Just as Dutch had asked of them, the gang had been laying low for the past couple weeks. It was to Celina's relief that they hadn't been robbing and killing, she couldn't stand thinking of them doing either. That violence, well, it went against everything she stood for and the thought of par-taking in it just did not settle right with her.

Arthur had been taking her out almost daily to learn to shoot and she was getting better and better by the day, sometimes waking up the next day too sore to go out that evening. Luckily Arthur understood. Luckily, she had made it clear to him that she never wanted to be in a position to shoot anyone. She wouldn't go robbing with them- no. But, should the camp be attacked, she agreed to defend it. A weight settled in her heart at that thought knowing that's what things would come to.

It scared her, the thought of killing someone-anyone but she knew that as long as she stuck with the gang, her life, or the lives of her friends would depend on how well she could hold her own. Or would she kill for them, really?

There was one thing thing though that Celina had absolutely set her mind on, and that was saving those whom she saw good in, Arthur, John... his family, Hosea, and surprisingly, Dutch. Dutch still had his humanity, he didn't have to fall... again, would she be able to save him though? That was the question, it was going to been easier said than done and she had come to the heart-wrenching realization that the only way to save Dutch, may be nearly impossible... she'd have to get him away from the outlaw life, permanently just to save his humanity.

It was going to be hard, getting away with the first thing she knew she had to do but if she wanted to save him... she moved her arm from its position draped over her eyes and slowly got up off her cott, not wanting to make enough noise to attract any attention to herself. Strauss kept the book beside him, she knew that much, it would be in his tent.

If she was going to be successful, she had to be as stealthy as humanly possible, she was aware that some of the gang may be awake while the rest... except Uncle, were pretty sound sleepers. So, that in mind, in a crouched position, she began to make her way past the tents of those whom may shoot her should she be caught. Sure, Celina could have told them, explained to them that if Arthur, or any of them for that matter were to go and collect the money they were owed from that one sick man who's name escaped Celina's mind, they could potentially catch his disease. That said though, they could simply refuse to believe her and if they did that and she then went and destroyed their record of who they were owed money by, it would only likely make the situation much, much worse.

At the sound of someone else moving about, she crouched behind one of the wagons, holding her breath in fear that whoever was up would approach her. When nothing happened, Celina continued to sneak towards where Strauss slept. The hardest part would be finding the book without waking the man up.

Just as the young woman neared the tent, she froze, both hearing and feeling a stick crunch beneath her foot. She looked around, panicked for a moment before continuing to sneak to her destination.

Then she was there, crouched in the dark before Herr Strauss's tent. She took another deep breath, barely making out where the book sat just to the side of and slightly under the man's cott. She stared at him for a moment, assessing his sleeping form for any sign that he would wake easily. Reaching over next to her, Celina grabbed for a stick and carefully moved it towards the book, keeping her arm steady to avoid accidentally nudging the cott.

She practically groaned in frustration when the thin stick failed to move the book at the only angle she was able to get on it. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, building herself up mentally as she sat the stick down and began to creep closer to the bed.

He stirred just when she was close enough to the book to reach it and she took another quiet but deep breath. Who knew saving Arthur Morgan from TB would be so nerve-wracking? As soon as he settled back into a good sleep, Celina quickly reached down and grabbed the book of people to be terrorized for money. Dutch would surely kill her if he found out of this.

With book in hand, Celina turned on her heel and snuck off down to the lake. It would work, it had to. She stared out at the body of water for a moment, hoping that the splash wouldn't be enough to wake anyone up but realizing it may be.

With her feet sinking uncomfortably into the mud of the lakes shore, she hunched over the book as she tightly tied a rope around it and the other end she tied around a rock hoping to hold the book to the bottom of the lake with no risk of it being found, no chance of the debtors name's ever being recovered. That, as far as she knew, was the only way to keep Arthur Morgan in good health. With her fingers crossed and a silent prayer, she tossed the rock and book as far as she could into the lake, cringing at the incredibly loud splash and immediately scrabbling whilst still attempting to be quiet to get away from the lake.

It seemed that she had done so rather successfully, not hearing anyone stir at the noise to her surprise. At least it seemed that way based on the fact that she had successfully made her way back to her cott without incident and snuggled back into her blanket with her heart feeling as if it were going to burst straight from her chest. However, the feeling fortunately subsided in time for her to catch a decent nights sleep.

The next morning, however, the feeling was back almost as soon as she came to her senses. She was awoken by the commotion caused by the missing book of those who owed them.

"Then find it, Strauss." Dutch sounded like he was truly struggling to keep his temper under wraps from where Celina sat on her cott, watching the scene unfold up ahead with weary eyes. "It could not have gotten up and walked away."

Arthur nodded his head in agreement from where he stood by Dutch.. being the right-hand-man of his that he truly was, "That's right, it's got to be around here somewhere." From where Celina was, it appeared he was looking around at the group. She swallowed the thick lump which had built in her throat, she needed to go out there and join them all in their confusion before anyone pointed an accusing finger at the one who wasn't there.

She stretched, cracking her back and then took advantage of the attention being off her, getting dressed quickly.

"We turn this camp inside-out until we find that damn book. We've got record of one thousand dollars to collect from those poor fools at the least." His voice fluxuated, cracking here and there like Dutch's voice so oftenly did. "There is no way anyone got into this camp and knew where to look for that book which leaves only one- or two possibilities."

Celina swallowed before approaching the group with feigned confidence, "What's going on?"

Dutch turned his attention to the groggy young lady and sighed, "Either Strauss has gotten careless toward our financial matters or someone last night did something with our book. Either way, we need to find that book and set about collecting our debts."

It was Molly O'Shea who spoke up, to everyone's surprise, "I thought I heard someone moving about last night but I just figured it was one of you guys on watch."

"There was someone on guard duty." It was Arthur who spoke, his words almost coming out in a growl as he turned his attention to Bill who crossed his arms defensively.

"And if it were Arthur on guard when something happened it would have just been 'one of those things'" Bill jeered at him mockingly.

Arthur nodded, not allowing himself to be hooked into an argument with the larger, dumber man, "That's right."

Bill grunted in annoyance but the noise went right past Arthur who had his attention set back on Dutch, "I don't think anyone in camp would have done this, Dutch, what's the point?"

Dutch shook his head, "I do not know my dear boy, I don't know." His tone went back to hopeful, "But we will find it and recover that debt before whoever did this can get their hands on it again."

Celina closed her eyes briefly, She truly hoped they wouldn't be able to find it and hoped throughout the night in the lake the book had already been well and truly ruined. That, unfortunately, was Arthur's only hope.

The group broke apart after Dutch retreated to his tent as each of them set off to begin their search for the missing and valued item. Just as Celina was walking away, she was stopped, "Celina, wait."

She took a deep breath for what felt like the fortieth time that morning, it was unmistakably Dutch's voice coming from his tent. She responded, hoping she sounded as composed as she needed to be, "Right here, Dutch, what do you need."

The leader chuckled, "Come here, dear."

She turned around, seeing that he had stepped just outside his tent, he had the nicest tent there of course, and with reason. She nodded once, "Ok." At that, she approached him, going out of sight of the camp with Dutch back into his tent.

It was her first time being in Dutch's tent and it was... Well, it was really nice to say the least. The man had an actual mattress in the middle of the tent, animal pelts draped over the bed to keep him warm, pillows to ensure his comfort. The record player sat on the beside table he had been gifted with, a few animal pelts serving as carpet. Celina looked over to the barrels along the left hand side of the tent, bottles of alcohol of various sorts sitting atop them. Dutch, was living good, well, as good as he could at the moment.

"So," she made eye contact with the man, once again taking in how much taller he was than her, the top of her head coming up around his chin, "What do you want to talk about?"

Dutch smiled tightly and stared down at her as if he were searching for the secrets she hid within the depths of her soul, "Your motive."

"My-" she pointed to herself and shook her head, "I can't say I know what you're talking about, Dutch."

He lifted a bottle of whisky and popped the cap, his ringed fingers clicking against the glass bottle as he raised it to take a swig, eyebrows raised in interest at her claim. He swallowed before handing the bottle to her and gesturing for her to take a drink. She did so, welcoming the burn of the liquid when she swallowed it and then handed it back to him who carefully sat it down. "I didn't call you out in front of the group but as soon as motive was mentioned, it was clear. No need to lie to me, I'm not going to hurt you, miss. I'm not a monster."

Celina swallowed, she knew he wasn't a monster, he was just a man against the law he thought corrupt, doing his best and trying his hardest to protect and provide for his family. It was almost honorable, despite how wrong it was. Micah hadn't changed him yet, he was still the Dutch people knew and loved. The question was, would be believe her? "Dutch, I think you're-" she shook her head, with the way the man was looking at her, there was no way she could pull the wool over his eyes. Anyway, she needed him to trust her. How someone so sharp and sure of himself was manipulated and fooled by Micah truly beat her, especially in that moment. She sighed and ran her hands through her black hair, diverting her gaze from his and looking at the ground, "Ok," she nodded before looking back up at him with a firm glint in her blue eyes, "I did it." She fidgetted her hands nervously, "But not in spite, and not to go against the gang, but-" she swallowed again, "to help."

He crossed his arms and his brows raised slightly once again in interest. He made no move to interrupt her, but listened as she explained herself, "To help Arthur actually... he- there was the name of a man in that book who was very sick, sick with TB. Arthur would have caught it from him... and it would have, of course, ended up killing him." Her eyes held hope as she studied him for any sort of reaction, she all but pleaded with him to see her side of things, "I've watched Arthur's death once, based on his journal. I couldn't watch it again, not in person- not ever. I know you love him-"

Dutch sighed and took another swig of his whisky. His emotions to what she had told him were unreadable, that was, until he spoke, "Why miss Celina," he chuckled, "You have proven yourself to be a very valuable asset to his gang even if only in this."

...

A/N: I am so very sorry that it took this long to have this chapter posted. You know, real life things getting in the way lol. But here it is and I hope all of you enjoyed it. With the weekend, hopefully I'll have the next chapter posted in the next few days. If you get the chance to leave them, as always, comments about the chapter or story in general will be appreciated. And a question from me, I know how I feel but as far as all of you, would you like to see her end up with Dutch or Arthur at this point? I know there's not much to go by right now.

Also, I do want to throw out there that there will be talk of religion and possibly religious moments in the story since I myself am a Christian and this story is of course going to be about redemption. If it offends anyone, I'm going to write it anyway.

Happy Holidays! :)

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