Summary: After making a mess of yourself, Dutch gives you a hell of an earful and takes you back to camp with him.
Notes: Wow, John Marston is really taking his time with you, isn't he? Oh and Dutch being the overprotective daddy that he is. ~~
Bruises and a busted lip was what you got, and cuts too on your right hand, most likely from the bottle you smashed on Tommy's head. You head out of the camp for some fresh air for the first time in weeks and this is what you got. Despite how things went that late afternoon, the sting you felt in your hand and lip, and the soreness in your limbs, you surprisingly didn't regret any of it.
You have woken up to Javier wiping off the blood on your lip and tucking your hair behind your ear. At some point, he might have picked you up from the bar counter and carried you where you are now, seated on one of few chairs that weren't destroyed from the kerfuffle earlier.
"Hola, Sleeping Beauty!" Javier greeted you, his lips curling into a grin. Why does he have to be this charming and handsome?
You flinched when you felt the sting on your lip as he wiped the blood on your lip.
"Hello..." You groaned as you slowly regained consciousness. You started to feel the soreness throughout your arms and legs – damn that hurts… everywhere hurts!
Javier seemed chipper, and you were expecting he'll yell at you or smack you in the head for being an idiot thinking you could take down the strongest local at Smithfield's, or anyone at that fight earlier for that matter.
"Idiota, don't ever do that again." Javier said as he finished up on your face. He said it softly, but he did sound serious and genuinely concerned for you. He helped you stand up, and he escorted you out of the establishment that now lay in ruin.
You walked up to the front of the general goods store next door where Dutch and Arthur were standing. Arthur was now all covered in mud, and Dutch was frowning at the sight of you. Boy, he was not happy. Another man, who was smartly dressed and a bushy mustache on his lip, was standing next to them.
"Javier and Charles! I've missed you! And Bill looking as well as can be."
"…Ah, it looks like you recruited a new boy!" he jested in his Transatlantic accent. He almost didn't recognise you in your new clothes.
"Hello, Mr. Trelawney."
"And a good day to you too, Ms. [Y/N]." he answered as he took your good hand and kissed it "How are you?"
"Picking on drunkards and starting bar fights." Arthur answered for you and the group bursted into laughter – except for Dutch who gave you a disdainful look. You hung your head low, anticipating an earful from him on your way back to camp.
Josiah Trelawney revealed to the group that Sean is still alive and being held up somewhere by bounty hunters. Extremely relieved about the news that Sean is still alive, Dutch gave the men orders, one by one, and they slowly dissipitated.
"That was fun, let's do it again some time." Javier discreetly whispered to your ear, as he was about to leave. You restrained yourself from giggling as you gently brushed his hand off from your waist.
Dutch gave his remaining orders to Arthur and Bill and turned to you finally.
"You. You're coming home with me." He held a finger in front of you. You saw Arthur's face giving you that mischievous "oh you're definitely gonna get it now." look before he left alone you with Dutch.
A hell of an earful was what you definitely got from Dutch Van der Linde on your ride home, and the soreness you felt all over your body at each of Old Boy's gallop made it worse by the minute.
After a few minutes which felt like eternity, you finally arrived at the camp. Dutch finally left you alone and you couldn't wait to get back to your tent to clean and fix yourself up – Javier tried his best, but he didn't really do a good job at it.
Karen, Tilly, and Mary-Beth were nice enough to catch up with you on your way to your tent. They heard about what happened from Bill and they apologised for leaving you behind. Apparently their afternoon in Valentine didn't go so well either, especially for Karen who also ended up with some bruises on her face.
When you got inside your tent, the soreness from earlier worsened, so you had to slowly move around your tent, looking really pathetic, cradling your wounded hand. You picked up your medical bag and sat on the edge of your cot. You looked at your face on the mirror and saw, for the first time, just how bad you really looked. You couldn't help but laugh at the poor state you've gotten yourself into.
A few minutes in your attempts to fix yourself up, you were starting to lose your patience since you couldn't really use both your hands now.
"Ugh! Dammit." You cursed. Your left hand was shaking, and it kept failing at wrapping and tucking the gauze neatly around your right hand. You gave up in frustration and sighed.
"Do you need some help with that?" that familiar raspy voice came from behind and startled you in your seat. You turned to see who it was and saw John's figure standing at the opening of your tent. He walked towards your cot and sat next to you. He held out his hand, signaling for you to give him your hand, so he can take it from there. You did as he instructed.
"Just tell me what to do, okay?" he said so softly as if in whisper and you nodded your head gently.
He worked on your hand first then on your face, he was so self-conscious at what he was currently doing, worried that he'll mess up – you were the expert after all.
You mustered some confidence and playfully teased him, "I didn't know we we're talking again." You smiled and wincing at the touch of his hand on yours.
"Well I saw my horse hitched up outside, and I didn't even get a 'thank you' from you." He responded, going along with your playful teasing. It seemed he's forgotten all about your conversation with him back in Colter, and you didn't dare bring it up tonight. Not tonight.
He spent his evening taking care of you. He was so gentle with you and you realised he did an awful better job than Javier did. It felt good for the both of you to talk like this again after a while. You did miss him, you admitted to yourself. After he was done, you recounted to him the events that led to you in this sorry state. His laughter filled your small tent as you animatedly described to him one mishap after another.
"This was nice. Thank you, John." You said to him when he finally bid you good night. You two didn't realise it was getting late, and you didn't want the others to get the wrong impression.
"It was. Take care of yourself, [Y/N]." He patted your head gently as he stood up, then tipped his hat and let himself out. Though you couldn't see it from where you were sitting, John was still smiling as he disappeared into the darkness.