Normally the cold, damp weather would have been the last thing that Djaq wanted, months of living in the forest had let her get used to it, but it didn't mean she had to like it. Today, however, she was grateful for the driving rain that was battering its way through the canopy of trees, as it obscured the tracks that they were leaving in their wake. Whilst her size was usually an asset when they were having to creep around and work in the shadows, it was betraying her now as she struggled to hold Will up and keep them moving forward on ground that was growing increasingly soggy beneath their staggering feet. If it weren't for the rain they would already have been discovered, even if it was also making it harder for them to keep going. They had no other choice though. The sound of pursuit was distant, but still present, and she knew that it would take tome for Robin and the others to shake their own pursuers and loop back to find them. Until then they were on their own.
She paused for a moment, catching her breath, promising herself that if they made it out of this latest mess then she was going to work on her stamina. She'd always been stronger than many, and the months of living in Sherwood, fighting to survive had made her stronger, but she needed to be even stronger. She needed to be able to protect Will. She glanced up at him, eyes narrow as she took in the pale features, the pain that had twisted his usual smile into a grimace, sweat beading on his forehead, before drifting down to the spreading bloodstain on his side, the rough bandage she'd fashioned earlier doing little to hold him together with the amount of moving they were doing.
Shelter. They needed to find somewhere to stop, preferably out of the rain, but she would settle for somewhere out of sight, so she could deal with the wound. She worried at her bottom lip, glancing away from Will and scanning the trees, trying to pinpoint where they were.
She had just recognised the old oak that they had spent several hours hiding in a month ago, eyes lightening up as she remembered there was some shallow caves along the narrow brook on the other side of the narrow hill up ahead when Will shifted, nudging her lightly.
"Djaq…" It was the first thing he had said since she had snapped at him to stop being a fool and lean on him, after the idiot had tried to insist that he could run on his own and had nearly ended up face first in the leaves. He sounded worse and Djaq had to swallow back a bubble of panic, knowing that he would have been trying to sound as strong as possible for her sake…and yet he sounded terrible… "You need to…"
"Don't…" She cut him off sharply, a low warning growl, because she knew that he hadn't been about to try and reassure her or thank her for dragging him to safety. Leave me behind, she could hear the words even though he hadn't had chance to say them. It was been that way ever since they'd met, but ever since that day they had blurted out their true feelings, he seemed to have been consumed by the need to keep her safe. It would have been endearing, if it wasn't so infuriating. She didn't need or want a hero, and she refused to lose another person. Especially not him. That was too much for her to think about right now, too many emotions and memories tangled up with those words and she took a breath before meeting his gaze squarely. "We're going to get out of the rain, and then I'll tend your wound and we can wait for the others to come."
"But…"
She didn't argue with him this time, merely tightening her grip on him to the point where it was painful, ignoring his wince as she urged him forwards. Thankfully, Will had been around her long enough to know that he wouldn't win when she got like this and he subsided, even letting himself lean a little more weight against her, although he tried to help as much as he could. She knew from the frequent glances she took out of the corner of his eye that he wasn't happy, catching the fear, the worry beneath the pain, the frown that darkened his features and made him seem far older and sterner than he had any right to be. She wanted to see him smile, and normally she would have teased and pushed until he was laughing again, but she couldn't find the words today. Not when he was hurt…not when he was injured because of her.
It was Christmas.
Djaq had never celebrated Christmas before, but she had been excited to experience this holiday, especially when Will had lit up as he spoke to her about carving decorations and covering the house with wreaths and sprigs. She had helped the others decorate the camp, the simple additions making their sanctuary homely, and she wondered if maybe they could leave them year-round.
Despite their situation they had exchanged simple gifts, Will having explained the tradition weeks before so that she wouldn't be caught unawares. They were simple things, after all there was little else they could manage to do in their situation. However, that made her treasure them either more, especially the beautiful little flute that Will had carved for her, that sound like an Owl when she blew on it. There had been a blush in his cheeks when he mentioned that he had remembered how enamoured she had been with the hooting sound when they had camped under a tree where an Owl had made its nest. It still caught her off guard just how many small details he seemed to notice, even when he had been the first to realise that she was female.
It had made her own gift, a carved wooden pendant with 'always' etched into its surface seem to little in her eyes and yet he had been so happy, the smile making his eyes light up in a way that did funny things to her heart. He had been teaching her to carve when they had time to spare, and she knew that she still had a long way to go, but Will had liked it and that was all that had mattered.
After a marginally less frugal breakfast than normal they had gone to Locksley to deliver their latest plunder, a Christmas gift to the people who were feeling the pinch of the Sheriff's 'festive' tax. It was a chance for the others to see their family too, and if they'd all noticed Robin slipping away for a while then no one had commented.
He had finally reappeared, a small smile tugging at his lips and a parcel hidden in the front of his tunic, and they had been preparing to leave when trouble had arrived. It seemed as though Gisborne was finally starting to think ahead of them, and they had found themselves surrounded almost before they could blink.
It hadn't been enough to stop them, although Djaq couldn't help but wonder how much longer they would have before their luck and skill wasn't enough to get them out of those situations. As soon as they'd broken free, they'd scattered, whistling to indicate they were clear and that they would meet back at camp. Will had just signalled they were okay, when Djaq had stumbled, her beloved flute tumbling from the small bag over shoulder. She'd heard the horses rushing towards them and the shouts as they were spotted, but still she had darted back to retrieve it, unwilling to lose it and she had barely curled her fingers around it when arrows had thudded into the ground by her hand.
She'd looked up, fear flooding her as she realised there was no way she was going to dodge the next arrow. With no other choice she'd flung her hands up to protect her face, the flute clutched tightly in her hand and waited for the pain. Instead she'd been greeted with Will's pained grunt as the arrow had slammed into him, and she'd opened her eyes Justin time to see him staggering to his knees, arrow protruding from his side and blood trickling through his fingers.
They both owed it to Robin and Much for reappearing and creating a distraction, buying them enough time to slip away, but she honestly had no idea how she had got Will back on his feet let alone moving. Those minutes before he had recovered enough to try and reassure her that he was okay had been the longest in her life, and not for the first time she wished that she didn't have her father's knowledge, as everything that could possibly go wrong had played through her mind as they'd staggered away into the shelter of the trees. Still, it would be that knowledge that let her help him once they were in shelter, and she swallowed back a sob of relief when she finally spied the brook meandering through the trees. "We're nearly there," she murmured, not even sure he was aware enough to hear her at this stage, jolting slightly when he nodded and grunted an acknowledgement and her fingers tightened. He's still here.
It was harder to manoeuvre him down the slope to the brook, and they both nearly ended up in the water on more than one occasion, especially when the bank started to give way beneath their feet. The water was freezing and Djaq had to shush Will as he cursed loudly, the chill jolting him back to the present better than anything she could have done, worried that the sound would carry to the wrong ears. He had glowered her, but it had all the strength of a new-born lamb and she had merely arched an eyebrow, daring him to argue with her, whilst urging him up out of the water and into the first of the shallow caves.
It was barely deep enough to hide them from sight, but they were relatively dry and Djaq could feel her muscles pleading for mercy as she gently eased him down against the back wall. Will was awake enough now to help her, bracing himself with a wince, and lifting his head to look at her, eyes focused this time as she crouched down beside him and reached for his side.
"This wasn't what I had planned for your first Christmas," Will admitted sheepishly, trying to smile at her to offset the seriousness of the situation, but it was ruined as he grimaced as she pressed down on the wound. "Djaq, I'm…"
"Don't apologise," Djaq pleaded, murmuring an apology when he shifted and tried to twist away from her as she eased the bandages away from the wound. The arrow at least had come out cleanly, she'd forced them to stop so she could make sure he didn't snap it off whilst they fled and looking at the wound she was glad she had. It was serious, but hopefully it would heal. Hopefully, she needed to clean it and bandage it and try and track down some fresh herbs once they were safe, but right now all she could do was stare at it, fingers curling into the material of his shirt. "This was my fault."
"What?" Will demanded, sounding more alert than a moment ago and Djaq flinched but didn't pull away when he reached out to lightly grasp her wrist. "No, it wasn't."
"It was," Djaq whispered, unable to bring herself to meet his gaze. It had been easier when she had to focus on getting him to safety, now there was no escaping her guilt and her throat tightened. "If I hadn't gone back for the flute, they…"
"Would still have been firing at us," Will pointed out and Djaq knew that he was right, that the moment they had been spotted it had only been a matter of time before they were fired at, but it didn't change the fact that she shouldn't have stopped. If they had been moving then they could've outrun them, they'd done it dozens of time. And we failed many times too, the logical part of her pointed out, but she ignored that as well, something that was always easy to do when it came to anything relating to the man in front of her. "Djaq, look at me," Will's voice was soft, showing only the faintest strain from his wound, but it was enough to stop her from obeying. Normally he wouldn't have pushed, she was always the one to push, but today he slowly pushed himself straighter before reaching out to gently grip her chin, tilting her head upwards as he ordered. "Look. At. Me."
It wasn't really a choice, but slowly she lifted her eyes to meet his. Not sure what she was expecting to find, but certainly not expecting the soft smile on his lips, one that reached his eyes despite the pain he must be in. How? How could he look at her like that, when…? He cut off her whirling thoughts by leaning in and kissing her, it was little more than a brush of the lips, but he silenced her and left her wide-eyed when he leant back with a wince. "This wasn't your fault," he repeated, and this time she could miss the steel beneath the words, the certainty. "Besides, I'm the one that leapt in the way," he pointed out with a grin that she knew he had learned from Robin, all cocky confidence and false bravado and despite herself she felt herself smiling back. "And I would do it again."
"Don't you dare," Djaq scolded him at once.
"Tell you what," Will began. "If you stop blaming yourself for this," he gestured down at his side, immediately regretting the movement if the expression on his face was anything to go by and she immediately returned to tending it, tilting her head to show that she was still listening, waiting to see where he was going with this. "I promise to try and not leap in the path of any more arrows."
She hadn't missed his choice of wording, and knew that the moment she was in danger again he would forget all about that promise. Just as she would…and she glanced down at her bloody hands, feeling him trembling beneath her as she examined the wound. The guilt was still there, his words not enough to absolve her completely but it wasn't as crippling and after a moment she lifted her head, meeting his gaze once more. "I will agree to this bargain," she murmured finally, seeing the way his eyes lit up her words, the relief in his gaze warming her, before she added with a hint of mischief. "If you promise to let me take care of you until this is healed." She could see the protest forming, and held firm. They were all terrible patients she had learned during the months she had spent with them, but Will was the worst, especially because he knew how to get around her and she held up a finger to stop him. "That means you rest, you let me check the wound…and you don't charm your way back into actions before I say you can."
"Djaq," Will protested, squirming. "It's Christmas, you can't ask me to do something like that."
"I don't remember that being part of Christmas," Djaq retorted, and she caught the way his eyes flickered to the side, the way they always did when he was trying to trick or tease her. "So?" She asked, demanding an answer before he could find another way to try and squeeze out of this and after a moment of staring at one another, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Fine…I promise."
"It's a Christmas promise," Djaq was grinning now, triumphant and reassured. It was easier to feel less guilty now that she knew she could make sure he rested and healed properly, and she managed a small chuckle as he gaped at her before leaning in to kiss him. Silencing him as she always did when she initiated the kiss, and she knew that she had won when his hands, shakier than normal, came up to cradle her face, pulling her close and murmuring against her lips.
"Merry Christmas…"