Hey guys! I am soooo sorry its been forever. I've graduated and got a wedding to plan so its been a busy year. Also I'm not entirely sure this chapter was worth the wait but hopefully people are still invested in it. I will try and update more regularly from now on.

It was time to deal with Lancelot. Gwen had been dreading this moment for weeks. Between her developing duties and responsibilities as a knight and moving in with Morgana, she had successfully managed to avoid any significant alone time with him. But Arthur was beginning to get impatient. He made no secret of his dislike for Lancelot and regularly criticised him during training. Last week he humiliated Lancelot by ordering him to clean out the stables as a punishment for staring at Gwen. He interrupted field exercises in order to deliberately announce the reprimand in front of everyone.

"Lancelot, I have asked you for the last time to focus," Arthur yelled from his horse, "If you could give us your attention for five minutes instead of ogling Gwen, we might actually get some work done today."

"Sorry sire," Lancelot bowed his head as he rode past Arthur to regroup with the rest of the knights. Gwen blushed and was immediately annoyed with Arthur.

"I haven't finished," Arthur said coldly. Everyone fell silent as Lancelot turned round and walked his horse back to Arthur. Gwen glared at Arthur but he ignored her.

"Yes sire?" Lancelot asked politely, his face expressionless but with a hint of anger in his eyes.

"I think you need to learn to appreciate your position. You seem to be getting too big for your boots. How about a week mucking out the horses? Would that suit you?" Arthur sneered.

Gwen hated this side of Arthur. She hoped it was only his jealously and arrogance talking and not something deep inside him. And it was moments like this when she saw why she could love Lancelot.

"Of course sire. Would you like me to begin now or after I've finished training?" Lancelot's tone was respectful.

"You have to finish training. Now get back to work," Arthur shouted.

"Yes sire," Lancelot bowed his head and walked his horse back to his fellow knights. He lifted his head as he rode past Gwen and gave her a small smile. The rest of the knights kept silent until Arthur was out of earshot. Lancelot was then surrounded by men patting him on the back and saying how unfair Arthur had been. Lancelot just smiled at them in return and kept his mouth shut. He was such a good man.

For Gwen, situations like that were just awkward. She wanted to be seen as an equal, not some girl who caused tension between the prince and one of the best knights in Camelot. Many of the locals believed that Lancelot was indeed the best knight, others said it was Arthur. Gwen privately thought that given a chance, she might prove the best knight of them all. But she never voiced this belief but waited until the day she would show them on the battlefield instead.

Gwen's heart ached at the memory of that day, and it ached at the thought of hurting Lancelot. Was she making the right decision? She had no idea. But there was something about Arthur, something about the way he looked at her, the way he held her, that made her think he was different. She knew her relationship with Arthur would never be as easy as the one she would have had with Lancelot but she wanted a man who would challenge her, a man who would argue with her and ignite a passion in her heart. Lancelot was nice, agreeable, trusting, there would never be any drama with him. For some girls he would be the prefect man, but not for Gwen. She loved the mixed up, confused, possessive, jealous, arrogant, rude, spoiled, stressed king to be. Gwen laughed at herself. She never chose the easy route.

She had arranged to go for a walk with Lancelot, perhaps wander into the forest for some privacy. She didn't think the conversation would go badly, Lancelot was far too much of a gentleman to cause a scene and she suspected he might have an inkling about what she was going to say. He came and met her from her door with a flower. She smiled warmly at him, put the flower in her hair and took his offering hand. They walked hand in hand through the town and out into the forest. They chatted and caught up about the last couple of weeks and it was nice. Gwen hoped they would remain friends after the break up.

Gwen took a deep breath and began, "Lancelot, there is something we need to talk about."

"It's over isn't it?" Lancelot calmly replied. He continued walking and looking straight ahead.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said yes in the first place and I shouldn't have let it continue for so long," Gwen apologised.

"It's because of him," Lancelot didn't even have to ask.

"No, it's not, it's me. I'm not ready for a commitment…" Gwen tried to explain.

"Don't lie to me please Gwen," Lancelot interrupted. He stopped suddenly and looked at her.

"I know it's because of Arthur. Do you think I'm blind? Or that nobody knows? You both have to get better with your acting skills if you want to pretend that nothing is going on. All the knights know." Lancelot was beginning to get angry.

"Everyone knows?" Gwen squeaked.

"Yes but they won't tell Uther. You should have more faith in your friends."

"I am sorry, Lancelot, truly I am," Gwen apologised again.

"I know you are," Lancelot regained his composure. He bent down and kissed her forehead.

"Be careful though. He is a prince. The Prince. The future King of Camelot. Do you truly believe he will be allowed to court you? And you can't even thinking about getting married to him?"

Gwen just looked away into the distance.

"You're joking. You honestly believe that this relationship will have a happy ending? Gwen you are a wonderful, beautiful woman. You deserve better than a secret relationship with no future." Lancelot stroke Gwen's cheek and gently moved her face till she was looking at him.

"I'm sorry if I upset you. You know I will always be here if you need me." He smiled down at her and held out him arm.

She gave him a small smile, put her arm through his and they walked back arm in arm.

He had given her a lot to think about. He was right about the sneaking around, it was beginning to get a bit worrying. Arthur never wanted to talk about their future or the possibility of telling his father. She thought she understood. But she had trusted him with her biggest secret, a life threating secret and felt like she was standing on the edge of cliff in her relationship with Arthur. She could fall at any minute if things went badly. And he didn't seem willing to join her on the edge. She sighed heavily and let her head drop on to her pillow.

"Something troubling you?" asked Morgana as she poked her head round the door into Gwen's bedroom/wash area from her own bedroom/kitchen.

"Nothing important."

"How did it go with Lancelot today?" Morgana asked concerned.

"He was the perfect gentleman, the way only Lancelot could be when someone decides to lead him on and break his heart," Gwen answered.

"You didn't lead him on…" Gwen shot her a look, "…well not a lot anyway. He must have known it was coming though. You weren't the most affectionate girl in the world and it's plain for everyone to see how Arthur feels about you."

"Yeah, he knew about that too, does everyone know? Is it that obvious?" Gwen asked frustrated.

"His feelings are. Yours are much better hidden," Morgana explained. All she got in response was a heavier sigh. "I'll make us some dinner and we talk about it okay?"

"Thank you"

Dinner was a mixture of vegetables and herbs. It was quite nice but Morgana was not much of a cook.

"Thank you for dinner"

Morgana smiled, "It was a pleasure. Are you feeling any better?"

"No, not really. Morgana can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can,"

"And I want a completely honest answer, not what you think will make me feel better," Gwen demanded.

"Okay…" Morgana looked hesitant.

"Do you think me and Arthur could have a future together? An actual married, children, King and Queen future?" Gwen asked.

Morgana's face immediately dropped and she avoided meeting Gwen's eyes. Morgana started poking her leftovers with a fork.

"Morgana…?" Gwen attempted to get an answer.

"Honestly…I don't know. Arthur clearly has feelings for you. But you're not the first girl he has had feelings for and I'm not sure whether they are strong enough for him to ever go against his father or his duty. You have to understand that you are asking a lot of him?

"Yes, I know…," Gwen was devastated.

"I'm really sorry if I've upset you," Morgana leaned over and patted Gwen's hand.

Gwen shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I needed to hear that."

"You realise that you're probably talking to all the wrong people. Why don't you just ask Arthur?"

"I'm not entirely sure that I want to hear his answer," Gwen admitted.

Morgana smiled at her in sympathy.

The next morning Gwen woke up with a plan. She was not this girl. She was not the girl who spent the night moaning to her friend about man problems. Or any problems for that matter. Gwen was a fighter, a survivor and it was about time she remembered who she was. It was time to talk to Arthur about where they were and where they were going.

Gwen got dressed, grabbed some fruit and headed out the door to the castle. Morgana saw the determined look on her friend's face and smiled. This was the Gwen Morgana had grown fond off, the strongest girl she knew, mentally and physically.

Gwen knocked loudly on the door of Arthur's chambers. Merlin answered the door.

"Hello Gwen…are you okay? You look like a woman on a mission," he laughed.

"I am on a mission, is Arthur in?" Gwen asked.

"Yes he is. Shall I give you both some space?" Merlin looked behind him and saw Arthur shaking his head furiously.

"That would be great, thank you Merlin," Gwen smiled at him.

"Actually I should stay and polish…." Merlin stuttered.

"We will be fine Merlin," Gwen slid past him into the room and proceeded to usher Merlin out the room.

"Okay I'll be right outside…"Merlin called as Gwen shut the door behind him.

Gwen finally turned her attention to Arthur.

"Hello Arthur," she smiled at him.

"If this is about my treatment of Lancelot again, I'm not going to apologise…" Arthur started off grumpily.

"It's not about Lancelot. In fact, there is no Lancelot anymore."

Arthur's face broke into a huge smile. "You finally ended it with him?"

"Yes."

Arthur rushed over to her and hugged her tightly, "Thank you."

Gwen hugged him back but gently pushed him off her, "Arthur, we need to talk."

Arthur's face dropped, "What about?"

"About us. About what happens now. Our future?"

"Well…I quite like how are at the minute. Especially now Lancelot is out of the picture," Arthur gave her a cheeky grin.

"That's not enough for me…" Gwen replied quietly.

"What do you want me to do? Tell my father by the way I'm courting the woman you hate most in Camelot, she isn't the right class, o and also she is a witch?" Arthur shouted in frustration.

"Arthur if you're going to insult me, the least you can do is keep your voice down about the thing that can get me killed in an instant," Gwen glared at him.

"I wasn't insulting you," Arthur snapped.

"You just listed all the reasons I'm not good enough or worthy enough for your father to know about me."

"You are good enough, and more than worthy, you know that don't you?" Arthur asked concerned.

"Yes I do, but I'm not sure you do. Not really. Would you ever consider telling your father about us?" Gwen begged him with her heart to say what she needed to hear.

His silence decided everything.

"Okay Arthur, if that's your decision. I'll accept it," Gwen replied with as much dignity as she could muster.

"I didn't decide anything," he muttered confused.

"Yes, you did," Gwen said sadly, "I think we are making a mistake. I'm asking too much of you and that's not fair. And you're asking too much of me, to be kept a secret and feel ashamed of who I am. I'm proud of my background and what it has made me into today. I refuse to hide any more than I already have to."

"I'm sorry Arthur. I truly care about you. I'll see you at training this afternoon," and with that Gwen turned and walked out of his room.

Arthur watched her leave.

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry about Arthur and Gwen. I have a plan :) xx

P.S If anyone would like to make an image for this fanfic it would be much appreciated.