Something New

Chapter Six

Nicole shed her coat onto the couch, throwing it over neatly, making sure it didn't look as if she had done it carelessly. I was watching her movements from the kitchen, admiring how her hair fell into her face when she bent down to untie her boots, her fingers lifting to tuck it behind her ear again unconsciously.

I felt at ease watching her, her movements seeming so easy, without hesitation or restraint. I cocked my head to the side, crossing my arms over my chest as I leaned back against the counter, my eyelids lowering sightly as I watched her.

She straightened up her stance, her fingers running through her hair to move it before she moved them down to her uniform, starting to unbutton the buttons. I felt my breathing hitch as my heart dropped, feeling frozen to the spot. Was this woman really going to strip in front of me? She really was bold, if so.

"Nicole.." I started, feeling flush as her eyes darted to meet mine. I knew she could tell I was struggling internally over here.

Her mouth started moving but only air came out as she lowered her hands from her button up slowly. I felt out of breath, wanting her to continue, but knowing she couldn't.

Nicole moved her hands down to the hem of her pants, pulling her uniform shirt up, untucking it. She pulled the shirt up slightly, revealing a white shirt underneath. "I'm wearing an undershirt, Rose."

I couldn't help but chuckle from embarrassment, turning to look away completely as I moved to open the fridge, staring at the contents blankly. I had really wanted to see her body, I wanted to see the beauty she had hidden underneath her uniform. I could not lie, it was a simple fact. She was attractive and she knew that, she knew that she had caught my interest.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Rose. I thought you knew that I wore undershirts at times. Since I don't button the top button, I thought you'd be able to see that."

I spun around to face the woman behind me, closing the fridge as I had turned around. "I don't make it a habit to stare at your chest, Nicole. Especially when there's other things to stare at which hold higher values, such as your smile."

My words caught her off guard as her cheeks began to turn red, looking away from me to stare at her feet instead. I did not mean for that to come off as sweet as it did, I was only attempting to be honest with her.

"Don't reply to that." I commanded, turning to walk away from her before we would have a sappy conversation where we gushed out our feelings. I felt Nicole's hand catch my wrist, effectively stopping me from leaving. I turned to face her as she started to inch closer to me, a soft look in her eyes as she looked down at me, a delicate smile playing across her lips.

I started to feel nervous about how close she was getting, realizing she was wanting to kiss me at some point. I wasn't sure I was ready for that, it meant she'd undoubtedly want a relationship.

I wanted to back away from her, to run away from the situation and away from Purgatory all together. If I was gone, I wouldn't have to deal with this, deal with having to deny Nicole what she wanted.

I tried to push my right foot back, to begin the awkward process of rejecting this kiss Nicole so desperately wanted, but I couldn't get my feet to move at all. I tried again to will myself to move back from the taller woman, to no avail. I felt stuck, but not in a bad way. I knew I shouldn't stay in this exact spot, but I was also curious as to how it would feel to kiss her.

Nicole was now very close to me, our chests almost touching as she looked down at me, her eyes calming down the frenzy of emotions my body was being assaulted with. She reached her hand out, slowly running her fingers over my cheek, causing a fire to ignite in my stomach. I had never felt anything so tender in my entire life. Not from Camilla, not from either of my mothers, nor from my father.

My heart continued to beat faster and louder, assuming Nicole was able to hear it by now, but I couldn't hide how incredibly nervous I was. I calculated I would pass out in about 10 to 15 minutes give or take if my body continued operating in this manner, knowing damn well I couldn't stop it if I wanted to.

The deputy lifted her other hand and cupped my face gently, running her thumbs over my cheek bones as I felt a serine feeling shoot through my body, calming me down slowly as I tried to peel my eyes away from hers.

"Rose?" She whispered, her voice sounding so calm, as if I wasn't having a panic attack right in front of her.

"Yes?" I tried so hard not to have my voice crack as I responded to her.

"Can I kiss you?" I knew she was going to ask, I knew this had been her intention throughout this whole encounter, but the question caught me off guard. She was asking me? Was this something that was normal? It was such a breathtaking gesture, but was it common to ask? I had never been asked.

"Yes, Nicole." I choked out, my breathing picking up as my nerves began to sore through the roof again, waiting for her to lean in towards me.

She smiled softly, leaning in closer to me until I could feel her warm breath on my lips, hovering above me. I waited and waited but her lips never drew closer to touch mine, causing me to open my eyes to find her watching me.

"Are you sure?" She whispered, her lips brushing against mine softly, causing my heart to jump as she sounded out the question.

Instead of responding to her, I tilted my head up more, finally capturing her lips in mine. It felt like when you hear the waves crash at the beach. The power and strength the waves have as they hit an object, feeling that crash in my chest. My breath was knocked out of my chest as my body began to fill with warmness, trying to keep myself grounded.

Nicole moved one of her hands to rest on the back of my neck as I rested my hands on her waist gently, not wanting to move them an inch further yet. I knew there would be time for that, but not in this moment. I only wanted to kiss her for years in this moment.

She began to move her lips against mine slowly, testing out if I was comfortable with it. I couldn't help but feel completely comfortable with her in this moment, feeling as if I could expose everything to her that I had ever done, knowing she would understand why I had done all of the things I had ever done in my career.

I moved my lips to match her slow speed, feeling as she pushing her body flush against mine, her warmth covering me completely like a security blanket. I never wanted this moment to end, but two people couldn't continually kiss for an eternity, not physically that is.

I broke the kiss slowly and stepped back from her, a smile plastered on my face as was on hers as we stared at each other, not sure what to do now.

"Can you not tell people about that yet?" I asked, hoping she would understand where I was coming from with this.

I watched as she nodded in understanding, taking my hand to lead me over to the couch. "Let's just watch movies tonight." She stated, grabbing the TV remote.

*** (Two days later)***

"Rose, can I ask why you accepted my offer to assist out here? Yes, we've been close for years, but you hate the country, you hate small towns."

Dolls, Jeremy and myself were the only ones currently occupying the office, Jeremy writing and taking notes on something.

I sighed and leaned back against a desk, trying to decide whether I should lie or tell Dolls the truth.

"Honestly, I wanted to get away from Black Badge, you have no cue what they did to me. They forced their hand, taking control of my entire career there. They gave me the smallest and most ridiculous cases to appease me, forcing me to work with a partner when they knew I preferred working alone. I had no contact with anyone, no relationships sexual or professional, I wasn't allowed to. After so long I told them they either give me something better or they'd lose me."

Dolls looked at me with confusion, closing the file he had been reading while listening to me.

"Lyons, you can't quit Black Badge, what do you mean, lose me?" He commanded, catching Jeremy's attention as he started to watch us.

I chuckled and shook my head, running my hand through my hair as I recalled my state of mind during that time.

"Meaning, my office was on the top floor, Dolls. Yes it had bullet resistant glass, but repeated shots in the same area will begin to break through. Add a silencer attachment and no one will suspect a thing until I'm late to the evening meeting."

I wasn't surprised when Dolls slammed his hand down onto the table, glaring at me. "Dammit Lyons, I've lost too many people that way, not you, not now." He stood from his desk, the chair falling over as I stayed perfectly calm in front of him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, speed dialing a number as he continued to glare at me.

"Dolls, what are you-"

"Get me a psych evaluation team out here right now for Agent Lyons."

My mouth fell open as I lurched my body forward to stand up straight, hitting the phone out of Dolls' hand.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Xavier?" I was pissed, they were going to bring me back, they definitely wouldn't allow me to work in the field now.

"Your mental health is important, Lyons, you can't just say shit like that like it's a normal thing to think about. You need help." He shot back, Jeremy clearing his throat, catching our attention. We both looked at him as he pointed to the door, turning my head to lock eyes with Nicole.

"I can come back.." She said before shutting the door behind her, not allowing us to stop her.

I sighed and leaned back against the desk, trying to think of the lies I was going to tell them, anything to stay here and not go back. I couldn't, I would surely follow through with my plan if I did. I couldn't keep living under Black Badge's shadow like that.

"They'll be here soon, don't doubt they won't speed to see if you're okay." Dolls said after we had sat in silence for a few minutes, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

I couldn't reply to him, I only wanted to hide, I didn't want to go back there. I was trying to piece together all of the lies I was going to mold as the office door opened, Doc, Wynonna, Waverly, and Nicole piling in.

I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to be able to think now that everyone was around. I lifted myself up and sat on the desk, crossing my legs as I looked at everyone.

"Why did I hear shouting a bit ago?" Waverly asked, moving to stand next to Jeremy as he slid a lab coat over his shoulders, followed by gloves.

"We had a disagreement." Dolls replied, eyeing me before speaking to Wynonna about what he had found after his surveillance he had done a few days prior. Nicole moved closer to me as Jeremy walked around his desk and stood in front of me.

"What?" I asked, not understanding why he had to be so close to me.

"Before a psych evaluation, I need to evaluate you physically." He said awkwardly, looking at Nicole, trying to process how she was going to react.

"Psych evaluation?" Nicole and Waverly had said it simultaneously, both looking at me expecting a answer.

I could only shrug my shoulders, trying to brush it off. "Standard operating procedure?" I heard Nicole ask, raising her eyebrow at me as I tried to not get lost in her eyes.

Damn, this woman is captivating.

I could only nod in response, looking towards Jeremy for instructions.

"Hold your arms out." He said, following his command.

I extended my left, then my right arm, watching as he bent down to exam for scars or anything of that nature. He stopped on my right arm, running his fingers over the only scar I had, resting on my forearm.

"This?" He asked, looking up at me, fully expecting the answer he would receive.

"It's not what you think, it's my tracker." I replied, catching him off guard. He furrowed his eyebrows as he quickly walked behind me, placing his fingers on the middle of the back of my neck.

"It's not there, I told you."

"How is it not there? Did you move it yourself? That's impossible."

"No dipshit, they didn't start putting them in the necks until three years after I got mine."

"That can't be, when did you start working for the department? It couldn't have been that long ago, you're only 23 now." I chuckled and shook my head, smiling at his stupidity. Nicole and Waverly looking at me with confusion.

"Jeremy, I started working at Black Badge at the age of 11 when I was taken in." I replied, his mouth falling open in response.

"Look at my case file, it'll tell you some of the details." I added, looking at Nicole.

I kept my eyes on her, opening my mouth to speak again. "That's what happens when you're someone's property, they like to keep track of their assets."

Nicole looked saddened by my comment, placing her hand on my shoulder to comfort me, allowing her to do that small action. If it would have been someone else, I would have pushed their hand off, but I didn't want to do that to Nicole.

I continued to look into her eyes before my eyes were torn away by the sound of the office door being thrown open, three or four armed guards running into the room. I quickly got off of the desk and moved to the middle of the room, moving my feet a shoulders width apart as I squared my shoulders, standing at complete attention.

The guards stood in all four corners of the room, several people standing in the opening, hearing high heels click on the hallway floor, knowing my mother was coming. I wanted to run, but I couldn't move an inch, not until she had told me I could.

My heart began to race as everyone else in the room stared at me, Doc playing with his revolver. "Why in the world are you standing there like that, girl?" He asked, one of the doctors looking at Doc. I couldn't speak or respond to him as I heard the heels draw closer and closer until she was standing in the doorway, a smile spread across her face.

"Well now sweetheart, I would have thought it'd be longer than this to come out here to offer some help." She knew I couldn't respond as Wynonna walked and stood next to me, assuming she was glaring at my 'mother'.

"Why the hell are you here, Lucado? We didn't call you here." She spat out, hearing the woman who had raised me from the age of 11 laugh, smiling sweetly at Wynonna.

"Oh you didn't tell them, Rose? I'm her mother. Isn't that right, darling?"

"Yes ma'am" I responded automatically, staring straight ahead. I felt my 'mom' run her fingers down my cheek as I stood perfectly still, trying desperately to remain at attention and not shy away from her touch.

"Relax." She finally said, allowing me to drop my shoulders. Wynonna whirled around to look at me dumbfounded, her mouth open.

"Try hard, you didn't think to tell us that your damn mother was the devil herself?" She shot out, looking at Dolls for confirmation, he only nodded towards her, confirming her statement.

Lucado smiled and looked at me, her eyes raking all over my body. "Adoptive mother, and Rose you've been losing weight, you need to eat. You don't want to end up like your mother. It was sad really, her mother starved to death after her father had abused both of them." That was a lie, almost all of it was. My mother hadn't starved to death, but that's what she always told people, trying to make herself look all the better to other people.

I looked over to Nicole to see if she had bought the story Lucado had told, her eyes looking at me with sorrow. I didn't want her to pity me, especially if I ever told her the truth as to how I lost both of my parents.

"Well Agent Lyons, let's hurry this up, I have a business meeting in a few hours. Follow me." Lucado led me to a private office in our office, the office Dolls usually used for privacy.

I knew she was going to try and get me back at the office with her, wanting me directly underneath her wing again. She was hoping I would slip up in the evaluation, but I was going to do everything in my power to stay far away from her.