Arthur was in the Thursday departmental meeting when one of the secretaries knocked on the door. He looked up angrily; it was well known he hated the meetings to be interrupted for any reason. The secretary looked scared but neither a less spoke "I'm very sorry Sir but the police are here and they're insistent that it's urgent."

Arthur stood up and walked to the door looking at the group that included Morgana "Carry on gentlemen and lady I won't be long" as he went out the door. Closing the door he saw two constables waiting, he took them into one of the small side room and turned round. "This had better be good gentlemen; I don't appreciate being dragged out of an important meeting."

"You are Mr Pendragon?" one asked

"Yes, clearly that's who you asked for" Arthur snapped back.

"I suggest you sit down Sir" The elder of the two men said to him. Something in his tone made Arthur obey.

"I'm afraid we have some bad news Sir, your husband Merlin Pendragon has been involved in an accident. We've come to take you to the hospital."

Arthur's heart missed a beat as he took in what the man had said to him. He looked up in shock, pleased that he was sat down. "How bad?" he asked shakily.

"Bad Sir, I'm afraid they're not sure he will make it" came the reply.

Arthur shot to his feet "Please take me to him!"

"We will Sir, do you want my colleague to explain to anyone where you're going?"

"No I will" Arthur said leaving the room, opening the door to the meeting, he looked at Morgana. "I'm going Merlin's hurt!"

Morgana jumped up "I'm coming with you" she followed Arthur and the police officers to their car, and they were soon on the way to Saint Marys Major Trauma Centre, a short distance from where the accident happened. Once on their way one of the policemen explained "It seems there was some sort of accident with a rollerblader on the pavement, who seemed to have swerved for some reason and bumped into your husband, who was pushed into the traffic. He was hit by one car and thrown into the path of another. I'm sorry Sir we have be asked to warn you it's not looking good, that's why we were asked to get you there."

Arthur gripped his sister's hand; his face was a white as a sheet. "He's a fighter Arthur" Morgana said to him. Then she had a thought "Oh my god has anyone told his mother?"

"I don't think we had a contact for her" The policeman said "If you let me have it I will get someone to tell her"

Morgana handed over the details and then concentrated on her brother. As soon as they arrived at the hospital they headed for the emergency rooms. It wasn't long before a nurse was speaking to them, her voice full of sympathy. "Your husband is being prepared for emergency surgery as we speak. They will let you see him briefly, but time is of an essence, he had multiple injuries and is in need of immediate surgery; he is unconscious and won't know you're there but at least you can see him. Come with me"

They went through to an emergency room where Merlin was on a trolley, as they entered the nurse quickly covered everything but Merlin's head. Even that had dressings laid on it. Arthur walked closer his legs almost giving way. He touched Merlin's left cheek and bent and kissed him "Fight my love, fight, you have to make it, I have so much I want to tell you"

"I'm sorry Sir but we need to take him now" the sister told him. "Come with me and I'll get you somewhere private" Arthur was led away with Morgana, as Merlin went in the other direction towards theatres. Once the siblings were sat down and had a hot sweet cup of tea each the Sister spoke to them once more. "The doctors will talk to you later but I can tell you some of what you want to know. I presume you have been told what happened?"

Morgana nodded so the Sister continued "I afraid Mr Pendragon has received multiple injuries, he got here very quickly which was good. He has a ruptured spleen and perforated lung these are being dealt with first; he also has a severe head injury as well as multiple bone fractures." She paused "He will be in theatre for many hours I'm afraid, and even then they won't be able to deal with everything the first time."

Arthur and Morgana were having a hard time taking it all in. The Sister spoke as kindly as she could "I'll take you up to the relative's suite on Intensive care to wait, but I warn you it will be a long one. When any of the surgeons are free they will come and update you. I'm sorry but its best you know what you are facing."

Arthur and Morgana followed the sister to the Intensive Care where she handed them over to the staff there. They were soon joined by a shocked Hunith, Gaius and Leon. None of them could believe what had happened let alone the sheer number of injuries Merlin had suffered. All Arthur had heard was the police telling him that Merlin might not make it, the rest hadn't sunk in. As they waited Arthur gradually processed the information he had been given and the true severity of it all sunk in and he broke down. He sat there tears rolling down his face. Hunith was the first to notice, she wasn't any better herself but she moved over to her son-in-law and put her arm around him.

"You really love him don't you?" she asked.

Arthur looked at her. "I have since before we married, I didn't tell him, I didn't want to scare him away, and now I might never be able to tell him" Arthur looked at her. "Can you forgive me for what I have done?"

"Arthur I have nothing to forgive you for, you told me what you had done and why. You saved my life" Hunith told him "This accident is not your fault"

"No, but if I hadn't brought Merlin here he would still be ok" Arthur told her.

"Stop that now! Anything could have happened in New York. You've been good to us, now be strong for him" Hunith told him.

It was several hours before the first doctor came to speak to them, it was one of the surgeon's who had been in charge of some of Merlin's operation.

"Mr Pendragon?" he said as he entered the room. Arthur stood up

"This is Merlin's Mother, Uncle my sister and her husband" Arthur explained, he wanted them to hear what was said that way he wouldn't have to repeat it.

"Hello my name is Mr Baynard I am one of Merlin's surgeons. I thought I'd let you know the progress we have made. We have drained Merlin's lung, repaired the damage, and put in a chest drain, we have also removed his spleen, he last a lot of blood due to the rupture and we have given him a blood transfusion. While we were working the orthopaedic team put temporary splints on his leg and arm which were fractured. These will be sorted properly at a later date. Everything went well. The Neurological surgery team is finishing looking at his skull. Merlin had a compressed fracture, but more vitally there had been a, intracranial bleed. That is now being sorted. Once the surgeon has finished she will speak to you. We won't be doing anymore tonight once she has finished, and you may be able to just briefly see him when he is in ICU. I will talk to you again over the next few days when we can discuss things further, but I think you have enough to take in for now, try and keep positive, your husband is a fighter to have got this far."

Arthur nodded "How much longer before I can see him?"

"I should think it will be about an hour. I will ask the nurses to bring you another drink, you should also eat something, there's a dispensing machine down the corridor. You need to look after yourself to be able to look after Merlin. It will be a long fight." he said kindly.

Once he left Leon went to find some food and was soon back with a selection of sandwiches, which they all forced down. Arthur suggested that Leon and Morgana went home but they both stayed. It was a good hour before the Neurosurgeon entered the room. She introduced herself; "Hello I'm Ms Annis I've come to let you know that Merlin is now being settled into his bed" she looked at Arthur "You are his husband?"

Arthur stood up and shook her hand "I am" he replied brokenly "How is he?"

Ms Annis looked at Arthur with sympathy "I have done what I needed to, but all we can do is wait. The brain is a strange organ, and we won't know what effects his injuries will have until he wakes up, he may be lucky but we don't know. We will keep him in a coma for a few days until the swelling goes down then wake him up. I will say at this stage that the damage was less than I expected. I have spoken to the nurses and two of you may pop in for a few minutes to see him. The rest will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm sorry but it is late and we need to create as little disturbance as possible."

"We understand" Morgana told the doctor. "Hunith you go in with Arthur"

The surgeon looked at Arthur "There are tubes everywhere don't be alarmed. He has a breathing tube directly into his throat and a feeding tube up his nose as well as various drainage tubes and an intravenous drip." She put her hand on Arthur's shoulder "He has a long way to go, and I can't make any promises at the moment, I'm sorry. I will speak with you again tomorrow." With that she led Arthur and Hunith through into the Intensive care area.

The lights were dimmed and she led them into a side ward. Merlin was led in bed and Arthur was glad he had been warned. He had never seen so many tubes and attachments to one person. It seemed that Merlin hardly has anywhere free of something. Merlin's skull shaved and there were stitches visible across his scalp. Arthur heard Hunith take a deep breath and she took his hand in hers before they went closer. Merlin looked so pale it was frightening he had a bruise across one side of his face with a graze on his forehead. Arthur dreaded to think what the rest of him looked like. When they got close enough Hunith touched Merlin's hand that was led on top of the sheets as tears ran down her face.

"Oh my boy, my poor boy" she muttered.

Arthur put his arm round her shoulders then he to touched Merlin gently, frightened to do more. He whispered "I love you Merlin. Please don't …." He couldn't even say the word. They stood there for a few minutes before they were ushered back to the waiting room and the others. The nurse told them they could return at ten in the morning and made sure they had Arthur and Hunith's phone numbers before they went. Leon drove Hunith and Gaius back home, before returning for Morgana and Arthur. Morgana insisted Arthur stay with them.

No one got much sleep that night and they were all up early the next morning. Leon had arranged to pick up Hunith and Gaius, and Morgana was going to drive Arthur back to the hospital. It was a sombre group that met up before making their way to ICU. Arthur and Hunith went in first and sat with Merlin for awhile before the surgeons came to speak to them. While they went to an office to speak Gaius and Leon went in to see Merlin.

Ms Annis was the first to speak "As I told you last night we won't be waking Merlin up until the swelling in his brain has resolved probably four days time. Once he is awake we will have a better idea as to what, if any, damage has been done. He may have some residue disablement but I don't think it is worth going into more detail until we know for sure. I was surprised at how little damage appeared to have been caused, so we do have hope it will be minimal. I'm sorry I can't tell you more."

Arthur and Hunith were both reassured by Ms Annis's comments and refused to think the worse.

Mr Baynard then spoke "Merlin's spleen has been removed, this will cause some long term problems but many people live without one. His lungs have been repaired and the drain will be in place for a few days until I am happy there is no further build up of fluid. Both of these conditions would normal be a couple of weeks in hospital and then a few months recovery, however since Merlin had many other issues his recovery time will be prolonged. The orthopaedic surgeons will operate in a four or five days; Merlin needs recovery time before he undergoes more surgery. The anaesthetist will be judging that timing. We have done what we can for the time being, it's Merlin's turn now."

Both Hunith and Arthur asked questions which were patiently answered. "Now I suggest you go and see him again. When the time come for us to wake him up we will let you know. It would be nice to have you there, Merlin will probably be confused and a friendly face will help no end." Ms Annis said. "All the specialist teams will be working together, if you wish to speak to us please ask the nurses and we will arrange the best time."