(Fic): Best Laid Plans
RECIPIENT: eatingthepeach
TITLE: Best Laid Plans; or How Arthur chose to get his father to go along with the idea of his marrying Gwen
AUTHOR/ARTIST: misspopuri
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: unless you haven't watched Series 2, you should be fine :P
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Merlin or BBC.
NOTES: Started out one way, Arthur is supposed to be committing to Gwen, and I think I changed it up a lot from the original prompt. I don't know what happened near the end. I was losing my focus I guess. I would have posted this up sooner, but I was distracted by the USA/Canada hockey game.
Walking out on her should have been the easy part, it was extremely difficult to move your feet towards that door when you knew that you wanted so badly to reach out, grab, and kiss mercilessly the one who kindly told you to “find your real princess”.
Feet outside the house, Arthur suddenly wished he could go back in there to talk some sense into her. It wasn’t pride that stopped him, but the annoying nuisance, Merlin, came up obviously something was on his mind.
“The king wishes to see you about something,” Merlin panted out, as he had been running prior. It was obvious to him that Arthur would be going to see Gwen again. The Vivian incident was still nagging at Arthur, no matter how many times he has said, ‘It’s behind me now.’
Arthur grumbled under his breath, but he made his way back to the castle. His long strides to get out of the shame of his repeated rejection were enough to make Merlin walk four steps to every one of his two.
Despite the effort, Arthur still kept well enough of Merlin to reach him before they were inside the castle, and he headed towards the Great Hall. Uther was sitting on his throne, going over some treaties, when he looked up to see Arthur standing before him.
Uther put down the documents. He greeted his son with a nod of the head.
“You wanted to see me, father,” Arthur asked, confusedly.
“Yes, I had a matter of great importance to discuss with you.”
Bored already, Arthur replied, “Since when is it ever not important? Every time you want an audience with me, it has to be prefaced with important.”
Sighing, Uther picked up one of the documents, opened it up, and said, “Do you know what I hold in my hands?” He waved the sheet of paper in front of Arthur’s face.
“Probably some worthless alliance that will be null and avoid within a month anyway,” Arthur replied sarcastically.
“Do not mock me, I have become increasingly aware of what goes on with you and that little serving girl behind my back,” Uther shot back, tersely, a vein popped out of his neck.
Startled, Arthur looked up at his father. He couldn’t form the words he needed until he got up really close to him. “What is so important that you have to bring up Guinevere?”
“You don’t think I don’t hear what goes on in my kingdom? I tend to shy away from most idle gossip but am keen to learn the outside behavior of my only son,” Uther replied. He rolled and unrolled the document in his hands, in the most kingly like fashion.
Arthur continued, “What is on that document anyway? I’m tired of this cat and mouse game.”
“Very well, this is a letter from Daeria. King William has been entreating me to form an alliance between us the union of his daughter, Lady Cera, with you, Arthur.”
“No!” Arthur stated firmly, without hesitation. Uther looked up, shocked.
He answered, “You dare to say no to your king. I could have you thrown in prison for that.”
“I think you might be forgetting the little wager we made back when I was five,” Arthur brought out his own piece of paper, and he recited, “you said, and I quote, ‘If you, Arthur, ever fall in love with a princess, I, Uther Pendragon, will do so solemnly swear to give you full rights to marry said princess.’”
Dumbfounded, Uther glared at his son, he muttered, “Where did you get that?”
Looking up, Arthur answered, “Geoffrey of Monmouth slipped it under my door the day after I got back from my fight with the dragon.”
“You can’t bind me to that contract. You haven’t fallen in love with princess,” Uther demanded, still not budging from his previous position.
“On the contrary, father, I have not gotten to good part yet,” Arthur acquiesced. He turned his head back down and continued reading, “‘even if I, Arthur Pendragon, falls in love with someone not of noble birth. The undersigned cannot interfere in the heart and mind of the son’s choice of a lover.’”
Pale all of a sudden, Uther stammered, “But you have claimed to be in love before, and Geoffrey did not bring this to you until now. How is this possible?”
“I have never claimed to know the court historian like the back of hand, but I think he is more aware of the court gossip than you know.” Arthur raised his nose, in defiance, at his father. Uther looked shrunken, as from another defeat.
“I cannot let you invoke a contract that was made 17 years ago. You’ve broken all the bindings in the contract with your multiple flings.”
Arthur sighed, “I was afraid I was going to have to use this to get you to consent. You have forgotten about the magic/enchantment clause of our agreement,” Uther whinced, inwardly. It went unnoticed as Arthur explained further, “if you happen to break your contract, father, I will have no choice but to start a war. You break your promise to your only son, and I have to retialiate for your actions.”
Wincing, Uther choked on his words, “You would kill your own father to be with the one you loved?”
“If you force my hand, father, then you will have to suffer.”
“I’ve told you before that I will not fight you.”
“Then you will cooperate?”
Uther squared his shoulders in response, “Of course, I have one condition though.”
“And what is that?” Arthur asked, uncertain of whether to be nervous or not by the answer.
“I want to question the serving girl in the interrogation room before you invoke father/son contract privileges upon me.”
Rolling his eyes, Arthur nodded his assent. This did not sound very encouraging, but he was not about to argue with this request.
~
Worried that Uther had said something to Gwen that was unpleasant, Arthur decided to make another trip down to the lower town to see her. He knew that it probably wouldn’t end well, but the face he saw when he was received at the door. It was remarkably easygoing. Gwen invited him to sit down while she finished some of her chores left from earlier.
He sat down at Gwen’s little table; meanwhile, Gwen started sweeping again like nothing was wrong, Arthur observed suspiciously. “You are awfully chipper after a run in with the king, Guinevere.”
Startled, Gwen looked over to Arthur, “It was not as horrible as you would have thought, Arthur. He wanted to ask me a few questions,” she assured him. Arthur winced. Gwen noticed, and she came over to where he was sitting to lay one of her hands on his shoulder, “You don’t have to worry about me.”
Arthur grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm.
“How can I not worry? The king has all but accused you of sorcery and witchcraft. He thinks I am bewitched by you.”
As she moved to retake her hand, but Arthur maintained his strong grip on Gwen’s wrist. His thumb running circles along the inside palm. She spoke meekly, “I have to finish my work for the day. The king set me behind schedule with his summons.” Arthur stood up and placed the forefinger of his other hand on her mouth.
“There is no need to say another word. I am proud of you for being so strong,” he smiled. It brought a hint of blush to Gwen’s dark cheeks. She turned her head away.
“Would you be so kind as to free me so I can finish?”
“I only want to know that my father didn’t try to harm you in any way.”
“I am perfectly fine, sire, will you please let me go?”
“Not until you tell me how the interrogation went.”
Gwen tried to pull away further, but Arthur was steadfast. He was not going to back down without an answer.
“I’m waiting, Guinevere…”
“I do not know what you have over him, Arthur, but he asked me if my mother was a witch.”
“That’s not true, Guinevere.” Arthur’s tone was sensual as he pronounced her name with the accent on the last syllable.
Gwen looked Arthur in the eyes. It was the first time since the questing beast that he goaded her like this. She had gotten so used to him acquiescing for her that she forgot about the part where she turned into putty when he teased her like that. He really needs to stop doing it. “He wanted to know if I cast a spell on you.” She struggled to pull away from him.
Arthur smiled again. He pulled her closer to him, entrapping her within the confines of his arms. “What did you say to him, Guinevere?”
Shocked by nerves, Gwen only whispered, “I told him that I allowed you to stay in my house while the tournament was going. I did not plan for what occurred on the last day, but I will not change the past now.” Gwen bowed her head, but Arthur tilted her chin upwards to look at her.
“Do you still deny that I will always love you?”
“I think you might grow tired of me eventually. I am only a servant after all.” Gwen tried to look away this time but failed.
“Never, Guinevere, I could never grow tired of you, I need you to give me a kick in the pants when I say or do something stupid.”
“What about Camelot? What about your father?”
“I have already taken care of him with a promise he made to me a long time ago.”
“You tricked us?”
Arthur grinned, slightly sheepish. “I knew about my manifesto to my father from Geoffrey of Monmouth a few weeks ago. I forgot about it, but it was a contract signed between me and my father allowing me to marry whomever I loved.”
Gwen remained speechless. No words could form on her lips. Sound was almost nonexistent as she did not have any more words to say. Arthur let go of Gwen, looking at her, confusedly.
“What wrong, Guinevere?”
“Nothing, you just rendered a girl speechless, Arthur Pendragon.”
“So, are you rethinking my offer?” Arthur waggled his eyebrows, hopefully, leaning in like he wants to kiss her.
Gwen gasped, feeling Arthur’s hot breath on her face, “What offer was that?”
He leaned in further and kissed her lightly on the lips, “You know the one,” he whispered as he kissed her more feverishly. Gwen’s head was spun with delirium when Arthur’s hands found her waist, pulling her towards him again.
As it was when she had to kiss him to break the spell, Arthur bent her over the table this time. She was lifted slightly with Arthur’s strong hands roughly cupping her bottom, her hands pulled at his blonde hair.
Before she knew it, Arthur pulled away. He asked again, “and what is your answer?”
Through slightly bruised lips, Gwen uttered her answer, “Yes I will.”
TITLE: Best Laid Plans; or How Arthur chose to get his father to go along with the idea of his marrying Gwen
AUTHOR/ARTIST: misspopuri
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: unless you haven't watched Series 2, you should be fine :P
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Merlin or BBC.
NOTES: Started out one way, Arthur is supposed to be committing to Gwen, and I think I changed it up a lot from the original prompt. I don't know what happened near the end. I was losing my focus I guess. I would have posted this up sooner, but I was distracted by the USA/Canada hockey game.
Walking out on her should have been the easy part, it was extremely difficult to move your feet towards that door when you knew that you wanted so badly to reach out, grab, and kiss mercilessly the one who kindly told you to “find your real princess”.
Feet outside the house, Arthur suddenly wished he could go back in there to talk some sense into her. It wasn’t pride that stopped him, but the annoying nuisance, Merlin, came up obviously something was on his mind.
“The king wishes to see you about something,” Merlin panted out, as he had been running prior. It was obvious to him that Arthur would be going to see Gwen again. The Vivian incident was still nagging at Arthur, no matter how many times he has said, ‘It’s behind me now.’
Arthur grumbled under his breath, but he made his way back to the castle. His long strides to get out of the shame of his repeated rejection were enough to make Merlin walk four steps to every one of his two.
Despite the effort, Arthur still kept well enough of Merlin to reach him before they were inside the castle, and he headed towards the Great Hall. Uther was sitting on his throne, going over some treaties, when he looked up to see Arthur standing before him.
Uther put down the documents. He greeted his son with a nod of the head.
“You wanted to see me, father,” Arthur asked, confusedly.
“Yes, I had a matter of great importance to discuss with you.”
Bored already, Arthur replied, “Since when is it ever not important? Every time you want an audience with me, it has to be prefaced with important.”
Sighing, Uther picked up one of the documents, opened it up, and said, “Do you know what I hold in my hands?” He waved the sheet of paper in front of Arthur’s face.
“Probably some worthless alliance that will be null and avoid within a month anyway,” Arthur replied sarcastically.
“Do not mock me, I have become increasingly aware of what goes on with you and that little serving girl behind my back,” Uther shot back, tersely, a vein popped out of his neck.
Startled, Arthur looked up at his father. He couldn’t form the words he needed until he got up really close to him. “What is so important that you have to bring up Guinevere?”
“You don’t think I don’t hear what goes on in my kingdom? I tend to shy away from most idle gossip but am keen to learn the outside behavior of my only son,” Uther replied. He rolled and unrolled the document in his hands, in the most kingly like fashion.
Arthur continued, “What is on that document anyway? I’m tired of this cat and mouse game.”
“Very well, this is a letter from Daeria. King William has been entreating me to form an alliance between us the union of his daughter, Lady Cera, with you, Arthur.”
“No!” Arthur stated firmly, without hesitation. Uther looked up, shocked.
He answered, “You dare to say no to your king. I could have you thrown in prison for that.”
“I think you might be forgetting the little wager we made back when I was five,” Arthur brought out his own piece of paper, and he recited, “you said, and I quote, ‘If you, Arthur, ever fall in love with a princess, I, Uther Pendragon, will do so solemnly swear to give you full rights to marry said princess.’”
Dumbfounded, Uther glared at his son, he muttered, “Where did you get that?”
Looking up, Arthur answered, “Geoffrey of Monmouth slipped it under my door the day after I got back from my fight with the dragon.”
“You can’t bind me to that contract. You haven’t fallen in love with princess,” Uther demanded, still not budging from his previous position.
“On the contrary, father, I have not gotten to good part yet,” Arthur acquiesced. He turned his head back down and continued reading, “‘even if I, Arthur Pendragon, falls in love with someone not of noble birth. The undersigned cannot interfere in the heart and mind of the son’s choice of a lover.’”
Pale all of a sudden, Uther stammered, “But you have claimed to be in love before, and Geoffrey did not bring this to you until now. How is this possible?”
“I have never claimed to know the court historian like the back of hand, but I think he is more aware of the court gossip than you know.” Arthur raised his nose, in defiance, at his father. Uther looked shrunken, as from another defeat.
“I cannot let you invoke a contract that was made 17 years ago. You’ve broken all the bindings in the contract with your multiple flings.”
Arthur sighed, “I was afraid I was going to have to use this to get you to consent. You have forgotten about the magic/enchantment clause of our agreement,” Uther whinced, inwardly. It went unnoticed as Arthur explained further, “if you happen to break your contract, father, I will have no choice but to start a war. You break your promise to your only son, and I have to retialiate for your actions.”
Wincing, Uther choked on his words, “You would kill your own father to be with the one you loved?”
“If you force my hand, father, then you will have to suffer.”
“I’ve told you before that I will not fight you.”
“Then you will cooperate?”
Uther squared his shoulders in response, “Of course, I have one condition though.”
“And what is that?” Arthur asked, uncertain of whether to be nervous or not by the answer.
“I want to question the serving girl in the interrogation room before you invoke father/son contract privileges upon me.”
Rolling his eyes, Arthur nodded his assent. This did not sound very encouraging, but he was not about to argue with this request.
~
Worried that Uther had said something to Gwen that was unpleasant, Arthur decided to make another trip down to the lower town to see her. He knew that it probably wouldn’t end well, but the face he saw when he was received at the door. It was remarkably easygoing. Gwen invited him to sit down while she finished some of her chores left from earlier.
He sat down at Gwen’s little table; meanwhile, Gwen started sweeping again like nothing was wrong, Arthur observed suspiciously. “You are awfully chipper after a run in with the king, Guinevere.”
Startled, Gwen looked over to Arthur, “It was not as horrible as you would have thought, Arthur. He wanted to ask me a few questions,” she assured him. Arthur winced. Gwen noticed, and she came over to where he was sitting to lay one of her hands on his shoulder, “You don’t have to worry about me.”
Arthur grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm.
“How can I not worry? The king has all but accused you of sorcery and witchcraft. He thinks I am bewitched by you.”
As she moved to retake her hand, but Arthur maintained his strong grip on Gwen’s wrist. His thumb running circles along the inside palm. She spoke meekly, “I have to finish my work for the day. The king set me behind schedule with his summons.” Arthur stood up and placed the forefinger of his other hand on her mouth.
“There is no need to say another word. I am proud of you for being so strong,” he smiled. It brought a hint of blush to Gwen’s dark cheeks. She turned her head away.
“Would you be so kind as to free me so I can finish?”
“I only want to know that my father didn’t try to harm you in any way.”
“I am perfectly fine, sire, will you please let me go?”
“Not until you tell me how the interrogation went.”
Gwen tried to pull away further, but Arthur was steadfast. He was not going to back down without an answer.
“I’m waiting, Guinevere…”
“I do not know what you have over him, Arthur, but he asked me if my mother was a witch.”
“That’s not true, Guinevere.” Arthur’s tone was sensual as he pronounced her name with the accent on the last syllable.
Gwen looked Arthur in the eyes. It was the first time since the questing beast that he goaded her like this. She had gotten so used to him acquiescing for her that she forgot about the part where she turned into putty when he teased her like that. He really needs to stop doing it. “He wanted to know if I cast a spell on you.” She struggled to pull away from him.
Arthur smiled again. He pulled her closer to him, entrapping her within the confines of his arms. “What did you say to him, Guinevere?”
Shocked by nerves, Gwen only whispered, “I told him that I allowed you to stay in my house while the tournament was going. I did not plan for what occurred on the last day, but I will not change the past now.” Gwen bowed her head, but Arthur tilted her chin upwards to look at her.
“Do you still deny that I will always love you?”
“I think you might grow tired of me eventually. I am only a servant after all.” Gwen tried to look away this time but failed.
“Never, Guinevere, I could never grow tired of you, I need you to give me a kick in the pants when I say or do something stupid.”
“What about Camelot? What about your father?”
“I have already taken care of him with a promise he made to me a long time ago.”
“You tricked us?”
Arthur grinned, slightly sheepish. “I knew about my manifesto to my father from Geoffrey of Monmouth a few weeks ago. I forgot about it, but it was a contract signed between me and my father allowing me to marry whomever I loved.”
Gwen remained speechless. No words could form on her lips. Sound was almost nonexistent as she did not have any more words to say. Arthur let go of Gwen, looking at her, confusedly.
“What wrong, Guinevere?”
“Nothing, you just rendered a girl speechless, Arthur Pendragon.”
“So, are you rethinking my offer?” Arthur waggled his eyebrows, hopefully, leaning in like he wants to kiss her.
Gwen gasped, feeling Arthur’s hot breath on her face, “What offer was that?”
He leaned in further and kissed her lightly on the lips, “You know the one,” he whispered as he kissed her more feverishly. Gwen’s head was spun with delirium when Arthur’s hands found her waist, pulling her towards him again.
As it was when she had to kiss him to break the spell, Arthur bent her over the table this time. She was lifted slightly with Arthur’s strong hands roughly cupping her bottom, her hands pulled at his blonde hair.
Before she knew it, Arthur pulled away. He asked again, “and what is your answer?”
Through slightly bruised lips, Gwen uttered her answer, “Yes I will.”