48. Coach Officer

       “Nicole, you don’t understand!” Waverly shouted, smacking her hand down onto the island. “That kid is going to be so damn spoiled!” The redhead laughed, taking a bite of one of Wynonna’s massive burritos that she couldn’t eat earlier. Waverly shoved a cinnamon twist in her mouth, smiling at her. 

       The clock was ticking towards 11 and the girls had decided to call it a night with unpacking and have an almost midnight snack before heading to bed. Waverly and Wynonna had a good cry earlier on the porch together. Did it help ease some of Wynonna's nerves? Hell yes. Kinda. Now her two favorite people in her life got to bug her about it all the time. 

       “So spoiled. Oh so spoiled,” Nicole enthused, pointing at her with the burrito that barely fit in her hand. 

       “Like ok, the kid’s got Wynonna as a mom. That’s pretty sweet. She is great and I do not doubt that that kid will turn out just as sassy if not more than her . . . BUT. Along with their sick mom, they’re gonna get two freaking awesome aunts! Like, C’MON?!” The Officer’s head dipped slightly at that. Wynonna and Waverly had now both referred to her as this kid’s aunt. Wynonna had a few days back while they were at Walmart getting her vitamins, and she said something snarky like, “Oh my god, this kid has a narc as an aunt” in which she responded with something along the lines of: “That means if they ever get their Earp-ass in trouble, they might not have to see the insides of those nasty jail cells” 

       And if it didn’t make her heart swell with happiness, she didn’t know what did. 

       Nicole looked up at her after a few seconds with a small smile. “What?” Waverly asked, leaning forward over her food. 

       “Nothing,” she shrugged, finishing off the half that she cut off from the burrito, standing up to shove the other part back in the fridge. “Just . . . Happy. Really, really happy.”

       The brunette got up and walked around, leaning against the counter in front of where she was standing, pulling her closer by her hips when she turned around. “Why’s that?” 

       Nicole smiled, licking her lips as she lifted her up and set her on the counter, stepping in between her legs and resting her arms on her thighs. “Well. I got Taco Bell today, for one. That always puts me in a good mood.” Waverly giggled, twirling red locks around her fingers. “Second. In the near future, I get to usher my niece or nephew to their first day of kindergarten with the whole calvary, lights and sirens, just to prove that you do not fuck with an Earp.” The brunette shook her head at her with a smile, dropping her hands to her shoulders, running her thumbs along her neck. “And thirdly,” she pressed a hand to her chest, “most importantly, in my opinion, I get to share a home with my best friend. No more days where I’ve missed you all day long but I’m too worn out to drive up to the Homestead. No more half of my closet here, half of my closet there. No more waking up to an empty bed. All I’ll ever need is . . . right here.” 

       Waverly rubbed her thumbs along her cheeks, looking down at her with teary eyes. “I love you,” she whispered with a smile. 

       The redhead flashed her dimples, pushing a kiss into the palm of her hand. “I love you, too.” She spun around and crossed her legs in front of her. “Care for a ride, Darling?” She asked in her horrible British accent that always got a laugh out of the smaller girl. She wrapped her arms around her neck and Nicole pulled her off the counter and onto her back. “Neigh, neigh, bitch,” she smirked, tipping her head back to look at her. Waverly let out a scoff wrapped up in a snort, hitting the side of her head lightly. The Officer hoisted her up to get a better grip before clomping down the hallway, tossing her onto the bed. The younger girl giggled, sitting up and climbing back off of the bed to change into some pajamas. 

       “What do you have to do tomorrow?” She asked in a yawn, tugging her shirt off. 

       “I have . . . practice with the boys at the cages at 11 and then my shift starts at 5.” 

       “Nightshift?” The brunette complained, pulling one of Nicole’s shirt’s on. 

       “Yea,” Nicole sighed, swapping her jeans out with basketball shorts and her shirt out for a clean one. She looked at her with a smirk. “All of your clothes are here, yet you continue to wear mine?”

       Waverly shrugged, climbing into bed. “This shirt is comfy.” 

       “Mm.” The redhead slid under the blanket next to her. “I like my clothes better on you anyway,” she smiled. 

       “Now you in my clothes. That is a sight I need to see,” she smirked, running her fingers across her hand, feeling the indents from her scars on her fingers. She flipped to her side and brought her hand closer to her face. She laid her hand out flat against her own hand and saw her girlfriend’s face twitch out of the corner of her eye. “Does it hurt, Love?” She asked, eyes full of worry. 

       She knew she had been cleared from physical therapy about a month ago, so it should be good as new now. If there was something that she had noticed over the past few months since her surgery, it was that now her right hand was almost always curled into an almost-fist when she wasn’t using it. She didn’t know if that was what was most comfortable for her or if it was a habit, but it never really concerned her until now. 

       “I mean, not usually. I think I just overworked it the past few days, ya know?”

       Waverly’s eyes didn’t lose their worry. “Nic, why didn’t you say something?” 

       Nicole shook her head, stretching her hand out, the other holding a finger on either side of her second knuckle as she opened and closed it. “It’s just tight, Babe. It happens sometimes if I’ve been using my hands a lot. The guy at therapy told me that would happen, so it’s nothing to worry about,” she assured, dropping her hands to rest on her chest.

       Waverly tutted, picking it up and bringing it towards her face again. “Still. I wish you would have told me. We could have taken a break or something.” She scooted closer to the redhead, rolling onto her with her head on her chest. Nicole wrapped a protective arm around her, hugging her shoulder.

       “I’m fine, Baby,” she whispered, kissing her forehead and flicking the lamp on the nightstand off. “When do you work tomorrow?” 

       “Eight to five,” she mumbled into her shirt. 

       “I should be back on this side of town by 2:30-3ish. Want me to stop by Shorty’s so we can eat lunch together?” She asked, a yawn interrupting her halfway through. 

       “That’d be nice,” she sighed, pushing her hand up her shirt, feeling the warm skin of her side. 

       “Mk, let’s do that. Night, Baby.” 

       “Ni’ night,” she mumbled, sleep taking over her thoughts. 

.  .  .

       BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Nicole and Waverly let out a synchronized groan as the redhead smacked her hand around on the nightstand, shutting Waverly’s phone alarm off. “No,” she grumbled, wrapping both of her arms around the smaller girl. “You can’t leave.” 

       Waverly giggled sleepily, eyes still closed. “Are you holding me hostage, Officer Haught?” 

       “Mhm,” she mumbled, tugging her completely on top of her, wrapping her legs around her hips. “Mine.” 

       Waverly opened her eyes, reaching up to rub the sleep out of them. She tugged them out of her grip, curling her fingers over her shoulders and pulled herself closer to her face until she was right above her. Nicole’s eyes slowly opened, a smile on her face as she looked into the tired, but just as bright hazel eyes she had fallen in love with. “Morning,” the brunette said quietly. 

       “Morning,” she responded, voice cracking from sleep. She hugged her arms tighter around her torso as their lips met in a loving kiss. Nicole sighed, legs releasing her thighs as she slid her hands down to her hips. Waverly pulled away, tugging her bottom lip down with her finger on her chin. 

       “I have morning breath,” she sighed. 

       “And I don’t?” 

       She chuckled, rolling off of her to stand up with a stretch. “Oh, I know you do,” she smirked, voice strained as she reached her arms above her head. Nicole scoffed, rolling her eyes as she smacked her ass when she turned away. 

.  . .

       Waverly came out of the bathroom, fresh out of the shower and dressed in her Shorty’s uniform as she pulled her hair back into a braid. The smell of breakfast immediately hit her nose as she walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. She found the redhead at the stove, spinning a spatula around her fingers in beat with the low music coming from the speakers in the living room. She pushed a kiss to her cheek as she reached up into the cabinet for a coffee cup. “You could have gone back to sleep, Nic,” she sighed, leaning forward onto the counter and standing up on her toes to try and reach the one she wanted.

       The Officer stepped behind her, placing her hand on her hip as she grabbed the unicorn mug with ease. “But then you would have gone to work hungry,” she said with a fake pout, handing the mug to her with both hands. 

       “You need to make your house short people friendly, for one. Two, I would have grabbed something on my way out,” she pointed out as she poured some coffee. 

       Nicole cleared her throat. “Our house,” she corrected. 

       Waverly tutted, sitting down at the island and swinging her legs. “Sorry, our house,” she mumbled, putting her hands up.

       Nicole turned around from the stove and leaned forward on the other side of the counter. “This is our house now, Wave,” she said with all seriousness. 

       She shrugged a little, taking a sip of her coffee. “I know, but it’s still your house.” 

       The redhead stood up straight. “Well, I planned on getting your name on the deed tomorrow, so then it will legally be our house,” she said with air quotes and a stupid voice.

       The brunette’s eyes shot up to meet her face. “What?” 

       Nicole gave her a nod. “As long as that’s ok with you?” 

       “I mean, yea, it’s ok with me. But, are you sure you want to do that?”

       “Yea,” she shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I?” 

       “I dunno,” she mumbled, looking down into her mug. “If something were to . . . happen between us-” 

       Nicole walked around the island and took both of her hands in her own. “Waverly Earp, there is nothing on this Earth that could make me stop loving you. Alright?” 

       The brunette shook her head. “Yea, I know, I’m sorry. I just . . . don’t want to lose you.”

       The Officer quickly leaned into a kiss, cupping each side of her face. “I will tell you every single day until you believe that I will never, ever leave you . . . because that’s how much I love you. Now, if you will excuse me, Dear, I am making us some breakfast.” She booped the end of her nose with the spatula and turned back to the stove. Waverly smiled at the back of her, pulling her phone out of her pocket and leaning over it as she checked for any new assignments for school. 

       Several minutes later, a plate was slowly pushed in front of her. She looked up at her girlfriend with a wide smile. “You are adorable.” She looked back down at her pancake. But it wasn’t just any pancake. No. Nicole had, of course, turned it into a cute little lion. With blueberry eyes and a blueberry mouth on a smaller pancake that sat on top of the bottom portion of it and cut strawberries as a mane and a nose. She carried her own plate around and sat down next to her, her’s a lion as well. Waverly looked towards her and hooked her chin, giving her a quick kiss. “I love you,” she sighed. 

       “I love you, too.” A mischievous grin worked its way up her face. Waverly cocked her eyebrow at her. “. . . And I ain’t lion.”

       “Jesus fucking Christ,” the brunette groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as Nicole cackled at herself. 

.  .  .

       The Officer shut the car off and hopped out at the training facility, shoving her keys in her pocket as she walked inside. “Hey, Topher, what’s up?” She greeted as she approached the front desk. 

       “Nothing much. How’re you?” 

       “Good, good. Marty here yet?” 

       “Yea. He just walked back to the weight room.”

       She gave him a nod and smacked the desk as she headed that way. Weight room? Why would he be in there? Entering the room, she found him scoping out the place. “Watcha doin', Fasbinder?” She asked, leaning against one of the walls. 

       “I think we’re gonna work in here today for some of practice,” he said, crossing his arms as he walked up to her. 

       “I thought we were doing base coverage drills?” 

       “We were. But that can wait until Friday. We need to start putting some muscle on our boys, Haught.”

       She nodded her head along as he spoke. She agreed with him there. Some of those boys were pretty scrawny. “Are we gonna start working weights every Wednesday then?”

       “I think so,” he confirmed.

       She nodded her head, pushing off the wall. “Cool with me,” she smiled. They walked out of the room to head to the front to wait for the team to arrive. Their star pitcher (well, star player actually), Jax Carlton, arrived with the 3rd baseman, Reuben Paderson. 

       “Morning,” they both greeted. 

       “Morning,” Nicole smirked, pushing Reuben’s knee in with her shoe as he walked past. “Set your stuff in the infield and start your warm-ups.” He kicked her shin before nodding and heading off to do what she told them to. 

       In came the rest soon after. Trey Lincoln, right fielder. Miguel and Robbie Sanchez, 1st and 2nd basemen. Oscar Shaw, sub pitcher/catcher. Zak Woods, sub fielder. Owen Yarber, shortstop. Devon Hartford, catcher (total asshole, in Nicole’s opinion), Kaleb Knoxing, sub for bases. T.J. Bennington, sub pitcher. Callum Moore, left fielder. Carson Smith, center fielder (Literally 6’3 at 13). Leon Harris, sub fielder. 

       Nicole was just about to walk off and watch the kids warm up when Orion ran in the door. “Sorry I’m late,” he mumbled, rushing past her.

       She cocked an eyebrow, jogging to catch up with him. “Hey, Orion, wait!” She called. He didn’t stop. She gently grabbed his shoulder, stepping in front of him. “What’s up, kid?” She asked looking down at him. His baseball cap was covering the top half of his face and she wanted him to look up at her, so she tipped it up with her finger.

       Her eyes widened and she dropped down to a knee, grabbing onto one of his arms. 

       “What happened?” She asked softly, looking at his probably-day-old-or-two black eye. 

       “I got hit with a ball,” he mumbled, not really meeting her eyes. 

       “When?” 

       “At practice on Monday,” he informed. If he had, she wouldn’t have known. She had been helping Waverly pack, so she had skipped practice.

       But she wasn’t so sure that he had, either way. 

       “Are you sure that’s what happened, Bud?” She looked up at him with soft eyes. He nodded his head, pulling his cap back down and running off to join the other boys doing their warm-ups. 

       She didn’t usually pick favorites. She didn’t have a favorite food, a favorite color. But if there was one thing that she did pick favorites on, it was with this team. She told herself she didn’t, but she knew damn well she did. Orion was a great kid. He was a good catcher, funny, smart, cared about everyone. He might have been a little smaller and quieter than all the other boys, but that was what Nicole liked about him. 

       And something about this rubbed her the wrong way. 

       She had seen him with the occasional bruise or scrape on his arms and legs, but this was different. 

       She stood up from her kneeled position and adjusted the snapback on her head, pushing a hand through her hair before placing it back on. She saw Marty talking to Leon and Kaleb when she walked into the infield. 

       “Can I talk to you for a sec, Coach?” She asked, looking towards the two boys with raised eyebrows. They seemed to have gotten the hint and walked off to continue with their warm-ups. 

       “I don’t like that look on your face, Haught.”

       She took a few steps closer to him. “I don't like that shiner on Wu’s face,” she pointed out, glancing in his direction.

       Marty’s eyebrows raised. “He’s got a shiner? From what?” 

       “He told me he got hit with a ball at practice Monday.” 

       The other coach shook his head. “Not on my watch, he didn’t. I talked to him right after we finished out catch and tag drill and he was fine. That was the only time we used balls all practice.” Nicole looked in his direction quietly for a minute. He was laughing away with Callum. 

       “You think one of the boys did it?” She asked. 

       “It’s a pretty big possibility,” he sighed, rubbing his face. “Let’s just . . . keep an eye out. See if anyone is picking on him. And we’ll go from there.”

       Nicole nodded in agreement. “Yep.” She pushed herself away from the wall and walked towards the boys. “Gather up, Devils, let’s get going!” She shouted. They all came over and stood in front of her and Marty. 

       “I know we told you we were going some base coverage drills, but there has been a change in plans. Follow me.” They all began to walk towards the weight room. Nicole walked behind the huddle. 

       “Hey, Where’s Scotty?” She asked Robbie, noticing he hadn’t shown up today. 

       “Probably smoking pot with his brothers,” he shrugged. Scotty Schlemmer was the 16th player on the team and their other base sub.

       Her brows shot up. “What?!”

       He looked towards her, a confused look on his face. “He’s a Schlemmer, 2 older brothers are the potheads of West-End. C’mon, Coach Officer, you didn’t know that?” She knew the name. In fact, knew the eldest brother, Jacob, quite well. She had arrested him twice now. She just hadn’t put two and two together hearing Scotty’s last name. 

       Well, good to know. 

       “Of course I know the name, who do you think I am?” She scoffed, bumping his shoulder. “And y'all are really gonna stick with that, huh? Coach Officer?” 

       He laughed, along with a couple of the other guys near him. “It’s gotta ring to it,” he smirked. She rolled her eyes at him. 

       “Listen to your Coach, Sanchez,” she sighed, hearing Marty beginning to talk again.

       She walked around to him. “We will be spending an hour in here every Wednesday from now on. And if your parents have a problem with me buffing their kids up, tell them to give me a call,” he said with a wink. 

       “Coach?” Devon called out.

       “What?” 

       “Do we have to? I do all of this at home anyway. I’d rather use practice for, ya know, practice.”

       Marty nodded his head at him for a long couple of seconds. “Do you want to play this year, Hartford?” 

       “Obviously,” he scoffed. The Officer bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from rolling her eyes at him. 

       “Then I’d suggest you start pumping some metal because I’ve got two other boys that would love to take your spot without giving me smack every two seconds. Fix it. Or you’ll be a benchwarmer.”

       The curly-headed boy licked the inside of his bottom lip. “Yes, Sir.” 

       The Coach nodded his head with a stern glare before looking up at the rest of the team. “There is one more thing I would like to talk about with all of you . . . I’ve been a PE teacher at your school for about 4 years now. So that means I’ve known most of you since, what? 3rd or 4th grade, depending on what grade you guys are going into?” Not only was Mr. Fasbinder the baseball coach, but he was also the Kindergarten through 6th grade PE teacher for the school. “What has always been my number one rule?” A few hands when up around the room. “Yarber?” 

       “Work hard, play harder,” Owen smirked.

       Marty chuckled. “Yea, that’s up on my list, but not number one.” He called on a few more people, most giving stupid, smart-ass answers that got a laugh out of everyone. 

       “C’mon guys!” He exclaimed exasperatedly. “Bullying!” He said, hitting the side of his hand against his palm. “I hate bullying. You all know this. I even formed the anti-bullying committee. This isn’t a topic I tread on lightly . . . And with that being said. I am going to remind you that you are a team. Every single one of the boys around you are your brothers. So. If I find out that things are happening within this team, you will be consequented.” He gave a sweep of his eyes across all of their faces. “Do I make myself clear?” 

       “Yes, Coach,” the boys chorused. 

       “Good,” he said with a tight-lipped smile. He gave a nod to Nicole

       “I want you in groups with your positions. Outfielders. Infielders. And pitchers and catchers. That is how you need to get sorted in this room every Wednesday. You’ll have a station and we will switch every 20 minutes.” She clapped her hands and the boys began to split up. 

.  .  .

       The clock ticked past 2:30, so Waverly skipped over to the back to put her and Nicole’s orders in. She had a pretty good day so far. No dumbasses had bothered her. No one made a huge mess anywhere that she had to clean up. She was just cruising along, chatting up all the patrons. 

       Walking back behind the bar, she saw a new group of men seated at the bar, so she quickly took their orders, setting their drinks in front of them with a smile. 

       “‘Scuse me, Babe.”

       The brunette turned her head with a cocked eyebrow, feeling Rosita’s hand on her hip as she bent down beside her to grab some glasses. “Oop, sorry!” She apologized, moving out of her way. 

       Her and Rosita had grown closer over the past few months. Most of the time, their shifts overlapped so they certainly got to spend a lot of time with each other. And she couldn’t be happier. Rosita was one of the first female bartenders she had gotten along with working there. That might have been because she was an Earp or whatever, but she was happy she finally found someone to hang out with. 

       “Hey, Rosie, can I talk to you for a sec?” She asked with a smile. 

       “Sure!” 

       “So. I was thinking. Maybe sometime this week I could invite you, Jessie, and Chrissy over to our house and we could have, like, a girl’s night or something?” 

       Rosita’s face lit up. “That is the best idea I think I have ever heard!” 

       “You’re in?!” Waverly asked with a bigger smile.

       “Of course I’m in!” She squealed, grabbing onto each of her hands. They immediately started figuring out details, planning out what they were going to do. 

       “Hey,” Rosita started, lowering her excitement level by like 5 notches a couple of minutes later. “You said our house. Did you and Nicole move in together?” 

       She clapped her hands together in excitement. “Yes! We got everything moved last night!” 

       Rosita nodded her head with wide eyes and an opened, somewhat surprised, smile. “Wow,” she said, a little unenthusiastic, but Waverly didn’t catch it over the sounds of her squealing. “Haven’t you two only been together a few months, though?” 

       “Well, yea. But we already know we’re going to be together for, well, probably forever, so.” She gave her a one-shouldered shrug.

       Rosita nodded her head with the same odd smile on her face. “That’s great, Waves. I’m happy for you,” she said sweetly. Waverly smile creased her eyes as she pulled her into a hug. 

       Little did the younger Earp know, Nicole had just walked up to the bar behind her. Rosita made eye contact with her, face growing smug, almost into a snarl. The Officer pushed her tongue up on the sides of her molars as she tapped her fingers annoyedly on the counter with a glare, waiting for her to detach herself from her girlfriend. This wasn’t the first look she had gotten from Rosita either. Not that Waverly knew anything about that, though. 

       The darker-haired woman finally pulled away from her, giving her a smile. “I think somebody’s here to see you,” she singsonged, slowly turning her around.

       Waverly gasped, rushing over to her. “Hi, Baby!” She jumped up on her toes, pulling her into a teeth-knocking kiss. Nicole slid her hands down to her hips, calming herself down a little. She knew that the brunette was still oblivious to the fact that Rosita was into her. 

       “Hi,” she smiled sweetly. “How’s your day been?” She asked as Waverly walked them over to a table. 

       “Really good! How was practice?” 

       Nicole sat down at the booth across from the smaller girl. “Pretty good, yea. Kaleb the Clutz dropped a 30-pound dumbbell on my foot, but everything else was good.” 

       Waverly scrunched her face up. “Ow. Are you ok?” 

       “Oh, yea, I’ll be good,” she said, waving her hand around.

       Waverly let out a sigh of relief before calling the waitress over. “Hey, I put our order in about 15 minutes ago. Can you go see if they got it ready and tell Shorty I’m on break?” She nodded sweetly. “Thanks!” The girl walked away. She looked back to the redhead, who was subconsciously tapping her thumb on the table as she chewed her cheek. “What’re you thinking about?” Waverly asked, furrowing her brow as she slid her hand across the table, stilling her drumming finger.

       Nicole looked up at her, pursing her lips and rubbing her face with her hands. “So, you know Orion?” She asked, slouching forward a bit. 

       “You’re favorite?” 

       “No- He’s not my favorite.” 

       “Yes he is, but anyway, continue,” she said with a smile.

       Nicole threw her a look, though she really did know it was true. “Anyway. He rushed in today all spazzy and when I went to ask him what his deal was, I saw he had this big ass black eye.” 

       “Oh no,” she said quietly, mood shifting. 

       “Yea. And we think one of the other boys gave it to him,” she sighed. 

       “That’s horrible.” She placed her hand over Nicole’s again. “Are you going to look into it? Like, investigate or something?” 

       “All we can really do right now is wait and see if someone picks on him in front of us. Fasbinder told them they need to check themselves today, but if we rush in and start asking questions guns blazing, we are going to lose all of their trust . . . I dunno. I just don’t like seeing kids getting hurt and being too scared to speak up about it.” 

       The brunette ran her thumb over her hand sympathetically. “I’m sure you are going to get to the bottom of it,” she soothed. She looked over to see the waitress coming over with their food. She set it down with a smile and walked off. 

       “How’d you know what I wanted?” Nicole asked with a smile. 

       “You always get the same exact thing, Nic,” she said with a laugh. “Chicken salad sandwich, no pickles, and a banana milkshake,” she recited in her best Nicole impression. 

       “I do not sound like that,” she groaned, sticking a fry into her mouth. 

       “Yes, you do.” 

       “I do not.

       “Yea-huh.” 

       “Nuh-uh.”

       “Uh-huh!”

       “Nuh-uh!” 

       “Yea-huh!” 

       “Hi, I’m Waverly Earp and if I could be anythinnnnng I wanted, I would be a professional unicorn rider!” She ended it with a huge toothy smile and a wave. 

       “Oh my God, you ass!” She snatched a handful of fries from her plate. 

       “Hey! You have some!” 

       “You deserved that,” she huffed with a smile, sticking a few in her mouth. “And FYI,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “if I could be anything, I’d be the unicorn.” Nicole shook her head at her, biting her cheeks to contain the bubble of laughter trying to escape. 

.  .  . 

       The girls finished their lunch happily and parted ways so Nicole could head home and get ready for work while Waverly finished up the last of her shift. 

       Now home, Waverly popped some music on, grabbed a box, and started sorting through it. She was going to try and get everything unpacked and set up in the next 5 days because that is when they planned to have their “Girl’s Night”. 

       After a couple of excruciatingly boring hours of that, she hunkered down on the couch and spread all of her papers out, ready to finally get some school work done. To say anything she had done so far had been hard, she would be lying. She was zooming through all of her classes with flying colors. Was it possible to get your “4-year degree” in a year? She didn’t know. Was she gonna try to? Obviously. She knew there was still a lot she had to do in person. She had to student teach for about 6 months at the end and she was excited. The further and further she got into the process of becoming a teacher, the more and more excited she was. She still didn’t know what grade she would be teaching, and if it was Jr. High, which class she would be teaching. But she didn’t care. She’d teach at any position. All she wanted was to help kids grow to their fullest potential. Whether it was 5-year-olds or 14-year-olds, she couldn’t give a care less. 

       The only downfall to her flying through all of her work and classes was that it obviously took time. And time was not something she had a lot of these days. Black Badge and Shorty’s took up a lot of it, not to mention spending time with family. So, when she did have time. She used it. And oh how she used it. 

       When Waverly Earp was in the zone, you did not bother her. You did not try and talk to her, you did not ask her any questions. Hell, you didn’t even touch her. You were just better off staying in the other room.

       Nicole, unfortunately, had to learn that the hard way. 

       AKA, almost getting her head tore off by an angry pint-sized brunette that could stir up enough madness to knock a house down. Twice. 

       And it was no confusing matter whether or not she was in the zone. Oh, you knew. She would have her bright pink Beats on her head at full blast and a mug of her soothing sunshine herbal tea in the near proximity of her. 

       And with those two things, Waverly Earp was golden. 

       She could read, research, write, type, take notes, cite, create slideshow presentations, make any kind of graph you could think of. She always knew what she had to do and how she was going to do it. 

       Time would move at an abnormal speed when she was in the zone. She could sit down at the table after breakfast and remove her headphones, thinking it had only been an hour or so, but it turns out it was almost dinner. 

       This was much the case she was in right now. She saw the door open out of the corner of her eye, so she immediately checked the time, not realizing that Nicole would be home already. What she hadn’t expected to see was that it was 5 in the morning. 

       Nicole should have gotten off of work at 2. She removed her headphones, ready to question why she hadn’t texted her that she would be home late. 

       But looking up at the Officer, that thought immediately flew out the window. 

       Nicole Haught was a sopping wet mess. Her hair was drenched, clothes soaked from head to toe. 

       That was not her concern. 

       Her concern was the blood. 

       The blood covering her hands. The darker patches she saw on the front of her uniform. She smears on her face and neck. 

       Her eyes were lifeless. Like her soul had floated away hours ago. Her mouth was set in a straight line. She was so pale. It was like she had never even seen the sun in a photo. 

       It wasn’t until now that Waverly realized her own mouth was hanging open. She blinked a few times, hearing a crack of thunder shake the house from the still-open door. She stood up on shaky legs, setting the Beats down gently on the table. 

       Whoever just walked into this house was not the Nicole that she left at Shorty’s.

       “Baby . . . What happened?”