Sorry for the wait. It was literally just those last few paragraphs that was the hold up. I hope this chapter is up to par. *rubs neck and slowly bacs away with a timid smile*

Arthur was finally in a car. The beast that moved without horses or magical enchantments. A "modern invention." Everything about it had Arthur in complete awe, and, long story short, he absolutely loved it! It was fast, comfortable, and had places to hold all sorts of items. There had to be a way to take this back with him to Camelot.

He and Merlin were sitting in the backseat, resting quite nicely in the padded chairs, while Pygmy drove. (Jack had been right, Merlin really did need to bathe, but Arthur was sure as hell not going to give the century-old man the satisfaction of being right.) They'd just dropped said century-old man off at some strange-looking building, and the three of them had been chatting amicably, mostly about Merlin's childhood—which amused Arthur to no end because Merlin-as-a-child was even more ridiculous then Merlin-as-a-man—until a melodious sound filled the air.

"Telephone," Merlin whispered when Arthur looked to him for an explanation. "We use it to communicate with other people. Well," he paused. "It's one way we use. There're many different ways."

Pygmy talked excitedly to whoever (or whatever) she was communicating to. Something about an upcoming performance.

"Hey, Merlin?" Arthur asked quietly, finally having the courage to voice one of the questions that had been stirring in his mind.

"Hmm?"

He took a breath, hoping he wasn't going to overstep some sort of boundary that's formed between them from arriving in the future. It's strange, Arthur felt as if both he and Merlin have been freer here since neither had their Camelot status constantly looming over their heads, but at the same time, there was the magic issue. Arthur still wasn't completely sure how to wrap his mind around it, and if Merlin felt that their friendship had changed, then maybe… Well, maybe Arthur shouldn't be asking the question.

"If... Well, if you're mother is here…in this timeline… Then…Then who was… Um," he trailed off.

"Who was Hunith?" Merlin finished kindly.

"…Yes."

Merlin chuckled, and Arthur wondered why he even worried that their friendship had changed in any way other than the full truth finally being revealed. (And that thought left a strange feeling in his gut, so Arthur promptly stopped reminding himself of the lie, and listened to Merlin's explanation instead.) "I'm not entirely sure, actually. I'm pretty sure the Doctor had something to do with it. Twisting time a little bit. He doesn't do it often, but this had been a special case, I'm assuming."

Ignoring the "twisting time" bit since he didn't really understand it, and wasn't in the mood for a headache, Arthur decided there was nothing to do but accept Merlin's answer and ask, "Why is he called that? The Doctor?"

"It's just the name he picked."

"Picked? He chose his own name?" Arthur had never heard of anything so absurd. How could an infant choose their name?

Merlin laughed again. "No, no. Well, yes, but not in the way you're thinking. He has a real name, but I couldn't tell you it because almost no one knows it. He picked the name 'Doctor' when he became a Time Lord."

"And what's the difference between that and Time Agent? That's what you are, right?"

"Well," Merlin looked thoughtful. "I definitely was a Time Agent, but considering I'm four years older than I'm supposed to be in this age… I honestly have no idea. But the difference, I know for sure. Anyone can be a Time Agent, just have to go through the training and pass with no errors, but only Gallifreyans can be Time Lords."

"Galli—what?"

For the next hour, Merlin explained and answered all of Arthur's questions that arose after each explanation of the previous question. He was still confused by the end of it, but it was much less than before. Well, it was at least a little less than before. He'd practically forgotten he was in a car until he heard Pygmy's voice say:

"We're home! God, I hate traffic."

Arthur looked outside the window to see a large building. Surrounded by more large buildings. They were still smack dab in the middle of the city.

"You live here?" he asked.

"Yeah," Merlin looked out with a smile. "It's not much, but it's home."

Arthur couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Not much? Merlin, it's huge!"

For a moment, Merlin seemed confused, but then he started laughing. "Oh, no. No," he shook his head and grinned. "We only live in part of the building. It houses hundreds of families."

"Really?" Arthur now looked at the entrance with distain. Living in a castle with servants was one thing, but sharing a building with hundreds of strange families? No.

"It's not that bad," Merlin assured. "I'll show you."

The first room ("This is the lobby, Arthur.") was extravagant; the outward appearance certainly beguiled what was on the inside. Or so Arthur assumed. The "lift," while having a beautiful gold and white coating on the outside was quite shabby on the in. Arthur refused to place even a pinky toe in such a contraption, but after hearing that Merlin's flat was on the 174th floor, he nervously stepped into the tiny room. There was no way he was going to walk that many flights of stairs; the castle was bad enough, and he was used to all those steps.

"It'll be okay," Merlin assured, grinning brightly. Arthur was glad Merlin didn't offer to hold his hand, but at the lurch of the moving lift, he almost wished Merlin had offered. Almost.

"That was quick," Arthur breathed out a few minutes later. He watched the doors open apprehensively, curious about what strange, new vision would meet him on the other side.

"Technology has evolved quite a bit since your time."

Arthur looked around agape. "Clearly," he mustered to say.

"Merlin!"

A tall, spidery woman with large glasses rushed towards them, arms outstretched. She flung herself into Merlin's arms, causing him to crash into the back wall, gripping him tightly.

"My boy, let me look at you! Let me look at you!" She pulled back, keeping her hands on Merlin's shoulders. Her eyes looked three times the normal size. "My God, you've aged," the woman said informatively. "And your hair! What a disaster. I must fix it."

"Wait—no—mum!"

Pygmy laughed. "Good luck, brother dearest!"

Merlin was more or less forcibly dragged into another room. Arthur felt suddenly very small, and he didn't like it.

"So how big is your home?" he asked, hoping to feel less strange.

"Hmm," Pygmy looked thoughtful. "I don't actually know," she admitted after a few moments. She began counting on her fingers. "Let's see, we have a kitchen, a dinning room, a living room, three bedrooms and a master room, the study, the green room-kinda, and three bathrooms, though it's only two when you discount the master bathroom." She looked at her fingers; some were pointed up, some were curled into her palm. She let them fall to her sides without bothering to name a number. "So, it's a fair size, I'd say."

Arthur looked around the room he presumed to be the living room, which had to have been the size of his bedroom, which was quite large. "Yes, I'd say so too."

The sounds of Merlin's protesting had died down. Either he was too far away to hear or he'd finally accepted his mother's insistence on fixing his hair.

"Come on, I'll show you around. You really ought to see mum's green room-thing. She's got all sorts of plants."

"Plants? Why?"

"To attract birds! We've got some year rounders that we've named and accepted into our family."

Arthur's favorite animal turned about to be a large barn owl named Archimedes; Pygmy said this one had more so accepted Merlin into his family than the other way around. He could only laugh as she began to describe exactly how Archimedes always tried to sit on Merlin's shoulder despite being too huge and how he'd curl with Merlin when they were napping. Arthur felt a small stab of disappointment when the owl snapped his beak at him.

"Don't worry about it. He only likes Merlin. Doesn't like anyone else but him," Pygmy reassured.

A gorgeous peacock with the brightest feathers Arthur's ever seem was his second favorite animal, if only for the beat's magnificence. He at least liked Arthur. Liked him enough to poke him in the arse and them constantly follow him during the rest of Pygmy's tour.

"I see you've caught the eye of Narcissus," she said, grinning as the bird refused to leave Arthur's side.

"How fortunate of me," Arthur replied dryly, eyeing Narcissus wearily. "How did he even get here? How did any of these birds find your little green-house-thing? I haven't seen any of these animals on the streets."

Pygmy laughed, a titter that told Arthur her next words were obvious and probably going to cause him to smack his head.

"Magic."

It took a lot of effort, but Arthur managed not to bang his forehead into the wall. He did however, sigh. Loudly.

x~xXx~x

Lunch was around than an hour later (Narcissus had been locked outside, much to Arthur's relief, though the sad look Narcissus was giving, almost made him pity the bird), and it consisted of sandwiches, grapes, sandwiches, fruit juice, sandwiches, and did he mention sandwiches? They were cut in small triangles and big triangles and some were long while others were squares and most were cold, but there were some steaming. The small triangles didn't have crust, but the big ones did. It seemed like a whole cult was dedicated just to the art of sandwich making, and Miss Ruth—what Merlin and Pygmy's mum was named—was the leader.

"It's one of the only things she can make without burning it," Merlin whispered. He then picked up a steaming sandwich that was more burnt than sandwich. "Er, usually."

Arthur just grinned and bit into the small triangle in his hands. He had no idea what was in it, but it tasted unlike anything he'd ever eaten. He was quickly reaching for another one.

"So, Arthur dear. Tell me how you met my son?" Miss Ruth asked, her eyes still seemingly pooping out of her head as she stared him.

"Uh, well," Arthur began slowly, unsure how to start. Merlin had already told his mum the entire truth of his adventures, from leaving the Time Agent base to re-meeting the Doctor to being in Camelot. He just hadn't given any other specific details. Like how he met Arthur.

Merlin smiled, but there was the smallest hint of tightness around it. "I'd actually just arrived in Camelot, mum," he started. "I saw Arthur, but had no idea who he was and I ended getting myself a nice night with a, er, a jail cell. You know I can never keep my mouth shut," he added quickly at his mother's shocked look.

"And then," Arthur quickly added, not likely the way she was eyeing him, "He saved my life and we've basically been inseparable ever since."

The side-glance Merlin gave him said, Yeah, 'cause I was forced to be your manservant and couldn't leave your side. Aloud he responded, "I watched Arthur grew into the King we've all read about from the legends, mum. I'm very proud to be able to say he's my best friend."

Arthur choked on his drink, earning another side-glance from Mrs. Ruth.

Best friend. Merlin called him his best friend.

"Uh, y-yes," Arthur stammered briefly. After a quick grunt, his throat was cleared. "And I'm very pleased that Merlin is mine."