Author note: Hello people, here is chapter four in a hopefully timely fashion. I hope you like it. I do have a bit of bad news though, this will be my last post for about a month, I am rather foolishly taking part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and although I can see it all ending in tears with me not competing the novel in time and getting seriously behind with my A Levels, I really want to give it a go. As if I wasn't already busy enough. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you are) this means I shall be taking a brake from writing both Robin Hudson and my Rachel Morgan fic for one month. I can only hope that you understand. Please enjoy this chapter and I'm sorry. Oh and also the result of my poll will be made evident in this chapter. enjoy :)
Chapter four
Outside Sherwood House
"Argh!" I groaned loudly as I marched from the bus stop and down the street towards Sherwood.
I can't believe it, I thought angrily as I neared the office, Jordans was such an ass at times, no wait scratch that, Jordans was an ass, period! There really had been no point in me getting up for work today and that pissed me off more than I could say seeing as I could have avoided that little scene with Adam if I hadn't thought I had work this morning. The café was closed today, apparently Jordans was taking the weekend off to go on a holiday to the coast with his wife and kids (I know, someone was actually naive enough to marry the controlling plonker!) and he had 'forgotten' to tell both Carrie and me. Both of us had arrived at the café half an hour before opening time to be greeted by a formal printed note pinned to the door saying that the café was closed until Monday when business would resume as normal; this note was for the customers. That had been the first we had heard of it, we were confused until Carrie noticed a crappy handwritten note beneath the printed one saying where Jordans had gone and that we were to go home but arrive promptly for work on Monday for our shifts. Angry at my inconsiderate boss I had ripped the note from the door and crunched it in my hand to release some of my anger, Carrie hadn't minded and had looked to me as though she too was very pissed off with Jordans' careless attitude. He just didn't care, not even in the slightest, sure it was inconvenient for me that I wasn't working today, what with having to get up and the wasted journey, not to mention how I needed the money since I had cut down my hours so I could go to college, but it was even worse for Carrie. As the soul bread winner in the house (apart from Will, though she didn't take a penny from him) thanks to Baxter making it impossible for Andy to get work in his trade, Carrie needed all the hours she could get, she worked all week long and probably more than double the hours I worked but it still wasn't enough and it didn't help her in the slightest to be sent home like this. Not that Jordans cared. I felt guilty about it to be honest, because George was staying with us now Alice had to stay with the Spencers and it was one more mouth to feed even though we tried to have them around at ours as often as we could, still, it must have been hard for them. But I suppose that's what communities like ours did, we all knew hardships and stuck together to try and share to load a little bit for each other, that was part of the reason why we had taken George in (other than the fact that I'm head over heals for him) and why Carrie and her family had been so quick to let Alice stay with them, it was a real old fashioned, almost extinct, working-class sense of community. It's what helped to keep us going.
Shaking my fringe out of my eyes angrily as I marched down the street I felt the all too familiar sense of injustice fill me. It just wasn't fair, none of this was, we shouldn't have to live like this, scrimping and scraping to keep ourselves alive, so badly off that even missing just one day of work had a big impact. I tried to calm down, telling myself that I was trying to do something about it, that the others and I were trying to change things here, to make things easier. But I couldn't stop myself from wondering what we were actually achieving, sure we handed out money to those who really, really needed it and occasionally thwarted the more dastardly of Baxter's plans, but what were we actually achieving here? Really, we were just a short term solution to a long term problem, a problem that had been in this town for a hundred years and showed no signs of leaving anytime soon, despite our efforts. That irritated me more than I could say, that try as we might there was only so much that we could do, that in spite of all our efforts poverty was still crippling this town. The people were on their knees, begging for a release and all I could do was throw them the occasional coin to keep them from losing all hope, to keep them living so that they could continue to be exploited.
I sighed as I reached the office, anger exhausting more than the short walk had, I pushed open the gate and walked along the small garden path that led to the front door. I reached for the door handle, knowing that Jacobs would be in his office already so the door would be unlocked, and stepped into the entrance hall, hoping all the while that Adam wasn't in today. I fought hard to push aside the hopeless thoughts that had taken root in my mind and decided on what I would do today at the office to distract myself, remembering that there were a few more names that needed to be added to our list and that I needed to check for any painting jobs we had scheduled in our diary, just in case. It was rent day soon, so we could do with the money even if it was only a friend of John's we were paying. Taking to the steps that led to the second floor without even a glance in the direction of Jacobs' and Adam's office, I raced up the stairs onto the landing, stopping before the door that led to our little reception and taking out my keys. I went to unlock the door before noticing that it was open already, wondering who was in this early (though that said it was gone twelve o'clock since Carrie and I had spent a good amount of time planning how best to get back at Jordans before I headed over here) since everyone was supposed to be out, Jack had gotten a job in the hospital cafeteria the other week so now even she ought to be at work. I thought about it then, no one else was working today, since they all had tickets for the Locksdale, Sheffield Wednesday game and would be on their way there by now. I stepped into the reception, walking past the desk and the button with 'please ring for attention' written on a piece of paper taped to the desk before it as I approached the door that led to our office which took the rest of the top floor.
I opened the office door a little cautiously but felt a wide smile spread across my lips as I spotted who was sat in there. George was sat at the head of the long meeting table, dressed in a white button up shirt, with three buttons opened up and cufflinks unfastened so that he could roll his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, he also wore a smart black trousers that fell gently against a pair of polished black shoes. A black jacket matching his trousers was thrown over the back of this chair and his blond hair was messy, as though he had been running his hands through it. The tiny crappy TV we kept in the office was turned on, positioned against the wall across from George and below the overhead projector screen, the battered Freeview box balanced precariously atop the TV. The TV was switched onto Sky Sports News and Soccer Saturday was on, where Jeff Stelling was giving an animated explanation of the latest football scores. George wasn't watching the TV though, not really, he was flicking through a newspaper, staring at the print intently and hadn't heard me come in. Closing the door silently and placing my bag on the floor I turned back to George my grin widening as I started to creep towards him in perfect silence, he must have been really engrossed in what he was reading since even George's abnormally sharp ears didn't hear me as I approached him. My bad mood all but a memory for the time being I hastily closed the distance between George and I, feeling the pull he had over me as I speeded up, wanted to reach him sooner. I waited until I was right behind George before I lent in towards him, feeling mischievous as George felt my warm breath on his neck and froze.
"Boo," I whispered in his ear, laughing as I pulled back and he span around to look at me, shock on his face until his gaze settled on mine. A wide grin spread across his face as he looked at me, he then pushed his chair out and opened his arms for me to sit in his lap as he asked,
"I though that you had work?" he made no effort to hide the happiness he felt at seeing me from his voice and that alone almost made being sent home today worth it, just to see that look on his face.
Feeling completely unashamed of the fact, I sat down in his lap and roped my arms around his neck as I said "don't even get me started about it, it wont be fun to listen to me rant on about how careless Jordans is. Basically, the café is shut today. Anyway, I thought you had to go to a meeting or something today."
"I did, but the meeting was called off, something came up and my father had urgent business elsewhere." George said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him, he shrugged as he finished his sentence "I'm not exactly complaining, I didn't want to have to go to that meeting, I'm just worried about what could be so important that my father would back out of it." I nodded, admitting that that was definitely worrisome. What is Baxter up to now? I wondered.
"What you reading?" I asked as my mind wandered to the many possibilities for Baxter's strange behaviour, none of which I liked very much. Taking my arms from around George's neck and peering at the newspaper laid out on the table I realised that it was the Locksdale Enquirer and that it was open at the recruitment page.
"I need a job," George said after following my gaze to the paper "I don't have any money now my father has frozen my bank account and I can't possibly ask anyone to loan me any, I've already taken advantage of everyone enough."
"You've hardly taken advantage," I said moving my gaze back to George's face as I spoke "everyone only wants to help. Besides, do you honestly think that you've got time for a job? You never stop as it is George." I said sternly, George already had too much on, what with college, helping out on the farm so he didn't have to pay rent, going to meetings with his father and doing all the jobs of a merry man.
"I don't do anymore than you do Robin, and you manage." he said, looking stern himself, reminding me why he was the only one who ever stood a chance of standing up to me "I'm going to pull my weight Robin, and I'm going to need the money."
"You do pull your weight George," I said honestly, not trying to placate him in the slightest, just simply telling the truth "did you find anything you want to take?" I asked, my gaze flicking to the paper again before back to George. He shook his head.
"Not really, I'm sure I'll find something though." he said as he arms tightened around me, he then rested his head on my shoulder and pressed my back against his chest. I heard him inhale deeply and I lent back towards him, enjoying being so close to him, it happened so rarely what with my dads rules and how busy we'd been these past few weeks.
"What's the score?" I asked, nodding my head towards the TV a little, he felt the motion and answered.
"Not sure, its halftime though I think." he said and I felt myself frown in confusion, how could it be halftime already, wasn't it too early for that? It was meant to start at one o'clock wasn't it?
"Already?" I asked and I felt George nod.
"The kick off was on time, a bit earlier than the other games since it set off at one, but it was still on time." He said and I frowned a little, huh, Carrie and I must have spent more time plotting than I had thought, no wonder I was pretty hungry right now. Like I had said earlier, all the others were at the match, well everyone bar Mark who was busy working on something. I was supposed to be there right now and that had been partly why I was so annoyed that I wasn't even working today, both George and I had been supposed to be going with the others and it would have been a good day out had we gone. I wasn't overly fussed for football, but it was by far my favourite sport and I could watch a match if it was Locksdale or England playing, for years now it had been a ritual of mine and Will's to go to a few of the home games each season and the others had got involved with this tradition now the season had started again. We were fairly proud supporters of Locksdale FC; we were only a Championship side, not Premiership material though we maintained a mid-table status.
We listened as Jeff Stelling told us of all the games that were starting their second half, there wasn't that many since Locksdale vs. Sheff Wednesday had kicked off early. The room was silent but we were happy enough just to be sat with each other, comfortable in each others presence and enjoying the moment.
Reluctantly I decided that I had to get something done. George's hands slipped from around my waist as I stood up and walked over to the other end of the room, in search of our work diary. A quick glance over my shoulder told me that George was regarding me with a strange look; it was as though I fascinated him but had just robbed him of something at the same time. I grinned, deciding to be a bit mischievous, and cocked my hip before raising an eyebrow and asking,
"What?"
George looked at me, a coy smile playing with the corners of his lips as he asked "did you really have to get up so soon?"
"We've got things to do George," I said, my heart hovering in my chest as a result of his words, I was still getting used to feeling like this and felt myself blush a little because of that. Damn, I thought a little angrily, my bloody cheeks; couldn't they just give it a rest? "We've got some money packages to give out tonight as well." I said picking up our diary from the other end of the meeting table before walking back to my bag by the door and pulling out my notebook and a pen.
"Five more minutes?" George questioned, sounding adorably like a child, his voice as soft as goose feathers but with a slightly masculine edge which told me that he was no little boy. He didn't sound whiny in any way; he was just asking a question. I felt myself smile, my heart fluttering once again.
"Fine," I said happily as I started back towards George, he smiled back at me, knowing full well that I wasn't complaining here "but you owe me." I said, pointing at him jokingly before settling myself back on his lap with my notebook, pen and the diary.
"Of course," he said as he wrapped his arms around my waist again and rested his head on my shoulder so he could continue to look at the newspaper.
I felt my grin widen a little and set my things down on the table, George pushed his chair closer to the desk and we fell into another comfortable silence. A quick flick through the diary revealed we had no decorating jobs scheduled for the next two days, but we did have a small job pencilled in to start on Tuesday, it wouldn't take more than a few days as it was only to repaint two bedrooms in a Locksdale Upper teacher's house. I'd ask John and Will if they fancied it, we could all get involved but it was such a small job that we'd only get in each others way, it would be best just to send a few of us there instead. Setting the diary aside now that I was finished with it I picked up my notebook and pen, flicking to a blank page so that I could do a bit of planning. It wasn't anything big or dangerous, we weren't braking in anywhere tonight because despite what you might think that isn't the way we usually did things, big jobs like that were a special and rare occasion that seemed to be coming around a lot more often now though. Anyway, for now I was simply planning tonight's drop off, trying to figure out how best to utilise our time so that we got as much done as we possibly could, this involved deciding who took what street, how many packages each of us carried, what time we set off, what time we aimed to be finished by etc. As I wrote I was aware of time passing but I had no idea how much, I didn't glance at the clock once as I was too engrossed in what I was doing. Once or twice my mind wandered, heading towards the not too pleasant concern of what I was going to do about Adam, there was no way that I was going to his house, I couldn't, it went against everything I believed and I had long since drawn the line of how far I would go as Adam's slave. But that said, I wasn't doing any of this for Adam, I was sinking to the low, low level of being Adam's lackey so that I kept George safe. Surely that was worth it, keeping George from harm. I was half convinced that I should grit my teeth, go to Adam's house and see what he wanted, stopping him before he went too far of course (I shuddered at the alternative) and ultimately keeping my word by doing as asked, when I thought of something. What happened if George found out I had gone to Adams? He wouldn't want a girlfriend that snuck off to her ex's house in the middle of the night, and then claimed that nothing like that happened there but had already lied about where she was going in the first place. I REALLY did not like that thought; it had infuriated me and made me think that Adam was going to come between George and me one way or another. I pushed it aside, realising that if I didn't calm down soon George would feel me shaking with anger and know that something was up. I resolved to figure it out later and carried on with my work.
I closed my notebook, finally finished planning and put both it and my pen on the table. I noticed then that George had finished looking through the recruitment section of the Locksdale Enquirer and was now reading the Locksdale Star, the only paper that dared to print the truth about Baxter and the stories that the Enquirer was too afraid (or not allowed) to print. It was also the paper that had helped to convince the population of the town that my gang and I were not murderers when we had been wrapped up in the death of Andrew Kennedy, a former Baxter Industries worker who had actually been murdered by Baxter himself. Fortunately the Star had allowed Stephanie and Claire Kennedy to print a story about how we had saved their lives when Baxter had sent members of the BA after them, wanting to punish Kennedy from beyond the grave. The story had highlighted the fact that other than an arrow found at Kennedy's house there was no evidence to suggest we had killed him and that it was ridiculous to suggest that we had. In the end Baxter had decided that it wasn't worth trying to pin the murder on us, that he had wanted to make us outcasts and he had done that, Kennedy's death had ruled an accident (which is unbelievable!) and nothing more had been said about it. Anyway, George was flicking though the pages when I finished the plan and sat back against his chest. George sat back with me, realising that I had finished and abandoning the paper on the table.
"I should probably add those names to the list," I said, meaning the list of people who needed money parcels from us, we kept it hidden safely in a locked cabinet and even then the list only stated the three initials of the head of the household we would be helping. This meant that no one would suffer if the list was ever discovered, because Baxter wouldn't know their full names. We usually carried the list with us, because there was no readable names on the sheet it was safe to do that, this also had meant that the names list had mercifully escaped the fire, however I remembered leaving it a the office the other day. I made to grab the underside of the table to help me up but jolted a little when I felt George's arms tighten around me, refusing to let me stand. "George?" I questioned, laughing a little as I tired to break free of his grip.
"Umm?" George answered as he buried his face in the crook of my neck before turning his lips towards my neck and kissing me tenderly, lowering his lips and continuing to kiss me until he reached the neck of my boring plain black work shirt.
"What are you doing?" I asked, unable and unwilling to keep the smile from my voice and feeling a wide grin spread across my lips.
"Nothing," he murmured softly as he kissed my neck again, I shivered pleasantly before leaning into his touch, starting to enjoy myself immensely.
"Um, if you say so," I said as I lent against George's chest, feeling content to just sit there in his embrace but knowing I had some work to be getting done "I need to add those names George." I said reluctantly, George picked up on that and didn't move and inch.
"It'll wait a moment wont it, we won't forget them and the list isn't going anywhere, it's only on the table, I got it out earlier to check something" George said, his beautiful voice filling my ears with a sound with the rich texture of velvet, soft and enchanting "I've not seen you properly since the start of college,"
I sighed tiredly, why did he have to say that? Like I could resist him when he got like that, I could put up a good fight sure but ultimately I would give in. I really didn't want to have to get up, he'd practically read my mind when he said we hadn't seen each other properly all week, it had been bothering me as well and I just wanted to spend time with him. But the names needed to be added to the list. It was my job, my duty and my other passion to help the poor; I couldn't neglect my responsibilities just to spend a bit of time with my boyfriend. But it was George. I let out an irritated groan and I felt George pull me even closer, probably sensing victory was within his reach.
"I'm sorry if I'm pestering you," George murmured attractively as he stroked my neck "I've just really missed you. I know that we see each other everyday, but it's not the same, we haven't been alone in days. It's taken us too long to get to this point; I kind of want to make up for lost time."
Why did he always know the right thing to say? I wondered as I turned on his lap so that when I looked to my right I could see him. "I missed you too," I said, unlike George I wasn't especially good at making sure my partner knew I loved them, but with George I really wanted to try, I had to make sure that he knew "and I think I've got a pretty good idea what you mean, since its exactly how I feel as well. I'm sorry we're always so busy, you know I'd spend more time with you if I could?"
"I know," he said his blue eyes twinkling again as he locked his gaze with mine, the intensity back in them once again "it's not your fault, we are who we are and we can't help that."
"That we can't," I said as I put my arms around his neck, wanting to be even closer to him and not ashamed of the fact even in the slightest, I loved George, it was as simple as that.
Giving in to the need to be close to him I brought one arm from around his neck and pressed the palm of my hand against his cheek, staring into his seemingly bottomless blue eyes before leaning in to kiss him. Our lips met and the kiss was chaste at first, sweet and tender and everything you would expect from George. Then I felt George's grip tighten around my waist as our kiss intensified and I moved my hand from his cheek and back to his hair, winding the golden tresses around my fingers. I smiled against George's lips as our kiss deepened, knowing we hadn't lost ourselves like this since the day we got together, all embraces and shows of affection had been shy and simple since then, absolutely nothing like this. I pressed myself closer to George, finding the action difficult because of the way I was sat but more than willing to put up with the discomfort if it brought me nearer to George. His soft touch moved from my waist to my back, each gentle movement of his hand reminding me why I loved him so much, he was so different from anyone else I'd ever met before.
"Robin," he murmured in-between our kisses, his voice sounding as breathless as mine surely would, I had barely enough oxygen left in me to function but I was a tough girl and I couldn't have cared less. I breathed in deeply, taking in George's scent through my keen nose, he smelled like soap, expensive aftershave and some sort of woody smell I associated with arrows. I lent in to kiss him again, glad that we had this time just to be together after such a long time without that, I really had missed him. Though as with everything else good in my life of lately, it only lasted for so long. I was aware of the sound of chanting at the back of my mind but I didn't acknowledge it, choosing instead to ignore the noise. Literally seconds after my lips met George's the door was thrown open, we broke apart and our heads snapped in the direction of the door, instincts on high alert though they needed not have been. The chanting cut off abruptly.
"Gawd, get a room wont you," John said loudly and jokingly as he walked into the office, green clad in his Locksdale FC shirt and scarf, his kind face half painted a dark emerald colour. Jack and Will were right behind him, both dressed in green football shirts and scarf's, though evidently they had both opted out of the face paint. John was clearly a very avid supporter of the club.
Laughing a little to himself George rested his head against the back of mine, blushing furiously and not happy that the others had just witnessed that moment between George and I, I turned to look at George. He was sat there, a shy smile on his lips and his cheeks a bright pink colour in embarrassment, however he still held onto me tightly and showed no signs of throwing me from his lap now the others were here. I smiled at him before turning back to look at the others, Jack was grinning at us and smiling all knowingly again, she had been very I-told-you-so about George and I getting together, claiming she knew it would happen all along, which of course she did. Will however didn't look impressed, I guessed he was going into full on big brother mode again as he shook his head at us but didn't say anything, he knew better than to.
"Ever hear of knocking?" I asked as I span on Georges lap to face them and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, working on bringing the blush down from my cheeks.
"We didn't know anyone was in here did we?" John said, still grinning as he sat down on a chair of his own "we thought you were both busy today…well busy in other ways." John said laughing a little and I rolled my eyes; he was loving this wasn't he.
"We were, but the café was shut and Baxter cancelled his meeting," I said trying to act normal, my success, minimal as I could still feel George's breath on my neck.
"Why?" Jack asked, suddenly serious and thinking along the same lines George and I had been.
"We don't know, though it's got to be something be something important to make father run off like that." George said, voicing what we had said earlier.
"Worth looking into," Jack said as she wrote it down on a piece of paper and stuck the note on out notice board along with all our other mysterious realisations, she looked serious though she still managed to shoot me a joking look as she passed me. Swell, I wasn't going to live this one down any time soon.
"What was the score then?" I asked, eager to change the subject again and get it as far away from what George and I had been up to as I could "we weren't keeping an eye on the TV."
"We can see that," Will said curtly and I shot him a raised eyebrow look, wondering what was with him. Will shrugged and I realised that his cheeks were a slight pink colour, aw bless him, we'd embarrassed him "I'm just saying, you're like a sister to me, it's not exactly what I want to see."
I looked at him, finding his brotherly concern only a little bit annoying but mostly sweet "I'll bare that in mind," I said, not in a sarcastic or biting way, I really would bare it in mind. Will nodded and I watched as the pink started to leave his cheeks now he'd got his point across.
"Sorry Will," George said sincerely and Will sat down, smiling at his friend a little from across the table. It was all good.
"John?" I asked as I turned to him, knowing just from the look on his face that he was itching to answer my question.
"Three, one," John said, his voice hitting that loud and masculine chant level that football supporters reached when shouting in the stands, I guessed the score had been what he and the others had been singing when they came up the stairs. "To us." he said a wide smile spreading across his lips.
I laughed as John took the scarf from around his neck, held each end in one of his hands, held it above his head and started to sway as he chanted "three, one, three, one, three, one, three, one. Three….one…three…one!" I heard George chuckle in my ear as Will joined in with the singing and Jack started laughing over by the notice board. I smiled content once again to be sat here with my extended family, because essentially that's what they were to me, my family.
I wished that I had been able to go to the match; the atmosphere would have been great thanks to the score and I'm sure I'd have enjoyed myself. However, I certainly wasn't complaining that I had the chance to spend some time with George, however short the amount of time was. I was lucky to have had that long really and I was still waiting for something to go wrong, my friends and family were the only constant in my life right now, the only thing that wasn't going pare shaped, so I figured it was only a matter of time. Pushing the negative thought from my brain I focused on the here and now, laughing along with my friends as they clowned around pretending we were just like any other group of teenagers, no destiny, no horrific dreams, no worries, just normal. We were still laughing when the office door was thrown open for a second time, we fell silent instantly, turning in unison to the door all our eyes narrowed and out instincts blazing, we hadn't heard the intruder approach. Everyone relaxed when we realised who was standing there, it was only Mark, a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose and a notebook in hand. Everyone greeted him warmly, going back to their carefree mood and relaxing. I didn't, I was watching Mark as he brushed off everyone's greeting and staggered towards the meeting table where he started to desperately riffle through the papers there. I looked at him, his short blond hair was sticking up at odd angles around his head, it looked as though he had just tumbled out of bed or else walked through a wind storm, his clothes weren't on properly and his top appeared to be inside out. I then felt my gaze move to his face and from there it was instantly pulled to his eyes, green orbs wide and frantic as he searched though there was a ring of dark purple under his eyes, it looked as though he hadn't slept in weeks and I remembered then that he had been looking more and more tired every time I had seen him. Something was wrong.
"Mark, are you all right?" I asked, the evident worry in my voice causing all other conversations to stop Mark to halt in his frantic search, he didn't look at me though, I could tell from the look on his face that he knew we were all watching him in concern but the tired expression he wore told me he didn't care.
"I'm fine," he said as he went back to searching, he soon gave up though when it became evident that whatever he was searching for wasn't there and he let out an irritated groan before picking up his notebook and flicking through it violently. I recognised the notebook, Mark had been carrying it around with him for weeks, maybe even since the very beginning I think. He had always had it with him and I had just assumed that when he would take it out and scribble furiously he was writing down some new idea or another. Now I wasn't so sure.
"You're not mate," Will said, his gaze flicking to mine in understanding before he looked back to Mark "something's wrong with you, what is it?"
"It's nothing, really, I can handle it?" Mark said as he continued to flick through his book, showing no signs of calming down at all.
"Handle what?" John asked, regarding his friend with a look of concern, he knew Mark well enough to know when something was wrong, we all did, Mark never acted like this.
"You can tell us Mark, we can help." Jack said, obviously starting to think of the worst possibilities, I couldn't even consider the fact that Mark was in trouble, it worried me too much, but something was definitely up and I kept quiet for the moment, just watching Mark.
"Thanks Jack but I don't think its ment to be like that," Mark said cryptically and we all shared a look, what was he talking about?
"You are tired," George observed, just as worried as the rest of us.
Mark slumped a little then, resting his hands on the table and turning away from the notebook. He nodded once before he said "yeah, I haven't slept properly in weeks."
"Why?" Jack asked stepping forward a bit "you can get things from the doctors to help you sleep if you're having trouble, and I know a recipe of my Grandma's to help you sleep."
"I've tried sleeping pills already, they don't work, the dreams don't stop and when they're done I can't sleep, it's like my mind won't let me." Mark said, sounding exhausted and on the verge of tears and that frightened me, smart, calm and logical Mark was about to cry. His words hit me then, dreams, he said he'd been having dreams. I shifted uncomfortably, visions of last night's (and every night's) springing to my mind and filling me with the urge to grab hold of George and keep him safe. Mark was having dreams as well, it wasn't just me, maybe I wasn't crazy and there was something to this, he must have been having the same dream as me since it distressed him so much, I knew it had to be bad.
"Dreams?" I asked, about to tell him that I'd been having dreams of my own but deciding against it at the last moment, my instincts telling me that now wasn't the time, that I shouldn't tell him, that it was Mark's…go? Oh I don't know, it was like it wasn't my turn to talk about my dreams yet, like some was telling me to wait and that Mark had to go first. "What dreams?"
Mark turned to look at me then, the full extent of his exhaustion becoming evident when we locked gazes; he looked terrible, how had I not noticed this sooner? Mark ran a hand through his already messy hair and sighed heavily before staring at me intently and saying,
"THE dream,"
Author note: so that's it guys, not another post for another month, again I'm sorry but I really want to do this. Anyway please let me know what you think of this and check out my John icon if you aren't tired of them already, I love hearing from you. Oh and I just thought I'd tell you this, I really like Snow Patrol 'You're all that I have' as a George song, I think it suits as in effect Robin really is all he has. What do you think?
Thanks again for reading, I hope December comes soon. Happy Halloween and happy Bonfire Night as well to those of you in the UK, since it's on the 5th of November. :) x