Another fic I wrote quite a while ago, I've been going through them all recently I hope to finish them off if I haven't already. And edit them and posting them. Here is a rewrite of a part of Taxman Cometh, where Marian wants to leave.

She could not look at him, "This life, this pretence," she risked a look, no she could not and within the same second had looked back at the floor, "it's driving me mad!" she looked at him now, how could she avoid him much longer? "Gisbourne sniffs around me like a little spaniel," she could not help but spit those words, "My father would have me marry him for fear of anyone guessing we are not wholly in league with the Sheriff." Had she looked at him too long now? She thought so and looked away again. "And as for the Nightwatchman, it is not enough for me and too much for my father." She knew she should stop talking, let him speak, but she needed to be heard, her opinions and Robin was the only one who would listen to her. "What I want, who I am! It does not count!"

He did not know quite what to say to her, but she was not finished he could tell so kept quiet anyway. She sighed, she was clearly fed up, she needed reassurance that somebody cared, but did she want Robin to be that person? "I am sick of it all." She paused once again, but still Robin did not speak. "I am leaving home." Okay now he was really interested.

"To go…? Where?" he was trying here, but that was all he could think of, maybe she wanted to go with the outlaws, into the forest she could live free and do what she had wanted all day, everyday, but at what risk? Not only the one she had lived with for the last three years but the added danger of them now knowing it was her and that she was in league with Robin, she would be murdered on sight, not that she wouldn't if seen with him in her Nightwatchmen cover anyway, anybody seen with him.

She shook her head, breathing out through her mouth, letting her lips catch on each other and blow a slight raspberry. "I do not know," but of course she had heard of the abbess currently at Nottingham Castle she could go with her, spend a year away in a Abbey with her, under her control, but at the same time free. Free from her father, from Guy, from men.

"That is unwise!" he cared for her, he really did, he could not let her walk away from this away from him, but she would not come to the forest she was too sensible.

"I am sick of people! And it is always men!" so he had made a mistake telling her that, she would not go with him now, "Telling me what is wise and what is not!"

"I never meant…" he stopped himself that would not help him, arguing with her, "Then tell me what it is you want!" maybe she had wanted him to ask her to the forest, maybe she did, maybe she didn't. But he needed to know what it was she wanted, otherwise he could not help her, not at all.

"Help! I want somebody for once to think about how they can help me!"

"I've have always thought about how I can help you! You were to be my wife, and you think I do not care that now you are not?" This was not going to help matters that he knew, but he had always tried to help her, in anyway he could, he loved her, and he hated to see her in pain.

She had obviously ignored him, "Help me to do what I think is wise!" He bowed his head, resting his chin on his bow. What could he do, she would never be safe with him. Nobody ever was.

"And what is that exactly? What is it that you want to do, tell me what you think is wise." It had come out wrong, an order rather than a suggestion, she had been taken aback by this, but she knew had she not answered him she was never have gotten what she wanted.

"To get away. Or at least to the people of Nottingham to have thought as much. Need they only see me as the Nightwatchman, nobody but you and your men know who I am." Was she suggesting what he had been thinking for the last ten minutes? "Robin please, I know it may not be the wisest thing, but I would be free, I would not be stifled, not by my father and especially by you." She was questioning his authority over his men, she knew that, and she knew he was a good leader and he would not slack the rules even for her, no matter how he felt.

"I do not favour any of my men Marian, if you live in the forest with us, you abide by our rules, you help each of us do the cooking or washing or any of the jobs we need. And you at least tell me what your plans are before you go running off and getting killed. Do you understand me Marian?"

"I could not ask for anything more. I just need to be free of constant rules, and con men that pretend that they know me!" She was smiling, even though she was disregarding the law, she knew she shouldn't, she shouldn't have even asked Robin for this, but she could not pretend.

"I would rather see you hang from a rope at Nottingham then see you with Gisbourne, you know that Marian. But are you really sure this is what you really want?" He could not be sure, maybe he had subconsciously asked for this verdict. He had to be sure that she did not want this for the short term either. If she came it was to be a 'forever' arrangement.

Her hand was too his cheek, "Robin, if hell opens beneath us, it would not stop me." Robin knew she would not lie to him. "And even if it does not, I would not part from your side in the ugliest of battles. As the Nightwatchman I will know that you are safe, instead of worrying at Knighton and having to wait to see your face to know you are alive. Having to keep an eye on the sheriff's hanging plan to see if your name appears by a chance that he may have caught you. To be at your side would be a blessing. To fight for the poor against the Sheriff openly, would only free me more. Even if I had to follow your orders. But for more, I would not ask for it, unless I wanted it, unless I wanted to be with you, Robin." His hand now rose to her neck, his thumb running over her cheek as he looked at her, still for a few seconds.

Robin was smiling at her, dimples in his cheeks, it was quite cute actually. "If that's is what you want, I will not tell you it is not wise, and as I am a man I suppose that is a surprise to you. As the Nightwatchman that does not stifle you. And as Marian, I do not keep you from what you want." She shared his smile.

"And as an outlaw, we can not be hindered, as outlaws together, we can do as we wish."

"Master?" Came Much's plea, "It has been-" he stopped mid sentence, as what he saw before him was confusing indeed. He knew that Robin and Marian cared for each other, but he thought it would take them longer than this to get back on track. For when he saw them kissing that day, he knew that his Master was bound forever, and that the outlaws were doomed to live under a man in love.

I hope you liked it, I remember at the time I loved writing it.