I hang up the phone and stand up, tearing through my house to grab my keys and bag. My mother notices how terribly frantic I am.

"Nicole, what is going on?"

"I need to get to Waverly's right now. She sounded frightened and completely in a panic. I have to go."

"It's late, let me go with you."

She's already in the foyer putting her shoes and coat on before I can even respond and we are running towards the POS. I peel out of our driveway and am making it towards Waverly's at a break neck pace. My mother is trying to calm me down, but her words aren't reaching my ears, much less my brain. They are simply a sound dancing around the corners of my consciousness. Waverly's in trouble. My brain keeps repeating it like a broken record. I know I need to calm down. I need to be my usual level-headed self, Waverly would need that. She wouldn't need her panic increased because of my own. It was hard to silence the broken record, however, Waverly's in trouble The person I am in love with, the person I would do anything for…is in trouble. The worst part is, I didn't even know how bad the situation is. My mind is conjuring up all sorts of horrible scenarios I will find when I arrive at her homestead. I am absolutely petrified.

My Mom grabs my hand on the gear shift and squeezes it, trying to pull my mind away from worry and back to Earth.

"Honey, you need to slow down. It won't do for us to get into an accident. How will you get to Waverly then?"

I look down at the speedometer, I'm going far, far over the speed limit. I mumble out an apology and reduce my speed to only ten over. It's the best I can do, it's all I can do. If I go any slower….what if I'm not quick enough? What if I don't get there in time?

"I'm supposed to protect her, Mom."

I choke out the words and my voice breaks at the end. Tears are pooling in my eyes but I won't let them fall. I bite down on my bottom lip so hard I'm certain I might puncture it. I need to be brave, and for a hell of a lot longer than ten seconds this time.

"Nicole…" my mother says softly.

"You are. Waverly is a strong girl, tough enough to handle herself. Yet as soon as she was in trouble the first person she called was you. Which means she trusts you, and she trusts you'll protect her and get her out of there. It means she trusts that you're someone she can lean on when the weight of everything is bearing down on her. Don't you forget that."

I nod slowly, trying to believe her words. Trying to not feel as if I failed my beautiful girl somehow.

We speed into the driveway and I have the door open before the car is fully at a stop. I slam it into park, despite my transmission's disgruntled noise, and I run towards the front door. It's locked. I start knocking wildly, but there is no answer, which sends me spiraling into another panic. My mother is finally behind me.

"I don't know. Should I break it down? I don't know what to do."

She knocks on the door calling Waverly's name, but there is no answer. She nods to me and I kick the door with all my strength, it splinters slightly and creaks open ever so slightly. I shove it with my and it flies open the rest of the way as I run into the house calling Waverly's name. I hear her reply faintly from upstairs and take the stairs two at a time to get to her. I call her name again and follow her voice as she calls mine back like some horrid game of Marco Polo. I knock on the door gently and say her name quietly. I hear a rustling behind the door and it opens slowly.

I see her face and my stomach plummets. The right side of her face is heavily bruised and she has a terrible black eye. I reach for her hand and pull her into my arms, wrapping them tightly and protectively around her.

"Baby…" I breathe the word out softly belying the white hot rage that's boiling inside of me. I've never been a person capable of anger. I never got too heated over anything. I always took everything in stride. My mother always joked that she'd love to see what it would look like if I 'lost my shit'. So the rage I felt right now, while not surprising for the circumstance surprises me nonetheless.

"Wave, where is he?"

"I…I don't know. I don't know. I came up to Willa's room to hide. He doesn't…he doesn't come up here. I knew I'd be safe up here."

Waverly never talked about Willa except to say her eldest sister died when she was only six. I look around and the room doesn't appear to have changed at all. The bed isn't even made, as if it was left as a shrine exactly the way it was the last time Willa was in it.

I kiss Waverly's forehead tenderly.

"Let's get you out of here, darling."

The stairway is narrow, so Waverly steps behind me but keeps her hand in mine. We reach the bottom of the stairs and hear shouting. Her father's, to be precise. I hear my mother's voice, raised but not shouting; firm, calm and in command. I look back at Waverly, squeezing her hand.

"Stay here, I need to go make sure my Mom is okay."

Waverly nods slowly and I make my way towards the voices.

When I walk into the kitchen, her father's arm is back like he intends to strike my mother and I quickly step between them and knee him where the sun doesn't shine. He keels over and my Mom flashes me a tense smile, but she looks a little proud.

"Nicole, why don't you go take Waverly to the car. I need to have a few words with Mr. Earp here."

"Mom…"

"Nicole. Now. It will be fine. I don't think he'll be getting up for a few minutes anyways. Get Waverly to the car. I'll be right out."

I nod and step backwards towards Waverly, not taking my eyes off her father. When they're out of my sight I turn and walk quickly towards Waverly, whisking her out through her broken front door and into the front seat of my car. I shut the door gently so metal on metal won't startle her and quickly round the car to the driver's side to climb in. Waverly turns her to me when I'm safely in the car and I run my fingers gingerly over the swelling on her face.

"We should get you to the hospital."

"Nicole, I'm fine, I don't need medical attention. Just an ice pack and your arms…"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive…I just want to go home."

She looks down, sadly.

"I'm sorry your home isn't safe for you."

My heart is breaking for her, the rage at her father intensifying.

"This isn't my home, Nicole, you are."

I move my left hand up to play in her hair gently and bring her head forward, meeting her halfway for a kiss as she grabs my right hand in her own.

"One of the things he said to me…he said I wasn't an Earp. He said I'm not his kid. I think he meant to insult me, to make me feel as if I am inferior in some way because I'm not an Earp. The thing is, it would be the greatest gift in the world if that were true. I can think of nothing I want to be less than his daughter. I don't want to be anything like that…monster."

Her shoulders slump as the weariness sets in.

"Oh, baby, you could never be anything like that. You're nothing like him, whether what he says is true or not."

I look up to see my mother coming out of the house. As she makes her way to the car I pull away from Waverly and crank the engine over. She climbs into the back seat, closes the door, and we are on our way. Away from this hell hole.

"Tomorrow we'll come back and get your things, Waverly, and then you don't ever have to come back here again if you don't want to, honey."

I swallow hard at my mother's words. Waverly will be safe. Not only safe, but she'll be living with us. I squeeze her hand and a smile touches her slightly broken but still incredibly beautiful face.

"What happened, Mom?"

"I'll tell you later, giraffe. Let's get Waverly home."

Home.