The next morning started quietly enough. Selene had to go early to the kitchens to get the meals for the day started. She worked from dawn until dinner. Sometimes she and Percival went the entire day without seeing each other. It wasn't ideal, but it made their time together all the sweeter. Galahad woke up and unburied himself from the pallet of blankets Percival had arranged on the floor near next to the fireplace. He stretched his arms, not sure where he was. He looked around but didn't see Percival anywhere. He was obviously in the knight's quarters because the armor on the rack was missing sleeves. There were also feminine things scattered around the chambers, including a scarf hanging over the chair that was pushed in to the small table in the corner of the room had embroidered flowers on it that Galahad just couldn't see the large knight wearing.

When he stood up he walked over to the window and pushed it open. It was taller than him and somewhat difficult to see over the ledge, so Galahad climbed onto the ledge so he could look out. He smiled at the sight before him. He must have slept through coming into Camelot. It was as loud as Maygard, but not as big from what he could see. He tried to lean over a little more and flinched when he felt a big hand place itself on his back. "Are you trying to scare me to death, Galahad? You'll fall fifty feet and smash on the cobblestone." Percival picked him up off the ledge and put him back on the floor. "Don't do that again."

"But I wanted to see the city."

"I realize that and you will see it later today." Percival led him to the table. "First, you will eat. Then we'll go talk to the king for a bit. I have to give him my report, so I'll have to find someone to take you for an hour." Percival cocked his head. "How would you like to meet Master Gaius?"

Galahad just shrugged. "Alright? Who's Master Gaius?"

"Merlin's foster father and the retired Court Physician. He's the only person I can think of who won't have much else to do at the moment and actually knew your father pretty well."

The two left Percival's quarters for Gaius' chambers after Galahad had gotten ready for the day. Percival had been up and ready in time to get breakfast for them both and arrange a different time to meet the Round Table. Gaius looked up from his reading when Percival knocked on the open door. He may have retired, but he was still in the habit of leaving it open so anyone could find him if they needed him. He actually supplemented his replacement, a younger man named Linus, by still seeing to minor ailments and brewing healing potions for the man. His retirement hadn't really been his own choice, more a matter of recognizing the limits of encroaching age.

"Ah, Percival, is this young Galahad?" Gaius peered over his spectacles at the boy. "Leon mentioned something about him coming to live with us." He smiled at Galahad. "You look very much like your father, you do."

Galahad smiled nervously back. "Thank you."

"Manners, even. Very good." He gestured for Galahad to come over to his chair. "So, how much of Camelot have you seen, boy?"

Galahad shook his head. "Not much, Master Gaius. I was asleep when we arrived and I only saw a little from the window this morning."

"Well, then. We're going to change that." Gaius stood up slowly and reached for his cane with one hand and his shopping basket with the other. "I need some herbs that I can only get at the apothecary. We're going shopping, my boy. You will carry the basket. Mind you don't drop it." He looked up. "Percival, what are you still doing here? I thought you had a meeting with the knights?"

Percival grinned and gave the older man a sketchy bow. Galahad was in good hands. After all, Gaius had survived Merlin.

The meeting with the knights went as expected. The information Bayard had was added to the information they had and a tentative picture of where the bandit troop was holing up was coming into place. It would take a few more scouting missions on both sides to get the full picture and decide on a plan of attack, but the foundation for a defense had been laid. After it was over, Arthur dismissed all but Percival and Leon. He sent a page to retrieve Merlin, Selene, and the queen. When the other three got there, it was evident neither the queen nor Merlin knew what they were being called for. Selene had flour in her hair and a slightly annoyed expression from being pulled away from her tasks.

"Sorry to disrupt your days, but I just want to make sure everything is alright with Galahad," the king said.

Selene frowned, "Why wouldn't it be, your Majesty? Percival told me he explained it to you."

"I wasn't able to get as detailed with Arthur and Leon last night as I was with you, Selene." He chuckled, "Galahad was getting a little heavy and I wanted to put him down."

"Oh, of course." She reached out and took Percival's hand before she turned back to address the king, "I have absolutely no problem getting a new son, especially one I don't have to give birth to. Frankly, Perce might only get Galahad and this babe here. I might be done with carrying children after this."

Gwen laughed. She'd already carried two finally after all the miscarriages she'd suffered before the curse that Morgana had leveled on her was lifted. The men smiled, wisely not saying a word, lest it get back to the other wives and they found themselves sleeping in the armory or somewhere equally inviting. "I just have to ask, who is Galahad?"

Arthur sat up a bit straighter. "He's Lancelot's son."

"What?" That came from Merlin, not the now-silent queen. "Lance would have told us if he had a son."

"He never knew." Percival shrugged, "We never went back to Maygard after we left the last time, so he never found out Rosalie was pregnant."

Gwen smiled a tiny, wobbly smile. "And you found him? Or did she find you? How old is he?"

"He's nine, your Majesty. And I found him. Let's just say he needed a change of scenery, so I'm going to raise him. His mother couldn't."

Gwen took Arthur's hand as she wiped away a small tear. She and Arthur had come to terms finally with the fact that she had loved Lancelot. Arthur may be her true love, but she had dearly loved the noble knight. "Good. He belongs here. I mean, not good that she couldn't raise him, but good that he's found his way home."

Arthur raised her hand and kissed the back of it, smiling at her. "We know. And we're all going to make sure he knows it, too." Arthur hadn't thought he could love anyone as deeply as he did his wife until his son and daughter were born. The thought of having to give up one of his children broke his heart, so he could only imagine what Galahad's mother was thinking and feeling right now, but he was thrilled to have something of his most noble knight back in Camelot.

Merlin was quiet, much quieter than he had expected him to be. "Merlin, are you alright with this?"

The warlock looked away from the table he'd been gazing at, "How hard has it been for him, Percival?" The lanky man knew what it was like to be the town bastard.

Percival shrugged, "His mother was a prostitute and his father wasn't married to her. Fill in as you will. When I found him, he was stuck in the stocks, actually. Another year or so and the bailiff was going to cheerfully send him to work in Bayard's mines." Leon hissed as he drew air between his teeth. "He looked familiar, but I couldn't place how until the merchant I was dealing with said his mother's name. I had some fun at Lance's expense for a bit when he took up with Rosalie, so I actually remembered it.

"Oh, I used a good portion of the coin you gave me for the mission to outfit him. Bribed the bailiff, bought the pony and his travel gear with it." Arthur waved his hand, dismissing the concern. He wasn't worried in the least about the coin it took to get Galahad where his father's friends thought he belonged.

"Will we need to get the mother, uh, Rosalie, out of there?" Gwen asked. "Is she safe?"

Percival held up his hands in question, "As safe as she can be. She's got a daughter now by her husband. He seems to be rough with her, but she had no intention of leaving him, even when he wouldn't allow Galahad room or board." He frowned. "Personally, I don't think she's going to make it very long. She had some bruises but I don't think she'll accept our help. She has it in her mind that he saved her and that's the way it'll stay. Maybe if he puts his hands on the daughter?"

"But Galahad is a bastard and the son of a whore. The daughter is legitimate and the daughter of a whatever he is. It makes a difference, Perce." Merlin was somber as he said that. Hunith had been a wonderful mother and tried her best to be as loving as she could, even while trying to protect Merlin from his magic, but it could have gone so wrong.

The others nodded. Galahad wasn't going to have an easy row to hoe, that was for certain. "He wants to be a knight like his father, Arthur. Granted, the shitty trip home probably put a damper on some of the original enthusiasm he had for it, but he still wants to try."

Arthur and the others chuckled. "What a welcome to the glorious and glamorous life of a working knight, eh?" Leon quipped. "Rain, wind, cold, all of the fun that can be had in the great outdoors."

"Poor thing. Is that why he didn't even stir last night when you put him to bed?"

Percival laughed, "Selene, I handed him to Arthur, who handed him back to me, and then put him in our bed, then on the pallet on the floor and he was out completely. I'm surprised he woke up at all this morning. I thought he was going to sleep all day. Oh, but then he decided to lean out the window! I thought he'd fall out!" Arthur and Merlin laughed as Percival said this.

"And we thought El and Bal were bad?" Arthur groaned. "They're going to have another bad example of behavior to model, aren't they? Gwaine's boys aren't bad enough?"

Gwen snorted. "Who would have thought it would be the child of the second least trouble-making Knight of the Round Table to give Percival his first grey hair."

Merlin just raised an eyebrow a la Gaius, "You do recall that he used forged patents the first time he was here, right?"

"And whose idea was that, Merlin?"

"Well, mine, sire, of course, but he still fell in with the plan."

Percival decided it had been long enough for Gaius and Galahad to have gotten back from their shopping, so he thought he'd catch them in Gaius' chambers. It was time to outfit the boy completely if he was going to be part of their family and take part in training. As he strode along the hallway he heard Merlin calling his name and paused. "You and those stupidly long legs of yours," the warlock complained.

"As if yours are any slouch, Merlin."

They grinned at each other, knowing Merlin wanted to meet Galahad and was going to follow along. "So, what is he like, really?"

"Really? I'm not sure. I told you his mum said he was a tough one, but he's been pretty pleasant and amenable except when he was grouchy from the weather. He nearly talked my ear off the last day we were riding. I'm not sure which is the act, if there is one at all. I guess we'll find out." Percival shrugged as the two men walked down the halls of the citadel, dodging servants who were bustling by with tasks in hand.

Merlin paused once to lift a heavy stack of logs to a better position for the servant carrying it, startling the man before he gave Merlin an exasperated look. Everyone was used to Merlin's magic finally, but now that he could help people out in the open he sometimes forgot to warn them. The man walked on, muttering something about "damned, interfering sorcerers" as Percival and Merlin just grinned at each other and started back on their way.

"So, if Arthur and Gwaine both already have two children, and Mairwen and now Selene are about to pop with our second children, that means poor Leon is going to have to catch up."

Percival snickered, "Don't say that to him. He'll have you on the training field for one of his 'no magic allowed' exercises faster than you can take your next breath."

Merlin nodded. "Yeah, who'd have thought the normally phlegmatic and unbreakable First Knight could have been undone by something so small." Merlin's smile turned unbelievably tender, "But they're like that. Children." He shook his head. "Screaming and crying and pooping and sleeping and eating and you just want to tear your hair out until they look at you with those big eyes of theirs and all you want to do is stop the world for them."

Percival took a deep breath. "Sometimes I don't know if I can do it, Merlin. I know I'm good with children. Hell, I don't deny that I like children. They're fun and cute and cuddly, for the most part. But that's other people's children. I'm just not sure of my own."

"Well, now you'll have two to experiment on." Merlin shrugged. "When Mum finally agreed to move here, I was thrilled because she managed to raise me without killing me. I figured she'd be able to tell me exactly what to do with Bal and since she ended up being hired as the royal nursemaid, she could do the same for Elyan. But she couldn't. Or wouldn't. Still not sure which." Merlin rubbed the back of his head. "Remarkably stubborn, my mother. Not sure if I get it from her or my father."

Percival snorted, "Probably from both."

"Probably. But anyway, I really thought she'd be able to just say, 'Oh, do this when they do this and that when they do that' and parenting would be a breeze. But it's not like that. Sure, when they're hungry you feed them. When they need a new nappie, you change them. When they need a nap, you just pray they'll be willing to go down for one. But dealing with their personalities? They're all so different, and they all need different things."

"I know what you mean. And I'm sure I can handle the normal things, like feeding and nappies and such, but it's the personalities and making sure they're happy that I'm scared of. Yes, I'm big enough to admit I'm scared." Percival and Merlin had stopped outside the doorway that led to Gaius' hall. "It was bad enough when it was just the idea of a baby. Now I've taken on another child and I almost feel as if there is more pressure to do right by Lancelot. Does that make sense?"

"Perfect sense. He was our friend and we owe him everything. He saved us. Now we're, or rather, you, are being given a chance to save his son. I guarantee he wouldn't have lasted long as a mine slavey, not a ten year old boy, especially if he's as pretty as Lancelot was, or has the promise of his looks." Merlin frowned. "I'd love to have a word with that bailiff," he muttered. He looked up at Percival, and smiled. "You'll do fine. I think you'll have to try to remember that he has had experiences you don't know about that have shaped his life so far. If he turns out to be trying too hard, he won't be able to keep it up forever and eventually the real Galahad will show his face. Then you'll figure out how to deal with that. Probably the first time he really makes a mistake and you have to punish him."

"Ugh. Let's hope that day is a long way off. I don't want to punish any kid."

"It'll happen. Look at Gwaine and Deryn."

Percival shuddered, "I'm still trying to figure out how that little copy of Gwaine got free from the nursery long enough to get up to that tower. Your mother was in a state."

"I think you just said the right words. For all that Deryn isn't his by birth, he's just like Gwaine. I can see a young Gwaine pulling that stunt."

"Oh, gods. Please let Galahad be more like Lancelot than we have guessed. More Gwaines would just be punishing us for something horrible we did in former lives."

The two men were laughing by the time they reached Gaius' chambers and knocked on the door. It was opened by Galahad himself. "Percival!" The boy was grinning at something Gaius must have told him. "You need to come in and look at this." He grabbed the big knight by the hand and dragged him in the room, Percival allowing it. He brought him over to a table that had some potions brewing. "This one is going to be a sleep tonic. And this one is going to be something that helps get rid of headaches. Master Gaius let me help him make them."

"Did he now?" Galahad's enthusiasm was catching. "I guess you had fun?"

"Oh, yes. We met the apothecary and he gave me a sweet. Then we went to the market and your stocks aren't even being used right now! There are children sitting on it." Galahad shook his head in disbelief. "That never happened in Maygard."

"Oh, trust me, the stocks here get used. The kids just move when it's necessary and take position around the damned thing and throw rotten vegetables at you when you get put in it." Merlin grimaced.

"Oh, hello." Galahad looked surprised at seeing Merlin there. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't notice you." His enthusiasm had gone and he became subdued around a new adult, wearing clothing that marked him as a nobleman, a stranger, and therefore, a possible threat.

Merlin grinned and knelt down, "No worries, I'm Merlin. Gaius is my foster father."

"And you knew my father." The light was coming back to Galahad's eyes. "And you're a sorcerer."

"I did know your father. He was one of my best friends and a good man. And I am a sorcerer." Merlin's smile never dimmed. "I'm hoping we can become friends, too."

"Do you know how to turn someone into a toad?"

Merlin ignored Percival's groaned, 'Galahad,' and just shook his head. "No, but I wish I did. It would probably be a lot of fun. We could have toad races with all the people that annoyed us, don't you think?"

Galahad grinned, a lifelong friendship being born at that moment, regardless how the boy's personality revealed it in the coming years.

Getting Galahad away from Gaius and Merlin proved difficult, and Percival finally had to resort to putting his foot down. "We have to go and get him things. We're going back to the market and then I'll take you to the armory."

"The armory?" Galahad's interest was piqued and he sat upright from the slouch he had developed as he sat and listened to Merlin and Percival tell stories about his father.

"Yes, the armory. We need to see about getting you a practice sword. We also need to get you to the steward to get you on the serving squire rotation."

"Huh?" Galahad looked confused as they bid Gaius a good day and Percival thanked him for watching over Galahad.

Merlin cheerfully supplied the answer to his confusion after they left Gaius' chambers, "Squires sometimes serve at meals and such. It's supposed to be a way to train manners and a proper attitude towards nobility and royalty. Generally, it's servants who attend meals here in Camelot, but there are occasions where they use the squires. And the Armorer will walk you through a lot of the basics when it comes to weaponry. How to care for it and armor, that sort of thing. There is also an unfortunate knight whose sole purpose in life is to train young squires into knights."

Galahad looked disappointed. "You won't be training me?"

"Not at first. At first you're going to be training with the other young noblemen." Percival put his hand on the boy's shoulder as they walked down the hallway. "It'll be alright, Galahad. You'll do fine."

"But I'm not a nobleman," he whispered to the floor. "I'm nothing."

Merlin frowned as he met Percival's gaze over the head of the boy standing between them. Percival nodded. Here was the boy finally revealing himself to them. "Listen to me, Galahad, you may not have been born on the right side of the blanket, but you are the son of one of the noblest and bravest men any of us in Camelot ever knew. That alone would have most of them give you a chance. Also, you may not have realized it, but by taking you in, you have become my son, and therefore, the son of a nobleman. We were all granted letters of patent, even if we didn't receive land with our knightings."

Galahad looked up at Percival, frowning, "I've met plenty of noblemen and their sons. Most of them weren't worth the air they breathed." He wrapped his arms around himself as he spoke before he straightened them out, his small hands clenched in fists. "I know they won't all look at me that way." Galahad's chin jutted out stubbornly as he glared at the man who would raise him.

"When the boys gives you a hard time, and some of them will, let me know and I will deal with their fathers, who will deal with their sons until you are old enough and skilled enough to do so yourself. It won't be the easiest thing you've ever done. You're going to have some catching up to do since you've never held a sword, but I have faith in you. You can do it if you are determined and you'll prove to those idiots back in Mercia that they were wrong."

Galahad stared up at Percival, scared and unsure of himself. He wanted more than anything to believe this man. To believe that he could actually be a knight. To believe that he could be someone who protected the helpless rather than exploit them. Noblemen back in Maygard weren't inclined to help the poor, for the most part. There were some who had larger hearts than others, but most felt they were too high above the common people to care. Galahad had gotten more kicks from nobles than he had his own stepfather. The bailiff was the third son of a nobleman and was the perfect example of that.

Galahad took a deep breath and forced himself to relax his hands. He was going to have to try this if he wanted a better life. He had known that on the journey here, but now he was actually confronted by the daily routine of it. He was going to have to be brave. He was going to have to be like his father, and be like Percival. It was the scariest thing he'd ever known. Scarier than dealing with the bailiff or his stepfather. But he'd do it.

"Let's go, then."

I'm marking this complete. I may or may not go back and add a chapter later on, but for now, here's how Percival met Galahad and ended up with an instant son (just add water). Galahad will likely get his own full story later on, along with those kids of the main cast I mentioned, but for the moment, this is finished and I'm going back to trying to get ahead on Stocks stories and write a paid publication-quality short story. I hope you all liked it.