Chapter 23
New Years passed the same was as Christmas, as blur of close friends and family. The entire time Merlin spent it close to both, either by his side or only a few feet away. Both men were neither far from each other's company. They didn't notice but the company around them did.
In true Morgana fashion, she and Leon had their wedding the day before Valentine's Day. When Merlin walked into the hotel's reception area, not Camelot fortunately, instead of the usual Valentine's colors as he would expect, he saw blues and whites, Morgana's and Leon's favorite colors. Leave it to Morgana to do things differently.
Since he wasn't part of the ceremony, Merlin sat in the pews. He sat on Morgana's side, feeling closer to her than he did Leon.
"No plus one?"
Merlin looked up to see Arthur standing by the pew with a smirk. He laughed lightly.
"No," he said. "No one I wanted to bring."
"What about Mr. Right?" asked Arthur.
"He's already here."
"So why aren't you sitting with him?" Merlin shrugs and Arthur chuckles. "You're a strange man, Merlin Emrys."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Arthur smiled and left to take his place in the line of grooms.
"Isn't this exciting," said Merida sitting with Will. Gwen was with Morgana as the maid-of-honor and helping her prepare and Lancelot was a groomsman so he was with Leon helping him "prepare", which probably meant taking advantage of the mini-bottles of whiskey and vodka the hotel stocked in the green rooms.
"Yes," said Merlin. "Hey, Merida."
Merlin hadn't seen her since before his accident because she had gotten accepted to MIT and moved to the States. She had spent the Christmas holidays with her parents and Will, though she did send a card during his recovery.
"I'm glad to see you're recovering, Merlin," said Merida happily.
"Well, almost," he said holding up his arm that was in a brace. The result of an incident he didn't want to get into.
"Merlin, what happened?" asked Merida in shock.
"Had a disagreement with the wall."
Will looked at Merlin sadly and Merlin quickly turned to conversation to MIT, wanting to get away from the subject.
XXXXXX
"One last touch," said Gwen and brushed some rouge onto Morgana's cheek. Not that the girl needed it. Morgana was a natural beauty even without the makeup, something Gwen wished for half her life. "There."
Morgana opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were touched with blue eye shadow and softly lines with kohl. Around her neck was a blue necklace that had once belonged to her mother with matching earrings. Her dress was a masterpiece. All of the wedding party's outfits were designed by Gwen. Morgana's dress was white with mesh shoulders and sleeves. A two foot train ran behind her and blue sequins were sewn into the dress in wave designs. Her veil also had wave sequins sewn into it and it attached to her hair with a tiara. Her hair was piled on top of her head in curls with carefully placed pearl pins with a few strays framing her face.
"Something old and something new," said Gwen pointing to the necklace and gown. "Something blue…" She snaps her fingers and unhooks a silver chain bracelet. "Something borrowed."
"Oh, no, Gwen, I couldn't," said Morgana as Gwen snapped the bracelet on.
"Oh, shush," said Gwen. "You look beautiful, as always."
"It's only because of you. After this, we're going to open your boutique and sell all of your fabulous designs."
Gwen laughed happily with her friend. Morgana had agreed to help Gwen get her dream boutique off the ground and the dark haired girl had no problem believing her friend would be a success.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door and turned to see Arthur standing by the open door.
"Is it safe to enter," he asked.
The girls giggled one last time before Morgana smoothed her dress and cleared her throat.
"You may," she said.
Arthur smiled as he walked in and took in the sight of his sister.
"You look like a princess," he said.
"Of course I do," she said. She began biting her lower lips, something she only did when she was nervous.
"Hey, it'll be okay," said Arthur walking up to her. "Leon proposed to you. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't love you and could tolerate your bitchiness." Morgana punched him hard in the arm. "Ow!"
"You deserved it," she said. She looked at his face and frowned. "What's wrong?"
"What do you mean?" asked Arthur, trying to fake innocence. Morgana hit him again. "Ow! Ana! I'm starting to bruise."
"Baby. I knew you most of your life. You're my brother. Which means I know when there's something wrong."
Arthur sighed, knowing he'd either tell or she'd make his life a living hell for the rest of the day.
"Uther came by," he said. "He demanded to be let in and walk you down the aisle."
Morgana scrunched her face in annoyance.
"Is he still here?" she asked.
"No. Lance and Percival "showed" him out. Course he said some pretty colorful things to Percy as he was being led out."
"Bet Gwaine didn't take too kindly to that," she said with a smile.
"No, he said some colorful things to Uther as well. Not thing I'd care to repeat in the presence of two lovely ladies."
Gwen and Morgana laughed. They had heard Gwaine's colorful language before.
When sending out invitations, Arthur had asked why Morgana didn't send one to Uther, to which Morgana said that she never viewed Uther as her father. In her opinion, her father died when she was a little girl, and while Uther was biologically her father, she didn't see him as that. So, in preparation of the wedding, she asked Arthur to escort her down the aisle, to which Arthur gladly agreed.
"I don't know why he would think he was invited," said Morgana. "It is invitation only."
"Maybe he thought that since he was your father, he would have an automatic invite," said Gwen.
"Whatever his reason, he is not welcomed here."
"Let's forget about Uther," said Arthur. "It's Morgana's big day and we need to focus on that."
"Right," said Gwen. She looked at the clock. "Look at the time. It's about to start. Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," said Morgana standing up and smiled at Arthur. "Ready?"
"Yep. Let's get you hitched."
Holding his arm out to his sister, he led her out of the room.
XXXXXX
The ceremony started with Leon's niece up front as the flower girl and Gwen as the maid of honor. Morgana was a princess in her white dress and her bouquet of blue roses and white flowers. Even a blind man could see the love and adoration both had for each other as the priest spoke of love and commitment and bot said their vows. At the end when the priest announced them married, the audience stood and cheered. Merlin would deny the tears in his eyes to anyone who asked.
The reception was in the hotel restaurant where The Rejects started the bride and groom dance. Morgana had brought in a DJ but she insisted that the dance start with Merlin's band. Merlin wrote a song just for the occasion and Morgana loved it. Merlin gave a whole CD of original songs as a wedding present.
Merlin spent most of the reception Merlin spent it with his friends. Gwaine and Lancelot both got stupidly drunk and flirted with everyone until Gwen and Percival lead them off to sleep off the drinks. Will and Merida spoke to a lot of the guests they didn't know while Elyan and his date danced on the dance floor. Morgana and Leon were near oblivious to the event around them as they spoke softly to each other.
Most of Merlin's attention was on Arthur. The man was milling about the floor talking with old friends and associates. The man looked gorgeous in his black tux and red boutonniere with his hair styled in a lazy fashion. Merlin could barely keep his eyes off him.
"You're eye fucking him, you know."
Merlin blinked and turned to see Percival standing next to him.
"Where's Gwaine?" he asked.
"Sleeping it off in the room." Rooms had been given to them since the reception as supposed to continue late in the night. No one wanted to risk driving even slightly intoxicated. Percival turned to Merlin. "You should tell him."
"Tell him what?" asked Merlin. "That I'm Wizard and he's Excalibur and that I knew eight months. We come from two different worlds, Percy. There's no way that he and I are going to work."
"Why, Merlin? Why can't you be together?"
"Because, I'm not a princess and this isn't a fairy tale. There's no way it would work."
"Have you met me and Gwaine?" asked Percival. "The two of us are as different as oil and water, but we love each other more than anything."
"That's different. That's…"
"Love, Merlin. That's love. Love doesn't care about black or white, man or woman, rich or poor. Love is about being with the person who completes you and makes you happy. These past few months, seeing Arthur with you, was the happiest I've seen him, and Gwen said you've been happier since you were with Arthur. Would you sacrifice everything because of your insecurity? Would you sacrifice Arthur?"
Merlin turned to Arthur, who was now dancing with Morgana. They were whispering and laughing, and Merlin was again mesmerized by the light in Arthur's eyes.
Merlin didn't know what happened next. Once second he was next to Percival and the next he was tapping Arthur on the shoulder.
"Mind if I cut in?" he asked.
"Uh, sure," said Arthur, moving aside for Merlin to take Morgana's hand, but Merlin took Arthur's instead and placed his other hand on Arthur's waist. Arthur looked at Merlin in shock and surprise.
"Just so you know, I suck at dancing," said Merlin with a shy smile. Arthur smiled back.
"Well, then you're lucky," he said taking Merlin's hand in his. "I took dancing classes growing up."
Merlin laughed and allowed Arthur to lead him around the dance floor, laying his head on Arthur's shoulder comfortably. Both of them didn't notice Morgana walking over to the DJ and whisper in his ear. The DJ put on a song and Morgana aimed the camera man toward the couple on the dance floor.
They read you Cinderella
You hoped it would come true
That one day your Prince Charming
Would come rescue you
You like romantic movies
You will never forget
The way you felt when Romeo kissed Juliet
All this time that you've been waiting
You don't have to wait no more
I can love you like that
I would make you my world
Move Heaven and Earth if you were my girl
I will give you my heart
Be all that you need
Show you you're everything that's precious to me
If you give me a chance
I can love you like that
I never make a promise I don't intend to keep
So when I say forever, forever's what I mean
I'm no Casanova but I swear this much is true
I'll be holdin' nothing back when it comes to you
You dream of love that`s everlasting
Well baby open up your eyes
I can love you like that
I would make you my world
Move Heaven and Earth if you were my girl
I will give you my heart
Be all that you need
Show you you're everything that's precious to me
If you give me a chance
I can love you like that
You want tenderness-I got tenderness
And I see through to the heart of you
If you want a man who understands
You don't have to look very far
I can love you like that
I would make you my world
Move Heaven and Earth if you were my girl
I will give you my heart
Be all that you need
Show you you're everything that's precious to me
If you give me a chance
I can love you like that
"I'm Wizard," said Merlin.
"I know," said Arthur. Merlin looked up at him in shock.
"When? How?"
"Before the accident. The guys told me and when you woke you didn't remember the fight or the accident."
"Why didn't you say anything?" asked Merlin.
"I had just realized what a fool I was for believing the wrong people, and I thought it was my fault that you got into the accident…"
"It wasn't," said Merlin. "It wasn't, Arthur. The driver was drunk. He shouldn't have even been behind the wheel. It wasn't your fault."
Arthur sighed and laid his forehead against Merlin's.
"Can you forgive me?" he asked.
"Nothing to forgive," said Merlin.
Arthur laughed and looked at Merlin's lovingly.
"So, this mystery guy, is he handsome?"
"Gorgeous," said Merlin.
"I love you, Merlin," said Arthur, feeling a weight lift off him now that he was able to tell him aloud.
"I love you too," said Merlin.
Arthur bent down and gently kissed Merlin. It was a lot like their kiss on Christmas Eve, soft and passionate, but now there was a lot of love behind the kiss and Merlin could help but smile against it. Arthur smiled too and held Merlin close against his chest. If Merlin was feeling breathless, he was blaming it on the humidity.
"How about 221B Baker Street for our wedding?" asked Arthur.
"Can you do that?" asked Merlin looking up at him.
"I'm Arthur Pendragon. I can do anything." He smiles at Merlin who laughed. "Did you know that Sherlock Holmes was one of the few famous classic fictional characters to never get a woman?"
Merlin smiled, giddy that Arthur took the time to research one of Merlin's favorite fictional characters. "Yes, but he always got his man."
TBC