Detective Nicole Haught had been investigating a string of suspicious murders for months when she finally caught a break. One of her confidential informants had told her about a "creeper" that had been hanging around the latest murder scene a few hours before the body had been discovered, and thanks to good police work and weirdly good luck, Nicole had a name and a location to track down her suspect.
So here she was, with her partner and a few plain clothes officers waiting to catch sight of her suspect. What she was not expecting was the crowd; for 3 o'clock on a Tuesday, the shopping center where the suspect worked was inordinately busy. She finally got eyes on the suspect walking out of the building, a dude who went by the name Carl, and alerted her team, who started following him.
Nicole felt the hair on the back of her neck rise as they followed Carl outside. She couldn't help but think there were too many people around, and she knew they had been made when he started walking faster. The plain clothes officers picked up their pace, trying to cut Carl off to keep him from getting to the parking lot, as Nicole pulled her weapon and shouted his name.
Carl paused, looking back over his shoulder, and people started panicking at the sight of a gun. The other officers also drew their weapons and time slowed as Nicole watched Carl snarl at her and then grab a nearby woman, who had been too engrossed in her book to pay attention to her surroundings. Carl grabbed the girl, holding her in front of himself, and pulled a knife, showing Nicole the dangerous blade before putting it to the bystander's neck.
Getting a better grip on her gun, Nicole moved her eyes from the blade to the girl who looked… super annoyed. Where Nicole expected to find panic and terror, she only saw indignation and anger, which Nicole found very surprising considering the girl had to be 5"4' at best, and looked about as tough as a unicorn, albeit a pretty cute one.
Before Nicole could speak to try and diffuse the situation, the girl (who was now effectively a hostage), crossed her arms over her chest and started… whining.
"Ok, is this really necessary? I am having the worst day, no week, I am having the worst week you could possibly imagine, and you have to come out of nowhere, when I was getting to the BEST part of the book, and grab me. Have you ever heard of consent? Because I definitely do not consent to being your human body shield as this police person aims their gun at me."
Considering the situation, Nicole should not have found this girl remotely charming or adorable, but she found herself enthralled. "Detective."
The girl puppishly tilted her head at Nicole. "What?"
"Detective. I'm a detective. You said police person, and I'm…" Nicole scolded herself, reminding herself that a person was being held at knife point. "That's not important. What is important is that you're being held by a guy named Carl, who I am trying to arrest under suspicion of murder."
"Well, can you hurry up with the arresting bit? Because I WAS at a really good part in my book and this guy's breath smells terrible."
Nicole's lips quirked up in a smile before Carl reminded her of his presence, tightening his arm around the girl's neck and growling.
"Both of you shut up, right now."
Refocusing on the situation at hand, Nicole grimaced and took stock of her surroundings. Her guys were in place, she knew they had the upper hand, but she couldn't allow a citizen to get hurt.
"Ok, Carl. Look, you don't have to do this. That girl you're holding is innocent and you and I both know-"
As Nicole spoke, trying to ease some of the tension, going into Hostage Negotiation 101, she watched the girl look down, find Carl's foot, pick up her own and stomp down as hard as she could, catching everyone off guard. Carl jerked, pulling the girl back, which only caused her to lose her balance since she was still on one foot. Trying to maintain his balance, Carl over-corrected and they both went tumbling down in a heap of limbs and curse words.
Nicole and the officers rushed up to them, guns drawn and ready, expecting to find the worst, when the girl squirmed away from Carl, holding the knife. Nicole's partner, Xavier Dolls, pointed his gun at the girl and yelled at her to drop the knife, which she did with a squeak.
A literal squeak, was all Nicole could think with a shake of her head as the officer's slapped cuffs on Carl, and Dolls took charge of the knife, before Nicole approached the girl who was sitting on the ground rubbing her elbow.
"Are you ok, miss?"
"Ugh, I guess. I scraped my elbow and," the girl shifted, reaching under her, "my pants are torn, but I guess all things considered, I'm ok."
Nicole nodded and reached out a hand to help her up. "Good, I'm glad. Also, do you have ANY idea how stupid that was?"
"Excuse me? Listen Detective person-"
"Haught."
"What did you call me?"
"No, my name. It's Haught. I'm Detective Nicole Haught." Nicole held out her hand, trying to maintain her professionalism and not act like a flustered doofus.
"Oh, that's an interesting name."
There was an awkward pause, both women shuffling a little as they stood there before Dolls came up to them.
"Hey, Carl's on his way back to the precinct. Are we good here?"
Nicole nodded. "Yes, I was just talking to Miss…"
"Earp. Waverly Earp."
"Yeah, Miss Earp and I were just talking, just making sure she's ok. Um, but yes, Miss Earp, I need to come down to the station so I can get your statement."
Waverly groaned and walked over to where her book had fallen when she got grabbed. Nicole gave a brief smile and nod to Dolls who flashed her his teeth before walking over to the other officers working crowd control. Nicole took a minute to get her bearings, struggling to believe that the whole situation had gone down in only a few minutes, before shuffling after Waverly who was gathering her things and throwing them into an oversized bag, cursing under her breath the whole time.
Nicole cleared her throat. "So, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I know you want to get back to your book, but I do need to get your statement. I would appreciate if you would come down the station, and I'd like to check you out, too."
Waverly raised her brow as Nicole turned bright red, and started stammering.
"I mean, get you checked out. By a doctor. Because of the knife. And the falling. You fell. You might have… hurt yourself."
Waverly huffed out a laugh and stood, moving to stand in front of Nicole. "It is inconvenient, highly, but I will come give you a statement, and let you check me out." Waverly brushed past Nicole and walked to where Dolls was standing by an unmarked cruiser.
Nicole turned after her and smiled the whole way back to the car.
If Nicole hadn't been so focused on the girl next to her as they entered the station, she would have noticed the whole bullpen stopping to watch them as they walked in. Not only had the precinct heard about the situation from the other officers on the scene, the way the two women interacted caught everyone's attention. Everyone stopped to catch a glimpse of the girl who helped capture a murderer, but were amazed with how at ease the two women were with each other.
Nicole and Waverly had engaged in a lively discussion about guns and the merits of sawing off your shot gun (no matter the legality) in order to protect oneself. They were so engaged in their conversation Nicole was almost surprised to find herself at her desk, Waverly beside her and telling her about growing up on a homestead and why guns are the best form of personal security.
Dolls cleared his throat from behind them during one of Waverly's pauses, and they both turned to see Dolls and an older gentleman standing there.
"Oh, Waverly, this is Captain Nedley, my boss. Captain, this is Waverly. Earp. Waverly Earp. Miss Earp was on the scene today-"
Nedley stuck out a hand, effectively stopping Nicole's rambling. "Miss Earp, it's nice to meet you. I hear you were quite the hero today."
Waverly shook her head as she returned the handshake. "Oh, gosh no. I just really didn't want to be a hostage this afternoon. Places to be, people to see, you know how it is."
"Well, nevertheless, I appreciate you taking care of business, and keeping my officers safe."
Nicole, finally able to tear her eyes away from Waverly, looked at Nedley who pinned her with a glare. "Yes, it was very heroic. But also stupid. So. Yeah. Let me get your statement, and then I really do want someone to look at our elbow, it looks painful."
Nedley gestured behind him as Waverly nodded. "Use my office. I'm going to run out and grab some dinner at Shorty's. Dolls, care to join?"
The two men walked out of the bullpen as Nicole led Waverly to Nedley's office and had her sit down on the couch. She took Waverly's statement about sitting there, taking a break from studying and reading a book, (the seventh Harry Potter book, reading it for about the dozenth time, it's still so good!) when she heard shouting. She meant to look up and see what was going on, but she was just getting to the part about breaking out of Gringott's on the dragon, and then suddenly she was being grabbed, and well, Nicole knew the rest.
Nicole learned that Waverly was a PhD student studying the wild west and the evolution of law enforcement in North America. She listened to Waverly talk about her research, completely captivated by her passion and enthusiasm, and before she knew it the shadows were growing long and Nedley was returning from dinner.
"Ladies, everything alright?"
Nicole jumped up, embarrassed at losing track of the time. "Yep, yes, sir. We were just finishing up."
Waverly stood as well, nodding at Nedley as they exited his office.
Nicole paused for a moment, and then turned back to Waverly, knowing Nedley was watching. "Ok, well, thanks for your statement, and sorry for taking up so much of your time."
Waverly nodded, checking her phone. "Wow, I didn't realize how much time had passed. I need to get going."
"Yeah, um, are you feeling alright? I never did have anyone check you out. Over! Check you over." Nicole shook her head and mumbled, "dammit."
Waverly laughed and nodded. "I'm fine. Did you need anything else?"
"No, but you should be prepared to get a phone call about testifying. The prosecution will want to speak with you."
"Ok. Will you be there when I meet with them?"
Nicole tried not to read too much into the question, but couldn't quite keep the smile off her face. "Um, no, but if you have any questions, here's my card."
Nicole handed over a well-worn business card, which Waverly took with a small smile.
"Ok, well I really do have to get going. Um, thanks for… your help."
"I didn't do anything. You were the-"
"Don't say hero! I'm just, I'm going to go. Thank you, Detective."
"You're welcome, Miss Earp. Get home safe."
Waverly gave a small salute and Nicole watched as she walked out.