Hello readers, so this is a new installment and I hope you guys will enjoy it!
Disclaimer: All Merlin characters are owned by Shine and BBC
Warnings: Angst, jealousy, divorce, implied Mpreg.
Summary: After being in a civil partnership with Merlin for two years Arthur decides to get a divorce as he believes he's in a failed relationship and has fallen out of love with Merlin, it's a long bumpy road ahead when he realizes he never got over Merlin and has to right the wrongs he'd done.
Broken Bridge
Chapter - 1
Merlin didn't say anything for a while as he sat on the plush sofa of their living room, he couldn't meet Arthur's eyes and couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand it meant Arthur couldn't see how this was tearing him apart but on the other it implied that he was a coward. Merlin honestly didn't think he'd never expected this coming but it still stunned him that Arthur would throw away their life together so easily. Idly he thought it was ironic that he was staring at a framed picture of them both kissing with the background of the London tower when they were at the culmination of their relationship. When they had entered their civil partnership Merlin had been over the moon with joy and they had been so happy to be able to love each other openly after years of hiding their relationship and then Alexis was born and Arthur began pulling away.
Merlin cleared his throat awkwardly and then looked at Arthur for the first time since Arthur had announced that he was filing for the dissolution of their partnership and though he didn't want to admit it the stoic almost indifferent look Arthur gave him hurt him more than any of the angry words Arthur had hurled at him in the last year ever did. Seeing this made Merlin gain strength though and if Arthur felt nothing for him anymore and wanted their failed relationship to end then Merlin would handle this gracefully whether or not it was killing him inside. He schooled his expressions and said "Have you decided on a lawyer?"
"Yes, Gwaine Dubois, now if you could sign these we could get on with it right away."
Gwaine, Merlin wasn't surprised at Arthur's choice for a lawyer and Gwaine was one of the best in town and a privileged arsehole just like Arthur and they had been mates right from uni.
"Shouldn't we be discussing custodial rights for Alexis?" asked Merlin and saw Arthur's expression change for just a second before the mask was on again and Merlin was too heartsick to have noted the change properly.
"It's outlined in the papers if you want to read them but she can live with you."
Now Merlin was angry, he could never understand why Arthur chose to distance himself from their child Alexis and as she grew up Merlin had to take care of everything from feeding to changing her while Arthur continuously made excuses to be out of their house or work late hours when Merlin knew he didn't have to.
Merlin tried to keep the anger in check but his voice rose an octave as he said "You don't even want to take responsibility for your child? Your own blood and flesh? What has she ever done to you for you to alienate her like this?"
Arthur looked startled at his outburst as if he expected absolute compliance before he said "I'll still have visitation rights and you're the one who is good at taking care of her, after all you are the one who wanted a child!"
Merlin reeled back like he had been slapped, he knew the pregnancy was unexpected and that they didn't plan to have a child but he'd never thought Arthur truly didn't want children, he'd expected it to be some of the daddy issues Arthur had that was messing with his mind and keeping him from being attached to Alexis but he'd never considered that maybe Arthur never even wanted her in the first place, the god's knew he had tried talking to Arthur, but every time they ended up in a screaming match with Merlin in tears and Arthur slamming the door shut and leaving the house.
Merlin stood up and blew out a breath as he said "I'll have to read them before I sign any of this and decide on a lawyer, I'll give these' he picked up the papers from the coffee table, 'back when I'm done reading them."
Arthur stood up, graceful as always in his immaculately pressed Armani suit making him look the part of the cold aristocrat that Merlin knew him to be when he'd met him and said "Be fast about it, we'll discuss financial settlements when I'm home tonight."
"No can do, I have plans for tonight" said Merlin before he walked away not giving Arthur a backward glance never noticing the frown marring Arthur's features as he wiped away tears and went to call Gwen.
The café was well crowded and Merlin finally spotted Gwen and Lance after he looked about the place like an idiot for awhile, absently he wondered how Arthur managed to find the people he was looking for in a crowded room so easily and then thought it must be because he got to spend so much time at business meetings and fundraisers.
He went to the private booth they had occupied before he sighed and Gwen immediately asked "Merlin, what's wrong?"
Merlin looked up at them and tried to smile but it came out more as a grimace before he said "Arthur's filing for divorce."
"WHAT?" asked Gwen and Lance in shock and Merlin turned away from them to look at nothing on the other side of the café when he felt Gwen's hand squeeze his and looked back up at them.
"I shouldn't be surprised right? I knew this was coming…for a long time, Arthur doesn't love me anymore."
Merlin felt the tears building up and before he knew it one traitorous tear slid down his cheek and then they kept coming and Merlin put his head in his hands and groaned, he didn't want to feel so wounded and he wished he could be like Arthur was in regards to their separation, cold and informal as if were Merlin were some disease he wished to be rid off as soon as possible.
"That's not true Merlin! Arthur's never been as crazy about anyone as he is for you! I don't know why he's doing this but he'll come to his senses otherwise we'll talk it into him" said Gwen and Lance nodded while he smiled sadly at them both.
"It's over Gwen, it's about time I stopped taking his shit and this is as good a time as any to end it all and find myself a new life, a chance to be happy."
Now Gwen and Lance shared a dismayed look, it seemed Merlin too was stubborn to see this through and they all knew that Merlin was harder than Arthur to crack at times and Gwen didn't believe for a second that Arthur had stopped loving Merlin and he just needed a reminder of how much he loved Merlin and how stupid he was being by drawing up divorce papers. She had to call Morgana and ask her to give Arthur a well deserved tongue lashing for hurting Merlin, in fact she decided she had to be there for the ritual too and with that in mind she gave Merlin and sad smile and said "We'll be here for you no matter what"
Merlin nodded giving her and Lance a grateful look, "I know"
Morgana was suffice to say not pleased to be roused from her afternoon nap as she had been working non-stop to secure a deal for the Pendragon Corps with key companies all around the world, she was the head of the PR department while Arthur was the Managing Director and let it be said that Uther Pendragon was a hard man to please, and it was even worse for his children.
"Yes, this is Morgana Pendragon and whoever this is you better have a good reason for calling me now!" Morgana barked into the phone while burying her head further down in the pillows.
"Morgana, this is Gwen, did Arthur tell you he filed for divorce?"
This got Morgana to scrunch her face up in confusion for a second before she sat up fully awake and alert now, "HE DID WHAT?"
Morgana was stunned, shocked and she couldn't comprehend how Arthur would file for divorce with Merlin, they were meant to be together, Arthur was crazy about Merlin and had spent months chasing Merlin before Merlin finally caved and agreed to go on a date. Granted things weren't going so well now and Arthur had been working longer than usual but Morgana didn't think it was that bad, and what were they going to do about Alexis?
"Yes, he filed for divorce but I don't think he's in his right mind, we have to talk to him, now before this completely breaks them apart."
"Yes, yes, I still can't believe Arthur went and filed for divorce of all things! I'll be ready in about an hour, meet you at the lobby?"
"Yeah, I'll be there."
Arthur looked up from the stack of papers he was reviewing when he heard his door bang loudly open admitting his least favorite person in the world, his evil sister Morgana and her best friend Guinevere, his ex-girlfriend and he knew what this was about before they'd even gotten started and he was well and truly prepared for it.
"What were you thinking Arthur? Filing for divorce? Are you mad?" asked Morgana as she glared at him daring him to face her wrath.
"I am in perfectly good mental health, thankyou Morgana and seeing as things between Merlin and me are a personal matter I don't see why you feel the need to butt in."
"Oh God damn you and your silly stoicism, don't think I'm going to let you off the hook that easily, why did you file for divorce?"
Arthur sighed and rubbed his hand across his temples and met Morgana's and Gwen's glare and realized he'd rather get this over with now instead of later, "Why do any couple divorce? Things aren't working out anymore and I don't feel the need to have this farce of a relationship when we can barely be civil to each other!"
Morgana was going to go into one of her screeching tirades and both Arthur and Gwen could see it so Gwen stepped forward and said "So you're having problems, who doesn't? You should try to work it out instead of just breaking it off like he doesn't mean anything to you!"
Morgana was pacing to control her temper and then she asked "And what about your little girl? Do you really want to put her through that?"
"I've given Merlin full custodial rights and we'll set up a trust fund for her when we're done with the divorce proceedings."
Morgana slammed the table hard with her fists before she said "You're refusing to take responsibility for your daughter? What you think just because Merlin carried her it means you don't have to do anything? You think you can just throw your money at her and she'll be satisfied with not having another parent?"
Arthur gritted his teeth and his voice rose to meet Morgana's as he said "I'm not abandoning her, Merlin is good at taking care of her than I am, and he's the one who has more time to be looking after squalling babies!"
"You mean you wouldn't know the first thing about taking care of her because you've never even tried, heaven forbid Arthur Pendragon being menial enough to take care of his own daughter!"
Arthur just pointed a finger at her and said "You're acting up over nothing Morgana! I am divorcing Merlin because what we're having now is a failed relationship neither of us wants to be in, and I gave parental responsibility to Merlin because he's the one equipped for taking care of Alexis."
"Neither of you want to be in this relationship eh? So did you ask Merlin's opinion before filing for divorce?" asked Gwen a tad sarcastically as she was feeling no affection whatsoever for Arthur now.
Arthur flailed for a moment before he said "No but he wasn't exactly complaining when I informed him."
Gwen sighed and recognized this for a lost cause if Arthur couldn't even see how much he'd hurt Merlin with this brash action and said "Maybe you're right, Merlin doesn't deserve to be unhappy and if you can't make him happy then he deserves to find someone else who will."
Gwen then said "I'm done talking here, but Arthur you love Merlin' and when Arthur opened his mouth to protest that he most certainly did not Gwen raised her hand willing him to back down and Arthur did though he had no idea why, Gwen always intimidated him more than Morgana ever could 'you may think you don't but Merlin is not the sort of person whom you can love and then forget and when you realize that you're going to have to realize it's on you, this relationship failing is on you because you pulled away, you filed for the divorce and you pushed him away and you've as good as lost him forever."
Gwen then left the office leaving Arthur and Morgana in stunned silence as Arthur collected his thoughts and sighed trying and failing not to be disturbed about Gwen's parting words.
Morgana sat down as well and asked softly "Are you really going to do this?"
Arthur took note of her mood and said "Yes Morgana, we can't go on like this."
Morgana just looked up and snorted cynically, "I guess I should have seen this coming but I really thought he was it for you, you know. You were never that serious about anyone else and for a time it was so amusing to see you all pathetic and moping when he wouldn't go out on a date with you because you were a prat to him."
Arthur smiled thinking of those times when he'd think of any excuse to get out of his office and go to that restaurant Merlin worked part time at before he became a world renowned writer, his father was so displeased with him for shirking his duties and he'd been called on multiple occasions to his office for him to be yelled at by Uther nothing of which seemed to have an effect on him whatsoever. "Uther was so furious with me for being a what he called "irresponsible lad chasing after some boy like a lovesick fool instead of doing my duty to the company."
"Uther would be furious about this too you know, especially if he doesn't get to meet his darling grand- daughter any time he wished to see her."
Arthur would forever be shocked by how much affection Uther showered Alexis with whenever he visited her which was often. Uther adored Alexis and spoiled her rotten when he took her to his mandatory weekly dinners at Les Deux Salons or any other restaurant in London. Secretly Arthur had to admit he was a bit jealous because he never had that kind of attention from his father while he was growing up and Alexis had managed to capture so much of the stoic man's attention in just eight months time.
Morgana was saying something but Arthur was distracted as she snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Uther would insist on you taking custodial rights, you know that right? He thinks Merlin is too middle class to rear any heirs of the Pendragons."
"It's none of Uther's business; I'll make sure he won't interfere."
"You do know I still think you're being idiotic and running away from your problems instead of facing up to it, right?"
"I always knew you had high opinions of me Morgana" quipped Arthur refusing to be fazed by the decision he'd made.
Morgana snorted before she said "I know atleast one person who'd be happy to know you're breaking up with Merlin."
"Hmmm" Arthur hummed disinterestedly as he read through the papers on his desk again.
"Mordred of course, he's been seething ever since you stole Merlin from him or that's what he claims anyway."
Arthur looked up from his paperwork and chewed on his lower lip before saying "If that was your subtle tactic to check if I would be jealous I have to say you're conniving skills are dropping lower on the scale and Merlin would never want to consider that creepy obsessive lunatic for a friend let alone a boyfriend."
Morgana shrugged "And yet Merlin still dated Mordred before."
Arthur smirked wryly, "I know what you're doing Morgana, you're testing the waters, seeing if I still care, well I don't."
"So you say, but if I believed you I wouldn't be your evil sister raised from hell to torment you."
"I don't care if you don't believe me' said Arthur stretching with his hands folded behind his head in the uncomfortable office chair, 'it still doesn't change the fact that Merlin and I are getting divorced."
Morgana in an uncharacteristic display of affection came over to the other side where Arthur was sitting and took his shoulders in a firm grip, she then looked into his eyes and said "Arthur, I know you can be an arrogant prat at times but don't rush something like this, your brash attitude might just make you loose the most important people in your life."
Arthur swallowed before he turned away and Morgana gave up on him and walked out of the office leaving Arthur to contemplate in silence.
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