Ashley never believed in love at first sight, it always seemed like nonsense to her. How could you fall in love with someone just by looking at them? You know nothing about them. No, Ashley knew that was just lust. Yes, lust at first sight. She had experienced that a few times but so has everyone else. She never believed in love at first sight and she still didn't. Ashley believed that you couldn't love somebody until you got to know them, until you knew about their dark sides and you knew them as somebody more than a fleeting face in town. However, she did believe that you can realise that you love someone in one moment or it could be a string of different memories that reminded you just how much you cared about someone.

Micah never believed in love at all, not really anyway. He believed that you could care about someone, that you could have feelings for someone and that you could want to protect someone. But he never believed that you could love somebody to an extent that you cared about them more than yourself, that you missed them when they weren't around. He never believed it because he had never felt that way, never knew anyone who had felt that way. At least as far as he knew. However, Ashley came closest to being that person for Micah. But love? No, he still didn't believe there was really such a thing. Not the way those poets describe it with their fancy words. That just wasn't reality.

----- 

Ashley and Micah had been on separate jobs all day, Ashley had been out with Arthur while Micah was out with Bill. They preferred to do jobs together but of course they stilled worked with other people. Ashley and Arthur had gotten back to camp earlier than the other two and Ashley had already gone to bed.

Ashley was asleep when Micah and Bill returned to camp. Micah lounged around camp for a short time before decided to turn in for the night. He had a feeling that Ashley was in her tent so he headed straight there. He ducked into the tent, letting the canvas fall shut behind him. He chuckled fondly to himself when he saw her sleeping on her cot with the sheets draped over her figure.

Micah quietly undressed before approaching the cot. He shook Ashley's shoulder gently, needing her to move over so that he could lie down. Ashley groaned as she slowly woke up, her eyes opening to see Micah staring down at her.

"Ash, move your ass" he demanded quietly, not wanting to wake her up too much. He smiled softly when she laughed at his words.

Ashley nodded before lifting herself up and moving over, Micah nodded back as if to thank her as he slipped under the sheets and lay down side her. "How did the job go?" Ashley asked with a small yawn as she shifted closer to the man beside her and lay her head on his shoulder, letting him wrap his arm around her.

"Same as always, nothing interesting. You and Cowpoke do anything worth talking about?" Micah asked as he made himself comfortable, shifting a little closer to her.

"Nah, nothing special" Ashley shook her head gently, mumbling into Micah's shoulder.

"Get some sleep" Micah chuckled, it was obvious that she was barely keeping her eyes open. Ashley just nodded and closed her eyes, smiling to herself when she felt Micah press a lingering kiss to her forehead and hold her a little tighter.

Ashley slowly opened her eyes and tilted her head to look up at the man laying wit her, his head was tilted towards her and his eyes were closed. He must've been tired too. She couldn't help but smile at him.

Ashley believed that there could be one moment were you realised how deep your feeling for somebody actually ran. She believed that this was that moment for her. Seeing Micah so calm and relaxed as he slept, the way he spoke to her like she actually meant something to him. A way that he never talked to anyone else. The way that his embrace made her feel safe. She smiled softly before laying her head back down on his shoulder, resting her hand on his chest as she fell asleep with him.

-----

Micah had returned to camp with a face covered in blood and dirt, he had gotten into a fight at a saloon which wasn't surprising to Ashley. She gave him a look of disbelief when he returned to the camp as if nothing was wrong. She grimaced and playing slapped his chest, laughing and pushing him away when he had tried to kiss her. She was not kissing him when he was covered in blood and mud.

Ashley manhandled him over to a table and sat him down. She quickly grabbed a cloth and a bowl of water before sitting down in front of him. The bowl of water was placed on the table and Ashley dipped the clean cloth into it before lifting it to Micah's face. She got to work on cleaning away the blood.

"I don't even want to know who's blood this is or why it's on your face" Ashley shook her head as she continued her work. "Are you hurt?" she asked, looking him in the eye as the question rolled off of her tongue.

Micah was slightly taken back by the question, sometimes it hard to remember that somebody actually cares. "No, I'm okay" he assured her, letting her clean the blood off of his face without complaining.

"Good" Ashley mumbled as she nodded, looking focused on the task at hand.

"How do I look?" Micah asked with a chuckle noticing how focused she looked as she wiped away some blood.

"Real pretty" she smiled at him, her face lighting up for a moment with the mock compliment. Micah just smiled back before laughing to himself.

"Hey, Ashley!" Sean called as he approached the couple, making them both turn their attention to him. "When Micah is done, do I get a turn?" he asked playfully, winking at the woman as he laughed.

"Piss off, Sean" Ashley waved her hand dismissively as the two of them laughed along together. Sean put his hands up in mock surrender before turning and walking back towards the centre of the camp.

Micah's full attention was on Ashley as she laughed, that was enough to make him smile. "What?" Ashley asked once she stopped laughing and had noticed that he was looking at her with a smile.

"Nothing" Micah chuckled and shook his head before allowing her to finish cleaning the blood form his face.

Micah never believed in love but Ashley's smile was enough to make him question that. He thought back to what he had heard love felt like. He cared about her more than he cared about himself, he would definitely put his life in danger to protect her, and he definitely missed her when she wasn't around (not that he would ever tell anyone that). But he knew that he was right about one thing, it wasn't like that poets described it with their fancy words. But it was real, this was reality and he knew that his feelings for her ran deeper than he thought they did.

-----

"Oh c'mon, don't be like that. Sulking isn't a good look on you" Ashley pouted mockingly as she looked up at Micah, wrapping her arms around one of his.

The couple where walking through Rhodes, having just visited the saloon. For the first time in history, Ashley had drank more than Micah because for the first time in his life he wasn't too interested in getting drunk.

"I ain't sulking" Micah rolled his eyes at her but didn't complain as she wrapped her arms around one of his, he just used it as leverage to pull her closer to him as they walked down the street.

"Yeah you are. C'mon, show me that rare smile of yours" she teased, nudging him slightly before pulling away. She kept one of her arms wrapped around his but her her other fall to her side.

"You are relentless" he huffed as he looked down at her, smiling slightly at the playful smile on her own face.

"Yeah, yeah. It's my only flaw, I know" Ashley rolled her eyes, glancing around the street. It was pretty late in the afternoon so the sun was setting and the town was pretty quiet.

"Ain't much of a flaw, more of a irritating strength" Micah hummed with a small shrug as he turned away from her, looking down the road they were walking on.

"You're weird" Ashley chuckled, nudging him again.

"What?...you're weird" Micah muttered, his head snapping back to look at her, surprised by her comment.

"Yeah, it's weird that I waste my time with you" she rolled her eyes but still leaned closer to him. The alcohol in her system making her laugh happily.

"Yeah, it's weird that I actually give a damn" he retaliated, rolling his eyes as well, still managing to pull her a little closer into his side.

"Yeah, it's weird that I love you" Ashley murmured as she rolled her eyes again. She didn't even seem to realise what she said, but Micah certainly did.

Micah tensed and only just managed to keep walking beside her without freezing to one spot or tripping over in shock. Nobody, literally nobody, had ever uttered those three words to him and actually meant them. He never thought anyone would be stupid enough to say it to him either. All he could do was stare down at the top of her head, not sure whether he was annoyed or relieved that she hadn't realised the weight of her words.

Micah opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out, he wouldn't know what to say anyway. A normal person would say it back but Micah was never normal when it came to confronting is own feelings. Ashley hasn't seemed to notice what she said and Micah wasn't about to confess his love, or whatever, to her while she was drunk anyway. A part of him hoped that she wouldn't remember and another part wished that she would. All Micah knew was that alcohol tended to make a person honest, they speak what's in there mind without filtering it first. That's why he always gets into so much trouble.

All Micah could muster up the courage to do was to release her arm, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into him. As close as he could. He chuckled gentle as he kissed the top of her head, making her smile even if she didn't know why he did it. Micah just smiled to himself, unable to prevent the expression from making its way to his face. God damn, she was making him soft and he could only smile about it.