Julia was heading to the camp.

Her mind was confused, she didn't know what to think or not think at all. So many things had happened that day: Miss Grimshaw, Pinkertons...Nathan.

Why? Why he did that?

She questioned herself, without finding an answer, or at least she didn't want to think about any. So, she let her frustration turn into an unclear sound that left her lips, that resounded in the vastness of the plain around her.

It was pitch black and if it wasn't for the lantern she always kept in one of her saddlebags, she probably wouldn't have seen a span from her nose.

When she reached the thick wood that surrounded the camp, she stopped and gawked at it.

Before she had left, she hadn't informed anyone and surely her absence had been noticed and that meant that if she had shown up, they probably would have asked her lot of questions and she wasn't in the mood to answer them.

However, she didn't have anything to camp, since she had forgotten to load her spare tent on Wind Catcher, so her only option was to go to a hotel, hoping that there was one in Rhodes.

"Come on, boy" she said petting Wind Catcher while they headed to town.

Julia had never been in Rhodes, but with the dark, she couldn't see much anyway. The only thing that caught her attention in the dark was the small building once she had entered the town where there was written outside: Rhodes Parlour House.

She tied Wind Catcher to one of the posts outside the building before she entered the crowded saloon where she tried as much as possible to avoid the looks of the drunken men and working girls who were waving their fans before their flushed faces, due to the heat.

She greeted the barman who was cleaning the glasses and paid for a room.

"I'd like to rent a room for the night"

The man nodded and took one of the keys putting it on the counter.

"Room two. Up, on the right. Good night Miss"

Julia nodded and took the key before she climbed the stairs and go right where she found almost immediately her room.

After she got inside, she noticed that it wasn't big at all, but the furniture was cozy. In front of her, there was a big bed, a nightstand close to it while on her left there was a mirror and a table with a chair. On the back of the room, there was a small dresser and a pisspot.

The moonlight coming from the only window in the room allowed Julia not to light the lanterns and after she left her gun-belt and hat on the table she walked closer to the window, looking outside the desolated road before she sat on the bed.

The covers were decorated with baroque motives and there were more than four cushions.

Once she got rid of her boots and lowered her suspenders, Julia laid down groaning when her back hit the soft mattress instead of the hard ground.

She closed her eyes, ready to fall asleep after the long day, but suddenly that anxiety that had hunted her for almost all day came up once again.

Julia sighed rubbing her forehead.

Damn you, Grady.

She couldn't help think about it. From years she hadn't had any relationship with anybody, not after what had happened the last time. But her tragic experience wasn't the only thing that upset her.

Julia had no feeling for agent Grady and even if she had, she couldn't have afforded a relationship with him.

He was the law and she wasn't exactly so fond of respecting it. Together they could never work.

She had to make things clear with him, right away.

I'll talk to him the first time I'll see him again and I'll make things clear. For now, I'd better sleep.

The next day, when Julia opened her eyes, her brain took a little of time to realize where she was and when she noticed the fancy covers under her she quickly sat up looking around confused before she remembered the happenings of the night before and lay down again.

Form the window a warm light came into the room, maybe too warm for being early in the morning, in fact, Julia had slept almost until midday.

She slowly sat up, yawning and fixing her suspenders on her shoulders, then she wore her boots and personal effects.

"Good morning, Miss" greeted the host, a different fella from the night before.

"Good morning" answered Julia coming down the last few steps and leaving the key on the counter.

"You slept well, I hope" said again the man.

"Wonderfully. Goodbye now" answered Julia heading towards the door.

Once she got out and near Wind Catcher, she petted him for a while and then she gave him an apple.

After she straddled him, she slowly followed the main road observing the town, much smaller than Valentine.

Turning to the right, she saw the gun-shop at her left while at her right there was the Sherriff and the general-shop.

A little bit further, she saw a wagon that seemed familiar to her, so she got closer noticing soon after a woman with blonde hair and freckled face.

"Mrs. Adler?"

The woman turned hearing her name.

"There you are. You disappeared last night" said the woman while Julia got down her horse.

"I was...err...I had work to do" answered Julia and Sadie gave her a look that she couldn't figure out.

"What bring you here anyway?" she asked trying to divert her.

"I'm here to buy some supplies for that old grumpy bastard" answered the woman visibly irritated.

"Pearson?" asked Julia with a half-smile and Sadie nodded.

"What happened?"

"He treats me like a servant! If it wasn't for Arthur, I would've killed him"

"Morgan's here with you?" asked Julia surprised.

"Yeah, he's at the post office. Anyway, I've to get these things. You coming with me?" asked Sadie showing her a list of things to buy.

Julia nodded following her into the shop.

"Good day ladies" greeted the seller as soon as they entered.

Sadie headed towards the counter showing the list to the man while Julia started to wander around the shop, looking around.

"I need the things written here and you sell some clothes?" asked Sadie.

"We do. Not the widest range of ladies fashion, I'm afraid" Miss said the seller.

"That's alright, I'll look at everything you got. And it's Mrs by the way" answered the woman and Julia smiled thinking it was sweet that she considered herself a still married woman despite her husband was dead.

"Mrs, with all due respect but I think it's better if you ask for some women clothes somewhere else" said the man again.

Julia turned looking at him sternly. Gave him a stern look before she got closer to Sadie who had a deadly expression herself.

She was ready to argue back when Julia put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Listen to me buddy, she wants some damn clothes and she don't give a shit about what you think a woman should wear. So, you're gonna show her what you have and then you'll give us the supplies we need, minding your own business. Am I being clear?"

The man stared at her for a moment, now not so sure about debating on some clothes.

"We need an answer here, man" hurried Julia.

"Y-yeah, okay. I'm gonna show you what we have Mrs" said the man before he disappeared on the back of the shop.

Julia shook her head turning towards Sadie who was smiling widely.

"You scared the shit out of that idiot" she said chucking.

Julia smiled.

"Oh you know, I don't like when people say what you can and can't do. Especially when they're men" answered Julia looking around once more.

"So, where did you go last night?" asked Sadie after a while.

"I paid a visit to the Pinkertons, put on the umptieth show to cover Van der Linde" answered Julia.

"And why you stayed at the hotel?" asked again Sadie, this time with a more investigatory tone.

Julia turned to look at her.

"I...I needed some space, to think" she said low and Sadie, noticing her expression walked closer to her.

"Did something happen?" she asked.

Julia looked at her for a moment, asking herself if she should have told her about agent Grady. She didn't know why but that woman inspired her trust.

"Well..." she began but soon after she got interrupted by a loud sound caused by the seller who had come back with a pile of new clothes in his hands.

"Here I am ladies. These are all the clothes we have. There's a changing room out on the left if you want to try them on" said the man putting the clothes on the counter.

"Thank you" said Sadie taking then and heading to the back door, but then she stopped and looked at Julia.

"I'll load the wagon. You take your time" she said and after a moment the woman nodded and got outside.

The seller put all the supplies in two boxes while Julia loaded the sacks of flour.

She was about to load the last box when she heard some steps behind her that made her turn.

"Arthur..." she said taken by surprise.

"What you doing here?" he asked.

"I was loading the wagon while Sadie...well...she's buying some new clothes" explained Julia pointing at her back

Morgan followed her gesture with his eyes and then looked at her again.

"Clothes?"

"Yep" answered Julia.

"Okay...and why did you disappear last night?" he asked again.

"I went to talk to the Pinkertons. I had to show up after the mess you did. Give them some information"

"Any good news?"

Julia sighed.

"I don't know. I think they'll move soon"

Hearing the door of the shop opening the two of them looked towards it, seeing Sadie coming out of it with a new pair of brown pants, a yellow shirt and a cowboy hat.

"So? What you think?" asked the woman while drawing with a wide smile on her face.

"I think you look good" answered Julia returning the smile.

"You should've seen the look on that fool in there" said Sadie before she turned to Arthur.

"Oh, good you're here. We can go then"

Sadie and got on the wagon while Julia followed them on the back of Wind Catcher.

"So, Julia what were you saying in the shop?" asked Sadie while driving the wagon.

Julia glanced at her noticing that Arthur had moved his eyes on her for a moment before he looked at the road again.

"Never mind" she answered shrugging.

"So, you get everything?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"I think so" answered Sadie.

"And some...new clothes I see?" he added.

"Don't start. I can wear what I damn well want. Seriously, what's the men's problem with women wearing pants?" said Sadie.

"They're afraid we wear them better than they can" said Julia and then she laughed with Sadie while Arthur shook his head.

Suddenly, Julia heard some horses behind her and turning around she saw two men approaching them.

"Hey there" said one of them getting alongside the wagon, catching Arthur's attention.

"Hey" answered Arthur.

Julia looked at her left seeing the other man near her who was staring at her with a wicked smile on his face.

Something wasn't right and looking at Sadie she realized the woman was thinking the same thing.

"What are you folks up to?" asked the man near Arthur.

"Just heading home" Arthur answered trying to seem as calm as possible, but in the meantime Julia noticed him elbowing Sadie who had got one of his pistols.

She fixed her grasp on the reins and looked at the man on her left again. He would have been the first.

"You're in Lemoyne Raider country. You need to pay a toll to pass through here"

"No, I don't think so" answered Arthur.

"You don't think so? How about you pull over right now?" said again the man.

"Pull over?" echoed Arthur tapping Sadie's arm, who grasped the pistol and turned to exchange a look with Julia who nodded.

"That's what I said" said the man impatiently.

"Hey, how's about this?" said Sadie and while Morgan leaned towards the horses she pointed her pistol and shot at the man.

Julia took out her pistol in turn and shot at the man on her left on his chest.

"Go, go, go!" yelled Sadie speeding up the wagon.

"You alright Julia?" asked Morgan looking at her.

"Yes, but there are others!" yelled Julia noticing other men behind her.

"Shit! Let's get the hell out of here!" yelled Arthur taking out his other pistol and starting to shoot.

Julia copied him, shooting at their chasers. She hit one on the shoulder making him fell from his horse and then she shot another one right on his neck.

"What the hell was that?" asked Arthur to Sadie.

"They were gonna rub us!" exclaimed her.

"A new pair of pants and you think you're Landon Ricketts" mocked Arthur.

"Can you stop arguing? There's more ahead" said Julia noticing other men coming out from the wood.

One of them stood in front of their wagon, but instead of slowing down, Sadie sped up and ran over the poor bastard.

The wagon stopped abruptly and Arthur and Sadie got down while Julia covered them, shooting at a man in the leg and then in the stomach.

Once they took cover, she got down Wind Catcher and sent him away before she covered behind a big rock where Sadie reached her.

"I'm gonna kill those sons of bitches"! she said before she started to shoot.

Julia looked at her for a moment, shocked by the woman's fury or adrenaline, whatever it was and smiling she began to shoot in turn.

Turning towards Sadie she noticed with how easiness she shot, even if she didn't hit always the target. Thinking about the few times she had talked and seen her she never would have thought that she could be capable of such raw actions, yet there she was.

"You okay there, girls?" asked Arthur.

"Of course. You think we can't handle these fools?" answered Sadie almost offended.

When finally she shooting stopped, there was no one of those men still alive.

Julia and Sadie reached Arthur who stood near the wagon, still looking around.

"Told you I could shoot a gun, didn't I?" said Sadie with a proud smile on her face.

Julia smiled looking at her.

"I don't remember asking you to prove it" answered Arthur taking back his pistol.

"She killed those fools, didn't she?" said Julia looking at Morgan who nodded.

"I sure did. Alright, I'll drive us back" said Sadie getting on the wagon.

"No, pass those reins here" said Morgan when he got on the wagon in turn turning to see if Julia was already on her horse and then he sped up.

"Why?" asked Sadie.

"Because you've caused enough trouble already" answered Arthur driving the wagon on the road again while Julia peered at the road to see if more men were coming.

"I'm fine" said Sadie rolling her eyes.

"Besides, it wasn't her fault if those idiots assaulted us. What was their name again?" asked Julia.

"Lemoyne Raiders, I think" answered Arthur and Julia huffed.

"We're already in enough trouble, we don't need another stupid gang on us" she said.

"But we showed those bastards, huh?" asked Sadie with a smile that Julia returned.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side" chuckled Arthur.

"And they was clearly planning to bushwhack us" said Sadie looking at Arthur in an accusatory way.

"You did good, both of you. But that's a lot of mess to make near camp. Hope it don't bring anyone sniffing around" said again Arthur.

"Don't worry. I'm gonna take care of it in case someone does" answered Julia.

"Are you gonna tell Dutch, Arthur?" asked Sadie.

"Maybe, if he asks. But maybe not"

"Are you saying to keep this a secret Mr. Morgan? A secret from Dutch?" provoked Julia.

"I'm just saying that he don't need to know if it's not important" the man defended.

Sadie and Julia giggled exchanging a look.

"Anyway, don't go ribbing Pearson about that letter" said Arthur and Julia frowned not understanding what he was talking about.

"What letter?" she asked making Sadie turn.

"A letter he asked to post. I have traveled widely making no small name for myself" she imitated Pearson's voice making Julia laughed.

"I won't be giving you no mail to post any time soon, that's for sure" chuckled Arthur while stopping the wagon.

"I just want to peek in that journal of yours. The mind boggles" said Sadie while she got down it.

Julia got down from Wind Catcher tying him to one of the posts before she reached them again.

"Not a chance..." answered the man.

"I think it's a waste of time anyway. What could ever come out his dumb head?" said Julia tapping his hat with a finger, raising it enough to see his blue eyes.

Arthur gave her a look while Julia smiled cockily and crossed her arms.

"You didn't get yourself killed, Miss Adler?" they heard Pearson say.

"Not quite" Sadie answered.

"Well, I'd like to say I missed your refined conversations, but...I'd be lying!" the man added walking towards the wagon and taking one of the boxes before he gave it to Sadie.

"I...I enjoyed myself out there"

"And you found Julia on your way...Oh, sorry, I meant Miss Myles" the man corrected himself.

"It's alright. Besides, it's my name" she said taking one of the boxes while the two men looked at her surprised.

With Sadie, they left the supplies near Pearson's wagon and then walked below a tree where Julia took out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Sadie who gladly took it.

"You did well today. I was quite impressed by your shooting" Julia said bringing the cigarette to her lips.

"My father taught me, even if I don't have a good aim as yours"

"It doesn't matter. As long as you can protect yourself it's good you know how to use a gun. You have one?" asked Julia.

"Not yet, but I was thinking about getting one"

"Good"

Together they turned to look at Arthur and Simon talking between them while unloading the wagon.

"Did Arthur teach you how to shoot?" asked Sadie.

Julia looked at her and snorted.

"Absolutely not. When I was part of this gang he didn't even look or talk to m"e answered Julia taking a puff.

"So, who taught you?" asked again Sadie throwing away her finished cigarette.

Julia stayed silent for a moment, then she turned to look at the blonde woman who was staring at her, waiting for her answer.

"A friend. An ex-soldier who lives in the East Shadowlyn" Julia said in the end.

"Is he...?" asked the woman and Julia, catching her hint shook her head laughing.

"Oh, God no! He could be my father"

"Who could be your father?"

Both of them turned to look at Arthur standing in front of them.

"No one. I should go" said quickly Julia to Sadie.

"Yeah, me too"

"Miss High and Mighty, your services are needed!" they heard the man yell.

"I'm coming! See you guys" said Sadie before she walked away.

Julia and Arthur looked at her walking away and when he turned towards Julia, he found her staring into space.

"You okay?"

Julia moved her eyes on him, still lost in her thoughts.

"Yes, I'm fine. You?"

Morgan nodded.

"So...what's the plan now?" asked the man and Julia sighed.

"I'll wait 'till they send me some information about where they think you might be and then I'll play my part. I can't predict the future Arthur, but I'll do my best to keep them away. I promise" she said putting a hand on his arm, feeling his heat coming through his shirt.

"Thank you" answered the man giving her a hint of a smile that Julia returned.

For a moment they stood there, looking at each other, but when Julia felt a heat rising to her cheeks, she withdrew her arm and stepped back.

"Don't thank me. Instead, find me some money, I'm expensive, you know" she answered with a cocky smile.

Morgan rolled his eyes.

"I'll see what I can do, Miss" he chuckled.

Julia headed to her tent feeling the man's gaze still on her.

Once she got into her small den, she sat on her covers and took off her hat and jacket. When she rubbed her neck, she realized she still had Arthur's neckerchief on. She undid the knot and then looked at it for a moment before she folded it and put it in her bag that for the weight fell on the side. The bracelet Hosea gave her came out of it and Julia stared at it for a moment before she took it and exanimated it.

Her fingers tapped on the small, smooth pearls before they took the small tag where her nails followed the drawing of the J.

She slowly wore it, looking at her wrist for a moment not knowing if she should have keep it or not.

In the end, she decided to keep it. It reminded Julia her past and who she really was.

Julia Myles.

...

HI EVERYONE!

I'm so sorry for the late, I've been writing two other new chapters and I'm so excited to post them. I can't wait for you to read them!

I hope you're doing well. I'm bored out of my mind, even if I do many things to keep me busy.

Hopefully, next week we'll get good news.

Y.

The other day I was on Tumblr, minding my own business when I ran into an Arthur Morgan A/B/O. I really didn't understand what it was about until I read it and...I think my entire life changed. SERIOUSLY.

If you're interested, go take a look, you won't regret it and if you know what I'm talking about...;)

However, I hope you enjoyed this chapter if so let me know.

I'll post ASAP and ASAMLAWSBL (as soon as my lazy ass will stop being lazy)

KISSES!