Caitlyn groggily made her way back to Vi's room, she had fully intended to spend the rest of her night near her partner and was far too tired to think straight anyway.

As the weary sheriff walked through the quiet halls of the hospital, she kept thinking of how uneventful the night started out. If nothing had happened, she'd probably be in her office right now, Vi would be lying on the break room couch, and Caitlyn would sometimes "accidentally" pass by the door just to catch a glimpse at her. She smiled to herself lightly, thinking of yet another peaceful night at the office.

"Ma'am? Sheriff?!" A male voice called out to her, snapping the dark-haired woman out of her unusually imaginative trance. She turned towards it. Dr. Abrams; having caught the dark-haired sheriff's attention, gestured to her bandaged neck.

"Dr. Ray said she hasn't seen you yet?" he questioned.

"You should go see her, room 102. Woman's got no patience!" He added, smiling at Caitlyn, to which the sheriff offered back a courteous smile. She nodded to him before heading off.

Caitlyn continued down the quiet hospital hallway alone, this time looking for room 102. She had met with this Dr. Ray before, the mature woman had an aura of sophistication about her, very educated from what little interactions Caitlyn had with her. She finally saw the door with the plaque "102" above the frame; Caitlyn gently knocked, it was very late after all.

"Come on in!" A hoarse female voice yelled out from behind the closed door, completely negating Caitlyn's wish for peace and quiet. She'd talked with the doctor before, so the older woman's loud and authoritative voice was familiar to her, but Caitlyn couldn't help but wince at the sudden spike in volume that late at night.

Caitlyn sighed and quietly opened the door to the room. As the sheriff entered, the voice loudly greeted her once more.

"You're late!" The older female voice snapped upon her entering, finally turning to face Caitlyn. The speaker, one senior doctor Rachel (Ray) Raleigh, a tall, mature-looking woman, appearing to be in her late-30s, radiated an aura of authority. She was wearing a dark-brown turtleneck sweater dress under a doctor's white coat, her dark blonde hair bundled up in a messy bun, a pair of metallic, thin-rimmed glasses adorned her forehead, her dull gray eyes heavy with dark circles surrounding them, and bags to seemingly weigh them down even more. And in her hands was a clipboard containing information regarding the nature of Caitlyn's injuries.

The sheriff could only faintly smile and apologetically nod in return.

"You both gave us quite the scare, sheriff. When those girls dragged you and the oaf in covered in blood and unconscious at this ungodly time…" Her voice softened as she trailed off into silence, her expression slowly changed from an annoyed scowl to a thoughtful one. Caitlyn knew the doctor; she was the one usually in charge of taking care of Vi whenever she had to be there. The pink-haired enforcer didn't have many friends in Piltover, at least not that Caitlyn knew of, but Vi and the doctor seemed to be somewhat close. Dr. Ray would always call the enforcer an "oaf" or "meathead", "a-pink-haired- buffoon" and the likes, Vi would return the favor by calling the older woman a "witch" or "hag", "a-ditzy-blonde-playing-doctor" and so on, though Caitlyn had noticed the lack of malice behind those insults being hurled around.

Seeing the doctor's somber expression, the sheriff gently placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder. To her, Dr. Ray was one of those rare people in the city who could see just how amazing Vi was and didn't just immediately disregard her partner as "Zaunite trash"

How long must this continue, Caitlyn thought to herself.

"It's nothing, just didn't want the city to lose its beloved sheriff, that's all." She smiled at Caitlyn, adjusted her glasses, and shrugged.

"Now, the bruises and small cuts aren't too serious you've got aren't too serious. The biggest problem here is that nasty gash on your neck. It's deep, but fortunately not deep enough to cause any serious issues, at least I hope you will keep it that way. Though, the new guy said you yelled at the oaf just now? (She raised an eyebrow at Caitlyn, or could it have been a glare?) Don't do that, at least for the next 3 weeks. Did I make myself clear, sheriff?" Her voice changed from warm and caring to cold and menacing in an instant. With the last question, the doctor made sure to clearly articulate each syllable, emphasizing her every word.

To her request, the respected Sheriff of Piltover could only meekly nod, she knew her authority didn't matter, at least not to the person who'd saved her and her partner's lives some handful of times before.

"Though, I have to say. There wasn't as much blood as I'd expect." The doctor continued, prompting Caitlyn to raise an eyebrow.

"It's true. When I heard you two were attacked, I'd expected a bloody scene. You know how that blockhead doesn't like hospitals, for her to be brought in at all, and that they called *me* of all people… Then when I saw you two, there was a surprisingly lackluster amount of blood on you. The bleeding only got worse once you two were actually brought in, but we hadn't even touched the wounds by then. On top of all that, we could not see any form of first-aid applied to the injured areas. It's almost like the bleeding was simply...put on pause?" She crossed her arms, appearing to ponder what had just been said, it sounded less than scientific, but Ray also knew of "arcane healers" that would wave their staves in the air while saying some incomprehensible mumble-jumble to mend people's wounds and cure illnesses. The stupid part was that it worked, sometimes better than her medical science, even (Ray scowled at the thought)

To what the doctor said, Caitlyn could only nod. The night was already chaotic, nothing could surprise the sheriff anymore. And she was far too tired to process any more interesting news.

"Any idea how it might've happened?" Dr. Ray questioned.

A shrug was the sheriff's answer.

"I didn't think so, either. Also, the girl that brought you in, the short one with white hair? Did something happen to her?" She added.

Caitlyn shook her head, not that I could think of, she thought.

"It's like she'd just run a marathon without any training and no food. Haven't seen someone push their body that hard since Vi got here half-naked, covered in soot, blood, burns, and cuts." The doctor continued; she seemed to be reminiscing a fond memory at the end as Caitlyn could almost see a smile peeking through the older woman's focused exterior. While she spoke, Ray never stopped working; Caitlyn could see the doctor scribbling things on her notepad; before ripping the page off.

"I've kept you long enough. Tomorrow, take this to the pharmacy for your prescription, new guy's dealing Vi's, gave Whitey an IV, and tell them both to get some rest. You too, sheriff." She said, handing the paper to Caitlyn. The sheriff nodded, thanked her, and walked out of the room.

"Oh! And sheriff? Please stay safe." Ray called out to Caitlyn, no longer in her commanding and straightforward tone, now with a caring and gentle warmth rivaled only by that of a mother to her children. Her expression had even changed, no longer a scowl of discontent, she looked at the sheriff with a relaxed and tender demeanor that exuded warmth. This heat seemed to sneak itself into Caitlyn's cheeks, she practically could feel them turning red. The usually composed sheriff could only nod back and quickly walk away, not noticing Dr. Ray's smiling behind her as she left: "Good to see there's still enough blood for that." the older woman whispered.

As the sheriff stormed out of the doctor's office, a million thoughts raced through her mind. With her cheeks still flushed red from the embarrassment and her steps echoing through the empty hallways of the hospital, the venerable sheriff ran away from the encounter like a shy schoolgirl. Her pride was bruised by the encounter.

"What in the actual?! How!? What did I do?! Why did I?! AH!" Caitlyn couldn't speak, but her mind's voice felt so loud that she was sure people could hear them. She'd never been like this, Vi's nonchalant flirting would sometimes catch her off-guard and break the sheriff's cold façade, but it was NEVER this easy.

"I'm just tired, that's it! And she knew that I was delirious, that's why she did it! It's nothing! It's definitely nothing!" Caitlyn tried to put an end to those thoughts, attributing everything that had happened to her fatigue. Much like how a certain criminal had caught her off-guard like that before. She quickly made her way back to Vi's room, fully intending to sleep and forget about that interaction as soon as possible.

Maybe tomorrow's Caitlyn can deal with this, the sheriff thought as she made her way back to the room. But, to her dismay, even before entering, she was able to make out Vi's voice chattering about something.