Igniting the Fire

Chapter Seven

We both exited the office at the same time, trying to keep from smirking at Dolls as the doctor handed the piece of paper to him. "So you're clear then?" He asked, looking up at me with slight disbelief. 

I felt Lucado move farther away from me, putting her coat back on with a hint of irritation. "Surprisingly yes, Agent Lyons passed with flying colors. But we both know you'll be back at headquarters, you always figure out how to mess something up. Or, just end up screwing a woman for years that you hardly know before she blows everything to shit." 

I felt a surge of anger fly through me as I suddenly pulled out the hunting knife I kept hidden on the side of my leg. With one fluid motion I stabbed it into the desk near my mothers hand, almost sending the tip of the knife through the back of it. I glared at my mother as she did the same, the guards aiming their rifles at me as everyone else in the room remained completely still. 

"Lyons-" I cut Dolls off, not daring look away from my 'mother'. 

"You have always remained hidden behind your words, one day someone is going to get sick of you." I spat out, an evil smile spreading across my caretakers face, a low chuckle escaping her lips. 

"I made you who you are, Rose. I'll be the first to send a bullet through you if you ever get the inkling of a thought to end me. I won't even hesitate." She replied, feeling my body get the urge to shake from anger as I continued to look at her. 

"Ma'am, we need to leave." One of the guards finally ended our staring contest, both of us looking at him. 

Lucado smirked, looking me directly in the eyes as she cupped my face in her hand. I wanted to move away from her, I absolutely detested when she tried to be tender with me. I knew it was all an act, none of it was ever genuine. 

"I'll give you this bit of information though, about your former acquaintance. Even though you're not even cleared to receive this information." My eyes shot up to meet hers, trying to decide if Lucado was going to be telling me the truth or not. 

"Okay?" I couldn't hide my intrigue in her information, never removing my hand from the handle of my hunting knife. 

I watched as my 'mother' stood straight up, running her hands over her white blazer to smooth it out as she raised her head slightly with a sigh. "Former Agent Moretti was killed during a building search a few months ago. We were still looking for her, and well, we found her." 

I felt as if I had been hit by a truck, my breath completely knocked out of my lungs. I wanted to fall onto my knees and cry, I wanted to show any sort of emotion that wasn't only anger. I yanked the knife from the table, dropping it onto the floor, the metal clinking on the floor. 

I watched as Lucado looked at me, an almost sad expression on her face. "You had a Do Not Terminate order out for her." I shot out, yelling at the woman in front of me that had just broken my heart again. Yes I had feelings for Nicole, those were undeniable at this point, the kiss we shared was amazing. But a part of me would always have feelings for Camilla. 

I wanted to punch her, but I knew that would only get me injured. "She had provoked the agents. They went in and she did not surrender, only raised a gun towards them. But, she did say something." My 'mother' said quickly, almost as though she was trying to comfort me in front of everyone in the room. 

"What?" I choked out, my throat tightening as a wave of emotions began to fill me. Lucado looked at the agent near us, motioning him over to us. The agent lowered his rifle and stood next to the woman in front of me. 

"She said, and I'm direct quoting, 'tell Lyons none of that shit was her fault, but this is.' and then she raised her weapon towards us." After he had spoken, the agent moved to where he had been standing before, leaving me to look at my 'mother' again.

She clapped her hands together before moving away from me and towards the door. "Enough of that, I have a meeting to get to." Without so much as a goodbye, everyone apart of her entourage left, leaving the team and myself alone in the office. 

I felt empty, I had no clue how to process this information without throwing and breaking absolutely everything in a rage. 

"Lyons that can't possibly be true. Former Agent Moretti would not have allowed the agency to find her like that. You trained her, you know as well as I do that she's only slipped away from Black Badge's radar and they're pissed off about it." The agent placed his hand on my shoulder as a form of comfort, his words giving me some hope. 

Don't get my emotions wrong, I never wanted to get back together with Camilla, I only wanted her to be alive; even though she had betrayed me. 

"In other news, I would like to obtain a drinking partner today. Any takers?" We all looked at Doc as he stood from the desk, looking at all of us. 

I watched as Wynonna instantly ran towards him, raising her hand. "Hell yeah!" She cheered, looking at everyone else. 

"Lyons and I have to-" 

"Go get fucking drunk to the thought of my ex being killed, yes." I cut Dolls off, not even looking at him as I grabbed my coat, and gloves. "Don't wait up for me." I told him, leaving behind Doc and Wynonna. 

***

"What the hell is this place?" I asked, looking around at the many women wearing little clothing, drunk men yelling at them.

"Pussy Willows!" Wynonna yelled over the music, grabbing my hand to lead me to the bar. 

"I'm not sure I much care for this place." I replied, looking at Wynonna skeptically. I never liked when women were objectified like this, it isn't right. 

"Don't be a pussy, try hard." She handed me a brown liquid in a shot glass, smirking at me. We all clinked our glasses together before I took the shot, immediately hating myself for it. It was awful, the cheap liquor only tasted like I was eating wood, it was bitter and disgusting. The only time I drank was when I was trying to seduce someone before killing them, that was literally it.

I felt my body begin to be effected by the alcohol as another shot was slid into my line of sight again. "One more, then we can be social." Wynonna said, Doc nodding as he watched women dance on a pole. 

I took the shot, the second going down easier than the first. I took a deep breath as I looked around, my body relaxing as I caught a woman's eye across the room. I tore my eyes away, not wanting to take anyone home tonight. 

"So, I know it must be hard to hear about your ex girl-"

"Ex-fiance." I clarified, looking Wynonna dead in the eyes. 

"Hold up, y'all were engaged? You never mentioned that before." Wynonna stated, taking yet another shot before looking at me. Her body was swaying slightly as she looked at me, keeping herself steady by holding onto the bar. 

"Because no one knew, absolutely no one. The only reason I'm telling you is because I'm intoxicated." I stated, grabbing the shot Wynonna was about to take again, downing it myself. 

"Shit man, that really sucks." She said, not daring let go of the bar. My body was beginning to feel tingly as I chuckled slightly at how I felt, looking over at Wynonna. 

She was starting to stumble over to the booths next to the stripper pole, plopping herself down next to Doc. The man was smiling and throwing money at the woman on the pole, Wynonna laughing when he finally ran out of bills to throw. 

I chuckled along with her, Doc looking at both of us. "Are we all already drunk?" He asked, all of us laughing as I swayed my body slightly to the beat of the music. 

"Well I'm not talking from a saints point of view, but Deputy Haught will not be happy if we drove ourselves home." Doc said drunkenly as I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at him. 

"She's not finding out." I said, slurring my words as I tried to look straight at Doc. I noticed Wynonna was gone, quickly sitting up to try and locate her. 

I found her across the room as the song changed, the bass thumping in my ears as I watched Wynonna talk to the woman I had seen earlier. The woman laughed and followed behind Wynonna as she smirked and gave me a thumbs up, realizing she was talking to the woman for me. 

I started to shake my head no as they both stood in front of me, the woman smiling as she handed me a fruity looking drink. I held it up to my nose as Doc and Wynonna left me alone with the unknown woman. As I had started to inhale the drink to smell the different types of alcohol the woman put her finger on the bottom of the glass, tipping it into my mouth. I was forced to drink the liquid before I choked on it, the woman laughing as she straddled my lap, putting her arms around my neck. 

"My name's Pearl." She said, not enjoying how close this woman was to me. I wanted no part of her, but I didn't want to be rude to her either. I knew she was probably harassed by men constantly, glad to please a woman for a change. 

I smiled at her softly, trying to be nice to her. I still felt way too intoxicated from the amount of alcohol Pearl had forced me to drink, trying to remain with my wits. I felt her hips begin to gyrate in my lap as my body was immediately excited by her small action, my mouth dropping in surprise as I felt a fire start between my legs. 

The woman laughed softly as she looked into my eyes, moving her lips to my ear. "I'll give you a free dance if I can take you home." She whispered, gasping at how forward this woman was being with me. I wanted to tell her no but my body was far too excited, not being able to get any words out of my mouth. Pearl took that as a yes, smirking as she started to move her hips to the beat over me, drunkenly trying to hold in a moan as she pressed her forehead against mine. 

"I said get back!" I heard Wynonna yell, finally able to snap out of my haze as I placed one hand behind me onto the couch, pushing myself up with Pearl still on top of me. She wrapped her legs around my waist as I pulled my gun out, raising it towards the man Wynonna was yelling at as the music stopped, my body angled with my gun towards the man, Pearl away from him. 

I almost dropped the woman as my mouth fell open, my eyes staring straight into the barrel of Nicole's gun as she looked at me, her mouth almost to the floor. The man had left angrily as Wynonna caught sight of Nicole, cringing as she looked at me. 

"Your ride's here?" Wynonna was trying to downplay the moment as Pearl finally unwrapped herself from around me, staying by my side. 

"Wynonna you called her?" I asked angrily as I felt Pearl's arms wrap around me, still feeling slightly intoxicated as Nicole stepped closer to me. 

"Listen, you needed a ride." She said as Waverly also came through the entrance, giving Wynonna an irritated look. Nicole was now next to me, her eyes never leaving mine, she didn't even acknowledge the stripper next to me. 

"I'm your ride." She said with steel laced in her words, my heart dropping slightly. She was pissed, I could tell. But, who wouldn't be if the girl you liked was getting a lap dance from a stripper before you picked her up? 

"That's okay, Deputy. I'm her ride tonight." The stripper said beside me as I felt her hand land on my wrist, trying to lead me towards the back door. I instinctively reached out for Nicole's hand, taking it in mine so the stripper couldn't drag me away. I knew I had messed up, but either way, I would still end up in Nicole's squad car, either sitting up front or in the back. 

Pearl tried to yank me free as Nicole's other hand grabbed the stripper by the back of her neck, pulling her closer to the pissed off deputy. "Don't you dare force this woman with you, do you hear me? I can always pull up those charges that we had swept aside."

I had never seen Deputy Haught so angry in my life, but then again, I hadn't been around her for a long time. Either way, it was frightening to see her like that. Pearl immediately released my wrist, almost running away from us. I couldn't help but stare at Nicole as she watched Pearl run away before shooting a glare my way. 

"Can you walk?" She asked, her hand on my shoulder as I nodded softly. She led me to her squad car, opening the passenger door for me, slamming it shut after I was in. I sighed as she came around the car and pulled open the drivers door, feeling as though I was a child in trouble. 

I thought about the times I had spent with my birth mother, trying to remember all of the endearing moments I had had with her before I watched her die in front of me, clutching the bullet wound I had caused. 

I shook my head at the memories, trying to get rid of them. I felt my throat tighten as I leaned forward, my body wanting to go into the fettle position as Nicole started to drive away. Without warning I started to actually sob, my body shaking and closing up as I felt all of the pain fill my body at once. 

The gunshot, my mother looking at me with shock in her eyes as she fell to her knees, falling to my height as her hand caressed my cheek, telling me she loved me before she fell to the ground.  

My hand grabbed the center console to ground myself as I felt Nicole's hand land on the middle of my back to offer some comfort, moving it slowly. I called out my mother's name as I continued with my episode. I had no control over myself as I continued to call out her name, needing her desperately.

This was the first time in years I had actually thought about her for more than two seconds, the first time I had actually cried over her death. I couldn't before, I had no time to accept it, I only had time to train. 

Suddenly the car stopped and Nicole got out of the car, running around to my side, throwing my door open. I felt her push my body forward against the seat, leaning over my body to unbuckle my seat belt and free me from its hold. 

My body fell to the right, landing in Nicole's arms as she remained crouched down by my seat. She held me tighter than anyone had ever held me, not caring that I was sobbing and wailing directly into her ear. I could only grab fistfuls of her jacket as she pulled my body back out of the car, lifting me up into her arms. Her hands guided my legs around her waist, resting her hands on the bottoms of my thighs as I started to whimper weakly. 

She somehow managed to close the car door before going into the building, surprising me as she started to ascend the stairs with no problem. I didn't think she was weak, not in the slightest, but I was still surprised to see she was able to do this in the position we were in. 

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, opening them to find that I was being set down onto my bed, trying to remember when we had gone through my front door. I sat up weakly, pulling off my coat and shirt, leaving only my bra on before I pulled my pants down, forgetting that Nicole was still in the room. Instead of stop me or judge me for my actions that night, she smiled and pulled the covers over my exposed body, caressing my cheek. 

She turned to walk away from me, grabbing a hold of her jacket before she could leave. "Stay." I breathed out, watching her debate whether it was a good idea if she did. She nodded slowly, peeling off her jacket. 

She had only taken her uniform shirt and utility belt off, deciding it best to leave everything else on. I whimpered and pulled her on top of me using her belt loops, catching the deputy by surprise. I watched as she smiled softly, placing her hand on my chest gently to stop me. 

"Not tonight, Rose. You'll know why if you remember in the morning." She said softly, running her hand through my hair before she crawled off of me, laying on her side to my left, pulling up the covers before she pulled my body closer to hold me against her. 

I wasn't even upset or mad that she had rejected me, her holding me like this made up for all of it. Well, almost all of it.