"It's about time you woke up," Marian told Robin, pulling herself closer as he blinked his eyes awake.

"What time is it?" he sleepily asked. He liked hearing the steady patter of rain overhead, feeling cozy and content waking up beside the woman he loved in their forest bed, knowing his men were all safe and the people of Locksley well fed. It was not yet light, but he felt he had been sleeping forever, having fallen into bed immediately after rescuing Djaq the day before.

Marian smiled, letting her fingers play in the tiny curls at the back of his neck. "How should I know the time, Handsome? There are no bells in the forest, tolling the hour."

"There are owls and nightingales, larks and doves."

"And robins and wrens, snug in their nests. It seems a good plan to me, cuddling up together, keeping dry."

"It seems a very good plan." He kissed the tip of her nose and smiled lovingly at her. "I was dreaming about us."

"I know. I heard you speak my name. I kept saying, 'Yes?' thinking you wanted something."

She began stroking his back up under his shirt, trying to make clear what she wanted without being too obvious, but his mind was distant.

"I made a mistake today," he told her, somberly.

"You mean yesterday. But I shouldn't worry, Robin. The tunnel got us into Nottingham, even if Allan didn't know it as well as he boasted."

"I don't mean the tunnel. I should never have separated from you, making you raise the portcullis. I wouldn't have done if I'd been rested."

"No harm befell me. You were a hero, Robin."

"We were all heroes. I'm glad we saved Djaq."

"Do you include me, as well? Was I heroic, Robin?"

"You were wonderful. You were bold and brave and disciplined. Thank you for following orders."

He looked irresistible to her, his face full of loving concern. Gently, her finger traced over a frown line above his eyebrow, trying to smooth it away, then slid down to his lips, where she stroked a slow circle before lightly drumming them with her fingertips.

Robin took her fingers in his mouth, making her gasp and sigh and wriggle against him. His mind was still occupied elsewhere, though his body was quickly waking up to her message.

Removing her hand and placing a courtly kiss to its top, he laced his fingers through hers, then stated, "We need to return to the castle, Marian."

"Now?"

"Maybe not now. It's probably too late."

"Too late for what?"

"I need to question Isabella, and I want you with me."

"I want to be with you! I mean, when you question her, and...and also...does it concern the king?"

He nodded his head. "You said she wouldn't tell you where he's being held, which indicates to me she knows. Especially with her being so tight with Prince John."

"I suppose we should get up," Marian said, sitting up while resigning herself to missing out on the love and pleasure she desired sharing with her husband this morning.

"What about keeping dry, staying cuddled in our nest?" he teased. "We can't leave for Nottingham until night comes again, my love."

"Good." She turned her back and lay down against him, letting out a happy, contented sigh.

"You wanted something earlier?" Robin asked, lifting her hair and pressing his lips against the back of her neck.

She flipped over to face him. Her voice became breathlessly eager. "I did. I still do."

"What is it you want, Marian?" he asked softly, knowing very well what she meant.

Eagerly, she returned his kisses, anticipating their love that would follow.

But somehow, Robin soon knew something was wrong. Marian's eager trembling turned to frightened shivering. He pulled away and gently asked, "What's wrong? What did I do?"

"Nothing!"

Her face looked terrified, and he knew something had triggered the trauma of Gisbourne's attack on her. He waited, miserable and feeling helpless to help her. Even holding her in his arms, something he longed to do to comfort her, was out of the question.

At last, believing it might help, Robin said, speaking softly, "I never told you about my dream, Marian. The king had returned, and we were living in Locksley. And there were children underfoot, and-"

"How many children?" she asked.

He noted a sweeter tone in her voice and a calmer cast to her face. "A few," he answered. "Like Allan and the steps in the tunnel, I didn't count."

"Were they ours?"

"Of course! And every one of them wore a tag Will had made."

She smiled. "I like your dream, Robin. It could happen. Matilda says I should just let nature take its course."

"Matilda gives very good advice I think."

"I love you. I'm sorry I pulled away."

"I love you, too. I'm sorry for whatever I did to upset you. I didn't mean to."

"You did nothing wrong. I just saw him again, in my mind, and I... No! I don't want to cry!"

"Let's get up and...let's eat. I'm hungry. Sounds like it's going to rain all day. At least the dawn's breaking. We have drop offs to make in Knighton today, so you should enjoy visiting your people, I think."

"That sounds perfect. And then tonight, you and I at the castle, surprising Isabella while she sleeps?"

"If we can find her. If she's with Prince John tonight..."

"They say he doesn't usually spend the night. That he prefers sleeping alone, afterwards."

"Good. His cold nature ought to benefit us, for once."

"Do I...you don't think I'm cold, do you, Robin? I mean, Isabella claimed-"

"Believe me, you are not cold!"

"But just now...? I don't want to become cold."

"No chance of that. Gisbourne can't change your nature, any more than he can change your heart."

"Or I could change his. Or Meg can. I hope she'll be alright, Robin. She has no idea who he truly is."

"Come on. Let's see what Tuck's giving us for breakfast. It has to be better than whatever Much cooked up yesterday."

...

Within Nottingham Castle, Guy of Gisbourne lay brooding.

Meg was sleeping slumped on a chair at his bedside, her head on his pillow, having fallen asleep while trying to keep watch over him.

"Why cannot I love her?" Guy wondered. "She is lovely, and loyal to me. Her devotion is clear and unwavering. She would never betray me! And yet...!"

He wished he could love her, this spirited young woman he had taken from the convent and made his own. Yet while Marian continued to reign in his lacerated heart, he knew he could never care for another!

Why could he not banish Marian? Was he condemned to carry her image with him through all eternity? Even when he'd believed her dead, by his own hand, her image had tortured him! Yet she had betrayed him, with Hood of all people! His enemy!

He remembered the day he'd caught her, after discovering she was the Night Watchman. What was it she had said to him? That she was only "following her heart." Had she been trying to tell him then, that she loved Hood? She'd had nothing to lose, believing she was to hang. But he had interrupted her, pouring out his heart and soul to her. And what had she done with his tortured, most intimate thoughts and feelings? Treasured them, as he longed her to? Or trampled them, as she had done, later to laugh openly at his love? He would never forgive her laughter.

No punishment would be cruel enough to wipe out her laughter, forever echoing in his mind.

Meg stirred and awoke. "You're awake!" she said to Guy. "Can I get you anything?"

He looked at her. That pale blue color of Marian's blouse suited her, almost better than it had Marian. Except of course it had mimicked the blue of Marian's eyes. Eyes so beautiful, even the sheriff could not deny their power, though he was unsusceptible, preferring...! Guy pushed that thought from his mind, cringing in disgust at Vasey's former practices toward him. Or, to be perfectly honest, rare though occasional practices still, used as a means to control him.

"There is only one thing you can give me," Guy told Meg.

"Anything, Guy."

"You can give me your hand."

She reached out and gripped his.

"No," he told her, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Your hand in marriage."

"Yes. I thought we'd already agreed to that."

"It was on the condition you pleased me. You do please me. I want to make you Lady Gisbourne, as quickly as possible."

"They haven't begun work on your church yet."

"Do you think I will marry you in a poor village church? No, Meg. I want to marry you here, in the castle chapel, with Prince John himself blessing our union."

Guy recalled Hood's recent dig against him, claiming King Richard had blessed his union to Marian. What was good for Hood would be good for himself, or something like. Wasn't everything Hood formerly owned Gisbourne's now? Everything but Marian, he privately stormed.

"What will I wear?" Meg asked. "The only gowns I have fancy enough are either black or red, and they don't look very bridal to me."

"Didn't I also provide you a green and gold gown?" Guy was not referring to the dress Marian had worn at their wedding. It had been destroyed in the fire that burnt down Knighton Hall. He meant instead a long sleeved low cut dress that had been Marian's finest silk.

He remembered how beautiful she had looked wearing it, when she had visited him at night while he was be fitted for Damascus steel armor. "Friendship," he seethed now, in his mind. She had dared to offer him "friendship," when she knew he craved so much more from her! At least he had been wise enough to recognize she had really come to gain back her freedom. And he had not given it to her! He could at least take small satisfaction for that!

"I know the dress you mean," Meg was saying, her voice whiney. "It has a big wine stain on its skirt, like somebody spilled a whole goblet full."

Gisbourne thought back to the last time he had seen Marian wear the gown. Prince John had been visiting Nottingham, and some clumsy servitor had poured wine onto Marian's lap, or so he believed, not knowing it had been Robin in disguise, nor that Marian had deliberately spilled it to excuse herself so she could spent time alone with Robin.

"Destroy the dress, since the stain cannot be removed," Guy told Meg. "I don't want you married in green and gold anyway."

Those were Locksley's colors, and Gisbourne had always taken offense at Marian wearing them at their wedding.

"What should I wear then?" Meg asked.

"You shall have a new dress," Guy told her. "I will provide it for you. Never fear, Meg."

"Thank you! I love you, Guy!"

"How are your speech and riding lessons progressing?"

"I'm trying hard to speak the way you want. But I still don't like horses, unless they're hitched to a coach. Why must I ride, Guy?"

He refused to tell her he was trying to make her over into Marian. Instead, he answered, "Because you are a lady. Ladies ride. Do not fail me."

"I won't. I hate Robin Hood for hurting you! When is the sheriff ever going to kill him?"

There was a knock on the door, and Isabella showed herself in. "Brother," she greeted him snidely. "Meg, Prince John is asking for you. Word of advice...whatever you do, do not flatter him. The prince despises flatterers."

"Must I see him? I'd rather stay here with Guy."

"Go," he ordered. "Never keep Prince John waiting."

After she had gone, he angrily asked his sister, "Why did you lie? You know better than anyone, the prince demands flattery!"

"I fear he lusts after her. Is she any good, Guy, in bed? I must not lose him!"

"Your keeping or losing him is no concern to me. But I don't want him bedding Meg!"

"Can you be jealous? Don't tell me you are beginning to care for that common merchant's daughter!"

"Never speak of her background! She is Lady Margaret of Eynsham!"

"So you say. You know, of course, Brother, whatever Prince John wants, he must have."

Guy fumed silently at her, but knew she spoke truth. Just as it was his right to sample any bride in Locksley, and he had sampled a few, claiming "droit du seigneur" which gave the lord of the manor the right to deflower any bride in his village before her wedding, it was Prince John's right to sample Meg. Guy might not like it, but he would not object.

"You smell different," he told his sister.

"Yes. Do you like it? Prince John prefers this more exotic scent on me, not Lady Marian's perfume."

"So you have no more use for hers? Give it to me. It will suit Meg."

"Lady Marian's perfume?" Isabella laughed. "It will suit you, you mean, to have her smell like Marian used to."

"Just do it!" Gisbourne roared.