28. Chapter 28

Nicole lies naked in their bed as Waverly snuggles in closer to Nicole’s body, holding onto the red-haired woman so much tighter than usual. Nicole had made love to Waverly several times the night before and now it was the morning and she had to get up and put some more wood on the fire in their bedroom. As Nicole tried to gently climb out from under the bedcovers, Waverly grabbed her tighter and said, “NO, not yet. Nicole baby don’t go.”

“Baby, I have to get up and put wood on the fire, or you won’t ever get out of the bed.” Nicole says as she turns around and looks down at Waverly, who just buried her head into her pillow.

Nicole walked over to the chest of drawers and pulled out a pair of boxers and a shirt, which she slipped on. Waverly had been watching from the bed and groaned, causing Nicole to turn around and say, “What’s wrong baby?”

“It’s just that I was enjoying the view.” Waverly says with a grin on her face.

Nicole smiled back at Waverly as she knelt and placed another log on the fireplace and made sure that it caught alight and gave warmth to the room. Waverly flung herself back onto the mattress and placed her arms above her head. Nicole was about to climb back onto the bed, but that was when they both heard the cries coming from the nursery. Their boys were now awake and were wanting to be feed. Nicole heads out of the room and after a short time, she returns with the twins, one on each of her hips and hands them over to Waverly, who is still in the bed. Waverly and Nicole had chosen to only give their children, dummies to use when they were either crying intensively or if they were sick, so when Nicole had brought them in and they were sucking on dummies, Waverly knew that they were not happy little campers.

Nicole never understood what all the fuss was about Christmas when she was growing up. Her parents never celebrated the holiday and told Nicole that it was just a gimmick created by the corporate sector to make people send their money of silly items. So, when all the other kids at school were off celebrating Christmas and receiving presents, Nicole was stuck being bored with her parents doing mundane activities. It was only when Nicole’s parents disowned her, when she went into the Police Academy, that she got to finally experience what Christmas was all about; love, family and joy. Nicole got to spend most of her Christmas’ with Samuel and Gloria, and when John arrived, Nicole couldn’t wait till she had a family of her own to share the day with.

Waverly had taken Nicole and the boys shopping during November so that they could purchase all the decorations for their home. Waverly and Nicole took advantage of this opportunity to begin purchasing Christmas presents for the boys. Waverly oversaw the buying of the clothes for the boys, while Nicole bought the toys. The only thing that they did not purchase was the tree, this would be chosen the week before, and it would be decorated by all the family, which included Dolls, Jeremy. Nedley, Wynonna, Doc and Alice. Nicole loved the fact that her sons were old enough to be able to start helping with putting the tinsel on the tree with help from their big strong Mummy. Waverly had also planned the entire Christmas lunch, a month in advance, as she is always a planner.

The Earp-Haught house could be seen from the road, as Waverly had made sure that Nicole used all the Christmas lights on the outside of the house. And so, when Nicole turned on the lights for the first time, Nicolas and Alberto stared and clapped their hands with glee. Nicolas and Alberto loved it when their Mummy switched on the lights every night. Max would run around the house with the new toy that Nicole had gotten him during their decoration shopping. The sight of Max with a soft toy Unicorn in his mouth as he ran through the snow, would cause both the boys and Nicole to laugh. Nicolas would also want to chase Max, but Waverly would tell Nicole that under no circumstance were the boys to crawl around in the snow. Nicolas had to make do with trying to crawl along the veranda until his Mum would scoop him up when he was close to the stairs.

The inside of the house looked like Santa had come and made it his home. Waverly had transformed the house, so that it was festive and colourful, with tinsel draped over the mantel piece and fairy lights hanging from the ceiling to give the feel of being surrounded by stars in the night sky. Hanging from the Mantel above the living room fireplace, were five Santa stockings; which read Nicole, Waverly, Nicolas, Alberto and Max all in red lettering. The week before Christmas, Waverly had been busy cooking cookies and slices for Nicole to take into the station to share with the staff. Nicole thought that with all Waverly’s great cooking, she was going to need to up her exercise routine, just to keep her weight in check.

Today Nicole is going to be helping Nedley with the annual Christmas Eve Santa photo’s and she was to be his trusty Elf. Both Waverly and Nicole had been looking forward to this years Christmas, as it would be their first as parents and the boys were now 10 months old and were now more active and crawling. This meant that Waverly and Nicole were going to have their hands full, as they prepared food for tomorrow’s Christmas lunch for Dolls, Jeremy, Wynonna, Doc, Alice, Nedley and Chrissy. Wynonna and Alice were due to come over later in the afternoon to help with preparations, while Nicole headed off to be Nedley’s Santa’s Elf. Then Waverly and Wynonna were going to bring the children in to have their photos taken with Nedley and Nicole.

Nicole was given the task of making sure that there was plenty of wood for all the fireplaces, as Waverly didn’t want the house to be cold at any time over the next couple of days. Nicole made sure that the boys were all dressed in warm clothing before taking them out with her to the barn, where she was going to be splitting the wood. Max followed them out to the barn and sat and watched the two boys, who were happy to be playing with their teddy bears in the playpen, Nicole had set up.

“How’s my boys going?” Nicole says as she looks over at the two boys, who were sitting watching their Mummy chopping wood.

“Mumm.” Nicolas says as he puts his arms through the playpen bars.

“Well I think it about time we took this pile of wood into Ma.” Nicole says with a big smile on her face.

Nicole walks over to the playpen and leans in and begins to lift one son out at a time and placing him on top of the pile of wood in the wheelbarrow. Max sits and waits for Nicole to call him to follow her into the house. She hands Max a stick, which he carries in his mouth as he follows Nicole and the boys back into the house.

Waverly was busy creating the different Vegan dishes for herself and Jeremy, as well as dressing and cooking the Turkey. Waverly decided that she would make the side dishes later in the day, after the boys had gone down for their afternoon nap and when she had to watch them, while Nicole went to work.

Waverly was so engrossed in making the stuffing for the Turkey that she didn’t notice the backdoor being opened. It was only when Max barked at her, while sitting at her feet in the kitchen, that she realised that Nicole was back from chopping wood. Waverly looked up and saw the cutest thing, her boys all rugged up in their little winter coats and beanies, sitting atop of the wood pile in the wheelbarrow. Nicole had parked the wheelbarrow in the living room and about to lift the boys onto the floor, when Waverly squealed.

“What’s wrong babe?” Nicole questions Waverly.

“It’s just that they look so cute, I need to take a photo before you lift them off.” Waverly says as she picks up her phone and takes several photos. Nicolas and Alberto sit and giggle when Waverly starts to tickle them, so that she can take photos of them smiling.

Nicole waits for Waverly to finish taking the photos before picking up the boys and placing them onto the floor. Max picks back up his stick and takes it over to chew on, while he sat and watched the boys. Nicolas starts to crawl towards the kitchen and especially towards the glowing oven. Waverly quickly rushes and scoops him up into her arms and says in her Ma’s voice, “Oh no you don’t.”

For the rest of the day flow past so fast and soon the boys were starting to become more like little grizzly bears, rather than teddy bears. Nicole took them into the nursery and made sure that they were settled before leaving them in their cots.

Nicole had to have a shower after all the hard-sweating work she had done that morning, before she changed into her Elf costume. Waverly was waiting for Nicole to show her the costume and laid down on the bed.

“Come on. It can’t be that bad.” Waverly laughingly said as Nicole walked into their room to show off the costume. The look on Nicole’s face was priceless as it showed that she was not impressed at being dressed up like a big dorky Christmas Elf.

Waverly rolls over and says, “Oh!” as she chuckles. Nicole stands as stiff as a board in the middle of the room, while Waverly springs off the bed and begins to reach out to Nicole as she says, “OK, wait. I’ve got something that’ll help.”

Waverly reaches up and places onto Nicole’s red hair an Elf hat with a bell on the tip of the hat, which jingles as Waverly positions it correctly.

“There. Now you’re fully elfed.” Waverly says as she stretches her arms out above Nicole’s shoulders. “I feel like I should knight you with a candy cane.” Waverly continues to say as she runs her hands down Nicole’s arms.

Nicole walks over to sit on the side of the bed as she says, “I’m ready to get my Kringle on.”

“But, Nedley really does make the perfect Santa, right? He’s got a certain je ne sais jolly that you lack, honey.” Waverly says as she cups the sides of Nicole’s face.

Nicole groans as she falls back onto the mattress of the bed and says, “And so where’s that leave me then? Legolas for life?”

Waverly climbs onto the bed and straddles Nicole’s hips as she says, “I know. It’s not fair that you’re always elf-cast. It’s not fair. But it sure is cute.” Waverly leans down and kisses Nicole. The kiss turns from a simple peck to a full heated kiss. Waverly could feel the bulge building in Nicole’s pants, and she knew that they had some time before Nicole had to leave.

Waverly smiles as she slides off Nicole and says, “Well Mrs Elf Haught, it looks as if Santa’s left me a nice present in your pants.” Waverly places her hands on the waistband of Nicole’s pants and gives a slight tug. Nicole lifts her bottom so that Waverly can pull her pants down and free her harden member from the confinement of her pants. Waverly lowered her own pants and climbed on top of Nicole. Nicole and Waverly made love several times before she was due to leave. What the pair of love birds didn’t know was that Wynonna and Alice had arrived to help with the cooking.

Wynonna quietly entered the Earp-Haught house with an excited Alice in tow, they had come to help make the gingerbread men with Waverly. So, when Wynonna could not find Waverly in the kitchen or the living room, she was about to head into the main bedroom, when she heard a moan and groan come from the bedroom. Wynonna realised that this could only mean one thing, that Waverly and Nicole were making love. Normally she would just walk right in and interrupt, but as she had Alice with her, she did not want to expose her daughter to that sight and then must explain.

“Alice, baby, I think your Aunties are having a nap. Why don’t we go and see if Nicolas and Alberto are awake?” Wynonna said as she took Alice’s hand and led her towards the nursery.

“But I want to make Ginger men, with Auntie Wave.” Alice replied.

“We can’t right now, and it looks as though your cousins are sleeping too. Why don’t we have a nap on your bed in the spare room? Then you’ll be all rested to help your Auntie Waves with the cooking.” Wynonna says as she lifts Alice onto her bed and climbs in with her.

“Alright, but we make Ginger men, when we wake. Promise?” Alice says as she tucks her head into her Mum’s neck and snuggles up close. Wynonna pulls her daughter in tight and says, “Yes, Pumpkin. I promise.” Wynonna thinks about how lucky she is to have this time with her daughter.

After having a quick shower, Nicole redressed into her Elf costume and gave Waverly one last kiss to the lips before leaving for her shift. As Nicole was heading towards the front door, she almost bumped into Wynonna as she walked around the corner.

“Hey, Haughty Naughty Elf, are they your ears or are you just happy to see me?” Wynonna says with a smirk on her face.

“Just don’t, Wynonna, just don’t.” Nicole replied as she opened the front door and walked out towards her truck.

“Wynonna, when did you get here?” Waverly asked as she walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. Waverly picked up two cups and poured coffee into both cups, before handing one over to Wynonna.

“Oh, Alice and I arrived, when you and Haught pants were bumping your bits together. Don’t worry I stopped Alice from seeing anything. She is still sleeping, but you had better make sure that you have plenty of energy to make Gingerbread men.” Wynonna says as she raises her eyebrows at Waverly.

Waverly and Alice spend the afternoon making Gingerbread men, or as Alice calls them, ‘Aunty Nicole’s.” While Wynonna took care of the boys, which meant that she was on nappy duty. Once all the baking had been done for the day and Alice had eaten a couple of the Gingerbread men, Waverly started to get Nicolas and Alberto dressed with some help from Alice, so that they all could go and see Santa and his Elf in the Central park near the Police station. Waverly had secretly purchased several little Christmas outfits for her pups, and today she had decided on dressing them up as little mini Elves. She had bought two little Santa outfits, which she wanted them to wear tomorrow, when they opened their presents with her and Nicole in the morning.

Nicole was happily standing next to Santa ‘Nedley’ Claus, when she sensed her true mate was close by with their pups. She kept and eye out for Waverly within the crowd of people lining up to have their photos taken with Santa. But before she could see Waverly, she heard the squeals of her pups, as they caught sight of their Mummy all dressed up as an Elf. As soon as Waverly and their boys were only about two spots away from Nicole, both Nicolas and Alberto reached out their arms and cried out, “Mummy, up.”

Nicole couldn’t resist the urge to go and give Waverly a smouldering kiss, as Nicole found that her wife looked adorable and it caused her heart to race at the thought of their love making that afternoon. Then Nicole knelt in front of her pups and unbuckled them from their stroller. Nicole stood with a pup on each of her hips, Waverly stood next to Nicole and they were next in line to have their photo’s taken with Santa. Nicolas took one look at Santa and begun to scream and tried to climb over Nicole’s shoulder and over towards Waverly.

“Shh, it’s alright Nicolas. Mummy and Ma will stay with you.” Waverly coos as she takes Nicolas into her arms. Nicolas buries his head into her chest and as soon as he breathes in her scent, he starts to calm down, but refuses to look at Santa.

Alberto on the other hand, finds Santa’s beard ticklish and begins to giggle as he touches Nedley’s Santa’s beard. Once Nicolas has settled down and looks at the camera, Nicole and Waverly have their family photo taken, with each of them taking a seat on each of Nedley’s knees. Nicole breathed a sigh of relief because Nicolas was facing the camera and not crying but he made sure that he kept a firm grip on Waverly’s coat.

Nedley told Nicole to take her meal break and so the young family wondered around the little Santa Village, taking in the different vendors and all their wares. Waverly walked with her arm wrapped around Nicole’s waist, while the Sheriff’s Deputy pushed the twin’s stroller. Alice, Wynonna and Doc quickly joined them when the little family stopped to grab a bite to eat, before Nicole had to return to her duty as Santa’s Elf.

Nedley was busy talking to a group of teenagers, when one of them became distracted and wandered off calling out, “Santa? Santa, wait!” The teenager’s friends stood by and watched as he walked off, looking dazed and lost.

“Ok, son, joke’s over.” Nedley says as he pulls his Santa hat off his head and looks at the teenager’s friend.

“Wait. Tim?” The group of teenagers call out to their friend. Meanwhile Tim calls out as he runs off into the surrounding Christmas trees, “Santa wait! Santa! Santa!”

Tim’s friends continue to call out while they look for him. Nedley starts to become worried and concerned for the young man’s wellbeing, so he too begins to search for the lad.

Nedley stays seated looking around to see as to where the teenagers have now run off to. Meanwhile Tim runs deeper into the surrounding Christmas trees becoming lost until he stumbles upon a tall skinny man dressed in an old Western Sheriff’s outfit under a red coat.

Nedley stumbles upon the friend of Tim when they both hear, Tim’s voice screaming out “Help! Help me!” This triggers something to snap inside of Nedley, as he becomes unsure as to what to do and just stand there.

Nicole was eating her dinner when she received a call on her phone, to come back and take over from Nedley. “I’m sorry Waves, I have to go back early. A child has gone missing and Nedley is not taking it well. I’ll meet you back at home. Wynonna can you come with me; I could use an extra set of eyes to search for this teenager?” Nicole places a kiss to Waverly, Nicolas and Alberto’s cheeks before leaving the dinner with Wynonna.

Nicole and Wynonna arrive at the Santa Village and find that it seems as if all the people in Purgatory have suddenly decided to come and find out what has happened. Nicole goes into group control by telling the crowd, “Guys, I completely understand your concern. Really, I promise we are doing the best that we can. I’ll be right with you. Just one sec.” Nicole notices that Wynonna is heading towards Nedley, who is sitting stunned in his Santa chair, still wearing his suit, so Nicole walks over to join them.

“What, no marshmallows? Not like there’s a kid missing. Huh.” Wynonna rest her elbow on the top of the chair and waits for Nedley to reply, but when one doesn’t come, she become worried as she has never seen Nedley like this. “Alright. Hang in there.” Wynonna says as she looks at Nicole with a worried look on her face. Nicole grabs hold of Wynonna’s elbow and drags her away from Nedley, so that they can talk without causing the Sheriff anymore grief.

“From what I have been told, a teenager went missing and He’s taking it hard, because he was there when it happened. No one saw the boy Tim leave, but his friends and others heard him screaming out for help.” Nicole says as she and Wynonna head over towards Tim was last seen.

“I think it might be best to call in Dolls and Doc. They can help with tracking where this Tim is and then we can bring him home for Christmas.” Wynonna pulls out her phone and calls Dolls and Doc. Doc leaves Alice in the capable hands of Waverly, who realises that it would be the best thing to do is head back home with all the children, so that they can all stay warm.

Nicole was able to secure the area in which Tim had gone missing, so that Dolls and Doc can search for evidence as to where to start their pursuit in rescuing Tim. Dolls found a piece of paper, which had been overlooked by the Police. This piece of paper had a message written on it, ‘I want the Survivor.’ Dolls curiosity was woken, and he showed it to Nicole, as they were working on why she was saved from being one of the people who lost their lives in the massacre of the Ghost River Triangle. Nicole became quite concerned because a young man had been taken captive because of her.

Nicole decided that she would join Dolls and Doc with locating this young man, and so she gave Waverly a call to explain that she was not coming home, until she had returned Tim to his family. Waverly knew that Nicole would not let this go, so she told Nicole that she loved her and to come home safe and sound.

Dolls sent some photos through to Jeremy to run through the computer and it turned out that in one of the photos, was a flower which didn’t grow so far north as they were in Purgatory. Nicole was getting more concerned that she was the cause of all this and that in some way she was cursed. With everything that had happened since she had arrived in Purgatory, the kidnapping of her pups and Waverly.

Jeremy was able to ascertain that the flower petal in the photo doesn’t naturally grow anywhere in the Ghost River Triangle, but they are one of the many fragrant flowers that are often planted near factories that produce noxious odours. This made Wynonna think about a local abattoir which was located just off a rural road. Doc suggested that they check it out and see if this was were the young man, was being held captive.

Meanwhile in an abandoned building, Tim was strapped to a chair and was being beaten by four men, dressed in what looked like Beekeeper outfits. With each blow, Tim screamed out in pain, while the man whom he had met in the Santa Village Forrest stood close by. Once the beating had stopped, this man approached Tim with a smirk on his face and begun to say, “Tiny Tim, finally I have the Great-great-great Grandson of the man who helped to betray my Great-great-great Grandfather and let him be killed by Wyatt Earp. You disgust me and now your going to experience more pain than you’ve ever experienced before in your life…. Oh, I had better introduce myself, I am Sheriff Clootie or you can call me Bulshar.” Bulshar said while standing so close to Tim, that Tim thought that Bulshar’s nose touched his.

“I think it’s about time, you learnt what these men can do, to a fine young boy like you. Proceed with his treatment.” Bulshar says with a smile on his face.

All Tim could do was look up at Bulshar, through the only eye that he could open. The man that called himself Bulshar, slipped out of Tim’s vision and into the shadows, leaving Tim all alone with his tormentors. Tim was filled with fear and wished that someone would come and rescue him from being beaten to death, as the Beekeeper men continued with their beating of him. It didn’t take that many more beating before Tim blacked out.

That was when Wynonna used a portable metal cutter to cut a hole into the metal roof of the abattoir and then dropped a rope through the opening in the roof. Doc and Dolls checked to make sure that this was the right location and saw Tim strapped to a chair. Turning to Nicole, Doc said, “It looks as if they have been beating him, I’m not sure, but he is slumped in the chair. You had better call for an Ambulance, Deputy Haught.”

The Beekeepers didn’t see or hear Doc and Dolls climb down the rope, but they clearly felt the bullets that hit them. Once that Doc and Dolls had made sure that the rest of the abattoir was clear of any other dangers, that was when Wynonna and Nicole joined them to check on Tim’s condition. Doc made sure that Tim was kept comfortable, while they waited for the Ambulance to arrive. The paramedics were able to stablise Tim and took him to the Hospital, with Nicole by his side the entire time. She wanted to be able to make sure that Tim arrived safely and then be able to give Nedley an update on his condition. While Doc, Wynonna and Dolls made sure that the bodies of the dead Beekeepers where collected and taken back to the Black Badge Office, where Jeremy could carry out tests on their bodies.

Nicole left the Hospital around 4am and before heading home to celebrate Christmas morning with Waverly, Nicolas and Alberto, Nicole wanted to check in on Nedley. She went around to Nedley’s house but found it all in darkness and his car was not in the driveway. So, she headed to the Station, where she found Nedley, still dressed in the Santa outfit, sitting behind his desk in his office. But Nedley did not look like his usual chirpy self, he was distant and didn’t notice Nicole when she walked in and sat down in front of him.

Nicole became very concerned about Nedley as she had never seen him like this. Nedley looked up and started to say in a shaky voice and with tears in his eyes, “I was right there, and I couldn’t save him. I froze. I never freeze.”

“You’ve been cooped up in here all day. The kid was not the only one missing. We really needed you out there.” Nicole said trying to get through to Nedley, trying to have him realise that his presence within the search was just as important as rescuing Tim.

“Why? There’s nothing we can do. We got no money, we got no clue…” Nedley says as he wrings his hands together.

“We got help. People don’t just disappear, even here. We should of have had a whole team combing those woods.” Nicole says in a frustrated voice, frustrated because she was tired, that she was stuck doing the job of the Sheriff, while he sat in his office and because she was away from her own family.

“What’s the point? To bring them home? To Purgatory? Where bad things just happen?” Nedley says as he stares straight at Nicole.

Just then it hits Nicole that Nedley is no longer the man that she had met when she arrived in Purgatory. He was beaten down and lost of all joy for the job, that he had held for all these years.

“But this, something changed in that tree lot and I can’t snap out of it.” Nedley says.

“You have to. You’re the Sheriff.” Nicole says with a hint of a plea in her voice.

“So, you were a good Elf today and I was a bad Santa, not the ‘funny’ kind that swears all the time. I was bad at my job.” Nedley says as he stands up from his chair.

“Hey, no, it happens to all of us…” Nicole says before Nedley interrupts her.

“Not to me. And it’s not gonna happen again.” Nedley picks up his Santa hat from his desk and tosses it to Nicole.

“Do I get to be Santa next year?” Nicole asks with a cheerful tone in her voice.

“No. No. Nicole. I’m retiring.” Nedley says as he walks to face Nicole.

“You want me to be Sheriff?” Nicole asks.

“Yes.” Nedley says.

Waverly had a restless night, as Alberto was unsettled and would not sleep in his cot, so when Waverly placed him in bed with her, Alberto crawled over towards Nicole’s pillow. He buried his face into the pillow and breathed in Nicole’s scent, and that was when Waverly knew that her son, was very much like her, he loved his Mummy. So, Waverly took Nicole’s sleep shirt and put it on Alberto’s teddy bear. When he smelt his Mummy’s scent, he hugged the teddy bear so tight that Waverly thought the bear was going have all the stuffing hugged out of it. That was when Alberto finally fell asleep, snuggled up against his Ma’s chest, until the morning.

Nicole came home and she was greeted with the sight of her boys crawling along the floor of the kitchen, in what seemed like a chase of their Ma, as she moved around the kitchen. Max was close behind as he was sure that some food, would drop from the counter and onto the floor for him to eat. All Nicole could do was smile as she thought to herself, ‘How lucky I am to have such a beautiful wife, two cute adorable boys and a dog that makes me laugh.’

Waverly notices Nicole standing staring at her, with the biggest grin on her face, so she makes her way over to Nicole and kisses her till they both are breathless. Nicole pulls back and looks at Waverly, while her hands find their home on her wife’s hips and holds her close to her body. “Merry Christmas, Mrs Waverly Earp-Haught, the soon-to-be-Sheriff’s wife.” Nicole says.

“Wait, did you just say, Soon-to-be-Sheriff’s wife?” Waverly asks.

“Yep, Nedley’s going to retire and he wants me to be the next Sheriff.” Nicole says.