Here's Part Six...don't worry, I have several chapters written up to post while I am working on all my Bones fan fiction. I have plans for this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Waltons...too bad

The next day the alarm rang, jolting Curt awake. He shut it off, taking a second to get his bearings together. When he fully awoke, he realized what today was.

'Is this the day I can take my life back or the day where my professional reputation will be destroyed?'

He moved the crumpled papers he fell asleep on into a pile on a nearby table. Slowly he got his best suit together along with a tie, shoes, boxer underpants, and socks. When done, he suddenly turned to pick up the crumpled heaps on the floor by the wastebasket. He opened one up, one of his many letters to Mary Ellen describing how he felt about her. He wanted to mail a letter to her yesterday, but he couldn't get the words right. He was never good at this sort of thing and part of him was annoyed at the young woman who tied his stomach into knots.

'Last night was her wedding rehearsal' Curt thought to himself. For the first time in his life, he was truly scared. He was scared to lose the career that he and his folks scrimped, saved, and worked for. He was also terrified of losing the woman he loved, and he really hated it. He didn't know quite how to stop her from getting married, but he needed to come up with something good before Saturday.

"Oh, hell with this" Curt muttered before tossing all the papers in the garbage. "No use trying to be something I'm not. When I ask, I'm just going to come right out and say it. It's the truth after all."

Curt took a breath and concentrated his focus on his hearing later that morning. He needed to get through that before he could focus on Mary Ellen.

Mary Ellen was crying, unable to hold her feelings back about what happened last night anymore. She was where she knew she could be by herself. She needed to be alone. She was an awful person.

'How could she do that to David?' She pledged to spend the rest of her life with him, but standing at that altar, she realized that she couldn't give herself to him. Something was missing.

She knew that married life wasn't all fireworks and spice. Sometimes it was hard times and barely breaking even. She saw that with her parents and her grandparents. That's what she wanted and hoped she deserved. As she was standing with David, she didn't see that with him…..no, she didn't want it with him.

She wanted it with Curt Willard and it hurt her heart.

'How could she be so stupid as to fall for a man such as Curt?' He was rude, honest to a fault, always had something to say, ruggedly handsome, eyes so dark that one can drown in when given a chance. He had hands that were gentle with Miss Emily when sick but when she dreamed in her midnight hours were the same ones that would caress her body along with his lips, something she shared with nobody.

'Did he want a lifetime with her?' Of course not. They have 'chemistry' he said. That's not a foundation to build a life with and was something she refused to compromise on.

She wanted marriage and a family, but she also wanted a nursing career. Marrying David would have led to a life where her days would have consisted of tea times and making small talk with hoity toity types. In the end, she and David had different expectations of what their impending marriage meant. If she had gone through with the wedding, later on in life they would end up resenting each other.

She walked around her small space. She had the shed for a while, but it was too quiet. However, Momma insisted since she was growing up she needed a place for herself. When she finally agreed, she originally wanted the old Montgomery cabin, but due to distance it wasn't feasible. However, Grandpa, Daddy, and John Boy built one similar to it for her fourteenth birthday on the family land. As a thank you to her oldest brother, she was gracious enough to share with him from time to time when he needed quiet time away from the family to write. It was a place Grandpa declared for her to use to 'dream in peace when she wasn't fighting with that Martha Rose Coverdale'.

It had a small table and chairs, her hope chest with her dolls and other items in it, and a large couch bed that could fit two snugly. Her grandmother helped her make a couple of pillows and quilt that laid upon it. When she was younger she would lay on that couch and dream about her future, how she could help people, how she would be successful, and how she would explore the world once she left home. Ironic since now she couldn't see herself being anywhere else but Walton's Mountain.

Walking out of the cabin, she took in the environment. Breathtaking scenery of trees with a peek of mountain surrounded her three ways, while she knew about a quarter of a mile down was a stream where she sometimes went to fish with her grandfather.

The land the cabin was on became hers on her eighteenth birthday. Six of the Walton siblings sold their pieces of land on the mountain inherited back to Grandpa Walton over the years. From this and two of his acres, Zeb Walton determined that each grandchild of his would inherit some acres of that land on their eighteenth birthdays, each spot designed for each grandchild. She liked the fact that her patch was close to the location of the first Walton homestead.

'Where David and I had that picnic with Nora and Curt'

She felt shame as she realized she never showed this place to David. Even on that picnic, she managed to keep people away from the cabin as it was hers alone. Now she knew it was because something was missing in her relationship with David. To keep things from him were wrong, but it was too late now.

Shaking off her feelings, she got up, brushed herself off. The kids would be home soon from school and she had administrators to contact regarding her re-entry into school in the fall.

Curt was standing in the hall of the state capital building full of nerves. He was also full of guilt as he thought about what John Boy had just told him about the town not knowing where he was.

Then he realized it wasn't the town that he was worried about…..it was Mary Ellen.

'She probably thinks I ran out on her. She's probably going to be more determined to marry that David Spencer now. I love her. I need to find a way to stop her wedding, but how? I can't even give her a proper engagement ring'

His attention was peaked as he heard John Boy yell into the nearby phone. "Mary Ellen did what?"

Maintaining his distance, he tried to listen in but all he could get was bits and pieces about the wedding rehearsal. Whatever it was it was something big. After a minute, John Boy got off the phone and came back over.

"John Boy, what's blown your wig?"

"Mary Ellen isn't getting married! I just talked to Momma, who was at Ike's when I called. She said Mary Ellen and David were practicing their vows at the wedding rehearsal last night, but suddenly she stopped, ran out, and gave her ring back to him. Erin's all in a lather about it, but she was always sweet on him. I guess this morning Mary Ellen took off to be alone. Wow, we leave for a few days and look what happens"

Curt didn't want to outwardly celebrate. "I-I'm sorry to hear about your sister's wedding"

John Boy looked at the doctor and smiled. "No, you're not, Curtis Willard. Not a bit"

When the other man merely raised his eyebrows in surprise, John Boy continued. "I've seen the way you look at her, Curt. I liked David, but I wasn't crazy about her giving up her schooling and moving to an area where she would have no friends and have nothing to do but give fancy luncheons. She'd be miserable. You two fight like cats and dogs but I know you respect who she is and would take good care of her, when she will let you, that is"

Before Curt could reply, someone came out of a conference room and signaled to the men.

"Well, John Boy, I hope this committee has as much faith in me as you do." Curt said with dread before the men walked into the meeting room.

Erin was looking for Mary Ellen when she saw her sadly going through all of her wedding presents. She felt guilty for what she said to her sister the night before and what she did with Curt's note. Her guilt increased when she heard her mother talking about John Boy's call from Richmond and what was in the letter she burned. If anything would have happened to one of Doc Willard's patients, it would have been her fault. He wasn't one of her favorite people, but destroying a letter that could have endangered someone and led to a man getting thought of as a thief was worse.

She went to talk to her when the others grabbed her to give Mary Ellen their gift. Embarrassed enough at what she did, she decided to tell her sister later when they were alone.

She got that opportunity a few minutes later when they were alone in John Boy's room after Mary Ellen received the radio. As she started to tell her sister, she heard the unmistakable horn of Doc Willard. 'I guess it's going to be later' she thought to herself before the girls went downstairs.

Mary Ellen stood stunned. Curt Willard just declared he was going to marry her like she should be blessed to be considered. "I suppose you call that a proposal?" She said. 'He sure has a big head if he thinks I'm desperate enough'

"It's the best one you're gonna get from me" Curt said confidently. 'Oh, yeah, I got her now. I love when she gets that pout on her face. If we were alone I would kiss it off her face'

"Well I wouldn't marry you, Curtis Willard if you were the last man on earth!"

Curt began laughing as she stood there with her arms crossed and a determined look on her face. Suddenly, she moved off the porch. He moved in to kiss her but was surprised when she simply walked past him and stormed away. "Mary Ellen Walton, where the hell are you going?" Curt yelled as he began to chase her.

Olivia saw enough to know that they didn't need to see what they would soon hear. "Everyone in the house" The family continued to watch the bickering couple from the yard. "I said in the house, now!"

The family reluctantly moved towards the front door, leaving the pair currently arguing by the entrance of the driveway. Olivia stopped Erin before she could enter. "You will wait in your room. We will be having a chat about minding one's own business."

"But why are you staying?" Jim Bob asked.

John jumped in. "We're the parents. Now get in the house and find something to do"

After Erin and the others went in, John and Olivia moved to the front porch swing as they shamelessly listened to what Mary Ellen and Curt were saying while stifling their laughter.

"Your head is so big Curtis Willard I ought to poke it with a pin. Egotistical jerk!"

"Well, I'm not going to pamper you or give you flowery poetry, Miss Mary Ellen. With me what you see is what you get"

"You think just because you kissed me I am desperate to be with you?"

"No, because you kissed me back you want me as much as I want you"

"Get over yourself, Curt. If I get married, it's not going to be with someone who tells me I will marry him"

As Mary Ellen walked away towards the house, Curt followed. "Woman, you're going to marry me and we're going to spend the rest of our lives together"

"We'll see about that Doctor Willard. I'll see you tomorrow at the office"

"You don't work for me anymore, remember? Your last day was Friday because you were getting married this coming weekend"

Mary Ellen turned around with a smirk on her face. "Fine, get another nurse" She had Curt over a barrel and both of them knew it.

'I just couldn't love a nice, simple woman, could I?' Curt thought to himself. "Fine, I'll see you in the morning Nurse Walton" Curt said before getting into his van and starting it up.

"See you in the morning, Doctor Willard" Mary Ellen said before his van left the driveway and she stormed into the house, blowing by her parents.

John turned to Olivia. "Well, Livie, their married life won't be boring" he said before they lost their composure and laughed their heads off.

The next day, Curt would watch Mary Ellen in awe and couldn't help but fall in love with her more. Every patient had comments, questions, jokes, or all three about her aborted wedding. Not once did she lose her temper, but kept smiling and faced it head on. By the end of the day he could tell it was beginning to take a toll on her. He offered her the chance to go home early if she wished, but she refused.

"I've never run away from gossip before, Curt. I'm sure as heck not going to do it now. I've already shamed my family enough by doing what I did. It's my mess and I'll clean it up."

During the afternoon he sneaked a kiss in between patients and the steam they created could have peeled away the wallpaper. When he told her she should marry him a few minutes later, she gave him a loud, resounding "NO!"

A few gentlemen callers visited her while at the office including a couple of doctors he recognized from the hospital. It took all that he had to not kick them all in the pants as they drooled all over his girl.

He loved her. Curt knew he never felt about a woman like he felt about Mary Ellen Walton. He knew society norms stated he had to court her, but there was one problem.

'How the hell do I court a woman?'