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Hosea woke with a strained gasp.
Dutch was crouched down beside him, a gun sitting on the ground to his right whilst both his hands gently caressed Hosea's pale skin in an attempt to soothe him.
"You had a nightmare, my dear," he whispered, carefully reaching up and cupping Hosea's face in his hands to try and refocus him. "Come back to me now. Everything's okay."
"Where's Arthur?" Hosea breathed, completely ignoring Dutch's fruitless attempts to calm him as he leaned over his shoulder and tried to peek outside his tent in search of his son. "Where is he?"
Dutch grunted as he tried to settle the older man back down into his cot. He was leaning heavily on him now, sobbing softly into his shoulder and refusing to let go. "He's still sleeping," he murmured against his ear, his voice low and warm in a way that nobody but Hosea ever got to hear. The feeling of his breath against his ear was enough to send a cool shiver down Hosea's spine, and he sniffled pathetically into Dutch's shirt. "Another nightmare?"
The older man swallowed, forcing himself to give a small nod as he tucked his face away against Dutch's neck.
"Would you like to go sit by his cot for a while? He'll still be asleep but it might help ease your mind a little."
"Yes."
With a small sigh, Dutch carefully untangled Hosea from his arms, running a couple of gentle fingers through his hair as he did so to help soothe him further. Then he quietly helped him to stand up from his cot before wrapping him up in his favourite coat and escorting him out into the open with an arm around his waist.
Though Hosea had seen Arthur countless times since he escaped from Colm and his men, the sight of the young man lying motionless in the safety of his cot with Susan leaning over him still formed a lump in the back of his throat that he couldn't quite swallow. The angry bullet wound in his shoulder was wrapped in bandages, Susan had draped their warmest blanket over him to keep him comfortable as he rested and as each moment passed, Hosea wished his eyes would open, even if just for a moment.
Anything that told him his son might be okay.
As soon as Susan noticed Dutch and Hosea standing by the entrance to Arthur's tent, she noticed the tear streaks that were prominent on the eldest's face and the trembling of his hands. Her heart sank at the mere sight of him. With a small nod of greeting, she shuffled back a few steps and motioned towards the seat that sat beside Arthur's cot, encouraging him to sit down where he could be close to him.
"I'll take over for a couple hours," Hosea whispered hoarsely as he lowered himself down onto the chair. Dutch didn't hesitate to step forward and rest both his hands on the older man's shoulders once he was comfortable, gently massaging his muscles as the two watched over their son. "Thank you, Susan."
"Of course. Just call me if you need anything," the woman murmured, taking one more saddened look at Arthur's sleeping face before wordlessly exiting the tent.
As soon as she was gone and it was just the two men inside, Hosea sniffled at the sight that lay before him, causing Dutch's hands to tighten around his shoulders a little. "He's gonna be alright, dearest."
"How would you know that?" the older outlaw muttered, forcing a deep breath in as he leaned forward and took Arthur's pale, trembling hand in between his own. "God only knows what Colm and his men did to him while he was there. Judging by the state he's in, it can't have been any good... 'm hoping he ain't too traumatised."
Dutch hummed, watching in silence as the older man caressed Arthur's knuckles with his thumb and anxiously watched him for any sign of movement. "We just need to create a safe and secure environment for him to recover in."
Hosea forced himself to swallow the words threatening to spill from his lips before he spoke them.
Arthur hadn't wanted to be a part of that parley to begin with. Dutch and Micah had practically forced him into it, and now here he was, covered in ugly scars and bruises, barely getting enough oxygen in his system to survive.
He remembered the words Dutch had spoken to his son right before they'd left - right after Arthur had expressed that he was concerned and felt uneasy.
"I would never ask you do anything I thought you couldn't handle."
The very thought was enough to make Hosea sob softly, low enough that Dutch couldn't hear, though he felt the slight jerk in his shoulders and frowned.
Nothing saddened him more than seeing Hosea upset. However, he knew there was nothing he could say or do to make things better this time.
He'd fucked up badly, and he knew it.
"May I be alone for a while? Please?" Hosea eventually mumbled, still clinging tightly to Arthur's hand as he glanced up at Dutch and sniffled. "You can... go back to sleep. I'll be okay."
"Of course. Anything you need. Just call me if you need anything, okay? I'm never far."
Hosea responded with nothing more than a numb nod.
-
It felt like hours that Hosea sat on that wooden chair, watching over Arthur's motionless body with his hands cupping one of the boy's before he finally started to give up on the idea of his son waking up anytime soon. His back hurt and his joints cracked loudly as he started to slowly pull himself up from his seat but before he could get all the way up, he froze, having noticed something that made his heart skip a beat.
Arthur's breathing had picked up.
Admittedly, It wasn't much of a change but Hosea thought it was one of the best things he'd heard all week. He wasted no time collapsing down onto his knees beside the cot once more, resting the back of his hand on Arthur's forehead to see if his fever had gone down at all. A small, relieved noise left the back of his throat when he realised it had.
Not a lot, but it was certainly a start.
"You're gonna be alright, my dear boy," he murmured, gingerly pressing his forehead against Arthur's chest as he listened closely to the faint sound of his breathing and felt the way his chest rose and fell with each breath of air.
For the first time in almost a week, his tears were that of relief.
His previous plans to get up now abandoned, Hosea stayed put for another hour or more, slowly stroking Arthur's knuckles with his thumb and listening to the sound of his breathing until he was nearly asleep with his head on the younger man's chest. He knew his knees would hate him when he got back onto his feet, but he couldn't have cared less in that moment, focused solely on his son and his well-being.
"You're gonna wake up..." he mumbled drearily, tracing small patterns into the palm of Arthur's hand as he mumbled nonsense. "You're gonna wake up and we're gonna go out hunting again... gonna go travelling... robbing... 'n all the other things you love doing because you ain't leavin' us. Not yet."
Much to his disappointment, nothing else changed for a long while after that. His hair remained damp with sweat, his hands still trembled lightly and he never moved an inch from where he originally sat unless Hosea moved him himself.
The moment Susan crept back inside Arthur's tent, Hosea's head shot up and he forced himself to smile a tired smile. "Hi there."
"Good morning, Mr. Matthews," she greeted softly. "How's he doing?"
The older man shrugged a little, averting his eyes from her and back to his son for a moment to examine his features once more. "His breathing's picked up a little and he ain't as feverish."
Susan smiled and after a moment, leaned back outside to grab something. Hosea soon realised it was his cot and he watched as she set it up right next to Arthur's spot before offering out one of her hands to help him up. "Arthur would want you to sleep."
"I know," the older man mumbled, sniffling a little as his exhaustion started to creep up on him. He hadn't realise yet but it was nearly seven o'clock in the morning and he hadn't slept more than a couple of hours. "Thanks."
"Of course. I'll be in and out looking out for Arthur, so you rest up as much as you can, okay? Let me know if you need anything."
Hosea gave nothing but a small nod, too tired to say anything. He carefully sat down on his cot, ignoring the cracking and aching in his joints as he went and laid down on his back, letting out a deep, relieved sigh at the feeling of all his weight coming off his legs. "Wake me up if he wakes up, please."
Susan nodded, squeezing Hosea's shoulder gently as he began to shut his eyes. "Rest up, Mr. Matthews. Everything's okay."
He believed Susan's words a lot more than he believed Dutch's.
-
Hosea didn't wake up again until after lunch had passed. It took him a little while to find the energy to fully awaken from his nap, having spent a lot of the night awake and obsessing on his sick son, but when his consciousness finally started to come round, he noticed that he was warmer than this morning, and there was a fair amount of weight on him that wasn't there before.
Upon opening his heavy-lidded eyes, Hosea found himself to be trapped under a very sleepy Arthur. The entire left side of his body was covered by the younger outlaw's, and one of his legs was draped over Hosea's waist, keeping him from moving. The extra warmth was caused by his body heat and the blanket that was snugly tucked around them both, which he assumed Susan had done at some point.
Too tired to really do much, Hosea twitched one of his fingers attached to the hand Arthur was holding in his own, prompting the younger man to wearily glance up at him with a little hum. "'sea."
"How long have you been awake for, dear boy?"
"Couple hours," Arthur mumbled, practically melting into Hosea's side when he gently trailed several fingers through his messy hair.
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
The younger man grunted. "Miss Grimshaw told me you ain't been sleeping well these past couple days, so I told her to leave you to sleep."
"Considerate bastard."
Arthur snorted, tilting his face to hide it against Hosea's shoulder. His eyelids still felt heavy and the pain in his body hadn't eased at all, but he chose to ignore it just so he could stay wrapped up in Hosea's cot with the older man holding him close.
"I ain't really... in the mood for talkin' at the moment," he whispered after a moment of silence had passed. "D'ya mind if we just... be quiet for a while?"
Hosea was already yawning again. "Not at all," he mumbled, gently resting his cheek against Arthur's head and sighing softly when Arthur's arms tightened around him. "I'm okay with whatever you need, my dear boy."
Arthur didn't say anything after that, too focused on the faint sound of Hosea's heartbeat and the feeling of his fingers massaging his scalp to form any coherent thoughts. He was unbelievably content where he was and felt so safe in the arms of his father that it took no time for him to doze off again, Hosea following not long after.
When Susan caught them, despite having heard their voices from her spot outside, she let out a low chuckle and bent down to tuck them both back in before leaving them to themselves.