🂱 • 𝚍𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚢 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘 • 🂱 ~ 𝒹ℴ𝒸 𝒽ℴ𝓁𝓁𝒾𝒹𝒶𝓎

chapter six - the creek

*i added a link to a song that you can listen to while reading! enjoy the chapter :)*

"Where you goin'?" Ike Clanton asked Cheyenne the next morning. He leaned on a barn door by the stables, where a group of cowboys had formed. The glimmering morning sun shone over the town. Cheyenne's blue eyes caught in the sunlight, they seemed to be sparkling. Johnny Ringo, who was also standing nearby noticed this particularly. He had eventually found his way back Tombstone the night before, but Cheyenne didn't bother to ask how.

"Going out." she said mysteriously, picking up her saddle bag and lifting it onto her black quarter horse, Spade.

The dry Arizona heat was almost unbearably sweltering. I'll go to the creek today and cool off. I haven't bathed in a while, anyways. Cheyenne thought to herself.

    All of the cowboys watched her as she climbed up on her horse. They truly had no idea where she was off to. Cheyenne hoped to keep it that way. She didn't want any prying man's eyes spotting her.

Without another word, she rode out of town. She didn't dare to look back, but she prayed no one followed her. Everyone knew if Cheyenne even so much as heard them following, she'd blow their brains full of lead with her pistols.

~

Cheyenne arrived at the creek after about an hour. She checked the sun for time, noticing it was about ten in the morning. The sun was blazing already. Sweat rolled down Cheyenne's face in droplets. She had already taken off her thick wool coat and wrapped it around her waist as she rode.

Cheyenne dismounted her horse carefully and removed the bridle, letting her horse graze on the river banks as she bathed. She had learned good horsemanship at a very young age by her father.

"Remember, Daisy. The animals always come first. You're hungry? Feed them animals then come inside and feed yourself." Her father had said. She honestly enjoyed spending time with her father when she was younger. But after the three Earp boys left, the house fell to shambles. Her father drank day and night. Cheyenne's heart hurt at the memories.

Cheyenne pulled a rough canvas towel out of her saddle bag. Walking down to the creek, she removed her hat and boots.

Cheyenne searched the forest with her eyes for movement. To her luck, she found none. The woman carefully unbuckled her holsters and set her set of guns by the bank of the creek. Cheyenne untied her red scarf from her waist and dropped it to the ground. She unbuttoned her blouse and pants and removed them, leaving her in her undergarments.

After double checking the forest, Cheyenne slipped off her undergarments and waded into the creek. Gasping at the cool water, she relaxed. She tilted her head back, getting her hair wet. She scrubbed off all of the dirt and grime off of her skin with her fingers.

Her guard was still up, of course. She watched her horse's every move. His ears, his eyes, his body language. If there was an incoming threat, Spade would sense it first.

The stream was one of the cleanest Cheyenne had ever been in. She dipped her head under and swam underwater, enjoying the refreshment. As much as Cheyenne enjoyed the cool creek, she couldn't stay here. She needed to get out, dry off, and put her clothes back on before anyone saw her.

Suddenly, Spade slowly lifted his head from grazing and looked over in a western direction.

"Shit." Cheyenne cursed under her breath, swimming behind a large rock. She slowly peaked her head above the rock, trying to see what Spade was looking at.

A white horse emerged from the trees with a rider mounted. Cheyenne glanced over to where her guns were displayed on the riverbank, for any fool to grab. Her heart raced a thousand miles a second. She couldn't get her guns now, she'd be seen. The woman could feel her heartbeat in her ears.

Cheyenne squinted to see who the rider was. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she realized.

It was Doc Holliday.

"Wyatt?" Holliday yelled. He spotted Spade, who was very similar to Wyatt's black stallion. He trotted closer to Spade. He noticed Cheyenne's clothes laid out on the ground by the creek. His face was confused, clearly not making the connection.

Cheyenne ducked down and hid as well as she could, covering her chest. She shrunk into the water so only her head was visible.

Doc noticed Cheyenne's mahogany-gripped revolvers and the card suit leatherwork on the holsters. A moment later, he spotted the red scarf. As the dots started to connect in his head, his normally very pale complexion flushed bright red.

"Miss Earp?" Doc called politely. No reply.

"Be a gentleman and grab that canvas, will you?" Cheyenne said, in the highest tone Doc had ever heard her speak in.

"Must I?" Doc chuckled to himself.

"So what you're implying is, I have to step out of this creek naked as a baby. In front of you." Cheyenne said slowly, still hidden from Holliday's view. "Then I'll tell Wyatt you were stalking me while I was bathing. I'm sure he'll love to hear about that. Won't he, Holliday?"

Doc's smirk fell.
"I suppose you're right, darling." Holliday dismounted his horse and walked over to where a canvas towel was neatly rolled up. He coughed and picked it up. "Where are you?"

"Leave it on the big rock by the Mesquite tree."

Doc slowly placed the towel on the smooth rock. Holliday stood there, waiting for more orders. The smirk returned to his face.

"Look away, dickhead." Cheyenne snipped. Doc laughed, turning around.

"What ladylike language, Miss Earp."

Cheyenne just scoffed, slowly pulling herself from the water. She quickly grabbed the canvas and wrapped it around herself. She walked past Doc, who did his best to looked away from the woman. She collected her clothes in a pile in her arms.

"Need help?"

"You're as bad as the cowboys, Holliday. Have some decency and look away." Cheyenne shook her head. She smiled a little inside at Doc's jokes. She had never seen this side of him.

Cheyenne got fully dressed, with holsters buckled in a few minutes. Cheyenne tapped Doc on the shoulder. She wrung out her long, curly, blonde hair and put her hat on.

"Shall we ride back?" Holliday asked, mounting his horse as Cheyenne bridled Spade.

"Guess so." Cheyenne said, mounting her horse. "And why were you looking for Wyatt earlier?"

"Oh, that. I have come to the conclusion that your brother found Miss Josephine Marcus, the acclaimed actor, on his ride. He must've worked his charm on her." Doc laughed.

"But Mattie..." Cheyenne began, utterly disturbed. She never found Wyatt to be the kind of man to cheat on his wife.

"Yes, Wyatt became quite an...adventurous man back in Dodge City. Lots of pretty women to see, suddenly a man has all the time in the world to have them to dinner."

"Spare the details." Cheyenne cringed.

"With pleasure." Doc chuckled.

"So." Cheyenne began. "What's your real name? I can't imagine someone namin' their kid 'Doc'."

"John." Doc said. "I worked as a dentist in Dodge City, where I befriended Wyatt. He gave me the nickname Doc. We were playing a game of poker together, and Wyatt had won. 'Not this time, Doc.' Wyatt had said. Ever since, the nickname stuck."

"That makes plenty of sense." Cheyenne nodded.

"And you. I heard Morgan calling you Daisy. Where did that come from?" Holliday asked.

"Oh, that's just my middle name. My brothers called me that as a girl because Cheyenne was too long to say and spell." she laughed.

"How special." Doc chuckled sarcastically.

Cheyenne swayed with the rhythm of her horse's hips contently. Although Cheyenne wasn't one to spend time with non-cowboys, this ride back from the creek was oddly comforting.

As the outskirts of Tombstone started to pass by, a gunshot rang out. Doc and Cheyenne looked at each other for a moment, before spurring their horses forward into a lope. They rushed into the town to see what was happening.