Title: Outlaws2006 - Chapter Forty-Eight: Facing The Truth
Rating: T
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.
"Let me see your neck," Djaq asked as Charli, Will, Tanya and Robin made there way back into the living room. She lifted her chin and studied the girl's neckline. "It has stopped bleeding, you are lucky. It will not require stitches though."
"Good," Charli muttered, pushing Djaq's hands away. "One day, we can compare scars. But now, we all need to talk." The four made their way over to the sofa and sat down, the girls slipping comfortably into the laps of the boys.
"About what?" Much asked, suddenly intrigued.
"About what Vaysey said...we have a week, Much…" Tanya said sadly.
Robin clenched his jaw. "And I said I don't want to talk about this now. We're all upset and-"
"Ssh." Tanya nudged him.
"Don't shush me," he said frustratingly.
"You should listen to her," Charli muttered. "You ignore her all the time, you stubborn, hot headed - "
"Charli, don't," Tanya pleaded. "Now is not the time for you two to argue."
"I don't ignore her all the time," Robin muttered, a little upset by her words. "But I really don't think it's a good time to discuss this."
"It doesn't matter when we talk about it. At some point this week we're gonna have to face the truth."
"It might as well be now."
"Well - we could always go back to-"
"Much! I said we were not discussing it tonight!"
"Robin!"
"NO!" He moved Tanya off his lap and rose to his feet. "I am your leader! You listen to ME! If not, then you can leave NOW!" There was a shocked silence in the room, Tanya and Charli's eyes widening in surprise, rarely seeing such a side to him. "Does anyone have a problem with this?" He said dangerously.
Tanya got to her feet too, glaring at the man. "I suppose we don't have a choice. You're word pretty much goes around here, doesn't it?"
"I didn't mean to shout-"
"But you did," she shook her head, willing the tears not to spill again. "I need…I need some time alone."
The group watched as she stalked off to her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Robin turned back to his friends, each of them staring at him in disgust. "What?"
"You're a complete bastard." Charli spat at him. She too pushed herself out of Will's lap and found another empty bedroom too.
"Well done," Will said.
"Oh I see," Robin threw his hands up in the air. "Charli is threatened at knife point and it's all ROBIN'S fault!"
"You need to stop taking it out on everyone and just calm down!"
"But it's okay for Tanya and Charli to be upset?"
"YES!" Will's voice rose. "If it weren't for us they wouldn't even BE in this situation!"
"Will," Djaq stepped forward, placing her hand on his arm; he shrugged her off.
"Forgive me for being more than a little upset right now when the woman I love and the woman YOU love," Robin jabbed his finger at him, "where just threatened by two mad men! What the hell is wrong with you, are you not in the slightest bit vexed?"
"I'm not even going to answer that," Will sneered at him.
"This is not what we need," Djaq tried to separate the two of them. John came to her aid, forcefully pulling Robin away from Will. Djaq continued. "You need to go and be with Charli," she pointed at Will. "Go! And you! You need to stop being so stubborn and think, for just one moment, about someone other than yourself. You're usually very good at thinking about others! If you're this upset, just think about how distressed those two girls that were threatened will be right now."
Will nodded his head, heading over to Charli's room quickly. Robin stared at Djaq, his eyes watering ever so slightly. "I'm sick of this. I travel eight hundred years into the future and I still manage to endanger those around me..." He fell onto the sofa and placed his head in his hands. "What am I going to do?" He whispered.
"You're going to go and apologise to Tanya for a start," Djaq told him. "And be nice about it!"
"Tanya..." He rose to his feet. "She's going to kill me..."
"Not if you're nice!" Djaq stressed. "Remember...she nearly lost a best friend today. Imagine if that had been Much…"
Robin felt a pang in his chest and mentally cursed; he had acted so stupid. He had no right behaving the way he had a moment ago. Yes, he was their leader, but this was a situation they all needed to handle together, it was out of his hands alone. Biting down on his bottom lip, he made his way toward Tanya's bedroom and knocked lightly.
"Don't even think about it." Came the voice from the other side of the door.
Robin cringed. "I'm coming in."
"Like hell-get out!" Tanya growled when he opened the door anyway. Robin easily caught the pillow she flung at him, and walked into the room. "How about now!" The girl let out a small scream and flung herself at him. He caught her wrists as she hit at his chest, and lowered them both to the floor.
"Stop it Tanya, it's not helping."
"It's helping me," she muttered through her tears.
"I'm sorry..." he whispered to her, his hands still holding her wrists. "I am so very sorry."
Tanya let out a sob and pulled her wrists free, Robin surprised at how strong she was. Instead of hitting him again like had expected, she fell against his chest and cried. He swallowed the urge to tell her how he felt, knowing that she probably would not thank him for it, and settled for whispering his apologies against her hair.
"I never meant for any of this to happen. And I'm sorry for reacting the way I did out there..."
"Robin…I can't handle this, I'm not used to this kind of thing… I'm sorry..." she continued to cry into his chest.
"Don't you dare apologise to me!" He pulled away from her, taking her face in his hands. "Don't you dare!"
"But..."
"Shut up." He said fiercely, kissing her. "You have nothing to apologise for. If we weren't here, none of this would ever have happened!"
Tanya didn't argue back this time, instead she touched her lips where he had just kissed her. She felt awful after what had happened today, but her mind was already wondering back to the events of last night. Things had been so hectic since they had woken up that morning that it was only now, finally alone with him and having some time to think, that she remembered. She leant forward and kissed him, placing all of her frustrations and fears into it as the tears roaming freely down her face.
Robin pulled her closer to him as she kissed him, brushing her tears from he face. "It'll be okay," he continued to whisper to her. "I won't let anything happen to you. It will be okay..." he kissed her deeply, his hands in her hair, on her face, her body.
"Do me a favour Robin," she muttered, her hands finding the bottom of his shirt and pulling it up. "Shut up."
Robin grinned despite himself; she'd soon changed her tune. Sensing a certain desperation in her kisses that he hadn't felt last night, he pushed her back onto the floor. He followed her, his body lying against her side, his head resting in one hand. His smile faded as he traced a finger from her neck, and slowly down her body causing Tanya to shiver.
She looped an arm around him, pulling him on top of her as she kissed his neck, his cheek, his lips, letting out a small moan. His hands found her waist and his eyes met hers, words not having to be spoken as she read them. She lifted her head slightly to meet his lips again, touching them softly with her own. Her eyes still brimmed with tears, but she managed a weak smile.
"Stay with me tonight?" She murmured.
"Of course," he answered.
At his answer, she pulled his head down to hers, crushing her lips against his. She wanted him to stay with her always, but always was not an option. She would have to be happy with now.
"Tanya, I-"
"Don't even think about it," Tanya muttered through clenched teeth.
Robin pulled away, but when he saw the pain on her face he did not question her. Instead he said, "Not saying it doesn't change anything, I still feel it."
Tanya nodded her head in understanding. Reaching up her hand, she placed it gently on his cheek. "Why don't you show me instead?"
"TANYA!" Came a panicked voice from somewhere in the flat. The girl moaned into her pillow, wanting nothing but to sleep, the events of the last twenty-four hours having caught up on her.
"Tanya! Charli! Quick!" Rolling over and out of the arms of Robin, she rubbed her eyes and began to rise, getting half way out of the bed before a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.
"Stay..." Robin murmured.
Tanya smiled sleepily and kissed him swiftly on the lips. "I can't, I think Much and Alan are trying to burn the house down again." She finally pulled out of his arms and out of bed, slipping her dressing gown on before disappearing from the room completely. She met Charli out in the hallway.
"Oh hey, stranger! Where have you been, you've slept nearly all afternoon!"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "Forget that. I think Much and Alan are wrecking the place again...and who said I was sleeping?" She grinned wickedly.
"Too much information!" Charli grimaced as the two girls made their way to find Alan and Much to see what all the fuss was about.
"JE-SUS!" Charli yelled as she pushed open the door to the bathroom, where Alan's voice had come from. "What did you do?" The carpet was soaked, the bath full to the brim and the taps still flowing. Charli leapt across the room and turned the tap off, then collapsed against the side of the back. "I think I'm about to have a nervous breakdown."
"Much and I wanted a bath," Alan shrugged, nonplussed.
Tanya stood in the doorway, propping up the doorframe. "What? Together?"
"Why not?" Alan asked curiously while at the same time Much shouted a loud "No!"
"I think that gay bar last night did something to your head."
"I don't care," Charli shook her head, eyes closed. "Just please, clean this mess up!"
"Maybe you should get some sleep, babe?" Tanya pushed herself away from the door and headed into the bathroom. She crouched down and looked at her friend in concern. "You're going to make yourself ill."
Will appeared in the doorway then. "Is everything alright-Charli!" He joined the pair on the floor. "Are you okay?"
"She needs to sleep." Tanya told him.
"Fine." Charli waved them away. " I'm fine!"
"At least come into the lounge." Will lifted her up easily. "We can watch TV or something. Anything to get back to within a mile of normality."
"Watching TV is normal?" Alan asked, an eyebrow raised.
Tanya glared at him. "You, shut up! Clean this mess up," she pointed to the water on the floor.
The group, minus Alan and Much, made their way into the lounge and settled around the TV. Tanya picked up the remote. "What shall we watch?" She glanced round.
"James Bond!"
"Prince of Thieves!"
"Lets watch 'Love Actually'," Charli suggested quietly, settling into Will's arms.
The room fell quiet, no one really sure what to say. John twiddled his thumbs feeling a little awkward, Djaq looked as tired as Tanya, and Will was still looking at Charli in deep concern.
"I'm going to bed," Charli broke the silence that had fallen, rising to her feet and walking through to her room, the door closing behind her. Will, who's arms she had just vacated looked a little lost, half rising to follow her.
"Go on Will." Tanya said quietly. "Follow her. She needs you." He didn't need telling twice, and he followed her footsteps to her room, knocking once out of politeness and then slipping through.
"Charli?" The room was in darkness, but he could make out her form on the bed. "Charli, its-"
"I know who it is," she whispered, and he walked over to the bed, sitting down on the corner. A moment later, he felt her nudge his shoulder as she crept into his arms, her body still shaking from her earlier ordeal. Closing his eyes, he kissed her head, rocking her backwards and forwards. Her arms slipped round his neck, her fingers entangling in his hair.
They stayed like that, in silence, for what seemed like an eternity. But at last, she stopped shaking, and he stopped rocking her.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes."
"Truly?"
"Yes. You're here." Will closed his eyes, resting his cheek on the top of her head. He wished he could tell her that he always would be, but a similar conversation in Paris had led to them agreeing that he would return. And he didn't want to mention anything that might further hurt her that evening. They lapsed into silence again.
A little while later, Will felt a tug on his arm. Charli was pulling him down onto the bed with her, so they lay facing each other, noses almost touching, his arms wrapped around her waist, legs tangled together…it only took a little movement for him to close the distance between them, lips meeting in a gentle, passionate kiss.
The kiss increasing in intensity, her lips parted, his tongue slipped inside, and she gave a faint moan, pushing herself closer to him. He found his body responding, pulling her close, his hands moving from her back to her hips and rolling himself over on top of her.
As she took his weight, her kisses became more frantic, more passionate, as she sought the comfort she desperately needed from him. She pulled him closer to her, her hands sliding under his top, exploring his chest, following the contours of his muscles, and he grunted slightly, lifting his lips from hers to kiss the hollow of her collarbone.
"Will…" her sigh was barely audible as his hands crept to the buttons on her shirt, fumbling over the first, but undoing them smoothly as he slowly sneaked his way up to her chest. She arched her back to shrug her shirt from her shoulders, and her tossed it away, where it drifted to the floor. Her hands clenched around his shirt, grasping it tightly as she kissed his lips hungrily.
Will began to pull her shirt from her, tossing it to the floor, his hands wondering across her stomach. He leaned down, brushing his lips over her skin causing Charli to close her eyes and moan again. "Will...I don't..." She murmured, her hand brushing through his hair, pulling his lips up to hers. "Oh God, I love you," she whispered into his mouth as one of her hands meandered its way down his body to pull his shirt up and over his head.
"I love you too," he gasped, his hand stroking her cheek affectionately. "Too much," he smiled.
"How can you love someone too much?" The confusion showed on her face for only a moment as she wrapped her arms back around his waist, pulling him closer to her.
"Okay, let me rephrase that. I love you..." he screwed his eyes in thought. "No, that's about it. I love you."
"You already said that. A few times now."
"And I'll keep saying it." He kissed her nose. "I love you." Then her cheek. "I love you." Her eyes. "I love you." Her lips. "I love you."
"I love you too." She whispered, meeting his lips with hers, opening her mouth as he slid his tongue inside. "Be with me tonight Will. I need you."
Will did not answer her; instead he nodded his head, his hands moving to her waist as his lips found her neck. His fingers caressed her skin softly before they made their way down to the buttons on her pants.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked her, his hands hesitating for a moment.
Charli bit back to urge to shoot a sarcastic remark at him; of course she wanted to do this. She had never been so sure about anything in her entire life. Instead she touched his cheek and nodded, a small giggle escaping her lips. "Yes, and not meaning to rush you, but if you don't hurry up I'll go insane." She reached down and helped him along with her buttons.
Will smirked. "Yes, milady."