After the Storm 5

I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had than that.

MKMKMKMKMKMKMKMKMKMK

Matt lumbered down the boardwalk on his usual morning rounds, trying hard to concentrate on just doing his job. But his heart and mind were in Boston. If Doc was right, his child could be born any day now. "His child", the thought still filled him with awe. He had always told Kitty he didn't want children, but he realized now he was wrong. He wanted this child very much.

Still he couldn't have what he wanted, because of wicked men that wanted nothing more than to destroy him and the ones that were closest to him. These men had come into his life like an evil storm, wreaking havoc on everything and everyone, he cared about.

Though he knew who was behind the threats, he had not been able to find one scrap of evidence to prove it. The major parties to the fraud scheme were in prison, and the ones that had escaped had not been seen since.

"Morning, Mr. Jonas" he nodded politely, as he hurriedly passed the store keeper just opening his shop.

"Good morning, Marshal" Jonas answered, watching him move on down the boardwalk. Sadly he shook his head. The Marshal hadn't been the same since Miss Kitty had left town.

Matt passed another shop and was just nearing the Long Branch when he smelled smoke. Making note of its location, Matt rushed to the back of the structure, to find Sam bravely battling the flames, which were threatening to consume Kitty's home and lively hood.

Rushing to his side Matt pushed Sam back, when he saw the bartender was becoming overcome with smoke and exhaustion. "Get back" he yelled, as he took the bucket from Sam's hands and hastily dipped it in the nearby rain barrel. Coughing fitfully as the smoke seared his lungs, he worked tirelessly to extinguish the mounting flames.

He would not give up. If he had one chance of ever getting Kitty back, he was bound and determined to make sure she had a place to come back to.

It seemed like hours, but in truth it was only minutes before Matt, along with the aid of Sam and a couple of passing cowboys, finally had the fire extinguished. They would need to replace some boards on the back of the weathered building, but it was safe.

"Sam, you have any idea how this got started?" he asked hoarsely, between fits of coughing.

"No, Marshal, I don't" he answered wearily. "I just stepped into the office with some papers and smelled smoke. When I came out here, those packing crates were against the building, and they were burning something fierce."

Matt shook his head. Though he said nothing, he had an idea of how the fire started and who started it. Reassuring Sam and everyone else who had gathered to watch, Matt took his leave and wearily headed back to the jail. The threats were no longer JUST threats.

Two days later, as Matt was making his first cup of coffee for the day, Sam stumbled into the office, a look of utter shock on his face. "Marshal you'd better come" he said. "Miss Kitty's room was broke into."

Matt grabbed his hat and his gunbelt and quickly rushed from his office to follow Sam back to the Long Branch, a sense of dread forming a knot in his stomach.

Following Sam upstairs and into her room, he looked around at the absolute destruction of his former sanctuary, his heart in his throat. His favorite green silk dress, ripped to shreds, was lying on the floor beside the fireplace, like some discarded rag. He remembered the first night he ever saw Kitty in that dress, and what they did afterward when he taken it off of her. It turned his blood cold to think of what they might've done to her, instead of just the dress.

Over on the bed, the pillows were ripped to shreds, feathers scattered around the room. Sadly he remembered lying against those pillows with Kitty in his arms, after they had made love or just before.

The mirror over the dresser had been smashed, and the few items Kitty had not taken with her, had likewise been destroyed and left strewn in broken fragments across its now marred surface.

"Sam, when did this happen? Do you know?" Matt asked perfunctorily. The lawman needed to know for his reports, but the man knew it didn't really matter.

"It must've happened last night after I left, Marshal" Sam answered. "It was fairly quiet downstairs last night, so I'm pretty sure I would've heard someone making this kind of mess, if it had happened before then."

Matt's skin crawled at the thought of what he would've found up here, if Kitty had been in this room, instead of her abandoned belongings.

Once again, he reassured Sam that everything would be alright, and cautioned him to make double sure to lock the place up tight at night.

Making his way back to the jail, to fill out a report on it, Matt knew who had destroyed the room and why, but he had no way of knowing where these men were, or how to stop them. All he could do was wait for the next attack, and pray.

He didn't have long to do either.

Only one night later, as he finished his rounds, shots were heard. One came unnervingly close to his head, as he neared the jail. A careful search of the area though, revealed nothing except a bullet hole in the jail's window casing.

Two nights after that, again as he was making his evening rounds, he stumbled upon a woman, lying in the alley behind the Long Branch, moaning in pain. Seeing her bruised and bloodied body, and with her face in shadows, his stomach clenched and his heart seized, as he imagined, just for a moment, that it was Kitty. But, then he remembered, she was safe, far away from danger.

Carefully, he knelt beside the woman and turned her over. It was Sandra Stephens, a new red headed woman, recently hired on at the Long Branch. Her face was bruised, with one eye completely swollen shut, her breathing ragged. The bruising around her neck revealed why.

Swiftly, Matt picked her up and carried her to Doc's, banging on the door with his foot, until Doc opened it, and let him in. As he carefully laid her down on the examining table, he saw how much she resembled Kitty. Though maybe a little taller and heavier, there was still quite a resemblance.

Doc noticed it as well, and his hand trembled, as he carefully examined the woman, tending to her injuries. "How did this happen?" Doc asked, as he went to his cabinet for supplies.

"I don't know, Doc." Matt answered, "but I have a pretty good idea of who did it."

Doc looked up at Matt, and saw the fury working its way through him. "Yeah I do too" he answered. "Any idea how to find them though?"

Matt shook his head regretfully. "Not yet, Doc, but I promise you if it takes me till doomsday, I will find them."

"I believe that" Doc said, as he tended to his patient.

"Doc" Matt said gravely "I've been thinking, maybe you and Chester had better start being a little more careful now. Those threats, I've received, didn't include you two, but that doesn't mean you're not in danger."

Doc rubbed his mustache for a second. "I thought of that Matt, but to tell you the truth, I don't think we are. Those threats were very specific, and the only two people mentioned on them, have been the only targets. No Matt, I don't think we're in danger, but I know you are."

Matt nodded. "Maybe so, Doc, but I don't care. I can stand anything they throw at me, as long as I know Kitty's alright.

TBC