Who: Doc, Wynonna, and baby Alice. What: Chatting about the Waverly and Ben situation. ;) When: After Wynonna's run in with Ben. Where: Doc's apartment Rating: PG-13 at most Status: Closed; Completed Gdoc
After her conversation with her sister’s new pal, Wynonna was more on edge than usual. She didn’t trust the guy as far as she could throw him. He was clearly a misogynist and way too arrogant for his own good. Her baby sister liked to see the best in people and it got her in trouble. Wynonna was determined to prevent that from happening, especially since Waverly was struggling with being separated from Nicole.
She hadn’t slept well, so she made a quick run to Horst’s for coffee and donuts before knocking on Doc’s door to pick up Alice so he could go to work. Hopefully it was early enough that they could have a chat first.
* Doc had slept through his alarm, but still managed to grab a shower and throw on some clothes before he heard that tell-tale knock on the door. With Alice in his arms, the gunslinger covered the short distance to the door and, after a quick check through the peephole, unlocked and opened it.
Wynonna looked like a woman on a mission…or at least, a woman with something on her mind. She had coffee and a small box of donuts, which was enough of a signal that she wanted to talk about something. At the moment, he was in the dark of what that could be outside of the obvious: Alice.
“You look like you have somethin’ on your mind, darlin’,” Doc said, stepping aside and gesturing for her to come in. “That and you brought donuts and coffee. That is a sure sign that you want to chat.”
*
“Can’t a girl just want to do something nice for her baby daddy?” Wynonna asked, entering the apartment and setting down the coffee and donuts so she could take Alice from him, kissing the baby’s cheek in greeting.
Yes, she did want to talk and she wasn’t surprised that Doc figured that out. He knew her better than she cared to admit. “Do you have to rush out to work?”
*
“I am not saying you’re not capable. I am just saying it’s not normally in your nature to do so.” Doc handed over Alice to Wynonna and then moved to shut the door behind her. There was no need to lock it. Anyone who dared to break in here with Doc around was nuts, but with both of them present? They were insane.
“For you, I always have time,” Doc replied. Taking one of the coffees and a donut, Doc gestured for Wyonna to follow him into the living room. Not surprising, the space was mostly filled with all things Alice, but there were still signs of Doc here and there too. He settled on the couch and looked over at her expectantly.
“So, what’s on your mind, darlin?”
*
Once she had Alice settled on one hip, Wynonna grabbed her own coffee and went to sit down on Doc’s sofa. “Have you met Waverly’s new friend yet?” she asked. She wasn’t sure if she needed to be more specific. Ben was the only person she had heard her sister talk about, but it was possible there were others that she wasn’t aware of. Though if she didn’t know about them, Doc probably didn’t either.
“I don’t like him.”
*
Because Doc only knew of Ben as a potential friend to Waverly, he knew who Wynonna was referring to immediately. And he wasn’t the least surprised she didn’t like him either. Doc agreed to give the guy the benefit of the doubt for Waverly’s sake, but he thought the man was quite scuzzy.
“That doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Doc replied honestly, setting down his coffee. “I met him during the replicator weirdness. He had Waverly on his back. It was strange to see.” Especially since Waverly had only recently been separated from Nicole.
“He was rather rude right off the bat too. He did save her so I suppose I should at least give him points for that.”
*
Wynonna wasn’t surprised that Doc shared her opinion about Ben. He was the kind of guy that she would have picked up in a seedy bar during the years she spent away from Purgatory, not the kind of guy that her baby sister should be anywhere near. “Yeah, he saved her,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “One of us could have done that just as easily.” He just managed to get there first.
“I’m worried about her,” she admitted. “She’s been trying to hide it, but I know she’s really missing Nicole.” Wynonna pretended not to notice when her sister had puffy eyes from crying.
*
“Oh, I fully agree, darlin.” No, Doc wasn’t a fan of Ben, but for Waverly, he’d agreed to at least attempt to give the guy a chance. Still, now that Wynonna had met him and didn’t like him either, Doc wasn’t too sure that chance was even warranted anymore. “Saving lives does not automatically redeem someone.” Doc knew that all too well. It didn’t matter how many people he did save. It wasn’t enough to redeem him or change who he was.
The gunslinger looked mournful at the mention of Waverly missing Nicole. He’d seen it too. No doubt that was why she was clinging on to Ben right now. He was a distraction from how much she was missing the woman she loved so much. Doc knew that situation all too well. He reached over and gently touched Wynonna’s shoulder.
“I’ve seen it too. No doubt that is why she is clinging to this Ben so much. It’s helping her cope.”
*
When he touched Wynonna’s shoulder, she smiled at him and then laughed as Alice flung herself out of her mother’s arms and towards her father. “Okay, kid, I see how it is,” Wynonna said, though there was no heat behind the words. Seeing the way Doc was with their daughter made her feel some type of way that she wasn’t prepared to examine closely.
She shifted Alice over to Doc and then picked up her coffee cup again. “So what do we do?” she asked. “Do we ignore it? Wait for her to get it out of her system? Or do we try to redirect her to some other coping mechanism. Maybe we could get her to keep Alice more often?” The club was open during the day, though it wasn’t nearly as busy, but Wynonna could probably convince Kenny to switch her shift sometimes.
* Doc chucked warmly and easily lifted Alice from her mother’s arms. As his daughter reached a hand towards his face, playfully tugging on his mustache, Doc smiled. There was nothing he loved more in the world than his daughter. The only female to have ever truly stolen his heart. Of course, her momma would always be a close second.
Cradling Alice against his shoulder, his mustache a safe distance from her grabby fingers, Doc focused on Wynonna’s questions. He considered the options carefully. Out of all the ones Wynonna listed, Doc thought redirecting Waverly towards another coping mechanism might be the best. He didn’t want to ignore it and he didn’t want to wait until Ben hurt Waverly. Because he would. Those types of men always did.
“I think we should redirect her towards another coping mechanism. Having her watch Alice more is a good way to start. Perhaps we can look into finding her a hobby to occupy her time too or suggest a few other people for her to associate with.”
*
“I guess it would help if we met other people, huh?” Wynonna remarked. She and Doc weren’t exactly the most outgoing of people and between their jobs and their daughter, neither of them had a circle of friends in this town. “Maybe we each find an activity to do with her under the guise of us wanting to meet more people?” That way Waverly wouldn’t know their true intentions.Because even if she might not have Wyatt Earp’s blood, Waverly had the Earp stubbornness.
A thought occurred to Wynonna and she hesitated for a long moment before voicing it. “You know, one surefire way to get her to watch Alice more is if we tell her we want to go out together.” She paused. “You know, like on dates.”
*
“To be fair, neither of us thought we would find ourselves in this situation.” They could not have predicted protecting Waverly would hinge on how vast their social lives were. It didn’t change the fact that Wynonna was right; they did not exactly have a lot of friends here. Doc had befriended Nate and Bucky, but Waverly needed a female friend. She had enough testosterone just by being around Ben. “But you are right. Our social circle is very limited here.”
Wynonna’s suggestion wasn’t bad. It would help Waverly and themselves. “I say that is a decent course of action. Keep our true intentions underwraps.” Because Doc knew all about Earp stubbornness and even while Waverly was not an Earp by blood, she could still be stubborn as a mule when the mood struck.
Doc noticed Wynonna’s hesitation. Something was going on in that brain of hers, but hell if Doc knew what it was outside of the fact that it certainly gave her pause. He was about to just tell her to spit it out when she did…and Doc could not have been more surprised.
Doc looked at Wynonna incredulously. “Dates? You think we should go on dates?” To be honest, Doc was not opposed to going out with Wynonna. He enjoyed spending time with her, but usually their outings involved Alice too. She was a buffer. Without Alice, it would just be the two of them and unresolved feelings. Lots of unresolved feelings.
The gunslinger took a deep breath and suddenly wished there was whiskey in that coffee cup. “Darlin’-” Doc reached out and placed a hand on Wynonna’s arm. “I’m not opposed to spending time with you like that. Just we’ve never really done the dating thing. We usually just skip to the part that is supposed to come after the date.”
Wynonna didn’t date. At least that’s what she told herself. And she wasn’t going to break that rule for Doc, no matter what feelings she might have for the man who fathered her daughter. “I wasn’t suggesting we actually date,” she clarified. “Just tell Waverly we are.” Okay, so that might mean they’d have to make it look convincing, which meant going out and doing date like activities and maybe spending the night together, but Wynonna wasn’t going to think about that too much.
As a long term plan, it had a lot of flaws, but if it got Waverly to spend less time with Ben, then they could figure out the rest of the details. Hopefully without causing themselves any grief.
* The plan had a lot of flaws and Doc knew it would take more than just telling Waverly they were dating to convince her that they actually were. Doc and Wynonna would need to actually go out together. It could even require one of them spending the night. Doc wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet. However, if it kept Waverly away from Ben, Doc was willing to give it a try. He just hoped it wouldn’t lead to more of a mess than what they were currently dealing with now.
“We tell her we are and make it look convincing,” Doc replied. “Because Waverly ain’t going to take our word for it.” He withdrew his hand from her arm and looked down at his coffee cup. “That’s the only way we’re going to be able to make it work.”
*
It was risky for a lot of reasons, but Wynonna was willing to take the chance if it meant helping her baby sister. “I’m game if you are,” she said, finishing her coffee as she glanced at the clock. “Shit, you’re going to be late if you don’t get going.” She reached to take Alice back. “We can talk more later.”
*
“If it means helping Waverly, you know I’m in.” Waverly was family to Doc and he would do everything in his power to protect her. Because he knew Waverly would be the same for him.
At Wynonna’s words, Doc nodded and passed Alice back to her momma. He stood. “I’ll see you later on then. You two have a good day together and stay out of trouble.”