Vale was a dangerous place thanks to an unhealthy combination of a poorly funded police force, and a multitude of crime families. Even the lowest level gangsters often had a higher income than the majority of the police force which made helped them further outnumber the police force. The city had been like this for so long that most of the people just accepted the rampant crime and did their best to ignore it. Though there were still some civilians who didn't just sit on the sidelines, in fact there was a huge rise in vigilantes over the last ten years. It all started when a mysterious green haired man who went by the alias "The Caffeine Crusader" rose up and took on the Torchwick family. He wasn't able to fully stop them, but he single-handedly managed to destroy a good amount of their sources of income and ruin a lot of alliances they had forged.

Velvet had followed his actions in the news when she was young and he had become her hero. In fact she had vowed that she was going to be just like him when she grew up, and in a way she did. After spending countless years in school she had become a crime scene photographer, and she loved her job, it just wasn't what she thought she'd be doing. She wasn't able to make the difference she wanted, and it honestly bugged her. That didn't stop her from doing her job and trying her best to make that difference, today wasn't any different. She got a call early in the morning and she sprung out of bed to get to the scene waking her girlfriend beside her in the process.

"Vel do you have to go? It's so early…" Coco complained grabbing her hand half-heartedly trying to get her to stay.

"Sorry, but I gotta keep up my end of the rent." Velvet told her with a smile.

"Fine." She replied just before she pulled Velvet close and gave her a kiss, "Have fun at work."

"You know if that's your goodbye I should leave more often." Velvet joked on her way out.

Morning calls were never her favourite, they were never a good way to start a day, especially if the crime wasn't exactly clean. That didn't mean she dragged her feet though, no matter the time of day she still did her best to arrive on time. Unfortunately on days like today her best still wasn't on time.

Meanwhile in a nondescript alley in downtown Vale, several officers from the VPD had set up crime scene surrounding a large corpse riddled with a multitude of bullet wounds. Currently, the officers on the scene were just standing around waiting for Velvet to get there.

"What is taking her so long?"

"Relax she was up late with Coco."

"Yang, how do you know that and since when is that an excuse for showing up late to a crime scene?"

"Simple, I helped Coco plan a romantic night. And don't tell me you have never shown up late for work because you and Weiss got a little exercise the night before."

Blake's cheeks turned a light shade of red, "I-It's happened once or twice…"

"See, just give Velvet a little more time." Right on cue Velvet pulled up to the scene with her camera hanging around her neck.

"Sorry for being late!" She exclaimed running over.

"Don't worry about it, the case is pretty clearly a mob hit, you and I both know at this point the pictures are more of a formality," Yang told her while she walked her to the scene.

As they walked closer to the body Velvet got a better look of it. She was pretty desensitized to gore at this point, but when she saw this scene she stopped dead in her tracks. It wasn't because of how gruesome the scene was, but instead, it was because of who the victim was.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." Velvet said quickly before she took off to her car.

"Where are you going?" Yang called after her, but Velvet had already started to pull away.

"What was that about?" Blake asked her confused by Velvet's display.

"I don't know… She saw the body and took off…" Yang replied.

Velvet drove as fast as she could, well without getting a ticket, back to her apartment. She scrambled up the stairs and fumbled her keys trying to get inside, but her hands were shaking so much that she wasn't able to get the right one before Coco got the door for her.

"What are you doing back so early?"

Velvet lunged forward and wrapped her in a tight hug, "Y-Yatsu…" She said trying not to cry.

At this point Coco was worried, it wasn't often she saw Velvet like this, "Vel, what happened?"

"Y-Yatsu… H-He was there… S-So much b-blood…" Velvet tried her best to explain what happened, but only barely got her point across.

"Oh god…" Coco said just before the two of them fell into silence, mourning their friend. The silence held for a while and at some point, they had made their way to the couch. It was at least an hour before Coco finally spoke up again, "We have to get out of this town…"

"What?" Velvet responded quietly.

"We can't live in Vale anymore, it's not safe here. It's only a matter of time before something happens to us."

"We can't just leave though… What about our jobs? What about our friends? We can't just abandon them."

"I'm fine quitting if it means we live."

"That's a fair point, but we can't leave before Yatsu's funeral."

"If that's what it takes, but we have to be careful around town until then," Coco said finishing the discussion.

The rest of the night was mostly silence, and so was the next day, and the next, and the next… Velvet spent most of her time sleeping, and Coco was either at work or quietly making sure Velvet ate and got out of bed at least once a day. It had been about a week of this until she got a call from work and she actually had to go.

"Vel, is it okay if I go with you?" Coco asked worried about her safety.

"I… I'd like to go alone…" She responded.

"Oh, okay. Please just stay safe, and give me a call when you get back if I'm not here."

"I will…" Velvet replied before slowly walking out of the apartment and to her car. It took her a little longer than usual, but she got there in a reasonable amount of time.

"Vel! Where have you been?" Yang exclaimed when she saw Velvet walk onto the crime scene.

"Home…"

"Oh? Have you and Coco been having some fun?" She asked with a smile on her face clearly not catching the mood Velvet was in.

"Yang, I don't think she really wants to chat right now." Blake pointed out.

"Oh, sorry Velvet," Yang said rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

"I-It's okay… It's just been a long week…" Velvet told her while she half-heartedly took some pictures.

"If you want to talk to someone Weiss and I are willing to listen." Blake reminded her, "You can call or even drop by if you'd like."

"Thank you…" She replied honestly appreciating her offer.

"Don't forget about me! You can always call me I'll never Yang up on you!" Yang exclaimed with a grin on her face and finger guns at the ready.

Velvet didn't laugh at the joke, but she did smile and roll her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind"

Afterwards, she took a couple pictures of the crime scene returned, "Thanks, you guys… I'll email the pictures in and… Well if I need to talk I'll make sure to call." She told them with a warm smile as she walked off to her car.

The drive back wasn't bad, since there wasn't a lot of traffic and she made pretty good time. Once she parked she quickly got back up to her apartment and looked around for Coco. Unfortunately, after a couple minutes of searching she couldn't find her, so she stayed true to her word and called her.

"Hello?" Coco responded picking up the phone within a couple rings.

"Hey Coco it's Vel, I just wanted you to know I got back from work."

"Thank you, I'm glad you got back safely. You sound a little better today, did something good happen at work?"

"Well it was a simple B&E so that wasn't a big deal, but I talked with Blake and Yang and they really cheered me up." She informed Coco.

"Are those two still partners? I mean they've been on the force a long time."

"Yeah, they make a pretty good team, though sometimes I wonder if Yang actually gets any of the police work done." Velvet joked.

"Well knowing Yang she's more in it for the chases rather than the police work leading up to them."

"Yeah that's true, at least Blake can make up for that! Anyways when are you going to be coming home?"

"Well, things are mostly finished up here, but people are saying Jon might be coming in today with some fall designs, and if that's true I'll have to stay for another couple of hours."

"Okay, so if he doesn't come you should be back in an hour and if he does it'll be like four?" Velvet asked just making sure she understood what was going on.

"Yeah, so hopefully I'll see you soon."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

And with that Velvet hung up and quickly went over to the kitchen. She wanted to make Coco a romantic dinner to thank her for taking care of her over the last week. After a quick look through the cupboards and the fridge, she finally settled on homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

By the time Coco got back, Velvet had prepared homemade pasta sauce, cooked up some store-bought noodles, made some garlic bread, had a shower, lit some candles and wore a pretty outfit for Coco.

"Wow Vel, what's the occasion?" Coco asked completely surprised by the sight.

"Well… I've been a burden late-" She started before Coco cut her off.

"No! Vel, don't say that! You haven't been a burden! You're my girlfriend I'm supposed to help when you need me. The last week you've just been grieving so I had to help out more than normal, that's it."

"Then you've been helping me out a lot over the last week, so since I was feeling better today I wanted to thank you."

"Hey Vel, you don't need to thank me for that."

Velvet sighed thinking Coco just didn't want to have dinner with her. "I'm sorry… I'll leave you alone…"

"Wait, Vel!" Coco exclaimed, "You don't understand! I'd love to have dinner with you, I just was saying that you shouldn't feel like you need to go through all that trouble to thank me for helping you."

"Oh…" Velvet replied feeling a little stupid for misunderstanding her. "So should we get started then?"

"Nope, let me change into something a little more fitting." She gave Velvet a kiss and stepped into her room.

In response, Velvet stood there blushing a little with a dumb smile on her face, but it wasn't long before she got the food onto the table. After she had finished with that she had a seat and patiently waited for Coco to return.

Velvet gulped when she saw Coco return, "Oh my god…"

Seeing Velvet's response to her outfit Coco's face produced a smirk. "You like it?"

"Y-You look very nice"

Coco walked right up to Velvet and whispered, "You should see what's underneath." into her ear before having a seat across from her.

This caused Velvet to completely shut down burying her face into her ears. Coco, on the other hand, took in the view while she poured them both some wine. "You know I love it when you make that face"

"T-That's not fair!" Velvet exclaimed mad that Coco could so easily make her blush, but she could never make Coco do the same.

"All is fair in love and war," Coco replied happily.

"L-Let's just get started…"

"Oh? I thought you'd want to have your dinner first." Coco said playfully while she leaned forward to give Velvet a view.

"T-That's not what I meant!"

"But it's what you want isn't it?"

"N-No! I-I mean yes! I-I… J-Just pass the spaghetti…"

This time Coco outwardly laughed at Velvet, but she did pass the spaghetti anyways.

With that the dinner started, it was pretty uneventful save for Coco teasing Velvet whenever she got the chance. Once it was over Coco leaned in and asked, "What about dessert?"

"I didn't prepare anything for dessert… Sorry…"

"Are you sure? Because I'm looking at something delicious right now." Coco told her just before she leaned in and locked lips with Velvet.

It wasn't long before Coco took Velvet to the bedroom, but Coco wanted to make an entrance before things got started. She gave Velvet a kiss and walked over to the bathroom and got undressed. Once she was done she came back in and posed in the doorway, she hoped to see the blushing face of her girlfriend, but instead, she was met with the sleeping one.

Coco simply sighed in disappointment, "If you weren't so cute I'd hold this against you." She told her before she tucked Velvet in and snuggled up beside her.