ajsrandomTitle: More Important
Rating: G
Pairing/s: Arthur/Gwen
Character/s: Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, OFC
Summary:Merlin needs to talk to the King, but he has to wait in line. Baby fluff.
Warnings: none
Word Count: 378
Prompt: #173 Lullaby
Author's Notes:
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Merlin knocked quietly on the door to the King’s and Queen’s chambers. He’d taken up the habit recently because he never knew what he might be interrupting these days. This time though, a quiet voice called, “Enter.”
He opened the door carefully and stepped inside. The only occupant he could see was Gwen, in her nightgown, sitting up in bed. “Arthur?” he queried.
“In the nursery.” The Queen smiled fondly. “He insisted on putting her to bed tonight. Only a month old and she’s already got him wrapped around her tiny finger.”
Merlin grinned. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
“Truly.”
The servant nodded and crossed to the other side of the room where there was a door leading to the nursery. He opened it slowly, listening for a sign he could enter, but stopped when he heard the King singing:
“Bye, baby Bunting,
Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking,
Sister's gone a-silking,
Brother's gone to buy a skin
To wrap the baby Bunting in.*”
Merlin opened the door wide enough so he could see his friend holding his newborn daughter. She was cradled carefully in his arms and his head was bent toward her. He kept softly humming the melody of the lullaby, rocking the infant in his arms.
This was a whole new side of the King that Merlin was seeing. He’d seen Arthur take on several men in battle. He’d seen him coolly pass judgment in court. He’d seen him be loving, with Gwen. He’d seen him drunk, jesting with his knights, negotiating with other monarchs, dealing with great pain, and arguing with his father. But he’d never seen him like this—gentle beyond measure and oh so tender.
Merlin closed the door quietly and turned back to Gwen. “I think he’s going to be a while. I’ll wait.”
Gwen smiled while he sat in one of the chairs at the table. They both knew that Arthur needed every moment like this that he could get. All those other things he was, that he had to do, could wait. For he knew that nothing in the world was more important at this moment, than being
a father.
*I know the lullaby probably doesn’t date this far back in time, but it was too lovely to resist using. J
