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“Cae, Hurry up! We’ll be late!” a deep voice rang through the house.
Arthur grunted and turned over in his warm and soft bed, when he heard the owner of the voice sneak his way into the room.
The light footsteps stopped by the window, and the rustling of curtains opening followed.
“Arthur, wake up! Let’s have you lazy daisy!” Merlin chirped cheerfully, coming over and pulling the thick blankets off his friend.
“Nggh...No…No..Nooo” Arthur whined as Merlin then proceeded to drag the former king of Camelot off the bed and onto the floor.
“Come on Arthur, I don’t have time for this, you have to entertain yourself only for today, after that Caelia can stay at home with you.” Merlin
“Mm, why couldn’t she do so before?” Arthur yawned, as he scratched at the scruff on chin.
Merlin rolled his as he shoved Arthur towards the ensuite and proceeded to the staircase.
“Because she has school and today is the last day before Christmas holidays.” he informed on his way down.
Arthur rolled his eyes at his former manservant’s cheer, especially so early in the morning. He completed his morning ablutions, which he realised pleasantly, took him less time and caused less confusion.
After shrugging on his soft, red dressing gown over his bare torso, he made his way to the bright and colourful kitchen.
Caelia was perched on one of the high bar stools next to the kitchen island, picking at her toast and glaring tiredly at her coffee. Her chin-length, black hair was resembling a bird’s nest, and she had put the buttons of her uniform shirt in the wrong holes.
“Good morning Caelia.” Arthur yawned again as he sat in the chair closest to her at the table.
“Morning Arthur.” she replied sleepily, stifling a yawn herself.
Arthur himself felt the same as she looked, until Merlin placed a plate full of eggs, bacon, sausages, beans and heavily buttered toast. He grunted in gratitude and tucked into his meal.
Merlin rolled his eyes at both of his companions' attitudes, and sat down to eat his own meal.When they had all finished their breakfast, both father and daughter gathered their things and headed out the door. Merlin waved his hand over Caelia, his eyes turning a startlingly beautiful gold for a moment, and her clothes corrected themselves, but her hair refused to be tamed, just like his own hair, much to his frustration.
“Thanks Daddy. Bye Arthur! I’ll be home by two o’clock at the latest, stay out of trouble. And remember Leo is coming for dinner tonight.” Caelia hugged the former King goodbye and sauntered towards the robin’s egg blue jeep waiting in the driveway.
“Right, she’ll be home by two, I’ll be home by six o’clock and I'll be coming with Leon, alright ? But he'll come to our house at 6:30, so don't worry about anything. I'll make sure he won't say anything that will make you uncomfortable, um.. I left pasta in the fridge for lunch, remember no metal in the microwave this time. If you need a snack there are plenty of things in the cupboard, if anything happens or if you absolutely need something, that is an emergency, call me and if I don’t pick up call Cae. Be careful, alright?” Merlin rattled on, rubbing at his neat beard.
Arthur’s eyes were drawn to his friend’s jaw and by default his lips. For a moment Arthur was struck with the urge to just lean over and kiss them. An urge he immediately tamped down. No, no, uh-uh, I just came back to life not even a month ago! I do not need these feelings again! He has a child now, he is a he! I really don't need this right now! I have more important things to think of!
Arthur had to physically shake his head to clear all thoughts of kissing Merlin and his building panic. Thankfully Merlin seemed none-the-wiser to Arthur’s rising anxiety.
“Don’t go shaking your head at me! You're the one who nearly set my house on fire and ended up calling the CIA in America! How did you even manage to do that in the first place ?" Merlin asked incredulously.
"I don't know Merlin, I just pressed the white numbers into the magic box and they're the ones who talked to me."
Merlin opened his mouth, probably to deliver a sarcastic comment, when he was interrupted by the blaring of a horn behind them.
Caelia waved impatiently at her father to get in the vehicle. Merlin scowled at her and held up a single finger to give him a moment. Arthur smirked despite himself at the girl's insolence.
"Teenagers, bloody pain the ass." Merlin muttered under his breath
"Now you know how I felt the entire time you were in my service, Mer lin." Arthur drawled
Merlin glared at his King.
"Shut up you dollophead. I've gotta go, stay out of trouble." He called, jogging towards the jeep, as Caelia kept honking the horn.
They both waved to the blond as they drove away. Sighing Arthur closed the front door and leaned his against the cool wood. Three weeks into this strange world where only Merlin and Leon remained of Camelot, and apparently where Leon had married his long dead queen. He sighed again and headed towards his chambers-no, his bedroom- to change into his day clothes.
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Caelia may not look like her father, but she certainly inherited his magic, clumsiness, tendency to ramble when nervous, ability of working into Arthur's heart and apparently his talent of making up ridiculous and frankly unbelievable lies.
Arthur stood to the side and tried not to look too confused as Caelia spun a tale she pulled out her ass to the grandmotherly woman who was eating it up excitedly.
It was supposed to be a quick trip to what she had called the 'supermarket' and indeed it was super. The giant building was filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, bread, and thousands upon thousands of every food imaginable. He was staring at everything in wonder. This was his first time outside of the house since he first reappeared from the depths of Lake Avalon.
The pair were browsing the aisles for food they needed, when the old gossip had come up to Caelia, eyeing Arthur suspiciously.
"Caelia is that you dear ?" She asked sweetly
Caelia closed her eyes and sighed before facing the elderly woman with a false smile plastered on her face.
"Mrs. Smith! How are you ? I haven't seen you in a few weeks."
"Oh yes dear, my dear Micheal just got a hip replacement, so I stayed to help him out."
Arthur tuned out the old crone filling Cae in about all the gossip of the small town. He remembered how Merlin told him that this is where Elador used to be and the grand house where they lived was where Hunith's hut once stood. A deep sadness filled Arthur as he remembered how his dear friend's eyes were bright with tears that day.
He was abruptly brought out his musings by Caelia spluttering at this Mrs. Smith
"No Mrs. Smith, this is Arthur. He's one of my dad's friends from Uni. He was in a coma for the past twenty years in.. Switzerland, after a terrible snowboarding accident. Yeah he has amnesia and um he only remembered like his name, his parents and dad, because they were best friends back then. And his parents died a while ago and so obviously when dad found out Arthur was awake he invited him to live with us while he recovers." She explained rapidly.
"Oh the poor dear, bless your souls for taking him in. Now you listen to me Caelia, you bring this lovely gentleman with you and your father to dinner with my Micheal and me." Mrs. Smith gushed, pinching Arthur's cheek with matronly affection.
"Oh that would be lovely Mrs. Smith. Thank you for the offer, Arthur where are your manners ? Say thank you to Mrs. Smith." Caelia smiled stiffly, as she subtly elbowed Arthur.
“Thank you, Mrs. Smith.” he said equally stiffly, his cheek was stinging from the old woman's powerful grip.
"Oh dear, no problem at all. You just recover and get your life back in order. I'll be praying for you." Mrs. Smith said solemnly.
Arthur just nodded as he had no idea about how to answer the woman, thankfully Caelia did. And for the sake of Arthur's sanity she led Mrs. Smith and her gossip away from the king.
Arthur heaved a sigh and waited patiently for Caelia to return.
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Arthur was nervous, something he rarely admitted to feeling. After all it's not everyday you reunite with your most loyal knight who is still alive after fifteen hundred years and that said knight had also married and had several children with your 'wife' though technically she was his widow at that point. But before he could get himself worked up, the sound of the front door opening made its way up to his room.
“Leo!” Caelia squealed, her running footsteps were followed by an oomph, as she launched herself into her godfather’s arms.
“Cae, you’re getting too big for this.” a familiar voice laughed.
Arthur slowly made his way down the stairs and came face to face with the red-headed knight.
“Leon.” he said simply.
“Sire.” Leon replied as he disentangled from Caelia and knelt before Arthur.
“Stand up Leon, you have no reason to kneel before a man who is no longer a king.” Arthur said sadly, pulling the older man to his feet.
Leon pulled the blond into a tight hug, and squeezed him, almost to the point of pain. Neither man noticed Caelia slipping away past them towards the kitchen.
“You will always be my king, Arthur. It’s good to have you back. Gwen missed you terribly.” he said tearfully.
Arthur smiled sadly, and moved out of his embrace,
“Yes, I..Thank you, Leon, thank you for taking care of Guinevere, for making her happy for the rest of her life, for taking care of Camelot as you’ve always done. And most importantly for helping Merlin all these years,for being there for him, for both of them when I couldn’t, for helping him raise an amazing child. Just thank you.” Arthur broke off, tears falling from his eyes.
“Oh Arthur, there is much for us to talk about. You don’t know how relieved I am to see you, Merlin has been lost without you. Like he used to say, Camelot just wasn’t the same without you.” Leon smiled sadly, a thousand and half years worth of memories flowing through his mind.
Arthur nodded solemnly, only knowing what Merlin had told him. But knowing that self-sacrificing moron, Arthur can only imagine how much pain and suffering he went through, and won’t tell him about.
“But that is for another day, now we will feast as we did in our youth, remember the past and toast for the future.” Leon grinned dragging Arthur with him to Merlin and Caelia in the dining room.
Much later after a filling meal, Arthur lay in his bed, he thought over everything they had spoken about. Leon had not changed much since Arthur saw him last, he still possessed his curly hair and beard, he was still loyal, wise and kind. Arthur was glad even in this strange new world, some things still remained the same. With a wry smile, he turned on his side and fell into a deep sleep.