Coco had completed her training very quickly, and then she spent most of her time out on the streets. She wanted to get the money to move as quickly as she could, for Velvet's sake, but she didn't realize how taxing it would be on her. Ever since Yatsu's death, Velvet needed to be with someone, but Coco was off patrolling the streets, leaving her alone. Being all alone just made everything worse, it slowly became harder and harder to leave her bed even to the point where she would go days without eating. Before, Coco was there to make sure she ate, left her room, and just took care of herself, but with Coco out almost every night and spending her days working extra shifts to make up for her leaving early to patrol.
It had been over two weeks since Velvet had left her apartment, she wasn't even answering her phone. The only time she even left her bed was when she had to go to the bathroom or the rare occasion she felt the need to eat, but today she was forced out when someone knocked on her front door.
"Open up the damn door! I've been trying to call you for days! You've been missing a lot of work!" Yang exclaimed while she pounded on the door.
She was loud enough that Velvet could hear her from her bedroom, but all she did was peek her head out and look at the door. She was in disbelief because she just couldn't see why someone would head all the way over to her apartment to see her. The shock quickly faded though, Velvet crawled out of bed wearing large grey sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt and shuffled her way to the door, opening it just a crack, "Yang, I got trauma leave…" She explained.
"That doesn't explain why you've been ignoring my calls! Wait, when was the last time you left your apartment?" Yang asked looking at Velvet's current disheveled state.
"It's been a couple weeks…"
"A couple weeks!?"
"I just haven't felt up to it…"
"Well, it's about time you got out of there!" Yang exclaimed pushing her way into her apartment.
"Yang! What are you doing? Get out of here!"
"Sorry Vel, but I'm getting you out of your apartment." Yang told her while she grabbed Velvet by the back of her shirt, pushing her into the bathroom, "Take a shower!"
Before she even knew what was happening, Velvet was inside the bathroom with Yang holding the door closed, "Let me out!" she cried.
"Not until you have a shower!"
With a sigh, Velvet realized she was stuck in the bathroom until she did as she was told, so she stripped down and stepped into the shower.
"How could Coco have let her do this," Yang said to herself once she heard the shower turn on. She had a look around the apartment and saw the state it was in. There were clothes strewn about, dishes were piled all over the counter, the curtains were drawn, there was garbage on the table, and Velvet's room didn't look much better. The look of the apartment just made her angry at Coco, but she would have to take that up with Coco later, right now she had a job to do. Yang went through Velvet's dresser, pulled out some clean clothes for her, slipped into the bathroom, and dropped off the clothes.
When Velvet finished her shower, she quickly threw on the clothing Yang had prepared for her, "Can I go back to bed now?"
"No, I am getting you out of your apartment." Yang replied immediately, being stubborn as usual.
"Please, let me stay…"
Yang tried to reason with her, "Vel, it's too gloomy, you'll never feel better if you stay here."
"I know… I just don't want to bother you…"
Yang gave her a little smack on the back of the head, "Don't be an idiot!"
"Ow! Yang!"
"Is that why you've been locking yourself away? You don't want to bother anyone? You have friends! People who actually enjoy your company! And when you act like this you're, you're just selfish!" Yang exclaimed, being a little insensitive.
Velvet looked at the ground while Yang yelled at her, but she really couldn't bring herself to believe her. Not because Yang wasn't making sense, but because if Velvet believed her then she wouldn't be able to come up with a reason to why Coco had been gone so much. Well, she would, but it'd be worse than her just not wanting to deal with Velvet when she was down. "You're wrong…"
"Vel… Just please come with me. I don't want you staying here all alone.."
"Yang. I'm sorry… But, I think I should stay here…"
"Well, if that's the case then I'm going to stay here with you."
"What? No!"
"Sorry Vel, but you don't have a choice," Yang told her with a smile, "Go, sit on the couch. Have you eaten today?"
"I forgot…" Velvet answered without moving from her spot.
"Well, how does pizza sound?"
"It's okay… I'm not hungry…"
Yang gave her a sharp glare, "I'm getting pizza and you're going to have some of it. Now go sit on the couch!"
While Yang grabbed the phone, Velvet slowly made her way to the couch and had a seat. Honestly, she was glad Yang was being so forceful right now. After all, Velvet was incredibly lonely, but she couldn't bring herself to bother someone just so she could feel a little better. Of course being forceful like that wasn't always the right solution, but for Velvet, it helped.
"I'll take a medium pepperoni pizza with a side of garlic sticks," Yang said into her phone as she opened the curtains and turned up the lights.
"So, Velvet what does Coco think of you locking yourself in your apartment?" She asked while she dropped onto the opposite end of the couch.
Upon hearing her question her face fell, "I-I don't know…"
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"Well… Coco hasn't been around…" As Velvet spoke, she rubbed the back of her hand with her thumb nervously.
"She hasn't been around!?" Yang said her hair lighting up.
"Lately she's been working… a lot… She comes home after I fall asleep and leaves before I wake up… I've only seen her a couple times in the last month and a half… And when I did she was only here for a couple hours…" Velvet explained while she tried to hold back tears.
It took a couple seconds for Yang to stop wanting to yell about how Coco was acting and actually try to help Velvet, "Have you told her that you want her to be at the apartment more?"
"Well… No… I… I think she's been gone because... she doesn't want to deal with me when I'm like this, and I know if I tell her she would do it even if she doesn't want to… It just wouldn't be fair to her…"
"Velvet. That's not what's happening."
"If it's not that… then… then what is it?" Velvet asked, as her breath hitched.
"Well..." Yang's mind immediately went to cheating, but she didn't want to make Velvet even more worried about this whole situation.
"She's cheating on me isn't she…" Velvet said hoping that Yang would tell her some other possibility, but when Yang didn't respond she got her answer, "I-I thought so…"
Yang wasn't sure what she should say, this wasn't exactly something that she had too much experience in.
Velvet turned to Yang with tears in her eyes, "What should I do?"
"Well, I would say that we go and teach her a lesson, but as a police officer, I say we should make sure first. You should call her work and see if she's been working as much as she said she has."
Velvet nodded and got her phone out, she quickly dialed up Coco's place of work and got a hold of her secretary, "Hello, this is the desk of Coco Adel, how may I help you?" A cheery voice said from the other end of the line.
"Hey, could you tell me what Coco's work schedule has been like over the last week?"
"Well, Ms. Adel has worked every day over the last week."
"She has? What times?"
"Well, Ms. Adel generally comes in around six in the morning, and she leaves at four o'clock in the afternoon. Is that everything?"
"Oh… Yeah… Thank you…" Velvet said into her phone before hanging up and openly crying in front of Yang.
"I'm sorry Vel…" Yang told her while she gently rubbed her back.
"It's not your fault…" Velvet replied before quickly pulling out her phone.
"Whoa Vel, what are you gonna do?" Yang asked.
"I'm calling Coco." Velvet replied with a balled fist and a face full of rage. She quickly dialed up Coco and after a couple rings she picked up.
"Hey Vel, I'm uh kinda busy right now, could I call you back later?" Coco asked while she fought a couple of thugs in an alleyway downtown. Currently, they were both armed and Coco had the unlucky position of being in the middle, but Coco had gained a lot of experience, so while she talked she was able to knock one of them down and focus on the other.
"No! I demand you come home right now!" Velvet yelled into her phone.
"Vel? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Coco asked immediately worried.
"No, it's not! Now get back here!"
Coco stopped in her tracks, suddenly she was more focused on the call with Velvet than what she was currently doing, "Vel, what hap-" she was interrupted by a gunshot and the call suddenly ended.
"Coco! What happened!? Are you there!?" Velvet yelled into her phone desperately hoping that nothing had happened despite her suspicions. She redialed Coco's number, but she didn't pick it up. She tried again and again until someone actually answered, "What do you want?" Weiss snarled into her mic.
"Weiss?" Velvet asked surprised that she was on the other end of the line, but she quickly got back to the matter at hand, "What happened to Coco? Is she okay?"
"Coco is going to be fine, she's on her way to a doctor now," Weiss told her sounding very angry at Velvet.
"Where?" Velvet asked almost interrupting her.
"Why should I tell you?"
"What!? I'm her girlfriend!" Velvet exclaimed.
"Yeah, but you were the one who got Coco shot."
"What?" Velvet dropped onto the couch, even though she was so angry at Coco the thought that she might've been hurt because of her was heartbreaking. "H-How?"
"You distracted her," Weiss said simply.
"Distracted her?" Velvet replied confused by the explanation, but she quickly changed the subject back to seeing Coco, "Please I-I need to see her," she begged.
There was an audible sigh from the other end of the line, "Fine. But only because she will want to see you," there was a brief pause, "Head to the docks go into warehouse 37."
"Thank you. Thank you so much." Velvet hung up her phone and rushed towards the door. Although the location sounded weird, Velvet believed Weiss when she said it, wholeheartedly.
"Vel, what happened?" Yang asked worried about Velvet especially when she saw the panic on her face.
"Something happened to Coco. I need to go." Velvet said quickly before running out the door. She quickly made her way down to the parking levels, got in her car, and drove to the location Weiss gave her.
Once she arrived, she left her car in the middle of the parking lot and sprinted towards the warehouse. She got inside and desperately looked around for anything that would show her where Coco was.
"Velvet!" Blake called out to her from the secret elevator.
She immediately ran to Blake, "Where's Coco?"
"She's downstairs, step in," Blake told her calmly, unlike Weiss Blake wasn't mad at her, she didn't blame Velvet for Coco getting shot. Instead, she knew that the only person to blame was the thug who fired the gun.
After Velvet stepped in, the elevator started to head towards the facility. She stood in the corner incredibly panicked, trying to will it to go faster. Right now she was too focused on Coco to ask questions about what this was and where the elevator leads to.
"Velvet, she's going to be okay, the shot wasn't in a vital area, and it passed cleanly through her," Blake explained doing her best to help.
Velvet heard her, but she didn't respond. The rest of the elevator ride was silent, and when the doors opened Weiss was standing just outside of a closed door. She heard the elevator and spoke to them without turning around, "She's in surgery."
"Why isn't she at a hospital? Wouldn't they have better doctors?" Velvet asked.
"We have good facilities here, and have a skilled surgeon on call," Blake assured her.
"What was Coco even doing that could've gotten her shot?"
"She'd want to tell you herself."
Blake and Velvet stood in silence for a moment too worried about Coco's safety to really talk more about it. Weiss on the other hand slowly walked right up to Velvet, looked her right in the eye, and said, "What was so damned important that you got Coco shot just to talk about it?"
"I didn't know… I-I didn't know it would get her shot…" Velvet responded looking down at the ground ashamed.
Blake was not happy with Weiss's antics, so she grabbed her by the back of the collar of her shirt and pulled her away from Velvet, "What the hell was that about?" She asked in a half whisper.
"It was Velvet's fault Coco got shot! Why are you mad at me!?"
"Because you and I both know it's not her fault. She didn't know Coco was doing something dangerous. So why the hell are you putting all the blame on her?"
Weiss crossed her arms, looked away, and said, "B-Because it's her fault…"
"No, it's not. You're blaming her because you don't want to blame yourself."
"That's not true!"
"Weiss..." Blake said as she pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her.
With that Weiss's composure fell apart and she started to sob, "I-I shouldn't have gotten Coco into this… W-What if it's you next time?"
Blake gave her a squeeze, "Coco agreed to this knowing the dangers, and so did I. If I get hurt or worse, it won't be your fault," she assured her before giving her another squeeze.
The two of them held each other for a little while before Blake broke off the hug saying, "Now go apologize to Velvet."
Weiss walked over to Velvet who was standing silently watching the door, "Velvet… I'm sorry about blaming you for this… I was just looking for someone to blame…"
"I-It's fine…" She replied still feeling like it was her fault.
"Vel, it really isn't your fault. You didn't shoot her, and you had no way of knowing what she was doing." Weiss assured her.
"But, I still distracted her… If… If I didn't make that call, Coco… she wouldn't have gotten hurt…"
"Vel… Coco will be fine, and when she's ready to talk she'll tell you that it isn't your fault."
"Do you really think so?" Velvet asked looking up at her with her tear stricken face.
"I do. Now just come with me and Blake, we'll get you somewhere more comfortable to stay while you wait."
Blake and Weiss led Velvet to what looked close to a break room a couple rooms over. The three of them had a seat in a group of chairs inside. They just sat there and talked, trying to keep their mind off of Coco's current condition, and after a half an hour or so, Dr. Ren came into the room.
"She's stable, the wound was clean and missed her major organs, but she will have to refrain from most physical activity for a while and she'll have to stay here to be monitored," the doctor told them.
"Where is she? Can I see her?" Velvet asked immediately.
"Well, right now she's sleeping, but you can wait with her. She's in living quarters A2, Weiss should know the way."
Weiss nodded and walked with Velvet, she took her to the uppermost floor baring the warehouse level. This floor consisted of only living quarters, looking very similar to a hotel floor.
"And this is A2," Weiss said stopping in front of the second door in the hallway. She pulled out a card and swiped it on a card reader on the doorframe, the door unlocked with a click and they walked in. The inside looked like a basic hotel room, but next to the queen sized bed, that Coco currently was in, there was a heart monitor, and an iv, all hooked up to Coco. On the far wall, there were a couple chairs which Weiss and Velvet decided to sit in. The room was silent except for the beeping of the heart monitor and the sound of Coco's steady breathing.
After a minute or two, Blake made her way into the room and had a seat next Weiss. Then the three of them waited for several hours before Coco made a sound, "Vel…" she said weakly.
"Coco! I'm here!" She exclaimed rushing to her side.
"I'm so sorry… I should've told you what I was up to…"
"We can talk about that later… I'm just so glad you're alive…" Velvet said as she grabbed Coco's hand and started to cry again.
"Of course I'm alive, if I die I won't be able to see my bun…" Coco said with a weak smile.
"Coco, you need to get some sleep."
"Only if you crawl into bed with me."
"I can't do that, but I'll stay in the room with you," She promised.
"Thanks, Vel, but remember the offer still stands…" Coco replied before falling asleep again.
Blake quietly brought one of the chairs over, putting it right behind Velvet, "Weiss and I will leave you two alone," She said with a warm smile.