Chapter Text
Arthur turned his back, literally for two seconds to pick up a pack of chocolate pudding for Elena's lunch, and when he turned around to ask if she wanted oreo flavoured instead, she was gone.
Merlin was always very good with kids, even Will’s kids preferred to cling to him. They would cry when Merlin had to leave and say goodbye or whine when Freya tries to hold them, and they turn themselves towards Merlin. He’s usually the one to sneak them a cookie before dinner or get them that video game their parents said they’d have to wait for. Sure he spoils them, but hey, you try resisting those big sparkly eyes.
On the other hand, he’s not entirely sure what to do when temper tantrums are thrown, or snot-nosed crying starts.
Like now, when a tear-streaked little blond girl, in pig-tails, and a blue coat, is tugging on his jeans, lower lip quivering. "M-mister," stuttered out the little girl. "Can you help me find my Papa?"
Merlin crouched down, taking out a napkin and wiping away the dribbling snot from the little girl's nose. This wasn't the first time a child has strayed from their parents. The little squirts are pretty slippery, one second they're there, the next, they're at the end of the potato chip aisle, ripping open a brand new bag of chips.
"Shh, it's okay; I'm going find your papa."
The little girl trembled until she was visibly shaking, then she promptly burst out into tears. Merlin panicked for a moment, before gathering the sobbing child in his arms, and stood up. He rubbed her back, whispering reassuring things to her, feeling his shirt dampen with her tears. After she calmed down and began to hiccup, Merlin offered her a lollipop. She pulled back, biting down on her lower lip, pensive. "Papa always said to never take food from strangers."
Merlin grinned. "You are a very smart girl," said Merlin, and the little girl offered a small grin. "Can you tell me your name so that I can announce it to the store?"
The little girl hesitated. "It's Eleanor. Eleanor Pendragon. But you can call me Elena, mister."
Merlin smiled, "Nice to meet you, Elena. My name is Merlin." he said, pointing at his name tag that said, Merlin. He placed Elena on his hip, juggling her in one arm, while dialling on the store phone, before hitting the announcing button. "Attention customers, there is a missing child in aisle 5 named Elena Pendragon, again a missing child in aisle 5 named Elena Pendragon," Merlin said into the receiver. "Would the guardian of Elena quickly come to aisle 5."
He hung up the phone and was left with a very blank little girl. "Your papa should be here very soon."
Elena smiled, wiping at her eyes. "Thank you, mister Merlin." She straightened up, giggling to herself. "Aunt Morgana will be happy that I met a nice man."
Merlin was confused. Who’s Morgana?
A few seconds later, a blond man pushing a trolley, flushed and looking rather scattered, came rushing into the aisle, gasping out "Elena!"
Elena perked up at the familiar voice and wiggled out of Merlin's arms. "Papa!"
Merlin placed her on the floor, and she proceeded to sprint to her father. It was a perfect reunion.
Merlin stood there awkwardly for a moment, witnessing a very heartfelt, yet what seemed to be a private, moment between father and daughter.
"Don't ever do that again," the man sighed. "I think you took a good five years off of my life, young lady." The man—who Merlin assumed was Mr. Pendragon, looked up at him. “Thank you, for finding her.”
Merlin smiled. “No problem.”
Mr. Pendragon lifted up Elena and placed her inside the cart, which you know, was probably the best thing to do after nearly going into cardiac arrest.
Before Mr. Pendragon rolled his daughter away completely out of Merlin’s sight, she turned and waved at Merlin, a big smile on her face.
Merlin’s heart melted, and he too waved back, ignoring the stares he got from the customers, who probably thought he was crazy.
Ever since then, Elena eagerly waited for Arthur by the door whenever they leave to go grocery shopping. She sat in her toddler seat in the car, humming to herself, staring intently out the window, before asking “Are we there yet?” about ten times. Once they’re in the store, Arthur gently places Elena in the trolley, that way she won’t be able to wander off. When they are done with their shopping list, she takes charge of the trolley with Arthur following one step behind her, a small amused grin on his face. She could hardly see over the cart, but she strolled down the aisles determinedly, before stopping at a familiar mop of black hair. “Merlin!” and pushed the cart into Merlin’s checkout line.
Merlin politely smiles at him and makes conversation with his daughter. Arthur is mildly concerned with how easily Merlin can keep up with Elena’s conversations. She changes topics every minute, and Merlin can bounce back words with Elena, something that Arthur has gradually been conditioned to do over the years.
Sometimes Arthur felt like an intruder in their conversations.
Arthur was taking out his wallet, and he overheard “Blue is a very feminine colour, don’t listen to those other girls, they don’t know what’s good.”
Arthur risks glancing down at his daughter and catches her with stars in her eyes as she stares up at Merlin. But then stops with a tilt of her head causing her pigtails to bounce, eyes turning confused. “What does femeanie mean?”
Merlin would stop packing Arthur’s groceries, cabbage halfway into the plastic bag, before ripping into a wide smile, facing Arthur. “God,” Merlin says breathlessly. “She’s adorable.”
Arthur puffs his chest out slightly, smiling back. “I know.”
That was their routine.
“Seriously, she follows him around and looks for him everywhere. She almost had a meltdown when Merlin was on his break the other day and she couldn’t find him. It’s like she’s in love, which I seriously hope she isn’t because if she is, I’ll probably need therapy.” says Arthur, tucking his cellphone tighter between his jaw and shoulder. “Lots of therapy.”
"They say dogs and children have the best judge of character," said Morgana, over the receiver. "Maybe this is a sign."
Arthur wrinkled his nose. "I hardly believe a supermarket employee is my ideal partner, Morgana." Arthur continued to type up a spreadsheet. "And my daughter is only six years old; she can't possibly know what my type is."
Morgana hummed, clearly amused. "Do not doubt a lady's intuition. If I remember correctly, Elena was the one who knew from the beginning that Cornelius was a bastard. And that Sophia was a cheating liar, and—“
"Alright Morgana, I know I don't have the best track-record when it comes to my personal relationships."
The next time they made it to the store, Merlin was setting up a gingerbread house display at the front of the store.
Elena immediately shrugged out of Arthur’s grip and sprinted towards Merlin, hugging his skinny leg.
Arthur quickly dragged the trolley with him, nearing them—when Elena waved goodbye to Merlin and skipped back to her father. Well. That was a lot simpler than their past encounters. Normally Elena clung to Merlin, with “Just five more minutes’ papa!” looking up at Arthur with big doe eyes. Arthur would crumble and sigh, “Four minutes, and I’m counting down.”
But this time, Elena came to Arthur’s side without any negotiating.
Elena was standing on the edge of the cart, while Arthur pushed them down the aisles. She was eerily quiet--Merlin did give her a gingerbread man as a treat and kept her occupied. While Arthur has learned not to accuse every single adult in the world of poisoning his daughter--he's also learnt to keep a watchful eye on his daughter when she has suspicious behaviour.
But it was nice having some quiet while he checked off items on his shopping lists. He was nearly finished. Just couple more things left. Invitations.
Arthur pushed the cart to the meticulous display of cards. This was always one of Elena’s favourite part of Pendragon's annual Christmas parties. Well, all parties really. It would've been so much easier to e-mail everyone about the party, but ever since Elena had discovered the phenomenal creativity of arts and crafts, there was no way Arthur could stand a chance against Elena’s wide hopeful eyes. Parenthood has done a number on him.
Elena did perk up at the sight of holiday cards. She held the remains of her gingerbread man in her hand and hopped off the cart. She came around to Arthur’s side and made grabby motions up at him. “Up papa.”
Arthur smiled and wrapped his arms around Elena, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, dragging her up at eye level with the cards.
“Which one do you like?”
Elena nibbled on her cookie, which was only half of the gingerbread man left, and she hummed. “Dunno.” Arthur walked up and down the aisle, getting quite amused with how much concentration Elena was putting in.
Abruptly, Elena squeezed Arthur’s shoulder. “That one papa!”
Arthur winced at the shrill. “Which one, pumpkin?”
Elena pointed at a peculiar looking card. Arthur tucked it out of its slot and gave it to her. She examined it thoroughly opening it and turning it over to the back. “This one,” she said and looked up at her father.
Arthur took the card from her. It was a simple folded card, it had two baby dragons on the front, tucked in close to each other. One was breathing fire to a fireplace while the other was snuggled and fast asleep. On the top, it said Have a roaring holiday!
Arthur looked skeptically at his daughter. “This one.” Elena insisted, tugging on the card.
“Alright.” Arthur grabbed the package of cards and tossed it into the cart. “C’mon, let’s go home.”
The thing that immediately gave away something was up, was when Elena took hold of the cart and pushed it away from the direction of Merlin’s checking aisle.
Arthur did a double take. Then he grabbed the cart, stopping them in the middle of the store. “Merlin is that way,” Arthur said, his voice rich with concern, as he vaguely waved behind them.
Elena looked up at her father. “I know.” And she continued on pushing the cart.
Arthur didn’t know what to say for a moment. “Well, don’t you want to go talk to him?”
“I already did.”
Arthur knew something was up. Something. It was probably nothing, though.
As soon as Elena stepped foot into the living room, she searched through the bags of groceries and grabbed the pack of cards placing them on the coffee table. She ran to her room and opened all her markers and crayon packs, dumping them all on the table.
She skipped around to Arthur and he took her coat and hung it in the coat closet. She made grabby motions with her hands and Arthur gave her a very light grocery bag. He watched her carefully hold the bag and gently placed it on top of their dining table. She reached up on her tippy-toes, pushing the bag across the surface. She looked back at her father, and he smiled approvingly.
“Papa, can we decorate soon?” she glanced in the direction of the hall, where the closet held all of the decorations, before glancing back up at her father, eyes full of curiosity.
Arthur kissed her on the forehead. Sometimes he was so glad that she really didn’t know the power she had over him. “Sure pumpkin, right after lunch.”
Elena gobbled down her meal and kept ushering Arthur to hurry up and finish eating already. Arthur barely got the last bite of his steak in his mouth, when she pulled on his sleeve and practically tackled him to the special holiday closet where Arthur kept all the Christmas decorations.
They already had their tree the last day of November but it’s been bare and just sitting there in the corner of their living room.
Arthur dusted off the box of ornaments that haven’t seen the light of day since the year before. One by one Arthur handed her the non-breakable ornaments. The lower half of the tree always ended up more dolled up, but Elena always made sure to direct Arthur where each ornament would be placed near the top.
They strung popcorn and wrapped the tree in Christmas lights. Then at the very end, Arthur picks Elena up and lets her place the star at the top of the tree.
After everything was done, Elena made herself comfortable at the coffee table with her markers, proceeding to decorate the inside of the cards.
“Papa, who are we inviting this year?” Elena asks as she coloured in her hand-drawn reindeer.
Arthur turned the page of his book. “Well Uncle Lance and Aunt Gwen are on vacation, but everyone else is free.”
Elena nodded. “Okay.”
Arthur wobbled a bit as he found balance, carrying a stack of homemade cupcakes.
Elena carried a similar box, only much smaller and prettier, with stickers of Dragons of Berk and paint coloured on every surface, filled with cupcakes and cookies, for her own close friends, courtesy of Arthur.
They both made it off the ice-y sidewalk and into the school building, with just enough time before the bell rang.
“This is my classroom, Papa.” Elena strode towards a decorated door, covered in cotton balls and glitter, with paper-snowflakes. She knocked on the door and waited patiently.
When Freya opened the door to the class, she immediately smiled, realizing who it was. She took a couple of boxes off of Arthur. “Oh Arthur, you’re spoiling all of us with your treats.”
Arthur placed the stack of cupcake boxes on Freya’s desk. “Well, little Missy over there,” Arthur tilted his head toward Elena, who was tucking her box of cupcakes in her cubby. “Wanted to bake cupcakes for her friends, which was totally fine. But then she said ‘It’s not fair if I make cupcakes for just my friends and no one else gets any.’ So we made enough for everyone.”
Freya shook her head, despite her smile.
When Arthur made it to the office, he was dreading the inevitable lecture he was going to receive from his father. Uther was returning from a month long business trip and of course around the holidays, he was bound to be a bit doting.
It was around lunchtime that Arthur received a call from his father and indeed he wanted to chat over lunch.
When Arthur was at the top floor and turned to his right towards Uther’s office, he knocked twice and waited for the “Come in.”
Arthur stepped into the room, cautiously. “Hello, father.”
Uther glanced up at his son, once, before returning his eyes to his computer. “Sit.”
Arthur sometimes felt like a dog whenever Uther was in “work” mode, fighting the pure instinct to do everything Uther commands. Okay, this was not going to be a quick lecture if his father is asking him to sit. “I trust your meeting went well.”
Uther nodded absentmindedly. “It did, we were able to negotiate a deal with B.C. Enterprises just in time for the holiday.”
Arthur nodded. “That’s good to know.”
The two paused for a moment and Uther typed rapidly, keys clicking loudly in the silent room.
“Was there anything, in particular, you wanted to speak with me about?”
After a few more clicks of the mouse, Uther sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Arthur,” Uther started. “I hope you realize it’s been another year.”
Arthur swallowed around the thickening lump in his throat. “Yes, father.”
Uther sat up and leaned against his desk, chin placed on the edge of his palm, eyes calculating. “Evidently not,” Uther said. “I know I keep pushing the issue, but I can’t simply sit and do nothing.”
“I understand father.”
“I don’t think you do.” Uther sighed. “I want you to be married and settle down,” Arthur could hear the frustration in Uther’s voice. “Arthur. At this point I don’t really care if you have more kids, I just want you to find someone special and be happy. Of course, Elena needs someone else in her life as well.”
Arthur flinched at that and a little knot of guilt just tightened around his chest. “Yes I realize it’s for the benefit of us both, but father, I can’t simply find someone who will not only suit me but also my daughter.”
Uther quirked an eyebrow at Arthur, patronizingly. “Well, I doubt it’s hardly a challenge for you to find someone. I hope you begin your search soon.” Uther said. “You and your daughter are not getting any younger.”
With that, Uther dismissed Arthur, with the promise of him at least attempting to find a suitable partner.
His father simply didn’t get it. The problem wasn’t finding someone. The problem was finding someone that Elena approved of.
Cornelius was a bastard, and Elena knew that early on, even when she was only 3. As soon as she met him, she practically ripped his fake moustache off his face. The fake moustache was definitely a bit concerning. Along with the wig. And catching him sneaking a burlap sack full of Arthur’s things was probably the deal breaker.
Sophia was worse. She was probably a little psychotic. Elena was quiet during every single visit of Sophia’s and when Arthur asked her what was wrong, she shrugged and simply said. “Don’t like her.”
Arthur nit his eyebrows, stroking down the stubborn lock of Elena’s hair that stuck out. “How come?”
Elena shrugged, swinging her arms by her side. “Just don’t.”
When Arthur wakes up and Sophia is in bed with him—and no not the dirty thing, she'd be staring at him. Normally things like that are sweet and touching in movies. But in real life, it's borderline creepy if your girlfriend was watching you sleep from 4 in the morning until 10 in the morning and she didn’t do anything else during that time period. The relationship was constricting and gave Arthur more stress than he already had before. He put up with it until he caught her in the act with Valliant in the male washroom of his office building.
Arthur broke up with her and ended up in his bed, sulking yet relieved.
Elena climbed on top of Arthur’s back and tapped him twice.
When Arthur rolled over to see Elena holding out a Dr. Seuss book, in her polka-dotted pyjamas, he scarcely remembered what he was depressed about. He snuggled with her under a blanket and relished Elena’s little yawns as he read through each bizarre page. Before she completely dozed off, she mumbled “Don’t be sad, papa,” and she cuddled further into Arthur’s side. “I’ll find someone for you.”
Arthur couldn’t help but grin at the thought of his daughter protecting him. His little girl was intelligent. But he really hoped there was someone out there that passed Elena’s approval, and hopefully was going to be good for them both. And he hoped that person shows up soon.