Charles Smith X Female Reader
Word Count: 1351
Go hunting, they said.
It would be easy, they said.
Just get some deer, they said.
Alright...so, nobody actually said that. But the point still stands.
You just wanted to go hunting for some deer, bring some food back to camp and take the hides to town to sell them. It was meant to be easy, maybe even peaceful, but nothing could go simply of course. You were just about to win yourself another deer but froze when you heard a familiar growl coming from behind you. You slowly reached for your gun, turning around and hoping not to startle the animal behind you. Before you could even act the large bear had pounced on you, causing you to let out a blood curdling scream. As the bear mauled at you, you accepted you fate. You were going to die here, and not exactly in a painless way.
You screwed your eyes shut, not wanting to watch your demise and flinched when you heard a loud gun shot. Your breath was stolen from you as an intense weight crushed you into the ground. You gasped for breath as the weight was rolled off of you. You coughed and spluttered and winced in pain as you tried to refocus your vision to see what was going on.
"Just hold on, you're going to be fine" a familiar voice rang in your ears as you felt your body being lifted off of the ground with careful ease.
You kept slipping in and out of consciousness but you could figure out that you were on a horse, an arm wrapped around your waist as you rode along calmly. You were pressed up against the man's chest as he practically cradled you against him, you could barely open your eyes long enough to get your vision to focus but you knew that the man was familiar and you felt safe.
The next thing you remember was being lifted down from the horse and being laid down on an uncomfortable bedroll, but the warmth coming from what you assumed to be a fire was more than welcomed.
It wasn't too long after you were laid down that your vision returned to you fully. You turned your head and watched the flames of the campfire dance, when you heard movement beside you, you turned your head again. You smiled weakly when you saw the familiar face of Charles.
"Are you fully awake now? I thought I was going to lose you for a second" Charles smiled in a reassuring manner.
You winced and hissed as you felt a piercing pain in your abdomen. Charles shushed you, running his hand through your hair. Once the pain subsided you looked down at yourself and groaned at the sight. You had gashes over your stomach, legs, arms, chest, and even had a gash across your cheek. You were a mess, you were in pain, and you could barely move. At this point you didn't even care how exposed you were to Charles.
While you were slipping in and out of consciousness he had already bandaged your chest and legs, and now he was just finishing cleaning and bandaging your arms.
"I know it hurts, but I need you to sit up so I can wrap some bandages around your waist. It was difficult to do your chest but your waist will be harder to do" Charles explained with an apologetic smile as he wrapped an arm around your back and helped you sit up. You hissed and groaned as you sat up.
Charles began to clean the wounds on your stomach, wiping away as much blood as he could so that he could inspect the wounds better. Most of them were surprisingly shallow but there was one gasp that was rather deep, it didn't go deep enough to damage any internal organs but would still take a long time to heal.
"This is going to hurt" Charles warned you as he took your hand in his. You looked at him with a confused expression, only to scream and squeeze his hand with all your strength as he pressed an alcohol soaked cloth against your wounds. He held it there for a while, feeling a little guilty as you groaned in pain and rested your forehead on his shoulder with your eyes screwed shut.
He pulled the cloth away and helped you sit up straight. You tried to get your breathing back to normal as you watched Charles wrap the bandages around your waist securely.
"How did you find me?" you asked, trying to distract yourself from the pain coursing through your body.
"I was hunting, I take it that you were too...I heard a scream and followed it. That's when I found you being attacked by that bear. How did that happen anyway?" he asked, glancing at your face as he wrapped the bandages around you again.
"I was hunting deer, the bear surprised me. I didn't have time to react" you explained, wincing as he pulled one the bandages. He whispered a quick apology before he finished bandaging your waist. "Thank you, Charles. I would be dead if you didn't show up" you smiled, thanking the man that saved your life.
"You're welcome, I'm just glad that I got there in time" Charles admitted as he cupped your unwounded cheek in his hand. The tender gesture made your face turn a light shade of pink, he noticed it but didn't mention it.
"So am I" you laughed but instantly winced at the pain it caused. He just smiled at you before lifting the cloth up to your face and wiping the blood away. "Be honest...how bad is it?" you asked with a soft sigh, trying to ignore the stinging pain in your cheek.
"It looks and feels worse than it is. None of the cuts are very deep, you'll be fine after some rest" he assured you. You found that Charles always made you feel safe and comfortable, he always made you feel relaxed. He had a way of making you feel like everything was going to be alright. "A few of them will probably scar but I think they will look good on you" he smiled, hoping to cheer you up.
"Thank you" you smiled, wishing that he would let go of your face so that you could hide your blush.
Charles smiled at you as he finished cleaning the wound on your faced and stopped the bleeding, he threw the bloody cloth to the ground and handed you a flask. "It's just water, you should drink. You should eat as well when you feel like you can. You have to keep your strength up" he advised you.
You nodded as you took the flask from him and took a sip, then another, and another. You finished the flask quickly and placed it down beside you. "Now, lay down and get some rest" Charles ordered softly, holding you softly as he helped you lay down on your back against the bedroll. "When you wake up, we will head back to camp and check on your wounds again" he told you as he sat down beside you.
"I don't even know if I can sleep right now" you sighed, you were in pain and you just didn't feel like you were in the mood to be sleeping at all. You just couldn't relax.
"You can, trust me. I'm sure this whole thing has tired you out" he smiled. "Come here, let me help you" he offered as he moved towards you. He carefully lifted your back off of the bedroll, frowning when you winced. He sat behind you and pulled you against his chest, his arm wrapped comfortingly around you while his other hand brushed through your hair.
He smiled as he felt you relax against him and your breathing became steady. Once he was certain that you were asleep, he pressed a lingering kiss to the top of your head. He had never been so glad to have been in the right place at the right time before.
Requests?