"Well, what did my dear old baby brother do this time?"

Merlin raised his head, saw Morgana raise an eyebrow, and only rolled his eyes.

"Come on spit it out," Morgana stated, she sat next to him with her chin resting delicately on her hands with her elbows sitting on top of the table. Giving her a somewhat innocent look if it weren't for those devious eyes Merlin might have boughten the act.

"Leave," Merlin groaned, intending to just ignore her and also not wanting to hear what Morgana has to say right now.

Merlin just had an argument with Arthur yesterday, everyone seemed to know about it and for some reason saw it fitting to come over and bother him about it. It's already in the early morning when he met them at the entrance to the university's cafe and already Freya was looking at him with sympathy while stroking his hand, but at least did not say anything. Gwen's reaction, whom he met just down the street from the cafe with Lance, was similar, only she added that she would have given Arthur the cuffs, but, unfortunately, had not seen him today so it couldn't be done. Lance was not so emotional but asked if Merlin was okay and whether he needed to talk to Arthur.

And now Morgana was just being her normal devious and ruthless self which was nothing new there as there were some very colorful things she said she was going to do to Arthur. Merlin just decided to spend the night with Will, grumbling that Arthur was an ass, nothing new, but without even explaining the details. And Will, evidently, told about what happened to everyone, and, most interestingly but surprisingly, everyone believed that Arthur was to blame.

Oh, if Merlin had told them what had really happened, then Will, probably with his own hands, would have torn Arthur's head off without even allowing Arthur a chance to defend himself. Arthur, at first glance, really behaved like an ass, was arrogant, and really full of himself; he was the most idiotic jock/Alpha that Merlin has ever met. But this is only at first glance. Arthur is loving and caring even sweet when he wants to be so to hear them insulting Arthur's character like this annoyed Merlin greatly.

The fact is that Arthur never, ever for the whole time that they were acquainted, did not ever use his command alpha voice in relation to Merlin. That is to say, Arthur has told Merlin from time to time not to do things but never has he used the Alpha voice on him. Even when he was angry when they would swear and argue with each other. And yesterday it happened - Arthur forbade Merlin to go out with his friends from his class to go rafting. His scarlet eyes flamed in anger and with a hard voice that Merlin never heard come from him before literally pinned Merlin to the floor with the sheer intensity of it - he had never felt anything like it in his life. Then Arthur went into the bedroom and then slammed the door shut, Merlin stood in place until he was finally able to get some kind of semblance of control over his body.

He felt so distraught that he didn't care if his friends left without him and even if he wanted to go still he knew he couldn't cause the very thought of going caused him to be nauseous which was due to the command. Once control was in his grasp he took that opportunity to leave the apartment, he walked for several hours around the city, trying to understand what had happened.

He was very angry with Arthur for daring to order him to stay. That he dared to order him anything at all. Now in the modern world, this kind of behavior that Arthur had shown was considered socially unacceptable in regards to relationships between an alpha and to their omega. Probably, this still happens behind closed doors, and some omegas were probably too afraid to talk about it, but Merlin did not even imagine that one day it would happen to him he especially didn't expect it from Arthur of all people, of all Alphas!

However, for all his anger from the very fact that Arthur had forbidden him against his will, Merlin knew that Arthur was right. The truth was that letting Merlin participate in rafting was terribly dangerous. Merlin was afraid of water since childhood and did not like any of these so-called entertainments in the pursuit of adrenaline. The only reason he agreed to go with his friends was only that he suddenly came up with the idea: the only thing to get over a fear was to fight your fears head on! But while you are morally not ready to meet them face to face, this is not a good idea. It's like giving a guy who's afraid of heights a parachute then pushing him out of a plane before he's ready to put it on.

Yes, Merlin was scared and yes maybe Merlin wasn't ready yet for the water but to command him in such a way wasn't acceptable. He then started to remember the panic attacks he use to have when he was younger whenever he got too close to the water and he's long since been able to deal with them. And now that he's older he doesn't really have them anymore, well besides the fact he hasn't been to the pool or the beach in forever but that's beside the point! Merlin suddenly remembered a time when he had a nasty panic attack at the pool and it took Arthur 20 minutes before he could calm Merlin down. Merlin groaned to himself, 'he was such an idiot,' Merlin thought when he came back to himself, suddenly realizing the danger that he was about to put himself through.

No matter how determinedly he was to go that morning, he was clearly deceiving himself, like Merlin could actually go on a raft and be okay is ridiculous now that Merlin was thinking straight.

What if he had actually gone Merlin wouldn't have been able to handle never mind actually get on the raft. He would have more than likely already succumbed to a panic attack and without Arthur there who knows how long it would have taken before he would have gotten out of that headspace. He would have ruined the experience for everyone involved. And knowing that Merlin was too stubborn to let it go Arthur had no choice but to command him with his Alpha voice to get him to stay. It wasn't because he wanted to ruin Merlin's day or he was being an ass who was jealous that he was spending the day with some friends and not with him. No, he was worried about Merlin and concerned for his safety so much so that he would do anything to get Merlin to stay. Even now when Merlin had not talked to him in hours, when Merlin turned on his phone that evening he saw the many miss calls and text messages from his Alpha.

In a moment of weakness Merlin wanted to go home at that moment to comfort and be comforted by his Alpha so he can feel safe again in his Alpha's arms. But even though Arthur did it to protect him he still felt a bit of bitterness swirling in his chest that wouldn't go away. Despite that he still ordered him, no commanded him to stay! No matter the circumstance no Alpha should behave that way towards their Omega. He needed to get away for the night but didn't want his Alpha to be too worried and send a search party after him he sent him a text 'staying at Will's. We'll talk later.' Before he walked away from the park to go the nearest pizza place to buy a pizza as a way of making amends to Will for suddenly coming on such short notice when he texted him that he was coming over with his favorite pizza. And once with Will, Merlin couldn't help but complain and tell him the censored version of what happened so Will wouldn't have any more reason to hate Arthur more than he already did.

And of course, leave it to Will to not keep his mouth shut.

"Merlin, I need to know what he's done, I'm his sister." Morgana's words bringing Merlin back to reality, Morgana has always been overprotective of Merlin when they first met at the University and even gave her solemn vow that she would personally murder Arthur if he ever hurt Merlin. Blood relations or not there would be bloodshed.

"I agree," Gwaine said with a laugh, "though I'm not his sister, I must know so I can bully the princess about it the next time we meet at fencing practice."

Well, that was too much.

"Enough!" Merlin jumped up, grabbing his backpack. "You got it all wrong. How was it that we agreed that whenever we fight, Arthur is always to blame? You cannot always run to him to complain and drag me into it, I'll still be on his side, he's my alpha!"

"Wow, easy, buddy!" Gwaine stared at him in surprise. "You yourself have complained about Arthur."

"I can because he's my alpha!" Merlin shouted hands balled tightly at his sides everyone was looking at him in surprise. Even when Merlin was angry it took him some time to get there as he usually was a very calm person versus Arthur who was very hot-headed. So for Merlin to suddenly get angry over a joke was unexpected. "Though I never harass my Alpha about it like you all seem to do! None of you understand!"

Merlin himself did not know what had come over him, usually, he did not react so sharply no matter the situation. But now he wanted to send all these comments about Arthur to hell and now they want to go complain to his Alpha! They are all fools for even thinking to do it and don't forget to mention how they do not understand anything about their relationship. Well except for Lance and Gwen who is a pair but the rest of them don't have a pair and yet they are judging on their relationship, on their pairing! How dare they! So Merlin just packed up and left, intending to quickly get home and hoping to find Arthur there hoping that he had not yet left for fencing practice.

But Merlin was lucky because when he entered the apartment, he immediately saw Arthur sitting on the sofa in the living room with his laptop. He looked up at Merlin with a weary look as if to see if Merlin was still angry with him. He looked partly guilty, partly determined - probably preparing to give Merlin his reasoning in case Merlin was going to start an argument about what had happened.

Merlin irritably threw the backpack on the floor, tore off his sneakers and walking into the living room, stopping in front of Arthur. Arthur, not taking his eyes off him, put the laptop aside.

"Are you still angry?" he asked cautiously though Merlin could here an undercurrent of determination and a bit of sadness in his voice.

"Yes," he replied immediately, "but not at you."

Arthur raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Our friends came to me today," Merlin waved his hand dramatically at their front door, "'What did Arthur do this time?', 'Well, what is Arthur guilty of now?', 'Poor Merlin, Arthur is such a villain!' Come on, dammit like I need all that crap and because of them I'm missing class because I don't want to be anywhere near them! Damn Will remind me again later why I'm still friends with him!" he ranted grumpily before he let his shoulders drop, and, after a second's hesitation, climbed into Arthur's lap facing him. Arthur immediately put his hands on his hips, pulling him to him.

"But you understand why I did it?" he asked. Between his eyebrows lay a fold, Merlin saw that Arthur himself was not happy that he had to make such a decision.

"Yes," Merlin sighed. "I know now why I'm not allowed to go rafting," he admitted, avoiding Arthur's gaze, "It can be dangerous, and given that I'm afraid of water. But I'm stubborn, you would not be able to talk me out of it, because how stubborn I was on proving that I could get over a fear that I've had since childhood by going on a raft on extremely harsh water. So yeah I'll let you have this one, I'm an idiot."

Arthur was silent, and Merlin, unable to stand it, raised his head, immediately stumbling upon the attentive eyes of his alpha.

"What?" Merlin did not understand why Arthur wasn't saying anything especially since Arthur just heard Merlin call himself an idiot.

"The reason I asked was that I wanted to see if you knew the reason why you shouldn't go. I guess you didn't figure it out yet," Arthur said hesitantly.

"Didn't figure out what?" Merlin asked confused.

Now Arthur sighed Merlin could feel Arthur gripping his waist a little tighter.

"Merlin, I would never order you, if there wasn't an emergency."

"I know," Merlin said slowly still not understanding.

Arthur groaned as he threw his head back against the couch shaking his head in disbelief before looking back at Merlin, "under other circumstances, I probably would have gotten mad for being an idiot for wanting to use rafting as a way of getting over your fears, but I would have let you go and would have gone with you, even canceling all my affairs. But it's not just your life that's at stake."

Merlin did not understand anything. He frowned at Arthur, who looked inquiringly at him, waiting for Merlin to guess.

"God, Merlin, I can not believe you didn't even notice. I mean I can admit that I can be dense at most times…!" Arthur suddenly pulled up Merlin's T-shirt and put his hand on his stomach, "It's not just your life that's at stake."

It took Merlin several minutes to process the information before he realized what Arthur had meant. He probably looked ridiculous with an open mouth and eyes wide, but Arthur only smiled and pressed him to him, briefly kissing his neck.

"I'm pregnant?" Merlin whispered to himself as placed his hands over his belly, Arthur's smile widened as he nodded, "I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant! Oh, Arthur, I was about to go on a raft!" Merlin whimpered as he trembled in fear as he wrapped his arms around his waist as if to protect his baby. His baby that he nearly killed due to his stubbornness and idiocy and just the thought that he almost put his baby in danger nearly brought him to tears if it weren't for Arthur's purr he would have gone into hysterics. "Arthur I nearly killed our baby!" Merlin cried, Arthur immediately brought Merlin close to his chest and gently called to his Omega.

"Sh, sh, it's okay Merlin. You didn't that's all that matters" Arthur cooed to him slowly rocking him back and forth.

Merlin sniffled, "but if you hadn't told me to stay I would have gone! I'm a terrible Papa I should have known that I was with child! How the hell did you know before I did!" Merlin was furious with himself that he nearly not only put himself in danger but put his baby in danger. Now it made sense why he snapped at his friends earlier it was because of his hormones.

"I do not know maybe because of my sense of smell since I'm an Alpha," Arthur sighed before he pushed Merlin so he can look him in the eye, "and don't you dare say you are a bad papa! You will never be a bad papa! I know for a fact if you had known you sure as hell wouldn't have agreed to the trip in the first place. So I never want to hear those words from you again!"

Merlin looked upset still clutching at his stomach not really believing Arthur, "how long had you known," Merlin looked downright disappointed in himself for not realizing sooner about his baby.

"I noticed a couple of days ago. I thought that you were probably still digesting the news of being with child since you did not tell me right away, so I didn't want to rush you. And then you came and said that you were going on a raft going down a rushing and harsh river. Especially since you were afraid of water and bad at swimming. With my baby inside you no less! And since I couldn't convince you to stay there was nothing left for me to do but ..." Arthur paused, exhaling tiredly.

"You are the best alpha in the world," Merlin whispered as he once again nuzzled his way to Arthur's neck, "I love you so much. Thank you for saving us yesterday if you hadn't done what you had done our baby could have…" Merlin trailed off not wanting to imagine it, "if I had lost our baby because how stupid I was I don't know what I would have done."

"And I would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping you both safe," Arthur responded, hugging him tighter in response with one hand, the second stroking his still flat stomach.

"My alpha," Merlin said peacefully, at last, feeling warm and safe, surrounded by the native smell of his alpha.

"My Omega," Arthur replied rubbing his nose against his temple, "let's go to bed I think this is enough excitement for one day."

Merlin nodded taking a deep breath of his Alpha's scent and snuggling closer causing Arthur to chuckle. He picked up Merlin under his butt and Merlin's legs instantly wrapped around Arthur's waist but his arms remained securely around his stomach to protect his baby.

Once in bed Arthur held Merlin to him with his arms wrapped tight but comfortably around Merlin. He never felt so safe being in his Alphas arms knowing that his Alpha will protect them no matter what, before he went to sleep Merlin thanked the gods for giving him such a wonderful mate. And from now on he will think twice before agreeing to any more outings.

And with that, he thought happily to his baby, 'you have the best father in the world baby. He will protect you and love you no matter. And I will do the same because even though I just found out about you I love you more than anything in this world and I will do anything in my power to protect you from anything that will try to harm you.'

Merlin slept happily that morning wrapped in his Alpha's arms only dreaming happy thoughts of him, Arthur, and their beautiful baby that he couldn't wait to meet.

Thank you so much!

I hope you all enjoyed!

This is actually my very first Alpha/Omega Fic and I'm feeling very proud of it.

Please review and tell me what you think!

See ya!