Chapter Text
I swear, Vi has done things to my brain chemistry. I'm not even mad.
This was finished BEFORE I wrote Numbers, so if I missed any tiny continuity errors, whoops.
ONWARD
-ARCANE-
Caitlyn came over for dinner more often after the second time. Vi enjoyed how she seemed more of a staple part of their family life. How the kids got on great with her.
They even each had a fucking toothbrush at each other's houses now. If Vi let herself stop to think about it too much, she'd probably have shit herself about how damn domestic it all started to feel.
Vi didn't want to get too invested. She was a temporary thing to Caitlyn. Even if they looked past her being in the closet - that was probably not going to last forever, not with how much more at ease Caitlyn seemed about herself than she did when Vi first met her. But Vi was a boxer with her by-the-hour side hustle and a bunch of kids she was going to feel responsible for no matter how old they got. Caitlyn had a whole lot of ladders to climb in her social life and career path. Vi would have been dead weight for that.
Besides which, she wasn't invested. Not really. Vi was just... wary. She didn't want Powder especially to get too attached only for Caitlyn to disappear when Vi was no longer what she needed. Vi hadn't missed how Powder didn't cover her scars for Caitlyn anymore. Claggor and Mylo were always chatting with her about their day or their dates, and didn't even hesitate to tell them if Vi was backstage or upstairs at the gym whenever she arrived.
But she had no idea how to have those conversations yet. So Vi just sat quietly, watching Caitlyn go through some stuff for an upcoming case. Her concentration face was adorable.
"Are you watching me?"
"You're cuter than what's on TV, sue me."
That line would have made her blush a few months ago. Sure, Caitlyn still had a bashful smile and she looked away, but it wasn't long before she turned to meet Vi's gaze. Her confidence had really blossomed.
"You're not on the clock, you can drop the cheesy lines."
Vi shrugged, chuckling.
"Keeping my skills sharp. Don't act like you don't enjoy it."
Caitlyn let out a soft laugh, shaking her head before she picked up her paperwork again to keep looking over it. Vi swallowed, then looked over to the time and felt a mix of relief and disappointment that she needed to get up and go get started with dinner.
"You need any help?"
"You're busy. I got it."
They both jumped in surprise at the sound of the front door slamming open, and Vi rounded the corner quickly to see... Ekko and Powder, both flushed and panting like they had been running.
"What the hell?"
"Sorry Vi, we..." Ekko leant over, hands braced on his knees and Vi saw his knuckles were bloody "there were these goons at the skate park!"
"They were picking on the kid!"
"What kid?"
Powder looked at her like she was dumb, and Vi looked at them both again. Finally, she picked out that Powder wasn't just holding a jacket or bag. She was holding a child.
"You brought the kid here?"
"What else were we meant to do? Leave her there with those assholes? Ekko had to fight them off harassing her!"
Ekko nodded, straightening up at last as his breathing evened out a bit.
"Yeah. They were saying something about how they told her they'd be back... I think she might have been living there."
"You think? Why not ask her?"
"She doesn't talk."
Powder answered simply, then tapped the kid on the shoulder.
"Hey. Can you look around? This is my sister Vi. She's cool."
Finally, Vi got a look at the kid. Scruffy hair that could have been any colour under the grime, with a grubby face covered in little scrapes and healing cuts. Vi took a breath, sending a mental thanks to all the kids she'd spent time with that were non or semi verbal.
"Hey kiddo. I'm Vi. You can hear, right?" the kid nodded "okay, cool. This is my friend, Caitlyn."
She already knew Caitlyn was hovering nearby, which wasn't really surprising given the noise that had preceded the three standing in their hallway.
"Hello. Vi, can I talk to you?"
"Sure. Go get the kid some water... did those thugs follow you?"
"Nah, we know the area too well, we got away."
Ekko answered, and after Vi took a quick look out of the still-open front door, saw nothing of concern and finally closed it. They parted ways for a minute, the kid looking every which way as Powder talked about random objects they passed until Vi had closed the living room door behind her.
"Yeah?"
"You have to take her to the appropriate authorities. It's one thing to bring her here for emergency safety, but you could get in real trouble if you don't take her in."
Vi sighed, nodding.
"I know. I know. Where, though? What do we do with a non verbal homeless kid? She can't tell us about her parents. If she even has any. Hopefully she's just quiet cus she's upset, but..."
Vi trailed off. Caitlyn bit her lip, clearly thinking.
"Let me call someone. She does family law, she'll probably know more than me."
"Alright. While we're on legalities... can we clean the kid up?"
"Yes. But keep her clothes. If she has any injuries, her clothes could help prove they are older than her being here."
"You need some quiet?" Caitlyn nodded "Alright, I'll leave you in here, go see if I can find something to put on her that doesn't smell like Mylo after he fell in that swamp."
That got her a few giggles. Vi kissed her before she left, wondering when that had gone from being an expression of attraction to just... something they did. She shook off those thoughts - they had more pressing matters for the moment.
"Hey kids. How we doing?"
Powder had finally pried the kid off of her and sat her on top of the kitchen table, encouraging her to sip from a cup of water.
"What did Caitlyn say?"
"We can clean her up, but don't toss her clothes. She's calling a friend to find out what we should do with her."
Ekko cocked his head, confused.
"She knows someone in social?"
"No. Family law friend."
"Caitlyn's a fed, Ekko. I know, I was shocked too! Vi's really on the... well, not the straight and narrow. The gay and narrow?"
Vi rolled her eyes, trying to work out how they were meant to re-dress the girl.
"Ekko, let me clean your hand up. Don't pout, I need you to go up to the loft and not get some kind of weird infection cus I didn't check you had no serious injuries."
He sulked as Vi cleaned his knuckles up, but thankfully he only had surface scrapes, no evidence of a pending fight-bite infection from catching teeth. Those things were gnarly.
"What am I looking for?"
"Pow's old clothes. She's the only one small enough that her stuff might fit the kid. We gotta figure out your name, kiddo. Can you write?"
She looked to be at least five or six, so it was possible, but Vi didn't know if the kid had ever been to school. She grabbed the pen and paper off the fridge, usually kept to note down anything they'd run out of for future shopping trips.
"Vi. That's my name."
"P-o-w-d-e-r. That's me. Your go, kiddo."
She took the pen, frowning before she put shaky pen to paper at last.
"Is... Isha? That's your name?"
Isha nodded.
"Alright then. Isha, how old are you?"
She counted on her fingers, then turned to show Vi eight of them.
"Eight? Isha, you're tiny. Maybe you're related to Pow."
"Hey!"
Powder protested, but when she saw Isha look around she gave the small child a smile.
"Vi's just teasing us cus she's mad her girlfriend's taller than her!"
"Powder! She's not-"
"Yeah, yeah. You wanna explain those specifics to Isha?"
Vi rolled her eyes. Powder wasn't wrong there, she supposed. She was, however, annoyingly smug she'd gotten away with saying that.
"Right, Isha. Is it okay if we go take you for a bath?"
Once Isha agreed to the bath, she refused to move unless Powder carried her. It wasn't ideal, but at least they got her to the bathroom. Vi hadn't given a small child a bath since Pow was... younger than Isha. She'd had to clean Pow up a good few times, but that was different.
"Here, cover your eyes so we can wash your hair."
They'd just finished scrubbing her down - the tub was going to need a separate cleaning - and got her in to a towel when Vi heard Caitlyn's voice behind her.
"Vi?"
"Yeah, one sec. You guys wait here, I'll go find Ekko and talk to Cait."
They moved a few rooms away to ensure the others wouldn't hear them.
"So, what did she say?"
"A few things. I mentioned you had experience with disabled children, and she... I think she was joking, but she did suggest you become an emergency foster parent to the child."
Vi blinked.
"Can we do that? I mean, assuming Isha doesn't have parents and Pow didn't accidentally kidnap her."
"Isha? You managed to get her talking?"
"Writing."
Caitlyn nodded, mouth twisting up in thought.
"Are you sure you'd want to go that route?"
"No idea. I hope Isha has parents and we can re-unite them. But... yeah, I guess I'm open to the idea of saving that kid from being lost in the system. I know how lucky me and Pow were lucky Vander was allowed to keep us."
"You're willing to appear in court, pass home inspections, get her to every doctors visit, be grilled by social services... not to mention, you'd have to really cut down on your hours at night?"
Vi raised an eyebrow.
"My night job is legal."
"Yes, but it doesn't look good if you insisted on taking Isha on and then disappeared three or four nights a week. You already work full time at the gym. And, honestly, what you do shouldn't matter but it will."
Vi leant against the wall, mind turning over everything that was going on.
"Right. I guess I can swing taking some time off from working nights. What else do we have to do? Assuming this actually ends up being necessary."
"Court would be first. You'll have to convince them you're fit to take Isha on in the short term, they'll do the leg work of looking for any other relatives. Isha would need her own bed, you'll have to get her to a doctor, dentist, all of that. They'll come look at the house, ask you a lot of invasive questions you would ideally not answer with too many swear words."
Vi raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you know all this... you already asked her what I'd have to do, didn't you?"
Caitlyn nodded.
"I suppose I had a feeling I knew what your decision would be."
"Didn't know I was so predictable."
Caitlyn's sweet little gap-toothed smile gave Vi butterflies. She hated it. She loved it.
"Not always. But when it comes to kids..."
"I know what it's like to need someone in your corner, and what it's like to have to fit a family together out of mixed up pieces. When do I need to be in court?"
"Tomorrow. Do you have court clothes?"
"You mean I can't go in my gym gear? I've got a suit somewhere... not sure it still fits. Go to my room, I'll be in in a minute. Need to go find Ekko."
Ekko was half-falling out of the loft hatch as Vi arrived, but he made the landing fine and had located the box. They managed to find something that looked like it would at least cover Isha up for the moment, and it was clean. Vi went back to the bathroom with the clothes in hand, bracing herself for more tough conversations.
"Right. I spoke to Cait... Isha, do you have parents? A mom, a dad? Uncle?"
Isha shook her head, her eyes tearing up. Powder frowned, reaching out for the clothes Vi was holding.
"Do you have to upset her?"
"Yeah. Cait said I can apply to take the kid on, if they can't find somewhere she's supposed to be. I came to see what you guys think about that."
She needed to tell Mylo and Claggor too, but they weren't much different than Isha - no family left before Vander took them on and they ended up part of the wonderfully mismatched family Vi had now.
"What? We could keep her?"
The clothes swamped Isha. Vi wondered when the kid had last eaten a decent meal, how long she'd been alone on the street...
"Maybe. There's a lot of hoops to jump through, they could turn me down... but I'm willing to try, if that's what Isha wants."
Vi and Powder both looked to Isha, who seemed very confused for a minute, chewing her lip and fidgeting with the hem of her borrowed t-shirt. Then she looked up at Powder, smiled and nodded. That was all Vi needed to know she was gonna at least try to save the kid if they couldn't find her actual home. Although given the state of her, Vi was at least half-certain she hadn't had a 'home' for a while.
"Alright. Pow, get her something to eat. Nothing heavy, if she hasn't eaten for a while she'll just throw up. I better go talk to Cait. And... I need you two to figure out a way Isha can answer questions. Even if it's like. Yes and no flash cards."
After she threw Isha's old clothes in a bag to hold on to as per Caitlyn's instructions, Vi rubbed her face and decided the dirty bathtub could wait. She went in search of Caitlyn, who was dutifully waiting in Vi's room, perched on her bed tapping away at her phone.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Powder and Isha are on board. I guess I better see if I need to add buying a new shirt to my list of stuff to do tonight. Earlier, the only thing on that list was you."
Caitlyn snorted.
"I was your to do list? Charming."
Vi winked, then opened up her wardrobe and located her suit. It was easy to find, since it was the only thing kept in a fancy ass clothes-condom. She hadn't worn it in at least a year, and frankly she hoped it didn't fit anymore, since that would have meant Vi hadn't put on a significant amount of muscle in a year.
"Yes! Too tight! I mean, I gotta go get a new one but I'd have been pissed if I had no gains in a year."
The trousers, though snug on her thighs, were just about useable. And, well, Caitlyn seemed to like the way Vi looked with an open white button-down and black formal trousers on.
"Been a while since you were speechless from drooling. Reminds me of that first night."
Caitlyn snapped out of her staring, shaking her head and flopping back on to Vi's bed.
"That feels like so long ago now. I nearly cancelled several times."
"And look at you now. Fucked your way in to a free gym membership and being fed dinner with a bunch of feral kids."
The way Caitlyn looked up at her was unreadable. That was new. Vi had made an art of reading women, at least enough to make sure she played her part right at work and gave them what they wanted. But Caitlyn had stopped being a job a long time ago.
"Did you tell your friend I agreed to this, by the way?"
She asked, mostly to break the increasingly awkward silence. Caitlyn nodded, holding her phone up.
"I'm waiting for her to say she's gotten you in. Are you sure about this?"
"As sure as I am about anything these days. Guess I better go make a shopping list."
Caitlyn sat up, then got to her feet.
"I'll drive? You can't exactly carry much on your bike. And it's me Mel is going to get back to."
Vi bit back a sigh; her head already hurt. She hoped Caitlyn wasn't going to push for them to have any more deep, insightful conversation in the car, cus Vi didn't have it in her.
"Thanks."
She pulled a t-shirt on and changed back in to her shorts, hearing the tell-tale engine rumbles outside that heralded the return of the other two occupants of the house. Vi let her head rest against the door, groaning as she contemplated the increasing list of things she had to do, explanations she had to make. She still needed to call her boss and tell them she needed time off...
"Vi. Are you alright?"
"M'fine cupcake. Just a lot to take in, yanno?"
Caitlyn squeezed her shoulder, leaning over when Vi turned her head and kissing her softly.
"I know. Come on, it won't get done in here."
"You might get done in here though."
Caitlyn chuckled. Vi hoped she didn't see how hollow the joke felt, trying to keep everything casual and cool when it felt like everything in her life was changing all at once. Was this how Vander felt, back when Vi and Powder were just two tiny little orphans who needed him even though he'd just lost one of his closest friends?
Sometimes... Vi wondered if it was more than that. Not for long, though. They were all gone. Best to let sleeping dogs lie, she mused. Besides which, she didn't have the capacity to let those thoughts take over. Not if they were gonna take care of Isha, anyway.
-ARCANE-
I know the US has a somewhat different system to ours here in the UK, although like the US ours seems to work drastically differently depending on your freaking postcode. And from what I can gather, both are a hot mess most of the time.
But also. ISHA BBY and MOM VI (not just mommy Vi)