Note: I had no idea the reaction I would cause by making Gwen save herself for marriage! Call me old fashioned, but I think that's the way to do it :)

Chapter 18

Gwen felt slightly embarrassed at the prospect of leaving Arthur's home in the same outfit she went in with. She wanted to go home before work and change, but she was worried what her brother might think if she came home in the rumpled day-old clothes-what if he thought that she was doing a "walk of shame"? Or else, if she just went straight to work, what would her co-workers say? She internally groaned at the thought.

However, Arthur's mind must have been attuned to hers because he mentioned to her casually during breakfast, "My sister…some of her things are still here…if you wish to wear them."

Gwen's eyes widened at the prospect, though. 'Wearing Morgana Pendragon's old clothes?' she thought incredulously. Morgana was supposed to have thousands of designer brand outfits that Uther supplied her with. The material was too rich for Gwen's personal taste. But the gesture Arthur made of even offing his sister's clothing (a sister he refused to speak of with almost everyone), was monumental in itself. It was a courtesy Gwen knew that she couldn't refuse-aside from that, she really did want to see this famous collection of clothes. Despite being a maid of simpler tastes, she could still appreciate fine things. However, she had to be sure it was an offer that was genuine instead of a mere transitory whim.

"Are-are you sure Arthur?" Gwen asked.

"Positive-if you want to," Arthur said earnestly. He knew that she was embarrassed at the thought of going in public in an outfit which would normally constitute as a walk of shame.

"That would be lovely, thank you," Gwen said in a small voice-she was hoping that she wasn't offending Arthur by accepting his inquiry, despite his answer. If anything else, he might think that she was ashamed to be with him-which was far from the truth.

But despite Gwen's fears, Arthur took her acceptance in his stride, leading her to Morgana's old room, saying, "Follow me."

They left the remains of their breakfast in the kitchen and went up the staircase in the direction of the more "unused" side of the house.

Most of the lights were off, but one had a dim shadow cast underneath the crack of the door-had Arthur been paying attention to anything other than finding Gwen suitable to wear he might have investigated, but he was entirely focused on taking care of Gwen.

So as they reached Morgana's old room he opened the door and ushered Gwen into her-much larger-walk-in closet. When he turned on the lights he heard an audible gasp emit from beside him. It was admittedly a rather ridiculously large space. Practically the size of a medium-sized apartment, Morgana's clothing filled the room to the brim. There were shelves practically falling apart under the weight of the designer shoes, and drawers almost bursting with sparkling jewelry, perfumes, and other little accessories. And, of course, the wall space was hidden behind the massive rows and rows of dresses, pants, blouses, skirts, jackets-everything possibly imaginable for making the best, most exclusive, fashionable outfit. Everything was color-coded, by season and year as well. It could've been a miniature mall-Gwen's head began to spin with the amount of money she could raise to help the more unfortunate with even a handful of the wardrobe.

"Please, pick out anything you wish. I have no need for these anymore," Arthur said with a small smile. It was the first time he could walk into the room without the feelings of bitterness and loss stifling him-yet another thing Gwen had changed about him. However, he realized, it was due to seeing the pleasure she received from the multitude of clothes that made these feelings go away-he would do anything to render her as speechless as she currently was.

"Arthur…I-I can't…," Gwen feebly tried to protest even as her eyes had caught onto a lovely purple spring dress. At first, she had been surprised to find something that was her style in Morgana's closet-mainly they had very different styles (at least from what she had seen in the press). However, after seeing the extent of her closet Gwen wasn't nearly as taken aback as before.

Arthur had caught the glint of desire in her eyes, though, and pushed her to accept, "Yes, you can Guinevere. It's okay, honest!"

So, with slight hesitation, Gwen went over and took the purple dress off its rack and went to change.

When she came back, Arthur's eyes widened and his jaw hung slightly open. She looked absolutely stunning, and he was pretty sure he forgot to breathe as his eyes drank in her image. The dress was a perfect fit, it hugged her curves tightly, and the neckline was ever so slightly low cut. It came to a V-shape, and the short, cap-like sleeves were made out of thin, sheer lilac gossamer. The bottom swished out in a pretty, becoming manner just around her calves, and the white flats she found to go with it contrasted nicely with her skin. Then and there Arthur made a silent promise to himself to buy Gwen more dresses like this one. She looked flawless.

Gwen eyed him nervously. He was just standing there staring at her, unmoving, eyes wide-did she look absolutely horrible in the dress and he was too afraid to tell her?

"Sooo..?" Gwen hesitatingly asked.

The question hung in the air as Arthur tried to regain some coherency to his thoughts. But once he did, he beamed as he finally managed to put them into words, "You look stunning, Guinevere."

She blushed prettily, not knowing what to say to Arthur's compliment other than, "Thank you."

Arthur grinned-she didn't know how to take a compliment, and it was just another thing he loved about her.

"Shall we depart? Otherwise, we might be late to work."

….

They strolled the streets of London arm-in-arm together as they went on to James and Jarban. They were almost to the office, the first time as a couple without a hitch, when Gwen spotted the newsstand on the corner just before the door.

GUINEVERE LEODEGRANCE PLAYS WITH BRITAIN'S LEADING MEN

The headline had caught her eye, and held it with a kind of horrible fascination. She stood stock still, and Arthur had been yanked back to her side as he attempted to move forward without her.

"Guinevere, what-" Arthur began before following her eye line to the cover of the paper.

"Oh no," he groaned.

He was used to the papers writing horrible things about him. Gwen, on the other hand was not. He looked at her nervously, unsure of how to act in this situation. Fleetingly, he wished that Merlin was there to help him out, but it was banished as quickly as it came. If he couldn't help his own girl, what type of man was he?

Meanwhile, Gwen was processing the headline. Her mind was reeling. She had actually never wanted fame. She was just a girl from the poor end of London, with only a father to raise her and her brother. She had wanted to make a difference in the world, help obtain world peace, but not by being the headline news story for the press in this way. In fact, she didn't want to be famous at all-she had just wanted to help the world, settle down, maybe start a family-she had always loved kids-and just be surrounded by the people she loved. But then she had met Lance. Disarmingly charming Lance during that stupid case. She wasn't sure whether she should regret taking it on or not now that she saw the consequences of her work. If she had never taken that case, she still might have met Arthur. After all, it was just a chance happening on the tube. And that would've been okay. What was not okay was the press spreading lies about her reputation about playing with Britain, and their leaders.

Suddenly, she felt ill. She knew she wasn't going to work today-she wouldn't be able to concentrate, nevertheless actually make progress with Mithian and Ryan's case. And the last person she wanted to see was Arthur. She wasn't sure she could handle looking so weak in front of him again-she was supposed to be strong.

"I'm sorry Arthur, but I have to go," Gwen hurriedly said before hastily removing her arm from his, and dashed off towards the tube station again.

It took Arthur a split second to register what she had done before he chased after her. His quick reflexes from his days playing rugby and soccer allowed him to pursue her with ease. But as he finally caught a glimpse of her black curls bouncing behind her, a mass of people started to come in from the train. So on the steps down towards the platforms, the influx of people made him loose her trail. He pounded the wall with his fist angrily-he couldn't believe he had let her get away! He immediately wanted to go to her, check up on her, make sure she was okay. But where to begin? Would she go to see Merlin-wherever that man had scampered off to? Or would she go home? Or would she go to an unknown friend's apartment? The options were numerous, but he had knew he had to start looking or go mad with worry. So with that, he set off in the last direction he saw her running.

….

Gwen had bolted through the streets, running all the way to her home in the Red District. She slammed the door behind her, locking it firmly into place, before quickly retreating into her own room, bolting her own barrier behind her. She didn't know when she fell asleep because her last consciousness moments were spent in a full on sob. How could people think such terrible things about her?

….

"Oh no no no NO!" Gwen moaned as she opened her eyes.

Elyan had stormed into her room, waking her up with a tabloid in hand-the caption: GUINEVERE LEODEGRANCE PLAYS WITH BRITAIN'S LEADING MEN? splashed across the front page.

"Gwen, what the heck is this?" Elyan shouted.

He was rarely angry with his sister, so this was a first for Elyan. But he hadn't known about her break-up with Lance, her affiliation with Arthur, or anything, really, to do with what had been happening in her life recently. He could've blamed it on all of the craziness which was going on at work right now, but he knew that he couldn't. It was no excuse for his inattentive carelessness. He should've been a better brother-protector-and noticed these things about her. And now here was a magazine-exploiting his sister's personal life for a monetary advantage.

"I-I-" Gwen tried to get out, but she couldn't.

She didn't know what to say to Elyan. He had been so distant recently with his new promotion that she hadn't been able to inform him about anything at all. Not that she necessarily would have. She couldn't even begin to fathom what she would've said to him. Somehow she didn't think that: "Oh hello Elyan, I just wanted to let you know that the reason I rejected Lance's proposal-the man who you have come to love as a brother and sincerely hoped that I would marry-was because of his opponent Arthur Pendragon. This is the same man I am beginning to have growing feelings for. And it is the same Arthur Pendragon who is the son of Uther Pendragon-the man you despise because of his involvement in international weaponry and warfare. Just thought I should let you know. Oh, and despite what you think, Arthur really is a loveable person. The press just doesn't represent him fairly. He is loyal, kind-hearted, steadfast, and true. I know that you are wary of any man I date, but I honestly think that you two would really hit it off. So what do you think?" would go over very well.

"I'm sorry," she finally decided on.

She tried to put in as much heartfelt sincerity as she could into her words. She felt like she was sorry for a lot of things recently. She was sorry for not telling Elyan the details about what had happened between her and Lance. She was sorry for breaking Lance's heart. She was sorry that she couldn't introduce Arthur to Elyan without worrying that something bad was (probably) going to happen. She was sorry for getting Arthur and Lance into a messy love triangle which was splashed over every newsstand in London. However, she wasn't sorry that she was dating Arthur Pendragon.

Elyan sighed, "I know."

He couldn't remain angry with Gwen for long-how could he? It was her personal life. What she chose to do with it was her business. It was the press that was being invasive, and should be feeling the brunt of his anger. After all, people broke up and got together all the time-the only difference is that Gwen's break-ups became national news.

"So…tell me all about this Arthur guy?" Elyan tried to coax gently-he knew that Gwen responded best to compassion and empathy.

She had wanted to tell him, spill everything, but Gwen couldn't take it anymore. The constant gossip about her, the turbulent emotions she felt for both Arthur and Lance, and the general happenstances which had occurred ever since that fateful day that she literally fell into Arthur's lap had become too overwhelming. So she did the only thing which her mind and body would allow her to do-she broke down and sobbed whole-heartedly onto her brother's shoulder.

'Perhaps that was the wrong thing to ask', Elyan thought. He didn't want his sister to break down In his arms, but at the same time he'd rather it was his arms than some pretty boy he couldn't trust. When suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Gwen, Gwen," Elyan tried to soothe his sister, stroking her hair, "There's someone at the door. I have to go answer it. I'll be back soon, okay?"

He smiled soothingly at her as she responded with her own, small watery smile.

Elyan made his way to the front door quickly. He wanted to get back to Gwen as soon as he could. He was fully prepared to turn his visitor away with a hasty apology, but when he opened the door he was dumbstruck.

For on his threshold was none other than Lance.

To be continued