If you have any further questions about sexualites and such, please see the link on my profile.

I am so sorry! I've just been so buys, I haven't been able to upload. I'll try harder next time :(

Arthur needed to make sure he was getting this right. "So, pansexuals can be attracted to anyone, bisexuals are attracted to males and females, heterosexuals are attracted to the same sex, homosexuals are not, and asexuals don't feel attracted to anyone?"

"Close," Pygmy said. "You mixed up hetero and homo, and aesexuals just don't feel sexually attracted to anyone. They can be romantically attracted."

Arthur crossed the threshold of Merlin's hospital door, shaking his head. "Okay, I'm confused."

"Arthur?"

Both Arthur and Pygmy looked up in surprise at the strangled whisper.

"Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed, dropping the bags and rushing to the man's side. "You're awake! Are you okay?"

Merlin didn't appear to have heard him. "What are you wearing?" he asked hoarsely, staring at the clothes.

"What? Oh." Arthur looked down, forgetting he had changed into the ripped (because Pygmy wouldn't allow him to wear anything else) jeans and dragon shirt. "Your sister took me shopping."

Merlin frowned in confusion. "My…?" he broke off in a gasp when Pygmy gripped him in a tight hug. "Ow! Stop, let go!"

"Oh shite! I'm sorry, you okay?" Pygmy asked, worry and a little bit of shame coloring her tone.

"I'm fine," Merlin winced.

Pygmy, like Arthur, raised her eyebrows in disagreement. She raised her hand, most likely to place it on his forehead, but Merlin waved the hand away

"What is going on?" he demanded as best he could, which, considering how pale Merlin looked and how his eyes were still glossy, was not actually very demanding at all.

"We're in the future. Remember?" Arthur spoke gently. "Lolloc said he'd get us out of the way by bringing us to your home. You're home, Merlin." He glanced around at the hospital room. "So to speak."

"I remember," Merlin paused, his eyes fearful and searching. "I remember…"

"Yes," Arthur nodded. "I remember that too. You have a lot to explain, once you're better."

"…Why?"

The question could've been asking why Arthur would wait for him to get better or it could've been why Arthur would even allow Merlin to get better or it could've been a combination of both.

The latter option was the one Arthur supposed was going through Merlin's head.

Arthur licked his lips, remembering what John Smith had told him. "Because… Because I want you to get better, Merlin. I stayed because you were dying and I… I wanted to know you were going to be okay."

Merlin's lips fell into an 'O'. His eyes softened, filling with hope, replacing the fear Arthur only just realized had been present. Before Merlin could even find words to speak, Dr. Quinn walked back in, carefully avoiding looking directly at Arthur, much to his amusement.

"I know you're family, but visiting hours are ov–" Dr. Quinn paused mid-sentence, her eyes widening. "M-Mr. Emrys! You're awake."

"Just barely," Merlin responded, his voice still hoarse.

Dr. Quinn glanced at the (yet another) box-like object in her hand, flipping through the papers that were on it. "You shouldn't be awake yet."

Merlin's glazed eyes slid to Pygmy, who had taken to studying the floor. "Is that so?"

"We'll have to keep you overnight," Dr. Quinn said, still sounding a bit confused. She glanced at the object again before gesturing to the door, saying, "So visitors, if you please…"

Arthur felt a sudden onset of anxiety. Spending the day with Merlin's sister was one thing, but going to her home and leaving Merlin here, who was awake, was something entirely different.

"W-What? Now?" he asked, squeezing the blankets covering Merlin's thin frame.

Pygmy, may the gods bless her strange intuition, interpreted Arthur's dilemma. Turning quickly to Dr. Quinn, she gently asked, "Can't you let Arthur stay?"

Dr. Quinn narrowed her eyes. "I can't do–"

"Yes, but, well, you know," Pygmy gestured hopelessly at the pair. "Can't you let them have at least one night together? My brother just woke up after a traumatizing ordeal, they should have some time."

Merlin stared at his sister in confusion, looking as though he were about to ask what was going on but was too tired to form the question.

After several seconds of incredulous staring, Dr. Quinn sighed. "Fine. But," she held up one finger, "Just this one night."

"Thank you!" Arthur exclaimed.

Dr. Quinn raised a hand to her temples, gently massaging them. "Yeah well, just tell your lawyer that number he left on my desk goes to some toy company, not his firm."

"Ah, yes. I will," Arthur promised, wondering how in the hell he was going to do that.

With a soft groan, Dr. Quinn left.

"I'll see you in the morning, brother! See ya, Arthur!" Pygmy waved goodbye, winking and grinning and generally making Arthur feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Lawyer?" Merlin croaked out, oblivious to how the interaction affected Arthur.

"Erm, yes. He said he knew you. Funny fellow. Had a," Arthur gestured to his neck, unsure the name.

"Bowtie," Merlin breathed out, his eyes widening. "Doctor."

Arthur straightened. "What? Do you need me to–?"

Quickly, Merlin shook his head. "No, no. It's fine. I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Arthur said quietly, observing the pale, shivering skin and bones that was called Merlin. "You're tired; you need to sleep."

"You need to sleep too." Merlin tried to gesture to Arthur, but his arm barley moved off the bed. "You look tired too."

Arthur felt more overwhelmed than tired. "I'm fine."

"You need to sleep, Arthur," Merlin murmured. His eyes swept the room. "You need a bed."

"I'll sleep in the chair," Arthur said, knowing that Merlin might try to get up and find him an actual bed if Arthur didn't stop him. "How's that?"

Merlin nodded and smiled slightly. "Okay," were his last words before falling back asleep.

Suddenly, Arthur was aware that he was holding Merlin's hand. He didn't want to let go. When Merlin woke up, Arthur will be right there. Like he should've been when Merlin first woke up.

x~X~x

Sleeping in a chair wasn't comfortable, so Arthur was awake when he heard an awed voice croak out, "It wasn't a dream."

Arthur lifted his head, blinking blearily. "You okay, Merlin?"

Merlin looked at him with shock. His features softened as he hesitantly questioned, "Sh-Shouldn't I be asking you that question? Sire."

Arthur resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You're the one who almost died. Merlin."

"You're out of your timeline," Merlin countered, as if it trumped near-death.

"And you almost died," Arthur repeated, making sure to catch hold of Merlin's gaze. "Are you okay?"

"I… Yeah, I guess so," Merlin answered, looking away. He repeated his question from last night: "What happened?"

Abruptly, Arthur realized, with strange satisfaction, that their positions were switched; Merlin was the one who had no idea what was going on rather than Arthur. (Though, to be honest, Arthur still wasn't entirely sure himself.) It was a strange phenomenon that rarely happened. Honestly, the last time Arthur remembered being in a similar situation had been when Merlin drunk the poisoned wine - and he hadn't even been there when Merlin awoke! He'd been thrown in the dungeons!

"How much do you remember?" Arthur asked.

Merlin grimaced. "The sorcerer, Lolloc, he took your face."

Arthur nodded. "That bastard. Looks better on me."

At that, Merlin smiled slightly. "Yeah; only you can pull off that Prince Prat face.

"Hey now," Arthur started in jest, enjoying the smile the blossomed on Merlin's face. It disappeared too soon.

"He sent us here," Merlin whispered in horror. "Didn't he? There was a green light and he sent us here."

"The future," Arthur nodded. "He sent us to your home."

He was already so pale, but Arthur was near positive Merlin became another shade whiter. "I – I can explain!"

"Okay." Arthur realized he was still holding Merlin's hand – and Merlin was squeezing it in panic. Hadn't Arthur let go? He had to have let go sometime…right?

Merlin swallowed nervously, running his free hand though his tangled hair. He didn't seem of have realized the hand-holding either. "I was – yeah, I was born here. In this timeline… In the future…"

Now Arthur really did roll his eyes. "Brilliant explanation you have going on there."

"Oi! I've never done this before, you could give me a–" Merlin stopped talking, his faux annoyance turning into legitimate fear. "Um."

"Yes," Arthur repeated quietly. "You've never done this before." He paused. It wasn't to scare Merlin (and those dammed beeps from the heart machine-thing were going way faster than they were a few minutes ago), but because he didn't want his voice to break when he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Merlin snorted. "Yeah, sure, Arthur. That would've been a great conversation."

"Did you not trust me?" Arthur really didn't want to have that question leave his mind…too late now. Shit.

"No, no!" Merlin shook his head frantically. "Of course it's not that! It's…" He licked his lips. "Arthur, you've been told your entire life that magic was evil and that different was bad and… And I didn't think it was necessary."

Arthur raised his eyebrow. "You didn't think it was necessary? You didn't think I needed to know that my best friend was not only a sorcerer, but someone from the future and was half-alien? That my best friend was lying to me?"

"I… You're right. I should've told you. But… I didn't want to force you to choose," Merlin countered, his eyes sad. They were still holding hands. "Choose between me and your father's ways. I know what that's like."

"You do?" Arthur was surprised at the honestly that shone through Merlin's voice. Like he really did know. And he truly didn't want to put Arthur that position. A position where he'd have to decide between the life of his friend and the dignity of his father.

Merlin nodded, solemn and sad. "My father, he–"

"Balinor, right?" Arthur interrupted, remembering what Pygmy had said the other day.

"Yes," Merlin answered in surprised. Was that apprehension too? "How did you know?"

"Your sister told me. About how he was a Time Agent and a Dragonlord and went to the past…" He tried to gouge Merlin's reaction before saying anything else, but the manservant was silent. Arthur trudged on, "Your father was the man we were searching for. When the Great Dragon attacked. The man who…who died."

Slowly, Merlin dipped his head in confirmation.

"And you're one too."

Another dip of the head.

"And Dragonlords aren't from here. Earth."

"You sound like an expert already," Merlin commented, his voice too steady. "Pygmy?"

Arthur nodded. "She didn't know that I…didn't know."

"I'm sorry she dumped all that on you. It should've been me," Merlin said sincerely. "I wanted it to be me."

"You're telling me now." Arthur squeezed Merlin's hand. "That counts for something."

Merlin's brow furred for a moment. "Does it?" he asked.

"Yes. It's a bit late and I don't… I don't know what to really think…" That much was true; Arthur had no idea how he should process this information or what he should do with it. Yet. "But it counts."

A small smile cracked Merlin's exterior.

"There is something I don't understand though–"

"Just one thing?" Merlin teased.

"Shut up," Arthur teased right back; it was much lighter and much more hesitant that it would've been before all this, but it was a start. "Why did your father come to Camelot in the first place? What was the point?"

"Oh. Well," Merlin blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "He wasn't, uh, wasn't too keen when I told him I didn't want to marry."

"You don't want to marry?" Arthur stared at Merlin in confusion. "Why?"

His blush darkened. "Well, it's not the marrying part, really. It's the… Uh… The…consummation…part…"

"Sex," Arthur interpreted with bewilderment, racking his brain to find the right word. "You don't want to have sex? Why would that even be your father's business?"

Merlin shrugged helplessly. "Yeah, well, considering the fact that only the first born can pass the Dragonlord genetics, which honestly, is just total bullshit, my dad and I had this huge fight, which was part of the reason he decided to go find Kaida, stubborn bastard–"

"Why does he need to find Kay… Kie… That place? Did something happen to it?"

Briefly, Merlin went silent. "I'm not really sure," he answered slowly. "Dad never really told me. He always just said he was the last one."

"The last what? Dragonlord?"

Merlin nodded.

"What makes him so special?" Arthur's jaw fell as soon as the words hit his ear. "I—I didn't mean… Not like that…I…"

"No, no, it's fine. He was," Merlin's laughter faltered. "He was, uh…"

"What?"

"Royalty…"

Arthur stared at Merlin in shock. "Royalty?" he repeated. "You mean…like me?"

Nodding slowly, Merlin gave a helpless shrug. "Yeah. Like you." When Arthur didn't say anything else, Merlin continued speaking, albeit hesitantly. "My dad was trying to find his kin. Since I, you know, didn't want to have kids."

There was a word for this. Arthur knew there was. What was it…?

"And Dad said he'd find someone to talk some sense into me, and when I said that he's the last full breed Dragonlord and no one knows where any others are, he told me that he was going to–"

"You're asexual!" Arthur exclaimed, finally remembering the term Pygmy taught him.

Merlin stared at Arthur in shocked silence for so long, Arthur wondered if it something was wrong and he should call the doctor back.

"How do you know that word?" Merlin asked dumbly.

"Your sister…" Arthur answered carefully.

Merlin blinked and looked away. "My sister," he told the ceiling. "Of course she did." Turning back to Arthur, he said, "Yes, I'm asexual. Tried it, didn't like it, end of story. But I am biromantic."

"Uh," Arthur ran through the conversation with Pygmy in his head, but couldn't locate the word. "You're what?"

"Never mind," Merlin backtracked quickly. "Not important."

The door swung open.

"Merlin!" a man in a strange, long coat exclaimed. His accent was much different than all the others Arthur's heard. There were flowers in his hand. "You're back! And in the hospital! What have you been up to?" Then he noticed Arthur and his smile turned incredibly lewd. "Oh. Why, hello."

"Don't," Merlin warned the man in agitation. He was glaring.

"What? I was only saying hello," the man said, bowing and smirking at Arthur.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "That's your definition of flirting."

The man laughed. "Someone told me that once."

"They must've been a very smart person then," Merlin muttered.

Arthur was getting very uncomfortable with the man's roaming eyes. "Merlin, who is this?"

"Captain Jack Harkness," the man said taking Arthur's hand and kissing it. "Pleasure to meet you."