Welcome to Purgatory
Detective Maggie Sawyer was pissed. She was often pissed, she might even say that she quite enjoyed it, but this was a rare occasion where she was actually really, fully, properly pissed off. She was good at her job; she’d come to think she was pretty exceptional at it so why on earth was she being sent to Purgatory? Its name alone suggested that it was on the verge of being an actual hell-hole but even that aside, it was in the back-end of nowhere, in Canada of all places. It reeked of being an assignment for one of the department’s many bottom feeders but instead it had landed on her desk. Maybe that was her punishment for never actually being at her desk.
She had no idea that the NCPD had any connection with Canada, let alone tiny towns by the Rockies. But apparently they did and apparently the town was significant enough to merit its own suspected alien attack which was, in turn, important enough to warrant her investigating it. An anonymous tip-off had made its way to her boss with reports of alien activity and despite being seemingly way beyond their jurisdiction, they’d taken it on. Usually reports like this would be in the DEO’s domain but her boss didn’t want to send an organisation as important as them off on some wild (Canada) goose chase. The DEO was not worth pissing off. Pissing her off seemed to be no problem at all though.
Alex, her girlfriend, had loaned her a tonne of heavy winter gear from her trips to the Fortress of Solitude. Her suffering seemed fairly inevitable but she might as well suffer without freezing. The jacket alone took up three quarters of her case so she was forced to wear it instead. This led to an incredibly sweaty cab ride to the airport and an even sweatier trip through departures until she was finally able to shove it into an over head locker on the plane. On the flight, she tried to read up on the case but there wasn’t much to read. All she’d been given was a copy of the email from her boss and her flight details. She was told a representative from the Sheriff’s department would meet her at the airport which hopefully meant she’d get her explanation then.
She was glad of the giant jacket when she stepped off the plane and was confronted with Canada’s best icy blast; the cheerful greetings of the security guard didn’t do anything to warm her up. If anything, it made it worse. Outside departures, she found a red-head with a patrol car and a stetson. “I did think about getting a sign,” she smiled as she took Maggie’s bag, “but then I figured there wouldn’t be many people coming to Purgatory and you’d probably spot the car. Being a detective and all.”
Maggie smiled half-heartedly.
“Anyway, I’m Nicole. Haught. I’m from the sheriff’s department, obviously,” she said, holding out a hand, “You must be Detective Sawyer of the NCPD.”
“Maggie,” Maggie said and reluctantly extracted her hand from a well-insulated pocket.
The car journey was unsurprisingly long. From what she’d read of Purgatory, it hadn’t struck her as a major tourist spot so proximity to the airport had seemed unlikely. They rode in silence, both staring at the road ahead and listening to the tinny radio which was interspersed with occasional static from Nicole’s cop radio.
“That’s a pretty impressive coat,” Nicole said eventually, as her arm caught on the thickness of the thermal monstrosity as she reached up to change the radio station, “we weren’t sure if you’d have the gear you know, coming from the south.”
“It’s actually my girlfriend’s,” Maggie said reticently, “she needs it for uh… cold places,” and she watched carefully for Nicole’s reaction.
“Makes sense,” Nicole nodded, “Despite growing up in Purgatory, my girlfriend still needs four blankets. Plus an emergency blanket.”
Maggie’s eyebrows were raised as she nodded to herself.
“What,” Nicole grinned, catching Maggie’s expression in the rear-view mirror, “You think Purgatory would be too remote to have any lesbians?”
“Something like that,” Maggie muttered.
“Well, I thought the same thing,” Nicole said, still smiling, “and here we are. We even have a Pride now.”
“That’s cool.”
“Well it’s mainly just me and Waverly in rainbow onesies in Shorty’s but it’s a start,” Nicole said, “Anyway, Purgatory doesn’t exactly have many places to stay so I’ve made up the spare room at my place. I spend most of my time at The Homestead, that’s Waverly - my girlfriend’s - place, so you’ll have it to yourself most of the time.”
“Cool, thanks.” Deep down Maggie appreciated the generosity of the statement but Nicole was the only person there for her to direct her frustrations at so the comment was weighted with far more sarcasm than she intended.
Nicole was visibly deflated, “we’re just trying to do our best.”
“I’m sorry,” Maggie said tersely, finding herself committing to being an asshole, “I just don’t really get why I’m here.”
“Yeah?” Nicole said, gripping the steering wheel tighter, “me neither. I just got an email from the NCPD saying someone was being seconded here with no explanation, just your flight details.”
“And that’s all I know too,” Maggie said cautiously. She wasn’t ready yet to reveal the anonymous tip-off: it was the only thing that gave her any kind of edge.
“I just want this to go well,” Nicole said weakly.
“And I just want to be able to do my job. Ideally somewhere where I’m confident of my jurisdiction.”
The journey back to Purgatory continued in a frosty silence both literally and figuratively. The cheesy tunes that the car radio blasted out did nothing to lighten the mood as Nicole pondered what on earth it was that she had done to deserve an asshole of a city cop being seconded to her Purgatory.
***
When they got to Nicole’s house, Nicole wordlessly took her bag into the spare room and headed out with a parting, “I’m going to the homestead. I’ll see you later.”
Maggie sat down on the neatly made bed as a ginger cat threaded its way suspiciously through her ankles. She was stuck there. Nicole hadn’t left her any keys; she didn’t even have her number and she was suddenly regretting her bluntness in the car. Unpacking was the only thing she had to occupy herself so she took her time with it. Alex’s woolly socks alone took up an entire drawer in the bureau Nicole had cleared for her. She had clearly gone out of her way to ensure that she had her own space and to make her welcome and the guilt of her behaviour in the car gnawed away at Maggie even more. When she at last ventured into the living room, she found a note with Nicole’s number, a bottle opener and instructions to raid the fridge. She was evidently not one to harbour a grudge. That or the beer was poisoned.
Maggie grabbed the bottle opener and headed towards the kitchen, dialling her phone as she went, “Hey, Danvers!”
Alex picked up straight away, “Sawyer! How’s The Great White North?”
“Cold,” Maggie said, already feeling lighter for hearing Alex’s voice.
“Good job you’ve got all that winter gear,” she could hear the smile in Alex’s voice down the phone.
“You know, I never thought I’d say this but I’m not sure I’ve got enough thick, woollen socks.”
“Told you,” Alex said triumphantly, “so, how are the people of Purgatory?”
“Well, I’ve only met one so far and I think I kinda pissed her off.”
“Oh Mags…,” Alex sighed, “what did you do?”
“I think I was a bit too honest about how I felt about being here,” Maggie admitted.
“Ok…” Alex said slowly.
“She’s a cop. The cop.”
“Ah.”
Maggie took a slow intake of breath, “And I’m staying with her.”
Alex’s silence said enough.
“The worst thing is, I think she might actually be nice. She’s gone out to her girlfriend’s and she left me a note and some beer.”
“What did the note say? You’re an ass. Hope you choke on the beer?”
“It was really sweet. Even in spite of everything.”
“She sounds like a jerk,” Alex said sarcastically.
“I know.”
“Just make sure you apologise. I know you’re not a fan especially when it seems that maybe, just maybe you were wrong.”
“What if she never comes back?”
“It’s her house. She’s gonna come back. Just sit up and wait for her. Trust me, this is not something you want to sleep on.”
“I know.”
“I love you,” Alex said, “Don’t hide from this even though I know you want to. Otherwise it’ll only get worse.”
“I love you too,” and Maggie settled herself on the couch with a beer and a somewhat guilty conscience to wait for the opportunity to make amends to come home.
***
“Oh hey!” Nicole was clearly surprised to see her, “you didn’t need to wait up.”
Maggie had been sat tensely on the sofa for almost two hours, the beer bottle was warm in her hands and now missing its label, “Well, you know, I wasn’t sure about the hot water situation,” she said.
“Oh. Well…” Nicole was clearly preparing to launch into an in depth explanation of her boiler.
“What I mean to say is,” Maggie said quickly, “I think we got off on the wrong foot and I wanted to apologise.”
Nicole paused partway through removing her scarf.
“Thank-you for letting me crash here,” Maggie continued, “I’ve got to say, I’m very impressed you’ve got a spare room. We share a studio in the city.”
Nicole shrugged, “Real estate prices are pretty reasonable around here.”
“Anyway. I’m sorry I was an asshole earlier,” Maggie stood up to meet Nicole’s eye.
“Me too,” Nicole said, still frozen by the front door.
Maggie sat back down and gestured to the space on the sofa next to her, “Shall we start again?”
“I think that might be a good idea,” Nicole said and grabbed a beer before settling down in the arm chair opposite Maggie.
“So,” they both said at the same time.
“I’ll go first,” Maggie said and swallowed a swig of beer, “As you know, I don’t really want to be here but after some prompting from my very patient girlfriend,” she said carefully, “I’ve realised that that’s not your fault and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Especially as you’ve stopped me from winding up in some motel even further into the middle of nowhere. So I’m sorry.”
“You’d have to be a way bigger asshole for me to condemn you to that,” Nicole grinned, “And apology accepted. It’s all kinds of weird that you’ve been seconded here and it doesn’t really make any sense and I guess if I were you, I’d be pretty frustrated too. But you’re here now and I promise it’s not as bad as you think.”
“Oh yeah, there’s Purgatory pride.”
“Exactly.”
“Speaking of pride, I did wonder if you’d be staying over at you girlfriends?”
“Well, I was keen to stay but she also prompted me to come back here and bury the hatchet.”
Maggie laughed, “I don’t think I could blame you if you didn’t come back.”
“So what about your girlfriend?” Nicole said, leaning forward slightly in her chair, “Is she a cop too?”
“Erm, not quite. She works for the government,” Maggie said vaguely, “although you remind me of her a bit. I think it might be the hair and the… kindness, What about Waverly?” she said quickly, “What’s she like?”
Nicole leaned back in her chair, a quiet smile on her face, “she’s just… incredible.”
“What does she do?” Maggie asked, keen to snap Nicole out of whatever trance she was entering
“Erm… she was a bartender,” Nicole said, matching Maggie’s cageyness when describing her girlfriend’s job, “Now she does research.”
“She’s studying?”
“Something like that,” Nicole said, “her bartending’s actually a kind of funny story. It’s where we first met…”
“Bars have played a pretty significant role in mine and Alex’s story,” Maggie smiled.
“That’s her name?”
“Alex? Yeah. Danvers,” Maggie smiled to herself.
“I bet it was hard to leave her,” Nicole said sympathetically.
“Yeah.”
“Hopefully it won’t be for too long,” Nicole said.
“You trying to get rid of me already?”
“No! It’s just I couldn’t imagine being apart from Waves for more than a day.”
Maggie finished her beer, “So how long do you think I’ll be here for?”
“I really don’t know,” Nicole said, “ I’ve told you everything I know. I guess we’ll have to see what Nedley - the sheriff - has in mind when we go in tomorrow.”
“And he knows I’m coming right?”
“Of course! At least I hope he does. The email was sent to him as well but he’s not the most tech savvy so…”
Maggie’s jaw clenched reflexively, “Great.”
“Hey, if it seems you’ll be here for a while, you could always invite Alex. Make it a romantic getaway,” Nicole said mischievously.
“Purgatory is quite the idyllic vacation spot,” Maggie laughed, “but I’m not sure how she’d feel about the cold.”
“But she had all the gear,” Nicole exclaimed.
“But now she’s loaned it all to me so…” Maggie shrugged.
“Good point,” Nicole smiled, “we should probably get to bed though. Nedley’s expecting us bright and early tomorrow at the station. That is if he remembers you’re coming.”
Maggie stood up and Nicole took her now empty beer bottle off her and took it into the kitchen and Maggie heard the clink of them being put in with the recycling.
Her head reappeared from the kitchen, “Come on, I’ll show you the bathroom and explain the temperamental shower.”