Chapter Text
Arthur hugged Isaac as soon as he got back to camp, before his son could even ask what happened. He was still shaking. He used to shake after working a job, but that was adrenalin. This was… something else.
“Pa, are you okay?” Isaac asked.
“I’m fine,” Arthur said, squeezing him tight. “But we’ve got to start packing up.”
“Arthur!” Dutch called, throwing his horse’s reins to a flustered Kieran. “I need you to look for a new camp. Micah told me of a place we can lie low. Dewberry Creek, he said. You know it?”
“More or less,” Arthur said.
“Maybe you and Charles can go take a look, clear off anyone you find before the whole lot of us move in looking so conspicuous.”
“And how we gonna do that?” Arthur asked.
“I don’t know. Start dancing?”
“I can’t dance, Dutch.”
“You know what I mean,” Dutch said, though Arthur wasn’t entirely sure. Scare them? Bribe them? Kill them? He wasn’t exactly feeling intimidating at the moment. More than anything, he just wanted to stay within the safe confines of camp, but with Cornwall’s men so close, probably Pinkertons, too, camp wasn’t safe.
They could have put a bullet in his skull. Him and John. Right in front of Dutch.
“Charles, come with me. We got work to do,” Arthur said, shoving away those thoughts. At least he was going with Charles.
“Of course,” Charles said, grabbing Taima. “So where are we going?”
“Find a new spot to camp. We’re packing up and moving on.” Arthur led the way out into the Heartlands, trying to focus, but bitter thoughts kept sliding into his brain.
“Again?” Charles asked. “What happened in Valentine?”
“Cornwall happened. That rich feller whose train Dutch robbed found us in Valentine,” Arthur said.
“That doesn’t sound too good. Are you alright?”
“Me? Fine,” Arthur lied.
“So, we’re heading south?”
“Yeah, area called Dewberry Creek. Dutch wants us to give it a look, make sure it’s clear and a good place to lie low for a while.”
Charles said thoughtfully, “I’ve only known him a few months, but the way he talks, I never thought I’d see him wanting to head south.”
“Yeah, we’ve always avoided it. Heard too many stories about the folk down there. Though I ain’t sure if we’ll end up lying low.” Considering both Colter and Valentine, they weren’t very good at it.
“Yeah, there’s too many of us for that,” Charles agreed.
“And as much as we may want to, we need money and supplies,” Arthur said.
“But wasn’t the gang going to settle down at one point? Dutch is always talking about a ranch.”
“Yeah, we were,” Arthur said. Now, especially, he felt the loss of the land they were planning to buy. Where they were going to be safe and live out their days as ranchers. Where he almost died in that fire, though he didn’t really remember it.
After years of trying to distance himself from the outlaw life, how many times had he almost died in the last six months? How close did Isaac come to losing his father?
“That’s Dewberry Creek, up there,” Charles said, pulling Arthur out of his reminiscing. “Seems very open.”
There were barely any trees on the one side, and the hill they were riding down gave a perfect view of the entire dried up creek bed. “Yeah, it does,” Arthur agreed. “Ain’t sure it’d be the best in the rain, neither.”
Remnants from the last storm pooled in the lowest areas of the creek, threatening a flood during the next storm. Arthur couldn’t figure out why Micah had suggested this place. Either he wanted to ruin their camp or he was an idiot.
“Hey, I see something over there,” Charles said, heading towards a group of birds. “You see it? Someone on the ground there.”
The vultures took off when Arthur rode up, revealing the body. “He’s been shot. Looks like trouble got here before us.”
“There’s a camp just up ahead.”
Arthur’s hand twitched towards his revolver, and he said, “Let’s get ready for business. Any issues, shoot first, debate second.” Just like Dutch wanted.
“I’m not going to shoot for the sake of it,” Charles said. Arthur cringed, but he quickly brushed the guilty feeling aside.
The tents were tucked into a few trees in what looked like a gully for drainage. Another terrible place for camp, but it was abandoned. Or so Arthur thought, before he pulled away a crate and was faced with the second gun in his face that day.
“Whoa,” Arthur said, backing up and raising his hands. He resisted the urge to go for his own gun, seeing as it was just a scared woman protecting her children.
“It’s okay,” Charles said, holstering his sawed off shotgun. “You can come out of there. You okay? We don’t mean you no harm.”
Arthur relaxed as he realized the woman wasn’t about to pull the trigger, but he was still on edge. “He said, are you okay?”
The woman began speaking, but not English. Great. They were trying to move camp, and he didn’t know how to explain to the woman that she needed to leave. “Get out of here, we need the land,” he tried. She only looked confused. “Get the hell out of here!” Arthur shouted.
“They took out father!” the young girl said.
“Who did?” Charles asked.
“Men, last night.” She started to cry, and Arthur looked away. They didn’t have time for this. The law would find their old camp soon!
“Where did they take him?” Charles asked.
“Charles,” Arthur started to say.
“What?”
“We don’t have time for this. And it ain’t business of ours.”
“You ain’t as tough and dense as all that,” Charles said. “Come on, Arthur.” Normally, Arthur would agree. One look at that poor girl, begging him to help, would normally have him halfway across the state already. But not that day. Not when there were so many people relying on him to get this right.
But Charles was already walking away, and Arthur wasn’t going to let Charles go alone. And maybe if they found the father, they could convince the family to get away from what was shaping up to be an unsafe area.
“The girl was pointing this way,” Charles said. “Let’s see if we can pick up a trail. What’s going on with you? You were just going to send them on their way?”
“It ain’t like I want them to lose their father, but we’re wanted men. We got Pinkertons breathing down our necks,” Arthur said. “We need to be moving camp, not running off on some wild goose chase.”
“Come on, Arthur, don’t be like that.”
Arthur huffed. They paused for a moment just over the train tracks to check the trail again.
“So, what exactly happened in Valentine?” Charles asked, glancing over his should back at Arthur with concern.
“I told you.”
“I know, you just… you don’t seem like yourself right now.”
“I guess I just wasn’t expecting it,” Arthur said. “One minute, John and I were rustling sheep, the next we were surrounded with guns to our head. Guess it just… surprised me, that’s all.” Surprised, scared, same thing, right?
“That would be enough to rattle any man. You’re lucky you and John made it out.”
“Well, Annabelle and Dutch certainly helped with that,” Arthur said. They turned to follow the lake, and Arthur tried not to think about the cold metal pressing against his skull, threating to orphan his son at any second while Dutch and Annabelle watched, his brother facing the same fate.
He shuddered, and tried to focus on the back of Charles’ head, his long hair swinging back and forth. Maybe after this move was over, they could sit and have a good talk, maybe more.
Charles’ voice broke him out of his fantasy. “This way, through the trees. I think there’s a camp up ahead.”
A field opened up past the trees, hugging the lake. A nice breeze came in off the water, and a few larger trees provided shade to a sparse camp. “Seems deserted,” Arthur said when he realized there was no movement around the tents. But there was still a fire burning in the center. “Where is this guy?”
“I don’t know, but you know something?” Charles said, looking around. “This is a better camp spot than back there. Much easier to defend.”
“Maybe,” Arthur said, and then he finally spotted a man hog tied on the ground. “Looks like our feller, Charles.”
“Quick, cut him free and let’s get out of here,” Charles said, but it was too late. Arthur only got the gag out of the man’s mouth when guns fired near the trees.
“Take cover!” Arthur shouted, ducking behind a barrel for his second fight of the day.
“I see three coming this way!” Charles said.
A bullet zipped past Arthur’s ear as he checked for more attackers, forcing him back down. He tightened his grip on his rifle before moving out of cover again. One down. Then another. But more were coming out of the trees, too many. Charles was doing his best, as was Arthur, but it wasn’t enough!
He didn’t realize at first when Charles said the last man was making a run for it. He just kept shooting.
“Arthur, stop! They’re gone!”
He pulled the trigger again.
Charles placed a hand on his shoulder, but Arthur flinched, so he pulled his hand away. “Arthur, hey, it’s over. Arthur?”
Arthur slowly lowered his gun, still watching the tree line.
“Hey, Arthur, can I touch you?”
Arthur nodded, ready this time, and Charles wrapped his arms around him. “Oh, Arthur,” he said, “I’ve got you, just breathe.”
And Arthur realized just how tight his chest was, and he fell into Charles’ hug. He dragged the thick air into his lungs with a shudder and said, “Sorry, I’m sorry, sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Charles said, a gentle but firm hand rubbing up and down his back. “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“That’s good.”
“I just… I guess it’s been so long I just… it’s been a long time.”
“I understand.”
Arthur closed his eyes and leaned heavier into Charles. “Ten years. I guess I’ve gone soft.”
“You’re not soft, Arthur,” Charles said. “This isn’t the kind of life people normally have. It’s okay to not want this.”
Arthur took a few more deep breaths, then he heard a groan behind him. “We should probably help out that guy.”
“Right,” Charles said. He waited for Arthur to sit up by himself, then cut the rope around the man’s wrists. Arthur listened to the man ramble with no idea what he was saying, but he was starting to feel better. “I’ll get him untied, then go get the others.”
“Yeah, this spot should work for us,” Arthur said. “I’ll take this feller back to his family.”
“You sure you’re up for that?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Arthur said, staggering to his feet. “See you after.”
“Alright, Arthur. We can talk more later.”
“Come on,” Arthur said, waving at the German man. “I’ll take you back to your family.”
Arthur didn’t understand what he said next, or anything he said during the ride back, but he obviously trusted Arthur not to hurt him. Soon, they were back at Dewberry Creek, and the family was hugging the father. Before they left the man reached into the wagon and pulled out a gold bar. Arthur’s eyes widened when he placed it into his hands. “Thank you,” he said, the only English words spoken so far, but they weren’t necessary.
“You’re very welcome,” Arthur said, eyes still on the gold. He slid the gold into his satchel and rode back to the lake. By the time Dutch and the gang showed up, he was much more calm and had managed to clear the bodies.
“Oh, you were right. This will be perfect for us,” Dutch said as he drove the wagon in, Charles on the seat next to him. “Hello, Arthur!”
“Dutch.”
Dutch handed the reins to Charles and hopped down. “Miss Grimshaw, Mr. Pearson, put everyone to work! Make this place a home. Well, I don’t know where the hell we are, but we are going to make the best of it.”
Isaac hopped off Apollo, looking around with Sean and Lenny. “Hey, race you to the dock!” Sean said, taking off, Isaac and Lenny chasing after him.
“Get back here!” Susan shouted. “You need to unpack this wagon!”
“Are you alright, son?” Dutch asked, eyes full of concern.
“Did John make it back alright?” Arthur asked instead of answering.
“Just fine, I promise,” Dutch said, pointing to the last wagon with John helping Abigail and Jack climb down. “See? Though he’s annoyed at losing out on the money. He was talking about going back.”
“He’d be an idiot to go back for that money,” Arthur said, about to march over to John and demand he stay in camp.
“Don’t worry,” Dutch said, catching Arthur’s shoulder. “He’s here. He’s not going back up there. Trust me. I’m pretty sure Abigail won’t let him.”
And then Hosea was there, too. “Nice place. How did you find it?”
“It was more Charles than me,” Arthur said. “Some feller got kidnapped for… some reason. I don’t know, but Charles found this spot when we went to rescue him.”
“You went on a rescue mission while you were supposed to be looking for a new camp?” Dutch asked.
“Uh…”
“Well, this spot seems good,” Hosea jumped in. “Let’s get set up. Maybe a wedding tonight?”
“What?” Arthur asked.
“John and Abigail got engaged, remember?”
He almost forgot. So much happened in only a day. Arthur laughed and said, “We aren’t having the wedding tonight, are we?”
“Probably not,” Hosea said. “But soon, I think. Why don’t you take a break for a bit? You’ve been moving all day.”
“We have a camp to set up first!” Arthur replied.
Hosea gave him a quick raise of the eyebrow, but let him go. Really, Arthur couldn’t stop moving. By the time the gang finished setting up, there wasn’t any time to hunt, so they ate out of the canned provisions in Pearson’s wagon. Arthur couldn’t eat a bite. Hosea definitely noticed that, too, after Dutch and Annabelle slipped into their tent to talk.
And then Hosea whispered something in Charles’ ear while looking his way, and Charles walked over to join him. “How are you?” Charles asked.
“Did Hosea put you up to this?” Arthur said, trying to get attention off himself.
“I was going to come over anyway,” Charles said.
They sat in silence for a while on Arthur’s cot, listening to the complaining and the exploring of the new camp until Arthur said, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t ready for another fight, and I put us in danger. I’m sorry.”
Charles didn’t say anything for a moment, just sitting quietly next to Arthur. Then, he said, “The first time I went on a bank robbery, I thought I was ready. I was in a crew of four people, hadn’t been with them too long, but they seemed welcoming. Confident. The job would make us all rich.”
Charles swallowed, brushing his hair out of his eyes. When his hand settled back into his lap, Arthur grasped it.
Charles continued. “It all went wrong. The law cornered us, and I just froze. They were yelling at me to fight back, but I couldn’t. And then when the opportunity came to run, they left me. I don’t know how I got out in the end.”
“Oh, Charles,” Arthur started to say.
“People are not supposed to be in gunfights,” Charles said. “And it’s okay to not want this life, because it’s hard. It’s not normal.”
“And yet here we are,” Arthur said with a chuckle.
“Well, no life seems easy,” Charles said.
“Unless you have money.”
“I suppose,” Charles laughed. “But I think I understand why you were so upset and angry earlier.”
“I just… I knew we needed to move the gang and I was worried about another distraction. I’m glad you made me see sense.”
“You’re welcome,” Charles said with a smile.
Arthur rested his head on Charles’ shoulder, just breathing deep and slow. “Stay with me tonight?” he asked.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I am,” Arthur said. “Not for… anything like that. Just rather not be alone.”
Charles pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Of course.”
Arthur settled back onto the cot, and he quickly realized a problem. “Uh, not sure how we’re going to do this,” he said. The cot was barely large enough for Arthur, and with Charles next to him?
“Uh, hold on,” Charles said, shifting and trying to snuggle as close to Arthur as he could. Half his body was hanging off the cot.
“Wait, let me take off the leg,” Arthur said, sitting up again and almost pushing Charles out.
“Is that really going to change anything?”
“It gives us a little more room at least!” Arthur tossed his wooden leg into the corner. “Come here.”
Charles laughed as Arthur pulled him back down into the cot, the two of them shifting and snuggling closer until they were both comfortable on the bed.
Sort of.
But that didn’t matter to Arthur. He buried his head in Charles’ chest, breathing in deep. He felt safe around Charles, and he could finally release the tightness in his chest. His voice was muffled, but he managed to say, “Thank you. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me, too,” Charles whispered, kissing him again and relaxing into the blankets.