Disclaimer: IDOM

Hello, all! Just a few quick things...

In answer to an anon reviewer-My headcanon towards Merlin physically aging is that he always retains that young twenty-seven year old look we all know from season four/five, but, in addition to that, he has spells that could make him look like he's gradually aging and spells that just blatantly turn him into an old man, like what we saw at the end of the finale. Also, Freya will, actually, be returning. Literally, she just popped into the chapter I just finished. So, yes, she'll be coming in, but not in a way that you might think. :)

Also, a few of you commented on how soft Merlin was in the previous chapter in regards to his breakdown. Honestly, I really think it would have happened like that. Another headcanon of mine is that Arthur's death only drew Merlin and Guinevere closer as brother/sister, and they confided everything in each other and were there for one another. Now that Gwen has her memories back, why wouldn't Merlin take advantage of that friendship when the world is pressing on his shoulders and he needs a shoulder to cry on? He's so stressed and is pressuring himself too much, and he really just needed to let it all go for a little while. :)

Um... OH. So, for this chapter, I did a ton of research on poison hemlock and coniine, so all the herblore stuff is scientifically correct in case you're wondering. :D

Last thing-if you're into Rise of the Guardians (as I know some of you are) go check out CaptainOzone's "Unsaid Goodbye." It's a new fic of hers, but it's already fully written (and all posted, I believe.) Unfortunately, I haven't yet finished it, but the first chapter was fantastic. :D

Now, enough of that. ;) Enjoy:

Chapter 19: Falling Into Place

Arthur saw Merlin step off the lift, the hood of his sweater bouncing behind him as he jogged over to them. He looked as normal as ever, in blue jeans and a hoodie, and Arthur thought back to his conversation with Gwen the night before.

Should he trust him?

Guinevere seemed to think so, and for now, that was enough for Arthur. Guinevere had always had a way of seeing through people, what they were and who they'd be. If she thought that Merlin was trustworthy, then, despite the parental inconsistency, Arthur would give him another chance to prove himself.

"That is one wicked case of bedhead," Arthur quipped.

"Morning, mate," Gwaine greeted. "Just woke up?"

Merlin patted his hair, righting it as he answered, "Yep."

"Well, come on, let's go," Arthur said impatiently. "Hui's been murdered, and I want to know what happened."

"How'd you find out?" the warlock asked.

Arthur glanced back at him, gripping his coffee mug. "The Yard called a little a while ago; they found his body in the cell."

"In the cell?"

"Exactly. He didn't escape; he wasn't moved. He was just there."

Together, the three of them walked briskly to the car sitting along the street. Arthur, of course, jumped into the driver's seat whilst Merlin took shotgun with Gwaine behind him. It took them fifteen minutes to get there and another five to get upstairs.

When they stepped out of the lift, a group of people swarmed the cells: forensic scientists, photographers, sketch artists', and other employees from the Yard.

"Leon!" Arthur called.

A man in a suit turned around, signature locks flashing in the unnatural light as he faced his friend. "Arthur. Wonderful, you're here."

The detective looked past him, towards the scene. "What happened?"

"Duarte was the first on the scene. He came this morning to replace one of the guards you assigned to Hui, only to find all three of them knocked unconscious. The two guards are alight, but Hui was poisoned."

"Poisoned?"

Nodding, Leon continued, "We're waiting for the tests to come back to find out what poison it was. There's no footage of whoever did it, either. All the security cameras wigged out at just the right time."

"Of course they did," Gwaine groaned.

"Colin?" Arthur turned towards his partner, noticing that he stayed silent. When he turned round, however, he saw that his friend was deep in thought, his brow furrows as he stared at the ground. "Merlin?"

He didn't even notice as the name slipped off his tongue, but Merlin did, and his head whipped up, surprised. "Hm?"

"What do you think of all this?"

Uncertainty grew in his eyes. "Um..."

"Come on, Colin," Arthur prompted. "You're a consultant, so consult."

"What if..." he started, biting his lip. "What if it was the woman that Hui was so afraid of? What if she did this?"

Leon cocked his head. "But how could she have known already?"

"The guards at the bar," Gwaine interjected. "They could have called her after we left. One dot connected to the other, and she thought he'd talked."

"So she came to finish the job," Leon ended, nodding.

"Smart thinking, Colin," Arthur praised, smiling lightly.

Merlin grinned, that familiar sparkled that Arthur noticed was gone this morning coming back into his eye. "Thanks."

The detective nodded as he turned back to Leon. "Have they found any hairs? Fibers? Trace evidence?"

"Hair, yes, but we have to wait to get the results back. Long and dark. No fingerprints, and we have to get the fibers tested."

"Fine then. Keep me updated."

The sergeant nodded before he was called back to the scene. Gwaine huffed. "Everytime we get somewhere with this case, it turns us back around."

"I noticed," Arthur grumbled.

"Can I see the body?"

The detective's head whipped up and met Colin's clear, but determined, blue eyes. "What?"

"Can I see—?"

"I heard you, Col, but... Why would you want to?"

Smiling sheepishly, Merlin replied, "I am a doctor, remember? And I know about poisons."

"Kid's gotta point, Arthur," Gwaine encouraged.

"I guess," the detective replied. "Just get some gloves before you touch anything."

Merlin took a pair from the forensic scientists still gathered around the body. Gwaine and Arthur stood behind him as he knelt down towards Hui's bloated body, and Arthur didn't miss the way his friend bit his lower lip, nor the tumultuous emotion in his eye.

Merlin didn't want to be doing this, but he was doing it for him; for the case.

Maybe Arthur really had read Merlin wrong.

Arthur walked to the other side of Hui's body, getting his own gloves and kneeling down as Merlin glanced up at him curiously. The detective offered him a small smile, an apologetic smile, though Merlin didn't know about Arthur's inner musings as of late and wouldn't realize why he was apologizing at all.

"What d'we got?" he asked casually.

A smile spread across the young man's face, and Arthur felt one pulling on his own lips as Merlin's hands fluttered around the man's face.

"There're spots of froth around his mouth, his eye muscles are relaxed, and he's... slightly blue, which means that he didn't get a whole lot of oxygen, so his respiratory system was depressed. Or his blood flow was slowed." He tilted his head, biting the inside of his cheek. "Or both..." Merlin leaned in closer, opening the man's jaw just a fraction. He grimaced as he looked into the man's mouth and quickly backed off once he'd found something. "And we know he ground his teeth."

"Any ideas?"

Merlin didn't glance at him but remained focused on Hui. "Three, actually. Help me with his shirt?"

The detective shot him a dismayed look but followed Merlin's lead as he carefully undid the buttons on the man's shirt. Arthur's fingers were meticulous as he did the same. He didn't need an earful of 'You corrupted the evidence!' later on. "So what are we looking for?"

Undoing the last button, Merlin pushed the shirt off to either sides of the man's body, and Arthur noticed that his jaw was set. He hated this work. "That," he offered, gesturing to the light bruising around the man's rib cage. The consultant closed the man's shirt again, refastening the buttons as Arthur watched him carefully.

He could swear that Merlin was doing everything not to be sick just now.

"So what does that tell us?" Gwaine asked from behind Merlin. "What poison was it?"

Merlin glanced up at him, peeling off his gloves as he stood. "From the symptoms, I would say he was injected with coniine."

"Coniine?" the sergeant echoed.

"Well, it's not... It's not really used anymore. It's the operating chemical in a plant. Very simple and very easy to pass off for something else."

Arthur stood, tossing his gloves into the wastebasket. "What plant?"

"That's just it, though. It's so simple; it could be found anywhere."

"What is it?" he pressed.

"Hemlock. That's it," Merlin shrugged. "You could pick that up in any backyard in England."

"Oh, that's reassuring, thanks, Merlin," Gwaine said. "I'm never eating lettuce again, thanks."

"It's not like lettuce, Gwaine," he replied. "It's easily confused with a wild carrot, though."

"Never eating a carrot, then."

Merlin huffed, grinning before he turned to Arthur. "Have the toxicology lab test for poison Hemlock. I'm sure that's it."

The detective looked at him once more, deep into his eyes. Not because he didn't trust his conclusion—no, he was a doctor after all—but because despite all that: examining the body, looking rather pale doing it, coming to a sound, reasonable conclusion, and still being able to grin afterwards...it amazed him.

Colin definitely wasn't the type of person who liked getting his hands dirty, but he was certainly ready to do it when his friends needed him. It proved to Arthur that he was willing to go the distance for his friends. And that was important.

He nodded at his friend and stepped away to tell one of the forensic scientists exactly that. Arthur came back moments later, just as another pair were wrapping Hui's body in a black canvas bag. The detective looked at Colin just in time to see his eyes flicker away, towards the other end of the room, before the zipper was closed, completely enclosing Hui's body.

"You okay?" he whispered, bumping Merlin's arm while Gwaine was distracted.

His friend glanced at him, eyes flickering towards the black bag before he answered, just as quietly, "Yeah. You just... never get used to it, I suppose."

Arthur hummed in agreement, distantly wondering just how many dead bodies Colin had seen. He hadn't been a coroner at the hospital he'd worked at, so what did he mean by that? Was it something connected to his mysterious past?

One of the forensics wheeled Hui out on a horizontal cart, leaving only the photographers and sketch artists at the scene.

"Bradley!"

Arthur turned around to see his father approaching. He stood stock-straight, as usual, and he had a tense glint in his deep-set eyes. "Yes, Father?"

"Do you have any more leads to follow up on?"

"I'm afraid not. Hui was out only suspect aside from the woman he mentioned."

"And how do we get to her? The press is demanding answers, and the person responsible for the break-ins is dead whilst the murderer roams free!"

"I understand, but I—"

"I need results, Arthur. Find her."

And with that, he stormed off. Arthur sighed, watching him retreat back into his enclosed office.

"Sorry, Arthur," Merlin offered meekly.

The detective turned to him and saw the sympathy in his eyes, the soft, brotherly compassion that, to him, spoke volumes. "It's not your fault, Merlin."

Colin's lips parted again but quickly closed once more, tightening as he bit his tongue. He was restraining himself. The man was usually talkative around him; he was always jesting with him and the others, throwing around his fair share of "Prat" while Arthur tossed in "Idiot." He had been quieter as of late, true, but Merlin shouldn't have to retrain himself like that… as if he was worried about Arthur's reaction.

And neither should he.

Frustration flared up inside of Arthur. He shouldn't have to be workworkwork all the time. If he was working, all he could think about was his latest case because of his father and the demands of his job. If he was off, all he could think about was, again, his latest case. The only thing that had diverted his attention as of late was Morgana's visit and when Guinevere was attacked. It shouldn't take his girlfriend's possible mugging to get him to distance himself from his case.

He needed a break.

He needed to relax.

Now.

A massive, diabolical grin suddenly spread across his face, and Arthur saw confusion overtake his friend's eyes.

"Arthur?" he questioned.

"Call Gwen," he responded. "We're going out."

By now Gwaine had popped back, brow furrowed. "Out?"

"We're going to the park. We're going to grill out, play some football, and relax."

Merlin shot him a look of surprise. "Arthur, are you alright?"

"Perfectly," he smiled broadly.

"What about your father?"

"He can wait a little longer. We can't do anything until the tests come back anyway, and besides, I haven't had a proper day off to spend with friends in a long time, so I'm taking it now. And so are you two."

"We are?"

"Yes."

Gwaine was smiling just as broadly now. "Well, alright then! Let's go!"

"Great," Arthur said. "Get Leon, Perce, and Elyan and meet us in the park in an hour. Jeans or shorts and a t-shirt. No suits accepted. Anything and everything about work is out the window, alright? Pick up something to grill on your way. We'll swing by and pick up Guinevere. Lincoln's Inn Fields!"

"Great!" Gwaine enthused, running off.

Arthur looked towards Merlin, watching as a lopsided grin spread across his face. His eyes sparkled with amusement as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"And proud of it," he shot back.

Merlin's grin broadened. "You realize how much trouble we'll be in later, right?

"Key word: later. Right now, all I want to do is relax and have some fun." He pulled the car keys out of his pocket as his friend genuinely laughed. No work, no fragmented dreams, no stress. "Let's go!"

Okay, so, plot development. I promise, I promise, I promise, if this chapter is lacking anything, I'll make up for it next week. Really. I already wish it was next Tuesday so I can post. Goodness, I can't wait til you guys read that.

Oh, one last thing. I, apparently, have an in-school day-long detention Thursday. Why? Because my dad didn't call me in on Memorial Day when I was absent. (We are literally the only people around who have school that day, because we have a 3-hour long assembally honoring veterans.) And honestly, I'm kind of looking forward to it. I mean, I never get in trouble or anything; I'm not a bad kid or a troublemaker, so I'm obviously nervous and anxious about it, but I guess in an in-school, you basically do whatever you want. I heard you can even be on your phone all day and they won't care. *cough* Or on the computer *cough* So, if my muse is with me, I'm hoping to get a lot of writing and a lot of artwork done Thursday. :D (That's where the excitement comes in.)

Wait... I lied. I did want to mention that the last... 10 chapters titles have all been pulled from song titles/lyrics. I don't know why I feel the need to mention that, though...

Anyway, g'night, all! I have things I must do before bed. :)