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Xavier always wakes up before Wynonna. Every single day, no matter the scenario. There could be a lifetime supply of donuts- preferably glazed, with sprinkles- being dropped off at the homestead and he'd still be the one to answer the doorbell and forge Wynonna’s name on the shipment order, no matter how excited she was about it the night before. He swears she'd sleep through the end of the world if there was no one around to wake her, and even then she might just want to hit the snooze button.
When she sleeps, she sleeps deeply, and she holds onto him. In the mornings when he contemplates his options on sneaking out of bed without waking her, he stares at her old teddy bear, Mr. Plumpkins, sitting on her dresser across the room. He wonders if Mr. Plumpkins faced the same death grip he's experiencing now when its owner was a child. Xavier would be lying if he said he didn't find her grasp endearing, but right now he really has to pee and he's a little too warm under three blankets and a long sleeve cotton shirt.
Xavier manages to pry himself out of his girlfriend’s grasp to brush his teeth and wash his face. It's Sunday, and he hasn't decided if it's a day off from work yet. He wants to relax, but it would be so much easier to do so if he didn’t have to worry about revenants. Maybe they'll just go about their day and not deal with any unless they happen to encounter them. They can afford one day off, right?
She's rubbing off on you , he thinks as he takes a glance at the sleeping girl in his bed. Stay focused. But Wynonna sighs in her sleep and Xavier feels absolutely no guilt for wanting a day to just be with her and not have to worry about anything else. They've both gone through too much in such a short period of time, and time to breathe seems more limited than ever. They should- and deserve to- savor every peaceful moment they get.
When Xavier enters the kitchen, he finds Nicole already there, in the process of making breakfast. She's in a t shirt and fuzzy purple pajama pants, and her hair is in a messy bun. She looks a little tired, but not unhappy. After everything they've dealt with in the past few months, Xavier can't blame her for being a little rattled. Besides, she was already new in Purgatory. He imagines that discovering the town was overrun by demons and your new girlfriend’s sister is the one who has to send them all back to hell with an ancient gun is probably a bit much to take in.
“Good morning,” Nicole says, going Xavier a smile and adding butter to the skillet where she was cooking pancakes.
“Morning,” he says back, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Sleep well?”
Nicole nods, loose hair dangling with her movements. “You?”
“I mean, aside from Wynonna’s snoring and laying on top of me, yeah,” Xavier says, taking a sip of his coffee.
Nicole looks at him curiously. “She snores?”
“Yup,” he says, popping the p with a chuckle. “It's alright though, I don't mind. Not really.”
Nicole flips a pancake and adjusts the heat on the burner. “My grandfather used to snore all the time, it would drive me crazy. I was so sure I was going to go insane after spending even five minutes listening to it.”
“Did you live with your grandparents, growing up?” Xavier isn't sure why he asks, the question just comes out of his mouth without a second thought. For a moment he worries he's made her uncomfortable but she isn't, she starts talking right away.
“Sometimes,” she says. “I would go back and forth between my parents’ place and my grandpa’s. I wasn't that close with my parents so I liked staying with him, but as I got older it got worse.”
“The snoring?” Dolls asks.
Nicole laughs, placing a pancake on a plate. “Yes, but also just being around him.” She pauses, contemplating her next choice of words before continuing. “My parents were never really that involved in my life since my older sister was already in college. Everything I was doing- clubs, community service, honor roll- it was all something she'd already done. When I started to get interested in law enforcement and forensic science, they laughed at me. They didn't think that was a job that girls could do.” Nicole rolls her eyes and lets out a small scoff at this, and Xavier can see she's still bothered by her family’s words. She's never been one to stand down or lower her self worth for anyone, he recognized that as soon as he met her and she barged into his office without knocking. However, Xavier suddenly realizes most of what he knows about Nicole is mainly in relation to who she is to Waverly, not who she really is.
“Anyways,” Nicole continues, “they would visit my sister at college and leave me with my grandpa, even when I was sixteen and could handle being home alone.”
Nicole gets quiet, and then looks up from her spatula to Xavier. His eyes are gentle, not pressing her to say more but attentive to the words she speaks.
“I trusted him,” she continued, “but he wasn't exactly who I thought he was. It was around that time that I really started to recognize that I, you know, liked girls, so I talked to him about it and he...he just looked at me like I was some monster. Like there was something wrong with me. He just looked at me like that, for as long as I poured my heart out to him, like he didn't even know me. And then as soon as I was done he changed the subject. Never mentioned it again. Not even once. I kind of resented him after that.”
Xavier doesn't know what to say. Her eyes stay cast downward, until she finally says, “I guess if it's someone you love that's snoring, it's more tolerable.” There's a small smile on her lips, and she's not visibly upset- just suddenly looks even more tired than before. He mentally decides that today will definitely be a day off for all of them.
But then, Xavier thinks about what she said for a moment. He's taken aback by the word “love”. He's been with Wynonna for a little over seven months, and he knows he loves her, and they've said it to each other, but something about hearing someone else recognize it is jarring. Like it's real, it's not just something that's in his head- or their heads- and it's valid. It's true.
“Yeah,” he finally says. “Yeah it is.”
They sit in silence for a moment, her flipping pancakes and him stirring his coffee. Finally, he asks, “does Waverly know about that?”
“Hmm?”
“About your grandpa.”
Nicole nods. “Yeah, I told her.” At the mention of her girlfriend, she brightens, and Xavier can't help but notice. “She's been really helpful with it. We both have damaged families so it's good to have someone to talk to about it.”
Nicole doesn't have to mention Willa, or the sisters' deceased father, or their absent, potentially dead, overall nonexistent mother. He knows. They're both dating an Earp, after all.
Xavier nods. “Family is hard.”
“What's yours like?”
“Uh…big. Spread out all across the country, living all sorts of different lives. We don't talk that often. We're all kind of different people, which is strange, since we all came from the same family.”
Nicole nods understandingly. “Sometimes the best family is the people that aren't your actual family.”
There's silence for a moment, and then she slides a plate of pancakes towards him. He's mulling over what she said for too long because it struck a chord somewhere inside of him, but he quickly thanks her and grabs the maple syrup from the other counter. As Nicole starts the next batch, Waverly comes out of the bathroom, skipping over to her and pressing a quick kiss to her lips. “Hi,” she says sweetly, quietly, and then takes the seat next to Xavier.
“You might want to get Wynonna,” Waverly warns him. “If she finds out she's missed any opportunities to gorge herself with pancakes, she'll be mighty pissed. You know she has a thing for breakfast food.”
He lets out a low chuckle. “Do I ever.”
He pads back to the bedroom, sweatpants brushing against the heel of his socks as he walks. It takes some coaxing and kissing and promise of a shower later- together , of course- to get Wynonna out of bed, and even then, she latches herself onto his back and makes him carry her down the stairs. Her laugh echoes against his spine as he battles the steps with added weight, and then she's off him in one quick motion, practically running into the kitchen as soon as she smells the syrup. He watches her take a seat next to her sister and steal a pancake off her plate, and as he makes his way back into the kitchen, Nicole meets his eyes and smiles.
Sometimes the best family is the people that aren't your actual family, she had said. As he listens to Waverly recite the wild dream she'd had last night and helps Nicole make more pancakes for a starving, overzealous Wynonna, he's starting to think she might be right.