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Title: And That Makes it Three
Author: Me!
Rating: PG
Word Count: 499
Disclaimer: Merlin does not belong to me, it belongs to Shine and BBC.
Theme: Family
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen
Summary: Gwen has a long-awaited surprise for her husband.
Author’s Notes: This was written for the June Writing Competition. It was beta’ed by my good friend rainbow_connec. Thank you!

As always, comments and feedback are appreciated and loved!

****

Arthur lies awake, while his wife lays in slumber, resting. His hand gently caresses her swollen stomach and he remembers the night she told him her news.

Arthur is glad that the blasted council meeting is over. He hasn’t seen his beautiful wife all day and he misses her.

Finally he arrives at their chambers and opens to the door, only to see that there are candles alit all over the room, casting a wonderful glow about the place. He walks in closer and sees that Gwen is nowhere to be found.

“Guinevère,” he calls out and he hears her behind the screen, before she appears from the side, a little surprised.

“Oh I thought you were going to be longer,” she tells him a little disappointedly.

“Yes well, I thought it was time I saw my wife so I ended it early.” He smirks at her and walks closer to her, giving her a kiss on her cheek. She smiles and he continues, “And now I’m glad I did for it looks like you have a surprise for me.”

Gwen blushes and nods her head, “Indeed I do, Husband.” She tells him before taking his hand and leading it to the table where they dinner is all set out. They sit down and eat while talking to each other pleasantly about their days. She is really good at prolonging her surprise and it’s not long till Arthur’s patience runs out and he asks her about it.

Gwen sighs and giggles a little at her husband’s lack of patience, before she stands up and sits herself on his lap. For a minute Arthur gets distracted with how beautiful his wife looks -- not that she does not always look beautiful -- but tonight she seems to have a glow about her. So he kisses the side of her neck, making her sigh before she pushes him away.

“Hey,” he complains before she sighs at him, “That was not my surprise.” She then gently picks up his hand and guides it to her stomach. Arthur looks at her confused and Gwen finds it totally adorable before she announces to him happily. “I’m pregnant.” Then she waits for his reaction to the news. He looks shocked and Gwen is scared that he is not happy for just stares at her. Her face falls a little and she turns her head away, too scared to look at him any longer. And then she feels his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him and his lips fall upon hers.

Eventually, they break apart and Arthur asks her, “Are you sure?” Gwen nods her head and Arthur pulls her in a hug.

They had been married for five years and were childless. And while he was relieved that they were finally having a child, for Arthur the thing that made him most happy was that he was finally going to have a family -- a child of they own.

“She sounds wonderful.” Caitrin said softly,and Nora smiled a little fondly remembering her mother and what she was like. "She was," Nora commented softly.

Though, Nora was preoccupied with going to see Matthew, she did notice that little Arthur did get upset with being moved from his spot on the blanket. But after a few moments in his mother's arms, he settled down.

“What can I do to help?” She asked Nora, and Nora was once again grateful to Caitrin for her kindness and generosity. The only thing she could think of doing now is to move Matthew to a bed, before getting someone (or Caitrin, if she was comfortable) to check him over.

"Maybe you could help us move him to somewhere more comfortable and maybe -- if you are comfortable -- check him to over to see what might be wrong." She did not want to impose on Caitrin as she knew that her knowledge was not as in-depth as one of a physician. But she trusted her to try her best to help the man, just like she did with her father. And maybe she knew what might have caused Matthew to be ill like this. For it was most strange as Matthew was never ill.

Not even when there was sickness sweeping through the place, everyone seemed to get symptoms of it. But not Matthew, even though he is not young. He just seemed to always be in good health.

Once Nora waited for Caitrin's response, she asked Isabel to grab one side of Matthew. Then realizing that Arthur was still in Caitrin's arms, she asked gently, "Would you like me to take Arthur while you help Isabel with Matthew? Or would you like to follow us and help get the bed ready for him?"

To say that Nora was relieved that Xenia liked her picnic idea was an understatement. She was overjoyed that the Princess was more than willing to agree to her suggestion. "Well," Nora began, smiling, "In that case, would you mind if I arranged it all for tomorrow?" Nora asked, eager for tomorrow and hopeful that the Princess would allow her to host the picnic. After all, Camelot was her home and she knew the exact right spot where they could have their picnic.

The Princess then responded very happily to her suggestion of taking her for a ride and tour, before she asked her eagerly, "When did you want to go? Before our picnic, or the next day?"

Smiling, Nora replied, "Well, I think the next day would be most agreeable seeing as you are not here for very long." And Nora wished that the Princess and her family were staying longer for they seemed to be lovely and caring people. She was enjoying getting to know Xenia and would make the most of her stay in Camelot to get to know her further and become good friends. Well, she hoped so anyway. As always Nora worried that the Princess would find out more about her and find her not good enough. Though, Nora knew that was unlikely, she could not help these unrealistic thoughts filling up in her mind.

Nora paused a little when Caitrin asked her what her mother was like. Not because it had upset her, oh no. Rather because no one had really talked to her or asked her about her mother. She supposed it was because they did not want to upset her, which she understood. So she was grateful that Caitrin was bold enough to do so for she had not spoken about her mother in ages.

"She was..." Nora began softly, "kind and the best person I know. Though, I was only five years old when she passed away, she taught me everything I know about being loyal and compassionate." She stopped as some more tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

Nora was very relieved when Caitrin spoke up “We should see if he is alright.” She suggested to Nora and waited a little before she gathered Arthur into her arms and stood up, signalling that they should go and attend to the man. "Yes..." Nora muttered out, before she also stood up and without any delay, they followed Isabel to attend to Matthew.

It did not take long for them to find him. He had collapsed in the kitchen while he was getting everything ready for lunch. He looked very ill and pale in the face. Nora got down onto the floor beside him and placed her hand over his fore-head. He was seizing up with a bad fever, very much like her father did a few weeks ago. "He's seizing up," Nora informed Caitrin, before she turned to her maid and asked her concerned, "What happened?"

Isabel replied promptly, still looking quite shaken up, "He was checking the wine, as usual. When he suddenly went very quiet and looked very sweaty. I asked him to come and sit down, but before he could he fell down."

“He’ll probably be terrified when I actually go into labour.” Nora laughed, "I have no doubt." She remembered a little of how her father reacted when her mother had said that it was time and quickly rushed her to the hospital, so much so that he had forgotten to bring along her mother's suitcase. Her uncle ended up having to drop it off while he took care of Nora while her parents were at the hospital since it was in the middle of the night.

“It’s more traditional.” Caitrin agreed with a smile which Nora happily returned. "Yes, I do love traditions like that." Nora responded a little nostalgically, annoyed at how certain traditions were lost to new ones.

Caitrin nodded her head, “I was always at the hospital really.” And Nora understood that for she was the same with always being around the teaching building and nursery school on the campus.

Nora listened carefully as Caitrin explained her reasons for wanting to be a nurse. “I spent a lot of time in hospitals as a young girl.” The look on her face made it sound as if maybe Caitrin's childhood wasn't that great and Nora felt great pangs in her heart for her if that was so. She did not want to press for more information on it though, for it felt out of place for her to do so. Especially since they had just met. “So I knew I wanted to care for others as they had looked after me." Then she pulled a small face, “As cliché as that sounds.” Caitrin told her before she looked back at Nora. "That is an admirable reason for wanting to become a nurse." Nora complimented her sincerely, before Caitrin asked her a question in return. “What do you want to work as, after your degree?

"Well," Nora began with a small smile, "My hope is to get a job at a local Kinder garden as a teacher or perhaps work at the local nursery school for I do have a huge fondness for babies and the younger children."

They both watched as Arthur squealed happily and reached for the closest toy he could find. Caitrin grinned down at him, “Well, somebody is certainly happy.” She commented, and Nora was glad that he was happy and occupied. And like before when they were up in her father's bed-chambers, little Arthur placed the toy into his mouth and sucked on it slowly, before he looked up at his mother happily. “He defiantly likes it.” Caitrin reassured her with a smile on her face. "It seems he does like it and I'm glad." She responded happily, gladdened by the sight of little Arthur having fun in the sun.

They began slipping their tea and eating some of the biscuits. “Thank you, this tea is wonderful.” Caitrin told her and Nora smiled back at her friend, "I'm glad for we grow our own special brew on the estate." And Nora must admit it was her favourite tea, though she may be a tad biased. She loved the sweetness of the tea leaves as she has a bit of a sweet tooth.

“How have you been Nora?” Caitrin asked her gently, with friendly concern and Nora was glad to have Caitrin has a friend. For she knew exactly was to say to her.

"Alright." She admitted slowly, finding the question a little difficult to answer. She knew that her father's death was imminent, but it was still hard to cope with. For knowing was one thing, but facing it was another thing entirely. "I know that he is going to die," Nora began to say, "But I wish it was not so." She stopped as tears began forming in the corner of her eyes -- which she quickly brushed away, before she took another slip of her tea to calm her down.

She laughed before she responded, "I could understand that. It's good that he is as excited as you!" after Caitrin explained that her husband had been a little shocked at first but was has excited as she is.

“We’re keeping it a surprise. Especially seeing as there are two babies.” The nurse smiled fondly before she rubbed her belly softly, “I kind of think it would ruin the surprise a little to know what we were having so early, I’d rather wait.” Nora smiled at this because she did think that it was better for people to keep it a surprise then find out. Well, that is at least what she would do when it was her turn, but that would be a while yet. First she actually had to find a man to settle down with.

"That's great. I must admit, I like the idea of people waiting till their baby is born to see what gender it is," Nora commented lightly, smiling back at the woman. Caitrin then went on to explain that the buildings are in all in maze anyway and Nora laughed as well. “Though I spent most of my time in the hospital, doing hands on work.” She added and Nora nodded her head, remembering seeing her near the hospital building once a few years ago.

"I think I remember seeing you near the hospital once." She admitted before asking Caitrin another question about her life, for she was interested and it was a nice little break from thinking about her father's condition. "Did you always want to be a nurse when you were younger?" Most of the people that Nora knew did not know till they were older and during high school when they had to pick university course, but Nora knew what she wanted to be since she was 12 years old. And that was to be a Kindergarten Teacher for she loved going to Kindy.