EDIT: I am still really unhappy with this chapter in all honesty, but I'm going to keep coming back to it and fix it up as I go along. And extra scene has been added along with some new dialogue. I would highly appreciate any feedback on it as I just don't feel like it flows right.

The Scientist

It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start

Wildfire went on trotting back home with Arthur on her back, Mary trailing beside him on her cart. He knew it would take hours more with his ass of a horse than it needed to, but some part of him looked forward to spending a bit of time alone with Mary. She kept looking at him, shocked that he was still alive, elated at that fact, and yet, this entire moment felt like a dream.

She wanted to reach out to him during her pregnancy, but she knew the kind of man he was, she knew he'd want to come see her, be in the baby's life as much as he was capable, and she realized that this brought with it the same amount of concern that getting married did, and she didn't want to put her child, their child, at risk.

Arthur, on the other hand, was torn. He couldn't help but feel angry, like she had planned this, determined to one day create a life that would tie them together without choice. He loved her, but he knew they weren't going to work out. And now there's a child, one he already loved because it was his, but he couldn't deny the new complications.

He hadn't really thought about how having kids would no doubt factor into the obstacle of his immortality, but now he did. He'd have to bury his son one day, another one. He'd have to bury Mary, he'd have to bury Charlotte, he knew he would watch them die one day, two women he had deep running affection for, two women he'd die to protect, would surely die before him.

"What's the cart for, Mary? Were you gonna dig me up and take me home if you couldn't have me alive?"

Mary rolled her eyes, "I had to pick up some packages for a friend of mine, figured I'd visit you on the way."

"You been there before?"

"I have, actually. I moved, we don't live far from where you were buried, or, where I thought you were buried." She turned to meet his gaze. "It was my way of finally being with you."

"Well… You know I can't stay, right Mary? With you."

Mary felt herself about to rant, but calmed down and said simply, "We can discuss this later, Arthur."

They made their way to the widow's home. Charlotte was in the front, digging a long line in the dirt, stopping to wipe the sweat from her brow as she glanced up to see Arthur coming through with a woman following behind. The sun had already begun to set, and Charlotte's garden was looking well under way, she'd admit she put it off until some more indoor chores had been done though.

Arthur hitched Wildfire and went towards the cart to help Mary down, reaching his hand out to grasp hers, soft hands meeting a calloused one yet again. He guided her over to Charlotte, his heart racing and yet, he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Charlotte, this is Mary. Mary," he turned to her, catching the essence of jealousy on her face, "this is my beautiful savior, Charlotte."

Charlotte bowed her head. "Lovely to meet you, Mary."

Mary nodded.

Arthur put his hand in his pocket, pulling out a cigarette before gesturing to Mary. "Um, could I speak to Charlotte alone for a moment?"

Mary nodded again, backing away and walking back towards her cart. Arthur avoided Charlotte's eyes, they looked hurt yet hiding it. Both stood still for a moment as each gathered their thoughts.

Charlotte pushed her hair back behind her ear. "I'm guessing that's your old flame."

Arthur nodded. "Yep. That's her." He sighed, lowered his cigarette, and said, "I'm gonna be going away for a little while, not long." He reached his hand to touch her shoulder.

"I understand, Arthur."

"No, it's not like…" He exhaled and brought her a little closer. "I have a son. He was born just a few months ago. I just want to go see him, nothing will happen between us."

A slight smile came to Charlotte's features. "Congratulations, Arthur."

He tucked his cigarette between his lips and reached into his pocket again, this time pulling out a picture of his boy. He handed it to her proudly, pulling his cigarette out again to say, "I won't let him end up the way my first son did. I wanna be in his life but, I wanna be here too."

Charlotte smiled at the photo. "He has your eyes." She handed him the photo back, wiping a tear from her eye. "You need to go be with your family, Arthur. You're a good man, a good man would do that."

Arthur reached out and pulled her in for a hug. "I'll be back, Charlotte. I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'll be back."

"You do what's right for that boy. Not what's right for me, or you, or even Mary. You do right by the boy, you hear me?"

"I hear you, of course I hear you, but Charlotte…" He pulled back to rest his head on hers, "I care for you. So much. I, I think, I think maybe I'm-"

Charlotte put a finger to his lips, stopping him in his tracks. "You do right by the boy, no matter how you feel for me."

He pulled her in tighter, not wanting to let her go. She held him back, kissing him on the cheek and moving forward to whisper in his ear. "I'll go prepare a bag for you, some fresh clothes and your journal so you can keep practicing."

She pulled away and caressed his face before walking back towards the cabin. Arthur turned around, Mary had her arms crossed, looking away towards the woods as if she hadn't seen the whole exchange.

Arthur walked up to her, feeling a strange sense of guilt and confusion. When he looked at Charlotte, his heart raced with joy. When he saw Mary, his heart raced with passion and regret.

Mary caught sight of him walking closer, so she mustered a smile and rubbed her palms together. "Ready to go?"

"Uh, Charlotte is preparing a bag for me." He finally grabbed a match and struck it against his pant leg, lighting his flameless cigarette to calm his nerves. The nicotine engulfed his body like a warm evening glow.

"You failed to tell me that your relationship with her was more than friendly."

"She saved my life, Mary. If it weren't for her I'd be wondering around in the woods still, my arm dragging from my body, hungry, either get eaten by wolves again or getting kidnapped and tortured by some inbred assholes. Some part of me thinks you'd prefer that to me having a relationship outside of you."

"Oh, grow up, Arthur." Mary crossed her arms and turned away, just as Charlotte was walking back out of the cabin with a brown suitcase.

Arthur left to meet her, grabbing the bag from her hands and guiding her to come to the cart to say goodbye.

"It was great to meet you, Mary. Please, have a safe trip."

Mary nodded again, not finding any words to say to the woman she believed now held Arthur's heart. She got up on the cart, taking the reins and waiting for her partner to join her.

Arthur held Charlotte close in a sorrowful hug. "I'll miss you."

She held him back and held off tears as she whispered, "Goodbye, Arthur."

As he pulled away and mounted the cart, never breaking eye contact with her, he truly began to wonder when he would see her again, the future remaining unclear from here on.

It took a couple hours up the road before Arthur could feel himself getting antsy. He thought about the man the other night, that vile piece of shit, and how he could easily be staking out the home, see that Arthur had left, and be on his way to take advantage of Charlotte right now.

Dusk was falling, Mary's weary eyes could hardly focus on the road ahead. They'd have to spend the night somewhere along the road.

"How much further?" Arthur asked.

"A good few hours. I'm planning on taking us into a hotel in town."

"I hope you're paying. I don't got a penny to my name."

"I don't either." Mary sighed.

"How you feel about campin'?"

"Uncomfortable with the idea, especially in this area."

"You ain't alone. I got my gun."

She sighed again. "Very well then." She pulled the reins of the horses onto the side of the road and slowed down, bringing the cart to a steady halt "Here is as good a spot as any."

Mary got up and off the cart, coming around to the side to meet Arthur as he jumped down. "I have some blankets in the back of the cart, I'll go sleep in there, you can…" She crossed her arms and looked down, fidgeting. "You can come rest with me if you want."

"'Course. Not like we haven't before."

She smiled as he followed her to the back of the cart, the setting taking her into a period of reminiscence. "Remember those nights when I'd sneak away with you? You'd take me on your horse out into the night, we'd hold each other by a fire."

"Your dad would be up waiting, screaming at me when I finally brought you home, threatening to bash my head in."

"You know, you can choose to remember the good times too."

"I remember the good." He lowered the back of the cart and took her hand as she shimmied herself up. "But I remember the bad too. Remembering the bad keeps me alive."

"Well, I remember the bad too. But the good times outweighed the bad."

Arthur jumped up into the cart, being handed a blanket as he sought out a spot to sleep. The back of the cart was coated in hay and large wooden crates.

"What's all this?"

"My friend does a lot of sewing. Ordered some materials. Good thing too, we'd have nothing to sleep on back here otherwise."

"She won't mind us sleeping on her stuff?"

Mary looked aloof, and nodded as she bunched up some fabric into a pillow and laid it behind her to rest on.

Arthur found a spot to rest and placed his arm behind his head, looking up at the stars as he had a million times before. He looked to Mary, the woman looking like she was already falling asleep, and sighed.

Tomorrow he'd meet his son, and the battle with his heart would begin.

Arthur tapped his finger against his thigh, his anxiety getting the best of him. "I really can't stay long, Mary. I hope you know that."

"If you'd rather be with your mistress than our son then why would you ask to come with me anyways?"

"Mistress? Some mistress she is, I been living with her a month, I'm not married, and I've never laid a hand on her," Arthur glanced at where his missing appendage, "well, my remaining one that is. She helped me cut the other one off."

"You were laying your hand on her just fine from what I witnessed."

"Mary, why you gotta be like this? We got a kid together, that's it. I could be taking shots off the breasts of a prostitute right now if I wanted to and you'd have no good reason to stop me."

"How about decency? How about not living with a woman out of marriage?"

"Well, I can't do anything worse with her than what we did unmarried, now can I? We got a son to prove that."

"I considered you my husband, Arthur. From the moment you gave me that ring, you were my husband."

Arthur leaned over to antagonize her. "You didn't consider me your husband when you took yer daddy's side over mine and married a dead guy."

"Stop it, Arthur!" Mary snapped, her wrists shaking as her fists held the reins.

"Why? Why stop now? Why should I do anything you tell me? I been doing everything you say since I was sixteen years old, that was over twenty years ago, I haven't had a moment of peace without you on my mind until I…" He turned to her, shocked by her expression, and stopped. "I'm sorry."

She wiped away tears on the sleeve of her dress. "Where did we go wrong, Arthur? I was so devastated to lose you forever, and now, we've just been fighting since the moment I found out you were still alive."

"Yeah. We do a lot of fighting nowadays."

"Please, just, while you're here, can you just let us be a family?"

"My son is my family, Mrs. Linton."

"Once upon a time I was going to be Mrs. Morgan." She rested a hand on his knee. "I still think about that, still dream about that. The thought alone gave me hope that one day you'd come looking for me, a changed man."

"Well, I am changed. But maybe that's why for once in my life I can't picture us together again."

She pulled her hand away and sighed, silence overtaking her. She looked forward, a black veil just slightly coating her face, the shining sun bouncing off her black dress, highlighting every crease and wrinkle.

Arthur felt the need to say something but didn't know quite what. Perhaps he had said enough. Perhaps he hadn't said enough. But most likely, he had just said everything wrong.

"You been living alone out here with the baby?"

"Jamie is with me. Along with…" she paused, her eyes dancing away from him, "a friend."

"A friend? A male friend?" He teased.

"Why do you always assume the worst, Arthur?"

"How is that the worst I could assume? I'll tell you the worst I could assume. The worst I could assume is that you're living in a brothel opening your legs for ten cents a pop while a beat-up whore breastfeeds our kid and your brother scrubs the floors after you're finished. That's the worst I could assume, Mary!"

"Why do I even bother with you!?"

Arthur couldn't help but smile at her. "I'm jus' playing around, if you can't tell."

Mary rolled her eyes and snorted. "You aren't funny."

He lightly punched her, just a small tap, before reaching out for her shoulder. "Even when you were sweet on me you hated my humor."

"I never stopped being sweet on you, Arthur."

"Coulda' fooled me."

"Just as you never stopped being a horse's ass."

Arthur pulled his hand away and looked at the scenery surrounding the cart. "We there yet?"

Mary pointed to a little white house in the distance. "Just over there."

It was small, darkened by age, a big oak tree stood tall outside and a small garden in the back provided fresh food to the inhabitants.

Just behind the house was a small stable, and as the cart pulled up, some chickens came into view.

Jamie was throwing some feed to them, but upon seeing Arthur coming up in the cart, he dropped the can of seed and ran to greet them.

"Arthur?! Is that really you!?"

"Course it is, you didn't really believe I was dead did you?"

"I was told you were buried, I hadn't come up to see the grave yet but Mary did!" He excitedly grabbed the bag from Arthur's hand before standing to the side and catching a glimpse of his arm as the older man jumped down. "What happened to your arm?"

Arthur smirked. "It's always been like this," he said while waving the stump in the boy's direction, "you ain't ever noticed?"

"Um, no sir."

"He's playing with you, Jamie." Mary shook her head as she walked towards the back of the cart, pulling it open and grabbing a box from inside. "Come help me with these, will you?"

"Yes ma'am, soon as I put Arthur's bag inside." Jamie led the way, looking over his shoulder at Arthur in total disbelief. "You really are here."

The gruff man nodded. "In the flesh."

"You here to see Morgan? I told Mary that's what his name should be." Jamie opened the door to the house and walked inside, "I told her it was only right, since you were, well, dead. I said he'll never be Morgan Morgan so may as well be Morgan Linton, right? She was gonna name him Arthur though."

"She was, was she?" Arthur stepped inside the house, so modestly decorated and yet, it felt like a home.

"Yeah, but she said it would hurt too much." Jamie led him down a hall and gently pushed open a cracked door, revealing a bassinet at the end of the room beside a queen-sized bed.

Arthur stood there in silence, looked to Jamie, and asked, "That him?"

The young man nodded and smiled. "You can go see him, he doesn't bite."

Arthur took gentle steps forward, each time his shoe hit the floor his heart beat a little harder with anticipation of seeing the boy.

He looked inside the cradle, placing one hand on the bar, and peered inside at the little one, sleeping silently, entirely unaware that his once-dead-daddy had come back to see him.

"Ain't you precious." He whispered with a grin before turning to see Mary in the doorway behind him.

"He has your eyes for sure." She said in an equally gentle tone as she walked closer to him, heels tapping tenderly against the hardwood floor.

"Nah. He's got all his good looks from you, Mary."

She smiled, and reached her hands out to touch his chest, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I still love you Arthur. I can't deny it."

"I…" His heart sank. He reached his hand to hold her back, stroking her hair as he thought of how to respond.

"I thought I got over you. Even with your baby inside me, I thought I did. But seeing you again, watching our baby grow so fast, thinking you were gone for good and our son would never meet you, I accepted that I'd always love you and I was going to learn to live with that." She pulled away. "Now you're here again and I don't know what I'm going to live with now."

"We can make something work. You don't live far, I can come up here every day, give you money, help you out."

"Why don't you just stay here, Arthur? We have a spare bedroom if, well…"

"It's not that, Mary. We can't live together, we'd kill each other."

"Maybe just for a little while, maybe in the future…" She looked up into his eyes, tears nearly forming before she pulled her arms away from him and sat down on the bed in despair. "You're right, Arthur. You won't change."

"You're wrong, Mary." He said remaining still in a gentle tone. "I did change, because if I didn't, I'd already be on my knees thanking God for a fresh start with you. And I'd be kissing you and loving you and begging you to marry me."

She looked at him hopefully, but met his gaze and knew that whatever was to follow was not in the favor of her family.

Arthur glanced at his baby again, the child sleeping peacefully even now. "I ain't that man anymore." He came to sit down next to her, looking at her and wishing this had all happened twenty years prior when they still had a chance. "I can't be that man anymore. Because I love you, of course I do, but I can't be with you, and I'm finally able to understand that."

"Well," she rose from the bed, hiding her tears in the turn of her face, "at least let me make you some dinner then."

"Sounds lovely, Mary."