Thanks to all who take the time to review this - it really means a lot! sorry it's been a while. There's a bit of language in this part, but nothing too bad.

I remembered I haven't done the usual disclaimer so I'll do it now - I don't own Robin Hood or anything to do with it!

But this new O/C is mine though. :D

Robin, John, Much and Allan had delivered food parcels to each house in Locksley, Clun and Pedsbury, narrowly dodging being discovered by some incompetent guards once or twice. Now they were in Nettlestone.

The four men walked down the centre of the town, trying to remain as conspicuous as possible given that they were easily distinguishable in a crowd, especially the great hulk that was John.

"Robin, look." John thumped their leader not-very-softly on the shoulder and pointed past him towards the edge of the village. Robin saw a group of young lads playing in the mud. They were tossing around some small objects that on closer inspection were obviously the dolls that Will had made.

"I guess Will & Djaq have been and gone then" said Much.

"I'm not being funny," started Allan is his accustomed style, "but can we get on with this? I've been carrying this bloody sack since Clun."

"Right," said Robin clapping his hands together under his cloak. "John, with me, we'll take this half of the village." He split the houses up with a gesture. "Much, Allan, that side."

"Right you are, Squire." Allan grumbled, hurling the sack dejectedly to Much who stumbled under the weight.

"Oof!" Much grumbled, loudly.

"Oh, shut your face, Bonchurch." Allan shot back, "I've been carrying that since Clun. Let's get on with it."

By the time they reached the last house Allan could see the light at the end of the tunnel and was in a slightly better mood. He had stopped caring quite so much about keeping quiet, and accidentally kicked over a large bucket of water right outside the front door of the last house.

"Mother f-"

"ALLAN!" Much stopped him, apologising with a wave to a woman who was wandering by with a small child in her arms.

"That really hurt, Much!" Allan complained, hopping up and down and trying to grab his foot.

"Well, well. Allan-a-Dale."

Allan stopped hopping. That voice. He knew that voice. Slowly and painfully he turned around, aware of Much looking very confused from outside their gate.

"Bella." He said, straightening up. "Nice to see you."

Wordlessly the women opened the half door to the house, and walked slowly towards him, letting a smile grace her pretty features. Allan smiled hesitantly. This wasn't the Bella he knew.

She punched him in the face.

'Yeah, there she is', he thought as he fell to the floor.

Djaq and Will had taken a detour on their way back to camp, searching for any plants or herbs that Djaq could use in her medicines. The hyssop already found, she wasn't looking for anything in particular, but more just trying to extend the time she spent with Will alone. She was painfully aware that he may be getting bored though.

"We don't need to go much further, if you're bored." Djaq offered, almost as a question.

"No, no," said Will quickly, then paused and blushed just a little bit. "I'm… I'm fine."

Djaq went to reply, but realised that she had nothing to say, so shut her mouth. All she could say was "Good", and smile.

"YOU BASTARD!"

"Bella…" Allan started, raising a hand towards her.

"That's Anabella to you!" She kicked him in his side.

Much watched with amusement from behind the safe barrier of the fence. This wasn't by any means a new scene – some girl that Allan's had his way with and left without leaving so much as a note the next morning. He wasn't remotely surprised, or inclined to help either.

But this girl, this 'Anabella' as she had said, didn't seem like one of the usual girls. She had an accent for a start – one very similar to Allan's.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright?" Allan shouted, curling up into a ball to protect his stomach and his other more valuable parts.

"Sorry, isn't, enough!" she punctuated her words with another kick.

"OW!" he said, scrambling away and putting a dog kennel between him and her.

"Wait, wait, wait" he said, catching his breath and formulating a lie to get him out of the situation. "Let's just talk about this!"

Anabella let out what sounded to Much something like a battle cry, and lurched forwards towards Allan – who swiftly jumped over the wooden fence, holding his hands up.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded to know.

"What are YOU doing here?" he demanded right back.

"I've been looking for you! Did you really think I was just going to let you get away with it?"

Much chuckled to himself, he hadn't seen Allan this genuinely intimidated in a long time. She turned her head abruptly at the sound.

"And who are you?"

The smile faded from Much's face. She didn't seem at all like the kind of person you wanted to piss off. Now she was looking at him directly he took a split second to take her in. She was a tall girl, only just shorter than Allan. She had long red hair that was braided messily at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were huge and beautiful, a pale blue, and she had the pale creamy skin that always accompanied someone of her complexion.

But she still looked very pissed off.

"I'm Much."

"Well, Much," she started, putting her hands on her hips. "I don't rate your choice of company very much."

He let out a burst of laughter before receiving a damning look from Allan to his right.

"Yeah, me neither." He muttered, earning him a thump on the arm.

She laughed – a genuine laugh, and extended a hand.

"I'm Ana. It's nice to meet you Much." She shook his hand.

Much made a strange face that was somewhere between a smile and complete confusion.

Allan was backing away slowly but steadily, preparing to make a dash for it. Much swiftly stuck out his foot so that Allan fell spectacularly over it onto his behind.

"Bloody hell, Much!" he groaned from the floor.

"To use one of your phrases Allan," Much began, smiling, "I'm not being funny – but I'm more scared of her than I am of you right now!"

Ana laughed heartily. "He still says that?"

"All the time!"

"Did you always want to be a carpenter?"

Will thought about his answer as they padded almost silently through the bed of leaves that was the forest floor.

He let out small, sad noise. "No."

"I thought that since you're father was a carpenter…" she trailed off.

"Actually, I went through a phase of wanting to be a physician."

"Really?" Djaq squeaked.

"Yes." He jumped over a large root. "To be honest it's not a very happy story."

"Oh…" murmured Djaq. "If you don't want to tell-"

"No, it's fine. It's good to talk to someone about it." Will interrupted her. "When I was eight, my mother had another child."

Djaq's eyebrows knotted together as she predicted the sad outcome of this story.

"Luke was only five, he barely remembers it. She was a girl. Born too early, the doctor said, and she was absolutely tiny. She fitted in my dad's hand. That was when he had his hand."

He spoke slowly, letting the memories come to him sporadically. Djaq listened attentively, stopping occasionally to turn over some leaves that may have been useful.

"This was before Robin left, under the old sheriff. Marian's father. We had food, but it was just so cold that winter. I remember my dad worked day and night to make furniture to sell so we could afford blankets and extra food. But she was just too small and she didn't make it. We never knew exactly why."

"I'm sorry, Will." Djaq offered simply, running a comforting hand over his shoulder. He smiled sadly at her.

"Hey, it's in the past now. But I won't forget her. Her name was Katie."

"That's a nice name."

"Mm." he nodded. "But anyway, that's why I wanted to be a physician for a while. Wanted to help people like that. But we never had enough money to send me or Luke to school, and I've always been talented with wood. Like my father. So I kind of forgot."

"You help people now, Will Scarlett." She grabbed his upper arm and nuzzled against it for a second, as they were walking, almost as if she were hugging only his arm. It was comforting but not inappropriately intimate.

He didn't say anything, but smiled at her, and Djaq knew that her words had cheered him up.