you talk pretty

WAYHAUGHT AFTER 3x05 or maybe Waverly telling Wynonna what happened in the garden

hi y’all so i did a little rewrite of the implied 3x05 scene because i think there was a bigger issue that didn’t get properly discussed. this is pretty short, but this particular scene/discussion is something i’d like to delve into further in the future. more prompts will be answered soon x

“You know what? How about you just, uh, update me later, kay?” Nicole tells her, and then they’re kissing and Nicole thinks that just maybe they can avoid what’s been running in her mind for weeks.

But Waverly’s always been far too perceptive and Nicole’s always been too easy to read. “Hold on, hold on.” Waverly pulls away, opening her eyes to look at her girlfriend. “What’s wrong?”

Nicole shakes her head, leaning in again because she really can’t do this now. “No, nothing, Baby. I was just w-worried.” She nips at the skin Waverly’s neck and the sigh the brunette releases leaves Nicole thinking she’s in the clear.

“No. No this is something else— I can feel it.” Waverly cups Nicole’s face. “What is it, Nicole?”

The redhead shrugs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Ev-Everything’s fine.”

“You’re not a good liar.”

“You’re right. But I’m not lying.”

Waverly huffs. “There it is again. Stop deflecting.”

“You’re one to talk,” Nicole snorts. She softens when Waverly‘s face falls because damn it this is what she’s been trying to avoid in the first place. “S-Sorry.”

“No, no you’re right. But please? Be better than me.”

Nicole adjusts herself beneath Waverly. So this is happening. Nicole shifts again and Waverly gets the hint, sliding off Nicole’s lap to sit beside her. “Look, the conversation should not have happened like that. I was angry going into it and I was harsher than I should’ve been.”

“You meant what you said though.” Waverly’s eyebrows are drawn tightly together as she figures it out.

Nicole sighs. “Wave, sometimes I feel like I’m watching our lives unfold through a TV screen. Like I don’t know anything about what’s happening in my life until everyone else does.”

“It’s not that I-“

“I know. You don’t try to leave me out. But you do. I didn’t blink at the curse because we had just started dating, and I didn’t expect you to spill your biggest secret immediately. But for Doc of all people to tell me? And then you did it again with Black Badge and it was a little hard not to feel resentful.”

“I didn’t want you in Black Badge, Nicole. The blood oath? That wasn’t anything you needed to be a part of.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make!” Nicole eyes harden slightly. “It was my choice and you took that away from me.”

“I was trying to protect you-“

“I don’t need your protection! Jesus, Waverly, have you not realized that no matter what we do— whether I know everything or nothing— we still always get hurt? Jack of Knives didn’t care that I didn’t know anything. Willa didn’t care that I didn’t know anything. Jolene, who I might have actually been able to help with, used the fact that I didn’t know anything to make me fight with you. The bad guys? They’re gonna hurt me either way. Why should you hurt me too?”

Waverly’s eyes have welled up with tears and the way she wears heartbreak on every surface of her body leaves Nicole wishing she had never brought it up. That she could just tuck Waverly into her side and push the feelings back down. But god, the lump that has been in her throat for months finally feels like something she can stomach, and well, Nicole finds herself talking again.

“And I know, Baby, I know you don’t want to hurt me. But honestly, if I’m the last person you consider for everything…” Nicole takes a deep breath. She’s really about to say this. “Then what am I even doing here?”

“O-Oh. So that’s how you feel, then?” Waverly is staring at the ground, her fingers pulling at the strings of the carpet.

“I-“ Nicole stops; she’s not sure what to say. “You said you wanted to talk. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing? Isn’t this the part of the movie where you storm out because I’m the worst?”

Nicole chuckles. “We’re talking, not fighting.” Her laugh dissipates, replaced by hesitation. “A-And as long as you want me, remember? That hasn’t changed.”

Waverly stares at her in shock. She stays like that for a long moment. “I know this isn’t gonna fix things right away, but I am sorry. I’m so sorry. A part of me just wants to keep you separate from all of the bad stuff, but you’re right. It’s not protecting you; it’s hurting you. And you are the last person I ever want to hurt.”

“Then stop, please. I don’t want to feel like an outsider anymore.” All the anger has dissolved from Nicole’s words; vulnerability has seeped in through the cracks in her voice. “I don’t want to be an outsider anymore.”

Waverly scoots back into Nicole’s lap, taking the redhead’s face in her hands. “Baby, I promise you, you’re not an outsider. And I’m going to try my best to make sure you never feel like that again.” She kisses Nicole’s forehead. “You’re everything.”

“I love you,” Nicole says and then Waverly’s lips are on hers. This time, there’s no hesitation, no nerves. Because she said what she needed to and she’s still here, kissing Waverly Earp.

And Nicole knows that this isn’t something that is going to go away overnight, but everything be damned, if after all they’ve been through, she’s gonna give up on this girl now.