Festus fussed with the coffee pot and finally plunked the empty light blue enamelled vessel down hard on the wood stove inside the office. "Why in tarnation did them yahoos have to come ta Dodge anyways?" He muttered to himself and finally decided he wanted something more than a coffee as the night grew onward.

The deputy checked is watch and it read 8:55 pm. on the warm late autumn night. "Ah, fiddle-sticks. I messed this whole thing up too. Doc ain't never gonna forgive me for this..." he continued to mutter to himself as left the jail house and pulled the door closed behind him. It had been several hours since he left Doc and Miss Kitty at the Long Branch and his run in with the Clemens.

Festus decided to talk to Doc and make it up to him. He walked up the street with his stride filled with confidence and reached the boardwalk opposite the doctor's stairs. He noted that there weren't any lamps lit, so he assumed that Doc was still with Miss Kitty. He quickly strutted across the dusty street and entered the saloon. His hazel eyes scanned the sea of patrons for the doctor but he was nowhere in sight.

Slowly the hill man stepped down from the entrance and wove his way over to the end of the bar where Miss Kitty was perched looking at her ledgers. "Miss Kitty!?" he tipped his hat.

"Oh, hello Festus!" she looked up from her books with a smile on her face.

"You seen Doc around, have ya?" Festus inquired.

"Not since he left here a few hours ago. He said he had a call out to Mrs Whither's boy, Billy. He'll be back later, unless she feeds him!" She chuckled.

"Oh...I jist wanted to talk to him that's all..."

"Well, you can wait here for him if you want." Kitty's blue eyes sparkled.

"Don't mind if I do..." the deputy looked around the room.

"Can I buy you a beer, Festus?" Kitty knew why he was hanging around.

"Oh, that would be much appreciated, Miss Kitty! Thank you!" he smiled at his friend.

Kitty motioned to Sam to pour the deputy a drink and she turned back to her books.

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Milt had Sam stop. "This is far enough that Haggen can't follow us tonight. By then he'll be dealt with anyways." They set Doc down in what Sam thought was a rather harsh manner. "Go easy on him Milt. Ya hurt him enough with your pistol!"

"Well you tend to the old sawbones. I'll go back into Dodge and write a note fer that whiskered faced deputy. I'll snag us a few blankets too. Not stop fussing over him until you get a fire lit!" Milt ordered his younger brother who was studying the unconscious man at his knees. "He look awful bad Milt..."

"Yer gonna look that way too if I get back here and you ain't got a fire going!" Milt pointed to the ground.

"Sure, Milt. Sure." Sam said with little enthusiasm as he stood and started to gather twigs and dried grass to start the fire with.

Milt sighed and turned to head back to Dodge. Sam watched him as he slipped out of sight. Deep down he wished that his brother would just let things go, but he also knew that Milt held the Clemens clan very high and he'd stop at nothing to keep the name clean - even if it meant being a little underhanded himself.

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Milt reached Dodge in about a half hour. It was now dark and the lamp lighter was making his rounds. Milt tiptoed passed the marshal's office and peeked in through the window but didn't see the deputy. He continued up the street and took a back alley to the window of the room he and Sam where sharing at Ma Smalley's. Carefully he opened it and crawled through. He gathered a few blankets and found a pencil and a scrap of paper to scribble his note to Festus on.

In a frenzy he scribbled a note with a time and location for the deputy and him to meet. Now he had to deliver it. Somehow.

Milt gathered the blankets and left the room the same way he entered then quickly crossed the street and hovered outside the Long Branch looking for someone who might deliver the message. And along came Louie Pheeters.

Milt stopped Louie. "Hey. You want to make a dollar?"

Louie looked around like it was a joke, but when he realized that they were the only two on the street he agreed. "What do I have to do?"

"You take this here note and give it to that whiskered faced deputy. It's really important." Milt sneered.

"Sure. I'll do that if it is so important!" Louie smiled.

"Good. Here you go." Milt handed the note and dollar over to Louie. "Go on!" Mile pushed the older man toward the saloon and as soon as he was satisfied that Louie was doing the job, Milt left through the back alley.

Louie sauntered over to the bar. "Evening Miss Kitty. Festus."

"Good evening Louie. Little late tonight, aren't you?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, not really Miss Kitty. I was busy helping hank at the stable. Worked up areal thrust, I did!"

"I bet you did!" Kitty smiled as she poured him a drink herself.

"Oh, Festus. A fella gave me this for you."

"Oh? What fella?"

"I don't know. I've never seen him in Dodge before." Louie then turned his attention to his drink while Festus looked blankly at the scribbles on the paper.

Kitty placed her hand firmly on her hip. "I agree with Doc. It's about time you learned to read."

Festus made a face before handing the paper to Kitty. As she turned it right side up, her mouth fell open. "Oh, no. Festus...it's Doc!"

Festus choked on his drink. "What about ol' Doc?"

"The Clemens brothers have taken him hostage!" Kitty's eyes misted as she looked up at Festus. He swallowed hard and then drew a deep breath. His heart sank knowing that he had gotten his dear friend in to something of a mess.