TRIGGER WARNING! MENTIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Author Note: As I mentioned before, this story has no real plot. It is whatever comes onto the page. I have edited myself on certain things that I want to include later. Again, any mistakes are my own as I have no beta reader.

Sleep had been extremely difficult in the chair, she made a note to ask Waverly how she'd made it look so comfortable. Of course, she already knew how; the brunette had a way of making everything look comfortable and adorable (including that puffy blue jacket). It was nearing ten o'clock in the morning when Nicole woke to a pain in her lower back as she'd shifted to laying her head on the bed sometime during the night.

It took ten minutes before she was able to talk herself into leaving the room and her sleeping sister; Nicole Haught desperately needed coffee, a change of clothes and a shower. After tracking down Mattie's nurse, Nicole left her cell number with the woman with instructions to call immediately if she were to wake up.

Her apartment was literally two blocks from the station and about a mile from the hospital. She'd never been so happy that Purgatory was such a small town before realizing if Mattie happened to wake up in her absence, it would take her less than five minutes to return.

Opening the door to her apartment, which was really a large converted detached garage belonging to a middle-aged couple, Nicole was met with incessant vocalizations from her cat. She bent down and picked up the solid white feline and scratched her under the chin. "I know, I know. Momma didn't come last night." Nicole spoke softly. "You hungry, Janie? I bet you are. Come on."

Nicole set the cat on a wooden bar stool next to the refrigerator before picking up the cat's dish from the floor. The cat kept a close eye on her human as Nicole filled the dish with fresh food and water. As a treat, while being ignored as the cat engulfed her full dish, Nicole added a small saucer of milk on the floor as well.

Forty minutes later, Nicole had showered, dressed and pulled her brush through her braid-induced wavy hair before pulling her boots on and grabbing a jacket. Janie had finished half of her food and was in the process of bathing when Nicole grabbed her keys again and proceeded back out into the cold air of Purgatory.

The rookie officer had just crossed the threshold back into the hospital when her phone chimed.

Waverly (11:03AM): I'm sorry I didn't text last night. I promise to explain later. How is your sister?

Nicole smiled. She couldn't decide if it was due to the promise of being told something, the fact Waverly wanted to see her, or just because of who the text was from. She was in the process of sending a reply when she walked back into Mattie's room.

"I know that smile." Nicole looked up to see Mattie sitting up slighting in the hospital bed. "What's her name?"

Three long strides and Nicole was at her sister's bedside, the phone in her hand briefly forgotten. She dropped the electronic between the other girl's knees before reaching out and grasping both sides of her face. Mattie's skin was warmer but still slightly paler than normal, her green eyes were dulled slightly with an emotion Nicole couldn't pinpoint at that moment, and her left eye was the same deep purple it had been the day before.

Nicole sighed, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm happy to see you too, little sister." Mattie smiled gently.

"Don't be cute," Nicole warned. "It's thirty degrees outside. What. Were. You. Thinking?"

"I was thinking, you're safer than Mom and Dad." Mattie spoke sharply, pulling herself out of Nicole's grasp. "I was thinking… you're a cop. He'd be stupid to come after me here, right?"

Mattie looked down into the clean, white blanket that covered her lap as long strands of her brunette hair fell to obscure Nicole's view. Sighing, she pushed the girl's legs to the side before sitting on the edge of the bed and took a hand in her own.

"Go ahead," Mattie said. "Say 'I told you so' and get it over with."

"Hey," Nicole said, furrowing her brow as she reached to pull her sister into a hug. "I'm not going to say that, I'm not."

"Why not?" Mattie asked, wiping at a tear. "Everyone else does."

She pushed brown hair behind an ear before pressing a kiss to her sister's forehead. "Cause you're my sister; cause only I reserve the right to hurt you." Nicole smiled as Mattie released a garbled laugh. "Which I'd never do anyway."

"Preston Evans."

Nicole looked at her sister incredulously. "I was ten! I didn't know they'd ground you- Besides, you should be blaming Kelly Ryers; she's the one that starting Spin The Bottle."

Mattie chuckled again. "I don't know why she thought it'd be a fun game. It was her, us, Preston and Charlie."

"Yea, you didn't have to kiss that mangy dog."

Again, Mattie started laughing. "Maybe Charlie's the reason you're a cat person."

The pair grew quiet, Nicole watching the emotions flicker across her sister's features. Mattie had always been the strongest person she'd known and to see the mixture of fear and guilt that caused another quiet sob escaped from her lips.

"Hey," Nicole coaxed, moving from the edge of the bed to sit at her side, slipping her arm around Mattie's back until she leaned her head against the redhead's shoulder. "You're okay." She rubbed her hand up and down the brunette's forearm. "When did he…"

"Last week; black eye and a busted lip." She paused, unsure if she should continue after feeling Nicole's body tense. "Couple nights ago he came home drunk and decided to put his fist through the wall… six inches from my face."

Once again, Nicole breathed out a whisper. "Bastard."

"When he stumbled toward the kitchen for another beer, I grabbed my coat and my purse." Nicole felt a cool, wet spot forming on her shoulder but refused to move. "I heard him screaming a block away."

The Haught sisters sat quietly in the hospital bed. Nicole continued to rub soft, soothing patterns onto Mattie's arm while the elder watched as nurses walked by outside the door. It was only after Nicole had picked apart the salad from her sister's lunch tray that either spoke again.

"You never told me her name?"

"What?" Nicole stalled. "Whose name?"

Mattie smiled, rolling her eyes. "Oh, please! You walked in here with your nose in your phone and that smile on your face."

"That smile-"

"Yes. That megawatt, there's a hot chick texting me, puppy dog smile." Mattie grinned. "So, I'll ask again. Who is she?"

It was in that moment that several things happened all at once. First, a soft knock on the door caused both girls to look up. Nicole's face exploded in a large smile at the sight of the short, brunette that stood in the doorway with her hair laying over her shoulder in a braid. "Sorry; Nicole, can I talk to you real quick?"

The younger Haught sister practically jumped out of the hospital bed with a breathy acceptance before tossing over her shoulder, "Be right back."

Mattie was left smirking at the door as neither girl looked back at her as they walked out of the room. "Ok, I got a face. I just need a name, Nicole."

Waverly didn't speak until the pair had gone outside and were safely inside her red Jeep. The look on her face, and the fact that she'd not even tried to pull her jacket around her lithe body, caused Nicole's concern to skyrocket in a matter of a few heartbeats.

"Wave?" Nicole reached across the space and grasped her hand. "Hey, talk to me. Are you okay?"

"It's Willa." Waverly spoke suddenly. "Like officially, biologically proven Willa."

Nicole was completely lost. She tried to think if she'd ever heard about anyone named Willa. To date, Nicole hadn't ran across too many people with a W name in Purgatory besides Waverly, Wynonna, and an older gentleman who'd needed escorted out of Shorty's one night. "Who-"

"The girl Wynonna brought home last night?"

Nicole's eyebrows stitched downward in a soft scowl, "I thought she said her name was Eve."

Waverly shook her head, fighting off a torrent of emotions and memories she didn't want to relive. "Gus says she looks exactly like our mother; not that I remember much of her either and Daddy burned everything of her after she left us…"

"Wave, Wave." Nicole reached up and cradled the girl's jaw in her hand. "Baby, breathe. Slow down."

Soft brown eyes quickly turned and found hers. Nicole felt her heart jump, beating wildly, as she realized what she'd just said. "I-"

"Baby?" She whispered, a smile growing on her lips.

"I-I was just trying to..." Nicole began her own ramble, lowering her hand. "Too soon?"

Waverly shook her head, the bashful smile spreading wider over her face. Throwing caution to the wind, she cradled Nicole's chin in both hands and leaned over to press her lips together with Nicole's. "What am I going to call you?"

Nicole leaned her forehead against Waverly's briefly before remembering exactly where they were. "Most people come up with some play-on-words of my last name."

"Mm, how original."

Nicole smiled, "Right? I can't tell you how many puns I've endured over the years."

Waverly blushed, remembering her own thoughts upon reading Nicole's business card. She'd most likely thought of at least one of those puns Nicole had heard before. Of course she'd never allow Nicole to deny the truth in her surname.

"Sorry, I may be asking a really stupid question but, uh- who's Willa?"

"Willa's the oldest; she was already eight when I was born." Waverly said. "But she was kidnapped and we thought she died, like Daddy."

"Wait," Nicole said, trying to piece together this new information. "You have two sisters?"

Waverly lowered her face into her hands. "It's such a long story and I can't really explain it but…"

"Eve is your long-lost sister Willa." Nicole supplied as if it was the simplest statement in the world and required nothing further.

"Yes."

Nicole studied the woman next to her who seemed to have suddenly found something incredibly interesting outside the windshield. The air around them was filled with the uneasy tension that radiated off Waverly at the mention of her oldest sister. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Waverly sighed. She hadn't been able to speak honestly of her feeling regarding her sister; Wynonna and Gus knew her better and were currently feeling their own guilt for not searching harder for Willa years ago. "I don't really remember her very well and the memories I do have…" She lowered her head, whispering softly as if someone might chastise her for not being excited. "You won't find me nominating her for Sister of the Year."

Nicole wasn't exactly sure, though she had an idea, of where Waverly was on the publicity of their relationship; she reached out and pulled the brunette into an awkward hug that she hoped would convey her feelings but appeared as a friendly embrace. "It's going to be okay," She said softly. "I'm here if you need to talk or rant or if you need a place to get away for the night."

"How do you do that?" Waverly asked, looking up into Nicole's confused gaze. "It doesn't matter what the problem, you find a way to make everything seem like it's going to be fine in the end."

Nicole smiled, the same blushing smile that showed off her dimples. "You're important to me and I hate not seeing that adorable smile on your face."

Quickly, Waverly lifted her chin and pressed a kiss to the corner of Nicole's mouth. "Anyone ever tell you that you are quite the romantic?"

The redhead smiled, "Can I see you later?"