40. Aftermath (Part 1)

Nicole sighed as she stared at Champ. She wasn’t exactly prepared for an arrest, which meant that she’d have to call someone else to come and pick him up. She pulled out her phone and dialed Waverly’s number. After a couple of rings, it went straight to voicemail. Thinking the call might have been dropped, she tried again, but this time it only rang once before going straight to voicemail. At this point, she knew that Waverly was declining her calls, so she decided to go the texting route.

Nicole: I don’t have my handcuffs on me so I can’t arrest him. I’m calling Sheriff Nedley to come pick him up. Just wanted to let you know.

She hit send and sighed. Just when she had opened up her contacts to call Nedley, Waverly’s picture popped up on the screen. Nicole immediately hit the green answer button.

“Waverly?”

“Don’t arrest him. Don’t call anyone.” Waverly said without missing a beat. Her voice was demanding.

“Waverly, he committed a crime. I can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

“Yes you can. I’m not pressing charges. If you arrest him, I’ll just deny it and he’ll be let go anyways.”

Nicole took a deep breath as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She was trying not to get frustrated at Waverly, but the girl wasn’t letting her help. She figured the best thing she should do right now is to just give her some time to think it over and then try to convince her in the morning. “So what do you want me to do with him?”

“Just...I don’t know. Tell his friends he passed out or something. Or leave him there, I don’t care. But don’t tell anyone what happened. Please.”

The shakiness of Waverly’s voice was breaking Nicole’s heart. She wanted more than anything to be there with her, but she knew that the girl needed space. “Okay. I won’t tell anyone. But baby, please text me when you’re home so I know that you’ve made it safely.”

“I will.” Before Nicole could even say ‘I love you’ Waverly ended the call.

Nicole shoved her phone into her pocket and stared at Champ. She really, really wanted to kick his ass, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t in good conscious beat an unconscious man, and she knew it wasn’t what Waverly would have wanted right now. It wouldn’t change anything.

“Dammit, Champ.” Nicole muttered under her breath. She ran her hands through her hair as she inhaled through her nose, trying to compose herself.

“Okay.” She whispered to herself before walking out of the bathroom and down the stairs. She looked around until she found Pete. When she noticed him sleeping on the couch - and snoring quite loudly - she rolled her eyes. He wasn’t going to be much help. She looked around the room and spotted Darren standing with Chrissy, Rosita, and Darren’s friend that Rosita had been hanging over all night.

“Hey,” Nicole said as she reached the group, getting their attention. “Champ is passed out upstairs in your bathroom, but he’s fine. Looks like he got into a fight with someone…” She shifted her eyes as she shoved her hands into her pockets, effectively hiding the red knuckles of her right hand. “Just make sure he gets home okay.”

“On it.” Darren gave a curt nod as he lightly backhanded his friend in the chest, signaling for him to follow as they made their way towards the stairs.

Rosita sighed as she shook her head. “I should probably do a quick sweep of the place anyways, just to make sure everyone is okay.” She started to walk off, but Nicole grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.

“Hey, um, I kind of broke your bathroom door, but I’ll come back tomorrow morning with a new knob and some tools to fix it.”

Rosita looked at her quizzically. “How did you break the door?”

“It was locked and I kicked it in.” Nicole admitted as she rubbed the back of her neck, sounding slightly guilty.

“And you couldn’t have asked me for the key?” The dark-haired woman crossed her arms. She sounded slightly annoyed.

“Look, please don’t ask any more questions, but I had to. Just trust me.”

She looked at Nicole for a moment with a furrowed brow before figuring it was something important. “Okay. If you’re going to fix it then it’s not a big deal.”

“I will. Thank you.”

As Rosita walked off, Nicole went outside to find Wynonna. Thankfully she didn’t have to look too long, because the older Earp was sitting on the patio furniture next to Dolls and across from Jeremy and Robin.

“Hey, I’m leaving. You coming with me or are you catching a ride with them?” Nicole asked Wynonna as she nodded towards the rest of the gang. Her pulse was racing and it was hard for her to stand still as the adrenaline rushed through her body from what had just happened to her girlfriend.

“If you and Waves are leaving to have some alone time, then I’m definitely staying here.” Wynonna scoffed.

“She left.”

Wynonna drew her eyebrows together. “Left where? Where did she go?”

“Home. She took a cab.”

Wynonna stood up and pulled Nicole aside. She instantly noticed how jittery the redhead was. “What happened? Did you two get into an argument? Did you upset her?”

Nicole could see Wynonna shifting into big sister mode. “No, nothing like that. I can’t talk about it, but she said she’d text me when she got home. She should be there soon.”

“So, there’s something to talk about?” The brunette quirked an eyebrow.

“Wynonna, please.” Nicole implored.

“Okay, fine. I’m going to hang here a little longer so I’ll just catch a ride home with these goons. You take the Jeep back to the homestead.”

Nicole nodded before heading back inside the house and making her way to the Jeep, thankful that Waverly had given her the keys to hold onto for the night. As soon as she started the ignition, her phone chimed.

Waverly: Home. Going to sleep, good night.

Nicole sighed in relief, but also in concern. She typed out a quick reply.

Nicole: Glad you made it safely. Good night. I love you. I’ll check on you tomorrow.

Knowing that Waverly wouldn’t reply, she tossed her phone in the passenger seat and drove down the street as she headed towards the homestead to pick up her car.

---

The next morning, Nicole pulled up to the homestead in her police cruiser. She took a deep breath before stepping out of the car and trudging up to the door. She hadn’t heard from Waverly since her good night text, and she wasn’t sure what exactly she was about to walk into. She wasn’t even sure if Waverly wanted her there right now, but she had to find out if her girlfriend was okay. She knocked on the door and waited, hoping that Waverly would answer it, but instead saw Wynonna in her pajamas and disheveled hair. Clearly, she hadn’t been up for too long.

“Hey Haughtstuff. I was just making some coffee.” Wynonna said as she walked back into the kitchen leaving the door open, which was an invitation to come inside.

“Is she up?” Nicole asked as she shut the door and followed the older Earp.

“I don’t think so. Haven’t seen her yet. She probably has a hangover.” Wynonna shrugged as she set up the coffee maker. “She drank a little more than she’s used to last night.”

Nicole nodded. “Did she tell you about the other thing?” Nicole tried to be vague in case Waverly hadn’t said anything to Wynonna.

The brunette turned around and looked at the full-uniformed officer in confusion. “What other thing? Is this about your fight or whatever? The reason why she left early?”

Before Nicole had answered, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked to see Waverly walk into the kitchen. She was wearing a sweatshirt and some sweatpants with her hair up in a loose ponytail. They looked at her red eyes and puffy face.

“Jesus, you look awful.” Wynonna blurted out, earning a glare from Nicole.

“I just came to get some Aspirin.” Waverly said barely above a whisper as she walked between the two women, briefly glancing at Nicole, before focusing her attention on reaching the medicine bottle on the top shelf.

“Let me help you.” Nicole offered as she took a step towards the petite brunette, but she was quickly shut down.

“I can do it myself.” Waverly snapped as she jumped up and successfully snatched the bottle before pouring a couple of pills into her hand, giving Nicole a warning look.

Wynonna looked at the couple with a raised eyebrow and remembered what she and Nicole were talking about before Waverly had walked in and distracted her. “So, what happened last night?” Wynonna asked, directing the question towards her younger sister. Clearly something was up.

Waverly froze for a moment before looking at Nicole. “You told her?” There was a bit of betrayal in her voice.

The officer held her hands up in defense. “I didn’t, I swear! I just asked how you were doing and she just kind of guessed that something was up.”

“Tell me what?” Wynonna asked, concern painted on her face. She had a feeling that this was something more than just an argument between girlfriends, especially if they were being cryptic like this.

Waverly threw the bottle on the counter and sighed as she plopped down into a kitchen chair. She pulled one leg up to her chest and rested her chin down on her knee as she shook her head with her eyes closed.

Wynonna grabbed the back of the chair next to Waverly and stared at her sister, waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, Wynonna threw her hands up in the air. “Okay, I’m waiting. Tell me what happened!” She could tell something was wrong, and the gut feeling that something bad had happened caused her words to come out a little more passionately than she had intended.

“Don’t raise your voice at her like that.” Nicole defended. “If she doesn’t want to tell you, she doesn’t have to.”

“How about you let Waverly speak for herself.” Wynonna shot back.

“Will you two stop it!” Waverly yelled. Both of the women looked at her, Nicole apologetically and Wynonna with concern. The younger Earp sighed. “Sit down. I don’t like the way you’re both standing over me. Feels like you’re hovering.”

Nicole and Wynonna sat down in the chairs on either side of Waverly and silently looked at her, allowing her to continue.

Waverly let out a shaky breath as she closed her eyes and shook her head. She really didn’t want to cry, because crying would make this a big deal. And she didn’t want this to be a big deal. So she held back any tears as best as she could, focusing on the skin of her hands as she rubbed them together. After a couple of deep breaths, she opened her eyes and looked at her sister.

“At the party, I went to the bathroom. Champ followed me in and he tried to...you know...” she trailed off.

Wynonna furrowed her brow and shook her head. “Tried to what?” She had a feeling she knew what the answer was based on how Waverly was acting, but she didn’t want to believe it. Not until somebody spelled it out for her.

Nicole could see that Waverly was struggling to talk about it, so she stepped in. “He tried to have sex with her.”

“He what?!” Wynonna shot up from her chair.

“He didn’t succeed though. I walked in on him kissing her and stopped him before he could do anything more.” Nicole continued, trying to reassure Wynonna that he hadn’t actually done whatever worst scenario was running through her mind.

“Please tell me you arrested that son of a bitch.” Wynonna pointed at the table for emphasis as she spoke.

Nicole opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. She looked over at Waverly, then back at Wynonna and just shook her head.

“You mean to tell me that you witnessed that shithead forcing himself on my baby sister, and you didn’t arrest him?! What the fuck is wrong with you!”

“I asked her not to.” Waverly said quietly as she looked at the table, her chin still on her knee as she hugged her leg closer to her body. She didn’t want to look either of them in the eye right now.

“Why not?” Wynonna demanded.

“Because, he was drunk, and he didn’t do more than kiss me. Nicole stopped him and punched him in the face, knocking him out cold. He got what he deserved.”

“Waverly, he tried to rape you! He deserves so much more than just a punch in the face!”

Waverly grimaced at the word. She felt like it was too strong of a word for what had actually happened. “Can you please not say that?”

“Well what else should I call it then?” Wynonna asked with her hands held up in question.

“How about you call it nothing, because nothing happened!” Waverly shot back as she stood up from her chair. The loud scrape of the wooden legs against the floor as the chair scooted back caused both Nicole and Wynonna to wince. “Can you both please just stop making such a big deal about this and just let me move on?” She ran up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

“Does she seriously think we’re going to just let this go?” Wynonna asked with wide eyes as she looked at Nicole.

“I don’t know.” Nicole replied softly as she looked down at the table, sitting still in her chair.

“Please tell me you’re going to arrest him anyways.”

Nicole sighed. “I don’t know.”

Wynonna scoffed. “You’re a police officer, Nicole! Didn’t you take some oath about integrity or some shit? Don’t you have morals? What happened to those, huh?”

Nicole leaned forward in her chair and rested her forearms on the table as she began to speak a little louder. “Waverly doesn’t want me to. What am I supposed to do? She’s not pressing charges.”

“She doesn’t have to press charges. You’re a witness. You saw everything that happened with your own eyes.” The brunette was gesticulating wildly in the air at this point as she continued to get even more worked up.

“I was drinking, Wynonna. Even if I did arrest him, he would just get out on bail and then be taken to trial, where he’ll probably win. All I saw was him kissing her neck and holding his hand over her mouth. Do you seriously think a jury is going to convict Champ Hardy for that? Do you really think they’re going to give him jail time for that, when the only eye witness was an off-duty cop who was drinking and partying and who also happens to be in a relationship with the person accusing him, who just so happens to be his ex-girlfriend? I’m a police officer, I’ve seen how these types of situations tend to go. All they’re going to see is a messy love triangle with two lesbians, and a straight white man who shouldn’t have his name tarnished over something the law says is a minor offense. Do you really want to put Waverly through all of that when clearly it’s not what she wants right now?”

“I don’t know Nicole, but you have to at least try.” Wynonna walked around the table and stood closer to Nicole as she folded her arms across her chest. “She’s my little sister, and she’s your girlfriend. We can’t just let him get away with this. What if he does it to someone else? What if he goes after her again and actually succeeds next time? Would you really be able to live with yourself?”

“Okay.” Nicole said forcefully as she stood up from her chair and held her hands out in defeat. She continued a little softer. “Okay, you’re right.” She sighed as she brushed her right hand through her hair and stood with her left hand on her belt buckle. “Just let me talk to her first, okay? I want to see if I can get her to make a statement. Holding Champ will be easier if she doesn’t deny anything. Just give me until tonight, and then I’ll go and pick him up.”

“Fine. But only until tonight. If you don’t do it then I’m calling Dolls to do it.”

Nicole nodded in understanding as she trudged towards the stairs and up to Waverly’s room. She stood outside the door and took a deep breath before softly knocking. “Baby, it’s me. Can I come in?”

She waited a few seconds, but there was no answer. Just when she was about to knock again, the door handle turned and the door opened a few inches. She peered inside and saw Waverly walking back towards her bed before slumping back down on it. She took the open door as a sign to enter, and slowly pushed it open, giving Waverly time to change her mind before walking in and closing it behind her.

“Leave it open.” Waverly said as she laid on her side and stared out the window.

Nicole opened the door back before walking over to Waverly. She slowly sat down on the bed next to her.

“Can we talk?”

The brunette didn’t answer. Nicole placed her hand on Waverly’s shoulder, but she pulled away from her touch, leaving Nicole’s hand to drop onto the mattress as she sighed.

“Waverly, talk to me.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She instantly replied without looking at Nicole.

“Well, I need you to talk about it. Because tonight I’m arresting Champ.”

Waverly rolled over and looked at Nicole with a furrowed brow. “I told you not to.”

“I know.” Nicole sighed.

“I’m not pressing charges.”

“Waverly, it doesn’t matter. I saw it. I witnessed it. You don’t have to press charges for me to pick him up and try to prosecute him.”

Waverly sat up. “But I told you no!” She was now raising her voice, causing Nicole to wince. Especially at the words that were just said; words that she knew were important to Waverly now more than ever.

“Why? Why don’t you want him to be arrested?”

“Because...” Waverly closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. “Because I don’t want to be this person.”

Nicole had a puzzled look on her face. “What person?”

Waverly groaned in frustration. “You know, this person. Someone with one of those stories to tell. Someone who’s treated like a victim. I don’t want to be just another statistic. I wasn’t raped, he didn’t do anything besides kiss me. He didn’t touch me anywhere other than my arms, my neck, and my mouth. That’s it. It’s not like he touched me…there.”

“He still assaulted you.”

“But he didn’t rape me. So it’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal, Waverly. Rape or not, he forced you to do something that you didn’t want to do. And he needs to be punished for that.”

“But why do I need to be punished for it?”

Nicole shook her head as she drew her eyebrows together. “Sweetheart, nobody’s punishing you.”

“You are! If you arrest him, everyone will know. Everyone will know that I was stupid enough to date him for four years without even knowing what he was capable of, that I was stupid to not lock the bathroom door, that I was too stupid to get away from him before he held me down...everyone will know.”

Nicole’s face softened in realization. “Are you embarrassed?”

“I’m not embarrassed. I just...I don’t want to make a big deal about this! God, I just want to forget this ever happened. Can’t you just let me forget about it?!”

Nicole looked at her girlfriend with sympathetic eyes.

Waverly stood up from the bed and backed away as she pointed at Nicole. “Don’t do that. Don’t look at me like I’m some sort of victim. I’m not some poor pathetic little girl. I’m a strong, intelligent, grown woman. I’m fluent in four different languages. I can do fifty pushups in a row on my toes without even breaking a sweat.” She sighed as she folded her arms across her chest and turned to look out the window to collect her thoughts and regain her composure. She shook her head for a moment before turning back to face her girlfriend. “I’m fine, okay? Nothing happened. I’m completely fine.”

“I’m sorry.” Nicole looked down at her hands, trying to change her facial expression to a more neutral one before looking back at the brunette. “Waverly, I really wish we could just forget about it. But the thing is, he might try to do it again. And I would never forgive myself if he actually did that to you. I barely got there in time last night.”

“But If you arrest him, then there are two ways the people in this town are going to look at me. They’ll either look at me like you just did with sad eyes and pity, or they’re going to look at me with judgement for having him arrested for just kissing me, something everyone knows we’ve already done before. Something less sexual than the things we’ve done before. They’ll think I’m weak and can’t handle a stupid kiss! So either way, I lose. And I won’t just be Waverly, nicest girl in Purgatory that everybody loves, anymore. I’ll be Waverly, that lesbian who had her ex-boyfriend, Purgatory’s rodeo star, arrested at a house party for a simple drunken kiss.” Waverly knew it was so much more than just a kiss, and she knew that it wasn’t simple. But she also knew that most people wouldn’t see it that way, especially in such a small, close-minded town like Purgatory.

Nicole sighed. She wished there was some other way she could do this without it getting out to the public, but that was impossible. News spread like wildfire in this town, and people would inevitably find out, especially with someone as well-known as Champ Hardy. She wished there was some other way she could punish Champ. She knew that the odds of him actually getting convicted were slim to none in a biased town like this. And even though everyone loved Waverly, they didn’t hate Champ enough to send him to jail over a kiss. Rape, maybe, but attempted rape, not likely.

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Waverly finally said, breaking Nicole’s train of thought. The redhead knew that Waverly was subtly asking her to leave.

“Okay.” Nicole nodded as she stood up from the bed. “I’ll, uh, call you tonight then.”

Waverly just nodded as she laid back down on the bed and stared out the window. Nicole took a deep breath and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her to give Waverly some privacy.

She went back down the stairs to the kitchen where Wynonna was pacing back and forth.

“So?” The older Earp impatiently asked.

Nicole shook her head and sighed. “There has to be some better way to punish him. Something that won’t put Waverly through a trial that he’ll more than likely win.”

“Oh, I know a good punishment.” Wynonna growled as she walked over to the hall closet. She rummaged through it for a few seconds before coming back into the kitchen with a loaded shotgun. She cocked it as she looked at Nicole with intent.

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Wynonna, you can’t kill him.”

“Why not? Seems fitting enough. Death penalty for assaulting my baby sister.”

“Because, then I’ll have to arrest you. And that definitely won’t do any good for Waverly. Or your unborn child.”

Wynonna grumbled as she dramatically rolled her head around. “What if I just shoot him in the dick? That’ll guarantee he won’t do this ever again.”

“I’d still have to arrest you.” Nicole said as if it were obvious. “Here, just, give me that.” She took the gun from Wynonna and unloaded it before setting it down on the table. “No shooting. There’s a better way to handle this, we just have to figure it out. But in the meantime, we have to be here for Waverly. She wants space right now, but eventually she’s going to need us. And we can’t help her if we’re behind bars, so don’t do something stupid, okay?”

Wynonna sighed. “Okay, fine.”

“I have to go over to Chrissy and Rosita’s to fix their bathroom door before work. Are you going to work today?”

“No. Jeremy’s covering my shift. Told him it was important, but didn’t tell him what.”

“Okay, good. I don’t think she’s going in to work today, so just don’t leave the house in case she needs you for something.”

“I won’t.”

---

Nicole went over to Chrissy and Rosita’s house, which was still messy from the party. There were cups and empty beer cans everywhere, and Rosita was scrubbing a patch of vomit out of the carpet. Chrissy was laying on the couch, complaining about her hangover headache.

“Uh, you want any help cleaning up around here?” Nicole asked as she looked around, taking in the state of the place.

Rosita sighed as she stood up from the floor and wiped the sweat from her brow with the part of her arm that wasn’t covered by the yellow rubber glove. “No, it’s fine. I’ll clean it up. Or at least half of it…I’m leaving the other half for Chrissy to get later.” The blonde groaned in response from the couch. “You can go ahead and start working on that door you busted.”

Nicole gave Rosita an apologetic smile before making her way up the stairs with her toolbox and a new doorknob. She was almost finished fixing it when Rosita walked up to check on her.

“Need any help?”

Nicole shook her head. “I just have to put a couple of screws in and then it’ll be good as new.” She grabbed a screw and began to finger tighten it before bringing the screwdriver up to finish the job.

“So, why did you kick the door down again? Because you knew Champ was in here, so I figured it had something to do with him. And something tells me you didn’t kick down the door for his sake…was he in here with someone?”

“It’s…complicated.” Nicole said as she focused her attention on the next screw.

“Complicated as in complicated, or complicated as in you don’t wanna tell me?” She waited for a response, but Nicole didn’t answer. “Does this have something to do with Waverly? Chrissy told me he was her ex and a real douchebag. Are you the one who did that to his face?” She waited again, but still no answer. “Look, Nicole, if something happened at a party that we were hosting-”

“Look, whatever happened is not your fault.” Nicole said as she stood up and faced the tan-skinned woman.

“So, something did happen?” A look of worry spread across her face.

Nicole sighed. “Look, I can’t talk about it. But it’s not any of your concern.” She threw her screwdriver in the toolbox before kicking the lid shut and slamming the latch down. “Your door is fixed. I have to get to work. Tell Chrissy I hope she feels better.” Nicole quickly pushed past Rosita before she could ask any more questions and headed straight for the exit.

When she reached the cruiser, she received a new text.

Wynonna: Waverly went to work. Said she needed to get out of the house. Couldn’t stop her, but she seemed fine.

Nicole sighed as she put her phone away. She should’ve known Waverly wasn’t going to take the day off. She just hoped that work would be a positive distraction for the girl.

---

Later that morning, Waverly and Darren were in the back room taking inventory when they heard the bell over the door ding.

“Sounds like a customer. You wanna take it?” Darren asked.

Waverly shook her head. “I don’t feel like talking to strangers today. You get it.”

“Alright then.” Daren shrugged as he set down the stack of coffee cup sleeves he was holding and made his way out into the shop.

Waverly continued to count the supplies in her hand as Darren took the customer’s order. When she finished, she sighed. It was the last thing on the list. She decided to focus her attention on the conversation out in the shop, not wanting to let her mind wander to anything other than what was happening in the present.

“Thank you, sir. Have a good day!” Waverly heard Darren say before she heard the bell ding again. When she heard Darren’s footsteps coming towards the back room, she grabbed the sleeves he had before and counted them.

“There are 20 sleeves here.” She brandished the stack as Darren sat back down next to her on the floor.

“Cool. Plus the 80 I counted before makes 100. Did you finish counting the filters?”

Waverly nodded as Darren grabbed the clipboard and put a check mark next to the sleeves. “Well, I think we’re finished with inventory.” He smiled as he placed the clipboard and pen down on top of the cardboard box.

“I’ll double check everything.” Waverly quickly said, not wanting it to be over.

Darren chuckled. “You’ve counted everything three times already. I think it’s safe to say that everything checks out.”

“Oh.” Waverly paused. “Then I’ll go clean.” She quickly stood up and grabbed a rag and a spray bottle of cleaner as she went out into the shop.

Darren wanted to say something about how she already cleaned everything an hour ago, but decided against it. He could tell she was being a little squirrely, so he decided to make casual conversation.

“So, that was some party last night, right?”

Waverly froze for a brief moment before continuing to scrub down the countertop even harder.

“You’re lucky you left when you did. Everything started to get pretty crazy.”

She clenched her jaw and moved her arm faster with more pressure. If she were using something rougher than a cloth rag she would surely be burning a hole in the granite countertop by now.

“Champ Hardy drank so much he ended up passing out in the bathroom.” Darren chuckled. “Had a nice shiner on his face, too. Said he got into it with one of the locals that showed up uninvited and that the other guy looked worse, but I’m sure the other dude walked away unscathed.” Darren laughed, but quickly stopped and jumped when he heard the loud sound of the spray bottle being slammed down onto the counter. He looked at Waverly with a furrowed brow as she threw off her apron and stormed off towards the door. “Where are you going?”

“Lunch break.” She said shortly without looking back.

“It’s not even eleven o’clock yet?” He replied as he held his wrist out and tapped it for her to see, but she didn’t turn around and just continued walking out the door and to her car.

Waverly mindlessly drove around for a while. She didn’t really have a destination in mind, and was just turning onto roads as she pleased as thoughts of the night before invaded her mind. She lightly scratched at her neck where she remembered feeling Champ’s chapped lips. She bent her wrists back and forth, trying to shake off the feeling of his hands there, restraining her. She closed her legs as she remembered feeling his bulge pressed up against her. The memory of the pungent smell of the alcohol on his breath filled her nose, as if she could smell it right now. She shook her head and exhaled deeply as she pulled over and into the nearest parking space, putting her car in park as she rubbed herself all over her body. She felt gross.

“Get it together, Waverly.” She whispered to herself as she tried to shake away the thoughts.

She took a deep breath as she looked up. Her eyes landed on the big “Shorty’s Saloon” sign above the large, brown doors in front of her. She hadn’t planned on coming here, but she assumed her subconscious had other plans in mind. She turned off the ignition and stepped out of the car. She could use a drink anyways. As she walked in, she went straight for the bar, pulling her phone out of her back pocket to set on the counter before slipping into the stool in front of Jeremy.

“Get me some vodka.” She demanded without even bothering to greet her friend.

Jeremy looked up and noticed Waverly sitting there. “Oh, hey Waves.” He waved before furrowing his brow, hand paused in mid-wave. “Wait, did you just say you wanted vodka?”

Waverly nodded with her arms folded firmly across her chest.

“The hard stuff, huh? Everything okay?” He meant it as a joke, but Waverly didn’t seem to take it that way.

“I’m fine! Can everyone stop asking me that! For fuck’s sake!” She barked, causing Jeremy to retreat.

“Whoa, I’m sorry. I was just kidding.” He backed away slowly as he held his hands up in defense.

Suddenly they both heard a phone ringing from the table – Waverly’s phone. Jeremy looked down at the screen and saw that it was Nicole. Waverly declined it and put her phone on silent before flipping it over face down so that she couldn’t see the screen anymore.

Based on that, Jeremy figured her sour mood had something to do with the red-haired police officer. A lover’s quarrel, perhaps.

“One shot of vodka coming right up.” He gave a curt nod.

“Make it three…for now.” Waverly quickly added.

He gave her a sympathetic smile before grabbing the bottle of vodka from the shelf behind him.

Waverly sat on the stool, mindlessly drumming her fingers on the countertop as she patiently waited for Jeremy to serve her drinks when she heard a familiar laugh from across the bar. She glanced over and noticed Champ playing pool with Pete and Kyle. She silently cursed herself for looking when she knew it was him from his stupid, annoying laugh. She wasn’t sure how she was expecting him to be today, but she sure as hell wasn’t expecting him to be having a good time with his friends like nothing had ever happened. Like he hadn’t pinned her against the wall saying horrible things to her while taking whatever he wanted from her just less than 24 hours ago. She wasn’t expecting him to be totally okay with himself; not when she was a total mess. She growled as she shot up from her stool and stormed across the bar.

“Would you have done it?” She shouted as she walked towards him.

Champ looked around the bar, pretending like he wasn’t sure if she was talking to him. “Excuse me?”

“If she hadn’t come in and kicked your ass, would you have done it?!” Waverly shouted even louder as she got closer to him.

Champ looked at the York brothers and chuckled awkwardly, not wanting his friends to know that his black eye was because of a girl, when that was most definitely not the story that he had been spinning. He looked back at Waverly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Waves.” He looked over at his friends across from the pool table and looped his pointer finger in circles next to his ear as he mouthed “she’s crazy”, causing the other guys to laugh.

“Don’t call me that!” Waverly seethed as she stepped closer to him. She gritted her teeth and growled as she pushed him as hard as she could in the chest, effectively shoving him over a chair. As he went down, he tried to grab onto the table close to him but ended up knocking over a few glasses of beer, spilling them all over himself as he landed on the floor. The sound of smashing glass broke the chatter of the bar and the place went silent.

“Answer the fucking question!” Waverly yelled in demand as she stood over his body with fire in her eyes.

“Waverly Earp!” Gus yelled from the bar next to Jeremy, who looked just as shocked and confused as everyone else.

Waverly looked around the saloon and noticed that everyone was staring at her. She looked down at Champ and saw that he was looking up at her with wide eyes, like she was some sort of monster. The anger in her body was quickly replaced with embarrassment and she ran out of the establishment as quickly as she could.

“What’s gotten into her?” Gus asked Jeremy with concern, hoping that he would know what was going on with Waverly, since the girl was more likely to talk to her friends than her aunt.

He shrugged and frantically shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought she had gotten into a fight with Nicole maybe. But now I’m...not so sure.” He said as he looked over at Champ, who was being helped up by Pete and Kyle as he brushed his hands over his clothes, groaning about being covered in beer and glass.

“Uh, sorry about that, everyone. Everything is fine! Nothing to see here.” Gus announced, and the patrons just shrugged before continuing their prior conversations. “Jeremy, get those people at that table some more beer. And close their tab, on the house. Keep an eye on this place, will ya? I’m goin’ out for a bit.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jeremy said as he saluted the older woman.

Gus gave him a firm pat on the back before rushing out of the bar to try and catch up with her niece.