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The first best hug of her life came from her mother, she had been pushed into a puddle of dirty rainwater and scrapped her knee. And she had bounced off as if it had been nothing, to push back the bully that had thought Vi was gonna be an easy target.
Later, when she had been back home with a steaming paperback, from Jericho's her mom had fussed over her, only to have Vi bat her hand away and tell her proudly how she had defended herself without shedding a single tear.
"No, mommy, stop it. I'm ok look, my knee isn't bleeding anymore and my face it's dry! It wasn't scary, didn't even cry."
"Well, I was afraid when I saw you enter all wet and with that bloody knee. Can mommy get a hug from her strong and brave daughter?"
"Yes! Come here mommy, I'll scare all the monsters away, even the real ones." Vi opened her arms as wide as she could, hugging her mother's legs with all her might while looking up with a big smile.
Her mother laughed. "That's such a good hug Violet, can I get another one? But let me sit on de couch that way you can hug me and your future little sister or little brother."
Vi nodded, letting go of her legs and then hopping on the couch and crawling close to her mother but then she stopped, looking at her round belly with a bit of trepidation.
"What if I hurt them, mommy?"
"You won't, I know you would never hurt them, and you know why?"
Vi shakes her head, looking up at her in wonder. What was this wonderful secret she had? How was she so sure she wouldn't hurt her sibling?
"Because you aren't only tough, and brave, and strong. You are also gentle, and careful, and thoughtful." With each word, her mother tickle her on the side, on the stomach, on her neck and Vi giggled and giggled until all her tension and worry were just gone. When her mother stopped she lowly moved closer and carefully wrapped her arms around her mom's belly. "I got you little one." She whispered.
Then her mother wrapped her whole body around Vi, as much as her belly let her, she nuzzled her cheek against Vi's hair, and for a moment she wondered if that was how her sibling felt being inside their mom. Warm, happy, safe.
"And I got you, Violet."
For screen readers: Separator
The second best hug of her life came from someone that could barely stand on her own. Vi was looking down at the very small bundle of blue hair that was her new baby sister. If she had been scared of hurting her while she was inside her mom, now she was terrified. Powder was so small and easily came to tears. She never knew what was wrong with her and only when her mother came would she finally calm down.
But now they were alone because their parents had needed to go out for an emergency meeting at the Last Drop.
"It's ok, it's ok, Pow-pow. Look, I'm here, your big sister is here. Mom and dad won't take long, so don't cry. Look, look, see how strong I am." She said lifting a chair a few centimeters off before putting it back, but Powder kept crying, and Vi looked close to tears herself. That had worked that morning with her father, albeit, her father hadn't been crying. Far from it, in fact, he had already been happy watching Powder eat, and then when Vi had showed him how strong she was becoming, his smile had only gotten even wider.
But Powder kept crying and Vi had no idea what to do. Maybe a hug? But what if she hugged her too hard?
Vi kneeled beside the couch, looking at her baby sister and squeezing her hands shut.
"Uh, it's ok, they— they'll be back soon. It's ok, please don't cry." Big, fat tears started coming down her cheeks. Some even fell on Powder's face and when Vi noticed she tried to wipe them off with one of her hands while the other stayed hovering over her sister.
But covering her face had only allowed for the real crying to begin, and she had to muffle her sobs.
She was the worst sister ever, she couldn't even help Powder feel safe, and then when she felt like she would need to curl on the floor she felt a small tiny hand grab one of her fingers and that made her freeze. One last hiccup escaped from her lips, and this time she wiped the tears for good to be able to look at her baby sister. Powder wasn't crying anymore, and when Vi opened her eyes she found herself looking into her big blue eyes. With her little hand wrapped around one of Vi's fingers. That's a hug Violet, that's how Powder gives hugs while she waits to be bigger, her mother had said once.
Vi sniffled, giving Powder a smile full of snot and tears. "It's ok, we are ok, Pow-pow."
At that moment, even if Powder had only been grabbing one of her fingers, Vi had felt as if the embrace had wrapped her whole body.
For screen readers: Separator
The third best hug of her life came from Vander, they had been arguing about something stupid again. Vi couldn't remember what, but she could still feel him even today, his whole body wrapping hers, pulling her into him, and grabbing her head in a way that made her feel like he would never let go. Even when he was no longer here.
"Then what was I supposed to do? Everyone was hungry and you needed to rest! Your fever was too high, I went out there and got us food and medicine. What was so wrong about that!?" Her voice broke at the end, and Vi sniffed trying to swallow the tears, the hurt she was feeling. She hated crying, she hated feeling like this, trapped, hopeless, scared.
"To let me be the one to take the hits, that's my job, Vi. To take care of you four, even if it means getting a few kicks."
"But you don't have to! We can help. I can take some kicks too." She looks down, gluing her eyes to her feet as soon as she feels the tears start rolling down her face. Stupid tears. Couldn't they just disappear? She needed to show Vander how strong she was.
But the tears just started falling harder when she feels Vander wrap his arms around her, pulling her into him and making her feel like nothing will ever hurt her while she was there, that she was safe, that she was home, even if her real home has long since been abandoned and left empty to collect dust.
"I got you, kiddo, it's gonna be ok. I'm sorry, we will do it together next time, ok?"
"You better teach me how to hit as hard as you then," Vi said into his chest.
For screen readers: Separator
The fourth best hug of her life came from somewhere unexpected at a moment she thought she would be getting a rifle's butt to the face, again.
"That's enough, you can leave I'll continue with the interview, leave now."
"But Sheriff, this scoundrel—"
"I said it's enough, she came willingly and said she could tell the place and time the exchange is gonna happen. Why is she getting this treatment?"
"I— we— we needed to make sure she was telling the truth."
"Out!"
Vi couldn't open her eyes, not fully, but she could lift her left eyelid just a bit. Enough to see the silhouette of Caitlyn crouching down to undo the cuff tying her down to the pipe.
"Why didn't you wait for our meeting? I still have a lot of people to review, that one's was going to be next week but today was his last day."
"Ouch, careful with the face, Cupcake. It's tender right now."
"I'm sorry."
"Nah—" Whatever Vi was gonna say is cut by Caitlyn's arms gently pulling her in, squeezing as tight as she can without hurting her, and holding all of her into a warm safety cocoon.
For a moment, it was like having Vander back, holding her close. Telling her everything was gonna be fine, that they were going to find a way out of the problem.
Caitlyn's hugs had always been good, but Vi hadn't wanted to accept it.
She lied, this wasn't the fourth-best hug of her life, but she couldn't tell which number it actually was. She had been too stubborn to count the times Caitlyn had hugged her. She had lost count long ago, but it didn't matter, Vi knew they were going to keep coming.