Hiding

Chapter 12

When Gaius awoke the next morning, Arthur and Merlin were still asleep. Arthur had Merlin completely encased in his arms, and their legs were tangled together. They really shouldn't have fit on the cot together, but with how close they were pressed together, they seemed to make it work. He elected not to wake them. Merlin was healing quickly, but letting him—and by extension, Arthur—sleep a little while longer wouldn't do any harm.

He set about making his breakfast and started to prepare all the potions that needed delivering today. He thought about all the herbs that needed gathering, and how long it would take until Merlin would be able to get them. Perhaps he would go out himself, or ask Guinevere to pick some for him. When he heard the two men stirring, he grabbed the pastes he's need to put on Merlin's wounds and everything else he'd need to redress them.

Gaius counted themselves lucky that Merlin hadn't really had a chance to replace the shirt that they'd had to cut off of him the first time. It really would be inconvenient to have to figure out how they would dress and undress themselves in their situation before Gaius could tend to Merlin's wounds. His trousers would be easier, at least.

Once Arthur and Merlin had fully woken up, Gaius cleaned and dressed Merlin's wounds and gave him a complete check-over once again. It appeared Merlin was healing very fast. Now that he had his magic back again, it was helping to heal the internal damage. It wouldn't do for his visible wounds to be healing too fast, but no one but Merlin, Arthur, and Gaius knew the extent of the internal damage. It could be easily written off as something that could be quickly recovered from.

In fact, Merlin was healing so fast he thought that they'd be able to at least move to Arthur's chambers. Merlin would probably be strong enough for that walk, if not more. When he told the pair so, they looked both relieved and concerned. Relieved, he supposed, that Merlin was well enough to begin moving about the castle, and concerned about how the castle would take to the prince's manservant suddenly being attached to the prince.

The servants would take it in stride—much weirder things had been known to happen, and it was common knowledge amongst them that Merlin and Arthur were good friends. The nobles, however, would wonder why Arthur hadn't just left Merlin to die, or killed him when he figured out what the potion did. The king wouldn't like it, but he'd have to learn to deal with it.

With Gaius's approval, Merlin and Arthur made their way to Arthur's chambers. Merlin knew the route well, but he'd never traveled it in such close proximity to the prince. He knew they were getting odd looks, because Merlin was leaning a little bit on Arthur, who had his arm wrapped around Merlin's waist instead of his shoulders. Plus the fact that they'd had problems getting Merlin dressed again, meaning Merlin had his tunic on backwards.

When they finally reached Arthur's chambers, Merlin was on the brink of collapse. He'd had enough energy for just that walk, but he'd need to rest for the rest of the day. Arthur, however, needed to start returning to his duties as prince now that he was back in his own chambers. So Arthur half-carried Merlin over to his desk while he retrieved what he needed with one hand before he brought them over to the bed. Merlin could rest in his lap while he read over any reports that had come in and signed off on the miscellaneous papers that needed it.

Merlin was sleeping with his head in Arthur's lap and Arthur's hand stroking his hair (to maintain skin contact, obviously) when someone knocked at the door. He bid them enter and Morgana and Gwen walked in. He groaned internally when he realized how domestic this whole situation looked, and that the girls were never going to let them live it down.

"I come bearing gifts." Gwen said once she'd stopped giggling (which was becoming too common a sight in Arthur's opinion). Arthur saw she'd brought a tray of food with her, and thanked the gods that sent the angel that was Gwen to them. When more giggling broke out, he realized he'd spoken out loud. The pair made their way to the bed, which fit the four of them much better than the small cot had.