V smol chapter here, this honestly is the calm before the storm so enjoy the lightheartedness xD
Tensions were high between Caitlyn and Vi over the next few days. Caitlyn had closed the case by the time she went home, It was a robbery, Jakob was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Kara moved on and stayed with her parents, she took it as a new chapter and announced a change in her sexuality.
It wasn't just the butting heads of Piltover's Finest fuelling tensions within the Warden's Department. The petty crime rate was increasing, small laws were broken each day that passed, to start with, someone had painted the stations exterior a luminous shade of pink and placed a big pink X on the double doors. As Caitlyn approached the building she had to rub her eyes, thinking she was just blinded with exhaustion. No, that is definitely pink. When Vi arrived shortly after he, she walked into the office still chuckling to herself. Caitlyn shot daggers at her with her eyes and Vi bit her lip, evidently trying hard not to laugh.
"Aw come on its kinda cute Cait." She said smirking.
"No it isn't! This isn't funny." Caitlyn said angrily. "Whoever did this is mocking us all."
"Its just some dumb kids, I totally would have done that when I was younger." She said, sitting on the chair opposite Caitlyn. She put one of her gauntlets down on the desk and pulled out a tiny tool kit from her pocket. She started taking apart the thumb joins, placing screws and bolts down on the wood. Caitlyn sighed as one of the screws rolled onto the paperwork in front of her.
"We need to get you a desk don't we?" Caitlyn said sleep deprivation seeping into her voice. Vi shrugged, she was focused on calibrating finger joints, there was a screw held between her lips as her eyebrows knitted together in concentration. It was about the only time that girl had any focus, when she was fiddling with hextech. Mother would be fascinated by her handiwork. She thought.
"Shit." She said quickly remembering the plans she'd made with her mother.
"My mother's coming in half an hour, to do some maintenance to my gun." Vi looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Now probably ain't the best time in our relationship to be meetin parents." She said sarcastically, retrieving another glare from her superior. "Wait why does mommy have to fix her baby's gun? You can't do it yourself?" Vi murmured, the screw still between her lips.
"Routine maintenance, yes. But my mother is a hextech designer, she's got some functions to add to it. That I cant do myself unfortunately." She sighed, starting to fill out the paperwork report of why the building was now pink.
"Besides, I don't think she'd sleep at night if she hadn't checked over that gun once a month, I'm not convinced she even changes anything sometimes."
Vi fueled her focus into the gauntlets a frown appeared, as she tested one out. Something wasn't quite working. Vi didn't notice that Caitlyn had made a phone call in that time, and within the next ten minutes a desk was brought in for her.
"Where do you want it?" Caitlyn asked.
"Huh? Wait you were serious? But it's supposed to be the Sheriff's office?"
"This is where I remind you that the Sheriff is me." She said. "And we are partners, anything anyone needs to tell me they can tell you too." Vi grinned excitedly and stood up, surveying the room.
"By the window for sure." Caitlyn nodded and directed guys at the door to move it there. The desk itself was similar to Caitlyns, not as bulky and fancy looking, but it was of course empty. She picked up her gauntlets and precariously balanced them on the desk, she stood backwards to admire the scene, as if she were viewing modern art. Caitlyn carried on writing the report on her now pink workplace, her jaw clenched as she wrote.
There was a knock at the door. "Come in." Caitlyn called.
"Caitlyn my darling how are you? I take it the pink wasn't your decision?" She said with a chuckle. Vi grinned and looked expectantly for Caitlyn's reaction. She scoffed as she stood up to hug her mother. The similarly dark haired woman winked at Vi as she embraced her daughter. Vi found herself somewhat bemused by the older woman, she didn't expect her to be quite so much.. warmer than her daughter.
"Mother, this is Vi."
"Oh I know!" She said grinning, she walked over to Vi and held out her hand.
"Liz Beaumont. I've heard a lot about your work young lady." Liz said kneeling down beside Vi, admiring the gauntlets. Vi scrunched her nose up at the idea of being called 'young lady'. She paused for a second, thinking. Liz Beaumont..
"Wait Liz as in Eliza.. you're the Professor Eliza Beaumont?" She said looking between Caitlyn and her mother. They both nodded. "Oh my god, I- I don't know what to say. Cait why didn't you tell me your mom is Eliza Beaumont?!" She said, her eyes accusatory but full of excitement. Caitlyn smiled softly, it was hard not to find her entertaining, even if she did infuriate her most of the time.
"Show me how these infamous gauntlets work!" Eliza said, tapping Vi's desk. Caitlyn had sat down and continued her paperwork, a smile teased her lips as she listened to her partner and her mother both marvelling over hand built hextech together. Vi showed her everything she knew, she explained the problems she was having with the heat management. Eliza helped her talk through the problems and suggested a few changes. Within half an hour Vi had her gauntlets on and was bewildered at how much smoother they were running.
"This is AMAZING!" Vi said, flexing her fingers and punching the air as practice. Liz stood up and watched Vi in bemusement, she shared a look with Caitlyn. Caitlyn knew that look from her mother, she pretended not to see it. "Thank you so much." She said admiring her perfected fists.
"Always happy to look at some hextech, speaking of, darling where is that rifle of yours?" She asked. Caitlyn pointed to the gun cabinet with her pen.
"Vi would you give me a hand?" Vi's eyes widened in response.
"I don't think I should touch that." She said grimacing slightly, knowing how protective Caitlyn was over it.
"Nonsense. You're a fine hextechnologist, come on." She said encouragingly. Vi glanced at Caitlyn, begging for a response, Caitlyn nodded, giving her permission to work on her rifle with her mother. Looking between the two women Vi started noticing the similarities between them, Eliza had the same piercing blue eyes, but hers were much warmer, always smiling. She was motherly, and it was a comfort to Vi. Eliza placed the gun on the desk in front of Vi and stood over her, showing her how it worked happily.
"The brackern crystal is the primary source of power, without it, this would be just like any other gun." Eliza said as she released three safety catches, the cage that held the brackern crystal opened revealing it in all its glory. She picked it up and placed it in Vi's hands, the light that emitted from it made her hands glow. Caitlyn glanced over, Vi's eyes were lit up with the red glow, she was completely bewildered. Caitlyn couldn't help but feel warmed by the way her mother was behaving with Vi, Vi's face was full of childlike wonder. She never got to be a child. She thought a frown forming as she realised how much of Vi's behaviour it explained.
"Aren't brackern cystals like super rare?" Vi whispered, still in complete awe. Eliza nodded firmly, she explained that their family clan had been made up of many famous and successful hextechnologists. "It's a dangerous game to play." She said quietly. Vi raised her eyebrows, expecting an explanation. "Caitlyn didn't tell you about the incident?" They both looked at Caitlyn.
"No, I didn't." She sighed.
"We'll save that for another day. Ill show you the maintenance routine shall I? Then when Caitlyn's busy you can calibrate her gun for her." Vi nodded, still wondering what other stories Caitlyn hadn't told her. Together they worked on Caitlyn's rifle, Vi was rapidly picking up how it worked, and asked her questions about how it was made and how Eliza had designed it. It was nice for her, to be able to share her interests with someone else, it surprised her how down to earth Eliza was, if someone had told Vi she'd be bonding with a Piltoverian Professor over hextech she would have laughed in their faces.
Within the next hour Vi knew the ins and outs of Caitlyn's rifle, if anything, she felt like she knew more about Caitlyn too, it made her feel closer to the sheriff. When the two women had finessed the firing mechanism, Eliza passed the gun to Caitlyn. Caitlyn stood up, immediately pulling her rifle up to aim, she glared down the sight to get a feel of any changes. "Perfect." She said smiling proudly at Vi. Liz nudged Vi gently with her elbow, Vi chuckled softly. "Thank you both."
"Oh, before I go, your father and I are of course hosting a small get together next week, in honour of our thirty year wedding anniversary. Caitlyn please bring your wonderful enforcer, I would love to see you both there."
Vi looked at Caitlyn, who had raised her eyebrows slightly, a little surprised at her mothers suggestion. Caitlyn read her mother just as she would anyone else, she knew exactly what she was doing, she just didn't expect her to be quite so forward about it. Eliza grinned at her daughter, she knew Caitlyn was onto her and she took enjoyment in winding her up a little.
"It's a perfect opportunity for Vi to be introduced to the higher clans." She said. Vi bit her lip, already getting worried. She knew she was an acquired taste, and to be truthful she did not want to hang out with the fancy-pants Piltover prissies.
"Mhm." Caitlyn said, her lips pressed into a firm line. "We'll be there." Vi looked up at her in horror, after witnessing the staring contest between Caitlyn and her mother, Vi wasn't completely sold on meeting the rest of the family.
"Perfect! I'll see you then lovely." She said pulling her slightly disgruntled daughter into a hug, she pulled her raven haired head into her chest and held her for a second. Vi watched them admiringly, it was nice. She wondered though, why Caitlyn was so cold and stubborn with her emotions, when her mother was the complete opposite. Did something happen? She wondered.
"Beautiful to meet you Vi, I look forward to seeing you next week darlings." She said leaving, just when they thought she had left she quickly peaked her head around the door and said: "For what it's worth its a lovely shade of pink!" and disappeared again. Vi laughed, and even Caitlyn even let out a small chuckle along with a signature eyeroll.
"Cait?" Vi whispered loudly.
"Yes, Vi."
"How small is small get together?" She asked curiously.
"Probably around 40-50 people." Caitlyn replied casually.
Vi choked "Wha-?"
Caitlyn chuckled "You have a lot more to learn if you want to be on that level with my father." She watched as Vi's face contorted into regret, she rested her head on her fists as she slumped against her desk.
"Come on, we have a paint trail to follow."
Pffft guess whoo