Title: The Thief

A/N: I'm sorry about the late update, guys. But I promise I'll do better next time. Hope you like this one. It's a little short.

-McDiggin'It

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Chapter Six:

...

The smell of cigarettes and cheap booze wafts up Morgause's nose as she enters the small pub down the street from her and Morgana's shared apartment. Anger fills her yet again as she's reminded of Morgana's most recent fuck up. Of course, Morgana had fucked up before, but never like this. Before, she'd nearly blow their cover when she'd refuse to let their target touch her anywhere below the waist. Whereas in this case, she's decided to run off to Italy and play house with the target for two bloody weeks!

She grumbles to herself upon seeing the man she's there to meet.

"Morgause." He goes to stand up, but she waves him back down as she takes her seat across from him.

"Have you got the stuff we talked about on the phone?"

"Ah, right to business."

"The stuff, Cenred." Morgause growls.

Cenred gives her a look of mock disappointment. "Oh come on, Morgause. We're friends, right?"

Morgause rolls her eyes at the man. "Cenred, we stopped being friends the moment you ratted on us to the cops, and we had to move to America for 2 years just to lay low."

Cenred huffs, "What would you have me do?" he asks in exasperation. "The cops found my hideout, tossed my place, and threatened me with a sentence of 20 to life… I had to tell them where you lived, in exchange for just 5 years in the slammer and a year on probation. Be thankful I didn't tell them your real names."

"Oh, fuck you Cenred. You would've ratted on us to a serial killer had they dangled a hundred in front of your face."

The man shrugs, "It's business, baby."

Morgause resists the urge to reach out and strangle the man to death. Her jaw clenches and her hands curl into fists. "Call me 'baby' one more time, and I'll end you where you sit… Now do you have the stuff or not?"

Cenred sighs heavily and reaches to his right side, pulling up a small duffle bag, dropping it on the table between them.

The blonde immediately unzips it, looking inside and checking it's contents.

"It's all there. Passports, all the documents you'd need to pull off your new identities, disposable phones, and the 9 millimeters you requested."

Morgause nods in satisfaction. "At least your'e good for something."

"And my money?"

Morgause glares at him. "I'll be dropping it off tonight at Marty's. Pick it up from there."

"And if you don't show?"

The woman smiles precariously, "Well, then you can go ahead and do what you do best, and rat on us again, Cen." she rises from her seat, shouldering the duffle bag and turning to leave, but Cenred stops her yet again.

"And our agreement?" Cenred grins sinisterly.

Morgause's smile falters and she looks over shoulder to glare at the man on the table. "I'll talk to Morgana."

Cenred's grin slides off his face. "You said she'd agree to it."

This time, Morgause laughs as she turns fully and glares menacingly at the man. "Morgana is more likely to walk through fire than to spend a full half hour alone with you. So it'll be a bit tricky trying to talk her into spending a whole night with you." with that, Morgause leaves, wondering how she's going to explain to Morgana that she'd just bargained her away for a night with that traitorous rat when she gets back.

...

Morgana waits for a few minutes before searching the entire room for anything Merlin may have left behind. It's not likely that he'll leave anything of importance behind, but there's no harm in looking.

After nearly an hour of searching, she finally finds a locked briefcase in a secret compartment behind his wardrobe. It took about half an hour for her to figure out how to open the compartment alone. But the briefcase can only be opened with Merlin's fingerprint.

She makes a few calls, first to Gwen, then to Lancelot, who tells her that a biometric briefcase is impossible to open without a fingerprint. The only other way to get into the briefcase, would be to lift one of Merlin's fingerprints from something he's touched, preferably a glass of some sort. She would then have to scan the fingerprint and send it to Lancelot, who will then make her a mold of Merlin's fingerprints.

Morgana groans when she realizes that room service has already cleaned the entire suite spotless and have taken away the glasses that Merlin touched. She would have to wait for his return, and then subtly hide a glass he would touch.

This was proving to be much harder than she thought. Of course, she didn't think it would be easy, but at least when she was with her team, she could always have them send surveillance cameras and gadgets she would need to get the job done. But her team is a thousand miles away and all she brought with her is her tiny purse which held a cellphone, a tube of lipstick, mascara, eyeliner, and a pen. Completely useless! She groans again and as if on cue, her cellphone rings.

Morgause's annoyed tone jumps through at her, letting her know that she has already sent 3 people from their team to assist her and tail Merlin, also mentioning the fact that their mission is blowing their money instead of making them rich. Sighing heavily, Morgana puts the briefcase back in the compartment, careful to leave it exactly how she found it. There's no telling how much attention Merlin pays to detail.

She shuts her phone off, not wanting anymore frustrations and distractions, before getting ready for dinner with Merlin. She dresses herself in an elegant blue designer dress before fixing her hair up into a French twist braid that hangs over her right shoulder. She nervously checks the time every few minutes or so, and wonders if Merlin will be getting ready there or somewhere else.

At exactly 6:30p.m, there's a knock at the door.

Checking her reflection in the mirror one last time, she quickly makes her way over and pulls it open. Instead of pure sexiness in a suit, she finds Lancelot with a frown on his face and a large bag slung over his shoulder. Her eyes widen in terror as she looks around quickly, checking for any people randomly roaming around in the hallways, or worse, Merlin. When she's satisfied with the fact that there is absolutely no one around, she drags Lancelot down the hallway and into a maintenance room.

"What are you doing here?" She hisses at him.

He rolls his eyes, "I thought Morgause already told you we were coming."

"She did." Morgana snaps angrily. "But what are you doing knocking on the door to Merlin's suite? You could blow my cover!"

He huffs, "I wouldn't have done so had you not turned your phone off. We tried calling you, but it kept going straight to voicemail."

"So?!" She can't believe he can't see how important this mission is. "That doesn't mean you just come waltzing up to the door and knocking on it like you own the damned place! What if he saw you?"

Lancelot gives her a nonchalant look, "Relax, Morgana. There's no need to get your knickers in a twist, because I already checked to see if he's here before coming."

"How?" Morgana asks skeptically.

He gives her a look as if it were obvious. "I hacked into the Hotel's security and CCTV system, and I checked the logs. He's not even in the building yet."

"But what if someone saw you knocking on the door?"

Lancelot huffs, "I checked, okay?"

This time, she's the one to huff in exasperation. "You couldn't have waited a little while? Until I turn my phone on maybe, and let you know that the coast is clear?"

"Morgause is impatient. She wants results by the end of the week."

"She'll have her stupid results when I get them!"

Lancelot nods and pulls his bag off his shoulder. He takes out a small rectangular box and hands it to her. "You'll need that to lift Merlin's prints... there are a few backing cards, a bottle of latent powder, lifting tape, and and a fiberglass fingerprint brush in there."

Morgana nods wordlessly as she eyes his bag. "Do you have any surveillance cameras in there?"

Lancelot nods and stoops down, pulling out a few, tiny wireless cameras and showing them to Morgana. "Once you get him out of the room, text me and we'll have these planted around the room."

"Tonight…" Morgana tells him. "we're going out for dinner, but you should move quickly."

Lancelot nods and zips up his bag before slinging it over his shoulder. "You should turn your phone on."

"I will. Now, before I go, who else came with you here?" She asks curiously.

"Tony. He's good at following people and not getting caught."

"And?"

"Guinevere."

Morgana's eyes light up that. "Gwen is here?"

Lancelot nods, "She volunteered."

"And Morgause let her?" She asks skeptically. Morgause usually didn't like sending her and Gwen on heists together unless a combination of their particular expertise is required to get a job done.

Lancelot shrugs, "Gwen volunteered. Plus, she thinks she'll be able to pull off a heist alongside this one."

Morgana's dark eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What? From who?"

The man scratches his head and shrugs again, "Someone named Arthur, I believe."

…

Surprisingly enough, Merlin doesn't take her to the restaurant downstairs, instead, asking his driver to take them to a place called, Ristorante La Fontelina.

Morgana texts Lancelot immediately, letting him know that they should move as quickly as possible to get the CCTV setup, and make sure they're unseen.

They're seated on the top floor, overlooking a breathtaking view of the sunset over the ocean. They make small talk, and Merlin orders them a bottle of expensive wine as they discuss what Merlin's meeting entailed. He doesn't go into detail, but Morgana expects his tongue will be a little looser after a few more glasses. As their dinner comes to a close, Merlin excuses himself to the restroom, and Morgana does quick work of pulling out a slab of lifting tape, and pulling one of Merlin's print off of his wineglass before stowing it away in her purse.

After dinner, they get driven back to the hotel, where, instead of going back up to the room, they head towards the surf and take a walk on the beach.

Morgana inhales deeply, a content smile spreading across her face as the cool, gentle breeze caresses her skin. She doesn't think she's ever felt this utterly... satisfied.

"When I was a boy," Merlin begins, pulling her from her thoughts. "I used to pretend I was rich… I wanted to be like those boys who had everything they could ever want."

Morgana gives him a curious look, "You weren't born into this life of luxury?"

Merlin shakes his head as he comes to a stop and turns to face her. "It took a long time for me to get here."

She stares at him, wondering how long that could've taken since he doesn't even look 30. And she wonders, "How old are you?" she pauses and gives him an apologetic look. "That is, if you don't mind me asking."

Merlin chuckles and shakes his head, "I don't… I'm 26… but I sometimes feel like I might be closer to a thousand." he jokes.

Morgana chuckles. "You're pretty young for someone of such importance."

"I'm not that important." he says softly.

She looks up into his blue eyes, seeing so much depth in them. This is a man who has seen more than anyone his age should've seen. He's a man of many secrets. A man who doesn't trust easily. A man who knows what he's doing… and it scares her. He's a powerful man indeed. If she continues trying to snoop around him and gets caught, there's no telling what he'd do to her. Of course, he doesn't look like your average man of danger, but that's what makes him so dangerous. He's that guy you would never suspect until the very end. And she cannot afford to mess up. She raises a hand to his face and traces his sharp cheekbone with her thumb. "I think you're a very important man… how else could you find such success at such a young age?"

He shrugs, as he pulls her closer. "I guess I was just lucky."

And there it is. She can feel him, hear him pull away from her. He doesn't trust her at all, which is understandable. They'd just met a mere day ago, and she has her work cut out for her. She knows there's a lot she doesn't know about him. She knows there's more to his story, his life, his success, than just luck. He leans down and places a soft kiss on her lips, and she kisses him back eagerly, hungrily, willingly… And she knows, that this will be, by far, the most complicated heist she's ever going to try to pull.

…

A/N: Ooh, Gwen is a little evil and Morgause is making a few decisions that Morgana won't be very happy with... Again, sorry for the really late and extremely short chapter update. I'll try to update really soon! I have a new romance/humor fit coming up soon called, "When Hell Breaks Loose", so look out for that if you're a Mergana and Arwen fan! Also, the final chapter of "Chasing Merlin" will be posted afterwards. Thanks for reading!

-McDiggin'It