Darkness

Family

Arthur had been in a meeting with a scouting party that was reporting on spotting Morgana near Ismere. She was spotted shortly after Merlin had had his latest nightmare. Arthur didn't think that boded well. He was instructing Leon to start setting up patrols when the doors burst open and Gwaine was standing there with an odd expression on his face.

"Gwaine?" Arthur asked curtly.

"Sire. There's, ah, been a development that I need you and the Queen to see to." Gwaine said with a strange glint in his eye. Several things flooded Arthur's mind, all of them bad. Gwaine didn't seem upset, though so surely it wasn't something bad.

"Sire, I'll take care of the arrangements." Leon stated seeing the indecision on the King's face.

"Thank you, Sir Leon." Arthur strode out of the chamber as Gwaine turned to head down the corridor.

"Your silence is unnerving, Sir Gwaine." Arthur growled.

"Listen, princess, let's get the Queen and then I promise to tell you, yeah?" Arthur wasn't happy, but they ran into Gwen in the hall and Gwaine looped his arm through hers and guided her down the corridor toward Gaius'.

"What is going on?" Arthur nearly shouted, his anxiety clearly gaining some control.

"How would you feel about being an Uncle or Aunt?" Gwaine asked, keeping his eyes straight ahead. The royals looked at Gwaine, clearly confused, causing him to snort.

"The only way that would happen would be if Morgana had children or if I had another brother or sister somewhere. Or if Elyan had children." Arthur answered, still confused where this was going.

"What would you do if you found out Morgana had a child?" Gwaine asked quietly. They had gotten to the physician's corridor and heard a cry of an infant. Gwen and Arthur looked at each other. Arthur rushed down the hall, Gwen holding her skirts right behind him, while Gwaine chuckled and jogged behind the royals. When Arthur burst through the door, he had not expected to find Merlin cuddling a tiny baby with pitch black curls, murmuring softly. Gwen gasped beside him, catching Merlin's attention.

"Er, Arthur, Gwen. Uh, hello." Merlin said unsure of what else to say. Gwaine came in, shut the door behind them, and came over to Merlin and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Merlin gave him a thankful look, before turning his attention back to Gaius. "Gaius?"

"He's perfectly healthy, Merlin. I suspect he'll be hungry again soon though. I'll leave you to it then." Gaius gave him a smile and left the small group alone.

"Merlin?" Gwen asked softly.

"Erm, well, this is William. He's, uh, he's my son." Merlin answered.

"Yours?" Arthur asked skeptically, coming to stand right in front of Merlin, holding the wiggling infant.

"Erm, yes. Mine and, uh, Morgana's." Merlin sighed. Gwaine reached up and was stroking a finger down the baby boy's hand, until the tiny fingers grabbed on, causing the Knight to melt.

"Oh, Merlin!" Gwen was crying as she came forward to get a better look. "He's beautiful." She said, making Merlin smile.

"He is, isn't he?" Merlin answered. "Would you, only, would you like to hold him?"

"Can I?" She asked. Merlin smiled and leaned forward carefully passing William to Gwen's arms. As soon as she had him, she was smiling so bright that Arthur put his arms around her waist. For a long time, he'd hoped that he could see her smiling that brightly at a child of theirs. Arthur kissed Gwen's head. "He's perfect. Is he like you? Does he, well maybe it's too early to know, but, does he have magic?"