25. Stand By

       The Officer’s face went white, mouth dropping open. She quickly gathered herself before removing her hat with her right hand. “M-Ms. Reyes,” she gulped. “Follow me.” She walked them to her office and sat down at her desk, Jessie sitting in the chair in front of it. “What can I do for you?” She asked, taking a sip of coffee.

       The younger woman fiddled with the purse on her lap before clearing her throat. “I, uh, I’m sorry it's a little late for me to be showing up here, but this was the earliest I could get off work,” she mumbled.

       “Perfectly fine, Ma’am, my shift just started,” she said with a smile, trying to ease the woman’s nerves.

       “So . . . I know it’s not my place to ask, but I’ve heard about . . . is it true, the thing with Waverly and . . . him?”

       Nicole swallowed and stood, walking over to the door to close it. She sat back down and pushed her hand down her braid. “Whatever we talk about in this room, stays in this room, can we agree on that?” Jessie nodded, furrowing her brow. “Uhm . . . ye-yes, it is true. Who’d you hear it from?”

       “Sheriff mentioned something to Chrissy and she told me . . . but only me, she just wanted to let me know because . . .” She looked up at Nicole who nodded, dipping her head. “I just wanted to know cause I decided if it was . . . I wanted to testify against him.”

       Nicole’s eyes shot open. “You do?”

       “Uh . . . yea. I can do that, right?”

       “Y-yes, you very much can. Both of you against him would make it a lot easier to put him away,” Nicole said, opening his file on her computer.

       “Did she get her’s filmed?” Jessie asked quietly.

       “Her statement?” She asked, still clicking around.

       “Yea . . .”

       “Yea, she got it filmed the other day.”

       Jessie nodded. “Can I see it?”

       Nicole looked at her, blinking a few times at the somewhat odd request. “Uhm . . . I don’t know, actually. I’ll go ask Nedley.” She rose from her seat and knocked on the Sheriff’s door. “Sir?”

       “Yes?” She stepped in the room and ran her finger around the Stetson she was holding.

       “Is Ms. Reyes allowed to watch Wav- Ms. Earp’s tape? I don’t know if that is against pro-”

       “It is, but . . .” He pulled the camera out of his desk drawer. “That girl deserves to know what is going on.”

       Nicole smiled and stepped forward, taking the camera from her. “Thank you, Sheriff,” she nodded.

       “I don’t know if you can go a day without breaking the rules, Haught,” Nedley sighed with a smile. She placed her hat back on her head with a bashful nod and walked back to her office.

       She sat down and plugged the camera in, turning the monitor so they could both see it. “He said it is against protocol, but he has a soft spot for you,” she said with a wink.

       “Thank you, Officer,” Jessie smiled.

       “Let me know if you need me to stop it, it gets kinda . . . ya know.”

       The brunette nodded. “I remember,” she mumbled, swallowing.

       “And I’ll stop it if you have any questions.” The nurse leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, bringing a hand up to her mouth. Nicole hit play on the first tape.

       “Case number 42048: Earp vs Hardy Clip 1. Date is currently March 16, 2016, and it is 3:41 PM. Sheriff’s Deputy Nicole Haught interviewing Ms. Waverly Earp, who claims Mr. James Hardy attempted to sexually assault her. Please note that the defendant goes by “Champ”. Ms. Earp, what day did this crime occur?” Nicole watched Jessie’s eyes go wide, realizing she was the one who did the interview.

       “March 13, 2016.”

       “And at approximately what time?”

       “Maybe 7:45 PM?”

       “So, where were you at the time of this event?”

       “I was at Shorty’s Saloon in the bathroom.”

       “He did it at Shorty’s?! Doesn’t she work there?” Jessie asked, looking at Nicole wide-eyed.

       She paused the tape. “Yea, she does . . . she hasn’t been since, though,” she confirmed.

       “I don’t blame her,” Jessie sighed. Nicole played the tape and it played through a bit.

       “Was it to the point where he didn’t know what was going on or maybe even that he didn’t even know who you were?”

       “Um, no. He knew what he was doing. He told me why.”

       Nicole watched Jessie shift uncomfortably in her seat.

       "What did he tell you, Ms. Earp?"

       “He, uh . . . he said . . .” The clip ended.

       “She needed a minute here,” Nicole mumbled, clicking over to the next tape.

       “How’s she doing now, do you know?” Jessie asked, concern in her voice.

       “She’s doing . . . better,” Nicole said, clenching her jaw, thinking back to what had happened earlier at Shorty’s.

       “What about Wynonna? I’m surprised she didn’t kill him.”

       Nicole laughed. “Oh, she wanted to, she really did. We just didn’t let her get to where we had him . . .” She realized she had probably said too much.

       “Where you had him?” She questioned.

       Nicole pursed her lips before letting out a sigh. “We . . . kidnapped him . . . and beat the pulp out of him . . . before actually arresting him.”

       Jessie’s mouth dropped open. “You . . . wow.”

       “Yeaaa . . . You ready for the next part?” She nodded. The redhead pressed played.

       “When he snuck up on me, he said something along the lines of “I’m gonna show you how much you need me” and “You didn’t mean what you said earlier”.”

       “Tha-that’s what he said to me,” Jessie stuttered, looking back and forth between Nicole and the screen. She pushed her hand through her hair.

       “Ms. Reyes, if this is too hard for you, we can stop.”

       Jessie shook her head. “No, no, I’m good.” Nicole nodded and started it up again.

       “I see. What was he referring to there?”

       “I broke up with him earlier that day. We were together for 4 years, and I couldn’t deal with his bullsh-crap anymore.” Jessie tipped her head with pursed lips, annoyance on her face.

       “What caused you to break up with him?”

       “Well . . . he was so inconsiderate. Didn’t care about anyone but himself. And it didn’t help that he cheated on me every other week.”

       “So . . . what was the first thing that happened after you entered the bathroom? You can go ahead and go through it all if you’d like. Up to you, Ms. Earp.” Jessie swallowed and crossed her arms again.

       “I walked into the bathroom and went to the handicapped stall. I had just opened the door when I felt . . . hands on my waist. I turned around and saw Champ staring at me . . . I tried to get him to let go by he just held on harder . . . he pushed me against the wall . . . he just wouldn’t stop. He kept telling me that he loved me and that he was going to make it better . . . I was screaming and he tried to shut me up by kissing me, but I was batting my head around, trying to do something . . . he was grinding on me and for some reason enjoying it . . . and then he started . . . Don’t stop it just give me a second.” Nicole watched tears well up in her eyes.

       “Yes, Ma’am.”

       “Ok, I’m good. He started pushing his hand up my shirt and grabbing my . . . ya know. I couldn’t do anything, and then he brought his hands down to my shorts and tried to pull them down, but he couldn’t they were too tight . . . I still have scratches from him clawing at them.” The younger woman was crying at this point, and Nicole was having some trouble keeping it together herself.

       “What happened next, Ms. Earp?”

       “Well, he used his brain, for once, and started to try and undo the button on my pants, but . . . then my hero came along.” The redehad paused the tape, knowing she wouldn’t be able to handle the last part again.

       “Is there more?” Jessie asked, eyebrows furrowed, noticing the abruptness of the pause.

       “Yea, but-” Jessie reached over and pressed the play button herself.

       “Sheriff’s Deputy Haught rushed in and knocked Champ out before he could do anything else to me . . . Y-you need anything else?”

       “End of Waverly Earp’s interview.” The tape ended. Jessie looked over to Nicole, who was rubbing her eyes.

       “Y-you were there?” She asked, already knowing the answer. “Officer Haught, I-” She paused when she heard Nicole’s phone start ringing. 

       She dug around in her pocket and looked at the screen with a groan. “I am so sorry, I need to take this.” Jessie nodded. Nicole answered the phone, putting it on speaker on her desk as she unhooked the camera from her computer. “What, Wynonna?” She huffed.

       “Hey, Haughty. Whatcha doin?” Her voice filled the room from the phone.

       “I’m busy, what do you want?”

       “Ooo, is my baby sister getting some hot redhead boo-” Nicole quickly put the phone to her ear. Jessie stifled a laugh, eyes wide.

       “Wynonna, I am at work,” she hissed. 

       “Ok, ok sorry . . . Just wanted to let you know that Willa just got picked up from the Homestead. I don’t know by who, though.”

       “Alright, uhmmm, I know you have a tracker on Waves’ phone . . . Do you have one on her’s, too?”

       “How do you know that!?” The older Earp demanded. 

       “I saw it when I cleared her phone the other day . . . she doesn’t know, though.”

       “Oh, ok. Keep it that way. And to answer your question, yes I do.” 

       “I’ll be there in 30.” She hung up and looked to Jessie. “Sorry about that,” she muttered with a sigh.

       “It’s ok . . . so . . .” She cleared her throat. “You and Waverly?”

       She looked up her, face turning a shade of red when she saw her waggling her eyebrows. “Uh, yea,” she mumbled, kicking herself for letting Wynonna be on speaker.

       “She deserves someone to treat her right,” the brunette said with a smile, standing up and gathering her things.

       Nicole blushed again, picking up the camera and walking towards the door. “I try my best.” 

       “Oh, I can tell,” she assured, walking out the door.

       Nicole followed behind her. “Thanks, Jessie . . . I’ll, uh, I’ll keep in touch. Whenever I find out something, I’ll give you a call.”

       Jessie nodded. “Thanks, Officer. Really, it means a lot that you met with me tonight.”

       “No problem. You can pop by anytime, ok?” 

       She smiled. “Ok, I’ll keep it in mind.” She turned away with a wave.

       Nicole waved back, heading over to Nedley’s office. “She’s gonna testify,” she announced with a smile, looking up at him as she handed the camera back.

       “Finally, someone knocked some sense into her head!”

       “She actually decided to on her own,” she corrected, a little shocked still herself.

       “Oh, well, at least we’re two against one now.”

       “Yea, that’s what I was thinking . . . Hey, um, I think I might have a lead on Bobo, you mind if Dolls and I do some running to check it out?”

       Nedley looked up, wide-eyed. “Go right ahead, anything that will help us catch that son of a bitch.”

       Nicole smiled and walked towards the door. “Thanks, Nedley!” She called. Walking up to the BBD office door, she gave it a knock.

       “Enter!” Dolls called from inside. Nicole walked in and he cocked his eyebrow at her. “You don’t have to knock any more, Haught.”

       “Oh, right.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “You up for a ride?” She asked with a grin, pushing her eyebrows up.

       “For what purpose?”

       “Wynonna thinks Willa is hanging out with Bobo and she wants to spy on her . . . I thought we could use some of your fancy equipment.”

       Dolls stood up with a sigh. “Alright. Where’s she at?” Dolls asked, moving over to his black safe.

       “I dunno, Wynonna has the tracker.” Dolls grunted an understanding as he unlocked the safe, pulling out a basket of wires and various equipment. He sorted through it, pulling out 3 earpieces, 2 pairs of binoculars, and some other stuff that Nicole didn’t recognize. He then reached back in the safe, pulling out 2 looked to be military/special forces issued silenced AR’s. A small smile worked its way onto Nicole’s face as he tossed her one. She checked it over, flicking the safety on and off, pulling the magazine out and loading it back in, and aiming it at the wall. She looked back up to Dolls with a mischevious grin. “Go vest up, I want to be ready for any surprises tonight,” he ordered. She nodded and set the gun on the table, heading off to the locker room to get her bulletproof vest.

       When she walked back, she heard Nedley from inside of his office. “Nicole?”        

       She stepped in the room, still buttoning up her shirt over the white vest. “Yea?” She asked slowly, confused at him using her first name.

       “Please be careful out there. That girl of yours will knock me on my butt if you don’t come back in one piece . . . and knowing Bobo’s people that is a possibility.” He swallowed some nerves audibly.

       “I know, Sheriff. I- we’ll be careful, I promise.” She gave him a reassuring smile.

       “Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

       “That’s not leaving me much, Sir,” the redhead joked, giving him a wave as she left the room.

       Dolls had everything ready when she entered the BBD office again. “Ready?” He asked, looking up from the little machine he was focused on.

       “Yep,” she confirmed, walking over to him. He clipped a box to her pants and got her to feed it up her shirt so the wires wouldn’t get in the way of anything. She put the earpiece attached to the other end in her ear and they tested them out, proving they were working properly. They gathered their guns and other equipment and packed it all in Dolls’ SUV before heading towards the Homestead. 

       Wynonna was sitting on the porch when they arrived. The Deputy stepped out and walked over to her, Dolls following closely behind. “Ooo, you brought the Big Man,” she joked, elbowing her in the side, pulling back and poking her, feeling the vest underneath.

       Nicole smacked her hand away. “We are taking precautions, Wynonna. And that means you are not allowed to do anything stupid, like, let’s say . . . finding Willa and rushing in like a maniac,” she said, eyeing her at the end.

       She pursed her lips. “I would not do that,” she scoffed. Dolls and Haught both threw her a look. “Ok, fine, whatever, I’ll behave myself.” They looked at each other a little unsure before shrugging it off and heading back to the car.

       “Shotgun!” Wynonna hollered, running and jumping in the passenger’s side. Nicole let out an annoyed sigh, climbing in the back.

       “Where’s she at?” Dolls asked from the driver’s seat.

       Wynonna clicked around on her phone for a few seconds. “They are . . . in the middle of a field?”

       “Gimme it,” the redhead grumbled, snatching the phone out of her hands. She looked at it herself. “Hmm, they really are in the middle of a field. Head east out of here, Dolls.” He started up the vehicle and pulled away from the Homestead. Nicole gave him the directions and handed Wynonna an earpiece as they made their way to the location. He slowed to a stop when they were about 2 miles from where the tracker said she was.

       “We’re gonna go on foot the rest of the way so we don’t alert anyone. We need to have our eyes and ears open at all times, I want to get in there, scope it out, find out what we need, and haul ass back. Got it?”

       “Got it,” the girls parroted.

       “Great, let’s go.” They exited the car and Dolls grabbed the backpack of supplies from the back. Nicole grabbed her gun and handed the other to the Agent.

       “Hey! Why don’t I get a cool gun?” Wynonna pouted.

       “You’re the only one with the gun that can actually kill these things, Wynonna,” Nicole reminded her.

       “Riiight." Nicole rolled her eyes and they walked around to Dolls, who had some type of device in his hand. “What’s that?”

       “Heat sensor. Scans the area and detects body heat. It’ll show us if they have anyone staked near us that we can’t see. It’s getting pretty dark.” Wynonna did a long nod. “And I don’t see anything so I think we are good to go.” They began walking, Wynonna on the left, Nicole on the right, and Dolls in the middle. Wynonna had her phone, guiding them towards the location, Dolls was scanning for Revenants, and Nicole was ready at a second’s notice with her gun.

       They were about halfway there when Dolls spotted someone on his radar. “Down!” He ordered in a whisper. He and Officer Haught immediately dropped to their stomachs, but Wynonna took her time, getting on her knees first. Dolls grabbed her arm and yanked her down.

       “Hey!” She shrieked.

       “Do you want to be spotted, Earp?” Dolls demanded, still in a whisper. Wynonna pursed her lips and he dropped his eyes to the screen. “Haught, 8 o’clock, you copy?” Nicole squinted her eyes in that direction, trying to fight the dark, but she was unable to see anyone.

       “Negative, you got goggles?” Dolls quickly unzipped the bag and pulled out a pair of night vision goggles, handing them to her. She slipped them on and looked back, now seeing the burly man leaning up against a fence about 30 yards away. “Copy,” she confirmed.

       “Can you get close and take him out?” He asked.

       “Yes, Sir.” He signaled with his hand for her to move in. She got up and carefully jogged about 15 yards before dropping down again. “Come in, Dolls.”

       “Go ahead, Haught.”

       “Where should I hit him? Like, what will keep him down the longest?”

       “Get a shot in the head and a shot in the heart, that should give us enough time to get past him.”

       “I could just go pew pew, ya know,” Wynonna suggested with finger guns. Nicole rolled her eyes from her position.

       “Shut up, Earp,” Dolls groaned. “You copy, Haught?”

       “10-4, stand by.” She raised her eye to the scope, taking the shot at his heart first. He let out a groan and moved his hands there before dropping to his knees. She took a shot at both knee caps when he paused in that position and then shot at his head, causing him to fall backward. If he did get up from that, he’d have to crawl. “Target down. Is my 20 clear, Dolls?”

       “Affirmative, moving in.” Dolls and Wynonna stood and made their way over to Nicole, who was now standing. She noticed they were each fit with a pair of goggles now as well.

       “That’s a hell of a lot of cars over there,” she said quietly, pointing up in the distance where a gathering of 10-15 cars were sitting. She could just barely make out a building next to them. They began to walk in said direction through the fence.

       “What the hell is she doing up here?” Wynonna questioned breathlessly. Nicole shook her head, knowing whatever it was was not good. After half a mile, they could tell that the building was a house and they could hear occasional cheering coming from it. The only bodies Dolls was detecting were inside the building, so they came to the conclusion that it was a meeting of some sort. They got down when they were about 70 yards from the house, not wanting to push their luck too far. Dolls searched through his bag, pulling out another device. Nicole looked at him in question.

       “This is a high sensitivity microphone. I am going to go stick it to the house, and when I turn it on, the sound it picks up will feed through our earpieces,” he informed both of them. “Haught, I need you to watch my 20 as I go,” he handed her the heat sensor, “and alert me if anyone comes into view.”

       “Alright."

       “When do I get to do something?” Wynonna whined.

       “You get to drag Fatboy back there farther away when we go back and then you can give him the ol’ rooty tooty point and shooty, how’s that sound?” Nicole smirked, clapping her on the shoulder.

       “I’m so excited,” she deadpanned. Dolls stood, getting a nod from the Officer, and made his way up to the house.

       “Come in, Haught.” She heard him barely whisper a minute later.

       “Go ahead.”

       “I’m turning it on. Tell me if you copy from your 20.”

       “10-4.” They heard a fizz roll over and then muffled talking. “Mm, negative, Dolls. Can you get it closer to the window?”

       “Stand by.” They heard the mic shut off and come on again a few seconds later. The talking was somewhat clearer now and she could see that he had put it right next to the window, so that was as good as they were going to get.

       “Affirmative, it’s decent now,” the redhead stated.

       “10-4. I’m on my way back.” Dolls returned a minute later and pulled something else out of the bag. He fiddled with the controls and the sound coming through their earpieces became clearer and less fizzy. The trio began to listen.

       “How can you be so sure?” A man’s voice asked. They all looked to each other, recognizing it as Bobo’s.

       “Because . . . She’ll be too caught up in herself to worry about what I am doing,” a woman answered, easily known to them as Willa.

       “I told you!” Wynonna shrieked.

       “Shhhh!” The other two chorused.

       “And Waverly . . . well, that butch cop will certainly keep her busy,” Willa’s voice said. Nicole’s eyes went wide in offense.

       “Ouch,” Wynonna muttered through her teeth. Dolls kicked her shin.

       “And how do you expect to get Peacemaker out of Wynonna’s grasp without her noticing?” Bobo asked. Wynonna brought the gun to her chest, looking down at it.

       “I’m not quite sure yet. But, I’ll have it all figured out before the party, Dear,” Willa answered. The sound of Bobo’s eerie chuckling came over their earpieces. It was followed by some incoherent whispering and the sound of a wet kiss. 

       “Did they just . . .” Dolls asked looking between the two dropped jaws on either side of him.

       “Yea,” they whispered after a few seconds. Their faces scrunched up as it continued.

       “Ewwww,” Wynonna whined. “Not Bobo, noo.” The sound ended.

       “Alright, Boys, anything else tonight?” Bobo asked. They heard no’s come from different spots around the room. “Meeting adjourned,” he chuckled. They heard the sounds of moving and they all looked at each other wide-eyed. In .2 seconds, Dolls was up, sprinting to the house to grab the microphone. When he reached it, his voice came over.

       “Run!” He hissed in a whisper. Nicole jumped up, grabbed her gun, and threw the strap over her head. She bobbled one of the devices to Wynonna and took the other herself.

       “Get the backpack!” She screeched to Dolls quietly.

       “Copy! Go!” She and Wynonna took off, pedaling across the lot back towards the car. Dolls caught up to them within 20 seconds and they tossed him the devices they had picked up. “Get that guy so he doesn’t talk! Shoot him and get to the car!” He hollered as he continued on ahead of them. Earp and Haught looked at each other as they sprinted faster.

       Nicole could hear Wynonna struggling after a few minutes. “C’mon, Earp, I’ll let you ride my Harley if we get out of here!” She called in encouragement.

       Wynonna scoffed. “IF we get out of here?!?!”

       “Exactly!” They neared the fence a minute or two later and saw the Revenant army crawling up the fence line. “Grab an arm,” Nicole said when they came to a stop.

       “This is not gonna be fun,” Wynonna sighed, looking down at the large man. They flipped him and began to drag him behind them as they took off again. He began to gripe and groan as his butt dragged quickly across the ground, hollering louder after about a minute.

       “Did his pants just come off?!” Nicole asked through pants, looking towards Wynonna, who looked back at the man.

       “Aw, gross, dude! Ever heard of a razor!?” Nicole scrunched her eyes together, glad that she had decided not to look. “When Dolls said we would be hauling ass this is definitely not what I had pictured!”

       They continued on until the fence was nothing but a small line. “Ok, stop,” Nicole wheezed. They came to a halt. She turned to make sure they were far out of sight of the house. “Do . . . do your thing.” Wynonna dropped to her knees, gulping at the air.

       “Rest in peace, Hairy,” she breathed, looking down at the still groaning man. He fell into the fiery hole in the Earth and Wynonna stood up on her jellified legs.

       “C’mon.” Nicole took off, seeing the SUV slowly driving towards them in the distance. Dolls stopped the car and Nicole drug herself in the front seat. She rolled her window down. “Let’s go, Earp!” She called to the struggling Wynonna. She got herself in the car a few seconds later and Dolls peeled away from the location.

       “You two need to run more,” he chuckled at the groans and gasps coming from the two girls.

       “Shut up,” they snapped back.  

___

       Waverly’s eyes opened to darkness. She blinked confusedly a few times before feeling around on the bed for her phone. With a groan, she rolled over and flicked the light on the nightstand on, squeezing her eyes shut as the new light burned into them. She rubbed them with her fists and threw her legs over the side of the bed, looking downwards. “Still naked,” she mumbled to herself. “And really have to pee.” She stood up and stretched, popping almost every single bone in her body. Looking around the room with a yawn, she spotted her phone on the floor near the edge of the bed. She picked it up and checked the time. It was 11:02 PM. She stumbled over to the bathroom, did her business, and went to the mirror after, rubbing some water on her face. When she removed her hands and blinked away the water, she noticed black on her chest, quickly realizing it was pen. She rolled her eyes with a tired grin as she read the word and trudged back to the bedroom. Red caught the corner of her eye, so she looked at it and picked up the hoodie with a smile, sorting through the clothes Nicole had left her. She threw them on, pulling the hood onto her head and tying the shorts to fit her. She knew she was basically sleepwalking, so she climbed back into bed, pulling the covers over her body, and shut the light back off.

___

       “Do you people have any faith in me?” Wynonna asked, climbing out of the car.

       “Not very much, no,” Nicole smirked from the window.

       “I’m not gonna say anything! I’ll just give her dirty looks when she’s not looking.”

       Nicole and Dolls rolled their eyes. “I need you to get Doc, Waverly, and yourself to the station by 9 tomorrow morning. We have a lot to talk about,” Dolls called to her from the driver’s seat.

       Nicole cleared her throat. “Uh, Waverly’s at my house,” she mumbled, glancing over to Dolls.

       “Oh . . . Well, get Doc there, Wynonna.”

       “Will do. Night, Fuckers,” Wynonna called as she walked up to the house.

       “Night, Earp,” the other two called. Dolls pulled away from the Homestead and headed back to the station.

       The duo climbed out when they arrived and they gathered their gear to put back in the safe. Nicole bid farewell to Dolls as he left for the night and went off to her office to work on some paperwork.

       Nedley popped in at about 12 AM. “How’d it go, Haught?”

       She removed her earbuds and looked up at him with tired eyes. “We found out Willa is working with Bobo,” She replied flatly.

       The Sheriff sighed deeply. “Wh-why would she do that?”

       “Her and Bobo are . . . together.”

       Nedley blinked at her for a second. “Jesus Christ on a bike,” he grumbled as he walked out of the room. Nicole pulled her hat off and tossed it onto her desk, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her eyes. She heard her radio fizz, so she unhooked it from her shirt, waiting for the voice to follow.

       “All units respond, shots fired at Shorty’s,” the dispatcher called over.

       Nicole grabbed her hat aggressively from the corner of her desk and stood up. “God fucking dammit, tonight of all fucking nights,” she cursed under her breath before bringing the radio to her face and heading out the doors. “10-4, Haught en route, 5 minutes out.” She hopped into her car and sped out, lights and sirens blaring. She could hear Nedley following right behind her.

       Pulling up to Shorty’s, she could see a handful of people running out of the building. She jammed her car in park and hopped out, removing the gun from her holster. “What all do we know?” She asked Nedley when he walked up beside her.

       “It's Tucker . . . Tucker Gardner,” Nedley said with a worried look in his eye.

       Nicole furrowed her brow. “Ok. Who’s that?”

       Nedley dropped his glance. “I’ll give you my unprofessional opinion of the kid. He’s a pervert, not right in the head, and has a scary obsession with your girlfriend.” Nicole’s eyes widened. “It’s not like him to do-” He stopped when his phone began to ring. She noticed it was an unknown number. “Sheriff Nedley.” She watched his face grow cold when the voice on the other end answered him. “Tucker, what are you doing, son?” He put the phone on speaker and held a finger to his lips.

       “I’m getting what I want,” he answered.

       “Which is what?”

       “Well, Sheriff, I’m going to need you to send that redheaded cop in here that thinks she can take my Waverly away from me.” Nicole clenched her jaw. “She must be unarmed and unable to contact anyone. And if I find out she does have anything of the sorts, it's not going to be pretty.” Tucker hung up the phone.

       The Officer looked over to her boss wide-eyed. “Sheriff-”

       He cut her off by placing his hands on her shoulders. “Haught, I don’t want you to go in there alone as much as you don’t . . . but I know that he does not take no for an answer.”

       Nicole nodded. She knew there was no other way to save the people in there from this kid. “Ok. Ok, um . . .” She dug around in her pocket for a few seconds, pulling her keys out. “I need you to get someone to drive to my house to get Waverly. I don’t want her there by herself, who knows what else he has planned.” She handed him the keys, showing him which one what was the house key. “Put a rush on it. Please, Sir.”

       Nedley grabbed her hand that was holding out the keys. “We’ll get her, Nicole,” he assured. “Go.” She nodded and handed Nedley her gun, taser, phone, and radio. She took a deep breath and started walking towards the building.

       She slowly opened the door with her hands up. “Tucker . . . it's Officer Haught,” she announced before walking into the bar cautiously. She took in the scene. He had everyone sitting against the wall and was pacing back and forth nervously with a pistol in his hand. Gus and Shorty were both there. He spun around, a smirk working it's way up his face. The tall, lanky boy made his way over to her. He was getting too close for her liking. “Hey now. I came in here on my own will. I’d prefer you to stay right there, Bud.” She gave him a warning look, but he kept walking. 

       “I have to pat you down to make sure you don’t have anything on you, Officer,” he informed.

       She took a step back, arms still in the air. “I can assure you that I have absolutely nothing on me.”

       He was now a couple of inches in front of her. She could smell body odor and alcohol on his person. “And why would I believe that?” He tipped his head sideways.

       “Do you really think I would risk the safety of the 20 people in here by doing something stupid like that?” She asked, lifting her eyebrows. She wasn’t afraid of him, not the slightest bit. Before she walked in, she was, but now that she had a read on him, she didn’t see him as a big threat. She could see that behind the wall of cockiness he put up there was fear.

       “I don’t know, let’s find out.” He had a look in his eyes that she did not like. She knew that he knew she didn’t have anything on her. But like Nedley said, he was a pervert. Any chance he got to feel up on a girl he was going to take. He took a step back from her and traced his eyes up and down her body. She stared straight forward, gritting her teeth through a clenched jaw. He stuck his gun in the back of his pants and moved forward again. She heard a few whispers from around the room and was sure they knew just as much as she did what he was going to try and do here. He started at her shoulders. He has a pretty firm grip as he slid his hands down her arms. He slid them back up and moved them down her sides, stopping at her hips. He moved them around her front and slid them up her stomach and over her chest, lingering there for a few seconds too long, even though she was still wearing her vest. She shifted her glance to his face and tipped her head at him. He smirked and grabbed her shoulder, turning her around. He slid his hands down her back and around the back of her waist, moving down to her butt. She was trying to keep her breathing steady through her anger, but she knew he heard the exhale she let out because he quickly got down on a knee and turned her back around. He started at the bottom of each leg and moved his hand up each side to about mid-thigh. He did it to the other leg and then moved one hand to the outside of her thigh and put on one on the inside, slowly moving his hand up. He was getting awful close to the inner bend of her pants and she was not letting him get that far.

       “Gardner, if you move that fucking hand one centimeter higher, I will rip it off,” she snapped, still looking forward. He let out a chuckle and stood up, obviously proud of himself. “What do you want from me?” She asked in a much calmer tone. He pulled the gun out from his pants and scratched his cheek with the barrel, crossing his arms.

       “I’ve heard rumors about you,” he said simply.

       “Nice, I’ve heard quite a few about you as well.” He took a step closer to her and situated his gun to point at her, resting it on the top of his other arm.

       She glanced down at it and back up at him, face unaffected. “I’ve heard that you and Waverly are . . . very good friends.”

       Nicole’s lip twitched hearing him say her name. She took a step towards him this time, leaving their faces inches apart again. “Don’t you even say her name,” she fumed deeply. “Our personal life is none of your business.”

       He scoffed and pushed her back by shoving the gun in between her collarbones. “It is every right my business. You are confusing her. She’s not a lesbian or whatever you are trying to turn her into.”

       “I am not trying to turn her into anything. She makes all of her decisions for herself. And you must respect that. You cannot control what she does and does not do.” Tucker let out a little laugh.

       “But, I can control who she does and does not do,” he smirked.

       Nicole inhaled deeply. “You better watch your mouth,” she growled, quickly taking a breath in order to calm herself down. She didn't want to do anything she would regret.

       “Or what?” He traced the gun down the bridge of her nose. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

       She had the skills to snatch that gun out of his hands then and there, but she didn’t. She couldn’t risk it. If it were just him and her, she would have. But, she wouldn’t do it with other lives at stake. She decided to change the subject. “Why are you doing this? You could have confronted me without holding innocent people hostage.”

       He shook his head and turned around, walking in the other direction before quickly snapping back around walking back towards her. “I guess I can tell you now. No one in here is able to contact anyone .  . . I’ve been following you two for the past few days. I was there during your little explosion at the pizzeria. I was there when you watched the sunset afterward. I was there when you went to the hospital and I was even there at the movies yesterday. I know she went home with you. And I know she is still at your house . . . Well, maybe not still,” he said with an evil grin. He moved forward and pressed the gun to her forehead. “This was a distraction, Officer. I needed to get you and the whole calvary here so my people could . . . gather my prize.” Nicole’s fist was balled and she was trembling with anger. Her face was almost purple and it took every ounce of control in her body not to charge at the boy in front of her. She had no clue if whoever Nedley sent had gotten there in time to save the love of her life. 

-  -  -

       The second Nicole had turned away towards Shorty’s, Nedley called the fastest, most reliable person to go to fetch Waverly that he could think of.

       “Nedley? What’s wrong?”

       “Xavier. I need you at Shorty’s right now. I’ll explain when you get here.” He hung up the phone.

       Somehow, in less than 5 minutes, Dolls skidded into the Shorty’s parking lot and parked next to Nedley’s vehicle. He jumped out of his car and rushed up to him. “What’s the situation?”

       “Haught’s in there unarmed. Tucker Gardner is armed and has hostages. He requested her. You need to go to her house and-”

       Dolls took the key from his hand and was already walking back to his car. “Pick up Waverly before someone else gets to her. I’m on it!” He floored his SUV in the direction of Haught’s house, knowing that Tucker always had something else up his sleeve when it came to his schemes.

       Skidding to a stop, he pulled his pistol out of the holster and bucked it up to the front door. Thankfully, it was still locked and there were no signs of forced entry. He still was taking precautions, though. He carefully unlocked the door and entered the house. He did a sweep of the downstairs before making his way to her bedroom. He saw a lump of blankets on the corner of the bed. He holstered his gun and walked up to her, shaking her shoulder.

       “Waverly . . . Waverly, wake up.”

       Her eyes fluttered open slightly. “Whattt?” She complained before realizing it was not Nicole waking her up. She sat up quickly. “Dolls? What’s wrong?” 

       “We need to go. Now.”

       She blinked the sleep away. “What? Why- Dolls, where is Nicole? Is she ok?” She flung the blankets off her body and jumped out of the bed. “Dolls?! Where is she!?”

       He grabbed her arm. “Waverly! Nicole is fine. I’ll explain in the car. We need to go. Get some shoes on.” She let out a whine and scoured the dark room for her shoes. She found them a few seconds later and slipped them on.

       They both headed out to the car and Dolls skidded away from the house. “What is happening?!” She asked for the 5th time since she had woken up.

       Dolls took a breath. “Tucker Gardner is armed and holding hostages in Shorty’s. He requested Nicole unarmed and she went in so. We don’t know what is going on, but she wanted someone to come and get you just in case it was a distraction plot.”

       Waverly’s eyes shot out of her head. She shifted her body to Dolls and sputtered out a few sounds. “MY GIRLFRIEND IS ALONE WITH NO GUN WITH THE PSYCHO WHO THINKS I AM GOING TO MARRY HIM?!?!?!” She shrieked before smacking him on the arm.

       “Waverly, she had to go in there. It was a matter of life and death for the hostages if she didn't.”

       She brought her legs up criss-cross on the seat and dropped her head. Her eyes caught a hint of shine under the glovebox. She suddenly knew exactly what she was going to do when they arrived.        

       Dolls put the car in park and stepped out of the car. She heard his footsteps going around the back of the car so she took her chance. She felt down under the glove box and pulled the gun off of the rack. It was a black sawed-off shotgun. With a cold glare towards those double doors, she jumped out of the car and took off in a sprint. By the Dolls caught the sight of her, she was already halfway there. It was no use for him to try to catch her.

       She kicked one of the doors in and pumped the gun. “Alright, you Shit Ticket!” She met a very red Nicole and a now very happy Tucker’s stare. She aimed the gun at him. “Hands off my girlfriend!” The boy was no longer happy. He took the gun off of Nicole’s forehead and started to walk towards her. Nicole didn’t know whether to be terrified or relieved that she was here. Waverly looked towards the people sitting on the wall. “All of you. Out.” She flicked her head towards the doors. Tucker tried to stop them, but she pushed the gun against his chest. The herd of people ran out the door, only two remaining being Shorty and Gus. Gus walked over to the edge of the bar and grabbed her shotgun. Shorty took a revolver and pistol out of a box under the bar. The newly armed duo walked over to them and Shorty handed Nicole the pistol.

       She smirked and kicked a chair over from under the tables. It slid directly under his butt. “Sit.” She demanded, cocking the gun. The boy was shaking like a leaf at this point. He had 4 guns pointed in his direction with some very angry people holding their finger’s on the triggers. “Drop your gun.” He hesitated for a second. “Now,” the Officer growled. He quickly dropped it and Shorty kicked it away. Nicole walked up to him and handcuffed his hands behind the chair. She looked over to Waverly with a dimpled smile. “Go ahead, Baby.”

       Waverly walked closer to him and shoved the gun against his neck. “You better cough up an explanation right now before I shove this gun down your throat and blow your guts out your ass.” Nicole, Gus, and Shorty’s eyes widened at that.

       “Waverly . . . I did this for you  . . . for us!” He exclaimed.

       “There is no and never will be an us, Tucker!”

       He shifted his glance to Nicole but quickly looked back at her. “She’s confusing you, Waverly. What she is trying to make you be is . . . it's wrong!”

       Waverly put more pressure on the barrel against his neck. “What’d you just say?” She snarled.

       Tucker began to struggle in his seat. “Ow, Waverly! You aren’t supposed to be mad at me!”

       Gus took a step forward. “You think she’s mad now?” Tucker and Waverly cocked an eyebrow at her. She looked towards the brunette. “This nutsack decided to have a field day patting down your Officer.”

       The brunette snapped her head to Nicole. “He what!?!”

       Nicole’s mouth dropped open a little and her eyes went wide. “Uhhh-”

       Waverly looked towards Tucker with a snarl and kicked him in the chest, sending the chair toppling over. She climbed on top of him and put a knee in his chest, gripping his cheeks with her free hand. “You motherfucker!” She hissed before punching him. “From this point on, if you even look in her direction I will rip your goddamn eyeballs out! Do I make myself clear?” He nodded his head rapidly. “And whenever you get out of that box they are going to put you in, don’t think you will be off the hook. I have a whole army of people that will hunt you down to make sure your life is a living hell.” She removed her nails from his cheeks, seeing the small bleeding indents she left. She stood up, drilling her fist into his face him one more time, and looked to Nicole with a smirk. She licked her lips and walked towards him, pulling the chair up on its legs. Tucker was breathing heavy, looking towards the right, away from Nicole’s face.

       She got within an inch of his face and rested her hands on his knees. “You gonna look at me, Tough Guy?” She asked deeply.

       “No,” he squeaked.

       “No, what?”

       “No, Ma’am.”

       “What’s my name, Tucker?” She asked again.

       “No, Officer Haught.”

       “It’s Sheriff’s Deputy Haught,” she growled. “And don’t you forget it.” She stood up straight and turned around before quickly pivoting back. “Oh, yea, one more thing.” She drew back and nailed him with an uppercut to the jaw, sending the chair sideways. “Just for good measure,” she smirked before turning back to the group. “Would anyone else like a moment with him?”

       “I just want his ass out of my bar,” Shorty huffed. Nicole nodded and picked his chair up for the second time. She pulled him up on his feet by his shoulders and walked him out of the bar, reading off his rights.

       “Put ‘em in my car, I’ll take him up there,” Nedley offered when the Deputy reached him.

       “Yes, Sir.” 

       “Good work, Haught.” He clapped her shoulder with a nod.

       “Thank you, Sheriff.” She shoved Tucker in the car and walked back over to her boss. “I’ll fill out the paperwork when I head back,” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

       “No you won’t. You are gonna head home and get some sleep. I don’t need my deputies falling asleep on me.”

       “No . . . I’m fine, Nedley-”

       “Haught, that’s an order.” She pursed her lips. “I think someone wants to talk to you,” he said, gesturing to Waverly, who was standing a few cars over. She looked to have just given the gun back to Dolls and was now nonchalantly glancing in her direction every so often.

       “Have a good night.” She tipped her hat at him and walked in her direction. It took a few seconds, but she eventually looked over to see Nicole walking towards her, still placing all of her equipment back in her belt. She finished just in time to brace herself and catch Waverly when she jumped into her arms. She quickly moved her hands under her thighs and the brunette cupped her cheeks, giving her a deep kiss. “Waves, I’m in uniform,” Nicole mumbled when she pulled back.

       Waverly squished her cheeks together with the palms of her hands. “I don’t care! I thought he was gonna kill you, Nic!” 

       “He doesn’t have the balls to actually kill anyone,” she said through squished lips, raising her eyebrows.

       Waverly dropped her hands to her upper arms. “Do you know how terrifying it is to be woken up by Dolls at 1 am saying that I’m not safe and that we needed to leave immediately!? And he wouldn’t tell me what was happening or where you were until we got in the car and I-”

       Nicole cut her off when she saw tears gather in her eyes. “Baby . . . I’m ok, ain’t I?” She asked with a reassurning smile.

       Waverly let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “Yea, but . . .” She ended her sentence with a whine and wrapped her arms around the redhead’s neck and nuzzled her face into her shoulder.

       “Ya know, carrying you around all day long is really one of the only upper arm exercises I can do right now, so thanks for that,” Nicole chuckled as she walked them over to her cruiser. Waverly leaned back and smiled at her when Nicole reached down and opened her door. She ran her hands along her messed up collar, but squinted her eyes at her, realizing that she was buttoned all the way up. She yanked open the top four buttons. “What are you-”

       “Why do you have a vest on?” Waverly asked demandingly as she poked her finger into it.

       “Because there was a shooter at Shorty’s?” She responded slowly.

       “So, you are telling me you got the call for it and then took the time to go put this on before you left the station?”

       “Well-”

       Waverly unhooked her legs from behind her and Nicole set her down. “Nedley!” The Sheriff looked over to them at the sound of his name. Waverly called him over with her finger.

       “Yes?”

       “Do you have a vest on?” She asked, crossing her arms and tipping her head.

       “Uh, no, I do not. It was an urgent call, so I wanted to leave immediately.”

       Waverly looked over at Nicole wide-eyed. “Oooh, is that so?”

       “Waves, we are go-”

       “Nedley, why does this numbnut have her vest on then?”

       “She went with Dolls to-”

       “Nedley,” Nicole said through her teeth. She turned to Waverly. “If you would have let me finish, Detective, I would have told you that I am waiting to discuss it with you and the rest of BBD tomorrow.”

       “Oh,” she mumbled.

       Nicole rolled her eyes. “Get in the car,” she sighed. Waverly climbed in and Nicole shut her door. “Night, Nedley.”

       “Night, Haught,” he responded as he walked to his own cruiser. Nicole climbed in the other side and pulled away from Shorty’s.

       “I’m sorry,” Waverly mumbled after a few minutes.

       “For what? Embarrassing me in front of my boss?” The redhead snapped a little too harshly, startling her a little bit. She let out a breath and looked over to her, moving her hand to her thigh. “Sorry, I just-”

       “No . . . I shouldn’t have done that. I just thought you were-”

       “I told you I’d never lie to you, Wave.”

       “I know . . . I’m sorry,” she said quietly, wrapping her arms around Nicole’s and leaning her head on her.

       “It’s ok.”

       They pulled up in front of her house a few minutes later and Nicole eyed her front door that was wide open. “Did ya’ll leave my door open?” Nicole asked, unhooking her holster already.

       “No. Dolls locked it when we left.”

       The redhead grumbled some curses under her breath. “You see this button?” She asked, pointing to a button on the roof of the car. Waverly nodded. “You are going to stay right here with all the doors locked. And if anyone comes up to the car, you press it, and my sirens will start blaring. I’m gonna go make sure the goons Tucker had sent here are gone.”

       “He told you he was?”

       Nicole clenched her jaw, thinking back to what else he had informed her about. “Yep.” She gave Waverly a kiss and opened her door.

       “Be careful,” she warned, gripping her arm. 

       “I will.” She gave the brunette one more kiss before heading inside to do a sweep of the house. Waverly pulled her feet up onto the seat and hugged her legs to her chest. She had no clue how many people could be in there.

       One minute passed. Then two minutes passed. And Nicole still hadn’t come back. She had her face buried in knees and was hoping and praying she didn’t hear gunshots.

       Nicole walked out of the house after clearing every single room. Whoever was in there had obviously searched through everything, but they hadn’t completely trashed it and it didn’t look like anything was stolen. As she neared the car she saw Waverly curled up on the seat. She walked up to the door and started saying her name over and over, but she couldn’t hear her for some reason. She gave the window a knock and Waverly screamed bloody murder before realizing it was her girlfriend. She unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Jesus Christ, Nicole!” She breathed, grabbing onto her arms that were covering half her face.

       The Officer brought her hands down and Waverly got out of the car. “I am so sorry!” She said, holding down a laugh.

       “It’s not funny! You scared me!”

       Nicole bit the inside of her lip. “Noo, it's not funny. I’m not laughing,” she smirked.

       Waverly gave her a shove. “I don’t like you sometimes,” she mumbled, crossing her arms. There was a small smile on her lips as they walked into the house. But her mouth dropped open as she traced her eyes around the living room. There was crap thrown around everywhere. “Nic . . .” She trailed off.

       “It’ll clean up. It’s ok, Waves.”

       Sge looked up at her. “But, it’s my fau-”

       Nicole pinched her lips closed. “This is not your fault at all. Ok?” Waverly nodded and she let go of her lips. “I know you’ve been asleep since . . . earlier, so if your not tired you can just do whatever. But I am literally gonna pass out here pretty soon, so I’m gonna go sleep. We have to be at the station by 9 tomorrow.” Nicole was working on unbuttoning her shirt as she spoke.

       “I could sleep a little more,” Waverly admitted with a timely yawn as they walked into the bedroom.

       The redhead flipped the light on and tossed her shirt into the hamper. “Mk,” she mumbled as she un-velcroed her vest.

       Waverly plopped herself on the bed. “I see why you wear these now. They're really frickin comfy.”

       Nicole turned her head to look at her as she danced out of her khakis. “Wear what?” Waverly snapped the elastic of her underwear. “Oh. Yea, I know.” She flipped the light off and crawled under the blankets next to the brunette. “I don’t have the energy to change, so you’re gonna have to deal with this,” she slurred tiredly, gesturing to her just bra and underwear.

       “Oh no!” Waverly mock complained. Nicole smacked her arm, getting a laugh out of both of them. She scooted herself closer to the redhead. “Night, Babe, love you,” she mumbled into her neck.

       “Mm, love you, too.”