As it turned out, that visit to Kilgharrah's wasn't the last. Many afternoons were spent there, and many weekends, and many other off-school hours. At first, Merlin had been worried that Kilgharrah (or "Greg" as his name in this century turned out to be. Merlin would never get used to calling him that, though so he stuck with Kilgharrah, or if he was feeling malicious, "Killy") would get tired of having a little four year old following him around, but after just seeing the teenager play a two hour game of hide-and-seek, he changed his mind.

"Getting tired yet?" Merlin asked with a raised eyebrow as Kilgharrah jogged over to him, panting, during one of the many afternoons spent there. The past-dragon doubled over a bit before responding.

"Of course not!"

"Whatever you say…" the warlock said, shaking his head. Kilgharrah threw a reptilian-looking smile at him before running off to the back of his yard, where Arthur was obviously hiding behind a tree.

Merlin rolled his eyes fondly. This Kilgharrah was much less cryptic, and, to put it bluntly, was less of an asshole. The dragon-Kilgharrah was an asshole; he'd ask life or death questions and all he'd get were those annoying riddles! This Kilgharrah at least warned you before spouting out a quandary of words.

A loud wail-ish sound brought Merlin out of his thoughts. He flashed around quickly, thinking maybe Arthur had fallen and cried out, but found Franky (Freya in her previous life), Kilgharrah's or "Greg's" mother, walk out of other house, a very fussy "Mikey" in her arms. Merlin smiled politely at her and tried not to stare at his past mentor that currently was a baby. (The thought of Gauis being young once was inconceivable; seeing him as a baby was just plain scary.)

"Hello Merlin," said Frankie, eyes following her son chase Arthur around. She rocked "Mikey" in her arms. "How are you today?"

"Fine," he said, actually meaning it. "You?"

She looked down at the little baby in her arms and smiled. "A bit tired 'cause this one kept me up half night, but otherwise pretty good."

"Kept you up all night?" Ann (Aithusa's reincarnation) said incredulously, walking out the back door. She sidled up to her partner. "Hun, may I remind you that I was up the other half of the night?"

Frankie rolled her eyes and snorted. "Yeah, whatever."

Ann nudged her in return and looked at Merlin. "Can you believe her?"

The warlock put his hands up in surrender. "I'm not taking sides."

"Smart boy," Frankie nodded as she bounced Gauis ("Mikey") up and down. Her eyes narrowed for a moment. "Say, Merlin, no offence or anything, but you really still are a boy, basically. Why are babysitting Arthur? You seem smart enough for college."

Internally, Merlin cursed. Honestly, why did everyone ask the same damn questions? "Shouldn't you be in school, why are you watching Arthur….?" It got annoying after a while, and he could never remember all the different answers he gave to people. Vaguely, he recalled that Arthur's friend's mother asked him a similar question, but he had responded to it nearly truthfully. What the hell was he supposed to say now?

"Um…well, I like the job," he started, the words sounding forced. (He always was a terrible liar…) Ann and Frankie raised their eyebrows, and even baby Gauis (Merlin still couldn't think of him as "Mikey," no matter how hard he tried) seemed to give him a funny look.

"It pays good?" he tried with a weak smile.

Ann looked him over once, her eyes seeming to look reptilian for a moment, such as in her past life. "You, Merlin, are hiding something."

Instead of denying it, he smiled slyly and looked around quickly. "You've guessed right; I am hiding something. Secretly, I'm a thousand year old warlock and Arthur over there is the reincarnation of the real King Arthur. It's my destiny to protect him, so I stay as his babysitter to do that."

There was a long pause.

Frankie, looking a bit dumbstruck (with almost the same expression Freya had when he had broken her out of her cage), blinked a whole lot, as if that would help her comprehend what he had just said. She suddenly smiled.

"You tease," she said, shoving him on the shoulder. Ann rolled her eyes.

"Nice, Merlin, you really had us going there."

The warlock just cheekily smiled in return.


"Hey, wake up," Merlin whispered in Arthur's ear a few weeks later. The little boy covered his face with his blanket, snuggling into his sheets. "C'mon Arthur, it's your birthday. Get out of bed."

The blonde pulled his blanket down just a little, revealing his eyes. " 'S my birthday?"

Merlin got one hand under the blanket. "Yes, it is. And as your first surprise…" He tugged on the sheet, and with an indignant "hey!" from Arthur, he ripped it off. The little boy sat up and pouted.

"That wasn't a very good surprise."

Merlin balled up the blanket and threw it at him, racing out of the bedroom, calling back, "I have a better one waiting in the kitchen!"

A few minutes later, Arthur stomped down the hall, ever the "morning person" he was. He had his head down and was giving the floor a death glare. Birthday or not, he still wanted to sleep late.

"Cheer up!" Merlin said, smirking slightly. "I made you a special breakfast."

Arthur glared up at with as much intensity as a four – no, five year old could. "You still could've let me sleep…" he grumbled, crossing his arms.

"You have school though!"

"My birthday's a holiday; can't I have off?"

The warlock fondly rolled his eyes and knelt down on one knee, so he was eye-level with Arthur. "Sorry, but no. Now, would the birthday boy like to be carried to breakfast?"

Huffing, Arthur stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Merlin's neck. Though he'd never admit it to anyone, the little boy absolutely loved being picked up by Merlin. It was one of the many times were Arthur could actually feel the warlock's heartbeat against his own and he could bury his face in Merlin's neck. And he could also see him eye-to-eye.

"Surprise," Merlin murmured as he set Arthur down in a chair. The little boy looked about and there on the table, he saw it.

"Jell-O for breakfast!" he squealed in delight as Merlin handed him the red liquid-solid thing covered in whipped cream. Arthur looked at Merlin with adoring eyes. "Thank you so much!"

The warlock shook his head, thinking about the gift he was planning on giving the little boy later as he turned back to the kitchen counter to clean up. Tonight, he had planned a little party for Arthur and his friends, and had even convinced Uther to take off from work, trying to give Arthur a perfect birthday.

"Finished yet?" he called over his shoulder. He got a garbled reply, so Arthur was still eating or he just had his last spoonful.

He heard a swallow. "Done!"

Merlin heading back to the table to retrieve the plate (last time Arthur had tried getting down from the chair with a bowl in his hand, he had ended dropping the bowl and cutting himself by accident). Arthur smiled brightly at him, obviously more awake since he'd had sugar.

"Can you go get dressed?" Merlin asked. The little boy suddenly frowned.

"By myself?"

Conversations of the past arose in Merlin's mind as the original Arthur's voice filled his head. He couldn't get dressed by himself either. "I think you're old enough. Why don't you try it?"

Arthur nodded uncertainly and hopped off his chair, scurrying off to his room. He came out a few minutes later, a serious look on his face, as he proudly showed that he could put his clothes on…backwards.

Merlin stifled a laugh. "C'mere, arms up."

Arthur kept his serious demeanor and raised his arms as Merlin turned his shirt the right way around, revealing the dragon design that was on the front. His brow crinkled as he looked at Merlin.

"I didn't do it right?"

Merlin smiled. "You're learning. You'll get better as you get older."

"But I'm five now! I'm older!"

Merlin ruffled his hair. "Just wait. Soon you'll dressing yourself and using the microwave and learning algebra. Before you know it, you'll be all grown up."

Arthur cocked his head to the side. "Really? How soon until I'm grown up?"

"It will take a while," Merlin said a bit sadly. "But it will seem like a short time when you look back on it."

Arthur nodded, seeming to understand, and reached for Merlin's hand. The warlock smiled, thinking of how little Arthur still was, and how much they still had together.

But, as all children, Arthur still grew up too fast for anyone's liking.


A/N: Oh my Herman, thank you guys so much for all your input! It really helped and stopped me from throwing my computer across the room in frustration! :)

So, I've come to a decision: There will be sort of like an overview of Arthur growing up, like little snippets until he's thirteen were the good stuff starts. Then after that...*laughs* You'll see.

Oh, and I'm sorry that this was another chapter-in-which-nothing-really-happens, but it just needed it before we get into the growing up stuff and all that shit. And I'm also sorry for not updating sooner. I was attacked recently by a very vicious...plot bunny. Go ahead, yell at me. Go on.

And, once again, I'd like to thank you all for the reviews and your opinions, they really helped and, in all honest, kept me sane as I was going crazy trying to figure out what to do. *bows* I'm forever at your service (on weekends...).