14
The voice made Frankie jump. She turned round to see Robin stood by her window with a cheeky glint in his eye.
"Oh God, don't do that Hood." She said walking to the mirror.
She started to pull pins out of her hair.
"It's Robin actually."
She glanced at his reflection in the mirror.
"Okay, don't do that Robin."
He smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Frankie asked.
She turned towards him pulling the last pins out of her hair. It tumbled down; catching the light as it fell.
Robin had to stifle a gasp as he took in her beauty. He remembered seeing her in the corridor as she was talking to her uncle. She was breathtaking, and her similarity to Marion was uncanny.
"Robin?" She said gently, bringing him back to reality.
"Sorry. I was just thinking about how similar you are to…"
"Marion?" Frankie finished for him, "Yes I've heard." She said bitterly.
"You have?"
"Yes, its all I hear from Guy; 'you're very like Marion,' 'this was her room,' 'the similarity is uncanny.'"
Robin felt sheepish, as this was exactly what he'd been thinking.
"I'm so sick of it. I'm not her, I'm a completely different person. I wish people would get over her and stop acting like I'm her."
She realised who she was talking to and turned around to face him.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry. I got carried away. She was your wife wasn't she? I'm so sorry."
She saw pain in his eyes, the same pain that had been there when she met him in the forest.
"It's okay." He said quietly.
"No it's not. It was insensitive and stupid of me and I apologise."
She watched Robin warily.
He moved away from the window and sat down on her bed. He looked around at her room. At the window, which he'd climbed through frequently, at the hanging by the door, which he'd hidden behind while she was talking to Gisborne, and then at the bed, where she'd hidden him from the guards once under the covers in the middle of the night.
He sighed. The pain inside him, which was normally a dull ache, had flared again. He felt as if half his soul had been ripped out and left a gaping hole in his heart.
"Robin?"
All he wanted to do was go back and say all the things he should have said so much earlier. Maybe then they'd have had more time together and he'd have known to treasure every moment.
"Robin?"
He glanced at Frankie who had moved to sit next to him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He was momentarily disorientated as his mind reluctantly left the past and groped around for the present.
"Are you okay?" She asked gently.
He could see the concern in her face. Vaguely he thought how strange this was as she'd known him less than a day.
"Yeah I'm fine."
She looked at him unconvinced. When he didn't add anything further she spoke.
"Well if you ever need to talk you know where I am."
She squeezed his shoulder briefly then stood up and moved away from him. She lent against the wall facing him.
"So, what are you doing here?" She asked again, changing the subject.
"I was here to thank you."
"To thank me? What for?"
She smiled
"Oh you mean for saving your buts while you were being idiots?"
"No, I mean for giving us the location of the grain."
He frowned.
"What do you mean 'when we were being idiots'?"
"You know, in the corridor, where you so weren't supposed to be by the way, when you were gaping like idiots and I had to stop uncle turning round and catching you."
"One, you didn't have to do anything I had everything completely under control. And two, I was not gaping."
Frankie scoffed at his last remark.
"Oh yeah? So what do you call this?"
She did an impression of Robin, staring with her mouth gaping open. Then she giggled.
"And it wasn't just you. Your friend, the tall, handsome one was too. I don't know his name."
Robin frowned confused.
"By 'the handsome one' you're sure you don't mean me?" He said cheekily.
Frankie gave him a withering look.
"No. He had brown hair, bright blue eyes and was stood just in front of you."
Robin's frown deepened.
"You mean Allan?"
"Maybe, I don't know any of your gangs names. Anyway you were both stood gaping at me."
Robin recognised the stubborn look in her eye and sighed. He didn't have the energy to argue with her.
"Fine we were gaping, but you looked beautiful and you still didn't need to do anything, it was all under control."
She scoffed.
"Well first of all thank you, but if uncle had turned round you'd have been dead."
She smiled sadly.
"Look at us, we've known each other less than a day and we're all ready bickering like little kids."
They both fell silent, lost in thought.
"Well I need to get back." Robin said eventually, "If you need to see me come into the forest, we'll find you."
He was halfway out her window when she spoke.
"Robin?"
"Yeah."
"Be careful."
"Always am."
He smiled cheekily, saluted her, and jumped down out of sight.
Frankie smiled and rolled her eyes at him with a smile on her face.