Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise.

AN: A mostly light-hearted take on that classic question, what if. What if Arthur didn't tell Morgana of his plan to leave with Gwen (and his subsequent plan to one day return and make her Queen)? Then Morgana would never have mentioned sorcery to Uther and nothing would have gotten in the way of Arthur eloping with everyone's favourite maid.

Just a short one to start off with.

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Farmers, and Fields Full of Potatoes

Chapter One: The House

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"Sometimes I dream of leaving Camelot."

"Really? Where would you go?"

"Somewhere where nobody knows me. I'd... get some land. Become a farmer."

"*Laughs* I can hardly see you toiling away in the fields all day."

"Well obviously I'd take Merlin with me; he can do all the hard work."

"*Giggle* I'm sure he'd love that."

- Arthur and Guinevere; 3x10 – Queen of Hearts

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The house was a nice, quaint little thing, in Arthur's opinion. A bit on the smallish side, but then, he was used to living in a castle.

Nice enough though.

Four separate rooms – which was pretty darn good according to Merlin – and a lovely little path leading to the front door which was lined with a pretty array of wildflowers.

He was pleased enough with the purchase. It wasn't Camelot, but it would do.

Gwen and Merlin though – they were another story entirely.

"This is – at least – double the size of my old room," Merlin grinned (that being said, he hadn't stopped grinning since Arthur had announced his plan to leave with Guinevere), stretching his arms out wide as he stood in the middle of his new room, utterly thrilled. "Maybe even three times the size! I'd have to measure it to be sure..."

"Arthur… are you sure?" Gwen asked uncertainly, even while she smiled warmly at Merlin's enthusiasm as the dark-haired boy continued to dart around like an excited puppy, examining anything and everything. "I mean - don't get me wrong – it's a lovely house. The nicest I've ever seen, actually. But do we really need all this? I mean – it must have been expensive. Are you sure we shouldn't just make do with something smaller?"

"Guinevere," Arthur said, warmly exasperated. "It's done. Don't worry about it. And it wasn't too expensive, either, so you can stop fretting about that. We have plenty of money to be getting along with."

She hesitated, not entirely convinced.

"Besides," Arthur continued, gesturing vaguely to Merlin (who was still raving excitedly about the room, completely unaware that his audience was no longer paying attention). "I could hardly downsize now, not after Merlin's fallen in love with his room. He'd be devastated."

A grin flitted across Gwen's face as she watched Merlin, who had just discovered a built in wardrobe ("Oh, wow! Look! Look – it's actually built in to the wall! I think I might be able to - - I can! I can fit in it! Comfortably! Oh, this is the best room ever!").

"Yes," she agreed, still smiling as she leant against the Prince comfortably. "I suppose you're right."

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AN: Yeah, just a short, sweet little one to start off with. I love the mental image of Merlin running around like a kid at Christmas and Arthur and Gwen watching him like a pair of doting parents. And, though I'm fairly sure that built-in-wardrobes were probably not around in Medieval times, I'm gonna say that the guy who built this house was ahead of his time and leave it at that. Because BIWs are awesome, and I want one.

I thought the idea of Arthur, Gwen and Merlin living on a farm together was just too adorable, and this begged to be written. It will contain decent traces of Gwen/Arthur, as well as a good solid helping of Arthur-Merlin bromance. Frankly, the bromance is likely to end up being the more focussed-on relationship here.

This will be a series of individual oneshots – snapshots, if you will – of what their life might have been like if Arthur hadn't told Morgana that he would leave with Gwen and one day return to claim the throne. And of course Merlin would come, because he'd hardly let Arthur go off by himself (and besides, like Arthur said – he'll need Merlin for all the hard work).

I'll post new chapters as they occur to me. Future chapters will likely be longer, and will likely include (not necessarily in this order): Gwaine coming for a visit, Arthur cooking (properly this time), and anything else I can come up with. Feel free to drop in suggestions.

Up next: "That's the last bloody time I listen to anything you suggest, Merlin." Merlin and Arthur spend the day toiling away in the fields. Arthur's unimpressed.