Well, the epilogue, all fluffy and cute lol A small part of this is in a oneshot that I have published here as well, a memory. No more of this chattering, here comes the promised fluff.

Epilogue: One ring to bind them

Marian woke late, surprised that she had slept at all. Her body ached from the fight and tension yesterday, but her father was still unwell and how do you sleep through that? She remembered when her mother fell ill and faded away, how Edward never left his wife's side. Marian had seen it all through cracks in the doors. Now she was older, it was her turn to never leave her father's side as he faded from her. She forced herself to rise from the warm embrace of wool and linen sheets, and made herself ready. They would have let her know, no doubt, if the night had brought on some sort of change in her father's condition. He had seemed a bit better yesterday, but he was still so tired and weary.

She went trough the silent house, but slowed her pace as she came closed in on Edward's room. There were voices, low and friendly, coming from within her father's quarters. She listened for a while, and then gently pushed the door open.

"Robin!"

The surprise must have been painted in her face because the outlaw looked rather amused. He stood with his hands on his hips by Edward's bed, smiling at her. It looked as if he had put some effort into grooming himself before coming here, his clothes clean and the brown hair shining and smooth. The white linen shirt looked crisp to his tanned skin and clung to his body as he moved. Her thoughts made Marian blush so she moved her attention to her father instead. She gave out a surprised gasp as she saw Sir Edward sitting up in the bed.

"Father! Your fever has broken!"

He looked considerably better, still pale but there was a sparkle in his eyes. She went up to him and put her cold hand on his forehead to really make sure this wasn't a wonderful dream. Surely she couldn't be sitting by her father's side this early Sunday morning to find him well when she'd been so sure he was fading from her. And surely her love couldn't be standing by her side with a beaming smile when she'd gotten so used to him bent down by trouble.

"Robin wishes to talk to you Marian" Edward said and took his daughter's hand in his.

"He does?"

"Then you don't mind Edward?" Robin asked.

"No, no, take her. I need rest and she needs some fresh air"

Then he turned to Marian and added:

"You better get ready. Robin can fetch your horse"

"Fetch my horse? Are we going somewhere? Robin, where are we going?"

"Not far. Get ready"

He put a hand on her back and leaned over to give her a kiss on her cheek, looking eager and teasing. She tried to not seem too excited, this all felt like some sort of conspiracy and it tasted just a little bit of the old days. Things happened over her head, getting ready to strike down on her like predatory birds. She really didn't like surprises but it was true that some were better than others. She smiled at the two men and went into her room, calling on the maid as she did so. What on earth was Robin up to now?

---

Marian started to realise where they were heading after about twenty minutes on the horseback, and it made her halt the grey steed.

"Robin I don't go there" she said.

He turned in his saddle and glanced back at her.

"You used to go there all the time"

"But that was before"

"And now it's after and we are going there again. I stole that place from you and now I'm giving it back"

She felt her heart bounce, making it impossible not to smile, and decided to give in to his wish. As they came down towards forest glade she was surprised to find that it seemed like yesterday she'd been there. Everything was so familiar, the golden grass under the big oak, the grey water surface of the creek and the trees that seemed to embrace the glade and protect it from all harm. This had been their place, they used to come there all the time as young lovers, to talk and play and kiss. Then he'd brought her there once to tell her that he was leaving her and she never went back there again. The memory was still so vivid to Marian, and now it came back again, haunting her.

"Marian, I am so sorry"

She had screamed and shouted and now this was all there was. He pleaded her for forgiveness, used his puppy eyes to get her where he wanted. She would not give in; this was the time to stand her ground. Love was not enough, she thought, he didn't love her enough. It was almost impossible to grasp. The ring on her finger felt like a mockery, it taunted her. Fool! A fool she had been to trust in his words, and vain to think that it her love was all that he needed. She twisted and pulled the ring to get it off; the gold was warm from her body heat and burned her skin now that her heart was frozen. When it finally came off she held it in her hand for a while, watched it laugh at her. She looked at the boy before her, the one she had expected to spend her life with, to love and be loved. He was still beautiful, still made her foolish heart leap and spin in joy. She clenched her hand around the ring so hard that her knuckles went white. Then she threw it on him, watched it hit him in the forehead and bounce down into the green spring-grass. He looked hurt, as if it was she that had shattered his life into pieces.

"This was our place" she said, watching the serenity of the glade where she had been so happy "Now you have stolen it from me. I hate you"

The big oak tree where he had carved their names in Latin - such a show-off he was! – pointed its ancient branches at her as she walked away. This was it. This was the end of the world as she knew it, and now she turned her back on it all.

When Marian lifted her head, escaping from the memory that played on repeat in her mind, she saw that Robin was watching her. Not a boy anymore, a man with a concerned compassionate look in his eyes. His emotions on the surface, she thought, carrying them like a cloak rather than keeping everything on the inside. Grown up.

"Marian, I am sorry" he said, forming an odd echo to her reminiscence.

When he stood like that, asking her for forgiveness five years later on the same place, it was like being thrown back in time. But her feelings were different now. She didn't feel resentful towards him, simply a bit indulgent towards the young Robin and Marian. The way they had acted, the mistakes they had made. She walked out into the glade, watching the grass beneath her feet.

"Do you think it is still here?" she said, and looked over to him with a faint smile "Or did you pick it up?"

He remained silent, smiling at her, and then he came up to take her hand and lead her into the shadow under the oak tree.

"I am sorry" he continued, holding her hand ever so lightly in his and caressing it "About leaving, about being away from you still. About not being here for you when your father was ill, for making your life into such a mess and always disappearing into the forest"

"It is the way things are" Marian said, her voice thick with emotion. She wondered if he could feel her heart pound, how her body trembled at his touch.

"And maybe things will never be different. If the king doesn't come back…"

"… He will come back. He must"

She stepped closer to him in an effort to reassure him, give him comfort.

"But he might not Marian" Robin said and grabbed her shoulders "And if he doesn't then both our lives will be… It won't be what we dreamed of"

He took her face in his hands, tilting her head up to his and watched her. Her beauty threw him off what he was trying to say, it overwhelmed him to be this close to her. To feel her breathe, the heat of her body, to sense that she lived still. He wanted to kiss her and touch her, but right now talking was more important. And everything she said was wonderful, and interesting, and intelligent. He could be happy just listening to her voice; she was his bold, clever, compassionate lady. He tried to gather his thoughts again, rip them away from her lips and smooth skin. He felt himself shiver with anticipation and fear for her reaction to what he was going to say.

"This will never be easy" he continued "It will hurt. It will cost us, it will cost you so much. I can't ask you to be mine, yet you must be mine. Marian, you must! I don't know what to do without you"

"Robin…"

"Shush, let me speak. It is your prerogative to decline and say no. I have nothing to offer you but my life and my love… and this…"

He bent down to pick something up from his pouch. Marian watched him, his beautiful features oddly worried and happy at the same time. He looked so young, so much like a wonderful boy in a man's body. She couldn't help her smile and then she saw what he was holding in his hand. It made her twitch and gasp with surprise.

Robin knew that Marian didn't like surprises. But there are some that are better than others. And she liked this surprise, he could tell. The heavy gold ring in his hand still had their names written over the surface.

"This ring" Robin said "has been to the holy land. It has travelled across the world and yet it has come back to you. Please don't throw it back into the ground again"

It was the same ring. It didn't mock Marian anymore, it didn't taunt her. Instead it was filled with the love and promises that it has been intended to carry.

"You took it with you?!"

"I did. Marian, I brought you with me"

She just watched the ring in his hand, amazed and lost for words when faced with this simple expression of a love she thought she lost so long ago. She shook her head.

"Please don't shake your head. I know you can't carry it out in the open, but will you take it? Will you take… me… this outlaw. This fool. Will you love him? Because he does love you so very, very much. More than I can ever tell you Marian"

She took the ring. It felt heavy and cold in her palm, just an object but yet so much more. It was a promise and a commitment. She felt so dizzy, the world was spinning around her. Marian's body was not her body, her mind was not her mind.

She stepped into Robin's arms and gave him a deep, almost violent kiss that took him with surprise and nearly threw him off his feet. It was the kind of passionate kiss that fairy tales never talk about, filled with raw lust and roaring love. They pushed each other around in a wild dance, fighting to get the upper hand. Then Robin pressed her back to the oak tree, calming down the kiss into something softer, panting for air and touching her trembling body. His chest heaved as Marian gently put her hand to it, feeling the pounding heart beneath the surface. Her heart, she thought, this throbbing heart belonged to her.

Robin calmed down, leaning his forehead to hers and smiling in between the fast shivering breaths.

"Marian" he said, his voice was deep and thick "What ever have you done this five years to learn how to kiss like that?!"

She couldn't help giggling. She would have liked to scream and shout with joy, in this moment there were no troubles left in the world. Her smile made her irresistible, Robin thought, and braided his fingers into her hair. It looked rather messy but he liked that. He leaned down and gave her another deep kiss.

Marian withdrew a bit from his embrace. Then she pushed the ring over her finger, surprised to find that it still fit as if it had never left her hand. They stood still for a while and watched it, trying to fully grasp what it meant that it was there once again.

"As to your question, that means yes" Marian said, looking somewhat shy and blushing.

Robin's face broke into a beaming smile, the relief made him laugh. Had it really been this tense last time? Had she really been this wonderful and amazing and held his entire life in her warm hands? He hugged her tight, lifting her up a bit from the ground as he did so. This was their place once again.

They walked back to Knighton Hall, leading the horses and trying to make this moment last as long as possible. As they strolled side by side they glanced at each other, recording every change that time had done to them since they were last this close. Marian had always loved the way his hair curled up in his neck in tender locks, making him look somewhat frail and vulnerable. Robin thought he had never seen anyone with brighter eyes, and the way her back curved made him feel dizzy and excited. Both knew that he had to return to his men and she had to be by her father's side. This would not be easy this time around, they would break and hurt and long for each other. Maybe things would never be resolved, and then the price of their love would prove to be high. But they had made their choice.

"This is it" Marian said as they reached her home.

"So it seems"

"You will be back soon?"

"Whenever I can" he reassured her, and gave her a final tender kiss.

This was all turning out to be so very complicated, Marian thought as the lush green leaves of Sherwood Forest closed behind her betrothed.

… But she could live with that.

Awww the story is finished! There is a follow up to it, but I might M-rate that one due to references to sex (though no actual deflowering going on) and violence.

Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and feel free to put in a final comment .

Love/ Trix