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000

"What's going on here?"

Merlin, Leon and Gwaine were standing in Arthur's room.

"I'm not sure exactly," Arthur told his friends. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to rescue you," Gwaine told him.

"Although it turns out you don't need rescuing," Merlin said. "We just met your aunt."

"Turns out that they just wanted to see me," Arthur joked. "So… Guinevere lied to me and they kidnapped me."

"Seriously, what do they want?" Leon asked.

"I don't know," Arthur replied.

"We could just leave," Merlin said. "It isn't like you're locked in."

"I don't want to be rude," Arthur told him.

"Rude?" Leon asked in shock. "They kidnapped you."

"They mean me no harm," Arthur insisted.

"They may mean you no harm," Leon replied, "but I doubt the King will see it that way."

Arthur wanted to believe that his father would not attack Gorlois and have him killed but he knew better, and he knew firsthand how ruthless his father could be.

"I have to get out of here," he said.

"You just said it would be rude to leave," Leon reminded him.

000

"Where is Arthur?"

"I told you," Gorlois reminded Uther. "He's fine, visiting his family."

"If anything happens to him," Uther swore, "so help me, none of your family will live to see another sunset."

"Will you be doing the job yourself, this time?" Gorlois asked him.

"Just bring me my son."

"If you had followed the simple instructions I gave you," Gorlois reminded him. "You'd be with him right now."

"You think I didn't see through your trick?"

"I invited you to my house," Gorlois told his brother, "for a friendly visit."

"A friendly visit?" Uther was incredulous. "You'd have had been killed the minute I set foot in your house."

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already," Gorlois told him. "I wouldn't invite you to my house for that."

"A likely story," Uther muttered, almost to himself.

"So are you coming with me?" Gorlois asked. "Millie is preparing a feast."

"I just want my son back. Have him brought to me and I'll forget this ever happened."

Gaius had been listening to their conversation quietly but now he interrupted them.

"Sire," he said to Uther, "may be it wouldn't be such a bad idea to visit Gorlois' house."

"What?"

"It would give the men a chance to rest, if nothing else," Gaius argued.

"The men don't need to rest."

"And you would see Millie," Gaius finished.

"I don't need to see Millie," Uther denied hotly. "She's dead to me; you're all dead to me."

"And yet here I am standing before you," Gorlois reminded him.

"Don't tempt me," Uther said. "Just bring me Arthur or I won't be responsible for my actions."

The two men were too intent on their argument that neither of them had noticed Arthur and his friends walking up to them. Gaius had seen them and walked over to join Merlin. He softly explained the situation to them.

"Father," Arthur called to Uther.

"Arthur," Uther hurried over to him and hugged him. "Are you fine? Did they hurt you?" He looked him over.

"No," Arthur assured his father. "I'm fine."

"Good," Uther nodded at his men. "Let's get out of here."

000

"He didn't even say goodbye," Millie complained to Gorlois. "He could have found a few minutes to say goodbye."

"I told you that this plan wouldn't work," Gorlois told her. "That Uther would be too pigheaded to make peace with us."

"Well, I got a chance to meet Arthur," Millie replied, "and he seemed like a good person, I'm sure he'll do the right thing eventually."

"If he's anything like my brother," Gorlois shook his head, "he's probably planning to kill us all soon."

"Don't talk like that," Millie chided him. "And about your own nephew, too."

"I don't even know why you like him so much, you don't even know him."

"Gwen likes him," Millie told him; "even Elyan and Morgana said that he was alright and he has a nice smile and good manners. And he's very handsome."

"He abused our hospitality," Gorlois remained her. "Running away like that."

"He stopped Uther from killing you."

"I had it under control."

"Yes," Millie agreed, sarcastically. "You certainly had it under control. You went out to meet Uther alone and unarmed."

"I knew Uther wouldn't dare attack me here."

"You didn't know that."

"Millie, I don't understand exactly what you're saying here," Gorlois told her. "You're the one who wanted me to deceive my brother into making peace with me."

"I did," Millie agreed, "but only because I could see how unhappy you were with how things were. I wanted him to see that we could hurt him if we wanted to."

"And now he knows that we're alive," Gorlois replied. "He knows exactly where to find us if he wants to hurt us."

"Arthur wouldn't let him hurt us," Millie said. "And Uther knows that we survived and that we are strong and more than ready to take him on if necessary."

000

"You know that you can go back and visit her if you wanted," Merlin told Arthur.

"I can't just go back," Arthur replied. "I just run out without a word to anyone."

"To stop your father from doing something he would regret," Merlin reminded him. "Gwen wouldn't only understand that, she will forgive you."

"I haven't spoken to her since the picnic," Arthur said.

"More reason to go, then," Merlin told him. "Unless you're angry with her."

"Why would I be angry with her?" Arthur asked him.

"Well, she did deceive you and have you kidnapped," Merlin pointed out.

"She did," Arthur agreed.

"Although her arguments were pretty persuasive," Merlin added. "Your father did have hers killed and all that stuff."

"Merlin, what are you doing to do here? Convince me to go or not?"

Merlin shook his head and then smiled at his friend. "You want me to tell you what to do?"

"No," Arthur shook his head, "no, of course not."

"Good."

"But you could offer some of that useless advice like you usually do," Arthur continued.

"Why? So you can tell me to shut up like you always do?"

"I don't always tell you to shut up," Arthur denied, "and you do make sense sometimes."

"Really? I'm surprised you noticed, you never listen to what I say."

"Goes to show you how much you know," Arthur said. "So?"

"Visit her," Merlin said. "I think we're overdue for some time off."

"We?"

"I'm not letting you go there by yourself, they kidnapped you, remember?"

"Maybe I shouldn't go," Arthur sighed. "I mean if she wanted to see me she'd have made the effort, wouldn't she?"

"I'll get the horses ready."

000

Gwen picked a flower and tore it to pieces.

"You know we could go back to Camelot," Morgana told her. "I'm sure he'll want to see you."

"If he wants to see me, why doesn't he come back?"

"You did lie to him," Morgana replied, "and then had him kidnapped. Besides, he's a man."

"You always say that like it makes perfect sense."

"Because it does."

000

"Arthur," Guinevere dropped the cloth she was holding and stared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," Arthur smiled at her and bent to pick up the cloth she'd dropped.

"What do you want?"

"I came to see how you were."

"I'm fine," Gwen forced a smile.

"So I can see."

"Good."

They stood in silence for a while. Arthur was racking his brain for something, anything, to say but he couldn't think of a single thing that would be interesting to Gwen.

"This is a very beautiful house."

"Yes," Gwen agreed. "You should have seen it before Mum got to work on it."

"So, how are you?"

"I'm fine," Gwen replied, "don't I look fine?"

"You do."

"So… why are you here?"

"I just wanted… I mean I didn't want you to think that I was angry with you or anything like that," Arthur told her.

"You thought that I would think you were angry with because you haven't said a word to me since the picnic?"

"Sounds crazy, right?"

"You weren't angry?" Gwen asked him. "Not even a little bit?"

"Of course I was angry," Arthur replied. "You had lied to me, and set me up and had me kidnapped."

"Okay…"

"I'm not saying this very well," Arthur said.

"What?"

"Want to take a walk?"

"Not particularly, no," Gwen replied.

"Okay."

"But I'll go with you," Gwen smiled at him.

Arthur smiled at her and held out his hand to her. They walked out of the house hand in hand.

000