Leon's POV

I remember the day like it was yesterday, even though it was nine years ago:

I sat by the side of my friend, she is dying and we both know it. I've have known her for many years and love her like an older sister. We both know she has only a few weeks to live.

"I don't like to ask you, but I have no one else to ask and I don't want my son to go into care, he's had too much to put up with in his life as it is. He's not much trouble, and it getting older now, it won't be long before he can look after himself." Hunith says to her friend.

"You don't need to ask of course I will, he's a good lad it will be a pleasure. I will get the paperwork sorted out; with his age it won't be a problem. Please don't spend your time worrying. I'll gladly care for your son as long as he needs me, he's like my nephew anyway. I can easily help him after all I'm doing well now. " I had recently been promoted to a department head in one of the computing firms in London, so I would be able to care for Merlin financially.

"You're a good man, not many bachelors would do what you're doing thank you Leon. Sell the house and use that money there isn't much else I'm afraid."

"Rest Hunith and I'll be back later, I'll get Merlin from school and we will come together. And please stop worrying Merlin can keep the house, we'll rent it out until he's older and Merlin can have that money."

It had seemed so easy, and it was at first, Hunith asked me to care for her fourteen year old son Merlin. Poor lad to lose his mum, and she was only thirty four years old. We had been friends for years she had been like an older sister to me and helped me when my parents were killed in a car crash. I had been twenty at the time and she had been eight years older and living next door. I had practically known her all my life. We had gone through many sad times together; Hunith had moved to London when her son was three, they had moved next door. We had also seen many happy times together as well as sad. Hunith had helped me to keep my parents home after they had died. I might well have sold it otherwise, but it had been Hunith who made me see sense and keep it. I'm so glad she did. I would try to make sure her son kept their home. He wouldn't be able to live in it, but he could rent it out until he was older. When I had been left on my own Hunith had always made sure I had clean cloths and something to eat, she even taught me how to cook and that was quite a challenge.

Her son had been devastated when his mother told him she was dying, they were so close. Like I said to Hunith, I knew he would be no trouble. He was a hard working lad who had always kept out of trouble. At fourteen he was the same height as me but very slender, he looked like a small gust of wind would knock him over. All legs and elbows, he hadn't yet grown into his body. I'm sure he would never have a muscular frame, but he was already a good looking lad, black hair and the most brilliant deep blue eyes that drew you in. Up until the news he had always had a smile on his face. With his high cheek bones and large ears it all seemed to go together to make a package that I was sure would have all the girls chasing after him. He was such a kind and gentle lad and soon to be an orphan, something I could relate to.

When Hunith passed on Merlin was by her side, he cried for days, deep sobs racked his body, at the funeral he was cried out, until he gave his mums eulogy, it was so poignant and heartfelt he had the entire congregation in tears. Then he withdrew into his self. No matter what I did he built a wall round his heart and refused to let anyone in, except perhaps myself. He studied hard and got good grades, he so wanted do something he knew would have made his mother proud. Just as his mother had seemed an older sister to me, I was Merlin's like uncle and we had formed a strong bond over the years. He never once caused me any trouble and I never regretted the promise I made to his mother.

Merlin's POV

I was so proud the day he graduated the top of his year, then he got a job at Pendragon and Llewellyn, one of the top accountancy firms in the country, and what's more he was head hunted for the job by Uther Pendragon, he always tried to employ the best. A hard man, Uther, even with his own children, His daughter, Morgana, was a year younger than me and his son, Arthur was eighteen months younger than her. I knew them both from College, although I had lost touch with them both when I left. I knew both had had to work their way up in the firm, but it was clear that's what they would do, no choice in careers for them. But I hadn't envied them, Uther never allowed his children to fraternise with the other students much, and I felt they were lonely although Arthur had been on the college football team with me.

So just before his twenty first birthday, Merlin had his Association of Charter Accountants MA, from the London School of Economics and a job in the best accountancy firm in the country. What could go wrong? I was proud of him and I knew his mother would have been. I just wish he had more friends, other than his mate William, who he had been friends with since childhood. William was not someone I would have chosen as a best mate for my ward, but he was loyal and helped protect Merlin from bullies at school, so it was hard to dislike him. He was a bit rough around the edges, that was all.

So Merlin's new life began.

Merlin walked into the building for the first time excited that his working life was to start. The building was one of the older ones in this part of London and was entirely taken up with Pendragon and Llewellyn. It was an elegant building with a large reception hall that was double height and shouted out that this was a place of importance, with its marble floor and all the doors leading off in a deep rich oak, no synthetics here. The central staircase was equally grand. Merlin walked up to the reception desk, Like Leon had though Merlin had never filled out much he was still slender in build, he had a slight limp from an injury as a child but it hardly noticed. He stood and waited for the woman behind to stop talking on the phone before he spoke.

"Hello my name is Merlin Emrys, I am due to start work here today, and can you please tell me where I need to report." Merlin was pleased his nerves didn't show in his voice, he had at least managed to sound confident, even if he was shaking in his boots.

The woman behind the counter looked Merlin up and down before looking at her computer. Merlin knew he looked smart enough, Leon had brought him a new suit to celebrate his new job and he had had his hair cut short enough to make it more controllable. But the receptionist still made Merlin feel like he shouldn't be here; she was a middle aged woman with her hair tied up in a severe bun at the back of her head. Looking at her badge so he would know who she was he saw the name Catrina Tregor.

"Go to personal, second floor, third door on the left and ask for Mr Du Lac." The woman told him before turning away once more.

Merlin walked over to the stairs, deciding not to use the lift for just two floors. He made his way to the second floor and followed the signs for Personal. Once there he knocked on the door and went in once called. Inside was a small office with a secretary's desk, it was a far friendlier face that looked up and smiled. "Can I help you?" the secretary asked.

"Hello I hope so" Merlin smiled relaxing just a bit "My name is Merlin Emrys I was told to report here, to a Mr Du Lac, it's my first day here."

The secretary stood up and held out her hand. "Welcome to Pendragon and Llewellyn's Mr Emrys I'm Mr Du Lac's secretary Gwen Smith. I'll tell him you're here." Merlin decided he liked Gwen, she had a friendly smile and a pretty face that made him relax just a bit more. Gwen turned and went through a further door and soon came back "Go on in Mr Du Lac will see you now." She said smiling once more.

Merlin walked into the office it was full of filing cabinets and a large desk that was set below the window. There were papers stacked high on the desk and a harassed looking man sat among them. He was in his mid twenties and good looking with dark hair and brown eyes he looked at Merlin and gave an easy smile "Hello Mr Emrys, welcome and sorry about the mess I'm in the middle of an audit and getting everything on to computer, so we can get rid of some of these files. The march of progress has finally caught up with personnel." He held out his hand and Merlin shook it.

"Please call me Merlin." The young man said nervously. Mr Du Lac smiled once more.

"I will go through some of the bits here before sending you to your work station. First I need you to fill in some forms and then we need to get you an identity pass and computer password. You must call me Lance, now to work lots to be done." Lance handed Merlin a form and he filled it in. It was personnel details like next of kin etc. After he had filled it in Merlin handed it back and Lance read it through. "I see you have put nil next to disabilities, but I couldn't help but notice your limp." Lance asked.

"That's a childhood injury I wouldn't call it a disability it doesn't affect me too much I'm used to it." Merlin told the other man.

"That's ok then as long as you can do the stairs, the lift can be unreliable at the moment, and I could make sure you had a ground floor office if needed." Lance explained.

"Stairs aren't a problem thanks." Merlin said effectively shutting of the conversation, about his slight limp, that always made him feel uncomfortable.

It took a further hour to get everything else sorted before Lance took Merlin to the third floor and his department. "You will be starting here, but it's not uncommon to be moved on after awhile, which is why your contract is worded as it is. This allows flexibility in the departments." Lance explained. "You will be working with the company's accounts department rather than client's accounts."

Lance walked through some doors and into a room with three desks and two men where sat working at computers. Walking past Lance knocked on a further door and walked in. There was another man sitting at a larger desk and computer. He looked up as Lance and Merlin entered, he was a man in his late thirties with short dark hair and designer stubble beard and moustache with hard blue eyes.

"Good morning I've brought you your new member of staff Mr Merlin Emrys, Merlin this is Valiant Durham head of department."

Merlin held out his hand and it was gripped somewhat harder than he was comfortable with. "Hello Sir" Merlin said politely, removing his hand as quickly as he could from the other mans grip.

"Merlin" was all the other man said before turning to Lance. "You can leave him with me Du Lac."

Lance smiled at Merlin and walked out the office. Valliant turned to Merlin and once again for the second time that day the young man found himself being scrutinised and felt he was found wanting. "So you're the new wizz kid, well your desk is the empty one out in the main office. Come on I'll introduce you."

Valiant walked out into the outer office "Boys this is Merlin Emrys our new staff member" He turned to Merlin "This is Julius Borden and Gilli Melling, Julius show the boy the ropes will you." turning to Merlin once more Valiant spoke to Merlin "We are kept busy in this department any problems ask Julius first and then come to me." With that he walked back into his office and shut the door.

Merlin turned to Julius and the other man smiled "Don't worry about Mr Durham you'll get used to him. Now let's show you the ropes. Gilli here only started a couple of months ago but we work well don't we Gilli."

The young man grinned at Merlin "Hi Merlin, yeh you soon get used to it. I'd say you have a name with a difference, but them mine isn't very usual either. It's Gillian but I hate it so Gilli it is."

Merlin was soon settled in to his desk and doing the job he was trained for. Over the next few weeks he was getting more and more confident. His work mates weren't too bad he found Julius a bit strange at times and Gilli was rather over confident and prone to making small mistakes that meant he had to go over his work more than once. His overseer Valiant Durham he found rather arrogant, but luckily Merlin didn't see a lot of him. But on the whole each member of the team just got on with their own work and Merlin was happy with that. He was mainly dealing with the purchasing side, logging all the invoices in the appropriate places and balancing the figures, ready for Valiant to fit into the company accounts, all basic stuff for Merlin. When he went for lunch he would often bump into Gwen and Lance in the canteen and would sit with them.

In the evenings he would tell Leon all about his day, and Leon would tell him about his. Sometimes they went out for a drink at the weekends, when they would meet up with Leon's friends from work. Although Merlin was much younger Leon's friends had always like Merlin and he had several adopted uncles. Leon's best friend was a big guy called Percy. He was a keep fit fanatic and very muscular, but a gentle giant whose size made him seem tougher than Merlin thought he was. He worked with Leon and had been a friend for years. Percy asked Merlin if he ever saw Arthur or Morgana Pendragon but Merlin hadn't met any of the top executives, except for Uther Pendragon when he was asked to join the firm. It seemed Percy had also known the pair at college. In fact Merlin hadn't even stepped foot on the top floor yet. Three months after starting work Merlin celebrated his twenty first birthday, he went out for a meal with Leon, Will, and Percy he also invited Lance and Gwen the only two people he had become friends with since starting work.

They had a good evening and Leon gave Merlin an Aurona fountain pen. Merlin was overjoyed. He always used a fountain pen and hated biros. It was the best pen he had ever owned. Leon had had Merlin's initials engraved on it just to be safe, as he knew Merlin would use it at work. Leon was pleased that he had made Merlin happy. Merlin was the only person he knew that still used a fountain pen instead of a biro.

Every morning when Merlin went into the building he would say hello to the receptionist, Catrina Tregor, but she still looked down her nose at him. But Merlin didn't really care too much. Merlin was very meticulous in his work and seldom, made mistakes so avoided Valiant, poor Gilli how ever was constantly being called to the office to explain his work. Merlin tried to help him but Gilli thought he knew best so in the end Merlin left him to it. After five months in the job Merlin noticed several things that seemed out of order. He had received several receipts that had seemed to have been altered, and some he remembered going though his hands before. After checking he asked to see Valiant. His boss told him he was imagining things and not to bother him again. But it happened on several occasions.

One evening he talked to Leon about what he had found and Leon suggested that Merlin ask to speak to his next manager up, and to keep records of what he was finding. Leon's advice matched what he had already been thinking, so next day he asked Lance who his next in line managerially was. Lance told him it was a Mr Green. Merlin gave the matter some thought, and even spoke to Leon before he decided to ask to see Mr Green. When he did he found the man was on holiday for a week so would have to wait. Merlin wrote down all the incidences he came across and found several more before he was able to see Mr Green. It seemed wrong to go above Valiant but the man wouldn't listen to Merlin and had even got angry with him and threatened to get him the sack if he continued.

Merlin was honest to a fault and wasn't prepared to drop the matter, even though Gilli and Julius had stopped speaking to him. He knew he was risking his job but wouldn't let that stop him. He was finally given an appointment and it was in his normal lunch break so at least Valiant didn't know about it. For the first time in seven months of working for the company he was to go to the top floor. Merlin took with him the notes he had made and hoped someone would listen to him. Deciding to use the lift he went up to the top floor and soon found an office door with Mr Green on it he knocked and found himself in Mr Greens Secretary's office. The secretary asked Merlin to take a seat and he rang through to tell his boss that Merlin had arrived. Never had Merlin felt so nervous. He hoped by the end of the day he still had a job. Merlin was told to go into see Mr Green. He squared his shoulders and walked into the office.