Chapter Text
“Hey dork” Wynonna plopped down next to Nicole heavily, causing the entire lunch table she was sitting at to tremble. Considering it was an empty table it wasn’t that hard to do but it was still annoying and it showed when Nicole looked up from the notebook she had been writing in.
“This isn’t your lunch period” Nicole huffed with a roll of her eyes before she looked back down to what she had been doing. “I thought you promised to stop skipping class.”
“Firstly, you better not narc” Wynonna lifted a hand with a single finger pointed as if counting out the subjects she was covering. She flicked her second finger up to add to the total and gave an annoyed, forced smile to the girl “Second, I come bearing a gift.”
“A gift?” Nicole arched her eyebrow skeptically. Wynonna was not a gift giver. She considered leaving gross things in people’s lockers a gift. Suffice it to say Nicole was hesitant to believe any gift from Wynonna was a good thing.
“It is your birthday after all” Wynonna shrugged casually before digging into the deep pockets of her large winter coat. Her brows creased together in concentration as she rifled around all of her belongings. She produced a pack of cigarettes with a lighter, a few tampons, and a set of keys that did not go to her truck. Finally she produced the ziplock bag she had been hunting for and perked up proudly as she showed Nicole “A gift!”
Nicole had to fight off the urge to lecture her about the cigarettes and the keys in favor of focusing on the ziplock bag. When she saw the obviously used toothbrush and old comb inside she tilted her head to the side and stared at the bag curiously “Well at least it’s not a jar of spiders like last year.”
“Farts” Wynonna let out a soft laugh as she tossed the bag onto the table. She then started to gather the other items she had pulled from her pockets. “I gave you a jar of farts last year. AlthoughI don’t think I can top that amazing gift…” She trailed off and threw a smirk at Nicole before shrugging and motioning to the ziplock bag “I thought you might actually like this stuff a little more.”
“A used toothbrush and a comb older than me?” Nicole pinched the seal of the bag between her thumb and forefinger and lifted it as if it were dangerous.
“It’s for your science thingy” Wynonna flicked her hand at the bag a few times almost like she was batting it away from her sight before she looked back at Nicole. “You wouldn’t shut up about samples so I got you samples.”
Nicole’s eyes fluttered in surprised as she realized what Wynonna had done. She stared in disbelief at her. This was by far the nicest thing Wynonna had ever done for her. Aside from beating up anyone who was mean to her but that just kind of came with the territory. She gave her head a shake at the thought and focused back on Wynonna with a genuinely flattered smile on her lips “Thank you.”
“Whatever. Happy birthday, Patch” Wynonna stood from the table now and reached out to quickly ruffled Nicole’s short wavy red locks around her head. When she heard Nicole groan in disapproval she let out a satisfied laugh before she stepped away. “See ya later, dweeb.”
Nicole scowled, pushing her hair back out of her face as she watched Wynonna leave the cafeteria. She rolled her eyes in annoyance before turning her attention back to the ziplock bag. She bit her lip almost nervously and ran a finger over the length of the toothbrush handle inside the see-through bag.
“You know, I thought you only looked at a certain cheerleader that way” Jeremy came up behind Nicole and let out a laugh at his friend stroking the bag of obviously overused hygiene products.
“Jesus” Nicole jumped out of her skin at the sudden appearance of her friend. She looked up at him with a frown as she hurried to stuff the ziplock bag into her backpack. “I hate when you do that.”
“I have a very light tread” Jeremy gave a shrug and laughed softly in amusement as he watched Nicole stuff the rest of her things into her backpack. Just then the bell above their heads rang and he perked an eyebrow. He always had good timing. He motioned for Nicole to follow as he headed toward the door of the cafeteria “Are you ready for the Biology test?”
“I think so” Nicole gave a nod as she stood from the table, slid one of the straps of her backpack over her shoulder, then hurried to catch up to her friend. She glanced at him with a crooked smile then looked at her feet “We also get our lab partners today. Do you think she will let us pick?”
“If she does…” Jeremy smiled and reached out to take hold of Nicole’s arm. He gave her a wink and a nudge before laughing softly “I don’t dare partner with anyone else. The class is hard enough doing the work for myself. At least with you I know I won’t have to do your homework, too.”
“It’s not that hard” Nicole shrugged before returning the nudge with one of her own.
Just then someone walking by ran into Jeremy, hard, then spun around. The larger boy curled his lip into a snarl and pointed at how Nicole had caught Jeremy so he didn’t fall “It’s cute that your girlfriend is strong enough to catch you. Do you wear the dresses at home, too?”
“Ignore him” Nicole grumbled as she helped Jeremy stand upright and gave him a polite shove toward their classroom. She scowled at the overgrown meathead and lifted her hand to flip him off.
“You use that finger up his ass?” The boy called before letting out a cackle. He turned to high five his friend he had been walking with. His hand was caught in motion, however, by Wynonna. She had seen everything unfold and stepped up behind the bully. She tilted her head to the side and smiled at him sweetly as she started to twist his wrist that she held to the side. “You have two seconds to apologize and promise to leave them alone forever or all of your Friday nights are going to be a lot more lonely.”
“You don’t scare me- OUCH!” The boy immediately started to curl to the side in an attempt to stop the wrenching of his wrist.
“Better act fast. I’m about to snap your girlfriend off your wrist” Wynonna continued to smile at him sweetly even though her eyes had narrowed into an evil glare.
“Ow, ow, I’m sorry alright!” The boy yelped loudly. By now a crowd had gathered to watch.
“Not to me” Wynonna let go of his wrist and used the same hand to motion to where Jeremy and Nicole stood looking a little horrified. “Apologize to them.”
“I’m sorry” The boy whined as he rubbed at his wrist.
“And?” Wynonna slapped the back of the boy’s head.
“I’ll leave you alone forever” He whimpered out.
“Hit the road” Wynonna used her thumb to motion over her shoulder and gave a click of her tongue against her teeth a few times to indicate she wanted him to leave.
As the boy scampered away Wynonna stood there with a triumphant smirk on her lips. The excited murmurs in the hallway from all the bystanders faded after a few seconds. Then, like cockroaches in a dark room that has a light suddenly turned on, they all scattered. Wynonna’s smirk faded and she let out a heavy sigh before speaking “Any chance you can pretend you didn’t see that?”
“Not today, Wynonna” Principal Nedley’s voice came from behind Wynonna. “My office, Earp. Now.”
“You do realize” Wynonna turned on her heels to bring herself around to face the man. She gave him a smile then motioned over her shoulder toward Nicole and Jeremy. “I am doing you a solid here. Now you don’t have to suspend the star of whatever sport that box head plays. So, really, you should be thanking me.”
“He doesn’t play any sports” Nedley grumbled then motioned behind him toward where his office was located a few doors down the hallway.
“Then you should totally suspend that buffoon” Wynonna nodded as she started toward the office that she was all too familiar with.
Principal Nedley looked at the other two still standing in the hallway. He eyed them over once then gave a shooing motion with his hand “Get to class. Learn something. Make my job at least slightly meaningful today.”
Nicole and Jeremy both nodded and rushed away without another word. They were quiet as they hurried toward their classroom. When they both walked in, late, together, the entire class stopped and looked at them. There were immediate whispers that moved around the room. At the beginning of the year someone had started the rumor that Nicole had taken Jeremy’s virginity over the summer. It didn’t really bother them because they knew the truth. But, such is life in high school, people liked juicy gossip and thus far nothing juicier had come along to push that rumor from the short-term memories of the rest of the student body.
“Is there a reason you think busting into my class late is acceptable?” Miss Bustillos, their science teacher, came around her desk and sat on the end of it now. She looked over the two students carefully before lifting an eyebrow expectantly.
“We were talking to Principal Nedley” Nicole nodded quickly and gave a nudge for Jeremy to go find his seat. “He will vouch for us.”
“Fine, sit down” The teacher motioned boredly toward the classroom. As the two of them rushed to their seats she lifted a hand to silence the amused murmurs that had lifted around the classroom. “As I was saying, you will have the next forty-five minutes to complete the test. Once done you are to start on a list of ideas for your science projects due at the end of term. Once everyone is finished I will assign you lab partners. Tomorrow you and your lab partner will get together to decide on your projects.”
“Are we picking lab partners?” Someone had raised their hand to ask as Rosita turned around to grab the stack of tests she had on her desk.
“Fate will be picking” She turned around and gave a playful smirk to the room. There were a lot of people that did not like Miss Bustillos’ class because it was hard. But if you put up the effort and at least tried she was more willing to award a better grade. No one tried, though. Most people thought she was a bitch but, really, she loved science and hated that most kids these days thought it was pointless.
Nicole didn’t, however. She liked the class, a lot. She thought Miss Bustillos was a fun teacher. Then again she was good at science and never caused any trouble so maybe that affected her view on the class. That, and well, the fact that two seats up and one row to her right was a certain cheerleader that she might have a tiny crush on.
“You’re staring again” Jeremy whispered from his seat to Nicole’s left.
“Don’t make me separate you two” Miss Bustillos looked between Jeremy and Nicole. She handed Jeremy a test then looked at Nicole. She gave her a wink before handing her a test as well. She liked Nicole. She was a good student and she enjoyed science.
Nicole gave an apologetic smile to her teacher as she took the test. Once she stepped passed her desk Nicole looked at Jeremy with a scowl. She gave her head a shake then slightly motioned with her head toward the cheerleader that Jeremy had just caught her staring at. She then lifted a finger to her lips to silently tell him to shut up.
“Alright!” Rosita had returned to her desk. She had a digital timer in hand. Once she had the attention of the classroom she gave a nod and touched the button to start it “Time starts now!”
Nicole drew in a deep breath then opened the test. She quickly scribbled her name then paused. Her eyes lifted and she couldn’t help but sneak one more peek at the back of the cheerleader’s head. She let out a dreamy sigh then looked back at her test. She was so glad the term had just started. She got to spend the next three months staring at the most beautiful girl she had ever seen for an hour every day. Life could be worse.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
The test was over and the class was chatting softly while Miss Bustillos finished whatever she was working on at her desk. She had a pair of scissors and each time she cut a bit of paper off she tossed it into a box. After a few more moments she finally set down the scissors and stood from her desk. She gave a smile at the classroom as she walked around her desk shaking the box she had put all the paper bits into “Now for the moment we have all been waiting for. It is time to find out who our lab partners will be!”
Most of the class groaned. Jeremy and Nicole sat up a little straighter. They glanced at each other with matching frowns. If she was picking random names the chances of them being paired up were not good.
“Without further ado” Rosita reached in and grabbed the first slip of paper. She brought it up to look at it and read the name. She repeated this, grabbing slip after slip from the box, making lab partner pairs as she went. She set the names side by side on her desk so she could make note of her who had ended up paired together. She would dock points from anyone who tried to swap partners without her permission.
“Chetri” Rosita called out and glanced at Jeremy. Nicole turned to look at the boy too. They both nodded and drew in a deep breath of anticipation. This was it. There was a long pause before Rosita’s voice called again “Cooper!”
Jeremy deflated. Bryce Cooper, who sat all the way in the furthest corner of the room, let out a groan and motioned to Jeremy “Come on, Miss B. I don’t wanna work with a nerd.”
“Nerds are the best people. Also…” Rosita shook the box and gave a smirk “...there is no arguing with the box of fate. There is a very sound scientific method behind it.
Jeremy slid down into his seat and cast a disappointed glance at Nicole.
Nicole reached out and put a hand on his arm “Hey, I’ll help you. Besides, you know she won’t dock your grade because of him. She knows you’re a good student.”
“Jones!” Rosita’s voice filled the room again.
Nicole whirled around with wide eyes. She couldn’t help but once more glance at the cheerleader sitting two seats up and once seat over from herself. She felt her heart stop for a second before Rosita spoke again.
“Earp!”
Waverly, the cheerleader that Nicole silently pined for, turned around now. When she saw Nicole looking at her she offered her a very soft smile. She gave a nod at her before turning back around to listen to the rest of the pairings that would be made by the box of fate.
Nicole, on the other hand, felt like she was going to faint. She slid down into her seat and stared blankly ahead of herself. Nothing was in focus. Sound had ceased to penetrate her brain. All she could feel was a fog that had consumed her head and the prickling tingles that had come to life in all of her limbs. She was sure this was it. She was about to die.
Then the bell rang and she was brought back to herself. She blinked to focus her eyes. She drew in the first breath she had taken in several minutes, she was sure of it. Her head turned slowly and she looked at Jeremy with complete and total shock on her face.
“You look like you’re going to be sick” Jeremy looked a little panicked. He got up from his desk and put a hand on Nicole’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”
Nicole’s head just shook. She was still trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a soft voice behind her.
“Nicole?” Waverly spoke lightly so as not to startle the girl.
“Gotta go!” Jeremy looked between the two girls then quickly hurried down the row of desks and out the door.
Nicole blinked. She then slowly turned her head toward where Waverly stood looking at her. When she saw those soft brown eyes staring at her she felt like she was going to faint all over again. She managed to lift an eyebrow, though, and give a slight nod of her head to indicate she was listening.
“Here” Waverly looked Nicole over curiously, wondering why she wasn’t saying anything, as she slowly extended her arm to offer a paper she held.
“What?” Nicole managed to find her voice. She blinked and looked at the paper in Waverly’s hand. She licked over her lips, realizing her mouth was suddenly dry, before she lifted her own hand to take the paper “What’s this?”
“My science project ideas?” Waverly shrugged before returning her hand to holding the textbook she had tucked up against her chest. She looked Nicole over again slowly and after a moment her head tilted to the side “Are you okay? You’re as pale as a ghost.”
“Fine” Nicole mumbled as her eyes lifted to Waverly again. She felt her heart leap into her throat and she tried to put a convincing smile on her face. “Yeah, totally cool.”
Waverly nodded once, slowly, as if she did not believe her. She then shook it off and motioned to a paper that was sitting on Nicole’s desk “Is that your list?”
“Oh” Nicole looked down at the list she had written after she had finished her test. She blinked once then quickly nodded. “Oh, yeah, duh.” She scooped it up and quickly thrust it out toward Waverly “Here. Yeah, those are my ideas. Just a few, though. I have a lot so if you don’t like those ones we can totally do something else.” She was rambling. She rambled when she was nervous and Waverly made her nervous.
“I’m sure between the two of us we will find one we both like” Waverly looked a little concerned at the sudden rambling mess that Nicole had become. Her eyebrows knitted together in curiosity and she once more looked the girl over head to toe. She gave a single nod then offered a soft smile “You should come over to my place tonight so we can start narrowing down our options.”
“Yeah, totally” Nicole was barely able to breathe out the words. She felt her cheeks starting to pinken and she quickly had to shake her head to force the feeling to go away.
“You know where I live?” Waverly motioned to somewhere vaguely behind herself.
“Of course” Nicole let out a laugh as if that was a dumb question. Then she realized that might sound creepy and she shook her head quickly. “Not in a weird way! Just because, well…” She motioned around herself and shrugged “...Purgatory isn’t all that big. I know where pretty much everyone lives.”
“Probably helps that your dad is Sheriff” Waverly let out a very soft laugh. “So I’ll see you tonight? Around seven?”
“Yeah” Nicole nodded and was finally able to feel her legs again so she moved to stand from her desk. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and took two steps down the row before she paused and looked over at Waverly. She frowned and her head gave a slight flicker back and forth “Shoot, I can’t tonight. It’s my birthday. I have…” She rolled her eyes and flipped her hand to the side “...family stuff.”
“I get it” Waverly let out a soft laugh. She reached for the pen that was clipped to the spine of her notebook and took hold of it. She clicked it so the writing end was now exposed. She then put the list Nicole had handed her onto the nearest desk and started to write. Once she was done she ripped off the section of the paper where she had written and lifted it to Nicole “My number. We can text about our ideas and narrow it down so we will have a starting point tomorrow in class.”
Nicole’s eyes went wide as she delicately took the phone number from Waverly. She stared at it as if it were a precious piece of art that would fade in brillance if looked upon too harshly. She gave a single nod and looked up shyly. She bit her lip and tried to fight off the urge to faint again as a garbled “Cool beans” bubbled from her throat.
“Talk to you later, then” Waverly stepped away, her curious look once more casting up and down Nicole before she shook her head and turned to leave the room.
“Cool beans?” Nicole groaned and moved to slap her hand against her forehead once Waverly was gone. “You are such a freak.”
“What happened?” Jeremy looked wide eyed at Nicole as she walked out of the classroom. He had been waiting for her in the hallway on bated breath.
“She wanted to get together tonight to go over ideas” Nicole bit her lip to try and fight off her excitement.
“Holy crap!” Jeremy yelped then quickly slapped a hand over his mouth. He looked at her with wide, excited eyes and nodded “Did you say yes?”
“My birthday!” Nicole let out a defeated sigh and shook her head.
“Damn it” Jeremy frowned. They turned now and headed down the hallway toward their next respective classes.
“I know” Nicole gave a roll of her eyes as she slowly moved next to her friend. “My dad will probably forget anyway.” She let out a sigh at the thought. There was a lot of turbulence between herself and her father. Well, between her father and everyone in the family. But he liked her least of all. He had a good reason for it, in his mind at least. It didn’t matter what anyone said to try and convince him of the truth. He believed what he believed and no one could change his mind.
“But” She quickly shook off her father and gave her friend a smile. She paused just outside the door to her next class and held up the slip of ripped paper she had been clutching in her hand since the moment Waverly had given it to her. “I got her number so we can text about ideas tonight!”
“No way!” Jeremy’s excitement returned. He grabbed hold of Nicole’s wrist and took a better look at the writing on it. He let out a happy sounding sigh and nodded very enthusiastically as he stepped away “You are so in, Nicole! This is the first step! Lab partners to friends to…” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
“You watch too many rom-coms” Nicole rolled her eyes but let out an amused laugh. “Go to class” She shoved her friend away playfully. “I’ll see you after class, alright?”
Jeremy gave a skip before turning and heading the rest of the way toward his class.
Nicole shook her head in amusement as her eyes fell back to the paper she held. Her heart skipped a beat as they landed on the neatly printed numbers that, once put into a cell phone, was the direct contact line to Waverly. She had to be dreaming. This was by far the best birthday ever.
~.~.~.~.~.~.
“Just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you can keep me waiting” Wynonna yelled across the parking lot as soon as she saw Nicole come out of the school. She was leaning against her truck, arms folded, looking grumpier than usual.
“You’re particularly impatient today” Nicole rolled her eyes as she approached. “Did you get suspended?”
“No” Wynonna shrugged and turned around to unlock the door of her truck. “Luckily, I was able to use my powers of persuasion to convince Nedley that I was doing a good deed. Which I totally was.”
“You don’t have to always do that, you know?” Nicole let out a sigh as she leaned against the side of the truck watching Wynonna fumble with her keys.
“Save you from being picked on?” Wynonna glanced up at Nicole with an eyebrow perked in a way that dared her to disagree.
“I have gotten really used to ignoring the snide comments” Nicole shrugged and adjusted the strap of her backpack on her shoulder.
“Yeah, well, you and I both know I’d get an ear full about how I’m not doing my job if word got back to the Sheriff that you were being picked on” Wynonna rolled her eyes then pulled her door open with a little more force than she had meant to. She then motioned for Nicole to hurry up and get into the truck.
“For someone who barely acknowledges my existence he sure is concerned about the goings on at school” Nicole mumbled as she rounded the truck and opened the passenger side door before climbing in.
“That is because he is a prideful man who would rather perish than have his family name tarnished!” Wynonna stiffened up and mimicked the voice of a well-spoken Englishman.
“So my being picked on, which doesn’t bother me at all, is something he is concerned with?” Nicole snorted in disbelief and gave her head a shake. “You’d think all the rumors about me would make him care even less about what happens to me. I mean, he doesn’t even think I’m-”
“Don’t” Wynonna lifted her hand to stop Nicole from continuing. She stared at her with a frown on her lips for a few moments before letting out a heavy sigh “Deep down I think he’s just trying to protect his loved ones.”
“He sure has a funny way of showing it” Nicole gave a shake of her head and fixed her eyes out of the truck window. She did not want to look at Wynonna. She knew what look was waiting for her. The look of pity. It was always the same any time the subject of her father’s disinterest in her came up. She let out a heavy sigh as her shoulders lifted into a shrug “I’ll be surprised if he even remembered my birthday.”
“Even if he didn’t, I did” Wynonna tried to offer a light smile even if Nicole wasn’t looking at her. She waited for a moment to see if that would get a response and when it didn’t she shook her head and started the truck. “You know they already ran the test once, years ago, when the rumors first started to fly.”
“Are you sure about that?” Nicole glanced across the truck with an eyebrow arched at Wynonna.
“I-” Wynonna had started but stopped herself. She thought about it really hard for a few moments. She had been so young that she really didn’t remember. She let out a heavy sigh and reached her hand across the cab of the truck to lightly take hold of Nicole’s hand “He wouldn’t have stayed with Momma if the test didn’t come back confirming you were his.”
“Then why is he so terrible to me?” Nicole closed her eyes to fight off the wave of tears she felt forming in her eyes. It had been something that haunted her for most of her life. Her father, regardless of whatever the first DNA test had said, was determined to treat Nicole like an outsider. He didn’t believe she was his. He made that very clear to her almost every day of her life.
“Because he’s a special brand of dick cheese, Patch” Wynonna glanced from the road to her sister and frowned. She wasn’t great with emotions but she had always had a soft spot for the youngest Earp sister. She was unfairly ignored and, sometimes, treated like a burden by their father so she had set out to make sure that Nicole felt that she always had at least one person on her side.
“Whatever” Nicole mumbled as she opened her eyes. She slid her hand out of Wynonna’s and to her face. She quickly wiped away the few tears that had escaped before looking back out the window. She was so over having to feel this way. She was determined to know the answer once and for all, for herself, so if nothing else she had confirmation that she was without a doubt Ward Earp’s child and he was, in fact, just an outright asshole to her for no reason.
“Chin up, Patch” Wynonna patted her sister’s leg before returning her hand to the wheel. “I’m not supposed to tell you this but Momma has been baking a cake for you all day. We are going to have a cookout. I even smuggled some fireworks out of the evidence locker the last time I dropped by the station to get yelled at by Daddy.”
“Wynonna…” Nicole looked at her sister with a shake of her head and a mix of annoyance and amusement in her eyes “Do you purposely try to push him to the brink of exploding or are you just clueless as to how obnoxious you are?”
“Oh this is totally on purpose” Wynonna smirked as she guided the truck into the drive of the Homestead. “I figured if he has to hate one of his kids it might as well be me. I am the most like him, after all.”
“I thought you said he doesn’t actually hate me” Nicole rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips at her sister’s antics.
“I’m trying my best to make that true” Wynonna parked the truck then gave a firm point at her sister before a smirk came to her lips.
Nicole just shook her head as she slid out of the truck. Wynonna wasn’t always the perfect sister. She picked on Nicole more than anyone. But that was just what it was like when you had a sibling. Willa, their oldest sister, had picked on her too when they were younger. She was off at college now, or so she said. No one actually believed it but she was their father’s favorite so they all went along with the story.
There was no real honesty in the Earp family. No one talked about how Ward was a drunk and a terrible Sheriff. No one mentioned that he had cheated on their mother more times than they could count. They all pretended like he had never hit Michelle. It had only happened a few times, right after the rumors that Nicole was not his came out. Not that it was an excuse for his behavior, at all, but once the DNA results came back he had never touched her again.
They also didn’t talk about the fact that the entire town believed that Nicole was not Ward’s because of Michelle’s own infidelity. It had only been one man but it had been a long, ongoing affair. It was very likely that Nicole was not Ward’s child but then the rumors came out and it drove them to a DNA test. At least that is what Nicole had been told. She had been four at the time so she didn’t remember any of it.
She did remember, though, how her father changed after that. He never looked at her the same. Maybe he wasn’t convinced by the results because he definitely treated her differently. He treated her like she was an outcast, like she didn’t belong in the family. For some reason he was more concerned about the way his family had been portrayed during the scandal than the actual results of the test.
Nicole never felt good enough to be an Earp. It didn’t matter how many times her mother told her she was as much an Earp as the others. It didn’t matter how close Wynonna and herself had grown over the past couple years. She never felt like she belonged. It didn’t help that she was the only one in the family with bright red hair. That really aided in her belief that she was not a part of the family. It had been explained away because of the light red shades of their mother’s hair and how recessive genes sometimes pop out unexpectedly. But she had never really bought it.
She was determined to run a DNA test of her own. That is why Wynonna had stolen the toothbrush and the comb. Nicole was obsessed with finding out the truth once and for all and apparently, in her own way, Wynonna was telling her she supported her. It didn’t matter one bit to Wynonna whether or not Nicole was biologically an Earp. She was her sister. She would always be her sister and a DNA test would never change that. For all her flaws, Wynonna was loyal as they came as far as family was concerned. Too bad Ward didn’t feel the same way.
~.~.~.~.~.
“You ready for cake?” Wynonna walked into Nicole’s bedroom without knocking. They had finished their cookout and were all relaxing before cake and the firework surprise Wynonna had put together.
“Huh?” Nicole, who was laying on her stomach, her elbows propped up holding her phone, looked up when she heard Wynonna’s voice. She quickly stuffed her phone under her pillow and looked at her sister curiously “What did you say?”
“Who are you texting?” A mischievous smirk took over Wynonna’s features when she saw the panicked attempt from Nicole to hide her phone.
“What? No one! Jeremy!” Nicole sat up quickly and slid her phone under her ass in hopes it would prevent Wynonna from getting a hold of it.
Wynonna had already lunged at her sister though. She tackled her backwards on the bed and the two of them immediately started to thrash and roll about as they wrestled over possession of the phone. Soon a mix of screams and giggles rose into the air as the sisters did all they could to gain an advantage over the other to try and win the phone.
“Knock it off, you two! Get your asses down here!” Ward’s voice rose angirly up the stairs.
Wynonna sat up and looked behind her in the direction of the shout. She then looked at Nicole, who she had pinned beneath her, and gave her an amused smirk “Ohhh, you’re in trouble.”
“Shut up! Get off of me!” Nicole put her hands against Wynonna’s chest and shoved as hard as she could.
Wynonna tumbled backwards and off the side of the bed. She landed on the floor with a heavy thud.
“I swear to god if I have to come up there!” Another shout came from their father a floor below.
“Shit, are you okay?” Nicole slid to the end of the bed and looked down at the floor where her sister had landed. She had expected Wynonna to retaliate but instead she was greeted with the worst possible sight she could see. Her sister had somehow won possession of her phone and was laying on her back, smirking, as she read through her messages.
“Yeah, cool, I would totally be alright with that” Wynonna spoke in a cutesy high pitched voice to mimic Nicole even though that was not what her voice sounded like.
“Wynonna, no!” Nicole lunged off the side of the bed in an attempt to snatch the phone away.
Wynonna had anticipated the move, though, and lifted her knees up to shield herself. She shifted to the side, using the momentum of Nicole coming down off the bed to basically fling Nicole off of her with ease. She then quickly got to her feet as she continued to read “I am so excited to be your lab partner. I feel like I got lucky.”
“Give it back!” Nicole yelled as she crawled to her feet.
“Me too. You’re, like, the smartest girl in class” Wynonna curled her lip at the text she had just read then looked at her sister. “Like? Is she an airhead or what?”
“No, she’s…” Nicole lunged at Wynonna but once more missed when her sister sidestepped her attempt. She let out a heavy sigh and extended her hand, palm up, as if she expected Wynonna to just hand the phone over willingly. “She is actually really smart. She’s in pre-college courses, AP History, and already knows, like, four languages.”
“Like?” Wynonna mimicked the word with an amused smirk on her lips. “She’s already rotting your brain. You can’t be lab partners with her. Who is she?”
“She’s-” Nicole once more reached for the phone. This time Wynonna relented and let her sister take it from her. She let out a sigh and looked down at her screen as if she were afraid Wynonna had somehow broken it. “She’s in my Biology class.”
“No shit” Wynonna rolled her eyes. “Whoever she is better not be using you just to get a passing grade.”
“She isn’t” Nicole rolled her eyes the exact same way Wynonna had. It was moments like that, where they had the same mannerisms, that made it hard not to believe they were related. It was little things that reassured Nicole and this was just one of them. She shook the thought away and gave a shrug “Like I said, she’s smart on her own.”
“Well are you going to tell me who she is?” Wynonna arched an eyebrow suspiciously. She wasn’t sure why Nicole was being so hesitant to tell her who it was.
Nicole let out a soft sigh. She was pretty sure her sister was oblivious to the fact that she had a huge crush on Waverly. She hoped she didn’t know, at least. It would only make all of this worse.
See, Wynonna and Waverly didn’t exactly get along. That was probably because Waverly’s aunt, who had raised her, didn’t get along with Ward. There was a lot of bad blood from the past and it had boiled over into the next generation. Well, kind of. Wynonna hated Waverly but the other girl just kind of ignored it. She was popular and tried to be nice to everyone which made Wynonna hate her even more. It was also one of the reasons Nicole liked her so much.
“Well?” Wynonna coughed out impatiently.
“Waverly Jones” Nicole mumbled through a defeated sigh.
“Ew, seriously?” Wynonna huffed out in disgust before shaking her head. “Sucks to be you, Red. She is the worst!”
“She’s actually kind of-”
“GIRLS! IT’S TIME FOR CAKE!” Michelle’s voice called up from the bottom of the stairs.
“And fireworks!” Wynonna’s focus shifted immediately and she rubbed her hands together excitedly. She walked by Nicole, swatting her on the ass as she did, and gave a nod “Put some pep in your step, cutie! I can’t wait to see the old man’s face when I light up the sky with all his contraband.”
“You’re playing with fire” Nicole shook her head and followed her sister as she tucked her phone safely into her pocket.
“Literally” Wynonna glanced back and gave a playful wiggle of her eyebrows before a gleeful laugh left her lips.
Nicole gave an amused shake of her head and followed behind her silently. She honestly didn’t know if she would have survived her childhood without Wynonna on her team. She really hoped that the DNA test she was going to have run within the next few days came back with good news. She couldn’t imagine knowing that Wynonna wasn’t her sister. That was what mattered most to her. She needed to have confirmation that, no matter what happened, Wynonna would always have her back. She knew that Wynonna was determined to fight for her family and she wanted so badly to prove she was indeed part of that family.
~.~.~.~.~.~.
Wynonna let out a sigh as she slunk down the hall toward her bedroom. She had just received an absolute ass chewing from her father about her shenanigans. She knew stealing and then subsequently setting off the fireworks would piss the man off but he had been a little more agitated than anticipated. Wynonna was used to being yelled at so it didn’t bother her. Doing whatever she could to get under his skin was her favorite pastime. She would never admit it but she made a note of every time the man was unnecessarily mean to Nicole then vowed to piss him off as a form of punishment for being a trash bag of a person.
As she slunk by Nicole’s room she caught sight of her sister laying on her bed holding something above herself. She stopped and slid into the open doorway, fixing her eyes curiously on her sister. After a few moments of silently watching Nicole study the ziplock bag that Wynonna had given her earlier that day she cleared her throat and walked into the room “You can’t actually see DNA with the naked eye. Surprised you didn’t know that.”
“Shit!” Nicole yelped in surprise and sat up while quickly stuffing the bag behind her back. “You could have knocked.”
“Door was open,” Wynonna snorted out a laugh as she moved to sit on the bed. “Also, why are you hiding that from me? I am the one that gave it to you.”
“I don’t…” Nicole rolled her eyes at herself and let out a sigh. She delicately brought the bag out from behind her back and set it on her lap. She stared at the items for a few quiet breaths before she glanced up at her sister “Do you think these will work?”
Wynonna just gave a bored shrug “I tapped out my science knowledge with the DNA tidbit.” She let out a laugh at herself before looking back at the bag. She tapped her finger against the toothbrush then lifted her eyes to look at her sister “Can I ask you something?”
Nicole motioned with a nod for Wynonna to go ahead.
“Will it make a difference?” Wynonna spoke softer than she had meant to. “I mean will knowing the truth really change how you feel about him?”
“I can’t explain why but I just have to know” Nicole’s voice trembled slightly. Her brow furrowed and her gaze dropped to the bag. She drew in a deep breath and after a moment of thought lifted her eyes to look back at her sister “I want to know for sure where I belong.”
“Are you kidding me?” Wynonna shifted on the bed so she could put her arm around her sister. “You belong here” She pulled until Nicole relented and let herself lean into Wynonna. “You are as much an Earp as I am.” She glanced to the side and offered a slightly crooked smirk “I feel it in my bones. It’s one of the few gifts I have. You are my little, obnoxious, know-it-all baby sister.”
Nicole laughed softly at the description of herself. She pulled back now and turned to look more seriously at Wynonna “But what if I’m not?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Wynonna said without a beat of hesitation. Her gaze held steady as she stared into her sister’s eyes as if blinking would make her words less true. “You will always be Patch to me.”
Nicole bit her lip and gave her sister a warm smile. When they were younger Wynonna’s favorite candy was sour patch kids. She always hid them from Willa because their oldest sister would steal them and hold them hostage. Suffice it to say Wynonna was very protective of the candies. All but the red ones. She would save those and give those to Nicole because they were her favorite flavor and, well, because of her red hair. Somewhere in those exchanges Wynonna had started calling her younger sister Patch as a term of endearment. To this day it was still Wynonna’s way of letting Nicole know she cares.
“Are you going to call me that forever?” Nicole asked mostly out of curiosity. She wasn’t opposed to the name but she often wondered if it would stick around for their entire lives.
“What else would you have me call you?” Wynonna raised an expectant eyebrow at the girl.
“My name?” Nicole offered up the suggestion with a shrug.
“Nah” Wynonna waved the idea off. “You don’t mind when I call you Red, do you?”
“Actually…” Nicole gave a look that said she hated that one. She wasn’t fond of it because it was just another reminder of how unlike the rest of the family she was.
“You’re no fun” Wynonna rolled her eyes and stood from the bed. “How about…” She tapped her chin to play up the fact that she was thinking “...kid?”
“No” Nicole’s brow curled into a frown.
“Squirt?” Wynonna perked an eyebrow.
“I’m taller than you” Nicole huffed.
“Barely” Wynonna mumbled. She glanced over her sister then gave a half-hearted shrug “Babygirl?”
“Ew” Nicole laughed and shook her head.
“Yeah I hated it as soon as I said it” Wynonna agreed with a laugh. She gave a slight shrug and fixed her sister with a fond gaze “Looks like Patch is sticking around.”
Nicole gave a nod of agreement and laughed out softly. She didn’t hate it. She liked that it was something shared between only them. In a family where she often went overlooked it was nice to know that Wynonna saw her.
Wynonna’s lips curled into a satisfied smile as she moved toward the door. She paused and looked back at her sister fondly. Whatever that test said would be a moot point in her eyes. She knew nothing would stop her from loving Nicole as her sister until the day she died.
~.~.~.~.~.~