A/N: The next couple of chapters are going to be very jerky. I'm missing out all the unimportant bits. You'll see what I mean.

Luvs Elfie xXxXx





Chapter 10

"I seriously don't think it's a good idea, Robyn," said Aragorn. "Legolas sent me news of Michelle. Too much stress could do the same to you."

"I know, but my mind is made up," replied Robyn.

"Then let me send an escort with you," he said. 'I'm bargaining with a 16-year old,' he thought. 'I need a break.'

"Can you read minds or something?" she said.

"Er, pardon?" he said.

"Never mind," she said. "I simply came to you first because I thought it would be easier if I had the King's permission to visit him. I didn't come to be guarded. I don't want an escort. I want to talk to him alone."

"I don't know if I..."

"If you say anything about parental permission, I'll scream," she said. "Dad knows I'm here. He wasn't happy, but he let me go. He understands that I need to do this. Mom would understand too. Aragorn, please don't try and stop me from doing this." He stood in silence watching her. There was a look of determination on her face, but also something he couldn't quite distinguish. Fear, perhaps? Well, whatever it was it couldn't stop her from seeing Ash, and could he.

"OK, but I'm sending a guard down with you," he said. She went to protest but he stopped. "He won't be there to listen to your conversation. He'll just be near enough to help if anything should happen. Deal?" She sighed and nodded her head.

"It's better than nothing I suppose," she said.

"I take it you wish to go down now," he said.

"Please," she said.

Five minutes later she descending the last flight of stairs that lead to the prison cells beneath the Palace, led by Aragorn. It was cold down there. There was nothing but stone and metal. A chill breeze blew down the corridor. 'How typically prison-like,' she thought. 'It's exactly how I imagined it.'

"Not nice, is it?" said Aragorn, noticing the look of disgust and shock on her face.

"I didn't think it would be," she said. They passed many cells, all containing either one or two criminals. This part of the prison was only for small-time offenders. They had to keep going to get to the high security part of the prison, where both Ash and Becky were being detained.

She saw the cells change from rooms barred off from the actual corridor, to rooms with trebly padlocked doors (they added more locks since the escape of Becky and Clare) and thick stone walls. She presumed they were nearly there. They soon came to a halt outside a door identical to those she had already passed.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Robyn?" asked Aragorn, before he ordered the door to be unlocked.

"I have to," she said.

"Ok then," he said. He turned the guard at the door. "Open it up." The guard took the bunch of keys and undid the three padlocks on the door. The door silently swung open. Ash was lying on the narrow, hard bed staring at the ceiling. Presuming it was just another check; he didn't lower his gaze to the door. He only did so when he heard a familiar voice.

"Are you not even going to welcome me?" He sat bolt upright and stared at her.

"Robyn?" he said, as if was dreaming, as if she would disappear any second. He leapt up and stood in front of her.

"No need to look so surprised," she said coldly. "This isn't a social visit." She turned around and saw the guard and Aragorn watching her in the doorway.

"Aragorn, a promise is a promise," she said.

"Very well," he said. "But I will remain out here until you are finished." With that, the door closed. She turned to face him again.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. He'd been awake all night thinking up any possible outcome from the situation that didn't involve his growing old alone in a prison cell. The only thing he had come up with was that Michelle and Robyn decided to forgive him and take him. But the look on Robyn's face told him that wasn't going to happen.

"I'm asking the questions," she said. "Why, Ash? Why'd you do it?"

"I don't know," he said, sadly. He sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands. "I don't know. I knew that nothing she was saying was rue, but she was so convincing."

"Don't you love me?" she said. Her voice was void of emotion. It was as if someone was asking the questions for her.

"Yes, I do!" he said. "And that's the reason I've been hating myself. I do love you, Robyn, very much. I can't tell you how much-"

"Yet, you still betrayed us," she said. "It doesn't make much sense. Did your twisted mind tell you that by handing my mother over to them, I'd love you more?"

"No!" he cried. "I would never do that! I know how close you and Michelle are!"

"I don't get it," she said. "I always thought you liked my mom."

"I do!" he said.

"But, yesterday you tried to kill her," said Robyn, starting to loose her temper.

"I'm not a killer, Robyn," he said seriously. The tone of his voice shocked her. She hadn't ever heard him speak so seriously. "I admit that I knew they wanted to kill her. I admit that I took her to them. But I would NEVER try to kill anyone."

"But you did, as good as," she said. "You knew they wanted to kill her, and still you took her to them. I count that as part of a murder plot. If she had died, you'd have been involved."

"But she didn't die," said Ash.

"No, but the baby did!" she shouted. He stared at her for a couple of stunned seconds. "Yeah, you heard me. Mom had a miscarriage last night. Her fight with Becky was too much for her. And if you hadn't taken her to them, that wouldn't have happened. You are a murderer, Ash, and I'll never forgive you." She walked over to the door and pounded on it. Ash jumped up and caught her hand.

"Robyn, please!" he begged. But she just pulled her hand away and left the cell. Once the door had closed, she broke down in tears. Aragorn put a comforting arm round her shoulders.

"To think I loved him once," she said, and then ran down the corridor to the exit.