Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Gunsmoke, I just wish I did. This story was written for entertainment purposes only and no profit will or has been made from it.

Three Days Later...Kitty's room at the Longbranch

After three days of keeping Kitty in laudanum induced state of sleep, Doc decided that Kitty needed to start trying to get up and move around a little. Kitty of course, argued. "Doc, I just can't. It hurts so badly, I don't want to move."

"Now Kitty." Doc said, taking on a kindly tone, "You have to start moving around or you're going to be so stiff that you'll never move again."

Kitty decided that that arguing with Doc was going to be futile, so grudgingly she sat up. "Oh Doc, that hurts so badly! Kitty cried.

"I know it hurts, but trust me, you will thank me later."

Kitty had been up for almost an hour and was sitting in a chair at the table in her room, chatting with Doc when there was a knock at the door.

"That must be Matt." Doc said, standing and going to the door.

"Matt?" Kitty said a smile on her face. She hadn't seen him for several days and had actually been wondering about him. Doc had told her that all the times he had stopped by she had been sleeping.

"I told you getting up would be worth it." Adam's said, as he opened the door, to find not Matt but Olive and Kate, two of the other girls that worked in the Longbranch.

"Well hello Doctor Adams." Kate said, "Fancy seeing you here." Then the girls snorted like a pig.

"Kate and Olive." Doc said. While he didn't usually have any care for the two girls he was glad to see them, Kitty needed some female companionship. He stepped out the door and said to Kitty, "Kitty, I'm going to go over to my office for a few minutes."

"Alright Doc, I'll see you later." Kitty said. Then to the two girls standing before her, "Hello girls, have a seat."

"Thank you, Kitty." Olive said.

Kate didn't waste any time and cut to the chase, "Kitty, we have a problem."

"Oh?" Kitty asked, surprised that Olive and Kate were coming to her. Usually she didn't really get along with the two women sitting across from her but she was willing to hear them say their piece.

"Yes, it's with that Sally." Olive said. "She's crazy and well, we're afraid if something isn't done she's going to hurt someone."

"Well what has she done? I mean I guess I've never had any real trouble with her." Kitty said trying to think of any times that she had really had any trouble with Sally. Sure she didn't trust her but then there weren't many people that Kitty did trust. Her distrust was nothing personal against the other girls that she worked with she just knew that with the kind of life that they lived that it was often tempting to do things with little regard for others.\.

"Well she's stolen from me." Kate said. "I had six dollars that I made the other night laying on my dressing table. Well she came in and said she wanted to talk and I was in the other room and told her that I couldn't at the time. So she just picked that six dollars up and took it."

"Well I don't think makes her crazy." Kitty said.

"That not all, Kitty." Olive said. "There's also the matter that any time one of the other girls goes to sit with a fella that Sally thinks is hers, why she just tears into them!"

"Yes, I forgot about that." Kate said. "Why I was sitting with Slim Harper from the Jenkins Ranch the other night and Sally seemed to think that he was hers because he had talked to her for a bit, and why she nearly liked to kill me."

"Really?" Kitty asked. "What did she do?" Kate's comment interested her now, because she knew that Matt was looking into who had pushed her down the stairs a few days before. Maybe if Kate's experience had been similar to what happened to Kitty, she could give Matt something to go on.

Kate leaned forward and lowered her voice, "Well it happened about a week ago, I was headed up to my room to wait for Slim. He was still down in the bar room payin' for the drinks and such, well when I got to the top the steps, Sally she comes out of her room. I swear that girl's eyes were on fire that night and she said to me, "Nice of you to take my beau Kate." I looked her right in the eye then and told her that Slim was no more her beau than the sky was purple. That's when she come at me, had this little knife in her hand, she made to stab me with it too, but Slim came up the stairs about that time, so she backed off."

"I'm sure if Slim hadn't shown up when he did that Kate would be dead or at least hurt real bad." Olive said.

"Hmm." Kitty said, tapping her chin. "That's awful interesting girls. Did either of you talk to Kurt?"

"No, we were scared what would happen if she got fired and found out it was because of us." Kate said. Her blue eyes were wide and round and Kitty could tell that she was truly scared of Sally.

"Yeah, I guess." Kitty said. "Alright, well thanks for the information."

"Are you going to pass it on to that marshal friend of yours?" Kate asked. After almost seeing her own life end she was feeling more sympathy towards Kitty. She knew in the past that they had never really gotten along but she figured in anyone would be able to help, it would be her.

Olive laughed, "Kate, don't be silly, I think the marshal is probably much more than a friend to Kitty, here."

That got Kitty's temper up, she and Olive had had plenty of go rounds and it seemed the other girl just couldn't stand to not try and pick a fight. Her eyes snapping with anger Kitty looked at Olive, "Olive, I plan to figure out what's going on with Sally. If I have to talk to Matt, I will but our relationship is none of your or anyone else's business." Then more kindly to Kate she said, "Don't worry Kate, I don't think Sally would really hurt you or anyone else, but you and Slim may want to keep your relationship out of the open for a while."

Kate looked at Kitty, her eyes still wide, "Kitty, I'm afraid Sally has already hurt someone else, almost killed her."

"Who?" Kitty asked.

"You." Kate said quietly.

So what do you think so far? Please R&R!