When the two outlaws got back to the gang's camp they went there separate ways and when anyone asked about the 'job' they had been on, they just told them that it went well. And if they asked why they were gone all night, they simply told them that they had to wait longer than they expected, everyone believed them because they had no reason not to believe them.

Ashley sighed, busying herself with a book, flashing a quick smile at Micah as he walked past her. She quickly returned to her book but couldn't focus, she was too lost in her thoughts. The truth is that she wanted to talk to somebody about Micah. She didn't want to gush about him and giggle about how amazing he is, it was quite the opposite actually. She wanted to talk to somebody about how crazy it was that they had started a relationship, talk to somebody about her doubts and all the confusion she was feeling.

Ashley put down the book with a small groan before standing up. She knew that somebody was going to find out sooner or later, so she thought that she should start talking about it with somebody she trusts and who she knows won't say anything to anyone else.

"Hey Arthur, wanna go for a ride?" Ashley asked as she walked over to the camp fire, a smile on her face.

Ashley knew that Arthur was not a fan of Micah, they had never got along, but she also knew that Arthur could be trusted. He wouldn't tell anyone and she felt comfortable talking about this sort of thing with him.

"Sure, I was getting bored here anyway" Arthur smiled as he stood up from his seat, dusting his pants off, before walking with Ashley towards the horses.

The pair mounted their horses before riding out of camp in a comfortable silence. "Alright, I'm guessing that you didn't want to just go for a ride. What's going on, Ash?" Arthur asked once they got a short distance away from the camp.

"Yeah...it's complicated and you have to promise not to talk about it to anyone else. Oh, and don't judge me" Ashley sighed at how stupid this whole thing sounded.

"Ah, okay...what's bothering you?" he asked, genuinely concerned about his friend.

"I think I like Micah" the woman sighed, not glancing up for a second to look at the man riding beside her.

"You think?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, shut up. I know I like Micah" she corrected herself with a small groan of annoyance.

"Yeah, we all figured that out Ash. You go on jobs with him all the time, replacing me. No hard feelings by the way" Arthur chucked, assuring her that every was alright. "You even talk to him in camp, all friendly with each other" he chuckled again and shook his head.  The whole camp has noticed that Micah and Ashley had become friends, a few of them had even cracked a joke or two about the whole thing.

"No, Arthur...I really like him" Ashley sighed, trying to make him understand without actually having to say it.

"Okay, Ash, I love you and everything but you need to talk like an adult right now" he teased, of course he had a strong idea of what she was saying but he was going to make her say it.

"He kissed me, I kissed him, it doesn't matter. We kissed" she told him, speaking a little fast but he understood.

"You kissed Micah Bell...once or...?" Arthur asked, processing exactly what she had said. There was a joke in camp that Micah was sweet on Ashley but they didn't actually think that Ashley would be interested in him.

"More than once" Ashley nodded before laughing to herself, this whole conversation seemed so silly to her.

"So, you two are in a relationship?" he asked and she was thankful that there was no judgement in his voice.

"No...yeah, yeah we are. I think. It's complicated. We never really talked about it until this morning and I think that he said we were in a relationship" she nodded.

"Micah doesn't seem like the type of man who talks about his feelings" Arthur pointed out, causing both of them to laugh. However, Ashley was pretty sure that most men in camp weren't exactly comfortable with talking about their feelings. "Didn't even realise he had feelings" he chuckled to himself, trying to bring some humour to the conversation.

"Seriously Arthur, how did I end up liking a sexist, racist asshole?" Ashley groaned, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Well he is definitely an asshole. You don't really think that he is all those other things, right?" he asked. Micah was a complicated character to say the least, nobody really knew anything about him and sometimes he was just difficult to figure out.

"Honestly, I don't know. Sometimes I think that it's all just some act that he puts on for some reason, but other times I think that is the real Micah Bell" she shrugged with a sigh. She was pretty sure that she knew Micah better than anyone else in camp but sometimes she felt like she didn't know him at all.

"You know that I don't like that man and I could give you a list of reasons why but I sometimes wonder about him as well. We think that he is sexist but he has treated you like an equal for a while now, he knows that you are just as capable as him. He says a lot of racist shit but he knows that everyone in camp just as capable as him. When Dutch sent him after a score with Lenny, he wasn't bothered by it at all. Sometimes I think that he is just an asshole who wants to get under everyone's skin in any way he can" Arthur shrugged, actually surprising Ashley. She knew that these two didn't get along at all, so in a way it was nice for her to hear that from Arthur himself.

"Maybe you're right, he is full of surprises, but that definitely doesn't make him a good person" she rolled her eyes.

"Of course it doesn't. Okay, so they are the reasons that you should hate him for, but...why do you like him?" he asked, watching the woman even if she wasn't looking at him.

"What?" Ashley asked, turning her face to look at him.

"What are the good parts of him? The parts of him that has led to us to having this conversation in the first place" he asked again, smiling at her. Arthur liked Ashley, he would definitely consider her a good friend and he knew that she wouldn't do stupid things. He knew that if Ashley liked Micah, there was some sort of reason for it.

"Well I guess it started just because I was enjoying doing jobs with him, it wasn't predicable and it was fun in a strange way. Then we started to warm up to each other, I didn't actually hate him, just disliked him" Ashley started, laughing to herself. "On a job I saved his life, some time after that in a saloon Micah went out of his way to help me out of a tough situation. I guess that made me see him differently, for whatever reason he was protective over me, even nearly beat a man to death just for pointing a knife at me. He made me laugh, I made him laugh, we connected in some way and I enjoyed just spending time with him. I honestly don't know how it happened. One day we almost kissed but he got all weird and pretty much ran away. Then we were collecting money from someone and Micah got jealous of the way we were talking, then Micah kissed me. That was the start of all this" she finished explaining. The truth was that she couldn't pin point the moment that her feelings for Micah changed, but she was certain that they had.

"I wouldn't lie to you Ashley...you know that I don't like him and neither do many other people back at camp but you can't help the way you feel about someone. I don't know if you want me to say this but I am pretty sure he feels the same way about you, if you were worried about that. He has been a much better person since you both made that deal to be partners, or whatever that was. He is an asshole but even I can see that he is trying his best to be less of one" Arthur smiled at her, hoping that his words helped in some way.

"Yeah, I've noticed that. He is trying, I guess" Ashley nodded, sighing to herself.

"Why haven't you told anyone about this? Why do you act like you barely know each other when you are in camp?" the man asked curiously.

"Because it's Micah...people are going to get involved. They are going to tell me to stay away from him, tell me that he can't be trusted. I know that they mean well but I already know how they are going to react" she explained.

"I guess I can understand that but they are going to find out one way or another" Arthur warned her. If there was one thing he knew, it was that news spreads around camp fast.

"I know and one day we will tell them, just not now" she decided, smiling slightly at him.

"Well, even if it is Micah Bell, I support you. You are happy and I'm pretty sure you are making him a better person" Arthur smiled, assuring her that everything would be alright. "Just don't start going on about how sweet or kind he is" he joked with a expression of mock disgust.

"Oh God no, of course not. He is still a gross, horrible man but I like it for some reason" Ashley laughed and so did Arthur, but even he could tell that there was a lot of sincerity and affection behind her words.

Ashley and Arthur ended up going for a longer ride after their conversation, changing the topic and talking about everything else. It was nice for them both to just talk without somebody interrupting. When they decided that they had been out long enough, they returned to camp and relaxed by the camp fire.

When Micah casually sat beside Ashley without saying a word, Arthur sent a quick wink to Ashley, making her glare at him. Arthur just smiled to himself before walking away to get a drink.