AN: I was remiss on the last chapter in thanking those I could not PM. Pam, Gunsmokefan, thank you very, very much. I dearly love being able to share my love of Gunsmoke with you.

During the next few hours, Matt, along with Festus, returned seven more times, each time bringing someone, or several someone's with them. The Long Branch was now full. Ann and Julie were now sharing a room with Cindy as well. And Cindy's room was now occupied by the Rainey family whose roof had caved in due to the heavy snow. Those people along with townspeople, like Nathan Burke, who had no family and wanted someone to wait out the storm with, were stretching the seams of the building. But Kitty didn't mind as long as there was room for a certain cowboy.

The storm had increased its intensity and it had become practically impossible to see further than a foot ahead. After Matt and Festus brought in the last two people, an elderly couple, the Garner's, that lived in a freezing shack in Rat Hole Alley, Kitty implored with Matt not to go back out.

"Matt, you two will freeze to death out there. That storm has gotten too bad. Please."

Matt looked at those big blue eyes and knew he couldn't tell her no. At least not then. Sighing, he unbuttoned his coat and took off his hat. "By golly, Kitty, you've convinced me. Festus, we're staying put for a little bit."

Festus grinned. "Ya ain't got to tell me twice."

Kitty chuckled. "Good. Now why don't you two go find a table and I'll get you something to eat."

As Kitty walked to the back of the saloon, Matt and Festus located an empty table and headed over to it. But the two men had barely gotten seated when loud voices gathered their attention.

"I said you was cheatin'!"

As Matt got back to his feet, two men pushed back from the poker game they'd been playing and guns were snapped into their hands. "Hold it!" Matt growled as he quickly moved towards the two men. "Put your guns up."

"Uh huh." One of the men shook his head. "He was cheatin' and I want my money back."

Matt turned his attention to the speaker. Jed Gaines, short of stature and almost bald was a down on his luck farmer whose patch of scrubland, he'd homesteaded, had failed to thrive. When his wife died in childbirth, he packed up and moved to town, doing odd jobs around town to make a living. "Jed, you know better than this. You barely have enough money for food, much less for gambling."

"I… I know." Jed readily agreed. "That's why I want my money back from this slick here. He was cheatin'."

"I was not." The other man spoke. Tall, blonde hair and miniscule mustache, he wasn't anyone Matt knew but he looked every bit a gambler.

"What's your name, Mister?" Matt looked suspiciously at him.

"Deakins." The man answered. "William Deakins. I was stranded here by the stage last night. It's kind of boring over in the hotel, so I came over here for a drink and maybe a hand of poker. I didn't realize the people of this town didn't like losing."

"We don't like being cheated, is what we don't like." Gaines yelled.

"Let it go, Jed." Matt told him as he stared at Deakins. "Mister, I don't know if you were cheating or not, but you've played all the poker you're going to today. So you just go on back over to the hotel and get some rest."

"You… you can't make me go out… out there." Deakins was both indignant and aghast at the idea. "You can't see a foot ahead of you out there much less all the way down the street."

"We'll manage." Matt growled as he grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and propelled him towards the door. "Festus, pick up that money and hold it for me. Tell Kitty I'll be back for my supper."

"Will do er, Matthew." Festus agreed as Matt and Deakins left the saloon. "Jed, why don't you git on over there and sit down somewheres?" Festus waved a hand at him then quickly collected the money on the table and headed over to the bar. "Sam, put this here money some place safe, will ya?"

"Sure will, Festus." Sam held out his hand and Festus placed it in his palm just as a couple of loud reports could be heard from outside. "Guess the storm's getting worse."

"That ain't no storm." Festus shook his head as he headed for the door just as Kitty came in from the back with a tray of food.

"Where's he going?" She asked Sam, placing the tray on the bar.

"Heard something outside and he went to check on it." Sam answered.

A quick scan around the barroom and Kitty knew Matt was out there and that was enough to hurry her to the door. She didn't make it though before the doors opened again and Festus came in with Matt, his hand clasped tightly to his left arm. "Matt!" She yelled as she rushed to his side and guided him into a chair. "What happened?"

"Dude, I was taking back to the hotel." Matt grimaced as Kitty helped him off with his jacket. "He pulled a gun on me. I got him, I think, but not until he got me."

Kitty nodded as she split Matt's sleeve and looked at the wound. "Well, he got you alright, but thankfully, it's not as bad as it could be. Looks like a bad graze but it didn't go in." She looked at Festus. "Festus, help him upstairs to my room, will ya? I'll be up in a minute."

Festus nodded but Matt objected. "No, now, Kitty. I'll be alright."

"Matt." Kitty's tone let him to know she was having none of it. "You've dealing with that blizzard since it started with no rest and no food and now you're hurt. You can't keep this up and I'm not letting do anything more until you've had rest,food and that arm bandaged." When Matt still looked to protest, she looked at Sam and Festus. "Boy's take him up stairs, no matter what you have to do to get him there."

"Come on, Matthew." Festus struggled to hide a grin. "Ya bes do as she says afore she gets on ya like ugly on a ape."

Matt sighed but pushed Festus back. "I think I can get myself up there alone. You two stay down here and keep watch over things. See if you can find that dude and take care of him too. But don't go too far from the saloon. I'll be back down in a couple of hours."

Kitty rolled her eyes as she watched him climb the stairs. "Festus, if I have anything to say about it, he'll be up there a lot longer than that." She kept her voice low so Matt didn't hear.

"Yes'm." Festus no longer attempted to hide his grin.

Grabbing a couple of sandwiches and a bowl of the stew, Kitty headed up the stairs and on to her room. Matt had made it as far as the bed but so far he'd not managed more than that.

"Hang on, Cowboy." Kitty shook her head, sat the food down and then went over to him. With practiced ease, she divested him of his gunbelt, boots and shirt before having him to lie down where she helped him off with his pants. "There," she smiled at him mischievously. "You're exactly as I like to see you."

"You mean hurt and vulnerable?" He raised a brow.

"I mean practically naked and in my bed." She grinned widely.

Matt chuckled despite his painful arm and exhaustion. "Well, I wish I could take advantage of my current situation."

"But you can't." Kitty finished for him. "I can't either. As soon as I doctor your arm, I need to go and check on the Tanner's and get back downstairs to help Sam."

When Kitty came near to look at his arm, Matt reached out and pulled her to him in a kiss and embrace. "You're quite a woman, Kitty Russell. You know that?"

"Oh, Matt, I…"

"You're probably every bit as tired as I am and yet you keep going and giving to people you don't even know and…"

"And I'm not doing anything more than you've been doing." Kitty hushed him with another kiss. "We do what we do, Matt, because we are who we are. Simple as that. Now, sit still while I fix this arm. Then you're going to eat something and get some rest."

"Yes, Ma'am." He grinned.

While Matt and Kitty were upstairs, Festus enlisted the aid of Nathan and they went out to collect the gambler Deakins. Only, he wasn't there, at least not that they could find. But the wind and snow was too fierce and the light from their lamp too weak.

"Come on, Burke." Festus yelled over the wind. "Let's git inside afore we freeze to death. We'll look fer him later. Most likely he's right close but we ain't gonna see him in this."

"Alright," Burke readily agreed. He was cold and he wasn't too much concerned about the disposal of a dead gambler.

As the men moved back inside, however, the gambler was concerned about them. Gripping his side, where he'd been hit by Matt's bullet, he lumbered down the alley, towards what he hoped was the back of the saloon. As soon as he got his side taken care of, he'd come back to take care of them.

TBC