Yee-haw! 3 chapters in one weekend!

Back in town Sally was sulking in her room. So far all her attempts to lure Marshal Dillon away from Kitty hadn't worked. She got up and began pacing back and forth in the room. Really, what did Kitty have over her anyhow? Why she was just a pretty and smart as Kitty and she could even cook if given the opportunity. Sally flopped her self down on the bed and slammed her fist into the mattress, she would get Matt Dillon to pay attention to her, she would.

Out at Bruckwater Creek, Matt and Kitty had just woken from their afternoon nap. Matt stretched his arms above his head and yawned. "Boy that sure was nice, Kitty."

"I take it you don't get to indulge in many naps." Kitty said a smile on her lips.

"Nope. It seems that every time I stretch out something bad happens. I finally just gave up. Now Chester, he naps more than anyone I know."

Kitty laughed. "Would you like to finish that pie before we head back to Dodge, Matt?"

Matt smiled and said, "Sure Kitty."

Kitty handed Matt the pie plate with the leftover pie in it and a fork. The pie looked terrible but Kitty figured that the look must not have affected the taste because Matt had a look of pure bliss on his face as he ate. Kitty had only seen that type of look on a man's face one other time, and it certainly wasn't while he was eating peach pie.

When Matt finished the pie he looked at Kitty, still setting pretty as a picture in her pink gingham dress and the thought crossed his mind that maybe he should try to steal a kiss. He hadn't courted much in his earlier years mainly because he was never in one place long enough to develop any lasting relationships. Not that he hadn't kissed girls, but he had usually been hurrahing in some town, much like the drunk cowboys he had to deal with when the heard came in. It was that thought that brought Matt to his senses and made him think, sure Kitty worked in a saloon and some would even say that it was perfectly alright for men to treat those girls however they chose but Matt had a different idea. He looked at all those girls as women, and well he would even say that Kitty was a true lady. It was that thought that cooled his heels to any thoughts of kissing Miss Kitty Russell. He dropped his eyes to the pie plate and didn't bring them back up.

Kitty was wondering if she had something on her face, the way Matt was sitting looking so intently at her until he suddenly dropped his eyes and looked ashamed. "Is there something on your mind Matt?"

"Huh? Oh, no Kitty. Say it's starting to get late, why don't we get this stuff packed up and head back into Dodge." Matt said. "I should take a look at things and make sure Chester is doing ok."

"Alright." Kitty said quietly, she was confused. She could have sworn that Matt had that look, that look that a man got when he was about to kiss a woman and then as suddenly as it was there it was gone again and he had looked like a little boy who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Kitty had been around men a long time and had seen that look enough times to know it well. She was disappointed a let her bottom lip stick out just a little in a slight pout that she hoped Matt would pick up on, as she picked up the contents of the picnic basket and then after they had risen the blanket that they had spent the afternoon resting on. Matt seemed oblivious though as he went to the retrieve Kitty's fish from the river and hook up the horse to the buggy.

Matt got the fish and hooked the bay horse back up the buggy. Then he went to retrieve the basket and put it into the buggy as well. Kitty was oddly quiet and that made Matt wonder. She had been quiet since he had said something about returning to Dodge and he wondered if he had done something wrong. Women, Matt just didn't understand them. As he picked the basket up from the ground he looked up at Kitty who had her back to him. "Kitty, did I, uh, did I do something wrong?"

Kitty didn't turn around as she spoke, "No, not necessarily, it's just Matt sometimes a girl likes to feel special."

Matt didn't understand what she was talking about so he just picked up the basket and carried it to the buggy. After he set it in the back with the fish and the blanket, he saw Kitty still standing by the tree. "Kitty, I'm ready if you are."

Kitty was still pouting. Oh she knew it silly and childish of her but she had so wanted the day with Matt to end special and now it that dream seemed to slipping away. She didn't know if he was just that oblivious or if he had spent the day with her and now wasn't sure if he really liked or not. Maybe he really did like Sally and was only using her as a way to get to the other girl. Kitty mentally slapped herself, she knew better than to think like that. Slowly, she turned and made her way back to the buggy.

Just like the ride out to Bruckwater Creek the one back into Dodge was equally quiet. Matt lost in thoughts of how to figure out Kitty and women in general and Kitty in thoughts of why Matt hadn't kissed her when the look on his face had clearly stated that he had thought about, had wanted too and then had just as suddenly told himself no. Was it because he was the U.S. Marshal and she just a saloon girl? There were so many things that at the moment Kitty wanted to ask him but knew that it wouldn't be appropriate for her to do so; so she kept herself quiet.

Matt was equally lost in his own thoughts, like how could women be so chatty one minute and silent the next. Then he thought about wanting to kiss Kitty out there under that tree. Ah, that would have made a nice place for a first kiss but he had stopped himself for a reason. It wouldn't do for it to get out that the U.S. Marshal in Dodge liked to take advantage of women. No, he assumed it would happen eventually, just not today.

As they pulled back into Dodge City, Matt was surprised to find things relatively quiet and no dead bodies in the streets. It wasn't that he didn't trust Chester, he was a good man and a good helper but Matt wasn't sure that if things really got wild the poor other man would be able to handle it. He drove straight up to the front steps of the Longbranch and stopped. Then he jumped out and went around and helped Kitty down.

"Thanks for a wonderful day Kitty."

"Yes, thank you too, Matt." Kitty said.

"I'll carry this basket and the fish in for you." Matt said. He picked up the basket, the few fish and followed Kitty into the Longbranch. Sam, another one of the bar tenders was there, wiping out glasses as the bar was unusually quiet.

"Hello Sam." Kitty greeted as she walked back towards the back kitchen.

"Hello Miss Kitty."

"Sam." Matt greeted following Kitty.

Sam just watched the pair with a speculative eye. He wondered how long it would take the young marshal to come to his senses. (A/N: I am working under the assumption that the Longbranch had more than one bar tender.) He had seen the looks that young Matt Dillon had given Kitty Russell over the past few months and Sam had wondered how long it would take for Matt to go ahead and just ask Kitty to spend a day with him. Not that the Marshal seemed to get that many days off, but if he had had to pick one, Sam would say that he had did pretty good, because things had been quiet in Dodge all day.

Matt followed Kitty into the kitchen and set the basket down on the table. Then holding the fish up he asked, "What would you like for me to do with these?"

"Oh you can just take them with you. I'll never eat them." Kitty said.

"Well you should, you caught them!" Matt said. Then he had an idea. "Say, I can get probably get George over at the cafe to fry them up for us, say later this evening."

Kitty smiled and finally looked at Matt. "That would be wonderful, Matt, thank you."

"Well you can't let fish like that go to waste!" Matt said, "I'll come by for you about six."

"That's fine Matt."

Matt walked out of the Longbranch, feeling a little better than he had on the drive back into town. At least now he knew that Kitty wasn't mad at him. He took the fish straight to the cafe and asked the cook George if he could fix them up for him and Kitty to eat at six that evening.

"Sure Marshal." George said. "Would you like them breaded and fried?"

"That would be fine George, just fine." Matt said.

After dropping of the fish with George Matt took the buggy and the horse back to the stable and then headed back to the jail. He was whistling quite a jaunty tune when Doc Adams came along.

"Oh there you are Matt." the physician said.

Matt stopped whistling and braced himself for the worse. "What can I do for you Doc?"

"Well it seems you had a nice outing with Kitty." Doc said. As soon as the older man had seen the pair pull back into Dodge with the buggy he couldn't hurry fast enough to catch up with his young friend just to rawhide him a bit about his day.

"Yeah, we had a nice day Doc." Matt said, continuing on his way towards the jail.

"Well aren't you going to tell me what happened?" Doc asked.

"We fished, had a nice picnic." Matt said, enjoying watching the older man fish for information.

"And?" Doc asked.

"Well what more do you want to know Doc?" Matt asked.

"We're going to enjoy eating those fish this evening at the cafe." Matt said.

The same thing happened with Chester when Matt returned to the office. "Did ya have a good time with Miss Kitty today Mr. Dillon?"

"I sure did Chester." Matt said, setting down at his desk to look through the mail that had come that day.

"Don't even try Chester." Doc said, "Matt's being a little tight lipped."

"Oh get out of here you two!" Matt said.

Back at the Longbranch Kitty went upstairs to freshen up and on the way up the stairs she met Sally. "Did you have a nice time today Kitty?" Sally sneered.

Kitty bit back a cruel remark and smiled sweetly. "Why yes, we had a wonderful time. Matt really enjoyed the pie that "you" made."

Sally paled and didn't say anything. Then she quickly went down the stairs.

An hour later, Matt and Kitty were seated at the cafe enjoying the fish that Kitty had caught earlier that day. "I still can't believe that you caught all the fish today Kitty." Matt said.

"Well you know what they say; you catch more flies with sugar than vinegar." Kitty remarked a slight smile on her lips.

"We were using the same bait." Matt said before catching on. "Ah, so I guess you can say that it was beginner's luck that was with you today."

"If you want to." Kitty said and smiled.

They finished their meal and then enjoyed another cup of coffee together before walking back to the Longbranch. On the boardwalk Matt offered Kitty his arm and shortened his stride to match Kitty's.

"I wanted to tell you that I had a really nice time today Matt." Kitty said. She felt bad about being pouty earlier so she felt that telling Matt that she had, had a nice time that day was the best she could do to apologize without actually admitting that she had been pouty to him.

"I did to Kitty. I hope we can do it again soon."

"Don't make a promise that you might not be able to keep, marshal." Kitty teased.

"I didn't make any promises." Matt argued. "I just said that I hoped we could do it again soon." Then changing the subject he said, "You looked very pretty today Kitty."

"Thank you."

"I'd have to say that it's one of my favorites." Matt commented.

"Oh, well I'll remember that and wear it more often." Kitty said with a small smile.

When they reached the front of the Longbranch Kitty said, "Let's go around the back. I'm off tonight anyway."

"Alright." Matt said. Kitty had let go of his arm before they had reached the Longbranch and so he followed her around the side and then to the back of the building. When they reached the stairs that lead to the girls' rooms, Kitty stood on the bottom step and stopped.

"I want to say again that I had a nice time today Matt."

"Good, I had a nice time today too." Matt replied. He was building his courage up now. Ever since he had thought about kissing Kitty out by the creek earlier that day the notion had been stuck in the back of his mind. It was like a voice that kept telling him over and over to stop being a chicken and just go for it and do it. He saw Kitty rub her arms against the chilly night air and wished that he had his coat with him so he could offer it to her.

"Well I should probably be going up." Kitty said. "Unless you'd like to come up and have a drink with me."

"No, no not tonight. Thanks for asking though." Matt said, shifting his feet so that he moved closer to where Kitty was standing on the bottom step. With her standing there like that, they were almost eye to eye and it wouldn't take much for him to lean closer and just do it. He took his hat off and rolled it around in his hands dropping his eyes to the ground.

Kitty stayed where she was, she had to admit that Matt Dillon was kind of cute when he was nervous, and she could tell right now that he was nervous, the way he wouldn't look at her and kept turning the brim of that hat in his hands. She was just about to say something to him when it happened.

Matt decided to just go ahead and do it, he took Kitty in his arms and he kissed her. It probably wasn't the most romantic or best kiss in the world but for Matt it had been worth all the thinking.

Kitty was totally taken by surprise and after she got over the shock she returned the kiss with everything that she had. It was a much different kiss for Kitty, in the fact that it wasn't a sloppy drunk one like she usually received from the occasional over zealous cowboy or ungraceful like her first one had been when she had kissed Gary Fischer behind a saloon where her father was gambling one night. She and Gary has snuck back there while her father was busy dealing the cards and more than likely cheating a few drunks as well. No this kiss was special and it was then and there that Kitty decided that the kiss of any other man would never do and she totally gave her heart to Matt Dillon without him even knowing it.