A/N: Alright, so technically this should be roughly around Treasure of the Nation and A Good Day to Die, so it's a rough combination of those, and then since I'm lacking creativity at the moment, the next chapter may go right into season 3. I had a plan to go a little more into a Good Day to Die, but there would've been a whole 'lotta angst and show parallels and a scene nearly identical to a later one. There's also a lot of angst coming in a future chap, so I figured I'd spare you for now. That being said, let's just pretend the gap between the finale and season 3 was like, a couple of weeks instead of months, k? K.
When Guy came to, he took in Roland hovering over him, then looked at his patched up wound before settling back down. "How angry is Marian?" he murmured.
Roland chuckled. "Quite. I have Allan holding her at bay for now," he replied. "You'll be the death of all of us if you keep this up, you know," he added, pointing at the wound.
"You're all far too stubborn for that," Guy replied. "At least this one wasn't fatal."
Roland smiled again before turning to put a few things in a satchel.
Guy glanced over. "What's that?"
"I'm going out of town on business for a few days. Do try not to kill each other when I'm away. Doctors are clearly in short supply for you three aside from Robin's friend."
"What? And steal your fun away? Never," Guy replied, he went to sit up, but Roland pushed him down.
"And none of that, either. You're on bedrest, same as you arrived."
Guy tried to sit up, but sat back at the stitch of pain again. "I just said it's not fatal! Look, it only slowed me down before-"
"Before you passed out from bloodloss, my boy. You know, you may not think you are, but you're still recovering from the first one. You need to stop provoking Decker."
"I didn't provoke him. He agreed to a fair fight at first."
"Oh, you two had a gentleman's agreement when you were on two different sides and trying to kill each other," Roland realized. "Well that changes everything! Of course someone in your previous position under the sheriff will always keep his word!"
"Injure," Guy corrected. "And… Decker's strange. I assumed he's go with it."
"The point still stands. You need to stop and take it easy. Give it a few days, weeks, even. If you're so bloody inclined and headstrong, attend to my cattle- the chickens, the crops, farm for a while. Really be one of us. If you're so fond of Marian play househusband for her and have Allan be your errand boy- I doubt that last part is nothing different than what he was to you before."
"She'll either go back to hating me or hate going along with it and playing housewife in the process, and as for Allan… after what he said to me yesterday, I don't think I'd be fond of doing that to him."
"Then send her off on hunts and give the man just as much of a rest," Roland replied. "You all win, as do I," Roland suggested, tossing his hands out.
"Then you suggest the plan to Marian. You want me to take it easy, she's liable to strangle me if I say it," Guy replied.
"Deal," Roland replied.
Guy sighed. "Right then, being that I'm not an inch from death, what do you expect me to do this time around?"
"I've taken care of that," Roland replied, motioning to the table beside them. "And no excuses. I know you can read."
"It's the amount there that you expect me to read when I'm here that I'm worried about. You don't really expect…" He looked at Roland, and felt like a scolded child once again at the frown. "Of course you do."
"I'm not joking,"
"I know you're not, you old fool. I'm just getting accustomed to feeling useless again."
"Oh, name calling now. Charming," Roland smacked him on the cheek gently and Guy hissed but shook his head. "We've been over this. You and Marian made your bed and stuck yourselves with me, you best learn to accept it. I'm your father again, so do me a favor: stay the obedient son."
"I wasn't even the obedient son to Vasey, so consider yourself lucky of how I've been so far."
"I already do. Now, before you try to insult me again, I'll try to be back in a week's time. I repeat, don't kill each other when I'm gone," he left without another word, and when he opened the door and was about to close it, there was a flash of brown.
"I'm speaking with him!"
"No you're not!" The door slammed shut again.
"Yes I am Allan let me- what are you doing?! Put me down this instant!"
"Nope!"
"I-"
"Leave Giz alone!"
"He lied to me after we promised no more lies!"
"He didn't want to worry you, you git!"
"I beg your pardon?!"
"You 'eard me! It'll be a miracle when you two stop almost dying on each other! With the rate it's happening I'm next and I ain't gonna let that happen!"
Guy sighed and shook his head. Roland thought it was going to be the three of them trying to kill each other. By the sound of it, it was Allan and Marian who were going to kill each other and he'd die from his latest wound getting infected, and he couldn't even move to stop it.
So when a few minutes later, Allan opened the door and came in, sporting an apologetic smile and a bright pink handprint on one cheek, he knew he was in for it, even before Marian came in behind him, arms crossed defiantly over her chest.
"We said no more lies."
"Allan was right. I was trying not to worry you."
"And what difference would telling me the truth have made in that situation?"
Guy bit his lip, trying desperately to keep his next thought to himself, but he broke. "Not that I'm not eternally grateful for your concern about me, if you recall the last time showing concern for me at an inopportune moment got us into this mess…"
Allan flinched for Guy, and when Marian frowned, he cut in. "Well, he's not… exactly wrong. And he's not complaining that you would've shown concern, just the timing was bad… and it was when Jasper's boys were coming… and there were lots of lives at stake there instead of just the both of yours."
"That's exactly why I'm not hitting him right now," Marian replied, staring down Guy, frowning and looking away when he stared right back.
Allan looked between them, then sighed dramatically. "Well, right, now that our cook's gone, we're gonna need to go scrounge up some food. Any volunteers? No, okay, I'll be leaving then!" he turned to leave sharply, pretending not to see the pleading look Guy sent him. It was worth seeing, but he wasn't going to push it now.
Marian waited a few moments, then sighed and sat at the foot of the bed. "We said no more lies."
"I wasn't lying I was hiding the truth-"
"There's no difference!"
"I seem to remember us speaking about the Nightwatchman on numerous occasions, when you didn't confess were you lying to me or keeping the truth from me?" he countered.
Marian opened her mouth then shut it firmly before glaring at him. "… … You've been hanging around Allan too much! And it was before our agreement!" she objected before hurrying off.
Guy sighed and leaned back, wincing again when he heard what he assumed was the final cry of a chicken, only to hear Allan yell in alarm seconds later.
It was official. They were doomed.
There was no doubt they were doomed.
Allan looked down at the half-cooked chicken and rabbit and overcooked vegetables on the plates in front of him and Guy. "You don't suppose she's poisoned it, do you?"
"I doubt it. She wouldn't want to have Roland come home and find us. It would break his poor heart," Guy replied, trying to peel back part of a cooked piece of meat.
"… What if they were in on it together? I don't think he likes me, and neither does Marian…" Allan replied.
"He isn't that cruel. And why would he patch me up and then poison this?" Guy asked.
"Less suspicion?" Allan countered, then made another face. "You almost had to live with this cooking for the rest of your life, you know."
"Careful, I still do," Guy countered.
Allan hummed, then sighed. "… I never thought I would miss Much's squirrel…"
Guy arched an eyebrow at him, prodding the food again.
Allan caught the look. "Robin's second in command,"
Guy's frown deepened.
Allan motioned at his shoulder. "The chubby one, yay high, rag on his head."
"Ah. The one who never shuts up aside from you," Guy replied.
"Yeah!" Allan nodded, smirking, then glancing at the door when Marian opened it and stepped inside. He nodded a greeting.
Marian smiled weakly, then looked at the barely touched food. "Is it that bad?"
The men exchanged cautious looks.
Marian sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just… whenever I cooked I cooked for two and we never came across anything as big as what you caught, and…"
"It's fine!" Allan cut her off with a smile. "Hey, Giz, how long did Roland say he'd be gone and we'd have to deal with her cooking?"
Marian scoffed and walked over to him in order to shove him off the crate he had sat down on before stealing his seat. "How are you feeling, Guy?"
"Same as I did before without the dying aspect."
"Can we do anything for you?"
"Behave, stay out of trouble, don't poke the hornet's nest. Can't have you running off and me coming to the rescue again."
"Last I checked we're even with live saving," Marian countered.
"Point still stands," Guy replied. "Allan, if she goes off you stop her or get Hood to stop her."
"I'll try, but… she has knocked me out so she can go save the day before, so no promises," Allan replied.
Marian looked at Guy, then nodded in agreement.
Guy looked between them, scoffed, and shook his head. It was going to be a long few days.
The next morning, Allan was dropping off water to Guy and Marian when he heard rustling coming from outside. "You two hear that?" he asked.
The pair glanced up when there was a rustle in the bush outside of the window. "What…?"
A moment later, the shutters opened, and Robin squeezed through, beaming at Marian before frowning at the men.
"The Hell are you doing here again?" Guy demanded.
"Gisborne, not now, it's been a long day already," Robin snapped, then noticed the man's predicament. "What happened here? What happened to you? You didn't hit the ground that hard when I hit you."
"Decker happened to me," Guy deadpanned. "And pray tell what you're doing here, Hood. No one asked you to be here, don't you have Nottingham to check up on?"
"Bastard. Never thought I'd find someone I'd dislike more than you. As for Nottingham, I already did. I'm checking on Marian now." He looked around. "Where's the old man?"
"On business. Spit it out, Hood," Robin replied.
Robin sighed. "Some contacts have told us King Richard's going to be in the Holy Land, and Vasey's going after them. We don't know what either are going to be doing, but…I'm guessing it's not going to be good either way. We're going to the Holy Land to defend the King. If you're staying here…" both Allan and Guy practically heard the implied 'with them', "I wanted to warn you, just in case he tries to destroy everything, or Decker decides to plot with Prince John."
"High likely," Guy cut in.
Robin frowned at him questioningly.
Guy realized now Robin and Marian had identical looks of confusion. "Right before he stabbed me he offer me my old job back if I would help him get rid of Vasey permanently.
"And you denied him?" Marian asked.
If Robin and Allan there Guy would've let the smile at her hopeful tone crack through. "… 'Course not. It's not just you and I I'm looking out for, is it?"
Robin didn't bother muffling his scoff and eye roll.
Guy glared at him. "There's no point in denying Decker was me shortly after I met up with Vasey. Only looking out for himself, doing anything to please, enjoying the power. He saw me as a potential ally- he's going to keep trying, I can tell, but he still did this to me. He's going to be a danger either way. We need to be careful," Guy replied, looking at the others, then back to Robin. "And as much as I'd enjoy watching your gang fall apart that goes double for you and your people."
"Can you eliminate him for us when we're gone?" Robin asked.
Guy glanced at Allan, who shrugged. "If time and health allow it, it would be my genuine pleasure."
"When do you sail?" Marian asked.
"Tomorrow," Robin replied. "We could use you, you know."
Marian opened her mouth then firmly shut it before looking at the other two.
Guy scoffed. "Since when has my well-being or opinion affected you running off on your adventures?"
"We were just talking about this. I thought it was going to come to blows, so it's your fault as it is."
Marian looked around. "Well, things were different before, and the Sheriff had only just shoved you around, and-"
"And I've been told to sit still for a while by a man who I don't plan to defy any time soon, and I'm sure Allan's capable of seeing to everything else-"
"I'm just his slave boy again. It's nothing new," Allan cut in.
Guy rolled his eyes, but motioned at him all the same. "Go do what you do best. We'll be fine."
"You're open to protecting Richard?" Robin interrupted.
Guy shook his head. "I am not the Sheriff and I'm not in the spot to care about which brother I'm loyal to, Hood. If you're going after Richard you should stop wasting time here," Guy replied. "If you feel you need to do this, go."
Robin looked between the two. "… I'll be waiting outside."
He turned and hopped out the window again.
After a moment, Allan sighed. "Does he even remember we have a door, or…?" he looked at the others, only to find them staring at each other. "Then again, might as well start figuring out the charm, I'll just be…" he pointed at the window before nodding and hopping outside as well.
Guy waited a while before speaking. "I wasn't joking. You need to be careful if Decker's gone with Vasey. He doesn't have the mindset I do. He won't give you the chances I did. He's ruthless. If the opportunity presents itself, you surrender to him. Don't fight. I know it's not in your interest to surrender but if it's the difference between you dying or you being taken as a tool to be used against me, I need you to do the latter because you're still here if you do."
"Guy…" Marian sighed, leaning forward.
Guy matched her sigh and touched his forehead to hers."Promise me. For once promise me and don't go back on your word."
Marian paused, then nodded. "I will,"
Guy went forward to kiss her before she could protest, and took small comfort in the fact she didn't pll away immediately. "Someday I'm going to do that when I'm not worried about you going off and getting yourself killed."
Marian laughed weakly. "And you be careful too- and take it easy on Allan. You two are actually great together, and it needs to stay that way."
"Well, that's up to him, really," Guy replied.
Marian smiled again before touching his cheek before pausing, then leaving.
A few moments later, Allan hopped back inside. "Everything work out?"
"Oh, just made one of the worst mistakes I've made concerning Marian,"
Allan smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Can't be much worse than all the others,"
"I might have actually just lost her. I just don't know whether it's to Hood or eventually to Death."
That got the smile off Allan's face. He inhaled sharply, then headed for the door like a man on a mission.
"Where are you off to?" Guy demanded.
Allan popped his head back in. "Gonna go find and raid the old man's liquor cabinet. Sounds like you're gonna need it."
"Allan!" Guy objected, but this time there was no response.
A long few days, indeed.
