A/N: Yes, another update! Another victory! I have the plot outlined better so things should run more smoothly, especially since finals week is coming up and I'll be able to write more often outside of my job! Maybe I'll be able to finish the story this summer, I don't know. Probably not. I have so many ideas and I don't know where this will take me and it kind of depends if you guys are interested in it as well. Anyway, here it is! Chapter 11! Enjoy!


The Sheriff of Nottingham went to bed and woke up disappointed for the next few days. Really, he knew he couldn't pressure his wife into enjoying the God given right married couples could share in bed at night. Well, he could but he wasn't going to do that. He had seen plenty of that in the Holy Lands, all of it disgusted him.

He had thought with how eager she had responded to him on their wedding night, she would be eager to continue such activities. When that wasn't the case for night two to five, Ben was shamefully disappointed by the gentle rejection his wife gave him. Here had been a chance for him to actually treat sex with intimacy compared to his time in the Crusades, stress and lust his main drive then. Ben wasn't really a holy man, but he wanted happiness in a marriage. Not what his parents had.

By the fifth day, his injured pride had healed. He tried not to doubt if he was any good in bed and that was the reason she was avoiding his; Kira didn't have anything else to compare him to. Right?

Like maggots, his doubts preyed on the fringes of his conscious as he went about his day. Ben wondered if it was sane to think of someone so much in such a short amount of time. His thoughts were consumed by her. This was madness. It had to be. Not even the Crusades had him such an emotional mess, not in this way.

Ben was entering his home after visiting Gisborne to finalize some plans when he heard a pot crash. He stepped inside quickly, just in time to hear the back door in the kitchen close. Seconds later, Kira was running out of the kitchen with a flushed face. When she saw him, she stopped like a deer that caught the faintest scent of a wolf.

"Oh," Kira tucked loose strands of her hair behind her ear, "You're home early."

Ben kept his features masked as regarded her. "Yes, Gisborne had the courtesy to stop going on about himself after three hours."

That made a knowing smirk cross her face. It pleased him to know that he could get such a reaction that wasn't wide eyes, wariness, or her previous bouts of contempt when they first met. They weren't his parents and they weren't fools in love, but they seemed to be heading in the right direction so far.

"You were gone for longer. I can only imagine what other boring things he had to carry on with."

Ben shrugged. He had already told her Gisborne was planning his little competition. "Not so much boring as it was annoying. He was adamant about the amount of my guards he wanted posted."

Kira tilted her head slightly as her brows furrowed. "That took a few more hours?"

Ben snorted and shook his head. "Not just that, no." His eyes flicked momentarily to the kitchen, seeing shards of the broken pot on the ground.

Kira turned and followed his gaze. "Ah, I was in a hurry and knocked it over."

The Sheriff looked at his wife's apologetic expression. There was a wariness under the mask, he could make it out in her eyes. Ben was known for his occasional...tantrums. Another thing the people pissed on him about, even though the town drunkard was caught repeatedly beating his children past a disciplinary manner.

"We can clean it up later. First, I want a bath." He was saddle sore and dusty from helping Gisborne spot out a clearing on his land for the competition that would be convenient for any woodsy outlaws to pop out into.

Kira nodded. She turned to go back to the kitchen before halting and turning back to him. "Do you need any help?"

The question itself was harmless. Ben tried to remind himself of that lest his hopes sore too high. It had only been one time but a bath had united them.

Maintaining an air of indifference, Ben accepted her assistance with grace. It would help to have an extra pair of hands to draw water from the well. He shoved his expectations to the side the best he could, but like his doubts, they gnawed at the edge of his curiosity.


Considering he was physically worn from a day on horseback, Ben turned out to be very grateful for the extra help. It got him thinking about how long it had been since someone had aided him, even in the most mundane way of drawing water from the well and pouring it into the tub next to it. Kira took over the work without much fuss, allowing Ben to sit on one of the benches and relax for a second.

Watching her, he noticed the dirt that was on her dress, hands, and even on her face. It occurred to him then that the reason he hadn't seen her inside the house often was because she was outside, in the garden.

"Have you planted anything?"

Kira looked up at him in surprise, almost dropping the bucket full of water. She dumped it into the tub and stirred the embers under the tub to keep the water hot as she continued to top it off. "I have. I planted some herbs. Hopefully they'll take."

The casualness of her tone made something warm inside Ben. He chuckled. "Hopefully?"

"Am I to remind you that you've married the worst woman to take care of a garden?"

A smile twitched on his lips. "No. I'm just glad you're using your wedding gift."

Kira poured in one last bucket of water before she wiped her brow of sweat. Slowly, her eyes lifted to meet his. "I never-"

Ben held up a hand. "You don't need to."

Her shoulders sagged a bit but there was half smile on her face as she accepted his words.

"But I do need some help."

Those hazel eyes narrowed on him suspiciously.

Ben gestured to his tunic and the chainmail under it. After the one fateful night of receiving his scar, he had dug out his old chainmail in case Robin or his men ambushed him in the forest with Gisborne. He counted himself lucky, getting away with the ugly mark that ran down his face and part of his shoulder. The smaller man could have killed him if he had desired it.

"You make it sound like your wedding present is me helping you out of your chainmail." Kira spoke wryly as she approached him after dousing the embers under the tub so it could begin to cool enough to get in.

"If it is that, I would be most grateful." Ben said honestly.

She pursed her lips but Ben saw the smile as she began to untie the tunic.

"Kira?"

"Yes?"

"Have I done something?"

She paused at a knot momentarily before carrying on. "What do you mean?"

"I know I gave you your own room but I have been wondering why you keep away from me when I am home." He cautiously peaked at her in a sidelong manner. When she was finished untying the knots keeping his tunic over his armor, she pulled it over his head and tossed it to the side.

"There's a clasp." He gestured to his neck, where the hood of his mail was linked to the rest of the getup.

She approached him, getting close enough for him to smell the earth and sunshine off of her. It was a pleasant musk, compared to his cooking under heavy layers.

"Well, it has been hard adjusting." Kira finally answered.

"Yes, I understand that-"

"No, not with the change in how my days are carried out. I don't mind it much now. What I mean is that it has been hard to adjust with you." She unclasped the hood and placed it heavily on the table nearby.

Ben must have looked put off because she continued to explain before he could ask.

"I thought I knew you. I knew what I wanted to know about you, like everyone else. I believed you were a monster."

He thought of the night she had gotten royally pissed over how he had taken over her room. If he had known it was her room, he wouldn't have taken it at the time. Luke was a cunning old bastard. Ben had seeked out Kira an hour later only to find her curled up by the fire. He'd surrendered a blanket and tucked her in, making her mumble in her sleep. That was the moment when Ben thought maybe he could tolerate her sharp tongue in marriage if only he could see that gentle side.

Now, Kira was admitting something most were too proud to do. She was behind him now, unclasping the rest of his chainmail along his back so he couldn't see her face as she continued.

"And yet you have shown small kindnesses some don't even consider making for me."

Ben opened his mouth to say anything to negate her words but she was right. Where he had given her space, most men felt entitled to their women and took them by force. His father had felt entitled. And while his mother never allowed him to place a hand on her when she didn't want it, she still had to make the effort and show her displeasure.

Finally, the chainmail was all unclasped and Kira came around in front of him to tug it off over his head. Ben ended up leaning forward from the weight of all the metal passing over his head. It got somewhat stuck at one point but Kira tugged harder and it came loose, knocking her back and pulling him forward. He landed on top of her with the mail.

"Ben." She wheezed. "I can't breathe."

It took him a second to process anything she said after 'Ben'. How did she know? The sly smile of Friar Lorsan's face filtered into his head. He wouldn't doubt the old gossip had told her some things about him.

"Please!"

"Sorry." He was brought back to his sense from her plea and pushed himself off of her lithe body enough to pull the chainmail from in between them. There he stayed above her, staring into her eyes because she had still said his name. His actual name. Most didn't know it and those that did would rather say his nickname as another way to spit on him.

She was panting, her chest rising to barely brush against his. Suddenly, he was very aware of her being and her soft breath against his neck.

"Do you still want to take a bath while it's warm?" Her tone was playful but there was a darker light in her eyes, something that mirrored in his own. It was reserved but hungry. So he didn't horrorify her after all. Her words had said as much but the look in her eyes cemented them to truth in his mind.

Ben licked his lips and pushed himself off to the side. Kira sat up and began untying the last layer of clothing he didn't necessarily need help with. The final tunic was pulled off and by that time, they were both breathing somewhat harder from either the labor or the tension that had been struck anew between them.

She began to gather the clothing, leaving the mail and was heading to the door when Ben asked after her.

"Join me?"

Kira turned, that light still in her eyes. "Are baths becoming a code for us?"

So she was aware of how he felt too. Though, the situation in his pants probably gave off enough evidence. Ben decided to press his luck.

"They can be." A boyish smile lit his features but he waited without breathing.

She pursed her lips and looked down. "Thank you."

His hopes flopped.

"I still want to get used to you. Outside of baths." Kira met his gaze gently.

His hopes soared. That was better than any sex he could ask for. His dream at achieving a better relationship with his wife than his father did had just become almost tangible.

"As you wish." Ben nodded.

She smiled and slipped out of the room, leaving him with an angry erection and renewed hope. If there had been something Han Strod had been right about, it was that a wife could effortlessly and unknowingly be the death of her husband.