August 2015

Carl have never seen anything like it, his wife and stepson clearly felt the same. He had seen Cedric's dismissal at the idea of going to this barbeque. His wife, Mithian, was doing it because she seemed to want to rectify a mistake that was hardly hers. But now they looked at the house in front of them. The Pendragon house was impressive. It had been originally bought by Arthur's great-great-grandfather, and had fallen into disrepair. It was only when Uther made an effort did it start to come back together. The house would go to Arthur, who had his own established household, but Uther thought he could trust Merlin to do the right thing at the right time and move the family into what Uther wanted to make a traditional home.

Not that he had mentioned that to Merlin, who adored his own house. He maybe just needed to encourage Merlin to put some sort of stamp onto this house, and Uther had been wondering how to do that, when Merlin had, in his own immeasurable style, done so of his own volition.

"Who invited him?"

"That's George's father," Arthur told Uther as he watched Carl lead his wife and step-son into the garden.

"No, I meant..."

"I did," Merlin said, strategically appearing. "I invited Cenred, I also took the liberty of adding a plus one, I wanted to see if he would invite anyone; the question is, did he invite Morgause, or did she invite herself?"

"You devious little twink!" Morgana hissed at him. "I'll find out," she added before gliding over to greet them both. Morgause looked immensely pleased to see her as her eyes met Morgana's.

"Daddy!" George yelled from the pool. Gwaine stopped him from sinking as he waved and guided the little boy to the side so he could clamber out. Merlin produced as towel, as if by magic, and wrapped George up before letting him trot over the lawn to see his dad. Both Arthur and Merlin watched the whole thing with affection.

"They're doing well now," Arthur said.

"And this is probably the best place to put Mithian and Cedric into the mix, where George is more comfortable," Merlin said.

"And is this theory the same when dealing with Cenred."

Merlin smirked. "No, we're trying to make George's family comfortable, we're off-footing Cenred."

And he waltzed off to instigate the many plans he clearly had.

"Sorry dad," Arthur said, quite unsure if he was sorry or not. There was a pause while Uther examined the interaction.

"I love Merlin," Uther said. "But there are occasions when I worry about his sanity."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

May 2015

"Come on George!" Mordred yelled up the stairs. Merlin stood in the hallway slowly persuading Carl over the threshold.

"Coming!" George yelled. Feet thundered on the stairs and Mordred wandered into the kitchen as George ran down the stairs, with his backpack on, ready to go.

"Hello daddy!"

"Hi, are you ready."

George nodded. "Yes, I have tissues and water and..." George stopped there and looked up at Merlin.

"That's nice, you took your allergy pills?"

George nodded. "Mordred helped me."

"Good, do you have spares," Merlin said.

"Yes. Will I need the tissues then?"

"Yes, keep them there, just in case," Merlin said unzipping the bag to check the contents. Mordred had packed it so there was probably no need, but Merlin did it anyway, because that was what Merlin did. Fussing was an ingrained habit. "You go with your dad." Merlin said, as he zipped the bag back up.

"Where are we going?" George asked.

"To the museums, you like them. We could go to any of them," Karl said feeling quite bemused and disconcerted at to how easily George integrated into this odd seeming household that just looked utterly normal as Arthur, in the kitchen, fed the cat and asked Mordred if he had brushed his teeth. Something that an almost adult Mordred took as normal as he said.

"Yes." And then proceeded to display his teeth to Arthur.

"Science!" George yelled, bouncing up and down excitedly. "Can we go to the science museum!"

"Yes," Karl said.

"George, say goodbye to Winnie, and Elena," Arthur said, coming into the hallway.

"Why are they that way round?" Merlin asked snippily as George trotted into the kitchen to find them both.

"It goes in the order of who came into this household. Winnie was first."

"Where?" George asked as he bobbed back from the kitchen, with Elena in tow.

"To come into this house and be looked after by us. Winnie was first, then Mordred, then Elena, then George, then Sefa, then Cara."

"Then I came back," George said, looking up at Arthur, who ruffled his hair.

"And Mordred came back before you, maybe we should set up a who came back list."

"It was nice to come back, when mummy died." George's little voice wobbled. Arthur put his arm around George, and he leant against him for a moment. "I miss mummy."

"Of course," Arthur said. He looked up at Karl and inclined his head into the living room. Karl took the hint and followed as Arthur gathered up George and carried him in, sitting down with George on his lap. Karl noted that Mordred and a silent, frowning, Elena also came to watch.

"I want mummy."

"We know you do," Merlin said calmly, sitting next to Arthur. "But you knew mummy wasn't well, that's why you came to stay with us."

Arthur had George in his arms and George pushed his face into Arthur's chest. In response, Arthur clung to the little boy. He kissed the top of George's head and Karl felt a surge of jealously as to how natural that looked, when George was his son.

He slid off his seat and knelt by his son. Karl reached out to take his son's hand.

"I'll look after you too. I'm here too, I'll be here."

There was a little bit of nudging on Merlin's part to get Arthur to release his hold on George and he was relinquished to Karl. Who then held onto George but looked as if he didn't quite know what to do with him after that.

"I know you miss Mummy," Merlin said. "And you're not going to stop missing her. You'll always miss her."

"Yes," George said sniffing a little. "She liked the museum too."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

August 2015

"Hi there," Merlin said, beaming from ear to ear as he greeted Karl and Mithian. They both gave slightly awed smiles and George released his hold on Karl.

"Hello, thank you for inviting us," Mithian said. He made no comment on that, their invite was obvious. After they had fostered George for two weeks they had invited him and his mother, they had attended for the last few years.

"Just to let you know, the summer house is set up for people to change into swimwear, ladies and men's areas are signposted. The BBQ will be open in about half an hour. Drinks are over there. The kids games are out and Gwaine is helping out, and probably playing. Toilets are in the house, the lower one is signposted, although there are security who can direct you."

"Security?!" Karl snapped in shock. Merlin turned and shrugged.

"My father-in-law opens his house up, but he's not an idiot," he said. "If you need anything just ask. Do you want to have swim Cedric, or play games?"

"It's lame!" Cedric said, glaring at his mother. Elena ran into Merlin and looked at Cedric disdainfully.

"You're stupid!" she told him rudely before reaching to grab George's hand. "Come play!"

George went with the tug and then paused, holding onto his father with his other hand. Karl looked down at his son.

"You go," Mithian said. Karl went with the pull.

"Daddy, come and see the pool. Arthur taught me to swim!"

Merlin winced a little. That had to hurt. Arthur had been extremely good with George in those first few weeks after his mother had died. He had taken several weeks off, it had been difficult for Merlin to do so. As Morgana was moving into the business Arthur had offloaded quite a significant portion of the work, and he was, Merlin thought privately, looking for something else to put his hand to. Until that came along, he could devote his time to the children.

He watched George waffling excitedly, and then turned to Mithian and Cedric.

"I think the pool will be the most popular spot for a while. If you want to get changed and join in feel free... or would you like a drink."

Merlin noticed that Cedric had started covertly looking at the pool as Elena, George, and Arthur all headed in again, with Karl going to change so he could joint in. Mithian noticed the subtle look and smiled.

"We'll try the pool first."

Merlin grinned at her brightly. "Brilliant. Leon can show you the changing areas in the summer house."

Leon paused, turning and looking confused at that, but as Merlin turned his innocent, puppy-dog eyes in Leon's direction he smiled and proceeded to do as Merlin asked. Merlin felt quite smug. He couldn't flirt, shouldn't flirt, with Gwaine, but he could now and again use his charms to his advantage on Leon and Percival. It didn't work on Lancelot, but Gwen could be employed to get her fiancé to heel. In fact she appeared to relieve Leon of his duty as she went to change into her own costume. She winked at Merlin, and he grinned back. Lancelot wandered over to Merlin.

"What is going on?"

"I'm putting nefarious plans into place."

Lancelot raised his eyebrows. "Nefarious?"

"Ish..." Merlin shrugged. "Be nice to Karl and Mithian."

Lancelot turned, looking slightly flustered as he saw Gwen walk out in a very flattering red bikini. She had been going to the gym recently in preparation for her wedding and it looked to Merlin to be paying off, if the look on Lancelot's face was anything to go by. She pretended to be oblivious and chatted to Mithian while they waited for Cedric. Merlin patted Lancelot's shoulder and then wandered over to Cenred, who had left Morgause with Morgana, and the two women were chatting, Morgause listening intently as Morgana talked.

Cenred looked at Merlin as he approached. His eyebrows lifted slightly as he looked Merlin up and down. For today he had decided not to go into the pool, there were enough people swimming, so he wore shorts and tee-shirt. It was hardly erotic, although the look Arthur gave him this morning said differently. Merlin had just come to the conclusion that he was attractive, despite his own opinion of himself. He was doing something right even if he had no clue what that something was.

"Nice of you to come," Merlin said politely. Cenred looked half-amused, half-furious.

"I'm surprised Arthur invited me."

"He didn't. I did. I thought you two might start getting on better if you were in a social situation, with no business talk."

Cenred raised his eyebrows. "And you want me 'getting on better with him'"

Merlin smirked. "I don't need to worry about Arthur shagging you, he wouldn't do that to me in a million years, and you happened in his past so there is no point me tying myself up in knots about it. However, I don't need you making his life difficult, so you can either learn to play nicely, or I'll set Morgana, and Uther, on you. Would you like a drink?"

Merlin turned to the bar and waved at Viv. She started to mix a drink for Merlin.

"Whatever you're having," Cenred eventually said. Merlin gave another wave and Viv started to mix another, she smirked at Merlin knowingly, and Merlin gave her a sly wink.

"There you go babes," she said as she handed the drinks to Merlin. Taking them he passed one onto Cenred. He sipped at his while Cenred scanned the garden, watching the activity going on. Most of the children were in the pool, George splashing about, showing his father his swimming skills. Elena paddled about with Arthur keeping a close eye on her. Mithian and Cedric had joined them in the pool. Gwaine mucked about with the few children who didn't want to swim, keeping up an endless patter as they played the oversized games, which could irritate adults but the kids, and Gwaine, loved.

"So, what was your real purpose in returning, making money off Arthur, or trying to get him back?"

"Money," Cenred said without looking at Merlin.

"You hesitated," Merlin said.

"What?"

Merlin turned his blue eyes onto Cenred, who couldn't help his ripple of desire. Arthur was far more attractive, but Merlin had something about him, although he was so far removed from Cenred's normal type.

"You hesitated when you said that. Making money out of Arthur is easy, and your business deal was as tight as anything. You didn't need to come back into the country for that, although I doubt you would move from one continent to another just for a relationship with Arthur. But you thought walking back into his life would be easy."

"And you're here to tell me it's not."

Merlin blinked. "I don't need to tell you. And you don't need to feel all threatened; I don't. You could be Arthur's friend, which will probably be far better for you than trying to shag him."

"Is that right?"

Merlin tilted his head, a slight smirk on his face as he looked at Cenred.

"Yes. It is," Merlin told him, and then said nothing more, as someone called his name. Cenred couldn't see who it was, but he knew it wasn't Arthur. "Excuse me, I'm needed. Feel free to mingle."

Merlin cringed to himself, feeling a little mean as he walked away, putting Cenred in his place and leaving him in a situation where the man probably wasn't best at socialising. But as he went over to Mrs Bartlett, who had just arrived, Merlin reached out and waylaid Gwaine.

"Merlin!" Gwaine said brightly.

"I need to say hello to Mrs Bartlett."

"And not me?" Gwaine pouted.

"Hello, Gwaine," Merlin said, and dared to lean over and kiss his cheek. Gwaine grinned. "Now, go and be nice to Cenred."

Gwaine's grin faded. "Seriously."

"Yes," Merlin said. "I have plans in place. Off-footing him socially is a good plan, but we don't want to alienate him to the point that he's hostile."

"Huh?"

"Be polite, talk about building projects, and avoid discussing mine and Arthur's social life."

"Ah, gotcha. Can I flirt?"

"Moderately; as you would to try and get around Arthur."

Gwaine's grin went back to full wattage. "I only try to get around Arthur to get to you."

Then he kissed Merlin full on the mouth and ran away before he could get clobbered, heading over to Cenred to waffle on about concrete, or some other such building subject. Merlin turned, feeling smug that he had handled Gwaine quite well, waved as he caught his mother's gaze, and then he weaved his way across the lawn.

"Mrs Bartlett, lovely to see you!"