(Sorry this wasn't up yesterday. RL happens to me, too…)

Chapter 16: Magic Enough

Merlin was glad to have his phone back.

He was glad to have his clothes back, too, as pajamas were all he'd been allowed the last two days, being wheeled through cold corridors from one test to the next to the next as though he truly was an invalid who couldn't walk. He was glad to be in jeans and boots again, and the short sleeves of his t-shirt didn't bother the IV they'd left in his arm, short length of plastic tubing clipped off and taped down. The last thing to come off or out after the last doctor signed the last sheet of his release.

Any minute now. Toss-up whether the nurse would come to pull the needle before or after Arthur arrived to pick him up.

Merlin sat on the edge of the high thin hospital bed and tapped the toes of his boots on the shiny tile floor, listening to the ringing extension at a certain desk of the Sun-Star's second floor and thinking of the last time he'd been in the hospital, and she'd written the number on the dry-erase patient's board in the room.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, it's me." He couldn't help grinning at the sound of the pleased little gasp she made. He loved the sound of her voice, and the thought that she might feel the same way to hear his.

"Merlin! I haven't talked to you for – oh, it's got to be twelve hours now! How are you?"

His grin widened at her teasing. "I told them my heart was fine. It has to be stronger than normal to make it through two coronary events."

"What did they say?"

He tapped his toes again, growing more serious. "They can't find any damage. No scarring, no blockages, rhythm steady under stress…"

She hummed contentment with the assessment, and he heard the clicking of her keyboard as if she was doing some simultaneous work.

So he continued slyly, "Care to test their theory?"

"Hm… what?"

"What are you wearing?" he said – glancing up at the doorway just as a passing nurse glanced in. Hoping she hadn't heard – and grinning again in case she had.

"My bathrobe," Freya answered, sounding on the edge of laughter. "Fuzzy pink slippers."

"Is that it?" he said hopefully, closing his eyes to better visualize the image.

"Well, not counting the purple curlers in my hair and the green mud-mask on my face…" He laughed out loud, and could swear that he heard her self-satisfied smirk when she added, "So they're letting you out, huh? Without restrictions?"

He made a rude noise, having no intention of following exercise regimens or diets or courses of vitamins, though Gwen would probably make sure he came in for his follow-ups with a cardiologist. "Just a little TLC, they said… How about I come over tonight?"

"Oh," she said, drawing the word out mournfully. "Not tonight. My sister is in town."

His spine straightened with his surprise. "You have a sister?"

"Yes – but don't even think about setting her up with any one of your friends, she's married. And pregnant."

"Wow," he said, his interest piqued. Freya was – so unexpected; he loved that about her, and every new or quirky revelation. "How about if I just stop by to meet her? And maybe snatch a kiss – from you – in the hallway?"

"Well… if you bring honey-walnut shrimp, we'll let you in for dinner."

"Deal," he said immediately. "Oh – if you don't recognize me without my hair, I'll be the one in the ballcap with a Leon's Locksmith logo."

That wasn't a joke, either; Leon had brought it himself as a sort-of get-well present, and it was waiting on the folded hospital blanket at the foot of the bed.

He heard Freya sigh through the phone; she'd already been to visit him, too, so she knew about his shorn scalp – but she didn't seem to have the same fascination with his head that he did with hers. His too-close-to-the-skin haircut made her sad, for some reason.

"Tell her it'll grow back," Arthur said, arriving in the doorway to lean on one shoulder.

Merlin smiled to see him looking rested and content – no shadows in his eyes after he'd had time to absorb and think about what happened at his father's house.

"Did you hear that?" he said into his phone. "Arthur says it'll grow back – and he should know."

"Oh, say hi for me," she told him. "And we'll look for your ball-cap around six-thirty or seven-ish?"

"Ish," he said. "On the dot."

"You're so weird," she told him, snickering. "Love you."

"You, too," he said. "See you." He looked down to touch the screen of the phone to end the call, and Arthur sauntered into the room.

"You look better since yesterday," his friend observed.

Laying the phone down on the sheet next to his hip, Merlin leaned back on his hands on the hospital bed. "That's because they let me sleep more than one hour at a time before waking me up to take my vitals." He grinned. "And, I have a date tonight. Freya says hi."

"Ah." Arthur nodded, lowering himself into the guest chair.

"Meeting Freya's sister," Merlin added. "I mean, she knows Gwen and now she's met my mom and dad – have to ask her to the house for dinner one of these days – but this is the first of her family I'm meeting."

"Mm hm." Arthur was looking just slightly past him. Preoccupied.

"Are you ok?" Merlin asked.

"Yeah," Arthur answered, like he always did. Like he wasn't sure what or even why Merlin was asking.

So Merlin just waited. Whatever was bothering his friend would probably come out in Arthur's next comment… or so he hoped.

"The light was blinking on your phone on your desk," he said, rubbing his palms on jean-clad thighs, briefly.

"What?" Merlin was distracted by the arrival of the nurse, a thickly built gal with big curls set in her blonde hair.

"I have all your paperwork," she informed him cheerfully. "Let's get that hardware out of you before you go street-side, how does that sound?"

"All right," Merlin said, holding out his arm as she claimed the doctors' backless wheeled stool, and some bandaging supplies from a nearby drawer. He kept his eyes on Arthur, who was staring out the window. "What about my phone?"

The nurse glanced at his face, beginning to peel off the tape holding everything in place on his arm and hand, in case he was addressing her. Arthur moved only his eyes to meet Merlin's.

"Your voice mailbox was full," he told Merlin. "So I played the messages and took notes."

Merlin's eyebrows lifted on their own – but Arthur was socially unconventional, and he liked that about his friend. "Anything good? That phone's all business, you know."

"Yeah, I guessed. There were some job offers. One woman, it sounded like, wanted you to find her the perfect child to… um, adopt."

The way he said the word nudged Merlin's suspicions, though not the nurse's. Arthur gave him a little grimace, before switching his gaze to the window again. Well, there were those. And there were those who assumed a P.I. had no morals or qualms that weren't for sale at the right price, either. But that Arthur had noticed from the message, which would have been carefully not incriminating…

The needle came out with a pinch and a sting, covered by the pressure of the nurse's highly capable thumb, as she arranged gauze and sticky tape for the site. "Almost done…"

"You drove the truck?" Merlin assumed.

Arthur nodded. "I have my stuff packed in the back, too."

Merlin frowned – then adjusted his face to a smile as the nursed moved between them with a clipboard.

"Sign here, and here – then you're all set. You know your way out? or you can follow the Exit signs, or just ask someone. Thanks – take care, now!"

The frown pulled his brows together again, and he made no effort to rise from the bed to his feet as the departing nurse left them alone again. "You packed?"

The side of Arthur's mouth quirked wryly. "Unless you want me to keep sharing your bed?"

Oh, yeah. Plans had to become reality tonight.

"I thought maybe you could drop me at that motel we stayed at, before," Arthur continued. "Maybe I'll go back to Gaius' eventually… but Lancelot and the ADA both said to stay in town…"

"That motel is a dump," Merlin stated. "You're not staying there anymore. I don't know how fast the DA's office wants to move against your uncle or Dr. Morgause, but it's cheaper to rent an apartment than a motel room for a month or more. I thought we could have a two-bedroom – I can't afford to pay much, but…"

Now Arthur was staring, and Merlin faltered, unsure of himself and unable to read his friend's reaction.

"I mean," he said. And looked down to fold his discharge papers, clumsily and unevenly. "I thought… Since I'm supposed to take it easy… and you can't exactly share my bed at home…"

Awkward.

"If you wanna work for me," he muttered, feeling the heat of his flush. "Gwen said I needed someone to watch my back, crazy stuff I get into. Obviously. And we could share an apartment and have the office out of it, closer to the city than my parents' house, so you wouldn't have to be on your own… Unless you want to be. And find another job… go back to the farm when this is over. Or somewhere else."

"Work for you?" Arthur said. He sounded incredulous, but Merlin couldn't figure why.

"With me, I mean," he amended. "Go halves on payments and expenses. Gaius said he was teaching you some stuff… and a lot of it isn't difficult, only patience and common sense…"

"You want me to work with you?" Arthur said.

"Well, yeah. I probably have a ton to do to catch up… And, if you want to."

Arthur's face split lopsidedly into a delighted grin. "Yeah, I want to. I really want to."

Merlin smiled in relief, and grinned back.

"Well, that could have been smoother," Gwen said sarcastically from the doorway, dressed in her favorite lavender scrubs for work – but she was smiling wide and happy, too. "Go on, get out of here – we need the room."

…..*….. …..*….. …..*….. …..*….. …..*…..

Summer in the city sometimes made Arthur wish he was back on Gaius' farm, letting the cool apple-scented breeze dry work-sweat from his skin… But there, he'd been tasked with chores by another's direction and bidding, and here… here he was partner and equal, not just because Merlin said so, but because he had good and profitable ideas of his own. Here he could choose.

And the park in the middle of the city was almost as good as the farm for relaxing in warmer weather. It was shady, and cool when the breezes crossed the duck pond.

Which was where he was supposed to meet his friends, a quarter of an hour ago.

He caught up to Merlin and Freya, and Gwen, near the Hermes Bridge – and caught Gwen by surprise with an arm around her waist and a kiss that nearly missed her cheek, as she jumped.

"Oh – Arthur!" she said, relaxing toward relieved – then lightly scolding.

"Well, who else would it be?" Arthur asked her.

"Hey again," Freya said, extending her hand for a more casual greeting. "Since I don't want that to happen to me, I'm keeping you at arms-length."

"Not always easy to do," Arthur returned, lifting her hand so swiftly she couldn't snatch it back before he kissed the back of it. "Or effective."

"You're going to want to wash your hands, now," Merlin advised her, grinning. Then looked at Arthur, eyebrows climbing toward the adjustable strap of the back of his Leon's Locks ballcap, which crossed his forehead as he wore it with the brim over his neck. "Good mood, huh? This morning went well?"

"Yeah – we got that call from Downs Premium," Arthur said, even though he knew that wasn't his friend and partner meant.

"Downs Insurance?" Gwen said, to check what he meant and ask him to explain.

"They want us to do a certain percentage of their background checks on prospective clients," he told her. "And at the other end of things, investigate a certain percentage of claims."

"That sounds like a lot of work," Gwen said uncertainly, and he could see from her eyes that she was thinking from a nurse's perspective, too.

"Not really. Gwaine's able to do quite a bit to help, fact-checking and so on – good legal work for him," Arthur joked.

"Sounds boring, though," Freya said to Merlin, puzzled by their delight in gaining the contract. Arthur almost laughed; one thing he loved about the work Merlin had introduced him to, it was never boring.

"Not always," Merlin told her. "People are devious. We just get to be devious-er."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, at least I know I'm safe telling Percival to ignore any suggestions you have about the book. Devious-er, really?"

"If he writes it?" Gwen asked.

That one of the only things in his life right now that Arthur wasn't sure how he felt about it. A novel, a work of fiction, based on his life but with enough changes that no one – hopefully, that was a sticking point – would realize it. As an alternative to the bold, bald news-story with all the gruesome and humiliating facts.

"When he writes it," Freya corrected.

It had been her idea, he suspected, though Percival was to author the work. The journalist in her felt very strongly that his story should be told, but this was a way the friend in her could keep him anonymous and protected. And by extension, Merlin.

"We'll see," he said.

Gwen drew his arm through hers, and nudged him to walk in the direction of the bridge they'd been wandering when he joined them. She repeated Merlin's question with a quieter earnestness, "But, about this morning?"

This morning he'd been in court.

"Lancelot says hi," he told her.

She rolled her eyes, but both of them had been pleased to hear that their friend was anticipating a third date with a cute court stenographer, this weekend. Since Arthur and Gwen were, y'know, together.

"He texted me," Merlin commented. "The judge had you giving private testimony in chambers?"

"The DA wants separate trials for my uncle and Dr. Morgause," Arthur told them. That made sense to him, since they weren't accused of the same things, only related things. "But the judge proposed that I be allowed to submit a written statement rather than appear as a witness on the stand."

"Why?" Freya asked.

He looked over his shoulder at her. Merlin wore a funny little half-smile that squinted his eyes a little; only he knew that Arthur had recognized the judge presiding over both cases, as a former client of the Penned Dragon. It wasn't a conflict of interest, as many people in the justice department had the same distant connection of having visited the facility, but this particular judge wanted reassurance that Arthur knew no particulars of any of the sessions – and to keep any left-field questions from the defense from leading Arthur's testimony out of bounds.

"The trauma of the victim," Arthur said lightly. Though he was still uncomfortable thinking of himself in those terms… well, after the trials were over, he could begin to forget that part of these last few months, at least. "Although, I still have that appointment with the psychologist next week as the state's expert witness."

"I'll coach you before you go," Merlin said. "It won't be hard."

"You should maybe dress like you did when we left the city," Gwen suggested facetiously, squeezing and swinging his elbow. "Then no one will dare doubt your mental competence in giving evidence."

Merlin snickered, and Freya said, "I kind of wish you'd taken pictures."

"Well," Arthur stopped at the foot of the bridge to turn and face them. "Now that Merlin is the one without hair, we could have Gwen duplicate the fanged viper she drew on my scalp like a tattoo, on his head."

"Hey, yeah!" Gwen agreed, giggling.

Merlin made a face, resettling his ballcap – he really did look odd without hair, far too pale and bony. But it was growing back, if slowly.

"It wouldn't exactly match mine, though," Freya remarked. "Mine's only a rosebud."

"What?" Merlin said, appearing more stunned than Arthur felt, at that revelation. "You have… a tattoo…"

"On my scalp, yeah." Freya fisted her hand around the ponytail she wore at the nape of her neck with a slight flush of self-consciousness. "You can't really see it since my hair grew out over it…"

"She has a rosebud tattoo on the back of her head," Merlin said faintly to Arthur and Gwen. "I've got to marry this girl."

Arthur smiled and Gwen laughed, and Freya pushed Merlin's arm. "Oh, stop kidding around."

But Merlin was focused on searching his jeans pockets for something, and said distractedly, "I'm not… oh. Nope, can't wait anymore, not after that. Where is it?... Here."

He plucked something tiny and shiny from his hip pocket, and brandished it triumphantly between thumb and forefinger – as he dropped to one knee, there on the footpath at the bottom of the bridge, nearly causing a lanky middle-aged power-walker to trip, passing behind him.

"I could say something cheesy about joining me for life's adventure," Merlin said, offering the object – holy damn, ring – to Freya. "But I won't."

"You just did," Arthur interrupted, astounded himself - and he was Merlin's roommate. He was the one who had to listen to his friend's enamored rambling after a date. Gwen elbowed him, eyes wide and fixed on Freya, who'd frozen in place with her fingertips covering the expression of her mouth.

"Anyway, marry me?" Merlin said, heartbreakingly earnest. "I'll eat you up, I love you so…"

Gwen snickered and Freya huffed a surprised laugh. Arthur didn't get the reference, if that's what it was.

"Well," Freya said, pretending to be stern. She dropped her fingers and glanced around. "I'm not going to say yes while you're down there on the ground. People are starting to stare."

Arthur checked; she was right. People pointed, smiling and laughing – stopping others who reacted the same. A fifty-ish couple were stopped on the bridge above and beyond them, watching unabashedly. He couldn't help his own grin, himself.

It didn't seem to faze Merlin, who pulled the ring back slightly with a quizzical look. "So the answer would be yes if I was on my feet, but while I'm kneeling it's no?"

"Yes," Freya said – and in response to the delighted grin that beamed across Merlin's face, hastened to corrected herself, "I mean, no! I mean, get up you crazy man!"

"What if I lie down on my back?" Merlin said. "What would the answer be then?"

"Oh my gosh you're impossible!" Freya exclaimed. "I won't say yes or kiss you til you stand on your own two feet like an intelligent and reasonable person!"

"For a kiss I will," Merlin declared. He leaped up to seize her around the waist and claimed her mouth in a thoroughly possessive kiss… that lasted and lasted, while she groped blindly with her free hand for the ring he held, and he moved it – also blindly – further out of the way.

Gwen was giggling, trying to tug Arthur onto the bridge, away from their two friends, but he resisted, enjoying the free, happy, odd way Merlin and Freya loved each other. It seemed to him that they were very well matched, no matter what it meant for eventual changes in living arrangements. Probably not much in the near future, as he and Merlin shared, and Gwen had moved into the second room in Freya's apartment after her internship at the hospital became an actual job.

"Will you – give me that thing!" Freya demanded indistinctly, her lips still pressed to Merlin's. He allowed her to catch it and she broke away from him to inspect it, saying candidly, "It better not be a diamond."

"What do you take me for, a rich guy?" Merlin said with mock outrage. "No, it's a white sapphire – and see, the marquise is tilted halfway between vertical and horizontal…"

"Come on, let's give them a minute," Gwen said in his ear, and this time he let her lead up him the bridge. "Omigosh, marriage," she continued in a murmur, smiling as they passed the dewy-eyed fiftyish couple still watching Merlin and Freya flirting.

"Just engagement," Arthur said mildly.

"Still, a big step," Gwen countered, "for my little brother."

"Not really," he answered thoughtfully. "I mean, if you know you love someone and want to be with them… And if they know you…"

Gwen paused, and Arthur realized they were only a step away from a red scroll tucked in the juncture of three of the wall-stones. He reached to collect it, wondering if Gwen knew what it was. She didn't ask, but neither did she say anything when he flattened it.

"If they know the very worst there is to know about you…"

He began to rip little bits of the red paper, and tossed them over the side of the bridge. You cannot suppose I would be so gullible as to trust the relation you claim… the desire I feel at the prospect of reunion… The funeral had been attended – though he hadn't shed a tear, nor had he tried to – but his father's Last Will And Testament held nothing for him. He wasn't surprised or disappointed at that. Only free.

"And," he threw the last bit into the water, "if they loved you anyway…"

She leaned against him, comfortable under the crook of his elbow around her shoulders, tipping up her chin to offer her eyes as the perfect medium for him to float in, weightlessly content.

"That's magic enough for me," he finished.

The End.

A/N: If you want to express an opinion about what I write next, I've got a poll on my profile with… 7? is it really 7? ideas on it, all period pieces rather than modern a/u's. However, I probably won't post a first chapter until May, at the earliest…

Thanks so much to everyone who read, especially if you favorited and followed and encouraged with reviews – all so very important to the inspiration of an author!