Thanks for the reviews! :D
Ok, so while I'm working on the more dramatic remainder of the story, I thought I would throw in a bit of fun. :D Whovians are going to enjoy this chapter. Hope you all have as much fun reading it, as I did writing it!
Beta'ed by the wonderful Nance. (who is probably giggling at me because of the way I've been shuffling chapters around lately)
"Hey! So, in the excitement of the boys leaving, I never got to ask: how was your vacation?" Martha gave her friend hug.
The other woman chuckled, "I think I need a new definition of vacation."
"Why? What happened?"
"Long story." Laney sank into a chair on the patio next to her friend. The ice in her glass clinked against the edges, as she took a drink while staring off across the lawns.
Martha sat anxiously waiting. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "So...what happened? It seemed like the two of you had a bit of a row before you left. Did you get things straightened out?"
"Oh, yeah." Laney grinned, "That's all in the past. We were able to talk things out, and my god, make-up sex with that man is fracking mind-blowing." After she had explained her aversion to marriage, Leon had laughed. He swore he would never do such a thing to her, but promised to back off, until she was ready to believe it.
Martha howled with laughter. "So, then, what gives? Sounds like you had a great time, yeah?"
"First couple of days were awesome. Then, Leon took us to see his friend, Heimdall. He wanted to see if the little gray bugger could give him some clearer answers about the Cup, and the stuff Merlin found out concerning its origins. What we discovered, though...that was the kick in the pants."
Martha took note of the change in her friend's voice and held her breath anxiously.
"The Cup was corrupted, or the ceremony, or...I don't know. Something got screwed up along the way."
"What are you saying? It can't be undone?"
"Oh, it can be undone. But, instead of just removing the immortality..." Laney took another drink and frowned, "Every scenario and simulation Heimdall tried came back with the same thing. It would...uh...well, it'll kill him."
"Oh, my god." Martha gasped, bringing her hands up to her mouth. "There has to be something that this Heimdall was missing..."
"Laney, what happened in those simulations?" Gwen asked, coming upon the tail end of the conversation.
"The boys get sent off okay?" Laney asked. She and Martha had stayed behind with the children, while Gwen had gone to see her husband off at the Stargate.
Gwen nodded, "Now, tell me what you saw, please. Merlin and Leon have always been my closest friends. They were the last two people from Arthur's reign, and then my own. They stood by my side until..." The former queen took a breath and steadied herself. "I want to know what is happening to them both. What did you see?"
"Honestly?" At Gwen's nod, Laney hesitantly continued, "Most of them consisted of him suddenly bursting apart, as if every molecule in his body had been rigged with tiny little explosives."
Gwen glanced down and fiddled absently with her hands against her skirt. "I worried as much."
Looking at Gwen curiously, Laney continued, "Leon said he'd seen it before. One of the few things from those years in Camelot that he remembers...clear as day."
"Mmm. Arthur remembers it, too. Although, he has rarely spoken of it." Seeing the questioning gazes, Gwen told them the tale of when Morgana had taken over Camelot the first time, with the immortal army. "Sir Leon's patrol had been ambushed and left for dead. A group of druids had found him barely alive. That was when they had used the Cup to heal him. I was still Morgana's servant at that time, and I remember King Uther being in an awful mindset. He was determined to get that Cup.
"Arthur went out alone with Merlin to retrieve it. That was when they came across Gwaine again. Unfortunately, they lost the Cup and by the time they returned, Morgana and her sister had taken over the city." She chuckled lightly. "I remember, I helped Sir Leon escape from the dungeons and then the city by convincing him to dress as a woman."
Laney snorted into her glass. "I bet he looked better in a skirt than I do. I'll have to ask him to model for me some night."
"Oh, that is horrible, Laney! Funny, but horrible!" Martha laughed, "Go on, Gwen. What happened after you helped Lady Leon escape?"
"We caught up to the others and sought refuge in an old castle. Inside it was the original, stone Round Table. That was the night when Gwaine and the others were knighted. The next day they went into Camelot to face an immortal army. Afterward, Arthur confided in me that the worst part was not that they couldn't kill a single one of them, but that all at once, the enemy appeared to burst into nothingness.
"These were men who had seen many battles, and fought against monsters on a weekly basis. Yet, none of that seemed to compare to the way thousands of men were blasted into oblivion."
"I can imagine that would be extremely traumatizing." Martha whispered compassionately.
Gwen nodded. She was thankful that she had been back in the old castle at that time. Even though she was supposed to be helping Gaius, the old man had slipped away not long after the knights had left. "There were a few men who never recovered from the shock. Elyan had nightmares about it, as did Arthur, I believe."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they still did. Leon's face was white as a sheet, after he saw the simulations." Laney lit up a cigarette and stared out into the gardens recalling the haunted look in Leon's eyes.
Martha shook her head. She understood the kind of emotional mindset that followed such experiences, both from her training as a doctor and in her own life traveling with the Doctor. "There has to be something more that can be done."
"Heimdall mentioned cloning his body and transferring his consciousness. But, when she took a look at Leon's DNA, she said it had been too corrupted by the Cup to be viable. So..." She drained the remains of her glass. "Unless Merlin has some of Leon's DNA from before the Cup was used just laying around, I think we're at a dead end. Either Leon dies, so Merlin can use the Cup as it should have been used with you. Or, we keep getting old, and he and Merlin can really get married after we're gone."
"There might be one other option." Martha said with an excited gleam in her eye.
"Really? Because the only thing I can think of, is if you happen to have a friend with a time machine."
Martha grinned and picked up her phone. She realized that, while she had told Percival of her travels with the Doctor, she hadn't really explained her previous adventures to any of the rest of them.
"You don't have a friend with a time machine, do you?" Laney asked seriously. Her heart rate quickened in anticipation.
"Let me make a phone call, and see what I can come up with."
A cheeky grin and flippant voice called out from the blue police box that had suddenly appeared on the lawn. "Well, well, well, Martha Jones!"
"Martha Emrys." She corrected, her smile stretching across her face. It had been nearly three years since she had seen him, but she had no idea how long had passed for the Time Lord. It could have been days or centuries.
She rushed forward into his open arms and accepted the warm hug he offered.
"Emrys, eh?" He asked casually, before he finally recognized the name. His eyes and mouth became wide circles of disbelief. "Noooooo!"
Laughing, Martha stepped back and nodded to confirm his amazement. "Yes."
"As in...Merlin, the magical magician Emrys?" He stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets and bounced on his heels in delight.
"Yes. The Merlin Emrys of Camelot."
"Blimey! Ain't that just the bee's knees! You married one of the few people in the universe actually older than I am. That is something." He embraced her again, delighted that she had moved on and seemed happy. "So, where is this mystical man of the millennia who married my Martha?"
She rolled her eyes at his alliteration.
"Martha Emyrs. Naw, just doesn't have the same ring to it. Martha Jones just rolls off the tongue. Martha Jones-Emrys...hmmm"
"Oh, stop it. I married him and that's done."
"And got some little ones coming, too, eh?" His eyes moved to her abdomen.
"Yeah...wait. What did you say?"
"I don't know. What did I say?"
"Doctor!" She huffed and crossed her arms. "You said 'little ones.' Plural!"
"Oh, right. Little ones. Yep." The 'p' popped out of his lips. He rifled his hand through his hair, causing the fluffy, brunette spikes to become even more of a mess. The Doctor's eyes shifted away in guilt. "Sorry about that. Was it supposed to be a surprise?"
Martha closed her eyes and took a breath. When she had steadied her temper, she looked him in the eye. Pointing to her own growing belly, she asked, "Are you telling me there is more than one in here?"
"Uh..." The momentary somber expression broke into a wide grin. "Maybe."
"Oh, my god."
Before she could even begin to process the idea of having more than one baby, he suddenly changed the subject. "So, you didn't answer my question. Where's the lucky man?"
Martha's mind was spinning. It took her a moment to remember what he had asked and why she had called him. "He's off in another galaxy right now. Trying to save a dragon, actually. But, that's got nothing to do with why I called you. At least, not directly."
"Is that so?"
"Well, there is this thing called the Cup of Life."
"Oooh. The fabled ceremonial marriage cup of the Dragon Lords. Wait, he's a Dragon Lord? Didn't see that coming, or maybe I did. Hmmm. I've never actually met a Dragon Lord, or a dragon, come to think of it."
Martha nodded and then shook her head with a giggle. So many things had changed in her life since the last time she had seen the Doctor, and yet he remained the same. He was still the unaging man who rambled out any thought that crossed his mind.
There was a sadness to him, but also a new sense of freedom. It was as if he was completely unburdened by the effects of his actions; freed from the rules of Time he used to hold so close to his two beating hearts.
"So, are we off to retrieve this Cup so you can truly marry your Dragon Lord?" His eyebrows bounced on his forehead.
"No. Actually, the Cup was used on a friend of his back then. It corrupted his DNA and we need a sample from before it was used in order to fix it."
The Doctor smiled like a boy at Christmas. "Oh, this is going to be fun. Just like old times."
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Martha asked again.
The blue box stood off in the distance. Laney chuckled quietly as she watched her eldest son run in and out of the door in wonder. She couldn't see what had him so excited about a police box, and she honestly didn't want to know. "Naw. You guys have fun on your trip. I need to spend some time with my little guys. Plus, I probably should actually help out Gwen, since that's what I was technically hired to do."
"If you want to go, Laney, you should go. I can watch your boys. With Harri's help, the kids and I would be fine." Gwen offered, giving her friend a chance to change her mind. "If it wasn't for disrupting whatever nonsense that man was spouting..."
"Disrupting the space-time continuum and possibly creating a paradox by crossing your own timeline?" Martha smiled pleasantly as if the words she had just spouted were as simple as a grocery list.
"Yes, that's it." Gwen still didn't understand half of what the other woman had said. "Anyway, I thought you would jump at a chance to see Leon back in the day."
Laney sighed. She hummed and hawed for a moment. "Nope. He was married back then and had his own kids, right? I don't think I could stop myself from wanting to rip another woman's hair out of her scalp, if I saw her kissing my man."
"Now, that would be a sight to see. I'm not sure who I would place a wager on...you or the Lady Bridgette."
"You don't think I could take her?"
Gwen shrugged innocently. "Lady Bridgette was a very strong woman. During the first year of my being queen, she was one of the few who outwardly supported Arthur's decision. Many times, she assisted me in dealing with the other nobles and learning to be a ruler instead of a servant by putting them in their places. Not many back then would have chanced her wrath openly."
"Yeah. That's probably the best reason right there for me to keep my ass in my own timeline. That's part of Leon's history. I don't want to make it part of mine by getting into a catfight with his former wife in public." She turned back to Martha. "You and Toby can handle this. I know he wants to do something good for Leon."
"Alright, then. We'll be back soon." Martha hugged her two friends before picking up a bag she had packed with field supplies for DNA collection and storage. Heading up the hill, she joined the Doctor and Toby in the police box.
Gwen squeezed Laney's hand supportively, as they watched the box fade out of existence.
It was bigger on the inside. Toby's eyes were wide with utter fascination as he glanced over the interior of the Tardis. The main control chamber was a massive room. It was well and truly alien technology, and certainly deceptive with its odd, blue police box appearance on the outside. Time and relative dimension in space, or TARDIS, as Martha called it, was nothing like Leon's ship.
He could tell that Martha's friend was used to the reaction. The man had tried to play it off like he'd never heard anyone else say those words, but Toby could hear the slightly patronizing tone in the Doctor's voice.
The man was odd. One second he seemed old and wise; the next he was bouncing around with more energy than both of Toby's younger brothers combined. The long, brown coat he wore and the high-top shoes were a fashion statement the teenager couldn't quite comprehend.
Martha seemed to trust him and Toby trusted her. He was on a mission though, to help the man who made his mom smile. While he didn't quite understand the whole situation, he was happy to be a part of something that would hopefully keep them together. In the short time he'd known Leon, the man had made a huge impression on him. For the first time in his life, Toby felt like he actually had a real family.
Even when his real dad had been with them, there had been arguing. A lot of arguing.
He missed Pops. The old cowboy had been the closest thing Toby had ever had to a real father he could look up to.
When his Uncle Gwaine had suddenly reemerged and joined their lives, things were chaotic, but pretty cool, too. After moving to Colorado, Gwaine and Pops had done things with them, like going camping a few times. Gwaine had taken them to a car race at one of the speedways. It felt more like having an older brother than a father, though.
After his confession to Merlin in the garage, Toby hadn't expected the turn his life had suddenly taken. He knew his mom liked Leon, even if she claimed their relationship was nothing. While Greg still sulked about the loss of their real dad, Toby and Randy latched onto Leon. He hoped Greg would come around eventually, but his brother was a putz...or a prat. He smirked, thinking how Merlin's word for Arthur fitted his middle brother perfectly.
Toby still couldn't believe that Martha had asked him to come along for this adventure. Life certainly hadn't been dull for the last year. How many teenagers could say they've moved to a different country, been in space with whom he hoped would someday be his actual step-dad, and now, traveling back in time to the days of the real Round Table?
The loud whining engines, if they could be called that, shut down with a clunk and a thud. "I think we're here." The Doctor man said and he ran toward the door. He stood in front of it, his tall, lanky frame blocking the way. "Now, Trouble. I would tell you to behave yourself, and not to get into any trouble...but, you're a teenager and I know the chances of that happening is close to nil."
The way the man clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth annoyed Toby, as did the way the Doctor called him 'Trouble'...as if he was prophesying things to come. Martha shot the boy an apologetic look, but it really made him question why his mom's friend had ever considered this man a friend.
"Well, ya know, I gotta try." He shrugged and gave the Doctor a look that was a near-perfect knockoff of his Uncle Gwaine's signature sarcasm.
Martha stifled her laughter with a groan and wrapped her arm around Toby's shoulders. "C'mon. Let's go enjoy ourselves while we look for Leon."
Stepping outside the time machine was a culture shock the young man was not prepared for. He'd gone with his family to the Renaissance Faire back in Colorado, but the reality of the medieval lifestyle wasn't anything like he had envisioned.
The smell was the first thing that got him. Animals and dung mixed with an odor similar to the portable toilets, but without the chemical additive or the daily pumping to keep it under control. Food, mostly burning meats, and half-rotten vegetables permeated the atmosphere.
His eyes stung from the ammonia that waifed up from nearby latrines. Even the cleanest people appeared like they hadn't bathed in a year. He was careful to follow Martha's steps as they crossed straw-filled trenches along the side streets.
The roar of people came from an area just outside of the city walls. A large field was packed full of brightly colored tents that surrounded what seemed to be tournament grounds.
The Doctor was talking with Martha, and the two of them seemed unphased by the entire experience. Toby had asked about costumes to blend in, but had been told the perception filter of the Tardis took care of that and any language aspects.
A woman's voice called out a gruff warning from a second story window. Toby managed to jump out of the way just as she dumped a pot of the worst smelling stuff he could have imagined, out on the ground.
In his effort to avoid the splash, he failed to see a young man trying to dart through the crowd behind him. The other boy's arms had been filled with armor...or, they were until the collision. Carefully polished metal was strewn across the dirty street and suddenly didn't seem as clean as it had been.
"Sorry! So sorry!" The other one said.
Toby looked up in shock at a slightly familiar voice. "Um...no...my bad...I, uh... Oh, my god...Merlin?"
Messy, dark hair contrasted against pale skin, and a thin face with cheekbones so high they looked almost feminine. "Do I know you?"
"Um. No, sorry. I've just seen you around."
When young Merlin smiled, it lit up his entire face. "Yeah, that's me. Always rushing around. Merlin, do this. Merlin, do that. Never get any time to sit and chat."
"Merlin!" Another voice yelled through the crowd.
"See, just like that, never a moment."
Toby glanced up to see another man, perhaps a year or two older than Merlin, stalking through the crowd. The people around him stepped back out the way. The arrogant sneer on his face seemed completely out of place for the man Toby had come to know.
"What the hell have you done? You idiot!" Arthur grabbed Merlin by his large ear and hauled the young servant to his feet. "My armor is ruined! I am the Crown Prince, Merlin! I can't be seen in the tournament wearing armor covered in mud!"
"I, uh, well, you see..."
"It was my fault." Toby admitted. He squirmed when hostile blue eyes turned on him.
"Your fault?" Arthur barked out a menacing laugh. "Fine. Then, you can help my servant clean it all before you join him in the stocks after the tournament!"
Shrinking back, Toby felt anger boiling within him, but he kept his eyes on the ground. He mumbled under his breath. "Asshole."
"What was that?" Arthur growled lowly and stepped toward the boy.
"He said he stepped in a hole. It's a hole. That one right there. He stepped in the hole and tripped into me. Might want to watch your step. The street is filled with holes from the horses that have been brought through here from the stables. We wouldn't want you falling into one of them since you just had a bath this morning, Sire. That's why he-"
Rolling his eyes, it was obvious the prince didn't have any patience for his servant's rambling. Arthur glared at his servant. "Merlin..."
"Shut up?"
"Just get that stuff to my tent, and if you can manage it, try to be less...you." Arthur glared at them both again, before turning on his heel and stalking back off toward the tournament.
"Of course, Sire! We'll be right behind you." Once the prince was out of earshot, Merlin muttered, "Prat."
The two young men shared a chuckle.
"Thanks." Toby said, as he began helping Merlin pick up the scattered armor.
Merlin offered him a friendly smile. "Eh, just don't want to see someone else get in trouble. What's your name?"
"Toby."
"Well, Toby. We need to hurry if we want to stay out of the stocks tonight. He'll likely forget about it after the competition, if we get this stuff cleaned up. Are you a squire or a servant for one of the knights who are competing?"
"Um..." Toby looked around. He suddenly realized that his misstep had caused him to lose sight of Martha and the Doctor. His heart thudded in his chest and he felt a wave of guilt overcome him. The Doctor had seemed to know he was going to land himself in a bit of trouble. The least the Time Lord could have done, would have been to warn Toby about how quickly it would have happened. "Not exactly."
On the plus side, he was going to have one hell of a story to tell when he got back home.
Miraculously, Toby managed to keep his mouth mostly shut, although Merlin did enough talking for the two of them. So, it didn't seemed to matter much.
He'd known the man in the future for well over a year, but seeing Merlin as someone close to his own age was an eye-opening experience, to say the least. It was amusing to hear him ramble on and on, asking a few brief questions, but mostly being overly informative of all the going-ons in Camelot.
Questions like: How long have you been in Camelot, and where are you from? Came out of the teen-aged Merlin's mouth in rapid succession.
Toby tried to answer as briefly and evasively as possible. He was grateful when his lack of answers didn't seemed to put Merlin off any. The warlock was happy enough to fill the empty space by telling about his own life in Ealdor, and talking about his first time coming to Camelot, which seemed to have been only a few months before.
In a way, it was so similar to when Merlin had taught him to work on the old Land Rover in the garage; now as Toby was being shown how to clean the armor properly. For all the differences, Merlin was essentially the same kind-hearted man Toby had come to respect.
Toby smiled when Merlin spoke about his mother and how she had raised him by herself, until she had sent him to Gaius.
"My mom pretty much raised me and my brothers by herself, too." He said, feeling the need to share his own experiences. "She met a guy recently who's really awesome, though. I came here to try and help him out. He wants to marry her, but she's being weird about it."
Merlin paused and shook his head at some of the odd words. "Well, I'm sure if he's a decent enough fellow, she'll come around. My mother never really had the chance to meet someone and she never talks about my father. I hope someday I can convince her to move here, but I don't think she really wants to go anywhere. I think she hopes I'll learn enough from Gaius to want to go back to Ealdor and be a physician there, but now that I'm working for Arthur, I don't think that will happen any time soon."
"Merlin?" A voice called urgently from outside the tent, just before the flap opened.
Toby dropped the arm guard he was polishing. He couldn't stop the whisper that fell from his lips. "Dad?"
Standing at the entrance was Leon. He was in his full tournament armor. His face was younger and clean shaven, and his hair was slicked back and dark with sweat. A gash across his forehead was smeared with dirt and blood, but didn't seem to phase the knight.
Leon glanced at the boy curiously for moment, before turning to the prince's servant. "Gaius is looking for you. A visiting knight's squire got trampled and he needs your assistance. Arthur is dealing with the stable hand who was supposed to be tethering the horses when they spooked."
Merlin tossed the armor aside and rushed out of the tent, leaving Toby alone with Leon.
Toby gulped, unsure of what to do.
"Is something the matter, boy?" Leon's voice was heavy with the accent of the time and he didn't appear anything like the man that Toby knew.
"You...uh...have blood on your forehead, um...Sir Leon."
"Well, don't be daft about it, boy. Find something for me to clean it up." The knight didn't sound angry or arrogant, but his tone was definitely that of a noble to a servant, and impatient. "I need to get back out there and assist the prince."
Toby nodded, and his eyes darted around the tent and came to rest on a blue square of cloth. Merlin had been wearing a neckerchief when they'd met. It had been splattered with the same mud that coated the armor when they had fallen. As the two of them had worked, some of the filth had fallen from the scarf and landed on the breastplate Merlin had just finished cleaning.
In order to save himself some extra work, Merlin had simply taken it off.
Picking it up and finding a clean spot under one of the folds, Toby held it out to Leon nervously. He watched and held his breath, as the knight accepted it and wiped the mess from his forehead.
Yells from outside caught Leon's attention. He shoved the cloth back into Toby's hand and with a muttered word of thanks, headed outside.
Releasing his breath noisily, the teenager looked down at the item in his hand and a grin began to spread from ear to ear. All he needed to do now was somehow find Martha again and get the hell out of Camelot.
"Oh, my god, Toby! I have been looking everywhere for you! Your mother would absolutely kill me if I lost you!"
"I'm fine, Martha!" The young man smiled, "I had to help Merlin clean some armor, since I kind of ran into him and made him drop it. By the way, Arthur is a total jerk."
Martha glanced up sharply. She'd heard stories about the young Prince Arthur. "It's a surprise you didn't end up in the dungeon saying something like that."
"Oh, Martha, let Trouble be." The Doctor grinned and cast a wink at Toby. "After all, the day is still young."
"Well, we can leave whenever you guys want to. I got what we needed." He held up the blue cloth and pointed to the bloodstain.
"How did you manage that?" Martha asked in surprise. She took the cloth and placed it in a plastic bag before stuffing it into her jacket pocket. Toby filled her in on his adventure of the morning.
She laughed, "Wish I could have seen that! I bet Merlin is rather cute being so young."
"Well, he's right over there."
Turning to where Toby was pointing, she spied the lanky, beanpole of a young man standing next to the rail and watching the jousting tournament. The mop of black hair...the oversized ears. The excited smile on his face was so innocent and carefree. She couldn't help herself. Cautiously, she took her phone out of her pocket and snapped a quick picture of her future husband.
Toby grinned and followed her lead, but he set his phone camera for video, and began recording Sir Leon mounting his horse and preparing for a joust against the Crown Prince of Camelot. "Mom is going to freak out!"
They heard a gasp behind them. When Toby turned around, he saw a young woman staring at him in fright. "Magic...magic... Guards! This boy is using magic!" She screamed.
The Doctor clucked his tongue. "I think that's our cue to leave."
"Just like old times then, yeah?" Martha smiled and grabbed Toby's hand. "It's time to run."
They made it back to the TARDIS...barely. The whole of Camelot's Guards and Knights close on their heels. For one moment during the chase, Toby had become separated from Martha by only a few feet and he thought he was done for.
Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen Merlin gaping at him. Then, the young man's eyes glowed and a cart rolled out behind Toby, blocking the path of his pursuers. He smiled his thanks to the warlock before darting off to catch up with Martha.
Inside the TARDIS, the door closed quickly behind them. The Doctor wasted no time in firing up the engines, and the pulsing, whining sound grew as the ship disappeared from Camelot.
"Told ya there was more to come." The Time Lord smirked, "So, where are we off to now, Martha Jones-Emyrs? Any place special you want to go before I take you and Trouble back home?"
"Well, there is one stop I would like to make."
AN: oooh where do you think she's going? Hmmmm *giggles* Don't forget to review! Your comments help feed my starving muses. Oh, and side note...I'M OFF TO FAERIE WORLDS THIS WEEKEND! YIPEE!