Thoughts
A little story written in the POV's of all the Gunsmoke characters and their thoughts on our favorite Hill Man, Festus Haggen after he is injured. I have been thinking about this for some time and usually write L&O: SVU stories but I am a huge Gunsmoke fan as well. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gunsmoke characters someone else does and this was not written for monetary gain.
Prelude
"Stop right thar!" Deputy US Marshal Festus Haggen yelled at the fleeing bandit.
The young man stopped for sure but instead of surrendering he raised his pistol and fired once and then twice at Festus. The first shot missed him but the second hit its mark, striking Festus just above the heart. He fell to the ground, feeling his life blood pouring out of him.
US Marshal Matt Dillon came running up then to find his deputy and friend lying on the ground in a pool of blood. "Festus!" he yelled rushing to the lying man's side completely forgetting that a man who had just taken three hundred dollars from the bank was escaping. His friend was more important at the moment.
"It's ok Matthew." the hill man said softly. "Go get em before he gets away." His voice was weak and Matt was torn between staying with his friend and helping him and perusing the robbers. In the end, Matt's sense of duty won out and he left Festus as soon as he saw Nathan Burke coming up the street. He hollered at Burke to take care of Festus so that he could peruse the outlaw.
"What happened Festus?" Burke asked kneeling down beside the other man.
Festus rolled his eyes before squeezing them shut against the pain again, "What da ya think happened Burke, ya knuckle head?" Festus managed to get out before passing out completely.
Nathan caught the next available man and had him help him carry the now unconscious Festus up to Doc's office. "Doc! Doc!" he called as they approached the office.
Doctor Galen Adams stepped out on to the steps that led to his office. He had been preparing his medical bag as soon as he had heard the shots; sure that he would be taking care of Matt Dillon, not Festus. "My goodness, Burke. Get him up here." Doc said, stepping back into his office. He prepared a table and motioned for the men to lie Festus down on it. "What happened here Burke?" the older man asked as he pulled Festus's shirt open.
"I don't know Doc. I just came up on it after I heard the shots, then Marshal Dillon told me to get him up to you and he took off after the guy that robbed the store." Burke told Doc.
"Well Burke I want you to do me a favor. I want you to go to the Longbranch and get Kitty, tell her that I need her assistance up here in surgery." Doc said, examining the wound for the first time.
It was a bad wound but it looked to Doc like Festus had been lucky and it had missed his heart.
Burke went out the door and ran to the Longbranch. When he came in Miss Kitty looked up and he saw her face go pale. She had heard the gun shots but hadn't had the heart to go out and see who it had been. "Burke?" she asked when he came through the door.
"Miss Kitty, its Festus. He's up at the Doc's and he says he needs your help." Burke said quickly.
Kitty felt herself let out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that it was Festus and not Matt lying up in Doc's office. Not that she would ever wish harm on her friend but too many times had she been summoned to Doc's office to help patch up her man, so she couldn't help but feel relief.
She went to Doc's office and knocked on the door. "Doc?" she said softly.
"Come in here Kitty." Doc said gruffly. "I need your help. I don't know how close this bullet is to Festus's heart. I'd-I'd hate for anything to go wrong." He said, his voice faltering.
Kitty moved to the older man's side and laid a hand on his shoulder. "He'll be ok Doc. Festus is made of tougher stuff than that."
For four hours Kitty and Doc worked on Festus, extracting the bullet, stopping the bleeding and getting him patched up. Then they waited and waited. Finally Matt returned along with Thad Greenwood.
As soon as Matt stepped in the door, Kitty stood and went to him, laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist. Matt ran a hand down her back, not caring that Doc was setting right there in front of them and said softly. "I'm ok Kitty. How's Festus?"
"He's still unconscious and he's lost a lot of blood. Doc isn't sure what will happen, all we can do is wait and pray." Kitty said, not moving from where she was latched on to Matt.
"Doc?" Matt said, almost pleading with the older man to tell him that Festus would be ok. That the wound wasn't as bad as it looked.
Doc just shook his head. "The bullet didn't go all the way through but it tore up a lot in there. It was deep and it took me a lot to get it out. All we can do is like Kitty says, wait." He rubbed a hand across his graying mustache and looked at Festus. It was all up to him now. "Matt take Kitty out of here."
Matt nodded slowly and then wrapped an arm around Kitty's waist. "Come on, there's nothing you can do here." He said softly.
Kitty allowed herself to be led out the door and she and Matt went to the Longbranch. As if on autopilot Kitty went behind the bar and took out a bottle of her best brandy. She poured two shot glasses full and brought them to the table where Matt sat with a weary look on his face. "Here you go cowboy."
Matt didn't respond, just picked up the shot glass and downed the contents in one swallow. "I should have been there Kitty. I should have been there and taken that bullet instead of Festus."
Kitty laid a gentle hand on Matt's and said, "You can't blame yourself. That won't help Festus get well."
"I know Kitty. I know, I just wish there was more that I could do."
"Did you catch the young man that robbed the store?" Kitty asked.
"Yes and recovered the three hundred dollars he stole. I'm going to hold him though, until I know what's going to happen with Festus." Matt said, looking down at the table top, not letting his blue eyes meet Kitty's.
Newly O'Bryan stepped into the Longbranch shortly after that. "Marshal Dillon, I just heard what happened to Festus, is there anything I can do?"
Matt didn't respond so Kitty said, "All we can do is wait and pray now Newly. I'm sure Matt will need help around the office as well."
"Yes Miss Kitty." O'Bryan said.
After Newly left Kitty led Matt up the stairs of the Longbranch to her room, feeling her bartender Sam's eyes on them the whole time. She was sure that Sam knew that Matt came to her room every night up the back stairs but tonight for just this one time she would take him up the front way. Neither of them needed to be alone tonight, they needed to be there for each other.
So what do you think? Good? Bad? Please let me know, if I don't get any reviews I will not continue this story. As I said in the beginning I usually write L&O:SVU stories but I am also a fan of Gunsmoke and of course Festus. If this continues the next chapter will be Doc's. Thanks!
