79. You Gonna Go Easy on Me, Babe?

       “I can work weekends and nights,” Waverly said to Shorty, tapping her foot on the footrest on the barstool. 

       “And how long is this going to go on for?” He questioned as he leaned forward on his arms. 

       “Until Spring Break, I think,” she said with a little shrug. “They haven’t told me an ending date yet, just that I’m starting next Monday.” 

       He nodded with a small smile, giving her hand a squeeze. “Well, I’m happy for you, Kid. You’re finally making something out of yourself and I respect that. Lord knows the young ones in this area need someone like you.” She blushed a bit with a bashful smile.

       The time had finally come. She was getting ready to start her student teaching for her degree on the first full week of September and she was glad she had been able to get it at the grade school in town after pulling some strings. She was a little nervous, but after her meeting with the school board earlier that day, she knew she would be alright. 

       Well, she hoped, at least. 

       “That’s all I want. If I can help just one kid in my career, I’d be set for life.”

       Shorty smiled proudly as he stood up straight. “And you will, I can guarantee that.” He picked up the rag that was laying on the counter and threw it over his shoulder. “D’you want any food or anything or did you just want to fill me in.” 

       She shook her head as she stood, “Nah, Gus is having everyone over for dinner tonight for my birthday since her and Mama are going to that concert out of town on the actual day next week and she feels bad . . . I’m sure she’d love it if you stopped by.” 

       “I’d love to, but I’m closing tonight,” he sighed, giving a nod to one of the locals that walked in. 

       “Well, I will be sure to bring you some of whatever she’s baked up tomorrow morning,” she assured with a smile. 

       He let out a chuckle, “Do you wanna kill me, Girl?” 

       She laughed, turning towards the door. “Bye, Shorty. I’ll see you later.” 

       He gave her a wave. “Tell that sister of yours to come pay her tab!” She shook her head with a smile as she climbed into her Jeep and pulled away towards the Homestead. 

       Pulling up, she noticed Nicole’s Harley sitting in the driveway, for she was using up the last bit of August and beginning of September to get in some riding time before it got too cold. She hopped out and made her way to the front door, opening it and stopping in the doorway once she witnessed the scene in front of her. 

       “ONE, TWO, THREE!” 

       Nicole and Dolls vaulted the couch and went guns blazing at Wynonna and Doc, who were making an attempt to hide behind the bookshelves. 

       Nerf guns blazing, to be specific.

       Wynonna let out a warcry as she and John Henry fired back, all ducking and dodging equally around the foam bullets, slipping and sliding across the floor as they ran for new cover.

       Waverly let out a disappointed sigh as she quickly jogged through the living room towards the kitchen to get out of the crossfire. “Hey, Mama. Hey, Gus,” she greeted the two women in the room, smiling widely as she lifted the baby out of Michelle’s arms. “Hi, you!” She pushed a kiss to Alice’s face before holding her to stand on the table to watch Gus cook. “So why is my 27 year old fiancée playing with her adult friends like a 10 year old?” She questioned, bouncing the baby’s knees slightly. 

       “THAT FUCKING HIT YOU, BITCH!” Said fiancée was heard screaming from the other room. 

       “OH, IT DID NOT!” John Henry shouted back. 

       Waverly continued to blink between them and they shook their heads. “She brought them,” Gus sighed, “The one Wynonna bought her for Christmas last year and then two brand new ones.” 

       “She bought more ?” Waverly questioned, raising her eyebrows.

       “We did not tell you that,” Michelle said with a little laugh. 

       The brunette rolled her eyes, lifting Alice as she sat down and setting her on her knees. “She’s gonna be the death of me.” 

       When they returned from Vegas in July, Nicole and the rest of BBD added a big fat nothing to their list of leads. The third body had been the same as the others, the only difference being that she had been dumped and found on the same day. Then again, she had been dumped in the alley behind Shorty’s, so it wasn’t surprising that she had been found within hours. They could only hope that it meant the killer was trying to get them found after each kill, and that meant that it was more likely for someone to see it happen.

       But after no body turned up in August, they were scrambling. 

       The news had dubbed the killer the Summer Slasher, seeing that the three kills came and went with the season. BBD ignored all the talk and kept searching, but as the month thinned, they could only agree that there hadn’t been a new murder. 

       Now that it was the first of September, Nicole was trying to have her fun now, distracting herself from the fact that they could possibly be in the same boat the next day that they were in the last couple of months. And Waverly could do nothing but respect that, so she decided to leave her be about it. 

       “How’d it go today, Dear?” Gus questioned as she made herself busy washing some dishes as the food cooked. 

       “Really good! I start Monday,” Waverly answered with a beaming smile. 

       “Monday?” Mama questioned with a smile to match it. “That’s amazing , Sweetie!” The brunette blushed again, wrapping her arms around Alice’s front and cooing to her when she looked up at her with a big smile, a singular tooth shining up at her. 

       “SHIT!” Wynonna shouted, followed by the loud thud of a body falling to the ground. 

       “I GOTCHUR ASS!” Dolls boomed right after. 

       “GO GO, GET’EM!” A series of screaming and shouting followed as it seemed Nicole and Dolls went rapid-fire on Doc, and the loud laugh from the redhead proved that they had won. “World’s fastest gunslinger, my ass!” She snorted as Dolls caught her hand and pulled her into a hug, smacking her back as he also laughed at the man still hiding under the coffee table. 

       “Well, this plastic is not the type of gun I’m used to!” The Cowboy defended, hurt evident in his voice. 

       “Mhm, keep telling yourself that, Old Man,” Nicole laughed as she walked into the kitchen and pulled two cans of beer out of the fridge, tossing one to the Marshal. She grabbed the chair next to Waverly and turned it around, sitting down and leaning forward onto the backrest to face her. “Hey,” she said with a dimpled smile. She tipped forward a bit to plant a kiss on her lips, chuckling into it as she felt Alice grabbing at the hand she had braced against the brunette’s thigh. She pulled back and dropped the chair back to all four legs as she popped the tab of her drink. “So,” she started, “What’s the verdict?” 

       Waverly’s mouth curved into a huge grin, “Well . . . I’ll be with each grade for a month , going from kindergarten to second to fourth to sixth to eighth.” 

       Nicole’s brow creased. “That’s only five months. I thought six was required?” 

       “Oh, I finish the last month in the different Special Ed rooms and stuff.” 

       The Sheriff did a nod, smiling proudly at her baby. “What grade are you most excited for?” 

       Her lips curled up a bit. “What do you think?” 

       “Kindergarten?” She answered knowingly. 

       Waverly nodded with a giggle, “They’re so cute! I saw them walking down the hall when I was leaving and-” She cut herself off with a squeal. 

       Nicole shook her head at her, lifting her hand to her face and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “We’ll see how long you’re excited about the little germ-infested demons,” she sighed. 

       “I’ll bet a week,” Gus said from the sink. 

       “Mm, I’d say three days,” Michelle countered. 

       Waverly rolled her eyes at them. “They’re not that bad.” 

       “Mmmmhmmmm.” 

       A knock at the door cut the brunette off from beginning an argument. “I’ll get it.” She handed Alice over to Nicole and walked over to the door, pulling it open. “Julian! Hi!” She hadn’t known her father was invited, but she was happy nonetheless. “Come in!” 

       Waverly and Julian’s relationship had grown tremendously over the past couple months. After the shock of finding out about one another was gone, it was easier for them to bond. And in doing so, they learned that they had a lot more in common than they thought. He was starting to accept the fact that Nicole was a cop, along with everyone else as well. He was very keen on keeping their relationship private at this point so they weren’t ever seen out in public with each other. It meant that they didn’t get to see each other a whole lot, but they made it work. 

       Nicole was surprised how loving he was already towards her fiancée. She had been completely wrong when she thought he wouldn’t care about her because of everything she had heard. Yea, maybe he still wasn’t her favorite person in the world, but she could tell that he was trying and that’s all she wanted. And because he was trying with her, she was also trying with him. Maybe really the only bonding they had done was watching a Rangers vs Dodgers game together, for Julian was an avid Dodgers fan, but she considered the teasing that went on back and forth the best she was going to get out of him for the time being. 

       Waverly led Julian through the house, noticing how his eyes watched as Wynonna and Doc grumbled to themselves as they crawled around on the floor and picked up all of the Nerf bullets. They walked into the kitchen and the brunette’s heart melted as she watched Nicole playing with Alice. 

       Then again, any time she saw her with the baby, her heart melted, so this was nothing new. 

       “Hello, Julian,” Gus greeted with her back to them as she pulled a pan out of the oven. 

       “Hi, Gus,” he said with a smile, though it seemed his eyes were also on the little one. He clapped Nicole’s shoulder as he grabbed the chair to the right of her and sat down. “Is that your bike out there, Kid?” 

       She looked towards him as Waverly sat down where she had been before. “Sure is.” 

       He nodded, watching how Alice pushed at her face as she stood on her thighs. “It’s nice.” 

       “If you think that’s something, you should see her Lambo.” Wynonna walked into the room and went to grab something out of the bowl Gus set on the table, but she smacked her hand away. 

       The Priest raised his eyebrows at her. “Lambo, aye?” 

       “Well, you can’t forget the Corvette,” Dolls scoffed from his position at the sink where he had taken over dishes for Gus. 

       “Since when?!” Michelle asked with wide eyes.

       “Haughty’s made of moolah,” Wynonna smirked, leaning against the wall. 

       “I am not , Wynonna,” she grumbled, throwing her a look. 

       “Oh, so you want me to tell Waves how much you spent on that ring?” She questioned, tipping her head. Waverly looked towards her, eyebrows shooting up. 

       “ Earp ,” Nicole said through her teeth in warning. 

       “ Haught , my baby is literally in a Gucci onesie that you bought her.”

       The Sheriff huffed. “Yea and she looks awesome .” 

       “She was beyond drunk ,” Waverly grumbled. “How else do you think she ended up with a Rolex , three Harley jackets, $2000 worth of clothes, mostly hoodies and sweatpants , and five pairs of Ray Bans?” The brunette knew from now on to take her wallet away from her when her father’s anniversary rolled around so Nicole didn’t find herself 15K poorer when she came to the next day.

       “I mean, that’s not all I bought,” the redhead mumbled with a smirk. Waverly’s eyes went wide in warning.

       “Oh yea, Haught Potato? What else?” Wynonna questioned knowingly. 

       “I swear to God , you will be sleeping outside,” the younger brunette growled. 

       Nicole put her hand up, pursing her lips. “ Well . . . I bought us one of those fancy remote up-down beds that you love , and you a new pair rose gold Beats since yours broke, also about $2000 worth of clothes, and a fancy soft blanket cause you’re always cold.” She ended it with a dimpled smile, looking down at the baby when she leaned into her, seeing that she was wrapping her arms around her neck in a hug. She looped her arms around her and pushed a kiss to her head before looking back up at her fiancée with that shitty smile. Waverly shook her head at her with a playful eye roll as she grabbed her beer off the table and took a drink. 

       “What kind of clothes?” Wynonna pushed.

       Nicole looked up to her, raising her eyebrows. She looked back to Waverly, who paused with the can to her lips. She called her closer with her finger and the younger one leaned forward confusedly. The redhead smirked as she hooked the front of her shirt and looked down it, glancing back up at Wynonna with a grin. “ Lots of Calvin Klein.” 

       “ Nicole .”

       The older Earp let out a bark of laughter as her sister smacked at Nicole, Julian shaking his head with a smirk of his own as he rescued Alice from her arms. The Sheriff scrambled out of her chair and into the living room, backing away from Waverly as she came at her. She wiggled out of her leather jacket and tossed it onto the couch, flicking the hood of her black sleeveless hoodie over her head. “Let’s go,” she challenged as they slowly began to circle in the middle of the living room. 

       "That is a bad idea,” Waverly warned with a grin, pulling her shoes off and tossing them elsewhere. 

       “I’ll have you know, I’ve never lost a spar.”

       “Huh, well, I think that’s about to change cause neither have I.”

       “Girls, please don’t break anything!” Gus called from the kitchen with a sigh. 

       “We won’t!” They called back in unison. 

       Nicole stuck her hand out and Waverly smacked it, giving her a fistbump. “You gonna go easy on me, Babe?” 

       “I’ll be fair. But easy ? Hell no,” the Sheriff laughed, tugging up the legs of her jeans up a bit. “If it were any other occasion, I would. But now ? Nah.” 

       The smaller one let out a hum, nodding her head in understanding. “You probably should have said yes either way.” 

       “Why’s that?” The redhead questioned, raising an eyebrow. 

       “Cause that way you look better after you lose to your fiancée who is ⅔ of you.”

       The brunette might not have realized that she was egging on Nicole’s ego, but she most definitely was. She let out a chuckle, rolling her shoulders a bit as she daringly took a step or two closer to her. “You’ve got some high hopes there, Love.” 

       An evil smirk grew on Waverly’s face. “We’ll see about that.” 

       And with that, it officially begun. The rest of the gang was lined up at the kitchen door, watching as the duo began to take timely smacks at one another to try and catch a limb.  They seemed to have an even split of people rooting for them, Michelle and Doc for Waverly, and Dolls and Wynonna (who also appeared to be reffing whatever it was they were doing) for Nicole. Gus was busy cooking and Julian kept his mouth shut, for he was still getting used to the fact that all of this was normal for them, but the rest were making enough noise to drown their silence out anyways. 

       Waverly made the first big move. Nicole swung her arm out at the wrong time and she caught it by the bend of her elbow and tugged her towards her, almost making her lose her balance. She turned her body to the left and used her shin to knock her legs out from under her, dropping down onto her back. The redhead braced her fall with her arms out, but Waverly had already pinned her legs with her ankles and was trying to pull her wrists back.

       “C’mon, Red Haught!” Wynonna huffed, dropping down beside them. 

       Nicole kept her hands firmly planted as she wiggled her legs free, pushing off of her right foot and rolling her off. She tried to spin around and pin her, but the brunette was too fast and was already back up on her feet. 

       “Get ‘er ass, Waverly!” Michelle shouted as they circled one another again. She had seemed to have joined Wynonna in the reffing . 

       She shook her arms out a bit, dodging one of the redhead’s attempts to grab her. “You gotta try harder than that, Nic. C’mon.” 

       “Oh, you want me to try harder?” She questioned, smirking as the regret stormed her face. “Alright.” She dove forward and wrapped her arms around her calves, knocking her forward onto the redhead’s back. She rolled them over as the brunette tried to pull her legs in, and it worked to Nicole’s advantage as she hooked her arm around the back of her knee and brought it forward as she looped her arm around the back of her neck and grabbed her hand to pin her. “Is this what you meant?” 

       Wynonna smacked the ground beside them as she screamed a three-count, but Waverly wasn’t giving up that easily. She let out a growl as she brought her free leg down, bending her knee up and kicking off the ground to flip them backward, Nicole’s arms slipping out from around the back of her neck in the process. The knee she had pinned jabbed into her stomach and she let out a groan as she released it. Waverly tumbled off of her, quickly getting back to her feet. “You ok?” She asked with a laugh. 

       Nicole bent her hands back behind her shoulders and threw her legs in the air, pushing herself up with that momentum to land on her feet with a grin, “I’m great .” 

       “You best wipe that damned smirk off her face!” Doc called from the kitchen. 

       They circled a bit and Waverly pulled her sleeves up. “Ooh, cute . Where’d you learn that?” 

       “Oh, y’know.” Nicole brushed off her shoulders. “YouTube.” 

       “Ah,” the brunette nodded. 

       “I can teach ya if you want,” she offered, leaning forward and pressing her hands into her shoulders as she tried to get closer to her. 

       Waverly brought her hands up and pressed back, using her legs to try and pedal her backward. “I’m a little busy at the moment, Honey.”

       “Oh, you are?” 

       She took the chance to switch her arm over to the inside and knocked Nicole’s off. She spun around and grabbed her still-planted wrist and bent her knees as the redhead stumbled forward, rolling her over her back and slamming her to the ground. “ Yea .”

       “ OOOOO !” Wynonna hissed. “DON’T BE A PUSSY, HAUGHT! GET HER !” 

       Nicole’s plan was to not embarrass herself, but being thrown to the ground was definitely pretty embarrassing. And judging how the noise in the room had picked up as everyone either grimaced or cheered, she was indeed on the losing end. 

       The shock of pain quickly subsided, and Nicole fought back as the brunette dropped down beside her and tried to pull her arm back to roll her over. The Sheriff gripped onto her hands that were interlocked on her forearm and used everything she had to flip her over her. Waverly’s side hit the ground on the other side of her body and Nicole sat up and tugged her arm loose, climbing on top of her and straddling her lap to gain control. She grabbed onto her right wrist and rolled off of her and swung her body around, dropping one of her legs over her neck and the other across her chest as she pulled her arm towards her, leaning back to pin her in an armbar. 

       “NO!” Waverly flailed her legs as she tried to roll towards her and pawed at her knees with her free hand, but Nicole clamped that arm down with her feet, rendering it useless. 

       Michelle and Wynonna dropped down beside them, smacking their hands against the floor in unison. “ONE . . . TWO . . . THREE!” 

       “HAUGHT CAKES IS THE CALVIN KLEIN CHAMPION !” The older brunette hollered. 

       Nicole let out a breathy laugh as she let her arm go and stuck her legs in the air, kicking them a few times as Waverly sat up with a huff. She dropped her legs and sprawled her arms out as she looked up at her, breathing heavily with a smile. The brunette rolled her eyes as she fought back a smile of her own, eventually giving in with a giggle and crawling over to her. She dropped down on top of her and Nicole wrapped her arms around her middle, hitching one of her legs beside her. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” 

       “Maybe my pride,” the brunette mumbled. 

       The Sheriff let out a little chuckle, “To be fair, I do have two years of police training and watched way too much Women’s MMA with Aunt Liz when I lived with her cause it was apparently one of her guilty pleasures . . . and you still kinda kicked my ass.” 

       “You could have had me down in three seconds, don’t even try to make me feel better.” 

       Nicole was quiet as she sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly as she spoke, “Yea. I could have.” Waverly let out a huff and went to get off of her, but the older one rolled them over, hovering over her with a raise of her eyebrows. “ But I didn’t.” 

       She smiled as she reached up and ran her thumbs over the dimples on each of her cheeks. “No. You didn’t.” The redhead let out a hum, dipping her head to meet her lips. 

       “When y’all are done banging on the floor in there, Gus said dinner is ready,” Wynonna said from the doorway. Nicole pulled away from her and they both shot her a deathly glare. She put her hands up, turning away. “ Don’t shoot the messenger .”  The Sheriff pushed off the brunette, holding her hand out and helping her off the floor. They all found their seats at the table, digging in.

        “Haughty, guess what?” 

       “What?” She questioned, looking up at her with a raise of her eyebrows. 

       “Jesus, here,” Wynonna knocked Julian’s shoulder with her thumb, “was a ginger before he went grey. Imagine if-”

       “WHAT?!” Everyone looked towards Waverly confusedly. Her eyes snapped towards her mother. “I could have been a redhead ?!”  

       “Would you have had a problem with that?” Julian and Nicole asked at the same time. 

       She flicked her eyes between them, furrowing her brows. “ No . . . It just would be . . . different .” 

       “Different,” the Sheriff echoed with a slow nod. 

       Waverly’s eyes softened and she reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Stop it, I love your hair-”

       “ Ginger fetish ,” her sister coughed. Gus scoffed, backhanding her arm. 

       They threw her a quick glare but looked back to one another. “I just . . . would not be a good ginger. But you? You are the best ginger.” 

       “Well, now I’m offended. I’m not the best ginger?” The Priest pouted with a faux frown on his lips. 

       “ Anyway ,” the older Earp started again, interrupting everyone's laughter. “ Imagine if Haught Pants and Blue Eyes are related .” 

       “ Wynonna ,” the rest of the table groaned as Waverly looked towards her with the most disgusted look on her face she had ever seen and Julian dropped his head to his hands. 

       Nicole pinched her the bridge of her nose, leaning her elbow on the table. “Please do not ever voice what you imagine again. Ever .” 

.  .  .

       “Nic, I’m scared,” Waverly whined, looking towards the elementary school she was standing in front of. It was officially her first day of student teaching. 

       “Don’t be scared, Baby,” the redhead soothed, tipping her head towards her with a smile. “You’re going to do great , I promise.” 

       “What if they don’t like me?” She furrowed her brows tightly up at her. 

       “There is literally nothing not to like about you. Quit being a worry worm.” She pulled her into a hug, resting her chin on the top of her head as the smaller one groaned into her uniform. The Sheriff pulled away after a minute and cupped her cheeks as she pushed their foreheads together. “You’ll be ok,” she whispered with a smile. “Now go. I don’t want you to be late.” 

       She let out another sigh, resting her hand on her chest as she tipped her head up into a quick kiss. “I love you.” 

       Nicole grinned, leaning back against her cruiser as she turned away. “I love you, too. Have a good day, Miss Earp.” The brunette shot her a look over her shoulder with a blush and the redhead chuckled, throwing her a wink as she turned and climbed in her car.