Chapter Text
Waverly had left. Waverly had left and Nicole had encouraged her.
Nicole had noticed her girlfriend becoming increasingly tired and frustrated with their life, and despite them trying to find a way through it, nothing had helped.
And then Nicole had watched the look of elation appear on her girlfriends face when she had been offered her dream job in Mexico. An ancient Mayan city that had been discovered near Cozumel and they needed researchers and historians with an understanding of the culture and language to piece together this forgotten world. Nicole had taken one look at that beautiful face that had become animated again for the first time in what felt like years, and she knew, above all other things that Waverly had to go.
They had talked and talked about it. Weighed up the pro’s and con’s of her going, both realising pretty quickly that she would have to make the move permanent and that no amount of them trying would make the long distance work. They had both cried, and held onto each other with love and desperation, and then they had said their ‘I love you’s’ and Nicole had driven Waverly to the airport, and with a final embrace, they had said goodbye.
And it had hurt.
More than Nicole thought possible.
They had decided to not call. Both recognising that to talk would just prolong the inevitable, and that the heartbreak they were suffering now would not be able to heal until all contact was severed.
They went from being each-others everything to nothing in the blink of an eye.
Nicole knew Waverly was struggling as much as she was. Wynonna had let them both know they weren’t coping, but still they remained apart. Whilst it felt like the worst decision either of them had ever made, there was no denying it was still the right one.
At first Nicole struggled to function. She had drunk herself asleep most nights and then she tried to fuck away the pain with strangers in the city, but neither had helped, and in the end, it was Nedley and Wynonna that had taken her aside and told her to sort her life out. Wynonna started to ask Nicole to look after Alice more and more, and Nedley had intimated he was looking at retiring soon and she needed to buck her idea’s up if she were to be a serious contender for his replacement. She had taken the notes and had slowed down the drinking and the women, deciding instead to focus on the town that had kept her away from her love
And then the abduction happened.
A 15 year old girl was walking home from school in broad daylight and had disappeared. She had gotten off the school bus at 16.07PM and had vanished. Nedley and Nicole worked tirelessly to try and find her, but they couldn’t. Her slashed and mutilated body had been discovered on wasteland on the outskirts of town, the culprit vanishing into thin air.
Then another girl had gone. Then another, and then another and before Nicole had time to breathe, four teenage girls had gone and they were no closer to finding the perpetrator. Nedley had called for re-enforcements-the county relenting once the second disappearance was reported. Everyone was working themselves to the bone and they were no closer to knowing who could be attacking and killing these young women. It fluctuated between 12 year olds to 17 year olds-but they were always white, and they were all slight in build. That was all they had to go on.
Curfews were put in place and no one was allowed to walk down the street without at least one other person.
But still he managed to get to them.
And then they caught a break. A tip pointing them in the direction of a man called Owen Mathers. He was a man who had wandered into the district some time ago looking for work, and had managed to find some on a farm not too far away from the town centre. He was an affable man in his thirties who was charming and likeable to everyone he came into contact with. He was dating a local girl, and it was her that had first alerted the police to him. Or, more specifically, his hunting knife. She had found it in the trunk of his car, and although he had brushed it off as just a knife he liked to take with him when working, his girlfriend couldn’t shake off the feeling of unease.
She had gone to Nedley, who had informed the task force, who had promptly delved into his life without him knowing and he had been declared a person of interest by the end of the working day.
Nicole was returning to town when she saw him speed past her heading towards the highway. She had radioed it in immediately and had swung the cruiser round, quickly accelerating in an attempt to catch up with him. She kept in constant contact with dispatch, making sure they knew exactly where she was at all times. She saw him turning off into an abandoned industrial estate, and quickly followed suit, pulling her cruiser up behind his truck, effectively blocking him in. She caught sight of him climbing over the security fence and disappearing into an old doorway, so without hesitation, Nicole got out of the cruiser and quickly followed his path into the empty building
Nedleys voice came over the radio, demanding she stand down and wait for backup, but Nicole knew that wasn’t an option. This guy had been responsible for preying on young girls and slashing them to death with his hunting knife, she wasn’t about to risk losing him, so with an ‘all due respect but no Sir’ down the radio, she switched the noisy piece of kit off, checked her stab vest was tightly in position and yanked open the door, grabbing her flashlight from her belt with one hand and her gun in the other.
She called out, listening for any indication as to where Owen Mathers was hiding. Deathly silence followed her voice as she swung the beam of light from left to right and slowly started her descent into the darkness.
Chains that were once used as hoists in the old salt mill swung in the cool air as Nicole’s eyes adjusted to the dark. She picked her way through the various pools of water scattered around the floor, along with the debris left from a workhouse long since forgotten, her boots echoing around the walls as she tried, and failed to make her presence less conspicuous. There were piles of pallets at the far end of the warehouse, and all of Nicole’s instincts told her he would be hiding amongst them. She picked her pace up, calling out to the assailant as she neared the back of the depot.
Maybe it was because she was so fixated on the hiding place in front of her, but for a split second, she lost sight of the bigger picture. Owen Mathers, was a dangerous serial killer. He had evaded police capture because he was an incredibly intelligent psychopath, and Nicole knew, as soon as she felt the breath behind her, that she had fucked up. He was a little taller than her, but not large by any stretch, and the glint in his eye as he knocked her gun from her hand and roughly spun her round to face him was one she would never forget. His excitement and anticipation for what would come next evident.
She fought. By god did she fight, but he knew it was coming and before she managed to even get a swing at him, he had swung a tyre iron into her knee with all the strength he had. Nicole fell to floor, and for a split second she thought she might pass out from the pain that seared through her body. He didn’t let up for a moment, climbing on top of her chest and holding her arms to her body using his legs.
“You’re a little older than I like...” he whispered, breath and spit hitting her face.
She tried to struggle, but it was no use. He had her pinned to the floor and she couldn’t move her leg from the pain that was shooting through it
“I’m assuming you want to know why I do this...” he asked quietly
“Because you’re a sick fuck that gets his kicks from slicing up defenceless girls?” Nicole accused, struggling against his weight on her chest
“Defenceless? I suppose you would think that... oh how ignorant you are Nicole Haught... when will any of you realise, they held all the cards...” he replied, sounding almost bored of their interaction.
He shifted above her and then slowly ran the tip of his knife up both sides of Nicole’s Kevlar vest, the blades sharpness slicing through the material easily, allowing access to her torso.
“Do you know what I’m going to enjoy most about this Nicole?”
“Fuck you” Nicole spat in reply.
Owen laughed once more before leaning down and whispering into Nicole’s ear
“I’m going to enjoy the fact that in the end, you will react in exactly the same way as the girls you have been trying to save...”
With that, he swung himself round and ran the tip of the hunting knife across Nicole’s abdomen, slicing her open. Despite herself, Nicole screamed in pain, eliciting a laugh from the man above her as he very slowly ran the blade just below her belly button followed by two quick jabs to the stomach, his legs keeping her flat to the floor unable to move. Nicole could feel herself begin to lose consciousness and could only release a choked breath as she felt the blade enter her stomach once more before she faintly heard a gunshot and her world turned black.