Thank you so much for the reviews! It's awesome to see some old names popping up again!
AWandersHaven: Thanks! No she's not, but that's life! :( She'll still be around for a bit though at least
Feedtheflames: Thanks! I know a lot of peeps were wondering the same thing...Gwaine's stubborn!
Aerist: I know you've been saying it! LOL but unfortunately the characters can't hear you...or even me sometimes *thinks about chap 55 coming up*
Nance: A lot of the seriousness ended in the last chapter hehe I had a blast with the antics in this one.
Shelle-ma-belle: heheh I had to throw that line in somewhere!
CarolynneRuth: YAH! So happy to have you back. Laney is a character very close to my own heart, I'm happy to see she's had such an impact on others.
Anyhoo! As always, proofread by the wonderful Nance...any errors remaining are my own. And flow-read by IcarusLSU
This chapter...just FYI... was too much fun to write. I managed to include something I...to this day...have avoided in pretty much any other Merlin fic I haven't written. One of the most classic of all Merlin cliches. Reviews buy food for muses that (like my tubby dogs) think they're starving!
Martha smiled and reached out for her friend's hand. "This is going to be wonderful!"
It had taken Laney barely a second, to realize what Gwaine meant. They were moving...to Camelot. She looked at Arthur, who was nodding his head in acceptance of the idea. Gwaine was smiling nervously at her, waiting for her to say something. She avoided Leon's eyes, altogether. The last thing she needed was for him to get all emotional on her. She had enough of her own shit to still deal with. "The boys are going to freak out." Laney finally said breathlessly.
"...But, I think it will be better in the long run, right? We'll be with family, and he said you could be there to help Gwen out with Aurie and the new baby." He was still afraid she might say 'no,' and it showed in Gwaine's face.
Arthur scoffed, "That's all I need...my son learning some new, colorful words."
"Frack you, too, Princess." Laney shot off with a smile.
The former king laughed, not put off by her comment. He gave her a teasing wink.
"So...am I allowed to go back in and see my husband now?" Martha asked Gwaine. She was ready to go back in anyway, with or without his permission.
"Yeah. Take this one with you, please." He hooked his thumb at his sister.
Martha linked her arm through Laney's, and the two of them entered the room, leaving the door open behind them. She moved to the bed and found that Merlin had fallen into an exhausted sleep. By her side, Laney glanced back toward the door.
Following her friend's gaze, Martha's eyes narrowed, "They're up to something, you know."
"No shit."
The three men huddled together in the hallway, just outside their friend's door.
Taking a breath, Gwaine leaned in conspiratorially. "I need to get Merlin somewhere...specific request from my new boss, type of thing."
"Where?" Arthur asked with concern. It was obvious to him, that Merlin wasn't in a state to be moved anywhere.
"Valley of the Fallen Kings."
"What?"
"Trust me on this." Gwaine held out his hands, attempting to forestall the many questions that flitted through Arthur's eyes. "I know what he needs and why...Problem is in the logistics."
"I can beam you both into the area, easily enough." Leon offered.
Arthur asked, "Are you going to stay with him? It isn't like he can fend for himself right now."
"I can't, and he understands that." He glanced away, thoughts of Morgana's threat plaguing his mind. "Arthur, there's some more stuff you need to know, and I think we should keep General Landry in the loop on this. So, you need to be here."
A heated glare was Arthur's only response. He hadn't seen his wife and son since returning to the planet. Between that, and the idea of leaving his friend vulnerable in a place where they had always seen so much trouble, didn't sit well with him.
"I need to get back here to finalize some things, after I drop him off." Gwaine told Leon. "...But, I do agree we need to have someone stay with Merlin."
"What about Martha?" Arthur offered, as the first obvious suggestion.
The three men, as one, leaned over and looked into the room. Martha was still uncharacteristically hovering. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have been acting like this, but something about nearly losing her supposedly immortal husband, had her on a mothering overdrive.
"Naw." They agreed, simultaneously.
"He's gonna need some peace and quiet. Just someone to let him do his thing, ya know?"
They studied the floor and the walls around them in thought. Arthur snorted, "I know the perfect person."
"Who?" Leon asked, but soon enough he understood who his king was thinking of.
Gwaine must have realized it, too.
"Mickey." They said together.
"Brilliant." Gwaine was grinning, and there was a light in his eyes that neither Arthur nor Leon had really seen since their reunion. "I'll call him...try and give him directions to the opening of the Valley. We won't be able to beam in there directly."
Leon appeared confused, "Why not?"
Smirking, and thinking about what Merlin had told him, Gwaine responded, "Something about alien technology, and booby traps."
There was much more to the story than Gwaine was letting on, but under the circumstances, Arthur's only other choice was to watch his best friend hopefully recover, or more than likely, waste away in the hospital bed. "What about the doctors here? How do we explain his sudden disappearance?"
"I've got an idea for that." Gwaine's eyes were lit with mischief.
"Alright, I'll have Percival call Mickey instead. He is much better at giving directions than you have ever been. Leon, go prep your ship. Get them as close to the coordinates as possible. I'll try and distract Martha, but she may become suspicious anyway. Gwaine, you work your angle to cover his escape."
"Mmm...and what an angle it is." Carolyn was speaking with the attending physician at a desk down the hall. The tight, blue denim outlined the curves of her hips and legs tantalizingly. His eyes twinkled and he bit his lip, shifting his head to the side...just enough to remind the others of the man they used to know.
"He's ba...ack." Leon muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes.
Arthur bit down a chuckle. It was good to see the old Gwaine emerging from the somber shadows once more. "Once Mickey is in position, we'll do this."
"I'll get them set up over there, and you can beam back here before morning." Gwaine looked at Leon for confirmation.
The older knight nodded. It felt good to be a part of something with these men. He knew now, a good part of what had been missing from the last fourteen centuries of his life.
Carolyn's eyes darted down the wide corridor from the Nurse's Station, toward Merlin's door. Three men stood just outside of it, whispering conspiratorially. The one brown-eyed man, the shortest of the three, looked her way, as if he felt her eyes on him. Her brow furrowed, attempting to figure out what he was up to.
The corner of his mouth lifted, and his gaze wandered appreciatively over her body. If any other man had looked at her like that, she might have taken issue, but after last night...Well, he knew exactly what was under her snug-fitting clothes.
Turning back to the desk, she finished signing off a form, allowing her to share some of Merlin's records. She walked cautiously toward the men. Gwaine broke off from the other two, and met her a few steps away from them. His arm snaked around her back, and she felt his hand push down into her back pocket.
"Take a walk with me, gorgeous?"
Carolyn looked at him like he'd sprouted a second head before uttering, "Okay..."
He began leading her away, his hand still shamelessly cupping her bottom. Chuckling and wondering what he was up to, she walked with him; her own arm wrapping around his waist. She heard Arthur cough a warning at his knight's brazen hold on her backside. In a sudden, bold move...feeling like a rebellious teenager...she stuffed her own hand into Gwaine's back pocket, as they walked away; leaving the modest man from the sixth century sputtering about the scandalous attitudes of the twenty-first century.
Once they were out of sight, Arthur shook his head and turned back to Leon. "How long would it take to get to that planet we were on?"
"Day and a half, Sire."
"We left Merlin's backpack there. It has a book in it, that I need to retrieve."
Leon nodded, "There was a Mothership that had arrived in orbit, just after you and Merlin left in the Tau'ri ship. I don't know whose it was."
"Hmm, perhaps General Landry would know. He has requested an audience with us all, Percival included. I have a feeling they are going to be asking about my sword."
"Why would they ask about that?"
"Some idiot slipped up. I don't know if it was intentional or due to his exhaustion, since he had just used his magic to get us into the library in that village."
Leon chuckled softly and shook his head. "Merlin never does anything without a purpose, even if he isn't fully aware of it" He hated to think he'd kept the sword safe for so long, only to have it scrutinized by scientists who didn't have a clue.
"I know." Arthur admitted. He still couldn't see the reasoning behind the warlock explaining the sword to Mitchell, who had already known of its existence, or more to the point, why he would have let Dr. Jackson know. "That's what worries me."
"Bloody hell! You look like death warmed over, Merlin. What the hell happened to you lot out there?" Mickey exclaimed once the beam faded. He rushed to help Gwaine catch Merlin, before the warlock fell onto the moss-covered ground.
Mickey had been sitting and waiting for at least an hour. He knew because he had been checking his watch, and the clock on the phone, every five minutes since he had arrived. He grabbed Merlin's arm and pulled it over his shoulder, mimicking Gwaine's hold on the other side of the warlock.
"Jack said there was word out in the galaxy about a battle...Don't suppose that has anything to do with your condition, now does it?"
Merlin tried to chuckle, but it turned into a cough that emanated from deep inside his chest. His face, always pale, was nearly ash; the blue eyes clouding over, as if all of his age had suddenly descended upon him. He gasped for breath, feeling a wetness in his lungs, as if a sickness had been brewing for some time.
Gwaine shook his head. He refused to think that they had come this far, just for him to lose his best friend.
"Hold on, Merlin." He placed a firm hand on Merlin's chest, feeling the shallowness of each breath. He hoped he wasn't wrong in helping his friend. A part of him wondered if Merlin would have been better off, left in the hospital, but it was too late now for second guessing. "We'll get you to the cave."
Mickey pulled a stretcher board from the back of a nearby utility quad, that he'd used to drive out to the area. It was a hybrid between an all-terrain-vehicle and a golf cart. There were three full backpacks of provisions sitting on the passenger seat, as well as a rifle case with an assortment of weapons in the back.
Once Merlin was secured, they geared up. Each carried a backpack, and they tied the third one to the board near Merlin's feet. The three men began making their way toward the passage that marked the entrance into the Valley of the Fallen Kings.
"What the hell are those?" Mickey asked, as they moved along through the thick forest.
Gwaine looked up. "Those were once statues of the kings who, I think, were buried here. That was long before even Merlin's time, though."
"Gwaine..." Merlin whispered breathlessly. "Watch out for bandits."
"I doubt if there have been any bandits here for years."
"No...they're still here."
Gwaine thought about arguing, but decided it was better not to waste Merlin's faltering energy in a pointless debate.
It had been easier than Gwaine had anticipated, to get Merlin out of the hospital. As Merlin's doctor, Carolyn was initially against the idea of moving him. Gwaine had explained to her that Merlin was sort of connected to the land near Camelot, without going into details about the cave that held the crystals, and the Stargate that had thrown Gwaine into the past.
The SGC had known it was there...at least it had been, back in the sixth century. Since his return, he'd kept tabs on their information, and it seemed the place had disappeared without a trace sometime between then and now. Gwaine's suspicions were recently confirmed with Merlin's admission of using his magic to hide the area.
All he had to do, to enlist his girlfriend's help, was promise her a full explanation...and a date to see some crappy, romantic comedy with her upon his return. Laney had unwittingly helped as well, in their effort to get Merlin out of the sterile, cold hospital room. His sister was going to kick his ass later - of that, he had no doubt.
Leon had tried to approach her, apologizing for something; Gwaine didn't have a clue what. Laney gave the tall knight the cold shoulder, and Gwaine had just rolled his eyes. He had predicted the coming awkwardness, but had hoped that the two's relationship...or whatever they were calling it...would have held out at least a little bit longer.
On the next of her frequent smoke breaks, Laney had convinced Martha to accompany her; wanting to have a bit of girl talk. Martha had reluctantly gone with her friend. It was obvious Martha didn't trust the guys, but she had felt safe leaving Merlin for a few moments, as Carolyn was still nearby. She had faith that her fellow doctor would not allow the boys to enact whatever plan they had hatched, under her nose.
It was perfect timing on Mickey's part, as he had called from his position in the forest, just after the two ladies walked out. After a quick goodbye kiss from Gwaine, Carolyn had quickly unhooked Merlin from the leads and IVs. Gwaine had hauled his friend out of the bed, while Arthur stood guard at the door, and then Leon had beamed himself, Gwaine and Merlin to his ship. Not long afterward, they were beamed down and getting antagonized by Mickey, who was wondering what the hell was going on.
Everything was going smoothly...too smoothly...and the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly began to prickle. Merlin's apparent delirium-induced words finally began to make sense. If the cave that held the Stargate that he had passed through, was somehow linked to all the other nonsense they had been dealing with, then the idea presented might not have been as far-fetched as Gwaine initially believed. It had technically been centuries since he had been here, and these woods had always been infested by roving bands of...
His eyes widened. At least a dozen bandits, dressed for the Dark Ages...like some sort of weird medieval reenactment...swarmed out of the trees toward them.
"Aw, shit."