Uther and Gaius live together, have done for the last twenty years - so the gang just assumed they were together, but it turns out they've just been friends this whole time. Merlin is shocked. Morgana is suspicious. Arthur's got his own problems. And Gwen tries very hard not to be amused at everything.

"You'd think my father wouldn't be late to his own charity gala," Arthur mutters to Gwen, handing her a glass of champagne.

"Well, maybe something happened. They're getting older, you know. Especially Gaius. Did you try calling him?"

"No answer. Wait, here he comes… who's that?" Arthur's brow furrows. He glances across the room at his sister Morgana, whose expression mirrors his own. She is hanging on to a very surprised-looking Merlin.

Arthur grabs Gwen's hand and pulls her toward the entrance and his father, Gaius, and… a woman he's never seen before. Holding his father's hand.

"Dad?" he ventures. Gaius smiles at them and makes his way into the ball.

"Ah, Arthur, there you are. And Morgana, lovely, just the two people I want to see," Uther says, smiling. "Hello Merlin, Gwen, how are you both?"

Merlin and Gwen mutter their hellos, and Uther kisses both Morgana and Gwen on the cheek, declaring them both lovely.

"Dad?" Arthur repeats.

"Yes, I know, you are wondering about my date. This is Lorraine," he says, motioning to her.

"Hello," she says, holding her hand out to them. "I'm excited to meet all of you. Uther has told me so much about you."

Gwen jabs Arthur with her elbow and he shakes the woman's hand. "I… uh… wish I could say the same," he says, glancing pointedly at his father.

Morgana shakes the woman's hand next. "You're American?" she asks. She's recovered more quickly than her brother, but seems less friendly.

"Yes, sorry about that," Lorraine chuckles. "Just moved here for my job. Relocated, at my age, who would think it, right?"

"Well, welcome," Gwen says, deciding to be the friendly one since her idiot fiancé and future sister-in-law don't seem to be stepping up to the plate. "I'm…"

"Gwen, I'm guessing? And you must be Merlin?"

"Guilty on both counts," Merlin answers. "You'll have to forgive them," he says, nodding to Arthur and Morgana. "I think they're in shock."

"Sorry, children, I was… trying to wait for the right time," Uther says, smiling weakly. "Lorraine and I met a couple weeks ago, and…"

"What does Gaius think of all this?" Arthur asks suddenly, interrupting his father. Gaius has been like a second father to him, often there for him when Uther was unable to be there, and now it appears that he's being left in the lurch.

"What? Why, Gaius is very happy for us, why would you even ask such a thing?"

Arthur glances at Morgana.

You say it.

No, YOU say it. YOU brought it up.

Fine.

"Aren't you and Gaius… um, er… together?"

Uther looks at Arthur blankly.

"I think they thought that you and Gaius were a gay couple, dear," Lorraine leans over and whispers loudly to Uther. To her credit, she looks highly amused.

"Well, you live together, you spend all your time together… you certainly bicker like an old married couple…" Arthur tries, defending their apparently-incorrect opinion. Beside him, he hears Gwen stifle a chortle.

Uther snaps out of his stupor. "So do you and Merlin."