Work Text:
Waverly opened her eyes slowly to allow them to become accustomed to the bright morning sunshine that was bathing her through Nicole's bedroom window. She had asked Nicole to open the curtains before she left this morning for her early shift at the station so this would happen.
She had always found it easier on her system and better for her day when she was woken by the warm, invigorating warmth of the sun instead of the harsh noise from an alarm clock.
Of course, her absolute favorite way to be awakened was when Nicole kissed her on her forehead, then the tip of her nose and then her lips. Without fail it would rouse her no matter how tired she was or how deep her sleep was.
Right at this moment, however, with a disturbing absence of her girlfriend and having to squint against the brilliant light, she was hard pressed to understand why she had asked such a thing.
It had been a long night of demon hunting, complete with stakeout, ill-advised car chase through town and the ruination of one of her favorite coats. While the end result had been two more of Wyatt Earp’s resurrected outlaws being sent back to Hell, it had taken the good right out of all of them. By the time she had gotten home and showered the dirt and sweat off of her, she’d crawled into bed around three o’clock.
Waverly tiredly pushed the heavy blankets that her beloved girlfriend had no doubt tucked underneath her chin before she had left so that her arms were free. She thrust her arms upward, her hands reaching for the ceiling so that the muscles in her arms stretched out the sleep induced stiffness. As she eased the stretch in her arms she twisted her body to the right and pushed her feet towards the foot of the bed to get some relief in her sore legs and body. She felt the relief in her calves and thighs first, then her sides.
She sighed contentedly as she relaxed her body, twisting back so that she was once again flat on her back in Nicole’s bed. Her arms fell onto the bed with dull thuds and her hands moved up onto her flat belly so that her hands could clasp together.
Waverly blinked the sleep out of her eyes, or at least she tried, and frowned as she licked her lips. Her mouth felt scratchy and sour, like she hadn’t brushed her teeth before going to...
“Fudge-nuggets,” she groaned into the still air of the room as her dental hygiene lapse dawned upon her.
Against her will and better judgement, Waverly slid her legs out to the edge of Nicole’s bed, bending her knees and easing up into a sitting position as her bare feet found the floor beside the bed. She drew in a deep breath and released it as she stood up from the bed. Her first step towards the open door of the bedroom was unsteady, but she righted herself quickly and let loose what could only have been classified as an indelicate yawn as she padded slowly to the door. As she crossed into the hall and made her way towards the nearby bathroom, she wondered where Calamity was. Usually the feline would stay with Waverly after Nicole left. Perhaps the cat had realized just how wiped she’d been.
After taking care of the morning business on the toilet, she moved to the sink and blanched at the reflection staring back at her in the mirror.
She opened her eyes wide and then rapidly blinked twice, nearly growling when the slight bags underneath her tired eyes, the out of control bird’s nest that was her hair and her overall exhausted appearance didn’t improve.
Not.
One.
Little.
Bit.
And there was still that ugly taste in her mouth. She usually held off brushing her teeth in the morning until she’d had her breakfast. That habit usually fell by the wayside if Wynonna had shanghaied her into some sort of drinking Earptravaganza the night before, or if she had miraculously woke up before Nicole and wanted to kiss the redhead with fresh, minty breath and not the usual morning breath.
Today is going to be an exception, she thought as she narrowed her eyes at the mirror. She cleared her throat as she reached for her toothbrush, resting as it was in its usual place of honor next to Nicole’s. When her gaze fell upon the tube of toothpaste, she couldn’t stop the annoyed huff from breezing past her lips even if she’d been inclined to try.
She picked up the tube with her left hand and held it out in front of her. It had apparently been a new tube that had been opened this morning by Nicole. Yet instead of squeezing it at the bottom like most people would, she had most obviously defied all toothpaste etiquette and not only squeezed it in the middle, but had nearly crushed it.
Waverly looked at the mirror and watched the scowl that had appeared on her face deepen. She pinched where the tube had been tragically squeezed between her thumb and index finger, then gently moved her hand up and down so that the two halves on either side of her fingers looked like the fattened wings of some hellish bird of dental decay.
She loved Nicole dearly. It wasn’t a stretch to say that she loved her deputy with every bit of her romantic heart.
But this irked her.
She sighed again and after taking care to squeeze the toothpaste in the bottom half up into the top half without causing the whole thing to erupt into mess of minty paste all over the counter, she brushed her teeth. She was stewing about the way the love of her life had so grievously misused the tube of toothpaste so much, she brushed her teeth for longer and much harder than was necessary.
The youngest Earp was still scowling and trying to decide on the best way to bring this up to Nicole as she made her way downstairs. That changed as she walked into Nicole’s kitchen, however, her irritation evaporating and the frown that had taken up residence on her mouth morphing into a wide and loving smile.
On the table was a single red rose, where Nicole had hidden it was beyond her, and a note that was obviously written by the hand of her deputy.
She moved to the table and ghosted her fingertips along the delicate, crimson petals before reaching for the note.
“Wave,” she read out into the kitchen, “I made you breakfast. It’s in the oven. See you at the homestead tonight. Love you. N.”
It was then that the familiar smell of her favorite pancakes, the vegan ones that Nicole always made to mouth watering perfection despite not particularly liking them herself, wafted across her nose. She drew a deep breath in through her nose, inhaling the scent of Nicole’s creations, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile so big in the knowledge that Nicole loved her so much that her facial muscles actually began to ache.
She brought the note to her chest, resting it against her heart as she moved towards the stove ignoring the nagging feeling that she was supposed to be mad at Nicole for some reason.
--------------------
“What are you doing?” Waverly groggily asked as she sat up in her bed early the following morning. Her voice was hoarse from sleep and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her hands. She regarded Nicole for a moment and was tempted to once again attempt to clear her eyes, because it looked an awful lot like Nicole was getting ready to go to work on her day off, a day off that they were supposed to spend together.
Alone together. No Wynonna, no work, nothing but just the two of them.
“Sorry, Wave,” Nicole said as she continued to put on her PSD uniform. Her voice had been the same pitch and timbre as usual, at least it would have seemed so to anyone else. But not to Waverly. They had become so in tune with each other that even though Nicole had only said two, one-syllable words that anyone else would have taken at face value, Waverly easily heard Nicole’s sadness, regret and aggravation.
Waverly cleared her throat and sighed as she blinked her eyes to get her vision to completely clear, only to find that Nicole was just finishing securing her duty belt around her beautiful hips to complete her uniform and thereby making her ready for duty.
“What’s going on?” Waverly asked as she scooted over to the edge of her bed closest to Nicole.
The redhead let loose an indignant puff as she adjusted her belt, then took the three steps necessary to stand in front of her girlfriend. She reached out and when Waverly placed her smaller hands in hers, Nicole drew a more than willing Waverly up into a standing position right in front of her.
“Lonnie,” started Nicole with a roll of her eyes, “tripped over the curb at the station on his way in this morning and may have broken his pinkie.” Her thumbs started to rub small circles on the backs of Waverly’s hands as she added, “He went to the hospital and Nedley asked if I could come in for a few hours.” Waverly opened her mouth to say something but Nicole beat her to the punch. “He promised me it would only be until twelve.”
Waverly wanted to protest. She wanted to point out that this was supposed to be their day. She wanted to pout and beg and guilt Nicole into calling Nedley back and telling him that she couldn’t come in.
But she couldn’t. This was Nicole’s job.
It was her calling. And she was damn good at it.
She was the best.
So instead Waverly gently pulled on Nicole’s hands to get her to come closer just as she leaned upwards towards Nicole’s face. Their lips touched and everything suddenly became alright. Their lips moved - never against each other and never fighting for dominance- but together as a team to create the most beautiful magic, an enchantment that neither had felt before and that wouldn’t happen again with anyone else.
And it was minty fresh, which brought a horrible realization to Waverly.
She pushed Nicole an arm’s length away from her so quickly that Nicole’s lips were still moving when Waverly looked at her. After a moment Nicole’s eyes opened, and at the hurt and worry in those beautiful brown eyes Waverly quickly explained, “Morning breath.”
The tension in Nicole’s face and eyes eased immediately. The taller woman released Waverly’s hands and started to sneak them onto Waverly’s hips, but Waverly wasn’t having any of it. She quickly scooted to the left, away from Nicole’s clutching hands and swiftly moved to her door. She put her hand on the knob but stopped to look back at Nicole. She nearly buckled at the forlorn look on her love’s face and rushed back to her, but the fact that Nicole was in her uniform was a stark reminder that they didn’t have the time and that Nicole had to leave her if only for a few hours.
“You have to go,” Waverly reminded Nicole as she turned the knob and opened her door. “And I want to give you a proper, non-morning breath kiss before you go.”
She sailed out into the hallway and towards the bathroom before Nicole could say anything, and she was glad she did because she was pretty sure she heard a pitiful moan come from her deputy before the bathroom door closed. A minute later she picked up her toothbrush and reached for the toothpaste, only to have her hand stop inches from the tube. Her hand stayed there, suspended in mid air so close yet so far from its destination until it started to shake with barely contained irritation. There, sitting on the counter, was the new tube of toothpaste she’d put there last night, and it was squeezed in the middle just like the new tube at Nicole’s had been.
“I gotta go, Wave!”
That snapped Waverly out of her stupor, and she closed the distance to the toothpaste, grabbed it and bolted from the bathroom, flinging the door open so hard that she was sure she heard it splinter against the wall. She flew down the stairs of the homestead like a moose on the loose and when she reached the bottom she charged into the living room where Nicole was putting on her coat.
Nicole looked over to Waverly with a smile on her face, but one look at the shorter woman’s face caused the smile to disappear and a confused crease to form on her forehead.
“What is this?” demanded Waverly as she thrust her hand out towards Nicole so that the redhead had no choice but to see what she was holding.
Nicole’s eyes narrowed and her head tilted to the left, the movements screaming ‘she knows she’s holding toothpaste right?’ She straightened up instantly, looked into Waverly’s obviously vexed eyes, back to the object in her hand and then back to her eyes. “It’s,” she hesitated, unsure of what was happening and where this was going to lead to, then said more as a question than response, “toothpaste?”
“Toothpaste!” exclaimed Waverly so loudly that Nicole started. “It’s toothpaste, Nicole!” said Waverly more loudly than was necessary considering their proximity and the otherwise silent state of the homestead. “Toothpaste!” she repeated as she advanced upon the confused Nicole. She stopped a couple of feet away from Nicole and said through clenched teeth, “A new tube of toothpaste that you squeezed,” she brought the offending object up to Nicole’s eye level, “in the middle!”
Nicole released the breath she’d been holding and her shoulders sagged in relief. She started to smile only to stop and have her eyes open wide in surprise when Waverly shook the toothpaste again.
“No, Nicole!” said Waverly, an anger filled blush rising from underneath her tank top and rising up her neck and into her face. “This isn’t right and it sure as...as...heck isn’t funny.”
“Wave, baby...” tried Nicole, her voice calm and soothing, but Waverly was having none of it.
“Don’t you ‘Wave, baby’ me!” she interrupted. She took a step away from Nicole and whirled around to face her again. “Why?” she demanded. She held the toothpaste out in front of her again, put her other hand on her hip and repeated her question. “Why?”
Nicole cleared her throat and shrugged her shoulders. “No particular reason really.” Waverly’s eyes started to slowly widen and then look upward as she sucked in a deep breath, and the few times Nicole had seen that happen the explosion that typically followed was not pleasant. She opened her mouth to try to cut Waverly off at the pass, but a thought occurred to her that had her smiling instead of talking.
“No reason?” Waverly finally said a moment later, her voice an odd mixture of anger, surprise and more anger. “No reason! Nicole,” Waverly focused on Nicole once more, and instead of seeing an apologetic or confused face, she was confronted with those damned adorable dimples and wide smile, “WHY ARE YOU SMILING!!!!”
The little outburst caused Nicole to snicker, and to limit any other laughs, giggles or anything that could be construed by the very adorable Earp standing before her as ambivalence or amusement, Nicole bit down hard on her bottom lip.
Waverly knew Nicole Haught more than anyone. Or at least she’d thought so until this whole toothpaste thing happened. At any rate, she could easily see that Nicole wasn’t taking this, or her aggravation, seriously. Even now Nicole was biting on her lip to keep from laughing. Waverly could feel the heat rising into her ears. “This isn’t funny, Nicole! I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you about this.”
Nicole swallowed and then said in a carefully neutral voice, “About toothpaste.”
“Yes!” exclaimed Waverly as she threw her arms up and out, her hands palm up in a sign of frustration.
Nicole couldn’t hold it in any longer and the smile returned to her face along with a thankfully small chuckle. She immediately stepped up to Waverly and put her hands on Waverly’s hips to keep her from going anywhere, and gently kneaded the flesh underneath her hands to keep Waverly from saying anything. “This is awesome,” she said softly, causing Waverly’s eyes to narrow again. “Whoa, Wave, just...just let me explain.”
Waverly stopped at the gentle tone of her love’s voice, and she waited. She looked into Nicole’s brown eyes and saw no amusement, only love. She looked to Nicole’s lips and didn’t see mockery in her smile, only love. She felt Nicole’s fingers on her hips rhythmically open and close and felt nothing only love. Her heart started to race, not because of anger or frustration, but because of love.
Waverly smiled and her hands moved up onto Nicole’s arms, her left hand closing around the taller woman’s elbow while her right, still holding the toothpaste, simply rested against Nicole’s arm. “What is it?”
Nicole’s eyes flitted about Waverly’s face taking in every detail about the shorter woman. When her eyes finally found and held Waverly’s she said, “It’s just that, you know, with everything that’s gone on in the last few months, it’s just nice to...”
Nicole trailed off, a little sheepishly Waverly thought. “Nice to what, baby?”
Nicole sighed and a little more brightness came to her eyes. “Well, like I’ve said before, girlfriends fight, it’s natural.” She chuckled at that but then added as an explanation, “It’s just that our arguments so far have been pretty big and not really natural at all.”
Waverly smiled back at Nicole and nodded in agreement. She had an idea as to where Nicole was going with this, and the realization made Waverly swoon just a little.
Nicole edged a little closer to Waverly. “Between you protecting me from Black Badge...”
Waverly grimaced at the reminder but said, “And you protecting me from the DNA results...”
Nicole nodded and said, “To you kissing Rosita...”
Waverly winced before saying, “To you having a secret wife...”
Nicole leaned forward and rested her forehead against Waverly’s and then quietly said into the miniscule space between them, “It’s nice to have an argument about something as ordinary as toothpaste...”
Waverly smiled and tilted her head so that her lips headed for Nicole’s. Just before their lips connected Waverly filled in the rest of their shared thought. “Almost like we’re a normal couple for a change.” They kissed for a moment and Waverly added, “In a normal relationship.” She brought their lips together once more, kissing Nicole for a little longer this time before breaking off and bringing their foreheads together again. Their breathing was heavy but far from labored. “With normal problems.”
Nicole smiled and leaned back from Waverly. She briefly mourned the lost contact but smiled as she looked into Waverly’s eyes. “You are many things, Waverly Earp, but normal isn’t one of them.”
“The same could be said about you, Nicole Haught,” Waverly replied immediately. “But seriously, don’t do it again.”
“Yes, ma’am,” answered Nicole with a dimpled grin.
Waverly was about to kiss Nicole again but a repeating tone from Nicole’s phone had the deputy popping a quick kiss on her forehead and moving towards the door at a breakneck speed.
“I’m late, Wave,” she said as she opened the front door.
Waverly stood in the living room, her arms falling to her sides and her eyes focused on Nicole. “Be safe, babe.”
Nicole smiled and nodded and then stepped through the door. Waverly was about to turn to head up the stairs when Nicole called out to her. When she looked to the door all she could see was Nicole’s head, the rest of her being shielded by the door.
“Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”
She disappeared behind the door and loudly said, “Love you, Wave,” as she slammed it shut, just in time to avoid getting the tube of toothpaste, which Waverly had let sail with amazing speed and great aim, right between the eyes. The toothpaste impacted the door, and Waverly made her way over to retrieve it. As she picked the tube up off the floor she heard Nicole’s cruiser start up and move out of the driveway. She placed her free hand flat against the door and smiled. “Love you too, baby,” she whispered affectionately at her long gone girlfriend.
Waverly’s laugh was musical as she pushed off the door and headed to the stairs to do exactly what Nicole had suggested.
Brush her teeth.