The Diner Incident Chapter 14, a wynonna earp fanfic

The door to the motel room opened quickly and Nicole's dad stood inside the room, he looked surprised to see her.

"Hi" Waverly smiled, she was a little nervous about asking him to dinner, but he was Nicole's father and she thought it might be a nice idea, she also wanted to make a good impression on him. He hadn't said he wanted dinner, he just said he was going back to the motel, but there was a little diner a little way down the road from the motel and she thought it was informal enough for them both.

"Oh hey, kid" He said with a smile, then turned back to the bed where he looked like he was packing his bags.

"Are-are you packing?" Waverly questioned as she followed him into the room

"Well…errrr…yeah" There was no way he could hide it really, he had all of his stuff on the bed and was in the process of throwing it all into the bag he had.

"Aren't you staying? Aren't you coming to see Nicole tomorrow…" Waverly asked. How could he be leaving? He only got here this morning, his daughter is in intensive care and he's only going to stay for one day?

He stood up straight like he was thinking of an answer "I don't think I need to…" he said turning towards her "She seems very well cared for with you and your sister, you seem to have it all covered, huh? and really, what can I do?" he shrugged, somewhat defeated.

As she got closer to him to protest him leaving she could smell alcohol. With a quick glimpse around the room she saw four cans of beer, two of them on their sides, so obviously empty, the others on the table next to the bed he was packing on.

"But you've only been here a day? You've hardly seen her…." Waverly protested

He took a moment to answer "I can't do anything here, kid, she's better off without me, she always has been…I'm-i'm better from a distance, that's why we write and phone each other…and she'll be fine…she'll understand, this is just how it is…with us" he said "…and no matter what, I will always support her…always…just…from a distance… when she wanted to go away to college or the academy, she was worried about leaving me, but I always worried about her staying…I-i didn't want my sadness to become hers, y'know?…I wanted her to be better…to be… herself…and not be stuck with someone who…who just wanted to go back…" he sighed and took a swig of his beer and shook his head "She is happy here with you…I don't want to get in the way of that, I don't want to get in the way of her happiness" he smiled

Waverly shook her head, she didn't know what to say, he'd seemed so different at the hospital, bright and happy but now he seemed…sad, unsure and maybe a little broken.

"Look I know how she feels about you and I can see she means a lot to you too… and you'll be good for her… for each other…the nurses said that you have been at the hospital every day since she got there and I can imagine you wont stop going until she's better…but I-I can't do that…I would love to, but I can't…" he shook his head "being close to her and those angels…that feeling they give off…I found a place where there isn't any of that…i'm free from it…" He looked at her as if he had said too much, then looked away. He straightened up again and in a voice that sounded like he was trying to convince himself of something he said "anyway I could only get five days off work and it took me nearly two days to drive here….I can't lose my job" he shook his head, but avoided looking at Waverly

"Surely you can stay a bit longer?" Waverly pleaded

He shook his head again "I can't… and she wouldn't want me too…she knows what would…she'll understand" he sighed and smiled sadly

"But, I came to ask you to dinner, I thought…"

Again he shook his head "I'm…i'm in no state to…I don't…I didn't think i'd see you tonight…" He seemed to be embarrasses or ashamed of being drunk in front of her

Waverly felt a little guilty for surprising him "Well, then maybe I should go…" she said moving back towards the door "It was just a silly idea…It was a pleasure meeting you, sir" she smiled "And i'll tell Nicole that you came to see her…"

He smiled "Thank you…if you…if you could just not tell her about this? maybe just forget about it?" he said smiling apologetically about being drunk

Waverly nodded "Of course" she smiled sympathetically "But….Mr Haught if you are going to leave, could you at least wait until the morning? Nicole will kill me if she finds out I let you drive after having a couple of beers"

He started laughing loudly, Waverly could see where Nicole got her smile from "Kill you?" he laughed "Oh, she wouldn't kill you, kid…" He said getting his breath back "Well, she might, but it's more likely to be worse than that, she'd be disappointed in you and believe me, that's so much worse" his smile dropped a little. He sounded like he knew that from experience.

He smiled at her sadly again "Alright kid, i'll go tomorrow"

"Thank you" Waverly smiled and gave a little wave to him as she left the room and made her way to her jeep

He waved back, closed the door and lent against it "Shit" he said quietly looking at the floor. He really hadn't wanted the sweet young girl to see him drunk. He didn't think she would come and see him tonight so he'd decided to take the edge off a bit, but maybe a bit too much. Seeing Nicole like that in the hospital, seeing her girlfriend, that she was always gushing about on the phone or in her letters and seeing just how much she was loved and cared for, broke his heart a little. He was so happy for her, this is what he wanted for her, but he was also slightly jealous that he didn't have the same. He'd had the same, he had been so in love and so happy and had the most fantastic family, but it had all been taken away, and without him even witnessing it. He had never really managed to get over it. He had certainly done his best when Nicole was younger, he knew he had to try and make her life happy and fulfilled. He'd had to do that for Nicole, but also for her mother, Isabel. And he was so pleased that her life was happy and fulfilled, but he also wished that he could be a bigger part of it, but being around Nicole and that feeling…he just couldn't get addicted to it again, he mustn't.

—

"Good morning, Mountain Motel" came a cheery voice on the other end of the phone

"Hi Julia, could you-"

"Oh hey, is that Waverly?"

"Yes it is…"

"Oh, hi honey, how are you?"

"I'm well thank you, can I-"

"And how is officer Haught? we have all been thinking about her at our knitting group…"

"She's erm… she's the same, really… she stable…"

"Well, that's good to hear, stable is always good, honey"

"Thanks Julia…"

"Now what can I help you with this morning?"

"Oh, Can you put me through to room eighteen, please?"

"Room…eighteen…oh, that rooms vacant…"

"Vacant? are you sure?"

"Let me just…check the book…." there was the sound of pages being flicked through "Yeah…says here it was vacated last night… at one fifteen…"

"Last night?…." Waverly couldn't believe he'd left, not only had he gone, but he had left while he was drunk, which he said he wouldn't do "Okay, thank you Julia"

"That is quite alright honey, you take care now"

"I will"

—

"Hey, you weren't out long last night" Wynonna said when Waverly walked into the kitchen the next morning

Waverly quickly looked at her sister then opened the fridge and stuck her head in it, trying to ignore the question, but also trying to think of a decent reply.

"Yeah" that was it, that's all Waverly could come up with. She closed the fridge door without taking anything out of it and leaned against it

"That's it? Professor Earp says 'yeeaahhh'" Wynonna ended with a dopey voice "What's wrong?"

Waverly shook her head, pushed herself off the fridge and sat at the end of the table opposite her sister

Wynonna looked at her while drinking her second coffee of the morning "Didn't the dinner go well?"

"He left" Waverly said plainly

"He walked out? What did you do?" Wynonna said with utter surprise

"I didn't do anything, we didn't even go to dinner, I got to the motel and…" Waverly sighed, Sam had asked that she didn't tell Nicole about his drinking, so she thought maybe she shouldn't tell Wynonna "…he was packing and was about to leave…"

"WHAT? His daughter is unconscious in the hospital!" Wynonna said angrily

"Really? I hadn't noticed" Waverly snapped

Wynonna looked at her a little surprised.

Waverly knew what she'd done and apologised "Sorry" she said sadly

Wynonna stood and walked over to her sister who she knew was upset, Waverly rarely snapped at people and especially her, unless she was upset "Hey, baby girl, come here" she said standing next to Waverly and pulling her head into her tummy for a hug.

Waverly placed her arms around Wynonna's waist and held her tight.

After a moment of silence Waverly spoke "I'm sorry…I just…I can't believe he'd do that…he seemed so nice…and she's….I…."

As Waverly started to cry Wynonna pulled her in tighter "Hey, hey come on, it's okay" she said pulling away and kneeling in front of her sister taking her head in her hands "It's okay"

Waverly shook her head "It's not…I thought she'd be awake by now…" she cried

"We all did, baby girl, we all thought she'd be awake, but it's only been, what, twelve days? and she's getting better, you see it every day when you go in there, don't you?" She said wiping a tear away from Waverly's cheek.

Waverly nodded "Yeah" she sniffed

"So, we just give it a little longer, okay? she strong and she'll be awake soon enough, flashing those annoyingly cute dimples at you and all of this will be over, eh?" she tried to reassure.

To Wynonna's relief the reassurance seemed to work. Waverly nodded and wiped her face with both hands to get rid of the tears. "I'm sorry" she sniffed

"Don't be sorry, sis" Wynonna said kissing her forehead and standing up

—

This wasn't Waverly's best day, she'll admit, not only was she annoyed, frustrated and disappointed that Nicole's dad had left, and in the middle of the night while drunk no less, but she had also been researching the wrong thing for the last 45 minutes.

When she realised she pushed her laptop away from herself in frustration, slumped back into her chair and put her head in her hands. Her mind raced through everything she was winding herself up over. About Nicole's dad, her decision not to mention to Nicole that he had left, even though she knew she probably couldn't hear her. About still not telling Wynonna the whole truth about a lot of things. About researching the wrong damn thing and spending far too long looking into it, although she must admit that what she had found, no matter how wrong, was actually really interesting.

She stayed with her head in her hands for a little while until she had calmed herself down. She then turned to look at Nicole.

She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to think, but she was really starting to get fed up with this whole situation. It had been over a week and a half since the incident and there was hardly any real change in Nicole's condition. Well, okay that may not be entirely true, but Waverly was frustrated and exaggerating. Nicole's wounds on her arms had markedly improved, but they were still pretty bad.

She stood up and walked over to the bed and looked her girlfriend up and down, then took hold of her bandaged hand.

"Can't you wake up now, baby?" she asked quietly "please?" She felt tears starting to form in her eyes and tried desperately not to let them fall.

She leaned over Nicole and whispered in her ear "Please, baby, please wake up, I miss you so much" With the last word her voice cracked and the tears fell.

To her dismay a tear landed on Nicole's cheek. "Oh god, sorry, baby" She said quickly wiped it away with her thumb, she felt awful and a little ashamed. What would Nicole think if she saw her now, she wondered.

—

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

Over the last two weeks or so Waverly had become used to the noises the machines around Nicole made.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

She would happily sit and look things up for Wynonna and Dolls on her computer or try to translate some obscure text from a seal, while the machines did their thing.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

She didn't get distracted by them any more, they never took her mind off of what she was doing, in fact she sort of noticed their absence when she wasn't there at the hospital.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

Today was no different from any other day, she sat next to Nicole and worked away. She'd had a little nap earlier as she still wasn't sleeping properly, her nightmares just wouldn't stop. Luckily though no one had caught her napping, she's pretty sure Wynonna would have ribbed her about that for a couple of days. But the nap only helped a little, she was still so tired.

Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…

At the moment she'd found herself going off on a very interesting tangent from what she had started researching for Wynonna, well at least, she was finding it interesting….