Well, this is the last chapter that I have finished at the moment. The next one is in progress, but it may be a while until the update at this rate, plus I'll be away for a week now. This chapter is pretty important in the scheme of things as far as the recovery goes...and I apologize to the Guy fans out there for what happened...that was how it was always going to go, though I find myself being sad about what happened...and I managed to make myself cry while writing a little bit of it...so, anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter. Don't forget to review!

Three Months Later

"All work and no play makes for a very boring life, Robin."

A deep voice called Robin of Locksley from his work. He looked up to see Raymond of Durham standing in front of his desk, a faint smirk on the blond man's face. Robin raised an eyebrow and let out a sigh.

"It's good to see you, too, Raymond," he replied absently. "What are you doing here? You're Captain of the King's Guard, and, last I checked, King Richard was not here."

Raymond gave him an irritated look as he pulled off his gloves. He did not respond immediately. Instead, he walked over to a chair by the door, lifted it up, and took it over to Robin's desk. He sat down across from his old friend and his smirk returned.

"I was sent by King Richard to make sure that everything was performing optimally for you and the shire," Raymond told him. "If you came out of this little office of yours, you would have known that this morning," he added. Robin glared at him.

"This is not funny," he retorted. "You told my guards not to tell me, didn't you?" Raymond chuckled, nodding.

"Of course I did. What fun would it be if you knew the very instant I walked into Nottingham Castle? Not very much, that much I can tell. Do you spend all of your day every day cooped up in here?" he asked curiously.

"No. I spend three days a week out in the Shire, and one day doing as I please," Robin replied dryly.

"How are things with Marian?" Raymond inquired.

The abrupt change of topic knocked Robin slightly off balance. His expression darkened and he looked back at the parchment he had been writing on. The silence in the room was tense until Raymond broke it.

"Robin," he started. Robin slammed his quill down. Fury flashed in his eyes as he glared at Raymond. "Don't do this-"

"Don't do what, Raymond?" Robin demanded. His voice was softly, cold, and very, very angry. "Don't hate her for what she did? Don't blame her for her willful betrayal? Don't what?"

Raymond sighed. He did not so much as flinch while Robin railed against his former betrothed.

"Don't hold this against her, Robin. It's not entirely her fault. You know that," he replied. "You did promise that you would find a way out for her. She has only dealt with it as she has been forced to."

"Everything is a choice, Raymond," Robin snapped in reply. "Everything we do."

"She had a habit of saying that to you, didn't she?" Raymond asked. Robin growled at him, sitting back down with a thump.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Robin…" Raymond admonished, giving him a warning look.

"What? Now you're going to tell me that I should let everything go back to how it was before?" the Sheriff of Nottingham demanded. "What's done can never be undone."

Raymond sighed, looking down at the gloves he held. This was not going as he had wanted it to. Robin was still so hostile toward Marian. It was sad, really. Raymond had spent a little time with Robin when they had been teenagers – he was only a little older than Robin. He could remember when Robin was absolutely besotted with the young lady, who was five years his junior.

Robin had been so much different then. Yes, the man at the core of the Lord of Locksley's being was the same, but he had been through much that had destroyed bits and pieces of him. Losing Marian to Gisborne had simply been the final straw, it seemed.

"You need to think about this rationally," Raymond informed him. "The way you are thinking about it now is ridiculous. You realize that it is not entirely her fault, yet you blame her for everything. You're at fault, too, Robin. Think about that," he added.

Then he got to his feet and walked away from his friend. Robin was silent. "I am going to go rest for a little while," the older man told him. "I trust that we will have dinner tonight and discuss what I will need to report to His Majesty?"

"Of course," Robin replied absently. "Don't be late, Raymond. I don't have time to deal with your insistence on lack of time management."

"I won't be," the Crusader responded. "Think about what I said, Robin. It will do you some good."

Robin did not respond as Raymond walked away. Raymond did not glance back to look at him as he left the room, but he did wonder what had happened to Robin in the last few months? The former outlaw looked exhausted, like he was stretching himself far beyond his limits.

A moment later, he passed a pale and frantic looking Lady Marian. Raymond paused, half-turning to look at her.

"Is there something wrong, my lady?" he asked. Marian turned to look at him, her blue eyes wide. There was a tense silence for a moment before she nodded.

"Yes," she said. Her tone was soft, scared, and very unlike the woman Raymond remembered meeting so long ago.

"May I ask what it is?" he inquired. Marian bit her lip, which he now noticed was bleeding.

"It is nothing you should concern yourself with, my lord," she told him.

"It has to do with Robin. He is one of my closest friends, Lady Marian. I know what he has gone through and I know that he is very bitter. What can I do?" Raymond asked. Marian sighed.

"My son is ill and Robin will not speak to me. He has forbidden me to leave the grounds and he has made sure that I am watched. I cannot leave the castle, nor can I sneak away as I used to. My son needs a physician," she told him. "But I cannot fetch one and I do not know what to do."

Raymond paused for a long moment, his deep blue gaze meeting hers briefly. Everything Robin had told him about Marian before his return to the return to England three years before had said that she was everything he wanted. They had even been engaged before Robin had gone to fight. When he returned to the Holy Land, he had been a changed man. He said it was because of her. He blamed everything on her.

As he watched her, Raymond did not believe a word that Robin had told him in the last two years. Marian was not power-hungry or ambitious as Robin had accused her of being. She was not a bad person. She had just been forced into a situation and had attempted to make the best of it.

Just because it had not turned out well for Robin, he was bitter toward her. Beyond bitter, in reality. He seemed to hate her more than anything now.

"Perhaps you could try again?" Raymond suggested. Marian shook her head.

"No. He has refused to speak to me since I attempted to help Guy escape three months ago. You saw how angry he was with me for that," she reminded him. Raymond nodded.

"That does not surprise me, considering how Robin hated your husband," he said. Marian nodded, tears welling in her eyes.

"He did, but Guy was a good man. Robin never gave him a chance to make up for the things he did. He had stopped listening to the Sheriff and he was finally doing the right thing…" she told him. Raymond frowned slightly.

"Begging your pardon, my lady, but your husband committed high treason against King Richard. Robin is completely loyal to our king. He nearly died for King Richard several times, including when your husband tried to kill him three years ago," he reminded her.

"You do not even know if it was Guy who did it," she replied. "He was ill when Robin was in the Holy Land. He nearly died then. There was no way he could have been there to attempt to kill the King," she continued.

"Yet, he admitted it to Robin when he discovered the tattoo on his arm. Think about it, Lady Marian. Did you see Gisborne when he was ill? Have you ever thought about the fact that he might have lied to you? Everyone in the Guard knows about that tattoo and we all know what the Sheriff did to it. I saw the scar on his arm when he admitted it to me." Marian's eyes widened as she stared at him.

"He…admitted it?" she asked. Raymond nodded, trying to ignore the horror in her voice and expression.

"He did. The day before he died," he told her. "Robin was quite vindicated by that. I assumed that he would have told you."

"He did not say anything," Marian informed him. "He let me believe that Guy died innocent and that he was just out for revenge. Robin has changed a great deal since we knew each other."

Raymond could not agree more with that statement. Robin of Locksley was not the man he had once been. "I suppose he blames you for that," he said quietly. Marian nodded. The first of her tears slipped down her face.

"He does. He made that very clear to me when we first spoke after King Richard returned. He blames me for everything," she replied.

"Perhaps that is because of you actions when he had returned to Nottingham," Raymond suggested. "He was openly hurting when I found him to give him the King's missive," he continued. "To be honest, Lady Marian, I have never seen someone as torn up as he was when I arrived."

Marian stared at him for a long moment. It was as if she was unsure what to say. More tears dripped down her face as she nodded. "I know. I saw him once after my wedding when he rode away with Much. I had no idea what it would do to him. Does he truly hate me as much as he seems to?"

"Perhaps," Raymond replied. "But Robin is a good man, even if he acts in a manner that is harsher than it should be. He needs time to be able to forgive you for betraying him,"

"I never did anything to him-"

"You married his archenemy, did you not?" Raymond cut her off. "You of all people should have known how Robin would react to that. He still loved you when you wed his enemy. It tore his heart out," he said. "I do not believe he has ever recovered from that."

"It was not my choice to marry Guy. He forced me into it. I found out after the ceremony that I had been tricked…but I did love him despite that," Marian replied. "Has Robin truly been so hurt by what happened?"

Raymond nodded. "You have no idea, Lady Marian. I have known Robin for a long time. I watched him fall apart and put himself back together again in the Holy Land. He did the best he could, but he will never be the same. He was torn apart by your betrayal of his love…" he continued, looking back at the doors that separated them from Robin. "It nearly destroyed him."

"I had no idea," Marian said softly. Raymond gave her a knowing look.

"That is why you fail to make any progress. You will not see past your own pride, milady. You need to be more understanding of him. I realize that he has not been acting in a manner befitting his station in regards to you, but you did bring this on yourself."

Marian stared at him for a long moment. "There was nothing I could do to avoid it. One way or another he was going to be hurt. Yet he acts like a child compared to the grown man he is," she replied. Raymond sighed.

"I can see that nothing I am going to say is going to make any difference," he said. "Robin needs time to forgive you, but what you are doing and what you have been doing will not earn you anything. Robin will not respect you for what you are doing and he will never listen to you if you are not willing to act appropriately toward him. Good day, Lady Marian."

Marian's mouth fell open as she watched the Captain of the Guard go in shock. She had not expected that. She had not expected any of it, if she was honest with herself.

She bit her lip again and thought about what Raymond had said. He had a point, she had to admit. Perhaps her pride had pushed him farther away. Perhaps the fact that he had loved her was making this very painful for him. She could still recall the look on his face when he saw her and Guy leaving the church.

Guy had been pleased by that expression. He had told her that he felt like he had finally won a battle with Robin a few days later when he had caught the then outlaw in the act of stealing money right out of the castle. Robin had been forced to bolt, leaving behind most of the coins behind.

Being with Guy had been difficult at first. She had cared about him before. She had found him attractive, certainly. There had, however, been times during their betrothal when her dearest wish was to be as far away from Sir Guy of Gisborne as possible.

When their wedding was put into motion, everything had been such a whirlwind that she hadn't known her feelings for him or for Robin at the time. When it had been revealed that King Richard had not returned, she had been absolutely furious with Guy. With time, he had convinced her that he had only been trying to protect her and her father and that he had not known until much later. It had taken a little bit of time to sort out her feelings, particularly after that, but she had known that she loved him before they had discovered her pregnancy.

They had been happy together before Robin had come back. He had changed. Guy had not been following Vaisey blindly anymore. He had done so much good in his position as deputy. He had even saved people from the Sheriff's injustice and he had been kind to the people of Locksley and the other villagers. He had truly changed.

That had not stopped Robin from having him hanged. Nothing could have stopped that. Robin had been hell-bent on eliminating Guy. He had not even given Guy a chance to prove himself.

Robin had been nearly ready to strangle her himself when she had been caught attempting to break Guy out of his cell as the Night Watchman. She had never seen him so angry before. After that, she had a guard following her everywhere. She had been given no privacy, save for when the guard had been kind enough to allow her a moment or two for the sake of decency.

Marian was grateful for the kindness of the other members of the King's Guard. It was because of one very kind man that she had been able to say her goodbyes. She had only been allowed a few moments, but that time meant the world to her. Because of him, Guy had been able to hold her in his arms as they said everything they could to each other before they had been caught. That last kiss still lingered strongly in her memory. Even after they had been caught and Robin had dragged her away. He had put Henry in the stocks for allowing her to see Guy.

The hanging had been the worst of it. It had been so quiet, so somber, so heartbreaking. Guy had been so very solemn as he was led to the gallows. All they had gotten was an instant, a brief touch and a soft 'I love you' before Guy had been taken away from her forever. The moment when their eyes had met for the last time had practically ripped her heart out of her chest.

She had truly loved him. There was no chance that anything could make her deny it. She hated that he was gone. The hurt was still so fresh. Marian missed Guy horribly every day.

Perhaps she should not blame all that had happened entirely on Robin. If what Durham said was true, then Guy had committed high treason. That was something that no king looked on lightly. Had he known that he was going to be sentenced to death the instant the king knew who had tried to kill him? Had he known that Robin had gone back to the Holy Land after their wedding and that was why he had not found the outlaw in the woods a single time and the visits to the village had abruptly halted? Considering the time he had spent ranting about it, she sincerely doubted that he had known. None of them had. They knew that Robin was gone. The guards had found the remains of the outlaws' camp some time after they had disappeared.

Then all of this happened. Everything she had felt was constant in her life was gone and she was left alone with her son. They had nothing but the small fortune her father had left her and the charred remains of Knighton Hall. That brought a whole new set of painful memories to the surface. Her father's death and the storm that had set the building on fire less than a week after his burial… Robin had no idea what she had gone through when he was away.

Robin was not pleased, either, when he walked out of his office to find Marian waiting for him.

Posted 7/9/11