Lucy cried out in pain, and Kitty dabbed a cool cloth over her forehead as Doc once again tried to ease out the first baby.

Kitty's voice was soft, but concerned, "Doc?"

He shook his head, attempting to get a better grip. "First one's breached, Kitty. Breached and tangled up with the other one..."

Lucy screamed sharply, causing Doc to ease his hands back out of the womb. He wiped his hands on a towel, and let out a long sigh of air. He picked up his stethoscope, and placed it first near Lucy's heart, listening intently, then along different areas of her stomach. The sting in his eyes as he looked up at Lucy told her more than words could have, and a thick sob escaped her lips.

"No...Doc..."

Kitty frowned at him as he angrily tossed the stethoscope back into his bag. "Doc?"

He turned his back to her, shoving his hands deeply into his pockets. Kitty gently set Lucy's head on the pillow, and walked over to Adams, her voice just more than a whisper.

"Doc?"

He shook his head in despair. "I've lost both babies, Kitty. Lucy's gonna have to deliver two still-borns."

"Oh, Doc..." Tears began to well up in his eyes, and Kitty brushed a reassuring hand over the back of his head. "This wasn't your fault."

He jerked his head away from her comfort, and snapped, "Then whose fault was it?"

His pale eyes were lit with the agony of self-recrimination as they pierced Kitty's crystal blue ones, and she had to look away. Without another word, Adams walked over to the bed, carefully sitting on its edge. He gently brushed the sweat-soaked hair out of Lucy's face.

The sorrow in her timbre penetrated his soft heart. "I ain't gonna have no babies, am I, Doc?"

He took her hands in his. "I'm afraid not, Lucy." He swallowed hard, and looked down at their hands momentarily, then back into her saddened eyes. "But I need you to help me deliver them."

Fresh tears flushed down her face as the reality of it set in. "I can't, Doc. I can't go through this...not fer babies that's already dead! I can't..."

Lucy began to sob uncontrollably, and Adams gently took her into his arms, holding her for a moment. "I'm so sorry, Lucy, I truly am, but we have to do this, or you'll die."

"I don't care!"

He lifted her chin slightly. "Well I do..." Gently he lowered her back to her pillows and softly caressed her face. "Now I need you to help me. Will you at least try?"

She shook her head, crying in defeat, "I can't Doc, I just can't..."

Doc pat her arm softly, stood and turned to Kitty. "I need you to sterilize some instruments for me."

"Doc?"

"If she's not gonna push, I have to go in and take them, otherwise we'll lose her too."

"The poor thing..." Kitty headed toward the door. "You want me to tell Ed?"

Doc shook his head. "No. Let's wait until it's over, then I'll talk to him."

Adams handed Kitty the instruments he wanted cleansed, and then he prepared a mask with ether. He sat down with Lucy, and held the mask over her face with one hand, while gently stroking her hair with the other.

"I want you to take slow, deep breaths fer me, Lucy, and when you wake up, it'll all be over."

Tears continued to run down her cheeks as she breathed in the fumes, and Doc once again felt the familiar burning in his stomach. Whether due to a lack of medical knowledge in the area of breached births or perhaps just in his own ability, he had failed to deliver two babies into the arms of loving parents. And no amount of comfort, be it from the tenderness of a friend, or the depths of a bottle, would be able to soothe the guilt seated at the core of his soul.

Kitty looked at the two small outlines under the blanket, and shivered. She glanced over at Doc, who was rolling down his sleeves, and the strident anguish on his face concerned her. She walked over to him and tenderly straightened his collar, buttoned up his shirt, and tied his tie. He said nothing, but as she looked into the depths of his soft eyes, she saw that words were unnecessary. She brushed back the unruly curls stuck to his forehead from perspiration, and then helped him into his suit jacket. In turn, he wrapped her in her cloak, and reached for his hat and medical bag. He looked back at Lucy once more, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest.

Kitty's voice was soft, delicate, "Is she going to be all right?"

"As long as she stays put fer a few weeks and doesn't open up that incision I had to make in her belly." He looked toward the door and let out a long sigh of air. "I don't think Ed's gonna handle this too well. They've tried so hard to have a family, and fer Lucy to get this far only to lose those babies..." He shook his head in despair, looking down at the floor. "I just don't know that Ed can take this."

Kitty brushed his shoulder. "You saved Lucy, Doc..." When he continued to study the floor, Kitty gently stroked the back of his head. "You can't blame yourself."

He looked up sharply. "Lucy's babies were my responsibility. There ain't nobody else to blame."

Before Kitty could refute the statement, Doc stalked out of the room, almost bumping into Ed Waters who was still pacing the length of the living room floor.

"Doc? Doc...what's took so long? I ain't heared no babies a-cryin'..."

Adams set his medical bag and hat on a nearby chair, and looked the man in the eyes. "Ed, I'm afraid things didn't turn out so well--"

Waters grasped Adams tightly by the collar, pulling him roughly into himself. "--Whaddya mean it ain't turned out well?"

"Calm down, Ed, and--"

"--Don't tell me ta calm down. Where're my babies?"

"Ed, I'm awful sorry, but both of them were still-borns."

Waters pulled tighter on Doc's shirt. "Still-born? Yer sayin' my babies is dead?" His distraught voice landed in the pit of Doc's belly. "Lucy? What about Lucy?"

"I had to perform surgery to save her, but she'll be fine--"

"--You cut her open?"

Kitty stepped into the room then. "Ed, take it easy. Doc didn't have a choice..."

"You stay out of this, Miss Russell." He spat into Adams' face. "You cut open my wife and killed my babies...you ain't no doctor, you're a butcher!"

He slugged Doc hard in the face, sending the smaller man reeling backward into the wall, blood gushing from a gash above his eye.

Kitty screamed, "Ed, no!"

But Ed Waters was no longer rational. He grabbed Doc again, and smashed his fist into his head, knocking the doctor to the floor. Kitty tried to grab Ed from behind, but she wasn't strong enough to hold him.

"Ed, stop!"

Waters shrugged her off, and picked Adams up by the front of his shirt, hoisting him to his feet. He was about to hit Doc again when Lucy cried out Ed's name. He stopped frozen in mid-motion, and then menacingly grabbed Adams by the neck.

"I oughta kill you fer what you done."

Doc gripped the man's wrists, his voice tight with stress, "Ed...go see to Lucy."

Waters roughly cast Adams aside, and walked quickly into the bedroom. Doc sagged against the wall, exhausted. Kitty put a protective arm around his shoulders.

"Doc?"

He waved her off. "I'm fine."

She sat him in a chair, and wet a cloth in the kitchen basin. As gently as she could, Kitty wiped the blood from his face, and cleaned the cut around his eye, and another on his cheek. But after allowing only the basic care to be dispensed, he pushed her hand away.

"Let's go, Kitty," he gruffly ordered.

"But Doc--"

He pierced her eyes with his own. "--Please, let's just go."

He sounded shaken to the core, so she nodded, acquiescing, "Okay, we'll go."

Kitty picked up his medical bag, put his hat on his head, and helped him into his heavy overcoat. The cold assaulted them as she opened the door, the frigid air of night long since having settled like a cloak across the snow-blanketed prairie. Kitty helped Doc into the buggy, set his bag on the floor, and then reached for the blankets he always kept in the back. She covered him with one of them, and noted that he was so crestfallen, he didn't even bother to feign annoyance. She settled in next to him, and picked up the reins, slapping them softly against the rear of the horse. They rode along in dejected silence for some time, until Kitty could stand it no longer.

"He didn't mean it, Doc. Ed was upset, and he just didn't mean what he said."

"Don't matter if he did. He was right."

"He was not right, and don't you say that to me again."

Unable to muster the energy to meet her fiery mien, Doc looked away, but Kitty could feel his anguished spirit shattering. She reached over and removed his hat, pulled his head to her shoulder and softly brushed her fingers through his hair. He took in an unsteady breath, but instead of air, guilt and resignation gripped his heart. His shaky voice penetrated the muffled sound of horse hooves plodding along in the snow-covered earth.

"I'm a doctor; I should have been able to do something." He swallowed hard. "They were just innocent little new-borns..."

The shame and desolation in his voice made her heart ache. "You did everything you could, Doc, everything."

"It wasn't enough," he uttered, pressing his face into the crook of her neck. His voice turned to a whisper, "By God, it just wasn't enough."

Her hand brushed over his neck and down his back, rubbing him with a strong, soothing motion. After awhile, she felt his weight press against her, and knew he had drifted off into an exhausted sleep. Kitty settled her hand around his neck, and placed an affectionate kiss on his forehead. She looked at the deep cut above his swollen eye, and shook her head; the sooner she got him back to Dodge, the better.

She slapped the reins in her right hand against the horse's flesh. "Come on, Popcorn, get a move on, let's get him home to bed."