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Vi has been acting strangely lately.
Said woman doesn’t want to admit that she’s not feeling well, but Caitlyn can tell .
Often multiple times a day, there’ll be times where Vi just… Stops what she’s doing and zones out. Well, Caitlyn would call it zoning out… If the woman would respond to anything. It won’t matter how hard Caitlyn shakes her or how loud she calls her name, Vi just won’t respond. Then when she comes back to herself, she’s confused and a little disoriented. They both try to chalk it up to Vi overworking herself, but Caitlyn can’t help but think there’s something else going on; and it’s clear that Vi feels the same way.
She’s been scratching at her face and chest more, to the point where she leaves welts on her suddenly incredibly pale skin. Vi complains about being in pain, yet there’s nothing visibly wrong with her. There have been times where Caitlyn watches her slip off to the bathroom to weep from the pain. That’s when the uncertainty truly hit home for Caitlyn.
…Didn’t Jayce’s lab partner have the same symptoms? He had…
The thought makes Caitlyn abruptly sit up from where she was trying and failing to sleep. She looks over to Vi’s sleeping form on the bed, really looks at her as best as she can in the darkness of their bedroom.
Her cheeks, once filled out, are back to the same gauntness they had when the two first met. Vi hasn’t had much of an appetite recently. The skin around her eye’s is speckled with red, a mixture of blood vessels rising to the surface due to how hard she’s been throwing up recently and the scratching. Even in (what Caitlyn has learned is a very, very fragile) sleep, her breath wheezes, her chest shaking slightly with the exertion of merely staying alive. It’s familiar…
(When prolonged exposure occurs, symptoms may take years to first settle in, but when they do, it progresses quickly. It’s most common in people who spent their formative years in Zaun—)
Caitlyn doesn’t want it to be familiar.
She presses a kiss to Vi’s feverishly warm forehead, and the woman stirs before settling back down. Caitlyn slips out of bed, and goes to get herself some water.
She really hopes she’s wrong, but she makes an appointment with Vi’s doctor, smiling weakly at the thought of Vi’s stubborn nature. She’s going to give Caitlyn so much shit for making an appointment for her at— Caitlyn checks the time— 2:12 in the morning. She chuckles softly to herself, and takes a sip of her water… And damn near spits it out just as quick.
A heavy thud sounds from upstairs, followed soon after by a distressed cry. Caitlyn holds her breath, freezing as she listens for something, anything .
It stays mostly quiet, though the sound of soft thumping continues, and Vi doesn’t call out for her.
(Research is yet to be developed on the correlation between epilepsy and Chronosilicosis; more commonly known as gray lung; however what we do know for certain is that a sudden onset of epilepsy in individuals at risk of gray lung almost always leads to the development of Chronosilicosis.)
“Vi? Baby?” Caitlyn calls, her voice tinged with panic as she bounds back up the stairs. She gets no response, but the thumping sound stops
She nearly trips over her lover upon making it back into the bedroom. Vi is laid on the ground, her eyes closed and her body trembling. Foam collects at the corner of her mouth, which is hung slightly open.
Hurriedly, Caitlyn pulls her onto her side, trying desperately to remember the first aid training her father gave her as a young girl. He died a few months ago, and Caitlyn wishes she could hear his guidance one last time.
She doesn’t think she’s ever needed it more.
Vi stirs slightly, trying to push herself up onto her elbows after a moment. Her body trembles, her eyes are still closed, but Vi’s awake. Caitlyn is about to urge her to lay back down when Vi heaves and gags, the force of it causing her face to pinch and a few instinctual tears to slip from her eyes. Caitlyn tries not to think about the dark color of her lover’s vomit, instead focusing on gathering her hair away from her face. Her fingers end up brushing Vi’s cheek, unusually warm. Dangerously warm.
Caitlyn tilt’s Vi’s head to lay the back of her hand against Vi’s forehead. The woman is shivering, yet she’s so, so warm. Caitlyn doesn’t know how neither of them realized earlier (to be fair, Vi hardly noticed when she broke her ankle a few years back. Maybe Vi just… Hadn’t noticed she felt like shit. Yeah, that’s why. That’s why neither of them realized).
Okay, it can’t be gray lung. She’s just feverish. Vi’s just got a fever, that’s all. Just a really high fever.
Caitlyn very slowly helps Vi sit up once the woman finally opens her eyes. Vi sways, grunting softly at the jostle. Caitlyn kisses her cheek, and the two linger like that for a long moment, then scoops Vi up as slowly as she can, and lays her back in bed. She kisses Vi’s forehead.
“I’m gonna go get a thermometer… You’re burning up, Violet.”
Vi only nods, her eyes fluttering between closed and half-open. She takes a minute to think about it, and Caitlyn lingers for a minute before slipping off to their bathroom.
“Wha’ happened?” Vi croaks as Caitlyn also prepares a bowl of cold water and a few rags. She’s… a bit worried about how she’ll react, honestly.
She doesn’t really talk about it, but Vi is like an open book. Caitlyn senses her discomfort as easily as she senses the path her bullets will take. So when Caitlyn goes out to the pool during the worst days of summer and Vi lingers on the too-hot concrete; or when she’s had an especially rough patch and makes weak excuses as to not showering at that moment, she can tell Vi doesn’t like water. She just hopes that it won’t apply to the cold rags.
“You’re sick, I’m just getting a thermometer and something to help you cool down.” Caitlyn reassures. She hears the bed creak and the covers shuffle. “I’ll bring it to you, sweetness. Stay in bed.”
“Where’s Dad?” Vi’s voice is a little weaker, a little more fragile. Caitlyn frowns as she walks back into the room, setting the bowl of water (that’s typically designated as the puke bowl for when one or both of them decide that ice cream is worth dueling lactose intolerance, but is washed thoroughly between every use) on the desk next to Vi. Of course she’s confused. Caitlyn tries to remind herself that the confusion is normal . After a seizure, it’s normal . That doesn’t make it any easier. Caitlyn tries to speak gently.
“He’s not here right now, Violet, but it’s okay. I’ve got you.” Vi hesitantly nods, seeming at least vaguely satisfied with that answer. She opens her mouth upon spotting the thermometer, and Caitlyn smiles weakly at the look of adoration she’s given. No matter how sick or disoriented her wife is, she still seems to recognize that she trusts Caitlyn… Whether or not she recognizes Caitlyn (or if she even knows her own name) is debatable, but Caitlyn will take her wins where she can get them.
(“One of the most common symptoms described is high fevers. For a lot of people with Chronosilicosis, it’s the thing that kills them rather than the illness itself. You see, when you pair any sort of sickness with a weakened part of your body, infection is more likely to occur. For individuals with Chronosilicosis, the infection is most likely to be pneumonia.” Caitlyn frowns at the screen. Is it really worth using the Gray to catch Jinx? Vi is already at risk, is she not? But… Vi is strong, she’ll be okay.)
Caitlyn winces as the thermometer beeps, and she reads the number. 102.3 . Not quite needing to go the hospital, but a little too close for comfort…
"We gotta get that number down, dearest." Caitlyn murmurs, lifting a hand to brush the sweat soaked baby hairs from Vi's face. Vi doesn’t react much when Caitlyn turns to grab the rag, but when Caitlyn dunks it in the cool water and attempts to lay it over her forehead? Vi pinches her eyes shut, shaking her head with a whining groan; and attempts to swat her away.
" No — been good! Haven' done nothin’!"
Caitlyn’s lips purse, and she catches Vi’s hand in hers. She attempts to lay the rag over her head again as she speaks.
“You’re not in trouble, Violet. You’re okay…”
Then Vi gives her the most heartbreaking expression, and Caitlyn finds that she can’t make herself put the stupid rag on her head. Her eyes are watering, her expression filled with confusion and fear in a way that Caitlyn has never seen from her before. Her chest jerks with barely held back whimpers, and it’s over for Caitlyn when she sniffles and her lip quivers.
“Big baby…” Caitlyn softly teases in an attempt to lighten the mood. Rather than place the rag on her head, Caitlyn wraps it around her hand and lightly pets her cheek. Vi relaxes, the fear fading but the confusion lingering.
“What happened?” Her voice is a tad clearer now, but not by too much.
“You’re sick, I’m trying to cool you down.”
Vi nods slowly, and Caitlyn dunks her rag wrapped hand in the bowl again, wringing it out before returning to rest her hand on Vi’s forehead again.
“You’re pettin’ me.” Vi acknowledges. She’s relieved that Vi seems to be coming back to herself but… Caitlyn blinks down at her. Is the fever kicking her ass that badly?
“I need to cool you down, you fussy thing.”
“That’s not how you do it.” Vi chides softly, taking the rag from Caitlyn, dunking it in the water, wringing it out, and then placing it on her own face. Caitlyn would’ve laughed at her absurdity if she weren’t so worried.
“You wouldn’t let me do that, remember?” Caitlyn gently reminds her, flipping the rag up so it’s not covering her eyes, nose, and mouth. Vi only weakly hums in response. The way Vi had placed it on herself looked a lot like the reports she had seen at Stillwater…
Caitlyn had the honor of shutting the place down. One of the prisoners had been there for so long that most of the investigations happened because of what that prisoner told them. For example, apparently one of the solitary “cells” that Stillwater used was just a twenty foot deep hole in the ground that was only about one hundred inches in diameter. No bathroom, no nothing. Caitlyn would’ve never discovered it if it hadn’t been for that prisoner.
The only real catch to it was that the prisoner had long since lost his ability to speak, due to his own screaming for help or aid at a young age. Because of this, it led to him drawing pictures or showing Caitlyn around himself. One of the things he had drawn was the Warden waterboarding someone in front of his cell, in such great detail that Caitlyn knew it happened regularly. Now that she thinks about it… The person he drew for a lot of the things he warned her about look almost exactly like Vi, down to the moles on her side and the tattoos on her back. Caitlyn bites her lip. Had Vi…?
But, that’s not the problem now. Her partner is incredibly feverish, puked up blood, and had a seizure and is now incredibly confused. Caitlyn has bigger fish to fry, unfortunately.
“Cait?”
“Yes, Vi?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“I don’t know, baby. You’re gonna be okay, though.”
For the first time in what feels like an eternity, Vi seems conscious for the first time. Vi looks at her. Really looks at her, and whispers.
“We both know you’re lying, Cupcake.”
And it’s then that Caitlyn knows that she had been right. Vi has months to live, if that, based on the bloody vomit still staining the floor. The two hold each other closely, desperate to keep and use any conscious moment they have together. There’s no saying how long Vi will still be Vi, after all, Chronosilicosis is known for causing personality changes in late stages; and Caitlyn knows that at this point in time, it’s incurable.