Unshown Moment from Big Broad S 1 (2)

"What's a matter? Didn't ya ever see anybody in love?" Matt asked smartly as he turned and left the saloon.

"Well, what'd he mean by that?" Chester queried.

Kitty shook her head. She knew what Matt meant but she was surprised that he recognized that Lena and Emmit were in love. So far he hadn't really shown much interest in the subject or discussion of love.

Later that evening, after Matt had Lena and Emmit locked up, with Chester keeping watch over them, Matt returned to the Long Branch. Kitty, who'd just finished up a game of cards, looked up to see Matt walking in and got up, joining him at bar.

"Evening, Matt. You get Emmit and Lena locked up?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded. "Chester's over there with them now. Tell, ya what, I sure hope the judge goes easy on Emmit. I don't agree with what he did, I understand why."

"You do, huh?" Kitty watched him. "Would you have done the same?"

"Nope." Matt shook his head, with a grin. "Cause Big Lena's not my woman."

Kitty gave him an exasperated sigh. "You know what I meant."

Matt chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I know and the answer is still no. Shooting someone, is not the way to handle jealously."

"So, uh, how would you handle it?" She asked, wondering if Matt could ever be jealous of her.

"Well, I don't know." Matt shrugged. "I've never been jealous, never even been in love."

"Never?" Kitty questioned. Although she knew that her feelings for Matt were deeper and more intense than they had been for Cole Yankton, she had still loved him.

Matt reconsidered his answer for a moment, as he thought of Cara, Sarah, Lee and a couple of others he'd been close to. Had he loved them? He'd cared about them; that was certain. But had he loved them? And what of Kitty, the beautiful girl beside him? He cared about her too. Privately, he would even say he cared more than cared for her. But did he love her?

"No, never." He turned his face from her, not sure there wasn't a different answer in his expression.

"Then how did you know that Lena and Emmit loves each other?" She drilled into him.

"Well…," Matt swallowed hard. "I uh.." Quickly he picked up his beer to take a drink.

Just then, Doc pushed his way into the saloon and over to the pair. "Matt, I thought you might like to know that the buffalo hunter is going to be alright. He'll be down for a couple of weeks, but he's going to be just fine."

"Well, good." Matt nodded. "I'm sure that'll go good with the judge."

"Well, that all depends on how hard nosed you want to be." Doc told him.

"What do you mean?" Matt frowned.

"Well, that buffalo hunter told me he didn't want Emmit tried for shooting him. He said he brought it all on himself and he'd just as soon forget it."

"Hmmm." Kitty mused. "I guess, he knows love when he sees it too."

"What?" Doc looked at her confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, just something me and Matt were discussing." Kitty answered looking at Matt, somewhat amused at his obvious discomfort.

"Yeah, well…" Matt took a last drink of his beer and sat the mug down on the bar and turned for the door. "I think we'll end that discussion for now so I can go and let Lena and Emmit out of jail."

"For now?" Kitty asked slyly.

Matt turned and gave her a long slow look. "For now."

As Matt left the saloon, Doc looked questionably over at Kitty. "Just exactly what was all that about?"

Kitty smiled happily. "Oh, nothing much, Doc." She answered. But as she watched him walk out of the saloon, she realized it was something very much indeed.

END