Notes: So sorry for the long delay. I turned 30 and then I went out of town for work. Today, I finally had a chance to write the next chapter. How great were the AU and finale episodes? I laughed, I cried, I yelled...and now there's a bit of sadness as season 2 is over, but I'm sure we'll fill our time with plenty of fanfics for the next nine months! I'm already planning a couple one-shots for when this story is over with a lot more Wayhaught :)

This chapter didn't come out like I wanted, but hopefully you enjoy. Thanks to all that have left comments!

Shorty's

Waverly was leaning across the bar at Shorty's, her head in her hands as she stared into space. She had been pretty distracted the past two days thinking about Nicole. However, Nicole hadn't made any attempt to contact her. Waverly heard from people at Shorty's that the deputy looked a little rough. She had been keeping a low profile and either staying in her car as much as possible or hiding out at the station, but whenever someone caught a glimpse of her, she definitely had seen better days. Everyone figured she just needed a little space as she tried to get over her breakup with Amy, but it had taken everything in Waverly to not go over to the station to check on her.

Don't be stupid, Waverly thought to herself. She had been the last one to text and she had left the note two days earlier and Nicole still hadn't responded. Anything extra now would just seem desperate and it was best to just wait it out. So now she was trying to distract herself with work, but things had been slow. So slow this week that Waverly had already finished all the stocking, cleaned all the glassware, even mopped the floors which she typically only did once a week. Anything to keep her mind distracted.

Shorty had noticed something was up and let her do her thing, figuring it had something to do with Champ as the boy hadn't been in as often as usual. When he looked over to see Waverly staring off into space, he walked next to her and leaned his head against his arm too, waiting to see how long before she noticed him. He softly cleared his throat to see her surprised eyes look over at him.

"Sorry, Shorty," she said flashing him an embarrassed smile as she placed a hand on his arm and went back to trying to organize things.

"Got something on your mind, darlin'?" Shorty asked.

"A lot of things," Waverly replied. "But nothing I can't figure out." She smiled at him and then went back to cleaning.

"Well if you ever need an ear to bend…" Shorty said before Waverly cut him off.

"It's just, I've been waiting for someone to get back to me for two days and still haven't heard anything." She sounded nervous and agitated at the same time as she picked up a rag and started wiping down the bar for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"Champ not getting back to you?" Shorty asked, cautiously.

"No, Nicole," Waverly answered.

"Ah," Shorty replied. He knew Waverly and the officer had grown close as of late. "Well, sometimes people just need some space after a breakup."

"Yeah, you're right," Waverly replied with a sigh. Shorty looked at her a little curiously.

"Ever think she might just be a little embarrassed, Waves? I mean, Amy did break up with her in the middle of the street. If Linda did that to me, I'd be a wreck. Be best friends with a bottle of jack, day in and day out." Waverly nodded at him finding it hard to imagine with Shorty would be like without Linda. She was good for him and was one of few women who put up with his antics.

"I still can't believe Amy just…left Purgatory," Waverly said softly, still finding it hard to believe that Nicole was now single. "They seemed so happy."

"No one knows what's going on in a relationship except for the two people in it," Shorty replied. "They might show off to the town or you know, what do you kids call it? Make it facebook official, posting selfies all the time when really life at home is miserable. Waves, speaking of miserable…haven't seen much of Champ around here lately." Waverly looked over at Shorty, ducking her head in guilt.

"Champ," she said, shaking her head. "He's…I don't know, Shorty." She nervously went back to wiping down the bar.

"Outgrown him a bit, have you?" Shorty offered.

"Maybe a little," Waverly replied.

"Well it wouldn't surprise me much if you cut your ties and moved on," Shorty replied. "Always kind of thought you could do better, Waverly."

"You think?" she asked.

"I know," Shorty replied matter-of-factly. He laid a hand on Waverly's shoulder. "Nicole will reach out for a friend when she's ready."

"Right," Waverly answered. "You're right. Hey when did you become such an expert on relationships?" She smiled at him.

"I own a bar, sweetheart," Shorty replied. "More relationship drama in here than a college sorority." Waverly chuckled as she wiped at more of the bar before hanging the towel up near the sink.

"Guess I'll go change out that keg that's been acting up," Waverly said as she went to move around the bar and head to the basement, but Wynonna bursting through the door stopped her in her tracks.

"Waves!" Wynonna yelled as she walked in the door. "Whoa, this place is dead," she noted, looking around at the empty place as she rushed up to the bar. "What did you do, Shorty? Implement a five beer limit?"

"If I did that, I'd be out of the job," Shorty replied. Waverly smiled at him before beaming at Wynonna.

"Well I know you're slammed here, but mind if I steal baby girl?" Wynonna asked. A big smile crossed Waverly's face at the prospect of getting out of the dead bar and getting her mind off of Nicole. "Uh…wedding development." Shorty obviously knew she was lying, but decided to humor her.

"Not a problem. I think I can hold down the fort." Shorty replied. "Besides, getting out of here might cheer her up a bit." Shorty gave Waverly a look which she chose to ignore as she squealed and then bounced over to give Shorty a kiss on the cheek.

"You're the best, Shorty," Waverly replied before turning back to Wynonna. She went and grabbed her coat from behind the bar and followed Wynonna out the door.

"Uhh that place is like a morgue when all the drunks are sleeping off the night before," Wynonna said when they walked out the door.

"Tell me about it," Waverly replied. "Hey, so where are we going?"

"The cop shop." Waverly stopped dead in her tracks. Wynonna stopped and walked back towards her.

"Wait, why?" Waverly asked.

"Haughtstuff called me. She got the film developed from the night of your stakeout and asked if I wanted to see them," Wynonna answered. "Plus I have something I want to show both of you. Since Willa is occupied with her women's group on Wednesdays, she won't know where are. Plus…I missed you, baby girl."

Waverly smiled, but then thought about what Wynonna had said.

"Sooooo, Nicole's only expecting you?" Waverly asked.

"I guess?" Wynonna said back. "What's going on?" Waverly looked at her and sighed. Then she told Wynonna about their close moment at the stakeout, taking drunk Nicole back to Uncle Curtis', and the flirty texts they had shared before Amy broke up with Nicole.

"Damn, baby girl," Wynonna said after Waverly had finished catching Wynonna up. "Well, even more reason you should come with me."

"What if she doesn't want to see me, Wynonna?"

"Look, she's single now and you…well you should be single," Wynonna said. "Even better reason to go over there."

"But…"

"No, buts, come on," Wynonna said, grabbing Waverly's sleeve and dragging her along.

Purgatory Sheriff Department

Much to Waverly's relief, Nicole was not at her desk when they walked into the building. Instead, a young rookie cop greeted them at the desk and told them Officer Haught mentioned Wynonna should go to the conference room and wait for her there. Waverly looked around cautiously as they made their way to the room and took their respective seats, Waverly off to Wynonna's right, furthest from the door. Nicole had placed a large stack of photos on the table to the left of her notebook which included her scribbles from the night of their stakeout. Waverly picked up her notebook and read over Nicole's notes while Wynonna started thumbing through the photos. They both jumped when a disheveled Nicole accidentally kicked the door when she entered.

"Shit, sorry," Nicole said after her foot hit the door. Both Wynonna and Waverly instantly noticed the weariness on Nicole when she entered the room. Random hairs were sticking out of her usually tidy French braid, her uniform wrinkled from long wear, and her eyes were a bit puffy possibly from crying or a lack of sleep.

"Whoa, going for most hours logged at a police station award there, Nicole?" Wynonna awkwardly joked upon seeing the deputy.

"Wynonna…" Waverly said quietly while nudging her sister.

"You found me out, Wynonna," Nicole joked shyly as she rubbed a hand over her hair, trying to flatten out the strays. "Waves uh…" The redhead's eyes shifted to Waverly who gave her a small smile before quickly ducking to the floor. "I didn't know you'd be here too." Nicole walked to the left of Wynonna and kept her eyes on the photos on the table.

"I…" Waverly started to say, but Wynonna interjected.

"I saved her from a slow and painful death at Shorty's," Wynonna replied. Nicole looked up at Wynonna before her eyes shifted to Waverly.

"Kind of dead on Wednesdays during youth hockey season, huh?" Nicole asked, a slight smile on her mouth as she looked at Waverly.

"Extremely," Waverly replied, smiling as she looked at Nicole. Nicole nodded and then slightly blushed as her eyes went back to the photos on the table. "Plus, I was really excited to come here." Nicole's eyes shot to hers in surprise as Waverly blushed. "To see…the photos…and go over the case." Nicole nodded and slightly smiled again.

"Speaking of the case," Wynonna interrupted, shaking her head at these two and the obvious heart-eyes and tension filling the room. "These are the photos from your stakeout?" Wynonna picked up the photos and started going through them.

"Yeah," Nicole said, moving closer to Wynonna as all three women looked at the photos in her hand. "Waverly got some good ones of people we hadn't seen before." Waverly smiled at Nicole before focusing back on the photos in Wynonna's hands. "But from what I can tell, there's nothing here to incriminate Steven. They covered their tracks pretty well."

"Damn," Wynonna said as her cell phone started ringing. She handed the photos to Waverly before retrieving her phone from her purse.

"Hello?" Wynonna asked, not recognizing the number. "This is she." Both Waverly and Nicole watched Wynonna as she talked. "This afternoon? No no, I definitely don't want to reschedule. Now is fine. I'll be there as soon as I can. Yeah, thanks." She hung up the phone turning to look at both women.

"I have to go to the city," Wynonna said grabbing her stuff.

"What?" Waverly asked. "Now?" Her eyes briefly went to Nicole before back to Wynonna.

"Yeah they had to move up my appointment," Wynonna said, grabbing the journal entries that David had sent her out of her purse. "Willa and Steven have been renting a safe deposit box at a bank in the city and I bribed one of the workers to get access to it, but they need me to come now while the manager is out otherwise I have to wait until next week."

"Oh, we can go over these photos later," Nicole said as Waverly looked a little disappointed. She really didn't want to go back to Shorty's and really didn't want this meeting at the cop shop to be over already.

"No," Wynonna replied. "You and Waverly stay and go over them." Both Waverly and Nicole froze as they looked at her, realizing that they were going to be alone. "Plus, I need you to go over these journal entries that David found." Wynonna thrust multiple pages towards Nicole who still looked at her, dumbfounded.

"Wynonna…" Waverly started to say.

"Baby girl, you're the smartest person I know. If there's something here, you'll find it." Waverly and Nicole both stared at her. "Plus, Nicole can help." The women briefly glanced at each other before back at Wynonna. "I'll let you know what I find out at the bank." They both stood frozen as they watched her rush out of the room.

"Well…" Nicole said as she finally looked over at Waverly. "Coffee?"

"What?" Waverly stared up at her, unsure of why her heart was beating so fast now that they were alone and their attention could only be focused on each other.

"Uh can I, get you some coffee?" Nicole asked quietly. "Before we start."

"Coffee would be great," Waverly replied, smiling.

"I'll be right back," Nicole said, rubbing her over the back of her neck as she walked out of the room. Waverly watched her go and let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She sat back down at the table and laid out Wynonna's documents and their stakeout photos. Okay, you can do this. Just focus on the case, she told herself, trying to get her thoughts to stay off of Nicole and back towards the photos and documents. She pulled out her notebook and a pencil and began to take notes while waiting for Nicole to return to the room.

A few minutes later, Nicole came back into the room with two cups of coffee in her hands. She briefly paused at the door as she saw Waverly leaning over the photos, biting on the eraser of her pencil, her hair brushed over to one side exposing her neck. A warmth coursed through Nicole's body at the sight of Waverly. She sighed and bit her lip before walking towards the table and setting a coffee cup in front of the brunette.

"Thanks, Nicole," Waverly said, looking up and smiling at the redhead. Waverly noticed Nicole's breath catch as their eyes locked.

"No problem," Nicole said, quickly averting her eyes back to the table. She took a seat next to Waverly and ran her fingers along the rim of her coffee cup. "So…find anything interesting in these photos?"

"Not yet," Waverly said, her attention on the documents. "But you might take a look at Wynonna's notes." She handed Nicole the journal entry she had just read over. "She thinks Willa may have been ordering supplies for Steven through the shop as there are all these purchase receipts that seem to be missing."

"What kind of supplies?" Nicole asked, studying Wynonna's journal entry.

"She's not sure since the only entry into their system says 'Stock supplies' and then the paper trail just ends. Wynonna found out about the safe-deposit box and is hoping that the purchase receipts are all in there."

"How much money has Willa put into these "stock supplies"?"

"Wynonna's entries don't say," Waverly answered. "I added it to our list of things to ask her about later."

"Good thinking, Waves," Nicole said. When Waverly looked over at her, Nicole flashed a smile. It was the first real smile Nicole had offered since she'd been there and Waverly couldn't help but notice. Talking about the case seemed to have perked up the officer who seemed pretty defeated when she had first walked into the room, but was even sitting taller. Waverly smiled a little back before blushing and scribbling down her notes.

"Hey um, I'm sorry I've been a little absent lately," Nicole said before she looked over at Waverly with a serious expression. Waverly turned her attention back to Nicole and saw a sadness wash over the redhead.

"You've been through hell and you're apologizing to me?" Waverly asked.

"Well I, I kind of ghosted on you," Nicole stammered out, looking a bit embarrassed. "And after you took really good care of me when I was drunk."

"Don't even worry about it, Nicole," Waverly replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Taking care of drunk people is what I do best." Nicole quietly nodded her head as she looked down at the table. "Plus you um…seemed like you needed a friend." Waverly's eyes shot all around as she felt Nicole's attention back on her.

"Friend," Nicole said softly. Waverly wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement as she looked at the redhead questioningly. Sensing the tension between them, Nicole decided she would try to lighten the mood a little. "Well hopefully I didn't make a total ass out of myself." Waverly swooned as Nicole's smile was big enough to show off her dimples. That was the Nicole she missed…the one she knew so well.

"Not completely," Waverly said, teasing the woman. "But you were very…honest."

"What does that mean?" Nicole asked, chuckling. When Waverly looked back up at her, Nicole's smile faded and the air in her lungs seemed to vanish. It was a look of desire…wanting…need… that she was seeing in Waverly's face. It wasn't a look she had seen from the brunette. She noticed Waverly's eyes drift to her mouth before Waverly blushed and looked back towards the photos on the table.

"I'm sorry about Amy," Waverly said, but instantly regretted as the redhead shifted in her seat and sat up a little more rigid, clearly uncomfortable. Nicole cleared her throat and rubbed a hand over her hair.

"It's alright," Nicole replied seriously. "Long time coming, I guess." Waverly looked at her with a look of sympathy, hoping she hadn't said the wrong thing that pushed the redhead too far away from her. She noticed the redhead was fidgeting with her hands. Feeling brave, Waverly put one hand on top of Nicole's, stilling her fidgeting. Nicole's eyes darted from the contact to Waverly's face, a little surprised.

"Well, whenever you're ready, I'm always up for that talk," Waverly started to say, referencing the talk Nicole had suggested that they have over their text messages. Nicole looked at her in completely surprise, frozen in place as she stared at the brunette. Waverly felt a chill down her spine as their eye contact lingered. This was the first time she'd really put herself out there with Nicole and it was scary as hell. She squeezed Nicole's hands before returning back to the photos as a speechless and dumbfounded Nicole continued to stare at her.

"Waves…" Nicole started to say, but Waverly interrupted her.

"Wait, did you see this?" Waverly asked, grabbing one of the photos and leaning closer to Nicole.

"The van?" Nicole asked, looking at the photo.

"No look at the bottom of the van." Waverly said, pointing near the bottom of the photo. "There's something underneath." Nicole grabbed the photo with her right hand, her fingers crossing Waverly's as she pulled the photo a bit closer to her face, trying to see what Waverly had seen. Sure enough, there was an item below the van.

"Are those eyes?" Nicole asked, staring at the photo. It looked like a very terrified person with some sort of bandage across their mouth. The light had caught their face just right causing their eyes to glow as Waverly had snapped the photo.

"What if that's how they're transporting things in and out of the warehouse?" Waverly asked, her voice rising in excitement. "We were so focused on the boxes they were unloading, but what if they're moving people through the bottom of the van in some sort of tunnel system?"

"Why would they be moving people through a tunnel?"

"I don't know, some sort of human trafficking?" Waverly asked.

"This is big, Waves!" Nicole said in excitement, a big smile on her face. This was exactly the kind of knowledge she was hoping they would've gained from the stakeout and it was even further confirmation that something sketchy was going on in that trailer park. Nicole's hunch had been right and Waverly was helping her get to the bottom of Steven's activities. "Good eye catching this." Nicole had looked at all of these photos multiple times and hadn't noticed the eyes. Waverly continually impressed her more and more every day.

"I just kind of noticed it," Waverly said blushing, shoulders shrugging as her eyes went back to the photo and briefly scanned over Nicole's fingers which were still overlapped with hers as they both held onto the bottom of the photo.

"Isn't it funny how sometimes you just…notice things?" Nicole asked softly. Waverly turned her face towards Nicole and gasped as Nicole was looking at her with the same look of desire she had when she was drunk in Waverly's bed. Waverly felt her heart rate speed up as Nicole's thumb gently rubbed over hers, but her eyes remained on Waverly's. She saw Nicole's eyes move to her mouth and felt the redhead slowly start to lean closer, closing the space between their mouths.

Is this really happening? Waverly thought to herself as their lips got closer. She felt Nicole's breath on her as the redhead got even closer. Her eyes closed as she leaned the last bit forward, but as their lips just grazed, a knock at the door of the conference room startled them both. Nicole jerked around towards the noise and jumped up from her chair.

"Come in," she said, her back now to Waverly.

"Haught, need you to make a run out to the Gibb's ranch," Paul said. "Nedley's out there right now and is requesting another deputy." Paul leaned around towards Waverly. "Sorry for interrupting, Waverly."

"No worries, Paul," Waverly said with a smile.

"I'll be right out," Nicole said to Paul. Waverly stood up as Nicole turned and walked a couple steps back towards her. "I have to…" Nicole motioned towards the door with her hand.

"Yeah…" Waverly said nervously smiling as she fumbled with her hands. "Okay."

"Talk soon?" Nicole asked, sounding hopeful as she smiled at the brunette.

"I'd really like that, Nicole," Waverly replied, smiling back, especially at the way Nicole's breath caught again at the sound of her name.

"Me too," Nicole said smiling. She turned and walked out of the conference room as Waverly let out a giggle and went back to examining the photos. A text message brought her back to reality as she unlocked her phone and read the message.

Champ: Babe, I'm at Shorty's. Where are you?