Intercomm Short Fic: Tell Me Where It Hurts
Title: Tell Me Where It Hurts
Author: wastingyourgum
Words: 1955
Rating: PG
Characters: Little John, Allan, Will, Much, Robin, Djaq
Mentions: Guy, Vaizey, Alice, Little Little John, Luke Cooper
Genre: Friendship
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: 1x11
Disclaimer: BBC & TA own anything you find familiar.
Notes: For Intercomm. Beta'd by robinfanatic .
Set immediately after 1x11 and based on the quote from that episode given below. Really? It never came up?
Djaq: "I did not know John had a family!"
Much: "Neither did he 'til recently."
Summary: Djaq talks to John after a very hard couple of days...
Tell Me Where It Hurts
by wastingyourgum
During dinner there had been an excited discussion of how best to go about distributing the tax money they hadn't thrown back into the Great Hall. The talk afterwards had then turned to imagining Gisborne's reaction when he found Vaizey strapped into his own 'Chair of Delights' - a mental picture that brought a smile even to John's face, particularly at some of Allan's more lewd suggestions that had made Much turn scarlet to his ears.
As the fire started to dwindle and the conversation began to lag first Will, then Allan got up and made their way to their beds. Robin followed shortly afterwards and his head had barely hit the ground before Much was yawning loudly and muttering that he "really should turn in too". As Much passed John he hesitated, then patted him awkwardly on the shoulder and said "Good to have you back, John." It was as much as any of them had said to him about the previous day's events. The whole topic of his night in the cells with his now departed family had been something no-one had wanted to be the first to bring up.
Djaq noticed the small, quick flash of pain across John's face. While most of the gang - and particularly John - were still largely mysteries to her, she had come to know him well enough to realise that words alone would not garner that reaction. She waited for Much to join Robin under their canopy on the far side of the small clearing that was their current home. When she was sure he had settled she got up and sat back down right beside John.
He drew away slightly and looked at her suspiciously as she smiled disarmingly up at him. "What?"
She leaned forward and looked past him across to the shelter where Will and Allan were sleeping. A worried frown appeared on her face and he turned to follow her gaze. Djaq immediately sat back and slapped the same spot on his shoulder that Much had only patted. John tensed and hissed in a sharp breath through his teeth in obvious pain.
"I knew it!" Djaq whispered, triumphantly. "Take that coat off and let me see."
"It's nothing." John scowled at her but then his eyes dropped to the fire, unwilling to meet hers in a blatant lie.
Djaq softened her approach somewhat. "Please, John. Just let me take a look."
John hesitated but then started to shrug off his coat. Once he'd done that Djaq helped him off with his jerkin. She frowned at the spots showing through his shirt and when they came to lift it off she could hear the dried blood sticking it to his skin crackling as the material moved. John himself didn't make a sound.
Djaq sucked her teeth and shook her head as she looked at the myriad cuts and bruises across John's body. "Why are you men so stubborn to admit when you are hurt?" she scolded. "I'll need to know exactly what happened so I know what injuries to look for," she told him, sternly.
"Well..." John sighed heavily. "There was the fight with the guards on the road to start with..."
"How many guards?"
"Eight..." he said, in the manner of a child owning up to something he didn't want to.
"Eight?!" Djaq said loudly. Much stirred in his sleep and she hastily dropped her voice again. "John, what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking. and yes, it was long odds but I surprised them - might have won if my staff hadn't broken."
"Really?"
"...No," he sighed again and she smiled, knowing he would never have admitted that to one of the men.
"They hit me across the back and in the stomach and then one of them kicked me in the head and knocked me out."
"Where?"
"Here." He gestured to the bruising on his cheek and she carefully inspected both it and his eye.
"Then what happened?"
"Then when we got to Nottingham, Will and Allan ran into us and I got a bit of a whipping for helping them escape. Had my coat on though, so it wasn't too bad."
Djaq nodded. That explained most of the bruising across his upper back. It must have been agony for him carrying the cooper across his shoulders. She checked that and some grazes around his neck, then moved onto his torso. "Keep going," she prompted.
"Um, then they chained me up to the tree in the courtyard for a bit and then the Sheriff came out and told them to stick me in the dungeons and 'soften me up'."
Djaq looked at the foot-shaped bruises across his stomach and sides. "They beat you," she stated.
"They were trying to stick me in a pillory - which I wasn't keen on."
"A... pillory?" Djaq was not familiar with that word.
"Yes. It's--" He winced as her probing fingers found a tender spot on his ribs. "It's a big wooden board, split in two. They lock it round your hands and neck so you can't move 'em. Once they'd done that, they gave me a few more kicks for good measure, dragged me downstairs and chucked me in one of the cells."
Djaq took one of his large hands in hers and turned it back and forth as she looked at his wrist. It was chafed in the same way as his neck.
"Bloody awful things," John said. "I even had to ask my... I had to ask someone to scratch my nose for me."
"Your son," Djaq said softly, recognising another tender spot.
John nodded, sadly.
Djaq patted him gently on the shoulder. "Nothing is broken but I'll wash all these cuts and put some ointment on them to help them heal. Wait here."
He sat patiently until she returned and started gently washing his back with a clean rag. "You never told me you had a wife and a child," she said quietly, trying not to sound petulant.
John turned to meet her eyes and Djaq saw a small, roguish smile appear on his lips. "Didn't want to break your heart." His smile quickly became sheepish and he looked away again.
She paused, momentarily shocked, then burst out laughing as she realised he was teasing her. Fully half of what Allan said to her could be considered flirting and she was even growing used to the odd comment from Robin but that was the first time John had said anything to her implicitly acknowledging her gender.
"No, really - why did you not say?" she asked. She tried to keep her voice as light as possible but she genuinely wanted to know.
John frowned. "Don't like to talk about them."
"Were they why you never went to Locksley with us?"
"Yes..." John paused and she realised she'd used past tense without really meaning to, as if they were dead now. "Although I suppose there's no need for that any more."
Djaq put down the bowl and started applying the ointment she had fetched. "Much said you did not know about your family until recently..."
"Just after Robin got here. Well, really just after Will got here - he's the one who told me about my boy. Alice moved to Locksley shortly after Robin left for the Holy Land. Will knew her because she sewed things for him and his family after his mother died."
"You did not know you had a son?"
"He must have been born shortly after I... shortly after I left. I had no idea Alice was pregnant. To be honest we'd been trying for so long I was starting to think it wasn't ever going to happen."
John stared into the fire but Djaq could tell he was looking at something much further away... or a long time ago.
"I suppose for me it still hasn't," he said, quietly.
Djaq thought for a moment and the thing that had been bothering her suddenly clicked into place. "How old is your son?"
"He must be nearly ten now."
"Ten... and you left before he was born?"
"Yes."
"You have been living in the woods for ten years?" she said, incredulously.
John nodded. "I never really thought about how long it's been. It was just season after season of trying not to starve or freeze."
Djaq looked around at the trees surrounding them. "I cannot imagine living here for that length of time."
"I'm sure it won't come to that. The King will come back, Robin will get his land and title back and he'll see you're set right."
"And you, what will you do?"
"I'll... move somewhere else and try not to starve or freeze." John shrugged his shoulders. "Makes no difference to me who's Sheriff or Lord of Locksley - I'm outlawed regardless."
Djaq was stunned. She had assumed John was like Will, Allan and Much - looking forward to when Robin was restored to his title and could pardon them all. "So why do you do this? Why fight with Robin if you have nothing to gain by it?"
"Because now I know I do have a son and he knows me, I'll be damned if he's ashamed of me," John said, vehemently.
"Any boy would be proud to call you 'Father', John." She looked around at the sleeping figures scattered around the glade. "And a few who are older than boys as well..."
John turned to look at her and smiled. "Thank you."
"So do you have any more secrets you are keeping from me?"
"No." He shook his head and then frowned. "Well, apart from being King Richard's bastard older brother..."
"What?!"
He grinned at her and she slapped his shoulder in annoyance. "Ooh! You... you... man! You are a bigger liar than Allan a'Dale!"
Allan's head popped up from his blankets about fifteen feet away. "Wassat? Some'dy say someth'n 'bout me?"
John and Djaq both laughed softly. "We said your snoring could wake the dead, Allan - go back to sleep," Djaq teased him.
Allan rolled over and did just that.
"Can I ask you something now?" John said.
Djaq hesitated before replying, "I suppose that is only fair."
"Why did you help me when I fell down the mine? You could easily have run off with your friends and left me."
Djaq was surprised - she'd expected a question about her family. "Firstly, they were not my friends... but mostly... because my father was a good man and I'll be damned if he's ashamed of me," Djaq said, returning John's words to him.
John nodded and replied in kind. "Any man would be proud to call you 'daughter', Djaq... or 'son' for that matter!" he added.
She smiled. "You will be telling me next what a good husband I will make for some lucky girl!"
"Better than any of this lot!" John snorted, gesturing round the camp. "Well, except Much maybe - he'd make a good wife."
"That is unfair, John. They all have many fine qualities."
"Even Allan?" he scoffed.
"Even Allan..." The subject of her statement chose that moment to snore loudly as he rolled over again. "Though I cannot think what they might be at this moment..." she sighed.
She handed John his shirt. "There. Let me know if you get any headaches over the next few days - but I think you will be fine, John."
"Thank you."
"And Much was right - it is good to have you back." She patted him on the arm and turned to head for her own bed.
John sat quietly for a moment before he smiled sadly as he looked around the clearing. "It's good to be back..."
Author: wastingyourgum
Words: 1955
Rating: PG
Characters: Little John, Allan, Will, Much, Robin, Djaq
Mentions: Guy, Vaizey, Alice, Little Little John, Luke Cooper
Genre: Friendship
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: 1x11
Disclaimer: BBC & TA own anything you find familiar.
Notes: For Intercomm. Beta'd by robinfanatic .
Set immediately after 1x11 and based on the quote from that episode given below. Really? It never came up?
Djaq: "I did not know John had a family!"
Much: "Neither did he 'til recently."
Summary: Djaq talks to John after a very hard couple of days...
Tell Me Where It Hurts
by wastingyourgum
During dinner there had been an excited discussion of how best to go about distributing the tax money they hadn't thrown back into the Great Hall. The talk afterwards had then turned to imagining Gisborne's reaction when he found Vaizey strapped into his own 'Chair of Delights' - a mental picture that brought a smile even to John's face, particularly at some of Allan's more lewd suggestions that had made Much turn scarlet to his ears.
As the fire started to dwindle and the conversation began to lag first Will, then Allan got up and made their way to their beds. Robin followed shortly afterwards and his head had barely hit the ground before Much was yawning loudly and muttering that he "really should turn in too". As Much passed John he hesitated, then patted him awkwardly on the shoulder and said "Good to have you back, John." It was as much as any of them had said to him about the previous day's events. The whole topic of his night in the cells with his now departed family had been something no-one had wanted to be the first to bring up.
Djaq noticed the small, quick flash of pain across John's face. While most of the gang - and particularly John - were still largely mysteries to her, she had come to know him well enough to realise that words alone would not garner that reaction. She waited for Much to join Robin under their canopy on the far side of the small clearing that was their current home. When she was sure he had settled she got up and sat back down right beside John.
He drew away slightly and looked at her suspiciously as she smiled disarmingly up at him. "What?"
She leaned forward and looked past him across to the shelter where Will and Allan were sleeping. A worried frown appeared on her face and he turned to follow her gaze. Djaq immediately sat back and slapped the same spot on his shoulder that Much had only patted. John tensed and hissed in a sharp breath through his teeth in obvious pain.
"I knew it!" Djaq whispered, triumphantly. "Take that coat off and let me see."
"It's nothing." John scowled at her but then his eyes dropped to the fire, unwilling to meet hers in a blatant lie.
Djaq softened her approach somewhat. "Please, John. Just let me take a look."
John hesitated but then started to shrug off his coat. Once he'd done that Djaq helped him off with his jerkin. She frowned at the spots showing through his shirt and when they came to lift it off she could hear the dried blood sticking it to his skin crackling as the material moved. John himself didn't make a sound.
Djaq sucked her teeth and shook her head as she looked at the myriad cuts and bruises across John's body. "Why are you men so stubborn to admit when you are hurt?" she scolded. "I'll need to know exactly what happened so I know what injuries to look for," she told him, sternly.
"Well..." John sighed heavily. "There was the fight with the guards on the road to start with..."
"How many guards?"
"Eight..." he said, in the manner of a child owning up to something he didn't want to.
"Eight?!" Djaq said loudly. Much stirred in his sleep and she hastily dropped her voice again. "John, what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking. and yes, it was long odds but I surprised them - might have won if my staff hadn't broken."
"Really?"
"...No," he sighed again and she smiled, knowing he would never have admitted that to one of the men.
"They hit me across the back and in the stomach and then one of them kicked me in the head and knocked me out."
"Where?"
"Here." He gestured to the bruising on his cheek and she carefully inspected both it and his eye.
"Then what happened?"
"Then when we got to Nottingham, Will and Allan ran into us and I got a bit of a whipping for helping them escape. Had my coat on though, so it wasn't too bad."
Djaq nodded. That explained most of the bruising across his upper back. It must have been agony for him carrying the cooper across his shoulders. She checked that and some grazes around his neck, then moved onto his torso. "Keep going," she prompted.
"Um, then they chained me up to the tree in the courtyard for a bit and then the Sheriff came out and told them to stick me in the dungeons and 'soften me up'."
Djaq looked at the foot-shaped bruises across his stomach and sides. "They beat you," she stated.
"They were trying to stick me in a pillory - which I wasn't keen on."
"A... pillory?" Djaq was not familiar with that word.
"Yes. It's--" He winced as her probing fingers found a tender spot on his ribs. "It's a big wooden board, split in two. They lock it round your hands and neck so you can't move 'em. Once they'd done that, they gave me a few more kicks for good measure, dragged me downstairs and chucked me in one of the cells."
Djaq took one of his large hands in hers and turned it back and forth as she looked at his wrist. It was chafed in the same way as his neck.
"Bloody awful things," John said. "I even had to ask my... I had to ask someone to scratch my nose for me."
"Your son," Djaq said softly, recognising another tender spot.
John nodded, sadly.
Djaq patted him gently on the shoulder. "Nothing is broken but I'll wash all these cuts and put some ointment on them to help them heal. Wait here."
He sat patiently until she returned and started gently washing his back with a clean rag. "You never told me you had a wife and a child," she said quietly, trying not to sound petulant.
John turned to meet her eyes and Djaq saw a small, roguish smile appear on his lips. "Didn't want to break your heart." His smile quickly became sheepish and he looked away again.
She paused, momentarily shocked, then burst out laughing as she realised he was teasing her. Fully half of what Allan said to her could be considered flirting and she was even growing used to the odd comment from Robin but that was the first time John had said anything to her implicitly acknowledging her gender.
"No, really - why did you not say?" she asked. She tried to keep her voice as light as possible but she genuinely wanted to know.
John frowned. "Don't like to talk about them."
"Were they why you never went to Locksley with us?"
"Yes..." John paused and she realised she'd used past tense without really meaning to, as if they were dead now. "Although I suppose there's no need for that any more."
Djaq put down the bowl and started applying the ointment she had fetched. "Much said you did not know about your family until recently..."
"Just after Robin got here. Well, really just after Will got here - he's the one who told me about my boy. Alice moved to Locksley shortly after Robin left for the Holy Land. Will knew her because she sewed things for him and his family after his mother died."
"You did not know you had a son?"
"He must have been born shortly after I... shortly after I left. I had no idea Alice was pregnant. To be honest we'd been trying for so long I was starting to think it wasn't ever going to happen."
John stared into the fire but Djaq could tell he was looking at something much further away... or a long time ago.
"I suppose for me it still hasn't," he said, quietly.
Djaq thought for a moment and the thing that had been bothering her suddenly clicked into place. "How old is your son?"
"He must be nearly ten now."
"Ten... and you left before he was born?"
"Yes."
"You have been living in the woods for ten years?" she said, incredulously.
John nodded. "I never really thought about how long it's been. It was just season after season of trying not to starve or freeze."
Djaq looked around at the trees surrounding them. "I cannot imagine living here for that length of time."
"I'm sure it won't come to that. The King will come back, Robin will get his land and title back and he'll see you're set right."
"And you, what will you do?"
"I'll... move somewhere else and try not to starve or freeze." John shrugged his shoulders. "Makes no difference to me who's Sheriff or Lord of Locksley - I'm outlawed regardless."
Djaq was stunned. She had assumed John was like Will, Allan and Much - looking forward to when Robin was restored to his title and could pardon them all. "So why do you do this? Why fight with Robin if you have nothing to gain by it?"
"Because now I know I do have a son and he knows me, I'll be damned if he's ashamed of me," John said, vehemently.
"Any boy would be proud to call you 'Father', John." She looked around at the sleeping figures scattered around the glade. "And a few who are older than boys as well..."
John turned to look at her and smiled. "Thank you."
"So do you have any more secrets you are keeping from me?"
"No." He shook his head and then frowned. "Well, apart from being King Richard's bastard older brother..."
"What?!"
He grinned at her and she slapped his shoulder in annoyance. "Ooh! You... you... man! You are a bigger liar than Allan a'Dale!"
Allan's head popped up from his blankets about fifteen feet away. "Wassat? Some'dy say someth'n 'bout me?"
John and Djaq both laughed softly. "We said your snoring could wake the dead, Allan - go back to sleep," Djaq teased him.
Allan rolled over and did just that.
"Can I ask you something now?" John said.
Djaq hesitated before replying, "I suppose that is only fair."
"Why did you help me when I fell down the mine? You could easily have run off with your friends and left me."
Djaq was surprised - she'd expected a question about her family. "Firstly, they were not my friends... but mostly... because my father was a good man and I'll be damned if he's ashamed of me," Djaq said, returning John's words to him.
John nodded and replied in kind. "Any man would be proud to call you 'daughter', Djaq... or 'son' for that matter!" he added.
She smiled. "You will be telling me next what a good husband I will make for some lucky girl!"
"Better than any of this lot!" John snorted, gesturing round the camp. "Well, except Much maybe - he'd make a good wife."
"That is unfair, John. They all have many fine qualities."
"Even Allan?" he scoffed.
"Even Allan..." The subject of her statement chose that moment to snore loudly as he rolled over again. "Though I cannot think what they might be at this moment..." she sighed.
She handed John his shirt. "There. Let me know if you get any headaches over the next few days - but I think you will be fine, John."
"Thank you."
"And Much was right - it is good to have you back." She patted him on the arm and turned to head for her own bed.
John sat quietly for a moment before he smiled sadly as he looked around the clearing. "It's good to be back..."