Chapter Two

It was by far the best sleep Merlin could ever remember having and he had only just started to awaken when the cat part of him became aware of some random sounds just on the edge of its amazing hearing. If he had been himself he would have probably jumped up guiltily but, as it was, the feline part didn't seem bothered by the situation simply hearing some very familiar voices slowly approaching his position and sensing that there was no real danger involved.

One particular voice became louder and closer before a well known scent started to drift to his extra sensitive nose. Without even realising he was doing it, Merlin started to purr.

"What? What is that doing on the bed?"

Merlin opened a lazy eye. "Hello, Arthur," he said sleepily, but all that actually came out of his mouth was a faint chirrup. The king folded his arms and glared at the interloper in front of him who simply stretched out as far as he could, still purring.

"What was that?" a familiar female voice asked and Merlin stretched even more, so much so that he ended up almost bent backwards.

"There's a cat on the bed," Arthur complained.

"Oh, he's adorable!" Gwen cried, running over quickly and sitting down on the bed next to him. Merlin was surprised that he recognised the pair's scent quite so easily. It wasn't as if he went around sniffing his friends in human form, but something about them must have registered because it seemed so familiar to him as a cat. He felt the bed shift as she sat down and then a warm hand started to stoke his tummy. His human instincts still mostly asleep, Merlin stretched once more and his purr rapidly increased in volume.

"Merlin must have left the door open," Arthur complained.

"You gave him the afternoon off, remember?" Gwen said, still stroking the cat. "We were the last out of here and I'm fairly certain we closed the door behind us."

"So, how did it get in here?" Arthur noticed what his wife was doing and sighed. "Guinevere, don't encourage it."

"Oh, but he's lovely and so friendly." Merlin opened his eyes a little to find he was still upside down and blinked as he tried to come to terms with where he was and adjust to the strange view he currently had of his friends; Gwen still sitting next to him on the bed, with Arthur now moving closer, his hands suddenly touching him far more roughly than he'd experienced up until this point.

"That is not staying on the bed," the king said, suddenly picking Merlin up. It was a very strange sensation being scooped up in that way. He half remembered being lifted by Percival in his human form, but even that had felt awkward, his weight and length a challenge even for someone of that knight's size. This, however felt more like flying on the dragon, simply sailing up in the air with little resistance, and it was only that enjoyable memory that prevented Merlin from complaining about this especially rough treatment.

This was Arthur, his subconscious reminded him, although trust the prat to be quite so rough. He now found himself face to face with the king who was holding him quite closely, hands under his front paws. Now Merlin did wriggle, pulling his ears back as the feline part of him suddenly objected to such close eye contact.

"Don't hold him like that, Arthur," Gwen complained. "You can see he doesn't like it."

"It's not supposed to like it," Arthur grumbled. "The cheek of it, acting as if it owns the place," but he readjusted his grip nonetheless and pulled Merlin closer. The cat relaxed, placed his paws on the king's shoulders and started to purr loudly, pleased to be in a more comfortable position.

"Aaw, he likes you," Gwen observed but Arthur had now frozen, stunned by the unexpected affection as Merlin butted his head up against the king's chin and continued to purr loudly. It was an interesting coming together of his two parts he observed dispassionately; the cat genuinely revelling in the close proximity of a good friend, whilst the human, despite feeling a bit awkward about the situation, rather enjoyed seeing Arthur so totally confused by the experience. "And he seems so at home here," the queen continued hopefully.

"Don't look at me like that, Guinevere," Arthur complained, giving Merlin a few strokes without even realising he was doing it. "We are not keeping it."

Merlin laughed at the comment, which came out as a strange little chirrup mixed in with his continued purring. Gwen had moved closer to her husband so she could resume her fussing and Arthur abruptly deposited Merlin back into her arms and moved quickly away. "Do you hear me, Guinevere? No cats in the royal chambers."

"Of course, Arthur," she replied with such a light tone that Merlin knew that she was just humouring him. He looked up at her with a questioning gaze.

"Ssh... don't worry... we'll think of something," she whispered. "We'll just pretend for now, shan't we?" Merlin purred at her in response as she put him down on a small stool near the fire and gave him several more strokes.

"Don't get attached," Arthur continued. "I'll ask around and see who he belongs to."

"Perhaps he doesn't have a home," she suggested.

"That is no feral cat, Guinevere and, as you said, he's especially friendly. I'm sure it'll be fine. Let's just put him outside and I'm sure he'll head straight home." Again Merlin felt himself being picked up, a little more gently this time, he noted, before he experienced a sudden unpleasant chill and found himself back out in the corridor once again.

Merlin looked up at Arthur, widened his large orange eyes and opened his mouth to emit the most pathetic sound he'd uttered so far – so quiet that it hardly came out at all.

"Don't you look at me like that, cat, you won't sway me that easily."

"Please, Arthur, it's cold out here and your bed's lovely and warm."

"That pathetic excuse for a meow won't sway me either. Shoo," he said, closing the door. Knowing it was unlikely the king would change his mind, Merlin headed back down the corridor and made his way back towards home, the journey seeming to be very much longer in this much smaller form.

~o~O~o~

As Merlin approached the physician's chambers, he reflected on how much he was enjoying this nice little holiday and how he had no intention of letting it end quite yet.

Using the usual magic trick to open the door he noticed that Gaius was now home, currently engrossed in mixing up supplies, and so he sneaked in as quietly as possible and eventually made it back into his own room without being noticed.

Once there, Merlin jumped up onto his desk and used magic to move a blank piece of parchment into his view. He seriously contemplated turning himself back in order to write the notes he had in mind, but found that he didn't want to face those emotions quite yet. He realised that, as a cat, he wasn't feeling anywhere near the same level of hurt and pain as he had in his human form and so decided to use magic to create a couple of letters - an easy enough task to accomplish he noted. One was to Arthur explaining that he had decided to take a couple more days off and the second was to Gaius which additionally told the old man not to worry and that he'd worked out a way to keep an eye on everyone in the process and wouldn't be gone for long.

Probably. He added to himself.

~o~0~o~

Merlin stayed in his room for rest of the day and only left at night when he was certain that Gaius was asleep. He used magic to move the two notes onto the old man's table deciding that it was easier to leave them both here rather than trying to send Arthur's directly to him.

The corridors were mostly deserted at this time of night and Merlin stalked them with confidence, wandering down to the kitchens again for a bite to eat before walking up the stairs to one of the upper corridors. He hadn't gone far when he became aware of someone approaching around the next corner, first the sound, then the scent. Merlin automatically started to purr again.

"Well now, what do we have here?" the knight asked. "Not the type of intruder I was expecting to encounter on the nightly patrol." He crouched down and Merlin moved quickly to greet him, still purring loudly.

"Hello, Gwaine."

"Friendly little thing, aren't you?" he said, laughing as Merlin kept moving around him as he hunted for comfortable spots to rub up against and causing the knight to almost topple over as a result. "Stand still, will you. How am I supposed to fuss you if you keep moving?"

Suddenly Merlin caught another scent and a growl erupted from his throat before he'd even registered the feelings of nerves and anger; unexpected considering the usually more muted emotions he'd experienced in this form so far. "What's the matter, boy?" Gwaine asked.

"What have you got there?" the second knight asked.

"Seems I've made a friend."

The younger man moved forward with a smile but Merlin quickly backed off, still quietly grumbling.

"It's alright, little one, I won't hurt you," he reassured, also crouching down and offering a hand, but the cat's instinct were so finely tuned into Merlin's human ones that there was nothing he could do but back away fearfully, his hackles now raised.

"I don't think he likes you, Mordred," Gwaine joked. "Obviously this cat has very good taste."

"Hey!"

Merlin struggled with his emotions, forcing himself to relax to a certain extend but still not able to bring himself to move towards the young sorcerer. Apart from anything else, there was a chance that Mordred would be able to see through his disguise and that would definitely spoil all the plans he had for the next day or two.

So, after a few moments of stalemate, the cat quickly turned tail and travelled back the way he came, suddenly deciding to reach his destination via another route.

When he arrived outside, Merlin found that it was easy enough to sneak past the sleepy guard, and surprisingly simple to use a subtle spell to open the door and stroll back into the royal chambers. His sensitive ears quickly informed him that the king and queen were asleep and so, with one graceful leap, the black cat jumped up onto the bed, found himself a warm, comfortable spot nestled in-between his two friends, and quickly fell asleep.

~o~0~o~

A/N: Thank you for your lovely reviews and sorry it's been a while. This chapter has been half finished for some time but I've had lots of other stuff to write and so this kept being put on hold. I think this story has at least one more chapter left in it and I've recently had a rough idea for the ending. Saying that, do keep letting me know what you'd like to see and, you never know, this might be extended even further.

18/3/13