WHO: Doc Holliday & Wyatt Earp WHEN: November 12 WHERE: Out and about WHAT: Finally seeing your old friend face to face after a lot of time WARNINGS: Def feels
The sight of Wyatt Earp just as he had remembered him was not the morning present that Doc had been hoping for. For the better part of an hour, Doc had been happy to just ignore it and hope that Wyatt would give up and walk away. Except he kept going to say something and stopping short and the look on his face was enough to drive even the most reasonable person to frustration. “I am workin’. I would prefer if you leave. I have nothin’ to say to you, Wyatt.” Nothing he wanted to say. He knew, based on everyone else, that this was his own personal haunting and it was a sick, cruel joke.
“Doc…” Doc squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that would help somehow, spell away this maudlin ghost that was pretending to be the man he knew once upon a time. “Look at me.”
There was a flame of frustration and anger growing in his belly and he felt it flare up. “You do not get to come here and say my name like I matter to you. You cast me out, I did not do that to you. Would not do that to you. You were my family.” He could still feel his words in the video. He just casually put everything on him. “I was not the villain you made me out to be in your attempt to look more righteous.”
There was a moment of confusion that flickered over Wyatt’s face. “Doc. You were the one that chose to turn to the Devil for longevity.”
Doc felt a flash of anger, eyes glowing yellow. “What do you think of what I am now, Wyatt?” Because despite wanting Wyatt to leave him alone, part of him wanted to start a fight, to push him away. He’d hurt him more than anyone else had not counting Wynonna.
The repulsion on Wyatt’s face both stung and made him feel vindicated. “What have you done, Doc?”
Doc looked away at that moment, eyes going back to their regular light blue color. All signs of his vampirism hidden away. “I did what I had to do, Wyatt. Like I always do. For the Earps. Wynonna needs me. Waverly needs me. Alice needs me.”
Wyatt studied his friend closely. “So you would choose the Devil twice for your own selfish needs. I missed you, mourned you...and you always choose the same path.”
Doc felt the hurt and the anger that the words caused, trickling deep inside himself. “And you will always choose the same narrative for me, for you. You are the righteous one that did some bad things, but at least you can pride yourself on not being Doc Holliday, your mad dog that you let loose on those you considered enemies. Of course I will never be the same for you as you were for me because you have made up your mind about who I am.” The more he spoke, the more the anger and hurt bled into his words. “I will not allow you to keep this hold on me. I have made bad choices, but you have too and I have always cleaned up your messes. I never asked for anything but your friendship. I wanted nothing more than to be there for you. Yes, I feared death, but that does not make me anything but human.”
Wyatt was silent for a moment. “I understand fearing death, but you cannot avoid death without selling your soul. It’s not worth it.”
Doc turned away from Wyatt. “I am tired, Wyatt. I am tired of hoping to gain your approval when I know that in the future you will simply change history and make me worse than I already am.”
For a moment, neither of them said anything, but then Wyatt asked, “Who is Alice?”
Doc studied his boots for a moment. “She’s your great great great granddaughter. Wynonna and I…” He gestured vaguely. “She is our daughter. Named after our mothers.” He wasn’t sure how Wyatt would take it and even less sure what he would say about it.
“An Earp and a Holliday.” Was the only thing for a long moment. “I don’t know how to feel about this. Doc, you are far too old for…”
“I am too old for anyone, Wyatt. But whatever you think or feel about me or Wynonna or our daughter. None of that matters. I don’t need your approval. I know who I am and what I am and I know it was me that got me here. And now I’m going to live my life as peacefully as I can.”
His old friend looked like he was trying to find something to say, so Doc let him figure it out. “I suppose there is nothing I can say to change your mind. There never was.”
Doc looked at his old friend, a hint of sadness in his expression. “Goodbye, Wyatt.”