Nicole's POV
Muscle memory kicks in as I scale the wall like a possessed spider monkey, my hands and feet finding easy grips due to the multitude of mini ledges created by the aesthetically selected rectangular stones that the wall is made out of. I send up a silent thanks to the architects who designed the house.
My muscles start to burn as I gain momentum, my body feeling like it has become one with the wall as I move further and further away from the safety of solid ground.
The smell of smoke starts to become stronger as I near the window of the room where Waverly was held, encouraging me to fasten my pace even more.
I finally reach the window, gripping the windowsill firmly with my left hand. The burning sensation in my arm turns to an ache due to my lack of climbing practice as I hold my whole body up with one arm.
From this vantage point I can see the armada of vehicles speeding in the direction of the Svane house. The police, paramedics and fire department finally gracing us with their presence.
You are too slow. I think with gritted teeth as I return my attention to the glass panel of the window. Gonna have to smash it.
With my right hand, I grip the collar of my light cotton t-shirt and rip it until the shirt comes free of my body.
Exposed to the elements in only my sports bra, I am able to feel the full force of the light breeze on my back. The draft soothes the heat exuded from my body from the impromptu intense exercise I just put it through.
I grab my shredded shirt in my teeth and start wrapping it firmly around my right hand. Pulling back my shirt covered hand as far as I can, I swing my arm with force at the window pane.
A burning sensation shoots up my hand as I break through the glass, blood starting to trickle from the cuts I definitely just sustained. I ignore the pain, and carefully pull my body into the room.
My senses are consumed by the heavy layer of smoke that blankets the room, causing my lungs to constrict and yield in a cough. Along with this, the excruciating heat inside makes me long for the cool breeze outside.
But not yet. Not until Waverly is safely with me.
I remove the now blood-soaked piece of shirt from my hand and rip it into two long strips of fabric, tying one around my mouth to prevent my lungs from inhaling too much of the suffocating smoke.
Now equipped as well as was possible under the circumstances, I finally scan the room for signs of life. "Waverly?"
A light cough. "Nic…" Another cough. "Nicole?" Comes the stifled response through the smokey haze.
I follow the sound, which leads me through the blinding smoke to find Waverly tied up in a chair against the far wall of the room.
The sight of her fills me with both great relief and deep sorrow. She turns her beautiful hazel eyes towards me, rimmed red either from tears or the smoke, and coughs again.
"Nicole, is that really you?" She asks in a broken, teary voice that makes my heart clench in physical pain.
I am at her side in a flash, my hands tenderly cupping her cheeks. "Yeah, Waves, it's me. I am gonna get you out of here, I promise." I tell her, my own voice heavy with relief and emotion at finding her unharmed.
But that may not last long, with the flames on the other side of the door eating their way through the wood fast. I quickly tie the second much cleaner section of my ripped shirt around Waverly's mouth.
"For the smoke." I explain gently, before going to work on the single knot that held her bindings against the chair in place.
Despite the distress that was clearly pulsing through her body, Waverly manages to give me a small, relieved smile that makes me nearly forget the chaos surrounding us.
"I knew you would save me. I told that asshole you would come." I hear her say, catching her gaze as I struggle with the constrictor knot.
Relief builds in my chest at seeing Waverly's spirit visibly return in the form of a fire unrelated to the smoke billowing into the room lighting up her gorgeous hazel eyes.
"I will always come to get you." I tell her sincerely, still struggling with the damn knot. The flames have now officially done away with the door and are moving rapidly over the floor towards the carpet.
I feel panic attempt to breach the surface of my resolve when my short nails fail to make any progress with the knot. Urged by desperation, I resort to using my teeth and tug at the knot with all my jaw strength.
"Uh, Nicole, the fire it…" Waverly starts, her voice teetering on the edge of panic as the flames rapidly start consuming the carpet.
The heat of the fire starts to singe the skin on our arms when I finally manage to loosen the fucking knot. I nearly cry in relief, gathering the rope and hoisting Waverly into my arms in one motion just as the flames start consuming the chair which held my girlfriend mere seconds ago.
I place Waverly gently down on the ground as far away from the rapidly growing fire. "Waves, I need you to climb on my back. I am going to tie the rope to the curtain railing and lower us down that way. Quick, before the fire gets here!" I instruct her with my best attempts at a calm voice under the circumstances.
Waverly's eyes hold mine with complete trust as she nods and shifts till she is positioned behind me.
The smoke thickens and the heat reaches unbearable levels just as Waverly jumps onto my back, her firm legs circling my waist in a firm grip.
With the mere seconds I had to spare, I tie a clove hitch around the curtain railing above us and gently, yet urgently lift us over the broken glass shards jutting from the windowpane.
Waverly tightens her grip on me, her whisper of "I trust you, Nicole. Get us out of here." making me strong for what was sure to be the toughest abseil of my life. I had to try and get us as close to the ground as possible before the fire could reach the rope.
"Hold on, Waves." I say, taking my first steps back to safety as the smoke pours heavily from the room above us.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Wynonna's POV
Bobo runs towards the garage with unexpected speed, clearly figuring that the Fort Cortina was his best bet after I took his van out.
With me being closer to the house, it would be easy to intercept him.
But of course the bastard still had his gun and he was not afraid to use it. He fires off three rounds in my direction. They narrowly miss me as I duck behind the safety of the old fountain in front of the house.
Just as Bobo goes to open the garage door, I decide to give him a taste of my own lead. I fire off a couple of rounds at his feet and watch in delight as they make him dance and jump into cover behind the garage wall.
"Give it up Del Rey! Touch the garage door again and I will shoot your arm off. I am BBD's best shot." Technically I was BBD's second best shot behind Dolls, but Bobo didn't need to know that.
"Fuck you, stupid bitch!" Comes the growl, drowned out by the sirens that are now sounding full blast as the cops, a fire truck and an ambulance turn the corner onto the Svane property.
One car, a familiar pitch black Crown Vic, speeds ahead of the rest and skids to a halt right next to the fountain.
Dolls jumps out of the car looking sexy as hell, his tight shirt clinging to his chest as he holds his pistol at the ready. "Earp, good to see you. Where is Del Rey?" He says crouching down beside me just as the fire truck pulls up in front of the house.
Ignoring his question and more occupied by his unexpected arrival, I observe him with curiosity. "You are here really early. The hotel is booked for later tonight only."
He smirks at me with a face that was much too handsome for my health. "I guess I just could not wait to see you. And you decided to start the party without me, you know I hate that."
As if on cue a bullet ricochets from the fountain as Bobo fires off another round, effectively ruining our flirting session.
"Where?" Dolls asks after briefly scoping out the garage from the protection the fountain offered.
"On the other side of the garage wall furthest away from us." Dolls nods stoically and crawls on his stomach towards the edge of the fountain. "Alternative route?" He asks, eyeing the house.
"If not for the fire, I'd suggest going through the living room door that connects to the garage. From the garage there leads a door into the basement. If you could exit there, it would take you right behind Bobo. But we need another plan now, you know, since the house is currently a flame sandwich." I say, watching the firefighters aim their hoses full blast on the enflamed building.
Haught you better fucking get my sister runs through my mind briefly as I watch the thick smoke continue to billow from the house.
Dolls nods, clearly impressed. "Can you distract him?" The question fills me with distress because I knew Dolls and what he was probably about to do. "Yes, but—"
Dolls is sprinting towards the house before I can complete the sentence, covering his mouth with a bandana as he rushes past the fire truck, ignoring the shouts of protest from the fire fighters, and disappears into the smoke. "Fucking hero complex!" I shout in agitated adoration, before adding under my breath "You better come back to me safe, Dolls."
Another bullet ricochets, luckily not in range of anyone else not in line with the fountain. That was Bobo's fifth shot. A desert eagle only had up to 8 rounds. 3 remained.
"Agent Earp, my team is ready to move in at your signal." I hear from behind me and then Detective Sergeant Joey Mason appears at my side, his gun raised as he peers towards the garage.
"Took you long enough." I growl, very unimpressed at the police's poor performance. I take some satisfaction in Joey's look of shame.
I soften, Joey was not a bad guy, just part of an institution that never quite lived up to expectations.
"But, It's good to have some backup." I admit and watch his expression lighten once more. Another bullet ricochets off the fountain causing Joey to flinch back.
"Give it up Del Rey! This will only end with you dead or your ass in jail. Be smart about this!" I shout over the fountain, counting the minutes that Dolls has been gone in my head. If all went well, he should be exiting the basement within the next minute and a half.
I turn back to Joey with a serious expression. "Listen, BBD has a handle on the Bobo situation. My partner is about to take him down. I am going to move in on the garage now and need you to back me up. Send the rest of your team to the east wall of the house, my sister is trapped in the room on the top floor and Nicole Haught scaled the wall to go save her. She could use help."
Joey's eyebrows raise in surprise and awe before his face becomes serious once more. He nods and removes his radio, sending instructions to his team. I watch in relief as they zone in on the place Nicole disappeared to.
Joey lifts his gun, aiming it in Bobo's direction. "Alright, Earp. Do your thing. I got your back."
I give him a nod of thanks before sprinting across the field, narrowly avoiding another gunshot from Bobo. He just has one more bullet left.
I reach the front end of the garage that connects to the wall behind which Bobo was taking cover and slowly scoot towards the edge with my gun raised.
I hear a scuffle, the sound of Bobo swearing and a gun dropping to the floor. Dolls has him.
I am around the corner in an instant, finding my partner in the upper hand position as he wrestles with a profanity spewing Bobo Del Rey.
It was clear Dolls had a physical advantage above the fur coat loving drug lord and I am just about to lower my gun when Bobo manages to free his right hand.
There is a glint of metal in the sun as Bobo whips out a switchblade from his sleeve.
"No!" I shout in desperation, watching in slow motion horror as the blade gets plunged into Dolls' side.
Seeing a red that was unrelated to the blood pouring from the punctured ribs of the man I cared deeply for, I fire off two perfectly placed gunshots into Bobo's arm.
Del Rey releases a guttural howl of pain as the switchblade falls to the ground, grains of sand mixing with the layer of blood covering the sharp edge.
"Don't you fucking move!" I bark in completely unfiltered anger as I march towards Bobo with my gun pointed right at his spine.
"Down on your knees, Bobo Del Rey!" Joey says as he saddles up behind me.
Bobo twitches for a second and gazes back towards us with eyes blackened by pure hate. But having no further means of escaping his fate, he finally lowers to his knees with his hands behind his head.
As Joey places handcuffs on him and reads the asshole his rights, I sprint to Doll's side. His white shirt is trained with soot and blood as he grips his side. I help him remove it and use it to place pressure on his wound.
The stubborn bastard has the gall to smirk up at me. "That was the first time in a long while someone got the jump on me. You are making me soft, Earp."
"Shut up you idiot. Don't you ever fucking do that to me again!" I say angrily, before softening and helping him up. "Now come on, let's get you to the ambulance."
As I escort Dolls to the ambulance, I see Joey lowering Bobo into the back of his police cruiser.
After the door is shut, Bobo stares out the window towards me with eyes colder than the arctic sea. But no shiver would run up my spine, this was not the first time I looked pure evil in the face and walked away victorious. I flip him the bird and return my attention to Dolls.
After making sure Dolls was in good hands, I sprint towards the firemen to get some help for Nicole and Waverly, my heart racing anxiously.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Nicole's POV
Slowly I take another step, lowering us another inch towards the ground. The sweat runs in rivers down my body from exertion and the heat of the fire above us.
"Ma'am, hang in there!" I hear shouted from below us. Ma'am? Hang in there?! Really?? I think, greatly annoyed as I watch the boys in blue scramble on the ground trying to figure out any way to help us.
Ignoring them, I focus on getting Waverly and I down. Another slow step and we are closer to safety.
I make the mistake of looking up at the way we came, the flicker of flames visible from the window filling me with dread. Fuck. The curtain railing would not be far out of the fire's reach now.
"Shit." I say under my breath, but Waverly hears it. "What's wrong?" She whispers in my ear and the feeling of her voice tickling against my ear causes goosebumps to make an appearance on my skin despite the heat.
Not wishing to worry her, I shrug and put on a brave face. "It's nothing, baby. Just keep holding on to me, okay? We are almost there."
Waverly squeezes her thighs in a show of confirmation and snuggles her face in between my shoulder blades.
We make it to about 14 feet from the ground before the rope jerks suddenly. It causes me to lose my footing. We drop slightly, drawing a fearful shriek from Waverly as I scramble for a hand hold.
"Hey, cops! This rope is not gonna hold much longer, we need something to break our fall!" I shout down to the figures in blue and watch them collectively start to panic until finally three firemen round the corner holding a huge tarp, followed by an anxious Wynonna.
"Move your fucking asses!" She orders them. I would have laughed out loud at the way they jumped to action if I were not occupied by my current life-threatening situation.
The firemen along with Wynonna get into formation, spreading the tarp out for us to fall onto.
"Let go, Haught! We will catch you." Wynonna shouts, and just in time too as the rope gives another violent jerk. I practically feel the rope threads loosen as we start to fall.
"Hold on, Waves!" I shout when the rope finally gives way. I push us away from the wall and twist my body so that I would take the brunt of our fall. Then gravity does the rest.
We land on the tarp in a tangle of limbs. The wind gets knocked from my lungs and a shriek of discontent spills from my girlfriend, but otherwise we are completely unharmed.
"You saved me." Waverly says with a teary smile as she hovers over me. She looks at me as if I was unreal, she herself an ethereal being covered in soot, tears and sweat. She is and will always be the most beautiful thing I could ever be lucky enough to witness.
"Of course I did. I always will." I tell her softly, my words dipped in truth and love.
Her face contorts with happiness before she leans down and kisses me in a desperate show of gratitude and I love you.
It's the best way for any hero to be rewarded for her efforts and I return the kiss, covering those sweet lips with passion. "I love you." I whisper once we separate, which Waverly instantly echoes.
"Put on a fucking shirt, Haught, before you turn me gay!" Wynonna shouts, effectively ruining our moment of peaceful bliss. I roll my eyes good naturedly and watch in contentment as the Earp sisters embrace. They hold each other in a manifestation of the pure relief pulsing through all our veins.
"I am so glad you are okay, Baby Girl." Wynonna says in a voice heavy with emotion.
Over Waverly's shoulder, she mouths "Thank you."
I nod and we share a secret smile of mutual respect and understanding. We were officially connected now through our role as sworn protectors of Waverly Earp.
"Anytime, Earp." I say as the paramedics escort us towards the ambulance.