Nicole winced, her eyes crinkling at the sides in exasperation. It was like everything was against her getting through a full conversation with Waverly. She sighed, bowing her head in defeat, before pushing herself off of the counter she'd perched herself on. Waverly looked utterly defeated, returning her attention to the dinner momentarily, before making a move to join Nicole.

Nicole moved towards the door regretfully, her body sagging sadly, knowing that their conversation wasn't over and would weigh heavily on her mind for the rest of the evening.

When she got to the door she hesitated, looking over her shoulder at Waverly, who seemed lost in thought, before Nicole turned her attention to the guest room where her sister was stood leaning against the door frame, a deep look of concern on her face. With another wistful sigh, Nicole tugged the door open.

Her mama practically shoved herself into the door without so much as a hello, causing Nicole's forehead to crease in silent irritation, before she cooled her features to let her Daddy in. He smiled at her warmly, nodding his head over to his wife and rolling his eyes in understanding, causing Nicole to smile. She hugged him tightly, only now realising just how much she had missed him. Her eyes watered slightly, but he noticed and caught the tear before it fell, smiling sadly at her.

Her Daddy had short light brown hair, and he was much shorter and bigger than her, wearing blue jeans and a large brown shirt. He was practically the opposite of her in appearance, but his attitude and sense of humour matched hers perfectly. They got on like a house on fire, and he always seemed to know just what she was thinking, even if she hadn't worked it out herself yet.

"It's dusty in here, did you not dust?" Her Mama cut through the moment forcefully, causing Nicole to grind her teeth together in disbelief. Her Mama had her ginger hair up in a pony tail; she had black jeans and a black and white striped shirt covering her slim figure. She was a stern woman, and extremely frank. It had gotten herself and Nicole in to a lot of disagreements before, and Nicole was betting that she wouldn't see the last of that, if her entrance was enough to go on.

"It's great to see you too, Mama." Nicole greeted dryly, closing the door softly before moving nearer the kitchen, subtly searching for Waverly, who seemed to have disappeared at the appearance of her Mama.

"Where's the girl? D'you get rid of her already?" Her Mama shot out coldly, glancing around the room in distain. Nicole shot her Daddy a look, but he only shook his head in disappointment. He looked like he wanted to say something, but held back, causing Nicole to frown in concern.

"She's cooking dinner, Mama. I'll go grab her." Nicole stated, keeping her tone calm and friendly in the hopes of cooling down her Mama's irritation.

"It's not right to leave a lady waiting, the girl should know that." She muttered, causing Nicole to huff quietly in anger. She let the comment go, feeling confident that Waverly would win her Mama over quickly with her kind, friendly nature. She walked over to the Kitchen, peering round the corner.

Waverly was facing away from Nicole, but she could see that the other girl was clearly nervous. She was swinging her arms, her hands balled into fists, mumbling to herself. Nicole sighed sadly, the guilt building up uncomfortably in her stomach. "Waves." Nicole called gently, catching her attention. Waverly turned around, her insecurity palpable. Nicole moved closer, battling with herself on whether to pull the woman in for a hug or not. "It's okay." She reassured, trying to hide her own nervousness for Waverly's sake. The other woman frowned hesitantly, her uncertainty obvious.

"And if she hates me?" Waverly asked, hugging herself sadly. I deep look of sympathy crossed Nicole's face, her guilt shining in her eyes. She lost her internal battle, closing the distance between them and pulling the smaller woman in for a hug.

"Then she's crazy." Nicole said, simply. She felt Waverly relax in her arms, hugging back too.

"And I have to come and find you! This is the rudest introduction I have ever had in my life." Nicole's Mama said, cutting through the moment angrily. Nicole rolled her eyes in frustration before letting Waverly go. Waverly looked terrified, and Nicole didn't blame her.

She had forgotten this side of her Mama, the bitter and resentful side, the time apart seemed to have buried all the bad memories away, making room for the few good memories they had shared. But with her Mama back, all those flaws were presenting themselves and reminding Nicole that she wasn't as sweet as her memory had fooled her into thinking.

"Mama, please." Nicole pleaded, quietly. Her Mama glared at her irritably, getting ready to talk again, but Nicole cut in. "The kids are here." She finished, begging her Mama to calm down.

Her Mama frowned, before looking in the direction of the living room, as if sensing that the kids were nearby. Suddenly, her features completely changed, a smile making its way onto her face, though it didn't seem sincere enough to fool Nicole, and definitely wouldn't fool Waverly either.

It is such a pleasure to finally meet you dear, such a shame that it was so delayed though." She greeted, moving to shake Waverly's hand, though both the gesture and her tone were laced with sarcasm, causing Nicole's eyebrow to arch up in disbelief, not understanding why her Mama was acting this way.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Ma'am. It's so exciting to meet the people that brought Nicole up and made her into the woman she is today." Waverly welcomed, her voice warm and sweet, hiding her insecurity perfectly. Nicole smiled softly at her, her pride for the other woman glowing visibly off her.

"Nicole and I share only our figure and our hair colour, her attitude and her.. Indecision.. Are Ted's doing." The woman gestured half heartedly towards Nicole's Daddy who had followed them into the kitchen area, his eyebrows flared up in silent anger. Nicole felt a lump form in her throat, but swallowed it down forcefully, refusing to admit defeat.

"I am proud to have Daddy's attitude, I wouldn't change it for the world." Nicole threw on a sickly sweet smile her Mama's way, before giving her Daddy a much more genuine smile. "Waverly, this is my Daddy." Nicole stated with pride, putting her hand on the small of Waverly's back to lead her over to the man.

"It's truly a pleasure, Sir." Waverly offered, simply, but with complete sincerity. The man smiled warmly, nodding softly before moving closer.

"The name's Ted, no need for formalities here. Nicole's the smartest person I know.." Ted started, only to be interrupted.

"What about me!" Nancy shouted from the other room, clearly joking.

"Stop eavesdropping, kid!" Her Daddy shouted, before returning to the previous conversation. "ONE of the smartest people I know.." He began, with a shake of his head at his other daughter's antics, before continuing "And I wholeheartedly believe that she wouldn't pick a wrong'n." He finished, smiling brightly. Waverly grinned, her relief shining. Nicole thanked the heavens in that moment for her Daddy, who had managed to make Waverly smile just moments after being put in such an uncomfortable situation.

Nancy poked her head round the door, smiling over at Nicole reassuringly, before asking, "So, when's dinner?"

********

So, this was hands down one of the most awkward dinner's Nicole had ever had. And she'd been to a surprisingly large amount of awkward dinners, like the time Wynonna had made two chickens and positioned them together.. Inappropriately. Or that time when Wynonna had burned the dinner because she'd disappeared upstairs with Dolls, behaving very inappropriately, and doing so very loudly. Or there was that time when Wynonna thought she had been cooking a batch of cupcakes only to find that they weren't in the oven, they were in the freezer..

There's a theme here.

But Nicole is certain that this takes the cake. Her Mama was ranting angrily about every aspect of Nicole's flat, her Daddy was glaring at her Mama for being rude, Nancy was laughing at Daddy's frown, the kids were frowning at their Mommy laughing so loud, James was too busy eating to care and Waverly just looked really frightened.

"Waverly, this is so nice; I've never had such a good vegetarian lasagne before in my life!" James complimented, causing a smile to work its way onto Waverly's face. Just as she started to thank him for his kindness though, Nicole's Mama cut in.

"There should be an option for everybody, no one can live on vegetables." She muttered, stabbing the food like it was her enemy. The frown fell off of Waverly's face, causing Nicole to grind her teeth angrily.

"Well I'd definitely eat this for the rest of my life if I could." Nicole stated, winking Waverly's way. Waverly grinned at her happily, clearly grateful that Nicole stuck up for her.

"Well aren't you both lucky that forever's on the cards then?" Ted said, smiling warmly. The smile fell when his wife scoffed loudly, his eyes moving to her.

"Unlikely." Was all Nicole's mama said, taking another stab at the food for good measure. "So, Waverly, you're an Earp, huh?" She directed Waverly's way, causing the girl to look up from her food, gulping nervously. She nodded her answer, everybody sensing the tense energy. "I've heard things about the Earp's." She finished with distain.

That's when the other shoe finally dropped for Nicole, her Mama was judging Waverly because of her family's history. It was no secret that Waverly's great grandfather had caused quite the stir in Purgatory when he was a young man. He was into his drink and his women, and nothing else. Waverly's father had gone down exactly the same road, too. Both men inevitably dying from both the alcohol and bad choices. Waverly had worked hard her whole life to avoid the judgement, to get past the presumptions other people forced on her and her sisters. And yet here was Nicole's Mama, doing exactly that. Nicole felt absolutely mortified.

"Mama." Nicole warned, her tone cuttingly serious.

"What?" she challenged, looking at Nicole angrily. Her voice was quiet, but it had a bite to it that made Nicole feel sick. "Family means everything, I won't have alcohol and carelessness weave its way into mine." She spat irritably, putting her cutlery down loudly.

"Waverly is her own person, she carries her own life with her, no one else's. Nobody should have to carry anybody else's mistakes, and it isn't fair for you to even try to put that on her shoulders. I won't stand for it, not in my home, not with my girlfriend. Clear?" Nicole stated, defiantly. She was shaking with anger, though she kept her voice calm for the sake of the children, who seemed to have picked up on the atmosphere, no longer eating.

Her Mama looked at her with a fiery stare, though she chose not continue the argument, throwing out a simple "Crystal clear," Instead. She tilted her head, smiling nastily at Nicole, then at Waverly, before picking her cutlery up and continuing to eat in silence.

Nicole sighed, relief flooding her. She looked at Nancy, who raised her eyebrow in confusion. Nicole looked away, turning to look at Waverly instead.

She looked like she might run away any minute, her hands were clenched together, her knuckles white, completely tense. Nicole reached over, leaning her arm on the back of Waverly's chair, letting her hand stroke the back of Waverly's neck, hoping she'll find some comfort in the gesture. She switched between raking her fingers through the little baby hairs and just softly stroking her finger tips up and down her neck. She noticed it working, because Waverly began to relax, and she was certain she felt Goosebumps too. Nicole moved her hand, letting it land over Waverly's joint hands instead, tugging them away from each other and entwining their fingers together. Waverly finally looked up from her food, chancing a glance Nicole's way, smiling hesitantly. Nicole shot a big smile her way, causing the other girls smile to brighten too.

"Auntie Nicole?" Thomas called, causing both girls to turn his way in question.

"Yes, buddy?" Nicole asked, tilting her head, encouraging him to continue.

"Can we watch An American Tail after we've eaten? Pleaseeee?" He begged, causing Nicole to grin. She shot out a happy 'Ha!' directed Waverly's way, mouthing an 'I told you so' with a self-satisfied smirk for good measure, causing Waverly to giggle softly.

"I don't see why not, Bud. Only if you eat all those vegetables though!" Nicole teased, winking at him. He gasped and began shovelling his food down as fast as possible, causing Nicole to snicker. Nancy huffed, though a smile tugged at her mouth too.

"Why're you so much better at looking after my kids than I am?" She grumbled, hiding her laugh behind a groan.

Nicole only shrugged triumphantly, quietly humming 'Somewhere Out There' to herself, causing Waverly's smile to morph into a full blown grin.

Maybe they could still salvage what was left of this dinner.