That Kind of Day

Arthur would mark today as the first day in his career where he didn't want to go to work. There were days when it was harder to get up, but today he wished for the mass extinction of the human race just so he didn't have to see Aredian.

Standing under the shower didn't wake him up in the slightest. When he looked in the bathroom mirror, he saw that he could probably do with a shave but decided the stubble wasn't worth the energy. Arthur pulled one of many white button downs out of a drawer, but when he got to the pants, he opened the wrong drawer and grabbed a dark pair of jeans instead of bothering to open the right one. He put on a pair a boots and a black leather jacket without a second thought. His usual shoes and suit jacket wouldn't match anyways.

Arthur arrived to work on time, took the elevator instead of the stairs, and trudged across the room on the way to his office. He had his hands in his pockets and kept his head down, so he didn't see Merlin come up and grab him by the elbow, pulling him towards Aredian's office.

Snapping out of his sluggishness, Arthur yanked his arm back. "What are you doing?"

Noticing the change in Arthur's work appearance Merlin asked, "Is it laundry day?"

"Shut up." Arthur saw what Merlin brought him over for. There was police tape in an 'X' across Aredian's door. "Have I missed something?"

"We all did," Merlin said. "According to the janitor, it was here when he arrived. Aredian's not he—"

"What's the meaning of this?!" Aredian shouted as he stormed past them.

"Speak of the devil," Merlin muttered under his breath.

Aredian yanked the tape off the doorframe. "Who did this?"

It was Gwaine who spoke up. "Maybe it's up there or a reason, sir." Aredian stared coldly at him. "And just to be clear, it wasn't me. I can do much better." Gwaine shrugged off the glare with a smug grin.

"Get back to work!" Aredian barked. No one missed him open the door with caution. Unfortunately, no surprises jumped out at him.

Finally in his own office, Arthur found the pencils on his desk. He opened the pack to see them all sharpened to the same precise length and point. There wasn't anything to do yet, so he went to George and Elena's corner.

George wasn't at his desk but Elena was. "How's that thing?" he said vaguely in case anyone was listening.

Elena gave a casual wave. "You mean the thing that's been processed months ago and is where it should be?"

George came back with a coffee for Elena and tea or himself in his special mug. "What's where it should be?"

"Just a thing," Arthur said. "And thanks, George."

The techie looked startled. "For what?"

"For sharpening my pencils?" Arthur glanced at Elena. She also was wondering what was going on with her partner.

"Yes. Pencils. Right." George awkwardly said.

Thrown off by George's weirder behavior, Arthur tried explaining what he did just to clarify. "I was sitting at your desk last night. I hope I didn't accidently move anything out of place."

"Everything was fine. Thank you."

"Have you ever thought of designating a spot for a pen? That way it's always out and handy…unless someone steals it. Maybe it's not the best idea after all." Not getting a reaction from George, Arthur went on. "I almost went through your drawers but thought it was best not to."

"You…you didn't go through them?"

"No. I didn't have a warrant," Arthur deadpanned.

Elena snorted and George took a second before chuckling nervously.

"Relax, George. Police humor." Arthur spotted George's tell. A gulp. "But if I did happen to open a drawer last night, I wouldn't have found, say, a roll of police tape?" Arthur said only loud enough for the three of them to hear.

George caved. "Aredian wanted me to get a report to him by morning. Last night I went in his office to leave it on his desk and-and—There is no order in that room what so ever. Files go in a filing cabinet, not on top of them. Even a child knows that!"

This was the most amazing confession that Arthur's heard in his career. "Gwaine's not going to be happy that you beat him to a prank."

George bristled at the thought of being associated with such behavior. "It wasn't a prank. I was merely alerting everyone that behind that man's door is a crime scene."

"Right." Arthur shared an amused look with Elena. "Well, thanks again." He left them to their work.

George deflated. "I was going to take that to my grave."

"This is why he's the detective," said Elena, turning back to her work. "I should've known it was you. That tape job was so precise."

On the outside, George returned back to his straight-faced demeanor. On the inside, his was filled with pride.

There was nothing to do for most of the day. Finished with another pointless load of paperwork, Arthur took out a pencil and was ready to launch it tip first at the ceiling. He was a snap of his wrist away from its release when Merlin came in.

Before Merlin could say what he initially planned to say, he paused and looked at Arthur. "And they call me the weird one."

Arthur put the pencil down. "What now?"

Merlin clapped his hands together and grinned. "You'll be happy to hear that we've got a body."

It was a quaint residential area minus the flashing police lights and commotion from onlookers who gathered behind the yellow tape.

The officer guarding the scene lifted the tape for Arthur and Merlin, and they met with Alice at the front step of the house. Inside, the living room area was ransacked, and the mother was sobbing in her son's arms on the couch.

Arthur motioned for Merlin to talk to them. The officer that was speaking with them traded places with Merlin and escorted Arthur and Alice to the master bedroom.

"The victim is Franklin Gates." the officer informed. "And Gilli just started shooting in there now." A second officer standing outside the door stepped aside and let them through. "Here we are."

Gilli was shuffling around the room, taking pictures from every angle possible and momentarily cut off Alice as she made a beeline to the body.

Arthur remained at the door and surveyed the room. The closet door and drawers were open with clothing strewn about, a lamp was knocked over, and the mirror on the vanity was shattered. The victim laid on his back in the bed, and his upper chest to the wall was covered in blood.

Arthur walked up to the bed and stood next to Alice. Franklin Gates' face was bashed in.

"Judging by his position, he sleeps on his back and was still asleep when the attack happened," Alice said.

"Guess he was a heavy sleeper." Arthur bent slightly to get a better look at the damage. He made a quick assessment and straightened. "Multiple blows?"

"Very likely." Alice pulled out her pen and pointed to a prominent indent. "My money's on a baseball bat."

Merlin came in and stopped short. "Why do they always go for the head? Is that brain matter on the wall?"

There was a very chucky blood splatter on the wall above the victim. "Hair," Alice confirmed, "and a tooth." She waved Gilli over, directing him to spots she wanted him to focus on.

Arthur moved away and looked at the wedding photo on the vanity. "He had facial hair."

Merlin shuddered. "The wife and kid are staying with her sister."

"Did you get anything useful from them?"

"Mrs. Gates, the wife, said her husband called her from work this morning to say he was going home early because he wasn't feeling well. She came home and found the house a mess and Mr. Gates…well," Merlin gestured to the body. "Robert, the son, came home a bit after his mum. He's the one who called it in. Mrs. Gates was in hysterics."

Alice looked up from the notes she was making of the body. "So the home invader killed a napping Mr. Gates in case he woke up to find he was being robbed?"

"Or it wasn't a home invasion." Arthur turned back to Merlin. "How's the boy?"

"You think he did it?" Merlin asked. "I was banking on the wife. It's always the spouse."

"It's not always the spouse," Arthur argued

"It's always the spouse," Alice said her face inches away from the head, too close for their comfort.

Arthur and Merlin both made faces, grossed out enough to make up for Alice's immunity real life gore. Merlin focused back on his partner. "And to answer your question, the son was upset but calm enough to form complete sentences."

Alice sighed and they looked back over to her. "I don't think I'll be able to move the body with the head intact," she said. "Gilli, can you get this at every angle you can so I can piece him back together in the morgue."

Gilli nodded and swiftly snapped away.

Arthur heard Merlin mutter something about high definition images of brain chunks and Arthur shook his head. "Hey Gilli, how many pixels do you think makes up a chunk of brain,"

The photographer looked like he was really thinking of an answer and Merlin pointed a threatening finger at him. "Don't answer that!"

Right when Arthur stepped out of the Gates residence, he got a call from Cerdan, a family friend on his mother's side that filled the role of kind but unlucky uncle.

Arthur could tell Cerdan was beating around the bus, so he asked him outright, "How much do you owe?"

Cerdan's reply was quick. "Five hundred thousand." There was no way to sugarcoat it.

"That's... a lot."

"I'm not asking you for a penny," Cerdan said, "but I do need a favor…"

Less than a second after Arthur knocked, Cerdan's door swung open and the antsy man ushered Arthur in. "I'm sorry this is such short notice," he apologized. "My employer got a new—"

Arthur stopped him. "Don't tell me any details. The less I know the better."

Growing up, Arthur heard his father express his displeasure with Cerdan's odd jobs, but supported him because it's what Ygraine would do. Cerdan worked hard, but was a trouble magnet. Arthur bailed him out whenever he could, but the price was too high this time.

Arthur looked around the flat. It was very clean and sparse. "Where's Mordred?"

Cerdan took a sorrowful glance at his son's bedroom door. "He's getting his things together. He'll be out in a few."

"I'll take good care of him, Cerdan," Arthur promised.

"I know." Cerdan let out a shaky breath. "You're the only one I trust."

Mordred had a growth spurt since the last time Arthur saw him. He dropped his duffle bags on the floor and adjusted his backpack straps on his shoulders. "Hey," the gloomy teen mumbled.

"Hi, Mordred. You look well." Arthur gave him a handshake. Mordred's grip was strong. Arthur noticed his eyes were watering and his jaw was clenched. Arthur brought up his other hand and gave the teen's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "I'll take your things down to the car and give you some time with your dad."

The wait wasn't long. Knowing Cerdan, he had prepared Mordred for this moment and there were no more words to say. Arthur saw Mordred rub his eyes before he got in the front seat. He didn't say anything once buckled in, so Arthur drove off.

They were halfway home when Mordred decided to talk. "This isn't the way to your place."

"Actually, it is," Arthur said. "I moved. And the guest room—your room—is really nice if I do say so myself."

"Cool."

"Yeah. I got a new place, took a month long vacation, played the new Call of Dragons game." Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Mordred perk up.

"You got the new game?"

"If you want to play it tonight, we can. It's got split screen multiplayer." When Mordred didn't answer, Arthur felt like a dweeb. "Or you can play the single player campaign. I should probably go over work stuff."

In a small but eager voice, Mordred asked. "Can we? Please?"

A nearly empty box of pizza and five rounds later, Arthur and Mordred ended the game. Arthur wanted to go best out of 10, mainly because he lost 3 out of 5, but it was getting late. "I don't want to be the uncool guardian, but you have school tomorrow."

Mordred pouted at the thought of school, but thanked Arthur. "I haven't played videogames in a long time. Dad had to sell my console. He had to sell a lot of things."

"Play anytime you want," Arthur said. "Well, as long as you get your homework done first."

Mordred gave him a genuine smile, grabbed another slice of pizza, said goodnight, and disappeared up the stairs.

As Arthur tidied up, he thought about the wreckage inside the Gates residence. He went into his office to go over the photos Gilli sent him. On his second go through of the slideshow, Arthur stopped at a picture of the side table on the wife's side of the bed. Blood had splattered far enough to cross the bed and speckled the picture frame on the table.

Arthur hunched over, peering closer at the screen and zoomed in. In the photo, Mr. and Mrs. Gates stood with cheery faces. Their son was between them, his lips turned up but the smile didn't reach his eyes. It was a few years old judging from how much shorter their son was.

Robert was wearing a baseball cap in the photo, and Alice was almost positive that the weapon was a bat. That was not a good enough reason to pin the murder on the kid by connecting it to an old photo. Robert Gates was around Mordred's age now, full of hormones and teen angst. Was he so angry that he killed his father? Why? Did his father abuse him? His mother? Was it out of resentment?

Did Mordred resent his father?

Arthur sat up. He didn't want to go there. If he started thinking about Mordred's situation and the potential of Robert being the killer before bed and full of junkfood, he was definitely going to have nightmares about being trapped in his house with a murderous Mordred. He could feel it already taking root in his subconscious.

Mrs. Gates did come home first though. Mr. Gates could've still been alive when she did. It could've been her. Arthur let that be his last thought instead. It's always the spouse.

Excitement was building. Interrogations will begin tomorrow, and Arthur was going to start his morning off right.

A/N: I made up Call of Dragons. It was originally going to be Call of Duty, but then I was like…this is a Merlin fic, make it dragons. I imagine it as a first person shooter with magic and stuff.

Luther kinda took in/housed Jenny Jones in S2, so I brought in Mordred. Different storyline though. I don't wanna make Mordred a prostitute lol. But I wanted to give Arthur a big brother kinda role and maybe a family-like dinner with Gwen or something.

Guess you'll have to keep reading to find out *cackles*

Thanks for reading and reviewing! (And Gwen will be in the next chapter. I promise!)