Not too sure how I feel about this one. Hope you enjoy it regardless.
Constant awareness is a skill all survivors possess. Letting your guard down and relaxing can be one of the riskiest moves anyone with any kind of experience in staying alive can make. Tamsin, being a hunter (and, occasionally, the hunted), was well aware of this fact. But the soft, warm form beneath her was tantalizing enough of a promise to put her dangerously close to forgetting a hard learned lesson. She wasn't quite awake, that would require a linear thought process. No, Tamsin was hovering in a snug, gentle fog of rest. Golden light was playing on her eyelids as it streamed out of an unknown source. The Valkyrie was just conscious enough to know that she should treasure this moment and etch it into her memory. Creatures of war rarely experienced such a blissful peace. A slight shift of the warmth beside her broke through the haze to remind her that there actually was something tangled up in this surprisingly comfy bed with her. Both piercing green eyes popped open and took in her surroundings. She was in a bedroom…in a bed…in Bo's house. Logically, that meant that she was in Bo's bed, because there was no way in hell Kenzi would ever share hers. Those suspicions were confirmed when the mass beneath Tamsin's arms shifted slightly. Bo was curled up in her arms wearing the soft faux-denim shirt Tamsin had been wearing the night before. Oh, the NIGHT before. Memories of all that had transpired in this exact bed the last night made an actual blush color the Valkyrie's cheeks. Bo twisted around again and nuzzled into Tamsin's neck. She was struck by an intense feeling of protectiveness for the tiny woman wrapped up with her. Bo really was small without her boots or heels on. Tamsin didn't really want to let go of her tiny frame, this was just too fantastic to ruin quite yet. She leaned down and placed a kiss on Bo's hair while tightening her hold ever so gently, as not to wake the other up. It just felt really, really good.
For 20 more minutes she got to rest in the bed holding Bo with a lazy, pleased smile plastered across her face. Then, a sound so loud and abrupt rolled through the shack that it could have been a police siren.
"BoBoooooo! Wake up! It's pancake tiiiiiime!" Kenzi. The human was pretty likeable and had earned Tamsin's respect for handling being kidnapped like a champ, but this overtly loud wake-up call was completely unnecessary.
"For the love of—" Tamsin muttered closing her eyes in frustration. Kenzi didn't know she was here, and it was a well-known fact how suspicious the girl could be about Bo's love interests. It took a few minutes but she eventually decided to take the problem on headfirst. She'd have to do it alone as Bo hadn't even stirred at Kenzi's shout. The succubus was probably in some sort of a heavy, overfull-on-chi sleep. They had certainly made sure she was fully fed the night before.
"Bo! Come on! Lets go, we gots a whole day with nothin' to do." Still, Bo kept sleeping. With a sigh Tamsin detangled herself as carefully as possible and slipped on the jeans and tank top she'd left on the floor. Her hair was a mess, so she just threw it into an equally messy bun. Taking a deep breath and one last glance at Bo curled up under the covers she turned to go downstairs. Harsh clangs and booms were coming from the kitchen, like Kenzi had decided to play a drum solo on all of their cooking items. Turns out she was unsuccessfully trying to put enough pancake mix into three different pans simultaneously. Did the stove even have three burners?
"It might work better if you go one at a time." Kenzi yelped and nearly dropped the bowl of mix. Stunned blue eyes locked onto the person who was definitely not Bo.
"Not that I don't appreciate the cooking tip, but why are you in our place?" The girl eyed Tamsin like she was a poisonous snake. Oh yeah, this was going to be the tricky part.
"Well, I guess you could say I was visiting Bo." Tamsin smirked at the girl across from her. Kenzi understood exactly what visiting meant and a hard look came over her face.
"Yeah, we both know what visiting means. Don't play this game with me Detective Bitchiness, I expect some better shit than that from you." Tamsin let the smirk fall from her face. Kenzi was right. There was no point in beating around the bush.
"Fine, last night Bo and I—"
"Whoa there! I said don't play the game. I did not say 'tell me about your horizontal tango'." Kenzi waved her hands around in some kind of explanatory gesture. Tamsin quirked an eyebrow at her with a slight smirk.
"Oh, it wasn't always horizontal." Kenzi started waving her arms around randomly with a new vigor.
"EW. No, TMI, TMI, TMI!" She shook her head like there was water in her ear without looking at Tamsin. And then, just as soon as she began, she stopped and went back to her pancake mix while muttering in Russian. They stood in silence for a few horribly awkward moments before Kenzi spoke again.
"Ok, listen here lady. I may be human, or whatever, but I will not hesitate to kick your ass if you hurt my best friend. She has already been through so much shit with her love life. If your just screwing her to screw with her, it's gonna go down between us. Don't think I don't remember how long you were trying to throw Bo in prison, or how just plain rude you were." The girl set down her bowl and leveled Tamsin in an icy blue stare.
"Both Lauren and Dyson have managed to hurt Bo in one way or another at some point, so I'll be damned if I let you mess with her too." Tamsin let the truth of Kenzi's words sink in. The protectiveness Kenzi had over her best friend was mirrored in Tamsin's own heart. The thought of hurting Bo was one that made the Valkyrie sick to her stomach, coupled with the sour burn of jealousy over the doctor and the wolf. She met Kenzi's stare with softened eyes and a sigh.
"In all truthfulness Kenzi, I have no intention of ever hurting Bo. Nor do I have intentions of letting anyone or anything else hurt her." Tamsin let out another gusty sigh before continuing. "I've begun to…care about her. I'll protect her even when she is being an indecisive, foolhardy, brave and compassionate idiot trying to play hero. Trust me in that."
"So you like her that much?" Kenzi still looked a little defensive, but her shouldered had relaxed into a more comfortable position. Tamsin blushed and frowned at her question, because she really never was so open about her feelings. A torrent of emotion was flowing through her, the predominant ones being fear and frustration. This whole conversation had her feeling vulnerable, and it made her want to run. The only thing keeping her rooted in the shack was still asleep upstairs. Kenzi definitely had a way of getting straight to the point that had Tamsin regretting her 'dive right in' strategy and the subsequent confession of feelings.
"Do you even know how to make good pancakes?" Kenzi raised an eyebrow at her ridiculously flimsy avoidance of the topic but elected not to say anything. Instead she hefted the mix bowl at Tamsin with expectant eyes.
"Apparently not. Teach me, o' wise Detective Pancake Maker. My area of expertise seems only to lie in the alcoholic section of cooking." It was as close to an olive branch as they could get and Tamsin was grateful for it. Instead of thinking about the emotional vomit that had just been experienced the two simply threw themselves into preparing pancakes the correct way.
(-)
They had been cooking in silence for roughly 15 minutes and now had a nice stack of pancakes hot and ready on the counter. Kenzi offered a small smile and picked up the topmost pancake. Almost daintily she took a bite while eyeing Tamsin from the side.
"These are actually pretty kick-ass. I bow to your culinary skills."
"One day, short stack, you too will learn the way." Tamsin smirked and walked out of the kitchen area to grab her coat from on top of the coach. She could get the shirt back from Bo later.
"Seeing as we've managed not to burn this fire hazard of a shack down, I'll be leaving before our luck runs out." The Valkyrie leaned down to grab her boots from next the end table and tugged them on without undoing the laces. She was almost out the door when Kenzi's voice halted her progress.
"Hey, uh, Tamsin. You could stay for part of this bitchin' breakfast you helped make. You know, if you want." The girl waved half eaten pancake in her hand. Conflicting emotions ran through Tamsin's head before she worked up an answer.
"Tell you what, I'll stay for breakfast but you have to go wake Sleeping Beauty." Tamsin let the sappy, soft side of her brain make that decision. She might as well wait just a little longer to pop the bubble of this equally happy and awkward morning. Kenzi gave her a salute before sauntering off to wake her best friend.
"Oh, and just for the record," She called over her shoulder to Tamsin. "I have high hopes for you right now, so don't mess this, or my best friend, up. No pressure."
"Gee, thanks." Tamsin rolled her eyes but allowed herself a small grin. She was starting to have high hopes too.
Thanks for reading! Reviews on the characterization and the flow of the story would be greatly appreciated.