Arthur was just turning the corner which lead to the stairs down to the castles dungeon's when Gwaine came charging up said the stairs, almost crashing into Arthur in his haste. The king managed to dodge last second, bring his arm out at the same time to try and steady Gwaine, who had lost his balance upon noticing Arthur stood there.

"Arthur!" The rouge knight called out loud as if he didn't have all of the kings attention already.

"Yes, Gwaine? Is there a reason you're running around the castle trying to cause an accident?" Arthur half scolded, as said knight freed himself from Arthur's supporting arm and straighten himself out.

"I was looking for you!" Was the more than a little defensive reply.

"Why?" As soon as the word left his mouth Arthur knew it was stupid question, why else would the knight be coming from the dungeons, looking for him.

"Why do you think? Because that scumbag, beat Merlin!" Anger flooded Gwaine's as sent a glare at the wall. Arthur nodded, not even the littlest bit surprised by the answer.

"Well you've found me now, and I'm just heading down to the dungeons to see our guest." Arthur waved behind Gwaine, and took a step towards the stairs, expecting the knight to follow him without question. Gwaine nodded, turning about ready to join Arthur back down in the dungeons.

The pair descended the steps in silence, quickly reaching the bottom. At the bottom, Arthur spotted the two guards he had sent down up ahead standing either side of a cell which Arthur knew was rarely used because of the leak had in the roof which left it damp most of the year. He suppressed his feelings of happiness at this observation, keeping his face neutral.

They both crossed the room in almost no time at all, and once there Arthur silently thanked both guards with a nod. Turning to look into the cell, he saw the pitiful sight of the Deverell huddled into up against the wall opposite a murky looking puddle.

"Your highness, I really most protest this. That servant attacked me and now /I'm/ the one in the cell, it should be the other way around." The noble took his chance to try and convince the king that he was making a mistake.

"You think so do you?" Arthur said, his voice sounding actually interested. "Although, even if I did believe you, I have proof that you were conspiring to take over Camelot, and that my lord Deverell is treason." He continued as if he was having an everyday conversation about something such as the weather, rather than accusing someone of high treason.

"Whatever that piece of rubbish has told you-"

"Silence." Arthur did not raise his voice, but his tone brokered no argument. Behind him Arthur could practically feel Gwaine's rage as a physical manifestation, and he was glad the man held his tongue.

"Merlin didn't need to tell me anything for me to see that you were the attacker in this, and as to him informing me that someone is plotting against me? Well I'm much more inclined to believe someone who I've trusted for years then an over entitled stranger." As Arthur finished his almost speech, Deverell seemed to almost deflate, knowing he had been caught out.

Gwaine couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips as he heard the king defending Merlin, without question. His glee only increased as he watched the noble's reaction to the words.

"Now as for your sentence. For the crime of beating a servant, and for planning to and attempting to commit treason, you shall be stripped of your title and then executed."

"My Lord!" The words were said with such desperation that they caused Arthur to pause as he considered the best way to answer.

"Nothing you can say can change my mine so you may as well safe your breath." With that final word Arthur turned on his heel and matched away.

Gwaine remained for a minute more, sending metaphorical daggers at Deverell, and then in a last moment of spite sticking his tongue out as well, before he followed Arthur.

Farther down the corridor and out of ear shot of the cell Arthur halted waiting for Gwaine to join him.

"What were you looking for me for?"

Gwaine made a slightly exasperated sound, then he responded.

"I was going to ask what you were planning on doing to that piece of dirt, but it seems for once you're organised already." There was no small amount of satisfaction in his voice, or written across his face.

Arthur nodded at the knight mildly surprised at how level headed he was acting.

"Although, if you ask me, he needs a good beating to give him a taste of his own medicine."

Ah, Arthur had been too quick to make conclusions, there was the Gwaine he was expecting.

"As much as I would love to let you do that, I can't it would cause too much trouble within the council." Arthur said, regret soaking his words. He made a gesture to his stairs inviting Gwaine to go up them, ignoring the knights frown.

MM

Back in the main body of the castle, Arthur spoke again.

"If you want to do anything, you should go see Merlin first thing tomorrow morning, right now he should be sleeping, drugged up on Gaius's medicine, but I can almost guarantee he'll be feeling pretty crap come tomorrow."

Gwaine nodded, ready to for now accept what Arthur said. The knight then took his leave to go and get some rest.

Watching him go Arthur felt his own tiredness creep up on him, and he decided that all he was going to do now was get himself to bed. He would deal with reading though Deverell's paper work in the morning so he could present it to the council first thing, along with his judgement.

He was hoping that with the proof in writing, and clear as day, that no one would be able to question his choice to have the man killed.

MM

The next morning rolled around much too soon in the king's opinion, and George's morning greeting was highly unwelcome, and he found himself yawning loudly as he ate his breakfast. Finishing eating he started on reading through what turned out to be plans on how to get him unseated from his kingship, and how the disgraced lord had intended to put himself into what would have been the vacant position.

The level of detail on a few of the papers was unnerving as, it suggested that the traitor had help devising them and that an awful lot of thought had gone into creating them. It discouraged Arthur to know he already appeared to have made numerous enemies.

He finished up reading the last page that had been collected, putting the sheet back into the pile, and resisting the urge to put his head in his hands. He ran his hand across his face trying to dispel his lingering tiredness.

The king glanced out of the window, checking what time it was and working out how much longer he had left until he was due at the council meeting. Deciding it was about time he left, the king rose from his table, gathering the documents and then leaving.

MM

Gwaine had woken up in good time this morning, rather than taking the opportunity to catch up on sleep as he would normally. He wanted to go and check in on Merlin, as he knew Arthur wouldn't have a chance until later in the day.

The knight throw on some clean clothes, not need to wait for a servant to provide assistance. And he decided that he would collect his own breakfast on the way across the castle, at the kitchens.

Leaving his room Gwaine found the corridors oddly empty for a morning, although he conceded that as if was earlier then he was used to being out, that perhaps not everyone as awake yet and that this was in fact normal.

At the kitchen he was careful to avoid the head chief who, after catching Gwaine trying to pinch food several times had imposed a ban on the knight entering the room unless in an emergency. So peering around the door frame, he took note of who was down there, and where they were, before almost silently sliding himself into the room. All but tip toeing over to a basket of bread rolls, of which he pocketed one, and then a couple more steps to some cooked bacon, and grabbing two rashes.

Looking up he saw one of the more friendly maids watching him. As they made eye contact she smiled, and pressed one finger to her lips to show she wouldn't tell. Gwaine winked in return, and then made a quick exit.

Successfully clear of the kitchen, he munched away on one of the bacon slices, whilst wondering towards the physician's chambers. He encountered no one of much note on his way and so arrived quickly at the doorway. Pausing briefly he listened for any sounds from within, hearing none, he decided to use the slightly less obtrusive method of entering, and simply pushed the door gently rather than knocking or, as the knight was prone to do bursting in with a massive noise.

The room was slightly dark inside still as neither of the rooms occupants had yet to awaken, which Gwaine thought was very unusual, at least for the physician, not so much Merlin. But then, he reflected, Gaius had probably been up late into the night making sure there were no complications with Merlin's injuries.

Gwaine spotted Merlin sound asleep on the patients bed, blankets hiding what he knew where many bandages underneath, leaving only the small cut on the servants face along with the bruising. But even these small things were enough to spark anger in the knight. How could anyone even think of hurting Merlin, he was just too nice for any of that. He took one of the chairs that had been left at Merlin's bedside, eyes trained on Merlin's face to see if he would awaken.

Minutes dragged on as Gwaine waited for his friend to stir, and the knight started to grow restless. Looking about he spotted numerous books piled up on the room's central table, curiosity peaked he got up and went to investigate.

As he should of know the books were all about different aspects of the healing arts, and their titles held no interest for him. Deciding to just continue to sit with Merlin, rather than exploring more of the rooms and risk getting caught and scolded by the elderly physician, Gwaine started restacking the books. Unfortunately for him, he did not stack the books very evenly, and as he placed the second last one on the top of the pile, it tipped over, spilling itself all across the table surface, with and dull thunk of paper.

Freezing, Gwaine glanced back at his friend, only to see the boy shifting slightly as the noise permeated his slumber. Abandoning what he was doing Gwaine returned to his seat, and sat there pretending nothing had occurred. As watched Merlin started to move a little muscles waking up.

MM

Merlin twitched in his sleep eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. Before ever so slowly cracking his eyes open. Only to slam shut not a second later as the bright light of the day assaulted the sensitive appendages. He kept his eyes shut a few seconds longer before sliding them open slowly, one at a time. Letting them adjust to the light.

Once he could concentrate on more than just the sting of the light, Merlin noticed a figure above him, he could not determine who it was at first as the light from the window cast them into a silhouette. The moment they spoke however Merlin knew exactly who it was.

"How are you feeling, mate?" Gwaine's voice was surprisingly calm considering how loud he could be when he wanted to.

Turning his attention to the actual question instead of just the delivery Merlin allowed himself to feel the aches that clung to most of his body.

"Sore, achy. I like I'd rather spend the whole day in bed sleeping." Was his eventual answer, Gwaine nodded to him, a smile on his face.

"I wouldn't expect anything else, though I'm sure Gaius will be please you intend on staying in bed, at least for today. That drew a small smile from Merlin as he thought of his guardian.

"I'm sure he will."

MM

The king was having a rough day, after the long and arduous council meeting, in which he had finally managed to get all of the members on board with his intentions. Admittedly it had taken a long, long time but after presenting the former lords documents to be read and scrutinised by everyone in doubt, they had then agreed with the king's sentence.

Arriving back at his room the king had flopped straight into his chair, letting the tension melt out of him. Across the room George was of course working on polishing the king's armour, his favourite chore by far. Arthur huffed to himself, almost rolling his eyes at the attics of the polite servant. Not that he would ever mention it, but Arthur was missing Merlin's presence.

Arthur tried to get down to finishing the paper work he had been neglecting the other day, working hard to focus his mind of the task and not get distracted, as he had the tendency to do.

He managed to work through a fair amount of the papers before he got bored and decided to give up for the day. He was just sitting back and letting his mind wonder, when George finally deemed his polishing job acceptable, rising and gathering the pieces together with a clatter.

Arms fully laden, the servant bowed to Arthur, and with a quick and respectful.

"Sire," and then was gone.

Arthur, knowing that George had finally finished with his morning chores for today, was relieved, as this left the king alone in his room for the first time that day.

Arthur ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation, the reason for his exasperation was, Merlin. The normally cheeky servant had been occupying the back of the king's mind the entire day. Arthur shook his head. Now that he was away from prying eyes, he was free to worry about his manservant.

The king sighed loudly, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. He knew he wasn't good at the whole 'feelings' thing, but that in this case he knew he had to do something for his, friend.

Despite his almost constant need to tease the younger man, he knew his time he needed to do something to show Merlin how much he meant to the king. Something, public so that everyone knew just how important the servant really was, and how much he had given up defending the kingdom.

Arthur found himself almost smiling as he imagined Merlin's reaction. The servant was terrible at taking a complement, much too used to subtle thanks and appreciation conveyed through their banter.

The king remained in thought for a few minutes more before he decided he best consult with the rest of Merlin's friends.

He opened the door to this room, quickly spotting a guard, who he instructed to fetch his knights as well as Guinevere.

Satisfied that his orders would be followed the king begrudgingly collected his unfinished paper work, deciding to use the time he had to at least try and get some done.

A knock at the door disturbed Arthur from his paperwork, not that be was really concentrating on it. Instead his mind was wondering. He slid the sheets of his paper work together, then he push them to the side of his desk out of the way, and consequently out of his thoughts.

"Enter." He called, looking toward the door expectantly. It opened to reveal Leon, with Gwaine, Lancelot, Elyan and Percival stood behind him.

"Sire." Leon greeted entering the room. Closely followed by Lancelot who delivered the same greeting.

"Afternoon, Arthur." Gwaine greeted in contrast to the politeness of his fellow knight. Whilst Elyan and Percival remained silent, instead just nodding at the king. The group sat down in the empty seats at Arthur's table, all eyes falling on the king.

After knock then sounded from the door, and Arthur once again bayed the knocker, who turned out to be Gwen to enter.

Arthur kept quiet for a minute or so after Gwen had taken a seat along with the knights, as he decided on how to phrase his words.

"I wanted to talk to you about Merlin." He paused still unsure of himself. "It's clear that he's been deliberately putting himself in harm's way to protect us, as well as Camelot."

There was nodding from all directions as well as sounds of agreement, as the group recalled times when the servant had put himself in harm's way to protect them.

"It's because of this that I have called you all here." Arthur paused again, still not confident with all the emotional stuff. "I need your help working out what I can do to reward him." As he finished everyone dropped into their thoughts.

Silence held the room for several minutes as the group wrestled with the problem of their friend. It seemed despite how long they had known him no one could come up with an idea of how to properly reward there friend.

"We could get him some new clothes, the gods know how long he's had his current one." Elyan suggested. Nods greeted his words, but then Gwaine cut in.

"I don't think clothes really says thank you for saving the kingdom from an evil madman." Again there were lots of nods.

"Whatever we choose, we should also get him something new to wear." Percival said, think that even while clothes were not enough of a reward, that the servant really did need some new sets.

"Alright, new clothes can be a secondary reward." Arthur said, effectively sealing the deal, as it was.

Everyone once again descended into a silence. A silence that dragged on as no one came up with a new idea, until Lancelot was struck with inspiration.

"You should give him a seat at the round table." At first there was no response to the idea as everyone thought it though, but then smiles started to appear.

"That's an excellent idea." Leon said, whilst Gwen nodded vigorously from besides him.

"That's settled then. Tomorrow I will summon Merlin to the Great Hall, and we'll present him with his spot." Everyone was smiling as Arthur said his including the king, now realising that this was exactly the sort of reward Merlin would appreciate. "For now I shall need to have an extra chair brought up for Merlin, and the existing ones will need to be rearranged to accommodate it."

"I'll go and collect a new chair." Lancelot volunteered, ever the helpful one. Arthur nodded.

"Good, Elyan and Percival, can you two go and created a large enough space, to the right of my chair.

Arthur's decision to put Merlin next to him, instead of in some random spot, away from the king pleased everyone. It would show not only Merlin but the rest of the court how much Merlin had done for them over the years, and how much trust he held within the castle.

At some unspoken signal everyone rose from their seats, Lancelot, Elyan and Percival making straight to the door of the room to get on with their tasks.

Gwen gave Arthur a large smile, before she curtsied daintily and then left to see to her own chores. Leon nodded his approval, whilst Gwaine gave Arthur a smirk of satisfaction, and they too left the two left, leaving the king alone.

Arthur deflated, overly wiry from the day's activities. With a quick mental check he worked out that he was now free to visit Merlin and see how he was progressing, although he knew at least the servant was well as Gwaine had not either stormed into the room, or been arrested for trying to murder Deverell.

MM

When Arthur reached the physicians chambers unlike when Gwaine had done, he could noises from inside the room telling him that both physician and patient were awake.

He did not knock although the thought did very briefly correct his mind, strangly.

At his entrance both parties stopped speaking eyes falling on the king.

"Good afternoon sire, is there anything I can get for you?" Gaius asked out of politeness. Arthur shook his head, and spoke.

"I was just coming to see how Merlin was fairing today."

"A lot better than yesterday although, almost my whole body is still in pain." The warlock admitted, eyes flicking away from Arthur for a minute, in a manner that was almost worried.

"Good, if you keep resting, you'll be back to work in no time." Merlin rolled his eyes at the typical Arthur response.

"I'm sure you're enjoying George's company Arthur, its ok to admit it." Merlin sniped back. Arthur frowned at Merlin, not sure what the best come back would be to that.

The trio lapsed in a comfortable silence. Before Arthur thought that he'd better reveal to Merlin and as Gaius, what was to become of the servants attacker.

"I've sentenced Deverell to be stripped of his title, and for him to be executed by beheading. The execution will take place this evening, just before sun down." Arthur's voice was flat and unemotional as he spoke.

Arthur's statement sobered Merlin up immediately, leaving him unsure how express himself. He after all disliked the thought of anyone dying, however that man had committed outrageous crime against Merlin himself, as well as planned to commit even worse one's to Arthur. Deciding that justified was the correct emotion, he met Arthur's eyes and nodded, accompanying the gesture with a.

"Thank you."

This seemed to be the right thing to say as Arthur who had unknowingly to everyone in the room tensed as he delivered the verdict, scared for Merlin's reaction, relaxed at the simple words.

"Right, I have things to attend to, goodbye Merlin." He nodded back at Merlin, and then to Gaius as well, before he got up and left the room.

MM

The rest of the day for all parties was relatively slow, as they put into place the few things that would be needed to reward their silly servant friend.

Deverell's execution was held as promised, and whilst it was held where the citizens could attend, only a smattering did, and those that did only fired insults towards him. So when the axe did fall not a single soul felt a loss.

The following morning all parties involved woke with happiness at being able to finally do something for their friend.

MM

Arthur was woken on time again by George, the servant ever efficient.

Pulling himself from the land of dreams, corners of his lip quirked upwards as he considered his next plan of action. Although Arthur was willing to admit, that the idea on how to reward Merlin was not entirely his own idea, he could take full credit for coming up with the idea to reward him at all, and that filled him with no small amount of happiness

Conversely however the King was finding it harder to ignore the nagging guilt of basically taking Merlin for granted, and overlooking him up until this point. Why hadn't he felt to the need to reward the cheeky boy at the same time has he had knighted, Gwaine, Percival, Elyan and Lancelot?

He sighed out loud something which caused George to double take, and resolved to be better in the future.

MM

Later on as he was eating his lunch having completed everything he had planned for that morning, leaving him free to reward Merlin that afternoon, the king once again descended into his thoughts, glad that things were coming together.

Although the king had to concede not everything had, or was going to plan, even now the king found himself suppressing a sigh, once again at his manservant. For some reason the boy was not acting like his normal cheeky self he had seemed to withdrawn a bit according the Gwaine who had visited him first thing again. Now of course Arthur knew it was unreasonable to except his servant to be completely fine after his ordeal, but he shouldn't be behaving like this.

Arthur had sneaking suspicion that it was partly his fault. In trying to organise the reward he had taken up most of the time of Merlin's friends and thus preventing them from visiting. Which he realised in hind sight probably made Merlin feel like he had embarrassed or disappointed them.

Shaking his head, Arthur hoped that after they gave Merlin his reward he would snap out of his mood.

MM

At approximately 2 o'clock that afternoon, Gwaine set off to collect Merlin, there others already gathering in the Great Hall, along with Gaius, who they decided really needed to be there too. The knight was practically brimming with energy and excitement and had to take repeated breaks to try and hide his emotions.

Before he knocked on the wooden door in front of him he took one last pause to collect himself, before knocking.

MM

Merlin blinked weakly, startled out of his thoughts by something, though he wasn't sure what had done it, until what he realised was a second knock sounded at the door. He turned his head slowly toward the sound taking a few deep breaths before he called out.

"Come in."

He watched with an almost disinterest as the door was pushed open revealing Gwaine as the visitor. Merlin gave a half-hearted nod, before letting his gaze slid away to his lap. He was feel considerably better today, at least in a physical sense, however his mind was repeatedly going over and over, reasons to explain why it was that most of his friends had not dropped by to visit. Surely they had heard what had happened? It could not have been kept a secret after execution was the sentence.

"How are you feeling, mate?" Gwaine's tone was light as he spoke, knowing that Merlin had been in a weird mood lately and not wanting to upset him.

"I've been better."Gwaine just nodded at Merlin's half-hearted reply.

"Well, I have something to show you that might just make you feel better." Gwaine declared happily. Merlin looked up at this point, questions written all over his face. "Come on, I'll show you now."

Shrugging Merlin pushed himself slowly from the bed, careful not to make and sudden movement and dislodge his healing ribs.

"Alright, Gwaine." The knight all but beamed back at him, which throw Merlin a little. Gwaine whilst easy to please, almost never got his happy over anything.

It was slow going for the pair as Merlin was still considerably weakened, and even with Gwaine's shoulder to support him he struggled along slowly. They moved along at a steady if awkward pace Gwaine making sure Merlin did nothing to hurt himself, and also keeping him moving.

Eventually though, they reached the great hall, which was missing its normal pair or guards. Something Merlin did not fail to notice, he assumed it must be linked to what Gwaine wanted to show him, and he was proved right, when they slowly to a halt in front of the doors.

"What are we doing here?" Merlin was very confused as to what could possibly make Gwaine happy, but also be inside the Great Hall. "You didn't order an insane amount of alcohol did you?" He said it as a joke, but couldn't help the feeling that I may actually be the case.

"You'll see was the only answer he got." In reply, and it did nothing to help clarify the situation.

Expecting the worst Merlin, allowed Gwaine to pull him up to the doors and then he watched as the knight pulled one open.

Inside was not filled with massive amounts of alcohol, which was good instead it, however it was set up as normal, but not empty. Arthur, Gwen, Leon, Elyan, Percival, Lancelot and Gaius were stood inside, behind the massive table that Arthur had, had installed at the start of his rein.

Every member of the group wore a smile, this only served to confuse Merlin move.

"Merlin." Arthur greeted, for once withholding the prattishness from his voice, leaving a sort of warmth there instead. A warmth that Merlin felt in his chest.

His friends all waited in silence as if they expected something from Merlin, however when Merlin didn't speak either, Arthur gave a slight cough and continued.

"It has come to our attentions, that you continuously put yourself in harm's way in an effort to protect us as well as the kingdom." Here Arthur paused to let his words sink in. "Therefore we have decided to give you a reward fitting of such a loyal and dedicated citizen of Camelot."

Merlin felt blood rush to his face and ears staining them red with embarrassment.

"I really…" He tried to speak, but could think of nothing to say, and Arthur sent him a shut up glare as soon as he started.

"Don't be so modest, Merlin." Lancelot chimed in, sending Merlin a quirk of his lips.

"As I was saying." Arthur said to draw attention back. "To acknowledge you and reward you, I have gotten you a chair at my round table. No longer will you have to stand at the back alone, but you will instead join us at my right hand side." Arthur placed a hand on the chair directly next to and on the right of his own. "Here."

Merlin was rendered speechless at Arthur's words his mouth hanging open, with no sound forth coming. He felt water gathering in his eyes involuntarily, and he blinked furiously to try and keep them at bay.

"Well?" Arthur called, the teasing back in his voice. "Get over here already."

Merlin took half a step forwards then a full one, but shock seemed to have left him unable to think straight and he stopped there. Only Gwaine stepping up behind him, with a warm hand on his shoulder and a very slight push forwards started him going again.

When he finally drew up the group, he was still speechless, and their expressions did nothing to help that fact, so he stood still and silent.

Arthur rolling his eyes, pulled the new chair out from the table and all but pushed it into Merlin.

"Sit down then. I know you're not recovered yet." Merlin did as he was told folding down onto the chair in barely concealed amazement.

"We also got you these." Gwen spoke up for the first time bringing a neat pile of cloths out from on another chair nearby. "We thought you might like some new clothes too." The rest of the group, bar Gaius and Arthur nodded.

"You deserve it." Elyan echoed the sentiment out loud, and smile on his face, and gave his sister a half-hug.

"Thank you. All of you, I- I don't know what to say." Merlin stuttered accepting the pile off of Gwen, and sitting it on his lap. At this point he lost his grip on his tears, one sliding a straight path down his cheek. Arthur smiled knowing it was only a reaction to being over whelmed and, placing one hand on Merlin's uninjured should said.

"Then don't say anything at all."

The End.