Sticks and Skates [Wayhaught]

Walkin' After Midnight

"Haught!" Shae yelled, wide open and calling for a pass. Nicole, entering the neutral zone, sent a pass to Shae at the attacking blue line. The pass took a deflection off of a Pirate's stick but made it through to Shae, who had to take an extra split second to settle it before entering the zone as the home team made an ill-advised line change.

Jumping into the play, Nicole gave the Devils a 3-on-2 and didn't have to think twice before tapping Shae's return pass between her legs and over to Wynonna. Her linemate and best friend wasted little time in snapping the puck bardown blocker side to tie the game at 2-2.

"Haught, you beauty," Wynonna tapped her helmet against the redhead's. "Check this out, I've been workshopping this one," she held her stick like a gun, "right before I snipe one home, I just hit 'em with a Make your peace."

Nicole rolled her eyes and nudged the brunette toward the bench for fist bumps. "You're gonna sound real stupid saying that and then getting robbed...or missing the net."

"Not me," Wynonna closed the bench door behind herself, "not the fastest gunslinger in the West."

"Really? Tell me, how many goals do you have? Including that last one?"

Wynonna, bless her heart, looked like she was straining her brain to tally the number of goals she'd scored all season, and looked proudly to the speakers above the ice surface when the PA announcer's flat voice announed:

"Purgatory goal, her eleventh of the season, scored by number twenty-seven, Wynonna Earp, assisted by number fifteen, Nicole Haught and number eight, Shae Pressman, at seventeen twenty-two."

"Eleven," Wynonna nodded proudly.

"Cop out," Nicole gave the brunette's shoulder a light shove and turned her attention back to the game at hand.

This two-game set in Winnipeg was crucial for the team to hang around in playoff talks. Midway through the season with their record hovering just above .500, any ground lost to conference opponents would knock them out of the wild card spot they currently held.

In the twenty-three games that Nicole had been back, she found it a lot harder to contribute at a level she knew she was capable of; the level she'd performed at before she was injured. She wasn't an idiot, and she knew she'd probably never get fully back to that level, but the success she had in her first game might've tricked her into thinking it'd be easier to get back into playing than it actually was. She forced herself to sharpen her mental edge to compensate where her physical abilities seemed to come up short; forced herself to lead by example, rather than pure snap decisions and energetic bursts on the ice.

Which was more than necessary to wrangle Wynonna who was only snap decisions and energetic bursts. Despite her best efforts and numerous protestations, Nicole realized that Earps are gonna Earp, and Wynonna was more often than not the starter of trouble from within the team. For how skilled, and for how much of an energy source Wynonna could be for the team, there was hardly a game that went by without her taking a highly unnecessary penalty. (As of late, it had been getting on Nicole's nerves, but she'd opted to try to push Wynonna away from trouble instead of lecturing her about her behavior).

"Hey twos!" The brunette shouted at the Pirate's winger in the 22 sweater, "How's the weather up there you leaf eater?"

The forward, Myers, rolled her eyes and continued to skate past the bench, where Wynonna sat laughing at her own chirp.

"Get it?" She snorted, "Because she's got a big long neck like a giraffe?"

"Hilarious." Nicole answered flatly. The brunette had been playing well, hadn't taken a dumb penalty through just about two periods, and the redhead wanted her to keep that streak going.