"Will he be okay?" Merlin stood by the medical bench, watching Owen as he bustled around the medical area.
"I don't know. It looks like a relapse or something. Can you check for blood in his mouth for me?"
Merlin did as he told, and his heart seemed to sink when he noticed a thin dribble of red at the corner of Arthur's mouth. "Owen, there's blood."
Owen quickly turned from the blood results he was studying and was over in a flash. "Okay"
"Is that bad?" Merlin looked into Owen's eyes. "Tell me."
"Yes, it's bad. He has internal bleeding. He is bleeding on the inside."
"Will he die?"
"If it isn't treated. He needs surgery, and fast. I can't do it here; he needs to go to the hospital, and fast. I'll get Jack"
"Before you go, Can I try something?" Merlin took Arthur's hand and sighed. "Hold on, Arthur, don't leave me now."
"What is it?"
Merlin looked about himself and lowered his voice. "Magic?"
"What?"
"I can heal him. With magic." He paused, "I think. It's hard to do; I've only ever done it once and that was with some help."
"Yeah…okay. Are you alright?"
Merlin smiled. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"Not exactly, no"
"I'll prove it then" Merlin took a breath, and ran his hand over Arthur, murmuring the incantation. His eyes flashed gold for a second, and then he let his hand drop, it was done.
"What the…What the fuck was that?" Owen backed away, eyes firmly on Merlin.
"Merlin?" Arthur's voice interrupted him. Merlin realised he hadn't been breathing and let his breath rush out in a sigh of relief.
"Arthur! You're okay!" Merlin threw himself into Arthur's arms. A big grin of relief on his face, and Arthur awkwardly hugged him back. "I…I thought you were dead!"
"Well I'm not" Arthur smiled and Merlin broke the hug.
"I'm sorry, Merlin, what did you just do? That…that isn't possible!" Owen was now standing on the staircase, torn between finding Jack and watching Merlin.
"Merlin, what does he mean?" Arthur looked into Merlin's eyes, and saw the fear burning in them, and realisation hit him like an arrow to the heart. "No…No! Merlin? Please, tell me you didn't"
Merlin moved back and was pressing himself into the side of the worktop. "I…I…I'm sorry, Arthur. I couldn't let you die. I couldn't fail my destiny." He looked at the floor and shifted his feet nervously, struggling to keep back the tears which were threatening to spill over.
"Merlin, you know the rules on magic!"
He looked up. "Are you angry?"
"Of course I'm angry!-"
Arthur's sentence was broken off by Merlin running from the area. He thundered up the steps and kept running, without even realising where he was going. Eventually, he came to a halt in the cell he had woken up in those long weeks ago. Keeping his sobs at bay, he curled up on the cold shelf like bench and buried his head in his hands. He couldn't face Arthur again, and he knew he had his duties to Camelot as a knight. He would have no choice but to tell Uther and Merlin knew what Uther did to practicers of magic. He thought back to the horrible execution he had seen when he first arrived in Camelot, shuddered and pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Merlin knew he had let down not only Gaius but the dragon, and Arthur himself. He took in a shuddering breath and suddenly couldn't keep it back any longer. The sobs flooded from him and the tears seemed to rain from his eyes as sob after sob racked his chest, making his muscles scream for him to stop but he couldn't.
Merlin didn't know how long he had been crying for when he finally stopped. He took in a few shuddering breaths and wiped his eyes. After a few minutes, he became aware of somebody in the room and looked up. Arthur was leaning against the wall, looking at Merlin with eyes full of sadness and worry. They looked at eachother for a few minutes, before Merlin broke the silence.
"Arthur? I thought you'd never want to see me again." He looked back at the floor again and sighed.
"Merlin, why would I think that? I was just angry you lied to me for so long."
"You're…you're not going to tell Uther?"
Arthur sighed and walked over to the bench. "Move over, you're taking up all the space!"
Merlin moved up and brought his knees back up under his chin. "So you're not angry about the magic?"
Arthur put an arm round his manservant and looked directly into his eyes. "No, Merlin, I'm upset you didn't tell me, but I'm not angry anymore."
"But what about Uther?"
"He'll never know. You've hidden it from me well enough. I won't tell him"
Merlin let out a sigh of relief, and a giddy grin spread across his face, which soon fell when Merlin had a horrible thought. "But what if Uther finds out? What then?"
"Then I will protect you"
Merlin smiled and rested his head against Arthur's shoulder. "I have another secret to tell you." Merlin didn't realise what he said until the words were out, and a pink blush began leaking into his cheeks.
Arthur looked at him, one eyebrow raised in a quizzical expression. "Oh? And what secret would this be?" He put on a slightly sexy voice, which prompted Merlin to snort heavily.
Merlin looked directly into Arthur's eyes, and sighed. "I love you, Arthur." Once the words were out, the pink blush returned, staining his face and the tips of his ears. Arthur's face mirrored the blush, and a smile slowly crept onto his face. "Well, that's not too much of a secret, because, I love you too." The tips of Arthur's ears were burning a brighter red than Merlin had ever seen. He stifled a giggle.
"Your ears have gone bright red, by the way."
Arthur blushed even more and Merlin couldn't help but giggle. "Stop laughing at me!"
"Ooh, why do you have to be the dominant one?"
"Because I'm the prince and you're the manservant."
"More like the royal ass and the warlock in disguise!"
"Oh, I like that! Warlock in disguise. But hey, be fair, I'm not an ass!"
"Oh really?" Merlin raised one eyebrow and smiled devilishly. "I can change that you know."
"Don't you dare!"
Merlin laughed. "I'm defiantly the dominant one and you know it!"
"Shut up!" Arthur playfully pushed Merlin and Merlin shoved him back a little too hard, and Arthur fell to the floor. Merlin couldn't help but laugh at Arthur's shocked face.
"Sorry! You look so cute down there!"
"Shut up, that hurt!"
"Sorry!"
Arthur got to his feet and dusted himself down. "You know, I should punish you for that." He leered at Merlin, suddenly glad that he could be so open about his feelings for his manservant, and that the feelings were mutual. His mind wandered to what he would look like naked and suddenly felt tightness in his groin. He looked down to see an evident bulge and redness returned to his cheeks once more.
Merlin stood up and leered back at him, which made the tightness worse. Merlin moved closer and soon their bodies were pressed together against the wall. "I'm so glad, Merlin, that we can be like this, just in this moment-"
"It's like we were meant to be?" Merlin finished Arthur's sentence with a questioning tone and smiled.
"It's…Merlin; remember when I said there was something about you, when I first met you?"
"It was the magic? Or maybe you just knew this is meant to be." Merlin wrapped his arms up around Arthur's neck, and rested his cheek against his face, his warm breath caressing the bottom of Arthur's ear.
"I think it was both" Arthur, unable to resist any longer, pressed his lips firmly against Merlin's in a caressing, tender kiss. Merlin moaned in response and kissed Arthur back, whilst his hands travelled down his back, sending electric shivers running up and down Arthur's spine and prompting a low moan, which got deeper ad Merlin's hands reached the small of his back.
"Ahem" The clearing of a throat sent the two of them leaping away from eachother as if electrocuted. They both looked ruefully at the open door, where Jack stood, arms folded, a half smile on his face.
Merlin and Arthur looked at eachother.
"Erm…" Merlin couldn't think of what to say. His face was burning red with embarrassment, and he could see that Arthur was too. Merlin looked at the floor, where a black grimy stain had suddenly become very interesting.
"Sorry, was I interrupting a private moment?" Jack broke the awkward silence. "Can't stop young love so they say." He smiled at both of them. "I was just checking to see if you're okay, Merlin. You've been down here for a long time now, Owen told me what happened." He entered the cell and leant against the wall. "How are you feeling, Arthur?"
Arthur looked at the floor, then Merlin and finally Jack. "I feel…fine." He was still blushing and could feel his face burning.
"Right. That's just…I've never seen anything like that, you know. And I've dealt with pretty much everything you could possibly think of!" He straightened up and walked to the door. "Are you going to stay there all night? There's pizza up in the hub you know." He turned to leave, and Merlin and Arthur followed, hand in hand.
The hub was quiet and calm and the team sat around the briefing table, three pizza boxes in the centre.
"So, you can do magic, Merlin?" Gwen sat across the table, daintily picking the pepperoni pieces off of her slice of pizza
"Yeah" Merlin answered through a mouthful of BBQ chicken pizza. He swallowed quickly. "I can do all sorts of things with magic." He raised his hand and his eyes flashed gold. Immediately all the pepperoni pieces rose off of Gwen's slice and floated onto Arthur's, much to his surprise.
"Hey! Just because I've said I don't mind your magic doesn't mean you can just put pepperoni on my pizza without asking!" Arthur stifled a laugh behind a steely glare.
"That is ridiculous!" Gwen was staring at her now pepperoni free pizza with amazement. "That is just…wow! I wish I could do that!"
"Pepperoni on your pizza?" Merlin looked at Arthur with one eyebrow raised, which prompted the whole table to laugh. Arthur just frowned and took a bite from his now pepperoni covered slice.
"Honestly, so childish!" Arthur smiled at Merlin anyway and took another slice of pizza.
"So, Merlin, have you ever thought of sporting the beard and pointy hat look?" Owen crammed half a slice of pizza into his mouth and smiled.
Merlin leant back in the chair. "I suggested the hat but Gaius said there probably isn't one big enough! As for the beard…no, I don't think one would suit me."
"I think it would" Arthur winked and Merlin snorted like a horse, prompting laughter from the whole table.
"Oh, you two are just too funny!" Ianto managed to get out between boughts of hysteria.
Suddenly, a low rumble sounded from the bay above, and the whole hub seemed to shudder. "What the…what was that?" Jack jumped up, followed by the rest of the team. The calm, fun atmosphere was shattered and had become tense. There was a moment of silence and then another rumble sounded, again shaking the hub.
"The rift is active, Jack" Tosh was already at her station and reading off her screen. "It's peaking every five minutes or so."
"Mafanwy isn't happy." Ianto mused, watching the distressed pterodactyl as she zoomed around the cavernous roof of the hub, screeching like a banshee.
Merlin and Arthur looked at eachother and moved closer together.
"I'm scared." Arthur whispered it, and it took Merlin by surprise.
"Of what?" Merlin was also secretly scared, and his insides were churning in a non-stop swirling whirlpool motion.
"Of losing you." It was whispered, and full of passion, and fear, and it made Merlin's heart melt. He squeezed Arthur's hand reassuringly.
"You won't lose me, I'll protect you, and I will never leave you." He whispered it back, and gently kissed Arthur's cheek.
"Merlin, Arthur, come down here! We need you!" Jack's voice rang through the hub. Looking round themselves, they realised they were now alone in the briefing room. They looked at eachother and Merlin smiled ruefully, gave Arthur's hand another affectionate squeeze and the two of them went to join the rest of the team, secretly hoping their time with them hadn't been cut short just yet.