Trying to make these a bit longer for you guys... tell me how I did.

A bang from upstairs a few hours later had Nicole scrambling out of her ravine. "The beast awakens." Wynonna murmured. The pbr had ended an hour and a half ago, giving way to some exercise equipment infomercial neither had had the energy to get up to change. "I should go," she rose off the couch with a giant stretch, "good luck."

"Thanks." Nicole's leg had set to bouncing again, her fingers tapping a rhythm on her belt. Just let her make this right.

"Hey," Wynonna shrugged on her coat, "for what it's worth, I believe you. And you make her happy. So, uh, don't screw this up."

"I'll try."

"I'll be at Shorty's if you need me." Wynonna offered on her way out the door.

Nicole started to pace as soon as the door was shut. She tried coming up with some speech in her head, explaining everything, but nothing could sound right, even to herself. Plan...plan...Waverly's the planner. Nicole was always spur of the moment, do whatever you can to get what has to be done done. But that wasn't this situation. She didn't have the wiggle room to mess this up a few times and then go back and fix it. She needed to be the girlfriend Waverly deserved. Not just now but everytime.

She heard the water running in the sink upstairs. She only had a couple of minutes before she would be down here. Should she go back out to her cruiser like she had asked before? But then that would be like she was trying to deceive her and she didn't want to do that.

Nicole huffed the biggest breath her lungs could hold. This was Waverly. Beautiful smiling sweet Waverly. Everything would work out. It would. Wouldn't it?

The stairs creaked. Shit. Suddenly, for all her waiting, Nicole wasn't ready. She rushed into the kitchen. Why? Why did you do that? Aspirin. Waverly would have a headache after all that alcohol. She grabbed it from the cabinet she always saw Wynonna snooching from. Would that be seen as too forward? Taking things from her cabinets in her house after she had order her not even to go inside? Maybe she should put them back and-

"Nicole?" Waverly stood at the threshold of the kitchen. Her cheeks had lost their redness, and her eyes seemed to have cleared, even if they were a bit puffy still.

"I, uh, thought you might want some aspirin." She shoved the bottle out to her in one jerky motion. Idiot, idiot. Nicole cursed herself. Be cool. Be confident. You can do this.

"I'm and Earp," Waverly drawled, "it takes way more booze than that to give me a hangover." The words were playful, but the monotone coating them weren't. "You wanted to talk?" Nicole nodded, her words failing her. Waverly stepped aside so she would follow her out to the other room. "You can leave the aspirin."

"Right. Oh. Right." She put in back on the counter, trying to ignore how her hands shook as they did so. Waverly Earp would be her undoing.

Nicole felt her hand brush against Waverly's side as she scooted through the door. She didn't miss how her shrunk away at the touch.

"Waverly I…" She didn't know what to say. There was no dumb pick up line, no flirty quib.

"Why?" Waverly questioned, her eyes fierce and pointed. The world outside the homestead was dark, encasing them like they were the only people left on the planet. Her words rang loud and hollow in the giant space. "I want to know why. I mean-I thought everything was going fine. I thought...I thought we were happy." Her voice cracked. She swallowed, steeling herself.

"Waverly, I was so happy. I never wanted anything else. Waverly, Waverly." She grabbed her arm so she would look at her. "I love you. I love you s much."

"Bullshit!" Waverly ripped her arm out of Nicole's, who had to force herself to stay upright at the force of the blow. Not Waverly backing away from her physically. No, the fact that she thought she would lie to her about loving her. That she had been lying to her.

"You know what I had been trying to talking to you about for the past two weeks?" Waverly could feel the despair in her morphing, turing into the anger she had felt earlier on the porch. "I kept trying to bring it up but kept chickening out. I guess I'm glad I didn't. Saved my ears from whatever lie you'd feed me then."
"What-What did you want to talk about?"

"The future Nicole! The future! I wanted to talk about a life together. Marriage kids everything! I wanted that. But apparently I'm just too stupid to realize when someone isn't who they say they are." She had tears coming out of her eyes now. She swiped at them. Oblivious, blind Waverly. Dreaming about a little house after the revenants, two little kids with a woman who had cheated on her. Every night, when Nicole was working the late shift, she would tuck herself into bed with dreams of that quiet life. Nicole would drop them off at school in the morning on her way to work, after Waverly had packed them little sandwiches for lunch. Then Waverly would walk them home after school where she would help them with their homework and teach them arts and crafts until Nicole would come home from work and they would talk about their days. Whatever odd calls the station had gotten that day, whatever new tidbit Waverly had found in her research. She had wanted that life. She had wanted it so bad. And now…

"I-I," Nicole's mind was reeling. It was too much too much at once. Waverly had thought about a family. A family with her. She couldn't help but grin like a fool.

"So proud are you? You got the girl to fall for you while you played her the whole time?" That brought Nicole back to Earth.

No time for subtly left. "I didn't cheat on you. I would never cheat on you. Ever." She tried to reach for her hand, but she pulled away.

"Yeah, is that what you tell Jacob too?"

"Waverly, come on…"

"No! All this talk about how Champ was below me and now you turn around and you're no better!"

"Waverly!" Nicole hated raising her voice, but she had to get her point out. She couldn't take this. Not a second longer. "I didn't cheat on you. You sent me those flowers at work-"

"So now it's my fault?"

"No! Just listen to me!" She screamed. She hated it, but she screamed. So loud she could feel the pain in the back of her throat. "I'm sorry." She brought herself back to a whisper, afraid to make any movements. "I'm sorry." She repeated, dropping down onto the couch. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I didn't…" She trailed off trying to breathe. Maybe she wasn't good enough for Waverly. Maybe she never would be. Whether she cheated or not.

Waverly sank down next to her, her hand cautiously going to rub her girlfriend's back. The touch still sent something like fire down her veins, but she couldn't focus on that right then. "Okay. I'm listening. What happened?"

So Nicole told her about the flowers and the gossiping Nedley and, "I didn't know what to do," she said. "He wanted a name, and we weren't really out yet and I didn't want to do that without your permission. I had just called my nephew earlier so it was the first name I could think of and then he just assumed it was Jacob Fernstein so I went along with it."

"Have you been taking lessons from me in rambling?" Waverly laughed, but the joke was strained. Like she still didn't know how to make sense of all of this.

"I guess I have," her accent was thicker than normal from the emotion. It just made her all the cuter to Waverly, and all the harder to stay mad at.

"I believe you," Waverly murmured, almost scared to break the quiet peace between them. She fiddled with the soft calloused fingers next to hers. "I didn't think you could have at first. But then Wynonna...well she was so sure, and you know...I've had experience with it and I guess I just got so paranoid and I-"

"Hey," Nicole swiped the hair that was falling into Waverly's eyes behind her ear. "You don't have to explain. The evidence was pretty damning against me."

Waverly smiled half-heartedly, "yeah, I guess it was."

Then she looked down at those lips she had never thought she would kiss again, and was leaning in, soft and tender. Slightly chapped from biting them, but all the more perfect for it. "I love you." They breathed at the same time when they came up for air.

"Ginx, you owe me a coke." Waverly giggled.

"How about we make that take out and a movie at my place?"

"Tonight?"

"It's almost midnight."

"I don't mind if you don't." Waverly leaned back into Nicole's side, enjoying her warmth, the way their bodies contoured to each other's.

"Well, then I say let's go. Wang's is open until two am on Saturday's."

They were in the car halfway to town when a thought tugged back at Waverly. She had forgotten all about it in the midst of the maybe-cheating scandal. "Hey, um, Nicole?" She loved the little hum her girlfriend let out in response as she drove. "I just want to know, about yesterday…" she could see Nicole's knuckles turn white on the steering wheel, "why you walked out like that if...well you know?"

Nicole pulled the cruiser off the road and into a side ditch, flipping the hazards on. She didn't trust herself with this story while driving.

Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to leave a comment in the review section. I really love your feedback!