Sorry this chapter is so short, but when I reached what seemed like the perfect ending point, I decided to go ahead and stop. Btw, the chapter title is a riff on the movie For a Few Dollars More.

"I figure you guys would last about a week without me tops."

"That's a generous estimate," Lancelot replied, smiling back at Kenzi. "I am glad you're staying, though." He held out his arm, which she took, acting very much like a proper lady for once, and he gallantly escorted her into the castle.

Once they were inside the doors, however, they stopped short and looked at each other, both aware that they were dangerously close to slipping back into the sort of antics they had put on while pretending to be a couple…and of how effortlessly natural it felt.

Clearing her throat, Kenzi began, "So, Lance, uh…" She intended to ask if there was any particular reason he was so glad she was sticking around, thereby giving him an opening for any confessions he might want to make, but before she could finish her sentence, he pulled his arm out of her grasp and retreated to a friend-appropriate distance.

"I'm sorry, my lady," he said awkwardly. "I didn't mean to be forward."

"Forward?" she sputtered incredulously. "Lance-" She couldn't believe that after she'd rejected her other potential love interest and walked off arm in arm with him, he was acting like it meant nothing. Clearly, he had not watched enough romantic comedies to appreciate the significance of such a moment.

"Excuse me." He bowed his head politely – the emotional tension of the moment was no excuse for being rude to a lady, after all – and…

"That's it?" Arthur demanded, gaping at Lancelot in disbelief as he finished recounting what had transpired between him and Kenzi immediately after Gwaine's departure some hours earlier. "You just walked away from her?!"

"I know it was cowardly," Lancelot admitted, bowing his head in shame. "There were so many times I've wished I could tell her how I feel, but I was so convinced she wouldn't want to hear it that when the time finally seemed right, I didn't know what to say."

"Well, you'd better think of something soon. I spoke with Guinevere, and she told me that Kenzi said, and I quote, 'just because Lance has a clear field now, he better not think I'm just going to fall into his lap or chase after him like a pathetic puppy dog begging for a treat. If he wants to end this stupid dance and actually move beyond the friend zone, it's time for him to put up or shut up'."

"That sounds like her," Lancelot said with a fond smile. He had always respected Kenzi's determination and strength of will, just as he had admired those same qualities in Gwen, even though she tended to keep them hidden underneath her sweet, demure exterior until she needed them. Kenzi's more assertive, fiery way of expressing herself had taken some getting used to, but now he found it endearing…except in this case, where she had seemingly decided it was his turn to take the lead. His smile faded as he contemplated exactly how he should go about doing that. "I'm not sure what she wants me to do, though. If I'm going to court her, I want to do it in a way that pleases her."

"Guinevere also mentioned a couple of days ago that it isn't long until Kenzi's birthday. She suggested that we do something special for her to try and cheer her up, but now that your misadventure with those tavern thugs seems to have shaken her out of her depression over Bo, perhaps you can use the occasion to make your feelings known."

"That's a good idea…but how? I suppose I should start with a gift," Lancelot mused, but then his face fell as he remembered that gifts cost money, and anything remotely resembling a suitable courting gift for a lady would certainly cost more than he could afford on a servant's salary.

Correctly guessing where his thoughts had gone, Arthur said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Lancelot; ordinarily I'd offer you an advance on your pay, but since my father made me pay for the food and drink Kenzi and Gwaine stole, I'm a bit short of personal funds at the moment."

"I understand." Lancelot pondered the dilemma for a minute, then perked up as an idea came to him. "Perhaps I'll see if I can do some extra work around the city."

"Good idea; I'll help however I can." After all, Lancelot and Kenzi were both good people who deserved happiness – especially, Arthur reflected with a faint trace of guilt, since he had inadvertently ruined Lancelot's first chance at it by starting a relationship with Gwen – and it seemed to him that between Lancelot's somber stoicism and Kenzi's exuberance, each provided the other with something they lacked, just like Gwen's cool rationality helped to temper Arthur's own hotheaded tendencies. Besides, the prince thought wryly, if I don't do everything in my power to help them, Guinevere will never let me hear the end of it.

###

Over the next three days, Lancelot spent every waking moment doing whatever odd jobs he could find in and around the castle, eventually catching a lucky break when the royal jeweler needed a cabinet repaired. After Lancelot completed the repair in record time, the grateful jeweler agreed to use some of his surplus materials to make the custom trinket Lancelot wanted at a discounted price. He wouldn't do it completely free of charge, though, and when he made his final offer, Lancelot was disappointed to find that he was still a few coppers short.

He had almost resigned himself to giving up on his plan, or settling for a less expensive gift, when Gaius mentioned over lunch that Geoffrey was currently reorganizing the archives and would be willing to part with a handful of coins in exchange for some help with the heavy lifting. Lancelot eagerly agreed, and after a quick detour to tell Arthur that he needed the afternoon off, reported to the library.

Five hours later, he understood why Geoffrey had wanted to pay someone else to do the job; not only was there a lot of bending over and climbing ladders involved that would have been difficult for an old man, it was also extremely tedious. As he traversed the room for the umpteenth time, his arms piled high with yet another stack of ancient, musty scrolls that for some indiscernible reason had to be moved to a different shelf all the way in the very back of the place, he tripped over a book that had fallen onto the floor – not a hard thing to do when he couldn't see where he was going – and stumbled into the very shelf on which he'd intended to deposit his burden.

Unbeknownst to Lancelot, this particular shelf concealed a mechanism that opened a hidden door which swung open upon impact, causing him to fall into the secret room Merlin and Morgana had once used for their magic lessons. At first he was alarmed to find himself in an unfamiliar area, especially when he saw that the door had closed behind him, but then he remembered what Merlin had told him about the place where he had trained Morgana in the magical arts without anyone finding out, including how to get out of it.

Once he realized that he wasn't trapped after all, Lancelot's unease subsided, and curiosity took its place. Since he was here, surely it couldn't hurt to have a look around…and take a short break from the mind-numbing task Geoffrey had set him. There was a large space in the middle of the room that had been cleared out to give Morgana room to practice, and a couple of books that looked like they could have been left behind by his friends, with arcane titles that seemed appropriate for the study of sorcery.

There was also a sizable collection of miscellaneous objects that Merlin and Morgana had obviously never touched except to push them out of the way, old furniture, chests, and various other things that were covered in years' worth of dust and cobwebs. As he poked through the stuff, Lancelot couldn't help wondering how it had ended up here, hidden away and forgotten…until a soft thumping noise interrupted his musings.

"Who's there?" Instantly on alert, he unsheathed the knife he'd carried with him ever since his late-night encounter with the false knights, the incident having given him a new appreciation for Merlin's warnings that dull moments in Camelot were few and far between.

The noises grew louder, and he followed them to a wooden box, its lid secured with a thick leather strap, which was rocking from side to side as if there was something alive inside. Something trapped.

Realizing that, if the box's occupant truly was trapped, it posed no immediate threat, Lancelot put his knife away, but still approached with caution. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

The rocking stopped, and a moment later a thin, weak voice issued from within the box. "Is someone there? Help me, please…"

Its piteous tone stirred his sympathy, yet still he hesitated. The box was far too small to hold a person unless it was a very young child, but the voice didn't sound like a child's. Anyway, he was quite certain that nothing human could have survived however long the box had sat there, which meant that whatever was inside it must be something…else. Probably something magical, if it could speak. If there was a creature of magic imprisoned in this room, though, why hadn't Merlin released it in all the times he'd been in here – unless he'd had a very good reason not to? Lancelot couldn't imagine that anything less than the threat of some great danger would have made Merlin leave a fellow creature to suffer alone.

As if its owner knew what he was thinking, the voice spoke again. "Please… I used to hear someone else in here, and I tried to get his attention, but he never heard me. Then he stopped coming, and I thought I'd be left here forever…"

So Merlin hadn't chosen not to free the box's mysterious prisoner after all; he simply hadn't been aware of their plight. That made up Lancelot's mind for him – the creature's exact nature might still be unknown to him, but it was clearly a sentient being that had endured the torment of close confinement far too long. Taking out his dagger again, he cut through the strap holding the lid in place, then lifted it off.

The creature that popped out was humanoid in shape, but it was less than three feet tall, with green skin marked with strange blue lines – probably some sort of symbols that meant nothing to Lancelot – a long, pointed nose and ears, yellow eyes, and blue hair gathered in a topknot. "Hello there," it piped in a voice that suddenly sounded a lot less frightened and feeble than it had a moment ago. "Took you long enough to get that damned box open." It – he? The voice sounded male, though the creature's knee-length pants concealed its anatomy, for which Lancelot was grateful – then commenced stretching, prattling all the while about how good it felt to move freely again after more than fifty years of captivity.

Lancelot merely gaped in astonishment while it did this, before finally recovering enough to say, "You… What are you?"

The creature paused his limbering exercises, eyeing the human appraisingly. "Hmm, not the sharpest blade in the armory, are you? Well, at least you're more observant than that other boy – rattled around like mad the first time he came here, but he was in and out like his breeches were on fire. Then he came back with a girl and stayed longer, but they were too busy being lovey-dovey to notice anything – ugh! Of course, when I heard them casting spells, I was glad they didn't find me; people with magic might've gotten in my way, but I haven't heard them in here in a while. Gone, are they?"

"Yes," Lancelot answered with the beginnings of a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Merlin and Morgana left Camelot some time ago."

"Well then, time to have some fun!"

Lancelot's sinking feeling deepened into outright misgivings as the creature leapt onto a shelf and started throwing things around, creating an unholy racket and generally making a mess. "Stop that! Look, I know you must be thrilled to be free after all this time, but you need to keep quiet. If anyone sees you, we'll both be in trouble. Why don't you get back in the box, just for a little while – just until I can smuggle you out of the city and set you free in the countryside?"

"The countryside, eh?" The creature tilted his head thoughtfully, seemingly considering the offer. "On second thought, I like it right where I am! No thank you!"

"Well, you can't stay in the castle," Lancelot said exasperatedly as the creature resumed using the room's contents as his own personal jungle gym. "It's too dangerous."

Seeing that the little green fellow was either failing or refusing to grasp the seriousness of the situation, he made a grab for him, but the creature transformed into a ball of golden light which flitted obnoxiously around Lancelot's head for a moment, buzzing like a mosquito, before flying off. It seemed to explore the room's perimeter briefly before finding the crack where the hidden entrance fit into the wall, which it passed through easily – taking it out into the library!

With a whispered curse, Lancelot scrambled to open the secret door and raced out into the maze of bookshelves, only to find that the creature was already gone. This discovery brought on a fresh round of swearing (though he kept it inside his head now that he was in a public space) as he searched frantically for the pint-sized miscreant. Unfortunately, there was no sign of him anywhere, either as a ball of light or in his more talkative form; the only living being Lancelot encountered in the library was Geoffrey, who didn't seem to have noticed anything unusual, though he did ask about Lancelot's progress on the task he'd been given.

"Right, I'll be back to finish that up in a few minutes, I just need to…uh…visit the chamberpot."

Seeing that the young man was practically jumping out of his skin, which seemed to imply that it was a fairly urgent situation, Geoffrey dismissed him at once. Lancelot hurried away, wishing he could've thought of a less embarrassing excuse. I should have asked Merlin what he told Arthur when he had to sneak off to deal with magical problems…

Upon exiting the library, he found Kenzi standing in the corridor outside with a strangely blank, lost look on her face. "Kenzi? My lady? Are you all right?"

At the sound of his voice, she snapped out of whatever reverie she'd fallen into, her eyes narrowing slightly as they focused on his face. "What? I'm fine," she said sharply. "Do I look something other than fine to you?"

Taken aback by her confrontational tone, he quickly said, "No, I suppose not. Listen, you haven't seen a small ball of golden light bobbing around, making a high-pitched whining noise, have you? Or a little green creature about two feet tall?"

"No… Although, come to think of it, maybe I did hear something like the sound you described, but I didn't see where it came from, so I just assumed it was a gnat. I think it went that way."

She pointed down the corridor, and Lancelot ran off in the direction she indicated…never noticing the devious smile that formed on her face as she watched him go.

###

Fifteen minutes earlier, Gaius had requested a particular volume from the library, and since Gwen was too busy with her chores to fetch it for him, he'd asked Kenzi to go instead. Knowing that Lancelot was working in the library that day (though she had no idea why), Kenzi suspected that Gwen's sudden urge to air out her sock drawer was nothing more than a blatant attempt to push her and Lancelot together in the hope that some alone time in a secluded corner of the library (which was guaranteed to be secluded since so few people went in there) might be just what they needed to break out of the awkward holding pattern they'd fallen into since Gwaine's departure.

'Holding pattern' isn't really the right word, though, because if it was a pattern of him holding me, there wouldn't be a problem, she groused silently as she stomped up the stairs leading to the palace archives. I've done everything except put up a freaking neon sign saying I like him, and still, all I've gotten from him these last couple days is a whole lot of nothing! No wonder he and D-man became besties – when it comes to telling girls how they feel and actually making a move, both of them have their heads stuck so far up their-

At that point, her mental diatribe was interrupted when she saw what looked like an oversized firefly zooming toward her, except she was pretty sure it was the wrong time of year for fireflies, that they only came out at night, and they usually did not fly so fast or so purposefully. Holy blazing magic-balls…!

Kenzi had no idea what this thing could be or where it had come from, but she was fairly certain it was some flavor of supernatural, and it probably wouldn't be great if it collided with her. She ducked and dodged as it got closer, but it adjusted its course, seemingly chasing after her until it smacked right into her forehead. The impact didn't hurt; instead, it felt like the light simply passed through her skull into her brain, causing her body to freeze up as if its controls had short circuited.

She was still trying to reboot when Lancelot came charging down the hall and stopped to ask if she was okay, which was when something truly scary happened. Kenzi heard herself tell him she was fine, only it wasn't her saying it. That floating ball of light, whatever it was, had seemingly lodged itself inside her head, and kicked her right out of the driver's seat of her own body.

Hey, she said angrily, though the words just echoed through her brain, never making it to her mouth, what's the big idea here? What the hell are you, and where do you get off body-jacking me?!

To her surprise, another voice answered her, one that also seemed to come from within her own mind. What am I? Why, I'm a goblin, of course, which means I can't go running about the castle in my natural form – that'd draw too much attention and have the whole place in an uproar, so I need to borrow another body for a disguise. I almost went for that old fuddy-duddy librarian, but now that I've had a look inside your head, I'm glad I chose you instead. We're going to have such fun together!

As I rewatched 3x03 to refresh my memory on the details of the episode, I found myself thinking, wtf, Merlin?! He hears something rattling around and growling inside a box, and his reaction is…to open it without even stopping to question if it might maybe, possibly be dangerous?! So I had the goblin be more devious in order to hopefully make Lance's reasoning for releasing it slightly less incomprehensible, as well as altering a few details to explain why Merlin didn't free it earlier, plus the obvious change of having it possess Kenzi instead of Gaius. The question is, since Kenzi, unlike Gaius, is naturally predisposed to mischief and attracted to sparkly gold stuff, will anyone notice that there's something off about her and help her get un-possessed?