82. Chapter 82

A piercing scream woke Nicole from her heavy sleep, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she struggled to open her eyes. Turning onto her side and glancing over at Waverly, even though it was dark, Nicole could tell by the way the brunette was breathing deeply, she knew Waverly was sound asleep. Sensing that the painful cry was not going to go away, Nicole pulled back the covers, climbed out of their bed, and walked over to the dresser, quickly dressed in a pair of boy shorts and tank top before heading out towards the source of the crying.

Upon reaching the nursery, Nicole was awake just slightly enough for her to realize that Olivia was sitting up and crying in her cot. Just as a yawn escapes her lips, Nicole lowers her arms into the cot, to lift the little girl with the outstretched arms and tear-stained face into her arms. Whispering comforting words while Nicole pressed her grizzling daughter against her chest while bouncing the pup in her arms, swaying as she walked out of the room and towards the kitchen. Olivia wiggled until she was able to snuggle her forehead into the crook of her mummy’s neck, while Nicole heated up the pup’s bottle. Once the bottle was ready, Nicole looked down at Olivia, smiling as she presented the now warm milk to her hungry daughter, “Well, that was all you really wanted, wasn’t it, my little mini-Waverly?” Olivia’s little hands wrapped around the bottle as she drank, still staring up at her Mummy.

While making the short journey towards the couch, Nicole sat down and quickly got lost in taking in her daughter, whom she swore was becoming more and more like Waverly every day. The little pup had her Ma’s brunette hair right down to the same wave, and with her matching mixed eyes (green, blue, and brown) that sometimes seem to change color. Being so lost in her thoughts, Nicole didn’t realize that Olivia had finished her bottle. It was only when the little pup let out the loudest burp, was when Nicole’s attention was brought back to her daughter. “That was bigger than your Auntie Wynonna.”

With Olivia now resting her head on her Mummy’s shoulder, Nicole moved them back into the kitchen, where she got ready another two bottles, as she knew that it wouldn’t be too long before Charlotte and Lucas would be waking up and wanting their nightly bottles. The little whimpers that came from next to her ear, told Nicole that her daughter was close to falling back to sleep. Tiptoeing along the hallway to the nursery, Nicole was able to enter the room and place her sleeping back into her cot, and then left before the other two woke and demanded their bottles.

With the only light illuminating the hallway was the glow of a Himalayan Salt Lamp in the living room, Nicole didn’t see the forgotten couple of pieces of Lego, laying on the floor. Just as Nicole was about to maneuver her way back to her bed, her left foot stepped onto the pieces of Lego, causing her a sharp pain to pierce through the base of her foot, which ran up her leg. As she raised her foot and grabbed it with her hand, Nicole then hopped on her other foot and didn’t see the base of the couch, as she stubbed her toe on her right foot against the base of the couch. Nicole dropped her left foot from her hand, grabbed her right foot, and hopped on her painful left foot, she stumbled into her bedroom and tumbled towards the blue couch, and collapsed, while clasping a hand over her mouth to stop the scream of pain from escaping and waking up Waverly.

Hearing a commotion in the bedroom, Waverly stirred and reached out for Nicole, only to find the other side of the bed empty. Propping herself on her elbows, Waverly turns towards the noise and takes in the side of Nicole, sitting on the couch in their bedroom with one hand clasped over her mouth, while the other was gripping her right foot. Sensing that her mate was in some sort of pain, Waverly rushed out of the bed and over to Nicole, whose foot she took in her hands. “Oh Sweetie, what happened?”

With tears in her eyes, Nicole whimpered, “I just placed Olivia back in her cot, after feeding her, when I didn’t see the Lego pieces on the floor. I stepped on them with my left foot and then as I was hopping on my right leg, I didn’t see the base of the couch. I stubbed my toe. I then stumbled in here, I didn’t want to wake you, so to try from screaming, I covered my mouth. It hurts so much.” Nicole pouts, as a naked Waverly begins to rub Nicole’s toe.

“Oh, my best baby, here let me take care of you.” Waverly kneels down on the floor, before lifting up Nicole’s left foot to rub.

Nicole rests her head against the back of the couch, while Waverly attends to both of Nicole’s feet until the brunette stands and straddles Nicole’s lap. With a wicked smile on her face, Waverly leans in closer to Nicole, until their lips were ghosting each other. Nicole tries to catch her wife’s lips, but just as she was about to claim her prize, the brunette moved out of her reach. Nicole then begins to feel Waverly’s hips grind against her groin, causing her flaccid cock to waken, but before it could get any more intimate, Nicole pulls her back and tries to put some distance between their lips.

“Baby, not that I’m not interested, but we need to talk about what happened earlier this evening. When I walked through the door, I could tell that you were angry and sad. And then when you handed me, Olivia, you turned around so that I couldn’t see you cry. Baby, I know when you're happy, sad, angry, and especially when you’ve been crying.” Nicole reaches down and takes Waverly’s hands and intertwines their fingers.

“If it’s me working late which is causing you to be upset, I’ll change that. I’ll make sure to be home on time from now on.” Nicole looks directly into Waverly’s now teary eyes. Raising one of her hands, the redhead cupped Waverly’s face, Nicole runs her thumbs along Waverly’s cheeks and wipes away the tears, which had escaped from Waverly’s teary eyes.

Gazing away from Nicole’s gaze, Waverly looks in the direction of their bedroom door, until she feels a finger guide her face, till she was looking into Nicole’s eyes. With a lump in her throat, Waverly drops her gaze towards her fidgeting hands which were now laying in Nicole’s lap. “I’m not angry with you for being late. (sniffs) … it’s just that (sniffs) … that sometimes I feel like I’ve basically become nothing but a full-time nanny, all on my own.” Waverly said with a sigh.

“Waves, … do you regret having …. all our pups? Do you feel trapped? …. Do you regret being married?” with a quiver in her voice, just as a look of anxiety washes over Nicole’s face.

As her head snapped her head up, Waverly grabs hold of Nicole’s face and stares directly into teary eyes. “Nicole, I have never regretted falling in love with you, or being mated to you, or being your wife. I will never regret having our pups, all ten plus the two that never took a breath. It’s just that I had so many plans for my life that I just can’t do because I’m always either cleaning the house or taking care of our pups.”

Pressing her head against Waverly’s forehead, Nicole took a deep breath in, “Baby, tell me what I can do, to make your plans become reality.” Nicole grabs hold of the blanket that covered the top of the couch and brought it around to wrap her wife’s naked body.

“Sweetie, thank you, you always know how to take care of me. (Waverly snuggled under the blanket, as she brought it tighter around her body). I’ve just had a couple of people come into the Wyatt Earp Museum, and asked if I could help them to research their family history, just like they do in that show, ‘Why do you think you are?”. I’ve had to turn them away because I just don’t have any free time to devote to the research. I mean between looking after our home and pups, and any free time is spent doing any research for BBD.” Waverly sighs as she rests her head along Nicole’s shoulder.

Wrapping her arms around Waverly and pulling her wife’s body against her chest, Nicole ran her hands up and down her wife’s back. “Baby, I just might have a solution for the cleaning of our house. The cleaner that works at the Station, has just expanded the cleaning business to include cleaning houses. She’s been looking for a couple of new houses to add to her list of clients, and her rates resemble. I was thinking about asking her for a quote on cleaning our house, we have the money. I just hadn’t gotten around to talking to you about it. We could see if she is willing to give us a quote on our house?”

“I just didn’t want you to think that I can’t cope. I should be able to handle the running of the house as well as looking after our pups.” Waverly’s voice quivered.

“Baby, I would never think that you couldn’t cope, I know you can cope, you’ve kept our house running so well. With so many pups to care for, I should have been more helpful, but from now on, I’ll make sure to be home on time. That way I can take care of our pups and dinner. With the extra help of hiring a cleaner, which we can afford by the way, with our salaries and the money coming in from the Museum, it’ll give you more time to devote to your research and you can help people find out more about their ancestry.” Nicole leans down and places a peck onto the tip of Waverly’s nose.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to regret us getting extra help, or to worry about finding the extra money to pay for the cleaner.” Waverly sits back to watch her wife’s face to gauge Nicole’s response.

“Waverly, I never want you to dim your ambitions. With you being happy and fulfilling your dreams, that’s all I want. I would never make you feel guilty for saying, that you need some help, then help is what you’re going to get. It is never weak to ask for help, it actually shows that you are strong, because you notice weakness and your willingness to do something to change it. I’m so proud of you for telling me and not keeping it to yourself. You are always amazing to me.” Nicole placed a kiss on her wife’s lips.

“I’m home tomorrow, so we will talk more about how to find you some more time to devote to research. But for now, I have something else to talk to you about, and it doesn’t involve talking.” Nicole leans in to begin to kiss Waverly, but before their lips connected, there came ear-piercing cries from the nursery.

“I believe the Romans call it ‘Wynonna interruptus.’ I swear our pups have been spending too much time with Wynonna and learning when to interrupt us when we want some ‘private time'. Come on, we’d better answer them, or they wake up the rest of the house, and then we’ll be pestered with demands for ‘hot chocolates and marshmallows.” Nicole smirks as Waverly climbs off her lap and makes her way towards the dresser and pulls out one of Nicole’s hoodies and sweat pants.

After making their way down the hallway towards the nursery, Nicole and Waverly found Charlotte and Lucas sitting in their cots crying, while Olivia slept in her cot. Nicole picked up Lucas and handed him over to Waverly, before reaching in and picking up Charlotte. With the little pup’s heads pressed against their parent’s chests, Nicole and Waverly made their way out to the living room to feed them.

Waverly woke the next morning and heard the tell-tale sounds that all of her pups were awake and up for the day. Knowing that Nicole had the day off, Waverly rolled over onto her back and looked up at the ceiling before she felt the foot of the bed dip in weight. Raising her head off her pillow, she saw that Calamity Jane had decided that the foot of the bed was the best place to hide from a busy kitchen, that was filled with seven pups running around and three crawling pups. “Hello Calamity, you decided to hide away in here, did you? Come on up here and I’ll protect you from the onslaught of little hands.”

The red fluffy cat pawed her way up the blankets towards an open-armed Waverly was waiting for her. Once Calamity had reached Waverly, the pussy brushed her head against the brunette’s face, before making herself comfortable on Waverly’s chest. As Waverly stroked Calamity’s fur, she heard purring, indicating that Calamity was very content, the cat had circled up against the blankets. Waverly felt the weight of the cat begin to double as Calamity fell asleep, but that didn’t last long, as the bedroom door flung open with a bang and the thumping of tiny feet running into the room, which woke Calamity, who made a sudden exit from the room.

Once all the older pups had been fed and dressed, Nicole whisked them away to School, before heading home, armed with much-needed food supplies to feed the multitude later in the day. While Nicole was gone, Waverly had changed the triplets and placed them down for their morning nap, before gathering her diary, computer, and workbook and setting herself up in the office. This was where Nicole found her wife, upon her return from her School and shopping run in town. With arms full of paper bags that were bulging with food items, Nicole gently placed the bags onto the kitchen counter, before she began to unpack them.

Waverly was so engrossed in her work that when Nicole placed a hand on the brunette’s shoulder, Waverly hadn’t realized that she had been working for over two hours. “It looks like you’ve been hard at it. I’ve just brewed some coffee and I got those vanilla-dipped vegan doughnuts; you love so much. I think it might be time for a break.” Nicole leans down and places a kiss on Waverly’s cheek.

Once Waverly had saved her work on her computer, she followed Nicole out into the living room, where the triplets were sitting on their mat, playing with their toys. Max was sitting close by, keeping watch over his charges. Calamity was circled up on the back of the couch, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the little humans on the floor. Charlotte’s fist was stuffed in her mouth, with saliva running down over the little fist. Waverly walked over to her daughter and leaned down, scooping her up in her arms. “Are you a little hungry? Are you wanting some of Ma’s Doughnut?”

Sitting on the couch with her daughter in her arms, Waverly watched her other pups play on the floor. Nicole had cut up one of the vanilla-dipped doughnuts, into three equal portions and placed them onto a plate. With the plate in hand, the redhead walked over to the couch and handed Charlotte her piece of a doughnut, before handing the other pieces to Lucas and Olivia, who were wide-eyed when they realized what was in their Mummy’s hand.

Nicole returned to the couch with coffee’s in hand and the rest of the box of doughnuts, tucked under her arm. Positioning herself next to Waverly on the couch, Nicole reached out and took one of the iced speckled doughnuts from the box. Leaning back against the couch, Nicole groaned as she took a bite of her treat, she had been cutting back on eating the wrong things since her last medical showed that her cholesterol was high. This was definitely breaking her diet, but she deserved this one treat, as long as she stopped at the one.

“Are you alright there? You sound like you're making love to that doughnut. Should I be worried?” Waverly chuckled as she took in the look on Nicole’s face, which was one of someone experiencing pleasure.

“Oh, you never have to worry my love. It’s just been so long since I’ve had a doughnut and it tastes heavenly.” Nicole smiles as she fights off little Charlotte trying to steal a bite from her Mummy’s unattended doughnut.

After finishing their morning break, Waverly and Nicole cleaned up their little pups, who had smeared mashed doughnuts all over their faces, and covered their fingers with sticky residue. Waverly returned to the office to finish off her work, while Nicole started on the preparations for their evening meal, a Cheesy Cashew Nut Roast with roast vegetables. Once Nicole had finished in the kitchen, she then moved to the laundry to gather the dry clothes and brought them into the living room, where her pups were sleeping on their little rug. Covering her children with a blanket to keep them warm as they slept, Nicole then returned to her chore of folding and sorting clothes, before placing the items away.

It didn’t take Waverly long before she had finished her work, as she found for the first time in a long while, that she had the drive and available time to focus on her task, much to her wife being there to see to their pups. Even though Nicole had told her that she didn’t think any less of her for not being able to complete all her home and motherly duties, along with her other tasks, Waverly was still unsure that Nicole was happy with taking on more responsibility for their pups.

As soon as Waverly had placed all her work away in its place in the filing cabinet for the museum’s documents, she wandered out into the living room to find Nicole reading one of the latest Police Journals, while her pups slept tucked under a blanket on the floor. Waverly sat on the couch next to Nicole, with her legs tucked under her bottom. Resting her head gently on Nicole’s shoulder, the brunette slipped her arm around the redhead’s bicep. “Hey, what are you reading?”

“Just some article on the latest interrogation procedures. Have you finished your work?” Nicole closes her journal and places it on the coffee table, before turning her attention to her wife. “Yes, thank you for looking after them for me. Just knowing that I could direct all my focus on the research, allowed me to get it done so fast.” The brunette looked into Nicole’s eyes.

“Nicole, are you really alright with us getting help around the house?” Waverly sat back and waited for Nicole’s response.

“Waverly, I am happy with whatever it means for your to achieve your dreams, and if that means we get help with around the house, then we do it. Also, I think I have a solution to watching the pups, especially when they come home from school and you have more research to do, or you want time to spend cooking. Nedley came in the other day and asked if we might be interested in having Rachel stay over some weekends. Nedley thinks that Rachel might need some female influence in her life, now that she has presented as an Omega, and there’s a young Alpha male sniffing around. I didn’t want to say yes, before talking with you.”

Waverly turned and brought her legs out from underneath her, and faced away from Nicole. Ever since the trial and Rachel had been assigned to work at the Station, Waverly had gotten to know more about the young woman, they had found that they both shared similar interests, such as reading numerous historical materials and researching. When Waverly had to bring her triplets into the BBD’s office, Rachel at first was anxious around the little pups, but after Waverly let her know that she didn’t hold any ill feelings toward the teen, Rachel was more relaxed around the pups. All of their pups had taken a liking to the teen, which was evident when Nicolas and Alberto couldn’t stop talking about the teen after she had shown them how to make an origami crane, one afternoon while they waited for Nicole to take them home after school.

“I know how it was for me when I presented and I didn’t have my mum to help me to understand. I had to go through my first heat, without knowing what to do or how long it was going to last. Wynonna had left by then and I had to rely on Aunt Gus, she was good, but I wished at that moment, that I still had my mum. I can only just imagine exactly what Rachel is going through, she must be missing her mum. Who’s the young Alpha? Do we know them? Nicole, we could do up the barn, so that Rachel could have a place of her own when she stays the weekend. All of our pups love her, I mean, it took a month before Nicolas and Alberto spoke about anything else. I think those two like the idea of having an older sibling to look up to. And I’m quite sure that all our pups will be protective of Rachel from any Alpha that comes sniffing around here.” Waverly chuckles at the thought of ten little pups chasing an Alpha off their property.

“You know him, it’s Billy Clanton, Holt and Cleo’s youngest brother, although he is nothing like his siblings. Billy is an A student, he wants to join the Police force, he’s been doing some voluntary work at the Station, and that’s how he and Rachel met. He’s really smitten with her and treats her like she’s a princess. I’ll ask Rachel if she would like to come and stay this weekend.” Nicole pressed her head against Waverly’s and wrapped her arm around the brunette’s waist.

The last twenty-four hours had been filled with tears, fears, and joy as Nicole and Waverly shared their most intimate feelings. Waverly knew at that moment on the couch that Nicole would never see her as weak, instead, the redhead saw an extraordinary woman, who could face and handle anything that the world could throw at her, as long as she had the Alpha beside her forever.