Chapter 7

The second Alina left the room, Caitlyn fell to her knees. She immediately began sobbing. Wrapping her arms around herself. "What have I done". Her argument with Vi playing on repeat in her head.

Vi found herself unable to fully leave the precinct. She paced back and forth next to her motorcycle, willing herself to get on it and leave. "I should just go home, not care what Caitlyn thinks of me, let her fire me tomorrow. Who needs this place anyway". Vi grabbed her helmet ready to put it on and leave. "No" she thought. "I will not give her the satisfaction of firing me".

Vi slammed her helmet back on her bike and headed back into the building. She was ready to go make a statement. Tell Caitlyn she quits. Let her know what she would be missing without her on the fore.

Vi's heart was racing as she neared the door to her precinct. Her heart was beating so fast and loud, she almost missed the sound before she entered the room. "Is that crying" Vi thought to herself? Stopping herself from moving forward, before quietly looking around for the source. To her amazement, she saw a site she never thought she would see.

She peered around the corner to see Caitlyn on her knees sobbing. As mad as Vi was, this actually broke Vi's heart. She wanted more than anything to run in, scoop Caitlyn up and just hold her until she felt safe again. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew Caitlyn wouldn't want to be seen like this. She never wanted to be seen as weak or vulnerable. And Vi wasn't going to be so quick to forgive.

Vi decided tonight was not the night she was going to quit. She would let Caitlyn have this win, after all, she probably needed it more.

After what felt like hours, Caitlyn finally found the energy to pick herself up off the floor. She made her way to her office and began to quickly gather her things. She knew she could not face a single person, not tonight. She grabbed her work laptop and decided anything that needed reporting would better be said in an email.

After Caitlyn got home she sent her emails to the night shift, explaining she wasn't feeling well, and needed to be home, before filling the night shift in with the proper information from the day.

Caitlyn set her work off to the side, went to her bedroom, undressed, and wrapped herself as tight as she could under her covers. She felt both physically and emotionally exhausted. Can I still fix this, or will this be the end, was her last thought before falling into a deep slumber.

Caitlyn woke to the sun rising which was earlier than her alarm was set to go off. She headed to the bathroom, where she got a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Eyes pink and puffy, cheeks swollen. She thought she looked better than she felt, and that was pretty horrible. She grabbed herself a quick cool shower, hoping to help with the swelling from all the tears the night before. She got dressed and sat down at her small desk in the corner of her apartment, preparing to do something she had never done before. She opened her work computer and set off writing numerous emails to the proper channels, explaining she was not going to make it into work today due to some health issues.

She knew she was not fit to run the police force, at least not right now. Hoping that giving herself a nice 3 day weekend would help her figure herself out, and get herself back on track.

Vi woke up feeling angry, frustrated, and vulnerable. She hated feeling all these emotions, although angry is something she felt often. She knew she would have to show up to work to save face in front of her boss, formally once her friend. She hated this though. How would she be able to look at Caitlyn after last night. After all the things Caitlyn said to her, after the things she said to Caitlyn. "I called her a bitch and told her to go get laid" Vi said to herself shaking her head. Would Caitlyn fire her on the spot, not even give her a chance to sit down, and would she do it in front of everyone, just to make an example of her? Vi knew Caitlyn wasn't cruel, but she had also never seen her that angry before. She always knew Caitlyn to be kind, smart, levelheaded. Not the Cailyn that she had been seeing for the past few weeks. "Maybe I should have done something, tried to talk to her, help her". No Vi shook her head, she knew Caitlyn was too private and would never talk about her feelings, at least not to her she thought.

Vi got dressed but took her time. She had no intention of arriving early, or even on time. If Caitlyn was going to fire her, she wanted to make sure everyone was there, hoping Caitlyn would be less likely to lash out at her again with witnesses this time.

Vi arrived only 10 minutes late, just in time for the morning briefing. To her surprise, not being run by the Sherriff. This time by Sgt Andrews. Vi sat down and listened while trying to catch a glimpse into Caitlyn's office to see if she was sitting at her desk. Just as he was wrapping up, he said "The Sherriff", Which immediately caught Vi's attention. "Will not be in today due to illness, we hope we have her back healthy on Monday. With that let's work as usual so we can get out of here on time to enjoy our weekend.

Immediately after the Sgt concluded the meeting, the bullpen erupted in small chatter. Everyone saying the same thing. They had never known the Sherriff to take a sick day. Most were heard hoping she was ok. Others were glad she wasn't in and hoped she would be out longer. These were mostly coming from the officers Caitlyn had written up in the past few weeks for totally random reasons.

Vi sat at her desk feeling worried. Did the events from last night really break Caitlyn down so bad that she would call in sick? Was this really temporary? Would she see Caitlyn on Monday and would everything get back to business as usual? "no" Vi thought, "things will never go back to being the same".

Just then a soft hand brushed Vi's shoulder. Alina bent down next to Vi's ear and whispered. "I need to talk to you in private". Vi looked at her a little confused but got up and followed her to the lady's room. The only real private place, being there were few females on the force. Alina walked into the room looking around to make sure they were alone.

"Vi, you should know after Caitlyn brought you into her office last night, I stayed behind and heard, well mostly everything". Vi looked at Alina a little shocked that she didn't leave like Caitlyn had originally asked her to. "After you left, I sat down with the Sherriff, and I told her everything". Vi looked into Alina's eyes more serious now, "Everything"? Vi said, questioning what that meant. "Yes everything, what happened at the bar, about what you do for the women who might be in trouble, about my father and his intentions on firing you and", Alina paused a little more Shakey to continue, "and when I kissed you". Vi was shocked that she did all this. She wasn't sure if she should be grateful, or angry. Part of her felt it wasn't Alina's place to tell Caitlyn about what she does at the bars, if Caitlyn wanted to make her own assumptions up about Vi, instead of thinking more of her, than who was Vi to stop her. On the other hand, she couldn't feel more grateful to have someone willing to have her back. Since day one on the force the only one Vi ever felt cared about her was Caitlyn, that was until last night.

Vi decided she didn't want to be mad at anyone else, especially someone who was only trying to help. "Thank you, Alina, I'm not sure it will help with anything, but I appreciate that you have my back".

"Of course, you're my partner, and I will never let you go down for being a good person". Alina leaned in grabbing Vi tightly in a big hug "after what the Sherriff said to you last night, I figured you could use this". Vi returned the hug tightening her squeeze knowing it was true. Not too many people got close enough to Vi to feel like they could hug her without getting punched in the face. But for Vi this is exactly what she needed.