Title: Watching.

Rating: 12

Pairing: Guy/Marian, with a smidgen of Robin/Marian, Djaq/Will and teeny-weeny bit of Much/Eve.

Summary: "Well, at least he inherited your nose, Marian…"

Warnings: A little bit of loving…and Marian's cold feet.

Status of Fic: Completed one shot

Author's Note: A sequel to Seen and Waiting in which you find out the name of that baby…finally! ;)

Disclaimer: I do not pretend to own anything Robin Hood-esque…but I would like to steal it…

Watching

Master Hugh of Gisbourne (or Hugo as his mother had named him the very first moment that she had laid eyes upon him) was very interested at that particular moment in running as fast as his chubby little legs could carry him. The giggle that escaped his lips wobbled and jolted into a cloud of pale smoke in the chill evening air as he tottered, all of two and a half summers old, towards the bottom of Lockley Manor's garden and towards the darkening edges of Sherwood Forest, intent upon escape.

His mother following behind at a slightly too fast to be relaxing walk, ready to scoop the toddler up into her arms the very minute he set a foot wrong or wandered too close to the cover of trees that betrayed the presence of the coming evening.

"Hugo," she warned and the dark, curly haired little boy giggled again, louder, his arms spread wide in order to balance himself in his weaving, helter-skelter movements.

"Hugo!" Marian snapped suddenly, noticing a shadowy figure standing beneath the oak tree, leaning a shoulder against it and watching them intently.

The little boy stopped immediately, sensing that his mother was no longer in a playful mood and he paused, peering back at her over his crimson tunic clad shoulder. Bright blue eyes glistening with unshed tears suddenly forming there at her reprimand.

"Mama?" he queried, tentatively as Marian marched towards him, hooking her hands beneath his armpits and hefting him swiftly into her embrace, dropping the hem of her dress immediately, no longer concerned that it would drag across the muddy grass.

"Let us go back up to the house now. Your father shall return home any moment." she stated louder than she needed to, loud enough so that the figure leaning against the tree at the edge of Locksley Manor's garden straightened suddenly and looked around warily, readying himself to spirit away should any sign of the man in question be spied.

Marian had used that split second to turn swiftly on her heel, ice crunching under foot, and begin her journey, as quickly as she could (which was extremely difficult as Hugo had take to wiggling incessantly in her arms) back up to the safety of her home, but she did not make her escape fast enough to avoid the confrontation that she knew had been inevitable since it had dawned upon her who the shadow-man was.

"Hugo, is it?" his voice called after her, stopping her footsteps involuntarily. She had not heard his voice since before Hugo had been born. She listened, resignedly, to the sound of his boots crackling through the frozen grass as he made his way towards her and her son, who giggled a little and fisted one of his tiny, cold-pinched pink hands in her dark, curling tresses.

"Mamamamama," he babbled against her neck, peering at the stranger with one sapphire eye until Marian whirled back, turning Hugo away from the strange man.

"What do you want?" she demanded, painting a scowl for protection upon her features and securing her arms about her son a little tighter.

Robin Hood, formerly Robin of Locksley and her one-time betrothed, grinned cheekily at her through the growing gloom of night, folding his arms lazily across his chest and titling his head to one side, as if considering the woman and child before him. As if considering how she had changed and she, in turn, perhaps spurred on by his scrutiny, observed him.

He was much thinner than she remembered. Hollow cheeked and pale but his spirit, his cockiness was still ever-present in his twinkling blue eyes. She had loved him once and, had she chosen differently those three years ago, maybe she could have loved him still.

"Well, at least he inherited your nose, Marian." he chuckled impudently, though something, some emotion, perhaps regret or remorse, glittered at the corners of his eyes. He reached out a scarred and weather chapped hand to ruffle the boy's dark, chaotic curls but Marian, pulling herself back into reality from a half-forgotten past, slapped it away, a little more fiercely than she had intended and than he deserved.

Robin laughed again, rubbing at the back of his hand that was quickly turning pink from where she had struck him before wedging it back underneath his armpit, to fight against the biting cold.

"What are you doing here?" she queried finally, shifting Hugo from one hip to the other as her arms began to tire and the little boy chattered to himself, having lost interest in the adults around him. "What do you need?" Marian asked, less harshly, and she held Robin's gaze over the top of her son's head.

She had know the very moment that she had realised that it had been him who was watching them from the bottom of the garden that he had required something from her, some favour or piece of information, like the old days before she had married, before her life and Robin's had taken different paths and they had grown apart.

And suddenly he hung his head, dirty dark blonde hair falling so that it hid his eyes from her and he scuffed the toe of his already battered boots against the frosty ground.

"I know I said that I would not bother you now that you're…" his throat closed over against the words that his heart obviously did not want his tongue to speak and for a split second Marian wished things could have been different between them. She had never wanted to hurt Robin, her childhood sweetheart. She had never intended to fall in love with any other man…but it had happened and Robin's heart had always belonged to his king and country over her.

Had they married, their relationship would have died in that forest anyway, she had no doubt of that.

"Speak, Robin. I have never been able to read your mind." she chuckled gently, reaching out a hand and placing it upon his shoulder until he raised his eyes to meet hers again, the confidence returned to their night-blue.

"I have a favour to ask of you, My Lady." he stated, rubbing a palm across his stubbled chin and glancing back at the forest, almost anxiously before he continued. "It's Djaq…"

"Is she alright?" Marian cut in suddenly. She hadn't know the Saracen woman very well, but she had been the one who had saved Marian's life, who had held it in her hands and delivered her from death back into the world of the living. Marian owed her everything and the thought of her in any danger or trouble whatsoever made her heart constrict almost painfully.

Robin's smile suddenly stretched across his narrow face, true happiness and joy showing there for the first time in their bizarre conversation.

"She is fine," he grinned warmly. "Unless you count being several months pregnant as an affliction…I'm sure at this moment in time Will does."

Marian couldn't help her mouth from curling into a smile that rivalled Robin's. She had known from the glances often shared by the Saracen and the young Carpenter that their feelings for each other had been more than friendly. No doubt Will's shyness had contributed to the extended amount of time it had taken for them to actually embark upon a relationship.

"Congratulations to them." Marian beamed finally. "And indeed, being several months expecting is a dire affliction…until the birth and you see your child's face for the first time." she glanced down to where Hugo's head now rested upon her shoulder. He had fallen asleep long moments before, having lost interest completely in his mother and her friend's conversation. His mouth slightly parted and his breathing slowed, Marian smiled down at him, brushing hair gently from where it had fallen into his face. "How can I help them? Name it. Anything."

"It will be cold this winter," Robin began immediately. "Both she and the child will need clothes when the time comes and perhaps you know of a good midwife who would do the job…" he bent suddenly, fumbling in his tunic for a small leather pouch. "We do not have a lot of gold…but we could pay her a little for her troubles-"

"Nonsense!" Marian stated with an incredulous snort that almost woke her son from his slumber and she stilled, waiting for him to return to a deeper level of sleep before she spoke again. "Hugo's nurse, Eustace, was my midwife and she is the best in all of Nottinhamshire, she delivered me into this world and you too, no doubt, Robin…I will send her to stay with them in the forest until the time comes. As for clothing, Hugo has outgrown his baby clothes completely. I will send them all, and some of my own for Djaq, although they may need altering for I remember she always was slight of build."

Robin nodded, sincerity shining brightly in his blue-eyed gaze and he reached out to catch and take hold of her free hand in both of his. "Thank you." he murmured, raising his eyebrows in relief and gratitude. "Thank you, you do not know how much this will mean to them, how much it means to me."

And Marian blushed slightly, eyes darting away from his, uncomfortable with such praise when she had actually done very little. "It is nothing. The very least I can do for the woman who saved my life…"

After another extended heartbeat, Robin straightened, releasing Marian's hand from captivity and he took a step backwards, his cheeky, boyish grin back upon his lips as he dipped into a mischievous bow.

"And now, having gotten that which I came for," he stated brazenly. "I must bid you farewell, My Lady. Though I will be in touch again should Much and Eve decide they wish to stop dancing around each other and start a family."

Marian chuckled at the image his words conjured and he turned, making his way with a jauntiness in his step back towards the cover of the trees.

"He's beautiful, Marian." he called back over his shoulder as he reached the first trunk, a sad smile tracing his lips as he spoke. "You did a good job there…I just wish that-"

"England needed you, Robin," Marian replied, cutting across his words gently. Reassuring him with a smile of her own. "I could never, would never, have competed with that. We are both where we were destined to be. I would rather still have your friendship now, than have married to you and earned your hatred…that would have killed us both and you know it…" she paused again, curling her dark tresses behind her ear and licking her lips against the cold before she spoke again. "You will find someone, when King Richard returns and you are reinstated, I promise. Someone who could love you better than ever I could."

And Robin sighed, the heartbreaking smile still fixed upon his face as if he did not quite believe her words, but he nodded anyway and continued his way back into the blackness of Sherwood Forest.

-oOo-

It was late by the time Marian eventually slipped into her bedchamber, having placed Hugo down to sleep and discussed plans for Djaq and Will's baby in secret with Eustace.

Guy, it seemed, had returned from the Castle well before she had expected him to, she realised with a pang of guilt, for he was already asleep beneath the blankets and furs of their bed.

Had he returned whilst she had been conversing with Eustace?…Or while Robin had caught her out in the garden?

Worry suddenly clawed it's way up into her chest, a little of the chill night air it seemed had lodged itself in the space just behind her heart.

Had he seen them?

She knew how he had taken the news last time that she had met with Robin Hood, three years prior and his words, his accusations had been harsh. She could not bear to suffer that scrutiny and judgement again.

Slowly she made her way from the entrance to the chamber and crouched beside the fire grate, stoking it until the flames rekindled and burned higher and brighter once more throwing heat out into the room.

"Guy?" she queried quietly, half hoping that he was sleeping and half hoping that he was still awake. She did not know which of the two options would be better or worse. "Guy, are you sleeping?"

She received no answer and so went about her nightly routine, folding her garments neatly and then Guy's, retrieving them from where he had tossed them across the arm of a chair almost carelessly (that was not like him…) before she slipped beneath the blankets into their bed, revelling in the warmth when she had not even realised how chilled she had become from the night air.

Perhaps it would snow soon…she hoped so, for Hugo's sake and her own. He had never seen snow before and she did so love when the world was bathed in a thick blanket of glistening white. But then her mind turned over once more and she considered Will and Djaq…how would they cope living in the forest in the winter with a new born babe? Illness would already be strife and she knew from experience how sickly Hugo had been that first winter of life. Perhaps she could find someone in Locksley village who could offer them accommodation…Perhaps she could keep the Sheriff and his men from finding out that they were living there in some way…She must do something.

A new born babe. She couldn't help but smile with excitement for them. Would Djaq be as excited and nervous as she herself had been?

She turned over onto her side so that she was facing her husband's broad back.

Would the young Saracen bear a boy or a girl? When King Richard returned and the outlaws were all acquitted of their crimes and allowed to rejoin society would Hugo finally have a playmate…or maybe a betrothed?

"Lord, Marian!" Guy's voice hissed out in a harsh whisper and interrupted her thoughts. She had not even realised that she had been moving towards him, pressing herself against his back in an attempt to warm herself. "You are like a block of ice!"

She chuckled to herself, pressed her offending limbs against him more firmly, sneaking her arms about the warm, soft skin of his torso and slipping her frozen feet until they pressed against the delicious heat of his calves.

"And you are nice and warm." she countered with a grin pressed between his shoulder blades even as he tried in vain to disentangle himself from her frigid grip, goosebumps breaking out across his skin until it made Marian laugh.

Eventually, however, he gave up and they lay together in silence for long moments until he said something that served to wipe the smug, self-satisfied smile from her features entirely.

"You were not there to greet me." he murmured into the dark of their room, the crackling of the log on the fire the only other sound disturbing the silence. "I saw you down at the bottom of the garden,"

Marian held her breath, waiting for his next words to be a harsh accusation, a furious, fear-induced allegation…but they didn't come.

"You were outside a long time." he stated instead and she knew, in that very moment, at the tone of his voice that he had seen her with Robin Hood.

Her stomach plunged and suddenly the warmth of his body pressed against hers couldn't keep the chill from seeping through her veins.

But he said no more. Waiting for her to say something. To offer an explanation if she wanted or felt the need to. He had learned, from their last argument upon the subject of her relationship with Robin Hood, that he needed to trust her and his silence, his stillness showed that trust. He was still unhappy about her liaison with the other man who had once courted her, that she could tell from the way the muscles in his back and shoulders tensed and hardened beneath his smooth skin. But he trusted her enough now not to hurl accusations around like wildfire and thunder bolts.

Marian smiled again, heat suddenly returning to her heart at Guy's actions, or lack thereof as the case was, and she pressed a small kiss to the back of his neck.

This man, she loved.

"I was," she whispered, pressing her face back into the space between his shoulder blades once more. "An old friend wanted some advice about the best midwife in Nottinghamshire. I hear the Saracen outlaw is expecting a child." she let her comment lie where she had spoken it against his skin and the muscles in his back relaxed suddenly, his arm slipping down so that it cradled her own to where she had wrapped it about his waist.

"Oh really?" his voice rumbled through him and vibrated against her, in her chest almost as if she had been the one who had spoken. "I have more important things to worry about than outlaws at present. The Sheriff is to visit Prince John in London and I am to remain here in his stead. My guards are being removed from their patrols of the forest to ensure that the Sheriff's journey is a safe one."

And Marian heard the truth behind his words. He was letting her know, secretly, that he would let the outlaws have their peace while the Sheriff was away. She knew how dangerous Guy's actions were, how he could be hanged if Vasey thought for even a second that his Master at Arms was in anyway helping Robin Hood and his men. And she knew that he was doing this for her. He was risking everything for her.

This man, she really, really loved.

"Thank you." she breathed against his skin almost silently and he laced his fingers together with hers as they settled there for long moments listening to the snapping and licking of the flames in the grate until his grasp upon her hand slackened and he seemed to be slipping away from her, from consciousness and into slumber.

It was then that the notion struck her, taking hold of her so fiercely that it made her heart beat out of time.

"Guy?" she whispered suddenly, her fingertips dallying upon the firm muscles of his stomach and she shifted her legs so that they were completely twined together with his. Her smile curled up the corners of her lips and she waited for him to respond. "Guy?"

"Hmmm?" sleep tainted his voice, making it deep and rumble through his chest into her fingertips.

She allowed her hand to stray just a little bit lower and she felt a shiver forge it's way up and down Guy's spine.

"I have been thinking…" she paused again to press another kiss in between her husband's shoulders.

"Hmmm…" he responded again and she couldn't help but chuckle to herself, raising herself up onto one elbow so that she could position her mouth right beside his ear.

"With all this talk of the Saracen outlaw expecting a child…I think it's high time Hugo had a sibling.."

-oOo-