Partner (Micah Bell)

30. I'm Fine

Micah sat at a table in camp by himself, a glass and a bottle of whiskey in front of him, while Ashley sat at the campfire speaking with a few other members of the gang. Arthur had been sitting beside Ashley, joining in with the conversation but when he saw Micah sitting on his own Arthur noticed that the blonde man kept glancing over. Knowing that he had new information to mess with Micah, Arthur stood up and casually excused himself from the fire before walking over to Micah. He knew that Ashley would've told him to stop if she knew what was going on, probably would've threatened him too, but an opportunity to mess with Micah like this was too good to pass up. Especially when Arthur knows that Micah wouldn't end up giving him a black eye, not wanting to upset Ashley.

Arthur casually walked over to Micah before leaning back against the table and looking towards the campfire. "What do you keep looking at?" Arthur asked casually, not even bothering to look at the other outlaw.

"What do you want?" Micah pretty much growled, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the Arthur.

"You looking at Ashley? Because I'm sure you ain't looking at Javier. Can't say I blame you though, she's really something isn't she?" Arthur asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he kept his gaze on Ashley, who was talking to Javier about something that they couldn't hear from the table.

"What in hell are you talking about?" Micah asked, furrowing his brow in confusion and frustration before turning to watch the woman as well.

"Ashley. It's just that you have both been spending a lot of time together, I was wondering if I could take her off of your hands. Been missing her by my side on jobs, we were really good together" Arthur shrugged, somehow knowing exactly what to say to get under the blonde's skin. He was actually wondering how much it would take for Micah to spill something about Ashley.

"I dunno what game you're playing, just fuck off" Micah growled again, turning his face back to Arthur and keeping an intense glare on the other man.

"All I'm saying is...she's rather...pretty" Arthur shrugged. He felt a little bad about talking about Ashley behind her back, but at least he was only saying somewhat nice things and it was all worth it to annoy Micah.

"What? You sweet on Black? Well, she ain't interested in you, Cowpoke" Micah scoffed, standing up from the chair.

"Now, how would you know that?" Arthur asked, his lips curling into a small smirk when he saw Ashley stand up from her seat and the fire and begin to walk over to the both of them.

Micah stepped towards Arthur in an attempt to intimidate the man but stopped when he felt a hand wrap around his bicep. "Leave it, Micah" Ashley rolled her eyes as Micah looked down at her. "He knows" she explained, releasing the blonde's arm and gesturing towards Arthur.

"He knows? Why the hell did you go and tell him?" Micah asked, turning his body to face the woman.

"Because I wanted to talk to someone and I knew that Arthur could be trusted" she explained, scratching the back of her neck a little awkwardly, but Micah was barely even listening to her.

"You're a real piece of work, Morgan" Micah snarled before pushing past darker haired man and wandering to another part of the camp.

"You just couldn't resist the urge to tease him, could you?" Ashley asked, punching Arthur playfully on the shoulder as they both laughed.

"He would've done the same to me. Sorry, but I had to say something to him" Arthur chuckled, Micah seemed to spend his life trying to annoy other people so Arthur just wanted to take the chance to do the same to him and Ashley understood that.

"So you thought winding him up was the best thing to do?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Of course she wasn't upset with Arthur because he was right, Micah would have done the exact same thing to him.

"Maybe not the smartest thing to do but it was entertaining" Arthur shrugged, both of them chuckling lightly to themselves.

"You're lucky I like you, Arthur Morgan" Ashley warned him teasingly before walking away. She was pretty sure that she saw Micah disappear into his tent so she headed in that direction.

She stepped into the tent and smiled at Micah, who was sitting on his cot. "Hey, sorry 'bout Arthur. He was just messin' with ya but he doesn't really mean any harm" Ashley smiled as she sat beside him on the cot.

"Eh, don't worry 'bout it. It could be worse and at least you're telling someone" Micah shrugged, not turning his head to look at her and mumbling the last part.

"What do you mean?" she asked, concern written on her face.

"Ah, it don't matter. What you doin' here anyway?" he shook it off, turning his head to look at the woman beside him.

"I came to see you. I haven't seen you all day" Ashley smiled, nudging his shoulder with her own.

"Well, I've been in camp all day" Micah mumbled again, looking away from the woman again.

"Okay, well I haven't spoke to you all day then" she smiled, correcting herself but frowned when she looked at Micah's face, there was obviously something wrong or something on his mind. "...are you alright?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as he looked at him.

"I'm fine" he nodded, still not looking at her.

"You don't seem fine...you can talk to me y'know...about anything that's bothering you. You don't have to deal with it all on your own" she assured him, placing her hand on his knee in a gesture that was suppose to be comforting or reassuring.

"Yeah, I know" Micah nodded again, his voice seemed void of any emotion and it made Ashley unsure about the way she should react. Maybe she should just walk away.

"...okay then, as long as you know. I'll leave you to it...whatever it is" Ashley nodded, her voice a little quieter than before as she didn't really know what to say. She patted his knee gently before standing up and leaving his tent. Micah just watched her leave before letting out a small groan of frustration.