Chapter Text
As the sun peeks through the window, Vi catches a glimpse of shimmering blue hair warmed by the beams of light. A soft smile creeps onto her face as she slowly leans over to place a soft kiss on the woman’s forehead. The blue-haired beauty slowly begins to rustle awake, groaning and whimpering as the warm body that once rested beside her rises from bed for an exit.
“I gotta go before we get caught, Cupcake.”
“Mmm, stay just a while longer? I’m sure mother has already left to run errands.”
Two rapid knocks on the door reverberate through the room as if on cue. “Caitlyn dear, it’s time to get out of bed. We have a full day ahead of us before we leave for Ionia tomorrow.”
Chuckling, Vi leans over once again, this time placing a long, warm, deep kiss on Caitlyn’s lips. When she finally pulls away, her eyes remain shut, and she allows the scent of her beloved to overwhelm her senses long enough to lose herself in the moment. “Gods, I’m going to miss you while you’re gone.”
Caitlyn reaches up with both hands, cupping Vi’s cheek gently. Her eyes open wide, fully taking in the sight above her. “There won’t be a moment that goes by where I won’t think of you, my love. We’ll be together again before you know it.”
----- ---- ---- ----
Her elbow has been resting on her office chair since she began reading through the file for her afternoon meeting. The case had been re-assigned to her after the previous officer had been shot trying to bust a house where they were manufacturing shimmer, or as they call them around the office, a “shimmer shack”. He had followed all of the proper protocol. Unfortunately, when the SWAT unit had busted the door down for him to enter, an occupant had been waiting for the poor unfortunate soul who was chosen to be the sacrificial lamb. One gunshot blast was all it took to instantly kill him.
Officer Loris. He was a good man, a strong brute of an individual. He had a family, a loving wife with two young boys. Loris had been the first person on the force to welcome Caitlyn after she’d graduated from the academy. He was the only one who treated her as a true equal.
She’d completed her criminal justice degree in three years, attending school year-round to ensure she finished her studies a year early. Immediately upon graduation, she spent 6 months at the police academy, training relentlessly until she received her badge.
The day she received her badge was the second-best day of her life.
Now, at 25 years of age, she was the youngest detective on staff, an achievement that was not well received amongst her coworkers. They felt she had used her family’s status to get where she was, buying her way through school and the academy to waltz her way on the force and eventually up the chain of command. None of the chatter mattered to her. Caitlyn knew who she was and how hard she’d worked to get where she was. None of them truly knew her story or her reasons behind her occupation of choice. All they saw was a female omega who didn’t belong.
“Detective, may I speak to you in my office?” The gruff voice cuts through her thoughts.
“Yes, Chief. I’ll be right in.” The detective closes her laptop, not wanting wandering eyes to read anything regarding the shimmer shack incident. It’s not that she doesn’t trust her fellow officers, it’s that she doesn’t trust anyone.
Grayson’s office is large, with awards and pictures all over the walls. The woman has never shied away from the fact she is proud of her accomplishments she’s achieved during her career as well as her family. She too had fought off misogynistic comments at first when the council had made her chief. Fortunately for her, she was an Alpha and that quickly shut up most of her opponents. Caitlyn, unfortunately, didn’t have that luxury.
On her desk sits a photo of a wife and a young girl, taken years ago when Gayson was just a beat cop. That same girl is now almost thirty with a family of her own, having moved to Demacia when she met her husband at university there. Caitlyn remembers her well, growing up alongside her even if there were a few years of an age gap between them.
“Kiramman, I trust all of Officer Loris’s files were transferred to you properly?” The tone is accusatory, not of Caitlyn, but of others in the department. They both know there have been instances since Caitlyn became a detective that evidence or case files haven’t been properly transferred or presented to her. The last time it happened was related to a 7-year-old missing person cold case. When the file had been placed on her desk, it was obvious some documents had been removed. The lack of care for evidence sent Caitlyn into a tirade that landed her in Garyson’s office and on 2-days worth of administrative leave.
She knows why she reacted so poorly; the case was personal. It still amazes her that she was chosen as the fresh set of eyes to look at it. Her hand trembled as she grazed the picture of the young woman who hadn’t been seen in 7 years. Every time she sees a picture of her, she can still smell her lying beside her. Her scent always reminded Caitlyn of being curled up next to a campfire, warming her soul with happiness and love. Gods, she missed her so.
“Yes, Chief. I should have everything I need.”
“Have you had a chance to look at the Lanes case lately?” She asks matter-of-factly even though Grayson knows it will tear Caitlyn apart. The Chief had been a long-time family friend, attending school with Caitlyn’s mother Cassandra. She’d attended Cassandra’s wedding, overjoyed that her dearest friend had found happiness with Tobias. When Caitlyn was born, she’d been asked to be Caitlyn’s godmother and gleefully accepted. It was she who talked Caitlyn into going into criminal justice.
She’d also been the one to respond to Vi’s disappearance.
“Not lately. I’ve been focused on other cases. I’ll look at it as soon as this Shimmer Shack case is handled.”
The woman in front of her hums before pulling a file from her drawer. What’s odd is she doesn’t initially hand it over to the detective, instead opting to flip the flimsy manila folder open for a peak first. “This is something you need to prepare yourself for before you head to Stillwater this afternoon.”
Grayson’s face wore the same look of concern it had when Caitlyn announced she wanted to join the gang task force. The chief knew Cassandra would vehemently oppose the notion. There was no chance the daughter of Councilor Cassandra Kiramman would be putting herself in harms way that much. Being a police office was already dangerous enough. Working on the gang task force, trying to dismantle the organized crime in the city, that was a whole new level of danger.
“I assume the folder in your hand is related to the Lanes case?” Caitlyn raised one eyebrow, desperately looking to piece together the clues the Chief’s face was providing. The answer was none, so she was forced to wait until Grayson decided to make her privy to the classified information.
“Yes and no,” an unusually vague response. All the words managed to do was drive Caitlyn further into curiosity and pain. She’d never gotten over Vi, never even tried. When the 18-year-old disappeared after leaving Caitlyn’s home the last morning they’d been together, it was as if Vi took Caitlyn’s heart and soul with her. The woman was sure she’d never love anyone in any capacity ever again.
Then came Charlotte.
When Charlotte entered Caitlyn’s life, it was when the detective was at her lowest, unsure she would be able to survive without Vi. She was taking the maximum allotted course hours at university while working as many hours as she could at a local coffee shop in the evenings. She’d never felt so isolated and alone. Then she laid eyes on Charlotte and her whole world went from black and grey to being full of color once more. Charlotte ended up saving Caitlyn’s life.
“Grayson, if the information in the file is regarding Vi, I can handle it. I’ve concluded she’s been gone from this world for quite some time. I just hope she didn’t suffer.”
Clearing her throat before she speaks, Grayson replies, “Well, you may still want to prepare yourself for what you are about to read, Young Kiramman.”
--- --- --- ---
It didn’t matter how many times Vi snuck in and spent the night with Caitlyn, there was never enough time in the day with her. The woman’s chest and belly begin to warm as she projects in her mind the previous evening’s activities. If society and time would allow her, Vi would spend every millisecond with Caitlyn in her arms. They didn’t even have to be doing, well, what they’d done last night. She’d gladly lay in bed, holding the woman she loved as she deeply breathed in the scent of green tea and jasmine.
Imagining the scent makes Vi groan aloud.
Unfortunately, her self-created distraction led her to be ambushed as soon as she enters Zaunite territory. The thugs are waiting behind a building wall to attack her upon re-entry to the lower city. Six large, muscular men encircle the woman, blood lust in their eyes.
“We’ve been instructed to not kill you, but I made no promises.”
She stands ready to fight, having been taught by Vander at a young age to defend herself. It’s not the first time a group of punks has tried to jump her and she’s sure it won’t be the last.
As crime rose in the city, so did Vander’s fear for his adoptive daughters. So, he taught Vi to fight and Powder to outwit. They were the perfect combo of brain and brawn. “Well, looks like they’ll be disappointed when I send you all back in boxes then.”
The one whom she assumes is the leader lets out a huff before finally lunging forward. Fist after fist flies from Vi before she feels the blade enter her gut. She falls to her knees, crying out in pain. Instinctively, she reaches her hand up to the wound. When her hand pulls away and she sees the blood, her only thought at that moment is, “Caitlyn.”
The blow to her head knocks her out cold. When she awakes, her abdomen burns and aches, but there appears to be stitching that has closed the wound. It takes her a moment to regain her senses before she realizes there are steel bars in front of her. Eventually her mind begins to comprehend. She’s in prison. She’s in Stillwater.
--- --- --- ---
Caitlyn is convinced her eyes are betraying her when she finally sees the image Grayson was guarding with her life. Tears well up and begin to burn her eyes. This burning sensation somehow feels worse than pepper spray day at the police academy. When she’d suffered through that, it had never been accompanied by an all-encompassing throbbing pain in her chest. She wants to run, head home, and retreat to the comfort of Charlotte, but she can’t. Her meeting with the informant, Prisoner 516 or who she now knows is Vi, is in two hours.
“Grayson.” Caitlyn’s voice can only manage to force out a whisper. Without a thought, the older woman stands and closes the blinds on her windows. They need privacy so her goddaughter can decompress and come to terms with what she’s reading. When the panic attack starts, it hits full force all at once. Caitlyn’s breathing becomes manic, and her eyes blow wide open, fear and pain projecting like stars in the night.
“Breath, Caitlyn. It’s alright. Just listen to my breathing and match it.” It’s not the first time Grayson has had to calm her down. When she showed up at the Kiramman home to tell Caitlyn they’d found a trail of blood leading to the docks, Caitlyn had experienced a panic attack then as well.
“But I need to talk to her. I must tell her.”
“Darling, Vi knows you care a great deal for her. I’m sure she will show up,” Cassandra had said in a futile attempt to sooth her daughter.
"No, mother you don't understand. There's so much more I need to tell her."
“I can put someone else on this case, Caitlyn. It doesn’t have to be you.”
“No!” she reacts without allowing herself to think and calm down. “No, I want it to be me.”
Grayson nods, returning to her chair on the other side of the desk. She watches as Caitlyn runs her hand over the small photo, not understanding how after all this time they’d never found her. That’s the downside of not using prisoner names in the system she supposes. That would need to change. The chief can’t help but wonder how many other families are looking for someone that has been thrown in Stillwater prison?
“Are you going to tell her about Charlotte?”
A lump forms in Caitlyn’s throat. She knows she should, but she can’t. Not yet. She just wants a moment of peace with the woman who disappeared from her life 7 years ago. Is that such a terrible thing? “Not yet. I need…I need some time.”
“Well, I’ll have Steb escort you. It appears she’s in solitary, has been for years, but I still don’t want to run the risk of you going alone.
Caitlyn can only nod. What would she tell her parents? What would she tell Vander and Powder? Most importantly, what would she tell Charlotte?