Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or any of the characters in the series, I'm just borrowing them from their respective owners to play with a little and I promise to give them back when I'm done. No copyright infringement is intended and I don't make any money from writing fanfiction.
Little Leon
A desperate king travels to seek help to have an heir, accompanied by his loyal knight. A scheming sorceress assures that the visit gets a different outcome than anyone involved would have anticipated…
"Sire? I think that we have found Leon" Percival said, indicating the child in Merlin's arms.
"What?" Arthur exclaimed loudly, startling Merlin who jumped and caused the child to wake up. He looked around the room, saw all the knights and then promptly buried his face against Merlin's chest again. Arthur and the other knights just stared. Normally Leon didn't have red-rimmed eyes, a runny nose and he usually didn't snivel softly but there was no mistaking those blue eyes and curly blonde hair. It was him.
Arthur looked from Merlin to Percival and then back again, opening and closing his mouth although no sound made it out.
"What?" he managed at last, repeating himself from earlier. "Is this some sort of joke?"
"No, Sire" Percival answered quietly. "He was hiding in Leon's room, and look at him, you can't miss the resemblance."
"Well, no" Arthur had to admit. "But how could it be? He was fine yesterday until we were heading back home, and then he was feeling dizzy and now he's suddenly a toddler? It doesn't make any sense" he said and gestured helplessly. Everyone's eyes went to Merlin who looked back, rolling his eyes.
"Don't ask me" he said. "I've never heard of anything like this before."
"Sometimes I wonder why I ever did make you Court Warlock, Merlin, as you're clearly useless at this" Arthur growled at Merlin who gave a snort and glared back, and Elyan realized someone better interfere before a fight broke out.
"What happened when you met the old woman, Sire?" he hastened to ask. "Did she do anything suspicious?"
"No, not that I can remember" Arthur answered thoughtfully, trying to remember. "Leon, can you...?" he started but then stopped short as he remembered that Leon in his current state probably wouldn't be much of a help. Soft sobs filled the silence and confirmed his suspicion.
"Hush, hush" Merlin tried to soothe the child and then looked at the king. "Arthur, tell us what happened, from when you came until you left" he said and Arthur began retelling the whole story. When he came to the part where they were asked to take care of the woman's grandson all the knights snorted and Merlin grinned widely.
"What?" Arthur glared at them, displeased with the interruption.
"Well, Sire" Elyan began answering. "You're perhaps not the most..."
"You have a certain reputation for, eh, well..." Percival added and then hesitated. Merlin rolled his eyes and spoke up when he realized that none of the knights would have the guts to do it.
"You're very awkward around children" he said and Arthur snorted.
"I am not!"
"Yes, Sire, with all due respect, but you are" Elyan said carefully. "You don't know what to say to them, how to handle them and I am quite sure that it was Leon who ended up taking care of the boy, yes?" Arthur didn't answer but the way his shoulders stiffened told everyone that this was indeed the case.
"Right then, what happened next?" Merlin asked to get the conversation going again and Arthur snapped out of his thoughts on his deplorable parenting skills. He told them about the herbal remedy, which Merlin immediately started to examine, and the blessing that she'd given both of them, and then about the ride back.
"... and as soon as we came back Gaius looked him over, couldn't find anything and gave him something to sleep on." Arthur crossed his arms over his chest. "And then the next morning he was just gone."
"And the only thing that he said was that he was dizzy?" Merlin asked, eyes still on the small jar that Arthur had given to him, turning it this way and that and opening it to sniff at the contents.
"Yes" Arthur confirmed. "And he was very pale and could barely sit on his horse."
"Right, I'll take this to Gaius and see if he knows something about this" Merlin mumbled and then seemed to remember the kid on his lap. "Well then, what do we do about him?" he said, nodding to indicate Leon. "Of course we'll have to figure out something more permanent tomorrow, but now he needs to sleep."
"Oh" Arthur said, a little surprised. He hadn't thought about that but it was clear that they couldn't just leave little Leon all alone in his chambers."Hm, well, just leave him with Gaius then?"
"No, Gaius is too old to look after a young child" Merlin said firmly, knowing that his old mentor needed his sleep now that his aching bones bothered him more than ever. Arthur looked over at the knights, who shook their heads.
"An old smithy is perhaps not the most suitable for a young child, Sire" Elyan murmured just as Percival offered to take care of him.
"He can stay with me" he said in his deep voice and Merlin looked relieved and started to hand over the child, but as Leon saw Percival he started crying even more and struggled in Merlin's hold. Even if Percival had a heart of gold and probably was the gentlest of the knights, he was built as a giant and surely looked frightening to a small child. Merlin gave up the attempt and the distressed Leon snuggled closer to his chest again.
"Maybe he should just stay with you then?" a slightly disappointed Percival suggested but Merlin shook his head.
"He seems to like you" Gwaine chipped in.
"No, he can't be in my chambers, it's not safe" Merlin said. "What would happen if he poked around my herbs or accidentally set something off?"
"Do you have stuff in there that can go off?" Gwaine asked cautiously and Merlin threw him a warning look.
"Let's just say that my chambers are off limits for children."
"Then how come Gwaine's allowed in there?" Percival asked in his deep voice and everyone started laughing.
"This is not helping" Arthur pointed out frustratedly and wished that his wife wasn't away visiting an old friend. He could have used her help now.
"Why doesn't he stay with you then, Sire?" Elyan suggested.
"Me?" Arthur asked. "Why on earth would...? I mean, you lot have just told me that I'm probably the worst parent material ever."
"Then the practice will do you good" Merlin said his smile full of mischief. "And he's not afraid of you." It was true. While Leon seemed to be intimidated by Percival he didn't seem afraid of the other knights and he'd even smiled a little when Gwaine threw his boot at Percival in revenge for the joke.
"Well, I suppose..." Arthur mumbled. "Give him to me then" he said as he rose and motioned for Merlin to hand over the boy. Once Leon was safely in Arthur's arms and looking at the king with curious, albeit very tired, blue eyes Arthur cleared his throat.
"And now what?" he asked, nodding towards the child. "What do I do?"
Somehow the pair of them managed to get undressed, into their nightclothes (which in Leon's case consisted of one of Arthur's smallest, oldest and softest tunics that nonetheless hung of his small frame like a dress) and under the warm covers of the bed before the troubles began. First the young child was thirsty, and then he needed to go to the privy and after that he was hungry. By the time that Arthur had managed to complete all these tasks he was truly exhausted and wanted nothing more than sleep, long, long hours of undisturbed, glorious deep sleep. But he was soon about to find out that undisturbed sleep would prove to be elusive to anyone with a small child to care for.
By next morning Leon looked better and even managed a shy smile or two as he made his way around the room and explored everything, holding up the too long night shirt with one hand so that he didn't stumble on it. He even said a shy good morning to Percival when the large knight entered and by the time Percival had carved him a small wooden horse to play with the two of them were inseparable.
Arthur, on the other hand, looked worse for wear and the knights didn't hesitate to point that out as the gathered in his chambers.
"Couldn't anyone have told me not to give him honey cakes just before bed?" Arthur asked grumpily. Leon had eaten too many, delighted by the sweet treat and then he had kept Arthur awake because his tummy ached and because he way to hyped on all the sugar to settle down and rest.
"We thought that you already knew that" Merlin answered, slightly surprised. "How many did he eat?"
"Five" Arthur admitted huffily and everyone in the room cringed.
"Five?" Gwaine exclaimed. "You're lucky that he didn't get sick!" As Arthur looked slightly nauseous at the mere thought, Merlin decided it best to change the subject.
"I have looked the herbal remedy that she gave you and it doesn't help your fertility" he said and held up a hand to stop Arthur from interrupting as it looked like the king would start shouting curses. "It's nothing bad, Gaius thinks it's some kind of concoction to bring peace of mind and give more patience or something like that."
"Why on earth would she give me something like that?" Arthur said unbelievingly and was met with looks of equal puzzlement. Merlin shrugged.
"Who knows?"
They continued discussing the matter, what the sorceress could possibly have done and whether this was her doing at all and not a very strange coincidence, that Leon seemed to have forgotten all his memories of them and his life as a knight and if it would be possible to bring him to his family. In the end they decided against it as Leon kept asking for his mother and his baby sister, and they didn't know how it would affect the child to meet a sister that was now on the brink of adulthood. None of them were too keen on informing Leon about the fact that his father had died either and so they settled for telling the child that his family had gone away on a trip but that they'd come back for him soon and Leon seemed to accept this.
They talked for most of the morning and Leon patiently played for himself but at last he padded up beside Merlin and looked at him imploringly.
"I'm hungry" he complained, pulling on Merlin's shirt sleeve. Merlin looked surprised.
"Didn't you give him any breakfast, Arthur?"
"I forgot" Arthur mumbled.
"What? How could you forget about it? He is a child, he needs to eat!" Merlin exclaimed.
"I just didn't think about it!" Arthur tried to defend himself. "And he didn't tell me he wanted to eat either."
"Did too" Leon murmured.
"Did not!" Arthur said vehemently before he saw the looks that he got from the others. "What?"
"Arthur, it's a child for crying out loud. Be nice!" Merlin gave him a glare before turning to Leon. "Don't mind Uncle Arthur, he's always grumpy in the morning. How about you and I go get you something to eat?"
"Honey cakes?" Leon asked, eyes suddenly bright.
"Maybe not for breakfast." Merlin tried to avoid the question and took the child's hand. "We can say good morning to the dogs on our way to the kitchen, come on."
"I'll come with" Gwaine jumped up from his seat. "It'll be fun" he said smiling at the child. "Uncle Gwaine's going to teach you all about stealing apples."
"Isn't parenting about keeping your children from harmful influence?" Elyan asked mildly and Gwaine huffily ignored him.
