500 Days of Freya (Merlin)

Kitten

Chapter 18

Warning/s: None

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

A/N: I think I've done a terrible job on this but I hope you like regardless! Apologies for not updating on a very regular basis still – I have A-levels coming up next year and I need to start doing work for them now, I am busy with other things and my beta is also quite busy! But it won't ever be more than two weeks in between updates :)

Prompt: dragooonthegreat: "something just cute and fluffy about merlin and freya with their kids.:)"

As soon as Merlin walked through the door, he was ambushed by three small, squealing toddlers. He smiled down at the triplets as he pried them away from his legs gently. Freya, curled up in a chair in the corner, put down her book and jumped up to greet him.

"Come away from your father, children," she admonished gently. "Let him get in the door before you attack him. He's had a long day at work."

The smallest of the three and only girl, Elana, blinked up at him and asked in a whisper-soft voice, "What did you do at work today?"

"I helped the prat – I mean, the King, sort out some arguments between some farmers and cast some spells to make sure nobody can attack Camelot," he told the young girl and her brothers.

Henry, the middle triplet, looked over his shoulder at his mother. "We want to hear about Daddy's day," he pouted at her. Freya sighed and rolled her eyes, but Merlin cut her off.

"How about I tell you over dinner?" he suggested. He picked up Elana and kissed her up-turned nose, eliciting a giggle from her. "Freya, when will dinner be?"

"About half an hour," Freya answered softly. Having three children, all of the same age, was causing her a lot of stress, but her husband was always able to quiet her mind and make her relax. "I was just about to finish the children's lesson."

Elana, Henry and Joshua groaned as one, Elana burying her head in her father's chest. "But we don't want to do lessons!" she whined, in a high-pitched, teary voice. Merlin saw Freya run a hand over her face and came up with a quick plan to save his wife from bursting into tears as well. "How about we do lessons after dinner? We could do some conjuring now."

The children cheered now instead of shrieking, and Freya smiled, nodding at Merlin in appreciation. "Good idea," she said in relief. "I'll warm some wine for you, Emrys."

Having lived with druids for a long time, Freya was prone to slipping back into their tongue from time to time and referring to him by his magical name. Merlin didn't mind – he thought it was sweet and never bothered to correct her.

Merlin sat down at the table with his children, glancing with amusement at their excited faces. Without even speaking, he closed his palm and then opened it again. A beautiful, azure butterfly fluttered out. His triplets shrieked in delight and applauded. Freya set two goblets down, both filled with a rich, plum-hued liquid. A little steam rose up from them.

When the butterfly had been flying for a little while, and the novelty of it was beginning to wear off for the children, he snapped his finger and the butterfly exploded into a bouquet of flowers. Merlin caught it in his left hand – his wine cup was in his right – and presented them with a flourish to Elana, who squealed with delight.

"Your turn," Merlin instructed his kids. "Let me see what you can do." Just like him, his children could do some magic without needing incantations or any conscious idea of how to do what they were doing.

Elana cleared her throat, stood up on her chair and held her hand open. She stared at her palm expectantly. After a half minute of nothing happening, Henry sniggered. Freya silenced him with a stern look, and Merlin said, "Give her time, Henry."

Her brow was furrowed in concentration, then it cleared and her face broke into a smile of relief as a wild rose grew from nowhere in her palm. "Daddy! Mummy! Look!" she squealed happily. She handed it to Freya, who accepted it proudly and tucked it behind her ear.

"That's beautiful," Merlin praised. "Henry, what about you? How are you getting on?"

"I can turn stones into fire," he said hesitantly. "At least...I did it once, by accident."

"Try again," Freya encouraged. She pulled a stone from her pocket; Merlin didn't question why she had it. Freya had a habit of collecting odd knick-knacks that she found around the forests when she went for a walk.

Henry stared at the stone in front of him with the same fierce concentration as Elana before him. Joshua sighed and fiddled with a strip of cloth, then lay it down carefully. Freya patted his hand, to let him know that he would get his turn as well.

Then suddenly the stone transformed into a small fire, just as Henry had promised. He beamed at his parents, and they both smiled back. It went out after a few seconds, leaving the stone behind once again.

"Very good, Henry," Merlin commended. "And Joshua?"

Now that it was his turn, Joshua sat up a little straighter and clutched the strip of fabric in his hands. "I can turn this fabric into a kitten!" he said proudly.

Merlin frowned. "Really?" That sounded highly advanced for even a practiced wizard, and his son was definitely not in that category.

"Yes!" Joshua hesitated. "Well...it might actually be a kitten that I found and I turned it into some cloth so I could bring it home secretly."

Freya rolled her eyes. "Joshua, we've said before: we can't have a kitten. You would have to look after it yourself and you don't know how to."

"Please?" Joshua begged. He loosened his grip on the fabric and it immediately transformed into a tiny kitten, striped grey and black and mewling for milk pathetically.

Now that Freya was faced with the small cat, she seemed to think different. "Okay, fine," she muttered reluctantly. "You need to look after it yourself though."

Joshua beamed. "Thank you!" He hopped down from the table without asking – but Merlin let him disobey their rules just this one time – and scurried off with his kitten.

Merlin looked at Freya and rubbed her back. She leaned into him automatically, resting her head against his shoulder. "Looks like we have a new addition to the family."

A/N: To those who have already sent me prompts, thank you very much! Please keep on sending me more prompts as I have over 450 more chapters to write!