Six weeks. It has been, six weeks since Robin of Locksley joined the merry men in Sherwood Forest and by god did, he hate it. Will watched him prance around being Lord of the Manor without a care in the world, aggravating the Sherrif at any chance that he got. He knew this was going to end badly. However, at that moment he pushed the predicament from his mind to focus on something more positive, Will was getting ready to head back to one of the villages, for he had someone special waiting for him there. Will had thought that his life had been ruined up until a year and a half ago when he attended a festival with John Little, who had gone to see his wife, and he had met someone beautiful.
It has been three years since Will had become an outlaw, living in forest with other men in the same position as himself. And a year and a half ago he met his angel. Her name was Katherine, but he called her Kat, and he remembered their first meeting enthusiastically. He had been wandering around the festival by himself since he had left John so that he could have some 'private time' with his wife. He was drinking from a cup of mead as he walked and in the same second, he tipped his head back to empty the cup as he walked, he walked straight into someone with the force of the impact causing them both lose balance and fall to the floor.
"I am so sorry, Sir,"
Will was struck by the soft sounding of the voice; it was musical to his ears. Looking up, he found that he had landed on his back with a beautiful woman on top of him. Her dark hair falling around his face, her cheeks-tinged pink, and her soft brown eyes set into a heart shaped face. Will was spellbound the minute he saw her, so much so that he did not reply to her immediately.
"My apologies, I did not realise that you were a mute." She told him as she got herself off of him and back onto her feet, shaking the skirt of her deep blue dress out as she did.
Her words suddenly registered with Will, and he forced his mouth to speak. "N-n-no I'm not." He told her as he jumped to his feet, mentally cursing himself for his stutter. He wasn't some young teenage boy!
"Oh..." She looked at him and her cheeks remained almost as scarlet as his name. "I'd best go." She told him and she turned to walk away, only stopping to look to him. "Again, I am really sorry, Sir."
"Wait, what's your name?" Will shouted to her.
"Katherine." She shouted back before she was gone, hitching her skirts up to run back to the festival.
When she was gone, Will smiled to himself. Katherine. Her name was Katherine. He spent the rest of the festival looking for her and he was eventually joined by John.
"Where did you get to?" John asked him, when he found him sat on a cart bed, and he handed him a mug of ale as he drank from his own.
"Just around," Will told him as he searched the crowd, taking a drink from his cup.
"Who are yer looking for?" John asked him.
"Nobo-"He started before he stopped as he saw Katherine again. She was still wearing the same dress from when she had landed on him, but she was smiling. Her cheeks were still pink but this time from exhaustion and laughter as her eyes shone as she danced with a group of other young women. Will couldn't help the smile that graced his lips, she was beautiful.
John looked from him to Katherine and then back and he figured out what was happening here. The young lad was in love.
"Go and talk to her matey."
"What?" Will asked suddenly astounded.
"Go and talk to her or at least ask her to dance." John encouraged.
Will looked at him like he was mad then he looked back at the young woman who had caught his attention. As the current music changed, Will had made up his mind. He finished his drink quickly, before he grabbed the mug from John's hands and he drank that one in one breathe, using it for courage, before he jumped off the cart and walked towards the group of women. As he walked, he grabbed a flower from a table next to him, and he only stopped when he reached her, and he held the flower out to her.
"My lady, may I have the honour of this dance?" He asked with his best smile.
Katherine looked to him as the other women in her group giggled as they watched, and she blushed as she saw the flower that he had grabbed, and she smiled slightly he had unknowingly picked her favourite – lavender.
"You may Sir," She told him as she accepted the flower in one hand and offered him her other hand, and he pulled her into a dance.
As they danced, Will realised that he wasn't very good at it, but Katherine made up with that, she will be smiling and laughing, and he found that he was enjoying himself.
"I never got your name." She told him over the music.
"Maybe I don't want to give it to you," He suggested with a teasing smile.
"Surely, you would like to play fair Sir." She smiled a soft pout on her lips as she looked to him with soft eyes.
"Will, Will Scarlet." Will told her with a soft smile.
His name brought another smile from her lips, and he pulled her into another dance. And that was how their first meeting ended, with Will pulling Katherine into many more dances.
After that, they met up any chance that they could. Will would regularly spend many evenings or mornings in the village with her. He learnt that she was the miller's daughter and an only child living at her father's mill with her mother and father, and a pretty fine archer. She had learnt that he did not know what his father was like, his mother died when he was nine and he had become an outlaw at seventeen for killing the Sherriff's man that had a hand in his mother's death. When her parents found out that he was essentially an orphan, her parents welcomed him into their lives, and he found himself enjoying it. He had started to call her Kat, a small pet name that she soon fell in love with. Plenty of times he came to her father's mill and plenty of times he stayed talking to her and watching her work in the mill. One day, Will was sat in the forest with John, they weren't doing anything of importance so Will was just breaking apart a branch with his knife.
"Come on matey, you need to talk to her." John encouraged "You're sat here like a lovesick pup." He told him as he watched Will pick another branch apart half assed with his knife.
"What do I say to her John?" Will asked him.
He had always been able to confide in John about anything, since he joined the men in the forest, John was the father/older brother figure Will had always wanted, and at times, desperately needed, in his life.
"You tell her the truth." John encouraged. He looked to Will as one of his sons and he was happy to give him some advice when he needed it. "Just be honest, I'm sure the lass feels the same way about yer."
The more Will thought about it, he realised that the more time he spent with her, the more he fell in love with her.
Will had watched as John got up and walked away to check on his brewing mead and this left Will to think. It didn't take long for him to make his decision and once he had, he left the safety of the forest as the sun was starting to set. Riding a horse out to the mill, he reached it in record time, and once he had tied his horse up, he knocked heavily on the door. However, it wasn't Katherine who answered, it was her mother. Katherine's mother, Alice, was a beauty, and it was easy to see where Katherine got, her looks from.
"Is Kat home?" He asked.
"She is, I'll fetch her for you," Her mother smiled. "Katherine, Will is here!"
Will smiled as he heard the sound of Katherine's feet along the floor, and he smiled as she appeared in the doorway tying a ribbon into her hair.
"Will, I wasn't expecting you today." Kat smiled.
"Take a walk with me Kat?" He asked her with a soft smile.
Katherine looked to her mother who moved aside, and she handed her daughter a shawl, putting it around her shoulders as she ventured outside. They walked together along the river that ran alongside the mill, watching the sunset.
"Two visits in two days, what did I do to deserve such an honour Will Scarlett?" Katherine asked him.
Will looked to her. "Do I need a reason to come and see you?" He asked.
"You usually do." Katherine told him with a smile as she leant down to pick up a flower from the riverbank.
Will smiled softly as they spent some time walking in silence, he watched her smell the flower that she had picked up as they walked and as the sun was about to fully set, he looked to her again.
"Kat, I have something that I want to tell you." Will spoke as he looked to her.
"What is it, Will?" She asked, stopping their walk to look at him.
"Kat…I…" Will couldn't seem to find the right words, he had wanted to do this romantically but at the crucial moment, his words failed him. This had never happened to Will before usually he could talk himself out of anything, so this time, he chose to keep it basic. "Kat, I love you."
"Will…" Katherine had not been prepared for him to say such a thing, but in her heart, she knew what her response would be. "I love you."
With that, Will couldn't control himself, his hand rested on her cheek as his lips sought hers, meeting them in a deep and passionate kiss. Kat didn't waste any time, sliding a hand into his hair as she kissed him back. Will had broken that kiss to stop himself from taking it too far, but since then his life had gotten infinitely better – until Robin of Locksley showed up.
Will took every chance he could to see her, normally using the times where Robin led the other Merry Men to rob rich people to then give the money back to the poor. Will used his reasoning of not trusting Locksley to explain why he never went with them. Everyone bought it, except for John, he knew the unspoken reason why Will never went with them. One such day, John heard Robin dividing the riches that he had stolen from their latest raid, and he heard him talk about going to the Mill to give the Millers family some gold. Everyone was crowded around the firepit, Will had kept himself off to the side, back against a tree, arms crossed but his hand close to his knife. He lived with these men for three years, and some he trusted, but he still didn't like the idea of being unprepared or attacked from behind.
"Why don't you take it Will?" John asked him.
Will looked up at him, he had blanked out thinking about Katherine. "What?"
"Why don't ye take the miller's share to 'im?" John asked him. Will hadn't left the camp for nearly two weeks due to no raids being completed and not being able to escape with jobs that needed doing around camp, so he knew he was eager to see Katherine.
"Yeah sure, I'll take it." Will told them and he walked over so that Robin could pass him a small bag of coins and he put it in his own pocket.
That evening, Will and John both walked towards the village, John was going to give a share to his wife and see her and the children.
"Will, we need ter talk." John told him.
"There's nothing to talk about." Will told him as they walked.
"Well, there is lad," John continued. "You know you're going to have to deal with Rob being in the forest with us better than this."
Will didn't even respond to him other than to give him the side eye look. "I don't fancy dealing with the selfish bastard yet."
John sighed. "Will, I know you've got something keeping you back, but don't let it ruin everything you've worked towards, Robin is the only way that we will be free men, and that you will be able to get back to Katherine without sneaking around."
Will thought about it for a minute, before they came to a break on the road, John going one way towards his wife and children and Will going the other towards the mill.
"Just have a think about it, yer?" John asked him, before he patted his shoulder, and he walked off towards the village.
Will remained stood there for a few moments longer, before he shrugged to himself and continued walking down the path. He soon came to the mill, and he found Katherine outside of the mill tending to the horses that her father owned. He stopped for a few minutes to observe her, and he smiled to himself.
"Kat," he called her name.
At hearing him, Katherine looked around and once her eyes fell on him, her face broke into a large smile.
"Will!" She called to him, and she put down her bucket of oats and grain, and she hitched up her skirt running towards her.
When she reached him, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. Thankfully Will had quick reflexes and he caught her easily, holding her tight to him. By god did he miss her when he was away at the camp. Some days he wished he could just stay there all the time with her, sleep next to her at night, eat meals with her, heck he would even work in her father's mill if he let him. But him staying here would cause the small family a whole world of trouble and it would probably even get them killed. That was a thought he could not bear as he buried his face into Katherine's hair, breathing in her flowery scent. When he eventually put her down, he slid his hands up to hold her face and he kissed her lovingly, before they walked towards the mill.
"What do we owe the pleasure Will Scarlett?" He looked away from his and Katherine's entwined hands to see her mother stood at the door.
"Locksley did another raid, he sent me with some coin for yourselves." Will, reached into his pocket and handed her the small satchel.
"Thank you Will," She smiled taking the bag inside. "Katherine don't forget to finish your chores."
Katherine smiled. "I won't" She told her, before she walked back to the horses, and she picked up the buckets emptying them into the trough for the horses.
Will watched her with a soft fondness in her eyes. That day they spent it sitting in the sun, talking. Katherine was able to use this time wisely and she was able to find out more about Will, she respected his privacy so with some things she didn't push too hard. However, she found out that he was originally born in Nottingham, but he left with his mother not long after his birth, but they came back here when he was four years old. He also confided in her that his mother was not the best mother, but he still avenged her after she died because she was the only true family that he had. Katherine let him talk his way through his life, upon his mother's death he was an orphaned beggar, quickly falling to starvation and sickness, from there he learnt how to survive the hard way until John and Fanny found him. Katherine admired Will for everything that he had been through, and if it wasn't for John and Fanny he probably would have starved. They spent the rest of the day together until the night drew in and Will stood at her door, leaning against the doorframe of the mill house.
"I don't want to leave you," He told her. "I feel at peace when I'm here."
Katherine smiled softly. "Don't say that or my mother will demand that you stay the night, and then maybe forever."
Will smiled. "I would take her up on it if I could, but your safety is paramount to me."
Katherine smiled softly. "You know I can look after myself, don't you?"
Will looked to her with a raised eyebrow. "Can you now?"
"You know I can, and the next time you get to come here, I will prove it." Katherine told him with a flirtatious smile.
Will laughed softly. "I'll look forward to it." He told her with a soft smile.
"You should go, the moon will rise soon." Katherine told him.
He looked up to the darkening sky and then back to her. "Wait for me?"
"Always." She told him with a smile, before she stood up on her tip toes and pressed a soft and sweet kiss to his lips. "Be safe" She whispered against his lips.
Will nodded to her and he kissed her once more before he was gone, disappearing into the darkness.
The next time he saw Katherine, he had hoped it would have been under better circumstances. He had just found the villagers had turned up in Sherwood after Gisbourne had destroyed the village looking for Robin Hood. He came to her door, in agony, an arrow had been put through his hand., and he had done a makeshift bandage before he came to see her. Thankfully she was home alone, so she was able to take him down to the river and help him with his wound. She dunked his hand straight into the freezing cold river, allowing the water to swirl around and inside the wound. Will could not help the noise of pain that escaped his lips, and it caused Katherine to look up at him apologetically.
"What did you do to cause this?" Katherine asked him as she checked it to make sure that there was nothing left in the wound.
"I went to embed a dagger into Locksley's back." Will sighed, he was ashamed of his actions, for the fighting and for the running away.
Katherine looked to him. "You don't have to tell me what happened, that was enough, but Will, you have nothing to be ashamed of."
He didn't need to ask her how she knew that was what he was feeling, she knew him well enough by now. "I tried to attack a man from behind Kat, and then I ran like a coward."
"You're not a coward," Katherine told him. "Will, attacking a man from the back, the front or the side makes no difference." She reminded him. "And running away, you didn't run away in fear, you ran away to get your wound seen to, that takes courage and brains."
Will smiled slightly as he gave a groan of pain that he tried to hide when she started to wrap his hand, and Katherine looked to him with a look that told him not to hide things from her. Will did not return to Sherwood that night, in fact Katherine's parents found him and Katherine asleep in her bed together. They were both fully clothed, and Will had Katherine wrapped in a blanket and his arms. It filled their hearts to see their daughter so well taken care of, and at seeing how peaceful they both looked, they left them to sleep.