Vi's stomach did a front-flip. "That's really not the best idea, Jayce" she said as evenly as she could.
He snorted. "Why?" he asked like the ass face she knew he was. "Afraid she'll yell at you for being the arrogant bitch you've been this last half a year?"
"Jayce" she croaked.
"Or maybe" he continued, ignoring her. "you're worried she won't yell at you at all. That she'll have gotten over you, moved on."
"Jayce!" she said louder.
"Always afraid to face the consequences aren't you? I don't care" he said, trying his best to imitate Vi. "I'm Vi, fuck everyone else! I don't have to pick up the pieces after I break everything, thats why other people exist after all!"
"Shut up!" she screamed, choking back tears. Her knuckles were white with anger, teeth clenched as she sucked in air in sharp, shallow breaths. "I get it ok? I fucking get it. I screwed up, I ruined everything for everyone! Can you not be a prick for five fucking seconds of your life?!"
Jayce watched in a mixture of surprise and horror as Vi's walls cracked and crumbled before him. She tried to wipe the tears away, but they just kept coming and coming until she was overwhelmed by them. Her head collapsed into her hands. The pretty-boy-scientist was struck silent by the scene, unable to process what he was seeing, let alone respond to it.
"I'm sorry" he finally said as the enforcer calmed down. "I'm just frustrated is all. I shouldn't have been so hard on you."
"Don't fucking do that" she muttered, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes. "Don't tell me exactly what you should be telling me and then take it all back." she shook her head. "What a pussy."
Jayce laughed once. "Same old Vi." he said, shaking his head as he pulled into the familiar parking lot. Vi's heart began to creep up into her throat as he parked and turned around. "This is all on you, Vi." he said. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but closed it after a moment. "I'll be right behind you...but this is something you should do on your own."
Vi began to numb more and more with every step she took. She had limped through the lobby and into the elevator before she even knew she had opened the car door. Her mind raced with a million questions, a million thoughts; What if she didn't forgive Vi? What would she say, could she say? How could she ever apologize for making Caitlyn go through this half-year alone? Her fingers were shaking as she pulled out her keys, and after a few attempts, she fit the right one into the apartment door. The tumblers fell into place, the lock clicked, the door opened.
The apartment was a trash pit. Empty pizza boxes scattered about the room, spent bottles of wine filled the recycling, dishes overflowed from the sink. But that wasn't the worst part. The pictures were the worst part. Pined up all over the walls were pictures; crime scene photos, mug shots, pictures of evidence, photos of locations, all linked by little pieces of string. There was one for Jinx, all with little pink strings and surrounded by hastily painted pink lines. One for C, which started in the closet and exploded across the walls in a shower of yellow string.
And the largest was for her.
The wall directly across from Vi, which used to house the TV, was utterly covered in Vi. Old pictures of her, her arrest photo's, places she drank and fought at, places she used to eat at all the time, and words. Strips of canvas-white paper with big, bold, black letters across them, ranging from "Eats here" to "seen here at" followed by a date. Caitlyn had been looking for her.
No. Hunting for her. Desperately sprinting after her, constantly a step behind. The TV had been torn from it's mount on the wall and was instead propped up on the ground by an unmarked file box, presumably full of paperwork she hadn't finished. Vi was struck, frozen solid. Her eyes darted all over the room, trying to see everything at once, trying to understand what she was looking at. She took a step inside, limping forward once. "Cait" she croaked, almost inaudibly. Vi had almost missed the figure on the sofa as it stirred, rolling over to face the door. She caught a glimpse of messy, raven-black hair, and she took another step forward.
"Cait" she said again, louder this time.
This time, the figure sat up slightly, opening it's eyes. Sapphire blue cut through the dark room, and for a moment, the only movement was that of the flickering of the television. Then she sat up, the rough blanket falling from her figure. Mouth half open, she stood. With one hand outstretched, Caitlyn walked forward, her grey shirt that was too big for her hanging loosely around her bare legs. She touched Vi's face lightly, perfect slender fingers brushing her battered and bruised cheek. Her mouth opened and closed over and over again, trying to find words that just weren't there. A think smile split the pinket's face. "Hi Cupcake" she whispered.
And Catilyn slapped her. Not a playful, silly slap, oh no. Vi couldn't remember a time that she had been hit harder. Perhaps it was all the emotion behind it, or maybe it was her crumpled and mangled face, but it felt like she had been hit by a train. Her neck snapped around and her eyes shot open, mouth agape. Vi tasted iron and copper, and she swallowed hard.
"Well I deserved tha-" Vi started, but was cut off by another slap.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Caitlyn whispered harshly. She slapped her again, even harder this time. "I've been looking for you for bloody months!"
Vi took the hits without complaint. She stopped trying to speak as Caitlyn began shouting, nearly screaming in her face. Her face was raw and red, and the cuts that had sealed since her beating reopened. Blood trickled into her right eye, but she didn't wipe it away. Caitlyn shouted about being abandoned when she needed Vi most, about resisting arrest, participating in illegal fighting, and every other thing the sheriff could think of. Her assault on Vi's face moved to her chest as the yelling stopped. Her slaps turned to weak punches, which turned to pounding, which ended in Caitlyn angrily flailing at Vi. The pinket didn't move. She didn't resist. She took her lumps.
Finally Caitlyn broke into tears, sobs as her assault weakened and died. She grabbed Vi's shirt and thrust her head into Vi's chest, crying into Vi's bloody, tattered shirt. Vi wrapped her arms around Caitlyn's head and pulled her in closer and buried her head in the woman's hair. It smelled of booze and sweat, of dirt and grease, but deep down, underneath the unwashed stench, was Caitlyn. That familiar smell that Vi loved so much, that she had missed like a drug.
"I missed you so much." the sheriff cried, pulling her shirt closer. "I wanted you to come home so badly."
"I'm home now, Cupcake" she whispered, pulling her closer. "I'm not leaving again, I'm never leaving you again."
Caitlyn's shaking legs collapsed under the strain of it all, and Vi fell with her. Caitlyn pounded her fist weakly against Vi's chest, still crying. "You had better not" she whimpered, sniffling lightly.
And they sat there, quietly rocking back and forth on the floor of their filthy apartment, Caitlyn crying into Vi's chest, Vi quietly cooing Caitlyn softly. Vi could sit like this forever, she realized. She had been gone for half a year, six fucking months, away from the only thing that ever made her feel at home, the only person that ever meant more than her sister. She had been empty for so long, her heart feeling as if it had been ripped out of it's chest for so long, that it had almost become normal. Only now did she realized how disgusting of a life she had been living. She had been a husk for far to long. She had been running from her problems for far to long.
She was home now, though. Nothing else mattered.
My god, like five chapters in under a week. The world must be ending.
I'm really touched by the reviews that I've been getting, the the private messages and support for my family in this dark time. I wanted to thank every single one of you, each and every one, for supporting me through thick and thin. You all are just amazing people, and I'm honored to have you all as a fan-base. Thank you all so much. As part two comes to a close, you may be thinking that this is the worst to come. You would be wrong. I'm revealing what part three is going to be about in the authors note of chapter 19 or 20, so keep your eyes open for that.
I had this vision since the beginning; the falling out of Vi and Cait. I really think that, no matter how hard they tried, this kind of thing would happen at least once in their relationship. How could they not? They're really different people, and they both deal with problems in different ways. I don't know, maybe I'm just talking out my ass. Let me know what you all think!
AAAAAAAND as always, if you like my writing, feel free to continue to read and review! I respond to EVERY SINGLE PM and review that I get, regardless of positive or negative subject matter, so if you like, hate, or somewhere in between, don't be afraid to send it!