Matt stood vigil below Doc's office from across the street for several hours. There had been no move on the part of the physician to leave, and when Dillon had no longer been able to stand the cold, he went to the Longbranch for a whiskey. Kitty, Matt and Festus sat in stony silence at their usual table, the fourth chair glaringly vacant. Kitty glanced at her small watch and decided she had waited long enough. She stood and threw a cloak over her shoulders. Matt looked up at her.
"I'm going to go check on him."
Dillon stood. "I'll go with you."
She put a gentle hand on his arm. "I'll stand a better chance if I go alone."
Knowing that Doc found it difficult to deny her anything, Dillon smiled. "You're probably right." She started to leave and Dillon added, "Kitty, if you can, sit with him tonight."
She frowned. "You think he'd make a move against Bradley?"
"No...but if you're there with him, then I know he's all right."
She nodded. "I'll see you two in the morning."
"Night Kitty..."
"Good night, Miss Kitty," Festus added after the fact.
He turned the large gold band around with his fingers. It had grown dull from age, but not thin from use. He pulled the handkerchief from his back pocket and began to polish it. As it started to shine from the buffing, his eyes flooded: he could restore the symbol but not the one who had inspired it. He wiped his face with the cloth, but the sadness in his heart overwhelmed him. A sound from the staircase made him start, and quickly he put the ring back in its small drawer in the top of his desk, where it had silently laid for almost thirty years.
He recognized the soft knock on the door and closed his eyes: she should have stayed away.
"Doc? I know you're in there..."
He sat unmoving in his chair, and she knocked again.
"Come on, Doc, I'm not leaving, and it's getting really cold out here..."
Adams shook his head; she knew exactly how to play him. Resigned to a conversation he didn't want to have, the old doctor pulled himself up and unlocked the door, not bothering to greet her, nor hold the door open for her. Kitty entered the office to find him standing in the middle of the room with his back to her. She shook her head and closed the door, removing her cloak as she did so. He made not a move to acknowledge her, so she pressed forward.
"It's awfully cold in here...why isn't there any wood in the stove?"
She ignored the fact that he didn't answer and shoved some kindling in the potbellied stove. She rubbed her hands together over the flame before closing the door, then she turned toward him to find him standing as still as a statue in the same spot as before. Kitty walked over to him, and touched his arm.
"Doc, you're as cold as an icicle." She pulled two chairs in front of the stove. "Come on, sit over here with me."
But the old man continued to ignore her. She went to him and simply turned him around, guiding him to the chair nearest the heat. He sat down and she gently rubbed her hands down his arms for a few minutes trying to warm him.
"Honestly...didn't you notice it was getting cold in here?" When he still did not answer her, she sat next to him, leaning in close. "Why don't you tell me about it?"
Trying not to let her affection get to him, his voice was as cold as his room had been before she lit the stove, "It's none of your business."
"It is when it hurts you this much."
He swallowed hard and looked down. "I don't remember sayin' I was hurtin'..."
Seeing that she was getting to him, she took his hand in hers. "You didn't have to." He blinked away the moisture trying to form in his eyes, and Kitty put an arm around him. "Let me help you."
"Ain't nothin' you can do, Kitty."
"I can listen." Doc still remained silent, and Kitty prompted further. "Who is this Dr. Aaron Bradley? What did he do to you?"
Adams pulled away from her and stood, allowing his anger to flood him. "I told you it's none of your business, and I meant it."
This time she couldn't keep the sting of hurt from her tone, "I saw the ring--"
"--You what?"
"I was standing on the staircase, and I saw you put a wedding band in the top drawer. Is it yours?"
And all rationality left him. He stalked to the door, pulling it open, the meaning quite clear, although he bellowed at her anyway.
"Get the hell out of here."
"Doc, please--"
He grabbed her hard by the arm, "--I said get out." Adams roughly pulled her through the door, and his voice was like steel. "You're no longer welcome here, so don't come back."
He slammed the door shut and for a long moment Kitty stood, shell-shocked on the landing. The tears of hurt flooded down her cheeks and she ran as quickly as she could down the stairs and to the Longbranch. She let herself in through the back door, sat down at her desk and cried as she hadn't done since the day her own father had abandoned her.