Chapter Text
Nicole's breath rose in thin wisps, clouding her view of the back door of the bar. She couldn't feel her toes anymore and her eyes were dry from the frigid air.
Another 15 minutes and she would be risking frostbite. She would have to give up and try again, come back closer to closing tomorrow. She buried her hands deeper in her pockets and tried to focus back on the door. It wouldn't do any good to get mad about it now, it would just throw her off.
She saw the door swing open and heard the bang as it hit the wall. A moment later a young woman came flying out and landed with a thud on the snow covered pavement. She had caught herself and was up again, yelling at the man who had tossed her.
"...throw me out! You can't just throw me out! Shorty we're-"
"Wynonna I don't care what we are, you can't keep hustling my customers and think you'll get away with it. Go home and sober up. And don't come back unless you're going to play fair."
The man turned to go back inside and slammed the door behind him.
"Yeah you better run!" Wynonna screamed at the closed door.
Wynonna, finally. Nicole didn't move yet, since Wynonna didn't seem to know where, or if, she was going. She stared at the door, muttering at it under her breath. Nicole had gone to Wynonna before for information on a different bounty and it had panned out. She just hoped she could manage to get her in a talking mood this time.
John Henry aka Doc Holliday, was the biggest bounty she'd seen in a while. She knew that Wynonna and 'Doc' had been a thing back when he was just Doc, the local drunk.
Now he was Doc, the local drunk who had robbed three gas stations and killed a man.
Nicole was hoping that Wynonna could give her a lead on Doc's whereabouts. He had a secret hideout somewhere out in the woods where no one could find him. Nicole could just feel it. The police thought he'd turn up eventually, at a bar, or a casino, or another gas station. Nicole knew that wasn't the case. His car had been found out in a salt flat, burned, and the last place he'd robbed had had all of the bourbon stolen. That was 4 weeks ago and no one had seen hair nor hide of him. He'd gone to ground and she thought that Wynonna was her best bet at a lead.
Wynonna finally decided the night was too cold or the door didn't care enough about her cursing at it, but either way now she was moving towards the parking lot. Nicole followed her. She wasn't weaving, but she did seem to be slipping on the snowy ground a little more than she should and she was struggling to get something out of her pocket. Nicole hoped it was a phone and not a set of keys. Sure, Wynonna was a petty thief, and a drunk, and a loudmouth, and the town pariah, but Nicole didn't want to know what her motorcycle looked like wrapped around a tree. Nicole heard the telltale jingle of keys.
"Hey! Wynonna!" Nicole called to her and began jogging to catch up.
"Who the fuck" Wynonna whirled around ".... oh. Bounty Hunter Haught. Back for another one night stand?"
"Wynonna, I don't know what you remember about our last encounter, but it wasn't a one night stand."
"What? It wasn't? I mean let's see, you buy me a drink, and then you fuck me. That's pretty much it, isn't it?"
She wasn't wrong. Wynonna had helped her pinch Fish, a small time crony of none other than Bobo del Rey, slumlord extraordinaire. Bobo had made Wynonna's life hell for a little while. Busted up her bike, broke into her homestead and smashed the place up a bit, but that wasn't Nicole's fault. Or so she told herself.
"Wynonna, look I'm sorry that word got out that you helped me-"
"But you came back anyway! If Bobo sees me talking to you, it's not just going to be my bike that get's busted up this time. I'm not helping you, whoever it is, I'm not helping you." Wynonna said with a finality that Haught doubted she could talk her out of.
Wynonna began walking toward her bike again.
"Wynonna! It is 12 degrees out here and you're drunk. If you get on that bike, you're gonna die. At least let me give you a ride home."
"If I leave my bike here, it's going to get stolen. I'd rather die with my bike than get in a car with you anyway."
Handcuffs and combat training with the ROTC kids in college really made the entire encounter unfair. Drunk Wynonna's reaction time was quicker than Nicole thought it would be, but ultimately didn't change the outcome. Nicole had Wynonna in handcuffs pinned against the closest car when she heard a angry voice very close to her.
"You shit ticket! Let her go!"
Next thing Nicole knew she'd been punched in the ribs. Who this person was or how they had sneaked up on her, she didn't know, but now she had two hostiles to deal with and only one pair of handcuffs. At least Wynonna couldn't drive in handcuffs. Nicole let Wynonna go, thinking that might be the best way to deal with the new threat. Nicole turned around and ducked immediately. She felt the wind from the punch she'd just dodged and heard the unmistakable sound of a fist connecting with a face.
"Waves! Fuck! I think you just broke my nose!"
Nicole looked up at her assailant. Well, sort of looked up at her assailant. She wasn't very tall. And she was cute, standing there looking horrified that she had just punched the person she had apparently been trying to save. Nicole tried to not let the fact that the girl she needed to neutralize was the prettiest girl she'd ever seen, distract her.
Her arms were still held slightly in front of her like she was ready to fight and she was still staring wide eyed at Wynonna. Nicole took her shot. She grabbed the girl's hands just like her karate instructor had shown her all those years ago and put the girl in an uncomfortable, but not harmful wrist lock. Nicole had twisted the girls arm so it would be behind her back. Now the girl was between Nicole and the still howling Wynonna.
"Look I don't wanna-"
Nicole barely managed to start talking before she was seeing stars. The girl had thrown her head back into Nicole's nose, and stomped on her toe. Fortunately, her boots were steel toed, but her nose was unprotected and breakable. Judging by pain and the warm liquid dripping down her face, Nicole felt safe in assuming that was what had happened.
Nicole straightened up and stumbled back, barely getting her guard up in time for the next assault. Obviously, playing nice wasn't in the cards right now. The girl was tiny, but fast and smart. Nicole didn't like to hit other women, but this one wasn't giving her much choice. Nicole blocked the next haymaker the woman threw at her and managed to land two quick jabs, one to the solar plexus and one to the jaw. The woman stumbled back.
"Don't hit my sister!"
Nicole looked up in time to see Wynonna barreling at her, head down like a bull. Nicole sidestepped and gave Wynonna a little push. Her momentum plus a little help had Wynonna face down in the snow. It would be a miracle if her nose wasn't broken at this point.
Nicole was suddenly struck from behind with such force that for a second she thought she'd been kicked by a horse again. She landed hard on her shoulder. She grabbed whatever she could of the person on top of her and flipped them as fast as she could. After struggling a lot more than she felt she should have for someone so small, she managed to pin the girls arms by her side.
"Please stop and let me explain." Nicole said as calmly and clearly as possible through her broken nose.
Nicole was straddling the girl, using her legs to pin the girls arms while holding her nose in an attempt to try to keep from bleeding on her.
"Why the fuck did you put my sister in handcuffs?"
The girl was still pretty squirmy, so Nicole tried to talk as fast as possible.
"She's drunk and was gonna drive. I didn't want her to die."
The girl stilled.
"Oh."
"If I let you up, will you stop hitting me?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
Nicole rolled off the girl and stood up. Her nose was bleeding, her shoulder was sore, her ribs felt bruised, and she still couldn't feel her toes.
Wynonna was moaning somewhere behind her. Nicole hoped she wasn't hurt too bad.
"Come on you, roll over."
Nicole turned around to look at this person who was apparently Wynonna's sister help her up. Wynonna groaned as she rolled over. Somehow her nose appeared to be unharmed. She must be the luckiest girl in the world. She did have some scratches on the right side of her face though and she seemed to be complaining about her shoulder.
Nicole watched as the girl delicately touched Wynonna's face. She wondered how someone who had managed to break her nose and possibly crack a rib, could still be so gentle. The girls eyes filled with concern when Wynonna cried out in pain when she tried to help her up. A broken collar bone or a dislocated shoulder were Nicole's best guess on what was wrong. Neither of those were particularly fun. She walked over to help.
"Here let me..."
The girl jumped and Wynonna just moaned something along the lines of 'jolly green bitch...' but Nicole just ignored her. It wasn't her best work anyway and later Wynonna would be embarrassed. The girl regarded Nicole with her dark eyes. She nodded once, but Nicole knew it would take a lot more than picking her sister up off the ground to get into her good graces.
Nicole picked Wynonna up bridal style. She wasn't nearly as heavy as Nicole thought she would be. All those deadlifts were coming in handy. She set Wynonna down and caught the other girl's wide eyes. Nicole smiled to herself as she pulled out the keys to the handcuffs. She quickly released Wynonna. Wynonna cried out in pain as her right arm fell. It was hanging funny. There was definitely something going on there. Something a doctor needed to look at. The girl was by Wynonna's side in an instant.
"Wy, what's wrong?"
"My fucking shoulder, Waves."
Waverly looked at her sister's arm, concern written all over her face.
"We need to get you to the hospital."
Nicole agreed, but this weather was going to make it hard. And an ambulance ride would be a pain in the ass. Two hours before she could even get there, much less see a doctor with all this snow.
"The closest hospital is an hour away in good weather. What are we gonna do? Take my bike?"
"I know a guy." Nicole cut in.
The sisters turned to look at Nicole. She was still holding her nose, although it had mostly stopped bleeding.
"You know a guy? What is this? New Jersey?" Wynonna snarked.
"I need patched up sometimes after I bring a mark in, and they're the best in town."
Nicole tried to smile through the blood and her hand. The two women looking at her didn't seem all that reassured.
"I promise they're good."
Wynonna turned to face her, and winced.
"Well, I still don't want to leave my bike here. Not to mention, how is there a 'guy' who patches people up that I don't know about?"
Nicole smiled.
"Well they're not a guy per se."
"Look, Haught, either there's a guy or there's not. Either way, take me somewhere to get my shoulder fixed so I can punch you in the face for cuffing me." Wynonna was clearly fed up with the word play and by the look of it ready to pass out. Nicole decided to take it easy on her.
"It's the blacksmith. Out by your place. She can fix us up in no time."
The Earp sisters met her gaze with similar looks of questioning, but begrudging respect. The blacksmith wasn't known for her hospitality.
"Fine. What are we gonna do about my bike?" Wynonna asked, conceding to Nicole's plan.
"I can put it in the bed of my truck. No problem." Nicole walked toward the bike, ready to get a move on. It was cold and her nose hurt like hell.
"You scratch her, and I scratch you."
Wynonna did her best to look menacing and point her finger at Nicole. It would have been more effective if she wasn't cradling one arm and had been able to actually point somewhere in the vicinity of Nicole. As it was, she was just pointing at the ground. Nicole did her best to look serious and nod in understanding.
Wynonna sat in the truck while Nicole and her sister loaded her bike into the back.
"I'm sorry I punched you."
Nicole stopped tying the bike down to look at the other woman.
"I probably would have punched me too, if she had been my sister."
Nicole smiled at her. Waverly grimaced. It wasn't the reaction Nicole was hoping for.
"How bad does your nose hurt?"
Oh, right. Her nose. She probably looked a mess right now.
"I've hurt worse. Just not on my face usually."
"My sister called you Haught. That wouldn't happen to be like Nicole Haught, the bounty hunter would it?"
Nicole stared at this girl. Who the hell was she? And how did she know who Nicole was?
"Who's asking?"
The girl smiled and Nicole thought she'd let her punch her in the face anytime.
"Waverly Earp."
She smiled like that should mean something to Nicole. Nicole hadn't heard the name before. She finished tying down Wynonna's bike and hoped out of the back of the truck. She closed the tailgate and turned to Waverly.
"Well, Waverly Earp. It's nice to meet you."
She tried not to smile this time, considering her face was probably an awful mess, and that wasn't the impression she was trying to make.
"That's it? Really? Just 'Nice to meet you?' That's the whole thing?"
Waverly seemed upset and Nicole was at a loss. Waverly sort of looked like she was ready to break Nicole's nose again. Nicole wasn't interested.
"I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?" She asked, trying to defuse the situation before more violence occurred.
"Did you say something wrong?" Waverly asked mockingly. "We've been professional rivals for like a year and a half! And that's it! Just 'Nice to meet you! Oh no! Did I say something wrong!' Like you didn't know!"
Nicole paused and tried to figure out what Waverly was talking about. 'Professional Rivals?' What did that mean? Waverly can't be a bounty hunter. Her only professional rival was that asswipe Champ Hardy, and he could hardly count as a 'rival.' In fact, Nicole had no idea how he managed to collar any of the criminals he did. Or how he managed to stay in business, since half the time he seemed to just be bringing in his drunk buddies for jumping bail.
Of course, Nicole had heard that Champ had a partner. His girlfriend was supposed to be his partner. Champ's girlfriend. Waverly Earp was Champ Hardy's girlfriend. Nicole felt like she was going to be sick, and it wasn't because of all of the blood she'd accidentally swallowed after Waverly broke her nose.
"Wait, you're Champ Hardy's partner?" Nicole could feel the color draining out of her face as the reality of this situation really set in.
Waverly beamed. Nicole didn't understand anything that was happening right now.
"Yes! And I can't believe I got the drop on you! Nicole Haught. Champ won't believe me."
Nicole felt the bottom of her stomach drop out for a different reason altogether. Sure, it wasn't Champ that had broken her nose, but it was his girlfriend. She'd never hear the last of it. She wondered if there was any color left to drain out of her face. She felt herself sway a little.
Waverly caught her elbow and grabbed her around the ribs. Nicole hissed in pain. She pushed Waverly away and proceeded to vomit blood all over the snowy ground. Maybe it was time they headed out to Maddy's. Although, now she was regretting giving that little piece of information up. Not much she could do about it.
"Hey, I don't know what's taking so long back there, but if I don't get some more alcohol or a damn doctor real soon, I'm going to rebreak your nose Haught!"
Nicole stood up. She still felt pretty woozy.
"Maybe I should drive?"
Nicole looked at Waverly and nodded. She gingerly handed over her keys and let Waverly help her to the drivers side of her truck. Nicole wasn't sure how she had ended up in this situation. Champ Hardy's girlfriend was about to drive her truck to take her to get patched up after kicking her ass in a parking lot. And Nicole was riding bitch. How could this get worse?
As Waverly slid in beside her and started the engine, Nicole gulped. That shouldn't be sexy. She was in a parka and she had just kicked Nicole's ass. Not to mention she was dating the one, the only, Champ 'douche canoe' Hardy. Whatever was happening inside Nicole right now wasn't just highly inconvenient, it was altogether ill conceived. This could not be happening.
"Where's the...?" Waverly made a shift-y motion with her hand.
Nicole just leaned her head back and sighed.
"It's a stick."
Waverly laughed at her a little.
"Relax. My Jeep's a stick, I can handle it."
As Waverly reached for the stick, her arm brushed Nicole's thigh. Nicole felt her breath catch. She just nodded at Waverly.
"Sorry, I think the adrenaline is wearing off, and the pain is really setting in."
Nicole tried to come up with any excuse, any reason why she would react that way. Anything, but the truth.
"Oh, of course. Just sit back and relax. I'll have us to the Blacksmith's in a jiffy."