Bottom of the Bottle | Wynonna Earp

⇝ ᴛᴇɴ ⇜

"It's Nicole. Something's wrong and she can't or won't talk to me, please we have to do something!" Tears started rolling down Waverly's cheeks.

"We will, but you need to tell me exactly what happened," Wynonna spoke in a calm manner although nobody was currently calm, however panicking would not help the situation or Waverly. She held on to her sister as they walked inside to reassure her that she was both literally and emotionally there for her.

Waverly took the back of her free hand to her face, drying her eyes to some extent. "We were just watching Marley and Me, and cuddling and she just froze. And," she took a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself, "she just wouldn't speak. I don't know what happened, oh god what if-" Wynonna pulled her into a hug, effectively stopping her train of thought as she started crying again. Wynonna looked up and nodded to Reina, signaling for her and Dolls to keep going to check out the situation. After a few minutes of Waverly understandably being an emotional trainwreck and drenching Wynonna's shoulder in tears, she seemed finished.

"Any better?" Wynonna asked, to which Waverly nodded. "Okay, let's head in. We will fix this." Waverly offered a half-smile in response to the promise of the situation being dealt with. Wynonna always found a way.

~

"She's not cold at all," Reina reported after feeling her friend's forehead. Nicole stared off into space, but she didn't respond to any visual cues. Dolls was wracking his brain for a possible answer as to what was causing this comatose-like state as Reina closed the redhead's eyes, and the Earp sisters walked in.

"Any changes?" Wynonna asked. Waverly seemed currently unable to speak, instead walking over and kneeling next to the sofa. She held Nicole's hand in hers, sitting in silence.

"No," Reina replied with a sigh as Wynonna joined her. "I don't get it-" she cut herself off and looked towards the kitchen, eyebrows scrunching together in confusion as she walked over. She definitely smelled something but nobody else reacted. Wynonna followed her, leaving Dolls with time to think. "You don't smell it do you?"

"The only thing I smell is you. You really need a shower." Wynonna pinched her nose shut to emphasize her point.

"Because that's the most important thing right now. I'm following this trail, you stay here. Please." Without pausing to argue, Reina walked outside. The scent was distinctly smoky, a tad like a wood stove, and overpoweringly sweet. It was like burning wood mixed with a strawberry on steroids. What stood out most to Reina was a faint trace of cucumber. In order to better pinpoint a location, she morphed into the hellhound Wynonna had come to know earlier in the day. Now the setting sun provided a decent bit of cover for Reina to operate under, but she erred on the side of caution anyway.

"Can you slow down a little bit? Some of us only have two legs," Wynonna complained from having to jog to keep up with the large dog. Reina broke into a light sprint just to spite her.

The trail led to.. a crossroads. It branched off in three directions. Reina pawed at the ground, circling around and double checking to see if maybe the scent was stronger going in one direction. She huffed, clearly annoyed with the outcome. Using one claw, she made lines in the dirt at each point where the scent split and sat down, looking up at Wynonna and waiting.

"Oh my god you're adorable. You want me to pick one?"

A large furry head nodded.

"Okay, uhh. This one," she gestured to the leftmost mark. Reina got up, continuing that way.

The trail led into the woods, where it wrapped around many trees and crossed itself a few times. Whoever - or whatever - it was did not want to be followed. A loud snort came from the hellhound as her nose touched something slimy, meriting a few sneezes and repetitive paw swipes to get rid of the feeling of the object. Wynonna ignored this behavior as she passed Reina and observed what she'd found.

On the leafy ground of the woods laid what appeared to be a large snakeskin at least the size of a human, and slightly larger than Wynonna. It held no trace of a pattern and the scent stopped there. Reina couldn't pick anything else up after the initial trail led into a stream of running water, and she shifted back into the two-legged version of herself in order to speak.

"Either Jurassic Park started in Purgatory or we're dealing with a giant lizard monster. Can Dolls use this to figure out what's going on?"

Wynonna nodded, taking a step back from the evidence. "Probably. You're carrying it though." Reina didn't argue with her, picking up the molted skin and beginning the walk back to the homestead with the Earp heir next to her, actually able to keep up this time around.

"Where do your clothes go when you turn into a dog?"

"...what?"

"Like, you don't turn into a dog wearing clothes."

Reina sighed heavily, although she did laugh. "Actually, you have a point. I don't even know. But wow is this not the time for stupid questions."

"This is the perfect time for stupid questions, we have about a mile to go yet. Besides, judging by that thing you're holding Nicole will be fine. Snake venom either kills someone immediately or just paralyzes them for a little bit, right?"

"Huh. You're right, but I'm not taking any chances."

"I'm positive Nicole's going to be okay. We still have to walk back in any case. So.. any stupid questions?" Wynonna turned her head to look at her friend.

"Kinda. You and Dolls..?" Reina wiggled her eyebrows a little bit.

"Oh god, hell no," Wynonna made a face as if the thought alone completely disgusted her.

"Doc?"

"..no."

"You hesitated," she laughed. "Personally I think you're caught in a little bit of a love triangle."

"Dude, no. Dolls is my boss, and Doc just.."

"Just what?"

Wynonna groaned as she realized what the other woman was saying was true. "Goddamnit. You're right."

"Knew it," Reina said with a smirk. "Damn, that's gotta suck."

"Don't look so smug, you're carrying someone's skin."

Reina's nose wrinkled as that realization hit her. "This is your fault."

"Is not."

"Is too. Hey, catch." With a devilish grin, Reina threw the snakeskin at Wynonna. She proceeded to squeal and quickly jump out of the way, side smacking into a tree. The skin landed barely two inches away. Laughter echoed through the empty woods.

"You are a complete asshole." Wynonna grumbled. Reina calmed herself as she retrieved the snakeskin, still wearing a goofy smile.

"Come on, brave one." This earned her a light smack to the back of the upper arm.

"If you tell anyone what just happened I'm actually going to kill you."