WOW! first of all, thank you everyone for your lovely reviews and favorites :) I can't believe the amazing response this has gotten in so little time! I was going to leave this story as a one-shot, but now I think I will try and add more chapters! So, on with the story! ;)

- Chapter 2 -

"Merlin."

"THAT Merlin?" Arthur asked, staring at his wife.

Gwen finally broke eye contact with the man in question to give her husband a reassuring smile and nod.

Arthur sighed, "I knew we should have waited until you were fully recovered to have this conversation."

"Arthur Pendragon! My actions may have been controlled by Morgana, but I fully recall what she said," Gwen stated indignantly.

"Perhaps that was all part of her plan to trick you, my lady," Leon suggested, ever the peacekeeper.

Gwen looked into the faces of her friends, filled with disbelief and... was that pity? Gwen indignantly sought Merlin's gaze and found that the manservant wore a resigned, albeit annoyed, look on his face.

Well, Merlin may be used to being disbelieved, but I most certainly am not! Thought Gwen as she tried to control her temper at being patronized.

Gwen took a deep breath, unclenched her fists, squared her shoulders, looked her beloved husband straight in the eye, and calmly stated, "you... are being... a prat."

Gwen thought she heard a surprised half-laugh emanating from the back of the room as she watched Arthur's face. His look of shock was easily the funniest thing she had seen in quite some time, but, as laughing hysterically would not help her case at this point, she bit the inside of her cheek and refused to even chuckle.

"She has a point there, Princess," Gwaine chuckled, his usual cheerful grin belied by a new seriousness in his eyes.

Arthur and the other knights turned their already open-mouthed stares toward this new absurdity.

"If you would stop teasing Merlin long enough to actually think about all he has done for you, maybe this wouldn't be so hard to believe," Gwaine stated with a smirk.

Arthur scowled at Gwaine, about to protest, when a voice stopped him before he could start.

"We kid Merlin and play jokes on him all the time. However, we have all seen the lengths to which he will go to protect you, Sire," said Percival, the most observant of them all.

Arthur blinked after listening to his most quiet knight state his opinion and slowly turned to seek Merlin's face in the crowd. As he met his manservant's serious eyes he let himself remember all those passed occurrences he usually preferred to forget.

Merlin, drinking poison for him. Merlin, pushing Arthur out of the way and jumping in the path of the Dorocha. Merlin, killing the man who was a hairsbreadth from slaying Arthur in the caves as he tried to save Princess Mithian and her father. Merlin. Merlin. Merlin.

Arthur realized that, of all people, Merlin would be just the type to risk everything for his friends, for Arthur, and expect nothing in return.

Arthur sobered and turned back to the waiting gaze of his wife. "Perhaps you should tell us what happened."

Gwen took a deep breath and began her tale. "The boy who saved your life from the assassin during Sarrum's visit, Daegal, was originally sent here by Morgana to lure Merlin to the woods. There, she attacked Merlin, poisoned him, threw him off a cliff, and left him to suffer and die alone."

Tears rushed to Gwen's eyes as she remembered her earlier conversation with Gaius.

"It's all my fault!" Gwen sobbed and clung to the Physician once she had been told what Merlin really went through on that dark day.

"Now, now, my lady, you were not in control of your own actions." Gaius rubbed her back soothingly. "The only one to blame in all of this is Morgana, she has made her choices, and one day she will suffer the consequences."

Gwen pulled away and fixed Gaius with a resolute stare. "You are right, the people of Camelot will not soon forget her terrible deeds; and I intend to make sure that the people closest to him will not forget Merlin's deeds, either."

As Gwen finished her story, she could see the gears turning in Arthur's mind as he remembered and pieced together some of the events of that time frame.

Arthur turned to see Merlin, standing straight-backed, with a guarded look on his face as he tried not to relive that particular time, with all its pain and fear.

"How did you survive?" Arthur asked, with no small measure of wonder.

Merlin cleared his throat, and spoke for the first time that evening. "Daegal... Daegal felt guilty for tricking me and returned to see if he could help. Luckily, I had mixed the antidote for Gaius once before and was able to tell Daegal what herbs to gather."

"He saved your life as well," Arthur mused.

"We returned as quickly as possible to thwart the assassination, and Daegal died protecting you," Merlin stated, keeping his secret, while still giving Daegal the credit he deserved.

Arthur stared at Merlin, trying to read his face, as he quietly asked, "This poison. How close did it actually come to doing its work?" Arthur's tone made it clear that this was no time for Merlin's usual evasive answers and half-truths.

Merlin had to force himself not to squirm as Arthur's intense stare and the painful memory combined to make him increasingly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, Merlin stared Arthur resolutely in the eye as he stated, "Very."

Surprise and concern briefly flickered over the king's face as he read how grave the encounter truly was in his friend's eyes.

Taking in a breath, the King spun away. "So you lied to me, then."

Merlin jumped slightly at the sudden change in Arthur. "What..."

Arthur turned back to his friend with a twinkle in his eye. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" Merlin asked, thoroughly confused.

Arthur grinned and proudly crowed, "I knew you weren't off seeing a girl!"

Because you know that if Arthur couldn't find the humor in these situations, the knowledge that his friends and loved ones risk death for him on a daily basis would be enough to drive him mad.

Well, what do we think? Good? Bad? Indifferent? Should I continue? Please, let me know :)