They made their way downstairs, Waverly's shotgun cradled in one elbow and Nicole's arm slung through the other. The deputy cursed every wobbly step she made then whistled shrilly for Rowdy. She may not have had her service weapon, but she still had her dog.

"Goddamnfuckshitdamn," swore a raspy voice. "Enough with the whistling!"

The women froze, them watched in horror as the pale and sweaty form of Sheriff Tommy Haught rose from the couch, as if from the dead. He turned to glare at them, his bloodshoot eyes narrowed.

"It's bad enough I have to hear all this crazy fornication and moaning and carrying on all morning, but now you're whistling? Nicole Marie, I thought I raised you better!"

Nicole's face turned white, and she glanced sideways at Waverly in terror. To her shock the smaller woman only had a faint blush but an even stronger smirk. Waverly strode over and rubbed Tommy's head briskly. "Get up, or I'll start telling you how good your niece is with her to-"

"WAVERLY," screeched Nicole, her face shifting from pale to scarlet at supersonic speed while Tommy staggered to his feet, his face horrified.

Waverly chuckled as she sauntered back to Nicole, kissing her thoroughly. "There's no shame in this house, Baby," she husked. She then turned back to the slightly green Tommy. "You got your piece, Sheriff?"

He stared at her, taking in the fact she had the shotgun in her hand for the first time. "Is that thing legal?"

She waved it at him. "I have an agreement with Nedley - we don't talk about it. But seriously," she continued, her face hardening. "We have a bit of situation, and it would be nice if you were armed."

"In my truck," he replied, rubbing his face. "Oh God, I need coffee."

"Coming up!"

Waverly disappeared into the kitchen, leaving the two Haughts staring sheepishly at each other.

Nicole cleared her throat. "Didn't realize you had so much experience at strip clubs, Uncle Tommy," she muttered after a moment.

"Yeah, well, I've been single a long time," he returned with a shrug. "It's harmless fun." His eyes twinkled and his lip curled. "I'll say Beth never mentioned your talents with-"

"STOP!" Nicole bellowed, her hands instantly covering her ears.

He laughed weakly, one hand pressing against his forehead.

Waverly returned and pressed a travel mug into his hand. "Here, Sheriff. Drink up." She escorted them all out towards her Jeep, but Tommy steered them to his truck.

"If there's trouble that requires a gun, let's be in the vehicle that doesn't have a cloth top, okay?"

Waverly pursed her lips, then shrugged and snagged his keys. "Okay, but I'm driving!" She ran over and hauled herself into the driver's seat and gunning the engine to life with relish.

Nicole and Tommy stared at her, jaws agape.

"I've never driven your truck," Nicole complained.

He rubbed the back of neck sheepishly. "Well, that girl of yours-" he trailed off, and Nicole felt her chest purr at the reluctant affection in his tone. "She's got a convincing way about her."

Nicole slung one arm around his shoulders as they made their way to his hijacked truck. "That she does, Tommy. That she does."

—

Wynonna ran out of the Sheriff's office as Waverly pulled up. She opened the truck's passenger door before Nicole could even exit the vehicle and pressed Nicole's service weapon back into her hand.

"Here, I grabbed it from Nedley." At Nicole's raised eyebrow she added grudgingly," and he knows about it okay? I didn't just steal it out of his desk."

Tommy rummaged under the seat of his truck and emerged with a tactical holster that Nicole gratefully wrapped around her thigh. He grunted approvingly at her sure hands. "Not as good as your kit belt, but at least you don't have shove it down your pants."

Nicole shuddered. "Eric did that once if you recall. Then he sat on it."

"Don't remind me. I had paperwork for days to explain the stitches in his ass."

Wynonna groaned in impatience and shoved them all roughly inside. "Unless he shot off his dick I don't care. Come on — Champ has already called in a bomb threat and Dolls' informants are calling every ten seconds to tell him that Bobo has put a price on our heads." Wynonna paused. "Not a very big one, though, I'm sort of insulted…"

There was a collective rolling of eyes.

Rowdy, clearly sensing the general rise in stress levels around him marched alertly at Nicole's side, his normal happy-go-lucky demeanor vanished into the tense readiness of a K-9 officer.

As they entered the bullpen Sheriff Nedley emerged from his office, followed closely by a furious Finnegan Maloney.

"— I will be filing a protest with the D.A.s office and calling every judge I know—"

Nedley ignored him and addressed Tommy and Nicole.

"Sheriff, Deputy. We're glad to have your assistance in this matter."

Maloney's face went even redder when he saw Nicole. He sneered as he got into her face. "Why am I not surprised to see you here, Deputy," he snarled, his voice dripping acid. "I will not stand for my clients' constitutional rights to be violated again—"

He stopped and looked down at the beefy hand slapped hard against his chest.

"Sheriff Nedley," Tommy growled. "Who is this gentleman?"

Nedley coughed back a laugh. "Sheriff Haught, I have the displeasure of introducing you to Defense Counselor Maloney, attorney to both of our missing felons, though why he is here I'm not quite sure."

"Champ Hardy has been erroneously charged with misdemeanor," Malone began before he stopped, Tommy's hand turning into a fist that clenched tie and shirt in an iron grip.

"Sheriff Nedley, are the laws in this county different from the rest of the country?"

"No, they are not, Sheriff Haught."

Tommy pulled Malone closer and spoke softly, but with menace. "The laws of this country clearly state that escaping from prison is a felony act, so even if they were choirboys before, they're felons now." His first curled more tightly, and Maloney choked as his tie cut into his throat. "And if I hear you insult one of my officers again we're going to have a serious problem."

Maloney blanched and cleared his throat, then extracted himself carefully before attempting to straighten his crumpled tie. "I will expect a phone call when my clients return to explain what is clearly a misunderstanding." His gaze dropped to Rowdy. The dog stared at him, a low growl in his throat. He stepped quickly back behind Nedley to everyone else's amusement. "I'll just, um, return to my office now…"

The door slammed behind him.

"Asshole," Wynonna muttered. "I hope he—"

A clatter of gunfire had them all diving for cover. Waverly choked off a shriek as she felt Nicole's body slam her into the ground, protecting her.

"Sheriff!" shouted the duty officer at the front desk. "Maloney's down!"

"Dammitall!" Nedley swore irritably as another round of gunfire splattered against the front of the building. "Is he dead?"

"Pretty sure, yeah," came the reply. There was a couple more smatters of returning gunfire and a loud crash from outside. "Nick just took out the lead truck, sir! The rest of the suspects have taken off in the second vehicle."

Wynonna jerked at that and sprinted for the door. "You better not have hit MY truck, you shitheads!" she hollered.

"Wynonna!" Waverly shoved Nicole aside and ran off after her sister. "You get back here, you idiot!"

Nicole hit the ground with a huff, staring at the ceiling before Rowdy's face filled her view. He whined and gave her a nudge.

"All right, all right, I'm up, I'm up!"

She felt a hand grip her shirt behind her neck and help hoist her up, and nodded gratefully at her uncle as he pulled along.

"Holy shit," breathed Wynonna as they caught up to her.

The front windows of the station were blown out and shattered glass lay everywhere. The body of Finnegan Maloney lay sprawled in the wreckage, bloody blooms covering his chest and thighs. His eyes were open but sightless, his surprised expression frozen on his face. Two deputies emerged from behind the cover of the desk and followed Wynonna, watching the street closely.

Wynonna sidestepped the body carefully before stepping through the remains of the window frame. Her relief was tangible when she saw her truck unharmed across the street. Another truck was crumpled in a steaming wreck against the brick wall of the bank next door. As Nicole and Waverly followed her they saw the driver slumped against the driver side door, his head and arm hanging limply as blood pooled underneath him. Another body was crumpled on the passenger side, the large amount of blood dripping from the glass above offering grim evidence of another mortality.

Nedley strode past them and gingerly felt for a pulse, then shook his head and raised the head just enough to get a look. His face blanched and he let the head back down gently before turning back towards them. "Nick!"

One of the deputies hurried over. "Yes, Sheriff!"

"Give me your gun, standard procedure until internal affairs can certify the use of deadly force." At Nick's expression he patted them younger man on the shoulder. "Don't worry, son. It was a clean shot and everybody here will swear it I'm sure."

Nick swallowed and handed his gun over.

Nicole winced sympathetically.

Nedley turned to the other deputy. "Lonnie! Get your crime scene kit out and get Linda to send out a general call out for every deputy in the department, don't care if they're off duty or not. Also have her call the coroner to bring the wagon over for two bodies. There's an AR-15 and a couple of handguns in the truck, so get those secured." He turned to Tommy. "Can I ask you to be senior officer on scene for the time being?"

Tommy nodded somberly and turned to Lonnie. "Deputy, you have a spare notepad I can use?"

"Yessir." Lonnie slapped his spare notebook into Tommy's hand as he watched Nedley walk back into the station. "Sir? Are you leaving?"

Nedley sighed, then looked sadly over at Waverly. "I have to go make a phone call."

"Sir?" Lonnie sounded confused.

Nicole felt Waverly tense beside her and she heard Wynonna's sudden sharp inhale. Both women were staring hard at the body in the truck.

"Need to call Judge Hardy." He sighed again. "That's Champ Hardy and Herman Tate in the truck. Champ had a gun in one hand and it sure looks like he was driving for Bobo Del Ray."