85. This was Not Part of the Rules

       Although the couple did have a fantastic time in France, their time did have to come to an end. They jumped back on a plane and landed in Rome, taking their time enjoying all the things it had to offer. 

       It was now their third full day there and they had explored The Colosseum and The Roman Forum the first day, The Pantheon and Piazza Navona the second day, and now they were taking a late lunch-early dinner break after seeing the Trevi Fountain during their exploration of Trevi as a whole. 

       Nicole did have to admit, though, that she had a much easier time in France, for she actually knew the language. She hadn’t ever learned Italian, so all she knew were the simple words and phrases that Waverly had taught her on the plane ride there since she was fluent. She felt a little stupid sometimes having to have everything translated for her, but she really was enjoying her time nonetheless. 

       They had decided to head to the pizza pub that Romeo’s grandparents owned because they totally hadn’t eaten a million pounds of pasta and pizza and all kinds of other carbs already. Luckily for Nicole, everyone in the pub seemed to speak English so she didn’t have to sit there pouting like a child while Waverly ordered her food for her. 

       She had gotten yelled at for that the day before. 

       Nicole leaned back into the booth seat, running her thumb across the brunette’s ankle that she had kicked up on her lap from the other side of the table as she brought her beer to her lips. It was barely 3:30, yet everyone else in the crowded pub was already drinking, so she had decided to hop on the train as well, despite Waverly telling her not to. 

       “I’m just fitting in, Baby,” she smirked, setting the glass back on the table. 

       “Is that what you call it?” Waverly mumbled, raising a brow as she crossed her arms. 

       “It is,” the redhead nodded with a dimpled smile. 

       The brunette shook her head at her, looking up at the man as he slid their pizza onto the table with some plates. She gave him a smile, “Thank you.” 

       “You’re welcome. Come find me if you need anything,” he said with a pat to the table before turning away. 

       They both stared down at the humongous pizza. “Holy shit,” Nicole said with a laugh.

       “I have a feeling we’re gonna have some leftovers,” Waverly mumbled as she dropped a slice the size of her face onto her plate. 

       They both dug in, quickly realizing that De Luca’s Pizza was pushing it's way up right behind Mama’s Pizza House as their favorite. “So what’s Romeo’s family story? Do you know?” Waverly questioned, using both hands to hold up the huge slice. 

       Nicole raised her brows as she took a drink. “Don’t quote me on this, but this is what I remember him telling me. His dad’s side all lives around here and most of them work here, so our waiter is probably Romeo’s cousin by the looks of it. And his mom’s family all moved to Texas when she was a kid, but they grew up on the other side of Trevi. They came up here to visit the family that didn’t move, like her grandparents and stuff, when she was in college and came in here to eat, and she met Romeo’s dad. They fell in love, whatever, and he moved to the US when they got married. Then they had Romeo, Izzy, and Manny.”

       “Manny?” Waverly got that Izzy was an Italian name, short for Isabella, but she was curious if they kept up with the name origins for the only one out of the three that she hadn’t met. Izzy had stopped by to crab at Romeo about something during their BGD while they were there, so they had been introduced. And if one thing was for sure, she would be very good friends with Wynonna. 

       “Ermanno,” Nicole smirked, putting a little pizzazz on it. She did a long nod. “He’s young,” she said with a furrow of her brow as she shoved a bite in her mouth. “A senior in high school this year, I think.”

       “Really?” 

       She nodded, “They all have age gaps. Izzy is four years older than Romeo and I’m pretty sure he’s 10 or 11 years older than Manny.” 

       “Dang.” 

       Nicole smiled, “Manny was the cutest little thing . . . He’s got autism and a couple of other things going on, I’m not sure what, but he was always home whenever I went over to Romeo's and we’d be doing whatever in his room-”

       “Fucking,” Waverly coughed. 

       Nicole scrunched her face at her. “Fuck you.” The brunette giggled, ducking around the ball of napkin she threw at her. “Anyway. We’d be doing 100% platonical friend things in his room and little Manny would run in and jump up on the bed with me, saying baseball over and over. He couldn’t talk much, but he could definitely say baseball . . . If you think Romeo and I love the Rangers, go meet him and then tell me who’s the bigger fan.” Waverly raised her brows with a smile and she nodded, “Yea. So then the three of us would all get snacks and hunker down on his bed to watch the game, and, most of the time, then reruns of other games until we all fell asleep. It was pretty great.” 

       Waverly pouted her lip at her. “Aw.” 

       “I love his whole family. I was over there a lot before I graduated. I guess he didn’t join the Marines until after I left cause he was just going to community college before that, but yea. They’re all great . . . His dad and Coach Carters are really the only reason I knew that not all men are pieces of shit.” Waverly smiled, but it faltered a little bit. Nicole furrowed her brow. “What?” She shook her head. The redhead gave her ankle a squeeze under the table. “No, what’s wrong, Baby?” 

       Waverly looked up at her. “. . . You didn’t tell anyone you were leaving before you graduated?” 

       Her brow furrowed slightly. “Just Liz and Coach knew. Why?” 

       “How’d you do that? . . . How’d you just up and leave everyone you cared about like that?” 

       Nicole’s face softened when she realized where she was coming from. “. . . There wasn’t a lot of people I did care about, for one. Besides Romeo and a couple of others, I didn’t have many close friends. And, two.” She let out a sigh. “Wave, I was screwed up. Like, really screwed up. I didn’t care about myself enough to even begin caring about others. I was cold and impulsive and just emotionless all the time. Yea, if it was now, it would have been harder to leave Romeo and Coach and Liz, but the only reason I am who I am now is because I left. I got away from all the memories and made better ones in college and academy. Sure, I was still closed off and impulsive. Take me getting married in Vegas for a good example . . . But then I met you. And it all went away.” Waverly smiled a little below a blush. “We’re coming on, what, 10 years since I graduated this year?” 

       Nicole paused, a small look of horror coming over her face. “You are old,” Waverly laughed. “I wasn’t even in high school 10 years ago.”

       She shook her head at the fact, taking a long drink of her beer. “Anyway. Yea, I’ve changed a lot in many ways. I’m not that scared kid that hated the world anymore. And who knows what would've happened if I would have stayed.” 

       The brunette gave her hand a squeeze. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t.” 

       “Me, too . . . Does it make a little more sense now?” 

       She nodded through a bite. “I hadn’t really thought about it li-” 

       They both whipped their heads towards the sound of glass shattering, seeing that a big dude had just chucked his cup to the floor. He jumped out of his seat, pointing to the man across from him. “Don’t you talk about my fucking Ma like that, tu pezzo di merda!” (You piece of shit!)

       The other man was on his feet just as fast, getting into the one with the thick accent’s face. “Vaffanculo!” (Fuck off!) “Do you ever wonder why all you have is half-siblings?! È una puttana !” 

       Shouting came from almost every table in the room with that, and Nicole looked quickly to the brunette in question. “He just called his mom a whore,” she informed in an almost-whisper, a gasp leaving her mouth when the first man threw a punch.

       It was a mistake. 

       There was no doubt that the other one was bigger and stronger than him, so the instant uppercut to the jaw almost sent him to the floor. The room erupted into chaos and a few people went to get up, whether they were going to join in or try and stop it, they didn’t know. 

       But they were sitting right back in their chairs when the smaller one snatched a knife up off of his table. 

       Nicole was on her feet in a blink, sprinting over and grabbing his wrist from behind before he could swing with it. She fought his arm for a moment before knocking it out of his grip and kicking his legs out from under him. She looked up, seeing that the larger man looked almost if he was going to try and grab the knife that was now laying by her foot as she shoved her knee into his back. “Back the hell up, Buddy.” 

       Her head jerked to the left at the sound of feet running up, but the fear left her chest at the sight of a table full of police officers approaching. One of them quickly grabbed the opposite man while the others stared down at her in shock. “Do any of you have handcuffs by any chance?” She asked with a little huff as she tried to keep the angry man under her. 

       Only one seemed to understand what she said and was quick to pull them out of his belt and toss them to her. She slapped them on him before hauling him to his feet and handing him over, and they were both drug out of the pub. 

       “You are cop?” The one with a sense of English asked. 

       “Yea . . .” She looked around him as Waverly stomped over, giving her nothing short of a death glare. 

       “Io parlo italiano,” she said to him, stepping in front of her. (I speak Italian.)

       Waverly then was the one to talk with him, going on to deliver the story of what had happened from the insults to the one grabbing the knife. Nicole let out a sigh, taking a step back with a cross of her arms. Once it was figured out, the officer thanked her for stopping the situation before turning away to tend to the men outside. 

       They made their way back to the table and the brunette sat down, fixing her eyes on her face again. “That was stupid, Nicole.” 

       “What? I should have just let him stab him?” 

       “He could have stabbed you!” 

       The redhead let out a sigh, tipping her head at her. “Wave. I’m fine. Nothing happened that I couldn’t handle.” A small smirk pushed onto her face. “Besides, I know watching me take people down is just so sexy.” 

       The smaller girl tried to stay mad at her, but her face broke into a smile and she let out a groan. “Just eat your damn pizza and behave, you stud.” 

       Nicole raised a brow over her cup of beer. “You wanna see stud, huh?” Her voice was low. Purposely low. 

       Waverly hid part of her face as she took a bite off her slice. “I didn’t see stud this morning? . . . Or in the elevator?” 

       “Can you feel your legs?” 

       Her mouth came open for a moment. “Yes . . .”

       Nicole smirked, leaning her elbows on the table. “Then you didn’t see stud, Darlin’.” 

.  .  .

       By the couple’s last full day in Athens, they had been away from home for 13 days. They were having the time of their lives, but it was bittersweet knowing that they’d be on a plane home by noon the next day. On one hand, they were sad to be leaving the beauties of Europe, but on the other hand, it would sure be nice to be home again. 

       They both could agree, though, that they had enjoyed their time the most in Greece. 

       Waverly had always loved everything about Greece, from the history to the country itself. And Nicole had always enjoyed hearing all about it from her.

       But seeing it in person was a different story.

       The Sheriff relaxed back into the seat of the hot tub because yes, they had a hot tub. But not only a hot tub. A hot tub on a heated rooftop that gave them the perfect view of The Acropolis a couple of miles away. Waverly traced her fingers down the arm that was wrapped around her. They had woken up not too long ago and were chillaxing before starting their day. 

       The redhead ran her thumb across her stomach. “So is Athens named after Athena or is Athena named after Athens?” 

       “Athens is named after her,” she answered, leaning her head back to look at her.  

       “Gotcha.” Waverly let out a small hum. “. . . Athena’s a really pretty name,” Nicole mumbled after a few seconds. 

       The redhead met her eyes with a smile. “Yea?” 

       “Don’t you think so?” 

       She let out a little giggle, pushing a kiss to her lips. “I do think so.” Nicole grinned, cupping her jaw to keep her there as she met her lips again. The brunette slowly pushed herself up, turning around and moving to straddle her lap. The redhead let her hands fall gently to her hips and Waverly dropped her hands to the outside of her biceps, letting out a breath of laughter when she felt her flex. 

       “Have you ever kissed someone underwater?” Nicole asked as she pulled from her lips. Waverly didn’t even have to answer because she could tell what was going to happen by the shit-eating grin on her face. She wrapped her arms around her neck with a squeal as she tipped them forward into the water. The Sheriff moved her hand to her cheek as the brunette's back hit the bottom of the hot tub, feeling her legs squeezing around her hips when she met her lips for a few seconds. Nicole pulled back as they started to float back up, daring to open her eyes for a second to see her smiling up at her right before they broke the surface of the water. 

       “You’re such a dork, Mrs. Haught,” Waverly laughed, rubbing the water out of her eyes. 

       “Hey, you married me,” she defended, standing up and lifting her, turning and setting her down on the concrete above the water. 

       Waverly pushed her hand through her wet hair a few times, using her pointer finger to unstick it from her forehead. “And I’d do it all over again, too.”

       After getting ready for the day, the couple was off. They decided to walk to the park that was relatively close to their hotel, for it was probably the nicest day that they had been there. “Do you think Lonnie’s done anything since you’ve been gone?” Waverly asked, swinging their interlocked hands. 

       “Maybe he’s worn a deeper butt groove into his chair?” She offered, looking down at her with a smirk. “But anything productive? Nah.” 

       “I’d be surprised if he changed the coffee filter in the morning,” she mumbled. 

       “And he wonders why I made Sheriff and he didn’t,” she sighed with a shake of her head. She let her eyes wander around the park, admiring all the trees and the couple of statues littered around. Her gaze fell upon two older men walking a little dog with a rainbow sweater on. She bumped her arm, gesturing to them. “That’s gonna be us in 20 years.” 

       “Oh my God, we’re getting Geranimo a rainbow sweater,” she breathed out with a wide smile. 

       Nicole snickered, “He’s gonna look so stupid, I’m ready.” 

       Waverly nodded, but looked up at her with a pouty lip. “I miss our baby boy. And CJ.”

       The redhead let out a sigh. “Me, too.” She let her eyes wander again, but her feet slowed, causing the brunette to slow as well. She turned her head to look in all directions, becoming more and more confused by the second. 

       “What?” Waverly questioned, trying to figure out what she was looking around at. 

       Nicole flicked her eyes to her face, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Why is everyone here gay?” 

       She furrowed her brow as she looked around, but it loosened as her mouth fell open, for she realized it was true. There were couples dotted everywhere, lesbian and gay, yet she could not find one straight couple in sight. “What the hell . . . ?” 

       “Are we being forced into a gay cult?” Nicole asked in the same breathy whisper. 

       She smacked her arm, letting go of her hand. “Go over to that bulletin board and see if there is anything in English that you can figure out. I’m gonna go ask someone.” The redhead complied, and she turned in the opposite direction to find someone to question. 

       Waverly walked down the path to the closest couple, two women sitting on a bench on their phones. “Excuse me?” They both looked up at her. “English or Ελληνικά?” (Greek?)

       “English is good,” the one on the right answered with a smile. 

       “Ok . . . This is going to sound really weird, but why is everyone . . .” She turned her head to look around again. “Gay?” 

       Her brows furrowed. “I’m sorry, what?” 

       “Everyone around is . . . not straight. I don’t get it.” 

       The woman kept her stare on her as she stood, pushing her phone into her pocket. And, oh, she was unexpectedly tall. Nicole’s height tall. She took a step towards her, and Waverly backed up, eyes widening up at her. Her partner stood and grabbed onto her arm, saying something to her under her breath in Greek that she didn’t catch, but she brushed her off. “Sweetie, I’m going to suggest that if you have a problem with-”

       Waverly’s breath hitched as she was jerked backward, but she let out a small sigh of relief, seeing it was just Nicole putting herself in between them. The redhead gripped her hand into the front of the girl’s shirt, who seemed to be almost exactly her size, judging by her height and how her biceps were pushing out against her long sleeve shirt just as Nicole's were. “I’m going to suggest that if you prefer your arms in their sockets that you refrain from even thinking of threatening my wife ever again.” Her teeth were bared as their eyes had a showdown.

       But it didn’t last for long. The other girl’s brow cocked and she grabbed her hand and pulled it off of her. “Wife?” 

       Nicole matched her confused face. “What?” 

       Waverly stepped out from behind her, assuming that no one was in danger of having their arms ripped out of their sockets anymore. She grabbed Nicole’s left hand and lifted it, holding her own up next to it. “Wife.” 

       Her mouth fell open in realization and she took a step back, putting her hands up. “Wow, I really thought you were a homophobe,” she breathed out, looking towards Waverly. 

       She winced a little bit. “Yea, it kinda came out that way. Sorry.” 

       She shook her head, “No, it's ok. I’m sorry I . . . went off.” 

       Nicole gave her a relieved smile. “I probably would have done the same thing, so it’s fine.” She looked towards Waverly. “What the hell did you even say?” 

       She pursed her lips. “. . . Everyone around is not straight, I don’t get it.” The redhead widened her eyes at her. “I forgot I look straight, ok?”

       The two in front of them laughed, and the taller one spoke, “Well, to answer your question, there’s a queer movie screening later and I think everyone is waiting around for all of the pride shops that are set up to open in a little bit.”

       “Ohhhh,” they both breathed out, looking around again. 

       “I’m Del, by the way,” the taller one said, and Nicole shook her hand after introducing herself. Del turned her head to her girlfriend. “Quit being shy.” She grabbed the blonde’s hand and pulled her to stand next to her. 

       She threw her a look but gave them a smile. “Nevaeh.”

       Waverly introduced herself and they all began walking in the direction of the center of the park where all the shops were set up.  “So where are you two from?” The taller brunette asked. 

       “Canada,” Waverly answered. 

       “People actually live there?” Nevaeh laughed. 

       “Unfortunately, yea,” Nicole sighed, and Waverly bumped her arm. 

       “Come on, it’s not that bad.” 

       She let out a huff, “Were you not there when Wynonna texted me that it snowed a foot last night? It’s almost April.” 

       “You love the snow!” 

       “. . . I do love the snow.” 

       Waverly let out a sigh as she wrapped herself around her arm. “See? You love it there.” 

       They all looked around as a loud siren went off, but then to Nevaeh as she happy clapped, pulling her girlfriend along. “The shops are open, Del, come on!” 

       The newlyweds looked towards one another with laughs, jogging to catch up to them as they entered the center of the park that had been shielded by tall shrubbery. And there were a lot of people there. More than either of them had expected. 

       “Are we getting stuff?” Waverly questioned after they caught up to them. 

       “Uh, is that even a question?” Nicole smirked. 

       “Ok. Wait.” Nevaeh stopped and moved in front of them, grabbing Waverly’s arm and pulling her over. “I say we team up and out-gay them.” 

       The brunette smiled wide as she wiggled her eyebrows at Nicole. “I agree.” 

       “You think you can out-gay us?” Del asked, face twisting in disagreement. 

       “Yea . . . Y’all are really barking up the wrong tree,” the redhead mumbled, crossing her arms.

       “We’ll see about that.” Nevaeh looked towards Waverly with a grin. 

       “We will,” Del nodded, a slow smirk working onto her face. “I love a good game of top vs bottom.” 

       “I am not a bottom!” They both gasped at the same time. 

       Del’s jaw fell open and Nicole’s cheeks went red. She gave Del and push and they both walked past their partners, heading towards one of the clothes tents. “How dare they expose us like that,” she mumbled.

       “Yea, really.” The brunette stopped by a shelf of rainbow checkered slip-on Vans. “Are we trying to kill them or are we trying to actually out-gay them?” 

       “We are making sure they are bottoms tonight,” Nicole smirked, grabbing two packs of rainbow suspenders and smacking one against her chest. 

       She looked down at it before raising her eyes to her. “I like your thinking.” 

       Within 20 minutes, Waverly and Nevaeh had their outfits ready. The park had a couple of different areas set up for people to change in and they were in one of the rooms, standing in front of the mirror. “I think we look amazing,” the brunette said as she put some glossy pink lipstick on. 

       “I agree,” the blonde said as she touched up the rainbow glitter she had on her eyelids. 

       They were completely matching. They had rainbow-striped skinny jean overalls, leaving one strap unhooked to show their white sweatshirts with the rainbow unicorn on it. They had their hair in french braided pigtails with different colored hair ties going down each braid. And their part lines were dusted in a heavy layer of very sparkly rainbow glitter.

       Overall, yea. They looked pretty gay. 

       Waverly’s phone went off in her pocket, and she pulled it out. “Someone’s impatient.” 

❤️Nic❤️: Where y’all at?

Wifey ❤️: We’re almost done. Hold ur horses

❤️Nic❤️: W h e r e

Wifey ❤️: The changing room by the movie screen

       She bent down and tied her tye-dye Converse before taking a step back and looking at herself in the mirror. “Perfect.” She stuck the little rainbow flags in her pockets and turned towards the blonde. “There’s no way they’re gonna win, is there?”

       She shook her head, pulling her braids around to hang over her shoulders. “Nah.” 

       Once they finished the final touches, they walked out of the changing room and looked around, trying to find Nicole and Del. 

       “Dayum, Girl, you fine as hell.” 

       Waverly’s head turned at the familiar voice, and her jaw hit the concrete. They had found them alright. She traced her eyes up and down Nicole’s body, feeling her knees almost give out under her. For starters, she had on a rainbow beanie. And Nicole in a beanie was always a treat. She approached her, tipping her black sunglasses down with a wicked smirk, and although her hand was in the way partially, she could tell she had colored streaks down the sides of each cheek. 

       But it just got worse as her eyes continued down. 

       It seemed they had gotten creative, for they had made their own personal sleeveless crop-top hoodies. The black hoodie with 50 Shades of Gay on the front had it’s sleeves ripped off, and a hack job along the bottom, making it a very high rising crop-top, exposing all of her ribcage tattoo and the bottom edge of her sports bra. But that wasn’t the worst. No. The suspenders hooked to the skin-tight black joggers with rainbow stripes up the sides were fed under the hoodie, so only the bottom portion was showing. But they weren’t doing any good considering that the joggers seemed to be barely hanging off her hips anyway. She didn’t know how, but the suspenders almost seemed to make her abs even more sculpted, and the lack of sleeves made her arms even more defined. 

       It was just too much. 

       “Delphina Mikos, I’m going to beat your ass,” Nevaeh growled, stomping over and smacking her arm. “This was not part of the rules.” 

       Waverly crossed her arms in front of her and Nicole walked over, pulling them down before letting her hands rest on her hips. “Is something wrong, Babe?” 

       “No,” she grumbled, shifting on her feet. 

       “Are you sure?”

       She stared up at her after she took her sunglasses off and hooked them on her shirt. “I’m seeing way too much Calvin Klein for my liking.” She hooked her finger around the band of her boxers, letting it snap back against her as she used her other hand to do the same to the hem of her bra. 

       “Too much? I can pull these up a little if you’d like?” She grabbed onto the hem of her joggers and went to tug them up, but Waverly snatched her hands up and put them back on her hips as she leaned into her, pulling her head down into a rough kiss. 

       “Don’t you dare.”

       Nicole chuckled into her lips, sliding her hand down to give her butt a squeeze before pulling away to see that Del and Nevaeh were already a million steps ahead of them, for the taller one had her against the changing room wall. She licked her lips, grinning as she looked back down at the brunette. “Don’t mind if I do.” She slid her hands down to her thighs and hoisted her up, meeting her lips again as she walked her forward and pinned her back to the bricks. 

       The Sheriff pulled her head back, turning to look at the other brunette. “Hey, Del?” She pulled back and looked at her with a smirk. “I think we won.” 

       “Yea, me, too. They owe us lunch.” The smaller ones each voiced their own complaint, but they were quick to quiet when there were lips on them again. 

.  .  .

       Before they knew it, their honeymoon came to an end and they were home sweet home. The trip had somehow brought them even closer together, while also giving them memories that they’d never forget. 

       Like how Del decided to only mention to Nicole that it was the movie that she directed and also that she used the end credits to incorporate her proposal to Nevaeh. 

       There were tears. So many tears.

       Nicole and Waverly were so glad that they had gained a new friendship, especially one that would allow them to go back to Greece in a year or two for the wedding. 

       But now they were home. And had been home for a little over a week. They were both still getting back into the swing of things, Waverly her student teaching that had gotten pushed to the end of the school year because of the time she had to take off for the wedding and honeymoon. And Nicole having to get used to switching her real ring out for the silicone one she wore when she went to work. Waverly had a fit each time she saw her wearing the real one on the job because she didn’t want it to get damaged in any way, shape, or form. 

       But they were getting there. 

       Slowly, but surely. 

       Waverly flipped the page of the sample test she was holding, looking up at the class in front of her. “Who can tell me what the essay question on your test is gonna be about?” She smirked as hands shot up across the room. But she wasn’t as interested in them as she was in the jackass that was trying to subtly talk to a girl across the room while she was trying to help them all study. “Michael?” His head snapped towards her and fear took over his face as she leaned back against the wall. 

       “. . . What?” 

       “I dunno, you tell me what.” 

       Everyone tried to hide their laughter as they looked towards him. “Uhh . . . What was the question?” 

       She smirked at the poor, poor eighth-grader. “Well, you would know if you weren’t so busy drooling over Becca.” 

       “OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” His face went bright red and he sunk down in his chair as the whole class went crazy. 

       She dotted her eyes over to Mrs. Goddard, seeing that she was shaking her head, trying to hide a smile as she graded some papers. She looked back at Michael and raised her eyebrow. “Pay attention.” She directed her attention to everyone. “Who’s got it?” Hands shot up again and she traced her eyes around before making a decision. “Josie?” 

       “We've gotta describe at least three ways human settlement has affected our environment,” she answered with a grin. 

       Waverly smiled as she grabbed a little Twix bar out of the bowl next to her and tossed it to her. “Good.” She looked up at the clock on the wall, seeing that there were only a couple of minutes left before the end of class. “Ok. Does anyone have any questions? Mise well ask them now so you can study better tonight.” She waited a second, but no hands raised. “Alriiight . . . I’m gonna tell your Momma straight then when she comes crabbing at me cause you failed.” That got a couple of giggles. She smiled, pushing off the wall, “You guys can have free time the last few minutes.” 

       Instant chatter took over the room and she grabbed the candy bowl off the stool next to her and brought it back over to the social studies teacher. “You did good today- Well you always do good, but especially today.” 

       She laughed with a little blush, “Thank you.” 

       “Mrs. Haught?” 

       She turned her head, looking down at the tiny, shy eighth-grader with curly hair and glasses. “Yea, Bud, what’s up?” 

       He looked up at her with a tight furrow of his brow. “How’d you do the population density ones?” He asked softly. 

       She dropped down to a knee beside him, taking the paper and pen that was in his hand. “With the equation?” He nodded. “Ok.” She began to write it down as she spoke. “To figure it all out, you use the people over area formula, right?” He nodded again. “So if I give you 50 people in 5 square miles, how are you going to figure it out?” He took the pen from her hand and wrote 50 over 5 down, looking towards her in question. “Uh-huh, and solve it?” 

       “10?” 

       She smiled with a nod. “Yep. 10 labeled with people per square mile at the end, and you’re good. D’you got it now?” 

       “Yea.” 

       She stood and handed him the paper back. “Ok. There’s only a handful of those on there, so I think you’ll be ok.” He gave her a little smile. “Let me know if you need anything else, alright?” The boy nodded before walking back to his seat just as the bell rang. 

       The students all filed out and Waverly let out a sigh, leaning back against one of the desks in the front row. “I think they’ll all do good, don’t you?” 

       “You’re the teacher, Mrs. Haught. I didn’t teach them this unit,” Mrs. Goddard said as she sat back in her chair. “But if they all get a better grade on this test than they have on any of the ones I’ve given them, I wouldn’t be surprised.” 

       She raised her brows at her, shaking her head. “I doubt that.” 

       The darker brunette stood, walking around her desk as the first couple of kids in her study hall walked in. “You have potential, Waverly, you really do.” 

       She gave her another bashful smile as she grabbed her backpack and shoved a couple of folders of homework that she needed to grade into it. It was true. She saw six junior high classes a day, three 7th grade social studies and three 8th grade social studies, and she had taught the 8th graders their new unit all by herself over the past 10 days. Sure, she had taught the younger grades, too, but this was the first time she flew solo with it. “Thank you, Mrs. Goddard.” 

       “No, thank you. We need more teachers like you. Ones that actually care about what’s going on in the classroom.” 

       She threw the strap over her shoulder. “I try my best.” 

       The older woman sighed, “. . . I figured you’d come down this path after I taught you. You were always helping everyone else around you. Always .” 

       Waverly smiled, thinking back to the times when she sat in this very classroom with her years ago. “I’m glad I figured it out. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do for a while.” 

       “Girl, you coulda just came down here and asked me and I would have sent ya on your way!” 

       “Well, I didn’t think about that!” She laughed. 

       The older one shook her head. “Alright. You’ve got work to get to. Just give me a call if you need anything.” 

       Waverly smiled, turning towards the door. “I will, thank you.” 

       She made her way down the hall and out the front door, heading across the parking lot to her jeep. She threw her backpack in the back but looked up after hearing sirens coming down the main road. Her eyes widened after she saw Nicole’s cruiser leading the rest of them, flying behind the white SUV with a head start. She shook her head, letting out a little breath of prayer that she didn’t get hurt before climbing in and heading off to Shorty’s. 

___

       The Sheriff dropped her foot completely forward, flooring her cruiser behind the car of the man who had just been spotted getting handsy on an apparent date with an underage high school girl. She barely knew anything about the situation, but those details alone had her doing everything in her power to catch the son of a bitch. 

       The man continued on, swerving down the four-lane when they reached it, getting so close to some cars that his right mirror flew off. It was all until someone didn’t move as he predicted that he swerved too rough, sending his car crashing into the concrete barriers on the left side of the road. Nicole slammed on her brakes, coming to a screeching halt a couple of yards in front of the wreck. She yanked her gun out of the holster and jumped out of her vehicle, running over to the car where her deputies were already ordering him out. 

       He was surrounded on all sides now, so there was nothing he could do. 

       “Get out with your hands on your head!” The redhead shouted and she daringly took a few steps forward.

       She stopped when the door slowly opened, watching as the back of his head poked out, both hands raised in the air. She dropped her gun to her hip and slowly walked forward, keeping it there until she was sure he wasn’t going to try anything. “Get your ass on the ground. Now.” She grabbed his wrist and drug him out of his seat, pushing his chest to the road with her boot shoved into his back. 

       “I didn’t know she was a kid, I promise,” the older man in his well-tailored suit stammered out. 

       The Sheriff let out a low growl as she jerked his arms back probably too forcefully as she cuffed him. “Why the hell are you running then, you sick bastard?” 

       The man continued to whine and complain the whole time as she got him to his feet and over to her cruiser, shoving him into the back seat. She made a couple of calls to get people out to clean up the mess and had a quick chat with her deputies before climbing in and driving him to the station. 

.  .  .

       After letting Richard O'Ryan sweat it out for about an hour in the interrogation room, Nicole walked in with his folder and a notebook. She had learned way too much about Mr. Dick in the past hour. On the not so horrible side, she learned he owned a successful insurance company in Calgary and that he lived with his wife and two kids up in the Stone Gate Mansions. But on the horrible side, she had gone through his phone and found that not only had he been talking with the girl he was caught with on the private messaging site, but he was also currently texting eight other girls, and she had video proof that he had done things with at least three of them. 

       But that wasn’t all.

       She wished it was all, but no. 

       Pearson had taken a look in his car and found his personal laptop, and after having Jeremy’s help to crack into it, they had sorted through enough child pornography that had been hidden away to rot their brains. 

       So, to put it gently, she would be more than happy to rip his face off. 

       She slammed her notebook on the metal table to make sure she had his attention. His head snapped up to look at her and she tossed the folder down before beginning to pace the room as she rolled her sleeves. “I’m just gonna go ahead and give you the chance to fess up first. And just putting it out there . . .” She stopped pacing, taking a few steps forward and leaning towards him. “I would highly recommend we do this the easy way.” 

       He swallowed as he met the fury in her eyes. “I will not say a word until my lawyer gets here.” 

       She clicked her tongue as she dropped down into the chair in front of him. “Right. I forgot, Big Boy needs his fancy lawyer to make sure I don’t scare anything out of him that I shouldn’t.”

       “It’s a right, Sheriff.”

       She pulled a picture of the girl he had been with out of the folder and smacked it on the table in front of him. “Was it a right to try and trick her into sleeping with you?!”

       He glanced down at it, lifting his perfectly trimmed face back up to look at her. “I did no such thing.”

       “Oh, you didn’t?”

       “No,” he huffed as if she didn’t have proof that he was lying.

       “So . . .” She pulled another picture out of the folder, this time a screenshot from his phone. “When you texted Katie, here, saying You can’t tell your mom about anything that happens. And she said What’s in it for me? You weren’t trying to get her to do anything when you answered with $1000. But only if you promise to be Daddy’s good girl . . .” She flipped the paper around and slid it towards him, face soured as she fixed her glare on him. 

       A small bit of pride puffed her chest when his head lifted again, this time with fear shadowing on every feature. “. . . I am waiting for my lawyer.”

       She slid her tongue across her teeth, standing with a shake of her head as she put her hands on her hips and faced the door for a few seconds to cool herself down. She turned back around to face him. “Your lawyer isn’t gonna get you out of this one. I can tell you that right now.” She pulled out another piece of paper. “Cause right now? We already have you for 64 counts of possession of child pornography, eight counts of soliciting a minor, and three counts of statutory rape at the least, sexual assault of a minor at best!”

       She was damn near jumping across the table, but the door opened, and her head whipped around to see who it was. “What, Pearson?” 

       “Uh, your wife is here,” her Deputy informed, removing his Stetson and running his thumb across it. 

       “She can wait a minute,” she huffed, standing up straight and facing him. 

       “I dunno, Sheriff . . .” 

       Her brow furrowed. “What? Why?” 

       “She came in crying awful hard before closing herself in your office.” 

       The redhead pushed her hand through her hair in worry. “Do you know why?” 

       “Not really . . . All I heard was something about a champ or something like th-”

       “WHAT ?” Her heart jumped straight to her throat. 

       His eyes widened and he took a step back. “Sheriff, I don’t know. Really. That’s why I’m here.” 

       Her brain swirled for a second before she began to smack her hands on all of her pockets in search of her phone. “Pearson, what’s the date?” She asked shakily.

        His mouth came open for a second, “What?” 

       She took a quick step forward and grabbed onto his shirt. “Andrew, what the fuck is the date?!” He turned his wrist towards her, for it had an Apple Watch on it and she grabbed it, eyes bugging out of her head before pushing him out of the way and ripping the door open. “Fuck.” 

       It was the 12th of April. 

       Champ had been sentenced to four years in prison, two with good behavior on April 11th. 

       Two years ago. 

       She sprinted down the hallway, hoping and praying that what she knew was true wasn’t . 

       But there was no other explanation for it other than just that:

       Champ Hardy had been released from prison. And he had headed straight for her wife.