Introducing some new characters here... it's always fun trying to make whole characters out of vague references you may or may not here in the game.

Chapter 6: The Fight

He tried to ignore Dutch walking over, hoping the man would take the hint. Mistakes had been made the previous night when Arthur, having picked up some candy while waiting on John's horse to be ready, tried to make up for abandoning Isaac to Annabelle and Bessie for the afternoon by letting him consume copious amounts of it. The result was a very hyper child that would not sleep until well after midnight, though somehow he was up and ready to play with Copper at six in the morning.

"Hey, Arthur! There's a house that's supposed to be sitting on a lot of cash one town over. Want to check it out?"

Damn.

"I don't know, Dutch," he replied.

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

He could tell that Dutch wasn't about to give up and almost resigned himself to the job when Hosea appeared. "Arthur is tired, Dutch. He had a late night."

"He always seems to have late nights, nowadays," Dutch said, with a hint of anger in his voice. Arthur managed not to flinch at the low growl and the hard eyes.

Hosea didn't miss it, either. "You have something you want to say?"

"Maybe," Dutch snarled.

"So say it!"

With a scoff, Dutch strode off to his tent. Hosea rolled his eyes and went after him.

"You following me now?" Dutch yelled.

"Until you stop being an ass, yes! What is your problem?"

"Arthur is the one with the problem! Why isn't that boy working?" Dutch shouted. He was too loud. He had to know Arthur could hear him. "He used to be a man of action! Scoping out leads, finding us work. I never had to worry about him. But now? He's always in camp. I never expected this lazy behavior from him!"

Dutch must have wanted Arthur to hear him. That didn't stop the words from crushing him, forcing the air from his lungs and not letting them expand again.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Hosea shouted back. "He just went on that stagecoach job with you."

"A week ago!"

"Oh, and you've done so much since then, haven't you?" The sarcasm dripped heavily from his words. Arthur knew he should leave, scoop Isaac up and get him away from what was building to be a monumental Dutch-Hosea fight. But he couldn't move.

"Did you not hear about the house I found? We could have more leads if Arthur was out there searching, too. We need supply money, and we don't want to blow our whole savings, do we? And I thought Arthur understood that, but no! He just stays in camp."

"Oh, and I suppose raising a child is nothing? He's a parent, that's not a job for the lazy! Arthur works harder than anyone here, and if you can't see that, then you are hopeless!"

"Is that how it's going to be?" Dutch asked, throwing his hands in the air. "Arthur just dedicates himself to parenting? Without earning his keep?"

"I'd rather have Arthur raise that boy right than get himself killed out there trying to meet your ridiculous standards!"

He didn't hear the footsteps behind him until the hand touched his shoulder, light and soft. He did flinch away that time, choking on the tiny breaths he managed to get in. "Oh, Arthur," Bessie said.

"Pa?" Isaac had stopped playing with Copper, instead watching Arthur. Arthur couldn't even find the words to say he was fine, not that they would have been true.

Bessie stepped around him, walking up to Dutch and Hosea. "WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP!" They both did, immediately. Bessie never raised her voice like that. "If you are going to fight, do it outside of camp!" She turned on her heel, dropping the anger for Arthur's sake. "Come on, honey," she said, gently pulling Arthur to his feet and leading him to her tent with one hand around his arm and the other grasping Isaac's hand. John was already inside, watching Dutch and Hosea retreat into the woods through the tent flaps.

"Oh, hi," John said awkwardly. "I can go-"

"You can stay," Bessie said. "I think it would be good if we all stay in here for a minute. Besides, since Susan and Annabelle went to that party, I think we deserve the afternoon to ourselves, don't you agree?"

"Sounds good to me," John said, but Arthur shook his head.

"No, Dutch is right." He went to stand. "I haven't been doing anything. I need to work more."

"Dutch is an idiot," Bessie said, pushing him back down.

"Is Pa okay?" Isaac asked her. Arthur felt his face turning red with embarrassment. He knew everyone was watching him. Even Copper could tell something was wrong, joining Arthur on the ground and laying his head in Arthur's lap to stare up at him with his big, brown eyes.

"He'll be fine," said Bessie, pulling him into a hug. "He just doesn't like it when those two argue."

Arguing was an understatement. Dutch and Hosea fought all the time, but never to that degree. And never about him! At least, not since he was fourteen, and that was usually a fight about how best to raise a teenager.

"I didn't like it," Isaac said. "They are loud and scary!"

"And that's why I told them to leave," she said as a matter of fact. She wrapped one arm around Arthur, and the other around John, hugging them close. "You know what might make your father feel better? You could show him your new braiding skills! I think his hair is long enough."

"Braids?" John snorted.

"Maybe you should do John's after," Arthur shot back. "Then again, it's kind of gross. When's the last time you had a bath, Marston?"

"Last week!"

"Are you a girl?" Isaac asked John.

"What? No!"

"But your hair is long like a girl's!"

The slight laugh fell out of Arthur before he even realized. It only increased when John sputtered, "It's not that long!" Though Arthur thought John should check a mirror, it was past his shoulders already.

"Men can have long hair," Arthur told Isaac. "Providing they take care of it."

"Really?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah, you know, you got to comb it once in a while. Otherwise it will mat up and someone is going to have to lob it off with a pair of scissors," he said pointedly at John. John tried to smack him from around Bessie.

Isaac crawled up onto Hosea's cot behind Arthur and grabbed a chunk of Arthur's hair under Bessie's supervision. He was surprisingly gentle, though he was sure the small braid was very loose. "I should let you do Boadicea's mane sometime."

Outside the tent, Hosea returned to camp huffing and stomping his feet. He went to enter the tent, but Bessie called out to him, "The boys are in here. You calmed down?"

Pausing, Hosea breathed in deep and gave a shaky exhale. "I'm calm."

"Good. Come in."

Hosea slipped inside, looking guilty as he barely met Arthur's eyes. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that."

"It's alright."

"No, it isn't." Hosea sat down on Arthur's other side, also wrapping an arm around him.

When was the last time any of them had sat like this? Briefly after he came back with Isaac, he supposed. But before that? He couldn't remember. They'd been very busy with jobs and a string of successes, and he supposed he hadn't really needed this in a long time. He leaned his head back onto the cot, eyes closed, relishing Hosea's hand rubbing his back, the soft tugging on his hair, Bessie's encouraging words, the scraping of a knife against wood as John began whittling, probably needing to do something with his hands but wanting to stay with family.

Of course, the family wasn't complete. "Where's Dutch?" Arthur asked.

"Stormed off somewhere, maybe to rob that house he was talking about. Or the saloon," Hosea said. "Don't you worry about him. Worry about what your hair looks like right now."

"Isaac is doing a lovely job," Bessie said.

"He sure is!"

Arthur smiled, and tried to ignore Dutch's words. Still, they lingered, along with the fear that Dutch was right. He wasn't doing enough. He didn't deserve to stay here.

Still, they sat a little longer, until some noises outside the tent caused Copper to jump up and begin baying. "Now, where is everybody?" Susan called into camp.

Hosea stood, his knees cracking, and went to meet them. "How did you ladies do?"

"We got ourselves some nice items!" Annabelle giggled. "And had a bit too much wine."

"Seems so. Susan, your face is redder than a tomato."

"Hush, you!" Susan said.

Hosea laughed. "I hope your drinking didn't get in the way of your robbing."

"If you must know, we snagged these bottles on the way out."

"Glad you managed to stay on your horses!"

Bessie stood up, too. "Shall we get dinner started?" she asked Arthur and John. "It's getting late!"

"Sure," Arthur replied. "At least we don't have to go hunting with all that moose meat."

"No, we won't need more for a while! Alright, Isaac, let's tie off those braids so your father can help get food ready."

"Okay!" Isaac said. "Do you like them, Pa?"

Bessie grabbed some mirrors so that he could see. Just like Bessie's the day before, Arthur's braids were a little lumpy and the strands were uneven. "I like them a lot!" he told Isaac.

"Come on, let's wash up!" Bessie said, and they all went out to prepare dinner. They ate while listening to Annabelle recalled the rich ladies she'd spent the afternoon with, and what terrible people they were. If Susan and Annabelle were wondering why Dutch was missing, they didn't say anything. Perhaps Hosea had managed to let them know while Arthur was out of earshot. He kept expecting Dutch to stumble in, drunkenly claiming he was the one who had been wronged and demanding apologies.

But Dutch didn't come back that night, nor was he there when they woke the next morning. He could tell Hosea was preparing to send out a search party when they saw Nero and a pair of Tennessee Walkers coming up the trail. Arthur squinted. The boys looked familiar.

"Hosea!" Dutch said, all cheer and grins. "Meet Mac and Davey Callander!"

"Your poker friends? What are they doing here, Dutch?" Hosea asked suspiciously.

"Why Mac, Davey, and I have become rather well-acquainted these last few weeks, and I thought I'd see how they would do with a simple house robbery." Dutch glanced at Arthur as he spoke. "They did a fine job, so I invited them back here."

"You must be Hosea. I'm Davey," the taller one said.

Hosea shook his hand, and said, "Forgive me for being a little taken aback. Dutch here failed to discuss his interest in you joining us."

"Ah, well, maybe we can split this bottle and call it even," Davey said, pulling out a fifth of whiskey.

"We'll see," Hosea replied. "This is Arthur and his son, Isaac. That one's John. My wife, Bessie. Susan and Annabelle."

"The ugly fucker behind me is my brother, Mac."

"Who you calling ugly?"

"You always had a horse's ass for a face."

"I'll break your nose, see who you calling ugly then!"

"They are quite interesting characters, are they not?" Dutch said.

"That's one word for it," Arthur muttered.

Dutch ignored him. "Let's open that bottle!"

Arthur wasn't entirely sure what to think of Mac and Davey Callander by the end of the first night. They were loud, for sure. Violent, too. Arthur had to step between Hosea and Mac when Mac called Hosea a cheat during a game of blackjack. Sure, Hosea probably was cheating, but they were playing for pennies. Then Davey, stumbling drunk, had knocked over Isaac. That led to a fight between Davey and Arthur, and then Arthur and Mac when it looked like Arthur was about to successfully pound Davey into the dirt.

So the next morning, a bruised and sore Arthur fully intended to keep himself and Isaac well away from both Callander brothers, but Davey found him quickly. "Hey, sorry about last night. Your kid okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's fine. Right, Isaac?" Arthur said, still positioned protectively in front of his son.

"I'm fine," Isaac said.

"How about we make it even, huh? You can knock me over! Go on, give it your best shot!"

Isaac looked to Arthur for permission, and Arthur nodded. He stepped forward and gave Davey a light shove, but Davey collapsed with an exaggerated gasp. "Ah, he got me! Wow, you're so strong!"

Isaac giggled and Arthur offered Davey a hand back up. Mac also came up and said, "Sorry. But that Hosea definitely cheats."

"He's a conman, what did you expect?" Arthur said.

"I don't know how he does it, though. I was watching him close."

"I've been trying to figure that out for years!"

Maybe they weren't too bad. Arthur certainly had his moments of drunken mishaps, and he truly might have been joining them in downing whole bottles if he didn't have Isaac to look out for now.

But for some reason, Dutch didn't seem too pleased with Arthur getting to know Mac and Davey. "How about us boys head over to Loveland. I think we've done all we can in Fort Collins, and it's close enough we don't need to move camp. Go to the saloon, see if we can dig up some leads. Oh, but wait! I bet Arthur needs to watch his son. Guess it will just be us three!"

That bastard.

But Arthur could be just as, if not more, stubborn.

"Fine. Have fun," he said, and walked away. He hoped Dutch had some other reason to invite two new people into the gang other than to replace him.

"Hey Isaac, what's say you and me go have some fun? What do you want to do today?"

"Can we play a game?"

"Sure! What game?"

Isaac paused, looking up at him with a spark in his eyes, then slapped Arthur on the arm. "Tag! You're it!"

Arthur tried to reach out and grab him, but Isaac darted away. "Oh, get back here!" Arthur called after him. He tried chasing Isaac, but Isaac could duck under the wagons and sprint circles around him.

"I think you are getting a little slow in your age, Arthur," Hosea laughed, watching them.

"What age, old man?" Arthur said, then tapped his arm. "You're it! Good luck!"

"Oh, so that's how you play, is it?" Hosea's head swiveled, looking for his next victim, but Bessie saw it coming. She slipped out of reach. So Hosea tagged an unsuspecting Susan, instead.

"Mr. Matthews! Get back here this instant!" Susan shouted, and soon the entire camp was involved. Even John joined in. Arthur was glad, since he wasn't entirely sure what John thought of Isaac.

As for his son, Arthur had to pause and take in the scene. Isaac ran and laughed, completely carefree, just as he had been before Eliza died.

Of course, stopping only made him a target. "Got you, Arthur!" Annabelle said, and the chase was on again.

Later, when everyone was finally worn out, Susan divvied out the chores and they went on with the tedious parts of camp life. By the time Dutch rode back in with the Callander brothers, having unfortunately not found any good leads during the day out in town, the group was sitting around the campfire, singing songs and sharing stories.

"Well, I'm glad you folks had a good time," Dutch said.

"No luck?" Hosea asked.

"No, not yet. If Loveland has opportunities, they are not so obvious on first glance."

"We'll find something. We should have been good to get over the mountains, but we need more supplies with more mouths to feed."

"A worthy investment in our future, old friend," said Dutch. "We might have more luck with more people searching for leads."

"I can take a trip over there, see what I can dig up."

"I think you know that's not what I mean," Dutch muttered.

"I'm not having this conversation again."

Annabelle nudged Arthur, looking at Isaac in his lap. "I think someone's ready for bed."

Sure enough, Isaac's head was drooping and his eyes were fluttering. "Come on, kid," Arthur said, lifting him up and carrying him back to his tent. Lately, Isaac got the whole cot to himself and Arthur slept in a bedroll on the ground.

"Who's that?" Isaac asked sleepily, pointing at one of the pictures of Arthur's nightstand.

"That's my ma."

"I have a grandma? Can I meet her?"

"No, son, I'm sorry," Arthur said. "She died, when I was about your age. She got sick."

"Oh. What about your pa?"

"Well, this is him." Arthur took down one of the photographs he had hanging along the wall. "He died, too. But he weren't a very nice man."

"He has your hat," Isaac said.

"Well, technically I have his." Arthur pulled the old gambler hat off his head and handed it to Isaac, who promptly plopped it on his own head.

"It doesn't fit!" he laughed, the brim falling right over his eyes.

"Of course not! It's too big!"

"Why is there a hole in it?"

"Uh, that's a story for another time. Why don't you go to sleep now. You had a long day!"

"Okay, Pa."

Arthur tucked his son in, brushed the hair out of his eyes, and went back to the campfire.

"Hey Arthur, a round of cards?" Mac asked, set up with Susan and Hosea.

"Sure, why not," Arthur said.

"You can be my second set of eyes on that one," Mac said, jerking his thumb at Hosea.

"He ain't the one you need to watch out for. Susan somehow beats him even when he's cheating," Arthur replied.

"Damn right I do," said Susan. "Now is one of you boys going to deal or so I have to do everything myself?"

"Here," Hosea said, holding out his hand.

Mac shook his head. "No way am I letting him deal."

"He learns fast, doesn't he?" Hosea said, relinquishing the cards.

It didn't matter who dealt, really. Hosea already had an ace up his sleeve.