Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She knew it would happen eventually. 

She knew she would get woken up minutes before Nicole’s shift was to end to her phone ringing on the nightstand where it charged. She knew as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and saw it was Nedley that something was completely wrong. Especially because it was 6am. 

“Sheriff Nedley?” Waverly greeted sleepily. “Is everything okay?” 

When she received nothing but heavy breathing on the other end she started to panic. She sat up in bed and held herself up with her free hand. 

“Sheriff?” 

She heard a throat being cleared followed by a sniff. “Miss Earp.” Randy Nedley choked out. At this point Waverly had thrown the covers off of herself and was putting on the slippers she kept by her bed.  

“Nedley, what’s wrong?” The brunette asked. 

“It’s Nicole. She’s been- I don’t know, really.”  

Waverly’s panic had turned into full-blown hyperventilating at the ambiguous answer. “What do you mean you  don’t know?!  How can you not know, Nedley?! Why are you calling me if you don’t know?!” 

“Miss Earp.” He started. “Officer Haught was looking for some hoodlums that tried to vandalize the Yorks’ farm. We got complaints from neighbours about the noise and we’ve only found a trail of blood.” 

Waverly hadn’t even realised she had started crying until she felt tears pour into her lap. She was taken back to the night before when she had gone to see her girlfriend at the beginning of her shift. She had dropped a thermos of Nicole’s favourite tea on her desk along with a chicken salad sandwich, much to Nicole’s protests (“Babe, I don’t need food every time you come and see me.” “I can literally hear your stomach growling, Nicole, just eat the damn sandwich!”), and sat there, talking until Nicole got a call.  

Waverly was brought out of her memories by a gruff voice on the phone. “Waverly?” 

“I’m here.” 

“I’m not sure when we will f-” he stopped abruptly. “I think you should make you way over here as soon as possible.” He suddenly sounded very urgent, scared almost. 

“Nedley?” She could hear shouting in the background, probably the other officers. “Nedley, what’s going on?” She ran down the stairs, grabbed her coat and ran to her jeep. In her ear she could hear Nedley yelling. 

“Call an ambulance, Lonnie!” 

“Nedley what’s going on?!” She started the jeep and put her phone on the dashboard. 

“They’ve found Officer Haught. She’s been shot.” 

All of Waverly blood ran cold and she hung up the phone. The last thing she needed was being in a car accident after Nicole had been shot.  Shot.  Was it fatal? Is it a graze? She didn’t know, she didn’t think to ask. All she knows is that she needs to get to the Yorks’ farm as quickly as possible. 

Would Nicole even be alive by the time she got there? Would she be bleeding out without her, shot by a confused teenager? Would she make it to the hospital only to die out there? 

A normal 20-minute trip to the farm took 5 in Waverly’s haste. She sprinted out of the car, not even turning it off, and frantically looking around for the sheriff. Once she saw him, she ran towards him.  

“Sheriff!” She called out. 

“Miss Earp.” His face remained stoic as he continued facing forward. 

“Sheriff, where is she?” 

He pointed to the barn. “Shes over there. Wouldn't let anyone near her. Only says one thing when we try to calm her. Stubborn mule.” 

She hesitated for a few seconds. “What- what is she saying?” 

Hearing this, he finally turned to her with a tear running down his cheek. “’Where’s Wave?’” 

Waverly swallowed a sob thinking about how long her girlfriend had been waiting for her, led on the dirty barn floor, bleeding to death. She started towards it when she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

“I will have an officer escort you; we don’t know if it was a target hit but we don’t want to take any chances.” 

Waverly nodded as an officer she had never seen before showed her to the barn. As she looked down to the floor, she saw a trail of blood leading to the barn. She could barely contain her gasp when she saw her girlfriend. She was led on her back with her hand on her stomach, groaning in pain. The sound she made half sounded like words, but they weren’t clear enough to make out. The officer walked over to the injured woman and crouched down beside her. Waverly followed behind timidly with her arms wrapped around herself. 

“Officer Haught, it’s Tony. Can you hear me?” 

Nicole suppressed a groan as silent tears left her eyes. “Where’s Wave? She’s not here...” 

“Officer, someone came to see you.” 

Nicole kept silent as a response, trying to focus on anything, but she didn’t seem to be able to. 

“I’m gonna die, aren’t I?” She whispered. “She’s not gonna be here.” 

Tony seemed unsure what to do, they both knew it was going to happen, they couldn’t even try to be optimistic. They were cops, they saw this all the time. 

“Haught, I’m gonna see what’s taking so long with that ambulance.” He paused, then in a whisper. “Talk to them.” 

He pat Waverly on the shoulder and left her with her girlfriend, who still didn’t know she was there. She was too shell-shocked to move, caught up in her world. The one where her girlfriend  wasn’t  dying. 

“Wynonna?” Nicole mumbled. “Is that you?” 

Waverly took a few steps towards the redhead and sank to her knees. She put her hand over Nicole’s that was over her wound. Nicole continued to stare at the ceiling 

“Wave is asleep. She’s gonna be so mad at me. I don’t want to die without her.” 

Waverly sniffed and placed her free hand on Nicole’s too-pale face, guiding her head towards her. 

“You’re not going to die, Nic.” She sobbed. “You better not leave me!” 

Nicole smiled softly. “Baby, you know I don’t have a choice.” 

“No! Nicole, you  do not  get to give up!”  

“Waves,” Nicole softly said. “I don’t feel pain anymore.” 

Waverly pulled Nicole as softly as she can onto her lap as she sat on the floor. She traced Nicole’s cheekbones, wishing for her signature dimples to appear.  

“No, Nicole. Fight it! Please don’t leave me alone!” 

Nicole weakly lifted one arm and wiped the brunette’s tears away. “You won’t be. You have Wynonna, Doc, Dolls. I mean, he’s a freakin’ dragon.” She laughed weakly before coughing up blood. 

“Nic, please. Just wait for the ambulance, they can help you.” 

“Baby,” Nicole said, weaker and softer than Waverly had ever heard her. “It’s too late.” 

“No, it’s not!” Waverly sobbed hysterically. “We have a plan! We are going to get married, move in together! Kids! Remember?” 

“And we were really close to goal number one, too.” Nicole said. 

“Wait, what?” Waverly tilted her head in confusion. 

“I-I bought a ring. It never leaves my side.” Nicole confessed, punctuating her sentence with a fresh batch of blood coming out of her mouth. 

The brunette gasped. “How long... have you had it?” 

Nicole looked into puffy red eyes with her own watery ones and sighed. “Since... Willa...” Nicole’s eyes had started to slowly shut as the life drained out of her eyes. 

“No! Nicole please, open your eyes!” She begged. “Look at me!” 

“I-I love you... Waves...” Nicole’s eyes fully shut; she was still. 

Waverly heard an ear-splitting scream, almost positive it was hers, as her girlfriend died in her arms. 

--- 

Waverly shot up screaming Nicole’s name, clutching her arms to her chest. Her body was wracked in heaping sobs when she heard her bedroom door slam open.  

“Waverly!” She heard exclaimed, but couldn’t bring herself to recognise the voice, let alone look at the visitor. She couldn’t do anything but sob her beloved’s name. Not one second later she felt a body slip behind her on the bed and two arms circle her waist, pulling her back. 

“It’s okay, It’s over, you’re safe.” Waverly heard cooed in her ear. The brunette’s half traumatized brain identified the voice of her sister, Wynonna. 

“But she’s not!” She screamed. “She’s dead!” 

“Who’s dead, Waverly?” 

At the question Waverly stopped screaming and decreased into small sobs. “Nicole.” She muttered brokenly. The arms tightened around her and she felt a kiss against her head.  

“She’s not dead, Waverly. I promise.”  

“How can you be so sure? She died in my arms. I couldn’t help her.” 

“Who do you think’s holding you, baby?” Waverly finally recognised the voice that had been consoling her and reached her hand backwards and into her  very alive  girlfriend’s short red hair and pulled her further against her, if it were possible. She sobbed again, only this time from relief. 

“ Nicole.”  She breathed, like a prayer. 

“Hey baby. Are you alright?” Nicole asked. 

“I will be.” 

“Do you want me to move?” 

“No.” 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Nicole, sat behind Waverly with her hands around the brunette’s waist, occasionally pressing kisses to her head while Waverly had one hand over Nicole’s and the other in her girlfriend’s hair. Finally, Waverly broke the silence. 

“Nic,” she started. 

“Mhmmm...” Nicole mumbled into her neck. 

“Didn’t you have the night-shift today?” 

“I did, it just ended. I pulled up in my cruiser and started walking towards the house when I heard you scream my name. Kinda thought you were being savagely murdered.” She chuckled. 

Waverly scraped her fingernails through the baby hairs at the bottom of Nicole’s neck before pulling away and sitting forward. Nicole reluctantly let her go as she went to sit across from her on the bed. It helped to see Nicole’s face: wide-eyed and eyebrows knitted together in worry. She took her time taking in every inch of her face, to remind her that she is alive. 

“Waves,” She whispered and waited for hazel eyes to meet her own brown ones. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”  

Waverly shook her head. 

“Do you want me to go sleep on the couch?” Nicole respectfully suggested, only to receive a more frantic head shake. 

“Do you want a cuddle?” 

Waverly hesitantly nodded. She didn’t like to feel weak, but right now she needed her girlfriend. 

“Come here.” Nicole held her arms out and repeatedly opened and closed her hands in a ‘grabby grabby’ motion. “Let's get you back into b- oh.” Nicole was stopped short by Waverly moving towards her. The tiny brunette split Nicole’s arms apart and crawled into her lap. She joined her ankles behind the redhead’s back and wrapped her arms around her neck. Nicole closed her arms to incase Waverly in her cozy girlfriend cocoon. She leant her forehead against Nicole’s and closed her eyes. 

“I love you, so much.” She whispered, as if any louder would disrupt the intimacy of the moment. 

“I love you, too. More than you will ever know.” Nicole replied, nuzzling into Waverly’s nose. 

“Please don’t ever leave me.” Waverly begged; eyes still closed. “I don’t think I could survive without you.” 

“I’m never going anywhere. We have a plan, remember?” The redhead playfully reminded. She kissed Waverly’s jaw tenderly before joining their foreheads again. “We’re going to get married. We’re going to move, to my house or we’ll find one so we stop being interrupted by your damn sister.” They both chuckled, knowing Wynonna had to have a sixth sense for walking in on the  wrong  times (“Jeez, guys, get a room!” “Wynonna, this is  literally  my room!"). 

“We’re gonna have kids.” Nicole softly said. “At least two.” 

Waverly sniffed. “Why two?” 

“Because I need at least,” She brought her arm up between them to reach Waverly’s face. “One baby Waverly,” She booped her nose and the girl giggled as she opened her eyes. “and I need a mini-me.” She poked her own nose. “I’m pretty awesome, be a shame not to have two of me.” She smiled. 

Waverly tucked her head into the crook of Nicole’s neck as her hand returned to the brunette’s waist. 

“I am going to be here to break this damn curse, and I want to be here to bring my niece home.” 

Waverly’s heart swelled at Nicole calling Alice her niece. She caught herself drifting off to sleep before she felt a kiss at the top of her head as Nicole started scooting away from her. Not wanting to be away from her she tightened her hold. 

“Baby, it’s okay. I’m just moving to the headboard. If you fall asleep right now you will be cold in the morning.” 

Waiting until she detected a nod from the girl clinging to her, Nicole pulled the comforter over them and laid down. They fell asleep with Waverly directly in top of Nicole as the redhead brushed up and down her back. 

--- 

Nicole laid in bed thinking about how she found Waverly: Hands clutching her own chest as she struggled to breath, sobbing Nicole’s name. She couldn’t think of anything else to do but tell her that everything is okay. When Waverly started shouting about someone being dead, she wanted to know what terrorised her girlfriend into being inconsolable and destroy it. But Waverly needed her. And when the brunette brokenly told her that she was crying about  her  death, she knew that she could put her mind at ease. 

The redhead almost cried when she felt a hand grasp her hair and Waverly cuddled up to her. She was glad that she could get her girlfriend to calm down, but the evidence suggests that she was the reason for this – and if this was what Waverly needed, then who was she to deny her? And when they talked about plans - marriage, kids – she was so glad that this was still what Waverly wanted. And with this she knew it was time to use that little box she kept in her pocket, soon. She just needed a plan.  

But first? 

Cuddles. 

Chapter Text

It had been 3 days since the nightmare; Waverly clung to Nicole whenever she could. She would essentially sit on her at home and always found an excuse to see her at work. She hadn’t been able to sleep in her own bed since that night, too scared to face her own subconscious again, and instead opted to stay at Nicole’s house instead.

It’s not like she hadn’t tried. The night after the incident she went to bed as normal, but she couldn’t sleep. She tried most of the night to get into a comfortable enough position but to no avail. When she had finally given up it had been 3am: Wynonna was at Shorty’s, drinking away her feelings; Doc was probably taking stock below the bar, hiding from Wynonna; and Nicole was sleeping away her night shift.

Waverly then decided to put on the first pair of shoes she came across (thankfully hers), put on the first coat she found, get in the jeep and just start driving. She didn’t know where she was going until she pulled up to a familiar blue house with a cruiser in the driveway. Waverly put the jeep into park and walked up to the door. What was she supposed to say when her girlfriend answered? ‘Hey babe, sorry to wake you! I couldn’t sleep without you because I had a dream about you dying! Please let me in and show me love for something you didn’t even do!’? Without a plan she knocked on the door. It didn't even make sense, why would she need a plan? It's her girlfriend, for fudge’s sake! In less than a few seconds she heard her girlfriend on the other side of the door.

“Hello?”

“Nicole, it-it’s me.” She immediately heard the key in the door and it being pulled open. It revealed Nicole in baggy pajamas and with her gun in her hand – because, obviously: It’s the middle of the night and you got a knock at the door. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and her eyebrows were creased in worry.

“Baby? Are you okay?” She scanned Waverly for injuries.

“Yeah, I'm okay. I just,” She breathed out a laugh and looked down. “really needed to see you.” Nicole’s shoulders slumped as she relaxed and she clicked the safely back on the gun.

“Any particular reason?”

“Do I need a reason to come visit my girlfriend?” Waverly looked into Nicole’s eyes with a playful grin. The redhead rolled her eyes and matched Waverly's smile with one of her own.

“At 3:20 in the morning, someone’s normally on fire. Or, y’know, asleep.” Waverly’s smile started to fade as she thought. She showed up to Nicole’s house, at 3am on a Thursday in her pajamas to, what? Ask her to keep her nightmares away? Cuddle with her until she forgets about the way her girlfriend’s eyes dimmed as she died? At that thought, Waverly started to feel a burning at her throat and a wetness behind her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I don’t even know why I’m here. I got in my car and just drove.” She confessed; hands pressed deep into her coat pockets. Nicole put the gun on the bookshelf by the door and turned back to her girlfriend.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

Waverly sighed. Nicole could read her like a book, and she would know she was lying; there was really no point lying and even though she loved when Nicole knew what she needed, it was not helpful when she’s trying to ease her worries. She shook her head.

“...No.” She said. Nicole smiled sweetly before stepping further into the house and opening her arms. Waverly immediately stepped into her personal space and wrapped her arms around Nicole’s waist. She tucked her head under her girlfriend’s chin while she felt Nicole pull her backwards and close the door behind her. They stood there for a while just holding each other, until Waverly finally loosened her hold on Nicole’s waist enough to look at her face.

“Thank you.” She said and Nicole tilted her head in confusion.

“For what?”

“For being here with me.”

Nicole kissed the top of her head and slowly moved down to her forehead, nose, cheeks and finally she captured her lips in a soft, chaste kiss.

“I’ll always be here, Waves.” She mumbled against Waverly’s lips. “And, it’s kinda my house.” She added playfully, attempting (and failing) to dodge Waverly’s hand slapping her shoulder.

“Hey! I’m trying to be romantic over here!” Waverly laughed as she pulled away from Nicole. The deputy quickly reached for her waist and tried to pull her back into the embrace.

“No, no, I’m sorry come back!” She laughed.

“Nope. You’ve ruined the moment. Nu-uh. Go away.”

“But baby, why won’t you love me?” Nicole whined.

“You ruined the moment!” Waverly playfully scolded. She started to walk to the living room when two strong arms circled her waist from behind and pulled her into the body they were attached to, tightly. Nicole placed her head on the tiny shoulder in front of her and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” She pouted. “Will you ever forgive me?”

Waverly finally relented and leaned back into the cuddle. She felt a kiss on the side of her head along with her girlfriend’s nose nuzzling into her temple.

“Fine. Only because I woke you up at 3am for attention. Don’t expect me to be so lenient next ti-BABE!” Waverly was interrupted by Nicole bending her knees and lifting her into a giant bear-hug and trapping here arms whilst moving towards the stairs.

“Nic, where are you taking me?” She squealed, kicking her legs as the deputy reached the stairs. Nicole walked through the door to her bedroom and closed it behind her.

“Well babe, as much as I would like to continue this, it’s about 4am and I have work in the morning.” She placed Waverly on the bed and went to remove her shoes.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry. I didn’t think about that.” The brunette scooted further onto the bed with an apologetic look as she let Nicole take off her randomly chosen boots.

“Don’t even worry about it. Now, take off your… thin… pink... coat? Why are you wearing that? It’s like, -8000 degrees outside.”

Waverly shrugged as she took her coat off and slid into the comforter. “I just put one on and got into the car. I wasn’t really thinking about the long haul here, Nic.” The brunette snuggled up to her girlfriend when she slid behind her, wrapping her arm around her waist in an effective spooning position.

“Okay, it’s just not like you though: Getting into your jeep in the middle of the night, driving to who-knows-where. And, after Monday I don’t know what’s really going through your head, y’know? You won’t tell me about it when I ask and I’m worried. When I found you, you were saying I was dead and I’m guessing it was about when I was in the hospital but I don’t know. Can you tell me abou-” She cut herself off when she saw that Waverly had dozed off and was now snoring softly.

“And… I’m talking to myself. As usual.” The redhead curled around Waverly and drifted off to sleep as well.

---

Nicole woke up at 6am for work, as per usual, though this morning was different: she had a very stubborn girlfriend clinging to her so she can’t get out of bed. She had her legs out, twisted so they reached the floor - but Waverly was currently led on her with her arms around Nicole’s neck. Her legs were on either sides of the redhead’s thighs and her head was tucked into the deputy’s collarbone.

“Waavvvesss…” She whined. “I need to get up for work…”

“Nope. You stay here with me. Too early.”

“Well I never said you had to get up, too.”

“If you get up, I have to get up.”

“Babe, let me go.” Nicole put her hands on the brunette’s hips. An idea began to form in her head.

“Nope.”

“But-”

“No.”

“If I-”

“Nope.”

“Just let me leave!”

“You cannot moan at me for not letting you go if you have your arms around me!”

“It’s an instinct. Therefore, you don’t fall when I do this.” Nicole used all of her strength to stand up. With Waverly still holding on to her, of course. Waverly’s legs tightened around her as she started to move.”

“Hold on, that’s not fair. Put me down.”

“Nope.” Nicole replied, mimicking Waverly. “I have to go shower.”

“Okay, but to do that you have to put me down.”

“Sorry, I don’t have time to stray from the plan. I have 10 minutes to shower if I want breakfast.”

“You can’t shower with me like this!” Waverly insisted. When she received a smirk in response, she was sure Nicole was about to disprove that theory.

1 hour later, if you include the 10 minutes it took to get dressed, Nicole was finally ready to go to work as was very behind schedule. She stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen where she kept her boots and where Waverly was making her a packed breakfast.

“Hey baby!” Waverly grinned, closing the lunchbox. “Made you breakfast.”

“I have so many questions, so little time. First off, where did you get my childhood lunchbox?”

Waverly giggled. “Well, I was looking through your pantry for your grape jelly, but I found this instead.” She walked up to Nicole and handed her the lunchbox, stopping inches before her lips. “So here you go.”

She gave Nicole a kiss and went to go and get her Stetson. Nicole looked at her in half-curiosity and half-desperation. “Baby, I love you but I can not go to work, where Wynonna - your teasing asshole of a sister - works with a lunchbox with the name ‘Nicky’ written in bright pink letters on the top and a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich in it.”

“It’s too late now, you have to go.” Waverly tried to hide the amusement in her voice but it was obvious. She handed Nicole her Stetson and started to push her out the door.

“No, Wave. Seriously? You’re going to lock me out of my own house? You know what? Fine. But for however many nicknames your sister comes up with, that’s how many minutes I’m ignoring you for when I get home!” She was pushed outside as Waverly started to close the door.

“You could never ignore me, you love me too much.” And with a wink, she closed the door.

---

Nicole walked into the BBD office with one goal. Two goals. Okay, maybe three:

Grab the unoccupied file about the latest demon in the town
Shove the bright pink and teal lunchbox of former Nicole under the table
Avoid Wynonna’s taunting

She got to the file, Step one.
She sat down in the chair next to the desk and slid the glitter-covered box under the desk, Step two.

“Hey, Haught?” Nicole looked up and Dolls was sitting on the desk in front of her, stone faced.

“When did you get here?”

“We’ve been here since… last night?”

Yup, they saw the box, that's not good. I’m going to die of embarrassment and Waverly is going to leave me and I’m never going to move on and- Hold on. Nicole’s thought process was stopped by one little word.

“‘We’?”

“Yup. We.” He pointed towards a ball of shaking blanket and immediately knew what was behind it. She decided to bite the bullet and addressed the bundle.

“Wynonna?” She waited until she saw a thumb poke out of the blanket. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No…” Wynonna attempted to stifle a laugh. Attempted. “Who are you again? The blankets make it hard to hear.”

“Fine, I’ll play along. It’s me, Wynonna. Nicole.”

“Why are you lying?” A deep voice cut in. Dolls was looking at her curiously.

“What do you mean, Dolls?”

“Well,” He started. “You know what, nevermind. It’s just a thought I had.”

“No, wait. Tell me.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“Okay! Jeez, Nicky!” Dolls finally yelled. Wynonna, who was now sitting behind Dolls snorted. All the colour drained from Nicole's face as she looked towards Wynonna.

“I’m sure Dolls over here is just worried if he should say his idea in the presence of a 4th grader.” Wynonna cackled. Yup. So much for step three.

“Earp, leave her alone. She just wants to eat her lunchables in peace.” Dolls, the stone-faced dragon, snorted. He snorted.

“Okay, okay. I’m not one to kick dirt in the face of someone who’s been pushed off of the swing at recess. As long as a PB&J isn’t hiding that thing, eh Nicky?” Her smile started to dim as she looked at Nicole disbelievingly. “No. No you are fucking with me. There is not a sandwich containing peanut butter and grape jelly in that lunchbox, is there?”

“Of course not!” Nicole paused and bit her lip. “It’s raspberry, Waverly couldn’t find the grape.” Both Dolls and Wynonna burst into laughter and couldn’t catch their breath.

“Oh my god, oh my god this is not happening. This is too good, I have to call everyone I know or ever knew.” Wynonna wheezed. “You’re dating your mom, Nickerbocker Glory.”

“Shut up.”

Dolls finally caught his breath and stood up from the table. “Okay, okay, I’ve had my fun. I’m sorry if we upset you. Maybe you should call your mommy/girlfriend.” And he started laughing again. Great. She stood up and made her way to the door.

“Oh wait, wait Nick Nack PaddyWack. Don’t you need your hall pass?” She was off once again, this time leaning onto Dolls for support. Just as she was starting to regret her life choices, Nedley knocked on the door.

“Officer Haught, as much as I don’t mind you being in here, normally it’s for your girlfriend so I don’t need you two making googly eyes at each other all day. But she’s not here and we have a call.”

“See? Even Neds can see you being absolutely repulsive with my baby sister! And they say I’m oblivious!”

“Earp, you couldn’t tell we were dating until your other sister pointed a gun at me and you still had to ask again!”

“Yes but Nedley is still obvious about you ki-” Dolls was interrupted by Nicole’s hand flying across his mouth from across the side of the table; her being half on top of it.

“Dolls, did I ever tell you how much i appreciate my job and would rather keep it? Because if not, I appreciate my job and would rather keep it.” Wynonna looked confused to say the least.

“Wait, what do I not know?” She asked. Nedley cleared his throat.

“Well, Deputy Marshall, I in fact do know about that specific detail. I also know about how it kept happening for 4 weeks afterwards, every Thursday and no, Nicole that does not need to happen when I go to Shorty’s this afternoon. I cannot keep fluffing my pillows.” To say Nicole was mortified was an understatement.

“Didn’t you say there was a call, Sheriff? Well, see you guys later!”

“Wait right there, Nicky Ticky!” She held up the offending lunchbox. “Don’t forget your lunch, for the road.” She shrugged. Nicole walked up to her, took the lunchbox and left without another word.

---

Why did she always get the creepy ones? Of course she was going into the woods, alone, at 9am to go and follow a trail of blood. All she wanted to do was sit at her desk, aimlessly until her amazing girlfriend walked in for lunch with her favourite sandwich to kiss her until Nedley went to Shorty’s for Happy Hour so she could make out with her for a while until he got back. But no, she had to be a stupid police officer with a stupid job to follow a stupid trail of stupid blood.

But she thought back to Waverly. Waverly, who couldn’t be away from her for more than 4 hours before she has to be with her for another 1. Sweet Waverly who would wake her up at 3am for attention. Well, that was weird. She doesn’t understand why Waverly would cling on to her like she was going to crumble away like sand.

She got out of the cruiser when she saw a trail of unidentified blood. Yup, that’s it. So as everyone would, she followed it. She trailed it all through the forest and into a tree. As it dripped, it looked a lot more pink then it did red. She didn’t know why but she had a small desire to taste it. So she did. She dipped a finger in it and held it up to her lips. She smelled strawberry. Uh oh. The smell of cheap cologne got increasingly strong and she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and of course.

“Hi Champ.” She looked around. “And friends.” There he was. Champ Hardy with 3 of his goons sneering at her. This can’t go well.

“Bitch.” He greeted. “I see you found our little trail. Always thought you were so smart didn’t you?”

“Where are you going with this, bud, because if this is all just to get me here you better make it quick.”

“Fine. Pete, Kyle.” He angled his head towards her and the York brothers grabbed her by both of her arms. She started to panic but tried not to show it.

“Okay.. so this isn’t working well in my favour. Where are you taking me?”

“Well if you shut up for 5 minutes I could tell you.” Pete and Kyle stopped in front of Champ, still restraining Nicole by her arms. “Me and my friends don’t take to lightly from stealing our girls.”

“Okay, how many times do I have to tell you: Waverly belongs to no-one.” She growled, looking to the left. If she had taken the time to really look at Champ, she would have seen him pull his arm back and take a swing at her. His fist collided with her jaw as her head turned back towards him.

“And how many times do I,” He punched her again, this time in the eye. “have to tell you,” He kneed her in the stomach and she would have dropped if not for the brothers holding her up. “that Waverly,” He punched her face again, splitting her lip. “is mine!” His fist collided with her face a final time, this time on her eye again.

She spit out some blood and looked to the guy behind Champ. “And what do you do? Take a picture?” The guy held up his phone and the flash went off. “Oh okay, you actually are going to. That one’s on me.”

“Don’t underestimate us, bitch. We have connections.” The guy said, waving his phone.

“And what’s that? The sheriff? Cause I don’t think he’d be real happy about these certain activities.” She nodded her head towards the men holding her up.

“No, we have real connections.”

“Ohhh,” She mocked. “Mr. Big Man had connections. He beats up girls for a living because they get the pretty women that he disrespects.” She looked at Champ for the last part. Champ stepped forward and punched her again.

“Keep your mouth to yourself, bitch!”

“Wynonna’s insults are much better. Same insult in a row… That’s weak.” He punched her again. She brought her hand up to her face to survey the damage, only to forget that she was being held up by two, very pissed off men. They wrenched her hands behind her back and she groaned in pain; the brother to her left struck her across the back of the head.

“Put your hands where they belong, asshole.”

“Sorry, fellas, but Waverly’s not here.” She laughed. She really shouldn’t’ve laughed. Both guys dropped her and she hit the floor, hard. Champ came up to her and grabbed her hair. He pulled her head upwards and looked down at her.

“You really are a dumb shit, aren’t you?” He asked. She only shrugged in response and that awarded her a knee to the chin and a fresh wave of copper in her mouth. She splayed across the ground as they laughed. The same guy as before took out his phone and took another picture.

“I’ve been told that before.” She coughed. The boys grinned and started to walk away.

“Remember this little lesson, dyke.”

“Oof dyke! Good one, Hardy!” She unenthusiastically yelled after them. After a few minutes of lying there she decided to get back to her cruiser. She stumbled over to where she left it, only to find that the goons had stolen it.

“SHIT!” She yelled to absolutely no-one. The ring was in her glove compartment. The ring she was planning on giving Waverly in a few days. Her ex-boyfriend had it. That’s not so good. She started the long walk back to Purgatory. “Here we go again.”

Chapter Text

Waverly was having a good day: She’d just pushed her girlfriend out the door with a glittery lunchbox to get relentlessly teased by her sister, life was good. But it was 7:30am. And she was still tired. So what was she to do?

She took a nap.

She slid into bed, Calamity Jane at the bottom of the bed, and went to sleep. She slept a dreamless sleep until something started forming in her mind. A huge barn with one small, bleeding figure laying on her back with one hand over her stomach. As Waverly stepped forward she could hear what the figure was saying.

“Where’s Wave?” A silent tear ran down the girl’s face. As the vision became less blurry, Waverly could see the vibrant red hair on top of the bleeding girl’s head.

“Baby, I’m right here.” She sobbed, running towards the figure. As she ran she realised she wasn’t moving. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t go anywhere. She had to listen to the desperate pleading of her girlfriend dim as she accepted her fate.

“She’s not coming. I’m alone. I’m always alone.” She heard, whimpered from the love of her life’s mouth.

“I’m here! Why can’t you see me?!” She sobbed, falling to her knees.

She watched all the remaining colour drain from Nicole’s cheeks as her head slumped down.

“Waves…” She whispered for a final time.

---

Waverly shot out of bed, sobbing Nicole’s name once again; only this time Nicole isn’t there to tell her that it’s okay. She stood up on shaky legs, walking towards the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes were red and puffy. She turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face. Her sobs has turned into short outbursts when she finally stopped.

“Okay, okay, that’s fine. So you have nightmares about your girlfriend dying when she’s on patrol. That’s normal. That’s totally normal… That’s normal, right Calam?” She looked towards the ginger cat who was perched on the counter. “And I’m talking to a cat. Who’s not even my cat!” She received a pissed off meow in response.

“It’s not like it’s my fault! She got to you first!” She let out a wet chuckle and a sniff as she grabbed her phone she left in the bedroom and she called the first number on her favourites list.

“Hi, you’ve reached Deputy Haught. Please leave a message after the tone. Thank you.” 

“Hi, you’ve reached Deputy Haught. Please leave a message after the tone. Thank you.”

“Hi, you’ve reached Deputy Haught. Please leave a message after the tone. Thank you.”

Nicole wasn’t answering. Odd. She always answered. But no biggie, she called the second number in her favourites list.

“Waddup baby sis!” Wynonna answered, mouth probably half full of doughnut.

“Hey Wyn, have you seen Nicole somewhen today?”

“Of course I’ve seen Nic-i-ta recently!” She snorted.

“You saw her lunchbox, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely! You’re evil, Waves.”

“I know, but it was so cute!”

“Ah shit, Dolls is calling, babygirl, make this quick.”

“Okay, Do you know where Nicole went?” A short pause silenced her sister.

“Uh, She took her cruiser somewhere, I don’t know, a call maybe? About two hours ago.”

“Okay then.” Waverly hesitated, contemplating her next actions. “I’m gonna stop by the homestead, pick up some new clothes.”

“Okay, now I really have to go, Dolls is up my ass. Bye love you!”

“Alright, love… you. And she’s gone.”

---

A short drive later she got to the homestead. She pulled up in her jeep and walked up to the house. Before she got to the door she heard a grunting followed by the sound of wood splitting. She walked around back to see Doc, shirtless and swinging an axe down on a block of wood.

“Hey Doc.” Doc looked up from the wood and looked over to Waverly.

“Good morning, Waverly. What can I do you for?”

“I just came to get some clothes from the homestead.” She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb at the building. “What’s up with you?”

“Just thought we could stock up on firewood.”

“We have plenty in the house… Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I do not think I understand what you are implying…” Doc put down his axe and slowly started walking towards Waverly.

“I know you think you are this hard, shell of a human being but I know that this thing with Alice is killing you more than you let on and you are shutting everyone out so you don’t have to deal with it.” 

The gunslinger just stood there with his head down and Waverly sighed. She walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders.

“Henry, you don’t have to be strong all the time. It hurts, it hurts me, too. But you’re her dad, you can feel this pain.” Waverly finished with a smile as Doc sniffed. A tear ran down his face as he looked up.

“She needs me to function on my own right now, Waverly. I can deal with myself once Wynonna is safe and comfortable.”

“You should tell her how you are feeling. You never know, maybe she’ll understand.” She shrugged. Doc smiled sadly.

“She doesn’t need me right now, Miss Earp. She will visit me when she is ready.” 

“Good.”

Waverly started to walk away when she heard a shout from the man behind her.

“Waverly? I think you should do the same.” Doc stated. The brunette stopped and turned around, walking back.

“What do you mean?”

“That dream sounded mighty awful the day your deputy came back from work.”

Waverly winced, she didn’t think anyone else had heard that. He was probably in the barn that night. She was going to tell Nicole first, as she thought it would help, but talking to Doc might instead.

“I don’t think anyone would want to hear it.”

“Well, you have peaked my interest. Join me.” He pointed to the fire pit where two deck chairs were. They both sat down and Waverly took a breath.

“Okay… Here we go.” She told Doc about the call, the barn, the things Nicole had said - and then the updated one she had an hour ago. She had gotten about halfway through before she started to sob, again, for the second time in a day. This is getting pathetic . Doc had listened intently the entire time, offering support when he could.

“... And then I woke up, drove here, and here I am.” She cried. Doc took off his hat and placed it on the ground next to them. He stood up and offered Waverly his hand; she took it hesitantly.

“Waverly. I do believe that Officer Haught would never let anything happen to herself in fear of what you would do.” He pointed out and she giggled at the thought. “But she must do her job without fear of the outcome. I’m sure she can handle herself now.” Waverly nodded, unconvinced.

“Okay, but if she gets injured in the next few days, I’m going to-”

“Talk to her about it and therefore settling your mind.”

“But what if she thinks I’m overreacting?”

“Does that sound like something that Nicole would do?” Doc pointed out softly. Waverly shook her head while looking at the ground. The gunslinger put his hand on her shoulder and waited for her to look up. “I think you should go and see your second half to ease your mind.”

Waverly nodded. “Okay.” She let out a breath. “Oh god, this is a shitty, shitty situation.”

“I agree, now off you go. Don’t forget your clothes.” He pointed towards the house. 16 minutes later she walked towards her jeep and waved at Doc, who was completing his logs. She heard her text notification from her phone so she put her clothes in the car and pulled the mobile device out.

[James Hardy at 12:30pm] Do u think a girl could ever satisfie u like i do

Waverly sighed, she was used to getting these type of texts from Champ, normally ending in him insulting her. She decided to give in and see what he wanted.

[Wavey Baby at 12:30pm] What do you want, Champ?

[James Hardy at 12:31pm] u

[James Hardy at 12:31pm] ur dyke girlfriend doesnt deserve u

[James Hardy at 12:31pm] she cant even fite properly

[Wavey Baby at 12:31pm] What do you mean? Have you done something to her?

Panic started to set within her as she started to breath heavier. Doc saw this and started to run towards her.

“Waverly, are you alright?” He questioned. She didn’t answer him, only showed him the phone as another message came in.

[James Hardy at 12:32] shes got a mouth on her

[James Hardy at 12:32] woodnt shut up

[James Hardy at 12:33] had 2 shut her up

[James Hardy send an image at 12:33]

The photo was of Nicole, bloody faced and beaten, scowling at the camera. She seemed to be held up by Pete and Kyle York as they were laughing. Waverly couldn’t help but gasp at the condition of her girlfriend; Doc took off his hat.

[James Hardy sent a video at 12:34]

The photo started off with a frame of Nicole, sprawled out on the floor with her eyes closed, bloody and bruised. Champ came into frame and they all started to walk away.

“Remember this little lesson, dyke.”

They all started to laugh before a faint voice could be heard in the distance.

“Oof dyke! Good one, Hardy!”

Champ turned around as the boys held him back.

“That little bitch! She thinks she can take Waverly from me and talk back to me? I’ll teach her.”

One of the York brothers, Kyle, walked in front of him and yelled.

“Do you want a murder charge on us right now? We can bide our time and get her when her walls are down.”

“Her walls are down right now! She can’t fucking see!”

“Look,” He pointed towards the trees as the camera turned around to see Nicole’s cruiser. “we can take that whore’s car and then she’s stranded. We can come back later.”

They all laughed and that is when the video cuts off.

Waverly, at this point, had a hand over her mouth and was being held up by Doc’s body pressed into her; he was holding her up by her waist while most of her weight was pressed into his chest.

“Waverly, are you alright?” Waverly shook her head and stood up straight, She got into her jeep and waved her hand.

“No, but I need to talk to Wynonna, Get in the car.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. In. Now.” She demanded. Doc put his hat back on and sat in the passenger seat.

---

20 minutes later, Waverly and Doc made it to the station. She barrelled towards the office with the gunslinger not trailing far behind. The brunette burst through the door to a startled Wynonna and Dolls.

“Babygirl! Settle something for us. Do you think this would be a better nickname for your ginger: Haught Jelly or… Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Wynonna trailed off when she saw the look on her sister’s face. Her confusion grew when she saw Doc behind her.

“Shift… Patrol… Girlfriend… Boyfriend… Blood…” Waverly breathed. In her panicked state, she managed to reach into her pocket and grabbed her phone; she thrust it into her sister’s hand.

“‘She’s got a mouth on her’? ‘Had to shut her up’? Who does that asshole think he is?” She started to play the video and Waverly could hear the guys in the video making fun of her girlfriend. 

“This asshole! We need to find Haught before she bleeds out to death. Don’t tell her I called her by her real name. But that fucker is never going to see the light of day again!” 

“We can’t just storm him without police, Ear-”

“Just watch me! Just. Fucking. Watch me.”

Dolls stood up and walked over to the group huddled by the corkboard wall and took the phone. “If we can see the tracking device Nedley puts on the radios, we can find out where she is.”

“Where who is?”

Everyone snapped their head towards the door and with what greeted them made Waverly gasp, Wynonna wince, Dolls flinch and Doc take off his hat. There stood a bloody-faced ginger with a torn uniform and a black, swollen eye. Waverly started to walk towards her as she started to feel a wetness behind her eyes.

“Nicole?” She asked, disbelievingly. Nicole let out a mild chuckle and leaned up against the door frame.

“Hey Wave.” She said softly. Waverly threw her arms around her girlfriend’s neck and held on for dear life, nearly tipping them over. She felt Nicole’s arms circle her waist as she hugged back in confusion. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Wynonna put her hand up like a school child. “Well, Officer Glitter, we just watched you be left in the woods, bleeding by Waverly’s ex-boyfriend. And apparently, you walked back from God knows where while still bleeding and half-blind. I’m honestly not sure if that red in your hair is from your Irish roots, or if it’s blood.”

Nicole removed one of her hands from around Waverly and felt the back of her head. She knew she had been bleeding for a while but she was sure it had stopped. When the hand came back red, she quickly hid it behind her back as discreetly as possible. Dolls obviously realised. “It’s my hair, and I’m not Irish.”

“What was that?”

“What was what?” Nicole turned to look at him.

“That.”

“What is ‘that’?”

“That.” He mimicked her gesture. Wynonna caught on, too.

“Oh yeah, I saw that, too. What was that?” They all side-eyed each other, except Waverly, who was still buried in her girlfriend’s chest, until Nedley walked in behind her.

“Haught, why do you have blood on the back of your head?” He inquired. Waverly’s head shot up off of Nicole’s chest.

“You have what?!” 

“It’s not a big deal, I’ll go clean up. It’ll stop soon.” 

“It should’ve stopped a while ago!”

“Honestly, I can go and fix it in the bathroom and it’ll be healed before you can say ‘blood’.”

“Blood.” Wynonna deadpanned.

Nicole glared at Wynonna. “Assholery aside, I can deal with it.” She turned towards the door and Nedley saw her face for the first time.

“Good, and while you’re at it- Oh sweet Jesus, Haught.” Nicole nodded at him and tried to untangle herself from Waverly.

“Baby, you have to let me go.”

“No. You got injured. Again.”

“Waves.” Nicole motioned for Wynonna to help and she came from behind her and pulled the brunette off of her. “I’m going to go to the bathroom, then we need to find my cruiser. Pronto.” And she left.

---

One hour later, Doc had gone back to the homestead and Dolls located a revenant that had been terrorizing someone in a car. Literally just chasing it; it should’ve been easy. Wynonna walked into the office with a box of doughnuts to the sight of Dolls by the map on the table, Nicole sat on a nearby chair with Waverly tending to her face with an alcohol wipe. 

“Alright, assholes, what we got?” She threw the box onto the table as she put her foot onto the chair. No-one reacted to her as they were all too focused on their own thing. Waverly was mumbling under her breath to only Nicole but you could hear the redhead’s end of it.

“Yes I know I shouldn’t have. Because I can’t keep my mouth to myself. But-... Well… He can’t talk about you like that. And- ow. No, I get it. I left the radio in the car… I didn’t think it was going to be a bad- ow.” 

The bleeding had stopped from her head when she tried to stitch it herself, only for it to tear in about 45 minutes later. She had a faint bruise on her stomach from Champ’s knee and her left eye was swollen and purple while her jaw and cheek were still red and had yet to bruise.

Wynonna snorted. “You really shouldn’t’ve tried to fix it yourself.”

“Well, now you tell me. I didn’t think it was going to come out in an hour.” 

“Stop moving.”

“Sorry babe.”

Dolls finally turned to them with a smile on his face. “Okay, so we have good news and bad news. Good news: We have the car. I’m guessing it’s Deputy Haught’s but it might just be a random cop car.” Wynonna cheered. “Bad news: A revenant has it.” Wynonna stopped cheering.

“Okay, so Nasty Nicky loses her car and I have to work?” Waverly scowled at her.

“Wynonna, she literally took a beating, it wasn’t her fault!”

“Oh calm down, babygirl, I’m only joking. It’s not like she nearly died.”

Waverly’s breath hitched at the thought of Nicole nearly dying, alone in the woods. She was only beaten up, thank God, but what if she’s not so lucky next time? What if Champ’s goons decide that teaching her a lesson isn’t enough? She could be bleeding for hours before anyone even realises she’s gone. She was brought out of her thoughts by Nicole’s voice.

“Waves, are you okay?”

Waverly only nodded, slipping into her smile-and-wave routine. One that, unbeknownst to her, Nicole could see right through. “Of course I am! Now, Wynonna, what’s the plan for the rev-head?”

As Wynonna went through her (barely thought out) plan, Nicole spent her time looking at Waverly, trying to find out what was wrong with her girlfriend. She already knew that Waverly was acting differently, but she seemed more paranoid than normal, always on guard, not letting her in. It had loosened over the past few days but now, Nicole could tell it was back by the way Waverly had a hand on her at all times and how she would curl into her when they hugged, like she was trying to sink into her.

“And that’s the plan! Any questions?” Wynonna exclaimed. Dolls stood up and grabbed his coat as the Earp Heir stuffed her face full of doughnuts.

“Nope. Go to car, grab car, chase revenant. Waverly, remember: Stay here, look after Nicky.”

“Are you guys ever going to let me live that down?” All three people exchanged a look.

“Nope.”

“No can do Coca Ni-Cola.”

“It was kinda funny, babe.”

Nicole sighed. “Alright then. I’m going home.”

“No, you’re not. We don’t know if you have a concussion yet.” Dolls reminded.

Wynonna grabbed the box of half eaten doughnuts and left the office. “See ya, lesbians!”

“I’m bisexual, Wynonna!”

“Whoops!” 

Nicole placed her head into her hand, carefully, of course, as she groaned.

---

About 10 minutes later, once Waverly had finished cleaning and dressing her wounds, Nicole grabbed her from where she stood and pulled her to sit down on her lap. Waverly yelped as she felt hands on her waist guiding her down but she visibly relaxed when she realised who it was. Nicole laid her chin on her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Waves?”

“Yes, honey?”

“I have a question.”

“Okay…” She said skeptically.

“Well, recently you’ve kinda been acting weird. I just wanted to ask if anything’s going on.” Waverly tensed up and Nicole noticed immediately. “You don’t have to answer. I just want to check if you are okay?”

Waverly put her hands on her girlfriend’s that were around her waist. “I’m okay, don’t worry.” Nicole picked up her head and turned to look at Waverly through her good eye.

“I do worry, Waverly. You’re not... you recently.” Nicole’s eyes widened when Waverly pulled her arms apart with a huff and stood up.

“And who’s that, Nicole? Huh?” She asked accusingly. Nicole stood up and started moving towards her slowly.

“I don’t know. You’re just not. I can’t explain it, okay?”

“No. Not okay. That is not good enough. We were fine this morning and now you are saying all of this stuff about me not ‘ acting’ normal.”

“It’s not normal for you to keep stuff from me, Waves! You’re not telling me something and it’s killing me!” Nicole shouted. Waverly was silent for a moment before tears started to gather in her eyes.

“But it’s normal for you, right?”

“What?”

“You’re used to keeping stuff from me, huh? But I’m ‘above it’, right?!”

“This is not the point of this conversation, Waves!”

“I don’t need you to tell me who I am, Nicole.”

“Then just tell me what’s going on! Even you have to admit that waking me up at three in the morning because of something that ‘you don’t know’ is not like you. I’m not complaining but that just isn’t you.”

“It’s different, okay?”

“How is it different, Waverly? Why don’t you trust me enough to tell me what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

“Because it’s not your problem, okay?” This was not the way Waverly wanted to tell Nicole about her nightmare, so she hoped that the redhead would drop it if she gave ambiguous answers. But knowing Nicole, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Is it Alice? Because I can help you. I know how it feels t-”

“It’s not Alice!” Nicole’s thoughts were a blur as everything she could have done ran through her head. Finally, she remembered Monday.

“Is this because of your nightmare? The one you won’t tell me about?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think I do. You wake up, screaming, at six in the morning-”

“It had nothing to do with-”

“Screaming my name! How does that have nothing to do with m-”

“It was my own imagina-”

“You thought I was Wynonna! Or someone who wasn’t me-”

“I wasn’t really in a place to figure out who was hugging me from beh-”

“Because it wouldn’t be me because I was dead! That is why it has something to do with me, Waves!” Nicole finally let the tears that were gathering fall down her cheeks. “Something is terrifying you and that something is me .”

Waverly had her head down as tears slid down her face and onto the floor, fast. “I-” Her words were cut off by a sob as she walked towards Nicole and threw her arms around her waist. She crashed into the deputy; she easily reciprocated the embrace and settled her chin on the smaller girl’s head.

“I love you. So much, baby. It just… It hurts when you think you can’t tell me things.” Nicole could feel tears falling across her collarbone as she held the sobbing girl.

“I can’t.” She cried. “I will, but not now.”

“That’s okay, but please, soon.”

“Soon.” Waverly agreed. She knew they would have to have the conversation, but looking at her girlfriend’s face - bruised and swollen - she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Nicole tucked her hand under Waverly’s chin and brought her up for a sweet, tender kiss. When Nicole tried to pull away, Waverly grabbed the back of her head and pulled her back in deeper. Their lips slid together as they tried to pour each emotion into the kiss, wet from tears. Nicole pulled her in further by her lower back so they were flushed together. They stayed like that for a while, what felt like hours to them, kissing and whispering sweet nothings, until they heard a knock at the office door.

"I- Uh, just wanted to tell you that you could go home. Don't want to scare anyone with your mug and everything." Sheriff Nedley cleared his throat as the women jumped apart.

“It’s okay, I was just heading out.” Nicole gave Waverly a small smile as she headed to the door. “Come over later, yeah?”

Waverly wiped her face dry and showed the redhead an equally small smile. “Of course.” She sniffed. 

Both Nedley and Nicole exited the office, leaving Waverly alone. She slumped into an office chair and placed her head on the desk. The brunette then brought her arms up to shield her head, as if it would block out the past half an hour, almost. Why did she start screaming at her? Nicole was only trying to help, and she made her cry? Just because she wanted to keep her secret longer. She was going to tell her, and instead she froze and made her selfless girlfriend cry. What kind of girlfriend was she?

A few minutes of self doubt and loathing later she heard the door crash open, swiftly followed by Wynonna and Dolls dragging something in.

“Hey babygirl! So we have a gift for you.” Wynonna pushed forward the lump and Waverly recognised it as her ex-boyfriend. His eyes had dark bags under them and his nose was swollen and misshapen.

“Wynonna…”

“Waverly…”

“Did you kidnap my ex-boyfriend?”

“ Kidnap? Pshhh I was merely saving him from a revenant that was chasing a stolen car… Whilst taking hostages ‘kay sue me!” Wynonna defended herself with very vigorous hand gestures, some coming too close to Champ’s face, making him flinch.

Dolls took off his coat and hung it on the hanger before basically picking Champ up and putting him on a chair.

“Start talking, Hardy.”

“What do you bitches want me for?”

Wynonna scoffed. “Bitches. Bitches. That’s very original of you, buddy.”

“That dyke said the same thing.” He laughed. Wynonna grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him forward so they were face to face.

“Oh yeah, we had a conversation about that. Didn’t we, Chumpy?”

“Uh, yeah. I think.” Champ started to look around the room before his eyes met Waverly’s. “Waves! Baby, you gotta let me go. Your sister is crazy .”

“Uh, no. You do not get to even look at her after the shit you pulled this morning.”

“Look, it wasn’t that bad. She’ll come back eventually. I just busted up her pretty face, which was a shame; she was such a hottie, to teach her a lesson about stealing my girl.” Champ shrugged. Across the room, Waverly was becoming angrier by the sentence as he began to describe her perfect, amazing girlfriend like she was a worthless asshole.

“She’s not your girl, you ignorant little shit.”

“Only she can tell me that!”

“She has been! For over a month!”

“Because she’s been brainwashed by that dyke!”

By this time, the fire in Waverly’s eyes had turned into a full blown inferno. One that would rival Dolls’ actual fire. She stormed over to Champ and kicked his chair over. He landed with a thud on the ground.

“Listen here, James. I have been trying to be civil with you, but the more you terrorize my girlfriend, the closer I am to ripping that sorry excuse for a dick right out of your groin! So shut up, fuck off, and leave us alone!”

Champ scampered out of the room with a whimper leaving a furious Waverly, a speechless Dolls, and a cackling Wynonna.

“Oh. My. GOD. That was awesome! Do that more! I like this Waverly.”

“That asshole thinking he owns me. Who the fuck dropped him on his head as a baby?”

“Oh my sweet Waverly, she’s cursing. Dolls, she’s cursing!”

“How the frick did you get him here?”

“Oh, it ended. You were fun when you swore. Anyway, funny how you ask…”

Chapter Text

“I’m bisexual, Wynonna!”

“Whoops!”

Wynonna slammed the door behind her and Dolls as he put on his bomber jacket.

“So where are we going?”

“The car was reported as going in circles so hopefully it will still be doing that by the time we get there.”

“Great, leave it all to chance. That sounds like a me plan. Are you sure we haven’t swapped bodies?”

“Pretty sure.” Dolls deadpanned as they started to walk to the front of the station.

“Okay, so we drive, we get the car, we hand Champ and Co’s asses to Satan via Peacemaker, we drive it back, we get tacos.” Wynonna threw the empty doughnut box into a nearby trash can they passed.

“I agree with that plan except for the part where you slaughter four innocent civilians.”

Wynonna scoffed. “Innocent? Those boy-men lured my favourite Glitterbug to the middle of nowhere and beat the crap out of her kinda of attractive face. I say kind of because if i was gay… Waverly watch out, is all I’m saying…”

“You don’t like girls?” Wynonna stopped outside the door.

“You think i’m gay?”

“Not gay, per say. But you don’t like girls?”

“No, Dolls. I don’t.” She sighed.

“Oh, okay.” They opened the doors to the squad car and got in. “Really?”

“Yes!”

“Okay…” Dolls started the car and they drove to the location. And boy was it a long drive. Wyonna insisted on belting all of the words to songs that came on the radio, even to songs she didn’t know. And the channel? Broadway Stars Weekly.

“And now… The Queen of Broadway: Barbra Streisand in her most famous role: Fanny Brice!”

“Ooh, turn it up!” Wynonna yelled. Dolls reluctantly took his hand off of the stick to turn up the radio volume. 

“Don’t tell me not to… doo doo… SIEVE THE BUTTA!”

Dolls groaned as Barbra and Wynonna’s voices clashed. Sometimes, she even decided to put her own lyrics in.

“I’LL MARCH MY GANG OUT! I’M WAVING MY GUN!”

“Wynonna, no.”

“LA LA LA I’M SINGING, I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

---

10 minutes of torturous singing later, they spotted a police cruiser doing doughnuts around a spot as a man followed it. Dolls put the brakes on as Wynonna stuck her head out of the car.

“There’s a weird guy chasing the car.”

“Thank you, Wynonna. It’s not like we have a big-ass window in the front of our car.”

“I know, right?” Wynonna unbuckled her seatbelt and exited the car with Dolls following swiftly after.

“Okay, Earp, this is how we are going to do this: We shoot the-”

“Revenant!”

“-tires and the car-”

“Explodes!”

“-will stop and then we can take care of-”

“The revenant!”

“Exactly. We have to bide our time thou- and she’s gone.”

Wynonna walked towards the car and raised Peacemaker. It glowed a bright orange and she groaned.

“Why must you follow me everywhere?” She fired the gun and it went straight through the revenant’s head. It was sucked back into Hell screaming and kicking, as it should, and she turned her attention back to the cruiser.

Before she could do anything she heard a gunshot and the car sped out of control as air came out of one of the wheels. It finally stopped and 4 men staggered out.

“I thought you said they wouldn’t be able to find us!” One whisper-yelled.

“Who cares about that? Did you see that thing?” Another replied.

“You’re still drunk, Pete.” A ginger who was definitely not the ginger that owned the car said.

“Oh shit. Champ, it’s your sister in law!”

Wynonna walked forward and raised Peacemaker into the air and shot.

“Alright, assholes! Which one of you beat up my leprechaun?”

All of the men froze and slowly raised one of their hands into the air. The other went towards the man they decided to blame simultaneously.

“Champ.”

“Champ.”

“It was Champ.”

“It was totally Pete, I did nothing.”

“Alright! You three,” She pointed her gun towards them. “can fuck off, just don’t do it again, because you told the truth. Yup, that’s right. I saw the video you sent to my baby sister. But don’t touch a hair on my copper-child’s head again.” 

The brothers and the ginger ran towards the woods and disappeared between the trees, leaving Champ, Wynonna and Dolls, who was still by the car.

“Look, Wynonna, it was just a bit of fun.”

“Yeah the bruises on her face just screamed fun.”

“I was just reminding her of her place.”

“And what place is that, huh?” She started to slowly walk towards him, still holding him at gunpoint. Champ gulped.

“Well, I just wanted to remind her that Waverly is in good hands with me, y’know, because I love her. I know she’s been corrupted by that… animal.”

“That animal, treats her better than you ever did. They are the cutest, sappiest couple I have ever seen to the point where it is downright disgusting.”

“So you agree? That pairing is unnatural, but I do have to say,” He smirked, not realising that Wynonna was now within arm’s distance. “if they let me watch while they, ate each other's tacos, I wouldn’t mind.”

Wynonna barely let him finish his sentence before her fist flew towards his face, landing right on his nose, breaking it. She heard a loud crunch as he crumbled to the floor.

“And that ,” She towered over him. “is disgusting. I was wrong, you really do get worse, don’t you?”

“You broke my nose!”

“Get in the car or I’ll let her do a lot worse to you.” Dolls spoke up from behind Wynonna, making her jump.

“Jesus, where did you come from?”

“The car.” He deadpanned. Champ scurried past him and wretched the backseat door open, flinging himself in.

“Let’s get back on the road!” Wynonna yelled as she got in the car and flung the radio on.

“That was Julie Andrews’ ‘Favourite Things’. And now, it was made famous by the 1972 movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, ‘Grease’. Here’s ‘You’re The One That I Want’!

“Ooh, Dolls, duet with me!”

“No.”

“Oh come on, why not?”

“I’m driving and I have to radio Nedley about the car.”

“Fine,” She turned towards the back seat. “Champ! Duet me!”

Champ had his hands on his nose as blood poured out of it. “No.”

“Mercedes would’ve duetted with me.” She grumbled.

Dolls turned to her. “Are you sure you’re not at least pan?”

“No, Dolls! Why would I be- You betta shape up! DO DO DO! Cause I need a man!” She pulled Peacemaker out and pointed it towards the backseat.

“AND MY GUN IS SET ON YOUUUUU!!”

---

They finally pulled up to the station after a horrible rendition of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina’, which turned into ‘Don’t Fuck with Me, Purgatory’. Champ had bled all over his shirt and his eyes were now circled by bruises.

“Waverly is going to kill you, Chump.”

“You’ll see. I’ll win her back.”

Wynonna laughed. “Not looking like that, you won’t.”

Wynonna held open Champ’s door when he wouldn’t move.

“She’s in there?! You can’t let her see me like this! I need to look my best!”

“Dude, you are going to look a lot worse when she is done with you, at least, you would if she would lighten up a little bit. I mean, she probably won’t even fucking curse.”

“She would never hurt me; she loves me.”

“She did, but now she loves someone else. Someone who deserves her.”

“Don’t tell me she’s fallen for the lesbo.” Champ scoffed.

“Yup that’s it.” Dolls finally stepped in and grabbed the homophobe by the shirt, dragging him into the building.

“Ow ow!”

“Shut up and walk.” When he wouldn’t, Dolls dragged him into the office like a sack of potatoes.

---

“And that leads us here.” Wynonna said, punctuating her sentence with a bow. Waverly just stared at her with a disturbed, yet proud look.

“So did you get back the lunchbox?”

“Shit! I knew we forgot something. Let’s go, Dolls. I need to get my ‘Wicked’ on.” She went to walk out of the office when Dolls stuck his hand out.

“Earp, Nedley went over to get it when I radioed him. He should be back soon with the added siren and lights. In the meantime, we should find the next revenant. Waverly, I hope you’ve been doing research since we left.”

Waverly nodded. “Yup, I patched Nicole up, had an argument, she left, I cried for like, five minutes but then I did some research and found that a revenant hides out in the woods. His name is-”

“Woah, woah, woah. Back up for the jury here, Waves. Did that tall, ginger fuck do something to you? Because if she blamed you for this I swear I will-”

“No, no! The argument was my fault. She asked how I was doing and I screamed at her until she cried.”

Wynonna just stared, unsure of what to say. “I really hope there is a better explanation for that other than ‘I screamed at her until she cried because she was kind and considerate’.”

“I-I’ve been keeping something from her and I really needed to tell her but I kind of called her crazy and secretive instead.”

“Not a good way to keep a relationship, Earp.”

“Yeah, no shit, Dolls.”

“Woah babygirl, calm down.”

“I can’t calm down because I’ve just ruined my relationship! She’s probably asked me to come over to end things! This is the exact way I didn’t want things to go. I needed to ask you something but now it might not even matter because she doesn’t want to be with me and-”

“Hold on, what did you want to ask me?”

“I-I kindofwantedtogoringshoppingsoIcanproposetoNicolebecauseI’mtiredofwaiting.”

“Uh… Did you get that, Lizard Man?” Dolls just shook his head.

“I wanted you.. to help me shop for a ring… because I wanted to propose to Nicole… because she hasn’t.”

“You.. because she…” Wynonna waved her hands between Waverly and the door before the younger Earp nodded hesitantly.

“YES YOU IMPATIENT BISEXUAL!” Wynonna jumped up and down and started to circle her sister.

“Okay, okay.” Waverly laughed. “But you can’t tell Nicole. And we go first thing in the morning… if I still have a relationship by then.”

“I’m so EXCITED!”

Even Dolls started to laugh at Wynonna’s dorky dancing until Nedley knocked at the door.

“I need to speak to Wynonna, Deputy Marshall.”

Dolls nodded. “I’m sure I can spare her for a few minutes.” He looked at his watch. “It’s 2:55. Have her back by 3:15.”

Wynonna grumbled something that sounded rather crude as she followed the sheriff out of one office and into another. Nedley sat in his seat as Wynonna slumped into the chair on the other side of the desk and put her feet up on it.

“Now, I’ve brought you in here to discuss something of privacy with you.”

“Look, Neds, you know me, whatever you have on me, I promise, he started it.” She put her hand up in surrender as he sighed.

“No, Wynonna, I need you to deliver something.” He pulled a box out from underneath his desk and the brunette lit up.

“Haughtbox! You’re alive!”

“Now. it has something personal of Nicole’s in it, and I need you to deliver it.”

“Nedley…” Wynonna leaned forward in her seat and waited for the sheriff to do the same. “Did you find a strap-on in Haughtpink’s car?”

“What? Of course not just,” He placed the box in front of the Earp Heir. “get it to my deputy, okay? It seems important. I would but I need to hunt Mr. Hardy and Mr. York down for assaulting a police officer.”

”We can book them for that? What happened to ‘small town’, and ‘boys will be boys’?” Wynonna mocked in a deep, grouchy voice.

“There is sufficient evidence - the video sent to your sister and Officer Haught’s face - to get them to at least court. As for the others, there is no video evidence of them doing anything. Now will you or won’t you?”

“Jeez, okay. I’ll give it to her.” She picked up the box and strode out of the room, immediately spotting Waverly on her way out.

“Waves! You’re going to Black-eyed Nicky’s, right?”

Waverly stopped and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“What is that nickname from?”

“Well, it kind of sounds like the Black-eyed Peas, but it also makes it sound like my best friend is a pirate.”

Waverly rolled her eyes. “What do you want, Wynonna?”

“Give this to your 5 year-old, will you? Can’t have her missing lunch tomorrow, it’s essential if you want her to grow into a big, strong girl, okay?” Wynonna mocked as she handed the box over to Waverly.

“Ha, ha. What’s in it? It sounds rattle-y.”

Wynonna shrugged as she pulled out her phone and headed back into the office to Dolls. “Just get it to her!” She yelled.

Once Wynonna got into the office, she saw that Dolls was staring at her.

“What?”

“You do realise what you just gave Waverly, right?”

“A… lunchbox? This seems easy but I feel like this is a trick question.”

“Oh Wynonna,” He sighed. “I will miss your oblivion.”

“Okay, Mr. Smarty-Pants, what did I just give Waverly?”

“You, dear Wynonna, just gave Waverly her own engagement ring.”

Wynonna dropped her phone on the table and snapped her head up to meet Dolls’.

“I… Just… What?!”

Chapter Text

After a long, thoughtful shower at the homestead, Waverly was in her jeep headed to Nicole’s house. I mean, if she was going to be broken up with, might as well have mascara on to cry off, just for dramatic effect. It was currently only 5pm, light enough for Nicole to still be awake, but dark enough for her to have relaxed from her day.

When she pulled up to the blue house, she saw that only the lights for the bottom floor were on. Nicole: Ever the kind and considerate, never wanting to use too much energy. Oh, god, that didn’t even make sense. Waverly couldn’t even think of half a reason that she deserved Nicole.

Nicole didn’t make her cry when she couldn’t tell her things. Nicole didn’t push her away when she was trying to help. Nicole didn’t become so paranoid that something might happen, that she would rather break it off before she had to encounter the heartbreak.

Was this what she was doing? Breaking up with her? No. Why would she do that? She loves Nicole. More than she thought she could love anyone, but she wouldn’t be able to deal with the consequences of a bad call. At least, with Champ, she didn’t care whoever he went home with on a drunken night, but with Nicole, she was heartbroken even thinking about her girlfriend talking to

She walked up the porch steps of the house and raised her hand to knock on the door. She had no idea what she was going to say, and for the first time, she didn’t even care. She was going to pour her heart out and if Nicole decided to dump her, so be it. But first, the lunchbox.

She went back to her jeep and grabbed the pink box out of the passenger seat and ran back up the steps. She knocked on the door and waited for it to open. After what felt like an eternity, the door opened to reveal her girlfriend; her jaw had now started to bruise and the swelling was slowly going down.

“You came.” Nicole sighed dreamily, leaning against the frame of the door.

“Of course I came.” She replied softly. They stared at each other, unsure how to proceed, but not in a bad way. They just simply, were. No matter what was about to happen, or what would happen in the future, they had these few moments of relaxation, the calm before the storm.

Finally, Nicole cleared her throat and stood up straight. “Do you want to come in or should we stay out here in the cold? I have your favourite tea?” She added, as if Waverly would need any convincing. The redhead held out her hand and Waverly immediately took it.

Nicole pulled her in with a grin and closed the door behind her as her eyes roamed over Waverly. From her tight jeans to her bright red crop top, Nicole seemed to be in awe of the outfit the girl chose. She, herself, was wearing baggy blue sweatpants and a dark green hoodie, topped off with a messy ponytail she threw together when she heard the door.

“Before we get to any of that, I want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for yelling at you, I’m sorry for pushing you away, I’m sorry for everything.” Waverly rambled. She threw the lunchbox on the couch along with her coat.

“Woah, woah, woah. Calm down, Waves. It’s okay.”

“It’s not! I hurt you and I made you cry.” She stepped forward and cupped Nicole’s face in her hands. She ran her fingers lightly over every cut and bruise. “I might as well have done this, too.”

“Baby, you did none of this. Don’t even think that.”

“Please say you’re pressing charges. They attacked a police officer! They have to be locked up.”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t know, Waves.” Nicole shrugged. “It’s a small town.” Waverly dropped her hands and raised them above her head in frustration.

“That can’t be your answer every time someone says or does something like this to you! You shouldn't have to deal with this, and neither should I.” 

“What are you talking about? Is someone hurting you? I swear, I’ll-”

“No. No-one is hurting me. But that there,” She pointed to Nicole’s head. “and this,” She jabbed the deputy’s chest. “has a need to protect me. Why?”

Nicole’s eyebrows furrowed. “Isn’t it obvious? I love you, that’s why-”

“Exactly! And I love you, so how do you think it made me feel when I found out you’d been left in the woods, miles away without a car? How do you think I felt when I got a text from my ex-boyfriend that says he had to ‘shut my girlfriend up’ followed by a picture of said girlfriend bleeding in the woods!” Tears fell from Waverly’s eyes as she kept jabbing Nicole’s chest.

“How would you feel if that was me, huh?” Jab. “Scared?” Jab. “Heartbroken?” Jab. “Because that’s how I felt!” Jab. Her pokes started to get softer as she became more distressed. “I feel that way all the time because it keeps happening!” Jab . “I can’t do anything to stop it!” Jab. “I don’t know if you’ll come back if it happens again.” On this hit, Nicole grabbed her hand and held it to her chest.

“It terrorizes me at night, Nic. The thought of you leaving for patrol and not coming back. At least with these assholes off the street, the chances of you coming back to me are even higher.” She sobbed. Nicole kissed Waverly’s forehead and pulled her in closer to her body.

“I’m fine, here.” She rearranged the hand on her chest so it rested right above her heart. “I’m still here. I’m okay. Can you feel my heart? I’m okay.”

“You’re not, look at your face.” Waverly tucked her face into her girlfriend’s neck while her arms travelled up Nicole’s and over her shoulders, linking behind her neck.

“Jeez, thanks babe.” She kissed the side of Waverly’s head.

“You’re right. If I found out that you had been left in the forest, it would kill me.” She stroked the brunette’s back. “I’ll press charges if you feel safer.”

“It’s not about if I feel safe it’s just… I can’t deal with that again.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Just, get them thrown in jail or something. Nedley will help.”

“I will, I promise.”

Waverly breathed out a wet laugh. “Oh god, this was not what I came here for today.” She untangled herself and wiped her eyes.

“Yeah.” Nicole agreed. “What did you come here for?”

“Well,” She started, walking towards where she threw the pink monstrosity. “I needed to return this to you. Teacher’s orders.” She tried to pass the box to the groaning redhead, only for her to push it away from her body and back into Waverly’s.

“I can’t believe you made me take that to work.” She laughed.

“Yeah but, it was cute.” She started to walk to the kitchen. “Did you even eat your sandwich?”

“I could only eat half before I got a call. Sorry babe.”

“It’s fine.” She placed the lunchbox on the island before walking back to where Nicole was now sitting on the couch. “I will empty that glitter-bomb waiting to happen, and you… do something else; I’ve got the tea covered.”

“I’m going to call Nedley and talk to him about the charges.”

Waverly gave Nicole a kiss on the cheek and walked back into the kitchen to empty the box. She put the kettle on and took out her and Nicole’s favourite mugs, placing the teabags in them. She opened it and grabbed the half-eaten sandwich and threw it in the trash before something caught her eye. In the corner was a small, black box. She shakily grabbed it and held it between her two hands as she walked back into the counter, whacking her head against a cupboard door with a loud thud.

“Ow, shit!”

“Waves, are you okay?”

---

“I’m going to call Nedley and talk to him about the charges.”

Nicole felt a kiss on her cheek as she dug out her phone from her pocket and dialled the sheriff’s number.

“Sheriff Nedley speaking.”

“Hey, Sheriff, I wanted to continue the conversation from earlier.”

“The one you shut down because you didn’t want a fuss?” Even from across town Nicole could hear his eyebrow raise.

“Well, I now think it should be dealt with properly.”

“I think that is a wise choice. We can get the paperwork started tomorrow. In other news, did Wynonna give you your childhood lunchbox back?”

Nicole was confused. Why would Nedley give her lunchbox to Wynonna instead of Waverly? “Wynonna, sir?”

“Yes, I specifically told her because it had something… I think you would rather keep private from Miss Earp at this time.”

What was she trying to keep from Waverly at the momen- Oh no. “Sheriff, please tell me there wasn’t a ring in that box.”

From the other room, she heard an ‘Ow, shit!’.

“I think you should tend to that, Haught. I’ll see you tomorrow.” And he hung up. She would deal with that later but now, she had to deal with her maybe-injured girlfriend.

“Waves, are you okay?” She stood up and made her way to the kitchen.

“Uh… Yep!” Her girlfriend yelled in a very unnaturally high voice. As she walked through the doorway, she saw her girlfriend backed into a corner with a small box in her hand, the same box that, this morning, concealed the ring she had been hiding for the past few months.

“Waves?” She asked nervously.

“I-Is this what I think it is?” Waverly’s eyes were, once again, filling up with tears as she kept them on the cube.

“Hypothetically, if it was, what would you want me to do?”

The brunette sniffed before brushing some hair out of her face, one hand keeping a death grip on the box.

“Hypothetically,” Her eyes finally met Nicole’s. “I would want you to ask.” She held out the box for Nicole to take.

The redhead’s eyes lit up as she grabbed the box and took a deep breath.

“I was, uh, really hoping that I would have a speech by now but I don’t so this is going to go horribly wrong.” She grabbed one of Waverly’s hands and kissed the back of it. “Waverly, when I first met you, you were soaking wet, covered in beer and just royally pissed off and I thought, ‘If I can get this girl to smile for two minutes, then maybe I can survive Purgatory’. Things were going well so I decided to shoot my shot, only for you to find any excuse not to go out with me.” She chuckled at the memory while Waverly stared back, holding back tears.

“I gave you space, thought I was done for from the amount of gay panic you gave me. I was finally ready to burst when you friendzoned me, only to tackle me with your mouth about 20 minutes later. God, I don’t even know when you fell in love with me, but I fell in love with you a little after Willa.”

“The Wainwright.” Waverly mumbled.

“Huh?”

“I knew I was in love with you at the Wainwright. You gave me your bracelet and you didn’t even ask for anything back.”

“I knew you were special. Now shush so I can get through this.” Nicole playfully scolded as Waverly nodded.

“It was just after our first time: You were asleep and just had this peaceful look on your face, and I knew I would do anything to see that on your face every night. The next day I went ring shopping with Dolls and I’ve kept it on me ever since. You are the love of my life, I would do anything for you, even if that means stepping out of your life, which I don’t want to do, by the way.”

“We’ll have our ups and downs, the DNA test proved that, and today. I still don’t know what I did wrong, but we can fix that. We can get through anything because we are us. We’ve survived a whole other universe, for god’s sake. We are meant for each other.”

“I can’t promise a life full of money, I can’t promise that I will give you the easiest life; but I know that I will give you everything I have, anything I have is and forever will be, yours. Has been for a while now so with that being said.”

She got on one knee, having to let go of Waverly’s hand to open the ring box. “Waverly Earp, will yo-”

“Yes.” She sobbed.

“Babe, I-”

“Yes.”

“Honey,” Nicole laughed. “I need to finish the question.”

“Of course, yup.”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” Waverly dropped to her knees and tackled her girlfrien- fiancée, while attacking her with kisses. They ended up sprayed across the floor with Waverly on top of Nicole. 

“Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yesyesyes.”

“Oh sorry, babe, did you give me an answer?”

“You asshole.” Waverly scooted up the floor to see Nicole’s face. She may have been bruised, but to Waverly, she had never been more beautiful.

“Yeah but an asshole you’re marrying.”

“Hell yeah.” Waverly thought more about Nicole’s speech. “You went ring shopping with Dolls?”

“Yeah, he was actually pretty happy for me. That day was the only time I saw him smile.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t smile a lot.” She agreed. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Waverly smirked. “Want to show me how much?”

“Absolutely, but first,” She took the ring out of the box and put it on the brunette’s finger. 

“Better?”

“Better.” She leaned to connect their lips in a searing kiss.

---

Many hours of ‘proving their love’ later, the newly engaged couple was sat in bed, entangled by their hands.

“Nicole?”  Waverly whispered into the darkness.

“Mhm?” She heard answered back.

“I want to tell you about my nightmares.”

Seconds later she saw a flicker of light, courtesy of Nicole’s lamp, revealing the redhead herself.

“Only if you’re ready, baby.”

“I am.” She took a deep breath. “I dream that I wake up to a phone call from Nedley, telling me to get down to a barn where you are bleeding out from a gunshot wound. I can’t help you, I just watch you die.” Waverly kept her head towards the wall in front of her.

“Waves.”

“Sometimes, I can’t even reach you; I run but you are too far away.”

“Waverly.”

“Sometimes, you don’t even know I’m there. You think you’re alone.”

“Baby.” Nicole placed her hand on her cheek and turned her head towards her own bruised face.

“I’m okay, I know you would do the best you could to be there, and I know I would do my best to not die.”

“You can’t be sure.”

“Is that what earlier was about? What you got so upset for?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry.”

Nicole was silent for a moment. “That argument we had, that was completely uncalled for, Waves.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Nicole’s tone wasn’t accusing, but more curious. “Because I spent an hour trying to figure out what I did in between sobs because I thought you wanted to break up with me.”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“I would never purposefully invade you space, or tell you who you are. But you screaming at me because you didn't want to tell me something wasn't okay.”

“I’m sorry. For everything.” 

“You have to trust me. Do you trust me?”

Waverly smiled. “With everything I am.”

“That’s a lot: You, Waverly Earp-”

“I’m not an Earp, remember?” She smiled sadly.

“Do you want me to call you Waverly Gibson?”

“No, I have the perfect name.”

“What’s that?” Nicole asked.

Waverly played with the ring on her finger. “Waverly Haught.”

Nicole smiled and planted a kiss on Waverly’s forehead before laying down and pulling the comforter over herself and Waverly.

“As much as I love where this conversation is going, you look tired and we have things to do tomorrow, specifically kill your sister.”

“What did she do this time?”

“Well, I had a plan but she decided to give you the ring in a pink and blue, glittery lunch box instead.”

“And when were you planning to give me this ring?” Waverly snuggled into Nicole’s front while staring at the band. Nicole put her arm around the brunette’s waist and pulled her back into her body.

“Whenever I gained the courage. I almost did it last week, I even got down on my knee.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Wynonna walked in and asked us to go to Shorty’s.”

“Goddamnit. I need to call her in the morning.”

“Why?” Nicole asked curiously.

“We were going to go ring shopping in the morning.” She huffed out a laugh but Nicole kept quiet.

“Is she going to propose to Doc or Dolls?”

“Babe, not for her.” 

“ Ohhhh. Yeah you should cancel. We are not turning into one of those stereotypes where we need two proposals so we can both propose.” Nicole chuckled. “All that can wait for a day; but for now, sleep.”

“Okay, I love you.” Waverly sighed, already half asleep.

“I love you too, baby.”

---

Nicole was staring at the back of her girlfriend’s head when she thought about what Waverly had told her. She told her she was scared because she wasn’t there, that she wishes she could protect her. The thought of anything hurting Waverly made her scared beyond belief. The things hurting her were in her dream, her own imagination, and unless she was some angel version of Freddy Krueger, she was pretty much helpless. Without even knowing it, she started to sing a song her mother used to sing whenever she got nightmares.

Nothing’s gonna harm you

Not while I’m around

Nothing’s gonna harm you

No sir, not while I’m around

Demons are prowling everywhere

Nowadays

I’ll send them howling 

I don’t care

I’ve got ways

---

Waverly was transported to the same barn as usual, only this time she was on her knees. A familiar deputy was bleeding profusely from her abdomen sat in front of her. 

“Where’s Wave? She’s not here.” She stared at the ceiling above them.

“Nicole, you said you’d fight!”

“I can’t hold on, Wave.” Dull cocoa eyes met tearful hazel ones.

“Yes you can,” She screamed. “You promised!”

“I’m sorry.” Just as her girlfriend’s eyes started to roll back, she heard a faint alto voice from behind her.

No one’s gonna hurt you

No one’s gonna dare

Others can desert you

Not to worry, whistle and I’ll be there

Demons’ll charm you with a smile

For a while

But in time

Nothing can harm you

Not while I’m around 

She turned from the lifeless body of her girlfriend to see another version of her, this time in a white suit, singing to her. Waverly looked down to see herself in her mother’s wedding dress before Nicole started moving forward.

Not to worry, not to worry

I may not be smart 

But I ain’t dumb

I can do it

Put me to it

Show me something I can overcome

Not to worry, ma’am

Once she reached her, Nicole held out her hand and pulled Waverly up and away from her counterpart’s body.

Being close and being clever

Ain’t like being true

I don’t need to

I would never

Hide a thing from you

Like some

Nicole smiled as she finished the verse and Waverly blinked. 

---

The next thing she knew she was back in bed, eyes fluttering open. She wasn’t sure what woke her up, as it was still the middle of the night, but she quickly got her answer by a familiar voice behind her, softly singing in her ear.

Nothing’s gonna harm you

Not while I’m around

Nothing’s gonna harm you

Darling, not while I’m around

Demons’ll charm you 

For a while

But in time

Nothing’s gonna harm you

Not while I’m around

“I’m sorry I can’t do more to help you fight those dreams, baby, but I’ll be here when you wake up.” She felt a kiss on the side of her head and movement as her girlfriend snuggled into her. Waverly smiled and went back to sleep knowing that she had someone who could ward away her nightmares.