A/N: A brief explanation might be in order before we begin: I haven't seen an awful lot of RH yet, although Santa should hopefully be changing that. As such, all I have to go on for the characterisations of Guy and Marian are the snippets I've seen on the Tube of You and a healthy respect for RA's efforts at making his characters complex and interesting. Don't hate me if it all goes tits up ^_^

BTW, I don't for one minute subscribe to the Wussy!Guy school of thought - despite the series writers' best efforts - so don't expect to see him here ~_^

Harmony and Dissonance

She storms up the stairs, taking them two at a time in her anger. The boundaries of her patience and humility have been pushed to their absolute limit this evening; this is the last time that she and her father will be humiliated in this way. The Sheriff has gone too far this time and she longs to subject the malodorous little man to her wrath; she can't get to him though, so she'll take the next best option: she'll take out her rage on his lieutenant.

Alighting on the landing to the floor of Gisbourne's rooms, she steels herself, raises her head proudly and stomps towards the open doorway that leads to his apartment.

Rounding the corner, she falters in her confident stride as she is presented with a scene she had not expected.

While she had been slowly reaching boiling point downstairs, she had imagined this confrontation with Gisbourne in excruciating detail: the man would be in his greasy black leathers, slouched in a chair, a goblet of some unspeakable ale in one hand and a plate of some half-eaten decadence by his other. He would look up sullenly at her as she strode proudly into his rooms and fix her with a withering look. They would joust verbally as they always did, his strategic intelligence being the perfect foil for her wit and passion. She might not win the argument, but she would feel satisfied that she had said her peace, and she knew he always listened, even though his temperament and ideals meant he sometimes unequivocally disagreed with her.

She had been expecting an immediate sparring match; she had not expected to be thrown off her stride like this... Gisbourne stands at the far end of the room, his attention solely focused on the pieces of armour being attached to his freshly bathed, half-clothed body. His muscles flex deliciously as he tests out the range of movement each plate allows him.

She swallows.

All her righteous indignation seeps out of her as she stands, hidden for the moment by the door frame, watching him move in the candle light. He has a sinuous, catlike grace, not entirely unlike Robin, but Gisbourne is much taller and carries himself with an air of regality; the combination of height, grace and stature making for an intoxicating mix of masculinity.

The fight bleeds from her the longer she stands transfixed, and her femininity shimmies to the fore. She creeps more fully into the room, her feet moving her instinctively closer to him.

His squire spots her and pauses in his fittings. Guy - realising that his manservant has been distracted by something - follows the other man's gaze and looks up to see the woman in the doorway.

Marian flinches as his pale eyes pin her in place and she shifts her gaze to the floor, murmuring, "Forgive me." A small voice inside her mocking her for her sudden attack of bashfulness; what is she apologising for? She has come to him looking for a quarrel to ease the tight knot of frustration that has wound in her belly, and now she can't even look at him? What is wrong with her?

His voice is all irritation as he addresses her. "Marian, it's late. What is so urgent?"

She meets his hooded gaze again and something in her middle flutters delicately. "I wish to speak to you, about a personal matter." That wasn't it! She wanted to speak to him about the Sheriff, about his despicable treatment of her father! The voice inside Marian's head gets more and more angry by the minute as it commands her to stop raking her eyes over every bit of bare Gisbourne flesh that she can see.

He pulls the iron rerebrace from his arm and hands it to his squire, dismissing the man with a nod, "I'll send for you." The squire bows briefly and passes by Marian with an odd look at her on his way out. He closes the door behind him.

Guy steps down from the plinth he had been standing on - like some marble sculpture to her suddenly romantic eyes - and swaggers towards her. "Yeah? What is it?"

Why does she suddenly enjoy his cocky, over-confident strut towards her? How is it that the floor is not bursting into flames everywhere his feet touch it? And why is she still looking at him like he is a piece of very tasty meat? The voice in her head - by now almost completely incensed by her actions - forces her to speak. "There is bad blood between us." The voice relaxes at the calm tone in which she managed to deliver the forced line.

He snorts and looks down his aquiline nose at her. "You overestimate yourself." Something in his eyes shifts as he notices that she is standing a lot closer to him than she is usually comfortable with. Why is this? He watches her eyes skip over all the features of his face before coming to rest on his lips, and suddenly it becomes clear. His curiosity getting the better of him, he decides to take a risk and strike for a nerve to gauge her reaction. "I had feelings for you, I made no bones about that. But now," he hesitates, sadistically dramatising the pause and watching her face like a hawk as the blow falls, "I feel nothing." She looks down, breaking his gaze in seeming disappointment and something deep inside him, that had been forced into hibernation, stirs. Unthinking and acting on the instinct to wound, he lashes out with, "And I have larger concerns; ambitions."

Marian's heart misses a beat at that. What larger concerns? She knows he has feelings for her, deep feelings, she had always politely ignored them but now, like a foolish child who has had her favourite - but discarded - toy taken away, she wants his attentions all for herself. If there is another woman who has stepped into his sights to steal his attention, Marian will kill her.

She blinks.

Where in God's name did that come from?

Desperate suddenly to win back his favour and choosing not to question too hard why she wants to, she gazes up into his eyes and thrills as they dilate; clearly he is not as unaffected by her as he now claims. "But is there no hope of a reconciliation? I know you are a man capable of compassion." He looks away, no doubt unwilling to admit that she might be right, she tells herself. "I offer..." he looks up at her again, his eyes searching hers as she hesitates and inches closer. What does she offer? She is not entirely certain; she knows she finds him attractive - she always has - but she has never sought or encouraged his attentions before tonight. Is it friendship? She tries the word out, "I offer friendship." She reaches out for a touch or a handshake - again, she is not sure; the hand trembles slightly.

Nope. Not friendship.

Unseen by the two occupants of the room, Robin had hoisted himself up onto the broad, strong outcrop of stone below Guy's window and now looks in.

Guy takes the hand held out to him and heaves a breath, admitting defeat to himself if no-one else. He cannot resist Marian, he never could and no doubt never will. Her fingers are tiny, enveloped in his much larger ones and he feels a renewed surge of protectiveness towards her, despite the fact that the larger part of him still dislikes her wholeheartedly for rejecting him time and again.

The words that she should be saying, sound in her head: I am your friend, Gisbourne, nothing more; but her lips refuse to co-operate. She tries anyway, "Guy-" she sees Robin and instinctively draws back her hand. She doesn't want him to see her dithering over her confused feelings regarding Sir Guy of Gisbourne.

Guy, however, does not allow her the luxury of getting this close to him, reawakening feelings he had managed to bury and then simply pulling back. His fingers shoot out like the jaws of a snake and snatch their mate back. "What?"

"I don't know..." She is uncertain. About many things. Robin or Guy? The choice is not as clear as it once was...

Picking up on her uncertainty - one of the few instances that he manages to show some empathy - he pushes her to be certain. "Marian, what is this all about?"

Stronger, she replies, "It's about friendship, that's all." The image of Robin's disapproving glare from the window hovers over Guy's shoulder and she uses it to strengthen her resolve. She came here to fight - or bargain - with Gisbourne, not to be seduced by him.

Guy flashes a smirk, reading more deeply behind her facade than he has any right to. "No." He steps closer. "This isn't about friendship." He touches her cheek with the backs of his fingers, strokes her with a feather-light caress. Her gaze flits uncertainly from his chest to his eyes, to Robin, then back to his face. "You want your freedom back, that's what this is all about." He straightens, unable to resist driving a dagger into her heart - seeing as hers is permanently in his he feels it is only fair, "And I can't give that to you."

She takes her hand back more definitively this time, her ire back where it belongs: in the forefront of her mind. Guy's hand clenches where it is, already missing the feel of her fingers in his.

"You and your father, you have made your own bed." The fire returns to her gaze and although he enjoyed the soft, almost subservient light that had previously been there, he prefers her fighting spirit. He can have obedience wherever he commands it, but Marian always makes things a challenge and a dark part of him thoroughly enjoys the chase.

The squire returns and they both look down - she in uncertainty and he in frustration - as the brief moment of intimacy is broken.

"Sorry, master, there's a messenger from the Sheriff."

Guy can't look at her, or chooses not to; she is uncertain which. She looks at him.

"I should go." He looks up to watch her go, then breathes out. She makes the electricity between them spark and he would not have it any other way.

Robin, satisfied that Marian has restored the status quo, retreats.