Weaving through the trees towards the sound of the water, Crow guided Penelope to the brook he had found. He glanced back over his shoulder and, finding that they had travelled out of sight from the camp, reached to take her hand in his. He was glad that he had found the stream because they needed to refill their water supply, but he also liked the fact that it opened up an opportunity for them to be alone again, even if only for a short while.

He did have to wonder how often they were going to be able to sneak away together before William caught on though. Sure, right now the knight probably couldn’t even fathom that he and Penelope were more than just friendly with each other, but he wasn’t completely dense. If they continued to spend so much time together, he was bound to catch on eventually. The thief held Penelope’s hand a bit tighter. If they wanted to keep fooling the old knight, they would just have to start being selective about the times they wandered off together. 

When they reached the edge of the brook, he sat down and motioned for her to sit next to him. “This spot kind of reminds me of that stream we fell asleep next to a few days ago,” he mused out loud, bending forward to fill a canteen with water. Once it was full, he sealed it and set it down off to the side. “It’s funny,” he went on, looking up to meet her gaze. “All that time, we were both so concerned about hiding our feelings from each other when we could have been doing this.” He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her lips.

Feeling a bit spontaneous, Crow leaned further into Penelope, using his weight to push her back into the grass as he shifted so that he was on top of her. He kissed her along her neck and jawline, trailing one hand sensuously down her side. After a bit, he pulled back to gaze down at her and smirked mischievously, “You know… William will be asleep during your watch tonight. He wouldn’t notice if we left to… say, ‘get more water.’”