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Waverly was doing some laundry at the homestead, cheerfully whistling to the sound of the music playing in the background. While it wasn’t her preferred activity, she found it rather relaxing to do a somewhat repetitive task, and it enabled her to let her mind wander to her favourite law enforcement officer. She knew Nicole was not working on the next day and she had decided to take her to go hiking in the snow-covered forest and then enjoy warm cocoa at the homestead.
She had managed to have Wynonna out of the house for the whole day and when she had shared her plans with her sister, their discussion had led to Wynonna suggesting that she prepare an Earp recipe from Gus. Waverly had liked that idea, and she had managed to convince Gus to help her with the food. It smelled wonderful in the homestead and that made Waverly even giddier. She finished folding the clothes and checked her cellphone.
There were no new messages, so Waverly decided to take advantage of her high energy state and sat at the table on which all her research papers lay to start digging for more information. There was so much to find out that she lost track of the time when her phone started ringing loudly, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“Wynonna? Something wrong?” There was some music and noise in the background which meant her sister was probably at a bar, and since her clock indicated 10pm, it wasn’t very surprising.
“Well, Waves, nothing too bad,” Wynonna breathed out, “but I’m currently trying to calm down a rather drunk police officer you fancy, and I was wondering if you could come here because I’m not good at that job, and I can’t make sense of all that she’s saying.” There was some muffled noise in the phone.
“What?” Waverly wondered why Nicole would be getting drunk all by herself like that but she pushed that thought away for now. “Nevermind, I’m on my way, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Come on, you know me, that’s asking a lot! See you soon, sis!”
After she had hung up, Waverly piled the papers together, got up to get her coat and car keys, and went outside of the homestead before realising she had left the lights on. She checked on the lights and doors and once everything was closed, she drove off to the bar, hoping Nicole would be ok, and wondering about the reasons that might have led her to excessive drinking, something that everybody expected from Wynonna but that she couldn’t really picture Nicole doing.
After parking in front of the bar, Waverly entered it and spotted almost instantly her older sister in a corner, talking with a slightly disheveled redhead. She walked over to their booth, waving at her sister when she looked up.
As she reached them, she noticed that Wynonna had strategically moved the drinks away from Nicole, who was talking loudly, but Waverly didn’t get what she had last said.
“Hey! I heard a police officer was in trouble here!” She flashed a hearty smile at Nicole but was surprised when Nicole stared at her with a distraught look. “Hey,” she spoke softly, “What’s wrong, Nicole?”. Waverly sat down beside her, unsure of how to proceed. “I can’t help you if you’re not telling me what is wrong.”
Nicole tried to take a deep breath but failed and started talking with a wavering voice. “Today was just hell, there was a car accident and we couldn’t help them.”
Waverly put her arms around Nicole, while the redhead went on: “And then I had to help the Sheriff and the coroner with the bodies.” She took a deep breath. “There were kids in the car.”
Waverly hugged Nicole tightly, trying to comfort her. “That’s tough, sweetie. You could have called though, you know?”
Nicole sobbed, and clung to Waverly for a little while. That’s when Wynonna, who had hung around until then, decided to give them some space. She put a hand on Waverly’s shoulder.
“Call me up if you need me, okay?” And after an encouraging smile at Waverly, she stood up and went to the counter.
Waverly was at a loss over how to help her girlfriend. “Hey, Nicole, talk to me.” Nicole mumbled something that Waverly did not understand. “Sorry, I didn’t get that, can you repeat it ?”
Nicole moved a little away, untangling herself from Waverly’s arms. “I didn’t want to burden you, with the tough year you’ve had.”
“Hey, your well-being is never a burden to me. Speaking of which, what do you say we go home so we can talk in a comfortable and quieter place over a hot beverage?”
“That’d be nice, but I’m not sure I’d be able to stand straight right now, I shouldn’t drive, I think.”
Waverly chuckled. “You are definitely not driving tonight, dear. You can get your car back later. I’m driving and I’ll help you get to the car without falling down, just lean on me and you’ll be fine.”
She got up, offering a hand to her girlfriend who took it almost immediately and stood up clumsily. They walked slowly towards the door, with Waverly supporting Nicole through the few missteps caused by the alcohol. As they passed by the counter, Waverly noticed her sister looking at her, with a questioning look. She whispered a “thank you” when she was close to her, and got out of the bar, helping Nicole in the car before getting herself in the driver’s seat.
The drive back to the homestead was quiet, and Waverly realised when she parked in front of her home that it was because Nicole had fallen asleep. She shut the engine down and looked at her girlfriend for a short moment, not wanting to disturb her. She looked almost peaceful and Waverly felt a little guilty when she shook her gently to wake her up.
“Hey, Nicole, come on, we have to get inside, it’s getting cold.”
Nicole moved slightly, grumbling as she opened her eyes. “Nah, I’m fine here.” And she closed her eyes again, which prompted Waverly to shake her again with a little more energy, to which the drunken redhead reacted with a low growl. Waverly didn’t let it stop her and tried to pull Nicole out of the car, which woke her up completely.
“Come on, sweetie. Let’s get inside.”
Nicole got out of the car, slightly unstable, and Waverly offered a helping hand again.
“Okay, but I’m only coming inside because you’ve promised me a hot beverage!”
“It’s got nothing to do with me being your girlfriend? I might take offense, maybe I should just have dropped you at your place, or left you in the car!”
When they reached the inside of the house, Nicole was struggling to find her words.
“That’s not what I meant, Waves!”
“Just sit down on the couch, will you? I’m making some hot cocoa and you’re getting some rest, okay?”
“Yes, mam” Nicole had a half-mocking, half serious tone but still complied.
When Waverly came back shortly after with the two smoking mugs she saw that Nicole was sitting on the couch holding her knees close to her chest and looking slightly lost.
“Hey Nicole, hot mug of warm goodness coming.” She put the mugs on the table by the couch and sat right beside her girlfriend, putting a hand on her shoulder. She squeezed it softly, slowly massaging Nicole until she unwinded and was a little more relaxed.
“Are you feeling a bit better?” Nicole nodded “a little, yeah.”
“Do you still want that hot chocolate?”
“Yeah, that’d be nice, thank you.”
Waverly handed her a mug and they spent some time quietly sipping their drink with Waverly rubbing her thumb on Nicole’s free hand. She did not want to push her to talk, so she just waited calmly, trying to convey all her love and support.
After some more time, Nicole put her mug down and turned towards Waverly, unsure of how to start. Waverly also put her mug down and held her arms open, which prompted Nicole to bury herself in Waverly’s offered hug, before starting to sob a little.
“There was so much blood around, and they were so little, Waves.” Her tone was pained, and her voice barely over a whisper.
“That’s hard to deal with, sweetie.”
“I was the first on the scene, I called for backup and medical assistance on the radio while looking for survivors. When Sheriff Nedley arrived on the crash scene, I had found a kid who was still alive but bleeding so much...”
Waverly tightened her hug, listening intently.
“The kid was unconscious, but I was… I was applying pressure on the wound, the EMTs arrived shortly after Nedley, but they were too late and the kid died in my arms.”
“You did all you could, Nicole.”
“But there was so much blood, so much blood on my hands. Nedley drove me back to the station and told me to call you and get some rest. He actually wanted to call you himself but I told him I’d call you.”
Waverly made a mental note to thank Nedley somehow, for caring for his deputies (and mostly for caring for her favourite one).
“Why didn’t you call me though? You know you can call me anytime about anything, right?”
Nicole shrugged slightly.
“I didn’t want to burden you with that.”
“Hey! Like I said, you are not a burden. I’d rather be there for you.”
“I figured I’d get a drink and it’d be ok later. When I was at the counter drinking, your sister entered the bar and looked surprised to see me there. She came to sit beside me and talked about nothing in particular at first, while I kept on drinking. At some point she stole my drink, you know how she is with bourbon bottles, and she pretended it was for my own good.”
Waverly chuckled, having just the perfect mental picture of Wynonna and Nicole’s bottle, acting for the “greater good”. This didn’t stop Nicole from going on.
“You know what she asked me though? She asked if you had been unnecessarily mean to me and if she was supposed to be the big sister and tell you to be nicer.” Nicole’s voice wavered and she buried herself deeper in Waverly’s embrace. “She was being so nice and I just broke down and cried, and I couldn’t talk for a while, it was just too much. She told me she was going to call you so I got myself another drink. The rest you already know.”
“Well, I’m thankful that Wynonna was there at the bar tonight, but I’ll have to get mad at her. She picked your side over her own little sister’s. That’s a terrible and unforgivable betrayal!”
That made Nicole laugh. “Hey, that’s rude! You should be on my side, not laughing at my expense!” Waverly used her position to start tickling her girlfriend, all the while calling out for “Revenge! Revenge!”.
They fought for a little while on the couch until Nicole yawned and held her hands up.
“I surrender! I surrender!” Waverly made a little victory move, before pushing Nicole down on the couch, spooning her.
They stayed there quietly whispering until they both fell asleep.
A weird noise woke Waverly who opened her eyes to watch Wynonna looking slightly guilty with her hand on the door handle.
“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” She whispered.
“Well, it’s okay, you didn’t wake Nicole up.” Waverly smiled at her older sister. “Thanks, Wynonna, for taking care of her and calling me.”
“Any time, Waves.” Wynonna brought a tartan blanket to cover Waverly and Nicole. “Might get a little cold during the night. You should go back to sleep, though.” Waverly nodded. “Good night, Waverly.”
“Good night, Wynonna.”
As Wynonna walked away, Waverly smiled happily, hugging Nicole as she went back to sleep.