Nicole sighed. Four more hours to go and then she would get to leave the station and finally get some sleep. It would probably be a quiet shift, or at least, that's what she thought. She was already half way through and hadn't had to pick up any drunk people yet. That was a good sign when you were doing the night shift. Until her phone rang and the screen told her it was Waverly.
Or at least, it was her phone.
"Wave, what's wrong, it's 2am, I-"
"Haught, it's Wynonna. Are you on duty? You know what fuck that. I don't care. But please just come to Shorty's. Waverly is really, really drunk. But like, really drunk. And she's about to pick a fight with some fuckboy and I need you to come protect her before she does something stupid. I'm a little too - ah - intoxicated to do that myself. But as you're the one with the uniform and I trust you I thought that maybe you could -"
"Wynonna. I'm on my way. Tell me though, is there someone over there who is at least a little bit sober?"
"Uh, I mean, uh -"
"Nevermind. I'm coming. See you in a bit."
She was already in her car when she hung up, fiddling with the keys. "For god's sake, calm yourself down, woman," she said to herself as she finally got the car started. She thought for a moment about putting on the sirens but then decided that probably wasn't necessary. She could feel the worry growing in her chest as she drove way too fast. She should probably ticket herself for that later. The drive only took an impressive four minutes, though. And it was for Waverly's good.
She gave herself five seconds to compose herself before getting out of the car and storming into the bar. The first thing she saw was a very drunk Waverly sitting on top of some guy, beating the shit out of him in a puddle of spilt beer and glass, with a little-bit-less-drunk Wynonna trying to pull her little sister away to no great succes. She pushed the crowd huddled around them apart and gently nudged Wynonna away before wrapping her arms around Waverly's waist and shoulders from behind, succesfully managing to pull her away from the poor guy. "Oh for fuck's sake Waves, now I have to arrest you," she said, wrestling the very fiesty girl against a wall. "Come on, officer Hot, whatchagondo. I didn't do nothing wrong," she said. Nicole sighed. "Ofcourse you didn't," she replied sarcastically, clicking a pair of handcuffs around Waverly's still struggling wrists and trying to just drag her away by her arms.
Yeah, not a great succes. She was just about to pick her up and get on with it when Wynonna joined the scene. "Good luck with that, Haught," she said. "How much has she been drinking?" Nicole replied, starting to get more pissed by the minute. "Uh, a lot. Do you need a hand with that?" "It's fine. I got it. We're talking about this in the morning though. I'll bring her back after my shift. She's gonna sleep off the alcohol first though." She didn't even wait for a reply before picking up Waverly and carrying her to the car. She pushed her onto the back seat, fastening her seatbelt before getting as close as she could without being inappropriate, the smell of whisky blowing into her face.
"If you try anything funny, I can assure you I'm not gonna be as friendly anymore, Earp. You went too far," she said before closing the door and getting in the driver's seat, locking the doors from the inside and driving away. By now Waverly had gotten a little bit more conscious and a lot more scared of Nicole. This wasn't the friendly, dimpled face that gave her butterflies. This was officer Haught being real pissed at her.
About half an hour later, Waverly was still in the cell closest to Nicole so she could keep an eye on her while she did some more paperwork. She had been whining for the past twenty-five minutes. Nicole had finally gotten enough and got up, walking to the cell. "Waverly Earp, if you are not asleep within this and five minutes I'm not just letting you off with a warning. Neither of us are leaving this place until you're sober. The bed is over there. If you love yourself, you go lay on it right now and stop whining because you're not getting out of here." She didn't leave time for a reply before walking away again. It hurt her a little to be so tough on Waverly but she felt it was really necessary right now. She'd make up for it later, when Waverly didn't scare her as much as now.
By the time Nicole's shift was finished, Waverly was in a deep sleep on the bed. She decided to just text Wynonna about it and bring her to her own apartment. She didn't want to wake her up. She did though, about 2 minutes after Nicole had laid her down on the couch. The confused girl woke up to her favourite redheaded girl sitting across from her with a thundercloud over her face. And on top of that, she thought the headache was gonna kill her. "Shit. What happened?" she asked. "Why are you mad, what's wrong?" "Well, what do you remember?" "I remember drinking. A lot. Shit, I didn't fight that guy, did I?" Judging by the look on Nicole's face, she had done that exact thing.
"I had to come and arrest you, Waverly. You were so drunk you barely even remembered your own name. Even Wynonna was worried about you. You could have gotten yourself hurt, Wave. What if I had come too late? You were sitting on top of a guy in the middle of a pool of broken glass. You could have seriously hurt yourself. What if Wynonna hadn't called me, Waverly? What if I hadn't been able to answer the phone? I can't even think about what would have happened. For fuck's sake, don't you ever pull that shit again, you hear me?"
"Jeez, Nicole, chill, I'm fine," Waverly said, getting up from the sofa to argue with her friend.
"No, Waverly, you are not fine. You are definitely not fine. It's dangerous out there. Someone could have fucked you up."
"Why are you so upset about this? You're not my mom or something, I've got enough people telling me what to do already."
"Why am I upset? Because I care about you, Waverly. Because I - because I love you! Okay? There. Now you know," Nicole said. She turned away, trying to choke back the tears.
Waverly turned quiet. "Nicole, I-"
"Please. Please don't. Don't do the thing where you tell me we can't be this way. I know you're not - not like me, I-"
Suddenly, Waverly was in front of her. She stroked Nicole's cheek with her hand, wiping away a single tear before kissing her. Nicole was surprised, getting pushed back a little before realizing what was happening and returning the favor, kissing the smaller girl back with equal force. It took a while before Nicole broke the kiss. "Wave -" "I love you too, Nicole. I really do. There's nothing I want more than - than you. And it scares me a bit sometimes. I've never felt like this, y'know, about a - a girl. But how can it be wrong if it feels so, so right?" Nicole just stared at her in awe.
"Shit, I thought you weren't - I mean, I thought you wouldn't -" "I know. But I do. And we're gonna make this right, okay? I'm sorry if I scared you last night."
"It's okay. Next time you're drinking I'm coming with you though. That poor guy probably has a trauma now. May I ask you one thing though?"
"...sure?'
"Officer Hot? Really?"
"I said that?"
Nicole nodded before shooting her that mischievous grin that gives Waverly all the butterflies in her stomach. "If I wasn't so pissed and you weren't so drunk it would have been pretty sexy though," she said. That comment brought a very shocked expression to Waverly's face before slapping her arm. "Assaulting an officer, huh? Haven't you gotten enough arrests in the past twenty-four hours already?" Nicole said before quickly moving out of Waverly's reach.
"Nicole Haught, if you don't get back here I am so coming to get you!"
It was gonna be a very long day.