Well... Thank you to elizabeth marrain and Forest Archer. My deepest apologies to you both... :(

"Where are they?" Marian heard Cicely cry. "Something must be going on." She glanced at Robin, who must have heard too since he had a bit of a cocky grin on his face.

"Something must have happened, all right." He stood and Marian did the same, absent-mindedly brushing dust off her skirt. She hadn't had such a long conversation in years. She had almost forgotten the kiss, but when she remembered a war of feelings began to battle within her. "I think I've ignored the rest of the guests long enough. But it's my assumption that only my father has actually noticed that I disappeared. Maybe Will."

Did she even want to be in love? No, she didn't. Was it something that she should feel? She wasn't sure. But what had happened to the easy friendship that they had had seemingly a lifetime ago? She wasn't sure what she wanted out of Robin anymore: a friend or a lover. None of it made sense. Her mind was whirling around in dizzying circles, making her want to scream.

"Yes, you're probably right. The rest of them are too busy gossiping to notice." Robin was staring at her again; it was unnerving the way he looked at her. As if...as if he was taking a long needed drink of water, maybe. She wasn't sure how to describe it. A silence thick enough to swallow followed, neither one of them wanting to leave.

Then something in Marian's brain got a hold of itself. She knew that she didn't want to be loved by Robin, and never would want to. But what about all that happened in the last few hours? Didn't any of that count? They had kissed, he had shared a painful memory with and she had held him. Marian's head started to hurt, all of her thoughts clashing together. "I've got to go before..." she trailed off, her excuse left in the air. She turned and started to leave.

"Wait," Robin said. She turned around and Robin's face was so close to hers that it took her by surprise. That look was still in his eyes. "Before you leave, since I don't think we'll see each other for a while, what with everything—" He broke off and kissed her for the second time. It sent Marian back to the bliss she had known earlier, but even bliss as complete as that can be stolen. She fully realized that she didn't want it, not from him, and jumped away, barely aware that she was doing so.

"Please don't," she said her voice ready to give out. She was feeling almost helpless to her emotions, and didn't know how to overcome them except by breaking his heart and breaking her own as well.

"But I love—"

"No!" she screamed, drawing glances from the other guests in the main hall. "Don't even say it, Robin! If I hear you even mutter something like that to me," she hissed, her tone venomous. Marian could feel her eyes pricking at her own words. "I swear on my mother's grave I'll make you wish you were back in Jerusalem." Robin looked beyond hurt, and it pained her to know that it was her fault. "I just don't love you." It was a lie, an appalling lie. She turned and ran away from him, hoping never to see him again. If only to save her heart from breaking agian.

--*--

Robin felt the weight of her words sink in, and it felt like Marian had ripped his heart out with her bare hands and thrown it at his feet. He couldn't breathe for the pain that coursed through him. His emotional pain was so vibrant it felt physical, and he would've cried out if he had been breathing. Marian. Her name repeated itself in his mind, each time crushing his lungs, as if with a hammer. They were on fire for lack of air.

"Uncle, breathe!" he heard Will order, his voice distant. His nephew's fist smashed into Robin's stomach, and finally he gasped air. Will dragged Robin around the corner away from the gaping guests. "What happened? I saw Marian run out of here, and then I find you as pale as a sheet!" Will asked after Robin had gotten his breath back.

Robin didn't want to say, he couldn't repeat what had happened. Will somehow understood that. "Did she reject you, then?" Robin didn't respond. "She did," Will said with certainty. "I can't imagine why she would, though. I mean, I can see that she returns the affection."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked, finding Will's suggestion was stimulating.

"I saw the way she was looking at you before you realized that she was there. It was all over her face." Will sounded so sure of this fact that Robin had to believe him.

"Then why did she… Did I do something wrong?" He was talking to himself more than to Will but his nephew answered anyway.

"Not in one sense. But I think you've confused her. Before you left you were her friend, it was a simple coincidence that you were betrothed, right?"

"I loved her then too."

"At the time, though, she wasn't returning the favor. I'll bet you anything that Marian's just not sure how to deal with you being in love with her and her being in love with you," Will said.

"How would you know?" Robin scoffed.

"I happen to be an expert on the female mind."

"You don't know a thing about the female mind. It's too confusing. The only people who understand it are the girls who posses them. Not you," he said, not willing to give Will credit for anything that momentous.

"Maybe, but I can guess." Now Will was getting annoying, as he had always been.

"Then what do you suggest now, O wise sage?" Robin had meant it as a joke, but Will took him seriously.

"Don't apologize tonight. Wait until the day after tomorrow," Will instructed. "If you were to try tonight it would be, well let's not go there. Women tend to overreact if you approach something the wrong way, they might not speak to you again, ignore you completely, or just storm off. They're unpredictable creatures."

"And yet, you claim to know their minds?"

"Like I said, I guess. And usually I'm right." His know-it-all attitude had returned.

"Will, why don't you go get drunk or do something useful?" Robin asked, ready to be left alone.

"Are you suggesting that getting drunk would make me useful?" If Robin had been in higher spirits he would have thought that Will's comment was funny, but he wasn't. So instead it was irritating.

"No, I'm suggesting that you go away!" Robin's expression was one of aggravation.

Will put up his hands in mock surrender and left.

After a few minutes Robin ventured into the crowd. He made for a shadowed corner, where hopefully nobody would intervene into his thoughts. He leaned into the darkness and surveyed the room. More than half the people were strangers to him, and those that he could put names to faces, he didn't want to mingle with. The only person he wanted to spend time with was infuriated with him. And there she was, standing near the door that led outside; he watched her glance around then slip out. He wondered why and decided to find out.

Robin used a back door, walked around to the front entrance, stopping at the corner beside the door, so she couldn't see him, but he could hear her pacing back and forth muttering to herself. She sounded distressed and angry. Then she stopped. Robin looked around the corner, and he saw her reach up to her neck and unclasp her pendant. She looked at it for a moment, hesitating. Her fingers lightly traced the wolf, and he saw an unsure look in her eye. Suddenly, she threw to the ground and stepped away. She ran to the entrance, stopped, wiped at her eyes and stepped inside.

Robin came out of his hiding place and stooped to retrieve Marian's pendant. The wolf's emerald eye glinted in the moonlight. Fresh dirt fell away as he polished the silver with his thumb, taking it with him as he retreated back indoors, knowing that he had to get over her, but also that he never would. What was the use of trying? He watched Marian from a distance for the rest of the night, his whole being silently screaming in pain.

Um, yeah... THAT'S what the evil laugh was about... I'll have you know that I don't like it one bit either! It's horrible... I know. I cried when I wrote it, and was a mess for the rest of the night. So...? Are you unhappy? Happy? (I doubt the last one) Furious with me?

Let me know by using the review button right down there. Please???

By the way, don't worry; I've been hit over this several times already!

Oops! Yeah I noticed that huge typo at the end there, but it's fixed now. Sorry!! I don't know how that happened...