A/N: AU where Freya comes earlier in the second season, marries Merlin after he breaks the curse, and then dies a little less than a year later.
"Merlin."
"Yes, sire?" If Gwaine noticed anything odd in Merlin's voice, he'd dismiss it as annoyance or nervousness typical for the situation.
"Why is there a girl hiding in your wardrobe?"
Gwaine choked. That sounded like a question Arthur would have been asking him back when they were searching his rooms for signs of sorcery.
Obviously, there hadn't been. Lock picks, yes. A few other marginally legal implements, maybe. Sorcery? Nah. Even Gwaine wasn't that stupid.
"Why do you think, Arthur?" Gwaine called up, chuckling.
"She has your eyes, Merlin," Arthur said in a deadly calm voice. "Why is there a three year old girl with your eyes hiding in your wardrobe?"
Gwaine choked.
It was only then he realized Merlin wasn't nervous.
He was terrified.
Merlin was already running into his room, something he must have been dying to do ever since Arthur, with the air of someone who was wasting their time and who knew it, came in to check for sorcery in order to reassure the populace after a recent burst of attacks. Gwaine followed close behind him.
Merlin had a kid? Why didn't he know Merlin had a kid? For that matter, why didn't he know Merlin had a girl. Granted, maybe he'd met her while Gwaine was still off traveling, but it seemed the kind of thing you'd mention.
Arthur had backed away from the wardrobe he'd flung open. His arms were crossed and his eyebrows were raised.
Merlin had edged himself between Arthur and the wardrobe. Two big blue eyes wide with fear peeped around him to study the scene. A faint whimpering was the only sound in the world.
And that was odd in and of itself. Shouldn't Merlin be picking her up to comfort her instead of standing in front of her like -
Like Arthur was a threat.
Gwaine's eyes narrowed.
"Merlin?" Arthur repeated. For the first time, Gwaine heard the desperation in Arthur's voice.
Arthur was afraid.
Arthur hadn't known.
But - But those two told each other everything.
Except that wasn't true, was it? Arthur told Merlin everything. Merlin . . . Merlin told Gaius everything.
Presumably. Probably.
Maybe.
Speaking of Gaius, Gwaine stuck his head out the door and caught the old man's attention. "Get Lancelot," he whispered tensely.
Because there was another secret Merlin kept that Gwaine knew of, and he only knew of it because he'd seen him at it the first time they'd met. He hadn't mentioned it, knowing it would probably give the poor man a heart attack to know someone else knew. But Lancelot knew, Gwaine was sure, and even if he didn't, he'd stand by Merlin. Merlin had magic.
And what were the odds that Merlin's two biggest secrets were entirely unrelated?
"Arthur . . . Look, she's plainly not evidence of sorcery. She's probably just one of the servant's kids."
Not actually a lie, Gwaine noted admiringly.
Unfortunately, for once the princess was actually paying attention. "I'm sure she is," Arthur said through gritted teeth. "Seeing as you're one of the servants."
Merlin winced. The whimpering got louder. Merlin reached a hand back, probably to stroke her ha"ir or something. "Arthur, you're scaring her. Can't we do this somewhere else?"
"Why? So you can distract me with something? Good grief, Merlin, why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it's none of your business!"
Arthur recoiled. He looked . . . Hurt. Vulnerable.
He hadn't realized what Gwaine had. Arthur thought Merlin had erupted in a fit of anger.
Gwaine had seen the pained calculation in Merlin's eyes.
Merlin was still shouting. "When was I supposed to tell you, huh? Good servants don't talk about their personal lives, Arthur! So when should I have told you? When I found out Morgana was a traitor but couldn't tell you because Uther would have had me beheaded? When I was being accused of sorcery every other week and by law you were supposed to drag in my whole family?" Merlin swallowed. "When you already had the weight of the world on your shoulders and were you yelling at me for disappearing?"
Morgana would have killed the girl. Uther would have killed the girl. But the last one?
"It might have been a good excuse!" Arthur yelled back.
"Absolutely. All I had to do was say, 'Hey, Arthur, my wife just died, can I have some time off?' You'd have yelled at me for not telling you sooner, and I really didn't need that right then."
Arthur looked like he'd been struck. "Why didn't you tell me in the first place?" he demanded.
Pleaded.
Lancelot still wasn't here, and that was bad, because Gwaine suspected he knew the answer.
The whimpering had turned to sobs. "I be better, I be better, I pwomise, Daddy, I pwomise. I be good."
Merlin's heart was breaking if anyone cared to see. "Shh. It's not your fault, you're not in trouble. They're not going to take you sweetheart, I promise. They're not going to hurt you."
. . . And that confirmed Gwaine's suspicions and broke his heart all in one.
It also sparked the princess's brain cells. "Hang on," he said slowly. "I've never seen her before. Not ever. She can't have been hiding in your room this whole time."
Merlin's expression was not encouraging.
"She's been hiding in your room the whole time?" Gwaine exploded. "She's been in here her entire life?"
"She goes into Gaius's rooms too," Merlin said defensively. "When it's late."
When everyone else is asleep is what went unsaid.
"Why?" Arthur breathed. Then: "What happened to your wife, Merlin?"
Merlin closed his eyes. "Don't ask me that, Arthur. Please don't ask me that."
Lancelot finally arrived. He ran in, eyes desperate.
The door banged against the wall.
The three knights were sent flying against the wall.
The little girl's wide, panicked eyes were gold.
Arthur got to his feet. Too late, Merlin held up a hand, trying to pretend he was responsible, but they had seen. They had seen.
Gwaine had never felt so sick at being right.
"She has magic," Arthur said, his tone completely flat, giving nothing away.
"No," Merlin denied. "No, it wasn't her. Arthur, she's three, she couldn't possibly - "
"I saw, Merlin."
When was the last time he had seen Merlin cry? Had he ever seen Merlin cry?
Until now, of course.
"Arthur." Merlin choked on the word. The tears were streaming down his cheeks.
"You knew," Arthur realized. "That's why you didn't tell me."
"Her mother was a Druid," Merlin whispered. "I knew it was possible. Then, two years ago . . . "
"Two years."
"Arthur - "
"Don't call me that," Arthur whispered.
Merlin looked like Arthur had just signed his writ of execution. "Sire. Please."
Lancelot looked stricken.
"You know the law." Arthur's voice didn't sound like his own.
"You would - " Merlin stopped and tried again. "You would drown her for her parents?"
"You said - "
A light appeared in Merlin's hand. "You'll have to burn me too, sire"
The world could have ended, and no one in the room would have noticed.
Arthur scrubbed a hand down his face. "I - I can't."
"Please," Merlin begged.
Not because he couldn't fight their way clear, Gwaine realized, but because it would kill him to have to.
"That's not what I - What's her name?"
"Her - what?"
"Her name, Merlin, surely you gave her one."
"Hana," he managed. "We named her Hana."
"Can I see her?"
Merlin picked her up out of the wardrobe with trembling hands. He set her on the floor but kept his hands on her shoulders. "Shh, Hana," he soothed. "Remember the prat- I mean, the prince. The prince I told you about?"
"You said I wasn' supposed to talk to him. You said he was scawy."
Arthur flinched and knelt down to her eye level. "Hello, Hana. I promise I'll try not to be scary."
She peeked around Merlin carefully. "Daddy?" she questioned.
"It's alright," he said quietly. He glanced at Arthur quickly. "Right?"
Hana was moving towards Arthur tentatively. "Your hair's shiny," she said matter of factly. "I've never seen shiny hair before."
"No, I suppose you haven't," Arthur said quietly.
Hana glanced around the room. "Who are they?"
"Those are Gwaine and Lancelot. Lancelot's nice, but you're not allowed to spend time with Gwaine. He'll corrupt you."
"Hey!" Gwaine protested.
"Oh, it's okay," Hana said quickly. "I'm alweady co-co- thingie. The last time the gauwds came through, they said magic co-co-thingie. So I alweady am."
Merlin looked horrified.
Actually, all of them did.
Even Arthur.
"Just so you know," Gwaine whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "I'm on her side."
Arthur looked at not one but two sets of pleading blue eyes and sighed. "I think that makes all of us, Gwaine."
There were three very audible sighs of relief.
Hana had gotten distracted.
And Arthur's had been entirely internal, thank you very much.