Part 13: link

This chapter is dedicated to Stacey for her birthday! Happy birthday, darling!


    “Who could that be?” Gwen asks when her phone vibrates on her desk. Merlin looks over from his computer screen and shrugs.
    “Hello?” she majibu quietly.
    “Gwen?” a vaguely familiar voice responds.
    “Yes?”
    “This is Uther Pendragon. Sorry to bother you, but…”
    “What’s wrong?” Gwen asks, immediately frightened. Why is Uther calling me in the middle of the day?
    “Arthur’s been in a car accident. He’s going to be fine, but—”
    “Which hospital?” she cuts him off, hurriedly shutting her computer down and reaching for her purse.
    “Saint George. He’s still in surgery right now, but I should be hearing something any dakika now, I would think.”
    “I’ll be there in ten,” she says.
    “I’ll meet wewe out front.”
    “What’s wrong?” Merlin grabs her hand.
    “Arthur’s been in a car accident,” she says, her face ashen.
    “Go. I’ll tell Gaius. Just go.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Call me au text me when wewe can,” he calls after her, and she waves.
    She rushes through the hospital doors and Uther spots her immediately. “Gwen,” he calls, and she runs over to him. He gingerly places his arms around her, the awkward hug of a person unaccustomed to giving hugs. He has his mobile in one hand and a plastic pager in the other.
    “What happened?” she asks, clutching his arm. “Is he all right?”
    “He was crossing an intersection and some idiot ran a red light and t-boned him.”
    Gwen gasps, her breath hitching into a small sob. She looks up at Uther and notices he has a slightly haunted look about him.
    “All I know right now is that his leg is broken in two places, he’s got a lot of bruising, and they’re going to have to remove his appendix,” Uther says. They sit in some uncomfortable chairs in the surgery waiting room.
    “He’ll be fine, Gwen,” Uther reassures her. He puts his phone in his pocket and holds his hand out. She puts her hand in his and gnaws at her lower lip.
    They stare at the TV, tuned to some idiotic chat show.
    “Would wewe like some tea?” he asks her.
    “I would like some tequila, but I suppose chai will have to do,” she mutters, and Uther laughs and squeezes her hand. He stands and goes to a small meza, jedwali at one side of the room and prepares two cups.
    “How do wewe take it, dear?” he asks.
    “Milk and one sugar, please.”
    He returns with their cups and they sit and wait.
    “I hate this. Waiting,” Uther says. He sets his cup down and fishes in his pocket, pulling out his phone.
    “Pendragon,” he snaps. “Yes? Good. Well, tell Robinson to expect my full wrath come tomorrow morning. I am, as wewe can imagine, indisposed, and if he cannot get that through his thick skull, then he’s an even bigger idiot that I thought he was. Yes, wewe can tell him that, too. No, still waiting. Thank you, Leon.”
    He puts his mobile away and smiles apologetically at Gwen.
    “The other driver’s insurance company?”
    “Mr. Pendragon?” a nurse walks over to them. “Your son is in recovery. Everything went very well. They’ll be moving him to a room shortly.”
    “His own room,” Uther says, indicating that he will not accept his son sharing a room.
    “Of course, sir. I’ll let wewe know when we get him assigned.”
    “Very good.”
    Gwen sighs and squeezes her arms around herself. She picks up her chai and sips.
    Uther sits down again. “Tell me how wewe and Arthur met,” he says suddenly.
    “What?”
    “I tried asking Arthur, and all he’ll tell me is that it had something to do with the lift at work.”
    Gwen blushes and smiles, looking away a moment. “Well, do wewe remember that big storm back in August? It was a Friday night.”
    “Yes, I think so. Our computer servers were fried Monday morning, I seem to recall.”
    “Well, Arthur and I were in the lift, alone, when the power went out, which is probably what fried your servers. Got ours, too.”
    “Oh…” Uther turns slightly toward her now, eyebrows raised.
    “You’re just an old busybody, aren’t you!” Gwen exclaims, giggling.
    Uther laughs, taken off guard kwa her candor. “I suppose I am,” he shrugs. “So wewe were trapped in an elevator with my son.”
    “In the dark,” she adds.
    “However did wewe pass the time, I wonder?” he says, indicating that he has a pretty good idea already.
    “Well, sir, are wewe familiar with the game ‘Truth au Dare?’”

xXx

    Half an saa later the nurse is escorting them up to Arthur’s room on the third floor.
    His leg is elevated and immobilized, an IV is in his left arm, and there are tubes in his nose giving him oxygen. His entire right side looks like it has been through hell, various cuts and bruises decorating his face and arm, and probably zaidi beneath the blankets and gown.
    “Arthur,” Gwen gasps, rushing over to his left side, pulling a chair closer.
    “He won’t wake up for a bit yet, and even if he does, he’s on pretty heavy pain medication at the moment,” the nurse says, checking a few things.
    Gwen takes his hand gently in between hers, tears falling freely.
    “If I didn’t say yet, thank you, Uther, for calling me.”
    “I knew he’d want wewe here. And I knew you’d want to know, obviously. Did wewe tell Gaius?”
    “My friend Merlin was going to. He told me to just go and he’d let Gaius know what happened. I would imagine Gaius will be calling wewe himself before long.”
    The doctor strides in now, a young, handsome, dark-haired man, almost too handsome to be believed. He looks nothing like any doctor Gwen has ever seen. He looks zaidi like an underwear model than a doctor. He looks positively devilish.
    “Mr. Pendragon,” the doctor says, blinking when he sees Gwen. “Oh. Hello,” he says. Gwen notices the split-second appraisal he gives her and she almost starts giggling.
    “Hello,” Gwen says, still holding Arthur’s hand.
    “I’m Doctor Gwaine McIntyre. I had the honor of removing Arthur’s appendix and putting a couple pins in his knee.”
    “This is Gwen,” Uther introduces her. “She’s Arthur’s girlfriend,” he adds.
    “Well, then, I’d say he certainly has a reason to make a speedy recovery,” the doctor nods, grinning. He approaches the bed, picks up a chart, makes a mark, and hands it to the nurse, giving her some instructions.
    He checks Arthur’s incision, then his leg, and then comes around to adjust some things on his IV.
    Gwen moves out of his way, reluctantly releasing Arthur’s hand. Gwaine notices Arthur whimpered very slightly when she let go of him.
    “He’ll be all right?” she asks, sitting again once the doctor is done with the IV.
    She takes Arthur’s hand again, and as she does, Gwaine watches closely, watching as Arthur’s face visibly relaxes again at her touch. He almost appears to smile.
    “Yes, he’ll be fine. May not be able to run a marathon, but he’ll make a full recovery,” Gwaine answers.
    “Thank you,” she says, turning her eyes back to Arthur.
    “Doctor,” Uther says, turning to talk to the young doctor, accompanying him as he strolls away.
    Alone with Arthur, Gwen squeezes his hand, so broad between her two slender ones. She allows zaidi tears to fall, then, sniffling, she stands and leans closer to his face, near his ear.
    “Arthur,” she whispers, “I dare wewe to get better. I dare wewe to fight. I dare wewe to…” she stops, unable to think of anything else, dropping her head onto the mto beside his, her forehead against the cool but slightly scratchy cotton of the pillowcase, now being wet kwa her tears.

xXx

    Something jolts Gwen awake the morning after Leon and Mithian's wedding. No, something stirs her awake.
    Arthur. His hand is between her legs, fingers moving lazily, leisurely. Gwen stirs, squirms slightly, and moans.
    “Arthur…”
    His lips touch her forehead. “Good morning, my love,” he mutters against her skin.
    “Mmm… What are you…?”
    “I asked wewe for a dare last night,” he says, trailing kisses down her neck now. “You were too tired and mumbled, ‘Oh, I don’t know, surprise me,’ and went to sleep.”
    “Did I? Oh…” she breathes, his fingers moving a little zaidi purposefully now. She flops onto her back to give him better access and moans again.
    “When I woke up, my hand was just kind of… stuck in there,” he punctuates his words kwa dipping a finger deep inside of her, “so I took it as a sign.”
    “Ohhh…” Gwen’s knees fall wide and her back arches as his lips close around a nipple.
    “So… surprise,” he says, smirking at her as he brings her to the brink just dakika after she’s woken.
    “Guinevere,” Arthur’s voice jolts Gwen out of her half-sleeping memory. He’s finally woken, and it’s after three a.m.
    “Arthur, Love…” she breathes, lifting her head from where it had been resting on the mattress near his knee. She stands and moves up to the head of the bed, kissing the un-bruised side of his forehead, the only place she can really get to at the moment.
    “What happened?” he asks, his voice weak and hoarse.
    “You were in a car accident,” she says, fresh tears falling now. “Broken leg. In two places. Internal and external bruising. Oh, and wewe are now minus one appendix.” She brushes his hair off his forehead, toying with the golden strands.
    “How’s my car?” he asks.
    “Your car?” she sputters, almost laughing. He is such a man. “I have no bloody clue how your precious car is, Arthur, nor do I much care!”
    “Ow, don’t make me laugh,” he says, chuckling but wincing.
    “I’ll let your father give wewe the gory details,” she says. “He knows zaidi about it than me.”
    “I’m sure,” he says, stroking her hand with his thumb. “God, I wish I could kiss wewe right now. These tubes are bloody inconvenient.”
    She lifts his hand a little, and bends down to kiss that instead.
    “Not the same,” he complains.
    “I know,” she smiles, pressing his hand to her cheek.
    He looks at her for a few moments, just studying her uniquely beautiful face. It’s tired and her eyes are drooping, but she is still the most beautiful woman in the world to Arthur. “You dared me to get better,” he says finally.
    “You heard me,” she whispers.
    “I did. Thank you.”

xXx

    “We’ll arrange for a nurse to come each day, simple as that,” Uther says the inayofuata day.
    “Dad, I do not need a nurse,” Arthur protests. He is sitting up in bed, IV now gone, tubes no longer in his nose.
    “Well wewe certainly can’t go back to your apartment like that,” Uther motions along Arthur’s right side.
    “He has a point, Arthur, wewe need care for at least a week, maybe two,” Gwaine says.
    “You’ll come to my house,” Uther states decisively.
    “Um, no offense, Dad, but I want to get better.”
    “What on earth does that mean?”
    “He can stay with me,” Gwen says quietly. “I’ll take care of him.”
    Three sets of eyes turn to her now, and she stands. She looks at the doctor and the smirk on his face clearly says I bet wewe will.
    She ignores him and continues. “I have a house, Uther, not an apartment. It’s a single-story. He won’t have to worry about any stairs. And I cared for my father before he died, so I know a bit about what I’m doing. Well, except Arthur isn’t dying of cancer, obviously.”
    “Certainly hope not,” Arthur says. “But what about your job?”
    “I actually have an obscene amount of vacation time accrued because I never use it. Plus, most of my work is done using a computer. I’m sure Gaius would let me work from nyumbani part time.”
    “Especially considering you’ll be caring for his Godson,” Uther chuckles.
    “What?” Gwen says. I knew he was a family friend, but Arthur’s Godfather?
    “He didn’t tell wewe that?” Uther asks.
    “I didn’t want to make things awkward for her at work, Dad,” Arthur explains.
    “So, um, you’ll be staying at Gwen’s, then?” Gwaine asks, steering the conversation back.
    “Yes,” Arthur declares, reaching for Gwen’s hand.
    “I suppose. He’s practically living there already anyway,” Uther says. Arthur looks at him, surprised. “What? wewe thought I didn’t know?” His mobile rings, and he checks the screen. “Morgana,” he tells Arthur, and excuses himself to go and answer it.
    “Um, no… activities for a couple weeks, kids,” Gwaine says, almost out of nowhere.
    “Do I look completely stupid, Doctor?” Gwen asks, unable to help herself.
    “It’s not wewe I’m worried about, Princess,” Gwaine answers. He initials Arthur’s chart, winks at Gwen, and struts from the room.

Part 15: link