Intercomm - Ficlet - Insomnia
Title: Insomnia
Author: dollysgirl04
Word Count: 542
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Marian, vague mentions of Robin,
Spoilers/Warnings: Set pre-series
Summary: Marian cures her restlessness and the Nightwatchman is born.
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
The warmth of her bed is stifling, too hot and too comfortable. The softness of her sheets nothing more than another reminder that he’s gone, that while the soothing material of her pillow against her cheek slowly wiles her away to sleep sand swept winds scratch against his and her eyes snap open once more.
The night stretches on for her in silent darkness until she rises with the sleepless dawn that creeps through her window.
She doesn’t count the nights he’s been gone, she lets them merge together in her memory, starry nights greying around the edges in the
long dim hours before morning, the darkening circles under her eyes the only thing that reminds her of the passing time.
Another night spent gazing at the roof of her too finely furnished room, another night of wakefulness in her moonlit bed, the window with it’s shutters thrown wide open carrying in the briefest breath of the fresh cool night air that remains her only solace.
Mary’s baby is sick, she remembers with a stray thought of something other than him for once. Mary, the village girl she often passes on her wayward rambling walks, Mary with her kind smile and her bonny baby boy who had only just taken has first steps before the illness.
She doesn’t have any medicine, not any that would help the babe, but she’s sure a decent meal for them both would help. She tried to offer some the day before but Gisborne had shown up and Mary had made a hasty retreat.
It had been a shame, she thought to herself; she would have enjoyed Mary’s company much more.
The night breeze carries with it the coldness of rain and she can hear the telltale pitter patter on the ground below. The cool air hit her and she feels the fog in her mind clearing for one brilliant moment as an idea strikes her.
She flings off her blankets and sits bolt upright before scrabbling off her unwelcoming bed. Claiming the knife hidden below her pillow she snatches the green dress she had worn the day before and cuts a shard long enough to hide the lower part of her face.
Changing quickly she picks up a hooded cloak on her way towards her window and the tempting evening air that lures her towards the dark horizon before changing her mind and sneaking quietly to the kitchens below.
She grabs as much food as she thinks she can get away with and then heads out the front door into the stormy dark night beyond her doorstep.
When she returns hours later she creeps empty handed through her bedroom window, her heart beating furiously and a wild joyous laughter threatening to bubble up through her chest.
She’s soaked to the bone and her fingers feel numbingly cold as she attempts the buttons to rid herself of her wet clothes and find herself some much more dry ones.
She realises as her sodden hair hits the pillows that she hasn’t thought of him once since she left her room, she realises that she’s okay with that as she falls into a contented sleep and wakes the next morning long past dawn with a smile on her lips.