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"God damn it." You hear Arthur curse when his head hits the underside of the table.
"Language." You mutter over your shoulder as you finish up the dishes, a wide smile creeping across your face when you turn to see Arthur rubbing his head in frustration. "How long this time?"
"Twenty minutes." He groans, leaning his hands on the table. "I blame Charles."
It was true, Charles had spent many hours teaching your daughter the basics of tracking, to which she had picked things up quite well, meaning like now, she often bested her father for hours in games of hide and seek.
"Have you checked the barns?" you offer, enjoying the fact that the big bad outlaw, notorious for gunslinging and evading bounty hunters, was now at the mercy of his five-year-old daughter.
"Barns, attic, every room. Your daughter is a ghost I swear."
"My daughter?" you wander over to him, pulling his arm around your waist.
He pulls you close, pressing his lips to the spot behind your ear that always gave you goosebumps. "Only your daughter could get the better of me." He whispers, seeming to forget his game and getting lost in your closeness. "Hopefully the next one will be on my side." He slides his hand over your stomach, acknowledging the new life growing inside of you.
His kisses continue, sending a shiver up your skin and a moan begins to threaten from your throat. Reluctantly, you push against him, his lips chase your skin, and he growls when you hold firm, a familiar feral look growing in his eyes. You raise your eyebrow questioningly, before reminding him he was in the middle of something.
"Arthur, you have a game to finish."
His hand continues to smooth over your hip, but he nods, agreeing with you, a longing look still in his eyes.
"Any ideas?" he sighs.
You nod your head in the direction of the sink.
"Traitor." Arthur scowls at you, pressing a quick kiss to your cheek before slinking over and crouching by the small cupboard, offering you a mock look of disappointment.
If there's one thing you can always count on your daughter for, its surprises. Before Arthur can turn back to open the cupboard Tris bursts from it, knocking Arthur back and landing giggling on his chest.
"Scared you daddy!" she squeals slapping her hands on his chest.
He stares are her in disbelief, looking from her you to and back, sighing he drops his head back against the floor, defeated. You cover your mouth, holding in a laugh and your heart swells at the sight of the pair of them.
"You guys ready?" John walks into the kitchen carrying his fishing pole with Jack on toe. "The hell are you doing?" he smirks at seeing the scene on the floor.
"Parenting." Arthur mutters, rolling over and pushing himself up from the ground. "You ready?"
"Abigail's coming too, she figured it'd be nice to spend the day by the river, take the kids too." He hands Arthur the rod, bending down to collect the rest of his fishing tackle.
"Just what I need, more time with this terror." Arthur teases, smiling down at the mop of blonde curls that hang on his leg.
The air is warm that blows across the river, and you lean back on your hands enjoying the domestic scene before you. Arthur, Jack, John, and Tris sit in a small boat in the middle of the open river; John, and Jack on one end while Arthur sits on the other with Tris between his legs pretending to fish.
"I never thought I'd see Arthur with a child, let alone a daughter." Abigail tilts her head with a smile, "Fatherhood suits him. I always wished I could have met Isaac."
"I imagine he was as good a dad with him as he is with her." You grin, waving over to the boat and feeling your heart swell when Tris and Arthur eagerly wave back.
An hour later they finally return to shore, Tris and Jack sprint past you yelling, chasing one another around the trees and into the outskirts of the woods. You're relieved Tris is tiring Jack out rather than her father, hopefully, she'll go to sleep easier tonight, allowing you and Arthur to resume what he had started in the kitchen.
"Heya darlin'." Arthur drops down beside you, leaning up on his elbow to kiss your cheek.
"Any fish?" you ask.
"You kidding? If Marston here would shut up for five minutes maybe we'd have had a chance. But his constant complainin' chased half the fish away. Seriously, Abigail, you deserve an award." He offers you a wink, smirking when Abigail doubles over laughing.
"Shut it Arthur, you kept tippin' the boat on purpose." John pouts, lying back and folding his hands behind his head. "You know I can't swim."
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, the four of you snoozing and chatting while Tris and Jack played in the grass, soon though the sun began to set, cooling down the air and darkening the sky.
Abigail sits up, stretching and yawning dramatically. "Okay enough of this lazing around, we're spoiling ourselves."
"Speak for yourself. Oof!" John groans when Abigail hits his thigh, ushering him to start packing up.
"Abigails right, Arthur go get Tris would you?" You nudge his boot, causing him to startle as he wakes, his hand snatches the hat from over his eyes.
"Gimme a minute." He mumbles, sleep still thick in his voice as he sits up, rubbing his face free of the tiredness.
"JACK, TRIS, TIME TO GO!" Abigail bellows, causing you all to jump and stare at her questioningly.
"Well Jesus woman, deafen us why don't you?" John rubs his ear teasingly.
Abigail simply shrugs, standing and dusting off her dress, "Not like you listen anyway." She jibes, smoothing Jack's hair when he runs over.
He squirms away embarrassed, and you smile; realizing he was growing up quickly and didn't want to be seen as a child in front of Arthur and John. Tris was around the age Jack was when you all left camp and you hoped she wouldn't succumb to the same fate, but you knew it was inevitable, so you decided it best to enjoy the years when she did want your company. Turning around you expect to see her smiling face, but instead, you see Arthur looking pale and turning around, desperately searching.
Turning around you expect to see her smiling face, but instead, you see Arthur looking pale and turning around, desperately searching
"Tris!?" he yells, eyes squinting into the distance.
Your heart rate speeds up, a cold prickle running down your skin and into your fingers.
"Jack where's Tris?" you ask, trying to remain calm but your voice shaking slightly.
"She was collecting bugs, I thought she was behind me when mom called." He scratches his head, pointing to the tree line.
Abigail draws him close, kissing his head.
John drops the line he was gathering, his fingers twitching to his holster. "You think a cougar could be around here?"
"Jesus John!" Abigail scolds, shaking her head in disbelief at her husband's blatant insensitive stupidity.
You ignore the comment, picking up your skirt, you and Arthur sprint into the forest desperately calling out and searching around.
"Tris where are you sweetheart?" you call, your voice sounding frantic.
"C'mon Tris." Arthur's eyes are wide as he searches around, periodically crouching low as if searching for her tracks.
As the minutes drag on and the sun begins to set your panic bubbles over, Tris was normally so well-behaved, so for her to disappear and ignore your calls was completely out of character.
"Oh god Arthur, what if a cougar really did get her?" you grip his arm tightly, looking around as if to see it staring back at you, her tiny form between its teeth.
"Don't listen to Marston, it's too early in the season for them to hunt this low down." He rubs your shoulder soothingly his eyes still scanning the forest floor.
"Er, guys?"
You both turn to John, following the direction of the finger that points to an upturned tree root, a mop of blonde curls peeking out from the other side
You both turn to John, following the direction of the finger that points to an upturned tree root, a mop of blonde curls peeking out from the other side.
"Oh, thank god!" you yell, relief flooding over you as you sprint over to the tree.
Skidding to a halt you pull her into your arms, sobbing into her hair and babbling that she was okay.
"I was going to scare daddy, you ruined it, mama."
Her innocence makes you laugh, she had thought this was all a game. You suppose it was a good thing that she didn't realize the consequences of what she did, having not grown up like Jack her world was much simpler than kidnaps and bounties. You make a mental note to teach her the dangers of running off later.
"Arthur she's okay look." You release her allowing her to run over to her father.
You expect him to embrace her just as you did but instead, he shakes his head grabbing her shoulder, and crouches down, a frown deep between his eyebrows.
"Do you have any idea what could have happened!?' He yells causing her to flinch.
"Arthur." You warn realizing Tris was beginning to cry.
"Do you realize what I thought had happened!?" he continues. "You can't just do things like that!"
"Arthur!" You yell, "You're scaring her, she doesn't understand."
Letting her go he stands holding his hat and raking his hand through his hair before turning away and stomping back towards the river.
"Just don't let her do it again." He practically growls over his shoulder.
You stand shocked, staring after him as he walks away. He had never spoken to Tris like that before and you were confused that he had shown her such anger. Picking Tris up you cuddle her tight, stroking her hair and shushing, trying to calm her down as she sobs thanks to her father's outburst.
"I'll talk to him." John sighs, stepping by your side and patting Tris's head carefully.
"No, let him cool off." You stare after him, knowing that this wasn't him, getting the feeling that there was something else.
A fear still plagued him.
It's two hours later when you finally see Arthur again, he hadn't gone home after the river, instead, you assumed he'd gone to cool off, coming home with his tail between it his legs when he realized what he'd done. Your shoulders finally drop, relaxing when you hear him kick off his boots and make his way to your room.
"I uh, didn't think you'd still be up."
His head hangs lows so his hat covers his eyes, but even in the dim candlelight can tell that he's been crying. Confirming what you already thought about his guilt.
"Tris took a while to put down." You felt bad for Arthur, really you did, but you weren't letting him off the hook that easily, not after making Tris cry as she did.
You feel satisfied he's suffered enough when he leans back against the door with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Did I scare her?"
"I won't lie, Arthur, you scared me too."
He nods, walking over, and sits on the edge of the bed, he keeps his back to you as he sets his hat on the side table. You notice how he wrings his hands; the knuckles are bloodied and raw and you realize he'd been punching something, and you bet if you traveled through the woods, you'd find a tree that fell victim to his outburst.
"Arthur." You shuffle over, turning his face to yours and frowning when you see the tears threatening to spill from your eyes. "What's going on? That wasn't you back there."
He drags his head from your hands, hanging it low once again. After a beat of silence, he finally speaks, his voice small and quiet, as if whispering the truth might make it real.
"I thought I'd lost her. I thought..." he rubs the back of his neck, struggling to speak the words, "...I thought I'd lost her like Isaac. I was so scared y/n."
Finally, he looks up at you, his lip quivering and tears falling from his confession. Your heart breaks at the sight and you pull him into you, holding his head to your chest and carding your fingers through his hair to calm him down. Now it made all made sense, he'd relived the worst part of his life in those few moments, playing through the trauma of losing his son once again as you all searched for Tris.
"It's okay, she's safe." You soothe him, eventually calming him down. "But you owe Tris an explanation."
He sits up, nodding in agreement, "I feel awful."
"She's a Morgan, she'll get over it. But you have some serious groveling to do mister."
"How many chocolate bars do we have in the cupboard?" he smirks.
"Don't you dare Arthur!"