134. Chapter 134

Nicole felt and heard the tiny cracking and shifting sound of wood threatening to crumble to dust under the pressure of her fingers. She didn’t dare release her hold upon the edge of her desk though for fear that they would be tempted to find a home around the neck of the drunk biker hollering away in the holding cell.

J.D. had arrested him for getting into a fight at Shorty’s and then riding off while intoxicated or ‘shitfaced off his rocker’ as Wynonna had helpfully put it when she’d meandered on through to raid the box of doughnuts in the break room.

His hollering finally stopped but the relief was short-lived as the sounds and smell of vomit assaulted her as he threw up all over the floor of the cell.

The desk cracked, sawdust and splinters of wood raining down onto the floor as Nicole pushed back her chair so hard it moved the desk behind her own. “I’m going on patrol!”

“No!” J.D. quickly dropped the hand he’d raised to restrain her as Nicole’s solid brown eyes snapped to it with a glare that made him wonder if she was thinking of cleaning her teeth with them after she bit them off or just eating them. “Sheriff… Nicole,” he spoke gently, dropping his tone to force her focus and stop the growl he could feel vibrating through the air to pay attention.

“You can’t go on patrol like this. You know that. We all know you wouldn’t do anything but if you arrest anyone their lawyers could try and use that to create reasonable doubt… That was why you asked me not to let you go on patrol,” he pointed out as she grumbled out something he didn’t want to try and decipher about the integrity and all-around parentage, or lack of, of lawyers.

“Go home,” smiling softly he patted her shoulder and gently steered her towards the door.

“I can’t leave you short-staffed…”

“Nicole,” J.D. chuckled. “Look around, “we’re not short-staffed.” And they weren’t. Thanks to her, Purgatory had actually had to bring in more cars to cover all the officers actually managing to patrol everywhere and not just because they kept wrecking them. “I called Durand and he’s coming in early… as agreed. Now. Go.”

Nicole sighed and made her way outside. “Biology sucks,” she grumbled softly to herself in disgust that her unexpected and imminent rut was stopping her from doing her job.

“Why’s that Haughtsauce?”

“Damn it, Earp!” Nicole flinched as Wynonna somehow managed to get the jump on her and flung a hand across her shoulders.

“Hold on,” Wynonna leaned in and took a tentative sniff, breathing in the extra darkness and bite of musk and forest running through the usual lavender and vanilla dip doughnuts. “Rut starting to kick in more?”

“Yeah.” Sighing, Nicole turned and leaned her back against her patrol car. “Right on time to hit with the full moon too.”

“So no run tonight?” Wynonna tried not to pout, she really did, but she could hear the disappointment lacing her own voice.

“Oh no, no,” Nicole smiled reassuringly. “We’re running. We’ve got time before I’m out of action… at least for that. It’s just that the two coming together has got me on edge with all the zing in the air from the moon. How are you feeling… mama to be?”

Wynonna raised a warning eyebrow at Nicole but her friend just smiled even brighter and flashed dimples in unrepentant glee. “Ugh! Still coming to terms with the thought of being a mother… of twins. You know I’m blaming you for that, right? Twins are not an Earp thing. One at a time has been more than enough for most people to put up with and suddenly it’s twins all round!” Waving her hands around, she glared teasingly between Nicole and her own stomach.

“I wouldn’t know if they were in mine family either but,” she cocked her head to one side, “Earp, you do know that twins aren’t passed on by being friends… right?”

Wynonna snorted. “’Course. Still blaming you and Waves though.” Leaning against the car next to Nicole, Wynonna bumped the taller woman with her hip and shoulder. “You started the epidemic.” And there was the little matter of the theory she’d heard Xavier and Jeremy talking about that morning… well, more like Jeremy had been talking and Xavier had been grunting every now and then as he’d faked interest. But the theory, as far as she had been able to make out, was that packs didn’t really breed while there was a threat around… something that didn’t bother most modern packs, but they had had Bobo Del Rey breathing down their necks for years and having pups was a risk. Now, there was stability with Bobo gone. Which sounded ridiculous given that Bulshar was a threat looming on the horizon but Wynonna couldn’t deny that yeah, it did feel safer even with that.

As for the twins… Jeremy’s theory was that because Waverly had had twins it would pull most of the other pregnancies the same way. A theory he’d already set a database and all kinds of charts up ready to fill in if anyone else in the pack got pregnant.

As far as Wynonna was concerned, it was just a wonderful and happy coincidence. And if it wasn’t and Jeremy was right… it didn’t bother her one bit. The thought of their pack being filled with pups, or just with theirs, was a blessing.

“Is two pregnancies really an epidemic?”

“Ha! Feels like it from the birthing side. Yeah! I’m glad we still get to run tonight… I get why Waves wanted it so badly when she was pregnant now.”

“Like I keep telling you, Earp, we’ve got you.”

“Just not for the next week though, huh?”

“That’s why there’s more than just Waves and I in this, we.”

“And by the end of it all… there could be another set of twins in the works.” Wynonna smirked as Nicole’s eyes went a little bit wider at the prospect. “Yep! You’re going to need a bigger house. Hey, maybe we could expand the Homestead and you can all move in?”

“Oh, hell no! Nope! Love you, Earp but you would be popping up all over the place interrupting us even more than you usually do if we were any closer. Seriously, I’m starting to think you’ve tapped into Calamity Jane’s secret tunnels.”

“Ha! Knew you would finally admit that you love me!” Wynonna chuckled as Nicole groaned and opened the car door ready to slide in and make her escape. Before Nicole could even think to protest, she darted around to the passenger side and settled herself down with an impish smirk.

“Yeah, like an annoying sister,” Nicole drawled. Slotting the key in the ignition, she turned in her seat and watched as Wynonna buckled herself in. It was strange… she’d been frustrated all day and had had the urge to peel the bikers skin from his face even before he had thrown up all over the cell. Wynonna being Wynonna times a thousand… didn’t have her blood boiling in the slightest. “Need dropping off at home, Earp?”

“Nope… I want to spend some family time with y’all. Okay, and maybe make sure you don’t get all heat and rut crazy and mess with our run.”

Nicole chuckled. “We won’t. But sure, if you want to watch while we prep some food…” Nicole started the car running and set them rolling towards home while Wynonna quizzed her almost none stop about what they were going to be making. Wynonna was only a month into her pregnancy but she was so fixated on food, even more than usual, that Nicole made a mental note for them to make extra so she could take some home. If they didn’t, she almost feared that Wynonna would just sneak in and steal it while they were… busy.

“She wouldn’t.”

“Wanna bet? Wynonna has been stealing food from me from day one.”

“You were poaching but… good point, I’ll get some more meat out ready.”

“Are you still dropping the pups off with Alexandria and Clarke?”

Nicole brought herself back to the conversation in the car at the mention of their girls. “Yeah. We didn’t want to hold Gus and Curtis back from running with you tonight. Waves wants them to see us changed though so they can get used to that.” It would be the safest place for them too… the Yiska’s power when they changed was different than theirs.

“I think I might go spend some time with them while you’re doing unspeakable things to their mama.”

“You just want to go to wind Gustus and Anya up,” Nicole laughed at the unrepentant shit-eating grin that crossed Wynonna’s face.

“That will just be a bonus. You know they would think there was something wrong if I didn’t and I would hate to disappoint them. As well as spending time with the girls though I’m hoping Clarke will hook me up with some of that tea of hers. Not for me… for the boys. Okay, maybe some for me too,” she admitted as Nicole’s eyebrow climbed in an unspoken but very clear ‘yeah, right’.

Settling back in her seat, Wynonna spent the rest of the journey lost in thought as she gazed at the passing scenery and casting occasional glances Nicole’s way. She couldn’t quite pinpoint when it had happened but, as well as considering the redhead her friend, something she never thought she would call a cop, she thought of the freakishly powerful Alpha as her second when it came to the pack. Not because of the power within her. With everything Nicole had gone through, she was generally calm and level-headed until it came time to drop that and kick ass.

Wynonna knew that Nicole struggled to trust herself sometimes, and maybe that helped keep her so grounded and gentle. But they had seen her stripped of her humanity, reduced to pure beast, and stripped of all memories of any good in her life and both times she had just been Nicole and her gentle self… fighting Alexandria and tossing the boys around just proved it as she could have easily ripped them all apart and hadn’t.

Nicole shifted in her seat in growing nervousness under Wynonna’s scrutiny but before she could question what, if anything, was wrong… their house came into view, it’s white exterior dazzling in the sun paling in comparison to the beauty that was Waverly waiting on the porch with a bright smile beaming across her face.

“Dude. You are soooo whipped,” Wynonna chuckled as Nicole’s face softened and those ridiculously adorable dimples popped. Her baby sister barely even gave Nicole chance to put the brakes on before she was yanking open the door and trying to pull Nicole out of her the car their lips locked together in a frankly obscene kiss. Saving another cruiser from being out of action for repairs, Wynonna quickly unfastened Nicole’s seatbelt, freeing her from its restraints, before Waverly ripped it apart or pulled it from its housing.

The car rocked as Wynonna started to climb from it, a dull thud ringing out as Waverly slammed Nicole back against it and started to climb her like she was one of the sequoia trees her ancestors were named after. Wynonna threw up her hands and left them to all their hair pulling and face sucking and went in search of her Nieces.

“Damn Baby,” Nicole mumbled breathlessly against the curve of Waverly’s kiss-swollen lips. “I know you’re not that far into your heat. What brought that on?” Not that she minded at all, she decided as she ran her hands along the sweet area where leg and ass met and pulled her love closer.

“Just missing you.” The gentle drag of Nicole’s nails and press of fingertips had Waverly arching in pleasure and claiming Nicole’s lips again. Her heat really was still at the manageable stage but it was hard to find the will to manage it when she knew very well what was awaiting her in the arms of her mate.

“Missed you too, Waves.” Nicole teased the seam of Waverly’s softly parted lips with the tip of her tongue, dipping inside but refusing to be drawn further for fear that she would lose herself and rush headlong into her rut. “We’d best get inside and make sure Wynonna isn’t eating all our food. My rut feels like it’s going to hit like a steam train and I want to make sure there’s enough fuel to ‘enjoy’ it properly.” She let the many ways she wanted them to enjoy it leak through, filling Waverly’s mind and setting her gasping and writhing against her.

“Yep… gonna need lots of fuel,” Waverly panted softly. Reluctantly sliding back down to the ground with only the minimum of grinding against Nicole’s abdomen, she linked their hands together and tugged Nicole towards their home. Calamity Jane was sitting bolt upright on Nicole’s desk, a haughty look of feline judgement on her face as she gazed down at Wynonna sprawled out on the floor letting Kat and Dom crawl all over her.

“C.J. didn’t know I’d released the pups and they nearly got her tail in a double-pronged roll-by attack. Didn’t you?” Wynonna explained with a chuckle as she tickled the girls.

“Are you sure you want more?” Nicole whispered teasingly as Wynonna let out an exaggerated yelp as they started gumming on her.

“Eww! Baby slobber! Baby slobber!”

Waverly smiled as Nicole scooped both of their girls up in her arms and they instantly went still and gazed at her with rapt attention. Waverly was in no doubt that as well as just plain loving their mama, they could feel the energy rolling off her just as she could. Nicole might be afraid that she might accidentally turn them and hurt them but Waverly knew the feel of her power, knew how comforting it felt even on the day of the full moon. It was like the weight of a comforting blanket. Secure and protecting not pulling or threatening.

Stepping closer deeper into the comfort of Nicole’s strength, Waverly cupped and stroked Dom and Kat’s downy soft heads. “I can’t wait for you to see our full wolves later. Your mama is beautiful… and so is your Aunty ’Nonna,” she added at Wynonna’s soft pout. “But mama…” she let out an appreciative purring growl and winked at Nicole’s soft blush.

“Ugh! Will you two just go cook or something while I have some fun with my girls? I’m getting hungry.”

“You know it’s supposed to be for us for the next week, right?”

“Don’t want your pregnant Alpha to go hungry while you’re ‘busy’ do you, sis?” Wynonna pouted.

“Like you won’t just be ordering tons of pizza and stuffing your face with doughnuts anyway. Fine,” Waverly smiled through the grumble and gave her sister a hip check on the way past just for the triumphant chortle.

Nicole handed her girls over, carefully watching the only brief flare of panic in Wynonna’s eyes as she found her hands full of precious cargo again before her face settled into its usual lines of playful intent as she managed to gracefully lower herself back to the floor to play with them some more.

“Come on C.J. move it before they get rolling again.” Nicole followed the ginger cat as she hopped down off the desk and trotted off through to the kitchen with as much dignity as she could manage with one eye warily fixed on the girls.

Fixing the extra-long gate system they had in place to stop babies rolling into the kitchen, Nicole got C.J. settled with some food and washed her hands. As she dried them she leaned a hip against the counter and ate up the sight of Waverly as she busied herself, dancing around the kitchen to the music playing on her iPhone. Chuckling, she caught the apron Waverly threw at her without even seeming to glance in her direction.

They slotted together easily. Flowing around each other, sharing space and complimenting each other’s style without even needing to speak with their voices or minds when they needed something passing to them. They prepared and cooked meals enough for a week for them and more to spare for Wynonna’s needs for a couple of days too.

“Seriously! You made pizza dough from scratch too?”

Nicole caught the roughly disk-shaped piece of dough and tossed it back into the air, catching it again and placing it on the counter for Waverly to add her toppings too before turning to look at Wynonna gazing at them from the other side of the gate with the girls. There was an incredulous look on her face. “Yep, healthier… and this way Waves gets to add all the extra, extra, mushrooms she wants.”

“Bleah!”

Nicole hid a smile as Waverly sprinkled some more on hers in defiance of Wynonna’s opinion. “What do you want on yours, Earp?”

Wynonna looked at the ones they’re already made, easily spotting Nicole’s by the colourful veggies. “How about… one like yours but with some meat on it?”

“So a vegetarian with meat?”

“Yep!” Wynonna grinned as Nicole let out a sigh and started making one anyway. There was something soothing about it all as Nicole spread the sauce and sprinkled on the toppings from a height that was almost mesmerising, an opinion obviously shared by Kat and Dom as they let out yawns and started sucking on their fists. “You just bored your kids to sleep, Haughtpocket,” she teased quietly.

“See if you can get them settled while this is cooking for you.”

Wynonna’s mouth started to water at the thought as she watched Nicole slide her pizza into the waiting oven. She glanced back into the kitchen as she was heading up the stairs and suddenly felt herself choking up with tears at how domestic it all was. A picture perfect family setting that they had all been denied by sucky parents.

Nicole watched the Alpha vanish out of sight as she caught the scent of tears and heard the hitch in her breathing. Her eyes met Waverly’s troubled hazel gaze and she softly kissed her temple. “I’ve got this. Go see to Wynonna.” They had shared a lot on their journey to becoming friends but Wynonna was still more likely to open up around her sister… and if she was wrong, Waverly would let her know.

“Wynonna?” Following her sister into the nursery, Waverly crossed the room and stood at her sister’s side and she gazed down at the twins. Even with her head ducked low, Waverly could see the jewel-like glisten of tears in her blue eyes. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Sniffing, Wynonna rubbed at her eyes and tilted her head to rest on her baby sister’s shoulder. “It’s silly. Just watching you two and suddenly I just thought about everything we missed out on… All of us. I used to think I could remember watching mama baking but… not too sure if I’m not remembering seeing it on a TV show.”

“All of my kitchen memories come from watching Gus.”

“Yeah, while I was busy rebelling and causing trouble. Gus tried to teach me how to cook,” Wynonna admitted. “I didn’t want to know because it was something mama would have done for us and now I can’t even remember if she did. I miss her,” she sighed. “Wish you could have gotten to know her how you should have.”

“Yeah. Me too. We’ve got a pretty good family now though, don’t you think? One of blood and one we got to choose for ourselves,” Waverly smiled as she watched Wynonna’s fingers stroking over sleeping baby cheeks and listened to the sounds of Nicole moving around in the kitchen. “There are things I wish we could change about our past but nothing I would change about what we’ve got now.” Gently she brushed away the tears on Wynonna’s cheek and held her close as she shuddered and spilt a few more against her shoulder.

“Poor kids don’t stand a chance with two walking bumper stickers for parents,” Wynonna mumbled out a tease against Waverly. “Thanks, Baby Girl,” she pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I don’t say it enough but, I love you.”

“I love you too,” she could tell by Wynonna’s words and actions that she was done with the talking for the moment so she changed the subject so she could gather herself together again. “You ready to eat, smells like your pizza is nearly ready if you want to freshen up in our room first?”

“Yeah,” she gave Waverly a quick squeeze of thanks. “I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”

“Are the guys joining us?”

“They better not! Bad enough I have to share my food with you,” she winked as she stepped into their bedroom and shut the door in Waverly’s face. Splashing water into her face, Wynonna leaned against the sink for a moment, feeling the rivulets of water coursing down her face instead of tears as she breathed in the scent of her sister ingrained into every part of the room along with Nicole’s. She’d missed her scent around the Homestead more than she’d ever thought possible.

Wynonna dried her hand and face and ran her hands across her abdomen, checking for any changes in her own body. “Are you two messing with my hormones all ready?” Her eyes widened as she remembered the chaos created when Waverly and Nicole’s connection had flared wide open. “Yep, I really need to get some kind of tea from Clarke.” Though… seeing Xavier and Doc sparring with Alexandria could also be amusing.

Before she left the room, Wynonna cast a curious gaze towards the bed and wondered where the mountain of cushions had disappeared to. Stepping to the side, she opened the closet door and barked out a laugh when she saw stacks of vacuum sealed bags with their colourful squashed contents all neatly labelled ‘NESTING SUPPLIES’. All of them were on a shelf on Nicole’s mostly blue side ‘cause, of course, there was little to no room left on Waverly’s side of the sizable walk-in closet. It was astonishing how much room poofy jackets, skimpy crop tops, leggings and short skirts could take up.

“Earp! Time to come out of the closet!”

“Why do I feel like I was set up for that lame pun?” she laughed at the far too innocent looks on both their faces and forced a gap between them on the couch and sat down. Her first bite of the pizza made her moan in sheer pleasure and want to kidnap the redhead so she could cook for her alone. “Oh! My! God!”

Growling softly, Nicole hunched around the slice in her hand as Wynonna gave it a look like she was thinking of grabbing everything all for herself.

“Behave,” Waverly ordered gently with a roll of her eyes as their scents rose. Alpha’s: one pregnant, one in rut… food and full moon were a potent combination. All they did though was raise their scent and share the occasional glower and hand slap as they ate and watched TV.

With hunger sated all round, Waverly urged Wynonna to swap places with her as she saw Nicole flagging. Taking the last bit of crust out of her hand, Waverly patted her lap and smiled as Nicole’s long frame was curled up in the space of a single seat and she was asleep before her head even came to rest upon her thigh. Her body shutting down to conserve energy for her rut.

Waverly ran her eyes and fingers along the sleep softened lines of Nicole’s jawline. Fingers trailing along the long curve of her throat, she found the steady thud of her pulse and the edge of her teeth marks etched into her skin. Nicole’s scent rose under her touch, softer, more heady and seductive than when it had been butting heads with Wynonna’s. Her skin was flush with heat, still gentle compared to the almost feverish heat her rut would push it to when it hit fully.

A sleepy twitch of long leg and puppyish whimper had Waverly bending down, a smile curving her lips as she pressed them to Nicole’s temple. Leaning back she sank into the soft cushions and savoured the warmth and feeling of family as she rested her head against Wynonna’s shoulder.