Sticks and Skates [Wayhaught]

Western Conference Playoffs Round One (Part One)

Waverly had found herself prouder of her girlfriend than any other single person in her life. She admired the grace the redhead had shown in her handling of her interaction with upper management. Seeing Nicole's enraged state at the woman, and furthermore at Dolls for trying to sweep it under the rug for the sake of appearances, Waverly knew that she'd have to be the calming presence. She'd been able to talk Nicole down and convince her to play the so called "long game" that Nedley had mentioned, and let her game do the talking.

She knew it was a little hypocritical to tell Nicole to just essentially let it slide, considering that if she'd been in those shoes, she probably would've went on some social justice campaign to expose Bunny and the management for discrimination. In the long run, however, she knew that both of them knew that it wouldn't cause anything but a distraction and hurt the team.

She was proud of the way Nicole held her head high and dodged the nosy questions from reporters trying to figure out some juicy gossip from within the team, handling mostly everything that came her way with maturity and professionalism. (When Waverly told her how proud she was of her maturity, Nicole shrugged and told her she liked the way it infuriated Bunny). The only time she'd seen Nicole get negative was when she'd mentioned the way Shae looked at her angrily, blaming her for their loss against Bathurst. Waverly wondered if Shae had been let in on why Nicole was benched, and whether or not knowing the truth would've changed her attitude. Her girlfriend was quick to assure her that knowing the truth would've only made Shae madder, before going into details of their complicated relationship.

In her first game back from benching, Nicole had gone out and scored two goals, including the game winner in a 2-1 win against the Rangers, much to the chagrin of the captain (who hadn't put up a single point for then the fourth game in a row). But Waverly's pride came to grow even further just two games later when Nicole set up Shae for a goal, simultaneously scoring her 72nd point and breaking the rookie points record that had been standing for over a decade.

She'd settled on the fact that there was never going to be a ceiling for how proud she could be of Nicole when Nicole scored her 33rd goal of the season, breaking the rookie record set by Shae just five years ago. Her girlfriend had been humble in the interviews she was bombarded with following the achievement, but had allowed Wynonna to openly make a big deal of it when their small friend group had gone out to Shorty's after the game to celebrate.

But beyond the game and the success, Waverly found herself proudest to call the redhead her girlfriend not because she was Nicole Haught, hockey phenom, but because she was simply Nicole. It was Nicole outside of the hockey environment that had quickly become her favorite version of the woman. Soft and tender and caring, dorky at times and a little too stubborn for her own good when it came to bickering with Wynonna. A girl who'd been strong-willed, and though she projected all the confidence in the world to the public, showed a vulnerability to Waverly that made her so much more appealing. She loved her mind and the way she was able to shut off hockey when it was their time to just ­be together, even though that time had been scant whilst the season was in full swing.

(Waverly had to chastise Wynonna for teasing Nicole, calling her "whipped", but did have to admit that her sister did have a point. She recalls fondly the night she just couldn't get to sleep, the homestead being especially cold and her four blankets just not cutting it. She hadn't meant to do anything but complain to Nicole, but the redhead showed up at her door, with an extra blanket in hand and wound up spending the night being her bonus blanket).

Presently, Waverly found herself enamored by the way Nicole's eyebrows knitted together in concentration, eyes darting between a spreadsheet and the TV in the film room. The Devils had finished their regular season yesterday, setting a league record in points with a 61-17-4 final record for 126 total points, and were awaiting finals scores for the last remaining seeds in the playoffs. They would be the first seed, but there was a log jam between four or five teams that were all playing today that could determine the matchups.