Denial, Chapter 56: Revelations
Title: Denial, Chapter 56: Revelations
Author: darkentwisted
Characters/Pairings: Will/Djaq, John, Robin, Legrand, O.C. Mentions: Much/Carter, Gisborne, Marian, Allan, Vaizey
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Het
Words: 1,887
Disclaimer: BBC & TA own; we just want to play in their universe
Notes: Takes place between 2x12 and 2x13. Beta'ed by robinfanatic and wastingyourgum
Summary of previous chapters and rules if you want to join in...
Summary: Secrets are revealed but will those secrets come between friends and lovers.
Djaq let the salt air waft across her face as she waited for her lover. John's shirt felt and smelled better and she hoped he would appreciate her efforts at laundering. She hugged herself against the breeze and waved at John, Legrand and Brooks. She laughed at the gentle giant's eye roll as she pirouetted in his former garment.
Will walked up to meet her embrace. "You shouldn't torture him like that." He snuggled into her as they looked at the three men. "John's shirt smells better. You really should give it back to him."
Djaq smiled an impish grin. "Oh, I can do that now!" She started to pull the garment over her head revealing an enticing strip of tan flesh.
Will blushed his surname as he shielded his giggling wife. "Not now!" He caught the eyes of the yeoman as Brook's brow shot up in amusement. Will pulled down his wife's borrowed shirt and changed the subject. "Is he coming with us to the Holy land?"
"You like Charles?" Djaq smiled, "I do too." She shook her head. "I asked him. He said 'No. Too much time in the sand.'"
"But Much and Carter..."
"Have each other and he knows that." Djaq studied the three men. "Allan would have liked..."
"Don't say his name in my presence, Djaq. Please?" Will's tone changed instantly.
"I am sorry but he was my...our friend once. I cannot talk about him like he doesn't exist."
"He doesn't exist to me anymore." Will turned to walk away as his wife grabbed his arm. He looked down at her hand then back into her eyes. "Why did he leave us, Djaq? Why did he go to Guy and Vaizey? Why did he...have to hurt me?"
"I don't think it was purely his choice, Will."
He studied her face. "As Robin says, everything is a choice..."
"Allan thought he had no choice." Djaq sighed. "He made a mistake and no one forgave him. Then he stayed because he felt he had to protect Marian." She spoke without realizing. "Vaizey found out Marian was the Nightwatchman." Before the words were out, the Saracen girl regretted saying them aloud.
"Why didn't you tell me this, Djaq?" Robin's disappointed voice sounded behind her.
"Robin?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" he spat, shaking the girl.
"I...I didn't know how to tell you!" Djaq's brown eyes widened in surprise as she looked into his angry green ones. "I didn't think it changed anything."
Robin grabbed the young girl's arms. "That is where you are wrong! This changes everything!"
"Get your hands off my wife. Now, Locksley."
The carving knife at his throat was hardly a surprise, the voice behind it was. Only one time had he heard Will Scarlett so angry. His father had just been murdered and the young carpenter was willing to bring the wrath of the prince of England down upon them all to avenge Dan's death. It was the same still, calm and lethal voice he used now.
"Let her go."
John was at Will's arm in a second. "Put down the knife--now!"
Will locked eyes with the outlaw leader's, then relented.
Robin released the saracen and looked at her sadly. "Djaq..."
"It's alright, Robin. I will explain."
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In the cabin, Djaq hugged her knees as she spoke making her look more a little girl in John's shirt than the warrior and healer that she was. "Allan came to me..."
"It's always about Allan!" Robin's jaw tensed as he lunged toward the healer. Legrand moved to get up and act as the small woman's protector again, but John blocked him cautiously.
"You never told me," Will's brow furrowed.
"And what would you have done? Chased him down, killed him for betraying the gang?"
"We are not like that Djaq! I would have given him a chance to explain himself. Then I would have killed him." Robin paced as he talked.
"That is what he was afraid of," Djaq reasoned. "He came to me hoping that I would tell you about Marian." She suddenly went as defiant as a caged animal. "I decided it best not to."
"Why? Why would you do that, Djaq?" John's disappointed tone stung worst of all to her. She had always compared him to her beloved Bassam but her jaw locked. She would not be intimidated by the giant.
"Because you are men. You stumble in blindly. You never question. You just assume the obvious." She raised her head assuredly. "Robin, if you did know, what would you have done?"
"I would have gone after her; convinced her to leave; taken her by force if I had to."
"And played right into Gisborne's and the sheriff's hands," Djaq lamented. "I couldn't allow it. Marian wouldn't have allowed it either. We both did what we had to do."
"So you covered for Allan...again," Will almost whispered. He shook his head and walked out the door. Djaq's moist eyes followed him.
"This is all on you," Robin said. "Whatever happens to Marian, you could have prevented it."
"Robin, I..."
"That's enough, Djaq." The outlaw leader almost looked through her as he started to leave. "I just hope for your sake and mine, there are no more secrets you are hiding from me."
The last two men in the room looked at the small girl, not angrily, but almost pityingly. Legrand excused himself at John's nod. His large frame temporarily blocked the light coming in from the open doorway as he exited.
"I will talk to Robin, Djaq," John sighed. He sounded years older and tired as he spoke.
"I did not mean to betray the gang, John." Djaq was almost on the verge of tears.
"You didn't betray the gang." John placed his hand on her shoulder. "But you did underestimate us and that hurts almost as bad as any betrayal." He smiled like a father to a child. "I guess we all have done that to each other at some time." He nodded to the door. "Go after your husband and talk to him now. I'll deal with Robin."
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"Will?"
"How could you?" He thrust her away as she approached him. "After everything that traitor did to the gang - to us - you talked to him and kept his secrets."
"Whatever he did he is still our friend..."
"No! Allan A Dale is dead to me! He's a liar and a traitor and..."
"I understand your anger but he saved Marian."
"So he told you and you believed his lies!" Will turned away from her and spoke so softly as to almost not be heard. "You don't know the monster he has become."
"Allan made a bad decision, Will, but--"
Will's voice took on a darker more ominous tone though it had not risen in volume. The hurt behind his words made Djaq shudder. "You don't know what he did to me when they captured us."
"You and Andrew the Fool."
Will nodded, fine beads of sweat covered his forehead. "Allan was drunk. They had me chained...in a cell...like an animal. He tried to say he was sorry afterward but what man does that to his friend?"
Djaq's expression changed from sadness to terror. "No! Not Allan. He wouldn't..."
"In that instant he took everything from me, Djaq." Will turned and she saw the wetness on her husband's cheeks. "How can I be a father to my child after what he did?"
"Oh, Will. Why after all these months did you not..."
"Because you still loved him! You still thought he was worth saving." Will turned away again. "There is nothing left there to save, Djaq. The Allan A Dale we knew is dead, replaced by some monster Gisborne has created."
Djaq grabbed her lover and held him. "You should have told me about this. Your secrets are my secrets now." She smiled. "And you are wrong. You are going to be a wonderful father. You are a wonderful man."
Will shook his head. "I'm not a man anymore...not now."
Djaq smiled coyly. "Nothing has changed Will Scarlett. You are every bit the man I fell in love with." She murmured as she kissed away his troubles, "Let me prove it to you."
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The waves lapped at the side of the ship. Robin bit his thumb as he watched each lazy trough. He had been watching the ocean for so long he lost track of the passage of time. The setting sun told him it was late in the day but he wasn't tired, just weary from the long journey that was proving more fruitless by the hour.
He stared at the water. It would be so easy just to step over. No one would miss him till he was gone. Perhaps he would be united with Marian under the waves and they would be at peace.
He swept the thought out of his mind a thousand times but in quiet moments the dark images took over. Marian would beg for her life as Vaizey or Gisborne pushed her over, her milky skin mixing with the seafoam; her fear-struck brilliant blue eyes calm as the last breath left her. He wiped the tears that image brought forth on a tattered sleeve. "If not in life my love..."
"You don't want to do that." A strong hand grabbed a fist full of the back of his jerkin. "Now is not a good day to die."
"When is it a good day to die, John?" Robin sighed as he rested against his friend. "I lost them all; Roy, Much, Allan, Marian. I tried to do the right thing but I..."
"You did what you could."
"It wasn't enough. It's never enough. Marian...I couldn't keep her and now she is..."
"Waiting for you...for us... to rescue her," John muttered. "She's not dead, Robin."
"How do you know that?" The archer's face turned to the giant with the upturned brows of a sad child.
"Cos you would know it here." John put his hand on Robin's chest. "And we wouldn't be traveling halfway across the bloody world to save her if you thought anything else."
Robin smiled for the first time all day as his friend cuffed his head. "Thanks, John."
"Well, now that I know you won't be taking your Saturday bath early, we have to talk about Djaq."
Robin squirmed uncomfortably, still looking out at the ocean. "I was too hard on her."
"You had your reasons."
"And she had hers." Robin faced John again questioningly, "Is it true what she said John, do we just stumble in blindly?"
"Sometimes we do." John screwed up his face and cast an impatient look at his friend. "Lord knows, I try to stop you." He couldn't help laughing at the incredulous stare he got in return. "They are two headstrong women you boys have, Marian and Djaq, like my Alice. I have no idea what you will do with her once you get her back."
Robin looked away again. "Djaq meant well. I just hope Will can forgive her as I have."
"I don't think that will be a problem," John muttered looking in the direction of the setting sun.
The carpenter and his wife walked by quietly, arm in arm, their figures silhouetted against the evening light.
Things get darker this way.