23. Her Knight in Shining Armor

       The Officer slammed on the brakes, sticking her arm out to hold Waverly back as the car came to a screeching halt. “Did you just say you want to go to Shorty’s ?” She asked, a little breathless.

       “Yea . . .” She confirmed slowly.

       Nicole furrowed her brow in concern. “A-are you sure? Are you sure you are ready to?” 

       “I-I think I am. I am going to have to at some point, I can’t avoid it forever.”

       Nicole nodded, looking at the road ahead of her as she gripped the wheel. “Ok . . . if you think you are ready to,” she mumbled. She wasn’t too sure about this.

       She pulled into the parking lot and found a spot. She stepped out and walked around to Waverly’s side, taking her hand when she got out. “You still sure?”

       “I think so,” she said, looking towards the double doors.

       “Alright. You lead the way. We’re going at your speed."

       Waverly nodded and led them to the doors, taking a deep breath before entering. She took in the familiar sight. She thought she would have started freaking out then and there, but she was fine. Nicole looked down at Waverly, who turned to her with a nod.

       They looked up and saw the middle Earp rushing over to them. “Woah Babygirl, what’re you doing here?” She asked, placing her hand on her shoulder and looking between her and Nicole. Nicole widened her eyes and shook her head in the same confusement.

       “I can’t stay away forever,” Waverly shrugged.

       “But-”

       “Wynonna, I am fine,” she assured. “Well, right now I'm fine.”

       “Just- mmmph . . . Haughty, watch her and get her out of here if something changes,” the older girl sighed, rubbing her face.

       “I will.” Wynonna nodded and walked off back to the guy she was flirting with. Nicole looked back to her girlfriend. “And I will do that . . . if I think you’re gonna start freaking out.”

       Waverly sighed, moving her hand to her head and kissing her cheek. “Ok . . .” She walked them up to the bar and walked behind it. Nicole stayed at the edge, taking a seat. She watched her go up to Gus and Shorty.

       “Hey,” she mumbled from behind them. They both turned around, ending their conversation with the man at the bar when they heard the familiar voice.

       “Waverly, Honey, what- how are you?” Gus asked, just as confused as the rest.

       “I’m good,” she said with a smile. She looked at Shorty. “Hey, Boss.” She gave the old man a hug.

       “How’re you holdin’ up?” He asked, rubbing his thumbs on her arms. 

       “I think I’m doing pretty good actually . . . How’s business, people miss me?” She asked with her signature smile.

       “They sure do . . . Someone’s asked me every day where you’ve been,” he sighed.  

       “And you’ve said . . .?” She questioned, a little worried.

       “That you just needed some time off . . . that’s what we've told everyone,” Gus confirmed. Waverly let out a breath. “Where’s that redhead of yours?” She asked, scanning her eyes around the room, finding her sitting at the end of the bar on her phone. “There she is.” The trio walked over to her, Gus and Shorty staying on the inside while Waverly walked to the outside and took a seat next to her.

       “Officer Haught! How’s my favorite deputy?” Shorty asked with a wide smile.

       Nicole returned the greeting. “Hey, Shorty. I’m good, how are you?”

       “Good, good. Can I get either of you anything?”

       “Nah, I’m on duty in a few hours,” Nicole answered.

       “I’m not a day drinker like Nonna, Shorty,” Waverly chuckled.

       He nodded. “Alright. Well, it was nice seeing you two again, especially you Waverly. I hope to have you back soon.”

       “I hope to be back soon,” she said with a smile. He wandered back down the bar with a wave.  

       “So, what have you two been up to today?” Gus asked, leaning forward on the bar.

       “We drove up to Calgary, got some food, and then went to see a movie,” Nicole answered.

       “Oo, that sounds fun,” she smiled. They both looked to Waverly, whose eyes were fixed elsewhere. Nicole followed them back to the hallway of the bathroom.

       She rubbed her hand on her thigh. “Wave?”

       She quickly met her eyes. “Sorry, what?” She asked, glancing between the two sets of worried stares.

       “You ok, Dear?” Gus asked. Nicole took her girlfriend's hand to stop her from picking at the edge of her shirt.

       “Yea, I’m good . . . just thinking.”

       “About?” Gus and the Officer asked at the same time.

       “I dunno, just thinking,” she sighed, looking up at Nicole with a small smile. Gus and the redhead shared an uncertain glance before they looked back to the smaller girl.

       “Ok . . . just making sure you’re alright,” Nicole mumbled, looking down at her lap.

       “And I am alright,” Waverly assured, tilting her head up. “You mind if I go and talk to people?”

       Nicole looked to Gus, who looked to be in the same mindset she was. “Go ahead . . . just do not go back there without me, ok? I mean it.”

       “I won’ttt,” she assured, standing up and giving her a peck on the lips. She wandered off, not letting go of Nicole’s hand until she would have dragged her off the stool if she took another step.

       Nicole let out a groan when she was out of earshot, turning back to the older woman. “Get me a whiskey,” she mumbled, rubbing her forehead.

       “Yes, Ma’am,” she grumbled back, turning to grab two glasses and the bottle. She poured each of them a glass and pushed Nicole’s towards her. “What’s gotten into her? Why does she have a sudden urge to come back?”

       “I have no clue,” she sighed, looking down at her drink as she swirled the brown liquid around in her cup. “She just asked me out of the blue if we could stop by here. I was just as surprised as you are.”

       “Mmph, I know she likes to push herself . . . but I think this might be too much, even for her. What happened isn’t something you can just shake off.”

       The Officer looked up at her with worried eyes. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her, but she doesn’t want to show anyone her weak side. And she keeps it all locked away, not realizing it’s doing more harm than good.” She shot back the remainder of her glass and pushed it to Gus, who gave her a refill.

       “I hate to say it, but this actually might be what she needs to make her open her eyes . . .” Gus let out a huff. There was silence before she began again. “Has she ever had one of those night terrors while you were in bed with her?”

       Nicole furrowed her brow in confusion for a second before remembering what she was talking about. “No, not that I know of,” she mumbled, watching Gus look down at her drink.

       She looked back up, shaking her head with a somewhat smile. “Every night you haven’t been there, she has. Every night . . . Nicole Haught, you’re the only thing keeping that girl’s head on straight.” She reached out and placed her hand on top of the Officer’s. “She’d be a mess without you . . . So I will keep thanking you until my time is done for keeping her sane through all of this.”

       Nicole met her eyes and nodded, swallowing her emotions down. She hadn’t known that before. “She’s the light of my life . . . I’d crawl to the edge of the Earth if it meant she would have all the happiness she needed.”

       The older woman patted her hand before pulling it back. “Gosh, I’ve never seen love strike so fast,” she mumbled, finishing off her drink and setting the glass into a bucket below the bar.

       Nicole felt her cheeks grow hot. She looked around the bar, trying to find Waverly amongst the groups of people. She shot a look to Gus, who was now looking too. “You see her?” She asked, standing up.

       “I do not . . . Nicole . . .” Her voice faltered at the end. The redhead looked to her again, seeing the fear in her eyes. She swallowed hard and sprinted from the bar, pushing past people that got in her way until she arrived at the hallway. She saw Waverly standing at the door, pale as a ghost. She muttered curses under her breath as she rushed to her.

       She spun her around with her hands on her shoulders. “Waverly.” She lifted her chin up to make her glazed eyes meet her’s. “Waves, snap out of it.” She pat on her cheek a few times, shaking her shoulder with her other hand, trying to make her have some sort of reaction. But she didn’t move. Her face stayed locked, eyes wide, mouth open. Nicole shook her a few more times, gently saying her name. She saw her eyes move . . . rolling back in her head. She fell forward, passing out completely. Nicole caught her and hoisted her up in the same fashion she had earlier that day. Her head tipped back and arms fell limp. Nicole rushed back down the hall, not for sure where to go now. She remembered Shorty’s office. “GUS!”

       The older woman shot her eyes in her direction and made a mad dash towards the two women. “What the hell happened?!?!” She asked as she frantically shoved the key into the door handle, pushing it open. 

       “I-I don’t know. She w-was back there frozen an-and then she just passed out!” Nicole looked over when she heard footsteps rush to the door.

       “Oh my god, I told her not to go back there,” Wynonna said under her breath, eyes wide as she walked into the room. Nicole’s face formed into a snarl. She laid Waverly down sideways on a chair and stalked over to the darker brunette, forcing her backward and shoving her up against the wall.

       “You knew she was going to and did nothing to stop her!? What the hell is wrong with you, Wynonna?!” Nicole gritted through her teeth, pulling her forwards and shoving her against it again.

       “Oof!” Wynonna pushed at the redhead, but she wasn’t able to escape her adrenaline-infused grasp. “I thought when I said “Don’t go back there”, she wouldn’t, Nicole! This isn’t my fault!”

       Nicole moved her hand to her neck. “She would obviously do the opposite of what you said! You’re her sister, for fuck’s sake, you of all people should know that!”

       “Where were you, OFFICER HAUGHT?” Wynonna spat back. “Huh?! I didn’t see you watching over her, being her knight in shining armor!”

       Nicole growled and shoved her again, harder than the two previous times. “She is a grown woman, I’m not her babysitter!”

       “Did I not tell you to watch her when you came in here?! That was literally the only thing I told you to do!” 

       The Deputy tightened her grip on her throat. “Well, maybe when she went up to you all “I wanna go see where my ex-scumbag tried to rape me”, it should have been a red flag to take her over to me so I could do what you told me to do!” She felt a hand on her shoulder pull her back.

       “Break it up, you two!” Shorty grimaced. “We’re not playing the blame game here!” Nicole dropped her hands to her sides and Wynonna sucked in a breath of air. The redhead looked over, seeing Gus sat in a chair next to Waverly, gently patting her face with a wet rag. She sulked over to them, confirming that she was still out. She sat down on the floor in front of the chair, using it as a backrest, and wrapped Waverly’s arm around her, kissing her ice-cold hand.

       “It’s neither of your faults,” Gus said after a few minutes of silence, looking between Nicole and Wynonna, who was sat against the wall behind the chair.

       “I shouldn’t have left her,” they both mumbled at the same time.

       “She made the decision to go against both of your best wishes, so it is nobody’s fault but her own,” Shorty added from his desk. They both let out a sigh, knowing he was right. Nicole kissed her hand again, feeling her fingers move as she did so. She sprung up on her knees and spun around.

       “Welcome back, Sweetheart. You gave us quite a scare there,” Gus said with a caring smile, looking down at her niece, whose eyes were open, tracing over her face. Wynonna was now up with her hands on the back of the chair, looking at her.

       “What happened?” She slurred, slowly sitting up, sitting properly in the chair. She met Nicole’s concerned eyes.

       “You passed out, Babygirl,” Wynonna said from behind.

       “Why?” She asked, tilting her head back to look at her sister.

       “You decided not to listen to any of us and went back to the bathroom,” she said with an annoyed smile.

       “Wynonna,” Gus grumbled in a scold.

       “Oh yea . . .” Waverly breathed, looking forward at the wall before shifting her glance down to Nicole.

       The redhead let go of her hand and placed her hand on her thigh, sitting up more. “You ok, Love?” She asked, rubbing her thumb in a circle.

       “I think so,” she sighed. The older girl nodded and stood up. Waverly held her arms out, signaling she wanted help up.

       Nicole took her arms. “Up on 3 . . . 1, 2, 3.” She pulled her onto her feet and grabbed onto her hip to make sure she was steady. “Good?” 

       “Yea, thank you,” she said.

       Nicole let out the breath that had been waiting to be released. “Ok.” She pushed her forehead against the smaller girl’s. “Don’t you ever do something stupid like that again . . . You scared the shit out of me, Wave.”

       She frowned.  “I’m sorry . . .” she mumbled, wrapping her arms around her back, hugging her tight. “Can we go home?” She asked into her shirt.

       “Yea . . . You wanna go grab your stuff from my house first?”

       Waverly looked up at her with her eyebrow cocked. “I want to go to your house, Nic,” she chuckled.

       “Oh . . . ok, yea,” she smiled, kissing her forehead and releasing her from the hug. Waverly grabbed her hand and said her goodbyes to everyone in the room. Wynonna offered to walk them out.

       They exited the double doors and the older Earp let out a gasp. “Holy fucking car!” She began to walk towards the Lambo.

       “Touch my car and I’ll actually hurt you, Earp,” the Officer warned.

       Wynonna shot her a look. “Yea, oooook, your car,” she mimicked, walking up to the front of the car. Nicole pulled the keys out of her pocket and hit the panic button, making the car start flashing and beeping, sending Wynonna skidding back. She saw Waverly and Nicole laughing and noticed the keys in her hand. “Wait, you weren’t kidding?!”

       “No, I wasn’t kidding.”

       “Let me guess, you have a Harley, too,” Wynonna said, rolling her eyes. Her jaw dropped when Waverly let out a snort.

       “Shh, she can’t know, she will want to borrow it,” Nicole mock-whispered.

       “Damn, Haught-Rod,” the older brunette breathed, still looking at her wide-eyed. The couple looked at each other with smirks and walked over to the car.

       “Bye, Nonna, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Waverly sighed, pulling her sister into a hug.

       “You’re leaving me lonely again tonight?” 

       “Yep,” Waverly laughed. “Love you, Wy.” Wynonna gave her a peck on the cheek and she climbed in the car.

       “Bye, Wynonna,” Nicole muttered as she opened her door.

       “Hey, can I talk to you for a sec, actually?”

       Nicole eyed her for a second before closing the door and walking over to her, crossing her arms. “What?” She asked, obviously still mad from the incident earlier.

       “It’s about Willa, actually . . .” she said, scratching the back of her neck.

       “Willa?”

       “Yea . . . I went outside earlier and caught her up by the fence talking to Bobo . . . they didn’t see me but it's made me a little suspicious. She said she is going out tonight and I heard you got booted to the night shift, so I was wondering-”

       “You want me to spy on her?”

       Wynonna pursed her lips. “I want us to spy on her. I really don’t have a good feeling about this, Haught Shit . . . Please?” She begged with a toothy grin. Nicole thought it over for a second.

       “I’ll see what I can do,” she mumbled, stepping back when the brunette clapped her shoulder. 

       “Thanks, Haughty. I’ll let you know if I learn anything . . . And let’s not mention this to Waverly, ok? I don’t need her worrying about anything else.”

       “Mm, I’m not gonna lie to her, Wynonna,” Nicole said, scuffing her boot around on the ground.

       “How about I tell her how you did a body shot off of me the other night?” She smirked.

       “I did not do that," she scoffed. Her face suddenly went white with a sharp inhale. "Did I?” 

       “I dunno, did you?” Wynonna threw her a wink and walked back towards Shorty’s. Nicole took a deep breath and got in the car.

       “What’s wrong with your face?” Waverly asked. Nicole cocked an eyebrow. “You’re, like, really pale.” She reached up and rubbed her cheek.

       “Hmm,” Nicole shrugged, starting the car. She drove up and revved the engine right next to Wynonna, making her jump 8 feet in the air. Both laughing, they headed off to Nicole’s garage to switch out cars.