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(Side) Benefits

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Monday morning, Gwen woke knowing that Morgana would want to take special care in her bath that morning. She was barely able to get everything set up by the time Morgana woke, and she needed Merlin's help with some of it.

"How did you know?" Morgana asked, when she was relaxing in the warm water. "I didn't even know I needed this."

Gwen shrugged. She couldn't really explain it.

Early Tuesday morning, Gwen woke with a scream trapped in her throat. She'd dreamt of fire, of dying painfully after she'd watched Lancelot die, of battles and betrayal and magic and Merlin trapped in a tree and Arthur sleeping for eternity.

She couldn't fall back asleep, and she didn't know what made her pick up Morgana's favorite breakfast, but Morgana was awake, looking haunted and tired, and they ate quietly, carefully, in silence.

"Thank you," Morgana said.

On Tuesday evening, Gwen was a bit scared to fall asleep, but she was tired, and eventually her body got the best of her. Her fears were unfounded, her dreams pleasant, with flowers in meadows and kittens chasing butterflies.

She slept in some, which was unintentional, but Morgana was in a fantastic mood when she arrived.

"It's a beautiful morning!" Morgana said.

"I suppose it is," Gwen replied. There was certainly something to be said for sleeping well and waking well-rested.

"I dreamt of flowers in meadows and kittens chasing butterflies," Morgana said, twirling a bit around the room and missing Gwen's expression.

"We could go look for kittens in the barn," Gwen suggested.

"I was just about to suggest that. You aren't reading my mind, are you?" Morgana asked.

"Not intentionally," Gwen muttered.

It was beginning to look like she was, though, even if unintentionally; on Thursday morning with a few basic questions she figured out that they'd had remarkably similar dreams, again, and at dinner on Thursday evening she knew exactly when to interrupt Morgana's conversations, even though Morgana betrayed no opinions at all about them.

After dinner, Gwen slid her fingers, careful, through Morgana's hair. Morgana smiled at her, and said yes, please, against her lips.

On Friday, Merlin caught her on her way to the kitchen.

"Have strange things been happening to you and Morgana?" he asked.

"What sort of things?" Gwen asked.

"Um, the thing is, I forgot to tell you, but on Sunday? Well, the monster, there was a side effect, a kind of bonding magic."

"You forgot to tell me because you were too wound up in Arthur?" Gwen asked.

"Um," Merlin said, blushing. "Also, Gaius managed to disconnect us, but he thinks your souls might have been connected too long to separate. I should have told you sooner, but I didn't realize you had caught it."

"It's okay," Gwen said, thinking of Morgana sleeping easily, of Morgana's lips pressed against hers. "There are some benefits."

Merlin was bright red. Gwen was going to have some gossip for Morgana with her breakfast.