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Chapter Text

Luke, Streets of Zaun

He’s heard of the rumors before on the street. The Zaunite brawler, who rose to become one of Piltover’s best enforcers, alongside the sheriff. Together, the two had a tandem and word in Zaun is that they meant business. Like the good cop, bad cop.  Playing in the streets became possible again for Luke and his neighbors – something they have been too scared to do before.

Luke would want nothing more than to see the female enforcer in action and got his luck one afternoon when he helped his uncle load crates of fruit in their street shop market. It all happened so fast, there was a piercing scream that cut through the sound of the usual crowd. Then he saw a net zip by and caught one of the running men. The next thing he saw was the female enforcer herself, wearing her red jacket over the usual standard issue uniform, dark pink hair, shaven on the side, topped with goggles. But what caught his eye were the giant hextech gauntlets on both of her arms –easily the most striking thing about her.

A couple of other enforcers ran past, with their blue and gold-trimmed uniforms. Then he saw another woman, dressed a bit differently with her blue top hat, wielding an intricately designed white hextech rifle. He immediately knew this was the sheriff. There was something graceful in the way she fired and loaded the bolt and Luke had never seen anything like it.

The walking Zaunite crowd parted and watched the commotion unfold. Luke had run, trailing through the crowd as he tried to get a glimpse of the action. The chasing stopped in front of a run-down building. The enforcer grabbed the suspect that was caught by the net by the collar. He was holding a firearm and with her other free hand, she bent the pistol like it was dough.

Around six men were caught and he watched in awe at how the sheriff and the enforcer with gauntlets worked together, cuffs moving between them, catching all the suspects without uttering a single word to each other.

“Nothing to worry about folks. We’ll take it from here.” The pink-haired enforcer announced jubilantly. The crowd eventually went back to whatever they were doing. Luke craned his neck to get closer and soon found himself right next to the enforcer herself.

“That was amazing!” He said, barely a croak but the enforcer heard him. She met his eyes, a smile etched in her face. “Is it true, you were from Zaun?”

“Know these streets like the back of my hand. Glad to be of service kiddo.”

“Thank you for cleaning our city.”

“Just doing our job. And you have your sheriff to thank for that.” The enforcer nodded to the sheriff, who Luke saw up close with had indigo hair and this air of sophistication.

The way the sheriff carried herself as she talked to a Zaunite citizen was captivating. She did not feel like a real person. It was crazy to think that one second, she could fire any shot with excellent precision, then she can calmly talk to people of all kinds, and even do council work from time to time. There was this look of pride or admiration in the way the pink-haired enforcer looked at her. “She calls the shots.”

Vi caught the way Luke admired the sheriff from afar. “Pretty, huh?” she teased.

The sheriff called out, with her upper-class accent. “Vi, we need to go.”

Vi made a sheepish face as she turned back to Luke. “Sorry kid, would love to chat but duty calls. Take care of yourself, okay?” She gave him a wink before taking off with the rest of the enforcers, disappearing in the misty streets.

Wade, Lock and Bolt Tavern

Wade had been running bars since he was old enough to drink and had seen enough in his lifetime, but tavern gossip has always been his guilty pleasure. No matter how small or scandalous, he could not help but keep an ear out even as he wiped beer mugs clean behind the counter.

Recent news pointed to the rise in popularity of the enforcer tandem of Sheriff Caitlyn Kiramman, daughter to the councilwoman, and Zaunite stray enforcer with a knack for solving fights with her fists.  It was an unlikely tandem, given the enforcer’s past which became speculation in the streets and even inside the bar.

For Wade, it made him remember a memory not too long ago in these very walls of his bar.

It was past midnight and definitely a slow evening, with barely half the seats filled in the bar.

During these times, Wade liked people watching. A group of friends in one booth, twin brothers who were his bar regulars seated in the very far corner, and two women seated really close together in the booth nearest him. What made him take special interest here is that he could have sworn she looked like the Kiramman girl all over the newspapers and the up-and-coming sheriff of the city. She had indigo hair, a sharp nose, and a thin frame. Next to her was a girl with pink hair shaved in an undercut, her build was pretty tough, and the way she carried herself made her look like she is ready for a fight.

Their conversation was not to be heard from where he was, but he noticed intimacy – long gazes with their body language open to one another. The pink-haired girl called for more drinks and Wade delivered them, one glass of cocktail, the other a glass of vodka.

The longer the night went on, Wade noticed that the Kiramman girl was getting drunk, her head bobbing to the side, her shoulders losing its rigid posture. At varying stages, he saw her slump her head down on the table and even lean on the other girl’s shoulder, much to the other’s amusement.

By the time it was three AM and they were the only people left in the bar, the pink-haired girl came up to Wade by the counter. She slid over some gold coins with her bandage-wrapped hands. The first thing Wade noticed was the tattoo underneath her left eye that read VI. “Hey, here’s for the drinks. Guess we better get going.”

Wade peered over her shoulder to the Kiramman girl, head against the table, drunk out of her ass. “Do you need any help?”

“No worries.” Wade proceeded to clean the counter with his rag and watched as the pink-haired girl scooped up the Kiramman girl in her arms as if she weighed nothing. Kiramman unconsciously fit so well against the other girl’s chest. It was such a loving gesture that Wade didn’t realize he had a damn grin on his face.

Up to this day, tavern gossip often brings up those two. The occasional regular would drag Wade into the conversation. “What do you know of those two eh? You hear all sorts of things in these places.”

He has seen many things, but like all things that happen in the tavern, they stay there. That was how it always was for Wade, that was how it will always be.

“Eh, Piltover’s just lucky to have ‘em.” He’d say.

Jensen, Piltover Station

The first time Vi joined the enforcers, Jensen thought that she was no good.

Sheriff Kiramman had a mission, to clean the enforcers from the inside and out. She made herself very clear about it on her first day of the job.

Jensen knew how dirty some of the enforcers had become; corruption had run deep and had been part of what kept Piltover the City of Progress, with Zaun as its crime-ridden underbelly. Caitlyn Kiramman seemed at first like she was out-of-touch with what was happening under there, with her family background and all, but Jensen was pleased to see that he was wrong about her. She had a heart of gold, and the duty to serve the city for its people.

“Here’s our newest addition to the team, everyone. Meet Vi.” The Sheriff said one morning when they were all gathered in their briefing room.

Vi looked like everything the enforcers were not. She was not wearing the standard-issue enforcer uniform, but instead was dressed in her own red jacket get-up, with her punk undercut showing off her bright pink hair. Her hands were bandaged, bruised and knuckles red from god-knows-what.

“She’ll be reporting directly to me. But she will be helping you guys out in our operations.” Jensen scoffed at himself. The station really worked by rank, oftentimes the most senior would be working closely with the sheriff as it had always been. It was true that after purging some of the corrupt enforcers, most of the team was relatively new. But never has a new hire directly worked with the sheriff before. Why her?

He tried to raise his voice, but the way Sheriff Kiramman spoke gave away that her word was final. She was still the sheriff after all and must know better.

/

During one of the bust operations they had, Jensen realized that he was witnessing something he shouldn’t have.

“I had it under control.” Caitlyn scoffed as she picked up her blue top hat, dusting it off.

Vi emerged from the rubble, her attire covered in a sheet of concrete ash, revving up her gauntlets as if breaking down the wall was just her getting started. Between the uptight nature of Sheriff Kiramman, he just knew that the new enforcer would end up clashing with her one way or the other. The way Sheriff Kiramman worked was always so calculated and methodical, but the best part was that it produced results. Joining together the explosive energy Vi caused was just a problem added to the equation.

“No, you didn’t. But that’s okay, that’s why I’m part of the team.” Vi walked towards her with confidence.

“You’re so insufferable.”

“Ahh yes the Piltie attitude is coming back. I was starting to wonder when she’d show up.” Vi remarked sarcastically. Vi turned to Jensen who was unlucky to be between them, and not in the crime scene where the other enforcers were at work. “Tell me Jensen, was I right to just ram in there and take them by surprise?”

He felt the sheriff’s eyes fall on him. Jensen swallowed. “I really can’t say.”

Vi, unsatisfied turned back to Caitlyn, still with that smug look in her face. “Just remember Cupcake, we’re busting undercity gangs. There’s no taking them the way you topsiders do. This is how we do things here.”

Jensen almost froze when she saw Caitlyn’s ice-cold stare at Vi at the mention of the nickname.

Oh boy, this is about to get nasty.

/

During one night shift Jensen had at the office, he walked the near empty station and found Caitlyn still holed up in her office desk, cross checking papers.

“Would you want me to grab you some coffee before I go, sheriff?” he said as he stopped by the doorway.

She quickly looked up and shook her head politely. Jensen was supposed to leave when Caitlyn interrupted. “Actually Jensen, would you mind and get this package sent to Vi? She left them when she got off her shift. Her address is in the office directory, I’m sure it’s just on your way home.”

Jensen obliged and got the brown paper wrapped package that was sitting on top of Vi’s desk.

“Hope you don’t mind me asking, sheriff. But why do you put up with her as your partner if you say that she drives you crazy?” It’s been a question bugging his mind for the longest time. Everyone called them the dynamic duo, but all Jensen saw in his time spent around them was two people who didn’t seem to get along.

Caitlyn’s serious expression, the one she always had on whenever her head was in the job, faded into something softer. “People aren’t so different, you see. How we rid this city of corruption, its faults – we’d need to start seeing beyond the superficial.”

It was such a Kiramman answer, Jensen could have sworn the only thing needed was a journalist to log it down for tomorrow’s newspaper. What was supposed to be an easy question, turned philosophical.  “I guess so. I’ll be going then, sheriff.”

She wished him goodnight as he took the wrapped package and walked home. Vi’s place turned out to be just two blocks away from his, a three-storied apartment building with a little veranda under each window. He pressed the doorbell that was indicated for Vi’s place.

A little over a minute of waiting out in the night cold, the pink-haired enforcer dressed in a tank top with hands still wrapped in bandages showed up. There was a look of surprise to see a familiar face at work, but in a different setting.

Jensen cleared his throat. “Sheriff Kiramman told me to send you this, says you forgot earlier.”

He watched with grace as Vi held the package but in one swift motion, ripped the paper covering, revealing a turquoise box of dessert delicacies – cupcakes. A smile ripped through Vi’s face as she laughed to herself. Jensen did not understand, but then again, there were many things he had yet to understand about a lot of things.

Manek, Stillwater Prison

How Manek ended up in Stillwater in less than 24 hours was still something that puzzled him. 

One morning he was robbing a Piltovan arms dealer in the lower side of the city. The next thing he knew, the shop keeper set off alarms that made Manek break out in a run, his rucksack still carrying a bunch of revolvers as they jiggled against his back. 

He was about to reach the warehouse district of Piltover, where he could easily jump inside one for cover. The next thing hit him like a blur, a shattering force hit him and the next thing he knew he was wincing on the ground, vision blurry. He was on the ground but his vision was spinning. How was that even possible? 

He heard the voices before he saw them. 

“You- why did you do that?” said a stuffy Piltovan accent. 

“Punching bad guys, that’s what I do. That’s what you hired me for, remember?” A smug voice retorted. 

His vision started to clear and he saw his arm next to his face, the rucksack of weapons a foot away from him, unreachable. He turned skywards and saw two figures on top of him. One had a funny-looking top hat while the other had massive gauntlets he could only dream of. 

“You see, he’s out of it now. Is this the kind of state we bring criminals to in Stillwater?” said the lady with the top hat. 

“Just admit it, cupcake. You’re annoyed I dived him before you got your shot.” Said gauntlet lady, with an air of cockiness. 

“I will not! This is not a competition, enforcer.” She spat, clearly unnerved. 

The gauntlet lady laughed. “Sure. Thank me later, I guess.” 

The two were going at it for a while, Manek realized it was his window of opportunity to escape. He got to his wobbly knees, grabbed the rucksack and made a run for it, each step jogging his brain, making him realize the massive pain in his side from the gauntlets. 

He didn’t reach a few meters when he found himself captured in a net. 

“ Please , I could have gotten that.” Gauntlet lady scoffed. 

“I was trying to see if you would notice that he would escape, and he did!” Hat lady exclaimed. “Under your watch.” 

“You were so distracted by me. Thanks for saving the day. My hero .” 

Hat lady groaned at the comment. “I should have gotten Jensen for this patrol.”

“That guy is boring. Admit it, it’s exciting working alongside me again.” 

Manek lost consciousness after that point but he could swear the two were still arguing until he got loaded onto the enforcer's vehicle. 

Behind bars, in Stillwater, there has been a lot of talk on the Sheriff and her new partner, the brash lady with gauntlets. Inmate and jail wardens alike are amazed how they manage to work together. The sheriff had worked solo all this time until now. What changed? 

They must be fucking, Manek thought. The only possible explanation. 

Gilda, Piltover Station

Gilda would rather work as a cleaning lady on the station than in some dingy pub. Here at least, there was a purpose unlike in cleaning off people’s vomit. She was no staff member nor an enforcer, but she liked being there because she felt she was a part of a bigger cause in some way. At least that’s how things started feeling the moment Sheriff Kiramman went in with her reforms.

In the station, the environment was nice, and Sheriff Kiramman knew everyone by name or at least tried her best to. Her day mostly consisted of mopping the floors before everyone starts filing in, then she would start to tidy the other rooms in the station – the briefing room, holding cells, kitchen pantry, and the private offices. The only ones who had their own private office were, of course, the sheriff, and spare rooms that were either used by visiting council members, judges, or anyone who needed an extra room to themselves.

She did two rounds usually to the private offices – in the morning to spray some disinfectant and add some freshener, and at the end of the day when she cleans any trash available.

It happened one day in the office that she was about to do her afternoon round of taking out the trash when she reached Sheriff Kiramman’s door and realized it was locked. That was odd. Doors were never locked in the station, especially when not in use. She tried the knob again, shaking it.

Worried, she pressed her ear to the wooden frame and heard some hushed breaths on the other side. Her imagination went many places. She did not want to call the guard to break down the door, at least not yet.

She knocked her hands on the wood. “Sheriff Kiramman, are you in there?”

The sound in the office hushed at her pronouncement. A few seconds later, the door unlocked, and officer Vi stepped out with a nonchalant look on her face. “Sorry, forgot to unlock the door.”

Gilda stepped in the room, suddenly seeing that the sheriff looked more uptight than usual, as if she was caught in the middle of something. Her brown jacket was draped across her hair and her white blouse looked like it was haphazardly buttoned. But she tried her best to act like it was normal. Gilda did not meet her eyes and instead focused on sweeping the floor of the office.

“Would you prefer to come clean the office at a later time, Sheriff Cait?” she asked, breaking the thick air.

She saw Caitlyn lower her shoulders in relief at the conversation. “No need, Gilda. It won’t happen again.” She exhaled after holding her breath for the better part of the minute. 

Gilda nodded, taking out the trash from the bin and placing it into the bag in her trolley.

Before she left the room, she turned to see the careful eyes of the sheriff. “Don’t worry, I didn’t see anything.”

The sheriff broke into a smile, gap-tooth and all. Gilda returned the smile and exited the office.

/

She never cared much for town gossip-- she was just not that kind of person.

Do you reckon why the sheriff favors the Zaunite brawler?

I think it’s because they need an undercity representative in this station, and she is the most undercity you can get.

No, I hear they frequent that kinky brothel. That’s how they get along.

Sheriff needs to let loose, and who better than with Miss aggression-in-your-face.

She always knew gossip was just gossip and nothing more. The truth was much more complicated, much more reading between the lines.

Gilda appeared at the office of Sheriff Kiramman one night shift. People rarely took this shift unless absolutely necessary, but she knew the sheriff often poured most of her time into her work. She admired that about her.

She found the sheriff with her head resting in her folded arms, as she was asleep on her table. Draped on her back was the red jacket –unmistakably no one else’s but Vi.

Gilda tried her best not to make any noise as she wiped clean the shelves, including a glass display case that showed off some of Caitlyn’s prized rifles.

Gilda was surprised when Caitlyn sat up, disoriented from sleep. Seeing Gilda brought her back to her senses. “Oh dear, I must have fallen asleep.”

“It’s fine, sheriff, it happens to everyone.” Gilda said in support.

Caitlyn’s hand went over her shoulders as she realized what was draped on top of her. A smile formed on her lips for a brief second, but Gilda was keen enough to catch it before it disappeared in her usual business-as-usual mask.

“So the rumors are true then, sheriff?”

Caitlyn turned to her with a quizzical look. “What do they say?”

Gilda was surprised that someone who had such a keen ear to the ground, was oblivious to what was being spoken about them. “Well, everyone has their own guesses, speculations.” She remembered the chatter that she had heard over the course of months, but hated to settle on any specific one. 

Caitlyn thought for a while, Gilda knew that thinking face all too well. “I suppose it doesn’t matter as long as we get results done, am I right?”

Gilda nodded. Sheriff always knew what to say. Before Gilda could leave the room, she stopped in her tracks and met the eyes of the sheriff. “Whatever the two of you have, it makes you happy and it’s been helping the city. Nothing more important than that, right?”

Caitlyn smiled back. “Thank you, Gilda.” She said with a weight that meant more than just gratitude for cleaning out her office.

Henry, Piltover Bakeshop and Confectionary

Henry had been running the bakeshop since he was old enough to walk. It had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. People all over Piltover looking for some baked goods and sweets only know one place to turn to, and that’s their shop – located strategically in the middle of Piltover’s town center.

Among thousands of orders served each day, Henry manages to remember the orders of a few select VIP customers. Those who only need to enter his shop, and Henry would know just what they want to get.

One of those is Caitlyn Kiramman. She had known the girl since she was just a toddler, often alongside her father, or her mother at times. For Caitlyn, the order had always been the same – cupcake with pink icing and a cherry on top.

The Kiramman family was very generous and often ordered in bulk, usually in two or three boxes at a time. They would often phone orders the night before if they desired to up the quantity.

For Henry, it was heartwarming to see that after all these years, Caitlyn still orders the usual cupcakes from time to time. Seeing that she had become the new Sheriff of Piltover made Henry beam with pride. My baking has helped her get to where she is!

Of course, Caitlyn got busier with work and her trips to the shop, this time in her gilded enforcer attire, grew lesser. Henry completely understood this. Still, after each news of successful busts stopping gang lords and illicit operations across Piltover and Zaun, Henry never failed to deliver one box of cupcakes to the station, free of charge.

Before the rumors even started with Caitlyn and that new Zaunite enforcer, Henry saw it happen before his eyes. To anyone not paying attention, it would have been nothing. But Henry put two and two together quickly.

A pink-haired girl steps into his shop one day. Henry mostly knows each customer by face, and this he could tell was a first timer.

She had on a dark leather jacket, showing tattooed arms wrapped in white bandages. Despite the cool bravado she gave off, she looked unsure when staring at the glass display case of a dozen different confectionaries from candies to baked rolls.

“How may I help you?” Henry asked, leaning forward at the counter.

“Do you happen to sell cupcakes?” she asks, unsure.

Henry nodded. “What flavor and topping?”

The girl froze. Even more options she did not know about. Henry caught on and slid across the counter a hand-sized menu and pointed to the available flavors – chocolate, strawberry, hazelnut.

She held up her hands, as if trying to materialize a cupcake in front of her. “It has these red things on top. It's the color pink.”

Henry nodded. “That’s the strawberry special, dear.”

The girl nodded frantically. “Yeah, I’ll get a box of six of those.”

“Right away.” Henry carefully added strawberry whip cream to the cupcakes and topped each with a ripe cherry. He packed them swiftly in a turquoise box and handed it out to the girl, who handed him two gold coins.

“That one’s a favorite of Caitlyn Kiramman.” His comment made the other girl freeze in place. “You know, the Sheriff of Piltover.”

The sides of her mouth curl into a smile he didn’t know was possible in her tough exterior. “Yeah, so I heard.”

/

Henry later learned her name was Vi.

She became one of his usual customers, often ordering the same strawberry special cupcakes. Henry made it a point to stock up on his cherries to keep up with the demand.

“Good morning, Henry.” She’d say as she entered the shop. This time she was in her jacket, her badge showing that she also worked with the enforcers.

“The usual, Vi?” He’d say, wiping his hands on his apron.

“You know it.” She’d say playfully.

One time, he took up the courage to ask. “You working over there in the station, are you? With Sheriff Kiramman?”

She nodded.

“Well tell her I miss serving up her orders.” Henry teased.

The next day, Caitlyn arrived herself in the shop, her unmistakable indigo hair and blue eyes. Henry emerged from the kitchen, beaming. “It’s been a while, sheriff!”

“Yeah, I’ve been really busy with work, Piltover peacemaking doesn’t rest.” She politely explained.

“The usual?”

“Yeah, just one piece though, to go.” Henry obliged and put the cupcake in a brown paper bag. “Your workmate, Vi, she always gets the same kind of cupcake. Coincidence, eh?”

Henry might have been seeing things, but the sheriff’s cheeks turned pink.

/

One evening, Henry was closing shop late because he had to bake all evening for a birthday celebration tomorrow.

As he was walking home, he happened to notice two figures walking across the street together, one slightly taller than another.

The smaller person was carrying a box of his cupcakes, Henry could tell from the way the box was designed. It took him a second later to realize that it was Vi and Caitlyn, walking home from work. It was an odd place to be for the sheriff because he knew she lived in the wealthier apartments in Piltover, where the windows were gilded, and rent was double the price of what he earned in a month. But hand in hand, they walked until they got to a three-story apartment which he deduced must be Vi’s, as they disappeared through the door.

Henry walked home, feeling contentment in his heart.

My baked goods bringing people together. That’s the only explanation there is, he thought.

Ellis, Black and Gold Tailors

  “Look at that, cupcake.” 

“Shut up.” 

Ellis craned his neck to see the noise. His tailor shop was often quiet, save for only customers who booked their fitting days before. That was how the business always worked, so it was out of the ordinary to hear such playful banter in the shop premises. 

He checked the booking sheet – Kiramman, Caitlyn. Right, the VIP guests. 

He stepped away from his small counter and parted the velvet curtains, opening up the fitting area. Standing by the mirror of the fitting cubicle was the sheriff herself, but this time trading her gilded uniform for a long lace black gown, accentuating her sharp collar bones through its wide neck line. 

Seated across from her was someone Ellis would not even think to let in the shop if she weren’t the accompaniment of his VIP clientele. Patched brown leather jacket, dusty combat boots, and arms wrapped in bandages that have seen better days. 

He frowned seeing her sit down with her leg balanced on top of her knee. This is an exclusive tailor shop, not a Zaunite pub for crying out loud. But keeping himself professional, Ellis did not speak those words out loud. 

“How do you find the dress, madame?” he asked, raising his chin upwards. 

“It’s kind of–” 

The pink-haired girl interrupted. “Stiff.” 

Ellis pursed his lips. Caitlyn looked at him, taking control of the situation. “What my partner meant to say was that, the dress is a bit restrictive. Maybe a slit down here would do? It’s kind of hard to sit or walk down the stairs.” 

Partner. Weird that Caitlyn still referred to the Zaunite urchin as their partner even outside work premises. Everyone knew they were, that was all there ever is in the news. 

“Very well madame, I’ll just take some measurements.” He got out the tape measure slung around his neck and bent down, measuring below her hip down to where the dress falls on the ground. He marked it with white chalk, where he will add the trimming. 

“Is there anything else I can do for you Miss Kiramman?” Ellis asked, as part of the usual protocol. 

Caitlyn’s eyes lit up. She turned to the other girl. “Can you do a quick fitting for a suit for my partner?” There was it again, the word partner. 

Vi violently shook her head. “Accompanying you here is one thing, getting Piltie clothing is another.” 

“C’mon. What will you wear to the banquet?” she said pointedly. 

“Uh…I have plenty of other clothes, thank you very much.” 

“No leather jackets or combat boots.” Caitlyn teased, an eyebrow shooting up. Ellis noticed up close that the sheriff had a gap tooth– it made her look less like the perfect Piltovian status symbol and more like a human being. 

Vi groaned. “The things I do for you.” 

“Another fitting?” Ellis repeated to the sheriff. 

She nodded. “Yes please.” 

/

Once the fitting was done, Ellis was glad to give the two some room. He felt uncomfortable, the feeling he got whenever he was stuck with his married friends. It was strange he got that feeling just then. 

He resigned behind his desk, marking in his notepad the right measurements so he could tailor the suit later. 

“You’re going to leave me alone, while you talk with your fellow high society people. That’s what.” said Vi’s voice, a little bit hurt by the sound of it. He didn’t think it possible the woman was capable of sounding anything but confident. 

“You know that’s not true. They just haven’t met you yet.” Caitlyn spoke in a familiar upper-class accent Ellis always heard around his shop. “We’re partners, remember?” 

Ellis got a suede meter of fabric, measured it and cut it with one swift move. Partners. This conversation did not make sense to him in the slightest. He was so out of the loop, he figures with what the youth are into. 

Soon enough, Caitlyn and Vi emerge from the fitting lounge back into their usual getup. Caitlyn was wearing a white blouse that went up to her neck, a sleeveless blue vest on top with gold trimmings – usual garb by the Kiramman family. 

“Shall I charge the bill of your friend’s attire to the council?” Society banquets are usually paid for by the budget allotted by the patrons. The Kiramman family has always been a generous patron to most of these events. Most of the attendees got their fittings at the shop, free-of-charge. 

“No, charge it under my name.” Caitlyn says. “This is a personal transaction.” 

Ellis raised an eyebrow. But he wrote the bill nonetheless. He ripped it off the pad and handed it over to the sheriff. 

The last thing he saw before the left the shop was Vi snaking her arm around Caitlyn’s waist. Ellis found himself staring until after the door had closed. 

Partners. 

God how dense was he? 

Marie, Wentworth hotel 

Marie usually lets the hotel staff do their thing, but Miss Kiramman was a VIP guest so she wanted to see to it that her stay was most welcome in her own facility. 

She got up to the tenth floor of the hotel where the executive suites were. She saw that there was no sign on the door signalling to staff that they were free to enter to change towels, serve amenities and what not. 

He heard the sound of the wind flapping the curtains, meaning the window was open. The worst case scenarios popped in her head. Breaking and entering in hotel rooms was not really unheard of in Piltover. She gently opened the door. 

The first thing she saw were clothes strewn everywhere, as if in a hurry. She saw that the sheets were all messy, pillows all over the ground. The window was open, the curtain blowing gently with the breeze. 

“My goodness!” Marie exclaimed in surprise. 

Suddenly, the indigo head of Caitlyn Kiramman emerged from the white sheets. Marie almost backed against the wall, she thought the room was empty. Caitlyn looked just as surprised to see her. She was wearing just a lace beige camisole so she pulled up the white sheets to her chest. Caitlyn was already pale, but she looked even paler in surprise. 

“Miss Kiramman, I’m so sorry. I thought there was something wrong. The window was open, there was no sign on your door. Heavens, I’m so sorry.” she spat out, her nerves getting to her. 

Caitlyn looked unnerved clearly, to be seen in such a messy habitat, and to be walked in on by a stranger. “Everything’s fine.” Even she wasn’t sure she believed it. 

“Can I get you anything to make your stay more welcome?” Marie offered in exasperation, her hand still at her chest. The embarrassment and secondhand embarrassment she felt for the sheriff wasn’t doing her nerves any favors. 

Her eyes could not meet the sheriff’s, so instead her eyes fell on dusty combat boots at the foot of the bed. She didn’t think Caitlyn’s feet were that big. If Marie dared to look closer, she would have seen red marks all across Caitlyn’s neck. 

“Just some breakfast. You can leave them outside the door.” 

Marie nodded. She stood there for a good second or two until it hit her that Caitlyn wants to be left alone. She bowed in apology for what seemed to be the nth time. “I’m sorry again, Miss Kiramman. Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay. Please just give us a ring for any further accommodations.” 

Marie left before Caitlyn let out an exhale and buried herself underneath the sheets, Vi asleep and curled on her stomach, sinewy arms wrapped around her waist. 

Boaster, Kiramman estate 

Boaster had been with the Kiramman family for a long time, having seen Caitlyn grow up from that girl always carrying her father’s rifle around her back, to being the actual Sheriff of Piltover. 

It was a post he was always proud of. The Kiramman family was very much like most Piltovan elite, but what set them apart was their generosity. Boaster would not have been able to send his two boys into academies if it weren’t for their goodwill for all his years of serving their estate. 

The family’s pride had also become his. Becoming the sheriff was no easy feat, and Caitlyn had moved out since she started being more serious with her work. However, sometimes she would have the occasional dinner at home or stay for a night or two especially if there was an important gala or banquet to attend.

Boaster will never forget the night he first saw Vi. 

He saw a figure just outside the gated estate. He approached with caution, it was not an everyday sight. When he got closer, he saw the pierced nose, tattoo under the eye, and the pink flash of hair. It was no one other than Caitlyn’s partner at work. 

“Miss Vi, what are you doing here?” He said as he approached. 

She had both hands on the gate’s bars, hands with knuckles caked in bruises. “Would you mind letting me in?” 

“Some late night work?” he assumed. 

She just nodded. He got the keys to the gate and opened them. “Would you want me to alert you to the miss–” 

“I’d prefer if you didn’t tell anyone actually.” she said assuredly. 

Boaster nodded and let her be. He was getting old anyway, he didn’t understand how younger kids worked much like his own boys. He watched as Vi made her way to the gardens and climbed up the balcony leading to Caitlyn’s window. He scoffed and shook his head laughing, heading to the guard post for some coffee. He had seen enough for that night. 

/

“Some urgent work again, Miss Vi?” he called out in one of the succeeding occasions she showed up outside the gates. It had become a matter of not if but when Vi would show up. 

“I guess you could say that.”

Other times, it involved just Vi handing over a box of cupcakes. Please leave this outside her door. Boaster always entertained her because he knew she was a good friend of Caitlyn’s. Any friend of the Kiramman’s was also his esteemed guest, as he always said. 

Boaster never really gave much thought to it. He was always a loyal part of the Kiramman household. Their business was none of his, it never was. But on one of the many times he and Vi shared some nights by the gate, he found himself commenting “She’s lucky to have you.” Whatever he meant, he just left it up to the air. 

“No I’m the luckiest fool in the world.” 

Cassandra Kiramman, Kiramman estate 

The first time Cassandra Kiramman set her eyes on Vi, she just thought that she would be just like every other friend Caitlyn had brought home during the years. The occasional sit-down dinner, then they were never to be seen again. Caitlyn always called them the same, my friend. 

Vi had been to the estate one time, and Mrs. Kiramman did not give it much further thought. She had plenty of other grievances in her heart, apart from work, there was her daughter’s pursuit of being an enforcer. 

She did not think of it seriously all those years ago when she had brought the idea up. She’s still young, she will outgrow it. It’s just a phase. To her actual surprise, Caitlyn did pursue the enforcer training until she eventually was one. No matter what stings she pulled, her daughter managed to find a way to be in the thick of every important investigation. She wanted to make her mark in the world, she knew. So to see her daughter rise to become Piltover’s Sheriff, Cassandra can admit to herself the pride that nests in the corners of her heart. Even if she will not say it out loud. 

With her daughter pouring most of her time into her work, moving out to be closer to the station, Cassandra could admit that she missed the times her daughter brought home different girls even if it led to nowhere. 

It was to her surprise when Caitlyn came home for dinner one evening, tagging along her work partner, Vi. 

“Mother, father, this is my partner , Vi.” He beamed a bit nervously, from the way her shoulders did a little jig, the same as her heels. There was something about the way she said partner that made Cassandra know this was different. “You’ve met before.” 

“Nice to meet you, Vi!” Tobias, her husband exclaimed, giving a warm handshake. 

“Vi, how could I forget?” she said, hand curtly in a handshake.

/

Cassandra was no stranger to restrain. Years in the council taught her as much. So she let her thoughts roam while she kept to herself that dinner time. 

She was very different from everyone else. Vi was a self-proclaimed street rat, and it showed in how she brought herself, the years in the streets carving itself deep through her, a visible chip on her shoulder. The gauntlets she wore on duty only served as a mask for the real threat that was in her pickled flesh of knuckles, wrapped in bandages. Her eyes darted to her daughter's hands, uncalloused, even after all her years of using her rifle. 

She had this confidence and assurance in her body language. There was pride. She came from the slums and that shaped who she was as a person– that was something to be proud of. Cassandra could tell there was merit there, people who lacked spine was something she absolutely despised. Even if Caitlyn and her had butted heads over her career choices, the girls she brought home, Cassandra could at least rest easy that her daughter had a will of her own. 

The way she ate dinner with the silverware was something she was still trying to get used to, mixing which fork was for which dish. She also had a habit of speaking even with her mouth full. 

She paid close attention to her daughter, who was seated next to her. The way Caitlyn beamed at her partner was more than just because they do good work at the station. 

Cassandra had heard people talk but didn’t give much thought to it. There was never really any secret between Caitlyn and her–that was just how Tobias and herself had raised their daughter. She will come to them when she is ready to formally introduce her to the family. 

Kiramman, there is talk in town about your daughter and that street urchin….

Aren’t you worried how that will reflect on the Kiramman name? She is still a Kiramman. 

It’s concerning the kind of crowd your daughter is seen at work with.

“My daughter is of age and capable of knowing what’s right and wrong for herself, her station, and her family.” was what she always said. But still, repeating this time and time again became a chore for Cassandra, so this night to settle it all was in a way, a big relief to her. 

/

After dinner when Tobias was about to show Vi some of his prized hunting gear in the drawing room, Cassandra saw Caitlyn approach her by the piano room. 

She was silent until her daughter spoke up. “So, you finally met Vi. Well, officially that is.” 

Cassandra turned and her daughter had that expectant look she was all too familiar with even if she had gotten better at hiding it. Suddenly, she was twelve as she held her marksman trophy and she was standing expectant of Cassandera, waiting for some form of validation. 

“You two have made quite the talk in town.” She said, facing away. Staring at the big glass doors that overlooked most of the upper-Piltover skyline. 

“Since when did you care about townspeak?” Cassandra was starting to sense her unease. 

She turned back to look at her daughter. “Caitlyn dear, you and I have never really seen eye to eye. About your shooting, your career path, your er–choices. But when has that ever stopped me from supporting you?” She set down her champagne glass on the table and took her daughter’s hand. 

Caitlyn looked lost. “I want you to like Vi.” 

“Oh she’s plenty likable I’m sure. I’m sure your father already has taken a liking to her.” Cassandra said, amused. 

Cassandra watched in horror as her daughter looked crest-fallen at her attempt at nonchalance. She was never really good at being straight with her emotions. She exhaled. She squeezed her daughter’s hand. “Cait, I can see why you like her. She’s just as good hearted as you are, I see that now. You are the Sheriff of Piltover, your right hand is born of Zaun. Even together, you two promise the peace between two cities. If you two can work out, so can Piltover and Zaun.” 

Her daughter’s blue eyes glazed with tears but she bit her lip back. She was really not one to show herself cry, amused at where her daughter got that habit from. 

“Thanks, mum.” 

“Don’t thank me, thank  your girlfriend.” she scoffed. 

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. Cassandra grinned. For all their differences, she would still never pass up to play that mom card every once in a while. 

 Phil, Potions and Perfumes, Zaun 

Phil had a slow evening in his shop, glass vials of different liquid potions and perfumes encased in wooden cabinets, giving it an eerie glow. 

The shop bell chimed before he saw who was at the door. He had to blink more than once to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. 

If it isn’t Vi herself in the shop. Everyone at Zaun knew who she was – a legend and prodigy. Unlike most Zaunites who got academy scholarships to become professionals in Piltover, there was a different kind of pride for Vi. She was never disconnected from the undercity, it ran in her veins, and she still knew some people by name. 

Yet here she was in Phil’s humble shop, in her red jacket, combat boots, just missing her giant hextech gauntlets. She took a quick look around before approaching Phil at the counter. 

“How may I help you, Vi?” 

She smiled at the recognition, as it quickly faded from her face. She never revelled in glory, which is what Phil liked about her. She always meant business, just like the sheriff. “Do you happen to still make perfumes? They say you’re the best around here.” 

He nodded. “‘Course I do. Can whip you up a custom one, if you’d like.” 

She came all the way down to Zaun to get perfume. There were dozens of reputable perfumeries in fancy Piltover, but somehow she was at Phil’s. 

Phil realized it was almost Valentine’s. “So you can describe the special guy, and I can work from there.” 

Vi froze. “Er– girl.” 

Phil’s mouth turned into an ‘o’ shape. “My bad, tell me what she’s like then.” 

Vi clasped her fingers together against the counter. She was looking somewhere down, but her mind was far away, searching. 

“Well for starters, she’s sweet.” Vi said, smiling. “She’s smart, incredibly smart than anyone gives her credit for. She’s steadfast but not overbearing. She can be a little clueless sometimes, she has those moments. Like being in a pub and not understanding all the little bar jokes going on.” There was a chuckle from the enforcer as she recalled. 

Phil let her ramble on as he wrote down keywords from what she was saying. This was how he devised the perfect scent. 

“She's really into her work like really. She actually forgets to sleep sometimes or eat her food because she thinks there’s no tomorrow unless she finishes her job. She’s a by-the-rulebook kind of girl, but she knows when to hold her ground and break the rules when needed.”

“She’s not the overly touchy kind of person, I think she gets it for her mom. But she really tries. She has this knack for remembering tiny details you mention in passing and you have no idea anyone would remember. She’s always so thoughtful.” 

“She’s a dork…but she’s my kind of dork. She makes everything about her so endearing.” 

Phil nodded as he scribbled. Dorky, endearing. 

“She’s from this rich family but she never cared about any of that – fame, fortune, glory. She’s incredibly down-to-earth. She can look at you, the lowliest of Zaunites you may be, and she does not see you for what you are but who you are.” 

Phil looked up, dots starting to connect in his head. It must’ve shown in his face because suddenly Vi’s cheeks grew to the same color as her hair. 

“I think I got it.” He said, to relieve her of that embarrassment. 

He went up to his workstation and started tinkering with the different glass vials. Dropper here. Add some more of this substance there. He let his hands work the magic, almost 20 years doing potions and perfume does this to someone. 

When he was done, he presented a glass bottle to Vi, with a corkscrew cap. 

Vi was about to take out some coins from her pocket when Phil waved a hand. “This one’s on the house. Thank you for everything you and the sheriff have done for Zaun. We don’t forget over here.” 

Phil just saw her up close for the first time now, but he knew that statement hit her deep. The cool collected air she had turned rigid as she forced a swallow. She held the perfume in her hand. 

“You tell the sheriff I say thank you too. And I hope she likes it.” 

Chapter Text

Bryce Longbarrow, The Piltover Gazette 

Just yesterday at 18:00, Piltover's Finest, led by Sheriff Caitlyn Kiramman, was able to apprehend yet another crime syndicate operating around Zaun and reaching the streets of Piltover. 

Star enforcer Vi was first on the scene ready to take down the armed members of the syndicate. She was soon followed by the rest of PIltover’s force. 

The Lu Tang Syndicate has been known for its notoriety dealing with the chemtech drug gaining quick popularity for the past few months, Varum. Given an anonymous tip, after months of thorough investigation on the case, the Lu Tang Syndicate was taken down alongside its leader Lai. The building where key members of the syndicate were located also housed fifty gallons of Varum shipment. The illicit property is safely confiscated by the enforcers for proper disposal. 

As of today, this marks the sixth successful gang bust of the Piltover Enforcers under Sheriff Kiramman together with right-hand enforcer Vi. Since her induction a year and a half ago, Sheriff Kiramman has pledged to rid the cities of Piltover and Zaun of its corruption, choosing to protect its citizens above all else. 

Tabitha, The Daily Piltovan 

Tabitha fixes the rumple on her magenta blouse. She had to look presentable. She was meeting the sheriff after all.

How she got this interview was not simple –she had to make the use of her connections in the industry. If it were anyone else, she could have gotten it in less than a day. But Kiramman meant no funny business, and she had to respect that. She could not resort to bribery that would cost her this audience. 

She was led by a clerk past the maze of cubicles to the private office areas. She stopped at the door with the name C. Kiramman engraved in a plaque. The clerk opened the door and Tabitha saw the golden girl herself. 

Her countenance reeked of Piltovan aristocracy – back arched straight, grace in every move. The only difference was instead of any haute couture, she was dressed in the enforcer’s garb –leather sleeves, white and blue dress, leather pants, leather gloves. Up close, Tabitha saw that while she did have her mother’s aura, she looked closer to her father with the indigo hair and narrow eyes. 

“Tabitha Grace, from The Daily Piltovan.” She reached out her hand for a shake. The sheriff took it before gesturing her to take a seat. The sheriff sat down as if it were tea time. 

Tabitha was not prepared for her first words to be, “You’re not exactly Piltover Gazette so what brings you here?” She had hoped that would not come up so quickly in the conversation. She was a journalist yes, but for a gossip column. Still, The Daily Piltovan was the biggest tabloid and most of the others just followed suit. 

“Sheriff, the townspeople have been talking all about it. From Piltover to Zaun. I wanted to do a feature on you and Vi. How you two met. Your dynamic, what makes you two work together. The people would love it.” There. She had laid all her cards already, hoping for a bite. Her heart beat faster when she saw how methodical the sheriff was taking this all in. 

“Tabitha, is it? I know our work here has caused excitement of a different er–sort. But I am a public figure first and foremost. My mother is a councilwoman, I am head of the force. I don’t think it is befitting my station to be featured in a gossip column with all due respect.” 

Tabitha got stuck in her tongue. Her eloquence really made one conscious of oneself. 

When Tabitha finally got the courage to speak again, she continued. “Sheriff, I understand the hesitation. But our other competitors, even our own contributors have been writing whatever they want or speculate about the two of you. Don’t you think releasing a public statement would set the record straight once and for all?” 

Caitlyn Kiramman locked her gaze somewhere far away, in thought. Almost have her now. 

The sheriff stood up, placed her leather clad fingers down on the table. “For the record, I only mean business seated as the Sheriff of Piltover. Vi is my right hand enforcer. It is our duty to help rid the city of crime, corruption, and clean it from the inside and out. Nothing more.” 

She took a few steps until she was now in front of Tabitha, leaning against her table. “Off the record, whatever it is in our private lives is none of anyone’s business as far as I’m concerned.” 

Tabitha was thunderstruck. “B-but the tabloids, they will say whatever. Does that not bother you?” 

“I only concern myself with facts and truths. I could point you to Piltovan Edict 16– each person has a right to their own truth. You’re familiar with that right, Tabitha?” She had her finger under her chin in thought. She’s enjoying putting me in my place. 

Tabitha straightened as she got it. “I know the law, sheriff. If that’s what you say, then I best be on my way then.” 

She stormed away just before she could see the triumphant look on the sheriff’s face. 

/

Partners with benefits? By Tabitha Grace 

The success of Sheriff Kiramman and her second-in-command Vi has left a lot of Piltovans guessing of the nature of their relationship. While the sheriff says that their nature is strictly professional, body language experts disagree otherwise. “Sheriff always keeps a closed body language to express dominance in her stature, but whenever she’s photographed next to Enforcer Vi on the field, you can see a shift in the body language–it’s more open.” 

“It’s of pure trust. You can tell that they rely on each other a lot, and while both are independent, they complement each other perfectly well. Their birthdays align and on paper, make them the perfect complements to each other.” Says a local astrology expert. 

Even with living under the fame of her family, Caitlyn has never been caught with any previous fling or relationship before. She has always been mum about her personal life, the bona-fide workaholic that she is. As for the Zaunite brawler-turned-enforcer, Vi has been rumored to be spotted with other women around bars. It would not be so far fetched to imagine her with the sheriff, given their already established dynamic. 

The two have been rumored to be seen hanging out after work around different bars in downtown Piltover. Are they just good friends, or is there something more, simmering under the surface? 

How did the two meet? Was it during one of those Zaun busts that they met? Rumor has it that the two had known each other longer than when they first became work partners. 

One this is for certain, Piltovans and Zaunites can rest easy that the streets are rid of crime. But until the people find out the true nature of the Piltover’s Finest relationship, can citizens truly rest easy? 

Tobias Kiramman, Kiramman estate 

Tobias hadn’t seen his daughter in months, the last being the second time she brought Vi to their home for dinner. He wasn’t one to worry–he knows his daughter is a tough cookie. She takes after his wife after all. But on the weekend trip he convinced her to go, he could tell something was clearly bothering her. 

He took her to the countryside, where they always do their target shooting. It was the same old field with the wooden targets plotted in different ranges. He figured it must have been a long time since she was able to do her hobby. 

When Caitlyn got to the center, rifle hooked under her arm, her cheek against the wood, she started firing. Tobias stood back, rifle in hand as he watched his daughter nail all the targets in the head. By the time he hit the timer, he saw that she had beaten her old record. 

A smile was plastered on his face, anticipating her daughter’s smile. But when she turned around, she looked just as serious as she was whenever she was doing work. “That was your best one yet, you never lost touch dear.” 

“Could have done better.” She exhaled as she slung the rifle across her back, eyes locked somewherein the distance. 

“Something bothering you, dear?” He put a hand on her shoulder. He knew that if anyone could talk her out of it, it would be him. His wife could be a little prickly in these scenarios. 

“Just a lot going on at work, the latest threats of a bank attack had everyone on edge. I was supposed to work all weekend but I guess, a little rest couldn’t hurt.” She admitted.

Tobias was not privy to gossip but it was impossible now at least, not to have heard of all the rumors surrounding her daughter and her work and real life partner. The moment word-of-mouth became talk of the tabloids was something else, if anything all his years in the city taught Tobias. 

“If it’s about the rumors—” 

“It’s not the rumors.” she snapped a little too quickly. She must have realized she sounded too harsh. She turned quickly, head tilted like she always did as a kid. “Your turn?” 

/

When they returned from the Saturday countryside trip. They were surprised to see Vi waiting at the estate next to Cassandra. He could admit it could take some getting used to. That day, she wore a gray tank top that showed the work she put on her arms.

The surprise on her daughter’s face was priceless. 

Tobias did not fail to notice that Caitlyn latched on to the hug with Vi a little tighter than usual. 

At night after they had a hearty dinner, Tobias walked down the stairs to get another glass of milk. He was so used to navigating the manor in the dark that he did not need to turn on any light. When he passed the drawing room, he realized that it was inhabited. 

He walked slowly, barefoot next to the nearest wall. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Vi asked, without her usual bravado. 

“Are you bothered by all the town talk, the tabloids?” Caitlyn’s voice was barely a croak. 

“Me? No pshhh. If you grow up in the streets of Zaun and you’re worried about something as superficial as what people think about you, you wouldn’t survive a single day. I promise you that.”  

“I know I shouldn’t be, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I just want to do my job, and they think the most interesting part about all of this is the reflection of us together.” 

“People can be dumb sometimes, focus on the wrong thing. It’s normal to feel the way you are. I wish I could help you forget about that.” There was tenderness in Vi’s voice, the first time Tobias heard such a thing from the enforcer. 

“The scary part about it is how much they can read into me, every single move. Being a public figure is so scary, so suffocating. Now it makes sense why mum's the way she is.” Tobias almost chuckled to himself at the comment, but kept quiet. 

“I know it can be daunting, and you’re carrying way too much on your shoulders. But what they see, what they speculate are just shades of us. Nobody knows the real you or me. That’s only our story to tell.” 

Tobias smiled at that and silently, just like he came, left to go back into the master bedroom. 

Cassandra stirred, pushed up her sleeping mask. “Oh it’s just you, dear.” She lay back down. 

He set the glass on the side table as he tucked himself on his side of the bed. “Thank you for inviting Vi over here. Cait really needed it.” 

His wife turned to her side, before sitting up with a contorted face. “Dear, do you think we should pay The Daily Piltovan? Maybe to stop with all the gossip?” 

Tobias chuckled. So this is what’s on her mind. 

He patted her hand. “No dearest, I think they can handle it.” 

“You sure?” 

He thought of all the strings his wife pulled to keep their daughter sheltered all her life, from her enforcer training, to the places she went to. She was her own woman now, he could see that. And now, he and Cassandra are not the only support system she has. Overhearing their conversation earlier was all the affirmation Tobias needed. 

“Positive.” He assured her with a kiss. 

…

Bryce Longbarrow, The Piltover Gazette

Sheriff Caitlyn Kiramman vaguely addressed the swirling rumors about her private life as well as Vi's employment in a recent interview. “It is my duty to protect Piltover’s citizens and it’s a duty I take with full responsibility and seriousness. Only I know the sacrifices and costs of keeping the peace. It’s natural people have their own speculations, but as long as no one’s character is being trampled upon, and that the job is done at the end of the day, it’s all just talk really.” 

This has not been the only rumor around town. Lots of instances of fake news such as false attacks on certain banks have been going around. Piltover Enforcers also mentioned in the statement just this morning that there are groups and individuals who resort to “fear mongering tactics to keep people distracted and advise citizens to remain vigilant at all times.”

“Public safety is our number one priority always. Rest assured, the Piltover Enforcers will be on a closer lookout for any incidents. We encourage citizens to report any suspicious behavior so we can get on the case immediately,” Sheriff Kiramman states. 

Candece, Canyon Events Hall

She scribbled on her clipboard. She readjusted the glasses on the bridge of her nose. More flowers, less carpets. 

Managing the event's banquet meant interacting with the throngs of society’s elite. For Candece, the upper echelon of Piltover’s aristocracy was all the same to her –they were her frequent clients but she neither found any of them particularly interesting or worth her time. 

She watched as the indigo-haired sheriff paced back and forth the empty event banquet hall. Candece could admit to herself that Sheriff Kiramman was different, maybe the only intriguing person among them all. Born to the biggest names, she could have gone out to society when she turned sixteen. Instead, it was to everyone’s shock that the girl had chosen to train as an enforcer. Give or take a few years when everyone didn’t give it much thought, she rose to be the city’s sheriff. Word was that she was different, a champion to the masses, the Zaunites, and on a one-track mission to rid the corruption from the city. Goodluck, this is why I don’t mess with politics. In other words, unconventional was what Caitlyn Kiramman was. 

First thing Candece noticed about her was that she was tall–taller than she appeared. She seemed to be in thought, imagining what the place would look like for the banquet the council is hosting to honor efforts done by Piltover’s Finest. 

The way the blue enforcer uniform fitted her slender body was something Candece definitely noticed. She made the uniform look like it was some designer outfit, with the way she carried herself. This is what they mean by Piltover’s Finest, huh? 

If Kiramman wasn’t the sheriff nor part of the elite, Cadence could admit that she would flirt with a girl like her. Maybe after a drink or two if they were both in the bars around town. Sadly, thoughts like that are but passing. 

“Don’t make it too–fancy.” she exhaled. “It would not sit well that we’re all about cleaning the city and this banquet becomes too extravagant. Just the barest things needed.”

Classic of a sheriff to say this. Candece nodded and underlined the word simple in her notepad. 

/

The day before the banquet, Candece was seeing to it that the tapestries, the tables, and chairs were all in order. She directed the flowers to be arranged in the specifications Sheriff Kiramman had discussed with her previously. 

When she retired to her office in the back of the hall, she was surprised to see a pink note slipped under her mug. How did this get in here? 

The letterhead was palpable – Tabitha. 

/

Banquet day. 

Candece could ignore the politics of the event because all banquets were the same – feasts, music, society. She put on a sequined pastel blouse and a pinstripe skirt. She must not upstage the rest of the guests and she was glad to do nothing more than disappear. 

Waiters in white carrying trays of food, a bunch of upper society Piltovans, string music played by the violinists. Everything was as planned. Press photos were allowed in the entrance of the event hall, eager to capture the best of the dressed elite for the fashion columns. 

She greeted everyone she managed to pass with an orchestrated smile. There was only one thing she wanted to see. 

She waded around the place until she stood by the corner pillar. Her eyes fell on one table where chandelier light cascaded on indigo hair. She saw Sheriff Kiramman, but this time trading her uniform for a strapless midnight blue gown that seemed to house the skies of the galaxy. She was having a private conversation with officer Vi herself, dressed in a black suit, looking out of her depth on this occasion. 

Candece casually made her way through the different tables and approached them. 

Vi noticed her first, giving her a heavy gaze. Cadence cleared her throat. “Sheriff, officer, can I help you with anything more? How are you finding the event so far?” 

While her body language showed that the sheriff was used to events like this, she seemed to have the same unease as her work partner. Was it because Vi wasn’t feeling it? 

“It’s great Candece. Would you have somewhere a bit more secluded here? Need to clear my head.” It seemed like an imposition, but the way the sheriff delivered made it seem otherwise. Normally Candece never obliged, but she will have to make an exception. 

“Go down the back hall, there’s some spare rooms. Normally they’re not part of the package but for you, sheriff, go ahead.” 

Candece watched as the two disappeared in the crowd down the back hall just like she’d instructed. This was the perfect setup. 

Cadence waited twenty clock ticks. That was enough of a head start. She walked the same back hallway. She heard murmurs in one of the last doors. Candece opened the adjacent room next to it. It was dark, white sheets draped over the upholsteries, but she paid no mind and made her way to the bookshelf. Almanac, dictionary, encyclopedia. She pulled the bound animal encyclopedia volume, revealing a hatch in the wooden panel of the bookshelf. She carefully slid the hatch revealing a fish-eye peephole, fashioned much like hotel doors. 

True, she never cared for politics. But this wasn’t the first time she meddled into private affairs in exchange for favors. 

Through the peephole, she could see the two ladies, sitting next to each other on the upholstered couch. 

“I guess the world really melts away when it's just us two.” Vi sighed.

“I’ve always hated these occasions. Ever since I got into rifling, my mum and I butt heads because I’d rather be out there in target practice, shooting until my hands get sore, than wear pretty clothes and socialize.” Candece realized the sheriff’s voice could be light, without that authoritativeness if she wanted to. She almost sounded like a real person, not some figurehead. 

“You think anyone will be wondering where we are now?” Vi was amused at the prospect. 

“Whether we disappear together or not, the gossip writes itself.”

“I can’t believe I’m here attending stuff like this. Stuff I used to only laugh about growing up. Underneath all the fanciness, it does feel nice, with the most beautiful girl next to you.” 

Candece felt herself go hot, she couldn’t see Caitlyn’s face clearly but she knew she must be blushing.

“It’s all fanciness, there’s really nothing to it that’s why it gets tiring after a while.” Candece saw Caitlyn scoot closer to Vi, their foreheads touching. “How lucky am I to have found someone so real .” 

Candece pried herself free from the peep hole. 

It was real all along? And the sheriff is into women? Well shit. Town talk was beneath the entertainment she sought. But seeing how intimate the two were struck a hidden chord somewhere inside Candece. It almost unnerved her. 

She quickly put back the encyclopedia, falling into place on the bookshelf like nothing happened. She exited the room and made her way back to her office. 

Tabitha’s pink note is still open at her desk. Mind a favor, Candece? Two little birds tell me that Sheriff Kiramman and Officer Vi are attending the banquet. Any information you can provide The Daily Piltovan would be much appreciated. 

She never had attachment or sentimentality get in the way of her eavesdropping efforts. But this just felt wrong. 

Sheriff Kiamman was a respectable person, she earned that with her actions surely. She was not like all the other stuck up Piltovans. She was a real person underneath, Candece could see it now. Whatever relationship the two had, Candece knew something like that should be protected at all costs. Being outed was something she knew all too well. If she was in their shoes, she would wish the same. 

She downed the stale wine left on her desk. She crumpled the pink note and threw it down the bin. 

Fuck you, Tabitha. 

Michelle DuPoint, Piltover Style

Last Thursday, the council hosted a charity banquet in support of Piltover’s Enforcers in apprehending many of the gangs and syndicates all over Piltover and Zaun. The proceeds of the event would go to the city’s efforts in rehabilitating families affected by the syndicate operations in Zaun. 

Piltover’s Finest and most elite have all made appearances, looking dapper and gorgeous in the white tie event. All eyes are on the golden girl of the evening, Piltover’s Sheriff Kiramman, dressed in another Black and Gold Haute Couture piece–  a midnight blue strapless satin gown that accentuated her indigo hair, styled in an updo. 

[...]

Arriving separately is Vi, looking dapper also in a custom Black and Gold fit. Both Vi and Caitlyn were sporting Mason Jewelry’s latest Limited Spring Collection - a matching sapphire set. Certainly a statement piece for Piltover’s favorite duo, who were turning heads whenever they were spotted together. 

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Jensen, Piltover Station

Jensen found himself taking the night shift more frequently. 

It was a personal choice, he preferred the peace and quiet this shift had to offer. He only had to deal with the bustle of the station in the late afternoon, then the night was his. Only a few enforcers would remain in the office during those times, one of them being the sheriff herself. Her work ethic was really unmatched. 

Other officials usually brought their vehicles to work, but not Sheriff Kiramman. He thought her walking the streets alone was still a scary thing. Piltover was no Zaun, but he could imagine the kinds of people she would butt heads with in her mission of cleaning the city. She’s a high profile target and everybody knows it. 

Jensen tried to be of service at times. That night, he peeped by her open office door. “Hey sheriff, would you want me to help escort you home?” Her apartment was in the richer side of town, but a slight detour wouldn’t hurt. 

She looked touched by the gesture with the way her eyes widened. “That’s nice of you, Jensen. I’ll manage. I always do.” 

“You take care of yourself, ma’am.” 

“Always do.” She waved him off, as she signed some papers. 

Jensen took off his enforcer hat, placing it in his cubicle, before leaving. 

He took the back exit, and was surprised to see Officer Vi, leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. “Oh, you’re still here.” 

Odd. Vi was always punctual and timed off work as soon as her shift was over. 

She just gave him a nod as she puffed the smoke. True, Jensen never thought Vi would work well with the team but with the success rate the enforcers have found, she had become such an invaluable asset. He can see why she became the sheriff’s right-hand woman. 

Still something in her intimidated him. He bid goodbye and walked away. 

As he was about to cross the block that led to his apartment, he cursed and realized he had left his wallet at the station. He hurriedly brisked through the streets towards the station. Just as he was about to cross the street, he saw the Sheriff leave the back door together with Vi, who waited for her. Together, they walked away from the station and disappeared by the curb. 

He shook his head in disbelief. So that’s how she gets home. 

Igor, Unmarked Zaun basement 

“What do you mean you can’t do it?” Igor slammed his fist on the table, sending the two empty beer glasses in a jiggle. This was the start of what was a bad day for him. 

In front of him was the shaking informant he had ordered to tail Sheriff Kiramman in Piltover. The cleanup has been hurting his laundering business, and it was only a matter of time until she starts pointing her nose down at folks like Igor. It was only natural he had to protect his interests. 

“You’re a surveillance business aren’t you?” He bellowed, impatient at the incompetence. Did this guy know who he was? If most of his friends get topped down, he soon would be one of the richest men in Zaun. 

“Igor, I had my men follow the path of Sheriff Kiramman, where she goes home at night. From your intelligence right that she takes night shifts a lot. I sent three men. Only two had returned, one had his body nearly shattered, the other said he didn't want to work with me anymore.” The informant explained. 

“What? How is this happening?” 

“It’s her , the brawler with the gauntlets. She sniffed the trail, I didn’t think she would know. But somehow she did.” The man was trying to rub his hands off the mess. Igor had seen this one too many times. “This wasn’t part of the intelligence you provided me.” 

Igor angrily dismissed the man and said no more about the payment matters. He would not pay unless there were results. Word on the street just talked about their unlikely tandem and how it was so effective at enforcer work. Igor had no idea this involved even affairs outside work. 

Henchmen were getting hard to come by in the current climate– word was also that Stillwater was getting packed. Igor did not want to risk anything with what the informant had told him. He knocked one of the beer glasses over the table, shattering upon impact. 

It was a bad day indeed. 

James, Piltover Apothecary 

“Bandages please.” 

James looked up, adjusting his pince nez glasses. A slim figure made her way into the shop. James recognized her immediately, Piltover’s Sheriff. She was still wearing her work uniform despite it being past work hours –he figured she must be on the way home. She set down her top hat on the glass counter. 

“What kind, dear?”

“Umm, er– what do you have?” Seeing her be unsure was interesting for James to see. News always showed her to be so self assured. 

He took out a brown box from the bottom shelf, he set it on the table on the glass table next to her top hat. In it were gauze and cotton bandages of different gauges and sizes. 

“Do you mind if I–” she gestured to them. 

He waved a hand. “Go ahead, dear.” 

She carefully unbuckled the straps in her brown leather gloves, slid them off, and ran her hands through the different bandages, getting a feel for each in her hands. There was something delicate in the way she did it, the way she knew them by feel and not by name. 

She eventually settled on one roll and handed it over to James. “I’ll take a box of these, please.” 

He packed the rest of the bandages in a small box and wrapped it in string. The sheriff put back on her leather gloves with grace only learned if you were born into families like the Kirammans. She paid him back and prepared to leave, putting back on her top hat. 

“Someone you know get into a brawl?'' He asked. He knew it wasn't in his station to ask but she seemed nice. 

She stopped in her tracks, pondering the statement. “Kind of.” 

James nodded, clearly satisfied with his attempts at cordial small talk. “Well you take care of them, those bandages would do the trick.”

She flashed a smile. “Will do. Have a nice day!” 

James could imagine Sheriff Kiramman fixing up her partner’s hands after a hard day of using her gauntlets. He shook his head to erase the thought. What am I smoking? Those two must be good friends. 

Amir, Firelight sanctuary, Zaun

Amir gathered the piles of discarded newspapers in his hands.

They were a mixture of news last week up to the previous day. It was easy enough to gather them as they were mostly scattered all around Zaun. The excess from the wet market dealers, paper people just forgot to dispose of properly. One man’s trash was another person’s treasure after all. 

He had enough in his rucksack and he made his way to their secret sanctuary, a place home to Amir and a bunch of his friends for the past few years. The greenery, the clean air, and the relaxing view of the giant tree all made up for his scavenging in Zaun. 

He got to the boss’ office, gave it three knocks and entered inside. 

He was greeted by papers scattered on the table, a board with Zaun’s map drawn, profiles of crime lords tacked against the wood. His boss had his back facing him as he studied the wall. 

“Got you some papers, boss.” Amir set them down from his rucksack in a neat stack at the edge of the table. 

Ekko turned around, fingers scanning through the newspaper pages. He stopped at one page and brought the paper close to his face. “This is good, Amir,” his voice was silky smooth. 

He cut out one section of the paper and tacked it against another wall. Amir recognized this one– this was all the effort of Piltover’s Enforcers. Ekko had been taking note of every successful bust that Vi was part of. 

Amir wasn’t there from the start, but he knew Ekko and Vi went way back. 

“I hear the last bust was successful.” he piped in, eager to be of any help. 

Ekko nodded, staring at the conglomerate of overlapping articles. “They’re doing pretty good up there. We’re doing our best tying up loose ends down here.” 

“Do you miss your friend, boss?” Amir didn’t know if he overstepped, but Ekko was always easy to talk to. 

“It’s been a while. But something tells me she’s doing pretty okay over there.” 

/

Amir was up late one night fixing one of the hoverboards docked in their sanctuary when he saw a hooded figure enter from their entrance and crept towards the treehouse. 

He silently set down his wrench and tailed the stranger. This was supposed to be a safehouse, no strangers knew how to get here. 

The stranger made their way up to Ekko’s office. Amir was supposed to run after them when Ekko himself opened the door facing the stranger. He froze. “Vi?” 

Amir watched from the window outside his boss’ office. The light flipped on and the hooded figure took out her hood, showing pink hair underneath. It really was her. Amir had never seen her up close, and without the gauntlets and enforcer gear, she looked different. She looked just like anybody in Zaun. 

The floorboard outside the office creaked underneath Amir’s foot. Ekko shot a look until he recognized him. He motioned for Amir to join him.

“Amir, this is Vi. Realized you two haven’t formally met.” Ekko beamed with pride at the introduction with his old friend. 

Vi smiled and gave Amir a strong handshake. Pretty soon, the two got into conversation as if Amir wasn’t there –which he didn’t mind. He wanted to know more about his boss’ friends. 

“This place just keeps getting better.” 

“What brings you here?” Ekko asked, leaning back against his table. 

“I figured why not drop by and see an old friend?” 

“You’re enjoying being a Piltie aren’t you?” Ekko smirked, almost teasing. “I mean your own place, the food, the freedom… her.” 

Amir didn’t know Vi well but he realized she grew a bit pink just for a split second. “You know you can take a girl from the undercity but you can't take the undercity away from the girl.” 

Ekko hung his head back. “Yeah, I get that.” He then gestured to the board where he kept most of Vi’s clippings. “Did you know that most Pilties care about what you and your sheriff got going more than the actual job you’re doing? In Zaun, you guys are heroes. Up there, it’s all tabloid gossip.” 

Amir could see frustration in the way she leaned against the wall.  “Maybe that’s why I do go back down here from time to time. There’s so much about appearances there. You know me, all about keeping it real.” 

“But your girlfriend? I was wrong about her before. She’s not like the rest of the topsiders.”

Vi’s eyes sparkled at the mention. “Is that what they call us down here?” 

Ekko shrugged. “You can be whoever you want down here.” 

Quill, Brewing Bobs

Brewing Bobs was a shabby pub in the heart of Zaun. People of all sorts visit this kind of place except Pilties. Kinky folks, drunkards, exhibitionists, vagrants. Nothing would surprise Quill anymore in all his years of serving drinks at the bar below. He has also heard some nasty stuff with the rooms for rent on the second floor, nothing is too far fetched in these four walls. But the joke was for anyone who visited Brewing Bobs, it was the safest place if you wanted to keep a secret. Mistresses were commonplace. 

It was a typical night, the pub was packed with people sloshing beer mugs, customers chanting whatever comes to their mind. 

Quill noticed a pair that wasn’t there awhile ago, sitting at the far end of the bar counter. He did a double take because the pink hair was enough to give it away. It was enforcer Vi. She had her back towards Quill, but it was unmistakably her, undercut, bomber jacket with rolled up sleeves showing off black tattoos that ran behind her arms. Next to her was a girl, Quill immediately knew she was from that brothel – donning usual Zaunite wear, but wearing a half-animal fox mask covering most of her face but her mouth. 

So that’s where she goes. Quill got the menu card and walked his way to that side of the counter. He placed it on the counter between the two women. Up close the other lady had dark hair, hidden under a hood. The pair seemed to be getting warmed up, by the way her hands were already in Vi’s arms. 

“Anything I can get for ya?”

Vi turned to Quill without so much as glancing at the menu. “We’ll have two firebombs.” 

Quill nodded and got to work behind the counter. So all the sheriff and Vi rumors have been all talk. Well that was one hell of a PR stunt to get the whole town talking. So that rumor was true then that Vi is very much just floundering around and picking up ladies left and right in her spare time. It was so silly to even think Vi and the Kiramman girl could work out, they were just too different. 

When Quill readied the drinks in his small tray, he walked up to the two women getting it on. The masked lady sitting on Vi’s lap, arms around her neck, making out with the mask on. He awkwardly put the two drinks in front and left the two to get back to his station. 

There were dozens of other customer’s drinks to attend to that night so Quill lost track of the enforcer and her companion. When the crowd thinned a bit, as it did past midnight, he saw the pair, shoulder to shoulder, Vi playing with their intertwined fingers. Might as well offer the rooms. 

He walked up towards them. “We still have vacant rooms upstairs. Maybe you’d like ‘em.” 

Vi did not peel her eyes off the other girl’s. The intensity almost made Quill look away. Then in one quick motion she shrugged and stood up. “Sure.” 

/

“Shit.” Quill fumbled with the ring keys in his hands. Ever since he got them duplicated, he couldn’t seem to find the right one for Room 4. And his guests were getting impatient. 

In his peripheral vision, he saw the masked lady grow frustrated and grab Vi’s shirt collar to press her lips and thrust her hip against hers. 

“Easy cupcake,” Vi chuckled as she teasingly pushed her back. She was not yet giving in. “Any second now.” 

Quill smiled through gritted teeth. The key jammed against the door, but would not open. He tried another. 

“C’mon, please.” the masked lady begged. 

Vi was clearly having fun witnessing this. “Let’s cut Quill here some slack, it’s been a rough night.” If the pressure wasn’t on, Quill was racking his brain to open the door to finally let the two ladies get a room.

“You’re hot when you’re all flustered like this.” Vi teased. The masked lady slapped her forearm in response. “See what I mean!” 

In his tenth attempt, the key finally gave way to an open door. The room opened to a musty air but then again, everything was here in Brewing Bobs. It was simple, a double bed, clean sheets and a small night stand. When he stepped through to let them in, the masked girl quickly dragged Vi straight to bed before Quill could react. They both had enough to drink but the masked girl clearly was intoxicated from the way she moved, sliding underneath Vi without hesitation, her arms finding her way – one on the enforcer’s neck, the other around her back, like a puzzle fitting together. They had done this dance before. 

How quickly they forgot someone was still there. Quill cleared his throat. Vi froze. The interruption gave way to the lady's mask sliding off her face, sweaty indigo hair that clung to the sides of her face, almond blue eyes, and pointy nose. For a second, Quill thought she looked a bit like the sheriff. Vi’s clearly got a type then. 

Vi turned to look at him, realizing he was still there. 

“Bar is open until 3 AM, we start serving breakfast at 6, just drop by downstairs if you need anythin’.” 

Vi nodded and waved her arm away. He could finally give them some room. He wasted no time in leaving the two, with the door locked as it always is in Brewing Bobs. 

/

During 6 AM sharp a figure emerged from upstairs and sat at the bar counter. 

Quill recognized it as the masked lady, now unmasked. Her dark hair was messily tied in a loose ponytail, looking sparsely dressed compared to how she was the previous night. 

She gave a quick smile. “Waffles and eggs, two plates please.” 

Quill nodded and started cracking some eggs by the iron stovetop. 

He hadn’t seen her before around here but she was a familiar friend of Vi’s. “You from that brothel?” he struck up a conversation. 

She smiled curtly and nodded. 

“So you’re who officer Vi’s seein’ eh?” He tried to sound as friendly as he possibly could. 

She shrugged. “Guess you could say that. She’s– all around.” Quill could not pinpoint her accent. It was not Piltovan but certainly not local, like a badly done Zaunite impression. 

“What you make of Vi and that Piltie Sheriff?” 

The girl chuckled, revealing a gap tooth. She wasn’t textbook beautiful, but there was something about her odd mix of features that made her still look pretty in her own way–almost Ionian even. She had this rough around the edges kind of look that was common to see around Zaun. 

“Well they make a great team.” was all she said. 

“People who like ‘em together, will be heartbroken once they know the truth.” Quill said as he finished frying the eggs, sliding them, grease and all, into two plates. 

He served up two waffles from the old machine and piled them beside the eggs and handed the plates to the girl. She stood up, plates in hand when Quill asked her one last thing.

“Hold on missus, what’s yer name?” 

She said with that gap-toothed grin, “Matilda.” 

Tabitha, The Daily Piltovan

There has been word around that Vi is a regular at certain brothels in Zaun. How is tight-lipped Sheriff Kiramman going to handle this new claim? 

Sheriff Kiramman was reportedly with her father at their countryside home for the past few weekends. Is she just shooting or is there something more between the lines? 

The pair looked great spotted together at the charity banquet earlier this month even with the little photos that they were spotted together in. Our body language expert says “These are two people who are used to how to present themselves in a public setting. What you see isn’t always what you get.” What is appearance and what is reality? 

Catch us next week for the next talk of the town topic! 

Gilda, Piltover Station

“She will be back at 3 PM after the council audience.” Gilda said as she stopped by Vi’s desk. 

Vi looked bored to death, staring at paperwork. Gilda had been at the station long enough to know that Vi loathed paperwork and would love nothing more than field work. 

The announcement from Gilda rekindled fire in the pink-haired enforcer’s eyes. Her first good news for the day. Suddenly desk work wasn’t so boring.  “Thank you, Gilds. You’re the best.” 

Gilda smiled back as she went back to her cleaning closet. Ever since being an accidental confidant to Caitlyn and Vi’s relationship, Gilda happily became Vi’s messenger, having direct access to the sheriff’s office. Vi and Caitlyn were work partners in the field– it was when they got back to the station where the two would rarely cross paths. 

Gilda had become unofficially Sheriff Kiramman’s personal assistant. It was not part of the job description but Gilda refused any money that came out of the sheriff’s own pocket. Sheriff Kiramman showed her generosity in other ways, paying for her lunch or dinner whenever she was caught doing errands, giving her early days off when there was not much work to be done on the station. This is what made Gilda’s job exciting, part of it was having more company around the sheriff, who was someone great to be around with. 

Near 3 PM that afternoon, Gilda already brought the teapot from the pantry to the sheriff's office. She remembers just how she liked her tea. Vi joined her a little later, usually coming earlier before Caitlyn arrived. It raised less eyebrows to see her gone from her desk even before the sheriff’s arrival. Lucky for them, nobody really roamed the private office hallways, so it was pretty much to themselves. 

“I haven’t seen her all weekend.” Vi said, propping herself up her desk, one leg up. “She went shooting with her dad in their other vacation place in the countryside.” 

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Miss Vi.” Gilda supplied as she mixed the tea leaves, adding a few teaspoons of honey, just how Caitlyn liked it. 

Vi smiled, and Gilda wished she did so more because she was beautiful in her own way. There was a roughness to her that was part of her charm. It wasn’t hard to imagine why the sheriff was head over heels into the enforcer. 

While Gilda kept their clandestine meetings a secret, she was still not privy about everything between the two. They still had some sort of secret language only each could understand, this telepathic understanding without having to say anything. How the two met was still a much sought after question to her, once just getting a vague “ it’s a long story” from Vi. She just knew the moment Vi showed up as the latest enforcer, there was insane tension as well as chemistry–but the two were not strangers. Not with the way they looked at each other. 

Then the door burst open and Caitlyn raced inside the office, a briefcase placed a bit haphazardly on her desk. She was only able to exhale a sigh of relief once she sat down in her high-backed chair, relaxing her rigid posture for the first time. “That was some meeting.” 

“How’s my cupcake?” Vi’s voice always changed tone whenever she talked to Caitlyn, something Gilda noticed immediately the more she was around the two. 

“I don’t want to bore you with more problems. Is that Hibiscus, Gilda?” She perked up when she saw Gilda working with the teapot. 

She nodded. “Perfect. Could use some of those.” 

Gilda poured the finished tea into a ceramic saucer and served it to the sheriff’s table. Caitlyn eagerly took a sip, her shoulders finally relaxing. 

“Come here.” motioned Vi, still sitting atop her table, one leg dangling up the edge. Caitlyn followed and wedged herself between her legs, against Vi’s chest, as the enforcer wrapped her strong arms around her. This was a common sight to Gilda. In a way, she felt good that with her they did not have to hide –she took pride in that. 

“Your weekend was good?” asked Vi, as she peppered her with kisses in her temple in a steady rhythm. 

“You know I come alive whenever I can use my rifle.” Gilda knew how frustrated she must be at the growing sheriff responsibilities that meant more paperwork and council hearings. She liked being in the field, doing what she loved. 

Caitlyn noticed the reddish skin underneath her partner’s knuckles. Her brow furrowed and leaned away from the kiss. “What have you been up to?” in a scolding tone. 

“I may have taken it out harder than intended at the sparring ring.” She joked as she shrugged “No big deal.” 

“I told you to be more careful.” Caitlyn sounded angry, but Gilda wasn’t fooled. The sheriff was different when she was really mad. She looked at Vi, assertive. “I’ll be dressing these later.” 

“Your place or mine?” 

“My place. I have to do a lot of cleaning, I’ve been away for a while.” Caitlyn dodged one of Vi’s temple kisses to look at Gilda, who was fixing the makeshift tea station on the table. “You wouldn’t mind helping me later, would you, Gilda?” 

“I’ll be there, sheriff.” 

“Great,” she smiled as she gave in to Vi’s cheek kiss.

/

Gilda had left the two on their reunion. 

She had to finish other cleaning duties over at the station. By the time she clocked out, she did some personal errands in between, buying the buttons she desired from the local seamstress. She also did a run in Caitlyn’s favorite restaurant to order some takeout dinner. By the time she finished, it was dark already. Then she walked until she reached the upper Piltover part of town, where lots were bigger, and architecture was adorned with gilded trimmings. 

Caitlyn’s apartment was the penthouse at the corner of the street, just by the local park where most of Progress Day is celebrated. She went up the reception hall to the petite mechanical elevator. 

She was the only occupant in the penthouse. The door opened to the expanse of her apartment. Gilda was all too familiar with this, having accompanied Sheriff when she was too tired to carry some of her documents as she brought them home. 

The hallway opened to the living area, the barest upholstered furniture she saw. There were attempts at living modestly by the sheriff, but Gilda knew Mrs. Kiramman had her way with most of the furniture. 

She was about to call out her name when she saw Caitlyn lying across the sofa still in her sheriff uniform, asleep. She made eye contact with Vi who put a finger to her mouth, sitting on the floor next to her. Gilda nodded. 

She went her way to the kitchen where she set a paper bag of takeout food Caitlyn had requested. Vi accompanied her to the kitchen. “I guess she’s knocked out for the night.” 

“I can do the cleaning–” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll help.” Vi assured her with a smile. 

Together and quietly, Vi helped her carry some of the bedroom and living room furniture as Gilda swept the floors. She was thankful Vi was there because Gilda knew she would make a ruckus carrying those by herself. The whole time, Caitlyn was fast asleep, mouth partly open. 

Gilda focused on fixing the items in the storage room, making sure things are kept in order. She did a quick check on the bathroom, making sure all toiletries are stocked upon. When she got back to the living room area, Vi and Caitlyn had disappeared. 

She walked back the hallway until she saw through the open door of the master bedroom, Vi tucking her partner in bed. Gilda couldn’t believe she saw this relationship blossom to where it is now. The intimacy they shared was really strong, but it was never the uncomfortable kind. 

Vi caught sight of Gilda. “That’s fine Gilda, got it from here. Do you want some coffee tomorrow? On me.” 

“Thank you Miss Vi. You and the sheriff take care.” 

Gilda left the apartment, thankful for the trust they placed in her. They’re quite the pair aren’t they? 

She still can’t wrap her mind around it sometimes, but it just made sense. She hoped one day they wouldn’t have to keep things clandestine the way they do things now. But she thought against it. 

They don’t owe the world anything. 

Chapter Text

Closing time 

“You could have been less of a–show off.” Caitlyn had the strength to bring it up, when it was just her and Vi left at the station. She was oiling her rifle and put it away before she left for work. 

It had been another successful day working alongside Vi –this time an actual gang was taken down, illicit operations shut down. Vi may have gotten her way by breaking down a concrete wall when it could have been avoided. 

For Caitlyn, this had been the moment for Piltover to see how she’d always seen Vi. But working alongside had been both a dream and a crux for Caitlyn– juggling being her superior and her growing attachment to the enforcer can mean tricky business. 

Vi shrugged. She already had gotten rid of her hextech gauntlets, bandages caked in dirt and blood on her hands. She was looking at the different photos adorned on glass displays in Caitlyn’s office. Caitlyn did not fail to notice the tiny way her upper lip moved whenever something amused her. 

“Eh, let them see that I mean business.” She turned to face Caitlyn, the same piercing gaze she first saw from the Zaunite all those years before they met. “For those people, peaceful negotiations don’t work. You have to give them something to be scared of–someone who isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty.”

Caitlyn nodded as she set back her rifle, locking up the case. “I know,” she sighed. “But less calling me–cupcake when we’re out there in the field.” 

Vi stared at her a whole second before she erupted into a laugh. Caitlyn resisted the urge to slap her arm that instant. “Is this what this is about?” Caitlyn wished she could wipe that smug look on Vi’s face right then. She cursed at how she had given her a card against her. 

“Vi you know what I mean. I’m the sheriff for crying out loud.” Vi held her then rigid arms. 

“I know, just messing with you. I’m still getting used to this whole thing, working alongside you professionally.” The cool manner she went from teasing to assurance made Caitlyn’s heart do a little jig. 

“Me too,” she admitted. Together, they closed the office and left the station via the back door, avoiding the rest of the enforcers on night patrol in front. There were barely any people left out in the streets and Caitlyn did not miss the way Vi’s careful hand found its wall on the small of her back, subtle, guiding, as they walked home towards her apartment. 

Colors 

“What do you get when you mix pink and indigo?” 

It was Saturday and Caitlyn was reading council files on her bed. Work never really stopped for her ever since she became the sheriff, she knew that was part and parcel of the job. Beside her was Vi, who was leaning on her stomach, lying haphazardly on the bed. Her fingers were playing with the strands of her hair. 

“I have no idea.” she muttered, eyes still glued on the minutes of the latest council decision. 

“Some kind of magenta right? Or purple is it?” 

Caitlyn felt a bit guilty, Vi was bored out of her mind hanging out at her apartment. She had warned the girl that today was a busy day for her which, she was correct to assume. She didn’t want to get the other girl’s hopes up.

“I know how bored you are, you don’t even hide it.” She said, lowering the papers she was reading. 

Vi raised an eyebrow. “Me– bored? No I’m not.” 

“You’re just saying that.” 

“No, and it’s actually working.” Caitlyn did not miss the playful edge in her voice. 

“What’s working?” Now it was her turn to be confused. 

“I’m getting you to think I’m bored, which will make you feel bad. Which means we’ll get to do something fun.” She said it as if she was just describing directions on a map. 

Caitlyn set aside the papers and nudged off Vi, who sat up, mirroring her. “You planned this all along didn’t you,” she narrowed her eyes. 

Vi shrugged. “Could have or maybe I made it up along the way.” 

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. She stared at the pile of papers waiting to be read. It was getting harder to pick back up where she left knowing the way the pink-haired girl was staring at her, playful. “C’mon cupcake, don’t you want to know what happens when you mix pink and indigo?” 

The rush of blood on her face was all too familiar. She was in for the long defeat, and it was time she accepted it. There was no winning with Vi around. 

Colors Pt. II

Caitlyn crept on tiptoe to her washroom and turned on the light. 

Almost blinding, the first thing that caught her eye were the dark pink marks that ran down her neck, across her shoulders. She ran a finger along them, remembering the feel of her lips on her skin, each area, a story told without words. Skin on skin, Vi’s gentle yet rough hands, her fingers clawing at her back, her undercut, anything that she could grasp. 

She grew conscious at seeing her reflection smile as she recalled the past few hour’s events. She knew these would turn bluish in the morning. What do you get when you mix pink and indigo? Caitlyn was suddenly thankful that her work uniform consisted of a ruffled white collar that went up to her neck. 

She freshened up, hating the feeling of falling asleep sweaty. When she changed from her unbuttoned blouse to her lace camisole, she went back to her room. 

Vi was lying on her side, legs curled up, making her look small against Caitlyn’s queen sized bed. Powder and I used to share beds growing up, she remembered Vi’s words at that moment. The things she would do to always make Vi feel at home, make up for what she never got growing up, ensure that she would always have a comfortable life. 

Caitlyn was lost in her thoughts already, as she climbed back into bed, facing the pink-haired girl. The window was behind her, curtains partly closed, letting some faint night light from the street lamps below. 

It cast a nice glow on Vi’s face, where Caitlyn could make out despite the dark, the curve of her lips –that small scar that ran across her lip; the faint peppering of freckles on her cheeks– something you wouldn’t see unless you saw her up close; the scar that came between her left eyebrow – just one of the many marks from all the fights she used her face to block with. Caitlyn remembered being so aghast when she found out – why would you use you do that to your face?  

All those years ago, they had lay together in bed where Vi had first opened up about her childhood –the house they grew up in, growing up with Powder, how it all fell apart. Caitlyn had never met someone who openly wore their heart on their sleeve like Vi did, and she immediately loved her for it. 

Oil and water, topside and undercity, indigo and pink. They were never really different. Caitlyn knew her heart before she knew about Vi’s superficials, and she knew Vi felt the same. They were uncharted territory, the unknown in between indigo and pink, like her bruises tomorrow morning. Every day waking up next to her was proof that they could work, and Caitlyn held onto that idea. She believed in it more than anything in the world. She didn’t say these thoughts to Vi, but she hoped she felt the same. 

Caitlyn turned to the other side, letting her body rest against Vi. She gently got her arm and draped it across her waist in an embrace. As she felt sleep overcome her, Vi’s embrace tightened around her, as if in assurance. 

Labor of love 

There was no one in the world Caitlyn trusted more than Vi, and she knew the feeling was mutual. 

One evening after work, when Caitlyn happened to catch Vi take off her gauntlets at the station. She managed to catch a glimpse of the other girl’s bandaged hands. She always thought Vi capable of handling herself, but something about seeing pickled, bloodied flesh in her partner’s hands made her feel otherwise. 

“Everything alright?” 

Vi looked over, slipping into her combat boots. “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“You’re not pushing yourself too much with your gauntlets or anything?” 

“I can handle myself.” That bravado taking over again. 

She doesn’t trust me, not with this, Caitlyn realized. 

She showed up the next day, in front of Vi’s apartment, a box of bandages and a med kit under her arm. Vii froze at the sight of her outside her door. 

“What–” 

Caitlyn made herself welcome inside, pushing past Vi before she could react. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vi soaking her bloodied bandages in the kitchen sink. This was getting outrageous. 

She sat on the sofa. “Let me see your hands,” she didn’t mean for it to sound like an order but did. 

She saw the way Vi’s shoulders squared, the way her stance shifted. This was something new to her. But Caitlyn got what she wanted as Vi relented and sat beside her, cupping her hands together. 

“May I?” she still asked. Vi held her palms open. Caitlyn carefully unwrapped the bandages of both hands until she finally saw her partner’s bare knuckles. To say the sight made her sad was an understatement. Her knuckles were cracked from the impact of punches, the skin looked raw like it had been beaten repeatedly and did not heal properly, on the underside of her palms were callouses, a sign of the hard life she had to endure in Zaun. Caitlyn now understood why Vi was self-conscious about this. This was that part of her, the one that still solved problems with her fists. No matter how much she dressed like someone from Piltover, or followed their rules, this was the real her underneath.

Caitlyn got to work immediately, taking out alcohol and a fresh cotton swab, dabbing at her wounds. She felt the enforcer wince a bit as she worked. She finished by adding some soothing balm carefully, before covering up both of her hands with bandages. 

When she was done, Vi flexed her hands in awe. “I didn’t know you could do this stuff.” 

“I guess I still remember from enforcer training all those years ago.” She tried to downplay it but she knew how much this meant for Vi. She knew the level of trust she had to let her walls down for her completely. 

“Thanks for this, cupcake. You didn’t have to,” Vi sighed.

She put a hand on top of her partner’s. “But I want to. Thanks for letting me.” 

Vi’s glassy blue eyes met her as she kissed Caitlyn’s hand. “What would I do without you?” 

At my weakest (Pt. I)

“Dammit, Vi!” 

She did not mean to snap, but Caitlyn had a rough week. Seeing her partner come back in her apartment with a bruised eye and lip, knuckles raw, she had had enough. She wasn’t even supposed to be at Vi’s apartment but she got worried sick because she never phoned her back. Luckily, she had her spare keys. 

“Told you it was nothing.” Vi said, as she kicked off her boots haphazardly. Caityn did not miss the way she winced at the gesture. How hurt was she? 

“I told you to stop getting into bar fights. You’re an enforcer, what would that say about you?” Caitlyn realized as soon as she spoke that she sounded like her mother. She bit her lip, hoping the other girl didn’t notice. 

“I had a rough time okay? But it’s not a bar fight.” She sat down beside Caitlyn at the foot of her bed. Caitlyn cannot forget the intensity of her eyes, “It’s some urchin in Zaun. Last week, he sent some people to trail you. Took care of that, easy. But I couldn’t rest easy knowing you were in danger. I–got down there and traced him. Let’s just say I shut him up and he won't be a problem anymore.” 

Caitlyn opened her mouth to speak but words left her. 

Vi anticipated this. She put her hands on top of Caitlyn’s. “I know, I should have told you beforehand. But you wouldn’t have let me. It was dangerous, I knew the risk.” 

Vi looked like she prepared herself for the blow. They rarely fought but when they did, it usually was a mess. The bottled up emotion inside of Caitlyn didn’t erupt in anger but in a sob that surprised herself. She did not know why the tears came when they fell, it was a long and tiring week and she just wanted to spend it with her favorite person. What was so complicated about it? 

Vi wrapped a gentle arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. “If it helps, I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t do this to yourself. This is something we could have handled together– I could have lost you.” She managed, between sobs. Caitlyn absolutely hated crying because to her, it was always ingrained as a sign of weakness. The way Vi didn’t even look at her when she did was such still a comfort even at her moment of weakness. 

“I’ll never forgive myself if I lost you.” Hearing the way Vi said that, in her heart, she forgave Vi. Vi, who had been through so much, who had lost so much along the way. 

But the emotions had tired her out for the night. When the crying calmed down, they stayed up together on the couch in silence.  Caitlyn was leaning against Vi’s shoulder when she finally gave in to sleep. 

Carry you home (Pt. II)

When Vi felt the dead weight of a sleeping girl on her shoulder, she finally let out a sigh of relief. 

The night was cruel to her already,  seeing her partner devastated by her decision was like a twisted knife in her gut – she would rather take a fist to the face. But Vi can’t lose someone she loves again. Not on her watch. The lengths she would go to keep Caityn safe were apparent to her– she didn’t think she had it in her to hold herself back and exhibit more restraint. 

Sniffing out those who were trailing her was easy, she didn’t need her enforcer training for that –what years growing up in Zaun would teach a kid. But taking out the big boss was something else. Vi didn’t come to the hideout as an officer, dressed in Zaunite wear, she wanted to give a warning. She just had to make sure the guy wouldn’t talk. 

She knew part of Caitlyn’s reaction was more of her tendency to dive into fights without thinking about it. It drove Caitlyn crazy that she was procedural while Vi was reckless even if she admired how it balanced them out. Caitlyn could handle herself, she was a capable sheriff, and Vi knew that given the time spent on tracking this Igor fellow, they would have taken him the lawful way. But knowing how much of a target her partner had become scared Vi – was it wrong to protect and defend her partner at any given moment? 

The bloodied fists and bruises in her face the next morning were nothing, but she knew Caitlyn hated seeing them on her. That was another baggage she had to learn to deal with. While she wasn’t hurt or bothered by it, it drove Caitlyn on the edge. 

She carefully carried the girl, one arm on her back, the other underneath her legs, as Vi tucked her in her bed. The gesture brought her back to the explosion in the bridge many years ago, as Vi helped carry an injured Caitlyn back to safety. 

No, she wasn’t sorry for what she did. She would do it a thousand times over again if it meant Caitlyn could be safe and sleep without worry. She gave her a kiss on her cheek. 

Little realizations (Pt. III)

Caitlyn stirred from her sleep, finding herself tucked in Vi’s bed, a blanket over her.

How did she get here? Trying to rack her brain into remembering what happened made her wish she just fell back into a dreamless sleep. Remembering Vi had a penchant for disregarding the danger she put herself in left a gaping hole in her chest. 

Where was Vi anyway? She sat up, taking in her surroundings. The day was just beginning to break judging from the color of the sky outside the windows. The bed next to her was empty without a sign of being slept on. Waiting for her on top of the side table was a scrap piece of paper with Vi’s messy handwriting. Lining up to get your favorite pastry in the bakeshop right as it opens. Please take it as a sorry gift. Love, Vi. 

Vi, who recklessly put her life in danger to save hers. Vi, who would carry and tuck her in bed whenever she fell asleep elsewhere. Vi, who would wake up early just to get her a token of apology. While Caitlyn never liked seeing Vi get hurt, more so because of her, the gesture warmed her heart and left her feeling bittersweet. 

How lucky am I to have someone who would put their life on the line for me? 

Outside your window

Seeing Caitlyn had never been a problem for Vi since she got her job as the sheriff – she had her own place, close enough to the station, and she practically saw her everyday at work. 

Things became tricky whenever she had to do family functions – the occasional banquets, gatherings, whatever it is Pilties did whenever they wanted to socialize. This meant she stayed back at their old Kiramman estate. But things like this didn’t stop Vi so easily. 

She found herself one night, tossing pebbles against the veranda window she had been to a long time ago. Silence. Then a few seconds later, Caitlyn’s head popped from the window, looking around until her eyes widened at the sight below. She gently opened the veranda’s glass doors, leaning against the ledge. 

“What are you doing here?” Caitlyn tried her hardest to whisper. 

“Can I come in?” Vi didn’t actually wait for any approval, but found herself scaling the vined wall, gripping at any crevice she can hang onto. It was crazy how it was second nature to her. In four brief moves, she joined her partner in her room. 

Caitlyn hurriedly closed the veranda doors and turned, that do-gooder face staring back at Vi. “Why can't you just knock at the door? That works too.” 

Vi really could have – she had already met Caitlyn’s parents formally just a while back. What was stopping her? 

Vi plopped down at her partner’s queen sized bed, sinking underneath the soft mattress. Caitlyn joined her, as they both stared at the ceiling adorned with a pretty chandelier. 

The moment Caitlyn appeared again in her life, there was no time to waste. The way they fell back together, their bodies waking up at each other’s touch, remembering what had been. Caitlyn had it easy. For Vi, that meant getting an actual job, moving to reside in Piltover, and getting absorbed into every facet of Caitlyn’s life. Sure, she enjoyed everything that had to do with her favorite person, but it all felt too fast for Vi sometimes. This is why given the chance to just break in from outside her window to actually knock at her door and see her parents, Vi would take what she was familiar with. 

She knew Caitlyn always tried to make her feel at home, in fact, she was at home wherever the marksman was. She wanted to be involved with every part of her partner’s life even if that meant wading into deep waters. What scared Vi was how willing she was to do it. She wondered if Caitlyn knew the depth of how she felt about the whole situation. 

Caitlyn’s hand squeezing hers tightly caught her by surprise, grounding Vi back in the moment. 

“What?” 

“Thought you needed it.” Caitlyn shyly glanced at her. 

Vi felt warmth spread in her chest. She was the touchy one between them, but the delicacy Caitlyn had in reading situations, remembering small details, showing her love even in the littlest of gestures made it all worth it. 

“So how did you get past the gate?” Caitlyn turned on her side propping herself by her elbow, her brows furrowed in thought. 

A chuckle escaped Vi’s lips. “Do you really want to know?” 

Moonlight reflections

Vi had enough. 

Wearing a suit was already laughable to her —one of the things she put up with after choosing to work in Piltover. But the turning point was attending her first formal banquet, realizing that Cait was putting on a front– laughing at all the jokes she and Vi would have otherwise snickered at in private, losing that fire in her eyes and becoming just like every upper-lipped Piltovan. Maybe it was also Caitlyn freezing up whenever Vi subtly tried to hold her hand, gently shaking off any physical contact. 

She knew   they couldn’t be more discrete in public, especially in big society events like this. But Vi couldn’t pretend it didn’t hurt any less. 

She stormed out the deserted garden in the back, where she could be alone with her thoughts. Anywhere away from all the fakeness. In Zaun, she never had to hide and problems were not solved by pretending to be civil but by diving fist-first. 

She pulled at her neck until her bowtie was off, tossing it on the ground. 

“Vi–” Caitlyn called out but Vi kept walking deeper in the garden. The sheriff had caught up with her, grabbing her by the elbow, turning her around. 

“You’re not leaving.” Caitlyn scoffed, for the first time that night, her face showing signs of the Cait she knew. Caitlyn looked alarmed when she realized the seriousness in Vi’s face. “You know this comes with it.” 

“I didn’t expect a stranger next to me I don’t even recognize.” She spat–maybe she resented her for that. 

Caitlyn’s nostrils widened, and swallowed the lump in her throat. Vi wanted to feel bad but she was on a path of destruction, she wanted to show her how shitty everything made her feel. The last time Vi felt this frustration staring at her like a wall was also with Caitlyn, in front of council members all those years ago. All these years, Caitlyn always said she was different from the rest of Piltover and showed her time and time again – but seeing how quickly she became just like the rest of them. 

“You don’t mean that.” Caitlyn’s crestfallen face, against how she was dressed that night – beautiful sequined red gown with chiffon sleeves, was almost cruel to Vi. 

Vi turned around, focusing her attention to the pond in the center of the garden, moonlight dancing on the surface. What if they were nothing but moonlight reflections in the water– just some trick of the light, and gone by morning? 

Caitlyn sat by the cement ledge around the pond as if she weren’t in an expensive designer dress. Her long finger traced the surface water, sending a ripple across, distorting the moonlight reflections. 

“My mum used to scold me whenever I refused to dress for these kinds of events.” She tried a smile, Vi watching her cute gap-toothed grin, as she fixed her eyes somewhere in the distance. “Being the misfit I was, I did little things like purposely wear the wrong accessory, or wear my hunting boots instead of formal dress shoes, use the salad fork for the main course, to get on her nerves. I drove her crazy.” 

Vi didn’t notice how her chest got lighter at hearing her partner’s story. “I did that for years. I never heard the end of it from my mum. But eventually, it wears you down. You stop smiling like you mean it, you wear what they want you to wear, say what they want you to say. You learn to keep yourself underneath, be who they want you to be. The sad part was, I know I was still under there underneath that facade. It was clear that what society wanted wasn’t the real you – just the prettier version, without the blemishes.” 

Vi imagined young Caitlyn, slowly losing herself in the face of such a rigid society. Vi never thought of it that way before. 

“Sorry if you felt that tonight, you’re not wrong to feel that way. I’m still–struggling to juggle the taller order that is being my own public figure, the sheriff, and who I am.” Vi was surprised at Caitlyn reaching out to hold her hand firmly. “I never want to make you feel this way. I hope you can be a little patient. We can figure this out together.” 

Caitlyn’s blue eyes were pleading, and Vi knew she didn’t have it in her heart to break the other girl’s when she bared her heart out just now. 

“Can we even be ourselves when you’re the sheriff and we’re partners?” Vi’s heart still needed answers, even if Caitlyn could not provide them. 

Caitlyn put on her thinking face, the way she bit her lower lip, eyes darting to the ground. “I honestly don’t know. But I want you to know that I’m going to fight for us, whatever it takes. We’re doing things together.” 

The sincerity in her eyes, the same even all those years ago when Caitlyn saved her life, when she almost died in her rundown childhood shack. There was always something in Caitlyn that made her want to believe. 

“Together,” Vi repeated. She liked the sound of that. 

Caitlyn gently led her underneath the low hanging apple tree in the garden, low branches grazing the top of Vi’s head, giving them a canopy. She put her hands on Vi’s hands and guided them around her waist as she put her arms around her neck. The gesture surprised Vi–made her look around to see if they were truly alone. 

Faint string instruments in the air, they did a slow dance there without breaking eye contact. The way they held each other’s gaze was all the assurance Vi needed, that whatever comes their way, they would have each other. 

Standing in the rain

“Do you want me to stay?” 

“Go home, cupcake.” Caitlyn knew it all too well, the way her shoulders hunched, the way her eyes wouldn’t meet her. The confident stance was replaced with that of someone who wished to fall into the shadows as Vi disappeared through her bathroom door. 

Caitlyn hung her head back, sitting on Vi's couch. It was unfair that Vi was always there to hear her out whenever she had a rough day, but when it was the other way around, Vi sometimes shut her out. 

Pacing around her apartment, Caitlyn knew she could not leave her partner. Curiosity got the better of her as she approached the bathroom door that was left ajar, hot steam coming out. 

Clothes were strewn on the white tiles, the shower door foggy from the pouring hot water. Almost instinctively, Caitlyn started taking off her uniform, not caring for the sounds of the metal buckles as they fell on the floor. If Vi heard her, she didn’t care to tell her to go –and Caitlyn will take that. 

She slowly slid the shower door open, finding Vi, head against the tiles, resting her whole weight against it. 

If it were any other day, Caitlyn could take the time and admire her partner’s toned physique and watch the way water cascaded down the enforcer’s back, black tattoos of cogs and machinery from the time she was incarcerated in Stillwater. It ran down her back, through the skin behind her arms. Caitlyn loved tracing her fingers along the black ink, wondering how much it would have hurt, getting such an expansive tattoo as that. But now, all she could think of was the heaviness in her partner that weighed heavier than the thick steam. 

She took a step in the shower room and was greeted by the hot water down her hair, down her limbs. She wrapped her arms around her waist, nesting her chin on the other girl’s shoulder. Vi didn’t flinch. 

“I told you to go home, cupcake.” Something about the way Vi said those words brought Caitlyn back to that day in the rain, where she thought Vi would disappear from her life forever. 

“Something’s bothering you.” Caitlyn hoped it was enough reason for her to warrant her stay. 

Vi didn’t speak. There was only one topic that left her like this and it didn’t need a genius to guess. “It’s her isn’t it? She’s back?” 

Caitlyn felt Vi exhale. “I got a lead from a friend.” 

Jinx had committed many crimes that Caitlyn knew was enough to get her a lifetime ticket to Stillwater. But she was elusive, and a few years ago she just disappeared from Zaun without a trace. Her being back would be complicated –Caitlyn knows how much Vi still loved her despite the years that they had grown apart. Sister bonds were something Caitlyn couldn’t fully understand being an only child herself– but she never held it against her partner to still feel that way. 

“What are we going to do?” We . Vi’s problem’s weren’t just hers to bear alone and she needed her to hear it. 

Vi shut the shower. For the first time she turned around, dark pink hair clinging to the right side of her face. Her gaze was heavy. “We have to take her down eventually when the time comes, just like we always do.” 

Caitlyn nodded. She held Vi’s hand, scarred and rough even when wet. “I’m here, you don’t have to push me away. We’ll go through this together.” 

Together. Vi flashed a faint smile that Caitlyn briefly glimpsed before it disappeared into that unreadable mask. “Do you want to stay?” 

Caitlyn took it from there, turning on the shower knob, letting hot water fall on their shoulders, down their legs, blanketing them both in a calming assurance.  “Thought you’d never ask,” Caitlyn softly smiled as she grabbed the soap. 

Stasis

Vi tightly clutched onto Caitlyn’s hand as they tore through the Zaunite streets, wind against their chests. She looked back and saw Caitlyn, mouth agape, exhilarated at the thrill. Evident was fire in her eyes that she always had simmering underneath that poised facade she kept. Vi couldn’t see herself but found a crazy smile plastered on her face, cutting across her face. She screamed, her voice ripping against the atmosphere. 

Passerbys gave them looks but Vi’s world seemed to disappear in that moment, only her feet running one after the other, the warm weight of her partner’s hand in hers, almost electrifying. Vi wished she would remember this fragment of time forever, a physical representation of how she felt about the pair of them –perpetually in stasis between the currents above in Piltover and below in Zaun. 

When Vi’s legs could no longer run, she slowed down, feeling gravity come back to her again. She looked to see Caitlyn hunched over, huffing at having broken through a sprint in the crowded streets. 

“Is this what you did growing up?” Caitlyn remarked in between huffs. 

“Among many things.” Vi paced around Caitlyn. “Can you keep up, cupcake?”

Caitlyn straightened up despite being outpaced. “Of course.” 

Vi smiled, she loved that about the sheriff. She held her other hand, “Come with me, I have something to show you.” 

Twisting paths of broken cement, grimy walls, and strange folk gave way to a small dead end street, filled to the brim with people raving. On the rickety wooden platform was a man with goggles on a turntable, music so loud it reverberated against walls. On top, hung on street poles were multi-colored fluorescent lights, casting the entire street with an iridescent glow. 

Vi weaved her way through, hands still in Caitlyn’s as she led her to the center of the crowd, bodies rubbing against each other as people jived. Vi laughed at the look Caitlyn had just on her face now. This was obviously a new sight to her. 

“What–” 

“This is a rave. People dance, just let loose.” Vi shouted against the thumping of the bass. 

Vi bobbed her head and jumped around, waving her arms around. As a new song started playing, she watched Caitlyn go from bouncing in her heels to eventually joining Vi, hand-in-hand, jumping together as bodies collided. Seeing Caitlyn break into the widest grin she ever saw was enough for Vi –these were things she never experienced in Piltover and she would give Caitlyn everything in the world and more. 

When adrenaline seemed to fade away, the lights above dimmed, only showing the pinks and purples. “This next song is a slow dance for all you couples out there,” said the man in the deejay booth. 

Chests heaving, necks and foreheads laced in sweat, Vi took the chance to wrap her hands around the taller girl’s waist, pulling her closer. Caitlyn was surprised at the sudden gesture and looked around. Surely enough, all around them the crowd thinned, some parting to make way for the couples who were also locked in a slow dance. Vi watched until Caitlyn looked sure of herself and put her arms around Vi’s neck, letting their foreheads touch. 

They were so close, Vi could feel her labored breaths. No one talked, just breathing into each other’s space, Vi watching her partner’s eyes, lips, taking her all in, beauty and imperfection. 

“I–” 

“Shh,” Vi said. “I just want to take in this moment.”

Caitlyn nodded, understanding. They stayed like that, swaying to the soft music. 

When the next song started, Caitlyn finally spoke up. “I wish we could always stay like this.”

“We will, whenever we stay in Zaun. We can be whoever we want to be.” Vi assured her. She saw the weariness in Caitlyn’s eyes for a split second. Her grip on her waist grew tighter. “No matter where we are actually. Home is wherever you are.” 

And she meant it. Vi was a Zaunite through and through, but she would trade that for a heartbeat if she could be with Caitlyn. 

In a brief moment, memories flashed through Vi. The day Caitlyn found her in Zaun, showing up in her sheriff uniform, years passed between them but still the same yearning between their shadows. The day Caitlyn appeared outside her cell in Stillwater, still a stranger with her stiff Piltie enforcer stance, unknowingly becoming the person to remind her of the good she still had left in her heart, hardened by years in prison. That night they shared together in that Piltovan hotel, sharing the same bed. 

Staring intently into her lips, Caitlyn slowly moved, letting their lips lock in a kiss. The world around them didn’t exist– there was only her, only them. She wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Adjustments 

Caitlyn usually never did rounds in the office. 

But the first month that Vi joined, she found herself pacing around the office, clipboard in hand as she tried to see if everything was in place. She didn’t have to do it, but a part of her just wanted to check on her partner. 

While she had her own secluded office, Vi was with the rest of the enforcers in the open office area, with her own cubicle. She watched the pink-haired girl pick at her uniform, which she still had her way with the way she draped her own jacket over the standard-issue attire. She would catch how Vi would jig her leg up and down as she wrote on the papers, not used to sitting down for long periods of time. 

Maybe Caitlyn was also scared. 

She knew how Vi felt about enforcers –what they did to her family, her natural distrust for them. Truth be told, she never would have agreed to such a job if it weren’t for Caitlyn and she knew that very well. Despite it all, Vi believed in herself to do good and redeem the name of enforcers, tarnished by its dark history in furthering the divide between the topside and undercity. Caitlyn had to make sure Vi was warming up well for the job. 

At one point she paced around slowly in the open office area, taking her time standing at the side of Vi’s desk for no apparent reason, lingering longer than she should have –her gloved hand touching the wood of Vi’s desk. She felt Vi’s eyes on her, but she did not look at her, feeling heat burning inside her. What has gotten into her? 

One afternoon, in around Vi’s third month at work, she passed by the pantry and saw Vi – coat off, white enforcer shirt rolled up to her elbows, showing her tattoos as she was arm wrestling with another of the big boys in the team. Around them were the other enforcers, watching in awe, placing bets. Eugene, the big enforcer had a smug look on his face, he was twice Vi’s size but that didn’t faze the Zaunite. She had that cool bravado that always stirred something inside Caitlyn. 

When the arm wrestling started, Caitlyn thought Vi was going to lose –her arm was leaning on the desk, Eugene holding his breath in force. Then in a few seconds, the tables turned, something in Vi switched and she was now leaning forward, gaze locked on his, until she was able to bring his arm down, homerun. The enforcers around them exploded in shouts and excitement. Money was flying around in bets. Everyone was enjoying themselves. But Caitlyn only had eyes for Vi, the way she patted some of the enforcers in the back, actually belonging. 

She walked away, headed back to her office, feeling that warm glow of happiness that maybe she didn’t have to worry about her. 

From the sidelines 

Vi squeezed through the crowd at Piltover Square, trying to get the best view of the podium in front. It was Progress Day and the council had generously given the floor to the Enforcers to talk about the current state of their peacekeeping efforts. 

Citizens everywhere were wearing their best frocks and accessories. Vi was in her gilded attire – sponsored by the council for all the enforcers for this year’s progress day. The gold trimmings cutting across the white and black of her uniform were too fancy for Vi’s tastes but she felt good wearing them. 

The buzz of the city was palpable, this energy brewing ever since the streets started getting safer. The town’s morale had never been this high before and Vi felt pride in that. She helped them get where they were. 

At the pulpit in the stage, the mayor–a white moustache and bespectacled fellow, spoke into the microphone. “And now as you’ve all been waiting for, I would like to give the floor to our fearless leader, one I am very honored to call a family friend, Piltover’s very own Sheriff Kiramman!” 

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause, Vi watching the reactions of those around her. 

Caitlyn appeared, also in her gilded uniform – the same white and black piece, but with a long brown cape, golden tassels and buckles, and gold-trimmed beret. She looked stunning to say the least. There were spotlights around the podium, making her seem larger than life. She wasn’t just her Caitlyn, she was Piltover’s hero. 

She gave the mayor a quick hug before settling in the pulpit. She looked out in the crowd–Vi wondered if she knew that she was out there with everyone else. 

“Fellow Piltovans. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be speaking in front of you all today on our most special of holidays. For the longest time, Progress Day was all about our scientific advancements with hextech, how that managed to improve our craft, our economy, our city. But I have always believed in a different kind of progress growing up. Progress that meant doing good, and improving the lives of people.”

Vi turned to see the faces of the people, the crowd silent, eyes latching onto the sheriff’s, hanging onto her very word. Vi felt something stir inside her.  

“Piltover would not be what it is if there was no Zaun. For the longest time, numerous crime lords have been ruling the undercity, leeching off its vulnerable citizens, all while keeping their patrons happy. So the poor keep getting poorer, the rich keep getting richer. Since I’ve been inducted as sheriff, a lot of people have swayed me over the years. ‘ That’s how it’s always been here ’ or ‘ You’re too idealistic ’ were words I often heard.” She paused, eyes searching the crowd. 

“But that never stopped me in believing that with the right direction, we can clean the force, we can do our part in keeping the city safe from crime and corruption. Everyday we are given that choice, and as your sheriff I have always made that active choice not to pander to the flawed system, but to choose its people over and over. That is the only way we can truly keep the peace between our cities.”

“In this Progress Day, we celebrate our little victories, taking down crime organizations, establishing fairer systems in the force – keeping the city safe. Two years ago when I got this position, they all told me I can’t. But this is me saying now that we can. And that’s progress. Thank you and happy Progress Day!” 

In unison, the crowd erupted again in even louder cheers, loud applause, arms raised in support. Caitlyn broke into a smile and waved to the crowd. 

Proud would not begin to describe how Vi felt at that moment. All those years ago, she knew Caitlyn was different from the other people in Piltover –she was real and had a good heart. She believed in the right kind of change in the status quo, even as just a rank and file enforcer. But now she was the sheriff, an actual instrument of change. She was also a symbol –a symbol for a new kind of peace and justice, bigger than herself. Anyone else might have gotten intimidated but not Vi. Fame and attention meant nothing to her and she couldn’t be happier for her partner even from the sidelines. 

She pushed her way past the crowd. Vi followed Caitlyn and some enforcers who escorted her back to the station. Because it was Progress Day, it was empty. She walked to the private office area and found Caitlyn already sitting at her desk. Vi leaned against the doorway. 

Caitlyn’s eyes lit up when she saw her. “Like my speech?” 

Vi in two strides, walked to her table and scooped up the sheriff in her arms. “Proud of you, cupcake.” 

“Do I get a kiss?” She raised an expectant eyebrow. 

Vi leaned in for a quick peck and pulled back after. The look on Caitlyn’s face was priceless, expecting something more drawn out, when she opened her eyes. 

“That’s all I get?” 

“You’ll have to wait later.” Vi put her down and walked backwards, not breaking her gaze. “Let’s just say I got something planned.” She winked. 

Caitlyn bit her lip in resignation. Already satisfied, Vi waved her off before walking away to do her usual Progress Day patrols. 

Chapter Text

Jinx, Meat Shop, Zaun

“Please,” the meat shop owner begged, as he crawled backwards, fear-etched in his face. 

Jinx took one step, two, her boots walking over shattered glass from the shop’s broken window like it was just sand. “Tell me, where is my sister.” On her hand, her pistol dangled like a pendulum –back and forth. 

The man’s eyes were looking back and forth between her and the gun, pleading. “I told you, I don’t know who your sister is. A lot of pink-haired people in Zaun, I swear I don’t–” 

Jinx found laughter escaping her mouth. Are you kidding me? She bent down to the man, putting her face near his. Up close she could see blemishes. “You mean to tell me, girl with pink hair with those gauntlets running around Zaun –doesn’t ring a bell?” 

“Gauntlets?” His eyes seemed to register something. “Y-you mean the sheriff’s partner?” 

“The what now?” She was gone for a while and the city had changed so much. Jinx didn’t realize how close she was to him until he crawled backward some more, legs quivering in front of her. 

“It’s all over the news, you didn’t know? Vi, the Piltover Enforcer. She’s the right hand of the sheriff.” The man noticed that the words did not register anything with Jinx. He carefully got up, knees still quavering, and handed her a day-old newspaper. Sure enough, on the front was an official press photo of Vi together with the Sheriff, with her top hat and indigo hair, as they stood in front steps of the station. 

The sight of the sheriff in the photograph ticked something in Jinx. She remembered that face. She shut her eyes. No, no, not now. Where did she see her before? Why does that memory make her feel many things? 

She’s replacing you all over again. 

Your sister did not even bother to look for you. 

You’re nothing to her now. 

“Shut up!” her voice erupted, hands curled tight on her pistol. 

“I-I’m sorry,” the man put his hands above his head, in a surrender. 

“Do you mean to tell me they’re working together?” She gritted her teeth, when she composed herself a little bit. 

“Er, yeah. But some people think there’s something more t–” 

Jinx shot the glass jar at the counter, sending coins tumbling down the table. The man froze in absolution. “What something more ?” 

The man gulped, looking at the broken tip jar. His eyes settled back on Jinx’s. “They’re just rumors, please. But they just work together, that’s all.” 

The shopkeeper shut his eyes, anticipating the worst. Jinx held out her hand and dropped a screw in the remnants of the broken tip jar. The shop owner started in shock when he realized nothing had happened. 

“I send my regards.” She grinned at the man and walked where she came from, through the blasted window as if he just bid her farewell from the shop. 

Yvette, Browns Catering Services

Yvette had been serving catered food across different upper society Piltovans for most of her life. Today, it was the birthday of Piltover’s Sheriff Kiramman and she had the chance to visit their estate once more for the occasion. 

The beauty of her job was seeing some of the kids grow into their roles. As she walked past the hallway towards the kitchen where they were to set up, she saw a giant painted portrait of the family –young Caitlyn Kiramman with her bright blue eyes, already holding a rifle in her hand. She had seen the young girl grow up from an aspiring marksman like her dad to now actually becoming the sheriff. 

Caitlyn didn’t know her but Yvette took pride in getting to know most of the families she had served over the years. In a way, she felt their accomplishments were something she had witnessed as well. 

It was still mid afternoon, and the official celebration wouldn’t start for hours. She made her way to the gilded double doors that led to the kitchen. The kitchen was enormous – a metal center table, marble counters with an assortment of kitchenware, and a storage room for ingredients. The kitchen was mostly empty for now, the rest of her crew wouldn’t arrive until much later with the food already cooked. 

Yvette checked the drawers and was setting up the napkins and utensils, when she heard some murmurs in the storage room. Was there someone else there? 

Her suspicions were answered when the door flew open, the sheriff’s lips locked on the pink-haired girl. The pink haired girl had her hands on her waist as she pushed her against the metal counter in the middle of the kitchen. Caitlyn Kiramman and her enforcer? One of the pink-haired girl’s hands slid down from her waist to the sheriff’s bottom. 

Yvette felt the heat rush to her cheeks, causing  her to drop a fork on the counter. 

The sound made the couple stop the intimacy and turn towards the origin of the sound. Caitlyn was quick to push the pink-haired girl off her and straighten her tailored blue and white ensemble. Vi – Yvette suddenly remembered her name, leaned against the open storage room door as if it made her any less caught in the act. 

“Sheriff Kiramman, I’m so sorry. I thought this place was empty–” Yvette started, afraid of the pickle she got herself into. She never paid much attention to rumors but this was just a private matter she had no say in. 

“No, it’s fine. You had to be here of course for the preparations,” she nodded to the apron that Yvette had tied around her waist. “Vi here was just about to help my father with picking the wine.” She turned to Vi who registered at the sudden order. 

Vi gave Yvette a curt nod, eager to leave the tense atmosphere that suddenly found its way in the kitchen. 

Caitlyn’s posture was so rigid, Yvette didn’t know if she was going to scold her or something. Instead the words that came out of her mouth surprised her, “Your name is Yvette, right? From the catering service?” 

Yvette could finally meet the sheriff’s eyes. She remembered her?  “Yes, madame.” 

Caitlyn nodded, a smile forming in her lips. “My mum really likes the way you make that casserole. We cannot have a party without it.” 

Yvette smiled back, but unease still lingered at the elephant in the room. “Thank you madame, we really appreciate the feedback. And for always choosing us every year.” Caitlyn was silent as she closed the storage room door and walked up the counter to pick up one of the cupcakes in a box. 

Yvette couldn’t take it any longer. “Madame, I’m so sorry for earlier. If I had known I wouldn’t even go here– I promise I won’t tell anyone. It’s really not my place to say.”

Caitlyn raised a hand. “I appreciate that, Yvette. Though that wasn’t your fault. We had no er–reason to be there, so to speak.” 

Yvette felt her chest loosen up in an exhale. “Thank you madame, you are what they say –very kind.” 

She didn’t gloat on the compliment. Instead, Caitlyn took some of the pink whip on top of the cupcake in her finger and put it in her mouth, as if it was the most important thing at the moment. “I think of all the years we’ve gotten you for catering, this wasn’t the first time you caught me fooling around the kitchen premises,” she smiled to herself at some distant memory. 

Yvette was puzzled at the words that the sheriff spoke of, until it hit her – fragments of memory of young Caitlyn Kiramman sneaking to and from the kitchen with different teenage girls from each party. Yvette never gave it much thought, but it suddenly made sense now. 

She snapped out of her musing and started walking towards the kitchen door, “We’ll I’ve got some things to attend to before the party. Hope you enjoy yourself later, Yvette.” 

“Happy birthday madame– I’m glad you found the one, sheriff.” She said before Caitlyn could exit the door. The last thing Yvette saw was the indigo-haired girl break into a smile –not that tight-lipped smile she did during formal events, but that wide grin showing the gap between her teeth. A genuine smile. 

Zild, Zild’s Tattoo Parlor, Zaun

Zild put down a cigarette with his heel when a customer entered his shop. 

“I get one,” said a voice, which materialized into Vi the enforcer herself. Zild raised an eyebrow – it was her, reddish-pink hair, strong physique, bandaged arms. The only difference was that she didn’t have her hextech gauntlets or her enforcer outfit – she almost looked like a Zaunite if you didn’t look closer. 

Zild led her to the back of his counter, which gave way to a tattered tattoo chair, next to a metal table with his tattoo instruments. She didn’t need any instructions and immediately sat down on the chair. Zild was twice her size but the way she carried herself made him feel as if he were smaller. She handed him a crumpled white paper, a screw of some kind– it was detailed and was done in black ink. 

“Black?” 

“Just black.” 

Zild prepared his tattoo gun, opening the black ink canister, testing the way the tattoo gun shot. If there was anything he prided himself in, it was that he could easily copy tattoos by hand without the need for any guide. This would be easy enough. 

“Where?” he took a seat on his swivel stool. 

Vi took off her canvas jacket and dropped it on the floor. She was wearing a gray tank top underneath. Vi turned around and pointed to her back – just above her shoulder blade.  Zild took a second to marvel at the rest of her back tattoos–all black and ran all the way down, covering most of her skin. If he didn’t respect her enough then, this was the moment. He knew most grown men cry at tattoos that big and at the back. 

He adjusted the chair so that Vi was able to lie down on her stomach. 

Zild turned on the tattoo gun, glancing at the drawn guide before diving in. When he worked, he was into it and often zoned out easily. 

In his peripheral vision, another girl entered the parlor and walked up next to them, watching. He pieced together that she must be with Vi because Vi was chatting her up. 

Zild worked on the outlines, then filling in the shadows with the ink, he felt the other girl stand over his shoulder. 

“Does it hurt?” the accent was hard to place, a weird mix of Zaun and somewhere foreign. 

“I’m used to it.” Vi replied coolly. 

“I can’t believe you’re getting that.” she laughed.

“Why wouldn’t I?” 

Zild tried to zone out the voices as he added the finishing strokes. Once he was done, he wiped with a clean cloth the blood. He then proceeded to clean the tattoo, proud that it looked close to the drawing. He covered it with gauze. 

“All done,” Zild proceeded to clean out his tools, put the ink where they were kept. 

He looked beyond the counter and saw Vi was checking out the rest of her tattoos in the mirror. He walked up the counter, picking up a new cigarette. The other girl, Zild was able to see now, was dressed in a tattered old blouse, a hood over her head. She had a pointy nose and a sharp face. 

“That’ll be two coins.” 

The girl produced two gold coins from her pocket and slid across the counter. 

Vi thanked Zild and excitedly walked outside the shop. “C’mon Kate–” 

“What was it anyway?” Zild asked, gesturing to the drawing of the tattoo that he still held in his hand. 

Kate, the girl’s name as he heard it, erupted in a smile. “A rifle bolt.” 

“You look a bit like that Piltie sheriff.” He commented as he flicked his lighter over the cigarette in his mouth. 

“I get that a lot. Crazy right?” She said incredulously before she joined Vi, the two disappearing together with the mass of Zaunites.

Zild puffed. Crazy indeed. No way would a Piltie ever set foot in Zaun, more so his dingy tattoo parlor. 

Joe, Shabby Shack, Zaun

It was just another night for Joe, drinking a giant pint of beer, leaning over a table as the dealer shuffled cards and worked chips. 

It was past 11 PM and he already had seen so much that night – a couple get kicked out for being nasty in public, a man walk out naked drunk and vomiting over the place, and a few brawls here and there. If this was Piltover, this would be the talk of the town but Zaun worked out differently. These things were too commonplace – most things that happened in bars stayed there. Sure, when there’s danger such as gangs and underlord bosses roaming the streets, you become numb to the small mundanities such as a drunk fellow. 

Joe had lost his bets for the night which was no fun and was just leaning against the table. Seeing people lose their money, now that was fun. 

“I’m a sucker for them ladies in uniforms,” said a slurred voice raised from the usual pub chatter, earshot of Joe. “Why yeah, even the sheriff I’d bang that if given the chance.” 

He heard the sound of a stool being dragged. Joe peeled his eyes away from the poker game and to the commotion. He saw a red haired girl, dressed like a Zaunite, ratty canvas jacket, dusty combat boots, stand in front of the guy who was speaking. 

“What did you say?” he never heard someone sound that angry yet composed.  

The man who spoke, was this guy with a bandana on his bald head, Joe recognized to be a regular at Shabby Shack. “I said I’d fuck the sheriff,” he said cockily even if he looked like he was one drink away from falling into an intoxicated sleep. “Do you gotta prob’lm with that?” 

The chatter died down, some people in the bar were already looking at the brewing tension between the girl and the drunk fellow. 

The red haired girl cracked her neck then her knuckles as if she was just stretching. “Why yeah, big guy. I do.” 

The next thing Joe saw was her fist making contact with the man’s face, causing him to topple to the floor. 

Ohhhh. A chorus of onlookers at the bar said at the first contact. Joe knew people even placed bets whenever random fights broke out so he wouldn’t be surprised. Hell, if he didn’t gamble away his change he might have. 

The big man got up, shakily, and put on a tired fighting stance. Joe felt bad for him, he knew his ass was about to get handed to him by a girl who was barely half of his size. He tried a sluggish jab but she was prepared, with a quick side step, she made a right hook land on his jaw, causing him to crash on the poker table, sending some chips flying on the ground. 

“Oi!” The bar owner, a man with an eyepatch behind the counter, pointed to the sign. Joe saw that in red paint on wood, it read Take fights away from the poker table. 

The girl saw the sign and instead of being discouraged, taunted the man, who was still struggling to get on his feet. Joe felt bad for him almost. In Zaun, conceding wasn’t an option, you either fight to win or until you cannot get up. 

The red haired girl dragged the man to his feet with his arm and pushed him to the other side of the bar, away from the table. It didn’t take long. He missed two other jabs and the girl finished him off, with a kick to the groin. The man crashed next to the janitor bucket, spilling all over the floor. Unconscious. 

People cheered after the knockout. 

Joe realized it was her, the Zaunite turned enforcer who worked in Piltover. When the crowd quieted, the red haired girl looked around, arms raised as if in a taunt. “Anybody got anything else to say about the sheriff?”

People went from being onlookers to suddenly minding their own business. A satisfied look on her face, the enforcer sat back down on her table as if nothing happened and resumed her drink. 

Joe decided had too much to drink and was spent. It was just any other typical night in Zaun. 

Gilbert Mason, Mason’s Jewelry

“Miss Kiramman!” Gilbert put away his record book as he saw the blue-eyed sheriff enter his shop. 

Since it was a weekend, she had on her tailored blue and white Kiramman garb but nonetheless that this authoritative air when she walked as if she were still on duty. “Hi Gilbert, you look great today,” she smiled. 

Gilbert pulled at his suspenders. “Not good as you, Miss Kiramman.” His eyes lit up, “Oh are you here for your family’s order?” Every year, the Kirammans requested for coat pins in gold, sometimes studded with the rarest gems. It had been Gilbert’s pleasure to attend to their orders as a regular client. 

She waved. “No, the personal one.” 

Gilbert frowned until the thought registered. Right. He went to his backroom, separated by a velvet curtain. He took the custom-made accessories in a plush slip case. 

He emerged from the back to place the case on the glass counter. He put on cotton gloves on his hands, a precaution when handling most jewelry. He opened the case to reveal a golden ring with a tiny ruby stud in the center. Gilbert could tell from her expression that she was satisfied with it. 

“It’s great. Where’s the other?” 

“One moment,” Gilbert rushed back to find the other slip case which contained what the sheriff asked. When he emerged from the backroom, he saw the sheriff’s partner enter the shop. She was looking around at the glass wall casings housing mannequins adorned with necklaces, bracelets, and trinkets. She did not have her gauntlets that day, opting for a canvas jacket with rolled up sleeves displaying black tattoos, her arms deep in her jacket pockets. 

Gilbert carefully opened the other case to reveal another identical ring, but this time, the stud was a sapphire, dark enough to border violet. 

“It’s amazing Gilbert.” Caitlyn beamed. Vi soon joined her, standing next to her, eyeing the jewelry.

Gilbert was able to catch the way the sheriff looked back and forth, searching Vi’s eyes back to the jewels. Vi’s eyes widened in surprise at the realization. “No, no, this costs a fortune.” 

“Think of it as a little token, for everything .” The way she said it made Gilbert think that this meant more than just work. 

“I don’t even wear rings, remember.” She pulled out her bandaged hand from her jacket. 

“It’s actually,” Caitlyn got the sapphire ring and pulled it out of the case, revealing a gold chain that went around it. Vi’s mouth turned into an ‘O’ shape. Caitlyn gently unclasped the chain and put it around her partner’s neck. Vi looked uncomfortable at wearing the expensive piece but Gilbert was able to see something behind her eyes – gratitude? This meant more to her than she let on. 

Caitlyn got the ruby studded ring and placed it on her ring finger – it fit perfectly as Gilbert had designed. 

“They look good on you both.” Gilbert offered up, catching the smile of the sheriff. “It’s a matching set after all.” 

“You didn’t have to,” Vi said, lowering her voice. Her eyes searching Caitlyn's, she was about to extend her arm when Caitlyn’s hand met her halfway, gentle fingers on the other girl’s skin, stopping her in place. Caitlyn held her gaze a second longer than needed. That seemed to be the other girl’s answer as no more words were exchanged between them. 

Caitlyn turned back to Gilbert and started writing her a cheque. She scribbled her signature and handed it to him. “Thanks so much Gilbert.” 

“Please send your mother my regards,” he said as he bid them goodbye. 

He went back to the backroom and tidied the cases where other custom made pieces were housed. He thought back to the day that Caitlyn had entered his shop and asked for a custom piece. 

“What kind, dear?” he had asked, a notepad in one hand. 

Her eyes were faraway, searching. “A matching set, something that’s different yet the same.” 

Gilbert pulled out a small wooden chest from underneath the table. It contained some sample stones and minerals he always showed prospective clients, from diamonds, rubies, emeralds, everything. He pulled out different sorts and laid them on the table. Caitlyn gravitated to the sapphire and ruby. 

“Ahh yes, that would do most well.” Gilbert adjusted the loupses in his head, and raised it up. “Sapphires and rubies, while different in exterior color, are actually cut from the same mineral, corundum, having the same composition and structure. Different yet the same, in a way.” 

Caitlyn held them in her fingers, letting each mineral sparkle against the shop light. She was deep in thought. “Yes, this would be it.” 

“Very well, madame.” He put back the rest of the other minerals and gems back in the chest. “Will these be for your parents?” 

“Um, for myself actually,” Gilbert noticed the way her cheeks turned pink. “--and my partner.” 

Oh. Gilbert returned her a smile and assured her he would be working on the piece and that he would leave a note when it would be finished. Caitlyn looked relieved to see that he didn’t press on as he scribbled her ring measurements in his pad. He didn’t have to take a wild guess to understand who it was for. He always thought the two shared a special connection. 

Gilbert’s profession as a jeweler meant that he got to learn about his clients through the pieces he made. Different yet same. It warmed his heart to think about it, that the two were not so different as they seemed. 

Cassandra Kiramman, Kiramman estate 

Cassandra usually sent one of her staff to attend to petty errands but she hadn’t seen her daughter in a while. She decided that a visit to her apartment wouldn’t hurt. 

It was mid morning and she made her way past the lobby to the elevator. In her hands was the box of clothes from their family tailor as well as a box of cupcakes, just the way her daughter liked it. When she got to the gilded wooden door, she pressed the doorbell. 

She did not expect Vi to answer the door. 

Vi looked surprised to see her as well, still dressed in nothing but a tank top and her underwear. Cassandra raised an eyebrow. 

“Cait– your mom’s here!” she called out from behind her. 

“Just let her in!” Her daughter called out faintly from inside the apartment. 

Vi flashed her a sheepish grin as she opened the door wide, before disappearing in one of the other interior rooms. Cassandra made her way past the hallway to the living room area– a sparsely decorated room with just the usual couch, side table, lamps, and bookcase. She didn’t want to fight with her daughter about her modest furnishing choices anymore, she had come to accept that Caitlyn just doesn’t like the glamor of it all. 

Caitlyn appeared soon enough, hair still wet, a towel across her shoulders as she dried her hair, wearing her silk camisole and pajamas. “Mum, what brings you here?” 

Cassandra set down the box of clothes as well as the dessert on the wooden table next to her. “Just wanted to drop these by. I haven’t seen you in a while since you’ve been busy, so I just came by to say hi.” 

“Of course. Do you want some tea?” 

“Please.” 

They were seated in the living room, a cup of hibiscus tea in a ceramic teacup. Caitlyn opened the box of clothes, taking the skirt in her hands. “Oh the hemline in this one is much better than before.” 

Cassandra cleared her throat. She turned her eye to the side, making sure she and her daughter were alone. “So um, darling, what is Vi doing here? Doesn’t she have her own place downtown?” 

The look on her daughter’s face was like a deer caught in the headlights. “Uh, she moved in here just a little while ago.” 

Cassandra pursed her lips. So it was getting serious. “You may just find yourself in a position to er– explain your relationship to others eventually. Now I know you are perfectly capable of handling yourself–” 

‘Mum–” 

“--I just think that you could use some–” 

“Mum! I get it!” The tone in her daughter’s voice desperate to have this conversation over. 

“I know–” Caitlyn couldn’t meet her eyes, her gaze locked on Cassandra’s teacup. “--some part of you is still apprehensive about this whole thing and I get it. But I’ve never been so sure about anyone as with Vi.”

Deep down, she knew her daughter was right. 

Cassandra was taught by her parents and grandparents how much responsibility she carried since the Kiramman name always got passed to the females in the family. Tobias was not from a family as high in stature as the Kirammans, but they have also had a long history and he was trained as a doctor by profession, so he had his own merit. She had instilled this long ago to Caitlyn, who to her dismay didn’t care about carrying this legacy–she was determined to carve her own path despite being a Kiramman. 

Maybe part of it was bitterness. Caitlyn was never weighed down by that responsibility, while Cassandra did not see herself have any other choice. But shouldn’t be happy her daughter had her own choices? 

Vi was a good person, Cassandra could see it from all the times she had come over the estate. She can see why her daughter would fall in love with someone who was so different, yet held the same values deep down. Knowing how serious the two were getting, Cassandra could only think of one thing. But she couldn’t antagonize her daughter, even for all their differences, she loved her so. That was the clincher in being a mother. 

For all her thoughts, Cassandra chose then to smile and put a hand on top of her daughter’s. “You better prepare her for what Kirammans do.” 

Seeing her daughter break into a smile was enough. For all the times they fought before, Cassandra wanted none of that anymore. She would be the support her daughter never got growing up. It was not too late. 

/

That evening, they had dinner with one of their aristocratic friends at their estate. It was Mr. and Mrs. Crawley, whose family had been in the textile business for generations. 

Over the main course, Mr. Crawley addressed Cassandra, holding his fork up. “How is it like having your daughter as the sheriff? I imagine all this time, I tell Mrs. Crawley, it would be a nightmare of someone of our stature to do work beneath us like that.” 

The nerve! 

Cassandra never had anything against upper society, but the way he spoke reminded her how dangerous that kind of thinking was. This was the same culture that drove her daughter away from taking conventional choices. Cassandra didn't notice how tight her grip was in her fork, until Tobias extended his hand to touch hers in assurance. 

“I admit, being an enforcer and rising up the ranks as the sheriff isn’t something either of us planned for Caitlyn. But she’s been doing a really good job at it, don’t you think? The force for once is serving its constituents as it should.” She admired her knack at coming up with measured responses on the fly. It has never failed her. 

“Being the sheriff is an honorable thing, it’s not a job for everyone.” Tobias added quickly with a grin. She admired how he was always the calmer one between the two of them. 

“But Caitlyn is at that age where she should be out in society and settling down. That’s what our daughters did after they became of age.” Mrs. Crawley added, taking a fat slice from the steak. 

Mr. Crawley chided, “Instead, you hear all this nonsense about her and that lowlife enforcer–”

“Could you imagine that actually working out?” 

“A shame to the Kiramman name surely–” 

Cassandra rammed her fist down, still holding her fork. “Enough.” 

The couple froze, not expecting Cassandra to speak anything but pleasantries. Tobias turned to her, a mix of surprise yet gratefulness at the interruption. He also couldn’t stand hearing all this talk about their daughter. 

“So what if they’re–together?” She did not think she would ever utter those words out loud, yet when she did, she knew she believed in them. She could almost hear a pin drop in the silence that ensued.

“My daughter’s love life is none of any of your business as far as I’m concerned. We’ve always encouraged her to be true to herself in her career and life choices.” She relished in the tongue tied look of the couple –every millisecond of it. 

She went on, “Also, you’re no judge to speak of Vi’s character, not having known her. I’ve met aristocratic Piltovans who are less the person that Vi is, sad to say.” 

The ball was back in her park. This was their home, and no slander should be made towards the family. Cassandra felt triumph in her shoulders. “Dessert, anyone?” 

When their guests finally left, Tobias turned to her, that same twinkle in his eyes as when they first met. “That was amazing, dear. Guess that’s the last dinner the Crawleys would have in this home,” he chuckled. 

She could be a little harsh on her own daughter but nobody else has that right. “I’m spent, dear. Let’s call it a night.” 

“How was Cait when you dropped by earlier?” 

To her surprise, all that came in Cassandra’s mind then was that Caitlyn already found a home with someone who cared, protected, and loved her the way she did. “She’s doing well. Vi moved into her apartment.” 

“So I heard,” he chuckled. She glared at him –she was the last to know? 

Tobias did not notice any of it but instead put an arm around her, as he guided her back up to their bedroom. “I was always telling Cait that it doesn’t look like it but you’d defend them in a heartbeat.” 

“You give me way too much credit, dearest.” She patted his arm. Yet as they walked up the stairs, Cassandra knew he was right. They just knew before she did. 

Chapter Text

Handle myself (Pt. I)

Caitlyn felt her heart sink at the realization of what her next few weeks would be. 

Back-to-back council hearings, overseeing the reports of the forensics team, greenlighting budget approvals, and screening the enforcer application process in the station all meant one thing –more desk duty. This meant less time spent out in the field. This meant less time to see Vi. But she had to take it all in as this was part of the job after all. 

In one of the evenings she extended past work hours, she had to blow off plans she had made with the enforcer. 

“That really can’t wait huh?” Vi leaned against her door frame. 

“No it can’t. I’m sorry.” 

“How about if I stay at your place and wait?” 

“I’m going to crash the moment I get home. I’ll be no fun.”

Sifting through heaps of papers in manila envelopes, she didn’t have time to register that Vi had already disappeared in her doorway. Her disappearance left a hollowness in her chest which she couldn’t afford to dwell on for too long. 

What Caitlyn couldn’t handle was Vi’s need to be protective and how she felt stifled by it even more despite the good intentions. During the following week when they ran to each other in the pantry for a coffee break, she knew the kind of act that Vi would pull. 

“So we have rounds in Zaun later near the marketplace. I put in a word that it would be good if you came with us.” 

Caitlyn froze, suddenly conscious of her hands wrapped in her mug. She hated sometimes that Vi was so able to tell without her even saying anything. She must have looked miserable holed up in her private office the past weeks. 

“What makes you think I need to be there?” she replied a little sharply. “I think you and the team can handle that hmm?” 

“You could use some time out of the office.” 

“Sorry, but you don’t get to decide what’s best for me.” Caitlyn was surprised those words spilled out. For a second, she thought she sounded like her mother. 

Vi’s face said it all. Wow. But Caitlyn didn’t have time to process anything because the deadlines were looming over her head like a ticking time bomb. 

/

When it came for the long-planned warehouse raid, Caitlyn couldn’t contain her inner excitement. 

That day, she was in her spec-ops gear – blue beret, blue vest, pouches everywhere for ammunition, any other gear they needed. They were riding the truck that had six of her other closest enforcers. Vi was seated across from her, in the same blue spec-ops gear, her hextech gauntlets setting her apart from everyone else. 

At these times, she avoided gazing into her partner’s eyes. Today, Vi was looking at her reassuringly. She couldn’t afford the distraction, especially today of all days. She did not need her help. It was stifling, not being able to have the same freedom Vi had given her position in the force. She still can do field missions. Vi just didn’t understand. 

They had arrived at the destination, an old warehouse in the warehouse district of Piltover. There were already blockades in place at the nearest streets as she had ordered. With the warrants ready, all that was needed was to bust the operations inside. 

Caitlyn insisted on going to the front line. Two of her enforcers used a battering ram to take down the front door. The hinges gave out, showing a warehouse with rows and crates of an illegal plant-like substance. 

Caitlyn gave hand signals for a group of her enforcers to start checking and confiscating the items. She signaled for Vi and the rest of the enforcers to follow her as they explored the warehouse deeper. 

She went up the warehouse mezzanine, aware of Vi on her heels. She looked below as the enforcers worked, seizing up the illegal material, yet she could not ignore the presence of Vi next to her. Vi, whom she blew off for the past weeks in favor of her work, yet never called her out for it.  Vi who was always still looking out for her even if she did not ask. Why was she treating her this way? 

“You’re pushing yourself in this case,” Vi commented. 

“We have had this operation planned months ago. It cannot go wrong. As sheriff, I have to see it through.” she was desperately looking below as a distraction. 

“It’s been so hard to reach you lately…I’m really glad you’re here.” Vi lowered her voice as if anyone else could hear their conversation. 

Caitlyn felt her chest tighten. Not now. “Please don’t act like it was my choice not to be out here. It’s my duty.”

Vi looked almost offended. “Sorry if I only wanted to look out for you–” 

“I can handle myself, okay?” Caitlyn didn’t mean for it to come so loaded when it did. Vi stayed in her place when Caitlyn took steps forward. 

“Cait–”

Caitlyn was distracted from her thoughts when she heard a group of enforcers shout below. She stormed past the metal stairs to the ground floor to see what it was about. At the back entrance of the warehouse, there was a small group of Zaunite rogues in unkempt clothing, holding something in their hands. How did they get here? 

Things started to happen really fast. There was shouting –her enforcers? The Zaunites? Enforcers pointing their guns at the rogues. Caitlyn had her hand in her hextech rifle, ready to shoot her net. Some of the Zaunites threw the objects in the grounds and made a run for it. More people were shouting. 

“Get back!” An enforcer shouted. 

The objects fizzed and the next thing happened so fast – explosions emanating from the objects, lighting up the crates of plant substance, igniting the next crate and the next. 

Caitlyn froze. She had seen this before. Her mind told her to run, but she completely shut down, her body betraying her like some sick joke. One by one, the crates started to explode a few seconds after being engulfed in fire. Around her, the enforcers were abuzz, running back. Masses of bodies whirring in her periphery. 

Flames were swirling before her eyes, dancing their fight song, creeping closer. Ten meters, five meters. Why was she still frozen? She knew any of these would be exploding seconds from now. Somehow in the depths of her mind, what she heard were the same childish laughing sounds before an explosion similar to this. Uncanny. Spine-chilling. Make them stop. 

I can handle myself okay? Her last thoughts were her words echoing in her head, mocking her. 

Her world ablaze in fire and smoke, Caitlyn thought that would be the last thing she ever will see. In a split second, a giant blunt force pushed her away from the explosion. 

Catch you when you fall (Pt. II)

Vi watched as Caitlyn slept peacefully, back at her partner’s apartment. 

She had her head in her hands as she sat next to her partner, the day’s events still reeling in her mind. 

It had been the first time she would be with Caitlyn on the field again after weeks of desk duty. Caitlyn had been guarded recently with the way she hid behind her work and blew off some of their plans. It was no secret to Vi how much she loved being out there doing the field work, so Vi could understand why she acted so cold. Even if she had been harsh, Vi couldn’t hold that against her. 

The explosion was another thing. How the rogue Zaunites got there flew by the enforcer’s heads like they were expecting the raid was still something they would have to investigate. Someone tipped them off.  Everything happened so fast and thankfully nobody got hurt. Most of the evidence was destroyed by the fire and subsequent explosions that blew out. That was a problem they would have to deal with later. 

What bothered Vi was Caitlyn freezing up at the sight of the explosions. She had no idea it was that bad. If Vi hadn’t been there right next to her–she didn’t want to finish the thought. 

Her eyes darted to Caitlyn’s sleeping body. Just wearing her silk camisole and underwear, she could see the scar that ran down the side of her thigh, as well as the one in her upper arm. They were barely visible on her porcelain skin, but Vi knew of its existence no matter how much she tried to cover them up. 

My sister caused this, she realized in horror–a guilt she cannot seem to place. 

From her peripheral vision, she saw Caitlyn stir. But she saw this was different, her eyebrows were furrowed, her face looked in pain, and she was taking stabs of breathing. A nightmare? Vi rested careful hands on her side. 

“It’s okay, I’m here.” Vi tried her best to be calm.

Soon enough, her eyes opened, scanning the room until she met Vi’s gaze. It was only then when labored breaths calmed down, her face losing that panicked expression. Vi did not expect what came next– Caitlyn sitting up, throwing her arms around her, sinking her weight deep against her chest. 

Vi wrapped her arms back, squeezing her partner tighter. If Vi was honest, she needed this too. After pushing Caitlyn away from the explosion, Caitlyn tried her best to act like nothing was wrong and none of it had happened. She wouldn’t even talk to her even when she insisted she come home with her at her apartment. Vi wanted nothing more than to make sure she was feeling safe. 

“I’m sorry,” Vi knew Caitlyn was trying to hold in tears even without seeing her face, the way her voice tightened up. “I was being hard on you for no reason. You saved me–again.” 

“Hey, you know I’m always here,” she gently assured her partner. 

“I still treated you like dirt and you didn’t deserve that.” Vi felt the shame of her partner. She just squeezed her tighter, letting themselves sit in comfortable silence. 

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks, but what’s important is that you’re safe and alright.” Vi heard sniffles from her partner. “Cait–I didn’t know.” 

Hearing Caitlyn’s voice threatening to break was the worst sound in the world she would ever hear. “I thought I was ready to face something like that. It’s been a while, but it never really leaves you.” 

She understood what she meant. Vander’s voice in her head, Powder’s laugh in better times were all things that never left Vi after all these years. The feeling of failing to protect those she cared about –that gnawing guilt. The knot in her chest tightened. 

She pulled back, cupping Caitlyn’s face in her hand. “Don’t worry, that doesn’t make you weak.” 

Caitlyn tore away from her hand and wouldn’t meet her eyes. Vi had not felt that helpless before. She inadvertently caused her pain – this stabbed her in the heart. 

Frustration laced her words, “What kind of sheriff does this make me?” 

There it was. 

Caitlyn always craved control. Hell, to Vi that’s what made her such an effective sheriff –the way she always came prepared and knew how to handle the situations in her own methodical way. But if there’s something Vi learned all those years in Zaun, it is that the world doesn’t bend to anyone, no matter how you prepare yourself for it. She can only imagine that Caitlyn feeling that she was losing control had driven her to her breaking point. 

“You don’t always have to be out there, even if you want to.” The way Caitlyn couldn’t hold her gaze just then told her that she said the right thing. “You’re doing a great job. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone or to me.” 

Vi lay on bed, waiting for her partner to follow suit, facing her. She stroked her cheek. “Right now, I don’t want the sheriff. I want her. Cait. And tell her that it’s going to be okay. I’ll be here to hold her hand through it all.”

Just centimeters apart, it was visible to Vi when her partner’s blue eyes started to water. She blinked them away. 

“It’s okay to let go, I’ll catch you when you fall.” 

Caitlyn, without words, just buried her head in Vi’s chest until Vi realized she was already asleep, her chest rising and falling at the same pace as hers. Lying there next to her, she felt small and frail, so unlike the image she projected onto herself. 

When Caitlyn was the sheriff, she had gotten the reputation for being authoritative, strong-willed, and confident –Vi had seen that side of her many times when they were together at work. But Vi also knew the Caitlyn that was scared out of her wits but dived headfirst anyway–part of what made Vi adore her when they first met. The Caitlyn who made mistakes even with her well-placed intentions and learned from it. That was the Caitlyn she had fallen in love with, and that was the Caitlyn she would protect with all her heart. 

Vi put a protective arm around her, pulling her close. No monsters will hurt you when I’m here. 

Bubble bath 

Caitlyn watched her toes appear and disappear from the bubbly bath tub water. 

The bath tub at the hotel was hexagonal-shaped, painted gold. Next to her was a stained glass window that gave the bathroom this magnificent glow. 

Across her was Vi watching her with an amused face. Bubble baths took time but now Caitlyn just wanted to disappear from her work responsibilities and just take it slow. 

“Want a massage?” Vi offered. Caitlyn just scooted across the water until she had her back to the other girl. Vi’s strong arms gently worked her way on her shoulders, down her back. She knew how to give a massage. She found herself closing her eyes at the pressure relief she felt. 

“Do you ever think about…marriage?” Caitlyn broke the silence. The kneading in her back stopped. 

“Not really my thing. Why’d you ask?” Caitlyn could hear unease in the other girl’s voice.

“Not my thing either. I just grew up hating the idea especially with things being matriarchal so that meant my mum was all over my ear from the moment I was old enough to be introduced into society. That sort of thing.” Recalling it now seemed silly to her, but Caitlyn loathed all those times growing up. 

“Who were the people they tried to set you up with?” Vi started working her hands on her back again. 

“All kinds. Boys were really mean and I never thought any of them were mature enough or worth my time. I think that’s why when I got old enough, I started sneaking these society girls in the house. Irritate my mum a bit.” A smile formed on Caitlyn’s lips at the memory. 

“How did she take it?” 

“We fought about it, the usual. Eventually she accepted and tried to match me with some daughters of her society friends. Mind you this was all done in the discrete way aristocratic families do. A lot of talking behind your back and the next thing you know they’re coming over to meet you and all of that. But by that time I was already training to be on the force. I couldn’t be more interested in dating or any of that.” 

“So what’s this talk about marriage then?” 

Caitlyn pursed her lips. The thought was just so crazy and she didn’t know how Vi would take it but she never would even get to this point if she didn’t trust her partner. “In Piltover law, there’s a marriage deed– it’s just a formal transfer of titles. That means that property gets shared and partners get full rights should anything bad happen, the whole thing.”

Vi stopped massaging then and there. “What are you saying–” 

Caitlyn turned to face her partner. Vi started losing that bravado by the millisecond. “We could just get our names on paper, it doesn't mean anything. No ceremonies since neither of us likes that. But I want you to be a part of this, of everything I have.”

Vi’s eyes searched hers. In the stained glass light, Caitlyn could almost connect the dots across the freckles on her cheeks. 

“But I don’t care about material things and all this.” 

Caitlyn’s eyes darted to the soapy water of the bathtub. “If anything should happen to me, it would give me so much peace of mind to know you’ll be okay. You’ll have a home, a family – Mum and Dad already adore you. You won’t have to run away ever again.”

When she met Vi’s gaze again, she looked deep in thought. It was that elephant in the room ever since she got her job and that frightened Caitlyn even if she never brought it up with anyone. 

From Vi’s countenance, Caitlyn thought she blew it. It was too soon and the idea was too crazy. It was to her surprise that Vi’s hands guided her to lean against her on the tub, warm skin against the cold bubbly waters. 

“If that’s what you want, then sure. Just no fancy ceremonies and all of that. Just words on paper.” Vi said as she held Caitlyn’s hands above the tub water. 

Caitlyn turned to her in astonishment and gave her partner a soft kiss before nestling against her chest. “Violet Kiramman,” words that curled her lips into a smile. 

“Oh that does sound nice, cupcake.” Vi teased, back to her usual cool self. “Must have driven your mother crazy, all the hard work matching you with stiff upper class Pilties for you to find the most street hardened Zaunite to bring home.” 

Caitlyn burst in laughter. “Oh you have no idea.” 

Vi suddenly stiffened against her. “Does this mean we’re moving in together?” 

I know your heart 

Vi was working on a punching bag at the back of one of the empty Zaun bars. 

Left jab, right jab, left hook. Sidestep. Repeat. Sweat was dripping down her nape, dripping to the floor, her wrapped hands already brown from the dust in the punching bag. At this time of the day, she usually had the place to herself.

When she heard boots on the wooden floors, she straightened up. One punch. She braced herself for a brawl, as things usually start when people converse in Zaun – squaring her shoulders, fixing her stance. 

She did not expect that upon her turn she would see her. 

Vi turned back to her punching bag, dusting off her hands. She controlled her expression the next time she turned, and she took her sight in. Caitlyn looked the same even if years had passed – indigo hair, sharp eyes, high cheekbones. The glaring difference was the way she carried herself, posture rigid but grounded in certainty unlike the first time she met her as a rank and file officer. She was wearing the blue and white uniform, leather sleeves, and that silly top hat. 

“Vi,” her voice still that same posh, upper-class Piltovan. 

“ Sheriff ,” she emphasized. She was not blind to the news of Caitlyn’s ascension less than six months ago– even that reached the streets of Zaun. “I don’t think it suits you being down here. You’re not exactly here to grab a drink. Bar is closed.” 

Caitlyn’s body language was closed off –she was on guard, Vi thought. 

“I was told that I’d find you here,” she started pacing now in the empty bar. “I need your help.” 

Vi did not expect those words. “What does sheriff cupcake need me for?” 

The mention of the old pet name was enough to bring a momentary disarming look on the sheriff’s face before she reverted back to business. “The only way to truly keep the peace in the city is for the force to represent the city’s best interest. Nobody knows Zaun more than you Vi. The force could use someone like you.” 

Vi almost laughed. Caitlyn knew what happened to her so this proposition was absurd, laughable even. It must have shown in her face for Caitlyn’s eyebrows to twitch. “In what mad world would I work with the force?” 

Recognition in her wording reflected back on the sheriff’s face, but she was quick to regain composure. 

“Enforcers have been corrupt for the longest time. In my first months on the job I did my best to weed them out, only to keep the ones truly dedicated in serving the people’s best interests. But that’s not enough. The only way true peace will ensue is if the force not only works for Piltover’s best interest, but also Zaun’s. What better way than to get the best of Zaun for the job?”

“I know you, Vi. You’re always had a good heart and you want to protect those around you. We believe in the same things. You can help prevent crime on the streets, give these people in Zaun someone to look up to.” 

We believe in the same things. Memory too painful to unearth came with its strings of feeling. It was a tough proposition, Vi had been content just being a drifter, without anyone to answer to. But the way her heart awakened in that bar, tugging at the invisible string that always connected her to the sheriff even after all this time. 

“There’s also the case of- Jinx.” The moment Caitlyn said her name, Vi felt an involuntary reaction inside of her. “There’s no word of her in Zaun for a while now. We’ve been keeping intelligence on high profile threats to the city. If she were to resurface again, she would be taken down by the law and answer for her crimes. I’m not sure I can promise anything, because I can’t change the law.”

“You want me to be there by your side when she does show up,” Vi finished, the sheriff’s proposition clicking into place finally. 

Caitlyn nodded. A million thoughts swirled in Vi’s head. 

No mercy for her sister unless she handles the situation before it can escalate out of their hands. She would have to give up a lot to do this kind of work, with what it demanded of her. But real change is possible with Caitlyn. Despite it all, she believed in her and the good that she sought out to do. Caitlyn. 

She shut her eyes, trying to drown them out before she opened them again. She walked up to Caitlyn and held out her hand. Caitlyn took it, Vi feeling that almost magnetic force between them at first contact. “I’m only agreeing because of you. I would never work with any other Piltie or become an enforcer otherwise.” 

“That’s fine by me,” Caitlyn said. 

Vi went back to her punching bag and picked up her jacket on the floor. She realized Caitlyn was still standing there, unmoving. Her presence was incredibly hard to ignore, drawing Vi in every damn time. 

“Why did you leave?” Vi’s breath hitched. She looked down. She wanted to forget she ever did, but the night, clear as yesterday, ran through her head – the way she just left one night when Caitlyn was sleeping. Not a single word, not even goodbye. She could only imagine what that does to someone. 

“I-I don’t know why now. But before, I just knew I couldn’t deal with it. With us. All while chasing my sister.” She wore her jacket and turned around. “I’m sorry.”

“If you’re going to leave again, Vi. Please have the decency to say goodbye.” Caitlyn firmly said. It sounded like an order – like she was the sheriff’s subordinate.

She scoffed. “You never bothered looking for me all those years.” Releasing those words out loud hit her that she was just as hurt. 

“I did. I asked someone to keep tabs on you, that you’re safe. For me that was enough.” 

Vi felt her chest tighten. “And you didn’t bother to even say hi?” 

“I was hurt, Vi. I poured myself into work hoping to forget but I can’t. I can’t and I don’t want to fight this any longer. I know you feel the same.” 

“So what are we now? You know us. We can never be just–friends,” she admitted. 

The heaviness in the air was palpable. Caitlyn didn’t move, her blue eyes searching for an answer. “I know. Then let’s start over.” 

Her forwardness surprised Vi, prompting her to raise an eyebrow. Some things have changed since they were last together. Could they work this time? Now not just two misfits, but as workmates. It hit Vi that their differences never stopped them before. 

“Alright.” 

She walked towards the sheriff, unfazed by how taller she was with her top hat on. She circled Caitlyn and with one arm she pulled her close to her, causing the sheriff’s hat to topple over – their stomachs touching. Caitlyn’s cheeks were suddenly pink like her hair. Vi smiled –she got her. 

“You’re hot, cupcake.” 

All your mornings 

Vi rubbed at her eyes as she woke from slumber, turning her head to the side. 

It hit her that she was in Caitlyn’s room – the expensive furnishings, the scent of jasmine in the air, the indigo head of hair belonging to the sheriff as she slept next to her. But this time, Vi wasn’t just crashing. 

Home. She was in her new home –a word Vi could not comprehend. 

She stared at the ceiling, thinking how she got here. The idea of moving together was easy enough, but when it came to it, Vi realized how new she was to it all. Even in her apartment in Piltover, she didn’t have many belongings so that wasn’t really an issue to her. But physically sharing your space with someone proved to be quite the challenge for her. 

Caitlyn had all these rituals – morning rituals, after breakfast rituals, after work rituals, before bed rituals, that kind of drove Vi crazy. She just put on whatever and went on with her day. Caitlyn also had a strict breakfast regimen or else she could not go about her day, while Vi would take whatever she can get for breakfast– if she even decided to take it at all. 

She had never given much thought to things like this. Still, Vi loved learning more about Caitlyn this way. 

She thought further back. Just two months ago, she became a Kiramman by name. Vi still remembered the multitude of emotions swimming inside her as Caitlyn and her had written their names in the marriage deed when they had a private room to themselves at the city hall. 

To Vi, it felt like the invisible string that tied the two of them together ever since they had met had finally materialized in the flesh. Caitlyn was her tether not just to Piltover, but to her own kindness, her humanity that she did not know still existed after Stillwater. 

While what Caitlyn said was right and it was just a legally binding contract, for Vi a lot of things changed. She was no longer a drifter, she had a family, share of a home. She knew the thinking behind Caitlyn’s suggestion and it pulled at her core for Caitlyn to want to give her that. She was always thoughtful that way. 

While they weren’t really doing any public displays of affection to announce themselves as a couple, for Vi, the marriage deed was the next step for them together. It was still a public deed so if anyone did digging around public records were bound to see it. Caitlyn was willing to do that for them. It was such a subtle yet big step in their relationship. 

When Caitlyn stirred, Vi turned to her side to watch her. Her features were very sharp –long  nose, high angular cheekbones, and her narrow piercing blue eyes. Anyone who didn’t know Cait personally would have thought she was intimidating or arrogant even. The irony was, despite it all, she was the kindest person Vi had ever met. How could the world conspire to grace her with such a great human being? How did she deserve such a beautiful soul coming into her life–taking her head over heels and pulling her out of her depths?

Caitlyn opened her eyes, realizing Vi was looking at her. “What are you staring for?” 

Vi didn’t realize she had a grin plastered on her face. “I love waking up next to you.”

“Even if my morning rituals drive you mad?” Caitlyn was the one smiling now. Vi had no words for how much she adored that gap between her teeth. Imperfectly beautiful was how she always saw Caitlyn–her Caitlyn. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“I’d take all of your mornings, Cait.” Vi reached out a hand, stroking her cheek –becoming a common gesture of affection they did for each other. Home wasn’t a place –it was wherever she was. 

Christmas lights

It was December and snow was falling in debris, covering the streets of Piltover in thin sheets of white. 

Frost was decorating the outside window of Caitlyn’s office while she was still holed up inside the station, seeing through the backlog of last month’s budget spending. Laser focused on her task, she did not realize that she was staying past office hours. 

Vi leaned against her open office door, already dressed to leave –her red canvas jacket over her enforcer uniform. She did this often, trying to end work a little later so she could catch Caitlyn when there wasn’t anybody else in the station. “You got any plans for tonight?” 

“I just have to finish this before I can think about the rest of tonight.” She couldn't tear her eyes away from the report, afraid her momentum might get lost at any break. 

“It’s Christmas Eve apparently. Maybe you’d want to do something fun…” 

It was?

“I lost track of the day. Don’t you do any of those traditions?” For once, she stared at her partner. Vi’s face was a frown as she shook her head. 

“For real? Not even in Zaun?” 

“It was like any other day.” Vi shrugged and directed her attention to the display case where Caitlyn kept her rifles.  “Don’t you have those Piltovan traditions or something?” 

“My family yes. But I haven’t really spent much of the holidays back home. Most of those traditions felt too stuffy for me anyway.” She turned to another folder, scanning the numbers printed on ink. She did not realize that she had left silence to fill the space. 

“I guess I’ll get going. Might be a snow storm coming.” Vi put on another layer of coat to brave herself for the weather. It took Caitlyn a few seconds for it to register that Vi had already left. 

Caitlyn felt something settle in her gut. She dropped the folder in her hands, realizing what she was letting slip. This was Vi’s first Christmas in Piltover since moving. Work could wait any other day. Any day but today. For Vi. 

She quickly stood up, grabbed her long coat and scarf in the coat rack and ran outside her office. The station was already empty given how late it was. Hurriedly putting on her coat and wrapping around her scarf, she opened the station doors seeing how Piltover was already blanketed in ankle-deep snow, flakes falling and resting on her shoulders. The wind howling, a beast of its own. 

She started walking the curb, the path she knew Vi walked home to her apartment. It was already late at night so the streets were deserted as Caitlyn braved the winds and the cold. Visibility was getting low and she was starting to worry if she made the right choice to run after Vi. 

Thoughts started occupying her head to distract from the fact that the cold was getting to her. 

Can we even work? Can I handle the mounting pressure of the job while having Vi in the picture? Can we be ourselves even if I’m a public figure?  Is there a future for us together? 

In a wisp of wind, she saw her, a hooded figure who had her hands in her pockets. Less than three meters from her. 

“Vi, wait–” her voice ripped through the dry night air. 

Somehow it made its way to her partner’s ears. Vi stopped and turned around. Caitlyn fought through the snow at her feet and trudged her to reach her partner. 

“What are you–Caitlyn you’re freezing.” 

“Just because I don’t follow my family’s traditions,” she panted, ignoring Vi’s reply. “Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have our own.” 

She saw Vi’s breath hitch even through the snow fall. Her partner flashed her a warm smile, enough to melt all the snow beneath their feet. The reaction was enough for Caitlyn. The things she would give Vi, the world if she could. 

“What do you have in mind?” Vi spoke when she got over the gesture. 

In her haste, Caitlyn realized she had no plan. But for once, she wanted to embrace the uncertainty the way Vi would. “Let’s make it up along the way.” 

Vi broke into her beautiful smile. “I like the sound of that. Okay let’s get out of this cold.” 

Vi held her arm out and Caitlyn linked hers as they made their way to Vi’s apartment. 

When they passed Piltover’s park, the snow fell and they started to relax, as if to grace them a peaceful night. The sidewalk was lined with Christmas lights strung across the lamp posts–bulbs that glowed a magnificent yellow-orange, a beacon of warmth amid the cold blue night. 

Vi slowed her steps and stood under the web of lights above them, watching in awe. Were there also lights like this in Zaun? Under the orange glow, Caitlyn realized having the other girl in her life was the best gift she could have for Christmas. She would not take that for granted. 

She put her arms around her neck, closing the gap between them for her to feel her warm breath on her skin. Exhale. Exhale. Vi’s gaze dropped to her lips and she leaned in for a kiss. 

Biting wind blew against them but there they were– two people madly in love, sharing a kiss only they knew. Circumstances around them were uncertain, ephemeral. But what Caitlyn was certain about in that moment was how with Vi’s lips on her, her heartbeat paced faster, and the warmth spread inside of her until it matched the orange glow of the Christmas lights. That had to count for something. 

Ten minutes

Caitlyn was trying her best not to get distracted during the forensic presentation of one of the enforcers. They were in the presentation room, with a chalkboard in the front, and rows and rows of wooden chairs with desks for people to listen in and take notes. 

That day, evidence of a new gang was being presented by Loyford and Jensen. But all Caitlyn could think about was the black tattoo in Vi’s neck as she was sitting next to her. Why did she look so good in uniform? Caitlyn drummed her fingers on the wooden desk built in the chair. 

Caitlyn tugged at her collar. Vi turned to her and gave a wink, sending Caitlyn further down in that spiral of heat. 

Memories of the previous night came back like a deluge. Caitlyn straddling Vi on a chair, Vi’s firm hands around her waist, the taste of Vi’s lips. Caitlyn working her way down, lips on Vi’s neck, her tattoo. The heat between them from their bodies pressed together. Caitlyn thought moving in together would help lessen moments like this, surely if they spent more time together it would solve the problem. How she was so wrong. 

“You okay?” Vi, in a hushed concerned tone. 

She curtly nodded and pretended to fix her attention to the presentation in front. Vi was too quick to catch notice. She dangled her arm over the desk in her chair, her fingers grazing Caitlyn’s thigh. This was just cruel. 

Caitlyn pushed her hand away and crossed her legs. This did not stop the throbbing feeling in her core. Caitlyn shut her eyes but all she could see were flashes and glimpses of Vi’s tattoos, different positions, different lighting, all the same igniting this fire inside of her. 

“What do you think, Sheriff Kiramman?” 

Jensen’s voice tethered her back to the present. She shakily stood up and cleared her throat. “I think we should take a closer look at the people they work with. We cannot afford any holes in the investigation, try to cover as much ground as we can.” 

Loyford nodded. “Very well, sheriff.” He started giving assignments to the other enforcers as well as their research staff. When the people in the room started leaving, Caitlyn went on her way – trying her best to ignore the flurry of her body’s reactions. She had to keep it professional. 

She did not expect an arm to pull her towards the small, dimly lit broom closet. Stupefied, she was face to face with Vi, who had such a smug look on her face. 

“I got you all hot didn’t I?” She wanted nothing more than wipe that satisfaction off her face. 

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, trying to pass off nonchalance. “Seriously, the broom closet?” 

Vi shrugged. “Gilda told me she wouldn’t need it this morning.”

Between the two of them and the small enclosed space they found themselves in, it was almost unbearable now for Caitlyn to ignore. How badly she wanted her right then and there. It drove her crazy how close she was to caving in. Vi was already making her way under her dress uniform, unbuckling her leather pants. Caitlyn squeezed her arm, the small rational part of her thought she could still fight this. “Wait–” 

“Do you seriously want to wait?” 

There was no winning with Vi around. She sighed. 

What were ten minutes anyway? 

Belonging 

“Violet, would you be a dear and help me with this?” 

Vi broke free from her thoughts. It had been a busy and overwhelming moment for Vi being so involved in Caitlyn’s birthday preparations. She felt her cheeks get red at the mention of her whole name, something Caitlyn’s mom had taken a liking to. Cassandra Kiramman was holding a catalogue as she approached her in the drawing room. 

Her slender finger pointed to different cakes of all sizes and shapes. “What would Caitlyn like?”

It hit Vi that Cassandra thought she would know better than herself. She pointed to the white and pink three layered cake with strawberries on top. “She likes strawberries.” 

Cassandra nodded and scribbled in a notepad with a fountain pen. Caitlyn had mentioned that her parents tend to go overboard whenever they celebrated her birthday and Vi was actually witnessing it for herself. The entire day, she saw party organizers, florists, seamstresses visit the Kiramman estate, all for Caitlyn’s birthday celebration that weekend. Caitlyn had said that this was already her parents toning it down–it was worse when she was growing up, something Vi had trouble wrapping her head around. 

“They should be back any moment now. I’ve asked for some tea on the patio.” Vi followed Cassandra to the patio in the back side of the house, overlooking a small garden and the back gate. Sure enough, tea was already served for two at the wooden table. 

Vi was still debating whether it’s proper to take a seat next to Cassandra when she saw two figures enter the garden, coming from the back gate. It was Caitlyn and her father, in their brown shooting attire, hunting boots on, with a rifle slung across their shoulders. Caitlyn had her hair in a messy ponytail, with a smile on her face only brought about by her hobby. 

“How was target practice, dear?” Cassandra sipped her tea in the chair. 

“I beat my old record, but Caitlyn here is just better.” Tobias looked on proudly at his daughter. 

Caitlyn eyes darted to Vi and put arm around her. There was the way her heart swelled whenever Caitlyn showed her affection in front of her parents. “How are you?”

“Just helping out your mom with the birthday preparations,” She looked at Cassandra who gave her an approving nod. 

Caitlyn turned to her mom, “You’re not giving Vi a hard time are you?” 

Cassandra chuckled. “Vi’s been the most helpful. Your party is shaping out to be wonderful.” 

Caitlyn sat down on the seat next to her mom, Vi wrapping her arms around her shoulders. 

“Girls before you get down to whatever it is you have doing. The family photographer is arriving in a few hours. Make sure you prepare accordingly.”

/

Vi lay upside down in Caitlyn’s bed as Caitlyn got dressed for the photograph. 

She still couldn’t believe sometime Caitlyn grew up in a room like that – marble beams, ornately carved wooden furniture, gilded trimmings in every crevice, and a ceiling that was adorned with a chandelier. It was at times like this when these details hit her that Vi found herself feeling small, something even she cannot admit to Caitlyn. 

“You do this a lot?” 

“Every year during my birthday or on special occasions.” Caitlyn was faced in her dresser mirror, snapping on her bra. “You?” 

Vi had a moment to think. The last time she had her photo formally taken was during her application as a part of the enforcers. Even further back– a mugshot? She wanted to bury herself in a hole at that moment.  “Not really, that isn’t for work.” 

Caitlyn was now buttoning her white and blue striped blouse – the signature Kiramman family apparel. Vi always thought she looked best wearing them. That day, it was a white blouse that went up to her elbows, a ruffled collar, blue vest with gold trimmings and a matching skirt. She was bent over now as she rolled up dark blue stockings over her legs. 

“We can get a photo later, if you like.” She was smoothening it out her stockings. “Just the two of us.” 

Vi sat up. “Only if it’s not a bother.” 

“It won’t be,” Caitlyn flashed her an assuring smile. “Also, here’s something for you.” She approached a gold box similar to the clothes she gets from the family’s tailor. She lifted the box to reveal the same striped shirt. “I got these done after we did dress fittings, since we already have your measurements. Might as well.” 

Vi walked over, taking in the smooth fabric in her hands. 

“Go on, try them on. You can wear them for the party.” Caitlyn encouraged. 

Vi took off her aviator jacket, leaving just her tank top. She put on the shirt and worked the buttons until she saw herself in the mirror. 

The gesture wasn’t lost to her –this was the traditional Kiramman colors. Yet somehow Vi felt like an outsider as she wore them. An impostor. She didn’t want to tell Caitlyn this –who tried her best to make her feel welcome in her family. 

Caitlyn’s reflection appeared over her shoulder. Vi made sure to roll up the sleeves up to her elbow. “You look great, as always.” 

“Pssh, when do I not?” 

/

Vi stood next to the photographer, a thin guy bent over the boxy camera on a stand.

The Kiramman family was posed at the foot of their staircase. There were upholstered chairs placed in the center as well as a few pieces of furniture. They were trying out different poses, alternating between who sat in the two wooden chairs. Just like Caitlyn, her parents were wearing the tailored Kiramman wear – white and blue with trimmings of gold. 

There was always something ‘othering’ being in a room with the Kirammans. Vi knew Caitlyn’s parents were nice, but just like every aristocratic Piltovan family, they had this invisible divide of them versus everyone else. For Vi, this was the most apparent moment – the way the photograph captures them as a family, almost immaculate even. It made sense, in that photo was a council woman and the sheriff. 

They finally settled on Tobias and Cassandra sitting on the chairs while Caitlyn stood next to her mother, her signature hextech rifle in her hand, leaning on the floor. Tobias had on a top hat similar to the one Caitlyn had for work. 

Watching them from afar, it always amazed Vi how unique Caitlyn looked in a sea of people. Her father and mother couldn’t look any more different, and seeing Caitlyn stand next to them, she could almost pick out which features her partner got from her father and mother. Beyond physical appearances, Vi knew she could also do the same with her mannerisms, that laidback gentleness from her father and the tight-lipped determination from her mother. So much of these thoughts erupted in Vi’s head as she looked on at the titular family. 

“Alright, three, two, one.” The photographer pressed a button, showing a quick flash. When the photo was taken, they were told to prepare for more. Caitlyn’s eyes met Vi’s in assurance.

“Let’s take another set, this time Miss Kiramman can try sitting close to Mr. Kiramman,” the photographer directed with his hand. 

“Wait,” Cassandra put up an authoritative finger, in question. Her eyes landed on Vi. “Can Vi join us for this one?” 

Vi felt her cheeks flush. Caitlyn looked at her with proud eyes, while she saw the photographer raise an eyebrow. Her hands went to straighten her tailored shirt as she took her place next to Caitlyn. 

“Can the young ladies stand behind Mr. and Mrs. Kiramman?” 

They followed as instructed, Caitlyn at her right. With Caitlyn wearing her heeled dress shoes, she was taller than Vi, who never felt smaller at that moment. Yet, she was on the other side of the camera, not just an onlooker. She wasn’t invisible. She would be seen. 

Vi put her hand on the back of the upholstered chair, conscious of where to place her hands. They probably were clammy from the sudden attention on her.  Caitlyn gave her hand a squeeze behind her back, only for the two of them to know. 

“Three, two, one.” 

Vi stared at the camera – a photograph not of necessity but because she belonged somewhere. 

Flash. 

She blinked away the glare from the camera lights. 

Caitlyn squeezing her hand brought her back to reality. “You okay?” 

Amazing how such a small gesture can have such a profound impact. Vi will keep this moment close to her heart, somewhere only she will know. 

She cocked an eyebrow, “So this is what it’s like being a Kiramman.”

Rescued

The enforcers were due a routine visit to Stillwater –it was all the whole station had been talking about the past week. 

Caitlyn checked the log at the enforcers who had signed up to be part of the visitors. Absent from the list was Vi’s name. A knot formed in her chest, she knew she would have to bring it up eventually with her partner. 

She waited for the right moment. Thankfully it was easier since they moved together in Caitlyn’s apartment. She waited until Vi got off her shift, standing in the women’s locker room, but Vi broke the silence first. 

“I’m going to drop by Zaun later, blow off steam.” Vi placed her gauntlets back in her locker. 

“Oh okay, later then.” Caitlyn stood a bit longer, but sensed the unease in her partner’s shoulders. She excused herself to go back to work. 

‘Blowing off steam’ was usually a shortcut for either drinking in the Zaun bars, hogging the sparring range, or anything Caitlyn could imagine one could do in Zaun that they couldn’t do in Piltover. Whatever it was, it just meant that it was something Vi did alone. While Vi and her visit Zaun to escape from time to time, Vi never bothered inviting Caitlyn whenever she went to blow off steam. Like it was something she wouldn’t understand. 

Caitlyn knew this was the side of Vi she couldn’t reach–the side that endured years of incarceration in Stillwater. She still cannot imagine what it must be like for her partner. 

When Caitlyn got back to the familiar walls of her apartment, she started making dinner – that night it was a meat pie. She ate alone, reading some of the council files to pass the time. The empty seat across from her was bothering her. She decided to pack up some of the food and set them aside for Vi later if she would want to reheat them. 

Caitlyn couldn’t deal with her thoughts so she went up and started boiling some Hibiscus tea. When she realized the tea had gone cold in her lap, she decided she couldn't wait any longer. After some night time routines, changing out into her sleepwear, she resigned herself to bed. 

The sound of the door opening and closing was enough to bring Caitlyn back from light sleep to consciousness. Vi was home. She was still when Vi entered the room, the sound of her dragging her feet across the linoleum. Vi sighed as she sat across Caitlyn, her back turned to her. Vi was already wearing a tank top and boxers that she usually wore when sleeping. Then she turned to kiss her goodnight when Vi realized she was awake. 

“You’re up?” Vi put a gentle hand on her cheek. 

Caitlyn propped herself up, her usual question after Vi left for the night “How was it?” 

“All good.” Vi replied usually along the same lines. 

But this time, Caitlyn wasn’t satisfied. She just didn’t know how to start but she tried to keep it as curious as possible. “What do you do to blow off steam?” 

“Like I told you, cupcake, all sorts of things. Boring stuff.” Vi shrugged, there was it again–that dismissal. Caitlyn’s eyes darted to her partner’s hands noticing how her knuckles were pink. 

“I want to know. You never tell me about it.” 

“Can we do it sometime else? It’s kinda late.” 

Kinda? It was three AM. Vi climbed next to her on the bed, pulling the sheets over her. 

Caitlyn was not sleeping until this was settled. “Vi, if this is about the Stillwater visit, you know you can talk to me.” 

Immediately she saw the pink-haired girl freeze up. The way her partner’s gaze changed as she stared up at the ceiling told Caitlyn all she needed to know. 

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Vi said, completely devoid of emotion. Dismissive. 

“You don’t have to go just because most of the other enforcers are. I want you to know that. I understand.” Caitlyn reached out and touched her arm, hoping to show how much she was there for her. 

Seeing Vi recoil suddenly was that knot in her chest again, twisting, tightening. Vi’s tight mask of emotion exploded into a look of frustration Caitlyn had never seen before.  “No you don’t understand. Nobody understands what it’s like being there. Being against your own will even when you didn’t do anything. Years of your life lost. It takes and takes from you until you’re a hollow shell and a sorry excuse of a person.”

Vi, immediately realizing how she lashed out, couldn’t meet Caitlyn’s eyes. A knife twisting in Caitlyn’s gut was better than seeing her partner like this. “I’m sorry Cait I–” 

Caitlyn reached out her hand and slipped Vi’s inside hers, fingers interlocking. “It’s okay Vi. I know it’s been really hard for you, but I want you to know that I’m here to help you when it gets too heavy.” She put her other hand on top of their interlocked hands. “I know I don’t understand everything yet, but I want to if you let me in. You know I’m always here for you.” 

Vi’s gray eyes glistened even in the dark bedroom. Caitlyn could see Vi struggle with the wave of emotion, with the way her eyes were moving around, searching for something, and the way her jaw twitched. 

Vi’s voice was fragile, unlike her usual bravado. “I got into a fight on my first day there. I was angry, lost, guilty, afraid. I just lost my sister and my–father.” As she spoke, her eyes were fixed at a distant point. Caitlyn just squeezed her hand tightly. “I was put there with actual criminals. I was barely a teenager. There was this convict who always picked on fresh meat, being the hot-head I was, tried to take him on a fight during cafeteria break. A full grown man.” 

She scoffed as she retold the story, yet her eyes still glistened. “Imagine that. Naturally I lost, even if I put up a good fight. But I took a beating. That’s how I got this,” her finger pointing to her eyebrow scar.  “He shoved me against the metal table. I think I passed out afterwards.” 

“Being stuck in a cell underground with just your thoughts was maddening. Mental and emotional pain can sometimes manifest itself physically, and being stuck in a cell amplified that. It was such a difficult time. The only time you’re free, you’re eating with people who either hate your guts or want you dead. Do you know how many people die in prison? I honestly don’t know how I survived that long. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.” Her voice was laced with something Caitlyn only heard now–disgust. 

She sighed, choosing to look at their intertwined hands this time. “If I was strong enough, nobody would get to me. If I was strong enough, that’s how I could defend myself. That’s why that’s just what I worked on, but it was also partly for survival. When I got a rep for being able to take a fight with a man twice my size –that’s how they start respecting you. In my last year, this one convict was an ex-tattoo artist. He was the reason I got my tattoos, I was imagining myself strong enough, the right cogs, machinery can do that –I thought. So that’s what I got.”

Caitlyn remembered all the times she fell asleep, tracing the ink across Vi’s back. Knowing now that it was how she believed herself to be stronger than she is, made her love it tenfold. 

“Is that what you do when you blow off steam?” she realized. 

Vi nodded in guilt. “The only way I learned to deal with emotions is always to make yourself the bigger person –that way you won’t get hurt. Sometimes it’s just me in the old sparring range. But sometimes, I take it out on thugs who have crossed the line. I’m sorry, this isn’t a good look on me I know.” 

Caitlyn thought back to times when she would come to work, knuckles more bloodied than usual, sometimes a bruise or cut that wasn’t present before. Running her fingers on her partner's knuckles, Vi hung her head low in both frustration and shame. “It was just the sparring range tonight, don’t worry.” 

When Caitlyn found the right words, she squeezed her hand tight. “You always go out of your way to keep me safe, to make sure I’m protected, and I adore you for that. I want to be your emotional support Vi, but that’s only going to work if you talk to me about it. You just turn into this brick wall when you’re having a hard time and I don’t know how to help. But now I understand. You just have to let me in.” She kissed their hands together. “

“But Cait, it’s so heavy sometimes I don’t want to give you that–” Vi looked lost for the first time, the way her eyes kept searching, her heavy breathing. 

“Try me, I have always surprised you haven’t I?” Caitlyn remembered VI’s words to her about the day they first met, how she was the one who literally and figuratively pulled her into the light. She wanted to think Vi remembered them at that moment. 

Vi managed to force a sad smile at her words, “You’re right.”

When Vi finally lay back down in bed, Caitlyn mirrored her. “If you didn’t come the way you did back then, I don’t think I could have ever come back…myself.” Vi sounded like a child, almost afraid, and unable to look her in the eye. 

“Cait–I don’t want to go to visit.” 

It was Caitlyn’s turn now to stroke a finger on Vi’s cheek, a tender gesture never lost to them both. “I’ll give you an assignment elsewhere so no one asks where you are,” she quickly assured.

Vi shut her eyes and Caitlyn tried to watch her fall asleep slowly, seeing the gentle way her chest rise and fall. With eyes closed, Vi spoke gently, surprising Caitlyn. 

“Thanks for always rescuing me.” 

Watching her partner fall asleep facing her, legs curled up near her chest, Vi had never looked so vulnerable. Lying in the darkness, blankets around them bunched up like waves, Caitlyn silently promised to herself to be the lighthouse guiding Vi home in dark waters. 

Family matters

“What are you doing here?” 

Vi just got off her late shift from work, the sky already dark. Vi watched in horror as she saw Jinx sitting on the couch in Caitlyn’s apartment. Their apartment. She had her usual sleeveless top on, tattered striped jeans, and boots. In her hand was her signature pistol, marked with her signature spray paint art. In the dark, her blue hair almost looked black. 

“Came to pay my big sis a visit.” She smiled, in her eyes a mischievous twinkle. “Can’t believe I’d find you here of all places.” 

“Pow-Jinx. Please. Let’s take this somewhere else.” Vi tried to be more careful with her words, yet fully aware of the ticking time bomb that was her sister. What was she up to? 

Jinx lazily got up, playing with her pistol, spinning around her finger. “I asked around. Turns out you’re living here. With her.” 

Vi was at a loss for words. She knew Jinx was jealous of her with Caitlyn even before. Jinx was jealous of Vi being with anyone else but her. 

“So you’re not denying it. You really chose the life of an enforcer and being with your sheriff girlfriend. Here in Piltover.” Playful, but her voice was laced with malice. Hurt. 

“Just leave her out of this. This is between you and me. And choosing her doesn’t mean not abandoning you, Jinx. You and I both know how much there still is in me that loves you. Despite everything.” Vi was treading a fine line here and she knew there had to be no room for error. 

Jinx’s face was hard to read. She hadn’t seen her sister in so long–where did she go? What was she up to? Yet Vi only knew now that she had to make sure to get her sister out of their place before Caitlyn arrived home. 

She saw Jinx’s eyes water, but she tried to keep it in. When she spoke next, Vi knew that it was Powder talking, at least the part of her she still thought was at her most lucid.  “You were supposed to be chasing me , then you were gone. I thought I lost you, forever.” 

Vi took that as a sign to gently approach her. “I’m not. I’m always here even if it’s not what you need me to be. But you know I have to catch you one way or the other if you cross the line. Being in Piltover crosses the line. Being in this house crosses the line.” 

“I know,” sadness evident in her sister’s voice. Vi put her finger under her chin to make her look at her. Her pink irises dilated, all Vi could think of in that moment was all those years ago and she would console her sister whenever she got scared. 

Vi wrapped her arms around her sister and gave her a hug. Jinx was wooden at the gesture but Vi felt her muscles relax even by a bit. 

“Now go before I catch you during my shift. It’ll be hard to do paperwork for that.” 

Jinx smiled back, that twinkle in her eyes back to its usual form. 

“Give the top hat lady my regards I guess.” She made a disgusted face, to Vi’s amusement. Not blowing stuff up. She’ll take that. 

Nonetheless, a lump formed in Vi’s throat as Jinx made her way to the window. 

She and Jinx will never be the same as they were all those years ago and Vi had long accepted that. But the way her sister treated their chase was almost like it was their way to make up for lost time. Vi used to take it very seriously, some sort of sick penance for all of her guilt but realized Jinx didn’t think of it the same way. 

In a swift move, Jinx disappeared like she had never been there. Vi let her go while knowing that she could catch her if she really put her heart into it. Family matters always had a penchant for getting in the way. Once she was sure her sister was gone, Vi took a mental note to have all the windows locked.

When she heard the door open, she heard Caitlyn exclaim. “Vi, what the–” 

Vi ran to where her partner was, still in her uniform, standing agape in front of the kitchen. The fridge was spray painted over, pink paint marks dripping over a bad caricature of Caitlyn with the top hat. 

One day, she will catch Jinx. But that night, she had to do some explaining to her partner. She made another mental note that her salary this month was going to get a new fridge if that wouldn’t come off.

“I can explain.” 

The look on her face made Caitlyn freeze in place. It was going to be a long night.

Shot at the night 

Caitlyn didn’t understand the feeling that settled in her chest as she sat at a banquet table, watching people slow dance on the marble dance floor. Couples dressed to the nines, holding each other, following the music. It started out as a small nagging thought, until it was impossible to ignore –Caitlyn had to peel her eyes away from the dance floor. 

It was the mayor’s birthday and he threw a charity gala in town. Naturally Caitlyn attended because the mayor was a longtime family friend and she was the sheriff–in Piltover that meant attending almost all public functions. But sitting at one of the tables near the back, she felt the waste that her black evening dress was that night. 

“You okay?” Vi’s voice brought her back to reality. Vi just looked down next to her, two glasses of champagne in her hands after coming back from the refreshments bar. 

She got one glass and smiled at her partner. But she knew her eyes betrayed her because Vi pressed on. 

“What’s bothering you?” She sat down at the empty chair next to her, all ounce of attention on her. 

Caitlyn turned to her. On any other day, she could have admired how good Vi looked in a suit, the way the fabric hugged her strong arms, the way unlike the usual, her hair was slicked back. She resisted the urge to run her hands over her partner’s hair and nestle herself at her chest. 

She turned to look at the couples slow dancing at the center of the party as the violin and cello players worked on a piece at the side of the room. She now felt the frustration Vi felt that first time she brought her to a banquet. “Do you think we can be like that?”

“Cait, we literally live together now. We’re more than that.” Vi assured confidently, which Caitlyn couldn’t help but smile at. Vi’s hand went to her knee under the table, in that small assuring way Vi always did. 

“You know what I mean,” she continued. 

Vi took a swing at the champagne like she wasn’t at a society gala but at a Zaun pub. She loved that about her. Vi put on her more serious face, where her eyebrows would get bunched up. “You know I was kind of naive before. I didn’t understand what was at stake. You were the new sheriff and when I joined we were just getting results– people finding out about us would mean that would eclipse whatever work we did–and you couldn’t risk that.” 

“But it’s been years since then, so much has changed. We have changed.” Caitlyn didn’t know where she wanted to go with this, but in the heat of emotion she couldn’t stop. Why was she not content? 

“I guess I just wanted you to know that for me, none of this matters as much. We’ve got each other, whatever we share is so much more than proving ourselves to anyone.” Vi had come a long way since then, Caitlyn realized. Why can’t she let it go? 

“We’ll go to Zaun tomorrow, don’t worry.” 

Caitlyn grabbed Vi’s arm, rather too tightly. “If I do something reckless, will you forgive me?” 

Before Vi could react, she pulled the other girl to a space on the dance floor. They were standing there rather awkwardly, Vi freezing as soon as she realized what she had done. Caitlyn was side glancing, checking out what the couples were doing, hands in place, slow dancing. 

The reality of the situation hit Vi, her face becoming apprehensive. “There’s no going back after this.” 

“I know.” 

“The tabloids will be feasting.” 

“I know.” 

Vi took charge, guiding her hands to drape around her shoulders as she wrapped her hands around her waist. Caitlyn was grateful for the lead, realizing how poorly devised her plan was as she froze on the dance floor. 

Tense arms, rigid steps. It was only until she focused on the girl in front of her only, that she felt herself calm down, relaxing her hands on her shoulders, not tripping over her heels. Caitlyn felt like she was being watched, a thousand eyes on them. But she can’t rip her gaze from Vi because she knew the first second she did, all her resolve would crumble like a pastry. Vi held her tighter, seeing without having to be told. 

“They’re looking aren’t they?” Caitlyn wanted to shut her eyes and bury herself in that dusty motel in Zaun where no one will find her. 

“Mhmmm, yeah.” 

“Oh god what have we done…” 

“Mhmmm.” 

“Imagine the damage control mum would do…” 

“Mhmmm.” 

“Is that all you’re going to say?” Vi broke into a smile at seeing her fall into her hole of overthinking. 

“For what it’s worth, I’m dancing with the prettiest girl in the room. This girl also happens to be my boss so I know I’m not getting fired for it.” Caitlyn wanted to slap her then and there, but seeing her be so calm about the situation was also an assurance. 

The musicians have changed into a different song, and Caitlyn felt her muscles grow more relaxed as they stayed there swaying to the music. The world did tend to fall into the peripheral whenever she was with Vi. Nothing was more important, nothing mattered more. 

“What made you change your mind?” 

She looked at the woman in front of her. Peeking underneath her shirt was the gold sapphire ring around Vi’s neck, matching the ruby ring Caitlyn wore on her finger that night –already marks of how dedicated they were to each other.

“A love like ours just shouldn’t be hidden. I’m just done pretending that I want nothing to do with you when other people are around. I don’t owe anyone any explanation, it just is.” 

She felt Vi pull her closer as they danced until she was practically leaning her weight on her partner’s as they swayed. Left. Right. Left. Right. 

When the music picked up tempo, they broke off the dance and made their way to get more drinks. 

“So this is the reckless thing for you?” Vi, eyebrow raised, with a mocking smile. She clearly was enjoying this as she held her hand tight, away from the dance floor. 

“Shut up, sheriff’s orders.” 

“But you love the nonsense I speak.” 

It was that nonsense that helped Caitlyn take so many leaps in her relationship and changed her for good. It was that nonsense which was the reason Caitlyn could even muster the courage to stand here with her in the crowd filled with everyone else. No it wasn’t even nonsense–Vi never did give herself much credit for these things. 

She rolled her eyes but Caitlyn knew that in her heart that Vi was right. 

Tabitha, The Daily Piltovan

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the news you have been waiting for! 

During the birthday gala of our beloved Mayor Flynn, Piltover’s favorite duo was spotted slow-dancing. You read that right, slow-dancing together!

Piltovan’s elite, council members, family and friends of Mayor Flynn were in attendance. As usual Sheriff Caitlyn Kiramman was at the event, dressed in an all black evening ensemble. Enforcer Vi arrived at the event a little while later, short of missing the arrival ceremony, also dressed in a black suit. 

Event insiders state that during the slow dance section of the evening, the pair had moved towards the dance floor and started dancing together. Intimate was a word that they chose to describe the pair, and they were inseparable for the rest of the night. 

Could this be the start of a blossoming relationship between the two or a confirmation of longtime rumor and speculation about the nature of their relationship? One thing is undeniable after this sighting– Piltover’s Finest is real! 

Bryce Longbarrow, The Piltover Gazette 

Yesterday, a press conference was held outside the city hall and in attendance were several key councilors, and Sheriff Kiramman representing the rest of the enforcers. Plans for next year were discussed as well as a yearly review of the past year’s events and projects. 

In particular, the topic zoned in on the peacekeeping efforts led by Sheriff Kiramman. “Three major crime syndicates have been weeded out of Zaun the past year, syndicates that were in charge of illicit trading and smuggling, as well as chemtech drug proliferation.” 

But the sheriff states that the job is far from over: “When you weed one syndicate out, usually a newer one follows and takes its place. This is an ongoing mission, which doesn’t just stop in Zaun.” Two wealthy patrons in Piltover were also raided by the force last month, who were just as responsible for the growth of the syndicates and the corruption in the system. “Big or small, we are not afraid to put a stop to crime and corruption. This is a mission I instill to every enforcer and will continue to honor while I am your sheriff.”

When the floor opened for other press questions, Sheriff Kiramman was asked about the growing tabloid talk about the relationship between her and Enforcer Vi following the events of the recent banquet. She neither confirmed or denied it in her response, “Vi and I are partners on the field and rest assured we are on the case when duty calls.”

Lost time

“So here’s a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom. It’s all good for one person so that should be fine for you.” Caitlyn stood against the living room doorway, as she watched Vi take in her new Piltover apartment. 

Vi paced around, a rucksack over her shoulder, the usual dusty combat boots, red canvas jacket, and bandaged arms. She couldn’t look more alien in the modest Piltovan apartment that was furnished well, just not as extravagant as the ones in Caitlyn’s home. 

“It’s not much but the station can help subsidize your rent while waiting for your first paycheck–” 

Vi turned to her, a smile plastered on her face. “You kidding? This is cool.” 

Caitlyn felt a little tension in her chest, release. It was a tall task getting Vi to stay in Piltover when she had been so rooted in Zaun. 

“If there’s anything you need, you can just let me know. I’ll do my best to help you with accommodations and getting used to living here.” Caitlyn clasped her hands behind her back. 

Vi was fixated on the mantelpiece, a painted portrait of a skyline similar to Piltover’s. “You do this a lot?” 

“What?” she frowned. 

“Showing new hires into their rooms?” Vi turned around, eyebrow cocked. It was an innocent question but Caitlyn felt heat rush in her cheeks. 

“No. Er–well, most enforcers are already from Piltvoer so there’s no need for this.”

Vi turned around on her heel, going back to checking out the living room. “You need to work on this whole –sheriff act. You still get so flustered easily. What if you were head to head with a crime lord, what would you do? Plenty of people like those down there.” 

Was she scolding her just now? After the kindness that she extended? 

“This is not an act. Mind you I worked hard to get where I am.” 

Vi turned her head halfway, her back still to her. “Is that what you did all those years that passed?” 

“I stayed as an enforcer. I worked alongside some veteran detectives as an apprentice and I learned a lot more that I couldn’t by myself. I got promoted, twice. When the time came that they had to choose a sheriff, I was the best suited for the job.” While she already knew what Vi had been up to all those years with help from her private investigator– all the robin hood missions in Zaun and looking for her sister, this was Vi’s first time knowing about what happened to her. 

“You really weren’t kidding when you said you wanted to help others. I guess you really proved everyone wrong.” Vi plopped down on the couch, setting down her rucksack on the floor. “All this time I thought you would have found some other high society girl and wife her up or something like you Pilties do. Don’t you rich people get married young?” 

The response was almost enough to cause Caitlyn indignation. Nobody else came close to what we shared. “Not that I believe in any of that. I don’t really –I didn’t have time for that. Work has been my only priority.” Caitlyn pressed on, dissatisfied.  “Did you really think you could come into my life like that and expect me to forget you?” 

“I’m just a lowly Zaunite–” 

“Don’t say that.” 

Vi chuckled. “Who am I kidding. It’s not like I could forget you either.” 

“No messing around with Zaun girls?”

“Plenty, but that doesn’t mean anything. I haven’t really done actual relationships since–” Vi didn’t finish the thought. 

Caitlyn sat on the arm of the couch, unease on her shoulders. “Do you think we can go back to the way it was before?”

When she said it, she felt the tension between them was somehow acknowledged. She knows Vi was very much guarded. Caitlyn would readily drop everything to get things back, but she knew it wouldn't come so easily to Vi. 

“We have changed over the years. But I’m willing to try again.” Vi seemed to have pondered this judging by how she replied almost automatically. Pleading eyes met Caitlyn for the first time that day. “Cait–just be patient with me, there’s a lot going on right now. Moving here is as crazy as it sounds to me.” 

“Of course, I waited for years, Vi. I can give you all the time.” 

Vi stood up again and walked up to her. Caitlyn could not resist the tug at her core at having the girl that close to her after years of waiting. She could not ignore the way her body reacted, its desire to want her, to have her. Resistance almost made her chest hurt. Too soon. 

“Thanks for this Cait, really. I’ll do my best with the job.” Vi seemed to be signaling her to leave. Caitlyn started going for the door as Vi held it open for her. 

Before the door shut, Vi had a twinkle in her eye. “I can still call you cupcake right?” 

She smiled. 

“Only you get to call me that.” 

Up to something (Pt. I)

“Are these yours dear? Found them mixed in the washer.” 

Caitlyn followed her mother’s voice from inside her apartment. Her mother had taken a liking to visiting more often after finding out that Vi had moved in. She didn’t know why, but her mother hasn’t been anything but nice to her partner so she didn’t mind. Yet, some of these unannounced visits unnerved her. 

In Cassandra’s hands were the shabby Zaunite clothes she wore whenever they visited the undercity. 

“I don’t think this fits Vi–” 

Caitlyn quickly snatched them away. “It’s not. It’s just a disguise when we go er–undercover.” 

Her mother raised an eyebrow. If her mother didn’t have suspicions that they snuck up in Zaun in their free time, then she definitely did now. 

Caitlyn shoved the clothes underneath the bed and went to the living room where her mother was perusing a catalogue. She pointed to this one brooch. “Do you think Vi would like this?” 

“Nothing too fancy, mum. Anything will do actually.” She tried her best to tidy the living room, make it presentable for her mother who was doing a good job at pretending she wasn’t bothered by the slightest. 

“How about for the charity gala this year, what fabrics would Vi like for a suit?” Cassandra flipped to the next page, a plethora of fabric swatches. 

“Why don’t you ask her, mum? She’ll be back soon.” Caitlyn was dusting the coffee table. 

“She will just say anything is fine. You’re the better person to ask.” Her mother did have a point after knowing that side of Vi since their acquaintance. 

“How about the color?” Her mother wasn’t going to let up. 

“What’s with this whole obsession now with getting Vi matching family brooches and getting dressed for the gala–” Caitlyn stopped, straightening up. Did her mother know about…

It showed in her face. Cassandra looked up at her, relieved. 

“I was wondering when you were planning to tell me or your father.” She set down the catalogue and picked up her teacup, taking a measured sip. 

“I planned to tell you when I mustered up the courage.” She admitted, falling back into the nearest seat. 

“Dear, your father and I couldn’t be happier that Vi is officially part of the family.” Her next words were unexpected. What had gotten into her mother? Yet her words caused mixed signals for Caitlyn– how much did she ever really mean?

She set down the teacup, each move precise as if rehearsed in her usual fashion. “It’s not really my business what funny business you two do in Zaun. But like I said, you had better prepare her for Kiramman things which include all these formal occasions and society events.”

“Yeah I was getting there. We’re just taking it slow, I don’t want to overwhelm her with everything. You know how overboard the traditions could be–” 

“Cupcake, I’m home!” Vi called out as the door opened. Caitlyn froze in her seat.

Vi set down some of the groceries she had in her hands sloppily on the floor to wrap an arm around her shoulder and give her a kiss. It was only after seeing Caitlyn’s rigid posture that she realized Cassandra was in the room. It was her partner’s turn to freeze, lips still on Caitlyn’s.

Her mother raised an eyebrow before going back to her catalogue as if nothing happened. 

“What the hell just happened?” Vi whispered low enough just for the two of them to hear. 

“I’ll explain later,” she patted Vi’s arm around her. “Cook us dinner?” 

Vi nodded. “Mrs. Kiramman, how do you like stew for dinner?” 

“Please, call me Cassandra. And yes I’d love to stay for dinner.” Caitlyn saw a brief twinkle in her mother’s eyes. She clearly was enjoying this, whatever it was. 

Never knew (Pt. II)

Thanks to Vi’s well-cooked stew, Caitlyn felt herself ease into the situation of her mother having dinner in their apartment. It provided a well suited topic for the rest of the evening, Cassandra impressed that Vi knew how to put together a dish even with little to no practice. 

As dinner went on, Caitlyn wished she could frame that moment on the dining table. Vi, animated and telling a story about this chef she knew in Zaun–her gestures exaggerated, clearly feeling at home. Her mother, tight-lipped, yet she could see her eyes crinkle at the corners in a laugh when she was amused. It was not lost to her, when Vi would sometimes put her hand down on top of hers reassuringly over the table. 

She was always anxious about her two worlds colliding –Vi and everything she represented that Caitlyn also chose for herself, and the life she grew up into. But it was in these fractal moments when it was clear as day to her that it was possible. 

When dinner was over, her hand found its way on top of her partner’s shoulder. “I’ll do the dishes.” 

As Caitlyn was drying some of the plates with a washcloth, she could hear faint chatter between Vi and her mother in the living room. That alone was enough to spread this warmth over her. When the voices faded into stillness, she heard the clicking of heels and found her mother right next to her as she set aside her glass in the counter top. 

After all these years, her mother still had the tendency to unnerve Caitlyn. She chalked it up to years of always being at ends with each other. Her mother wanting one thing for her, and Caitlyn choosing the other. On and on that went on for years. 

Her mother was still, only in the way she could be still. Thanks to years in the council that she had endured, putting on a mask was second nature to her. Her stillness, her silence, had this gnawing presence that Caitlyn could not shake after all this time. 

In her head it only brought back painful memories for Caitlyn etched in her mind that even time could not wash away. 

She was twelve and she had been excitedly practicing her rifle at every chance that she got. When she brought it up at home over dinner, her mother’s face was inflexible. “I’m happy this hobby is humoring you dear, but you will find some other hobby and outgrow that someday.” 

She was thirteen and her mother had first caught her sneaking around the house with a Piltovan girl from the party, leading to the most awkward scolding after the event. Her mother’s face was resolute. “I wish you would stop fooling around like this, Caitlyn. This isn’t befitting someone of your stature. 

She was sixteen and she just told her parents that she wanted to pursue being an enforcer before they left home for a cocktail party. Her father looked unsure “Is this what you really want dear?” While her mother, in the way she airily cocked her head high as she clasped on an earring, “I know you want to get back at me for matching you with the Petersen twins, but when are you going to outgrow this savior fantasy and realize your real duty as a Kiramman?” 

She was twenty and she just graduated from the training academy, getting her special medal as the top marksman. Around her the other graduates were with proud parents, while Caitlyn saw as the crowd parted, her mother’s rigid stance, chiseled face. In an almost forced show of appreciation, “I suppose your insistence on this–career paid off.” 

She was twenty six and she returned back home to their estate, the sheriff’s badge in hand–the youngest sheriff Piltover has ever had in history. The way her mother’s glassy eyes looked from the badge to her. “This isn’t what I had in mind about rising to take your place in society. But I suppose you have proven yourself over the years.” 

While her father was nothing but supportive, the fact was that in their home, he also sometimes sought out validation from her. This is why Caitlyn always had this tumultuous relationship with her mother. While her mother and her have fought less the past few years than when she was growing up, it didn’t make their relationship any less complicated. 

Tolerate was the word. Her mother could tolerate a lot of things even without approving of it.

Her parents had warmed up well to Vi, but getting Vi to be legally part of the family was another matter. One she decided on her own, just like most of her major life choices. But still it was there, that intense craving of wanting her mother’s validation. It was almost pathetic to Caitlyn that she felt like a child deep down for wanting such a thing. 

“Glad you liked the dinner,” she had to break the growing unpleasant silence. 

“I didn’t know Vi was an excellent cook. It was a lovely surprise.” Caitlyn turned to see her mother eye the open shelves in her kitchen, that same wary eye. 

The anxiety was clawing its way into her every orifice. She couldn’t keep it in. “You’re not going to–get mad at me for legally marrying Vi?” 

The look on her mother’s face was that same chiseled look, yet she saw a glint of surprise underneath. “What makes you think that? If anything I’m more disappointed you didn’t want a ceremony.” 

“I’m not used to– us not being on the same side.” The moment she said it out loud, Caitlyn released an exhale. She was surprised how much tension was riding on her shoulders and chest. 

Cassandra took two steps closer, her fingers clasping each other the way she usually did. “I’ve been many things, dear. I was never the most supportive with your career and personal choices unlike your father was. For too long, I let that get in between us. That only if you were what I wanted you to be or if you only followed the path set out for you. But you being away more from home with your job really made me think.”

Her mother put a firm hand on her shoulder. “I apologize for all the times when you didn’t hear it when you needed it the most. Caitlyn, I’ve always been proud of you.” 

She felt her lip quiver at the words she had so desperately longed to hear from her mother. Instantaneously, tears pooled in Caitlyn’s eyes. In her head, she was twelve and holding her marksman trophy in front of her mother –instead of that impassive look, she was finally beaming back at her. 

“Oh dear,” her mother looked alarmed at the sight and pulled out her white lace handkerchief, handing it to her daughter. Caitlyn quickly dabbed at her eyes, desperate to pretend it didn’t happen. 

“Life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan. Against all odds, you chose this profession because it was something that spoke to you, not because it was expected of you. You’re helping clean the city, do better than your predecessors ever could.” 

Her mother’s lips curled into a smile. “You found someone who loves you for all the right reasons. Someone whose heart is in the right place –something you rarely see in Piltover. I meant it when I said I’m happy she’s part of this family now. I can’t imagine things happening any other way.” 

 Arms wrapped around her mother, embracing her into a tight hug. Cassandra was surprised at the gesture but quickly eased herself into the hug. 

Caitlyn wanted to tell her mother so many things, but awash in emotion, she could not muster a single word. Thankfully, her mother understood. She was also the same –shutting up in the face of feeling. 

When they broke from the hug, they stood there awkwardly. Mother and daughter–different yet alike in so many aspects. The look on Cassandra’s face was composed but this time devoid of that judging scowl, almost embarrassed at betraying so much emotion just minutes before. 

It was priceless. Caitlyn broke into a laugh at seeing her mother look so out of her comfort zone. Cassandra for once eased that composed look and returned the grin. She was also the same. 

Cuddles (Pt. III)

“Your mom really liked my cooking?” 

Caitlyn nodded, and turned to her partner. They were cuddling in bed already in sleep wear, a blanket draped above them. Legs tangled together, Caitlyn’s head tucked in Vi’s chest. After a long day, there’s nothing she liked more than snuggling in Vi’s arms.  

“She’s not one to give compliments so that’s something.” 

Vi sized her up, and tightened her grip around her. “Hey something’s different. You seem–happier than usual.” 

Caitlyn felt the rush of blood on her cheeks. “I just had a good talk with my mum, that’s all.” 

Vi took her by surprise by peppering her with steady kisses on her temples down to her cheeks. “Well I hope you get more of that with her because I love seeing you this happy.” 

“What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?” she thought out loud, running her hand along her partner’s sinewy arm. 

“Have a rockin’ cupcake?” Vi teased. 

“Shut up, you’re ruining the moment,” She playfully slapped her partner. 

“Kidding.” Vi seemed to be in thought before she spoke. When she did, Caitlyn might as well have had her breath taken away by what came next.  

“I love learning more about you and your life every single day–from the way you like your eggs in the morning, to the skin care routine you have before you sleep, to all your family traditions. I love the way you make me feel at home, that there’s a heart that understands mine and beats the same way no matter where we are. I love the passion you have for what you believe in, how you would turn the world over to see it through. I love how you always go above and beyond for me, the little things you remember, and making sure I’m alright.” 

“Most of all, I love how you pulled me out of the darkness and remind me every single day of what good there still is in the world. That it’s okay to believe and choose kindness.” Vi’s eyes were glistening, sincere– she meant every word. 

Caitlyn felt her face flushed over again. Vi was not one to express her thoughts through words, preferring to show it through action. But she also wasn’t afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve, which she loved about her. 

When words found Caitlyn, she started “For the longest time growing up, it always felt like me against the world. But when you came along Vi, I felt like I wasn’t alone anymore and that we could do anything and everything together whether the world agreed or not. When you came back in my life, it’s like I felt peace in my soul like we were always tied to each other. And everyday I’m thankful I get to call you mine.” 

Her eyes fell on the gold chain in Vi’s neck that had the custom sapphire ring on. Even if Vi did not ask for such a thing, she never took it off even when she slept. Different yet the same. 

Vi laced her fingers around hers. Her hands were rough and calloused but Caitlyn found no other comfort than with hers. Vi always said she saved her, but Caitlyn thought the opposite held true as well. This was the girl who helped free her and let her see the world she always longed to see. 

“I love you, Cait.” 

She took in the girl in front of her. Effortlessly beautiful in her rugged way, splash of freckles across cheeks, streaks of red and pink, black inked skin. There were innumerable qualities about her that Caitlyn adored. From the confident bravado in her gait to the effortless way she carried herself in any situation at work, Caitlyn could go on for days. She was many things but at that moment she was just Vi. Her Vi. She was her partner in work and in life. Her favorite person. Her other half. Her soulmate. Her wife–a word that made the edges of Caitlyn’s lips break into a smile. She could not wait to share a lifetime of adventures with her, wherever that road would take them. How could she be so lucky? 

Caitlyn spoke the words back that she believed in all its truth. 

“I love you more.”