Unshown Moments for The Badge (4)

This is for Phoenix.

I am sooooooooo glad you all like my efforts. Makes it a little easier to write and post them. Thank you!

"Kitty? Kitty!" Doc practically came running into the saloon about an hour after Kitty and Sam had talked; an almost unreadable expression on his face.

Almost unreadable to everyone but Kitty at least. She saw the happiness that showed in his faded blue eyes and the almost trepidation that she might not be planning to stay. Coming around the bar, she quickly put his fears away as she gave him a quick hug. "Hi ya, Doc. Guess ya heard I came home."

"I sure did." He took a swipe of his mustache as he eyed her up and down to reassure himself she was okay. "I also heard you had some trouble in Ballard."

"Well," Kitty ticked her head, "I guess you could say that. But that's not why I came back."

"I didn't figure it was." Doc answered sagely. "I know you well enough to know that no amount of trouble would cause you to run."

"We both know that's not true, Doc." Kitty said softly.

Doc understood but shook his head. "That's a different thing entirely, honey. You did what you felt you had to do at the time. You did what I thought you should've done years ago."

"Maybe." Kitty shrugged. "But that's all over with now. I'm home and staying home."

No one else was in the saloon at the time and Doc felt a little more at liberty to speak honestly about the relationship between two people he thought of as his kids. "Are you sure?"

"Doc..."

"No, now, wait a minute." Doc raised a hand. "Kitty, I love you like a daughter and it tore me up when you left here. But I understood why you had to and I even halfway hoped you'd stay gone and finally find a man who would do right by you. A man who would give you all of him and not just what was left when his job got finished with him."

"You mean a man like you?" Kitty tried to tease but Doc was having none of it.

"You know what I mean." He answered gruffly. "I wanted you to have the absolute best. But I realized that for better or worse, Matt is the best for you because you two love each other. Oh, I know he doesn't show it as much as he should and he probably never says it, but the look on his face after you left here said far more than words ever could. He was miserable, Kitty. He understood better than I did, why you left. And he didn't want to hinder you finding happiness somewhere else so he said nothing. He didn't have to, at least not to me. But he should've said something to you. He should've made how he felt about you a little clearer."

Kitty shook her head with a sigh. "It wouldn't have stopped me from going, Doc." She locked eyes with the physician, hoping he'd understand what she was saying. "I didn't leave because he wouldn't say he loved me. I left because I loved him too much to see him shot again and maybe die. I figured if I didn't see it, it wouldn't hurt as much. But when he came down there to Ballard, I realized no amount of distance would stop the pain if he died. And Matt made me realize something else when he came down there."

"Oh? What?"

"He made me realize that what he was doing, the job he was doing, was an important one. It's not an easy job, or always a good one, but it's necessary one and Matt's one of a very few men who can do it. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll always like it or that I'll always agree with it coming first or the risks involved but all of that is part of it so I have to accept it."

"So you came home knowing all of this and that he could be shot again."

"Yes." She nodded with a wry grin. "But I also came home knowing that he loves me and I love him and the rest of it... well, we'll deal with that when it comes."

"It will. You know that."

"Um hum." Kitty nodded. "And I'll deal with it then. But not right now. Right now, I'm thinking of having breakfast with my favorite physician."

Doc took a scrub of his mustache and a slow smile finally overtook his face. "I'm glad you're home, Kitty." He finally said. "Dodge was a dreary place without you here."

"It's good to be home, Doc." She grinned as she took his arm. "Now, come on and buy me a welcome home breakfast."

As the two strolled out of the saloon, Sam smiled happily and put a little more polish on the bar top. The Queen of the Dodge and of the Marshal's heart was home and all was right with the world.

END