Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cait felt the flicker of a smile on her face as she put it together. That crazy bitch pulled it off. The bomb part where it shouldn't have been, the air vents just where she fell. Combined with her ability… it made sense but she couldn't be sure yet. Her gut was sure though. She'd felt something was off which is why she'd looked into it. 

The question was, what to do about it?  

A sound, well, didn't break the silence but snuck through it, Cait suddenly realising there had been a humming sound coming from the place Vi had been sat this whole time, with her own thoughts.

“Is that... singing?” she couldn't keep the delight of her voice then. It was beautiful. People always seemed surprised when Vi showed off her softer side but Cait had already learnt so much about her. Her love of music. The artist in her who sketched her own tattoos. Or her underrated ability to cook or bake something delicious from scratch. At least I know she likes cupcakes. 

Still getting used to the restriction of her vision, she looked across to the love of her life, so brave but so hurt by yet another loss, and her stomach dropped. Pensive, knees wrapped, and drinking. I'll have to keep an eye on that. She couldn't chuckle at the joke, an eye , but she acknowledged it internally. Vi being sad made her sad. It was an unavoidable reaction but not one she would want to swap, there was a beauty in it. 

Vi wasn't broken, she thought, but she was hurting so much and probably in part blamed herself. For not saving her sister, for yet another loved one she tried to protect, for enjoying Cait whilst all that had happened. But she also seemed at peace, to a degree. Cait hoped part of that was having her, but maybe part was some acceptance? 

She could make this better or worse, or any mix of the two. Vi acted with her heart, and right now that heart was sore. Had it ever had the chance not to be?

She needed Cait, right now. 

“It's just a tune my mother used to hum.”  It sounded bittersweet. Cait guessed any reminder of Vi’s parents would be, she knew hers was. She could hardly get her head around everyone Vi had lost now. Surely getting one back, or hope of one at least, was better than nothing?

I have to tell her. She couldn't keep a secret like that, one that would mean so much to Vi, after earning back her trust, and assuming she would make a better decision than Vi with the information was a mistake she had learned from. 

But when? Right now, Cait could still be wrong and giving her false hope, and if she wasn't surely Vi would immediately go back to that status quo, to the restless need to sacrifice herself yet again and put others first. It was part of what she loved about her, and she would respect any choice she made and damn it she would go with her if she went after Jinx. She could leave Piltover - she couldn't trust herself to lead and had handed her seat over to Zaun as a gesture of apology. She had other plans to make that right too, but none needed her to hang around a lot longer. And hunting Jinx had its own appeal, even if the intention behind that would change. It had defined Cait in some ways for so long now - maybe that wasn't healthy to revisit either, or maybe doing so in hope rather than hate would help mend them all? Did Jinx want to be found? There were reasons to slip away if she'd survived, but she'd probably have messaged Vi if she'd wanted them to chase. Maybe she too needed time to heal and choose herself. Or maybe she was just too scared to let Vi choose, a fear Cait fully sympathised with.

But was it right to shatter that peace right now? Or was the peace simply depression, and loss of hope? If she let the vigour and heart that defined Vi die because she couldn't support her pain right, she'd find it hard to ever forgive herself, and she'd only just started that process from the last time she hurt Vi.

She needed to feel this out.

She took a moment to drink in Vi’s beauty, unblemished by bruises and . Even with half the world dark, Vi still shone with light, but it was paler now as if she had less left to give. She'd lost not only Jinx but her father again too, and colleagues and friends. Cait couldn't have drawn up a more perfectly beautiful woman if she'd tried though. The perfect person for her inside and out.

Quickly she was beside her, head on her shoulder, trying to use her touch to offer support. Comfort. She'd never been good at this bit of relationships but she'd learn to be. She had to.

“Are you still in this fight, Violet?”

She used Vi’s full name sparingly, here as a plea to be let in. Let me know and share your pain, my love. I can help carry this burden, surely? She wasn't completely sure what she meant by the fight: joining the cities, who still had so far to go, so much pain and blood and tears between them? The fight of moving on, surviving every day through loss until the box of grief became a little larger? Fighting to stay alive? To make this relationship work? All of those?

Or was it a hint towards the renewal of their prior shared goal - to find Vi’s sister?

She honestly couldn't tell.

It took Vi a while to answer, but she sounded sincere. Tired but determined. 

“I am the dirt under your nails, cupcake. Nothing's gonna clean me out.” Cait wasn't sure about this wonderful woman using dirt as an allegory - self deprecation had seemed Vi’s way for as long as she'd known her, but increasingly she was realising it was a defence mechanism of sorts. She hoped she was not the thing Vi felt she needed protection from, not anymore, but couldn't blame her if there was still an element of that. 

Still it sounded like she was in all of it for the long haul. Hard work or not. She understood the metaphor.

Still, Vi seemed so small compared to her usual self, and there was a wall there again. Not between the two of them, she thought, but between Vi and her pain, as if she couldn't face all that emotion at once and needed to hold it somewhere. 

Caitlyn knew that very very well, and knew its dangers. It was her own ability and flaw and had contributed to her own grave errors. She wouldn't let it kill her beloved too.

She would tell Vi, as soon as she had made as sure as she could of the truth, and had worked out how to break the news. She'd have to plan her words, or she'd get it all wrong.

She closed her eyes and held her Vi tight.

***

They'd had a busy day, helping mend their broken cities. The sense of grief had been heavy across both Zaun and Piltover. They'd all sacrificed and lost so much, even she had with her mother, her fellow citizens, her eye, her view of herself. Few as much as Vi, though Mel must be close. They shared their warmth and eased their grief together in bed, bare skin on bare skin, a slow but insufficient healing. Vi had her arms wrapped around her, meeting under the breasts she'd just played like a guitar. Cait could feel the muscular power in that incredible torso behind her, and the temporary absence of tension. Good . Vi was careful now not to hold too tight, wary of the gut wound Cait had that was still healing. A mirror of hers, I guess . 

She took the opportunity to break some news. “Vi, I have something to tell you.” Not about Jinx, not yet, though she had feelers out for more confirmation that she was right. And not about anything she had done in the last dark year either, they'd shared those feelings in scattered half lines and unspoken touches. 

No this was about trying to make amends for other mistakes. She couldn't gloss over her crimes with good deeds, but she could do good deeds to prove she had changed. Hell, Jinx had taught her that of all people. What a sister in law . 

“Yeah, Cait?” That was a good sign. 

“Just so you know, my father gave me access to the whole estate. I've bought a building, and donated a large chunk of our family money to start a school.” She rolled out of Vi’s arms and turned to face her. “For children from Zaun to study free of charge. I figured my name would probably put everyone off in the circumstances so… um, I was wondering if we could name it for Powder?” Next would be the hospital, and she wanted Vi’s input on what to name that, then she had budgeted for several other projects. None would have her name attached. She didn't want the projects to fail.

Vi stared in silence, understanding the reasoning without question. For a moment Cait was worried she'd overstepped, been insensitive or condescending or whatever it was she kept getting wrong. She stayed patient though, let it sink in. Then suddenly Vi kissed her, long but gentle, as if Cait were a medicine she needed. There were tears in her eyes but she seemed mostly happy. “Thank you, Cait, she'd have liked that.”

Chapter Text

The next day was a little less raw but still heavy. They met with Mel before she left for her new life as a leader. She was as stoic as her mother would have been but her guilt and pain shone through. Cait felt a kinship with the beautiful Noxian, as well as a lot of gratitude. Not only had she saved Cait's life several times, but their shared experience learning from and  then fighting Mel’s mother had given them a bond. Mothers . They could break you in so many ways when they lived, and then twice as bad when they died. She couldn't help but feel a little triggered by the reunion, remembering the avalanche of betrayal and fear she'd felt when Maddie had revealed herself as a traitor then tried to execute her from point blank range. Hearing the gun fire was the most terrifying, helpless moment of her life, worse than watching that bomb hit the council chamber, and she was waking most nights in a cold sweat. That's the thing about war survivors: we get to take turns comforting each other's trauma in the middle of the night . Sadly, that was not a joke. She and Vi had both had to soothe each other more than once in their bed.

More pertinently, they met Ekko. She didn't know the Firelight very well, but he was also mourning for good reason, though there was a strange edge of … something else there too. He had a long talk with Vi, about their mutual losses and pasts as far as she could tell without prying. But on the subject of Jinx he became slightly cryptic, verging on cagey. He started with “It's hard to believe she's dead” which was innocent enough.

So when Vi said she “needed a slash”, Cait pounced on the diminutive little rebel, to test her suspicions.

“Ekko, wait. I've got questions for you. About Jinx!” She almost grabbed his arm but pulled out. No need to escalate this. “I'm out of your jurisdiction, Enforcer.” Ekko delivered that in a cool voice touching towards cold.

His bluntness made her flush. Obviously he wouldn't think the best things of her. It was best to be frank in return. “I’m not an Enforcer any more, Ekko, nor a politician…” “Dictator” “... My focus right now is on Vi and she's in anguish. I've seen things I think point towards Jinx escaping. I'm not going to ‘bring her to justice’, I am done with that. But it sounds like you think she might have survived too. I just want to know if you think that, and to try and gather evidence so I know what to tell Vi.”

Ekko still glared at her for a while but then abated. “Fine. Yes, I think she escaped. She'd survived worse and her will to live was back. Plus you've not found a body, right? But she said she planned to leave Piltover, leave Zaun to ‘break the cycle’. I'm not sure she wants to be found.”

“Thank you, Ekko. I promise you, I won't go hunting for Jinx unless we have some reason to believe she's ready for it. But knowing she's alive might be enough. Do you have any evidence?”

His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I swear to you, I won't betray her. That would be betraying Vi.” “You've done that before, I hear.” Ouch. “And that's why I can't do it again. I won't lose her.” She took a deep breath. “I know I can't take back what I did to any of you. But I am trying to give back instead. I am donating thousands of cogs to support orphans from Zaun.” “Orphans you made?”

Cait didn't think her regime had directly led to any extra deaths, but certainly she had suspected there had been more… brutality than she'd allowed herself to see, and she couldn't rule it out. Denying it wouldn't help anyway.

“Please Ekko, Vi will be back imminently. I will follow any lead personally and not tell a soul in Piltover. Please tell me what you know!”

He scowled for a few seconds more then… “Fine. But I'm coming after you if this is used to hurt anyone from Zaun. It's good you're trying to help, but don't expect us to trust you. We aren't all as trusting as Vi, and certainly we aren't all hot for you like she is. I’ve been helping with accounting for ruins and losses up Topside, Sevika wants some of us involved in assessing the data so you Pilties don’t rip us off. One of your Sky Ships is unaccounted for, disappeared the day… well, the day it all happened. When she was a kid, Powder then, she'd always go on about travelling the world in one of those. Not sure how you can track it though.”

That's what I needed! “Ekko thank you, I won't let you down.” Just as they finished, Vi sauntered back, looking a bit more her old self but still somewhat diminished. “What are you two yammering about?” 

“Oh just about how Ms Kiramman is going to spend her life trying to make up to Zaun for becoming the puppet of a vicious military state and suppressing all our rights.” 

It was going to be a while before she would be remembered as anything other than those terms by Zaun, she felt, but she was going to do everything in her power to change her story. She had a lifetime, she hoped, and the determination not to repeat the same mistakes. It was funny being a war hero in Piltover and the most despised person alive in Zaun (probably). The peace between the two was still very tentative, kept alive mostly by the rawness of their recent shared loss,  and a fatigue from both sides towards fighting. More a ceasefire in a way, and maybe Zaun and Piltover both losing their figureheads from the front lines. It wouldn't last so they had to build something stronger, and find a way to bring the two cities closer together without losing either. Frankly, that meant the less time Cait, as the most controversial person in the cities right now, spent in the limelight the better for everyone.   I just hope I'm not the one who messes this all up. 

***

That night it was her turn to wake screaming and shaking, and to be lulled back into half-sleep by strong arms and a gentle voice.

She had another dream, the order wrong but the events so vivid she had felt like she was living them again. She'd felt that blade in her gut and her eye again, the sheer weakness she had next to Ambessa’s strength only this time Mel wasn't there to help her, and Jinx’s bombs never fell. She was broken down and Maddie aimed her gun. She felt the same terror she had before, trying to fight it but knowing she would die and worse that she would lose, but then Vi came to her rescue and Maddie shot her first. That's when she screamed in horror, learning there was something worse than facing your own death.

When she realised she was awake, Vi had wrapped her full breadth around her, to calm her and to hold her, as she thrashed about. Her vision spun, her heart was beating twice its usual tempo and each beat was almost painful. She felt physically, viscerally sick, her mouth was bone dry. At least I got to sleep, tonight.

Vi’s hushing was magical, as was the stroking, soft soft and tender from such large hands, capable of the greatest violence and purest pleasure. “Guess it's your turn tonight, cupcake.” 

Once she'd calmed down, Vi made slow, tender love to her, her long, strong fingers filling her totally, both holes. As usual, once Vi upped the pace, she came in seconds, almost incapable of resisting her touch and the emotions that came with it. She went from feeling lower than hell to higher than a god.

Chapter Text

The next day they were together the whole time, their hands barely leaving each other’s. They had meetings, and repairing buildings of Vi’s old acquaintances in Zaun, and acquiring staff and supplies for the new school, as well as Estate affairs to handle. The low mood of all that had happened was hard for them both to shake that day and just getting things done was draining all their emotional energy. If Cait hadn't had Vi, she wasn't sure she'd have made it through without giving in and just lying in a bed. She was sure from Vi ‘s face, drained by the end of the day, that the same would apply in reverse. 

The final barrier had been dinner with Caitlyn’s father. Tobias had been superficially proper but cold towards Vi, still disapproving of her Undercity origins and her unconventional appearance, still blaming her in part for his wife's death. Unkindness became incivility and in the end, as voices raised, Cait had the heartbreaking experience of asking her own father to leave their own house. But any self-pity she had was washed away in a flood of distress at seeing the melancholy hopelessness on Vi’s face.

“Cait, I'm so sorry. I should have…”

She felt a flash of white hot anger. But not at Vi. “Vi, the only thing I want to hear you saying sorry for is apologising. You have done nothing wrong.”

That night, seeing her wonderful partner so shaken up, Cait needed to take care of her. Almost always Vi preferred to… take care of her, and took her own pleasure from that, but sometimes what you needed to get over a terrible day was a really fantastic orgasm.

She started with a kiss, and letting her love enjoy her hands over the body she knew drove Vi crazy. Every time they were together, hell, ever since they first met, Cait found it eternally flattering and arousing, seeing Vi’s steel gaze soften and explore the curves she'd never hidden her desire for. She knew Vi was mad about her body, loved the way it looked, smelt, felt. She breathed in the way she knew would spur Vi on as those marvellous hands explored her breasts. She loved the way it felt, whether gentle cupping or a firm grasp or touching her sensitive nipples but maybe even more she loved how Vi enjoyed it. How she wanted and worshipped her body, all of it. She felt and enjoyed the hard muscle of Vi’s body herself, the size of her making her feel so vulnerable yet safe. But it was Vi’s reverent gaze that turned her on the most, made her soaking wet along with her powerful scent, even before they touched. She'd touched herself at night to the memory of Vi’s gaze long before they'd ever kissed. She'd never ever have to doubt that Vi wanted her, because that girl wore her heart on her, well, lack of sleeves, like a special extra tattoo for those who knew her to read, and every time she looked at Cait that tattoo was practically a dripping rose. Everytime she was with Cait naked her eyes didn't try to hide their appreciation. 

After she let them both get pent up, letting Vi make her own therapy with her greedy, amazing mouth and lustful, incredible hands, Cait slipped back to the head of the bed, sliding low so just her chest and face were up, and gave her best 'come hither’ eyes, eyes she knew would melt Vi in her chest and between her legs. 

“Sit on me, Vi. I need to taste you. I need you on me.”

And she did. Cait wasn't as gifted as her Vi was with her mouth - she could barely hold out a minute when Vi wanted to make her come - but she knew what she was doing, and she knew what Vi liked already. She gasped and inhaled in the powerful scent of her sex as it enveloped her face, then teased with her tongue side to side, savouring both the exquisite flavour and the loud moans Vi made in response. Soon she was sucking greedily on her clit as Vi thrust uncontrollably into her face, crying out her name, Tobias Kiramman totally forgotten. “Oh, Cait, that. Was. So. Fucking good.” She smiled, happy to see Vi’s heaviness lifted for a while at least. “Literally.” She couldn't help but giggle and it seemed it was infectious enough, as Vi was soon joining in.

As they lay wrapped together in their bed, Cait felt a deep, utterly certain sensation of perfection. The world had hurt them, it wasn't perfect, but together, this pairing, this was perfection. And she had to put that into words. 

“Vi… Violet?”

At her sound of her full name, her love opened her eyes once more, startlingly blue in contrast to the fire of her hair. 

“What’s wrong, Cait?”

“Nothing is wrong. But… I know words can be empty, and I hope I'd made this clear in other ways… but I just need to let you know… I love you.”

She smiled again. “I know, cupcake. Have done a while.” She gave Cait a tender kiss. “I think you know I love you too.”

Chapter Text

The next few days were better. They had to spend most of them apart, aside from the evenings, and that finally gave Cait the chance to follow some leads in between official work. She chased eye witness accounts of Sky Ships leaving the city in the immediate aftermath of the attack, and took down every detail to run past Ekko later for cross-reference. If one was not where it should have been, she would know which way Jinx had started her journey at least. 

She finally tracked Ekko down, 

“It's that one. There weren't meant to be any ships heading due West, there weren't really meant to be many ships leaving at all except with emergency permission so soon after the incident.” 

“Thank you, Ekko. Sincerely.”

“I’m not doing it for you. And, I won't be thanking your council. You know they refused to build a memorial Zaunites who died defending the cities in the uprising? Said the remembrance service was enough, but of course your Ferros and Gioparas and the like came together to fund one for Pilties” Ekko spat, a gesture that seemed in contrast to his usual colder anger. “Sevika is furious. To be honest, so is everyone she's told about it so far. So much for equal partners.”

Cait thought about the Undercity folk who had come to her aid when Noxus looked victorious, from the streets and the sky. She thought about the Zaunites who had died by Enforcer hands, or suffered by her own rule, before that. She thought on Vi’s friends who had died defending their city, of Jinx who had helped save them all, of Vi. That if Vi had died, nobody would have held a service for her or celebrated her heroism lest Caitlyn herself did it. 

She understood Sevika’s rage. Somehow it had become her own. When she had been unentangled, she had supported Zaun ‘s right to live from afar, an intellectual or ideological viewpoint. Then when she had been hurt by the cycle, she'd lost herself in it, to her shame taking those rights away. But now, on the other side, she felt those rights tangled with her, not as a do-gooder interest but with passion. Those are Vi’s rights too . That shouldn't have made a difference, she knew that, not morally. But empathy is formed by experience.

“I'm not on the council any more - Sevika has my family seat much to the chagrin and criticism of my father and half the nobles in Piltover. But I'll see what I can do.”

***

The next week, to the mutterings of much of the city, Caitlyn Kiramman spent a considerable sum of money holding a further ceremonial memorial for every single Zaunite who had died in the attack and the preceding months, and commissioned 2 monument in their name - one in Piltover to match the one the council had planned for their own citizens, and one in Zaun itself. She'd even spoken, fleetingly, on the bravery of those who had died for the city and the lives of those who had oppressed them (she hadn't used the word but it was implied strongly enough that several Enforcers Cait had once worked with had given her very dirty looks. To be fair, I am a hypocrite ) and then even more controversially on the grief they felt for the senseless loss of life from the preceding conflict between the states. The reception was mixed from Piltover high company, with some genuinely on board, some applauding out of politeness and some actively jeering her. But the working classes watched with a silence that for once didn't feel judgemental. 

For once she received something other than antipathy in Counselor Sevika’s eyes as they passed afterward. 

Afterward, Zaun called it guilt money, and they were right in a way. Piltover said her Undercity bedwarmer had seduced her into it, and that was right too. But it wasn't why she had done it. She had found it easy to sleep that night, true. And the adoring look, the approval she saw in Vi’s eyes would have made it worth it all by itself.

But she did it because it was the right thing to do. Fuck whatever they all said about it. 

That night Vi fucked her for hours, worshipping and caring for every inch of her body as if it were holy, and Cait felt not a scrap of guilt for one night.

Chapter Text

“Hey cupcake. Didn't hear you come in, or expect you back so soon.”

Cait had had a mixed day. She’s been pressing contacts in other cities for news of any strange new arrivals, and her impatience was surely starting to show in her letters. She’d sponsored some new tech to speed up travel, vital now that the Hexgates were gone, but also had some of Piltover’s finest teachers reject her offer to work in the academy. She’d been sucked up to and snubbed by merchants and Topsiders, and tolerated by Ekko, lectured at, but eventually convinced the Sheriff-in-standing to disarm most of the forces stationed near the border with Zaun.

All that vanished from her mind.

Her beautiful Vi was sat at the dining room table, left arm on it as she cleaned herself up. There was a gleam of red. The second Cait saw what was happening, she broke into a run. “Shit, Vi, you’re bleeding!”

Her anxious eyes scanned, looking for where Vi was hurt. This was one of her nightmares, finding Vi covered in blood and in pain yet again. After Ambessa had attacked the Commune, the day Cait had finally acted on her growing unease with the way the Noxian warlord had been using her, the day Vi had pulled her back into the light whilst she tentatively and longingly watched from the edge of the shadow, that had been one of her worst days. She had sat for hours as the finest doctors in Topside worked on her injured protector, taking meetings as her only refuge, worried she would never have a chance to take everything back. That this was her punishment for losing herself: losing Vi. She had slept, if you could call it that, holding vigil at her bedside, begging for her to wake up, all whilst knowing Ambessa’s retaliation for their ploy could come at any moment.

She could not lose her. Not now she had a second chance she didn’t deserve. 

“Looks like it, huh? I’m fine, really.”

Luckily it was only Vi’s arm that was injured, and the gash wasn’t too deep, just long. Quite straight. “That doesn’t look fine, Vi,” she admonished. “It needs stitches after you’ve washed it. Do you have anything to sterilise the wound?” Vi grimaced and passed her the bottle she had just an arm’s reach away. Brandy. Half empty. We are going to have to find a way of cutting this back . She knew Vi was trying, but she also knew the drink helped numbed the emotional pain, and she couldn’t do enough to make it unnecessary yet, but Cait feared the risk of Vi falling too far into alcohol’s grasp, becoming reliant. Not right now though. Plus the alcohol might help with the pain of what happened next. 

She splashed it into Vi’s wound, wincing at the pain on her face and the hiss from her lips. “Ok. I’m gonna heat up this needle.” 

As she prepared, Vi spoke up, voice a little shaky. “Have you done this before, Cait?” It was normal to be apprehensive about someone sowing up your skin. And good that Vi felt she didn’t need to pretend it wasn’t, to use that bravado she sometimes held up as a shield. Cait had done this before, as it happened. But that’s not what she said. “Just trust me, Vi, ok?

There was no hesitation in her lover’s response, as she gave the tiniest nod. “Always.” 

Afterwards, as she inspected her handiwork, Vi asked her a question. “Don’t you want to know what happened?” Of course she did, but it was more important to make sure she was ok, and to let her talk in her own time. Vi didn’t owe her the answer.

She stared Vi in the eyes, letting her see her concern but also her faith in her. “I trust you. If it’s important, you’ll tell me.”

Vi’s only response to that was to stroke Cait’s hand, sending a pleasurable shiver down it, and peck her cheek. “It is important, but I am worried you’ll shout at me for being stupid.” Impulsive maybe, but you aren’t stupid, Vi. “Well, now I definitely won’t, it’s not like I’ve never been there.”

There was a silence that drifted into discomfort, and then “I went with some of the Firelights and we raided a drug den. Full of Shimmer, belonging to Veraza. She’s a Chem-Baron, and basically the main player trying to fill the space Silco left behind now. A real piece of work. Someone nicked me with a blade. Got all the stuff and burned it though.”

Shit. “Vi, you should have told me.” *beat*  “Would you have stopped me?”

“No! I would have come with you.” 

“Come on, cupcake, we both know you can’t be seen doing this kind of stuff any more, how is that going to go for Zaun-Piltover relations?”

Cait felt frustration well up in her.  Frankly that missed the point and Cait was also not sure she cared right now. 

“How is it going to go if you are seen? Everyone knows we are an item now? All I care about is you staying safe!”

Vi’s brows were burrowed and her beautiful lips pursed. Even in her irritation it was hard to look away from them. “So I can’t go out and do anything to fix things? I have to stay safe at home like your Zaunite housewife, taken care of, and let my people be ravaged by Shimmer and bastards like Silco and Corina Veraza again? Helpless, again? Jinx would spin in her grave, if she had one!” Her voice was raising now, and at the last comment, Caitlyn felt a twinge of guilt. Hell, at all of it. That wasn’t how she wanted Vi to feel. 

“No Vi, that’s not what I’m saying at all.” She managed to make her voice calm, though she felt the heat in her chest that threatened to burst out. Don’t let this explode. Don’t screw this up . “The Chem-Barons need to be taken care of, maybe I need to find a way to get the Enforcers aimed at the right target there, and in the current climate. I don’t think either you or I fighting people who are exploitative criminals even in Zaun is a bad thing, and I think most of both cities would understand that too. But if you are putting yourself in danger, and I get why you would, I want to be there for you, With you!” 

She took Vi’s hand in her own, and desperately looked at her, willing Vi to see the truth in her eyes. “I have your back. I am not here to make my house into a prison for you, and I never want you to feel like I am trapping you, or disempowering you. But I want to help keep you safe, and if it’s not possible to do that keeping you here, then I can do it with my gun.” 

“But I don’t want to risk you! I can’t lose someone else, cupcake, I can’t!”  That was the crux of it, wasn’t it? 

Cait smiled despite Vi’s blue eyes filling with water. “You won’t lose me. But I won’t push the point. I want to help, ideally be there with you but otherwise I can still support you from afar. We’ll do it carefully.” She floated inside to see the fear on Vi’s face turn to hope. 

She rested her head on Vi’s shoulder. “I am yours, and I am staying, Violet. Besides, I left you once and it was the worst. I enabled a ‘self-serving war pig’ as I recall .” She pushed a spike of crimson hair out of the way then nuzzled at Vi’s jaw. “And the sex was much worse.”

She yelped as Vi suddenly lifted her up. “There’s too much stuff on this table.” In one slick movement she swept all the equipment off it, and lowered Cait down. “And too many clothes on my Kiramman.” With that she pulled down Cait’s breeches.

“We are both each other’s. So why are we wasting time on fighting?”

An hour later, Cait must have cried out Vi’s name a hundred times, holding her tight as she sent her to heaven half a dozen different way. It was a miracle nobody else had wandered in. She lay there, on the rug, enjoying Vi’s warmth and presence, and stroking her hair. Her girl’s head was pleasingly squashing one breast as if it were a pillow, naked thighs touching beneath the throw they’d huddled under. 

“Cait, I love you for all the things you’re doing to help Zaun right now, you know that, right?”

“Yes? Feels like there’s a but coming here…”

Vi squeezed her buttocks with that and she was shocked to hear herself squeal. “Two. This one.” Another gentler squeeze that elicited a mewl. “And this - as long as Zaun’s growth is dependent on the goodwill of a few individuals, it will never have any real independence. We need to do these things, yes, and to free it from the drugs and druglords. But it’s not enough. We need to find a way to give Zaun its own way in the world that doesn’t rely on getting kids addicted.”

“I know.” She kissed the top of Vi’s head. “We’ll find a way. I’m starting to feel we might need to look elsewhere for it. But there’s so much to do…”

“Yeah… but let’s do it all together, right? As equals, like Zaun and Piltover should be?” 

Smile. 

“Vi, you aren’t my equal. I realised a long time ago, even if I forgot it, you have always been my better half.”

Chapter Text

*Blam* “Shit!” *clink*

Relearning to shoot without your less dominant eye wasn't impossible but it sure was much harder than Cait had hoped. Most days, her practice in the range was still pretty good, her missing eye most important for perspective, although she thought she was still months away from perfecting the art as she once had done.

For whatever reason today she was struggling.

It didn't help that her left eye stung like hell. It felt like Ambessa had just sliced it open again. Hell, it felt like it had after Mel had finished the job and the adrenaline dropped, leaving Cait’s agony as her only companion, burning in her cheek. 

She was getting better at it all - adjusting for her blind spot (when Vi wasn't there: when she was, her partner naturally stepped to that side to cover it without request. What would I do without her ?). Dealing with the painful days, this so called ‘phantom pain’ according to the medics, it was draining. And made worse by the distraction she had faced that morning. Travelling through Undercity to inspect the work on what would be The Powder Academy of Zaun, several of the citizens had jeered and spat at her which wasn't uncommon. That always upset her but she got it. Little as she enjoyed being called ‘Kirammonster’ and ‘puppet queen’, she could hardly complain about what was, from their perspective, the truth. Her good intentions and her good deeds didn't exonerate her. She was surprised that Zaun hadn't sought more ramifications against her (maybe they had and the council had fought them off and spared her the details?) and felt glad that none of these altercations had escalated into violence. Not least because she couldn't come up with a worse occurrence for peace than Undercity citizens and the ex-dictator of Piltover killing each other in the streets, but she was also easy to blindside these days. 

No what had gotten to her had been her ‘own people’. In the streets of Piltover disgruntled young aristocrats had accosted her, pushed her so that she had to physically restrain herself from retaliation, and the Enforcers present had just folded their arms and watched it happen in silence, the silence of agreement. They called her ‘class traitor’ and ‘one-eyed coward’ and she'd been afraid enough to speed away rather than the collected walk she'd intended. 

In trying to make things right between them, I have just made enemies of both cities. And friends of no-one. Her friends were gone or dead. 

She wouldn't let them see her cry though. This was her punishment. 

The firing range was meant to settle her nerves but her failure had just left her frustrated, as frustrated as the lack of news regarding the Sky Ship, the animosity she faced from the whole city bar Vi, the shaking that wouldn't go away. 

She realised what was going wrong. Ever since the battle, she felt a pounding in her head and her heart, and the world beginning to spiral every time she pulled her trigger, but usually she focused on that centre she knew, no matter what anyone said about her, was her rock, the knowledge she was trying and she had Vi and she was too tough to give up. It was the noise, she now understood. Every time she heard the gun shot close to her head her body responded with its own, emotional memory of that gun going off whilst she waited on her knees in hopeless dismay. But today she was struggling to find that anchor and every shot she winced and missed. 

“Shit!”

A long time ago, it seemed a whole lifetime, she'd been asked what she was shooting for, and she had later struggled to answer, torn between contradictory targets. 

Now though, she knew. Not for peace, because how can you shoot for peace? Violence can't be justified by peace, and peace was an outcome not a target. You had to fix something more specific and then another thing and maybe at the end you'd get peace and maybe you wouldn't. Vengeance? She was done with it. It had made her the worst version of herself and she was still recovering. Justice? What even was justice? Upholding one city’s laws upon and at the expense of another wasn't justice. She'd learned that as she'd tried to forge justice in the cities but had pushed herself into denial because she wanted to be right. Freedom? Needed boundaries. Security? Needed flexibility. Unity? Came at the cost of independence which was itself an impossibility with two neighbours so intertwined. She'd considered and discarded all these things in her concurrent, divergent rise and fall. And then her fall and rise. 

What she'd settled on was actually two things, one abstract and big, and one specific and discrete. Fairness. She would make the world fairer, not necessarily equal but try to adjust for what their lands needed and what they had available to divvy up.

And she'd protect Vi and her shattered heart so it could heal as much as any mourning heart can.

She knew what she was shooting for.

It was the process that was an issue now.

*** 

The practice hadn't gotten much better, and when she arrived home, she was a bundle of stress, eye searing, loss of vision stark, abdomen aching whilst her head burst. She couldn't shaky this swirling, spiraling sensation in her chest, and a feeling on sickness on the verge of vomiting. 

The second she walked in, Vi smiled up at her from the adventure story she was reading from the armchair then Cait watched as her face fell into deadly seriousness. “Cait… what happened?”

For the first time in forever, Cait couldn't keep any kind of handle on her emotions, and she felt her chest shake and eyes tighten as she tried and failed to keep the hot, acid tears from squeezing out over her cheeks. 

“Everything. Everything hurts, Vi, and everything is going wrong. Everyone in this damned city hates my guts, all except you and…” she hated how the next thoughts made her blubber loudly, unable to speak until she recovered enough to choke out the words “after everything… I did… to you… you should hate me most of all!” She felt utterly pathetic, half sure Vi would walk out of the room in disgust, but instead Vi engulfed her in her powerful arms. 

“Oh, cupcake. Fuck them. I could never hate you, and I know how hard you've tried to make things right for everyone. If they can't see that, or can't forgive you, you can't make them, but it's their loss. Because you are amazing.” 

She wiped away a tear, her big hands as delicate and precise as a harpist. “But keep crying. I think you've needed to cry for a long time, and it's not been healthy to keep it all bottled up like you usually do, Cait.”

Indignant, Cait sniffed at her. “That's rich! You've had so much more to cry about!” “Yes, and I've cried, in your arms whilst you comforted me. Let me do the same for you. That's an order, cadet.” 

They hugged, Cait dwarfed by Vi ‘s broad shoulders, until the tears dried up, and Cait felt a little better, as if purged of a toxin burning away at her. “Right. I'm going to make you some food, you look like you need it. Let me guess, you want potato omelette?”

Vi knew her well, a picky eater at the best of times but regressing straight back to certain comfort foods and safe plainness in times of distress. She just nodded. “Thanks Vi. What would I be without you?” 

Vi gave a wry smile. “ Hungry at a guess. You still can't cook for shit.” “Teach me then? Please?”

And so Cait distracted herself from her pain and chaotic brain for hours as Vi lovingly showed her how to make a half a dozen safe meals.

“I really do love you. And thank you for staying in my life.”

“Hey. Cait. Don't.” She sat right next to her so their knees touched as they ate, a gentle pressure that already started to drive Cait wild. “I'm in this for the long haul. I am the dirt beneath your fingernails, remember? That means you can't get rid of me, but also that we work together, hard work, to grow something.”

“We'll get our happy ending, cupcake. Now, come on. To bed.”

Chapter Text

The next day was better. They went for a run together, Cait equally enjoying the certain knowledge of Vi’s eyes on her rear and her own on Vi’s buttocks and lower back as they overtook each other. Then Vi headed to the market to procure foods she'd distribute in the Undercity to families who'd lost their providers in the various conflicts of the last nightmare period. Cait was making sure the family owned businesses were managed up to date: she had big plans and more than ever needed cash to flow and not be simply reliant on her reserves. She then met with counsellors to give advice on repairing and updating the cities’ defences against attack now they lacked new Hextech as an option. Other nations would see them as vulnerable unless they made their security clear. She gave her best advice, feeling somewhat disconnected from the concept.

One day soon when this is over, Vi and I will leave most of this to the city and we can do something together. Maybe a bar, like Vi’s foster father, though she was not sure how well she'd personally fare. Or they could travel as adventurers or guards for merchants. It would always be a little fake, knowing she still had something to fall back on. But it would be nice to focus on a future together and not just fighting fires in the present. When should I ask her to marry me? It was too soon, of course, but she wanted it. Didn't need it, she would take what she could get, but a ring would symbolise all that they'd promised each other. 

She arrived home to find a message from Vi. Training in the courtyard. An invite. Intrigued, she headed there as was awestruck by the sight of her girlfriend in her binder and a pair of shorts, trading punches with a Chirean that Cait thought might have been one of the Firelights. She stood transfixed, appreciating the fluid dynamism of Vi’s body as it dodged and blocked, the rippling of deltoids and triceps as she jabbed. After a few more tussles, the Chirean was flat on his back and Vi was standing over him, glistening with sweat. Cait started to feel the sweat dripping down her own brow. Just so beautiful . 

Vi helped her sparring partner up, and after a brief, curt but non-aggressive exchange where Cait learned he was called Puck, he left. Meaning Cait was now alone in the yard with her lover who was currently shiny with perspiration accentuating each slab of muscle, breathing hard and currently almost irresistibly attractive.

Vi caught her starving eyes and smirked. “I've still got energy, cupcake, fancy a round?” It was all she could do to whine, at first, then she nodded, meeting Vi’s sapphire gaze. To even the odds of distraction, Caitlyn dressed down to her undershirt and breeches and squared up. After a charged moment of mutual staring, they started. “Grappling, first to steal 3 kisses wins.” “Wins what, exactly?” Vi just smirked. 

The first round, Cait tried to stay back, keep Vi off balance, maybe trip her but she’d forgotten how fast the other woman was, despite her size. The gap she’d tried to maintain was quickly eroded as she misjudged a feint, and she found herself having to spin out of Vi’s grip three times in a row, aided by the sweat on Vi’s bare arms. However, as she tried to twist out of a fourth hold, Vi simply let her turn, then clamped back down, big hands holding her tight by her clothed breasts from behind. She felt the breath leave her in a sigh, along with her will to escape, and this turned into a whimper as Vi slid her hands beneath the top, reaching back up until each tender globe was surrounded by hot skin and perfect, delectable pressure. “Oh, Vi… that’s cheating…”. As pleasure mounted in her teased nipples, she melted, and submitted as Vi kissed her cheek, then her neck, then her lips as she pulled Cait’s face back for access over one shoulder. Just before releasing her, Vi breathed into her ear, and Cait could feel the smile on her lips. “Technically that’s 3, so I win.”

Cait span around in a fury, inflamed by that just as her opponent had intended. “No! You can’t do them all at once!”

“We never said that, cupcake, but hey if you want me to kiss you again…”

That smug grin was as intoxicating as it was infuriating. As always, she was transfixed to Vi’s mouth, thinking how easy it would be to let those expressive lips kiss her twice more and then Vi do whatever she wanted with her. But then her determination to win kicked in. She felt her face set, and readjusted her stance. “Let’s say they have to be on the mouth then, one at a time. Again.”

Cait won the next kiss, waiting for Vi to catch her in a bear hug after feigning indecision about which way to escape, but instead stepping into the hold. She caught Vi by surprise and kissed her savagely, biting her lip, before bowling them both over. “One all.”

She won the next one too. There had been a stalemate for several minutes, where each grapple attempt resulted in Vi getting the upper hand and Cait scrambling out of it. She’s so good at this, and so strong, there’s no way I can hold her. But I can hold her attention… As soon as she had space, she simply pulled her top over her head into her hand. As she had hoped, Vi’s eyes widened and flickered uncontrollably to what she liked to call Cait’s “Kirammountains”. She knew there was no way Vi could ignore them in that first second, so used it to rush her again, jumping onto her, legs wrapping around her waist so that Vi caught her and held her there by instinct, allowing her to smother her face with kisses. 

“And that’s not cheating, eh?” She hardly looked upset though. “Are you going to put the shirt back on?” Cait shook her head. “And give up a prime distraction? Never.” 

“Well, I can’t complain. Just gives me more motivation, cupcake.” Vi won the next round at a canter, simply herding Cait to the edge of the ring there and giving her no space, quickly pushing her to the ground where she was kissed at her mercy, totally unable to overcome Vi’s power as she pinned her. And totally turned on by it too.

“Ok now, the winner takes it all.” This time Cait was careful to stay in the centre and keep space and options behind her, now strafing, now spinning, but not attempting an attack of her own just yet. Suddenly, she had an opening as Vi overstretched and reached for her. She pivoted into the same throw she’d learnt from Ambessa, that she’d used on Vi weeks ago now, only to Vi had expected it. The brawler adjusted her footing, and simply bore Cait to the ground, her pelvis pressing down on Cait’s rear, the heat pouring from it. She tried to scramble, but Vi was on top of her, trapping her from behind, and then Vi rolled, somehow twisting so that Cait ended up on her back staring at the muscular figure on her belly, who simply batted her block away and then slowly, daring her to try to escape again, moved her face towards her. Cait stared at the nick on her lip as it approached, inevitable, and gave in, opening her mouth and letting Vi take what was hers. 

They showered together afterward, each delicate with the other like their skin were the most precious possession they owned. Somehow, having your hair washed by fighter's hands used with the precision of a surgeon and the gentleness of a nurse could feel more intimate than the sex. Every day, with ups and downs, healing inside and out, no matter what it felt like more of the barriers between their souls went down or merged, and they saw more of each other’s true selves. The more Cait saw, the more she fell. But falling into Vi was falling into a deep sea that was complex but warm and safe and a balm for the stings of the everyday. 

Cait cooked tonight. She still wasn't amazing, not like her teacher, but Vi no longer flinched when it was her turn which was a start. And it was rewarding, creating something for the one you loved. 

As they ate, Vi’s brow was furrowed, as if something were on her mind. 

“Vi, is something the matter?”

She sighed. “I was just thinking about Vander. He was the one who first taught me to cook this casserole. Easy ingredients to get in the Undercity, see?” There was a certain sadness in her eyes but also a joy in reminiscing, every second changing which one shone out as dominant. 

“It sounds like he was a good father.” It sounds like he was a great father. She felt a twinge of guilt towards her own father, who had kept mostly to himself in the house since their argument. Cait loved her parents, they had been supportive of her in many ways, but she'd never shared strong emotions with them, never had that openness, and had always felt a pressure to live up to their expectations. True she felt that with Vi too, but somehow there the standard expected, the expectation was aspirational, because Vi made it clear she believed Cait could be better than she was. Sometimes with her parents it felt like the expected outcome, the default, would be disappointment. 

She said as such now.  

Vi frowned again. “I think Vander did create a pressure in me like that, too, despite all the good things he did. I felt like I had to use myself up to look after my siblings, to provide and protect. I guess that kind of fucked up my relationship with my sister, hey? But it did teach me a lot”

“And it made you the generous, protective person you are, Vi, don't forget that. Even if you do need to put yourself first sometimes. All parents can cause their children unintended wounds. All we can do is to try and learn more about them and how to heal, and prevent the same mistakes for our own children.”

Vi raised an eyebrow at that, though Cait had meant own children in the abstract. “Do you want kids then?” That was a big question. She'd only fleetingly thought about it before, and part of her did. Part was scared she'd get it all wrong, not be flexible enough. And she fell back onto the same thing that drove the thought out of her mind. “Vi, unless there's some tech I've not heard about, I'm not sure even you can get me pregnant. In theory I think it would be nice but even before you'd I'd never liked men like that so why dream of what you can't have?”

“Cait” Vi’s tone told her she'd missed something, not said something stupid exactly but had missed something from another perspective. Her cheeks warmed. “Sometimes, for some of us, dreaming is the only way you can have things, at least for a bit. Besides, Vander wasn't my birth father. I think. If it's what we wanted, we could foster a child. Hell, your dad would be happy that your noble lineage didn't die out with you!” She could tell the last comment was teasing, but was still recovering from being struck by Vi’s points, all of which made perfect sense and none of which Cait had considered on her own.

“I… sorry, I didn't even think…” “Ssh. That's ok, cupcake. Why would you have?”

“Still… I should have. Thought about things from your view.” She flicked her hair out of her face, off balance. “I would like to try that, maybe, if you would. Would you, Vi?”

Her love paused. “Yes I really really would. Eventually. When things are more stable. I'd love to try and be what Vander was to me.”

“We'll do it then.” She squeezed Vi’s hand. “You're going to do Vander proud and be a great parent.”

There were no nightmares for either of them that night. 

Chapter Text

The next week, she thought she'd found Jinx. Well, a sighting of her from weeks ago, soon after she'd first disappeared. There were Piltover spies, mostly aligned to merchants, in many cities and Cait's money and name and previous rank all made it relatively easy to hijack any of them. The description matched well. She'd been careful to keep things generic enough not to point to Jinx, and the woman was clearly intelligent enough to change features like her hair colour but the Sky Ship direction, and those rare Shimmer-affected purple eyes, well they painted a picture together.

She is alive! I knew it. 

That and there was a trail, albeit by the time anyone followed it it would be very cold. And if Vi and I were to follow it, by then hopefully Jinx will be ready to reach out herself and leave a clue. She didn't believe that Jinx intended to leave her sister out of the picture forever, not really, but who could predict such a chaotic mind? 

It's time to finalise my suspicions and visit the Hexgates…

Caitlyn didn't wear a uniform anymore- she had officially left the force for now and would find another way to protect her city, all of it now. They'd offered her the role of Sheriff but she hadn't been ready. Her time in blue was tied to too many mistakes, by her and by the Enforcers as a system. One day, she would return but right now her greatest asset was her name and the power of her wealth. She wasn't the leader of Piltover any more either and she'd given up her council seat.

She still had allies though, officers who also wanted to see the force changed albeit probably less quickly and radically than she'd prefer.And she still had sway - everyone knew that the role was hers the moment she asked for it back. Her family, for all the things her upbringing had helped her to fail at, that privilege was a weapon she could now use. Whatever grumblings went on about her latest projects in Piltover and nobody how wary (at best) Zaun remained of her, she was the war hero of Piltover after seeing off Ambessa and marshalling the defences against all adversaries those few, long weeks ago. 

One day she'd be the Sheriff of Piltover again, there were still threats to her city from all directions, but right now she needed to focus on Zaun and on Vi.

“Hello, yes it's me, Caitlyn Kiramman. Can someone tell the Sheriff here that I am here… ah. Sir. I'd like to call in a favour…”

***

“Kiramman, why are we up here again? Can't say I have too many happy memories of this place and it seems pretty unsafe.”

Well, the special protective suits they had to wear hammered home that it was definitely unsafe, with lethal potential in a dozen ways even if the power of the Arcane had faded, which Cait had no way of testing. I wish Mel had stayed a bit longer to help. 

“Well, Ekko, I'm here to try and find some final proof before telling Vi what I suspect. You're here because, as much as you seem to despise me, I need another pair of hands and eyes and you're the only other person who knows what we are looking for.” She shot him a glance as loaded as her gun. “So I have to trust you.”

“So if I killed you for your crimes here and now, nobody would ever know or find the body, right?”

That was a joke, probably, but the deadpan way Ekko said it still left ice in Cait's spine. “I guess not, Ekko, but just to warn you I'd put up a fight.”

Their words softly echoed through the ruined, metal cavern around them. They really were alone here, in the dark, the residue of arcane power crackling in the air. 

For a while there was no noise but their footfalls, and the shadow of sound you felt when people pondered unspeaking, the promise of words to come. 

“This should be the duct now” Cait was tired. They'd accessed the area on Ekko’s hoverboard but had had to use grappling line and picks to progress down these narrower passages. And the little Firelight’s non-verbal judgement was just but grating. Please let there be something so we can go. 

Ekko just grunted affirmation at first. Then took a moment and spoke. “You know, of the day before the battle, Jinx tried to kill herself. No, don't apologise. It was a long time coming and I don't think either you or Vi could have stopped her. I talked her out of it but I could literally rewind time.” 

“Rewind time…?!”

That was hard to credit but she'd seen a lot of strange things this year and Ekko had no obvious reason to lie.

“Yeah, just 4 seconds but it's enough if you're sensible. It's a long story, one I sure don't plan to share with you, no offence. Anyway, it's one reason I was sure she wouldn't just let herself die, because she'd decided to live.” He was very close now, close enough to whisper. “I told her that it was never too late to change your story, that what you do in the future is more important than what you've done in the past.”

She turned to look at him, and there was no judgement, no hate in his big brown eyes. Just understanding and maybe a little compassion. 

“Kiramman, I'm not ready to forgive you, not yet. But I can see what you're doing, how hard you're trying. And I want you to know that I respect that, and begrudgingly I respect you. You can atone for it all, you and Piltover. You just gotta keep making the right choices, day after day.”

His face swivelled away again, as if embarrassed by what he'd said. “Please don't tell Vi about the suicide thing, ok?” “Of course, Ekko. And Ekko?”

“Yeah, Kiramman?”

“Thanks.” That whisper was barely a breath but Ekko nodded nonetheless. 

They walked maybe a minute longer, the eerie silence now a more comfortable tranquility. Then she spotted it, a smudge glowing in her torchlight. “Shit, there's something there!” 

Paint, a tiny amount, in 2 small arrows pointing up. Straight ahead? Made little sense. Or… Cait pointed her light at the ceiling of the duct and saw more vivid pink paint, a graffiti of a stylised monkey. “Oh my… it's her… we were right!” 

Cait hadn't know how she'd feel to confirm her hypothesis, had half-expected some leftover rage or guilt or something else bitter. But all she felt was unbridled joy, and relief. Vi’s family isn't dead ! 

She spun and started to give Ekko a hug, which he began to reciprocate until they both remembered themselves and pulled away. “Should have looked down here weeks ago, Kiramman.”

She snorted. “It was deemed deeply dangerous weeks ago, and levels of magic have only recently dropped to vaguely ‘safe’. Even now, I've pulled a lot of strings to get us here and we are not officially here, understand Ekko? The council would not approve.”

His own snarl in return was derisive, but not of her for once. “Your council’s inertia is as big a problem as its apathy, Kiramman. If you sincerely mean to make a difference to us, you're gonna have to step in and exert some leverage on them. Your corrupt Enforcer friends, too.  You're too big to sit behind the scenes for ever doing philanthropy.”

“Vi said the same thing. Will you help me, when the time comes?” 

“If that's the goal, and I still trust you? Sure. I just want my people to be safe, Caitlyn.” That was the first time he'd used her first name, as far as she could recall. He grinned. “Ha, this has been a real bonding experience, no. Wonder why Jinx made this so obvious, though? I mean she always had a taste for the dramati…” he cut off as they both spotted it. Scraps of paper, folded over and pinned to the ceiling with scraps of metal like nails. They had been difficult to see in the dark but were closely packed to the image Jinx had painted on. There were 4 of them, charmingly addressed with little epithets. One for ‘Little Man’ was surely Ekko and he scooped his up without reading it. One for ‘Sis’ was obviously Vi and Cait took that one. Ekko took the note for ‘One Arm’ and finally there was ‘Sis’ Girl’. 

She had to read it. 

She carefully straightened out the edges, bringing her light closer to devour the words of a woman who had so defined her last year, who was so connected to her by the most important person in both of their lives. 

She couldn't hate her any more, she found. She now knew they were opposite sides of a same coin, people who would do anything to protect the city they loved, people who loved Vi and in trying to manage that love, hurt her. People who may have made each other’s choices in each other's circumstances. Women who had hurt each other, tried to kill each other, to the detriment of those they loved, but who now were just left with… respect. And a sense of unified protectiveness to Vi. 

The handwriting was primitive, made harder by seemingly being sketched out in paint not ink. But it was legible.

“Dear Detective. 

I knew you'd find this. I knew you'd realise I didn't die and left town, because you're smart like me. Maybe that's why Vi likes you. Cause she really likes you. I'm sorry for your mum but I figure we are square. Look after Vi. If you hurt her, I'll try to kill you again. She needs you and deserves you and you are good for her, underneath the whole police thing. I needed to go away, for me and for Vi, but I know you can find me if you put your pretty head to it. When Vi’s ready, come and prove me right.

Your new sister

J”

Cait’s vision blurred and she realised there was wetness on her cheeks. She wiped it away, chuckling gutturally.  “You crazy, genius witch!”

She turned back to Ekko, who was looking at her with a new sense of concern? “Worried about me, Ekko? Come on, let's get out of here. It's time to talk to Vi.”

Chapter Text

She pinned down Vi after a little while of searching, inside her study for some reason, directed by one of the staff. When she actually found her, Vi was wearing jeans and a tank top, sitting by the fire, not in a chair but just as she had been when Cait had first spotted the duct on the Hexgate blueprints. A cycle, she thought wryly, but hopefully not like the other one.

Vi looked uncharacteristically nervous, though, and that sent butterflies through Cáit's stomach. “Vi, what's wrong?”

Jolted from distraction, her love looked up, surprised to see her. She'd evidently been preoccupied enough to not even hear her walk in. That made her a little scared. 

Then she smiled. A little strained but genuine, and Cait felt her heart rate settle. “Nothing's wrong at all, Cait. I just have something big to talk about.”

Hmmm. “Ah, ok. Me too.” *Beat*  “I really think I should go first.”

“Well I'm pretty sure mine is bigger.”

Caitlyn doubted it, but she wasn't going to make assumptions over her girlfriend, and again the magnitude implied made her a little worried. “Are we under attack? Has something happened to the cities?” 

Vi’s raised both eyebrows, taken back . “Cait, no, it's all big personal stuff, I said nothing was wrong!”

Ah. Well, there were a few possibilities here, but now it felt even more imperative that Cait tell her about Jinx first. “Sorry, you just worried me, Vi. I can't wait to hear but, well, I really think I'll have to. Please, let me say what I need to first. But also, don't do anything rash until we've had a chance to plan.”

Now it was Vi’s turn to look stressed again. “Um, ok cupcake. What is it?”

Cait sucked in a deep breath that seemed to get trapped. It took rather too long to push it out and use her words. “Your sister is alive.”

Vi’s eyes immediately sheened over with a watery glaze, serene pools that were now troubled and on the brink of overflow. “What?”

“Jinx. I thought after… well, I had a suspicion about how she could have escaped but I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure, so I didn't give you false hope. Well, now I know for sure. Please don't hate me.”

Suddenly Vi’s arms were around her. “I could never, ever hate you, even at your worst.” She kissed her reassuringly. “And you are so much better every day that anyone else lets you know. This is amazing, Cait. But how do you know?”

So she summed up the story, from the bomb and the plans, Ekko, the reports, and finally the ducts and what they'd seen. “She knew I'd find them, left a message for me and for you.” She handed across the letter for Vi. “But I don't think she's ready for us to go and find her, Vi. She left for a reason, and I think she needs her space.” 

Vi’s face was radiant with joy. “I get that. But my sister is alive, Cait! And presumably not actively a terrorist this time. That's… that's amazing. It's amazing you'd look for her for me.”

They spent what felt like a comfortable eternity holding each other, just soaking in the feel of the body they each knew was shared with them utterly. “I had given up hope on getting any of my past back. Thank you, Cait.”

“I'd do it again, for you. And the second you think it's right, give me the word and I'll be there with you, seeking her out. I know where she's heading now at least.” Demacia, according to the report on her leaving Edgewater, an odd choice. But also about as far away from Piltover as one could get. “I'll be there.”

“You're amazing, Cait.” Vi kissed her again, hard enough to make her stumble. “I could take you right now. But I have my news first.”

She dropped to the ground so suddenly at first Cait was worried that her old injury had flared up. Then she saw the serious expression on Vi’s face, put the pieces together and she knew. 

She couldn't help but smile before Vi had even spoken. “Well, more a question than news… Cait?”

She leapt on her, now, fiancée and bowled her to the ground in joy. On top for a change, she started to kiss down Vi’s neck wildly. “Hey, Cait, you don't even know what I'm asking yet.”

“Yes. The answer is yes. You are asking me to wed you right?” Vi nodded, eyes shining, beautiful lips drawn tight with emotion. “Then the answer will always be yes. Everything else can wait.”

She stripped off her top, again delighting in the weight of Vi's entranced eyes on her breasts. She could live another decade and was sure her top would have the same impact on her wife to be, no matter how many times she'd had Cait’s breasts in her vision, her mouth, her hands, and could live another century and never get tired of it. 

“I am going to treat my wife.”