Arthur Morgan x Reader (18+)
A/N: It’s finally here! I’m so excited to be moving this story along, please enjoy and let me know what you think. I can’t wait to write more! And yes, you can expect a Part 3! 🤠🦌
Arthur could see a deer in the distance. He could’ve sworn he’d seen it before, only this time he was in a forest somewhere.
The forest was thick with foliage, the flora consisting of many different and beautiful colors. There were birds tittering in the distance as the sun’s rays shined through the trees’ thick canopies.
The deer lifted its head from where it was grazing and looked over in his direction, directly into his eyes.
Arthur froze, and noticed then and there that those eyes … matched his own.
He felt a strong pull as he was suddenly sucked right into them.
Arthur jerked awake, his eyes opening as he let out a small gasp. The sudden inhale caused a sharp pain in his chest and he grimaced.
Sunlight was shining directly on his face, and he couldn’t see a damn thing. His vision was so blurry and he blinked a few times in an effort to clear it up. Looking around, he tried to take in his surroundings.
Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered was feeling the unforgiving rocky ground beneath his body. Now he felt nothing but soft cushions.
Arthur looked down at his body, and noticed that a thick wool blanket was covering him up from his shoulders down. He seemed to be lying on a large couch … in someone’s house.
He tried to move, but his body didn’t obey. It felt almost as though his limbs were completely paralyzed. His entire body might as well have been a stiff wooden board.
Gathering up all the energy he could, he gradually brought his hand up slowly from his side and grabbed the hem of the blanket. Lifting it up weakly, he looked down and saw that his he was naked from the waist up. His entire upper body had been patched up in several areas with thick bandages. Some more bloody than others. What the hell?
Voices started drifting into his head and he looked around, trying to figure out where they were coming from. There was an open doorway across the room, they seemed to be coming from there. The voices sounded like a man and woman — arguing?
“We can’t afford to be takin’ care of this stranger, Y/N! We’re barely gettin’ by as it is.” The man’s voice sounded angry, having a slight western touch to his accent.
Stranger? Were they talking about him?
“For the last time, Austin, his name is Arthur! And you need to stop your complaining!” A woman’s voice that time. Her voice had a somewhat country lilt to it, similar to the man’s but a bit stronger. Who were these people?
Arthur tried to recall what had happened. How did he get here? No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t seem to remember a thing except for that damn mountain.
Arthur frowned, suddenly realizing that the woman had said his name. How did she know it?
“I don’t give a damn what his name is! You’re wastin’ all our resources on a man who’s on the brink of death as it is,” the man shouted.
“This man needed help, Austin. What was I supposed to do? Just leave him up there on that rock?”
The man named Austin seemed relentless. “You could’ve been killed, Y/N! It could’ve been a trap, what if it had been an ambush? What would I have told Pa if you’d gotten hurt?”
Were they talking about that night he’d been on that mountain? Arthur thought.
“I’m sick and tired of arguin’ with you on this, Austin. Nothing bad happened, I don’t know what’s else to tell you. You need to get over this already!”
The voices stopped then, and the woman he’d been hearing appeared in the doorway. She seemed to still right in her tracks, noticing he’d woken up.
You were getting weary of your brother’s squabbles. No matter how many times you tried to make him see reason he absolutely refused to hear it. Austin had completely lost all rational thought and took every opportunity he could to remind you how stupid he thought you were for what you did.
You knew he loved you — though he sure had a funny way of showing it sometimes. He was over-protective, but you couldn’t blame him for it.
Still, though, his bellyaching was getting rather annoying.
For the past three days Austin had been constantly on your back about you taking the injured man into your cabin and caring for him. His anger was really starting to get on your nerves. But really, what else could you have possibly done?
This man … Arthur … he would’ve died had you not found him. He’d looked so defenseless lying on that cold ground, and you knew deep down you would not have been able to live with yourself had you just left him there.
You turned away from Austin, ready to storm out of the cabin. There would never be any persuading him, and you could no longer stand to be in the same room with him anymore.
Planning to step outside to walk off your frustrations, you stilled in the doorway to the sitting room.
Arthur was awake, his eyes staring directly at you from across the room. You smiled and rushed over to him. You knelt beside the couch so you were face-to face. “Morning, Arthur,” you said in a gentle tone, “How are you feelin’?”
He didn’t answer right away, seeming to examine you further.
After several seconds, he finally opened his mouth but Austin suddenly came rushing into the room, addressing Arthur with an aggressive tone, “If you dare try anythin’ stupid, cowpoke, I’ll-”
You’d had enough. “Get out of here, Austin! Go check on the horses, clean the stables. I don’t care, just get out!”
Austin gave you a pained look then. “Y/N, I don’t want you near this man, especially when he’s awake,” he said, his voice much softer this time. “What if he tries to harm you?”
You almost felt the need to roll your eyes. “Does he look like the sort of man that would try to harm me?”
Austin looked at Arthur and then back at you. “Yes.”
A short laugh escaped you at the disgusted expression he made. You couldn’t help it. “Austin, the man is unwell and drugged. He’s not going to try anything, not even if he wanted to.”
Austin looked a bit skeptical, but finally gave a small nod. “Fine, I’ll be outside chopping wood and taking care of the horses if you need anything.” He shot another glare at Arthur as if in warning.
You let out a sigh, and gave your brother a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine. Just let me take care of him, please.”
Austin let out a grunt, and then left the cabin through the front door. Leaving you and the conscious Arthur alone.
You looked back down at Arthur. He was staring up at you with a confused expression on his face, those dark brows of his drawn down tight over his blue eyes.
“I have-” he took a deep breath, flinching as he let out a rough groan “-so many damn questions.” Another big breath, “What the hell … is goin’ on?” He sounded completely exasperated.
His voice was much stronger than it had been before, having a heavily accented southern drawl to it. It was raspy and rough. Deep. How in the world could a man have such a voice?
You shook yourself out of that thought, focusing on what he’d just said. “Can you remember anything about what happened?” You asked, reaching out and lifting up the blanket to examine the bandages.
Arthur shook his head, “Can’t say I do.”
After he’d given you his name the other day, he’d passed out immediately afterwards from the drugs you had given him. You’d gone to work then on examining, cleaning and dressing the wounds on the rest of his body. Since then you had changed the dressing a couple more times, and it looked like it was time to do it again.
“Where am I?” He asked you as you stood up to go wash your hands in the sink.
The drugs seemed to have messed with his memory, but that was to be expected. The anesthetic on top of the herbs you had been treating him with tended to have side effects on the brain and it was temporarily clouding up his thinking.
“You’re in our cabin right outside Roanoke Ridge. We live right above Brandywine Falls.” You answered as you dried your hands with a fresh cloth. You went over to your desk and gathered fresh medicinal supplies from a few of the drawers.
“How’d I get here?” He asked, taking another deep breath. He let out a hard cough. You looked over at him to notice he was trying to sit up.
Walking over to him you quickly set the supplies on the nightstand by Arthur’s head. Placing a hand on his chest you gently tried to urge him back down.
“You need to lie still,” you told him. “We heard gunshots and my brother Austin and I found you dying in the mountains near O’Creagh’s Run. We brought you back here and I’ve been taking care of you for the past few days, but you have a long while until you’re well enough to get back on your feet.”
He narrowed his eyes, trying to remember the events of that night. Damn him, but he couldn’t, all he could remember was lying on that hard ground. “You found me on the mountain?” He asked.
You took the blanket off of him and set it on the floor, getting to work on taking off the old bandages. “You were extremely weak. You were bleeding and having trouble breathing.”
Those last words had some of his memory suddenly come rushing back.
Instantly Arthur tried to sit up again, startling you, but you tried to settle him down. You placed a firm hand on his chest, trying to ignore the thick pads of muscle beneath your fingers. “Please, Arthur, I need you to stay still.”
“Get away from me, woman,” he snapped, struggling weakly against your hold.
You glared at him, “My name is Y/N, not ‘woman.’ Everything is alright, Arthur, please calm down.” You were trying to keep your voice gentle in order to soothe him. “You really need to rest.”
“No,” he said firmly, almost sounding fearful, letting out another cough. “I have Tuberculosis. I don’t want you gettin’ sick cuz of me.”
His words touched you, taking you aback. Here he was, weak and bare, and he was trying to put you before his own health, even though he barely knew you.
“Arthur, it’s alright,” you said softly, “You won’t get me sick. I have treatment to prevent that from happening.”
Arthur suddenly stopped his struggles and looked at you, a mixed look of surprise and confusion plastered on his face. “Treatment?” He asked, his voice matching the expression he made.
You nodded, “Yes, I’m a doctor that specializes in experimenting on natural remedies for diseases. Tuberculosis is one of them.” You began washing the wounds and redressing them with fresh bandages.
You felt Arthur staring at you for the longest time. You tried to ignore the stare as you finished patching him up, but it went on for so long you couldn’t help but start to feel a little uncomfortable. “What?” You asked, looking back up at him.
“You … you treat Tuberculosis?”
You nodded, “Yes, though this is my first time doing it on a human.”
His eyes squinted, so you were quick to jump in and explain out of habit.
“It’s the same process. Most species’ lungs are similar to each other,” You started rambling as you went back to work on his wounds, feeling his scrutinizing gaze all the while. “You were just about to die and I needed to flush your lungs out. I just had to use bigger doses and slightly different combinations of herbs because different species tolerate different herbs and-”
You heard a deep chuckle and looked back up at his face.
That smile had you stop in your tracks and lose your train of thought right then and there. That smile was like nothing you’d ever seen on any man in your entire life.
Arthur took another deep breath, and spoke his next words softly, “You been treatin’ my Tuberculosis, Y/N?”
After a few heartbeats, you nodded.
Arthur’s grin widened, but then quickly faded as a thought occurred to him. “How do you know so much?” He asked.
“The herbs … natural remedies, as you put it-” More coughs, he turned his head away until the fit passed. He didn’t need to since you took some medicine yourself to fight off any possible bacteria, but you appreciated his kind thought. After he was done he turned to face you again, “How d’you know … how to treat something like this?”
Once you were sure everything was taken care of on the fresh bandages, you covered him back up with the wool blanket.
“My mother was a doctor and an alchemist. Though I swear to you you’d think she was an herbalist around the clock. Her passion had always been about plants and researching their different properties.”
You laughed then, thinking back, “She would always come to me excited whenever she found something new that a plant or flower could do.”
You thought back to your childhood, not being able to help but smile.
Having grown up on a farm, you knew a lot about all kinds of animals, and your mother would always teach you about all the plants she found and what she’d discovered about them. It seemed she had learned a new thing about them every day.
Your mother had taken in many sick animals, both wild and owned, and nursed them back to health. She’d found great joy in doing so, and you enjoyed learning what you could from her. Life had been so simple back then.
But … that had all come to a crashing end when a gang of outlaws had raided your home.
You lost your smile then, the bad memoriessuddenly flooding your mind against your will.
Your father had been out of town on business, and the guards had been killed before anyone was able to send out a warning. The outlaws had killed your mother right in front of you …
If it hadn’t been for Austin coming back from his hunting when he had, you had no doubt they would’ve done away with you too.
You felt a tear roll down your cheek. Your brother and father had been absolutely broken at the news that the woman you all loved more than anything in the world was now gone, and the outlaws responsible for her death had never been found.
No one had ever found out what they’d been after. Since that day, you and your family had never been the same.
And having lost your mother due to a gang, you had grown up despising outlaws with every piece of your being to this day.
Your mother had found a passion in saving lives. You wanted to do the same, and dedicated your life into carrying on her work.
Gathering yourself so as not to get carried away with your emotions, you took a deep breath and forced a smile. “She taught me everything I know.”
Arthur looked at you for what felt like ages, those blue eyes of his seeming to study you for the longest time until he finally took a deep breath, “Your mother sounds like she was an amazing woman,” he said softly.
You didn’t know why, but his deep southern voice and what he said comforted you somewhat. You nodded, “She was.”
He gave you a gentle smile as if to try and comfort you, “I’m really sorry, Y/N.” His deep voice seemed to melt you all over and helped you to relax a small bit.
You returned his smile with one of your own. “She’s in a much better place now.”
“I’ve no doubt,” Arthur replied.
There was a long moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever.
Shaking yourself mentally, you stood up quickly and changed the subject. “It’s time for another dose.”
Arthur raised those dark brows of his, “What’re you talkin’ ’bout?” Your sudden change seemed to surprise him.
Walking over to your desk again, you grabbed another vial and syringe, a bottle of alcohol along with cotton and gauze, and finally a honey pot and spoon. While you gathered everything you explained it all to him. “You need another shot to help treat your Tuberculosis. This is supposed to help kill off the bacteria that’s still left in your body. Once that’s done, your lungs and any other effected areas you have can finally start to heal.”
“How d’you know all those things?” He asked.
“I had a few farm animals and a couple horses while I was growing up that were struck with the disease, and my mother showed me how to treat it on some of them,” you came back over with everything, kneeling back down again by his side.
“Of course horse lungs are much bigger and more resistant to Tuberculosis, but that made it easier for us to examine them so we could treat it, unlike the smaller animals. They were a bit more difficult,” you stated. “My mother even made a journal at that time to take notes whenever she would perform these treatments. All the research that she’d ever done she wrote down in that journal.
“Since then I’ve come across other animals struck with different kinds of diseases including Tuberculosis, and her journal has guided me through all of my treatments. I haven’t failed in curing one yet.” You said that last part with a grin, trying to show off a bit of humor to lighten the mood.
Arthur just looked at you, almost as if he were questioning the situation. “And I’m the first … human you’ve ever treated?” He asked skeptically.
“Well,” you said with a bit of annoyance from the doubt in his voice, “You were about to die so I guess there was no harm in me trying, was there?”
That made him let out a sudden short burst of laughter, which Arthur regretted instantly. The sharp pain in his lungs rang out to the rest of his body and lingered for several seconds. “Son of a bitch,” he cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth.
You gave him a sympathetic smile as you prepped the syringe, drawing the liquid from the vial into the tube.
“What the hell is that?” He asked you as he stared at the thing as if it were alien to him.
You almost wanted to laugh at the expression he was making as he stared at the syringe. “This is a special remedy that I made myself to treat Tuberculosis. I need to insert it into you arm, if that’s alright with you?”
Arthur just stared at the needle, not answering for the longest time.
He seemed to be thinking about whether he trust you.
Finally, he gave you a small nod. “Fine.”
You smiled, the fact that he was trusting you like this, especially with putting something in his body, meant a lot more to you than you thought it would.
You gripped his arm gently and turned it so it was facing palm-up. “Alright, Arthur, this is going to sting a bit,” you said as you began prepping his inner arm, rubbing the alcohol into his skin to disinfect the area.
Arthur just gave a small nod.
You brought the needle to the thick vein underneath his skin and pushed it in. His whole body jerked, and he let out a deep grunt of pain.
“Almost done,” you said as you pushed down on the plunger, letting the medicine make its way into his body. After it was empty, you took the needle out and patched him up immediately. “Now don’t go messin’ with that. It needs to sit there for couple hours,” you said in a firm voice, gesturing at the bandage.
Arthur gave you a small smile. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied in a teasing tone.
You couldn’t help but let out a small giggle from his teasing as you put the syringe away. “And now for the fun part,” you teased back as you picked up the honey pot and lifted the lid, dipping the spoon in it and holding up a heaping dose of honey to his lips.
“And what’s this for?” He asked, not opening his mouth even though he knew you expected him to.
You wanted to roll your eyes as you smiled again. “It’s honey.”
Arthur shot you a look, “I know it’s honey, dammit.” He snapped, “But why … are you givin’ it to me?”
“It’s a natural remedy to help kill off Tuberculosis bacteria,” you replied impatiently, pressing the spoon to his lips. “Now open up, heeeeere comes the Choo-Choo Traaaain — choo-chooooo!” You made train noises as you moved the spoon around in the air like a train coming down the tracks. Destination: Arthur’s mouth.
At that moment the look in those blue eyes of his would’ve set a forest on fire, you thought. “I ain’t a little kid, missy,” he growled at you, that deep southern accented voice of his sounding threatening.
“Oh, I know,” you replied, completely unphased by the threat, “But where’s the fun in treatin’ you like an adult if you’re not gonna act like one?”
He growled again, and with great reluctance opened his mouth and accepted the honey. You placed it on his tongue and waited for him to swallow. Once he did, you took out another spoonful and held it out to him. He took nine more after that, each bite either more or less stubborn than the last. When he was finished, you placed the lid back on the honey pot and placed it on the nightstand.
“All finished!” You said to him cheerfully.
Arthur just snorted and looked up at the ceiling. “And how long you been … torturing me like this, Y/N?” He asked in an accusing but playful tone.
“A few days now, though it hasn’t been easy. Had to feed that honey to you through a tube to make sure it made its way to your stomach.”
He flinched at that. “Really wish you hadn’t … told me that, miss.”
You gave him a sympathetic smile, “Well, Arthur, I don’t think we need to do that anymore now that you’re back with us.”
He chuckled softy, the laughter rumbling deep in his chest, “Let’s hope not, … honey.”
