A/N: It seems my "update every other day" streak is over. It may be summer, but it seems the further you get along in your studies, the less free time you have, and I'm back to writing papers. I'm thinking it'll be best to keep chapters slightly shorter than their "For All the Nights You Can't Sleep" counterparts but more frequent? I'm going to try to update twice a week in any case. Thank you, as always, for all of your lovely reviews, and I hope you enjoy!

Exhausted, Morgana stands between her bed and her closet and wonders if it would be so bad to spend another day at home. Her meeting with Nimueh isn't until tomorrow, and she really wants to sleep and avoid the awkward encounters the day is likely to bring.

She stares longingly at her bed, picturing long overdue, restful, dreamless sleep. She knows she won't get it, even if she caves, and she knows the only way past her dreams is to move forward and push through all of her current obstacles.

Taking another sip of her coffee, she swallows and puts the cup down on her bedside table before turning to her closet.

Merlin rings the bell, once, twice. Gwen always takes Thursday mornings off, but he needs to talk to her before going in for his office hour.

A minute goes by and no one answers, and he rings again.

And again.

Finally, the door opens to reveal Arthur with Lizzie on his hip. His hair is smeared in what looks suspiciously like strained peas and his shirt splattered with mashed peaches. Lizzie, spotless and calm, giggles and reaches out to Merlin before Arthur can greet his friend.

Merlin grins and quips, "Difficult morning?"

Arthur sighs. "The nanny's still sick. He has a bad case of influenza, and you have no idea how difficult Lizzie's being."

"I can imagine. I'd say, like father, like daughter, but you're the one with food in your hair, not Lizzie."

"Very funny."

"Remember the time you fell asleep at the table and got soup in your hair?"

"Yes, I got the reference, Merlin."

Merlin's grin grows. "Where's Gwen?"

"She went to the spa."

Merlin frowns. "I was hoping she'd be home."

Arthur nods. "She thought you might. She said something about needing a break. I've been directed to take over all support systems for the morning."

Merlin winces. "Is that really such a good idea?"

"I am perfectly capable of giving good advice."

"Mhmm. Do you remember what happened that one time you got into a fight with Gwen and she refused to see you for a week?"

"Yes, I did everything in my power to get her to forgive me."

"You broke into her office and lit candles everywhere."

"It was romantic."

"She's an academic, Arthur. She has books everywhere. Papers. You almost started a fire."

Arthur pouts. "I was just trying to be a good husband."

Merlin nods, knowingly. "I think I'll wait for Gwen's advice. No offense."

"Fair enough. Want to come in?"

"I think you need me to," Merlin says and reaches out for Lizzie. "Let's show Daddy how it's done, shall we?"

Lizzie smiles and giggles as he lifts her into his arms, and Merlin resists the urge to shake his head at Arthur's failure.

Morgana's phone rings as she crosses the street before the university. Frowning, she digs it out of her bag, and she feels her heart thumping in her chest when she sees the caller.

Caelia.

Taking a deep breath, she answers.

"It's really not that difficult to feed her, Arthur," Merlin says. They're both in the kitchen, watching Lizzie in her high chair. She's smiling at them, and Merlin has no doubt that he has things under control. "All you have to do is put food on the spoon and place it in front of her mouth. I've seen Gwen do it loads of times."

"I think I know how to feed my own daughter. She just won't take any of it."

"Have you tried to make it fun?"

Arthur gives him a deadpan look.

"You know," Merlin prompts. "Sometimes Gwen tries to turn the spoon into an airplane."

Arthur looks unimpressed. "I think I know that, Merlin."

"What's the problem, then?"

"Why don't you try if you're so confident that it's so easy?"

Merlin takes the spoon Arthur holds out to him. He fills it with puréed peaches and holds it out to Lizzie. Lizzie takes it immediately and Merlin grins, turning back to Arthur. "You see?"

Arthur nods. "Why don't you try giving her a second bite?"

Merlin turns back to Lizzie and before he can fill the spoon a second time, a blur of warm, gooey yellow mush hits him in the face. "Ugh!"

Arthur bursts out laughing, the sound echoing in his chest, much to Merlin's displeasure.

"You see?!" Arthur mimics.

Morgana feels as if her heart is going to beat out of her chest as she makes her way through the literature department and finds Caelia's office exactly where it used to be five years earlier. She lingers outside the ajar door and wills herself to calm down. She'd initiated contact by emailing Caelia days before. They'd met two days earlier. She wanted to come back, and Caelia wanted her to come back. That she'd called her into her office didn't mean that she was reconsidering the offer. It only meant that she wanted to talk.

That was all.

Swallowing, she knocks.

"Come in!"

"Hello, Caelia," Morgana calls out, walking into the office. Everything looks as it did; bookshelves line every wall and a stuffed dragon hangs by the window. She smiles to herself and feels as if she's stepped back in time.

"Morgana!" Caelia stands and motions towards the chair across from her desk. "It was wonderful to see you the other day. Have you given coming back some more thought?"

Morgana nods. "I think it's time. I can't get the idea of it out of my head." She realizes as she speaks that she's speaking the truth. For all the awkwardness of the past few days, she feels more at home than she has in ages.

"I'm glad to hear it," Caelia says, smirking. "The department has missed you. We can schedule an official interview for next week, if you'd like." Morgana nods and Caelia adds, "As a formality."

"That would be wonderful. Thank you."

Caelia nods. "In the meantime... I've been thinking, and I have another proposal for you."

Morgana frowns. She hadn't expected anything more in coming in.

"We're hosting a series of lectures on mythical medieval creatures at the university this year," Caelia begins. "There was one on the history of dragons yesterday, and all of the lectures lead up to a conference in December.

"That sounds wonderful."

Caelia grins. "I'm glad you think so. One of our speakers dropped out. Yesterday. He was going to team up with one of our colleagues to present on witches and warlocks of the twelfth century. Of course, I thought of you. It's your area, and your thesis was outstanding. I haven't seen anything like it since. You could rework parts of it, and it would be a magnificent re-entry for you."

"I don't know what to say."

"Say yes, and join me for lunch. I'm meeting with Dr. Emrys to discuss your participation."

Morgana blanches. "Dr. Emrys?"

"Yes, he's a junior professor in the history department. He gave yesterday's lecture. He specializes on dragon lore and various attitudes towards sorcery in the Middle Ages. Do you know him?"

"You could say that." Morgana swallows, looking down at her hands. "Does he know you've approached me?"

"No. I wanted to speak with you first. You don't need to commit right now. Just come with us and you can decide afterwards. See if you get alone."

Morgana feels like screaming, like sitting back in her seat and disappearing on the spot, but she stays put and before she's had the chance to fully process all she's been told, she finds herself nodding.

Merlin attempts to feed Lizzie a few more times, but it isn't long before food is flying across the kitchen and his shirt and hair are in just as much of a state as Arthur.

As another chunk of banana flies past his ear, he catches sight of the clock above the stove and winces. "I need to go into work! I've already missed most of my office hour!"

Arthur cringes. "The guest bathroom on the second floor is all yours."

"Thanks. Can I borrow a shirt, too?"

Arthur nods and says, "I'll leave one in the guest room."

"Thanks. And Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"Nothing weird," Merlin requests. "I have a lunch meeting."

Merlin feels as if the wind has been knocked out of him when he arrives at the restaurant Caelia had designated. It's a small place left over from the 1920s that sits a couple of streets away from campus, and he'd expected to find Caelia sitting with an elderly colleague.

He certainly hadn't expected to come face to face with Morgana barely twelve full hours after they'd parted from each other's company.

He knew Caelia had been her supervisor, but the possibility of her asking Morgana to present with him when Morgana had disappeared from the academic world hadn't even crossed his mind.

He knows now that it ought to have. Morgana was brilliant at what she did, standing apart from all of the graduate students in her department. It only made sense for her to be asked to collaborate with him, academic absence or not.

Taking a deep breath, he wills his anger from the early morning to leave him and approaches the table, unwilling to let this opportunity slip from his fingers.

The first few minutes of lunch go surprisingly smoothly. Caelia repeats her plans for the conference and voices suggestions, highlighting the ways they would complement each other's work. They both listen, but Morgana finds Merlin's eyes fixed on hers rather than Caelia's every time she turns in his direction.

The hurt that had laced his gaze the night before is still there, but there's an added sharpness in his eyes, a not-quite hardness that she finds shooting through her.

Morgana diverts her gaze and settles on Merlin's exceptionally messy hair and then wrinkles her nose. "Merlin, is there something yellow in your hair?"

All seriousness forgotten, Merlin's eyes widen and his hand flies to the top of his head. He thought he'd gotten it all. "I, um," he begins, feeling the blood rushing to his cheeks. "I was helping Arthur with Lizzie."

Morgana holds back a smile. "And that involved putting fruit in your hair?"

"You know how she gets with food?"

Morgana nods. "Yeah, she loves it."

"She loves throwing it."

"She's never done that with me. She's an angel, Merlin."

"Maybe to you and Gwen, but she was not an angel this morning."

Caelia amusedly looks between them. "So you two have mutual friends?"

"You could say that. His best friends are my brother and sister-in-law."

"We used to be engaged," Merlin adds, raising an eyebrow at Morgana.

Caelia's eyes widen. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize. Will this arrangement be too awkward?"

Morgana turns back to Merlin. She knows she can handle it, but she doesn't want to push her way further into Merlin's life if he doesn't want her to. She holds her breath until Merlin shakes his head and says, "It won't be a problem."

"Excellent. I think your topics combine very well together. I look forward to what you come up with."

Morgana looks down, smiling at her plate. "Thank you for thinking of me for this."

Caelia smiles. "The field has missed you. I hope this is only the beginning of our working together again."