I have worked this out very carefully. I usually think and work out chapters like this and that's why it takes so long sometimes. Sorry about that :) Many thanks, heaps of thanks, going to the following: johsjack, threeoffeather, idkwhatmynameis, Jessie D, Rawr I'm a Toaster, and lana-bear! My lovely reviewers are always always appreciated! johsjack, this one is for you since you read the whole thing in one day! I know how that is; I've done it. Rather nerve wracking on my part since I catch all the mistakes I missed and worry what every one of you thought and if you lost all, if any, good opinion of my work! AHH! I have very low confidence in my work. This is something I need to improve on. *Don't own the legend of Robin Hood, by the way*

Read, review, and enjoy.

Three months later-July

They were thriving. Robin, Marian, and Much had built a fairly sturdy lean-to against the Great Oak that could be taken down and hidden in less than five minutes in case they had to run on short notice. Marian was usually in a good mood these days and on that particular day was no exception. "Robin?" Marian was happy despite the fact that it was a swelteringly hot day. "I'm going to go swimming so if you and Much would stay away from the pond…"

Much tried not to blush but he still had some color to his cheeks. Marian, in turn, kept back the laughter at his discomfort. Robin as the most composed of the three, which was an encouraging thought to Marian.

Marian set off with a mind full of thoughts. She was still trying to understand the nightmares that Robin seemed to have and why it was only her that could bring him out of them. Sometimes it was only her voice, but at other times she'd have to kiss him like the first time. It took an immense amount of will-power not to look forward to these kisses. And it took even more not to enjoy them; it was a battle that she'd lost every time.

As close as she could tell Robin had these nightmares maybe once a month, although last month there had been two.

Marian bit her lip, as she started to take down her hair, carefully unbraiding it. The task was never finished. Something slammed into her, knocking her breath away. An unfamiliar hand was clamped over her mouth preventing the scream that she had prepared in her lungs.

Robin and Much occupied themselves easily that day, but as the night descended Robin started to get paranoid. Marian shouldn't have been gone so long. Either something had happened to her, or she was just taking her time getting back and enjoying the day alone.

There were two clear options. He could respect her wishes and not go near the pond, risking her safety or go anyway just to make sure everything was fine.

It didn't take that long to decide. "Much, I need you to stay here. Marian should have been back by now so I'm going to make sure that she's safe."

"Why do I always have to stay behind? If there was trouble wouldn't it be better if there were two of us?" Much was put off; he would argue until something came of it.

Robin didn't want to delay any longer than he had to. "Fine." Much grinned, and it annoyed Robin that he was finding pleasure in what was, for him, a stressful situation.

Much followed Robin down the deer track that led to the pond, an arrow nocked and ready at both of their strings. The track itself was nearly invisible in daylight, and with the dark it was worse. Even so, Robin had no trouble with it. Much had the good sense to stay quiet so that both could listen for anything irregular. Nothing was heard beyond the croaking and cries of forest nightlife.

At first. Halfway down the track Robin heard the heartbreaking sobs of a woman. Marian. Much saw the look that passed over Robin's face when these sounds first reached their ears and he couldn't describe it. It was different from simple love, Much decided. Her pain… it was his pain. Much felt like an intruder all of a sudden.

Robin started to follow the sobbing, going at a speed that Much found hard to keep up with. Soon they saw her in the near distance. She was curled into a tight ball with her arms wrapped securely around her knees, like a small child. She was alone and safe.

Much felt even more so like an intruder. "I'll head back," he said. "I'm not very good with crying women." Much turned and left, knowing that Robin would bring her back and that he'd have an easier time of it by himself.

Robin approached her almost cautiously. Her position made him think that she was trying to hold herself together or make herself very small. "Marian," he said softly, kneeling beside her and setting his bow aside. She didn't notice him, but kept sobbing. Robin put a hand on her shoulder and said her name again.

Marian shook him off. "Just go away," she said quietly through her tears. "Please."

"I can't do that, Marian." Robin couldn't have left if he'd wanted to. He needed to stay with her and somehow didn't think she wanted him to leave. He sat beside her, hoping that she wouldn't be angry with him for doing so.

Marian's pain hurt Robin more than anything he'd experienced in the Holy Land. It wasn't physical but such a deep emotional pain that he was sure it would leave a scar. It was a bit too similar to what he'd felt after Marian had run out on him at Huntington Hall. Marian always seemed to induce this sort of pain. That, however, was irrelevant.

What had happened that she was reduced to such a shadow of herself? He couldn't stand doing nothing while she was bearing so much suffering alone. Carefully, ready to pull back the moment she resisted, Robin wrapped his arms around her. To his surprise, she responded by curling into him, holding onto him as if he was the only the thing left to her.

She blubbered words in-between tears, half of which, Robin couldn't hear. "I didn't… my fault… dead…"

Robin shushed her, saying whatever came to mind and hoping it was what she needed to hear, all the while realizing two things and putting them together. One was that Marian's hair had the all too familiar smell of blood. It was soaked with it. Her blood or another's? The second was the last word she'd said: 'dead'. Who was dead?

Had Marian killed somebody? Was that the reason for all this? Too many questions and too few answers.

Robin didn't ask any questions or try to find answers on his own. One answer that was made clear simply by the fact of Marian in his arms was that she did need him, if not in the way he needed her. It was a comfort and it was a curse. A comfort to be this close and a curse to be that far away.

Marian found solace there in Robin's arms. This made it all fade enough to concentrate. Even so, the images were still there in her mind. The look of horror and pleading on that man's face, the moan that had escaped when she'd plunged his own knife into him, the blood…

She only cried harder, keeping her face in Robin's chest, unable, too ashamed, to look at him. His steady heartbeat kept her grounded and present.

Slowly, she ran out of tears. Marian refused to leave the safe haven that was Robin's arms. But she told him what had happened. "I never made it to the pond. I was captured by a man… I don't know who he was, not a bounty hunter, but he was going to collect the reward for turning me in. I killed him before he could. I've never killed anyone before and it felt so… wrong. He probably had a wife and children. I know he did, because he wouldn't stop jabbering about them while he dragged me to Nottingham. And I stabbed him." She didn't say how she got the knife, or how. It didn't matter anyway.

"Marian," she heard him say, "People die every day. It's part of what happens to everyone. We live and die. It's all right."

It made Marian angry the moment she heard it. "No! It's not all right! I had no right to kill him. I had no right to take the husband and father away from a family. He was a person who deserved my respect!"

Robin was silent. He didn't say anything. Did he agree with her? Or…

"Please," she said, "Don't say things just to make me feel better." Her hands, once clutching at his shoulders for her own sanity, fell away. She moved away from him and leaned against the nearby elm. She looked into the sky. "It's late. We should be getting back. Much will worry."

Marian looked back at Robin. His eyes were fastened on her with such intensity, that she wanted to back away, but she noticed that he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at something beyond her. A deep battle went on within his eyes and she found herself, against her will, watching it. She knew that it had to do somehow with the Holy Land. It had to, that was, as far as she knew, the darkest time of his life. Was it the lives he'd taken, the people he'd slain? The death—

The thought of that word flung her back to the sickening sound of the knife embedding into her captors ribs; his scream of agony. He didn't let go of her hair and had dragged her down with him as he fell. He had been resilient, holding onto her as he gasped out that he'd only wanted his child to have food in his stomach. His breathing had become ragged and the blood had spilled around him coating Marian with the work of her hands. Only when his heart had ceased beating had she freed herself from his grasp. He had died with his eyes open, blank and staring. His eyes held her fast for minutes, accusing her of her crime. She had stumbled backward and started running; faster than she ever had or would.

His open eyes haunted her. "You were the wolfs-head," they screamed. "Anyone could kill you. It was my right. You have no rights, outlaw. You had no right to take me from my family or my life from me."

When Robin had been near, the vision of her victim's eyes was blurred. Faded. She had been safe from his stony condemning gaze.

Marian wanted to have that safety to fall back on. But she knew that she couldn't have it. Not then and not ever; not without the sacrifice of the simple friendship that she had with Robin. That would always be more important to her, there was no question.

"We had better head back," she said quickly.

"A good idea." Robin's voice was barely audible.

"Hey, come on," Marian said with more cheer than she really had at the moment. In fact, she felt almost worse. Those haunting eyes flashed in front of her eyes unrelentingly. "I'm fine. Really," she lied.

Robin managed a small smile, although it was assuredly not heartfelt. "Much is waiting."

"He's probably fallen asleep waiting for us. And he has first watch, too."

Robin was bothered by something, Marian knew. But she couldn't place her finger on it. She shrugged it off on the walk back to camp.

"You were the wolfs-head. Anyone could kill you. It was my right. You have no rights, outlaw. You had no right to take me from my family or my life from me." The imagined words gripped her with cold hands, wrapping themselves around her soul.

Like it? It was rather short, I know. I like my chapters to be over 2,000 words (not counting the ANs), but this had a nice ending here and the plot of the chapter finished nicely right there. Or did it? What did you think? Did the space aliens like it? *looks up into far off UFO* Did anyone? *Let me know, please? The review button loves you! Reminder: I will thank you in the next AN and in a Private Message. So please? Review?