Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you enjoy it. There are some trigger warnings in this chapter for Erin and Allan so please keep that in mind.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just this chapter and the character of Erin.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.

Internal Displacements

Chapter 4-Dangerous Curve Ahead.

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.

The first clue should have been the dresses that were delivered to the room. Erin sorted them out and Marian looked down at the red one that she had been given and the black and the pink and grey one with the shoulders on show and felt a great sense of foreboding that whatever this was for it was not good.

Guy came with them which was also…not good.

"Lady Marian. Erin"

Erin bobbed a curtsey as most of the maids did and moved to sort out the dresses into piles when Guy spoke again.

"I have seen Laura's body to her parents, also the Sherriff has ensured that they will want for nothing. As compensation he has allowed a month's worth of pay to go out to her parents"

Erin raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Marian nodded but didn't comment. Guy for the most part had not asked where she was when the snake had been loose in the castle nor had he asked either one of them if they had been involved in the disappearance of Allan which all in all was a very good thing. There was no need to draw attention to themselves even though a months compensation was no good for the loss of a daughter.

"On more pleasant news we are to receive a gentlemen from Germany. Count Frederick. He is here to play at our casino and the Sherriff has asked that your maid join the castle servants at the event. Here—" he said throwing the gold dress to Erin. "Put that on make sure that everyone has wine in their cup and do whatever you have to do to make them happy"

"Excuse me?" Erin said without a shadow of remorse or hesitation, "But what does that entail?"

"Indeed Sir Guy" Marian said interrupting what she knew was going to be Guy's not so pleasant response. "Erin is my handmaiden, I do not want her put in a position that might involve loose morals"

Both Guy and Erin looked at her and Marian had to admit it was the most high born she had ever sounded and even to her it sounded utterly stupid.

"Of course not" Guy said his tone so silky that it was likely to start making them slip in honey. Marian knew this to be false. Utterly, utterly false and she felt rather sick herself.

"All it requires for the two of you is that you charm this Count by whatever means necessary"

And with that he swept of. Erin turned but Marian was already shaking her head.

"He doesn't mean sexually Erin. He means charming him. I can do that."

Great. She was now going to be the Sherriff's preforming monkey.

"Don't kid yourself Marian" Erin said sharply. "If he wants it, he'll take it"

And even though Marian had not dismissed her (granted it was a pretence between the two of them—Erin could come and go as she pleased—it was just safer to keep up appearances were even the walls sometimes felt as though they had ears) she turned and stalked away still clutching that golden dress and leaving Marian with her own gowns and feeling a great wave of sadness for the inconvenience that helping her out was costing her.

Count Frederick was not as bad as she expected him to be. It seemed he had a great weakness for gambling but not for servant girls and while he liked his wine and his cheese it was not to such an excess that he forgot his manners. Marian didn't have to do too much work to seduce him as he liked to think of himself as the consummate seductress (which he most certainly was not) and in the end there was no point even trying to turn him against the Sherriff as the Sherriff did that all by himself.

It was the first time she was in the war-room and she was stunned by it. Even as the Count went to check that the coast was clear she was stunned by the map that was spread out of the whole of England across the table. Maps such as these were rare, nobody as far as her father had told her had never managed to get a complete analysis of what the coast looked like because it was up to each little fisherman in his hamlet to guard each line. To see a map spread out like this of all the shires, the ones that could be bribed, the ones that couldn't, the ones that would fold with just the slightest bit of pressure she suddenly felt slightly sick. The Sherriff was bankrolling this plan for the Prince that was clear but what was also shockingly clear in this moment was just how much research had been done.

And standing here she knew that the conversations Will and Robin had, had with Allan had been shockingly accurate. The King had not made himself beloved of his people or his nobles or his shires. There was no telling who would betray him or who wanted a better man on the throne.

She could understand it in some ways. All the people of England wanted was peace, a king on the throne, a baby in the cradle and the chance to earn a decent living and between the rebellions of the previous reign, the crusade and the never-ending taxes they were quiet literally being forced into rebellion in order to survive.

It was heartbreaking and yet so wrong it shocked her.

The King had to come home.

The Crusade had to end.

And England had to be saved.

She ducked out of the room and plastered a smile on her face. Erin had still not come back yet from wherever she went off to this morning and she needed to get to Robin and let him know that the Count was in on the plan.

And she had to do all of that without pretending that the world as she knew it was not falling down around her ankles.

She had put on the dress and had started to go down the long and winding corridors towards the Great Hall when she'd seen the guards and the Maids. She had known that Djaq was going to be there tonight but simply as a distraction so that the Outlaws could get in undetected, but she did not see her and she knew that the woman was not going to be in the room with her either.

Two maids were talking to Guards who were looking as if the King had come home early, two more were looking utterly terrified and deeply uncomfortable and one was looking as if this was par for the course and Erin knew what like was like only too well.

She had been there…she had been that girl only weeks ago, staring at a piece of dark rock and trying to pretend that it wasn't happening. She'd gone from back breaking despair to the thought that perhaps if she got on with it, it would be over soon and she could slink back to the darkness and pretend that it never happened. She shivered and then pressed her back against the wall out of sight. She felt both hot and cold and slightly sick and she forced her way back from the entrance way and towards the safety of her room. She turned back into the safety of the room that she shared with Marian and stared at herself in the looking glass that Marian had. The gold dress was floor length and it had covered one shoulder. Just the one shoulder. Her other shoulder was exposed and her blonde hair was loose over her back and suddenly she felt like she was going to be sick.

Indeed she just made it to the bowl on time. She'd ate very little, her stomach was so tight after this mornings announcement that she had been unable to touch anything other than week ale and that had served only to try and build up enough courage to put this stupid piece of fabric on in the first place.

She slid down to the floor between the wall and the fireplace and put her head in her knees and tried to breath in and out but to no avail. She could feel it, no…she could feel them. She could feel the hands on her skin and the spit and the dirt and the blood…always the blood and the dirt because that was something she had never been able to wash off. She thought that for all her attempts at hiding it—all her attempts of normality had been for nothing and she was a complete and total fraud in this moment where everything was so shockingly exposed like a raw cut in a sharp and open wind.

Fuck.

All of the progress she had made since that damn cave had been undone in a single moment and she had no idea how to claw it back. But she knew that she could not go out there and pretend to be the whore that she had been before.

The door opened and she made a noise that even to her ears seemed wild and inhuman. It was Marian. She was dressed in a black down with her curly hair pushed back from her face and showing off more white skin and cleavage than Erin had ever seen from Marian before. The two women stared at each other for a second and then Marian paused her hand on the door latch and when she spoke her voice was impossibly gentle.

"Would you like me to get Allan for you?"

She thought about saying no but she thought that after the conversation they had had, about what he had said to her and had meant to her that she needed him right now more than she needed the air that her lungs so desperately needed to breathe.

She nodded and Marian disappeared in a wave of dark curls and black satin.

Will paused looking around. He hated this…he hated this damn contraption. The design of it was ingenious but he hated it all the same. It was like the black powder. There was no cunning or guile or skill to it just the unnerving desire to kill and punish and maim in the worst way possible. It wasn't even about protecting the treasure. It was about Robin. The Sherriff knew that Robin would always see the gold in the castle as a way of getting to him and the Sherriff would always set a trap.

Will hated to admit it but this one was rather ingenious. He put his faith and his trust in Robin but he had to admit that he really did think his friend was cutting it close to the wire this time around.

There was the sound of running footsteps and Much and Allan moved to cover Robin's flank. But the sound…and here Will thought that he might actually know what he was talking about when he thought that, that sounded like a woman coming, when Marian herself crashed round the corner and Will had to steady her (his hands on her waist—dear God!) but she righted herself immediately.

"Robin" she said her eyes wide and he thought immediately of Djaq who had been standing there in the moonlight in a gold dress that highlighted the dark eyes framed by dark lashes and the hair that had been slowly growing out and the cleavage that had been so shockingly exposed…the kind of exposure that Will knew he would dream about for months upon end as he found the privacy to take himself in hand and imagine…

John coughed and Will found himself back to the presence and painstakingly he let go of Marian's waist (not that she noticed—he doubted Marian would ever notice if it was anyone else other than Robin) but he was relieved that John pulled him out of his thoughts all the same—after all—there was a time and a place to imagine Djaq in gold silk.

"Robin" Marian said panting and Will—though he was loath to admit it—noticed (he was a man after all) that her chest was heaving magnificently as if she had ran the whole way there. He noticed that Allan was looking at the torches and Much, much the same. John he suspected wouldn't have noticed even if Marian was on fire. Then again he didn't know what made John tick and more to the point he didn't want to know.

"I need Allan"

Clearly that was not what any of them were expected. Will felt his eyebrows go to the top of his head and he knew that Much was wearing the same expression. Robin's mouth had dropped open and Allan was wearing an expression as if someone had just clubbed him over the head.

"Err…why?"

"Erin"

That was all that Allan really needed for an excuse not that Will struggled to understand why. If Marian had turned up saying Djaq needed help then sorry…Robin was on his own.

No apologises needed.

Allan shot a look at Robin who nodded and then Allan was gone and Will turned his attention to the problem at hand though he sent a prayer to the God (and he was not one to doubt the faith his mother had laid into him but these days it really was hard to believe) that everything for once would be alright.

He was not sure if he believed it would be but he thought it all the same.

And he very carefully did not think of gold silk AT ALL.

Allan had gone chasing down Marian who skidded against the door and held it open for him.

"I have to go" she said looking around and breathing heavily. "Before they realised I'm missed but take your time. Djaq and I can take care of thing from here. Tell Erin if Guy asks I will say she was visited by the monthly curse. Believe me, that will be the end of his questions"

Allan nodded and then disappeared into the room.

He was aware that Marian was closing it behind him and then she was gone.

Erin was curled up against the wall and the fireplace in a tiny cranny her legs to her chest and her head on her knees. She was wearing something that appeared to be a long piece of golden silk fabric and not much else and Allan had that contradictory swoop in his stomach when he looked at her because she honestly was stunning…and yet the memory of the first time he saw her and the amount of skin on show was coming to mind and he thought he knew why Marian had gotten him.

"Hey" he said coming to sit down next to her and blue eyes watched him for a second and then with a speed that shocked even him she was in his lap curling around him as if she wanted to become part of his very bone.

"Hey" he said again shushing her slightly as she trembled.

"It's alright"

"No it's not" she said thickly he could see every eyelash on her face when she looked at him.

"It's not ok. Allan, nothing is ok…I was supposed to be past this…I was supposed to be fine. I've done this a thousand times before. Gone into a room and poured drinks and had hands…it's not been a problem before. I was a whore then and a whore now and—"

But Allan had already heard enough.

"Stop saying that" he said loudly, perhaps too loudly because it shocked her enough into silence. She looked at him and he looked back and reminded himself sternly that now was not the time to drown in the very blue that was her eyes.

"Erin you are not a whore. You were the victim of a terrible crime and tonight you were asked to do something that reminded you of that. There's no shame in flinching away from such things. You protected yourself first."

Erin said nothing just tucked her chin under his chest and Allan thought that if he had to spend the rest of his life telling this woman that she was utter perfection then he would do.

"Can we just go to bed?" she said after a moment. "And sleep. I want to sleep. Or does Robin need you?"

As far as Allan was concerned right now Robin could go to hell.

"Come on. You don't have to worry about anything"

Erin looked at him and the ghost of a smile was on her face as she echoed her own words back at him.

"I am not worried Allan. I am with you"

He kissed her then on the top of those golden strands of hair and then on the lips. She responded and then tucked her head back under his shoulder and they stayed there for what felt like a very long time.

He tucked her under the covers and slid in next to her drawing the curtains. He was not sure if this was the wisest possible move to make but she wrapped her arms around him as if the solid presence of him could change the way she felt. And despite it all he fell asleep just as she did and when he woke up Marian was there telling him the money was theirs, the foreigner had gone back home and that Gisborne was in such a mood that he'd never noticed Erin was gone anyway.

Erin was still half asleep next to him and Marian being the kind and utterly unproblematic woman that she was (at least that day) shut the curtains again and claimed through the door to the guard that she was suffering from too much wine the previous night and needed to be left alone.

It was not something she thought about.

Motherhood.

Actually to be honest before she came to this country she had not given much thought to womanhood. She'd gone from awkward girl to dressing as a boy in order to survive, to being a slave and then an outlaw and now as she stood watching Marian push the boy to the side so that Robin could get the black diamonds she thought that she'd like a son like that. A baby boy with a shock of dark hair and a nature that was more curious than fearful. The simple joys of a childhood were you could play and laugh and be free.

She carefully did not look at Will. If she looked at Will then her grip on the arrow would fall and she knew her thoughts would betray her face and that was a conversation that she did not want to have now.

Perhaps not ever.

After all what was the point?

Marian was talking now, she was trying to save Gisbourne for what reason Djaq did not know but then again Marian had always been a bit odd when it came to Gisbourne but then before the man who had fashioned such a beast of armour could do anything an arrow shot out of the air and sliced into his neck with such precision that for a moment she was convinced that Robin had done it.

But it was not Robin it was…

She followed her gaze—well everyone including the Sherriff followed their gaze and there standing on top of the roof of a house was someone dressed all in red. For a moment Djaq could have sworn whoever it was (and she thought it was a woman) was looking at her and her alone and she felt a thumb of awareness at her neck almost as if she knew the person but couldn't quite place her…

But then the thing in red had disappeared and the Sherriff was barking out orders and the whole exchange had disintegrated into utter chaos.

Again.

"Who the fuck was that?" Allan asked eventually. Djaq couldn't reply. She thought of the cave, of the point between life and death where she had hung and the red she had seen and she caught Marian's eye who discreetly shrugged as if to say that she too remembered but she didn't get it, either.

And there you are, so please let me know what you think and I will bring the next chapter to you as soon as possible.

Next Chapter-The mystery of the Woman in Red is discussed within the camp as Will's father and brother return. A tragedy occurs and the outlaws gain a new member.