AN: Here's the final instalment, I hope you enjoy. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter.

The two cars arrived at Gaius's medical office, and Arthur's heart dropped when he saw that his mother's van was sitting outside. He hadn't thought his mum would be here! How'd she found out? Had Gaius called her? Arthur did not want to deal with the worry she'd surely be barely able to contain, but nevertheless the boys piled out of the car, Merlin still clutching his arm.

"Come on, kid," Gwaine grinned at Merlin. "Let's get you inside."

Gwaine watched Merlin like a hawk to make sure he was okay as he entered the office, and then followed after the others, Lance raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, I completely agreed with this prank, and though Merlin supposedly forgives me because 'that's how I am', I figured maybe I should make a little attempt to be a bit more like you and Arthur. Not too much, mind! I will never not love a good prank."

Lance rolled his eyes and hurried into the office. He remembered frequenting this office when he was a child, and it was never uncommon to see the Pendragon boys there considering their wild behavior. After a while, Gaius and Merlin had rather become friends. In fact, sometimes Merlin even helped out Gaius, though Lance was starting to wonder if it had actually succeeded in making Merlin any safer.

Inside it smelled faintly of clean linens and the the ocean given the saltwater fish tank in the corner. Lance winced when he saw both Mr. and Mrs. Pendragon, who were sitting reading magazines. The moment Arthur and Merlin entered, Mrs. Pendragon jumped to her feet and hurried over, her face unbearably angry and worried at the same time.

"A broken arm?" was all she said at first. "You come home from college, and immediately Merlin acquires a broken arm? How? What happened? Your father told me that Merlin had left? And then he got a broken arm? Gaius informed us that you were coming here with Merlin! Why didn't you tell us?"

Arthur blushed madly at being reprimanded in front of his friends, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Merlin?" Gaius suddenly entered the room. "You may come back here. Arthur, would you like to come along?"

Arthur nodded and quickly followed Merlin, temporarily escaping his parent's wrath.

Mrs. Pendragon shook her head and followed after them, leaving the boys and Mr. Pendragon staring after her uneasily. Mr. Pendragon put down his outdoors magazine and walked over the Lance.

"Well, what did happen?" He asked Lance.

"Well," Lance hesitated. "You remember those boys from the rugby team? The ones who were new? Well, they came up with a scheme to play a prank on Merlin, and none of us had any idea what they were plotting. They joked that we were going to get Merlin to go down the the train station and then leave him there so he would have to walk home, and… I don't know why we agreed with it. I didn't, I didn't at all. However, they wouldn't stop bothering us, and some people decided it wouldn't do any harm, really. We didn't know it would rain, and apparently Merlin slipped in a puddle."

"I'm so sorry Sir, I should have stopped it," Leon spoke up.

Elyan and Percival both hung their heads.

"If there's anything we can do to make it up," Percival promised. "We will."

"We're all sorry," Elyan agreed.

Mr. Pendragon looked to Gwaine, who shrugged.

"Yeah, poor kid," Gwaine agreed, and Mr. Pendragon shook his head and chuckled to himself.

"Well," he said after a moment, his voice stern. "I cannot condone what you have done to my son, but let's just say I might be a bit more forgiving than Merlin's mother will be. I was your age once, your age and pranks can sometimes go hand in hand. It's understandable, but I don't expect to hear about something like this happening again, you understand me?"

All of the boys nodded, and then they sat down to wait until Mrs. Pendragon returned, none of them were looking forward to it.

MMM

Merlin sat uneasily on a the small table as Gaius prodded his arm. His mother was silently watching every movement. She'd agreed to stay silent until everything was diagnosed, which Arthur was more than a bit thankful for. He hadn't yet decided what he'd be telling his parents. Merlin winced once more, before Gaius nodded and sat back.

"You're lucky, my boy. It's merely a greenstick fracture; that means the bone is just a bit bended and cracked, not completely broken. It won't take quite so long to heal, and it won't be particularly painful, though I'm not saying it won't hurt. Take this to bring down the bits of swelling, and I'll wrap it," Gaius told Merlin, who nodded at him. Once it was wrapped, Gaius glanced over at Mrs. Pendragon. "You had some questions?"

"I can explain," Merlin spoke up immediately, making Arthur turn to him, surprised. What exactly was he going to tell their mother? Merlin continued quickly. "It's my fault really. I wanted show I was older, just like Arthur and his friends, so I went down to the train station all on my own, and I slipped and fell in a puddle. Arthur and his friends came and got me back."

"Why'd you go down to the train station? Did you plan on going somewhere?" Mrs. Pendragon demanded.

"Well, yeah… But the trains are cancelled!" Merlin replied, and his mother turned to Arthur.

"Is this true?" she demanded, and Arthur hesitated.

"Not exactly," Arthur spoke slowly. "I brought three boys home who are on the team, and they urged him to go, sort of. It's their fault. They've always been a bit wild, but I never imagined this… They are gone at the moment, they won't be welcome anymore, I can assure you, mum."

"And that's all that happened? You went down to the train station and you slipped and fell?" Mrs. Pendragon glared at Merlin, who nodded quickly.

Arthur began to sincerely hope that this wouldn't interfere with whatever Lance was surely telling their father. Mrs. Pendragon glared at Merlin and Arthur for some time, not speaking, before she sighed and shook her head, standing and enveloping Merlin in a hug.

"I'm glad you're alright," she sighed deeply. "You've no need to prove anything. If Arthur makes you think so, I'll have another talk with him later!"

Arthur gulped, and Merlin shook his head quickly.

"You should never get on a train on impulse and go off somewhere alone, alright? You're lucky nothing worse happened, and luckier the trains weren't working in the rain."

Merlin nodded silently, sharing a look with his brother over his mother's shoulder. Gaius caught the look and raised an eyebrow, however he remained silent.

"You'll be well soon," Gaius promised after a moment. "And if you should wish to take some time off from helping here, feel free to take it. Don't use your arm too much."

"I won't," Merlin promised. "I'm okay, mum, really!"

Mrs. Pendragon sighed and backed away, her expression hard.

"Don't ever worry your father and I like that again," she demanded, and both Merlin and Arthur nodded quickly. "Well, let's go tell him what you've told me."

Mrs. Pendragon excited the room, followed by Arthur. Before Merlin could leave, Gaius caught his good arm and raised his eyebrow again.

"That's all that happened?" he asked. "Nothing else."

"Well…" Merlin paused. "I mean, I'm not hurt in any other way, really."

"I see," Gaius nodded. "I won't tell your parents this time, but as I can imagine you've had a bit more of an adventure than you've let on, I advise you to be careful."

"I will, thanks Gaius," Merlin nodded. "I'll come to help out soon."

Gaius shook his head as Merlin left the room; he and his brother had always been wild ones. He wasn't sure what exactly had occurred, but Merlin was a little too good at coming up with excuses. Oh well, how else would he keep his older brother out of trouble? Gaius chuckled to himself before he tidied up the healing room.

MMM

The rest of the day went by fairly well. Arthur was pleasantly surprised that Merlin's story and Lance's story went hand in hand, so there was little more trouble from Mrs. and Mr. Pendragon. (Though there had been a very stern lecture upstairs once they arrived home and Merlin and Arthur could be pulled away from the rest of the group.)

Merlin had ended up having to instruct Lance how to make the sandwiches since his arm was rather out of commission. The sandwiches were a success, according to the other boys, and Arthur complimented Merlin and Lance. Orson, Roland, and Callahan showed up in a cab, though Gwaine, Arthur, and Leon had met them outside, given them back their cellphones, and told them to leave immediately.

That night the living room was scattered with Arthur's friends, which Arthur was very glad about. His parents hadn't made all his friends leave, though they too had received a bit of a lecture from Mrs. Pendragon. After they had helped do a bunch of housework, (except Gwaine who mostly sat there and pretended to be interested in the proceedings), Mrs. Pendragon had been a little happier. Merlin had to stay upstairs and rest most of the next day, however the following day he and all of the other boys went to the zoo. No pranks had occurred. Once more, Merlin felt as if he fit in with Arthur and his friends, and he was endlessly happy that his brother was home from college.

"Thanks for telling them what you did," Arthur told Merlin as they looked at one of the exhibits. Merlin simply smiled.

"What are brother's for?" he told Arthur.

"Well, certainly not for pranks. I see that now, and once again I'm sorry. You're the best little brother someone could as for."

"You too," Merlin smiled.

"Great, now that's over with, let's go see the monkeys. I'm sure you'll fit right in with them!" Arthur ran off, laughing, and Merlin followed. When his brother wasn't being a prat, he really was good to have around.

The actual end

AN: I made it so the parents never know the extent of what happened because that makes life simpler. Merlin is good at coming up with stuff to say :)

Please review and tell me what you think :)