Dutch's Daughter [[RDR2 Arthur Morgan x OC]]

chapter 5; home sick

[[Trigger Warning: This chapter contains sexual assualt (not smut because that's icky and I would never write that!) If this is something you don't wish to read, please read until the bold warning and then skip to the next chapter - Your mental health comes first!]]

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The men storm out of the camp, pursuing yet another throwdown with the rivalrous gang. Coming from the opposite direction, entering rather than fleeing, is Lenny, barely hanging onto the horse bolting underneath him.

"Dutch! Dutch!" Lenny screams, his voice already hoarse.

"What is it, boy?" Dutch rushes to meet him at the hitching posts, Charles and Charlotte not far behind.

"They got Micah... arrested him for murder... he was in Strawberry and-"

"Take a breath, son, you're okay." Charles pinches his shoulder tightly.

"They nearly lynched me. They got Micah in the Sheriff's office and there's talk of hanging."

"Alas, there is hope!" Charlotte bursts out enthusiastically, picturing the bastard with a noose around his neck.

"Charlotte. I can see through his bluster enough to know that Micah is a fine man. I wish you could too." Dutch faces her, opening his arms wide and raising an eyebrow.

She sees the change in his body language and can tell what he's about to ask. "No way... I ain't saving that fool."

"I'd do it myself but I got a price on my head. I can't show my mug in Strawberry."

"Dutch, I-" She looks at Lenny then leans in closer to her father, lowering her voice to an aggressive whisper. "I ain't been back there since I was a girl."

"Enough. We all have to make sacrifices. You're going and that's that."

Staring into his dark eyes, she sees the same man that pulled her from her home 11 years ago. Though she despises the idea of returning to the life she'd left behind, she knows she has no choice. In the end, her actions are not hers to choose but her fathers. She'd do anything he asked her to and he abuses the privilege to its full advantage.

"Fine."

Dutch shakes his head, satisfied by her submission to his authority. Attempting to smooth things over with her, he readies Sheriff while Lenny fills her in on any necessary details. All the while, Charlotte scowls, following the two along to prepare herself for the mission. Had it been Arthur forcing her, she'd be pitching a fit just as well as she could when she was a girl.

"You get Micah home and we'll get you good and drunk. A little reward for your efforts."

Charlotte scoffs at the notion. She hardly needed an excuse to get drunk. She bids the men farewell, leading Sheriff out of camp the same way Arthur and his men had gone. There was a time long ago when she'd prayed every night to go home. Now, heading in it's direction feels wrong. It's no longer home, a tent and twenty two gang members she calls her family. Save for Micah.

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"Good evening, sir. I just rode in from Blackwater, on the trail of a dangerous gang. Colm O'Driscoll? Heard there was an incident." Charlotte inherited her father's knack for charming.

"We don't deal with bounty hunters. Not even female ones. Sorry." The deputy flips up his newspaper.

"I was just hoping I could get a description?" She tries again, prying cautiously for information. Heavy boots colliding with the ground signal the local sheriff's entrance.