Life had been kind to them, after the battle. They had returned home triumphant, and though they expected the news of the King's treachery to travel quickly to Nottingham, it had not. It gave them the time they needed to find supplies and provisions for their new lives in Sherwood. She had released the servants, sending a few to the other houses with letters of promise and making sure all of them knew of her love for them. James had fallen in battle and she had sat with his mother, apologising profusely for his death. The woman had wept, but not blamed her ladyship, she said. James was a good lad and had fallen in honour.

Marion did not know what honour there was in fighting for a cowardly king, but she did not speak such. She closed up Peper Harrow, one final time, and took the dogs on a long walk into the forest, never to return. Loop met her at the edge of their territory and guided her in. She had been many times by now, but finding her way was still a challenge. What she found there was an almost-chaotic scene with all the boys clamouring for her attention. It took her a few stern words to get them all to calm down, but as they did, she took stock of what they needed to concentrate on first. The boys needed proper places to sleep, something Robin had started seeing to but had yet to finish. In the meantime she could sort their bedding and their clothes; most had outgrown both and she set about doing so with the help of a few of the more malleable young ones. The older ones would fall in line, soon enough.

She hadn't seen Robin since their return. He had trusted her to take care of moving from the Manor to the forest and she had done so. She knew that he and his men were talking to the other Barons, making sure that should things go awry as they thought, they would not put themselves in danger for Robin. That was the last thing they wanted or needed. What they needed was for King John and his court of jesters to simply forget they had ever existed.

In the end, it would be down to her to organise the boys and make things a bit more habitable. They insisted that midsummer was not the time that they would need the furs but she laid them out anyway. Some of them could build a fire well enough, but she sat in the dirt with them and showed them the best way to build it, the best way to keep it safe. She inspected their meagre homes and found that some of their shelters would need Robin's help to keep out the chill, but she did what she could and helped them pad the gaps with moss to keep them all warm enough. The clearing was neat and tidied by the time the men returned home.

"It pleases me to see you so happy amongst us outlaws," Robin's quiet voice spoke in her ear.

She jumped at the sudden touch around her but she leaned back into him with a sigh. She was tired, really. Ever so tired. It seemed as though, no matter the amount of sleep she got, she woke tired, she worked tired and she fell asleep during their evening meal.

"You look tired," he said gently.

She laughed.

"I was just thinking the same thing. We have worked hard while you have been politicising. But I am glad you are home with me."

"As am I, my love," he muttered. "As am I."

They made love that night, silent and quiet on account of all their new neighbours. He made her weep with love for him and he held her gently, front to back as he loved her again and again. It wasn't until she fell asleep, with his hand pressing on her bare stomach that a thought began to niggle at her. As her eyes finally closed she realised that perhaps some things that she thought impossible had become probable.

It took another three weeks before she could do anything about those thoughts. Robin had loved her well. Every night since and every time she'd attempted to bring it up in the quiet of their small home, fitting really only a bed and a small washbasin, he had stripped her of her clothes and loved her until she could take no more. She wasn't unhappy about that, not at all, she just had a dire need to speak her mind.

He spent that day hunting with the older boys, teaching them to knock their arrows silently and aim just a little ahead of their target. Arthur, despite his ten summers, had taken to following her around, helping where he could and another little one; barely five, named Nicholas, had clutched at her skirts most days while he sucked his filthy thumb. They had not yet tackled the idea of baths but she was not too worried. It was not usual for him to hide in her skirts to the point of almost constant fear of stepping on him and when it came time to begin his slumber, he would open his arms and his eyes wide for her. She would pretend for a long time, some nights, that she would not take him in her arms and cradle him gently, but in the end, he always won. He fell asleep in her arms, or in their bed. Oftentimes, Robin would carry him back to the boys, where they made sure he was in the middle of the pile where he would be warm enough, but sometimes she let him stay, curled around her body or Robin's, seeking the comfort of those he trusted most.

She had started giving the boys some medicine, born of the herbs she found in the forest, before dinner. Some of them were not especially well and she knew how quickly illness would spread in a place such as this. The Friar, when he could, provided the honey that helped it go down. The boys were barely dressed enough as it was and she had already had the women that had followed John and Will and Alan into the forest with them, to start on new clothes. She would slip into the village in the next week and get more cloth.

She smoothed back her current patient's hair and felt his temperature. She smiled as he looked up at her with his big eyes when a commotion caught her attention. Robin and his men (young and old) walked down the greenwood with food a-plenty. She kissed the child in her chair and sent him on his way as she marvelled that any king would see this as treasonous. That any man, let alone a king, would find providing food for children against the law. Not for the first time, she thought ill of King John but she pushed it aside as she dosed her next child and sent him along his way in time to see her lover sneaking up behind her.

She knew she needed to tell him of her discovery before he noticed himself and she smiled as he dropped the rabbits by the pot and came over to her. He picked her up and twirled her around with all the love he had for her shining in his eyes. As she dropped back to her feet, she kissed him soundly and before she could speak, he did.

"We shall eat well tonight," he grinned. "Emil got his first rabbit."

She smiled and looked over at the boy, holding out as gamey a rabbit as she had ever seen. She bit back a smile and cupped the boy's cheek, refusing to let go of Robin's hand for the time being.

"Well done, little one," she grinned. "Go and put it with the others."

He scampered off and she looked back at her love, watching the pride in his eyes as he looked around.

"We have worked hard again, but I must speak with you, alone."

His eyes flicked to hers and he nodded, leading her to their hut and closing the door behind her. Nicholas would be fine until the morrow.

"If you are tired of this life, Marion." He dropped to the bed. "I'd not blame you, I -"

"Robin," she whispered, kneeling beside him. "I would never tire of life with you."

He blinked at that and looked at her critically.

"Then what?"

"I." She swallowed, knowing the words she needed to say but finding all her courage leaving her in the face of it. "I, Robin."

"Are you ill?"

"No," she shook her head and smoothed his worry lines. "No, I am not ill." She took a deep breath. "Robin," she breathed. "I am with child."

He stared at her. And kept staring as she met his eyes.

"You -"

He glanced down at her belly and then back at her.

"You -"

"Yes," she chuckled. "I am sure of it now. Perhaps that very first coupling, if I am not mistaken."

She had expected an argument. They rarely had them, not serious ones at least, but Robin's eyes filled with tears and she panicked.

"Robin -"

"I love you, Marion."

He'd just about managed to get the words out before he broke and she cradled his head against her chest. His hand covered her belly and she breathed out happily over him.

"I love you, Robin," she whispered. She smiled as he looked up at her. She said it so rarely, believing them to be words to show, rather than speak, but he did so like it when she did.

He pulled off her clothes, though it was still light outside, and lay her down while she pulled off his shirt and trews. He entered her soundly, making her wail and took her as softly as he could until she was trembling all over.

"My wife," he grunted. "My Marion."

She gasped and felt him spill inside her, setting off a series of spasms from her toes to her hair. He held her as tightly as he dared as she stilled and then moved off her to marvel at her belly. She had been thin her whole life; the world was not especially kind to poor women with a thimbleful of noble blood. But there, under his lips, a small roundness had appeared and she cradled his head as he worshipped it.

"Our child," he muttered as he kissed it again and again.

As her belly grew, so too did the attention of all the menfolk. On occasions when she could not stand to be on her feet, she sat with the women, darning clothes and dolling out medicine while the rest did their best to get underfoot. Nicholas was rarely out of her arms, curling around her belly when he could and sitting beside her or across her knee, doing his best to copy her when she had things to do. He had even taken to stroking her belly and besides Robin, he was the only one allowed. He stayed beside them most nights now, as he slept, and often found his way onto Robin's chest, where his hand would travel across and touch her face or her belly. She held her boys as tightly as she could with her belly growing every day and marvelled that the life she thought was over when Robert had gone to war, had really only just begun.

Robin doted on her, as did most of them, but she was so much more at ease when it was just her two boys.

She knew she was nearing time as the winter drew closer. By her reckoning, it would happen around the first days of winter, which would be awful, mostly. They had not braved winter yet in the forest, but Robin had already started making sure that the huts were warm and the furs were divided equally. A lot had changed in the months they had been here. Most huts now had four walls and a door, and roofs were thatched by the local man whose boy stayed with them to avoid being sent to war. They had even made a water wheel, and a series of channels to the camp for fresh water when they needed it and she was gratified every time she could simply fetch some without needing to go all the way to the stream.

The first day of winter had come and gone and Marion was sick of carrying this child they had been blessed with. She had worked endlessly to be ready, she'd asked Maggie to come and stay with them, knowing that she was one of nine and it had warmed her heart when she had accepted wholeheartedly. Loop, it seemed, had taken great interest in keeping an eye on her and Marion knew she might need to have a word with Maggie before long.

Perhaps Robin would talk to him before time as well.

Babies were a blessing, but she would not see these boys shirking their vows to God. She rolled with a small groan. Her back had been aching all day and it was any wonder that her feet throbbed. She had not seen them for months. Nicholas stirred, his thumb in his mouth, and he climbed off Robin and onto her. She chuckled as he lay across them and moved him onto the bed beside her. Her stomach twitched and she breathed out in understanding.

"Robin," she said softly, making sure not to wake him unless he was already halfway there.

"Love?"

"There is nothing yet to do," she said softly, cupping his cheek over his shoulder as he shifted into her. "But our child draws near."

"It -"

He moved his hands down to her belly and they waited. They dozed for a long while until it shifted, squeezing her tightly and then releasing.

"It is a miracle, Marion. Truly."

"It's poor planning, is what it is," she chuckled. "Beginning of winter, for a new babe?"

"We will keep him safe."

"Oh, it's a him now," she chuckled.

They had had this well-natured argument again and again. She was convinced they were having a boy. Yet another to add to the fold, and he continued to call their baby a daughter. He chuckled in her ear and pulled her as closely as he dared.

"Sleep," he ordered. "You will need it."

She slept where she could until her body squeezed so painfully she woke half the camp. She laboured, on and on, getting closer and closer to birth until she squealed in pain and her body felt like she was splitting in half. Maggie had joined them and she held Marion's hand now.

"Push, my Lady."

"I am not strong enough." She gasped as another contraction ripped through her body.

"Marion." Though men were not usually present at birth, Robin had refused to move when it was suggested and he held her head now, looking into her eyes. "You are the strongest woman I know. This is our little miracle. You fought battles, woman. You are strong enough for this."

She stared into her eyes and listened to Maggie as she instructed her to push. She did so and almost gave out as a great moan wrenched from her lips.

"Help me, Robin," Maggie hissed.

Marion tried to remain calm as Maggie instructed Robin to push down gently on Marion's stomach and she winced as he did so, feeling her whole body trying to expel their child.

"My Lady, push, hard."

She screamed so loud that he voice cracked and in the silence, a great rush of something fell from her and she stared as Maggie wrapped up their tiny bundle. In that quiet, the tension of the whole forest seemed to wait and as she stood, their baby in her arms, a scream split the morning as a lark and Robin and Marion smiled.

"A son," Maggie said gently. "My Lord and Lady."

She opened her arms and gasped as he was placed into them. She could not quite comprehend that this tiny thing had grown inside of her and that it was now here, with them. She examined him from every angle. He had Robin's broad shoulders and brown eyes, but he had his mother's chin and nose.

"He is perfect," Robin whispered.

"Come," Marion insisted. "Come and meet your son, my Lord."

He held him so carefully that Marion knew that nothing would ever come between them. Maggie cleaned Marion up as best she could and insisted that they rest as soon as possible and Marion drew her closer to kiss her hair.

"I am indebted to you, young one," she said softly. "Thank you."

"My Lady."

She slipped out of their hut and left them to it. Before they could sleep, for she was so very tired, she had him help her up so she could bathe.

"Marion, you cannae be serious."

"I am as serious as a church, Robin. Help me."

"You've just -"

"And now I must wash. And we must find new bedding."

He sighed and placed their precious boy in his small cradle. He stared for a long time and picked her up and carried her from the hut. A cheer went up as they stepped out and she rolled her eyes good-naturedly at their excitement.

"Well then," John called. "What d'ya have?"

"A boy," Robin cried. "A son."

Another cheer went up but instead of being mugged by masses of excited children, Alan declared they'd have a feast in their honour and picked a hunting party to cater it. Robin was still chuckling as he placed her gently into the water they had filled while she waited.

"Oh Robin, it is marvellous."

"A great idea," he nodded, turning to keep an eye on Maggie, who sat with the babe in their hut.

"He will come to no harm."

"I will make sure of it," he insisted.

She chuckled and leaned back tiredly against the side.

"As will I. Come husband, dress me and take me home."

"I am your loyal servant, my Lady."

She laughed, feeling tired but accomplished as he pulled on a night dress and wrapped her up in her favourite winter robe.

"You will need to get Fanny to give the boys their tonic."

"I will."

"And William, he will need -"

"I know," Robin smiled as he picked her up again. "I know, love."

She chuckled and leaned against him as they rejoined their son. Robin placed her gently on the bed and thanked Maggie again before turning to pick him up.

"He is strong," Robin marvelled as he cradled their babe. His hands made the child look smaller than it was.

"What of his name," she sighed.

The door opened and closed again and she chuckled as Nicholas slipped into bed beside her.

"Hello little love," she whispered, holding him tightly. "How fairs the young man."

As usual, he did not answer, but he stuck his thumb in his mouth and held onto her.

"You will have to share her now, son," Robin said as he joined them on the bed. "You have a brother."

Marion closed her eyes against the tears that wished to fall. Nicholas was so dear to her that not even their child would unseat him from her heart and Robin knew this.

"We have been parents for a long while now, I feel," he chuckled.

He placed the babe on her chest and helped her sit up a little while she untied her gown. Nicholas watched on as the little one snuffled and searched for her breast and as he latched on, Robin took Nicholas into his arms and cradled him.

"Nicholas and Walter," he muttered, looking over at him. "After the best man, I ever knew."

"Robin -"

"There's already a Robin here," he grinned, teasing her gently. "We do not need more than one."

She gripped his tunic and kissed him hard, approving of his idea and letting him know. Nicholas giggled while their new son, Walter did not.

While she shuffled him to her other breast, Robin talked quietly to Nicholas about a hunt and she closed her eyes. She had searched for so long for a place where she truly belonged and while Walter lived, it had been at his beck and call but now, in this age, it was here, with her family as the wife of Robin Longstride and the mother to all of the lost boys.

She sent a prayer of thanks up to God. She had prayed once, for a miracle and at every turn, he had given her one. Their son fell asleep, full of her milk and Robin placed him down, returning to her side, with Nicholas already asleep around his neck.

"I love you, Marion," he whispered as he pulled her close.

"As I love you, my Robin, of the Hood."