"Here, Waves," murmured Wynonna.
Waverly accepted the proferred cup of coffee from her sister, and a bag that smelled like a burger and fries from Dolls. She smiled wanly at his look of concern.
"Any change?" he asked softly.
She shook her head. "I'm waiting for her Uncle to come out—" she leaned forward. "There he is."
A tall man wearing a green windbreaker and holding a black Stetson in his hand emerged from Nicole's hospital room. His hair was graying but clearly had once been a bright copper red like Nicole's, and once his eyes met Waverly's his stoic face crumpled a bit. She shoved her coffee and bag of food back at her sister and hurried over to wrap the big man in as much of an embrace as she could.
"Thank you," he managed, his voice breaking with emotion. He looked up at where Wynonna and Dolls stood silently behind her Waverly. "Thank all of you." He stepped back slightly, but still kept one arm around Waverly's shoulders. "I heard from the first responders what y'all did for my Nicole." He drew a deep shuddering breath. "I can't thank you enough."
For once Wynonna had no snarky comeback. "We may not have known her long but she's a friend," she cleared her throat. "You do what you must for friends."
Beside her Dolls nodded solemnly.
Then Wynonna seemed to recover her usual sass. "Even if she is a darn deputy sheriff."
Waverly groaned and tossed a kick at her sister. "Don't listen to her, Mr. Haught. She's all bark. Mostly."
Tommy stared at Wynonna for a moment with narrowed eyes. "You must be those bounty hunters I heard about from PSD."
She smiled winsomely at him. "That's us!" She gestured at Dolls, who seemed oddly discomfited at her inclusion of him in that remark. "Seriously, though," she continued more quietly. "Nicole did us a good turn or two, especially for my sister there. She's good people to me, badge or not."
"Please, Mr Haught," interrupted Waverly, unable to hold back any longer. "Is she awake? Can I see her? I just need—" she stopped, not knowing how to continue.
He turned her towards him and studied her face. She knew she was blushing hard, but she met his regard unflinchingly. Then he smiled and squeezed her shoulders. "First of all, it's Tommy. A friend of Nicole's is a friend of mine." He glanced back over his shoulder to see the medical staff departing. "She's a bit woozy, but she did ask for y'all."
"Oh goody!" Wynonna crowed. "I've got new puns to tease her with. I'm comin' for ya' Haught-sauce!"
Dolls rolled his eyes as he trailed his partner into the room. Waverly moved to follow them but held up at Tommy's touch.
"Waverly," he paused, struggling to find the right words. "I'm so grateful— I just—" he took a deep breath, his eyes earnest and sad. "She needs people in her life to love her. She just needs that so badly…" his voice caught and he choked back a sob. "My heart broke when we lost Beth. She was such a joy, so full of life. To to see how broken Nicky became, losing the love of her life like that," he shuddered. "I can't lose her, too."
Waverly clenched his hands hard. "We won't lose her," she said firmly. "We're all here for her, okay? We're gonna help get her through this."
She hadn't realized she was crying until he gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with a calloused thumb. She ducked her head, embarrassed. He tilted her head up gently and studied her a bit, and his lips curled in a knowing smile.
"Well now," he said, his voice a bit lighter. "Now that I've met you I have no doubt she'll do fine eventually, with such a friend as you." To her shock he gave her a quick kiss to her forehead. "You get on in there, now," he pushed her gently towards the door. "I'm gonna see the doctors about some damn paperwork before she goes into surgery."
She stared at him, but he merely winked and headed for the nurse's station.
"Waves, get your ass in here," Wynonna demanded loudly, and Waverly forced herself to turn away from the confusing exchange with Tommy Haught and focused on his niece, the very battered but still beautiful Nicole.
She was pale and attached to a slew of blinking machines. The nurses has cleaned off the worst of the blood, but she still bore many signs of the accident that nearly took her life. Waverly's heart skipped when the deputy's eyes opened and she saw those warm chocolate eyes meet her gaze and a faint smile cross her face.
Dolls was in the midst of preventing Wynonna from feeding Nicole a French fry to her extreme annoyance.
"Would you tell him one fry isn't going to kill her?" she demanded.
Dolls took advantage of her distraction to snag the fry out of her hand and pop it into his mouth. "She's going into surgery, Earp. No food."
Wynonna sulked. "Fine, be that way." She pushed him out of the way and placed a loud kiss on the red-head's cheek. "We promised Nedley we'd come by and finish giving our statements. We'll be back later, okay?"
Nicole's eyes flickered in amusement.
"Thanks, Wynonna," she whispered hoarsely. "Rain check on the fries, okay?"
Wynonna grinned. "You bet your ass! Devil chili fries at Demonic, on you!"
Dolls groaned and dragged his partner out of the room. "She's already had too many near-death experiences for one month, Earp."
"Dammit, Xavier—"
The door swung blissfully shut behind them.
"Hey."
Waverly took a hesitant step forward. "Hey." Her eyes dropped to the huge brace on her leg, another one holding her arm immobile, the heavy bandages around her other leg, her torso, her head…
"Oh God, Nicky," she sobbed suddenly. "I'm so sorry you got so hurt, it's all my fault! I shouldn't have been in the road—"
Nicole lifted her one unencumbered hand and gestured. "Shush, Waverly," her voice was slightly slurred but insistent. "Please come here."
Waverly pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down, her movements tentative. She refused to meet Nicole's gaze.
"I wanted to die tonight," rasped Nicole.
Waverly's head jerked up, eyes wide.
Nicole shrugged, then looked away. "I did. Everything just felt…" she trailed off, her one free hand waved as she searched for the right words. "It was too much."
"What was?" Waverly asked softly.
Nicole shrugged. "Life, I guess." Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "I miss her so much, every day, but…" she trailed off again, and Waverly was surprised to see a slow blush.
There was a long pause.
"What, sweetheart?" Waverly prompted.
Nicole swallowed hard. "I felt guilty," she admitted. "I was starting to feel… happy."
Waverly blinked, but stayed silent, waiting and watching for Nicole to struggle through her thoughts.
"I think—" Nicole took a deep breath. "I felt myself starting to enjoy myself, my days, and then I hated myself." She paused then nodded. "I hated myself for feeling like I could live and be happy…" She stopped and swallowed again.
"And Beth can't." Waverly finished for her, her voice quiet and gentle.
Nicole nodded, the tears now falling freely down her cheeks.
Waverly brushed them away with careful thumbs. "Everything I know of Beth tells me what a beautiful person she was, Nicky," she said after a moment.
"She was," Nicole agreed. "She—"
Waverly's hands drifted down to hold Nicole's good hand between hers, and she rubbed comforting circles across along her wrist.
"I saw her," Nicole blurted suddenly.
Waverly gaped. "What? Who?"
Nicole dropped her gaze again, her jaw clenched.
"Nicky," Waverly begged. "Please, who did you see?"
There was another long moment as Nicole struggled. Finally, she sighed. "Beth. I saw Beth. At the bridge. She— I've heard her before that, sometimes. She talks to me." When Waverly didn't respond she cautiously lifted her gaze to see the smaller woman smiling through her own tears. "Makes me sound crazy, huh?"
Waverly shook her head, still smiling, then raised Nicole's hand to her lips. "No, sweetheart. It makes you sound loved." She squeezed, willing Nicole to feel the affection she felt for this woman and the support she was offering. "And you deserve to be, okay? You deserve it."
At that moment a nurse and several orderlies entered the room. The nurse looked apologetically at Waverly. "Sorry ma'am, but we're here to take Miss Haught to surgery prep."
Waverly turned back and leaned forward to give the red head a careful hug. "You're going to be okay, and we'll all be waiting to see you, okay?"
"Damn, right," rumbled Tommy from the doorway. Both women turned to see him point his hat at his niece with mock sternness. "You're going to be fine, Cole."
They all knew he was talking about more than the looming surgery, and after a moment's consideration Nicole settled back with a faint smile.
"Yeah, I think I will." She turned to the waiting nurse. "Okay, boss. Let's do this thing."