The Thing about Baby Dragons

AN: Just a cute little one-shot about Aithusa, because he's so damn cute. It's set after Season 4. It started out as just Aithusa meeting Arthur, but then it became him pushing Merthur. Honestly, I have no idea how. So, you've been warned, it is slash at the end, nothing too graphic though, but rated T for safety.

My name is Aithusa and I am very lonely. I have not seen my mommy in a very long time. Uncle Kilgarrah doesn't like it that I call our Dragonlord mommy. But I like calling him mommy. It was the Dragonlord, Merlin, who rescued me and called me from my egg. I feel like this gives me the right to call him mommy.

I've had enough. I'm going to go to Camelot and see my mommy. I can fly now, though I'm still not very big. I can speak too, both dragon-tongue and human-tongue, mommy will be so proud of me. I can even speak mind-to-mind, though it's hard, and I only really do it with Uncle Kilgarrah. Uncle Kilgarrah has taught me lots! I can't wait to tell mommy everything I have learned!

Once I reach Camelot, I make my way to King Arthur's rooms, where I sensed the presence of my mommy. I knew about King Arthur too, Uncle Kilgarrah has told me about the young King. I don't know if King Arthur will like me, but at this point I didn't much care, I just wanted to see my mommy. I settled myself on the table to wait for my mommy to notice me. But it was the King who saw me first.

"MERLIN! THERE'S A BABY DRAGON ON THE TABLE!" The King exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at me.

I saw my mommy come running over. He stared at me for a moment. Then he sighed.

"That's Aithusa. Aithusa, what are you doing here?" He explained to the king, then asked me.

"I missed you mommy, I wanted to come see you." I told him in the human tongue, so King Arthur could understand too. My mommy was about to reply when Arthur spoke first.

"Merlin, did the dragon just call you mommy? And why do you know its name? You have a lot of explaining to do!"

"Mommy, why is King Arthur mad at you? Does he not know you are a Dragonlord?" I glanced between Arthur and my mommy and cocked my head to the side questioningly.

"YOU'RE A DRAGONLORD? You told me you had magic but…wait, wasn't Balinor the last Dragonlord?" Arthur paused, then his face seemed to light with recognition. "Balinor was your father, wasn't he? Well…that actually makes a lot of sense…" Mommy looked sad as Arthur trailed off. "I'm so sorry…and I told you he was not worth your tears…I shouldn't have…"

"It's okay Arthur, don't worry about it." Mommy told King Arthur.

"Wait…so this must be the egg you told me was destroyed." Arthur looked at mommy accusingly.

"Well, yes. I saved the egg, and called Aithusa from it. And, to answer your earlier question, I suppose that's why he calls me mommy, though he's never done it before. I haven't even seen him since the night he hatched. Kilgarrah has been taking care of him." Mommy explained.

"Kilgarrah? Who the hell is Kilgarrah?" Arthur asked, confused.

"Um, he's the Great Dragon…" Mommy answered, looking down.

"The Great Dragon that I KILLED?" Arthur looked angry.

"Well, you didn't kill him, I used my power as a Dragonlord to subdue him, then I granted him clemency, because he is—was—the last of his kind." Mommy looked a bit guilty and I wondered why.

"YOU LET HIM GO? AFTER HE ATTACKED CAMELOT?" Arthur was really angry.

"WELL YOUR FATHER KEPT HIM CAPTIVE FOR YEARS, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? HE WAS ANGRY!" Mommy defended Uncle Kilgarrah.

"Mommy, why is Arthur angry?" I asked again, before either of them could yell anymore.

"Seriously, this baby dragon calling you mommy is freaking me out, Merlin." Arthur seemed sufficiently distracted from his yelling, and there was a soft note in his voice, something I had overlooked before. I cocked my head to the side as I observed mommy and the King. There was something there…an unspoken something that went beyond friendship.

"Mommy, I think Arthur is in love with you." I told mommy, in the dragon-tongue this time, my words meant only for him. His eyes went wide.

"What? No, of course he isn't." Mommy replied, in the human tongue, not the dragon-tongue, then clapped his hand over his mouth when he realized that.

"What did the dragon say, Merlin?" Arthur asked curious. I cocked my head to the side again and stared at Arthur.

"I told him you were in love with him. And, though I didn't say this to him before, I think he's in love with you too." I announced. Mommy's face went bright red and so did Arthur's.

"Aithusa!" Mommy exclaimed, looking very embarrassed, but not denying anything. I breathed out a little puff of smoke and giggled.

"Arthur, you should kiss my mommy now. Uncle Kilgarrah is always going on about how you two are two sides of the same coin and that you are destined to be together!" I told the King. To be honest, Uncle Kilgarrah's destiny speech was getting a bit annoying. He tended to repeat it a lot.

"Ugh not the coin speech. Does he tell you that one all the time, Aithusa?" Mommy asked me. I could tell it annoyed him as much as it did me. I nodded and giggled.

"The little dragon is right about one thing, at least." Arthur said, looking at mommy. "I am in love with you, Merlin." I jumped up and down on the table. With a wink at me, Arthur grabbed my mommy and kissed him, on the lips. I giggled and kept jumping on the table.

For some reason, Arthur's hands were all over my mommy. When his hands reached a certain part of mommy, mommy pulled back.

"Not in front of Aithusa, Arthur." He said, looking at me. I cocked my head to the side. Then it clicked for me.

"Oh, you want to mate. Oh okay, I'll leave now. Bye, mommy, I'll come visit you again soon!" I flew up to mommy, nuzzled him a bit, then turned to Arthur, "I'm going to call you daddy, okay? Bye daddy!" Then I flew away.

In my mind, I heard a roar so loud it could only be my Uncle Kilgarrah, discovering that I had gone.

AITHUSA!