Hi so here is another chapter and this one is shorter than the next one as we finally get back into the plot of Robin Hood Season 2. This chapter is mostly about Luke and Will a plot that has been building for a while. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just the character of Erin.

Please Read and Review.

Also I hope that you have enjoyed the Matilda/John angle. That is main bit for them this story but she does make an appearance in Part 3 of this story.

Internal Displacements

Chapter 10-Absolution

As the outlaws save Matilda each couple spends some time with the other. Will tries to find Djaq and Luke comes along for the ride.

Despite the fact that they were a man (or a woman down depending on how you looked at it) they managed to do a rather impressive job of things. Matilda was saved, the Sherriff was made to look like a fool and more the point he and Guy stalked off with such fury that they had failed that they also failed to realise that they had left Marian and Erin standing there on the stage looking horrified by what they were seeing.

All in all it was a rather glorious mistake.

Matilda and her daughter were cooing over baby Alice when Will stood up looking thunderous.

"I am going to look for Djaq" he said finally. "I believe the Woman in Red is a threat"

"No she's not" Erin said from where she was sat close to Allan. Robin had opened a flagon of wine to wet the baby's head and she was sat close to Allan her cheeks pink with joy. Allan had one arm around her and she seemed happy. The girl she had once been was still there it was clear to see but she had changed. Even her hair was now curly as if she was trying something different—instead of the lank blonde strands it was once before.

"And you know this how?"

"Because I've spoken to her. Twice"

There was a pause where everyone looked at her including Matilda and Rosa, even the baby stopped crying. Allan next to her stiffened.

"You did?" Will asked at the same time Allan asked "When?"

"First time was when I killed that…man…which you all know about. Second time was just before I came to get you. She was in the castle, she's always been in the castle, drives the Sherriff mad."

"That's true" Marian said cutting across. "What did she say?"

"Nothing much. She just wanted to know that I was alright but…but it was strange now I come to think about it. There was something about her voice…It reminded me…actually it reminded me of Djaq's…the same accent"

There was a pause as they all drank that in. And then Will stood up.

"I am going to find Djaq"

"Well then go Will" Robin said pleasantly enough. "But know this…Djaq is a cunning and vibrant fighter. And she is a woman that I would not mess with for all of the gold of England. She knows, and indeed she did know what she was doing when she chased after that woman…and she knows what she is doing. I would hate to be the poor bastard that went after her when she did not want to"

Will stared for a moment and then nodded.

And then he went.

Luke followed.

Was there every a time where Luke would not follow.

Robin did not think so.

Matilda had left Rosa to sleep, the babe in her arms and had gone and sat by the river. She was not sure what happened now. She was technically an enemy of the Sherriff of Nottingham and still there was the fundamental desire that came with her being a strong and independent woman in 1193. She did not want to leave her home—nor force Rosa and baby Alice to do the same.

But then again what choice did she have?

What choice did any of them have?

"I thought I would find you here"

She turned and found John stood there his stick in his hand. Like it was when she had tried to heal Erin—a broken girl—slowly trying to put herself back together and who had done her best but who had not succeeded.

"Oh? And you think that you know so much about my movements?"

John rolled his eyes.

"Spare me the lines Matilda, this is me your talking to…not Robin"

"I don't want to talk to Robin" she said aware that she was sounding like a petty child. "Right now I could kill him. Right now I could wrap this cord and—"

"Matilda could you please? This is me that you are talking too. Me. I know you. I knew you before this and you knew me before I became an Outlaw. I know how this ends and how this begins. So for the love of God just stop"

"Fine" she snapped shifting her sodden clothes and letting John sit down next to her on the small rock.

"Robin has spoken to the nuns at the local abbey. They are in need of a healer and they are prepared—for a costly sum—to forget about Rosa and baby Alice in the meantime. Robin thinks it would be best for you to stay there until this dies over. Then you can come back and it will be as if you never left—God knows that none of the locals have ever thought of you as a witch"

"As well they should have. I have done many things, many of them close to the wire John that I will admit but I have never tried to play God. I have never become one of those charlatan's that has ever tried to get a coin out of someone for anything other than what I knew I could do, in God Laws and the Man's Law. To be called a witch is to be…well…it is a difficult thing to behold"

"I know" John said finally. "And I know how you will find it…but you must Matilda. Robin is sure that there will come a time where you can be free…where England can be free…where we Outlaws can be free"

"And then what happens…I come back home to be sure. Robin marries Marian, Much gets his manner house with a good woman by his side, Will and Luke Scarlett gets wives, even if one is a Saracen, and Allan and that girl get much deserved happiness…but what happens to you? You have lived in the forest for so long what happens next? Do you go after Alice and your son?"

The second she asked the question she wished that she had not. For the look in his eye spoke volumes of the depth of which he had been thinking of this question. There was little that he could do other than to sit and think on what would have been.

"She is happy" John said finally. "And though I will love her regardless I accept that she is happy. I do not have to like it, indeed I hate it. But I accept it. She is deserving of happiness. But now I come to think that so am I. She gave me that gift when she left. And now I want to be happy. And being happy means that I have to move on."

Matilda nodded. They were very close now. And when he kissed her it was soft and light.

"It is not a betrayal you know" she said as he watched her. She found that despite her intentions she was growing inexplicably fond of him. Always she had been inexplicably fond of him and right here and now she needed him, and him alone, in ways that she could not get from anyone else.

"I know that" he said softly.

And though it sounded corny and unimaginative they really did fall off the rock and into the grass together and they fucked as a man might fuck a woman he admires and loves. Gentle and kind…

Or how she thought that regardless…John might love her.

They stayed there in the grass for a long time.

It was perfect, it was not to be and yet Matilda thought that there was a very good chance that they would never be here again she hoped that there would be. There was an understanding between her and John. An understanding that would not change come the years that would pass between them.

And it was good.

It was simple and clean. And good.

And she wanted him. Desperately she wanted him.

And it was good.

"So you love her then…this Djaq?"

"Yes"

It was the simplest of answers that he had given him. In truth he did not know what to give to his brother that would constitute an answer. What he wanted to give…what he wanted to say was so utterly complicated that he was not sure what to answer.

"You love her enough to marry her?"

"What does that…Luke what is going on? You have never asked about…"

"You are lucky brother" Luke said into the silence with a strange smile about his face. "You have never…you love a woman honestly as much as you have loved this one. I do not have such a luxury."

"Jesus what does that mean?"

"I do not see a woman in my future. Any woman…I fear…I fear Will I think…I do not desire women. I desire men"

There was a shocking pause.

It was not that Will was ignorant of what went on between a man and a woman and that sometimes it became more a story of a man and a man. He was not stupid. He had heard stories and more than most he had heard his father telling him that as far as he was concerned it did not matter. That love was love regardless. And had his father lived he thought that Dan Scarlett would have liked the woman that Will was proposing as his daughter in law. And If that was the case then surely…surely…he would not blame Luke for where his love laid. After all love which was such a rare and precious thing in this world should be cherished regardless of what was said in a book in a church where Will as an outlaw could not even step foot into.

It took him a minute. And then he knew that it did not make any difference.

This was his brother. This was his little brother. And it did not matter.

To Will it did not matter.

"I do not care" he said turning so that Luke was able to stare at him in the face. "Luke I do not care. You are my brother and nothing else matters but that"

Luke reached out and grasped his arm his eyes wet with unshed emotion but before he could say anything there was a crashing in the bushes and they both turned to see someone or rather something come out of them with wild abandon.

It was Djaq.

"DJAQ" he shouted relief coursing through his veins and before his knees could buckle in relief she was there standing in front of him her red eyes stark in her face and yet Will thought that she had never looked more beautiful to him in this moment right here.

She reached him and before he could do anything she had thrown herself into his arms. He steadied her and paused. He had never had the luxury of having her this close to him but here she was unashamed of everything and indeed anything that happened next. Through his utter delirious relief he found that he was uncaring for a split second of what would happen next. Nothing was better than this.

Christ Allan was right. He really was pathetic.

But Djaq was speaking and though his brother was there his own eyes wide with what had taken place in the last ten minutes or so they were alert with what she was saying.

For a second he didn't understand as it was in her own language and then Djaq spoke in plain and common tongue. In the English that he understood though when he finally understood her words he found that they sent his blood to ice.

"She's my sister Will. She's my sister. Gisella…my baby sister. Please you have to keep Robin away from harming her"

Will thought that she was so stunningly beautiful that he didn't care what she was saying though Robin would. Instead in full view of his brother he bent his head and cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.

Djaq paused for one endless second and then she was kissing him back with the same fervour.

Luke next to them rolling his eyes to the heavens was quite forgotten.

So was the Woman in Red who was watching with gritted teeth from the shadow of the nearby bush.

It was all just perfectly, forgotten in this for him certainly, this perfect, everlasting moment.

And there you go, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I will bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Djaq and Will come back to life after their kiss, the Woman in Red's identity is shared to the other Outlaws and Erin and Marian return to the castle to find Guy there with some pretty dresses.