"Wah! Wa wa wah!"

Kitty smiled down at the pinched face of the tiny little girl for a moment before she wrapped a blanket around the baby and gently laid it in the arms of her mother. Outwardly, she appeared to be a confident midwife who'd had no concerns when she'd delivered the little girl. But inwardly, she was wiping sweat from her brow and thanking the man upstairs the birth hadn't been a complicated one.

Julie, standing beside her, looked on in awe. She'd never seen a baby born before and was amazed at the miracle before her eyes as well at the skills her employer had, that she'd known nothing of.

"Is… is she alright?" Maggie Tanner asked wearily as she looked down into the face of her daughter.

"Well, I want Doc Adams to look at the both of you when he makes it back to town, but I think she's fine, you too." Kitty answered as she and Julie cleaned up. "Julie, if you'll take all that to the back, I'll take care of it later." She handed the last of the dirty linens to her.

"Yes, Ma'am." Julie answered as she headed towards the door. "You have a beautiful baby." Julie smiled at the new parents as she left.

"She's right." Kitty agreed. "And I'm going to leave you two alone for a while to enjoy her. But I'll be just downstairs if you need…"

Just then, Kitty heard shouting coming from downstairs, angry voices rising clear to the second floor. "Excuse me." She pursed her lips as she quickly left the room and headed for the stairs. But she hadn't reached the top step when she saw the cause of the confusion.

Sam and Festus were standing in front of the cot, where they'd placed the elderly Mr. Garner earlier, and Lucas Riser along with Nathan Burke and another man, she didn't know, faced them, demanding they take the old man out and place him with his wife.

"I done tolt ya, that ain't a gonna happen." Festus growled, hand hovering near his gun, though he hadn't drawn it yet. "This here old man ain't daid and I ain't gonna kill him jes cause you're a feared of something we don't even know is true, ya ninny."

"Festus?" Kitty called as she quickly descended the stairs and crossed the floor. "What's going on here?" She put her fists on her hips and stared at the men around her.

"These men want to throw this old man out of here, Miss Kitty." Sam answered when he saw the look on Festus' face. The hill man was about to blow a gasket. "Festus and I have been trying to explain to them we can't do that."

Kitty turned around and narrowed her eyes at the other three men. "Is that right? You want us to basically kill this man? Why? What's he done to you?"

"Well, it ain't that's he done anything to us, Miss Kitty." Nathan spoke up. "It's just that, we… well, we want to make sure that he doesn't do anything to us."

"Like what?" Kitty snapped. "Look at him, Burke. That old man is too sick to do anything to you or anybody else."

"But that's just the point." Burke answered, clearly exasperated that she didn't understand his concern. "We don't know what's wrong with him. It could be anything. What if it's catching? I mean, it's already killed his wife. What if we're next?"

"Burke, you don't know how much I…" Kitty stopped herself from finishing that thought, at least out loud. Taking a breath, Kitty crossed her arms against her chest and stared at each man in turn. "Now look, we have no idea what's wrong with this man. Most likely, he's just old and hasn't had a decent meal in a long time. As for his wife, she too was old, Burke. And she wasn't in any better shape than he was. Most likely, she died from some sort of natural cause. But no matter what she died of, her husband isn't going to die along with her, at least not at our hands. Do you understand me?" She took a step closer to him and noted gleefully, without showing it, that Burke and the other two men took a step back.

"If the Marshal were here, I'd bet he'd put that old man out of here for the sake of the rest of us." Burke simpered in a low voice as he slunk away.

Kitty held her tongue. She knew Matt well enough to know he would not throw the man out in the cold as Burke and the others wanted her to. But she wasn't so sure he would just let him lie there in the midst of everyone if there was a chance he had something 'catchin'.

"Miss Kitty, you figure they'll leave this man alone now?" Sam asked as the three moved away.

"I don't know, Sam." Kitty shook her head. "But you and Festus kind of keep an eye on this old fella, will ya? Make sure nobody bothers him. "

"Ya don't think nuthin' is wrong with him, the way they think, do ya?" Festus glanced back at the still unconscious man behind him.

Kitty lowered her voice. "I don't know, to tell you the truth. I don't think so, but I don't really know. I just know that until Doc comes back and looks at him, or he dies one, I'm not letting anyone here touch him. Okay?"

"Yes'm." Festus nodded. "I'll see to him. Ain't nobody a goin' through me, I garontee ya that."

"Thank you, Festus." Kitty smiled warmly at him then at her bartender. "Sam, I'm going to the back for a little bit. Call me if you need me."

"Yes, Ma'am." Sam nodded.

Wearily, Kitty went into the back of the saloon and into her office, closed and locked the door and then sat down heavily in her chair. She was tired, exhausted really and she sorely wanted and, more importantly, needed Matt to be there with her. Not just because she missed him and was worried beyond belief about him, but because doing this alone was damn hard.

Though not unused to bearing responsibility for herself, as well as others, she was coming close to a breaking point. She'd had to play law keeper, doctor and businesswoman, as well as chief cook and bottle washer for far longer than she wanted to.

For several moments, Kitty sat holding her head in her hands and contemplating her situation. Finally, she brought her head up and took a deep breath. She'd been feeling sorry for herself, she decided. Although, she'd mostly been the one in charge around here, she knew she hadn't done everything entirely alone. Sam and her girls and Festus had been a tremendous help to her and she knew she probably wouldn't have a saloon standing if it hadn't 0f been for them. And though, Matt had been gone most of this storm, he had helped also when he was there.

"Suck it up, Kitty." She told herself as she got to her feet. "You have to work to do and no business feeling pity for herself."

Shaking her head as her moment of weakness, Kitty got up, left her office and went into the Kitchen. The noon hour was fast approaching and it was time to see about preparing dinner for the people taking sanctuary in her saloon.

TBC