Hey! So, I wanted to keep each of these works under a thousand words in this series. However, I got a comment on this work on Ao3 that gave me such a wonderful idea for another chapter I just had to write it. So, let's just say every chapter is under a thousand words. Anyhow, thank you to Deathbane for the wonderful, amazing idea! Enjoy!

Gaius had long left the little cottage by the time either of the new parents moved from gazing at their baby.

Finnian, unfortunately, was the one who broke the serene atmosphere when his little face scrunched up, and he let lose a miserable cry. Merlin bounced him gently.

"I believe someone is hungry," he said fondly. "Let's go see if we can wrangle some milk from Cook, hm, darling?"

Arthur felt nothing but absolute love swell in his heart at the sight of his husband so tenderly holding and talking to their child. Their child. The words still sounded foreign in his own head.

He thought marrying Merlin had been the happiest day of his life. Now, it was well and truly tied with this day. He couldn't quite believe he'd been so blessed twice by the gods.

"Are you coming?" Merlin asked distractedly. Arthur glanced back behind the curtain to where he knew the mother's body still lied, waiting for a proper grave to be dug. There was something he needed to do first.

"I'll be there in a little while. You go get him something to eat," Arthur said, offering Merlin a chaste kiss. He bent down and left a feather-light one on his son's forehead. "I won't let him give you all the attention for long, my prince."

Merlin shoved him towards the curtain with a fond grumble of annoyance.

As soon as he ducked behind the curtain, the feeling in the air immediately changed. The warmth and absolute joy in the air had been replaced with the heavy blanket of death.

Arthur had seen hundreds, probably thousands, of dead bodies in his life. Yet, seeing the body of this young girl whom he'd never have given a second glance to on the street, laid out on her meager cot, pale and cold, struck his heart. This was the mother of his son. She had, even unknowingly, given Arthur a gift he could never repay her for, not in a thousand lifetimes.

He knelt by her bedside and gently took one of her stiff hands from where they were folded across her stomach.

"I'm so sorry," he said softly. He hadn't the faintest idea where else to begin.

He studied her features, lax and at ease in death. She couldn't have been any older than sixteen years. Still a child herself.

Arthur felt a single tear run down his cheek. He didn't bother to wipe it away.

"I'm sorry you never got to see your son. He's such a beautiful child. He's got hair as golden as the sun and eyes as green as the grass in spring. He's a tiny little thing; he's only a little bigger than my forearm. But he's beautiful all the same, much like his mother."

Arthur smiled wryly to himself. Merlin would say he's such a secret sap.

"We named him Finnian Lancelot Pendragon. Merlin and I are going to take such good care of him. We're going to raise him like our own. He'll have the best life we can provide; I can promise you that. He'll never know the cold or hunger. He'll never know pain or fear as long as we can help it. We'll give him any and everything he could possibly need. We'll love him unconditionally."

He continued, "We'll make sure he has the best education nobility can offer. He'll be the prince of our kingdom and some day, when the time is right and he's ready, he'll be king."

He swallowed hard and choked back tears as he said his next words. "I won't be my father. I won't force him to do vile things. I won't even force him to be king if he does not wish to be so. He will never fear magic." He chuckled. "It would be difficult if he did seeing as his other father is the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth. But you needn't worry; Merlin is the kindest soul I've ever met, and I have no doubt that same kindness will be passed to our child. It will be his choice whether he wants to follow me into being a knight. If so, I will train him myself and make sure he is the noblest knight of them all. However, I will be just as proud if he chooses to follow in Merlin's footsteps and learn the beautiful art of sorcery. And yet, I will be prouder still if he chooses to plow a path of his own in the world, completely different from either of ours."

Arthur placed her hand back on her stomach. He kissed the tips of his fingers and reached out, placing them on her cheek. "But no matter what, he will always know where he came from. We will never let him forget that he had a mother. He will not have to shy away from talking about you as I did with my own mother's memory."

Another tear fell.

"And my hope is that you get to watch upon him from Avalon. You get to see him grow up just as we have been blessed to. I hope that you are proud of the man we raise. I thank you for this little blessing."

With that, Arthur went to join his husband and child, not noticing the pale gold figure of a young blonde girl standing next to the body, tears in her eyes and a joyous smile on her face.

That's all! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope I did it justice!