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A knock at the office door, and it reverberated with a certain metallic tone indicating it must be Violet. She usually informed Claudia before heading off for the doll training course, though she typically left a bit earlier than this. Was she running a little late?
“Come in,” he said, putting aside the paperwork he had been looking over.
She opened the door and Claudia was unsurprised to see her in her usual doll uniform, only- only her hair was in two messily done braids cascading down her back instead of the pristine braided buns he was growing accustomed to seeing. “Little Violet,” he started but couldn’t find the words to ask about it without sounding rude.
“President Hodgins,” she said with a bow after closing the door behind her. “Forgive me for making such a request, but could I ask you to help me with my hair this morning? You see, Miss Cattleya usually helps me with it but she’s off on a job right now. I’m afraid I still can’t use my arms adequately enough to do it myself.”
It was then he noticed the hairbrush and red ribbons she had clasped tightly in her gloved hands, as if frustrated despite her blank expression. Ah, he supposed it was only natural she’d still struggle after not even a week following her discharge from the hospital. Perhaps he should have suggested a more simple hairstyle when picking out her doll uniform.
Claudia nodded and stood, picking up his chair to bring it in front of the desk. “Of course. Here, sit down.”
“Yes sir,” Violet affirmed as if Claudia was still her superior officer, and tucked the billowing skirt of her dress underneath herself before sitting down, handing him the brush when he gestured for it.
He carefully undid the disheveled braids and marveled at how soft Violet’s hair was. If only she’d been able to take care of it like this before, in a time and place where it wasn’t constantly at risk of being matted with blood and filth. If only she’d had gotten the chance to live the life of a normal girl.
Her hair didn’t seem to have many knots as she had clearly brushed it herself before attempting to braid it, but Claudia was still slow and careful not to tug when he found one as he ran the brush through her strawberry blonde locks. She didn’t so much as flinch when he accidentally snagged on one such rare knot.
“Are you alright? Does it hurt?” he asked guiltily.
Violet continued to stare straight ahead as she responded, “It is well within my pain tolerance threshold.”
Claudia opened his mouth to say something along the lines of ‘that’s not what I meant,’ but simply sighed instead. He’d just have to be more careful.
For a while, the ticking of the clock on the wall was the only sound that could be heard as Claudia finished with the brush and moved on to separating Violet’s hair into two sections. By the time he began braiding one side he couldn’t bear the uncomfortable silence any longer. “You know, my older brother has a daughter a few years younger than you.”
“Is that so?” came Violet’s borderline robotic reply.
Claudia nodded although Violet was turned away and couldn’t see. “His wife, she always put their daughter’s hair in braids once it was long enough. One time when I was visiting them, she showed me how to do it.”
“How to braid hair?”
“Yeah. I didn’t think it’d ever come in handy until now.” That wasn’t exactly true, but Violet didn’t need to know that. She didn’t need to know that he had actually asked his sister-in-law to teach him in hopes that he’d be able to braid his own daughter’s hair one day. She didn’t need to know that in that moment, that was sort of what he felt like he was doing.
“I see,” was all she said in response.
When Claudia was finally done tying the ribbons, he let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t perfect—Cattleya certainly would have done a better job had she been there—but it was good enough. “All done,” he announced, taking a step back to further admire his handiwork.
Rather than reaching up to touch the buns or search for a mirror to see for herself like another young girl in her place might have done, Violet simply stood and turned to Claudia to bow. “Thank you, President. I must be going now, I’ll be marked absent if I arrive too late.”
“No need to thank me, Little Violet,” Claudia said earnestly, resisting the urge to pat her on the head. He then glanced toward the clock on the wall and stiffened. “Ah shi- I mean, shoot! I didn’t realize I’d taken so long. You’d better hurry, I don’t want you getting in trouble because of me.”
“Affirmative, sir.”
Violet bowed once again before dashing out of the room, noisy floorboards barely creaking under her boots as he distantly heard her fly down the stairs. Claudia pushed the door to his office open just wide enough to see her weave through the confused employees arriving and out into the street.
Claudia simply smiled and shook his head fondly. Having Violet around sure did make this place more lively.
__________
Four years of longing, just for Gilbert to refuse to see her. Claudia could hardly believe it- how stupidly unreasonable his former best friend was being. Oh how he had hated telling Violet she couldn’t see Gilbert, hated the pained expression on her face and despised the man responsible for it. He hated helplessly watching her back as she ran through the downpour, hated how completely devoid of hope she had seemed when he brought her back to the lighthouse. He had been tempted to take Gilbert’s ID tags—which for all these years Claudia had worn around his neck as a memento of sorts for his supposedly late best friend—and chuck them into the sea, but couldn’t bring himself to.
But there was nothing that could be done about the whole unfair situation now, Violet had already said she’d head back to Leiden as soon as the boat arrived. It should be there in a few hours’ time, but she was already getting ready, brushing out her hair which had become a little frizzy from the previous night’s rain.
It reminded him of that time all those years ago when she had asked him to help her with her hair, still not used to using her prosthetics in such a way. The memory filled him with a familiar warm fondness and his lips twitched upward into a slight smile.
“Little Violet,” he started, quiet and hesitant. She paused her movements and stared at him expectantly, head tilted to the side slightly in a silent question. Claudia swallowed before continuing, “Would you... would you let me braid your hair for you?”
A rare look of surprise appeared across Violet’s face, her slightly dulled blue eyes widening a fraction and her lips parted slightly. Her usual neutral expression returned not even a moment later and she nodded, holding out the brush to him, prosthetic creaking with the movement.
Claudia swiftly crossed the small room and gently took the brush from her. He’d barely begun brushing before Violet softly murmured, “Why did you.. want to brush my hair?”
“Ah, well, I guess I was just thinking about how grown up you are now,” Claudia admitted sheepishly.
“Because I’m able to put my work before personal matters?”
Claudia shook his head. “No, because of how quickly you were able to pick yourself back up.” If this had happened back then, if Violet had found out that Gilbert was actually alive but didn’t want to see her four or even three years prior, it would have destroyed her. He was sure it still was destroying her, but not completely. She may crack, but Violet Evergarden would no longer shatter.
“If I am ‘grown up’ as you say, wouldn’t that make me all the more capable of brushing my own hair?”
“That’s just it,” Claudia said as he began separating the strawberry blonde hair into two sections. “Even if you’re all grown up now, you’re still… You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, Little Violet, but you shouldn’t need to be strong all the time. You should have someone to take care of you, to help you up when you stumble. I know I haven’t always been the best guardian—I sometimes say the wrong thing or don’t know how to help you when you’re struggling—but I want to take care of you.”
Silence fell over the lighthouse as Claudia began braiding Violet’s hair with trembling fingers, waiting for her to say something, anything.
“When you tried to leave me with the Evergardens,” Violet began slowly, voice thoughtful, “I rejected Mrs. Evergarden’s attempt to take on a maternal role in my life because I thought it unnecessary. I had never known a parent-child relationship and was under the impression that I did not need one. However, without me realizing it, that was exactly what you created between you and I. It took me a while to identify it as I didn’t have a form of reference, but you took on the role of ‘father’ in my life. Although I did not want it at first, I have since come to appreciate it and have long wanted to thank you for it, though I was never sure how to do so.”
Claudia let go of the braid he was working on, some of his progress coming undone as he brought a hand up to wipe away his unshed tears. He’d never spoken aloud his paternal love for Violet for fear of her not wanting it, and to suddenly hear her not only acknowledge it but respond positively was almost too much for him. Perhaps Benedict was right, leaving the military had made him soft. But no, enough tears had already been shed for one trip. He would not crumble like this.
But then Violet twisted to look at him, staring up at him with a small but heartfelt smile as she said with feeling, “Thank you for always taking care of me, President Hodgins.”
And just like that, all his resolve fell into pieces, a tear sliding down his cheek as a barely contained sob bubbled up in his throat. “Oh, Little Violet…” he croaked out. Ducking down to sit beside her and after getting a nod of confirmation, he gently pulled her into his arms like he had first wanted to all those years ago.
Ever since he was a young man, Claudia knew he wanted to be a father. Even if Gilbert stubbornly refused to grant Violet’s wish, it seemed he had unintentionally granted Claudia’s.
__________
“Gilbert, you idiot,” Claudia murmured, voice undeniably filled with fondness despite the insult as his hand subconsciously went to the set of ID tags tucked under shirt. Of course stupid Gilbert would only come around after the boat had already begun its journey back to Leidenschaftlich. He’d had all this time to see Violet, and because he took his sweet time he’d have to wait. Except Violet, it would seem, was not willing to wait.
She took a step forward, then another, and another and it became clear to Claudia what she was about to do.
He had half a mind to reach out and place a hand on her shoulder as a sudden understanding overcame him, but held himself back. When Violet and Gilbert reunite, Violet wouldn’t be his to take care of anymore. Gilbert was her original caretaker and once she grasped ahold of him, Claudia knew she wasn’t going to leave his side again. She’d stay on this island with Gilbert, and Claudia would have to go back to Leidenschaftlich alone.
This girl who he had at some point along the way began to see as his own daughter was disappearing from his life as suddenly as she had entered it.
He'd known it was a possibility as soon as he saw that achingly familiar handwriting, but now it was actually happening. He should be happy for her—after all, he had been willing to bust Gilbert’s door in and drag him to Violet kicking and screaming—but now he just didn’t want to let her go.
What he wanted didn’t matter though; this was about Violet. He’d respect her decision, even if it broke his heart.
Violet was running now, picking up speed as she rapidly approached the back end of the boat. She was slipping through his fingers, more out of reach than she had ever been.
All Claudia could do was watch and let her go as she leapt into the air without looking back before plummeting into the ocean.
When he heard the subsequent splash, all Claudia could think was:
The braids I made will be ruined. I hope she doesn’t catch a cold.