~CHAPTER 13~

Milestone.

4 days later...

Four days had passed and still no word was heard by the knights or even the Prince himself. It was like they had disappeared. Delilah was constantly nervous, unable to sleep, always thinking about him and her brother and what could possibly happen to them. She couldn't help but worry for them. A small voice in her head kept telling her everything would be fine but it still wasn't enough.

The only solution to her disturbing thoughts was to spend her time actively and so she did. She decided to help Gaius as much as possible now that Merlin was gone and he had no assistance. It was tiring to combine work and chores but at least it kept her calm. That morning she couldn't even get out of bed. She felt exhausted but not physically. Something was missing. After what seemed like ages to her she returned home from the infirmary.

"Now where has that huge smile of yours gone, my sweet child?" Gaius asked smiling. His efforts to cheer her up the past few days were vain.

"It is not always an easy thing. Smiling." she replied, her face still long but at least she let out a small giggle.

"For you it has always been." he took a sit next to her and grabbed her hand that was resting on the table, coming closer to her. She smiled at the thought of her father. He used to do exactly the same thing whenever she needed his comfort. Gaius had been more than just a father to her all these years. The children he never had. She also drew closer, seeking his love and advice. She felt alone although she was surrounded by so many people. He continued, looking into her eyes softly "Do you know why I never had a wife?"

The truth is she didn't. None of them had ever thought of asking because they did wish to open an upsetting conversation. She nodded her head in disagreement and he let out a long sigh. "You see my child, when I was younger, well, much much younger, I had a love myself. A woman who had captured my heart for good. She was all I could think of. The ray of sun which lightened up my heart's darkness. I wanted to live the rest of my life by her side, taking care of her, loving her but I was young and I was a fool...'' he sighed again and continued "I did not know much about life. I thought everything was going to be perfect, that we would live our own fairytale. But my dear, life is no fairytale. At some point, obstacles started coming our way, keeping us away from happiness. At that time I was a training physician, earning even less that I earn now and her father wanted a much better fortune for her so he kept us apart. The truth is it was not his fault though. The blame was on me." Delilah interrupted him.

"But you did nothing wrong. It is not your fault that her father was against you."

He laughed but his laughter seemed to be rather desperate, miserable. "It was my fault. She would have come to me the moment I asked. But I did not, because I was foolish enough to believe that I had no power on my life. That only God could determine what happened so he had. That was my mistake. I believed my life is not my own to make. Do not make the same mistakes I made. Everything will be fine. Do not give up before you even know what could happen." he reassured her.

She smiled widely, a few tears of happiness in her eyes, and embraced him. "Thank you."

"Come on, we've got work to do." he pulled her hand to lift her from her seat. She nodded and they got back to their chores. Everything is going to be alright.

She was helping Gaius treat a patient's wound when suddenly the church bells started ringing uncontrollably. That could only mean one thing. They were back. He was back. Unable to decide whether she should wait for them to come or to run to them, she turned her face to see Gaius' reaction to the news.

"Go on" Gaius told her. Throwing aside the tools she was holding, Delilah ran out of the house and nearly slid on the stairs. She flew down the stairs and easily slipped through the daily bustle of servants in the castle. She stopped at the armory's entrance opposite rest of the knights and half-laughed, half-sobbed at the sight of Leon. His steps echoed on the stone floors of the armory and he stopped mid-step as he caught sight of his favorite face.

He was bloodied and bruised and his left arm was in cast and sling, but he was smiling. The tears she had been holding began streaming down her face and she ran into Leon's open arms. Tiny Delilah seemed to disappear in Leon's arms as she pulled him into a tight embrace. She buried her face in his shirt and cried silently. Leon hugged her back with his good arm and rested his head on top of hers. She turned her head up to face him and smiled a tearful smile. His bloodied lips curled into a faint grin as he tightened his grasp around her and pulled her up off the floor into a kiss.

When they parted, Leon opened his mouth to apologize but Delilah stopped him "Don't be. What matters is that you are safe." she smiled to him while he used his thumb to wipe her tears away softly. Suddenly, she also caught sight of Percival just around the corner, also looking really bad and wounded with Gwaine trying to help him and failing terribly. Gwaine on the other hand did not seem to have any severe injuries, just a few scratches.

"Is there any chance we could get to Gaius?" she heard Percy's voice through the other room. "You may have your god fairy over here but there are some of us who don't have angels to save them." he complained, sounding rather jealous of the picture in front of him.

She smiled to him sympathetically and nodded in agreement while she moved away from Leon and led them all to Gaius' chambers. While waiting for Gaius to tend the two poor knights' wounds, Delilah seemed concerned but happy at the same time. Gwaine was devouring some apples, patiently waiting for his friends.

"What about...?" Delilah asked, looking for Merlin but was cut off by Gwaine's rapid response.

"They are all perfectly well with Arthur right now. Merlin is there too. There is no need to worry, they all came back in one piece. It is only us who got it this time." he laughed in self-mockery.

"What happened?"

"Everything was going just fine. We had found what we wanted and we were about to get back but somehow we lost the way. I have no clue how. This has never happened before. But we did and so the plan changed and we split to find the way back home and then we would meet back where we started to get the group that did not. We were the latter unfortunately. We lost our way completely and ended up in an endless forest. Long story short, we were attacked by wolves, luckily survived with only a few injuries and here we are!"

"Oh lord..." she sighed and giggled. "Thank God your luck has not run out yet!" she laughed, relieved and rested her head on his shoulder.

When Gaius exited the room, they both immediately got up and took a few steps closer impatiently. "They will be fine. All they need is some rest and time to heal. A couple of weeks will be enough I believe." he reassured them.

Delilah immediately took her place in the edge of Leon's bed where he was resting, curling herself into a comfortable position by his side carefully, trying not to hurt him. He wrapped his good hand around her and kept her close, placing a small kiss on her forehead.

By the time the sun disappeared, Delilah was fast asleep by Leon's side, her hand resting in his. She had not gone anywhere all day long. Leon and Percival were trying to rest but failed miserably. Unable to move for a day or two they had no other choice but to stand there and wait.

"You're lucky to have her, you know." Percival suddenly broke the silence in the room.

Leon heard him and giggled. "I know." he whispered and moved closer to her, drifting off to sleep.

To be continued...

Hi guys! I am so sorry I didn't upload! School just started this week and I had so many things to settle. The truth is I had written this chapter a long time ago but I just finished today because I was stuck…XD Anyways, I promise I will make my best of efforts to upload as regularly as possible from now on. Stay tuned for the next chapter! (SPOILERS: Taylor & Percival ahead!) Kisses! ~xoxo~