Chapter Text
xiv.
July 2017; Purgatory, Alberta
Nicole's achilles is grumbling at her to take things a bit easy as she lugs the last over-stuffed cardboard box through the door. She wipes a hand across the back of her neck where it feels damp in the humid air, trying to stop her hair sticking uncomfortably to her skin.
Since getting things shipped cost a bomb, she had restricted herself to only five boxes plus her suitcase for clothes, but it's possible she had been a bit overambitious about what she could fit in each. It's a miracle the bottoms of the boxes are intact.
She wasn't especially attached to much of her material stuff, but as she'd amassed the basic home necessities already, there didn't seem much point in buying them all over again. She'd need to buy bedding and towels and all manner of soft furnishings, but generally she wasn't fussy so long as she had a place of her own to call home.
More important than almost any other object in the room by far is the small carrier lying empty in the corner. Its inhabitant is currently prowling the perimeter, still looking slightly unsure of its new surroundings.
After all that time in her pet-free Ottawa apartment, Nicole’s very first proper purchase (in anticipation of her very first paycheck as a qualified officer) was always going to be a rescue cat. Well, first purchase outside of her plane ticket, of course.
She'd found the cat listed online at a nearby rescue center and, via some photos and videos, had fallen in love instantly. She'd asked them to reserve the cat for her and, given that her background check involved ‘is a police officer’, she was deemed a responsible owner.
In person, she wasn't quite sure that this cat wasn't going to be kind of a handful, but it didn't really change her feelings on her new and improved roommate.
Nicole gives herself a moment's rest, flexing her foot to try and loosen it up a bit. She watches as the cat gradually grows bolder, launching herself gracefully towards a better vantage point in the form of one of Nicole’s boxes. She proceeds to smartly fall into it as she lands, the flimsy packing tape giving way beneath her. The cat gives a yowl and Nicole can't help but laugh, until the disheveled cat emerges and throws her the dirtiest look she's ever seen, before climbing - or probably more accurately - falling out the box again.
“I guess that settles one question,” Nicole says aloud, still chortling. “Doesn't it, Calamity Jane ?”
She had been searching for the right name for the cat since her ownership was confirmed, but within half an hour in her new home, Calamity Jane had all but named herself.
“Okay,” Nicole continues, still aloud and directed at the cat. “Try and behave yourself because I have to try and get this place nice for Waverly. She's coming round after she finishes at the bar in like an hour and I don't want it looking like a bomb’s hit it.”
Granted, it was a tall ask given that the place was only part-furnished and Nicole didn't even have a couch yet, but she could at least pile the boxes neatly and get her clothes in the built in wardrobe in the bedroom.
Waverly had said she'd borrow Curtis’ truck and drive them both out to the nearest IKEA in the morning for all the flatpack essentials.
Calamity Jane mewls softly at the sound of Nicole's voice and Nicole agrees.
“Yeah, you'll like her.”
Another meow.
“I know I sure do. A lot. She’s so smart and funny and cute and I can't believe she actually wants to date me.”
This seems to lose Calamity’s interest and she stalks off to investigate the kitchen.
“Fine, then,” Nicole mutters before dragging the box Calamity Jane had opened to the center of the room and rifling through it. Impossibly, her plants and heavily-packaged pots had survived, and they became the first things to be unpacked in her new home.
Getting a place of her own had been the subject of a lot of back and forth between her and Waverly, mostly heavily coded since neither really knew if they should mention that Waverly technically had a perfectly good flat already. In the end, over video chat one night, Nicole relieves them both by telling Waverly she'd found a pretty reasonably-priced house that she liked and could definitely afford on the money Nedley had offered her. She'd been looking at flats, but rent was dead money and she had enough for a deposit squirreled away in the form of one sizeable Vegas win, and an inheritance from long-deceased grandparents and a distant, childless great aunt.
It wasn't that Nicole didn't really like Waverly, because she had made it fairly obvious that she did (what with moving thousands of miles to be with her and all), but the relationship was a new and soft-skinned thing. Living together was big and bruises were easy things to come by; they needed to take things one step at a time. There was still so much to learn about Waverly and so much to tell Waverly about herself (big things and little things and scary things all come to mind at once).
Plus, she knows that Waverly kind of hates living above the bar and the implication is sort of that when they're ready (because in Nicole's mind it's not a question of ‘if'), then they will have a proper home with all the furnishings waiting and ready for them.
And if, as Nicole suspects, Waverly one day wants to spread her wings and see what else is out there in the big wide world, then Nicole is pretty sure she'd up sticks and start again at the end of the earth if Waverly will have her.
She is explaining most of this to Calamity Jane, when a sound behind her nearly sends Nicole through the roof (and Jesus she's meant to be a qualified cop now).
“Knock knock?” Waverly says sheepishly, a blush just visible on her neck and collar. She has two iced coffees - one in each hand - and had obviously squeezed in where Nicole had kept a box propping the front door open to get a bit of air into the stuffy house.
“I thought you might have heard the truck on the gravel,” she explains, setting the cups down on a windowsill. Nicole wants to ask how much of that she heard, but it's already pretty clear. Still, Waverly looks like she has stars in her eyes and Nicole thinks it probably went down okay. She gets up from her position on the floor to greet Waverly properly.
“Anyway,” Waverly says, biting back a huge grin. “Hey you,” she says taking a step forward and meeting Nicole in an embrace.
“Hey yourself,” Nicole whispers, kissing Waverly’s temple and cheek and lips the way she has wanted to since their last time together. It still hasn't quite registered that she can do this, that it is allowed and, in fact, encouraged. Waverly kisses her back, earnest and enthusiastic, before an attention-seeking meow draws their attention to the the floor where Calamity Jane is currently staring up at Waverly. The cat winds herself between Nicole's feet, her eyes fixed on Waverly.
“Haven't you had her like four hours?” Waverly asks, nervously surveying the slightly possessive look on Calamity’s alarmingly expressive face.
“Huh. Yeah, and one of those was in her carrier in the car.” Nicole notes the slightly tight look on Waverly’s face, as though the approval of Nicole's new cat is something she's placing a great deal of stock in.
Planting another kiss on Waverly’s hairline, Nicole smiles and extricates herself from both Waverly and Calamity, stepping away to gratefully collect her coffee.
“Don't worry,” she adds, “give it an hour or two and I'm sure she’ll love - uh, like - you as much as I do.” Nicole winces at the slip - it's much, much too soon for that kind of talk - but Waverly just steps behind her and loops her arms around Nicole's waist, hugging tightly.
It's something she's learning more and more, that Waverly gives affection so deeply and freely, and already Nicole loves that about her.
“I hope so,” Waverly agrees, voice muffled as she presses her cheek flat against Nicole's shoulder.
“I know so,” Nicole assures her, enjoying the feel of Waverly’s soft breathing against her back.
They eventually drink their coffees sat on the floor, Nicole coaxing Calamity Jane to come over to them. Calamity eventually butts her head again Waverly’s hand. Nicole tells Waverly about her journey over, and fills her in on Calamity’s earlier escapades.
“It doesn't feel real that you're here,” Waverly says apropos of nothing, letting Calamity bat her paws at the tassle on her bag. “I mean, it sort of didn't feel real last time either but that's because it was so unexpected. But this time you're here in this house and it's permanent.”
It was actually Waverly who had seen the house in person first. Once Nicole had mentioned the online listing, Waverly had offered to book a viewing so that she could take pictures for Nicole and offer her own opinion. It was helpful to have Waverly’s take on the place rather than the estate agent's doctored pictures. Nicole can imagine how extra strange it must feel now for her.
“It's a good kind of strange though, right?” Nicole checks, feeling slightly unsure for the first time.
“The best kind,” Waverly replies without a moment's hesitation.
They potter about until dinnertime, unpacking what they can and trying to decide the best way to lay out the ground floor once there's furniture available. Waverly seems to have a better eye for interior design than Nicole, who isn't too fussy so long as the place feels cosy, so she lets Waverly’s creative vision take over.
They're interrupted once, when Nicole's mom rings to ask how the moving is going. She hasn't actually told them about Waverly yet, and it had taken some explaining when she told her family where she was moving after graduation. Luckily, Nedley’s enthusiasm goes a long way to assuaging her mom’s concerns, and Waverly seems to understand that Nicole is choosing her moment.
(After all, “mom, I'm a lesbian” is one thing, but “mom I'm a lesbian, and I'm moving halfway across the country to be with a girl I met over email because I love her and have never been more certain of anything in my life”, is another thing entirely. She is ready to come out to her mom now, even kind of excited just to finally get it all out there, but she needs to work out her plan of action).
Because if Nicole had thought she was certain about becoming a cop (and Lord, she was), then it was nothing compared to how she felt about Waverly Earp.
When Nicole has ended the conversation and they've unpacked all her clothes, Waverly’s stomach gives a grumble and they acknowledge that it's time to call it a day.
For all they've discussed not moving in together in Waverly’s apartment straight away, Nicole has little choice but to stay there until she buys and assembles a bed tomorrow.
Well, in truth she could have booked a room somewhere, but it is never once discussed between them and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't thinking about the exhilarating notion of spending the night with Waverly in the most PG way possible: vegan tacos, popcorn, movies, and a lot of napping. Oh and making out, definitely the making out. (Okay, so maybe not totally PG).
She packs overnight things for herself and Calamity Jane, negotiating with her to get her back in her carrier, and Waverly drives them the short way into town.
They make quite a trio, traipsing through Shorty’s and up to Waverly’s apartment, but Waverly doesn't even seem to notice the way one group of guys is particularly vocal as they pass by.
“Ex’s friends,” she tells Nicole with a delicate, disinterested shrug as she locks the door behind them. Nicole hopes that the gesture means that they're both prepared to be at least partly blasé about whatever this town is going to throw at them when people find out they are dating.
After letting Calamity Jane out and receiving a very quick tour from Waverly (the place was cute but compact which, when Nicole thinks of it, suits Waverly pretty well), they set about cooking dinner. It's all unassumingly domestic but it sends Nicole's heart soaring, moving about the tiny kitchenette with Waverly in her short suede skirt and incongruous fluffy pink slipper socks. Twice she uses them to skate across the tiles on the floor, zooming gently into Nicole's side to wind her arms around her.
They open two bottles of beer as they eat on the couch, feet propped against the coffee table so they can balance their plates on their legs. It leads Nicole to make a mental note that any romantic candlelit dinners will probably have to take place at hers.
Waverly chatters about their day tomorrow, planning to drive them into the city first thing, where she needs to quickly stop by the university before she has plans for a lunch date that basically involves Nicole meeting her friends; Rosita, Jeremy, and Jeremy’s boyfriend apparently. It sort of makes Nicole equal parts nervous and excited, but, well -
“If my natural wit and charm improbably fail, I'm going to fall back on the old ‘hey Rosita, I'm Nicole, remember that time Waverly told me instead of you all about how terrible her ex-boyfriend was?!’”
“ Hey . Bully.” Waverly pouts and shoves Nicole so hard she nearly drops her empty plate on the floor. “If I wash these plates while you go take that shower you were saying you were so desperate for earlier, will you promise not to gang up on me with my asshole friends tomorrow?”
“Sounds like a fair deal. But also I'll help, it'll be quicker that way.”
Waverly shakes her head, “it'll take like two seconds since we cleared up as we went along. I showered after my shift so that way we'll be ready for bed at the same time. I downloaded Zootopia !”
This makes Nicole laugh. “Hmm I wonder why?”
“Brave and caring young bun, graduates top of her class at the Academy, goes to the big city to become a cop and single-handedly make the world a better place? I don't know,” Waverly jokes, eyes shining as she looks up at Nicole.
“Plus I'll bet anything that you think that Shakira song is a bop.”
Waverly pulls an expression that seems to read as 'well, obviously?'
"It's an animated gazelle, Nicole. What's not to love?"
For about the hundredth time that day Nicole laughs. She won't tell Waverly tonight (later, maybe) but she doesn't actually especially care for the animal Disney movies as much (except for Aristocats and The Lion King - those are just sacred), but with the enthusiasm written all over Waverly’s face, she suspects Zootopia is about to become her new favourite movie.
“Okay, so I guess I should hurry up and get off the couch so we can start the movie?”
Waverly nods enthusiastically by way of reply, and Nicole drops a tiny kiss to the tip of her nose before handing her plate over and heading to the bathroom.
“Sure you don't want a hand?”
Waverly shakes her head to herself. “Will you hurry up and shower already?!”
When she gets out the shower, Waverly is already laying on the bed in sleep shorts and what appears to be a spare Academy shirt of Nicole's.
“Um, did you steal that from my suitcase?” she asks, trying to be stern.
“Maybe,” Waverly replies, stringing out the ‘a’ and flashing a winning, toothy grin. Still, she checks it's alright that did she so, and Nicole plays it as nonchalant as possible because seeing Waverly in her shirt is actually really, really nice in a not entirely chaste way.
Waverly has the popcorn ready and Calamity Jane has already somehow wormed her way into getting a spot at the foot of the bed. This in spite of Waverly assuring Nicole very firmly that pets in the bedroom was not an option when Nicole had first pitched the idea of getting a cat.
Nicole quirks an eyebrow pointedly at the cat as she and Waverly cuddle up on top of the duvet, as even Waverly agrees that it is too warm for any blankets.
“Don't look at me like that. I tried to shut her out but she meowed and, well -” Waverly gives a slightly wild shrug.
“She meowed?”
“Yeah?”
“Waves she's a cat, it's what she does!”
Waverly hits her with one of the many scatter cushions from her bed.
“Don't,” another hit, “be so,” hit, “mean to me!” a final thump on her face. “I'm gonna chuck you out otherwise!”
Nicole wrestles back and on paper it should be an easy match given her training, but Nicole wasn't underestimating her opponent. Waverly, she had learned over the past few months, was strong in more ways than one.
In the end they are both winners because their grudge match ends with Waverly beneath her, trying to pin Nicole by hooking a leg over Nicole's hip and when their bodies collide it elicits a different reaction entirely.
They do eventually manage to start the film, but miss a great deal of it because Nicole finds it increasingly difficult to not kiss Waverly in as many places as she can.
She lets Waverly set the pace, had decided a long time ago that she always would, and she practically loses it when Waverly shyly snakes a hand up Nicole's shirt, palm skating over the plane of her stomach, up and up, and they both gasp when Waverly’s cool fingers find Nicole’s bare breast.
Waverly bites her lip tentatively but when she sees the look on Nicole's face, the expression slides into something much more cunning.
If this is how it feels now - the closeness, both physical and emotional - when there is still so much more knowing and seeing and touching and loving to do, Nicole wonders just how much more she can possibly feel before she floats away entirely.
And when the movie and the popcorn is finished and the exploring is over (for now), Waverly arranges them on their sides so that Nicole is curled around her. Sleep comes easily with Waverly so soft and warm and pliant against her, but Nicole fights it until Waverly’s breathing evens out first.
All Nicole knows when she finally drifts off is that Waverly’s hair still smells of coconuts, that she snores ever so softly when she sleeps and that, in the morning, the sun will rise and Waverly will be there still. And they will have all the time in the world to learn how to fly together.