A little something for all my fellow Gaius fans:

Look Upwards

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It was a noise that caused him to stir, loud enough to penetrate his sleep but soft enough to slip out of his conscious thoughts without registering. Still...

Merlin turned over and curled up smaller in the blankets, trying to hold onto sleep. A brightness intruded, however, and he let out a small groan as he felt himself pulled awake.

"Gaius? Is that you? What are you doing up?" Merlin asked blearily as he scrubbed a hand at his barely open eyes.

Gaius was sitting at the desk in the room he shared with Merlin. At the sound of Merlin's voice he whipped his hands away from his face. "I'm sorry, my boy. I didn't mean to wake you."

"But what are you still doing up?"

"Just reading."

"Are you all right?"

"Of course, of course. You go back to sleep now. I'll go down to the kitchen to read."

Merlin didn't listen. He got up and walked to the end of the bed so that he could sit and face his old mentor. "What's wrong, Gaius? And don't try to deny it - you had your hands up to your face as though you were tired or sad and I assume the noise that woke me was this pencil by the dustbin hitting the floor. Not to mention I'm certain I heard a "Fie!" as well."

"It's of no importance. I'm just frustrated."

"At what?"

"Nothing. It's nothing."

"Gaius, tell me," Merlin persisted. "Please?"

"I'm just tired."

"So rest. Gaius, it's three-forty-seven. Most people are asleep at this time of night."

"But I have to…"

"Have to what? What is so important?"

"This!" Gaius exclaimed, waving a book at Merlin.

"Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'? I admit it's a fascinating book, Gaius, but what - "

"It's not the book! It's… everything! It's all of it! It's all the history and science and machines and social protocols and - "

"Gaius, calm down," Merlin soothed. "I know it's a lot, but you don't have to learn it all tonight."

"But I do! Not tonight perhaps, but as soon as possible."

Merlin shook his head helplessly. "Gaius, what are you talking about? Why are you driving yourself so hard?"

"Merlin… why are we here?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Arthur was supposed to return upon Albion's greatest need. There have been plagues and wars and evil deeds being perpetrated for centuries and he never came back, so why now? And why the rest of us as well?" Gaius stared intently at his former ward. "Merlin… what is coming?"

Merlin recognized the seriousness of what Gaius was saying. "I don't know. It worries me too. Something worse than the Black Death, worse than the Holocaust… I just don't know. I can't even imagine it."

"That's why I have to catch up with this era, Merlin. Otherwise how else can I be of help to you?"

"I appreciate that, Gaius. And it's something all of us are going to have to talk about soon, perhaps even tomorrow. But driving yourself into the ground won't help either - you need to be healthy and strong. And don't think that just because you're twenty-five again doesn't mean that you can't make yourself sick with overwork."

"Oh, yes… that."

"What is it, Gaius? It's as if you're not pleased to be young again."

"What should I be pleased about? I'm no longer a physician. I'm in a paradise of books and yet I can hardly read a word. The young man I did my best to advise is now centuries older and more experienced than I could ever be. I have no place, Merlin. I'm just a callow youth out of time, without even a strong arm or skill with a sword to offer you in whatever fight is coming! How is that worth a thatch of brown hair and a few less stiffer joints?"

Merlin opened his mouth as if to say something and then thought better of it. He rose and slapped his hand against the other man's upper arm. "Get dressed," he said.

"What? Why?"

"Don't ask questions. I have something to show you."

"Do I have to wear those awful modern clothes?"

"Gaius, no one wears robes nowadays but judges and clergymen. You'd look silly. Besides, the bloody thing would look like a sail on you now. You're nothing but skin and bones."

Gaius huffed with annoyance, but got ready like Merlin asked.

-x-

They walked for roughly a kilometre and then carefully picked their way up a small hill in the dark. Once they had reached the top, Merlin pointed upwards. "Look at that," he told Gaius.

"The moon? You brought me out here to show me the moon?"

"Yes, because it's a different moon than the one that existed in our time."

"It doesn't look any different to me," Gaius groused and Merlin thought to himself that his old friend may look twenty-five but he was still as cantankerous as he ever was.

"Well, it is. I want you to look at it, really look at it. Go on," Merlin urged. When Gaius reluctantly did, Merlin stood beside him and began to speak.

"The moon in our time was an unquestioned presence, a night visitor that all could see but only a few puzzled at. It was just another light in the sky that might guide you in the dark or tell you when to plant your crops, but no one knew what it itself was and most didn't care.

"But that moon up there has had people on it!"

"What?"

"It's true. Human beings have traveled to the moon, Gaius. We've been there and walked on its surface and found it was even more mysterious afterwards than it was before."

"But how is that possible?"

"Three men rode into the heavens in a giant vehicle called a rocket. It was propelled by a fire more massive and powerful than you can possibly imagine and in it they blazed their way towards the stars and escaped the bonds of Earth. Once free of our planet's pull, their rocket fell away and in a tiny capsule they made their way towards the moon through the inhospitable depths of space. Once there, two of those men entered an even tinier craft and piloted it down to the surface to land in the Sea of Tranquility.

"It isn't a sea made of water, but a large, dark, basaltic plain, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. When a man named Neil Armstrong stepped out of that fragile little craft and onto that sea, he was the first person ever from Earth to set foot on a heavenly body not our own. As he did so he said that it was "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Merlin looked over to see his old mentor wide-eyed and barely breathing, his expression that of a boy's.

"And then what did they do?" Gaius asked, his voice hushed.

"They explored. Armstrong's companion Aldrin described the land around them as "magnificent desolation", and it truly was - is - an alien place, Gaius. And before they left, the two men - astronauts - left a plaque which read, 'Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.' "

" 'Came in peace for all mankind,' " Gaius repeated. "Did they come back?"

Merlin laughed. "Oh, yes. To a hero's welcome. In fact, Armstrong only died last year, and Aldrin and the third man - Michael Collins - are still alive."

"Marvelous," Gaius breathed. "It's… it's astonishing. Astounding. Men have been to the moon!"

"It's even more astounding when you know all of what was involved."

"I don't believe it. How could it ever be more astounding?"

Merlin smiled. "You'll understand eventually. You know, people say Armstrong's footprint will last until the end of time."

"How?"

"The moon has no atmosphere, nor any internal motions like tectonic plates shifting like here on Earth. Without air to erode them or water to wash them away or earthquakes to destroy them, they may indeed last forever."

"My word!"

The two men stared at the sky for some moments, until Gaius turned to his former ward, his "boy" who was now so much older than he. "But why did you bring me out here, Merlin?"

Merlin nodded towards the moon. "Because that's what you have to give, Gaius."

Gaius turned his gaze heavenward and then back to Merlin. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

"The moon landing wasn't just one moment, Gaius. It was a culmination, not just the hundreds of people striving towards that specific goal during the decade leading up to it, but the thousands and even millions of men and women throughout the centuries building up humankind's store of knowledge. People like you - not just wise, but wondering and searching for answers, thinking and reasoning, discovering and learning.

"Gaius, we need your experience - which you haven't lost, despite your new appearance - and we need your wisdom and your level-headedness and we desperately need your calm sense of kindness and caring. But added to that we need the part of you that dreams of things like that," Merlin said, pointing upwards at the bright globe glowing in the sky. "Dreams like that are what move humans forward, not just physically and materially, but emotionally. To my mind, it's when we explore that we're at our most vibrant and when we look for answers that we're at our most divine."

Merlin faced his surrogate father and placed his hands on the man's shoulders. "Gaius, whatever trials are coming, we need the scientist in you to help us fight and then, even more importantly, after we've won we're going to need you to set us on the right path to the future. To remind us there's more to humanity than wars and battles and even just the brute, day-to-day struggles we face down here."

Gaius found himself unable to say anything for a long time. Finally he chuckled weakly as tears glistened in his eyes. "Foolish boy, you don't expect much do you?"

"Nope, not much at all," Merlin said around a wide grin. "So? Think you're up for the job?"

"Tell me more about the heavens. What other new miracles has mankind found?"

"Well, for a start, we're all made of stardust."

.

Random fun fact:

In trying to picture Gaius as a young man, I've been looking for some pictures of Richard Wilson when he was young and finally found some today. Though I think his shoulders were just a touch wider, as a young man he was as lanky as Colin Morgan. In fact, he was so thin as a child he said he used to pray to God to make him fat. I also discovered that as a young man he studied science so he could work in a hospital - I guess the character of Gaius isn't that far of a stretch for him!