The moment Gwaine walked into his father's office, his father knew his answer. "Room number two is ready to use and you have Leon, Percy and Elena. Wrap the case up quickly, I want this out of my schedule as fast as possible." Gwaine knew what that meant. The case was clear. Now they just had to be quick and get as much as possible piled against the bastard and get him to sit as many years as possible, before he had a chance to make up a story with his no doubt expensive lawyers. "Roger that, pops." He made a fake salute and his father rolled his eyes. "You are an idiot, but you made the right choice, you will really help in this case."
"Alright, alright, I hope I get paid for listening to your babbling…" Gwaine waited to hear how exactly his father had been planning to cover the fact that he wasn't working here. The judge would not like that…
"Of course. But not for standing in the middle of my office when I'm paying to three other person for sitting in the room two waiting for your lazy ass to show up." Gwaine laughed and waved at his father. He didn't need more details so he just turned to leave smiling to himself not seeing his father smile at his back.
When Gwaine was gone his father bend down to search something from his desk drawer. He soon found a folder he had been looking for and opened it from about the middle. There, just before Percy's contract was Gwaine's. The picture of him was old and he looked silly and not too happy with his life. The date was the same he and Percy had graduated. Gwaine had only stayed for one week while Percy was still here, but his contract was still with his other employs. There was the starting day but not resignation day written in the contract. Gwaine's father smiled at the paper. Gwaine would probably eat him as a breakfast if he found this paper ever, but right now it was very useful. Because in the eyes of the law, at the time of the arrest, Gwaine had been legally a police officer and working under the head of the department.
Gwaine's father closed the folder and put it back to his drawer. He had a lot of work ahead of him and he wouldn't go home before he had gotten the full report from his son and sent it to a prosecutor. He took his phone to call his wife. She wouldn't be happy that he was again working late, but even if he knew she would immediately forgive him if he as much as mentioned Gwaine was involved, he wouldn't do that to his son. He loved his wife dearly but knew her too well not to even hope that she would leave Gwaine alone if she heard that there was a possibility that he would again work with his father. He also knew Gwaine well enough not to think that he would be anything else than highly annoyed if his mother called him in the middle of the case.
Gwaine's father heard his wife's voice answer the phone and he prepared himself to a lecture of the year.
When Gwaine opened the door of room number two, his temporally almost good mood evaporated. A woman, who he guessed was Elena, was spacing and telling something to Leon in high speed and Leon who was currently sitting on one of the desks looked devastated. "…I had no way of telling him no! He was still not officially under arrest and I didn't even know why he had been brought here…"
"What's going on?" Gwaine interrupted even if he wasn't that sure if he wanted to know. Elena stopped her pacing and looked at Gwaine. Then she made a frustrated sound before she directed a friendly smile at him and extended her hand which Gwaine automatically shook while keeping his eyes on Elena's. "I'm Elena, nice meet you Gwaine." She seemed to know who he was very well, but she also didn't seem like she cared of the rumours or stories she had no doubt heard about Gwaine. That was nice.
"Likewise, but right now I would very much like to know what this is all about." He said sounding more stern he felt. Elena looked troubled and she kept running her fingers through her short blond hair. She seemed nervous and she moved far too much to even appear confident, but her handshake had been firm and Gwaine was quite sure that Percy had mentioned her to be an effective and tough policewoman. She was young so she had not probably worked for long, maybe about the same time as Leon.
"It's the phone… Uther Pendragon 'accidentally' dropped it from the fifth floor." Leon shook his head and Gwaine slowly realised what that meant. "The phone… Oh for the love of- don't tell me I was too late with that one too…" Gwaine felt like pacing himself and he desperately hoped that there was something the IT department could do. "No, you weren't. Or were, but I sent a request for Uther's phone and any cameras, computers and tablets the minute Merlin was sitting in the waiting room, but it was already too late."
"And it would have been confiscated the minute Uther was formally put under arrest, which was about ten minutes later, but it had been too late for almost half an hour at that point." Elena pointed out to try to cheer his colleagues up even if only a little bit. Gwaine couldn't be cheered up this way, he was anyway feeling horrible enough because of all that had happened today so he took this set back hard. He was also quite sure that he would still find about ten ways this would affect the case that he was yet unaware of. Oh God he hated this side of this job. He knew what had happened, he had the culprit under arrest, but that still meant nothing if he couldn't prove that in the way some old geezers with high seat and their heads in their arses had decided beforehand.
"What happened?" He had to know even if he really didn't want to. Elena sighed again, but started from the beginning "It was my responsibility to look after Uther Pendragon while he waited to be heard, or in this case to be properly arrested. He was bossy and downright horrendous 'client', just the type that thinks they are above me because apparently their tax money pays my salary. He made a show of losing valuable time waiting here over a slight misunderstanding that had happened at his own home and that his home had been falsely invaded and that he would get his lawyers to eat us all alive and so on so forth." Gwaine listened, that was nothing he had not waited Uther to be, so this didn't interest him much. It was just delaying the inevitable.
"He calmed down when I told him that I would put him in a cell to calm down if he couldn't behave and he asked if he could have a smoke soon afterwards…" Ok, this Gwaine hadn't expected and he saw the disaster he knew had happened before his eyes. "I took him to a balcony, it's normal, everybody does that and he wasn't even under arrest at the time…" Elena was clearly defending herself even if Gwaine knew that there was no point to that. She had really not done anything wrong. Actually if she had denied Uther a right to smoke in a presence of an officer in a balcony with bars because she had found him annoying, she would have abused her position.
"He got a cigarette from Barry and while he was smoking he took his phone out and started to type something, I thought it was a text message, but he might have deleted those photos just in case… Then he dropped it. From the fifth floor balcony." She looked as annoyed at herself as Gwaine was feeling with the situation. "Is there anything IT can do?" He tried asking, but he knew there was no hope from the way Elena looked. "There maybe would have been if the smart ass who was almost killed when the said phone almost dropped to his head, hadn't decided to kick it among the traffic. We just got a call from IT. Half of the phone is most probably stuck in a tire of a bus at the moment."
Gwaine groaned at that. Couldn't anything ever go smoothly? "There is a team collecting evidence right now and I made sure they will get every device that could hold any of the pictures to IT asap, that including CDs and DVDs. He might have copies, they usually do." Leon spoke sounding a lot calmer than Gwaine who just nodded at him for trying. Maybe he was right, usually those kind of perverts liked to watch those kind of pictures on a big screen… He would just have to hope that Uther was stupid or arrogant enough to keep copies.
"There's no point in dwelling now, what else do we got?" Leon stood up when no-one else talked. Gwaine did manage to cheer up on this. Action, that was something he believed in. "A hell of a lot if you ask me." He said and walked to the white board that covered the whole wall. "If this…" Gwaine drew a long timeline on the board and wrote the time they had arrived at Uther's house to the end of the line "is the time we arrived at the scene, what else do we know?"
"From what Arthur told us, Merlin should have left his friends house just before 12 and he should have been back to school about at 12.05…" Leon joined in and wrote the time on the line, near the same end that Gwaine was currently writing details "and the first rape would have occurred here." Leon continued moving to the other end placing lines to mark years as he walked. "There should have been some kind of courting and we might have to ask about that from Merlin too… if we are able to find the photos, there could be some even before Merlin knew about them."
They worked like this for over an hour going through what they could remember and they even added stuff that Gwaine could remember Merlin had told him during the time he had known him. They agreed on colour codes and Gwaine was not sure if time had meant so little to him ever in his life. He would not stop before he got this ready. At some point Elena went to get whatever she could from Freya and when she returned with neatly typed interview Freya had made, she also informed that Freya would be with them in an hour or so.
Percy made his appearance soon after that and he informed them that when Merlin's mother would calm down, Merlin and Arthur could go with her. She was safe and her matters would be taken care of by Finna and Tilly. "She is hysterical and desperate to see her son, we will just wait for her to calm down enough to be able to be there for Merlin." He told them and Gwaine would have smiled at that if he was not so busy thinking of when exactly had Merlin been caught of skipping school.
Percy looked at the very concentrated, but not very directed working in front of his eyes for a half a minute before he decided that it was up to him to take the charge. "Gwaine, you complete the timeline, listen through the interviews with both Merlin and Arthur so you won't miss any details. Leon, you go and get Merlin and Arthur, they are sitting by my desk and get them to visitors room, prep them to meet Hunith and stay there with them. It shouldn't take half an hour. Elena, you continue what you were doing." Gwaine glanced at Percy and moved to do what he was told without a word. Percy was the obvious choice for a leader, he was the most experienced after all and Gwaine was happy of this turn of events, he wasn't a leader and he had been leading one morning too much already.
It took almost another hour before Leon came to tell them that Merlin was about to leave with Arthur and Hunith. By then Gwaine had not even gone through Merlin's interview and he knew that Arthur's would hold much more to write to the timeline. He had been very specific and told a lot of details even if at points his story had not been continuing in right order. This would take the whole night, Gwaine was sure of that.
When Gwaine stepped in the waiting room designed for family members, the first thing he saw was Arthur who looked sad and incredibly tired. Merlin and his mother were hugging just few paces from him and obviously both of them were crying. They both seemed like they were hanging to their dear life here and Gwaine could only think that he was relieved to see that at least Merlin's mother was a human being who loved her son very much.
Merlin was sure that Arthur would fall asleep at any given moment against Percy's desk and he was almost there of getting enough energy to make a comment of how he was supposed to be the one who could sleep anywhere, when Leon came to ask them to come with him to a more comfortable room. That woke Merlin up. That Leon was there could only mean the moment to see his mother was nearing.
The waiting in an almost home like room with a couch and some comfortable armchairs including a corner for children and a small kitchen counter and even a fridge could not have been more tortuous. Or maybe it could have been, Arthur was again wide awake and he kept himself next to Merlin careful not to give anything away, but Merlin knew he was there for him and that he was stressed too. Leon on the other hand talked to them calmly and soon Merlin felt that he liked his tone and his facial expressions were calm and cheerful. He kept answering to every question Merlin could come up with and that calmed Merlin for about few seconds at a time. He wasn't sure if he wanted this over with or if he wanted to tell that he wasn't ready after all and that he would not meet his mother.
After what felt like forever, Merlin heard Finna's calming voice. "…He's right here love, just stay calm…" Merlin was sure that his heart would stop in a minute, he felt his whole body go numb and his pulse was humming in his ears. Arthur stood up and walked to the door, no doubt wanting to shield Merlin with his presence and seeing Hunith first. Merlin could see Arthur eyes move as no doubt Finna and Hunith approached the room. There was a brief stop with the steps and Merlin saw Arthur nod and then move a bit aside so Hunith could enter the room.
When Merlin saw his mother, there was no doubt that she was in pain. She looked smaller, older and like she was barely walking. There was a moment of silence before Hunith let out a breath "Oh, Merlin…" and tears started to fall from her eyes. "Mom…" was all Merlin could say before he too started to cry. He had done that so much today that his eyes hurt and he tried to wipe the tears away when he suddenly felt his mother's arms wrap around him.
"Mom!" This time it came out much more desperate and Merlin clung to his mother's shirt and buried his head on her shoulder. She didn't feel at all like she had looked like. She felt strong and safe and suddenly Merlin was again that three years old boy who had cried at night that he wanted dad to come home. "Merlin, my Merlin… my love my dear, dear child…" Hunith kept whispering to his ear and Merlin just cried harder not caring anymore if it hurt or not.
Only when his mother's tone changed did Merlin snap back to the present "How did I not see? I'm so sorry, so sorry…" Merlin could just blink few times against his mother's chest. How come she hadn't seen? What about himself? His mother was not angry with him, she didn't blame him for ruining her marriage nor for lying. He wanted to tell that he was sorry too, but he felt the presence around him and he became very much focused on the fact that there were other people in here, silently watching him.
Merlin tried to move from his mother's arms, but Hunith held on firmly and Merlin fell back to the safe feeling that his mother was stronger than he was, stronger than Uther was and she was there for him. Even after this, like she had always been. "I- I'm sorry too… I didn't think- I-" His voice was hoarse and he had no idea of what he wanted to say, but Hunith started to rock him back and forth whispering a soft "shhh… It's alright, everything will be alright, I love you and you have nothing to be sorry about, nothing you hear me..." Her tone was soft and Merlin let himself believe that she was right. That he was just a child and that his mother knew better than him. After a while he noticed that he wasn't crying anymore.
Arthur could just stare. He saw how Merlin clung to his mother and he could see how desperate they both were. He was so relieved that he almost felt like crying himself. He also wished that he could join the hug or that he had someone here who would hug him like that too. He briefly thought about how Morgana had hugged him when he had been little and seeing Merlin in his mother's arms reminded him of that even if Merlin was not a little child anymore. But there was a difference. Morgana too, even if five years older, had also been a child and while Arthur could see Hunith grumbling from the edges more than once, he also saw how she collected herself quickly every time. For her son, because she was a mother and she was going to be there for Merlin even if she would have to collect bits and pieces of herself alone later.
When Arthur saw Gwaine from the corner of his eye, he looked determined and concentrated and focused. All that Arthur wasn't right now and he suddenly felt like a child himself. For all the time he could remember, Arthur had always taken care of himself. Not in the sense of house work or money wise, but handling himself. He had for as long as he could remember taken care of his own schedules, taken responsibility of his own school work and football. He had gone back to an empty house everyday when he was supposed to and done his homework knowing that there would be no point of even telling about it to his father before he had made results. And if the results weren't good, it had been Arthur's fault. Depending on an adult had not been an option in his home and even if he had survived it, he now understood that it had been the reason why he had tried to take care of everything by himself. He could see now how wrong he had been exactly.
He needed these people as much as Merlin did. He couldn't survive this alone and compared to them, he just had no tools, experience or strength to be the only one to take care of Merlin. He was so very relieved that he didn't have to, for this was the one thing that he couldn't fail. So, his pride aside, Arthur would take any help that was offered to him.
It was Gwaine's Hand on his shoulder that caused Arthur to finally look away from Merlin who was still wrapped in his mother's arms while Hunith kept murmuring something or the other to his ear. He still looked desperate, but he was relaxed and Arthur could not wish for more at the moment. "I really think it would be time for you to get some rest, are you alright Arthur?" Gwaine said in a quiet voice, but Hunith seemed to hear him nonetheless.
"Arthur, my dear, please come here." She said in a kind voice looking ashamed at herself for not addressing him before. Arthur was taken aback by this. He had not had energy to even wonder if Hunith would blame him of what had happened, but now that she clearly wasn't, Arthur felt weak on his knees. For the first time he really felt that Hunith was someone like a parent to him too. That she really would take care of him and he felt stupid that for all this time he had not once asked from her what he had wanted from his father all his childhood. He was very close of just joining them and letting himself be cuddled, but he still felt Gwaine's hand on his shoulder and he just couldn't give up the control he had built for years.
"I'm fine, but I think Merlin would need to sleep. Gwaine suggested a hotel…" He said feeling that Merlin was so much braver than him for being able to show his feelings like this even after all that had happened. Hunith nodded at him, but Arthur could tell that she didn't believe that he was fine. They would talk about this when they were at the hotel, Arthur could tell, but he felt better. He knew that Hunith cared and he started to feel that in this situation, someone should. He too, was worth it.
"That sounds a great plan, Merlin, love, how are you feeling? Should we go?" Hunith asked, but Merlin had no opinion at this point. For all he cared if his mother and Arthur were there, he could go anywhere. Even Uther's house would be fine as long as Uther wasn't there, so he just shrugged and Hunith took it from there. Gwaine's strongly suggested that they went to a hotel and he even recommended one not too far away, just ten minutes walk from here, he said, but he still offered to drive them. Hunith agreed to the hotel but she declined the ride, she felt that it would be a bit much to get a drive and for what little she felt that she could still trust she knew about her son, one thing was that he didn't want attention like that at the moment. It would be better if they could have the privacy.
Before they went, Finna made sure that Hunith had all her contact info and every information for any emergency and Gwaine refused to take his phone back from Merlin. Finna also told them that she would take care of everything over here and that she would inform them when they could come by to hear some more of how the procedure was going and of Merlin's he health check results. She advised Hunith to take some time off from work and Hunith told them that she would definitely do that. It was all a buzz in Merlin's ears and he couldn't really concentrate on any of that right now and he was glad that he didn't have to, that he was given time to rest before he had to make any sense of what would happen from now on. His mother kept holding his hand the whole time and that kept Merlin calm.
The walk to the hotel was less than ten minutes and Merlin found he actually felt better with some fresh air. Arthur on the other hand looked so tired that Merlin felt a strong need to take a hold of his hand too just to make sure he wouldn't kneel over, but before he could, Hunith was there and she took Arthur's hand with an encouraging small smile. For a moment there Arthur looked like he would protest, but after glancing at Merlin, he just hung his head a little and let Hunith guide them. Seeing Arthur like this made him wonder if Arthur would ever say out loud that he needed help from time to time.
The hotel was nice. It was definitely not from the cheapest side, but Hunith felt no pain in using the credit card that was connected to Uther's bank account. She even decided on the most expensive option available. The room they were able to get was in the ninth floor. It had a living room area and two bedrooms and even a balcony. Merlin didn't want to think how much it costed to spend a night here feeling they were here because of him. He really would have been alright with anything.
Hunith didn't take much time to order them some food from the room service and arrange Merlin to be wrapped in the most soft blankets he had ever seen in his life to one of the beds. It didn't take long either that all of them were in the said bed hugging each others in a middle of a pile of blankets and pillows and at least one of them cried all the time. Hunith finally broke down and she kept telling how sorry she was while Merlin could just shake his head and tell her how much he had feared for her to find out and how it was his fault he had not said anything. "I should have known better, mother… I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to- to- ruin everything, I-" But Hunith was having none of it "Merlin, love, from now on, I don't want to hear you ever say that you ruined anything at all. You do not need to apologise for anything and especially not for me. Never to me."
Merlin could just nod and he felt safe and loved, but he still felt guilty. For what he had allowed to happen, but also of all this attention he was getting. As much as he felt he needed all of it and more, he still didn't feel that he deserved it. "… I lied to you." He said even if that should have been pretty obvious by now. Hunith just shook her head sadly "I should have seen that, some days I even felt that I knew you weren't telling the truth. I should have dug deeper, I should have searched for the answer of why you were doing that. I have failed you…"
While Merlin kind of felt for a second that his mother could have done that, that she could have made Merlin talk to her and she could have done something earlier, he felt so horrible to see his mother feeling so much guilt and so much pain for him. There was no point in dwelling of what his mother could have done. The point was that he had never trusted her enough to tell himself that he was suffering, that he wanted out of that house. Now Merlin could see that she would have done that for him, she would have taken him out of the house, she would have protected him. She thought he was worth protecting. But there was still things his mother didn't know and while he felt safe here in a middle of pile of hugs, he knew he had to tell his mother everything. That was the only way he could truly understand what was happening around him.
The room service provided them a very nice dinner they ate in the bed Hunith trying her best to keep Merlin comfortable and Arthur trying his best not to lean on Merlin even if he really, really wanted to. Maybe it was the food that made them able to start to talk about what would happen from now on and when Hunith started to talk about living opinions, Merlin felt that his chance to tell the final thing he believed his mother didn't know had come. He would do this, this time he would trust his mother.
"I know Arthur that you have been used to live in a bigger house, but I think I could buy a small place with the money I have saved. If you want to live with me at all… I understand that you only have one year before you turn eighteen…" Hunith was worried and Merlin knew why. She had the money Uther had bought their old house what seemed like forever ago and they couldn't possibly afford anything big or fancy from the city. Uther had already paid his and Arthur's tuition fee for their last school years so they could continue on the same school but after that, they could go to their separate ways. Arthur took her hands on his and told her "I want to live with you and Merlin if you will just have me. Don't worry about the space, I'm alright and I even have some money we can use." Hunith smiled at him and new tears rolled from her eyes. But now it was Merlin's turn to speak.
"Mother… I- I want to tell you something…" Hunith looked at her son and saw the seriousness and fear in his eyes. She took his hand and held it while still Arthur's hand in her other hand. "I ask you if-if…" He breathed out slowly to calm himself down. This was important and he had to do it now in order not to lie to his mother, or to himself, anymore "If Arthur could not move in with us as my step brother but… as my boyfriend."
Arthur seemed so surprised that it was a wonder how he didn't fall out of the bed. His heart beat in his ribcage so fast it hurt. He couldn't believe Merlin had said that. It made him so happy, so confident and feeling so loved that he didn't know to which way to turn and at the same time afraid and embarrassed. What if Hunith would be angry and forbid him from seeing Merlin? He would have to find another place to live, maybe he would be forced to move in with Morgana, who hated him, to another city. For the first time in his life, Arthur felt that he might not have nowhere to go.
Hunith looked equally surprised and he looked back and forth between the two of them. Merlin let his gaze drop. He could do nothing but wait at this point. He took it as a good sign that his mother hadn't let go of his hand yet. "You and Arthur… " Hunith finally said. Merlin nodded hoping his mother would understand more than he had ever wanted in his life. "Merlin dear, I knew you were gay and I knew you two were close, but really… When did this happen?" It was Merlin's turn to look surprised and Arthur looked at her like she had just grown another head.
"You knew I was gay?" Merlin heard his own voice say somewhere far away. "Yes, dear, I have known since you were just a child. You just had that kind of air around you and even when we moved here… I thought that you just tried to blend in with- no that doesn't matter… I just hoped you would come to talk to me when you were ready…" Merlin felt relieve bloom in is chest. He regretted not trusting his mother from the start and now it felt obvious to him. Of course he couldn't hide a thing like that from his mother with whom he had spent all of his life. He could once more feel pride in that he had a mother who knew him. After this, he was sure that he would never be afraid of his mother. She was on his side and always would be.
"But Arthur, I never saw it in you… I was sure you just weren't much interested in either way…" Hunith continued and Arthur blushed "I never really was. Not until… Merlin. And I'm not sure if I want to call myself gay…" This was new to Merlin and it interested him greatly. "Take your time dear, there is no rush in labelling yourself." Hunith looked at them both kindly and squeezed their hands in hers. Merlin hugged her again. He was so happy. There was everything he had wanted in this soft hotel bed. All the love he had been needing for two years now. He never wanted to let go of this.
But when he pulled back there was worry in Hunith's eyes "Are you sure that you what to take this road? It will not be an easy one… There will be many who will be against it and always someone to see you as brothers… I will support you in every decision you make but I want to be sure that you are sure…" Merlin was about to tell her that he loved Arthur but Arthur beat him to it "Hunith, I'm in love with Merlin and with all respect, Uther is not my father after what he has done and even if I like you, you are not my mother. Neither is Uther a father to Merlin. We are not brothers in any way and even if there will be idiots everywhere, I'll take care of Merlin. Everything will be alright." He looked at Merlin in the eye and Merlin found himself smiling at him. Hunith looked in between them and the worry melted from her eyes. She smiled at them brightly and linked their hands and held them between hers. "I just want you both to be happy."
They again hugged and when Merlin felt his mother shake with new tears he decided that he wouldn't cry. He really had nothing to cry about. They stayed like that for a while before Hunith took it to herself to calm down and cheer up. "Well, this is a happy occasion, I'm sorry to stain it by crying like a baby. I promise you we will celebrate this as soon as we get to move to our new home. I'll start searching for one as soon as tomorrow." She said and Merlin found himself laughing with relief. He couldn't really comprehend that his mother wasn't just accepting them but proposing to celebrate their relationship. "And I suppose now I'll have to only find one with two bedrooms." She added still smiling. This made Merlin blush and Arthur smile like Christmas had come early.
Hunith then got again a little bit more serious "I have to ask you… how long has this been going on?" Merlin was too embarrassed to answer and Arthur mumbled something about late spring and a kiss that Hunith couldn't understand but she held to the 'late spring' part. She vaguely remembered noticing that Merlin had been getting happier at that time and she feared to think about all the times Merlin had been moody or distant with her. She wouldn't sleep tonight that was for sure.
"So at least three months then, are you taking care of protection?" She knew this subject was tender and highly embarrassing but she had to know. She still had to screen herself for possible STD and she wanted to be sure that Arthur wasn't in any kind of danger. "Mother!" Merlin was bright red now and something seemed to close behind his eyes. He looked again more scared than ashamed and Hunith tried to think of anything to say to make that look go away.
Arthur saw this and he reassured Hunith that they had done nothing like that knowing saying that would help Merlin relax. 'And probably won't in a long time…' he thought bitter to Uther again. It wasn't like he wanted to jump Merlin now and here but he knew that Uther had probably ruined something that they could have had without him and he took Merlin's reaction the way that he wouldn't want Arthur to touch him anytime soon at all.
Hunith looked relieved and made them promise to be careful and not to rush into things. She didn't say anything about Merlin possibly being traumatised or that she was afraid that if they broke up it would be even harder for them to handle the situation if they had rushed into things they weren't ready for, and she didn't have to. They both already had their own worries and fears.
It was more than two o'clock when Merlin finally let his mother leave the bed so they could change. She told them gently that she would be back soon to tell them goodnight which made Merlin feel a bit stupid for being so clingy, but at the same time he knew if his mother hadn't said it first, he would have probably asked if she was coming back… Maybe this way it was less embarrassing after all.
Merlin took his pants off leaving his boxers and his shirt on. He saw his scar and he hated it. He hoped he could make it disappear and he was very much aware that Arthur had seen it up close just today. Arthur on the other hand didn't seem to be aware of his body at all and he didn't leave the shirt on but stripped down to his boxers. Merlin had to look at the other direction so he wouldn't stare all discomfort of his own body momentarily forgotten. Arthur always looked too handsome.
Merlin slipped to the bed they had been sitting previously and he waited Arthur to go to his own bed, but instead he took his pillow and his blanket and made his way to Merlin's side. Merlin looked at him surprised but Arthur didn't seem to notice. He just put his pillow next to Merlin and laid down next to him.
Merlin sat up and looked at Arthur eyes wide. "What?" Arthur asked him when he finally noticed Merlin's face. "You… will sleep with me?" Merlin asked hesitantly not sure what exactly made him this surprised. Arthur rolled his eyes at him. "I won't if you don't want me to but I would hate to sleep alone… and it's not like we haven't done it before…" That was the closest he could come of asking for help it seemed. Merlin let himself relax again and he made himself comfortable next to Arthur. Arthur was lying on top of Merlin's blanket so it was firmly in between them and Merlin was quite sure Arthur had done that on purpose in order not to make Merlin uncomfortable.
When Hunith came back and found them in the same bed, bickering about how Arthur was making the bed hot and how Merlin was taking all the space lying in the middle, Hunith was reminded of how she and Balinor had been years ago… She smiled and she felt truly happy for them. In a way she had been sure just hours ago she would never be able to. These boys were her candlelight of hope in her world that had been painted black when she had listened of what had happened right under her nose for years now.
She tried not to cry and when Merlin finally noticed her standing there he blushed and dived under his blanket so only his eyes were visible. Hunith arranged their blankets straight and kissed them both on their foreheads. They would be alright and Hunith would trust them. Even if she couldn't trust to those who she had thought to be close to her, she would still always trust her son. She turned off the lights and closed their door partially on her way out. After that she took her own blanket and made her way to the sofa in the main area of the hotel suite. She wrapped herself in it and cried silently thinking of all the things she should have noticed and all the things she should have done differently. She would never fully forgive herself and she knew it.
When she was looking at the sun rising behind the large windows the room had, she decided to stay strong for her boys. She would stand tall and do anything she had to do to be there for them from now on. She had cried enough, now she would fight.
A/N Hi! I don't have a smartphone. I know, I'm behind my time but I just really don't like touch screens... But now I'm paying for that. I uploaded the stupid Java and still the internet doesn't work. I kind of can use my grandmother's computer and internet, but the problem is that the story is in my computer and I don't have a memory stick with me... I even thought that I could write this chapter word by word, but it would have taken forever and I have to keep helping my grandmother too... so I gave up the idea, sorry for the delay.
I'm not comfortable of asking for reviews. I know I tried to, but I know that didn't work out so well (or maybe it did because I got some awesome reviews and reviewers from that). Still, I check as often as I can is there are any new reviews. Not in the sense of seeing if the number has gone up, but in a way that I want to see if those who have reviewed in the past have made a new review. I have valued your comments and I have found myself thinking you all individually. I think if mersan123 has read this chapter for you never fail to comment or if jammysod liked the way I portrated Finna or if Insaneriviewer will still have the energy to comment as much as you have up till now or if bubzchoc will be there, I have grown strangely fond of your short comments... or anyone of you. I remember and I'm highly interested in what you think. Don't feel pressure, I'm just trying to tell you, that your opinion matters to me in a personal level. Thank you, for every single one of your comments, I can not thank you enough for the warmth and the new, interesting thoughts you have given me.
MillaMaxwell12 Yep, Uther is so not going to survive this! That is a part of my happy ending, really. I hope you liked how Hunith reacted,she will give Arthur her love also, they are a smily after all even if not in the way they were supposed to be when Uther married Hunith… I wanted to make all the authorities to be at their best, that's why I wrote them as characters from the tv-series. Just to show that if just one person in the link of events is not doing their best, it could cause the victim to shut down and feel fear or betrayal or like being raped all over again as someone who commented me said… We will get to the reactions of the team later and I hope you will enjoy that part when we'll get there :) It makes me so happy that you were moved, I'm feeling impatient myself right now to see Uther being sentenced…
Insanereviewer This is a conversation. In a very different way than most of the conversations I have in my daily life and I really enjoy of getting to know you more at the same time I'm updating my story. I'll dig the number of rapes from somewhere, I actually found a good slot to add it, so you will see when you see it ;) Actually, this was the only thing I really used the internet while in the restaurant… I can use my grandmothers computer, but this story is saved to my computer and the only way to update from her computer would be to write it again word by word and I seriously don't want to do that… besides I don't use internet that much now that it's summer and there is no university. I'm just enjoying the country side when I'm not annoyed at the lack of being able to know if someone has reviewed or PMed me. Freya was an interesting character that made an lasting impression and I kind of enjoyed making her able to help Merlin when in the tv-show she was the one being helped by Merlin… You can wait for Morgana all you want but I'm still not going to tell you what role she will play :P I'm still happy to hear that I'm keeping you on suspense :D Gwaine and Arthur do get along. They just need some time outside of this Merlin- situation to get to be real friends, but we will see how that plays out :) Oh good that you didn't find all that medical stuff boring, I tried to at least remain on the zone with no medical terms… we will see how much this kind of medical examination can tell the court, wait for it. Arthur was really blaming Finna and Tilly, but mainly for not doing anything, as many do blame the social workers when something doesn't go right, but he was moved when Finna told Merlin that she cared and when Merlin seemed to feel better after that. How did you like the reunion? Well, I'm sure you will tell me even if I don't ask, but still… Your reviews are awesome! I would never find them boring and especially too long. And this particular review was actually quite 'short' by your standards ;) It almost fit my screen ayer all! Seriously, I love your reviews and I hope that I can have them in the future too.
Guest Oh, it's nothing, I promised to update after all and I value promises very high. I'm just sorry for not warning you all beforehand that I was coming here… I just didn't think that the internet connection would give me such trouble. I wonder who you are, maybe one of those who have recently followed this story? Anyway, thank you for that, it's always a warm feeling when someone follows or favourites this story. I always feel that there are real people enjoying my writing and that is just awesome :)
Angel Dove1 You are right, the rape kit has tools that go into some very intimate places and if the nurse or doctor is not considerate towards the patient or doesn't give enough time for them, it really must feel as horrible as the rape itself. In a way it is the same. I wish I could say that every nurse was that patient and watches their patients that carefully, but sometimes that is not the case, unfortunately. In the tv-series Merlin helped Freya to overcome her fears so I kind of wanted to make the opposite here, I'm happy to hear you liked her :) I'm quite sure that Percy won't let Gwaine even i the same room as Uther if possible… even he has no complete control over Gwaine and he knows when he don't want to test the limits of Gwaine's rational thinking. You were right with your prediction, there was tears :D You know, most of the fluff scenes with Merlin and Arthur I have started to write because I had one line in mind I wanted there or one setting. The whole reason they went to that restaurant, was that Merlin could tell Arthur why he eat meat again… The rest kind of just created itself while I wrote it… So, great that you liked it :D That's so sweet that you told me not to worry about updating, I really appreciate it :) But to be fair, I actually stress a lot more about the lack of internet than about updating… I guess I'm too used to having internet all the time… Maybe this does some good to me :P
Caelanora How did you like Uther's 'accident'? I can tell you he did delete all the pictures before that just to be sure too… I'm am truly flattered that you compared my story to Harry Potter, that really is too much, but thanks anyway :) I would be honoured if you would translate my diction to french, I trust that you would mention it clearly that the original work is mine, like you said ;) I also understand it very well that you have university to take care of first, I'm an university student myself so… But let me know when you are ready to publish, I will read it even if I don't know much french :) Thank you so much for asking first and double thank you for the honour. Maybe this way this story will reach some more readers :) Thank you!
mersan123 Thank you! I tried my best and I learned a whole lot new things on the way, but some info is just really hard to get… for some reason police don't publish their interviewing methods online… Now that Hunith is aware of the situation, I can safely assure you that Uther will never get his hands on Merlin again. Even if Hunith is married to him, there is no way for Uther to force her to let Merlin stay with him. Also Merlin has no trouble of shouting out loud now that he doesn't want to see Uther… How did you like what happened with that phone? :D I had some good time thinking of what Uther could do to get rid of those photos (or try). I'm also enjoying this part of the story even if it's a long and not that easy road, Merlin will get the help and love he deserves :)
Skypeoplephoenix732 So glad that you liked Freya :) i really tried to make the examination be as ideal as possible while writing Freya to be an individual. We really need more nurses like her, but I'm sad to say that many times when a nurse is rushing or doesn't take the patient as individual, they are just too busy because of the lack of resources… That is so wrong and I hate it when money is saved by hiring less nurses… Yeah, I wanted to be kind of specific of the details because I know that even if the help is there, it needs a lot from the people who are helping the victim and even more from the victim. Merlin needs to start to see the world entirely differently to accept the help. He also has to have courage to trust the people who are trying to help him and lets be honest here, no-one is able to say the right thing every time, and while the victim is vulnerable, every misplaced word can hurt. A lot. As you said, it's a process.
Chibi . warlock Merlin was dreading it too… I'm happy that I managed to write it in a way that your fears didn't come true :) I really tried to make it as ideal as possible. Great that you liked the restaurant scene, it's so nice to finally write some development between the pair! How did you like Hunith's reaction? This was mostly written in Merlin's and Arthur's point of view so maybe it wasn't so clear how much she is suffering, but I hope that in the long run I'll be able to show it better even through the boys views.
Guest I wanted to be realistically, so I have added a lot details to the process of helping Merlin. I think it's important to know and I kind of wanted to underline how everything doesn't suddenly turn good when the help has arrived. Merlin in actually a very lucky one to have so many people around him who patiently stay there for him… I was a bit worried if I was being boring, so it means a world to me that you told me that you liked it :) Thank you! About Uther… I'm quite sure that I'm not spoiling anything by saying that it would be kind of a miracle if Uther just admitted that he was guilty of raping a boy…
thejammysod So glad that you liked that moment with Finna! I really wanted to hear your reaction to it and I thought of it when you first told me about how social workers are often underestimated in these kind of stories... Also the moment when Arthurs asked Merlin to be his boyfriend, it was the start of them communicating honestly and openly with eachothers :) There will be many relevations in the future, I hope you will enjoy them all!
Guest Yeah... I'm trying to keep this story as realistci as possible. I hope that I'm not too boring at times :P I hope I was able to write Hunith's reaction well enough... I know many have been waiting a lot from it. Thank you for your review!