Back to Dodge

I don't own these characters. I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had than that.

(AN: A while back, I wrote a story called Gunsmoke and Spies, to honor the two shows I love the most. When I finished that, I thought I was done with that storyline. But apparently, I was wrong and this one popped up. I am leaving this as primarily a SMK story, because, like last time, it starts and ends with Lee and Amanda. Set in season three.)

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Lee had been in tough spots before, but he was beginning to think this was his toughest.

He had tracked American agent, Victor Mills, who was suspected of being in with the Russians, to an abandoned house at the edge of Washington. There he watched him meet with two other men Lee recognized as KGB.

But he had trouble finding a way to get close enough to hear what they were saying. He had no listening devices with him as he hadn't been actually working when he saw Victor.

Lee had actually been at a liquor store picking up a bottle of wine for his dinner date with Amanda. But when he saw Victor, all plans were put away until he figured out what the man was up to. That's why he was hunched over behind an overflowing and smelly trash bin in an alley, trying to get close to an abandoned office building that had no blind spots.

He was about to give up entirely when the dumpster, he'd been leaning on, begun to roll away from its spot. Rumbling loudly as it went; it headed straight for the side of the building, exposing Lee completely to the spies' sight as they looked out of the window upon hearing the noise.

Lee was no coward; no part of one, but Lee was prudent and he knew when it was time to cut his losses. His one gun against the three that were now pulled and pointing at him was too uneven. Quickly, he began to run, hurling himself across the fence of the neighboring property and around the corner into the next alley.

But he didn't escape unscathed. One of the men inside the house had broken out the window and began to fire. Lee was hit once in the left leg. But he continued to run. Adrenaline and the fact that he couldn't and wouldn't let the KGB have a US agent, kept him going until he reached his car.

His leg was throbbing but he distanced himself from the pain and threw himself into the driver's seat. He managed to drive several miles before he succumbed to his wound and the darkness finally began to claim him.

The last thing he saw before his eyes closed and his car began to drift off the road, was a billboard for a local TV station advertising the western it aired every night. A western about a tall US Marshal in a small town called Dodge City.

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"Is he any better?" Amanda clung tightly to Lee's hand and looked up at Doc Adams as he listened carefully to his patient's heart and checked his pulse.

"Yes, I think he is." Doc finally nodded after laying a hand on Lee's forehead for a moment then tugging at his right ear lobe. "His fever's broke and he's breathing easier. But he's going to be down for a while."

Amanda breathed a visible sigh of relief and looked back over at Lee. "That's alright," she said, "as long as eventually he can get back up."

"He will." Doc smiled kindly at her. "But you won't be able to see it if you don't go and get yourself some sleep. You two have been here now for three days and I bet you haven't had more than two or three hours of sleep."

"I've been too worried to be tired." Amanda gently pushed a lock of sandy brown hair away from Lee's sleeping face.

"Amanda." Kitty spoke up for the first time. She'd been sitting quietly in the corner while Doc examined Lee. "Doc's right. You need rest. You're not going to be of any help to Lee if you're exhausted when he does wake up. Now, Doc said he's going to be alright and I believe it. So, come on. Let me walk you back over to Ma's."

Doc frowned over at Kitty. "Looks who calling the kettle black."

Kitty waved him off, knowing he was right. She was the same way with Matt when he was hurt.

Amanda looked up gratefully at her friends before once again settling her gaze on Lee. Slowly getting to her feet, she bent over and kissed him lightly on the lips before turning back to Kitty and Doc. "I'll go. But, Doc, if he…"

"I'll send someone for you right away. Now go on with Kitty." Doc told her as he scrubbed his mustache.

With one final glance at Lee, Amanda silently followed Kitty from the room and out of the office. Her mind was still trying to come to grips with what had happened three days prior.

Although Lee's job required him to travel a bit, it seldom sent him much further west in the US than St. Louis. And since she'd been forced to resign her job at the same government agency, due to her and Lee's marriage, she didn't expect they'd ever be able to come back to Dodge and visit with the friends they'd made there on their first trip, almost a year prior.

But circumstances had contrived to bring her and Lee back to the dusty streets of Dodge City. He was sent there to enlist the retiring US Marshal into government service as hopefully a director of their new western division of spies. Since they weren't on a mission and Amanda's sons and her mother were away visiting her Aunt, Amanda decided to go with him.

It seemed a perfect way to combine business and pleasure and for them both to spend some time with the friends they'd made in Kansas. But no sooner did they arrive, than Lee got caught up in a bank robbery.

After arriving in town, Amanda and Lee had joined the Dillon's in Delmonico's for dinner when a cry of "They're robbing the bank!" was heard. Dillon jumped to his feet immediately and took off. Lee spared Amanda only a glance, as he too jumped up and ran towards the exit. "Stay put." Was the last thing he said to her before he left.

The not-yet retired Marshal Dillon caught the bank robbers and reclaimed the money. But Lee had gotten caught in a crossfire and landed in Doc's office with two bullet wounds, one to his upper left thigh and the other a graze on the side of his head.

Amanda had been tirelessly sitting by his side as much as possible since, neglecting herself in favor of watching over the man she loved.

Kitty had several times tried to get Amanda to leave and get rest and food, volunteering herself to stay with Lee. But Amanda had refused. Not until she was certain he was going to be alright, was she going to relax. And now Doc had told her just that. Lee would be fine.

For that, Amanda was grateful, although she still wanted to stay up in Doc's office, next to Lee. But Doc and Kitty were right and she knew it. She needed rest if she was going to be able to take care of him when he did wake up. So she followed Kitty over to Ma Smalley's, certain the worst was now over.

TBC