday afternoon, during the fourth week, Merlin had an afternoon appointment. Something Arthur knew Merlin preferred to avoid. His boss liked to do his reports and other paperwork in the afternoon if he could. Arthur took in the file for Merlin and handed it to him. "You'll be needing that," he grinned.
Merlin nodded and looked at the file in his hand, he didn't really need it as he knew it off by heart, but at least his next visitor was a friend. Although, he dreaded what he would say about the blonde sat outside his office.
Sitting at his desk outside his boss's door, Arthur looked up as a man entered. It was clear the man wasn't expecting to see someone sat at the desk and looked at the blonde in surprise. Arthur rose to his feet "Hello, Mr Green?"
"I am and who the hell are you?" the man's voice had an underlying Irish lilt to it. He was about Arthur's age and had shoulder length hair and a fashionable short beard. Arthur thought he looked like someone from a hair product advert or a model.
"Mr Emrys' P.A, Arthur Pendragon," Arthur held out his hand, he knew from the file that Mr Green was a regular visitor and did research work for Merlin.
"Well f… me! So his old man finally got his way did he," the man looked at Arthur in a calculating way. "Just you look after him or you'll have me to answer to."
"I intend to Mr Green," Arthur said stiffly, he wanted to call the man out on his attitude but shook his offered hand instead. After all, he was still new and needed to gauge who was who and he was getting used to the protective manner all of his bosses employees seemed to have. "Mr Emrys is waiting for you, I'll show you in."
Merlin stood up as he saw Mr Green enter, Arthur noticed the smile was in full force. "Hi Gwaine, good to see you mate." the two men gave each other a brief hug before Merlin turned round to Arthur, "Arthur could I ask you a favour? Gwaine had driven a long way could you get him a coffee please?"
Arthur looked at Merlin "Of course Sir, no problem." It was the first time Merlin had asked Arthur to make a drink for anyone. As Arthur had a coffee machine in his office it was no problem, he only got ones from the local coffee shop for first thing in the morning and lunchtime, it wouldn't take long.
Merlin looked offended, "Arthur, Gwaine is my best friend, you have no need to call me Sir in front of him!" Merlin looked at Gwaine, "Arthur is my P.A and he started a few of weeks back, just before you went up north. My dad's doing of course. Arthur this is Gwaine, don't call him Mr Green or he will get even bigger headed than he already is!"
"Ouch that hurt!" Gwaine said with a grin. He looked at Arthur, "You'll have trouble with this one… make sure he eats and drinks, a stiff wind will blow him away."
"He is. Why does everyone what to feed me up?!" Merlin blushed, something Arthur noticed Merlin did when teased.
"Because you need it," Arthur said. "Besides, if I didn't bring you food and drink you would forget to stop."
"You have him in one. You know, I have known Merl since he was in nappies and he's always been the same," Gwaine tossed his head as he grinned at Merlin. The two men were clearly very good friends.
Arthur mouth quirked up at the corner, "Nappies?"
"What he means, is that he has known my family since I was a year old! Therefore, he thinks he can say and do anything he likes to embarrass me," Merlin protested. "But he forgets that I've known him just as long and I know all his embarrassing moments as well."
"Not all of them Merl," Gwaine grinned. "Just enough."
Merlin rolled his eyes and looking at Arthur warned. "He will also flirt with anything that moves so watch him like a hawk."
With that, Arthur left to make the coffee as the two mean sat and got down to business. When Arthur took the drinks in, Merlin looked up, "Arthur you might be able to help us. My father bought Pendragon's factory up in Birmingham hoping to keep it going, we needed the extra capacity. But ever since, it hasn't been performing as it should. It's getting to the stage where we might need to rationalise. We did put our own man in at the top, but we can't quite see why we're having a problem. I hate laying people off."
Gwaine looked at Arthur in a calculated manner, his voice going cold and hard "Ah, that Arthur Pendragon. It didn't click before."
"Gwaine that's rude, what happened wasn't Arthur fault" Merlin glared at his friend. Then turned to Arthur, "You'll have to excuse Gwaine, his family lost a great deal of money when your father's firm collapsed"
Arthur cursed under his breath, "I'm sorry, I did what I could, but once the pension fund was sorted it didn't leave much."
Gwaine's stance softened, "Yeah I remember what you did, you could have taken a lot of the money and scarpered but you didn't. It just rankles sometimes when I think about what happened. My father only dealt with people he thought he could trust, but he lost nearly everything," he paused. "But he was left with his house so it could have been worse I suppose."
Looking at his boss and accepting the olive branch offered by Gwaine, Arthur looked at Merlin and said apologetically, "In answer to your question, I'm afraid the production plants were my father's baby; he liked to oversee them. I think he liked to have the excuse to travel up and visit. He could take his various women with him for a weekend away." He grimaced at the memory.
"That's shit, mate," Gwaine sympathised.
"I was used to it," Arthur said. "I'm not looking for sympathy, at the end of the day that was the least of the worries he left me with."
"Sit down Arthur, we could really use your input. Gwaine has been working undercover on the shop floor for a few weeks. He managed to get some information. I went up there just before you started and looked around, I have also pulled copies of all the accounts and files. But I can't find anything solid. Short of replacing the management, I am at a loss at the cause and we really don't want to lay people off."
The three men went through everything in fine detail. Arthur picked up on the fact that Daniel Sarrum was one of the undermanagers, pointing to the name. "That man was a close associate of my fathers, I never trusted him. I see he is still in charge of contracts," he looked at Merlin. "Might pay to look at his department closer."
Merlin looked at Arthur, "Did you have any reason not to trust him?"
"Gut instinct, not much I know but I always considered myself a good judge of character" Arthur admitted "Also thinking back he came to headquarters every few months and only ever dealt with my father directly and not the head of the contracts or the full board."
Looking at his watch Merlin spoke, "Fair enough that's our next job, but not tonight. I am calling a halt to this meeting. I think I need a break and to look at this with fresh eyes on Monday." Turning to Gwaine, "What are you doing this weekend?"
"Seeing Elena," Gwaine smiled to himself.
"Never thought I'd see the day you were tamed," Merlin laughed. "Go on then, let me know if you find anything else. On Monday, go back to the factory, unless we find anything I'll give you another week then I will make a visit myself. Don't see what else I can do."
After Gwaine had left, Merlin turned to Arthur, "I know you have something on tonight as well so make sure you're off on time."
"I'll go when you do," Arthur replied.
"Just go, I am going to read my private emails then I'll be following you… I promise. Look I know you are off out with your sister and Gwen tonight and I don't want Gwen after me," Merlin grinned.
With that Gwen poked her head round the door, "You two finished yet?"
"I've just told him to go, I will be following in ten minutes max, now go!" Merlin grinned at the pair, "And enjoy yourselves."
Gwen smiled at Merlin, "With your parents away what you doing for Sunday lunch? You can come to us if you like."
"No thanks, I intend to get some peace! I can spend the whole weekend in bed with a good book," Merlin told her. "I can't believe Dad's gone all romantic, he has clearly caught it off you and Lance… a weekend in Paris." Looking at Arthur he explained, "It's my parents silver wedding anniversary."
"Well I think it's sweet," Gwen told Merlin. "Come on Arthur, you heard the man. You can escort me to the tube."
Arthur grabbed his jacket and followed Gwen out of the building. "So how's your first month gone?" he was asked.
"Great, much better than I thought, it's good to be back in this sort of environment although strange being the other side so to speak," Arthur admitted. "But I'm gradually finding my feet. You know now I'm a P.A. I realise just what a prat I was. Merlin never gets me running around like I used to make my P.A. do. I don't even know what drycleaners he uses."
"You've had a different life Arthur, it was bound to change you, and for the better I must say. So where are you taking us tonight?" Gwen asked. "Smart? Casual?"