Archive of Our Own

John Schrank.

What had started out as a couple of simple break-ins had turned into a trip down the rabbit hole, and everything seems to keep leading back to a single white rabbit that’s leading her by the hand.

John Schrank.

“More like the Mad Hatter,” she mumbles as she tries to piece together the random clues and bits of information that are spread across her desk.  She’s got everything from security videos to a personal blog account to a missing police file from another jurisdiction.  She feels like there’s something there. 

A thread. 

If she can just find the right one and begin to unravel it, maybe she can—

“Haught!”

Nicole jumps so badly she drops her fidget cube.

Nedley rounds the corner to the bullpen, brushing dust off his sleeves as he goes.  He stops at the corner of her desk, running his fingers through his hair and coming away with the remnants of a cobweb.

“Y-yes, sir?”  Nicole eyes him warily, sensing the grumpiness following after him like a storm cloud.

“Went down to the archives this morning,” he grumbles, trying to flick the cobweb into her trash can.  It sticks to his fingers and he shakes his hand violently, eventually giving up and just wiping it off on his pants.  “Thought I’d check one more time for that file you said went missing.”

“Any luck, sir?” she finds herself asking, even though she already knows the answer.

“Nope,” is all he says as he walks away.  Halfway to his office, he stops and turns back toward her.  “I’ve got Ruthie calling the County Clerk, just to make sure none of the records are still being held over there after those renovations we did back in the seventies.”

Nicole nods at him.

“She’s also gonna get in touch with Heather over in Lethbridge County and Josie down in Pincher Creek County.  Just to see if they ever had any contact with him.  She’ll let you know if she finds anything.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“And, uh…  Haught?”  Nicole cocks her head, waiting for him to continue, but he fiddles with his belt for a minute before he looks back up at her.  “She’s also callin’ Sharon over in Ranchland County, so…”

Nicole makes an exaggerated distressed face.

“Yeah.  Exactly.  So, uh…  You might want to make sure a mocha from E-Spurs-O’s finds its way to her desk a little later.”

“Absolutely, sir.”  Nicole grins and his mustache twitches when he nods and disappears into his office.

So the arrest report and incarceration records following Schrank’s assassination attempt on Teddy Roosevelt are definitely missing.  Nicole isn’t particularly surprised by this confirmation, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.    One of many gaping holes in the connection she’s trying to establish.

She scribbles a few notes about it in the spiral notebook she bought specifically for this case and then sets it aside.  If she can’t follow the Schrank angle right now, maybe she can dig a little further into Josh Miller.  He’s a solid suspect for the break-ins and Nicole is convinced he’s also Schrank’s grandson. 

There might be a way to tie more of this together if she can just–

“Officer Haught.”

Nicole looks up to find Doc standing in the doorway, shifting his weight from foot to foot and turning his new hat in his hands.

“Oh, no…” Nicole mutters before smiling up at him.  “What’s up, Doc?”  She chuckles, but he only stares at her with confusion.  “Sorry, sorry,” she sighs, rubbing her hand over her face.  “What can I do for you, Henry?”

“I, umm…”  He clears his throat and stands a bit straighter.  “I wondered if I might borrow a moment of your time.”  She starts to wave a hand at the chair next to her desk, but he shakes his head.  “In private?”

“What’s wrong?” Nicole asks, instantly on alert, a feeling of dread beginning to settle in.  “Is Waverly…?”

“No!” Doc is quick to answer, placating her with his hat in one hand and the other empty.  “I assure you it is nothing like that.”  Nicole’s shoulders sag in relief and he begins to fidget again, taking a step closer.  “It is just that…  well…  you are a woman, Miss Haught.”

“Well spotted, Henry,” she replies flatly.

“A woman who...”  He drops into the chair next to her despite his earlier request and coughs nervously.  “Who knows…  things.  About women.”

“Oh.”  Nicole’s brow furrows for a second.  “OH,” she says again, her cheeks now stained a deep crimson.  “Henry, I don’t think th—”

“Can you tell me what this means?”  he blurts out, cutting her off before she can finish and holding his new cell phone three inches from her nose.

Her eyes are crossed trying to focus on the screen, and when she finally manages, she wishes she hadn’t.

“Henry, oh my god!” she yelps.  “Put that away!”  She grabs the phone out of his hands and flips it upside down on her desk, looking over her shoulder frantically to check if anyone else had seen.

“Well, I did ask to speak to you in private,” he says, his blue eyes twinkling.

“You can’t just…  I mean…  That’s…”  She can feel the heat in the tips of her ears.  It’s almost painful.

“Now back in my day,” he talks over her, waving a hand dismissively, “a gentleman only received a photograph of that nature when he had entered into a particular sort of relationship with a lady.  The sort that generally led to the reciting of vows, if you understand my meaning.”

Nicole just gapes at him.

“So I am trying to ascertain, Officer Haught,” he says as he leans in a bit closer, lowering his voice.  “Is, uh…  Is Miss Rosita looking to court me?”

She drops her face into her hands and groans loudly.

“No, Doc,” she says, her voice muffled by her palms.

“Well if she is not trying to court me, then what, pray tell, are her intentions?”

“Sex,” she whispers, harshly.

He either doesn’t hear her or doesn’t understand.  He just continues to stare at her with his face all crinkled up.

“Sex, Doc,” she hisses through her teeth, looking up at him in frustration.  “She wants sex.”

“Thunderation…” he drawls, his eyes comically wide.

“Yeah.  Exactly.  Now get out of here,” she says, shooing him out of the chair.  “Because thanks to you, I’m gonna have to have a really awkward conversation with my girlfriend when I see her again.”

“My apologies, ma’am,” he says with a smirk, tipping his hat at her on his way out.

“Whoever gave that man a phone…” she grumbles to herself as she slumps back into her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose.

After taking a couple of minutes to collect her wits, Nicole leans forward in her chair, playing with her fidget cube again while she goes back to looking at the notes and reports spread out on her desk.

The most recent entry in Josh Miller’s blog is concerning.  He mentions learning a secret from his grandmother, Lydia Laurent, that he thinks could mean a lot to Annie.  His dead fiancée.  Which makes no sense to Nicole, and does not sit well with her. 

She knows that Lydia has ties to Schrank, and she starts to wonder if –

“Hey, baby!”

Nicole drops her fidget cube again.

A pair of arms wrap around her shoulders from behind and she leans back into it when soft lips press a kiss to her cheek.

“Hey, Waves,” she says, smiling.  “What’re you doing here?”

Waverly pulls back with a slight frown.

“Did you forget we were having lunch today?”  She makes an exaggerated pout, but Nicole can hear the disappointment hiding in her tone.

“Of course not, babe.”  Nicole reaches out to pull her close again.  “But it’s only…”  She glances at the clock on her computer screen.  “Oh.  I guess the time got away from me.”

“I…  I can come back if you’re busy…”  Waverly waves a hand at the mess on Nicole’s desk.

“Never too busy for you,” Nicole says, bringing Waverly’s hand up to her mouth so she can brush a kiss against her palm.  “Let’s get out of here.  I could use a break from all of this.” 

She stacks the loose papers and folders together and tucks them neatly into her desk drawer, locking it as she stands from her chair with a stretch, her joints popping and cracking after being hunched over for hours.

“I have some stuff in the Black Badge fridge to make us a couple of gluten-free wraps,” Waverly says, starting to tug Nicole toward the office across the hall.

“Uhhh…” Nicole winces, planting her feet.  “Actually, umm…”  Waverly stops and looks at her expectantly.  “I…”  Nicole stalls, rubbing the back of her neck, before her eyes light up.  “Actually, I owe Ruthie at treat from E-Spurs-O’s.  I thought maybe we could go there for lunch today?”

“But, what about th—”  Waverly starts with a pout, but Nicole cuts her off.

“My treat.  Since I have to go there anyway.”  She smiles hopefully, wide enough that her dimples pop.  Waverly makes a face and sighs but eventually relents.  “Okay, just let me grab my jacket,” Nicole says on her way to the coat rack in the corner, mentally pumping her fist in victory at avoiding another one of Waverly’s healthy lunches.

The coffee shop is buzzing, at the height of the lunch hour rush, and the two of them join the back of the line while making small talk about their mornings.  Nicole explains with a bit of excitement that Nedley gave her this break-in case to run with on her own and Waverly talks about cleaning out the remnants of the leaning tower of amnesia from the barn with Wynonna.

Nicole can sense the uneasiness when Waverly tries to joke about the things that Mikshun used her to do, and she slips her hand into Waverly’s, squeezing it gently.  Waverly starts to relax before jerking her hand away in a panic.

Feeling like she just got slapped in the face, Nicole forces herself to take a step back, letting her hands rest on her duty belt instead. 

She grips it so tightly her knuckles turn white, matching the knot in her chest.

“I’m sorry,” she says thickly, her throat closing off.  “I didn’t realize we were still keeping it…”  She glances around and then looks back down at her feet.  “I’m sorry,” she mumbles again.

Waverly chews on her lip for a moment, wrestling with a decision, and finally takes a hesitant step closer, ducking her head until she’s in Nicole’s line of sight.

“It’s just that… umm…”  She lowers her eyes and her voice right along with them.  “I was remembering when, umm… when it made me kiss you at the homecoming rally.”  She shifts uncomfortably when Nicole raises her gaze and watches her intently.  “You made it perfectly clear not in uniform and not in public.”  She waves a hand at Nicole and then at the shop around them.  “A-and we’re both right now, so…  I didn’t think you would want…”  She shrugs and looks away.

The knot in Nicole’s chest tightens and she reaches out slowly, taking Waverly’s hand in her own again.  When she doesn’t pull away this time, Nicole covers them both with her other hand.

“That was different, Wave,” she says quietly, tracing patterns on the back of Waverly’s hand with her thumb.  “I was working.”  She waits until Waverly meets her eye again.  “I’m not on an active call right now.  This is okay with me.”  Her thumb pauses its movements.  “If it’s okay with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

Waverly gives her a watery smile and leans into her.  Nicole instinctively wraps her arm around Waverly’s shoulders, the knot in her chest beginning to unravel with the warmth of Waverly’s cheek resting against her heart.

There’s more there.  More to be said.  A full conversation to be had.  But now is neither the time nor the place, and when the barista hollers at them, they’re both a little grateful for the interruption.

“Officer Haught!  Waverly!  You guys can come around over here.”

Nicole’s brow furrows, looking at the line of people still in front of her, but Waverly is already dragging her by their still joined hands to where the teenager is waiting for them at the end of the counter.

“What about the line?” she asks when they get closer.

“You don’t have to wait in line, Officer,” he says, pulling his notepad out of his apron.

“Danny, that’s not fair to everyone else.  We can wait.”

“Sorry, Officer.”  He shakes his head with a toothy grin.  “It’s policy for Purgatory’s finest.  Now what can I get ya?  The usual?”

Waverly shoots her a look and Nicole’s eyes go wide, knowing she’s just been busted for skipping out on some of the cardboard pizzas Waverly has been stocking the break room freezer with for her.

“Uhh…”  She clears her throat sheepishly.  “Yeah, Danny.  The usual for me.”

She waits for Waverly to order an Asian chicken salad and then lets Danny know that before they leave, she’s going to need a blueberry muffin with the cinnamon crumbles on top and a mocha to go.

“Ooooh,” Danny grins at her.  “Trying to buy your way out of the doghouse, Officer Haught?  Or just buttering Miss Ruthie up for something?”

“Maybe a little of both,” she says with a wink and then goes to join Waverly at a table in the corner.

“The usual?”  Waverly crosses her arms over her chest and gives Nicole a pointed look.

“Well…  I mean…  Not the usual usual.”  Nicole tries to make an innocent face.  “Not like all the time or anything.”

“Mmhmm…”

Nicole casually inches her hand across the top of the table and her whole body sings when Waverly instinctively reaches out and takes it in her own.

It isn’t long before Danny appears carrying a tray with their orders.  Waverly and her iced green tea to go with her salad; Nicole and her bone dry cappuccino with a shot of caramel plus a lightly toasted open-face bagel sandwich.  Waverly makes a disapproving noise when she eyes the chunks of ham and roast beef and turkey smothered in two kinds of melted cheese and topped with mushrooms and tomatoes and onions.  Nicole just winks and savors a large bite.

When most of their food is gone, Nicole begins to fidget with the insulation sleeve on her coffee cup.  It goes unnoticed at first, but when it’s accompanied by the bouncing of her leg, effectively shaking the whole table, Waverly finally stops chewing on her straw and reaches across to still Nicole’s movements.

“Did you forget your fidget cube?” Waverly teases lightly, frowning when Nicole fails to relax under her touch.

“No, I uh…”  She shifts uncomfortably in her chair and continues to bounce her leg.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”  Waverly strokes her thumb across the back of Nicole’s knuckles.

“I…  umm…”  She clears her throat.  “I have to tell you something, Wave.”

“W-what is it, Nic?”  Waverly asks, the movements of her thumb ceasing.  “Just tell me,” she whispers, fear making her shoulders sag.

“I saw Rosita naked,” Nicole blurts out, immediately blushing bright red when the couple seated at the table next to them turns to stare.

“You…  You what?”  Waverly withdraws her hand and Nicole’s heart sinks at the loss.  “Was it…  Is it because of something that I did?  When I was…  you know…” she side-eyes the couple trying to pretend like they aren’t listening, “not feeling myself?”

“No.  No.  God, no.”  Nicole buries her burning face in her hands.  “Nnnndds.”  Her answer seems frantic, but is completely muffled.

“What?”  When the man seated next to them fails to disguise his snickering, Waverly gives them both a death glare and they instantly collect their trash and scurry away, leaving her alone with Nicole.  “You wanna try that again, Officer Haught?”

“Nudes!” Nicole hisses, scandalized.

“Rosita has been sending you nudes?”  All traces of sarcasm are gone from Waverly’s voice, replaced by resignation and defeat and rejection.

“Doc,” Nicole whines.

“Doc has been sending you nudes?” Waverly asks, still hurt, but now also clearly confused.

“Noooo,” Nicole groans, frustrated.  “Rosita has been sending Doc nudes,” she whines, her hands gesturing wildly.

“No shit?” Waverly asks, momentarily forgetting how upset she is.

“Right?”  Nicole’s eyes are wide with disbelief.

“Okay, but…”  Waverly shakes her head, regaining her focus.  “What does Rosita sending Doc nudes have to do with you,” her gaze drops to the table, “you know…  seeing her?”

“Because,” Nicole sighs, resting her forehead in her hand.  “He showed them to me and asked what they meant.”

“He what?”

“He wanted to know if it meant she was trying to court him.”

Waverly snorts.  “Court him?”

“I know.”

“Well, what did you tell him?”

“I told him she wanted sex,” Nicole whispers loudly, her eyes darting around the café.  “I think…  I think he might have gone straight back there to give it to her,” she adds, huffing out a laugh.

“Wow.  So.  Boobs McSeltzer.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Nicole mutters with an appreciative smirk.  Waverly raises an eyebrow.   “Wait, what?”  Nicole splutters, her face redder than a fire engine.  “I mean.  Uhh…”

“First I hear you’ve been checking out my sister’s top-shelf ass, and now you’re all googly-eyed over Rosita’s assets.  Just watch… next thing, I’ll find out you’re hitting the strip clubs.  What’s a girl to think, Officer?”

“Waverly, no.  I haven’t…”  Nicole tries to take her hand, but Waverly keeps it just out of reach.  “It’s not like that, baby.  I swear.”

Waverly holds her eye for a long moment, until she can’t keep a straight face any longer and bursts into a fit of giggles.  It’s the giddy sort of laugher, filled with relief.

“What…?”  Nicole frowns.

“I know, baby.  I know.”  Waverly grins and finally takes her hand.  “You just…  You had me really worried for a minute, so you kind of deserved that.”

Nicole huffs out a nervous laugh, but she squeezes Waverly’s hand tightly, needing the reassurance.

“Maybe we should, uh…  you know…  not tell Wynonna about this development,” Waverly says, chewing on her lip.

“Oh,” Nicole says a bit surprised.  “Are they still…?  I didn’t know.”

“Umm…  I’m not sure.”  Nicole doesn’t miss the way Waverly seems a bit distracted, staring off into the distance.  “But she’s been through a lot lately.  Better to not make it worse.  Just in case.  Right?” 

Waverly gives a little laugh, but Nicole can tell she knows something that she’s not saying.  She just smiles and nods, though, deciding not to press the issue right now.

They finish up their lunch, Waverly continuing to tease Nicole and watch her blush, but it’s filled with casual contact – soft touches of their hands while not busy eating, bumping their knees under the table, playing footsie like a couple of giggly school kids – and Nicole finds comfort in it.

Danny has Nicole’s bribe for Ruthie ready when they leave and they walk back to the station, Waverly’s arm looped through Nicole’s, her head resting her arm.  Ruthie glares at them while she argues with someone on the phone – fucking Sharon, if Nicole had to guess – and she slides the offering across Ruthie’s desk with a sheepish wave.  Ruthie continues to watch her with narrowed eyes, but she snatches up the paper sack and Nicole catches the hint of a smile when she smells the fresh muffin and takes a sip of the coffee.

Back at her desk, Nicole plays with Waverly’s fingers, stalling when it’s time for her to go.  It’s been a while since they’ve been like this, thanks to a meddling demon, and Nicole regrets their time together coming to an end.  Waverly pushes up on her toes to give Nicole a quick kiss and, even though she has been trying her best to give Waverly some space after everything that happened – and the things that Wynonna had said – as she watches her leave, Nicole finds herself wondering if maybe Waverly will be free when she gets off work later.

With that on her mind, Nicole settles back in at her desk.  She certainly isn’t going to crowd Waverly if she’s not ready for her to be around again.  The last thing she wants to do is suffocate her.  But she can’t help but wonder if Waverly might want to spend some time with her when her shift is over.  She glances at the clock and realizes she has just over four hours to wait until she can find out. 

It’s going to be a long afternoon.

Hopefully she can pass the time by making some headway on this case.

Square one.

Sometimes when you are getting bogged down with trying to make the pieces fit into the puzzle, the best thing to do is take a step back and return to square one.

Nicole stares at the crime scene photos she took, absentmindedly running a finger over the glossy images. 

A couple of floorboards pried up in the basement of an old woman’s house.

What could she possibly have been hiding down there for so many years?  And how did Josh Miller breaking in to retrieve it relate to the sedatives, syringes, blood, and sugar he stole from St. Jude’s?

The sugar seems to be the odd man out.  There’s something about it that Nicole feels must be significant.

If she could just –

“Officer Haught.”

Nicole grits her teeth, pinching the bridge of her nose before looking up.

Deputy Marshal Dolls is looming over her desk with a notepad in hand.  He’s been a bit more relaxed after Black Badge vanished and he returned from his hiding, but he appears to be all business right now.

“Yes, sir?”

“Now that my superiors are no longer sticking their noses in our business, I’m in the process of getting us organized again.”

“It’s good to have you back,” she offers.  It’s a bit more casual, familiar, than they ever were before, but things are different now.  A lot of things.

“Thanks, Nicole.  It’s good to be back,” he admits, giving a rare, genuine smile.  Nicole wonders if she’s dreaming.

“Is there something you needed help with?  I’m available.”

“Actually, there is.”  His stance straightens again, back to the man in charge.  “I’ve been going over the logs from when I was away.  It appears that in Lucado’s haste to get herself out of here as quickly as she could, she overlooked several incidents that we should have been handling.  I’m going to need you to print out the reports from these cases and hand them over, Officer Haught.”

Nicole feels her eye twitch as she tenses up.  She had been rather disgruntled at first about being shut out and kept in the dark once again.  But then Nedley had reminded her of a few things.  Reminded her how important her job protecting the everyday citizens is.  Reminded her how important being a good cop is.  Reminded her why she wanted to be a cop in the first place.  And she’d been making a concentrated effort to handle the Black Badge situation much better since then.

Several questionable cases had come across her desk in the past several weeks.  And every time, she had voluntarily taken them straight to Wynonna and Waverly.  Without putting up a fight about handing them over.  She bristles at the implication from Dolls that she’s been trying to withhold cases that should be theirs.

“Which cases, sir?” she asks, flexing her jaw.

Dolls eyes her for a moment, and then scans over his list.

“I have a report here of several cows going missing from Wilson’s farm.”  Nicole starts to speak, but Dolls continues over her.  “If we have a demon out there that is feeding on livestock, we need to track it down and dispose of it before it starts feeding on the farmers instead.”

“That’s not a Black Badge case,” Nicole says matter-of-factly.

“With all due respect, Officer Haught, that is not for you to decide.”

Nicole rolls her eyes and leans back in her chair, propping her feet up on her desk.

“With all due respect, Deputy Marshal Dolls…  That was Hank and Jethro Kerrigan pranking their father’s cousin by stealing his cows and turning them loose on the football field.”

There’s a beat of silence where they both stare at each other, and then Dolls scribbles something on his notepad.

“I see.  Well, there are also multiple reports of strange patterns appearing in corn fields throughout the county.”

“You think those are crop circles?” Nicole snorts. 

“I’m not one to believe in aliens, Officer Haught.  But that could be indicative of dark rituals being conducted on certain days of power.”

“Or it could be indicative of Bruce Benton getting drunk and naked and riding his lawnmower through the fields because he likes the way the stalks ‘tickle his fancy’ as he goes.”

“Tickle his…”

“Don’t ask.”

“Right.  Umm…  Gurgling sounds at night out by the nature reserve?  Some sort of amphibious creatures using the pond as a breeding ground?”

“Try Willy and the Jacuzzi he keeps in the back of his pickup.”

“The…what?”

“He imagines himself a bit of a Casanova,” Nicole laughs.  “Drives the ladies out to the lookout point and gives them the portable hot tub treatment.”

“I…  I don’t even know what to say to that.”

“Just be glad you’ve never had to go out there and interrupt him while he’s on a date and remind him that the area closes at sundown.”

Nicole winces and even Dolls manages to look sympathetic.

“Okay, how about the old motel on the other side of the tracks?  Not the one here in town.  The one that people pay by the hour to visit, if you catch my drift.”

“I’m aware,” she says dryly.

“There’s been an increase in activity in the past several weeks.  Moaning.  Screaming.  A lot of people seem to think it might be haunted now.  And we all know how dangerous that could be.”

Nicole chokes on her own spit.  She tries to hide it with a coughing fit, but the fire burning in her cheeks makes it less than convincing.

“That’s, uh…” she rasps, her throat raw from hacking.  “That’s also not Black Badge.”

Dolls watches her, a skeptical eyebrow raised.

“Something you want to tell me, Officer Haught?”

“Nope.  No.  Definitely not.”  Her feet slide off her desk and she tries to straighten herself in her chair.  “It’s, uhh…  It will be dealt with.  Yep.”

“Nicole?”  Dolls crosses his arms over his chest.  “What is going on?”

She leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees and hides her face in her hands like she’s already done more times than she can count today.

“It’s just…  you know…”  She sits up suddenly, looking at him with exasperation.  “She’s everywhere, Dolls.  All the time.  Everywhere.  She even showed up at my place once.  We finally had to go…  you know...” she gestures wildly with her hand “somewhere she wouldn’t find us.”

“Stop.”  He raises his hand, eyes wide.  “Stop talking, Nicole.  Just…  stop.”

She groans and drops her face back into her hands.

“That’s…  umm…  Yep, I think I’m done here.”  He jams the notepad into his back pocket.  “Definitely done.”

Nicole whimpers and waves a hand at him without even looking up as he retreats hastily back to the BBD office across the hall.

She silently wonders how this keeps happening to her.

The keycard.

Josh Miller was using his grandmother’s keycard.  But why hadn’t it been deactivated?  She had retired years ago.

Nicole pores over Lydia Laurent’s employment records, hoping to find some hint.  Some reason.  Some clue as to why her keycard might still be active.

She wonders if maybe –

“Agent!”

She closes her eyes tightly.  Maybe it will be gone by the time she counts to three.

One…

Two…

“Agent Haught!”

Nope.

“Oh.  Well.  Actually.  I guess it’s Agent Nicole.  I mean Officer Nicole.  Fracker!  Officer Haught.”

“Jeremy.”

He freezes, blinking at her.

“Nicole is fine.”

“Right!  Ha.  Yeah.  Because we’re friends.  Bros.  Workin’ on the down low.  The secret project.  It’s cool.  We’re cool.  This is so cool!”

“Jeremy.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you need something?”

“Oh!  Right.  Riiiiiiighteo.”  He takes a bite out of a Twizzler and keeps talking around it.  “I heard back from my buddy in the old BBD archives.  His name is Manny, but we call him the Minotaur because it’s like a labyrinth down there and—”

“Jeremy.”

“Right.  Sorry.  Anyway.  He found some stuff on your Mr. Schrank.  I had him send me everything he had.”

He thumps a bundle of folders bound together with a couple of large rubber bands down on Nicole’s desk.

“Thank you, Jeremy.  I really appreciate this.”

“Oooooh.  It was nothing,” he grins, waving his Twizzler at her bashfully.  “This case is so interesting!  Manny also sent me a couple of links and I think there might be something embedded in them, but I don’t know for sure yet.  I’m gonna see if I can crack them.  Maybe this thing goes deeper than you thought!  How cool would that be?”  He holds a fist out toward her.  “The two new kids bustin’ open a real BBD conspiracy!”

Nicole watches him, a combination of amusement and waning patience, but he just keeps grinning at her expectantly, so she eventually reaches out and bumps her fist against his.

“Yeah, buddy.  That would be pretty cool.”

“Aw-aw-awesome,” he giggles and scurries gleefully back to his own office.

Nicole just shakes her head and snaps the first rubber band off of the files.

Finally.

Finally she has some information she can work with.

The transfer record detailing Schrank’s move from Wisconsin to Purgatory.  A copy of his confession, which is dramatically different than the one in the public record.  Case notes from a Black Badge official.

Proof that Schrank may not have actually been suffering from a psychological disorder, but may have been placed in Purgatory to keep him hidden.

But hidden from what?  From who?

She’s finally starting to connect the dots.  Or at least has a few more dots to place on her timeline.  She thinks maybe –

A sudden flash of movement in the doorway catches her eye.

Wynonna.

Wynonna with a cheesy grin and a big wave as she sweeps into the office and leans against the desk.

This can’t be good…

“I reeeally really want you to give me a case,” she says, laying on the sweetness.  “Any case.”

“Sorry, girl,” Nicole answers, tapping her pen against her desk.  “I got nothing.”

“Come on!” Wynonna begs.  “Cannibal psychiatrist.  Scorpion, shih-tzu hybrid.  Ooo…” she points, wide eyed.  “Creepy clowns.  Those are really hot right now!”

“Wynonna,” Nicole says, frustrated.  “Take a day off.”

“Ewww.”

“Get a…” out of my hair? “…spa treatment.”

“Purgatory doesn’t have any spas,” Wynonna complains, rolling her eyes as she makes her way around the counter.  “Unless you count the Jacuzzi Willy drives around in his pickup.”

Nicole makes a face.  Of course Wynonna would know about that.

“Go shopping?” she suggests, distracted as she tries to type up her case notes concerning the new information she’d gotten from Jeremy a couple of hours ago.

“Why?”  Wynonna stops dead in her tracks.  “Do my clothes look tight?”

Nicole doesn’t have time to process the strange look of panic on Wynonna’s face.

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii.”

Nicole catches sight of Waverly dancing in the doorway carrying a styrofoam cup.

“For you,” she says in a sing-song voice as she hands it to Wynonna.

“Meeee?”

Nicole smiles at Waverly, glad to see her so near the end of the day.  Hopefully that means she’s not busy right now.  Maybe she’ll get to ask her about spending some time together after work after all.

Wynonna takes a sip from the cup and promptly spits it back out.

“Question.  Whyyyy does my coffee taste like it was brewed in Nedley’s hat?”

“Because it’s not coffee.”  Waverly’s chipper voice might be grating to anyone else.  But Nicole is highly amused at the moment.  Looks like she’s trying to drag Wynonna into her health kick, too.  Good.  At least Nicole won’t be suffering alone.  “It’s soothing sunshine herbal tea,” she giggles.  “Caffeine free.”

“Well, if it sounds like a hippie hemorrhoid cream, I don’t want it in my cup.”

Wynonna glances at Nicole, clearly looking for some backup.

Nope.  Not getting in the middle of that.

“Waverly…  Can you…  get her out of here?”  Waverly grins.  “And then…  you know… come back, ‘cause I’m off in ten minutes?”

And I can’t think of a better way to end this disaster of a day than with you.