It has been nearly a week after Merlin's recovery and Merlin has picked up his normal every day-life routine. Merlin still had not complete control over his magic yet, he could only do minor things like lighting up a fire of draw the curtains away or close. But he was assured as he read the book that explained it should gradually come back in the following days.

Gaius had done a physical examination and confirmed that Merlin's health was as good as it could be. He also confirmed that there had indeed formed an uterus of sorts and it had freaked Merlin completely out, but soon enough he calmed himself after reminding what good such thing could bring.

That night, Merlin had tried to engage intercourse with Uther to see if he could indeed conceive a child, but Uther had only wanted cuddling and kissing, and had brought Merlin only off by hand. Merlin was still unaware of Uther's thoughts about him able to conceive and put Uther's reluctance off as him wanting to be gentle. Because he had been sick for a good month.

But when four days after that day passed and Uther still pretty much refused to have sex with him, Merlin had become impatient and had confronted Uther about it. Only then Uther had explained with a heavy heart that he was afraid that Merlin would undergo the same fate as his late wife did and that was something he couldn't accept, nor get through again.

Merlin had understood, of course he had, but he also tried to reason with his husband that the circumstances at which Arthur was conceived were entirely different than what they would go through. For one, it was his instinctive magic and Dragonlord powers that would be involved which could create the child, not anyone else's who had different plans. There wouldn't be any disruption in the balance of nature.

When Merlin saw that there was still doubt in his husband's eyes, he had stormed out of the room and hadn't spoken to him for three days nor had he slept in their room together. Merlin had taken residence in one of the guest chambers.

And even now, when they had a council meeting, Merlin kept refusing eye contact and only spoke if it was really necessary for him to speak. It drove Uther insane and he just wanted to stop their fighting. After the meeting was done, Merlin was quick to get on his feet, but Uther had expected that already and was quicker and wrapped his fingers around Merlin's slender wrist.

Only when they were the only two left in the room, Uther began to speak. "Merlin, please talk to me."

Merlin just scoffed. "It's not me that is the problem here." He tried to get his hand free from Uther's, but Uther held a tight grip. Not too tight to cause damage or bruises though.

"Love, I was scared at first. You've got to see it from my perspective as well." Uther said softly. He had spent the past week with Gaius and figuring out how the conceiving would exactly form. There hadn't been many books with that information, but there were some and every recorded birth had been successful for both child and parent. It made him more at ease and he wanted to talk to his husband, but Merlin could be a stubborn man and refused to talk to him when he tried to.

Merlin did turn to Uther, his eyes slowly going up and for the first time in almost a week did they make eye contact. "I do," Merlin admitted. "It's just – Uther we have a chance to get a child of our own, why,why, aren't we taking that opportunity?"

"Merlin," Uther breathed out and he lessened his grip on Merlin's wrist. He knew now that Merlin wouldn't run out right away. "I – I was scared, as I said. But I've read into it with Gaius, and," Uther paused to breathe deeply in. There was a soft smile playing at the corners of his mouth, and he brought his hand to Merlin's where he started to softly caress Merlin's knuckles with his thumb. "I'm ready to try it." The look Uther saw on his husband's face, made it all worthwhile.

Merlin's eyes seemed to lit up and his beautiful smile was instantly on his face after being absent from it for a week. His arms wrapped themselves tightly around Uther and he started to softly cry out of happiness. After a few moments Merlin pulled back and crashed his lips against Uther's in a desperate kiss, his hands slid under Uther's shirt and his fingers brushed the still toned core muscles. Uther mewled softly, and broke the kiss.

"Not here," He said breathlessly.

"Yes here." Was Merlin's response and pushed Uther back in the throne like chair he always sat at during council meetings. One of Merlin's fantasies was to actually do it on the real throne in the throne room, but that was a thought for another day.

Merlin shed his clothes from below the waist easily and had no problems in manhandling his husband in a sitting position. He began to straddle Uther's legs and started to unfasten the ties of Uther's breeches. He heard the soft hitches of breathes his husband took and a soft hiss when Merlin wrapped his delicate fingers around Uther, gently stroking him into hardness. His other hand went behind him and he winced a little bit when he started to prep himself. On seeing that, Uther quickly claimed Merlin's lips again and tried to divert Merlin's attention.

Merlin moved himself up, not breaking the kiss and gingerly sunk down on Uther's cock. His breathing stopped for a moment and Uther broke the kiss himself to say soft reassurances and to distract himself from coming right that moment, after a week of waiting, he didn't want their moment to end too soon.

Merlin started to ride him, first gingerly, cautious, but then more bold and faster. He had missed their intimacy as well and although he would've loved to drag it out, he was desperate for release and grinded himself against Uther. His mouth open and his breathing heavy.

Neither of them lasted long and with a loud grunt, Uther came. He wrapped his fingers around Merlin and after three strokes, he came as well.

Merlin sagged against his husband's torso, sated and happy.

~oOoOo~

"So you and father are all good again?" Arthur asked as he handed Merlin a goblet of a water and sat down next to Merlin around the table in his room.

"We are." Merlin smiled widely.

"Good," Arthur said, "That's good."

"We made up several times actually over the past six days." Merlin added, hiding his grin behind the rim of his goblet as he watched Arthur's face screw up in disgust.

"Merlin! It's bad enough you're my stepfather, giving me traumas about you and my father's…" He pulled an even disgusted face, "by the gods, I can't even say it. Change of subject. Will you start training with me again? I missed doing it for the past month."

"Hm-m! How about this afternoon? We can go after lunch, because I still have to speak to Kilgharrah before nightfall."

"Yes, this afternoon will be fine." Arthur answered.

~oOoOo~

Merlin had beads of sweat rolling down his head, his breathing was fast and he was leaning heavily on the sword he had thrust into the ground. "Just – just five minutes." He panted and accepted a goblet of water from the squire.

Arthur watched his dear friend and he knew now how much his stamina had dropped tremendously in just under a month. He knew he had to take it easy, but he was completely surprised by how easy he actually had to take it. The last few routines were normally just a warm up for Merlin and he wouldn't even had one bead of sweat when done with those, but now he was completely exhausted. Arthur had to re-strategize Merlin's entire training.

"Merlin," Arthur called as he walked up to him. "I think it's best if we stop for today."

Merlin immediately straightened. "No, no. I'm fine." He tried to slow his breathing, but it was futile. Still he defiantly picked up his sword and put it out towards Arthur. "I can go for another round."

"Merlin, look at yourself. You're perspiring, your breathing is coming fast and I don't know what will happen if we continue."

"I don't want to disappoint Uther." Merlin strengthened his grip on his sword. "Come on." Merlin started his attack and swung his sword towards Arthur who blocked it with agile movements. Merlin turned again and started to advance once more, but Arthur averted the attack with little exertion. It went on for nearly five times until Merlin fell down onto his knees and his head bowed in shame.

"Merlin, it's alright." Arthur told his friend as he slid down onto his own knees. He held one soft hand on Merlin's shoulder and hoped it would calm Merlin down. "It's only understandable, Merlin. You haven't used your body at this kind of rate for over a month. It'll take time for you to be on your normal capacity again. Don't be too hard on yourself."

"I just want Uther to be proud of me." Merlin muttered.

"Oh Merlin," Arthur drew Merlin close for a hug. "He's proud, why don't you see that. The fact that you're alive means everything to him. Don't beat yourself up for something you had no control over." Arthur let Merlin go and held out his hand. "Come on, let's get some clean clothes on."

~oOoOo~

After Arthur brought Merlin back to his chambers, he went to his own and washed himself and put on some dry clean clothes. He was now walking through the castle corridors towards the Throne Room where a Council Meeting would take place.

"Arthur."

Arthur stopped and turned around to see his father coming towards him. "Father." He said with a small inclination with his head.

"How did the training go? I haven't seen Merlin since, so I couldn't ask him."

"Not as well as I thought it would be, father. Merlin has lost a lot of stamina and muscle capacity due to the sickness. It'll take us a while to have him back to his previous build again." After a pause, Arthur added, "He's really discouraged by it, father. He doesn't think you'll be proud of him now."

Uther was baffled. "But that's nonsense! Surely he knows better than that." After a moment's thought, Uther asked. "Arthur, will you be able to lead the Council? I have to speak to my husband."

Arthur bowed, "Of course, father."

~oOoOo~

Uther found his husband at the usual place whenever his husband wasn't feeling good or just wanted to be alone. The windowsill in the library. He saw his husband sitting there with a book in his lap, but he wasn't paying attention to it. Instead he glanced out of the window with his shoulders slumped. Uther quietly walked up to him, and softly cleared his throat to not entirely startle his husband.

Merlin turned his head, his eyes were red and there were some dried tear streaks on his cheeks. Uther looked with a sad expression at his husband before he perched down too on the sill. With his arm extended out towards his husband's face to wipe away the tears, he asked, "What's the matter, love?"

Merlin sniffed soft and then tried to put on his best smile. "It's nothing." He said and immediately changed the subject. "Weren't you supposed to be in a meeting right now?"

"How could I be, when my husband is sad about something?"

"I'm not important, Uther. Camelot is more important."

"No." Uther said turn. "You are important. To me, to Camelot." Uther watched his husband and wondered where this sudden turn-around came from. "Merlin, just tell me what is wrong."

"I'm weak, Uther."

"What?"

"I couldn't even finish training today, Uther. What if we get attacked? What if like my physical strength, my magic is also weak. I – I cannot lose you, nor Arthur." Merlin heaved a deep sigh at which Uther gathered Merlin into his arms.

"You're going to be alright, Merlin. You just need a little bit more time to get to your old self. And, we have plenty of forces to protect us for any kind of attack. We'll be alright, you'll be alright." Uther pressed a kiss on top of Merlin's hair and brushed his hand gingerly across Merlin's back until he heard Merlin's breathing evening out and when he looked down he saw his husband fast asleep.

With great care, Uther picked Merlin up and brought him to their room. He could use the sleep for now, and he would wake Merlin up in an hour or two, so he would have enough time to go to the clearing and talk to the Great Dragon. Apparently, he has some important news.

Uther had only seen the Great Dragon a handful of times. Kilgharrah still held him responsible for the deaths of his kin, and Merlin was there to try to change the Dragon's mind that Uther was a changed man. Still, Kilgharrah didn't want to do anything with Uther and so Uther wisely stayed away. It didn't stop the Dragon from channelling messages into Merlin's head though, and last night was the same, although Merlin explained to Uther that the Dragon told him that he wanted to see him in person.

~oOoOo~

Uther waited in Arthur's room for when he would come back from the meeting and when Arthur entered, he was surprised to see his father there.

"Father?"

Uther stood up from his place at the table. "Arthur, I want you to personally escort Merlin to the clearing. Take Leon and Lancelot with you too."

It wasn't uncommon for Merlin to have an escort, but usually it would be some random knights that would be on duty at that time, not any personally picked by the King.

"Of course, father. May I ask why?"

"Merlin is not feeling well about himself. I want him surrounded by people he and I trusts."

"I will gather them right away." Arthur bowed his head.

"Very well. I'll inform Merlin. He will be ready to ride out in an hour."

~oOoOo~

Leon, Merlin, Arthur and Lancelot watched as the dragon casted a dark shadow over them, before landing on the ground. Merlin the dismounted and walked through the small patch of trees before he stood in front of the Dragon. Even with his escort, he would talk alone with the Dragon.

"I am glad to see you passing the transition." Kilgharrah spoke after bowing his head.

"You and I." Merlin responded. "But what was so important that I had to specifically come here?"

"For something recent has ended which will start the beginning of the future, but with darkness looming over it."

Merlin groaned. "Why? Why always those riddles. Can't you speak normal?"

"Merlin," The beast growled. "I'm living since the beginning of time, and can see into the future. It isn't my task to tell what will happen, for that might change it. I can only confirm or not whenever the receiver figures it out."

Merlin refrained from eye-rolling and then began to think. "So, end. End, end, beginning, end." Merlin repeated several times more, letting the cogs in his head turn at full speed. "The only recent end I know is the end of that transition. But what does that have to do with the beginning of the –" Merlin's eyes widened, his hands touching his midsection gently. "Does this mean."

The Great Dragon bowed his head. "Yes, Merlin. You have conceived four days ago. But be aware, darkness looms. Heed my warnings, Dragonlord." With that said, the beast spread his wings and flew off.

"No!" Merlin screamed up to the sky. "No, tell me! What is it!"