Unshown Moment for The Wedding (2)

This is for Mommoo

AN: I usually try to keep my unshown moments as close to the episode as I can and definitely as close to the characters and what they might actually do and say, as I can. But this one just wouldn't let me. Realistically, when Matt came home, he'd go back to work and he and Kitty would talk about another picnic, but it wouldn't stand too much chance of happening. So I kinda strayed from the realistic. And since this is technically after the credits, please consider this more of a slight AU version of an ATC.

Kitty shoved the whiskey crate aside and threw up the lid of the one under it. She wasn't in a hurry. As a matter of fact, she had all day and the rest of the next, as far as she knew, to complete inventory. But she was irritated. She'd long ago accepted Matt's having to take off at a minutes notice but it never made things easier.

She'd really wanted to go on that picnic with Matt. It'd been so long since they'd taken the time or even had the time to take. But once again, their plans were thwarted by the words on a little yellow sheet of paper and that damn piece of tin on Matt's chest. Her talk with Doc had helped but it didn't completely take away the disappointment of another broken date. Shoving her disappointment as far back as she could, Kitty tried hard to concentrate solely on her work and nothing more.

"Miss Kitty!"

"Back here, Sam." She called back, ready for a distraction.

Sam stuck his head in the door and extended a piece of paper to her. "Barney brought this in and said was to you. Said it was for your eyes only."

Kitty frowned as she reached out and took the paper from him. "Thanks, Sam."

"Yes, Ma'am." He said as he left to return to the bar.

Looking down at the paper, she realized it was a telegraph. Stymied as to who it could be from, she opened the wire to see a one line sentence.

"Your carriage awaits out back."

"My carriage awaits?" Shaking her head at the strangeness of the wire, she went out the back door and found a buggy sitting there, with two fishing poles and a picnic basket in the back. There was a very obvious note tied by a blue ribbon to the horse's mane.

Kitty took a slow look around her but saw no one. Quickly, she moved over to the buggy horse and snatched the note.

"Take the buggy to Spring Creek." That was all it said. However, the handwriting was extremely familiar and suddenly she got excited. Hurrying back to the saloon, she quietly called Sam over to her.

"Sam, I'm going out for a time. I don't know when I'll get back but if you would, watch over things here until I do. And if I don't get back before closing, go ahead and close and lock up. Okay?"

"Sure." Sam nodded. "But is everything alright?"

Kitty nodded. "Very." She grinned as she hurried back out the back door and jumped into the buggy, snapping the reins and driving quickly out of town.

As she drove, she had a multitude of questions but only one answer that mattered.

When she reached Spring Creek, she found Matt sitting beside a large oak tree on a blanket with a smile on his face. "You made good time." He told her as he rose to help her out of the buggy.

"I was afraid you wouldn't be here if I didn't." She answered. "By the way, what are you doing out here? You usually come straight back to town."

"I do." He agreed as he pulled the picnic basket from the back of the buggy and held out an arm for her. "But I know as well as you do that if I did that, someone would show with either a wire or wanting something from me and I didn't want to be caught again. I figured I deserved a few hours off before I went back to town and the only way to get it was to come out here and just take them."

"Well, I can't disagree with you on that." Kitty shrugged, "And I'm awfully glad you decided to let me join you in your time off. But uh, why the mysterious wire and the buggy hidden behind the bar? Why not just send word to me to come?"

Matt grinned sat the basket down and pulled her into his arms. "Well, if I'd sent a wire clearly telling you to come out here, Barney would've made sure the whole town knew about it before you did. So, I made it as vague as I could to baffle him."

Kitty laughed. "Well, you probably did that. But if you didn't go to town how'd you arrange the buggy and all?"

"Will Ronniger." Matt answered. "When I rode in, I stopped by there and talked to him. He agreed to help me and to keep it a secret."

Kitty looked up at him in surprise. "You did?"

Matt bent down and kissed her as he nodded. "Uh, huh. I sent the wire before I left Salt Flat to come home and left instructions that you weren't to get it until this morning. I wanted to make sure I could get here before you did. When I got here this morning, I went straight out to the Ronnigers and asked them to help me. Will arranged the buggy and poles and Bess provided the food in the basket."

Kitty laughed in glee at everything Matt had done in order to arrange their time alone as well as the forethought he'd put into it. Only one thing still puzzled her. "Can I ask you something else?"

"What?" He asked.

"Why send me a wire to go out back. Why not just have Will tell me or have him give me note telling me everything at once?"

"Well," Matt answered with a slight tip of his head. "I figured it was a wire that kept me from the picnic we'd planned, so it was only right that a wire helped me to reschedule it. Besides, it was a lot more fun this way."

Kitty laughed and reached up, pulling his head down to hers. "Fun?" She questioned playfully. "Ah, Marshal, you ain't seen fun yet."

The End