The amount of sleep Celina had managed to get the night before was almost satisfactory. As much as she hated to admit, she had also laid in bed for an hour after waking up, just listening as the morning commotion gradually grew louder with more and more people waking up. This was her life now, she took a deep breath before opening her eyes again and sat up seeing Arthur approach her tent, his guns all strapped to him in one way or another. He leaned leaned lightly against one of the barrels in the corner of her tent, "If you're ready, we can ride out from here and I'll teach you some about shooting. Maybe we'll do some hunting while we're at it." He lowered his voice, his tone playful, "Between you and I, Dutch isn't so pleasant with a growling stomach."

Celina laughed at the comment and glanced over at Dutch who stood in the front of his tent, surveying the camp before him, his eyes ever watchful for any impending threat to his people. "Somehow, I think I can see that."

The outlaw chuckled, a spark of humor still in his blue eyes, "We'll head out from camp once you get dressed, there's a spot I saw on the way here which would make for good target practice. Are you any good at riding?"

Celina nodded, "Yea, I like the mare you lent me, she handles well. I'll only be a moment."

Arthur nodded, and placed a cigarette between his lips before lighting it and walking away to give her some privacy, the most privacy she would get at the camp anyway. He stood just a little away from her, keeping watch for anyone with disrespectful eyes.

Celina groaned as she pulled on her pants, it wasn't so common for the time, but she wasn't going to wear a dress like all the other women at camp, she had always been a Tom-boy and being in another century sure wasn't going to change that. But- she was forced to wear another frilly blouse since that was all the other women at the camp were able to lend her as far as a top. She would have to make-do and despite herself, she did kind of like the outfit it came together to be. "Ok," she spoke as she pulled on her shoes, the same pair of black converse shoes she had arrived in. It was likely someone would notice if they went into town but fortunately less likely for anyone to even remotely believe the truth... outside of the group that was. "I'm decent, you can look."

Arthur did just that, turning back towards her and giving her a discrete once-over. Despite all the poor woman had been through, she sure seemed to be accepting things as they were and holding herself together- as did Miss Adler for that matter. It seemed to him that they may have gotten lucky to pick up two good women.

He cleared his throat, seeing that she was looking at him expectantly, at least he had thought he had been discrete in assessing her figure, "So, we'll head out then."

Celina nodded, and together, they made their way through camp, her following him. "Where are the two of you heading off to?"

Dutch's voice stopped them in their tracks, Arthur turning around to face his boss, "Just heading out away from camp for a bit, Celina needs to learn how to shoot if she's going to be running with us."

Dutch nodded in approval, rolling his cigar between his fingers, "If you would happen to come across a pipe, pick it up for me if you would. I like cigars but sometimes, I just need a pipe."

Celina nodded at the same time as Arthur dipped his head in acknowledgement and then the two of them were off.

...

Celina surveyed her surroundings, taking in the beauty of the forest as she rode alongside Arthur. The snow was completely gone to her delight in the area they had chosen to camp. She hated the winter, hated the snow, the cold, all of it.

She dared to look over at Arthur, taking in his healthy appearance once again. She knew what she was going to have to do in order to save him, keep him and anyone else in the gang from contracting the dreaded and terrible TB. Would she be able to explain herself, she wondered? Or would everyone blame her and refuse to believe the reason why she had done what she had done? Celina sighed, the worst part was she couldn't remember the name of the man who had given Arthur TB, only that Arthur had caught it from him when attempting to collect a dept for Strauss... that meant that she would have to do away with all records of loans which the gang had given it. Oh boy were they going to hate her at least for a while. Unless... of course, they believed her.

Arthur broke her out of her thoughts, "You ok over there? You're awfully quiet."

She bit her bottom lip almost nervously before nodding, "I'm alright, just a lot on my mind is all. I'm trying to work out how to help the best I can, and also..."

Arthur hummed in agreement, not needing her to explain herself further, "You are worrying about how you can get back home?"

She nodded, "Not only that, but how I even got here in the first place." She shook her head and gave a short laugh, "I know I must sound like a broken record with how much I've been saying that but I really wish I could make since of it at least."

Arthur was quiet for a moment, "Some things, I suppose are just not meant to be understood."

Celina sighed, "Yea, I guess so."

He looked over at her and offered a small smile as he slowed his horse down and she matched his pace, "This is the place, we can leave our horses by these trees up here." He gestured to the last line of trees before the clearing up ahead, "Maybe this will help you to take your mind off of things."

The woman climbed off her mare and led her by foot to the section of trees Arthur had pointed out. There was so much she wanted to say to him, so much she wanted to warn him about and although he was a good man, she was almost afraid to tell him. She wasn't afraid of what he might do, but what he might not do, she didn't want to take the chance of not being believed and having everything go the way they had originally went the first time. It was too much of a risk to take and she only hoped they wouldn't end up killing her for doing some things that they wouldn't agree with. "I sure hope it does, Arthur. God knows I need a distraction."

Arthur shook his head as he unloaded some guns from his horse. "Don't we all?"

She raised her brows in agreement, "I'd say." She gestured to the weapons which he was approaching her with, "So, what one am I going to get to use?" She eyed the shotguns and rifles slung over his shoulder eagerly, her face dropping slightly when he handed her a much less intimidating side-arm.

He laughed, not missing the look on her face, "Considering you are only just now learning to shoot, we're going to start you off with something a lot less powerful, work you up to the big boys."

Celina rolled her eyes jokingly, "If you insist, boss."

Arthur chuckled again to himself before pointing to a tree that was a short distance away, and thick, "That one should be a good starting target, land three bullets in the center of the trunk and we'll see what we're dealing with."

Celina raised the gun rather awkwardly, her stance even worse which caused the outlaw to laugh at her again and her give him a playful glare. He backed up dramatically, raising his hands in a mock surrender, "For such a little thing you sure are intimidating."

This caused her to roll her eyes, "Shut up, and help me Arthur. You're supposed to help, not make fun."

The cowboy chuckled, adjusting his gamblers hat quickly and stepped forwards, coming to stand right behind her. Celina took a deep breath, feeling his firm body against hers, it was then she truly felt small, the top of her head only coming up to about his chin. When he spoke, his warm breath ticked her ear, "If this makes you uncomfortable, just let me know."

She closed her eyes, breathing in his manly, musky scent mixed with the smell of cigarettes which he smoked a few times a day. "No," she shook her head, trying not to lose her coherent thoughts, "I need to learn, so show me what I need to do."

Sure could feel him take in a deep breath of his own and shift behind her before guiding her to stand in the stance which he found it easiest to shoot, pulling her arm forward so that she would be able to accurately shoot the center of the trunk. "Ok," His voice was low, husky, "Go ahead and take your shot."

Celina swallowed, every nerve ending on her body feeling all too sensitive and tingly. Then, she took the shot, feeling the force of the weapon all the way down her arm. "You hit it," Arthur sounded pleased and pointed out in front of her to where the middle of the tree was splintered from the bullet. He then moved her back into stance, still keeping his body pressed against hers, "Take another shot."

She did so again, him praising her when the bullet lined up almost perfectly with the first one, "Now, you're on your own."

Celina immediately felt the cold air on her back again when he stepped away, almost instantly wishing she had him pressed against her again, "Ok," she took a deep, nervous breath, hoping she wouldn't fail completely without his guidance, "Here goes nothing."

"You've got this," he encouraged from where he stood off to the side of her, "Line yourself up like I showed you and just shoot, don't give yourself time to second-guess your judgementment."

She took another deep breath and nodded, quickly firing into the tree before looking away.

"Now why do you look afraid to look?" Arthur still sounded amused, "Look at the tree and tell me if you made it or not."

Nervously, she obeyed and looked over at the tree to faintly see new damage in the center of the trunk. From what she could tell, she made it, and it was very close to the other shots she had made with Arthur's help. She gave a small smile, pleased with her surprising accomplishment, "I guess that wasn't so bad."

"No, it wasn't, see? You're not confident enough with yourself." He surveyed the area briefly before pointing to another tree further in the distance, "Go ahead and fire five into that one over there. Don't worry about hitting the center yet, just hit the tree and we'll call it good."

Celina nodded, focusing on the tree which was serving as her new target, "Is this good?" She inquired of him, asking about her stance.

The corner of his mouth dipped downward in slight disapproval, "Not quite, you've got to always adjust based on where your target is." He walked over to her and stood how he had before with his body pressed up against her from behind. He moved her gently, lining her up appropriately to succeeded in hitting her target. "Now," He allowed her to adjust her arm herself, "Go ahead and take your shot."

Celina did just as she was told, cringing in disappointment when the bullet whizzed by the tree. "It's ok," he reassured her, "But that tells you that your aim was off, keep your body like this and adjust your aim."

Celina took another deep breath and closed her eyes tightly for a moment, "Ok," opening her eyes, she aimed again, and fired, this time satisfied when she heard the bullets impact with the tree despite being too far away to actually see the damage.

Arthur seemed to read her mind, "Good, now four more and we'll get closer to see your accuracy."

She nodded and fired again, hearing the satisfying impact, then again, again, and yet again. Arthur moved away from her after the third bullet, leaving her to hit the tree with the last two alone. He seemed pleased, "Ok, let's go take a look."

At that, the two of them made their way over to their target, Arthur pointing out each of the five bullets successfully lodged in the trunk, "Not bad on your accuracy, could be better and will be with time. I figure when we come out here next time we'll bring some cans or bottles, make it a little harder."

Celina laughed, "Harder already? I barely succeeded today."

"You did fine," Arthur's voice was decisive, authoritative, "We should be getting back though, it's a bit of a ride."

...

That's just what they did, packed up and headed back to the camp. Throughout the ride that Arthur predicted to take about forty minutes, they made small-talk. For the most part, it was he who was asking questions, "So, do you have a man in your life, in 2018 that is?"

Celina smiled and shook her head, "At this point I don't think it would matter if I did..." Arthur looking at her, still waiting for a full answer made her smile wider, "But, no, I didn't have anyone. Haven't for a while."

He nodded and was quiet for a moment, "What do you like to do in your free time?"

That, was a hard question, at least a hard one to explain to someone in 1899. She pursed her lips, "Spend time with my friends mostly, I try to make time for my parents but we were all always so busy with work. Love horses, video games..." She figured she would lose him there and that would be where explaining would get complicated to her surprise, he nodded.

"Hosea tried to explain those to me. I think I almost understand."

Celina laughed, "Well a big thank you to Hosea."

Arthur smirked, looking at her from the corner of his eye, "And Dutch told me about the shirt you had on when you first arrived."

A blush spread across her face and looked away from the cowboy in moderate embarrassment, trying to hide her face. It seemed like 1899 would be quite interesting.

...

A/N: That time gap of a few weeks seems like it's going to be useful to the story. Pretty much Arthur and Celina's first detailed interaction in this chapter. Also, this chapter was a little longer, so hopefully they will continue to be around this length.

As always, love to hear any suggestions and or comments, opinions from you guys if you have the chance!

Hope you enjoyed!

Disclaimer: I do not own RDR or anything associated with it.