Chapter Text
“Wynonna! Help me!” Waverly's cries filled the darkness of the night, “Wynonna please, they're going to kill me!”
Wynonna spun around, crazily, searching through the darkness for her sister. Waverly's cries suffocated her, and she waded forward until she fell into the dirt before the stool that Waverly's boots should have been perched on.
The stool was knocked on its side, Waverly's neck was snapped, her head eyes staring down, “You can't save me. You're too useless. You shouldn't be the heir. Willa should be the heir. You're just a fuck up.” her mouth didn't move, her lifeless eyes didn't blink but Wynonna felt the glare and heaviness of that gaze.
“I did my best.” she whispered, staring now at the stool before, “I tried, I'm trying.”
“You can't do it. You don't belong here.”
Wynonna pitched forward, scrambling off the foot of the bed in a daze. The toilet was cold against her clammy face as she emptied her stomach, clenching painfully as she laid in a small ball at the base of it. Her fingers shook, hard tremors that spread quickly through her body.
She hadn't had her pills since setting foot in Purgatory and the effects were obvious, as she spent most mornings curled up at the base of the toilet in her small trailer. She hadn't left it in the week that she'd been here, preferring to hide away from life.
Bobo came by a few times to check on her, and when Deputy Marshal Dolls came sniffing around Bobo sent him off in search of a warrant. Wynonna had heard the whole thing from her trailer.
“Miss Earp is one of my residents and neither of us give you permission to search the property or question my other tenants. Come back when you have a warrant. Have a good day, Deputy Marshal.” and then Bobo had sat down on the hood of a car, casual as the day was bright, and watched the deputy walk back out of the gate. Doc had come by the next day with food and a bottle of whiskey. He didn't outright say it, but he'd most likely heard her screaming that morning. In fact, he didn't say much of anything, sitting and eating with her in silence before heading back to his trailer.
When the knocking came from the front door now she wasn't all that surprised. Hauling herself to her feet she shuffled to the door, opening it to Doc standing before her. She motioned him inside and turned to go back into the bathroom.
After cleaning up her bathroom, brushing her teeth, and putting on some deodorant she headed back out to the main room of the trailer, sinking onto the couch beside Doc, “sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up.”
Doc nodded, setting his hat on the table beside them, his arm going around her shoulders and settling like a comforting presence, “I have dreams sometimes, that I'm back in that well and she's still trying to kill me. Wake up in the dark and panic, thinking I'm trapped down there again.”
“Waverly was hanging, her neck was snapped. I didn't save her. She told me I shouldn't be the heir.” Wynonna mumbled, “This happens like a lot. They called it a panic disorder, mostly just nocturnal panic, so when I have my dreams I wake up and I'm in the middle of a panic attack. Sometimes they're not bad, and other times....” she shook her head, leaning into Doc's side.
He was silent and warm, comforting just by being there with her. It was something Wynonna hadn't felt in years, “I was on medicine before I came back here...but with my record here I can't get them. No doctor believes me.”
“Your record?” Doc drawled slowly.
“My old parole officer used to make me and other parolees run drugs for him. I got busted and it just kept happening. Kind untrustworthy now, even though they weren't my drugs. I was just the runner.” Wynonna pulled her knees up onto the couch, tucking more securely into his side.
“Wyatt used to get those.” he finally said, “he would go for a run in the middle of the night. I used to go with him sometimes, to make sure he'd make it back. It's not sure fire, but it might be something.” he rested his cheek on Wynonna's head and they lapsed into silence.
“Maybe I should go get some running clothes.” Wynonna mused, “wanna come with me to find a Walmart?” she asked the need to get out and go so strong it made her hands tremor.
“What the Hell is a Walmart?” Wynonna laughed, smacking his chest and unfolding from the couch. He looked utterly perplexed and Wynonna's giggling drifted out from her room as she changed, pulling on clothes that didn't reek of booze and vomit. Even if Doc didn't complain the wonderful clientele of Walmart just might. They drove in mostly silence, Wynonna playing music softly through the speakers. Doc didn't seem any more comfortable in the car, but he watched the world go by, staring up at the stars like he was in another time. She wondered if he was thinking about another time.
When they pulled up to the store Doc stared up at it skeptically, hands on his hips, lips pursed. Wynonna tucked her arm through his and towed him toward the store. The strange normalcy of wandering through the near empty walmart with Doc was almost comforting.
She'd never felt something so normal, not since long before her daddy starting training Willa to be the heir. They wandered the isles, Doc taking in the food choices with a mixture of disgust and intrigue. Wynonna was so amused by this she just strolled beside him, leaning heavily on the cart in front of her.
When they made it to apparel she found two pairs of running pants, a sports bra, a shirt and a jacket. She didn't bother trying to match anything together, tossing it into the cart among some of the food and things Doc had tossed in.
She made a beeline for the self checkout, thanking Gus for the bribe to leave town as she swiped her card and headed out without a problem. She hadn't been able to even think of getting a job since returning to Purgatory and her money was likely to run out soon.
She didn't know what she would do for work, she was the town crazy nobody here would hire her.
“You could always ask Bobo for a job.” Doc chimed in, Wynonna hadn't realize she'd been speaking out loud.
“What job could I possibly do for Bobo?” Wynonna laughed, “work on his construction crew?”
“You could work at the bar. And there is no reason you couldn't work on the construction crew. Except that you'd maybe send all of his employees back to Hell when they mouthed off and made you mad.” Doc smiled at her charmingly and she found herself smiling back.
“And what about you? What do you do for Bobo?”
Doc's eyes darkened and his smile fell, “Well, Bobo and me have a special arrangement. I do the jobs nobody else can or will do for him, in exchange for help hunting down the witch that cursed me and dumped me in that well.”
“Is that why you're hanging around with little ol me?” Wynonna asked, her teasing tone betraying none of the secret worry that that was the case.
“Bobo asked me to keep an eye out for you, yes, but that is not why I went to Walls Mart with you. You may not believe it, Wynonna, but you have many likable qualities.” Doc answered.
“It's Walmart and I'm sure my crappy personality and screaming fits are super likable qualities.”
“Do not go selling yourself short Miss Earp.” Doc told her solemnly, the honesty in his eyes making Wynonna's nerves flutter. They pulled back into the trailer park, rolling through to the back of the park where her and Doc's trailers were hidden.
Wynonna handed him his bags and took hers, heading for the door, “Not feeling a run tonight, but maybe tomorrow?”
“I'd be delighted. Have a good evening, Miss Earp.” he too his hat off and gave her a half bow before heading into his own trailer. Wynonna hopped up the steps of her trailer, pulling the door shut and locking it behind her.
She stripped down in her bathroom, showering and changing into clean jeans and a long sleeved shirt. It was starting to warm up so she left her jacket in her room, put on her holster with peacemaker and made her way out of her trailer.
Bobo was easy enough to find, posted up in one of his lawn chairs picking at his nails with a knife. He grinned when he saw her and peacemaker on her hip, “Good morning Wynonna, what a pleasant surprise.”
“I feel like you might have been expecting me.” Wynonna told him, leaning against his trailer. Bobo made a gesture that implied he was expecting her, “I need to do something. Not doing things...I came back here with a purpose. But that isn't going to make me feel any better. Demons I came to kill are the only ones keeping me afloat.”
“So you need a job?” Wynonna nodded, arms crossed tightly across her chest, “I'm always looking for a bartender, but I have a feeling you might drink me dry from behind it and for free. I'd be willing to let you anyways, and keep an open tab off the clock, if you agree to be an enforcer of sorts. Revenants are only scared so much by me, after all I can't send them back to Hell. But you and that gun of yours sure can. You'd be paid to work at the bar, and you'd get an open tag for your enforcement services.”
“Don't you already have a bar tender?”
“I do, at the biker bar. But I've recently acquired a new bar. One I'm sure your familiar with, Shorty's?” Wynonna barely hid the flinch. The news of Shorty dying had been a huge punch in the gut so soon after losing her uncle.
“My sister works there. She hates me.” Wynonna deadpanned, “along with everyone else in town.”
“Well wouldn't that just piss them off. You don't deserve to hide. They can deal or they can go sober.” Bobo shrugged.
“You didn't even ask if I could bar tend.” Wynonna pointed out.
Bobo snorted, “you're a high functioning alcoholic at this point, Miss Earp, you and I both know you can make a few drinks.” he stood up clapping his hands in front of him, “Take it or leave it, Wynonna.”
“I'll take it.” Wynonna accepted eagerly.
“See you at 6:30.”
- -
Wynonna hadn't been behind a bar in years, but it was easy to fall back into. Most of this crowd wanted simple things, beer or whiskey. The few complicated drinks were easy enough to remember or google. Still she felt like she'd been run over as she stumbled into her bed face first, curling her arms around her pillow.
Waverly hadn't been working that night, and she was thankful because seeing her sister while dealing with the nightmares would have been a nightmare in and of itself. She wasn't ready to put up with that.
As tired as she was when the nightmare came and her scream ripped through her throat she was wide awake and antsy. After cleaning her mouth she threw her hair into a ponytail, changed into her running clothes and stepped out the door.
Doc was waiting beside her trailer, dressed similarly. They didn't talk as they jogged toward the back of the park and over the line of the ghost river triangle. Outside of the triangle so close to the perimeter didn't bother her like she'd thought it might, but she knew getting far away was probably still not a good idea.
They ran the whole time outside of it anyways, both dragging their feet as they stumbled back to their trailers. Wynonna slumped down into one of the lounge chairs outside of Doc's trailer with her water bottle and Doc sat in the other.
She didn't feel sick anymore, her hands were shaking, and the nightmare seemed like a distant memory. She wasn't ready to sleep by any means though, so they just sat up looking at the stars and talking about the lives they wished they'd had.
Doc wanted more years with Wyatt. Wynonna wanted more years without the Earp name.
“What did you call yourself?” Doc asked, lips pursed.
“Courtney Sutherland. I was happy, and free. I wasn't the crazy girl who killed her daddy and made up demons. I wasn't the girl who was committed. I was just a girl, traveling the world. I just got to feel normal, and then I had to come back here, and that all went away.”
“You can still have normal, Wynonna. What is stopping you from normal?”
“This curse? This town? I killed my daddy, no man is ever going to want to be with someone this fucked up.” she took a large gulp of her water, wishing for whiskey instead.
“I said it before and I'll say it again. Don't going selling yourself short, Wynonna.” Doc gave her a look that made her face heat up and then he disappeared inside of his trailer, leaving her alone with the sound of the night animals and the crackling fires in the distance.
When she got up a few hours later and crawled into bed she dreamt of a mustached man with a head of dark hair with a smile just for her. She woke up the next afternoon with a grin on her face and a skip in her step.
She stepped into Shorty's, spotting Waverly standing at a table with some customer. “It was gonna happen someday, Wynonna, might as well be this day.” she went around the bar, dropping her purse into its hiding space and shrugged off her jacket.
Peacemaker hung heavily against her hip, Bobo had refused to let her leave the trailer park until she had it holstered against her. It was ridiculous, because where he was sending her the demons weren't Revenants of Wyatt Earp's past, they were humans that hated her guts.
“What are you doing?” Waverly hissed as soon as she spotted her sister behind the bar.
“Uh working?” Wynonna answered, grabbing a glass and pouring a beer into it for one of the bikers that had followed her from the trailer park.
“Not here you're not.” Waverly snarled.
“Sorry baby girl, that's not up to you. Take it up with our boss.” she turned her back to her younger sister, swallowing the hurt that she felt, and asked the next person at the bar what they wanted. She didn't see her but she could hear Waverly's feet stomping across the bar as far away as she could get.
Waverly avoided the bar like the plague for the rest of the night, giving short clipped orders and disappearing until they magically appeared on the bar top. As if Wynonna wasn't standing there, she would even look at her as she rattled the orders off.
It was later in the afternoon and the crowd had died down before the nigh rush. Jay Novak, her old parole officer had been drinking himself into a stupor with Doc, who Bobo had explicitly told her not to serve, when they had both disappeared.
Since it was Waverly's table she had gone off into the bathroom to find them, only to come out a few moments later, face pale yelling for someone to help. Wynonna raced into the bathroom before anyone could get there first.
Doc was standing in the middle of the room knife drawn but clean. Her parole officer laid at his feet, in a pool of his own blood. Repent Sinners was scrawled in blood across the mirror. A man appeared beyond the words, skin blue and his white coat covered in blood. He smiled right at her, “Repent, Wynonna Earp, two hours to find forgiveness from the souls you hurt.”
He disappeared and Wynonna turned to Doc, eyes wide, “what the fuck just happened to me?”