The following week found Waverly and Nicole constantly looking over their shoulders. Nicole stayed at Waverly’s loft as she was having her brownstone professionally cleaned from top to bottom. Even then, she wasn't sure she could stay there alone. It hit Waverly that she had lied to Dr. Nedley. She had promised to return the patient files in a couple of days. She hadn’t. In the midst of all the chaos, she had completely forgotten them. So, the couple’s personal life did actually interfere with work. Oh well. There was nothing she could do. Nicole and her safety came first. The next day she arrived at the nurses’ desk looking for Nedley. Wynonna paged him and while they waited Wynonna caught up Waverly on all the hospital gossip. While listening to Wynonna's ramblings about people she really didn't know, Waverly happened to glance down the hallway. An aura split her vision like knives. She became dizzy and extremely nauseated. “Bathroom,” she gagged and raced across the hall. Behind her she heard Wynonna bellow, “NOT ON MY FLOORS, DOC!” Once she had released her stomach’s contents, she leaned back on her knees against the door of the bathroom stall. The nausea was dissipating, but her head was still spinning. She heard a familiar voice calling her name, “Waves? Baby, you in here? Are you okay?” Waverly leaned to the right and unlocked the door. Nicole raced to her. She checked her vitals. Her heart rate was still high. Getting a wet paper towel, Nicole gently wiped the sweat from her girlfriend’s face. “Baby, what happened? Wynonna did an all-call for me, yelled it was you, and directed me in here.” Waverly leaned her head against the stall wall. “Someone….someone down the hall, their aura,” she stammered. “I’ve never seen anything….felt anything like that.” Waverly swallowed slowly trying to calm her spinning head. Nicole noticed she was paling again. “Baby, look at me.” Waverly opened her eyes. Nicole noticed they were glassy and dilated. Whatever Waverly had seen had really done a number on her body. “Do you know who it was? What they looked like?”
Waverly tried to think back before the darkness overtook her. “Scrubs……” Waverly jumped at the toilet again and wretched. Nicole held her hair back and supported her body. When she was done, Nicole leaned her back again. “I’m going to get Wynonna and Doc. We need to get you in a room with some meds and IV. If you keep this up, you’re gonna dehydrate.” Waverly gave a faint nod. She just wanted to sleep. When Nicole came back, Doc picked Waverly up and carried her to an empty triage room. Wynonna gave her a shot of promethazine while Nicole hooked her to an IV. The patient was soon sleeping. Nicole never left her side for the next few hours. Around midnight, the small brunette finally convenience her girlfriend doctor that she was well enough to go home. Nicole agreed only if she went straight to bed. The good thing about Nicole living with Waverly was that she made sure she followed her directions. Nicole pampered her girlfriend patient to make sure she was comfortable and symptoms hadn’t returned. As they lay in bed with Waverly’s head on Nicole’s chest and arm draped across her stomach, Nicole was still concerned about what had happened at the hospital. “Baby, how are you feeling?” she asked running her long slim fingers through the brunette’s hair. “Better,” she sighed.
“Has that like, ever happened before?” “Auras?” Waverly asked turning her head to look up at Nicole. “No, I mean, not really. I know you said…you saw them sometimes….around people. But, I guess I mean….like you did today…at the hospital? “Like that?” Nicole nodded. “No, never like that,” Waverly answered. “I mean, I’ve seen darkness around people, especially in the prisons where I’ve had to go. But never anything like that.” “Could you like describe it?” Nicole couldn’t help but to be curious, and Waverly didn’t mind trying to explain it to her. Waverly played with the edge of Nicole tank top. “With most people, it more like a glow. Usually one color. That makes them easy to read. But….at the hospital…..it was almost like I was caught in a tornado with all this darkness swirling around me…sucking the air out of me.” Nicole nodded. “I’ve seen burst before, but….not like that.”
“Burst?” Nicole questioned. “Yeah. Like you.” Waverly giggled. “Me?” Nicole was shocked. She had bursts? “Yeah. Like, I can read your mood so easily.” Leaning her head back she looked in Nicole’s eyes and brushed her fingers along her jawline. “Most of the time, you are like a beautiful rainbow of colors. When you are excited, you burst.” “I burst?” Nicole giggled. “Like exploding?” “Sort of, but in a good way. It... like... there are rays.... of all your colors shooting out from your body.” “What about a bad mood?” Nicole made a moody face at Waverly who giggled, then turned serious. “The other night, when you showed up at the door…..your colors were really off. They were so many dark oranges and reds. Literally scared me to death.” “That’s why you jumped to attention….” Nicole assumed. “Yeah,” Waverly admitted. They sat in silence for a while just holding one another. “Do you like having that ability?” “Sometimes,” Waverly answered. “It can actually come in handy with my patients..on how to approach them and their situation.” “Cool,” Nicole said kissing the top of Waverly’s head. “It’s getting late…or rather…really early morning. We need to get some sleep.” “Oh, shit!” Waverly exclaimed shooting out of Nicole’s arms. ‘ “What!?” “The damn files!” Waverly stated face palming. “It’s okay. Wynonna took care of them. She gave them to Nedley.” “Oh, thank goodness!” she said flopping back on the bed and snuggling against Nicole. “That’s twice I’ve bailed!” “I think you have a good excuse since you were in the ER most of the night,” Nicole said pulling Waverly closer to her. They snuggled under the sheet and all of Waverly's blankets with Nicole holding the woman she loved against her. It seemed the world was going crazy and taking them with it.
