Home is Where the Heart Is by Rosa17.

Missing scene: S2 E8.

Setting: Takes place after the episode ended.

Disclaimer. I do not own these characters.

The gang walked back to the camp and Much settled about making some supper, he looked to Marian for possibly some culinary aid but she had disappeared.

"Where's Marian?" he asked looking at Robin. "I thought she was with you."

Robin looked around and replied, "She was."

"But she is not now," added Djaq as the gang searched the camp visually.

"I thought you made up?" Much went on.

"We did!" Robin exclaimed in his own defence.

"She can't have gone far," added Will rationally.

"Maybe she's you know…." Said Much shifting his head in the direction of the latrine.

"She is not there." Little John told him.

"Oh well it was just a thought."

"I have a thought for you," Robin told him. "Start cooking the supper or we all will go hungry tonight."

Much gave Robin a put out look and replied "What are you doing?"

"Going to find her."

"Perhaps she wants to be alone" put in Djaq.

"She's been alone most of the day, in fact in hindsight I think leaving her here alone might not have been one of my better choices, seeing how the day panned out."

"I thought it panned out well in the end, she did after all save your life," mused Will.

"You going to look for her?" asked John ready to seek her out once more.

"Surely she hasn't gone far I mean last time I saw her she was smiling…" Much went on.

Robin looked thoughtful then declared in response to John. "Yes."

It wasn't hard to track her, when he had her in his sights he followed her all the way to Knighton. It was like a ghost town now with the ruined burnt out manor house standing like a lightening blackened tree, dead amongst the living. The villagers who remained did not take any notice of either of them as they crossed the grass. Robin waited a moment after she had stepped over what had been the threshold before joining her in the shell of what had been her home.

Marian was standing in the middle of the hall turning slowly round, examining the odd charcoaled timber or two in great detail and so caught up she did not know he stood there until she had made a complete circle.

Gasping and laying her hand over her throat she said, "You scared me, what are you doing here?" then smiled gently at him.

"I wondered where you were going."

"Please do not tell me I needed your permission to leave the camp?" she replied, her smile fading.

"No," he said shaking his head. "You can come and go as you please. I was worried about you."

"Oh," she whispered back. "And you can see I am alright."

"Are you?" he asked just as softly.

"Yes," she said her voice wavering a little, but she held onto it with dignity and his heart expanded for her all the more. With a sigh she continued, "I wanted to be close to him, one last time and I thought here was as good a place as any."

"Can you feel him here?" he asked moving closer and a beam of fading light fell across what had been a room, bathing them both in an ethereal glow.

"No," she said sadly, "but I can feel him here." She continued placing her hand on her heart.

Robin laid a hand upon her shoulder and searched her face, "I know," he began. "That your Father would want you to remember him well and although this house is burnt, reduced to ashes the true home is where your heart lays."

She smiled sorrowfully reaching to him for support and laid her head on his shoulder; he smiled at the contact and felt her snuggle into him.

When she spoke it was almost inaudible but she said. "My heart lies with you. When I am with you I am home."

Robin kissed the top of her head gently. In time she moved and looked at him, two tears running down her cheeks and he wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs with tenderness and compassion. He bent his head and kissed her with a delicate affection that melted and moulded them together in love.

The End.