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The waiting room of the local doctor’s office was, thankfully, nearly empty and only a few locals were around to see the tight grip Waverly held on the wild flowers in her hand. She wished she had picked up a card at the small shop in town, but she hadn't been able to choose between the two generic 'Get Well Soon' cards they had in stock. Neither of them got across what Waverly wanted to say. She supposed it would be a while before Hallmark started producing 'Sorry You Were Attacked By a Demon' cards, so she decided to go with the prettiest flowers that grew in the meadow near her homestead.
Now she wasn't sure if she should even be here at all.
The old receptionist Dale looked at her through his thick spectacles. He had been answering phones here since Waverly was a kid. She was almost convinced he lived here with the old doctor since she never saw him leave. When she didn't speak up, he asked, “Nothing seems to be wrong with you, so how can I help you, Waverly?”
“I was just wondering about a patient brought in last night around midnight,” she replied. She waved the flowers in her hand and grinned. “Thought she might want a little gift.”
Dale flicked through the paperwork on his desk for a moment. Waverly bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for an answer. When he paused on a document, she tried to settle herself and listened as he rattled off the information. “Nicole Haught. Brought in at eleven forty seven pm.” He lifted his eyes from the paper to check if he had the right woman, and Waverly briefly wondered just how many women had been brought in last night before she nodded. “Third room on the right.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. He shrugged and called out for the next patient.
The door to the third room on the right was open and Waverly slowed her footsteps as she approached it. She stopped just outside the doorway and took a moment to smooth down her shirt with her free hand. It was also a good way to wipe away the sweat that had pooled on her palm once again. Deeming herself ready, she took a deep breath and peeked her head into the room, a wide smile on her face.
Nicole rested in the small bed pushed against the wall. Sun streamed in through the window and set Nicole's loose red hair ablaze in its light. She flipped through the pages of a magazine with one hand and the fingers of her other hand poked out from a sling. Gauze covered the mark on her cheek and the lacerations near her neck. The scene was so serene, Waverly was tempted to leave and come back later, but then Nicole looked up from the pages of her magazine and caught Waverly in her gaze.
“Good afternoon, Officer Haught,” she said, loitering in the doorway with her hands behind her back.
“It is now,” Nicole replied with a soft smile. “You can come in, you know.”
“Oh. Well, I don't want to interrupt,” Waverly said, waving towards the magazine with her free hand. Nicole quirked her eyebrows, and Waverly muttered, “Okay, if you're sure.”
She took a tentative step into the room and looked anywhere but at the officer in the bed. The drab room had nothing to hold her attention, though, and soon her gaze returned to Nicole, who had an amused smile on her face. She closed the magazine on her lap and patted the empty chair beside the bed, and Waverly rolled her eyes, but she took the hint and sat down.
“Here,” she said, and held the flowers out towards Nicole. “The clinic isn't exactly known for being cheery, so I thought you might like something to brighten the place up.”
“Thank you,” Nicole said as she took the flowers. She brought them to her nose and breathed in the fresh scent, her eyes never leaving Waverly's as she peered over the petals. Instead of setting them aside on the windowsill, she lay them beside her on the bed. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she gazed fondly at the purple and blue flowers, then turned back to Waverly. “I'm glad you managed to pencil me in for a visit today. You being a planner and all, it must have thrown off your schedule.”
Waverly grinned at the joke and said, “It's a slow day.” She jabbed her finger against Nicole's shoulder. “But don't you go thinkin' you can get hurt any day of the week and expect me to visit! I'll let you off the hook today, but next time I'm gonna need notice of any injuries at least three days in advance.”
Nicole laughed, her whole face brightening. “You got it,” she said as she tucked her hair back again, only to have it fall back in her face a second later.
Waverly laughed. “You know, if it's bothering you, I could braid your hair for you,” she suggested. “I mean, not quite like how you usually wear it—I'm more of an over-the-shoulder gal myself—but it would be out of your way. If you want me to, that is.”
Nicole dipped her head and Waverly caught a glimpse of a shy smile on her face. She thrilled at the sight, happy to see that she had caught her off guard.
“I think I would like that,” Nicole said and she scooted forward on the bed so there was a space between herself and the headboard.
Her nerves forgotten for the moment, Waverly slid into the space behind Nicole and sat cross-legged and her senses were filled with officer’s presence. The remnants of a sweet shampoo tickled her nose and the warmth of Nicole's body radiating through the thin medical gown had Waverly's heart thudding against her chest. She ran her fingers through the slightly mussed strands of hair and heard the sharp intake of breath when her fingertips brushed against the tender skin that had collided with the street last night.
“Sorry.”
“Don't worry about it,” Nicole hummed as she leaned into Waverly's touch. “Feels nice.”
Emboldened, and feeling a little mischievous, Waverly raked her nails over the unmarred skin of the pale neck in front of her. A shudder shivered through Nicole's body and Waverly filed that information away for a later date before she combed her fingers through the red tresses once more, wary of the tender injury this time.
As she slowly weaved Nicole's hair into a braid, one strand over the other, they both allowed themselves to enjoy the comfortable silence that had fallen over the room.
After years of practice, she could have been done in no time, but Waverly paced herself. She wanted to enjoy the way Nicole's hair felt in her hands and every little gasp that escaped her lips when Waverly's fingers grazed her skin. She never had moments like this with Champ. It was all bucking hips and hot kisses with him. Waverly hadn't minded it that much—it was fun most of the time—but she was coming to appreciate the quiet, intimate moments between her and Nicole.
When she finished the braid, Waverly reluctantly started to slip out of the bed, but a hand on her knee stopped her. Nicole peered over her shoulder and Waverly could read the request written in her face, in the way those eyes locked with hers and held her in place. She pulled her leg back onto the bed and instead of crossing them like before, she stretched them out and allowed Nicole to settle in the space between.
Yeah, she could definitely get used to something like this, Waverly thought as she wrapped her arms around Nicole's middle and rested her chin on her shoulder so she could stare down at the magazine spread open on Nicole's lap.
They chatted idly over some of the articles in the months-old magazine, and Waverly began to notice the little things about the other woman. The timber of her laugh after she read something a little too ridiculous, how she dragged her index finger below the text so Waverly could easily follow along with her, the way her breath hitched whenever Waverly spoke. For all her charm that first night at the bar, Waverly was beginning to realize she made Nicole just as flustered as she made her. An idea struck her and a smile slowly spread over Waverly's face.
Ever so subtly, she started to rub her thumb in small circles over Nicole's side. Nothing happened at first and Nicole continued reading aloud from some article about the royal couple across the pond. But then, halfway through a sentence, she stammered and stumbled over a slew of words. Waverly grinned and stopped her thumb's movement. Nicole seemed to shake herself back into focus and resumed reading. Waverly waited a moment, then continued making the small circles. Again, she was rewarded when Nicole's voice trailed off as she lost track of the words on the page, and Waverly couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out of her chest.
“That's not very nice,” Nicole said, but there was a content smile on her face, so Waverly assumed she couldn't be too angry with her.
“Want me to stop?”
“No.”
So Waverly kept rubbing her thumb along Nicole's side, although her reactions were less noticeable now that she knew Waverly had been doing it on purpose. Still, there was the occasional word where her voice faltered, when Waverly's thumb strayed higher or lower than what she was prepared for. By the end of the article though, Waverly could hear the sleepiness in Nicole's voice and she offered to read the next one. Nicole accepted with a quiet nod and let her take over. Halfway through the Brangelina article, she felt Nicole's breathing slow and her muscles relax, her head falling to the side so her cheek rested on Waverly's chest. She smiled softly and turned the page.
She managed to get through three more gossip articles before she felt the woman in her arms twitch in her sleep. Little whimpers escaped her lips and Waverly's chest suddenly felt tight. The magazine forgotten, she trailed her hand over Nicole's arm to provide some kind of comfort. There was a sharp gasp before Nicole's eyes shot open and she jerked against Waverly's arms.
“Hey,” Waverly whispered against her ear, “you're fine. You're okay.”
Nicole twisted to look back at her and Waverly could see the residual fear from the nightmare lurking in her eyes. Desperately wishing to chase that fear away, she gently pressed her hand against Nicole's uninjured cheek and tried to bring her back to the present. Nicole slowly came back to her senses and, as if ashamed, she ducked her head and shied away from Waverly's touch, turning away from her.
“I'm sorry.”
“You don't have to apologize for being scared,” Waverly said. Nicole laughed, but it wasn't the bright, pleasant laughter from earlier. It was hollow and mirthless.
“I don't even know what it is I'm afraid of,” she said. “Last night was... I can't be remembering it right. And from what the doctor told me this morning, I'm not remembering it right,” she admitted. “He told me it was some kind of animal attack that I saved you from, but when I try to think about what happened, all I see is a pair of these burning eyes boring into me and a burning pit swallowing the earth.” Her shoulders sagged. “I either hit my head harder than I thought or I'm going crazy.”
“Don't say that,” she said. When Nicole didn't look at her, she slid out of the bed and knelt on the floor beside the bed so she was in Nicole's line of sight. Gently, she took Nicole's hand in both of hers and, with as much conviction as she could muster, she said, “You're not crazy, and don't ever let anyone in this town convince you that you are.”
“But the things I remember—”
“Nicole,” Waverly said in a stern voice. “You. Are. Not. Crazy. I can't really explain it, but I can tell you I saw the same things you did last night. You weren't hallucinating.”
Maybe she shouldn't have risked Agent Dolls's wrath by telling Nicole some version of the truth, but she couldn't sit there and watch the woman have a mental breakdown in front of her. She had seen the effect that had on her sister. She wouldn't let it happen to Nicole.
“Waverly, I...” And for a moment, Waverly wondered if she had failed to get through to her, but then she breathed out a sigh of relief and said, “Thank you.”
“Any time,” she said with a grin. “And really, I should be the one thanking you. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up last night.”
“You're a smart woman, Waverly. I'm sure you would have found a way out of it.”
Waverly shrugged. “Maybe,” she said, “but I'm still glad you were there.”
Nicole winked. “Any time.”
She knew it was supposed to be a joke, but something told Waverly she meant it, and while she was flattered, the thought of Nicole willingly putting herself in danger to protect her absolutely terrified her. She would just have to be more careful in the future and possibly start carrying her shotgun with her everywhere.
Slowly, Waverly rose up from the floor. Neither her or Nicole mentioned that she still had Nicole's hand in hers.
“I have some work I have to get done before it gets too late,” she said, “but I might be able to convince Dale to let me back in after visiting hours.”
“I'll be sure to hang around here for a while then,” Nicole teased.
“Speaking of sticking around here,” Waverly started, “do you know when you're getting discharged?”
“Tomorrow, but I don't think I'll be patrolling the streets again for another week or two,” she said. “Why?”
Waverly smiled. “Because, Officer Haught, I thought you might want to finally go get that coffee you asked about.”
“I don't know. I may have to check my schedule,” Nicole said. Waverly's lip jutted out in a pout and Nicole's resolve quickly crumbled. She laughed and said, “I think I would really like that, Waverly.”
“Are you sure? Because every time we're around each other, something seems to break,” she said. “Your skull, for example.”
“It's worth the risk,” Nicole said with a soft smile.
And just like that, the butterflies Waverly thought she had a handle on fluttered to life again, and she found herself stammering over her goodbye as she backed out of the room.
On her less-than-graceful way out, she saw Nicole pick up the flowers from the bed and hold them close. She held the image in her head as she left the clinic to deal with less pleasant things.
Things like the research she would be doing at the library for the next few hours to figure out what the hell a Revenant would want with her.