The Play's the Thing

The Play's the Thing is the ninth part of the Loaded March series. It was uploaded to Archive of Our Own on February 6, 2012. It consists of 83,210 words.
Read it here.
==Summary==
The Directory throws a wrench in Excalibur's plans against the NWO, and it looks like their assignment has come to and end. Luckily, the NWO is eager to get their claws into Arthur and Merlin in any way they can, but that's not going to happen under anyone's terms but their own.
==Plot==
Will comes into town just to really mess with the mission. He kidnaps Merlin for an afternoon to take him to Freya and Bryn's house.
Merlin tells Athur that they are engaged (because Merlin's magic loves Arthur so much, that it handfasted them).
Shit with the NWO starts to get serious.
ooOOoo
During the team's morning PT, Merlin receives a phone call from Will. Will had heard from Freya that Merlin had been abused by Arthur and now Will is in London, demanding to be picked up, which causes Merlin to panic. What if Will blows their cover? He could completely ruin their mission. Arthur, being Arthur, thinks through everything carefully while Merlin continues to silentely freak out. Even nice shower sex with Arthur won't get Will off of his mind, which bothers Arthur. Arthur wants just Merlin. No mission. No inerruptions. No Will. Just Merlin. And then the conversation veers towards safe sex, tests that had been taken and how Merlin couldn't really care less about condoms. Unfortunately at this point, Will enters the house, and Arthur can't act on these new revelations.
Will comes in yelling accusations at Arthur and Merlin yells back at Will. Arthur observes. After things become physical between Will and Merlin, Arthur steps in and calmly asks Will who recruited him first. Merlin feels a bit betrayed and hurt and then just a little bit guilty for dragging Will into all of this secret agent bollocks. \
Will relays how he was recruited by Smith (Bayard), thinking that Will could help them get into the NWO. Will was training a greenie around that time that seemed to be a part of the NWO. Will got to know the kid's uncle and it seems that Will is now on good terms with the NWO, kind of.
Arthur speaks with Bayard while Will and Merlin continue to talk things out.  After learning about what is about to come, Arthur leads Merlin upstairs. Arthur slaps Merlin across the face and then immediately apologizes, babbling about their cover and whatnot. Arthur gives him cash and they talk about what an angry Merlin would do. Arthur leaves for work. Merlin goes downstairs.
Will and Kay fight. Merlin leaves with Will. They wander around on the tube a bit until they meet up with Freya. Merlin texts Arthur every now and then until he gives his phone to Will. They meet Freya at a coffee shop. Merlin is stroppy and difficult. They go to Freya's. Bryn is an arse.
Arthur, meanwhile, is at work and is worried for Merlin. Arthur speaks with his father about the mission. Uther tells his to remember that he will one day take over the family business, so he still needs to think about his family and the company--not just the mission. Uther tell him when the next family dinner is and Merlin is invited. Uther tells him to speak with Cenred.  Arthur gets updates about Merlin via Kay who has been tracking Merlin since Will and Merlin had left the house. Arthur finds out someone has scheduled him with a dinner appointment with Cenred.
Afther that delightful news, Arthur goes to get Merlin from Bryn's. Gwaine and Kay head in to grab Merlin. Arthur imtimidates Brun and crew and severs connections with them.
Merlin briefs them in the car about what he learned about the NWO while at Bryns. They make it home only to have to go to the meeting with Cenred. Before they leave, Merlin finds out that Uther wants Merlin to work for the company--a fact that Arthur hadn't brought up before. Merlin is pissed. They have words with each other. Merlin, while yelling about Arthur micromanagement tendencies, finds out that Arthur was planning to propose sometime in the future.
Upon arriving at the resteraunt after a chilly car ride, Merlin freezes time and tells Arthur that they are engaged. Merlin's magic, when Arthur asked them to be bound by their tattoos, performed a handfasting. Arthur is estatic. They talk more stuff over--mostly about Arthur needing to include Merlin in planning their fututre.
In the meeting, they talk with Cenred and Morgause. Cenred is smitten with Merlin and is sleezy about it the whole night. Morgause wants access to Pendragon's files to help with the thefts. Cenred shows them blueprints of a bomb prototype that Pendragon Co. is making. Arthur takes control of the meeting.
They get back home and Merlin fucks Arthur bare. Soon, Arthur gets to finally take Merlin out on that date he's been dying to have. He meets with Kilgarrah and finds out more about the NWO and how Arthur will probably be contacted soon. Sure enough, he is and the team attends a cage match thing. Arthur whoops ass at sword fighting. Merlin does some fancy stuff with a phone and once again, Excalibur comes off looking BA.
==Quotes==
==Series Timeline==
Preceded By:	Followed By:
Groundwork 	Means to an End
Category:Parts