Arthur Pendragon was a Police Sargent in the Albion Police Force he was based on Camelot. He loved his job and had long ago decided that he wanted to remain a uniformed copper, he enjoyed the contact with the general public. After a spell in London with the Met he had returned to the town of his birth. City policing had been challenging but he felt unable to develop the type of relationships with the public that he could in a smaller force. He had turned down the opportunity to go for promotion to Inspector as he felt he wanted to remain more operational, rather than doing more supervisory and office bound jobs.

The other benefit of working in Camelot was that he was near his sister Morgana who was a Sister in the Intensive Care department, at the local district Hospital. She had recently broken up with her long term boyfriend and although they remained friends Arthur wanted her to know she had him to look out for her. Arthur and Morgana hadn't known until four years preciously that they were half siblings. Until then they had believed that Morgana was the daughter of their father's best friends the La Fey's. After the couple had been killed in a car accident Morgana had come to live with the Pendragon's, it was only after Arthurs mother had died that the truth came out. Morgana had finally decided to read her late mothers diaries and discovered the truth. It had caused a major family breakup, as Arthur felt he couldn't forgive his father for having an adulterous relationship when his mother had been alive and Uther couldn't understand his son's refusal to follow him into politics. Uther Pendragon was a Member of Parliament for the area, he was hard man who claimed to hold the high moral ground on so many issues. He had managed to keep his indiscretions away from the press, mainly due to the fact that his biological daughter wanted nothing to do with him. Only her closest friends knew the truth. But everyone accepted the fact that they saw themselves as siblings as they had grown up together since they were both eight. Morgana being some three months younger than Arthur. The fact that Uther had continued the affair when his wife was six months pregnant was another reason why Arthur couldn't forgive him.

Arthur was settled into his job with his own flat and a group of good friends and work colleagues. Even the fact that his best friend, Leon, had broken up with his sister had not broken up the group. Morgana and Leon had come to the realisation that they had come together more because of their closeness to Arthur than each other. The split hadn't involved anyone else on either side and in the end was very amicable.

Camelot Hospital was a moderate sized District Hospital that drew its patients from a mainly country area. The Hospital itself was situated on the outskirts of a moderate size town with a population of about forty five thousand people. But looked after a population of a quarter of a million people. The Accident and Emergency Department was expecting a new registrar that morning. Merlin Emrys had been overjoyed to get a place there when he applied for his Specialist Registrars post, he was twenty six and had worked had to get where he was. He had always wanted to work in Accident and Emergency, the fast through put and variety of patients appealed to him. His last post had been in Liverpool and he was pleased to leave, he was a country boy at heart. But he was the first to admit the experience had been good for him.

Now he was walking up to the hospital to start his orientation shift, he had been in the hospital for a couple of days so knew some of the most obvious places. With his identity badge and all the office type jobs done, today he would actually see some patients. Merlin was happy to start what he called the 'proper' work. He had temporary accommodation within the hospital but hoped before long to get something better. The hospital was fairly new having been relocated to new buildings ten years previously, far different than his inner city post he had just left. It was nice to walk in fresh air instead of the fume filled air of a big city. Merlin had spent his childhood in a small village and had never really adapted to city life. Merlin walked into the A&E Department and said hello to the nurse he had met when he looked round when he arrived on the first day but he couldn't remember her name. "Hello nurse, I'm Merlin Emrys the new Registrar can you point me to the Consultant on call please?"

"Hi" she held out her hand which he shook "I'm Gwen De Luc, Senior Staff Nurse, I'll take you through" Merlin liked her instantly she had a cheerful and friendly personality and he already felt welcome. Gwen had left him with Dr Leon Knight his immediate superior and the Consultant who he would be working with. "Hello Merlin, ready to start work?" Leon asked. Merlin again felt at ease Leon was a man in his mid-thirties and seemed very approachable and supportive.

"I am Sir" Merlin said with a nervous grin. He really wanted this to work out, starting out on this part of his working life was important to him. It was a fulfilment of a dream. He was soon seeing patients and doing what he did best, interacting with the public.

The next few weeks flew past for Merlin as he settled in to his new post. He now felt he had time to look around for somewhere to live, he didn't want to spend all his time in the hospital grounds. Ideally he wanted to flat share. But with someone who understood shifts and would appreciate his need to sleep in the day if he was on night shifts and not hold all night parties. It was either that or find a smaller flat just for himself. The first thing he found that housing was expensive in the area, and he didn't want to go too far out and have to drive long distances to work. He knew from experience that he would be exhausted after some shifts and didn't want to then risk driving too far. He saw the results of falling asleep at the wheel and had no intention of doing the same.

He spent a day going round the letting agents and looking in the papers but hadn't seen anything suitable. So he put an advert in the local newspaper and hospital newsletter. When he turned up for work a few days later Gwen Du Lac approached him. "Merlin I see you are looking for a flat share. Would you mind sharing with a woman? Only a friend of mine wants to have a house mate but is concerned about advertising"

Since he had arrived in the department he had become quite friendly with Gwen, it was hard not to, she was such a lovely person, very efficient and the patients loved her. He also knew she was very happily married to a local policeman.

"No I have no problem with long as she is happy" Merlin smiled "If she is willing to see me tell her she will be totally safe…I'm gay" Being gay was not something Merlin hid but he knew that it hadn't come up since he had started his new job. He hoped it wouldn't affect his relationships with the other staff, but he wouldn't hide who he was.

Gwen grinned "I thought you might be, not that it matters or that it should of course… I mean it's fine" Merlin smiled he knew Gwen rambled a bit if she was flustered.

"Your right Gwen, I don't tend to wear pink or shout it from the roof tops. I find that it's best as a doctor to just keep my private life separate from work. I only mentioned it so your friend knew before I met her. I do realise not everyone is comfortable with my orientation." Merlin gave Gwen a piece of paper "Here is my phone number, if she is interested just get her to call me, that way if she's not comfortable no harm done"

"I will, but she won't mind and I know her brother will be happy. He worries about her, they tried living together for a while, but while they love each other they just couldn't live together." Gwen grinned. "Look I'll talk to her and let you know"

The next morning when Merlin went on duty Gwen approached him "Hi Merlin I spoke to my friend, we are all going out together on Friday and I see you have the evening off, why don't you come and you can met Morgana before either of you make a decision"

"Ok, that sounds a good idea, but I can't stop late I'm on a twelve hour shift on Saturday" Merlin agreed.

The rest of the shift was very busy and Merlin hardly stopped at one stage as he was writing up his notes before sending a patient to the wards one of the nurses arrived with a cup of tea. "Here you are doctor, I've noticed you haven't stopped yet and you need to keep your fluids up"

Merlin looked up to see one of the nurses holding a mug "Thank you, Freya isn't it?"

"Yes Dr Emrys"

"Please call me Merlin, and thank you" Merlin took the tea and took a drink "And you got the sugar right!" Merlin had a sweet tooth and always had three spoons of sugar.

Freya smiled shyly "I asked Gwen, I know you are friends"

"Is there anyone who isn't friends with Gwen" Merlin asked "Look Freya could you do me a favour and ring Kings Ward and tell them I am sending up the patient I've spoken to them about and then bleep the porters?"

Freya said she would and Merlin finished his paperwork before heading to his next patient. It was only one o'clock in the afternoon and they had their first drunk in. One of the local alcoholics had walked out in front of a car in the market place. Merlin walked into the cubicle in time to see the man grab at the nurses bottom. Handling drunks was something he was used to dealing with and hopefully this one would be a friendly drunk "You can stop that" Merlin told him. "The nurses are here to help you not be mauled"

"Fuck off" came the slurred reply. "You ain't no doctor you're still a school kid"

"I can go, if you want but if I do you won't be seen by anyone else so make up your mind, I'm old enough to be a registrar" Merlin told him, he had had that trouble many times, he knew he didn't look his age but there was little he could do about that. The man glared at Merlin but said no more. Luckily the man had sustained no serious injuries and Merlin put him in one of the short stay wards to sleep it off and make sure he wasn't suffering from injuries he had missed. The bruising was extensive but he hadn't found anything else. Even the x rays were clear. As he left the man with the nurses he said "Call me when he wakes and I'll come and check him before I discharge him. If he causes you trouble call security or I'll come if they are busy"

It was that sort of support that made Merlin popular with the nursing staff, he always made sure the girls were safe and that they knew they could call him if needed. The rest of the day remained busy, thankfully the drunk was discharged after sleeping it off, until he came back again. So many were regulars, and took up time and resources but at least it kept things interesting. On Thursday Merlin caught up with Gwen and asked where the meeting was "The Dragon's Lair on Catharine Street, eight o'clock, it will be fun several people from the department go as well as a couple of police officers" Gwen told him.

"I'll see you then, I'm looking forward to it, I haven't done any socialising yet" Merlin admitted. He showered and changed when he got to his room and put on a pair of jeans and a blue shirt. He tried to tidy his hair but as usual it had a mind of its own. Looking in the mirror he didn't particularly like what he saw. He was very slender and all limbs, although in recent years he had at least started to put on some muscle mass, but he knew he would never be one of the more muscular and fit looking men that he himself preferred. But then he wasn't expecting much social life for the next few years anyway. Grabbing his jacket he set of on foot as it was only just under a mile and he wanted the fresh air. He looked around at the fields and views before he found himself entering the residential area. But even then there was wide green verges and trees. The whole atmosphere was pleasant. He was soon in the more built up areas of the town centre and found the pub from Gwen's directions. Entering the pub he walked up to the bar and ordered a pint and asked the barman "I'm meeting a group from the hospital. Are they in yet?"

The barman grinned "Out the back mate" he said pointing to a door that led to another room. Merlin thanked him and walked in the direction that had been pointed out to him. As he walked in he saw Gwen sitting at a table so walked towards her. She saw him and called out "Hi Merlin glad you could make it."

Once Merlin was closer he saw his consultant sat at the table "Hello Sir"

Leon looked at the registrar and grinned "Leon please, even at work I don't expect you to be so formal"

Gwen immediate started to introduced everyone pointing to the good looking man at her side Gwen said "This is my husband Lance de Luc, you know Leon and Freya, Morgana is up the end and her brother Arthur is sat by her, the flirt is Gwaine and Elyan my brother is next to him and last but not least is Mithian. Guys this is Merlin who has just started work in A&E with us"

It didn't take long for Merlin to find out a bit about everyone, Lance, Arthur and Elyan were policemen, Gwaine was a paramedic, Mithian worked in the ambulance control phones and Morgana was a Sister in Intensive Care. Mithian laughed and said "I can't remember the last time we all got together like this, that's the trouble with all doing shift work. There are two others who couldn't make it that's Elena and Will they are both working. Elena is on dispatch with me and Will is another paramedic."

"Well at least you all understand the problems and probably see each other through work." Merlin said with a smile. Then he looked at Gwaine and Elyan "I haven't seen either of you in the department yet"

"That's our loss Merlin, we have been on a course for the past month then annual leave but we're back on Monday, but we both have new partners." Gwaine grinned "I bet it hasn't been the same without us Gwen?"

"No it's been quieter" Gwen said half serious and half joking. "So there splitting you to up at long last"

Gwaine frowned "Yeh we tried to stop it but we have two newbies and we have to have one each"

After going to the bar with Leon to get a round in Merlin was called over by Morgana. "I understand you are looking for a house share. I was thinking about it, I have bought my first house. It's not very big but it would be good to have someone to share expenses with. Would you like to come and have a look, it's pretty handy for work, I live on the estate at the bottom of the hill, by the hospital." Morgana seemed a very no nonsense sort of person and was very attractive and straight forward in her approach. Merlin thought they would probably get on.

"I'd like that, look I'm working the weekend when are you days off next week and I'll see if I can get to you" Merlin said "Then we could chat and make sure we are both happy to go ahead"

"I think it's more a case of is Morgana happy, you will be moving into her home" Arthur said tersely. He wasn't happy about his sister getting a lodger. And he wasn't sure about the young doctor. "Do you have references?"

"I'll give him one if you want Arthur" Leon said smiling

Arthur glared at Leon "You might be my best friend Leon but I would expect something from someone who has known him longer than a few weeks". Arthur wondered about his friends sometimes. He glared at his sister.

"Arthur it's my house and while I appreciate you are concerned, you will not be making the decision who I have move in, and Merlin seems a sweetie" Morgana told him.

Merlin blushed "I am here you know" he glared at Arthur "I am not just some passing vagrant I do have a decent job and very good character references"

Morgana laughed "You will be fine Merlin, I can keep you around just to put my brother in his place. Here's my number we can arrange something no problem"

Arthur glared once more at his sister and Merlin got the feeling more would be said between the two once they were alone. Merlin stayed for a further hour then made his excuses "Got to go I'm on a long shift tomorrow, hope to see you all again"

"Yes you must, whoever is off duty meets here on Fridays so just wander down" Gwaine said with a grin. "I expect we will see you soon anyway." He winked at Merlin who had already worked out the Irishman was like that with everyone.

After Merlin had left Arthur turned to Morgana "Morgs go careful I know he's a doctor and everything but you don't know him."

"Look he seems fine, I'm a good judge of character you know"

Leon spoke up "Arthur his references were the best I've seen, so good in fact that I rang the consultant who wrote them. She confirmed everything and said we were damn lucky to get him. They wanted him to stay and he had several jobs offered him before he settled on us."

"That's as maybe, but there is something about him" Arthur scowled.

Lance looked at his Sergeant "He seems ok to me"

"If Gwen likes him so will you" Arthur snapped.

Merlin caught the bus back to the hospital and it wasn't long before he was in bed. Merlin hated long shifts and always made sure to get plenty of sleep before hand. Especially for a Saturday as he was sure to be busy. He smiled at the new friends he had met and felt like he had a chance to make a decent life for himself. He hoped that Arthur wasn't going to be the fly in the ointment as he hated any sort of confrontation, but at the same time he never backed down from it.