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Caitlyn hated bloodshed. Despite her greatest efforts, she couldn’t avoid conflict when visiting the Undercity. Despite her loyalty to Piltover and their united front in the battle against Ambessa and Viktor’s army, there was hate towards the institution of government that the uniform stood for. She understood. She hated that she was woven into a system that hurt people. But she was trying to help in ways that she could. Visiting the Undercity was one of them. She made sure that her crew was always weapon-less, that they carried supplies for rebuilding and restoring the Undercity. Despite her best efforts, she was always returning home bruised and frustrated.
This visit wasn’t much different. As the five members of her team reached the streets of the Undercity, they aimed straight for the medical facility being built amidst the wreckage of The Last Drop. Shouts of “Piltie whore” and “pig” made Caitlyn flinch, but she maintained her path until they reached the facility. She gave her officers orders on where to place supplies and then snuck a gentle head nod at Vi before she watched her partner slip out through a side door. She knew that Vi always liked to check in on her people while they were down here.
They were almost done unloading supplies when Caitlyn heard a window smash and saw flames out of the corner of her eye. Whipping around to face the flame, she could see someone with red spray paint finishing a crude drawing of a pig on the neighboring window. Taken aback and hurt, but reinvigorated, Caitlyn called for her team to get out of the facility with whatever they could grab as she raced toward the flame, pulling an emergency fire blanket from a nearby table. She hit the fire quickly, containing its flame, only to hear grunts and yells from behind her. She was hit in the shoulder with something hard, and immediately went into fight mode. From what she could see, six or seven Undercity folks were up against her and her officers with metal rods and other pilfered weapons. She used agile strength to hold off two men at the same time, knocking them down enough to help her other officers. Agression seeped in the air like smoke, but all of her moves were defensive. She caught a fish mid-punch and blocked the swinging of pipes, and eventually, her and her officers stood at the door overlooking broken tables and slumped fighters. Except one. She saw Vi, at the other side of the room, staggering in from a back entrance, covered in deep red. Shock rang in Caitlyn’s ears as she blindly told her officers to take each of the fighters with them Topside so that they could be treated for injuries.
Once she saw the last navy blue shoulder turn the corner, Caitlyn whipped around and sprinted the few feet to catch Vi, pressing her shoulder under her arm. Finally allowing herself to react to the damage visible on her girlfriend’s clothes, she held herself back from a complete interrogation; “You’re covered in blood. Is it yours?”
“Ever the sweet talker, aren’t you, Cupcake,” Vi unsuccessfully smiled through a cringe while she took a step forward. Cait stopped them and faced her, propping her up with hands on her shoulders to get a better look.
“Vi, this is serious. Are you–”
“Look–Cait–I was fine. I just walked around the corner to check in on Theiram and Babette. I know the bar got damaged in the fires last week so I went to check on them. But then this shit happened, and believe me, getting stabbed wasn’t exactly on my bucket list.”
Cait’s eyes open in surprise before narrowing, “ Stabbed ??”
“Yeah, but Cupcake, you should see the other guys.”
“Violet, I do not care about the other guys right now–”
“Aw, see? So sweet. Seriously, I’m fine. I’ve dealt with worse and I’ll just.. deal with it later when we get those people you were fighting back Topside.”
Caitlyn’s eyes all but rolled out of her head as she huffed, “I would believe that you’re fine, but you have a goddamn knife sticking out of your leg, so-”
“Listen, Cait, you go lead the rest of the uniforms, they’re definitely going to need your help convincing the–”
“Don’t be stupid, I’m not leaving you,” Cait was already unwrapping gauze from a package, ripping it with her teeth. Vi scoffed, but conceded, because it was very sweet and thoughtful. Plus, the adrenaline was starting to wear off and damn stab wounds hurt, who knew?
A week later
Vi sat herself on the bathroom sink, cringing slightly at the feeling of her quad muscle flexing around the healing wound. The doctor had taken her stitches out that morning and instructed Vi to take off her wrappings and apply serum to help the wound seal itself overnight. Despite zoning out during the appointment, Vi had brought Cait and she knew that her girlfriend was carefully listening and taking notes.
Caitlyn carefully traced the edge of the wound as she applied the serum, glancing up as she felt Vi flinch. “Does it hurt?”
“Nah, it feels like butterflies and rainbows, Cupcake,” Vi smirked through another cringe. Cait blushed at the nickname but refocused on her task. She hated seeing Vi hurting. Once the serum was on, she followed the doctor’s instructions and her notes and placed a small section of gauze over the wound, taping it gently so it wouldn’t move overnight. As she placed the last piece of tape, she hummed and looked up at her girlfriend.
“When I said that your scars were sexy, I did not mean for you to go out and get more immediately.”
Vi smirked, gently pulling her girlfriend by her chin to stand in front of her. Her hands slid to cradle Cait’s lower back, “What can I say, cupcake? I aim to please,” then cut off Cait’s scoff and eye roll with a kiss.