an allan/marian fic for treatallanright
Title: "Late Night's Visit"
Genre: Romance/General
Rating: T just to be safe
Summary: Set at the end of episode 1.04 "Parent Hood"; Allan decides to pay a visit to Marian to check if she's alright after the events of the day.
Disclaimer: Written for the 2009 War at treatallanright // English is not my first language so I apologize for eventual errors.
After bidding her father goodnight, it’s with a relieved sigh that a mentally exhausted Marian finds herself alone in the safety of her room; the calmness eventually embracing her after the tumultuous and unexpected events of the long day now finally behind her. She remains for a moment with her back against the wooden surface of the back of the door, her eyes closed as she deeply inhales the evening’s air.
It’s almost refreshing to lay still, the soft breeze of that early spring night lightly touching the room that appears exactly like she had left it that morning. And oh if she wishes she could say the same about herself… about the once long brown curls that now are cruelly cut short.
Another sigh, suppressed during the whole day by her constant tough façade, escapes her rose colored lips whilst she eventually walks on, her hands almost automatically reaching on the top of her drawers for the candle she’ll need to lit on in no more than half an hour judging from the feeble light filtering from the window.
Right… the window. In the flip of a second it’s almost as if she catches a quick movement outside her window, causing the young lady to turn her head towards the opposite side of the room… only to shake her head in self reproach when she realizes it must have probably been just a product of her imagination; her mind surely worn out by that long and heavy day. Therefore it’s with a new found resolution that she turns her back at the window, determined on not allowing her own perceptions to let her making a fool out of herself. She slowly dismisses the red foulard she was wearing around her neck and is about to open the white buttons of her white riding dress when something else catches her attention.
This time, due to her position, she sees the movement only with the corner of her eye, but the well known sound caused by the panels getting pushed from outside is unmistakable. Someone was entering her room.
She bits on her bottom lip to fight back an instinctive smile. She would never admit it to herself, but she had hoped Robin would come to visit her after the way they had previously parted that afternoon. Perhaps he had chosen to change his direction in her favor for once, perhaps he had found out what had really happened to her hair, perhaps he just wanted-
There’s no more time left to her mind to wander on the endless possibilities though, and in a firm movement she turns on herself, ready to greet him with a playful scolding as usual.
Only she’s destined to stop in mid-action, her mouth hanging open as she notices a slightly different color in the figure’s hood. A color she knows, but she surely isn’t expecting to see. Not there. Not now.
"...Allan?!"
She questions in a whisper, the surprise clearly etched in her voice.
The outlaw swiftly swings a leg over the wooden surface, reminder of past times when he had entered some other girls’ rooms in the same way; an almost self-mocking smile on his face at the recollection as he silently considers how much things has changed since then. How much different his life is now, as member or Robin Hood’s gang. How many hearts he has probably broken along the way everytime he had then left those same rooms the following morning without much of an explanation and to never come back.
This time, though, it’s him the one who has to put up a careless façade as with a final jump his feet touch the wooden panels of the pavement, and he notices her probably unconscious smile to drop as she realizes the late visitor is not Robin this time. And he has to tell himself that it’s alright, that he doesn’t care, that he knew all along what her reaction would have been.
"Allan...!" She repeats blinking in confusion, "Is that you?"
"Good evening my lady." He replies with one of his best cheeky grins, even attempting some sort of bow in a sudden inspiration.
Marian observes him with indecisive narrowed eyes, not sure whether to laugh at his goofiness or to knock some sense into the outlaw… quite literally. Eventually she opts for a much safer -for him- clearing of her throat as she takes a step forward, a sudden thought darting into her head through the initial shock.
"Is... is everyone alright? Is Robin-?"
She evidently can’t bring herself to finish the dreaded question, and as result Allan feels much like an idiot at bursting in her room without much of notice, his thoughtless behavior always having the best of him.
"Yes, yes...!" He quickly assures her with a sharp nod, "Everyone’s okay, no need to worry."
"Oh, alright." She can’t hide a sigh of relief at the precious information, though that too soon gets transformed in confusion.
She lightly shakes her head at the growing ache in her temples, observing the unexpected outlaw standing before her eyes. His worn out boots, his pants with a patch on the left knee, his calloused hands (not that she has ever hold them… but she can only imagine they feel just like Robin’s) resting at his sides, the instinctive and almost imperceptible upright curve of his lips that always inspire her an inexplicable good-humour, the deepness of his blue eyes, his ever scruffy hair.
And she suddenly feels a blush creeping over her cheeks, feeling even too self-conscious at having someone in her room... someone different from either her father or Robin. So it’s with an awkward movement that she folds her hands on her chest, feeling somehow more vulnerable even under the tick layers of clothes she’s still wearing.
He can’t help but notice and has to look away before the color of his cheeks change as well, feeling suddenly more conscious of the generous and perfect curves of her body, almost as if looking at her now in a different setting it’s like seeing a different Marian from the one he has come across in the woods several times.
"Allan... what are you doing here?" She eventually brings herself to ask, perplexity clear in both her voice and features.
"I came to check if you were alright." He simply replies with a shrug, his eyes meeting with hers for the first time since the start of that odd encounter. "Robin sent me to check on you." He blatantly lies, noticing the perfect O shape of her surprised mouth.
"But why... I mean, how-"
Allan doesn’t need to hear the last part of her question to know what she’s about to ask him; hence he’s quick into obliging, this time with the truth, for once. Or half of it, anyway.
"Will went to Nottingham after the baby left. He heard of your... how shall we call it? Exhibition? Always knew you and Robin sometimes would have gotten into an ego battle or something." He drawls out in his accent, half a smirk on his face.
Marian can’t help but playfully roll her eyes at this, "Naturally." She plays along, grateful for him not dwelling too much on the pride-wounding moment "And who’s the winner then?"
"Can’t tell." He replies with his usual cheekiness, a shrug of shoulders accompanying the words "I may be biased."
"Of course, Robin’s your leader after all."
"No, actually I meant from you standing right in front of me." He suggestively raises an eyebrow, earning a scoff in return as he then laughs at her mocked reproach.
"Honestly, Allan A Dale, one can’t ever hear the truth from you."
"You never know," he innocently grins "I’m quite truthful about the way you may bias me at the moment."
"Right," she opts for another playful eye-roll "so may I have the pleasure to know why you’re here to flatter me instead of him?"
"Oh, he sent me cause there was some kind of- emergency." He blurts out scratching the back of his head.
"Emergency? You said everyone was alright." She points out with a frown.
"Yeah... they are. I mean a different kind of emergency. Y’know, something came up in Clun. I don’t know the details cause I’m here, ain’t I?"
Marian studies his appealing smile for a few seconds before aiming an unimpressed look at the outlaw, both her eyebrows raised.
"If you think I’m gonna believe that, you’re gonna try harder." She says with a weary sigh, "Robin didn’t send you... did he?" She questions with a humourless chuckle.
Allan considers lying again, before deciding she deserves better. She definitely does. Therefore it’s with a grimace that he speaks up next, feeling somehow guilty.
"No, he didn’t." He apologetically explains, "But- that’s not cause he wasn’t worried about you. He just... he thought it was better to leave you some time to adjust."
She slowly nods her head in understanding as she takes a step forward to sit on the edge of her bed, her hand instinctively and unconsciously flying to brush the tip of her now short hair.
"Quite good job they did, didn’t they?" He comments in a snicker, the gesture not going amiss on the trickster, "I bet you went to the best in Nottingham. You might want to introduce me too."
"Why, you need a haircut?" She surprises even herself with the chuckle that almost involuntarily escapes her lips, "You're not content of your... Sherwood style?"
"I don’t know... I never had something different from this, I’m afraid long hair doesn’t suit me." He states with almost an apologetically voice, a stern look on his face... and the moment is so utterly ridiculous that a second later, after staring at each other, they’re both laughing at that.
"What is this nonsense we’re talking about?!" She’s the first to question as her giggles seem to finally settle down.
"I have no idea... but at least I made you laugh." He points out with a good-natured smile, prompting Marian to slightly blush as a smile curves her lips as well.
"Yes, you definitely did, Allan." She sobers up a moment later as silence embraces them once again; in meanwhile he briefly turns to look outside the window where dusk is slowly creeping over.
"I’d better get back now, they’re probably wondering where on earth I disappeared." He awkwardly jerks his thumb in the window’s direction, some kind of stiff nod following his words.
"Wait, Allan." She immediately calls him back as she stands up again, much to his surprise. "Why- why did you decide to come then?"
He has to suppress a sigh before lifting his eyes on her one more time, a light shrug as a thousand of unspoken thoughts cloud his mind. "I didn’t want to wait." He simply states, "I wanted to check if you were alright now. I couldn’t go to sleep tonight if I didn’t know."
"Oh." It’s the only sound that escapes her mouth as she stares at him, at his obvious sincerity with almost a different look in her eyes. He had almost sounded matter-of-fact in his explanation, and she had never hear him so truthful as right now.
"So...are you? Okay, I mean?"
"I will be." She slowly nods her positive answer, a small yet grateful smile curving her lips, "Besides it’s just hair... isn’t it? It will grow back."
“Absolutely." He finds himself smiling back, suddenly completely oblivious of what he has just replied to. "I’ll go then..."
"Thank you Allan." She gratefully says, and he doesn’t need to question for even the split of a second whether she really means it or she’s just being polite and is still disappointed he’s not Robin; it’s all etched in her touched tone of voice.
It’s with a silent and brief smile that he replies to that, but then, before lifting the first foot on the window’s frame, he turns once again to look at her... and without realizing what he’s doing, or perhaps simply not wanting to question what he’s doing, he quietly walks up to her.
Marian finds herself inwardly gasping at the unexpected movement, but remains still where she is, not even a step back to change her position.
Then it’s with almost a trembling uncertainty that Allan’s hand make its way up to her cheek, softly stroking it for a brief moment before it goes down onto her hair. She doesn’t even have time to understand what’s happening and the following second his eyes are as close as they have ever been to her own... and his lips are softly crushing on hers in the sweetest kiss she has ever received.
Her eyes are still closed when he pulls apart, her breaths coming quicker than usual, and she feels his own breath tickling against her ear.
"Not being funny, but you look beautiful nonetheless."
And with that whisper he eventually walks back to the window, swiftly jumps on it and, after turning to steal another glance at her with a wide and genuine smile on his lips, eventually disappears without adding another word.
Marian can only watch as the now-again-hooded figure disappears, a finger instinctively caressing her plump lips as a full smile finally curves them.
Yes, she’s going to be alright after all. No doubts on that.
Genre: Romance/General
Rating: T just to be safe
Summary: Set at the end of episode 1.04 "Parent Hood"; Allan decides to pay a visit to Marian to check if she's alright after the events of the day.
Disclaimer: Written for the 2009 War at treatallanright // English is not my first language so I apologize for eventual errors.
After bidding her father goodnight, it’s with a relieved sigh that a mentally exhausted Marian finds herself alone in the safety of her room; the calmness eventually embracing her after the tumultuous and unexpected events of the long day now finally behind her. She remains for a moment with her back against the wooden surface of the back of the door, her eyes closed as she deeply inhales the evening’s air.
It’s almost refreshing to lay still, the soft breeze of that early spring night lightly touching the room that appears exactly like she had left it that morning. And oh if she wishes she could say the same about herself… about the once long brown curls that now are cruelly cut short.
Another sigh, suppressed during the whole day by her constant tough façade, escapes her rose colored lips whilst she eventually walks on, her hands almost automatically reaching on the top of her drawers for the candle she’ll need to lit on in no more than half an hour judging from the feeble light filtering from the window.
Right… the window. In the flip of a second it’s almost as if she catches a quick movement outside her window, causing the young lady to turn her head towards the opposite side of the room… only to shake her head in self reproach when she realizes it must have probably been just a product of her imagination; her mind surely worn out by that long and heavy day. Therefore it’s with a new found resolution that she turns her back at the window, determined on not allowing her own perceptions to let her making a fool out of herself. She slowly dismisses the red foulard she was wearing around her neck and is about to open the white buttons of her white riding dress when something else catches her attention.
This time, due to her position, she sees the movement only with the corner of her eye, but the well known sound caused by the panels getting pushed from outside is unmistakable. Someone was entering her room.
She bits on her bottom lip to fight back an instinctive smile. She would never admit it to herself, but she had hoped Robin would come to visit her after the way they had previously parted that afternoon. Perhaps he had chosen to change his direction in her favor for once, perhaps he had found out what had really happened to her hair, perhaps he just wanted-
There’s no more time left to her mind to wander on the endless possibilities though, and in a firm movement she turns on herself, ready to greet him with a playful scolding as usual.
Only she’s destined to stop in mid-action, her mouth hanging open as she notices a slightly different color in the figure’s hood. A color she knows, but she surely isn’t expecting to see. Not there. Not now.
"...Allan?!"
She questions in a whisper, the surprise clearly etched in her voice.
The outlaw swiftly swings a leg over the wooden surface, reminder of past times when he had entered some other girls’ rooms in the same way; an almost self-mocking smile on his face at the recollection as he silently considers how much things has changed since then. How much different his life is now, as member or Robin Hood’s gang. How many hearts he has probably broken along the way everytime he had then left those same rooms the following morning without much of an explanation and to never come back.
This time, though, it’s him the one who has to put up a careless façade as with a final jump his feet touch the wooden panels of the pavement, and he notices her probably unconscious smile to drop as she realizes the late visitor is not Robin this time. And he has to tell himself that it’s alright, that he doesn’t care, that he knew all along what her reaction would have been.
"Allan...!" She repeats blinking in confusion, "Is that you?"
"Good evening my lady." He replies with one of his best cheeky grins, even attempting some sort of bow in a sudden inspiration.
Marian observes him with indecisive narrowed eyes, not sure whether to laugh at his goofiness or to knock some sense into the outlaw… quite literally. Eventually she opts for a much safer -for him- clearing of her throat as she takes a step forward, a sudden thought darting into her head through the initial shock.
"Is... is everyone alright? Is Robin-?"
She evidently can’t bring herself to finish the dreaded question, and as result Allan feels much like an idiot at bursting in her room without much of notice, his thoughtless behavior always having the best of him.
"Yes, yes...!" He quickly assures her with a sharp nod, "Everyone’s okay, no need to worry."
"Oh, alright." She can’t hide a sigh of relief at the precious information, though that too soon gets transformed in confusion.
She lightly shakes her head at the growing ache in her temples, observing the unexpected outlaw standing before her eyes. His worn out boots, his pants with a patch on the left knee, his calloused hands (not that she has ever hold them… but she can only imagine they feel just like Robin’s) resting at his sides, the instinctive and almost imperceptible upright curve of his lips that always inspire her an inexplicable good-humour, the deepness of his blue eyes, his ever scruffy hair.
And she suddenly feels a blush creeping over her cheeks, feeling even too self-conscious at having someone in her room... someone different from either her father or Robin. So it’s with an awkward movement that she folds her hands on her chest, feeling somehow more vulnerable even under the tick layers of clothes she’s still wearing.
He can’t help but notice and has to look away before the color of his cheeks change as well, feeling suddenly more conscious of the generous and perfect curves of her body, almost as if looking at her now in a different setting it’s like seeing a different Marian from the one he has come across in the woods several times.
"Allan... what are you doing here?" She eventually brings herself to ask, perplexity clear in both her voice and features.
"I came to check if you were alright." He simply replies with a shrug, his eyes meeting with hers for the first time since the start of that odd encounter. "Robin sent me to check on you." He blatantly lies, noticing the perfect O shape of her surprised mouth.
"But why... I mean, how-"
Allan doesn’t need to hear the last part of her question to know what she’s about to ask him; hence he’s quick into obliging, this time with the truth, for once. Or half of it, anyway.
"Will went to Nottingham after the baby left. He heard of your... how shall we call it? Exhibition? Always knew you and Robin sometimes would have gotten into an ego battle or something." He drawls out in his accent, half a smirk on his face.
Marian can’t help but playfully roll her eyes at this, "Naturally." She plays along, grateful for him not dwelling too much on the pride-wounding moment "And who’s the winner then?"
"Can’t tell." He replies with his usual cheekiness, a shrug of shoulders accompanying the words "I may be biased."
"Of course, Robin’s your leader after all."
"No, actually I meant from you standing right in front of me." He suggestively raises an eyebrow, earning a scoff in return as he then laughs at her mocked reproach.
"Honestly, Allan A Dale, one can’t ever hear the truth from you."
"You never know," he innocently grins "I’m quite truthful about the way you may bias me at the moment."
"Right," she opts for another playful eye-roll "so may I have the pleasure to know why you’re here to flatter me instead of him?"
"Oh, he sent me cause there was some kind of- emergency." He blurts out scratching the back of his head.
"Emergency? You said everyone was alright." She points out with a frown.
"Yeah... they are. I mean a different kind of emergency. Y’know, something came up in Clun. I don’t know the details cause I’m here, ain’t I?"
Marian studies his appealing smile for a few seconds before aiming an unimpressed look at the outlaw, both her eyebrows raised.
"If you think I’m gonna believe that, you’re gonna try harder." She says with a weary sigh, "Robin didn’t send you... did he?" She questions with a humourless chuckle.
Allan considers lying again, before deciding she deserves better. She definitely does. Therefore it’s with a grimace that he speaks up next, feeling somehow guilty.
"No, he didn’t." He apologetically explains, "But- that’s not cause he wasn’t worried about you. He just... he thought it was better to leave you some time to adjust."
She slowly nods her head in understanding as she takes a step forward to sit on the edge of her bed, her hand instinctively and unconsciously flying to brush the tip of her now short hair.
"Quite good job they did, didn’t they?" He comments in a snicker, the gesture not going amiss on the trickster, "I bet you went to the best in Nottingham. You might want to introduce me too."
"Why, you need a haircut?" She surprises even herself with the chuckle that almost involuntarily escapes her lips, "You're not content of your... Sherwood style?"
"I don’t know... I never had something different from this, I’m afraid long hair doesn’t suit me." He states with almost an apologetically voice, a stern look on his face... and the moment is so utterly ridiculous that a second later, after staring at each other, they’re both laughing at that.
"What is this nonsense we’re talking about?!" She’s the first to question as her giggles seem to finally settle down.
"I have no idea... but at least I made you laugh." He points out with a good-natured smile, prompting Marian to slightly blush as a smile curves her lips as well.
"Yes, you definitely did, Allan." She sobers up a moment later as silence embraces them once again; in meanwhile he briefly turns to look outside the window where dusk is slowly creeping over.
"I’d better get back now, they’re probably wondering where on earth I disappeared." He awkwardly jerks his thumb in the window’s direction, some kind of stiff nod following his words.
"Wait, Allan." She immediately calls him back as she stands up again, much to his surprise. "Why- why did you decide to come then?"
He has to suppress a sigh before lifting his eyes on her one more time, a light shrug as a thousand of unspoken thoughts cloud his mind. "I didn’t want to wait." He simply states, "I wanted to check if you were alright now. I couldn’t go to sleep tonight if I didn’t know."
"Oh." It’s the only sound that escapes her mouth as she stares at him, at his obvious sincerity with almost a different look in her eyes. He had almost sounded matter-of-fact in his explanation, and she had never hear him so truthful as right now.
"So...are you? Okay, I mean?"
"I will be." She slowly nods her positive answer, a small yet grateful smile curving her lips, "Besides it’s just hair... isn’t it? It will grow back."
“Absolutely." He finds himself smiling back, suddenly completely oblivious of what he has just replied to. "I’ll go then..."
"Thank you Allan." She gratefully says, and he doesn’t need to question for even the split of a second whether she really means it or she’s just being polite and is still disappointed he’s not Robin; it’s all etched in her touched tone of voice.
It’s with a silent and brief smile that he replies to that, but then, before lifting the first foot on the window’s frame, he turns once again to look at her... and without realizing what he’s doing, or perhaps simply not wanting to question what he’s doing, he quietly walks up to her.
Marian finds herself inwardly gasping at the unexpected movement, but remains still where she is, not even a step back to change her position.
Then it’s with almost a trembling uncertainty that Allan’s hand make its way up to her cheek, softly stroking it for a brief moment before it goes down onto her hair. She doesn’t even have time to understand what’s happening and the following second his eyes are as close as they have ever been to her own... and his lips are softly crushing on hers in the sweetest kiss she has ever received.
Her eyes are still closed when he pulls apart, her breaths coming quicker than usual, and she feels his own breath tickling against her ear.
"Not being funny, but you look beautiful nonetheless."
And with that whisper he eventually walks back to the window, swiftly jumps on it and, after turning to steal another glance at her with a wide and genuine smile on his lips, eventually disappears without adding another word.
Marian can only watch as the now-again-hooded figure disappears, a finger instinctively caressing her plump lips as a full smile finally curves them.
Yes, she’s going to be alright after all. No doubts on that.