As Festus crossed Front Street filling Judge Brooker in on some details that were purposely left out of the wire Matt sent, Matt spotted the two men heading toward Doc's office. "Judge Brooker! I thought you were coming in on the afternoon stage."
"Hello Matt." The judge extended his hand to the marshal. "Sorry to hear of the trouble that has come over Dodge with Doc's shooting and all. Festus has been filling me in on some details. What exactly happened?"
Matt motioned toward Doc's office. "Let's talk up there." Matt''s eyes scanned the street. At the moment he mistrusted just about everyone in Dodge. The three men moved to the staircase and slowly stepped up each riser. They tried to be as quiet as possible. Once at the top, Matt slowly opened the door and spotted Kitty once again standing vigil over Doc.
Matt ushered Judge Brooker and Festus into the office before closing the door behind him. "How is he, Kitty?" Matt kept his voice to a whisper.
"Well...he made it through the night. He has a fever. Not much more I can say..." Matt could hear Kitty swallow with sadness. Her eyes were rimmed with unshed tears.
Judge Brooker stepped closer to Kitty and Doc. He peered down at the man laying on the examination table. He shook his head in discussed. "Matt. You have no idea who did this?" Brooker stood straight and turned to the marshal who held his hat in his hands.
"I have my suspicions but no proof." Matt's eyes left Brooker's to the examination table as Doc groaned.
Kitty quickly went to the back room and urged Newly to get up and join them. "Newly...Newly wake up! Doc's coming to..."
Newly's eyes blinked and once he oriented himself and came to realize where he was, he jolted upwards. "Doc's coming to?" A smile spread across his face as he pushed himself up off the bed and pulled his suspenders over his shoulders.
Kitty had already rejoined the small group and continued to wiped Doc's forehead with a damp cloth. She ran her hand across the top of his head pushing some unruly strands of hair back and out of his face. "Come on handsome. Wake up..." She looked down at the man in front of her. "You can do it and I know you can..." She swallowed deeply again holding back tears that she hoped were of joy.
Newly finally entered the room. All eyes were on him as he approached the examination table. Gently he took one of Doc's hands and squeezed it slightly. "Doc?"
Again Doc moaned and slowly his eye lids lifted open ever so slightly. He sighed at the sight of all his friends gathered around him. Then his crystal blue eyes drifted over to Kitty who had her hand on his shoulder. "I hope you didn't sell my rocking chair..." was all he could muster. Kitty chuckled as tears ran down her face. "No Doc. I haven't sold your chair. I've been hoping you would come to so you could tell me when you might be retirin'..." She smiled warmly.
"I'm not gonna retire just yet..." Doc whispered. "I would, however, like to do is sleep some more..." and with that he did just that.
With wide smiles on their faces, Matt and Festus patted each other on the back and both thanked Newly for what he did in bringing Doc around. "Matthew! I'm gonna tell Sam and Louie...and anyone else I see that Doc is gonna be fit as a fiddle!"
Matt agreed and let Festus past him to spread the word. And as the word did get around, Pip and his men grew deeply concerned.