Phew! It took a while to get time to write this week, so apologies for the gap between chapters. We're at about 1x05/1x06 now.

I feel like, considering how relieved she is when she finally finds out what's going on in Purgatory in 1x13, Nicole must have spent a lot of time going back and forth trying to figure everything out. Wouldn't you start to feel like you were going crazy?

Nicole's radio crackled into life as she drove her cruiser across town to the station. It was just past one in the afternoon and she was on her way to work to start that day's shift.

She sighed as Gale from dispatches voice spoke out from the speaker at Nicole's shoulder. A local unit was needed to pick up a drunk from Shorty's.

"Looks like Hamish Carson will need to be taken home. Gus has already got his keys so no trouble anticipated."

The Purgatory lunchtime rush, she thought to herself as she responded to the call and adjusted her route.

"I'm on it Gale."

Midday courtesy rides for the folks who had drunk one too many at Shorty's was a staple of a Purgatory police officer's week. Nicole was no stranger to the idea that people drank, nor the idea that some people drank arguably too much at antisocial hours of the day. In Purgatory though, the people that she would drive home at lunch time were often the same people that would somehow be back in the bar later that evening, and the same people that would serve her pancakes at the diner the next morning or show up to fix a flat tyre at the road side with an energetic spring in their step. There was a normality to the routine that seemed to negate the side effects of alcohol consumption beyond a few hours of slurring and sleep. Either that, or the whole town was just permanently drunk.

She pulled her cruiser up to the kerb outside Shorty's and killed the engine. Her eyes glanced at the front door as she pretended to be fiddling with her notepad for a moment. Her heart beat gained that familiar extra weight that seemed to go hand in hand with proximity to what Nicole was starting to think of as 'Earp Zones'. She wondered if Waverly was working today. She hoped so. It had been a few days since she'd seen the young Earp and she was hoping for a chance to invite her for a coffee. After all, Waverly technically still owed her one.

She grabbed her stetson from the passenger seat and stepped out of the car, straightening her uniform and brushing away any surface dust or lint that she could see before striding confidently through the front door of the building. Inside, she gripped her belt buckle to distracted herself from the compulsion to wring her hands nervously and looked around. The bar was fairly quiet, with maybe fewer than a dozen of the regulars dotted around.

She looked to the bar where she could see Hamish face down, eyes closed and unmoving. Gus was stood behind the bar and caught Nicole's eye as she walked in. She nodded for the young Deputy to come over.

Nicole made her way across the room, taking her hat off and resting it down on the bar.

"Afternoon Ma'am," she started, but Gus cut her short.

"Gus'll do just fine," she dismissed the formality with a wave of her hand. "I wasn't quite expectin' anyone to come by so quick. It normally takes the boys at the station a reasonable while to draw straws and come down here."

"Well," Nicole leaned in conspiratorially. "Things always take longer if you leave it to the boys to organise them."

Gus gave a hearty laugh. "Ain't that the truth." She gestured at Hamish who looked very unconscious. "Looks like you might need to wait a few before Hamish is ready to take a walk. Can I get you anythin'?"

Nicole eyed up the coffee machine and decided she could spare a few minutes for Hamish to come round.

"A cappuccino would be great actually, thank you."

Gus set to making the coffee and Nicole slid onto a bar stool, trying subtly to scan the rest of the room. There was no obvious sign of Waverly.

"You looking for someone?"

Nicole's spun back around at Gus' question and she realised the older woman had been watching her.

"No, no just generally… Taking in the atmosphere." Nicole aimed for casual but had a feeling her tone had fallen a little short of it. Time to change the subject. "I guess we haven't been properly introduced. I'm-"

"Officer Haught," Gus supplied. "Nedley's new star recruit. My Waverly mentioned you," she added on seeing Nicole's surprised expression.

The surprise only grew.

Waverly mentioned me.

Nicole felt her heart thud a few extra heavy beats. She tried to keep her expression neutral and her breath steady, the older woman watching her carefully.

"You're from out of town I hear," Gus continued, handing Nicole the coffee. "How you findin' Purgatory? Settled in OK?"

"It definitely has its… quirks, doesn't it," Nicole said with a smile and a glance at sleeping Hamish. "But yeah, I'm getting the hang of it all. Folks are all pretty friendly." She gestured at Gus herself and the older woman let out a short laugh.

"Hah! Don't believe that for a second." She shot Nicole a friendly wink. "I'll hand it to you though, you haven't run for the hills yet so you've either gotta be pretty stubborn or just plain crazy and either'll do in this town."

Nicole felt like that was probably the first completely true thing anyone had said about the town since she arrived. She smiled and slipped her coffee.

"Wow that's actually great," she said, licking the caffeinated foam from her lip. It was probably the best coffee she'd had since she'd arrived in Purgatory, though there admittedly wasn't much competition.

"Crazy it is then," Gus declared. She gave Nicole a knowing wink and set about cleaning the bar taps, leaving the redhead to her beverage.

Nicole found herself looking idly around the room again, scanning for familiar faces. For a particular familiar face. She sighed, concluding resolutely that the room was Waverly-free. And why shouldn't it be? It's not like Waverly's whole life revolved around her shifts at Shorty's. After all, she worked with Black Badge in some capacity. And she had - Nicole grit her teeth - a boyfriend, so she probably spent time with him too. Unfortunately.

Really, Nicole didn't know much about the young Earp. Or the older Earp, for that matter. Or really anyone in town. Once again her mind cycled back around to her lack of decent friends in town and the subsequent lack of people to talk to about the numerous thoughts rolling around in her head. She was starting to get on a little better with her coworkers, she thought, but it was still early days and really there was nobody yet that she felt comfortable going to for advice or to share her theories about the BBD. She tried to avoid the word 'lonely' but it was working its way to the surface all the same.

She let out an audible sigh, gazing down at her cup.

"It's coffee, not whisky," she heard Gus' stern voice say. She looked up to find the woman staring at her, an eyebrow raised. "And it's far too early in the day for the 'rough day cowboy?' conversation."

"Sorry, what?"

"You're lookin' like you wanna drown your sorrows in that cup. I'm here to tell ya that particular beverage ain't gonna do the trick."

"Oh! No, I'm fine just… just had a long week is all."

She smiled, genuinely, but Gus looked unconvinced as ever. Gus opened her mouth to speak again but at this moment, Hamish sat upright with a cough/snort combo.

"Ahem. 'Nuther round Gussss," he slurred, pushing forward the glass he had been snuggling up to.

"Looks like my coffee break is over," Nicole smirked, downing the last of the cappuccino. "How much do I owe you?"

Gus dismissed the question with a wave. "Don't be daft girl, this won't be the last time you'll need to come by and take out the trash. Crappy coffee is a given."

Nicole smiled gratefully as Hamish's burrow frowned, realisation dawning on him that he was the trash.

"Hey!"

"Oh hush it Hamish, I'll see ya again tomorrow." Gus took the glass and cup, loading them into the tray for the kitchen as Nicole helped Hamish off his stool.

"C'mon Mr Carson, let's get you home."

"Oh, and officer?"

Nicole turned back to Gus as she called her.

"Want some free advice?"

Nicole blinked, unsure of whether she'd regret it and said, "sure."

"Long weeks can turn into long months and long years pretty quick. Sometimes it's good t' just… let loose and get it all out." Gus gave her what she hoped was meant as a reassuring nod. The rest of it was cryptic as hell. Nicole smiled and nodded back.

"Thanks. I'll see you around."

She helped Hamish stagger out of the building and into her cruiser and began the drive to his run-down house East of Purgatory central, mulling over Gus' enigmatic words of wisdom.

Calamity Jane curled around Nicole's ankles as she opened her front door and stepped inside the house. Nicole smiled and reached down to scratch behind the ginger cat's ears.

"Hey girl, have a good afternoon?"

It was nice having something alive in the house to come home to. To know that the building wasn't empty. That she wasn't totally alone. It also provided an excellent excuse for why she would frequently have conversations out loud with, effectively, herself. It wasn't like Calamity Jane was likely to answer.

She kicked the door shut behind her and dropped her duffle bag on the bench seat to the side. The cat continued to coo around her affectionately as she took off her shoes and paired them neatly on the mat.

Mrreow.

"OK, I know girl, I'm on it."

She knew what the feline was after. A quick trip to the kitchen and a full bowl of cat food later and Calamity Jane's affections had miraculously transferred to her dinner, her owner now forgotten.

Nicole chuckled and slouched down on the sofa. It was past midnight and she was certainly tired, but her mind was still too active to consider bed.

She'd spent much of the day lost in thought, investigating and trying to make sense of the murders and strange occurrences that were filling up her secret case file. As predicted, the BBD had taken ownership of the cut-throat murder case and the rest of Purgatory SD was acting like nothing happened.

Not Nicole though. She kept digging. She looked into the background of both victims, trying to find something that connected them, but no luck. She ran the prints she had photographed from the bloody message on the mirror at Shorty's, but there had been no match. It seemed as well that John Henry had been inexplicably cleared of any suspicion with no further investigation and everyone was acting like that was totally normal.

It had been a frustrating day of dead ends. Nedley had made it clear already that the case was of little consequence to him and when she'd tried to bring the subject up casually in conversation with her coworkers she'd been met with a similar nonchalant response.

She had almost been tempted to ask Wynonna about it when she'd seen her at the station that morning… But then Waverly had walked in and suddenly she'd forgotten what it was she was even supposed to be working on.

Waverly. That had been another less than enjoyable part of the day. The brunette hadn't even glanced her way during the few times she went back and forth past the bullpen. Nicole had barely had time to sulk about this before the bell at the front desk rang and she found herself looking up to greet the baby-faced boy-man that was Champ Hardy.

The friendly police officer smile Nicole usually started conversations with quickly evaporated.

"Waverly here?" Champ asked, apparently not burdened with the compulsion to say hello like normal, polite people.

He directed the question towards Phelps and Stevens who were at their own desks in the bullpen, but neither seemed to have an answer.

"She's in with Black Badge, you'll have to wait," Nicole replied shortly, looking back down at the report she had been reading.

"Can't you just go tell her I'm here?" Champ asked impatiently.

Nicole's eyes flicked up, her scowl clearly offering her thoughts on Champ's request. The burly boy-man rolled his eyes and pulled his phone from his pocket, starting to tap away at the screen.

Nicole tried to return to her work, but only a few moments passed before Champ's cellphone rang and she was subjected to his loud, obnoxious conversation.

"Yo Pete. Nah I'm gonna be late. Waiting for Waves at the cop shop. How the hell should I know, probably something to do with her sister."

Nicole massaged her temples attempting to drown Champ out with little success. Sure, it was… difficult to get along with someone when you had a crazy crush on their other half, but more than that some people were just fundamentally unlikeable. In Nicole's opinion Champ definitely fell into that category. What on earth did Waverly see in him?

His conversation went on. "I know man. It's cool though she'll get over this… Sherlog Holmes detectivephase soon I reckon. Yeah man I can't wait. Her crazy-ass sister'll skip town again and she'll go back to normal. I mean Gus is running the bar now so it's perfect."

Nicole didn't even notice that she had crumpled the corner of the report in her angered fist. 'Sherlog Holmes'? Seriously?

"Anyway we'll be there when we can," Champ droned like a petulant child. "Don't you dare beat my high score. Yeah. Save me some nachos."

It was lucky that Champ was in a world of his own as he hung up and continued to play with his phone, because if he'd looked up and seen the death stare Nicole was shooting him he'd have pressed charges for attempted murder.

How can she be with this ass hole, Nicole thought miserably.

It was then that Waverly appeared, not from the BBD office but the interrogation room. She looked upset and on edge. Nicole chewed her lip, fighting the urge to check whether she was OK. With Champ stood right there it seemed like it wouldn't be her place to ask what was wrong. Champ looked up at his girlfriend's approach and rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, finally." Champ stowed his phone in his pocket. He frowned at Waverly's empty hands. "Babe, grab your stuff, we're late."

Waverly folded her arms around herself, looking vulnerable in a way that Nicole hadn't witnessed before. It was a painful contrast to the smiley, laughing girl she had first met in Shorty's.

"Listen Champ I'm sorry I'm just not feeling up to games and movie night, you go without me. I think Gus needs a hand at Shorty's tonight anyhow."

Champ did at least drop his irritable pout. "You sure?"

Waverly nodded, pushing a smile onto her face that didn't seem entirely genuine.

"Alright babe, text me tomorrow, 'kay?" he gave her a kiss on the forehead with the equivalent force of a light punch and strode away out of the station, fishing his phone out to play with once again.

Waverly was left standing alone by the front desk, her face still a picture of distress. Nicole felt a sharp lump in her throat at the sight of her. Had she really gotten to the point of feeling physical pain at the thought of Waverly's suffering? She rallied her courage and made to rise out of her seat to go find out what was wrong when everyone's attention was drawn to a blonde woman marching into the precinct, her heels echoing down the hall almost as loudly as her voice.

"Bobo Del Ray, where is he?" she demanded, her stern eyes locking with the first officer she saw - Nicole was grateful that it was Phelps and not her that the woman honed in on.

The next five minutes passed in a whirlwind, Nedley emerging from his office to debate with the woman who said she was Bobo Del Ray's lawyer, there to argue about the unlawful arrest of her client. Nicole was aware of Bobo Del Ray - he was some sort of low life king of the trailer park across town - but she'd never seen him in person and had somehow been totally unaware that he'd been brought into the building. Waverly disappeared amidst the chaos, much to Nicole's disappointment. It became quickly apparent that Bobo had been arrested by the BBD, and Nicole made a mental note to add that to her list of questions to figure out answers to. Had he been in the interrogation room? Had the brunette been in there talking to him?

Bobo was released shortly after, Nicole catching a glimpse of the alarming and dangerous looking man as he exited the building with the blonde lawyer. Wynonna then left, followed soon after by a speedy Waverly who, once again, didn't spare a glance in Nicole's direction as she went.

That had been hours ago and Nicole was still trying to shift the uncomfortable feeling of a heavy, tight knot in her stomach. She had thought at first that it was because of her unease at the questions hanging over Black Badge and what they were doing in Purgatory. Then she felt like maybe it had more to do with the bad feeling she had that murders were being covered up. And then there was Waverly.

Nicole smothered her face with her own hands, digging at her own cheeks in frustration as she tried to organise the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions spinning around in her mind.

Dammit Haught you're a mess. You need to talk to someone, stat.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and thumbed through the contacts until she reached Justine - her academy roommate. It had been a few months since she'd dropped her a line, but she was a reliable friend and she'd know what to say. She only glanced briefly at the time before she tapped out a message anyway. Justine would be awake. It was Friday night, so she'd either be out partying or she'd be out crashing the party with flashing blue lights.

'Hey J, long time no speak. How's tricks?'

Nicole had barely put the phone down when she heard it buzz, the screen illuminating with Justine's bubbly round face and a new message.

'Sup homeslice! How's the small town life?'

Nicole smiled and rolled her eyes. Justine had been happy for her when Nicole had announced she'd been given the job in Purgatory. It was a great opportunity, but her friend was still sad that she'd chosen to leave her and the city behind. Justine had always talked about them both taking the city by storm and working their way up the ranks together. And then she'd met her boyfriend Bobby and bit by bit they started working more on their own individual careers. They both knew that they each had their own path to walk, but Justine teased Nicole for choosing the 'small town' life all the same.

'Yeah, it's good,' Nicole typed. She paused, unsure of what else to say. She needed someone to talk to about… well, everything, but it suddenly seemed so unfair to dive right into a venting session having not spoken to her in so long.

Nicole deliberated on it for a few more minutes. Evidently this was too long for Justine to wait and Nicole's phone lit up once again, this time with a video call. She smirked and accepted the call.

Justine's face filled the screen. It looked like she was at home for once.

"I was just texting you back you know."

"Pshh, please," Justine waved a dismissive hand, even though Nicole couldn't actually see it. "You can't fool me Haught. You need to talk about something and you were taking ages figuring out how to ask for help. That's textbook Nicole. What's up?"

Nicole chewed thoughtfully on the inside of her lip. Justine was great for this kind of thing; she always seemed able to call Nicole out on her feelings, even if she wasn't sure of them herself. The problem with that was that when Justine demanded an answer she so often had no idea where to begin.

"It's… things have been…" Nicole stopped and started, trying to pinpoint what she even needed to talk about.

"Let's start with an easier question," Justine offered. "How's the job going?"

"The job is good," Nicole confirmed. "It's a nice place and I feel like I have a chance to actually make a difference here, which is nice. Sheriff has been pretty supportive…" Until recently, she thought.

"Any asshole cops giving you trouble?"

Nicole thought of Dolls. "One, but I'm working on him. He's a Deputy Marshal. Leads a sort of… 'covert agency' that took over part of the precinct."

"That actually sounds pretty interesting. Why are they in your little corner of nowhere?"

"Wish I knew," Nicole sighed irritably.

Justine giggled evilly. "That must just be eating you up not knowing Haught."

Nicole rolled her eyes. This was an occasion where having someone know her that well was less helpful and more annoying.

"So asshole feds aside, the job is ok? Making friends?"

Nicole faltered a little. "People are mostly pretty friendly. I mean, I've met most of the town by now-"

"All twelve of them you mean?"

"Yeah I get it, I live in a small town."

"Can't believe you moved out there. You must be crazy."

"You're the second person to call me that today."

"Well I'm the only one who gets to call you crazy. Send 'em my way and I'll set them straight."

"It's ok, she's actually one of the nice ones. I think." Nicole still hadn't figured out if she was getting along with Gus. The older woman always looked at her like she was sizing Nicole up.

Justine raised a judgemental eyebrow. "So in that backwater town the definition of 'nice' is calling people crazy?"

"Well you just did."

"That's totally different. I'm allowed. So have you met any actually nice people yet?"

Waverly is nice, Nicole thought dreamily. She felt the tips of her cheeks start to burn and remembered that this was a video call. She tried to stop her thoughts creeping onto her face but wasn't fast enough.

"Oh. My. God." Justine visibly leant forward, making herself comfier in her chair, her expression gleeful. "Why the hell didn't you open with this? You met someone."

Nicole's whole face turned crimson as she fumbled to get some words out of her mouth. "Well, it's not exactly like that-"

"But you have though, right? You have a 'someone' that you met?"

Nicole sighed. That was the crux of it really wasn't it. She didn't have a 'someone'. The 'someone' was with someone else.

To her credit, Justine seemed to realise that she'd struck the nerve at the centre of the issue. She pulled an apologetic face.

Another voice could be heard from Justine's end of the call. "Who're you talkin' to babe?" Nicole recognised it as Bobby, who then appeared on screen over Justine's shoulder. "Oh, hey Nic!"

"Hey Bobby, how's it going?"

"It's going good, yeah-" Justine cut him off impatiently.

"Not now Bobby, Haught's getting her heart broken."

Nicole rolled her eyes. "I am not getting my heart broken, it's just..." She trailed off.

"What, she's not into you? Unavailable? Straight?"

Nicole cringed. "All of the above," she admitted.

Justine and Bobby sighed in unison. "Sorry Nic," said Bobby.

"It's really not a big deal," Nicole said, attempting to dismiss their concern. "It'll pass. I want it to pass. I want us to be friends."

"I bet you do."

"I'm serious."

"Ok fine, let's pretend I believe you. If it's no big deal then why did you need to talk about it so badly?"

Nicole hesitated before answering. "I guess… I just don't have someone here yet who I know well enough to talk to about stuff. I guess I just wanted to talk out loud, so things don't just get lost in my head. So I know I'm not crazy."

"Haught," Justine said flatly. "It's already been established: you are crazy."

Nicole thought about it. Was she crazy? She thought of Purgatory and it's remarkably high volume of deaths and disappearances. She thought of the closed door to Black Badge, beyond which she'd heard those screams and gunshots. She thought of the cut-throat murders, with no evidence that the murderer had been in the room other than a fingerprint with no match. She thought of the uncharacteristically stern way that Nedley told her to let it go when she asked for answers about these strange goings on.

And she thought about how Waverly seemed to know more than she was letting on about the BBD. And once she'd started thinking about Waverly she couldn't stop thinking about Waverly. Waverly, who she just wanted to get to know, who she just wanted to be near to even though it hurt every time Champ walked in. Who she just wanted to be important to, even if she didn't really know why.

Yeah. She was definitely crazy. But for now at least it felt like she kinda wanted to be. She didn't even notice the faint smile that started to grace her lips as she stared off into space.

"See Bobby, she's just smiling like a goon now. Total loon."

"Don't worry Nic, I know you're not," Bobby offered with a supportive wink.

"Ah what do you know," Justine said, dismissing her her boyfriend with a smirk. "Listen Haught, you know I'm always here for you, right? You don't have to do your brooding, internal downward spiral thing."

"I know."

"And maybe try not crushing on chicks who are totally unavailable. Just a thought."

Nicole rolled her eyes.

"I mean it Haught. Go out, have fun, get laid, whatever. Just get this girl out of your head. You'll feel better about it all, I promise."

"Thanks J," Nicole nodded, giving her friend a warm smile. "And thanks for calling."

"Big love, Haught. Now get some sleep. You look like shit." Nicole laughed as Justine shot her one more smirk and ended the call.

She slid back in her seat with a yawn, putting her feet up on the coffee table. The long day suddenly felt like it was catching up with her. Calamity Jane hopped up onto the sofa and curled into a ball at her side, Nicole giving her the usual scratch behind the ears. She knew she should go upstairs to bed, but she felt unexpectedly comfy just now, like the conversation and saying things out loud had somewhat lifted a weight off her shoulders. Like things felt a little clearer.

Her eyes closed and she drifted off into an easy slumber, dreaming of Waverly Earp's smile.

A note from the author:

There's a point I'd like to make real quick before you go. I've read a bunch of WayHaught fics that paint Champ as some unfaithful, abusive douchecanoe and while I do think that he's a total asshat who didn't deserve the time of day from Waverly, I can't help feeling like over-dramatising what a monster he is might be detrimental to Waverly's character. He doesn't have to be cheating or beating on her to not be right for her, or to be an asshole. I know there was that thing with Wynonna in 1x01 but other than that overall there's no canon information that makes out he's anything other than just an idiotic, selfish, childish dickhead.

I guess the point I want to make is, that I don't think peeps need to go overboard on the idea that someone has to be unfaithful or violent in order for them to be an unsuitable partner. There are a million ways in which someone can be wrong for a person, and abuse isn't always that obvious either. Things aren't black and white but it's easy to fall into a routine of being with someone who you don't really want to be with and it's not always easy to see if you're being treated badly. Sometimes you're not being treated badly. This is the point: not wanting to be with someone is a good enough reason not to be with them on its own. You don't need to justify a breakup with anything else, and I feel like the show expressed that point pretty well with the way Waverly ultimately ditched him. So I've written Champ as I see him - a real person who is not all that smart maybe, but who cares for Waverly as best he can (which is, admittedly, not very well). I just felt like this point was important to highlight. Thanks for reading guys, and I'll see you in the next chapter.