83. Why Didn’t You Tell Me?

“What happened?” Nicole asked as soon as she had gotten to Sam’s apartment. She immediately sat on the couch beside her distraught friend and wrapped an arm around her.

“I invited him over for dinner and told him everything. About the pregnancy, the abortion, that I couldn’t handle any of it and I was afraid that if I had told him he would break up with me.” She wiped her eyes off with her sleeve as she sniffled. Nicole rubbed her back and patiently waited for her to continue. “He just sat there silently. Didn’t say a single word. Then he just left. He walked out and just left. And now he won’t answer his phone or anything.” She dropped her head in her hands. “What if he doesn’t want to be with me anymore because of this? What if I made a huge mistake?”

Nicole let out a small sigh. “This whole thing is just a shitty situation. You were doing what you needed to do for yourself, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Should you have talked to him about it before? That I don’t know. It’s not black and white. At the end of the day it’s your body and your decision. I fully support you no matter what, you know that right?”

Sam nodded. 

“Maybe he just needs some time to process. When he’s upset he just sort of leaves the situation and ignores it for a bit. He’ll talk when he’s ready.”

“Can you stay with me tonight?” Sam asked through her reddened eyes.

“Of course.” Nicole nodded with a small smile. “Chrissy is over at our house hanging out with Waverly and she was planning on staying over anyways, so I’m sure Waverly won’t mind.”

“You can tell her if you want.”

“I don’t have to.” Nicole shrugged. “I just told her that you and Dolls got into an argument and you were upset but she didn’t ask what it was about.”

“I know, and I know you would never tell anyone anything about me that I didn’t want anyone to know. Even Waverly. But I’m really okay with her knowing, and I don’t want you to feel like you have any secrets from her.”

Nicole nodded in appreciation. She was loyal to her friends, but it was difficult keeping this a secret. Partly because she didn’t like keeping anything from her wife, but also because she wanted someone to talk about it with because now she was in the middle of her two friends. And she had a feeling that Dolls was going to come to her sooner or later. She just hoped that he wouldn’t be too upset with her.

--- 

The next day

“Ortega, I’ve got a special job for you,” Nicole said as she walked into the station that morning. “Grab your jacket.”

Parker nodded as they immediately stood up from their desk and followed Nicole to the main lobby of the police station, trying not to look too excited. Nicole pulled the keys to the cruiser out of her pocket and tossed them to Parker, who caught them with ease. They looked at the keys for a moment before shifting their eyes up to Nicole with a lifted eyebrow. 

“I want you to go out on patrol.”

“By myself?” Parker asked eagerly.

“Mhm.” Nicole nodded her head while the corners of her mouth quirked up in a slight smile.

“Wow! Thank you! I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t. Now scoot.”

“Yes ma’am.” Parker gave a firm salute and their cheeks quickly reddened in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that. I’m just a little excited.”

“It’s fine,” Nicole chuckled. “But you better get going if you want to beat the morning rush.” She leaned in and in a soft voice whispered, “That’s when most of the speeders get caught.”

Parker’s eyes lit up at the thought of giving out traffic tickets for the first time on their own. “I’m on it.” They nodded before rushing out the door.

Nicole laughed to herself and shook her head as she remembered how excited she was to go on patrol for the first time. Which, of course didn’t happen until she got here to Purgatory considering the previous station she worked at never let her do anything on her own. She wanted to be better than the chief over there ever was.

Just as she had started straightening out some of the blank forms on the front desk to keep things tidy, the front door opened and she turned to smile at the entering citizen, but her smile slowly dropped when she saw Dolls standing in front of her looking a bit angry. She knew exactly what this was about. She swallowed the lump in her throat as they stood there in silence looking at each other.

His face finally softened and he shook his head in disappointment. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Let’s go to my office.” She held a hand out for him to proceed first, which he did. 

“Good morning, Detective Dolls.” Lucas smiled and waved as they walked past his desk, and Dolls gave him a small smile and short head nod as he continued on his way towards Nicole’s office. When they got there, he leaned against her desk and looked down at the floor in thought while Nicole quietly shut the door.

“Would you like to sit down?” She gestured her hand out towards the couch. 

He shook his head, and she nodded before sitting down in the spot she had offered him.

“You knew before she had even done it.” 

“I did,” Nicole said confidently.

He looked up at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She inhaled slowly through her nose. “It wasn’t for me to tell. It was Sam’s decision.”

“I had a right to know. I had a right to be in on the decision. We should have discussed it together. And at the very least, I should have been the one in that room with her, not you.”

Nicole nodded. “I don’t completely disagree.”

He pushed himself off the desk and took a step towards Nicole as he leaned slightly forward. “Then why keep this from me?”

“Again, it wasn’t for me to tell.” She remained calm, even though Dolls was getting more and more upset by the sentence. 

He let out a huff of frustration and shook his head in annoyance. “That’s not good enough.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but it’s not my job to play the mediator in your relationship. The person you’re really mad at right now is Sam, not me. You’re just here yelling at me because you don’t want to yell at her.” 

He looked at her for a moment before looking away while folding his arms across his chest. 

“She was scared that you’d leave her or try to convince her not to do it. You know how she feels about having kids. That’s the whole reason why she and Danny divorced. And going through the pregnancy just to give the baby up for adoption was too much for her to handle. An abortion was the only option for her. Truthfully, I don’t know what I would have done in her situation in terms of telling you or not, but she loves you. And I know you love her too. You have a right to be upset and angry, but try not to let it linger too long, because it would be such a shame if this was the thing that broke you guys up when you’re clearly happy together.”

His jaw muscles popped out a couple of times as he clenched his teeth. “I just want her to be honest with me. No secrets or lies,” he said softly.

“She wants that too. And that’s why she told you, when she was ready to. I’m sorry you didn’t get to be involved in the decision making. I know that’s really difficult for you. But do you think you could forgive her?”

He paused for a moment. “I think I just need some time. It really hurts that she didn’t trust me enough to let me in while everything was happening.”

Nicole nodded and smiled sadly as he let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry I got upset with you. I just needed to let out some steam. And you’re right, I didn’t want to do that with her.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Right.” One corner of his lips quirked up the smallest amount before dropping. “Well, I need to get to work.” He gave her a small head nod of appreciation before awkwardly walking out of the office, and Nicole let out a deep breath as she slid down the couch until her head was resting on the back of it and looked up at the ceiling with her arms folded across her chest. “What a great start to the day.”

--- 

Later that night, Nicole found herself buried in paperwork when she heard a small knock on her office door. She looked up as the door cracked open and Waverly peered around it. 

“Honey, are you still working?”

“Hey.” Nicole furrowed her brow and glanced over at the clock on the wall, but quickly remembered that the batteries had been out for a couple of weeks now and she hadn’t gotten around to changing them yet. She held her arm up in front of her and looked at her watch. “Shit, I didn’t realize how late it was.”

 “It’s okay,” Waverly smiled sweetly. “I was just worried about you. I hadn’t heard from you in a while and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Nicole leaned back in her chair and ran her hands through her hair as she blew out a breath. “I just got caught up in these reports and forgot to check my phone. I’m sorry baby. I didn’t mean to make you come all the way down here.”

“It’s okay. Besides, I kind of felt like getting out of the house for a bit.” She plopped down on the couch and made herself comfortable. When she looked over at Nicole staring down at her desk, lost in thought, her smile slowly faded. “Is everything okay?”

“Huh?” Nicole looked over at Waverly and noticed her looking back in concern. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, I’m just a little distracted.”

“You look like you have something on your mind.”

Nicole nodded and pursed her lips as she pushed herself out of her chair and walked over towards the couch before dropping down beside Waverly. “So, you know how there’s been something going on with Sam? Something I couldn’t tell you before?”

Waverly nodded as her face shifted to curiosity, and Nicole let out a deep breath.

“Well, she found out that she was pregnant.” With pursed lips, she glanced over at Waverly, who was unmoving aside from her eyes slowly widening. “Yep.”

“How’s that going to work when she doesn’t want kids?”

“Well,” Nicole started as she slowly shifted in her seat. “She actually got an abortion. I went with her.”

“Oh.” Waverly’s eyes widened even more.

“She didn’t tell Dolls either. At least not until last night. And he came here all pissed at me this morning for not telling him, but I couldn’t have. I couldn’t tell anyone. Not until Sam was ready. And that’s okay, isn’t it? I did the right thing, right?”

“Well I think you did,” Waverly said as she ran her hand through Nicole’s hair, lightly massaging her scalp with her fingernails. “I would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes.”

Nicole sighed as she took Waverly’s hand and placed an appreciative kiss on the back of it before lacing their fingers together and dropping their hands down onto her lap. They sat there in silence for a moment while Waverly ran her fingers along the green fabric over the armrest, and a smile slowly spread across her face. 

“Remember all the times we hooked up on this couch?”

“Too many to count.” Nicole chuckled. “Especially during the first few months when I became sheriff.”

“That was an exciting time.” Waverly wiggled her eyebrows. Suddenly, an idea hit her, and she slid her hand out of Nicole’s weakened grasp and placed it on top of her thigh over her slacks. “It has been a while though. Maybe we could add another memory.” She slowly trailed her palm up Nicole’s thigh while looking at her with seductive eyes.

“I’m not opposed to that.” Nicole smirked, and when Waverly moved her hand to cup her between her legs, her eyes fluttered shut and she let out a small sigh. She opened her eyes back up to see Waverly grinning eagerly. “I’m definitely not opposed to that.” 

Nicole leaned forward and immediately began kissing Waverly. She then grabbed her legs and moved them so that the brunette was more comfortable while she settled in between them, and moved her hands everywhere over Waverly’s clothes until she couldn’t take it anymore. She pulled Waverly’s tucked-in shirt out of the waistband of her wine colored high waisted pants and reached her hand underneath the garment until she felt warm, soft skin. She started to undo the button, but Waverly shook her head and gently pushed Nicole off of her, which the redhead did with a furrowed brow.

“You’ve had a long day.” Waverly slid off of the couch and onto the floor as she moved Nicole’s legs so that she was sitting upright on the couch. She sat up on her knees and kissed the top of Nicole’s right leg. “Let me take care of you, baby.” She smirked as she undid Nicole’s belt buckle, and then unbuttoned her slacks before pulling them down. Nicole lifted her hips up with an eager grin, helping Waverly get her clothes off until she was left in just her uniform shirt. 

“You’re so good to me.” Waverly placed a few soft kisses along the inside of Nicole’s thigh, and Nicole pushed her hips forward as she pulled her lip between her teeth, watching with attentive eyes. “You always put me first.” The further up Waverly’s lips went, the more Nicole’s breathing picked up, and the less she was able to sit still. “And I’m going to give you the praise you deserve.” She placed her hands on Nicole’s knees to open them up a little wider and kissed along the outside of Nicole’s sex over her curls.

Nicole’s breath hitched a few times in anticipation until Waverly finally used her tongue to part her folds and began licking small, delicate strokes.

“Oh,” Nicole breathed. She tensed her fingers over the outsides of her own thighs as she relaxed her body and focused all of her attention on Waverly’s face between her legs. It was hot, and comfortable, and overall it just felt so good. Every time Waverly swirled her tongue around her clit, Nicole let out a small moan. It was arousing, of course, but the tenderness of it made it feel almost like a massage. And it was absolutely perfect.

After nearly twenty minutes, Nicole felt herself becoming more sensitive. “I’m close,” she whispered, and Waverly moved her tongue away from her clit and instead ran it over the outside to keep her from finishing. Nicole quickly picked up on Waverly’s intentions of edging her and decided to follow along. She wanted it all to last as possible and plus the orgasms were always so much better, so she wasn’t opposed to the idea.

Waverly returned her tongue to Nicole’s clit, moving in slow circles for a couple of minutes until Nicole felt herself getting worked up again.

“Close,” Nicole rasped, and Waverly backed off to let her cool down.

Each time Waverly moved her tongue back to Nicole’s clit, it was there for a less amount of time. They repeated this pattern several times, one of which had brought Nicole dangerously close to her orgasm and Waverly had to remove her tongue completely as Nicole focused on keeping her body from going there before she wanted to. She squirmed a bit, wanting so desperately to squeeze her legs together but keeping herself from doing so, as she was so sensitive that it would be enough to send her into an orgasm.

“Okay,” Nicole nodded, and Waverly picked back up with her circling motions. “Close,” Nicole said again after only about ten seconds. This was where it was going to get extremely difficult to hold off.

Waverly waited a couple of seconds before going back to her strokes, only this time with more pressure.

“Close,” Nicole said almost immediately. 

Waverly paused for another couple of seconds before going back at it. They continued this about five more times, until it got to the point where Nicole was nearly shouting the word almost as soon as Waverly had begun touching her again.

“Close.” Nicole’s was panting now and she writhed on the couch with her hands gripping Waverly’s on her thighs. But this time, Waverly picked up her pace instead of stopping it, and she repeatedly flicked her tongue over the swollen bud.

“I’m close,” Nicole repeated just in case Waverly didn’t hear her, but the brunette continued. Her head had started to bob up and down to help aid her tongue as she was getting a little tired. And Nicole found that incredibly sexy.

“Baby...I’m gonna come...I can’t hold off...” Nicole said between the labored breaths of her orgasm building up inside her as she squirmed. Waverly held her hands down on Nicole’s thighs to keep her steady and flicked her tongue at an even quicker speed.

“Fuck, I’m gonna come...oh my god, fuck...I can’t—” Nicole cut herself off with a whimper as her abdomen tensed up. “I’m coming...fuck, I’m coming!” She quickly moved her hands from Waverly’s to her brunette hair and gripped tightly as she widened her legs and pushed her center forwards into Waverly’s face as an intense orgasm rippled through her, and her mouth fell open to let out a loud gasp. “Oh my god, Waverly! Fuck! Ohhhhh fuck!” Her breathing was loud and ragged as she forcefully rocked against Waverly’s face with her eyes squeezed tight, riding out her incredible orgasm and trying to make it last as long as possible. “That’s so good,” she moaned, and she let out a few high-pitched gasps with every unexpected contraction. “I’m still coming,” she whispered, followed by a few more small moans.

Waverly hummed as she continued moving her tongue, feeling her own second-hand high from Nicole’s orgasm. Although for her it was more mental and emotional than physical for her, but still felt really good nonetheless.

Nicole let out a deep sigh as she lowered her body back down onto the couch and loosened her grip on Waverly’s hair. She used her fingers to rake all of the hair out of Waverly’s face as Waverly began placing gentle kisses over Nicole’s folds, practically worshipping the area.

“You’re so beautiful,” Waverly whispered and kissed over to her hip bone. 

Nicole smiled as she watched her wife move her lips all over her lower body, until she got up off the floor to sit beside Nicole.

“How do you feel?”

“High,” Nicole replied with a small laugh. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to get off this couch.” She looked down between her legs and noticed a softball-sized dark green wet patch. “Well, it’s a good thing nobody actually sits on this couch.”

“I think it’s because everyone knows what we get up to on it,” Waverly replied in amusement.

“I think you’re right,” Nicole said in the same manner with a shake of her head. “I don’t even care. We always have the best sex on this couch.”

“We do.” Waverly nodded with a smile. She leaned in to kiss Nicole, which she got to do for a few seconds until her phone began dinging.

Nicole pulled back with creased eyebrows. “Who’s texting you this late?”

Waverly looked at Nicole with the same curious expression as she pulled out her phone to see four new messages. “It’s Jeremy.” She opened the texts and her eyes immediately widened. “Oh my god.”

“What?” 

Waverly held the phone up for Nicole to see, who’s eyes also widened. 

“Oh my god,” Nicole said in the same manner.

With a worried look, Waverly quickly called him. “Hey, do you want us to come over?” She paused for a moment before nodding. “Okay, we’re on our way. See you in a few minutes.”

Before Waverly had even hung up the phone, Nicole had already gotten up to put her jacket on. “Let’s go.” 

When they arrived at Jeremy and Robin’s apartment, Nicole gritted her teeth in anger at the red spray paint on the door. Waverly stood there in shock as she looked at the homophobic slur. 

“Why would someone do something like this?” Waverly asked. “It’s 2022 for god’s sake.”

“I don’t know,” Nicole replied with a shake of her head, and she reached her fist up to knock on the door.

As the door opened, Jeremy appeared with a sad smile on his face. “Hey, thanks for coming so late.”

“Of course.” Waverly smiled back and gave him a hug.

“Who would do something like this?” Nicole asked. It was obvious how irate she was.

“This guy moved in next door a couple of weeks ago. We introduced ourselves one day when we were crossing paths and he was immediately put off. Then another time he was relentlessly banging on our door, and when Robin answered it he started complaining about being able to hear us…” he trailed off as his cheeks flushed slightly red. “You know, from our bedroom. I think it was probably him who did it, but we don’t know for sure.”

“I’ll bet all my money on it being him,” Nicole said through gritted teeth. “Want me to arrest him for vandalism?”

Jeremy shook his head. “There’s no proof it was him. And he’ll just deny it.”

“Where’s Robin?” Waverly asked when she realized she hadn’t seen him yet.

“He went out to the store to get some paint to redo the door.”

“We’ll help,” Waverly said.

“Yeah, we’d be happy to.” Nicole said. “Have you guys thought about installing a security camera outside?”

“Well we hadn’t before now. We didn’t think anything like this would happen. But it makes me wonder, is this just the beginning? What else is this guy going to do to our home? Or to us?” He gave a small sigh. “We talked about possibly moving. Our lease will be up soon, so maybe it’s time to finally buy a house like we’ve been talking about but have been putting off for so long.”

“You shouldn’t have to move because of one small-minded asshole,” Nicole said.

“I know. But to be honest, I think I’d rather do that than try to fight back or anything. It’s just not worth it.” He shrugged and looked up when he noticed Robin walking through the door.

“Hey guys,” Robin said with a similar smile Jeremy had before. “Thanks for coming over so late.”

Waverly smiled while Nicole shook her head in frustration. “We should use that paint to write something on his door. Like ‘homophobic bastard’ or something.” Nicole huffed.

“But then we’d be the vandals,” Waverly said, although she found it cute that Nicole was so angry and looked like she was ready to beat the guy up.

“I know. I just hate that he’s going to get away with something like this.”

“We have to pick our battles,” Robin said while setting the paint down on the floor. “You should see this guy, he’s a super buff biker dude. I don’t want things escalating. Retaliation isn’t really the smartest option here.”

Waverly pressed her lips together apologetically. “Jeremy said you guys were thinking about moving.”

“It’s about time anyways,” Robin shrugged. “We’ve been here for a few years. Maybe this is a sign from the universe that it’s time to upgrade to something more private. Where we don’t share walls with big homophobic biker dudes.”

“That’s a shitty sign.” Nicole shook her head.

“Yeah, but it’s what we’ve been talking about doing anyways.” Jeremy shrugged.

“Alright,” Robin said in a chipper voice. “The paint has been stirred and is ready to go.”

They each grabbed a brush as Jeremy brought over a rag to wipe the door down, and they spent the next half hour repainting until it looked good as new.