Disclaimer: Gunsmoke and its characters belong to CBS/Paramount. No profit was made in the writing of this story.

A Wonderful Time of Year

Matt walked slowly into the office, closing the door behind him as he set his hat on the stake and walked to his desk. He sat down and rested his head in his hands, releasing a deep sigh. It had been a rough week for both him and Chester who had just returned from the cold and snow covered prairie after a man who had robbed the bank, wounding one of the bank tellers.

It seemed like such an open and shut case to Matt - a man had robbed the bank, shot a bank teller and was on the run. But when he and Chester had finally caught up with the robber, they realized it wasn't such an open and shut case after all.

The robber was an elderly farmer named Jeremiah Hawkins. He and his wife lived out on the prairie alone where they never got any visitors. They would come to town twice a month for supplies, but hardly interacted with the townspeople. When they did, however, they were very kind and polite.

"What would make a sweet old guy like Jeremiah rob a bank, Mr. Dillon?" Chester had asked Matt earlier.

They would find their answer an hour later when they got to the Hawkins small house to let Mrs. Hawkins know what her husband had done and that sadly, was killed by Matt after he had fired at them.

Mrs. Hawkins was severely ill. The stolen money, Matt determined was going to be used to buy her medicine, something a man like Jeremiah Hawkins simply couldn't afford.

Matt and Chester rushed to get the elderly woman to Doc, but once they got her back to Dodge, they discovered a horrible sight in the back of the wagon - Mrs. Hawkins had already died.

Now here Matt sat in the quite confines of his office, guilt ridden over what had happened. He had seen that it was Jeremiah before the shooting had began, even tried to reason with him, but to no prevail. As Matt replayed the scene in his mind, he kept telling himself that there was no need to kill the man and that just maybe, had Jeremiah lived, so would have his wife, who had been struck hard by the news of her husband's death.

The door to the office opened, bringing the tall marshal out of his thoughts. Assuming that it was only Chester, Matt didn't bother to look up and was surprised when he felt Kitty's warm hand rest upon his shoulder.

"Matt," she began softly. "Chester told me what happened. It wasn't your fault."

Matt's troubled blue eyes looked up at Kitty. Standing up, he walked around her and stood near the window, staring out. "Yes, Kitty, it was," he replied. "There was no reason to kill him. I could have aimed for his arm or his leg."

Kitty recalled how Chester described what happened and while the assistant was known for exaggerating, he usually recalled things correctly most of the time.

She approached the tall man, turning his shoulder slightly so that he would be looking at her. "Matt, according to Chester there was no way that Jeremiah could have come out of this alive, not unless he gave himself up."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"Chester said that you caught up with Jeremiah on the prairie near some caverns."

Matt nodded in agreement. "That's right."

"And that neither of you could get a real good glimpse of him," Kitty continued. Matt nodded again, taking all of this in. "That's right we couldn't. We saw that it was him when he dismounted his horse and started for the caverns. After that it was hard to see him until he moved to shoot at us."

"And that's when you shot back, is that right?" Kitty asked.

"That's right. Both of us shot back," Matt answered, starting to see where Kitty was going with this.

"Then Matt, Chester was right. There was no way for Jeremiah to come of it alive. Not unless he willingly gave himself up and I think it's clear that he had no intention of doing that."

Matt looked down, pondering what the woman had said. Deep down, he knew that she was right. Jeremiah wasn't going to willingly give himself up and the three of them would have stayed there firing at each other until they either ran out of bullets or until someone was killed.

"As for Mrs. Hawkins," Kitty went on to say. "Doc said her husband's death had nothing to do with her dying. She was already too far gone to have been saved and even if you hadn't caught up with Jeremiah and he did buy her medicine, it wouldn't have done any good. She would have died anyway."

Matt locked eyes with Kitty and smiled. Grasping her shoulders in each hand, he nodded. "Thanks, Kitty."

Kitty smiled, her eyes twinkling. "Anytime, cowboy." Taking a deep breath, she looked outside at the snow covered ground.

"You know tomorrow is Christmas Eve," Matt said, bringing Kitty's attention back to him. "What do you say you and I take a little Christmas break together?"

This peaked Kitty's interest. Raising her brow, she asked, "And where do you suggest we take that 'Christmas break'?"

"Well there is that cabin a few miles out of town that Doc uses when he goes fishing. I'm sure he wouldn't mind us barrowing it for a few days."

Kitty smiled. "Marshal, I think that's a great idea. I could use a break from the Long Branch and after what happened with the Hawkins' I think you could use a break yourself." She leaned closer, her voice just barely above a playful whisper. "And I promise to make it a worthwhile one too."

Matt smiled and nodded. "It's a deal. I'll go let Chester know to keep an eye on things and then we can head out in a few hours."

"I'll be ready and waiting," Kitty replied as she turned and headed out of the office, leaving Matt feeling a lot better with himself.

Looking out the window, he watched the people go about their business, all appearing to be happy and smiling as they prepared for the Christmas holiday. It was at that moment

that Matt knew that despite what happened with Jeremiah Hawkins and his wife, it was still a wonderful time of year and he wasn't about to let his job ruin that for him or for Kitty.

The End.