Merlin drove home and put his leg up. It hurt more than he admitted, but all the same he knew it was just bruised, he was more worried about Gwen, he rang up and spoke to Elyan and was told Gwen was resting, it had been a shock to her more than anything. The next morning Merlin woke up the same time as normal and as Gwaine suspected decided to go into work. He could see no gain on staying home and getting even stiffer. So after a quick call to Elyan he set of and was sat at his potter's wheel by eight.
He didn't expect to see Gwaine arriving half an hour later. Gwaine worked alternate weekends and he was supposed to be off. The brunette walked to the Studio are and leaned against the wall near Merlin "I thought I told you to have the day off"
"No need, anyway we have to make up the stock we lost" Merlin said with a grin. "Also no one else but us here today"
"Arthur is coming in he has a meeting with Mr Olaf about the incident" Gwaine told the potter "It seems he heard a different version of what happened. I expect Arthur will want a word"
"Fine, nothing will change" Merlin said shortly "They were in the wrong and they know it"
"Merlin I'm on your side, so calm down. Arthur is only involved because Olaf rang him last night." Gwaine stood up straight "I best go and wait for the others."
Arthur arrived five minutes later and immediately came to see Merlin "How is your leg this morning?" was his first question.
"Fine, bit sore but nothing to worry about." Merlin said "I rang Elyan last night and this morning. Gwen is alright her shoulder is sore and she had ten stitches, luckily it didn't hit anything important. But she had been told that she will be off for at least ten days and then she will have to go easy."
"Don't worry Merlin she will be on full pay and she is to take as long as she needs, tell her she can come back for a few hours at first. We will also run it through the insurers for her. Now I need to look at your leg if you don't mind."
Merlin looked unhappy bit seeing his boss's face he knew he wasn't going to get away with it. He lifted up his chinos, he had left his jeans of so they didn't rub. Arthur looked down and winched, Merlin had a large bruise over half of this calf. "I should think you are sore! Just don't do too much, I know you want to keep your leg moving but it should be rested up sometimes."
"I'm fine don't worry about me." Merlin said then he changed the subject over to the damages "We will work as quickly as we can to replace the losses but it's the commissions that will cause the problem. One we can do, it will be late but it wasn't needed for a specific date. But the other is for our best collector, Mr Brown, he had a £1000 piece on that trolley he wanted it for his wife's birthday but he won't get it now It was one of Elena pieces and will take her a week to paint another. She can't start for a week to let the clay dry, it's a big piece." Merlin explained
"When was he picking it up?"
"Next weekend, Gwaine was going to ring him, it can't be helped but I kick myself for not keeping a better eye on it" Merlin looked mournful
"Not your fault, I will ring him as well and the company will send her a large bouquet of flowers and he can have the replacement pot for free." Arthur said. "As for the rest just work your normal pace, we have stock in the shop. I have spoken to the construction company, the boss will be here soon. I intend to give you all the time off, full pay, until the work is done. I won't risk more accidents. In fact we will close this part of the shop completely"
Merlin looked horrified "You can't do that, its half term next week we get good custom then!"
"I can and I will, we can move some of the contents over to the other side. If we need to lose some sales so be it."
Gwaine came across to say Mr Olaf had arrived, Arthur went off and they disappeared for well over an hour. Then Arthur, Gwaine and Mr Olaf come down to the area. By then Freya and Mithian were painting and Merlin was busy throwing pots. The three men looked around then Mr Olaf came across to Merlin. "I hear you were hurt boy, I'm sorry about that and the young lady. I have watched the security footage and I am satisfied about what happened. You have my apologies. I will be speaking to my men, and Gilli won't be back on site. We will start on Tuesday twenty four's hours per day, Mr Pendragon is going to shut this area so we can get it finished."
He turned back to Arthur "I'll be going, my men will be here eight am Tuesday morning as arranged." With that he walked off.
"That's it is it, he looked like that apology hurt and what about Gwen? I hope he is going to apologise to her." Merlin said
"I will apologise on his behalf Merlin. I don't think she would want to see him. I did get fifty quid for flowers and chocolates for her." Arthur admitted.
"Yeh I thought our Mr Olaf was going to have the vapours at parting with the money. Mind you it helps that he wants his daughter to marry Arthur" Gwaine had a grin on his face "Or rather his daughter wants to marry Arthur"
"I'd rather marry Attila the Hun" Arthur told his friend. The he turned back to Merlin. "I saw the charger upstairs do you mind if I see it?"
"It's your company Sir so it's your charger." Merlin had his characteristic grin back on his face.
"Well Gwaine said he wasn't allowed to see it" Arthur pointed out
"Well it's not for his mother is it" Merlin smirked "Do you want me to show you then?"
"Come on you idiot" Arthur said with a grin. "I'll even give you a coffee for your troubles."
Merlin pulled at his fringe "Yes Sire, I do your bidding Sire right away Sire"
The three of then walked of laughing. Freya turned to Mithian "It's good to see Merlin laugh"
"It is, you know what week it is next week don't you?" Mithian asked her friend.
"I do, I asked him to come over on Monday but he said no" Freya looked sad "I hope he will be ok"
"He will, Merlin is made of tougher stuff than you think"
Up in the office Merlin carefully unwrapped the charger and showed Arthur and Gwaine who refused to be chucked out of his office saying "I have to share my desk with it so I deserve to see it"
Merlin held it up and the two men had their first look at the finished article. "Bloody hell Merlin that's damn good" Gwaine said
"What do you think?" Merlin asked Arthur nervously "Will you mother like it?"
Arthur was speechless for a moment. "She will love it" finally came out "Who did what?"
Merlin grinned "It's written on the back we have all signed it in full as well. Gwen wrote the details she is good at calligraphy. I threw the charger and carved it most of it and Elyan did a couple of the vignettes. The outside ring was decorated by Gwen, Freya, and Mithian. They each painted three of the vignettes each. Elena painted the middle" The plate told the history of the pottery over the past one hundred and forty years, showing the processes involved in making the pieces. The centre was a still life of the most famous pieces of pottery produced arranged on a table with the charger on the wall in the back ground.
"It's fantastic Merlin, she will love it, but I might have to ask her to display it here. I mean that is a really special piece."
Thank you I'll tell the girls and Elyan. It's not often we get to go mad. It's the first time we have all worked on a piece together. Sometimes we get an individual commission, like the Browns for a special piece but the cost is prohibitive for most of our collectors."
Gwaine looked at Merlin "How much would it cost for something like that? I mean would it be worth getting something done for the shop"
"We would make another it is a one off individual piece. But to do something similar, well we didn't cost it out as such" Merlin said "I mean it was for the owner"
"Gwaine's right Merlin, anyway I need to put the money in the company so I will need a bill. Have a guess for now"
"A couple of thousand. But I don't know if we will ever get to all work on a piece together again, it was difficult to incorporate all the styles. I mean we are all so different. Elena does the fine art, Mithian does mostly the historical repos, Freya is abstract and Gwen the bolder work. Elyan and I do the carving work and throwing."
Merlin put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small pot and placed it on the table. "This is an idea I have been playing with for a new line of one offs. What do you think?"
The pot was covered in seaweed, shells and other sea life all made out of clay. "I would glaze it in blue/ green. Also on the small piece theme we though if we did a small limited edition series. May be birds or animals and do a new one every few months and with the last one maybe provide a shelf for those who bought all of them in the series."
"That sounds good, look you guys have some time off and when you get back we will have a brainstorming. But treat this as a holiday. The time won't come out of your holiday entitlement. Oaf says it will take a week to ten days. But when they have fished we might need you to work extra hours to set the place up again" Arthur said "Mother will be hear Monday morning. I know it's your day off so if you can come in about ten"
"Look if I'm having a week off, I will work if you want." Merlin offered although he didn't really want to he had something he needed to do and it was clear Arthur didn't realise he had a week's annual leave booked anyway.
"No just come in to meet mother, she will be thrilled" Arthur told him.
The Sunday went off much as before. Merlin made sure to ring Elyan who had been going to cover for him when he was off. "I know you have been given the week off but could you pop in during the week and check on the drying pallets? Also we have a delivery of clay coming in and I want to make sure they deliver the right stuff this time."
"Sure thing Merlin, you going to be alright next week mate, you can always come and stay with us." Elyan like the others was concerned for his friend.
"I'm fine, but thanks" Merlin said shortly and closed the conversation. Monday was the anniversary of his mother's death and his friends knew how much that still hurt him. He always had the week off and kept himself to himself.
On the Monday Merlin arrived at the shop at nine thirty he was dressing in black linen trousers and a black shirt. He had Gwen with him, she had insisted on coming to see Lady Pendragon's reaction to the charger. The Studio team made a big fuss of Gwen and didn't say anything about Merlin's choice of clothing. Gwaine came over carrying the now re wrapped charger and put it behind the work stations. "Hello Gwen good to see you, you are looking very smart, how is your shoulder?"
"Sore but ok, just a nuisance I'm not allowed to stretch it much. Thank you for the flowers, with yours and the ones from the builders the flat looks like a florists shop"
"Good. Now the boss wants to give the charger to his mum down here" he looked at Merlin "You look good mate, different all cleaned up"
"I couldn't wear this normally It would be ruined in seconds with the clay." Merlin replied. They chatted for a few minutes then Gwaine wandered of as he wanted to meet Arthur and his mother at the door. He had been warned that Uther was also coming and the old man was a stickler for protocol. Gwaine knew that if Uther was involved they would arrive dead on time.
Sure enough Uther's Rolls Royce and Arthur's Jaguar arrived a minute before ten. Clearly Arthur decided not to share a car with his father. Gwaine stepped forward and opened the Rolls Royce door and smiled as Ygraine Pendragon stepped out. "Hello Lady Pendragon, happy birthday"
"Hello Gwaine, good to see you. You all kept this a secret you naughty boys." Then she whispered so her husband couldn't hear "I know Arthur bought the pottery to save it, even if he is trying to convince his father it was a sound investment" she had a twinkle in her eye.
Gwaine whispered back, "he might have but it will be a good investment as well" as Gwaine finished talking Uther was by his wife's side.
"Good Morning Sir" Gwaine said as formally as he could manage.
"My son hasn't made you smarten up yet I see" came the gruff reply. "No standards"
"I have high standards father, but a suit and tie doesn't make a good manager" Arthur said as he took his mother's arm "Come on mother I know you are looking forward to this."