Hi everyone! This was... not at all planned lol but a few people asked for a second part and while I was very hesitant to make one, because I am horrible at updating (talking years here for those of you who haven't read anything of mine before) this idea came up and I decided to make it a new chapter. Once again though, I do not promise another but we shall see :)
Nicole was having the worst fucking day.
The Worst.
She really should have skipped this tiny ass town for any other tiny ass town. Who the hell decides to up and move to some place called Purgatory anyway? As far as she can tell she's the newest face they've had in at least a decade.
Mrs. Brimsby has a pet lizard. A very specific type of lizard that Mrs. Brimsby lectured Nicole about when Nicole called it "an iguana of some-sort". She of course doesn't remember anything because it's 103F/39.4C, and as it turns out Mrs. Brimsby doesn't have air conditioning and Nicole has no idea how this old lady hasn't been taken to the hospital for heat stroke because she's sweating a river and Nedley vetoed her whole shorts idea (she was very close to even mentioning tank-tops but while she can get away with a few buttons, there's only so much of the line she can toe).
Fifteen minutes later she's actually really grateful that she can't wear shorts (or tanks for that matter). However, not so grateful that she's the only officer in Purgatory that is somehow small enough to crawl under houses, because that's where she currently is.
Under Mrs. Brimsby's house.
She's trying her damndest to not panic. It's dark, musty, and filled with bugs. She knows because there's spider webs, with dead bugs. Also fresh live ones that are struggling to get out. Plus the ones she's seen scatter in front of her as she crawls towards the middle of the area because the damn fucking lizard knows it's too damn hot and decided to burrow under ground right in the middle of the damn house.
She's several feet away from finally getting the thing (she will not call it by it's name, the words Miss Fluffer Pollywinkton will never leave her lips) when she hears, more than feels, a wet squishing sound and it's mere seconds after that the smell hits her.
Nicole closes her eyes and wants to take deep, calming breaths, but the smell is so repugnant that it's hard to keep from gagging. She briefly wonders how she didn't smell it before, but she refuses to look at whatever it is and finally reaches the damn lizard.
She lets out a long string of curses the entire time she crawls back out. The pet has latched onto her arm, claws and all, and she is crawling backwards because trying to turn around was not an option.
When she finally sees sunlight she nearly sobs in relief.
It took ten more minutes to get Miss Fluffer Pollywinkton off of her arm, the large reptile wouldn't uncurl itself for anything.
She's on her way back to the precinct to get a change of clothes and hopefully enough time for at least a sink bath (whatever it was that she crawled through has lingered and she's pretty sure she cannot last the day smelling like she bathed in the remains of skunks and opossums) when a call comes in about an 11-24 and she's the only officer who is remotely close to the situation.
She hangs her head in defeat, a small whimper of protest leaving her lips, before she responds and lets dispatch know that she is on her way.
Nicole finally finds the disabled vehicle and she sits in her car for at least two minutes, just staring in disbelief.
It's now bordering 110F/43.3C, according to her dashboard, and Audwin Malec has somehow managed to get stuck in the mud.
Where did the mud even come from? What the hell?
She spends the next ten minutes arguing with him that they do indeed need a tow-truck because she sure as hell isn't going to try and push this car out of the mud. She's attempted this situation many times before because her and her sister are stubborn idiots, especially together. So Nicole knows that it never works. Someone always gets dirty and you always need a tow. Considering the start of her day she does not want to take any chances.
She starts to walk back to her cruiser to radio for a truck when Malec yells something out the window that she doesn't quite catch, but the revving of an engine has her turning in surprise and mild annoyance.
It also got her a face full of mud.
Which turns out isn't mud at all.
The overwhelming fragrance of horse shit finally makes itself known and Nicole takes the 5 steps to Malec's driver door to calm down (honestly something has to be wrong with her sense of smell today too).
Sort of.
She wipes what she can off her face, slowly, while Malec stares in some kind of fascinated horror. He's also a little smug and she's going to make sure she calls Ami Crawley. The only person at Crawley's Towing who likes Nicole and hates about 90% of the men in this town.
Nicole purposely sets her, now dirtied, hand on Malec's car, "You are going to get a tow-truck or you can come with me to the station in handcuffs for assaulting an officer. Your choice."
He starts to argue but Nicole slowly wipes her hand on the sleeve of his shirt and he shuts up quick.
"Crawley will be here shortly, have a nice day," dick head.
She's sitting at her desk, well not really her desk, she doesn't actually have her own just yet, and she feels like she can breathe again. The station is calm and after three showers she doesn't smell too badly.
Which is nice, she really hopes Waverly doesn't stop by.
Of course the quiet doesn't last long.
Mr. Irving comes in complaining about the kids around town. Mostly them coming into his yard and playing Pokemon GO, for the fifth time this week.
She wasn't even the closest officer to the door, but he is one of Mrs. Brimsby's friends and she learned very early that she was the only one the elderly would talk to anymore.
She took his statement, again, pushing aside her other work. She is also the only one who will take their complaints seriously. Or at least make an effort to do so.
Everything was fine, but he keeps going on and on and getting angrier.
Angry enough that he starts shouting and seconds later she stares at his dentures, soaking her other reports.
He keeps going, ignoring the fact that his teeth are no longer in his mouth, and that he is now spitting and slightly drooling. Nicole wonders for a moment if he actually even notices that he is missing his teeth.
He continues for another ten minutes, but gets angry that she is no longer paying attention he stops, grabs his teeth and leaves.
Nicole stares at her reports a while longer, wondering how many are ruined.
Deciding to ignore it for now, she grabs her empty coffee cup and heads toward the break room.
She sees Valerie Bents currently starting at the coffee pot, willing it to brew faster.
Neither say anything to each other, watching the coffee. Valerie pours herself a cup once it finishes and turns to pour Nicole a cup, but in line with her entire day, it's not what Nicole gets.
Somehow the pot slips from Valerie's grip and, in a small measure of mercy, the coffee spills all over her boots and the pot shatters as it hits the ground.
Nicole closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, completely ignoring the pathetic attempts of an apology coming from Valerie.
She grounds out an, "It's fine," before turning and leaving the mess to Valerie.
Alexandra Gomez runs into her seconds after she leaves the station.
She's pretty sure the green crap all over her third extra uniform was dumped on purpose. Nicole can't really fault her for it though, she did make a mess in the corner store a few days ago.
One of the guys walks out and hands her a t-shirt, which is almost equally embarrassing because that means they all saw it.
This shirt comes close to being just as embarrassing, she knows she's tall but this shirt is ridiculous and she's swimming in it.
She walks to the park that's next to the station and finds herself an unoccupied picnic table.
Nicole slumps down on it, places her forehead on the table top, not caring what might be on it.
She doesn't know how much time passes before she hears a dull thunk on the table, Nicole only moves enough so that she can see what the disturbance is and she can't stop the tears from forming.
Someone dropped a goddamn bottle of chocolate milk in front of her.
And it's Waverly.
And Waverly is grinning like the goddamn sun has finally shown itself after months of darkness.
And for fuck sakes she hates chocolate milk she just might cry.
But Waves is still smiling and happy and Nicole's heart is beating way too fast.
She almost chugs the bottle in front of her but she catches a wiff of it first, her eyes widen and she turns to stare at Waverly.
Waverly winks, "A friend told me your favorite drink. Nedley stopped by for his dinner and told me you might need it after your day," she laughs, "love the shirt by the way," Waverly winks and Nicole doesn't know whether to hide from embarrassment that Waverly has got to know now that she didn't at all want chocolate milk that one time or freak the fuck out in excitement because Waverly is flirting with her.
She is flirting right? That was flirting? Oh no she doesn't remember what flirting is. Wishful flirting?
Waverly walks away with a swing of her hips that is definitely not something that happens regularly, and yeah it was definitely flirting.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and maybe brightened your day just a tad :3