Chapter 10: Blame It On The Winter
"So the multitude goes — like the flower or the weed
That withers away to let others succeed."
- William Knox
'Mortality'
1
Arthur's grip on Kieran's wrists was tight enough to be a tourniquet. He rode on his horse so fast that he almost lost his hat in the wind, and he wouldn't have noticed if he did. He was focused solely on getting Kieran to the nearest doctor, which was in Valentine.
"Doctor?" Hosea asked to one of the passing civilians on the way. The look on the guy's face told Hosea that he wasn't a doctor, and so they kept riding.
"Keep hold of him, Arthur!" Javier said, watching as Kieran's pale body slumped against Arthur's back. Arthur was too focused to answer, but his grip was strong, keeping Kieran's arms wrapped around his waist.
"Pop, we're going too fast!" Jack said, voice being carried away by the wind.
"Can't slow down, Jack, we gotta get Kieran to a doctor!" John said. Unlike Kieran with Arthur, Jack was seated in front of John, and he kept his grip tight around the kid.
John couldn't even begin to imagine if Jack got shot, or if he was never found at all. He didn't know who to be angry at the most right now, Colm or Micah, or maybe even Dutch, but now wasn't the time to point fingers and accuse people, they needed to make sure everyone was safe first.
The gang's horses nearly collided with each others as they halted to a stop outside of the doctor's office in Valentine. Arthur dismounted quicker than he ever had before, pulling Kieran down with him. Charles was by his side in an instant, and they both wrapped Kieran's arms around their shoulders, dragging him into the office and calling for the help.
"What happened to him?" The doctor said immediately, gesturing to bring the limp man into the back room. He wasn't shocked to see bloodied men come into his office, he'd long since gotten used to that.
"Shot." Arthur said.
"In the stomach." Charles added.
"Just the one?" The doctor said, and Arthur wanted to shake the man for not moving fast enough. And by fast enough, he means as fast as Arthur, despite the doctor going as fast as he could for a man of his age.
"Yes." Charles replied.
The doctor took a quick glance at Kieran's back, seeing his shirt coated with blood on both sides.
"Well, it's through and through, that's a good sign."
"Help him." Arthur ordered.
"I'll do what I can, son." The man said, and started to cut into Kieran's shirt. Arthur's face winced when he saw there was even more blood underneath the fabric.
"Come outside, Arthur." Charles said, voice soothing, but it wasn't what Arthur wanted to hear.
"I gotta help him, I—"
"You've done all you can, you gotta let the doctor work now. Come outside. Come on." Charles pulled on Arthur's arm, and it took a few tugs to get the man to follow, leaving the doctor with Kieran.
"Is it bad?" Abigail said, walking up to the men. She stayed behind in Valentine along with a few others while the rest went up the mountain just in case things went really bad.
"Just one bullet." Bill said, as though this was great news.
"One bullet is all it takes." Arthur said, voice frightening Jack, and even some of the gang. "You and I both know damn well just how bad one bullet can be!"
"Arthur." Javier said.
"Don't act so godddamn smug about the fact that Kieran got shot!"
"Arthur." Javier tried again.
"And by Micah goddamn Bell no less! I aughta kill that fuckin' rat!"
"Arthur!" Javier put a hand on the man's arm, and Arthur swung back, elbowing right into Javier's face. The man's hand went straight to his mouth, crying out and stumbling back a few steps.
"Hey!" Charles said, voice firm. It wasn't hateful, just more to bring the man down from his rage.
"Enough of this!" Hosea announced. "What happens now is out of our control. We need to be united at this time, not throwing harsh words at one another, but if you don't think you can do that then maybe you need to step away. Now Kieran is going to be in there a while by the looks of it, so we need to just calm down and wait this out."
Arthur turned to look at Javier, with Charles and Tilly standing beside him, trying to get a look at his face. Javier pulled his hand away, and there was a thin stream of blood coming from his nose. Tilly brought out a handkerchief and started to dab at the blood.
"Javier, I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"It's okay, Arthur." Javier said. "You're upset, I get that. We're good." The blood stained down onto Javier's lip, and he winced at the taste of metal.
"I'm sorry too, Arthur." Bill said, and you could tell by the tone of his voice that he wasn't a man that was used to apologising, but he knew when it was needed. "I didn't mean to sound smug about it, I just thought that it coulda been worse, is all."
"I know." Arthur said, taking off his hat and running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry too, I just… I'm worried about him."
"We know." Abigail put a hand on his arm, lighter than Javier did, and the knot in her stomach eased when Arthur didn't swing at her too. Arthur looked down at Jack, who was looking between the group with worried eyes.
"I'm glad you're safe, kid." Arthur said. "Colm didn't hurt ya, did he?"
"No." He said. "He scared me though, uncle Arthur. Kept saying how he was going to hurt ma and pa."
"Well he can't do that now, can he?" Arthur said, crouching down so Jack had to look down at him.
"I guess not." He smiled, and Arthur smiled back. "Kieran tried to save me."
"He did, did he?"
"Yeah. I was afraid that the Colm man was gonna hurt him."
"Well Kieran's a strong one, ain't he?" Dutch said, stepping forward, and Arthur looked over his shoulder at him. "You make sure to say thank you when you see him."
"I will." Jack said, nodding once.
"Colm?" Abigail said to John, voice low although everyone heard.
"He's dead. About damn time, too."
"How'd it happen?" Karen asked. The gang looked around at each other, wanting anyone else to say it.
"It was Micah." Dutch said, and it was then that everyone wished that they had spoken up first. "He killed Colm."
"Micah killed Colm?" Abigail's voice was disbelieving. "I wouldn't have seen that comin'."
"And he damn near almost killed Kieran while doin' it."
"Where is Micah?" Tilly asked, Javier's nose dried up by now, but still holding the bloodied handkerchief in her hand.
"I told him to go his own way for now. Don't think none of us need to be seein' him after this." Dutch said.
"Sounds to me like an excuse to let him go." Arthur said.
"Or maybe if he was here, you'd still be throwing punches." Dutch retorted. "Trust me, I'm saving us all a whole other argument right now."
"Or maybe you don't want to be blamed for trusting a guy like him who's willing to lose one of his own."
"This is not the time!" Hosea said, being the counterweight once again. "If you have beef with someone, then split up. We've got nothin' to do here but wait, so let's do it peacefully and respectfully. We're not the only people in this town."
"Then we better hear some good news," Arthur said, eyes still locked onto Dutch's. "or you're gonna wish that an argument is all this was." With that, Arthur moved to sit on a bench on the porch of the doctor's office. It took a few minutes before the gang was settled, scattered around Valentine in random groups, and they waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.
2
Two hours passed. They had to stop Arthur three times from going into the doctor's office to find out what the hell was going on, assuring him that the doctor needed the time to do his job before Arthur could see him. Eventually the man came out of the office, his apron spattered with blood like he was a butcher.
"He all right?" Arthur said immediately, up in the doctor's personal space before he even got out the door.
"He's stable." He assured. "He's a little drowsy, I gave him some drugs to ease the pain, but the wounds are stitched up, and it should be a smooth recovery."
"Can I see 'im?"
"Yes, but please—" Arthur pushed past him and into the office. "…be careful with him." The doctor shook his head, but it was with a small smile, too.
Kieran jumped a little when the door swung open, but soon eased when he saw it was Arthur.
"Kieran." Arthur said, moving to sit on the bed, his hands hovering over Kieran's body before settling on taking hold of the man's hands. "Kieran, you fool."
"Arthur." The man's voice sounded hollow, like he was half dead, and he almost was, but Arthur was beyond grateful that he was conscious and talking.
"You shouldn't've left like that, you coulda been killed."
"I don't regret it." Kieran coughed a little, feeling the vibrations move down his stomach and back and throbbed at his bullet wounds. "Is Jack safe?"
Arthur huffed a laugh, although it wasn't entirely from humour.
"Yeah, Jack is safe. Not a hair out of place on his head."
"Good." Kieran smiled, and let his head ease further into the pillow. "John and Abigail must be happy."
"Real happy. But you got me worried, Kier."
"I did it though, didn't I?"
"Did what?"
"I stood my ground by myself. I gave myself to the cause of the family. Proved myself, I suppose I mean."
"There's no need for all that." Arthur assured. "Not anymore. You never need to prove yourself to me. I'm sorry it took me until now to really realise that."
"We all do what we think is right."
"I suppose we do." Arthur brushed a hair out of Kieran's face. "That look on your face, back on the mountain. I didn't like it."
"What look?"
"When Colm had his gun on you. It was like you'd accepted it. Like you were ready to die."
"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Be ready to die for the family?" Arthur didn't answer. Kieran swallowed down, wincing at the pain, and spoke again. "Wouldn't you?"
It was quiet for a moment, and then another.
"Yes I would." Arthur nodded. "But that don't mean that you just accept it the minute a gun is pointed at your face. You still gotta fight, you don't just let it happen."
"Well I trust you." Kieran smiled, or tried to. "I knew one of you would pull a trigger before Colm did, and I was right."
"Yeah, you were. But it was Micah Bell that pulled the trigger, and he pulled it on you."
"Don't do that." Kieran whispered.
"Do what?"
"That face you make when you talk about things that you can't control. You do that when your gun jams. You do that when you only catch a small fish." Arthur huffed a laugh, and Kieran smiled up at the man. "You do that when you talk about Colm. And you do that when you talk about Micah."
"What, you don't want me to be angry at him?"
"I want you to accept that what is out of your control is out of your control. What happens, happens. I ain't sayin' to not fight what needs to be fought, but when you get beat down you gotta know that it's just what happens sometimes. Your gun's gonna jam ever so often, there's always gonna be small fish in the lake, and there's always gonna be people like Colm and Micah." Arthur nodded slightly along to what Kieran was saying, thumb rubbing circles into the man's hand. "But your gun also shoots, and there's also big fish in the lake, and there's also people like us. Good people. People like our family. You can't let Micah poison your idea of that. Don't let him take away your goodness. Don't let him shut out everyone else's light. Don't let him take away everything that I admire about you."
Arthur's eyes ran all over Kieran's face, and he couldn't resist bringing up his hand and brushing the back of his fingers down Kieran's cheeks, cupping it once he reached his jaw.
"You're too good of a man, Kieran Duffy."
"Only 'cause you made me be, Arthur Morgan."
The both smiled, and Arthur felt no hesitation in leaning down and letting his lips fall onto Kieran's. They were still getting used to the idea of being able to kiss one another, so that mixed in with the reunion kiss after one almost died was overwhelming, and the gentle kiss turned deeper. Kieran whined as he tried to lean up to meet Arthur's lips but his wound stopped him.
"Careful." Arthur said before kissing him again.
Kieran buried his hands in Arthur's hair, pulling him down to make up for the distance that Kieran couldn't meet. They kissed until their breaths became too heavy, and the rise and fall of Kieran's stomach became painful. Arthur rested his forehead on Kieran's, breathing the same air.
"I won't have this be cut short." He whispered. "I won't lose you now. I can't."
"You won't."
"I can't risk losing this. I've lost too much, Kieran, I won't lose you. I won't do it. I won't. I won't."
"I know."
"I won't lose you." He kissed him again, his breathing be damned. "I won't." He kissed him again. "I won't." Again. "I won't."
It took them a while before anyone else was welcomed in to see Kieran, until then there were words lost between lips. Promises. Assurances. Hands never letting go and lips never saying goodbye.