Disclaimer: I love Merlin, but that doesn't mean I own it. Pure fan love here.
Story: Merlin's life should've been easier. She was just a high school student, friends with rich kids Arthur and Morgana Pendragon and Gwen Jennings, kind maid to the family. And yet, it isn't –not when she's suddenly best friends with depressed Uther Pendragon, father to Arthur and Morgana, and a woman named Nimueh keeps testing her. It doesn't help to think she's the reincarnation of the famous wizened old wizard of Arthurian legends and she keeps dreaming about it. Parallel semi-sequel to The Day the Whole World Went Away.
Set as an AU, genderbending fic, and future!fic/reincarnation!fic.
Spoilers: I'm not sure anymore, since I'm going off path here. So be careful…? Definite spoilers for my original fic though…
Warnings: Hm, I need to think about this time.
Pairings: Eventual Merlin/Arthur (maybe? Haha), Current Tristan (de Bois)/Merlin, Gwen/Lancelot, Morgana/?, heavily implied past-Uther/Ingraine, mentioned one-sided Gwen/Merlin, one-sided Morgana/Merlin, slight Edwin/Merlin (mostly one-sided), slight Nimueh/Merlin (mostly one-sided)…

The Day the Whole World Slept
Chapter Eight: When You Need Me

Merlin's heart practically stopped. The words from Morgana almost seemed hazy, yet clear at the same time. But then her mind was sharp and she felt calm in a detached way, going back to Morgana in an ordered fashion.

"Which hospital?" she asked firmly, trying to keep herself in this composed state.

Uther needed her. She couldn't afford to fall apart.

"Uh…S-St. Cross! The ambulance took him about ten minutes ago. I-I'm driving there now," Morgana's shaky voice told her a lot about the other girl's condition.

"Morgana, try to calm down," Merlin ordered. "You shouldn't be driving in that state. I don't want you getting into an accident, alright?"

She looked to Tristan, who was looking back at her as he already was starting to put on a jacket and grab his keys, even though he didn't know what was going on.

"I'll be there soon, okay Morgana?" she ended gently, and she heard Morgana tearfully answer before she hung up. Merlin hung up too, feeling her nerves starting to come alight again.

"Where to?" Tristan asked, going for the more important question. He could find out what was wrong later.

"St. Cross Hospital," Merlin said, moving towards the door urgently. Tristan followed after her immediately and they were soon in his car and heading there.

"Can I ask what happened?" he asked tensely, worried.

Merlin blinked back tears. "Uther's in the hospital. He overdosed on his meds."

Tristan's jaw clenched and he started speeding a little more.

With his speeding they managed to get to the hospital quickly and met Morgana on the way to Uther's room. She looked a mess –tear tracks on her face, hair wild, and rumpled clothing. Merlin merely embraced her and murmured soothing things into her distraught friend's ear.

"Why don't you rest, Morgana? You look like you're about to collapse at any moment," she said gently, and led the other girl over to the closest family waiting room. Sitting Morgana down, she ran her hand soothingly through Morgana's hair a few times.

After awhile, Morgana fell asleep and Merlin gave Tristan a questioning look.

"I'll stay here and make sure she's okay," Tristan reassured her.

She smiled gratefully at him and leant up on her toes to give him a quick kiss. Then she steeled herself and determinedly went to Uther's room, seeing him resting and asleep. She took a deep breath before staring sadly at him, and slowly moving to sit on the chair by his bedside.

"You idiot," Merlin felt tears crowd her eyes.

"I resent that," a tired voice interrupted her and her head shot up and stared at the man on the bed.

"If you weren't so ill, I would be hitting you right now," she said angrily.

He winced. "I'm sorry. I honestly hadn't meant to do that. I was just…I took them and then my mind wasn't clear, and it had been really blank and fuzzy since that mess of a dinner, and I just started taking more and more until the bottle was mostly empty. I hadn't even realized how many I was taking."

Merlin's eyes bored into him and Uther shifted awkwardly on the hospital bed.

"You really scared Morgana," she finally said. 'And me,' was said silently, but they both knew it.

"And the hell out of me," Tristan's voice was heard, and the two of them looked to the door to see him there. "Morgana's awake and getting coffee. I think she's working up the nerve to come into here."

He came closer and sat down next to Merlin, glancing at her and giving her a quick, supportive smile before he looked to Uther and shook his head.

"Uther, this is a problem, you know that right? Even if it wasn't intentional, you taking that many pills was dangerous," Tristan started worriedly. "I know we haven't been close, but I love you and still care for you. I don't want you thinking you need to take care of your depression on your own."

Merlin wished she had stayed behind at that disastrous dinner. Even though she'd been upset, she knew that Uther had been upset too and had also been reminded of some horrible memories. She knew that he was taking antidepressants too. She should've known he'd feel horrible and would probably turn to his pills after everything Arthur had said and unintentionally reminded him of.

But it was too late now and all she could do was be there for him.

A knock on the door had them look to it again, and they saw a timid Morgana there with a man in a long, white coat.

"This is Dr. Gregory," Morgana said quietly. "He's Uther's doctor."

Dr. Gregory nodded at everyone, giving a small smile. "Pleasure to meet you all. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances though."

"So what's the deal, Dr. Gregory? How is he?" Tristan asked for the rest of them.

"Physically, he'll be fine," Dr. Gregory started out. "We managed to pump out all of the drugs out of his system and he'll recover pretty quickly. Mentally however…" he awkwardly cleared his throat. "What he did was very serious. That he overdosed on his meds implies something severe at the cause. We've heard from him and understand that it was an accidental overdose and that he hadn't meant to take so many of them, but it was still purposeful at the same time. He went for his pills and was depressed enough to not notice that he kept taking one after the other."

"Mr. Pendragon," he focused on Uther. "This isn't a memory lapse, so you're not having any memory problems. What this is is you having an inability to control yourself when your emotions get to that low state and you get a lack of care towards yourself and you stop caring and paying attention. I can't prescribe you anything or force you to do anything, but I do recommend you see someone and talk to them."

Merlin could see Uther starting to shut down, so her hand shot out and grabbed one of his. He slowly turned to her and she smiled softly at him, and she could physically see him relax a bit.

"Being that this was a borderline suicide attempt," Dr. Gregory continued, making Merlin inwardly wince while she felt Uther's hand around hers tense. "We would like to keep watch over him for a time. At least a day or two in the hospital on suicide watch before being released, though I strongly recommend he be monitored after for a time as well."

"Is this a suggestion or an order?" Uther asked stiffly.

"You will definitely be here in the hospital for at least another day," Dr. Gregory said firmly. "But I can't enforce anything once you're released and taken home. However, if things escalate and become worse for you and if you won't be monitored and taken cared of at home at that point, then you will be put on suicide watch at an out-clinic as an alternative. So if things become critical, your choices would be to either allow yourself to be monitored and taken cared of at home or be taken into an out-clinic and be monitored and taken cared of there."

"I see," Merlin cut in because she could see Uther was about to blow up and looked irate as is. "We'll talk it over, Dr. Gregory. Thank you."

He nodded towards them again before leaving and then it was silent in the room.

"We don't have to discuss this right now," Tristan forced a smile onto his face. "Let's just…catch up on things. Morgana, it's been some time since I last saw you and…tonight's dinner wasn't exactly an ideal time to catch up. How've you been?"

"Good," she mumbled. "I've been doing good in school and Merlin and I," she glanced between them, "We've been setting up for our Prom later this year, since we're on the committee. Graduation is coming up and so is our senior trip."

"Is that so?" he looked surprised. "Going to be out of school already, huh?"

"I've very proud of both of them," Uther said quietly, speaking up even though he still looked miserable. Uther looked at Merlin and Morgana and gave a small smile. "I'm very proud of both my girls."

Merlin felt her heart both squeeze painfully and fill with happiness.

That's why, the next day she'd settled it with her school and had set herself up for Independent Studies. Her mother was usually out of town on business for Gaius, but the two of them (when her mother was home) would be able to look after and watch over Uther.

"You don't have to do this!" Morgana insisted when she found out. "I'm his daughter, so I should be taking responsibility! Not that he doesn't consider you a daughter, but you know what I mean, Merlin! You shouldn't have to sacrifice for us and give up your studies!"

"Morgana," Merlin started patiently. "I love you and I know you're not dumb. But we both know you can't afford to slack off on your studies. I'm better equipped for Independent Studies and can deal with it for a while. The doctor said a month at most and Uther is insisting that it be that long at most. Knowing him, he'll try to lessen the time, just as you and I will nag at him to let it go."

Morgana sighed. "You're right," she reluctantly muttered. "I just feel so useless and don't know what to do to help."

Merlin pulled her into a hug. "Just check in on your dad, talk with him, though keep things normal and not try to treat him differently for the most part. Anyway, can you drop me off at school? I've got to finalize things."

"Sure. School's about to start anyway, so I've got to head there. You'll have to find a way home though."

"Tristan is helping Uther move some of his stuff back home and setting things up in the guest bedroom," Merlin informed her. "But he could probably pick me up."

"Good, good. I think he's good for you," Morgana mused aloud, though it made Merlin blush. "You guys are good for each other."

Merlin smiled shyly, but she thought so too.

Soon enough, the two of them headed to school and separated. When Merlin reached the office and finished things up, she remembered her science teacher and sort of friend.

"Is Mr. Muirden in?" she asked the secretary.

She was given a surprised look. "Mr. Muirden? He's absent. Not like him, of course, but I supposed there's a first for everything…"

However, that made her feel on edge and her gut was telling her something else was going on. She left the office and immediately reached for her phone, calling up Tristan.

"Hey, I was wondering if I can get a ride from school to back home. I finished up here, so things are good to go for my Independent Studies course."

"No problem," Tristan said easily, his voice making her smile. "I'll be there in a little bit."

"Great, thanks," she knew her face was beaming happily. "Um, before I go, I just wanted to ask if you could find out the address of one of my teachers? He's absent and he usually isn't, so I'm worried something might be wrong. To be honest, I know it's not something that should be considered serious, but my gut is telling me something's up. Is that weird?"

"No," he said immediately, which calmed her a bit. "Instincts can help us out more than we know. If you think something is wrong, then it wouldn't hurt to look into it."

She was worried he'd tell her she was being crazy or nosy, and should leave her teacher to it. Or worse –be jealous and suspect something. But in the end, she was really grateful that it seemed, for the most part, that he understood and was siding with her.

And that he really could find out Edwin's address. Geez, she didn't know why she assumed Tristan would be able to…

"What's his name?" Tristan asked and she rattled off his name, guessed his age, and what he taught. "I'll let you know what I find out, okay? In the meantime, I'm almost there."

She laughed aloud, more so as she saw his car round the corner and saw him waving cheerfully at her. She waited until he pulled up in front of her and then opened the passenger door and slid into her seat.

"Morning, you," he said, leaning over for a kiss she eagerly gave. "Uther's settled in for the most part, so there's nothing much you'll need to help out with. I called your mother to let her know what's going on and not freak out when she comes home to find Uther walking about."

"Ah," Merlin winced, having an idea how that went. "How'd it go?" she asked anyway.

"She thanked me for catching her up, then asked me to hand the phone over to Uther. She then proceeded to scream at him for ten minutes about his recklessness and that he should know that he has all of us and that we love him, and then went on to express her worry for him for another five minutes."

"Yeah, that was pretty much what I figured happened," Merlin admitted, gaining an amused look from him. "Uther is important to us, so this has definitely upset us."

Tristan reached over and grabbed one of her hands. "Don't worry. He'll be fine, especially because he has you looking over him."

Merlin smiled slightly and leaned against him as he restarted the car.

"I'm here for you too, you know," he murmured. "I won't be going anywhere."

Her heart felt warm and there were three words that popped up in her head that she really wanted to say to him then.

She entered her home with Tristan, looking around and not really spotting a difference. She probably wouldn't yet, since Uther hadn't lived there with her for a while, but also thought any real changes would be noticeable in the guest room than out there.

Merlin felt her cheek be kissed and saw Tristan smile at her. "I'll go set up lunch while you go see Uther, okay?"

"Okay, thanks," she hugged him and felt how warm he was. He was real, in front of her, and wasn't a figment of her imagination. The best part was he cared about her and was all hers. "I mean it. Thank you for everything."

She felt his lips press against the top of her head. After a moment, she pulled away from him and gave him a tender look and then headed up the stairs. She kept walking until she reached the guest room's door and knocked.

"Come in."

She took a deep breath and then opened the door, finding Uther by the window and sitting on the window seat.

"Hey, you," she said quietly.

"Hi," he echoed back.

Seconds passed by as they said nothing and Merlin thought that they might just avoid the issue. But then she didn't want to avoid things and didn't want Uther to feel alone or depressed. So she made herself walk forwards until she was in front of him and hugging him tightly.

"I love you, Uther Pendragon, so don't you dare be a dumbass again," she muttered fiercely against his head.

He embraced her back. "I won't."

Of course he wouldn't. Not with Merlin there to watch his back.

She'd swear this on every past life she'd lived and every future life she would.

Started 3/3/14 – Completed 4/6/18

A/n: Ah geez, this really has been a long time for this? Since 2014, I think? Yeah, I hope people are still reading and enjoying this. Please remember to review!