I Swear on the Bones of Calamity Jane

(I shouldn't have been a cat-sitter)

PART 1: CHRISSY

*

"Cole?" Waverly wondered at her newly-wedded wife sitting at their porch in the homestead.

"Chrissy's letter just came." the Angel Shield looked in somber at her Angel, holding out a letter with tears in her eyes.

*

[During the evacuation from Bulshar's attack...]

"C'mon Chrissy, don't bring so much stuff! This is an evacuation not a vacation!"

Nicole hissed, the new Sheriff of Purgatory hurriedly assisted the younger Nedley in her evacuation preparations. With the impending end of the world right under their toes, another pair of heels wouldn't really matter.

"Okay Nicole, okay there!" Chrissy whined and lessen the load of her luggage throwing a mix of clothes and shoes away. "But clearly dad is going on the vacation." Pointing to her dad's already prepared luggage.

It was a few months ago that her dad, the just retired Sheriff Randy Nedley, brought both Nicole and Chrissy to have a dinner together and explained the relation they had to each other.

Turns out when Nedley saved Nicole from the Cult of Bulshar Music Festival Massacre, she had stayed with the Nedleys for five weeks, while the then local officer was trying to contact her parents and assisted in the funeral of his old friends, Nicole's aunt and uncle.

During the first week, Nicole was a scared and quiet kid and Chrissy was just a few months old. Mrs. Nedley took pity on the frightened child and took a silent oath that as long as she was in their care she would do her best to protect the child.

One night she found the redhead in the baby's room holding Chrissy's hand and noted the silence. It was just them at the house while Nedley was taking the night shift.

"She was crying," child Nicole said in tear-streaked wonder, "was she having a nightmare too?"

It was the first time Mrs. Nedley heard Nicole talk about anything about the "forest fires" and hurried to the children's side and hugged the redhead who was still holding baby Nedley's hand.

It was the quiet comfort that helped Nicole deal with her dreams that night when she came back to sleep. Mrs. Nedley also noticed how Nicole could stop Chrissy's late night cries, and told it to her husband.

For the weeks that followed, Nicole was the one who helped Mrs. Nedley in caring for the baby in Officer Nedley's absence, and the redhead would always wane Chrissy's cries by holding her hand.

The retired Sheriff hoped that his daughter and his other non-biological daughter could reforge their very early bond and learn to help each other out when necessary. Such like a time as this, looking at the two women bickering Randy Nedley's heart melted and if anybody asked he would deny it.

"Nedley, are you sure you'll take CJ to your vacation?" the former Sheriff's retirement time was filled with cat-sitting Calamity Jane, another ginger he had adopted.

"Chrissy will take her first, right Chris?"

The blonde just rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I got CJ. Hey Sheriff, be sure you'll pay me this time for my hours. And I need a higher rate when I'll baby sit yours and Waves' kid in the future."

It was the redhead's turn to roll her eyes, but the two women just chuckled together.

"Really Chris? I wasn't even paid when I babysat you back then." Nicole teased back as she settled Chrissy's bags at the back of her car.

"Your promotion is the payment Haught!"

"Just take care of my cat first," the redhead kissed her cat's head and gave her sort-of sister a last hug.

"Got it Nicole, just as long as you take care of Waves too."

"With my life, Chrissy."

*

"Nicole where's dad?"

Three months after the evacuation, the residents were allowed to return to their homes in Purgatory. The current, clearly-distracted and injured Sheriff Haught assisted everyone despite being in her crutches and casted leg.

Nicole turned her head towards the younger Nedley in the open market. Both were growing scared now that after weeks of searching, no one found Randy Nedley. Even the rumors of the former Sheriff last seen with Wynonna Earp was causing a rift among the two women.

"Chrissy.." Nicole began, they already talked about this.

"Are you really looking for dad? Or you're just concerned about the Earps? Rumor has it that Wynonna--"

"I'M CONCERNED FOR THEM ALL! I'm looking very hard! What do you want from me Chrissy? I'm doing the best I can!" It was unusual for Nicole to snap, especially when they're in the public.

But it was too much, Waverly's birthday is tomorrow. And then Wynonna's.

Unfortunately, for an outsider, it would look like an argument from a head officer and a woman concerned about finding her father. No one saw the exchanges between the two women with a deeper rooted connection to each other, they both cared about their dad. Unbeknownst to both women then, this outburst drove the last nail for the redhead in earning a frown from the townspeople and ended up in losing her position as Sheriff in the upcoming election.

When Chrissy heard the story about the "chicken-kicker" later, she knew it took a huge toll on her sort-of sister. But the absence of their dad still flamed the ember of her distrust in the redhead. Nicole tried to talk to her in Shorty's after the younger Nedley bought the place with her father's pension. But before the redhead could go to Chrissy, the patrons of the bar started doing chicken voice impressions. Nicole's eyes pleaded to her sister but it didn't reach enough in time and just left.

'Chrissy this isn't working. Just give me back CJ and you won't hear from me again.'

Much as Rachel's importance to Nicole these past months was Calamity Jane's importance to Chrissy as she continued to cat-sit the ginger.

It felt like the last connection with her dad. Rachel did spend some time with Chrissy playing with CJ whenever they visit the Earp homestead, much to the older woman's dismay after Nicole gave up her house to help a family that lost their home in Bulshar's attack. But the redhead insisted that it was the right thing to do, and then reasoned that the homestead will be the first place where Waverly, Wynonna and Doc would go. Again, the Earps go first.

Chrissy looked at her phone with Nicole's message and then frowned at the ginger cat staring at her.

"Alright CJ, I guess your momma wants you back. Please tell her I'm sorry."

But the cat wasn't able to relay the message to her human. On the way to the homestead, the forest-troll chased Chrissy's car which freaked out the cat and jumped out from the open window. Calamity Jane run the fastest she could towards the troll and shifted to the forest to divert the attention of the troll from her other human. The troll took bait and ran after the ginger.

"CALAMITY JANE!" Chrissy cried out in vain, "Oh no, Nicole!"

Later that day the two women shared screams, shouts and hurtful words that both were too stubborn to take back, almost traumatizing the teenager from the other room of the homestead. Rachel heard heavy footsteps from the blonde lady who slammed the door shut as she left for good.

"Nicole are you okay?" Rachel tried to reach her hand to her guardian standing frozen in the living room. The teenager noted these moments when the redhead received bad news, Nicole would disappear in her thoughts and just stand still staring in blank space.

It took a while for Nicole to go back to her senses and said quietly, "She's gone, they're both gone too."

Rachel, bless her heart, was a smart child and always understood things even when they are not directly explained to her. She understood what Nicole just said. Calamity Jane is gone. Chrissy, her almost-mom's almost-sister, is gone, too.

*

"The Randy Nedley Chili Cook Off?"

Nicole repeated what Waverly just said as the another absurd way the magistrate handled the jail in town.

"For Freedom, don't forget to add that." Waverly squealed in dismay as she look for ingredients in the kitchen.

"So Chrissy really did that?" Something in the redhead's tone says that there's more to the story, but Waverly would ask her that later. And the younger brunette would learn that Chrissy and Nicole joked around Nedley that they would do the cook off in his name and have an inappropriate trophy for the winner in his honor.

Entering Shorty's that day to help Wynonna with her chili, Nicole couldn't help but try to scan the room and look for her sister. With no Chrissy in sight, Nicole sighed and turned back her attention to her other sister and long-gone best-friend.

Reunion with Waverly was, well dehydrating.

But Nicole couldn't help the relief and comfort she felt as she hugged Wynonna, which almost brought her to tears if only this time they weren't too distracted to make a winning chili--with a block of cheese tossed whole in the pot.

The new Sheriff's presence screamed threat to the redhead and immediately was torn in choosing Rachel in the homestead or Wynonna with her chili. It was with Waverly's understanding that she reasoned a teenaged alone in the homestead would need more help than a vegan chili.

Waverly’s faint kiss lingered with Nicole as she exited the building. She hurried to the jeep to the homestead.

When Chrissy came down from the steps, she knew Nicole would be with the Earps and was actually surprised that the redhead wasn't. Still she had to glare at the person who killed her dad, with or without Nicole in sight. But it would change later that day.

"Nicole.." Nedley called out to the redhead, this was the first time since the evacuation that the three were alone.

"You should get Chrissy out of here. While you still can."

Chrissy caught Nicole's eye before the redhead left later that day with the Earps. Their dad was back, but the rift with Nicole went really bad that his presence couldn't just fix that easily. Chrissy lost her faith in the Earps, and clearly Nicole didn't. Of course her sister would choose them. But first she's happy her dad is back. She would focus on just that.

*

"And then she slammed the door! Poof!"

It was Rachel that told Nedley in the fishing trip during the Haught-Earp's honeymoon what happened with his daughters. Neither Chrissy and Nicole gave him any clue on with what had gone between the two. Both still stubborn to talk to each other and fix things.

"It was bad Nedley. Calamity Jane's death was the last straw," the teenager grimaced as she remembered the promise to her boss not to talk about the cat. She can't help it, Calamity Jane was central to the story.

"Chrissy never came back to visit Nicole after CJ died" making a face again, Rachel continued, "but she would text me every now and then to check up on us. Whenever I don't know what to do about 'Lil Mama, I would call Chrissy and she would tell me what to do."

"I still don't get why you call her that," Billy murmured quietly but Rachel just shoved his shoulder playfully, "What? She's tall, not little!"

Rachel ignored him and turned to her now sort-of granddad, "It was Chrissy's idea that I should sing 'Wildwood' at the wedding. Something about what Waves said back when she started dating Nicole. Apparently it was their song."

"You should tell Nicole that," Randy said as he thought about Chrissy missing the wedding.

"Well we both know that she can't come on time since she has her new job," Rachel quickly added with teasing voice, "and new boyfriend."

Nedley just looked with twinkle in his eyes at the teenager--his first grandchild. If Chrissy told Rachel about things like these, surely his daughter must've considered Rachel as her niece.

Nedley thought about all those years being a single parent to Chrissy, how the girl always wanted a sister, insisting that she had one who would always hold her hand. Bonding with Nicole when she came back to Purgatory added a new dynamic to the Nedleys, easing out a bit of the loneliness they felt when Mrs. Nedley left. He remembered how Chrissy hid her excitement when they got introduced to each other, like she knows she'll have a sort-of older sister. Like how Waverly has Wynonna, she would have Nicole.

Nedley's revelation about their bond as children cemented their sisterly bond back then. They would have dinners together and plan Nicole's date-night with Waverly, with the help of Chrissy's inside information. But that's not how it is now, his daughters are not even talking to each other.

"Nicole knew."

This broke Nedley's thoughts, "What do you mean, kid?"

"There's no other way I would know 'Wildwood' if Chrissy didn't tell me."

*

'I should have been there to take care of you, just like how you took care of me when I was a baby, and even when we don't recognize each other when you came back. And even more when you became my sister.'

Chrissy's long letter came the day after the wedding. Nicole saw it as the second olive branch, with Rachel's song yesterday as the first. Nicole had wanted her sister to come to her wedding, but as Rachel explained she can't. The redhead knew her daughter and sister continued contacting each other even after the fallout they had. There's no way Rachel would know how to make quiche by herself back in the latter part of those eighteen months.

Nicole cried reading Chrissy's letter, and realized how they missed each other. The letter mentioned Chrissy's gratitude in finding their dad, and thanking Nicole for taking care of her even when they had a fallout. How Nicole would get back at patrons who would start trouble in Chrissy's management at Shorty's, though the redhead would always make them promise not to tell anyone what she did. Nicole might not be the Sheriff then, but she still has eyes and ears in town.

When she saw her wife this morning looking at Wynonna's photo by the fridge, the redhead sent a text to Chrissy, three simple but powerful words.

'Thank you, sis.'

Later that night in their bedroom, Nicole and Waverly just held each other tightly as they talked about missing their sisters. Like no matter how far they've gone, they would always be back and they--Nicole and Waverly--in return would love them back.

*

Time flies and it's August.

Chrissy's phone rang and saw her sister-in-law's name.

"Hey Waves!"

"Hey Chrissy, got a minute?" Waverly's voice chirped to hear her sister-in-law and childhood best friend's voice and heard a soft 'yup'.

"Wynonna wants to say this to you," Rachel cleared her throat and did the most convincing Wynonna impersonation she can.

"Yo Baby Nedley! Your dad found the ginger cat, or the ginger's cat? Get it?

Apparently troll-Nedley and CJ were pals in the forest, and he's looking for his troll-lair after he 'dreamed' that detail.

Anyway, Nedley wants you to give it back to our Haught-sister.

Let us know when so I can come home too."

"Oh my god, CJ!"

Rachel and Waverly filled Chrissy with updates in Purgatory, including Wynonna going away with Doc to go to their daughter. She still can't believe her dad became a troll, but it's funny now that they thought about it. The troll they feared so much was always going to the homestead for Nicole, and always chased Chrissy in her car. He was unconsciously going to his daughters.

Chrissy's hand moved to her chest and lower belly. She also talked with Nicole every now and then, but haven't visited each other. No, she learned that Nicole can't get out of the Ghost River County, which means it's up to her to go back and see her sister.

"Tell Wynonna I'll come home. It's August, our Dad's birthday is soon."

*

"Sweetie, you can open your eyes now.”

To say Nicole was surprised was an understatement, she was flabbergasted to say the least. Her first baby, the grumpiest gingerhead she adopted for what seemed like a very long ago from the rescue shelter was now being carried by her sister.

"You know Sheriff, I shouldn't have been a cat-sitter." Chrissy held the newly cleaned Calamity Jane towards her sister.

“Nah, you did alright kid.” Her older sister answered back with that dimpled smile.

“Finally! I can say now that CJ was the one who broke that fancy homestead vase!” Rachel earned questioning look from the room.

"What? I swore on the bones of Calamity Jane," the teenager chuckled and gathered the rest of the adults to laugh with her. Although they all knew her role in the breaking of said fancy vase the other day—she can’t get her phone out of when it slipped inside when CJ bumped into her feet.

Nicole went to Calamity with Chrissy and hug them both. The gingers reunited only to be cut short by Alice who wants to play with CJ.

“Wynonna, did you teach your daughter how to interruptus?”

*

To say Randy Nedley's Birthday Party was a blast is an understatement.

It must have been the happiest birthday of the man's life as he saw the laughter and cheers of the people in his party. They were only children back then, yearning for guidance and security and nurture. And now they're all grown up: Chrissy, Wynonna, Waverly and Nicole--his daughters.

After their dad’s party, Chrissy went back to work away from the Triangle and with Nicole’s blessing took Calamity Jane with her. A reminder of the gingers in her life and how they always protected her.

When Chrissy started her own family months later, she went back to Purgatory to be with her bigger family.

She moved in to her dad’s house and her husband settled in quickly with the townsfolk. When she gave birth to a daughter, Nicole noted that they looked very much alike back when her sister was a baby.

“Rayleigh, I’m naming her Rayleigh. After the most loyal, selfless, and loving person I know.”

Months followed and the gang would have their monthly game night. Chrissy gets to host the night this month in the Nedley house, much to Wynonna’s habit of teasing the blonde's husband.

Again Waverly and Jeremy would always come face to face in the finals. Jeremy kept pointing out that he’s the King of Trivia Night. But Waverly reasoned that she got sidetracked with chicken-kicker that she missed but really knew the answer. This would be a continuous dispute between the two and everyone knows it.

They all laughed, Nicole even the hardest. It was okay now. The Sheriff took back her power over the incident and stood mightily in her oath to protect the triangle.

Waverly loved that laughter so much that she almost wasn't able to hold back from showing the redhead how it means so much to her. Later she took Nicole outside after winning game night and they shared tender and loving kiss away from everyone else.

“I love you,” Waverly rested her forehead to her wife as she whispered, “and I’ll always be proud of you, my Wife, my Sheriff, my Best Baby, my Shield.”

Sometime later that night Nicole heard a faint crying in the Rayleigh’s room. The redhead moved towards the big crib since her niece started wailing, with CJ inside laying down suddenly annoyed being woken up by such loud crying.

Nicole held out her hand, just like what she did thirty years ago with her sister. She looked at Chrissy by the doorpost and they smiled at each other as the baby stopped crying.

"Like mother, like daughter."