Warning: Jammie Dodgers are mentioned in this chapter :D

For 45 minutes, Morgana had thrown things around and made promises to God that she was going to kill whoever forged that letter.

After the TV remote had been thrown at the wall and the coffee table had been kicked at multiple times, Hunith had grabbed hold of her hands to stop her from lashing out at anything else and sat them both down on the sofa, letting her cry everything out. To Morgana, it felt like she had either been crying for 10 hours or 10 minutes – there was no in-between. She had no concept of time. Just anger and fear and so many other emotions they were all jumbled up like wires.

Relief was one of them. Arthur wasn't actually dead. Or missing. He was safe, for now. Maybe he'd even get round to writing to her soon. But maybe someone wanted him to hurt. Or maybe they just wanted to hurt her.

"I'm sorry, I've gotten your cardigan all wet," Morgana apologises, patting at Hunith's tear-stained sleeve.

"I've had much worse things spilt on me, so I wouldn't worry about it," Hunith reassures her, dabbing a tissue to her pale, wet cheeks. "Do you feel a bit better now?"

"Yes. Well, less like I want to murder someone."

"I suppose that's a good start," the older woman says with a faint smile and then sits up straighter. "Now. Do you have any idea who might have done this?"

"Oh, um, no," Morgana frowns.

"Anyone you don't like? Somebody you don't get on with?" Hunith tries going deeper into the problem.

"Well, there are a lot of people I don't particularly like, but-"

"Who?" Hunith cuts in.

"I don't know, there was this guy in town the other day who started yelling at me for no reason. And there was this woman at work called Angela who dared me to sit on a photocopier and got me fired and I don't really like her."

Hunith raises an eyebrow at her. "You sat on a photocopier?"

"It wasn't my finest hour."

"I doubt it was. Anyway," she picks up a shopping list notepad and a pen and then puts her reading glasses on. "Is there someone you don't like at the moment – who you actually know – that doesn't like you, either?"

"You could put Alvarr down. We're not really getting on at the moment," Morgana suggests, a bit half-heartedly. Did they really have to do this now?

"Right, how do you spell that?"

"You can just put shit-face..."

Hunith sends her a questioning glance, one Morgana mistakes as a look of distaste.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to swear!"

"I see Merlin's got that drummed into you, as well?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm not very good at making first impressions."

"I'd say you were doing okay," Hunith disagrees with a small shrug of her tiny shoulders. "So, why don't you get on with this 'shit-face', then?"

Morgana giggles at her words. "It sounds funny when you say it."

"You still haven't answered the question."

"Oh, yes. You know I told you about the previous relationship I was in? Well, that's him," Morgana explains, trying to keep it short. It seems Hunith had other ideas.

"The one that got you pregnant?" She asks, a bit more bluntly than usual.

"Yes."

"And now you've split up for whatever reason and you don't like each other?" Hunith clears everything up and Morgana is beginning to feel thankful she hadn't asked any more questions. "Do you know why he'd want to forge a letter like this?"

"I don't know. He's the sort of person that probably would do something like this out of spite, but he hasn't exactly got the brains to do it."

"So could someone have helped him do it?" Hunith asks, scribbling more notes down.

"I haven't really thought about it," Morgana says with a frown, this idea new to her. "I guess so, but I don't know who would've helped him. Most people who know Alvarr hate him. Arthur and him never really got on, but it was mostly sneering remarks when the other one was out of earshot. Nothing physical."

"What about you and Alvarr? Were you physical?" Hunith asks, not really looking up.

Morgana just stares at her, mouth slightly agape. Merlin's mother was definitely psychic. Maybe it was in the genes. Or maybe she was Sherlock in disguise. Or probably just very clever.

"A bit," she decides, hesitantly.

Hunith stops writing and puts her pen down, looking at her fondly. "How much is a bit?"

"A few bruises here and there. It was nothing, really," she says, trying to get off of the subject but Hunith is having none of it.

"Did he hit you?"

"No. It wasn't like that."

Hunith takes her hand and shifts to sit cross-legged on the sofa, a familiar concerned look forming on her face. It was the same one Merlin used. "What was it like, then?"

Morgana's shoulders slump. "Hunith..."

"Have you talked to anyone about this? Properly, I mean?" Did she ever run out of questions?

"No."

"You're going to have to talk to the police about it soon, so you can talk to me about it if you want. Get some practise so you know what you're going to say?" Hunith tells her the proposition and then unexpectedly leaves the room.

The police? She hadn't thought it would go that far. It was really just threatening and sometimes pain to go with it. But it was nothing much. Nothing she couldn't have handled. Before she can think about it any more, Hunith comes back in with a packet of Jammie Dodgers in her hand. She sits down again and opens up the wrapper, then wafts the biscuits in front of Morgana's face.

"You're bribing me with biscuits?"

"Not any kind of biscuit. Jammie Dodger biscuits," Hunith says in a mysterious voice, still waving the packet around. "Now, tell me how you feel. About Alvarr. About everything," she continues in a mystical tone that some kind of fortune-teller would use.

"Okay, but I need the Jammie Dodgers first."

"Fine," she goes back to her normal voice in an instant and takes a biscuit out of the wrapper, handing it to Morgana. "Now spill the beans."

"Arrbouht wauht?" Morgana asks, regretting shoving the whole of the round biscuit into her mouth at once. She was surprised it could fit, actually. The dentist had always said she had a small mouth, but Arthur had tended to disagree.

"Alvarr. How he makes you feel," Hunith prompts her.

"Worthless. Stupid. Guilty. Trapped," she lists after finishing munching on her biscuit.

"Trapped?"

"Yeah. Like I couldn't have anything for myself or do anything without him knowing," Morgana explains. "He had all the control."

"What sort of things did you argue about?"

"Silly, petty things. He had a go at me the night I met Merlin. We were just friends at that point, but he said I couldn't see him again." She makes the decision not to mention the hand-holding.

"Because he was jealous?"

"I guess so. But we were only friends," Morgana insists. "He didn't have much to be jealous of."

"Did he hurt you that night?"

"Yeah, I think he grabbed my wrist. But Merlin came off worse because he was punched in the face," she recalls, feeling a bit ashamed of Alvarr's unnecessary actions that night. "But, um, Hunith... Do we have to tell the police? It's not as though he was actually beating me. Lots of women have it much worse."

"And what if it turns out that he was the one who forged that letter? Are you going to let that slide as well?" Hunith asks in a firm tone.

"Well, I'll, um..."

"The thing is, Morgana, that he's weakened you. You might not be able to see it, and I know I've only known you for a few days, but I can and I think Merlin can too-"

"Merlin thinks I'm weak?" She asks, taken aback by this. She'd always thought of herself as a strong-minded, independent woman, not the kind to get ordered around by some low-life and end up having to live with someone she barely knew.

That was when she realised that she was entirely dependent on Merlin. He was, hopefully, going to get this brand new job, albeit in a factory, on about £18,000 a year. He had been the source of income when she'd stupidly got herself fired from that nice, stable office job that she could have stayed in for five or more years.

Merlin did most of the shopping, cleaning, paying the bills. She was no housewife, or girlfriend, but maybe she should start helping more, it wasn't fair otherwise. In her own defence, she'd suffered a miscarriage but that wasn't much of an excuse. The old Morgana would've bounced back from that quite easily, no matter how awful she felt. Maybe Merlin was right.

"No, no! Morgana, I get the impression that you are a very strong woman, but your self-confidence has taken a knock and I think it's time that you take back some control over your own life, don't you?"

Morgana stares at her, almost shocked by the sudden outburst of inspirational words and her own thoughts. "You're right," is all she can say.

"I'm always right, but you need to go to sleep," Hunith orders and points at the clock. The display reads 22:07.

"When did it get so late?"

"You cried for about 2 hours."

"Really? How embarrassing," Morgana says quietly, her cheeks going pink. She really had to get a hold of herself.

"How is it embarrassing? You were upset. But you should really get some rest now. Okay?"

"Fine," she says, mid-yawn. "But I'm taking the Jammie Dodgers up."

"Night, then," Hunith brings her into a tight hug and kisses her forehead. "You're so brave," she whispers.

Morgana pulls away and smiles briefly at her. "Goodnight Hunith. And thanks. For what you said," she says finally, grateful of the older woman's words of support.

Then she shuts the living room door and digs out her mobile phone from her coat that had been hanging on the bannister at the bottom of the stairs. The lock-screen picture is one of Aithusa making a swipe at the phone after Morgana had tried taking a peaceful picture of the cat while she was sleeping. The demonic look on Aithusa's furry face as she launches herself at the device with her claws out is something that always makes Morgana smile.

Almost reluctantly, the phone is unlocked with a simple slide of her thumb across the screen and the contact list is opened. His is still the first one that comes up. A for Alvarr. She has no idea why didn't delete the number about 2 months ago. They never used to text or call each other anyway. At least it was coming in useful now.

'We need to talk,' is the message she sends him.

Guess who's late? I am! I apologise for the horribly long wait for this chapter but I hope you enjoyed reading it.

I wrote a bit of a turning point for Morgana and also, Hunith is fun to write! Maybe I'll keep her in it for a bit longer, what do you think?

Anyway, please review and tell me your thoughts! Good or bad, preferably both so I can improve! I'm very nearly at a 100 reviews and thank you so much for your support so far!

Oh and today I got tickets to go and see Colin Morgan in 'The Tempest' at the Globe Theatre! *dances off into the sunset*

Next Chapter: Morgana confronts Alvarr over her letter.