Disclaimer: I do not own Robin Hood, as it is the prorerty of the BBC.

This chapter follows directly on from the end of the last chapter.

Chapter 24

After the wedding of Richard and Beatrice - which Robin had performed - the six outlaws - 7 if Marian was included, although she was not yet officially an outlaw - went back to sitting around.

It was now early evening, and the lot of them were awaiting their dinner.

Much was cooking - well, sat by the pot and occasionally giving it a stir -, Djaq was sorting through her medical supplies whilst muttering to herself, John was tossing his staff about in the furthest corner of the camp, Robin was speaking to Much, Marian was trying to tidy up the general area, ignoring the others' protests that this was a forets and there was no need for it to look neat and tidy, whilst Will and Ava were sat talking, on Will's bed.

' The wedding was nice, wasn't it? ' Will mused, ' It'll be yours next. '

' Yes, I can 'ardly believe it - I mean, me? A wife? With a husband? ' Ava replied.

Will rolled his eyes, ' Well, that's generally the idea of a marriage.'

' My Father doesn't even know I'm engaged yet. My own Father doesn't know, ' she sighed

Will raised his eyebrows, ' You've forgiven your father for the whole betrayal thing? '

Ava sighed, ' Not exactly, but today - what with Robin almost muurdering him - made me realise that as much as I loathe what my Father did, I can't turn my back on him. I need to know why he did it and under what circustances, but I guess after that, I'd like to move on and rebuild some sort of relationship - even if he still works for Gisbourne. '

' Good Heavens, the two of you really need to talk this out, ' Will said, shaking his head at the complexity of the while situation.

Ava nodded, ' I know, Will, I know. I want him to be there on my big day - he should be there to give me away - after all , he is my father. '

' Allan's coming to the wedding? ' Will asked dumbly.

' I would like him to be there, yes,' Ava replied cooly.

' And Allan's giving you away? ' he repeated.

' That would be ideal, since he is my Father. ' she responded slowly, as if speaking to a haf-wit.

Will paused a moment before speaking again, with the words, ' You want to invite Allan to the same wedding that the people he betrayed will be in attendance at? Ava, he's with Gisbourne now - he might arrest us all for being outlaws.'

Ava shook her head, and glanced around, keeping her voice low, ' Will - he was your best friend - d'you honestly see him doing that to you - to us? He may have betrayed us all, but I truly don't think he'd send us all to our deaths. '

' Well, I suppose you're right - but what about Much? Have you told Much about this? ' he enquired, feeling like he already knew the answer.

' Are you mad? ' she replied, causing him to raise his eyebrows in suprise, ' There's way in hell that Much will let me invite him - he hates him. Then we'll end up havin a huge row, and it's more hassle than it's worth. '

' But, really, Ava - do you really think that it's a good idea to have Allan there? I mean, with the rest of the gang...you know...hating him, there's bound to be trouble.'

' But if we are waiting until the Kin returns...well, it could be any length of time... and by then, enough time will have passed, and my Father and the rest of the gang will have sorted out there differences, won't they? '

Will sighed, wanting to tell her that it was not that simple, and she couldn't just assume that everything would turn out alright.

It then appeared that the food was ready as Much called out this fact, and the others - Djaq, John, Marian and Robin - all flocked around to take seats by the fire and eat their food.

Before Ava and Will left, Will grabbed ahold of the teenager's arm and looked at her searchingly, ' You are going to talk about this with Much, aren't you? ' he asked.

Ava merely shrugged to which Will sighed and responded, ' Well, just a little thing for you to think about - if you and Much can't talk about things now, then what's it going to be like in 20 years time? '

Ava wrenched her arm from Will's grip and forced herself to meet his eyes, ' It is none of your business what my fiance and I do or don't discuss. Perhaps if your own love life wasn't such a shambles, then you'd leave mine alone. '

Will frowed, ' What are you getting at? '

Ava rolled her eyes in exasperation, ' Oh honestly Will, how much longer are you intending on tip toeing around Djaq as if you don't like her - when it is obvious that you do. Why don't you just be a man and pluck up the courage to do something about your blooming obvious love of her? '

Will narrowed his eyes, although there was a faint blush to his cheeks and told Ava that he had no idea what she was talking about, to which she laughed and responded that she was not blind.

Before Will had a chance to tell Ava that he knew she wasn't blind, but thought she was delusional, Robin's voice wafted over to them.

' What are you two whispering about? ' he called out.

Ava and Will both looked around to see that the others were sat together eating out of a bowl of stew the resident cook had provided for them, and were currently all watching the two of them, who were stood closer together than they realised, and luckily had indeed been whispering - or rather, hissing.

' Um..nothing, ' Ava muttered, with a last fuming glance at the resident carpenter, before going to take her seat with the others.

She sat beside Much, whilst Will took a seat opposite her, besides Robin and Marian.

As she shoved a spoon full of hot food in to her mouth and began to chew, Much stopped eating for a moment to say something to her.

' So, Robin and I were talking...' he began.

Ava smiled as she cut in with, ' What a suprise...because you never do that. '

Much responded by satting at her arm and them continuing, ' So, we were talking about how Robin married Richard and Beatrice...'

' Does this actually have a point? ' asked an impatient Ava - impatience was unfortunately a trait she had inherited from her father, causing Much to trade a nervous glance with his former master.

Robin cleared his throat and took over, ' You know, there's really no sense in the two of you waiting for the King to return until you marry - you could be waiting for any length of time. There's no sense in you waiting, when you have someone here who could easily perform the ceremony. '

Much nodded eagerly, ' Robin has offered to marry us, just as he did for Richard and Beatrce today. What do you say? '

He, and the other outlaws were watching for Ava's reaction, expecting her to be thrilled with the idea, and immediately take Robin up on it.

Only Will was watching her, and expecting that she might not be too happy with it - and because of their conversation just a few minutes earlier, he knew why.

Ava bit her lip and looked at Much carefully, ' I - I don't know,' she said softly.

Much frowned, ' What's to think about though? We would be married just as we've dreamed..but sooner, which is even better. '

Ava racked her brains to thing of a way to tell Much that she didn't want to marry him randomly in the forest, because she wanted her father there. But she didn't want to tell him she was thinking about her father, because she thought he would think her daft for not forgetting about him after the betrayal.

' Much,' she said gently, balancing her bowl on her knees, and laying a hand on his arm, ' It's not that I don't want to marry you - because I do, and I love you, I really do love you - but I don't want to get married right now. '

Much shrugged her hand off and stared at her, mouth slightly agape, ' Don't...just don't,' he said, narrowing his eyes at her, as his heart ached, ' if you don't want to marry me any more, just tell me - spare me the speech. You don't love me anymore, do you? That's it, isn't it? '

As the others watched in suprise - hardly daring to believe that the couple were having such a serious argument, since their usual arguments were over in a flash and ended with make-up kisses - Ava blinked tears back furiously.

' Much, it's not about that...I just - ' she began, only to be cut off by Much.

He clenched his jaw and continued to stare at her as he spoke, ' There's some one else, isn't thee? You've fallen for some one else, haven't you? '

' Much, this is absurd! I love you, you prat! ' she snapped.

' Then why call off the wedding? ' he demanded.

' I'm not calling it off - I'm only suggesting post-poning it. ' she protested.

' Yeah, right, ' he scoffed, ' who is he? '

' He who? ' she quizzed.

' You know bloody well who! The other man! '

' There is no other man!' she bellowed, standing up, ready to storm out.

Much also stood up and put his hands on his hips, he breathed deeply through his nose as she glared at him, before he nodded his head and spoke, ' It's Will, isn't it? ' he demanded.

' What? ' Will asked incredulously, also standing up.

Much switched his gaze to Will and continued to look between he and Ava, as he spoke furiously, ' It all makes sense now. You've spent more time talking to him than me recently, and your Father would approve of him more than me, and...and... ' faltering because he could not think of any more 'evidence' Much continued, ' oh - just admit it! '

Ava then decided that she was wasting her time trying to get through to Much, because he would not listen in this state and simply pushed past him, and stormed out of the camp.

Will shook his head , ' You, are an absolute idiot. '