Marian entered Guy's room while Matilda was talking with Allan in the corridor. The healer had told them her instructions, then Matilda said that she had to explain to Allan a few details about treatments of more personal nature and she asked her to leave them alone.
Allan rolled his eyes.
"Listen, I know that you don't have a great opinion of me, but I'm not an idiot, you don't have to explain me how can I help a man to use a chamberpot or how to help him to walk to the privy. I had a brother, I took care of him when he was sick or drunk..."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure that he won't need much help with that, let him rest and he'll be fine soon enough. I wanted to talk you about the ghost."
Allan's eyes widened.
"Oh. Giz told you about it..."
"Yes. And I can see him as well. He's over there."
Sir Edward looked at her, surprised.
"Do you really can see me?" He asked.
"I can."
"Aren't you afraid?" The ghost asked.
Matilda grinned.
"I've seen enough weird things in my life. I'm not so easily upset."
"Well, you are upsetting me now!" Allan said, nervous.
Both Matilda and the ghost ignored him.
"Will Sir Guy be alright?" Edward asked, anxiously. "I didn't mean to hurt him."
"Well, don't touch him again. He has burns in shape of your hands where you grabbed him, and you almost drained his life out of him. He will recover, but you could have killed him!" Matilda rebuked the ghost, then she turned to Allan. "You will have to put an ointment on those burns daily, and be sure that Lady Marian doesn't see them."
Allan looked around, nervously, afraid that the ghost could hurt him as well.
Matilda grinned.
"Sir Edward says that you shouldn't worry: you sat on him earlier and you didn't even notice it."
"I sat on him?!" Allan exclaimed, horrified.

Marian entered into the room, and closed the door to give Matilda and Allan some privacy. She went to sit in the chair at the side of the bed, reassured by the healer's words, but still shaken and feeling guilty.
Guy was asleep, but this time his sleep seemed to be more relaxed and he was less pale than before.
Marian touched his hand lightly, to feel if it was still so cold, and Guy's fingers closed around hers, without him waking up.
The girl didn't retract her hand and stood still, with a little sigh.
She didn't know if she was feeling relief because the knight seemed to be better, or if she was still upset for the conversation they had before he got ill. For sure she was feeling sad and sorrowful.
She missed her father, and she couldn't help remembering how harsh her last words to him had been. She quickly wiped a tear from her cheek hearing the door being opened, and just a moment after, Allan entered the room.
The man glanced at the bed, and lifted his eyebrows for a moment when he noticed Guy and Marian's intertwined hands.
He dropped himself on the other chair.
"Well, at least he's sleeping quietly. It seems that this time you didn't kill him."
"I never meant to hurt him!" Marian protested.
"Well, you always do. What are your intentions now?"
"I promised him that I wouldn't leave him alone until he feels better." Marian sounded uncertain, and Allan shook his head, with an ironic smile.
"And then what? You'll go back to Robin and you'll forget about Giz until he could be useful to you and your boyfriend. Then you'll get his hopes high until you get what you want, just to kick him in the face and leave him with nothing once again, when you don't need him anymore."
Marian's cheeks grew hot with rage, and she glared at Allan.
"That's not true!"
"No? Oh, right. You usually punch him in the face before leaving him."
Marian blushed even more, now also with shame. Allan's words made her look like an evil witch and she knew that everything she did was to help people, but she also realized that to help people she had also hurt Guy without even thinking too much about it.
And still he always came back to her, steady in his love.
She didn't find anything to answer, so she just glared back at Allan.
"For your information," Allan said, completely serious this time, "even if you go back to the forest, you wouldn't leave him 'alone'. I'll stay with Giz and for once he'd be with someone who actually cares for him."
"You do? Or you just want to think that because you can't go back to the gang?"
It was Allan's turn to blush a little.
"Well, that might have been true in the beginning, but I came to like him. He has his faults, but he also has his good sides."
"I know." Marian said, and they both were quiet for a while.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Allan sighed.
He felt angry at Marian, but he knew that Guy would have wanted her to stay.
"What are you going to do?"
Marian looked out of the window: it was already dark.
"I should go back to the camp, Robin will be worried by now." She glanced at Guy. "But I promised him to stay until he was better."
"If Robin is worried, I'm sure that he can easily find you here. A lot of people saw you downstairs when Giz fainted, and I'm sure that some of them recognized you. But you shouldn't go to the forest at night, it might be dangerous."
"I am the Nightwatchman, I'm not afraid of riding at night."
Allan crossed his arms.
"Maybe you should. Listen, Marian, I can't leave him alone, so I can't escort you to the camp, but I won't let you go alone. If something should happen to you, both Giz and Robin would flay me alive."
Marian was about to answer that he shouldn't think that she was helpless just because she was a woman, and she was tempted to take a horse and go right back to the camp just to show him that she was able to do it. But then she looked at Guy, at his fingers closed on her hand, at his tired face, and she wasn't so sure that she wanted to go away.
"I guess that I will have to stay, then. Tell the innkeeper to bring another cot."
Allan stared at her.
"Are you going to sleep here?"
"I don't have money with me to take another room and then I won't be alone with him or with you. What's the difference than sleeping at the camp with all the lads?"
The former outlaw grinned.
"I hope you don't snore."

Marian yawned while she stepped down the stairs. The cot where she had slept was clean, but quite uncomfortable, and she had found out that it was Allan the one who snored.
She glanced at the light of dawn entering from the windows and she felt a bit miffed because Robin didn't come to search for her. According to Allan, it wouldn't have been difficult for him to find her, but he didn't show up.
A part of her felt relieved because Robin wouldn't understand her worry for Guy and they would surely have to argue because of that, but on the other hand she would have been flattered to see Robin's jealousy.
She went to the kitchen to ask the cook for some broth and a loaf of bread for Guy. While the man prepared a tray for her, Marian sat to eat something as well. With all the commotion about Guy's illness, she hadn't dined and she was hungry.
She took her time to eat: in the room, Allan was helping Guy with his needs and to wash up, so she wasn't in a hurry to go back upstairs.
When she did, holding the tray with Guy's meal, Allan was coming out from the room, fully dressed and in a hurry.
"Marian," he called, "I have to go to the castle and warn the sheriff that Giz is ill, but you stay here with him until I'm back. You owe him at least this."
The girl nodded, irked by his tone, but she didn't argue because she hadn't meant to leave Guy alone anyways.
Allan went away, and Marian knocked at the door before entering the room. Guy was sitting in bed, his back propped up by pillows, and he was awake, his eyes following her.
Marian smiled, seeing that he looked much better after a night of sleep: he wasn't so pale anymore, and the dark circles around his eyes had disappeared. He had managed to shave and to wash, his hair was still damp and the ruffled locks around his face made him look younger and somehow innocent.
Guy smiled back at her.
"Good morning," he said, and his voice was soft, with no trace of the bitterness of the day before.
"You look better. Have you slept well?"
"I did, but you look tired."
"Allan snores," she said, rolling her eyes.
Gisborne chuckled.
"I was so tired that I didn't notice. It was a long time that I didn't sleep so soundly, no nightmares at all. Maybe I should get ill more often."
Marian glanced at him, surprised to find out that he had often nightmares, and she was curious to know more about them, but she didn't dare to ask. He seemed to be in a light mood, and she didn't want to spoil it.
"Do you feel like eating something?"
"I'm hungry. What do you have there?"
"Broth and bread, as Matilda ordered. Listen to her suggestions, she might be harsh sometimes, but she's the best healer in the county."
Guy took a piece of bread, and he grinned.
"Well, I won't contradict her, or she might use leeches on me."
"Are you afraid of leeches?" Marian asked, a little smile on her lips.
"Who isn't? They are small, black, slimy and disgusting."
"Just like the sheriff." Sir Edward said, appearing at the foot of the bed.
Guy stared at him for a moment, and he burst into a laughter, almost choking on the bread he was chewing.
Marian glanced at the knight, frowning a little.
"Are leeches so funny?"
"I was just thinking that maybe the sheriff is a leech, the description fits perfectly to him too."
The girl looked at him for a moment, amazed to see him so cheerful, then she joined him. The idea of Vaisey as a blood sucking worm was too accurate and she couldn't help laughing.
They laughed together for a while, then Marian became serious again.
"Allan was right."
Guy finished drinking his broth, put the bowl aside, and he looked at her.
"About what?"
"He says that when you're not with the sheriff you are a different man. A better man. When you are at the castle you never laugh. You rarely smile as well."
Gisborne sighed.
"I don't have many reason to do it, do I?" He lifted a hand to brush a lock of Marian's hair away from her face, in a sort of caress. "And now I have even less reasons to smile. Your presence was the only thing that made the life at the castle bearable. You aren't coming back, I guess."
Marian was taken aback by his sad frankness and she thought that if Guy looked dejected and lost, she was lost as well. She knew that she didn't have anymore a place that she could call home.
Knighton was lost, the castle was a hostile place now that her father wasn't there, and she felt that she couldn't really call the forest a home. She loved Robin, and he returned her love, but he was always committed to his mission, he was the hero of the people of Nottingham, and Marian knew that he could never give her his whole attention. She understood, and she shared his dreams, but there were moments when she just would have wanted to have all of his heart and of his mind, everything just for herself.
She felt egoistic and childish for those thoughts, but she just wanted to cry in her father's arms, just like she did when she was a little girl.
Then, it didn't matter if she was weeping for a silly reason: her dad was there for her, ready to comfort her.
She suddenly burst out crying, and Guy looked at her, alarmed, then he saw that Sir Edward's ghost was weeping too.
"She misses me, and I can't comfort her..." Edward said, sorrowful.
Guy put the tray aside, on the bedside table, and he gingerly put his hand on Marian's arm.
"You miss your father," he whispered, and the girl nodded, sobbing.
"He misses you too, I'm sure," Guy said softly, and he pulled her in his arms gently, repeating to himself that he had to be just a support for her, without asking anything in return.
This time marian didn't retreat, too sorrowful and lonely to reject his hug. She rested her head on Guy's chest, sobbing, and the knight quietly stroke her hair with a hand.
Sir Edward stood by the bed watching them in silence, wishing that he could be in Guy's place to soothe his daughter's sorrow.

When Marian stopped crying, some time later, she didn't move away from Guy's hug. For once, the knight wasn't taking advantage of his power to demand her affection, he was just being caring and supportive.
He had only held her in his arms, whispering soothing words once in a while, but he never tried to suggest that he could take care of her and protect her… as a husband.
She let out a deep sigh and straightened her back, pulling away from Guy's embrace, and she wiped her face with the hands to dry the tears.
"I'm sorry," she began, but Guy interrupted her putting a finger on her lips.
"Don't. You needed it, you don't have to apologize. Your father has died, it's normal that you want to cry. I have to apologize, yesterday I told you terrible things without stopping to think that you were suffering so much."
Marian touched his cheek, lingering there with her fingers for a moment. She was relieved to feel that now Guy's skin was warm under her touch.
"Yesterday I broke your heart. You had your reasons to be angry."
"And you have many reasons to despise me."
"I don't despise you," Marian said.
"But you love Hood."
They were both quiet for a moment, then Marian looked at Guy.
"If I offered you my friendship, would you accept it?" She asked. "No lies this time. No more secrets."
Guy glanced at Sir Edward's ghost, thinking that this time he was the one who had to keep a secret, and the ghost nodded at him, encouraging him to accept.
"I don't have much choice, do I?" He said, unsure if he was answering to Marian or to Sir Edward.
He gave her a little, shy smile, and Marian hugged him for a moment, brushing his cheek with her lips.
Guy blushed, and for a moment he wished that her kiss could mean much more than simple friendship, but he didn't want to delude himself once again. She didn't love him, she wanted another man, and there was nothing that he could do about it. Even arresting or killing Hood wouldn't do: if her heart belonged to the outlaw, she would never forgive Guy for that.
He could only accept the reality and try to be contented with what he could have.
Was simple friendship so bad? Surely it was better than her contempt, much better. He wondered if he could really trust her, after everything that happened between them, after all the lies, but then again, now he knew the truth, there were no more reasons for lying. He wanted to trust her, he realized.
Don't hurt me again, Marian.
"I think that we both need a friend now, don't we?" He said softly, and she nodded, wiping away another tear.
"I'm not very good at this," Guy continued, "I never had many friends. What do we do, now?"
"Maybe we should get to know better each other. If we had tried to talk a little more in the past, to understand each other, maybe we would have spared ourselves much heartbreak. I am realizing that I know very little of the real you, and probably you don't know me as well."
"So I can ask you something and you will answer sincerely, right?"
Marian nodded.
"Why the Nightwatchman? I understand that you want to help the poor, but why like this? If I had captured you, the sheriff would have hanged you!"
Marian gave him a impish grin.
"But you never did."
Guy didn't answer to her smile, and he pointed at her belly.
"I almost killed you. Do you realize how much you risked?"
"I admit that trying to rob you when you had the house full of guards wasn't my brightest idea. But I usually was more cautious, that night I wasn't thinking straight. I felt trapped, and I was so mad for that. I wasn't free to do what I wanted just because I was a woman, I had no other choice than marrying you, you were boasting about your money as if you wanted to buy a cow at the market, Robin was making me feel guilty because I was choosing safety for my father and me over certain death, and I just tried to rebel to all of this in the only way I could think of. If I robbed you, I wouldn't have the feeling of being purchased, and nobody could say that I was marrying you just because you were rich. And then your money would help the poor, and that would be a consolation."
Guy stared at her, astonished.
"I never considered you as a cow!" He blurted, then he realized what he had just said and blushed, confused, trying to explain better what he meant. "I… I didn't want to buy you. I just wanted to show you that I could be worthy as a husband, that I could provide for you and give you the life that a noblewoman should have. I didn't want to fail you… but obviously I did."
"You failed me because you lied me about the Holy Land and about the false King."
Guy blushed.
"When you asked me if I had tried to kill the King, I panicked. I didn't know what to answer: I couldn't deny it, but I knew that you would never marry a traitor. I don't remember what I said, did I actually lie to you?"
Marian tried to remember his words, and after a while she shook her head.
"You said that I shouldn't listen to gossips and that you could assure me that the day the King was coming back to England would be a happy day for you because we were going to get married."
"I meant it. I don't care for the King, if he lives or if he dies, but marrying you meant everything to me."
"Did you try to kill him?"
Guy nodded.
"I did. The sheriff ordered me to do it, and I obeyed. He promised me power beyond measure, wealth, and anyways I swore loyalty to him."
Marian sighed.
"Why is power so important to you?" She asked. She wasn't judging him, she was really curious to know.
"Because I know even too well how it is when you don't have any. I swore to myself that I will never be helpless and weak again."
"Again?" Marian asked, and she saw a sparkle of sorrow in Guy's eyes, a moment before he averted his gaze. She wondered if she should inquire more, but she decided that it could wait. There was another answer she wanted from Guy before they could have a fresh start. "But you knew that it wasn't the true King and you lied to me about it."
"At first the sheriff didn't tell me. He thinks I'm gullible, that I wouldn't be able to keep such a secret in a believable way, so he deceived me too. When he told me the truth I found myself in a difficult position: I didn't want to lie to you, but marrying you was, and still is, the only thing I ever wished in my life. I was afraid that when you knew that the King wasn't really coming, you would back off from the wedding. I came to your house when I knew the truth, I wanted to speak with you, to be sincere… But you were unwell, and your father said that it was because of the excitement of the wedding, that you were looking forward to it..."
"I couldn't tell you that she had been hurt while trying to rob your house, could I?" Sir Edward said, with a shrug.
Guy gave a quick glare at the ghost, then he remembered that Marian couldn't see him, and he focused back on her.
"That's why I didn't tell you about the King. If you were happy to marry me, it wasn't important if the King was coming back or not..." He touched the little scar near his eye, left by Marian's punch when she ran away from the ceremony. "I won't forget that error again."
"We both hurt each other," Marian said, with regret, "but we can change this."
Guy nodded, and looked at her: she was sitting on the edge of the bed, so close to him that he could hug her, kiss her, in a moment.
He didn't.
He rested his back on the pillows, and smiled to her.
"So, tell me about the Nightwatchman. Did you get the idea from Hood?"
"Of course not!" She said, indignant, but in a playful way. "Don't you remember? The Nightwatchman has been around for years before Robin even came back from war!"
Guy grinned at her tone, and she kept talking, telling him how she had the idea of helping the poor, where she had found the mask, how scary and exciting it had been the first time that she went out to ride at night alone.
She found out that it was easy to talk about her oldest secret to him, because Guy really listened. It was a new sensation for Marian: her words usually were dismissed because she was a woman, but Guy was actually interested in what she had to say.
She liked it.