~ Chapter 12: The Proposal ~

Nearly a week after graduation, Arthur was still in shock from Merlin's surprise. He made a point of telling Merlin every day that he was still mad that Merlin hadn't told him; though, he wouldn't trade the surprise for anything.

Arthur was in the middle of telling Merlin about a ridiculous graduation party he'd gone to the night before for one of his teammates with intermittent jokes about how all the strange and unexpected activities at the party (who hires a clown for a graduation party?) weren't as surprising as Merlin showing up for graduation.

In the middle of his anecdote, Gwen stood up abruptly. "Sorry, Merlin. Morgana just got here. We have to do something today." Gwen shot Arthur a meaningful look, and Merlin didn't miss the subtle nod from Arthur.

Arthur stood and kissed Gwen. "Good luck." He whispered it so quietly, Merlin wasn't sure he heard him correctly. Good luck for what? What could she possibly need luck for? She already graduated. She had her license.

Merlin waited until Arthur sat down and raised his eyebrows at him. "So, anyway, then Keith said –"

"You're joking, right? I don't care about that stupid party. What's going on?"

Arthur opened and closed his mouth before he hid his face in his hands. Merlin felt his heart start to pound. Something was wrong. "Arthur? You're scaring me. What's going on?"

Without lifting his head, Arthur said, "Gwen's pregnant."

Merlin couldn't help his shock. When Arthur had told him that he and Gwen slept together, Merlin made a joke about using a condom. Arthur had pushed him and had told him he didn't plan for there to be any unexpected Pendragons. He swore they were always safe. This shouldn't be possible.

"How?"

"Well, when a man loves a woman, sometimes, they engage in this really fun activity called se –"

"Oh my God. You're such an ass. I know how you make a baby. I just don't know how you made a baby."

"I don't either. We almost always use a condom."

"Almost always? Well, there's your problem."

"Gwen's on birth control. We ran out a few times, and we figured it wasn't a big deal."

"No birth control is 100% effective." When Merlin saw the glum look that came across Arthur's face, he instantly felt bad. Obviously Arthur already realized that.

"Thanks, Sherlock. Gwen's telling her father today. I wanted to go with her, but she thought he'd take it better if I wasn't there."

"So… she's going to have the baby? What are you going to do?"

"Yeah. We had a long talk about it. We're going to do our best. Neither of us planned to become parents at eighteen, but… I don't know. I feel like we can handle it." Arthur was quiet for a moment. "I know what you're going to say. I was careless and stupid, and this makes a complete mess of mine and Gwen's futures –"

"That's not what I was going to say. If anyone can handle this, it's you. All I was going to say was that the diaper goes on the bottom end. Not the top."

Arthur threw a pillow at Merlin. He instantly felt bad because Merlin didn't have the reflexes to block it, so it hit him right in his face and threw him back into his bed. Arthur waited a minute while Merlin breathed and pulled himself back up into a sitting position.

"Do you think I can do this?" Arthur asked. "I know I think I can, but I don't always see things clearly. You do."

"Of course, you can. Arthur, you're gonna be a great dad. One of the best there is."

"You think?"

"I know."

Arthur's lips twitched into a smile. "I'm going to ask her to marry me."

If Merlin had been shocked by the news of Gwen's pregnancy, it paled in comparison to the bomb Arthur just dropped. "You… Gwen… marry?" He wasn't capable of forming a coherent thought after hearing that Arthur, who had been dating Gwen for less than eighteen months, was going to ask her to marry him. And they were having a kid together. Was this really the same guy who had vowed that he never wanted to marry or have children after he found out about his dad? Merlin felt the strangest sense of sorrow. Almost like Arthur had grown up while he was wasting away in the hospital.

"Very good Merlin. You've managed to make yourself sound like more of an idiot than usual."

Merlin looked around. "Is this some kind of prank? Are Gwen and Morgana about to jump out and laugh at me for believing that Gwen is pregnant?"

"Merlin!" Merlin snapped his head up and realized how scared Arthur looked.

"Hey, it will be okay. You and Gwen will get married and live happily ever after with a bunch of little Arthurs running around the house." Merlin's eyes widened, pretending to be horrified by that idea. "Little Arthurs. Now there's a horror story. On second thought, it's not too late to move to France and change your name to Arthér." Merlin tried, and failed, to sound french.

"Haha, very funny. I haven't even asked her yet. She might say no."

"Yeah and a pig might put on a grass skirt and do the hula in my hospital room while the entire nurse staff cheers," Merlin retorted.

"What makes you so certain she'll say yes? I mean we're only eighteen," Arthur pointed out.

"One, you're having a baby together. Two, you're going to college together… Shi… are you going to college together? What's going to happen with that?"

Arthur nodded. "We're gonna take a gap year and then start at community college part time. Try to coordinate our schedules so one of us can be home, and eventually transfer."

"I'm really sorry. I know this isn't what you wanted. If I can help…" Merlin couldn't finish. He didn't know if he'd ever see Arthur hold his child. Would he make it that long? Merlin coughed. "So how are you going to ask her?"

"I don't know. I was just sort of going to ask her."

Merlin's eyes widened as if he was horrified by that suggestion. "Just ask her? You can't just ask her. There have to be flowers and it has to be at the right moment. Something romantic and sweet. You could take her to a nice restaurant and have them put the ring in her drink. Then again, more couples swallow engagement rings that way than any other way."

"Merlin, you can be such a gi –" Arthur started to say, but cut himself off. He looked at Merlin amused. "Do a lot of couples swallow engagement rings?"

"Oh, yes. You'd be surprised."

"How do you know this?"

Merlin flushed a deep red. "It might have come up in one of my conversations." He was trying a little too hard to sound indifferent.

Arthur wasn't buying it. "With whom? Was it a girl? Oh my God. Do you like someone?" Arthur honestly hadn't been sure that would happen because Merlin had been so hung up on Freya (understandably).

"No one that you know." If possible, more color flooded to his cheeks. At least that kind of answered Arthur's question. Merlin liked someone.

"You really like this girl, don't you?"

Merlin nodded before he looked at Arthur. He knew he shouldn't, but he felt guilty about it. "I never thought I could feel this was about someone after Freya. I'm not quite there yet, but I really like her. It's… kind of exciting to feel this way."

"And how does she feel about you?" He wasn't sure how exactly they got from talking about his proposal to Gwen to the girl Merlin likes, but he wasn't complaining. He hadn't seen Merlin look this hopeful in a long time. "And how long have you known her?"

"A little over two years. I only realized it a few months ago though. She came to visit me when I first got back to the hospital. And she made this joke, and I couldn't stop laughing. And I just realized how much I liked spending time with her." Merlin sighed. "Not that it matters."

"How does she feel about you?"

"I don't know. Sometimes it really seems like she likes me. Like when she talks about her dream marriage proposal or when she compliments me, but other times it's like she just wants to be my friend. She'll tell me how great of a friend I am. How she's lucky to have such a great friend. Always the emphasis on friend." Merlin frowned. "I've almost told her, but it doesn't seem right when I don't know what's going to happen to me."

"That's why you should tell her. And, Mer, seriously? Even I know that when a girl says stuff like that, it's because she is waiting for you to grow a pair and make her more than a friend."

"Not this girl. She doesn't have girl instincts like that. I mean she has girl instincts, but she doesn't go out of her way to hide herself. She's very straightforward… also just cryptic."

"Is she related to Morgana?" Arthur had meant it as a joke, but Merlin instantly looked at his bed. His face was a shade of red Arthur had never seen before. "Morgana. Really?" He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Morgana was his half–sister. But then again, he wanted to see Merlin happy.

Merlin pointedly didn't look at Arthur. "It doesn't matter. Enough about me. We were talking about how you're going to propose to Gwen."

Arthur sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get anything else out of Merlin; he would just ask Gwen to talk to Morgana about it. "What's the plan?"

Merlin grinned. "Glad you see it my way. Here's what I think…"

Arthur had to admit, as he was waiting outside Gwen's house in his car the next day, Merlin's idea wasn't awful. It was a very Gwen proposal. It was special but not so over the top that it would embarrass Gwen. Merlin had thrown around a few ideas before he came up with the idea of a scavenger hunt that would lead Gwen to Arthur.

He'd helped Arthur come up with clues that would send Gwen to different places. In truth, it was a short scavenger hunt. There were only five locations around Arthur's house. Gwen was a huge nerd when it came to puzzles, so Arthur knew she would love this.

Arthur had gone as far as to pay for Igraine to go out to lunch with Hunith. Telling Igraine had been weirdly easy and impossibly hard at the same time. While she was disappointed, she respected his decision.

Despite how everyone had told him Gwen would say yes, Arthur was shaking from nerves. Everyone's confidence had done very little for him. This was a crazy idea. Married at 18? It was crazy, but it felt right.

If Gwen noticed his shaken nerves, she didn't say anything. He drove her to his house and handed her an envelope when they got out of his car. "I'll see you in a bit." He kissed her cheek before he ran off before he could see her open the envelope.

Arthur went to his living room. He knew he wouldn't have long before Gwen would be there. He'd practiced over and over what he wanted to say, and he'd set up the room so it looked like a proposal was about to happen in here. Despite it being June, he had lit the fireplace and dimmed the lights. There was something almost transfixing about the shadows made by the flickering lights. He thought Merlin would be proud.

When he heard footsteps approaching the living room, his mind went blank. The speech he'd practiced was gone, and he wasn't sure if he even knew how to speak anymore. He put his hands in his pockets then took them out then put them back in.

He briefly contemplated hiding and pretending she'd gotten that last clue wrong, but he dismissed that notion almost immediately. He was about to be a father. He couldn't start this new chapter of his life with an act of cowardice.

When Gwen walked in, she looked around stunned, and Arthur's fears disappeared. This was Gwen. He loved her. Everything would be fine.

Gwen brought her hands to her mouth and her eyes pooled with tears when Arthur dropped to one knee. His words were spoken from his heart more than they were from his mouth.

"Guinevere Charlotte Thomas." He said each word slowly and intentionally. "You are the best thing to ever happen to me. You are kind and sweet and honest. You always encourage me to be my very best self. When I'm spiraling about Merlin or feeling overwhelmed with life, you're always there with your validation. I know this isn't what either of us planned, but I love you, and I love our baby. If you'll have me, I'd like to start this crazy terrifying journey… together. Not as boyfriend and girlfriend, but as husband and wife. I know we're young, but I am sure about you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She pulled him to his feet and crushed her lips to his. "Yes," she whispered over and over again between kisses. When he pulled her into a tight hug, he felt complete.

"I love you so much."

"I love you. With all my heart."