Fic: Under Covers Part 2/2 (Merlin BBC)

[keep_counting]

Title: Under Covers – Part Two of Two
Characters/Pairings: Merlin, Gwen, Gaius, Arthur, Gwaine, Elyan and Lancelot. Minor Implied Gwen/Arthur and Gwen/Lancelot
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Pure crack; swearing and suggestive themes. set somewhere after S3 
Genre: Gen/Humor
Word-count: 5,404
Disclaimer: God, if I owned… but I don’t, unfortunately.
A/N: Written for the 007 challenge on great_tales humor, bordering on crack. I tried to write it in style with the show and it is very dialogue-heavy.
Summary: When trying to uncover a magical thiefs villainous plot, Merlin is forced to go undercover... as a girl.

Part One here


 

 

PART TWO

 

”Breakfast’s ready!” Gaius voice boomed out, probably too early for any sane person to be that loud. Still, vexing Merlin in the morning was one of the simple joys of life.

No sound was heard. No grumbling and falling out of bed. Nothing.

“Merlin? Merlin, get your lazy bum out here!” Gaius tried again, slowly moving closer to the door. Could it be that he had been attacked in the middle of the night? The young warlock had acquired a lot of enemies over the years and it wouldn’t be the first time that someone found him here.

“Merlin?”

The door slowly opened with a loud, creaky sound. Gaius eyes got about ten times bigger.

“Oh! I’m sorry my good lady, I didn’t see… I mean, I didn’t know… that you were in there obviously, I…”

“Gaius,” A voice interrupted his ramblings.

Gaius stared.

“Gaius, say something.”

Gaius blinked.

“Come on. Anything.”

Gaius came with a sound that might have been a syllable, but wasn’t quite. Then he shook his head, took one last look and…

“Merlin?”

“Yes, Gaius,” The light voice of the girl standing in front of him said. “It’s me.”

“But… but how?” Gaius got out, though he already knew the answer.

Still, it was probably enough to melt anyone’s brain, looking upon this… this creature and knowing that it used to be your male charge.

The girl in front of him could be Merlin’s sister; dark hair in two braids, red scarf tied around his… her head, blue dress that looked like it had been nicked from the back of Gwen’s wardrobe and the usual brown jacket over it all: a jacket that now appeared a bit too big on Merlin’s… on the girl’s tinier frame.

The girl broke into a wide grin that left no doubt: it really was Merlin.

“Brilliant, isn’t it?” He giggled, taking a spin in the room and melting Gaius mind some more. “Though my corset is a little tight…”

“For heaven’s sake Merlin, why on earth would you do something like this?”

“Because I need to seduc… to gain Alexander’s confidence! Gwen failed and he hates Merlin, so I thought…”

“What, that Merlina was a better option?” Gaius croaked out, fumbling behind him for a chair.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not going to name myself Merlina,” The young warlock (witch?) grumbled, reaching up to adjust her scarf a bit.

“Merlin,” Gaius started, having seated himself and regained some composure. “Of all the obstinate, ridiculous things that you have attempted to do…”

“No, this isn’t the worst,” Merlin cheekily said, playing with a braid. Gaius was still for a few moments.

“No, it actually isn’t. But really Merlin, think of the consequences: do you really have any idea of what you are doing?”

“It’s the only way! I can’t break the spell he’s put on the items!” Merlin protested. “He’s stolen the trident, Gaius, clearly he’s getting greedier and more careless. He’ll be desperate to have someone he can trust in case something happens and…”

“And in you step,” Gaius finished. “But, Merlin…”

“Nah-ah-ah: it’s Mathilda now.”

“Oh, you cannot be serious…”

“Say it.”

“I will not.”

“I know you can do it!”

“Merlin, this is ridiculous…”

“I no longer respond to that naaaaaame.”

“Have you considered…” Gaius said. “That the spell might be as powerful as the last time you attempted to drastically change your appearance? That you might be stuck as a female for quite some time?”

Merlin blinked, letting his… her braid go. “Well… yeah, I know that it’s a possibility but… I mean, as long as I’m not a girl forever, right?”

Gaius gave him a pointed look.

“What… you don’t think… I’m not…” Merlin turned pale. “Gaius…”

“Yes, Mathilda?”

“You don’t think I’m suddenly going to start having… female troubles, are you?”

Gaius wondered if it was too soon to retire.

 

oOo

 

 

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Gwen’s voice rang out from behind him, clearly cutting cross the noise from the market. Merlin stiffened, eyes darting around to find an escape.

There was none.

“Umm… we’ve never spoken,” He murmured, trying to smile in an affable manner but probably just looking like a hyena in the try. “But you’re Guinevere, right?” God, his voice sounded odd. Like a hummingbird and a cat had gotten a baby and decided to torture it until it made as high a noise as possible.

“Yes, and you are…?” Her eyes were searching his face, her own a mask of puzzlement. Merlin gulped. She couldn’t see that it was him, right? Her mind would leave out that option and just think…

“Are you by any chance related to Merlin?”

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

“Um, no? Merlin… who’s that?” He croaked out.

“Oh, well, I just… you look a lot alike. I mean, not that you look like a boy, obviously or that he looks like a girl…” Gwen fumbled, her cheeks turning scarlet. “But you know… um…  I mean…”

“Family resemblance?” Merlin tried, deciding not to torture her further.

“Yes, exactly!” She said, smiling brightly at him. “I swear, you could be his twin-sister. Oh, Merlin’s a servant in the castle: the prince’s man-servant to be exact.”

“No, really?” He said. “How… fabulous.”

“I don’t think Merlin thinks so,” Gwen grinned. “Not that, I think he’s ungrateful, or anything, I wasn’t implying…”

“I know,” Merlin laughed, remembered the same Gwen from almost four years ago, stumbling over what she wanted to say. “He sounds like a dashing fellow. You must be very close.”

“Yes, he’s my best friend,” Gwen answered, not noticing how the other girl suddenly straightened and her smile got brighter. “But I’m just chatting away, sorry, I haven’t even asked for your name…”

“It’s Mathilda.” Merlin answered.

“Well, it was nice meeting you Mathilda.” She said, handing him an apple as she started walking. “I have duties to attend to, but I hope to see you soon again?”

“Um, sure. We will,” Merlin muttered, watching her disappear into the thick crowd of people. Crisis averted. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a problem if he resembled… well, himself that much, but all he needed was a few more minutes and he would be all set to go.

And, as if the universe had for once decided that it loved him, Alexander came strolling through the streets, looking at stalls and shops. Taking a deep breath, Merlin adjusted his dress and headed in the stable-boys direction.

Okay, so the universe still wasn’t too keen him. In the span of three minutes, he first had to stop for a cart filled with hay that bumbled over the road and by the time it had moved past, Alexander had walked further away. Then a woman carrying a tray of tomatoes decided that right in front of him, was a fantastic place to drop it all and not only was his boots splattered with the red of it afterwards, he also had to help the woman pick up the surviving tomatoes from the ground.

Of course, they missed a tomato. And of course, just as he was getting ready to stand up again, a man with a basket of eggs had to walk by. And of course, he didn’t see the tomato either. And of course, he stepped on it, his feet slipping and the eggs tumbling to the ground, a dozen or so hitting Merlin.

“Oh! Young lady, I am so sorry!” The man shouted, struggling to get up again and there was a mix of surprise and ‘who the hell is he talking to?’ Before Merlin realized that he was the young lady and that said young lady was still sitting on the ground, completely covered in dirt, eggs and tomato.

And that Alexander had disappeared around a corner, leaving no trace behind of where he had gone to.

The universe hated him.

 

oOo

 

“Hello, beautiful.”

Gwen tried not to flinch at Alexander’s sly voice, but apparently failed. He raised one of his eyebrows at her, slowly moving closer.

“Something the matter?” He murmured, voice dark.

“No, nothing.”

He moved closer. Too close.

“Are you sure?”

“Perfectly. There’s just a bit of a chill in here, that’s all.” Why had she gone to the stables anyway? She knew he would be here.

“A chill huh?” Too close, he was standing way too close. She could smell ale on is breath and clothes. “Well, let me warm you up.”

“What? No…!” She took two futile steps backwards, but he’d already grabbed her by the arms, strong grip pulling her closer. “Let go of me!”

“Let. Her. Go.”

There was several times when Arthur’s voice had sounded like a choir of angels to Gwen. The countless times he’d rescued her had been some of them and this one was no different.

Alexander looked like he was about to protest, before he caught a glimpse of who was giving the order: recognizing the prince, he quickly let go of Gwen, glaring at her as she moved away from him.

“Now, I believe that you owe Guinevere an apology.”

Alexander raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

“For what? For acting like a big brute that’s why!” Arthur yelled, stepping forward. “Apologize to her and we can forget all about this, alright?”

“I don’t think so – I can’t see that I’ve done anything wrong. If the lady didn’t want my attentions, she could’ve just said so.”

“I did say so,” Gwen mumbled, barely audible around the tension in the room.

“Well, fine. Consider yourself fired, then.” Arthur hissed.

To their great surprise, Alexander let out a loud laugh. “Fired? Oh, well, what a shame! Oh, goodbye then – I was getting tired of Camelot anyway and I seem to have gotten what I came for.” And with that he turned around, slamming the door to the stables harshly behind him.

“Well,” Gwen mumbled, turning to Arthur. “I guess I should thank you, knight in shining armor.”

Arthur, however, was still frowning. “What did he mean, ‘got what he came for’?”

Gwen blinked. “Oh, umm…” Sighing, she decided on the best course of action. Even if it did possibly mess up whatever Merlin had planned.

“I need to tell you something about Alexander…”

 

oOo

 

Merlin was sure that Gwen would one day forgive him for ruining the egg-dress (as he’d now dubbed it): she was never using it anyway and hadn’t even recognized it on the market (which, granted, might be because he’d worn a jacket over it, but details, details…) He was also sure that she would forgive him for steal… for borrowing a new one, red in colour and decidedly more pretty than the one from before, with or without the eggs. Anyway, this one really brought out his eyes.

Okay, so maybe he needed to turn back into a boy right now. Only problem was that… well, one, being a girl was kind of fun, so he’d dragged it out a bit on his way home. And then when he got home…

Well, the spell had offered a few complications. First of all, his hair had turned purple at one point. He’d managed to get that back to normal alright. Then all his shoes had seemingly disappeared, he’d turned a chicken to stone – and failed at turning it back again, he wasn’t quite sure if Gaius would appreciate the new decoration or not – but no matter what he did, what he tried, he couldn’t get the new girly parts of him to disappear.

So, what’s a guy… a girl to do, with no Gaius there to stop him… her?

Go to the tavern, of course.

The Inn of the Rising Sun was as homely and loud as it used to be and with all those people, it would be easy enough for ‘Mathilda’ to disappear with a few tankards of cider, slowly drinking herself into oblivion and picking out the last pieces of egg from her hair. Anything to cast this miserable day back into oblivion.

This plan went sort-of well… for about all of ten minutes (which, considering, was actually quite long compared to his other accomplishments). Then a certain person, or should we say a certain knight or should we say a certain drunk knight, spotted him/her and managed to halfway saunter and halfway sway over to Merlin’s table.

“Hello, pretty. What your name then?”

Merlin stared in wide-eyed horror as Gwaine suggestively leaned over the table, a dashing smile on his face.

“Um… I’m… Um…”

“Um? That’s an odd name little lass. Move over, will you? I’m a knight you know.“

Hell, Gwaine was bad at this when he was drunk.

“Actually, I was just leaving,” Merlin murmured, rising from his seat ready to flee – and was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder.

“Aw, come on pretty thing, don’t leave just yet, will you? Once you’ve gotten as drunk as me, I swear, I’m a hilarious guy!” Gwaine grinned, swaying in his seat. “Seriously. Hey, did I mention I’m a knight?”

He didn’t appear to even be aware that he still had a death-grip on Merlin’s shoulder and the warlock saw no other course of action than to sit down, lest he attract too much attention to himself.

“Look, Gwaine…” He started, too late in realizing his blunder. Gwaine’s eyes widened.

“Oooh, so you know me do you? Maybe you’ve watched me train, huh? Yep, I can beat even the crown prince’s hide all the way to… to… um… the forest and back.”

I’d love to see Arthur’s face if he ever heard you say that, Merlin thought, not able to keep a grin off his face.

“Listen, sir knight, I really must be going…”

“What? No-no, we’re just having fun! Come now, what was it… Um? That’s your name right?”

“I’m Mathilda,” Merlin muttered, trying his best to look insulted that Gwaine didn’t even know his name. Women got offended about that, right?

“Mathilda – a beautiful name! A name fit for a princess!”

Oh God, he was never ever going to tease Gwen about the knight’s attentions to her again. This was horrifying! And he was blushing.

“Um, thanks I guess…”

“Listen, Mathilda, I may be very very very very drunk right now…” Gwaine said, now holding her hand in a stone-like grip. “But I do think you’re very very very very pretty.”

You really are drunk, Merlin thought, staring at his friend (oh god, if only Gwaine knew what the hell was really going on here, and why had he thought going to the tavern was a good idea at all, was he completely demented?)

“Actually…” Gwaine mumbled, his voice slurring more and more by the minute. Honestly, how drunk was someone allowed to be at five in the afternoon?

“Actually, I think you’re so pretty that… I… would like… to kiss you.”

There was the distinctive sound of something breaking and Merlin was pretty sure it was his brain.

“I HAVE TO GO NOW!” He practically shouted, swiftly pulling his hand out of Gwaine’s grip and running at top-speed out of the tavern.

He was going to have nightmares about this for at least a week.

 

oOo

 

“Search everything – this man is using magic, so things may not be as they seem.” Arthur watched as his knight’s set to work, turning over everything.

“Merlin said he could see the stolen items on the bed,” Gwen said, standing by his side. “I couldn’t see anything, but when he reached out to touch them there was a flash and his fingers were burnt.”

“Why didn’t you come to me immedeatly?” Arthur muttered, sounding stern and very much like Gaius. It almost made her smile.

“Merlin said that you had enough to worry about and that we didn’t have enough evidence to go on. He said that we could never convince anyone if he was the only one able to see anything of it.”

“I suppose,” Arthur said, stomping his boots to the ground. “Still, I wish you’d said something, to me at least.”

“Yes, I know. We will next time, I promise.” Gwen mumbled, shifting a little closer to him. “But I’ve been thinking… Merlin was the only one who could see the items… do you think it’s because…”

“It is very important that we find the trident,” Arthur said in a very low voice, his eyes warning her to keep quiet. Gwen nodded in understanding and whatever may have needed to be said remained unspoken between them.

“Sire!” Sir Leon stood up, pulling something golden from under a loose board in the floor. “It’s the trident, sire!”

Unbeknownst to the other’s, a tense figure was crouching outside the window, a myriad of shadows and magic keeping him hidden. Alexander grit his teeth, knowing that the spell on the rest of the stolen items would soon wear down and that he could do nothing to renew it when the court’s eye rested so heavily on him.

Looking from the golden head of Prince Arthur to the dark one of the woman at his side, Alexander knew exactly what he needed to do to gain his revenge.

 

oOo

 

“Merlin! Good you’re back,” Gaius grinned at the young female who’d just stumbled into the room, a terrified look on her face. “You’ve come just in time to hear that Arthur and the others have found the Golden Trident and that a warrant for Alexander’s arrest has been issued.”

Merlin just stared at him, her mouth still gaping open like a fish.

“Merlin? Have you lost your wits?” Gaius grumbled, standing up. “What on earth… did you change your clothes?”

“Gwaine… Gwaine he… he made…” The last bit was mumbled too low for Gaius to hear.

“What was that, Merlin?”

“Gwaine made… a….” Merlin visibly gulped. “He made a… a pass on me. He tried to… he wanted to… You… Gaius… it… Gai… would you stop laughing?”

“Hahaha… sorry, Merlin,” Gaius got out between his giggles. “Only… just, I told you, didn’t I?”

“Yesyes, you did, I know you did. You can stop it now though, please.” Merlin plopped himself down on his seat, head resting in his hands. “Wait… did you say that they’ve found the trident?”

“Yes. Apparently, Alexander’s magic was not strong enough to shield such a powerful item.”

“Ha! Brilliant… well then, problem solved,” Merlin grinned, straightening up now.

“Not quite, Merlin.” Gaius just had to ruin his fun, didn’t he? “They can’t find Alexander.”

Merlin blinked at him. “And you don’t think he’s just escaped from town as quickly as he can?”

“Maybe, or he might still be lurking around, seeking for revenge.” The physician answered. “He is very dangerous Merlin, we should thread carefully.”

“Right, I’ll get to it.” Merlin huffed. “I just need to get rid of these… girly parts.”

“Speaking of which… why exactly are you still a girl?”

Merlin’s grin was definitely fading now. “Don’t worry, I can break the spell.”

“You can’t, can you?” Gaius sighed. “I’ll go see if there’s a remedy somewhere. But we’d better move this fast, before Arthur starts missing you!”

“Missing someone to boss around more likely,” Merlin mumbled.

 

oOo

 

Getting into the weaponry had been easy, as had been getting the dagger that Alexander was currently clutching in his hand and hiding in the folds of his long cape. He could use magic to kill her of course, but he wanted to see her twitch, wanted the warm blood to run over his hands.

Getting to the prince through Gwen, who he obviously cared about, was a stroke of brilliance in Alexander’s most modest opinion. But while sneaking into the weaponry and getting the dagger had been so easy a child could do it, finding one little girl proved to be… well, a lot harder.

“And you’re sure you haven’t seen her all day?”

The young girl nodded, her eyes fixed as if she was looking right through him. “Yes. Sure. But Gwen’s hardly ever in the Castle anymore, not since her mistress left.”

“Alright,” He grumbled, turning to leave which immedeatly snapped the girl’s attention back to him.

“Wait! Didn’t you want to know where she was?” The girl called out.

Alexander gritted his teeth. “You mean you know?”

“Yes, I know, of course I know.” The girl huffed, looking insulted. “Everyone in the Castle knows.”

“Everyone, huh?” He hissed, thinking of the countless number of servants and civilians he’d asked in the span of a few hours, cleverly evading the guards all the while. Apparently, no one had wanted to tell him.

“Yes. She works with Gaius, the physician now. Picks herbs, cleans, helps out with patients and the like.”

Alexander slowly turned around, furious and deciding that it might as well be taken out on the girl, despite her having given him instructions. Raising his hand, he was stopped by the sight of a knight walking further down the hallway. He was gone before the young girl had blinked twice.

“Who was that?” Sir Lancelot stopped beside her and the girl let out a surprised sound, blushing deeply at the sight of the handsome knight so close to her.

“Umm… that was… that was one of the stable-boys, sir,” She got out. “That… Alexander, sir. Sire. Sir.”

Lancelot’s eyes widened. “Alexander? Betty, he’s wanted for high treason!”

Too caught up in the fact that oh god, Sir Lancelot knew her name! a few seconds passed by before his statement hit her full force.

“Oh no!” She exclaimed. “I… Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“What did he say? What did he want?”

“He kept asking… he wanted to know… where miss Guinevere was.”

Lancelot was gone before Betty had hardly finished her sentence, leaving a very bewildered servant in his wake.

 

oOo

 

“Hogswart, hemlock, three leaves from an oak-tree, the red flower of Avalon and about a thousand other things that we do not have!” Gaius closed the book with a loud bang, the dust from it rising into the air.

“Sorry…” Merlin muttered, face hidden in his hands.

“Well, you have good reason to be,” Gaius mumbled. “If at least some result had come from your efforts we could be happy of that, but you failed miserably at drawing Alexander’s attention and now it seems that you will be stuck as a girl for quite some time.”

“But not forever, right?”

Gaius just looked at him, his brows drawn together. Merlin turned pale.

“Oh, no, no, not forever, please… Oh god, that can’t be true! What if, soon, I want to go look for laces or pick up embroidery or... or…”

“Or what, Mathilda?”

“Gaius… you don’t think I can get… pregnant, do you?”

Silence. It filled the air, cut through everything like razor-sharp blades. Then Gaius sighed, immedeatly breaking through the thick quiet.

“Gods, I am getting too old for all of this. Merlin, you will not stay a girl forever and you will most certainly not become pregnant.” It wasn’t up to him to explain to Merlin about the birds and the bees, right? Surely his mother would have told him that a long time ago… right?

“Oh, thank god!”

“Unless of course you are too welcoming of Sir Gwaine’s attentions,” Gaius couldn’t help himself, laughing as the warlock let out a moan of despair.

“Not funny!”

I thought it was,” He grinned. “But I’ll be going now and see if I can find some of the items for this potion: with any luck there’s something in the forest. You stay here, you hear me? If anyone comes, you hide. And do not attempt any magic, because Gwen will stop by soon with some herbs and the last thing we need right now is for someone to see a young girl that looks oddly like Merlin, performing magic in the Court Physician’s quarters!”

“Sir, yes sir!” Merlin muttered, making a salute at his guardian.

As soon as the door had closed behind Gaius however, he sprang back up, picking up the book on the table and rifling through the pages in a desperate attempt to find something, anything. As if he was just going to sit here, daintily waiting, until Gaius came back with something that might not even work. Merlin would be turned back into a boy or he would die trying!

However, after another half an hour (this time he’d managed to turn a chair into stone, and he comforted himself with the fact that it at least wasn’t poultry) without success, he was quite ready to give up. The spells were draining him and he was cold and tired and hungry and for some reason really felt like getting some chocolate.

One more try and that was it. He murmured the words, feeling the familiar rush as the magic coursed through him, turning the air crisp with lightning and making a shiver run down his spine. He could feel it, the change slowly coming, spreading through his body from his very fingertips.

The door was thrown open behind him and in entered Gwen, arms filled with bundles of herbs and sopping wet from head to toe. At the sight of her, Merlin let out a loud scream and stupidly dove under the table.

Gwen blinked. “Merlin?”

No no no, God no, oh hell no.

“Merlin, come on, I know it’s you,” She laughed, letting her burden fall into one of Gaius’ heavy baskets. “I could recognize that shriek anywhere… Merlin?”

She stopped short, staring at his huddled from beneath the table.

Oh, crap.

“Is that… my dress?” Gwen stopped, frowning down at him. “Merlin, why on earth are you wearing my dress? Is there something you wish to tell me?”

How was she recognizing him? And just like that he realized – the spell had worked!

“I’m a real boy!” He shouted, wanting to jump into the air, but unfortunately he was hiding underneath a table and his head came away with a severe bruise.

“Ow! Owoooowww, bloody hell.” In his moaning, he didn’t hear the door creaking upon, but he did feel the crackling of magic and in the next second, the glint of a knife as it flashed through the air.

“No!” He’d gone flying through the air before he could even think about what he was doing, knocking Gwen aside and feeling the edge of the sharp blade grazing his shoulder and arm. They fell heavily to the floor, dresses tangling

“Merlin?” Gwen murmured, looking bewildered. She must’ve hit her head when they fell, a little stream of blood trickling down her forehead.

“No I’m not,” Merlin just muttered, pushing her away as Alexander attacked yet again. She fell into the baskets of herbs and was quickly covered in them, almost entirely disappearing from sight.

“Get out of my way!” Alexander yelled, murderous intent radiating from him, the knife swinging in a wide arc. For once, all the hours spent as Arthur’s training dummy actually paid off and Merlin was able to duck and dive several times, the knife hissing in the air as it missed its mark.

There was a low, hissing sound and all of the sudden a snake appeared in mid air, its gleaming fangs snapping just a few inches from Merlin’s hand: with a quick curse it exploded, leaving only dust and floating pieces of skin left.

“You…” Alexander muttered, stopping short in bewilderment. “You’re a witch?”

Merlin sighed, standing up and clenching his fists, the dress billowing in dramatic waves around him.

“No. I’m a warlock.”

Alexander barely had time to open his mouth, before a heavy blast burst him backwards. He hit a stack of shelves, knocking vials and bottles to the floor, potions and concoctions spilling all around him. He didn’t move again and Merlin quickly dove forward to take the knife out of his grip.

“Well, that was easy.” Merlin muttered, patting his skirt to remove the dust and snake-bits. Remembering Gwen, he quickly turned around only to find that she…

Wasn’t there.

“Gwen?” He slowly stepped closer, a little afraid. “Guinevere?”

“It was right in here!” Her distressed voice came floating from the hall-way, the sound of several heavy foot-steps approaching. “I saw it – he was using magic.”

Oh no, oh God no.

What’s a man, whose great secret have just been revealed to maybe one of the people who was going to take it the hardest, to do?

Hide, of course.

Luckily, there actually was room under his bed and since he’d cleaned it about a month ago, it wasn’t as dusty and dirty as one could have feared. Still, he had to hold a hand over his mouth to keep from too loud a cough to get out, lying on edge as they entered the room.

“Oh! Merlin must’ve knocked him out,” Gwen’s voice floated towards him, sounding relieved.

“Merlin?” Yes, she had brought Arthur. Great.

“Yes! I told you, he saved my life Arthur,”

“That’s our Merlin,” Gwaine laughed. “But where’s he now?”

“Maybe he ran to get help,” Gwen said. “But I thought he’d seen me go. Oh, he must be around here somewhere.”

“Yes,” Arthur said, still sounding as if he wasn’t quite ready to believe what he’d heard. “Anyway, let’s get this one to the dungeons, shall we? Merlin can clear all this mess up when he comes home again.”

Amidst Gwen’s admonishing and the knights carrying out the lifeless form of Alexander, Merlin was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

His secret was, apparently, still safe.

 

 

EPILOGUE

 

 

“And all the things were recovered?”

“Yes, as soon as Alexander didn’t renew the spells, the items appeared in his rooms.” Arthur said, sipping wine from his goblet. “I’ve doubled the guard and taken every precaution – it will be impossible for him to escape now.”

“Nothing is impossible,” Uther said. “Your servant’s proved that today, hasn’t he?” Turning to laugh at Merlin carrying a tray, the warlock did his best to return the king’s smile. “But you will only have to hold him for a little while longer – we are executing this Alexander, first thing in the morning.”

“Yes, Sire.” Arthur mumbled. “Father, may I dismiss Merlin? I think he has earned a night off considering that he saved Guin… that he almost single-handedly apprehended the thief. Even if…” And here Arthur turned to give Merlin a stare that would have made Gaius proud. “He has not been attending any of his duties all day.”

“I’ve been busy, sire.” Merlin mumbled, unhappily thinking of dresses and braids.

“Yes, about that…” Arthur stated. “If you wish to seek female company Merlin, I would advise you to go after someone a bit prettier than that girl I caught a glimpse off in your room – though I suppose maybe you can’t do any better.”

Merlin paled and then went bright red, his mouth gaping open like a fish. “Um… sire…”

“Of course,” Uther laughed. “You may go.”

“Thank-you sire.” Merlin composed himself and was out of the door before any of them could come to second thoughts, happily skipping down the hall.

And nearly crashing into a familiar figure.

“Gwen!” He exclaimed, reaching out to steady her. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been looking for you,” She said, smiling at him. “To thank you for saving me. Alexander would have gotten me pretty good if you hadn’t been there to stop him.”

“Yeah, about that…”

“Oh, you don’t need to give me the details, I can live without them,” Gwen hurriedly said. “I was unconscious for most of it and when I came to, I rushed to get help. To be honest, I don’t think I remember that much of what was going on at all.”

It is always a good thing, to realize exactly how good friends that the universe had gifted you with and after the day he’d had, Merlin was exceedingly glad for the realization.

“Of course. That’s… yeah. That’s great.” He grinned and impulsively hugging her. “Thank-you Gwen.”

“But of course.” She mumbled, barely audible for him to hear. “You probably have to get going, right? Gaius probably wants help with cleaning up his quarters.”

“Oh, god yes, don’t remind me.” Merlin sighed. “I guess I’ll see you later Gwen.”

“You will. Oh, and Merlin?”

“Yes?”

“In the future, when you want to borrow my things, I’d appreciate it if you asked first – but this once, you can just keep the dress.”

 

FIN

 

Comments

[abridgedgirly.livejournal.com]

Oh poor Merlin XD Poor, poor Merlin. First Gwaine, then being in a dress as a man and just... everything. The characterisations were very good, Gaius especially. And, just... Gwaine <3 Oh and Merlin in a dress, did I mention? I loved it. (So much that I'm not very coherent)

[keep-counting.livejournal.com]

Hehe. I'm glad that you liked it ;) how could I let an opportunity like that pass? Merlin in a dres...

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

This was really cute. I loved that Gwen and Merlin were working together - kind of. Great job.

[keep-counting.livejournal.com]

Thank-you - Gwen and Merlin friendship is my fave in this show I think ;)

[daigranon.livejournal.com]

Found this story through the merlin_tv comm. Great job! I really liked the dialogue-especially for Merlin, his lines were hilarious.

[keep-counting.livejournal.com]

Thank-you! I'm really glad that you liked it, especially the dialogue :D