Unshown Moments for Kitty's Killing, S5

This is for GunsmokeFan. Well Mannered Guest, I am working on the Wreckers.

"You raise your voice in the slightest or give any kind of warning and you're dead, you'll die, right here and now."

Kitty had maintained her composure as she looked from Leach's bulging eyes to the gun he held in his hand. She'd had no doubt he would follow through on his threat, if she'd failed to comply so here she was now, walking through Dodge via the backstreets and alleys, doing her best to lead him as far from Ma Smalley's as she could get him.

Glancing behind her, she saw the ugly countenance of Jeremiah Leach as he kept the gun pointed at her and pushed her forward. Kitty had seen ugly men before and though Leach ranked among the ugliest, with bulging eyes and bulbous nose with wide flaring nostrils, it wasn't just his looks that bothered her.

Looking into his eyes, Kitty could see nothing but darkness and hate. That the old man was unhinged, she had no doubt, and if she had of followed his orders, she was certain Leach would've killed more than Ollie Radford. All she could do was to lead him as far from Ma's as she could and pray fervently that she could either get away from him or Matt would somehow find them.

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"Oh, him and Miss Kitty went out together." Clem said as if it was an everyday thing.

Those words kept coming back to Matt as he walked one alley after another trying to find her. He still remembered the fierce look on Leach's face as he talked of his desire to kill Ollie Radford. Matt had no doubts, Radford wouldn't be the only one he killed if given the chance.

As Matt tracked Kitty and Leach he allowed himself a small amount of pride in the woman he loved. It was clear that she was taking Leach in the opposite direction of Ma Smalley's boarding house. He had no doubt that Leach was forcing her and despite the certain danger to herself, Kitty was still risking her life to protect a total stranger and his wife.

Yet, as he turned each corner and saw nothing but a faint foot track here and there, his heart worked its way up higher into his throat as he thought of what Leach would most likely do to her when he found she'd duped him.

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When the gun went off between Kitty and Leach they both stiffened. Though the light was practically non-existent in the empty old house she'd led the old man to, Kitty still could've sworn she saw the maddening light of insanity in his eyes fade as he died on the floor next to her.

Gasping, Kitty pulled back and away from him, unable to think for a moment as to what to do. She'd seen men killed before, too many of them. She'd watched as their dead bodies were carried off to be buried, and hated the thought of it. But she'd come to accept that as part of life in a wild town like Dodge and had so far been able to keep that from tainting her and dragging her down.

But this… This was different. This man's death, rightly or wrongly, was her doing and the thought was sobering and sickening. "Oh, God." She gasped as she pulled away trying to get back to her feet.

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Matt had just turned another corner when he heard a shot. Instantly his heart beat faster and the metallic taste of fear settled in his mouth. "Oh, God." He thought as he moved faster towards the direction of the sound.

Now practically racing around the next corner Matt paused only long enough to draw his gun when he heard the next shot. Though the calm, cool and collected lawman was now taking over as he continued to move forward, the scared man that loved the woman who might now be hurt was rapidly becoming panicky.

Until he saw Kitty, standing and leaning heavily on the doorframe of an old abandoned house.

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Though she didn't know how, Kitty somehow managed to get herself up off the floor and to her feet. The dead man, hand still clasped around the gun he'd managed to wrest from her at the last second, continued to lie there, eyes open wide staring at her in accusation.

With a sob, Kitty turned and stumbled to the doorway, only making it just outside before she had to stop and grab ahold of the doorframe for support.

"Kitty!"

Looking up, Kitty managed to finally take a deep breath when she Matt coming towards her. "Oh, Matt." She sobbed.

Later that evening, Kitty sat curled up on her settee, a glass of brandy in her hand and Matt beside her, his arms wrapped completely around her.

After seeing her to her rooms, Matt had sent Chester and some other men to tend to Leach and then he'd returned to her room to get an official statement of what had happened. That completed, he simply sat down beside her, pulled her into his arms and held her, allowing her to cry out her grief and unearned guilt at the death of a man at her hands.

"Is it like that for you?" Kitty finally asked, looking up at him. "Do you feel that way when you're forced to kill someone?"

Matt considered the question. "Not so much now." He finally answered. "But it was at first. I still don't like it and I doubt I ever will. But I know now that it's a part of this job whether I like it or not and that sometimes the taking of one life saves many others, just like tonight. I know you didn't kill Leach on purpose, Kitty. He forced your hand by fighting you for the gun. But no matter how it happened, his death saved the life of at least Ollie Radford and probably his family and Ma and Doc too. You know they wouldn't have just stood by while he killed a man. What you did, while hard, saved lives, honey. And I'm proud of you for it."

Kitty turned her head back into Matt's chest, fresh tears tracking down her face as she considered his words. Finally accepting them as truth and loving him even more as realized that as hard as his job was and as bad as killing was, he'd found a way to do them both and yet remain a good and true man, the man she loved.

"I love you, Matt." She finally sighed. "I never realized until just now how hard your job is but I do now, and I love you all the more for doing it and not letting it change the good man that you are."

Matt dropped his head with a sad shake. "You're wrong, Kitty. This job, and that part of it, has changed me in some ways. It's made me a little harder, a little more cautious with whom I trust. But as bad as it can be, it hasn't been able to make me like Leach or any other number of spoilers I've run into because of one thing."

"What?" She looked up quizzically at him.

"You." He answered with a smile before he kissed her tenderly.

END