15. Nicole's Coming Out Story

Nicole pulled up to the homestead and parked the Jeep before looking over at Waverly.

“So, you wanna try our new toy?” the brunette asked seductively as she held up the bag.

“Erm, with Wynonna in the house?”

“Oh, right. Well, we could always go back to your place. I’m sure Calamity Jane won’t mind. She’s already heard it all anyways,” Waverly chuckled.

Nicole leaned in and gave Waverly a soft kiss before taking her hand and looking at her gingerly. “I was kind of hoping that I could take it home with me and get used to it first. You know, like…practice? I just want to make sure I know what I’m doing before using it on you.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course. We can wait.” Waverly gave her a reassuring smile as she lightly rubbed the back of Nicole’s hand with her thumb.

“Plus, you should stay here and take care of your sister. Help her feel better. We’re going out tomorrow night, and it’ll be much harder to insult her if she’s puking her guts out everywhere.”

Waverly bit her lip and shook her head. “You two are too much sometimes.”

“But you love us,” Nicole stated as she pouted and batted her eyelashes.

“I do.” The brunette leaned in and pressed her forehead against Nicole’s, brushing their noses together as she moved her head from side to side. “Alright, well I’ll let you get home then.”

“At least let me walk you to the front door first,” Nicole stated as she hopped out of the Jeep.

They walked up the porch stairs hand-in-hand before Waverly turned around to face Nicole. She traded her the shopping bag for the keys. “Thank you for another perfect date.”

“Thank you for being a perfect date.” Nicole took a step forward and gently cupped a hand around Waverly’s cheek as she leaned in to capture her lips in a delicate kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow baby.”

“See you tomorrow,” Waverly giggled before giving Nicole another kiss. She watched the redhead walk down the stairs. “Text me when you get home so that I know you made it okay!” She yelled as Nicole got into the squad car.

“I will, love. Good night.” The officer turned on the ignition and slowly made her way down the dirt driveway and past the makeshift ‘Earp’ entrance sign.

Waverly watched the taillights disappear into the distance and sighed before turning around to unlock the door.

“Wynonna? Are you down here?” She called as she softly shut the door behind her.

“I’m in here,” the older Earp replied weakly.

Waverly walked into the living room and found Wynonna curled up on the couch and wrapped tightly in a blanket. “Aww, how are you feeling?” She asked as she sat down next to her sister’s feet and gently rubbed her legs.

“Pregnant.”

“Still knocked up, huh?” Waverly joked.

“Yep.” Wynonna sighed. “So, how was your date with Haughttie Haught…ness.”

“Wow, you’re off your game tonight. You must really be feeling like poop.”

The older Earp groaned in response; partially because she really was feeling terrible, but mostly because Waverly was too much of a goody-two-shoes to actually say the word ‘shit’.

“But to answer your question, it was amazing, as always,” Waverly replied enthusiastically. “She took me to an arcade. One like Daddy used to take us to when we were little.” She decided to skip the part about the sex shop, since she knew Wynonna would never let her hear the end of it.

“Yeah? Was it the same one?”

“No, I don’t think so. It was about 20 minutes away.”

“Ah, yeah the one we went to was a little closer.”

Waverly nodded. “Oh, and some douchebag made a big deal about us holding hands.”

The older Earp creased her eyebrows in anger. “Did you deck him?”

“No. But I grabbed Nicole and made out with her in response.”

“Nice!”

“Nicole didn’t think so. She said it was inappropriate.”

“Boo.” Wynonna furrowed her brow in disappointment.

“Well, she kind of had a point.”

“Still. I would’ve kicked him right in the nads.”

“Oh, believe me. I wanted to.” She sighed. “Why do people make such a big deal about it?”

“I guess because it’s different. It’s just not something people are used to seeing.”

“It’s 2017 though. I mean, surely it’s not that bizarre seeing two women together.”

“I guess to some people it’ll always be weird,” Wynonna stated sympathetically.

Waverly nodded down at her lap before looking up at her sister. “Do you think it’s weird?”

Wynonna sat up and smiled as she took her sister’s hand. “Baby Girl, I think you’ve stumbled upon a love that most people never get to experience in their lifetime. That’s not weird, that’s lucky.” Waverly grinned at the words. “And you don’t have to worry about getting knocked up. That’s lucky too.”

“Oh, that reminds me, I made an appointment for your first prenatal visit for this Saturday.”

Wynonna gave a weak smile. “Thanks Wave. I don’t know how I’d be able to go through any of this without you.”

“Of course. You’re my sister and I love you.” She smiled as she stroked her hand through Wynonna’s wavy brown locks. “Are you going to bed any time soon?”

“Nah, I’m still feeling pukey. I was actually just about to start a movie. But you go ahead. I know you’re probably tired and you have to be up early to open the coffee shop.”

Waverly grabbed a pillow and blanket from the chair next to her and made herself comfortable on the couch. “I’d rather hang out here with you,” she smiled.

“You’re the best sister, you know that?” Wynonna replied, the sentiment causing her eyes to well up with tears. She laid her head down in Waverly’s lap as she scrolled through Netflix, smiling at the feeling of Waverly massaging her scalp.

---

The next night

Nicole parked the police cruiser in front of the bar and turned off the ignition as she stared at the door. She exhaled sharply, preparing herself for whatever was about to happen.

“Well, here goes nothing.” She stepped out of the car and shut the door behind her before cautiously walking up to the entrance of Shorty’s. When she walked inside, she noticed Wynonna yelling at some drunk guy with phrases of “cutting you off” and “call a cab.” He retorted by calling her a bitch, which earned the classic Wynonna middle finger as he staggered towards the exit.

“Rough night?” Nicole asked as she pulled out a stool and sat down.

“You’d think weeknights would be easier than weekends, but nope. Same drunken assholes, every damn night.”

Nicole gave her a sympathetic look as she nodded.

“But, either way my shift is officially over, so I no longer have to give a shit.” She threw the rag on the counter and slid it over to the other worker who had just shown up for his shift. Here you go Jeremy. Have fun working the night shift. Don’t fuck up.”

“Right. Thanks,” he sighed as he took the rag before mumbling under his breath, “Five years studying biology and computer science, graduating top of my class and I end up in Purgatory as a bartender.” He shook his head as he sulked away towards the back.

“Who’s that guy? I haven’t seen him around here,” Nicole asked as she watched Wynonna pour her a beer.

“Oh him? Gus hired him last week. Name’s Jeremy something. He does what he’s told and keeps his hands to himself, which is enough for me.”

Nicole nodded before taking the tall glass of beer from Wynonna. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed the brunette was holding a glass of water for herself. “No alcohol tonight?”

“Nope, not tonight.”

The redhead’s eyebrows shot up, revealing the wrinkles in her forehead. “Whoa, that’s new. Wynonna Earp passing up on a chance to get drunk?” She snorted as she shook her head. “What, are you pregnant or something?” She asked jokingly as she raised the full glass of beer to take a sip. She stopped just before the glass touched her lips, when she noticed a look of horror spread across Wynonna’s face. Her eyes widened as she looked down at the older Earp’s stomach. “Oh. Okay, wow. Congratulations?”

Wynonna snatched Nicole’s beer out of her hand and sat both of their drinks down on the counter before yanking Nicole over to the back of the bar – which was dark and far away from anyone who wasn’t in the bathroom. “You can’t say anything,” Wynonna snapped.

“Okay, but does Waverly know? Because I don’t know how I’m going to be able to keep this from her…”

“Yes, Waverly knows. But only Waverly, okay? Nobody else knows. Not even Doc.”

“So, the baby is Doc’s?”

Wynonna lowered her eyes at the redhead. “Yes, Nicole. Who the fuck else’s would it be?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t want to assume.”

“So instead you assume I’m a hussy. Cool. Got it.” She rolled her eyes and folded her arms before glaring at the woman.

“Okay, come on. It’s not like that.”

“Whatever. Look, the point is, I need you to promise you won’t tell anyone until I decide what I’m going to do, okay?”

“Okay,” Nicole said forcefully, getting offended that Wynonna was talking to her like she was stupid. She stared at the woman’s belly, still baffled that there was a human growing inside there. “So, that bad burrito last night–”

“Was actually a high level of pregnancy hormones flooding my body and causing me to vomit all four of the hot dogs I had just eaten prior, yeah. So be careful what you say around me, because I’ve been breaking down into tears at the drop of a dime. And it’s making me very pissy.”

“Got it.” Nicole nodded. “Are you sure you want to be here though? I mean, we can go somewhere quieter if you want.”

“Believe it or not, this is exactly where I want to be. Even though I can’t consume any alcohol, just being around it makes me feel better.”

“You sound like an alcoholic,” Nicole chuckled. She looked over at Wynonna and noticed her glossy eyes as tears began to form. “Shit. Uh, I didn’t mean that seriously. I’m sorry, please don’t cry!” She pleaded, knowing that she would be in trouble if Waverly found out that she made her pregnant sister burst into tears.

“What? No, Haught, relax. It’s this awful smell, it’s making my eyes water. We’re standing next to the bathrooms and it smells like shit…literally.”

Nicole wrinkled her nose as the smell hit her hard.

“Come on, let’s go back over to the bar. I could really use a…water.” Wynonna sighed as she led them back over to where their drinks were sitting.

“So, um, how do you feel?” Nicole asked awkwardly before chugging half her beer.

“I feel like Doc’s sperm invaded the privacy of my eggs,” Wynonna answered bluntly. Nicole winced at the thought. “And I feel like everything is out of my control. None of this was planned.” She took a swig of her water and looked at it with disappointment.

“Well, accidents happen.”

“Right, but this wasn’t one of those situations where we weren’t being careful. I got pregnant while on birth control.”

Nicole stared at her, a look of surprise spread across her face. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Guess it’s true when they say it’s 99% effective.” She took another sip. “You’re lucky you guys never have to worry about this.”

“Although that is a benefit, it’s not always rainbows and unicorns. It was hard for me to accept that I was–”

“Gay for the va-jay-jay?” Wynonna interjected as she wriggled her eyebrows suggestively. Nicole gave her a pointed look in response. “Okay, okay. Sorry. Continue.”

“Yeah, it was hard for me to accept that I was gay. I didn’t want to be different, but I had no choice. It was just how I was, and it was terrifying.”

“So, how did you figure it out? I mean, did you know for a while before you started telling people?”

Nicole looked at the older Earp with questioning eyes. “Are you really asking to hear my coming out story?”

Wynonna shrugged her shoulders. “Is that not okay?”

“No, it’s okay. Just…unexpected, is all.”

“Well, we’re here to get to know each other better, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Nicole squinted her eyes at the brunette.

“Plus, if you’re going to be banging my baby sister, I want all the intel on you I can get,” she stated as she crossed her arms.

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. But You have to tell me a story of yours afterwards.”

“Deal.”

The redhead took a large gulp of her drink before beginning her story. “Okay, so I started dating my first boyfriend when I was sixteen. It was my junior year of high school...”

“You didn’t have a boyfriend until you were sixteen?! Jesus, I had my first boyfriend when I was seven…”

“Okay, well it’s different when you don’t actually like boys. I was always asked out, but none of the guys ever seemed right. But seeing as all of my friends had boyfriends, I finally just gave in and said yes to this guy I had known for a few years.”

“Huh. I guess that makes sense.”

“Yeah, so anyways, we were together for about six months. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing. It was just like being friends, but with holding hands and kissing. And the kissing was kind of the same – not bad, but not amazing. I had never kissed anyone before, so I didn’t know what to expect. But it was exactly how I imagined it would be…two people rubbing their lips against each other’s; nothing more, nothing less.”

“Wow. That’s so unromantic.”

“Well that’s what it felt like to me. Unromantic. He was definitely way more into it than I was. But then one night I went over to his house to watch a movie, and quickly found out that nobody else was home. One thing led to another, and we were in his room making out on his bed. He started taking his shirt off, and then he pulled out a condom.”

Wynonna snorted as she shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Classic.”

“He asked me if I wanted to, and I said, ‘Sure.’ I figured six months was enough time together. And truthfully, all of my friends were losing their virginity, so I didn’t want to be the only one who hadn’t.”

“Gotta love peer pressure,” Wynonna stated sarcastically as she raised her glass in a toast before taking a sip.

“Well, we slept together, and afterwards I just felt…empty. I don’t really know how to describe it. Sex was supposed to be this amazing thing, and the whole time I just felt really awkward and it didn’t feel quite right. He finished after about five minutes, and I faked my own orgasm as he was having his so that it would end quicker, and then I told him I had to be home for dinner and ran out of there. Didn’t talk to him for two days, and when I finally did, I told him it wasn’t going to work out and I broke up with him.”

“Because you were gay?”

“I didn’t know I was gay though. I just thought that maybe I wasn’t meant to like anyone. Or that maybe there was only one guy out there for me and I just had to find him. But then the next year, there was this back to school party that all of the upperclassmen had gone to. And there was a girl there, Kathy. She had a reputation around the school for being the only out bisexual. I remember thinking that she looked so beautiful that night. She had gorgeous long, brown hair and she was wearing a dress that fit her just right. She saw me sulking in a corner, downing drinks, and pulled me out into the middle of the room to dance with her. She was the first person who had the ability to pull me out of my comfort zone and actually make me feel good about it. And the entire time we danced, as I looked into her crystal blue eyes, all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss her.”

Wynonna listened attentively, now getting really invested in the story.

“Long story short, we ended up having sex. We were both completely wasted, and I remember waking up the next morning, unsure of where I was or what I had done. All I remembered from the night before were soft lips, delicate fingers, and silky-smooth skin all over my body. I felt this ache between my legs – the kind that you only get after a night of incredible, mind-blowing sex.”

“Yep, I’ve had a few of those. There was one time where a guy fucked me so good, I couldn’t ride a bike for two weeks.” Wynonna gave a sly smile as she thought back to the memory, but quickly noticed the irritated look that Nicole was giving her. “But, we’re talking about you here. So that story is unimportant. Please continue.”

Nicole took a sip of her beer and rolled her eyes before carefully setting the mug back down onto the counter. “I turned to look at who I had slept with, and noticed that it was Kathy. Which, of course, terrified me. I didn’t know who I was expecting to see, but I definitely wasn’t expecting someone with boobs. So I quickly got my drunk ass out of bed and scrambled to get my clothes back on before literally running out of her house and down the street. Over the next few days I had slowly gotten all of my memories back from that night – the memories of dancing with her at the party as I grinded against her and rubbed my hands all over her body, kissing her neck and playing with her exposed thigh as she drove us back to her house, pushing her up against her bedroom door as I kissed her harder than I had ever kissed anyone in my entire life. And it wasn’t ‘not bad’, it was magical. It was the way it was supposed to be. The whole night was. She gave me so many orgasms, and I gave her a lot too, and I never wanted the night to end. The last memory I finally got back was kissing all the way up her body after going down on her, leaning into her ear and whispering, ‘I’m so fucking gay.’”

Wynonna let out a hearty laugh. “Haught, you are fucking gay.”

Nicole chuckled in response and nodded. “I know. I knew it that night.”

“So what happened with you and the girl? Did she become your girlfriend?”

“No. Actually, we never talked to each other again. We saw each other around at school, but never bothered to say anything. I knew that I didn’t have any real feelings for her. That night was just about me figuring out who I was, and she knew it. It took me a few months to come out to my friends, but they were really supportive, and most of them had already known and were waiting for me to figure it out. At the end of the year, before graduation, I decided to tell my parents. That didn’t go over so well.”

“Asshole parents, huh?”

“Pretty much. Honestly, we kind of fell out after that day. They didn’t come to my graduation out of protest, and I left without saying goodbye. Haven’t spoken to them since, except for when I needed things like my birth certificate or random stuff from the house.”

“Parents are overrated anyways.” Wynonna gave a weak smile as she thought about her own family situation. Nicole looked at her sympathetically, which made Wynonna begin to feel a bit awkward. “Do you think Waverly feels that way?”

“What way?”

“Like, hard to accept herself.”

“Only she can truly answer that, but from what I’ve seen, yes. Or at least at some point she did. But it’s hard for most of us, especially growing up in a world that tells you that you have to be one thing and if you’re anything else then you’re a freak. I would always see the story of the prince and the princess, but I never saw the one about the princess and the princess.”

Wynonna nodded. She felt her stomach drop as a pang of sadness washed over her as she thought of how cruel the world was to her younger sister. She felt bad that she could never truly understand what she was going through.

“But she’s lucky to have you, though,” Nicole continued. “I would’ve killed to have a supportive big sister like you when I was figuring myself out. And the fact that she told you about it so soon after figuring it out herself, just shows how much she loves you and how important you are to her.” She smiled at the older Earp and she gently rubbed her arm.

A smile slowly spread across Wynonna’s face. She had always felt so guilty for leaving Waverly behind, and was happy that Waverly was able to trust her again. She raised the glass to take a sip of her water, but quickly set it back down as her body began to feel heavy. She looked around the room and noticed it start to spin.

“Are you okay?” Nicole asked in a slightly worried tone.

“I don’t feel so good,” Wynonna replied, repeatedly blinking as she shook her head. She began to wobble in her stool.

“Pregnancy hormones?”

Wynonna shook her head and furrowed her brow. “No. This isn’t the pregnancy.”

Nicole looked at her confused before she began to feel dizzy too.

“Shit,” Wynonna hissed as she grabbed her glass and inspected it. “Someone spiked my water. Who the hell spikes a goddamn water!” She dropped the glass on the counter as she passed out. She began to fall backwards off the stool, but Nicole quickly caught her and gently leaned her forward so she was securely on her seat, the counter supporting her.

“Fuck,” Nicole said groggily as she leaned herself over the bar, everything fading to black as the world around her slipped away.