500 Days of Freya (Merlin)

Oops

Chapter 38

Warning/s: none

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

A/N: according to my app i am now 19% fluent in German and 1% fluent in Dutch

Prompt: "Merlin and Freya babysit Arthur and Gwen's son." – Aithusa Vase

"You're sure you're okay with this?" the Queen asked as she handed her son over to Freya. "I mean, we can always find someone else."

"It's fine," Freya exclaimed, cooing at Olwen. He was still young, barely a month old, and Freya's heart melted a little every time she saw him.

"Thank you," Gwen said gratefully. "I really have to go now to greet the visiting dignitaries, I should only be an hour."

"It's fine," Freya said again, rolling her eyes. "Merlin's just getting a book from the library, he'll be back soon. I can cope and I'm sure my husband can to." She practically had to propel the Queen from the doorway at that point.

"What are we going to do with you?" Freya asked pointlessly, rocking the baby in her arms. "Aren't you just the cutest thing?" She continued in this stream until Merlin returned with an armful of books, and she stopped out of embarrassment.

"Is it today we're babysitting Olwen?" he said in surprise.

Freya sighed in fond exasperation. "Yes, it is, and I thought you were only getting one book?"

Merlin had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "Well, yes, but I got reading so...anyway, hello, Olwen." Carefully, he perched his books on a nearby table. "How old is he now?"

"Just a month," Freya said fondly. "Honestly, Merlin, you're becoming so forgetful lately."

"Yes, well, other things on my mind..." he trailed off as he started to flip open a book. "Funnily enough, those other things involve Olwen as well."

"What are these other things?" Freya asked suspiciously, cradling the baby to her. She supposed that one could take to mean by her words and tone that she thought Merlin was going to do some harm to this child, but that couldn't be further from the truth. In actual fact, her worry was that Merlin was planning to give the baby some sort of super protection (this wouldn't be so bad, if it wasn't for the fact that Merlin went slightly overboard and anyone with one of his protection spells ended up naïve from lack of danger).

Merlin paused. "You remember when Gwen nearly died during the birth?" he said hesitantly. At Freya's nod, he continued. "I used magic to restore the blood loss, if you remember, and to help Olwen survive."

"He couldn't breathe," Freya recalled.

Merlin nodded and bit his lip. "Well, you see...I think because of this, I may have accidentally given Olwen a little bit of magic."

Freya closed her eyes briefly. Then she opened them and fixed Merlin with a steely glare. "I thought you said it was dangerous to give infants magic?" she said through gritted teeth. This was so typically Merlin – she loved her husband, but sometimes he became wrapped up far too much in his own world. Just because he loved having magic from birth didn't mean everyone did. Plenty of druids didn't, and it had taken Freya a long time to revel in her gifts.

"I didn't know it would give him magic," Merlin protested. "And it's only dangerous because it can overload their system and developing brain. Which is why I didn't tell you before now, because it's usually less than a month before the effects are noticeable."

Freya sighed, rolled her eyes slightly. "Honestly, Merlin," she said, but her exasperated tone was outweighed by her fond tone. "So he is fine?"

Most likely, Merlin thought to himself. "Completely," he told Freya. "Of course, he may not have ended up having magic as I thought; it's rather a fifty-fifty chance."