Chapter Text
Word Count: 960
Rating: G
Spoilers: Treasure of the Nation
Warnings: none
Notes: none
Disclaimer: I do not own Robin Hood, Robin, Marian, et al. I have earned nothing from this endeavor but the joy that comes from the writing and the possibility of a nice comment or two.
Summary: Ellie makes a huge decision that changes her life—and John's—forever
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The Consequences of Attraction, Part 15
The following morning John awoke to sunshine slanting across his face and the smell of something roasting. Fish. A sight he didn't normally see and a scent he didn't usually smell.
He sat up and saw Ellie, her hair bound in a head scarf, tearing in half one of the loaves of bread. She tended the fish, skewered and hanging over the flames.
He jumped from the cot and pulled his leggings on as he crossed the room. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Don't raise your voice to me. I am simply cooking breakfast. Women all over the world do it.”
“You are not just any woman.”
“Listen to me. I am now and forever like any other woman.”
“What are you saying?” He shook his head in question.
“I've been up for a while. Since sunrise actually. And I've been thinking.”
John raised a brow and waited for her to continue. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew what she was going to say.
“I've decided to stay here in England. For good. I have no reason to return to France. I will send a letter to Richard via Dennis so I know it shall remain confidential. Eventually it will be announced that I succumbed to my mysterious illness and am dead. And I shall live out my days here in Nottinghamshire with you.” She ended with her hands on her hips, looking quite pleased at the prospect.
Surprise, shock rushed through him. “But...you're the queen. You cannot just disappear, for good.”
She handed him a chunk of bread and a skewered fish, a frown forming on her face. “But nothing. I can and I will. I have brought some money and more shall be delivered, so I will be able to pay my taxes. And then I shall take up some menial task to keep myself busy during the day.”
“You'll do no such thing.” She was mad.
She speared him with a look, pulling herself to her full height and stature. “Are you telling me what I can or cannot do? I am—”
“Stop.” He held up a hand. “You cannot be an ordinary woman one minute and the queen the next. If you're going to be a peasant woman, then...” He shrugged.
“I was going to say my own woman, thank you very much.”
“Sorry.” John felt sheepish.
“And just because I am no longer a queen doesn't mean I’m going to turn into a meek mild-mannered lady. Agreed?”
“I haven't agreed to anything.”
Her mouth turned down at the edges again. “Even so. I don't need your permission.”
“I know you don’t. It's not that I don't want you here.” He shook his head, a small grin forming. “I do, but first of all you're daft for leaving all you have behind and second it's not safe.”
“What am I leaving behind, John? A large drafty castle with too many memories for peace or comfort and where I am constantly surrounded by dozens of people. People I don't give a fig about. People who twitter and gossip and chatter all the time and live off my—”
“Largesse?”
Ellie grinned. “Precisely.” She spread her arms wide. “Here I can weave baskets—I can do that, you know. I can have a garden. I've always wanted to tend one myself, get my hands dirty, watch things grow. I can take a walk whenever and wherever I please. I've had riches and servants and luxuries, but they're not worth much if you don't have someone to love and who loves you in return.” She met his gaze and held it.
John opened his mouth to speak, but words failed him. She loved him? Did she really mean that?
“Yes, John. I know what you're thinking. Yes, I love you. Yes, I mean it. That night in the inn in Derby I asked you to be my true friend. The one who would always tell me the real truth no matter what.”
John nodded.
“And you've always done that.”
He shook his head slowly. “No...I...there was one thing I never told you.”
Ellie frowned.
“Last year, in France, when I came to see you... and you wanted me to stay... I never told you how I felt about you. That I loved you, even then. I was convinced that you would not, could not love a—”
“A big ugly dirty smelly oaf?” she whispered.
He nodded.
“I could and I do. So very much.”
He enveloped her in a large hug.
“So I am staying and living out my days as a peasant wife?”
“If that is really what you want to do. Who am I to say no to the qu—”
She pulled back and looked at him, her brow arched.
“The queen of my heart?” he finished with a grin, but sobered almost immediately. “Will you marry me, Ellie?”
Tears sprung to her eyes. “Oh, yes, John. Yes.” She laughed. She clasped her right hand in John's right hand and did the same with their lefts, forming an X. “I, Eleanor, take you, John, to be my lawfully wedded husband, from now until eternity.”
John was taken aback. “Here? Now? Like this?”
With a single nod, she said, “Here. Now. Like this. Whose business is it but ours?”
“But you're the que—”
“Not anymore.”
“Are you certain?” He didn’t want to her to have any regrets.
“I've never been more certain of anything in my life.”
John considered the situation for several moments. He finally nodded. “All right, then. I, John, take you, Eleanor, to be my lawfully wedded wife, from now until eternity.”
“You may kiss your bride.” She waggled her brows.
And he did.
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