A/N:As always, I LOVE comments and constructive criticism! And prompts! Hit me up on Tumblr! JediFighterPilot2727
Waverly knew going into the relationship that Nicole was not the world's cleanest person.
The girl could never seem to manage buttoning all of the button's on her uniform jacket, for Pete's sake - that should have been a sign. Not that Waverly was complaining about anything that involved Nicole and less clothes.
But the officer also kept old coffee cups in her cruiser until she ran out of room for the new one; and her apartment, while not gross, had never exactly been what Waverly would call tidy.
Her bed was never made, unless she had just washed her sheets; her recycling was always left unsorted until the last minute; and the ceiling fans probably weren't dusted the entire time that she lived there. Safe to say that Waverly's girlfriend was a Haught mess in more ways than one.
It was weird really, because Nicole's bathroom was spotless. It was the cleanest room in the entire house. Her desk at work? Immaculate. Every paper was filled out in Nicole's crisp handwriting, sorted and filed in a method that was second only to Waverly's own.
Nicole had the capability of being neat and organized, she just chose not to apply those skills to certain aspects of her life.
Like doing the dishes, or making sure that Calamity Jane's toys weren't scattered around everywhere,
Waverly didn't really pay much attention to things like that while she was at Nicole's apartment, she had been concerned with . . . other things. Their time together was often short and sweet, and Waverly probably would have been content to make out with Nicole in the dirty back alley if it meant spending time with her girlfriend.
But now that Nicole's work with Black Badge had forced her to move onto the Homestead, her housekeeping habits were becoming an issue.
She loved Nicole, mess and all.
At least that's what she kept telling herself.
Day in and day out.
As she picked up after not only Wynonna, but now Nicole as well.
As she took keys off the kitchen counter and hung them on the hook that was right beside the door.
Finally, after weeks of keeping silent, she finally decide that she and her girlfriend needed to have a little talk.
"Good morning!" She chirped from in front of the mirror as Nicole wandered back into their bedroom, tooth brush working swiftly over her teeth.
"Gurdd mung!" Nicole winked and grinned around a mouthful of white foam.
"Hey, so I'm going to go into town and spend some time with Gus. Haven't really seen her in a while with how busy we've been; and she's wanting to have a garden this year in honor of Uncle Curtis so I'll probably help her with that."
Nicole nodded before briefly leaving the room and returning sans toothbrush.
"Sounds fun!"
"Do you have any plans?"
"Nah, prolly just hang out here with Calamity and Wynonna - maybe shoot some target practice with Doc."
"I hate to ask. . . " She really didn't.
"Anything, what do you need?" Nicole wrapped her arms around Waverly's waist from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder and meeting her eyes in the mirror.
"Could you please clean up around the house a little?"
"Of course! No problem!"
Waverly felt the tension leave her, she should have known that if she just asked Nicole help out then it would clear everything up. She turned in her girlfriend's embrace, bringing her arms up to wrap around Nicole's neck.
"Thank you."
"Hey, roomies have to help each other out, right?"
She couldn't help but giggle.
"Roomies?"
"Well, I mean technically we are roomies."
"I don't think 'roomies' touch each other's boobs."
She glanced pointedly to where Nicole's hand was resting on her chest under her bra.
"Oh, do they not?" The police officer's grin was mischievous as she rolled Waverly's nipple between her fingers.
"Do NOT start that." Waverly warned.
"Start what?"
"Something you can't finish. I'm already running late." Part of her wanted to through Nicole back on the bed and show up to Gus' half an hour late, but the other part of her said that maybe this whole cleaning thing would go ver better if it came with a reward.
"Later." She promised, pecking Nicole's cheek and backing away regretfully.
"Just so you know, I'll be thinking about it all day." Those dimples she loved so much peaked through and Waverly felt her cheeks heating up.
"Will you ever stop making me blush?"
"I sure hope not, the color makes your beautiful face even prettier."
"You, are a charmer, Nicole Haught."
"That may be, but you are the only one I care about charming, Waverly Earp."
She leaned in for one last kiss, keeping it chaste to avoid anymore delays.
"I'll see you tonight."
"Not if I see you first!"
Waverly rolled her eyes, if nothing else, her girlfriend was certainly witty.
As it turned out, Curtis was the only one in the family with a green thumb. Waverly and Gus had spent hours digging in the dirt out behind the McCready house, with nothing to show for it but, well, piles of dirt. Waverly was happy though, she had gotten to spend some quality time with her aunt, and take a break from the craziness that had been surrounding her lately.
So she made her way back to the Homestead, tired, hungry and dirty, ready to take a shower and cuddle up with her girlfriend in the now clean house.
Except when she walked in the door, she quickly saw that the house was definitely not clean. It was almost certainly more cluttered than when she had left that morning.
Without even seeing her girlfriend, she felt a surge of anger and frustration. She hadn't asked a lot. Really, she hadn't. She didn't even expect much, just maybe the dishes washed and the trash taken out. She was tired of having to deal with the upkeep of the homestead all on her own, exhausted even.
She knew that not everyone had the same standards of cleanliness. She knew she was kind of picky when it came to things being organized around the house. But she also knew that she wasn't being unreasonable when she asked for help.
Her anger only grew as she passed through the house to sounds of raucous laughter.
"Wynonna, I do declare that your poker face is about as easy to read as a dime novel."
Doc's voice rang out, quickly followed by the sound of Nicole's laughter.
"Yeah, Wy, the look on your face practically screams 'pair of Jacks'."
"I do not have a pair of - how could you possibly tell that I have a pair of jacks just by my face?!"
Nicole and Doc burst into laughter as Waverly rounded the corner to find them all seated around the kitchen table, a deck of cards scattered around them. Empty bottles of beer were piled around them, and a half bottle of whiskey was in the middle of the table. As soon as she noticed Waverly, Nicole's face lit up.
"Hey, Wave! You're back! Want Doc to deal you in? You can have half my chips, I'm kicking everybody's ass anyway."
"You're playing poker?"
"Yeah, Wynonna sucks."
"I do not suck!"
"You totally suck!"
Waverly cut in, trying to contain her frustration at her drunk girlfriend and sister.
"I thought you were going to clean up today?"
"We did!"
"Yeah," Wynonna took a swig of whiskey. "That clawfoot tub has never looked so shiny!"
"So let me get this straight, you scrubbed the bathtub but you left a pile of dishes in the sink?"
"Yes?" Nicole's voice was halting, as if she was slowly realizing that something was wrong.
"I work my ass off to keep this house in shape on top of helping catch revenants and you two don't lift a finger to help me! Doc does more around here than you two!"
The man in question leaned back out of the line of fire and twirled his mustache.
"And you!" She spun to Nicole, wagging her finger. "I asked you specifically to clean this morning and you agreed! I thought things were finally going to be better!"
"Wave, I -"
"Don't 'Wave' me!"
It was stupid really.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
And Waverly knew deep down that she shouldn't be angry, really she shouldn't. She should stop and talk about this rationally. But that didn't stop the anger from bubbling up at the back of her throat. It didn't stop her from spinning on her heel and marching up the stairs. She threw some clothes in a bag and marched right back down.
"Where are you going?" Nicole sounded baffled and Wynonna's face didn't look much better.
"Back to Gus', I'll be back tomorrow. "
She fled the house, Nicole and Wynonna calling after her. But she didn't stop until she reached her Jeep,
cranking it and pulling out onto the dirt road in front of the Homestead.
Her phone rang from the passenger seat, but she ignored it, focusing on the road ahead of her.
The next morning, she woke to the smell of coffee, and she walked into the kitchen to find Gus making scrambled.
"Good morning." the older woman called out as Waverly made her way to the coffee pot.
"Good morning."
"You know I don't mind you staying here, but is there a reason that you're not staying at the Homestead with Wynonna and Nicole?"
"It's stupid." She avoided her Aunt's eyes, choosing instead to make them some toast.
"If it's got you sleeping out here, it's not stupid."
There was a moment of pressing silence before she responded.
"Nicole is messy."
"Ah, say no more." Gus turned, spooning out the eggs onto two plates. "You're Uncle Curtis had the same problem."
"He was messy?" She tried to recall, but she could never remember him as anything but neat.
"No, I was messy."
"You?"
"It's hard to believe now, but when Curtis and I first got married, I was quite the mess. Drove Curtis crazy."
"So what did you do?"
"Well, the problem wasn't that one of us was wrong and the other was right, it was all about learning to live together despite our differences."
"And how did that work out?"
"Well, I learned to pick up my messes, and he learned to deal with dusty bookshelves."
"So you're saying I need to learn to deal with the mess?"
"I'm saying you need to have a long talk about what's important. She probably doesn't think that what she's doing is a problem. And you also need to be prepared to let somethings go - love's all about compromise."
Waverly stabbed her eggs with her fork.
"I kind of over reacted last night."
"Yeah, well, you're an Earp. It happens sometimes."
"Think she'll forgive me?"
"The way that girl looks at you? I'd be willing to bet she's trying to figure out how to apologize to you right about now."
Waverly laughed through the tears that were threatening to spill over.
"Thanks Gus."
"Anytime, now hurry and finish your eggs so you can get back home. You never could leave things unsettled for long."
The homestead was a completely different sight than it had been to night before, soft music was playing and the hardwood floors were shiny from being freshly waxed. The kitchen was spotless, as was the living room- which looked like every pillow had been fluffed and it smelled sweetly of lavender. Calamity Jane stretched out across the top of the couch =, but Waverly was surprised to see that she didn't see any cat toys strew about.
She wandered her way up the stairs, taking in the dusted railings and the newly vacuumed rugs.
"Nicole?" She called out hesitantly.
"In here!" She slipped in the doorway to her Nicole's shared bedroom to find the other girl bent over the bed, smoothing out the comforter.
"What's this?"
Nicole sat on the foot of the bed and held out her arms, eyes pleading with Waverly to step forward. She did, and Nicole turned her around and pulled her backwards until she was sitting in the officer's lap, arms wrapped around her waist.
"Wynonna and I had a talk after you left, and Doc offered some advice, and we decided that you were right."
Waverly opened her mouth to speak, but Nicole silenced her with a slight squeeze around her middle.
"Just, let me finish." Waverly nodded, and the taller girl continued. "You do the bulk of the picking up around here, and just because Wynonna and I don't really think that stuff is important, it's important to you. And if we're all going to live here together in peace, then we need to respect each others needs. So we worked together and cleaned this place up; if keeping the house a little neater is going to make life easier on you, then we're more than willing to pitch in. And I for one would like to apologize for our misunderstanding yesterday, I didn't realize the cleaning thing was so important. But Wave, if you wanted me to do something, you need to just be more direct, that way there's no room for confusion."
Sensing it was her turn, she spoke up.
"I know, I realize that now, I just - I didn't want to seem needy, or bossy. I've kinda gotten used to Wynonna being - well- Wynonna, and then you moved in, and it's just been a lot of adjusting. I was upset about it but I didn't want to be upset, does that make sense?"
"Perfect sense, baby."
Nicole was silent for a moment, nose brushing the back of Waverly's neck and she took a moment to jut relax and breathe in the moment.
"I know this is weird, the whole learning to live together as a couple while still living with your sister and her kind of boyfriend. One day I hope that we break the curse and you and I can get somewhere on our own; but until then, we have to learn to all live together. But even though we do live with Wynonna and Doc, I need you to know that you can still come to me about stuff like that and we can talk it out."
Waverly nodded, knowing that Nicole could feel the movement
"I'll work harder to not let the little things bother me, and when they do, I'll come to you about it before they blow up in my face."
"And I'll try and put my dirty clothes in the hamper."
"Deal."
"Deal."
There was silence for a moment while they both processed, and then Waverly spoke up.
"This is our first real fight, ya know?"
"I guess it is." Nicole hummed against her shoulder.
"What a stupid thing to fight about." Waverly snorted.
"If all of our fights are that easy, I'd say we're in good shape."
She stroked the skin of Nicole's arm under her fingertips.
"Where are Wynonna and Doc anyway?"
"They helped me clean and then they split. Wynonna said she wanted to give us time to kiss and make up."
"Well," Waverly turned, taking Nicole's face gently in her hands. "We better take full advantage then."
Nicole grinned against her lips.
"I like the way you think, Waverly Earp.