Merlin The 'Saucerer'
Jaqtkd
FanFiction.Net
Contents
Chapter 1 Worrying 3
Chapter 2 Desiring 8
Chapter 3 Succumbing 16
Chapter 4 Recollecting 26
Chapter 5 Impressing 37
Chapter 6 Discovering 45
Chapter 7 Regretting 56
Chapter 8 Resolving 66
Chapter 9 Understanding 76
Chapter 10 Confessing 85
Chapter 11 Reminiscing 97
Chapter 12 Dreaming 105
Chapter 13 Teasing 113
Chapter 14 Planning 122
Chapter 15 Discussing 133
Chapter 16 Socialising 139
Chapter 17 Remembering 149
Chapter 18 Shocking 157
Chapter 19 Revealing 168
Chapter 20 Straining 180
Chapter 21 Assisting 190
Chapter 22 Priming 199
Chapter 23 Surprising 210
Chapter 24 Marrying 218
"Gwen, you have to help me," Merlin pleaded as he walked into his best friend's room late on Monday afternoon – ignoring the fact she was in the middle of her music practice.
"What's the matter?" she asked in a concerned voice as she carefully placed her flute on it's stand.
"I have no idea what to wear this evening?" he complained.
"Oh, Merlin, honestly," Gwen replied with a laugh.
"What? I mean … is it just a photo-shoot? Is it a date? Should I dress up? Smart casual?"
"What did Morgana say to you the other night?"
"That she'd take some photos and then we'd have something to eat." He frowned. "She sounded a bit worried about presenting me with food, actually."
"Well, of course she did and that's without her knowing that you're a genius chef." Gwen grinned broadly at him, whilst Merlin raised his eyes to the ceiling as he thought about all the reasons why this was a very bad idea.
"Please, Gwen. I really need your help."
"Oh, alright … let's see what you've got?" Merlin gave his friend his very best grin, grabbed her by the hand and lead her back through their shared sitting room into his flat next door, where Gwen was greeted by the vast majority of Merlin's wardrobe strewn across the bed and the floor.
"Seriously?" she asked as she surveyed the mess.
"Please?"
"You really are trying to impress her, aren't you?" Gwen commented with a grin.
"But, she wants to take photos of me, I mean …" He still couldn't get his head around it. He knew his strengths and he had quite a few, but he'd never considered his looks as being one of them.
"Best to keep it simple then," Gwen replied rummaging through the pile. "A pair of plain slim fitting jeans and top; dark colours, I think."
"Or I could put a white shirt under a dark top – just in case?" Gwen turned back with another grin, but this one was decidedly wicked.
"Perhaps it doesn't matter what you wear," she said gleefully. "Perhaps she wants you to model naked!"
"What?" Merlin turned around so quickly in shock that he nearly tripped over. "You don't really think …?" Gwen started laughing even harder and he belatedly realised she was teasing him. "Oh, thank you, Gwen," he grumbled sarcastically. "That's really helped me to relax now."
"Sorry." Although she didn't sound it. She had selected a top and trousers and threw them at him. "Here. The good thing is that these are smart, they'll show off your skinny figure really well, but don't look as if you've tried too hard to impress."
"Ah … thanks. I thought you always said I was too skinny."
"I just can't work out how a chef can be so thin, that's all, and I know you don't starve yourself."
"It's magic," he said with his usual charming grin and Gwen raised her eyebrows in response to the old come-back.
"Talking of which. How much are you intending to tell her tonight?"she asked.
"As little as possible," he replied, pulling a face. "First date I've been on in over two years, don't want to scare her off straight away."
"Or impress her so much that you don't know whether she's after you or your restaurant?"
"Yeah," he replied with a large sigh. He started to change his clothes, despite Gwen still being there. She just smiled and moved towards the door, apparently turning her back on him. Nowadays they really were 'just good friends' and generally respected each other's privacy, but he was fairly certain he caught her glancing in the mirror as she walked past it, hesitating slightly as he stripped off his T-shirt and trousers before putting on the selected clothes. Merlin grinned as he caught her peeking, not at all concerned. It wasn't if he hadn't done the same in the past.
"So, you're pretty certain Morgana and her group were all Oxford graduates then?" Gwen asked as he continued to dress. Despite the unwritten rule that advised against employees of Kilgharrah's accepting dates from customers, Merlin had been totally helpless in the face of the stunning dark-haired beauty who had pinned him against the side of the balcony, fished his Comp out from his back pocket and practically propositioned him on the spot.
"They certainly seemed like the types, didn't they? A new experience for a Cambridge boy like me, anyway."
"Not that one's university should make any difference," Gwen replied haughtily.
Anyone of importance in Britain these days attended one of the many colleges within the Oxford or Cambridge universities. However, the two cities had developed such different philosophies regarding education over recent years, that there was now a very strong rivalry between the two which could sometimes come over as prejudice. Gwen was quite right, of course, when he and Morgana had been flirting on that balcony on Saturday, the very last thing on Merlin's mind had been which university she'd studied at.
He then remembered that Morgana hadn't been the only one from table ten making overtures towards the serving staff that night and turned to his friend with a sudden wicked grin.
"So, have you heard from Arthur recently?" Gwen turned to glare at him now that he was fully dressed. He saw her eyes flick over his clothes critically even as she responded to his question.
"Regularly … he's going to have sore fingers with the amount of messages he's sent me over the last two days."
"A Dark Blue and a blond. New territory for you too."
"Honestly, Merlin, neither of us can boast enough experience to be scientific about it. Just because our grand collective total of five previous dates have all been Cambridge brunettes does not make either of us anti-Oxford or anti-blonde."
"True, but then, you liked that other guy on table ten too?" he continued and she smiled shyly back.
"They were both very handsome in very different ways." She smiled more gently as she looked him up and down again. "As are you." Merlin could feel his cheeks turn pink as she said it. "She'll be very impressed."
"I think you're biased. Do you really think I'm doing the right thing, Gwen? I mean after ..."
"There's no point pretending that you're debating it, Merlin," Gwen continued. "You've been in mourning long enough."
"Gwen!"
"What? It's been almost two years and you can't keep saying that Freya was the only one for you, whilst constantly complaining to me that you're still a virgin."
"Hey!"
"Well, you do and you can't have it both ways."
"I suppose but ... it's not just about Freya … it's about 'Kilgharrah's' too and ... well, it's hard to separate those two things in my head now anyway." Gwen nodded in silent understanding. Within months of Freya's death, Merlin had lost his beloved father too and, by default, instantly became the sole owner of the two restaurants, along with all the responsibility that went with the role.
"It really wasn't fair," Gwen sympathised. "For you to suddenly have to take care of all of this, whilst being in such pain."
"I suppose in some ways it helped."
"So you keep saying, but I just think it prevented you from fully facing your emotions. Fully dealing with the grief." He pulled a face at the comment. "Don't get me wrong, I think you're doing a wonderful job here, Merlin - we all do - but ... you need a life."
"I love the restaurant and I love all of you ... my family, but I don't need ..."
"No, Merlin. I know what you're going to say and you're wrong. You do need someone to love. I mean proper 'relationship' love, not just 'friendship' love."
"I was actually going to say that I don't need complications but ..." He shook his head. "I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here. It's just a photo-shoot and a meal. That might be it."
"Perhaps but, if you get a chance, feel free to invite her to my party on Thursday, won't you?"
"Oh, okay." He suddenly looked at his watch and yelped. "Oh no, look at the time. I said six o'clock, I'm going to be late."
Gwen raised her eyes to the ceiling. "So, what's new?" He quickly grabbed his Comp and a jacket and started to head out. "Have you got everything you might need tonight, Merlin?" Gwen's question had a curious weight to it and he turned to give her a suspicious look.
"What do you mean?"
"Here ..." She moved forward holding out a couple of small foil covered packs towards him.
"What? She might not want you naked for the shoot but, from what you've told me about her so far, I'm pretty sure she'll be wanting to get those clothes off you at some point tonight."
"No. I've told you, not on a first date … I mean, even if this is a date, which it might not be. I just … I can't. Not with all this responsibility and …"
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Merlin, just take the condoms, will you?" She moved forward and actually stuffed them into the front pocket of his jeans herself.
"Hey, watch where you're putting your hands."
"Might as well get used to it." She paused, biting her lip as she contemplated something. "Do you think two will be enough?"
"Gwen! You're not helping one little bit, you do know that, right?"
~(–)~
After all of the commotion over his clothes, Merlin ended up outside the main door to Morgana's building almost half an hour late.
"Sorry," he apologised, as she answered the intercom. "I really do need to work on my time keeping skills."
"That's fine, I was a bit late back from work anyway," came her worryingly calm reply. Merlin bit his lip as the door buzzed for him to push open and quickly looked at his Comp to confirm the flat number.
He walked up one flight of stairs and found himself outside the correctly numbered door which immediately swung open before he had a chance to knock. Merlin nearly gasped out loud when he saw Morgana standing in front of him, her long, dark hair falling in loose curls over her shoulders and drawing his gaze automatically down to her low cut green top. Highly embarrassed, he moved his eyes back up to hers - a far brighter green than he'd remembered - and his heart beat faster from that sight than from the more suggestive one.
"Come in," she said, sounding incredibly calm, even though her eyes were quite obviously scanning him intently. He had no idea why so many girls seemed to find him attractive as he was sure he wasn't – not compared to Arthur or Morgana's date from Saturday … and he still hadn't been able to work out why she'd even noticed him at all when there was someone like that sitting right next to her. However, he had seen the way she had looked at him that night and the way she was looking at him now, and even he couldn't deny what he was seeing. That she was attracted to him would have been obvious enough just from her body language, even if it wasn't for the strong hum of energy that he could feel crackling between them. Very strong, in fact.
Could she have some innate ability too?
"Didn't know what to wear, and didn't know how to ask that question of a photographer without it sounding a bit weird," he said, attempting a relaxed grin. He saw her eyes scan him up and down again and her lips turned up into the very smallest of smiles.
"Well, if you don't mind coming straight through ... the light won't last that long." His heart pounded with nerves again as he followed her toward the door on the left, it's surface covered with so much art work and clothes hooks that he was quite convinced that she was taking him into a cupboard.
"Okay, but I'm still not sure about this. As I said before, I'm not the typical model type." It was in fact a fairly large room. A second bedroom, probably, although it was currently set up as a photo studio, its walls covered with pictures – obviously hers. At first glance it all looked very impressive.
"I know enough people with those sort of looks," she replied waving at the same pictures. "I'd rather have something a little different." Merlin found his eyes drawn quickly to a familiar handsome blond portrait and he grinned as he thought of what Gwen's reaction would be to that sight. Perhaps he could ask for a copy?
"Ah ... the prat. He photographs rather well, doesn't he?" he said instead.
"The camera loves him and he loves being in front of a camera," Morgana replied in a slightly bored tone.
"Don't see that other fellow here ... oh, blind date, you said?" Like he hadn't latched onto that the instant she had told him!
"Lancelot is a sweetie," she replied, "and probably well worth photographing at some point but ... if I can avoid another date with him I will."
Merlin couldn't believe how relieved he felt as she said that, although the curiosity was certainly there too. "Oh?"
"Not my type. Will you sit on that stool, Merlin? Don't look so nervous, I'm not going to bite." He was nervous and, if he had been so attracted to Morgana, there was no way he would have ever agreed to something like this. "Well, not this early on in our relationship anyway," she continued cheekily as she looked into her lens.
"Huh?" Merlin squeaked and she pressed the shutter as he did so, grinning broadly at him afterwards. He dreaded to think what that shot would look like. She then asked him to turn a little to the left, tip his head up, down. Stand up, sight back down, although she did talk to him too. How much of the questioning was small talk in order to get some reaction from him, and how much she was genuinely interested in, he didn't know, but he hoped she was distracted enough by her task not to notice just how evasive he was being as he talked about Kilgharrah's. His restaurant was everything to him – his whole life and he knew nothing about her yet, which meant that he couldn't risk telling her anything of importance. Couldn't risk his cover being blown.
"Ah well ... you know how it is with big business? ... keep it in the family ... do a favour for a friend? The university clans etc. ... I suppose it was always inevitable I'd get roped in at some point," he said. "What about you?"
"Much the same, by the sound of it? I work in management ... boring really. The Pendragon corporation, you know?"
Which meant he'd made the right decision. His heart fell on hearing the news, even as he tried to brush it off with a joke. "Ooh, the enemy ... fascinating. So, if you're working for the Pendragon clan then I suppose we were correct in guessing your group to be Dark Blues on Saturday."
"You label your customers?"
"Oh, come on, who doesn't?"
"Yes well, Lancelot had already told us that you were mostly Light Blue if we couldn't have guessed from the attitude."
"Says the girl from the Dark side?" Merlin scoffed.
"What?"
"Sorry, Cambridge joke." The rivalry between the two universities was really rather silly. He knew a number of people who would be genuinely shocked about him being here with an Oxford educated girl. As prejudices about race and disability had faded to practically nothing, brand new prejudices had emerged to take their place. Was it too much to hope that the human race would ever improve?
"Was it our imagination or where there rather a lot of university types working there?" Morgana asked him then.
"Probably more than at somewhere like Camelot," Merlin replied. "Seriously, as you probably know, Cambridge hold all the arts in high regard – believing that, in learning them, students are well rounded individuals. Whereas, the Oxford Dons seem to think that the road to success can only be reached by exclusively studying the academic subjects and leaving art in all it's form to the masses."
"I suppose that's an improvement on the day when Art was only for the elite?" she suggested.
"Perhaps but, by not taking them seriously, Oxford's devaluing them anyway. Which brings me to my one burning question for the night?"
"Oh?"
"What is a true Dark Blue like you doing dabbling in photography?" She giggled and his heart soared. He knew his sense of humour took a little getting used to, but that fact that she seemed get his jokes instantly made him feel that they may have more in common than their backgrounds might initially suggest.
"I happen to agree with the Cambridge model actually," she replied a little haughtily. "I always have. I was just too scared to go against my family."
"I can't imagine you being scared of anything."
"You'd be surprised. So, what's your art?"
"Seriously?" She gave a confused shrug. "Catering?" She couldn't have worked that one out?
...
Lady_Preity