Chapter 15

It was raining-hard. Arthur took Gwen's hand in his, and held it tightly as they made their way back from her office to his house. They just had to make it to the tube station semi-dry, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. When it rained it England, it rained.

As they sat soaking wet onto the seats, they began to catch their breath as the tube started to lurch forward again.

'It had been a very good day,' Arthur thought as he snuck a quick glance at Guinevere who was fussing with her hair beside him. Another kink had been smoothed out in Mithian's case, and Ryan's future looked bright. To celebrate another mini-victory in their project, Arthur had spontaneously asked Guinevere if she would like to have dinner at his place. He had nearly clamped his hand over his mouth-he didn't know if she thought it was too straight forward of him to request. But his emotions had been caught up in the surge of adrenaline he had felt in their "win", and he was hoping against hope that it hadn't cost him his new relationship.

The first week of February. That was when Gwen and Arthur had begun to slowly repair their damaged relationship. Throughout Mithian's case their paths began to intertwine again, and bit by bit Arthur had managed to drag Guinevere out of her cautious cocoon. At first, Arthur had no idea where to begin, but with Merlin's advice (and a little bit of luck), he had managed to build up a tentative friendship.

-Flashback-

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled throughout the enormous mansion.

He needed the man's advice for once, and of course that was when he couldn't be found. Today had progressed nicely. It had been his first day of seeing Guinevere since December, and everything had gone swimmingly. The only problem was that he had no idea what to do next. They had worked extremely well together, and he felt the same connection between them as they worked on the case as he did when she first accidently fell onto his lap. However, he wasn't sure she felt the same way. She still seemed pretty cut up over her break-up with Lance, and didn't seem to act much warmer to himself. Yet, she had claimed that he was the reason why she broke up with Lance. It was rather confusing, and his suspicions were merely confirmed by the picture he had seen on Gwen's desk that day. Pictures of her family, and Lance held the place of honor for the only personal touch she really had in her office. He had yet to see the final picture of the three-piece frame, but he was sure it wasn't of him. Thus, he wanted there to be a reason it could be him. But how to go about it?

Thump. Thump. Thump. The footsteps came pounding down the stairs, from the direction of the guest bedroom.

"What?" the lanky man replied rather irritably, "I am kind of in the middle of something."

"What could possibly be more important than hearing about what happened to me today?" Arthur asked bewilderedly, yet slightly sarcastically.

"Loads of things," Merlin muttered back, but nonetheless kept his stance in the stairway.

"Well stop what you're doing, and come to the living room," Arthur simply said, and stalked off in the direction of said place.

He sat down comfortably in his favorite armchair in front of the television, and waited for Merlin to arrive. A few minutes later he was not disappointment, and he watched as Merlin slouched down onto a spot on the couch.

"So what happened?" Merlin asked, a slightly annoyed tone had crept into his voice, as though he still hadn't forgotten that Arthur had interrupted his activities.

So Arthur began to tell Merlin about his completely fantastic day. The dark-haired man merely nodded and grinned at the right intervals, but his eyes betrayed his body language. Although they showed that he was interested in what the fair-haired man had to say, his attention wasn't anywhere near the topic Arthur had steered the conversation in.

"…so anyways, what do you think? How should I go about…this….relationship…with Guinevere?" Arthur asked. He really hated to admit his reliance that had become commonplace on Merlin, but situations like these made Arthur a little more desperate than he normally was.

"Well," Merlin started out slowly, as if his brain was still trying to put together the information had laid on him, and make sense of it all, "She needs her space because of the whole Lance affair…"

As Merlin drifted off with his train of thought, Arthur inclined his head towards him. Merlin jolted back to the present as if Arthur's slight movement had reminded him of what he was going to say.

"Basically just take it slow," Merlin simply stated, "Because good things come to those who wait. And Gwen seems like a pretty good thing. But it will take time for her to heal from her break-up, you know. I mean, it was the most serious relationship she's ever had, it's not like she can just bounce back from something like that. And the last thing you'd want to be is a 'rebound', right?"

Once again, Merlin knew exactly what Arthur needed to hear, even if he didn't like it. Thus, he merely grunted in response.

"So what should I do, to, as you say, 'take it slow'?" Arthur inquired cautiously. Just because Merlin was usually right, and uncannily shrewd didn't mean that Arthur couldn't be hesitant to ask for his help. Sometimes Merlin was downright shifty, and Arthur hated to ask anyone for assistance, anways.

"Well, just be her friend."

It was a simple statement, filled with the type of honesty and truth only Merlin could produce. And for the first time since before Arthur had found out that Guinevere was dating Lance, he felt like he knew exactly what to do.

-End Flashback-

Now it was the end of March, and things had started looking up for the future of their relationship. He and Guinevere saw each other on a daily basis due to Mithian's case (which Arthur thanked the heavens for every day). They had fallen into a comfortable routine. Guinevere and Arthur would show up at Jarban and James everyday at 6:50 on the dot. She would get the coffee, and he would get the pastries for breakfast. They would enter the building together, and Arthur would hold open the door to her office once they got up to her level. Then, they would both sit down at Gwen's desk and exchange several pleasantries as they happily munched away, and sipped their coffees. He would usually start off, and ask about her evening from the previous night. She would respond in kind, and then inquire about Merlin's heath from him. It wasn't a formal, stiff affair in the morning. Their routine had the feeling of two people who did this sort of thing every day with each other.

Slowly but surely, he had gotten Guinevere to open up to him. He had even gotten her to stop calling him "Mr. Pendragon". Likewise, she had been steadily worming her way into his heart bit by bit. The attraction between the two was obvious, and Arthur had suspected that he had developed the soft spot in his soul from her since the day they had met. It had been Guinevere who had been more guarded. He couldn't blame her, since she was technically with Lance first, but then had broken up with the man for him. Although it bothered him that he sensed that she had been reluctant to expose herself to him due to lingering feelings for her old flame. Regardless, Arthur had decided to be patient. Good things come to those who wait. That was what Merlin had told him, and Arthur had absolute conviction in his belief that Guinevere would be the best thing that had ever crossed his path.

Eventually, it was clear that they could safely call their relationship "friendship" by the end of February. They regularly met, called each other, and hung out together (both by themselves and with others). Arthur had wanted to be more for quite some time, but he remembered that he had to wait for Guinevere to come around to him.

Today, he thought he had blown one of the best things to ever come his way. However, he was pleasantly surprised to hear Guinevere accept his invitation excitedly. She had never been to his house before, she had said, and wanted to see what his "domain" looked like.

They were completely soaked by the time they made it to Arthur's doorstep. And he and Guinevere could not stop laughing once they had caught their breath. Arthur wasn't sure why they couldn't, but he had a feeling it had to do with the exhilarating feeling he had in the pit of his stomach. Their hands still hadn't disconnected since leaving the office, and he could sense the rather pronounced tingling feeling in his hand because of this. Arthur opened the door, leading Guinevere into his large entryway, while they were still chuckling over nothing. However, once he had he abruptly heard it stop.

He glanced over anxiously at her. 'Crap,' Arthur thought, 'What if she is absolutely appalled at how large my house is? Or maybe it's because she just realized where she is and is going to run away…' His thoughts being more dismal by the second, he strengthened his grip on Guinevere's hand before looking at her.

Once Arthur had the courage to see her countenance, all traces of fear and doubt vanished instantly to be replaced with soft amusement. Her face was positively lit up with wonderment-and just at his entryway!

He grinned proudly and said, "Welcome to my humble abode, Guinevere."

"Humble?" Gwen said in amazement, "It's much more than that Arthur Pendragon! It's…"

She struggled with her words before she decided on, "Amazing."

Arthur's ears turned a bright scarlet at her praise, and his chest was positively bursting with happiness at her compliment.

"But," she continued on, in a slightly teasing tone, "It would be more wonderful if it had a ladies' room…?"

The question hung in the air as Arthur gallantly gestured to a hallway to the left, "It will be the third door on the right."

She smiled appreciatively and started to walk that way before Arthur called out from behind her, "I'll be in the kitchen waiting for you. Come back to the entryway and walk straight to the back!"

Gwen turned around and nodded before going off in search of the power room.

….

As Arthur stepped over the threshold into the kitchen, he heard someone humming-loudly. It was an upbeat, slightly obnoxious sound with no discernible tune.

"Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed as he saw the raven-haired man dancing in small circles around the kitchen, eating a small bowl of cereal, "What on earth are you doing here? I thought you were going out?"

"I was, but, uh, something came up," Merlin said hastily, "So I'm here to stay tonight! Unless something has come up?"

Arthur groaned at Merlin's mocking tone. Having Guinevere over for dinner was not going to go over smoothly with Merlin. Jokes about his manhood, pride, and various other aspects of his personality would have to be made a laughing stock, and the meal would not be able to go over without a hitch (Merlin had a knack for doing exactly that which Arthur didn't want him to do, and his natural clumsiness simply increased this ability tenfold).

"Something actually has," Arthur stated confidently, "And I would appreciate it if you would leave the kitchen now."

He had no idea when Guinevere would be arriving in the room, and he wanted Merlin far away from it before she entered.

"Ooohhh what is it?" Merlin taunted childishly, but in a good-natured way.

"None of your business," Arthur snapped.

"Fine then! I'll just go upstairs then," Merlin retorted as he grabbed the rest of the cereal box and stalked out of the kitchen, and up the stairs. Arthur noticed that instead of turning towards his studio or room, Merlin had once again gone up the stairs which led to the guest bedrooms, and Morgana's old room (amongst other things).

'Strange,' Arthur thought, but he didn't have much time to dwell on it before Guinevere had entered.

"So what's for dinner?" she asked brightly, looking around the rather large state-of-the-art kitchen.

"Well, since my cook's off tonight, I suppose it will end up being whatever I can make!" Arthur attempted to say in his cheeriest tone. However, it ended up sounding slightly strained, which Guinevere picked up on.

"How about we find something together?" she suggested, "Then we can cook it together too. My mother had a lovely family chicken recipe. If we can find any poultry I'm sure we can make it."

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. Guinevere had apparently sensed his unease with the whole situation, and had stepped up to help him save face.

He couldn't be more grateful to her, and his eyes expressed as much when he said, "That sounds like an excellent idea!"

So they spent the next few hours in happy companionship. Gwen had tried to teach Arthur how to cook (and ended up failing miserably). And when she had been making their dessert Arthur had ended up with a lot of flour in his hair (due to the fact that he had snuck some batter into his mouth before it was ready). Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening which soon transported itself to the living room.

Arthur had popped in a movie which Guinevere had indicated that she would love to see over dinner, and the two of them settled down on the couch contentedly. They had a blanket stretched out over their bodies, and Gwen had further reclined onto the couch. She had propped her feet up behind her on the sofa, half lying on the sofa, with her head on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur had maintained his position of sitting, and had been secretly going crazy when he felt her head rest upon his body. Instantly, wafts of her shampoo, lavender perfume, and her natural smell which could only be described as Gwen assaulted his nose.

He wasn't sure when she had taken a hold of his hand either, but it started to register about halfway through the movie. And somehow it was because of this action that Arthur knew that it was finally the right time. It was time to do what he had yearned to do since that chilly November day.

"So Guinevere," he asked her quietly.

"Yes Arthur?" she responded happily.

"Would you…mind it…if we began…you know…dating?" Arthur hadn't meant the words to come out so jerkily, but his nerves had begun to get to him.

Her answer seemed to take a lifetime to respond. And during the silence, he had never become more acutely aware of his ability to perspire before now.

"No, I would not mind that at all," Gwen smiled.

And with that, she turned her head upwards to find his only a fraction of an inch away. Both of them smiled gently before tasting the sweetness of the other's mouth. They had leaned into what was inevitably the making of the force of destiny, and pure bliss had resulted.

….

Lance was lying on his couch with a cold towel over his face. His curtains were drawn like the expression on his face-could anyone have seen it. He had been working like a maniac on the campaign to draw his attention away from his broken heart, but today he had finally broken down. It wasn't like he had allowed himself to, but walking out the door today seemed like a particularly herculean task. Instead, he had called in sick, closed his curtains, and lay down on the couch with his towel. It was a lot easier then facing reality.

Gwen had rejected him a few months ago, but he couldn't get her out of his head. He regretted the way he treated her, but his anger and hurt had got in the way. He wanted to apologize, but he wasn't brave enough to muster up the courage to face her again. And if she rejected his apology he wasn't sure that he could live with himself.

'That Pendragon sure knew how to steal everything he wanted,' Lance thought. Although he had gotten the voters in January and February by riding on sympathy (in particular from his female entourage) from his break-up, floods of sympathetic mail were no longer pouring in. And, because of this, so had the votes. Thus, by the end of March Arthur Pendragon had not only stolen Lance's advantage in the race for Prime Minister, but also Guinevere-the love of his life.

To be continued