Hunith's sixtieth birthday was coming round and Merlin talked Gwaine into helping him spend the next four weeks planning a birthday party for her. It was hard to keep the secret as Merlin was so excited. Everyone was invited; Merlin had even managed to secretly contact a couple of her friends from Ealdor to come. It was arranged they would stay for a few days. Gwen. Mithian and Freya were all secretly baking. And a large birthday cake had been made and was hidden in one of the guest bedrooms.
Gwaine had found a band to come and play and everything was organised. Arthur took Hunith out in the morning on the pretext of buying some much needed groceries. When they were out a marquee was erected in the garden, the band set up. Some of the food was set out and the barbeque lit. All her friends from the village had started to arrive and the friends from Wales came across from where they had been waiting in Gwaine's house.
Hunith was so surprised and pleased when she saw what had been organised for her. She immediately went to the annex to change into her best dress before returning to greet her guests. She had never had such a party before. Merlin danced the first dance with her to one of the slow dances, managing not to fall over. In fact Hunith spent most of the party dancing. It was passed midnight before the party finished. The two dogs were full and their bellies were bulging with all the tip bits they had managed to scrounge.
The whole thing had been a fantastic success and Gwaine had a few days of to take Hunith and her friends to various different places including a west end show.
The following six years Merlin and Arthur slowly began to have more of a social life both of them realising they needed more to occupy themselves. The two parties had shown Merlin he could manage to be amongst more people if he had support and he wanted Arthur to have an outlet. They started to go out to some of the local attractions. Merlin and Hunith loved some of the large gardens and they visited several with Arthur. Even Kew Gardens, although they made sure to visit out of peek times. The bodyguards took it in turns to go on the day trips. Arthur even took Merlin to Whipsnade Zoo but they didn't stay long as the day they went there seemed to be school trips everywhere and Merlin got to nervous.
Arthur booked a box for the theatre as a special treat and arranged to go in just before curtain call to try to miss the crowds but Merlin still got stressed and didn't enjoy it so they left early. But Arthur continued to try different things to try to help them live a full life. In the end though they both seemed happier at home, so that was where they spent most of their time. There were lots of dog walks in the area that Merlin could go in his wheelchair; Arthur even bought a special wheelchair suitable for more rough terrain. Another favourite was to go to a beech and walk alone the promenade in the winter and spring and just watch the waves the dogs loved to chase the breakers which made both the men laugh.
Arthur had just had his forty fifth birthday when Morgana rang him to say Uther was in hospital, he had had a heart attack. His housekeeper had found him in the morning when she arrived for work. Arthur at first refused to go and see him but Merlin insisted he went. So it was a reluctant Arthur that went with his sister to visit the hospital. Uther was seventy two years old and it was his first hospital admission. As it turned out it was also his last. Arthur and Morgana were by his side when he died. He never regained consciousness. But Arthur was pleased he had gone to say goodbye.
Arthur went to the funeral, Merlin offered to go with him for support but Arthur refused his offer. As an ex Member of Parliament the funeral was attended by many of Uther's previous colleagues including the Prime Minister and members of the cabinet. Several asked after Merlin and Arthur told them that has his father had disapproved of his marriage he saw no reason to subject his husband to the funeral. There was no way that he would lie about it. Arthur heard Morgana giving a similar answer when she was asked why Merlin wasn't there. Merlin watched the news and noticed that as normal all who were asked said what a fine, kind and upstanding man Uther had been.
After the funeral Morgana and Arthur went to Uther's solicitor Geoffrey Monmouth. Uther had requested an old fashioned reading of the will with all the beneficiaries present. They were called into the office and the first thing Geoffrey did was to apologise two the couple.
"I tried to talk your father out of this but he was insistent and said he would go elsewhere if I didn't agree. I the end I thought it best it came from me."
Morgana and Arthur looked at each other:
"Go ahead Geoffrey we've known you long enough I'm sure father had his reasons for doing whatever did." Arthur thought he knew anyway, he was expecting and wanted nothing from his father's estate.
Geoffrey looked at them both "I will miss out all the legal wording at the beginning and get on with the main part; you can each have a copy." He cleared his throat and started to read:
"I Uther Pendragon wish the following to bequests on my death.
To my daughter Morgana, formally Le Fay, I leave her my love and thanks for providing me with a beautiful granddaughter. I also leave her half a million pounds.
To Arthur he has, through his perversions, ended the Pendragon name. For this I can't forgive him. If however he ends his present relationship and marries a suitable woman and provides an heir I wish him to inherit the family house and half a million pounds. If he continues with his present relationship then I leave him my disappointment and nothing else. He lost any respect or love I ever had for him.
To my granddaughter, in trust until her eighteenth birthday, I leave the remainder of my estate including the items left to Arthur should he not comply too the conditions set out above. Miranda has been a shining light in my life. The one thing I ask is that if she feels able to do so, she changes her name to Pendragon when she receives her inheritance."
Geoffrey looked up at the couple sitting quietly in front of him. "I'm so sorry Arthur, you can of course contest the will."
"Off course he will, that's outrageous." Morgana was the first to speak.
"No Morgana, I don't want or need his money, Mother left me more than I'll ever need, and anyway on our deaths she will inherit all that is left. I only wish I hadn't been such a disappointment to him and we could have had a proper father son relationship, but that was never going to happen." Arthur then looked at Geoffrey. "Don't feel bad about this Geoffrey, I wasn't expecting to inherit and wondered why I needed to be here. Now I know."
He stood and shook the solicitors hand then turned once more to his sister. "Please Morgana don't worry I'm glad Miranda is getting the estate. The irony is he never knew she was named after Merlin. Now I'm off home I'll speak to you later. Oh and don't let Merlin know what was said here today."
With that he left the office. When he got home he told Merlin that he hadn't inherited anything, but that didn't surprise the other man.
Following his father's death Arthur started feeling very tired and everything felt like to much bother. On day he was sat in his office going through some paperwork when he found a photo of himself with Merlin taken before Merlin had been kidnapped. All the worries and emotions of the past fifteen years just suddenly hit him; his father's death was the last straw. He sat looking at the photograph they looked so happy and carefree, it was on one of their mini breaks to Paris. He started to think back about the fun they had and the plans they had made for the future. They had spent the holiday planning out their lives; they had talked about having six months of to travel the world before they tried to either adopt a baby or find a surrogate to carry a child for them. Merlin had been so keen on the idea. But all their plans had come to nothing; one act had destroyed their plans and changed everything.
He wondered if they had had a child, with his blood to carry on the family, name whether his father would have come to accept Merlin. He found himself sitting with tears running down his face. He even started to wonder what would have happened if they hadn't found Merlin, how would he have coped and how long would he have waited until giving up. He loved Merlin but their life wasn't easy on either of them. He tried so hard to keep positive but it wasn't easy and he wondered if Merlin would ever be in a good place. He couldn't remember feeling so fed up. He sat and tried to pull himself together. It took him an hour before he felt able to go out of the office.
As he went to get himself a cup of coffee Gwen called out:
"Lunch will be ready soon. Do you know where Merlin is?" Arthur had no idea.
"I've been in the office sorry. I expect he's out with the dogs." Arthur sat down and waited for Merlin and the bodyguards to return. It was the first really nice day for over a week, the rain had been constant. It was an hour later before they arrived. Finna managed to get away from Merlin as he was her paws. Isolde had already been cleaned and had run into the lounge to see Arthur. Unfortunately Finna just ran after her leaving a trail of muddy paw prints everywhere. Arthur snapped and shouted at Merlin:
"You idiot! Why don't you be more careful look at this mess." He seldom ever shouted at Merlin.
"Sorry Arthur the little scamp wriggled away." Merlin was half laughing.
"It's not funny you've just given Gwen a lot of work and what's more your late for lunch have you no consideration. This place can't just run for your convenience you know." Arthur was really angry.
Merlin was gobsmacked Arthur was normally so calm. "I said I was sorry."
"Well it's not me you need to apologise to its Gwen she's the one who got the food ready and she will be the one who cleans the mess up since you can't!" by now Arthur was shouting.
Merlin turned back and went to the kitchen where he immediately apologised to Gwen. "I'm sorry we were having such a good time and it was so nice. I'll try to clean up the mess."
"Don't worry Merlin, it's only sandwiches and I don't mind the mud it doesn't normally happen." Gwen was surprised at Arthur reaction.
"Don't be so soft Gwen, he's nothing but a bloody nuisance." Arthur voice shouted through.
Gwen and the bodyguards looked shocked. Merlin turned with tears in his eyes and walked down the corridor to the bedroom.
Gwen went into the lounge "Arthur what was that all about? I think that was harsh, it was an accident and you knew lunch was sandwiches." She looked at Arthur.
Arthur just stood up and went into his office and slammed the door shut. Neither of the men bothered to eat and for the rest of the day hardly spoke to each other until later that evening when Merlin tried to apologise once more. Arthur ignored him and they didn't speak again that day.