Merlin tried to get up, but wasn't able too. "Gwen, please. Just leave it. I'm fi..fine." Merlin said to her with paining grunts, but she stubbornly shook her head.
"No Merlin, you're clearly not." She answered him hastily, and bent down again to help him in any way she could. Her previously panicking slowly died down and now her nurse instincts set in again. She let her hands wander over Merlin's body, but wasn't quite touching him. When Merlin tried to bat her hands away, she frowned and sat back, there was not much for her that she could do right this moment.
She looked around her and spotted a cushion on one of the two chairs that were meant for patients. She walked up to the chairs and walked back with the cushion in her hand and laid it beneath Merlin's head so he was more comfortable. She was starting to askwhat exactly had happened and continued to roam her hands over his body, when she heard the door open and close.
Balinor came as quickly as he could when he received Gwen's panicked call. He was worried to no end, he needed to know what had happened with his son, because he had just seen him an hour ago during their break and there was nothing wrong with his son then, not even as much as a broken fingernail. And now he had gotten a call telling him that his son was on the ground and in pain. How in the living hell!
Opening the door, he could see by the way his son was clutching his sides that he was in serious pain. He noticed how erratic his son's breathing was and how he didn't allow Gwen to examine him.
His first instinct was to gather his son up and hold him tight, but he knew he couldn't do that. His parental worries were put to the side for the time being and he let his doctoral instincts kick in. Balinor walked up to the pair and shooed Gwen to the side and firstly asked his son what happened. Stubborn as Merlin was, he didn't answer the question and told both Gwen and his father that he just needs a moment, and that there's nothing wrong with him.
Balinor didn't believe a thing he said, so he checked his son's features. There seemed no sign that there was an infection going on, but one couldn't be sure enough. At least it was a good thing that his son's eyes looked normal and not glassy. His skin was slightly transpiring, but that could be about fighting the pain that showed in his son's face.
Balinor ran a soft hand through his son's hair and made him look at him. "Merlin what happened?" He demanded in soft but stern tone. His other hand travelled down to the place where Merlin clutched his side, but Merlin wouldn't let his father take his hands off it.
Merlin still refused to tell the truth and shook his head. He tried to smile it all away. "It's, hngh, nothing. I was being clumsy again." Merlin sucked in a pained breath. "I walked into the drawer of the medicine cabinet and hit my rib or something."
Balinor frowned. He didn't believe a word of his son's explanation, mainly because the medicine cabinet was still closed. He let it go for now, he needed to make sure that his son was okay. He retried to pry his son's hands away from the place he was pressing them onto, but Merlin didn't gave up the fight so quickly and held on even tighter. Merlin already learned that when he would let go, the pain would flare up again.
In the end he was just no match for his father and reluctantly he let his father get his hands out of the way. He bit his lower lip to block out the pain, but it was just a small comfort. Balinor lifted his son's blue uniform top to reveal a starting bruise right on his lowest left rib.
"Merlin…" Balinor breathlessly called, making Merlin look up to him again with a desperate look in his eyes. Merlin knew that there was no way out now, that he had to tell them what happened.
Very carefully Balinor touched the starting bruise to see if the rib underneath wasn't broken. It earned him a loud hiss from his son. Balinor started to apologize, but Merlin knew his father had to do this. But that didn't take away the pain.
Balinor instructed Gwen to call the x-ray room and telling them that he would come in shortly to make a thorax x-ray. He ignored his son's calls telling him that there really was no need for that. That it already felt better.
Merlin saw that his protest wasn't working and he took a deep breath and he clutched his side again before pushing himself weakly up to a sitting position.
Balinor tried to stop his son. "Merlin, no. Just stay –" But when Balinor saw that his son was determined to sit up, he couldn't stop him. His son was a stubborn person at times and once a task had formed in Merlin's head there was really little that you could do to stop him from completing it. He gently helped his son in a sitting position, and was happy that it was only sitting that Merlin wanted to and that he didn't want to stand up.
Merlin felt his vision being slightly off from lying on the floor for almost twenty minutes, but slowly his sight returned to normal again. He could see his dad still looking worriedly at him from where he sat on his hunches in front of him. Merlin send him a soft smile, hoping that his father would stop looking at him with so much worry.
"Gwen, a glass of water." Balinor ordered while keeping an hand against Merlin's shoulder to prevent his son from falling down.
Gwen came back with a little cup filled with water. As she handed the cup over to Balinor, she told him that he could come to the x-ray room in the next five minutes. Balinor thanked her and gave the cup over to Merlin, who rolled his eyes at all the drama his colleague and father were going over for something as minor as this.
Balinor ignored the look his son sent him and urged him to drink. Merlin let out a sigh of frustration but listened to his father. The refreshing liquid felt cool in his abused throat and he felt himself slightly better after downing the cup of.
"Happy?" he sarcastically asked his father, holding the cup upside down to prove even more that he drank it all.
"Very." His dad replied with a curt nod. "Now, do you think you can stand up?"
Merlin winced slightly at the idea of standing up, but he was no wimp. And, besides, he never liked to look vulnerable towards others so he would do it no matter what. "I'll try." He answered and once more clutched his rib with his right hand, offering his left arm to his dad to help him up.
"On three." His dad stated and Merlin nodded. He bent his knees and placed both his feet in parallel position to make it easier for himself to stand up
Balinor placed one hand under Merlin's armpit and looked once more at his son to see if he was ready and then softly counted, "One, two, three." He pulled gently and Merlin simultaneously put his weight on his feet. In one fluent motion Merlin went to stand up, but the fast motion got him dizzy for a second and he put all his weight against his father in the hope that it would prevent him from fainting. He closed his eyes for a moment and placed his head on his father's shoulder, softly breathing in and out.
"That's it, take your time." Balinor said in his son's ear and ran a hand over his back. He was pleased to see that his son didn't crumble into a heap when he stood on both feet. It was a good sign.
Just a couple seconds later, Merlin stepped back and held his head up. "I'm okay… really, I'm okay." He reassured his father in a whispered tone. He looked down to his father's hand that he kept on his arm – probably for support, Merlin guessed.
"Will you now, please tell me what happened?" Balinor's voice was strong and the tone told Merlin that he couldn't dwindle around it for much longer. "And don't lie Merlin." Merlin let out a puff of frustration and finally saw his defeat. His shoulders sagged.
"Fine." Merlin finally admitted. He was silent for a few agonizing seconds and then finally told his father, and Gwen, "I've been threatened okay. There, that's it."
"That's it?" Gwen's shrill voice cut through, she was utterly shocked at how lightly Merlin was handling this. If something like that would happen to her, she would be like totally freaking out. Then she remembered something. "Was it that guy who just walked away? Oh no, oh no, if I was just sooner–"
"Gwen!" Merlin winced slightly and his hand went up to his rib once again. He had put too much effort into the exclamation and now he felt the pain flare up. "Stop it, it's not your fault."
"Then who's is it?" Balinor asked, getting frustrated when he wasn't getting the answers he wanted.
"It's mine… well sort off. Here's the thing, he's an ex of Arthur's and well he doesn't like that I'm in a relationship with Arthur."
"That's absurd! He should be locked up in a mental institution!" Gwen said with voice rising higher with each word. Merlin snorted, he had offered Gwaine that exact same option not yet thirty minutes ago.
"We're not done about this Merlin." Balinor scowled at his son. "But we should get you to the x-ray room now. I really want to exclude any kind of serious injury."
Merlin huffed once more in resistance, but his father's stern look didn't gave him rather much choice, so he just did as his father wanted and walked with him. He tried to keep himself up right, but he only managed to walk with hunch and lightly limp through the hospital's hallways.
~oOoOo~
"Well it doesn't seemed broken, just badly bruised." Balinor told his son as they both looked at the x-ray of his chest.
"Told you." Merlin retorted in a childish manner. Why no one ever took him for his word was behind Merlin's amazement.
"I think you got lucky Merlin, it could've gone a lot worse." His father turned off the light of the x-ray and turned to his son. How's your side now?"
Merlin shrugged with one shoulder. "I'm fine. It's not that ba-AAD!" Merlin shrieked mid-sentence, when his father lightly touched his rib.
"Ow! What you do that for?" Merlin asked his father with a scowl. He couldn't believe that his father just did that.
"To prove Merlin, that you're not fine." Balinor replied with a pointed look that Merlin knew all too well. "I want you to take the rest of the day off. End of discussion." He added when he saw Merlin open his mouth to protest against his wish. "And keep this bandage nice and tight, it will help against the swelling."
Merlin rolled his eyes once more. "You keep forgetting that I'm also a doctor dad, I know very well what to do and what not too." It earned him a slight knock on the head from his dad.
"Don't roll your eyes to me. Or do I have to call your mother." Merlin's eyes became wide when he heard his father's threat.
"No! Oh please, whatever you do… don't tell mum about this. You know how she becomes if she will learn about this. All caring and 'mothering smothering'." As Merlin called it when his mother became too overprotective over her son. He could just refrain himself from shuddering at the thought. He loved his mother wholeheartedly, but he was a twenty-seven year old grown man for crying out loud. Please not.
His father looked at him with amusement on his face, he knew exactly how his wife would react if she would hear that something has happened to one of her children. He just couldn't help it to tease Merlin with it and when he saw the sheer panic crossing his son's face, it was victory to him. But Balinor then turned more serious again. "But Merlin, I want you to have someone with you. Should I call Arthur?"
Merlin snapped his head towards his father. Arthur couldn't find out about this, he had already so much stuff to deal with in his life, that his problem were the last thing that Arthur needed. "No." Merlin replied calmly. "I'll see if Morgana is up for it."
"Well good luck with that." His father answered, refraining a snort. His son and daughter might be twins, but they usually were quite the opposite when it came to their personalities. "That should be an entertaining afternoon." He muttered more to himself than to anyone else.
Merlin shook his head playfully as he fished his mobile out of the pocket. He scrolled through his address book and soon found the name he was looking for. He pressed the number and waited for it to connect.
With just two rings he heard Morgana's voice from the other side and he told her with little details what had happened. He knew that his sister was almost as worse as his mother when it came to hurting someone of her family.
When he had explained more or less to her what had happened to him, he had asked her to come to his house and he was now waiting for her response. He was expecting it to be a no with some excuse that there was something going on in her own life right this second, but to his own and father's surprise, Morgana actually agreed to come to Merlin's apartment.
~oOoOo~
Against his father's wishes, Merlin drove himself to his own apartment. For once he wished he would've just listen to his father and not being such a stubborn person and always do the exact opposite that his father wanted.
His side was killing him and he was broken by the time he entered his apartment. His sister already waiting for him on the other side of the door. He might or might not regret for ever giving her his emergency key, but he knew that he was glad she was there now.
He placed his keys in the bowl next to the door and looked up tiredly towards his sister. All this time he held his side tightly cursing to himself that the bandages didn't gave the support he craved for.
Morgana worriedly moved towards him. Tentative fingers ghosted over her brother's body for a moment before she moved away to the living room.
She was surprised when he brother called her, but became angry when she heard that he was injured and that it was intentional. She still wasn't aware of what exactly had happened, she only knew that Merlin was hurt. When she was sure that her brother had followed her, she sat down on the couch and waited until Merlin sat down next to her.
She kept looking up to her little brother's face and saw him wincing when he tried to sit down in the least painful way. Her eyes darkened with anger and her frown deepened. She was very protective of her family and especially about Merlin since they shared such a personal bond, but she would never tell anyone that.
"Who." She said in a low tone and it almost sounded like a growl.
Merlin sighed, he didn't want to tell Morgana everything and hoped that she would just let it go, but who was he kidding, it was Morgana. "Morgana…," he breathed, "he didn't hurt me that much. Well at least it's nothing I can't handle."
His sister's eyes narrowed. "He…" She repeated in the same tone again. She thought for a moment and then almost yelled, "Arthur!?"
Merlin's head snapped up. "What? No!" Merlin shouted, defending his boyfriend. "Arthur would never… he would never hurt me Morgana." Merlin closed his eyes tightly and winced when his rib got jostled once more.
Morgana put a gentle hand on her brother's arm. "Then who?" She whispered. "Just tell me Merlin, because you know that I'll find out anyways." Her voice was soft, and honestly, Merlin was surprised by it.
Merlin sighed exasperatedly and he looked up wearily towards his twin sister. "As I said, you don't know him. "
Morgana soft features changed into a hard glare.
Merlin blew out all the air he kept in his lungs, starting to get aggravated. His sister was just as bad as his father!
"Fine! It was Gwaine."
"Gwaine?" Morgana frowned. "Who the hell is Gwaine?"
This time round Merlin merely raised an eyebrow and waited for Morgana to figure it out. His sister was looking at him expectantly, but he didn't let out any other information. If his sister wanted to know so badly, than it was her job to find it out herself.
He knew that she already knew the name from that time they were at their parent's house, so she should be connecting the dots very soon. They stared at each other for almost three minutes everything clicked in Morgana's mind. "Gwaine… isn't he that another racer, the one who had some problems with Arthur?"
Merlin wanted to slow clap for his sister for finally connecting dots together, but he had to resist that urge, since his hand was very much busy supporting his sore side. He looked at her as she continued her questioning. "But why is he attacking you?" She was so confused at this moment and that was one emotion that she didn't liked. She always wanted to know the who, the what, the where, the when and the how.
Merlin took a deep breath and started to tell the story, this time he didn't leave any information out. Morgana quietly listened to him.
~oOoOo~
Morgana was frustrated and fuming by the time Merlin finished telling her everything, he even told her about what Gwaine had done to Arthur. He knew he could trust his sister for not telling it to anyone else, or make Arthur uncomfortable by mentioning it.
Merlin watched how his sister's hands wrapped themselves into fists on her lap. "Why the hell didn't you call the police? Have you completely lost your mind!"
"Ganie…" Merlin tried to reason, but failed as his sister was interrupting him.
"That Gwaine should be arrested! Not only for assaulting you, but especially for sexually assaulting your boyfriend, for crying out loud! If you won't go, I will." She held up her hand as she saw how her little brother was going to protest. "No Merlin, this has to stop. Now!"
Merlin's shoulders slumped, but directly pulled them back up because of the extra pressure it put on his sore rib.
He knew that his sister was right, but he didn't want to put Arthur in the position where he was forced to tell what had happened to him. It wouldn't be right.
But he also knew that his sister wouldn't be giving up quite so easily and he had hated that trait of his sister since they were just children. But at the same time, he had that exact same trait, so he couldn't really blame her.
"Morgana, please. Don't get involved, or involve anyone else. If Arthur hears about Gwaine threatening me -"
"Arthur should know!"
Merlin sighed once again. "Let me just handle this on my own." He said with a painful grunt when he moved too much. He eased himself back against the backrest of the couch, and tried to control of his fast breathing.
Morgana reluctantly didn't talk further about the subject and got up, she needed some minutes away from her equally as stubborn brother and mentioned to Merlin that she would make some tea. Merlin slowly nodded.
By the time Morgana came back with two steaming cups of English blend tea she found her brother sleeping on the couch. His legs were parted wide and his hand was still supporting his side. She shook her head in a playful manner, neither she nor he would give up their point of view easily and she knew how tiring it could be.
She set the two cups down and looked around for the small blanket that Merlin kept next to the couch. She draped it over him and pressed a little kiss on his hair. Not that she would ever admit to him or anyone else that she had done that.
She busied herself by watching some telly, and at the same time continuously checking if her brother was still asleep. She turned into the arm chair she decided to sit on and got more comfortable, her gaze was turned towards her brother and she saw that he had a deep frown on his face while he slept.
She wished she knew what her brother was dreaming about, but since she couldn't she was only able to watch him as he slept.
~oOoOo~
It wasn't long before Morgana had fallen asleep too. Her head was resting on the back of the chair and the handle of her now empty cup dangled dangerously on one of her slender fingers. She woke up from a buzzing noise and when she opened her eyes she saw her brother's mobile phone buzzing and lighting up on the coffee table.
Unfolding her legs from beneath her, she stood up and placed the cup on one of the coasters on the table and grabbed the phone. The display told her that it was their father and so she decided to pick it up.
"Dad?" She whispered, making her way to the kitchen to not disturbing a sleeping Merlin. He was still frowning deeply in his sleep and it seemed like little beads of sweat had formed on his head.
She clicked the door that separated the living room and kitchen close and brought the phone to her ear again, just in time to hear her father asking her a question.
"How is he?"
"He's sleeping, but it looks like he's sweating and he's also frowning in his sleep."
There was a short silence on the other side of the phone and then Morgana heard how her father was mumbling to himself. It was something that he always did when something was troubling him.
"Just get a cold cloth and put it on his brow, it will help for now. But whatever you do, don't wake him. He needs plenty of rest."
"Okay." Morgana answered and turned off the phone when she heard her father telling her that he should go again. She looked around the kitchen and tried to remember where Merlin kept his kitchen towels. She started to randomly pull open some cabinets and drawers, until she finally found what she was looking for. Morgana folded the colourful cloth together and wetted it under the faucet.
Morgana quietly shuffled her way back into the living room again, and heard her brother moaning and inaudibly mumbling stuff. She tried to understand what he was saying, but she couldn't decipher what was being said and she left it to rest.
Morgana unfolded the cold cloth until it was one long strip and spread it across Merlin's brow. It seemed to be soothing him a little bit, as she noticed that the mumbling had stopped.
Morgana sighed for what must've been the umpteenth time this day as she adjusted the blanket over her brother's shoulders. She just felt so helpless and all she could do was wait, and that was something she hated.
After a few reassuring murmurings towards her brother, she assumed the same position on the armchair and hoped that she also could catch a couple more hours of sleep. Morgana knew that she needed all her energy for when she would have yet another discussion with her brother in the morning.