take me back in time

wagon

A few days later, Arthur sat at the campfire, coffee mug in his hands, eyes glued to the flames and he tried hard to ignore that little Irish bastard sitting next to him, babbling without breathing.
It was still early, sun was already up, ready to start the day and folks were rumbling around, doing chores and other stuff that needed doing.
"Oi, all 'm sayin' 's, that she's a'hell'uva woman an-", Sean's voice piped up, his accent thick and heavy and Arthur suppressed the urge to groan loudly.
It was way too early for a conversation with him.
"Who 's?"
Sean snickered, his hands fumbling with the mug in his hands.
"Ya not listenin', English?"
"I try not to."
"Ha-ha, very funny. Anybody ever told ya, ya're a borin' old man?"
Arthur huffed. "One or two times."
"See, told ya."
The headache bumping in his forehead grew even bigger while listening to Sean's nonsense and Arthur sighed deeply.
"There she'is.", Sean nearly whispered and Arthur looked up, eyes finding the reason for the redhead's excitement, making him jump slightly in his seat.
Of course.
"Oi, Miss Sophie. Where 're ya goin', beautiful?"
Let's just say, that the coffee mug could be grateful it was made of steel, otherwise it would be littering the dirty ground in pieces right now.
Sophie stopped in her tracks, turning to look at them, a small smile on her lips.
"Well, good morning to you too, Mr. MacGuire.", she said, then her eyes landed on Arthur. "Mr. Morgan."
Arthur coughed slightly, he could feel the small blush creeping up his cheeks.
"Miss Kendall.", he rumbled.
Sean watched the encounter with interest, his tiny brain trying to understand what exactly was going on between them. He never saw Arthur like that, blushing and rambling. It was new and he wasn't quite sure what the reason for it was, even though he had his suspicions.
A woman could turn even the toughest man into a rambling mess.
With a huge grin, Sean stood, discarding his mug on the ground, he closed the distance between Sophie and him, looping one arm around her shoulders.
Arthur's eyes darted between them, anger bubbling up in his body.
Sophie chuckled and turned her head to look at Sean, one eyebrow raised in question.
"What do you want?", she asked and Sean laughed.
"Notin', beautiful. Jus' escortin' ya wherever ya want."
The sly smile appearing on Sean's lips, made Arthur jump to his feet, dumping the remaining coffee to the ground with force.
Sophie shrugged Sean's arm off with a laugh and turned towards the food wagon, calling over her shoulder: "Thank you kindly, Mr. MacGuire, but I can handle myself just fine."
"Quite a woman, ain't she, English?", the red haired man asked him while his eyes roamed over her backside and Arthur huffed, fighting the urge to slap that little shit square in the face.
"Sure."
He took a few steps closer to the younger outlaw, surprising him slightly.
"But not fer ya.", he said under his breath and Sean snickered.
"Really? Why's that?"
Arthur pointed over his shoulder to the women sitting at their tent, washing clothes and chatting among each other.
"Karen.", he simply stated and Sean shrunk visibly, cheeks red.
"Nah, we aint-"
"Heard ya two through the whole camp, so don'cha gimme that, boy."
Sean huffed a laugh, averting his eyes from Arthur's.
"Uh- yeah."
With that, he turned on his heels and made his way out of sight quickly.
Arthur paused for a moment, just enjoying the warmth and the sun on his skin, his eyes trailing over the camp, landing on Sophie as she stood beside the chuck wagon, washing dishes with a small smile on her lips.
Sadie and Pearson worked a few feet away, bickering every now and then.
"Arthur."
He turned his head to the voice, watching Hosea who came over to him slowly.
"Hosea."
The older man sat down at the table where Tilly normally played Dominoes, patting the chair next to him and Arthur obliged, sitting down on the wooden surface.
"You okay?", Hosea asked and Arthur frowned.
"Yeah, an' you?"
"Pretty."
"Huh."
They sat for a moment in silence, watching the people milling around.
Out of the blue, Hosea chuckled and Arthur looked at him.
"What?"
"That was quite the sight, Trelawny sitting in a prison wagon.", the older man spat out, chuckling all the while.
Arthur hummed. "Never thought I'd see somethin' like that."
They found Josiah two days ago in the back of the sheriff's wagon, all tied up and ready to go into prison, until his co-inmates tried to make a run for it and Arthur had to hunt them down, of course. Leaving the talking and lulling to Dutch and Hosea, which worked though. He was supposed to meet up with Dutch later that day in Rhodes, something about the sheriff and work.
Hosea patted his knee in delight, coughing in his hand while laughing.
"You remember that time when-"
His sentence was cut short by a commotion at the chuck wagon, Sadie shouting something and Pearson replying just as angry.
Arthur was on his feet quickly, running over in a haste, Hosea in tow.
Sophie stood between Sadie and the cook, her arm looped around the other woman's waist, holding her close to her body.
"What in the hell is goin' here?", he barked out, stopping the shouting immediately.
Pearson looked at him with wide eyes.
"That woman is crazy! Threatened to cook me alive, that is!"
Sadie snorted, her body trembling against the arms that hold her back, Sophie's face was red with the effort of holding Sadie close.
"I got this, Arthur.", she breathed.
Arthur cocked one eyebrow. "Really?"
Hosea chuckled. "Mrs. Adler, what seems to be the problem here?"
Sadie stopped the fighting, nearly going limp in Sophie's arms and she flickered her brown eyes on them.
"I'm jus' going stir crazy in here, Mr. Matthews. I want to do more than chopping vegetables.", she stated, her voice low and hoarse. "My husband and I, we shared the work, everything. I can hunt, I can-"
Sophie let go of her, hands still on her shoulders.
"How about we go into town, Mrs. Adler? Just you and me?", she interrupted the blonde woman softly and Arthur snorted.
"No."
Hosea shot him an incredulously look, while Sophie just stared at him.
"Can't remember asking you, Mr. Morgan.", she said dryly, turning towards Sadie and offering her a warm smile.
"You in?"
Sadie hesitated a bit, then she returned the smile, the first Arthur ever saw.
"I'd love to."
"Wait-", Arthur stepped forward, but a hand on his arm stopped him and he looked at Hosea.
"Don't, Arthur. Just let them have it their way.", he nearly whispered and Arthur frowned.
"Ya know what's out there, Hosea? It's too dangerous fer two women travelin' alone.", he spat out between clenched teeth, prompting Sophie to bark a laugh.
"Really? Well, good thing we have this with us.", she stated, patting the Lancaster Repeater sitting over her shoulder, while she grabbed a letter and the shopping list from Pearson.
Arthur crossed his arms over his chest, not amused with the whole situation and close to bursting, mumbling under his breath as he watched how the women prepared the wagon and sat on top of it, ready to head out.
Hosea chuckled beside him, tipping his hat in farewell.
"See you later, ladies."
Sophie looked over her shoulder, a smirk on her lips.
"We'll be back in a few hours or so. See ya."
The horses pulled the wagon quickly out of sight, Arthur's eyes locked on the vanishing fabric of Sophie's grey shirt, until it disappeared into the woods.
"Quite the woman."
If he wouldn't knew better, Arthur thought he heard a little awe in the older man's voice.
"Ya don't know the half'of it.", he mumbled, averting his eyes from the woods to his, cocking one eyebrow as he saw the huge grin plastered on Hosea's face.
"What?"
Hosea chuckled, dark and hearty. "Nothin'."