Morgana and Merlin headed back to the office block and Morgana took him into her office for a coffee. They talk about the various options in the company. She even offered him the job as her PA. Saying she could transfer George. Merlin said that would not be fair on her present PA as no one deserves her brother. Morgana then tells him they have several openings in the company but she would really like him to work for her brother, as she felt he would be good for him.

"Arthur is a nice man underneath it all but it needs bringing out. That's what you get for being the boss's son, everyone bows down to him; he needs someone who won't put up with his nonsense. If you reconsider and join us for a month's trial and it doesn't work out, I'll give you a job elsewhere for the same salary." Morgana pleads. She is at her wits end trying to find someone for her brother.

"You must be desperate!" Merlin laughs "I suppose I should be flattered. Your brother won't want me anyway, so it's no use talking about it."

"He'll have no choice, I hire the staff. Please Merlin say you'll do it." Morgana could be very persuasive when she wanted to.

"Ok, but only if he agrees, I won't work where I'm not wanted." Merlin thought he was safe Arthur wouldn't want him after this morning.

"Great come on, we'll go up and see him." Morgana headed for the door holding it open so Merlin could get through with his wheelchair.

"Thank you, but I should be holding it open for you, just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't stop me you know." Merlin hated people to treat him differently because of the wheelchair.

They went along the corridor to the Vice Presidents office. Morgana walked straight in without knocking, causing Arthur to shake his head in annoyance, he didn't even look up from what he was doing.

Merlin followed the first thing he noticed was the incredible view right across the city of London. Then he noticed Arthur sitting behind his large desk. He didn't have the desk positioned facing the door as he expected, but instead it was to one side. But then Merlin thought he would too if he had a view like that.

"Try knocking Morgana, what have you come here for anyway, to have another go at me?" he sounded totally pissed off and Merlin wondered if this was a good idea.

"I've brought Merlin back so you can apologise to him." Morgana's voice made it clear she expected Arthur to comply with her demand.

That made the Vice Presidents head shoot up. He glared at his sister before turning his gaze to Merlin.

"Oh she dragged you back did she? Well sorry about that earlier." it was obvious that the blonde man was not used to apologising to anyone. "But I hadn't been warned."

Merlin looked at the man behind the desk he wasn't impressed, he might be one of the best looking men he had seen for ages but he had no manners.

"Sorry should I wear a notice saying 'wheelchair bound' on my head. If that was an apology you need to work on your communication skills." Merlin said keeping his face straight.

"Oh we need to keep him Arthur; he'll be so good for you. You won't make this one go away crying." Morgana was pleased that Merlin wouldn't be cowed by Arthur's attitude.

"Are you always this rude to your betters?" Arthur said looking at Merlin in surprise.

"Do you consider yourself better than others then? Anyway I'm only rude to anyone if they're rude first." Merlin glared at Arthur.

"Well I suppose since the harpy has brought you back you'd better stay." With that Arthur turned to his sister. "Go away."

"See you later Merlin, I'll come up at lunchtime and show you the canteen and save you from Arthur." With that she turned on her heals and left.

Arthur turned once more to Merlin: "Well. I've been told you are very well qualified for the job, so I expect you to get on with it. Did Morgana sort you out with passwords and things this morning?"

"Yes she did thank you." Merlin was determined to keep this professional.

"Right you'll find a list of things I want doing on your computer. I'll call if I need you and I don't expect anyone to just come past you without an appointment understand." Arthur obviously meant his sister.

"Understood although I suspect you don't mean the President and other board members." He replied innocently.

"Especially them." Arthur replied a glint in his eye.

"If that's all Mr Pendragon?" Merlin asked.

"If you're going to work for me it's Arthur."

"I'll get on with my work then Arthur." Merlin turned and left making sure to close the door after him.

The first thing he did was arrange to have the office chair removed; he preferred to stay in his wheelchair. It was specially padded, lightweight and he could turn it in small spaces so allowed him to move around easier. He then logged on to his computer and started to do his work. The morning flew past and Merlin only spoke to Arthur twice. Once at ten thirty when Arthur demanded a coffee, which Merlin made for him and again when Arthur wanted a file. Merlin did all he was asked and then spent the time starting to sort out the filling which seemed to be in a mess.

At lunchtime as promised Morgana arrived to take Merlin down to the canteen, Arthur chose that minute to phone and ask Merlin to fetch him some lunch. Morgana took the call and told Arthur that for today he would have to get his own as she was taking Merlin on a tour.

As they made their way to the canteen Merlin asked Morgana if it would be possible to have the four draw filing cabinets replaced with two draw as he couldn't get anything out of the top draws. He pointed out that there was sufficient room for the extra cabinets that would be needed. He was surprised at how quickly she agreed.

"If you need any other adjustments please let my PA know and he will sort it out for you."

With that they arrived at the canteen. Merlin was introduced to several of the staff and immediately felt at home. After getting some lunch they had just sat down at one of the tables when Arthur came in.

"Morgana make sure this doesn't happen again I haven't got the time to run down here." Arthur was obviously not amused at having to collect his own lunch.

"Well you should make time; you'd work better with a proper break." She turned to Merlin "And make sure you get your breaks as well."

Merlin wisely kept quiet not intending to get between the siblings as they argued, anyway he intended to bring food in with him anyway and not use the canteen.

"Princess you aren't bullying the staff again are you?" come a voice from behind Arthur. A good looking man with shoulder length brunette locks and short facial hair walk from behind Arthur. He looked at Merlin with interest. Merlin saw the man noticed his wheelchair straight away.

"Hi I'm Gwaine I work in development." he held out his hand.

"Hi Gwaine I'm Merlin, Mr Pendragon's new PA. Pleased to meet you." Merlin took the man's hand and shook it.

"The pleasure is all mine. Just don't let your boss bully you; he's a bit of a tyrant." Merlin noticed that Arthur rolled his eyes. "Gwaine don't you have work to do?" Arthur asked.

"No it's my lunch break and I think I'll spend it with this lovely man." Gwaine winked at Merlin.

"Merlin I warn you Gwaine would flirt with anyone." Arthur butted in.

"Are you suggesting that Gwaine would have to be indiscriminate to flirt with me Sir?" Merlin had an edge to his voice.

"No you idiot, I meant no such thing, just watch him that's all. Gwaine behave yourself and leave my staff alone." Arthur turned and went to get his lunch.

Gwaine sat down by Merlin "If you need anything just give me a call, it's a big building to round."

"Oh I'll be fine, just give me a few days." Merlin hated anyone to think he needed extra help because of the wheelchair.

"Well it's nice to meet you Merlin, good luck with the boss." Gwaine grinned picking up his packet of sandwiches he went on his way.

Morgana showed Merlin all the places he might need to go before going back with him to his office. Once alone he checked to see if Arthur had left him further instructions before knocking on his boss's door. Hearing Arthur telling him to enter he went in. Arthur looked up as Merlin stopped in front of his desk.

"What is it Merlin?"

"Well I've finished what's on your list and made a start on the filing system but I thought I'd check with you before continuing with it."

Arthur looked surprised "What you've done all of it?"

"That's what I said Sir" Merlin looked at Arthur expecting the man to question him but instead Arthur looked pleased.

"Well Morgana's finally found someone who can work. I suppose we had better get to know each other a bit. After all we will be together quite a bit." Arthur paused "Do you have any problem coming away on business trips by the way, only with the chair.." he tailed of not sure how to continue.

"No problem as long as know in advance. My chair will fold into a car boot. If you need to fly I just need to let the airline know but as I will book the tickets that's no problem. Look just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean you need to treat me any different you know." Merlin wanted that cleared up from the start.

"No I don't suppose you do. Do you mind me asking what happened?"

"Yes I do mind, it's none of your business. My private life is my own. Any more questions?"

Arthur was surprised at the tone of Merlin's voice but thought perhaps it was a touchy subject. He would ask Morgana if she knew later. "Look I'm only trying to get to know you. I didn't interview you so haven't seen your C.V. so I know nothing about you at all."

"You can ask me anything that would be on a CV. No problem but my medical information is private." Merlin tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. He hadn't been in the chair that long and it was still a sensitive subject.

"Is there anything you'd like to ask me?" Arthur was trying to get back on safe ground. It seemed to work and they discussed the work that Arthur did and what he expected of his PA. Merlin then returned to his desk to go through Arthur's diary so he knew what was coming up.

Mid afternoon Arthur went down to see Morgana. He wanted to find out a bit more about Merlin. The man seemed to know his stuff but was a bit of a puzzle. Arthur thought once they got to know one another they could possibly get along but he was finding it difficult to cope with the other mans prickliness. He knew he could be difficult but two difficult people in the same office could prove to be uncomfortable if not unworkable.

George told Morgana he was there and he went in and sat down in front of his sister.

"Can you tell me a bit about my new PA?" he demanded.

"Ask him."

"I tried but he's a bit touchy and you interviewed him so spill." Arthur clearly had no time for his sister's games.

"Well you can see his CV" seeing her brother face she continued "or I suppose I can tell you what I know. Merlin has a degree in business studies and speaks both French and German. He started work for Essetir international and worked his way up until he was PA for Cenred Essetir; he was with him for a year. He left after he had his accident and was then in hospital for a year. Then he started to look for work he did some part time for a charity before applying here. The charity was very impressed and gave him excellent references."

"Do you know anything about his accident?"

"I know he's paraplegic due to broken back but nothing further. He went to see our Occupation Health and they were happy he could do the job. The information they have is confidential as well you know." Morgana hoped that Arthur knew as she too was curious. "Have you asked him?"

"Yes and he refused to tell me. I just don't want to put my foot in it again. He seems to know his stuff." He admitted.

"He'd have to if he worked for Cenred. You know what he's like." Morgana clearly had a low opinion of Cenred.

"Yes I do. I wonder if Uther knows anything. He deals with Cenred sometimes. I might ask him."

"Best of luck. Now I need to get on with my work, see you later about eight o'clock normal place?"

"Yes ok, see you then." Arthur left even more puzzled than before.

When he got back to his office he asked Merlin to make an appointment to see his father. He was surprised when Uther told Merlin he was on his way down to see him. Arthur asked Merlin to get a tray of tea for two then sat and waited.

Uther arrived within ten minutes just as Merlin was coming in with the tea. He had the boiling water in a flask.

"I have bought the water in the flask so I don't spill it and burn myself. Don't worry I'll put it in the teapot once it's down on the table." Merlin took the tray off his lap and put it on the desk then made the pot of tea before leaving the two men alone.

"I didn't know you had a new PA what happened to the last one." Uther asked.

"She left, said it was too much work." Arthur admitted.

"You mean you were too much work. Really boy you need to get your act together. Where did you get him from?" Uther nodded toward the door.

"Morgana, in fact that's one of the reasons why I wanted to see you father. He used to work for Cenred as his PA and I wondered if you had met him before. He wouldn't have been in the chair then."

"Oh Morgana said she wanted to get our allocation of disabled staff up, something to do with government policies. Can't say I recognise him. Did you say he wasn't in a chair then?" Arthur could see the cogs working in the older man's brain. "Ah yes I remember now, someone had an accident about a year ago, got run over in their under office garage. He was cutting through and shouldn't have been there. Bit of a fuss at the time with health and safety. Boy didn't get a penny he shouldn't have been there. They were lucky."

Arthur was shocked. How could his father be so hard? Obviously Merlin hadn't been that lucky.

"Make sure he signs all the paperwork and knows all the regulations here, I must speak to Morgana she needs to be more careful who she hires. Is he any good?"

"Very efficient father, he's a hard worker no complaints."

Arthur's father looked at his son "That's unusual for you son, don't go soft just because he's a cripple don't let him get away with anything. We're not a charity. Now what else did you need?"

Arthur then spent some time discussing some development ideas Gwaine had brought forward. Once they had finished Uther left he was going off early to meet a business associate. Arthur was outraged by his father's comments and rand Morgana to warn her. He found himself feeling quite protective towards his new PA. He wondered what the whole story was about Merlin's accident and vowed to find out.