Work Text:
Sick
“Drive faster, Nicole!” Nicole’s knuckles are white as she grips the steering wheel of the cruiser and speeds through the quiet streets of Purgatory.
In the passenger seat, Waverly’s face is sheer white with horror as her stomach sinks over and over again.
Nicole’s cheeks are flushed as she tries to steady a shaking hand on Waverly’s thigh.
“I knew she looked pale this morning, Waves. We should have kept her home. Poor kid.”
Waverly grips Nicole’s hand.
“She probably caught whatever Wynonna has. You know she’s been under the weather. I’m surprised Alice hasn’t caught it too.”
“Want me to turn on the siren?”
Waverly looks at Nicole in her light blue uniform, and then out the window.
“Wouldn’t that be a little too dramatic?”
Nicole shrugs.
“She did throw up.”
The corner of her lips form a tiny smile as she sees Waverly’s jaw tighten in concern.
“She’ll be okay, Waverly.”
Waverly trembles in her seat and looks out the window.
“What if she’s throwing up again? What if she thinks we aren’t coming?”
Nicole shakes her head as she speeds down the road.
“It’ll be okay, Waves. She won’t think that. We’ll be there in two minutes.”
“What about your case? You didn’t need to leave work, baby.”
Nicole cuts off three cars, but they finally pull into the elementary school parking lot.
“The case can wait, she’s our baby.”
Nicole takes Waverly’s face in her hands.
“She’ll be okay, cutie. She knows we’re coming.”
Waverly places a gentle kiss on Nicole’s lips.
“Let’s go get our girl.”
They buzz into the school and are promptly led to the nurse’s office by the secretary. It doesn’t soothe Waverly’s nerves that she can hear a familiar cry from down the hall.
Nicole clutches the bag with Ariel’s change of clothing in one hand and holdsWaverly’s hand with the other.
Ariel looks miserable. She’s laying on a tiny kid-sized cot with her hair sprawled all around her. Her thumb is in her mouth, and she’s rocking back and forth.
“Hi, Princess.” Nicole and Waverly crouch down next to their little girl. Nicole puts her hand on the small of Waverly’s back, as her girlfriend feels Ariel’s forehead.
“Hi Co. Hi Wavy.” Ariel opens her tear-streaked eyes and frowns up at them.
“We heard you weren’t feeling well, baby. What happened?” Waverly wipes the tears from Ariel’s face and strokes her cheek.
“Tummy hurt and I frew up during story time. I no feel good, Wavy.” Ariel pouts and pokes her stomach.
“We’re going to take you home, sweetheart. We’ll make you feel better, okay?” Nicole rubs Ariel’s stomach and lifts her up to cradle her head.
“Why you in your police outfit, CoCo?”
“We were at work, baby. It’s okay. We’re going to go home now.”
Waverly gives Ariel a little grin.
“We’ll give you lots of juice, and you can watch whatever movie you want in our room.”
Ariel starts to cry.
“I missing show-and-tell and I too sick to walk in my walker.”
Nicole presses a kiss to their daughter’s clammy forehead, and Waverly shakes her head.
“You don’t have to walk, baby. CoCo will carry you to the car.”
The car ride home is mostly silent, except for whimpers in the back seat.
As Nicole carries Ariel into the house, the little girl is asleep in her arms.
What they don’t expect to see is a passed out Wynonna and Doc on the couch.
Wynonna nearly jumps up from the couch as she hears the front door close.
“You’re not at work today? I thought you were going in at eleven.” Waverly crosses her arms as she glances over at a guilty looking Wynonna and a still-sleeping Doc Holliday.
Wynonna shrugs before she scurries off the couch and into the bathroom. She comes back a few minutes later, looking pale.
“Sorry Mrs. Sheriff. I’m still under the weather. In his defense, he’s the owner and can open when he wants.”
Waverly grins at her sister’s nickname and folds her arms.
“Is there something you’d like to tell us, Wynonna?”
Wynonna folds her arms over her chest as she stares at Waverly.
“Is there something you’d like to tell me, Miss I Just Got Engaged Last Night And Didn’t Tell My Big Sister?”
Waverly blushes and holds out her hand to show her sister the princess cut.
“But…like….are you sure you’re in it for the long haul? Do you want to wait until you have another kid? I personally think you’re rushing into this, but like….it’s only been six years, right?”
Nicole rolls her eyes as Wynonna points a condescending finger at her.
“And YOU! You told me, and I didn’t think you were going to go through with it!”
“I didn’t tell her, baby, she interrogated me before I asked.” Nicole looks over at Waverly and presses a kiss to the crown of Ariel’s head. The little girl is passed out cold in her arms.
“Well,” Wynonna says. “It’s about damn time. Welcome to the family, Haught.”
“Gee, thanks Wynonna.”
Doc yawns and startles. He sits up on the couch and looks around.
“Is no one in this family at work today? What happened?”
Wynonna pats Doc’s knee and puts on a silly voice.
“They’re engaged to be married, Doctor Holliday!”
“You are thinking of marriage? Why in my day, we’d wait a few more years to see if someone else came along and caught our eye.” Doc winks at Wynonna, and she gives him a high five.
“She’s rubbing off on you, Doc.” Waverly rubs Nicole’s back before adding “anything you’d like to tell us, Ms. Earp?”
Wynonna narrows her eyes bashfully and looks at Doc.
“Did you spill the beans? Did you provide even the tiniest hint to these two? You know them. They hear something and can’t keep their mouths shut.”
Doc holds his arms up in defense.
“I did not tell a soul, Wynonna.”
Wynonna sighs as she confesses.
“I may be the tiniest bit knocked up. I didn’t want to say anything too soon just in case something happened but….yeah. I know your kid is sleeping but...I don’t want the girls to know yet God forbid-”
“Oh, Wynonna! That’s wonderful.” Waverly reaches out to hug her sister and rocks her back and forth. “I’m going to be an Auntie again.”
“That’s awesome, Wynonna. Congratulations you two!” Nicole tries to hug her future sister in law, but it’s hard to do with a sleeping little girl on her hip.
“We are quite excited. Although, I fear we may need a bigger house with all of these new additions.” Doc shakes his head as Wynonna rests her head on his chest.
“We’ll make room. We always do. Anyway, what’s up with Princess?”
“We thought she caught what you had,” says Waverly, taking Ariel from her girlfriend's arms.
“Guess not.” Nicole winks at Wynonna pointedly and smirks.
“She threw up at story time and has an upset stomach and fever. Poor thing.”
“She seemed nervous to go to school this morning.” Waverly runs her fingers through Ariel’s messy pigtails. “Come to think of it; I don’t think she’s gone to the bathroom in a couple of days.”
Wynonna rests her head on Doc’s shoulder.
“TMI Baby Girl. But….if we’re going to talk about bodily functions, I have the opposite problem. Doc’s kid is making my insides squirm.”
“He is my kid when he causes morning sickness?” Doc presses a kiss to Wynonna’s cheek.
“Pretty much. Seriously though, are you going to be upset if it’s not a boy?”
Doc shakes his head. “Of course not, Wynonna. You broke the curse. We have a family. I do not think any one of us in this room thought that was possible just a few years ago.”
Color rises up Wynonna’s cheeks.
“Thanks, Doc. But...you all helped too. Don’t forget that, okay?”
Waverly presses a kiss to her sister’s cheek.
“We love you, Wynonna. Don’t forget that.”
It’s a few minutes later, and Waverly and Nicole have carried Ariel upstairs into their bedroom. As Nicole rests the sleeping little girl on the bed, Waverly grabs Ariel’s favorite Rapunzel nightgown from the other room.
“Crap.” Waverly holds the nightgown out in front of her.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Nicole kicks off her shoes and climbs into bed next to Ariel.
“Do we wake her up now to put this on her, or do we wait and let her sleep uncomfortably in jeans?”
Nicole’s face scrunches up, which Waverly thinks is absolutely adorable.
“Poor kid. I guess we could try to put it on her while she sleeps?”
Waverly climbs onto the bed on the other side of Ariel.
Together, they manage to take off Ariel’s play clothes and slip the nightgown over her head without disturbing her.
“I wonder if this is the sickest she’s been. She seemed so scared when we picked her up.” Waverly strokes Ariel’s arm.
“I noticed that too, Waves. I wish we knew. Her medical records don’t indicate a ton of doctor’s visits on them.”
Nicole presses the back of her hand to Ariel’s forehead as Waverly smooths the blankets over their little girl.
“Doesn’t mean she wasn’t sick.”
Nicole takes Waverly’s hand in her own and links them together over Ariel’s tiny body.
“It doesn’t feel like she has a fever. God...I don’t want to think about what life was like for her.”
Waverly presses her lips to their intertwined hands.
“I don’t want to think about it either. I want to think about giving her the best life possible…”
Nicole smiles as Waverly continues.
“With you…. and me…. and my sister, and Doc and Alice and….oh I would say the new baby, too.”
Nicole sits up and crouches her legs to her chest.
“I can’t believe she’s pregnant again.”
Waverly stretches out her legs, so they lay flat.
“I guess she’s just lucky…”
Nicole doesn’t say anything for a beat.
“Oh, baby ...I didn’t ask her if she was to make you feel bad.” A look of concern washes over Waverly’s face as she pulls her hair away from her face.
Nicole shakes her head and offers Waverly a tiny dimpled smile.
“I know you didn’t baby. I just...feel left out sometimes because my body is stupid and can’t do that. It’s like when we were in the grocery store last week and someone told me Ariel looked just like me...I felt...awesome. I would have given anything to have had her when she was a baby.”
Waverly scoots closer to Nicole, resting her head on her lap.
“You...and your gorgeous body are not broken in the slightest. Just because you can’t carry our babies doesn’t make you mean anything less to me.”
“I feel so stupid for having these thoughts,” Nicole says as she strokes Waverly’s cheek.
“We have a beautiful little girl. It doesn’t matter how she came into our family. She’s going to be ours and...Waverly..., my case this morning was about Jack.”
Waverly’s breath hitches as she glances into her favorite pair of forlorn, brown eyes.
“He’s getting adopted by another family…. In New Brunswick... baby I’m so sorry.”
Waverly’s jaw goes slack because she can’t find the words. Now she’s lost two babies to the system and one to her incompetent womb. Nicole continues.
“He can’t be ours just like Winnie couldn’t…and...how the hell are we going to do this? Shit. I’m so stupid.”
Waverly’s eyes glimmer with tears as she cups Nicole’s chin with her hands.
“You’re not stupid Nicole. Not in the slightest. Your feelings are not invalid. You’re my best baby...and….I’m sorry you’re feeling this way.”
Nicole shakes her head.
“I guess we don’t have a good track record with babies, huh? Deep down we knew getting to adopt both Ariel and Jack would be too good to be true.”
Nicole presses a kiss to Waverly’s lips.
“I miss the kid, and I never got a chance to meet him.”
Waverly nods and strokes Nicole’s cheek with her knuckles.
“I feel that way too, baby. Think of it this way. If she was ours to begin with, she wouldn’t be our Ariel.”
Nicole gives Waverly a tiny grin.
“You’re so smart, and sweet, and not to mention gorgeous.”
“Are you trying to get me pregnant Sherriff Haught?”
Nicole giggles and kisses the tips of Waverly’s fingers.
“I wish I could, Ms. Earp.”
“If we wanted to look into it...again….I wouldn’t be opposed….but….have you ever thought of the prospect of fostering and adopting an older kid? I don’t mean right now...but maybe when Ariel is a little older.”
Nicole’s eyes widen.
“I never considered it….Sadly… the only time I’ve heard of it happening is on...The Fosters.”
Waverly grins and boops Nicole’s nose.
“That’s where I got the idea from, silly.”
Nicole smiles and scrunches up her nose.
“Or...we could consider adopting someone like us. There are so many LGBTQ kids….who don’t have accepting families and are in the system. I could have been one of them...”
Waverly’s moon eyes crease and Nicole grins.
“I’m so proud to call you my future wife, Nicole. I love that idea.”
Nicole blushes.
“God...if I didn’t have Nedley I’d of been out on the streets.”
Waverly giggles.
“You’d be out on the street and not in my sheets.”
“Somehow, I’d believe I’d find you. I would’ve walked into Shorty’s sans my cop uniform. You’d of been freaked out and called security.”
Waverly licks her lips.
“You would have walked in totally naked?”
Nicole’s face breaks out into a smile as she laughs.
“Waverly!”
“Something tells me I wouldn’t have been opposed to Officer Naked Haught!” Waverly tips her imaginary Stetson forward as she captures Nicole’s lips for a kiss.
Ariel stirs as she hears her CoCo and Wavy’s giggles. Her tummy rumbles and she blinks her eyes open. She can see, and that’s when she realizes her glasses are on her face.
Storytime.
“It’s your turn to read a page out loud Ariel.” Twenty pairs of eyes stared at her as she held The Cat And The Hat close to her chest.
The words swam on the page. The pictures went in and out of focus. Sam I Am laughed at her because she had no clue what he was trying to say.
Her tummy started to hurt.
Her heart went up-and-down. Woosh. Up-and-down. Woosh.
“I’ll help you with the big words,” said Alice, nicely sat on the carpet, legs in criss-cross applesauce.
Alice can read everything. She can read the ingredients on the Mac and Cheese Box to tell Wynonna how many cups of water to put. She can read street signs and the word Earp on the Homestead. Best of all, Alice can read books out loud to her.
Alice doesn’t know she can’t read as well as she does.
“Can’t do it, Al. Can’t read.” She tried to stand up and hand the book back to Mrs. Lovejoy, but her legs went wobbly in her walker, and her throat closed up and the contents of her lunch ended up on the floor.
“I sick because I can’t read.”
“What’s that, baby?”
Nicole lifts Ariel up and snuggles her up against the pillows in between herself and Waverly.
“At Story Time. I frew up because I scared.”
Waverly glances over Ariel’s head, at Nicole with a look of concern.
“Why were you scared, sweetheart?”
Ariel shakes her head as her blue eyes fill to the brim with tears.
“I a bad girl. I can’t read.”
“Shhhhhh. You’re not a bad girl at all, Ariel.” Nicole rubs Ariel’s back as Waverly cradles the little girl close to her chest.
“You got a little nervous, huh?” Waverly looks into her daughter’s eyes, and Ariel nods.
Nicole rubs the tears off of Ariel’s cheeks gently. “Tell us what happened, Princess.”
“Had to read a page out loud. Tummy started to hurt. Couldn’t read it.”
“Baby, just because you can’t read yet doesn’t mean you’re a bad girl. I’m sorry you got nervous, sweetheart.”
“Everyone else in the class can read, CoCo. I dumb.”
“Nope. No, you aren’t dumb. You aren’t allowed to say that.” Waverly points a finger at Ariel.
“You’re incredibly smart, Ariel. We are so proud of you and how much you’ve grown since you’ve come to live with us.” Nicole pulls Ariel onto her lap.
“It doesn’t matter if you can’t read well yet, Ariel. Everyone learns things at their own pace. There’s plenty of time to learn how to read. As your CoCo said, we are proud of you Princess. You talk more and walk better, and you learned how to write your whole name.” Waverly presses a kiss to Ariel’s cheek.
“Really?”
Nicole nods and starts to tickle Ariel.
“How would you like it if Waverly and I came into your class and read a book? We could all read it together. You don’t have to help us unless you want to.”
Ariel nods. “I want to help read. I just not good yet.”
Waverly looks down at their little girl.
“What about Alice the Fairy? You and your cousin love that one. I can’t imagine why.” She winks at Nicole who presses a kiss to her cheek.
“We can practice reading it at home, too before we do it in front of the class so you won’t get scared.” Nicole rubs Ariel’s arms, and the little girl falls back against her chest.
“Okay, but you do most of the reading. I listen.”
“It’s a promise.” Nicole strokes the little girl’s red hair which remarkably resembles her own shade.
Ariel knows they’ll follow through. CoCo and Wavy don’t break promises as Mom did. CoCo and Wavy do what they say they’ll do.
“Are you feeling better, baby?” Waverly smiles as Ariel nods.
“I don’t feel sick anymore. I just happy to be home.” Ariel snuggles into Nicole and Waverly’s.
They’re like a perfect puzzle.
Nicole smiles at the tiny girl who slumps against her chest.
“I know the feeling, Princess. There’s nothing I love more than spending time with my two favorite girls.”
“Me too.” Waverly drops a kiss on Ariel’s head before pressing a kiss to Nicole’s forehead.
“We get kisses because we good girls.” Ariel yawns and touches Nicole’s hair.
Waverly lays on her side, and drapes her arm over tiny Ariel, resting it on Nicole’s hip.
“You’re my best girls, and I’m so lucky to have you two in my life.”
Nicole lays on her side too, and drapes her arm over both Ariel and Waverly, protecting her girls.
“Can we take a nap Wavy? My throat still a little scratchy.”
Ariel tucks her head under Waverly’s chin.
“A nap sounds wonderful. When we wake up, we can watch a movie.”
“Tangled?” A tiny voice pipes up, and Nicole can’t help but giggle.
“Somehow I think your Wavy and I both knew you’d ask for Rapunzel. Are you sure you’re feeling better?” Nicole scratches Ariel’s back softly with her nails before stroking Waverly’s arms.
Ariel presses a tiny kiss on Nicole’s hand which is resting atop Waverly’s arm draped over her.
“Feel better because I with you.”