Author note: Hi, sorry this is a little later than it should have been, this chapter, for no apparent reason that I can see, tripped me up quite a bit and took a bit of doing, though I doubt that the effort is noticeable. So here it is nothing major but still necessary I think. Please enjoy. :)

Chapter seven

Hudson Farm

I gasped loudly as I sprang up in bed, my breathing heavy and the shocked sensation the dream had given me lingering. My chest rose and fell as I fought back uncharacteristic hysterics and tried to push what I had just seen from my mind, unfortunately that wasn't as easy as it sounded. Sighing I rested my elbow on my knee and then rested my forehead against the palm of my hand, trying to calm down. I hadn't screamed tonight at least, I thought as I pulled my damp hair from my face and tried to make my breathing even again, but that hadn't meant that the dream had terrified me any less. I'd suffered the same dream as last night and the night before that, and every night since waking up in hospital again tonight and once again I wasn't surprised. Every second of the dream had been exactly the same as all the others; it had ended the same way too, I shuddered violently in a way that had nothing to do with the cold sweat that covered my body. More out of habit than anything else I glanced at my clock, which unsurprisingly read just gone quarter past five in the morning; looking away from the clock I felt my eyebrows furrow and my irritation rise. What was happening here, why did I wake up at the same time every night, from the same dream, which may or may not have happened already? Anger filled me and I welcomed it with open arms, preferring it to the sorrow that would take its place if I didn't, I wanted to be angry because then I couldn't be scared or worried, if I was angry at whoever was doing this to me then I didn't have to think about what the dream meant. It wasn't like me to run away from things, I liked to think that I was a fairly strong person and could meet most things head on. But the thought of someone hurting George like that, I shuddered again, was a thought that my mind couldn't comprehend, it was an unbearable thought. I knew that I should probably tell the others about this, like Mark had done, but I just couldn't, as soon as the thought crossed my mind I got the same weird feeling that I wasn't supposed to tell them, that this was my secret and my burden to bare. That this was how it was supposed to happen. Besides, I didn't want to hear what they would say it meant, I knew that it wouldn't look good for George, he could worry all he wanted about what the prophecy said about my safety, but as far as I was concerned he was the one who needed worrying about. Besides if I told them about why I was so sure of what this dream meant and where I thought I had seen this all before, in the past, they'd think I was crazy. Well that was it then, I told my self, eyes going wide as the solution dawned on me suddenly, I had to protect George, I had to be my job to keep him safe and away from Adam and the snivelling little man who always got to George in my nightmares. That had to be it, that had to be why I was getting these dreams, I told myself, well, that was simple, I thought as I pulled a contemplative face, maybe I didn't need to tell the others after all.

My gaze flicked to the wall that separated my room from the one George was staying in, even though determination and purpose coursed through me right now I felt unsure and worried as I eyed the cream coloured wall. the urge to be near George right now was overwhelming, if it wasn't for the fact that the rest of my family were a sleep in the house as well I would be in there right now, I knew well enough by now that only George's presence had the power to calm me properly. I longed to be near him but knew that if I went in there in this strange state George would want to know what was wrong, he could sense even the slightest change in me and with the dream still raw in my mind I wasn't sure that I could resist telling him about it. I balled my left fist, the one that wasn't supporting my cheek, and stared at the wall, I would stay here, there was no way that I was going to tell George about my dreams, he didn't need that on his mind right now and besides, George probably wouldn't take it seriously and would turn it around so that I was the one who needed protecting, he'd tell me not to bother worrying about me and that it was just a dream that didn't mean anything. Though I'd be willing to bet he wouldn't say that if we were talking about Mark's dreams about the prophecy. I sighed, no, I wasn't going to tell George about my dream, I just had to keep him away from Adam at all costs and then even if my dreams amounted to nothing I'd still be sure that he was safe. I pulled my wistful gaze away from the wall and frowned down at my bed covers, gawd I wanted to be near him right now. Despite the conclusion I reached the uncomfortable feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach wouldn't let up and so I told myself I was being stupid, lay back down in my bed, and thought about last night, my nightmares, however distressing, weren't the immediate problem, our money shortage was.

The drop off had gone smoothly, every house in Jaxbrough (the ones on our needy list) had received their money parcels and the whole evening went off without a hitch. No one spotted us, no squad members cornered us in the darkened streets and we finished up posting the parcels quickly. It was as I was posting the last of my parcels into the last letter box on the street that I realised just how skint we really were, we had exhausted our funds dividing all of them up for this one trip and still the parcels weren't as thick as I would have liked them to be. I was glad that we had resolved to brake into Baxter's tomorrow night, things were going to get pretty bad around here if we didn't, every day more and more people contacted us to slyly put their names on our lists, the potential danger at being associated with us, should we be found out, was nothing to them now, things were getting that bad. Pleased that we could do this much for now at least and eager for tomorrow night to get here that much sooner we had all pushed aside all thoughts of failure to acquire the money and the worry about what would happen if all of the towns money problems got too much for us to handle, we had headed back home for the night, agreeing to meet up in the afternoon to prepare for our job. Reluctantly an exhausted had Mark headed back home, with a bottle of Jack's grandma's remedy in his hand, I had sympathised with my tired friend; I knew exactly how he felt. Although we had gotten off earlier than we usually did, by the time George and I gotten back home I was spent, not even stopping to ponder if my parents and Joey were still in the house I had kissed George goodnight and climbed into bed, shattered. I guessed that my nightmares must have been finally catching up with me, before my head hit the pillow and I went out like a light. And then I had dreamt.

Shaking off that train of thought I rolled over in bed so that I was facing the wall and my closed window. Desperate to get away from the worry that we soon wouldn't have enough to give to everyone who needed it and my fears for George's safety I latched onto another, slightly more positive thought. Adam hadn't shown up. The thought brought a triumphant grin to my face, I hadn't gone to Adam's house as requested and had thought for sure that he would come and pester me about it tonight, that was why I had closed my window before going to bed, so that he couldn't get in. I hadn't heard him tapping on the window though and a quick look at my mobile revealed no texts or missed calls from him, if I hadn't heard anything from him by tomorrow (I assumed that he would call to gloat or threaten me with Baxter again or at least tell me he was going to tell on George) then I had bested him. My smiled widened, that thought filling me with sweet satisfaction. I loved it when I bet Adam. In addition to that if Adam wasn't around here any more and I wasn't under his blackmail then George wouldn't be in danger of finding out about Adam's threats, and therefore wouldn't go after him angrily like he would naturally do and wouldn't end up in the same position he had been in, in my dream. That thought alone would help me sleep better at night. And so, with that in mind I stifled a yawn with my hand, and felt my eyes droop, my almost sleepless nights were starting to catch up with me and before I knew it I had fallen back into another fitful sleep, this times my dreams full of flashing images that centred around George, Adam and the vile guy who threatened to take George away from me. I woke with a jolt, the kind you get from falling over in a dream though I couldn't remember that happening in the one I was having, though I'm sure you can guess what happened instead. I shuddered and pulled myself up from the pillow tiredly, squinting as the bright morning sunlight streaming in through a gap in my curtains hit my eyes. I worked on evening out my breathing and tried not to sink into the miserable mood that threatened to consume me in the wake of my dreams, and then sat up in bed, ran my hand through my knotted hair and glanced at my clock, it told me that it was nine o'clock. I groaned, no wonder I was tired, I'd not had one hour of untroubled sleep all night, I couldn't stay in bed any longer though and promptly threw back my bed covers climbed out of bed. At least I didn't have work today, I thought as I crossed the room, ran a brush through the rats nest my hair had turned into thanks to my fitful nights sleep and dressed myself in a pair of dark blue jeans, a white tank top and a blue and purple unfastened chequered shirt. After washing my face, brushing my teeth and applying a bit of make-up I headed downstairs.

Having failed miserably at reining in my dejected mood I trudged down the stairs not even bothering to conceal my down expression, I was free to worry about George and our money problems all I wanted right now, he'd probably be on the farm helping my dad so I wouldn't have to worry about him seeing. Walking past the kitchen with no real desire to eat anything I headed for the living room instead, pausing when I spotted the back of a blond head sitting on the sofa facing the opposite direction. George. Setting my expression on neutral I felt all my previous worries disappear momentarily so that I didn't even have to work at concealing them from George, his mere being here chased them away. Feeling a wide smile grow large across my face I walked around the sofa to where George sat, wanting just to be beside him again, I wasn't walking especially quietly but George seemed not to hear me approach.

"Hi," I said as I sat down beside him, grinning still. George jumped visibly at the sound of my voice, his contemplative expression flicking to shock before it settled back down again, that concerned me a little since George's hearing was second to none even amongst the other outlaws with our heightened senses, if he was so deep in thought that even he couldn't hear me approach I knew it must have been pretty important. George smiled at me but it was weak, the ghost of his worried face still there behind it. It seemed that I wasn't the only one, who had been lost in thought today and that George didn't like whatever he had been thinking about anymore than I did.

"Hi," George replied his voice a soft and slightly sad sound, his smile exactly the same. I frowned; George ought never to look so troubled. George caught my expression and he laughed a genuine laugh this time and wrapped an arm around me so that he could pull me close.

"What's wrong?" I asked him as I lent against his side but turned so that I was looking him right in the face, meaning I would see any emotion that crossed his face, his expression was more jovial and controlled now though and showed nothing more or less than affection.

"Nothing," George said before catching my doubtful expression and adding "I was just thinking."

"What about?" I asked seemingly nonchalantly but I felt anything but, I was not about to drop this just yet, the expression George had been wearing was such that I just couldn't let myself.

"You wouldn't like it," George said, half laughing at his own words but his eyes intense as they looked at me and I didn't doubt a word he had said, I knew I wouldn't like whatever he had been thinking about, I sort of had an idea about what it would be.

"I'm intrigued now," I said as I reached across him to entwine my fingers with his left hand, the one that wasn't wrapped around my waist "tell me."

George sighed, a big exaggerated movement that caused his toned chest to rise and fall distractingly, I wouldn't let it distract me though, I continued to watch him as he stared ahead, trying to decide if he should tell me or not.

"I won't get mad, I promise," I said, knowing that was what he was probably worried about and gently tracing circles on his hand with my finger.

George smiled down at me and hugged me closer "I can handle your fury by now I think," he said his voice filled with an adorable cocky sound to it that had me smiling.

"You do, do you?" I asked with a laugh, but I was still watching his expression worried though, he still loved cheerful and happy enough so I couldn't say anything.

"I do, it's more of a turn on than a worry of mine actually," George said with a grin, I felt my eyes go wide and a huge grin spread across my face as I bumped my shoulder into him, he let out an oft sound but continued to smile like he was "I just know that you wont like what I'm thinking about." He said, his voice sobering up now and causing me to look up at him again, I just managed to catch the pained and worried expression he wore on his face before he shook it off and smiled down at me.

"I still want to know," I said and he nodded looking ever so slightly grim, what else had he expected? He knew me well enough by now.

"I was thinking about what was said yesterday, about the prophecy," he clarified looking across at the wall again, not wanting to look me in the eye right now.

"Your worried," I said, it was more of a statement than a question but George still turned to me sharply and said,

"Of course I am, not one word of it spelled good things for you Robin, I cant not worry when a prophecy that has been one hundred percent right so far practically says that you're going to die!" he said angrily, trailing off at the end there as though the topic was just too much for him, that he would explode with rage if he carried on.

"I don't think it quite said that," I said working on keeping calm and keeping my promise by not getting mad, only George could inspire me to do that "and you don't need to worry about me, I'm going to be fine, I can look after myself."

George looked at me then, that strangely passionate intensity in his eyes as he got angry, I thought that maybe he spent too much time with me and that my bad habits were starting to rub off on him "I don't doubt that you can look after yourself Robin, but that wont stop me from trying to keep you safe and worrying when something is trying to take you from me. I don't think that you understand Robin, you are my whole world, you are the only person I have in this world to care about, the only one who doesn't view me as a disappointment, or want to climb the social ladder on the back of who my father is, or who hasn't died and left me here. I love you Robin, and I think that that means I'm allowed to worry about you." He said his voice strong and powerful, not to mention defiant but also pleading at the same time, he gripped my hand a little tighter in his deep blue eyes bored into me with a dazzling intensity.

I returned his grip before raising my free hand tenderly to his cheek and leaning in swiftly to kiss him, pouring all the love I had for him out of my heart and into that kiss, I wasn't as good with words as he was and I doubted I could do my feelings justice if I tried to speak them. With me actions spoke louder than words. My heart was pounding madly in my chest as his words resounded in my head, I couldn't help but feel sorry that me and the other outlaws were all that George had, but there was a part of me that rejoiced the fact he loved me that much, that he could give all of his heart to me like that. George returned my kiss with as much vigour as I gave it, pulling me towards him eagerly, my knees were digging into the sofa and my chest was pressed against his as his arms snaked around my waist and my own hands slipped under his shirt and roamed along his broad back. I supposed I couldn't blame George for being worried, I didn't like it like he said I wouldn't, but I could understand it because it was how I felt about him every single morning. "I'm sorry," I said in-between kisses and as he gently twisted his fingers into my hair with one hand and pulled me closer with the other "I just don't like you worrying," I told him, emphasising my words with a deep kiss.

"I know," George replied, looking into my eyes with so much love that I thought my heart might burst as we pulled apart for moment; he then softly stroked my jaw line with his thumb before leaning in to kiss me again. I welcomed his kisses, we didn't spend enough time alone together in my opinion, what with one thing and another, and I adored kissing George like this, it was so easy to forget about everything and pretend we were just like every other teenage couple, enjoying the high of first love, to pretend that Baxter and the outside world didn't exist. It did though, I thought and felt myself frown, unfortunately the rest of the world was still there and there was more to everything that just this one kiss. I can't tell you how hard it was to believe that though, when George was kissing me like that. So as I surrendered to George and his kisses I pushed every other single thought from my head, that was until one thought crossed my mind and stuck there. My family.

I froze against George's lips, he did the same a split second later, tentatively he pulled away from me his blue eyes careful and his expression worried as he looked down at my face, I wondered what he saw there as his expression seemed to grow even more sorrowful. I'd noticed this happen a few times before, if I was vain I might think that he half expected me to turn around having decided I'd made a massive mistake in being with him and I was about to leave him, if I was narcissistic I might believe that was what it was.

"What's wrong?" George asked cautiously, I blinked up at him before flushing pink and saying,

"My family, I don't think they'd be so agreeable about you staying here if they saw us acting like that." I said and to say that George looked relieved would be a massive understatement, I felt a new surge of hate towards Baxter or whoever had lowered George's self esteem to this point, how could he think I would leave him, did he not own a mirror or know just what an amazing person he really was?

George laughed and pulled me into an unexpected hug, I could hear his laugh rumble in his chest as my cheek rested against it, he then kissed me atop my head before releasing me and saying "everyone is out, we have the house all to our selves for an hour or so, then I've got to go and help on the farm for a bit. Joey agreed to help out for a while so that I could spend some time with you, not that he told your dad that, he's going to meet his girlfriend soon though and then I've said I'll help out on the farm then. Your mum is up at Will's so that she can visit Carrie and Alice, and your grandparents have gone to the Sunday market in town for a few hours. We're all alone." He said as we sat back down on the sofa properly, I grinned at him.

"I could help out on the farm as well," I said as I grabbed hold of his hand "keep you and Dad company, besides, that way you'll finish up quicker and we'll be on time to meet the others at Sherwood."

"Sounds good to me," George said as he squeezed my hand "oh yeah, we need to be back from Sherwood for a few hours before we go to the mansion, your mum has rescheduled that dinner we were supposed to have with Alice to tonight since we weren't here yesterday."

I closed my eyes and let out a noise of guilt and humiliation, "crap," I said as shame washed over me "I completely forgot about that, how could I forget?"

"Hey, don't worry about it, I told her how sorry we both were when she reminded me this morning, she understands you know, she knows how busy we are." George said, trying to reassure me.

"Doesn't make it right though does it?" I asked, feeling angry at myself and ashamed that I could forget the dinner with my own sister, the sister who was living with her friend so that George could stay here with me. No one felt any resentment towards him for that, least of all Alice since she got to spend more time with Wendy, though I knew George still felt guilty for 'forcing', as he put it, Alice from her home. He stuck firmly by this belief as well no matter how many times my family and I told him it didn't mater, and regardless of how often Will assured him that Alice was more than happy staying with Wendy, sometimes he could be so stubborn. Some sister I was though to forget the dinner.

"Maybe not," George said as he raised his free hand to my cheek and gently caressed it with his thumb "but everyone understands and you obviously feel guilty about it, it's not like you were careless or just couldn't be bothered to go, you were busy doing important things, more so than anyone can imagine, and you genuinely forgot."

"Yeah," I said still frowning and more than a little annoyed with myself "I'll come back early tonight if that's okay with the rest of you, so that I can give mum a hand with dinner and see Wendy for a bit." I resolved, feeling a bit better.

George grinned as he watched the expression on my face shift to consideration and peace "I don't mind, since I'm coming back here with you." he said as he lowered his hand from my cheek but made no move to let got of my other one, still held tightly in his own "I'm actually looking forward to what other embarrassing stories your charming little sister has to tell me about you." George said, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"No," I groaned, ergh, how could I forget that my brat of a sister took every opportunity to wind me up, and I had actually felt guilty for missing her dinner, I should have been grateful and be bowing out of this one right now, I wasn't though "hasn't she told you them all already?" I complained angrily, well aware that Alice had pretty much monopolised George whenever he came to visit before, telling him my most shameful and humiliating moments much to his amusement.

"I don't know, has she?" George asked that infuriatingly gorgeous grin on his face once more.

I thought about that, my eyes going wide when I remembered all the stories my sister had yet to tell him, quickly I rearranged my expression into a neutral one and said nothing, ignoring George's question completely.

"That's not them all is it?" George asked, grinning still and amusement clear in his voice "she's still got some more to tell me and you know it." George laughed and squeezed my hand, annoyed I swung out with my free hand and slapped him on the chest, not so gently.

"Shut up," I grumbled sulkily as I imagined the horrors Alice would have in store for me in the form of story time, reading my expression George only smiled at me before raising our interlocked hands to his lips and softly kissing my knuckle.

We carried on like that for the next hour, content in each others company we kissed, bickered and watched telly, when Joey came in to announce the end of his shift on the farm George and I headed for the hall cupboard and stepped into dirty green overalls and muddy wellies so that we could take over. I wasn't the most useful person to have helping on a farm given my build, but I had lived here all my life and had helped my father and grandfather in the fields more times than I could count, my dad still didn't like me getting in the way of the large cows when he was herding them but had no issues with me helping out with other things, such as feeding, mucking out (unfortunately) and care of the still young claves. I would have felt patronised by the simpler, though still difficult, jobs had I not known it was for a good reason. After a few hours of this we went back to the house for dinner, Grandma and Granddad were back from the market with a few carrier bags of random bits and bobs, such as wool for my Grandma and a box of fudge for my Granddad. Together the five of us sat down at the kitchen table and ate sandwiches and drank tea until it was time for George and I to head to Sherwood, Granddad was going to help out on the farm now that some of the larger jobs were done. Pausing only to get a quick wash, despite to overalls and wellies farm work was still pretty messy, and to remove the stink of mud and animals from us George and I headed up the lane to the bus stop and caught the bus to Sherwood. The others were already there by the time we arrived and quickly got on with what was left of the planning (which wasn't much since we'd finished most of it yesterday) went over what we were going to do (this was things like who would be stationed where, what each of us would do in case of an emergency and generally just going over the plan) and also preparing everything we would need, like our bows and communication head pieces. This only took a few hours and it was three o'clock by the time we were set to leave, readying now to meet up again at eight to head off to the mansion. I said goodbye to the others and see you later to Will, who told me and George that he and his family had been invited over for dinner as well when my mum went to visit them earlier. George and I then went back home, went our separate ways to go and change into something appropriate for the occasion, I then went to help my mum in the kitchen and tried to ignore the fact that my sister was about to arrive and descend upon George with my most humiliating stories. I'd have to come up with a way to shut her up, I decided as I set the table and waited for the others to arrive.

Author note: and there it was, chapter seven, I'm sorry that the end is a bit summery-ish, I just really wanted to post this before I go to my dads tonight and didn't really want to ramble on aimlessly about the details of Robin and George's day anyway. Thanks for reading and an even bigger thanks if you decide to review. Also, I'd like to shamelessly advertise my other work here, I've got two new stories, one that's been up for about a week on Fiction Press and is my NaNoWriMo story entitled 'Siren Song' and the other is a Harry Potter fic called 'Seeing', check them out if you fancy reading either one, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks again for reading, much love. :) x