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Exiting the hospital, all Morgana could see was the hammering of early spring downpour. The rain was so heavy that she could barely see in a few meters in front of her, but she made the executive decision to pull her hood up and dash to the car.
The parking charge was ridiculous, but not even the combination of that and the weather could bring her mood down. After over a month of barely being allowed to do anything, her consultant had finally determined that the head injury she had suffered had left no lasting damage and given her the go ahead to return to her normal routine.
Driving away, as she pulled to the stop at the junction with her wipers furiously sweeping back and forth across the windscreen, she glanced over at the centre console and noticed the time. It was half three, so Merlin’s lesson would be finished any minute. He’d ridden his bike in that morning, determined that the parking situation at the college made it easier than driving in and that a little rain would not be a big deal. She flicked her indicator to the other direction, and turned towards the college as the traffic lights turned green.
Pulling into the car park was easy enough, as it seemed that most of the students had already left for the day. She managed to pull into a space right by the entrance, and took out her phone to text Merlin. As she was halfway through typing the message, it occurred to her that she didn’t even know if Merlin had left yet. He normally got out fairly quickly, and his lesson had finished almost a quarter of an hour ago. She climbed out the car, making sure that the hood of her raincoat was not about to go anywhere, and quickly made her way over to the enclosed bike racks.
Merlin’s bike was there, chained up at the end. Morgana turned to go back to the car, but the weather chose that exact moment to double down and blow her hood off. Realising that she was nearer to the entrance to the college, she dashed towards the door.
Luckily, at that exact moment a group of kids were walking out, three of them huddled together under an umbrella, clinging on to it to make sure it didn’t blow away. Morgana smiled at them as she ducked inside, out the rain.
She shuddered as she pulled her soaking wet coat off,
“Hi.” She said to the person sat behind the desk. “I’m Merlin’s wife, he teaches A-level chemistry?”
“I know who Merlin is.” The boy, who couldn’t have been much older than the students, said.
She was slightly taken aback, but continued. “Anyway, I thought I’d surprise him with a lift home because of the weather and the fact he cycled in today. Do you know where I could find him?”
“Labs are just up those stairs.” He pointed to the staircase directly opposite the door she’d entered through.
She nodded, and slowly made her way up towards the labs.
She entered through the door to the corridor of classrooms, but stopped dead in her tracks as Merlin walked out into the corridor. He was laughing with some beautiful young woman, who was clearly infatuated with him if the way she touched his bicep was anything to go by.
“Morgana?” He halted when he saw her, all the laughter fading instantly. “What’re you doing here?”
“My appointment just finished.” She stammered. “I thought I’d pick you up.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She swallowed. “Better than, actually, concussion is all healed and no lasting damage. I got given the green light to go back to normal.”
“That’s great news.” He lit back up.
“Yeah.” She echoed flatly.
“Looks like you don’t need me to give you a lift anymore.” The other woman told Merlin, not helping to alleviate the tension that the air was thick with. “I’ll see you tomorrow Merlin.”
“Yeah, thanks Mithian.” He said. “Thanks for the offer anyway, though. See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.” She smiled sickeningly sweetly at him.
There was an awkward silence as she left, leaving just Morgana and Merlin standing at opposite ends of the corridor.
“So.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Mithian?”
“She’s our lab tech. I must have mentioned her.” His tone was defensive.
“You never mentioned she looked like that.” Morgana scoffed. “Or the fact that you’ve been flirting with her.”
Merlin shook his head in shock. “Flirting?” He repeated. “What are you talking about Morgana?”
“Oh please, I know what I just saw.”
“Then please tell me, because I don’t know what on earth you’re on about!”
“The two of you, flirting! I saw the way she was hanging off you.” She said. “I thought you cared more about me than that, but clearly not.”
“Morgana, no-”
“Save it Merlin.” She turned on her heel and left. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“Morgana, wait!” Merlin called after her as she stormed out of the building towards her car. “It’s not, it’s not what you think.”
“I don’t care if you like her, Merlin!” She turned back towards him. “But flirting, encouraging her to flirt with you? That puts the stability of our marriage into question and risks Mordred’s adoption. And more than that, it’s embarrassing for me.”
“Morgana-” He tried, but she cut him off.
“No, if you had feelings for someone else you should have told me.” She said. “We could have worked something out, but if everything comes out because of this then there’s no way to fix it.”
“Is that what you think?” He asked. “That I have feelings for Mithian?”
“You don’t have them for me.” She said. “And that’s fine, I never expected you to. I just didn’t think you would have an affair when you had them for someone else.”
“I’m not having an affair, she’s my friend!”
“Oh please, you were all over each other.” Merlin took two long strides forward, and before Morgana could process what was happening, he grabbed her face and kissed her hard.
Time seemed to stop. The rain stopped pouring for a moment, or if it didn’t neither of them noticed it continuing. Morgana melted into the embrace as the rest of the world fell away. It was not the chaste performative kiss of their wedding day, nor the drunken desire of their wedding night. It was all consuming, like air had ceded to be a necessity and there was nobody and nothing in the world but the two of them.
“I love you, Morgana.” He said softly when the kiss came to an end, breathless and resting his forehead against hers. “Not Mithian. She is just my work friend and I’m too busy being desperately in love with my wife to have feelings for her.”
“Me?” She breathed, the shock clear in her voice.
“You.” He chuckled. “It’s always been you. Since I was eighteen and you held my hand whilst ice skating and we both ended up on our arses. I am in love with you. I married you, I am adopting Mordred with you. It’s you, Morgana. Always has been, always will be.”
“But, you never said anything.” She murmured.
He took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to pressure you.” He started to explain. “You didn’t feel the same way and-”
“I did. I do, I have.” She swallowed. “For years. I thought you didn’t like me back. I love you Merlin, more than anything, and I didn’t want to lose you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, laughing softly into his shoulder.
He swung his arm over his shoulder and started walking toward the car.
“Come on.” He pressed a kiss to her hair. “Let’s go get Mord and go home.”