Chapter Text
"Okay nerds listen up" Wynonna said excitedly as she waved around her doughnut to try and get everyone's attention "You all know that my sister is finally coming back home this weekend, so I will be throwing a kick ass party at our house and you are all invited"
"Hell yeah" Jeremy mouthed just as excitedly from the chair he occupied by Nicole’s side.
"Here's the deal, I'll provide the alcohol and the food but I want absolutely no funny business with my sister!" Her look showed no sign of a joke "She's just arriving and I don't want any of you weirdos driving her out of the country again"
Everyone could sense the death threat lingering in the air, but the prospect of free booze made every single person in the room forget that it was "crazy chick with a gun" Wynonna Earp who issued the threats and they celebrated way louder than it would be expected for a work place. Wynonna's grin grew only wider as people passed by giving her high fives and thanking her for the invitation. It was not a stretch to say that the precinct needed to relax a little bit but it hadn’t been long since their last party had happened. In fact, just the prior month Doc was welcoming all of them at his very small apartment so they could commemorate... whatever it was they were commemorating. Truth was, the whole police department would always jump head first on any opportunity to dance, drink, eat crappy food and make terrible life decisions, or pretty much anything that could wash away the dark side of their profession, especially if it was at someone else's account.
Except that time was different, well maybe not for those outside of the Scooby gang, as Jeremy not so graciously named their group of friends, but it was different nonetheless. For weeks they had witnessed firsthand how Wynonna had grown more and more anxious at the prospect of seeing her sister again. Little Waverly had moved to London with their aunt over twelve years earlier, and who Nicole's best friend hadn't seen in what seemed like forever. Nicole had known Wynonna for five years and even to her the details of the Earp family were very unclear. But the important thing was that her sister was coming to town for a job interview and was going to stay for a little while at first and maybe, if things went right, for a long time. Needless to say that in the midst of all the confusing feelings, Wynonna was ecstatic. The party was just an instrument to avoid any possible awkwardness between her and her beloved, but estranged, little sister.
"Haughty" Wynonna said as the celebratory high fives ended and she moved closer to Nicole's desk
"Yeah?" Nicole had a feeling she already knew what she was going to ask of her. It had become some sort of a pattern with them throughout the years.
"I was wondering, since you don't really like my parties anyway, if you could cover for me on Saturday? I’m on desk duty so nothing wild will happen and you can still make it if you end up wanting to tag along" She said with her annoyingly fake pouting
"I can join you guys at the end, when everyone is already way too drunk to have any sort of conversation" Nicole couldn't tell exactly why she was so frustrated and offended with the simple request, she knew better than to not expect it, and she didn't really enjoy Wynonna's party anyway, yet she couldn’t help it.
"C'mon, as if you were planning on staying for the whole thing?" She asked, honestly concerned that she might have somehow misread her best friend's intentions, but the redhead' silence gave away her answer "Nicole, I've known you for years, you were probably going to stay for like five minutes then go back to Calamity Jane and an ungodly marathon of criminal... Scenes? Minds? Files?"
"Fine" She sighed knowing that the Earp woman was right and that there was no way in hell she was going to deny her friend that simple request, especially not given the situation "But you owe me big time"
"Thanks. You're the best partner I have!" Wynonna grinned victoriously as she started to walk towards her own desk
"I am your only partner!" Nicole shouted to which she received only a lazy shrug and an ever present middle finger
Nicole wasn't a party girl, true, but it is not like she was a complete stranger to them. She loved going to Jeremy and Doll's parties. They always put a lot of effort on creating a pleasant environment where people could talk if they wanted to talk, dance if they wanted to dance, make out if they wanted to do so and get wasted while doing all of it. Eliza and Doc also threw great parties, but they always drew in a strange crowd that inadvertently made it end too soon because of this and that person starting to punch one another. Wynonna's parties however were something else entirely, she always cared way too much about the alcohol and way too little about everything else, specially the food, which is not at all a great combination. So, to Nicole, attending one of Wynonna's parties usually meant making a quick appearance before everyone had time to get irresponsibly drunk. Usually. She could still remember quite vividly what happened the last time she allowed her best friend to convince her to stay for a little longer. That and how terribly it had ended. But she was sort of hoping to relax on Saturday, it had been one crazy week with the new and increased death threats from the revenant gang and Nicole could use a five minutes break from constantly hoping the precinct wouldn't blow up as Bobo had promised. Still she decided to focus on the silver lining, her best friend was happy and that was all that mattered, everything else could be dealt with later. Wynonna needed that party to work.
-X-
Nicole sighed.
Her annoyance was visible and palpable. She had been listening to Wynonna's post interview notes and doing the transcriptions for hours without a break, she was determined to go through all the files as fast as possible but Wynonna had a habit of talking a bit too much on them and adding useless information which only made the transcription process longer. The detective could feel her muscles getting stiff from spending so much time in one position by the computer, her lower back hurt like hell, courtesy of the department crappy chair, but it was the pain emanating from her neck that kept distracting her from the task at hand. She massaged it the best way she could, adding a little pressure here and there with her fingers and making circular motions with her thumbs to try and ease the tension. It most definitely did not do the job, leaving her even more annoyed than before. Her best friend owed her big time, Nicole thought to herself. She checked the clock one more time noticing how only five minutes had passed since the last time she had looked, which she felt like was five hours before.
Nicole's coffee mug laid empty in the middle of her messy desk, not that she cared much for the watery coffee from the precinct but it had helped her feel less like murdering Wynonna and all of her other friends many times before, especially when they made her work on a Saturday evening. It was a strange mix of tasteless and incredibly disgusting beverage, but it was a much needed distraction that Nicole kept turning to during work hours. She had arrived four hours earlier to a rather calm and empty precinct with everyone from the earlier shift already on their way home to get ready for the party. The ones that had to work through it remained quiet and isolated as an act of rebellion for having to miss the party, the expectations were nowhere low for what sort of epic get together miss Wynonna Earp would throw next, and having to work through one of those was a literal nightmare for many officers.
"The date is February 21th" Wynonna's voice came from the speaker as Nicole played another recording "Earlier today we got a call about a grave robbing, Nicole went to the scene and I went to speak with the next of kin. Turns out mister..." Wynonna fumbled with the paper she had in hand trying to find out the name of the deceased "Clootie. Oh yes, former mayor Clootie had not one, but two widows! I remember when Mercedes told me about the second wedding, wild stuff. Anyway, I entered the house and found the polygamous, or was it polyamory widows?" The recording went quiet for a while as Wynonna thought about the question "I found them bickering with one another, they were throwing accusations and I could barely get one word in. They mentioned Bobo's name a few times and everything sounded very vague with their answers. I'm sure they're hiding something. Gotta come back for a follow up soon" Wynonna apparently thought she had turned off the recorder when she spoke next "Enough with this creepy shit, I'm going to get Dolls and then some whiskey"
Nicole laughed at how Wynonna that was, but she was right about those Clootie widows, something felt off about the whole grave robbing and the amount of a dirty secrets they were uncovering. There were all sorts of cryptic signs around the grave, there were shady deals back from when he was mayor, and of course, there was the strange connection between Mayor Clootie and gangster boss Bobo Del Rey. Whatever it was, it made Nicole uneasy to think about it. While she inspected and collected evidences at the cemetery she felt chills in the back of her head, like something really creepy was going on right at that second without her knowing.
Nicole finished typing the transcription, kindly leaving Wynonna's booty call out the report, and fixing the interview paperwork when she decided, much like her best friend would, to drop that shit and get some whiskey. The detective had worked at the station long enough to know that Wynonna and Doc hid not one but several bottles of alcohol somewhere in there to keep them company whenever they were stuck in the night shift, sometimes on the day shift as well. They didn't exactly share the location with anyone but Nicole made an educated guess that it was either in the ceiling of the kitchen or somewhere in the evidence locker. Nicole triple checked if she had properly saved her work before turning off the devices in front of her and leaving the room. She started walking towards the evidence locker on the other side of the building and the detective was happy to find that her detecting skills were still amazing when upon checking the evidence box of one of the precinct's oldest cold case she found three bottles of whiskey, two of tequila, and a few beers stashed away among the real evidence. However the blissful feeling was completely replaced for absolute terror when, around forty minutes later, the captain found her, holding her third, or maybe sixth, glass of whiskey.
"Detective Haught" Captain Nedley's voice echoed in every surface of the room hitting Nicole's ears with the intensity of a packed up basketball arena complaining about the referee "Care to explain what's going on here?"
"I..." Words seemed to fly away from her "There was..." she tried again with no success, although, to be fair she was partially drunk at that point
"Weren't you supposed to be filling in for Wynonna?" He asked seriously
"I was, I mean, I am. Sir. But I'm done. It wasn't a lot of work, she's just not very productive when it comes to bureaucracy" She answered honestly
"And you thought you'd have a party in here to celebrate your productivity?" His disapproving tone was killing Nicole's good cop side
"Well since I cannot go to the other party" The alcohol suddenly started making the detective way more honest than she should be "I thought why not"
"Oh Nicole for the love of god this is a police station, we are the law. This is a serious environment!" For a second she wondered if she was getting fired, drinking on the job wasn't exactly stellar behavior "But if you're done with your work get out of here"
"Oh" was all Nicole managed to say
"Go to Wynonna's party and please send me back whoever is sober while you’re at it, it seems like every officer has forgotten all about their jobs today. The ones actually working are in such terrible mood it's like I kicked their puppies" He sighed "Get out of here Nicole"
"Yes, of course" She chugged the remaining content of her glass before getting up from the floor, which didn't seem to ease the captain's annoyance "Get to the party, get the officers, work. Got it! See you on Monday captain"
"And Nicole" He said stopping the woman in her tracks "Get a cab for the love of god!!"
Nicole could still feel Nedley's disappointment as she left the station, making only one quick stop to gather her belongings and add a to do list to her phone before the alcohol took over and made her forget what she was supposed to do once she got the party, which would inadvertently lead to another unwanted scolding from her boss. Lucky for her as soon as she stepped outside the building a cab drove by, sheltering her from the cold February air that embraced her. The drive wasn't very long, the Earp house was just on the outskirts of town, far enough to allow them some privacy and a huge backyard but close enough to work and to Wynonna's favorite pub downtown. As soon as the yellow car turned on the Earp's street the detective started hearing the music blasting through whatever speaker Wynonna had on, and Nicole could only imagine how drunk everyone was going to be at that point. The drive through the remaining five blocks brought back unpleasant memories from their last party. Dolls and Doc going full on Alfa male on Wynonna while Jeremy cried on Eliza's shoulder and Nicole kissed a random stranger. She paid the driver with a much generous tip, an apology for how her drunk self was unable to give a proper address to her destination and for all the awkward moments on the short drive in which she thought she felt sick.
As soon as Nicole entered the house she was welcomed with an intense and all too familiar smell of liquor and bad decisions. The setting was the same for every party: alcohol displayed in a table right in the middle of the room, something resembling food in a corner shadowed by the speakers, and then there were the groups. Much like high school everyone knew their unspoken place, the beat cops, the officers, detectives and the CSIs all hanged with their peers. Meanwhile there was Nicole’s dysfunctional little family: two detectives, one sergeant, one csi, one coroner and an assisting FBI agent. Whether it was because of their unique mix or because they usually ran the parties their group always seemed to catch everyone's attention immediately. Given that, it came as a huge surprise when Nicole’s eyes laid on Jeremy standing alone nursing not one, not two, but three cups of alcohol while looking completely dislocated and out of place.
"Jeremy? Where's everyone?" Nicole said catching his attention and the immediate look of relief that appeared on his face. That only gave enough away for her to know that she had stumbled upon one messy situation
"Nicole! Yes! You're here!" He smiled happily before trying, and failing to walk towards her "Hey there!"
"Hey there drunkie, let's go get you some water while you tell me what happened here" She said as she put one of his arms around her shoulders and forced his legs to move “You gotta help me here buddy”
"Nothing much really, Wynonna was a nervous wreck and she could barely make it through introductions before she disappeared with Doc. Eliza and Dolls left about five minutes ago and I was trying to mingle but no one here seems to care about the lab rat" he spilled everything in one breath “And you're here now! Wait, why are you here?” He moved to take a better look at her “And why are you drunk?"
"I'm just like mildly drunk, I think" Nicole said unconvincingly
"Sure, you have less of a resistance than I do" he said with a victorious sound as the detective sit him on the nearest stool before moving to get both of them a glass of water “And you look all messy”
"Thanks Jer” Nicole said ironically before she decided to use his help “Look, I need you to do me a favor, I need you to gather up the sober officers and send them back to the station, the captain is shorthanded and pissed off" She said slowly, making sure that Jeremy was actually absorbing what she was saying before she continued "Now, have you seen the owner of this party?"
"Do you mean Wynonna or Waverly?" He asked in between sips of his water
"Wynonna" She respond. Just like she expected, five minutes inside and she already felt her desire to run home starting to take over, so she needed to make her presence known before bolting home
"Well, she took off with Doc and I haven’t seen them since" he said with a shrug as if it was an obvious conclusion "I told you this. Wynonna and Doc, Eliza and Dolls"
"Oh. Yes yes. And do you know where I can find the sister then?" She said matter of factly
"Nope” he said popping the e with a childlike excitement “I saw her at the beginning of the party, she looked very out of her element, she went around saying hello to everyone and then she disappeared too I suppose" He said while clearly trying to persuade his inebriated brain into giving his friend more details
"What does she look like? What was she wearing? Where can I find her?" Nicole asked, feeling the anxiety build up inside of her the more frustrated she got
"Chill Detective Haught. First off I was drunk when she arrived so her face is kinda foggy, all I know from her features is what we got from that ten year old picture of the Earp siblings" he said defensively "And last time I checked she was wearing a white tank top. I think”
"Okay, I'm sorry" The Detective decided right there that someone needed to take control of that party before things got out of hand again, but if she was to challenge a bunch of drunk cops she definitely needed to be ten times drunker "Please drink more water, then go look for Captain Nedley's people" She quickly drank two shots of tequila "I'll go look for the Earp girl and if you don't see me or Wynonna in forty minutes, shut this party down"
"Yes yes detective" he annoyedly mumbled something that Nicole could only assume was his drunken self wondering how he could do what he was asked
Nicole took a deep breath before letting the burn from the tequila ease its way down her throat and numb the unpleasant memories and anxiety away. She allowed herself two seconds of pretending she wasn’t supposed to play the responsible adult at that party before opening her eyes and starting to check the house for any signs of her partner. She knew all along that Wynonna would be a mess, it was expected given the built up nerves and expectations. She would do literally anything and everything in her power to make sure her sister's visit was great and pleasant, and more, so that it eventually could turn into a permanent stay. But it was hard asking Wynonna to deal with her emotions, whatever they were, she barely kept it together most of the time and one glance at what truly hid behind her sarcasm would be enough to destroy her. So needless to say, it was an impossible situation that would only be made possible with time and effort, from everyone involved, specially her friends.
The first place Nicole checked was the bedroom. She hesitantly opened the door, hoping not to find anything non pg rated taking place in there. A younger and less experienced Nicole had walked in on people getting their freak on one too many times, but luckily for her it was empty. The detective then proceeded to Wynonna’s room, fearing once again that she would run into someone naked, a fear which was aggravated as she recalled how suggestive Jeremy's words had been when she asked about Wynonna’s whereabouts. But once again luck was on her side, the "don't come inside" note hanging from the door had been respected by everyone, including the house owner. Realizing that the party hadn’t taken its usual turn, Nicole felt much more relaxed as she proceeded checking every other room in the house, taking time to explore every ounce of it, looking anything out of the ordinary while she tried to spot a brunet in a white tank top. However, as Nicole opened the last bedroom her luck ran out. After scanning the entire house she did not succeed in finding neither her best friend nor her sister, instead, the only thing Nicole found was a rather messy unpacked bag with one wine stained white tank top on top.
At that point the detective realized that it was futile to keep searching for the sister since the only real clue as to who she was was discarded on a bed. Truth was that, even though as a detective Nicole was very good at identifying people, face's and name's, she couldn't really identify the younger Earp’s face because of her relative inebriated state, especially when the only photograph she had ever seen of the woman was around a decade old. Fact which Wynonna never really provided an explanation for and, knowing how sensitive of a topic that was, Nicole always thought better not to push the subject. Even though she had pretty much accepted defeat, and choosing to ignore the fact that Wynonna had most likely already left the house at that point and the fact that she probably wouldn’t recognize the sister, Nicole decided to double check the house before truly giving up on her quest to find the Earp sister.
After a while, Nicole spotted Jeremy talking to a very annoyed woman in blue in the corner or her eyes. She watched him for a little while, realizing than that he had clearly sobered up a lot since she left him in the kitchen and was most likely telling the sober officers to report for duty. Even though the selected ones didn’t seem happy with a csi bossing them around, Jeremy seemed to have the whole party under control, so Nicole gave him a thumbs up before grabbing a water bottled and moving to the backyard, her earlier cab experience having made it clear that she needed to sober up a bit more before heading home and getting some sleep. To Nicole’s surprise, as she opened the door she noticed that the tree house had a faint light on, and certainly if Wynonna had explicitly prohibited the use of the rooms, that particular space was most definitely out of bounds. The tree house was a treasured childhood memory that very few people had the right to visit. The only times Nicole and a few of the gang members were allowed in there was when Wynonna needed help with repairs. The detective climbed the unsteady stairs the best way she could, one step at a time, holding on for dear life to the rope trying to avoid a certain fall. After what seemed like an eternity of an unwanted struggled between her brain and muscles, Nicole reached the top of stairs and quietly entered the tree house.
The faint light came from an old flashlight.
There wasn’t anyone there except for one person.
Only one.
A small woman with the silhouette of an angel. Her face was shown dimly on the poorly illuminated room but Nicole could see enough. She could see her eyes and how it looked at ease, at home, while at the same time, it looked like it was hiding ghosts and wars. She could see the tip of her nose and how it perfectly molded her young features. The detective could see her lips as the bottle of whiskey left it and she could see the little drops of alcohol that slip through the side of her dark pink lipstick painted lips. Nicole immediately felt like she knew that person, that maybe their paths had crossed at some point, but despite her best efforts she couldn't put her finger on it just right. Maybe the woman was the new rookie from the night shift, or a waitress at the bar, maybe she was one of Wynonna's informant. All Nicole knew was how absolutely beautiful the woman was, even in that small and poorly illuminated tree house.
"I don't really believe you're supposed to be in here ma'am" Nicole said with a surprisingly flirty tone
"And what are you? The tree house police?" She giggled while she tried to keep a serious demeanor
"Tree house detective actually" Nicole said playfully "I saw the light in here and decided to check if everything was okay. But I can see clearly that everything is in fact okay, it's just you” Her teasing and relaxed tone surprised her and just like that, the urge to go home was gone
"Oh, way to make a girl feel special detective" she was tipsy, it was clear by the way she spoke ever so slowly, every word that escaped her lips had been carefully triple checked and, although Nicole was definitely still a little tipsy herself, the detective knew the woman was flirting back
"I'm sorry tree house girl" Nicole smiled feeling braver by the positive exchange "It's most pleasing to find you here. What I meant was, I'm glad no one is having sex in here, you know"
"I'm sure we are pleased with that detective" she smiled, looking inside her eyes for the first time and Nicole knew right there that she was a goner.
-/-
Waking up was a nightmare. Nicole’s phone buzzed tirelessly somewhere outside of her reach, her head hurt as if it were under heavy construction and her body trembled as the cold winter wind hit every surface of her very undressed form. Nicole moved her hand up and down in an attempt to find the warmth that was missing, the other body that was supposed to be laying in the wooden floor with her, the nameless stranger that had warmed her night and tired her body. As her hands came empty, Nicole forced her eyes to open as if that would provide any evidence that she wasn't waking up alone after what she could only describe as an amazing night. Regardless of her labeling it a one night stand in the early moments of the previous night, Nicole’s soul felt heavy as she was forced to accept the fact that the only thing with her was the lazy sunlight that made its way through the cracks of the old tree house. That was most definitely going to result in a very, very awkward meeting whenever her path crossed with the tree house girl's, and the only thing Nicole could wish for was it happened somewhere in which she could avoid any form of teasing from her best friend. Wynonna knew no boundaries when it came to making Nicole blush and fumble in front of hot girls.
Her phone rang again catching Nicole’s attention and she had to gather every ounce of strength in her to get it from where it rested alongside her discarded clothes but her muscles complained with the effort, indicating that her nightly activity had exhausted her more than she had anticipated. She picked up the devise and was shocked to find 27 unread texts and six unanswered calls, all from one Wynonna Earp. Nicole got up in one swift move making the floor beneath her feet seem a little too unstable and the world a little too blurry. In the midst of everything that happened in the last 24 hours Nicole had completely forgotten that she was supposed to be having breakfast with both the Earp women because, as Wynonna had awkwardly put it, she needed her best friend and her sister to get along if she had any hopes in showing Waverly that she could grow roots there. They had settled for 8am, which would give them enough time to chat before they had to go to work, however, as she read the first text, Nicole realized that she was thirty minutes late. She quickly called an uber as she multitasked in putting on her clothed, running inside the house to find the spare toothbrush Nicole always kept below the sink on the communal bathroom and taking advantage of the medicine cabinet to grab two aspirins. Surprisingly, within ten minutes Nicole was rushing inside the dinner to meet a very anxious Wynonna Earp, who, upon seeing her, immediately got up and started talking.
"Hey, finally Haught stuff, I thought you were dead!" She said nervously
"I'm sorry, it was a..." Nicole thought better not to say anything, in order to avoid the mocking for as long as I could "I lost track of time. I'm so sorry I'm late"
"It's okay Haughtie" Wynonna smiled "Nicole this is my sister Waverly" the petit figure who had her back to the detective slowly turned around revealing a very, very familiar face "Waverly, this is..."
"Oh shit" Nicole interrupted as memories of the previous night's tree house adventures came crashing