Doc entered the saloon quietly and saw Kitty leaning over Sam Noonan, wiping the man's brow with a cool cloth. She felt his presence standing behind her, but didn't look at him when she spoke.

"How is Sam doing?"

Doc shrugged. "No better or worse than anybody else, I suppose."

It wasn't the answer she was expecting and she turned to look at Adams. He looked so dreadfully tired, Kitty just wanted to scream at him for shouldering the burden alone. She kept her voice even.

"You sound like you need to lie down for awhile."

He glared at her. "Don't you tell me what to do...I'm not even sure if I'm speaking to you."

She ignored the tirade and looked around the room for the man she would gladly give her life to save. Without another word to Doc, she went to Dillon's cot and sat down, softly stroking his brow with her hand. He muttered in his feverish state, and Kitty wiped him down with a cool cloth.

"Easy Matt."

"Kitty?"

"Yeah cowboy, I'm here."

He reached for her hand, and she grasped the larger one inside both her own. His voice was weak, and it was hard for him to swallow.

"You shouldn't be here..."

"I've already fought and won that argument with a certain feisty doctor we both know, so save your breath. How are you feeling?"

He mustered a slight smile for her. "Better now..."

Kitty ran her fingers through his hair and his eyes closed, as he drifted off once again. She bent down and kissed his warm forehead, allowing her lips to linger slightly. Kitty sat with him for a long time, before she realized she hadn't heard any other movement in the room. She looked around, but there was no sign of Doc. Carefully setting Dillon's hand down, she headed toward the back office. Quietly, she went through the door, and found Doc at her desk, reading.

"Find anything interesting?"

He recognized the comment for the apology it was, and answered curtly. "You are not forgiven, so don't bother tryin' to soft-soap me." Kitty moved over to the desk, and started to brush her fingers through his hair, but he jerked his head away. "I mean it."

She withdrew her hand, and crossed her arms in front of herself. "All right, fine. But you still have to eat, which I bet you haven't done in days. What would you like me to fix?"

He growled at her. "Can't you see I'm reading? Now get outta here!"

"Then you get whatever I decide to make."

Kitty was almost out of the room when she heard him mutter, "I ain't eatin' it in any case."

She shook her head and went about the business of making some soup for the many patients, and a sandwich for Doc. She knew he was partial to roast beef with pickles and horseradish, and that he'd have a tough time letting it sit in front of him no matter how angry he was with her. While the soup slowly cooked, Kitty took the sandwich and some coffee into the office, where he was still pouring over his books. Wordlessly she set the items in front of him, and as expected, he didn't even bother to look at her. She left as quietly as she had come, and then sat down with Matt again for a long spell.

Kitty had long since dozed off, holding Matt's hand, when she jarred herself awake, realizing it was dark outside. She illuminated the lanterns, checked several people, and then decided she'd better look in on Doc. She went to the office, and opened the door, but there was no light. Kitty lit a lantern, and walked in, to find Doc out cold on the desk, his head on his books, the plate and coffee cup she had left earlier, empty. Certain that he hadn't had much sleep over the past week, she hated to wake him, but his patients needed him. She set the lantern down, and put her hands on his shoulders, softly kneading them for a minute. When he didn't stir, she dug in harder on the taut muscles in her hands, and he groaned in pain.

Her timbre was low and soothing, "I'm sorry to wake ya Doc, but it's probably time for you to take a look at some folks."

He moaned, but didn't awaken. Kitty gently shook him.

"Come on, Doc, wake up."

His voice was hoarse with exhaustion. "Just five more minutes..."

She sighed and pat him on the shoulder, unable to deny him that. "All right, I'll come back in five minutes."

Doc still sounded groggy, "No, Kitty...don't stop what you were doin'... Please?"

There was a quality in his voice that tugged at her from deep within, and the rare request for what he would normally term as "fussing" was not lost on her. Gently, she began massaging out the stiffness in his shoulders, speaking to him in low, quiet tones.

"Find anything in all those books?"

His voice was more awake, yet lulled by the gentle attention he was receiving.

"Maybe...there's a doctor in New York who wrote a paper last year on the treatment of diphtheria--"

"--Diphtheria...is that what this is?"

She could hear the sleepiness returning to his voice as she felt his muscles begin to relax. "I did an autopsy on the last four victims, and I'm pretty sure about it, yes."

"That's good news, isn't it, Doc?"

"Yes and no. I know what it is, but there's still no effective way to treat it other than ridin' out the symptoms. When a man's throat starts to close down, there ain't no way for me to open it back up. I can only treat the symptoms, not the disease. Some people are gonna make it, and some aren't, and there just ain't no rationalizing which is which."

Sensing he wasn't going to sit still for much longer, Kitty moved her hands up to his neck, and caressed away the soreness there. He leaned his forehead on the backs of his hands, accepting the last moment of relaxation he would likely have before all was said and done. It was rare for Doc to let his guard down so completely, even with her, and Kitty suddenly felt her cheeks flush with anger as it dawned on her just how rough the past week had been on him.

She couldn't completely keep the admonishment from her timbre, "You shouldn't have let yourself get this tired, Doc, and you know it. You're the only doctor for a hundred miles. You should have let me come and help you two days ago, no matter what you thought the risk might have been to me or anyone else. You're the most indispensable person in Dodge; if something happens to you, what will we do? Did you even think of that?"

For a long moment he didn't respond, but instead closed his eyes and concentrated on the gentle motions of her fingers, which in contrast to her timbre, were softly brushing through his hair. When sleep threatened to take him once again, he roused himself from her gentle affection, and stood, grasping her hands in his.

His steely grey eyes pierced hers with their intensity. "You'd be willing to give your life to save Matt's, wouldn'tcha?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "And that's exactly how I feel about you, and Matt, and Festus. I wasn't thinkin' about my responsibilities as this town's doctor when I yelled at you, honey, anymore than when I decided to try and shoulder the burden on my own. I was thinkin' about how I--" He swallowed hard to loosen the emotional lump that had formed in his throat. "Oh, hell. I love you Kitty, and you know it. You've become part of me, and I'm too selfish to lose you. I feel the same way about Matt and Festus, although if you ever breathe a word of that to anyone, I'll deny having ever said it." Overwhelmed by his own emotion, he pulled her into himself, holding her for a long moment. Then gently, he pushed her away, unshed sentiment shining in his eyes. "Come on, we've got a lot of work ahead of us if we're going to save some of these people."

She followed him out into the bar area of the saloon, and she glanced over at Matt.

The alarm in her voice sent Adams' heart down to his knees. "Doc!"

He followed her horrified gaze and saw Dillon clenching his own throat, choking for air.