"Dutch, if you don't quit and let that boy win for once," Celina watched as Dutch and James roughhoused with the pillows in the front room, Dutch hardly letting James get a hit in on him, "You're supposed to let him win, that's how you build their confidence."

Dutch laughed at that claim and shook his head stubbornly, "If he wants to build confidence about something, then he needs to be good at it." He whacked the boy with the pillow he held again and knocked him on his butt.

James sat there stunned for a brief moment, staring up at Dutch with wide eyes, "Daddy, stop."

Dutch stated down at the small boy with a twinkle in his eyes, the twinkle that Celina loved to see so much. It reminded her of the Dutch she had met the very first day she had joined the gang, nearly seven years ago. Celina shook her head at the thought, time sure did go fast.

James looked over at her after Dutch hit him again although lighter this time, "Mommy, make daddy stop."

Celina laughed at the boy and his father, "I can't make your daddy do anything he doesn't want to. Trust me, I've spent a long time trying to get him to listen to me." That was true of course, everyone who knew Celina and Dutch knew that it was true. She rolled her eyes at Dutch when he fixed her with a pointed look, he knew the hidden meaning behind her words. He knew that she was referring to the situation they had been in the previous night with the bounty hunters. If he had listened to her about scores and the bank that what had happened to them last night probably never would have happened and the law would continue under the false belief that they were dead by the hands of someone or another. She raised her brows at him, confirming that he was right in thinking that she was talking about what she was, "Well, it's true, it's about time you start listening to me, don't you think?"

Dutch looked a little uncomfortable, he had that look on his face which he would get when he felt like she was getting close to going off on him. The fact they had only spend six months broken up in the last six or so years did not by any means mean that she did not regularly lay into him over his ridiculous and to Celina, unacceptable behavior. She did, oh, she gave Dutch Van Der Linde a piece of her mind quite often and he was a fool those times when he refused to listen. That was something that she let him know regularly too. Dutch ran his right hand over his dark hair which remained long only now with the random silver streak here and there, bringing out his greying temples, "Do we really have to do this right here, right now?"

James looked up at Dutch, a grin on his face that held more mischief than either of his parents could handle, "Daddy, listen to Mommy."

Celina fought to bite back a laugh at the demand from their son and failed, "See? Even James agrees they you need to listen to me. You may be the leader, Dutch, but I am the boss."

Dutch gave her a tight smile, mischief shining in his dark eyes, "Is that so?"

Celina nodded, crossing her arms and sizing him up, "Oh yeah, that's so." She stepped forwards and into his personal space before grabbing the pillow out of his hands and whacking him over the head with it. She laughed when he stood there, staring down at her as he tried to dictate how much trouble he was in exactly. He was a smart man, Dutch. Dutch could see that behind her playful façade in front of their son that her blow on him with the pillow wasn't as playful as she made it out to be, she was actually wanting to hit him with something a little harder. She raised a brow at him challengingly, "What do you say you and I either go back to the bedroom or send James outside so we can have a little talk about what happened last night?"

Celina laughed mischeviously as she stared over at the veteran who sat on her couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table drinking one of the several beer of the day. Bill eyed her suspiciously, "What're you laughing at?"

Celina shrugged, feigning innocence as she held the bedroom pillow tightly against her chest, "Oh nothing... just, thinking."

"Yeah?" Bill studied her for a moment, having paused in taking a drink, "You sure don't look like it's nothing..."

"Well..." she laughed mischeviously again, "It's kinda nothing, kinda something."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He took another drink, "If it's something, tell me what it is."

Celina rolled her eyes at him, she was going to go for it. She had to go for it, it was going to be now or never. At that, she walked over to him slowly, doing her best not to break out in laughter at what she was about to do, "Put your beer down."

"What?" His face screwed up in confusion as he looked up at her, "Why?"

Celina huffed, "Just do it, please."

He stared at her for another minute as he tried to think of what she could possibly be up to. The look in her eyes though, he knew that look, that was a look that not even he would forget. She was up to something. Still, he didn't set his beer down, why would he do that and subject himself to whatever nonsense she had in mind. It was precisely then that the woman shrugged before whacking in the side of the head with the pillow she held, nearly making him drop his beer. He hit the pillow back towards her, surprise and confusion unhidden on his face, "What the hell was that for?"

"It's a pillow fight, doof. What, you're telling me that things like that don't exist in the current year?" Her voice was playful, taunting as she stared at him, gripping the pillow so hard to keep him from totally taking it that her knuckles were turning white.

"I ain't never heard of a pillow fight." Bill stared at her as he assessed the situation. She could practically see the wheels in his head turning and his lip twitched upwards with a hint of a smile. This time it was Celina who was caught off guard when he sat his beer down on the table and forcefully yanked the pillow out of her hands before hitting her in the side with it hard enough to almost knock her off her feet.

Celina's eyes widened in excitement at the veteran's acceptance of the game and she laughed yet again, staggering to find her balance once more and quickly grabbing the other bedroom pillow from the couch. She went to whack him back with it but being the brute of a man, he was, it was needless to say that it didn't do much good. A chuckle rumbled from his chest at her efforts to get the upper hand on him and he wacked her with the pillow again, "Well, common now, you're the one who wanted to play." Celina laughed until her face was red and tears were streaming down her face when he caught her pillow in his free hand and stared at her pointedly, "What you going to do now?"

She stuck her tongue against the inside of her cheek mischievously as she tried to formulate a plan to get herself out of the situation at hand, "I don't know..."

"You don't? What woman don't know?"

She snorted and glanced at the pillows nervously, there was no way she was going to get out of what was coming and she had completely done it to herself, "Shut up, Bill." He hit her with the pillow again, this time knocking her to the ground and she did the only thing she could do at that point, curled into the fetal position, shielding her face with her arms, "Stop, bully." She was laughing too hard to be taken seriously.

Bill grunted in amusement at the small woman curled up before him and tossed both pillows back over to the couch before reaching out a hand to her, "Common, I won't hit you no more."

Celina peered out from behind her arms slowly, cautiously to make sure that he no longer had any pillow in his possession. Having that proof that he was truly empty-handed, she grabbed hold of his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet with a smile, "You seriously hadn't ever heard of a pillow fight before?"

"How would I have heard of a pillow fight?" He pointed to himself, "You act like I'm the type of guy who would go around hitting a fella with a pillow."

She smiled sheepishly and shrugged a bit before leaning in and placing a kiss against his lips, "You're fun, Bill. Thank you for putting up with me." Her eyes then trailed down his body, her mid becoming quickly focused on other games they could play. Her sheepish smile slowly twisted into a suggestive smirk, "Well, I know a few other games that you do know about."

Bill looked her up and down as well loving ever second of being able to know that she and her petite little body was all his. Dutch had lost her of his own doing, that was for him to suffer for and Bill to benefit from. The gang may have thought he was stupid but he definitely weren't so stupid not to do everything he could to keep to keep Celina by his side. He licked his lips slowly as he eyed her, hungrily, "Well... I reckon I beat you at all of those other games as well."

She pretended to think for a moment, rocking forward on her tiptoes again, "You know... you might... I'm not quite sure."

Bill was quiet for a moment, the wheels in his head turning, what could a woman like Celina possibly want with a man like him? He sure didn't like to think but he couldn't help but think that that was definitely something worth thinking about. It was a million dollar question, almost as valuable of a question as whether certain men were really men or... or sheep. He narrowed his eyes at her, it may be killing the mood but it was something that he thought he better ask before he thought too much on it. He weren't very good at thinking, "What..." He hesitated for a moment and almost changed his mind about asking the question, "What do you even want with someone like me?"

Just like that the mood had changed from playful to serious and Celina felt her heart sink at his question. She knew that he didn't have a lot of confidence in himself but still, the look on his face and the tone of voice he asked it when which bordered between nervous and upset was almost too much. It had been a little over two weeks of them doing what they were doing and even she wasn't exactly sure what was going on between the two of them, but she liked it. She liked it enough that she was worried about having to tell him and Dutch about the very likely possibility of her being pregnant. She walked over to the couch and sat down, watching him as he turned around to face her with that same worried expression on his face. She took another deep breath, "Bill..." She shook her head, "Dammit..."

"What does that mean?" He pressed a little, "Bill... Dammit?"

"It means I don't know what we're doing." She slapped her palms down on her knees in exasperation. She knew that she had to tell the truth though, to the best of her knowledge, ""I don't know exactly what were doing.. Dutch and I just broke up- weeks ago." She scoffed, "I'm not over him." She looked Bill directly in the eyes, "Heck, I don't know if I'll ever be over him. I... I tried to move on from him a while ago with Trelawny but that lasted all of a few days... I," She tilted her head to the side slightly in thought, "I don't know, I just don't know. Maybe things will be different this time, maybe I will move on from him..." She gestured to Bill and dared to say what was on her mind, "With you. I can't make any guarantees and I know that maybe this was unexpected between the two of us, really unexpected, but I'm not using you, Bill."

Celina thought about what she had just said for a moment and sighed the corner of her mouth twitching downwards, "Ok, maybe I was at first... maybe," She huffed, "Maybe I still kind of am a little bit? I don't know... I mean, ok." She laughed humorlessly, "I am using you somewhat but... I mean, I'm using you for sex... but I like our sex." She smiled genuinely and nodded, "I love our sex. And, maybe.. maybe I'm hoping that Dutch will be hurt by our relationship.. I want him to be. So, you could say that I'm using you to get back at Dutch in a way I guess." She licked her lips and help up a finger when Bill went to say something, preventing him from continuing, "I have seen you as a friend ever since you walked me back to that motel in Saint Denis when Dutch kissed Molly, and I started paying even more attention to you after you kept me from killing myself after we killed Micah."

She drummed her fingers on the side of the couch in thought, she was telling him the truth and it felt good, she only hoped that he wouldn't leave her once she got done letting it all out. truly, she hoped to God that she wasn't hurting his feelings at all, that wasn't her intention whatsoever. She continued, "When I first kissed you, it felt great, I loved it, I really did. After we first slept together, I knew that there was no way that that was going to be the only time it happened. As we started... fucking I guess I should put it, more... I started wanting you around more- not just because I wanted to get back at Dutch or take my mind off of him, I mean I suppose that was in the back of my mind, but it was mostly the fact that I wanted to have sex with you, truly. I wanted you around.. and I still feel like that." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, hoping that he understood what she was trying to say, "I guess what I'm trying to say is yes, I want Dutch to notice, I want him to be jealous and I need sex because I need sex... but you're my first choice for all of those things... I want to do those things, satisfy those things with you.. and no one else. Of everyone I could have tried to go after to fulfil those needs, I chose you, I choose you." She fidgeted nervously with her hands hoping that what she said didn't sound terrible, "As time goes on, this becomes less and less about Dutch and more and more about us..."

Bill eyed her for a moment and for that moment, quite possibly the most intense moment of her life, or one of them at least, she felt like a weight was on her chest. Finally, he spoke, "I understand."

Celina opened her mouth before shutting it again, realizing that he had said that he understood a moment after he said it. She licked her lips and the wheels in her mind began turning again. Was that all he had to say, really?

Lately, Celina's beliefs about Bill had been changing even more, due to the fact they had gotten as close as they now were.. due to the fact they had been having sex she felt like she was finally getting close enough to Bill to learn who he truly was. Bill Williamson was a man with a good heart and while he said and did stupid things at time, Celina was becoming less and less willing to believe he was a stupid man. In fact, she didn't believe he was a stupid man, not at all. He wasn't the brightest, no, but he wasn't stupid and everyone did stupid things sometimes. He may not have always been 'all there' but RDR2 had made him seem more stupid than he really was.

Bill Williamson was a man of average intelligence as she had come to discover over the last couple weeks. Heck, she had had the suspicion that he wasn't as stupid as everyone made him out out to be even when she only saw him as a friend. Just, when they talked, it was clear to her, Bill Williamson wasn't too smart, and he wasn't always 'with It' but he wasn't stupid. Not really. And the stupid things he did and said, she found herself chopping it up to be the effect that drinking as much alcohol as he did had on him.

So, when he said that he understood, she nodded, believing it and taking it as the truth. Bill Williamson had a clear mind, most of the time and right now, she found herself wanting to kiss him. She swallowed, if he understood, he could still have taken what she had said to him wrong and she truly hoped that he hadn't, so cautiously, she pushed the matter a little bit, "Do you still want to do what we're doing? Because I understand if you don't... I mean, I hope that you want to... maybe I shouldn't have said anything about it."

"No," Bill started, choosing his words carefully as he usually did, "I'm glad that you were honest with me. I, I am."

Celina smiled at him in relief, "Well good, I wasn't sure if I was wording that right."

"Still," Bill walked over and picked up his beer bottle, taking another swig from it, "I don't see why you want anything to do with me... or, at least why you want me like you have me, presently speaking... not when I'm seen as the dumb drunk of the group." He sat his beer down, "I'm not... dumb. Not generally any more dumb than Arthur or the rest of them, you and Dutch are smarter... Hosea is smarter... but I'm just as smart as the rest."

"I know you are." She agreed, "Generally." She meant it, sincerely meant it, "You make some dumb comments sometimes but I think when you do that, it ain't because you're dumb, it's because you're distracted or just aren't thinking straight."

Bill stared at her for a moment as if she had just revealed the truest information in the world, "Well that's..." Bill laughed lightly in agreement as well, "That's true. That's exactly it. You know, I... I weren't even always like this.. I, a-after the army things were just different, you know?" He took a deep breath and Celina watched him, feeling tears prick at her eyes. She cared about Bill, she really did and she hung onto every word he said. She knew than not many people had gotten to know him like she was getting to and not many people would. This was special, moments like this, "After the army, I just started feeling detached, distant..." He was quest for a moment again, "I don't know. But people didn't always just look at me as big, stupid, Bill."

Celina shook her head and continued to listen to him, RDR2 gave more of an insight into the Bill Williamson before he became the leader of the Williamson gang as did what was recorded in history but she felt neither depiction did his justice, not really. You see, Bill Williamson wasn't a stupid man, not generally and although he was laughed at when he said he just didn't like to think... over the year and a half or so she had known him, she had come to realize that actually was the case. It wasn't that he couldn't think as clearly as the rest of them, it was that he truly just didn't like to think. The more he talked, the more she wanted him to continue, she wanted him to tell her all about himself, "I started drinking more after the army.. getting more forgetful, trying to think less." He shook his head, "I wish I would have never joined the army, I'm afraid that it's started the process of turning me into my pa... I'm a damn alcoholic and as much as I do love alcohol..." He glanced back at the beer bottle, "It's got a better grip on me than I can explain."

Celina didn't quite know what to say. Really, what was one supposed to say to something like that? She chewed on her bottom lip lightly as she tried to think of a response, she had to say something. She couldn't just sit thee in silence after he opened up to her like that. "I," She started, might as well be honest, "I don't think that I really know what to say to that... I mean... if you want to try to quit, drinking... maybe I can try to help...I-"

"I don't want to quit drinking," Bill shook his head at the thought, "It's the one thing that can get me through day to day. "I... I told you before about how I was when Dutch found me two years after I was discharged from the army... I was like I was... I was like you was after we killed Micah. I'm afraid if I didn't have alcohol during that time I would have done it... and I..." Bill took a deep breath. He looked at her as if she could read his mind or knew him to the depths of his soul, "If I didn't have alcohol now, I may still consider doing it if it weren't for the gang... maybe even though I'm a part of the gang... I don't know. Know one knows what it's like to be me, to go around with these memories that I have of the war... of my dad.. to go around thinking that I may end up as crazy as my old man some day." He shook his head and lifted his bottle again, drinking the last drop, "Sometimes I think it would be better if I just didn't wake up one morning."

Celina had tears freely running down her face at that point, "Bill, I..."

"I know," He nodded at her, "I know, you feel bad for me. I weren't telling you to make you feel bad."

"I know you weren't... I just... I don't like to think of you as unhappy like that. I believe in you, I think you'll be fine. If I'm being honest, I do worry about how much you drink when it comes to your health but I can deal with it... I mean, it's not like you're a mean drunk, just a... well, I actually think that you're kind of a thoughtful drunk ironically." She poke and Bill listened without so much as trying to interrupt her, "That said though, I do wish there was something I could do to help make you feel better, help you take your mind off of the things that you don't want it on."

"You do." He nodded and looked down at the empty beer bottle in his hand once again, "You do make it better." He looked down at the ground then and shifted his weight rather awkwardly, his hat tipping down slightly, "I... well, there's something that I have been holding inside for a long while now."

Celina looked at him in curiosity, wondering what it could be exactly that he had been holding inside and why he would be wanting to reveal it now, "What is it?"

Bill huffed heavily, "Well, I..." He fixed his hat and shook his head, exhaling sharply and raising his right hand in exasperation, "I don't know how to say it, hell, I don't even know that I want to say it... not after this conversation."

Now Celina's interest was truly triggered and she stared at him almost pleadingly, "I wish you'd tell me what it is now, especially since you brought it up." Seeing that he looked truly troubled as to whether he wanted to say it or not, she decided that she wouldn't push him, he had already told her enough for the night and if he wanted to stop there, she didn't think it would really be right of her to push more information out of him no matter how badly she wanted to know what else he might have to say, "I won't push," That was a promise not only to him, but to herself as well, "If you want to tell me you'll tell me and when you tell me the time will be right." She licked her lips, "Thank you, for hearing me out and talking to me honestly tonight... it really makes me feel closer to you and... well, I like that."

"I like that too," Bill's reply was instant, adamant and matter-of-fact. He set his jaw and looked off to the side for a moment before tipping his head back as he fought with himself on whether to sat what it was that he had been certain of for over a year, "Hell..." He muttered under his breath and mustered up all of his courage, "You may not know exactly how you feel about me right now, but I... well, I love you, dammit."

A/N: Sorry about no update yesterday you guys, was a really busy day at work and then I came home and... well, I didn't feel like writing even one lick lol. So, I tried to write anyway and it just didn't happen. Today it happened, obviously and please if you guys would, let me know what you think about this chapter. I really liked writing the Celina and Bill bit and it is the longest scene with them I have ever written, I really think that it helps to clarify their relationship more and help show their dynamic/chemistry more so please, comment if you can because I really want to know what you al think about this.

Also, I am working up to the events of RDR1 but it is a slow process as I really do want to fill in most of the time gap between the two games. I think that I could really do some interesting things with it and enhance the story by doing so. I am really trying to add more depth to Bill's character and may start doing so for Javier's character as well. Going into the events of 1911 I think that doing so for both is just extremely important as it will help explain why Celina is going to be making some of the choices she does regarding some of the events in the first game.

Also, it has been revealed that she will be making a trip to Fort Mercer upon finding out about Bill's future gang. I'm really interested in any thought/predictions anyone has on this?

Disclaimer: I do not own Red Dead Redemption 1 or 2 or anything associated with it.