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XXX
"Which way did you say the bush was?" Morgana struggles to keep up with Mordred who was sprinting across the school playground which gained them a few odd looks.
"This way!" Mordred shouts, which wasn't very helpful. He continues his mad dash to the hedge at the edge of the playground and then stops abruptly next to a dark, green bush. He stops so suddenly that Morgana doesn't realise quickly enough and slams into the small boy, knocking them both to the grass in fits of giggles. "Watch where you're going, silly!"
Mordred jumps to his feet and brushes off a few blades of grass that had gathered on his trousers. Morgana does the same, although the process is a lot slower. She really needed to take up some kind of sport.
"Wait for me," Morgana says, but Mordred is already digging around in the bushes. "Careful for any thorns."
"We don't have any prickly bushes any more. A girl from my class got pushed in one and got a gigantic, massive, enormous thorn in her arm. She had to go to hospital and everything because she was screaming her face off," Mordred says calmly and then pulls back from the bush empty handed.
Morgana frowns. "She was pushed?"
"Yeah. They thought she might have a fection."
"Infection," Morgana corrects him kindly and he nods.
"Right. Infection."
"So I thought you said the three-eared, evil cat was here? Or was it somewhere else?" Morgana asks, looking around the playground at the mass of children and parents gradually leaving the school.
"It might have been on the field actually," Mordred says, putting on his best thinking face. "We should check there." Then he runs off again without warning, up onto the playing fields that were around the back of the school. "Up this end!" He points right to the end corner of the field with a grin.
"Are you sure?" Morgana asks, not really keen on running all that way.
"I'm sure of it!" Mordred declares excitedly and then runs off in in that direction with Morgana lagging behind. "Come on, tortoise!"
"Tortoise!?" Morgana screams across the field. "What are you talking about?"
"A fat snail is faster than you!" Mordred laughs gleefully.
"I won the 400 metres at sports day!" Morgana shouts to him, trying to run faster.
"There was obviously no one else racing then!" He has reached the far end of the field and stopped to let Morgana catch up. She arrives a good 10 seconds later.
She says the first excuse she can think of, despite how pathetic it is. "You only won because you're smaller than me."
"Come on, help me look for evil cat," Mordred says, and points to a bit of hedge for Morgana to look in. "So, is it your cat?"
"No, it's Merlin's cat," Morgana says, wincing as a sharp twig scratches at her bare arm.
"Is it a magic cat?"
"I don't know. Perhaps we should ask it when we find it."
"I don't think it's in this one," Mordred says, although looking pleased.
"Oh, really? Where else could it be?"
"I told a lie," Mordred says, unable to keep it a secret any longer.
"What? When?"
"When we were over on the playground. The cat was in the bush. I tricked you."
Unable to understand this, Morgana just frowns. "So the cat was actually in the bush on the playground?"
"Yes."
"But then why did we come all the way over..." The idea finally dawns on her. "Mordred! You little-" She grabs hold of his arms as he tries to run away, squealing with laughter.
"You look like you could do with the exercise," Mordred splutters as Morgana tickles under his arms and around his ribs. "S-st...opp, iiiit!"
"Not until you say sorry!"
"Soreeee!" Mordred screeches loudly, wriggling out of her grasp.
Morgana stops her assault. "Good. Now lets go and find the evil cat."
XXX
"Oh, Merlin. Come in," Gwen says, opening the door of her flat and not expecting Merlin to be on the other side of it.
"Sorry for the really short notice but I needed to talk to you." He follows Gwen into her home, careful not to knock or break anything.
"It's fine. I've got an hour before I start my night shift at 6:30," Gwen says, sitting down and picking up a piece of card to fan herself with. "God, it''s hot isn't it?"
Merlin holds out his pale arms and sits down too. "I've been trying not to burn."
Gwen laughs. "I bet. Morgana's fair skinned too, you guys need to be careful. Put on some Factor 50 or something." Morgana had been right about Gwen's motherly side. "Did she not want to come?"
"She's out getting Mordred from school. She's looking after him for tonight because Morgause is stuck at work."
Gwen looks at him blankly. "Who?"
"Morgause is a... friend of Morgana's," Merlin says, unsure of whether they actually were or not. "Mordred is her son."
"Oh, right," Gwen says, a little upset. Morgana hadn't spoken of either of them.
"I wanted to be sure that Morgana wasn't around when I came to you, because she'd probably kill me if she knew I was still worrying about her," Merlin begins, waiting for Gwen's nod to continue. "I'm worried about her because she's not been herself lately."
"How do you mean?"
Merlin sighs. "Like... not confident. Almost timid in her actions. One day she's happy and the next she's all depressed."
"She seemed perfectly fine a couple of days ago when we were at Thorpe Park."
"I know, that's what I mean. I don't know what to do about it," Merlin says, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
Gwen sits forward slightly, waiting for him to open his eyes again. "You really do care about, don't you?"
"Of course. I love her."
"I'm glad. You're good for her. I can't imagine what the past few months would have been like for her if you hadn't been there every step of the way to support her. I'm grateful that you're here, Merlin."
Merlin grins and shifts awkwardly. "You're, uh, welcome. But what do you think I should do about it? Why do you think she's like it?"
Gwen pauses for a moment, thinking hard. "I think that she's still in the mindset that Alvarr can hurt her. Perhaps, when there aren't as many people around her that could possibly protect her, she doesn't feel safe. Maybe that's the trigger. After everything that's happened, you can imagine she's feeling vulnerable. I remember when her father passed away, she went into this phase where she just tuned out of things. She was a nightmare at school, always forgetting homework and books, I ended up doing most of her homework for her because she just didn't remember. She almost looked a bit lost at times."
"Would she forget conversations, too?" Merlin asks, an idea half-forming in his head.
"A lot, actually. Everything went in one ear and out the other."
"Oh, that's good." Gwen sends him a look. "I mean, it explains some things that happened recently."
Gwen stands, smiling. "I'm happy to help. Now, if you don't have any other questions, then-"
Merlin jumps up. "Actually, I do. Just one more. Do you know why Morgana would defend Alvarr?"
"Because she's scared of him. She won't admit it, she never did, but she is. She's always made excuses for him. Sometimes I think it's become a way of life for her. Try and snap her out of it," Gwen advises.
"How?"
"Maker her forget. Make her happy."
"How do I do that?"
"Do something... romantic, " Gwen shrugs, laughing a little.
"I'm not exactly the king of romance, in case you hadn't noticed."
"I'm sure you've got a bit of Mr Darcy in you somewhere. A nice gesture, then. Something to cheer her up."
"Like what?" Merlin asks hopelessly.
"She's your girlfriend, Merlin, not mine! Just do something simple. Like cook."
"Right. Cook. Okay. Thanks, Gwen." He hugs her without really thinking and pulls back immediately. "Sorry."
"I think I should probably be the one to apologise, since the first time we met I threatened to castrate you," Gwen laughs, bringing him into an embrace that nearly squeezed the life out of him. "Bye, Merlin."
"Bye, Gwen." He walks to the door of her flat, ready to leave.
"Something simple, remember?" Gwen calls to him. "Oh, wait! Don't leave yet! I have to give you something!" She rushes out and hands him a brown envelope with a stamp on it. "It's a letter for Morgana. From Arthur. He sent it here because he didn't know your address."
"Wonderful. Thanks, she'll love it," Merlin says flatly, still feeling guilty about keeping the fake letter they'd received a few weeks earlier a secret from her. "Morgana letter, nice gesture, something simple." Merlin nods. "Got it."
XXX
Morgana comes through the door at 9:40pm with a ball of fluff in her arms and a happy smile on her face.
"Look who I found!" She races towards an apron-covered Merlin and shoves Aithusa into his chest. "Well, it was more of a joint effort between me and Mordred."
Merlin smiles, happy to see the troublesome cat again. "Where was she?"
"In a bush at Mordred's school. You should have seen her, she had this little tuft of fur that was sticking up on the top of her head that looked like an extra ear. It was adorable," Morgana laughs, stroking under Aithusa's chin, making her purr loudly.
"She's absolutely filthy," Merlin comments. It was true, she was more of a dirty grey colour than white.
"Yeah, Morgause wasn't too happy about that either but I think she put up with it for my sake." Aithusa jumps down from Merlin's arms and slinks off into the living room.
"How did that go today? Did you manage to cook him tea without burning the kitchen down?"
Morgana punches him in the arm and walks into the kitchen. "I burnt the chicken nuggets and forgot to put the chips in the oven entirely. I sliced my finger on the tin opener and ended up just making him a ham sandwich."
"Wow."
"Other than that I think everything was great. How was your day?"
"Hot and sweaty. I have a surprise for you," Merlin says, going wildly off topic.
"Is it a scary one?"
"No, it's a yummy one. Hopefully."
"How yummy?"
"Sausage, beans, egg and chips yummy?"
"Perfect. I could do with clogging my arteries up a bit more."
"Me too. But before that, I need to show you my other surprise," Merlin says, making his voice all mysterious. He takes her hand and guides her upstairs.
"You've been busy."
"I suppose so. Okay, now in here," he walks her into their bedroom. The curtains are drawn and he flicks the light on. "Close you eyes and lie down on the bed."
"If you come up to me and make me jump it'll be the worst surprise ever. I'm just letting you know." Morgana stumbles around, eventually finding the bed and lying down on it uncertainly. "Now what?"
"Wait a minute." A minute passes and Merlin switches the light off again. "Okay, open."
"Oh."
The ceiling and walls are covered in glow in the dark stars. There are at least a hundred of them, dotted all around the room, some on the bed posts and on the wardrobe, luminous in the darkness.
"Do you like it? Or is it really childish?" Merlin asks from the doorway, turning the light on again and making the stars disappear.
Morgana sits up. "I love them. Thank you."
Merlin walks over and sits next to her. "I like them, too. Took ages to put them up, though. My thumbs ache from pressing them into the ceiling with blu-tac."
"You poor thing," Morgana laughs and holds his hand up to her lips, kissing it gently. "Better?"
"Much. Now, come on. Lets go back downstairs, before tea goes cold."
This was great fun to write, especially the Aithusa part at the beginning. I hope all of your questions were answered, but if they weren't or you have other ones, then tell me.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and those who are reading in England are having fun in the heatwave!
Thanks for reading and please review to tell me your thoughts!
