From Beginning to End

…A Gunsmoke Story

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Author's note: Y'all continue to be too kind with all of your reviews! I'm glad to have you guys along for the ride. I've had a lot of fun writing this fic, and I can't believe it took this long to finally make the leap. Thanks for giving my first attempt so much love! Sorry it's been so long since the last update!

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Matt had stayed true to his promise to stay put for a while once their baby arrived. Instead of being a weary marshal chasing after some unscrupulous reprobate, he spent most of the next days becoming a doting father who's son already had him wrapped around his finger.

And the days turned to months and the months turned to years and before they knew it, they had just celebrated Matty's third birthday and he was growing like a weed. Matt Kitty considered themselves to be incredibly blessed.

Matt had been gone for a little over two weeks when he rode up to their house one early afternoon. He was beyond tired and eager to see his family as he tended to Buck and put him away. Walking up to the door, and stepping inside, little Matty was sitting in the living room playing with his toys while Kitty was making dinner and he was the first to spot Matt.

"Papa!" he said excitedly, standing on his hands and feet and pushing himself up to start running over to Matt.

Matt crouched down and opened up his arms, engulfing the small tot in his arms before standing up. Matty grabbed at his shoulders to not only hold on but hug him tightly. Matt placed a kiss on the side of the boy's head. "I've missed you, son. Where's mama?"

"Making lunch" he replied.

"Kitty?" Matt called out as he made his way through the living room towards the kitchen. Kitty popped around the corner and smiled, "Welcome home, Matt."

Matt walked over to her and leaned down to give her a quick kiss. "Good to be back."

"You two go wash up and sit down and I'll bring you something to eat."

And Matt set Matty down and Matty promptly grabbed on to his pants leg and followed him over to the wash basin to wash their hands.

After they finished lunch, Kitty stood and gathered up the dishes to take them to the kitchen. It took her a minute to get everything cleaned up and by the time she made her way back to the living room, she paused at the scene in front of her and leaned against a doorway, watching contently.

Matt had sat down in the chair with Matty and closed his eyes briefly, not intending to fall asleep but Matty laid contently against his chest and the both of them had dozed off.

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An hour or so later, Matt stretched and opened his eyes, not realizing that they had taken a nap. Kitty was in the other room taking advantage of the downtime of Matty taking a nap by getting some cleaning chores done.

Matt stood and carried Matty into the other room and sat him down. "Say, Kit.. I need to get up to the office for a little bit and reply to some letters and look for wanted posters and try to get a little bit of work done since I've been gone a while. I'll be back before dinner, OK?"

"Sure, that's fine. I'll see you after while."

Matt crouched down to Matty's level, placing his hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye. "Son, I know I just got home but I need to go to work for a little while, OK? You stay here with your mama and keep her company and I'll be back in just a little while. Promise."

"Okay, papa." And Matty gave him a hug.

Standing back up, he looked Kitty in the eyes. "I'll see you later, Kit."

She nodded to him and took Matty's hand.

"I love you." She said. Matty echoed the sentiment.

Matt nodded at them. "I love you two too. I'll see you later." And he headed off to the jail.

Neither of them saw the creepy looking vagabond lurking around the corner.

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Once the man saw Matt riding away and assumed him to be a safe distance away, he went and knocked on the door. Kitty, assuming it was Matt but a little confused on why he didn't just let himself in, went over to the door. "Did you forget someth..?" she started to ask as she opened the door, not yet seeing it wasn't Matt and had little time to react before the man stepped in and grabbed Kitty, spinning her around and putting his hand over his mouth. "Shhh.." he whispered. "You just stay quiet and everything will be okay," he said as he placed a pistol to her temple. Her first thoughts went immediately to Matty. She didn't care if the man shot her or not, but she had to get to her baby or die trying. She slammed her heel into the man's shoes while simultaneously kicking back with the other foot aiming it at his groin. He dropped the gun and began to yowl in pain. Kitty seized the opportunity and took off running around the corner, scooping up Matty as she ran and took him to his room.

She set him down, kneeled down to his level and placed a finger over his mouth and began to whisper instructions. "Shh. Shh…" she tried to comfort him as he began to whimper. "I need mama's little man to stay very quiet, ok?" Matty nodded as he started to tremble with fear, not sure what was going on. They both could hear the man cussing and fussing in the other room as he was rummaging through stuff and objects began crashing to the floor. "It's going to be okay," she pulled him to her and hugged him tightly. "But I want you to hide and stay hidden. Don't come out for anyone except me, your uncle Festus, your grandpa, or your papa. Understood?" Matty again nodded. She could hear the intruder getting agitated and she quickly turned back to Matty. "There, there. That's mama's sweet boy." She gave him another quick hug. "Now do like I said. Go now." And Matty went and hid under his bed. Kitty stood up and left the room, softly closing the door behind her.

She went to go into their bedroom to grab her Derringer but didn't have enough time to grab it before the intruder found her again. "What do you want?" she turned around, sneering.

"I want all your money, your jewelry, all your things."

"I don't keep any money here.." she said, voice finally beginning to falter. She had to keep the man's attention on her so that he wouldn't go digging around and accidentally find Matty.

"You're a liar, I know it. You must be rich."

"Look. You mustn't be from around here, mister. I'm far from rich." She stood her ground, hoping the man would stay angry enough to keep his mind on her.

"I've been around enough to see you in that saloon before. I know you run that joint." And he walked over to her, and again grabbed her and again held the gun to her head. She had to think of a way to get the man out of the house.

"Here, we can start by you giving me this.." and her heart broke as he demanded her engagement and wedding rings and ripped her necklace from her throat, shoving them in his pockets.

She had to think fast before time ran out. "I keep…" she tried not to start sobbing, but her voice began to break. "I keep… I hide the money in the barn."

"Well then what are you waiting for? Get me your money and I'll be on my way." And Kitty began to lead the man outside and into the barn. The man kept the gun pressed to her the entire time.

"It's over here…" and she walked over to Matt's work bench where she knew he kept a knife in the drawer. Opening the drawer, she grabbed the knife and turned around and began to scream and swing wildly, hoping to both connect with the man and alert someone to their trouble.

A boy playing down the street heard the commotion and took off running towards the marshal's office.

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He eventually rounded the corner and ran up to the door, banging feverishly while pushing. "Marshal, marshal!" he called out as he stepped inside.

Matt stood up. "Easy there, son. What's the matter?" he smiled down at him. Festus stood up as well.

"I would've told my ma and pa but they're in town stocking up on supplies. I stayed home. There's something going on at your house. I was outside playing when I heard Mrs. Dillon hollering. I came as fast as I could!"

Matt's heart dropped as he grabbed his gun belt and put it on in record time. He untied Buck from the hitching rail and mounted up, yanking his reins sharply to the left, tapping his spurs to give Buck a sense of urgency.

"Here, come with me n' I'll getcha home."

Festus helped the little boy up on Ruth and climbed on behind him and they took off in the direction of Matt.

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Back at the barn, Kitty made contact with his right arm and wasn't able to dig it all the way in, but it was enough to make the man drop the gun. She kicked it away from them. The man grabbed her arm and they began to wrestle. It was clear that she was no match but she tried with all her might to shove the knife back in his direction when he was able to force her hand open and pry the knife from it before plunging it just below her shoulder.

She let out a scream as she fell to the ground. She knew she had one last chance to save Matty before blacking out from the pain, and she scooted her way to the gun. When the man realized what she was doing, he picked up the knife and began to scramble over toward the gun himself and that's when everything seemed to pause for a minute as Kitty heard Matt's words that he spoke to her a long time ago back at Spring Creek not long after beginning their relationship.

Matt began to set up some bottles for target practice.

"I want you to know how to use a gun if ever called on." He said, lining up the bottles.

"Why?" She asked sheepishly, thinking it wasn't very becoming of a lady to engage in gunplay.

"Because my job's dangerous, Kitty. Anyone could come for us at any time. I want you to know how to use my gun to defend yourself if something ever happens to us and I can't." He came up behind her and put his revolver in her hand, showing her how to hold it.

"Always remember. When it comes to defending yourself, shoot first and I'll ask questions later. And no matter what.." he raised her hand and helped her line the sight. "I'll trust and believe you. Always."

She shook her head to clear her mind and grabbed the gun, pulled back the hammer and fired. The man fell back and grabbed at his stomach, looking down to see that Kitty had delivered a fatal gutshot. He looked back down at her and fell over, dead.

It was at that time that Matt pulled up and didn't wait for Buck to come to a complete stop before he ran over to Kitty. Festus arrived moments later and let the boy down and he ran home while Festus went to check to make sure the man was dead.

Kitty, suffering from blood loss, began to fade out of consciousness. "Make sure… Matty…OK.." she managed to eek out before everything went dark.

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Festus had gone and found Matty, made sure he was OK before they hooked up the wagon and got Kitty over to Doc's. Festus agreed to stay down at the jail with Matty while Matt tended to Kitty.

She had a good amount of blood by the time they managed to get her up on the exam table where Doc was able to stop the bleeding enough to feel her over to check for other wounds.

He felt of her stomach and stood back momentarily, shaking his head.

"What's the matter, Doc?" Matt stood up.

"Matt.." he sighed, looking over at him. "I like to ask the patient for their consent, but as she's currently unable.. I'll need your permission to do an internal exam."

"What for? Is she okay?" he looked worried. "What aren't you telling me, Doc?"

"I don't know yet."

"Well go on, do what you need to do. I just want her to be okay."

Doc nodded and washed his hands and began to do his exam. Once the exam was complete, he again washed his hands. "I'll need to do surgery on the knife wound to stop the blood loss."

"What else is wrong? Doc.. Galen …please. Tell me." Matt pleaded.

Doc just shook his head, touched by the usually stoic marshal's plead for information.

"Matt, sit down." He stated as he began to gather up the supplies he needed for surgery. Once he finished, he turned to him and sat down beside Matt.

He looked at her, his eyes beginning to mist. "I…well, normally I'd tell Kitty and then let her tell you but…" He paused and sighed solemnly. "Son, she's pregnant. She doesn't even know it yet. And I don't…..I just don't know if the baby will make it."

Matt's eyes grew wide as he tried to process the bomb that Doc dropped on him as Doc continued to speak. "She's lost quite a bit of blood, Matt. Stress isn't good on a growing baby. Right now, it's important for me to get the wound taken care of. As long as she doesn't spike a fever, Kitty should be okay. The rest is up to God."

Matt couldn't find the strength to speak and all he could do is look over at Kitty lying asleep on the table as the tears began to fall from his eyes.

TBC