The time for the holiday soon came round, and they set off in two cars. Arthur had booked an eight berth boat in the end. It was the smallest available and although there was only five of them it would give them plenty of room. Freya had told Arthur she would do the cooking and keep the boat tidy so the pair could enjoy their holiday. Merlin insisted in doing some cooking as he enjoyed it.
Isolde loved the boat she could jump on and off as they went through the narrow places under bridges. She chased rabbits and had lots of exercise. She even went for swims in the canal when they were tied up in the evenings. Arthur found he was more relaxed than he had ever been. The pace of life was so slow. Merlin took lots of photos and the two men sat at the front of the boat watching the world go by. Most evenings found them moored up near pubs, and they nearly always all went out for a meal together. The weather was good enough to sit outside and eat so they weren't in crowds of people. The hydraulic lift made easy for Merlin to get on and off the barge in his wheelchair. Arthur refused to let him walk the gang plank in case he fell in the water.
The night of their anniversary Arthur booked a secluded table for two in a pub by the canal and they had an intimate meal together. Arthur even ordered a bottle of expensive champagne. Neither of them could believe they had been married for ten years. They had in fact had been in a civil partnership but always called it a marriage. Now marriage between same sex couple was being legalised Arthur asked Merlin if he would marry him again, this time properly. Merlin said yes provided it was just them and the witnesses. Arthur agreed. They planned it for their eleventh anniversary, but they kept it as their secret.
Arthur of course couldn't resist taking over the tiller of the barge sometimes from either Percy or Kay. They all soon became very skilled. Their two week holiday flew past and it was soon time to head for home. Once back they soon settled into their routines but after the fun they had Arthur and Merlin were already considering booking the barge again the following year as a secret honeymoon.
Then in October Mithian gave birth to their second child, a boy this time. They called him Tristan, a name from Mithian's side of the family. Once again Merlin had babies to cuddle as well as the toddlers to play with.
Then yet another Christmas arrived, time seemed to be flying past. Uther had slowly become more human. Having grandchildren certainly seemed to be mellowing him. He was still distant with Merlin. But Merlin was pleased about that. He just couldn't warm to the man. But he was pleased however that Arthur had some sort of relationship with his father. Isolde took a lead from Merlin and never completely trusted Uther, which made Arthur laugh.
The next four years passed with very little change in their lives. Merlin had fewer and fewer panic attacks and nightmares. Although Merlin often had black periods when he would sit and brood refusing to have anything to do with anyone. They all learnt that the best thing for him at these times was Isolde who continued to be Merlin's constant companion. Arthur and Gwaine both tried to get him to talk about what was bothering him but Merlin would seldom be drawn out. Occasionally he would tell them that he was thinking of the past and what had happened. Arthur and Gwaine got frustrated wanting Merlin to be able to leave that part of his life behind.
Merlin did organise a party for Arthurs fortieth birthday and even invited some of Arthur colleagues from work. This was a step forward as Merlin seldom wanted to meet up with people he wasn't really close to. In fact the party had sixty guests. The largest group Merlin had been in since his kidnap. Arthur was so pleased that Merlin had progressed that far. Even though, on the day, he kept to the edge of the party unless Arthur was by his side.
Just before the tenth anniversary of Merlin's kidnap Arthur received some less pleasant news. The gang land boss whose imprisonment had caused the kidnapping of Merlin was up for parole. He kept the news secret from Merlin to start with. Alined was successful and would be released on Parole within the next couple of weeks. Although his wife had been convicted of Merlin's kidnap there was nothing to suggest the Alined himself had any knowledge of the crime.
Arthur immediately told the bodyguard team to be on full alert. He was still in two minds whether to tell Merlin. Gwaine thought he should saying that Merlin would notice the change in their behaviour. In the end the whole issue was taken out of his hands when a tabloid newspaper contacted Merlin and asked him his opinion on the release. They had been running a series on the rights of victims. Merlin was very upset that Arthur hadn't told him but understood the reasons once they had talked about it.
As Arthur had feared just the threat that something might happen was enough to make his husband terrified. It immediately brought everything back to him. Arthur told him he would be protected, but he just needed to be more careful. There was no reason to believe that Morgause's husband would do anything. The local police said they would increase patrols for a while. It was a tense time for the couple. Ailed showed no sign of taking action, although he wasn't best please to find most of Morgause's, and thus his, assets had be seized to pay Merlin's compensation. The police informed Arthur that word on the street was that Alined didn't intend to do anything; he had no intention of going back inside.
Merlin's nightmares resurfaced for a time and made a bad situation worse but the couple battled through. Merlin even had a couple of daytime panic attacks. One when Isolde disappeared. Merlin convinced himself she had been taken. Everyone spent ages looking for her. It wasn't until Merlin collapsed that she was found. Percy heard her barking in distress and found her shut in one of the spare bedrooms. She had obviously been asleep and when she sensed Merlin's collapse had started to bark. As soon as she was released she ran to her master's side and started to comfort him. Everyone was surprised she hadn't barked before when they were all calling her especially as Merlin had started crying.
Merlin started to see Dr Kilgarrah once more and he was put back on some of his tablets. Arthur found Merlin was going into his 'dark pit' far more frequently. Even Isolde couldn't keep his dark thought s away. Arthur was devastated all the progress they had made seemed to have disappeared overnight. Arthur gave up work completely and just did some consultation work and legal opinion cases from home so he could spend more time with Merlin. With Arthur at home Merlin at least stopped worrying that Arthur might be taken and not come home. That scared him more than the thought he might be kidnapped once more. Lance transferred to Leon as his PA had moved on to a new job. Leon became head of the law company.