"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Wynonna screamed once Dolls had finished telling her all that had happened. "And you, Haught… I expected so much better from you than just going along with my sister's crazy plan. I thought you loved her, you were supposed to be the one to protect her!" Nicole didn't deserve that, she knew all too well that when Waverly wants to do something, there's just no stopping her.
"For what it's worth, I hate her plan just as much as you do." Her voice cracked slightly and her eyes watered a bit. "If you'll all excuse me…" And with that Nicole rushed out of Dolls's office before they could see her bursting out crying.
"Wynonna…" Doc scolded her.
"What?! She's her girlfriend, Doc! Waverly's just saved her life, if she truly loved my sister, she should've done the same!"
"And you think it was easy for miss Haught to let Waverly go?" Doc started walking slowly towards Wynonna. She looked down in shame. "Blaming Nicole is not going to help us get your sister back. We need to be together for what's coming."
"Do you think the seal has been broken yet?" Jeremy asked.
"It hasn't." A voice came from a near room in Doll's offices. Mercedes. They'd all forgotten about the widow they had locked up in a glass box at the station.
"How do you know for sure? How do I know you're not lying to me?" Wynonna asked as she rushed in front of the other woman. They stared directly at each other, their faces so close the only thing keeping them apart was the glass surface.
"Oh, dear… you don't. I might be playing with you, or not. There's no way for you to know for sure."
"We don't have time for your little games, Mercedes! Tell us what you know!"
"As I told your little sister, Mercedes isn't here, you'll have to play with me."
"Fine, then. It's game on!"
"Ok, woah! Earp, I'm gonna need you to step away from that box." Dolls put a hand on Wynonna's shoulder, ready to push her back if she didn't do as he said.
"Or what?!"
"Earp…" Wynonna stared at him for a while before finally giving up and moving away.
"Why don't you go home? Get some rest…" Doc tried carefully. "Let us boys deal with her. We'll call you as soon as we learn something useful."
"I'll try and think of a way to get your sister back as well. We've got this." Jeremy smiled at her.
"Fine…" She would've never admitted it to them, but she was glad she could just go home and sit down for some time. Being nine-month pregnant was very exhausting, her back hurt like hell, her fit throbbed for having to carry that much weight around and, if all that wasn't enough, the baby seemed to be having a football match using her insides as ball.
As she left the room and the former BBD offices, she caught a glimpse of the redhead cop sitting at her desk near the entrance. Nicole was startled by the noise of the door closing behind Wynonna. The young officer looked up at the other woman for a second before getting up and walking into Nedley's office. There was something in the way she rushed in the room that made it look as if she were trying to hide from Wynonna. Also, the Earp heir knew for sure that Nedley always left the station before happy hour at Shorty's started, so there was no reason for Nicole to go into his office and close the door behind herself. Suddenly a flash of the deputy's hurt face came back to Wynonna's mind and a flush of guilt invested her. She took a deep breath and walked the way to the sheriff's door and, when she raised her fist to knock, she heard sniffs coming from inside the room. Nicole was sobbing quietly. Shit. When will she learn to count to one hundred before speaking? She scolded herself mentally. The cop had been a good friend to her, she was the best thing that could ever happen to her sister and there she'd gone and hurt her feelings as if things weren't hard enough on both of them already. Screw knocking! She decided and just moved to open the door slowly.
"Haught damn…" she tried, testing the water.
Nicole was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. Her gaze shot up when she heard Wynonna's voice and so did her hands as she rubbed her face quickly, trying uselessly to wipe the tear tracks away from her cheeks.
"Mind if I sit?" She really longed to sit down and rest her body. The redhead said nothing, she just scooted further by a side of the couch to let the other woman sit down next to her.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, while both women were trying to find something to say, the cop finally started to speak. "If I could switch place…"
"I know."
"We didn't have time for a plan be…"
"I know."
"I won't give up till we've found a way to bring her back."
"Good. 'Cause I could use your help. I need your help." And after a while, "I'm sorry for what I said."
"Not the first you've been mean to me…"
"Only the other times I was drunk. Or possessed… I can't really use alcohol as an excuse this time."
"No, I suppose not…"
"Maybe I could blame my crazy hormones…" She joked again, hoping to lighten the other girl's mood a little. It worked. It was small, but Nicole smiled at her. "I mean it, though. I truly am sorry."
"I know. Me too."
The boys had waited for Wynonna to leave before turning their attention back on Mercedes. She was watching them, studying them with a creepy smirk on her lips. It was clear that she had all the information they needed to stop her sister and Clootie and that she was going to enjoy herself as those men tried to get her to talk.
"So, where were we?" Dolls said as he turned to face Mercedes. "Oh right. You wanted to play… Well, how about I make the first move, huh?" He said as he pressed a button to inflate some kind of substance in the glass box. The widow cringed in pain and fell on her knees.
"You really think that's going to make me talk?" She chuckled creepily. "I could do this all day."
"So, could I." Doc said trying to copy her stubborn tone. "Thanks to your husband's dear wife, Constance Clootie, I have lived and lived and lived, for decades. I got all the time in the world."
"Do you really? If I remember correctly, Constance bound your life to the same ring that is also the third seal we're about to break. Once that small piece of jewelry shatters, so does your immortality."
"And I thought you said it takes two to break that damn thing."
"Did I?"
"Yeah, you did." Jeremy said, gaining him a fulminating look from both Dolls and Doc. "What? She did just- Oh, right, she's playing with up… Stupid Jeremy."
"Come on, this is pointless. We don't need her help." Dolls said motioning for everyone to go back in the other room and leave Mercedes to rot in there by herself.
"Oh, come on… I was just starting to have a little fun…" The widow complained in a mocking tone, but they all just chose to ignore her.
Dolls, Doc and Jeremy spent half an hour going through all the material they had on the widows, Clootie's curse on the Earp family, the seals, the revenants and all the supernatural activities going on in the Ghost River Triangle. They all came to the conclusion that, in order to break the last seal and awaken demon Clootie, the widows had to work together. The best solution at the moment would've been eliminating one of the widows for good, but, unfortunately, there was not much Wynonna's gun could do against them. It could hurt them, yes, weaken them even, but they needed something more, different, to kill them. But what weapon could have the characteristics they needed? They had no ideas at all. They were all three of them very tired after everything that had happened in just one day, so they agreed to go home and sleep on it, maybe a good night sleep would bring them advice on what to do. They left the station at 7 pm and decided to meet again the next morning at 8.
Nicole, on the other hand, had to stay a bit longer at work. Like said before, she was taking up Nedley's duties as well as her own, so, unlike the real sheriff, she could leave the station to go enjoy the happy hour at Shorty's. It was about 8:30 pm when she finally managed to leave her desk, as another deputy got in to start his night shift. She was tired as hell, almost dying and dying both in less than 24 hours had definitely being an exhausting experience, not to mention the fact that she'd just lost the woman she loves as well. She really missed Waverly bright welcoming smile, that would immediately make her feel better whenever she'd showed up outside the station to pick her up after a long day at work. She missed the sound of her voice, her beautiful eyes and, in general, her bubbly presence. She just missed her. There was no point in crying over her absence; she'd done that already, so now was the time to get herself together and start thinking of a way to get her Waves back. But first, there was one more thing she needed to do. Even though she was dying at the idea of going home and getting into her warm bed, with Calamity Jane snuggled up by her side, she'd made Waverly a promise to take care of Wynonna for her, so, before going home, Nicole had decided to go to the homestead to check on the older Earp. She stopped at Shorty's very briefly to get something to snack on, so she wouldn't risk passing out of exhaustion and hunger, and hate her dinner quickly inside her cruiser. When she got to the homestead, about half an hour after she'd left the station, she tried knocking and ringing, but she got no response. She could see the light was on in Waverly room and by the entrance, so Wynonna had to still be up. She tried pushing on the door and, just like that one other time, she'd found it was unlocked, so she let herself in. Once inside she headed straightly upstairs to Waverly's room. She couldn't be sure to find Wynonna on there, but the truth she just really wanted to see the room and the girl's staff. She needed to be in the place where everything screamed Waverly and where she and her girlfriend had had some of their firsts and made some of their best memories. She found the door open and the older Earp inside the room, on her sister's bed holding a teddy bear that belonged to the other sister. She was crying, staring outside the window into distance. The scene broke Nicole's heart. one of the things she admired so much about the other woman was how strong she was, but right then, in her baby girl's room, she looked so very small it was heart-wrenching.
"Wynonna? Hey." Nicole greeted from the door.
"Haught." Wynonna moved her glare from the window to face the other woman. It was 9 pm, the boys had called her as she was having something for dinner to let her know they were going to go home and get some rest. Mercedes had given them the silence treatment, so they had to try and figure out a way to defeat Clootie on their own, but since they'd all had a crazy day and they were all very tired, they'd decided to continue their research in the morning and go home for the night. No one had expressed their intention to come check on her, but she guessed Nicole's presence had something to do with Waverly's last orders before she vanished. "Let me guess, my sister ordered you to mommysit me while she's gone?" She kept a light tone, not wanting to say something wrong and end up hurting the redhead feeling's again.
"Actually... she didn't." Nicole smiled, catching the joking tone in the heir's voice. "I mean, she did ask all of us to take care of you and the baby for her, but... she didn't explicitly ask us to mommysit. I just... I just thought you might like some company. This house is a big place to be all alone in. But, if you don't want me here, I'll go, leave you be." She said pointing at the stairs that led down towards the front door.
"Are you sure I am the one who needs company?" She joked again. Something in Nicole's eyes let her know she might've been right, though. Neither of them felt like being all alone at that time. "Come here." She patted on the mattress as an invitation for the cop to come and sit on the bed next to her.
"Is that Willa's teddy?" The redhead asked as she was taking her shoes off before climbing on the bed. She'd noticed Wynonna was on the bed crying with her face in the teddy bear when she got there, but she'd decided not to question her about it.
"How...?"
"Waverly."
"Right. Of course..." Silence. The atmosphere wasn't as awkward as it had been in Nedley's office that afternoon. They were both just enjoying being lost in their own heads, but with someone else by their side.
"Are you alright?" Nicole asked after a few minutes. Her gaze still focused somewhere in front of her.
"No… you?"
"Not even close…"
Wynonna let out a long sigh. "Why do the people I love keep dying on me? Daddy, Willa, Curtis, Shorty, Wav-"
"Hey." Nicole cut her off. This time the redhead turned her head to look straight at the other woman. "She's not dead, okay? We'll do whatever it takes to get her back."
"I can't do this without her." Wynonna's voice cracked as she spoke trying her best to keep it together.
"Of course you can." Nicole turned her whole body to face the other girl, just like she had done the day Waverly told her she thought she wasn't an Earp. "You're Wynonna Earp. You're quite possibly the strongest woman I've ever met. You will do just fine, I'm sure of it."
"Not this time. Not with this." She took a deep breath in before the next words. She'd never been one to open her heart to somebody else so easily, but, for some reason, she felt like she could be honest with the redhead; she knew that she could trust Nicole not to judge her. "You know, I was ready to get an abortion. Turn this baby into yet another person I love who has died because of me. I thought... ho-how could I be a mother? But... when I told Waverly, she didn't try to convince me to keep the baby or that things would be fine, she just... she just told she'd be there for me. I changed my mind because of her. Because I knew I wouldn't have to do this on my own, that she would help me raise this baby. I... I can't do this without her." By the time she got to the end she burst out into tears, not giving a damn if the other woman was going to see her being weak. Well, almost not giving a damn. She did feel a bit ashamed for crying like a baby in front of Nicole, which is why she averted her eyes from the cops and turned to look out of the window again.
"Hey. Look at me." The redhead said putting a hand on Wynonna's forearm to catch her attention. She waited for the Earp heir to turn her gaze back on her and then she continued. "I know you need your baby girl and I promise you we will get her back. 'Cause I can't live without her either. But, for what it's worth, in the meantime, you are not alone. You have Dolls and Doc... you have me. You don't have to do this on your own. We're a family Earp, you won't get rid of us so easily." She tried to joke to make Wynonna's mood lighten a little. The brunette chuckled lightly and Nicole smiled softly at her, happy to see she'd managed to make her feel a bit better. "We'll do this together, okay?"
Wynonna hesitated for moment, but then she gave up. "Alright... together it is."
"Good."
There was a moment of silence when none of them said a word and then Wynonna chuckled lightly before speaking.
"You know, I can see why Waverly loves you much. You're a very good person, Haught."
"What can I say, your sister certainly has great taste in women." She joked, to which Wynonna responded laughing a bit louder than before and shoving her lightly on the arm.
They chuckled and smiled at each other for a second and, then, the Earp heir went all serious again. She looked straight into those brown eyes that always lit up with love when looking at her sister and she half asked half begged. "Will you stay? Please."
"I'm here." She stated taking hold of the other woman's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
'I'm not saying it's gonna be okay, but I'm just saying… I'm here.' Waverly's voice resounded in Wynonna's head and she started crying again. Only this time she didn't turn away from Nicole; she let her head fall on the redhead's shoulder and she let the young woman hold her as she cried herself to sleep.
Nicole knew how much the woman needed someone to lean on in that moment, so she clutched her teeth in order to keep herself together. Wynonna had already walked in on her crying over Waverly and now it was her time to be strong, even though her heart was breaking into a million pieces seeing the Earp heir so small and vulnerable. She waited for the brunette to fall asleep and, only then, she let her tears fall down. Doing her best to keep her breathing as steady as possible, she'd managed not to sob in order not to wake Wynonna. After she'd calmed herself down enough to stop her body from trembling too much, she adjusted the other woman's body down on the mattress and, then, she did the same with herself. She laid down next to Wynonna, but with her back to the other woman, and she finally let herself get that much needed rest.
The next morning, Nicole had driven Wynonna to the station to meet the boys before going home to change into a clean uniform. The Earp heir was a bit late to the meeting, because her bladder wouldn't hold for more than forty minutes, so when she got there the three men were already at work going through the files all over again.
"Good morning, morons!" Wynonna greeted the others as she entered the office without knocking.
"Earp." Dolls greeted back, passing on the way the woman had just called them.
"So, how's your research going?" Wynonna asked everyone.
"Same way it was going yesterday. Nowhere." Doc took out a cigarette and lit it.
"Alright… What do we know so far then?" She ignored the comment, not wanting to give into pessimism just yet.
"One widow alone cannot break the third seal and summon Clootie, they need to work together. What we need right now is a weapon able to kill one of them or, better, both of them and, since Peacemaker doesn't work, we need to find something else…" Jeremy was interrupted by Wynonna.
"The plate."
"What?"
"We already have such a weapon. Wyatt's plate."
"A plate? Are we supposed to use it as a frisbee to knock 'em out? 'Cause I don't see how a plate can…" All three of the others gave him a look to let him know he was saying stupid things as usual and it was time for him to just shut up and let the adults do the talking.
"You said it was a metal plate, right? So, I'm thinking, what if it's the same material as Peacemaker? There has to be a good reason why Wyatt left us in heritage both the gun and this stupid plate. There has to be a link between the two." She paused to look at everyone and see if they were following her line of thought and, at last, she addressed the youngest boy. "Jeremy, can you run a test and see if the material is the same?"
"If I can? Can't a Skywalker-"
"Jeremy. Now is not the time for TV show references." The Earp heir stopped him before he could finish.
"That was not…" he started to point out that Star Wars was not a TV show, but the look Wynonna gave him cut him short. "Okay, right, got it. Less talking, more testing. I'm on it." He offered his hand for Wynonna to pass him her gun. She hesitated a second, but then she gave finally gave it up.
Jeremy had just left to go into the other room and analyze the materials of the gun and the plate when the door of the office was swung open. It was Beth. Or, better, it was the widow who'd taken the Gardner girl's face. Quickly, both Dolls and Doc raised their guns and started shooting at the woman, but it was all worthless, not even Wynonna's gun could scratch those creatures. Before they had time to try anything else, the widow had blown into their faces making them fall on the floor paralyzed. Jeremy was too terrified to leave the room, hence he decided to hide and keep silent so the woman wouldn't know he was there. Beth didn't even bother checking the other offices to see if anyone else was there, she just headed straight to the glass box and blew on it to make it shatter, freeing Mercedes. Widow Beth offered her "sister" her arm to lean on as they walked out of the sheriff station. Together they got out with no problem, since everyone had been frozen by the widow on her way in.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" Jeremy freaked out when he realized he was the only one still able to move. "Doc! Dolls! Wynonna!" He fell on his knees next to the marshal and grabbed the man's face to turn his head to face him. "Dolls, c'mon! You have to react! C'mon!" The man focuses his eyes on him, but that was as much as he managed to do.
It took him and everyone else a good twenty minutes to be able to move again. Since there was nothing he could do to speed up the process, Jeremy had decided to go back to run his tests, so, at least, by the time the others would be operative again, he could've had some useful results. As they hoped, the plate was indeed made with the same material as Wyatt's gun. Another thing Jeremy had noticed and was even more interesting was that, if the two were put next to each, they both lit up in the same way Peacemaker did right before shooting at a revenant; that certainly had to mean something. When Wynonna and the others had finally got out of the paralysis state, the boy told them all he'd found out and the Earp heir came up with an idea.
"What if we fuse the plate and make bullets out of it? Peacemaker can't kill the widows now that it fires common bullets, but if the bullets were as special as the gun shooting them?"
"This plan is so insane it could actually work!" Jeremy exclaimed excitedly.
The general excitement didn't last long, though, as they were interrupted by a loud roar that resounded in all Purgatory.
"I have a feeling that wasn't Dolls's dragon mama who just roared out there…" Wynonna tried to joke.
"I guess Beth and Mercedes managed to wake their demon husband." Dolls stated, ignoring the brunette's comment.
"Gimme the plate! I know who to turn to to make bullets out of it! I have an old friend of mine who works in the field, I'll bring it to them." Doc said motioning for Wynonna to pass him the plate. Of course, the woman was hesitant about giving up her beloved gun, so the man insisted. "Wynonna, come on. Do you trust me?" He waited for the Earp heir to make her decision.
"Ok, yeah. You take care of that and we…" She went to address Dolls and Jeremy, but, before she could finish, she groaned in pain. "Shit!"
"What?" All of them asked worriedly?
"Baby's coming." She said through gritted teeth. "I started having contractions this morning, but I thought I could do this anyway, that I got enough time. It seems that it really couldn't wait for a better time to come out of the oven. Right, little one?" She addressed her belly.
"Ok, let's not panic! Women can be in labor for hours before giving birth. Doc can go have those bullets made, we take down the widows and Clootie and, then, you go to the hospital and give birth. We do still have time for all of that, right?" Jeremy rambled.
"Hours?! Jeremy, I had the first contraction at 7:30 this morning, how much longer do you want to go through this?!"
"Hey, don't be mad at me; it's just the truth. I heard of women being in labor for an entire day even."
"Well, I really hope this won't be my case or, I swear, it's going to be your hand I'm crashing every time I have a contraction for the rest of the day!" She seethed.
"Okay… Let's try and keep it together, shall we?" Dolls interjected, stepping in front of Wynonna. "Doc, you go get those bullets made; we'll take Wynonna to the hospital."
"No. No, I can't go to the hospital. Not until we've defeat the widows and their demon husband. Waverly is gone so I could stop them, I have to do this."
"Wynonna. I know you wanna do this for your sister, but you're in labor. The baby has made it clear it has no intention of waiting any longer." Dolls tried to make her reason.
"But..." Her protest was cut short when a wave of pain hit her again. "Okay, fine" she gave in, finally accepting there wasn't much she could do in her condition.
"I'll meet you at the hospital." Doc said kissing her on the forehead before turning to leave.
"Not so fast." Everyone was startled by the sound of a familiar voice, whose owner was standing by the door blocking it.
"Bobo? How's that possible? I shot you, I saw you being sucked up into hell." Wynonna asked shocked, but he just grinned at her in his creepy way without saying a word. It didn't take her long, though, for her to figure out the answer by herself. "When my heart stopped. But… it was only for a few seconds, right?" A puzzled Wynonna asked Dolls for confirmation. He nodded.
"Only a few seconds. Not long enough for all revenants to come back, but for one?" He grinned again. "It was. And here I am. Missed me?"
Before Wynonna could say anything yet another contraction hit her and she bent forward in pain.
"We don't have time for your stupid games..." Doc started.
"Oh I know. But you also don't have time for the whole fusing-the-plate process. Now that demon Clootie is free, he and the widows will be coming for the heir. Wynonna here needs a weapon to protect herself and she needs it now. I know you might not believe me, but, despite our contrast in the past, I'm here to help."
"Yeah, you're right. I don't believe you." Wynonna said.
"And how exactly would you be able to help us defeat Clootie?" Doc added.
"Not me. I can't. But I know someone who can: a witch. Her name's Gretta; I'm sure you all have had the pleasure of meeting her already."
"The Iron Witch? Sorry to destroy your plan, but she's kind of on revenge mode on me and Waves right now."
"I know, isn't that the fun part?" He laughed. "The only one who can help you right now is yet another person who wants you dead. Of course if we had something to offer... she might change her mind."
"And what do we have to offer to her, huh?"
"She thinks you're to blame for her sister's death, but we both know it wasn't really you…" he grinned again.
"You…"
"I'd say guilty, your honor, but no; it wasn't me this time. It was Constance Clootie. She was looking for the missing skull to complete the skeletons of her children, remember?" He said and then he added: "Waverly's my angel, I once made a promise to always protect her and I am a man of my word. Let me take care of convincing the witch to help us. I'll bring you your bullets and I'll get my angel back. Simple as that."
"And what's it to you? You get me the bullets, I kill Clootie and his wives, what makes you so sure I won't take care of you next?"
"Where's the trick, Bobo?" Doc caught up.
"There's only one person the Iron Witch is going to listen to about the truth on her sister's death. She's never going to believe any of you. But me? I have no reason to lie about this." Bobo stepped away from the door and moved forward into the room. "I can either keep your sister safe or I can be the one to kill her for good. If you want Waverly back, you're gonna have to grant me free residency in Purgatory. I can convince our little witch to bring her back, but you have to give me your word no harm will come my way. That dear gun of yours will need to stay away from this smart head of mine. Deal?"
"Bobo del Rey, a man of his word. Please, I ought to know better now. Of course you didn't give a damn about my sister." Wynonna said before doubling over in pain. "Damn it!"
"Tik tok. Someone's eager to come to life; it seems like you don't have much time left…"
"Ok, fine. Yeah. You've got yourself a deal." She gave in through gritted teeth.
"Wynonna!" Dolls and Doc tried to scold her.
"We don't have time to play along with his tricks, Dolls. This baby is on its way out of my vagina and this might be our best chance of getting Waverly back." Another contraction hit her.
"You're dilating, we need to get you to the hospital. Now." Doc said rushing by her side to lend her a hand to grab onto.
"Jeremy, give him the plate." Wynonna said once the wave of pain had passed. Then she addressed Bobo: "I swear, if you try and do anything out of our deal, I will send you on the express back to hell…"
"Cute. But I'm the one with the knife by the side of the handle right now. I suggest you stop threatening me if you want your baby girl back." He said getting in Wynonna's face; their noses were almost touching, but none of them showed the intention of backing away.
"Ok, that's enough!" Dolls yelled, tired of the childlike acting of Wynonna and Bobo. "Jeremy. You and I are going with Bobo to find the Iron Witch. Doc, you take Wynonna to the hospital." He ordered with a tone that left no space for objections. "C'mon, let's go! Let's go!" And with that he motioned everyone out of the station.
Since Gretta was on shift at the hospital, they all headed there together. Doc went with Wynonna as ordered by Dolls, whereas Bobo, the marshal and Jeremy went looking for the witch.
Meanwhile…
Nicole had gone home to change her clothes and to feed poor Calamity Jane, while Wynonna and the others were working on a way to defeat Clootie and his wives. Since she'd slept unexpectedly well at the homestead, she felt ready to go in for another day at the station, even though wished Nedley had been already back to work, so she wouldn't have to do the sheriff's job on his behalf and maybe, just maybe, she could've helped BBD for once. She was still a bit mad at Waverly for not letting her be part of Black Badge; being a cop in Purgatory could be quite boring and she'd been really excited at prospect of being able to deal with something out of the ordinary, but, unfortunately, for safety measures she could only be a part of BBD for a couple of days. After Nedley had told her about wanted her to be sheriff when he retires, she understood that, if everyone was working on the supernatural aspect of the town, then nobody would take care of the ordinary people and, as sheriff deputy, it was her duty to protect the "normal" citizens first. Of course, she knew that, but being stuck going on petrol and doing the paperwork, while her friends were trying to find a way to save the town and her girlfriend, made Nicole feel like she was useless. Sometimes having to be a cop before anything else really sucked and that was definitely one of those times, because she hated having to put her job before her friends and, mostly, before the woman she loved. Anyway, how she felt didn't really matter, she had to go to work whether she liked it or not and she had to hurry up because she was already late. She quickly said goodbye to Calamity Jane and then she got into her cruiser to drive to the station. Once she got there, she didn't even have the time to reach Nedley's office, which had become temporarily hers, before the other deputies had assaulted her with questions and problems that needed to be solved. That was one of those moments when she really understood why Nedley had chosen her to be the next sheriff: it seemed as nobody else knew what to do at the station besides her and that old man. The only problem was that, on contrary to the actual sheriff, the redhead had very little patience and it didn't take much for her to lose it. If she'd stayed in that place for much longer she would've gone crazy, so, after instructing everyone on what they were to do, she left to go out on petrol. Being alone in her cruiser wasn't that much better, though, because the silence and quiet gave her time to think and that meant being constantly reminded of the fact that Waverly was gone and that there was a good chance they mightn't have been able to get her back. Every time that realization hit her, tears were brought to her eyes and there was no way of stopping the crying; she just really hoped nobody would see her, especially when she drove by Shorty's and she started sobbing as the memories of her first meeting with Waverly played into her mind. She'd barely managed to turn into a side street near the bar before her vision was completely blurred by her tears. It took her a few minutes to calm herself down enough to drive again. She'd just dried her eyes and was about to start the engine when her phone went off. With a sigh she reached for it, ready to hear the voice of one of the idiots who called themselves cops, but she was surprised to hear Dolls's voice.
'Agent Haught?'
'Dolls? What's up?'
'Wynonna's in labor…'
'What?! Is she, is she okay? Where are you?'
'Let's just say we've all had better times… Anyway, we're on our way to the hospital.'
'I'll meet you there.'
'Oh, and Nicole?'
'Yeah?'
'Widow Mercedes is gone.'
'What?! What do you mean gone?!'
'Beth showed up not long ago and set her free; we tried to stop her, but there was nothing we could do.'
'Okay, hang on a sec. Let me get this straight: both widows are loose and in possession of the third seal? So, that means they have all they need to wake Clootie up now…'
'I'm afraid so… But we believe we know how to stop them.'
'You do? How?'
'We have a plan, we will need Wynonna for it to work, but hopefully we'll manage to defeat those monsters once and for all. Bobo is also helping us.'
'Wait, Bobo… as in Bobo del Rey?'
'Do you know other Bobos?' There was silence on both ends of the phone before Dolls continued. 'Look, I don't like this just as much as you don't, but his plan also includes a way of getting Waverly back, so it was worth giving it a chance.'
'Are you serious? But… do you trust him?'
'It's Bobo, of course I don't trust him. But… I'm afraid we do not have a better plan at the moment.'
'Okay… okay, just… just be careful. All of you.'
'Always.'
'I'll be there in a few minutes.'
'Okay. I'll let Wynonna and Doc know. Bye.'
'Bye.'
Nicole hung up her phone, turned her car on and drove her car as fast as she could, without breaking the speed limits. She didn't even bother calling the sheriff station to let the deputies know she would've been off work for a while. It was pointless anyway, because when it had happened before that she'd received a call from them even when she wasn't on shift. She parked her car near the entrance and headed straight to reception desk to ask for Wynonna. A nurse showed her to the Earp's room, where the woman was yelling curses to Doc and her doctor. Nicole found it quite amusing, Wynonna Earp giving birth was a scene worth witnessing, as long as you were not her doctor that is. She tried her best to put on a serious face before knocking on the door, letting the people in the room aware of her presence.
"Haught." Wynonna said through gritted teeth.
"Hey, Wynonna. How's it going?"
"Awesome. Just another day in hell…"
"So, everything looks fine. You're dilating regularly and you should be ready soon. Let a nurse know if you need anything, I'll be back in a few minutes." The doctor said before leaving the room.
"What? Where are you going?" Wynonna's voice stopped her by the door.
"You'll be fine without me for now, Wynonna. I'll be right back, don't worry." And with that she left for good.
When Wynonna, Nicole and Doc where left alone in the room, the redhead turned to see the brunette was squeezing the man's hand real hard and, judging by the color of Doc's hand, she had been doing so for quite some time. "Hey, how about you let go of Doc's hand for a while and take mine instead?" she offered.
It took a moment for Wynonna to understand why she'd asked such a question and, when she did, she let go of the man's hand quickly apologizing for squeezing his hand too hard.
"Don't worry about it. It takes far more to hurt Doc Holliday." Both women gave him a look, but he kept his proud smile on. "I think I'll go smoke a cigarette now that agent Haught is here."
"Go. I've got her." Nicole said taking his place and offering Wynonna her hand to hold on to.
Doc waited for Wynonna's nod of permission before moving out of the room, leaving the two women alone.
"How are you doing?"
"Awesome. I'm about to have a kid I've never asked for and the person who was supposed to be here with me is gone." She said barely holding back the tears.
"Hey… Dolls told me Bobo knows a way to get Waverly back. She will be back. I mean, c'mon, it's Waverly Earp: do you really think she'd miss her big sis giving birth?"
"I can't do this without her." She finally cried.
"Hey…"
"No. I-I can't…"
"Hey. Look at me." She put one hand on the other woman's cheek to wipe the tears there and to turn her head to face her. "You have your sister in your heart. We all do. She is here spiritually and she will be here physically soon. She wouldn't have accepted the Iron Witch's deal if she didn't think you could do this without her. Waverly believes in you, I believe in you and so do Doc, Dolls and Jeremy. You've got this, Wynonna."
Wynonna was overwhelmed by those words which caused her to break down sobbing. Nicole sat down on the bed beside her and moved to hug her quickly. The redhead kept holding her even once the woman had calmed down; even when Wynonna was hit by a contraction, she'd let her hold on to her arms squeezing them. It didn't matter if the Earp's vice-like grip on her limbs was close to breaking her bones: Wynonna needed her and she wasn't going to complain. The brunette, then spoke in a very small voice, once her breath had evened out.
"I didn't want this baby…" She said more to herself than to Nicole. The redhead was surprised by the words, but she didn't say anything, waiting for Wynonna to be ready to continue. "When I found out I was pregnant, I told Waverly I couldn't have this baby. How could an asshole like me ever be a mother?" she looked up at Nicole for a moment before moving her gaze back down. Was she ashamed, scared? Nicole wasn't sure, but she still squeezed the other woman's hand gently to let her know she could talk to her. "I was afraid Waverly would try and convince me to keep it… but she didn't. She didn't lie to me telling me everything would be okay. She just said she'd be here for m-" she was cut off when a contraction hit her again. In that moment, the doctor came back in and Nicole let go of Wynonna and jumped off the bed to give the woman room to do her job. She never let go of the Earp's hand though, not that she could've if she wanted to: Wynonna's grip on her hand was so tight it was impossible for her to get out of it.
"Okay, let's see how you're doing… open your legs for me, please." The doctor asked before checking how dilated Wynonna was. "Well, I've got good news, Wynonna. It seems that you're ready to bring this baby to life." She said with a smile on her face.
Wynonna, though, didn't look so happy. She felt sick, actually; she in panic, she wasn't ready, she should've waited for Waverly to be back, she should've… Nicole, of course, noticed how terrified the other girl looked, so she sat back down on the bed, this time facing Wynonna so that the brunette would see her and not the doctor. "Look at me." She waited patiently for the other woman to turn her focus on her. "You can do this." In that moment, Doc walked into the room as well and came to stand by the redhead. "We're here." Nicole said looking at the man and then back at Wynonna. "You've got this."
"Are you ready?" the doctor asked from the end of the bed.
Wynonna looked at her friends and then at the doctor, she took a deep breath and nodded at the woman. "Yeah, let's bring this baby to life."
Nicole got back up and Doc moved to the other side of the bed to grab Wynonna's other hand.
"Alright. When I tell you to, I need you to push, okay?" the doctor said. "Ready? Push! C'mon, Wynonna, push!"
In the meantime…
Dolls and Jeremy had gone looking for Gretta in the unit where they had last seen her. It didn't take them long to find, but getting to talk to the woman wasn't as easy a task. She seemed to always have some patient to attend to whenever they asked to have a minute with the witch. Dolls and Jeremy didn't push her too much, because they feared she might've reacted casting some kind of spell on them; but Bobo, of course, wasn't bothered by that possibility so he didn't hesitate grabbing Gretta by an arm and dragging her in an empty room where they could've talked in peace. The Iron Watch, as they expected, wasn't going to have it: she'd made her deal with Waverly very clear and there was no way in hell she was going to accept a new pact with the Earp women and their friends.
"What if I told you Wynonna and Waverly didn't do it?" Bobo said jumping in to help the other three.
"Didn't do what?"
"You know what. You want revenge on the people who killed your sister Mattie, but you've taken it down on the wrong people."
"No, you're only making up excuses to make me change my mind. I know it was them."
He stepped in front of the woman to talk to her face to face, as he was used to do. "Oh… but it wasn't…" he smiled at her mischievously.
"You're lying!" she yelled causing Bobo to burst out laughing at her pathetic denial. "No, it was them! I know it was!"
"You know nothing!" he shouted back at her. And then chuckling: "I gotta admit, I'd enjoy letting you blame Wynonna for something she didn't do just as much as a certain Stone Witch had enjoyed taking care of your dear sis."
"Shut up!"
"Or what? I've been to hell multiple times, you think your magic scares me?"
"Even if it really was Constance Clootie, why would I help you?"
"Because there's one thing you want more than revenge: living. You don't want to hand up like Mattie, do you?" he took Gretta's silence as an affirmation. "Like I thought. Now, if you want to make it out of this room alive, you will do what these gentlemen ask you to do."
For a moment it seemed as if the Iron Witch was going to protest or react using her magic, but, in the end, she gave up and obliged. The boys where surprised the woman had given up so easily, but didn't waste any time to ask her what they had come looking for. They told her about the plate and their plan to make bullets out of it, bullets capable of killing Clootie and his wives, and, then, of course, they also discussed bringing Waverly back. Gretta agreed quite easily on using her magic to fuse the plate into three bullets, one for each of the demons they had to kill, but she wasn't so open when it came to bringing the young Earp back.
"It might not have been Wynonna and her sister, but that doesn't mean they're not to be blamed at all for my sister's death. If Waverly hadn't asked Mattie for help with that skull, then the Stone Witch would've had no reason to go after her." She reasoned.
"You're right. Helping Waverly did put Mattie in danger, but you have to keep in mind your sister wasn't forced to do anything. I know Waverly Earp and there's no way she'd threatened Mattie to get her to help." Dolls jumped in. "Your sister knew what she was doing, she chose to take the risk."
"No, she didn't know how dangerous helping Waverly would've been, she never would've accepted if she knew her life was at stake."
"Would've… could've… ifs…" Bobo mocked the witch. "Why is it so hard for you to accept that you've made a mistake? You've punished the wrong people: the truth is as simple as that."
Gretta hesitated for a while again, but then she gave in. Bobo was right and she knew that; she'd made a mistake putting the blame on Wynonna and now she had to make it right. The only problem was that undoing her wish wasn't going to be as easy as making it. The trophy needed to be destroyed, burnt to ashes, it was the only way to break the wish and maybe even assure the demon in that thing wasn't going to come back to make her pay the price for her wish. She told Dolls and Jeremy to follow her to her house; there she had the magical equipment she needed to turn the plate into a bullet, but, most of all, there she kept the trophy. She explained to the men that she couldn't do anything more than to give them the trophy to destroy, her magic was powerless in that case and, if they wanted to bring Waverly back, they had to figure out a way to destroy that thing and they had to do it on their own. Jeremy had smartly proposed to ask Doc for some of his dynamite. If a big explosion wasn't going to do the trick, then he had no idea what else could've. To the boy's great surprise, Dolls had found his idea brilliant and had sent him to go get Doc, since the marshal trusted no one else to manage such a big amount of explosive material and he knew mustache-man to be the dynamite expert of the team.
When Jeremy got to Wynonna's room, he was lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice she was giving birth till it was too late and he had already walked in.
"Doc! We need your- Oh shit! Sorry!" he apologized putting a hand on his eyes and turning to face away from the bed.
"You can turn around, you prude. Just... don't look at my vagina." Wynonna managed to say through gritted teeth.
"What's up, Jer?" Nicole asked once the boy had turned to face them.
"Hum… I…" he was trying to focus on what he needed to say, but it was really hard with the doctor yelling at Wynonna to push every other second.
"Jeremy! C'mon, boy, focus! What did you need me for?" Doc asked.
"The, the Iron Witch said that, in order to get Waverly back, we need to disintegrate the trophy. We need you and your dynamite to do that, Doc"
"Damn it. I can't…" he wanted to help getting the young Earp back, but he also didn't want to leave Wynonna's side, not when she was about to give birth to what was likely to be his baby.
"Go." Wynonna was exhausted and in pain, but she still managed to pay attention to the conversation between Doc and Jeremy and she understood why the older man was hesitating. "I have Nicole. We'll be fine."
"Wynonna…"
"Please… I need-", she screamed out in pain as she followed the doctor's orders to push. Once she'd regained her breath, she continued. "I need my sister, Doc. Please…"
"Okay. Yeah, okay." He finally gave in when he saw both Wynonna and Nicole's pleading eyes. "C'mon, Jeremy, let's go!" he said letting go of the brunette's hand and ushering the boy outside.
Once at Gretta's place, the boys had decided that Dolls should've stayed with the witch to keep an eye on her as Doc and Jeremy were going to be looking for the right place to have the trophy explode. The latter were about to leave the house, but the woman stopped them in their tracks.
"There's something else you should be warned about."
"What now." Doc said in a pissed tone.
"Waverly… Getting rid of the trophy is going to get her back, but… the problem is: there's no way to tell where she is going to reappear."
"What do you mean?" The man asked, this time more confused than annoyed.
"I think she is going to appear in the same place where she was when my wish made her vanish, but… Mine's just a guess. I'm not sure of it."
"Ok… So, we call Nicole and let her know to keep an eye out for Waverly at the hospital." Dolls stated.
"But what if she's not there?" The young boy asked, to which Doc was quick to answer.
"If she ain't there, Jeremy, we're to look for her. Even if we have to search every inch and every corner of the Ghost River Triangle, we won't stop till we have her back safe and sound."
Dolls promised to take care of calling the redhead as he waited for the Iron Witch to get the bullets done and, then, the other two left to go get the dynamite from Doc's place. After a long discussion between these two, they both agreed that one of the fields by the Earp's homestead would have to do to make that demonic trophy go boom. It was the best choice so to not risk damaging buildings or hurting people during the explosion.
It took Gretta about twenty minutes to work on the plate in order to obtain the three bullets they needed to kill Clootie and the widows for good. The boys' job, instead, was a bit more complicated, since they had to collect the dynamite and, then, reach the Earp's lands to prepare the site of the explosion. In a little more than forty minutes, though, they were done as well. As the witch had predicted, there was no sign of the young Earp anywhere around where the trophy had been destroyed, so Doc had called officer Haught both to know how Wynonna was doing and to tell her to see if her girlfriend was where they'd last said goodbye to her. To his disappointment, the Earp heir had given birth only a couple of minutes after he'd left; he was so mad he'd missed it, he's missed Wynonna's, and possibly his, baby coming to life and that thought brought tears to his eyes. He just wanted to get in his car and drive as fast as he could to the hospital, so he could see and hold that tiny human being.
Wynonna was resting with the baby in her arms when Nicole had gotten the call from Doc. She didn't like the idea of leaving the woman alone, but hesitation soon died when the thought of being able to see and hold Waverly again crossed her mind. The man had warned not to get her hopes up too much, because there's was the chance that the girl might've not been there, but how can you expect someone not to get their hopes up at the prospect of being reunited with the woman they love?
She took one last look at her friend's sleeping figure, before rushing out of the room. When she reached the place, just outside the entrance of the hospital, where Waverly should've been, she found no traces of her girlfriend, but, instead, she was greeted by Dolls and Gretta, who had just gotten there.
"She's not here…" Dolls stated after taking a quick look at the officer, and, in that moment, Nicole realized there were tears in her eyes.
The redhead shook her head to confirm what the man had already guessed, but, as she was about to let out a sob, something unexpected happened. Or better, someone.
"Guys? Am… am I really back?" Waverly's voice sounded from their side and all three of them turned abruptly in surprise.
"Waves?"
"Nicole, what is happening? How did you man-" she was stopped half way through the second question, when Nicole engulfed her in a hug so tight it pushed all the air out of her lungs. She probably should've let the other girl know she couldn't breathe in that position, but she couldn't find it in her when she felt Nicole's tears on her neck. The redhead might've been taller than her, but she looked so very small in Waverly's arms, as the sobs were wrecking her body.
"Hey… hey, it's okay. I'm here now. I'm here." The young Earp tried to comfort her girlfriend. She rubbed soothing circles on the cop's back until Nicole's sobs stopped and, then, she slowly leaned back, pushing the cop back in the process. When they were finally able to face each other, Waverly brought her hands up to her girlfriend's face to dry away the tears from her cheeks. "I knew you'd find a way to get me back." She smiled softly at Nicole and, finally, the redhead's face lit up with that beautiful smile of hers.
"It's good to see you, Earp."
"You too, Dolls." As she turned to look at the man, she noticed Gretta standing next to him and fear overcame her. Did her friends make another deal with the witch? Was somebody else in danger?
"It's okay. She's helping us." Dolls reassured her.
"Oh." It was all Waverly managed to say, surprised the Iron Witch had changed her mind about her revenge.
"I think I owe you an apology." Gretta took one step towards the young Earp. "I was wrong to blame you and your sister for the death of Mattie." Waverly was at a loss of words, so the woman continued to better explain herself. "The Stone Witch did it, now I know the truth, and I'm truly sorry for hurting you and Wynonna."
"How did you find out about Constance?"
"Bobo told her." Dolls said matter-of-factly and Waverly turned to look at him wide-eyed. "During her vision quest to find the third seal, Wynonna kinda died."
"What?!"
"Point is: she's the heir. And, whenever an Earp heir dies, revenants come back from hell. But, in this case, Wynonna was only gone for a few seconds, so Bobo is the only who's managed to come back."
"I still can't believe he's actually helped you."
"That makes two of us."
"Make it three." Nicole jumped in.
"Where is he now, anyway?" Waverly asked.
"Somewhere around Purgatory? I don't know… Wynonna had to grant him free residency here or he wouldn't have helped us."
"Well, now that sounds more like Bobo…" the young Earp stated. "Wait. Speaking of Wynonna, where is she? Is she okay?" she directed the question at Dolls, since he was the one she was facing, but the man directed his gaze on Nicole, instead of answering her question.
Waverly followed Dolls gaze and turned to her girlfriend, still waiting to get an answer. The redhead smiled at her quickly and, then, she finally explained. "She's inside. Your sister has officially become a mom."
"She's had the baby?"
Nicole nodded. "About an hour ago. They're both doing great; they were sleeping when I came out here looking for you." Tears formed in Waverly's eyes and the cop knew all too well what had gotten her so sad: she'd missed it, she'd missed the birth of her niece. Her niece, of course! How could she forget to tell the young Earp she was auntie to a beautiful baby girl? Nicole scolded herself mentally before proceeding to give her girlfriend the news. "You know, she almost refused to give birth without you by her side... But she wasn't alone, Waves. She had me, and Doc… plus, she did have you too: in her heart. And, as for the baby, I'm sure she's not gonna mind that you weren't there when she was born, since you were, you know, tryna help saving us all from a very bad demon." She smiled softly at Waverly as she subtly delivered the information and, then, she waited to see if the girl had caught the message.
"Wait. She is not going to mind?" Of course a smart girl like Waverly Earp did get it.
More tears formed in the brunette's eyes, but they were tears of joy this time. Nicole nodded in answer to her question before moving her hands up to caress the other girl's cheeks, drying the tears strains in the process. "You have a beautiful niece, Waverly Earp." She and Waverly exchanged a bright smile and, then, Nicole turned to look at Dolls, whom they had ignored thus far.
"C'mon. Let's get you two to see our girls." She motioned with her head in the direction of the entrance before heading inside, leading the way.
Nicole led Waverly along the hallway of the first floor of the maternity ward. They walked the whole corridor till the very last room to the left, which was Wynonna's room. There the cop stopped in front of the open door and knocked softly to let the woman inside aware of her presence. She'd previously told her girlfriend and Dolls to wait outside as she went in to announce their presence to the Earp heir. As she stepped inside the room she thought to herself that the scene before her eyes was quite adorable and, to be completely honest, also quite unexpected: Wynonna had her baby laying on her left arm and with her right index she was playing and tickling the little girl.
"Well, look at that. Who would've guessed Wynonna Earp could ever be this motherly..." Nicole joked.
"Hey, I'm starting to like you, Haught. Don't make me change my mind." The brunette joked back and both girls chuckled.
"Wait. Starting? Now? As in you didn't like me before?"
"You're dating my sister, it's my job to be prevented. I had to make sure you were right for my baby girl."
"Am I?" This time the redhead let go of the playful tone. She really, really, needed to know what was Wynonna's opinion on the matter.
"I don't know… What do you say, little one? Do you think auntie Nicole is good for our baby girl?" she didn't give the redhead an answer, because she'd seen the way the girl's eyes had lightened up with joy when she'd called her 'auntie Nicole' and she knew Nicole had received the message loud and clear.
Wynonna had just accepted her officially as part of the family; the cop's eyes filled with tears, but she didn't let them fall. Someone was waiting to see her niece and sister, then was not the right time to go all emotional. She gave the brunette the biggest and brightest smile she could master and, then, she finally said: "I believe there's someone here to see you." She stepped to the side so she wasn't blocking the view of the door from Wynonna anymore. Waverly had tried to stay hidden behind the door, but she was growing impatient by the second, so, in the end, she'd leaned from behind the doorframe just enough to peek at the girls inside the room. She'd made sure to stay hidden behind the redhead, who was blocking the door from sight with her body, so she wouldn't have risked ruining the surprise. She couldn't have helped but beam the moment her big sister had referred to her girlfriend as "auntie Nicole". She couldn't have been happier to know that Wynonna and the redhead had become so friendly; she wanted nothing more than for the two women she loved most in the world to get along well. Waverly couldn't see Nicole's face from where she was standing, but she was pretty sure her sister's words had made the girl emotional. The cop had never openly told her, but she could tell how much she longed for Wynonna's approval; not because their relationship depended on it, of course, their love was strong enough to go beyond any obstacle, but because she wanted to be accepted as one of the family and because she admired the Earp heir. The young Earp was brought out of thoughts when she noticed Nicole moving to the side after she'd told Wynonna there was someone there to see her. It took Waverly a second to realize what was happening, but she was quick enough to move to the center of the door just as her girlfriend had moved completely out of the way. She saw Wynonna right brow raised in question as she stared at the redhead and, then, she saw her expression shift to a surprised one when she'd turned to look at the door, following Nicole's gaze.
"Baby girl?" Wynonna's eyes went wide in surprise and the biggest smile her sister had ever been given lit up her face.
"Hey, you." The young Earp said softly before walking the distance to her sister's bedside. Once she got there, a wave of shame hit her and she couldn't help but look down at her feet. "I'm so sorry I betrayed you." And, then, raising her head to look directly at the brunette on the bed: "I never should've given Beth the third seal. I…"
"Hey… It's okay. I still wish you would've trusted me, but… I get why you did what you did." She paused to look at Nicole. "You had to save her." And then back at Waverly. "And I'm glad you did."
There was a silent understanding between the redhead and Wynonna. The young Earp couldn't have gotten it, but what her sister meant with her last sentence was that she was glad she didn't have to put an end to Nicole's life, as she'd promised she would have, since Waverly's actions had saved her.
"So… Does that mean you can forgive me?" Waverly asked hopefully.
Wynonna turned to look her fully in the eyes, but she didn't say a word. She was simply staring at her sister, studying her expressions or maybe just buying time as she thought of an answer. Waverly, though, had interpreted the silence in a negative way and she was trying with all her might to keep the tears in her eyes from falling out. When the older Earp noticed that, she opened her free arm quickly and, with her hand, she motioned to the other girl to go and give her a hug. Without a second thought, the girl sat down on the bed and embraced her sister in the tightest way possible considering Wynonna was holding her little girl on her left arm.
"You're my sister, I will always forgive you." Wynonna said, knowing those words were important for both of them, since Waverly had said them to her not long after they were reunited. "Hey. No. No crying." She said when she felt her sister's tears wetting her neck. "My hormones are flipping around like crazy, I'm in a very unstable place emotionally right now, so, if you cry, I cry and, then, the baby's gonna cry and there'll be no ending to this."
To that Waverly leaned back and moved her hands up to her face to wipe away the tears from her cheeks. Once she'd put herself back together, she moved her gaze up to meet Wynonna's. The young Earp was a mess and she knew it. Both women chuckled, lightening up the mood in the room.
Waverly cleared her voice and, then, started: "So... I hear we have little girl here." She paused and gave her sister a playful smile before continuing. "Shall we name her Welcome?"
"Don't you dare, baby girl." Wynonna said putting a hand on one side of the baby's head and bringing her closer to her chest, as if trying to cover her ears so she wouldn't have heard her auntie's words.
Waverly and Nicole both laughed. The redhead had been told the story of the name 'Welcome' by her girlfriend, so she had been able to understand the joke behind Waverly's question.
"I'll leave you Earps alone…" Nicole stated once they were done laughing and with that she left the room.
"I'm proud of you, you know?" The younger girl said as she grabbed a chair to sit by her sister's bedside.
"Yeah, well... I haven't killed neither Clootie nor his demonic wives yet. Our family is still cursed and, if that wasn't enough, now Bobo's back as well and I can't even shoot him with Peacemaker 'cause we have a deal…" She looked down at the baby girl in her arms and, then, back up at her sister. Waverly noticed there was something she wasn't sure she'd ever seen in the other girl's eyes before: shame. "I should've done more… I could've done m-"
"Hey, stop." The young Earp cut her off. "Do you know how many pregnant women can do what you did? You're a superhero. And I wasn't talking about the curse or about demon Clootie and the widows. You're a mother now. Wynonna Earp, the rebel kid who left town to escape all this madness and run away from her responsibilities... You came back for me, stayed to help me break the curse, you gave birth to the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen... I'm proud of you, of who you are right here, right now."
"Don't you ever disappear on me again, do you hear me? I can't do this without you, Waves." Wynonna said with a trembling voice as she did her best to hold back the tears.
"I'll try best not to."
"Good, 'cause I really can't break this curse without you and I most definitely cannot raise a baby on my own." At that the baby in her arms fussed a little causing both women to draw their attention to her. "See? The idea worries her too."
"Well, you won't have to worry about that, little one." Waverly leaned forward to reach one of the baby's hands to hold. "Your auntie Waverly is here and she is going to teach you all about good manners and following rules."
"You know what? Now that I think about it, I think we'll be just fine on our own..."
"What?" The girl faked being offended. "You don't wanna have a mini me running around the house? But... I'm adorable." She said trying to give Wynonna her best puppy eyes.
Wynonna chuckled and shook her head at her sister's silliness. "I missed you, you adorable psycho."
"I'm here now." This time Waverly said the words dead serious to let her sister know she truly meant them.
As Wynonna and Waverly were catching up, Doc and Jeremy had arrived at the hospital. Dolls had left them a message telling them where the Earp heir's room was, so they had no problem finding the others. The older man's face lit up at the sight of the little baby snuggled up in her mother's arms and he may also have gotten a little emotional, not that he would've ever admitted it to anyone, of course. His attention was driven away from the room by Nicole's voice who was telling both he and Jeremy about the sex of the baby and the fact that both Wynonna and the little girl were doing just fine.
"I'm sure they won't mind if you go in." Nicole nudged Doc on the shoulder once she was finished.
The man turned to look at Dolls, whom, he knew, had arrived first and, therefore, had been waiting to go in to see Wynonna for longer.
"It's okay. I'll wait, you should go in first." The marshal granted the other man his permission to go in.
"Thank you." Doc nodded before turning and walking towards the door. Once by the door, he did what Nicole had previously done to announce her presence: he knocked softly.
"Doc, hey, come in." Waverly invited him.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you." The man said looking at Wynonna and the baby.
"Not at all." The older Earp shrugged and, then, turned her attention down on the baby who fussed a little in her arms.
"Well, would you look at that." Doc started as he moved to stand beside Waverly. "Wynonna Earp holding a baby in her arms and being all motherly... not a sight I would've imagined to see a few months ago."
"Yeah well… That makes two of us, I guess." A weird silence filled the room.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Waverly interjected trying to break the awkwardness that had filled the room.
"She sure is." He looked down at the little girl who was staring up at him curiously. "What's her name?"
"I didn't..." Wynonna started almost embarrassed, but Waverly jumped in.
"How about Victoria? You said you haven't defeated any of our enemies yet, but that doesn't mean you haven't done anything good. In this world full of danger and death and loss, you were able to bring this beautiful baby to life: your daughter is your biggest victory."
Wynonna stared at her sister for a moment and, then, as she looked down at her little girl, she realized Waverly wasn't wrong to believe this tiny human being had been her biggest achievement in the 27 years of her life. "Victoria Earp… Yeah, I think it fits her." She smiled up at the others.
"I couldn't have picked a better name myself." Doc agreed.
Wynonna and Victoria were dismissed the same evening, since there was no reason for them to be kept at the hospital any further: both mother and daughter were doing just great. For the night it had been decided that everyone would have stayed at the homestead; that way they could've helped the Earp heir with taking care of the baby, taking turns in changing her and feeding her during the night, and, most of all, they would've been compact and ready to defend themselves in case Clootie and the widows had shown up. To be honest, the plan would've worked out perfectly had baby Victoria not woken up the entire homestead every single time she'd started crying and screaming because she was either wet or hungry. Even the heavier sleepers ended up getting, at best, just three hours of sleep. As anyone could imagine, the result was that, in the morning, they were all basically sleepwalking for how tired they all were. Anyway, they didn't have much of a choice but to get at work to find and eliminate the demonic sheriff and his two wives.
Before heading to the station, though, there was something Wynonna and Doc needed to do. They needed an answer to who was Victoria's father. Dolls had suggested she could have just held Peacemaker against the baby's skin and see if it burned her, but, of course, the woman had refused: she couldn't risk hurting her little girl. Waverly, who also wanted to figure out whether or not she had revenant blood in her veins, offered to take the baby across the Purgatory city limits. It would've been just as painful as the plan if either of them was indeed half revenant, but there was no better way to find out for sure, plus this way it wasn't going to be Wynonna to directly hurt her daughter and sister. They drove altogether to the edge of town and parked their cars by the side of the road, not far from the town line. As they were on their way there, Waverly had made Nicole promise to get them back across the border as fast as she could if the baby had started screaming in pain or she had started burning. The young Earp knew she didn't really have to ask: there was no way in hell her girlfriend wouldn't have to their rescue in a heartbeat if need be. Once they were out of the cars, Wynonna walked to her sister to hand her the baby.
"It's okay. I've got her." Waverly said as she noticed the other girl was hesitating.
"I know." She finally put Victoria in her sister's arms.
Waverly turned to face the sign that pointed out the end of Purgatory, she looked back at Nicole, who nodded to her letting her know she was ready, and, then, she started moving forward. She'd barely made a couple of steps when Wynonna's voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Waves, wait!" Waverly turned to face with a questioning look on her face as she walked towards her. "Before you do this, I want you to know that, no matter what happens beyond that line, you will always be my sister and you will always be an Earp. You are just as much a part of me as this baby."
"You know, sis, when you said you were born an asshole, you couldn't have been more wrong. Yes, you've made mistakes, tons of them, but, in the end, you're the best of us, Wynonna Earp." Both girls had tears in her eyes as they exchanged a quick hug before Waverly turned back to head across the city limits.
The redhead, Wynonna, Doc, Dolls and Jeremy waited impatiently as the young Earp walked along the road. When nothing happened as she and the baby crossed the border, a wave of relief hit everyone: Victoria was Doc's and Waverly didn't have revenant blood. It didn't matter if the DNA test said she wasn't an Earp, her sister had made it clear she would've always been part of the family and that was all she needed to know. Everyone ran towards the girl by the edge of town. Once they were all united, Wynonna took her baby from her sister and, after a second of hesitation, she handed the little girl over to Doc, so that he could get to hold his daughter. The moment Victoria was no longer in her auntie's arms Nicole took her place and brought Waverly in for a tight hug. Jeremy and Dolls were feeling a little out of place, but they still awkwardly went to congratulate the other man for being the father of Wynonna's baby.
Their picturesque scene, though, was soon interrupted by the buzzing of Nicole's radio. Nedley, who had gone back to work that morning, was reporting a strange activity in Purgatory's main street and, since he knew that kind of supernatural thing was for BBD to take care of, he hadn't sent any of his agents to the scene yet. The redhead didn't need to repeat what the sheriff had told because everyone had been able to hear it loud and clear.
"Well, I say we go shoot the shit out of this Clootie and his face-stealing wives." Wynonna stated holding up Peacemaker and the three bullets made by Gretta.
"Wynonna! Language! The baby can hear you." Doc reprimanded her.
"Sorry..." She apologized before reformulating her previous statement. "Let's go defeat our enemies! Better?" she asked Doc mockingly.
"Wait, what about Victoria? We can't take her to the battlefield, she's the new Earp heir, which makes her a target."
"Oh don't worry, I know exactly who to leave her with." She said with smirk as she took out her phone and dialed someone's number.
The person on the other end picked up after a few seconds. "Hello. Nedley, I need a favor…" She started as they all headed to their cars.
Hey there, guys! I'm sorry it took me so long to write this second part to my story, but I hope it was worth the wait. I know the ending isn't great, but I wanted to leave it open, because I really want to wait and see where Emily and the writers will take the show next season.
Let me know what you think, I'm always happy to read your reviews.
Bye for now! Xoxo
P.S. I really really wanted to publish this by this week, so I didn't do a read through to check for grammatical mistakes. Please, feel free to point them out to me so I can correct them. Thank you!