Title: Outlaws2006 - Chapter Twenty Four: Frightened Now?
Rating: PG-13 for mild swearing
Author: moonmajik and Tanya
Synopsis: Robin and his gang of outlaws, plus Guy of Gisnborne and the Sheriff, get swept 800 years into the future, to the year 2006, into the ladies bathroom of a Starbucks Coffee House. Follow their journey as they get to grips with their new surroundings. Based on the BBC's 2006 Robin Hood.
Pairings: Robin/OC, Will/OC, Alan/Djaq
Disclaimer: We do not own Robin Hood or any associated comments, such as "We go to Nottingham" or "Not being Funny, but..." Especially do not own the Sheriff. Damn. We do, however, own Charli and Tanya. In the later Chapters, there may be other characters that we own.

There was a knock on the door and Charli leapt up from where she was sat with Will, Djaq and Alan. Robin, who was sulking in front of the TV, glanced over half heartedly as she yelled "Pizza!" and scrambled over to the door. Tanya looked up from dealing the cards into seven piles and grinned.

"My favourite part of the night, do you need any money?" She yelled over to the door. "My purse is on the table." She added as she'd finished dealing. The girls had decided to stay in, order out and teach the guys how to play Poker that night.

"I got it," Charli shut the door awkwardly and came walking into the room carrying four large boxes and two bottles of diet coke. The smell drifted over, and Much, who had been in the bathroom, practically burst through the door.

"Is that food? It smells good!"

Robin had declined to play poker, and the girls had left him with the remote to the television. He had been channel hopping, but had settled for the cartoon "The Flintstones."

"Okay guys, grubs up," Charli placed the boxes down on to table sending Tanya's cards flying everywhere.

"Charli!" Tanya yelled before hopping down from the table to pick up the scattered items that lay all over the floor. No one else seemed to be helping her. The rest of the guys were too interested in their food, Robin sat staring at the TV trying his hardest not to pay any attention to anyone.

He had been in a bad mood since they had arrived back from riding earlier. Maybe she had been a little harsh on him, but his words had stung her too. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she didn't feel bad for the way she had spoken to him; the man had to learn that he couldn't always get what he wanted. He could sulk in front of the TV all night for all she cared.

Charli, who was almost as hungry as Much, since she had been deprived of her Twix earlier by the starving man, ignored the outlaw sitting on the floor, and also ignored her friend scrambling around on her hands and knees. Opening the box, she grinned at the pizza in front of her.

"That's not food!" John said.

"Don't mind him," Much looked at the item greedily, "John thinks that anything that doesn't look like a half cooked rabbit couldn't possibly be food."

Charli grimaced at the thought of having to eat a half cooked rabbit and picked up a slice for herself. "This, my friends, is one of the finest foods in the world. It's Italian. You'll have everyone in 1192 eating it if you take a recipe back."

"Italian?" Alan enquired.

"Yes, there are other foreign countries on this Earth that have good food too." Charli stated. She looked at Djaq, who nodded her head in agreement.

"In fact, England doesn't have its own Cuisine anymore," Tanya reappeared above the table, all fifty-two cards in her hand. "That is not a game I want to play again this evening. Understood?"

Charli immediately argued her first comment. "We do have food! Sunday Roasts, English Breakfasts..."

"Yeah, there's that…" Tanya agreed to some extent as she began to dish the cards out again. "But most if it is Indian, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, you catch my drift." She shrugged.

John's eyes widened as he heard all the different foreign foods they ate. "Surely not? I have not even heard of half of these places. Do they really exist?"

"Sure they do, " Will said as he picked up his cards and studied them curiously. "I saw them on the globe."

"Will is right," Charli smiled as she reached over to turn his cards around; they were currently on display to everybody.

"That's a first" Alan grinned as Much reached over Charli to take a piece of pizza. Will glared at him, and then went back to studying his cards.

"What is this?" Much was examining the cheese.

"Cheese."

"CHEESE?" Much gave a delighted yell and bit of a massive chunk of the pizza. The cheese, stubbornly, refused to break away from the pizza, and Much had to pull the piece further and further away.

"It's melted cheese Much, it's much harder and messier to eat than normal cheese."

"I can see that," Much smiled, still trying to break the string from his mouth. "But I don't care. I still love it! Oh, cheese, cheese, cheese."

"Yes Much, we get the point." Alan rolled his eyes before taking a bite out of his own slice. "Much here is 'cheese boy', even in times of life and death when we're being chased by the Sheriffs men and fifty dogs, he still thinks about cheese."

"Its better than Lavender," Much retorted, glancing over at Robin hoping to get a reaction. When none was observed, he turned back to the table, cheese hanging off his chin, to face to confused looking girls. The other outlaw's had begun to eat, treating the slices of pizza more delicately than Much had.

"Its a long story," Much told Charli and Tanya. "And it ends sadly."

Charli placed her head in her hands for a few moments and leaned forward, grinning. "I'm intrigued." Tanya on the other hand, continued to eat her food; the last thing she wanted right now was an excuse for Robin's head to swell again. "Keep it to yourself."

Charli gave her a gentle shove in the arm. "Just because you fell out with Romeo over there doesn't mean we all have to be in a mood with him."

"Its a story for later," John said, little bits of Pizza caught in his beard. "It deserves a proper telling Much, not over pizza and cheese." His comment had stopped the argument about to occur between the two girls, and everyone went back to eating. Charli opened the other three boxes, revealing pizzas of different flavour. Much, excitedly, tried them all.

Charli, grinning, showed him how to make a pizza tower, and for a little while the two of them amused themselves with different combinations of the Italian food. Will joined them for a 'who can get the biggest pile of pizza's in their mouths in one go' competition, and their shrieks of laughter could be heard from where they had retreated to the floor.

"That is disgusting you guys!" Tanya screwed up her face as she looked down at them. "Honestly, where the heck are you manners?" She was about to continue when a small snort escaped from Robin's direction. All of the outlaws, including the two girls stopped what they were doing to look over at him.

"Did you say something?" Much asked mockingly. Robin continued to watch the TV screen as if he hadn't heard anything at all.

"Is he okay?" Charli asked feeling slightly concerned. The last thing wanted was for the man to feel left out. "Do you want some food Robin? There's plenty over here."

"Just leave him," Djaq spoke up. "He'll come out of it eventually."

"Are you sure?" Charli frowned.

"Of course she's sure," Tanya told her. "She lives with him, remember. Now are you all done eating? Lets play cards!"

The Flintstones cartoon ended and Robin again began channel hopping. Over the speakers came a voice saying "and next on BBC, Planet Earth." Charli squealed.

"Oooh, Robin! Leave it on! Its about Whales this week!"

"Whales?" John boomed. "What the bleeding hell are whales?" He nearly dropped his cards.

"Giant…mammals…" That earned Tanya five blank stares. "Fish?" She tried.

"Ah," they all replied before picking up there cards to study them.

"Not being funny but, what are all these shapes and numbers on these things?" Alan enquired.

"Hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs, they are the suits, you have thirteen cards in a suit, two to none and the jack, queen king and ace." Charli grinned. "Jack is eleven, queen is twelve, king is thirteen and ace is one."

Djaq and Will nodded in understanding. Much continued to stuff his face, not hearing a word she'd just said, Alan and John just shrugged and went along with it. The girls briefly explained the rules of Poker and then dished out an even amount of chips between them. "This guys, is your money." Tanya explained.

"Money?" Much dropped his pizza slice and quickly picked up a poker chip. "He placed it in his mouth and bit down hard. "It is not gold though."

"It's plastic," Charli laughed. "And its not actually money, it represents money. You get the money after the game; you can exchange the chip for 'gold'. But not in this game."

"Why not?" Much protested.

"Okay...do you HAVE any gold to gamble with?" Tanya raised an eyebrow. Much opened and closed his mouth several times before grinning sheepishly. "Exactly."

The guys began to play poker; well Tanya and Charli did anyway. The rest of the group tried. The girls found themselves having to let the others win a round or two just to stop the game being over in a matter of minutes. They'd played several rounds when Alan suddenly threw his cards down on the table and yelled. "Royal flush!"

Tanya and Charli burst into laughter. "Alan, don't be stupid. Do you know what the odds are against getting a Royal Flush? And, not meaning to be rude, but this is the first time you've ever-" Tanya was cut off when Charli elbowed her in the ribs. Tanya looked down to discover he did indeed have a royal flush.

"Well bugger me," her jaw hit the floor.

"Damn. I just lost money to an outlaw from 1192," Charli grinned, pushing the all the chips towards Alan. "Well done Alan."

The opening credits to Planet Earth played, and then David Attenborough began to speak. As Tanya collected the cards in to play another round, the players heard: "Holy Shit! The world is round!"

The outlaws all turned to see Robin gawping at a satellite view of the Earth on the TV screen. "Did you just swear?" Tanya gasped.

"Shit! We corrupted Robin Hood!" Charli gasped, before starting to giggle. "And he finally realised that Tanya was telling the truth!"

"See," Tanya mumbled to herself. "If the stubborn git had listened to me in the first place, maybe he'd have just believed me. But no, he insisted that I was wrong, the idiot. And I'm glad we corrupted him, he deserves it." She said a little louder this time.

Robin turned from the TV screen and looked he directly in the eye. She could have been wrong but she swore she saw a small twinkle of humour. She coughed and looked away quickly, picking the cards up. "Anyway…let's play poker."

Tanya shuffled the cards out and was about to deal again when the phone suddenly rang. "Damn it! I want to play poker in peace!"

"I've got it! My phone!" Charli pulled Alan down when he sprang up to answer it, and got up her self. Picking up the cordless, she headed into her room, currently occupied by Robin and Much, to answer it. Tanya calmly dealt out the cards.

As soon as she had entered her bedroom, she collapsed on her bed. Will, who had followed her into the room, sat next to her and she leant her head on his shoulder, the phone pressed against her ear.

"Hello?" There was muttering on the other end. "Hello? How do you work this thing? Do I just speak into it?"

Charli's eyes widened and she whispered. "I think it's the Sheriff." Will stood up so fast that he almost knocked her off the bed.

"HELLO?" Charli had to hold the phone away from her ear. "Charli? It is Charli isn't it? This is the Sheriff of Nottingham, you remember me, hmmm? Hard to forget, aren't I."

"What do you want?" Charli whispered.

"Frightened are you? Good, good."

"You broke into my home!" She shouted. "And now you have the nerve to phone me?"

"Actually I wanted to speak to Locksley. Is that at all possible? Bring him here will you? Don't make me say please now."

Her raised voice had already caused the outlaws to come rushing into the room, Robin first. A dazed Charli held the phone out to Robin, who hesitantly reached out and took it. Will placed his arm around the shaking girl's shoulders as Robin promptly held the phone upside down and tried to speak into it.

"Hello? Hello, I can't hear you!" Tanya rolled her eyes and reached out, taking the phone off him to turn it around.

"Better?"

"Much!"

"Yes?"

"Not you."

"Oh."

"Hey! It's the Sheriff!" Robin yelled down the phone, and the words "not so loud Locksley! The whole world can hear you," could be heard quite clearly through the handset. Charli reached out and took the phone from him, pressing 'speaker' and then placed it in the middle of the bed, nodding at Robin to continue talking.

"What do you want?"

"Aside from world domination, you mean?" The Sheriff laughed cruelly, and they could hear the low chuckle of Gisborne, obviously crammed into the same phone box. "No, I want to see you suffer Locksley. If I were you, I would keep a close eye on that lady your quite fond off and her little friend too. And do not pretend for one minute that you don't know what I'm talking about. Watch your backs." There was a click as the Sheriff hung up the phone, and the dialling tone could be heard