When Hearts collide (An Arthur Morgan Rdr2 fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Jail break

My stomach, was in knots when I finally awoke the next morning. My head was pounding. It didn't help that I was sleeping on the hard ground, someplace near Valentine.
"Oh, Morgan. You damn fool," I say to myself, as I rise to my feet.
Immediately, I regret having moved so fast. I retch, the alcohol making it's reappearance. And let me tell you, it burned just as badly coming out, as it did going in.
"Dammit. Never doin' that again," I say, as I whistle for my horse.
He trots up, having remained close by.
"Good boy. Now, lets find Lenny and get the hell outta here," I say, as I turn towards town, and try to search for Lenny.

Coming up with nothing, I figured he must already be back at camp. And with that knowledge, I go about asking how to get to Strawberry. And once I had that information, I head out. The sooner I got Micah out of that jail, the sooner I could get home and lie in an actual bed, to recover from the consequences of drinking as much as I had, last night. Hangovers were no joke. But, I had to deal, for now. At least the wind rushing past my face, was nice and cool, helping me to forget about it, temporarily.

The town of Strawberry, was small. I'd barely ridden into town, and I'd seen everything there was to see, about the town. Yet, there was a homey feel to it. And I found I quite liked it. Yet, as much as I wanted to enjoy the tranquility of the place, I had a mission to uphold. Hitching my horse up next to the sheriff's office, I walk over. And, I see him. Micah's sniveling rat like face, peeking through the rusty metal bars, of the jailhouse window, looking right at me.
"Arthur, Arthur, is that you?" He asks, as I approach, a big smile on my face.
"Yup. How's life behind bars, Partner?" I ask, chuckling.
"Not fun. Listen, you gotta get me outta here. You are gonna get me outta here, ain't you?" He asks.

I lean against the wall, enjoying this way too much, despite the hangover.
"I ain't decided yet," I say.
"Come on, stop playin," he says.
"Oh, I'm serious, partner. I've had to deal with all the bluster, out of your mouth. For six long months, at that. I'm debatin' lettin' them hang you," I say.
"You gotta do somethin', Arthur. Please, I'm beggin' you," he says.
"Well, look at that. This old dog, learned a new trick. He learned to beg," I say, laughing now.
"Har har, real funny. Now, get me outta here," he says.
"Alright, fine. Dutch won't be too happy, I return without you," I say, as I work out a plan in my mind, on how to go about breaking him out.

Deciding on dynamite, which I had on me, I light the fuse, getting well out of the way. And no sooner had that wall come down, than a familiar golden horse races into town, halting a few feet from where mine was waiting.
"What are you doin' here?" I ask, when she rushes to my side.
"Helping you," she says.
"Are you crazy? You just put yourself at risk," I say, an angry yet worried edge to my voice.
"Who's this?" Micah asks, joining us.
"Later. Right now, we gotta get the hell outta here," I say.
"I gotta make a house call first," Micah says, grabbing one of my revolvers from my holster.
"You kiddin' me? We're bein' shot at," I say.
"I gotta reclaim somethin' of mine," he says.

I look over at Peyton, finally letting the guard around my heart, down.
"Stick close to me. You understand? Stick close to me," I say.
"I will. Like I said, I came to help," she says.
"You got your gun?" I ask.
"Yep. Locked and loaded," she says.
"Good. Now, stay on me. Lets move," I say, downing a few lawmen as we moved up, following Micah.

Shooting up half the damn town, Micah finally pays his house call, Peyton and I covering his ass, while we waited for him. Once he'd gotten what he damn near gotten us killed over, we rush to our horses and mount up, taking off at a full gallop. However, we weren't out of the woods yet. We had to shoot more lawmen, as they bore down on us. We kept riding, and eventually out rode them. We were in the clear, for now.
"That was some damn fine shootin', Morgan," Micah says, as we come to a standstill behind an abandoned cabin.
"Fine shootin'? Micah, we shot up half a town, back there," I say, wishing I had left the bastard to hang. All he did, was cause trouble.
"Look, I had to get my guns. Ain't nothin' I love more, than my guns. And I wasn't bout to let Skinny, take em from me," he says.
"Who was he, anyhow?" I ask.
"Some feller I rode with, before I joined up with y'all," he says.
"How convenient, he lived right smack in the middle of town. You almost got us all killed," I say.
"You faired fine. Both of you. Now, speakin' of which, we didn't get acquainted, back in town. Names Micah. Micah Bell," he says, regarding Peyton.
"You sure your name, ain't trouble?" She asks, a sour edge to her tone.
"Well, ain't you a right fiery one," Micah says, flicking his tongue along his lower lip.
"I had a good teacher," she says, glancing over at me.

Micah sizes up the situation, and immediately starts to snicker.
"You're jokin', right? Morgan your teacher? That's the craziest thing I ever heard," he says.
"She ain't jokin'," I say.
"Wow. I missed a lot, didn't I?" Micah asks, sarcastically.
"Look, if you think there's something going on between Arthur and me, you'd be wrong. There isn't," Peyton snarls the words.
"So defensive. But, whatever. I don't really care," Micah says.
"Good. Now, Dutch is waiting for us. Can we go, now?" Peyton asks.
"Oh, I ain't gonna see Dutch, till I got a peace offerin, for him," Micah says.
"You mean to tell me, we risked our necks, for nothin?" I ask.
"No, not for nothin'. But, I wanna make it up to him, for gettin' in trouble and all," he says.
"Where you plan on goin, then?" I ask.
"Back to my lil camp, behind Strawberry," he says.
"Goddammit, Micah. That's stupid," I say.
"Trust me, I'm well hidden, back there. Perhaps, we can meet up later on, Morgan. You can help me, once I figure out a score to bring back to Dutch," Micah says.
"I've had enough bullshit, for one day. Perhaps, I'll send someone else, to join you, on your suicide mission," I say.

He shrugs, but makes a point of reminding me, that under Dutch, he and I are brothers. And that brothers make mistakes from time to time. He was correct, in the fact that mistakes were made, once in a blue moon. But, us being brothers? No. After that, he departed and so did we. No need to stick around, after that whole mess. However, once we were far enough away from Strawberry, I cut off the trail and Peyton follows me. We head down the small incline, heading towards the river bank. Once I was satisfied that we were well out of sight, I dismount, telling my horse to stay, before making my way over to a small nook beneath a overhang. Peyton stays close behind me, probably wondering why we'd stopped, instead of heading straight back to camp. Once we were safely in the shelter of the nook, I turn to face her.
"Do you realize, how stupid your followin' me to Strawberry, was?" I ask, my gaze locking onto hers.
"Arthur, I-," she begins. But, I don't give her the chance to finish.
"Have you any idea, how worried I was, the whole time we were gunnin' down those lawmen? Worried, that you'd get shot, or worse, killed?" I ask.
"I was just-," she starts again, but once more, I cut her off.
"Have you any idea, what that would've done to me, if you'd been shot and killed?" I ask.
"I have some idea, yes. When you agreed to the jailbreak, I panicked," she says.

I stand there, in stunned silence.
"And the fact that you were doing this alone, with no help, I just...I couldn't sit by and risk losing you," she continues.
I move to stand before her, then.
"I guess that makes two of us, then," I say, leaning in and pressing my lips, to hers, the fight having left me.
She presses closer to me, giving in to the kiss. I break away, momentarily, to sit on the ground, gently pulling her with me. Pressing my lips to hers once more, I gently press her backwards, till her back was flat on the ground, and I was leaning slightly over her. Our lips part, in unison, and the kiss becomes deeper.

It isn't until, she'd unbuttoned my shirt, and was working her way to the button on my jeans, that I finally pulled back, preventing this from going any further. At least, for now.
"Peyton, uh...best we wait, on that," I say.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," she says.
"Quite the opposite, actually. But, first, we gotta make sure, this is what we both want," I say.
"Is now, a bad time to admit, I've fallen in love with you?" She asks.
"Not at all. In fact, Peyton, I've fallen in love with you, too. Ever since we first met, our hands first touched, I was doomed. I just didn't wanna believe it," I say.
"So, now what?" She asks.
"Depends. Will you let me make an attempt, at courtin' you, Peyton?" I ask.

The look on her face, said it all. Even before she uttered her next words.
"Yes. Yes of course, you may court me," she says.
"Now, keep in mind, I'm a bit rusty, at this whole courtin' thing," I say.
"Then, lets take it slow. Let it develope the right way," she says.
"Agreed," I say.
"I do have one question, though," she asks.
"What's that?" I ask.
"What are we going to say, to the others in camp?" She asks.
"Ain't gotta say anythin'. They'll figure it out," I say, winking at her.
"I don't doubt that," she says, leaning her head against my shoulder.