A/N: Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews! I wish I had time to reply to all of you personally and I will once school ends in a few weeks!

Just another FYI for some questions that people asked: Yes all the original outlaws will still be in this story (Will, Djaq, John, Allan, Much) and as for Marian being the nightwatchman…well that'll be explained in the story, lol.

Chapter 4

Marian knew she had skills to deal with lots of situations that life dealt out. She knew that the world threw trials and hardships at you when you least expected them. And she knew that with Robin at her side, both of them would be able to make it through anything.

But she also knew that, at the moment, Robin was going through much more than she was…and she did not know how to help him.

Squeezing his hand once more, another reminder that she was there, she reached up and knocked on the door in front of them. Robin's lips were pressed into a thin line, his brow furrowed and his eyes lost and distant. He had not said a word since they had left the house but before they left he had assured her that he would say what needed to be said.

The door flew open, the hopeful, youthful face of Will Scarlett flashing before them before his eyes and head dropped at the sight of them. He flushed and backed up, keeping his head slightly bowed and motioning them to enter if they wished.

"Will," Marian tried to smile in greeting, but it probably came out more like a grimace.

She did not move to enter, but waited for Robin. At the sight of Will, Robin sighed deeply and also tried to smile, but he did not do much better than she had.

"Will." Robin's voice was firmer than she thought it would be, but she was glad that he seemed to have pulled himself together. Will and Robin had known each other for years, Robin only being a few years older. While they had never been particularly close, she knew Robin counted him as a friend, which only made the visit harder.

"Is there something wrong, sir?" Will said after a moment of silence when neither of them moved to come into the house.

"Yes," Robin said quickly. "I have told you before to call me, Robin." The lighthearted joke, so like Robin, made all of them smile a little bit more, but did not chase the darkness away completely.

"Sorry, Robin," Will finally raised his head completely, the banter reminding him that Robin was not just his Lord, he was a good friend of his family's. "Are you here to see my father?"

"Is your mother at home?" Marian asked.

Will shook his head, "She went into town to get some supplies."

"And where is your father, Will?" The playfulness had left Robin's voice and when Marian looked over at him, Robin's eyes almost looked accusing at Will, but Marian knew that the only person Robin blamed was himself.

Will's eyes went wide at the words. "What did they do to him?"

"Did they not tell you the punishment before he took your place?" Robin's words stayed strong and Marian squeezed his hand again.

"He said…he said that the Lord of the Lands had to decree the punishment," Will's voice shook and Marian could not tell if he was angry or scared. Probably both. "I though…we thought-"

"You thought that I could have saved him from punishment." Now Robin's voice held full accusation and Marian reached up with her other hand, laying it on Robin's arm.

"Robin-"

"No!" Robin's angry eyes flashed at her for a moment before they turned back to a shacked Will. Immediately his face softened and he sighed, stepping away from Marian and towards Will in the doorway. "I could not change the sentence, Will."

Eyes flashing from shock to hurt anger, Will glared at Robin, "I thought he was your friend…"

"I am sorry…" Marian's heart ached for the guilt Robin felt. "The sentence will be carried out tomorrow morning in Nottingham. He is being kept there overnight and-"

"You did nothing for him?" Will accused, interrupting Robin's attempt at apologizing.

Marian stayed back from the two men, knowing Robin needed to do this alone.

"I could not-"

"You could not or you would not? Does the Sheriff now rule you as well?"

The anger finally flashed again in Robin and he stepped forward again, grabbing Will firmly by the arm.

"Prince John rules all of us," Robin hissed. "The Sherriff is his knight and we are his pawns!" He shook Will slightly, his anger getting the better of him. "You think this a game? You think this a game that I have any control over?"

"You could. I know you, Robin," Will firmly replied, "I know you could do something if you really wanted to."

"You know nothing!" Robin accused. "Do you know how many nights I have not slept during the past two weeks because I have wanted nothing more than to do something but knew that I could not?"

"But you can, Robin!" Will shot back. "You have more power than any of us! You have a title and lands and money!"

Robin shoved Will away. "That kind of power does me no good in this game, Will!"

Marian saw that there were tears sparkling in Will's eyes now, but his voice was still firm. He stared hard at Robin, their eyes locked together.

"If you will not do anything…who will?"

----

Robin sat alone in the darkness, the flicker from the dying fire in front of him did little to light up the walls of his childhood home. His eyes were locked on the flames as they grew smaller by the hour, encasing him further in the blackness. The nighttime noises whispered in from the open windows, occasionally brining in a gust of cold air to cool down the steaming summer heat of the house.

The servants had gone to bed, unsure of how to help their master. Marian had regretfully gone up to their bedroom alone a few hours ago, her eyes full of worry and love for him. Robin had encouraged her to go. The last thing he needed was to be worrying more about her in her current condition. She had protested leaving, but in the end, her exhaustion had won.

Now that the world was quiet, Robin's head was full of noise. Less than a month of living under the new Sheriff's rule, and the pain and suffering of the people shouted into his mind. His impatience bubbled to the surface, especially as Will's words earlier that day seemed to pound all the other noise out.

"If you will not do anything…who will?"

His wealth was dwindling by the day, taken by taxes that he would not force his people to pay, and taken by charity that he wished he could give more of. His lands were growing sparse, the people growing hungrier and less able to work as they used to. His title had become more of a burden than a blessing. There was almost nothing left for him to lose…

Almost.

He saw Marian's smile, heard her laughter, felt her arms around him…

And he knew he would not give that up for the world.

Only earlier that day he had promised Edward that he would protect her, promised that he would not take action yet…but the words of Will Scarlett burned in him and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he needed to do something. Now.

But what could he possibly do that would not effect Marian? How could he change what needed to be changed without putting her life in danger? Not to mention the lives of the people in his village, their wives and children as well.

He had scenarios in his mind, hundreds of them. His aim was true and the Sheriff could be dead in moments, Gisborne along with him. Of course this solved nothing; Prince John would just send a new Sheriff. But he had other plans…other ideas. Visions of redistributing the Sheriff's wealth, of freeing prisoners, of going to the Holy Land himself to bring King Richard home…

But no, that would not work. Any prolonged absence of him would just endanger his people and his family. He had to somehow stay here and do something. He had to take action without affecting the few precious things that he still claimed in this world.

"If you will not do anything…who will?"

He would.

----

Saddling his horse without waking the servants was tricky, but Robin was determined to not alert anyone. Quickly and quietly he gathered the supplies he would need, not even risking a lit lantern to help his progress. The stables were on the other side of the house from the servant's quarters, but his and Marian's room was close and she would wake at even the slighted noise.

Finally done, Robin stepped over to mount his horse when a rustling behind him froze him in his tracks. He stayed still, thinking he might have imagined the sound. But the hairs on the back of his neck tingled and he felt the presence of someone else in the barn with him.

Without thinking, Robin whirled around just as another footstep sounded behind him. He reached out to grab the intruder who seemed to have been trying to sneak up behind him.

"Robin!?"

"Marian!?"

Shocked, they stared at each other in silence, both of them wearing confused looks.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Marian finally said, her voice appalled but still in a whisper. "I came down to check on you but of course you were missing-"

"You should go back to bed," Robin said brusquely, brushing her off and turning back around to mount his horse.

Marian's hand snatched out and grabbed his arm before he could do so. "Are you doing what I think you are doing?"

"Well it all depends on what you think I am doing!" Robin hissed back, turning around to face her again.

"Robin, I love you, but so help me, if you are running off-"

"What!?" Robin nearly shouted at her but remembered at the last minute to keep his voice down. "Running off?"

"You are a fool if you think leaving is going to help!"

"Then it's very good I'm not a fool, is it not?"

Marian huffed. "Well what are you doing out here then?"

He stared at her for a long moment, wondering whether or not to include her in his plans. But of course he could not. Normally he would have, but the baby…

"Go back to bed, Marian," he brushed her off again and quickly mounted before she could stop him. But she was still quick and rushed so that she was in front of his horse and he sighed in annoyance at her stubbornness.

They could hardly see each other in the darkness.

"Locksley, if you think I am going to just be the good, dutiful, little wife and wait patiently for you to come home…"

Robin sighed, knowing that she was not going to give up on this. If he did manage to leave, she would probably just hitch up another horse and follow him. He dismounted, pushing his horse away so that he could walk straight up to her and look at her carefully.

"I have to do something, Marian." His voice was barely a whisper now, just loud enough for her to hear.

"You are, Robin, you are…" She reached up, cupping his face gently. "I know that today was hard, but you did all that you could-"

"No," he whispered firmly, "Will was right, I could have done much, much more…"

"Robin you are one man-"

"One man who has responsibilities, Marian! Responsibilities to my people, to my country…" he looked at her mournfully, "to you…"

She seemed to have calmed from her anger and was looking at him curiously, but she did not reply.

"I…I have to help Dan. Please, Marian. I must try what I can…or…or I would not be able to live with myself in the morning."

"You want to help him?" she frowned. "How?"

Robin hesitated. "Well that is the problem. I cannot help him publicly without repercussions from the Sheriff…"

"So you are going in the cover of night?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What will you do? Break him out of prison?"

Robin nodded, determined. "If I must."

"Without being seen?"

Robin reached back, lifting up the hood of his cloak so that it shadowed most of his face, especially in the darkness of the night.

"By yourself?"

Her words were tinged with worry, but he just nodded, pushing his hood off his head. "It's easier if I go in alone. You know I can be quite sneaky if I want to."

She smiled a bit. "With all the times you managed to sneak into my bedroom without my father seeing, I believe you. But Robin…" the smile left and she looked at him seriously, "you are not leaving me here to worry about you."

He scoffed. "No, Marian, you are not coming."

"I am pregnant, not injured, Robin," she glared at him. "You know my father taught me how to fight. I can help you-"

"By getting yourself into trouble?" Robin asked.

"You are used to working alone, I know, but you will need more help," Marian was almost pleading now and Robin stopped short, a realization coming across his face.

"You are not mad that I was planning this?"

"Of course I am mad," Marian said with a small smile. "I am furious and I would argue with you for the rest of the night about why this is not a good idea…"

"But?"

She sighed. "But I cannot sit quietly any longer. It is hard enough to be worried about the baby, but these are my people as well, Robin." She looked him straight in the eyes. "As long as we are not seen, I want to help."

Robin reached forward, hugging her gently for a moment. Pulling back, he kissed her softly.

"I knew I married the right woman," he told her, smiling.

"You will let me come with you?"

"On one condition," he stepped back a bit, looking at her seriously. "You have to listen to me."

She rolled her eyes. "A year of marriage and I still do not listen to you, Robin. Why would I start now?"

"Because it's not just you I'm looking out for…"

Marian's hands went unconsciously to her belly and her smile dropped a bit.

"We don't know why we lost the babies before," Robin said gently, his hands resting on Marian's arms, "but if things get too stressful and I tell you to go back, remember that I'm not just thinking of you."

His argument thankfully seemed to convince her and Marian nodded. "Very well. But…"

It was Robin's turn to roll his eyes but Marian ignored him.

"But…if I am to listen to you. You must do one thing for me."

"I already am doing one thing for you," Robin reminded her, "I'm letting you come!"

Marian smirked. "Fine, one more thing, so I don't have to worry about you possibly going in there alone…"

Robin sighed deeply realizing already what she was going to say. "Alright…"

----

It was one of the few times that Robin regretted the squeak in the door of the servant's quarters. Try as he may, no matter how slow he opened it, the noise still sounded.

Thankfully, he shortened the squeak which only caused a few of the men to turn in their sleep and then all was silent. He looked toward the farthest bed, squinting in the low light at the figure who hadn't stirred at all.

Much was a heavy sleeper and commented several times how much he enjoyed his sleep, second only to his food. Robin knew waking him without waking Thornton or one of the other servants was going to be tricky, but it could be done.

He reached into his pocket, grabbing one of the stones he had collected and, with a quickly glance at the other beds, threw a stone at Much.

It hit the bed post, making a louder sound than Robin expected and he held his breath, waiting for someone to wake.

No one moved. Not even Much.

Sighing in frustration, Robin took another stone and, aiming carefully, tossed it again.

This time the aim was true and it bounced off of Much's face. Much snorted in his sleep, mumbling something and swatting at his face without opening his eyes.

Quickly, Robin drew out another stone and tossed it in the same exact way.

This time when the stone hit Much's face he jerked awake, disoriented in the darkness and mumbling about flying rocks.

"Pst!! Pst!! Much!" Robin hissed at him.

Much whirled around and his eyes went wide at the sight of Robin. Before he could open his mouth, Robin put a finger to his lips, signaling him not to talk. Then Robin gestured with his hand for Much to follow him.

Robin could tell that Much was still rather disoriented, but after a moment of blinking blankly, he shuffled out of bed, grabbing a few things from the chest at the foot of his bed and stumbling out the door with Robin.

As Robin gently shut the door behind him and started to lead Much away, Much's mouth predictably started to run.

"What is going on, Master? Not another early council. Please say we are not going to Nottingham again…"

"Relax, Much, there are still several hours till sunrise…and we are going to Nottingham," Robin chuckled, leading them out the front door where Marian was waiting with three horses saddled. Much stopped short at the sight of her and looked at Robin quizzically. Robin permitted himself a knowing grin.

"But we are not going for a council."

-----

A/N: Yay! Things are finally starting to happen, lol!! I don't know how happy I am with this chapter. I was pretty hard trying to write Robin's jump from "patiently waiting" to "lets-do-something-right-NOW", but I hope it was at least semi-believable. Also, I am having Marian go with him because I really believe that she would chase after Robin if she knew he went without her, lol.