Chapter 7 – Just One Night

Doc shuffled down the stairs as quickly as possible. When she opened the door, she expected to see Emily waiting for her at the bottom. To her surprise, nobody was there. Doc hit the last stair and swung her self around into a dead sprint out toward the street. Looks left and then right, still no little red head in sight. Doc's heart begins to race just a little bit. She glances across the street toward the General Store and a crowd of young men circling none other than the other Fitch twin. Doc races across the street in hopes of Katie knowing in which direction her sister may have trailed off.

"Katie, have you seen Emily?" Doc breathed out a heavy breath.

As if not to miss a beat with the young men's attention, Katie seemed to effortlessly continue keeping their interest with little winks and calculated leans forward, in order to show off what God gave her, while holding a conversation with me.

"She stomped her way into the Store muttering something about a 'Miss Effy' and 'if she even bats an eye at you she would ring her neck'. Who is Miss Effy? Where were you?"

Doc instantly stopped her worrying, cocked a weird one-sided smile, and just stared toward the door of the General Store in a daze.

"Hey, Doc? Doc? Hello." Katie was now standing in front of her flailing her hands back and forth trying to snap her out of her daydream.

"What? What?" Doc jumped back a little at the closeness of Katie.

"I said who is Miss Effy?" Katie said with piercing tone.

"Miss Effy runs the Roundview Saloon. I check her girls out every now and then to make sure they stay healthy. One of her girls is pregnant, so I had Emily assist me today." Doc was merely spitting out words to Katie while still staring in the general direction of the Store's door. Katie, on the other hand, was only half containing her excitement.

"I want to go with you next time. I want to meet this Miss Effy. Maybe I could give this town a little pick-me-up in the ladies department. God knows I'm the best this town has seen, well, ever. You think she would hire me?"

Doc's jaw dropped to the ground. Was she seriously hearing this right? Did Katie actually just ask to become one of the 'ladies of the night'? Rob is going to kill the Doc if he catches word of any of this. Doc's attention swung back over to the Store's front door. Out popped the redhead with an arm full of supplies. The redhead turned in the direction of Katie and Doc.

"I told them I was working with you and the said they would just charge it to your account. Hope you don't mind? Katie has Dad's money." Emily seemed to have calmed down a little bit. She did seem to have a little bit of a red flush to her face, but not sure if that was from trying to manipulate all the items she was attempting carry in her arms. She was losing the battle.

As if right on cue, a box of cotton swabs fell to the ground.

"Oops!" Emily squeaked.

"Here I got it for you." One of the young men turned around with enthusiasm and was about to pick up the item for her, but Doc was quicker to the item.

"I got it. No need for your help, young man. This is MINE, after all." Doc stared straight into the eyes of this young man declaring her possession. The way Doc pointedly stated 'mine', everyone, including the young man standing next to her, got the message that she was not just talking about the box of cotton swabs.

"S-sor-sorry Doc. Just trying to be helpful." The young man cowered back over to behind the other young men showering Katie with attention.

Doc turned to Emily with a smile on her lips and took a few of the items off her hands. Emily seemed to relax a bit. Both Doc and Emily headed back toward the office to pick up the rest of the supplies before heading back toward the Saloon to drop them off. Not much was said between them, just enough to get the job of collecting things done. Both women had content little smiles on the faces.

Just as Doc and Emily skirted through the second level side door, a little bit of commotion could be heard from the landing. Doc and Emily both recognized that voice. Both dropped the basket of supplies they were carrying and rushed over.

"I'm the fittest bird in this town, maybe apart from you. Why the hell wont you give me a job? I can make you lots and lots of money, twice as much as all these slags put together. You'd be stupid not to hire me on." Katie was just getting started in to her apparent rage toward Miss Effy when her sister and Doc showed up.

Apparently Katie asked two of the young men to escort her into the Saloon so she could have a chat with Miss Effy. Once in the Saloon, Katie caught sight of the wondrous Miss Effy standing on the landing peering down at the few souls in the bar at high noon. Katie stopped dead in her tracks. Although Katie had always been about the men, she couldn't help but see that the woman standing up there had the most beautiful piercing blue eyes, alluring lips, and a body that screamed sensuality. Katie had finally found her match, in maybe more ways than one.

"Insulting someone really isn't the way to go about getting a job, no matter how sexually appealing you are." Miss Effy was short and to the point.

"I wasn't insulting you, well only if you don't hire me. But I can see you are intelligent as fuck since you run this place, so I know you will make the right decision." Katie smirked in Miss Effy's general direction, quite pleased with the now ever present smirk on Miss Effy's face.

"What if I hire you, but with one stipulation?" Miss Effy raised her eyebrow as she spoke, attempting to make her offer sound more appealing.

Doc knew exactly where this was going. Doc had seen Miss Effy offer this up to a couple of other girls that had made their way in and out of this Saloon. It was Miss Effy's test, if you will. Spend one night with her, showing her your best stuff, and if Miss Effy is pleased, in all the right ways, you were hired.

"Done." Katie stuck her hand out to seal the deal.

"You haven't even heard the stipulation yet?" Emily squeaked out.

"Doesn't matter. I know whatever it is I can handle. No need to worry about details, Ems." Katie had all the confidence in the world right now.

" Spend the night with me. Show me everything you've got to offer. If I like it, you're hired. If I don't, you'll be on your way." Miss Effy smirked the whole way through.

"See easy!" Katie exclaimed. "Wait, did you say 'night with you'? Just you and me? In your room?"

Miss Effy just smirked while raising her eyebrows up and down. The look on Katie's face was priceless. Even Emily chuckled a little bit.

"I don't do girls." Katie stated clear as day.

"Well then you'll be on your way." Miss Effy made it that easy. Thinking she was done, she strolled past Katie and toward where Doc and Emily were standing.

"Wait," Katie mumbled, her eyes at first looking toward the ground, then looking up toward Miss Effy. "Just one night? Show you what I am capable of?" Miss Effy stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face Katie with one hell of a grin on her face. If Katie agrees to this, Miss Effy could tell this night was going to be one well worth remembering.

"Katie!" Emily shouted and stormed off toward her sister, grabbing her arm and yanking her over to the corner to have a little chat. "First of all, you're not doing this. Second, how would you explain it to Dad and Mum that you are staying in town for a night unsupervised? Third, and lastly, if by the biggest miracle in the world that you pull this off and she hires you, do you really think Dad and Mum would allow you to stay by yourself in this town to work in a saloon as a 'lady of the night'?"

"I'll figure it all out. And yes I'm doing this." Katie said pointedly.

"You've never even done more than kiss a boy, what makes you think you can do whatever it is you think you can do, with a girl nonetheless?"

"It can't be that hard, right?" Katie asked.

A distressing Katie looked deep into Emily's eyes for some sort of help on this matter. Not that Emily had had any experience in this area. In fact Emily had none, boys or girls. But Katie knew there was something going on between Emily and the Doc. Although Katie didn't know exactly what it was yet, she knew that Emily felt for Doc in the same sort of way that Dad felt for Mum. Knew that that was special. Katie could also see that Doc felt the same way and it was only a matter of time before the two of them figured it all out. Although it wouldn't be a conventional relationship, Katie knew that this place was going to be Emily's new life. Dad was set on making it out to Gold Country, so Katie's options would soon be either to stay with her sister, her twin, the one she felt the most close to in this whole wide world, or leave with the rest of the family to an unknown land, to an unknown future, to an unknown reality. The answer was simple. Her mind was made. She was doing this.

"Katie, please?" Emily pleaded with Katie.

"I'm doing this. My mind is made. You can't change it." Katie turned around and walked back over to Doc and Miss Effy.

Doc and Miss Effy stood leaning over the banister of the landing looking down over the bar. Very little men were in the bar at this time of day. It being midday, most were out working to make a buck, or still sleeping off the night before.

"You can't do this with her," Doc stated plainly.

"It is her decision. She came to me. Who am I to stand in the way of what she wants?" Miss Effy stared out over the bar purposely not making eye contact with the Doc. Miss Effy knew this wasn't right, but from the moment that girl approached her, there was a fire she felt deep inside her that she hadn't felt in a long, long time. There was something about this girl. This girl was beyond confident, a bit cocky, but in the right way. She seemed to demand respect, but not necessarily deserving it, yet Miss Effy couldn't seem to stop herself from wanting to give it to her. This girl was… just like her. Challenging in all the right ways. She had never met anyone that measured up to who she was. Never thought anyone could. Most people just gave into her without a fight, almost as if it was out of fear. Miss Effy didn't see fear in Katie's eyes. It was almost as if she saw hope. Hope for what? She didn't know, but she was damn sure gonna do her best to find out.

"I'm in. When and where?" Katie stood there in front of Doc and Miss Effy with both hands on her hips as if these two women were wasting her time and she had better things she could be doing.

"Well, my room, of course and as for when, well that's up to you. I'm not the one who has to answer to others." As Miss Effy spoke the last sentence, she nodded her head in the direction of Emily, who stood beside her sister with her arms folded over her chest, clearly glaring at Miss Effy for her hand in this.

"Hey! I answer to no one. I run my life and it is others who answer to me. Got that? Take notes of how I work, babes, because there will be a test in the near future that you ain't gonna pass." If Katie's confidence was shaken a bit before by this proposal, it surely had passed. She was back, and Miss Effy just pushed her over the edge. Miss Effy was about to learn that Katie 'Fucking' Fitch is nobody's bitch!

Hope the Keffy interaction was alright? I've got the next couple of chapters partially written, but just need to do some tweeking. If you have some suggestions, please share! I'm happy to recieve help to make this a good story. Review? :-)