The door opened to the room where Robin lay. Although the room had no windows, it was just becoming dark outside. Robin had been put to sleep for the entire day. A figure entered the room very quietly. The room was lit by the fire in the hearth and by candle light. The lone figure was dressed in a black, floor length, hooded cloak. Silently it moved to stand beside of Robin. It just stood there looking down on the sleeping form.

From somewhere deep in Robin, he somehow sensed a presence and began to awaken. His eyes fluttered open. His vision was blurry from the forced sleep. He turned his head and saw someone standing beside him. The person did not move or say a word.

Robin used his left hand to rub his eyes, "Who are you?"

He received no answer from the cloaked figure.

Robin pushed himself up in bed, "What do you want?" he asked sleepily.

The person stood there a moment longer then launched itself at Robin! It grabbed him around the neck!
When the body pressed against his bad arm he cried out in pain.

"I’m so sorry," the hooded figure said as it let go of his neck and just sat there on his lap.

It was at that moment that Robin knew. He pulled the hood down, "CAT!!!!" Robin moved his right arm around to his side and grabbed her. He pulled her to him tightly and hugged her for all she was worth. "I’m so glad to see you!" he said as he held back the tears of joy he wanted to shed.

"I’m so happy to see you Robin!" she cried, not holding any tears back.

Finally Robin let her go. He held her shoulder with his good arm, "Let me look at you. How long has it been? You look radiant." he smiled as he took the back of a finger and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Cat put her hands to his cheeks and held his face, "I can hardly believe that it is you," she said as she moved in and gave him a quick kiss.

Robin smiled, "You haven’t changed! It’s nice to know that you haven’t. How have you been? What are you doing here?"

Cat’s hands left his cheeks and moved up his face to his eyes, forehead and into his hair. "I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you," she said as she watched her hands touch his hair.

"You said that before Cat. What’s the matter? You have such a far away look in your eyes," he said as he took one of her hands in his left hand. He held it tightly, sensing something was wrong.

Cat fell down onto his chest and lay her head against his shoulder, "I missed you so much. I didn’t know how much until just now."

Robin let go of her hand and caressed the back of her head.

Cat didn’t move for the longest time. She didn’t speak. She just wanted to be held by Robin, and he did.

Robin didn’t know what was wrong, but he was content to just hold her. He hadn’t known how much he had missed her either. And right now, being held by her was something that he needed more than he would have liked to admit. She was familiar. She was comfortable. She was exactly what his soul needed.

Finally Cat pushed back from Robin’s chest, "Thank you Robin, I needed that."

"You’re welcome Cat, I needed it too. Now tell me what has been happening?"

"Well, first I have to tell you that you look marvelous. Except for being a little pale and flushed, you still look gorgeous!" She placed her hand to his forehead, "Still running a bit of a fever I see. How do you feel?"

"I feel all right Cat. How are you?"

"You are not telling the whole truth," she scolded him. "I can see the pain and fever in your eyes." Cat closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She placed one hand very tenderly on his injured arm and the other on his left breast.

"What are you doing?" he asked feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Shhhhhh. I’m concentrating," she told him as she peeked at him with one eye.

Robin relaxed back against the pillows and watched her.

"I call upon the guardians, my guides, God and Goddess. Goddess Freya, Goddess of love and healing, take this burden from his heart, body, mind, and spirit. I release his pain freely and willingly. I ask that he be healed and that this be done immediately for the greater good and for the good of Robin Hood. So be it. And so it is!"

Robin closed his eyes as he felt a warmth begin underneath both of her hands. His head fell back because his neck just couldn’t hold it up any longer. He was breathing easily, but it was almost as if he couldn’t breath. The warmth began to spread over his entire body.

Cat removed her hands and just looked at Robin. He was healing now and that made her very happy. She studied his face as it lay back against the pillows. His hair fanned out over the pillows in the same thick, silky tresses. His face was free of any lines. She wondered how he could manage not to have any wrinkles yet. He had a very high stress occupation. His eyebrows still crowned the most beautiful brown eyes with the longest eyelashes she had ever seen. His high cheek bones and nose were just the prequel to the most sensual, perfect mouth on the face of the earth. The mustache and goatee were still kept perfectly trimmed and framed his mouth, oh that mouth. The most kissable lips in the whole world.

While Cat was reveling at the sight of him, Robin moaned.

The tone of his voice covered her like a midnight blue velvet blanket. It was soft, warm, rich, and very, very sexy.

Robin’s eyes slowly opened, "What happened?"
"How do you feel?"

Robin thought for a moment. He took stock of his body. A bit surprised, "I feel fine!"

Cat put her hand to his forehead. It was cool to the touch, "This time I believe you."

"Thank you so much. I was not looking forward to spending the next couple days in this bed."

"It was my pleasure, Lover."

Robin did a double take, "What did you call me?"
Cat’s eyes went wide as she realized what she let slip, "I...I mean Robin."

Robin grabbed Cat’s arm, not too roughly, "What did you call me," he pressed for an answer.

Cat could feel her face grow bright red. "Lover! I called you Lover! There are you happy now!" she said as she turned her face away from his.

Robin was shocked, "What made you call me that?"

Cat just couldn’t answer him. That was her little secret.

Robin put his hand to her chin and forced her to face him, "Cat you can tell me. It’s okay. The worst that will happen is that I will be flattered."

Getting up her courage, she closed her hand around the hand that was holding her chin and brought it down into her lap. Her fingers began to caress his hand as she spoke, "This is really embarrassing. I called you Lover because that is what you have become to me."

Robin opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"Let me get through this all at one time. You can ask questions later."

Robin nodded.

"It was just my little nickname for you. When I say Lover, I don’t mean the physical kind of love. Although...no, I digress. To me, a lover is a best friend, a companion, a shoulder to cry on. A lover is a person that will make you laugh and who you can make laugh. He is someone who will be there for you in the good times and the bad. A lover is a man that can make you happy just by a look or a smile. A lover is someone that if you don’t see them, it breaks your heart. A lover is a man that you can take care of and know that he will take care of you. He will help you when you are in trouble and vise versa. A lover is someone that you would do anything for without question. That is what you are to me. Being up here for the last eight months has been terrible. I have not seen you in 14 months and 6 days. If I had something that told me the time, I could tell you that too. You have been my Lover while I have been here. I don’t know if you have noticed, but everyone here is a lot bigger than me. I feel like a 5 year old child compared to these people. That is also why they hired me. Because I am so small yet my powers are so great. When I heard that you were here, my heart nearly burst with joy. I had to pull myself together before I could see you. That is why I did not come sooner. I can’t tell you how nice it is to see a person of normal size again." With that she stopped.

Robin moved his right hand on top of hers. He was a little surprised that his arm felt normal. He looked down at the heavily bandaged arm and smiled. She really had healed him.

His eyes and his voice spoke softly to her, "Cat, I can’t tell you how flattered I am. If that is what a lover is to you, then yes, I am your Lover. I do love you with all my heart. You have saved my life several times and in return you only asked for a kiss. You have never taken advantage of me. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me for you to be here. You comforted me when I really needed it. You have healed me once again. I’m glad that you told me. There is nothing for you to be embarrassed about," he finished and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. "Thank you Cat."
"Thank you Robin," she whispered.

Robin ended the embrace, "By the way, I do know what it is like to feel like a child around these people. I have been called tiny, little, and young man. They treat me like a little kid, well at least Helga does."

Cat laughed, "She treats everyone like her own child. Her mother instinct is very strong. She is a very warm and wonderful person."

Robin nodded his head in agreement, "Yes she is, but I just wish she wouldn’t move me around like I weighed nothing at all."

Cat just laughed at him. She could see that his male pride had been wounded just a little bit. "Well, you are better now and can stand on your own feet." She paused for a moment. "It is getting late. I should be going."

Robin’s face turned sad, "Do you have to?"

Cat put a palm to his cheek, "Yes I have to, but I will see you tomorrow!" she told him happily.

"All right then, tomorrow."

"Try to get some sleep now."

"But I have been asleep all day," Robin protested.

"That spell I used healed you, but it will not last very long if you don’t get some rest. My magic can only do so much," she said as she got up off of his lap.

Robin wasn’t going to argue. He slid down under the covers.

Cat tucked him in and kissed him on his forehead, "Good night Robin. Sweet dreams."

"Good night Cat. I’ll see you in the morning." Robin closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.

Cat smiled and left her best friend.

It was not too long after Cat had left that Robin was awakened by Staun.

"How are you feeling?"

Robin pushed himself up in bed with both arms, "I feel fine. A little tired, but fine."

Staun could not believe that he had just used his injured arm. He took Robin’s arm and began to unwrap the bandage. He was stunned when he saw his healed flesh. The only thing that was left were the stitches on unharmed, unmarred skin. "How did this happen?" he asked dumbfounded.

Robin smiled, "I have several friends who are very adept at healing. One of them paid me a visit a while ago."

"This is incredible!" Taking a small sharp knife out of a bag, he began to cut and pull the stitches out. "I am amazed at how this looks. Your fever is completely gone too. I would love to know who did this for you. They could be a great help in my practice."

Robin hesitated. He was not sure that Catrina wanted him to say anything. There must have been a reason that she didn’t make this part of her powers known to them. He would have to talk to her before he would divulge any information. "I will have to see if I can contact them again. Those kind of people have a tendency to come and go so quickly."

Staun pulled the last stitch out, "This looks fine. I would say that after a good night’s sleep, you can get up and go about your normal activities tomorrow."

Robin was really please to hear this. "That’s wonderful! I will need my clothes."

Staun looked at him and realized that he was right. There would be no clothes in the entire Kingdom that would fit him since he was so petite. "I will see to it that Helga has those for you in the morning." Staun gathered his things together, "Get some rest now," he ordered.

"I will. Good night Staun and thank you for all that you did."

"You are welcome young man. I still can hardly believe that arm," he said just shaking his head as he left.

Robin chuckled, "Thank you Cat," he whispered to the air. Robin pushed himself under the covers and fell into a wonderful sleep.

The door to John and Robin’s room opened. Helga came in with clothes for Robin and breakfast for both of the men. She was humming happily and did not even try to be quiet.

Both woke up slowly. Their sleep had been deep and peaceful.

John woke up his usual happy self. "Good morning Helga. How are you this fine day?"

"Good morning John. I am just fine. How are you?"

"Hungry!" he smiled

"When aren’t you hungry," Robin said as he sat up.

"Good morning Robin. How do you feel?" John asked concerned.

"I feel great Little John. Never better!" he said with sincerity in his voice.

Helga did not believe him. She walked over and put her palm to his forehead. She was surprised that he felt normal. She pulled the covers from his right arm and gasped at seeing the unbandaged, perfect arm. "What happened!? Your arm is perfectly normal," she said taking his arm and smoothing her hand over the skin.

"I had a visit from an old friend last night. They healed me."

"That is amazing! No wonder Staun asked me to bring your clothes to you. But...Okay, this is the true test. Are you hungry?" she asked eyeing him closely.

Robin beamed at her, "Hungry as a horse!"

"That’s what I like to hear. Here you are and I want you to clean the plate," she said as she placed the tray on his lap.

"Yes ma’am. It will be a pleasure."

"Hey, what about me?" John looked over, hurt at being left out.

"Oh I’m so sorry John. Here you go. I had them add extra helpings since you were so hungry yesterday morning."

John was thrilled at all of the great food that he was given.

"Boys, this will be your last meal in bed, so enjoy it. Since both of you are well, you will be eating with the rest of the family from now on."

Helga watched the two young men eat heartily. She left them alone.

End of Chapter Three