AN
This is my second fic for Clubdoccubus.
"This place can be vengeful. You don't know what will happen…." The Caretaker.
XXXX
Lauren entered the gym, and her eyes scanned the training room. Her gaze landed on Bo at the side of the gym. She was raining down punches on a bag hanging from the ceiling.
Lauren's lips curved in mild amusement as she silently watched Bo, for a moment. Lauren could watch the way Bo moved all day. Her smooth movements, the bounce of her muscles as they made contact with the bag, her intense concentration.
Bo stopped mid punch, aware of eyes on her, she turned around to face Lauren. She wiped the sweat from her brow and slowly lifted her gaze to look at Lauren.
"Spar with me?" Lauren asked with raised expectant eyebrows, and a slight smirk.
Bo hesitated, and then nodded before walking to the side of the room to prepare herself.
In the boxing ring, Bo moved into a fighting stance, bringing her fists up to guard her face. She kept her eyes on Lauren, waiting.
Lauren turned to face Bo. She stretched her back and rolled her neck before curling her fingers into a tight fist.
Bo crooked a finger at Lauren, signaling her to begin the fight, keeping the whole of her focus on Lauren's face. Bo emptied her mind and her emotions and saw Lauren as nothing but a sparring partner.
There were no feelings between them, certainly not one ounce of love. That ship had sailed a long time ago. They were work partners and nothing more.
Bo circled Lauren, weaving back and forth, to keep Lauren guessing about her first move.
Lauren's eyes narrowed at her into a ravenous look as they darted down her body. Bo used that opportunity to throw her first punch, and Lauren blocked it with a half smirk.
Bo bounced around, and when Lauren threw a punch at her, she ducked beneath her arm and hit her on the side.
Lauren exhaled at the contact and laughed, "That hurt," She blocked the next punch Bo threw at her and tracked her movements with her eyes.
"Good," Bo retorted coolly and shook out her arms to loosen them up, before bringing her fists back to her face. "You never remember to protect your left side."
Lauren switched her position, threw a punch at Bo. Bo swiftly blocked it, but the next one connected with the side of Bo's facemask.
Bo's eyes met Lauren and she tossed her head from side to side and moved back into a defensive stance.
Bo defended herself against Lauren, but Lauren caught her with a sweep of her leg. Bo hit the training mat hard, and it almost knocked the wind out of her. Her eyes widened, and she blinked up at the ceiling with her arms stretched out.
Lauren pinned her arms down and straddled her hips, their facemasks pressed against each other. Face to face, mere inches apart, Lauren shivered, acutely aware of their warm bodies touching.
Bo breathed heavily beneath her, her eyes showing quarreling emotions.
Lauren stared back, her eyes searching Bo's. "Did I hurt you?" Lauren asked, not moving away, her breath washed over Bo's lips.
Every hair on Bo's body seemed to stand on alert. "I'm not yours to worry about anymore," Bo whispered, unable to look away or push Lauren off. This whole situation had catastrophe written all over it, she needed to get up, but resisted.
Bo's eyes dropped to Lauren's mouth for a half second and nerves danced in Lauren's stomach, making her body warm. Lauren opened her mouth, willing herself off Bo, all the while unable to move or tear her eyes away from Bo's.
Lauren angled her head, slightly, and Bo closed her eyes, sucked in a sharp breath of air and held it, anticipating the inevitable. Then nothing happened, Lauren's weight eased off her body, and she could hear her footsteps moving away from her.
Bo released her breath, coming to her senses, as relief spread through her. She cursed Lauren under her breath for her attempt to confuse her and make her think about her feelings. She had played right into Lauren's hands.
"Had enough?" Lauren asked, towering over her, holding two bottles of cold water.
Bo jerked off her mask and tossed it to the side. She breathed deeply to catch her breath and settle her clashing emotions. "Give me a minute, and then we'll go again." Her voice came out strained.
Lauren smiled at Bo and sighed. Feeling guilty about almost kissing Bo. Bo was with Dyson, now, and Lauren was working to accept that, but sometimes she was powerless to stop her feelings. "I think we're done here. Go recover." She said, trying to sound casually friendly. She tossed Bo a bottle of water.
Bo caught it, screwed off the top of the bottle and drank. When she felt ready, Bo stood up and checked her watch for the time. She ran the cold bottle over her sweaty forehead, to cool herself down. Lauren swallowed hard at the gesture, watching the beads of water running down Bo's face.
"I'm not even out of shape," Bo said, trying to catch her breath and move away from the awkwardness. "I'm not sure why I'm so out of breath."
Lauren tucked a towel around her neck. "Are you going home after this?" She asked, as casual as she could. It was still hard to talk about personal matters, and her words came out hesitant.
Bo shot her an annoyed look, as she finished her water. She gazed intensely into Lauren's eyes and nodded.
A quick glance around the gym confirmed to Lauren that they were alone. She said, in a small voice. "Oh, I thought we could grab dinner or something..." Despite her conflicting emotions, her voice remained calm. But she felt stupid even suggesting it.
Bo shook her head, quickly. "No, I need to get home, Dyson's making dinner," She answered between her teeth.
Lauren crossed her arms and held her elbows. "Yeah, okay."
Bo met Lauren's eyes, hurt flashed through them for the briefest of moments before they cleared, leaving no trace of emotion. She revivified her emotional barriers, and her demeanor turned cold towards Lauren.
Scowling, Bo tossed her belongings into her gym bag. "Give up the jealous act, okay," She said, sharply. "I'm happy. I'm with someone who won't break my heart. It's not complicated." She gave Lauren a look of cold indifference. She was tired of Lauren always pushing her and playing with her. Lauren was the one that ended their relationship, to "protect" her and it was time she learned it was over between them.
Bo's tone was just as unemotional as her expression, which made the words all the more cutting. "You were happy with me…once," Lauren said, weakly. She was trying hard to keep all her feelings contained, but they kept bubbling to the surface.
Bo exhaled a frustrated breath. "Yeah? And where did that get me?"
Lauren toyed with the towel around her neck. She tried not to let Bo's words hurt. She breathed slowly until the ache in her chest passed. After a moment, she said. "I've told you I'm sorry like a million times. It wasn't my fault." She deliberately took slow breaths, waiting for Bo's response.
Bo studied her for a long moment before she marched up to Lauren, close enough so Lauren could smell her sweat. "Sorry doesn't unbreak my heart." She spun around and stormed off. "Some choices can't be undone," She called out with her back to Lauren, before yanking the heavy door open and exiting the gym.
Lauren slumped into the chair and sipped her water. Her heart grew heavy knowing Bo was going home to Dyson. To her perfect boyfriend, her perfect life. That could have been her life, should have been her life. As much as she wanted Bo, she knew the reality of the situation. She would always have to let Bo go. She sighed and drank her water, alone.
XXXX
With a sense of exhausted relief, Bo drove her Prius into the driveway before 6 pm that evening and parked in front of the garage. The house was animated with bright lights, the lawn a soft, flawless green carpet. The house was beautiful, welcoming and perfect. Yes, perfect, Bo reminded herself. This is what she wanted.
As she pressed the button to turn off the car, the front door opened, and Dyson jogged down the driveway to greet her. He wore his work scrubs and a broad smile.
"Welcome home," He said, opening her door for her.
"Hey," Bo smiled at him as she shuffled out of the car. She realized her gym bag was in the trunk, and she circled the car to get it. She stared at the bag, in the car, thinking back to Lauren and frowned.
Dyson touched her elbow, his face warm. "What is it?" He asked, concerned.
Her face lined into a twisted smile, and she said, "Nothing. I'm tired. It was a long day." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
Dyson pulled her towards him, circled his arms around her neck. She closed her eyes and sighed. An odd sense of sadness and regret filled her heart. Lately, whenever she was with Dyson, things felt a little off, wrong, somehow. But she couldn't put her finger on why, it didn't make sense, they were happy.
They broke apart, and Dyson took her bag. Bo mustered a smile and followed behind him into the house.
She walked into the calming, comfortable house and shrugged off her jacket.
"Dinner will be ready in an hour," Dyson said, taking her jacket from her and putting it away.
"I'm going to take a quick shower first," She pulled out her smelly shirt, "I was at the gym."
As Bo strolled to the bedroom, she glanced around the room and forced herself to relax. She didn't want to think about the gym or Lauren or the way her feelings were so muddled. She sank into the chair and started unlacing her tennis shoes.
Dyson followed, closing the door behind him. "How was work?"
Bo rubbed her dry eyes and gave a shaky sigh. She blinked, trying to rid herself of her frustrating, difficult day.
Dyson raised his eyebrows, and then his expression turned serious. Interest sparked through him at her silence. "Was it Lauren, again?" He asked, with coldness in his tone.
Bo leaned her head against the back of her chair and shut her eyes. She was trying to unwind, and her mood was starting to improve until Dyson brought up Lauren.
Bo remained silent for a moment; she brought her head down to look at him. "Of course not, that's over and has been for a while. She just gets under my skin sometimes."
She finished slipping out of her shoes and walked to the bathroom without another word.
Dyson gave her a concerned expression. "Why don't you get a new partner," He called out, gently. "You need a partner you can trust."
Bo shrugged and struggled to keep her mind off Lauren. Lauren. Exasperating, selfish, beautiful, heartbreaking Lauren. She had a perfect life with Dyson, so why did Lauren so easily dig her nails into her heart? Being partners with her ex was a torture she didn't know how much longer she could endure. Perhaps, she did need to rethink that and get another partner.
Dyson followed her into the bathroom and watched as she switched the shower on, and unbutton her pants. "Would you like me to join you?"
Bo stared down at the ground and then lifted her gaze to Dyson. "No, I just want a quick shower before dinner."
Dyson's face fell, and he gave her a quick kiss. "Okay, babe," He leaned back and looked at her. "Trust me, when I say you need a new partner. It's time to put the past in the past. Don't let that woman ruin everything we've built." He smiled, before exiting the bathroom.
Bo's heart clenched, knowing Dyson was right. She needed a clean break from Lauren once and for all. She turned to the mirror and stared at her reflection, wondering what was wrong with her, why she felt so conflicted, so off. She should be happy, she had a perfect life, and yet….
She shoved those thoughts aside; she was happy, this is what she wanted. She stripped her clothes off and stepped into the shower, all the while repeating those words to herself.
XXXX
After Bo had stormed off, Lauren didn't go home. What did she have to go home to? She went to the shooting range, instead.
Lauren loved target practice. It was the only time during her stressful day that she could clear her mind and relax. Even then, her mind always seemed to linger on Bo and her regrets.
She excelled at target practice, although she had never had to use her weapon in the line of duty, she wanted to be prepared for when that time came.
She lifted her gun and fired shots at the target. As the shots rang out, she thought about Bo. She had no one to blame for what happened between them but herself. She broke up with Bo, to protect her, at the time it seemed like the right thing to do, but now she knew it had been a mistake.
As meticulous as she was with her career, she always seemed to fall short in her personal relationships. To fall short when it came to Bo.
She never really seemed to fit in anywhere, belong anywhere. That was until she met Bo, but she was under no illusions whatsoever about that. Bo had moved on, and Lauren had no choice but to live with that.
But, sometimes, when she woke she didn't feel awake at all. It felt like she was still trapped in an endless dream. Maybe she was dreaming now. The world around her never seemed right, like pieces of the puzzle were missing. That was absurd, and she knew it.
Lauren shoved those thoughts aside and let her fingers grip the weapon tighter, firing more shots at the target. This was her life, this was her reality, and she needed to accept it and not obsess over losing Bo.
After twenty minutes, she holstered her handgun and removed her earmuffs.
As she packed up her belongings, her phone vibrated in her pocket, she fished it out and answered. "Officer Lewis speaking."
"911 just received a call about a murder. We've got officers on the scene, but the Chief wants you there."
Lauren glanced at her watch. It was late. "I'm off duty."
"We think it's connected to the family."
Lauren pressed her fingers against her temple and sighed. "I'm on my way."
As soon as she ended the call, she shoved her phone in her pocket and swung her bag over her shoulder. Her phone pinged again with a text message of the address. She thought about calling Bo but decided to let her spend the evening at home.
One of them should be happy, have a normal life, after all.
As she was leaving, she brushed past a man leaning against the door, "You don't belong here," He mumbled at her.
She paused and turned to look at him, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"We're closing," He answered, giving her a curious look.
"Right." She held up her bag, "I was just leaving."
XXXX
Ten minutes later, Lauren stared at the flashes of blue and red lights dancing off the dark concrete. She stalked toward the group of cops huddled around the car. The alley behind the car was blocked off with yellow crime tape. A good number of onlookers gathered around the area.
Lauren's gaze scanned the area for anything out of the ordinary as she walked up to a uniformed officer who stood guard in front of the alley. It wouldn't be the first time someone from the family had returned to the scene of the crime, so she took note of the faces in the crowd.
"You're living in a dream world, Lauren."
Lauren flipped her gaze to the officer and frowned. From his expression, it was clear he had been trying to get her attention for a while. "What did you say?" She asked, fingering her pistol, nervously.
He tilted his head and stared at her. "You looked like you were daydreaming."
Laughing, Lauren rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry. It's late." She cleared her throat and nodded at the alley. "Tell me what we've got."
He nodded and looked down at his clipboard. "Female. Early thirties. The scene is secure, and the medical examiner arrived just before you did."
"I'll go take a look," She gestured at the growing crowd of bystanders behind the barrier. "Make sure they stay back."
"Yes, Officer Lewis," He said as he lifted the yellow tape for her to duck under it.
As she walked further to the back of the alley, she could smell rotten garbage and cigarettes. She darted her eyes around the space, noting everything that came into sight. Determining what was important, or what was useless at a crime scene was always a long and tedious process. The first twenty-four hours in every murder case were always the most critical, and weeding through endless evidence only made their job tougher. Based on this alley, there would be a lot to go through, it could take weeks. And, more than likely, none of it would end up being useful.
The area was crowded with a few fellow officers and the medical examiner. Lauren's insides heaved at the smell of death in the air as the body came into view.
The medical examiner was squatted next to the victim, examining her. He didn't look up when Lauren approached.
Lauren rested her hands on her gun belt, hovering behind him. "What happened to her?"
He leaned in for a closer look and pointed to the mass of dried blood on her side. "Hard to tell anything conclusive until the autopsy, but for now, it looks as is she was stabbed and then dumped behind the dumpster hours later."
Lauren pulled on a pair of latex gloves, then crouched down beside the body. "Any idea who she is?" She asked, looking at the woman's face. She looked beautiful and familiar, but Lauren couldn't place it.
"No ID, wallet, or purse was found on or near the body, so, we've got a Jane Doe, for now."
"I'll talk to missing persons and see if anyone has been reported missing in the past week that fits her description. We might get lucky." She stood, and removed her gloves. "While you finish up, I'll canvass the area to see if anyone saw anything."
As Lauren strode to the street that faced the crime scene, anger simmered as she tried to imagine someone stabbing this woman and then dumping her in an alley. Lauren might have been a cop for years, but murders never ceased to get under her skin.
And she couldn't shake the feeling that she knew that woman somehow, her image tugged at a distant part of Lauren's memory, but she couldn't grab it.
Pushing aside her emotions and thoughts, she studied the area around her. She shoved her hands into her pockets and watched as different groups walked past her.
She took a deep breath as she stepped onto the sidewalk. Laughter spilled from a young couple that walked by her. Her heart pounded against her ribs, thinking about Bo. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the task at hand. Dead woman. Murder. She needed to concentrate on that, and not her beautiful, frustrating ex.
"You're living a lie," A homeless man muttered as he wandered by her, his head tipped up looking at the night sky.
Lauren's skin prickled in awareness. "Excuse me?" She called out, lightly gripping the man's shoulder to halt his steps.
His eyes bugged out as he stared at her with a confused expression. "You don't belong here."
"There's been a murder, did you see anything?" Lauren asked, trying to redirect his apparently confused train of thought. "Anything out of the ordinary?"
He lifted his hand and touched the badge on her chest. "Your life, your job, your world is an illusion."
Lauren frowned and glanced down at the bottle of beer in his hand. He was drunk; that explained his odd words and confusion. "A few hours ago, did you see any strange vehicles coming in and out of this alley?" She pointed behind her at the crime scene. "Anything at all." Keeping this drunken man focused seemed to be an impossible task. She started to grow impatient, irritated with the entire day.
"I'm the only one who sees the truth," He said, dreamily.
After a moment of staring at him, Lauren handed him a card and asked him to call her if he remembered anything, then she started to head off in the other direction.
"Unless you discover the truth, find the real key, you'll be trapped here, forever," He called out to her, halting her steps.
Lauren spun back around and strode determinedly up to him "Are you okay? Do you need somewhere to sleep it off," She tipped her head at the bottle in his hand.
He recoiled away from her. "Dream, only a dream," He muttered as he walked away from her.
As he stumbled into the street, Lauren saw the headlights of a truck heading right for him. Her gut told her something bad was about to happen. "Hey," She called out, running up towards him. "Hey," She waved her hands to get his attention. "Get out of the street."
He turned slowly and winked at her, at the same time, the truck smashed into his body.
Lauren rushed forward and squatted down beside him. She took his bloody hand, and in the background chaos erupted around her with sounds of beeping horns, yelling, screeching tires.
Lauren stared into his dull eyes and sighed. Her eyes swept down his body, and she noticed he wore a strange necklace, in the shape of an old looking key. She brushed her fingers across it and at the far edge of her mind, words of another life echoed in her head. "My god, you're beautiful," She heard herself say.
Interestedly, Lauren leaned forward and stared at the key, curling her fingers around it. More whispers and then her head tipped back as a flood of memories and images rushed through her mind, like a movie montage.
Bo's voice cut through Lauren's mind. "Nobody owns you." The lines of reality collided in her head. "This is about us." Each vision grew clearer, crisper. "You take my breath away." Soon, the memories began to overwhelm her. "No! I'm not leaving you!" Bo's face, Bo's words, "I love you, too." The vivid images were making it hard to distinguish between what was real or not. "Believe me, I feel lucky…"
As quickly as they came, the images disappeared. She looked down at her uniform, and the key in her hand disappeared into a puff of blue smoke. Confusion fogged her mind as she tried to figure out what she had just seen.
A wave of nausea drove her to retch. Disoriented, she glanced around, the chains around her mind clanked open. She remembered everything. Her last real memory was watching Dyson and Bo enter the temple. Her heart burst in her chest when the realization crashed into her. They were trapped in an illusion. Stuck in Bo's dawning, in the temple.
She sank back and clutched her heart, as it squeezed in her chest. "Bo…" She whispered as tears crept into her eyes. Her heart filled with relief, even as dread and horror knotted her stomach.
XXXX
AN
I know most don't want to read too much about DyBo, so I will be cautious when writing that relationship.
Thanks to my bidder for the prompt :)
And thanks, everyone else for reading!
