A/N: As always, I love reviews and constructive criticism!

Nicole was sitting at the front desk of the sheriff's office when she saw Waverly Earp struggling to get in. The poor girl had a box of files balanced in one hand while trying to open the door with the other, and it seemed that keeping the box upright was quickly becoming an issue.

She rushed to the door, opening it and swooping the box from Waverly's teetering grip all in one smooth motion.

"Here, let me help you."

The shorter girl startled at first, but then their eyes met and the once full hands came to clasp nervously in front of her. Nicole thought about fighting the urge to lose herself in those big brown eyes, but then again, Waverly didn't seem to have a problem staring right back.

"Wow, you're like my knight in shining white Stetson!" Her eyes grew impossibly wider, and Nicole grinned at the sight. "Not that I've been thinking about you in your Stetson, or . . . anything." she waved her hands adorably. "You just usually wear it when you're being all Officer Haught -"

"Waverly Earp." Nicole interrupted, drawing the name out because she liked the way it tasted on her tongue and the blush that colored Wayverly's cheeks at her drawl. "What brings you down to my neck of the woods?"

"Oh! I'm an official Black Badge consultant now. These are my files, cause I do research on rev- . . . confidential stuff." she looked terrified; of spilling more information than Dolls would like or hurting Nicole's feelings, the officer couldn't tell. So she laughed, hoping to ease some of Waverly's discomfort.

"Dont worry, I won't look, wouldn't want Deputy Marshall Dolls to accuse me of treason again."

"Not that I'm that important," Waverly stuttered out, "I don't get a badge, or a gun, or a flamethrower."

"Well, I still say you're pretty important, and if I ever confiscate any flamethrowers, I promise to let you shoot it before I turn it in."

She winked and Waveryl blushed impossibly redder.

"What? Are you guys just gonna stand in the doorway all day? Dolls says we can't eat donuts until you get in here!"

They jerked apart at the sound of Wynonna's voice, and Waverly brushed past Nicole into the Sheriff's department.

"Calm down, Wynonna, Nicole was just helping me bring all of my stuff in. And it's not like the donuts are going to disappear."

Wynonna's face looked horrified, and Nicole snorted a laugh.

"They might, Waves, you don't know what kind of evil is out there." the elder Earp cautioned.

"The only evil in this room is your hanger."

"And I'm trying to fix that, which is why you need to get your butt over here so I can get a donut."

Waverly scurried over to her sister, and Nicole followed her, stopping short of the door to the Black Badge offices and extending the box back to its owner.

"I think Dolls' treason line starts somewhere about here."

It was Wynonna's turn to snort at that.

"Is there anything else you need brought in?" Nicole offered.

"There's a few books, but I can get those later."

"Are they in your jeep?"

"Yeah, but really -"

Nicole held up a hand to stay any further protest.

"Consider them retrieved. It is my duty to protect and serve after all."

At that, she turned to leave, barely catching Wynonna's whispered conversation with Waverly.

"Speaking of great butts . . ."

"I know."

And if she smiled a little too brightly on her way to the parking lot?

Well, Waverly Earp thought she had a nice butt, and that was cause for anybody's day to be a little brighter.

Nicole wasn't entirely sure that Waverly's new consultant status with Black Badge was a good thing.

Oh sure, she had no doubt that Waverly was a valuable asset to whatever top secret type mission that Dolls had her working on. Hell, half of the books that she had carried in that first day had titles in languages that Nicole had never even heard of - although she had had the pleasure of hearing Waverly speak in a few of those languages since then.

No, it wasn't Waverly's knowledge or helpfulness she doubted, if anything, Waverly's presence was only detrimental to Nicole's attention span.

To be fair, it was darn near impossible to focus on boring reports when she knew her crush was sitting the next room over. She was glad, for their blossoming friendship; she was new in town, and being the rookie cop didn't award her many friends. She let plenty of people off with a warning instead of a speeding ticket, and she was more inclined to persuade someone to head on home rather than slap them with a public indecency charge- you're welcome, Wynonna. But still, it took time for people to warm up.

Except for Waverly.

Waverly never greeted her with anything less than a smile, even when she could tell the shorter girl was having a particularly rough day. She could tell Waverly cared for her, even if it was only in a 'just friends' sort of way. She couldn't help but hope that someday there would be something more, but if friendship was all Waverly had to offer, Nicole was more than willing to reciprocate.

She could sense something, just below the surface. She could feel it in the stares and the extra coffee that Waverly always brought by just for her. She could hear it in the way the other girl said her name, and breathless way she stuttered when Nicole flirted. It was the little things. And she was content with little things, even if it never developed into anything else. Waverly was a good friend.

So was Wynonna, when it came down to it. They had bonded over their mutual hatred for Champ Hardy, and love for snide commentary. Sometimes she turned that snarkiness against Nicole, but the officer just brushed it off. As Waverly would say, Wynonna was just being Wynonna.

She had heard of Waverly's prowess with a shotgun, and she new the girl could take care of herself, but it still didn't stop the way her heart beat a little faster when she saw Waverly leave out after Dolls and Wynonna. She had just found the girl, and there was this inexplicable tug that she felt when it came to Waverly, as if the universe had always known they were supposed to find each other. She couldn't lose her, not so soon, not when Waverly didn't even -

"Hey!"

Speak of the Devil. She looked up from her report to see none other than Waverly Earp leaning across her desk.

"Hey!"

"Wynonna and I were just heading to Shorty's for dinner, wanna come?"

"Oh, my shift -"

"Just ended."

She looked up at the clock to see that Waverly was indeed correct.

"Oh, well then yeah, just let me finish up this report."

"You signed it like ten minutes ago, and you've just been staring at it."

She felt her cheeks heat up.

"I see that now."

"What'cha thinkin' 'bout?"

"Uhhh. . . just . . ."

"Heellllloooo! What does a girl have to do to get a hot meal and a drink in this town? Shorty's is probably running out of beer as we speak."

Thank God for Wynonna.

"Wynonna, Shorty's ran out like, one time, in the entire history of Shorty's."

"And I still have nightmares about it! Now come on!"

Waverly rolled her eyes and pulled Nicole around the desk.

"Come on, lets go before Wynonna decides to start shooting things."

Nicole grabbed her Stetson of the wall on the way out; she wasn't on duty, so she didn't technically need to wear it, but Waverly always seemed to stare at her a few seconds longer when she had it on.

"I'd like to go ahead and call dibs on not being the one stuck holding Wynonna's hair back when she eats too many cheese sticks."

Wynonna stopped, spinning around to point a finger at Nicole.

"I'll have you know, it was not the cheese sticks, it was a stomach bug. Don't let anybody ever say I could handle my cheese sticks. Or my liquor."

As they all shared a laugh and crossed the street, Nicole couldn't help but think that being friends with the Earp girls wasn't such a bad gig.