Sakhr al-Jinni: Thank you!
FiercyIce107: Thanks! I'm glad you liked the surprise!
Draghiforever: Arthur is in this chapter. Kind of. I hope this chapter is okay!
Renaissancebooklover108: Thanks :)
Sjrittis: Thank you! Morgana's recovery is going to take a while.
Dawn Ruthless: Thank you for your comments! Here is the update, I hope it's soon enough.
Grayember13: Here is more.
ScarletBanner: Hehe, I feel really bad about this part because I did no research for Morgana at all, the whole thing was a massive guess and now I feel quite guilty about it. Thanks for the advice about reminders and stuff and always reviewing my little story! :)
Gespav: Romantic Merlin is great fun to write! There's more of that next chapter, and your question is answered in this chapter.
Note: The parts in italics are the letter to make it easier to read.
"To my dearest troll-faced half-sister, AKA Morgana."
Even the first line of the letter has the ability to make her laugh. Merlin turns on his side and sends her a quizzical glance. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing. Just a personal joke between us. I'll carry on reading, hang on." Morgana quickly finds her place again and continues reading the rest of Arthur's letter out loud. "Everything is okay here – I haven't been shot yet, much to your probable disappointment. Had some action a few days ago, not what you're thinking - you always were filthy minded, but I'll bore you with the details when I get back, which should be by Christmas, but I'm not promising anything. It was great to catch up with the knights again-"
"Knights?" Merlin interrupts, looking confused.
"His friends," Morgana explains. "It's a joke they have."
"Oh, I see. Carry on."
"It was good to catch up with the knights again, especially Leon – remember the beard guy? The beard of immortality? Well, he doesn't have the beard any more. His girlfriend, Vivian, made him shave it off. He's very upset."
"You ever met him?"
"Who?"
"Immortal beard guy," Merlin says, putting on a mystical voice and wiggling his fingers around in the air. "Have you met him?"
"Once, I think. We were in this nightclub celebrating Arthur getting back. I may have gotten more than a little bit drunk and accidentally snogged him," Morgana says, laughing at the memory. "He looked so scared, bless him."
"Poor bloke. What kind of drunk are you? Gwaine says I'm even more clumsy than usual and it's like I'm not even in control of my own body," Merlin grins.
"Gwen says I get all giggly and I'm everyone's best friend. Or sometimes more."
Merlin groans and pulls the duvet up to his cheeks. "I'm guessing that lead to some unsavoury moments."
"You have no idea. Most of them were up for it though, unsurprisingly."
"What was it like?" Merlin asks, curious.
"What was what like?"
He blushes. "The... you know."
"Ordinary. It wasn't particularly good or bad. For me it was just experience."
"Oh, right," Merlin says, nervous now. What was ordinary in her standards? Was he ordinary? Bad, even?
"Uther used to get so pissed off with me. Saying I was some massive slut," Morgana says in a harsher tone that before. "But, anyway. Enough about me, what about you? How many women have you slept with?"
Merlin shifts uncomfortably, finding the answer embarrassing. "Do you want me to lie or not?"
Morgana sits up with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. "Why? Is it lots?"
"No, it's just-" Merlin tries to answer but Morgana cuts him off, laughing.
"What are you, Merlin? Some kind of man whore? I didn't think you were that type of man..."
"No! I'm not!" Merlin exclaims, unhappy with this sudden turn of events. "Definitely not! I'm quite the opposite, actually."
Morgana lies back down again, still smiling at his misfortune. "What does that mean? Just say a number! It's easy!"
"One!" Merlin says loudly. "There, I said a number!"
"One?" Morgana asks, bewildered and waiting for the penny to drop. "How does that work? Oh. Ohhhh. Merlin that's-"
"Can we go back to talking about you again now please?"
"No, that's so sweet! Aw, you're all cute and innocent!" She pinches his cheeks like he's a child and he turns away blushing and with his back to her.
"Stop it! It's embarrassing!"
"Why is it embarrassing? I think it's lovely," she says to the back of his head.
"Really?" He asks, his voice hopeful.
"Really," Morgana reassures him kindly. "It's nice. Will you turn around and face me now?"
He does so reluctantly. "Aren't you going to finish reading the letter?"
Morgana folds the paper into four and slides it under her pillow. "It's not going anywhere. And I'd rather talk to you. Seeing as you're my boyfriend."
"What are we supposed to talk about?"
"I don't know. How we feel," Morgana suggests.
"How do you feel?" Merlin asks, glad to move away from the previous topic.
"Like we should spend more time together as a couple," Morgana says, looking up at the glow in the dark stars that weren't glowing at present because the light was turned on. "We should go on a date. I don't think we've been on one yet. A proper one – just us. It doesn't have to be amazing or expensive. Just something simple to get to know each other better. Like go to the beach or have another night in, like tonight."
"The beach sounds like fun. And there's the bonus of you in swimwear," Merlin says suggestively and Morgana laughs.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up. I'm all pale and flabby."
"Well then I like pale and flabby," Merlin says, trying to make her feel better.
"Thanks, Merlin. You really know how to make a girl feel good about herself."
"You're welcome. When should we go then? I'm free in the evenings now because I finish work at five o'clock."
"I'm looking after Mordred every night except Wednesday, so we could go next week if you like," Morgana offers and Merlin holds up a hand to high-five her.
"It's a date."
My sincere apologies for this being very, very short but I'm going on holiday in a week and the next chapter will be their date at the beach. I wanted to do that one separately and as the chapter before I go on holiday because I don't really want to stress too much over it.
Anywho! Arthur came back, kind of, in this chapter and we got some conversation between Merlin and Morgana so I hope this passed as bearable.
Thanks everyone for reading and please review to tell me your thoughts! :)
Next chapter: We fast-forward a week to Merlin and Morgana's evening at the beach.
