Pendragon's Folly, Chapter 3
Title: Pendragon's Folly
Pairing: M/A, eventually.
Characters: in this chapter - Merlin, Gaius, Arthur, Gwen, Morgana, Pell
Rating: PG maybe even U
Chapter Word Count: A shorter chapter this week - 5,600
Warnings: No sex
Summary: There's an out of work wizard, a museum, a sizeable donation that turns it into a building site, suspicious happenings (eventually) and magic (soon, honest). A sort of 'take your fandom to work' story.
Author's note 1: When it comes to romance, this story is the definition of 'slow burn'.
Author's note 2: More thanks than I can say to my beta, plot wrangler and best friend, sparrow2000. And many, many thanks to DJ for (hopefully) catching the typos we missed. If you spot any more, please do let me know.
Comments are always greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
Disclaimer: I write fan fic. All the characters from the Merlin series are the property of the BBC and Shine, etc. No infringement is intended and no profit is being made from this writing.
Chapter 3
The files from Cedric Griggs arrived the next morning in five large boxes. Merlin cleared the desk that had become his and the round table. He unloaded the papers into ten tall piles and began to look through them.
It was immediately apparent that there was no organisation in the archive. The boxes had been a dead-store. The bills had been paid so that was the end of it. One was duty bound to keep the records of the transactions, but they had no further purpose.
"Some bloody accountant," Merlin muttered as he retrieved a couple of packets of envelope files from the stationary cupboard and laid them out across the clear space on his desk. He began the task of sorting through the papers and putting the correspondence from each company together.
Gaius returned from talking to a visitor in the Ladies Waiting Room. After one look at the chaos, he grabbed the pile of letters received that morning from the children of Rosedale Primary and retreated again, probably to camp out in Gwen's workroom for the rest of the day. Merlin took the opportunity to spread his work onto Gaius's desk as well.
Arthur arrived shortly after lunch. "Is that all of it?" he asked. "Good. I need more than just the total amount spent and committed. I need it broken down into these headings," he passed over a scrap of paper, "before I take it anywhere."
Merlin looked at the list. It wasn't very different from the system he had already been using. "Why am I doing this?" he asked. "Why don't you get a proper accountant in? Or second one from the family firm?"
From beyond the open door, the hollow echo of children shouting indicated a visit from class five of the Lower Grange Primary School. Gwen's voice could also be heard, raised in gentle admonishment.
"Griggs was a proper accountant and look at the mess he made," Arthur said. "But I will. I'll hand the whole lot over, once you've got it all together. But I want a few simple totals first. I need to know who we have commitments to and who we've been paying. I want to see the shape of this mess, before I get an accountant to try and find ways to fix some of it." He leafed through a handful of papers taken from one of the larger stacks, snorted and placed them back on their pile. It swayed slightly and he steadied it with both hands. "As for a company accountant… This project has nothing to do with Pendragon's. The grant is all we have if we're to get this Museum open."
"We?"
"Yes, we. The Board of Trustees -"
"Your father."
"The Board of Trustees asked for help. My father has agreed to lend me to the project and pick up the cost of my salary. But he is not willing to extend more than that, at this time."
"So, what you're really saying," Merlin suggested, "is that this is, what, your chance to prove yourself? He's given you this little kingdom, to see how you manage it?"
Arthur looked momentarily discomforted. "Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. I've been working for the company for years; I have nothing to prove."
Merlin looked him up and down, and raised an eyebrow. Arthur flushed slightly. "Holidays, Mer-lin. Summer, Easter and Christmas. You might have spent your holidays as a student swanning around doing nothing, but I was at work during mine."
Letting the subject drop, Merlin picked up one of the envelope files. "You'll probably want to check this," he said, handing it over. "It's the stuff for the warehouse at Riverside. You were asking about it…"
"Oh, yes, thank you." Arthur took the file, pulled out a sheaf of papers and flipped through them. He studied a couple in detail, but glanced at them all. "The rental agreement's not here," he said, shoving the papers back in the file and holding it out to Merlin. "Have you found it?"
"Not yet." Merlin took the file from him. "But I can look for that first, if you like?"
"That would be good," Arthur agreed. "I'll be back in an hour and if you could find it by then, I'd be grateful." He picked up his briefcase, turned away and opened the door. As he left the room, he was already pulling his phone from his pocket.
Merlin made a mocking bow to the closed door. "Oh, you're welcome, Your Highness," he said. "Don't worry about me, I live to serve your every whim."
He went and made himself a mug of coffee before starting his search through the remaining loose piles of paper for anything with either Riverside Properties or Greenswood Ltd on the letterhead.
By the time Arthur returned, two hours later, Merlin had found the lease and had actually started entering data into his spreadsheet. Arthur sat and read it through in silence. Eventually he looked up. "This is extortionate," he said.
Merlin frowned. "Is it?" he asked. "Can we get out of it?" He considered that option. "Except, the collections are there now. Moving them again... Well, things get damaged in moves."
Slipping the lease into his briefcase, Arthur stood up. "Even before you finish collating these papers," he said.
Merlin interrupted. "Start, you mean."
Arthur laughed. "All right, start," he acknowledged. "But whatever, I already know this project is over-budget and has very little to show for the expenditure. How this was allowed to happen..." He trailed off and took a turn around the room. Merlin watched him pace.
Suddenly business-like again, Arthur said, "I need a printout listing all the invoices submitted by Greenswood Ltd, since they were awarded the contract. Will that take long?"
"I think I've found them all and I've already gone through some of them." Merlin picked up and waved the Greenswood folder. "Give me another twenty minutes."
Merlin went back to typing, while Arthur continued to prowl the room. He studied the books and boxes on the shelves. He wandered past Gaius's desk and picked through the assortment of small objects there. He returned to Merlin's desk and rifled through the piles of papers in a most distracting way. Rather more than twenty minutes later, it was with some relief that Merlin was able to say, "Okay, done. You want the total?"
"No, Merlin. I need an itemised printout, remember? Something to flash at Leon."
"Oh, right. I'll have to use the printer in Gwen's room. Hang on." He picked up his laptop.
"I'll come with you," Arthur said.
Feeling put upon, Merlin led the way to Gwen's workroom. "This is where Lance and Gwaine camp out when they're here," he said, mainly to make conversation.
It was an unfortunate choice of topic because Arthur looked around the room. "Maybe I should set up in here," he said. "I'll take this one." He pointed at Gwen's neatly organised desk. "You and Pell can use that one," he added, indicating the spare that Gwaine and Lance used.
"That's Gwen's," Merlin protested. "You can't throw her out of her own office."
"Oh, I'm sure she won't mind."
His irritation levels rising exponentially, Merlin snapped, "I will though. I have my own desk next door and I'm staying there. You can commandeer this one," he said, sitting down at it. "But I'm not moving."
Opening up his laptop, he plugged in the printer cable. He didn't turn to look when Arthur came to watch over his shoulder, although he was very aware of him hovering. "And we don't have broadband," he said.
"Pell's already organising that. It'll be on tomorrow," Arthur replied, unruffled. "Are you using a museum computer to download games?"
At that Merlin did look back at him and then to the icons on his desktop. "No, you… It's my computer. I'm lending a segment of my hard drive to the museum, out of the goodness of my heart."
"Your computer? And you download games? I hope you have virus protection. Is that the only copy of the database? How long did it take you to transcribe everything?"
Keeping up with Arthur's indignant questions with difficulty, Merlin replied, "Yes, yes, I do, it's not a database, yes and, so far, about a day, if I add it all up, but that was before I got all this new stuff to sort through and add. That'll take ages."
"Tell me you at least have a backup."
"Sure, on here," Merlin said, digging a flash drive out of his pocket and tossing it casually. The other back-up was stored safely away in his room in Gaius's house so, strictly speaking, he didn't actually 'have' it. And watching Arthur's mouth open and close while he decided whether to give Merlin a lecture on data security was too amusing to spoil with the truth.
***
On the following Monday Arthur marched into the office again. "Here," he said. Merlin looked up from the piles of invoices in front of him and took the brand-new laptop thrust at him by reflex. "Use that," Arthur said curtly.
Merlin turned it over, put it on the desk and opened the lid. "Wow, thanks," he said, running his hands reverently over the keyboard. "How did you get your father to approve this?"
If anybody could make a sneer look attractive, Arthur managed it. "I'm still an employee of Pendragon's, Merlin. And a new laptop is a valid business expense."
With a grin, Merlin closed the lid. "So I'm thinking I don't need to add this to the project tally?" he asked.
"That won't be necessary. I got you a Pendragon company e-mail address, too. Here." Arthur pulled a sheet of paper out of his inner pocket. "When you have it set up, let me know. Right now I want the QS report from January. Have you got that?"
Once armed with the papers he had demanded, Arthur left Merlin in peace and Merlin didn't see him again for the rest of the week.
"I think he's gone back to London," Gwen said. She had just returned from a visit to Corporation Road Middle School and was making tea.
"He reminds me a lot of his father," Gaius observed, apropos of nothing, "for all that he has his mother's looks."
Merlin considered that. "Really?" he said. "Because somehow he doesn't seem as scary as Uther."
"His father when he was Arthur's age," Gaius said. "He was a very different man before he married."
"Oh? How different?" Merlin asked, exchanging a look with Gwen, but Gaius had gone suddenly deaf.
Gwen handed Gaius his tea. He set aside the clock he'd been examining and stretched his back. "Thank you, my dear," he said, sealing the change in topic with, "How was the visit?"
"It was okay. I mean, it was fine. Class 5 loved the barometer and had a lot of fun with the thermometers. I left them drawing pictures of weather." She bent over to look at the compass that was still sitting on the edge of his desk. "If it turns out that's not worth adding to the collections," she said, "I wouldn't mind having it for a year seven visit."
*****
With Arthur's descent upon them and the Board's decision to put a hold on design work, the membership of the museum had shifted. Lance had moved his base of operations on site to Leon's office in a portacabin behind the building. He only came into the museum proper as a shortcut, to meet up with Gwen for coffee at the Costa shop on Market Street at the end of the day. Gwaine had disappeared completely. Gwen said he was busy on other projects.
Pell continued to occupy the spare desk in Gwen's office as Arthur's proxy and frequently came into the workroom to make himself cups of tea, but he rarely stayed to drink it with them. He passed on messages and requests for information from Arthur and he was not unfriendly, but he seemed to be constantly on the move. "That's what the job is, when you work for Arthur," he explained. "He's trying to get his head around this project and look after three others at the same time. His proper assistant's in London."
"His proper assistant?" Gwen asked. "How many does he have?"
"One on each project, on the spot, and Owen at head office."
"And yet, even with all that help, he seems to stay busy," Merlin observed, shaking his head in wonder.
Pell laughed. "You have no idea," he said.
*****
Merlin was alone when Morgana dropped by at lunch time on Thursday. It was the first time she had done so since he arrived, but she collapsed into a chair and dumped her bag on the table as if she ate there every day.
"You don't look happy," he observed and she raised her head to smile at him.
"I'm not a morning person, but I had to get in early, to catch Lance and Gwaine together before Arthur Pendragon arrived," she explained. "I'm knackered. They've been locked away all morning, working out the implications of the Board's decision to suspend the exhibition design and going through the renovation programme. He swept in like he owned the place. Straight up from London and heading back there right after."
She sat up and opened her bag to remove a Tupperware box and a bottle of water. "I was in with them for the first hour, but then they got onto girders and load bearing walls, so I left." she said, pulling the lid off the box and extracting a neat half sandwich. "I don't think he cares about the museum at all. And it's not as if Lance and Gwaine have much choice but to accept whatever he says." She unscrewed the top from the bottle with some force. "But we've taken on staff; we can't just lay them off without notice."
Merlin did his best to sound confident when he suggested, "I'm sure he understands that. You made it clear?"
"I did," she agreed. "But it was like talking to empty air. Why should he be bothered by our arrangements?" She bit viciously into her sandwich, chewed and swallowed. "I thought he was going to be different." She sounded disappointed, as if Arthur's actions had been deliberately designed to upset her.
"He's not that bad." Merlin examined her shrewdly. "Or is this because he didn't agree with you?"
He had hoped to make her smile, but instead she glared at him. "For God's sake!" she snapped. "I didn't expect him to agree. But I did expect him to be polite enough to listen."
Merlin winced and glanced at the door, willing Gwen to walk in, although he knew she was out with a school trip to the stone circle near Great Lessing. He opened his mouth to say something soothing, but Morgana got in first. "Can't you see what he's doing?" she said.
It didn't sound like a question that wanted an answer, so Merlin didn't attempt one. Morgana continued, "That, that… Oh, I don't know what to call him. I thought he'd be different, but he's just the same."
"Different from what? The same as what?"
"The same as Uther."
She paused, took a deep breath and her shoulders slumped. She looked over at him and caught his eye. A small, reluctant smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "No," she said more calmly. "I know. I've never met Uther, so how would I know? You're right." She picked up her water bottle and took a sip. "But I've heard of him," she said. "And if half of what I've heard is true… Well, let's just say I wouldn't want to be powerless and dependent upon him doing the right thing."
***
Morgana began to eat her lunch at the Folly almost every day and mostly they talked about everything except the project. Even Morgana could not rant successfully in the face of Gwen's inexhaustible reasonableness.
It took Merlin almost a week and a half to go through all of Cedric Griggs' papers, do the data entry and cross-reference payments against bank statements. He received occasional e-mails from Arthur asking about his progress, but apart from fleeting visits, Arthur spent his time elsewhere.
It was not until Merlin informed him that he had finished that Arthur came in and stayed for long enough to sit down. "Are you certain there is no discrepancy between the invoices and the bank statements?" he asked, studying the computer screen as Merlin led him through the numbers.
Merlin shook his head. "No. Sorry. Not as far as I can tell. I know that now you've seen the sums you're looking for someone to blame, but I can't help you. If you think Cedric Griggs was dipping his fingers in the pot, you need a proper accountant, not a guy with a spreadsheet."
Getting to his feet, Arthur sighed but accepted the logic. "Why the hell was no one doing this already?" he asked. "What was Dr Leech doing?"
Laying emphasis on the name, Merlin replied, "Gaius, was doing what he's always done. He was looking after the collections and keeping the museum open."
"But he's not been looking after the project."
Aware that his voice was in danger of rising, Merlin made a conscious effort to keep it calm. "Because that's not his job. It was the Board's responsibility. The collections are Gaius's and-" he was cut off by Arthur's phone ringing.
Arthur looked at the screen, held up a staying hand and answered it. "Yes?" he asked. There was a pause while he listened, then he nodded to Merlin. "I'll see you later," he said. And he was gone, phone glued to his ear.
"Prat," Merlin muttered.
***
Merlin had no more success in complaining about Arthur's attitude and manner to Gwen than Morgana did.
In spite of having her office invaded, Gwen appeared impressed by him, even slightly taken with him. If it had not been clear to everyone that she and Lance were slowly edging towards a proper first date, Merlin might have suspected her of having a crush. As it was, she simply refused to listen and when she failed in that, she tripped over herself in inventing excuses for Arthur's manners.
Morgana was a much more rewarding companion. With her own axe to grind, she built on his complaints with more serious ones of her own. It was cathartic and when Arthur swept into Gaius's office, ignoring Gaius himself and marching up to Merlin's desk to demand a printout of this, or a copy of that invoice or contract, Merlin gritted his teeth, dug out them for him and saved his muttering until he had gone.
Unfortunately, it became clear on the following Thursday morning, that Arthur had very good hearing, Merlin's timing was occasionally poor, or possibly both.
Merlin was alone in the office when Arthur entered. "I need the Riverside contract, again," he said. He was on the phone to someone and continued his conversation while Merlin got up and went to the filing cabinet were all the papers were stored, pending Arthur arranging their shipment to an accountant somewhere. He dug out the file, found the contract and handed it over. Taking it, Arthur nodded and turned to leave.
Merlin muttered, "Berk," under his breath.
Arthur paused with his hand on the door knob and swung on his heel. He pocketed his phone and came back across the room to stand next to Merlin's chair. "What did you just call me?" he asked.
It was almost a relief. "I called you a pompous oaf who's only here, lording it over the rest of us, because of who his daddy is and who doesn't care enough about anyone to even be polite."
From the doorway Gaius's voice said, "Merlin!"
He did not look happy. Having captured Merlin's attention, he proceeded to both embarrass him and hand Arthur a shed load of ammunition. "Your mother brought you up better than that," he said as he came into the room. He addressed Arthur. "Please forgive my nephew; he was not really raised in a barn, in spite of appearances." Looking back at Merlin he added, "Have you started on room 135, yet?"
"No," Merlin said. Gaius raised an eyebrow. "Fine," Merlin sighed. He looked over at Arthur and very sweetly apologised for his outburst.
Arthur accepted, equally politely, but his slight smirk seemed to acknowledge and accept Merlin's insincerity. He took Merlin's offered hand and leaned in close. "Daddy?" he whispered. "Pot and kettle, I think."
"I don't have to justify my existence to you," Merlin whispered back furiously.
He pulled away and left the room with as much dignity as he could manage.
Arthur came after him. Merlin was already at the top of the stairs, with the door into the store room corridor ajar when Arthur's voice halted him. "Given that it is no doubt my father's money that is paying your wages, I think you do."
"It doesn't," Merlin snapped, and pushed the door open, escaping into the dark and dusty sanctuary of the corridor beyond.
But the next morning Arthur surprised him.
"The warehouse on Riverside won't be costing so much in future," he told Gaius.
He had come to the office to return the Riverside contract, now with additional paperwork attached.
"We can leave the collections there?" Gaius asked, smiling broadly.
"Yes, you can. I've renegotiated the lease. It is very unfortunate, the way in which the previous treasurer was allowed to run amok." He inclined his head to Gaius in an old-fashioned gesture of respect from a young man to his elder, that also somehow conveyed forgiveness, or at least an understanding of Gaius's position adjacent to the mess. "But we will sort this out," he promised. "All this mess." He waved his hand in a broad gesture that was probably supposed to indicate Cedric Griggs, as well as the bricks and mortar around them. "This is just a temporary problem."
He and Merlin didn't exchange any words beyond, "Here, for your files," and "Thanks," but he lingered politely to chat to Gaius, agreeing that moving the collections again would not have been ideal. "It's a good location and they have security," he said.
After he left, for whatever meeting was next on his schedule, Merlin felt reluctantly grateful for his reassurance, which seemed to have lifted a worry from Gaius's shoulders.
***
Over the course of the next week, relations between Merlin and Arthur gradually thawed further. Lunches with Morgana went a long way toward lancing Merlin's habitual annoyance, while Arthur seemed to be pretending that nothing had happened. He came and went as before, demanding numbers, printouts and files from Merlin, on a seemingly random basis. For most of the week he was holed up in Leon's site office.
***
"Have you seen Arthur?" Leon asked.
It was Monday morning and the museum had just opened, but no visitors had yet arrived. Merlin was polishing greasy finger marks off the glass cases in the foyer. He shook his head. "No. Sorry."
"He's coming over for a meeting with the QS. If you do see him, could you tell him we'll be a bit late. I want to show her the work we did last week, first. I promise him strong coffee as compensation."
"Sure. If I see him," Merlin agreed.
Leon waved and smiled as he retreated back into the Great Hall and Merlin returned to polishing glass. When he finished, he went to put away the polishing cloth in the cupboard in Gaius's workroom and had reached the bottom of the stairs when, looking up to the balcony, he saw the door leading to the corridor and Gwen's office open.
"Arthur?" he called, before realising it was Pell.
Pell had an apple, which he had apparently just taken a bite from. He shook his head and waved his hand, apple included, in a vague gesture that Merlin took to mean he would answer as soon as his mouth was empty. In the meantime he walked towards the stairs, his footsteps crisp on the marble floor.
"Leon wants to show -" Merlin began.
One moment Pell was at the top of the stairs, his mouth open to finally reply to Merlin, the next he was tumbling down towards him.
It was not like in a film. Pell's descent was inexorable, disorganised and hypnotising. Merlin felt a tingle of something across his skin, a flickering sensation, like lightning, or a kitten's claws. It felt like panic and it obscured his focus for a vital second. By then, Pell was all flailing arms and legs which failed to slow him down, as he stumbled, lurched and finally fell.
Merlin surged forward, his arms raised, but the angle was wrong and he found it hard to focus on Pell who was coming straight at him. By the time he felt the click of engagement, Pell was upon him and he was carried to the ground by Pell's weight. He didn't even manage to protect Pell's head, which made a disturbingly loud thunk as it hit the hard marble floor. The apple bounced down the last few stairs and came to rest next to them.
Trapped partially under Pell's body, Merlin shouted, "Help!"
He knew enough not to move, in case Pell had sustained serious injury to his back or neck during the fall. Running a hand over Pell's face, with the vague notion that if the skin was hot, or cold and clammy, it should tell him something, he whispered, "Hey?" but got no response.
He needed someone who had a phone. "Hey! Someone!" he yelled, louder.
Morgana appeared at his side. "What happened?" she exclaimed.
Most of his attention focused on Pell, Merlin shook his head. "Phone!" he said. "999!"
"Right." Morgana dug in her bag, pulled out her phone and dialled.
While listening to her asking for an ambulance and giving instructions, Merlin found a pulse in Pell's neck and relaxed a little.
Pell groaned. "Don't move," Merlin said, stroking his back soothingly.
"They'll be here in a few minutes," Morgana said, ending the call. "I'll, I'll go and wait for them by the door and bring them straight in."
Pell seemed to have sunk back into unconsciousness, but at least he was alive. "Yes. Good idea. Thank you."
"No problem. I'll be right back."
When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics carefully braced Pell's neck before lifting him onto a stretcher and Merlin was finally able to get up. Pell's eyelids were fluttering, but he still appeared mostly out of it.
"Can I come with you?" Merlin asked.
The paramedic looked him up and down. "Relative?" he asked.
"No, colleague. And I sort of caught him. I can give them his details."
The paramedic sighed. "Sure, come on," he said.
When they reached the ambulance Merlin realised Morgana was still with them. "Can you tell Arthur what's happened?" he asked. He scrambled into the back of the ambulance. "And Gaius."
The door was slammed closed on her agreement and the ambulance took off.
At A&E, Pell was wheeled off and Merlin was left to sit on a hard plastic chair and twiddle his thumbs. Eventually a nurse came to take Pell's details and to send Merlin away, saying that there was nothing more he could do and he should come back later, when Pell might be fit for visitors. Merlin went back to the museum to learn that Arthur had been and gone again.
***
Visiting hours at the hospital that evening were 5:30 to 8:00 and Merlin found Pell ensconced in a proper ward with his right arm in plaster and secured across his chest inside his gown. "I don't know why they moved me," he said. "They're letting me out tomorrow, as soon as the doctor's done his rounds."
Merlin raised his eyebrows but didn't express his doubts.
Morgana arrived, bringing grapes which she put next to a bowl of bananas and apples on top of the bedside table. She asked about his release and he explained that he would be going home to his parents for a few days. "My arm's broken," he said.
"Yes, I'm sorry," Morgana replied.
"My right arm. And I've fractured my left ankle."
"Are you right-handed?" Merlin asked.
"Yes. I don't know how long it'll be before I can get back to work. Last time it was six weeks in plaster, but that was my left arm." He wriggled himself up the mattress slightly then used the switch to raise the head of the bed further, so he was more upright. He studied Morgana. "I don't really remember what happened," he said. He looked at Merlin. "You were there, at the bottom of the stairs?"
"Yes."
"And, and there was no one else there?
"No."
He closed his eyes. "I just thought..." His brows scrunched together and he opened his eyes again. He shook his head slightly. "Never mind."
"There really was no one there," Merlin said and Pell nodded.
"No. I didn't think there was. I'd remember, wouldn't I?" Merlin cast around for some new topic of conversation, but he didn't know Pell well enough. He didn't think work talk would be helpful to Pell's recovery. "I remember once," Pell said. "Playing football. A bad tackle..." His voice trailed off, but there was still a slight wrinkle in his brow, as if he was trying to remember something else. Turning back to Morgana, he said, "I don't remember you."
Merlin and Morgana exchanged a look. "I came to deliver something for Lance," she said. "I arrived just after you fell."
"Morgana called the ambulance," Merlin explained.
Morgana stood up. "You should rest," she said.
Merlin stood too and they gathered their coats. Merlin asked. "Do you need anything?"
Pell shook his head. "No, thanks. Arthur's sorting everything out. I'll be fine."
As they walked the long corridors back to the front entrance Morgana said, "Poor bastard. I've never broken anything and he's done both arms and a leg."
"Me neither," Merlin agreed. "It was weird, you know? It was like he tripped on something."
"But there was nothing there, was there? For him to stumble over?"
Merlin shrugged. "No. No, there wasn't."
"Want to go and check?" she asked.
Merlin grinned. "Bit late now."
"Yeah, I suppose it is."
*****
The financial files had finally been packed up and sent by courier to a firm of accountants and Merlin had handed over the spreadsheet to Arthur. As a result, Arthur no longer bothered him for information, but all week, every time he took a break from his work in the stores, Merlin seemed to find Arthur sharing a pot of tea and chatting with Gaius about the Museum, the collections and the history of Camelot. Demonstrating his good upbringing, Arthur would include Merlin and Gwen in the conversation and Merlin found himself enjoying his coffee breaks for more than just access to the internet.
It was during one such visit that Gaius mentioned he had finally located the last living descendant of Muriel Compton-Blythe, the donor of the mummies. "It's Miss Kay," he said. Turning to Arthur, he explained, "Miss Kay is one of our regular visitors. She lives near Lillebrook. I don't think she really likes them, so I hope she'll be agreeable to us giving them on permanent loan to the Fitzherbert Museum at the University of Caerleon. They'll do a much better job of caring for them and they have an extensive Egyptian collection which will allow them to display our examples in context." He raised his voice slightly. "Merlin?" he said.
Merlin was reading Will's facebook and had been only paying mild attention to Gaius's explanation, but he looked up. "Yeah, that's amazing," he agreed.
"Wonderful," Gaius said, slapping his hand on his knee and heaving himself to his feet. He went and fetched the telephone directory and returned with it to his desk. "I'll give her a ring and find out when you can go and see her. She was quite taken with you when she met you."
It turned out Merlin could go and see her the next day. "Best to get it done sooner rather than later," Gaius said. "So we know where we stand. And tomorrow's Friday, so... Oh, and could you take a photo of the thermometer, the hygrometer and the seals on the display cases, to help explain to Miss Kay that they have special conservation needs?"
Merlin nodded and got up to do that at once. Arthur followed him.
"If I'm coming with you," Arthur said, as they strolled down the stairs. "We are not going on the bus. We'll call a taxi."
Merlin gaped. "What? A taxi? But it must be twenty miles," he spluttered. "And what do you mean, you're coming? Why would you come?"
"Because, Merlin, Miss Kay is an elderly lady of a certain class, and whether she was taken with you, or not, if we are to get her to agree to the mummies' removal to the Fitzherbert, the personal touch might be advantageous."
Merlin snorted. "And you're curious about one of the old county families?"
Casting him a sideways glance, Arthur's lips curled into a lopsided smile. "Maybe," he admitted. "The Pendragons are also an old county family, after all, and I know very little of our illustrious history. Do you know the number of a local taxi company?"
"But we can't take a taxi. I've googled the address; it's miles from anywhere and the taxi would have to wait."
"So?"
"So, we could be more than an hour and taxis are expensive."
The concept appeared to be a new one for Arthur. "Expensive?" he asked. He shook his head. "Taxis aren't expensive."
"Yes they are. Unless…" They had reached the foyer and Merlin took a step backwards so he could look Arthur up and down. "Ah, of course. You were born to money. That would explain it."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
In the most airy and casual voice he could muster, Merlin replied, "Oh, nothing, except that millionaires know how to make money, while their children know how to spend it?"
He expected a frown, but Arthur surprised him by throwing back his head and laughing. "By that logic," he said, "my father would be tight-fisted, and some might say he is, but even he would tell you that there are times when 'splashing out for a taxi' is a good investment." He studied Merlin's face and grinned. "Oh, very well," he said. "I'll drive us."
"In what?"
"I'll bring my car in. You can navigate."
Pendragon's Folly, Chapter 4
Pairing: M/A, eventually.
Characters: in this chapter - Merlin, Gaius, Arthur, Gwen, Morgana, Pell
Rating: PG maybe even U
Chapter Word Count: A shorter chapter this week - 5,600
Warnings: No sex
Summary: There's an out of work wizard, a museum, a sizeable donation that turns it into a building site, suspicious happenings (eventually) and magic (soon, honest). A sort of 'take your fandom to work' story.
Author's note 1: When it comes to romance, this story is the definition of 'slow burn'.
Author's note 2: More thanks than I can say to my beta, plot wrangler and best friend, sparrow2000. And many, many thanks to DJ for (hopefully) catching the typos we missed. If you spot any more, please do let me know.
Comments are always greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
Disclaimer: I write fan fic. All the characters from the Merlin series are the property of the BBC and Shine, etc. No infringement is intended and no profit is being made from this writing.
Chapter 3
The files from Cedric Griggs arrived the next morning in five large boxes. Merlin cleared the desk that had become his and the round table. He unloaded the papers into ten tall piles and began to look through them.
It was immediately apparent that there was no organisation in the archive. The boxes had been a dead-store. The bills had been paid so that was the end of it. One was duty bound to keep the records of the transactions, but they had no further purpose.
"Some bloody accountant," Merlin muttered as he retrieved a couple of packets of envelope files from the stationary cupboard and laid them out across the clear space on his desk. He began the task of sorting through the papers and putting the correspondence from each company together.
Gaius returned from talking to a visitor in the Ladies Waiting Room. After one look at the chaos, he grabbed the pile of letters received that morning from the children of Rosedale Primary and retreated again, probably to camp out in Gwen's workroom for the rest of the day. Merlin took the opportunity to spread his work onto Gaius's desk as well.
Arthur arrived shortly after lunch. "Is that all of it?" he asked. "Good. I need more than just the total amount spent and committed. I need it broken down into these headings," he passed over a scrap of paper, "before I take it anywhere."
Merlin looked at the list. It wasn't very different from the system he had already been using. "Why am I doing this?" he asked. "Why don't you get a proper accountant in? Or second one from the family firm?"
From beyond the open door, the hollow echo of children shouting indicated a visit from class five of the Lower Grange Primary School. Gwen's voice could also be heard, raised in gentle admonishment.
"Griggs was a proper accountant and look at the mess he made," Arthur said. "But I will. I'll hand the whole lot over, once you've got it all together. But I want a few simple totals first. I need to know who we have commitments to and who we've been paying. I want to see the shape of this mess, before I get an accountant to try and find ways to fix some of it." He leafed through a handful of papers taken from one of the larger stacks, snorted and placed them back on their pile. It swayed slightly and he steadied it with both hands. "As for a company accountant… This project has nothing to do with Pendragon's. The grant is all we have if we're to get this Museum open."
"We?"
"Yes, we. The Board of Trustees -"
"Your father."
"The Board of Trustees asked for help. My father has agreed to lend me to the project and pick up the cost of my salary. But he is not willing to extend more than that, at this time."
"So, what you're really saying," Merlin suggested, "is that this is, what, your chance to prove yourself? He's given you this little kingdom, to see how you manage it?"
Arthur looked momentarily discomforted. "Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. I've been working for the company for years; I have nothing to prove."
Merlin looked him up and down, and raised an eyebrow. Arthur flushed slightly. "Holidays, Mer-lin. Summer, Easter and Christmas. You might have spent your holidays as a student swanning around doing nothing, but I was at work during mine."
Letting the subject drop, Merlin picked up one of the envelope files. "You'll probably want to check this," he said, handing it over. "It's the stuff for the warehouse at Riverside. You were asking about it…"
"Oh, yes, thank you." Arthur took the file, pulled out a sheaf of papers and flipped through them. He studied a couple in detail, but glanced at them all. "The rental agreement's not here," he said, shoving the papers back in the file and holding it out to Merlin. "Have you found it?"
"Not yet." Merlin took the file from him. "But I can look for that first, if you like?"
"That would be good," Arthur agreed. "I'll be back in an hour and if you could find it by then, I'd be grateful." He picked up his briefcase, turned away and opened the door. As he left the room, he was already pulling his phone from his pocket.
Merlin made a mocking bow to the closed door. "Oh, you're welcome, Your Highness," he said. "Don't worry about me, I live to serve your every whim."
He went and made himself a mug of coffee before starting his search through the remaining loose piles of paper for anything with either Riverside Properties or Greenswood Ltd on the letterhead.
By the time Arthur returned, two hours later, Merlin had found the lease and had actually started entering data into his spreadsheet. Arthur sat and read it through in silence. Eventually he looked up. "This is extortionate," he said.
Merlin frowned. "Is it?" he asked. "Can we get out of it?" He considered that option. "Except, the collections are there now. Moving them again... Well, things get damaged in moves."
Slipping the lease into his briefcase, Arthur stood up. "Even before you finish collating these papers," he said.
Merlin interrupted. "Start, you mean."
Arthur laughed. "All right, start," he acknowledged. "But whatever, I already know this project is over-budget and has very little to show for the expenditure. How this was allowed to happen..." He trailed off and took a turn around the room. Merlin watched him pace.
Suddenly business-like again, Arthur said, "I need a printout listing all the invoices submitted by Greenswood Ltd, since they were awarded the contract. Will that take long?"
"I think I've found them all and I've already gone through some of them." Merlin picked up and waved the Greenswood folder. "Give me another twenty minutes."
Merlin went back to typing, while Arthur continued to prowl the room. He studied the books and boxes on the shelves. He wandered past Gaius's desk and picked through the assortment of small objects there. He returned to Merlin's desk and rifled through the piles of papers in a most distracting way. Rather more than twenty minutes later, it was with some relief that Merlin was able to say, "Okay, done. You want the total?"
"No, Merlin. I need an itemised printout, remember? Something to flash at Leon."
"Oh, right. I'll have to use the printer in Gwen's room. Hang on." He picked up his laptop.
"I'll come with you," Arthur said.
Feeling put upon, Merlin led the way to Gwen's workroom. "This is where Lance and Gwaine camp out when they're here," he said, mainly to make conversation.
It was an unfortunate choice of topic because Arthur looked around the room. "Maybe I should set up in here," he said. "I'll take this one." He pointed at Gwen's neatly organised desk. "You and Pell can use that one," he added, indicating the spare that Gwaine and Lance used.
"That's Gwen's," Merlin protested. "You can't throw her out of her own office."
"Oh, I'm sure she won't mind."
His irritation levels rising exponentially, Merlin snapped, "I will though. I have my own desk next door and I'm staying there. You can commandeer this one," he said, sitting down at it. "But I'm not moving."
Opening up his laptop, he plugged in the printer cable. He didn't turn to look when Arthur came to watch over his shoulder, although he was very aware of him hovering. "And we don't have broadband," he said.
"Pell's already organising that. It'll be on tomorrow," Arthur replied, unruffled. "Are you using a museum computer to download games?"
At that Merlin did look back at him and then to the icons on his desktop. "No, you… It's my computer. I'm lending a segment of my hard drive to the museum, out of the goodness of my heart."
"Your computer? And you download games? I hope you have virus protection. Is that the only copy of the database? How long did it take you to transcribe everything?"
Keeping up with Arthur's indignant questions with difficulty, Merlin replied, "Yes, yes, I do, it's not a database, yes and, so far, about a day, if I add it all up, but that was before I got all this new stuff to sort through and add. That'll take ages."
"Tell me you at least have a backup."
"Sure, on here," Merlin said, digging a flash drive out of his pocket and tossing it casually. The other back-up was stored safely away in his room in Gaius's house so, strictly speaking, he didn't actually 'have' it. And watching Arthur's mouth open and close while he decided whether to give Merlin a lecture on data security was too amusing to spoil with the truth.
***
On the following Monday Arthur marched into the office again. "Here," he said. Merlin looked up from the piles of invoices in front of him and took the brand-new laptop thrust at him by reflex. "Use that," Arthur said curtly.
Merlin turned it over, put it on the desk and opened the lid. "Wow, thanks," he said, running his hands reverently over the keyboard. "How did you get your father to approve this?"
If anybody could make a sneer look attractive, Arthur managed it. "I'm still an employee of Pendragon's, Merlin. And a new laptop is a valid business expense."
With a grin, Merlin closed the lid. "So I'm thinking I don't need to add this to the project tally?" he asked.
"That won't be necessary. I got you a Pendragon company e-mail address, too. Here." Arthur pulled a sheet of paper out of his inner pocket. "When you have it set up, let me know. Right now I want the QS report from January. Have you got that?"
Once armed with the papers he had demanded, Arthur left Merlin in peace and Merlin didn't see him again for the rest of the week.
"I think he's gone back to London," Gwen said. She had just returned from a visit to Corporation Road Middle School and was making tea.
"He reminds me a lot of his father," Gaius observed, apropos of nothing, "for all that he has his mother's looks."
Merlin considered that. "Really?" he said. "Because somehow he doesn't seem as scary as Uther."
"His father when he was Arthur's age," Gaius said. "He was a very different man before he married."
"Oh? How different?" Merlin asked, exchanging a look with Gwen, but Gaius had gone suddenly deaf.
Gwen handed Gaius his tea. He set aside the clock he'd been examining and stretched his back. "Thank you, my dear," he said, sealing the change in topic with, "How was the visit?"
"It was okay. I mean, it was fine. Class 5 loved the barometer and had a lot of fun with the thermometers. I left them drawing pictures of weather." She bent over to look at the compass that was still sitting on the edge of his desk. "If it turns out that's not worth adding to the collections," she said, "I wouldn't mind having it for a year seven visit."
*****
With Arthur's descent upon them and the Board's decision to put a hold on design work, the membership of the museum had shifted. Lance had moved his base of operations on site to Leon's office in a portacabin behind the building. He only came into the museum proper as a shortcut, to meet up with Gwen for coffee at the Costa shop on Market Street at the end of the day. Gwaine had disappeared completely. Gwen said he was busy on other projects.
Pell continued to occupy the spare desk in Gwen's office as Arthur's proxy and frequently came into the workroom to make himself cups of tea, but he rarely stayed to drink it with them. He passed on messages and requests for information from Arthur and he was not unfriendly, but he seemed to be constantly on the move. "That's what the job is, when you work for Arthur," he explained. "He's trying to get his head around this project and look after three others at the same time. His proper assistant's in London."
"His proper assistant?" Gwen asked. "How many does he have?"
"One on each project, on the spot, and Owen at head office."
"And yet, even with all that help, he seems to stay busy," Merlin observed, shaking his head in wonder.
Pell laughed. "You have no idea," he said.
*****
Merlin was alone when Morgana dropped by at lunch time on Thursday. It was the first time she had done so since he arrived, but she collapsed into a chair and dumped her bag on the table as if she ate there every day.
"You don't look happy," he observed and she raised her head to smile at him.
"I'm not a morning person, but I had to get in early, to catch Lance and Gwaine together before Arthur Pendragon arrived," she explained. "I'm knackered. They've been locked away all morning, working out the implications of the Board's decision to suspend the exhibition design and going through the renovation programme. He swept in like he owned the place. Straight up from London and heading back there right after."
She sat up and opened her bag to remove a Tupperware box and a bottle of water. "I was in with them for the first hour, but then they got onto girders and load bearing walls, so I left." she said, pulling the lid off the box and extracting a neat half sandwich. "I don't think he cares about the museum at all. And it's not as if Lance and Gwaine have much choice but to accept whatever he says." She unscrewed the top from the bottle with some force. "But we've taken on staff; we can't just lay them off without notice."
Merlin did his best to sound confident when he suggested, "I'm sure he understands that. You made it clear?"
"I did," she agreed. "But it was like talking to empty air. Why should he be bothered by our arrangements?" She bit viciously into her sandwich, chewed and swallowed. "I thought he was going to be different." She sounded disappointed, as if Arthur's actions had been deliberately designed to upset her.
"He's not that bad." Merlin examined her shrewdly. "Or is this because he didn't agree with you?"
He had hoped to make her smile, but instead she glared at him. "For God's sake!" she snapped. "I didn't expect him to agree. But I did expect him to be polite enough to listen."
Merlin winced and glanced at the door, willing Gwen to walk in, although he knew she was out with a school trip to the stone circle near Great Lessing. He opened his mouth to say something soothing, but Morgana got in first. "Can't you see what he's doing?" she said.
It didn't sound like a question that wanted an answer, so Merlin didn't attempt one. Morgana continued, "That, that… Oh, I don't know what to call him. I thought he'd be different, but he's just the same."
"Different from what? The same as what?"
"The same as Uther."
She paused, took a deep breath and her shoulders slumped. She looked over at him and caught his eye. A small, reluctant smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "No," she said more calmly. "I know. I've never met Uther, so how would I know? You're right." She picked up her water bottle and took a sip. "But I've heard of him," she said. "And if half of what I've heard is true… Well, let's just say I wouldn't want to be powerless and dependent upon him doing the right thing."
***
Morgana began to eat her lunch at the Folly almost every day and mostly they talked about everything except the project. Even Morgana could not rant successfully in the face of Gwen's inexhaustible reasonableness.
It took Merlin almost a week and a half to go through all of Cedric Griggs' papers, do the data entry and cross-reference payments against bank statements. He received occasional e-mails from Arthur asking about his progress, but apart from fleeting visits, Arthur spent his time elsewhere.
It was not until Merlin informed him that he had finished that Arthur came in and stayed for long enough to sit down. "Are you certain there is no discrepancy between the invoices and the bank statements?" he asked, studying the computer screen as Merlin led him through the numbers.
Merlin shook his head. "No. Sorry. Not as far as I can tell. I know that now you've seen the sums you're looking for someone to blame, but I can't help you. If you think Cedric Griggs was dipping his fingers in the pot, you need a proper accountant, not a guy with a spreadsheet."
Getting to his feet, Arthur sighed but accepted the logic. "Why the hell was no one doing this already?" he asked. "What was Dr Leech doing?"
Laying emphasis on the name, Merlin replied, "Gaius, was doing what he's always done. He was looking after the collections and keeping the museum open."
"But he's not been looking after the project."
Aware that his voice was in danger of rising, Merlin made a conscious effort to keep it calm. "Because that's not his job. It was the Board's responsibility. The collections are Gaius's and-" he was cut off by Arthur's phone ringing.
Arthur looked at the screen, held up a staying hand and answered it. "Yes?" he asked. There was a pause while he listened, then he nodded to Merlin. "I'll see you later," he said. And he was gone, phone glued to his ear.
"Prat," Merlin muttered.
***
Merlin had no more success in complaining about Arthur's attitude and manner to Gwen than Morgana did.
In spite of having her office invaded, Gwen appeared impressed by him, even slightly taken with him. If it had not been clear to everyone that she and Lance were slowly edging towards a proper first date, Merlin might have suspected her of having a crush. As it was, she simply refused to listen and when she failed in that, she tripped over herself in inventing excuses for Arthur's manners.
Morgana was a much more rewarding companion. With her own axe to grind, she built on his complaints with more serious ones of her own. It was cathartic and when Arthur swept into Gaius's office, ignoring Gaius himself and marching up to Merlin's desk to demand a printout of this, or a copy of that invoice or contract, Merlin gritted his teeth, dug out them for him and saved his muttering until he had gone.
Unfortunately, it became clear on the following Thursday morning, that Arthur had very good hearing, Merlin's timing was occasionally poor, or possibly both.
Merlin was alone in the office when Arthur entered. "I need the Riverside contract, again," he said. He was on the phone to someone and continued his conversation while Merlin got up and went to the filing cabinet were all the papers were stored, pending Arthur arranging their shipment to an accountant somewhere. He dug out the file, found the contract and handed it over. Taking it, Arthur nodded and turned to leave.
Merlin muttered, "Berk," under his breath.
Arthur paused with his hand on the door knob and swung on his heel. He pocketed his phone and came back across the room to stand next to Merlin's chair. "What did you just call me?" he asked.
It was almost a relief. "I called you a pompous oaf who's only here, lording it over the rest of us, because of who his daddy is and who doesn't care enough about anyone to even be polite."
From the doorway Gaius's voice said, "Merlin!"
He did not look happy. Having captured Merlin's attention, he proceeded to both embarrass him and hand Arthur a shed load of ammunition. "Your mother brought you up better than that," he said as he came into the room. He addressed Arthur. "Please forgive my nephew; he was not really raised in a barn, in spite of appearances." Looking back at Merlin he added, "Have you started on room 135, yet?"
"No," Merlin said. Gaius raised an eyebrow. "Fine," Merlin sighed. He looked over at Arthur and very sweetly apologised for his outburst.
Arthur accepted, equally politely, but his slight smirk seemed to acknowledge and accept Merlin's insincerity. He took Merlin's offered hand and leaned in close. "Daddy?" he whispered. "Pot and kettle, I think."
"I don't have to justify my existence to you," Merlin whispered back furiously.
He pulled away and left the room with as much dignity as he could manage.
Arthur came after him. Merlin was already at the top of the stairs, with the door into the store room corridor ajar when Arthur's voice halted him. "Given that it is no doubt my father's money that is paying your wages, I think you do."
"It doesn't," Merlin snapped, and pushed the door open, escaping into the dark and dusty sanctuary of the corridor beyond.
But the next morning Arthur surprised him.
"The warehouse on Riverside won't be costing so much in future," he told Gaius.
He had come to the office to return the Riverside contract, now with additional paperwork attached.
"We can leave the collections there?" Gaius asked, smiling broadly.
"Yes, you can. I've renegotiated the lease. It is very unfortunate, the way in which the previous treasurer was allowed to run amok." He inclined his head to Gaius in an old-fashioned gesture of respect from a young man to his elder, that also somehow conveyed forgiveness, or at least an understanding of Gaius's position adjacent to the mess. "But we will sort this out," he promised. "All this mess." He waved his hand in a broad gesture that was probably supposed to indicate Cedric Griggs, as well as the bricks and mortar around them. "This is just a temporary problem."
He and Merlin didn't exchange any words beyond, "Here, for your files," and "Thanks," but he lingered politely to chat to Gaius, agreeing that moving the collections again would not have been ideal. "It's a good location and they have security," he said.
After he left, for whatever meeting was next on his schedule, Merlin felt reluctantly grateful for his reassurance, which seemed to have lifted a worry from Gaius's shoulders.
***
Over the course of the next week, relations between Merlin and Arthur gradually thawed further. Lunches with Morgana went a long way toward lancing Merlin's habitual annoyance, while Arthur seemed to be pretending that nothing had happened. He came and went as before, demanding numbers, printouts and files from Merlin, on a seemingly random basis. For most of the week he was holed up in Leon's site office.
***
"Have you seen Arthur?" Leon asked.
It was Monday morning and the museum had just opened, but no visitors had yet arrived. Merlin was polishing greasy finger marks off the glass cases in the foyer. He shook his head. "No. Sorry."
"He's coming over for a meeting with the QS. If you do see him, could you tell him we'll be a bit late. I want to show her the work we did last week, first. I promise him strong coffee as compensation."
"Sure. If I see him," Merlin agreed.
Leon waved and smiled as he retreated back into the Great Hall and Merlin returned to polishing glass. When he finished, he went to put away the polishing cloth in the cupboard in Gaius's workroom and had reached the bottom of the stairs when, looking up to the balcony, he saw the door leading to the corridor and Gwen's office open.
"Arthur?" he called, before realising it was Pell.
Pell had an apple, which he had apparently just taken a bite from. He shook his head and waved his hand, apple included, in a vague gesture that Merlin took to mean he would answer as soon as his mouth was empty. In the meantime he walked towards the stairs, his footsteps crisp on the marble floor.
"Leon wants to show -" Merlin began.
One moment Pell was at the top of the stairs, his mouth open to finally reply to Merlin, the next he was tumbling down towards him.
It was not like in a film. Pell's descent was inexorable, disorganised and hypnotising. Merlin felt a tingle of something across his skin, a flickering sensation, like lightning, or a kitten's claws. It felt like panic and it obscured his focus for a vital second. By then, Pell was all flailing arms and legs which failed to slow him down, as he stumbled, lurched and finally fell.
Merlin surged forward, his arms raised, but the angle was wrong and he found it hard to focus on Pell who was coming straight at him. By the time he felt the click of engagement, Pell was upon him and he was carried to the ground by Pell's weight. He didn't even manage to protect Pell's head, which made a disturbingly loud thunk as it hit the hard marble floor. The apple bounced down the last few stairs and came to rest next to them.
Trapped partially under Pell's body, Merlin shouted, "Help!"
He knew enough not to move, in case Pell had sustained serious injury to his back or neck during the fall. Running a hand over Pell's face, with the vague notion that if the skin was hot, or cold and clammy, it should tell him something, he whispered, "Hey?" but got no response.
He needed someone who had a phone. "Hey! Someone!" he yelled, louder.
Morgana appeared at his side. "What happened?" she exclaimed.
Most of his attention focused on Pell, Merlin shook his head. "Phone!" he said. "999!"
"Right." Morgana dug in her bag, pulled out her phone and dialled.
While listening to her asking for an ambulance and giving instructions, Merlin found a pulse in Pell's neck and relaxed a little.
Pell groaned. "Don't move," Merlin said, stroking his back soothingly.
"They'll be here in a few minutes," Morgana said, ending the call. "I'll, I'll go and wait for them by the door and bring them straight in."
Pell seemed to have sunk back into unconsciousness, but at least he was alive. "Yes. Good idea. Thank you."
"No problem. I'll be right back."
When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics carefully braced Pell's neck before lifting him onto a stretcher and Merlin was finally able to get up. Pell's eyelids were fluttering, but he still appeared mostly out of it.
"Can I come with you?" Merlin asked.
The paramedic looked him up and down. "Relative?" he asked.
"No, colleague. And I sort of caught him. I can give them his details."
The paramedic sighed. "Sure, come on," he said.
When they reached the ambulance Merlin realised Morgana was still with them. "Can you tell Arthur what's happened?" he asked. He scrambled into the back of the ambulance. "And Gaius."
The door was slammed closed on her agreement and the ambulance took off.
At A&E, Pell was wheeled off and Merlin was left to sit on a hard plastic chair and twiddle his thumbs. Eventually a nurse came to take Pell's details and to send Merlin away, saying that there was nothing more he could do and he should come back later, when Pell might be fit for visitors. Merlin went back to the museum to learn that Arthur had been and gone again.
***
Visiting hours at the hospital that evening were 5:30 to 8:00 and Merlin found Pell ensconced in a proper ward with his right arm in plaster and secured across his chest inside his gown. "I don't know why they moved me," he said. "They're letting me out tomorrow, as soon as the doctor's done his rounds."
Merlin raised his eyebrows but didn't express his doubts.
Morgana arrived, bringing grapes which she put next to a bowl of bananas and apples on top of the bedside table. She asked about his release and he explained that he would be going home to his parents for a few days. "My arm's broken," he said.
"Yes, I'm sorry," Morgana replied.
"My right arm. And I've fractured my left ankle."
"Are you right-handed?" Merlin asked.
"Yes. I don't know how long it'll be before I can get back to work. Last time it was six weeks in plaster, but that was my left arm." He wriggled himself up the mattress slightly then used the switch to raise the head of the bed further, so he was more upright. He studied Morgana. "I don't really remember what happened," he said. He looked at Merlin. "You were there, at the bottom of the stairs?"
"Yes."
"And, and there was no one else there?
"No."
He closed his eyes. "I just thought..." His brows scrunched together and he opened his eyes again. He shook his head slightly. "Never mind."
"There really was no one there," Merlin said and Pell nodded.
"No. I didn't think there was. I'd remember, wouldn't I?" Merlin cast around for some new topic of conversation, but he didn't know Pell well enough. He didn't think work talk would be helpful to Pell's recovery. "I remember once," Pell said. "Playing football. A bad tackle..." His voice trailed off, but there was still a slight wrinkle in his brow, as if he was trying to remember something else. Turning back to Morgana, he said, "I don't remember you."
Merlin and Morgana exchanged a look. "I came to deliver something for Lance," she said. "I arrived just after you fell."
"Morgana called the ambulance," Merlin explained.
Morgana stood up. "You should rest," she said.
Merlin stood too and they gathered their coats. Merlin asked. "Do you need anything?"
Pell shook his head. "No, thanks. Arthur's sorting everything out. I'll be fine."
As they walked the long corridors back to the front entrance Morgana said, "Poor bastard. I've never broken anything and he's done both arms and a leg."
"Me neither," Merlin agreed. "It was weird, you know? It was like he tripped on something."
"But there was nothing there, was there? For him to stumble over?"
Merlin shrugged. "No. No, there wasn't."
"Want to go and check?" she asked.
Merlin grinned. "Bit late now."
"Yeah, I suppose it is."
*****
The financial files had finally been packed up and sent by courier to a firm of accountants and Merlin had handed over the spreadsheet to Arthur. As a result, Arthur no longer bothered him for information, but all week, every time he took a break from his work in the stores, Merlin seemed to find Arthur sharing a pot of tea and chatting with Gaius about the Museum, the collections and the history of Camelot. Demonstrating his good upbringing, Arthur would include Merlin and Gwen in the conversation and Merlin found himself enjoying his coffee breaks for more than just access to the internet.
It was during one such visit that Gaius mentioned he had finally located the last living descendant of Muriel Compton-Blythe, the donor of the mummies. "It's Miss Kay," he said. Turning to Arthur, he explained, "Miss Kay is one of our regular visitors. She lives near Lillebrook. I don't think she really likes them, so I hope she'll be agreeable to us giving them on permanent loan to the Fitzherbert Museum at the University of Caerleon. They'll do a much better job of caring for them and they have an extensive Egyptian collection which will allow them to display our examples in context." He raised his voice slightly. "Merlin?" he said.
Merlin was reading Will's facebook and had been only paying mild attention to Gaius's explanation, but he looked up. "Yeah, that's amazing," he agreed.
"Wonderful," Gaius said, slapping his hand on his knee and heaving himself to his feet. He went and fetched the telephone directory and returned with it to his desk. "I'll give her a ring and find out when you can go and see her. She was quite taken with you when she met you."
It turned out Merlin could go and see her the next day. "Best to get it done sooner rather than later," Gaius said. "So we know where we stand. And tomorrow's Friday, so... Oh, and could you take a photo of the thermometer, the hygrometer and the seals on the display cases, to help explain to Miss Kay that they have special conservation needs?"
Merlin nodded and got up to do that at once. Arthur followed him.
"If I'm coming with you," Arthur said, as they strolled down the stairs. "We are not going on the bus. We'll call a taxi."
Merlin gaped. "What? A taxi? But it must be twenty miles," he spluttered. "And what do you mean, you're coming? Why would you come?"
"Because, Merlin, Miss Kay is an elderly lady of a certain class, and whether she was taken with you, or not, if we are to get her to agree to the mummies' removal to the Fitzherbert, the personal touch might be advantageous."
Merlin snorted. "And you're curious about one of the old county families?"
Casting him a sideways glance, Arthur's lips curled into a lopsided smile. "Maybe," he admitted. "The Pendragons are also an old county family, after all, and I know very little of our illustrious history. Do you know the number of a local taxi company?"
"But we can't take a taxi. I've googled the address; it's miles from anywhere and the taxi would have to wait."
"So?"
"So, we could be more than an hour and taxis are expensive."
The concept appeared to be a new one for Arthur. "Expensive?" he asked. He shook his head. "Taxis aren't expensive."
"Yes they are. Unless…" They had reached the foyer and Merlin took a step backwards so he could look Arthur up and down. "Ah, of course. You were born to money. That would explain it."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
In the most airy and casual voice he could muster, Merlin replied, "Oh, nothing, except that millionaires know how to make money, while their children know how to spend it?"
He expected a frown, but Arthur surprised him by throwing back his head and laughing. "By that logic," he said, "my father would be tight-fisted, and some might say he is, but even he would tell you that there are times when 'splashing out for a taxi' is a good investment." He studied Merlin's face and grinned. "Oh, very well," he said. "I'll drive us."
"In what?"
"I'll bring my car in. You can navigate."
Pendragon's Folly, Chapter 4