Waverly never touched the GOO!
“You ready?” Waverly asked as her sister and Doc caught up to her.
“Sweetheart, I’m ready for anything” replied Wynonna and she finally believed it. Wynonna always had her doubts about being the heir, it was never supposed to be her but now she was honored to hold the title. “You want to head back to the homestead?” she asked her baby sister.
Waverly moved close to Wynonna, “no, I’m gonna go to Nicole’s”, she leaned in giving her sister a hug, “it’s where I need to be now.”
When they parted Wynonna still held onto Waverly’s shoulders staring her in the face. Waverly’s demeanor was different, uncharacteristically sad even, but with what they had just been through, it didn’t alarm Wynonna that it could be something more. Wynonna reached out and pinched Waverly’s cheek, “I love you baby girl” she said to Waverly who plastered on her best fake smile while nodding.
Wynonna and Doc continued their walk toward the homestead while Waverly walked in the opposite direction to Nicole’s apartment. She wrapped her jacket around her a little tighter and crossed her arms to protect herself from the chill still in the air.
Before she knew it she had arrived at Nicole’s building. She looked up to the second floor window; Nicole’s window. Waverly knew once she was in the orbit of the red head she would feel safe again. She stepped up to the door and pressed the button on the intercom.
“Waves?” Nicole said through the speaker.
“Yeah, it’s me” Waverly replied immediately followed by a buzz for the door to open.
Waverly walked up the stairs as quickly as she could, when she reached the landing she saw Nicole standing there waiting for her. Nicole was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top with her hair in a messy bun. She had visible bumps and bruises scattered all over her body and her right shoulder which took most of the impact when she hit the wall (and landed on the floor) was wrapped by an ace bandage.
“Well aren’t you are a sight for sore eyes” Nicole said with a little relief in her voice. She reached out her hand to Waverly who took it. She walked in closer to Nicole and without missing a beat wrapped her other hand around Nicole’s neck and puller her in for a kiss; okay a few kisses in a row. Nicole held onto Waverly’s arm as she was known to do and walked a few steps backwards so they could be in the apartment and not in the hallway.
They broke the kiss and rested their foreheads against the other. Waverly broke the silence by saying, “I’m sorry my sister shot you”.
Nicole smiled and stepped back with a small chuckle, “well now I guess we can compare bullet wounds”, she said as she helped take off Waverly’s jacket and hung it behind the now closed door.
“And you’re sure you don’t want to get checked out at the hospital?” Waverly asked hesitantly reaching out to where Nicole was bandaged up.
“What, this?” Nicole said pointing out her injury downplaying it, “this is nothing, just an old basketball injury.” With as much pain as Nicole was in, it all faded when she saw Waverly.
Waverly found her bravado annoying but somehow charming at the same time. “Have you been taking it easy at least?”
“Yes, ma’am. That couch over there has an almost permanent indent of my ass” she said. “But enough about me, how are you? What happened out there?”
Waverly ran her fingers through her hair in slight frustration as she walked over to sit on the couch. Nicole followed and sat right next to her. Waverly sat with her head in her hands and all Nicole could do was run a reassuring hand up and down her back.
Waverly blew out a deep breath and stared straight ahead, “Wynonna had to shoot Willa. She’s gone, this time for good” she said just above a whisper. “And I’m just…I’m not even sad about it” she finally turned her head to face Nicole, “what kind of a person does that make me?” she finally ended holding back tears.
Nicole’s heart broke for her, so she moved to hold Waverly close. “There is no right or wrong way to feel” she said as she rested her chin on Waverly’s shoulder. “You can’t beat yourself up over someone that was never even kind to you.”
At that statement Waverly gave a knowing chuckle, “you can say that again” she thought for a moment, “it’ll be different for Wynonna though, she and Willa were two peas you know.”
Nicole nodded moving slightly away to give Waverly some breathing room but leaving her hand resting on Waverly’s leg. Nicole noticed that something still felt off with Waverly so she asked, “is there something else you’re not telling me?”
Waverly took the hand Nicole had on her leg and started tracing its lines, curves and bumps until she just held it. “You know about the curse, right?” Even though Waverly didn’t tell her directly Doc and Dolls mentioned that they clued Nicole in to the basic information.
“Yeah” she said nodding.
“I remember Daddy training Willa; grooming her to be the next heir.” Waverly started, “but then they were taken and Wynonna left, it came down to me or at least I thought it would.” She looked over at Nicole thinking she would see a freaked out look on her face but instead saw Nicole was hanging on every word she said, so she continued. “I spent my whole life doing research, I wanted this Nicole. I. WANTED. THIS.” She said pointing to herself and choking back tears. “But I could never find out why I would never be the heir, turns out the reason is…I’m not even an Earp at all.”
“What do you mean you’re not an Earp, who told you that?” Nicole asked.
A tear had finally escaped but she tried to wipe it away before it rolled down her cheek, “Bobo. I had a nice little heart to heart with him before he and Willa tried to escape”.
“And why do you think you can trust him? He’d do or say anything for you to let your guard down” she rationed.
“Fool me twice, shame on me. Stupid, naïve, gullible Waverly.”
Nicole didn’t like hearing Waverly put herself down. She slid off the couch and kneeled in front of Waverly making sure she was in her line of sight. “You are not gullible or naïve and especially not stupid”. She reached out her hand and cupped Waverly’s cheek, “You are the most beautiful, kind, generous and intelligent person I know. I knew how special you were the first time I saw you” she said extending her thumb to brush away a tear that had escaped Waverly’s eye again.
“When I was sopping wet because of that darn tap” Waverly said cracking a small smile.
“No, before then” Nicole said as she noticed a look of confusion on Waverly’s face. “When I first saw you I was doing rounds with Nedley, probably my 2nd day on the job. He saw Wynonna in town by the train tracks and stopped to talk to her, that’s when I saw you. This little old lady had pulled you in for a hug and you just had this glowing smile on your face, then you helped her cross the street. It was breathtaking, you were breathtaking.” Waverly blushed with embarrassment and tried to look away but Nicole wouldn’t let her. “It took me a few more days to pluck up the courage to introduce myself to you at Shorty’s because I was so in awe of you”.
“What, you?” Waverly said in disbelief, “Miss ‘when I see something I like, I don’t want to wait?’”
Now it was Nicole’s turn to dip her head in embarrassment, “all an act. I thought you would clearly see right through me, I mean who orders a cappuccino in a bar? Then again, I didn’t think I’d get you out of your top so soon after meeting you.”
They laughed for a second at the silliness of that situation, but Nicole turned semi-serious once again. “But I knew then that I would fall in love with you because of who you are, not because of your last name.” She said giving Waverly a smile. “But…if you want to find out the truth about what Bobo said, I’ll support and help you any way I can.”
Waverly took Nicole’s face in her hands and landed a kiss on her lips. She pulled Nicole up from her kneeling position while leaning back on the couch, Nicole braced herself by snaking her good arm around Waverly’s ribs not realizing it was still a little tender from her bullet wound. “Ah” she heard Waverly wince in between a kiss which caused Nicole to pull back.
“Sorry” Nicole said repositioning herself next to Waverly on the couch instead. But Waverly shook it off and without missing a beat landed her lips back on Nicole’s. She grabbed at the hem of Nicole’s tank top and tried to peel it off in one fluid motion but things got stuck where Nicole was bandaged up, “ow, ow” the red head whispered with a laugh.
Waverly quickly let go and sat back away from Nicole breathing heavily “sorry, I was trying to be smooth” she said lightheartedly.
Nicole laughed at their predicament which made Waverly laugh. They were finally alone and no one would interrupt them but they were too hurt to do anything physical. “It’s okay baby. How about we go rest instead”. Nicole stood taking Waverly’s hand and walked them into her bedroom.
They each took a side of the bed and found their comfort spot. They looked at each other as their hands found one another too, they didn’t realize how tired they were until they were laying on the bed. They had been up for almost 48 hours. Waverly inched closer to Nicole and rested her head on her good shoulder.
Staring Waverly in the eyes Nicole whispered, “I love you”.
“I love you too” Waverly replied with a smile. She burrowed her head deeper into Nicole’s shoulder. It wasn’t long before their eyelids starting getting heavy and they were asleep together.
Morning came and it seemed like they had slept for days, Nicole reached out to Waverly but found the spot empty. Wiping the sleep from her eyes she heard movement coming from the kitchen. With a long stretch she got out of bed. She opened her bedroom door and leaned against the door frame watching Waverly bop around the kitchen preparing something. She saw Waverly struggle to reach something in the top cupboard so Nicole knew that was her cue.
Nicole snuck up behind Waverly and kissed her exposed neck. She wrapped one arm around Waverly’s waist while reaching the other together with Waverly’s outstretched arm and said, “can I help you reach that?”
“Sure” Waverly said tilting her head just a little more to the side to give Nicole more access, “but my girlfriend is asleep in the next room so we’re gonna have to be quiet.”
“Girlfriend, girlfriend? Not ‘kind of’ girlfriend?” Nicole questioned with a smirk.
Waverly turned in the taller girls arms, she wrapped her arms around Nicole’s neck and said “No, not kind of. When someone takes a bullet for you, it becomes official.” She smiled pulling Nicole down to her to meet her lips once more smile into every kiss.