Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Vi has never been so relieved to be home. Having been stuck undercover, working on a sting operation in Zaun for 32-hours straight, had taken its toll. She had barely slept, and was still riding on the high of catching one of the more sinister chem-barons of the Undercity. She was glad that now she can finally shower, maybe take a nap, and get a head start on working out the kinks that’s been plaguing her gauntlets since last morning.

Carefully retrieving the gloves from its bag, she places them on her metal workbench with a soft clank. She makes quick work of arranging her workstation, getting all the tools she needed within a hand’s reach, before examining the damage and considers it fixable, by her standards. Jayce Talis and his band of misfits can kiss my ass, Vi smirks.

But before she gets any work done on the gauntlets, Vi notices the smell of sweat and the distinct stink of sewerage emanating from her clothes, to her hair, to her skin. She sighs into the quietness, deciding that probably could use a shower. She also figured that she would catch Caitlyn too, as it was now around the time she would be waking up to start her day.

Along the way to the bedroom, she passes a glance at the clock.

7:12am.

The first thing that Vi noticed the moment she had entered the bedroom, was how quiet it was. A pin could drop, and she would have heard it. Shifting her eyes to the bed, she was met with disappointment. The bed was already made and a handwritten note was tucked awkwardly between the folds of the duvet. Vi works herself to her side of the bed and lifts the paper to her eyes to read it.

Hey sweetheart, figured I'd be gone when you get back. Call the station when you read this. Love you!

Vi’s expectant state falters. But she doesn’t dwell on her feelings any longer than she has to, and gets ahead to do as instructed. She folds the note in half and pockets it as she makes her way to the telephone.

The Piltovian contraption sat like a precious artefact in the apartment's foyer. She remembered struggling with the odd invention at first, awkwardly twisting and turning the apparatus and wondering which end was where she talked and where she listened from. They never had one in Zaun, when she grew up, they were limited to sending messages through the Pneumatic tubes, which in itself was already a luxury for most of the people in the Undercity. 

With practiced movements, Vi lifts the wooden receiver off its bracket and was connected to an operator in waiting.

“Hall of Law," Vi called out to the wooden cone in her hand, and a quick redirection sends her to another voice.

"This is the Hall of Law, what's your emergency?" it said, sound coming off the receiver that Vi holds out near to her ears.

"Hey Louise, it's Vi. Badge number 516. Can you connect me with the Sheriff please?"

"Say no more darling!"

After a click, the familiar cadence of polished accent fills the line, which both ached and pleased Vi’s heart. It was warm and it was familiar, and it never failed to make her smile.

"Oh, Vi, is that you?" 

"Hey Cupcake. I thought today was your day off?"

"It is. It was. Something came up at the station that I needed to look into. But it might seem I'll have to be here a little longer than expected." Vi frowned at the information.

"Oh, hey if you want me to come in, I can help," she offered, though the slight inflection in her voice had made it sound more like a plea.

"Vi…” Caitlyn’s voice had softened. “You just got off a thirty-two hour shift. You should take it easy for the rest of the day. I’ve got Mohan on this with me.”

"Okay. Do you know when you'll be finished then?"

"Actually, it's kind of the reason I asked you to call. Well, part of the reason.” Vi raised her eyebrows as Caitlyn goes quiet. There was no one who understood the Sheriff better, and Vi already knew that a favor was about to follow. "I was supposed to help out with my mother's benefit garden party later this morning..."

"No way, you cancelled on your mother?"

"Obviously not!"

"Wait, you’re not asking me to cancel for you, because then it’s my funeral," Vi exclaimed. If this was the favor, then she would be smart to back out now.

"Vi, stop it!”

“Well, then what? You obviously cannot be at two places at once,” Vi pointed out, letting the sarcasm drip through.

“You are right, I can’t. It’s why I have you.” Vi's eyes widened, the realization crashing down on her like lightning. It was fast, instantaneous and left her buzzing across her whole body. She suddenly sees where this was going now. “I sort of told my mother that you’ll take my place instead?” And there it was.

"What? No. Cait, please!" She pleaded, for real this time.

"I didn’t think she would say yes. I am just as surprised as you are right now!” Caitlyn exclaimed, the exasperation evident even through the wire. “Look sweetheart, don’t worry too much about it okay. You’ll be fine. I mean how many times have we had dinner with her already, five at this point?”

It was seven. Seven times that she had to sit at the same table as Cassandra, who aimed nothing but disapproving looks at her, and sometimes the occasional judgmental stares when she scarfs down her food a little too fast; or when she makes an untimely joke or two. And then there were the passing comments she would hear, once it was about how Tobias' petunias were constantly being trampled on when Vi used to climb through Caitlyn's window. She also didn't like that she was subject of many, many arguments between the Kiramman matriarch and her daughter. 

"Except this isn't dinner. It's a party Cait!"

"Actually, it's the preparation for the Garden Party. The actual party isn't until this weekend," Caitlyn corrected. "Look, all of you have to do is take my place in the committee. I've already done the groundwork, everything should be simple enough. And the garden is so big, you can easily avoid my mother."

Vi sighs. There was an expectant silence on the line.

While Vi was reckless, impulsive and often fearless in her choices, she definitely was not foolish enough to say no Caitlyn Kiramman. Not in this lifetime, at least.

"Fine,” she gives in. “Which part of the Gardens, and what time do I need to be there?"

"She'll be at the apartment at 10 sharp. Bye. Love you!” The overjoyed tone on the other line was unmistakable. Had Vi knew this would be Caitlyn’s reaction, she would have gladly said yes from the start. Probably.

Vi hangs up the phone, body now slumped in surrender. The tiredness of the last 32-hours had suddenly hit her like a truck. She groans out at the knot on her shoulders, uncertain if it was her muscles finally giving out, or the sheer thought of spending more than four hours with Caitlyn's mother. She glances at the clock again.

7:46am.

Vi takes a moment to mentally calculate how she can squeeze in a shower and a nap before Cassandra arrived.

---

It wasn't so much the noise of soft tapping of fingers to flesh, but the feeling that she was being stared at that stirred Vi awake. She turns her head from the back dip of the couch and peers through half-lidded eyes at a figure hovering her.

Vi nearly jumps out of her skin when she finally discerns her intruder. She jolts up reactively from her nap into a sitting position, with her legs crossed over the other, and hands clasp together.

Of course, it was just the kind of erratic reaction you get when you’re in the presence of the terrifying figure that is Cassandra Kiramman, eyes watching.

"H- how'd you get in?" Vi manages to choke out.

"Good morning to you too, Violet,” the councillor said sternly, taking a step back as Vi adjusted herself to her feet. “Did you know, my family started out making locks for a living?”

Vi wasn’t sure if she had heard that last part correctly. She was still steeped in confusion between the sleep in her eyes and trying to make sense of the fact that Cassandra freaking Kiramman had broken into the apartment, and was staring at her sleeping just moments ago. Wild.

As if reading her mind, Cassandra quickly followed up with, "Caitlyn let us keep a copy of the key when you bought the apartment together."

Okay, that made more sense.

"Also, we're late. So, I implore you to get dress as soon as you can. We're expected."

Right. The Garden Benefit Piltie Thingy.

“Oh, I’ll just grab my jacket and we can go,” she responded sheepishly, hands reaching over the back of her hair to smooth out the ends.

Cassandra turns around and sizes Vi up and down questioningly. Once she’s done her full assessment of her, she shakes her head, as if scandalized by Vi’s outfit of choice. However, the moment passes and Cassandra is already making her way out the apartment door.

Shrugging, Vi grabs her red jacket from the coat stand by the front door and reaches for her keys. She takes a glance at the clock again.

10:15am

Vi cocks her head sideways, burning curiosity in the air as she takes a second to muse at the thought that Cassandra Kiramman may have been watching her sleep for fifteen whole minutes. But she quickly waves it off, as the incessant tapping of custom made leather heels against marbled floors was starting to feel like the tick of a timer zeroing on an explosion.

She quickly locks the door behind her, though not forgetting to make a mental note to ask Caitlyn why she had never told her that she gave a copy of the keys to her parents..

---

Of all the things that Vi had assumed about Cassandra Kiramman, she would have never guessed that the woman was a walker; or at least she didn’t think they’d be walking all the way to the event venue when the Kiramman family owned at least two hextech-rigged motor cars, one of which was trailing closely behind them since they left the apartment.

As someone who have had to look over her shoulders her entire life, Vi is acutely attuned to the smallest oddities, such as if the pipes to their apartment was hissing to indicate a leak, or the latch to their apartment window was loose, or if her gauntlets felt a little heavier than usual. So, things like the familiar car following them or the fact that there were no enforcers guarding the councillor had rang alarm bells in Vi’s head.

“I think we might have lost your protection detail,” Vi trailed.

“I’ve dismissed them for the day,” the older woman said simply, not looking back at Vi even once.

While Piltover has been known for quite some time to be the safest city in the region, thanks to its resolute and incorruptible Sheriff, Vi was no stranger to the random chaos that ensues should the activities from the Undercity spill over topside. It was rare, but definitely not predictable to the point that a councillor like Cassandra would feel safe enough to walk around without one.

But Vi stops herself from further questioning, as if her opinion would matter in this very moment, or any moment at all. She has learned over the years that questioning the councillors was as equivalent to talking to a brick wall. They had never seen her as their equal, not even now, even though she herself is now part of its inner circle in more ways than one. On a different day, she would agonise over it for weeks with Caitlyn, who helpfully lends an ear to listen, gives her sound reassurance, and a body to hug it out. But they both knew that this was their reality now, and it was a compromise that they slowly, but stubbornly, had learned to accept.

"We’re almost there," Vi dared a look at the older woman from the corner of her eyes before realizing they were now at the lusher part of Piltover.

She looks around in awe. Views like these with trees as far as the eyes can see always amazes her. The wood and the greens were a rarity, almost never seen when she was growing up in Zaun. Even now that Piltover was home, and sometimes being tasked with patrolling these streets, it was a view that she would relish in.

"Careful Violet, you may catch a bug in that mouth." Vi had to peek a double-take, having sworn that she's heard those exact same words from Caitlyn before. Only this time, it was her mother.

She snapped her mouth shut in earnest and continued trailing behind the taller woman as they made their way deeper into the park. After several more steps, they arrived at a clearing. In the middle was a gazebo where a small crowd had gathered, seated on garden chairs in a circle.

Cassandra almost floats up the steps, while Vi trudged behind her in her thick, heavy boots.

"And here is our Patron, Councillor Kiramman, to say a few words before we start," a woman who was standing in the middle of the circle had said, as she moved aside for the older woman.

The crowd clapped in a pitter-patter manner that made something inside Vi curl unpleasantly. She is reminded again how the Piltie life is something she’d never get used to, no matter how much she tries.

"Apologies everyone," Cassandra voiced out curtly upon taking the floor. "My daughter could not make it today, but in her stead is my daughter-in-law, Violet."

"Actually, it’s Vi-"

And suddenly, she feels a deprecating gaze on her. If looks could kill, Cassandra Kiramman has perfected it down to a T.

"-Violet Kiramman," she somehow yelps out to the crowd, who were all now staring at her. Studying her.

Cassandra looks away and returns to addressing the crowd.

"Violet also happens to be our Undersheriff, as you all may be well to know. So, she will help advise on the party’s security measure. I hope you’ll make use of her today as best as you can."

Cassandra goes on to thank the Garden Committee for sponsoring the venue for the benefit, and then to the rest of the volunteers for their assistance. She also makes it a point to remind everyone that the money that they will be raising will be channeled to the Children of Zaun foundation, a trust that directly worked with the orphanages in Zaun.

These benefits and charities to give back to the children of Zaun, are just some of the many things that the councillors have started committing to since the separation of the two cities. However, it was mostly a way for them to internalize their own guilt and years of neglect for the Undercity.

"Mrs Kiramman?" A voice had sounded out behind Vi. She doesn’t acknowledge it at first, thinking it had been directed to the Councillor, who had suddenly disappeared from her sights. It wasn't until the person repeated herself again, that Vi looks at her.

"Y- yes. Yes. Me. That’s me."

It wasn’t lost on her that she was technically a Kiramman herself now, having married into the family. It was an aggravating realization to know that she had practically become the one thing that her childhood-self had swore to destroy, and yet at the same time it filled her with such immense happiness. The kind of happiness that had been lost on her from the moment before she was thrown into Stillwater, to the many years after that. Punching walls. Blocking punches. Punching back. It was the reiteration of those that she had only known.

For so long she was just Vi, then she was just a number in the system. Prisoner 516. She had retaliated the forced anonymity with the ink on her cheek, hoping to regain at least some semblance of her that she still had left. But that was then, and yet here she stands now, alive, unbroken, and not just Vi. She was happy, and happier still that someone had actually made the conscious choice to share their name with her like a perpetual oath.

The elderly woman smiled sweetly at Vi, breaking her away from her thoughts, before handing her a clipboard. Vi hastily accepts it, still feeling truly like a fish out of water.

"Here is the safety checklist drafted by Sheriff Kiramman, and which the party would need to abide by. And behind that is a floorplan of the garden itself."

Vi looks through the checklist. It was perhaps the most comprehensive checklist that she has seen. Which was to be expected, when it was drafted by the most methodical person she knew. Vi thanks the woman as she leaves and makes a glance towards the clock tower in the distance.

10:48am

Well, she had the day ahead of her, so she might as well get started.

---

A bell rings from a short distance away and Vi looks up from where she had been inspecting one of the fences. She was halfway through her checklist by now.

She sees from a distance, men and women in white tuxedos rolling out carts of food to the middle of the clearing of the garden. They set them all out in a line and arranged the items in quick succession. A voice rings out, the same shrill voice of the woman who had announced Cassandra at the gazebo earlier.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if I have your attention. It’s time for the tasting.”

The words alone made Vi realize that she hadn’t had a bite to eat, not since the quick hot dog she had eaten in the middle of her sting operation last night. The sight of the waiters pulling off the tray covers only seem to allow the growling in the bottom of her stomach to intensify.

She casts her eyes over the food selection. They were small, tiny and so carefully constructed that she sometimes wonders if they were even edible. Though mostly Vi finds it odd, the fact that something so minute could be substantial enough to be considered sustenance. It was the eccentricities like these, of the Topside, that never fails to amaze her sometimes.

Though at the way her stomach was growling, she could care less about the eccentricities, and is just content for the food. She takes them all by the handful once everyone has gotten their bit, much to the chagrin of Cassandra who has rolled her eyes almost more than she could count at this point. But Vi shrugs it off, knowing full well that this was the only expectation of her that she couldn’t conform to, not when she has been stuck eating prison food for a big part of life.

As she gets to her cookies. Biscuits. Whatever Caitlyn calls it. She feels a glance at her direction. At this rate, however, Vi considers the stares and the whispers as something she would need to get used to. The attention she has been receiving for the past hour were blatant. It was as if they were not even trying to hide their appraisal of her. 

That said, the gossips were subdued and concentrated mostly on her overall appearance. They spoke about her muscular figure, her wild mop of hair, down to her tattoos. Surprisingly even, they were not even negative comments, but filled with an awe and a certain curiosity, like she was a wild gazette across the dessert plains. One of them even dared as much to approach her.

"It’s Violet isn’t it? You came with Councillor Kiramman," Vi turns around and sees an elderly woman talking to her.

She offers a smile and nods, cheeks darkening. "Yeah, that’s me."

The woman then beams a smile, carefully glancing at Vi. "I'm Marianne Astor, of Clan Astor. It is truly nice to meet you."

She offers a hand and Vi instinctively accepts it. 

"Oh my, what a strong grip you have there."

Vi lets off a nervous chuckle. "Sorry about that."

"No, you shouldn't apologize. It's nice to know our Deputy Sheriff keeps up with her physique," the woman smiles even more as she retrieves her hand's from Vi's grip and reaches to squeeze the enforcer's biceps. "And look at those equally strong arms."

Vi freezes on contact, unsure what to make the situation. Sure, she was used to the gawking and admiration she'd get after a public arrest or spectacle, but none so close to home.

"Heh, it’s probably from all the punching and catching criminals," she lets off as a joke and forces a chuckle. Could it get any more awkward than this?

"Very strong indeed, and so very handsome," the lady added. "You know, my daughter also fancies women."

Vi chokes on the cookie that she had stuffed in her mouth and it sends her into a coughing fit. At this point, she can’t imagine what could come next. She might not even want to.

"Ms Aster!" A familiar voice calls out over the gardens. Vi turns to see Cassandra Kiramman now approaching them. "How are the seating arrangements, I would like to give them one more look, if that's alright with you?"

Vi had never been more grateful for the Kiramman matriarch's timely interruptions, until this very moment. She glances at her and, wait, was that a look of concern? She wasn't sure but she nodded anyway, before the two elderly women continued talking amongst themselves.

After setting her plate on the nearby table, Vi quickly grabs a glass of water and downs it with fervor. Had she known that that she would be the subject of the female gaze among the clan wives of Piltover, Vi would have ran as far away from the gardens as she could. 

Vi quickly shakes the awkwardness off, the lack of sleep already softly pulsating an ache behind her ears. She looks back at her checklist the moment her stomach had stopped growling, and moves on to the next item left unchecked.

---

It had been an hour, maybe less, when Vi had finished going through all the security measures and ticked off all the boxes of her - Caitlyn's - checklist. Now she was tasked with packing the party favors. In front of her, displayed out in the table, were mountains of confectionaries and grids upon grids of jewel encrusted bracelets, primed for stealing. Vi guessed that if someone were to pawn one of them off in the lanes, it would have been an easy meal ticket.

Vi snorts to herself at the contradiction of her circumstance. She, a past Zaunite, who used to steal from the very people standing around her just to get by was now their Deputy Sheriff, and a Kiramman no less, and is measuredly filling paper bags with jewelry. Did she hate it? Yes, with every fiber of her being. But yet she reminds herself, of all the good that she is doing, has been doing, in Piltover to help people like her. Like this party for instance, which would be luring the fat wallets of Piltover's richest to fund orphanages overlooked by the chem-barons. It was a balancing act and Vi almost always felt herself threading further and further away from shallow waters.

"A penny for your thoughts," a voice from beside her had said. Vi is surprised to see a woman somewhere her age, with blonde hair and light blue eyes, a stark contrast to the sea of older women scattered across the garden. 

"Urm... I was just admiring-," Vi randomly picks something off the table, "-these." It was a piece of confectionary.

"That's a toffee. Not much to think about, I believe," the girl pointed out before giggling into her gloved hands. 

Vi shrugged, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment, but she tries to play it off by flicking the candy off into one of the bags. It lands perfectly inside.

"Impressive."

"Thanks. I did train for this you know."

They laughed and the other girl does her own attempt with the party favor that she herself had been packing. It misses. 

"It is harder than it looks, I must say."

"It's all in the wrist," Vi demonstrates, fanning her palm back and forth. 

The other girl attempts again following Vi's 'technique' and it catches, landing into the paper bag with ease.

"See! I told you I trained for it," Vi pushes her shoulders back, cocking a small grin on her face and winks. 

"And you're an excellent teacher too," the woman surmised with a wave of a hand. "It's Violet, correct?"

"Actually, you can just call me Vi. Only my wife and her family calls me Violet."

"Ah yes, you're married to the Sheriff. What an odd pairing, you're not exactly her type," the girl quickly clasped a hand over her mouth, probably realizing she hadn't meant to say that. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken out of turn."

"Hell, don't stop on my account," Vi pushed. What had she meant by her type?

The girl shot Vi a sheepish smile, contemplation in her eyes before she said: "It's just, all I've know of Caitlyn is that she prefers pretty girls... I mean, soft girls?"

Vi shoots an eyebrow up, taking in the information with a sudden interest and then a wave of realization. It hadn't occur to her until now, that of all the ex-girlfriends of Caitlyn's that she's had the pleasure of meeting, were exactly as the girl in front of her had described. Soft. Femme. Pretty.

Vi innately smiles, before filing this tidbit into her head for later.

"Well, I like to believe she fell for my sunny personality, rather than my good looks you know," Vi cocks her hip, hands landing squarely on it as she flips her hair back in a smug fashion. The other girl slow nods again and another wave of realization hits Vi. "Oh, you were... you and Caitlyn dated."

The girl blushed profusely, lightly fanning herself somewhat as she flustered at her place. "Well-" she forces a laugh, "-I wouldn't call it dating, it was really just a..." she trailed off.

"A fling?"

"Is that what you call it in Zaun? Well, it was rather short-lived. Her mother and my grand-aunt are really the ones who pushed for a wedding, but then Caitlyn went off to become an enforcer and my family decided that it wasn't a right match."

You would've been her type. Vi thought. Soft. Femme. Pretty.

"Oh, this conversation must be so awkward, please just ignore me," the girl tried to wave it off.

"C'mon. You piltie people really take all this politeness too seriously."

The girl's eyes widened, taken aback by Vi's brashness. "You really are something else Vi. I can see the appeal, and why Caitlyn might have been so taken with you. So rarely has anyone put her in place, except her mother, and you."

Vi wasn't sure what to make of the last statement, having been put in the same sentence as Cassandra. The longer that Vi dwelled on it though, the more she hadn't notice a hand coming up to her cheeks, and light blue eyes staring into hers. She quickly froze.

What was happening?

"Sorry, your tattoo," the girl said, quickly retracting her hands when Vi flinched. "We don't see that around here much."

"Yeah, uh-," Vi smooth the tattoo with the pads of her fingers, seemingly wiping something that wasn't there. "I got this-" in prison, she should have said. Though she guesses it probably wouldn't inspire a lot of confidence with her current audience, nor would it serve to salve the Kiramman reputation that she is now partly responsible for, in some capacity. "-a long time ago."

"Emily!"

Cassandra Kiramman once again has found her way into Vi's conversations again, thankfully. 

"Fancy seeing you here. Had I known that another head of the upper houses would be here, I would have assigned a different task for you instead." Cassandra's eyes were cold. So cold that it probably could fill the whole of Zaun with snow for the next twenty years. "And I've seen you've met Violet, my daughter-in-law."

"I didn't want to make a scene Mrs. Kira- Councillor," The girl responded. "And yes, Vi and I have been quite acquainted with while packing these party favors."

"Vi?" The judgement that Cassandra lays on Vi is thick and unassuming.

"Yes, well, Violet I had meant," the girl continued, before looking at the woman in question. "Although, I do think Vi is rather more suitable."

Vi could feel herself coming undone. Unraveling into the perfectly trimmed grass beneath her. She should have noticed from the start, how the blonde's eyes had twinkled at her, and how her lips had slightly parted the moment Vi shot her a grin. How had she not seen it before is probably because she only recognized that look when they were on Caitlyn.

"I'd hardly call flirting with the Undersheriff getting acquainted, would you?" Cassandra's sneers.

Vi felt the heat in her cheeks, the accusation running so deep that for a moment she had forgotten that she was the victim. 

"We weren-" The blonde girl said up in protest, squirming under the intense gaze of the Councillor's stare. "I wasn-"

"Look, I think this is all just a misunderstanding," Vi suddenly interrupted, having collected herself and sensing that the tension was becoming a little too thick for her taste.

"Indeed, it might have been," Cassandra did not falter with her tone. Eyes still trained carefully at the blonde girl.

"Well, I'll say," the other girl breathes in a sigh of relief. 

Vi watches as Cassandra turns her nose up to the girl, shaking her head and pivoting on her feet. "Violet, if you're ready, I will be taking my leave from here and would prefer if you joined me."

At this, Vi looks around the garden and notices the committee were putting the final touches into tomorrow's event and the crowd was already thinning out. The moment she looks back at where Cassandra was, she was already walking towards the gate. 

"Look I'm sorry about that," Vi quickly apologizes to the girl. "I'll see you around, I guess. Emily was it?"

"Yes, Emily Ferros," the girl declared, finally. 

Vi nods, slowly. An 'oh' of recognition, almost escaping her lips. But it doesn't. Thankfully.

When Vi had decided to joined the newly minted Wardens almost five years ago, rehabilitated from the ground up by the city's current Sheriff, she had no knowledge on the Piltover noble houses. It took at least staying up two nights with Caitlyn at her family's library for her to even recite half the noble houses, though Vi always remembers the disdain in Caitlyn's eyes whenever Ferros was mentioned.

Scorned lover? The one that got away?

Vi quickly broke away from her thoughts, sensing eyes boring holes into the back of her head. She chances a glance to the direction of the gates and there it was, icy blue eyes, the same color as her wife's, staring at her in complete displeasure. She gulps, her mouth suddenly feeling dry.

Without a second to waste, she gives an apologetic wave to the Kiramman matriarch before passing a quick smile to Emily as a nod of goodbye. She then runs off to catch up with her mother-in-law.

Chapter Text

As soon as Vi catches up to Cassandra, they were already out of the garden and was on the path to the apartment. She chances a glance at the older Kiramman and the woman was looking back at her with a serious gaze.

"Violet, I understand that you may be new to these things, Piltover Clan business as you would care to call it," she sighs, turning back her view to the path. "But let me tell you, be very careful of the Ferros. Emily Ferros is not a woman to be trusted, and she and her Grand-Aunt will do anything in their power to get their own seat at the council and keep Caitlyn in her place. You should do well to remember that."

"Did-" Vi started, the morbid curiosity has been eating away at her at least two blocks ago. "-Did something happen between Caitlyn and her?"

“If my daughter hasn’t told you, it may because there’s nothing to tell,” Cassandra reminded, eyes narrowing. “In some way, she might have Emily to thank for you. Caitlyn’s marriage prospects virtually dwindled to zero after they broke up, and her family started that preposterous rumour about Caitlyn.”

Vi's eyebrows shot up at the revelation. “Rumor?”

“Not that it mattered. That daughter of mine seemed quite adept at bringing in strays irregardless,” Cassandra scoffs.

Vi freezes, realizing she, too, was that one stray like many before her.

“Strays? Like me?  Is that why you hate me?” The last part slips out unconsciously, to which Vi quickly bites down on her lips and curses herself inwardly.

Cassandra pauses, head turned over her shoulders and shooting Vi a look between disbelief and pity. Both women stood in a stillness weighed down by the growing tension between them.

"Well if you must know Violet, I find that hate is a useless emotion to have and I don't very much care for it," she said simply, now fully turned to face Vi. "Is that what you think of me?"

"Well- I-," Vi scratches a ghost itch at the back of her neck. She hadn't expected the conversation to shift so drastically. She bites her tongue as she responds, "You know with the disapproving glances. The judgmental tones, the constant tests..."

Cassandra lets off a hum, of which Vi would assume is from acknowledgement. "If you think I disapprove of you, it’s because I do."

"Well I-"

"In fact, there has never been anyone good enough for Caitlyn, and there probably will never be, including any names you must be reciting in your head right now," Like Jayce Talis "Yes, even Jayce Talis." Shit.

"I didn't mean anything by what I said," Vi quickly counters, wondering if she had finally hit that raw nerve in Cassandra. The one that’s been growing the more Caitlyn shifted further and further away from her, and into Vi's arms.

"You know, Tobias and I had always called Caitlyn our miracle child," Cassandra revealed. Vi looks up at the taller woman, her height overwhelming her. "Before Caitlyn, there were a few that we lost and the doctors had all but said that it would be impossible for us to bear anything to its fullest term, not of our own at least."

There was a sudden calmness in the way Cassandra spoke, and a quietness, as if this sacred piece of information hadn’t been meant for any other ears but her own. Vi listens. Truly listens.

“It wasn’t until we were a bit older that I was pregnant with Caitlyn. We didn’t think she’d make it, considering what the doctors had said. But it seemed that her rebelliousness had already been part of her before she even came into this world. I suppose I should have known then that she'd be a handful."

Vi nods, risking a small comforting smile at the older Kiramman.

"They say that there is nothing more undoing than a daughter. Caitlyn has always loved running head first into danger, even as a young girl. As a mother, it's not something you can reconcile with as easily as a tantrum or a broken heart," Cassandra muses. She then looks at Vi, earnestly this time, devoid of the disparaging stares. "When you decide to become a mother one day, Violet, you would understand."

Vi breaks away from her gaze and looks down. A certain familiarity to Cassandra's own agony had hit home. It reminded her a lot of her life with Powder. But it was also different. Raising a sister was much different from raising your own child, she realised, where a parent’s inherent purpose is to care for and impress upon their children everything they needed to survive. She thinks of Vander and his burdens. Of her parents and their burdens.

Vi feels a hand on her shoulders, probably a gesture from Cassandra offering console. "If you want to speak of hate, then it's the thought of having to outlive your only child."

And there it was. The hair of difference between the demands of a parent and a sister. One was expected, the other was an understanding. It was clear to her now, the reason for Cassandra's strict and overbearing nature. Because at what lengths does a mother go to save her child? To protect, to love, and to keep them away from the dangers of the world. And should they die before them, how does a mother mourn?

She wondered if they saw her, Vi, as a harbinger of everything that endangered Caitlyn. The one who thrusted her daughter into a world filled with nothing but chaos and the evil which lurks the Undercity. The sister of a jinx who had tormented Caitlyn, and almost blew up the Council.

"And you Violet. You are reckless and impulsive. And the countless of property damage has not gone unnoticed by the Council, no matter how much Caitlyn tries to write them off. And yet, you are the only thing that stands between my daughter and her life," Cassandra says as Vi swallows the lump on her throat. They both exchange a flickering glance. "I may not be easy on you, or likeable. But when it comes to Caitlyn, there is nothing I will not do to make sure she’s safe."

Vi looks up, "You know I would never-"

Cassandra stops her. "I know, because you have the same look her father gives her. It's also the same look that she gives you."

The reassuring smile that Cassandra offers to Vi is small and quick, and barely appears for a blink. But Vi catches it, and somehow all the resentment and animosity that she had long harbored for her mother-in-law had dissipated, replaced with a newer understanding. Empathy, maybe?

"I promise you that I will never let anything happen to her," Vi says, holding her closed fists to her side, muscles tightening all over.

"Thank you, Violet," Cassandra remarks. She removes her hands from Vi's shoulders and crosses them together in front of herself. "I will say one thing though, my daughter has always been a good judge of character. First it was Jayce Talis, and then there is you."

"I think she has you thank for that."

"Perhaps," Cassandra remarks, tightening her gloves as she did. "But because of that, I am inclined to think highly of you, and I have yet to be disappointed."

Vi wasn't entirely sure how she's gotten to this point, to receive an off-handed compliment from Cassandra masquerading as acceptance, or approval maybe. As much as she tries to resist from conforming herself to the ways of the Topside, Vi does recognize the Kirammans as her new found family. While Cassandra or Tobias was no Vander, in the way that he had instilled in her so much of who she is today, but they were supportive in their own ways and never made her feel discounted or too unwelcomed.

"Well, here we are," Cassandra suddenly announces from the sidewalk next to the apartment building. Vi hadn't even realised that they were had been walking this whole time.

"You want to come up?" Vi asks, her hands reaching into her pocket for the keys.

"No, that's quite alright. I think I've already seen enough of your-" Cassandra pauses, her hands waving around aimlessly, "-humble abode. Do tell Caitlyn that we'll see her at her father's birthday next week. You'll be there too, Violet, I presume?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" she grins, teeth showing, lips lopsided as they are.

"Indeed," the older Kiramman says nonchalantly, obviously immune to Vi’s charms. "Also, do let me know if you'd like to join the committee for our next benefit. You have made quite the impression in today's preparations. I can imagine I will be hearing it for days."

Vi shakes her head involuntarily. Nope. No. No. No way. "I think I should be avoiding them for awhile."

Cassandra musters a laugh, unfettered but still elegant in its own way. "Shame. Well, I'll see you next week then."

And with that, the Kiramman matriarch is driven off the neighborhood in her hex-tech motor car as Vi waved her off.

---

Finally she was home. Vi thought. Now she can safely put her feet up without judgement, stretched her arms out without clan wives gawking, and probably get started on fixing her Atlas Gauntlets as she had planned earlier today.

When she opened the front door to the apartment, she had half-expected it to be empty. To her surprise, lounging on the couch with her knees to her chest and a book in hand was none other than Caitlyn, dressed in her purple camisole and shorts.

“You’re back?” Vi asks with an excitement in her voice as she peels off her jacket and kicks off her shoes to a corner by the door. She meets Caitlyn's gaze, pools of ocean blues that she always finds herself drowning in.

“Yeah, the case ended up a lot less complicated than we first thought. But once we combed through the evidence again, it was open and shut. Mohan is already making the arrest as we speak,” Caitlyn explained as she rests the book on her knees. "How was spending the day with my mother?"

Vi could hear the intent but nervous curiosity in Caitlyn's tone. She chuckles, sinking herself on the armchair beside Caitlyn, allowing herself to be swallowed by the softness.

“It was… interesting,” Vi said, as she leans her head back and closes her eyes. “Your mom broke into the apartment by the way.”

“No, she did-, “ Caitlyn said at first, snarling at the teeth, her gap tooth showing. But then she saw the smirk Vi was giving her, who peeks through one eye to see Caitlyn has put her head down sheepishly. “Right, about that. I was going to tell you, but then I forgot. But honestly, it was for emergencies only, and… and…” she hears a sigh. “I have attachment issues Vi, I can’t help it!”

Vi couldn't help but laugh. “Hey cupcake. I’m not mad, c’mon. Come here,” Vi fully looks at Caitlyn now. She taps her lap as an invite and Caitlyn easily accepts, setting her book aside and springing herself from the couch to curl herself on Vi.

It was poetic how their bodies fit together, like two perfect pieces of a puzzle. Vi holds Caitlyn firmly, with one hand at the small of her waist and the other sat idle on side of her leg.

Caitlyn snakes an arm across her neck, reaching her hand to run her fingers through the longer threads of Vi’s hair. “Aside from my mother breaking in, how was everything else?”

“Well, aside from everyone throwing themselves on me, I had maybe had two offers of marriages?” 

“Oh no, I don’t think I can listen to this.” Caitlyn throws her head back dramatically and tries to cover her own ears.

“One of them was really deperate too.” Caitlyn scrunches her nose in disgust. "She even tried to pull a Caitlyn on me."

Caitlyn bunches her brow, bewilderment across her face. "A what?"

"This." And Vi demonstrates Caitlyn's signature maneuver when she tries to initiate any romantic contact. It would start with a look, deep and intense, blue eyes glinting at you. She'd lean on her side, head tilted and a soft smile across her lips. Once she sees you're comfortable, she’ll reach her hand out, the back of her fingers carefully grazing your cheek and she's watching, waiting if you would lean in to her touch. Her lips part, her eyes widened, and...

"Shit!" Caitlyn exclaimed, seemingly half-way entranced by her own charms. "W- why does that work so well?"

Vi snickers in agreement, retreating her hands and settling them back on Caitlyn's waist and hip.

"Also, who would know..."

"Emily Ferros," Vi says, not hesitating. She watches as Caitlyn's eyes widen and quickly shifts on her lap. She instantly started regretting saying the cursed name.

"Okay, no. Now I really can't listen to this," Caitlyn said in annoyance, trying to push herself off, except Vi doesn't let her go. "Vi, please."

"No cupcake. You just sat down," Vi protested, bottom lip jutting out just to stress her point.

Caitlyn takes one look at her and relents. She rolls her eyes as she sinks back down into Vi. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Then why does she make you so angry all the the time?" Vi probes, hands squeezing Caitlyn as consolation.

"Because Vi, she told everyone I cheated on her and she tried to drag my family through the mud with her accusations. I lost all my friends. After that, it was just Jayce and me, and the rest of the world," Caitlyn finally said, the exasperation evident as she breathes out a heavy sigh.

"But why would she do that?" 

"Because!" Caitlyn howled in frustration, but it quickly dissipated when Vi put a comforting hand on her cheek, and she calms down. "Because I couldn't give her what she wanted, and I ran," Caitlyn admitted. "I just wasn't ready for that kind of commitment. Not with her." 

Vi sees the remorse in Caitlyn and wonders if that had been the moment she realised she was different, that she couldn’t fit in with the expectations of her station. She pulls Caitlyn in, hoping, wishing that she can absorb it all. The guilt, the regret, the pain. Whatever she was feeling in that moment. "I'm sorry that happened to you Cait."

"I guess I've never mentioned it because it's petty. It's so petty compared to what you've gone through, Violet. I just-"

"Caitlyn, c'mon. You can't compare everyone's life experiences like that. It would be comparing a book based on how many pages it has. Just because one has less pages, doesn't mean it’s any less good or valuable.”

Caitlyn looks at Vi with so much sincerity that it made her heart ache. "When did you become the poet?"

"Since I met you,” Vi says, offering an encouraging smile, which Caitlyn returns with her own. “Also your mum stepped in between us. So it got a little weird after that.”

“My mother? Really? Defended your honour?” 

“Well, you don’t know her like I do.” Vi challenged in her own defense.

“I highly doubt that.”

“We talked a lot on the way back, like actually talked. Not argue, and she was honest and kind, and everything you and your dad said she would be if I let her," Vi said as she reached out her hand to tuck back a few of Caitlyn's stray hairs behind her ears. "She loves you, you know that? More than I ever could."

“Should I be worried?” Vi could tell Caitlyn was joking, the mirth in her eyes as obvious as the blue.

“No. You should be lucky to have parents that loves you, so much. Unconditionally."

Caitlyn smooths her palm over Vi's undercut and plants a searing kiss on it. "Well I love you unconditionally, too."

"Hmm. Even though I'm not your type?" Her eyes challenges Caitlyn’s blue ones, and flashes her a gloating smile.

Caitlyn pushes herself back, slightly agape, "Excuse me? What do you mean by type?"

"You know, pretty girls? Femme girls?" 

Caitlyn almost chokes on her own breath, and red threatening to surface from her cheeks. "I- do no- wh- how-"

A laughs bellows from Vi's throat, "Oh come on. Don't tell me you didn't have type before me?"

Blue eyes rolled and Vi earns a well deserved slap on her shoulders. "Yes, maybe I did. But then I realized that stupidity existed, and there was nothing more attractive than that."

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself! Don't forget how you literally scaled off an abandoned water tank with a stab wound!"

"It made you like me, didn't it?" Vi sniggers, glancing sideways at Caitlyn and writhing her eyebrows at her suggestively.

"Oh, shut up!" Caitlyn shakes her head, her smile betraying her words as easily as the small laugh that comes out from her chest. She leans back into Vi, head pressed to the side of her head. "Also, my mother loves you too, you know? She asked me to dismiss her protection detail today because 'Violet should suffice'."

"Is that your way of asking me not to get on her nerves anymore, because I really did try my best today."

"I’m sure you did. But no, it’s my way of telling you that she’s family. We’re all family. And-," she pushes a palm against Vi’s upper chest, a sort of insured impulse control. Not that Vi needed it, but she understood the gesture. "-and I know that it challenges everything you believe in, the ignorance and the blind entitlements that comes with being associated with a clan house. But being family also means having a support system, and that’s what we are, and I just want you to know that."

Vi reaches out to put a hand over Caitlyn’s and squeezing her fingers together. “You’re overthinking again, Cait.”

"I’m just saying-"

Vi presses her open hand on Caitlyn’s back, smoothing over the building tension on her muscles until she slowly relaxed into her touch. “I don’t hate your family Cait. I mean, the world’s gotten a little more complicated since well, before Stillwater. But you’ve been the best thing that’s happened to me since then too. And I love you so much Caitlyn, and everything that comes with it. Even your family. The good, and the bad.”

And then she sees it, always unexpected because Vi never expects it no matter how many times she's seen it: the melting gaze of Caitlyn that softens her like a sword in waiting, put to the flames in the furnace and tempered with all her words of affirmations. You have a good heart. It's not your fault. We can do this together. I love you unconditionally, too.

Before she knew it, Caitlyn had cupped both sides of her cheeks, capturing her lips with hers in a fiery kiss. Vi leans in to it, reveling in the warmth of Caitlyn’s soft lips with an unsatiated hunger. A flame ignites beneath them and she kisses back with a fervor, showing and demonstrating just how much she had missed this - missed her - and every inch of her. 

The feeling was mutual, as Caitlyn responded back with her own ravenous appetite. Her mouth yearning, begging wordlessly for more with the soft strokes of her tongue and the gentle tugs of Vi’s bottom lip. Both of them were drinking each other in like an unquenchable thirst.

They pulled apart before things got heated, with only bruised lips and soft pants between them. The fire in their eyes were slowly simmering down with each passing second, as they savoured this moment of just them. Vi had needed it. Needed this. The tranquility of being together. She relished these moments, especially when she hasn’t seen Caitlyn for longer than a day, where would relearn their touches and remind herself of all the good that’s in her life.

Caitlyn presses her forehead to Vi, cheeks flustered, breath shaky and eyes fluttering open with a dissipating darkness in her pupils. “I’m not sure if I can say the same for your family, Vi.”

She smiled, putting a kiss on the side of Caitlyn’s bruised lips as a solace. “Well, I know you Cait, and you love Jinx in your own way. You're incapable of hating anyone without reason.”

“How about her intentions of blowing up a city that stole her sister?”

“Yeah, if that were true, then why do you spend more resources on catching every other criminal, but her; or keep juice in the house all the time. We both know that none of us drinks juice.” Vi looks up knowingly to meet Caitlyn’s conceded gaze. She sees her shrugs, the strap of her camisole almost slipping off.

“Well, like I said. In spite of it all, family is still family,” Caitlyn admits, pushing Vi’s hair back to kiss the scar on her left eyebrow, like a silent promise of her constant reassurance. She then leans in, tucking Vi’s head below her chin.

Vi hums in agreement into Caitlyn’s neck, cherishing the softness of her skin. Just smooth flesh and muscles, and the sweet smell of her perfume. It was vanilla, and also a hint of gunpowder and oil. But mostly vanilla. It was always vanilla though, or something similar. Just like a cupcake.

Vi buries her head even further, the weight of her tiredness intensifying with each heartbeat, and her breath slowly evening out.

“Feeling tired?” Caitlyn softly whispers, her fingernails scratching at the roots of pink. Slowly. Delicately. 

Vi nuzzles further into Caitlyn’s neck and nods listlessly.

“Perhaps it’s time to go to bed then?”

Vi immediately shakes her head sideways, eliciting a small giggle from her wife. As much as she appreciated the comforts of their bed, she had missed this. Just the two of them, holding onto each other, enjoying each other’s languid and deliberate touches in silence. Breathing in sync. “I miss this,” Vi mutters, holding Caitlyn tighter.

“And I’ve missed you,” she says, planting a chaste kiss on the crown of her head. “I’ll have to let your boss know to stop sending you on long missions away from home for awhile.”

“Hmm… careful though, she can be a real stickler for the rules,” Vi warns through gritted teeth.

“And beautiful?" 

"So beautiful," Vi answers as she opens her eyes to look at Caitlyn pointedly.

"Well, I’m sure she can make an exception for her most favourite partner then."

Vi gently pushes herself off from Caitlyn and looks at her, slightly dejectedly. Brows raised, eyes wide. She resembled a puppy. “But I’m your only partner!” she whined.

Caitlyn laughs, it was gentle and filled with a certain levity. She then looks down at Vi, pulling her back into the curve of her neck. “Yes. Yes you are,” she replies, stroking her hair. “Now, go to sleep, my Violet.”

And between Caitlyn’s fingers running through her hair, or the soft hand moving up and down soothingly against her taut muscles, or the warmth of both bodies pressed together at every surface, Vi found herself succumbing to sleep’s embrace, a descent into a captivating abyss of even heart beats and the smell of cupcakes.

Just as sleep overtakes her, Vi feels the weight on her body carefully lift, replaced by a threaded blanket and the softest of kiss on her temple, and the murmurs of 'I love you' that completely coaxes her further into a deeper slumber.