"What the fuck do you mean you've been shot" Nicole shouted down the phone shooting out of her seat, luckily she was the only person in the main police office
"Oh! Officer Haught, what kind of language is that?" Waverly laughed with surprise, she'd never heard Nicole swear before
"What?" Nicole couldn't actually remember what she'd just said, she was more focused on the fact that Waverly had just told her she'd been shot "It doesn't matter what I said, you've been shot? What happened? Are you at the hospital? I'll come as quickly…"
"No, no, I didn't go to the hospital, i'm at the homestead"
"You didn't go to hospital? why on earth not?" Nicole sounded both annoyed and worried
"Dolls was here and he has first aid…"
"Dolls? what…?" Nicole sighed "Okay, i'm coming over"
—
"Oh shit" Wynonna said to herself when she saw a police car park in front of the homestead. She was trying to fit a piece of wood over where the glass had been in the front door, until a shit load of gun fire had smashed it.
"Hey Wynonna" Nicole said as she walked quickly to the door where Wynonna was.
"Hello Officer" Wynonna said somewhat officially, Dolls had said that the police wouldn't be involved with what had happened earlier and Wynonna was preparing herself for some awkward questions and answers
Nicole took her hat off as she reached the door "I'm not here on official business, don't worry" she smiled as she noticed Wynonna relax "Waverly told me she'd been hurt …. I just thought i'd check she was …okay" she smiled hoping it seemed like she was just a concerned friend and not a girlfriend who was absolutely panicking at not knowing what was going on.
"Oh, sure, okay, well she's just through there in bed resting" Wynonna pointed into the house and moved out of the way to let Nicole in "Do you want me to…"
"No, that's okay, I know the way" Nicole cut Wynonna off and tried not to run through the house to Waverly
As she got to where Waverly was she noticed she was trying to get out of bed "Hey what are you doing? You should be resting" she said concerned
"I heard you talking to Wynonna" Waverly said wincing as she moved to swing her legs over the side of the bed
Nicole put her arms out to stop Waverly standing "Okay, stay there.." She looked her up and down but couldn't work out where she'd been shot
Waverly saw her looking "You didn't have to come over, it isn't all that bad.."
"Of course I had to come….. I mean, un-unless you didn't want me to, after…" Nicole worried that after last night and her wondering hands maybe Waverly needed a little time away from her.
"After…? Last night?" Waverly asked "Don't be ridiculous, just forget about that, okay" She smiled raising her arm up to touch Nicole's face and kiss her, but immediately regretting it as pain shot through her side "Ouch, oow, oooh" She screwed her face up in pain and pulled her arm back.
Nicole stepped forward quickly, to do what she wasn't sure. "Are you…"
"It's okay.."
"Are you sure?.."
"Yeah, it's just.." Waverly pointed under her arm to try to show where she'd been shot, though her face was still pained. She leaned back a bit on the bed until the pain had worn off.
Nicole stood in front of her still not knowing quite what to do, as Waverly's pained face relaxed Nicole leaned forward and kissed her girlfriends forehead. She looked around the room and saw a chair against the wall. She took it and set it just to the side of Waverly and sat down.
Waverly smiled at her "It's only a scratch really" She reassured "look.." She pulled her shirt up to show the bandage on her side
Nicole's eyes tried to only look at the bandage and not the amount of bare skin in front of her. She noticed that blood had started to leak into the bandage, she reached forward to point it out, but quickly pulled her arm away and folded them in front of herself. Waverly notice her do it.
"It looks like you may have opened up the wound again when you moved" She said to Waverly "There's blood on the bandage…"
Waverly rolled her eyes at herself "Ohhh" she said disappointed
"Do you have any more, I can change it… or I could get Wynonna to…."
Waverly looked at her suspiciously, took her hand and placed it on her bare side, she noticed Nicole's breath hitch and her eyes widen with surprise.
Waverley lowered her voice "You can touch me, Nicole, I don't mine" She smiled "And I told you to forget about last night"
Nicole was just about to lean up and kiss Waverly when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly moved her hand and stood, trying to look like nothing was going on.
"Why is there a police officer in the house?" Willa said loudly to no one in particular as she stood in the doorway holding a mug
"I'm officer Haught, erm Nicole" She said holding out her hand to Willa "I'm … a friend of your sister, sisters, both of your sisters" This was a disaster Nicole thought, she must know something was up
Willa just looked down at Nicole's hand
"I just came by to see how she was…" Nicole said turning to Waverly
Wynonna came and stood behind Willa "It's okay Willa, she's not here as an officer of the law…."
"Hmmm" Willa said as she turned and left
Wynonna smiled at them, lifted her hammer up and made a worried face at them "Nearly done" she said turning "I think…although it may not be water tight" she said under her breath as she walked away
Nicole waited until they had both gone before turning back to Waverly "You haven't told her? about me?"
"No, of course not, you said it could be dangerous"
"Dangerous?" Nicole was confused
"Yeah, what if it somehow got out? I know Wynonna wouldn't deliberately spill, but what if Dolls found out and then the Black Badge…"
Nicole stared at her for a second trying to figure out why the Black Badge would get involved, then she realised "Oh no, not about that, I meant about.." She lowered her voice "..us"
"Oh, erm, no I haven't, not yet.." Waverly said smiling apologetically "I haven't mentioned either… thing" She smiled again "Speaking of the other thing, why not err, y'know…" she jerked her head towards her side
"You know I can't heal other people…"
"Have you tried?" Waverly smiled cheekily
"Waverly… even if I could, how many people have already seen this…" she pointed towards the wound "How would you explain it suddenly vanishing?"
"Yeah, well, okay" Waverly said resigned
Nicole started to take off the old bandage and clean the wound up "You know that I would if I could" she said glancing up at Waverly
"Of course" Waverly said smiling and carefully moving a strand of Nicole's hair and tucking it behind her ear
"I hate the thought of you being hurt or in pain…"
"Is that why you rushed over here in record time?" Waverly laughed
Nicole sat up straight "I was worried" She protested
Waverly laughed again, sometimes it was too easy to wind Nicole up "I know, I was only teasing" she smiled reaching out to Nicole with her free and painless arm and pulled her in for a kiss "I'm glad you're here"
Nicole smiled "Me too and i'm glad this is only a graze, but how exactly did it happen?"
"A group of men started to shoot the place up" Waverly shrugged
"Revenants?" Nicole asked as she concentrated on her redressing
"No, they can't come on our land, these guys were after Dolls"
"After Dolls? Why…? Hold on, what do you mean revenants can't come on your land?"
"The homestead is built on a bedrock of ammolite, so the revenants can't step foot here, pretty handy huh?" Waverly smiled
As she was placing the bandage over the wound Nicole's police radio went off "Officer Haught, can you come back to the station, Doris has set up a meeting that she forgot to tell anyone about…again"
Nicole held the bandage with one hand and grabbed her radio with the other "Yes Sheriff, i'm on my way" She quickly taped the bandage down carefully "Sorry Waves, I gotta go, the new bandage should be good until tomorrow, as long as you don't go moving around too much" She said pointedly at Waverly as she stood "I could, erm, I could come by tomorrow and change it if you'd like?"
"Yeah" Waverly smiled
"Great" she beamed "Okay, so rest up and i'll see you tomorrow" Nicole picked her hat up from where she had thrown it on the bed earlier and went to leave
"Officer?" Waverly said as she reached the door "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Nicole looked confused for a moment then smiled and quickly glanced through the door to make sure no one was there, then returned to Waverly and leaned down to kiss her
Waverly was still smiling from Nicole's visit when Willa walked back into the room
"She changed your dressing?" she asked harshly
"Yes, she's a police officer, she's had training in….."
"Did she use that poison?" Willa pointed to the antiseptic cream that was on the chair Nicole had been sitting on
"It's not poison, Willa, it's antiseptic.."
"Show me" Willa interrupted
Waverly slowly raised her arm and shirt trying not to open the wound up again "See, it's fine, she knows… JESUS Willa" Waverly shouted as Willa without any warning ripped off the dressing that Nicole had just put on.
"That stuff is poison, you should be using coconut oil, I used it on all of the cuts and bruises at the commune.."
"I bet you did" Waverly said quietly letting her sister finish redressing her wound and ruining her mood
Nicole knocked on the homestead door and waited. There was no reply, she knocked again. Again there was no reply, she decided to try the door, it opened and Nicole walked in slowly.
"Hello? Waverly?" She called into the house
"Hey, I'm in here" Waverly shouted from her position in bed, she smiled when Nicole appeared in the doorway.
"Hey" Nicole said. She looked around the room to see if anyone else was there but only saw Waverly sitting up on top of the bed with her laptop on her lap "Are you here alone? Did they leave you here on your own with the door unlocked?"
"Yes, but don't worry, i'm prepared" She smiled widely moving her hand to her side and lifting up a shotgun that had been hiding next to her "And you know this isn't that bad" she finished lifting her arm a little to indicate her wound "I can always get up and run" she smiled as Nicole sat on the side of the bed facing Waverly and leaned in for a kiss.
"Hhmmm" Waverly hummed contentedly when Nicole pulled away "You know, with no one around…" she pulled Nicole's face close again and kissed her more passionately, Nicole leaned further forward and placed her hand on the bed the other side of Waverly so she could steady herself. As Nicole pushed Waverly back against the headboard Waverly moved her laptop off of her lap awkwardly and shuffled down the bed a bit so that they would be laying on the bed, but before they could get that far Nicole pulled away
"Wait, wait Waverly, i'm on my lunch break, w-we can't get distracted….and what if your sister comes in? Either of them…. or both of them!" Nicole didn't like that thought of Willa walking in, there was something about her and she didn't want to say anything she might regret to Waverly's sister, however much she didn't like her.
Waverly looked disappointed, it's not often they are alone in her house, she wanted to enjoy the moment "They wont and even if they did we could alway just pop out…"
"Pop out?"
"Yeah, pop out into the barn" Waverly smiled cheekily "There's a bed in there…"
Nicole smiled at the implications of that and she may have blushed a little at the thought of sneaking around like teenagers so that the 'grownups' didn't catch them "Come on, stop trying to distract me, let me see your bandage"
Waverly grudgingly shuffled closer to Nicole and back up the bed then raised her shirt "How does it look?" she asked
Nicole carefully took off the dressing and took a good look, running her fingers over the skin beneath the wound "It's already looking a lot better" she said happily smiling up at Waverly
"Good" Waverly replied
As Nicole turned to get the new dressing and antiseptic cream Waverly also turned to get her laptop. She dragged it one handed across the bed so that it was next to her. With one arm in the air holding her shirt up she used the other to awkwardly look on her computer.
"So, as no one will let me do anything except rest here, I thought i'd do a little research" she said as Nicole started to redress her wound "I was looking up what your ring could be and how it might do what it does, so I went through a list of all of the things it could be" Waverly said looking at her computer, not Nicole "like, I was thinking that maybe it had some kind of mystical power or, heh, I suppose heavenly.." she laughed at herself "but who would give it that power? Was there a group out there giving items protective powers? Who would they be? How would they do it? I mean, a lot of the time enchantments need to have some sort of symbol to stick to, and your ring doesn't have any markings like that on it, it couldn't be that, but also how many times could an angel have come to earth and needed to hide? If that happened a lot surely i'd have read about it when I was looking into the revenants and all of the stuff relating to demons…" Nicole had stopped what she was doing and stared at Waverly in awe, she knew that Waverly did a lot of research on the revenants and the Earp curse, but hearing that someone can do something and seeing them doing it are two different things, is it possible that Waverly just got even more attractive?
"So, if there isn't some guild of people enchanting things, where did it come from? Well, I looked at some other possibilities…" Waverly continued her free hand waving about with enthusiasm "It could be that the material the ring is made of has some sort of power, and I found out that there are only a couple of minerals that could be the one in your ring and after a little more research, well, it was a lot of research actually…" she smiled and quickly turned to look at Nicole then looked back at her laptop "I found that it was…" Waverly tailed off as she realised that Nicole was just sitting watching her, she turned back to her "Is…What?…Is everything okay?" she suddenly worried
Nicole smiled sweetly "Everything's fine, I was just…I was listening, i've never seen you in full research mode and… I was just enjoying it"
Waverly started to blush "Oh, heh, I was..I was just curious and while I had the time…"
"I know" Nicole said softly "Carry on, i'd like to know" She smiled, then got back to redressing Waverly's gun shot wound
Waverly now felt self conscious, but carried on "Okay, well, I found that it was more than likely going to be made out of a mineral called green apatite, I mean it could also have some sort of enchantment on it or something else, because how would just a mineral do all that it does, right? But, I have only had a day and a bit to investigate, so I might find something else later, but anyway this green apatite, in my research I found that it has a lot of attributes to do with healing and replenishing energy and that it helps with the formation of new cells, which I thought was interesting considering you healing ability, erm and, I mean of course a lot of things to do with 'crystal healing' can be taken with a pinch of salt, but these sorts of ideas, like many, do have some foundation in reality. So that's what i've found." She finished quite abruptly and turned to Nicole a little sheepish and embarrassed, she really hoped Nicole was actually interested and that she hadn't just wasted her time.
Nicole looked up as she just finished taping down the bandage, she opened her mouth to say something when Waverly quickly raised her finger to stop her and said "And I forgot, the name 'apatite' comes from a greek word meaning 'to deceive', which I thought was interesting too as it conceals you" then she stopped and put her hand down smiling sheepishly again
Nicole smiled widely "You did all that research just for my ring?"
"Yeah, it is a special ring, you know?"
Nicole laughed "Yes I know" she smiled
"I was just thinking about how it keeps you safe and that it must have kept you mother safe as well…."
"Thank you" Nicole smiled and leaned in to kiss Waverly, Waverly smiled proudly back, she was about to kiss Nicole again when she heard the front door open and Wynonna, Willa and Doc come in.
Nicole pulled down Waverly's shirt and stood up "I should be getting back anyway, I still have to eat lunch" She quickly leaned down and gave Waverly a quick kiss then made her way to the door, she turned "Shall I come back tomorrow?" she asked
"Yeah, that'd be nice, I might have more information for you too" she smiled
"I'll call you later"
Again, after Nicole left Willa walked into the room "Why does she keep coming here and changing your bandage?" She asked
"She's my friend Willa, she's concerned, that's all" Waverly said slightly miserably
"Let me see…" Willa said making her way over to Waverly to look at the bandage