Disclaimer: The usual… I don't own any of this… blah, blah, blah! Tiresome, isn't it?

Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. No time to answer each individually, must leave for work in about, oh, 5 minutes ago! Hope you enjoy…

Gawain looked back at his bed, and the woman who now consumed his thoughts during the day and his dreams during the night. She lay on her back, one knee brought up lifting the covers slightly off her hip exposing her naked flesh. Her hair, splayed across her pillow, seemed to frame her head in a dark cloud. Her lips were uplifted in a slight smile and even in sound sleep she tugged at his heartstrings. "Gods", he thought, "I never expected love to overwhelm my senses like this." Having never expected to feel anything close to what he saw between his mother and father, he was awed by the emotions. He was reluctant to wake her, but knew Arthur would be waiting for them, impatiently at that, if he didn't do so soon. Finally with a sigh, he walked softly to the bed and sat beside the sleeping form.

"Sarah." He gently called her name and heard her soft moan. Reaching over to push a stray strand of her hair off her cheek, he called to her again and saw her eyes flutter open. He saw the realization of where she was in her eyes and when she turned them to his, he saw the memory of their night together reflected in the green depths. "Good morning, Love." He told her as he pushed her hair away from her face with this fingers. "Is it really morning already?" she asked sleepily. "I'm afraid so. Arthur will be expecting us shortly. While you dress and prepare for the journey I'll go to the stables and see to our horses, so come on, get up." The last two words were spoken with authority, but his smile let her know he was partly jesting.

"Oh, alright. I guess I'll have to get used to being roused from sleep at all hours if I'm to be with you." She grumbled good-naturedly as she sat up. When the blanket that covered her breasts fell to her waist, she looked from his face to her breasts noticing the lustful look in his eyes. Smiling, she pulled the blanket back up and admonished, "Go on with you or Arthur will send Tristan to fetch us… again!" She watched as he slowly stood up as he grumbled slightly under his breath, "This is going to be a long and tortuous journey." Smiling, she answered his grumble with one of her own, "Yes, I think it will be." Laughing, Gawain leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'll see you in the stables in fifteen minutes, so hurry." Then he turned and picked up his sword belt and left the room.

After he left, she took a moment to stretch before standing up. Then she quickly poured water into the basin on the table and with a cloth washed her face and body before pulling on her leather pants and shirt. When she had donned her tunic she sat on the bed and pulled on her boots before pulling the brush through her tangled hair. After a few minutes, she pulled it back and tied a leather cord around it. She wanted to braid it so it would stay out of her way, but considering the time she had to get to the stables, decided to let it wait until later. With one final look about the room, she left and headed toward the rest of the group.

When she stepped inside the big building that housed the knight's horses as well as her own now, she smelled the familiar scent of hay and horse dung. With a slight wrinkle of her nose, she walked toward the stall where Gawain was checking the girth of his horse. When he saw her, he stopped what he was doing and gave her a smile. "I told Lancelot you'd be on time. He said no woman could get dressed and to the stables in less than fifteen minutes." She returned his smile and glancing at the man next to her, she noticed the slight smirk on his lips. "Just because it takes him all morning to dress, doesn't mean it takes all of us that long. Some of us care less than he does about our appearance." She pretended not to be throwing the comment toward the darker knight, but saw the look of surprise on his face at her open banter, only made more so by the words from Bors, "He should keep trying, cause you still got 'im beat!"

Finally, after he saw her laugh with the rest of the men, Lancelot laughed as well. "Alright, I see this is going to be 'pick on Lancelot' day. Go ahead, have your fun, but in the end, know that I will have my revenge." Sarah noticed that he looked directly at her when he said the word 'revenge' and wondered if she should be concerned. She felt Gawain wrap his arms around her from behind and looked up over her shoulder into his face, "Don't worry, Love, I've got your back." Smiling, she winked and gave Lancelot a smug look before pulling out of Gawain's embrace to mount her horse. Just as she got settled, Arthur walked in and looked around, "Good, we're all on time and ready." Then glancing at Gawain, she heard him mumble, "This time." She felt her face blush and shot Lancelot a glare when he laughed out loud. When she glanced at the others, she noticed they suddenly decided they needed to check their saddle one last time and most, if not all of them, had a half hidden grin on their faces. She shook her head as she looked at Gawain to find his grin was bigger than anyone else's. This was going to be an interesting, if eventful trip. She forgot that at the end of the trip she might find any hopes of finding her family dashed at the hands of the Saxons.

The group rode out of the fort a little faster than Sarah felt comfortable with, but she kept up with the rest. The last thing she wanted was for Lancelot to admonish her for holding them up. She wanted them to see that she would take whatever they did even if it secretly scared her beyond words. Had she really thought about the reason for this trip she would have been physically ill from fear. Gawain had not told her that the likelihood of running into trouble was far greater than 'likely'. The usual occurrence when the group left the sanctity of the wall was at least a skirmish with Woads. This time they were looking for Saxons, and apt to find at least some of them. If nothing else, Tristan always found what Arthur sent him in search of.

Gawain secretly kept an eye on her as she rode beside him. He knew she was unused to the pace Arthur set when they went on a mission and hoped her pride wouldn't make her bite off more than she could chew. But the way she held herself told him otherwise. She would not complain or ask Arthur to change the usual just for her, so he just watched for any sign that she was getting in over her head. He had to admit that so far, she was doing well, even if he could tell she would rather be riding at a slower pace. The real test would come if and when they ran into trouble.

This was when he began to contemplate teaching her enough swordplay that she could at least defend herself, even if she never learned to advance on an enemy. There were times when defense was enough until someone could come to your aid. All of the knights had experienced that at one time or another during their service. That's why they were so close, every one of them owed each of the others their lives many times over. He hoped when the time came, she would accept this without feeling she was weak or had failed in some way. It wasn't a sign of weakness, it was just a part of battle, a part of what it meant to fight alongside others for a common cause. Sometimes all the cause had to be was survival. Nothing grander than that. Just to live another day. He made a mental note to tell her some of these things when he had the chance, so she would be prepared when the time came.

Arthur rode the group hard throughout the morning and by the time he signaled for them to stop Sarah felt like she had been beaten. She saw Gawain dismount and step toward her. She wanted to tell him to wait, but she was quietly glad he was coming to help her for she didn't think she could do it on her own. Sure enough, as soon as he thought she was steady, he let her go and she sat down on the trail, her legs too weak to hold her weight. Her weakness made her angry and she felt the tears well up into her eyes as Gawain leaned over to help her up. "Don't think about it," he started. When he saw the look on her face, he added, "it happens if you're not used to it. It'll get better, I promise." She gave him a weak smile and let him pull her up, holding her arms until she nodded that she could stand again.

She saw Gawain grimace as he looked over her shoulder and she turned to see Lancelot saunter toward them. She rolled her eyes at the man she loved and saw him open his mouth to speak, "Don't. I've got to learn to take his teasing eventually. Might as well be now." She saw him nod and close his mouth, but he didn't turn to leave her side.

"If you think it hurts now, wait until tomorrow." Lancelot said as he rolled his eyes toward the sky. Then he turned to Gawain, "You'll be lucky if she lets you touch her before we get back to the fort." Then he walked by without stopping. Sarah looked at Gawain, "Is he joking now or is it really going to be that bad?" Gawain wanted to lie, but knew she'd know soon enough on her own. "It'll be bad enough. But again, I promise you'll get used to it." He saw the consternation on her face and decided he'd had enough, "Look, I'll say something to Arthur. He probably just hasn't thought about how all this riding will affect you. It won't hurt to slow down a little." Sarah started to argue with him, then thought about how sore her backside was already. She decided to keep her mouth shut and let him be her champion this one time.