Celina made eye contact with Hosea who was the first one to notice her arrival back at the camp. The older man stood up and started over to her, drawing the attention of several others in the camp. Celina smiled as she made eye contact with all of them and met Hosea in the middle, drawing him into a big hug. She whispered in his ear, "Thank you for helping us."
He patted her on the back gently as they pulled away from one another, "No," he looked her in the eyes with a kind smile, "Thank you for helping us."
Celina returned the smile and scanned her gaze over everyone else who was staring at her in the camp, "I think I'm back you guys, if y'all will have me."
Of course we will, Arthur stepped forwards, "That's as long as you and Dutch don't start fighting with one another again."
Celina shook her head with a smile, "Here's hoping, all I'm worried about is Micah trying to wedge between us again." She shrugged, "I guess we'll see what happens, take it as it comes."
The corner of Arthur's mouth dipped downwards in slight feigned remorse. Before he could say anything, Bill opened his big mouth from where he sat on the fence, "Micah's dead."
"What?" Celina stepped back in shock, eyes wide, "W-when did that happen?"
"Yesterday," He continued to chew on the straw that was sticking out of his mouth, "Bounty hunters, near got me, Arthur, Javier and John too."
"Wow," Celina shook her head in disbelief, "That's, unfortunate. Can't really say I'll miss him... But, wow. I'm glad you all are ok."
"We are too," Sadie spoke up with a friendly, gentle smile at her, "Why don't you let me take you to Dutch? He's up in his- or your bedroom... at least he was."
Celina took a deep breath, this was the moment that she had been nervous about, returning to camp and seeing Dutch again, finally letting herself go back to him. She was excited, maybe a little over excited considering what he had put her through. She couldn't help it though, she loved him and she couldn't wait to see him. She only hoped that he hadn't closed himself off to her again after she had told him she was officially leaving him. Celina nodded slowly, "I guess I'll have to face him sooner or later. Might as well be now."
...
Dutch thought he could just barely hear her voice coming from outside and he could hardly believe his ears. It couldn't really be her, could it? Surely not, not after what she had said to him on the riverboat... She had to have left with Trelawny by now as much as he hated the idea. Right?
Despite himself, when the sound of her voice didn't go away, he made his way to the window in their room and peered out through the curtains. Sure enough she stood out there looking as beautiful as ever and chatting with the boys. He watched as her attention seemed to turn to Sadie and although he couldn't make out what they were saying all too clearly, it was quite obvious that Sadie was leading her back to the house to come and see him.
The notorious leader took a deep breath and smoothed his hair back, trying to make sure each strand was in its appropriate place. He was glad that he had took a trip into Saint Denis earlier that morning to take a shower, it had been a few days since he had taken the last one and God knew he needed it.
He took a deep breath and looked around the room frantically at the objects he had broken in fits over her when no one else was around. No one had been in his room since she had left, it was their room. Although she had made it clear a few days prior that she was leaving him, she was still the last one he had had sex with. He couldn't help himself, the woman was the only one he even had the slightest desire for.
Quickly, he moved all broken bottles that he could under the bed, he didn't want her to see how childish he had been in her absence, how much he had drank, how many bottles he had busted against the floor. He heard footsteps ascending the stairs and Celina and Sadie talking quietly to one another, they would, or at least Celina would be entering the room at any moment.
Quickly, the outlaw laid down comfortably in bed, crossing his long legs at the ankles and intertwining his fingers together behind his head. He didn't want to look like he was being antsy in anticipation of her arrival. Not at all, he was just... relaxing.
...
"Wish me luck, if you hear a gunshot then you know it's me who fired." Celina laughed at her own joke, getting a laugh from Sadie as well who started back down the stairs.
The slightly older woman hesitated before continuing to head downstairs, "You're sure you'll be alright?"
Celina nodded and waved her off confidently, "Of course, I'll be fine."
Sadie nodded back at her before continuing her descent down the stairs, leaving Celina right outside of Dutch's door alone. She stared at the door for a long moment, thinking about how things would go when she opened it. Would he be happy to see her? Would he be mad? She took yet another deep breath, disappointed when it didn't seem to help in the slightest. Would he even speak to her? Or would he tell her that she wasn't welcome back?
It was if she was trapped in that very moment with her thoughts, the 'What ifs' plaguing her mind. In a moment of strength, she ground her teeth together and grabbed ahold of the doorknob, pushing the door open.
She stood there in the doorway, staring at Dutch from where he lie lounged across his bed, neither one of them saying a word for a long moment. Where was she supposed to start? What was she supposed to say? Her mouth felt dry, was she supposed to say anything? Could she say anything? Or would it be better to just show him how she felt? Could she do that? She was almost ready to just turn around and talk to him later. He wasn't giving her much to go by by the emotionless look in his dark eyes which she loved so much.
Finally though, to her surprise, he broke the silence, his voice laced with sarcasm, "You don't even knock?"
Celina swallowed, "Oh, I-I." She glanced over at the door, and stepped inside the room before shutting it behind her. She took another deep breath as she tried to find the words that she wanted to use, "I think we need to talk."
Dutch lifted a brow, "Do you now? I think I recall trying to talk to you a couple different times."
She nodded, tears pricking at her eyes, "You did, you came and found me because..." She shook her head and bit back her tears, "I wasn't ready to talk yet then... I couldn't."
"I figured you'd be off pulling rabbits out of hats with Trelawny by now."
She nodded, fidgetting nervously with her hands, what was she supposed to do with her hands anyway? She tried slipping them in her pockets only to discover the pants she currently wore apparently didn't have pockets. She crossed her arms awkwardly. She was suddenly hot, really hot to the point she was sweating, "I thought I would be too but you told me you love me."
Dutch was doing the best he could not to show how thrilled he was to have her back in their room with him. He didn't just want to welcome her back with open arms, not yet. His only option to mask his happiness was to keep himself completely void of any emotion on the outside, something he was so used to doing, "And you told me you did to but you were leaving me anyway."
Celina nodded again, Dutch didn't want her back, she had blown her chance with him. He had moved on and now... now it was clear that he had no intrest in her, "I said that to protect myself, Dutch. I thought that I could force myself to move on after everything but I don't think I've ever been so horribly wrong in my life. You have no idea how hard it was for me to stay away from you after you finally said that to me." Tears pricked at her eyes, "And Arthur and Bill told me about Micah." The floodgates had broken as she reminded herself of what she had done and how much Dutch would hate her if he found out, "I'm so sorry, Dutch. I know you really cared for him. I could have been more understanding, I was just scared for you is all."
Dutch studied her for silent moment, believing there was sincerity and truth in her words. He hated to watch her cry and yet there she was crying in front of him once again. He wouldn't let up just yet, refused to, he wanted to see what her reaction would be to thinking she had lost him. He nodded slowly, "I think it would be best you let me be alone."
Celina tucked her lips in and nodded in acceptance to his words, everything was ruined, she had left thinking that she could just shut Dutch out of her heart and once she realized that wasn't the case, it was well too late. She sniffled and turned on her hell, maybe she had made the wrong choice in returning to camp afterall. Surprising herself, she found words to speak to him, "I'm sorry I came back, D-Dutch... I'm sorry." Her tone wasn't sarcastic but broken, she ran her left hand though her long black hair and walked away, heading back for the steps.
She was doing her best to keep from sobbing openly in front of him. She didn't want him to know what a mess she was because of his rejection. She was stopped though by his voice, "Would you get back in this room?"
She looked back at it in confusion, hadn't he just told her to leave? She swallowed, "You told me to go."
She thought she heard him chuckle which confused her even more, what could be possibly be laughing at? He spoke again though, this time his voice clearly sounding amused, "I am aware, and now I'm telling you to get back here. I'm not done with you."
Celina ran her fingers through her hair again, what was he trying to do? Completely break her? Because she was sure he could do that if he really wanted to. Despite herself, she turned around and entered his room again to see him still lounging on the bed, this time with a soft smile on his face. Her own face screwed up in confusion at the sudden change in his demeanor, "What's going on?"
Dutch raised a brow and got out of bed gracefully, he just slowly made his way towards her, "I am so glad you came back." His voice almost shook with sincerity, he twisted the ring on his ring finger, refusing to look at her.
Celina stood there silently, not knowing what to say or even if she should say anything at all. Dutch took the ring off of his finger and finally made eye contact with her again, "I am happy you came back almost as happy as I am you left."
She squinted her eyes, trying to make at least the slightest sense of what he was saying... or trying to say. He continued, "If you had never left, I am not sure I would have ever realized how much I love you. I- I-" he laughed, "I'm not a good man, and I'm not good at this," he gestured between the two of them, "But you make me want to be both.. and I swear on my dear mothers grave that I did not have relations with Molly during our time apart, nor with anyone else for that matter. It's you. Just you I want." Everything about Dutch's voice, posture, look on his face- everything went to show that he was being sincere. Celina would have been able to tell if he was lying. Although he was so clearly sincere, the look on his face suggested that he was also almost uncomfortable with what he was saying, as if he was surprising himself in the way he was opening up to her. He continued to speak, "After Annabelle was killed, I never thought I would love another like I- like I loved her." Dutch kept his gaze locked with hers and fidgetted with the ring he had removed from his finger, "I was wrong. Very wrong." He shook his head, "And I didn't expect to be saying what I'm saying to you now any more than two minutes ago. I know, I know I'm not the man you deserve me to be. Far from it."
Celina didn't know what to say, so she was glad that he really didn't give her much of a chance to say anything, "So, when I give this ring to you... my grandfather's ring that he bestowed unto me a good thirty years ago... I'm promising you that I am going to do everything in my power to be the man that you deserve." He hesitated for a moment before extending the ring to her.
Celina, herself hesitated a stunned moment before allowing him to drop the old but beautiful ring into the palm of her hand. She stared down at it in awe, never in her wildest dreams having expected that was taking place to happen upon returning to camp. She looked up at him with her captivating blue eyes, "You- I- I don't know what to say."
Dutch smiled warmly at her, "You don't have to say anything to me. Just, trust me."
She nodded, in that moment feeling overwhelmed beyond words, she wanted to kiss him. Before she could do so though, he backed away as if he knew what she was thinking. She couldn't help to be confused by his actions. He shook his head, confirming that he very well had known what she was fixing on doing, "Tomorrow, we will hit the Saint Denis bank. Then and only then will be quite possibly be on our way to Australia or Tahiti... maybe farrr out west. We'll see what happens. Until we get out of the danger we're in though, this," He gestured between the two of them, "Isn't going to happen." He shook his head, "It's not going to happen between myself and anyone else either but I don't want to risk hurting you and driving you away again.. not when you might not come back." He reached out and stroked his fingers though her hair, "I promise you though, I will be the man you deserve, you'll see."
...
Dutch had decided to throw a party, much to everyone's surprise he hadn't said much about Micah since the day before when he found out about the death of his fake friend. It was without doubt of course that he was doing the Dutch thing to do and doing his best to block out the pain that Micah's death caused him. Either it was that or the gang leader was just so thrilled that Celina had returned that he couldn't find it currently within himself to express sorrow over their loss.
Either way, the gang sat out in front of the house all around the campfire that night celebrating Celina's return to the gang. Celina was having a rather hard time grasping the concept of not being able to be with Dutch until he felt as if he had proved himself to her... Until he got them to a true place of safety. She only hoped that they would succeed in achieving that soon without the troubles of Guarma if at all possible.
Celina and Dutch had spent hours in their room talking that morning him holding her in his arms for a little while as they talked about the past, present and future. Celina had told him about the dangers of the Saint Denis bank robbery and expressed her concern of Hosea's safety. He had made her feel much better by stating that he would ensure the man had plenty of backup incase anything would go down even though Micah was dead and gone.
She had brought up Micah being the rat once again and he to her surprise, hadn't argued but hadn't really commented either. It was weird to see that behavior on Dutch but she had to admit that it was nice not to be arguing about Micah with him for once. She thought maybe, just maybe with Micah dead and gone and the trolley station robbery where Dutch would have hit his head never happening, that it could possibly be easier to save Dutch than she thought. That realization was followed by a wave of guilt at the thought that she had recently doubted that she would be able to save him at all. That was something that gave her hope. As she looked at Dutch standing in the front of the group, she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and everything was right in the world again. Maybe they would be alright after all, all of them. They didn't have to lose anymore people. Things didn't have to get any worse than they already were.
Dutch lifted his bottle of beer to the sky, "To the return of Ms. Celina Knoll. My dear, my love, welcome back."
The night went on wonderfully, it was well and truly a warmer welcome than she could have imagined, wonderfully inappropriate songs being sung, more beer than could be drunk, more drunkards than could be managed. Celina laughed out loud when she saw Bill nearly fall out of his chair a little ways away.
Roasting food over the fire, Pearson crafting small gifts for everyone. Arthur was singing with Dutch, both of them sounding pretty good to her surprise. She looked at the partly Scottish man with so much love that she felt as if her heart would burst from being so full. Dutch had been right about it being just as good a thing that she left as that she came back. One thing was for sure, as she looked around at Dutch and her family, she knew that she would never leave again, not for the world or anything in it.
"Throw some knives with me?" Celina looked over at Javier who had just approached her and nodded with a small smile, "I should probably be a little less drunk to be throwing knives, but sounds like a good time."
Javier chuckled as he led her out to a tree on the edge of camp, a spot that would ensure no one would be hit by a poorly thrown knife. She watched him as he took his stance several yards away and chucked a knife at the center of the tree with a flick of his wrist, hitting his target perfectly.
Celina raised a brow as she stepped forwards for her turn. She mimicked a stance similar to Javier's and threw her knife, it just barely hitting the side of the tree but sticking into it efficiently. She laughed as they stepped forwards to recollect their knives, "I think I could use some practice."
"Celina," John caught her attention and waved her over, "Come here."
She dipped her head to Javier, excusing herself from their game, "I should probably go and see what he wants." She started over to John who was enjoying the party with everyone else, "What?"
He rested his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, "I just wanted to let you know you absolutely deserve this party with how much you have done for us."
Celina smiled humbly and gave a small shake of her head, "I'm helping you guys because you're my family, I love you guys."
Feeling Dutch's gaze on her, she looked over to see him still by the campfire with several of the other guys, from the looks of it, they were probably over there telling stories. He offered her a smile which she returned before taking a seat beside Arthur on one of the logs.
Dutch continued whatever story it was he was telling inciting laughter from anyone listening, "Then there was the time when John got stuck in the well." The leader laughed himself, "Quite literally."
Celina raised her brow in interest and looked back at John who had turned beat red in embarrassment, "Common, Dutch, do you really have to tell this one?"
Dutch laughed and nodded, "I absolutely do, son. I do." He chuckled again before getting started with the story, "So, John was pretty young... probably about fifteen or so... and we couldn't find him in camp all day- anywhere. We kept looking and looking I was getting worried. We were all getting worried that maybe something awful had happened to the boy. Went out searching for him, asking everyone whether they had seen him or not. Of course no one had." Dutch fixed John with an amused smile, "Finally, Arthur ran up to me saying something about the well. Well, I would never have thought to look down there, none of us did. But," he gestured to Arthur, "Arthur was adamant that he was down there so Hosea and I went with him to look."
Arthur butted in, "I never would have found him if I wouldn't have come within three feet of the well myself. He was down there yelling for help, who knew how long but his voice hardly carried out of that place."
John laughed at himself, seeing no reason not to at that point, "I'm sure I was yelling longer than you were looking. I was convinced I was going to die down there."
Arthur laughed, "Marston always needing saving."
Dutch smirked, "So, well, after taunting him for a good ten minutes or so, we lowered a rope down there and got him out. Took him forever to live that one down."
John rolled his eyes, "Seems like I still haven't quite."
Arthur gestured to the one who always needed saving, "You never did tell us how you ended up down there."
"And I won't ever."
The rest of the party went on and Dutch graced them with a few more good stories about the good old days before the public really knew too much about them, when their bounty was so small that in all actuality, it was only Dutch who had the slightest bounty on his head.
Celina wished she could have known all of them back then, before the Blackwater fairy heist, before Micah. At that point she figured saving them would have been so much easier, she could have shot Micah on sight and prevented any of their bounties growing to the point they were at present time.
She smiled and laughed at the old stories that the gang told of better days when everything had been so much more simple. More songs ensued and more beer was drunk, games were played and jokes were pulled.
That night when she feel asleep at Dutch's side in the bed, she even had the sweetest of dreams...
...
"Billllll," Celina laughed hysterically, "Get the damn pig and let's go." She stood just outside the pigs pen, leaning on the fence and watching in amusement as the largest man in the gang tried his hardest to catch the pig that was coated in mud and still running through it. One might wonder why Bill Williamson was chasing a pig around through a pen of mud in a desperate attempt to catch it. Well... the answer was for no good reason.
That was right, for no good reason at all, you see, the gang was bored, simply bored out of their mind as they typically were every summer night around seven in the afternoon, the horses stalls had been mucked, the crops tended to, the chickens fed, the cows given water... all chores, done. Heck, their fresh crops had even sold good and fast at the farmers market earlier in the day.
Now, they were playing one of their favorite game, seeing who could wrestle the biggest pig they had to the ground the fastest with their bare hands. It was something that kept them out of trouble, something that worked and it was fun. Oh it was fun.
Celina looked at the little boy who was about three years old with Dutch's features and their black hair, and her blue eyes and then to the little boys older sister by a year or two. Her gaze then landed on Dutch who was as muddy as could be from his attempt to wrestle the pig and then at Arthur and Charles who were just as muddy, the mud caked into Charles' long hair.
Hosea sat on the fence, nearly falling into the mud himself when Bill was thrown back into the fence almost right beside him with a grunt. Life was good. For once, life was great.
...
A/N: There's the next chapter guys, hope it was up to everyone's standards and Dutch accepted her back with open arms and more. Of course he gave her a hard time at first, he had to lol. I hope you all enjoyed the sweetness betweem the two of them and the next chapter will cover the Saint Denis bank robbery.
So, what did you guys think about this chapter? I know I brought Dutch's good side out quite a bit in this one but I felt that it was due after all that's been going on between Celina and himself lately.
I'm going to try to possibly get started with the 'Imagines' today, no guarantee as it's just a side project.
On a whole other note ** spoiler warning ***
When the boys arrived back groom Guarma and all met in that cabin Charles and Sadie moved them to, did anyone else find it way too hilarious when Bill walked in and said that he was asking everyone he could if they knew where they were? ? ﾟﾘﾂ? I practically face-palmed with laughter, like that was just too funny in my opinion. Way to attract the law/trouble Bill ?
Disclaimer: I do not own Red Dead Redemption 1 or 2 or anything associated with it.