9. Is it That Obvious?

Waverly walked over to her sister, who now had a shirt on and was drinking out of a whiskey bottle. “So,” Wynonna started. “You and Red have a good time today?”

“We did,” Waverly confirmed with a nod.

“Good,” Wynonna smiled. “She's good for you, Waves. You need someone to lean on that isn’t just me.”

Waverly pulled her sister into a hug. “I definitely know I can lean on her,” she mumbled with a guilty smirk on her face. She pulled away from the hug. “Thanks for everything, Nonna.”

“Of course, Babygirl,’ she assured. “Are you gonna be ok by yourself tonight? I have a man that has a problem and, uh . . . I am the solution.”

Waverly grimaced. “Yeah, I think I will.” She turned and walked back up to her room, picking up the empty take-out boxes and soda cans. She brought it all downstairs and threw it away. Waverly walked back upstairs and noticed Nicole’s hat that she had given her the night before sitting on the chair. “Crap,” she muttered, picking it up. She had planned on giving it back to her the next time she saw her but had forgotten to that night. She decided she would drive up to the station tomorrow and give it to her and smiled at the thought of seeing her again so soon. Waverly changed into her nightclothes and got into bed, clutching the hat to her chest as she closed her eyes for the night.

.  .  .

 Waverly was startled awake for the third time by a nightmare. She checked her phone, seeing that it was a little before 6 A.M. She whimpered and sat up, wiping the tears off her face and letting out a heavy breath. She had somehow kicked all her blankets on the floor so she was freezing. She grabbed her unicorn onesie and headed downstairs, knowing a warm shower would for sure calm her down.

After she got out, she walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She then watered her cactus, Charlie. The couch seemed to be calling her name, so she walked over and laid down on it, turning the TV on and opening up her phone. She was on Instagram for a little while but got bored after an hour or so. After a few minutes of contemplating what she should do to entertain herself, she remembered that she was supposed to give Nicole’s hat back to her. She leaped off the couch and ran up the stairs, crashing into Wynonna on her way up.

“Jesus Christ, Waves! Where’s the fire?” Wynonna huffed, rubbing her shoulder.

“Sorry, Nonna, I just have places to be.”

“Which is where?”

“The station. Nicole left something here and I’m gonna go deliver it to her,” she answered with a smile as she ran the rest of the way up the stairs.

Waverly got dressed and grabbed the hat, heading back downstairs. She saw Doc pushing the button on the blender with a mischievous look on his face. “Hey Doc,” she mumbled slowly, leaning forward onto the counter next to him. “What're you doing?”

“I’m still learning things about all the gizmos and gadgets of this age. This one is . . . quite different,” he mused, pushing the button again.

“It's called a blender . . . It blends things.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, here, I’ll show you.” She grabbed a banana, the milk, and some ice cream, placing it all in the blender, making Doc a banana milkshake. She poured it into a cup and placed a straw into it, handing it over to him.

He cocked a brow at her, taking a sip. A smile formed on his face. “I think I like blenders,” he said softly with a smile, turning and walking upstairs with the milkshake.  

“See ya later, Doc.” She rolled her eyes with a laugh and gathered her things, heading outside to her Jeep and realizing this was the first time she left the house since the attack. She pulled out of the driveway, trying to find a good song on the radio to distract herself from that train of thought. 

___

Nicole sat in her office, munching on an apple and going through the ginormous stack of paperwork on her desk. She had only been at work for 3 hours and was already exhausted. She groaned at the knock on her door. “Lonnie, I swear, if you are here to give me more paperwork, I will shove this apple core up yo-” She stopped when she saw Waverly leaning against the doorframe with a smile hiding her laughter. She stood up quickly. “Oh my- . . . I’m sorry, I thought you-”

She was cut off when Waverly started talking. “Rough day already, huh?” She walked over to her with a sway in her hips.

“Is it that obvious?” she replied with a smile, leaning back on the edge of her desk.

“I, uh, came to give this back,” Waverly mumbled, handing her the Stetson.

“Keep it. I have, like, four other ones.” She placed it on Waverly’s head.

“Really!” she gasped. Nicole nodded her head with a chuckle. She wrapped her arms around Nicole tightly, and she let out a squished groan. “I wanna go talk to Nedley. I haven’t seen him in a while,” Waverly smiled, starting for the door.

“At least take the hat off,” Nicole sighed, pushing herself off the desk and following Waverly out.

“Hi, Sheriff!” Waverly squealed, dropping down in the chair in front of his desk.

“Hello, Waverly. How are you?” he asked, looking up from his computer and slightly eyeing the hat.

“I’m good, how are you?” 

“Pretty good. Sure am keeping myself busy with all this paperwork though. We've had an increase of crimes lately,” he said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked down at the folder in front of him.

“Why's that?” she questioned. Nicole came up behind her, placing her hands on the back of her chair and letting her thumbs brush the backs of her shoulders.

“Bobo Del Rey and his knuckleheads are gaining more power, causing trouble everywhere,” Nedley grumbled. 

“And we have nothing to arrest him on,” Nicole added.

“How is he just allowed to give out those orders and have no consequence?” Waverly asked.

“We technically have no physical evidence that he ordered them to do anything,” Nicole sighed, sitting down in the other chair and leaning forward, resting her forearms on her knees. 

A small sigh almost left Waverly's lips as she looked over at her. How she looked so good with her sleeves rolled up, she didn't know. “Well, that’s stupid,” she mumbled, crossing her arms and forcing her eyes away from Nicole.

“Sure is,” Nedley agreed. “Sorry to cut this meeting short, but I really do have a lotta work to do . . . It was nice seeing you again, Ms. Earp.” He gave her a kind smile.

“You, too, Sheriff.” Waverly and Officer Haught walked out, but Waverly stopped in the pit with an angry look on her face and Nicole cautiously walked over to her.

“What?” she asked slowly. 

“Bobo shouldn’t get away with all of this stuff! He is the biggest problem in this town. You seriously have nothing on him?” 

Nicole let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, no. But we are getting closer and closer every day,” she ensured, touching her arm.

“Ugh, it's just not fa-” Waverly froze, and the angered look on her face was now one of fear.

Nicole placed her both hands on her arms, shaking her slightly. “Waves? What’s wrong?” she asked, noticing Waverly wasn’t looking at her, but past her. She turned and froze herself. “Oh shit,” she mumbled. 

Standing at the entrance of the station was Doc and Dolls, holding up Champ, and all five of them were frozen staring at each other. Nicole made the first move. She grabbed Waverly by the hand and dragged her back into Nedley’s office. She sat her on the floor and shut all the blinds. “Keep her in here until I come back. He’s here.” She looked up at Nedley who was now standing, completely alert.

“Oh good lord,” he muttered, walking over to Waverly.

“Hey,” she said quietly, kneeling down and placing her hands on Waverly’s cheeks, “I’ll be as quick as I can, ok, Waves?” Waverly moved her eyes from the wall to Nicole’s eyes. She tried to speak, but nothing came out, so she just nodded. Nicole gave her a kiss on the forehead and stood quickly, slipping out of the door, glancing at Nedley before she went. She jogged to the door where the men were still standing.

“What the hell, Haught?!” Dolls said through his teeth. “I thought ‘bring him tomorrow’ meant you were gonna make sure she wasn’t here!”

“I didn’t know she was gonna be here! Did you not see her big red jeep outside?!” Nicole huffed.

“C’mon, Haught, keep track of your little girlfriend,” Champ said through a slur.

She inched closer to his face, causing his swollen eyes to widen. “Did I ask for your input?” she growled, clenching her jaw.

“N-no, Ma’am.”

“Didn’t think so,” she muttered in the same tone before clocking him in the head, knocking him right out. Doc and Dolls stumbled under the sudden change in weight of the man they were holding up. “Get him in a cell,” Nicole ordered, sliding her hand down her braided hair. They dragged  him to the back, and Nicole rushed back to Nedley’s office, rubbing her now swollen fist. She slid back in the door, seeing Waverly’s head was resting on Nedley’s shoulder and his hand was softly placed on her knee. “Ok, he’s in the back. It's my fault. I totally forgot I told them to bring him back today-” Her voice cut when she realized she had just revealed she knew where he was to her boss. “I mean, uh . . .”

“Haught,” he said, standing up and offering his hand to Waverly to help her up. “I’m sure he was getting what he deserved.” He clapped his Deputy's shoulder and walked out, giving her a nod before closing the door behind.

She rushed to Waverly’s and pulled her into her arms. “I am so sorry, Baby,” she whispered into her shoulder.

“You knew where he was the whole time?” Waverly asked, looking up at her with a tear-stained face.

“Yeah, Doc and Dolls were holding him. That’s where I went yesterday morning. I- I should have told you what was going on.” She shook her head, looking down for a moment before meeting her eyes with ones filled with guilt. “I’m sorry,” she choked out, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

“It's ok," she soothed, running her hand down her face. "I know why you didn’t.”

“Still. You had a right to know.” She couldn't hold it in anymore, and tears started rolling down her cheeks. 

“Shh, you were protecting me, Nic. I'm not mad at you,” she said softly. She wiped the redhead's face and looked into her eyes. Nicole pushed her forehead against Waverly’s as she calmed down. “I'm ok, I promise. I just wasn’t expecting to see him, so it freaked me out for a minute.”

“If you say so,” Nicole mumbled. Waverly smiled softly with a nod and pulled her into a gentle kiss.

“Babygirl, are you-” Wynonna poked her head in the door. The girls pulled away from each other, both of their hearts skipping a beat. “Making out with Haught Pants . . .” Wynonna finished in a breathy voice, blinking her eyes rapidly. “I’m just . . .” She gestured with her thumb, pointing out of the office. “Yeah.” She slipped her head back out the door and shut it.

Nicole looked down back at Waverly, wide-eyed. “Waves . . .”

That was all she managed to get out before she was pulled into a rough kiss. Waverly walked them to Nedley’s couch without breaking the kiss. She pushed Nicole down and crawled on top of her, using one hand to stabilize herself on the armrest and the other to pull Nicole’s head closer to hers. Nicole let out some breathy moans in between each kiss. She pushed herself up from the couch after a few seconds, wrapping one arm behind Waverly’s back and using the other to walk her back so she was on top. She flashed a cocky smile at a now-seduced brunette and went in for more kisses, pushing herself in between the smaller girl’s legs. 

“Someone likes to be on top,” Waverly murmured as Nicole rolled her bottom lip down with her thumb.

“Mmm, glad you noticed,” she smirked, pulling Waverly’s head closer to hers again. Waverly draped her arms around the back of Nicole's neck and sunk deeper into the couch. Nicole lengthened each kiss, starting to grind her body into the smaller girl.

“Fuck,” Waverly moaned under her breath. The taller one let out a chuckle and left a trail of kisses down her cheek, all the way to the pulse point on her neck, starting with kisses and ending with sucking. “Nicole,” she moaned, maybe a little too loud, digging her nails into her back. Nicole smirked and moved back up to her lips. She slid her hand down her waist and to her ass, giving it a firm squeeze. Waverly moaned again, grabbing at her hips and pulling them towards her.

Nicole pulled back, both breathing heavy. "We are not going any further on my boss' couch,” she panted.

“Aw, but why?” Waverly whined, pulling her head down to kiss down her neck and getting a soft moan to escape her lips.

Nicole pulled back again, though. “We already had your sister walk in on us,” she laughed. “Besides . . . This is probably just not a good idea for a lot of other reasons.”

Waverly let out a heavy sigh. “Fine, you’re right,” she sighed, sitting up after Nicole moved off of her. 

Nicole stood and fixed her uniform, untucking and re-tucking her shirt in. Waverly checked her hair in the glare of the picture on the wall, trying to smooth it out. Nicole walked over to where they were sitting before and picked her hat up off the ground, placing it back on Waverly’s head.

“Thank you for your service, Officer Haught,” Waverly said with a wink as she poked her stomach.

“I was only doing my job, Ma’am,” Nicole drawled back, pulling her in for one last kiss.

Waverly arched her body into Nicole’s and rubbed her hands down her sides, feeling every little curve of her toned body. She pulled back after a few more seconds. “And a very good one at that,” she smirked, opening the door. Nicole exited first, giving Waverly the chance to smack her ass, almost making Nicole yelp.

She turned to Waverly with a small grin on her face. “Look upset,” she muttered through her teeth. Waverly’s face changed from happy to sad and she walked closer to Nicole, allowing her to drop her arm over her shoulders. 

They walked into the break room where everyone was sitting, and Doc stood quickly, walking up to Waverly. “I am terribly sorry, Waverly. I had no intention in scaring you like that,” he apologized, taking her hands.

“It's ok. I know you guys didn’t mean to. It was just a pure chance that I happened to be standing right there,” she assured. Doc tipped his hat and sat back down. She shifted her eyes to Wynonna, who was glaring at Nicole. She quickly looked up at Nicole, whose face had fear written all over it.

“May I speak to you, Haught?” Wynonna asked, more demanded in a low voice. “Privately.”

Nicole stood there for a few seconds before finally getting out, “S-sure.” 

She wasn’t sure what had scared her more: The tone Wynonna used, or the fact that she used her actual last name.