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It’s not like she was looking for it. They were doing alright. Everything felt a bit off, and well, Wynonna didn’t feel like herself, but they were getting by, and so Waverly wasn’t looking for it. But she was researching demons, and while doing the deep dive on online archives and searching through books that Jeremy had stolen from Black Badge, she turned to page seventy-seven in a seemingly useless book, and inside was a loose sheet of paper that read, in big bold letters, How To Raise The Dead. She wasn’t looking for it, but it made her gasp, made her heart leap up into her throat. Could they get the missing piece of their team back?
Waverly knew it could be risky, she knew it could reap horrible consequences, but she’s seen the way Wynonna has been without him. She swears she’s fine, she goes on with her life, shooting revenants and demons, making puns and sipping whiskey, but it all feels a little flat. Waverly can see it every time she looks at her. Her eyes lack the light they once had, her actions lack oomph. Sometimes late at night when even the comfort of Nicole’s warm arms can’t draw her to sleep, Waverly hears sobs coming from Wynonna’s room. She’s holding it together, but just barely.
Aside from Wynonna, the rest of them weren’t necessarily doing their best, either. Waverly hated knowing that her sister was out there without him. Wynonna was strong and resilient and Waverly had no doubt she could do it on her own, but Dolls had always had her back when she was being reckless and didn’t consider all the options. It was nice knowing he was there. It was nice having him around, even just in the domestic parts of their lives. It was nice to sip coffee and watch Wynonna and Nicole bicker, and just share a look with Dolls, expressing their exasperated love for the two who just couldn’t get along. Sometimes Waverly caught Jeremy just staring at the picture of them he had framed on his desk, tears watering in his eyes, and she just knew. Occasionally she noticed Nicole looking a little lost, like Dolls was the only one who kept her grounded, the only one who like her, had actually been trained to keep the peace, the only one thinking about the civilian consequence. It broke Waverly’s heart to see them all like this. The whole group liked to pretend they were okay, but they weren’t, and they couldn’t go on like this.
So despite better judgement, and without consultation from anyone else in their little family, Waverly began to read, and see what she had to do.
•¥•
The spell was fairly simple. They had to dig him up, pour a certain concoction over him, chant a few Latin words, and according to the paper, Dolls would be as good as new. The only problem was the potion part. There was the standard potiony type things, classic eye of rabbit, toe of a toad type thing, but there was one thing that was stumping Waverly. “Sodium Lauryl Sulfate…” she whispers, drumming her fingers on her desk, wondering where they were going to find such a seemingly random chemical.
“What?” a voice calls out, and Waverly realizes she’s been made, “what sciencey thing are you on about?”
Waverly smiles at Wynonna’s scientifically accurate gargon, turning towards her sister. “Uhh… sodium lauryl sulfate?” she says, inarticulately, not really having a plan of action for how to deal with this, with explaining her secret little project to her sister.
“Well, what for?” Wynonna asks, sitting on a table across from her.
Waverly allows silence to grow between them for a moment while deciding how to go about this. “Well… there’s this like… spell… thing that I’ve been looking at performing,” she lands on, hoping maybe Wynonna won’t press more.
“Oh yeah? To stop demons or something? Because I was thinking it’d be cool if we had a demon poison, that would kill and disintegrate demons, so we don’t have to dispose of the carcasses are ourselves, y’know, because that’s… the worst part of demon hunting. I got this new jacket last week and it’s already been covered in demon gunk and I’m not really here for—”
“Wynonna, that’s not it.”
“Then what, Waves?”
“I found a way, Wyn,” Waverly pauses before continuing, scared of the reaction, “to bring him back.”
The sound of Wynonna’s breath catching in her throat is almost deafening, rocking Waverly to the core. That sound was why she need to do this. “Waverly Earp, you better not be shitting me,” she says, her voice more than a little shaky.
Waverly shakes her head, “I wouldn’t, I couldn’t,” she says, reaching out for Wynonna.
Her sister takes her hand and pulls her into a hug. They stay like that for a moment, just holding each other, before Wynonna pulls away, with a sudden determined look in her eyes. “So what do we have to do?”
Waverly smiles, grateful for Wynonna’s constant strength, her ability to push past her hardships and look at what they needed to do next, what she needed to do to make things better. “Well, I need to figure out where we can get sodium lauryl sulfate so I think it’s time to consult our local scientist.”
•¥•
Soon, their whole group was gathered in their office, looking at the spell, ready to make this happen. “So, Jer, do you have any idea where we can get sodium lauryl sulfate?” Waverly asks.
Jeremy ponders the question for a moment, considering the chemical, and its origins. “Well we could siphon it from coconut oil, but I’m not sure it will be enough, we’d probably have to find all the coconuts in the ghost river triangle to get the amount that this spell dictates…”
“Toothpaste,” Robin says from the corner, almost randomly, everyone turning to fix him with a confused stare, “it’s an ingredient in toothpaste. We can easily find enough toothpaste, probably here in Purgatory, or at least in the big city to perform the spell.”
“Why do you know that?” Nicole asks, and Robin grimaces.
“I did some research into toothpaste at one point, it’s not that weird.”
Jeremy smiles. “It’s a little weird, babe, but that’s okay, we appreciate it,” he says, kissing Robin on the cheek and standing up.
“Trip to the store then, I guess?” Wynonna says, grabbing her jacket from the hook.
“Let’s get this show on the road!” Nicole responds, eagerly, opening the door for the group to exit.
“Time to resurrect Dolls,” Waverly whispers, ignoring how absolutely bonkers that sounds.
•¥•
In Waverly’s arms were half the pharmacy’s toothpaste stock, and in Nicole’s were the other half. Sure, odd looks were part of living in Purgatory for Waverly and Nicole, but in that store then, all of the eyes were on them, a peculiar pair with more toothpaste then one person would need in their whole lifetime. Waverly held back giggles when she met Nicole’s eyes and a smile graced her face. The situation was so wild, even for them, and that just made it even better. As they dropped the toothpaste on the counter and saw the look on the teenage cashier’s face, Waverly felt almost overjoyed that this was the life she got to live.
“Uh, okay,” the cashier said, staring at the exorbitant amount of toothpaste, unsure really how to go about this, “I’m assuming you’d like to bag this?”
That one statement sent Waverly into hysterics, laughter spewing uncontrollably from her mouth as Nicole stated, “yes please,”
Waverly laughed the whole time the poor kid scanned the toothpaste, just because the situation was so stupid, just because she couldn’t believe they were getting Dolls back, and they gave this kid the story of a lifetime to do it.
The cashier finished, and Waverly began to catch her breath as he said “That’ll be three hundred seventy four dollars and eighty eight cents, please,” and Waverly couldn’t help but snicker a bit at that, almost four hundred dollars on toothpaste.
“Debit please,” Nicole responded, smiling at Waverly and at the cashier who looked more than a little traumatized.
“Alright, thank you ma’am, have a great day,” he said, after Nicole had paid and the bags had been handed over.
“You too,” Nicole said, dropping a twenty on the counter for the trouble they’d caused.
•¥•
“Do you think I’d get audited if I put the toothpaste on my work expenses?” Nicole asks, as she scoops more dirt out of the plot of land where Dolls was laid to rest, “I don’t think I can afford my mortgage this month if I don’t.”
Wynonna pauses her shovelling for a moment and considers it. “Think we can get Dolls to pay for it once he’s back?”
The joke falls a little flat on still mourning ears, but the classic wisecrack from Wynonna puts them all a bit more at ease. It felt right, he was coming back, and this was something they could joke about.
“Well, all I’ll say is I haven’t had a job in over a year, so don’t expect me to pay for it,” Jeremy says, and the group laughs before falling into a comfortable silence, the only sounds remaining being that of the shovels scraping and falling dirt.
•¥•
Finally, the last flecks of dirt fall beside their hole, and Dolls’ casket is lifted from its home, and cracked open so the spell can be performed without any hindrance. Waverly can tell that this has made Wynonna more than a little uncomfortable.
Waverly turns to her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her off to the side. She makes eye contact with Wynonna, and she can see the hesitation in her eyes. “Waves…” Wynonna whispers, her eyes trailing to the casket, and then quickly back to Waverly, “I can’t see him like...that again.”
Waverly nods, she understands, knowing how hard that was for her sister in the first place. She knows how hard it was for all of them, but the profound hurt that she knows Wynonna felt? It doesn’t compare to any of the rest of them. “Of course Wyn, just stand right here, with your back turned and it’ll be done before you know it,” she says, with a quick rub up and down Wynonna’s back before turning to the casket and the rest of their friends.
Waverly grabs the large pot she has filled with the concoction, the overwhelming auroma of toothpaste filling their senses as she spills it over their friend, slowly chanting the words, “Surge, surge, surge ex mortuis, coram nobis gratiae tuae, surge, surge.”
Nothing happens immediately, and they all wait with bated breath, for any sudden sign of their friend’s return when a large gasp fills the silence of the air and Waverly watches as Dolls blinks twice before cracking his eyes open and looking around. “Waverly?” he says, and she instantly feels tears watering as she nods.
“Can you help me up?” he asks, and the ridiculousness in the moment has Waverly both laughing and crying, and she can hear the group responding in the same way as she reaches for his hand and pulls him up into her arms.
“I missed you,” she says, squeezing as tight as she can, knowing that now he was here, and unbreakable, like he always had been before.
Jeremy is the first one to reach in and join the hug, wrapping his arms around Dolls from behind. “I did too,” he says, and Waverly can feel Dolls smile into her shoulder.
Before long, Nicole and even Robin have wrapped themselves up in the hug, and expressed their joys that he was back, and that their team was once again whole. The only one not enjoying the moment was Wynonna. Waverly pulls away, looking over at her sister, who’s back is still turned to the commotion. “Wyn,” she says quietly, making her over to her.
“It can’t be real,” Wynonna murmurs under her breath and Waverly’s heart aches for her.
“It is though, Earp,” a voice says from behind them, and Wynonna lets out a shaky breath rattled with pain as she turns to see where it’s coming from.
Waverly watches as Wynonna turns, and there standing right behind her is the missing piece of her heart. “I’m here, Wyn,” he says, and his voice is so soft, Waverly practically melts.
Wynonna falls right into him, grasping at his shirt, trying to get as close as possible, even if he is absolutely soaked in the remnants of their potion. Dolls grabs her, pulling her against him, wrapping his arms around her waist and just holding on, like she was the thing tethering him to his new life. For a moment, Waverly considers this a possibility, a conditional term of his new existence, that he has to hold onto Wynonna Earp with everything he has until he dies, but Dolls pulls away. He still holds Wynonna close to him, one hand on the small of her back, but he opens himself up to the group so he could see them all, and just take it in, before saying, “Not that I’m taking whatever you guys did for granted, but is there a reason I smell like toothpaste?”