Chapter Text
The snowstorm had caught Waverly completely by surprise. Thick flakes swirled and danced around in a manner she could well have found beautiful, had she not been cursing the lack of visibility it afforded her on her drive. She knew she shouldn't really be out in such dangerous weather, but with no job and no boyfriend, all she had in the world was the Jeep and what she carried. She left the Big City with no other option left to her than returning home to her sisters, snowstorm or no snowstorm. When the Jeep elegantly slid from the icy road and dumped two wheels into a deep ditch she wasn't remotely surprised.
"Shit"
She quickly assessed her options. Getting the car out of the ditch on her own was impossible, and the weather would mean for no tows in the next few hours. Calling her sisters for a pick up seemed to be the best bet.
"Hey Willa, my car's gone off the road on-" beeeeeeep Waverly cursed as the disconnection tone screeched in her ear. Checking the screen she saw there was no more signal, "Of course, because my day couldn't possibly get any better"
She remembered seeing a house a couple of miles back with lights on, and she knew the Homestead was at least another 15 miles further. "Well, we're not going to make 15 miles on foot in this weather little bean, let's hope whoever's taken over the old Jones' farm is ok with a visitor." Pulling her snow boots and winter gear out of the trunk, she was once again thankful for her organised nature.
As she trudged back along the road she thought about how she'd gotten to this point, how much had changed since yesterday. Pregnant and alone, returning back home instead of living her life in the Big City.
Waverly was excited and terrified to tell James about the baby. She knew he'd be happy about it, but part of her dreaded the inevitable proposal that would come from him trying to 'do the right thing'. It wasn't that she didn't love her boyfriend, they'd been together since highschool so she must love him, right?
She never expected to be pregnant at 23, not that there was anything wrong with having a baby young, it just wasn't in her plan. Waverly was nothing if not a planner. It didn't mean she wasn't happy about it though, sometimes plans go wrong in the best ways.
Climbing the stairs to their tiny 5th floor apartment, after her night shift at the grocery store, she juggled the bag of groceries and 6-pack of beer James had wanted. She was humming a little melody as she opened the door, thinking about the best way to tell him about the baby. Over dinner tonight maybe? Or just surprise him with it immediately?
Well she did certainly surprise him. And the blonde, Stephanie or Suzy, who worked as a receptionist at the garage where he had a mechanic job. Waverly herself was strangely not surprised, and she didn't feel that pang of hurt everyone said they did when they found out they'd been cheated on. She was disturbingly calm, placing the groceries and beer on the counter carefully and just watching the oblivious pair on the couch for a second before clearing her throat. The reaction was immediate.
"Shit, fuck, Waverly baby, sweetheart, this isn't what it looks like"
"No? Because it sure looks like you're screwing Sally here"
"My name's Stephanie" the blonde replied petulantly whilst trying to get dressed as quickly as possible
Waverly threw her a withering glance "Do you think I actually care about you right now?" She turned back to her cheating boyfriend, ex-boyfriend now she assumed. "Has this been going on for a while or is it new?" She raised an eyebrow in challenge
"This is the first time I swear!"
"Do not take me for that much of a fool, this is clearly not the first time"
"Ok, ok, it's happened twice before"
"Susan?" Waverly turned to the blonde sneaking out of the apartment door, "How long have you been sleeping with James?"
"It's Stephanie. And it's been about 6 months. You know, because you are always too busy for him and you've not had sex in nearly a year…" she tailed off as Waverly laughed.
"Is that what he told you? Well he's lied to you as well then I'm afraid." Waverly looked around the apartment, taking in the impersonal furniture and lack of homely touches. She'd never been happy enough here to actually decorate, she realised, always thinking they'd move somewhere bigger but James never kept a job long enough to get the money together. "You know what? You two stay, finish off whatever I just interrupted. I'll just grab a couple of things"
Entering the bedroom she pulled the suitcase out from under the bed and filled it with all her clothes, grabbed the photograph of her sisters from the side of the bed and walked back out.
"James. If there is any doubt in your head right now, understand that we're completely over." She walked out of the still open apartment door, "Bye Sophie" she slammed the door behind her.
Giving up her job at the grocery store after that had seemed like the best thing to do, she hated it anyway. A call to her sisters explaining what happened and that she was coming home was greeted with more joy than she'd anticipated. Wynonna calling James all the names under the sun and Willa agreeing that no one really liked the good for nothing wastrel anyways .
And so here she was, freezing her ass off walking to a stranger's house in the middle of winter. She was starting to lose feeling in her fingers as she saw the lights of the house ahead, her feet had gone numb about an hour ago. Walking against the wind in freezing temperatures took longer than she remembered, too long in the city had made her forget some of the dangers. Safer than staying in the car though, waiting for rescue or worse considering no-one knew where she was.
She trudged slowly up the driveway and banged on the door.
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Nicole had moved into Jones' farm 2 months after Sheriff Nedley had offered her a permanent position. She was quiet, kept herself to herself so the remote farm suited her well. Plus it's state of disrepair gave her the twofold benefit of a purpose to stop her moping, and an excuse to not have to socialise with her well-meaning coworkers. Nicole Haught was a becoming known in town as a grouchy loner, despite her excellent work on the job, she had no friends and she was happy with that.
She'd heard a snowstorm was on it's way but hadn't expected quite the amount of snow that was coming down outside. The power had gone out a couple of hours ago but luckily she still had some oil lamps from when she first bought the place. A roaring fire in the woodburning stove with an old fashioned tea kettle on top gave her the warmth she needed, so she settled in to wait it out with a good book and her cat Calamity Jane.
She was on her second cup of coffee and halfway through her book when the banging on the door startled her. "Now who on earth could that be?" She wondered aloud standing. CJ, annoyed at being so rudely deposited on the floor, stalked over to the hearth and curled up in front of the stove.
To say she was surprised to see a small human shaped lump in an enormous coat outside her door would be an understatement.
"Sorry to bother you" the lump said, it was a woman then Nicole noted, "but my car slid into a ditch a couple of miles up the road and I don't have any signal to call my family. Can I please use your phone?"
"Phone's dead" Nicole replied, surprise and confusion rendering her a little more gruff than usual. Then remembering her manners she opened the door wider, "But come in out of the cold, I'll see if I can get anyone on the radio."
"Thank you ever so much" the strange woman replied, "I haven't a clue what I would have done if you weren't home. The place I'm headed is still a bit of a way off and...oh fudge-nuggets I'm stuck" As she'd been talking, the woman had been divesting herself of the copious amount of winter clothing she had been dressed in, and had now gotten her sweater stuck as she'd tried to pull it over her head. "Er, a little help?"
Nicole sighed, put her coffee cup down and walked over. "Ah ok, I see it's got caught on your necklace, hold on" she freed the snag, and helped pull the offending item over the stranger's head.
"Thank you, again" the woman laughed, "You appear to be saving me a lot today. I'm Waverly." She held out her hand which Nicole took after a moment.
"Nicole"
For a moment the two just looked at eachother before Waverly, feeling awkward, spoke again "So you said something about a radio?"
"Oh!" Nicole shook her head to clear it, "Yes it's on battery so it should be fine. I'll just see if I can get hold of anyone, I'm just on the edge of its range normally so I'm hopeful." She opened the closet by the front door and grabbed her radio, noticing Waverly visibly shiver she also grabbed a spare blanket. "Here, you warm up by the fire. Do you want a cup of coffee?"
"Do you have any tea?"
"Yeah, but there's no milk, power's out so I don't trust anything in the fridge right now"
"No problem, I'm vegan so I'm used to drinks without milk in."
"I'll just…" Nicole gestured with the radio in the direction of the kitchen.
Waverly settled herself on the couch, and it was only seconds before a large ginger cat jumped up and curled up on her lap. She listened to Nicole potter around the kitchen as she took in her surroundings. She was just noticing the extensive bookcase when she heard the other woman talking.
"This is Deputy Haught, can anyone hear me? Over."
"Hey Nicole" the crackley voice that sounded like Lonnie came over the radio.
"Hey Lonnie, I'm at home, got a woman here who's car has slid into a ditch about two miles past. Goes by the name of Waverly, in case anyone calls in missing her."
"Waverly Earp? She's back in town? Well I'll be. I'll tell Wynonna if I see her, she's out some place with the Marshal"
"Thanks Lonnie" Nicole went to leave the kitchen when the radio went off one more time.
"Oh Nicole, this storm is gonna be a long one apparently. No sign of it letting up much before tomorrow afternoon according to the meteorologists"
"Oh great, ok thanks man."
Waverly smiled as the redhead came back into the room with a defeated expression. "Not good news then?"
"No. Looks like we'll be stuck here for at least a day."
"I'm sorry, I can try to get to my sister's if I'm causing you any inconvenience." Waverly offered, as she watched Nicole pour water from the kettle on the stove into a blue mug.
"No. God no. I'm just worried about how bad it's going to get." She handed the mug over, "You're not an inconvenience, and I'd be a really shit police officer if I turn you out to die in that." There was the first hint of a smile then, and it made Waverly relax.
A loud rumbling purr broke the comfortable silence and Nicole laughed. "CJ you Judas!" She hadn't noticed the cat had made herself comfortable on their visitor, "I'm sorry, she's not not normally so friendly with strangers, or me most of the time to be honest. I can move her?"
As if she understood every word CJ stopped purring and stared at her owner in challenge. Waverly smiled and shook her head, "No she's absolutely fine, to be honest she's helping me warm up faster."
"Wel it's about time she was useful" Nicole smiled again, about to offer an extra blanket when she heard the telltale rumble of her own stomach. "Looks like it's dinner time. I was going to have some pasta and sauce if you want some? The pasta is dried and has never seen an egg, and the sauce is basically tomatoes in a jar so should be ok for you to eat?"
"That would be heavenly, yes please. Can I help?"
"Probably not much to help with to be honest, I'm just going to throw the pans on the stove there and hope. Feel free to stir if it looks like it might burn. It's not fancy but it'll be warm"
The two women chatted aimlessly whilst the pasta boiled slowly, eventually managing a warm if unexciting dinner.
The stress of the day finally got to Waverly and she dozed off whilst Nicole washed the dishes in the last of the hot water. She had refilled the kettle to make another drink when she spotted the younger woman was asleep, so taking the blanket from the back of the couch she tucked her in as best she could.
Venturing into her bedroom Nicole shivered, she had planned to sleep on the couch tonight but with Waverly on it that wasn't feasible now. "Too cold in here though" she muttered as she grabbed her comforter and pillows. Laying them out on the lounge floor she settled in to sleep, leaving one lamp on but turned right down.
Nicole was woken a few hours later by the sound of someone being sick. Disoriented for a moment she noticed the couch was empty. "Wave.." her voice was hoarse, she cleared her throat and tried again, "Waverly, are you ok?" She tapped gently on the bathroom door. Hearing nothing but the sound of retching she took a deep breath and opened the door. Waverly was sat on the floor looking grey and sweaty. "Hey," Nicole said softly kneeling next to her, "You ok? Was it the food?"
Waverly laughed weakly and turned to be sick again, Nicole hesitantly reached out to stroke the ill woman's back. When Waverly sat back on her heels, Nicole passed her a tissue and continued to rub comforting circles on her back.
"Not the food," Waverly said when she was sure her stomach had settled, "I'm pregnant, 8 weeks. No-one knows yet"
"Even the father?" The words were out before Nicole could stop them, damn side effect of being half asleep.
"Especially not him." Waverly replied, "I found him balls deep in some slut called Stephanie this morning when I got home from a night shift at work" she rolled her head to one side to look at Nicole's shocked face, "Sorry, that wasn't polite"
"No, it's fine, I'm just surprised he cheated. You know, on you. I mean, he's an idiot" She clamped her mouth shut to avoid saying anything else.
"You're sweet" Waverly smiled yawning, "but it's ok, I'm actually beginning to realise I never really loved him anyway. I don't think I actually know what that means." She leaned back slightly, "but that's information you don't need. Sorry for the rambling.."
"No worries, I actually know what you mean, so it's all good. C'mon let's get you back to bed before you freeze on this floor"
Waverly allowed herself to be pulled up, "Lead on McDuff!"
Dropping her back on the couch, Nicole grinned as the small woman physically burrowed into the stash of blankets. "Do you want some ginger tea? It's supposed to be good for the nausea"
"I don't want to put you out, you need to sleep"
"It's no bother, I'm awake and I won't be working tomorrow so it's not a bother." Nicole stoked to fire in the stove, "You know, I'll just make it and if you don't want it then it's fine."
Waverly drank three cups of the tea and slept.