By BL Durnell
Louise was finishing packing for their trip and waiting for Kid to get back when there was a faint knock on the door. Wondering who it was that would be visiting, she called out, "Who is it?"
The answer came back almost immediately, and the tone with which it was spoken worried her. "It's Jimmy and Rachel."
Louise walked over to the door and opened it slowly, "What's wrong?"
Rachel walked her to the bed and sat down placing her arms around Louise. At this Louise got even more nervous and repeated her question more slowly and forcefully, "What is going on, Jimmy?"
Jimmy hung his head a little bit and hesitated before answering. "Kid fell off Katy while coming into the station, when we got to him we found that he'd been shot in the back at some point during his ride."
Louise's hands shot up to cover her mouth as she released a small cry of shock. The horror and fear she felt for her husband were plain to see in her face and eyes.
Jimmy continued, "Teaspoon and Doc Barnes are on their way out there now, Kid was still alive when I headed here but he was unconscious. He'll be all right Lou, he's a fighter."
Marshall Teaspoon Hunter and Doctor Barnes arrived at the way station to find that Buck and Cody had already moved Kid inside the station house where Buck was in the process of cleaning his wound.
"Step out of the way young man." The doctor ordered Buck. Looking at the wound, he nodded appreciatively, "A fine job in cleaning the wound, although he should have been checked first before being moved." He started pulling items out of his bag and set down to go to work.
"Sorry, Doc." Cody and Buck both said. Cody continued, "We didn't know."
Buck finished speaking the thought for him, "We figured it would be better for him inside rather than out."
Teaspoon nodded thoughtfully, "That's awright boys, yer heart was in the right place." He looked at the doctor with worry etched across his face, "Is he gonna be awright doc?"
"Yes, I think he will." Using a pair of tweezers, the doctor removed a bullet from Kids back, looked at it, and tossed it to the ground. He continued as he stitched up Kid's back and put a bandage on the wound. "At least the bullet didn't get to the spine. There's no telling how it will affect him or how long he will be out, but he will be okay."
The looks of relief that flashed across the faces of those present were evident to all present. And the collective sigh that escaped revealed that everyone had been holding their breath.
When Lou, Jimmy, and Rachel arrived a little later, everyone was outside on the porch listening to the doctor's final orders. "When he wakes up, I want him to stay put in bed for at least a week." He paused for a minute before continuing, "And no strenuous activity for at least two weeks. This means you, a young lady." The last he directed at Kid's wife with a twinkle in his eye.
Lou's initial response was to blush. She realized from the Doctor's comment that Kid was going to be okay. The sensation of dread that had filled her only moments before, as she had ridden from town, faded away and relief that was evident in her voice took it's place, "So he'll be okay?"
"Yes, it was close, but he'll be fine. It may be a little while before he wakes up, but he will wake up. He did lose quite a bit of blood after all."
Louise slid from her horse and the anxiety that she felt was hard to control. "Can I see him?"
"Of course, my dear. Just remember that he needs his rest right now. So please keep it brief."
Lou went inside to the spare room that she and Kid shared when they stayed at the station itself, and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "Oh Kid, what did you get yourself into?" Taking hold of his hand, Lou looked down at her sleeping husband as the tears started to flow.
"Rachel, you might better check on Lou." Teaspoon said from where he leaned against the fence, looking out over the plains. "She's been in there with Kid for a long time. Missed dinner in fact."
Rachel smiled, "I just looked in on them a half hour ago. They're both fine. She fell asleep in the chair. Looked like she had cried herself to sleep. I did cover her up with a blanket while I was in there though."
Teaspoon nodded thoughtfully. "Boys should be back soon. Hopefully they'll have found something that can explain what happened out there and just who it was that shot Kid."
"At least he'll be alright."
"Yep. Cause Lord help whoever that takes either of them from the other. Cause if that happens, well, I feel sorry for them, that's all."
Lou woke up with a start. She had been dreaming, and her dream troubled her. But at the same time it was comforting. She realized that she hadn't thought about those days in a long time. Always tried to forget the time of her life when she worked for Wicks. She thought about the first dance that she had gone to. And the boy that she had met that night. Over the years she had forgotten what Louis had looked like, she just remembered that he had kind eyes, much like Kid's. But other than that she couldn't remember much about him. She had never told him her name, but had smiled and laughed when he told her his. She had given him one of two earrings that she had worn that night to remember her by. She knew if she ever saw it again that she'd have found him. As unique as those earrings that her mother had given her were, she had never seen any like them anywhere else.
They had never gotten to finish the one dance they shared, Wicks had hauled her off back to the house, and that was the night he had come to her in her room.
Shaking her head to rid herself of that particular memory, she thought about her dream in which it had been Louis and not Charlotte that had come to her rescue. Pulling her up onto the back of a palomino and riding off into the night.
She thought for a little bit about what had happened next in her dream. Louis's palomino turning into a very familiar paint horse named Katy and Louis turning to look at her and it being Kid. That was the point in which she had woke up.
Louis becoming Kid, she thought about it for a bit and realized that Kid had indeed saved her from Wicks, but not until after he had come back into her life tracking down Charlotte. Kid had kept her from killing him in cold blood and after she had told him what had happened so long ago, he had wanted to go see if the doctor had managed to save his life, just so he could kill Wicks himself.
She wondered briefly about what could have caused her to even dream of Louis after so long, and then put it out of her mind. As much as she might have liked to have seen him one more time before she left, she knew that if she had, Wick's would have found and killed her.
She looked down at her husband to see that he was still in the same position he was when she had sat down, asleep or unconscious, she didn't know which. She just knew that she needed to be here when he woke up.
Settling back into the chair once again, she looked into his face and seeing the peace that was there, she smiled and faded back off to sleep. In the back of her mind, she was still puzzled as to what had caused the dream.
