"I have to admit – vegan ice cream? Not as bad as it sounds," Nicole Haught said, taking her girlfriend's hand as they left the tiny cafe and began to wander down the main street of Purgatory. It was the middle of the night and beginning to snow. Nicole's breath rose in a cloud before her but she wasn't cold. Not with Waverly leaning against her shoulder.

"See? I told you it wouldn't be awful," Waves admonished. "And think of it as payback for the paintball. I still have bruises." Nicole laughed.

"Well if you weren't so busy pretending you were Doc at the O.K. Corral then maybe you would have survived."

"Technically Doc survived that particular gun fight," Waverly said matter-of-factly, her vast knowledge of the Earp family ever present in her head. "Wyatt, too."

"Yes, well Waverly Earp didn't live through the duel at Skeeter's Shootin' Gallery and Day Spa."

"I've never seen a hot tub like that before."

"I know, it was literally just an old rusty bath sitting in hot coals."

"And I'm pretty sure those face masks were just repurposed paintballs."

Giggling, the pair of them passed under a streetlamp and the cheap orange light set Nicole's red hair ablaze in a fiery halo. Waverly looked up and smiled. Nicole stopped walking and returned the grin a little self-consciously.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," her girlfriend replied. "You're just so damn beautiful."

Nicole blushed and looked down. "Oh," she replied.

Waverly reached up and touched her hand to Nicole's chin, forcing the taller woman to look up. Nicole's chocolate eyes searched Waverly's face unsurely.

"What's wrong, honey?" the younger Earp asked.

"It's … nothing," Nicole replied dismissively, turning away and continuing down the street. Waverly had to hurry a little to catch up and for a few minutes the two of them walked in silence. Waverly worried she had upset her girlfriend, but when she took Nicole's arm again she was relieved to find Nicole's body wasn't tense and relaxed gratefully against it.

They walked past empty stores with dark windows. Past the general store with its fridges ablaze through the glass. Two or three youths stood smoking outside the chapel and Waverly sensed Nicole's police instincts kick in when she eyed them. But they were only cigarettes and Nicole softened again as they went by.

Up ahead Shorty's thumped with activity. It was a Wednesday night but Waverly knew from experience that Shorty's was never dead. And ever since Doc inherited the saloon after Bobo's reign it had become a major hub.

"Are they … is that … Taylor Swift?" Nicole asked, bemused. Waverly listened. Sure enough the strains of "Love Story" filled the air, accompanied by some sort of unearthly keening.

"Ugh, it may be the music but that sure as hell isn't Taylor singing," Waverly replied, scrunching up her nose.

"What is that, a banchee?" Nicole laughed, stepping closer to the window. "Oh my god, Waves you're not going to believe this ..."

"What? What?"

"It's Wynonna."

"No," Waverly said in disbelief, pushing in front of Nicole and pressing her nose to the dirty glass. "Oh. My god."

Sure enough her big sister was standing on stage, in all her pregnant glory, belting out the nearly decade-old hit with all her might. As Waverly watched Wynonna started headbanging along to the chorus.

"You did tell her not to drink while pregnant right?" Nicole asked from behind her. "Like, I don't need to arrest her for child endangerment or something, do I?"

"She wouldn't drink, no. She's doing this sober."

"Okay, but can I arrest her for disturbing the peace? Because my ears feel like they've been assaulted."

Waverly turned away from the window. "I am never letting her live this down," she said to Nicole, grinning devilishly. "Next time she makes some sideways remark about our safe word BAM," she punched her right fist into the open palm of her other hand. "I'll be ready."

"She'll never want to taco 'bout it again," Nicole quipped.

"Ha ha. You comedian, you." Waverly rolled her eyes. "Come on. I can't take much more than this."

They hurried on past Shorty's towards the end of town. Nicole had left her car at the station and the keys in her desk so the pair of them let themselves in the front door and felt their way through the dark rooms to the bull pen. Unlike big city cop shops Purgatory's precinct wasn't open 24/7. Nedley lived just a street away, so it didn't take much for him to come and book any late night hooligans into the drunk tank.

"Where are those damn things?" Nicole muttered, feeling unseeingly in the top drawer of her desk. "Aha! Got 'em! Waves, wait Waves, where are you going?" Her girlfriend had disappeared. "Shit. Waves, come on, I've got the keys. Let's go."

She followed the sound of Waverly's footsteps and found her in Nedley's office, standing in front of the low couch against the far wall.

"Well this brings back some memories," Nicole said, crossing her arms and leaning against the door jamb and smiling a little.

"Yeah, it does." Waverly sounded weird. She sat down on the couch, rubbing the fabric with her hands.

"Hey," Nicole said, suddenly concerned. She crossed the room and sat next to her girlfriend, taking one of Waverly's hands in both her own. "Are you okay?"

"I was never happy with Champ," Waves said suddenly. "I don't know why I dated him. He was fun, but I never felt anything for him." She looked down at their hands intertwined in her lap, then up into Nicole's eyes. Moonlight filtered through the blinds, falling across Waverly's face in black and white lines, giving the illusion of prison bars. "And then I met you."

Nicole's breath caught in her chest. Her heart hammered against her ribcage. "Waves, I –," she began. But Waverly shook her head.

"No, let me finish," she interjected. "I didn't know it then, but I felt something for you the first moment we met," she continued. "I was drawn to you, viscerally. Every bone in my body was aware, every fibre … because of you."

Nicole couldn't swallow past the lump in her throat. Waverly went on.

"I was awake, Nicole. For the very first time," she murmured, raising a hand to cup Nicole's face. "I have no idea who I am, until I am with you. You're home."

Nicole couldn't stop the little sob that cut from her core. Tears stung her eyes, one slipping down her cheek to hit Waverly's knuckles. "Waverly I … I love you," she said. The words sent a powerful ripple through her body. Warmth flooded her veins. "I'm in love with you. I always have been. Ever since I first saw your smile."

Waverly kissed her then. Slowly, softly. Languid and long. Nicole lost herself in the embrace, trying to pour all her feelings into it, so that Waverly could know exactly how utterly enthralled she was. Time stood still, yet eternities went by.

It wasn't until they stopped for air, lips still brushing, that she realised the wetness on her cheeks wasn't just her own tears. Waverly was also crying. And then Waverly said the words Nicole ached for. It was barely a whisper. Nicole felt it more than she heard.

"I love you, too."