Installment number 16!
Thank you all very much for your kind reviews and some new follows which was great to see!
This chapter is mainly just short and fluff, because I thought we needed some Mergana :D
Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the characters, I think everyone knows that by now.
When she wakes up, it is still dark and she is alone, rolling over to find Merlin's side of the bed empty. She huffs unhappily at his absence and turns onto her back, straining her ears to hear better. When no sounds reach her, she rolls back on to her side and squints at the alarm clock through the darkness. The blurred display reads 4:37am.
Morgana frowns but lets her head fall back against the pillows, drifting back off to sleep again. Wherever Merlin was, he would be back soon.
The next time she wakes up, it is 5:02am and there is still no Merlin.
Frustrated, she sits up and kicks off the bed covers. Aithusa, who had been taking a peaceful residence at the end of the bed, flies from the mattress and screeches loudly. This causing Morgana to nearly scream herself and then fall out of the bed, landing with a thud on the floor.
She rubs her knee and swears violently, a bad habit that Merlin had picked her up on many times, saying it was unladylike.
"Sorry, cat," she murmurs to the angry ball of fluff that had now stopped trying to attack her. Morgana strokes the fur under her chin and smoothes it back on the top of her head.
Aithusa purrs quietly, beginning to settle again.
"There you go," Morgana says soothingly as Aithusa goes back off to sleep. "Now I have to go and find Merlin."
She gets to the top of the stairs, shivering with the cold and wishing she had a dressing gown. Merlin had one and she always teased him for it, only now regretting not having some of the soft fabric for herself.
She stops on the fourth step when she hears voices in the living room. She'd been in this kind of situation before, when Alvarr had invited all kinds of strange, horrible men around to the house. Usually always banned from the living room and the whole of downstairs while they did and smoked God knows what, she took refuge on the staircase, trying to catch snippets of their conversations.
One particularly nasty sounding brute had once said something about a woman that made her stomach give a sickening jolt and her legs feel heavy as they ran her up the remaining stairs and back into bed.
Drawn into reality once again, Morgana peers through the banisters at the light coming from the living room. The door is almost fully shut, just a thin strip of bright yellow dancing over her face.
When she notices that Merlin is the only person speaking, her curiosity increases and she presses her forehead uncomfortably up against the woodwork to try to see and hear more. Why was Merlin talking to himself? Sure, she did it sometimes, but she didn't get up at four o'clock in the morning to do so. She even had conversations with Aithusa, but that was when she talked in silly voices that everyone seemed to talk to animals in.
With a frown, she pushes her ear up against the small space between the poles of wood. Maybe Merlin was trying to practice some kind of speech? Perhaps he was going through what he was going to say if he got a job interview at that factory.
But the fact that he was going this in the early hours of the morning was something she didn't understand.
She closes her eyes in an attempt to make her hearing better, remembering reading something about using as little senses as you could to boost the other? Irritated when the door continues to muffle his words, she lets her head relax against the banister, fighting to keep her eyes open as they repeatedly drooped closed. After a few minutes of a weak battle, she gives in, letting sleep claim her once again.
"Morgana? Wake up."
"Huh?"
"Wake up, love."
"Hmm, no," she mumbles.
"Please?" Merlin tries again.
Reluctantly, she opens her eyes to find herself still attached to the banister with Merlin crouched down in front of her.
"That's better," he smiles at her and her heart skips. "Smile for me?"
She blushes like a 13-year-old girl, trying to keep a straight-face, but her lips turn up without her permission.
"Much better," he comments, pulling her closer for a hug, her chin tucked over his shoulder. "What are you doing out here?"
Her hand comes up to play with his hair and the collar of his t-shirt.
"I heard you, you were talking. So I tried to listen," she explains sleepily.
"I woke you? I'm sorry," he kisses her shoulder in an apology.
"No, I was already awake and then I - oh, it doesn't matter," she finishes tiredly, running her fingers through his soft, dark hair.
"Okay," he agrees, relaxed by her touches.
"Who were you talking to, Merlin?"
"I'll tell you in the morning," he promises.
"It is morning," she grumbles into his neck.
"I know, but you're tired and-" he clasps her free hand. "Cold. You need to sleep."
"You always say that."
"That's because it's the truth."
"Fine." She pulls back, suddenly, green eyes sparkling. "But you have to carry me."
"Done," he says, scooping her up into his arms. "Someone certainly had a good Christmas," he adds as he takes her weight.
Morgana hits him feebly on the chest. "You're the one that always complains I'm too skinny... or is that Gwen?"
"Shh, just go back to sleep," Merlin advises her before putting her down gently onto the cool bed.
He climbs in next to her, tucking the duvet in around them. She curls herself up against him, almost asleep.
"Blood hell!" Merlin jerks away from her. "Your feet are freezing!"
Morgana laughs at his reaction and brings her legs so that her toes brush against his warm thighs. He jumps back again and she giggles in delight. He reaches for her waist to pull her to him, cautiously this time.
"We're supposed to be going to sleep," Merlin groans into her hair.
"But I'm wide awake now," she informs him, stretching her legs out.
"You might not be in the morning," he points out.
She hums in agreement, whilst his hands rubs up and down her arms, trying to get some warmth into them.
"Nice?" He asks when her eyes flutter closed again.
"Yeah," she whispers slowly.
His hands move to rub circles in her hips and sides, the into her back. All the while, Morgana becomes more and more drowsy, resting her head against his chest.
"You'd be good at getting a baby off to sleep," she says suddenly and without really thinking.
He stops for a moment. "Do you really think so?"
"Mmm. Definitely. If you can get me to sleep, then you can get pretty much anyone to, I guess."
"I would've helped, you know."
She looks up at him. "What do you mean?"
"If you'd had the child."
"Oh," she says dismissively, shutting her eyes again.
"No, look at me."
She does as he says.
"I would have. Honestly. I don't care that it would've been Alvarr's child. I would've cared for it like it was my own."
Morgana nods, taking all of this in.
"Thank you." The only words she can find to say in this moment.
Merlin frowns, a new idea hitting him.
"If- If you'd had a girl. What would you have called her?"
"I don't want to talk about," she says simply.
"It might help to?"
"It wont," she states, bitterly.
"Please? Just a name. Just so I know."
She sighs, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Why?"
"I'm just interested, that's all."
Her eyes widen as she adds 2 and 2 to make 5. "Look, Merlin, you are incredible and I do love you, but I'm not planning on getting pregnant again anytime soon."
He visibly pales. "No- I know- I didn't- I was just, I'm not asking you to- oh, forget it," he finishes, cross with himself for putting the matter across in such a way.
"You'd have to marry me first," she says smugly, leaving him alone for the rest of the night with his now frantic thoughts, falling asleep as soon as she says it.
N'aww, this was nice to write, which is the main thing I think, because I don't want this story to turn into a chore.
Also! It is now officially the Easter holidays for me, which means 2 weeks off and that I can hopefully update every few days instead of every week! Yay! I know this wasn't particularly eventful, but I'm working up to another main event involving Alvarr and Arthur! Double Yay! Oh, and Hunith comes in next chapter!
Please leave me a review if you get the time! It's not compulsory but it means a great deal!
Thank you for reading! :)
