Chapter Text
When you’re the descendant of a famous lawman, people expect things from you.
They expect you to follow the rules.
Most did. At least, to some degree. Our dad for one was less ‘lawman’ more ‘drunkard’, but he protected people where he could.
The three of us? We… didn’t really turn out that way. I can’t say why. Maybe it was fate. I’ve never quite believed in that. And how depressingly shitty would it be if fate had led to everything we were forced to do? Everything I was forced to do?
Who knows. Maybe it is fate. Maybe if it is I can push the blame off of myself. Feel a little less guilty over all of the people we ended up getting hurt. I can hope, right?
It started to go downhill that July, about a month after we first threw our lives away. A month since we had last seen the hometown we cared so much about. A month since we betrayed the legacy we had been raised to respect.
You’ll hear a lot of things about us in the next few weeks. Months, probably, even. The only thing I really want you to know, to understand, is that when all is said and done, we tried. We tried.
I swear to hell, we really did try to make it better.
+++
JULY 2 – SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A.
“A JEEP? A JEEP?! YOU THOUGHT A JEEP WOULD BE A GOOD GETAWAY CAR?” Wynonna Earp jumped into the back of the waiting red vehicle, sliding forward until she could slip into the passenger seat and toss her handgun into the pocket of the door.
Her baby sister laughed from the seat next to her. “When you’re the one driving, you can choose what we use.” She threw the Jeep into drive and practically skidded down the street. “Where’s Willa?”
“Three blocks down.”
“This was a stupid idea, you know.”
“Yeah, well, you are the only responsible adult in this family.”
“Which reminds me, you’re late.”
“Bite me.”
“You can’t be late when cops are going to show up, Wynonna.”
“Waverly, just drive.”
As they headed towards the proper corner, a line of police cars sped past them in the opposite direction. Wynonna snickered. “These guys have absolutely no idea, do they?”
Waverly rolled her eyes. “That’s how we stay out of prison. Remember?”
“Yeah, yeah. Did you pack the whiskey?”
“Oh, dear god.” Waverly pulled over to the curb when she reached the intersection, and the eldest Earp sister, Willa, hopped into the back of the Jeep.
“You’re late, Waverly,” she said in a clipped voice.
“Sure, yeah, it’s my fault. Everything always is.”
“Guys,” Wynonna said softly. “Don’t.”
Willa sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Did we remember to bring whiskey?”
As they stopped at a red light, Waverly groaned and rested her forehead against the steering wheel. “Somebody just shoot me.”
“That can be arranged.”
“Willa, I swear-”
“Hey, guys?” Wynonna interrupted Waverly’s angry remark sharply. “Why don’t we just focus on all of the money we just made?”
Waverly gave a thin smile. “Made, huh?”
“A lot of work was put into obtaining it,” Wynonna said, patting the bag in her lap. “Isn’t that right, Will?”
“Mhm. And hitting two banks at once? Best plan you’ve ever had, ‘Nonna.”
Waverly made a noncommittal noise of irritation and took a corner a bit hard, knocking Willa around in the back of the Jeep. Her oldest sister smacked her in the back of the head. “Hey, do you wanna go, brat?”
“She’s driving, Willa, good god, leave her alone!”
“Yeah, she’s driving, and she’s gonna get her ass kicked!”
Wynonna pulled a bottle of alcohol out of the bag under her seat and took a long drink from it. “Can we not do this until we’re more than five minutes from the banks we just robbed?”
“Fine,” Waverly and Willa snapped simultaneously.
Their sister leaned against the door of the Jeep and took another chug of whiskey, shaking her head slowly and wondering if she would be allowed to laugh at the fact that the oldest and youngest Earps had the exact same set in their jaw when angry.
Since Willa still had a gun in her lap, Wynonna kept her mouth shut.
+++
They parked behind the local dive bar, and the moment they got out of the car, Willa was in Waverly’s face. “Do you have some kind of problem with me?”
“You seem to have one with me,” Waverly replied coldly.
“We’re not doing this here,” Wynonna muttered, pushing between them. She gripped Willa by the shoulders. “Please don’t make me the adult. I’m really bad at it, and I don’t even like trying.” She turned to Waverly and put an arm around her. “C’mon, baby girl, you’re the good one.”
Waverly snorted, but a smile played across her face. “In this family that’s not really saying much.”
“Oh, hush. Get your gun out of the Jeep.”
+++
Nobody in the bar paid any attention whatsoever to the three women walking in the back door with heavy-looking black bags. Not even the shotgun carried loosely in Waverly’s hand drew any attention. That was the main point of using bars like this as bases of operation- if you tipped well and occasionally bought a few rounds, not a single person there was going to ask what was going on.
Waverly gave a bright grin to the bartender and tossed a wad of cash to him. “Send some booze around, would you, Garrett?”
Charmed by her smile, the young man behind the counter started stammering. “Y-Yes, ma’am. R-Right away.” He quickly began to serve the other patrons, while the sisters took to the steps and went upstairs to the room they had rented.
Once inside the small space, Wynonna rolled her eyes. “Why not just screw him and put him out of his misery, Wave?”
Waverly snorted. “Uh, because first of all no, second of all I don’t mix business and pleasure.” She laid down on the bed and pulled a book out from under the mattress. “How much did you guys get?”
“Ten thousand,” Wynonna said.
“Thirty thousand,” Willa said.
Wynonna grimaced and took a seat at the desk to drink more of her whiskey. “Show off.”
“How did you even carry that much… you know what, I don’t even want to ask.” Waverly scribbled the numbers in her book and absent-mindedly chewed on the end of her pen. “We’re getting closer.”
“Closer isn’t going to do us a damn bit of good.” Willa pointed at her. “I think you need to start getting involved.”
Wynonna set the whiskey bottle down slowly. “She is involved. She makes sure we actually get away.”
“Yeah, well, that’s a whole hell of a lot less dangerous than what we do, now isn’t it?”
Waverly sat up quickly, rage burning in her eyes. “Excuse me? I’ll go to prison just as fast as the two of you, thanks. I didn’t ask for this. None of us did. So why don’t you just-”
Their door opened, and the argument stopped immediately as all three sisters picked up guns and seamlessly trained them on the person entering their room. The older woman standing in front of them just scoffed.
“If you’re going to shoot me, good. Saves me the trouble of paying for your goddamn lawyers.”
Waverly’s bright smile lit her face up again as she dropped her shotgun back onto the bed and bounded up onto her feet, bolting over to give the woman a hug. “Gus!”
The woman returned the hug. “Hey, kiddo.” She gave Wynonna and Willa a narrowed look. “Will you two put your damn guns down? Hell!”
“Sorry, Gus,” both said as they set their handguns back down.
“How did you find us?” Willa asked.
“Because I’m not a fool. You’re Earps and you’re idiots. Of course you’re in the local bar.”
Wynonna snorted. “Thanks a lot. Best aunt in history.”
“You know it.” Gus shut the door and leaned against it. “This needs to stop.”
“It can’t and you know it,” Willa replied coldly.
“It is not your responsibility to save everyone,” Gus snapped. “Get that through your heads for once!”
“Gus,” Waverly murmured. “Like you said. We’re Earps. It is our responsibility to save everyone.”
Their aunt gave a heavy sigh. “I’d just rather not see you all die. Lord knows everyone else in this family has died in the name of protecting others. I don’t want you three to join them, especially not like this.”
“We’ll be okay. We promise.”
“Wynonna Earp, don’t lie to me.”
“But it’s what I do best.” Wynonna took a long drink from the bottle of whiskey and said, “You didn’t hop the border to reiterate stuff we already know, Gus. What’s going on?”
Gus hesitated, sighing again. “It’s Curtis.”
Waverly went tense immediately. “Is Uncle Curtis okay?”
After another hesitation, Gus met her niece’s gaze and, in a low, strained voice, said, “No.”