Hi, so here is another chapter and the first real kind of move into Season 3. I know the first few chapters have deviated away from the three main couples of this story but there is one more chapter and then we go back to the main pairings. Just a case of making sure that everything is tied up in a neat little bow.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just the character of Erin.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think and I will do my very best to update again soon.

Enjoy.

The Growing Good Of The World

Chapter 4-Scream

The Sherriff begins his last plan by selling the men of the villages to the Irish. Kate suffers a personal blow and Carter gets jealous.

It didn't take long for the Sherriff to move on his revenge plan.

Watching from the shadows of the trees the Outlaws watched as they rounded up all the men and placed them in chains.

"Irish renegades" Robin said shaking his head.

"What?" Marian said in a waspish tone.

"Irish renegades, men fighting to be free of English rule in Ireland. They have a wild fighting style that is practically unseen and wild. It's man verses man up there and nine times out of ten their sons follow them to the death. Prince John must be getting desperate if he's using them. They are notoriously unreliable and they will take him to the cleaners in terms of pay"

Carter nodded eyeing them with the eyes of a trained solider.

"Will piss of the councils of nobles too" he murmmered. "I better get back to camp Robin and get a message to the Duke of Buckingham. If John is bringing in the Irish then the council will need to be informed"

"Your leaving?"

"Nah" Carter said smiling at Luke's expression. "I'll send it post-haste with Rodger of Stoke. He has the messages that the Sherriff usually sends to the council for an extra gold coin he won't care about dropping one off with the Duke when he gets to London"

He bent and kissed Luke and then he was gone slipping into the trees as if he was a ghost.

"So what do we do?" Erin asked and Robin once again was reminded that he was the leader of this rapidly growing little rag-tag group and that now it was time to make a stand. For themselves, for Nottingham. For England.

"We rescue the men"

Which of course was what they did.

And it resulted in Robin being captured too.

Because of course it did.

It always did.

But that was not the worst of it. No. the worst of it came later. When Kate came tumbling out the castle.

Stupid.

So, so fucking stupid.

She was so…so fucking stupid it was beyond words. There wasn't a word for how utterly stupid she had been and now the consequences of her stupidity were laid bare in front of her seeping into her dress and her heart was breaking all over the floor and there was nothing that she could do about it.

Matthew was dead.

Her fun, silly big brother who had known more about what was in her head and certainly more her heart sometimes than she did. And now he was dead because she had stupidly thought that she could get him out of this mess not once but twice.

He had took the sword to the gut and fallen to the floor and Kate had been unaware that she was being dragged back from his body despite her hands scrabbling in the dirt so that she could stay with him.

It didn't matter until she was thrown out of the castle and she was facedown in the mud outside one of the small gates. There was no possibility of her ever getting her brother's body back and she lay there in the street her face down in the mud sobbing her heart out. She didn't care what happened to her. She didn't care what she looked like. She didn't even think that someone had been watching or waiting for her. She had never even thought that someone would know what she was doing.

She had forgotten about Much then. She had forgotten that he knew her inside and out and it was his hands that picked her up and carried her away from the castle and it was he who took her into the forest and held her while she cried away from the sight of the village.

"Kate" he said into the blonde hair. "Darling I am so sorry"

"My fault" she hiccupped.

"No…the Sherriff's fault"

Kate knew that in some sense he was right but in another sense he was wrong. The blame for the entire thing could also be laid at her door. She had suspected that Robin Hood would have had a plan and yet still she had gone in their blindly applying the same principals she had seen them use in the Holy Lands without realising that this was England. The rules, the world view, the odds were all very different.

And now here was the price laid out in front her. Matthew dead and his blood congealing on the floor and nothing that anyone could do about it.

Much tucked her against his body and she buried her face in his neck. She knew that she was supposed to go home and see her mother. She knew that she was undeserving of his love and his affection right now when she had dragged her brother into this final, fatal headlong scheme of hers but he was warm and he was comforting and she loved him enough to let him attempt to comfort her even though there was no comforting to be had and Much perhaps understanding that shushed her again and rocked her back and forth while she cried suffering with her for the loss of her brother.

The men were in bad shape.

Djaq had been busy attending to them. The ones from Locksley were still in decent enough shape but the men that had been sold or thrown away or just joined up for the sport were all in a bad way. The remnants of the Black Knights had not been gentle in their desire to whip the men into a fierce fighting force and there were many bleeding, broken and bruised not to mention thirsty and hungry and even as Robin—newly returned with some radical plan and a story of even a more radical escape route—with the Irish leader's brother (now rather keen to destroy both his brother and the Sherriff after the formers betrayal) who was deep in conversation with Robin and Marian about formulating a plan to liberate most of the men in Locksley who were in the process of being held in the castle.

Much was still gone, Carter was back and Luke was just helping to stir some stew when he was aware that he was being watched.

It was the brother again.

Now Luke might be in a happily committed relationship but he could admit that the Irishman—Finnan—he thought his name might be—was stunningly good looking with a jawline that had it not been partially obscured by a beard would have been to die for.

"Hello" he said smiling at Luke. Luke eyed him for a second and then good manners kicked in courtesy of his mother who believed every stranger should have the benefit of good manners. And also he was aware that Carter was watching the two of them. He had come back from seeing off Rodger of Stoke to London and now he was sat on a tree stump eyeing the Irish with a rather distrustful look.

"Hello" Luke said smiling back.

"My name if Finnan"

"Luke"

"Pleasure"

He said it with his whole mouth curling over the word like Carter sometimes did and Luke smiled. He didn't know what was going on but he could feel steel cold blue eyes bore into his back and he resisted the urge to squirm. Erin who was cutting up bread on a board next to him shot him a rather amused look. But then again he suspected that Erin understood things that other people didn't.

"So tell me Luke…I hear things…your…inclined to have a preference away from woman?"

"Err…yes" Luke said because it was true and also he was surrounded by people who accepted him for who he was so what did he care if this man wasn't as accepting?

"Well I was wondering if you had a—friend I suppose—"

"He does" came a voice to the left and Luke jumped a little because seriously! He had warned Carter about that. He had told the older man that the whole sneaking up on their enemy thing was good but sneaking up on your friend was more likely to get you killed.

Or to kill them as this was turning out to be.

Finnan eyed Carter with intense dislike. Considering the expression on Carter's face Luke thought it might be mutual.

"I see"

"Yeah" Carter said softly. "So jog on back to your men"

Finnan pulled a face and then disappeared.

"Carter—that was a bit rude!"

"A bit rude! The bastard was flirting with you right in front of me!"

"He was?"

Erin gurgled a laugh.

"Luke honey he so was. Even I could see it"

Huh.

Carter's hand came around his hips and he gripped him hard. Luke was proficient enough in the non-verbal language that was his…partner he supposed they were calling themselves…to know that he was in a mood to throw Luke up against the nearest tree and rut against him until he couldn't feel his bones and well….

Who was Luke to say no?

"Erin would you mind covering…"

"Go" Erin said tucking a strand of golden blonde behind her ears. "But I want time alone with Allan tonight Luke so you need to repay the favour"

"Done" Luke said as Carter's hand slid upwards and then they were gone into the trees.

If jealously was a thing then Luke was secretly flattered. It was nice to be seen as something or someone other than Will's little runt brother.

But he suspected that it was wise not to tell Carter this.

Yes. That was a wise thought indeed.

Robin was deep in conversation with John about what to do now the Sherriff was increasing his attacks and Marian was clutching her stomach looking delicate…if that was a word that one used when one described Marian when Erin slid up next to him kissing his neck. Allan resisted the urge to shiver into his wife's touch but really…you look at Erin and tell him that he wasn't the luckiest man in the world?

Actually the strength in which his wife had was pretty fucking awe-inspiring. She had gone in the space of a year and a half from scared and traumatised prisoner of war, beaten, chained, raped, degraded and had transformed herself (entirely by herself) into a warrior who fought and laughed and loved and lived.

He knew that the darkness still plagued her. Knew that she still sometimes had nightmares that awoke her gasping for breath. He knew that with those nightmares came the memories and though most of the time he woke with her he knew that sometimes she stayed awake on purpose staring up at the darkened sky sometimes too afraid to go to sleep again.

He would reach out and hold her, press her too her and try to do his best but he was a pragmatistic and he knew that there was little that he could do in these situations. His wife was a strong woman and when she wanted his help she would ask for it. Until that happened he offered her it anyway silently with his love and his support and his heart.

"You alright?" he asked softly.

"Perfect" she said smiling. "Carter's gone to throw Luke up against a tree and assert his claim—sorry Will—"

Will had overheard that last bit and had pulled a face. Allan didn't blame him, he liked both Luke and Carter and the thought of both of them in that kind of compromising position was too much sometimes. Already this camp was filled with hormones. One day he knew it would explode on them.

"So when there back do you want to…" she trailed off and Allan grinned. That was another thing that he loved beyond reason. Erin's acceptance to their lovemaking, his touch. He was always gentle, always spent more time on her than he did on himself and he didn't mind it. There had been whores before Erin, tavern girls and prostitutes whenever he had, had a spare coin to hand (which to be fair was not often) but with her he was gentle. He spent time making sure that she enjoyed herself and he knew everything that she liked. It was a part of pride with him. He knew how to pleasure his wife. He knew how to make her gasp and clutch at his hair and the expanse of his shoulders. He knew how to make her say his name in that breathy little whimper that made him want to climax himself.

He loved her, he loved her, he loved her.

He didn't think he would want anything more than this.

Not even Richard back on the throne.

But then again Allan had never professed to being anything more than a simple man with simple needs and desires.

"Always" he said smiling at her. Erin kissed him and then turned to help Djaq with the medicine.

"You know" Will said quietly. "It's begun. The fight for England. The Sherriff's shot a warning shot over us and now it's on"

"I know" Allan said just as quietly. "But we've got to grab whatever happiness we can have along the way right?"

Will said nothing for a second and Allan wasn't sure that the other man had heard him. He turned from where Robin and Finnan were breaking up from this…well…whatever this had been and saw that his friend was looking at Djaq with a rather pensive expression. Allan didn't know the details of what was happening with his friend but he knew that it wasn't good. Djaq was much a changed woman even he could see that though he didn't dare comment on it.

Gently he reached out and tugged on Will's shoulder in brotherly companionship. It snapped Will out of his mood though the smile he offered did not meet his eyes. In fact he looked like was screaming on the inside.

"Yes" Will said finally. "I guess we will just have to grab what happiness we can along the way"

And there you are, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-As the Archbishop of Canterbury frees the Outlaws from the suspicion of heresy Carter decides to use the knowledge of the Bible in English to his own advantage and get what he wants-this chapter takes place after the episode and therefore the chapter does not go into the events. It's just a post-episode happy fluffy chapter.