“I have a lady to get home to Earp,” Nicole said, refusing any more drinks.
“Boo,” Wynonna rolled her eyes, “moving in with her has made you fucking boring… if Waverly has it her way you’d never hang out with me at all. She thinks I’m a bad influence.”
Nicole rolled her eyes even harder back. Her partner and best friend always had a comment to spare about Waverly, and the contempt travelled both ways. It was a difficult situation.
To Wynonna, Waverly Gibson was the woman who ‘whipped’ her friend, made her nothing but a lovesick puppy, and was the unfortunate third wheel to their previous dynamic duo. While to Waverly, even if Wynonna had been Nicole’s oldest and closest friend, and a ‘total trainwreck of a woman,’ she tolerated her because Nicole and Wynonna were a packaged deal.
“Save it Wynonna,” Nicole warned her, “Waverly is a sweetheart, you know she respects our friendship.”
“Whatever, goody two shoes,” Wynonna was already into her next drink and Nicole sighed before leaving the bar to walk to her place.
Fifteen minutes later, when Nicole had walked through the front door of her townhouse, Waverly was found pouting at the table because dinner had gotten cold.
“You couldn’t skip drinks just for today? I wanted to celebrate with you,” Waverly threw her apron aside and clearly had dipped into the wine bottle while she waited in the kitchen.
“Baby,” Nicole placed hands on her shoulders sounding as apologetic as she could, “I am so sorry, Nedley wanted the paperwork to be thorough and… and you know me and Wynonna have our tradition when we close a case… I just had one drink with her and came home as soon as I could...”
Waverly melted back into her and turned in her arms, linking her hands at the back of Nicole’s neck and coyly looking away, “I know… I just wanted to celebrate your big win… you know the whole office was talking about you today right?”
“Oh yeah?” Nicole leaned down to kiss lips once, twice, and then whispered in her ear, “and what did they say?”
“That you looked amazing on TV…”
“Uh huh?”
“Mhmm… answering questions all professional…” Waverly leaned up on her tiptoes and instigated a more searing kiss.
“Wait, dinner?” Nicole mumbled, already lifting Waverly up onto the counter and stepping between her legs.
“You and-” Waverly reached for the button up blouse Nicole had on and tugged at the buttons, “-Wynonna have your tradition but I prefer this tradition of ours, don’t you baby?”
“Oh yeah,” Nicole couldn’t argue with the woman she loved or the legs that wrapped around her waist.
//
“I really like her Wynonna... so just,” Nicole nervously looked around the club, “act cool okay?”
“You’re telling me to act cool? You’re the one so nervous. Jeez, Nicole she’s already your girlfriend.”
“She’s more than that,” Nicole turned to Wynonna, eyes sharp and defensive in a way Wynonna had never seen before. “Okay? I really like her, Wynonna. She’s special.”
It made a wave of jealousy churn in her stomach. Nicole had been there since grade school, they did everything together even joining the Academy together. They were sisters - best friends. They always had each other’s backs, through Wynonna’s boyfriends or Nicolee’s girlfriends, breakups and fuckups, they were ride or die.
But Nicole had never looked at anyone the way she looked at Waverly, pure admiration pouring from her eyes when Waverly Gibson met them by the bar of the club and gave Wynonna a sweet smile in greeting.
She was pretty, petite, showing off an incredible body in her crop top and skirt, and she had the same colour of hair as Willa... Maybe that was why Wynonna didn’t like her at first.
Or maybe it was because of the way Nicole threw an arm over her shoulder and kissed her as a greeting.
Wynonna was best friends with Nicole -- she’d caught the woman do a whole lot worse than kiss (Shae Pressman during prom and that whole bathroom debacle for example), and Nicole had caught Wynonna in a few situations (York brother 1 and 2, same prom), but the way Nicole kissed this woman…
Wynonna knew Waverly Gibson had her friend’s heart in her clutches, that the only other time Nicole committed with her heart on her sleeve like that had been when she saw Calamity Jane at the pet store. And so Wynonna felt protective.
“PDA much?” She teased them, and when they shyly broke up and she met Waverly Gibson’s eyes for the first time, she saw the woman give her a look and she didn’t like it one bit. It was like she was judging her and Wynonna had been judged her whole life enough to recognize it.
“Finally my two favourite ladies meet,” Nicole was oblivious to the tension Wynonna was already feeling, “let me get us a round.”
Wynonna rolled her eyes as a bubbly pop song filtered through the club. She hated that song.
“Oh I love this song!” Waverly said in excitement, “Nicole, baby, let’s go dance!”
“Figures,” Wynonna had mumbled under her breath, watching for the first time the phenomenon known as ‘Waverly wants something and Nicole drops everything to do it.’
//
“Hi Captain!” Waverly greeted Randy Nedley, Police Captain of the 77th precinct with a sweet smile.
“Oh, Miss Gibson!” He smiled brightly at her, “you here for Nicole? She’s still in interrogation.”
“I’ll wait, we had lunch plans,” Waverly held up a box, “I brought these for you. Red velvet.”
“Are those cupcakes from the fancy french bakery?” Randy was on his feet and sighing as red velvet cupcakes were revealed under the lid. “You are an angel, Haught is a lucky woman.”
Randy took a swift bite out of his cupcake with a satisfied groan and gestured Waverly to sit across from him.
“I’m the lucky one… How are you? How’s Mrs. Nedley? How’s Chrissy?”
Mouth still full of cupcakes, Nedley said, “Chrissy’s good, my wife’s thrilled to help out since the baby’s been giving her trouble. I told Chrissy she was worse at his age so…”
They chuckle politely.
“How’s it feel to be a grandfather Captain?”
“It’s the fucking best and how many times have I got to ask you to call me Randy, Miss Gibson?”
“Okay Randy, but you have to call me Waverly then.”
“Deal,” he grinned into the last bite of his cupcake. “How’s the DA’s office these days?”
“Typical,” Waverly said, “but this precinct is on fire.”
“Haught and Earp have got a lot of momentum this year,” Nedley gave her a smirk, “I was the same when I wanted to marry Cynthia.”
“What?” Waverly paused, cheeks blushing at the implication.
“Mhmm,” Nedley took a sip of the cold coffee on his desk and frowned but shrugged, “being detective ain’t really the lifestyle if you want to get married and settle down. I got hungry for promotions to get Cynthia a ring, be a father to Chrissy… Nicole’s writing the Sergeant's exam.”
Waverly’s heart skipped a beat. It skipped multiple beats.
She was speechless, and then the voices of Nicole and Wynonna filtered through the precinct bullpen, causing her to poke her head outside of Nedley’s office.
“- if you didn’t provoke him!” Nicole was holding an ice pack to her face and taking a seat at her side of the desk, clearly agitated.
Across from her Wynonna was rolling her eyes and kicking up her feet on her own desk and leaning back with a coffee to sip while sarcastically saying, “sure, you big baby.”
“Wynonna.” Nicole sounded irritated and they were two clear polar opposites: Wynonna with her leather jacket and sarcasm, and Nicole with her button up and holster.
Not for the first time, Waverly wondered how they were as close friends that they were. But in the moment all she could really focus on was that Nicole had a black eye?
“Nicole!” The worry must have been clear in her voice and she rushed forward, “baby?”
“Waverly?” Nicole looked confused, “what are you-”
“What the hell happened!”
“Just,” Nicole patted her hand, “this guy we arrested, he got a lucky punch in... I’m okay.”
Waverly turned accusatory eyes to Wynonna, a burst of anger igniting. It always seemed like Wynonna was getting Nicole hurt on the job and Waverly couldn’t help from glaring at her.
Wynonna glared back, levelling her with a cold stare.
“I’m fine,” Nicole reassured her, noticing the look between them. She stood up and pulled her blazer back on over her shirt and holster. “Come on, let’s grab lunch?”
Later, they cuddled up on a park bench not far from the DA’s office with untouched food because as soon as they had sat down to eat their sandwiches Waverly had burst into tears.
Nicole held her, “baby what’s wrong?”
“Your face!”
“I’m fine, okay?”
“Nicole! It’s not - Nedley mentioned you’re taking the Sargeant’s exam?”
Nicole froze and Waverly wiped her eyes, leaning back to look at her and wait for an explanation.
“I am, I mean I…” Nicole gently cupped her cheek, before asking, “would that be okay?”
“Of course!” Waverly said in a rush, “I want you to do whatever you want, baby. But is it… is it because…”
Nicole looked nervously down, “if it’s because I want… the lifestyle it offers would that be okay?”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying… I’m saying we’ve been living together for almost a year and my hours are crazy and I let dinners go cold and you… I dare dream to have more with you. A house. Kids - if you want-”
“I want!” Waverly was kissing her , “oh god I want all of that! And I know you’re one of the best detectives, Nicole but you get shot at and-and punched and... I like the idea of you safe.”
“I know,” Nicole said, her heart fluttering in her chest. “This is what I want Waverly. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to tell Wynonna first. Nedley knows because I had to apply through him.”
“You were going to tell her first?” Her happiness held a sudden wave of jealousy.
“Well yeah,” Nicole said, “she’s my partner, Waves.”
“Yeah but I’m your girlfriend who you’re building a life with! She’s the one who gets you hurt all the damn time!”
“Waverly, come on… that’s not fair. Wynonna is a damn good detective, okay? She’s always had my back-”
“I'm not saying she’s not good, I’m saying she’s dangerous! I overheard you in the bullpen today, she provoked whoever punched you!”
“It’s part of the job Waverly.”
Waverly scoffed, “Oh yea? Since I’ve known you both who out of the two of you has had her arm broken, two concussions, been shot AND had a molotov cocktail thrown in their car! You Nicole! But you always make excuses for her!”
Nicole groaned, “Waverly- you don’t know her like I do, please just-”
“I’m going back to work! I have a meeting soon. See you at home.” She huffed and walked off, grabbing her sandwich and storming to her office.
“Just great,” Nicole sighed, leaning her cheek on her palm and sighing. “Fucking perfect.”
/
“You can’t be serious,” Wynonna took the news pretty terribly when Nicole decided to tell her at the bar after work. She waited until they had privacy from their coworkers in the alley as Wynonna smoked her cigarello before letting her know she was taking the exam soon. “It’s Waverly isn’t it? She wants you to get a promotion so she’s not dating ‘some detective,’ but a Sergeant.”
“She’s not like that! This was my choice, Wynonna.”
“Your choice?” Wynonna scoffed, “Miss Fancy Pants went to some Ivy League Law School, I can feel her judging me - us - where we come from all the damn time.”
“She worked hard to get into Law School, Earp. Watch your mouth.”
“Or what, Haught?” Wynonna’s eyes shed with tears, “God, you’re letting her pull your strings! Your fucking place you chose because she liked it better than your old place! Can you even shit when you want to or what?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Nicole shoved Wynonna harshly back, “you don’t know Waverly like I do, Wynonna okay?”
“I know she says jump and you ask how high, dipshit! Miss High and Mighty thinks she’s better than everyone else and you’re so pathetic for her-”
Nicole regretted the punch after she threw it.
“W-Wynonna I’m sorry,” she leaned down to help her drunk friend up, only to get her hand smacked away as Wynonna stumbled to her feet.
“Fuck you Haught. Some friend you are. You don’t want me, just like everyone else! Have a nice life Sergeant.”
Nicole watched Wynona head back into the bar and she groaned.
“Can this day get any worse?”
//
To make it up to Waverly, Nicole visited her at the DA’s office for a change.
“Detective Nicole Haught,” a smooth voice found her in the lobby and Nicole smiled, glad to see Waverly’s coworker and friend Xavier Dolls there.
“Dolls.”
“Damn girl, you and Earp have seriously been making our cases easy for us. Rumour has it a TV show was pitched about you guys.”
Nicole laughed, wincing a little when her tender black eye reminded her she was injured. “Notice how fast they recuperate on TV shows?”
He laughed. “Waverly’s been holed up in her office all day, haven’t seen her surface out.”
“Yeah um,” Nicole scratched her neck, “I was hoping to surprise her for lunch. Best to probably get her a coffee. Can I get you one too?”
“Please,” Xavier stepped in front of her, “I owe you so many coffees, you got me a few already.”
Nicole surrendered, allowing him to pay.
They made polite conversation until she knocked on Waverly’s door and entered when her girlfriend's voice permitted.
“Baby hey,” Nicole inched forward, “peace offering?”
After work last night she had come home to find no sign of Waverly, just a text that she was working late on a case and would be home later. And then again this morning Waverly slipped out before Nicole woke up.
“Hey,” Waverly’s voice was soft as she stood up, “I’m - I’m not trying to ignore you, I’m sorry for storming off like that yesterday… just this case…”
“It’s okay,” Nicole said, relieved that Waverly had actually been working and not so mad she couldn’t look at her. “Wynonna’s avoiding me too.”
“Oh,” Waverly took the coffee and considered her, “you told her?”
“She… she doesn't understand,” Nicole’s lip quivered. “We’ve had a lot of arguments but nothing like last night… I punched her Waverly.”
“What?” Waverly gasped, stepping forward as the pain in Nicole’s eyes lay way to a tear escaping.
“Fuck, I haven’t cried since I was fucking ten shit,” Nicole looked away from Waverly, ashamed as tears built up in her eyes.
“Baby?” Waverly put their coffees aside before reaching forward to hug Nicole. “It’s okay.”
“We met in the same fucking orphanage Waverly,” Nicole told her, “she’s my family. We’ve always had each other we… she thinks that I…”
“Hey,” Waverly kissed her sweetly and shushed her, “hey… I’m so sorry I said what I said. I know you both are close… and you had every right to tell her first.”
Nicole sighed, her shoulders sinking, “I delayed because… because I knew she would react that way.”
“Look I know I said some things but… Wynonna has always had your back babe. She’ll come through when she sees it’s what you want.”
“I punched her, Waverly,” Nicole repeated, voice broken. “She didn’t come into work today.”
//
“What’s going on with you and Haught?”
Wynonna paused from the voice of her Captain before taking a pull of her beer and turning to greet Nedley with an eye-oll.
“Ever hear of Yoko Ono?”
“Waverly?” Nedley sat down in the stool next to her, a beer of his own. “She’s nothing but an angel.”
Wynonna let the beer glass clink loudly as she set it down before looking over at her boss with a scowl, “What do you want, Nedley?”
He sighed, “Wynonna, you’re a great detective. Hell, you and Haught are the best damn detectives I have. When there’s a crack in the best, the precinct notices.”
“Haught and I ain’t talking, tell everyone to mind their own fucking business and get me a new partner.”
“New partner?”
Wynonna shrugged.
“Jesus, what happened?”
“She-” Wynonna glared, “it’s between us and she’s going to be my boss soon so I’d need a new partner anyways.”
“You’re mad about the Sergeant's exam?”
“If only it were that simple,” Wynonna snorted, eyes watering up with tears. As she sipped her beer, the sting of Nicole’s fist on her jaw paled in comparison to the pain in her heart. “I wouldn't mind working with Bustillos, she’s smart. You owe me one, Nedley, remember? This is it.”
“Sure,” Nedley said softly, “sure thing Wynonna.”
//
Nicole caught Wynonna’s eyes on Friday. Wynonna had moved her desk and changed partners to be with Rosita Bustillos.
“Haught, got to twist your ear a bit,” Nedley called her as he walked by, moving into his office. “Follow me.”
Nicole sighed, tearing her eyes away from Rosita and Wynonna sharing a laugh before they both got up to go chase a lead on the latest shooting downtown.
She closed the door behind her and sat down across from Nedley.
“Here,” Nedley held up a stack of papers. “You won’t be a Sergeant for a few months yet. Take your pick, help one of these numb nuts become a decent detective to replace you, huh?”
Nicole smirked, “I passed my exam?”
“Did you doubt you would?”
“Nah I totally aced it,” Nicole smirked, grabbing a few folders with a reluctant heart.
She always assumed she would have her last few months as detective with Wynonna Earp quipping with her, one more case as partners before she became Sargeant.
It wasn’t the same without her.
//
“Victim was killed with a Colt Single Action Army,” the medical examiner, Dr. Jeremy Chetri, handed Nicole the folder.
“Huh,” Nicole looked through the details on the bullet, handing the folder to the two new detectives she was more or less babysitting. “What course of action do you think we should take?”
Detective Champ Hardy and Detective Perry Crofte looked nervous as she asked, but she was patient.
“Um… like,” Champ furrowed his brows, “do ballistics?”
Perry rolled his eyes at his colleague and nervously spoke up, “those are limited edition guns so we can get the registered listing and find warrants.”
“You’re both on the right track,” she smiled, seeing them both smile and high-five each other.
She could tell this past week of working with her had them both nervous messes, her reputation preceded her as it were. But they were starting to realise she didn’t have any intention to scare them or belittle them, just help them be better cops and they were becoming more open in asking questions.
“Now we also need to think beyond the weapon, now we need to get into the mind of the killer. What is their motivation? Why him? Comb over the crime scene, know every moment William Edgar went through in his last moments before he was shot…”
Jeremy explained what he had found, and Nicole sat back to let the rookies figure their groove. She looked outside the window of the morgue and found Wynonna’s eyes on her, glaring through the glass.
When their gaze met, Wynonna gave her a blank look, turned on her heel, and made to leave.
“Um you guys carry on I’ll be right back-”
She excused herself and ran out to the hallway to catch up to her friend who was about to turn the corner.
“Wynonna!” She sped up and reached for her arm when Wynonna didn’t slow down. “Wynonna, wait!”
“What,” Wynonna twisted out of her grip and then stepped close and shoved her with two hands until her back hit the wall. “Get back to dumb and dumber.”
“You asked to change partners not me,” Nicole bit back, angry and confused. “I don’t know why I’m the bad guy here!”
“You’re never the bad guy, Nicole,” Wynonna was sarcastic as she said it, “only me, right?”
The part of her jaw that was still blue and bruised caused Nicole to pause her retort. She released her clenched fist, “I’m sorry.”
“So am I,” Wynonna turned on her heel and took the stairs two at a time.
//
“Our new Sergeant, Nicole Haught!”
Nicole grinned as the team burst into applause, her first day as Sergeant and everyone was excited and happy.
Everyone except Wynonna, who paid more attention to her donut.
Masking the hurt of continuous rejection from her oldest friend, Nicole cleared her throat and smiled to the room.
“Thanks everyone, won’t let you down.”
Perry and Champ wolf-whistled and hollered and Nicole laughed, they had done well the last few months adjusting to their detective roles, she was proud of them. Champ had been ridiculed quite a bit by a few other detectives for being ‘stupid’ but he was starting to prove his worth, and Perry had the natural instincts of a detective that could never be taught. Like Wynonna.
“Alright alright, settle down,” Nicole addressed them, “first thing is.. We have another victim of The Colt Killer.”
The mood became somber. Since the first case while she was training Crofte and Hardy, the pattern of a serial killer now dubbed ‘The Colt Killer’ had emerged.
“Myself and Detectives Hardy and Crofte have been working this case, but with a third headshot by the same Colt Single Action Army gun, and victim middle aged man with the initials ‘W’ and ‘E’ it is not a priority for our department to find and get this serial killer… Bustillos, Earp-” Nicole didn’t look up but she could feel Wynonna’s surprise at being called out, “you’re to join Crofte and Hardy in their investigation. Everyone else, get familiar with the case so you know what to look out for.”
/
“How was my baby’s first day?” Waverly kissed Nicole by their park bench, wanting to taste Nicole’s lips before her lunch.
“Mmmm,” Nicole melted into her, grinning as she leaned back, “great.”
Feeling frisky, Waverly linked her arms around Nicole’s neck and started another, deeper kiss. They stayed kissing for a while until they were interrupted.
“Wow. In public.”
The deadpan and sarcastic voice caused them to back out of their kiss with matching flushes, and Nicole hesitated on what to possibly say when Wynonna with her arms crossed was standing a foot away next to an amused Rosita.
“Um,” Nicole felt guilty somehow but she glared at Wynonna’s interruption, “did you need something?”
“Nicole,” Waverly chided her gently, dropping her arms from Nicole’s neck, “we forgot drinks. I’ll be right back.”
With a grateful smile as Waverly slipped to a food cart to buy a lemonade, Nicole turned to her detectives.
“There's another victim,” Rosita spoke up, picking up on the awkward tension between Nicole and Wynonna.
“Okay, and?”
“And this one,” Wynonna spoke to her for the first time in months, voice cracking just a bit. “This one has our names on it.”
Nicole felt the dread in her stomach, this time meeting Wynonna’s eyes with serious understanding.
/
“Is it someone you both put away?” Hardy asked the room as everyone stared at the latest body on the projector.
All victims were the same, middle aged men with a ‘W’ and ‘E’ initials, this latest gentleman was called Winston Ellis.
In the photograph, the body had a piece of paper taped to his chest and the cursive writing of ‘For Wynonna and Nicole. Play with me.’
“No,” Wynonna and Nicole both spoke at the same time, before turning their heads in surprise.
Wynonna rolled her eyes and stood up, “No. Obviously they want both of our attention but… I think it’s personal.”
“Ward Earp, follows the same pattern of his age and initials…” Nicole said in thought. “Wynonna’s dad.”
“Deadbeat drunk, beat my mom into an early grave... Beat me and my sister into foster care...”
As cops, everyone had seen a lot of shit in their time, but compassionate heads in the room turned to Wynonna with kind understanding.
“Sister?” Rosita turned to observe her. “You have a sister?”
“Yeah. I was young, maybe ten… When he beat our mom to death, she was pregnant with my little sister so she died in the womb… I shot his gun to get him to stop… But my older sister, Willa… she went missing and took the gun. Ran away that night.”
Nicole said out loud, “and you accidentally shot him in the head. With a Colt. It’s in the Police archives. I think-”
Wynonna turned to Nicole, “it’s the same gun.”
“And that makes Willa Earp our prime suspect,” Nicole finished for her.
//
“So it’s Wynonna’s sister? The Colt Killer?” Waverly looked shocked as they spoke in the bedroom, her head resting on Nicole’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” Nicole kissed her forehead, “They matched writing on the note to her old diary Wynonna still had… she’s targeting men who remind her of her father. Killing them the same way Wynonna accidentally shot him in the head. Same gun, too.”
“He beat her mother to death and she -- that’s awful, Nicole.”
“I know.”
“You should call her. Go. Go see her.”
/
Nicole awkwardly shuffled her feet and took a deep breath before knocking at Wynonna’s apartment door. A long time passed but eventually she heard the padding of feet and the door opened to reveal Wynonna in her underwear and a tank top.
Without a word, Wynonna stepped aside to let Nicole in and grabbed a pair of sweatpants nearby to tug them on.
Nicole saw the mess, the bottles of alcohol and boxes of takeout strewn everywhere.
“This whole time I thought maybe she got lucky and was in someplace cool like Mexico, living it up on the beach. She always wanted to go to the beach,” Wynonna tugged on a hoodie next. “But nope. She’s been planning her serial killer debut the whole time.”
The silence swelled between them.
“It’s the same pistol she used to kill your dad, as you suspected,” Nicole whispered, walking forward and grabbing a bottle of whiskey from the coffee table to open it, taking a swig before offering it to Wynonna.
Wynonna snorted, accepting the whiskey and then taking her own pull from the bottle.
“Your whiskey is as shitty as always,” Nicole told her, bumping her shoulder.
Wynonna let out a bark of laughter and then sighed, eyes filling up with tears, “this is so fucked, Nicole. My only living family is a serial killer.”
“You have me, Earp,” Nicole promised her, her own eyes burning, “you always have me.”
“You have Waverly,” Wynonna wiped the tears from her eyes, “you don’t need me fucking up your life.”
“I will always need my best friend,” Nicole begged her, “you can’t leave me too, okay? We’re stuck with each other. You’re my sister. We made a pact.”
Wynonna snorted, sniffling. “Yeah well, good thing you punch like a little bitch. Barely felt it.”
And just like that, Nicole felt like they were okay. She stayed the night, sleeping on the couch to give her best friend company as they drank whiskey.
//
Waverly yawned. The office was deserted except for her and Xavier finishing up their case prep for the morning. He had gone to fetch them something from the vending machine but had yet to return.
The door opened and she joked without looking up, “Couldn’t decide what gummies to get, huh Dolls?”
“Dolls is a little tied up at the moment,” a soft, airy and unrecognizable voice caused her to gasp and look up.
A gun was pointed at her - a Colt’s long nozzle giving away who it was before the police sketch’s somewhat accurate portrayal of Willa Earp.
“You’re the Colt Killer,” she raised her hands in surrender, “what do you want with me? With Dolls?”
They didn’t fit her criteria but Waverly saw the deadly intention in those eyes.
“You don’t even know you ruined my life, that’s the funny part,” Willa cackled. “Pick up that phone now. Wynonna Earp.”
/
Nicole and Wynonna stared at their whiteboard of information next to Willa’s police sketch.
“Sarge, Rosita found multiple transactions for a pizza spot downtown to the card we connected to The Colt Killer!”
“Which place?” Wynonna snatched the iPad from Perry to see the transactions. “Nicole… this is from that spot near your house.”
“My house?” Nicole froze, “she was following me?”
“Maybe jealous you’re Earp’s best friend?” Hardy suggested his theory tentatively.
“Right… she may be stalking you for some kind of play…” Rosita spoke out loud.
Wynonna’s phone rang and she picked it up, frowning at the caller ID.
“Why is your girlfriend calling me? Is your phone broken?”
“What? No,” Nicole frowned, checking her phone in concern.
Wynonna answered, “yo?”
“Hello Wynonna.”
It wasn’t Waverly, and Wynonna gasped. “W-Willa?”
Nicole stiffened, eyes blazing with fear as she realized Willa must have Waverly hostage.
Wynonna put her phone on speaker so everyone could hear WIlla talk.
“I have this homewrecker hostage, and unless you and Nicole come here to her office in the next twenty minutes alone I’ll kill her other friend who I have tied up downstairs and then I’ll kill her. Slowly.”
The phone clicked off and Wynonna looked up to see Nicole’s furious and frightened face.
“We’re going,” Nicole told the room. “Rest of you call in backup after twenty minutes exactly! Be there!”
“We got this Sarge,” Rosita promised as Hardy and Crofte nodded with her.
Wynonna and Nicole ran out of the precinct. The DA’s office was a ten minute walk away so they ran to get there in five minutes, panting as they entered. They were surprised to find Dolls tied to a chair, a dead security guard shot in his chest on the floor in blood, and Willa with her Colt aimed at Waverly’s head, standing behind her.
“Nice of you to be early,” Willa said. ‘Keep your hands where I can see them or she dies. Both of you.”
“Let her go, WIlla,” Wynonna begged, “this is personal. She has nothing to do with this.”
“She has everything to do with it! This fucking homewrecker ruined my life!”
“Daddy ruined our lives, okay? She-”
“She ruined your life too! She took your best friend from you.”
Wynonna looked back to where Nicole was keeping her hands surrendered. Without speaking they knew exactly what to do. Wynonna would keep her talking and Nicole would have to take her own shot lightning fast.
“She makes my best friend happy,” Wynonna reasoned, “I know you’ve been killing men who remind you of Daddy, Willa… Waverly is not--”
“Do you know why Daddy beat Mamathat night Wynonna?”
“He always beat Mama,” Wynonna said back.
“But not like that, with that much anger… he beat her death because Mama was having an affair. The baby she was pregnant with wasn’t hers. It belonged to a Julian Gibson.”
This time, Wynonna was speechless and she looked at Waverly as if for the first time -- the likeness she had seen to Willa before much clearer now… the hair colour and shape of face. In Waverly she saw echoes of her own mother, and her jaw dropped as she saw Waverly come to the same conclusions.
“What?” Wynonna asked, tears in her eyes. She shook her head, “no our sister was -- they said she died when Mama died.”
Willa yelled, “she goddamn lived! We lost our parents that night and she got to live and have her perfect life with her Daddy while I lived on the streets and you -- you got left behind.”
Waverly took in a sharp breath, eyes on Wynonna as if seeing her for the first time. “We’re… we’re sisters?”
“Cut the sappy shit,” WIlla stepped forward and pressed the Colt to Waverly’s skull.
Waverly used that and all the self-defense classes she had taken to sharply turn her head away from the nozzle, thankful that the long shaft of the Colt made it easy to grab and tug so she could smack Willa’s arm away and to everyone’s shock the gun hit the ground.
“Ah!” Willa yelled, ready to step forward until Nicole shot her own firearm quickly at her feet to get her to step away from Waverly.
“Stand back! Arms up, now.”
At that same moment, sirens could be heard and police officers entered the scene to arrest and apprehend Willa.
/
As Nicole recited her statement to the police officers, Waverly approached Wynonna who was sitting on the stone steps to the DA’s office building. She sat down.
“Hey.”
Wynonna looked up before quietly murmuring, “hey.”
“We should…” Waverly nervously looked down at her hands. “This is pretty fudging crazy, huh?”
“Understatement,” Wynonna said, watching Waverly and feeling a sudden need to protect her and get to know her and be nice to her. “We should probably get a blood test but… you look like our mom.”
“Oh,” Waverly sounded breathless. “Yeah we should… what are the chances that you and Nicole are… and I met Nicole and we never… I mean my Dad just told me my mother died in labour. He never told me that I had sisters…”
“I thought you were dead,” Wynonna confessed. “They said the baby died with her… I always hoped you were happy and peaceful, and I thought about you everyday...”
And for the first time, Wynonna felt her little sister embrace her, hugging her close and crying gently into her shoulder.
//
“So I won the debate, our Law Professor totally chose me for the trials and he was so angry and humiliated he never spoke to me again. It felt awesome.”
“Wow! So you totally kicked that creep’s ass! You go baby girl, proud of you for being so damn smart!” Wynonna offered a fist bump.
“Must run in our family, hots and smarts,” Waverly bragged, bumping the fist back.
Wynonna was howling in laughter, and Nicole smiled, amazed at the turn of events in her life.
Her girlfriend and best friend who were always tugging her back and forth were now closer than ever.
Not only did Waverly and Wynonna get along - they had embraced their sisterhood the last few months. Wynonna dropped by for dinner practically every night, chatting away with Waverly over everything they wanted to catch up on. They had their own inside jokes now, appreciated their similarities, and shared many Nicole stories - something they both loved.
They moved from the dining table to the living room with nightcaps of scotch, and Waverly excused herself to use the bathroom.
“If you ever hurt her or break her heart I will kick your ass so hard you’ll be eating from a feeding tube. And then I’ll put that nasty banana liquor you hate in the feeding tube.”
“Understood,” Nicole was amused at Wynonna’s smirk.
“How cool is this, my best friend and my baby sister I never knew about! Just happens that I would pick her side in a fight now, not yours.”
“Aw!” Waverly was tipsy and jumped next to Wynonna on the couch, hugging her close. “Same here sis! And you, Nicole, never punch my sister again or you’re sleeping on the couch.”
Nicole grumbled into her scotch, but her heart warmed at seeing her two favourite people -- the people she loved most in the world -- having found family.
“Cheers to my family,” Wynonna raised her scotch up, “I love you guys. I love scotch.”
“So here’s my questions,” Waverly slurred next, “when Nicole and I get married are you my maid of honour or her maid of honour?”
“Oh shit,” Wynonna furrowed her brows in deep thought. “I’ll be yours. Haught has Calamity Jane.”