The Royal Scandal *Book Two*

What about my Chicken? S2 E2

"Oh... erm. I just found them, and--and--I..." Merlin stuttered. Man, I really need to teach Merlin to lie better.

"Arthur probably asked you to get them for the dinner, didn't he?" I lied.

"Dinner?" Merlin asked confused, but changed when he saw me widen my eyes. "Oh, dinner. Yes, of course. Arthur asked me to get these specifically."

"Really?" Gwen asked with slight suspicion.

"Really," Merlin confirmed, plastering on another smile.

"Well, you'd better get them to him in that case," Gwen suggested.

"Right. Yeah, I probably should," Merlin nodded.

Gwen started to walk away to go look at one of the fabric stores on the side of the road.

"Where on earth is Arthur and what dinner?" Merlin asked me.

"He's at Gwen's still and he's cooking her dinner because he's been arrogant and rude to her," I said.

"Arthur is cooking?" Merlin asked, a wide smile on his face.

"More like attempting. He's never cooked anything in his life," I laughed.

"Never?"

"Never," I confirmed. "Nice flowers."

Thanks. I was going to give them to this amazing girl that I know but due to circumstances, I'll have to save them for later," Merlin sighed.

"Well, she's a very lucky girl," I smiled.

"Actually, I'm the lucky one," Merlin countered, making my smile widen.

"Chelsea!" Gwen called over. "You ready to leave?"

With one last longing look at Merlin, I started to walk back towards Gwen.

"Yeah, let's go," I smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The afternoon passed by quickly and next thing I knew I was sitting having a conversation with Gaius. He was extremely worried about Merlin after his little outburst this morning. But Gaius didn't stay for long. I mean, he is an extremely busy man most days.

I had intended to leave when Gaius did, but I changed my mind and decided to stay and lend a helping hand. By lend a helping hand I mean help tidy up the mess that was supposedly Merlin's doing.

The flannels and cloth from his cleaning last night had been left on the floor so I went and picked them up and moved them over to their dirty washing bin. I then directed my attention to the messy table, so I grabbed a fresh cloth, dunked it in their bowl of clean water and wiped away all the table. As I tidied up, I hummed random little tunes to myself. I had been so focused on my cleaning that I didn't notice someone come in.

"What you doing?" A voice said from the door making me jump. I spun around to see Merlin hanging up his jacket and smiling at me.

"Seriously, Merlin!? You nearly gave me a heart attack," I sighed, putting down the broom I was holding.

"Oh, please. Don't stop on my account," Merlin smirked.

"Shut up," I muttered, but I couldn't help the small smile that tugged at my lips.

"You know Gaius really will have a heart attack if he sees the princess of Camelot tidying his house," Merlin said as he walked over to me.

"Why? I'm helping out. It's the least I could do really. And anyway, I didn't even get that much down," I said, looking over at what I had actually managed to do.

"Yeah, but you know Gaius better than anyone. He won't think it right that you did this for him; it's not one of your many duties," Merlin explained.

"Well, I have a good reason for it," I defended.

"Really?" Merlin asked doubtfully.

"I do," I said simply, but continued when I saw Merlin still watching expectantly. "It makes me feel normal."

"Normal?"

"Yeah. It's like I don't have anything to worry about. Like I'm not a person who fears being married off because their idiot of a father is obsessed with the idea of power and having to leave all of the people that I really love and care about," I ranted.

"You get all that from cleaning?" Merlin asked making me give him a small smile.

"Well, you get the gist of it all," I shrugged.

"Ok. You want to feel normal?" Merlin asked with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah."

"Well, then. Normal people have to cook dinner for themselves and their households. I need to cook an apology dinner for Gaius. You can help if you want," Merlin suggested.

"Ok. What we cooking?" I asked immediately.

"This," Merlin answered, walking back over to the door and coming back with a whole chicken.

"Where the hell did you get that from?" I asked.

"Arthur couldn't cook Gwen's dinner so he made me get two meals from the palace kitchens and then I had to bring this with me. So... we can cook this," Merlin smiled.

"I knew he wouldn't be able to do it," I laughed.

Merlin and I then got to the cooking with him telling me what to do as, as bad as it sounds, I have never cooked before. It was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

Very soon the smell of cooked chicken filled the room. Night had fallen and it had gotten dark, so I lit some candles to light up the room. And here's the thing, I actually managed to light them using my magic. According to Merlin, magic is best produced when one is feeling great emotions. It must have been all this time I had spent with Merlin, but I felt extremely happy and therefore I was good at magic, for once.

As Merlin was putting the chicken on the table, the door opened revealing Gaius. He looked extremely tired and could have done with a good chicken. When his eyes landed on us, he paused for a minute and looked at us in confusion.

"Dinner's ready," Merlin told him, putting down three plates. Still in silence, Gaius walked over to us. "About what I said this morning..."

"It is I who should be apologising to you. I have failed to appreciate just how heavy your burden must be," Gaius cut him off.

"I shouldn't have lost my temper," Merlin said.

"It's no wonder you're upset. There's so much resting on your young shoulders... now that Arthur's away, you must take that time to enjoy yourself," Gaius continued, making Merlin and I share a subtle glance when Gaius brought up Arthur.

"What about the leech tank?" Merlin asked.

"Don't even think about the leech tank. All this talk of leeches will put us off our meal," Gaius said, sitting down. "Will you be joining us, my dear?" Gaius asked me.

"Yeah, if you don't mind, of course" I said.

"Of course I don't mind," Gaius chuckled before looking down at the chicken in confusion. "Where did that chicken come from?"

"Ask no questions and you shall hear no lies," I smiled innocently at Gaius just as there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Gaius called to them.

Sir Leon's head poked round the door and he looked deadly serious.

"The King demands your present immediately," Leon said.

"But what about our chicken?" I muttered to Merlin.

"I know. I was looking forward to it," Merlin agreed.

"Your chicken can wait," Gaius told us as we followed him out of the room.

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