91. Lemme See You Grope My Daughter One More Time

       “Wait, how much flour?” Waverly asked, turning around with the measuring cup in her hand. 

       Nicole looked down at the recipe she had jotted down. “Uhh- One 'n a half cups.” 

       “Gotcha. And baking powder?” 

       “Two teaspoons,” she answered, reaching across the table and bringing the sugar over to her, smirking as she jerked her hips forward to bump her butt as she tried to measure the baking powder.

       They were getting ready to bake one of two cakes they had to make today, this one being the human one. It was Calamity’s sixth birthday, so of course they all were going to celebrate. 

       Waverly’s front hit the counter, yet she saved herself from dropping the container into the bowl, throwing her wife a deathly glare over her shoulder. “You better watch it, Woman.” She looked back down as she dumped the second teaspoon into the mixture.

       Nicole crossed her arms with a grin after setting the bag of sugar down, leaning her side against the counter that she was standing in front of. “Why’s that?” 

       “Because when I allow you to only be able to eat CJ’s tuna cake, you’re gonna be real sorry,” she informed with a raise of her brows. 

       Nicole raised her brows back, but Waverly knew what the look on her face meant even before she slowly started moving towards her, causing her to set the spoon down and back up. “ I’m gonna be sorry, huh?” She questioned, her voice dropped to a level that made her pupils blow. 

       She swallowed, “You are.” Though, the small gasp she let out when her back hit the outer wall of the kitchen wasn’t helping her case.

       Nicole ran her finger up her neck to catch her chin, tipping it up so she met her eyes. “I’m not so sure you’re gonna be able to tell me what I can and cannot do knowing that you get weak in the knees anytime I’m this close to you.” She stared at her wide eyes for a second before smirking as she pressed their lips together, sliding her hands down her body and hoisting her up, pressing her back against the wall. The brunette let out a little moan, cupping her hands around her neck as she parted her lips to take her tongue in her mouth.

       “Looks to be a lot of baking going on in here!” Michelle said in announcement of her presence a few minutes later, watching her daughter-in-law making a show grinding into the brunette whilst shoving her tongue halfway down her throat. 

       Nicole quickly pulled back, her face going cherry red as she turned her head to look at her with a sorry smile. Waverly’s feet hit the floor and she hid her face in her chest with an embarrassed groan. “Sorry,” the redhead mumbled.

       Mama rolled her eyes. “I just want some cake, y’all.” 

       Waverly cleared her throat as she walked out from hiding behind the taller one. “ And we’re on it.” 

       The couple got right back to work, now keeping it family-friendly that Mama had joined them in the kitchen. Nicole poured her mixture of wet ingredients into Waverly’s dry, taking the spoon from her and stirring it all together. 

       “I could’ve done that,” the brunette grumbled, crossing her arms. 

       Nicole looked towards her with a little smirk. “Sorry, I just figured you were sore from our arm workout this morning.” 

       They had officially been living at the Homestead for about a week and a half now. It wasn’t like they completely avoided the house now, though. They still went there if they needed something, but more often the case, to use the gym upstairs. They were both obviously very active people, and it was a shared trait that exercise relieved their stress, so they seemed to be doing a lot more joint-workout sessions together than usual. 

       And today just so happened to be arm day. 

       “No,” she huffed. “I was still sore from arm day last week, so I took it easy. Now you , on the other hand, were trying to be a show-off, in my opinion.” 

       She chuckled, letting out a hum as she looked over her shoulder at her. “No, Baby, that’s just my usual.” 

       “Oh, shut the hell up,” she scoffed, bumping her out of the way with her hip and pulling the spoon out of her hand to take over. “You benched me .” 

       “ So ?!” She laughed. “You weigh less than my normal bench. If I wanted to show off, I would have balanced a plate or two on you and then benched you.” 

       “You’re such a fucking stud, my God ,” Waverly muttered, keeping a grin off her face as she shook her head. 

       Mama scrunched her face, watching the redhead step forward and cup her ass with each hand as she lowered her head to her ear, whispering what she could only assume was god-awful plays on her prior wording. She grabbed one of Alice’s empty bottles that was in the drainer and launched it at the back of her head. 

       “ Ow ,” she whined, turning and looking at the object on the floor with her hand on the back of her head before looking up at Michelle’s annoyed face. 

       “Lemme see you grope my daughter one more time, Dallas, and Ima do the same to you.”

       She pursed her lips to mask a guilty grin, putting her hands up as she stepped away from the brunette. “Yes, Ma’am.” 

       Waverly turned her head to look at her with a smirk. “Ya, Dallas , knock it off.” 

       Nicole’s face reddened quickly with a glare. Michelle had coined her with the nickname the day they met, but not once had Waverly called her it. She let out a sigh, “Alright, I guess I’ll just . . .” She pushed her hands in her pockets, turning towards the steps. “Go play with my niece.” 

       The brunette reached down and grabbed the bottle off the floor, chucking it at her head. 

       But the redhead whipped around and caught it with a smirk, watching both of the women’s jaws hit the ground. “I guess you want me to help then, huh?” 

       Waverly righted her mouth, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “. . . Yes.” 

       “Mhm.”

.  .  .

       “I can’t believe I just sang Happy Birthday to a fucking cat,” Wynonna muttered, shaking her head as she took the plate of cake Gus handed her. 

       “Shut up, Earp, you get cake. Why’re you complainin’?” Nicole questioned. 

       She tipped her head with a nod, shrugging as she shoved a bite in her mouth and plopped down on a chair. “Fair enough.” The redhead shook her head with a chuckle, taking a pull of her beer. Wynonna watched her, narrowing her eyes at the tattoo on her bicep that was visible when her t-shirt sleeve rode up. “You’re whipped to shit .”

       She squinted down at her. “No, I’m not,” she scoffed. 

       “No?” 

       “No,” she huffed. 

       “Mk, let’s see.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Hey, Babygirl!” She shouted to the girl in the living room. 

       She wandered into the room, raising her brows. “What?” 

       “Your wife says she thinks this party is stupid,” she said, keeping the smirk off her face. Nicole jerked her head towards her with wide eyes. 

       “ What ?!” She snapped, stomping over to the redhead. “What is wrong with you?!”

       The redhead’s face saddened. “Noo. Baby, I love it. It’s not stupid , I never said that,” she said softly. 

       Wynonna coughed, “ Whipped .” 

       “Would you shut up,” Nicole huffed, looking back up at the still-angry brunette in front of her. “See, she’s messing with me.” 

       “By calling you whipped ?” She asked slowly, and the Sheriff nodded. Waverly shrugged, “Probably cause you are .”

       “SEE!” Wynonna laughed as Nicole’s mouth dropped open in offense. 

       “No, I’m not-” She pressed her hand against her phone ringing in her pocket. “You know what, whatever , I don’t ca-” Her voice cut when she saw Dolls’ name on the caller ID. Her jaw locked and she pointed it to Wynonna, watching all forms of amusement leave her face as she stood. “Let me take this,” she said to Waverly, pressing a kiss to her lips as she moved past her, pressing it to her ear.

       “It’s not the second yet,” the younger one mumbled, looking up at her sister. 

       “No . . . But whatever it is isn’t good, judging by the look on her face.” 

       Nicole took all but a minute to get off the phone, walking back over to them. “What is it?” Waverly asked with a wrinkle between her brow. 

       “They found his truck.” 

       Both of their brows raised. “And why is that not a good thing?” Wynonna questioned. 

       “Because it doesn’t have him in it,” she sighed, letting her eyes fall to her wife’s face. “Baby . . .”

       She shook her head. “Go.” 

       “But-”

       “ Go , Nic.” She stepped towards her, sliding her hands down her sides. “They need you more than we do.” 

       The Sheriff let out a heavy sigh, cupping her cheeks as she leaned into a soft kiss, pressing their foreheads together and opening her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. 

       She shook her head again, balling her shirt up near her chest. “It’s not your fault.” 

       “But I hate doing this to you,” she mumbled. 

       “Stop. It’s not your fault. Quit doing this to yourself.” She swallowed, feeling her hands drop from her waist just as her chin dropped. “Baby.” She tipped it back up, keeping her finger there. “ Trust me when I tell you that CJ’ll live if you miss part of her party,” she said with a tiny lift of the corner of her lip, watching the hint of a smile that appeared on her face.

       Nicole let out a breath, gathering herself again thanks to that. “Alright.” She stood up straight, giving her one last kiss. “I’ll try not to be too long.” 

       “Take as long as you need. We’re not going anywhere.” 

       She nodded, giving her wrist a squeeze as she moved past her, looking to Wynonna and giving her a small nod before making her way to the door, making sure to give Calamity a good pet before she headed out. 

.  .  .

       The scene hadn’t given them much except a loss of leads. Along with the truck in the abandoned parking lot two towns over that had been wiped completely clean, they had found yet another blood-written note. 

Ya know, I was actually in need of a new truck and a makeover, so thanks, Wynonna.

       They assumed he had dumped it right after Nicole’s PSA had aired on the news, for it had contained it’s description and a picture of the sketch Wynonna had given for what he looked like. They hadn’t gotten one tip on the tip line, so they figured he either lived far from society or blended in just that much to make people not suspect him, sketch be damned. 

       But now that it seemed that he had altered his appearance somehow most likely weeks prior, it wasn’t shocking that they had gotten nothing. 

       Nicole wandered into the Homestead early in the AM, getting off a grueling 24-hour shift. She kept her steps quiet as she made her way through the house and back to their bedroom, stopping when she saw the brunette sitting up in bed. “You alright, Love?” She asked, though exhaustion pulled her voice into a slur. 

       Waverly turned her head to look at her, giving her a little smile. “I’m great.” 

       The redhead blinked a few times, reaching up and rubbing her eyes as she moved over to the closet. It was three in the goddamn morning and she was honestly too tired to even try and understand what was going on. “What’re you doing up, Babe?” She mumbled after hanging her tie up and setting her utility belt down on the dresser. 

       “Well.” She leaned forward onto her palm after resting her elbow on the side of her knee. “I’m trying to figure out if I want my diploma hanging there or there while we’re here.” 

       Nicole followed her fingers, looking at the one pointing to the space on the wall beside the closet in front of her and then the one by the window next to her. She did a double-take, though, realizing that her diploma was already hanging in the space in front of her. She stopped mid-unbuttoning her shirt and ripped the frame off the wall, moving to smack the light on so she could see it fully. 

       Holy shit. 

       That was Waverly Haught’s Bachelor’s degree that she didn’t know she had not only gotten yet , but also that she had received the certification already. 

       She raised her wide eyes to look at her. “When did this happen?!” 

       The brunette giggled, “I finished last week, but that came in the mail earlier since I’m not going to the in-person graduation in Toronto.”

       She stared at her in shock for a few seconds before her brain fully registered what was going on. “ Oh my God .” She looked down at it for one more moment before setting it down and sprinting towards the bed, launching herself at her and knocking her back in a hug. 

       “ Shit , Baby,” Waverly laughed, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Her brows furrowed, though, as she felt her body shaking in time with the wobbly breath she pulled in. “Hey,” she mumbled, moving her hands to her neck and pulling her head up, watching tears making their way down her face. 

       “I’m so happy for you,” the redhead sniffled with the best smile she could manage, moving her hands to her cheeks as she met her lips. 

       The smaller one relaxed into it, pulling her fingers through the ends of her hair when she moved back, reaching up with her thumbs and wiping the tears that were continuing to fall. “Thank you, Baby,” she said with a little laugh. “It’s ok, shh.”

       “Why didn’t you tell me!?”

       “I wanted to surprise you.” She wiped more of her tears to try and keep them from dripping all over her. “Quit crying, Love. It’s ok .”

       “I’m not trying to,” she mumbled. “It’s just- You’ve worked so hard over the past two years to get where you wanted to get and now you’re there a-and I’m really proud of you.” 

       Waverly stared up at her in adoration, pouting her lip as she wrapped her arms around her neck and pulled her back down into a hug. “Stop that, now you’re gonna make me cry.”

       “I’m sorry,” she mumbled into her shirt.

       She hugged her a little tighter, pulling her legs out from under her and wrapping them around her hips to pull her that much closer as they enjoyed being in each other’s arms since the day before for a bit. Nicole was most definitely snotting all over her shoulder, but she really didn’t care at this point because it was truly the little things like this that made everything in their lives worth the while. 

       The Sheriff dragged in one last sniff before lifting her head, looking into her eyes with a tiny smile, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “I love you.” 

       Waverly grinned, bringing her hands up to her cheeks and squishing them around with her fingers for a second with a little giggle as Nicole shook her head at her. “I love you more.” 

       “Not a chance,” she sighed, pushing up in a plank and dropping down to kiss her before pushing back up and rolling off to finish changing out of her uniform. She walked over and grabbed the framed diploma, pressing a kiss to where her name was under the glass before hanging it back where it was and flicking the light off. She crawled into bed, switching her silicone ring out for the real one before grabbing her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm after the brunette curled into her front. “For the record, I like it hanging right there.” 

       “Yea?” Waverly giggled.

       “I’ll like it a whole lot better on the desk in your classroom, though,” she mumbled with a smirk. 

       The brunette beamed. “Lucky for you, I’ve already sent out four resumes to schools around here that have an opening position.” 

       “Have you?” She asked with a smile, though she knew she couldn’t see it. “All younger grades, I assume?” She was well aware that was her preferred age level, though she didn’t really mind in the long run.

       “Oldest was a fifth grade class, so yea, pretty much . . . There’s no one retiring or anything in Purgatory, which kinda sucks.” There was nothing she wanted more than to work at the school she went to her whole life.

       “Aw, I’m sorry, Baby.” Nicole gave her hand a squeeze. “You’ll rock it wherever you’re at, though.” 

       She let out a little hum, snuggling into her chest. “Damn right, I will.” 

       Nicole ran her hand up and down her back with a yawn, “Night, Babe.” 

       “Night,” she said with a content sigh, and the redhead smiled a little, letting sleep finally pull her eyes closed. 

       Waverly would have done the same, but she wasn’t tired. At all. She was far too busy thinking and contemplating to even consider sleep. See, when Nicole had trudged through the door, she hadn’t been up waiting for her to get home. No, she was awake thinking about all of the bullshit that had gone on over the past two and a half weeks because she had come to a realization .

       First, her old babysitter had been dead, hanging off the arch of her childhood home. Then she finds herself being escorted away from the courthouse and she has continued to be rarely allowed to leave the Homestead without having someone with her. Then she is moved into the Homestead “just in case.” Oh, and to top it all off, she hasn’t been allowed into the BBD office the whole time because she needed to finish up her schooling . 

       It was interesting watching Wynonna’s face after she asked if she could help earlier. She figured since she was done with her schooling that they would let her at least help if nothing else.

       But no.

       She knew her sister very well, and because so, she knew that she was not very well with coming up with convincing lies on the spot. Hence the case now. She had given her some bullshit answer and that was what caused her pondering in the first place. 

       They were hiding something from her. She could feel it.

       And there was no better way to find out what it was then to figure it out herself. 

       Waverly waited about 10 more minutes, hearing Nicole’s breathing become heavier and heavier as she fell deeper and deeper into sleep. She slowly pulled the redhead’s arm off from being wrapped around her and sat up, gently crawling off the bed. She made her way to the door and grabbed the random hoodie that had ended up on the back of the doorknob at some point and slipped it on after exiting the room. She made her way through the house, keeping her keys from jangling as she grabbed them off the hook and slipped her Birkenstocks on, pulling the front door open and heading outside. She was quickly in her Jeep and she let out a breath, looking towards the Homestead as she started it, keeping her headlights off until she was out of the driveway and heading to the station. 

       The brunette walked into the building, getting a couple of weird looks from the night shift Deputies considering that it was almost 4 in the morning. She walked over to the Black Badge door and went to go in, but Schmitt quickly slid in front of her, blocking her from doing so. “What’re you doing?” The taller man asked.

       “I mean, I’m trying to go in here, but you’re kinda in my way,” she mumbled as she looked up at him. 

       He pursed his lips a little. “I can’t let you do that.”

       Her brows shot right up. “Why’s that?” 

       Schmitt ran a hand through his short, black beard, shifting on his feet. “Sheriff’s orders.” 

       “My wife told all of you to make sure I don’t come in here?” She questioned, almost in disbelief. 

       “Yes, Ma’am.” 

       “Why?” 

       He shrugged. “She just told us to keep you out. That’s all we know.” 

       Waverly let out an annoyed sigh, but a thought popped in her brain, causing her to tip her head at him. “So. Kendrick, is it?” Schmitt gave her a little nod. “Right. Kendrick , how are you gonna feel if I decide to tell my wife, who is your boss, about the two times I’ve seen you and Wagner sharing a blunt in the alley outside of Shorty’s in uniform on duty ?” His eyes shot right out of his head. “Surely that’s against protocol, right?”

       “Waverly, please-”

       “What’ll it be? Have you and Duncan lose your jobs or walk away and I’ll forget everything I saw?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, watching as his jaw locked while he racked it over. 

       After a few seconds, he finally let out a huff, moving out of the way. “You Earps are something else,” he grumbled as he headed towards the breakroom. 

       Waverly let out a relieved breath, pushing the door open and flipping the light on, closing it behind her as she walked into the room she hadn’t been in for a while now. She traced her eyes around, noticing right away that it was in dire need of a reorganization. There were papers sprawled everywhere on the table and there were totes of BBD files stacked on the floor and on chairs. 

       She let out a raspberry as she moved over to the board and looked it over, reading over the timeline once more as a refresher before arriving at the notes and pictures of the latest. She swallowed, sliding her hand down her face as she pulled her eyes away from the pictures of Amy’s body. She almost turned away, but her brows furrowed as she took a step forward, pulling the picture off that was of a note of some sort. She couldn’t quite figure out the words, for whoever had taken it hadn’t done a very good job because there was a large glare from the plastic bag it was in, but she did know that she was not aware of this part of the case. Sure, Nicole had told her about the other note that was left in the truck and that was also photographed up there. 

       But not this one. 

       She hung it back up and walked over to the table, tracing her eyes over all of the papers for a minute before moving from tote to tote, looking for the one that was holding the evidence bag the note was in. 

       She pulled the lid off of one of the last ones, letting out a breath of relief when she saw a couple of bags in it. She tossed the lid on the table and pulled the first one out, seeing that it was the note from the truck. She set it down and grabbed the next one, and her brows shot right up. She grabbed the chair behind her and pulled it behind her butt as she fell back onto it.

       It was an envelope addressed to her wife. 

       “What in the hell . . .?” 

       She grabbed the next bag, quickly realizing that it was the note in the picture. Her eyes traced over the words, and her heart rate rose in her chest just as the goosebumps appeared all over her body. 

       Waverly was far from stupid, so she had already figured out that there was a code after her first read-through. She set the bag down on the table and shot out of the chair, grabbing the closest pen and a random sheet of paper off the table, flipping it over to the blank side and dropping back down.

       She paused, though.

       When she had set the bag down, she had set it so the note was face-down unintentionally. And it was then that she realized along with the note, there was another piece of paper in it that had been hidden behind it. She couldn’t tell what it said, for it was flipped over, so she quickly pulled the bag open and grabbed a tissue, being semi-careful not to get her fingers on anything as she pulled it out. 

       There it was. The decoded message. And she wasn’t sure what made her stomach churn more: What the message said about her or the fact that it was in Nicole’s handwriting.

       She dropped the paper and closed the bag, quickly setting it down as she leaned back in her chair, covering her face with her hands. She knew they had been hiding something from her. She fucking knew it.

       But this ?

       This was the last thing she would have expected. 

       Her top lip shook as burning hot tears ran down her cheeks. She quickly pushed out of the chair and began gathering all of the papers on the table, sorting them into more organized piles. She was angry. Furious , even. And the only way to distract herself from blowing up then and there was to keep herself busy while she processed everything. 

       So she cleaned. 

       Everyone had lied to her. Everyone . Doc, Dolls, Gus, Michelle, Wynonna. Even Nicole. Sure , they were protecting her , but her means of protection was not up to them. Not in this situation. There was a psycho Revenant serial killer on the loose and it was targeting people she cared about. And she had a right to not only know about it but to be able to do everything in her power to help protect them. 

       But they haven’t even given her the option . 

       There was nothing she hated more than being kept in the dark and discluded and they all knew that so that just made it worse.

       Waverly let out a heavy breath, blinking a few times as she stepped back and looked around the room. She had partially been zoned on a whole different planet, so she hadn’t realized all that she had done. The table was completely cleaned off with the papers having been filed away. The totes were now organized instead of having random shit thrown in them and they were labeled with the category of their contents, and they were now near the filing cabinets on the floor. All of the chairs were pushed in and all the trash was picked up and thrown away. 

       It looked pretty much like it did when she was there to keep it in order. 

       Her eyes fell on the clock on the wall, seeing that it was getting close to 6 AM. 

       And it seemed like a perfect time to go raise some hell.