Sticks and Skates [Wayhaught]

Home Is Where The Mayhem Is

It wasn't that Wynonna hated her job. Really, not at all. It was just that she had to be there all the time. She'd always been a free spirit and never wanted to be tied down. But, when her uncle Curtis died, she had up and left Athens, knowing full well that her aunt and baby sister would need her. It was never meant to be permanent, but there was something holding her to her childhood home.

So now, four years later, she was still in Purgatory, and she was running Curtis' pride and joy, the arena. The only thing he loved more was his wife Gus, and his tomatoes. Wynonna remembers growing up, losing her father and 13-year-old sister at just 12 years old, and Gus and Curtis taking her and Waverly in. Their mother, Gus' sister, had split when she was ten and Waverly just four.

It was hard at first, being essentially orphaned, but slowly, Wynonna realized that the family she had shared with Gus and Curtis had been better than her mentally ill mother and drunken sheriff of a father. Curtis brought her up at the rink and she loved to watch any and every hockey game with her uncle. There were warm memories attached to the place.

But, as Wynonna grew, her past and the town grew suffocating to her, and she figured as soon as she was old enough to get out, she would, even if it meant leaving her family behind. At first, she'd gone to the States, going wherever the wind blew her, never more than a few miles from the bar. Even at 18, she could get her way into most any club with what she called street smarts, but realistically was just flirting enough with bouncers and bartenders to get by. She'd been gone for a year before she came back to Purgatory, just in time for Waverly's 13th birthday. She didn't stick around much longer than a month at a time over that next year, working on the wrong side of the wrong side of the tracks for enough money to finally get out of Purgatory for good. She spent the next three or so years sleeping and drinking and wandering her way across Europe, until, well, Curtis had died, and she felt compelled back to the place she'd called home for the first half of her life.

Purgatory had been home again now for the last four years, Wynonna now 27 and Waverly 21. Unlike the last times however, Wynonna couldn't bring herself to leave. She found herself still hating the sleepy little town from time to time, but she still couldn't bear to leave. That's how she found herself working an honest job, keeping Curtis' pride and joy functioning.

Gus had handed the enterprise over to a business manager she had known from her youth and trusted with her life, and they ran finances and the like, but Wynonna and a few trusted workers kept it functioning from day to day. (Save for Champ, who was dumber than a bag of hammers. He was just there because he couldn't find a job anywhere else).

Today had been slow, similar to yesterday. Although, she was grateful that she didn't have to open for the Devil's early practice today—it was Robin's turn for that. Instead, she rolled in at 9:30, sitting in the office and playing on her phone. Today she was on skate cleaning, answering the phone, and public skate duty. Poor Waverly was on locker room and laundry duty, and would probably stick around for public skate, unless she and Chrissy had plans.

Wynonna decided that 10:30 was about a good a time as any to get to actual work when there was a knock on the office door.

"Public skate isn't until 1:00." Wynonna called, not bothering to look up from her phone.

"Uh, actually," the person in the doorway said, "I was wondering if I could talk to someone in charge?"

Groaning, though hiding it from them, Wynonna looked up at the intruder.

"That would be me, whatcha want?"

The redhead in the doorway made a move to step into the office, but Wynonna gave her a warning look not to encroach on her territory, and the other stepped back. It wasn't like she was being territorial or anything, the other girl just looked meek and sheepish and it was so much fun toying with her.