That evening, Gwen went home and examined her book of activities. In a special section, she had ideas for trips abroad. She pulled some of her ideas together for places in California and began making calls. She booked a session of swimming with dolphins, a stay at a special dude ranch and more. In the morning, she planned to take these ideas to the Pendragons and book their flights with their approval.

Two days later, she was cycling in the park while Lance ran. She was trying to work out how to tell him she wasn't going to Norway after all, because the trip she booked with Arthur had to be the same week. Finally she simply blurted it out. "I won't be able to go to Norway with you, Lance."

That stopped him in the middle of the trail. He walked the short distance back to where she was stopped. "Why not? I've had this planned for months."

"I've had a work thing come up. A trip I need to go on with Arthur."

"Another trip? What makes this one special?"

"We're going abroad. It's for his health and I need to go to take care of him."

Lance stepped closer. "Can't they get an agency nurse or something? I thought you wanted to be with me."

"I do, Lance. It's my job; I need to go."

"Fine. I guess I know where your priorities lie." He took off running again.

"Lance . . . Lance!" she called out, but he didn't respond in any way. He kept running.

Gwen sighed in frustration as her phone pinged with an incoming text message from Merlin. Arthur had been taken to the hospital with pneumonia. She hopped back on her bike and rode home, where she caught a bus that took her to the hospital.

The text had told her what floor but not much else, so she rushed up to the nurses' station and asked where Arthur Pendragon was. They gave her a room number and she strode there to find Merlin and Uther outside the room. "How is he?" she asked.

"As well as can be expected. This is his fourth bout in two years. The last one almost killed him," Uther answered.

"Don't worry; he's tough," Merlin added.

"Was it the wedding? Am I responsible? Oh, man." Gwen had sat in one of the chairs next to Uther but now she stood and started pacing.

Merlin put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "No, it's nothing you did or didn't do. His immune system isn't the best—it just strikes."

"That's awful." She glanced up and through the window into the room. Arthur lay in the propped-up bed, connected to several tubes and wires. Igraine sat next to him, holding his hand. "Can I go in and see him?"

"It's best not. Only one visitor allowed at a time and Igraine needs her time with him," Uther replied.

"All right." She sat down in a chair again, next to Uther, and they talked quietly for a little while.

After an hour or so, Merlin's phone rang. Another one of his clients needed him. After being reassured that it was okay for him to go, he left.

A few more hours later, near dinnertime, Gwen got up in search of coffee. Uther had gone home for a couple hours' rest. She bought another coffee for Igraine and took them both up to Arthur's room. Noticing Arthur was asleep, she opened the door as quietly and stepped inside.

Igraine looked up. "Oh, Gwen," she said.

"Here." Gwen held out the coffee.

Igraine took it. "Thank you."

"I can relieve you now, if you want to go home for a little while."

"I would like to go home and change my clothes," Igraine replied. She picked up her purse and stood, coffee in hand. "Thank you again."

"Of course. It's no problem at all."

Igraine left and Gwen sat down in her place. She took Arthur's hand and held it. His hand was smooth and warm, and she found herself quite enjoying holding it.

A couple hours later, Arthur's eyes blinked slowly open. Gwen stood and leaned closer to see what he would do. He opened his mouth as if to speak, so she took his oxygen mask off. "Hello," she said.

"You're here. I thought it would be mum," he rasped.

"She was; she left a little while ago but will be back soon. How are you?"

"I've been better."

"I don't know, Arthur, you'll do anything to get attention." She smiled brightly at him, hoping he'd return it.

"I don't think I can do witty today, Smith." He closed his eyes and turned his head away. She put the breathing mask back on and settled back into the chair to wait for Igraine's return.

xxxXxxx

After Igraine's return, Gwen went home to sleep. The next morning, she dressed and went to the Pendragons' as usual, even though Arthur wouldn't be home for a few days. She puttered around the annex, cleaning and tidying here and there until the places in California opened. Everything she had booked she needed to cancel, since they obviously wouldn't be leaving in three days as planned.

Merlin came in as usual and found Gwen sitting at the table, on the phone. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Cancelling everything I had planned," she replied, placing a hand over the receiver.

"Oh, yeah." He sat down at the table across from her.

She finished the call and looked at Merlin's dejected posture. "You know, don't you?"

"Yeah, I've been with him over two years. I got to witness his first attempt at suicide. Unfortunately I see it a lot in my line of work, but I've learned not to judge others for their choices. He's in a lot of pain all the time, but he'd do anything to make you happy."

Gwen paused a moment at that. On some level, she knew this, but it was another thing to have it stated so plainly. An idea struck her then. "If I could plan another trip and clear it with the doctors, would you come?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, Merlin."

He nodded and got up. Gwen looked down at her binder. She'd printed out several possible locations for trips. She looked for a place where several activities could be done without leaving a single location. When she found one in Mauritius, she pulled out Arthur's laptop and looked the place up for current information.

Everything would depend on when Arthur was cleared to leave the hospital and what his doctors would say about her idea, but Gwen was optimistic. Time was passing quickly, but she still had several weeks before Arthur's scheduled trip to the suicide clinic. If she could only change his mind before then . . . well, she'd have to get started.

That night, she got home to find the house deserted, save for Lance. "I'm sorry I got upset at you the other day," he explained as he led her to the table, which was set with candles and dinner for two.

"Oh Lance, it's all right. This looks really good."

"And low-calorie."

They sat down and ate dinner, talking about their various workdays. Once they finished, they cleared the table and washed the dishes. Gwen was drying the last plate when she heard Lance ask behind her, "What's this?"

She put the plate down and turned to find him holding her trip binder. "Oh. It's for the trip I told you about. For work."

He flipped through it. "Five-star hotel. Luxury spa. Swimming with dolphins. Scuba diving. This isn't a work trip, it's a honeymoon!"

"Lance, his other caregiver is going too."

"Oh, a honeymoon with two men! Gwen, this isn't right."

"I swear nothing is going on between us."

Lance chuckled, but it held no humor. "Gwen, if you can't see what's wrong with this, then you aren't the woman I thought you were. Seven years! I can't believe it. We're through."

"Lance! Lance, wait—" But he picked up his jacket and walked out the door.

Gwen stood there, shocked, but also relieved. Relieved because she knew she felt something for Arthur. She'd had no intention of acting on it, but now all kinds of possibilities opened up to her. Maybe, just maybe this could be the way she convinced Arthur to not go through with his plan. If he felt the same way, could she convince him to stay with her?

xxxXxxx

Arthur returned home five days later. By then, his doctors had cleared the trip to Mauritius, so Gwen had booked the flight and scheduled the activities. There was nothing left to do but live through the remaining days and pack.

Finally the first day of the week-long trip arrived. The Pendragons picked up Gwen from her home and they drove to the airport, where they cleared security and the other checks with no problems. They boarded the private plane and relaxed into its luxurious seats once all the baggage was stored. Gwen couldn't stop fidgeting; this was her first overseas flight.

They arrived at nightfall and were taken by taxi to their hotel, where they were greeted and shown to their adjoining rooms. That night they all slept well and woke to a beautiful tropical sunrise, ready to start their stay in paradise.

While Merlin helped Arthur with his morning routine, Gwen dressed and took a walk on the beach, which was a stone's throw from the sliding glass doors of her room. She enjoyed the warmth for a while before going back to Arthur's room. He had fallen asleep again, so she opened his patio doors and sat outside, reading, until he woke up again.

Two chapters into her book, a "Hey" emanated from the bed.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," she replied.

"What's the plan for the day?"

"Well, the front desk has DVDs for loaning; we could borrow one."

Arthur made a face. "We didn't come all this way to watch DVDs."

Gwen laughed. "All right, what would you like to do?"

And that's how, a short time later, she and Arthur ended up outside on the beach. They lounged in the shade and watched Merlin attempt stand-up paddleboarding. They both thought he was trying it simply because of the beautiful female instructor, so when he flailed and fell in, they laughed heartily.

He must have made an impression despite his clumsiness, because when they adjourned to the pool after lunch, the woman joined them. Arthur made it into the pool with Gwen and Merlin's help. He declared that it "felt good" to be out of his chair and floating freely. From the smile on his face, Gwen had to agree. He looked more relaxed than she'd ever seen him.

The next morning found Arthur and Gwen on the beach, reading and sunbathing. They watched Merlin's lesson again, giggling when the instructor had to rescue him again and again. But she seemed to take a great deal of care in it, so they privately agreed that Merlin's helpless act must be working on her. Also, Arthur surprised her by saying he'd signed Gwen up for scuba diving lessons. She protested, saying she'd probably be too scared. He looked into her eyes and stated, "You can do anything you put your mind to." She nodded and said, yes, she'd try it.

They had dinner at sunset, talking about their days so far. Merlin appeared sometime later, during their cocktails, with the lovely instructor at his side. "If it's all right with you two, I'm going to walk Freya to her hotel. I don't think it's safe out there."

Gwen and Arthur exchanged a glance, both thinking, yeah, right. But Arthur simply said, "That's very chivalrous of you."

"Very civic-minded," Gwen chimed in.

Merlin glanced between them before saying, "Oh kiss off, the both of you."

"We'll be fine," Arthur said.

"See you later," Gwen added.

"Have fun," Arthur called as Merlin and Freya walked away. They giggled and enjoyed the sun setting the rest of the way before Gwen led Arthur back to his room for bed.

By now Gwen could take care of most of the things Merlin could do, so she helped Arthur with changing his tubes and the like. As soon as she finished that, the storm that had been threatening all afternoon finally broke. They'd never seen a thunderstorm quite like this one; it frightened Gwen a bit, so she went to close the patio doors, but Arthur's voice stopped her. "No, don't. Leave them open. I want to see it."

Gwen backed away from the doors and walked to the head of Arthur's bed. She knelt down on it so she could adjust his head to a more comfortable position. While her hands were still under his head, he gave her a look. It said everything she'd wanted to say to him and more. "Don't go back to your room tonight," he said.

She paused for a moment, looked into his eyes and decided. She drew her other leg onto the bed and curled into him, still holding onto him. She bent down to press their lips together at last. He moved his head into it, which told her that she was indeed reading the situation right. She sighed into the kiss and savored the contact for as long as she could. When she finally opened her eyes, she found he'd opened his and the power had gone out. They laughed together.

Gwen settled herself more fully into the bed and pulled the covers over her. She reached an arm over Arthur's chest and drew herself as close as she could possibly get. After a final kiss to the side of his neck, she relaxed into the position and drifted off into sleep.

xxxXxxx

Gwen woke just after dawn and noticed Arthur was awake. "I'll be right back," she whispered, and went to her room to change her clothes. When she returned, she found Arthur asleep again, so she resumed the position she'd taken the night before and drifted off again.

She woke again to sunlight streaming in through the open doors. The storm had passed in the night and power had returned. She got out of bed and ordered breakfast. It came, and Merlin followed soon after, with a big smile on his face. He checked Arthur over and got him out of bed and dressed, then left.

As Gwen and Arthur ate, he reminded her that "Today is your scuba lesson."

"Oh no! I forgot!" she replied.

"Well it's too late to back out now. You'll need to change into your swimsuit." He glanced at the clock. "It's in twenty minutes. You'd better go now."

Gwen tossed down her napkin and stood. "I'll only go if you come with me."

"Of course, you silly girl. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Now go, get changed."

Gwen hurried off to her room and changed her clothes again. She was incredibly nervous about the lesson, but she'd made a promise.

They met Merlin outside and walked to the pier where a boat waited for them. Gwen took one look at it and turned to Arthur. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you can." She shook her head but he continued to ply her with positive affirmations until they were on the boat and had gone to the lesson site. Gwen followed the instructions of the instructor to the letter and was soon out in the water enjoying herself.

The first time she surfaced, she spotted Arthur on the boat and said, "Why didn't you make me do that earlier? That was amazing!"

"I don't know, Smith, some people just won't be told!" he replied with a laugh.

She joined his laughter and was soon back under the water, exploring all she could see under the sea. When the morning ended, she was full of chatter about this and that she'd seen.

The next three days passed in much the same way the first three had. Gwen went scuba diving again, and even tried paddleboarding with Merlin. When she wasn't engrossed in some activity, she and Arthur laid beachside or poolside and enjoyed the tropical sunshine and air. And every night, she'd curl up at Arthur's side, reaffirming their feelings for each other even though neither said a word.

Finally their last night arrived. After dinner, Merlin left Gwen and Arthur alone to stroll on the beach together. Well, Gwen strolled while Arthur watched from his chair, a big smile on his face. She moved her body to the music being piped around the hotel "I don't want to go home. This has been the best," she said.

She examined him closely and he smiled at her scrutiny. "You're glad you came, right?"

He shook his head, still smiling. "Yes," he finally replied. She danced her way back to him, smiling coyly the entire time. "You . . . you are something else, Smith."

Gwen winked at him, then carefully climbed onto his lap and put her arms around his neck. She pressed their lips together again, and he kissed her back fervently for a minute before pulling away. "I have to tell you something," he said.

"I know. I have known for months," she whispered back. "I know this isn't how you would have chosen it, but I can make you happy."

"I know you can. In fact, you already have. I've become a whole new person these last six months because of you."

She ran her hands through his hair. "I love you."

"And I love you. Oh, if you had any idea what I want to do to you right now . . . It's not going to get better. I'm not going to get better, but if you'll have me, I want you for the rest of my life, however long that is."

She stared at him, eyes wide. "So you're not going to Switzerland."

"I'm not going to Switzerland."

"Oh, Arthur." She leaned forward and pushed their lips together again. They stayed like that for some time, her holding and kissing him as much as he could stand. Then they returned to Arthur's room, where she took care of him, then showed him all the things she wanted to do to him.

Before they drifted off to sleep, Arthur whispered, "Marry me."

Gwen whispered back, "Yes," then sealed the deal with a kiss.