Hidden Royalty Chapter Thirteen

Percy and Will had been ushered into one of the many black SUVs at the front of the playground. Everything had happened so fast that neither of them knew where Arthur and Merlin were and if they were okay. They had heard the gunshots, but neither knew whether their friends got hurt or if they got away.

When the doors had been closed and the car had started to move, only then Percy saw who the driver was. "Tom? What are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be-"

"Percy I don't have time for this!" He brought his finger to his ear to listen to the message he was receiving and answered, "Yes. We will escort the ambulance with the Prince to the hospital."

"Ambulance!" Percy as well as Will shouted at the same time.

"What happened to Arthur!?" Percy yelled panicked, but didn't got a response. The only kind of response was that his big brother glanced into the rear-view mirror, but he still didn't said anything to him.

Tom steered the car expertly through the busy London traffic rush and within ten minutes the hospital building came into view. Tom quickly pulled up onto the hospital's emergency site and got out to open the backdoor where Percy sat, while his partner opened the door Will sat.

"Are you two alright?" Tom asked with concern as they waited for the ambulance to pull up into the emergency dock.

Will nodded and Percy answered, "Yes. But Tom tell me what hap-" But again he got cut off by his brother when the wailing of the sirens came onto the premises and Tom pushed Will and Percy out of the way and told them to stay there. Tom then quickly went to the ambulance as the doors had opened, and continued to mutter into the mic.

Will and Percy's eyes budged when they saw the person on the stretcher. It wasn't Arthur, it was Merlin!

~oOoOo~

Balinor and Hunith were escorted into the hospital by half a dozen security guards, only to be met with another half a dozen when they actually entered the building. Balinor was looking around him frantically and was ignoring the stares he got from hospital personnel as well as from visitors. He held Hunith close at his side, giving some comfort to the love of his life who was in desperate need for that, and perhaps he subconsciously wanted to have the reassurance that Hunith was indeed there with him.

Hunith lifted her head and started to look around as well. She just noticed one person in particular. Will, sitting on one of the chairs lined up at the wall, his head bowed down and buried in his hands. He didn't seemed to aware of his surroundings and it might even looked like he was crying judging by the soft up and down movements from his shoulders. There was another boy sitting next to Will with his hand placed on Will's shoulder and Hunith presumed that had to be Percy as she heard Merlin always talking about three people in particular; Arthur, Will and Percy.

She wanted to walk to them, but Lancelot already came towards her and Balinor and led them to a bit more quieter part of the emergency hall. Lancelot then went from the King's side and spoke to Tom about the latest news from the Prince's condition.

"Where is he? Where is my son!" Balinor exclaimed after not hearing anything from his security. He got some gasps and whisperings in response from personnel and visitors alike, but he didn't care if the news about him being Merlin's father was out, it would've come out sooner or later anyways. But all he cared for right now was Merlin and hearing that Merlin would be alright, but he didn't know since no one had the decency to update him.

Hunith gripped his hand tighter and huddled even closer at his side. She was too shaken up and too scared of what had happened to her son to say anything. Balinor calmed down a bit more at the action and consciously breathed in deeply and as he looked around for a second time, he now saw Lancelot talking to a what Balinor guessed was doctor, judging by the blue uniform.

Lancelot quickly came to stand in front of him, with the man in blue uniform standing almost nervously next to him. Lancelot leaned in closer. "Sir, if you would follow me to a more private setting."

Balinor nodded and pulled Hunith with him as he followed his guard.

They were led into an office. "I'm sorry that we have to meet this way Your Majesty, madam. Please take a seat." The man gestured towards the sofa placed at the wall opposite of a desk.

Lancelot took position next to the entrance with his hands clasped in front of him.

The man sat down on one of the chairs he pulled away from the desk and held his hand out for Hunith and Balinor to shake and started to introduce himself. "I'm doctor Pearson, one of the surgeons that performed surgery on… your son?" He added the last with a bit of uncertainty, while looking between Balinor and Hunith. He had gotten a quick fill in by the guard Lancelot, and was surprised to learn about what ties the King had with the patient but in the end it didn't matter which heritage his patient had, he would do his best to save the patient's life.

Balinor nodded slowly at the man's question while Hunith sucked in a quivering breath when she heard that her son went into surgery. Balinor gripping her hand tightly, he had a small amount of hope that his son would be lucky enough to not be needing surgery, but who was he kidding; being shot couldn't mean having a lucky escape.

The man sighed softly before looking at Hunith and Balinor. "Your son had been shot on the left side of his chest, just below the shoulder. The bullet exited from his back, but unfortunally his lung got punctured in the process which caused his lung to collapse and your son to cough up blood. When your son was brought in, he was unconscious and his body went into shock due to the large amount of blood he had lost. While we were trying to stop the bleeding your son went into cardiac arrest." The surgeon paused for a second to let it sink in.

Hunith shook her head repeatedly and started to mumble. "No. Not Merlin. Please he has to pull through."

Balinor was unable to respond and kept staring to the ground.

The surgeon continued, keeping his voice as calm and neutral as possible to not upset the parents even more. "We performed CPR and had to shock his heart once to regain heart rhythm."

Balinor sighed out of relieve but tensed up when the doctor continued.

"We weren't able to stop the bleeding without surgery and had to rush your son into emergency surgery where we intubated him due to respiratory distress."

"During surgery his heart stopped once more and it was touch-and-go for a moment, but we've managed to get his heart working again."

"Oh thank God!" Balinor exclaimed. He breathed out all the air he was holding in and wiped the stubborn tears away that he felt welling up in the corner of his eyes.

"We repaired the damage and managed to stop the bleeding. However, we had to insert a chest tube to let the collapsed lung fill up again, but we will remove the tube when your son is able to breathe without help of the ventilator and the lung is able to stay inflated on its own." The surgeon paused one more moment and linked his fingers together.

"All things considered, Your Majesty, your son has been extremely lucky. Apart from the one lung, neither his heart or other major vessels or organs had been damaged. Right now, your son is stable and has been transferred to the ICU. We will have more certainty after the critical first twenty-four hours are over, but we're optimistic, as we -"

"C-can we see him?" Hunith's soft voice broke through, interrupting the surgeon. She wasn't normally one to interrupt, but she couldn't stand it anymore, she needed to see her baby.

Balinor looked to the side to see Hunith's tear streaked face and he couldn't stand seeing Hunith like that. He turned to the surgeon who nodded his head.

"He's still weak from the blood loss and surgery and he's likely to be unconscious the first few hours, maybe even until tomorrow, as his body is trying to mend itself. But yes, you can see him." Doctor Pearson stood up. "Let me take you to his room."

~oOoOo~

Balinor was rubbing his hand over Hunith's back when they walked through the white halls. He was trying to calm her down because he could feel her faintly shaking against his side. They entered through the automatic double doors of the Intensive Care Unit and followed the doctor until he stopped in front of a room in the back of the hall.

"I'll give you two some time alone." Doctor Pearson stated with a small apologetic smile. Balinor nodded curtly to him and turned once more to Hunith. He saw that her eyes were still red and moist from all the crying and he knew that his eyes must've looked quite the same.

Security started to take positions all across the hall and two agents (one of them being Lancelot) stood on either side of the door.

Balinor's hand reached out for the door handle and braced himself for what he might see on the other side of the door. He turned the handle ever so slowly and pushed the door open. The sight that met them wasn't one he would ever like to see again. Merlin laid in the hospital bed, his eyes closed and the blanket was half turned so it was clear from his torso. There was a white hospital gown draped over his torso to keep him somewhat warm.

Balinor entered the room, Hunith close to his side and both slowly walked forward towards the bed. The door of the room was closed by one of the security guards.

There was all kinds of noises. Oxygen pushed in and being released, beeps from the IV, beeps from the heart rate monitor and beeps from more equipment he didn't knew what purpose it served for. There were tubes going to and coming from his son and the two most prominent being the tube leading from the left side of his chest and the tube that was in his mouth. There was an IV with blood put in his arm and there were bandages wrapped around his torso, the last thing Balinor could discover was that there was something clipped onto his son's finger. Balinor wasn't sure where it was for, perhaps his heart rate.

Hunith had walked from his side to stand next to the bed and gently carded her fingers through their son's hair. Balinor watched how she bent down and pressed a kiss on his forehead, but Merlin didn't respond to anything. When Hunith stood straight up again and turned to him he saw the fresh tears that had started to fall. She walked back towards him, shaking her head.

"I just need a moment." She said softly and walked past him. He held out his hand, but she shrugged him off. "No, just alone. I'll be back soon." She sniffed and wiped away the tears.

Balinor heard and saw the door click close and found himself alone in the room. He turned his head around to look at his son, lying there motionless on the hospital bed. He shuffled forward and settled on the seat next to the bed and propped his elbows on his knees with his hands gripping his hair. This was not how he wanted things to go. It's quite the opposite really.

And only now he started to really realize how much he had actually missed of his son's life. All those first things; first word, first time walking, first day of school and so on. He knew that he couldn't change that fact, but he knew that he could be a part of what is to come. When Merlin comes through this, he will do anything in his power to get to know Merlin better, to know what he likes to do, what his favourite food is and everything else. He wants to get to know his son and be a parent to him.

The question now is; Does Merlin wants that?

He wants Merlin to have a say in all this, because he knew what a big shock it'll be when Merlin finds out that his father is there and that he is the King of Mercia, which makes Merlin automatically a Prince.

Balinor lifted his head and sighed deeply.

Everything always had to be so complicated.

Balinor looked at his son once more, he looked so peaceful, like in a deep sleep. But when Balinor's eyes wandered to the tubes and bandages he knew that he certainly wasn't dreaming, it was more like he was in a nightmare.

Balinor ran a hand across his face and then held it out towards Merlin's arm. He wanted to lower it, but it was like something was holding him back. He didn't know whether it was because his son is injured or that it had some other cause.

He pulled his arm back to his body, but then he reached out again and with a stuttering motion lowered his hand onto Merlin's hand and taking it into his own hand.

Just a really small smile crept onto his lips.

His eyes were so focused onto his son that he didn't heard that the door had opened and it wasn't until he felt an arm draped around his shoulder that he was aware that Hunith was back in the room.

"He looks so much like you." Hunith almost whispered, Balinor looked up to her. "Not just from the outside, but his personality as well."

Balinor slung his free arm around Hunith's waist and lowered his head onto her side. The both watched silently how their son's chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

~oOoOo~

"So he's alright to go?" Uther asked the doctor while Ygraine was being the doting parent. Helping Arthur with his jacket (while Arthur complained excessively about that) and hugging him every chance she got.

The man looked up from the patient record and nodded. "He is. He has to take his rest and he has to make sure he isn't exerting that arm. And before he goes to bed tonight make sure to redress the bandage and once more tomorrow evening."

"I'll make sure it's being done." Uther answered, holding out his hand.

The man gripped Uther's arm and with a small nod of his head he mumbled, "Your Majesty."

Arthur managed to break free from his mother's smothering grip and pushed himself forward past his father. "How's Merlin? Can I see him."

The doctor softly shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't give you that information… Your Highness."

"But-" Arthur started to get frustrated. All that he was told was that Merlin had been transferred to the ICU, but the staff hadn't told him anything about how Merlin was doing.

"Arthur." Uther interfered as he placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "We'll come back later and then I'll ask if you can see him." He looked up to the doctor and said, "Thank you." The doctor nodded one last time and turned on his heel.

Arthur turned to face his father. "Dad, I need to see him now. I need to know he's okay. No one is telling me anything. Is he even alive!" He walked to the bed and sat heavily down next to his mother. Uther crouched down in front of him, placing his hands on his son's knees.

"Arthur look at me." Arthur lifted his head. "We know you're concerned about Merlin, but our hands are tied here."

"But you're the King!" Arthur shouted.

Uther sighed and stood up. "Yes, but I can't just go demanding to let you see him. We need to think of his parents."

"He just has his mum." Arthur mumbled.

Before either Uther or Ygraine could reply, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Uther said and watched the door open and Leon walking in. He bowed his head to the King and Queen and made a beeline to the TV hanging on the wall of the hospital room.

"I think all of you need to see this." Leon said and turned on the TV. The screen flashed on and the picture that could be seen was that of a woman with black hair holding a microphone in her hands. Uther and Ygraine started to frown when they saw the headline at the bottom of the screen.

King Balinor of Mercia, a father?

Leon turned up the volume and the three royals could hear the last thing that was said during the news segment. Pictures of the hospital and Balinor showed up at the side.

"… several witnesses in the hospital have confirmed that His Royal Majesty King Balinor of Mercia has indeed said that he is the father of Merlin Browne now Emrys, the friend of His Royal Highness Prince Arthur. This was Nimueh Lewis, live for Albion News. Good evening."

Leon turned the TV off.

"No." Arthur scoffed shaking his head at not believing what he had just heard. "No, he wouldn't… no, this is a lie."

"Arthur –" Ygraine tried, but just like her husband she herself was baffled by the message.

"No!" Arthur said harshly again and sprinted out of the door and ran to almost the other side of the hospital where the ICU was located. He punched the button for the automatic doors to open and ran past the reception desk.

"Sir you can't go in there!" A nurse yelled after him, but it didn't stop Arthur. He ran further but he had no clue where to go. He only noticed Will and Percy sitting not yet three feet away from him when they had stood up after seeing Arthur and said his name, Arthur had only turned his head to them but he didn't respond to them. He only had eyes for the many men and women in black suits lining up at one particular hallway. It was a good guess as any that Merlin would be somewhere there. He walked up quickly to the hallway and the security were looking at each other, not knowing whether or not to stop the Prince of England and friend of their Prince, so they let him through and they knew Lancelot would decide what to do when Arthur would come to the door.

Arthur's eyes fell on the door with two agents standing on either side and he was pretty sure that was Merlin's room. And if the many agents wasn't enough answer to him about merlin's true identity, than it would be the one guard standing next to the door that was quickly opening it and slipping into the room, after seeing the British Prince. Arthur followed in and got indeed his answer.

The guard was bent down to whisper into Balinor's ear, but stood up when Arthur had entered the room and not long after the British King and Queen entered too.

Will and Percy had followed Arthur too, but kept standing in the hallway as not wanting to impose, but also not wanting to be left out from any information. The guards were reluctant at first to let them stay, but after Hunith said it was okay, they allowed it.

The Pendragon family stood nailed to the ground, eyes widened just slightly and Balinor and Hunith had turned their head and stared back in quite the same fashion.

The sight Arthur saw in front of him was Balinor holding Merlin's hand and Merlin's mother sitting next to the King with her hand on Balinor's arm. Arthur tried not to focus too much on Merlin, he had seen a glimpse of all the tubes and he didn't want to see more.

Arthur began to rub his forehead and his eyes closed. His breathing started to pick up and he started to mumble. "He's a… he's a. No he wouldn't lie to me. He's…"

Ygraine stepped forward, her hands placed on her son's shoulders and gently coaxing him to step back towards the hallway but he shrugged her off and turned to his parents. "Did you know?" He asked flatly, his eyes already starting to glisten. "Did. you. know." He repeated through gritted teeth.

"No Arthur." Uther began shaking his head.

"Lies!" Arthur yelled through clenched teeth. Ygraine hurried forward and took her son into her arms, placing his head onto her shoulder and began to soothe him by rubbing her hand up and down his back and trying to calm him down. She whispered into his ear, "We didn't know Arthur, I'm sure there's reason for this. Calm down hunnie."

Uther came to their side and looked at Balinor and then gently pushed his wife and son towards the door, but Balinor stood up from his chair.

"Wait."

Ygraine, Uther and Arthur turned around.

"I need to explain."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "You don't have to. I saw it on the news already!"

"They don't know everything. Please let me explain, just not here." He turned and held out his hand for Hunith to grab and helped her up. "There's an empty room next to this one."

Uther had nodded and even though Arthur was reluctant at first he nodded as well and followed Balinor to the room next to the one Merlin was in. Before exiting, he turned around and saw his boyfriend. Paler than he already normally was. He didn't know that was even possible.

~oOoOo~

Arthur sat at Merlin's bedside. Merlin's hand firmly pressed into his own. He still couldn't believe it that his boyfriend turned out to be a Prince, just like him. When Balinor had taken them to the other room he and Hunith told their story… the whole story.

When it dawned on him that Merlin didn't know and neither did his parents that Merlin was Balinor's son, he had calmed down more and had asked to sit next to Merlin for a while. But now sitting next to Merlin he was lost at what to do. He could only stare at Merlin and he eyed all the tubes with disgust.

"Come on Merlin, you're stronger than this." Arthur whispered.

There was no response, only a heavy silence.

"I'm so sorry." Arthur said after a few minutes of silence. "Because of me, you're hurt. And now we can't even punish the person who's responsible."

Half an hour after Arthur had been told that Merlin was of royal blood, the message came that the shooter had died from his own injuries. He had never regained consciousness and so the police and security guards hadn't been able to find out what the motive of the shooter was. They had done a fingerprint check which revealed that he was an ex-soldier, which would explain his expertise with dodging bullets and his ability to shoot fairly accurate from a distance, but what it didn't explain was why the attack had happened and now they would probably never find out.

Some part of Arthur was happy to hear that the gunman was dead, but the other part wasn't as he didn't had the possibility to look the gunman straight in the eye and telling him that he would rot in jail. But his death was enough justice for him… for now.

"Please Merlin, wake up." Arthur begged after more minutes of silence. He then heard the door open and his mum and dad walked in. They walked up to him and his father went to stand behind Arthur and his mother went to stand next to him.

Arthur pressed his lips to Merlin's hand. "I can't lose him." He muttered, choking back a sob.

"We know hunnie." Ygraine said softly.

"You don't understand." Arthur said looking up to his mother. "I love him."

"We know that too Arthur." His father said. Arthur stared back at his father and when Uther saw Arthur's slightly confused expression, he answered, "We have known for quite a while now Arthur. And it's fine. Really."

"But it's time to go Arthur."

Arthur shook his head, gripping Merlin's hand just a little bit tighter.

"Arthur, you are injured-"

"I'm fine." Arthur retorted.

"Arthur, you need some rest. Today has been a straining day. You can come back tomorrow."

"Merlin needs me." Arthur replied, turning back to Merlin and leaning forward to place an hand against Merlin's cheek.

Uther sighed softly and looked at his wife. She just nodded and bent down to be closer to Arthur. "Just like you, Merlin needs rest. And as soon as something changes, we will hear about it."

Finally Arthur nodded after contemplating his mum's words and stood up, only to press a light kiss on Merlin's forehead first before he turned around and walked out of the door. Balinor and Hunith already waiting on the other side.

"I'm sorry for my outburst earlier." Arthur said to both Balinor and Hunith.

"We understand." Hunith said softly and stepped forward to envelop Arthur in a tight hug. "And I'm sorry for giving Merlin such a hard time for spending time with you."

"Don't be." Arthur said as he stepped back from Hunith's embrace. "I understand now why you did it." He gave Hunith a small smile and looked at the door. "Please call us as soon as something changes."

"We will." Balinor answered.

~oOoOo~

The next day Arthur didn't went to school, but instead spent his time in the hospital, just like Will and Percy who were allowed now to visit Merlin for short periods of time. Arthur had been informed by Hunith and Balinor that there had been some improvement in Merlin's condition overnight and was moved to the general ward. They also told Arthur, Percy and Will that the doctors were expecting that Merlin could wake up any moment now.

Will and Percy stood close to the wall, while Merlin's parents and Arthur sat closer to the bed. Balinor didn't know whether he should stay or if it was better that he had gone away. He didn't know how Merlin would react if he saw him when he would wake up, but Balinor just couldn't make himself leave his son's side.

Balinor had leaned one arm on the armrest and had pressed his head against his hand. His legs were nervously bouncing up and he stared down to the ground. Time seemed to tick by slowly.

Balinor didn't know how much time exactly had passed, but the next thing he heard was Hunith's panicked combined with excitement call. "Merlin?" His eyes were immediately drawn to the hand Hunith was holding and he saw his son's fingers move. He immediately sat up straighter and looked at his son's face that started to contort into a frown. Arthur had stood up from his seat and was half hanging over Merlin and softly saying his name.

Merlin started trash his head from side to side and made choking noises which made Balinor punch the alarm button.

"Merlin, just breathe slowly." Hunith said, perhaps a bit forceful. "Don't fight it."

Within seconds the door opened and a small team of doctors and nurses came in, with most of the nurses ushering Arthur, Will and Percy out of the room and other nurses pushing Balinor and Hunith to the side.

They could only watch how doctors and nurses alike were telling their son to relax and telling that the tube in his throat helped him to breath, but when that didn't help the doctors decided to get the tube out and breathe him manually with an oxygen mask until Merlin would be able to breathe on his own.

Hunith had turned and buried her head into Balinor's chest. She didn't want to see how the tube would be extracted from her son's throat.

It took some mere seconds to get the tube out and one nurse immediately started to put an oxygen mask over Merlin's nose and mouth and started to pump the bag attached to it in an even rhythm.

Hunith and Balinor saw that Merlin was blinking sluggishly and how their son slowly got more control over his own breathing. The doctors told the nurse after a few minutes that she could switch to a normal oxygen mask and next the doctor told Balinor and Hunith that it would stay there for the next hour. They had just nodded.

The doctors performed a quick examination and were pleased so far with Merlin's recovery. They told the parents that his wounds hadn't start to infect and even his breathing started to get more regular with the help of the oxygen mask. The blood bag was being taken away as his blood levels were normal now as was his heart rhythm. The doctor told the two of them that it was normal for Merlin if he'd be drifting in and out of consciousness the next hours, but he hoped that Merlin would be fully awake by the end of the afternoon.

"I'll be back in an hour to see how he's doing then." One of the doctor said to the concerned parents. "And for now just two people per visit. I don't want to have too many people in here."

"Of course." Balinor said with a nod and watched the doctors and nurses leave again. He bent his head down to kiss Hunith on top of her hair and tightened his grip around her.

What he didn't noticed was how Merlin's head fell to the side and looked at their direction through half lidded eyes. He blinked a couple of times.

The last thing Merlin saw before he slipped back into unconsciousness was that a man that looked familiar had wrapped his arms around his mother and was kissing the top of her head.