Thank you all for such wonderful reviews! :)
"I wish I had hair like yours."
"What, dark and knotty?"
"It's not knotty," Morgause says with a frown. "It's lovely."
"Not knotty," Morgana repeats, a subconscious smile on her face.
She likes Morgause's living room. It's very warm. She likes her sofa, too. It's very comfortable. And the duvet was a nice touch. She pulls it higher up to her ears. Countdown was boring, though. All the letters and numbers and ticking were making her sleepy again.
She had woken up early this morning with a thumping headache and a very small recollection of what had happened the day before. Morgause, who was in fact the mother of the boy she'd taken care of in the park, had come into the living room and told her she had nothing to fear. She was okay now. Apparently. Then she had sat down on the sofa with her and let her rest her legs on her knees. She took it as a kind gesture. And now it was 7:39 in the morning and they were watching Countdown repeats.
"Do you mind me doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"This." Morgause continues stroking over her denim covered shins. "It's just that Mordred has these funny dreams about monsters eating his feet. This usually calms him down."
"Monsters eating his feet?"
"Mm. Perhaps I should stop letting him eat cheese on crackers before he goes to bed. They say that dairy products can make you dream more," Morgause says and then glances up at the ceiling.
"Does he know I'm here?"
"No. He's not here either. He's at his Dad's. That's where I was going to take him yesterday, after we'd been to the park."
"Oh, right," Morgana mumbles, curling a loose thread that had escaped from the end of the duvet around her index finger. She had quite been looking forward to seeing the little boy.
"Now, Morgana, I'm going to ask you some questions and I want you to try and answer them in as much detail as you can," Morgause says in a serious tone that makes Morgana sit up straight.
"Is it going to be about yesterday?"
"Yes, and I'm sorry if any of the questions make you feel bad or uncomfortable-"
"Why would I feel uncomfortable? Nothing actually happened," Morgana says quietly, playing with the thread again.
"You're defending him. Why?"
"I'm not defending him. I'm just telling the truth. Nothing bad actually happened. He didn't hurt me," Morgana says stubbornly and frowning. She wasn't defending Alvarr. He didn't deserve that. "Other woman can have it loads worse."
"Is that the excuse you've used all along?" Morgause asks with what sounded like sympathy. She didn't want sympathy. She just wanted to get on with her life.
"What do you mean 'all along'?"
"Hunith told me. And when you used to live next door we could hear him shouting," Morgause says with a pitying glance.
This made her irritated. She didn't want people to pity her and treat her like a child. She was a 24 year old woman living in the modern world, she didn't need help from anyone for anything. Instead, she asks, "Where is Hunith, anyway?"
"Upstairs in the spare room. She said she hurt her back – but she's okay," Morgause finishes quickly after seeing Morgana's worried expression. "I think we should get on with the questions now."
"Alright, but I want to ask; how did you know where I was yesterday?" Morgana asks, still confused about the whole thing.
"Hunith knocked on my door, next door to where you were, wielding a frying pan and saying she needed help. She said she thought you might be in trouble. I didn't know she was talking about you at that point, but I agreed to help anyway. Hunith said she couldn't get into the house you were in, something about the door being locked, and she asked if I could go round the back of the house and try and get in that way, so I did. The door wouldn't open at first so I kicked it down," Morgause explains casually.
"Bad-ass," Morgana comments, mainly to herself, and Morgause laughs.
"I don't think so. Then Hunith came in by the front door with her saucepan. She told me afterwards that she got some random passer-by, Percy his name was, to kick the door down for her. I expect Alvarr's getting a bit chilly in there by now, don't you think?" Morgause says with an amused smile.
Morgana just gapes at her. "You just left him in there? Unconscious?"
"You didn't know? Have you hit your head or something?" Morgause takes her chin gently in her palm and tilts her face to examine it. "You don't seem to remember much. What's the last thing you can remember from yesterday?"
"You pulling me out of the house," Morgana says in a confused tone as Morgause continues to check her over. That was the last thing that had happened, wasn't it? Before she'd woken up?"
"That's it? Nothing else at all? You can't remember me talking to you?"
"What were you talking about?"
"Nothing, just... has he done this to you? Did he hit you before I could get in? Morgana, if he has then you need to tell me. It's important.
"He's never hit me, I promise."
"Right, well, it's still domestic abuse and attempted rape, so he'll still go to prison."
"It wasn't like that," Morgana says desperately. "It wasn't even that bad, it's just me overreacting!"
"It's not!" Morgause shouts at her unexpectedly and Morgana flinches in shock. "That's ridiculous and stop being so stupid!"
"Sorry."
"No, Morgana, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout-"
"I'm going to see Hunith, now," Morgana mutters quietly and gets up to leave.
"She shouted at me."
"I heard."
"Do you think she's angry with me?"
"No, I just think she cares about you," Hunith says thoughtfully.
"She doesn't even know me," Morgana grumbles, her eyes burning into the duvet. "No-one does."
"I do." Hunith attempts to understand.
"Not really. You don't know what my favourite colour is."
"Purple?" Hunith hazards a guess and Morgana shakes her head.
"Red."
"Red is a nice colour. The first car I bought was red. I called it Susan," Hunith says with a slight smile. "It was a bloody awful car. I don't think it ever passed an M.O.T."
"Merlin says his car is called Englebert Humperdink."
"Yes, he is a fan of Eurovision," Hunith laughs. "Who have we got this year? Bonnie Tyler, isn't it?"
"Yeah, she's all right. Ireland have still probably got Jedward," Morgana sighs, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand.
"I suppose they're better than that Justin lad," Hunith says vaguely. "Morgana, are you okay? You seem a bit... distant."
"I miss Merlin," she states simply. One half of her wants Merlin to come back right away and make her laugh and watch silly TV shows like Eurovision and yell at her for putting foil in the microwave.
The other half never wants to look him in the eye again. Not after what's happened. What she let happen. He didn't really look like the sort of man who'd go round punching anyone who laid a finger on her. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he'd hate her instead.
"Hunith... do you think... do you think that Merlin will be angry with me?" She asks slowly, afraid of the answer.
"Angry?"
"Yes," Morgana confirms, twiddling her thumbs in anticipation.
"I don't think so. You're aren't in the wrong, are you?"
"I guess not," she replies, unconvinced.
"Merlin would probably hate what had happened and would have wanted to have been here to help. I'm sure he'd be more angry at himself than anyone," Hunith says, looking down-hearted. "I think we should get you home now. You should go and thank Morgause. If it wasn't for her, who knows what might have happened."
"Fine," Morgana says reluctantly and goes downstairs again. Morgause says she'll get someone round to arrest Alvarr later.
As soon as Merlin comes through the front door she runs out and throws herself at him, legs wound high around his waist and arms around his neck. She clings to him like a child to it's mother and he nearly falls at one stage, but manages to get a hand out to steady himself. Hunith comes out to greet him too and he tries to put Morgana down but she won't loosen her grip.
"I missed you," she whispers into his shoulder. He only just manages to hear.
"I missed you, too," he replies, louder than she had. Hunith comes forward and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and a brief smile.
"I'll leave you to it."
Merlin looks at her with a frown, clearly wanting to say or ask something else, but decides better of it and goes back to hugging Morgana.
"I want to talk," she requests without hesitation, pulling away from him.
He nods and hangs his coat on the bannister before letting her lead him upstairs.
I'm sorry this is so short after so long time, but I've had weeks packed full of cricket matches, homework and tests. I also ran onto a football pitch because the team I support won and I'm going to Wembley on Sunday :D (not really relevant, but hey.)
Please review and tell me your thoughts! I know this chapter wasn't particularly eventful but if you could give me some feedback then that would be great!
Next Chapter: Merlin's reaction.
Scarlet Banner: I haven't forgotten to review 'Which to bury us or the hatchet?' and will do so ASAP! The only reason I haven't yet is because I haven't had internet for a few days, and the last time I tried reviewing on my phone, it posted two by accident and I very nearly chucked the damn thing at my bedroom wall :)
