"Possum, Potes, Potest, Possuma, Po-ˮ

"That's Possumus…Again Freddie," Kate sighed, "I know you know this. You're just not concentrating."

The boy returned to his verb conjugations and Kate removed her glasses and pinched her fingers hard against the bridge of her nose. Freddie came to her once a week for Latin tutoring. He was possibly her brightest student and she'd had no reservations at all about writing glowing recommendations to the top schools in the East. If he was distracted, it was her fault. He knew how to conjugate this verb; he'd done in thousands of times if he'd done it once.

They were on the gazebo and she found herself gazing at the rose arbor. The memories flooded back to her. He'd kissed her there. He'd told her she was pretty…beautiful even. She had dared to ask and had gotten the answer all women desire. She had gotten something else women desire, even ones who don't know to desire it.

Looking at where he had first kissed her made her want to cry. It had been over a week since he had gone. The morning after they had been together, he had left. A note had come to her by courier.

"Katie, I think you know I have to leave now. I have to find these men. It's my job. I couldn't go without sending some word to you. I don't know how long I'll be but I will return. I will come back to you."

She had expected the note to be addressed more formally and even to be signed "JB Hickok" but it wasn't. He signed it, "Jimmy" and her heart had soared when she read it.

The gazebo was quiet. Freddie had finished. She didn't even notice.

"Miss Lyons?" Freddie asked breaking through her thoughts and memories.

She looked up at him.

"Are you well? You look pale. Should I seek help for you?"

"No Freddie," she nearly whispered in order to keep the crack from her voice. "I'm quite alright. I think perhaps I might just be a little tired. You've done well. I apologize for snapping at you earlier. Would you show yourself out? I think I'll stay here and rest a while."

"Of course, Miss Lyons," Freddie replied. He stood and walked to the steps leading out of the gazebo and then stopped. "It's not my business, Ma'am, but there's been talk about you. Some people are saying that you met someone and he's broken your heart. I might be out of line saying this but he's…well, he's a fool if he didn't see what was in front of him. I can only hope to someday find a woman like you. You're very special, Miss Lyons. I hope I wasn't out of line to say so."

"Thank you, Freddie," she said fighting tears. If only Freddie weren't quite so young...She shook her head. It would make no difference. She wanted only one man. If he did not, in fact, return to her she wasn't sure what she would do. Perhaps she could find another or perhaps she would live forever with the memories of the night they shared.

She watched her student leave and sat a while in thought. Thought was her friend lately. That and that spot between her legs Jimmy had introduced her to. She felt wrong and immoral when she touched herself but then her own touch and memories of him were all she had…all she wanted really. Except for him. She would rather have him. But she still remembered every detail. The way he felt moving in and out of her, the way his breath ghosted over her flesh, the way his deep voice called her Katie darlin'. She wished for him every day and longed for him every night.

She didn't know how long it would take for him to catch up to the murderers he sought. The locations in the note were not far but then, perhaps he couldn't just ride in and apprehend them. They would put up a fight. He could be dead! The thought chilled the blood in her veins and she felt a need for her wrap despite the warm day.

She tried to console herself that if the great Wild Bill Hickok was dead, word would spread quickly. She would know. And a voice from deep within her said she would know anyway. They were connected. It was silly. He'd surely had countless women. She was one more and surely of no more importance than any other.

But he had said he would come back to her. He had said she was special. He had said that their night together wasn't all he wanted.

'Face the facts, Katie,' she thought, 'He's not the first man to lie his way under a woman's skirts. You're probably not even the first he's told those lies to.'

Tears pricked her eyes. She shouldn't think ill of him. He did nothing but what she asked of him. She wanted him, wanted the experience. She didn't expect him to stay, to be with her only, to care for her past that night. If he hadn't said such things she wouldn't be upset now.

'Keep lying to yourself, Katie. Something changed in you; something in what he did changed you. Stupid little girl you are, you probably went and fell in love with a gunman. And now people are talking. If they only knew how simpleminded you are.'

"You're wrong," she argued back aloud. "He said…he said he would come back. He said…He said he liked spending time with me. He said he would want to see me again even if we didn't…He had no reason to lie. I was half naked in front of him, offering myself. He'll come back…he will."

Days passed and the voice of doubt only grew within her. Surely he was done with the case he'd been working on by now. She'd not heard word that he had returned to the city at all. Was it that important to get away from her that he'd moved on? Was she that repulsive? Had it been that bad for him?

Now, to add to her sullen mood, it was raining. Birds were not coming to bathe in the birdbath and bees and butterflies wanted no part of her flowers. Obviously Jimmy didn't either. She made some tea and sat down on the couch in her front room. Her back wedged against one end and she brought her knees up to rest the book upon. She looked more like a younger girl writing in her diary at bedtime but she didn't care. If she was to be alone, then at least she would be comfortable.

She read her book. Actually she was rereading one of her favorite books. Usually reading about Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy calmed her nerves but as she bit absently into yet another cookie—how many she had eaten she did not know or care—she became frustrated with them. She wanted to yell at Elizabeth. Tell her to speak up, to ask for what she wanted. Surely Elizabeth knew she wanted him.

'Now you want poor Elizabeth as miserable as you are?' the self doubting voice in her head spoke again. 'Sure she should speak up and be improper like you. He'll respect her still. How exactly is that plan turning out for you?'

It was then, as she was blinking back tears and wondering why she should bother when she was alone in her home, that she heard the light jingle of her doorbell. Kate jumped up and thought momentarily about checking her appearance in the mirror but then she suddenly didn't care. She was expecting no one, so whoever was at her door, it was of no consequence if they saw her hair a shambles and her shuffling around in house slippers as opposed to proper shoes. It was a rainy day alone in her house, she thought bitterly, why should she be expected to dress as if she was prepared to entertain visitors?

She knew she was scowling as she opened the door and she didn't care. Someone was interrupting time she had set aside for the purpose of wallowing in her misery.

She didn't recognize the figure before her, hunched as he was against the wind and rain. In fact, she very nearly offered an ugly remark and sent the man away. But then there was something about him that piqued her curiosity.

"Can I help you?" she asked the man. He lifted his eyes and she gasped. "Jimmy!"

"Hey there Katie darlin'," he said with a small smile on his dirty face. "I came straight here. Been riding all night and today too."

"Oh my sweet, Jimmy," she cried, "Come in! Oh, you are soaked to the bone!"

She dragged him in as she spoke and began to remove his coat and tried to rid him of his wet clothing before he caught a fever. He just stood there smiling at her.

"Jimmy, help me," she pleaded, "You'll fall ill and I just...please, help me."

He just lifted one hand and brushed some crumbs from the front of her dress. She looked at him with a frown and a hint of embarrassment that he had seen her with cookie crumbs down her front.

"I'm serious, Jimmy."

He just grinned at her.

"All the while I was away I thought about you and I thought I was remembering wrong. No one could be as beautiful as the pictures in my head. Well I was sort of right. I was remembering you wrong. You're even more beautiful."

"Are you running a fever?" she asked. "You must be. You're delusional."

She pulled at him trying to get him to follow her up the stairs. He stood his ground.

"I am not running no fever, Katie."

"Jimmy, I am a wreck. My hair…and, and I have crumbs on me and my glasses."

"I think you might be the prettiest thing I ever did see. And I ain't looking like no prize myself. Should've at least cleaned up for you."

"Jimmy, you're the most wonderful sight I think I have ever…I was so afraid…"

She started crying and he pulled her to him.

"Oh Katie darlin'."

"You need to come upstairs," she said, "Please, if you get sick…I don't think I could bear it."

"Fine, I'll do whatever you want."

She pushed him up the stairs.

"Get now! And get out of those wet clothes!"

"Yes ma'am!"

He undressed and sat obediently while she grabbed a cloth and cleaned the worst of the mud off of him.

"That's the best I think I can do until I know you're warmed up enough to get you into a tub."

Jimmy sat there with his hands in his lap and offered a mischievous smirk.

"Seems I heard once that when someone's cold that sharing body heat's the best way to warm 'em up."

"Jimmy, you have been riding for so long," she argued, "You need your rest."

She had been bent over the bed tucking the blankets around him but when she tried to stand, he grabbed her around her middle.

"Believe me, I didn't ride that hard to get here in order to rest, Katie darlin'. I need something other than rest. I think maybe you do too."

"Jimmy-"

Her words were cut off by his lips on hers and then his tongue plundering her mouth.

Jimmy smiled into the kiss as she melted into his arms. He had dreamt of this. He thought he might've dreamt of it all his life and just not been able to put a face on the woman melting into his arms but in the last week or so since he had left Kate's side, he knew who belonged there and getting her back where she belonged was nearly all he cared about.

He'd spared the thought once or twice that she might not really want him back. He could have been merely a fulfillment of a sudden adventurous streak but something in her when she answered the door made him know that was not true. She cared for him. She had missed him and she worried for him.

Jimmy reached for the front of her dress, thankful it didn't feel like he was going to have to make it past a corset today. But there were no clasps at the front of the dress.

"In the back," she whispered.

"Oh hell woman," he grumbled, "Just when I get used to one way…"

His hands worked even as he complained and soon she was standing to shed her dress and quickly the last impediments to what they both needed. They should talk. He knew they should talk but that could wait. Right now he needed her. It seemed she needed him.

He threw the blankets off of himself and presented her with what the sight of her nudity did to his body. And then he pulled her onto him, kissing her about her face and neck as he did. She was rubbing frantically harder into him. He could feel the warmth spread from her core. She was ready enough and he was so far past ready he thought to explode.

He flipped her onto her back and without warning pushed into her.

Kate tensed when she felt him begin to enter her. But it did not hurt this time. It felt so good, so right. She wrapped her legs around his backside and let her head fall back into the pillow.

Jimmy felt Kate tense under him. He hadn't thought before he'd entered her. She was probably scared it would hurt again but then the way she was acting, it didn't. He'd apologize later. Right now all he wanted to be aware of was how good it felt to be inside her.

Her hands roved over him and her legs clamped tight around him and he could see her eyes roll back in her head letting him know that he was hitting a good spot for her. Half formed words in a few different languages poured from her sweet lips. He wasn't going to last long so he slipped a hand between them to speed her on her way. It worked and soon they were both grinding into each other in the last few satisfying thrusts.

Jimmy looked down at her. Her lips were red and looked nearly swollen and he could barely see the green of her eyes for as large as her pupils were. Her chest heaved as she tried to calm her breathing and he could even see her pulse in her slender neck.

He wanted to tell her so much. How he felt, how the last week had been for him, how beautiful she was, how precious to him…but none of those words would come out. So he just kissed her. He kissed her deep and long and tried to tell her everything that way. Maybe she would understand all she had come to mean to him. When the kiss ended, he looked into her eyes that were shining with emotion. He thought maybe she did understand after all.

It was then he rolled from atop her and pulled her tight to him and heaved the blankets over top of them. She snuggled into him and her fingers traced light circles over his chest.

"I dare say I'm all warmed up now, Katie darlin'," he said softly as he planted a kiss to the side of her head. He was rewarded with a light, musical giggle. "I know we got lots to talk about. I got a lot of things I need to tell you, need you to know. Maybe you got some things to tell me too. Maybe the first is that I'm an insensitive jackass for leaving you to worry for so long. We'll talk later. I promise we will. I love talking to you. I love listening to you. I love how your voice makes me feel. But right now all them hours in the saddle are catching up to me. As long as I'll wake up with you in my arms, I think I'd like to put that talk off until I get that rest you was bugging me about before. Okay?"

She nodded against him and he let his eyes fall closed. He didn't open them when she softly, tentatively spoke his name. He merely grunted a response that encouraged her to go on.

"I-I think I might be falling in love with you."

She tensed in his arms as if frightened she had said something wrong. He simply held her tighter and nodded.

"Yeah, I think I might love you too."

Then he fell into a deep sleep.

Shorter chapter than the last couple but like I said, this is already mostly written so I am just dividing it and I like where this ends. For a while there I wanted to share a pint of Ben & Jerry's with poor Katie there. But then we've all been there.

I will say that working on this gives me a much needed distraction from Livin'...I am a monster. Actually, I'm not but history sure the heck is...

Well, I hope you liked this. I have to consider how I am going to destroy half of Detroit and make my son a special birthday dinner...how did I end up with a 17 year old child? When did that happen and when did I agree that this was okay? I'm so glad I covered all my greys last week or I'd been in a terrible depression. So let me know what you thought of this and what you think of Katie.-J