Robin awoke to a head splitting in pain. Well, perhaps awoke wasn't quite the right word, since it felt more like he was submerged in water as thick as mud. His senses could barely differentiate anything beyond dizziness, nausea and throbbing pain which all mixed into one overwhelming mass. He was surrounded by a darkness that blurred at the edges; every part of him was as heavy as lead, but it felt like there was a weight on his chest, as if something was covering his body, and reaching him as if from across a great distance, a voice was shouting, defensive and furious and familiar…

Before he could focus on any one of these things though, he slipped back into unconsciousness.


The second time Robin came around, he woke up properly. His head was still throbbing in a way that radiated throughout his whole body, and he felt as if he were in a belly of a ship being tossed about in a maelstrom. He tried opening his eyes, but the only indication of this being successful was the intensified pain behind them. God, was he dead? He couldn't be though; the nausea and dizziness roiling through him was very definitely a bodily experience. But why was it so dark? And cold? And damp? His body was a dead weight, but he seemed to be lying on an even harder surface, although something softer seemed to be cushioning his head…

The darkness shifted beside him, revealing the shape of a figure. Instinctively, Robin turned his head towards the movement- and was almost sick with the pain that flared in his skull.

" No, Robin, don't move-"

A hand briefly skimmed his face, another lightly resting on his chest as if to hold him in place. Not that he was at much risk of getting up. Seconds or hours passed, the waves of pain slowly receding, but not enough for him to do more than eventually open his eyes.

"Maria?" He croaked.

"You absolute oaf Robin De Noir," A cool, damp cloth was lain on his temples by gentle hands, but her voice couldn't have been any less so. "What did you think you were playing at?"

"I'm not sure," Robin rasped, noting her use of the past tense and assuming she meant more than his recent attempt to move, "What happened?"

"You don't remember anything?"

He went to shake his head- but then thought better of it. "Err… no,"

"I swear Robin, if you've gone and seriously hurt yourself, I'm going to kill you," She sounded angry again, but as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he caught a glimmer of tear tracks on her face. From the stress of their current predicament, probably. But as he'd thought, just what that was, beyond ending up lying on the floor in a cave having probably taken a blow to the head, he wasn't sure.

"I'm fine," He was most definitely not fine, his head still thudding with pain, but he tried to sit up anyway, to take charge of the situation and relieve some of the burden on Maria. This turned out to be a monumental mistake though. The instant Robin moved, everything tilted upside down and wave of vertigo and nausea so powerful swept over him that he lost sense of everything.

"Robin- Robin!"

He had always liked the way Maria Merryweather said his name. Usually so commanding and confident, not panicked and fearful. There was nothing he could do though as he was swallowed once again by oblivion.


When Robin woke for the third time, the pain in his head was marginally less intense- enough that he remembered his situation when he came to.

"Princess?" was the first, if groggy, word out of his mouth.

"Robin?" The darkness unfurled itself to reveal her anxious face leaning over him again. "Do not move," She ordered again, her hand pressed firmly into his chest to emphasise this point, and given what happened last time he had tried, Robin could understand this remonstration. But he had to- he couldn't just lie here indefinitely, and he wasn't feeling quite as sick and dizzy as last time.

"I'll be fine- just, help me up would you?"

Asking for help perhaps made the difference, either because Maria could never refuse an opportunity to fix things, or perhaps she just sensed that he was going to try with or without it. Whichever it was, her hand lightened its pressure which he took to mean her consent. Afterall, if she had decided she wasn't going to allow him to move, she'd probably do something extreme. Like sitting on him, which was a thought Robin very quickly forced out of his mind, lest he need to knock himself out again…

They took it slowly, bit by bit until Robin was sitting upright, his back braced against the hard, smooth wall of the cave they were in. This hadn't come without its cost though, and he was forced to sit for several minutes with his eyes shut, gritting his teeth against the waves of pain and sickness trying to overwhelm him.

Eventually, they ebbed away, back into the dull throbbing ache. When he was able to open his eyes again, they adjusted to the darkness more quickly, immediately searching for Maria. She was knelt only a few feet from him, no doubt in case he keeled over unconscious again, and even through the darkness he could see the worry in her face, which was pale and wan. She was also missing her jacket- which he realised was what had been wedged under his head, and now probably entirely damp with moisture from the cave floor.

"You must be freezing," He exclaimed. God, she should never had wasted the warm it would have otherwise afforded her on him.

"I'm fine," Maria insisted, readjusting her legs to sit back down and indifferently brushing dust and grit from her skirts as if she was sitting down to afternoon tea rather than the floor of a dank, dark cave. Robin, on the other hand, almost snorted, not fooled, because fine was exactly what he'd said immediately before passing out.

"C'mere," He instructed, pulling her jacket, just within reach, over to spread out on the cold ground between his legs, "So I can keep you warm,"

"I said I'm fine," Maria repeated emphatically. Moon above, and she accused him of being stubborn. Damn his head- otherwise he'd just have tugged her over as well. But then if his head wasn't pounding like hammers on an anvil, he wouldn't need to since they also wouldn't need to linger in this damned awful hole.

"Well it will make me feel better," he tried instead, switching tactics to better appeal to her sensibilities, "I can hardly see you in this dark, and that's without my head feeling like it's been cleaved in two…"

Maria sighed through the dark, probably seeing straight through this rather opaque attempt. Thankfully though, she obliged him this time, shuffling forwards to sit beside him. Once within his reach though, Robin pulled her over his leg onto her jacket and wrapped his arms around her, so she was settled against him with her back to his chest. Now certainly wasn't the time to be worrying about societal conventions and he only cared about keeping her warm, especially when he felt how chilled she was against him.

Still, with her head tucked under his chin, Maria's soft scent was a welcome alternative to the damp musk of the cave, and Robin subtly breathed it in. If his head hadn't been throbbing, he'd be tempted to bury his face in her hair and close his eyes, pretend the hard, unyielding wall of stone behind him was the trunk of a tree in the forest somewhere, bathed in warm sunshine. Pretend that she was in his arms by choice rather than necessity…

Err… better distract himself from that particular direction of thought. Quickly.

Robin cleared his throat. "How long have we been in here?"

Maria shrugged slightly within the confines of his arms. "I'm not sure. Those thugs dragged us pretty deep into whatever tunnel system this is though, so it's not surprising there's no light getting in to help guess…"

Hmm, that wasn't good. Well, nothing about being trapped in a dark, damp, cold cave with probable concussion was good (apart from the excuse to keep his arms wrapped around Maria without having to admit to any other reasons other than strictly practical ones), but still. Just how they'd ended up in this situation was still a complete blank to him thanks to the said concussion, but he supposed that didn't really matter much now. Getting out of it was the more pressing concern. Would anyone be looking for them by now? But then, what was by now?

"How hungry are you?"

"I beg your pardon?" Maria half turned towards him sounding incredulous, "What an earth has that got to do with anything?"

"Well you'd just had lunch with Loveday when we met up," Robin pointed out, "So if you're hungry, it'll be getting towards early evening won't it?"

He remembered this because he'd been pretty hungry and rather resentful of this himself at the time, having only been able to scoff a quick bite of bread for breakfast leaving the castle, and sustaining himself for the rest of the morning on dried meat. Neither had been at all satisfying and by all accounts he should have been starving. The thought of food in his current state though only turned his stomach and made the waves of nausea pushing and pulling through him all the stronger.

Similar sentiments on this subject which were apparently also shared by Maria.

"Funnily enough," She observed in a voice that made it clear just how insensitive and inappropriate his time telling method was, "My appetite vanished at about the same time you were bashed over the head and we were taken hostage, so I don't think it's going to be a very useful indicator in this instance. But if I had to, I'd guess it's only been a few hours, despite that fact it felt more like an eternity while waiting to see if you were either going to wake up or stop breathing!"

Robin was taken aback somewhat by this outburst. Stop breathing?

"I was just knocked out," He reminded her, only to immediately realise that this was the stupidest thing he could have possibly said.

There was a long, dangerous pause.

"Oh, of course," Maria eventually answered in a tone chillier than the cave, "How silly of me,"

"I didn't mean-" But Robin broke off, sensing he was only going to dig himself in deeper now, no matter what he said.

Perfect. Bloody perfect. Not only were they trapped in this god-forsaken cave, but now he'd upset her. In the ensuing silence, Robin's temples throbbed even harder, reminding just how useless he was, both physically and emotionally. Usually, it was just the latter. God, they needed to get out of here. Except he was a complete liability and probably going nowhere, at least not for a while.

But, Robin considered, that didn't necessarily need to be the case for Maria, did it?

"Princess, I think you should-"

"No."

"I could-"

" No."

"But that way you'd be able to-"

"I don't care,"

"Look, princess, I know you're probably scared-"

"That's not going to work,"

"Maria, be reasonable," Robin exclaimed, frustrated an understatement and wondering if blood was coming out of his ears, "Sending you out on your own is hardly what I want either, but I can barely see straight, let alone walk!"

"Then we wait until you can," Maria stated shortly.

"We have no idea what's going to happen, there's no point us both risking-"

"I don't care. I'm not leaving you so either you think of a solution that involves us both, or you might as well save your breath,"

" Fine,"

God, she was so mulishly stubborn. And arguing had only made Robin's head ache even more, if that were possible. He closed his eyes, hoping that blocking out the dizzying, shuffling shapes would lessen the nauseating pain throbbing through his entire body. If only it would cease, maybe he could think of something to get them-

Hang on, dizzying, shuffling shapes?

" Jesus," He hissed, his eyes flying open. " We're not alone in here-!"

He was prevented from shooting upwards, rather luckily, by Maria's weight against his chest.

"No," She replied simply, loosening his arms, which had instinctively tightened, from around her without comment, "There's a fair few beggars and unfortunates taking refuge in here. I suspect its why those thugs have chosen it; it makes rather a convenient and disguised hiding place for them…"

Robin wasn't paying attention though. One of the beggars had apparently overheard their conversation- specifically the bit about Robin not being able to see or walk straight, a fact they had possibly decided to take advantage off.

But like so many before, they underestimated Maria Merryweather.

She moved faster than lightening, one moment on the floor between Robin's legs, the next whipping the knife from his boot and on her feet pointing it at the man, an expression so fierce on her face that even the Coeur De Noir in his blackest, most bloodthirsty of moments had never managed.

Not that Robin could see this. All he could see were the long skirts of Maria's dress as she stood protectively in front of him, her outstretched hand pointing the knife directly between the eyes of the wide-eyed beggar.

Robin's knife. From his boot. Maria was standing over him with the knife she'd drawn from his boot.

"Leave. Us. Alone," She hissed.

Oh, Christ above. Robin should have been horrified. Humiliated. Emasculated. But he wasn't. Quite the opposite of all of these things in fact, and he was suddenly glad he was somewhat woozy and that his body and mind were not currently in step with each other because otherwise one might have quite overwhelmed the other with embarrassing and entirely inappropriate consequences.

Looking along the perfect line of the dagger tip to Maria's furious eyes, the unfortunate vagabond apparently decided that stripping Robin of any valuables was apparently not going to be worth it. Backing away a few steps, they turned and retreated away into the darkness, although Maria did not lower her arm, or her gaze, until the sound of their shuffling, bare footed gait had faded into it as well.

"You shouldn't have done that," Robin remarked, in a voice a little hoarser than usual.

"Like you keep doing for me you mean?" Maria asked, lowering her arm and turning to look at him with an accusing expression on her face.

"Yes but I'm-" in love with you.

Robin broke off just in time. Damnit, he really must be concussed. Not for being in love with her, because how could he not be? But for almost blurting it out like that, for that was something Robin had sworn to himself that he would never say out loud, so long as he lived.

"You're what?" Maria prompted, her eyes creasing into a curious frown.

"Nothing," Robin muttered, not meeting her eyes and seizing on (any) other topic to divert her, "Do you even know what to do with that?"

"I don't think the general principle is a hard one to grasp," Maria remarked, following his gaze to the knife still in her hand with a hint of cynicism.

"Well, there's a bit more to it than that," Robin muttered.

"Yes," Maria answered, manoeuvring her skirts to sit back down beside him, "And Henry and Richard made a point of teaching me, remember?"

They had? Oh yes, they had. Richard had told him they'd done it when he wasn't there in case the sight of Maria with a knife had... discomposed him. To which Robin had told Richard to go fuck himself.

"You wouldn't dare swear like that if Maria were here," Richard had replied, raising an eyebrow.

That was partly true, but at the same time, Robin had heard Maria swear under her breath enough times now, even if she'd never admit it, so clearly the De Noirs were rubbing off on her just as much as she was on them.

"She's got you whipped," David added with a disgusted snort, "Even if you won't admit it,"

"I swear to God, if you ever talk like this in front of her, I'll-" Robin started, attempting to inject deadly intent into his voice, only for David to ignore this and cut across him.

"You'll what?" He asked dryly, "And why would her actually knowing what a pathetic mess of hopelessness and devotion you are be such a bad thing?"

"Because he's a sadist who's set on punishing himself for the audacity of actually wanting her himself by wallowing in a pit of unrequited love and despair forever," Henry chimed in.

This, it turned out, was all completely true. Not that Robin would ever have admitted it to anyone of course. But clearly it wasn't just him that Maria was having an effect on if Richard and Henry's vocabularies had been expanded to include words like discomposed and audacity.

So, unable to come up with a retort to all this, or really truly deny it, Robin had done what any self-respecting person would, and told David and Henry to fuck off as well.

"Robin?" Maria's voice brought him back to the present. In the cave, cold and concussed. Which may have been lucky because she was looking at him with concern, probably assuming that the glazed look in his eyes was from said concussion, and not from the fact that Richard had been proved entirely right about his reaction to seeing her with a knife. And it was, again, lucky, because if he hadn't been concussed, she'd also have been thoroughly unimpressed by being ignored.

"Do not ram that back into my boot," He warned, hoping to forestall any questions about his temporary mental lapse, "It's easier to draw than sheath…"

Not to mention, if she started feeling around his leg for his boot sheath, he would probably, actually, die.

"I wasn't going to," Maria huffed, sounding both offended and annoyed, "I'm not a complete oaf, like you,"

Robin ignored this, which wasn't hard because she called him an oaf so often that he barely noticed anymore. And she was right most of the time.

"It's probably better for you to keep it right now anyway," He said, thinking out loud. He certainly wasn't going to do much good with it, and if he tried to re-sheath it himself, he'd probably stab himself in the leg. Although that might not have been such a bad thing right then…

"Alright," Maria agreed, not noticing any of his continuing mental struggles, "Although Richard was supposed to get me my own you know. But that turned out to be conditional on me keeping it down my bodice, and him showing me how to get it there, so I told him to stick it- um, keep it. I told him to keep it…"

Oh god. Robin completely missed the latter part of this. He was going to kill Richard for that. Assuming he survived Maria talking about her bodice that was. And this whole situation. Which he was once again reminded of.

"We need to get out of here," He declared, hoping the desperation in his voice was only recognisable to himself.

"Well that goes without saying," Maria almost rolled her eyes, "But, on that point, it has been quiet for quite a long time now. The outlaws I mean,"

"Oh?" This comment truly did distract Robin's attention.

"Yes," She turned and looked into the darkness, "They were keeping an eye on us initially, but no-one has come and checked on us for a while. Maybe they took my advice…"

"Your advice?" Robin queried, wondering what sort of advice she could have offered a band of violent exiles, and hoping it wasn't the same advice she gave him and his friends about the De Noirs needing to improve their table manners and clear away all Castle Black's decorative skulls, "What do you mean?"

"Earlier, when you were unconscious," She elaborated, "I made sure to make a nuisance of myself every time they came in, trying to convince them that we weren't worth the trouble we'd cause them, that the longer they left it, the more likely it would be that the valley would be teeming with people looking for us. That they'd do better to slip away sooner rather than later, and so on…"

"Teeming with your uncle's people looking for you, you mean, not for- hang on," Robin interrupted himself, his eyes widening. "What do you mean you 'made a nuisance of yourself?' "

"Well, you know," Maria shrugged, "Just the usual, mostly lots of noise and audacity-"

"Like when you trespassed into Castle Black and started mouthing off insults at my father you mean?" Robin demanded, growing horror over the danger she'd put herself in overtaking the fact that noise and audacity was something she was apparently self-aware and actually in control of. The faint shouting he had heard when he'd been drifting in and out of consciousness came back to him- had that been her?

"Maria, these people are even worse than we are! In fact they make us look like saints. Do you have any idea how stupid and dangerous antagonising them was? What they might have done to you?" The nausea clenching Robin's stomach had nothing to do with his concussion now. Christ, that weight he'd felt on his chest as well- had that been her bodily shielding him?

"Well I didn't have much choice," Maria retorted, not sounding at all regretful, "I couldn't risk us being separated in your state, and I'm pretty sure they initially intended to leave you but take me with them as a hostage. And calling all my heritage down on them worked, since it looks like they've gone now…"

Robin barely heard her answer though. His thoughts were spiralling to dark places; to what ifs and wanting to hunt the bastards down and rip them limb from limb, show them and everyone else just what would happen to anyone who so much as thought about laying a finger on Maria Merryweather...

But those same thoughts were making his hands ball into fists, his breathing coming faster and shallower. His whole body was tautening with tension and anger, drawing on the meagre energy reserves that it had and making his vision begin to blur dangerously at the edges. No, he couldn't, mustn't fall unconscious again. He couldn't leave her alone down here to fend for herself. The best thing he could do for them now was get them out of here, to get Maria to safety.

So, taking a deep breath, Robin forced those thoughts into a box in his mind, focusing instead on what she'd said.

It looks like they've gone now.

While it would be a good thing if the outlaws had abandoned the caves, there was still the remaining paupers and vagrants that seemed to be living down here that they'd need to get past. The one Maria had warned off had looked pitiful enough, but who knew how many of them there were? Robin was next to useless in his current state, and even with his knife Maria could be easy overwhelmed if there were enough of them and they realised there were two easy targets down here with them…

"Did you see anything on the way in?" He asked her.

"No," After such a long silence, Maria sounded relieved that he'd finally spoken, having no doubt probably been able to sense the tension expanding through him, "I couldn't see much past the thugs who had me, and I was focussed mostly on you as they dragged us in and hoping you weren't dead…"

She paused to bite her lip. "After they dumped us here though and you came around the first time, I did explore the chamber a bit. There's a burn flowing through over that way that I used for dampening your scarf for your head, but that's all I was able to find since I didn't want to go too far or leave you for too long,"

Maria pointed into the darkness. While Robin couldn't see anything, listening, he could hear the flow of water coming from somewhere. A burn, in the cave…

God, if only his head wasn't so damned foggy! He had the whole valley mentally mapped out in his head but right now he just couldn't visualise it. Think, he ordered himself. He had too. There were plenty of caves and tunnels crisscrossing the valley, thanks to the underlying sandstone and the many watercourses flowing one way or another towards the sea. More than one definitely had underground streams and pools. But not many had multiple chambers big enough for an underground society of beggars, vagabonds and brigands to live in…

"Robin?" Maria tentatively prompted, bringing him once again back to the present. Grimacing, he forced himself to ignore the inevitable nausea as he propped himself further up against the wall.

"There might be a passage somewhere along it," He told her, "Where an older river would have flowed. If it's the one I think it is, it's hidden behind a massive boulder. It should be big enough for us to get out through, although I think it would bring us out northwards, pretty far up the valley..."

Nodding, Maria got to her feet, as Robin knew she must to go and look. Still, he gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to yank her back to him as her skirts brushed past him. " Don't go beyond where I can see you."

A huff came from her direction as she headed towards the burn. "Why, because you're really going to be able to do something if I do run into someone?"

Robin mentally scowled, since actually scowling would have antagonised his headache. He was sure he could in the very least throw himself at someone if necessary, even if he did spew up on them- which in his experience, was quite an effective way of making people leave you the hell alone. Trouble was, it would have to be a particularly accurate and successful tackle in the first place, since he was sure he'd only be able to make the one before passing out….

"That's far enough," He called when Maria was several steps away, and at the edge of his sight. She took another. "Maria, stop,"

"I think you're right," She called, not paying his commands any heed, "It's hard to see properly but there's a big boulder sticking out of the stream, and I think there's an opening on the other side of it. There's an area that looks even blacker there in any case…"

"Good," Robin muttered, with rather less relief than the escape route deserved since he just wanted her back within his sight and reach, however limited his ability to protect her might be. "Come back here then so we can figure out how to get out through it…"


The journey out of the cave hadn't been easy, but they'd managed it.

Just.

Getting to his feet and crossing the stream had perhaps been the hardest part. Robin's body had swayed to starboard and his mind to port, and between the vertigo and throbbing pain in his skull, he'd barely been able to remain upright. Only with Maria's help had he been able to stagger forwards; he'd tried as best he could to support as much of his own weight as possible, to lessen the burden on her, but it couldn't have been nearly enough. Still, she'd borne it without a single complaint, and they'd worked together, making slow progress through the labyrinth of passages, Robin channelling every last bit of energy he had into putting one foot in front of the other, remaining conscious through sheer force of will as Maria had steered them through the darkness according to his directions.

When at last they'd emerged from underground and into silver moonlight, Robin's strength had finally given out. He must have collapsed again, the very last thing he'd been aware of as he succumbed to the screaming darkness and pain behind his eyes being distant flickering lights, and the faint sound of Maria shouting and waving for help, half caught beneath him where he'd fallen. Evidently, those lights must have been the search parties combing the valley for them, for Robin had awoken a day later in his own room at Castle Black.

Hazy and battered, recovering in his soft warm bed had certainly been an improvement from the cold, hard damp floor of the cave, but it had the downside of no Maria stroking his hair and calling him an oaf. Just where she was had been the first thing Robin had tried to establish when he'd awoken there, attempting to wrestle his way out of bed with limbs that weren't working properly, until Richard had realised what he was raving about and assured him Maria too was safely home, at Moonacre Manor.

Later, when Robin was a little more cognisant, coherent, and better able to control his body, he remained glad of this, but also found himself somewhat disappointed, for despite Maria's fierce protection of him in the cave, she remained entirely absent from his bedside, having apparently not visited him once. He immediately rebuffed himself for this, since her own family likely wanted her to recover from the ordeal. Plus, his father was probably keeping Loveday appraised of his condition, so it wasn't as if Maria had no means of knowing how he was recovering, or her absence translating as indifferent to this. Given she'd refused to leave him in that cave, that surely couldn't have been further from the truth…

Thus left mostly alone (apart from the occasional and infinitely less preferable company of Richard, Henry and David), and now with no imminent dangers to keep him fighting for consciousness, Robin mostly slept, falling into dreams where he was still in said cave with Maria.

Not quite as concussed.

And completely alone with her.

He definitely blamed these on still being concussed.

When Robin was conscious, and not dwelling on his guilt both for not better protecting Maria in the first place and his less than friendly dreams about her, he fell to agonising about how to thank her. Because surely he should? Perhaps he could take her some flowers. But would this be an adequate way of saying 'thanks for looking after me when I was injured and defenceless, but not injured and defenceless enough to inappropriately react to you handling my knife' ?

Well, the last part would be unspoken. And flowers would probably make her worry that he still was concussed…

After a week in bed, wakefulness outweighed Robin's drowsiness and his restless mind could no longer be shackled by his recovering body. A further two days later spent moping around the castle and irritating everyone around him with his brooding and fretting, he was finally deemed fit enough and allowed (ordered) to leave it.

Walking through the forest was a relief of unimaginable proportion, and he took his time crossing it, letting the familiar sounds and scents of his haven wash over him, flooding his senses and restoring most of his usual composure. Emerging from his beloved forest though (for of course the first thing he intended to do when he had regained his freedom was to visit Maria, and he would, through hell or highwater, any lingering concussion effects be damned), his apprehension returned.

God, what was he going to say to her? He was both dreading and desperate for it, but prolonging it was only making him more and more wound up. He would just have to hope that it would dawn on him what to say and do when he was finally face to face with her

Before that though, he had to actually find Maria in the first place, and hope he could get her on her own. They usually met somewhere in the valley, but on the occasions where he had gone to Moonacre Manor, well, Sir Benjamin was never pleased to see him, his sister was usually too pleased, and Maria's Miss Heliotrope simply didn't know what to think about him since he so thoroughly ensconced everything that was the opposite to polite society. Marmaduke would perhaps be his best bet, but the chef rarely left the kitchens.

Luckily for Robin, he found he didn't need to solve this problem, since Maria herself was wandering the Manor gardens as Robin approached. He stopped in his tracks as he saw her, his breath catching his throat.

God, did she ever not look flawlessly beautiful? She was dressed more simply for once, her hair tied into a loose braid over her shoulder rather than wound into the elaborate styles she usually liked. Not that it mattered, for she could probably have worn a sack and still carried off as if it were the very latest of London fashions…

Out of his own natural habitat of the forest, he of course stuck out like a sore thumb across the perfectly manicured gardens of Moonacre Manor. Shaking himself from his reverie, he quickly threw a hand into the air to wave at her when she caught sight of him, so she didn't realise how long he'd been stood there staring at her like a love-struck fool.

Which he completely and utterly was, and just as pathetic, hopeless and devoted as David had previously accused him of. But that was beside the point.

"Back on your feet then?" Maria asked, a relieved smile on her face as they met at the edge of the garden, where the trimmed shrubbery gave way to open lawns.

"Completely unassisted," He grinned, holding up his hands to prove it.

She cast her eyes over him appraisingly nonetheless. "I'm glad you actually rested up, although I assumed you must have been tied down to keep you in bed so long…"

"Not quite." Robin admitted, "Although I heard there were bets about how long I'd last before restraints would be needed,"

"Of course there were," Maria muttered, not quite under her breath, "There's nothing you De Noirs won't bet on is there?"

Robin shrugged. "Well, the odds have definitely shortened on you over the years,"

They were shorter still after he'd come out of those caves as a boneless heap, entirely supported by her. And there were probably plenty of bets on how that had happened as well, which he suspected Richard, David and Henry might have done very well out of…

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" Maria had folded her arms and one look at her narrowed eyes told Robin neither option would be the correct answer.

"All bets aside, I can't remember the last time I was allowed to lounge in bed for so long," He rather wisely deflected instead, and sitting down on a nearby stone bench, for although he would be loathed to admit it, the walk from Castle Black had tired him.

Maria put her hands on her hips, of course picking up on this. "Probably because it only happens when you're inebriated or maimed," She frowned, "Should you even be up and walking about so soon?"

"I'm fine Princess," Funnily enough, as Robin peered up at her, it occurred to him that she looked worse than him. And not because of the mostly healed graze on her cheek or scratches on her slim hands. There just seemed to be an underlying… tension about her. She was pale, her eyes shadowed. The smile she had given him when she'd first seen him had seemed genuine enough, but, subdued, somehow?

Probably, he reasoned, from being cooped up within the Manor grounds for so long. "I take it you've been under lock and key yourself," He said, following this direction of thought.

"Something like that," Maria shrugged, "I was happy to stick to the limit of the Manor grounds like everyone wanted though,"

Again, this was odd. It had occurred to him before the irony of how she'd stopped trespassing into the woods only after their families had reconciled and she was no longer under threat of kidnap. But she still often ranged Moonacre Estate and visited Silverydew, even if she didn't stray into the woods without him to accompany her.

"That's not like you," He frowned. Neither was the way she seemed to be evading his gaze, when normally she'd be staring right back at him and telling him well that was because she wasn't an emotionally colour-blind oaf like him, and knew when it was reasonable to respect her family's feelings after being kidnapped by bandits.

So there had to be another reason behind this and her choice to obey her families wishes for once. Had the experience perhaps caught up with her? Just how dangerous those bandits were? Intrepid as she appeared, and he had long since known that her natural instinct was fight rather than flight, but she was still only human-

"If you must know, it didn't seem fair to go wandering about while you were still bedridden," Maria answered, much to his surprise and cutting off his line of thought. She sat down next to him, "And besides, my uncle threatened to lock me in my tower if I did, in which case I'd have needed to wait for you to recover to come and break me out anyway since Loveday let slip about the secret passage when she first moved into the Manor…"

Robin raised his eyebrows. "I'm sure you'd have found a way. You've proved yourself good at escaping from locked rooms in the past,"

Maria gave him a look, much more characteristic of her usual self. "That was once," She pointed out, "Because you overestimated the intelligence of your guard and underestimated my resourcefulness,"

"Accidentally falling off a wall was not resourceful," Robin disagreed, "It was dangerous,"

"I wasn't talking about the wall," Maria huffed, "That was an accident. And are you really going to go down the road of what's dangerous after what you did last week?"

"Well, then, we're even," He responded defensively, "Since getting concussed was an accident too…"

This was true, and Robin remembered it all now, how they'd been heading to the northern boundary of the valley, Maria wanting to find some herbs, and stumbled across what must have been a look out. Robin hadn't even known what he was doing, had just instinctively thrown himself in front of her as the outlaw had struck out. He didn't regret it one bit because it was far better it had been him that her. Even if he'd never woken up from it.

Especially then.

Rather surprisingly, Maria didn't call him an oaf for this though, and her hands momentarily tightened in her lap. Whatever she was thinking, she'd turned her face away so he couldn't tell. Not that he necessarily would have been able to anyway since she was always more capable of guessing his thoughts than him hers, but she'd informed him before that was simply down to him being a man. Whether this was true or not, Robin at least had a sixth sense for predicting her more reckless impulses, which was definitely a more valuable ability in his opinion, and why he suspected Sir Benjamin allowed Maria to spend so much time with him at all…

A brief silence fell, putting Robin on edge. He had the feeling he'd somehow said the wrong thing to her, but usually when this happened, Maria straight up told him this and called him a clueless oaf. She already had, he recalled, when he'd woken up in the cave, but saying it once didn't usually stop her from saying it again (and again), depending on his deemed level of stupidity. So why wasn't she now? She definitely wasn't her usual self, and-

"You got your hat back I see," Maria announced, finally breaking the silence and looking back at him- or rather at his hat, perched atop his head in its rightful place once more.

"Yes," Robin grinned, reaching up to touch it and so relieved that she had spoken, he forgot his line of thought once more, "One of the searchers found it in the clearing,"

"That must have been a relief for you. And here-" Perhaps reminded by his returned hat, Maria pulled his scarf from her pocket and passed it to him. "I have your knife too, but it's in my room-"

"You keep it," Robin interrupted as he wound his scarf (washed, with all the holes neatly mended) back around his neck. He'd never be able to look at that knife the same way again anyway, so she might as well.

Not to mention, Richard had innocently asked him while he had still been stuck in bed about the knife's whereabouts- in a way which had made Robin certain he must have said something incriminating as he'd slept. And he didn't think he'd be able to bare the laughter or smugness on the idiot's face if Richard saw it back in his possession…

Maria frowned. "Well, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to carry it around-"

Robin couldn't help the snort that escaped him at this. "I think that ship has sailed Princess," He interrupted dryly, "A long time ago in fact,"

Maria glared at him. "Well I don't have a sheath," She huffed, "And I'm certainly not asking Richard for one,"

God, absolutely not, and Robin still owed Richard a complete bollocking on that score. "I'll get you one," He said firmly, before clarifying (mostly to himself) "To go in your boot."

Maria only shrugged. "If you want, although I really don't see the point. Your father rounded up all the outlaws,"

"Well I'm sure they'll be others," Robin muttered, "And since you insist on always recklessly provoking dangerous groups of bandits, I think its best that you do,"

Maria half-heartedly glared at him at this, before looking away again. "I didn't have a choice,"

"Yes you did," Robin retorted, "You just can't help always fearlessly staring right down the barrel or blade of whatever is pointed-"

" Fearless?"" Maria's gaze snapped back to him, "I am not fearless Robin! Do you have any idea how terrified I was the whole time we were in that cave?"

She was glaring at him more angrily than before, and Robin immediately kicked himself for his thoughtless comment. God, he really was an oaf. Clearly he'd been on the right lines before; he knew her better than anyone, and while yes, her defence was always offence, of course that didn't mean she wasn't immune to fear. She had been in a high stress situation, but at the same time, had been too busy dealing with it to actually appreciate its danger. Once out of those caves and away from the danger, the stress of it all must have set in- at the same time she'd been left on her own with plenty of time to think about it.

Bloody hell, was this what was bothering her? The reason behind her drawn appearance and distant behaviour? That she'd realised she had been scared? Christ, why in God's name hadn't her family allowed her to come to Castle Black? He might have been unconscious, but the castle was full of people who would have been better at helping her deal or distract her from this, even if that had come at the cost of Richard, Henry and David dropping hints about his state of desperate longing for her…

"Princess, that's only natural," Robin tried to reassure her, "You were surrounded by murderous cut throats, anyone would have been scared-"

Once again though, he apparently completely misjudged things.

"Not of them!" Maria cried, jumping to her feet, a tinge of disbelief momentarily evident on her face as well as in her voice, "I was scared over you Robin! Because you're a stupid oaf who thinks he needs to save me to make up for the fact I once had to sacrifice myself. And that was nothing to do with you, you're not the one who failed. So stop trying to put yourself at risk for me. I don't want you to. I don't want you to save me if it means losing you. Do you hear me?"

She was glaring at him, her eyes ablaze with something far more than anger, and Robin sat, utterly taken aback. It was just like her outburst in the cave. Even as he tried to process what she meant, then and now, once again, another part of him spoke without thinking. But unlike in the cave though, he didn't regret his words this time.

"I won't make you promises I won't keep."

Maria's eyes glittered. Whether from the words themselves, or the tone he'd said them in, deadly honest and immutably true, she immediately turned away from him. She was entirely right; he'd never stop trying to save her, he couldn't, wouldn't. He loved her and he'd jump right off that cliff after her without a second thought.

He was on his feet before he knew what he was doing, instinctively stepping towards her, unable to bear the thought of her crying and willing to do almost anything to prevent it. Anything but tell her why. Because he wasn't worth her tears, he wasn't worth anything compared to her, and that was why he could say it.

He didn't reach out, but leaning his head against the back of hers, he closed his eyes, wishing he could, wishing he was more. Maria tensed, but she leaned back into him. He only had a moment to inhale her as she did- the scent of her hair, heat of her skin before she spun around, both of her hands on his face, her eyes shut with her forehead pressed to him.

It was all over in that moment as she kissed him. Briefly at first but then longer as he kissed her back. He was unable to stop himself, his arms wrapping around her, desperate and longing to hold her and never let go. She was everything, all that he wanted, what he lived and breathed for, so much more than he could ever deserve.

And because of that, he eventually made himself.

"Princess, I'm not-"

"Shut up Robin,"

"But I'm not Maria, I'm not good enough for you-"

"The only person who thinks that is you, Robin, because you're an idiot," Her expression was as fierce as in the cave as she glared at him, in spite of her red rimmed eyes, "And I'm not putting up with it anymore,"

He might have laughed at that, in other circumstances, because that was his Maria, imperious and always so defiant in the face of impossible odds. But right then, it made his stomach twist, because she was wrong and he couldn't let her believe he was anything less than unworthy of her-

"I mean it Robin," She cut in, resolution filling her voice, as she shook her head, "If you don't stop thinking like that, I'm not being the means of you justifying it. I can't and I won't stay at Moonacre any longer while you do,"

This made Robin's blood run cold. His arms instinctively tightened around her, but before he could correct the impulse, she pressed on, perhaps sensing his weakness, the ultimatum shining in her eyes. "If you can't promise not to risk your life for me then you need to at least tell me why,"

"You know why," Robin answered hoarsely. God, didn't the whole bloody valley by now?

"That's not the same," More tears slipped from Maria's eyes and her voice was anguished. He closed his eyes, unable to bear that. She was right, it wasn't the same, because if he said it out loud, he knew that he wouldn't be able to let her go. He'd be binding himself to her, but if he didn't say it, if he could pretend she didn't know, he could give her up to someone better than him, someone she deserved so much more than-

"If you are going to risk your life for me, then you have to make the stakes worth it Robin," She whispered, and even though they were shining with tears, there was a gleam of resolve in her eyes that he knew he was not going to be able to break. "I won't accept anything less than all of you,"

At that, he couldn't help but kiss her again, because he knew she meant it, and because it delayed those words that he so owed her. Her hands curled in his scarf, his shirt as she kissed him back, and it felt so right, so, so right. It was hard to deny that she couldn't possibly feel the same way, that the fear he felt at the thought of losing her, that drove him to protecting her without conscious thought, was exactly the same fear she felt at losing him, was why she had refused to leave him, was the reason behind her anger and fear and tears.

"Tell me," Maria begged, when their breath ran out and they were forced to break apart. Tears were still slipping from her eyes, and he couldn't help but wipe them away.

"Because I love you," Robin leaned his forehead against hers, wrapping his arms around her, "I love you, I love you, I love you…"

The words were a promise, and relief swept through him in finally saying them, overdue as they were. And really, he supposed her ordering him to say them made sense, was probably the only way he ever could have, and somewhere, one of his friends had probably won a wager on it.

The thought made him smile, and the answering smile Maria gave him was radiant. As she wrapped her own arms around his neck, their foreheads pressed together, he realised anything and everything was worth that. Maybe even himself. He loved her, would never stop and maybe that was enough, could make him enough-

"Of course you are, you clueless oaf,"

For god's sake, how did she do that? Her eyes had been closed. His own opened to find her glaring at him again.

"Well better a clueless oaf than a stubborn and impetuous-" He started defensively.

"Shut up Robin," She huffed, tugging his scarf to lower his head and evidently intending to make him.

For now, Robin supposed he could blame his failing resolve on his concussion. And he had a feeling Maria was going to make convincing him of his self-worth into her mission. So with a grin, he let her.


God, this is so ridiculously late, but believe it or not, it was supposed to be a submission for Moonacre week back in June! A couple of weeks before this, amongst all my work burnout and stress (I've been covering a colleague's role while she's on maternity and it is much more challenging), I got a really strong itch to try and work up the few hundred words of notes I had under the name of Concussion that had spilt out of my brain earlier in the year, as it was based in a cave so would be a good fit for Day 5! And oh my god, the first half just flowed and I was just writing and it made me feel so good that I could still do it, that I've still got new ideas rather than just been stuck on all my WIPs! And it was so much fun, especially as I'm always surprised when I write from Robin's POV!

But of course, as is my theme, when I reached the the second half it kind of stalled, because while I had a clear idea for the cave element, after that, all I had was a vague notion of how it was to go and a Tarzan and Jane gif (which you may have recognised lol). And then started heading down a more serious and angsty route rather than the breezy, light-hearted tone I meant it to have?? But hey ho, its four months later, and I've been trying to get the balance right for too long, and revisiting after a month's break due to life being busy, I discovered the 'Read aloud' function, and listening to it rather than reading it seemed to help! Also this is AMAZING for picking up typos, and I will definitely be using again!

Anyway, moral of the rambling A/N is I'm not sure if this can really be counted as a contribution to this year's Moonacre week, but this was absolutely gave me the motivation and refresh needed which made me complete this, so thank you so much to penandpaws/ Incorrect-quotes-of-Moonacre for providing me the much needed inspiration and fun I had writing this!!