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Caitlyn woke Vi up when she entered their room. It was the middle of the night when she came back from work. Most nights she tried to enter quietly, but tonight she just wanted to crash in their bed and fall asleep.
Caitlyn had already taken her boots off and was about to reach the bed when Vi turned on her nightlight. Her expression quickly went from drowsy to concerned.
She hadn’t realized Caitlyn was limping when she first came in. Her face was bruised, and her lip busted.
“What happened?” the pink-haired asked as she quickly got out of bed and moved towards Cait who was now sitting on the edge of the bed. Vi kneeled before her and grabbed Caitlyn’s face with her hands.
“Some drunkards got too rowdy at the pub…” Caitlyn moved Vi’s hands away from her face. She didn’t continue, even though her wife knew there was more to the story. Drunks could get violent with enforcers fast, but it always ended after one hit. No, Caitlyn had been in a full-on fight with them.
The taller woman dragged herself to her spot in the bed and closed her eyes.
“Cait” Vi said softly yet conveying her concern.
“It’s nothing, just turn the light off.”
Vi did as told and also got in bed, debating whether to push further now or tomorrow morning. While making up her mind, she placed a hand on top of her wife’s and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Cait sighted. It wasn’t like her to get into fights, even less now with her having mostly a desk job, and only getting now and then the night shift.
“Cait, what happened?” Vi repeated softly turning towards her.
It was silent for a minute before the enforcer spoke:
“We got a call to go to the pub since they were closing, and a group wasn’t leaving. I got there before the rest, and they…” she took a second, gathering courage for her next words. “They recognized me.”
“Shit.”
Vi could picture how that went. When Caitlyn decided to return to work, the youngest of the couple told her that it might not be a good idea. Steb, who had become the new sheriff, probably felt the same way. Although Caitlyn was his senior, he still sent her to basic training “as a way to evaluate her condition, given her blindness out of her left eye”.
Once she completed her physical with a 98%, they had no choice other than to let her join. The first couple of days there were no issues. Piltover was still under reconstruction and helping was what most enforcers did. But then a rooky overlooked Caitlyn’s file and she was sent to the bridges. Not even 10 minutes there, and the Zaunites crossing went from name-calling to trying to assault her. It was hard, but they finally convinced her to stick to the office and night shifts. She had technically been promoted to detective, but in the last year, Vi could count on one hand how many cases Caitlyn had been given. And most of them were petty crimes that weren’t worth looking into.
“I’m fine” Caitlyn lied.
Vi wanted to comfort her but she knew there was nothing she could say to make her feel better.
So, she just held her lover until her breathing became even, and she was asleep.
The next morning Caitlyn woke up sore. But that was expected, what surprised her was her alarm that hadn’t gone off. She was now an hour late to work. She rushed out of bed, changing into a clean uniform and tying her hair into a ponytail as she flew down the stairs. She had been in such a hurry, she didn’t even realize Vi wasn’t in their bedroom when she first woke up.
As she moved through the house gathering her stuff, she smelled food cooking but she didn’t have time to think about breakfast. She’d grab something during her lunch break.
Caitlyn was about to reach the door when she felt a firm grip on her wrist.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“I’m late for work Vi.”
“No, you’re not.”
“What?”
“I called in for you this morning. Told them you were taking a sick day.”
“What?” Caitlyn repeated still confused.
“Yeah, told them that if they if they even tried to call you in today, I’d make it their problem too.”
Caitlyn didn’t move, still processing what her wife had said.
“Come on, I made you breakfast.” Vi pulled Caitlyn towards the kitchen, moving her hand from her wrist to intertwine their fingers. Caitlyn moved reluctantly.
“Why?” Caitlyn questioned as they entered the kitchen.
“I thought you liked your eggs sunny-side up.”
Caitlyn gave Vi a look as if saying you know what I mean. The latter one ignored her wife and prompted her to sit down while she served her breakfast. The pink-haired leaned against the kitchen countertop.
When she saw that Caitlyn was still not eating she spoke:
“Listen, yesterday you had a shitty day, okay? And you can go on pretending it’s not a big deal, but trust me, it won’t make it go away.” Vi looked at her now calloused knuckles. “Cait, you’re allowed to be angry at them. No matter what you did back then, okay? And you can’t keep telling yourself you deserve this because you don’t.”
Vi sat in front of her and put out her hand. “And you may never believe it, but I’ll remind you every day.”
Caitlyn took it and she just knew everything would be fine.
She probably won’t ever be in good graces with the Zaunites, but Vi would never leave her side, no matter what, and that’s all she needed to keep going.
“When did you become such a poet?” Cait joked.
“I have other talents besides making you scream my name in bed.”
“VIOLET!” The pink-haired only winked while her partner blushed.
After calming down and eating breakfast, the taller woman asked what they should do the rest of the day.
“I’m still trying to figure out what you do for fun up here, but you should first take the uniform off- “
“Vi!”
“I meant you should change! Jeez, take your head out of the gutter every now and then.”
Cait was about to retort when Vi left towards the library:
“Tell me when you’re ready.” She said already halfway out.
It had been a while since they last went on a date. Vi told her to put on something comfortable and a cap (to not attract attention while they were out).
She tried to cover most of the bruises with make-up but Vi was right, it was still visible and would attract unwanted stares.
They left their house, Vi guiding Caitlyn by her hand. They passed some of Caitlyn’s favorite shops but didn’t stop. But she soon realized where they were heading. Her heart started racing as they approached the bridge to connect Zaun to Piltover. Vi strengthened her grip and made her keep walking forward. She allowed Vi to guide her while she focused on her breath. Caitlyn kept her gaze on the ground, trying to avoid anyone who might recognize her. Granted, maybe having her face plastered all over Zaun for months as the face of oppression and segregation made her quite recognizable, but no one stopped them.
As soon as they crossed over Vi took her through alleyways, where even in the middle of the day, it was too dark to distinguish people’s features. She wasn’t sure how long it took to get there, as she was too worried about just not attracting any attention, but when Vi fully stopped for more than a few seconds she knew they were at the location.
Vi tapped on a metal vault-like door, and Caitlyn knew they were in the Firelights' hideout.
The door opened and they entered while Ekko greeted them.
“Hey Little Man.” Vi hugged him and he gave her a quick pat on her back.
“Hey Vi, it’s been a while.”
“Yeah well, what can I say, I’m well taken care of up there.” Vi turned and gave Caitlyn a reassuring smile before walking along with Ekko. She had been once in the Firelights’ base after losing her vision. When she and Vi got married. Neither of them was keen on a big affair but Vi wanted the only family she had left with her. So when Ekko accepted to be the best man, he also offered to host it. Given Cait’s relationship with some Firelights, neither she nor Vi thought it was a good idea. That’s when Ekko explained that most had moved out or had gotten a formal job. The rest of them could go out for 2 hours, while they did the ceremony. And just like that, they were married. Caitlyn knew Ekko didn’t like her, but he was mostly polite to her. She could only guess what the other Firelights had told him, but by now they were on almost neutral grounds.
Still, Caitlyn quietly followed, trying to avoid most people.
“Okay guys!” Ekko yelled to the others, “breaktime’s over. Kids to classes, the rest to your designated area. Dinner is at 7 tonight. And we’re getting some fancy stuff from up-top, so you better show up in time.”
While most started walking out, Ekko took the pair to his house.
“You got everything?” Vi questioned.
“First I need to see the goods” Ekko retorted.
Vi gave him a small platinum-wrapped chocolate. Chocolate wasn’t all that fancy, at least not in Piltover, but in Zaun it was scarce. Many nations still didn’t recognize Zaun as independent, so they refused to trade with them. This means that most imports come directly from Piltover, and other than essential goods, many things were rare in Zaun.
“That’s for you,” Vi told him, “I’ll bring the rest at 6.”
Ekko nodded.
“Follow me” he ordered and took them to a storage room near the base of the tree. He opened it and inside were dozens of hoverboards.
He took out one and turned it on. It stayed suspended in front of them. Vi stepped on the hoverboard. She moved her body slightly forward and the machine moved alongside. Soon Caitlyn watched as Vi moved back and forth, up and down, and side to side. She was too good at it. After trying a couple of tricks she finally came back down.
“Hey Cupcake, how about a race to the top? Looser has to do anything the winner says.”
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow but agreed. Ekko powered one for her. She hadn’t fully placed both feet on the hoverboard when it flew backward, making Cait fall in the process. Vi and Ekko laughed, but this only made her more determined to win the race. After a couple of tries, she was able to mostly control the board.
Vi gave Caitlyn about an hour to learn how to control the hoverboard, with Vi having to rescue her from falling down more than a couple times. Ekko at some point had vanished, leaving only the two of them. Needless to say, Caitlyn lost the race and fell down her board. Lucky for her, Vi was able to catch her.
Vi tried to teach Caitlyn how to use the hoverboard for at least another hour, but in the end, Caitlyn resigned herself to being a public transport user. Or walking, that always worked for her, and rarely put her in dangerous situations. Well maybe as long as it wasn’t Vi the one taking her underground.
After about two hours, Cait had just stayed on Vi’s board while she took them around. They gave Ekko the second board, with Vi promising to give this one back when she brought the chocolate.
They soon left the Firelights base, going back up top, and finally above ground, gliding over the canals, and away from any ship.
Now they were far enough that Piltover was barely the size of a coin. They were sitting on the board, over the ocean, enjoying the sunset.
Caitlyn put her head on Vi’s shoulder, and she in turn put her head on top of Cait’s.
“Do you want to talk about it now?” Vi asked gently. Cait sighed. She didn’t want to, but she knew she’d had to, sooner rather than later.
“I know what I did is unforgivable, and I will never be able to make up for it to the people of Zaun. I know I deserve their anger. And most days I’m able to take it, I don’t blame them. If it were me I’d probably do the same. ”
“Cait-“
“No, I know.” She grabbed Vi’s hand. “Most days I’m alright, I tell myself that I acted out of grief, that I wasn’t being myself. But I also recognize that I abused innocent civilians. I violated their rights and caused unnecessary suffering. I will never forgive myself for it, but I can live with that. No, what worries me is you. What if one day you wake up and realize who you’re really married to? What if enough people remind you that I’m not a good person? That I’m a monster. And then you see who I truly am. I’m worried sooner or later you’ll see how, while you were suffering, I was causing so much pain. And I keep thinking, how can a person with a heart like yours be with someone like me.” By now a couple of tears were rolling down Cait’s face.
Vi wiped away the tears with her thumbs before pressing their foreheads together.
“I told you, I’m the dirt under your nails, and I’m not going anywhere. Nothing you ever do will make me want to leave you.” Vi took Caitlyn’s face between her hands. “I know who you truly are, and I’m hopelessly in love with you for who you are. So you’ll have to deal with me for the rest of our lives.”
Vi leaned in and gave her a sweet kiss, Caitlyn’s lips salty due to the tears. She returned the kiss but with some hesitancy. Vi tried to reassure her again. She broke the kiss and looked directly into Caitlyn’s eyes.
“When we first met, you had no reason to trust me. Yet you did. You grew up as the most privileged kid, with all your fancy stuff. And you could have kept living in your golden bubble. Or just ignore everything going on underground and pretend everything was okay. Keep living an easy-going life. But you didn’t Cait, you were the first enforcer who actually tried to help.”
“And look how that went.” Caitlyn adverted her gaze.
“You’re right, what you did was terrible. And most people from the undercity won’t forgive you. But Cait, who fucking cares? I know you, and you’re a good person okay, and if I have to repeat it to you every single day until you also believe it I will. We can’t change what we did, but we can change what we do from now on. And I’ll be right by your side, making sure you never lose your way.”
Caitlyn made eye contact again, and Vi saw how something changed in her look, faith maybe? Vi wasn’t sure but for now, it seemed like her wife trusted her and believed her. And she’d make damn sure that she always believed her because she meant every word.
She couldn’t resist the urge anymore and kissed Caitlyn again, a deep kiss this time. She wanted to prove how much she loved her, and nothing would ever change that.