Chapter Text
A - arrested.
The first time Waverly ever set eyes on Nicole Haught was before they were ever properly introduced. It was an ordinary weekend by most accounts. Waverly had taken a trip to the Big City to run some errands, and really, she knew better than to drive into the city during Pride Weekend. She knew traffic would be a nightmare, but this? This traffic was just ridiculous.
It was the height of summer, and the air conditioning in Waverly’s beaten up old car was just about to give up entirely. She pulled her wavy hair back in her hands loosely, giving her neck and shoulders a brief moment to breathe while she let the car roll forward at a max speed of 0.5mph. The cars queued infinitely it seemed, and from behind her she could hear people honking their horns in useless frustration - it’s not like any of them could go anywhere.
Unbeknownst to the drivers, part of the city’s celebrations had been infiltrated by a few drunken idiots spewing hateful nonsense at whoever they deemed a good target, and of course, those happy, proud queers were having absolutely none of it. Within ten minutes things were out of control. Too much alcohol, too much hate, too much emotion - it collided, and the situation devolved into chaos. Police flooded the scene anticipating a violent breakout, grabbing anyone who appeared remotely disruptive. The situation unfolded beside the queuing traffic, and Waverly watched bewildered as chaos spilled onto the streets and between the slow-moving traffic.
Then she saw her. This tall, angry, gorgeous redhead apprehended by a woman in police garb. The officer shoved her roughly against the nearest wall, one hand firmly between her shoulder blades and one hand cuffing her wrists. Waverly watched as the impact took the breath out of the redheaded stranger, unable to look away. The police officer kicked the redhead’s ankle, firmly spreading her legs before she began to frisk her. Waverly’s heart raced, but she was too engrossed in what was happening against that wall to notice.
That was when her car bumped into the car in front, hard. She hadn’t been looking. She had forgotten she was even driving. It wasn’t bad, of course, but it was embarrassingly loud. Waverly’s eyes darted between the car she was currently almost inside, and the redhead. It had caught her attention. They locked eyes and the mystery redhead smirked, holding eye contact whilst the chaos around them whipped into a frenzy. The officer was frisking her thighs. The driver of the car ahead had gotten out, screaming. Waverly hadn’t even pressed the brakes yet, she was held fast in this eye contact. Those dark, mysterious eyes. Angry, confident, challenging… something else.
Her car door was wrenched open and the victim of her terrible driving towered above her demanding answers. She had to focus. She started babbling apologies, gesturing to the madness around them as a weak excuse. They shared insurance information, but Waverly’s mind wasn’t on the car situation at all. She glanced back at where the redhead stood, but no one was there. She scanned the scene and saw the woman being shoved into the back of a cruiser, glancing her way as she leaned back into the seat.
—————
B - bad cop.
Waverly properly met the mysterious redheaded stranger about a week later, when she waltzed into Shorty’s wearing— surely not? A police uniform?
“Howdy,” she smirked, leaning against the doorframe. Waverly had turned, customer service smile at the ready, when they locked eyes and she faltered. Her expression slipped, she felt, but she couldn’t say what replaced it.
“You,” it slipped out involuntarily.
“You remember.” The officer had a twinkle in her eye.
“You were…” Waverly still wasn’t forming any kind of coherent sentence.
“A bad girl?” She smirked. “And you…” she stepped into the bar, slow and sure of herself. “You are the bad driver.”
“Well- I mean, I’m not- I’m not usually a bad…” she trailed off into silence as the officer reached the bar. “Are you stalking me?”
Oh god, it just came out, she just blurted it out like that. She stumbled over some nonsense apologies but the officer seemed unfazed, amused even.
“No,” she drawled with a teasing lilt. “I’m new in town. I thought I’d come introduce myself to some of the locals, get to know the town… you know.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
A charged silence hung between them.
“I’m Nicole.” She reached a hand forward. Waverly met the handshake and tried to recalibrate her sunshine-y expression. Why was she so flustered?
“I’m Waverly.”
“Waverly…” Nicole let the word slip between her lips like she was trying it on for size. “I’ve never met someone with that name.” She was still holding her hand. Waverly couldn’t break the eye contact, those all-consuming pools of warm, deep brown holding her entirely captive. “It’s beautiful.” She finished, and Waverly felt her stomach flip.
“T-thank you.” She stammered like an absolute fool. “So are you.” Oh my god.
Nicole’s lips quirked into an amused smile.
“I mean… so is your… name.” Waverly spun to face the backbar, she had to put a stop to this absolute embarrassment of an interaction. She forced a light, breezy tone. “So, anyway, if you’re a cop, how come you were… you know.” She took a short breath to steady her voice. “Getting cuffed like that.” She busied herself polishing a glass, back turned on her guest. Casual. Whatever.
“Well…” there was a brief pause. It hung excruciatingly in the thick air between them. “I guess I just don’t know how to play good cop.”
Waverly could hear the smirk, she could hear the teasing. Why? Why was she doing this and why was it… working? Was she… was she like… flirting? Did Waverly like it? She couldn’t think of any words. Not a single one. Not even her own name.
“Is that so,” she finally breathed out, just unreasonably flustered. Warmth crept from the depths of her stomach to her chest. The summer heat was almost unbearable, and yet, something about it felt intoxicating in that moment, and when Waverly turned back to face Nicole, she found herself wishing desperately that there wasn’t a bar between them.
“It is.”
“Something tells me you can be very, very good when you want to be, Nicole.” The words came out before Waverly could moderate them.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” She smirked, holding Waverly in place with those irresistible eyes. “See you around, Waverly.”
Waverly felt weak in the knees even after Nicole had left. She whipped out her phone and frantically navigated towards Google, where she quickly researched these new symptoms she was experiencing. Define gay panic.
“Oh…” Waverly’s fingers touched her lips as she read on. “Do I like girls?” Her eyes drifted to the empty doorway. Do I like that girl?
—————
C - Coming out / cat rescue.
Waverly had an awful lot to think about. She didn’t see Nicole, or should she say Officer Haught, for the rest of the week, but she spent every day looking up at the door whenever someone entered…
Hoping.
There. She admitted it, whatever. She was hoping to see Nicole again.
She flung a rag down and dropped her elbows to the bar, rubbing her face with a groan.
“Bad day?”
Waverly jumped, but when she looked up, it was just-
“Wynonna!”
Her sister shifted heavily onto a bar stool and Waverly instinctively started pouring her a bourbon. Wynonna necked it in one and put the glass back close enough to Waverly that she got the hint and refilled it without pause.
“Are you having a bad day?” She eyed her sister suspiciously as Wynonna threw the next one back just as fast.
“It’s 2PM and I’m drinking.” She paused dramatically with her signature star-of-the-show grin. “How bad can it be?”
“Depends who you ask…” Waverly muttered, pouring her sister a third.
“What’s up your butt?”
Waverly paused for a split second, ultimately coming to an impulsive decision. She was going to tell Wynonna. She grabbed a second glass and poured herself a healthy portion to match Wynonna’s.
“Cheers,” Wynonna said, bewildered suddenly as they knocked them back together. “So…?”
Nope.
“Hold on.” She poured them each another and swallowed it in one. “Okay.” She levelled her eyes on Wynonna’s. “Have you met the new cop in town?” Wynonna’s brow shot up.
“No…” she gestured impatiently for more information.
“I- I met her… kind of… a few weeks ago. When I did my little car boop.”
“‘Kay…”
“And then again… more recently…”
“Yeahhhh…” Wynonna wasn’t getting it, which, Waverly couldn’t exactly expect her to, but god, was she going to make her say it?
“Wynonna I have a- like- I don’t know, I think I- like, you know when you-“ she was making a mess of this.
“You like her?”
“No.” Waverly said sternly. “Well…” less stern…
“You… don’t like her?”
“No, it’s not that, I- I don’t know her to… know if I like her…”
A short silence hung between them, Wynonna with her classic Wynonna-y expressions.
“Okay, just spit it out, Earp.” She finally demanded.
“I think I have like… a crush.”
“Ohhhkayyyy… Are you coming out to me, is that what this whole thing is?” Wynonna seemed unfazed as she gestured for another drink.
“No. Well, I guess, technically, yes. But no, I’m just… I haven’t seen her in a week and-“
“Got it!” Wynonna stood up, finished her drink and started marching towards the door.
“Where are you…” the door slammed. She didn’t even pay.
—
The next time Waverly saw Wynonna, she came marching into Shorty’s a day later with a smug grin.
“You look pleased with yourself.”
“I am.” She took her usual barstool. “I’ve solved your problem.”
Waverly shot her a weary look.
“Which is…?”
“You wanted to see your popo again.”
Waverly’s face scrunched into a confused expression. Wynonna was unpredictable and Waverly could never accurately pinpoint where any of her plans were going. She watched, growing more worried than confused as Wynonna took out her phone and dialled.
“Ya hi, I’m looking for an Officer Haught.” She waited a few moments. “There’s a situation at Shorty’s, could you help a gal out?” She said sweetly. Waverly’s eyes bulged and she frantically whipped her awful, meddling, insane sister with a bar towel.
“Stop. Stop. Put the fucking phone down Wynonna, I swear to god.”
“Mmkay thanks, Haught, see you soon.” She drawled with a completely fake sweetness. She hung up. “See? Easy.”
“There’s no situation, Wynonna.”
“Oh, there is. I trapped a stray cat in the basement, it’s going crazy.” She finished her drink. “Good luck with your date!”
—
When the officer showed up, all… god, in the uniform and everything, Waverly was already a mess. How was she going to explain this?
“O-Officer. Hello.” She smiled brightly in a way that hopefully hid her panic. But Nicole was in Police Mode. She had a hand perched on her holster and her eyes surveyed the environment systematically.
“What’s the issue?” She asked when she couldn’t spot any obvious danger. In fact, there was no one else in the bar.
“I, um.” Waverly stammered with an exasperated smile. “A… customer… lost their cat… in the basement…” she trailed off as Nicole turned her eyes to look at her and tilted her head.
“A cat?”
“Mmhm.”
Silence.
“It’s… aggressive?”
Silence.
“Did you call me to shoot a cat?”
“What!? No! Oh my god.” Her surprise took her right out of her panic, which was, at least, something. “I wasn’t the one who called. But, since you’re here…” she gave Haught a hopeful smile. “Wanna help me catch a cat?”
—
They locked the doors to the bar and Waverly showed the officer to the basement. Waverly went to open the door but Nicole put her hand over hers to stop her.
“I’ll go first.” She said, but then hesitated, remembering why she was there. “In case… the cat is angry.” She could hardly stifle her chuckle at how ridiculous this was.
“I’m sorry, I guess this isn’t exactly police work.” Waverly felt guilty, even though it was entirely Wynonna’s fault.
“Well, I’m finding that Purgatory has a lot of… odd… needs. This isn’t even the weirdest call this week.” She was lying, but Waverly didn’t need to know that. Nicole suspected that Waverly was just afraid to confront the cat alone, and hey, if the girl needs a hero… why not.
Nicole was poised like she was on the attack as she descended the stairs slowly, despite wielding only a large towel to safely swaddle the offender.
The basement was dark, cool and quiet. Only the sounds of footsteps and breathing could be heard.
“Any ideas?” Nicole whispered, looking around the dim room for signs of intruder cats.
“None.”
And then the intruder made itself known.
“Is that…” Nicole stood up as much as she could under the low cellar ceiling, no longer in tactical mode.
“Oh my god.” Waverly whispered as her brain processed what was in front of her. Her heart absolutely dropped out of her body and rolled away for dear life. She was going to murder Wynonna, like actually with her bare hands just fucking-
“Waves, that is not a cat.”
Waves.
Her eyes darted to the officer, forgetting the wild animal slouched on a keg, just staring at them.
Nicole approached the fuzzy fat little creature slowly and surely, confidently wrapping the towel around it and bringing it up to her chest. “Gotta show it who’s boss.” She cooed, words and tone not aligning at all as she stuffed the tubby thing into her jacket. Waverly bit her bottom lip, head swimming. It was this exact moment that she decided, actually yes, maybe she did like Nicole, in a not-just-a-crush-and-definitely-more-than-just-a-hot-uniform-fantasy kinda way.
Or maybe the way Nicole used her index finger to lightly stroke the animal’s little head was just hot in a different way, because there she stood, in her uniform, gun hanging from her hip, with a kidnapped wild animal wrapped snugly in a towel while Nicole spoke soothingly to it, and Waverly was feeling all kinds of things.
The officer looked up at her finally. “Intruder down.”
“My hero.” She grinned apologetically, but she didn’t miss Nicole’s blush.
“Well… just here to protect and serve the good bar ladies of Purgatory.”
Waverly felt a pang.
“You protect and serve a lot of us ladies?” She prodded with a teasing tone that hid her green-eyed monster. Nicole looked up like she could hear that little monster anyway. She searched for words, mindlessly rocking the wild animal like a baby in her jacket. Waverly found it endearing.
“Umm…” she couldn’t exactly say no, because it was her job. But she didn’t exactly want to say yes either. “Never from a baby raccoon?”
—————
When Waverly got home that evening she slammed the door hard enough to shake the house.
“WYNONNA.”
Wynonna slinked out from the kitchen with a shit-eating grin.
“How was your date?” She sing-songed.
“You put a fucking raccoon in the basement.” She charged forward, pointing an accusing, furious finger at her sister. “You called my crush.” She prodded her in the chest hard. “And now she probably thinks I don’t know what a cat is.” Prod.
“Ow. Did she save the cat?”
“It was a raccoon!”
“Whatever. Did she save it?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Waverly could have screamed.
“What do you mean!?”
“Any other officer would have called animal control.” Wynonna shrugged with a self-satisfied smile. Waverly’s anger halted as she thought about it.
“Really?” A shy smile appeared, replacing her rage.