Part I:
The Loose Cannon
Chapter I
Three hard knocks on the thick oak door made Caitlyn snap out of her thoughts. Her eyes moved in the sound's direction without moving her head. She frowned. It was close to 19:30 and while she lived to serve the city of Piltover, today—specifically so late into her shift—she wished for nothing more than to go home. If it was one of her officers coming to tell her that a situation requiring her presence had arisen, she was going to lose it.
"Yes?"
She didn't bother trying to hide the annoyed tone from her voice.
She watched as the knob turned and the wood shifted to reveal Vi, Caitlyn's partner—a pick that to this day baffled her entire unit—standing on the other side of the doorway with a cocky smile plastered firmly on her face. The tall pink-haired woman shifted her weight forward as she leaned a forearm on the door frame.
"Hey there cheerful."
"Vi, what?" Caitlyn was exasperated, but she made the effort to keep her temper at bay to hear what Vi had to say as a way of rewarding her for having actually had the decency to knock this time rather than barging in like she usually did.
"Sheriff wants us all upstairs." Her smile wavered.
Caitlyn's frown deepened.
"Something happen?"
"No idea." She shrugged looking a little pensive herself. "Come on, princess."
Had anyone else directed themselves towards her in such a manner, they'd have a bullet blowing past their head this very moment. But Vi was Vi, and Caitlyn was growing more and more painfully aware—through the hushed whispers that her officers engaged in when they thought she was out of earshot—that others had also noticed her special attitude towards the pinkette. People were starting to question the nature of the relationship that existed between the two women and for someone as private as Caitlyn was, it was beginning to irk her. Not that there was anything to hide about their relationship. They held a close partnership on the professional level and an even closer friendship on the personal one, really. Really. Caitlyn just greatly disliked gossip and with even more reason if she or Vi were at the heart of the discussion.
Caitlyn finished organizing the documents on her desk and looked up as she stood to make her way to the conference room. Vi still stood by the doorway, patiently waiting on her, playing with the massive fingers on her hextech gauntlets. She almost found it endearing how in that moment, the brutish younger woman reminded her of a curious child, fully immersed in their favorite toy.
Almost.
Internally cursing at herself, Caitlyn tensed her jaw to keep herself from smiling.
"Shall we?"
Vi looked up and her usual arrogant smile came back in a flash. She stepped out of the way and made an exaggerated bowing motion.
"After you."
Caitlyn moved past her, playfully rolling her eyes at the act. No more than two steps later, she felt a pair of gauntlet-less hands place themselves on her hips and she froze in place. She hadn't even noticed exactly when Vi had released her hands from their steel traps or set them down.
Vi moved her body closer and lowered her head to whisper softly near Caitlyn's ear. "You were in my dream last night."
Having noticed that besides the two of them, this was absolutely deserted, Caitlyn allowed herself to smirk. She turned her head slightly to the right and glanced up and over her should at Vi. They were standing extremely close.
"Oh?"
"Mhm…" Vi raised a playful eyebrow and bit her lower lip, beyond thrilled that the other woman was entertaining her advances.
Caitlyn turned and began walking backwards with a teasing smile gracing her beautiful face. "Was I firing you in this dream?"
Vi's eyes lost their dreamy haze, she sucked her teeth, and let out a chuckle. Caitlyn smiled and shook her head as she turned back around to continue leading the way upstairs.
"KIRAMMAN! Front and center!"
Caitlyn stood stock-still barely a couple of inches past the entrance. She should have left an hour ago when she was done with her paperwork for the day instead of staying behind to try and work ahead for tomorrow.
A tight smile formed on her lips, and she turned to look back at her partner who simply stared right back with a guilty but rather satisfied look on her face. A trimmed eyebrow shot up demanding answers.
"Sorry, cupcake. But he signs my checks."
"Traitor."
Vi laughed and nodded her head towards the front of the room, encouraging her to go ahead.
"Kiramman! Come on now, while the rest of us are young."
Laughter rumbled throughout the room.
"All jokes, all jokes, of course. No harm." Caitlyn tensed slightly but managed a polite smile as the Sheriff placed a fatherly arm around her shoulders.
"Now, as we all know, and I don't care whose feelings this might hurt, Caitlyn is the best deputy sheriff I have actively and so far, that I've ever had in all my 15 years as Sheriff."
She looked around the room at everyone's encouraging smiles. She swelled with pride, but as the perfectly aristocratic lady that she'd been brought up to be, her face betrayed no such emotion.
"Seven years ago, to the day, I had the pleasure of not only working with her on a huge case, but of also being the one who coerced her into our ranks. I'm sorry to the rest of you that I have brought on before or after her, but I've never been prouder of any other recruit, as I am of her…"
Pride…
Caitlyn had never been as proud of anything in her life as she was of having convinced Vi to join her on the wardens. A bit funny how well she could relate to Ronan's rambling speech. She felt herself slowly begin to drown out sheriff Ronan's words as her eyes came to rest on Vi who by now stood all the way in the back of the room, a relaxed smile on her face, with her eyes dead set on the talking man to Caitlyn's right. If there was any reason she wasn't fully regretting having left sooner to avoid all of this nonsense, she could definitely say it was that smile.
The longer she stared, the more her eyes made their way lower and lower until they landed on Vi's lips and they lingered there long enough for her to watch them twitch with amusement at something the Sheriff had said. She noticed a slight movement from the tip of the younger woman's nose and she quickly tore her eyes away and upward. Vi raised her scarred eyebrow at her and smiled even wider. Caitlyn had been caught staring.
They held each other's gazes for a breath. Vi broke away first, looking down at the floor for a second as her smile became less taunting but much warmer, before meeting Caitlyn's eyes again. She mouthed the words happy birthday at her partner followed by a wink and a blown kiss to shatter any seriousness that might have been settling on the moment.
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes in fake disapproval, rolled them, and then turned her head towards Ronan, zeroing back in on his blabbering just as he was reaching his final punchline about her age.
Vi watched as Caitlyn's perfected professional grin grew smaller and smaller as the Sheriff went on and on about how much of a grandmother his Deputy was. She knew Caitlyn wasn't really bothered by Ronan's comments about her age, she wasn't anywhere near being old enough for such jokes to bother her nor was she that vain anyways. His jokes just sucked and Caitlyn disliked attention.
Vi rolled her eyes.
"Some of us have shifts that already ended! Get to the food!"
Ronan looked surprised for a second at the sudden outburst before recognizing Vi's boisterous voice as it led a low chant of "cake, cake, cake" around the room.
It was at these words from her partner that Caitlyn realized that Vi along with several other officers had stayed well past their shift hours for the day to attend her little birthday surprise. Her chest tickled, but again her face revealed nothing.
"Yes! Of course! With that said, Kiramman, I wish you another wonderful year of life and another year of continued success with the Wardens."
A chorus of cheers, hollering, and happy birthdays simultaneously filled the cramped conference room.
Caitlyn had to bite back a small noise as Ronan clapped a burly hand on her back.
"We'll have that companion cat delivered to your house first thing in the morning." He threw a wink her way and she watched his shoulders tremble with laughter as he made a beeline for the rickety folding-tables of food lining the wall on one side of the room.
The hairs on the back of her neck pricked suddenly and less than a second later, Vi's voice spoke up at her side.
"So, I've been designated as the one to find out what breed of cat you'd like this year."
Caitlyn let out an amused huff of air and turned to smack Vi on her arm.
"You know, I'm turning thirty not sixty-five?"
"Yeah, but…do you know that? 'Cause judging from your behavior sometimes…damn."
They shuffled their feet side-by-side as they went from table to table, picking the foods of their choice and piling them on to their paper plates. By the time they were done selecting and had found a pair of empty chairs that were side-by-side, Vi had an assortment of very colorful sweets and pastries on her plate while Caitlyn's was filled with different kinds of healthy finger foods and maybe one or two cookies. Neither was really a fan of cake. At least not of that mess of melting, frosted crap they were calling cake for today.
Vi nudged her partner's leg with her knee to gain her attention. "Actually. I was—I was the one assigned to try and convince you to come grab some drinks with a couple of us—"
"—Vi…"
"Come on, Caitie. You're turning thirty. It's a big one, you know. The end of your youth—"
"Ugh, god." Caitlyn cringed at that thought and Vi quickly tapped her thigh with her hand to let her know she was teasing.
"Besides, we both know you would have spent your night with me anyways, just throw in a few more people this time. Let us make your night fun…for once. "
She chose to ignore the last part of that statement. Vi wasn't wrong. The past four years, Caitlyn had taken to spending her birthday with Vi doing some type of activity usually suggested by the pink-haired woman. It had actually been the something she'd been looking forward to all day and although she did not want to admit it even to herself, she was a bit miffed at the thought of including others in on tonight.
"I'm not sure. It's not ever a good idea to fraternize—"
"Frat—are you hearing yourself? Fraternize," Vi huffed. "You spend more time working than you do at home. And the times you do anything else, it's because I force you to. If you don't "fraternize" with us, other than the criminals you verbally abuse on a daily basis, I can't see you having much human contact."
Those were clearly not the right words to say. Caitlyn's jaw stopped moving mid-chew and she leveled Vi with a bothered expression.
Vi's eyes widened as Caitlyn made to stand up and she quickly tugged on her hand, forcibly sitting her back down.
"I'm sorry."
"Fuck you."
The enforcer knew that if she were anyone else, Caitlyn would have shoved their plate in their face.
"I'm sorry. That was—I was trying to be funny, but clearly I'm an idiot." She shook her head. "Please, come out with us. We're all dying to see you drunk and honestly, we all just want you to have a good time tonight. Think of it as a team…bonding exercise. Or some shit."
Caitlyn freed her fingers from Vi's hand and blew out an irritated breath of air as she lolled her head back against the wall behind where they sat. She angled herself to be able to observe the younger woman.
Vi was an absolute charmer from head to toe when she wanted to be, so it was no surprise that their colleagues had entrusted her with the tough task of getting the Deputy to go out drinking with them. Although, she would be willing to bet a year's worth of her salary that it also had to with the rumors she'd heard about the presumed relationship between the two and how her officers probably figured that if anyone could get the elusive Caitlyn Kiramman to do something out of character, it would more than likely be the person who was—allegedly—fucking her brains out.
It ismy thirtieth birthday. A big one…
"Fine." Vi fist pumped in triumph. "BUT, only for about an hour. And like two drinks."
Vi beamed brighter than she had all week.
"Done."
Five hours, way more than two drinks, and a couple of bars crawled later, Caitlyn and Vi stood under a ridiculously tall hex-lamp claiming the night a huge success and saying goodnight to their fellow officers as they all parted ways. They had managed to get their commanding officer red-faced drunk, to laugh semi-heartily at their vulgar jokes, and had even at one point gotten a semi-nude bar attendant to serenade the blue-haired beauty with a birthday song—much to the distaste of both Vi and Caitlyn.
The night had only come to a halt when Caitlyn declared that enough drinking had taken place after Siggner, the youngest of their group and their unit's rookie, had thrown up all over himself. Vi had been doubled over in laughter which quickly turned to displeasure when she finally realized what the birthday girl had said. The bandaged hand she'd been comfortingly resting on Siggner's back as he continued to expel everything from his stomach gave him a somewhat hard shove as she branded him a light-weight pussy.
As everyone began making their separate ways in the directions of their homes, Vi had insisted on being the one to walk Caitlyn the few blocks from the last bar they were in over to her place. A decision that no one in the group—other than their boss—was trying to oppose.
Caitlyn took a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking and speaking slowly so as to keep from slurring her words. "Vi, really…I know you live way on the other side of town from me. You don't have to."
"Serliously?" They had all had way too much to drink. "Cait…have you seen what you're wearing?"
Since most officers had extra civilian clothes in their lockers at the station, they had all switched out to more comfortable celebratory clothes than their work uniforms. Caitlyn happened to have a pretty low-cut, tight, black dress that succeeded in making all of her male companions for the night—and of course Vi—slack-jawed. After several drinks, the way Vi had been devouring her body with her eyes the entire night was more than welcomed by Caitlyn and had further made her happier with her decision to have a night out with her officers.
That little black dress, however, happened to be the reason that Vi had adamantly refused to let Caitlyn walk home alone at these hours of the night, rifle or no rifle.
Thinking it over a bit, especially in her inebriated state, Caitlyn had to agree.
The older woman came to an abrupt stop and frowned. "Why are we walking? Let's get a car."
"It's nice out cupcake. And with the amount of unhealthy crap we just pumped into our bodies, we could use the walk."
Good points were made. The Deputy nodded to herself and resumed walking; picking up her pace slightly to catch up with the pinkette who had pulled ahead of her as she'd paused to let her slower-than-usual brain think things through.
As their amble brought them closer and closer to Caitlyn's house, the pair had managed to diminish the space between them to where Caitlyn's shoulder would constantly brush against the side of Vi's upper arm. Vi had also been incapable of shutting her mouth with regards to how amazing she thought her partner looked and smelled, how intoxicating her laugh happened to be, and how unquestionably sexy and breathy her voice had gotten throughout the night whenever she would say Vi's name.
Caitlyn, with her face on fire, tried to plead absolute ignorance to the last part of Vi's ramblings.
In the almost six years that Caitlyn had gotten to know Vi, she'd come to learn that her partner was not one to shy away from speaking her mind about anything. She would—on just about a daily basis since the two had officially met—let Caitlyn know in any way, shape, or form that she was very attracted to her.
Caitlyn had become quite adept about politely shooting down or deflecting Vi's advances, but she had to admit that it had become significantly harder to do that as of late. Not because Vi had become more aggressive with her insinuations or anything of the sort, but because of how Caitlyn found herself feeling towards the pinkette lately. She also had to admit that as of late, the flirting and double entendre in their banter had not been entirely one sided nor had it solely been Vi initiating it every time.
In this very moment, in her euphorically buzzed state, she was doing everything within her power—short of praying to the Gods above—to keep herself in check and from reacting to Vi's words.
Vi felt a soft arm gently place itself across her abdomen, halting her from going any further. Looking from Caitlyn's arm, to her face, and finally to her surroundings, she slowly realized that they were a couple of feet from the entrance gate to Caitlyn's property.
"You're aware I'm not going to invite you in tonight, right? Not with how intoxicated you are..."
"Scared of what you might want to do to me?" Vi gently pushed her arm away, flashing her a sloppy smile as Caitlyn immediately opened her mouth to refute her accusations. "I know, I know. I'm kidding. Just walking you home safely, princess."
The pinkette made sure to emphasize her message by patting the large black duffle-bag she'd been lugging around all night where her metallic weapons were currently housed. The last few feet towards their destination were spent in total silence with both women lost in their own thoughts.
The jingling of Caitlyn's keys along with the sound of metal grinding and squeaking as she pushed her front gate open made Vi's whole body flush, her head growing dizzy as she began to lack the proper amount of oxygen to think rationally.
She had to try her luck.
It never hurts to try does it?
And tonight seemed an excellent a moment as could possibly exist for her to try and push her luck.
She breathed out hard. "Fuck..."
Before Caitlyn had a chance to ask what the matter was or to even turn around, Vi had counted to five, taken another deep breath, and gently gripped Caitlyn by her slender hips, ushering her through the open gate.
Vi used her right foot to kick the black iron shut behind them before letting herself fall back to rest her body against the tall stone wall that surrounded the gateway, pulling Caitlyn along with her.
The dark-haired woman closed her eyes slowly and inhaled sharply as she felt Vi's hands shift from her hips and snake around her waist, bringing her tighter against Vi's body in the process. Caitlyn instinctively brought her hands up to rest on Vi's forearms.
Vi pulled on arm out of the embrace so she could bring a shaky hand up to sweep beautiful sleek hair away from Caitlyn's nape. Vi's self-control had gone out the window by now, emboldened by the fact that Caitlyn was not pushing her away or even reprimanding her for her behavior. Two warm lips met pale skin, goosebumps rising in their wake, and soon they began the task of placing scorching wet kisses on a bare shoulder.
Vi wanted her and she wanted her badly.
She rested her head near Caitlyn's neck after one particularly long kiss. ""I'm sorry—I—I know you think we shouldn't…but…"
She was desperately trying to find the words to explain her actions in a way that might convince Caitlyn not to shoot her dead for being so brazen. "But…you look so pretty tonight, Caitie."
Caitlyn had to hold back a groan at how sweet she sounded saying those words in that manner and using that nickname the only she was allowed to use with her.
Long, slim fingers tightened their hold on Vi's one arm that remained against Caitlyn's flat stomach. For the first time in her life, she did not feel like questioning a damn thing.
She knew they shouldn't.
But she also couldn't care less about most things right now other than Vi's lips on her skin. She couldn't feel anything besides the overwhelming warmth that was presently spreading throughout her entire being.
That and Vi's resumed kisses.
God, we really shouldn't.
"Vi…"
The woman mentioned clasped the other's hips once more and pulled her even tighter against her own muscular body. Vi's mouth moved upward until it was directly on that sweet spot behind her ear.
"Caitlyn…" Vi flexed her fingers. Caitlyn spun.
If Vi wasn't as far gone as she was right now with her own emotions, she would have been floored when—instead of moving away from her or slapping her across the face—Caitlyn placed her hands on either of Vi's shoulders and pressed herself further in to the pinkette, to the point that there was no space left between their bodies.
Their lips were centimeters apart in a torturously teasing dance.
Vi wrapped her arms tighter behind Caitlyn's lower back.
After a couple of endless seconds had gone by, Vi reached up to move some loose strands of hair out of Caitlyn's eyes. Her fingers then traced their way down her face to a perfectly sculpted chin. She seized it—carefully—and angled the shorter woman's face to kiss her on the cheek.
Caitlyn moved her hands slightly lower form their current place until they came to rest on Vi's chest, simultaneously finding the courage to look up and have their eyes meet. Vi felt like it had gone insanely quiet, the city was dead around them with only the sound of a light breeze blowing by.
"You're reckless…"
Their lips met briefly.
"And a headache."
Another kiss, this time their lips lingering a bit longer.
"Yeah?" Vi breathed out, barely above a whisper, before leaning back down to reclaim those lips that had turned out to be softer than she could have ever imagined. "Well, you're uptight."
"Mmm." Caitlyn moaned into Vi's lips.
"You have some really boring ass hobbies."
She felt the older woman break out into smile against her own mouth at that last comment.
Vi brought down the foot she'd been resting flat against the wall behind her this entire time and she shifted her weight around—readjusting herself and her partner—in order to slip a leg between Caitlyn's thighs. The younger woman almost passed out when Caitlyn not only moved her hands to wrap themselves around the back of Vi's neck and head, but then proceeded to grind her center almost imperceptibly against Vi's leg.
Their kiss deepened and Vi applied a bit of pressure with her embrace, encouraging her to repeat that little grinding motion. The moment she did, her lips parted the slightest bit and Vi took advantage of the opening to slip her eager tongue inside Caitlyn's mouth.
If people thought the Zaun Gray made it hard to breath, they had never had their tongue suckled on by the blue-haired beauty. Vi felt as if any moment now, she would wake up in bed in her cramped apartment, mad as hell at the realization that she this had all been a very vivid dream.
As intensely as things had started, however, they were ended by Caitlyn who suddenly pushed herself Vi away as if she had been burned by the taller woman. Caitlyn covered her face with her hands, cursing into them as she turned away. Vi kept her eyes closed momentarily as she focused on breathing.
"No, no, no..."
"Shit." Vi massaged her forehead with one hand, her eyes trained on the cobbled floor beneath her feet.
"No. This—Vi—this?" She turned, gesturing wildly between them. "CANNOT happen."
"W—" Vi's eyes snapped up to meet Caitlyn's, her shoulders slumped. She felt like screaming. "Why not? Because it very much so just happened."
"I—You—You're my partner. And my subordinate."
"Oh, geeze. So? Can you name one reason that isn't work related? Because that's stupid."
"MY ENTIRE LIFE IS WORK RELATED!" Her voice cracked as she snapped and the silence that fell around them before she spoke up again felt crushing. "So how is that stupid?"
Vi looked into her eyes and the conflict she saw in cerulean pools made hear heart ache. She'd never seen Caitlyn cry, not even out of physical pain. But if ever she had to guess what her eyes looked like before tears welled up in them, it was this.
"That's my point, baby."
"Can you not?"
Vi sighed, looked at the floor again, and then walked up to the older woman. She pulled her by the wrists, with very little resistance offered by Caitlyn to both of their surprises, into a soft embrace.
"I'm just saying, why—" Vi cleared her throat; she was losing her train of thought as Caitlyn squeezed tighter. "I'm not saying we have to have a full-blown relationship this instant or scream about it from the bell-towers."
Caitlyn pulled away, a hurt look on her face and for the second time in 24 hours, Vi realized she had not said the right thing.
"Then what? Risk our partnership and put both of our jobs on the line for your one-night amusement?"
Definitely not the right words to have said. She was pissed. Vi was truly awful at all of this. Flirting with all kinds of loose women she could do while in a coma, but trying to find the right words to say to Caitlyn was always a tremendous trial for her.
"NO! Ugh. No." The taller woman took a deep breath and shook her head. "No. Cait…your entire adult life, you have sacrificed it for this city. You're more than just the people's savior future Sheriff. Just like you always wanted to be more than just a slave to your parents' clan. But you've basically just replaced the all-consuming duty of one path for the other. How can you not see that?"
Vi paused, her tongue peaking out to wet her lips before swallowing hard.
"I can't have imagined the past few months. Your attraction to me? There's no way I made that up in my head and I sure as shit did not imagine what just happened a few minutes ago, I'm not that deranged."
Caitlyn didn't interrupt nor look away. She steadily held Vi's gaze with her own ardent one, only being betrayed by how small her voice sound through the still night air when she finally spoke up. "You're not."
Vi nodded. The tightening she'd begun to feel in her chest the moment Caitlyn had pulled away from her dissipating almost immediately at those words.
"You can't deny that." Caitlyn took a deep breath and shook her head while looking up into Vi's gray eyes. "I get it. There are policies and all that crap about getting involved with your subordinates, but so what? All of that really trumps…this?"
Vi took a deep breath and cupped her partners tear-stained face and bent her knees a little to be at eye level.
"Please. I will lose it if I can't at least have you tonight, Cait, but I don't mean that as just a one-time thing. It can be whatever you want this to be. You know how I feel. Do with that what you want, I'm game."
Vi sounded as broken as Caitlyn felt and just as desperate.
Caitlyn Kiramman had never stepped a toe out of line. Being the only child of the heads of the Kiramman clan, Cassandra and Tobias Kiramman, she had known from a very young age that the duty to protect her clan and to serve as its shield, guardian, and protector would fall on her shoulders…if she'd so wanted that life. A great honor as it was, her parents had never been quite as traditional or quite as demanding of their only daughter as other clan families typically were and they had told her—also from a very young age—that they would be perfectly okay if she chose not to take that duty upon herself. Still, they had been incredibly heartbroken when she indeed chose not to follow in their footsteps and essentially told them not to count on her to secure the future of the Kiramman clan. They had been heartbroken, yes, but understanding and supportive of her life choices, nonetheless.
She still had been raised to never step a toe out of line, however. Raised to think of leading a life where she would have to put her own happiness on hold until the last of her days; her duties always to come first and above all else. She had learned to, above all else, feel a great love for her duties. The last time she had been selfish had been on her sixteenth birthday when she informed her parents that she wanted nothing to do with belonging to a clan and instead dreamt of being a Piltover warden.
Vi was right, however, and although she no longer had to live like an extension of the Kiramman Clan, her upbringing had done quite the number on her, and she soon found that she'd set herself up to have her duties as a warden basically usurp the all-consuming duties that were tied to Clan-life.
Until she met Vi, she hadn't experienced a lot of things in life.
She was thirty years old today and life wasn't going to slow down for her anytime soon—or ever really—in order for her to live it. If she didn't seize something of a life now, it would just pass her by like it did for many clan-folk who spent their best days sacrificing themselves for their clan and didn't stop to think of themselves until it was too late.
She blinked the last of her uncertainty away before crashing her mouth against Vi's.
Vi kissed back with as much feeling as she had ever put into any kiss in her entire life. She was almost scared to open her eyes when Caitlyn pulled away again. Instead, she was met with a hungry, yearning expression raging behind those crystalline eyes. She had never seen it before coming from Caitlyn, but she had seen it before. Her heart sped up while her mind raced a million miles a second as thoughts of what was to come filled her head.
Caitlyn's lips parted momentarily, her tongue coming out to moisten them, before tugging on her lower one with a perfect set of teeth. She grabbed on to the Zaunite's fingers and curved her own around them, pulling her along as she turned to walk in the direction of her front door.
Vi swore she had completely stopped breathing at this point.
