AN:/ I know it's been forever...but I had to put all my Merlin feels in a tiny locked box for awhile. But now that I'm pretending the last season didn't happen, things are getting easier.

I was going through my stuff and found this. I think I'll try to finish this one anyway.

IMPORTANT: I wrote this before season 4 came out so Morgana has just recently been turned evil. She's not the hardened badass bitch yet, so that's why she's a bit more vulnerable and less I'm-going-to-cut-out-your-heart. Anyway. It's not that edited so yeah...sorry for mistakes.

Another Way Pt. II

"Honestly Merlin," She heard Gaius exclaim. She felt that she was back to lying on the bed, a hand was feeling her forehead. She must have only been out a couple of minutes. Morgana had hoped to wake up back in reality but she knew immediately that it was not so. Still, she kept her eyes closed, unwilling to accept that she was pregnant and Merlin was quite possibly the father.

"Your wife is pregnant, not ill. This type of stuff is completely normal. There is no need to fly off in a panic."

She was also married. Pregnant and Married…. with and to Merlin, who also had magic. She stopped trying to make sense of the situation. She opened her eyes to see both Gaius and Merlin peering anxiously at her.

"Morgana, thank the gods, how are you feeling?" Merlin asked, helping her sit up, her back against a mound of pillows. Her hand went to rest against her stomach again, it was quite large, and she must be at least seven months or so. She looked up at Merlin again, thinking that maybe she should say something now; he did look very worried about her.

"I- I, I'm fine Merlin." She spoke, her voice wavering. Merlin let out a breath and smiled a dazzling smile right at her. His eyes looked so bright, staring at her with adoration. The sight of him took her breath away, those all too familiar repressed feelings about him blooming suddenly, making her face flush.

"Morgana, are you sure your alright?" Gaius asked. She could only nod, her eyes still locked with Merlin's. Her eyes broke from his only when the door opened again and Gwen, of all people strode in.

Her worried expression was the first thing Morgana noticed. Then the fact that she had on a beautiful purple dress, and on her head rested a crown. The same crown that she herself had worn only a month ago. She sat up more, startled, Merlin's hand still holding hers.

"Morgana!" Gwen exclaimed with relief, seeing her best friend sitting up. She had been worried that Morgana was sick but the woman only looked a little pale. She stood by her bedside and grabbed the other hand that Merlin wasn't holding.

"I know these last months are wretched, why don't you let me help you dress this morning?" She asked, her eyes shinning with warmth. Morgana hadn't remembered the last time her old friend had looked at her that way. It was more than a little comforting.

"But – Gwen, you're- you're Queen!" Morgana squeaked out the last word. Gwen laughed, "Yes, but I'm still your friend, and you look like you could use one. So why don't you let me help you, and Merlin, if you could please go back down and see to Arthur, he really is worried about the harvest this winter." Gwen ordered. Merlin rolled his eyes and huffed,

"I've told him-"

Gwen cut him off, "Nevertheless, he is still concerned and you need to go reassure him." She replied calmly. Merlin nodded before turning to her with a smile,

"Your brother seems to think I can't do my job, you'll be okay now right?" He asked, watching her carefully for any sign that it wasn't. Morgana smiled at him,

"I'm fine Merlin."

Then, in an almost unconscious way, he leaned forward and kissed her. Right on her lips. It was so unexpected that instead of freezing, his soft lips beckoned a response from her, and without thinking she pressed her lips more firmly against his, kissing him back. The kiss lasted longer than a mere peck, and it had an instant affect on Morgana…it sent her head spinning, and not in a bad way.

Gwen interrupted with a soft cough. Morgana pulled back with a jolt, startled at her own audacity but Merlin just winked and her and she felt herself blush under his gaze.

"Arthur also keeps mentioning that little love potion incident…" Gwen trailed off, undisguised mirth in her voice. Merlin broke eye contact with her and shot off the bed,

"Oh for the love of- how many times do I have to tell him that I can fix it?" Merlin declared loudly, as if Arthur could hear him, before practically running out of the room.

Morgana stared after him in shock. A love potion gone wrong that Merlin was going to fix? How could he- oh, that's right…he had magic. Gwen was talking to her but Morgana couldn't seem to process anything. All she knew at this point was that she was feelings things she ought not to be feeling, and that nothing was the way it was supposed to be, and she couldn't figure out how to make it right.

After a moment's contemplation, while Gwen rattled on about things, Morgana decided that she wasn't going to get anywhere if she didn't even try to understand what was happening or figure this new world out.

This could be some elaborate spell aimed at making her crazy, or getting inside her head. Well if it was, she wouldn't give in without a fight. If information was power (which she knew it was) then she was just going to have to get some.

She took a breath, already feeling better; having a plan gave her a sense of calm. She would find out who she was in this world and then figure out how to get out, and as Morgause was probably already working on it, she would just have to ride out the confusion, learn as much as possible and attempt to not loose her mind to this insanity.

She felt herself take another deep breath, steeling herself again to play her role.

"Morgana, which dress would you like to wear today?" Gwen asked motioning for a young maid, who had just walked in, to open the closet door. Morgana smiled, as genuinely as she could manage,

"Whatever you think will fit over this!" She replied, faking a chuckle. As Gwen laughed Morgana ran her hand over her stomach again, slowly marveling. Her and Merlin's baby was in there. A sudden feeling of excitement came over her, wondering if it would be a boy or a girl. Would it have her eyes, or Merlin's lovely blue ones? Would Merlin maybe kiss her again when he saw her next? She would have to ask him about his magic…maybe he would do some more? For some reason Merlin doing magic just made her feel…Oh.

Oh crap.

Maybe this was going to be more difficult than she anticipated?

"What the hell was that Merlin? I was just in the middle of a report!" Arthur asked loudly, his voice carrying across the hall as he watched as his Official Court Sorcerer re-entered the great hall. Merlin rolled his eyes good naturedly, and got a wink from Gwaine as he passed by to take his place at the Round Table on Arthur's right hand side.

"Morgana needed me." Merlin said simply. Arthur gave him an exasperated look but didn't comment. The meeting progressed as planned, Arthur discussing things with the others that he had already told Merlin, or that Merlin had told him. Really, there wasn't any reason he had to be here…besides the fact that he knew Arthur wanted him there (Arthur had explicitly told him so countless times, in roundabout ways, that he was required to be at all the meetings), so logically, his mind wandered, and it wandered strait to Morgana.

Morgana was never far from Merlin's thoughts. He was twenty-seven now and although he and Morgana had technically only been married for four years, they had been together for almost the entirety of the seven years he's spent in Camelot. They were so attuned to each other at this point that even a nightmare had him up and running. At least, he hoped that it was a nightmare and not a vision that she thought she could hide from him. But no, Morgana didn't usually keep stuff from him so it must have just been a nightmare.

He felt a twinge of guilt, if he had been with her it wouldn't have happened, but he had gotten up early to go down to the lower towns and check the crops. This unusual summer heat was wreaking havoc and it was all he could do to keep them alive and able to produce. He had to go down every morning as it was. Morgana had assured him of her understanding, she knew that what he was doing was necessary, but it still grated on his nerves. He wanted to spend time with her, she was his first love and his best friend, (Arthur was second in that regard only to her) and he missed waking up in her arms.

He looked absently around the table, noting the two empty seats, one on Arthur's left that belonged to Gwen, and the other next to him where Morgana usually sat. If she were here right now she'd be teasing him, nudging his foot with her own, entwining their hands under the table, or playing some sort of magical game of her choosing. Once, due to an unfortunate accident, their game had involved creating small illusions that the other had to spot and change, was brought to everyone's attention and Arthur had been less than pleased (although both Merlin and Morgana suspected that he had just been cranky because he knew he couldn't play their magical games).

"Merlin…are you paying attention?"

Arthur's sharp voice shook Merlin out of his musings and he looked at the man who was his king, and his best friend. Arthur trusted Merlin implicitly, despite the fact that Merlin had lied about his magic and Merlin was very proud of the young man who was glaring at him. Ah well, some things never changed.

"Of course I am sire." He replied, almost automatically. All eyes turned to Merlin, whose chair was tilted back, its front legs completely off the floor, held there unconsciously by magic. Merlin noted the amused glances, and Gwaine's snort at his subtly sarcastic reply to Arthur's query.

King Arthur had ceased to be intimidated by Merlin's power (most of the time anyway), so he raised his eyebrows in a very Gaius move,

"Then what did I just say?"

Merlin's eyes widened, his chair rather abruptly slamming back down.

"I- uh."

Arthur grinned in victory.

Great, Merlin thought, just great.

Morgana had finished dressing at this point, listening to Gwen prattle on, and she honestly tried to pay attention but her mind kept wandering. Gwen left the room to get something, Morgana didn't hear… Her thoughts kept going back to Merlin and his magic. At first she had come to the conclusion that it was just a dream, that Merlin didn't have magic in the real world. He couldn't have magic, it was an impossible thought and yet… The more she thought about it the more things started making sense. If Merlin did have magic it would certainly explain a lot of things and as she thought back on the past, everything just kept getting clearer. Merlin had poisoned her because he had known she was the source of the sleeping spell, but how had he known that? Gaius had been asleep that time so he couldn't have helped.

Suddenly a bunch of other instances began coming back, Merlin always next to Arthur, the two of them coming back from seemingly impossible odds, especially when she had actively been trying to bring down Camelot and her plans had always been unsuccessful. She had always wondered how powerful sorcerers, including her sister now, always managed to fail in their attempts. If that had all been Merlin…

Why though? She was so confused at this turn, too confused to even be angry. Her insides felt twisted as memory after memory of Merlin trying to help her, especially those moments in Camelot's crypt with the staff…

"You don't have magic Merlin, you can't begin to understand."

"If I had your powers I would harness them for good, that is magic's true purpose."

"We can find another way…"

"There is no other way"

Morgana closed her eyes. Merlin had been trying to save her. Why didn't he just tell her? Things could have been… Morgana's head shot up in realization.

"Different." She murmured, meeting her own eyes in the mirror of her vanity where Gwen had been fixing her hair.

"Things could have been different." She spoke slowly. Could this be what she was experiencing? A different world where her and Merlin had fallen in love?

As she looked in the mirror the image suddenly shifted, and a face began to appear on the surface. Morgana jumped back with a soft cry of surprise.

"Bingo my lady, that is exactly what this is." The face spoke to her, its lips moving but its voice sounding in her head. The face was not yet clear, too blurry still to make out although the voice sounded familiar…

"Where am I? Is this a dream?" She asked quietly after a moment.

"What's in a dream? You can call it anything you want but where you are now is every bit as real as the place you were before."

Morgana shook her head in confusion,

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It isn't supposed to make sense to you yet. Your journey has just begun." It answered her, its voice impatient.

"Why have you brought me here? I demand that you release me from this enchantment!" Her voice rising with each harsh word.

"No one can release you Morgana. Only you can do that."

Morgana rolled her eyes, "How do I do that?" She asked sarcastically, her level of annoyance with this figure having reached a peak. Morgana never got her answer, for just then sounds could be heard from outside the room, the door opening at the same time as the man's image disappeared.

Her attention turned back to Gwen, plastering a smile on her face, her mind racing with what she had just been told. She was distracted however, by the maid who came in carrying a small boy with blonde curls and deep brown eyes, and holding the maid's hand was a girl, absolutely tiny with enormous blue eyes and dark curly hair that fell loose to the nape of her neck. Before Morgana could do more than stare the girl had broken away from the maid that held her hand and launched herself at Morgana, burying her face in her neck. Morgana didn't even have to ask, she had only gotten a glimpse but she knew who this was.

"Estelle, be careful, remember what we talked about?" Her maid said softly moving to pull the child away.

"No." Morgana said clutching the child closer,

"She's fine here."

The maid nodded and moved to leave the room.

Morgana could only breathe, inhaling the soft baby scent of her daughter and attempt to absorb this most recent event that had left her reeling.

Would the surprises never cease?

Morgana pulled the girl away slightly so she could take a good look at her, marveling at the large sky-blue eyes that were an exact copy of Merlin's. Then Morgana smirked slightly, Estelle may have her father's eyes but she sure looked a lot like her mother.

"How old are you?" She whispered so Gwen couldn't hear, clutching her daughter's tiny hand in her own. The child blinked and held up two fingers, smiling in her achievement. Estelle was wearing a small little blue dress, lighter than the one Morgana herself was wearing.

"She gets more adorable every day." Gwen laughed. The boy in her arms waved his arms and let out a cry. Gwen tsked,

"I know your hungry Rion, no need to shout." Gwen said with a smile.

"Just like his father then?" Morgana replied without thinking but Gwen just laughed,

"Oh, that's good. Remind me to tell Merlin that one." Gwen said, still giggling. Morgana laughed with her, caught up in the moment.

"We should go down for breakfast, I'm sure the meeting is over by now."

Apparently big "family" breakfasts happened once a week, Morgana reflected wryly a few hours later. Although family was a loose term in this sense as many other of Arthur's trusted knights and council members were there too. She had noticed that Uther wasn't there, and she had wanted to ask but she hadn't wanted to appear too obvious. Also, the moment she arrived in the Great Hall, with Estelle clinging to her skirts, she had been accosted by Merlin.

The man had merely kissed her in front of everyone before picking up Estelle, and kissing the child on her on her cheek. She had tried not to act shocked but when she got over her mortification she was sitting in a chair right next to Merlin, who had placed Estelle on his lap and was entertaining her by levitating the plates and silverware. Their daughter crowed with glee, her smile wide and her hands clapping together each time something floated off the table.

Arthur sat at the head of the table, Gwen on his right, Merlin on his left and Morgana seated between Merlin and Gwaine. She remembered who he was but she hadn't realized that he was apparently this important. He treated her like they were friends…even going so far as to flirt with her! Merlin had merely rolled his eyes and given her a smile. That particular smile she had seen before as he had given it to her this morning. It was like they were sharing their own private joke, and when he smiled like that his eyes lit up. Morgana felt her unwilling heart flutter in response to his smile and for the life of her; she had absolutely no idea why it kept doing that.

She had also not realized until she had been served how incredibly hungry she was. She consumed two plates of food and three thick slices of bread and she felt absolutely appalled that being pregnant had effectively turned her into some sort of food monster…a devourer of morsels. Then to her absolute horror once, when she and Merlin had locked eyes once she found herself thinking that it wasn't fair that she was pregnant since she hadn't even had the memories of how she had gotten this way…twice mind you. Then she had realized exactly what she had been wishing she could remember, and felt disgusted with herself. How could she even be having these feelings for Merlin? It was absurd! Even when she had liked him she hadn't liked him in that way. This world was getting inside her head and she had no idea how to stop it.

It didn't help matters that she had fallen in love with Estelle immediately upon seeing her, or that the little girl completely adored her father. Watching them together was heart wrenching because she knew that this wasn't real, that Estelle wasn't real. And Morgana found that thought incredibly sad. Also, Arthur, Gwen and their son were heartwarming and Morgana saw how in love they were. She also realized that Arthur knew and accepted Merlin's magic and he also accepted that Merlin had married his sister and Merlin was not a noble. His knights weren't noble either for that matter. In this world it seemed Arthur was the complete opposite of Uther and everything he had stood for.

A large part of her chalked this Arthur up to being apart of this "dream", but there was a small part…a persistent nagging part of her that kept going back to what that man had said, that this wasn't a dream, just an alternate form of events unfolding and people taking different paths. If this was true…then it was only herself who was different. That maybe Arthur really did have this potential, that maybe he could have been persuaded to support magic. To support her.

"I believe you've had her long enough Merlin, I get to hold her now." Arthur said, breaking Morgana out of her reverie. The king had turned toward Merlin and had plucked Estelle from Merlin and sat her in his lap. Estelle seemed put off for a few seconds but she quickly settled up against her uncle and continued to munch on the bread roll she had clutched in her hand. Gwen rolled her eyes, but she leaned over and ran a hand over Estelle's hair.

"Hmm…you have your own son you know." Merlin remarked dryly.

"Yes and I love him very much." Arthur replied quickly, smiling in his son's direction. The baby boy was being held by the same maid who had brought the children, she was seated next to Gwen and busily bouncing the little prince up and down to keep him quiet.

"But this is my niece, and she is the most beautiful girl in the world." Arthur said in a playful child voice, making Estelle giggle.

"I get to be next then." Gwaine remarked, taking a sip of what he assumed was ale. When he realized it wasn't, that it was actually a cider completely devoid of alcohol he frowned. Merlin shook his head and leaned over to whisper in her ear,

"Arthur's been making Gwaine stick to the new rule- no drinking before the afternoon. He's not been taking it well."

As he spoke his voice and sent washed over her and his soft amused exhales of air gave Morgana goosebumps and she couldn't help but smile covertly, keeping her face turned away from Gwaine lest he see their amusement.

"You look beautiful by the way." Merlin continued "And I missed you at the meeting, Arthur kept chiding me for not paying attention. If you were there you could have burned off his eyebrows or something." He muttered, his voice turning petulant.

Morgana laughed out loud drawing nearby attention. Arthur look over at her in puzzlement before, with a look at Merlin, he seemed to piece together that Merlin had somehow insulted and/or insinuated the use of magic against him and he narrowed his eyes in his characteristic I'm-on-to-you look. Merlin just shot him his innocent, guileless smile that just had Arthur looking more suspicious.

The whole affair took over an hour and after it was over Arthur went with Gwen and Rion to their chambers where he would change for training. Apparently Merlin was still acting as Arthur's manservant in some capacities because Arthur turned to Merlin before he had left saying,

"Be there in fifteen minutes Merlin, don't be late."

To which Merlin had muttered an affectionate "Prat."

Morgana would have asked about this. She would have asked about a lot of things by now if she hadn't been so worried that her lack of knowledge would give her away. So when Merlin, having regained Estelle back from Arthur and helped her out of her seat, he then escorted them both back to their chambers.

"You've been quiet today, are you still tiered from this morning?" Merlin asked her. Estelle was walking alongside her mother, again keeping one hand firmly enwrapped in Morgana's dress. Morgana blinked,

"Uh, um, yes, yes I'm still tired." She spoke softly. Merlin's face showed only understanding as he opened the door for them to precede him inside.

"Morgana do you want me to take Estelle back to the nurse?" Merlin asked, his hand on her back.

Upon entering Estelle ran right over to an area in the corner with a large chest. Without even touching it the heavy trunk opened, the lid thumping softly against the wall. Morgana started, her eyes showing her obvious surprise.

"She- she can do magic? Already?"

Merlin tilted his head and gave her an odd look that had her biting the inside of her cheek.

"It still surprises you? She's rather adept at moving objects already, not quite as easily as I was able to at that age but still…" He had a reminiscent look in his eyes as Morgana stared up at him.

She tried not to let her mouth drop open,

"You- you- um… moved stuff like that when you were two?" She asked softly.

"Uh, before that actually. Are you still worried about her? Don't be, I promise I've already begun showing her how to control it. Accidents like what happened last week are to be expected trust me, this is all perfectly normal."

This seemed like an old speech meaning they must have had this conversation before. Wait, he mentioned an accident, what accident? She opened her mouth to ask but shut it quickly. He was already suspicious; asking such an obvious question probably wouldn't be a good idea.

She watched as Estelle reached into the chest and took out a few wooden toys, which she immediately sat down and began playing with. Morgana then watched as Merlin, with a wave of his hand, sent the blanket that had been folded on a trunk at the foot the bed, flying across the room where it unraveled and slowly spread out on the floor. Then he smiled and raised his hand again and their daughter and her toys, slowly levitated from where she had been sitting on the stone floor and onto the blanket her father had laid out for her. During her trip she had squealed with glee and looked over at Merlin with the widest smile,

"Gain Papa!" She laughed, her arms lifted over her head.

Morgana still couldn't believe how effortlessly Merlin used his magic, and apparently he had been doing it since before he was two. She didn't see, didn't understand how she had managed to miss this. He wasn't a very good liar and yet he had been able to hide the biggest secret of his life right under their noses.

How did Morgause not sense Merlin's magic?

Yet here he was levitating items as easily as breathing. It had taken her months to learn how to do that simple spell on a book let alone an actual person. Merlin having magic, and powerful magic at that, it was unthinkable. She needed to learn more, but how could she do that without attracting suspicion? Her eyes fell on the mirror.

"Love, I'd better go see to Arthur before he has a royal tantrum. He's already cross with me as it is."

"He did seem a little more temperamental than usual."

Merlin rolled his eyes, "I made him a little angry this morning, nothing out of the ordinary I suppose."

Morgana laughed. Merlin turned to face her and took her hands in his.

"You'll be okay with her then?" He asked. Morgana nodded,

"Of course, we'll be fine. If I need help you know I know how to ask for it."

Merlin nodded and gave her a smile and a quick kiss before bolting out the door. Morgana sighed and turned and looked at her daughter, who was quietly murmuring to herself while playing with her toys before quickly making her way over to her vanity. She sat down and stared into mirror.

And stared.

And stared.

God, this was infuriating! She took a breath in frustration.

"Okay, listen here, I don't see how I'm supposed to learn anything when I can't ask any question and I have no idea what's going on!" She hissed at it, stealing a glance to make sure Estelle was still playing with her toys. She was.

When she turned back around the mirror was again filled with the image of the blurry face she was beginning to grow accustomed too.

"What do you wish to learn My Lady?" It asked, its voice sounding in her head.

"Let's start with her shall we? I have a daughter who is two and I have no idea how she came to be yet I feel…connected to her already. And Merlin… why is it that I have these feelings for him now when I never have before." Morgana angrily hissed at him, her eyes blazing. The figure said nothing for a few moments and when he opened his mouth it was to voice the words of a spell, he was speaking too quickly for Morgana to understand but she felt her head spin and her vision blurred. A feeling of nausea as it felt like she no longer had her feet on solid ground.

It felt longer than it was and after a moment her vision cleared. She knew where she was the moment she was able to open her eyes; she'd been there often enough after all. Morgana was standing in a prison cell in Camelot's dungeon. She had no idea why she was there but there was a familiar girl sitting in the corner and she did not seem to see her.

"What am I doing here?" She asked warily.

"You wanted to know right? Just pay attention."

So Morgana did.

I'm almost finished with the next part, so hopefully it should be up in a week or so.

As always, thanks for reading and thoughts are appreciated.

-LL