Replies:
IcarusLSU: Hehe, the text messages were really fun to write. Here is the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it! I'm glad you like the photo and thanks for the compliments.
Gespav: I love your reviews, okay. I guess that chapter had more funny scenes than I intended, but I'm really happy you liked them and there will be more in the future. You'll find out more on Gwaine next chapter and they'll be more on Mordred later on. Tenerife was amazing thanks, and who knows? Maybe our favourite couple could do with a holiday. And I'm glad you like the book cover photo thing.
Sjritts: Hehe, everyone who reviews is special, but you are the milestone reviewer. Here's the chapter with Merlin and Mordred, I hope it lives up to your expectations.
Renaissancebooklover108: Haha, thanks for the positive feedback on that :)
Merlinlovr: Thanks and you'll find out more about that later on. I don't have any engagements planned at the moment, well not for Merlin and Morgana, but we'll see.
Scarletbanner: I'm always late with your reviews, it's a mutual thing :) Tenerife was fab, I even got a bit of a tan and now pigs are flying around. Ooh dear, West Bay is great but the sea is a bully and I hope your sunstroke is better. And you have no idea how nice it is to write with the bedroom department fully functioning. Thanks for your ideas on Morgana's job, one of them is mentioned this chapter. And maybe I should write you into this story as a cameo, so you can kill people off with your flame-thrower. I don't know. And Kara shall appear in maybe a few chapters time? I haven't really decided yet. Here is the update!
Merlin comes through the front door, hot, tired and aching all over. Although working in a factory had its benefits; not much intellect involved and long lunch breaks, the physical labour was extremely difficult. It wasn't really a job that was suited to his best assets, despite the good pay.
"I'm back!" He calls out weakly, dumping his bag in the hallway and collapsing on the sofa in the living room. He hears voices upstairs and it only occurs to him that Mordred is here a couple of minutes later.
He groans wearily and lulls his head back. Meeting someone new was not something he wanted to do right now, but he is determined to make an effort for Morgana's sake. The two of them come downstairs to greet him and as soon as he sees Mordred he does a double-take.
Mordred looks identical to him when he was a child. They have the same dark hair, the same blue eyes and the same pale, white skin tone. It's like looking in a mirror, frighteningly so.
Mordred stays close to Morgana, clearly shy and unsure on who was speaking first. Morgana gives him a gentle nudge and Merlin smiles, trying to provoke some conversation out of him.
"Hello," Mordred says, staring at the carpet.
"Hey, Mordred. How are you?" Merlin asks in a friendly tone but Mordred doesn't look up.
He hesitates. "Okay. Thank you."
Merlin sends Morgana a questioning glance, who frowns at the pair of them and takes Mordred out to the kitchen. She sits down cross-legged on the cool lino and pulls Mordred down to join her.
"What's wrong?"
He fidgets under her gaze. "I'm scared."
Morgana shakes her head, unable to see any logic behind this. "Why? There's nothing to be scared of. I know evil cat can be a bit noisy and meow the place down when you try and wash her, but she won't scratch you or anything."
He wiggles his fingers around. "I know."
Morgana sighs, wanting more than a two word answer. "Then what are you scared of?"
"I'm scared that Merlin won't like me," he mumbles unhappily, the anxiety weighing heavily on his shoulders.
Morgana almost laughs but doesn't, in fear of sounding cruel. "Why would you worry about that?"
"Well, Merlin is your boyfriend and you love him and he loves you and you like me but if Merlin doesn't then that's bad and then you might not like me too and you might think I'm weed," Mordred rushes out, not pausing for breath.
Her shoulders droop at his emotional outburst. "Mordred, you don't have to worry about that. I know for a fact that Merlin's going to like you because you're clever and funny and I know that he'll want to read your book of good ideas, just like I did."
His eyes flicker up to meet hers, hopeful. "Really?"
Relief washes over her. Motivational conversations were more of Gwen's area, not hers. "Really. Now, come on. Let's go in and meet him properly."
They walk in again and Mordred seems a lot more confident, like he was when he'd first met her in the park. Merlin hasn't moved since they left the room, confused by the short and static conversation.
"Hello, Merlin," he says loudly.
Merlin smiles again, as if following a script. "Hello, Mordred."
Mordred seems to relax and sits down next to him on the sofa, hugging a cushion. "Um, Merlin, are you a wizard?"
Merlin laughs and Morgana takes this as her cue to leave them to it, picking up the newspaper and turning straight to the job section. She sits on the smaller sofa, which is adjacent to the one Merlin and Mordred are sat on.
"As much as I'd like to be a wizard, unfortunately I'm not. But I can do some magic tricks," Merlin wiggles his eyebrows at him and Mordred giggles.
"What kind of magic tricks?"
"I'll show you." Merlin reaches under the Yellow Pages and the Argos catalogue for a pack of cards. He takes out six cards and shuffles them several times, before fanning them out face down and holding them between his thumb and forefinger. Morgana puts down the newspaper to watch. "Pick a card, any card!"
Mordred picks the first one on the left, turning it over to look at the number and shape. "Two of Hearts," he says proudly and shows it to Merlin.
"You're not supposed to show me!" Merlin tells him and Morgana smirks as his trick fails at the first hurdle.
"Oh," Mordred blushes, giving the card back to Merlin, who shuffles them again.
"Now pick another card – don't tell me what it is this time," Merlin instructs him as he slides another one out. "Now look at it and remember what it is."
"Okay," Mordred replies, staring intently at the face of the card.
"Got it?"
"I think so," he says, not looking up.
"Now put it back in." Mordred slips the card back in amongst the others and Merlin mixes them up again.
"I can't remember what it was," Mordred says quietly and Morgana laughs at Merlin's weary expression.
"Well don't worry, because now it's time for my glamorous assistant to help you!"
Morgana laughs harder, but comes over to join them anyway. "Glamorous assistant? Yeah, now you're being nice to me."
Merlin sends her a cheesy grin. "I'm always nice to you, so I have no idea what you're talking about. Anyway, would you kindly help Mordred remember what his card was?" He puts his fingers in his ears so as not to hear them.
"What was it?" Morgana asks him.
Mordred cups his hands around her ear and whispers, "It had a woman and a wonky square."
"That's the Queen of Diamonds," Morgana whispers back.
"All done?" Merlin asks and they nod. "Okay."
He deliberately takes his time looking over the cards, but eventually pulls out the Queen of Diamonds card from the pack with a flourish. Mordred gasps and squeals excitedly, clapping his hands together.
"How did you do that?!"
"Magic!" Merlin grins and Morgana rolls her eyes at him.
"Next time you've got to do it with all the cards," she tells him, patting his cheek on her way back to her own seat.
"Don't pet me," Merlin objects, moving his head away from her hand. "Found any jobs yet?"
"I can become a bin man for £12,000 a year. Don't need any qualifications for that," Morgana replies, throwing the newspaper to him.
"What qualifications have you got? What did you do in Uni?"
"Journalism," Morgana says with a false cheer. "That came in handy, didn't it?"
"You could be a dinner-lady at my school," Mordred suggests. "I don't like my one. She shouted at me because I dropped my ham sandwich on the carpet."
"Morgana can't be a dinner-lady!" Merlin exclaims. "She'd steal everyone's food! She'd be so fat they'd have to put her in a zoo!" Mordred laughs and Morgana pets Merlin again to annoy him.
"Or you could work with my Mummy. She's always really busy. She said she wishes there were two people to do her job, not just her," Mordred tells them.
"What does she do, exactly?" Morgana inquires. "Is she a police officer?"
"I don't know what she does. She always has lots of paperwork to do and she's tired all the time. Yesterday she fell asleep when we were watching Balamory."
"Oh dear," Morgana sympathises with him, although she was more of a Teletubbies kind of a girl.
"And she always complains about Dad. She says he's useless," Mordred continues, not looking at all upset, just reporting it all back.
"Why does she say that?" Morgana calls him over to sit next to her, which was a bit of a squeeze, since the seat was only really made for one.
"He doesn't look after me at the weekends like he's supposed to. He says he's busy and Mummy argues with him and she says he's lazy."
Merlin raises his eyebrows at her over the top of the newspaper, happy not to be involved in this conversation. Morgana is a little uncomfortable, too. Families weren't really her favourite topic to talk about.
"Uh, Mordred," she starts, wanting to pull him away from his Dad, whoever he was. "Do you want to watch a DVD?"
"What ones have you got?"
"We have lots," Morgana says, gesturing to the film cases that were littered all around the edges of the room. "Thanks to Merlin."
Mordred slides off the sofa on to the floor to look at them. "Have you got Lion King?"
"I don't think so," Morgana says, rifling through the Disney section of films that she had always teased Merlin about.
"Oh, that's a shame. Me and Mummy went to see it in 3D at the cinema for my birthday. We had to wear silly glasses," Mordred tells her happily, looking through the films. "And we got popcorn and Mac Donalds."
Morgana rubs her stomach for effect. "I'd love a Mac Donalds right now. And when's your birthday? Mine is the 18th October."
"The 15th of February," Mordred says, after thinking about it for a while. "What about Merlin?"
"Christmas Eve," Merlin replies and then slaps the newspaper down.
"Really?" Mordred and Morgana both ask in unison.
"Yes," Merlin confirms. "And now I'm going to take a shower." He stands and kisses Morgana on the forehead. "See you in a minute."
"See you. And you're cooking tea tonight because I don't want to poison anyone," Morgana says, causing Mordred to laugh upon remembering the chicken nugget incident.
"Fine, whatever. You're going to have to learn to cook sometime, though," Merlin says, pointing a finger at her.
"That's not how it works," Morgana calls to him as he goes upstairs. "You cook, I eat!"
"Can we watch this one?" Mordred turns to her with a DVD in his hand.
"Friends with Benefits?" Morgana reads out loud. "I don't think so. How about we pick another?"
"But it's about friends," Mordred says innocently.
"I know. But it's really boring. And there's no lions. Or kings. You won't like it."
"Oh," Mordred sighs, disappointed that Morgana hadn't liked his choice. "What should we watch, then?"
"Finding Nemo or Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase?" She holds up the the two discs. "Pick."
XXX
Morgause is an hour late and knocks on their door at 10 o'clock in the evening. Merlin huffs and pulls his lips off Morgana's and untangles his arms from around her waist. He grumbles into her neck after pressing kisses against it.
"First she's late and now she interrupts a great make out session. I'm beginning to dislike this woman."
"Shush, Merlin." She pushes him to the side and and sits up, re-buttoning her shirt. "Go and get Mordred from the spare room, please."
"I don't want to wake him," Merlin complains, leaning back into the sofa and shutting his eyes.
"The sooner you wake him, the sooner we can do what we want to do," Morgana reminds him and he does as she says.
Morgause looks more than tired. She looks as though she's about to collapse on the floor and go to sleep. There are dark rings under her eyes and she is slouched against the door frame.
"Hey."
"Do you want to come in and sit down?" Morgana offers.
"No, it's okay. I'll just get Mordred and then we'll go. He's probably tired as well," Morgause says, straightening herself out a bit. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"You look flustered and your hair's all messed up."
Morgana laughs nervously. "I, um-"
Morgause just shakes her head, smiling. "Crazy beach hut sex again?"
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"Don't fret over it. I know it wasn't you who sent it and I'm not going to ask who, although I have a pretty good idea," Morgause says, nodding towards Merlin who was carrying a semi-conscious Mordred down the stairs.
"Mummy I'm tired," he mumbles, rubbing his eyes.
"I know. I am, too." She takes Mordred from Merlin and helps him stand up. "But now we get to go home and go to sleep."
"Have you had any tea yet?" Morgana asks her.
"No," Morgause replies, wearily. "I'll have something when we get back."
"Are you sure?" Merlin comes in. "You can take a bag of crisps on if you want?"
"Thanks, but I'm fine. Come on, Mordred."
"Bye," Mordred yawns. "Just keep swimming," he says to Morgana and they share a laugh.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Morgause reaches into her back pocket and brings out a wad of cash. She hands it to Morgana. "Here. For looking after him for me."
"Morgause, I can't-"
"I was going to pay you before, but my wages didn't come through until yesterday-"
"I can't accept this," Morgana says, still stunned by the amount of money that she now held in her hand. It had to be more than £100, maybe £150.
Morgause looks just as shocked by her reaction. "Why not?"
"It's... a lot. Too much." She turns to Merlin, who looks like he wants to sew her mouth shut.
"But it's not. Money isn't the problem. I have the cash, just not the time," Morgause speaks bluntly.
"But still," Morgana tries again.
"Give it here, then." Morgause takes it back and then passes it to Merlin. "You'll take it, won't you?"
"Um, yeah," Merlin says hesitantly, ignoring the burning glare from Morgana.
"Right, good. Thanks so much for doing this. And Morgana, we really need to get the whole court thing sorted out, okay? I'll see you soon." They leave without another word.
"What the hell was that?" Morgana yells at Merlin as soon as the door is closed.
"What the hell was what?"
"You accepting that money just then!"
Merlin pulls a face. "You deserve it! You've had him in the evenings for over a week! That demands some kind of payment!"
"I know, but I feel guilty. Did you see how tired she was?"
"Morgana-"
Fear lights up in her eyes. "God, do you think they'll be all right getting home? What if she falls asleep at the wheel? What if they have a crash? Do you think I should go after them?"
"Jesus, you really need to calm down."
"But, Merlin-"
"I'm sure they'll be fine. Now, can we please get on with..." he unbuttons her shirt again and slips it off of her shoulders, kissing along her jawline and down her neck. "This."
"I suppose you've convinced me," Morgana says, her voice low and alluring, "but then again, I don't really take much convincing."
"I know you don't. I like that. It's easier for me," Merlin says with a grin, starting on unfastening her jeans.
"Perhaps I should be more stubborn. Make you work for it," Morgana thinks out loud, stretching out against the wall at the bottom of the stairs that Merlin had pushed her against. She had to admit that she liked him being in control, even if it was just for a little bit.
She steers him around and switches their positions, pushing Merlin down until his bottom hits the floor. She kneels down and straddles his waist, noticing his bewildered expression. She decides to answer his unasked question.
"Yes, Merlin. I'm wearing the trousers in this relationship."
A day late, but about 1000 words longer than usual :) I had lots of fun writing this chapter, especially the bit at the end, hehe.
I'm really looking forward to writing out Morgause's storyline by the way, my fingers are itching to type it. Also, we hit 70 follows a few days ago! Cake for everyone!
I had the privilege of going to watch the Tempest on Tuesday evening and got to meet the lovely Colin Morgan by the stage door and he signed my ticket and programme and I may have died on the spot, okay.
Anywho! Please review to tell me your thoughts! What did you think of Merlin and Mordred's first meeting? How about Morgause? Who do you think Mordred's dad is?
Thanks for reading! And oh my god, didn't all the amazing fan-fictions update today? I feel really up against it now...
Next Chapter: Gwaine and Merlin have a talk about his sexuality.
