A/N: Here we go :)) REVIEW PLEASE!

Warnings: Mentions of Sex

Disclaimer: even though I really really wish I did because Colin Morgan.

Chapter 6

In hindsight, Morgana probably should have listened to Gwen about canceling the date. It would have been smarter. Merlin did carry a lot of baggage and Morgana was exactly free of baggage herself, but she thought, fuck it, she deserved to be happy. She was also notorious for ignoring other people's advice and listening to her heart before her head. Which is why it made no sense that she had plopped her brother down on the edge of her bed and modeled various outfits for him knowing full well that his opinion really wasn't going to change anything.

"No."

She frowned, looking down at the jean miniskirt and black tank top, "Why not? This is the fifth outfit you've turned down tonight."

"You look like a hooker. Change," and with that, he flopped his pretty little blonde head down on her pillows.

Well, that meant she had only one more outfit to show before she gave up on the whole thing and canceled the date. She grabbed her favorite pair of jeans from the closet, dark with natural frays, and held them up to her waist, "Okay, how bout this with my black heels?"

He cracked an eye open and then shut it, "Better, but change the top."

"Why?"

"Too revealing."

She threw her jeans at him, to which both eyes snapped open to glare at her. She placed her hands on her hips and tried to look as intimidating as possible though it had never worked on Arthur so far, "Too revealing?! What has gotten into you, you've never been this protective brother before!"

He sat up and Morgana could tell he was trying his puppy dog look, but she too could resist him, "Because, Gana, I don't trust Merlin."

"He's a nice guy, Arthur. You're friends with him yourself."

"Nice? Morgana, he's a player."

Morgana grabbed her jeans off the bed, ignoring Arthur and stomping into the bathroom. She changed quickly, checked her reflection to make sure her hair and makeup was good, and then stormed back into the room, "You are calling Merlin a player? That's rich."

"He's dated half of his friend group!" He was gesturing widely with his hands and Morgana tried not to be annoyed.

"That shows he's mature!" She checked the time on her phone. Five more minutes and he'd be here.

"Dating half of your friends is mature?" He looked exasperated, but still she did not look at him.

"No, staying friends with your exes is mature."

Arthur shook his head, but didn't say anything more on the matter and that was absolutely fine with Morgana. She sat down beside him to pull her heels on.

The doorbell rang.

She clapped her hands and tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, "Oh! He's early!"

When she answered the door, he was standing on the other side with a motorcycle helmet in each hand. Good thing Arthur had made her change out of the miniskirt then. He was wearing dark jeans that were sagged a little, grey DC shoes, a button up white-dress shirt and a black leather jacket. His hair was windswept, despite wearing the helmet.

"You look like a teenager."

Morgana frowned because that was definitely not her voice, but her brother's behind her. Merlin glanced over her shoulder to where Arthur stood leaning against her bedroom door.

"Oh, you're here."

"Yes, I'm here, Merlin. Good observation."

Morgana frowned, spinning on her heels to look at Arthur, "Honestly? Could you not?"

Merlin laughed behind her and she turned to give him an equally exasperated look. He just smiled at her and damn, did he have an incredible smile, "It's okay. He's not bothering me," Arthur chuckled behind her, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah. I'm just gonna grab my purse," She walked back to where she had left in the bathroom. She could hear them bickering out in the hallway, followed by occasional laughing and she smiled to herself. At least her brother got along with him, even if it was in the weirdest way possible.

Merlin handed her a helmet when she got back out. Good thing she didn't curl her hair. Arthur followed them down the stairs and out to his car. She had no idea that Merlin drove a motorcycle, but somehow this made him even hotter to her.

"Honda?" Arthur asked, pointing to the slick, blue bike parked two away from his own car, an Audi R8 that he had bought over two years ago, despite Morgana telling him it made him look like a preppy rich kid.

"Yeah, a VFR800. I bought it from Gwaine actually,"

"What year?" And he pressed a button that started his car because he was also ridiculous like that.

Merlin rolled his eyes, but laughed, "2010. Do you ride?"

Okay, she had tried her best to go along with all the boy talk, but this was supposed to be her date, not Arthur's. She held up her hand, "Okay. Can we go?"

Arthur gave a weird look, cut off mid-sentence, and Merlin started his nervous stammering, but nodded, "Uh, sure."

"Bye, Arthur." She waved goodbye and Arthur just nodded and opened his car door, a butterfly door of all things, and slid in. She put on her helmet, a deep blue to match the bike.

Merlin was already straddling the motorcycle, putting in gear and offering a hand out to help her on. She took it and straddled the back of the motorcycle, wrapping her arms around his waist. He turned his head and yelled back over the engine, "You good?"

"Yeah."

Using his legs, he backed up slowly, and then accelerated forward towards the street, looking both ways before he pulled out into traffic. Arthur's car disappeared in the other direction.

Morgana had never in her life been on a motorcycle before. She had dreamed of it, thought about buying her own, but had never actually gone through with it. Now, being on the back of one, she had never felt so free, so full of adrenaline. Merlin was a risky driver, weaving in and out of traffic, the engine roaring behind them. She threw her head back and laughed, but didn't dare let go like they did in the movies.

They somehow ended up going down a side street, Merlin being the only one knowing where they were going. He pulled up at a restaurant she had only been to once in her whole life, a small outdoor Italian restaurant where they weaved lights around the trunks and branches of all the trees. He parked on the street parallel to it and allowed her to hop off before he shut the engine off.

"Okay, so I didn't know if you'd ever been here or not, but…" he trailed off like he didn't know how to finish that sentence.

"Once, when we first moved here, but not since then," she looked around as Merlin strapped their helmets to the bike, "It's pretty."

He nodded, running a hand through his hair and then pulling off his jacket to lay it across his arm. He hesitated and then held it out to her, "You cold? We'll be sitting outside so if you want my jacket…you can have it."

Morgana smiled and took it, thanking him.

Merlin gave his name for the reservation, Emrys, and she liked the ring of that. Morgana Emrys. Not that she was planning that far ahead or anything, she would never. Merlin chattered on nervously about a news piece he had seen about the population of bees decreasing in America and Morgana couldn't help but smile, because nervous Merlin was adorable.

The waiter led them to their table, up against the back, directly by the fence and the tall tree that was lit brightly. Their table had a white cloth over it and a flickering candle as a centerpiece, it was all quite charming. Merlin didn't even look over the menu, so she assumed he came here often.

"You're nervous," She said after she ordered their food.

"Yes." He didn't even hesitate, ducking his head as he blushed, "I'm sorry. It's just, I haven't been on a date in a long time."

"Gwen made it sound like you do this often," She smiled at him to make sure he knew she wasn't accusing him of anything.

He laughed, scratching the side of his face absentmindedly, "Gwen thinks every time I take a girl or guy to dinner I'm on a date. Most of them I'm just having dinner as friends."

"It's okay," and then she added, "Don't be nervous."

Merlin smiled and then looked down at his table as he picked nervously at his napkin, "Hard not to be when you look like that."

She certainly wasn't expecting that and blushed. But Morgana wasn't one to be shy and she took pride in that, "Thank you, Merlin. Seriously though, tell me about yourself."

"Uhh," and then he laughed nervously, "What do you want to know?"

"Anything."

"I feel like you already know a lot about me and I don't know anything about you," He said simply.

"There's not a lot to know about me," she caught his eye and he smiled and it was like his entire soul was visible to her and like he was actually interested in her and not just sleeping with her. It made her blush all over again.

"I don't believe that for one second. Come on, what's your dreams, your aspirations, all that?"

Her face softened and she felt something in her crumble because no one had ever talked to her like this before. No one had ever cared like this before and she felt she could trust Merlin. Something about him made all her willpower crumble, all the walls she had built up fall apart, "I hate business. I hate working with my father and Arthur."

Merlin arched an eyebrow, "Really?"

"I love them both, don't get me wrong, but I don't like what I'm doing-"

"I'm sorry, but what is your job title again? I don't think we've ever discussed it," Merlin said and then thanked the waiter who had brought out the bread to set on the table.

Morgana took a piece and watched Merlin tear at his piece nervously, "I'm the Director of Human Resources. I'm on the Board of Directors too so I guess you could say I'm basically an advisor to Arthur. He's the CEO."

Merlin whistled low, "You guys make me look like an underachiever."

"How? You're in med school."

The rest of the date went smoothly if you asked Morgana. Merlin was charming with a brilliant smile and he listened well and asked questions appropriately. He was incredibly handsome, Morgana was not blind to that. But there were moments, barely noticeable moments, where Merlin's eyes would suddenly become downcast and saddened. He would quickly cover it by looking down at his food and when he looked back up, it was like nothing had happened.

She had almost forgotten why when Merlin pulled out his phone to check the time and flipped it open to a picture of him and his ex-fiancée. Her heart sunk. Of course. She should have known.

"Ready to go?" Merlin said after he paid the bill (which she felt horrible about since she and Arthur had more money than they had to do with) and he was smiling at her, and she tried desperately to smile back, but it came back a grimace, so she just nodded.

When he pulled up to her condo, he got off to walk her to her door. She fished for her keys in her purse and Merlin watched her with piercing blue eyes.

"Do you wanna come in?" It wasn't meant to sound suggestive, but seeing how Merlin's eyes widened he had apparently taken it that way.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't –" And honestly, Morgana should have called off the date because despite how great the date had been, Merlin wasn't ready. Two years later and he still wasn't ready and Morgana didn't understand, but wished she could. And she could see, even if Merlin couldn't, that this was as far as their relationship went, it just wasn't going to work, not when Merlin was still in love with someone else.

However, knowing all this, didn't make her want it any less. Not when Merlin was so handsome, and warm, and everything she had ever wanted. And it wasn't fair, that Morgana had waited her entire life for a man like him only to know someone else had gotten to him long before her.

And that's why she surged forward, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his.

Merlin's body froze against her so she pressed farther up against him, trying desperately to show him that if he allowed, she could be the one who made him forget. Slowly, after a few seconds of Morgana swiping her tongue across his lips, he relaxed, his arm going around her waist as he bent forward.

After that, it was just a matter of pausing long enough from making out by her door to unlock it, pull him inside and towards her bedroom.

She pushed him down on the bed, his pupils blown wide and Morgana smirked because this part was familiar for her. She reached for the hem of her shirt, pulling it up over her head.

"Morgana." His voice was husky, low, and she felt it shake her to her core. She reached for the buttons of his shirt, slowly undoing them as she straddled his lap. He reached up, shakily, grabbing her wrists and she paused to look at his blue eyes, "Morgana, we really shouldn't…"

She shut him up by kissing him and again, he melted into it. She pushed him back onto his back, continuing to straddle his lap and he tried to sit up, but she held him down, "Morgana."

"Merlin, please" and then she kissed him.

Later, after the sheets were tangled around their waists, she smiled, blissful. Morgana had just found a comfortable spot on Merlin's chest, her long black hair curling around his arm, and was considering falling asleep, basking in the afterglow of their sex, when he shot up, her head falling backwards.

"Oh my god," He swung his feet over the side of the bed and was on his feet in an instant, reaching for his jeans which had landed on the floor by the dresser, "oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."

Morgana sat up, clutching the sheets to her as she sat up, "What are you doing?"

His jeans were on, hanging low on his hips and unbuttoned, "oh my god."

"Stop saying that and come to bed," but Merlin wasn't listening. He was too busy frantically searching for his shirt, mumbling to himself the whole time. She groaned, "What's wrong with you?"

He froze, and looked up at her with wide eyes. His hand froze midway through raking his hair, "I'm an idiot, that's what's wrong."

"How are you an idiot?" She reached for her bra because apparently they were getting dressed now.

"Because I slept with you!"

Well that was a knife to the heart. She froze midway through putting her bra on, looking up at him through her dark lashes, "Okay, ouch."

"No! No!" He sat down on the edge of the bed, looking like he was about to reach over and pull her in for a hug before he stood up almost instantly, his voice changing to frantic again, "I swore to your brother I wasn't going to sleep with you. I swore to myself I wasn't going to sleep with you! Not on the first date."

"Merlin, it's okay. I don't regret it," She tried, pulling on her underwear and pushing the sheets off to sit on top of them and stare up at him as he grabbed his shirt, pulling it on.

"Well I do!" Again, she looked hurt and he threw up his hands, "Not like that! I regret not waiting! You were great. Excellent even. It's not you!"

He was really a sight to see. Jeans unbuttoned, dress shirt unbuttoned to expose his abs and chest, hair askew, mouth red from kissing. If he wasn't freaking out like a little girl, he'd be sexy.

"I was just thinking with my little head, not my big head. And ugh," he buttoned up his pants, looking around for his socks, "I'm so stupid! Always think with the big head, never the little head!"

"Little head?" She said, annoyed, because really Merlin was killing her afterglow.

He gestured to his crotch absentmindedly, "little head", and then pointed to his hair, "big head. Always think with the big one."

"Well if that's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"Ah ha!" He grabbed his sock from underneath the bed, not even bothering to figure out how it had gotten there. He sat up, looked at Morgana and blushed, "Look I'm gonna be the douchebag that leaves now, but I won't be the douchebag that doesn't call you, okay? And I'm terribly sorry for sexing you and all on the first date. And yeah, I'm a horrible idiot."

"Did you just say sexing?"

"Anyways, I'll call. I swear."

Morgana watched him go, listened to the motorcycle rev up and wheel away from her apartment and then promptly buried her face in her hands.

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