A/N: Told you I'd update quickly. And what d'you know? I've finished most of the next chapter, too! Looks like things will be speeding up around here, I've hit a spurt of inspiration.

When Guinevere arrived, Arthur was hunched over his reading with an intense expression. He'd finished one book and skipped another two that were written in gibberish. (alright, not gibberish – magic-ish) He'd taken note of one or two passages that could, possibly, contain vague references to time travel, but even as he reached the last third of his current volume, he'd found no significant leads, and he was falling asleep.

The sound of the door opening actually made him jump up in his seat and he realized that he must have dozed off. Hastily, he shut the book he was holding, shoved it under another nondescript tome, and grabbed a new book off the shelf. He picked a random place to start reading and wished he'd picked a more interesting title than Botany for the Medically Inclined. He tried to look interested anyway. He could hear Guinevere creeping towards his corner of the room.

"Hello…?" She hadn't seen him yet. He heard her pause in the part of the room where he knew she'd be able to see Merlin's sleeping form clearly.

"Gwen?" He called, somewhat timidly. If meeting the younger version of your best friend was weird, meeting the younger version of your spouse was unbearably weird.

Gwen peaked around the bookshelf and tried hard to smile at him. He felt his heart soften. She was shy, like he remembered her being, but now he was older and wiser, and able to appreciate the depth of how gentle she was by nature, even at this young age. She was in her maid's clothes and her hair was frizzily falling in her face, but he thought she was beautiful. It hurt him to realize he couldn't tell her so.

"Sire," She curtsied, and he frowned. "It's umm… That is, I came to…"

"Gaius told me," Arthur said, and she gave him another nervous smile.

"Of course." There was an awkward pause. "What are you reading?" She asked.

Arthur had forgotten, but said anyway: "Just keeping myself occupied. Trying to help Gaius figure out what's got him konked out for so long," he pointed to Merlin, and Gwen looked back at the unconscious man.

"It's… really weird," she said, "to have you both here." She paused and realized what she said. "I mean, not in… not a bad way. Even though you're not supposed to be here, but. Well, supposed to be in Camelot, I'm sure, but not now. Here. That is…well, it's a bit odd for me." She finished with a forced smile, her cheeks blazing. It was nearly impossible for Arthur to hide his smile. It was all so Gwen.

"It's odd for me, too," he said, and knew she'd hear his amusement in his voice. She did, and blushed deeper.

"Gaius said he'd need another dose of his medication?" she said, changing the subject. Arthur nodded.

"Right. It's… just here." He plucked up the bottle that Gaius had left for them, and a small cup along with it. He handed them to Gwen.

"Thank you, Sire."

"Don't," He said, and the suddenness of the word made both of them pause. He cleared his throat and said more calmly, "You don't have to call me that."

She looked confused. "Call you what?"

"Sire," Arthur said, finding it hard to meet her eyes. "You don't have to call me Sire. Please, it's just Arthur." She looked at him as though he'd told her that the sky was green. "Is just… a bit odd for me, we'll say," He smiled, and after a moment, she nodded.

"Thank you, S- Arthur." Her mouth handled the word awkwardly, and her tone betrayed her confusion. Arthur followed her to Merlin's cot, wondering if he should have insisted.

"Let me help you," He said as Gwen tried to get Merlin to drink the potion. After Arthur wrestled the man's dead weight up into a semi-sitting position and Gwen got him to swallow his medicine, the two went to their respective activities in silence. Gwen began cooking dinner, and Arthur tried and failed to think up a way to read the magic books without Gwen noticing. He settled on a text far more boring and ended up nodding off anyway. He was saved when Gwen realized that Gaius' pantry was fresh out of bread. Arthur jumped up and immediately offered to fetch some. She was surprised at his eagerness, but he only shrugged and said, "I've been cooped up all day – anything to get out of here." He realized after the fact that this sounded rude. "And to help," he tacked on to late. She smiled at him a bit oddly, but nodded in thanks.

After a feat of dodging too-curious guards, avoiding the royal suites entirely, and somehow tricking the cook (who he knew had bad vision) into thinking that he was Prince Arthur, Arthur had successfully acquired a fresh tray of hot dinner rolls, and bore them back to Gaius' chambers feeling rather accomplished. He had every intention of retelling his adventure for Guinevere's sake, but after seeing her fully-cooked dinner sitting there on the table, he realized how hungry he was and forgot about his story. He thanked her for the meal and eagerly tucked into his plate. Somewhere between his bite of chicken and mouthful of water, Gwen asked rather innocently,

"Who is Balin?"

He choked on his meal and swallowed with difficulty. "What?" He asked incredulously through a cough.

Gwen looked uneasy. "Merlin, he… He started talking in his sleep." Arthur looked over at the warlock, but he looked as calm as ever. "Not much," she said hastily, "mostly mumbling. But… for a minute, he was talking to someone called Balin. I wondered who that was, is all."

Arthur was still looking at Merlin. "What did he say to him?" He asked.

"To stay safe," Gwen told him, and even as Arthur turned to her, his face melted into a pure expression of pity and concern. He sighed and looked back at Merlin.

"Who is he?" Gwen asked again. Arthur looked up at her, wondering if he should say. It was something that he felt he shouldn't tell her, but then, this was Gwen. She was smart. Arthur had caught her staring at Merlin's wedding band earlier, no doubt she'd noticed his, too. She would probably figure it out eventually, Arthur felt.

"Balin," he said, taking a swig of water to clear his throat, "is the name of Merlin's son."

Gwen reacted with surprise, as Arthur expected. She blinked several times and looked down at her food. "Oh," was all she said. Arthur felt some obligation to say something else.

"The last time we saw him… It was before the attack." He assumed Gwen had heard of the circumstances to which he was referring. Her unchanged expression told him as much. "There was no time to find him before we had to flee. Before we… ended up here, I remember mentioning him to Merlin." He looked sadly down at the table. "He had no idea where he was."

"How old is he?" Gwen asked hesitantly. Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself.

"Now that, I don't know if I should tell you."

She blushed. "I'm sorry. I just… is he old enough to… will he be alright?" Arthur almost smiled. Of course Gwen would be the one to accept all this crazy new information and still find time to be concerned for the welfare of a person she hadn't met yet.

"Balin is young, but clever," Arthur said. "He can take care of himself, if need be. He'll be fine." He wondered if Gwen realized he was saying it to himself as much as he was to her. She only nodded, satisfied and given plenty to think about, and resumed eating her dinner.

After they ate, Gwen watched him with a thoughtful and impressed expression as he rose and took the dirty dishes without a word, washing them off in a nearby basin. With a flush of self-consciousness, Arthur realized it was because the Arthur she knew would never such a menial task, especially not without complaining. He felt a wave of humility. He'd forgotten how much he'd changed. And of course, a large part of that he owed to Gwen herself.

After the remnants of dinner were cleared up, it was an awkward evening. Gwen had promised Gaius that she'd stay by Merlin's side and tend to whatever seemed to be needed, but Arthur felt bored and useless. He couldn't continue his research, and being in the same room with Younger Gwen was too strange to bear in silence. Eventually, he announced that he needed some fresh air and left.

It was dark enough that he didn't think a little stroll would do much harm, so Arthur pulled up his hood and enjoyed the cool evening breeze. He hoped the fact that Merlin had begun to talk in his sleep meant that he'd wake up soon. Arthur could sure use his help, about now.

Gwen was actually nodding off when she heard the door open again. Thinking it was Older Arthur come back from his walk, she straightened up and tried not to look flustered. She was surprised to see Morgana walk through the door.

"My lady," Gwen acknowledged, and curtsied. Morgana smiled at her.

"Gwen, what are you doing here?"

"I promised Gaius to that I'd stay today and tend to Merlin. Well, that Merlin, anyway." She pointed, and sighed. "It's all so weird."

"It is…" Morgana studied the older figure.

"What are you doing here?" Gwen asked. Morgana shook herself.

"Oh, I came to get my sleeping draught from Gaius. Is he not here?"

Gwen shook her head. "No, not yet." She fought back a yawn with little success. "I'll bring it back for you… when…" she had to yawn. "Oh, I'm sorry milady," She apologized, but Morgana smiled and laid a hand on her arm.

"Don't be silly, Gwen, you're exhausted. Go home, get some rest. I'll wait for Gaius myself."

"You sure?" Gwen looked nervous.

"Of course – don't worry, it's fine. I'll keep an eye on Merlin for you until Gaius gets back." Her expression softened. "Go sleep, Gwen."

Gwen smiled at her gratefully. "Thank you, milady," She gave a curtsy out of habit and smiled as she left. The moment the door was shut, Morgana's expression transformed and she turned around to glare at Merlin's sleeping face.

"I knew you were irritating," She spat lowly, "I never knew you'd come back fifteen years to prove it." She took a long moment to study the Older Merlin's face before she turned and glanced around Gaius' chambers. She went to a cabinet filled with bottles of various shapes and colors and scanned over the labels. Her eyes roamed about the organized chaos with indecision, but then her eyes lighted on one particular bottle and she could not hold back the smirk that drew itself on her face.

"Only fitting," she said to herself. She plucked the bottle from its place and went back over to Merlin.

"I wish you were awake," She said. "It'd be more enjoyable, and I have some things I'd just love to ask you. But I'm on a tight schedule at the moment. You'll understand." She uncorked the bottle and moved to tip it against Merlin's lips.

The door opened.

Her concentration shattered, Morgana froze and slammed the bottle back down onto the table by Merlin's head. She jumped back from the figure and slid her mask back on.

"Oh," the newcomer breathed in heavily, "it smells good in here. Don't tell me that you've let Arthur eat all the food, Giaus, I'm starv-" And it was Merlin who came to stand in front of her, a startled expression on his face. "Lady Morgana," he said, his voice clipped with surprise.

"Merlin," She said, and let the pretense of smiling pass.

"W-What are you doing here?" He glanced around, and had to pretend that his heart didn't begin beating faster when he saw that she stood near his Older Self's body.

"Waiting for Gaius," She said, and when he gave her a blank expression, added, "for my sleeping draught."

Merlin didn't believe her, and both of them knew it. "He's out for the night," Merlin said, his eyes never leaving Morgana's face. "He'll not be back for some time." He crept cautiously towards and around Morgana to a shelf that stood behind her. He pulled off a bottle and held it out for her.

"Here's the draught," he said. She glared at it, then at him. She stepped forward and placed her hand on it, and used the grip to draw herself closer to him, so her mouth was by his ear.

"You sure it's not poisoned?" She hissed. He looked suddenly hurt, and didn't meet her eyes. She took it, and stalked out of the room.

Merlin went quickly over to his Older Self and looked for signs of any dark designs by Morgana. He did a double-take when he saw the bottle by his head, which was still uncorked. He picked it up and looked at the label. He paled.

Hemlock.

He panicked. He knew that Gaius said specifically not to touch his older self, but really, what else was Merlin supposed to do? He put his palm over the older man's brow, ignoring the strangeness of it all, and used his magic to probe out any poison in his system. His heart was pounding, but he found nothing. He was nearly done when Arthur walked in.

"Merlin," the King started forward, "Merlin, what are you doing? Gaius said that was dangerous!" In other circumstances, Arthur might have considered his discomfort around the younger Merlin, but at that moment, could only think of what might go wrong.

"I'm sorry, I know, I know," the Young Merlin sounded scared, "I… I was just making sure he was alright."

"Alright? Aside from being unconscious? Gaius is sorting it, you don' t need to-"

"No," Merlin insisted, pointing vaguely toward the door. "Morgana was here."

Arthur's change of mood was instantaneous. "What?" He asked, voice deep and serious. "Which Morgana? What did she do?"

"Nothing. Nothing, but she was trying to, well…" Merlin dumbly held out the bottle so Arthur could see the label. The color drained from Arthur's face. A long silence followed.

At length, Merlin asked quietly, "What did you mean, 'which Morgana'?"

Arthur looked at him, unsure of what to say. Merlin tried to read his face and eventually said,

"She's the one who took you here, isn't she." His eyes were wide but steady on Arthur's face. "She's the witch you were talking about. Who attacked Camelot."

Arthur found he couldn't say anything. His face filled with sadness and he looked on the younger version of his best friend with deep apology. That look told Merlin all he wanted to know, and the young sorcerer let out a sigh, his head falling forward.

Hemlock, he thought with hurt weighing on his chest, how fitting.