AN: This is finally the last chapter and I want to thank all of you for the wonderful remarks. I promise to get better at answering each of you individually, I promise. I am glad you liked Jack and Esther and Tim and Robin and Polly as much as I did. As for Blue... Well, let's just say, I have an idea or two.

Though the DA gave Jack a stern warning about taking the law into his own hands, he declined to press charges against him for jumping a reckless man armed with a knife. Especially since the deputies assigned to the courthouse had failed to detect the knife in his possession in the first place.

Charges were brought up against Justin Stark for assault and attempted kidnapping and murder. But his lawyer successfully argued that the young man was under a great deal of stress upon learning that the book and movie deal his family had brokered, which would've saved them financially, had fallen through with the court's verdict in Jack's favor. He was given a short jail term for the assualt with the other charges being dropped and warned sternly that should he try anything else against anyone in the Bowers family or Robin, he would not be dealt with so leniently.

The Stark's family were still issuing threats and proclaiming to any who would listen that Matt Dillon's descendants were liars and his exemplary record was wrong. But few paid attention and the media refused to even answer a call from any of that family that tried to call them. One particular reporter doing a followup on the case learned and published the news the Starks were selling their long time Dodge City home and moving to Texas.

Robin and Jack reached a new level in their relationship after that little incident and they both realized that no matter what came their way from then on, it would have to deal with them together. Though neither one was quite ready for marriage, they knew when they were who they'd be marrying.

Polly and Esther came to an understanding like they'd never had before. Though they'd always been at ease around each other and had seldom quarreled, they now found themselves even more at peace in their relationship of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and more willing to spend time together. Esther's big leather chair in her room was going to see a lot less use as she spent more time with Polly.

Three weeks after the dust had settled, Jack walked into the living room, jacket in hand. Esther was right behind him, already pulling her coat on.

"Horatio?" Tim spoke up when Jack started for the door. "You two going anywhere I can't go with you?"

Jack didn't question his father's wish to go with him and shook his head. "It'd be nice if you came, Dad."

Tim exchanged a glance with his wife, got up and went to the hall closet, pulling out his coat. "Let's go, Son."

"Mom?" Jack looked over at her. "Want to go too?"

Polly considered it, but shook her head. Like Tim, she knew where they were going. "No, I think this is something for you three only. Go on. Just don't stay out too late and get yourselves sick."

Deciding to take Polly's sedan as it was easier to get in and out of, Tim turned the car for the dirt road leading off the ranch and to the land his mother owned. Not a one of them spoke. There was nothing to say, at least, not to each other.

The moon had already climbed high enough to see and be seen and cast a pale yellow light on the pasture as the trio of Dillon descendants walked across it towards the decaying remains of the old farm house.

"You think she'll come?" Tim asked.

"I don't know." Jack shrugged. "But we felt it important to try and see if we could talk to her."

Tim nodded with a hard swallow. He'd never doubted the existence of ghosts, but he'd never really seen one, that he knew of and he sure hadn't talked to one like his mother and son had. This experience would prove to be his first and maybe last, most frightening and maybe most exhilarating.

"She's coming." Esther whispered just as a slight change could be felt in the air and the wind picked up imperceptibly.

Tim followed her gaze and saw a white mist forming in front of them that grew more and more solid before a beautiful, red headed woman in a green velvet suit stood in front of them. Tim was too stunned to do more than just stand there and stare at the vision in front of him.

"You all did it." Kitty smiled graciously at the three. "You showed the truth and proved once and for all that Matt wasn't a murderer. I don't know how to thank you."

"You don't have to thank us." Jack answered. "He's our family too. We had to defend him."

"No you didn't." A deep male voice came from behind them, startling the three and they jumped, turning to see a tall man in a tan Stetson approaching them. "I told Kitty it wasn't important what anyone thought about me but she wanted the truth of it all to be out there."

Kitty wrapped an arm around the tall specter as he stepped up beside her. "It wasn't only for us, Matt." She stated, slightly reprovingly. "It was for them as well. They needed to know who they were and they needed to be able to hold their heads up with pride in who you were. Who we both were."

"I think we already knew who you were." Tim gained his voice. "Nothing the Stark's could've written or showed in some movie would've changed the truth for us. You two were heroes before we knew you were related and even more so now."

Jack flashed his father a grateful smile before looking back at his ancestors. "So what now?" He asked bluntly. "Will you ever come back?"

Matt looked down at Kitty and then back at his descendant. "Not likely, son, we won't. You accomplished all that needed to be done and we're at peace knowing that you three know the truth, the whole truth of everything. It was all that ever really mattered."

"But…" Esther stepped forward. "But we've not gotten a chance to really talk with you, or spend time with you. We want to know what's it's like where you are. And what about Doc Adams and Festus and..."

A smile graced Kitty's face at the mention of her friend's names. "Festus and Doc as well as Newly are all with us. They are happy and looking over their own families as Matt and I look over ours."

"But..." Esther wanted to protest.

"Someday." Kitty sighed. "Some far off someday, you and I will get all the time in the world to talk but not now. Now, it is time for Matt and me to go back."

"Back?" Jack questioned.

"Yeah." Matt nodded. "Back to where we belong. We've got people there, waiting on us."

"You mean my father?" Esther asked.

Matt nodded with a proud smile. "Yes. He turned out to be quite a man. I am proud of him and proud of all of you."

"I don't want you all to go." Jack stated sadly.

"I know, son." Matt smiled at the young man. "But we'll never be too far away and if ever you need us, then we will come back."

Jack started to protest again but as quickly as his great, great grandparents appeared, they left leaving only a slight shimmer behind them which all too quickly dissipated.

Jack, standing between his grandmother and father, forced back a sob at their leaving. Through all of the research and the few times he'd talked to Kitty, he'd come to care about them and truly wanted them to stick around.

Esther felt the same and glancing at her son, she saw he did as well. Stepping closer, she wrapped an arm around Jack. "Come on, boy. It's time we went home. We'll see them again someday, just like Kitty said we would."

As the trio walked off, two ghostly figures, arms wrapped around each other stood and silently watched their departure before their forms began to fade and soon disappeared for good.

"Jack's a lot like you." A disembodied feminine voice whispered.

"Yeah?" A pleased male voice answered. "Well, I'm glad. And I think his girl, Robin is like you. Strong, smart and beautiful."

If anyone had of been there, they would've heard a feminine chuckle and a soft, "Come on, Cowboy. Let's go home."

And they'd also heard a deep male voice laugh and reply in return. "Yes, Ma'am." Followed by a brief pause, then a "See ya later, Jack."

The End