Coming Home: A Gunsmoke Fan Fiction

Don't Give Up On Me

"Stay in the buggy, Matthew. Jes stay in the buggy..." Matt could barely hear the voices of his friends as he struggled for consciousness. They sounded so distant.

"Doc! Something's happening!" Kitty continued to pat Matt's face with a cool, damp cloth.

"Buggy...she's getting the buggy..." Matt tossed his head from side to side and mumbled furiously.

Doc raced into the back room where Matt had lain unconscious on the bed for the past three weeks. "Come on, Matt. Kitty keep doin' what you're doin'."

"Matt, don't leave me! Come back to me!" Kitty's voice was becoming clearer and she was swimming into focus

"Fight for it, Matt! You've gotta fight to come back to us!" Doc's voice was pleading.

With a sudden clarity and a jolt, Matt sat straight up in the bed. He looked at the faces of his friends. They looked so frightened. He looked around the room.

"Where is she?"

Doc smiled. Those was the first words Matt had spoken in three weeks and he was asking for Kitty. Funny, though, Kitty was sitting right next to him on the bed.

"Well, Kitty's right here, Matt." Doc frowned. "Can't you see her?"

Matt felt so confused. "Kitty? I mean, Mike. Where is she?"

Now his friends felt confused. "Who's Mike?"

Matt rubbed his forehead. "She found me in the desert and she took care of me. She brought me here to see you, Doc. We were together." He watched Kitty's face as he spoke the last words. "I'm sorry, Kitty. I wouldn't hurt you for the world."

Kitty and Festus exchanged confused looks. What in the world was he talking about?

Doc placed his hands on Kitty's shoulders and physically moved her away from Matt. He sat on the bed next to Matt, who was quite confused himself.

"Matt, I want you to listen to me now. There is no Mike here. I don't know who he is."

"No, Doc. Mike is a woman. Mike Yardner. She found me in the desert. I'd been shot, almost dead. She took care of me. She's in love with me. I care for her," he looked up at Kitty. "I don't love her but I care for her."

"Matt, you're confused. You've had a bad head injury and you've been unconscious for 3 weeks but you've been here, in my office the whole time." Doc placed his hand on Matt's forehead to determine the intensity of his fever.

Matt held his head in his hands. "No, Doc. She found me and took me back to her house. She nursed me. She wants me to stay with her, marry her." He looked at Kitty. "I don't wanna marry her. I love you."

Doc's voice was gentle. "Matt, believe me when I tell you that you have been right here the whole time. Festus found you on the prairie, not the desert. Your head was grazed by a bullet but the real injury was when you were hit in the head with something. If I had to guess, I would say it was a rifle butt."

Festus spoke up. "I found ya Matthew. You wuz layin on the ground. That yayhoo Lester Dean had shot at ya and hit ya with sumpthin. He shot at me, too, Matthew and I had to kill 'im."

Matt had a flash of memory. "Lester Dean...I was followin him. He killed a gambler and I had to bring him in."

"Yes, Matt." Kitty replaced Doc, sitting at Matt's side. "You went after him and you were hurt. Festus found you and brought you back here. Festus followed you out because you didn't want him to go with you, that's how he found you. He followed you."