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Autumn has always been your absolute favorite time of the year. There's a crispness to the air, biting and tense as it lingers and clings deep in your bones. The grass is still green, subtle hues of tan and brown sprinkle throughout the meadows, an encroaching reminder of what's to come, but the view is... breathtaking.
The orchard is vast, rows and rows, acres upon acres of staked trees weighted and towering and lofty; full of apples of every variety. It's part of you now to harvest them, transform them, share them, give thanks for the blessing of them. There's something simple about taking up space on this land, being a permanent guest, a humble one as you thank your lucky stars that you were led here, have been able to heal here.
The trees bloom and grow and flower and produce and then fall, as their last bounty ushers in winter. Cycles, predictability, safety. Mother nature's last breath of life before the frost settles and your breath lingers in heavy clouds and you wander around your little cabin draped in a warm blanket as you stoke the fire with more devotional attention, the flames flicker and glow and envelop you and sigh... home.
Living here now has brought you such a strong sense of awe, of reverence for simplicity, an effortless lightening of your soul, a oneness that you lacked living the majority of your life in the city. Roaming the concrete, hollow streets, passing stoic, distracted people who wouldn't look you in the eye. You've learned since moving here that you've craved connection and quiet and depth your entire life and just never knew.
You never could understand what was missing until it was found.
You step out onto your porch, a mug of tea warm between your palms as you look off into the distance, the gorgeous mountain ranges expand in all their majesty before you as you take a deep breath of the morning air. It's going to be a good day, you can feel it.
----
You have a million things to do, tractor rides and cider boiling, pumpkin patch tours as well as your regular orchard duties, the mundane tasks calming your soul and allowing you to just... exist in a way you desperately need. It's a full day and a full plate but you wake up invigorated for each new day in a way that being a cop, even on the best shift, could never afford you.
You moved here two seasons ago on a complete whim after too many close calls, after too many brushes with death left you anxious, spiraling, sleep deprived, and lonely deep in your bones. With a weight that settled in your chest and ached. It didn't hurt like anything you'd ever felt before, not like a broken heart, not like having shitty parents. It was an unfamiliar and took an uncharted adventure, a huge risk, one hell of a leap of faith, but you knew you had to do something.
You'd discovered the second night what that weight was - a deep unanswered question of... is this all there is? It'd settled inside your ribcage, flowed through the marrow of you, a dull, constant longing for... more. You'd woken after your first sunset on the property, and the sunrise answered... yes, this, here, is where you'll find the answers you seek.
Apparently an apple orchard in the middle of nowhere Canada, fresh mountain air, and a cozy little cabin were exactly the balm you craved.
There's something that calls to you today, rising in the hues of the early morning sun, the chill in the air and the frost on the ground spreads a smile across your face telling you that today is the day you need to listen, to pay attention, to hear. Nodding once in resolution you push off the wooden beam as you head back inside to get ready for the day. A soft voice in the back of your head says to dress a little more impressively, pay closer attention to the vision of you. If being here has taught you anything, it's a strong pull to listen and hear and understand everything inside and around you without any preconceived notions, without anticipation or preparation.
It goes against every skill you honed in your other life, but in this one you've been freed.
All you need to do is listen. To just... be in every real sense of the word. And it's settled so much for you, calmed so much, and you've learned to trust because of it.
----
It's nearly two in the afternoon and you're stirring a huge vat of pressed cider, boiling and steaming, a wooden spoon, basically an oar, almost as tall as you, keeping a soothing, hypnotic rhythm. The kids of the group are having a blast chucking apples into the presser and eating the spiraled peels and laughing like the little sugar overloaded maniacs they are.
The softer of the children are huddled around you, enchanted by the process and, as you've learned with the girls especially, a little with you too. You smirk and wink and flash your dimples and their giggles lighten your soul. You find enjoyment in paying it forward, you remember those days of having tiny crushes on the older women in your life, your rapt fascination with them before the crushes meant anything, before you knew.
You wipe your hands on your apron and pat one of the older girls (who has been blushing every time you've caught her eye) affectionately on the shoulder as your coworker relieves you for your lunch break. She's sweet and young, maybe sixteen if that, volunteering to bulk up her resume for college applications and you're honestly just grateful for the help. You've done busy days like this alone before and it's exhausting. The break up of noise and stimulation and constant speaking, even for an hour, is an absolute blessing. The combination of young families and wide open land and lots of sugar tends to promote utter chaos and you're ready for some calm and quiet.
----
It's the most beautiful day and the sun is beaming above you, warming your cheeks as you tilt your head to the sky in gratitude as you roll the sleeves of your flannel, gold and blue and patterned, to fold perfectly above your elbows. You settle your shoulders as you readjust to the comfortable tightness of physical labor and begin your trek back to the cabin.
As you come to the clearing beyond the rows of trees, something - someone - catches your eye, a person, tiny but with a presence unlike any you've experienced before. You can feel them even at your distance, flowing hair and animated hands; angry, fiery, but you can sense the emotion is tinged with regret, with rejection, with shame and everything inside you screams to help this human have a reason to smile again. To feel free again. This isn't the place to be so upset.
She startles something within you as your entire body halts, turning you unconsciously as you make your way to her, feet moving quickly, drawn and bewildered as she paces back and forth, weaving between the trees like she's escaped from a fairy tale. She's yelling into her phone, she's clearly pissed, and you wonder who in their right mind would ever make such a radiant human sad enough to frown in one of the most beautiful places you've ever existed.
Your body is screaming at you to go to her, get to her as quickly as you can and ease whatever burden the person on the other end of the line has weighted her with. You're close, only feet away as she hangs up the phone with a dejected shake of her head, hair picked up in the breeze as she tries and fails to tame it as it travels through the orchard.
She sighs loudly, and even with her back now turned to you you can tell she's close to crying by the way her shoulders drop and her hand raises to wipe at her face with her burgundy sleeve. She tucks her phone into her back pocket, sighs again, and turns sharply, knocking right into you as your two momentums collide and you struggle to keep both of you upright, bracing her shoulders as she gasps, hands instantly finding the crook of your elbows with a gentle and blindingly adorable "oop".
She locks eyes with you, embarrassment coloring her cheeks. "I am so sorry. I didn't know anyone was..." She looks at you, traces your face with wide, beautiful eyes and suddenly there's a bashful smile creeping up the corners of her perfectly lovely mouth as she ducks her head and her fingers flex and curl into the roll of your sleeves absentmindedly. She looks you up and down, your cheeks coloring and she smirks a little as she catches something in the corner of her eye.
"There's uh," she flushes again, reaching her hand up as she looks at you with a soft intensity that causes you to gulp. "Hay. Straw? In your collar... may I?" She's all but fumbling with her words, lost in thought while you're lost in her. She takes a moment and so do you and you have to blink a few times to register what she's saying.
She smiles coyly because she gets it and you offer her a nod as you lick your lips and take a deep breath, still unable to say anything, to do anything, watching instead as her eyes go wide and track the movement of your mouth. It's all just too much and could never be enough and it's overwhelming and perfect.
She plucks whatever from your collar, tossing it to the ground as she runs her fingers back under to straighten and flatten it back to perfection, nodding her satisfaction with herself as you shove your hands in your pockets to keep yourself from grabbing a complete stranger and kissing them senseless.
"Thanks." You finally find your voice and she inhales through her nose, chest rising as she bats her eyelashes in a gentle wonderment that quickens your pulse because she's beautiful and she's smiling at you and touching you, fingering inside the cuff of your shirt again. "There might have been a hayride mishap with some three year olds." She brightens and chuckles softly and if you were a hopeless romantic you'd acknowledge the sensation, the warmth; peppermint and carols and twinkling lights, snow and fireplaces and blankets, wrapped up tightly by the glow of the tree you picked out together, spruce and hot chocolate and romance.
You're lost in the dream and she clears her throat, beaming at you as the premonition of what could be flashes behind your eyes. "I work here, I was just on my way to my cabin when I saw..." her face drops and so do her hands as she takes a small step back and your entire body deflates and aches with the loss of her closeness. "Are you alright?"
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, looking past you to the vastness of the orchard for the distraction for a few moments to be genuine with her response.
"I'm sorry, you really don't have to answer that. I'm sure it's complicated and absolutely none of my business." You shift to take a small step away from her to give her a little more space, wanting to give her the verbal and physical out. Her eyes go wide in a soft panic at the motion and she takes two steps forward into your space, placing her hand on your forearm to keep you right where you are.
"Do you really live here? I'd kill to wake up to a view like this every morning."
Her fingers tighten around the button of your cuff and honestly their dexterity as she twists and turns it in her nervousness is entirely distracting but you're trying really hard to stay present for her. You're not sure if she's aware that she's basically had a physical tether to you since you bumped into each other, that she's touching you in a comfortable sort of intimacy that strangers usually don't offer, but far be it for you to stop her because this has got to be a dream and you have no desire to wake up.
She seems to be lost in your eyes and you're not sure what's happening but your heart and stomach are soaring and knotting simultaneously and she definitely has your rapt attention for however long she takes it. You're enamored, in every sense of the word.
"It definitely is one hell of a view. Even better though? The moon and the stars. You should see how clear it is and how much you can see at night from my porch, it's incredible." She blushes again and your eyes go wide at the subtle implication of her staying the night with you. "If you like those sorts of aesthetics, I mean. Outside. Sunrises and sets and full moons and all that. With all the clothes and layers because of the cold, obviously." You're rambling and she laughs again, fully, and it's quite possibly the most beautiful sound you've ever heard.
"I'm definitely a fan of all of the above. Clothing or not." She winks at you and your entire body freezes. "I'm sure it's all incredible here." You breathe a sigh of relief that she didn't think anything of your accidental forwardness and that she clearly has a sense of humor and the banter seems to be effortless and this is all such good news. You reach for her hand with purpose and she looks at you like she can't believe you're real, that you're standing in front of her and offering her your hand. "I'm Nicole, Nicole Haught. I figured since I've already barreled into you and accidentally caught you in a super private moment, you at least deserved a formal introduction."
She smiles and tilts her head so gently you're sure the universe has just sighed along with you.
She looks at it, foreign in its extension, as if she has never needed an introduction of you, as if she's always known you. Her hand slides into yours but everything stops in a way you've never experienced before, and if time hadn't already felt like it'd created a standstill in this little bubble of you and her, the gasp associated with the jolt as your skin meets hers for the first time would have stopped it. She doesn't let go, doesn't lose your gaze, and you wonder if she can hear your heart pounding.
Moments pass, too many, and she nods, a wonder behind her eyes radiating as if everything has suddenly fallen into perfect alignment.
"I'm Waverly."
----
"Waverly." You repeat it again because it's as beautiful as she is, unique and elegant, and it rolls off your tongue as if you've said it every day, or maybe like you're meant to for the rest of them. She takes a deep breath, squeezing her hands into fists at her side as she blinks, steeling her resolve. "That was," she sighs, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "A boy - man - he was... is... irrelevant. I was sort of stood up by him today. The phone call was me, being an idiot, seeing the good in people and not demanding the good from people. Toxic trait."
You're watching her utterly perplexed because who in their right mind would stand someone as enchanting as this human up for a date? Your mouth moves before your brain can even process what escapes it, your hand reaching for hers once again. "I was about to make lunch, I have some time if you'd - well - have lunch with me instead?"
She eyes you a little curiously, contemplating your offer as her hand drops from yours and picks at the hem of her shirt subconsciously. You offer her a smile and shrug your shoulders so she knows it's a casual invitation that she can absolutely decline. It's brazen and you're taking a chance, but you can tell she's worth it as your heart hangs while she keeps looking you up and down. A grin draws across her face and her cute eyebrows shoot up to crinkle the corners of her eyes and you're almost certain you've just fallen irrevocably in love with someone you've spoken less than twenty words to.
The fall sun and the grass of the orchard bring out the brown and green highlights in her eyes and she's utterly breathtaking. All you crave is to get to know her, hear your name fall from her lips, hear her life story, hear every hope and dream and ambition. You want every word and every second... every kiss pressed to her lips and to hold her hand through every frown and heartache and through the dim of every firelight. You'd do anything to keep that smile firmly in place.
"You'd do that for me?"
You tilt your head and look at her, flabbergasted that she'd even need to ask that. You'd do anything for her.
"I wouldn't want to impose."
She's blushing now, looking down at her toes and you know without a shadow of a doubt that you'd give anything, do anything to see her forever if you could. You reach out your hand and wait for her to meet you halfway this time, consent so she knows how deliberate and genuine the desire to spend time with her is and she grasps it immediately as you run your thumb over the tops of her knuckles, hoping to soothe, hoping to connect, hoping she understands. "You could never be an imposition. Let me make you lunch, I'd like to make up for whatever foolish idiot stood you up. You deserve better than that, Waverly."
She nods emphatically, smiling at you like you've just made her entire world. "Yes, please?" She says and it's soft and adorable and absolutely everything. She pauses, tongue poking to the corner of her cheek in a way that causes your lungs to constrict and your heart to leap and race and it's honestly a lot, settling into feeling everything because of this place now. Knowing every sensation and every minute shift. And she's bringing about a million of them and you're struggling to keep up. "How could I resist an offer after that brilliantly impressive James Bond impersonation, Nicole Haught?" She giggles at your attempt at being smooth and you'll never get over the sound.
You groan and dip your fingers between the open top buttons of your shirt, rubbing at your collarbone nervously. "Oh God, it wasn't meant to... it was... I was just trying to..." She lifts her eyebrows at you expectantly again and it makes you flush. "Okay, fine. I just didn't want you to forget my name if you said no to lunch. I swear I used to be pretty good at this."
She presses her lips together to stifle a laugh because you're utterly mortified and she's much too kind and sweet to laugh at you and so much of everything you've ever dreamed of and you're not sure she can possibly be real either. "I'm Earp, Waverly Earp, and I'd absolutely love to have lunch with you, you're very sweet. Terrible with movie references, but you've got a lot more going for you so we can let it slide."
"I didn't even do the line correctly, did I?" She smiles and shakes her head, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as she studies you and you fumble around in your head trying to make yourself feel like less of a dork. You suddenly feel a shift in her like she's just discovered the meaning of life itself, like she's just found the lost library of Alexandria and she can't wait to devour every inch of text and uncover every second of history within you. It's a little unnerving but her eyes twinkle and a calm settles over her like her life suddenly makes perfect sense. You definitely might kinda get that feeling.
----
She's lounging on one of the beams on your porch, looking out at your view in absolute awe, one leg propped up and her hand draped over her knee in an effortless kind of beauty that leaves you a little breathless. You'd told her to linger as long as she wanted and she'd gushed about all the books she'd read perched there and how she wanted to dig into the history of the orchard as soon as she could get her hands on some research.
Her brain is like the mountains behind her, majestic.
You bring her a mug of apple cider, freshly pressed, and she trails her fingers over your palm as you hand it to her. She hums gently as the cool liquid passes her lips and you offer her all the information you've learned since you've been there, trying hopelessly not to get too lost and too distracted by her. You can tell in the way she's desperate for more that you're going to have to be prepared for the next time you see her. Because there has to be a next time. And you'll be ready for her.
She watches you as you speak to her, as if she's memorizing the language of you within each moment she gets to spend with you and you've never felt so seen in your entire life. Never wanted to be seen, not like this.
"And one day you were just like... I think I'll go live and work on an orchard in the middle of nowhere? How do you even decide something that random and that extreme from being a Sheriff's deputy? That's pretty far up the chain of command isn't it? And you just... left it all behind to make cider and start a new life?"
She's been on this one for nearly half an hour and it's honestly the cutest thing. As you've observed, if she doesn't understand something she asks eight billion questions at six billion different angles until she gets it, but you've stumped her and you might be just the littlest bit proud of yourself. "Waves..." You stop immediately, eyes wide as the sense of familiarity of her escapes unchecked and the nickname you've been dying to test out slips out by accident. "I didn't mean..." but she stops you with a hand meeting yours next to her. "I really like the way my name sounds when you say it casually like that, please don't stop."
You sigh and she flips your hand and lays it on her thigh as she traces the lines of your palm with her fingertip. She's not even paying attention, lost in her own head as she looks out into the orchard counting the different varieties of apple she can see from her vantage point. She hasn't told you, but you can see her mouth forming around the numbers and you could honestly watch her brain work for the rest of your life, right here like this, and be completely happy.
Who is this human?
She perks up when she hears soft screams of laughter as a gaggle of children excitedly run into view, tossing an apple they've picked up between them as the others play tag around them. She closes her eyes and smiles, as if imagining a life here, taking in the sights and the sounds and the unbridled joy. She turns to you quickly, startling you.
"So, you gave up being a cop in the city and landed here and now you get this view and you make incredible cider and roll around in hay that seems to get stuck everywhere and play with kids and then get to give them back and then you sit here and watch the sunset every night? Just like that?"
You sigh and nod hopelessly, dumbstruck at the gift of getting to sit next to her like this. "Yeah, kinda exactly like that, actually. You've never wanted to just... do something different? Go somewhere different and reinvent yourself where nobody knows anything about you? Find out if you're different?"
There's a look that passes through her eyes, almost as if she's contemplated doing just that but never told a soul. And a new look of realization that you've succeeded at living one of her fantasies overtakes it and she grasps your hand tightly, holding on for dear life as she contemplates it again, the fear of the unknown meets her just as quickly and she looks to you for strength.
The only you can offer her, you think, is with your words.
"I was really unhappy. Really lost. My soul was tired and I wasn't helping people in the ways I'd sought out to do, I couldn't do enough, be enough like that. I wasn't healing, I was climbing ranks but not growing. I needed to do better for myself, I knew there had to be more, even if I didn't know of what."
She nods along to your words now absentmindedly flexing her fingers as they link around yours while she swings her foot below her. "You're the bravest person I've ever met, Nicole Haught." She inhales deeply, watching you intently as you look at her with gratitude and a little disbelief and a lot of awe.
The corner of her mouth quirks in that way it does when she's about to say something she's proud of herself for as she blinks her flush away and lifts her left shoulder softly. "I know this is probably extremely forward of me but do you... feel like we've always known each other?" She raises her eyebrows and closes her mouth quickly in shock that she actually just said that out loud and you can feel her start to crumble in on herself and you're quick to squeeze her fingers so she looks at you and doesn't lose herself in her inquiry. "Yes, absolutely, I'm right here with you, I get it." She lets out the breath she was holding in a rush and tucks some of her hair behind her ear. "Oh thank God, it's just that I feel like..."
She worries her bottom lip as she contemplates whether to be completely honest, how safe you are for her to confess these things. But she's also almost pleading with you to take over and say them so she can hear them too. "Like it's seemingly impossible that at the exact same moment you were being stood up I happened to be on my lunch break. That I left a big city and ended up here and you left your home and ended up here and I just happened to rush over to you because I couldn't fathom seeing that look on your face? Because I could feel from yards away that you were upset and I knew I had to try and help fix it?
Her face absolutely melts and you can see that she's holding herself back from all but climbing into your lap for a hug and her eyes reflect back to you, the color of the ocean, green and blue and brown. "You have the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen." You sit a little taller and preen just a little because she feels it too. You know in that instant that you can never lose her. "Will you stay?"
You hold your breath, waiting for her to say no, for her to think it's a ridiculous offer, that it's too much and too fast, that she won't want to get to know you any further. "Like... in your cabin alone while you go back to work?"
You smirk and give her some intense side eye because she's being cheeky and you love it. "Totally. Here all by yourself in my tiny cabin." She scrunches her nose in distaste and you can't help but shake your head and smile. "What, doesn't sound like a good time?" You say it with a firm conviction and she pauses for just a second, eyeing you for half a beat to make sure you're kidding before potentially hurting your feelings by saying no. But she sees you and laughs beautifully when you shoot her a wink, nudging you gently with her shoulder as she sighs as though her entire body has filled with the deepest sense of contentment she's ever experienced.
"No, Waverly, stay with me. I'd like to... speaking of being forward and maybe a little presumptuous? I have to work but you could... I want you to go on your date with me instead. I want to show you exactly what made me fall in love with the place. Please?"
"Yes. Show me everything. I want to know everything. Falling in love on an autumn day sounds exactly like my kind of date." You quirk an eyebrow at her and pop the corresponding dimple because she seems to be on the exact same page you are but her brain and her words aren't quite firing at the same speed and you're living for it. "With this place, fall in love with the orchard. You know," she extends her hand and gestures in an arc in front of her body. "Because you're so beautiful." She closes her eyes quickly and turns away from you to shake her head, rubbing a little at her temple in disbelief as she tries to correct herself, hoping you didn't, but knowing you heard her. "It's beautiful. The place. All of this is beautiful." She sighs just enough that you catch it and she rolls her eyes at herself as she chances a glance your way.
"Well, I think this place," you replicate the arc motion she did with her hand and then grasp hers at the end of it and she eagerly accepts, lacing your fingers together and holding tightly. "It's even more breathtaking now that you're here."
The gasp that leaves her is delicious and your cheeks turn red as you're flashed with the vision of that sound escaping her lips as you look up the length of her body, her fingers buried in your hair as she arches and breathes her pleasure in deeply. You close your eyes and lick your lips as another flashes behind your eyes and you can feel it like the ghost of a memory.
You see stairs and she's pressed against the railing, and you're kneeling between her legs, worshiping her. She's calling to you, telling you she's real and she's home, that you're safe. You feel her as she begs you to be closer, settling you on top of her, pulling you onto her, your hands gripping the railing above her head so tightly they turn white as you both chase something together with a hunger, with a desperation, with a familiarity unlike any you've ever experienced before.
There's sadness and pain and hope and fear and longing. There's elation and desire and her and you and together. You're inundated with emotions that feel like yours but when you reach out to her there's nothing but gradient and air and blurred motion. Sighs and gasps and your name falling from her lips in a way that settles deep in your bones, a way that you'll crave for the rest of your life.
She squeezes your hand more firmly, deliberately, and calls softly to you and you open your eyes, snap back into the here and now and clear your throat trying to get the images from playing back to you. "Where did you go? I lost you there for a minute. Are you alright?"
"What?" You blink back into reality, of which or whose you aren't sure, and you have to take a deep breath to stop seeing all of her, the vision, the memory, the premonition?
You can't be sure but the way you can still feel her over every inch of your skin is overwhelmingly distracting and confusing and... incredible. You feel a little guilty that you're lusting after her through what feels like another life, in another reality, in a universe that's not your own while she's sitting next to you, practically a stranger, completely unaware.
You wish you could transfer it all to her through touch, and could tell her what just happened to you, share this moment with her, experience the oneness that overcame you with her. "Oh. Uh, you... you're beautiful Waverly Earp." You blink again and she's a little taken aback and so are you because your fingers have memorized the expanse of her skin now and it's a struggle to keep them to yourself because in another existence that's your privilege.
Your guides weren't kidding when they told you to listen more intently this morning.
"But that's... I want to know every single thing that lives inside that incredible mind of yours, if you're, y'know okay with that." You let out a desperate rush of air as you spill your heart to her, hoping that she'll feel a little less embarrassed by her accidental confession. You can be a little brave for her, she deserves it after almost crying over her stupid boy-man earlier.
She gasps again, low and gravely this time and you have to stop yourself from groaning because... that sound. "God you're brave." You shift a little closer to her and turn so you're facing her now and you're pleased when she sits a little straighter herself and shifts in place as she drops her eyes to your lips for a beat of a second, blushing when she realizes you know exactly what she's just done. "You said it first, Waves." She nudges your knee with hers as she tucks the other beneath her.
"Well, yeah but that was an accident, sort of, but you just went for it with like no hesitation. See? You're really brave." You squint your eyes a little at her but smile as brightly as you can. She makes it easy.
The line comes to you a second later as a strand of her hair blows across her face, sticking in her lip gloss with the breeze and she tries to blow it a little away from her mouth. You reach and tuck it behind her ear and the words spill out of you as though you've said them before, as if they have always belonged to her. "When I see something I like, I don't wanna wait. And besides, you're here and I'm here and it's a perfect day. You should get to enjoy it, preferably with me."
She nods and turns to hop off the beam you've both been occupying for far longer than your butt is happy with, reaching out chivalrously for your hand to help you down to stand with her. "So, do you?" She tugs a little harder, a little impatiently until you're in front of her, firmly on the porch once again. She runs her hands down the front of your shirt to 'smooth out the wrinkles' you're sure and her fingers find the folds of your sleeves once again, your new favorite thing she does, as she runs her fingertips over the soft skin she finds underneath. "Like what you see, I mean."
She looks at you with expectant wonder and you smile and settle your fingers around her waist, looping them into her unused belt loops, why does this feel so familiar? You sigh and blink again and wonder if you'll always feel like this around her. You decide that you'll take whatever she and the universe offers you for as long as you're blessed with her. Forever. "More and more as the day goes on, Waverly Earp." You flash her your dimples and she swoons and you decide that a little flirting never hurt anyone. "And I can't wait to see even more."