Outside Of Life [WayHaught]

Private Gardner

"Waves, what are you doing?" Nicole took the brunette's hands into her own and brought them down from her face.

"I, I don't know. I just thought," her voice trailed off, suddenly seeing the situation from Nicole's perspective; a guard had just been murdered inside the city walls and she was trying to kiss a Sergeant in an alleyway. "I don't know what I thought, sorry."

The redhead ducked her head and pulled Waverly close to her chest, wrapping her arms tight around her, a hand stroking the soft curls on her head. "Don't be sorry, Waves; everyone deals with these things differently." She put her hands either side of the Earp's face and wiped away a couple of tears threatening to roll down Waverly's cheek and smiled. "Let's get to HQ and try to figure this out, yeah?"

Inside Nedley's office, the Outsiders were all gathered and silent; Champ's body had been retrieved from the tower and was in the room across the hall being examined by a team of doctors. Nedley himself stared at the wall opposite his desk, avoiding the empty stare from Wynonna.

"Would someone please inform me as to the reason for our waiting? A man is murdered, lying in the room beside us and we are doing nothing to avenge him. Explain this madness, Nedley, or I swear to you I will use my own methods to hunt and kill whoever dared upset Rosita."

The Sergeant Major glared at the gunslinger and Doc quickly took a step back, adjusting his hat so the brim covered his face.

"Who's Rosita?" Wynonna asked. "Has anyone ever heard of Rosita? Is it another cat? God, I do not need another cat to hate me right now."

Nedley shook his head and held up a hand to the elder Earp. "Wynonna calm yourself down. We're waiting for an eyewitness to turn up."

Dolls took a step forward, leaning close to Nedley, and whispered, "But there weren't any witnesses? A woman from Shorty's noticed the body but he was the only one on guard duty for that sector?"

"That's what I thought too, Xavier, but apparently not."

There was a knock on the door and the gang jumped, Wynonna opening the door dramatically. On the other side was a woman the same height as the older Earp with bright red hair to envy that under Nicole's freshly adjusted cap. The military uniform she was wearing, however, looked nothing like the one Perry wore. The sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, a faint sprinkling of glitter on the cuffs. The trousers had been pinned back or tailored or something to make them fit the curve of her legs perfectly and the clunky boots shone in the stark white light with a hint of pink. As for the cap all guards wore, hers was nowhere to be seen, her hair in a tight bun atop her head.

"Wynonna!" The glitzy guard threw her arms around the elder Earp before giving a beaming smile to the rest of the room. "Nice to meet all you epic bitches," she leant in close to Wynonna and whispered, "By the way, we need to catch up, girl," before looking to the rest of the group. "But I'm here to see the Sergeant Major. Any idea where he is?"

Nedley cleared his throat and the woman jumped into attention, making Wynonna giggling a little.

"Private Gardner, you may stand at ease. Please take a seat and tell us what you saw regarding Corporal Hardy's death. You're in a safe space here."

Wynonna let out a burst of laughter before quickly covering her mouth. "Sorry, I forgot Champ had a surname. He was always just Champ, you know? Anyway, sorry again. I'll shut up now."

The Private sat down in the far corner of the room, looking up and down the team as if inspecting them and completely judging what they were wearing. Waverly looked down at what she had on and grimaced; military-grade boots, sparkly leggings and a dirty blue puffer coat wasn't the best look but at least the boots meant her wellies didn't get covered in mud and that was always a bonus.

"If I'm in a safe space," the woman said, putting one leg behind the other as she sat, almost like she were a royal. "Then can we all use first names?"

The Sergeant Major's facial expression remained emotionless.

"Ok then," she said, "Can you all use my first name? It's Mercedes, by the way, Mercedes Gardner."

"Sure, Mercedes," Nicole said, aware of Waverly's shaking hand in her grip. "Just tell us what you saw in as much detail as you can; anything you say could help us find Champ's killer."

"Well, I was walking by the wall," Mercedes said slowly, Dolls hurriedly making notes. "And he was always so sweet and charming, so I waved to him up in the tower and bang. He got shot. It was super messy and I'm pretty sure some of the blood got in my hair but I managed to get a shower so fingers crossed it's all good."

Nicole's jaw hung open, her eyebrows slowly growing angular with frustration. "A Corporal, your superior, was shot and your first thought was to have a shower?"

"Well yeah; blood stains you know. Just because I have red hair doesn't mean that shade of red belongs. I would have thought you'd known that?"

Waverly took a step forward, intercepting Nicole as the redhead appeared to make a beeline for the Private. "Nicole," the brunette said in a hushed voice. "Don't let someone like her get the better of you. She's only a Private for a reason."

"You ok, Haught-stuff?" Wynonna walked over to the Sergeant and put a hand on her shoulder. "If you need some air, I can take it from here; I know Mercedes."

The redhead bit her lip but nodded after looking into Waverly's eyes. The brunette led her out of the room, only realising after they'd left that they'd been holding hands the entire time. At least it wasn't too obvious like if-

As soon as the door closed, Nicole spun Waverly around so the brunette's back was against the wall, their foreheads touching. The redhead was biting her lip, driving Waverly crazy although she wasn't quite sure what to do; Nicole was either about to punch something multiple times or kiss her in a way that she'd lose all sense of time in a heavenly plane of existence. The brunette closed her eyes as Nicole took a step closer, their bodies touching, but not in a way that Waverly was craving. She could feel the redhead's breath on her lips but that was it.

Tentatively, Waverly opened her eyes to see Nicole staring right back at her. "Nicole?"

The Sergeant stood up and adjusted her cap, almost as if nothing had happened for a moment. "Not here," she mumbled. "Not while Champ is in there." The redhead looked at the doorway behind them; it was only covered with a cloth, doors being a rare thing to come across in derelict buildings, the doctor's hushed voices just about audible over the clanking metal of the armoury along the corridor.

Nicole held out her hand and the brunette took it. "Where are we going?" Waverly wasn't quite sure what to make of the look in the Sergeant's eyes but it sent a chill down her spine.

"Somewhere we won't be disturbed."