Hi, so here is another chapter and this one ties into the identity of the Woman in Red who was introduced in the previous story. This ties into an idea I had for my very first fanfiction when I was eleven and I am so glad to be able bring this to this story.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just the character of Erin and the Woman in Red.

Please Read and Review.

And as always TRIGGER WARNINGS for this story.

Internal Displacements

Chapter 3-I Am Fearless And Therefore Powerful

Allan and Erin finally talk through their issues, as Robin and Marian come to an impasse about her activities as the Nightwatchman and someone is watching Djaq and Will (though mostly Djaq).

She got Allan to her room without anyone seeing her and got him into the bed. There was a curtain that she and Marian shared sometimes for privacy and she drew the heavy ones across the window as well therefore blocking him mostly from view. She lit the candles in the darkened room and went to the medicine box that Djaq had made for both of them.

She didn't know what to do exactly, not in the same way that her friend might have known what to do but she did know that she had to stoke up the fire and get clean water on those wounds. She dipped a wet cloth in some peppermint oil and lavender stems and she placed it on Allan's head.

Fortunately his shirt was gone which meant that she didn't have to get him out of it. Unfortunately he was half naked and now that she was looking at all the skin in front of her she thought that she had never seen a better looking man in her life.

She wrapped some herbs in a sachet and set it boil for tea and then set about cleaning the wounds for infection. Allan shifted and winced a couple of times but he didn't say anything and Erin was not sure what to say herself.

Eventually he seemed well enough to sit up and drink some tea and she was pleased to see that his eyes were bright and when they were on her they seemed alert.

"You look well" he said finally into the silence. Erin stared at him.

"I feel well" she said finally. "I feel…well…more human. It's nice here in a way. Marian is very kind and…"

"And you shouldn't have done that" Allan said quietly. "You shouldn't have…you shouldn't be here it's dangerous Erin, it's so, so dangerous and you shouldn't…"

"Well I am" she said feeling rather piqued. "So even if you don't love me back then I suppose that you have to get use to it then won't you." It was hard for her to say that to him. Hard for her to admit that she had feelings for him. And even harder for her to admit that he didn't have them for her.

But even as she said it one of Allan's hands shout out to grab hers dirty nails and all.

"What bollocks is that?" he asked sitting up despite the flare of pain that showed on his face. "Who said that? Of course I love you. Loving you is what's driving me mad at the moment because I want to kiss you and strangle you all at that the same time"

Erin thought back to that brief moment in the woods when it was just the two of them and knew which one she wanted a repeat off.

"I know that you didn't want this" she said even as Allan's hand found hers and they linked their fingers together. "But I can do something here Allan, I can do something other than just surviving. I mean…I got you out"

"Yeah I suppose you did."

His hand slid up to her neck and cupped her face and he shifted closer so that there bodies had barely an inch between them and all Erin wanted to do was to kiss him and keep kissing him until the desire between them was burnt out and yet at the same time she never wanted that desire between them to burn out.

But there was something else as well. The habitual kind of fear that kept her from going forwards.

And she hated that as well.

"I know your not ready darling" Allan said gently brushing apart some of her hair. "I know that. And I'll wait. I'll wait until you tell me that your ready. But right now I really, really wanna kiss you. Is that ok?"

She nodded. She wasn't sure if she could say anything else.

Allan's mouth came down on hers and his kiss was as light as it was the first time and like the first time it was her who initiated it. Her who wanted more and she slid forwards so she was nearly on his lap as their tongues moulded together and she wanted him so much it hurt as his hands found her hair and hers found his broad shoulders. She had never been kissed like this before and the power that was coursing through her veins made her whole body throb with a pleasure she had never felt before.

There was a banging from upstairs and she all but fell off his lap. Allan gripped her waist a little pressing a small kiss to her cheek and Erin giggled despite the terrible danger that would come to them both if they were caught.

"I do love you, you mad, mad woman" Allan said finally. "And I don't want you to ever forget that. But I swear to God Erin if you ever do something so utterly stupid again I will…"

Erin kissed him and Allan laughed into the kiss, kissing her three or four times afterwards just for the sheer hell of it.

"You should lie back" she said pushing him back down. "Marian will have freed Robin by now. If they have any sense then they will be back and Robin can help you to forest."

"Sure" Allan said leaning back against the bed and watching her with a small smile. "Sure. Sure."

Erin grinned at him and went to restoke the fire.

Robin had managed to get back to the edge of the forest but the second that Marian had mentioned Allan he had dispatched Much to get the camp ready and then had followed her back. She had changed out of her Nightwatchman costume and into a dress that looked as if she'd stolen it off someone's washing line and Robin followed her. Marian had cried on his shoulder. It was a strange happening because bar the day that she had told him that Edward was dead he honestly couldn't remember the last time that he had seen Marian cry. Even when he had gone to the War she had not cried, had instead fixed him with a steely look, even when Djaq had been cutting into her she had screamed but no tears had fallen. Marian was not a woman to be overcome by a moment of sentimentality and yet she had cried on his shoulder like she was a baby.

And now she was briskly putting her costume in a bag as if it was nothing. And it wasn't nothing. Robin might not know the ins and the outs of how Marian's mind worked but he knew that this was not nothing.

"I do not think this is wise" he said starting at the face mask that he hated.

"Oh?"

"The last time you did this you nearly died. Gisbourne has made it a crusade to get you and if he does the betrayal he will feel once he knows that it is you—"

"Has it escaped your notice that I have been doing this for longer than you have? And believe me though I want to run away into the forest I can't."

Robin shot her a long look.

"What happens when this is over?"

"What do you mean Robin?"

"Let's say we do stop Prince John, we stop the Sherriff, we stop Gisbourne. Let's assume the King comes back because there is peace in the Holy Lands. What happens then? Do you give up the Nightwatchman then? Tell everyone who was under the mask the entire time? What do you do Marian?"

Marian paused and Robin thought (slightly smugly) that he had genuinely stumped her.

"I don't know" she said slinging the bag through one of the escape routes where someone (Erin probably) would pick it up on the other end.

"I never really thought about it. But right now I have to do something. And it felt right Robin. For the first time in a long time it felt right. And so let's not argue about it. You don't like it when I'm the Nightwatchman, I do. They are known facts, but what is also known is that the Sherriff's sister has just died and he is going to be on the warpath so might I suggest you get Allan out of my bedroom and get back to the forest before you are both caught again"

Get Allan out of your bedroom, Robin thought with an eyeroll and a wry smile (despite himself) following her up the escape shaft silently. Well…that was a sentence he'd have to admit he never thought she'd say.

Djaq had gotten her herbs ready when she realised that she was out of sage. Knowing that there was a crop nearby she had gone to gather more and Will had asked if she wanted the company.

She did and if she was being honest she wanted the protection.

He took her hand as he walked and Djaq didn't do anything but let him link their fingers together. She had no idea what this meant but she liked the idea of them holding hands. Will didn't say anything and she said nothing back either. They carried on walking for a while and then he sat down next to her while she began to cut the sage stems.

"I hope Allan's not too injured" he said finally into the silence.

"I doubt it. Besides Erin will know how to take care of him"

"With any luck he'll speak to her and they can sort it all out and things can finally get back to normal"

"Do you think that's a possibility?"

"I think he needs to speak to her" Will said after a pause. "He's mad she put herself in danger. Doesn't change the fact that he still loves her. Believe me"

He looked directly at her as he said that last bit and she felt herself grow warm. His eyes were very dark and bright and she thought that if the King suddenly popped up behind a bush to tell her personally that the Crusade was over and he was personally going to escort her home she wouldn't have noticed or cared.

There was a cracking noise that sounded like a twig being stepped on and Will whirled around one hand on his axe. Djaq followed his gaze but she could see nothing in the bushes though suddenly she felt cold. It was as if she had realised that the forest that had felt warm and safe a minute ago was actual not.

"I have enough now" she said beyond thankful that she had asked Will to go with her. "Can you walk me back home now?"

And it was home wasn't it? It was the closest thing she had, had to one in a long time and that was due to the people in it.

Will nodded and they walked back in silence and while he had one hand on his axe the other one she found was back holdings hers and she couldn't stop smiling.

Pathetic.

It was the only thing she could think of as she looked down at the two of them walking. She'd been waiting for a while watching, observing. She was wearing her usual red and because of that (and because she was not going to change) she'd had to go up a tree to watch as she, had gone skipping through the woods hand in hand with some heathen farm boy.

It had not been like that for her. She sat here in the tree could remember the scars and the brandings, the beatings and the killings, the thing she had been taken and broken into and moulded into and she didn't have the luxury of skipping through the forest bleating about peace to anyone who would listen.

Fuck she was angry.

But anger was good. Anger was a good emotion as long as she ensured it was kept simmering below.

She was the Woman in Red. She'd earnt that reputation throughout the Holy Lands, throughout Constantinople and throughout Christendom and here she was going to complete her greatest kill to date.

She was going to kill her sister.

And with that Gisela pulled her red mask down and slid from the tree and into the woods like the ghost she knew she had become.

And there you go I hope you enjoy this chapter and the next one is coming as soon as possible.

Next Chapter-As Marian is forced to seduce a gentleman, Erin has triggering moments when she is forced to wear a dress and parade around a room full of men. Djaq contemplates motherhood as three children run afoul of the Sherriff and the Woman in Red takes a calculated risk.