"Wow. Will, I'm impressed," Azeem murmured as they sidled up alongside his wagon.

Will ignored him. "Who's that?" he asked, pointing to the unconscious man, arranged in a heap on the ground next to the wagon. Then he recognized him as the man who was sent to get the Sheriff.

"Oh, that's Ulric. He was sent to tell the Sheriff the good news. He didn't get very far. I left him alive because I thought we might have been able to find a use for him later on, when John and everybody arrived. But I see you have everything under control."

"It was incredible!" Noah exclaimed as he scrambled into the wagon. Azeem beckoned Will up, but Will shook his head and gestured that he would rather walk. Locksley decided to walk beside him. "I was riding behind Robin and all these men jumped us, and pulled us down. And all the time Robin's fighting like a crazy man, man he was great! And then we were taken to this cabin and they started to threaten Robin, but Robin wasn't scared, were you Robin?"

"I was pretty scared Noah," he informed the boy casually. Noah was so stunned by this revelation that he stopped talking for a full half a second.

"Well, anyway, as I was saying…" Noah resumed his narrative. Robin chuckled and Will smiled his amusement. Robin decided to use that as the ice-breaker.

"The boy's quite a little chatterer," he observed.

"That he is," Scarlett agreed.

Robin hesitated for a second before plunging ahead. "Listen, Scar—Will, thanks for...back there—getting me out of there andno doubtsaving my life."

"Well, you saved my life once," he answered coldly. "I owe you nothing now. Don't expect anymore from me."

"I didn't expect you to do this much." Will stopped short at that comment.

"I always repay a debt." He hurried on.

"Oh I'm sure of that," Robin hastened to amend. He truly was grateful and he wanted the man responsible for saving his life to know it.

"…and then as we were walking out, that man started running after us and he said some awful things to Will. It wasn't true Will, what he said about your mother. It wasn't true." He meant it to be a statement of fact, but everyone heard the question evident within. Will hesitated for a moment, but then walked on, taking great notice of the interesting ground ahead.

As tactless as only a child could be, Noah continued, his voice trembling as he desperately wished for his idol to deny the words. "She wasn't a scarlet woman, right Will? She wasn't, was she?" There was a heavy silence before Will answered.

"She was."

Before Azeem could shush him, Noah rushed on, desperate for his Will to be able to deny something of that man's words. "But you weren't a…I mean, you weren't born a, uh, she wasn't"

"She wasn't one then," Will spoke sharply, knowing full well what Noah had been implying. "That...came after…when her luck changed." His voice had dropped to almost a whisper as he spoke the last words, lost in memory.

And to him it was true. She hadn't been a prostitute with his father, she had been in love. In love. And his father had cared for her once, at least cared more than if she were a common harlot.

They had walked in silence for a couple of steps now, with Robin and Azeem both quietly berating themselves for not shutting Noah up. But the damage was done.

Robin put a comforting arm across Will's shoulders and spoke gently to the young man. "She sounds like a woman who would do whatever it took to take care of her son. Whatever it took."

It was a beautiful thing to say, a caring thing. The thing that instantly brought comfort. The kind of comfort one would give to a brother…

Will stumbled to a halt. Robin compassionately stopped beside him to give whatever more comfort the man might need. Scarlett looked into the taller man's eyes

And punched him.

Square in the face.

Robin fell to the ground and Will leapt upon him and began to pound into him with everything he had. Locksley, after being stunned for a second, started to respond with a few punches of his own. Both were instantly lost in the brawl and were deaf to the pleas and shouts of Noah and Azeem.

"You're a fool, you know that Locksley? Walking into such a dumb trap and letting yourself get beaten by a bunch of poor dirty farm boys?" Robin merely grunted and hit him with several good blows. And then Robin was hauled back by Azeem, who after shouting once had instantly leapt down, tied the team to a tree, and proceeded to break up the fight.

"Now both of you, stop it right now!" he ordered. But before he or anyone else could say more, there came shouts and exclamations. It was John and the men racing up the road. Azeem quickly took Will by the arm and led him back to the wagon to cool down and ride for the rest of the trip.

"Noah!" Stephen ran and scooped his son into a bear hug.

"Father," Noah mumbled into his dad's shirt.

"Robin!" John boomed. "You're safe." He was leading the white stallion. "Found this running down the road." he smiled, then a frown appeared as he examined the man closer. "Are you all right?"

Robin winced and rubbed his jaw, glancing at Scarlett in the wagon.

"I was."