Okay guys it will probably take me quite a while to continue writing this story, so I'll just dump the last few existing chapters on you (there is one more after this one).

"What do you think he chose?"

"I don't know… can you hear anything?"

Morgana had hurriedly ushered the two servants out of the room, giving Arthur space to make his choice. Merlin now had his ear pressed up against the wooden door, eavesdropping. Gwen was standing guard behind him.

"Merlin?" Gwen asked when he didn't reply.

The warlock shushed her with a raised hand.

"—the bet, Arthur! We've been through this," Morgana was exclaiming.

"Morgana, I can't—"

"Arthur, just stop! Stop it now. Just do it."

"Mor—"

"Arthur Pendragon."

Merlin whistled softly. He'd never heard Morgana sound so demanding. And Morgana was demanding by nature.

Gwen frowned in confusion, not able to hear much other than muted yelling.

As the serving girl continued to watch, she saw Merlin begin to slide down the door a little.

"Merlin."

The warlock slid a little further, not seeming to hear her.

"Merlin."

He continued to slowly ooze down the wall.

"Merlin." This time, she grabbed him under the armpits and lifted him back into a standing position. He frowned blearily at her.

"Hmm?" was his eloquent question.

"I'm taking you to Gaius, Merlin. No more distractions."

The manservant took a moment to process her words before protesting. "What? No! I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Merlin. You have a concussion and come with me." The normally shy serving girl could be forceful when she wanted to.

"Oh, come on, Gwen…" he tried feebly as she began to drag him away. "Don't you want to know what happens next?"

In truth, Gwen did. She really, really did. It had been weeks since anything interesting had happened, and even then, she'd had to piece together mostly-inaccurate information taken from some rumours spread by gossiping handmaids, and didn't quite know what had happened. This time, she wanted to be the one gossiping with her friends, while other people walked by or stopped to ask ignorant questions. It may have been selfish, but she wanted to be a part of something. Wow, that was sappy.

But she mainly just wanted to see Prince Arthur walking around in a dress.

She gently motioned for Merlin to move over, and they took their places back at the door.

"Okay. But after this, we're going straight to Gaius."

Merlin grinned.

Back in Morgana's chambers, the bickering had stopped. Morgana was looking smug, brushing her hair in front of the mirror. Arthur was glaring at her, silently wishing all her hair would fall off as she brushed it. Then she might maybe feel almost slightly close to just how devastated he felt at that moment.

Dear God, what had he just agreed to do?

On the other side of the door, Gwen was frowning. There were no sounds to be heard in the room. It could have been empty.

"Merlin, are you sure they're in there?"

"Did you see them come out?"

"No, but I mean, you could have just been… hearing things?"

Merlin fixed her with a stare. "Gwen, I am not 'hearing things'."

"No, I don't mean that, it's just, you have a concussion, and, er, you could think that some things are real, when they're not; not that you do, of course, I just mean… you could be hallucinating. I don't—"

"I'm not hallucinating. They were talking, but then you wouldn't let me listen, so we probably missed the important part."

"Well, if you'd take better care of yourself, you wouldn't have been passing out!"

"I wasn't passing out, what makes you say—"

"You were sliding down the door."

"I was trying to get a better spot to listen!"

"It's a wooden door, Merlin. It all sounds the same."

"Not necessarily! See, some parts are thinner, and—"

Just then, the door opened. The two servants fell through the suddenly open doorway, and the man in a dress who had opened it jumped away just in time.

"Merlin," Arthur chided, a warning note in his tone, "were you eavesdropping?"

"Um, no. We were just… um…." He faltered as he saw Gwen's face at the word 'we'.

"You were just what, Merlin?"

"Um, servant stuff. You wouldn't understand." Merlin stood up (a little unsteadily, granted) and brushed himself off. He offered a hand and helped Gwen to her feet.

Arthur raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Oh, servant stuff. No, so you weren't just pinning Guinevere against the door, and—"

"Arthur!" Merlin blushed furiously, though not quite as furiously as Gwen. "No! God, no. Gwen is my friend."

"Then you must have been eavesdropping."

"Fine! We were eavesdropping, you absolute clot po—"

"But we didn't hear anything," Gwen hastily added, raising her hands placatingly between the two men.

The prince frowned. "So… you had your ears against the door, and you didn't hear anything? Wow, Merlin, you're even more incompetent than I thought, if you can't even eavesdrop properly."

"Hey!"

"Well, you see, Sire, I was trying to get him to see Gaius because he was sliding down the door, and—"

"What? Why were you sliding down the door?"

"I was trying to get a better spot to listen!"

"It's a door, Merlin, it's all the—"

"It is not all the same."

"Merlin," Gwen sighed, "not again."

An ignored member of the group then decided to step forwards and through the door, grabbing her step-brother's arm roughly to pull him with her.

"Come on, Arthur. We have to go prepare you."

Arthur paled drastically. "I'm already 'prepared', Morgana!" He made violent and enthusiastic hand motions at his current apparel. "What else could we do?"

There was a glint in her eyes. God, he had horrible suspicions about that glint.

"Well, Arthur," Morgana said, smirking and pulling him further through the door, "we should start with a name."

Thank you for reading!