A/N: This fic is set after S01E09. Nicole has a secret that she doesn't want Waverly to know.

Nicole sat at her desk, still reeling from what had happened earlier that day. She was working the night shift, yet again, but today, she didn't mind. Her thoughts were preoccupied by remembering the feeling of Waverly's lips on her own. She could remember the feeling of the small girl underneath her during their heavy make-out session on her bosses couch, and still had trouble believing it had actually happened. It had felt like a dream come true. She had imagined what Waverly would feel like in her arms many times, but it didn't even come close to how amazing it had been in reality.

Out of habit, Nicole reached into her desk drawer that housed her longtime guilty pleasure and grabbed a handful of the sweet gummy bear candy, and laid them out on her desk. She liked to eat healthy, but for some reason, just couldn't resist the adorable little gooey bears. She didn't like people to know about her addiction to gummies, and worried about it making her look too soft. She liked to be in control.

She popped her least favorite flavor in her mouth first, and started working on the paperwork she had to get done before she could leave. She was almost half way through her paperwork, and almost done with her gummies, when she heard a door open and close. She hastily put the paperwork on top of the remaining gummies to hide them, just as Waverly rounded the corner. Nicole's face lit up with surprise, as she looked at Waverly's nervous smile.

"Hi, Officer Haught..." Waverly said around her smile, trying to be seductive. Nicole smiled, winked and confidently strode over to the counter that Waverly was leaning against. She reached over and reached for the smaller girl's hands.

"Hi. What brings you here this late at night?"

"I'd like to report a theft." Waverly smiled, but Nicole perked up, all business now.

"Oh, Ok." She reached under the desk to get the papers to write down the report. When she heard Waverly laughing, she looked up, confusion showing in her eyes, and saw that the girl across from her was reaching for her.

"Wave, I have to get the report papers if something has been stolen from you."

"No, I was trying to be funny, Nicole, I'm sorry."

"I don't understand..."

"Once again, this was so much more romantic in my head." She's was smiling so big, Nicole just stared, mesmerized by the gorgeous specimen in front of her. "It's ok. I'll try again some other time."

Still a little confused, but not wanting to rock the boat too much on this new... whatever it was... Nicole let it go.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Nicole was slowly getting her swagger back.

"I was alone at my house, and I remember you saying that you were working late tonight. I thought I'd bring you a snack." Waverly stooped down and picked up a basket Nicole had missed her bringing in and put it on the counter.

"Let's eat at your desk." Waverly started walking around the counter

"How sweet of you." Nicole's face lit up. "I was just thinking about a snack." She remembered the gummies on her desk and panicked for a second. How was she going to hide them? "Wait..."

Waverly turned around, alerted. "What?"

"Umm... my desk is a mess... we can't eat there."

Waverly had reached the deputy's desk now, and put the basket back on the floor.

"We can clean it." She reached for the papers hiding the gummies.

"No!" Nicole ran toward her desk, to try and stop her, panicked that her secret would be revealed. Nicole reached her just in time and grabbed the girl's arm before she could pick up the papers. Waverly looked up at Nicole, dumbfounded and angry. She pulled her arm back hastily.

"You know," she started saying, trying to stop the tears threatening to leak down her cheeks, "I think I should go." Waverly quickly walked out of the police station. As she reached the outside door she heard a faint "Please" from Nicole, but she didn't even pause her steps.

"Please don't go." Nicole tried to catch Waverly with her words, but it didn't work. "Shit." Nicole sat down heavily in her chair. She put her head in her hands, despair threatening to wash over her. How could she fix this?

Waverly somehow managed to get home before she let the tears fall. She had thought that her and Nicole were on the same page. How could she have misread the situation so drastically? She didn't understand the tall redhead. She had been chasing after her for months now, and then the second they make out on a couch, she turns cold. 'I thought she really liked me.' Waverly muttered to herself. 'Guess there really aren't any good dating options in Purgatory.' Waverly went up to her room, ignoring her growling stomach. She didn't want Wynonna to see her like this.

Eventually Nicole cleaned up her desk, putting the papers back in a pile and throwing the remaining gummy bears back in the bag and slamming the drawer shut. She finished her paperwork as quickly as she could, the next officer was due to arrive any time, and she desperately just wanted to go home and have a beer. Joe got there 10 minutes late using excuses about his wife, but Nicole wasn't listening.

"See you tomorrow Joe."

"Wait Nicole. You forgot your basket."

Nicole looked back at him, and registered what he had said. She tried to keep her face neutral as she took the basket from him.

"Thanks."

It was a short drive back to the apartment she shared with her cat. She still had no idea how to fix this thing with Wave and it was all she could think about. When she got home, she put the basket on her dining table. The distraught woman absenmindedly fed her cat, who rubbed against Nicole's legs twice, and then started eating. Nicole grabbed a beer from her fridge and sat in front of the basket. She took a big swig of the beer, and gingerly opened the basket. She found two halves of a turkey sandwich and some fruit cups. There were 3 different kinds. Waverly must have not known what kind she might like.

She picked up the sandwiches and brought them over to the fridge, depositing them, hoping to save her and Waverly just as she was saving these sandwiches.

Nicole went to bed after wracking her brain for awhile. She had tried, but failed, to come up with a decent plan on how to make it up to Waverly.

Waverly woke up the next day with an annoying headache. 'Hate it when I cry. Always gives me a headache,' she thought to herself. She could hear Wynonna crashing around in the kitchen. Waverly, briefly, wondered whether Wynonna was just getting up, or just going to sleep. 'Oh well, doesn't really matter' she muttered. Waverly's shift at Shorty's was starting in an hour, so she hurried to get ready to make sure she could get some breakfast and coffee before work. There was no sign of Wynonna when she got down to the kitchen. But Waverly figured she'd just see her later. She was supposed to go to the police station after her shift at Shorty's to meet with Wynonna and Dolls to go over more of her research. 'Ugh... police station. I really don't want to go back there'. She didn't know how she was going to deal with seeing Nicole all the time.

Waverly got to Shorty's, and set her things down behind the bar. She started on her duties, readying the bar for it's first customers of the day, but before getting too far into it, she went over to the door, and checked the lock, wanting to make sure no one could enter the bar without a key. She didn't want any unexpected, possibly red-headed, visitors.

Nicole woke up, with a clearer head than she had gone to sleep with. It was only 9 am, and she didn't need to work until 1, so she had some time to figure things out. She remembered the Waverly of the last couple of days. She remembered things she had said and done, but the thing that stood out in Nicole's head was that Waverly told her, she scared her.

Nicole didn't want Waverly to be scared. Nicole wanted her to trust her, and she wanted to be there for her in whatever way Waverly wanted. But she wouldn't let her mistake from last night ruin whatever friendship/relationship they had had going. Nicole was going to have to tell Waverly the one thing that she kept from everyone. She had to tell her that she was addicted to gummy bears.

At 3:30, Nicole was sitting at her desk on the edge of her seat. Waverly was due to walk through those doors any minute, and Nicole desperately wanted to talk to her before she saw her sister and Dolls. Everytime the front door opened, Nicole raced over to the counter, ready to be the first thing the person saw. After confusing her boss twice with this behavior, he headed over to Shorty's early, telling Nicole to chill out, as he was leaving. Nicole heard the front door close as her boss left. She then saw this tiny thing try and dart by the door frame as it headed for the black badge division.

"Waverly. Please! Can we talk?!" Nicole ran over to the counter, expecting Waverly to ignore her like she had last night, but after a few beats, she saw Waverly come around the door frame and lean against it.

"Oh, hi Nicole. Didn't see you there."

Nicole tried smiling at Waverly, but didn't get a smile in return.

"Can I explain about last night?"

"Look, you don't need to. It's all forgotten. OK? We will just forget anything happened, and go on about our lives." She said as she pointed in the direction of Nedley's office.

"I don't want to forget Wave." After a couple beats, Nicole continued. "Will you let me explain?"

Waverly's resolve was melting.

"OK, when?"

"Now?"

"I don't know... I've got this thing..."

"Please." Nicole begged. When she didn't get a response, she opened the barrier, to let Waverly through. Waverly didn't move, eyeing Nicole with slightly suspicious eyes. "Will you sit at my desk?" Nicole stepped back to give Waverly plenty of space. Once Waverly was sitting in Nicole's chair, she paced a little and started off on her explanation.

"So, I over-reacted last night, and I wanted to explain why. I am truly sorry, and I really didn't mean to grab you. We were just getting to a place that made me so happy, and then I went and screwed it up." She looked over at Waverly, and just caught a glimpse of a half smile. She moved a little closer to Waverly and squatted down so they could see eye to eye. "I have this secret, that I am ashamed of, and you were about to find it last night. I was worried that you wouldn't like me anymore if you found out. But then I went and scared you, and made it much worse than I ever imagined." Nicole got up and started pacing again. Waverly got up, and intercepted Nicole's paces by lightly taking her arm.

"Everyone has secrets, Nicole. But you can't grab me like that. I thought you didn't want me anymore." She said with a small voice. Nicole took the smaller girls chin between her fingers and tilted her head up so she could look in her eyes.

"That is so far from the truth. All I want is for you to be happy."

"You don't have to tell me the secret."

"Yes, I do. I don't want to keep anything from you."

"Ok, then." Waverly went back and sat in Nicole's chair. "Hit me with it." Instead of saying anything, Nicole walked over to her desk, and opened the drawer with the gummy bears in it. She pointed, and then went back to pacing. Waverly looked into the drawer, and at first didn't see anything one might call a secret. There was some duck tape, a gun, a bag of gummy bears, and little odds and ends scattered in the drawer.

"Help me out, Nicole." She looked up at the tall redhead, "What am I looking at here?" Nicole turned around and looked at Waverly slack jawed.

"Wait... seriously?" the brunette looked down, and then back up again.

"Yeah. I don't see anything to be ashamed of in here." Nicole couldn't quite bring herself to say it out loud, so she walked back over to her desk, and reached in the drawer, looking around to make sure no other deputies were around and pulled out the 5 pound bag of gummy bears.

"It's disgusting... I'm so..." As Nicole was trying to find her words, Waverly was trying to keep down the laughter bubbling up in her throat. She closed her eyes, and repeated to her self over and over... 'must not laugh, must not laugh.' When she opened her eyes again, Nicole was looking down at her, confusion clearly displayed on her face.

"A few gummy bears is nothing to be ashamed of. I thought you were addicted to porn, or kept all your hair in a ball, or something." Nicole's face twisted up in a disgusted look and whispered "gross."

"Yeah, see. It could be much worse. Why are you ashamed of this anyway?"

"I just always have been." Nicole heard the front door open and moved quickly to put the gummy bears in her desk and hastily closed the drawer. Waverly could no longer hold back the laughter.

"Hi deputy, did I miss anything?" Sherriff Nedley asked while heading to his office?

"Nope. It's been quiet." Nicole smiled at the sheriff, hoping he would ignore the hysterical girl next to her.

"Ok, carry on." Nedley closed his office door behind him. As his door closed, Nicole felt arms wrap around her, and couldn't help the sigh that left her lips. Things were going to be ok. She turned around, eager to wrap her arms around the small brunette.

"So, we're good?" Nicole asked.

"Yep," Waverly snickered, "we're good."

"I have your basket at my house." Nicole tried not to look too eager. "Want to come over tonight and have our snack?"

"Sure, sounds good." Waverly looked up at Nicole and saw her gaze flickering between her eyes and lips. Waverly smiled her secret little smile.

"Tonight." And with a kiss on her cheek, Waverly was headed to the black badge office with a bounce in her step. Nicole blushed and smiled her dimpled smile at the figure receding into the station.

A/N: So I took a little creative license with Waverly still working at Shorty's, but I couldn't see a way around it. Hope you enjoyed my first WayHaught fic. It turned out more dramatic than I originally intended. I love comments! :)