Replies:

Sakhr al-Jinni: Haha, the waiter, the wedding and the weirdos, I like it! Really happy you like this story, and do you mean it's a shame Morgana's evil in the show or in this fic?

Sjritts: I love writing them bickering to be honest, I have fun coming up with their silly arguments. You'll find out about Alvarr in this chapter! Pay close attention! :)

IcarusLSU: Thank you!

Draghiforever: The burgers seemed like a nice touch and it was nice to write the date. Hmm, maybe I'll give Mordred the kitten, it's a good idea. Here is the confession thing you've been waiting for!

Gespav: Haha, I had the idea for the burgers about halfway through and I thought it was a bit more up their street instead of snooty restaurants. You cracked me up with the idea for a movie date and it's one I'll probably end up using in the future, so you might want to look out for it!

Renaissancebooklover108: Maybe I'll send her off to the Caribbean for a few weeks :)

Merlinlovr: I'm sure the badgers can eat the leftover burger, if they're not busy being culled off. Thanks for your review!

Grayember13: Aaaawwww to you too!

Yesthenlucky9: Hello, new person! I don't think it's particularly healthy that you've gone through this entire story in one day, but I'm not complaining. Here's the new update!

XXX

"I ache all over," Merlin groans, rolling on his back and stretching his legs out.

Morgana smiles into the duvet, curled up on her side. "Well if you didn't enjoy it, we don't have to do it again."

"No, I did enjoy it." He hooks an arm around her waist and pulls her to him, her soft skin brushing against his. "I liked it a lot."

"So did I. It was a most pleasurable experience." She huddles closer to his body heat, facing him with a broad smile. "How long do we have?"

"I've got about an hour or so." He moans as she slips a heated leg between his cooler pair.

"Then we've got to make the most of it, haven't we?" Morgana kneels in front of him and he sits up to join her. There are no clothes, no duvets or sheets to get in the way. They are both completely exposed to each other. And Morgana has never felt more comfortable.

"I suppose we had," he agrees and kisses her lips gently. "Having sex in the morning is the best time of day for it, apparently."

"Where did you read that?"

He pulls back and blushes. "I'm not saying."

She sighs in content as he takes one of her breasts in his palm and strokes it with his thumb. "I'm definitely going through your internet history tonight."

He leans forwards and kisses from her jawline down to her collarbone, grazing over the tender skin with his teeth, making her shiver in delight. "But I've got other things planned for tonight."

"Like what?" She teases, closing her eyes in sensation as his movements continue.

"You know what I mean," Merlin tells her, chuckling, moving down to take the tip of her breast into his mouth, his tongue gliding over the tight bud.

"Do I?" She asks weakly, fisting her hands in his hair. Heat spreads down into the pit of her stomach, melting into her spine and down the backs of her thighs.

"Mm," he hums, the vibrations rippling out across her sensitive chest. His hot palms smooth over her sides and slide up her back until he reaches her shoulder blades. His hands curl around her shoulders and he gently lowers her down, resting her on the mattress, her head on the pillows.

Morgana looks up at him in surprise, green eyes wide. She moves her hands to rest on his arms as he leans over her, smiling. "Merlin."

"You're beautiful," he says softly, his eyes drinking in the sight laid before him.

He admires every aspect of her body; her pearly white skin, the swell of her breasts, the delicate curve of her hips, the way her dark hair splays out against the white cushions. She is perfect and everything in between. "I don't think I tell you that enough."

"Feel free to do so at any time," Morgana tells him, making both of them laugh.

"I'll make sure of it," Merlin promises, glancing at the small alarm clock on the bedside table.

Morgana follows his gaze. "What time is it?"

"Time for me to get in the shower," he says with a sigh, unhappy to ruin their moment together. "At least try to find a job today. I know it isn't easy with the little kittens downstairs distracting you, but just look at some potential careers, okay?"

She gives him the thumbs up. "Absolutely. No kitten shall put me off today."

Merlin cracks a grin and sits up, straightening the duvet out to make the bedroom look tidier. "I'll see you later. Then we can continue our wonderful deeds."

"Or we could continue them now…" Morgana trails off, sending him a devious smile.

He sits back. "How do you mean?"

"You need a shower. I need a shower. Put the two together and what do you get?"

"A really, really good time?" Merlin guesses, enjoying the direction the conversation was going in.

"Exactly," Morgana agrees, feigning disinterest and fiddling with her hair.

He grabs her hand and pulls her into the bathroom not a moment later.

XXX

"What about this one, Aithusa? I can apply to become an IT manager in an office block for a £45,000 salary?" Morgana asks the cat.

Aithusa looks up from her nest for a few seconds and then flops back down again.

"Hmm, maybe not. I don't have any IT qualifications and it's in London which is hundreds of miles away. Perhaps I should change the place thing." She changes the location and refreshes the webpage.

It has been a morning of cats, jobs and thinking about Merlin, which were some of her favourite things to do – looking for jobs wasn't particularly exciting. The kittens are all fine, especially Felix who she had checked on first, even though that was quite hard as Aithusa didn't want to let anyone touch her babies. The mother cat was terribly vicious and extremely protective, clawing and scrabbling at Morgana's hand.

Morgana's phone buzzes next to her, the screen lighting up. She picks it up and looks at the sender; Morgause.

'—Please come over to my house ASAP. I need to give you something. It's important x —'

She pulls a face at the message - so much for a quiet morning with cups of tea and fluffy kittens.

XXX

It takes a long time for Morgause to get to the door and when she does, she doesn't look well. Her face is pale, her nose is red and she has a duvet wrapped around her.

"Hey," she says thickly, sniffing.

"You look really ill," Morgana comments on her appearance.

"I am really ill. I've got flu," Morgause explains.

"But its July," Morgana points out as she steps in to the house.

Morgause waddles into the living room. "I know. I've been given the day off."

"Then you should be in bed and resting," Morgana tells her, watching as Morgause flops back on to the sofa.

"You're probably right." Morgause shrugs her shoulders, giving the impression that she was past caring.

"Oh," Morgana says, a little upset by her attitude. "Well, do you want me to get you anything? I'm going up to the shops later, so if you need anything let me know."

"I'm fine-" Morgause stops and has a coughing fit mid-sentence, "-thank you. That's not the reason I asked you to come round here."

"So, what did you want to give me?" Morgana sits down near to her, trying to keep her distance without being rude.

"This." Morgause hands her a sealed envelope. "I've had this for a while. I don't know why I've kept it from you for so long – maybe I was just scared that it would change things."

"What is it?" Morgana asks, turning the paper packet over in her hands. It has her name written across the front.

"It's a letter," Morgause says quietly, "From Alvarr."

Her heart jumps up in her throat. "How long have you had this? Did he give this to you?"

Morgause won't meet her eyes. "I found it in his house. After he was arrested I went in the house, I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't resist and I saw it on the table. I saw your name on the front so I picked it up. I planned on giving it to you sooner-"

"Then why didn't you?" Morgana snaps at her.

Morgause looks a little shocked by her tone. "Because I know that you hate Alvarr. I thought the letter might change that."

"Why don't you want that to happen?"

"It's just that, God this is so hard to explain," Morgause groans in frustration. "I don't trust men. That's how I've felt about them since Mordred's father, Cenred. I was young and naïve when I fell pregnant with Mordred. Cenred told me I could rely on him, that he would support me through everything. He lied to me. As soon as Mordred was born, he left me. I had nowhere to go; I didn't have a house-"

"What about family?" Morgana interrupts.

"I grew up in a children's' home. Let's just say that not many people wanted me around. Anyway, the moral of the story is that you can't trust a man. You just can't. You think you know them, but you don't. And I know that you don't trust Alvarr as far as you can throw him. My only fear was that after you've read this, you might."

"Have you read it?" Morgana asks, staring down at the envelope.

"No. I've never opened it. I wanted to, but I didn't."

"What do you think it's about?"

"I've no idea. I think you should go home and read it, then let Merlin read it if you wish. Maybe it can be used as evidence against him. Just read it."

Her hands shake and her heart pounds against her chest. This letter could be anything. It could be everything or nothing. Should she wait until Merlin gets home? No, this was her letter, it is addressed to her and she was going to read it.

To Morgana,

I'm writing this in the limited time that I have before somebody comes to arrest me. My head is still hurting from when I was hit with a saucepan, so this letter might not make sense or I might not have the chance to finish it. I will write as much as I can.

Everything you know or think you know about me is a lie. Everything I did to you, everything I said to you, is a lie. I never wanted to hurt you. As strange as this sounds, I hurt you to protect you.

You see, they said that if I didn't hurt you, they would. Though you might not believe this now, you were better off that way. You have no idea what they wanted to do to you – I've had sleepless nights worrying about it.

I lied to them about what I did. I told them that I'd punched you, slapped you and pulled your hair. I said that I gave you bruises and scars. They thought you were terrified of me.

Yesterday was the last straw. They said if I raped you, you'd be finished, broken. That's what they want. I don't know why, I didn't want to. I don't ever want to know why anyone would want to hurt you. But I want you to know that I was never going to go through with it. I knew someone would come and save you, so it was just a matter of time.

They make me do it, they make me do everything. The fake letter was their idea, so were the abuse and the drugs. They know my weaknesses. They threaten me into it. If I don't follow their orders, they'll kill me and my parents. Now that they know I've failed, my parents are probably dead already. They'll want to kill me, too.

That's why I'm going to confess everything. I'll give myself up and tell the court what I did to you. You've got everything you need to send me down. Use it. Tell them about the drugs, about the abuse and how I tried to rape you. I'll go to prison for years, you won't have to see me again and they won't be able to get me. Everybody wins except them.

I'm sorry. For everything. For our child. Despite everything, the fact that we created something positive is something I will remember forever. As much as it hurts that its life was tragically cut short, I hope you'll agree that perhaps it was for the better, considering the circumstances it would've been born into.

I'm sorry that I've ruined your life. I hope you can understand my reasoning behind what I did to you, that I had no choice. If you were me and someone was threatening to kill Arthur and Gwen, would you hurt Merlin?

Uther and Sarrum.

They're the ones that want to hurt you, they're behind everything. They're the ones that tell me what to do. Sarrum is the leader. Uther never said it, but I know that he's scared of him, that Sarrum is the one who's really in charge. You need to stay away from both them. They are poison. Don't swallow their lies.

I hope you and Merlin find happiness together. They say you smile when you are with him. I hope that's true. You deserve to be happy after everything I've destroyed.

I hope you find this letter and maybe one day you'll even forgive me.

But for now, just try to forget.

Alvarr

So, what do you think? Have I twisted the plot enough for you?

I chickened out of the love scene at the start, but I'm sure we can all imagine the great shower sex that Merlin and Morgana would've had without my input.

It was really nice to finally write out Alvarr's letter, instead of just thinking it through in my head. What did you think of it? I'll admit that I got a little teary in some parts, but that's just me being weird.

Thanks for reading and please review to tell me your all-important thoughts!