Shorty's

Wynonna had been sitting with Waverly at the bar for a couple hours listening intently to everything Waverly could tell her about their lives whenever she had a free moment. Waverly reaffirmed what Willa had said earlier about Waverly living with Gus and Curtis. The three girls had grown up together at the homestead with Ward and it had been a fairly happy childhood until their mother left. Waverly was four and didn't understand why, but did know that Ward could hardly look at her after that. She was the spitting image of her mom and had many of her same mannerisms. Waverly guessed he was too hurt to ever recover. Willa, out of dedication to her father, had made things even worse by tormenting Waverly constantly. Wynonna had stopped Willa as often as she could, but couldn't save her from all of it.

Once they got old enough, Ward decided to move into a different house with fewer memories to haunt him. He left the homestead to Willa who promptly decided that Waverly was no longer welcome. So Waverly moved in with Gus and Curtis who took her under their wing, got her through school, and helped her get the job at Shorty's. Meanwhile, Wynonna had spent a couple years after high school trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted. She had ventured to Europe to go backpacking, but eventually decided to head to the big city near Purgatory and go to college. While there, she ended up meeting David, a successful businessman and her current fiancé. After about a year of dating, Wynonna convinced him to move back with her to Purgatory so she could be closer to family and help Willa out at her beauty supply shop. David commuted to the city for work and often stayed at their small flat near his office when things got busy. About four months, David had proposed during their anniversary trip to Greece.

By Waverly's account, Wynonna had had a wonderful life. No one in the town hated her; in fact, almost everyone loved the Earp girls and had taken pity on them when their mother had run off. It was a life Wynonna had thought she always wanted, but some things were different. Her relationship with Waverly was different. Dolls did not exist; at least Waverly hadn't mentioned him, nor had she mentioned Doc. Since there was no curse, it was most likely Doc wasn't immortal meaning he had passed long ago from tuberculosis. And from what Wynonna could tell, Waverly had shrunk into the life that was expected of her not the one that she really wanted. It broke her heart as she listened to her sister.

"Anyways, that's about everything that's been going on," Waverly said. "Starting to make more sense now?"

"Yes and no," Wynonna replied. "If my life has been going so well, why did I freak out three weeks ago about marrying David? You said he's the perfect guy for me."

"He is," Waverly replied. "I don't know why you freaked out. You had an appointment in the city, some kind of follow up after your trip to Greece. Then, Shorty said you came here and got really drunk before stumbling to Uncle Curtis' to find me."

"Did I say anything about the appointment?"

"No," Waverly answered. "Although…maybe it wasn't about the appointment."

"What do you mean?" Wynonna asked.

"Well, don't get mad," Waverly replied. She leaned closer to her sister. "It might have something to do with a certain someone with a pretty good eye for the ladies, if you know what I mean." Waverly clicked her tongue and motioned her head towards a dark-haired man standing by the pool table, his back to them. When he turned around, Wynonna's breath caught a little. Doc? She thought. Only no, it wasn't Doc. This man had similar facial features, the same soft blue eyes, but his hair was shorter and spiked upward. He had an unshaved face, but was missing Doc's classic mustache.

"Is that…"

"Tim," Waverly replied. "Tim Holliday. I don't want to accuse you of anything, Wynonna, but Shorty saw the two of you leave together before you came to Uncle Curtis' that night." Wynonna turned to look at Waverly. "I'm still not sure why you broke up with him all those years ago before you went backpacking around Europe. I really thought you two would end up together." Wynonna let out the breath she had been holding and made a nervous laugh as Tim finally noticed the pair staring at them. He held his glass up and gave them a charming smile before taking a drink and turning his attention back to his friends.

"I have no idea either," Wynonna answered. The door of the bar flew open behind Wynonna as she turned back towards Waverly and her fourth cup of coffee.

"Oh gosh, incoming," Waverly quickly said, her eyes big as she moved away from Wynonna and made herself busy helping the men at the other end of the bar.

"Where the hell have you been?" Willa yelled, slamming her purse on the bar before pushing Wynonna's shoulders.

"Ow, hey," Wynonna said almost falling off her stool.

"I've been running around trying to get things ready for your wedding and you're here, wasting your day off talking to Waverly," Willa demanded. Waverly glared at her as she poured a couple of beers.

"I'm not wasting time. We've been talking about important stuff," Wynonna answered. Waverly gave her a small smile as she delivered the beers down the bar. "Centerpieces."

"We've already picked out your centerpieces," Willa demanded. "And I thought you had a doctor's appointment?"

"I uh…I did, earlier," Wynonna lied again. "Fit as a fiddle. Well, minus the whole head-memory thing." When she heard a familiar man's laugh behind her, Willa turned to see Tim and his buddies playing pool.

"Seriously, Wynonna?" Willa disapprovingly stated. "I thought you weren't going to go anywhere near him again."

"I'm not, I…" Wynonna said, unsure what to say.

"Hey, she just came in to get some help with her memory issues," Waverly said, coming to Wynonna's defense.

"Nobody asked you," Willa snarled at Waverly. Waverly froze in place, her shoulders slightly hunched, and her gaze dropping. "Maybe you should stop worrying about her so much and pay more attention to that boyfriend of yours who keeps disappearing with all the other floozies in town." Waverly threw the towel down she was holding, her eyes wetting with tears before she stomped away. She quickly jetted out the back door of Shorty's, slamming it on her way out. Shorty came out from the kitchen and was going to say something to Willa, but Wynonna beat him to it.

"Hey, don't talk to her like that," Wynonna replied, standing up so she was face to face with her sister.

"What is wrong with you?" Willa asked. "You and I both know Champ's the best thing in her life. We just talked last night about how she doesn't give him enough attention."

"Well maybe she deserves a lot more," Wynonna answered. "And so do I."

"These are just normal wedding jitters," Willa replied, her tone softening. "I had the same feelings before I married Steven, but they go away. David is perfect for you and your wedding is going to be amazing if you quit running from it." Wynonna looked back at her and quietly nodded.

"Then why doesn't it feel right?" Wynonna asked.

"Nothing feels right about today," Willa replied. "It's like you're an entirely different person."

"My memory is shit right now," Wynonna answered, rubbing her head still.

"Well, we're supposed to be at dad's house in an hour for brunch," Willa said. "Come on, I'll help you with your memory issues." She looped her arm in Wynonna's and pulled them towards the door.

"You really should apologize to Waverly," Wynonna demanded. "She was just trying to help."

"Fine, I'll send her a text."

"Oh hey, what's my passcode?" Wynonna said, whipping out her phone as they exited the bar.

Ward's House

As they pulled up in Ward's driveway, Wynonna felt butterflies in her stomach. She hadn't seen her father since she was a young girl. Well, not in her other life. Her real life. The last memory she had of him was a look of fear and panic after Wynonna had fired Peacemaker. He had crumbled to the ground and taken a couple breaths before passing away. She had screamed she was sorry over and over again, but just like that, he was gone. A tear fell from her eye and she was quick to brush it away before stopping her SUV behind Willa's car and following her up the driveway. Wynonna's breath caught as Ward came out of the door to greet them.

"There are my girls," Ward said. His face had more wrinkles, his hair had grayed in patches, and his skin looked leathery from years of working outdoors. He had a pipe in one hand and ran a hand over his recently combed hair.

"Daddy," Wynonna said, smiling as she walked up to him and he wrapped her up in a big hug. He still smelled the same – a mix of cinnamon, tobacco, and the slight hint of alcohol. His hug was one of few things that day that had actually made sense to her and she revealed in the safety of it for as long as she could. When they broke apart, Ward beamed at her before moving to give Willa a hug.

"Hi, Daddy, sorry we're a bit late," Willa said, giving Ward a hug. "I brought your favorite." She handed him a dish of peach cobbler.

"Oh you spoil me, Willa," Ward said. "Let's go inside, you two." As he moved away, Wynonna noticed he slightly stumbled up the stairs.

"Been hitting the bottle already today," Willa whispered to Wynonna, shaking her head. It was no secret that Ward had a bit of a drinking problem after their mother had left, and those habits had only gotten worse after he'd moved out of the homestead. Wynonna quickly learned that she and Willa had been having brunch with their father every Saturday since Wynonna had moved back to Purgatory. It was on those days that he didn't drink quite as much as usual and Willa took that as an accomplishment.

Wynonna sat at the table pushing her food around with her fork while listening to Willa and Ward discuss the latest town gossip. Ward also mentioned a small disagreement he had had with Curtis earlier in the week. Apparently the two of them were not on the greatest terms either as Curtis was constantly trying to get Ward to be a part of Waverly's life, but Ward wouldn't listen.

"Wynonna actually saw Waverly this morning," Willa said, looking over at her sister.

"Yeah?" Ward said, shaking his head. "When is that girl going to settle down and marry the Hardy boy? It would do her some good."

"She's too stubborn to know what's good for her, Daddy," Willa said before Wynonna could answer.

"Isn't that the truth," Ward said. Wynonna was going to say something, but a gentle kick under the table from Willa made her second guess herself. "Speaking of which, how are the wedding plans going, Wy?"

"Uh good, great," Wynonna replied, putting on a fake smile for Willa.

"We just need to get her a dress now," Willa snidely remarked while Wynonna rolled her eyes.

"It'll happen, okay," Wynonna said, aggravated. She got up from the table and started pacing around the living room, looking at some of Ward's photos.

"Give her time, Willa," Ward said. "Some of the ladies sitting outside the hardware store yesterday said the dress is the hardest part." Wynonna rolled her eyes again. These two were exhausting and worried about the most ridiculous shit. Wynonna tried to bottle up her frustration by studying Ward's photos on the mantle. He had several pictures of both Willa and Wynonna when they were little and a couple more recent ones, but no photos of Waverly. When her eyes moved to the next photo, her breath caught. There were four people in the picture including Wynonna, David, and Willa, but the fourth person was what startled her. Grabbing the picture, she turned back towards Willa and Ward.

"Who is this?" Wynonna asked, frantically, interrupting their conversation.

"What, who?" Willa said, getting up to see the photo closer.

"This man, who is he?" Wynonna said again.

"Wy, that's Steven, my husband," Willa replied, looking at Wynonna with a worried expression. "Shit, your memory really is gone." Wynonna's eyes got big as she looked at Willa then again back at the photo. Wynonna and David were sitting on the front porch holding hands while Willa had her armed wrapped around Steven's shoulder and another on his chest. They were all smiling and looking at the camera except for Steven who was looking at Willa. Even with a side-view of his face and different hair, Steven was the spitting image of Bobo Del Ray.