Chapter Text
Caitlyn Kiramman wasn’t quite sure how she ended up in this situation or what this situation even was really.
The patchwork family she’d ended up marrying into had never been normal or even usual. She’d never let it bother her before but had to admit this was really…
…strange was perhaps the most polite way to put it.
She’d only met the ‘baby’ of the Lane family a few times and never for more than a few hours since she and Violet had begun seeing each other, which seemed to be about how long they could be around one another before a fight or argument broke out, but had come away from those few occasions with the feeling that things between Vi’s little sister and the rest of them had been tense since long before Caitlyn had met Vi.
Powder, or Jinx as she kept insisting everyone call her, was a bit of a puzzle to Caitlyn and one that she’d gotten no closer to figuring out in all her time with Vi.
She knew Jinx was brilliant enough to be offered a full scholarship by the Academy. She also knew from Vi that Jinx had used the letter they’d sent as kindling.
She knew Jinx spent time drifting around the world but that she always came back to Zaun. She knew Jinx did her best to avoid her family, not something that was hard to do considering the size of Zaun and its population.
And she knew Jinx didn’t like her.
They hadn’t actually been around each other for long enough or often enough for Caitlyn to figure out why exactly she didn’t, but considering the hate Jinx had towards everything Piltover it wasn’t hard to guess why she disliked Caitlyn whose family was about as Piltover as they come.
Despite Vi’s sister’s dislike of her, Caitlyn couldn’t help but sympathize with her at this moment.
The Lane family —Vi, Vander, Claggor and even Mylo— were in the process of what could only be likened to a police investigation straight from one of those movies her parents loved.
They even had a board with a bunch of red string and photos.
“—couldn’t be, Powder wouldn’t be so careless and I’d have noticed—“ Vi was muttering to herself as she dragged her eyes over the list of ‘suspects’ on the board.
Vander was sitting by one of the chairs that had been moved away from the center of the bar to make room for their investigation with his large hands steepled in front of him and staring at the board with the same intensity as Vi.
Claggor seemed at least marginally less intense and weird about the whole thing.
Claggor was present more to support his sister and father than anything else, making sure there were drinks and snacks available with a casualness that implied practice.
What kind of family had Caitlyn let herself be pulled into?
Mylo, at least, seemed to find this as more funny than anything else.
“Maybe she didn’t say anything cause you’d disapprove of—“ Mylo lounged by the bar with a beer while he occasionally butted into the conversation with suggestions that were more meant to agitate Vi then actually contribute.
Caitlyn herself was sitting in one of the booths but turned out to where the Lanes were gathered.
She did understand why Vi was so worked up, even having only met her a handful of times she could tell that of all her family members Jinx was very much the one Vi cherished the most. They were also the only ones in the family that shared blood and Vi clearly desperately felt like she still needed to protect the younger woman.
She loved Vi and she could see the tenseness in her body and a part of her really did want to go over and try to help them.
But a larger part, the part of her with its sanity intact, kept her seated because while, yes, she did love Vi she also really didn’t want to contribute to this madness.
Again she felt for Jinx because they’ve been like this since she announced she’d be coming by to visit and what the nature of that visit was about.
Okay, so Jinx had a daughter. A bit shocking and perhaps hurtful to her family that she hadn’t told any of them at any point especially considering the girl was apparently already a few years old, but she was a grown woman and, as she’d tried to tell Vi, it wasn’t unusual for adults to have children, yes, even people’s little sisters.
Her words had sadly been like trying to bring down a plane by throwing eggs so here they were.
She’d hoped Vander would be more sensible about it but he’d turned out to be only slightly less worked up by it than Violet.
So here they were with a board of any and all people they knew or suspected Jinx had ever dated. Vi had refused to listen to reason when Caitlyn had tried to convince her this was all ridiculous and they’d never be able to actually figure out who the hypothetical father could be.
Maybe it wasn’t too late to get Jayce to fake an emergency for her? He did owe her.
<><><>
As the next day came, Caitlyn vowed to make Jayce’s life hell for abandoning her and making her endure a full night more of Vi and her family’s madness.
At least Vander had had the sense to put away the evidence of their investigation in preparation of Jinx’s arrival.
Vi was pacing around the bar that Vander had closed for the day and Caitlyn had given up on easing her nerves and had settled at the bar with Vander while the brothers sat in a booth playing some card game. Vander seemed more at ease now and was wiping down the counter while keeping an eye on the door, though the fact he was still wiping away at the long-since clean wooden slab betrayed that it was mostly just a way of managing his own nerves.
Half an hour had passed since the time Jinx had said she’d be there and Vi looked only a few more minutes from barging out the door and starting a search Caitlyn would no doubt unwillingly be roped into.
As if the world wanted to make up for Jayce’s betrayal, that was when the door banged open making everyone in the bar freeze as a voice announced the arrival of one Powder ‘’Jinx’’ Lane.
“I’m home!”
A shark-like smile full of teeth greeted them, but it was the two other faces behind Jinx that Caitlyn focused on.
<><><>
Luxanna Crownguard had never met Jinx’s family. Lux had, however, heard their voices whenever one of Jinx’s phone calls with them devolved into an argument.
Other people might’ve felt nervous when meeting their partner’s family for the first time but Lux felt strangely at ease, not just because of how effective a quickie in the morning could be for her mood, but also in the sense that whatever and however this meeting went she knew Jinx wouldn’t care what her family thought of their relationship.
Her love’s disregard for others' opinions was, after all, one of the things she loved most about her.
They were also doing the whole ‘meeting the family’ thing a bit out of order since they had been together for two years, engaged for six months and were currently in some strange-but-very-Jinx version of parenthood thanks to the girl that had literally dropped into their lives, or more accurately onto Jinx’s head.
So meeting her in-laws didn’t quite inspire the nervousness and worry it might’ve if she’d done it earlier in their relationship.
Their daughter —Lux still couldn’t believe that was the most accurate description of what she was to them— was currently gripping Lux’s hand tightly with an uncertain look on her face as Jinx threw the door into the Last Drop open and announced them.
Isha’s worry had increased more and more the closer they got to the bar but like the brave little soldier she was she kept her head up like Lux had shown her and her steps sure like Jinx had taught her.
Jinx sashayed inside with the confidence akin to a cat that had caught its prey while Lux and Isha followed after as the door shut behind them.
“What’s got you bozos looking so much stupider than normal?” Jinx said to the family she’d hadn’t been in the same room as at once since she’d become an adult as she stopped in the center of the room with her arms crossed and a teasing grin on her face.
<><><>
“Buh?” Was Vi’s eloquent answer as she stared, finally stopped in her pacing by her sister’s arrival.
Powder looked…
…good actually.
Well, aside from the top that showed far too much skin for Vi’s liking, but that was an argument she’d given up on long ago.
What really threw a wrench in the gears of her brain, however, was the tall blonde standing behind Powder and the kid holding her hand.
The girl was wearing a small vest and a pair of pants that were both splashed with paint. An oversized old-fashioned miner’s helmet in a similar state as the rest of her clothes sat on the kid’s head and Vi could spy brown and blue and brown-streaked-with-blue hair underneath.
But what had Vi’s mouth hanging open like an idiot was how old the kid looked.
Vi wasn’t the best at guessing children’s ages but wouldn’t put the kid at any younger than seven. Which meant…
Her eyes bulged and all air left her body along with a wheezing noise as she did the math on her sister’s age and the kid.
Was this why Powder had taken off back then? Had she been afraid of how they’d react?
Vi mind buzzed trying to remember any of Powder’s boy-or girl-or-other-friends from back then.
Had she fled out into the wide world all alone and pregnant because she’d feared their judgement?
Had she been raising a kid by herself all this time?
Vi nearly teared up at the thought of her baby sister fleeing because she was afraid of what they’d think and facing all this on her own.
She should’ve been there, should’ve paid attention and noticed the signs!
How could Vi let this happen? What would her parents say if they knew she’d failed at being a big sister so thoroughly?
Her mouth moved up and down as she tried to find any words at all to say but all she could get out was—
“You got knocked up at eighteen?!”
Silence once again filled the bar after Vi’s outburst.
Vander had frozen in cleaning the counter.
Mylo and Claggor were staring wide-eyed at Powder’s kid.
Vi could barely breathe.
Powder was looking at her quizzically with an eyebrow arched up.
The blonde chick looked utterly confused and the kid was scrunching her face in thought.
Then Powder barked out a laugh and looked at Vi like she was the dumbest person alive.
(Which she didn’t appreciate since Mylo was right there.)
“She’s adopted, ya moron.”
Caitlyn sighed and facepalmed.
The blonde was now also looking at Vi like she was the dumbest woman in the world.
“Oh.”