Holy cow this chapter got away from me a bit! Hope you enjoy this extra long update - please R/R.

This chapter covers the rest of the events in 1x03 and starts to delve a little deeper into Nicole's thoughts and history.

Nicole was ready to clock off for the day. Just another ten minutes until her shift was over and she' grab her keys and her stetson, bid her often-less-than-social colleagues a goodbye wave and make good on her intention to follow up on the disturbance reported at Shorty's the other day. The disturbance that she had failed so utterly to follow up on with her first attempt.

Arguably, checking out a call like that so many days after the fact was a like shutting the barn door after the horse had already bolted, but she reasoned to herself that she'd be going there off-duty so she wouldn't be wasting official police hours on it. And anyway, she took due diligence very seriously. She was nothing if not determined to be a good cop, which was of course the main reason for wanting to go back. Obviously. And since she was off-duty, there'd be no harm in grabbing a drink while she was there and… getting to know whoever may happen to be around.

She'd managed quite successfully to just focus on her work for the majority of the day. It had comprised mostly of finishing reports and filing paperwork; processing speeding fines, following up on information requests and reading the questionable appeals that locals had made against issued parking tickets. Nicole had to admire the creative optimism of any small-town person that tried to claim that their car must have been stolen and then parked illegally by the mob due to insufficient trunk space for body transportation. She had to admit, she'd not heard that one before.

Ultimately though it hadn't taken long before her mind had wandered back into to the territory of a certain Earp.

I wonder what Waverly's favourite colour is.

The thought had appeared, unbidden, in her head while she was mid-way through pouring a fresh cup of the not-fresh coffee from the breakroom. It caught her by surprise, having been in the midst of planning the conversation she'd have to have with the victim of the mob car-theft-and-park case. Dumbfounded as she was by the sudden mental segue, she ended up pouring some of the coffee onto her hand. The red scald on her knuckle served as a painful reminder that she was apparently now incapable of making it through more than a few hours without thinking of the girl from Shorty's.

You are hopeless, she thought to herself. Aside from the excruciatingly sad stereotype of crushing on a straight girl like she was fourteen, Nicole was becoming acutely aware of how frequently her concentration at work was failing. What the hell was the matter with her? Ok sure, Waverly was very, very pretty and Nicole was probably not the first person that had turned to jelly when they met her, but still. Nicole was a grown-ass woman. She'd been attracted to people before and hadn't lost the ability to pour a cup of coffee or string a sentence together.

Her thoughts strayed to other encounters with beautiful women. Nicole certainly didn't think of herself as some great catch, but she felt reasonably confident talking to someone with good looks. 'Nothing ventured', and all that - and her boldness had worked well for her in the past. Hell, if anything she'd been a little too cool and confident when faced with a pretty woman. It was this after all that had found her waking up in a Vegas hotel room with a brand new ring on her finger that sobered her up so rapidly it could go down in the history books as the official 'cure for drunk'. And despite this, Nicole had never found herself pondering what Shae's favourite colour was. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure if she'd ever even asked.

She ran her hand under the cold tap, her knuckles gently throbbing as she delved deeper into her own thoughts.

Perhaps it was because Nicole still didn't really know anyone in town very well - other than Mr Kim from the take-out place on 3rd - and her subconscious was crying out for a real friend. She spent more hours working than not, and between the constantly anti-social shifts and her sometimes prickly colleagues there was never really a chance for her to meet new people, much less meet someone she liked.

She liked it in Purgatory, for sure. It had a small-town charm that reminded her of time spent with her grandparents out West, where everyone on the street knew everyone else by name and tipped a hat to them in a friendly way when they walked by. Given the rocky nature of her childhood living situation and the anonymity that goes with living in the big city, Nicole was craving a little bit of that warm, safe familiarity for herself. But here in Purgatory, she was still an outsider. It would take a good long while before she would stop being the new girl in town and some days she wondered if she'd ever be seen as 'one of them' instead of the big city cop.

It was like arriving late to a party, where everyone has already formed the groups that they're going to hang out in for the night and she'd missed the starting drinks. The game of figuring out where she fit in, playing catch up with the stuff that everyone else had already known for years… it was a daunting prospect. And it didn't help that there was just the very faintest wall between her and the other deputies too.

Nedley had had applications from folks all over town for the new position of Sheriff's Deputy, but he'd specifically gone looking further afield. She didn't know why he'd ultimately picked her, or how many other people were in the running, but it was clear he'd made his choice for some specific reason and he seemed to have kept a particularly close watch on her since she arrived. Nicole had been determined to prove that he'd made the right decision and put everything she had into the job. She started early, stayed late, was always first to respond to a dispatch call, did her patrol rounds faster than anyone else and submitted paperwork like a machine. As proud as she was of herself for that, it earned her more than a few sideways glances from her colleagues. She knew she wasn't going to be invited out for drinks any time soon.

And to be honest, it was no great loss as far as she was concerned. Sure, she liked the people she worked with, but they didn't have loads in common. Conversations outside of the subject of work were a struggle. Anything regarding standard Purgatory-resident knowledge was something Nicole couldn't really participate in, and she could reliably create silence on demand when she mentioned about her time travelling, or hiking, or living in the city.

She had absolutely no fact on which to base it, but she had a feeling that a conversation with Waverly would be different. Waverly hadn't given her 'that look' when they'd first met - the look that said 'you're not from around here'. She was one of the few people in town that hadn't. It felt like Waverly herself was different from the rest of the people in town, like she was part of the small-town machine, but she was a self-aware entity above it all that just chose to participate. Like she thought bigger than the world right in front of her and could really see things. Like she could really see Nicole.

By the time Nicole had returned to her desk, her mug stained with coffee dribbles and her hand pink from the cold water, she had come to a decision. She absolutely wanted to get to know Waverly better.

Yes there was the crush, but she'd get past that soon enough so they could just be friends. Probably. Hopefully.

And she could grit her teeth and put up with - she took a moment to take a breath and calm her flared nostrils - Champ. Who knows, maybe with Nicole's influence Waverly might see what a total jackass he actually was.

The key takeaway was that Nicole wanted to be friends with Waverly. That wasn't something she could just decide for the both of them though, it was something that would either happen or it wouldn't. She'd never dream of pushing Waverly into a friendship, but if she didn't reach out and make a first step then there was every chance that their paths would just never cross enough to get it started.

So she had resolved to use the casual, off-duty follow up of the disturbance at Shorty's as the catalyst, however thinly veiled an excuse that may be. And because she couldn't bear the thought of waiting another moment more than she had to, she would be heading there as soon as her shift ended in a few moments time.

She watched the minutes tick by, her knee bobbing anxiously up and down. She surreptitiously checked her reflection in the screen of her cellphone and contained a few stray strands of hair. Because she needed to look professional while she was still wearing her uniform. Obviously.

The final five minutes of her shift crawled by at a glacial pace, as only the final five minutes of a work shift can. Her hand was poised over her stetson, ready to grab and go, when she heard the dispatch radio burst to life with the words 'shots fired' and 'hostages'.

For a second she forgot all about her prior plans for the evening and rose instinctively to her feet, switching to fully alert cop-mode. Nedley emerged from his office, grabbing the radio to confirm the details with dispatch. She listened intently to the details.

Locals had reported shots fired at the surplus store in town. Unknown persons had barricaded the door, claiming they had hostages. No word yet on how many hostages or hostage-takers. In a blink, Nedley was turning to Nicole and marching back to his office for his jacket, hat and keys.

"Haught," you're with me.

Nicole nodded, threw on her hat and jacket and followed him wordlessly out the door as he barked a few other instructions to her colleagues.

The scald on her knuckle burned as she jumped into her cruiser and grabbed the wheel, like it was trying to remind her that she had a prior engagement. She pushed the thought out of her head. She wasn't Nicole right now, she was Officer Haught, Sheriff's Deputy and she needed to focus. Waverly Earp would have to wait.

When Nicole had pulled up to the scene in her cruiser she spared a moment to roll her eyes when she saw that Dolls and Wynonna were already there. She scanned the scene to make sure there were no civilians about and thankfully the small-towniness of Purgatory seemed to be on their side as spectators were few and stood cautiously well back.

As she stepped out of the car, Nedley was already talking Dolls. By the time she was halfway over to them, Nedley had started back towards her looking like he could spit.

"What's happening sir?" She asked.

"It seems that our good friends Black Badge have the situation… under control," Nedley grumbled, taking a deep breath. "I guess we'll be told when we're needed." He said that last part with an almost childish tone that Nicole would have found funny if she wasn't equally enraged at Black Badge barging their way into a situation that as far as she could see, was out of their jurisdiction.

Why was Nedley just letting them take over again?

She huffed a frustrated sigh through gritted teeth. She knew Nedley was probably on her side, but she hadn't been there nearly long enough to voice her thoughts out loud. Out of options, the pair turned to watch as Dolls and Wynonna had a brief, hushed exchange and the Earp started walking towards the storefront with her hands up. She knocked on the door and glanced back around at them, looking wary as she waited for a response, gripping a cellphone in her right hand.

"What the hell is she doing?" Nicole found herself saying out loud.

"Ah, Christ knows," Nedley muttered. He made a beeline for the shotgun in his cruiser and Nicole un-holstered her side arm, raising it up to mirror Dolls who now had his gun trained on the bearded hostage-taker now leaning out of the building.

Nicole was rapidly assessing everything she saw in front of her, her academy training kicking in. The perp was average height with chest-length, greasy brown hair and a beard to match. He wore a bandana and brown leather jacket and looked jumpy and agitated - this wasn't a calm and collected guy, which made this situation a whole lot more volatile. Nicole watched as Wynonna and the perp exchanged a few words before the deputy stepped inside. Dolls lowered his gun immediately and fished a cellphone out of his pocket.

Nicole was incredulous. She'd never been on-scene during a hostage situation before, but she knew from her training that this was not how it was supposed to go. Ordinarily she'd have blamed it on the small-town tendency to skip standard operating procedure due to low-calibre training or even general laziness, but she knew someone like Dolls would know better. If he wasn't playing this by the book then it was a deliberate choice not to and if that was the case, it meant he knew something that they didn't.

Dolls started speaking into his phone, addressing whoever was holding the hostages inside the building.

"Tell me what you want."

Pause.

Dolls continued, lowering his volume a little but Nicole could still just about hear him. "The Black Badge Division has facilities outside the Ghost River Triangle, and if you harm one hair on my deputy's head, I guarantee you a fate much worse than death."

Nicoles eyes narrowed as Dolls hung up the phone and began pacing lightly, never taking his eyes off the storefront. She glanced to Nedley, who seemed to just be watching the whole thing play out without any intention to intervene. If that was the case then it meant that he also knew something that Nicole didn't. If he hadn't shared it with her already then he wasn't going to.

Nicole huffed in frustration, her eyes boring holes in the back of Dolls' head as they all just stood there waiting for his word to take action. This was not what she was used to. Why wasn't Dolls doing anything? Why wasn't Nedley making Dolls do something? There were hostages in there and nobody had even called any goddamn backup. It was just three of them stood in the street, waiting for… what? For Wynonna Earp to save the day?

After a few minutes the door opened again and the three tightened their grip on their weapons. It wasn't needed - three people emerged, fear written across their faces and their hands cable tied together. Nicole couldn't believe it. Had Wynonna actually convinced them to release the hostages?

Dolls stepped forward a little and ushered the three hostages towards the back of Nedley's car. Nicole was ready on her toes, to help shield them as they made their way past, eyes still fixed on the storefront for any sign of the perps.

"Are any of you hurt?" Nedley asked the three once they were safely shielded behind the body of the car.

"No, but there's people still in there," the woman said as Nedley cut their hands free. "Shorty, some guy and… Wynonna Earp."

Nicole gasped a little as she heard Shorty's name.

Oh my god, Shorty? Shorty had been one of the few aforementioned people in town not to treat her like some suspicious invader when she had first arrived. Nedley had taken Nicole to the bar for happy hour to introduce her to a few of the prominent locals, including Shorty. He'd welcomed her with such a genuine smile and handshake that she'd been somewhat taken aback. Then he poured her an on-the-house shot of what was probably the roughest bourbon she'd ever tasted and chuckled at her face when she'd knocked it back.

He was a decent, friendly man and now Nicole could picture him fearing for his life, restrained at gunpoint. She ground her teeth together and decided that this standing by doing nothing thing wasn't working for her any longer. She strode over to Dolls.

"What's the plan, Deputy Marshal?" She didn't so much ask as demand, with conviction so it was clear she expected a decent answer. To her pleasant surprise, Dolls' response was to the point and not laced with his usual condescension. He turned to her as he spoke and for the first time she had some glimmer of hope that he saw her as an ally.

"We surround the store. You get a clear shot, let me know."

She nodded, "Alright."

"We hear shots, we go in," Dolls continued. He reached into his pocket again for his phone, which he then handed over, his tone softening almost imperceptibly. "Call Waverly. Tell her that her sister's in a situation."

Again, Nicole nodded, her heart suddenly beating a little harder. She was too preoccupied with being treated with actual respect to assess the reason why. It was then she noticed the familiar pickup truck parked outside the store. She felt a sinking feeling very low down in her stomach.

'Shorty, some guy and Wynonna Earp'. Great.

"Isn't that Champ's truck?"

Dolls turned to follow her eyeline where, quite accurately, Champ Hardy's truck in all its chrome-detailed glory glinted in the sunlight.

"Waverly's boyfriend?" He said, by way of confirmation.

"Unfortunately…"

Dolls' head whipped around and he gave her that same calculating, analytical stare as he had this morning and she realised she'd said that out loud.

Determined not to make eye-contact with him lest he ask her what she meant, Nicole turned rapidly on her heel and marched over to her cruiser looking for Waverly's number amongst Dolls' contacts.

She found it but, despite the urgency, she hesitated as her thumb hovered over the 'call' icon.

Oh my god I've got to speak to Waverly Earp. What the hell am I gonna say?

Her heart was thudding away in her chest now in a way that it hadn't done so far through this entire hostage situation. Which was ridiculous. There were hostages, and guns, and no back up, and no clue what was going on and still calling Waverly Earp was the thing that had her pulse racing.

Who was she calling as? A cop? A friend? The former felt much less personal than she wanted to, but the latter…. She certainly wasn't a friend. She'd barely spoken to her.

Get over yourself Haught, this isn't about you. She scolded herself for forgetting the bigger picture, and just hit the button, putting the phone to her ear.

The phone rang a few times and then Nicole heard the familiar music that was Waverly's voice.

"Hi this is Waverly, leave a message."

The beep came too quickly and Nicole wasn't ready to speak, leaving an awkward, awkward pause. In the absence of any apparent brain function, her training kicked in.

"Miss Earp, this is Officer Nicole Haught from the Sheriff's department. I'm afraid there's a situation at the surplus store involving your sister and your boyfriend. I'm on scene with Sheriff Nedley and Deputy Marshall Dolls where some folks have been taken hostage and…"

She faltered a little, hearing how cold and impersonal she sounded.

"Listen we think Champ and Shorty are in there and your sister has gone in to negotiate I think. We don't know what the kidnappers want yet, but I promise you we're doing everything we can to get them out safely. Wynonna… she's already saved three people. I'll keep this phone on me so you can call and I'll let you know what's happening. Please try not to worry. I'll get them back to you."

She hung up.

'I'll get them back to you.' Her face scrunched up as she replayed her own words back.

Why did she say that? At this point there was no way to guarantee that anyone else was going to walk out of there alive and even if there was… why would it be up to her to get them safely back to Waverly? She sighed. There would be time to cringe over the message later. For now, she had a job to do - not just out of duty, but for Waverly.

She pocketed the phone and went to herd the small crowd that was now forming up the street back a little.

She then went back over to Nedley's car, where the three hostages waited nervously as Nedley radioed the station to send more cars.

Finally, Nicole thought.

She turned to the hostages. "Did you see how many of them were holding you?"

"Three," replied the man who Nicole vaguely recognised as the surplus store owner. "The tall guy seemed to be their leader. One of them… he was crazy. Had a knife…"

Nicole was scribbling these notes down in her notepad as Nedley strode back over to Dolls. She kept an eye on the storefront, but was keen to do something useful rather than just stand around waiting.

Fortunately, the wait seemed to finally be over.

The door of the storefront opened and Wynonna was first out. Nicole grabbed her gun from its holster, poised for action.

"Get behind the vehicle," she said urgently to the hostages, guiding them to duck down behind Nedley's car. Dolls and Nedley both had their weapons aimed and ready to fire.

She watched as the kidnappers crept out of the building slowly using Wynonna and Shorty as human shields, at gunpoint. Champ was walking… well, cowering freely with his hands up over his face and the third perp was nowhere to be seen.

"OK, I can offer safe passage in return for the hostages," Dolls called out

"Here's our safe passage! Anyone with a badge follows us, they all die!" That was the tall one behind Wynonna; the leader.

Dolls lowered his gun. "Deputy, did they find what they were looking for?"

To her credit, Wynonna didn't look scared. Champ looked like he was going to piss himself and Shorty looked understandably concerned, but if you were to judge the situation by Wynonna's expression you'd think it was all just a minor annoyance. "Yeah. Loveless heart. But don't sweat it, I'm gonna kill these sons of bitches with my bare hands."

Despite the severity of the situation, Nicole couldn't help but smirk at that, impressed by her bravado.

The perps forced Wynonna and the others into the piece-of-shit van parked out front.

Nedley was clearly getting anxious. "Can I at least shoot out the goddamned tires?"

"Yeah, if you want them to die now, go ahead". Nicole huffed an exasperated sigh. Good to know that Dolls was still an asshole.

The van's engine roared into life. Nicole's eyes widened.

They were going to get away. She looked frantically over at Dolls, who didn't seem to be planning any kind of action and Nedley who for whatever reason was still following Dolls' lead. She stormed over to them.

"We're just letting them go?"

"No," was Dolls' stern reply.

They watched the van roll past them and Nicole thought it looked very much like they were, in fact, just letting them go. She tried to keep her breaths calm and even. The van sped away around the block and out of sight. And she did nothing.

'I'll get them back to you' she had said. She felt a sickening lurch in her stomach at the thought of having to tell Waverly if anything happened to her sister or her boyfriend. Or her boss for that matter.

She was about to ask Dolls what the next move was, but he beat her to it.

"You two clear the scene."

She turned and looked at him incredulously. Was he serious? He was still watching the empty street down which the van had sped and no longer seemed to be at all concerned with the Sheriff or his Deputy stood nearby. Nicole held her stern gaze as long as she could, waiting for him to look at her so she could give him the stink eye. He didn't budge and eventually her frustration overtook. She turned and stalked away, re holstering her gun and clenching her fists.

Deep breaths Haught, you're a cop and you've been given an order. Be professional.

Nedley was heading towards the surplus store front, shotgun in hand, and Dolls was already in his government issue spook-mobile, speeding away down the street presumably after the van.

"Haught, keep those people back," Nedley called over to her as he cautiously kicked the door open and disappeared inside the store.

Nicole went to conduct crowd control on the dozen or so people that had started to creep closer to the scene.

"Ok folks I'm gonna need you all to take a good twenty steps back-" her instructions were cut short by the unmistakable sound of Nedley's gun firing from within the store.

Nicole whirled around on the spot, gun trained on the store front as the crowd behind her scattered amidst screams. The door burst open and the third perp emerged, his shirt bloodied and torn.

"Freeze!" The perp didn't even slightly acknowledge Nicole's command, instead he turned and bolted down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.

Nicole fired. She knew she was a good shot and it sure looked like she'd hit him pretty solidly in the shoulder, but he barely stumbled. She raced after him, Nedley emerging from the building apparently unharmed behind her.

The perp ducked down an alleyway and as Nicole reached it there was no sign of him. She stared, gun still aimed ahead, eyes frantically scanning to see where he could have gone. The alley was brick-lined, with no other entrances for a few hundred yards. There was no way he could have run fast enough to have reached them and there was nowhere to hide. Where the hell had he gone?

Nedley chugged to a breathy stop behind her, running clearly not his forte. She turned to him, lost for words, her mouth gaping open in dismay at her failure to apprehend the runner.

"Sir I… He just…"

"It's ok Haught. Let's just clear the street," Nedley clapped her on the shoulder with something a little too much like pity for Nicole's liking. "Stevens will be here in a minute, he'll help you take statements. I'll check the store again."

Nicole couldn't tear her eyes away from the alley, as if the perp was going to suddenly appear. She huffed angrily, grit her teeth and slid her gun back into its holster.

For the next hour she tried to be vigilant with her police work to distract her until she heard any word about Wynonna and the others. She briefed Deputy Stevens on the situation when he arrived, she took statements from the hostages, they swept the store and took notes and photos to match with the statements. They told the spectators outside again and again that they couldn't release any information at this time.

Nicole kept checking Dolls' phone in her pocket. She wasn't sure whether it was for the best or worse that Waverly still hadn't called back.

It seemed like an eon before Nedley walked over with a grave expression and told her that Dolls had contained the situation with one casualty. Nicole's heart fired up in a storm of mixed relief, guilt and horror as he told her that Shorty was dead.

Whether or not Waverly ever did call back, she didn't know as she'd handed Dolls his phone back when they'd returned to the station that evening. He hadn't said much, just taken the phone back with a nod of thanks - thanks for more than just keeping his phone safe. Maybe she was making some minute headway with the Deputy Marshall.

It was clear though that this wasn't the time to talk about what had happened. Nicole was already expecting not to be told the full story. No perps had been brought back to the jail cell or the morgue.

Just Shorty.

Nicole had seen them wheeling the body bag into the station as she'd been heading home. She'd then jumped into her cruiser and driven home where she'd punched the back of her sofa repeatedly until her knuckles started to bruise. A few tears escaped and she couldn't tell if they were for Shorty or for herself. She had a sleepless night wondering what would have happened if they'd done things differently. She replayed her hasty promise to Waverly that she'd bring them home and felt guilty for having made a promise about something so far out of her control.

Everyone who loved Shorty had gathered at the bar the next day to share their grief and raise a glass. Nicole almost felt like she was intruding by being there, but she knew she had to come.

She saw Waverly learning on the bar, her usually radiant smile absent as she gazed sadly at nothing in particular. She looked as though the whole world rested across her shoulders. Nicole felt her chest tighten and she made her way over to her, heart in her throat. She was terrified that Waverly might not want to talk to her or might be mad at her for the phone call - and she also knew it was selfish to think for even a second that Waverly would care about her at all, given what had just happened.

"Waverly," Nicole's heart raced as the brunette looked up at her, eyes bloodshot and glistening, vulnerable. "I'm so sorry."

"I just can't believe he's gone." Waverly's voice broke on the last word and her face crinkled as she tried to contain the tears that were trying to force their way out.

Nicole felt helpless. She felt desperate to offer some, any comfort but knew full well all the usual platitudes wouldn't cut it. Unable to think of anything to say, she reached out and rested her hands on Waverly's hoping that the contact would express the words she couldn't seem to find.

Her breath caught in her chest as her fingers ran over Waverly's silky soft skin. She blinked the thought away. This wasn't the time or the place and this wasn't about her. It was about Waverly.

Waverly's fingers tightened around Nicole's and for a moment she felt a pull, like magnetism, and it was all she could do to stop herself reaching across the bar to wrap her arms around the young Earp. She chewed her lip and just stared at Waverly's hands as they grasped her own. She hoped she wasn't imagining it, but it felt like maybe Waverly was actually taking comfort in the contact.

And then, with all the grace and timing of an ass-backwards bull, Champ Hardy appeared and wrapped his arms possessively around the brunnette, plastering the side of her face with rough kisses. "Oh, it's okay." he cooed.

Nicole pulled her hands away like she'd been burned.

"Oh, uk ok." A minor flash of annoyance flickered across Waverly's face, but then it was gone again and she absent mindedly grabbed Champ's arm, gazing off vacantly for a moment like she was tuning him out.

Come on jackass, read the room. Nicole thought bitterly. She barely knew Waverly and even she could tell that this was not the kind of comfort she needed right now. Nicole stood there awkwardly for a moment, Champ having not really acknowledged her presence. She tried to swallow the painful, sick feeling of seeing this buffoon all over Waverly and her eyes darted around uncomfortably, trying to find somewhere else to look. She tried to remember that Champ had been a hostage less than twenty-four hours ago, held at gunpoint and fearing for his life. On this basis, she decided to try and cut him some slack. Try.

Well, I guess three's a crowd, she thought, and made to back away but Waverly's hand suddenly lunged out towards her, falling short as she was still weighed down by Champ draped around her shoulders.

"Hey."

Nicole found herself simply staring at the motion, her mouth gaping a little. Waverly had reached out for her, like she wanted to re-establish the contact. It was more information than Nicole could manage at that moment and she didn't feel brave enough to take her hand back with Champ still there. She looked back up into Waverly's eyes. It didn't feel as close as holding hands but for the briefest moment it felt to Nicole like they were the only two left in the room.

"I got your voicemail. About Wynonna. Thanks."

Nicole didn't even notice that she was holding her breath. She didn't even care that Champ echoed Waverly's thank-you in a sickly sweet whisper that ordinarily would have made her roll her eyes.

"That was really sweet," Waverly nodded, shooting her a faint but sincere, teary smile.

Nicole exhaled and returned the smile a little, her heart warming at the news that the message had been seen as a gesture of comfort and not just an official police call. "Sure…" her eyes then darted to Champ, who to all the world looked like he really was friendly and grateful. But to Nicole, with his arms still set firmly around Waverly like she was his property, his expression said: 'Thanks. I'll take it from here.'

"Of course." Nicole's smile faded a little and she turned and walked away with a final nod, her head a mess with thoughts and her heart beating so erratically she no longer knew how to feel.

She was somewhere in between rage and relief, sadness and frustration. Part of her wanted to stay, to pay her respects with the others and maybe have a chance to speak to Waverly again, alone. Part of her wanted to leave and run as far away as she could. She spotted Dolls stood across from the bar and decided to distract herself with conversation.

"Hey, uh, any update on that time capsule murder?" she asked.

"Nedley knows I won't tell him, huh?" Dolls turned to her with the closest thing resembling a smile she'd ever seen on his face that still wasn't a smile. Nicole couldn't help but smirk. "It's unresolved. We're handing the case back over to metro."

Nicole was again surprised that Dolls had bothered to answer her. Maybe it was because he thought she was asking on Nedley's behalf… but then, he'd just admitted he wouldn't tell Nedley himself. Maybe she really was making progress and building bridges with Black Badge.

"Any connection to the kidnapping?"

"None." Dolls' response was short and too quick. Nicole wasn't entirely convinced.

"Poor Shorty."

"Yeah. We have his body, we're doing a full autopsy, but our best guess is the stress of the ordeal was too much for his heart condition."

Nicole later felt bad that this was the point at which she had gotten distracted, but Waverly had finally extracted herself from her boyfriend's clutches and was wandering over to her sister on the other side of the bar. Now she was away from Champ, Nicole felt calmer and less anxious. A gentle smile worked its way onto her face as she watched the brunette.

"She said she was glad I called," she said vaguely to no one in particular.

"I'll bet," Dolls said, snapping her out of the dopey-smile daze she had fallen into.

She looked at him and he looked right back with his calculating stare. It was like he could see right through her and tell what she was thinking, but he said nothing further and returned his attention to surveying the room like a human security camera.

Nicole excused herself from the now-ended conversation and went to sit at a table by herself in the corner, ordering a shot of bourbon from the bar on the way. She dropped into the seat with a sigh and chewed on her lip, staring at the liquid in the shot glass for a moment.

If this were an old cowboy movie, I'd be wanting to offload my woes to the barkeep right about now, she thought sadly. Not that she'd ever been one for offloading her woes to anyone. She played her thoughts pretty close to the chest generally, but today she really felt the weight of her empty social circle. It was a cruel irony that today she could really have done with offloading to the barkeep. She could really have done with someone to talk to. Someone that wasn't a robot like Dolls, or who wasn't her boss, or who didn't think the best part of being a Deputy was that you could make up legitimate sounding excuses to leave a car in the really convenient parking spots.

Today she wished she had someone close, here to talk to because evidently working the thoughts out in her head hadn't done the trick. She looked over at Waverly as she talked to her sister, leaning on the pool table - a vision, despite the sorrow weighing her down. Nicole sighed and knew this crush wasn't going anywhere.

She looked distantly down at her own hands, her fingertips still tingling from Waverly's touch. She couldn't have imagined it… Waverly had wanted to touch her. She'd squeezed her hand so tight and reached out so urgently when Nicole pulled away. Nicole wondered if it was just the loss of Shorty and a subsequent need to feel someone there. To know someone was watching out for her the way Shorty seemed to. Nicole sighed again and gazed over at the photo of Shorty on the table several feet away.

"Don't worry Shorty," she murmured, feeling just reflective enough to wonder if he could hear her. "I've got her back."

She raised her glass to the photo in the frame and sent the bourbon down her throat in one go, coughing at the burn.