Disclamier: Unfortunately I don't own anything recognizable. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

I recently rewatched 1x03 - Who Shot the Sheriff? and the scene with Marian and Joe Lacey really struck me. This is another one of the character flashfics I wrote during my last rewatch, inspired by that scene. I don't know if I really managed to do that beautiful scene justice, but I've certainly tried. Some feedback would be great!


It is a strange realization. When Joe asks her if she still loves him, she immediately says no. She does not stop to ask who he means before she answers. She does not have to. She knows. They both know.

Robin.

The realization does not come with any grand theatrics. It does not come loudly or with great tumult. It is simply there, as if she had never thought or dreamed otherwise.

When she asks Joe who he means, they share a knowing smile.

She has never ceased loving Robin. She has tried – she can no longer count how many times she has tried. She was a girl when she fell in love with him. He was older, wiser, braver, stronger – he was the best man she knew. (She refuses to acknowledge it, especially in front of him, that he is still the best man she knows—except for her father.) Robin was her hero.

Even after he broke her heart, she cannot stop. Even when she tried not to forgive him, she cannot stop. Even when he is stupid and reckless, she cannot stop. (She knew she still loved him that day in the dungeons, but there is a difference between knowing and realizing that loving him is natural.)

She knows that they cannot be together. He is an outlaw. She is a lady. It is not possible for them to be anything more than past—past what? She does not have a word for what they are. Friends, lovers, betrothed—no word she knows truly fits what Robin is to her.

She lies in bed that night hoping, praying that the Sheriff's man do not kill Robin. He may be reckless and he may have been incredibly stupid to get himself outlawed like he did, but she cannot lose him again. She may not be willing to risk her heart again, but she loves him all the same.