Eric paced restlessly up and down the hallway in front of the room Kitty had put Maggie in. He'd heard his wife cry out a couple of times in the last couple of hours but so far that was it. Kitty had asked him to stay outside while she made Maggie comfortable and checked her over. He was doing as she'd asked, but it wasn't easy.

"Well?" He practically demanded as Kitty finally emerged from the room. "She okay?"

Kitty smiled warmly and nodded. "She sure is. She's just fine now."

"And the baby?" He swallowed hard, afraid that news would be bad.

"Well, so far, the baby is fine and quite content to stay where it's at." Kitty grinned. "I'm not a doctor, but I've helped the town doctor quite a bit and I think he would say this was a false alarm."

"You… you mean the baby's not coming?" He asked, not sure if he was happy about that or not.

"Well, unless I miss my guess, that's exactly what I mean. At least not yet. Now that's not set in stone because like I said, I'm not a doctor. But at any rate, it's not coming right this minute." Kitty answered as she patted him on the arm. "Look, why don't you go on in and sit with her. I've got some things to check on. If she needs anything, though, you holler. Okay?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Eric nodded as he shuffled quickly over to the door. "Yes, Ma'am, and thank you."

Kitty didn't have time to reply as he hurriedly entered the room with his wife, closing the door behind him. Shaking her head, she went on down to the bar to check in with Sam and hopefully to find out if Doc had made it back to town.

But it wasn't Doc who came busting in through the front doors, loudly calling her name. "Kitty? Kitty, need some help here."

"What on earth…" She hurried over to where Matt was carrying in a child, a frantic woman and man following in on his heels. "Matt?"

"This the Riser family. They were in a wagon trying to make it into town. Storms so bad they got lost. I was going to ride out to the Ronnigers to check on Doc but I found them instead." Matt carried the little girl over to a back table by the stove and laid her gently down on its surface. "They are all about frozen."

"I don't doubt it." Kitty said as she looked around and spotted Sam. "Sam, do me a favor and go get that cot out of the office. Bring the bedding too. Matt would you help him." As Matt and Sam headed to the back, Kitty turned back to the little girl, gently placed a hand on her cheek and then picked up her hand, rubbing it lightly.

"My Gina gonna be alright?" Mrs. Riser asked in a shaky voice.

Kitty turned and looked closely at the brown-headed woman. Her clothes were worn and thread bare. Her hair apparently hadn't seen a brush or wash in a long time. Her blue eyes were as washed out as her complexion and she was as thin as a rail. Her husband didn't look to be in any better shape. If anything, he looked worse. His lank dark hair was matted and too long and his worn brown eyes spoke of a long journey in the land of misery.

"She'll be fine." Kitty assured her. "We're gonna get her warmed up and get some food into her and she'll be perfect."

"Here's the cot, Miss Kitty." Sam appeared with Matt carrying the cot and bedding. "Oh, thank you. Put it down here by the stove. Matt would you put her in the bed and Sam I need you to come with me." Like a general ordering her troops, Kitty didn't wait for an answer as she headed to the back, Sam in tow, and began to rummage around in her pantry to see what she could fix to feed a lot of people.

When she returned, Matt had managed to get Gina's coat off of her and then to get her tucked into bed. Looking down, Kitty could see the little girl, a miniature of her mother, was smiling sweetly up at Matt. "Well, hello, little one." Kitty winked at her as she sat the tray of food, in her hands, on a nearby table. "You think you could eat something?"

Gina nodded with a smile and struggled to sit up, her mother helping her.

"Good." Kitty kissed the little girl on the forehead and looked over at her parents. "There's some sandwiches here for all of you." She looked at Matt. "I'm going upstairs and check on the Tanners and take them something to eat."

"Alright." Matt smiled at her, proud and yet not surprised at how quickly she reached out to help total strangers. Looking at the small family, he nodded towards the food. "You all go ahead and eat." Without waiting for a reply, he walked over to the bar. "Sam, how are you all for rations?"

"Well, Miss Kitty used the last of the bread for those sandwiches, but she had enough stuff to make a big pot of stew. She put that on while she was back there." Sam answered.

Matt nodded. "You got plenty of coffee?"

"Well, there's a couple of pounds back there." Sam shrugged. "You thinking we're going to be stuck in here for a while?"

Matt looked around the saloon at the small family in the corner and the few others who'd now drifted in to get out of the cold. "I hope not, Sam, but it's looking that way." Shaking his head, he turned for the door. "Tell Kitty I'll be back later."

"Alright, Marshal." Sam answered.

As Matt left the saloon, he quickly buckled his coat up against the cold blowing snow. He had it in mind to head back out again to try and make it to the Ronnigers, but something else came to mind first. In times past, when disasters of any kind struck, people usually found a way to make it to the Long Branch. Tonight was proving to be no different. That meant a big stew and a couple of pounds of coffee weren't going to be enough.

"Sure hope Jonas will understand." Matt sighed as he headed over to the store. As a US Marshal, he had the right to confiscate whatever he needed in times of an emergency but he wasn't sure this qualified as that just yet. However, he had no doubts this blizzard could and most likely would cause one before it left out of Kansas. Using his master key to the store, he opened it and went in.

An hour later, he reappeared at the Long Branch with two rucksacks full of supplies, including a coat and doll for little Gina. He'd left what little cash he had on him on the counter along with a promissory note for the balance.

"Uhm, I don't suppose Mr. Jonas was feeling generous, was he?" Kitty asked with a smirk.

"Nope." Matt grinned at her.

"I thought so. Well, when this mess is over, I'll have Jonas put it all on my account."

"No need." Matt told her as he headed again to the exit.

"Hey?" Kitty called after him. "Where you going?"

Matt looked at the little family in the corner and then glanced upstairs. "To make sure you have a reason to use those supplies." He answered, turned and then left.

TBC