Caitlyn sighed as she walked out of another bar without any sign of her deputy. "That's number five..."

For the city-state known as the "City of Progress", there seems to be an excessive amount of bars here, and very rarely have I seen alcohol cause progression in anything beyond addiction and stupid mistakes.

Over the past half hour, Caitlyn had been busy combing the nearby bars to try and find a trace of Vi, to no avail. She felt like Vi might even be avoiding her for some reason. Perhaps it was the paperwork, but even though she abandoned her paperwork regularly to do whatever she felt was more enjoyable at the time, or to simply get away from the boredom that came quickly to the hot headed twenty year old woman. It was a bit of a surprise for Caitlyn when she realized that she was as young as her partner. Vi's teenage attitude appeared quite immature in comparison to the Sheriff's disciplined behavior, which often left Caitlyn feeling like she was Vi's older sister. When she thought about it, she was not even sure about which of the two were older. It startled her to think that somehow, Caitlyn had never found out Vi's birthday, but knowing the pinkette, she probably never filled in the initial paperwork properly.

That's another thing that is going to change. I am going to have to make sure she finishes all of her responsibilities before she gets to leave work, paperwork included.

"Of all the things I don't know about her, how don't I know her birthday? I mean really Caitlyn, you should know this. She's your best friend for the gods' sakes. I've known her for close to four years now, why haven't I asked her about this? Wait a sec, I shouldn't be wasting time. I'll be able to ask her as many questions as I want but only after I manage to find her."

BZZZZZZ

Caitlyn reached for her phone in one of her pockets to find a text message waiting for her.

I'm with Gilby, Patsy and Jackson. We found Vi and we went to the Gear. Sorry we forgot to tell you until now. We're gonna try to keep her here, but you should try to get here soon.

-Murph-

Her pulse quickened at the thought of seeing Vi. Partly in excitement, but she was also quite nervous about everything that she had decided she would say to Vi. Calling Vi unpredictable would be an understatement. Caitlyn had no idea how Vi would respond to what she was going to tell her, but she knew there was a chance that Vi would have taken off by the time she got to the bar.

After getting back in her car and starting it up, she realized that she didn't know where the "Gear" was, so she opened up her GPS and started checking for bars with Gear in the name. She found several bars in Piltover with names like The Golden Gear, The Cracked Gear and Gears 'n Grog. She also saw a handful of locations that were as far out as Demacia, Bandle City, and anything in between.

Well isn't that helpful... Hopefully Murph can direct me in the right direction.

I don't know where the Gear is. The GPS can't tell me which one it is. What is the bar called?

It took Murph a few minutes before he answered her.

Sorry about that. The Gear is the nickname we have for The Golden Gear. She's still here, and getting pretty drunk. I'm afraid she's going to do something stupid so hurry up if you don't mind.

The sheriff checked the GPS and found the bar she was looking for. It was about ten minutes drive away from where she was. She let out a sigh of relief as she put in the directions and headed off to The Golden Gear.

The bar seemed like a lively place to Caitlyn as she pulled over at a parking spot. The building itself was built on the split in a fork in a street, so that it would have as much space visible from the outside. It had two floors, with orange tinted windows, so she could see the silhouettes of patrons making all the noise, but as she approached the sound quickly died down.

Sounds like somebody is on lookout duty.

By the time she got close to the door, the bar seemed almost silent.

That's odd. Even if somebody was trying to cut down the noise for a police officer, people would still be talking... Something is off here.

She accelerated to a brisk pace as she approached the door, figuring that whatever had the bar so quiet involved Vi to some degree, and that probably wasn't anything good. She grabbed the door handle, and as she pushed it open, a slender arm reached out and grabbed hers. Before she could say anything, Caitlyn was yanked inside and found herself locking lips with somebody.

Her first thought was was to pull away until she noticed a few strands of pink hair that were draping over the right eye of the woman who was kissing her. When she realized who had her lips pressed against her, she was so stunned her mind went blank. The rest of the bar seemed to be a million kilos away for her as her attention became solely on the kiss. In that moment, the only thing that mattered to her was how right everything felt. It was as if time froze for her, and the only thing in the world was her lips against Vi's. She took note of everything she saw and felt and etched it into her mind. She didn't want to forget even the slightest detail about that moment.

I must be dreaming, but oh my Gods, if this is a dream, I don't want to wake up any time soon.

Then a voice from behind Vi said something, and just like that, the spell was broken. Vi went rigid, and her eyes flew open, staring directly at Caitlyn. Several strong emotions could clearly be seen on her face but as to which ones, Caitlyn couldn't tell, but for a moment, she could have sworn she'd seen excitement in Vi's eyes.

Left breathless from the kiss as she was, all she could do was stand there as Vi picked up Gilby, gave him a sloppy smooch and dropped him on the table. She then threw her arms in the air and yelled "KISSES FOR EVERYONE!" to which nearly the entire crowd of drunk people cheered and raised their mugs. It took Caitlyn a minute before she get to Vi and pull her away from Murph, to which he gave her a grateful look. Vi spun around, clearly annoyed.

"Hey Cupcake! I was gonna kiss him!"

"I could see that!"

Shoving the doors open, Caitlyn dragged Vi outside, and as she was walking, Vi pulled her wrist out of Caitlyn's grasp and said "Hey there, what's wrong?"

Caitlyn turned on her heel and looked at Vi with fury in her eyes. "Really? Can you not see what you did was wrong? You kissed me in front of half of our co-workers!"

"Is that all? It was just a kiss. And I mean like it was a dare."

Who the Void put her up to this? "Somebody dared you to kiss me?"

Vi scoffed. "Hell no. That would be crazy! I got dared to kiss the first person who walked into the bar."

"And you're saying that I ended up being the lucky winner?"

"Yep." Vi gave her a cocky grin. "So you thought you got lucky? You liked the kiss didn't you?"

Before she could stop herself, "Yes..." slipped out of her mouth. Blast it! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! "That's not the point! Dammit Vi, why do you have to make everything difficult!"

"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that it was just a dare. Actually you pulling me out made it look like you wanted more."

Dammit, she's right. I'd better deal with this quickly, before anyone says anything. "My gods! Why can't anything ever be easy?"

When Caitlyn stepped inside the doors for the second time, the bar turned as silent as the first time. After looking over the room and its patrons, she narrowed her eyes as she addressed all its occupants. "If I hear anything about this, on or off duty, anyone involved will get a cut in their paycheck. I know who you are." That should leave an impression. Feeling fairly confidant that word of what just happened would stay between the witnesses of the kiss.

As she walked out the door, the first thing she noticed was how her car was parked with one wheel on the curb of the sidewalk. Was I really that focused on finding Vi that I did that?

The car was a Piltover Customs special order that her parents had commissioned from Heimerdinger as a sort of congratulations gift when she was promoted to Sheriff. She took a moment to admire the vehicle, knowing she would never have been able to afford it on her own. It suited her to a T in terms of the perfect balance of class, beauty, and versatility. The machine looked sleek, smooth, aerodynamic, and almost feline. It was colored a metallic white with silver accents, and a silver hood ornament of Piltover's gear shaped crest on the very front. Since Janna's forecast had said there would be clear skies all night, the convertible's had been lowered. The seating of the car could fit two in the front, and could seat three in the back without much squishing so long as none of the passengers in the back were too big, and the seats were designed for comfort, and could recline to become a bed in the case that Caitlyn needed to sleep on the road.

While the external, superficial aspects of the car were somewhat lavish, it was designed to hold nearly everything she might need on of off the job. She had hidden compartments containing equipment such as ammunition, replacement parts and components to make repairs on her trusty sniper and tools to work on it. Hidden under the back seats was a space for clothing such as extra pairs of her police uniforms and her signature purple outfit. She'd learned to keep a few dresses in the car as well in the case that her life as the Sheriff would be pushed to the side by being the daughter of upper class Piltovians, as it had on several occasions. She didn't enjoy the distractions, but if that was the price for all of the good things her parents provided for her, she would bear the burden with good grace.

When she first joined the force, she'd made it a goal to exceed expectations wherever possible, would meet them where it wasn't, and would put in everything she had to make that happen. As a result, she performed alarmingly well assisting in cases as a rookie, and then solving several that had been put on hold, due to lack of evidence and the like. As she rose through the ranks, she became the pride of the precinct, and eventually the talk of the town for her nearly flawless record, and her growing reputation as a beauty and a sharpshooter. The one blemish on that otherwise spotless record was the theft of a diamond from a statesman's home, a theft that would be later on be determined to be the early work of "C", before he began to leave his calling card as he did with his series of heists in Demacia.

Following the retirement of the Chief of Police, almost the entire force had signed a petition to give Caitlyn the position, unbeknownst to the young lieutenant, and sent to Piltover's government to sign it and grant the request. Due to the constraints of bureaucracy, policy and rules, the official title of "Chief of Police" had been deemed unfit to designate to an officer who has had less than ten years of service, regardless of the officer in question's contributions to the force and to the city, and the fact that Caitlyn had already taken on a large portion of the chief's nonessential responsibilities in an effort to become more useful within the force. As a way to get around the issue, Sergeant Murphman had suggested to the retiring Chief that perhaps a workaround would be to bring the position of Sheriff back from Piltover's past, and just assign the same duties as the Chief of Police, with some alterations as the government saw fit. Surprisingly, the majority of the legislators were for the proposition, and to her surprise, Caitlyn found herself being given the gold star badge and promotion to Sheriff of Piltover. While it took her a few weeks to get used to the new responsibilities and powers that came with running the police force, which she had already been somewhat doing before, she fit the job perfectly, and within half a year, Piltover had become a model for the police forces of every other city and city state in Valoran.

She found Vi leaning against a light post. She grabbed her wrist and led her to Caitlyn's car, almost dragging her when Vi started to lag behind. She was frustrated enough that she might have literally thrown Vi into the back seat, but she pulled away before Caitlyn could. "Umm Cait, stop for a sec."

Caitlyn's patience was beginning to run thin. "What now?"

Vi looked up at her, saying "I'm not feeling too..." before she was cut off as she threw up, spilling all over her chest.

Ugh. Just another reason why not to drink alcohol.

Gingerly stepping around the mess, she put her hand on Vi's arm. "Damn it all. Look at what you've done. Leaving it like this doesn't feel right to me but we've got to get you cleaned up. You're a total mess and we need to have a talk about your recent misbehavior."

Vi shrugged her hand off. "I can wash myself. Take me home. I don't want to talk."

"Nonsense. You're coming with me and that's final."

"But-"

"No arguing." Where is it? Ah yes, there we go. From one of the many pockets hidden in the front seat Caitlyn withdrew a clean towel and placed it into Vi's hands. "Here, take this and wipe all that off of your chest. I don't want to have to get my car cleaned tomorrow."

Caitlyn was struggling to focus on the road thanks to the events of the past half an hour, and the fact that Vi was sitting right beside her. At the moment, she had her seat reclined, far enough that Caitlyn had threatened to force the seat completely upright with the seat belt uncomfortably tight if Vi couldn't keep the seat belt on properly. She noticed Vi raise the back of the seat a bit to see Caitlyn better.

"Yo Cait."

Keep watching the road, keep watching the road. "Hmm?"

"These streets are way too rich for my place. Where are we going?"

"To my house of course. That is what I said." Oh no... This could end badly. Don't back down Caitlyn, you need to have a serious talk but you need to get home to go that.

Vi went rigid, and would have sat straight up but the seat belt caught her, and she flopped back down. "First of all, you said I was coming with you. Second of all, I never asked to go to your house. And third, why are you taking me to your place?"

Pull over. You can't talk to her and drive at the same time right now. Caitlyn pulled over, and turned to face Vi. "To the first thing, I'm sorry, I phrased it wrong. To the second, you're right, but you should come anyway. And for the third one, you need to get sorted out. It is my responsibility to do that primarily as your friend, and also because your behavior affects how I look as the sheriff. Especially since I got you your job."

Vi stopped talking and thought about it for a pause before blurting out "Shit. I'm really sorry Caitlyn. I really fucked up this time. Please don't be mad at me."

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Why did I bring up our job? Caitlyn tried to soften her expression. "Oh darling, I'm sorry if you thought I'm upset at you. I'm concerned for you. I shouldn't have mentioned our jobs. I'm just under some extra stress right now."

Vi seemed to relax a bit after that. "Thanks Cait. I'm sorry I was being a pain in the ass at work today."

Caitlyn gave her a hint of a smile, as if to say "Just today?"

"And all the other times." Vi blurted out. "And thanks for finishing off my paperwork. I know you did it, and I know that its extra work that you don't have to do. It means a lot to me knowing that you've got my back."

Caitlyn reached out and put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "We're partners, and more importantly, we're friends. We look out for each other. That's how it works." She stopped for a breath, before continuing. "Now look. Its getting late and we need to get you cleaned up, so we can continue our conversation once we are at my place. Does that sound fair?" Vi nodded. "Glad to hear it." Caitlyn shifted the car back into drive and took off down the street.

By the time Caitlyn pulled into the driveway of her house, Vi was already starting to nod off. She nudged the half asleep woman to let her know to get up. "Hey, we're here."

Vi groaned as the seat automatically folded itself back into its original position, forcing her to sit up. "Damn Cait, what the Void is with your car?"

Caitlyn let out a short laugh. "Its just a setting I have on. If you want to take a nap, you can do that after we get you cleaned up and I whip up something for us to eat."

The mention of food got Vi's attention, and she practically jumped out of the car. "Thank the gods for food. And a shower. Where do I go first?"

Trust food to get your attention. Caitlyn put her hand out to stop Vi from trying to barge through her front door. "Hold on a moment. Let me show you where the shower is before you go exploring."

"Ha! Don't worry about that. Leave the exploring to Ezreal. Just give me a place to chill after my shower is done."

The Sheriff unlocked her front door and walked inside raising her hand, signaling to follow with her fingers. Once Vi was inside and she'd closed the door behind her, Caitlyn explained some of the house rules.

"First of all, take off your boots. You can leave them over there right beside mine. Second, take off that jacket-"

"Its a hoodie."

"What? Oh, whatever. Don't interrupt me. Give it to me. I'll put it into the washing. It smells terrible, and I refuse to allow it to stink up my house." Without waiting for Vi to hand it to her, Caitlyn took the garment by a sleeve and rolled it up. "Now then, follow me. Its time you got to the bathroom for a well needed shower."

After Caitlyn explained where everything was and Vi was ready, she left her to undress and get washed up. Then Caitlyn went to her dresser, picked out a t-shirt and pants, went back to the washroom, and quietly swapped Vi's clothing for the replacements. She threw the dirty clothes and hoodie into the washing machine and started a washing cycle. After all that was done, she went to the kitchen to get started on the meal she'd promised her deputy.

But what can I cook that I know Vi would like? Hmm... Think Cait. You can figure this out. It has to be a meal. She's going to be hungry since she threw up whatever she'd eaten, and I missed dinner again, since I was working late again.

She had a glance at the counter to make sure she had room to cook and to try and think of something she could make. She noticed the clock on the counter showed 1:27. Have we really been out that long? It can't have been that long... Hold on, if its already morning, I'll just make breakfast. But will she read too far into that? Will she get weirded out by it? When she realized where her train of thought was going, she smacked herself on the forehead. Oh no Caitlyn, don't you dare go there. You are not going to let yourself back out of this because you got cold feet. You are going to make breakfast and you are going to decide what you're going to make right now. Maybe the fridge will tell me what to make.

Since I haven't cooked for her before, I should do something simple to start... Upon opening the fridge, the first things she noticed were eggs, cheese, and bacon. Hmm... Simple, but tasty... What's simple but tasty? OH! I'll make an omelette... but how do I do that?

Thankfully for the aethernet, Caitlyn found a quick recipe and was well on her was to cooking up a hopefully tasty omelette when Vi walked into the living room.

The living room and the kitchen were connected by a window of open space in the wall that separated the rooms, with a sofa against the dividing wall in the living room, and a counter on the kitchen side. Vi plopped herself onto the couch and stretched her legs out over an armrest. "Nice place you've got here Cupcake."

"Thank you. My parents offered me a larger house when I decided to move out but I'd take quality over quantity any day." Damn, that must have sounded stupid. I hope she didn't notice.

"Yeah, I hear ya. And like this is way bigger than my apartment. How many people were supposed to live here?"

"It was designed to house two people."

"And you live all alone? You must get lonely here dontcha?" Vi looked over the counter to give Caitlyn a lewd grin.

Don't fall for her jibes Caitlyn. You know what she's doing, but don't play into her hand... Unless that's what she wants you to do... Stop thinking like that. She's not a criminal you are trying to understand. She's just drunk, and probably bored. Quit over thinking things. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm gonna ask you a question, and you're going to answer me straight. Got it?"

This makes me worried about what's coming up. "Umm, alright."

"When was the last time you got laid?"

Caitlyn facepalmed. Gods be damned. "Okay, I take it back. No more talking. The food is ready. Now sit up if you want to eat."

Vi let out a sharp laugh in amusement at that. "Sounds good to me. I'm starving! So what did you make?"

"An omelette. Its my first time making one so I'm sorry if its not very good."

"Sounds good to me, but why did you make breakfast in the middle of the night."

"Actually, your antics took longer than you expected. Its actually... One moment," She looked back at the clock. "Its 2:05 in the morning. So technically, you're having an early breakfast."

"Well played Cait. Now pass me a plate. I can smell it and all I care about is having it in my mouth."

Caitlyn just looked at her.

"Really? No reaction to that? Okay, sorry. When I'm drunk I make sex jokes a lot and say stupid shit- oops, I mean stupid stuff."

"I'm still holding your plate Vi."

"You won't make me beg for it will you?"

Oh you bet I will. Caitlyn gave her a sly grin and held the plate over the sink "Well, nobody said you have to eat it."

That got Vi up on her feet, and in . "You wouldn't..."

Cait raised an eyebrow. "Want to try me?"

Vi seemed to be thinking it over before looking back at Caitlyn and said "Nope."

Feeling somewhat deflated, Caitlyn put the plate on the counter. As she turned all she saw was Vi's pink head hurtling towards her from over the divider. She only had time to let out a shriek before Vi crashed into her and sent her falling backwards into the kitchen door. The door opened outwards when their combined weight hit it, and they spilled into the carpeted hall. Caitlyn landed on her back and Vi barely managed to catch herself before she would have fallen on top of Cait. For a moment, the two women had their faces close enough that either one could have reached out their neck to kiss the other, and unbeknownst to each other, both desperately wanted to. To continue the kiss that had happened less than two hours earlier, but neither one could find the courage to go with it and risk rejection. After a few seconds, Vi's face went bright red and she looked away as she pushed herself off of Caitlyn, mumbling apologies.

For a second time that night, the pink haired girl had left Caitlyn breathless and speechless. She sat up and watched as Vi picked up her plate and clambered back over the counter to sit on the couch, clearly embarrassed.

I need to talk to her now. It might be the only chance I get.

She picked up her own plate and walked around the counter to sit in a chair opposite the couch. The two of them sat and ate for a minute before Vi broke the silence.

"Its good."

"Really? You think so?"

Vi snorted. "I wouldn't have said so if I didn't mean it." She paused before continuing. "Thank you. For everything. You don't have to do any of this but you still do. I keep screwing up but no matter what, you forgive me. I'm tired of screwing up and I really do want to fix things. You've been so good to me, and you've tried your best to help me, and I know that I've turned your life into a mini Void at times, and for all of that, I'm sorry. And... Umm... Uh... What I'm trying to say is I..." She trailed off before she finished her sentence.

"You what?"

Vi looked away. "Nothing. Never mind."

As curious as she was, Caitlyn felt the need to tell Vi her feelings came first. "Alright. There's something I need to tell you Vi, and-"

Vi put her hand up as she interrupted the Sheriff. "Not now Cait. I just... I just need some rest right now, and if what you need to say is important, I'm going to need a clear head, which I definitely don't have right now. I'm really sorry, and I really do care about what you have to say, but I just can't handle anything else right now. I'm pretty much at my limit. So can you please show me a bed, or should I just conk out on the sofa?"

I'm not going to get anywhere with her tonight... Blast it! Caitlyn gave a sigh in resignation before taking Vi's plate and setting it on the counter across the divider. "Alright, but after you wake up, we are going to talk. Understood?"

Vi nodded, and stood up. "When I wake up."

Caitlyn led Vi to the second bedroom, and stood in the doorway as she watched Vi flop onto the bed and fall asleep within seconds. Then she went and brushed her teeth before getting into her own bed.

When she wakes up, we'll sort everything-

She was asleep before she could finish the thought.