"Aw, no," Allan sighed, spying Marian. "Not you again. Not bein' funny, but it's the knocked up Nightwatchman. I thought I burned that get up."

"What are you doing here?" Robin demanded, his voice all at once angry, frustrated, and somehow, resigned.

Marian didn't answer. Just wearing the disguise again brought back feelings she'd thought were lost to her, feelings of empowerment and triumph over evil, and she wasn't about to lose them by arguing with her husband, much as she usually enjoyed that pastime. No. The Nightwatchman didn't speak, ever, lest her voice reveal her true identity.

But Robin wasn't about to be ignored. Closing the gap between them, his eyes challenged hers as he chided, "Tell me you didn't ride here, Marian."

"What do you think?" she shot back, pulling the scarf from her face, unable to keep quiet. "That I'd disreguard Matilda's orders, not yours, mind you, for a pair of earrings?"

"It wouldn't surprise me."

"You're smug."

"You're reckless."

"Me? What about you?"

"I'm not the one carrying our child!"

"Oh, so I'm only a breeding mare now, am I?"

"I never said that."

"You implied it."

Throughout the heated exchange, Allan watched from under his guard helmet, a wide grin on his face. He never tired of watching Marian get Robin's goat, or he hers. The air was so charged with sparks, the very flames in the wall sconces seemed to flare brighter.

Robin, sensitive to his wife's hurt feelings, was trying to make amends. "I did not mean that, Marian. You know I love you. But you shouldn't be here. I have everything under control, with Allan's help."

"You look ridiculous," she bit back, even angrier.

"Whoa!" Allan butted in. "I think I look gooooood. If anybody looks ridiculous here, it's you."

"How dare you?"

Allan hadn't counted on both Marian and Robin turning on him with so much vehemence. Throwing up his hands, he backed off, making the excuse, "I'm only sayin', you're starting to show, and... Is this how Much feels?"

"Most of the time," Robin acknowledged, tartly. Looking deeply into Marian's eyes behind her mask, he tenderly told her, "Go home, my love. This is no place for you. The castle's full of vipers, with the king and queen, and all John's fawning snakes, ready to do his bidding. I'll get your earrings back, I promise."

"Sir Hiss," Allan jested, interrupting again. "Look, not bein' funny, but why don't you just buy her a new pair? You're rich now, oi?"

"It's not the money," Marian told him, so frustrated she wanted to cry. "It's...it's the idea of her wearing them."

"They were a special gift, when Ellie was born," Robin explained, longing to comfort Marian in his arms, but knowing she'd push him away.

"What a charming scene!"

Isabella suddenly appeared in her doorway, startling them and making Marian jump. "But as usual, Robin, you're late! The costume party was last night. So, that's where my mask went, not that I cared. It should be a crime, really, to cover up my face, don't you agree, Robin?"

"It ought to be an act of mercy, covering up your mouth."

"Oh! You may cover it at any time, provided you do it with your own mouth. I'm jesting, of course. Kissing you was like kissing a hedgehog. But come in, all three of you. What a surprise you brought Allan along. Your faithful Lord Bonchurch will be wounded!"

"Yeah, he'll be real sorry he missed you," Allan jibed back.

Aside from a quick sneer, Isabella ignored him.

The three former outlaws had no choice but to follow Queen Isabella into her chambers. "You remember Mistress Fitzhugh, don't you, Robin?" she said, as if hosting a party. "Rumor has it that you know her well. What a pity that rape charge didn't stick."

"It wouldn't, because everybody knows my husband is a man of honor," Marian spoke up, seething, even more angry by finding herself face to face with Annora.

The chancellor's wife stood blinking in surprise, staring at Robin with a rapturous expression. He must have come to rescue her, for she'd felt strangely threatened in the queen's presence. How thrilling! He looked very dashing in that guard uniform, too. And she was excited that he could see her, wearing the jewels he'd secretly given her. She couldn't stop smiling, especially because his wife was dressed in trousers, and would be getting heavier and heavier and more and more ackward and ungainly, with every passing month!

"Now," Isabella continued, in her element, "let me understand. You three went to all this trouble, for a pair of earrings?"

"My earrings," Marian clarified, "which your husband stole."

"My husband, the King," Isabella pointedly reminded her.

"For once, just be a lady, and give them back," Robin jeered, his chin held high.

Isabella wheeled about to face him, fury marking her features. "You forget yourself, Locksley," she shrieked. "I am your queen! I can order you killed!"

"Sheath your claws," Robin said, laughing. "You're the one who's forgotten. I've been ordered killed more times than you've taken lovers."

"You were the sorriest of the lot!"

Robin cringed, partly because she had shrieked the words in his face, but mostly because he didn't want Marian reminded of his one time love affair with Isabella, when he'd been lost, believing his wife dead.

But now, his course was to get the earrings and get out, without any mishaps befalling Marian. He jumped right back into his revised plan. "Aside from that," he said, cockily, "I could do you a service, while I'm here."

"A service? How very intriguing!"

Robin laughed unpleasantly. Why did she always have to infuse his words with innuendo?

"You have no shame, do you?" Marian couldn't help accusing.

"Shut up!" the queen shrieked.

"Ladies, ladies..." Allan tried to soothe the atmosphere.

Robin took command. "I'm only saying, Isabella, that I can save you a bit of embarrassment, by taking back my wife's earrings, before somebody recognizes the fact that they're, well, fake."

"Fake? You lie! I saw at once their quality! No fake emerald could have that flame of elusive blue at their center!"

Marian, spotting at once that Robin was lying, went along with his plan. "Fake?" she cried out, acting her part well. "You gave me fake jewels? You would!"

Annora was confused, but kept silent, pleased only that his scold of a wife was being difficult again.

"Guilty," Robin lightly pretended to confess. "I bought them off the same jeweler who forged the ones Mistress Fitzhugh's wearing."

Isabella sneered, contorting her beautiful face to an ugly mask. "You want them?" she asked. "Then come and take them off my earlobes, the same way my husband took them off hers!"

Robin took a step backward. "I told you they're worthless," he said, charmingly, then shifted into a more snide tone. "So why would I risk being poisoned, putting my mouth on you?"

Isabella's eyes opened wide in rage, then narrowed at Robin. Without a word, she pulled the earrings from her ears, strode to the open window, and flung them into the moat.