"It was a dark and stormy night….."
A/N Well, here's a little something I wrote after the ninth episode of the new (and quite frankly amazing) BBC series. I don't think there are any spoilers, but if there are, I apologise. As ever, I own nothing, because if I did, Marian and Robin would have kissed by now. But then again, I guess it's all good for the tension, building it up to the last episode?? (Hopefully..) (PS BBC if you're reading this and you haven't done that, beware of the wrath of the fangirls!!) So, yeah. Go read! It's just a bit of fun.
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Marian stumbled through the wood, her mouth set in a grim line. It had to be them. Who else would set traps in the middle of the road, ready for an innocent victim to ride by and fall into said trap, covered by leaves and twigs so it cannot be seen by the unsuspecting eye? Her horse had stumbled, thrown her off, and bolted off into the opposite direction, leaving Marian alone in Sherwood. She held her skirts up as she stepped over a large log. When she caught those outlaws….
Of course, there was a slight problem. The outlaws would not let themselves be easily stumbled upon, so she had no way of finding them. No, it was they who had to find her. She looked cautiously up at the sky. It was getting late. A rumble above her head made her jump and a spot of rain fell on her head. She frowned. And it was going to rain. Sighing, she carried on her way through the forest, through the undergrowth. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she smiled. She continued to thrash her way through the forest, except this time, perhaps making more noise than was strictly necessary.
She walked for about half an hour, the rain pitter-pattering around her feet. It wasn't heavy, just a drizzle, but the ominous noises the sky was making above her head promised that this was only foreshadowing what was to come. She caught her dress on a thorn and tore it loose, sighing. Where were they? Finally, she gave up and sat down by a tree. She rested her chin on her knees and looked up despondently at the sky. At last, the heavens gave a final rumble and the rain started to drive down harder and faster, until the drizzle became a downpour. "Wonderful…" Marian muttered, as she stood up to look for shelter. It was then that she heard voices.
"Much, for heaven's sake put that down and help me get this into shelter!"
"But master, we can't let the rabbit get wet! It tastes so horrible when it's drenched!"
"Much, for once in your life will you think about something else apart from your stomach!"
She smiled as she walked on a few yards until she came to a large tree at the top of a slope. She looked down, hiding under the tree, and grinned.
Much was protectively holding the meat they had been cooking over the fire, whilst the other outlaws hurried around, pulling things under a makeshift shelter they had made out of a couple of spare cloaks and sticks, forming a kind of tent. Allan had a shawl over his head, making him look like an old washer-woman, as he hurried to-and-fro, salvaging their few belongings. An old grey pony stood to one side of the clearing, tied to a tree, pawing at the ground. Jack, or rather Djaq, ran over to it, and attempted to untie it and bring it over to shelter under the "tent". The pony, however, was having none of it, and firmly stood its ground, causing Jack to utter some rather unsavoury Arabic expletives as she tried to move it. Little John was sat under the shelter in a rather awkward position, as he was too tall to sit up in it properly, and his legs led out of the tent and into the rain, where they seemed to be getting rather wet. Eventually, Much ran over to Jack to pull her away from the pony but as he ran with her back towards the shelter, they slipped on some wet leaves and went headfirst into the little shelter, knocking the sticks over and pulling it down. With a cry the outlaws tumbled into a mass of sticks and cloaks. Marian couldn't help herself any longer and started to giggle. If only the Sheriff could see the outlaws he so tirelessly pursued now, she thought. She laughed.
Robin looked up from his awkward position under Alan's legs as he heard the laugh, and pushed the cloth out of his face and looked up. Upon seeing Marian, he grinned. He pulled himself free from the groaning outlaws and cries of "Oh, Much!" and started towards the slope leading up to her. She stepped away from the shelter of the tree and moved to meet him, slowly and cautiously making her way down the slope. However, she had not gone far before she tripped up on a root, and with a small cry she fell down the slope. Robin, however, caught her at the bottom, holding on to her waist and shoulder. He grinned at her. "Not as nimble as you used to be."
She stood up with his help and brushed herself down. "Not when I'm climbing down a near vertical slope in a dress." She retorted, pushing her sodden hair back.
"What are you doing in the forest?" He asked.
"Oi! Can you wait and have your cosy little conversation after we've got this tent up! Some of us don't like getting wet!"
Robin looked over at Alan, smiling. "Cheeky!" He yelled, as he ran over to the gang. "Come on then."
It wasn't long before they had all constructed a fairly sturdy shelter once more. Marian helped, no longer caring about the rain and the mud, and she felt happy to be part of the group, joining in the banter and joking that was natural to the group of outlaws. Finally they were all settled in the shelter, Little John led out along the length of it with just his feet poking out the end now, and everyone leaning on him. They were a mass of arms, legs and bodies, and with much laughing they all got themselves sorted.
"Now," Robin finally asked. "What are you doing here again?"
"No thanks to you lot, I got abandoned here."
"'No thanks to us!' What have we done?"
"You set a lovely little track on the main road and my horse got caught in it. He bolted and ran away."
The outlaws smirked. "Told you I'm a genius." Alan proclaimed smugly.
Marian gave him a look, which was rather difficult as he was behind her shoulder and draped over Little John's legs. "Sorry." He muttered, then looked up at her and gave her a bright smile. "But you've got to admit it would have been good if the Sheriff had fallen into it."
Marian sighed as the outlaws burst into peals of laughter again. Feeling a smile tug at the corner of her mouth, she too began to laugh, as Alan did his best lying-on-the-floor-in-a-makeshift-tent impression of the Sheriff falling into a trap.
The time dragged on, their game of I spy becoming more and more monotonous as the number of times someone said "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with r." "Rain" "Correct" turned into double digits. Much livened the atmosphere by producing his precious bit of meat when he finally found it, located between Jack's knee and Will's elbow. The tent threatened to fall down once more when Much began to sing and Alan and Will started to attack him, but largely thanks to Marian and Jack managing to restrain all three parties, it stayed up. As it grew dark, Marian started to get worried.
"What will father say if I don't get back?" She asked Robin, as Little John gave a loud snore.
He shrugged. "There's no way you're going out through the forest in this. First of all you'll get lost on your own and there's no way any of us are going with you now. Don't worry, Marian, we'll get you back early tomorrow morning. Your father won't mind when he knows where you've been."
"Yes, crammed in a small shelter with Robin Hood and his outlaws." She deadpanned.
Robin laughed, and so did Marian. She sighed as she looked around her. If her father knew…..
Early the next morning, Marian awoke. Slowly, she opened her eyes and noticed with a start that her head was on Robin's shoulder. She froze, gently withdrew it and looked at him. Robin hadn't stirred and was still in a deep sleep, his soft brown hair falling over his eyes. Marian smiled at him, and unconsciously reached out her hand to brush the hair out of his eyes. She had lost count of the number of times she had done that as a child when she woke up and found him asleep next to her, at an important banquet they had both fallen asleep at, bored by the speeches, or when they had escaped and spent the night out in the forest. Sighing, Marian looked out of the shelter. Finally, the rain had stopped. All was quiet and still, and not even a bird broke the peace of the forest.
That peace was broken, however, as Little John snored and turned over, dislodging everyone from their comfortable positions and consequently, havoc ensued. Alan fell off Little John's legs and onto Will, who sat up and woke Jack. She stretched, hitting Much in the chin who shifted and knocked Robin, who fluttered his eyes and woke up with a start. Marian looked down at them all, tying to stifle a laugh. "Outlaws." She sighed.
The outlaws then shared an enjoyable breakfast, where Marian finally tasted Much's cuisine and decided Robin was right, they really did need someone to cook for them. Jack tended to the pony as Will checked all their belongings and Alan headed off to check the rabbit and deer traps. Finally, Marian announced that she really must go – her father would be worried sick. The outlaws all bid goodbye to her and Will plaintively asked her when Much was otherwise occupied that if she was ever passing through Sherwood again and in a cooking mood, then they would all be much obliged if she would try out her talents on them. Grinning at them all, she gave them a final wave, and set off back towards the main road, accompanied by Robin.
They talked of the Sheriff for a while, but when Marian mentioned Gisbourne, Robin was silent and as Marian didn't want to antagonise him was silent also. They walked on together, quietly for a while, until Robin asked "You don't really think him a good man, do you Marian?"
"No! Of course not! It's just that sometimes I….."
"What?"
"…pity him."
"Pity him!"
"He's not like you Robin. He's never been clever, or charming, or.."
"Yes, yes, I see what you're getting at. But he's still on the Sheriff's side. He doesn't care about the people. He just cares about himself."
"I know. And for that reason, I could never like him."
"Good." Robin replied, a little too quickly. Marian looked across at him. "Good." He repeated, slightly slower.
Marian smiled.
They stopped when they reached the main road. "Can you find your own way back from here?" He asked her.
"Yes. Thank you, Robin."
"What for?"
"For… looking after me."
"Oh, I'm sure you would have been fine on your own." He grinned. "We did have some fun though didn't we?"
Marian laughed. "Yes, I suppose we did." She looked around. "Well, I shall see you soon. Goodbye."
"Goodbye" he murmured after her as she walked away. Suddenly, he thought of something. "Marian?" He called after her.
"Yes?" She turned around.
"Next time you're out riding, take care to look where you're going." He grinned. "You never know what might happen."
She smiled too. "Quite" she called back, thinking of where she had been lead after last night's ride. "Quite." She gave him a final smile, waved and carried on walking.
Robin smiled after her retreating figure before turning and hurrying back into the forest. There was work to do.
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