Chapter Text
Waverly sat in the passenger seat of Wynonna’s truck, staring out the windshield. It was cold and snowy, a stark contrast to the city in which Waverly had been in the night before – Casablanca.
“So, are you going to tell me why you’re back, or what?” Wynonna cut through the silence.
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“How long do you plan on staying?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you plan on leaving again?”
Waverly could feel Wynonna looking at her, looking into her, trying to figure out what the hell Waverly went through in the last two years and what brought her back that day.
“Maybe.”
“I’m sorry,” Wynonna said, a tinge of desperation in her voice. She didn’t want Waverly to leave again. “Waves, for what happened….”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Waverly, finally looking at Wynonna, if only for a moment. “I just couldn’t stay after that.”
Wynonna nodded. She remembered the night Waverly left. She remembered doing the exorcism, getting the snake goo demon out of her. She kept Waverly at the homestead, but after the exorcism she and Nicole took turns staying by Waverly’s side, only switching off to sleep or work.
Then one night there was a police call that both Wynonna and Nicole had to answer. Waverly had been better for a few days, but she still wasn’t really speaking. She’d nod or shake her head when asked questions, she’d watch television or read books, she’d listen attentively when spoken to. In those few days, she must’ve said less than a dozen words, but she seemed like she was getting better.
Then Wynonna and Nicole went out on that call, both having asked Waverly several times if she was okay to be on her own for a few hours. Waverly nodded and actually told them to go, that she’d be alright, and it was the most they had heard her speak in days. They took it as a good sign.
Then, they got back after the call and Waverly was gone, along with one of Wynonna’s suitcases and a bunch of clothes and cash.
“And I’ll pay you back,” Waverly said. “I’m sorry I took your money.”
“It’s cool, I sold your car,” Wynonna said.
Waverly looked back at her, shocked.
“I’m kidding,” Wynonna said. “It’s where you left it, at the homestead.”
Waverly sat back, still tense but a little less so. “Thanks for coming to get me.”
“Of course, baby girl.”
-WE-
It was late when Wynonna picked her up, so they basically went to sleep as soon as they got back to the homestead. The next morning when Waverly woke up, Wynonna was gone. It was late morning, so she guessed Wynonna was at work.
In typical Wynonna fashion, there was no food in the house. For a brief instant, Waverly wondered if Wynonna had hidden or moved the food, so that Waverly would have to leave the homestead.
She found the keys to her Jeep exactly where she left them, on the hook in the hallway. She took them and headed out.
She only made it so far, though, until her car sputtered to a stop.
“Great,” she muttered, looking at the dashboard to see what the problem was. She knew the car probably hadn’t been driven in two years, but she also saw a gas gauge pointing at “E”. She had run out of gas on an isolated country road, in the middle of winter.
In her haste to leave the homestead (the sooner she left, the sooner she could return, plus she was starving) and her habit formed over the past couple of years, she didn’t bring a coat. So, walking to a gas station was out of the question.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it – it was dead. She remembered the night before that her charge wasn’t built for Canadian outlets, so she was out of luck. She was going to try to buy an adapter, too, in addition to the food she sought.
So, she couldn’t really do anything but wait.
It took about an hour, but then she saw someone’s headlights in the distance.
Waverly stepped out of the car and waved them down. To her relief, they stopped.
“Hey,” she said, when they pulled up next to her and lowered their window. “My car ran out of gas. Do you think you could take me to the nearest gas station and bring me back? I can pay you.”
The person inside the car shook their head. They looked vaguely familiar, but Waverly had been blocking everyone and everything associated with Purgatory out of her head for the past two years. So, she didn’t try to figure out who this person was.
But, they were looking at her like they knew who she was. It was the same way people looked at Wynonna when she first came back, after Curtis died.
“I’m sorry, we’re in a rush,” the person said. “We have a phone, though. Have you called for help?”
Waverly shook her head. “No, my phone died. Can I borrow yours?”
“We really need to get going, but we can call the police for you,” the person said. “They can help you out.”
Waverly frowned. “No, it’s okay-.”
But by then the person had already driven off.
“Good luck!” they called out the window.
“Great,” Waverly muttered to herself, kicking a snowbank before getting back into her car.
-WE-
Maybe it won’t be her, she thought as she waited in her car. Who knows, maybe she left after I did. Maybe she went somewhere else, somewhere people were honest with her and good and-.
She cut herself off in her mind. That was not a path she wanted to go on.
“No,” she said aloud. “It won’t be her. There are, like, a dozen deputies in this town. Of course it won’t be her. What are the odds?”
She saw the flashing lights in her rearview mirror and felt her heart start to pound. She saw the officer get out of the car and knew immediately who it was.
“Oh, shit,” she muttered. She put her window down.
“Hey there,” the officer said as they approached the window. “I hear you’re having a little trouble?”
Waverly turned toward the window and saw Nicole. “You could say that.”
Seeing Nicole for the first time in two years was like seeing her in person for the first time – it was like seeing the sun for the first time. She looked like a regular no-nonsense cop, but Waverly knew her well enough to see the fatigue bagging under her eyes, the almost-entirely covered plethora of emotions in her deep brown eyes. Waverly could only manage a few moments of looking Nicole in the eye, though. Still, even after she spent the past two years travelling the world, the sight of Nicole was one of her favorites.
Nicole paused for just a moment. “Waverly Earp. I don’t suppose you have a current, valid license and registration, do you?”
“Uhm,” Waverly said, digging through her glove compartment for the registration, which she found. It had one more month of validity. She handed it to Nicole, who looked right at it and not at Waverly. Waverly dug in her wallet for her license, and saw that it was expired. Still, she handed it to Nicole.
“Driving with an expired license?” Nicole asked, examining the laminated card. “That’s quite a ticket you’ll get for that.”
“I was away for a while,” Waverly protested slightly. “I was going to renew it.”
“Then you should’ve gotten a ride,” Nicole said. “Or not gone away for so long.”
Waverly physically recoiled a bit at that. She didn’t know what to say, so Nicole spoke, quickly filling in the dead air like she would on any call.
“You ran out of gas?” Nicole asked.
“Yeah,” Waverly said. “Look, if you can let me use your phone, I can call Wynonna and have her get me.”
“Wynonna knows you’re back?” Nicole asked, to which Waverly nodded. “No, I’ll take you. I can’t leave you out here without a working car and without a phone.”
“Thank you.”
“You know, every time I got a call about a red Jeep, I thought it might be you,” Nicole said. “I hoped it might be you.”
“Nicole, I’m so sor-.”
“Come on out of the car, ma’am.”
Nicole stepped back, back in officer mode, so that Waverly could open the door and get out of the car.
“I’ll give you a ride to the gas station.”
“Thank you,” Waverly said, meaning it, as she followed Nicole back to her car.
There was no one else in Nicole’s car; it wasn’t uncommon in Purgatory to go on traffic stops alone and without a partner.
So, Waverly went to open the passenger side door, and Nicole cleared her throat. Waverly looked up at Nicole.
“You can sit in the back,” Nicole said.
“Really?”
Nicole nodded, slightest bit of a satisfied smirk on her face, as she got back into the car.
Waverly got into the backseat and Nicole drove off.
WE
The ride to the gas station was silent, with brief interludes of Nicole’s radio going off. At the start of the ride, she had updated dispatch that she was aiding the stranded motorist, but other than that there was little correspondence.
They made it to the gas station and they both got out of the car. Waverly bought a canister and enough gas to fill it up and set out doing so, while Nicole chatted in a friendly manner with the clerk.
It was strange for Waverly to see Nicole be so at home. The last time she saw her, she was still getting used to this weird little town. Now, she fit right in. She looked comfortable, like she was the kind of person who had friendly conversations and jokes with everyone in town
Waverly spoke to no one, aside from the bare minimum polite conversation needed with the clerk. She felt uncomfortable and knew that she looked it. She knew the clerk recognized her but she could tell from what little she heard and saw of the conversation he had with Nicole that Nicole was not going to let him gossip about her.
If Nicole was uncomfortable at all with Waverly being back and in her presence, she didn’t let it show.
When Waverly was done, Nicole looked at her with a short, direct “You ready?” Waverly nodded and set back into Nicole’s car.
She put the gas can in the trunk then went to open the side backseat door.
“Waverly, you can sit in the front,” Nicole said, lightness in her tone.
Waverly looked at her for moment and decided that she didn’t want to fight Nicole on it. Worse, she didn’t want to turn down the offer and have Nicole just accept it.
So, she sat in the front seat, ignoring whatever little pang in her chest that she felt when she was sat next to Nicole.
Nicole pulled out of the gas station and headed back to Waverly’s car.
After a while, Nicole spoke.
“You need to renew that license, okay?” Nicole said. “I don’t want to have to write you another ticket.”
Waverly nodded. “I will tomorrow. And I’ll have Wynonna drive me.”
Nicole nodded, satisfied or at least appeased.
-WE-
“Alright, you’re all set?” Nicole asked, watching Waverly take the spout of the gas can out of her car and close up the car’s gas cap, and the gas can.
“Looks like.”
Nicole nodded. “Why don’t you start it up, just to be sure.”
Waverly nodded. She put the gas can in her trunk then got in the driver’s seat. She started the car up and looked over at Nicole after a few moments of the engine engaging and working.
“All set,” Waverly said.
Nicole nodded again. “Good.” She took a step back, like she was about to leave. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
Instead of leaving, Nicole just looked at Waverly, and Waverly, emboldened, didn’t break her gaze. It was apparent that Nicole should have left, but she didn’t. She stood right there, just outside Waverly’s door.
“Why are you back in town?” Nicole asked, taking a step forward. Waverly reflexively leaned back from that., and they both noticed
She shrugged, shaking her head. “I ran out of money.”
Nicole let out a little laugh. Waverly knew it was a bit bitter and a bit in disbelief and not at all at anything actually funny but goddamn was it a good sound to here.
“You ran out of money?” Nicole asked. They both knew what was so unbelievable about that – for starters, Waverly was always incredibly responsible about her finances. Second, between the money Gus had given her from the sale of Shorty’s, the money she emptied from her own accounts, and the money she took from Wynonna, she never needed to come back. She had enough money and knowledge to be able to start a new life somewhere else.
Still, Waverly nodded. “Yeah,” she said, voice lacking conviction. She wouldn’t look Nicole in the eye after that.
“So, what?” Nicole asked. “You’re going to make some money here then set out again?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, if you figure it out, maybe let someone know,” Nicole said. “Or just up and leave again. I don’t care.”
“Nicole-.” There was pain in Waverly’s voice, and sadness. She wasn’t expecting to hear that from Nicole at all. She knew seeing Nicole again would be painful but this was more intense that she was prepared for (which, admittedly, was not very much).
Nicole cut her off. “I’m on duty. I have to go.”
She walked off and Waverly watched her in her side mirror for a long time, first as she got in her car and then as she drove off.
-WE-
Nicole burst through the BBD door.
“Waverly’s back?” she asked, to Wynonna in particular but Dolls was at the table as well, so he looked up at her, too.
He looked surprised. He didn’t know, either. It only comforted Nicole a little bit.
“You saw her?” Wynonna asked.
“She ran out of gas, she was stranded on the side of the road without a coat or a phone for who knows how long.”
“So what did you do?”
“I took her to get gas,” Nicole answered.
“Sounds awkward.”
“It was. How long has she been back?”
“She got back last night,” Wynonna said. “That’s all you have to say about it? That it was awkward?”
“Well, we didn’t really talk much,” she snapped. She slowed a bit. “And when we did, I was pretty mean.”
“Maybe she had that coming,” Dolls said. Both Wynonna and Nicole turned to look at him, expressions laden with various levels of disbelief and bother. “I’m not saying be mean to Waverly, but it must be hard not to. She left you two.”
Wynonna exchanged a look with Nicole, then looked back at Dolls.
“No more talking,” she said, pointing at Dolls. She looked back at Nicole. “What did you say to her?”
“Basically that I don’t care if she stays or leaves again,” Nicole said, wincing a bit at her words.
“Damn,” Dolls said, before he could help it. Wynonna looked at him and he put his hands up, zipping his lips.
“Damn,” Wynonna repeated. “That’s a lot. Do you mean that?”
“I don’t know,” Nicole said. “I really didn’t wake up today thinking that I’d see her again, so a little warning would’ve been nice.”
“I didn’t think you’d see her today, either,” Wynonna said. “Still, the next time she leaves and shows up again unexpectedly, I will give you a prompt heads-up.”
“Thanks.” Nicole sighed. “Do you know why she’s back? Has she told you?”
Wynonna shook her head. “Nope. You?”
“She said she ran out of money.”
“That sounds like bullshit.”
Nicole nodded. “It does.”
There was a bit of silence, then Nicole spoke again.
“Do you think she’s going to stay?”
Wynonna shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Do you want her to?”
“Yes,” Wynonna said, in a sure voice but after the slightest hesitation.
“I have to get back to work,” Nicole said, turning to leave the room. “I’ll check in on my BBD cases when I get off, okay?”
Dolls nodded and saw her off.
When Nicole was out of the office, Wynonna turned to Dolls.
“What the hell was that?”
“What?”
“’Maybe she had it coming’” Wynonna quoted, doing her best Dolls impression. “What the hell was that?”
“An honest observation,” Dolls said. “She left. Of course it’s going to be hard to see her.”
“Well, yeah, of course it’ll be hard for Nicole to see her again-.”
“I didn’t just mean Nicole,” Dolls said. “I know things are complicated but if you want an explanation from her, you deserve one, too.”
Wynonna looked unsure. She didn’t like thinking about Waverly like this, like someone who wronged her.
-WE-
Wynonna got home that night to a complete dinner on the table, and a kitchen full of groceries. She put her things away then met Waverly at the table.
“How’d you manage to get all of this out of the store without paying?” Wynonna asked.
Waverly looked up at her. “What? Of course I paid.”
“Oh, I wasn’t sure,” Wynonna said. “I heard a rumor that you were back because you ran out of money.”
Waverly frowned. “You saw Nicole.”
“We work together, of course I saw her,” Wynonna said. “Why’d you lie to her?”
Waverly shrugged, not looking at Wynonna. “It wasn’t a lie. Not exactly. I got a job today.”
“You came all the way back here for a job?” Wynonna asked. “I hate to break it to you, but you probably could’ve gotten one of those anywhere.”
Waverly didn’t speak, she just looked intently at her plate.
“Shit, you came back for her.”
Waverly’s jaw clenched. “I…Wynonna, don’t.”
“You did, you came for her.”
Waverly looked up at that. “Does it matter why I came back?”
“Only if it’s something that’ll make you leave again.”
Waverly studied Wynonna’s face. Waverly hadn’t given Wynonna’s reaction to her return too much thought, but she certainly didn’t expect this amount of (what Waverly perceived as) hostility.
“I don’t think it is.”
“Great,” Wynonna said. She picked up her plate and stood. “I’ve got some research I need to do, I’m going to eat in the other room where I can work.”
She left before Waverly could say anything.