Mordred was taken to the police station for questioning along with his friends, Merlin was a vulnerable person and Mordred was left with no doubt that he had been irresponsible in taking Merlin from his home without adequate protection, and permission of either Arthur or Morgana who had been made his legal guardians. In mitigation it was clear Merlin had walked out under his own steam. The fact that Merlin had then received injuries and had his privacy invaded had made matters worse. Mordred was released but told he may well be recalled later. His father wasn't at all pleased with him and promptly cut of his allowance and told him to apologise to Arthur and attempt to make sure he could continue to see Merlin.

Once Merlin was settled in at the King Edward 7th Hospital Arthur went back to Buckingham Palace to try to limit the amount of press coverage of the personal photos taken of the incident. He was distressed that so many people and been as low as to photo his brother during the accident, and then post them online. The television programmes had agreed not to show close ups of the incident, but abroad there was not such restrictions, many of the newspapers had agreed not to print photos although some decided to go ahead regardless. It was during these negotiations that the Palace press office found out that leaks had been coming from a close source for some time. It didn't take long to work out who was responsible and by that evening Arthur had been told and was livid. Morgana arrived back for a short period and tried to calm Arthur down when they had a call from the hospital.

About an hour after the King and Princess had left Merlin woke up, Gwaine was sitting by his side. Gwaine leaned forward "You alright Merlin" he asked

Merlin lifted his good arm and out his hand to his head "Hhhtss baa"

Gwaine had a job to understand "What hurts Merlin?"

"eedds evrywrr"

Gwaine pressed the call bell and a nurse came in and after asking some questions and shining a torch in Merlin's eyes she called a doctor, who came immediately. As soon as the doctors had looked at Merlin they immediately ordered a CT scan and called the King.

Arthur took the phone call and was told that Merlin had woken with slurred speech and a headache and was being taken for a CT Scan, The siblings immediately headed back to the hospital. By the time they got there the doctors had confirmed Merlin had a sub dura haematoma. He was being taken to theatre as an emergency for evacuation.

As they sat there waiting news one of the hospital staff come in to say Merlin had a visitor and could he come up. But at the moment he was waiting in the waiting room "Who is it?" Arthur asked thinking it might be Gaius, who had been due back that weekend.

"The right Honourable Mordred Sarrum" came the reply. Arthur was up like a shot and down the stairs. Morgana and the protection officers hot on his heels.

Arthur barged into the room, as he entered Mordred turned round from where he had been looking out of the window, seeing the man who he considered responsible for his brothers injuries Arthur saw red and lost it. Mordred started to speak "How is Merlin? I'm so sorr.." he didn't get any further before Arthurs fist hit him and he fell to the floor. Percy was there and stood between Arthur and Mordred.

"Sir, I don't think that's a good idea" he said hoping to prevent the King getting himself involved in a major incident. Arthur looked down at Mordred, he took several deep breaths then turned and left the room, disgusted with himself for losing his rag.

Morgana walked up to Mordred and looked down at him. "You little creep you deserved that and more. You ever come anywhere near my family again I will ruin you, and don't think I won't. Poor Merlin is having brain surgery because of you and your stupidity. Was your pet reporter going to be there and let you earn yourself more money!" she looked at Mordred's shocked face "Oh don't tell me you thought that would stay secret." She glared at him "No one will back you up if you say Arthur hit you so don't think about it. You really are the lowest of the low" she turned and left looking at Lance as she did so "Make sure he leaves and doesn't come back."

Lance looked at Mordred as he pulled himself up rubbing his reddened jaw. Mordred straightened his clothes. "You're a policeman aren't you going to do anything?" he demanded.

Lance looked at the young man. "No, only make sure you leave and they know not to let you back in. Just be thankful I'm not Gwaine, I'm sure he wouldn't be so lenient. Take some advice, after what you have done no one will care what the King has just done. It will only look bad on you, go away and cool down and you will see that."

Then Lance escorted Mordred to the door and told the police there that Mordred was not to be given access.

Mordred left giving the reporters a "No Comment" as he did. He was fuming, there was no way they would get away with treating him like that, he had wasted so much time with their stupid brother and he had apologised what n=more did they want. Well he would get his own back, just see if he didn't.

Morgana went to find Arthur who was sitting in Merlin's empty room his head in his hands, he looked up as she came in "That will look good in the papers" he said ruefully. "King in punch up at Hospital as brother in surgery"

"If he says anything he won't have witnesses" Morgana told him

"Well I won't lie, I just wished I'd hit him harder" Arthur said "How dare he come here after what he did"

"He's a creep, we won't see him again" Morgana told him "and if we do I'll get him with my stilettos or set Gwaine on him. I'm sure he knows more than one way of inflicting pain"

She sat down by her brother and they hugged each other.

It was an hour before they were allowed to see Merlin once more, he had been moved, as a precaution, to Intensive Care for overnight. He was still asleep and his head was bandaged. They sat with him until the Consultant neuro surgeon came to see them. "Your Majesty, your Royal Highness, the surgery went well, The haematoma has been drained and I hope he will make a full recovery, but we won't know of course until he recovers from surgery. It was unfortunate, but we spotted it early, there was no sign on the earlier scan, I believe it was a very small bleed and until enough blood accumulated it wasn't causing a problem. As soon as he recovers well we will move him back to his room, probably late tomorrow."

Arthur took a deep breath "Thank you, whatever it takes. This won't make his seizures worse will it?"

"Hopefully not, but again we won't know until he is recovering. Even as a young child your brother was a fighter I'm sure he will do well. May I suggest you both go home and get some sleep? There is nothing you can do here"

"Will you make a press statement?" Arthur asked "People need to know"

"Of course I will run it past your press office" The consultant looked at Arthur and Morgana, he had clearly heard what had happened earlier "Also be reassured we will let no one in without your express approval. If you leave a list with the nurses, I suggest you keep it small at the moment. I'm afraid the dog can't go into Intensive Care but she can return tomorrow"

"Thank you doctor we will just go and say goodbye" they went in and both kissed their brother before heading out. As they left the camera's flashed and questions were thrown at them. Arthur looked up and said "There will be a press release later" and got in the car. Aithusa seemed reluctant to leave knowing her master was being left behind.