Move with the Times
By Catherine

Disclaimer: I own nothing and am making no money out of writing this fanfiction.

Rating: M just to be on the safe side, could probably get away with a T.

Beta: Betaed by the wonderful CeeChelle Lisa Gisborne-Hardy from . Any remaining errors are entirely my own.

Set in: Modern day Britain

Chapter Five

It was gone nine when Guy pulled up outside the hotel and handed his keys to the valet, he knew that he was now a little more than fashionably late and he had debated how late to delay leaving his apartment. On the one hand he was dying to see Marian, but on the other, he did not want to be standing around for over an hour, either forced to make small talk or stand by himself brooding. Well aware that everyone there would know who he was by the end of the night; Guy knew that he would have to put up with some impertinences, or worse sympathy. He did not think that he could take it, not from these people. A small part of him wanted to turn and run, to plot his return and revenge in solitude and spring it on them after it had already been accomplished. Yet, he knew that he could not. He could not run, he had to enter with his head held high, as befitted a Gisborne, and deal with any problems which may arise.

At least he had driven himself, he thought as he made his way through the marble archway and saw some couples in clusters already discussing what time the chauffer came back on duty. While he knew that he was supposed to want to be driven around, Guy hated it, even as a child he had always wanted to be the one in control. In fact, many of the things which he 'should', according to his mother, have wanted never had held much interest for Guy.

Thinking of his mother caused him a pang, she would have loved a party like this, in fact, she would have been hovering around Dr. Fitzwalter (Marian's mother) for weeks prior trying to give advice about the menus, the table decorations etc. It had always been one of Guy's father's greatest regrets that he had not managed to give his wife the status that would set her apart from the other society wives and which would allow her to organise a party like this.

As Guy progressed through the lounge into the main ballroom he could not help but suspect that Marian's mother had planned this affair. Everything was 'of the best' yet elegant in its simplicity, still there was a lightness of touch that he did not recognise. As he saw the white roses which adorned all of the tables he felt a wave of nostalgia; being his mother's favourites, their house had always been full of them.

Moving through the ornate rooms, he felt a little self-conscious as it dawned on him for the first time that he was not just here for business, nor to see Marian, but that for the first time in almost a decade he was going to see the people who had been like second parents to him. He felt as if he should go and brush his hair again, make sure that his collar was straight and rewash his hands.

Just as he wondering where the nearest washroom was, he noticed a small group of ladies enter the ballroom from the other side. He recognised a few of them from that afternoon and began to search their party for Marian. Finally he saw her, magnificent in a midnight blue strapless gown, and standing a little behind the rest of the party, talking to a woman who much resembled her mother.

He had to go to them, to speak to them even if Marian were angry with him about something. He was not sure what she would say or how to approach them, it had been so long. He needed an excuse of some sort; he looked around for the waiter with the glasses of champagne. He had previously been sending them away with his best no nonsense look, but now he thought about it, a couple of glasses would make the perfect introduction.

As he was taking two glasses from the tray, he heard his name on the lips of a woman behind him. He could have sworn, but he knew better than that. It could be the wife of one of the people that his company did business with ... oh, his company, he liked the sound of that. Sure that he would be able to speak with Marian later, he turned to see someone that he recognised from the group from the coffee shop – or Marian's little friends as he had dubbed them.

Annie, as she was apparently called, was pleasant enough but not the woman with whom he wished to speak, however she was useful for some information. After having complimented the decoration of the halls he found out that Marian had taken over that job, "very sad". He could hardly believe it, in fact, he did not. Marian knew how much it meant to her Mama, she would never have done such a thing. He hoped that Annie's information regarding Locksley was more to be relied upon, as she announced that Robin had left to join the war in Iraq some years ago.

"That should make my job a lot easier", Guy thought to himself with a smirk, which elicited a puzzled expression from his female admirer. He could have explained himself he supposed, but he was in no humour to do so. He felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and that he no longer had to act with haste.

He sipped his champagne and fixed his eyes once more upon Marian who now appeared to giving orders to the serving staff. A glance at his watch told him that they would soon be sitting down to dinner. He debated whether he could slip over there and ensure that he had engaged her for some dances before the gong was struck, but thought it unlikely. It would however make very little difference as he meant to dance with her, and if that meant disappointing someone else then they would just have to get used to it.

"Stop flirting with the girlies", he heard a slightly wheezing voice, which he had no difficultly in recognising as his mentor's, float over. Had Guy not known his voice so well he would still have known who it was before turning around as Vaisey, obviously realising that this was a special occasion, had apparently decided to bathe in cologne.

"Just getting to know our market", Guy replied easily as he turned to face – stare down at –at the troll.

"Wouldn't you do that better from behind a desk? Haven't finished already have you?" Vaisey sneered, still vexed by Guy's height. It was all very well and good to have Guy around to do his bidding, but when he started getting his work done in time to go to parties and socialise things were going too far.

"Well, it had better all be there on Monday. Don't disappoint me Guy", he said in a voice loud enough to carry, before walking off to spread misery. Guy seethed; he always did all of his work, in fact he did the work of about four men and it was always perfect! And now for Vaisey not only to put him down like this, but to do it in front of people over whom he had hoped to have power. It beyond the limit of human endurance!

Guy could feel people around him glancing at him, and his ire rose even further. It was with difficulty that he suppressed the urge to thump Vaisey, he still needed him ... for now. But the others, he would make sure that anyone who had heard Vaisey would pay. The only blessing was that neither Marian nor her mother could have heard as they were on the other side of the room, and if by some ill luck they did chance to hear a whisper of it later, they would not believe it. Why should they? Did he not look every inch the perfect trustworthy gentleman?

This hope was shattered, however, as Annie reclaimed his attention. No doubt she meant to be kind, when she commented that lots of father's were like that; always pushing their children to do better but no words could have been more unwelcome to Guy at that moment.

He made an odd sound, somewhere between a growl and sound of acknowledgement. Now he was sure that Marian was going to find out, and probably believe it too. Seeming to sense that there was nothing that she could say to help, Annie bid him farewell for the present and went over to join Marian.

Although finally free to do the same, he did not feel that he could, not yet at least. Another glance at his watch informed him that they still had a few minutes until they would be summoned to the table and he strode out onto the balcony hoping to compose himself a little better.

Guy began to calm down slightly, as he leant against the railings and breathed in the crisp night air mixed with the smell of freshly cut grass. The view really was lovely, even though they were in the middle of London all that he could see was the perfectly kept garden and the sunset. It was somehow empowering, he made him feel just as invincible now as it had when he was younger and his parents had thrown garden parties.

He had almost succeeded in blocking out the conversations which were going on further down the balcony, until Marian's name caught his attention. He tried to continue to ignore them, after all a gentleman did not eavesdrop, however his curiosity got the better of him as he heard snippets such as, "Marian's replaced her mother", "so sad", "never would have believed it", float over to him on the night breeze. Finally he was going to go over there and tell them to stop gossiping about her when the gong went off and he had to head for his place at the table.

Throughout the meal, which, he had to admit, was a good one. Guy kept trying to steal glances at Marian but was mostly blocked by Vaisey, who for once had chosen to sit in the middle of the table rather than at the head – probably just to upset Marian's seating plan. Guy did not believe, for a moment, the nasty things that the girls had been saying about Marian. He knew her and knew that she would never do something like usurp her own mother's position. Once he could get closer to them he would get everything straightened out, although he was still nervous the breath of air had done him good and now he was only sorry that her father was apparently absent and so he would not be able to have a full reunion.

Guy could almost have kissed Vaisey – had the latter not been quite such an ugly toad – when he got up to make a speech, allowing Guy a much better view of Marian. Her chestnut hair was pulled back into a loose bun with only a few curly tendrils falling around her face. Her only jewellery was a diamond collar which matched the sparkle in her eyes. Guy did not believe that he had ever seen a lovelier creature.

He was so busy staring at her, that he was not really paying any attention to Vaisey, who was prattling on about the new order and the initiatives that he was going to put into place. Guy had heard it all before. He was sure that Vaisey had got in a few back handed compliments towards Marian and her family, but that was just his way. Besides that should mean that Marian would not be too quick to judge if Annie had been gossiping about him.

A few seconds later however Guy wished that he had been paying more attention to Vaisey as he observed Marian turn quite white and leave the room the second that his hair challenged employer had sat back down. Making his apologies Guy left as well, hoping that the others would be too busy with their own affairs and wondering what they were going to have for pudding to notice where he went. He had only spoken a few words to the people nearest to him after all. In spite of what he had assumed, there were very few people there of real importance, apparently the beginning of season party did not actually include the stockholders – who Guy already knew – as much as their immediate families etc who liked to feel involved in the process.

Guy navigated the hallways with ease, having been here on more than one occasion in his youth and was soon at the kitchen door where he could hear Marian saying something to the head chef. He waited until she reappeared before asking, "Are you alright?" He would have liked his first words to her to have been something more eloquent, but they were all that he could think of when he saw her still slightly too pale face.

"I'm fine", Marian replied, too much distracted at that moment to really know how to respond. She had thought about him all afternoon and wondered how she would act when she saw him again, she had imagined them dancing together in the ballroom, laughing over champagne and, in one moment that made her cheeks turn red, even kissing. What she had not imagined however, was that she would be disparaged in front of her guests by Vaisey. At least Guy did not seem to be attempting to rub it in. Still she was not going to let him see that Vaisey's words had any effect on her, "I was just checking with the chef about dessert. It isn't easy managing an event of this size, you know".

She had not meant it to sound bitter, she was just a little tired after all of her exertion and did not want Guy to think that she did nothing all day as Vaisey had implied or that she would enjoy "a nice rest" along with her father now that he was out of a job.

"I meant to say, it is a lovely evening. I heard that you organised it all, although I did not believe it at first", he thought for a moment of how to phrase his next comment so that it would not seem like an accusation, "but if it is too much, maybe you shouldn't try to take your mother's place".

"I'm not", Marian said shocked.

"I am sure that you are not doing so intentionally, but it cannot be easy for her to be replaced and forgotten", Guy tried to explain.

"How dare you", Marian growled, she raised her hand to slap him but felt herself welling up even as she did so. She could not let him see her cry and so pushed passed him as she ran off. Guy was about to follow her but did not get more than a few steps when he found his way barred by Vaisey, who was clapping slowly.

"Congratulations. Bringing up the girl's dead mother and suggesting that all of Marian's efforts to keep her mother's memory alive are in fact devices to make people forget her and focus on Marian. I couldn't have done better myself. Maybe there is a future for you in my company after all, come and see me on Monday", Vaisey grinned nastily before returning to the party to spread his venom.

Guy felt sick to his stomach. Marian's mother had died. How had he not known that? All of the time that he had been mourning his own parent's deaths and wondering why Marian had never called, he had never once thought that she might have gone through something similar. He had to find her, he had to explain.