Thanks for reading everyone - I can't wait to get to the interesting Wayhaught scenes, but there's plenty of story to go and I'm keen not to rush it. Please R/R, your feedback is appreciated!
This chapter marks the start of season 1 episode 03 and Nicole's second time seeing Waverly...
Nicole had made the mistake of asking about the Earps.
She had struck up a conversation with her colleague Lonnie on the subject over coffee in the break room, under the pretense that she was interested in learning more about the town's history. In reality, she was interested in learning more about Waverly Earp.
She'd tried - she really had - to stop endlessly thinking about the girl that had taken her breath away so completely, but it was no use. The crush had firmly taken hold and she was now buried up to her standard-issue khakis in that happy place where she didn't want to not think about her. It sent goosebumps across her skin just picturing Waverly's smile. No, for now at least she was content to just give in to it and enjoy the warm fuzzies.
However, in her efforts to find out a little more about the stunning brunette Nicole had unwittingly opened a floodgate of gossip - and not for the Earp she had been thinking of. Waverly was, as she had already deduced, a descendant of good old Wyatt himself, but she wasn't the only one. She had an older sister - Wynonna.
Nicole was treated to Lonnie's 45-minute-long run down of the town pariah that was Wynonna Earp - from her accidental murder of her own father at twelve years old to the adolescence filled with foster homes and delinquency; from involvement with unsolved, bomb-related crimes to the shady circumstances under which she skipped town. Nicole clutched her coffee, wide-eyed and mentally bombarded by the non-stop list of stories in which Wynonna seemed to have crossed paths with the law in the wrong direction. Lonnie didn't even stop at the gossip - he actually went and fetched Wynonna's substantial file to reel off specific details of her repeated return visits to juvie and the various ways in which she broke her parole.
Nicole looked down at the file's attached photo. It almost seemed hard to believe that the pretty young girl looking back up at her was so… messed up.
Nicole scrutinised the photo further, searching for any family resemblance to Waverly. The similarities were minimal, but there was something familiar about Wynonna's face that Nicole couldn't quite place.
"Then o'course there's Waverly Earp," Lonnie said, having finally run out of things to say about Wynonna.
Nicole immediately snapped upright to attention.
"She's not a bit like her sister," Lonnie continued. "Sweet girl, god bless her. Something of a miracle all things considered. She works over at Shorty's."
"Yeah I think I bumped into her there the other day," Nicole said casually, sipping her now stone cold coffee as a distraction from the blush that started at the tips of her ears when Waverly's name cropped up. "She seems… nice."
"Aw she's nice for sure. Bit of a town sweetheart. Who knows, maybe she felt obligated to compensate for her train wreck of a sister."
Nicole frowned. She didn't even know Wynonna, but something about that last comment seemed to be a little unfair. From the sounds of it, neither sister had had it easy, but maybe there were factors going on that weren't immediately obvious. Wynonna couldn't be that bad if she had such a sweet, friendly sister… could she?
The Earp sisters continued to occupy Nicole's thoughts for a while after her conversation with Lonnie, but she was distracted from her contemplation by news over the wire of an alarming murder in the big city. She and several of her fellow officers gathered around to listen as the report came in that the Deputy Mayor had been viciously murdered during a community ceremony to open Shirley Dixon's time capsule. Dixon's diary had been stolen, but rather more pressingly the Deputy Mayor had been filleted.
That part had to be repeated. Filleted.
There was some suspicion of ritual behaviour, but all neighbouring towns were to be on the lookout for anyone matching the murderer's descriptions.
As the officers dispersed to return to their unexciting paperwork or to head off on their blissfully uneventful patrols, Nicole turned and headed straight for the Black Badge Division.
She had received instructions - albeit with much distaste - that anything weird that came over the wire would be of interest to Black Badge. Much as Nicole hated to hand over the first really interesting sounding case since she'd arrived to the emotionless embodiment of 'classified' that was Deputy Marshall Dolls, she had decided not to hold a grudge about his behaviour the other day. Black Badge wasn't going anywhere, so it did nobody any favours to burn bridges. Especially not bridges that might give Nicole a chance to work on some really interesting cases.
She reached Dolls' office door and gave it a knock - this time she waited for his robotic command to 'enter' before she pushed open the door to deliver her message.
"Hey. You asked to be alerted whenever things come over the wire that seem... unusual?"
Dolls nodded. "Yeah, we're coming. Thanks."
Nicole had already tuned him out, because who should be sitting on the edge of the paperwork-laden desk but Waverly Earp herself. Nicole clamped her teeth down on the inside of her lip to stop her mouth gaping open in surprise.
Dolls turned to Waverly with military posture. "Waverly, you're dismissed."
Dismissed? Was Waverly working for Black Badge? Nicole's mind was flooded with a tidal wave of questions that all came to an abrupt halt at the arrival of a single, hopeful thought: maybe Waverly was going to be spending time here at the station.
Here, Waverly looked over and their eyes locked for a moment. Nicole smiled nervously. It seemed that Dolls had noticed the prolonged eye-contact, his own pupils darting back and forth between the pair as if he was cataloguing data. Waverly's expression was hard to read again and before the redhead had a chance to figure it out, Dolls was steamrolling past her in the doorway, signalling her cue to exit. As she pulled the door closed behind her she caught a glance at the other woman in the room.
Wait, was that Wynonna? Of course. That was why the photograph had looked so familiar - she'd seen Wynonna at Black Badge before, when Dolls was doing his best impression of how to lose friends and alienate people. Why on earth would a covert government agency employ someone with a track record of illegal activity as monumental as Wynonna Earp's?
Nicole made a mental note to come back to that question later. For now, she was still giddy at the thought that Waverly might be around regularly. Perhaps she'd get a chance to talk to her properly, without broken beer taps and tangled tank tops causing getting in the way.
She and Dolls headed back towards Nedley's office, where the Black Badge operative closed the door in her face behind him. She sighed, unsure of why she had been expecting anything different, and strolled irritably back to her desk. She was skimming through her recent emails as she saw Wynonna come out of the BBD office, coffee in one hand and half eaten doughnut in the other. Nicole watched her go, pondering over what inner workings could have made her behave the way she had done as a youth.
Killing your own father would probably do it, she thought. I mean, she doesn't look like a killer, but I guess looks can be deceiving.
She was brought out of her contemplation as Waverly too emerged from the BBD office a moment later. She was already looking over at Nicole as the redhead looked round. Nicole's heart rate started to skyrocket. She gave Nicole a gentle little wave and it seemed like an involuntary smile had started to blossom on her face when her cellphone started to ring. Nicole took this opportunity to pretend to be super interested in the email on her screen, rather than just staring back at the petite brunette as she answered her phone.
"Hello? Oh… hey Champ."
Champ. Nicole knew that name. She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, like someone had let the air out of her metaphorical tyres.
Her mind instantly went back to one of the first local idiot hicks that she had pulled over for speeding when she first started working in Purgatory. He'd been doing more than double the speed limit in a shiny, tricked out, chrome-finished pickup truck that told Nicole everything she needed to know about the driver before she'd even gotten out of her squad car.
As she'd reached the driver side window, notepad and pen ready in hand, the young man behind the wheel leaned casually out of the window and flashed her what he probably thought was a winning smile.
"What seems to be the problem officer?" he drawled, like a walking sitcom cliche.
"Afternoon sir, do know how fast you were going?" Nicole asked, deliberately not making eye contact as she started noting down the truck's plate.
"Sir? Pssh. I've not seen you around here before," the driver had replied. Here, Nicole looked up, scowl at the ready. He shot her another cheesy smile. "You must be new in town. Name's Champ Hardy." He offered her a hand to shake. She looked at it for a moment before returning her attention to her notes.
"Champ Hardy. Got it. Any idea how fast you were going there, Champ?"
"Why, you like fast cars, officer?" Champ replied with a wink.
Nicole stared. She didn't know if she wanted to slap him or just laugh. She'd had people try and talk their way out of tickets plenty of times before, but this guy had gone from zero to desperate pick-up lines in thirty seconds.
"You were doing over a hundred in a fifty zone. Let's see your licence and registration."
"Come on now officer…."
"Haught."
"Officer Haught, this highway's a ghost town. There ain't nobody around. I sure ain't gonna tell anybody if you decided you just wanted to forget about this." Champ leaned forwards a little. "Pretty little thing like you doesn't need the hassle, right?"
"Are you kidding me?" Nicole said incredulously.
Champ's hopeful smile lingered just a moment longer before he sagged with a sigh and reached to his glove box for his licence. It looked like Nicole had received her quota of Champ charm and he was now all out.
She filled out the details of the ticket and handed it over. He took it between a finger and thumb and tossed it onto the passenger's seat, refusing now to make eye contact. Nicole turned and started back towards her car.
"Good to meet you, Champ," she called over her shoulder.
"Yeah, a real freakin' pleasure," she heard him grumble as she walked away.
She had gotten back into her car and hoped she'd never have to deal with that pretty-boy jackass again.
And now here was Waverly answering the phone to him, Nicole left helplessly within earshot.
"Hey Champ. Yeah, I miss you too. No I can't bring you booze, I'm working later. Yeah I guess I could come over after but… It's just gonna be a late finish and I'm already kinda tired. I mean, you could always come over- well, you're gonna have to come to the homestead some time. Well… yeah of course Wynonna's gonna be there, she's my sister."
Nicole hadn't meant to, but her eyes had wandered back over to Waverly as the conversation continued. She glanced back at Nicole with an almost embarrassed expression as she disappeared out the front door. Nicole closed her eyes and exhaled deeply.
Sure she already knew there was a boy-man, but Champ Hardy? Champ freakin' Hardy. Why, of all the pretty-faced monkeys speeding around Purgatory in a shiny toy car did it have to be Champ Hardy? Surely Waverly could do better. Nicole wanted better for her.
She found herself wistfully dreaming of having a close enough relationship with Waverly that she could let her know how much she deserved better. She felt such a strong sense of wanting to protect Waverly, not just from harm but also from local dumbasses that try and sleaze their way out of tickets. She took a deep breath.
Aw geez, Haught, she thought to herself. You got it bad.
She didn't get much longer to dwell on this before the phone rang, new emails came in and her job beckoned her full attention once again. She decided to try and forget about Champ and - if possible - Waverly for the rest of the day at least. Finding an excuse to speak to the youngest Earp again would be tomorrow's mission, and something to keep her going through another uneventful day in Purgatory.