Summary: Merlin needs a bit of TLC when he returns from destroying the fomorroh.

This was meant to be a response to the 'Random Episode' drabble challenge on the Heart of Camelot website, but I was having far too much fun adding in lots of Gaius-caring and I finally decided not to fight it.

So, here is a little hurt-comfort missing scene which fits in near the end of Episode 4x06 "Servant with Two Masters".

It's meant to be a one-shot, but who knows, maybe I'll make some sort of collection of these. There can never be enough fussing over our warlock, can there?

Beta'd by LyricalSinger

And thanks to Caldera32 for the fantastic bookcover.

Comfort and Healing

Merlin reached around to clutch at his lower back as he snuck back into Camelot. He was exhausted and hurting and the fight with Morgana along with the subsequent magic he'd used to kill the fomorroh had severely sapped his strength.

He shook his head at his own stupidity for not bringing a bottle of transformation potion with him. He should have guessed that he'd be far too tired to do the shift magically, especially if he ran into Morgana. Unfortunately he had not brought it, and so now he would be stuck in the guise of Dragoon until he could reach his chambers. Luckily that would not take very much longer.

He'd never been so happy to reach the castle and then to the corridor leading towards home. Merlin paused for a moment at the bottom of the stairway leading to the physician's chambers; he was almost certain that it was much longer than it had been before he left. He forced himself to get moving again, although his ability to climb seemed to be diminishing with every step.

Finally, after what seemed an age, he reached the doorway and pulling the latch, stumbled into the room.

"Merlin," cried Gaius, and taking one look at the state of the elderly-looking warlock, the physician hurried over to put Dragoon's arm around his shoulder, leading him towards the patient bed. "Have you killed the mother beast? I was getting worried!"

"Yes, it's destroyed," the warlock answered as Gaius helped him to sit down.

The physician closed his eyes for a moment, giving in to the intense relief he felt, before hurrying over to his work table to fetch the transformation potion that he'd kept within reach for Merlin's return.

Merlin downed the potion in one swallow, and raising his newly young eyes back up to his mentor, said, "I don't feel so well, Gaius, and my shoulder is killing me."

The physician frowned and placed his palm on his the servant's forehead. "You've got a bit of a fever," he said. "I suspect that Morgana only healed you enough for you to carry out her mission."

Merlin frowned in confusion, "But it didn't really hurt until I was almost back home, Gaius," he said.

"The fomorroh must have been suppressing the pain. Now that it has been destroyed your injury, along with everything else you've had to do since then, is getting the best of you," the physician explained. "Let's get those robes off of you, so I can take a look." Inwardly, Gaius was annoyed with himself that he had not thought to check his ward's shoulder long before this.

Merlin wobbled a bit as he stood, and although he tried his best, the robes he was still wearing as part of his Dragoon disguise were proving to be beyond his capabilities at the moment. Sighing, he sat down heavily and dropped his hands back to his lap. "Just give me a minute, Gaius," he whispered.

"Of course, my boy," answered Gaius with concern. "Take all the time you need."

Merlin sat still for a few moments, before taking a deep breath and resignedly forcing himself to his feet again. This time, with help from Gaius, they managed to remove the unwieldy garment, exposing the young man's horribly miscoloured shoulder.

As the warlock sat back down, Gaius and Merlin both winced: Merlin in pain and Gaius in sympathy.

Gaius quickly got to work, gently probing the badly bruised shoulder and then having Merlin stretch and turn his arm this way and that to test its mobility. He could see that Morgana had knit the skin and bone together, but she had still left significant bruising and swelling.

The witch had obviously had not cared to eliminate the boy's pain and judging by the nature of the healing he'd seen, Gaius was sure she had left it that way deliberately. The physician felt an almost overwhelming burst of anger at the thought that anyone could treat his selfless ward so cruelly.

Still, he was satisfied that Merlin's shoulder was not badly injured, and so moved his focus to the boy's neck, wanting to make sure that the dead fomorroh was not at risk of becoming a source of infection.

Merlin endured it all quietly, almost too much so for Gaius' liking. The warlock was clearly miserable. His brows were furrowed and the fever was causing him to shiver every so often.

Finally Gaius stood back and waited for his ward to look up at him.

"So, am I going to live?" Merlin asked softly, but with a slight smile that reassured his mentor that Merlin was only trying to make light of the situation.

Gaius smiled back kindly. "Yes. Your arm is healing well, although I'll go and get some salve to put on it. That and a dose of pain reducing mixture should set you to rights soon enough."

"Good, because Arthur must be wondering where I am by now," Merlin said wearily, and shifted on the bed as though he was about to stand.

"Not so fast, Merlin," admonished Gaius, placing his hand on the young man's uninjured shoulder in order to hold him in place. "You can just sit right here until I'm finished with you, and then you will go straight up to your bed. Your fever is not high, but it's not low either, and you need to rest or it risks getting worse."

"I don't have time for that, Gaius," Merlin complained, although he made no further move to get up once Gaius had released his hold. "I haven't done my chores properly in more than two days, at least not that I remember. Who knows what Arthur has managed to do to his room in that amount of time?"

"Today your health is more important than picking up Arthur's dirty dishes, my boy," insisted the physician. "You've gone through a traumatic experience and even if you don't remember it all, your body certainly does. Mind control in and of itself is exhausting, but since it severed you from feeling pain properly, it has also caused you to overuse your injured shoulder."

"Yes, I know, but…" Merlin tried only to be cut off by Gaius waving a finger in his face.

"And you had to use powerful magic to transform and to destroy the beast, and then it looks like you topped it all off with a battle, judging by the state of your robes."

"Well, maybe a small one," admitted Merlin sheepishly, hissing when his attempt to shrug aggravated his shoulder.

"A small one….," repeated Gaius incredulously, giving his head a shake. "Now, sit there and do not move," he ordered.

Once he was sure Merlin would obey him, he crossed over to his work area and began to pull out the supplies he needed. Besides the salve and medication for pain, he also pulled out a draft for reducing fever, and another one for sleep, though he strongly suspected that his ward would resist taking it. Removing the fomorroh could wait until the next day, the physician decided.

After carrying everything over and putting it down on the table beside the patient bed, Gaius began to rub a pungent liniment into Merlin's shoulder.

"Ow, Gaius, not so hard!" protested the warlock with a wince.

"I'm sorry Merlin, but you know I need to work it in deeply. Besides, I'm trying to be gentle."

"Why does it have to be so cold?" Merlin grumbled, although it was not usually like him to complain.

"Hush! It's not cold; that just means it's working," said Gaius.

Merlin scowled and tried to roll his shoulder slightly to get away from the probing fingers, but Gaius was relentless.

"Merlin, this is not the first time I've ever had to put salve on you, so please let me get on with it," the physician said in exasperation.

Merlin settled as much as he could, and finally, Gaius stepped back, wiping his hands on a cloth he'd brought for the purpose. "There, all finished," he said. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No, I guess not," answered Merlin quietly, wincing as he tested the joint. It still hurt more than he wanted to admit, and he was now also beginning to feel lightheaded with fatigue.

Gaius noticed that Merlin's shivering had started to increase, although that could have been from either the fever or the cooling sensation caused by the salve. "Sit there and let that take effect for a few minutes," the physician said kindly, pulling the blanket from the end of the bed and draping it over the young man's shoulders before picking up the drafts for the pain and fever from the table.

"Now, I want you to take these, and no argument about it, while I go over and get you something to eat," he added, handing Merlin the bottles.

The warlock wasted no time downing the potions, leaving Gaius no doubt as to how badly his ward was feeling.

"Gaius, I'm not sure I want to eat anything," Merlin said after handing the bottles back to the physician.

"I'll bring you something very light. Just do your best."

Before long, Gaius had returned with a small bowl of berries, and a piece of bread. "Here you go," he said. "Eat what you can, while I go and find your nightshirt. You may need some help putting it on."

"Merlin, if you've finished your dinner, I've also put a sleeping draft there for you," said Gaius as he crossed the room after having come down the steps from Merlin's room with his ward's sleepwear. The physician had noticed that the bowl of fruit was now set beside the boy.

"I was worried that you may have trouble relaxing enough to sleep with everything…," Gaius began. "… or maybe you won't at that!" he added with a small chuckle, noticing that Merlin was sitting with his head bowed, fast asleep.

The physician watched him fondly for a moment, and when it was apparent that he was not going to be easy to wake, Gaius decided that the best thing would be to let him sleep in the patient bed. He gently removed the blanket from Merlin's shoulders, and shook out the nightshirt so that he could manoeuvre it over the warlock's head.

Merlin roused slightly as Gaius helped him to lie down and pulled off his boots.

"Just five more minutes, please mother," the boy mumbled without ever opening his eyes.

Gaius smiled and covered him with the blanket. "Goodnight, Merlin," he said.

Taking the sleeping draft back to his work table, the physician left the young man to his much needed rest.

Merlin was still deeply asleep the next morning when the messenger came to the door looking for him.

Gaius hurried to answer, exiting to the hallway to speak with the man, so that it would not wake the young servant.

As he watched the messenger head back towards the main part of the castle, Gaius was a bit annoyed with himself. He wasn't sure why he'd fallen back on the tavern excuse again, rather than simply tell the messenger the truth - that Merlin was ill. The physician did have to chuckle though; unfortunately for Merlin, the tavern excuse did seem to raise the least number of uncomfortable questions from the Prince. In any event, the physician doubted Arthur would be too hard on Merlin, since he'd just come so close to losing his young servant.

Deciding not to worry about it anymore, Gaius let himself back into his rooms and, going over to check on Merlin, was happy to find the fever had gone.. As he'd suspected, his Merlin had mainly been suffering from exhaustion, and the night's rest had done wonders.

Satisfied that Merlin would be able to have at least the morning to finish recuperating, Gaius headed to his workbench to decide what he should do in the meantime. He didn't want to leave his chambers in case someone came looking for the young servant, and in any case he would need to remove the fomorroh once Merlin woke up.

There was plenty that Gaius could do; he could grind up some herbs or start distilling one of the many draughts that were running low. Finally, as he looked over at the young man still curled up on the bed, Gaius smiled. Once again, the young warlock had been the one to pay the price for averting disaster and Gaius could think of no better way to spend his morning than to brew some tea and watch over the sleeping lad just a little longer.