Rating ~ Verging on M, if don't like DONT READ

Chapter Twenty One ~ Anger Turn Passion

We said nothing for what seemed like forever, just remained staring at each other. I wasn't sure how to feel, scared? Confused? Worried?

Robin clenched his jaw tightly then spun on his heel. I thought he was going to leave, though I heard the unmistakable sound of the door locking and I took another step back, only to fall back onto the loveseat. I half-expected Robin to turn to face me, now he had locked us both in, and shout. He didn't.

He remained with his back facing me, his body tense, for another long silent moment before I saw him fall forward and rest his forehead and palms against the wood of the door.

"Robin?" I asked again, timidly. As I spoke, I saw his back flinch and then his body began to shake. It was only when he turned around, I saw the tears streaking down his cheeks and realised he was crying.

He collapsed, demolished, against the door and slid slowly down to sit in front of it, his head in his hands.

I moved quickly, and soon I was kneeling in front of him.

"I'm sorry." He choked through his tears. My heart just broke at the sound. It didn't help that he was clenching his fists hard and seemed to be scratching at his skin. Immediately, I took action.

I tried to pry his hands away from his face, but he fought hard. I was stubborn though and he settled for leaning his head back against the wood and letting me hold his wrists, to keep his nails from attacking his face again.

"Robin, what's wrong?" I begged, softly. "Has something more happened with Mr Gomez? Mrs Heliotrope told me he would be fine." I panicked quickly. I had only just and so found out Mr Gomez would be fine and now could Robin have possibly come to tell me otherwise? I really didn't know how much more I could take.

"He should have told me." Robin spoke, distantly. His eyes remained staring to a space above my head, unfocused and dreaming. He seemed more like he was talking to himself than me. "I asked him, so many times, and he told me he was fine."

"Robin, it wasn't your fault-"

"I knew!" He cried, suddenly, startling me. His eyes finally met mine and they went hard. Out of the corner of me eye, I saw his hands turn into fists again. "I knew there was something wrong but I continued to ignore it, instead of demanding for him to get help! I should have done something!"

"Mr Gomez wouldn't have wanted you to worry. You have no reason to blame yourself, it was his choice." I had already gathered the conversation by now, though I still cringed at Robin's glaring eyes.

He yanked his fists hard out my grasps and I stumbled back slightly.

"I could have prevented this from happening, but instead I cowered back-"

"No."

"-He needed help and I ignored it-"

"Robin, please." I tried to grab his arms in a calming gesture, but soon he was up onto his feet and storming away. I remained on the floor for a few moments before glancing over my shoulder to see him pacing at the foot of my bed, his arms crossed tightly across his chest, with a frustrated look on his face. The tear marks were still wet on his cheeks, ignored.

"What's my father going to say when we return home, eh?" Robin muttered, not even waiting for me to give some sort of answer. "When he finds out where we've been and about Mr Gomez. I wouldn't be surprised if he threw me off that cliff again for the inconvenience that I've caused-"

"Robin, don't say that." I demanded, getting to my feet. He ignored me, speaking quietly over me.

"-God, Father's right, I am just a 'prized dolt of a son'-" I didn't know what he meant, but I didn't care.

"Stop it."

"-Going against the family, falling in love with a Merryweather. Maybe Mother will be turning in her grave twice over for what Loveday and I have done to disgrace the De Noir family-" I stormed forward then, unable to hear anymore and did something that I never thought I'd do;

I slapped him.

The sound the connection made deafened the room into silence again and Robin stopped his self-pitied mutterings. He stared down at me with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what I had just done. I couldn't either.

I stared down at my hand, the offending item, a frowned deeply. I felt like slapping myself for hurting Robin. Though when I looked back up at Robin again, his face had softened.

"I think I needed that." He whispered gently and for the first time in what seemed like forever, he smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back.

After another, immensely less awkward, moment of silence Robin slowly sat down on the loveseat and sighed. I joined him, carefully watching him incase he decided to pull another rant at me again.

"It's not your fault, Robin." I offered when I thought it was best. Robin closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, knocking his hat onto the floor. He opened his eyes briefly and regarded the fallen item though made no move to get it. "You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to him. He knew what he was doing and I'm sure when we explain it to your father, he'll understand."

"There's no 'we', princess." Robin said, suddenly. I stared, hurt by his words. Robin turned to me and suddenly looked worried. "I don't mean it like that! God, no! I meant, I don't want you getting involved in all this with my father! I don't want you to get hurt!" I relaxed and smiled at his flustered face.

"Is Mr Gomez awake?" I asked. He shook his head slowly.

"No. I wanted to stay with him, but that woman decided I should get some rest in my own room." He turned his nose up at this. I gathered that 'the woman' was Mrs Haversham. "Which is awful by the way. The walls are pink." I giggled and I saw a brief smile flash across his beautiful features. "I couldn't sleep, so I came to see you." He frowned deeply then.

"Why were you angry?" I asked, quietly.

"I was angry at Mr Gomez. And myself." He sighed and rubbed his face. "We should never have come here, we should have just remained in Moonacre and saved ourselves from this mess.

"Now we've ruined things for not just ourselves, but you and Mrs Heliotrope too. Bless her, she's been trying to keep this charade up, but I know she doesn't want to. Slipped up a few times, though nothing major. Still, she shouldn't have to be in this position in the first place.

"This was supposed to be your time away from Moonacre and everything in it." He groaned loudly. "It was stupid coming to see you." With a defeated look, Robin closed his eyes again and let his head fall back. I was shocked for a few moments by his mini monologue, before I took his hand, hard, in my own.

"Well, I'm glad you came here." I said, defiantly. Robin's eyes remained closed but he smiled in my direction.

"You're only young, princess." I frowned deeply.

"Don't use that, Robin De Noir, I'll be seventeen very soon. Only three years younger than you, so don't pull that with me, Mister!" Robin's eyes opened and they just glistened with mischief. Lightly, he poked my nose.

"Spoken like a true Lady." He teased, I just continued to glare. His smiled faded, slightly. "I didn't mean to scare you before." He said seriously. I shrugged.

"I don't mind you taking your anger out on me." His eyes narrowed at this.

"You should and I shouldn't do it."

"It was either me or Mrs Haversham's furniture. And I don't think her bedside table could give you a good clout like I can." Robin smiled slightly at this, but didn't seem very convinced.

"I won't do it again." He said. Though I gathered he was probably saying it more to convince himself than me. I merely nodded and patted his curls.

"Everything's going to be alright, Robin." I told him. "I promise." He nodded slowly and then stood up again, picking his hat up gingerly. He placed it back onto his head and turned to look down at me.

"I'll make sure Mr Gomez and I leave as soon as we can." He told me. I shook my head and quickly stood up.

"Let's just focus on Mr Gomez's health now, shall we?" He raised an eyebrow though said nothing more on the matter.

"Things may prove to be interesting now." He mumbled. I couldn't help but notice his eyes straying lower than my eye line, but said nothing of it. Instead, I just settled for blushing. What a surprise. "I can't say Haversham will be pleased, I don't think he's all too fond of me."

"You seemed chummy with him before." I pointed out. "I overheard your conversation with him before Mr Gomez collapsed." Robin wasn't fazed by this news.

"It's rude to eavesdrop, princess." He said, his tone low. I couldn't help but notice the close proximity we were in and remembered the lock on the door. No one could disturb us if we-

Maria! You shouldn't think of such things!

Despite the voice, which sounded an awful lot like Mrs Heliotrope's, in my head telling me that Robin and my predicament was wrong, how come I didn't feel the least bit guilty?

"Why so tense, Maria?" A mischievous grin manifested itself onto Robin's face and his eyes fell onto my lips.

"I'm not tense." I denied quickly. His eyes met mine and his eyebrows raised. Instinctively, I took a step back. This amused him some more.

"Running away, I see." His tone was too inviting for his own good. It didn't help that his eyes were so unbelievably smouldering and that the light in my room made him so handsome that it just wasn't fair. It took every part of me not to wrap my arms around him and kiss him into my lips bled.

Robin took a step towards me and I laughed inwardly for the likeness the situation had to a dream of mine, that was in my head still like a vivid memory. It was one of, if not the only, dream I could ever remember.

The one of Robin and I in the forest.

Though we weren't in the forest now, we were in my bedroom. And there was no snow or trees, there was a bed.

I couldn't help the way my eyes glanced towards the far to large bed that stood proudly in the room, as I backed up against the wall. When I glanced back at Robin, he seemed to have noticed my gaze and glanced over his shoulder to the blasted thing. His grin only widened.

"Tut, tut, princess." He murmured. "You shouldn't think such things." He took another three steps towards me and that found him stood right in front of me.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I denied quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. Robin chuckled and ran a light finger across my cheek.

"You've gone red." He pointed out. "I would have thought that by now, I couldn't make you blush like that." To my stomach's horror, and my heart's glee, he placed his hands on either side of my head, trapping me with his gaze.

Not that I was putting up much of a fight.

"Or maybe it's not I who's making you blush like that," He mused, deathly quiet. "Maybe it's the thought of me, and you," He paused and leant in so his ear was close to my ear and I had to swallow hard as my throat had gone dry. "In that bed."

Oh Dear Lord.

"You're drunk." I said, though it came out like a strained whisper. It didn't help when Robin chuckled deeply and then began to place light kisses onto my neck.

"Maybe." He didn't stop though, he continued his was up and down my neck and onto my jaw, all the time I did nothing to prevent it.

I couldn't even if I wanted to.

I knew I should push him away - like all the other times, this situation had occurred - though I felt my body leaning in to his advances instead of reacting against them. I knew exactly what Robin was applying and I knew what would entail, though I couldn't.

Soon his lips found mine and I finally found my strength again. Though instead of shoving Robin away, I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him against me. This caused Robin to chuckled against my lips and deepen the kiss even further.

My head was buzzing with all the thoughts of what could happen this very evening between the pair of us, though they were messy and lacked any logic - much like our kiss.

Robin's lips practically devoured mine and soon, I was unsure how, I found myself falling backwards onto something comfortable. I yelped in surprise, though Robin made sure he didn't break the kiss.

Passion, just raw passion practically oozed from each of actions from then on and I couldn't quite put them in order as my head was just booming with the rapid beat of my heart.

Before I knew it, Robin hovered above me, only in his trousers, and I in only my under-gown. I wasn't sure where my dress was, though I knew that I remembered hearing the sound of ripping and knew it couldn't be in a very fit state.

Mrs Heliotrope was going to kill me a lot.

It was just when I knew there was no going back anymore, when;

Knock Knock

"You have got to be kidding me." Robin grumbled. I quickly shushed him and using all my effort pushed him off me. I quickly rolled off the bed and glanced around the room. To my utter horror, discarded items of clothes lay about the play and I spotted my evening dress on the floor, supporting a very large rip down the front.

I gathered it up in a rush and threw it into my wardrobe then began kicking the rest under the bed. Robin watched on, saying nothing.

"Maria." He said quietly. I refused to look at him and made sure all items of clothing were hidden from view.

Knock Knock

I jumped at the sound.

"Just a minute." I called, before taking one last look around the room. Everything look fine, apart from the topless Robin who sat on my bed. He watched me with a sad an anguished look, but I had no time for talk.

"Maria-"

"Get under the bed." I demanded. He raised an eyebrow. "Now!" I hissed, in a final tone that I actually saw make him flinch. Without another word, he obeyed and soon my room looked like normal.

Though I couldn't escape what I could have just done.

I grabbed my gown and wrapped it around me, then ruffled up my hair, even more than it already was, to give the impression that I was resting. With one last sweep of the room and a deep breath, I answered the door.

I didn't think my evening could get much worse until I saw Mrs Haversham stood at the door. I gave the woman a fake smile.

"Did I wake you, dear?" She asked, concerned. I shrugged.

"I couldn't sleep much anyway." Someone wouldn't let me. She nodded with understanding before smiling weakly.

"I just came to tell you that Mr Barthe is fine. He and his son will remain here until he wakes and gets his strength back up again." I nodded, though I already knew this.

"Thank you for telling me, Mrs Haversham." I said, sincerely.

"You're welcome, dear. Maybe now, you can rest easier." I nodded. "Good night, Maria."

"Good night, Mrs Haversham." With that short interlude over, I shut the door and prepared myself to face the new problem that had occurred.

The room was deathly silent again, before Robin immerged. He gathered his clothes without a word and began to shrug them all back on. I watched him, wondering if he was mad at me. He didn't seem to look at me.

Once he had finally dressed, he paused, staring at the wall. Neither of us said anything for another long few moments.

"Maybe it was for the best." Robin spoke, voice crackling under strain. I looked up at his words and saw his eyes slowly finding mine again. I nodded. "We would have regretted it in the morning." Again he seemed to be trying to convince himself. I nodded, dumbly, again.

With a sigh, he picked up his hat and slowly made his way towards the door, and me. He paused when he reached my side, his hand on the door knob.

"Good night, Maria." He whispered before opening the door and leaving. It shut quietly behind him and I heard his echoing footsteps as he made his way back to his designated room.

Then everything went silent again. God, how I hated that silence now.

"Good night." I murmured, much, much too late.

(A/N) I feel very nervous posting this chapter up. It's much, much different to the rest of the chapters and I wasn't sure how I felt when I wrote it. So, yeah, please don't shoot me!

And a question to you all, should I change the rating of this story now with the contence of this latest update or maybe put a warning at the top of this chapter or leave it as it is?

There was also the debate with myself whether or not anything should have happened between them or if they were interrupted (By Mrs Haversham) and stopped before they could. I think, due to the time period and such, letting them continue may have become quite complicated and though I had planned out both endings, the alternative seemed much harder to pull off. If that all makes sense? Would you agree or have I disappointed many loved up fans? :D

Thanks for all the reviews, and I hope they continue. :) They're much appreciated!

I shall update when I can, though I can't promise it will be soon.

-Jemlou-