Unshown Moments for Tap Day for Kitty - Season 1

This one is for EvitaScarlett

."There are plenty of other women in Dodge that wear shoes, you know?" Kitty was furious.

"Kitty, go on back to my office and wait for me, will ya?" Matt knew she was upset and he was hoping to calm her down.

"Matt are you going to make me say it? Do you want me to say that I didn't do it? Well, I'm not going to say it. You'll just have to believe me."

Although Matt hadn't said he didn't have faith in her innoncence and he did promised to try and prove that she wasn't guilty, it didn't matter. She didn't trust that he accepted her word on the matter.

As she marched over to the jail, her cheeks flamed from embarrassment and anger. How on earth could he think of guilty of something like this? Sure, she'd threatened Nip Cullers. Any woman would threaten an old coot who promised to force her into marriage. But threatening and doing were two separate things. Didn't he know that?

When she reached the office, she found it unlocked but empty. Walking in, she stepped over to the stove and tested the pot. It was hot. Though she wasn't a fan of Chester's coffee, she hoped it's sometimes acrid taste would distract her enough from her fury so that she could look at this situation objectively and figure out a solution.

But the coffee was actually too bad to drink and it did little to soothe her frayed nerves and inflamed temperament.

"How?" She threw her hands up as she took a seat behind Matt's desk, in his chair. "How could he believe that of me? I… I…"

Kitty was not a crier by nature, not someone who broke down and sobbed at the least little thing. But this wasn't something little, it was something big. The man who'd taken her heart, and who she trusted more than anyone, didn't trust her. He believed her guilty of shooting someone in the back. The fact that Nip Cullers deserved it didn't make a difference.

Placing the coffee on his desk, Kitty buried her head in her hands and succumbed to the tears that so harshly stung her eyes. For several moments, Kitty allowed herself the luxury of wallowing in self-pity and grief as what she saw as her loss and Matt's betrayal. If Matt didn't trust her, if he thought her capable of this, then she saw very little future with him.

For several minutes, Kitty simply sat and cried. But finally a realization settled in on her that tears were useless as was her just sitting there and waiting for him to come and lock her in a cell. If Matt Dillon wanted to arrest her, he could find her in the Long Branch.

Having decided that, Kitty quickly dashed away her remaining tears and checked her appearance in the small mirror tacked up to the wall behind the door. Her eyes were slightly red but a little water would cure that. Otherwise, she was sure there would be no sign of her earlier weakness, which is how she regarded tears.

"I didn't shoot anyone." Kitty said to her reflection as she corrected a slight problem with her makeup. "And Matt Dillon can go take a flying…"

"Miss Kitty?" Chester appeared at the door just then. "Mr. Dillon sent me to come and get you."

"Why?" She demanded tersely. "He afraid I'll escape?"

"Escape?" Chester frowned. "Oh, Heaven's no. Why, you ain't under arrest or nothing. No, Mr. Dillon thinks he knows who shot that Cullers feller and he wants you to there when he finds out for sure."

Kitty returned Chester's frown. "He… he thinks… You mean to tell me he doesn't believe I did it?"

"Why, of course not. Goodness, he never really thought you was guilty." Chester answered. "He just couldn't prove it yet is all. But he thinks he can now and he wants you there."

With a relieved smile, Kitty nodded and followed Chester from the jail and over to Doc's office. 'I owe Matt an apology and maybe more.' She told herself as they climbed the stairs and went in to see just who had shot the old rancher.

End