Enjoy the fluff, guys! While you still can...

Also, I'm trying to pick a horse for Isaac once he outgrows Daisy in a few chapters. Naturally, I'm torn between all the options in the game. I want to give him a good hunting companion, so I'm stuck between him getting the Tiger Striped Mustang, which would involve a quick trip into New Austin, or the Chocolate Roan Dutch Warmblood from the Valentine Stable. Or a Missouri Fox Trotter lol, but I'm having trouble getting that to make story sense because it always seemed like the Silver Dapple Pinto at the Blackwater Stables is the same one Albert Mason saw. Any thoughts?

Chapter 25: Jack

Abigail never thought she would love anything as much as her son. She was exhausted, hurting, hungry for something that wasn't canned fruit, but none of that mattered as much as the sleeping baby in her arms.

John sat on the bed with her, staring at their son, too. "I can't believe it. He's so…"

"Perfect," she said.

"Tiny," John said instead.

"Really? Tiny?" Abigail said, glaring at him.

"Maybe don't say that to the woman who gave birth to him, John," Annabelle said.

"Right, sorry," John said with a grin.

"You two ready for some visitors?" Annabelle asked. "Just the close family, of course. I think Hosea and Arthur are about to knock this door down."

"Okay," Abigail said. They'd gotten the night to themselves, with just Annabelle and Susan helping them out after the midwife went back to town. Not that either of them got much sleep, but now was a good time to introduce their son to some of the gang members.

Arthur and Hosea were there immediately, and Dutch wasn't far behind. "Hi," Hosea whispered. "Oh, look at him!"

"He's beautiful," said Arthur.

"How are you doing, Abigail? John?" Hosea asked.

"Tired. So tired, and so happy," she said.

"John, Abigail, congratulations!" Dutch said. "You've brought a wonderful child into this world. Did you two pick a name?"

"I want to name him after John," Abigail said.

"How did you manage to convince her to do that," Hosea teased John.

"It was her idea!"

Abigail smiled and said, "We're going to call him Jack."

"Hi, Jack," Arthur said, holding out his arms. "May I?"

She hesitated, because she didn't want her son out of her arms for even a second yet. But she relented, knowing she could trust Arthur with Jack.

Arthur grinned as Jack shifted in his arms, letting out a small noise in protest of being moved. "Hi, Jack. I'm your Uncle Arthur."

"You're going to have a lot of uncles," Hosea said. "And aunts, and your cousin Isaac. In fact, we picked up a new uncle just last night."

"Really?" John asked.

"Perhaps," Dutch said. "His name is Javier, and if my limited Spanish is correct, he's on the run from the Mexican government. He was stuck out in the storm, trying to steal the same chickens I was after."

"Well, it's not the worst way we got someone in the gang," John said.

"He doesn't speak much English, I don't think, but he seems friendly enough."

"Another lost soul for the Dutch van der Linde finishing school," Arthur teased.

"It seems so," Dutch said.

Jack shifted again in Arthur's arms, letting out a louder cry. "Oh, do you want to go back to your mama?" Arthur asked.

"He might be hungry," Abigail said.

"Here you are," Arthur said. "We'll give you some privacy."

"It's alright, Jack. I'm right here," Abigail said, gathering the baby back into her arms. "I expect we'll be getting more visitors soon."

"Of course!" Dutch laughed.

"Just let us know if you need alone time, and we'll kick anyone out who's bothering you," Arthur said, before leaning in and kissing Abigail on the forehead. "Congratulations!"

"What, no congratulations for me?" John said.

"You did the easy part nine months ago," she grumbled.

"Hey, you enjoyed that part!"

"John, please, not in front of the baby!"

"He doesn't know what we're saying!"

"Could you hold him for a second?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," he said. He was a bit awkward gathering Jack into his arms, they both were, really. Even with Hosea and Susan forcing them to carry, dress, and change flour sacks for weeks, having a real, squirming baby, their baby, in their arms made them extra cautious.

Abigail adjusted her pillows, trying to find a comfortable position. "Alright, ready." But John didn't move. He just stared down at his son, beaming. "John, he's hungry."

"Sorry," John said, handing Jack to Abigail. "I was just thinking about something Arthur told me. From when Isaac was born."

"I don't know what I would have done without Arthur around," she said. "I felt like I was always bothering him with questions, but he didn't care one bit."

"Well, that's Arthur," John replied.

"We might need to force him away sometimes so we can have time with Jack," she said.

"Arthur missed a lot from Isaac's younger years. Isaac didn't join the gang until he was four, and Arthur was with us most of the time."

"That's a real shame."

"Yeah," John said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I don't want to miss any of this."

And in that moment, Abigail found herself loving John Marston, too.

Despite Abigail's fears of being a mother in camp of outlaws, she found she never needed to do more than ask to get help. If she needed a moment to herself, Susan was right there to take Jack for a walk around camp. When Arthur wasn't out hunting with Isaac, he was always making excuses to visit Abigail and Jack to the point where she and John had to kick him out. At the same time, Abigail was so proud of her son for not minding being passed around between his aunts and uncles. Jack loved the attention, soon smiling and giggling when someone new came up to him. Sometimes, it felt like she was fighting for time with her own son.

He laughed whenever Copper came up to him, sticking his head in the bassinet Mr. Pearson and Hosea built. They were worried about Copper at first, since the dog didn't have a sense of boundaries, but Copper seemed to understand that babies were fragile.

He was in awe the first time Arthur took him out to meet the horses, crying a little when Boadicea snorted all over his face as Arthur laughed and calmed him down.

He fell asleep to the soft sounds of their newest gang member's guitar playing. Javier Escuella was having trouble connecting with the gang, especially since he was still struggling with English. And then Dutch found out that he used to play guitar before he was forced to sell his to buy food. A few days later, there was a stolen guitar in camp. Most nights around the campfire, Jack was kept awake by the gang singing, but when Javier was just strumming a simple tune, Jack began drifting in her arms.

"John, Abigail, you two should be so proud," Dutch liked to say whenever he got to hold Jack. Dutch had quite obviously caught baby fever, and despite swearing up and down that having one baby in the camp was enough, John believed that Dutch was trying to convince Annabelle to have one, but Annabelle was determined to wait until they had the money for a ranch.

Abigail also hoped they'd be able to settle on a ranch, soon. They were slowly picking Nevada dry of jobs, but the passes through the Sierra Nevada were still buried in snow. Arthur occasionally inspected the area while hunting, but couldn't make it very far. They were getting ready to try about six months after Jack's birth, when suddenly Jack's crying when from manageable whimpers to full screaming.

"Come on Jack, settle, please?" Abigail said, walking the same path behind the tents again and again. Now, of course, many of the gang members were happy to let her deal with Jack by herself. Not all of them, but with John working jobs again to earn money for himself, her, and Jack, she couldn't easily hide in their tent. He needed sleep, as did Arthur, Dutch, and Annabelle.

Fortunately, one man was taking a break from jobs to be available, no matter what.

"Mr. Matthews?" she said outside his tent at two in the morning.

"I'm up, I'm up," Hosea groaned. "What's going on?"

"I don't know! He's fed, his nappy is clean, I've been holding him." Abigail could feel the glares of the other gang members. In Arthur's tent, Isaac flipped over and stuffed the pillow over his ears and the man himself sat up to see what was going on outside.

"Here, we'll go over by the trees for a bit," Hosea said, grabbing a book. When Hosea was optimistic he could get Jack back to sleep, he didn't bother with the entertainment, and this wasn't one of those times. He sat down on a rock and held out his arms. "Alright, kid, what's bothering you? Too hot? Too cold? Your pa is snoring too loud?"

Jack whimpered and threw his arms against his blankets.

"Too hot maybe? It is getting into spring, you won't need these heavy blankets no more." Hosea pulled them back slightly, and Jack settled a little more. But he was still wide awake.

"Oh, come on, Jack," Abigail yawned.

"Why don't you go to bed, I've got him," Hosea said.

"No, I shouldn't. I'd feel horrible if you sat out here by yourself all night."

"Oh, I'll be fine, it's not the first time I've had to sit up with a kid all night," he said. "But suit yourself."

"Do you have much experience with babies, Mr. Matthews?"

"Oh, call me Hosea, will you, dear?"

"Okay, Hosea."

"Not with babies, no. All my kids I got as unruly teenagers," he joked. "But they've had their own share of problems. Trust me, crying infant is more pleasant than John when he's got a cold."

She let out a tired laugh at that.

"Now, let's see if we can solve this problem," Hosea said. "Surely, you must be tired, Jack."

"He did have a long nap earlier," she said.

"Is that it? Are you just bored and want some company?"

Jack gurgled and began chewing on Hosea's shirt sleeve.

"Jack," Abigail groaned.

"He's fine. Better than Copper in his puppy days," Hosea said, carefully extracting his shirt from Jack's mouth. Jack grabbed at the shirt again. "Is your mouth bugging you, sweetie?"

"What is it?"

Hosea smiled and said, "I think your son has a tooth!"

"Already? So, that's what's bothering him," she said.

"You got any clean cloths around? He seems to want something in his mouth."

"Oh, let me see." She rushed back to the tent, finding an old but clean rag, and came back.

"Let's dip this in a bit of water, and there you go." Jack took the rag and began to chew happily. "Feel better?"

"How did you know to do that?"

"Oh, I remember Arthur complaining about teething back when Isaac started doing it. Spent a whole month at Eliza's helping out. Thought Dutch was going to go insane waiting for him to come back," Hosea chuckled.

"Was it hard for him, having his son live somewhere else?"

"Oh, immensely hard," Hosea said. "He denied it, of course. Arthur is nothing if not loyal to Dutch. But every time he left, I think part of me hoped he'd stay with them. Sure, I would have missed him so much, but Arthur always came back. And the last time was with Isaac."

"What was it like, suddenly having a kid in the gang like that?"

"Difficult. Arthur was still robbing at the time, and that was a hard adjustment for Isaac. Arthur was considering leaving the gang, at least temporarily, and then…" Hosea paused, looking away as he gathered his thoughts. "Well, Arthur found a compromise. And he's gotten quite talented with his crafting, as you know."

"He made all my winter clothes. My coat didn't fit, and he made a new one for me right away. Dropped everything."

"That's how Arthur shows he cares. He gives gifts," Hosea said.

"And John?"

"I think John tries to use words, he's just not the best with them," Hosea chuckled. "When he listens to what you're saying, that's when you know he cares."

"He's done well enough, so far," Abigail said. "I almost wish he'd do something honest like Arthur so he'd be around more."

Hosea gave her a sad, nostalgic smile. "I remember having many a conversation about that with my wife, Bessie. She wasn't an outlaw, but she lived with us. And she always worried about me. We found our compromise. If you are having these feelings now, I would talk to John about them. You and John can find a compromise, too."

The next morning, after both Abigail and Jack managed to get a few hours of sleep, she took Hosea's advice.

"John, can we talk?"

"Sure," he said. "Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong, exactly, it's just…" She sat down on their cot, and John joined her. "I was talking with Hosea about the gang and… have you ever thought about doing something honest?

"Honest? Me? No," John said.

"Oh."

"Why?"

"I've just been worried, I guess. I'm glad we've got so many folk willing to help us out. Everyone loves Jack, but part of me wants to be a normal family."

"What do you mean by normal?"

"I guess living in a house. Not worrying about bounty hunters or getting shot."

"We are working towards a ranch, you know."

"I know, but a ranch run by a bunch of outlaws with prices on their heads. I just worry," Abigail said.

"So, what? We're supposed to just strike off on our own? Leave Hosea and Arthur? And Dutch?" John asked, shaking his head and getting up to pace the tent. "I ain't doing that."

"I just want our son to have options, you know? Something I didn't have."

"And what is wrong with this life? It's how I was raised, it's how Isaac is being raised."

"Isaac ain't learning how to shoot people and rob banks, and I won't have Jack learning that, either," she said. "I won't have a son with a price on his head."

John softened, collapsing back onto the cot with a sigh. "I don't want that, either. I promise, I don't. I'm just not sure what else I can do right now. If we can save the money and get land in California, I guess I'll be learning ranching. But until then, I ain't quite sure how else to provide for you and Jack."

"I know. But if something happened to the gang, how would we take care of Jack and ourselves?"

"Maybe we could save some of our own money," John said. "As a backup. We've always given extra to the camp fund, and sure I've been giving less lately because of all we're buying for the baby, but I could talk to Dutch and Hosea. The gang savings can still get it's share, but whatever else we don't spend, we keep. For Jack."

"In case we ever need to run?"

"Or in case… look, I promise I'm careful on these jobs. I got shot once before, and I don't want to deal with that again," he said. "But at least you and Jack would have something."

They talked to Dutch, Hosea, Arthur, and Annabelle after that. Dutch seemed a little concerned with the idea of John contributing less to the camp fund, but he was quickly outvoted by the others. "Besides," Annabelle said, "It shouldn't be an issue once we're on our ranch. They have a baby, they need a bit of savings anyway."

"Fine, go ahead," Dutch said.

"And I can start doing more work around camp," Abigail offered. "Laundry, some sewing, brushing horses. Just as long as someone has an eye on Jack."

"Of course. Just talk to Susan, you two can figure that out," Hosea said.

And that's what they did. John and Abigail started a small savings fund, feeling better once they had a few hundred dollars stashed away for emergencies. True to his word, John was careful while working, never going on solo jobs and taking trusted members with him, like Mac, Davey, and Annabelle. Javier, too. While Javier was still pretty new, he was showing to be quite competent.

"I heard there's a stagecoach with a lot of rich passengers coming through," Javier said. "Will you go with me?"

"Sure. Where's it coming from?"

"It arrived in Carson City earlier for some repairs, so we can check it out before it leaves, see if it's worth hitting."

"Sounds good, let's get the horses."

Not long ago, Arthur helped Javier pick out a new horse, a beautiful grey overo Paint that Javier named Boaz. It really helped Javier feel like part of their gang. Boaz was a sweetheart, and one of Abigail's favorites to take care of. The Count on the other hand, spooked easily and liked to run away from her.

She tried to keep herself busy while John was away, doing more chores, but she wasn't calm until he wandered back into camp. "How did you get on?" she asked him.

"Ah, not good. It was all women and children waiting for the coach in town, so we decided not to go for it."

"Oh, well. I'm sure there will be more opportunities."

"It gives me an afternoon with this guy!" John said, lifting Jack out of his crib and high into the air. Jack shrieked and giggled. "Did you miss me? I sure missed you. Were you good for your mother?"

"He was good. I think he's happy to see you."

"Well, then, since I have a free day, let's take a walk around camp," John said. "We can go see what Arthur and Isaac are doing, how about that?"

"I'll join you in a bit," she said. "I just have to finish one more dish."

"Alright, looking forward to it!"

She smiled and hummed an old saloon tune as she finished the dishes and watched John carry their son around camp. Sure, they lived in tents, but she could understand why John didn't want to give up this family.

But the next morning, Hosea raced into camp waving a newspaper and shouting for Dutch. The O'Driscoll gang was in the area, having robbed the same stagecoach John and Javier had been after the day before.

Dutch, Hosea, Arthur, and Annabelle argued, scouted, and planned. Dutch was determined to go after Colm O'Driscoll and end the feud, but both Hosea and Arthur were against it. They didn't think it was worth it. So, they packed the camp, heading north. They spent money on supplies, wagon repairs, and travel clothes.

And the ranch was put on hold.