Title: One More Night

Author: h-bomba

Rating: M

Summary: A late night visitor challenges the parameters of their separation.

Spoilers: 3x10

A/N: For Denise. I tried to write a fluffy fic but something went horribly awry. Which is why this story is a sort of choose your own adventure. I you want angst, read part 1 and 2. If you want something a bit more uplifting read parts 1 and 3. Or, if you want the whole experience read them both. Whatever you decide, please enjoy!

Once, there were simpler times. When love was all they had and all they needed, and none of the everyday bullshit that destroys relationships mattered. Of course, the everyday bullshit of a succubus could level a relationship before it even had a chance to get off the ground. They had been so careful, so open in the beginning and slowly it still slipped away from them. As Bo had discovered, lying to protect someone was still lying. She had betrayed a trust and they had never recovered.

And Lauren, poor Lauren, she had tried so desperately to pick up the pieces and hold them together that she had gotten lost in the process. How could this have gone so wrong when they loved each other as they did? The answer was simple enough for Bo. She was banging down Lauren's door at last call o'clock. She swore at the door to open when Lauren did not appear immediately and knocked again. The deadbolt clicked and the door opened slightly.

"Bo," she said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

"Bo." Lauren cocked her head to the side realizing why Bo was there. "That won't solve anything."

Bo leaned on the door jam. "I want to talk to you."

"It's three in the morning."

"Like you never came calling at three in the morning?"

"That was different. That was…"

"A booty call?"

"For lack of a better word…"

"So can I come in?"

"Hands in your pockets."

"I'm not an animal, I can control myself," Bo said grouchily and then softened. "Even around beauty like yours."

Lauren smiled a sad smile and exhaled. She grabbed Bo's leather jacket and pulled her into her quarters. "You're not going to sweet talk me into bed either."

The kettle whistled and Lauren turned the burner off. She filled two cups, tea bags bobbing in the boiling water and turned to Bo who sat across from her on a stool at the island. It had been a month since Lauren had asked for the break. A month since Bo had been in her quarters and some time before that that she had been in her bed.

Bo smoothed her hand across the countertop. "So… How have you been?"

"Busy," Lauren said not wanting to tell her the rest. That she had to keep busy to avoid thinking about Bo and locking herself away to cry. Kleenex had made a mint on her since their break.

"Yeah, uh, me too." Bo sighed.

Lauren knew that Bo had been in seclusion. She knew this because Kenzi had told her. One drunken night at the Dal, Kenzi had spilled it all. That Bo was carrying on worse than she did after Dyson, that they hadn't had a case in weeks and yes, she even begged the doctor to take her back.

The cup rang as she stirred the tea. She looked at her reflection in the cups and took a deep breath before she turned to meet Bo's gaze. She stood, pinned by Bo's stare. Lauren bowed her head and stepped toward her, sliding the tea cup in front of her.

Lauren lifted her cup to her lips. "What can I do for you?"

"This is weird. Don't you feel weird?" Bo said, running a finger around the rim of her tea cup. "Tea, really?"

"I thought it might help soothe your nerves." Lauren set her saucer down on the counter. "You look like you could use it." She gestured at Bo's tea cup. "Drink, please."

Looking into the cup momentarily, Bo lifted her head to match Lauren's expression. "You know it's not your job to take care of me anymore."

"It's just tea." Lauren set her cup down noisily. "Maybe you should go."

"Because we disagreed about tea?" Bo picked up her cup and drank from it. "Is that better?"

"Bo, I'm tired." Lauren sighed. "What do you want?"

Bo stood and approached Lauren. "I want you."

"I need time, Bo." She looked away.

Sidling up to Lauren, she leaned into her body. "How long are we going to pretend that this break is doing anything for anyone except making us miserable?" Her voice grew quiet. "And I don't want to be miserable anymore."

Leaning in to kiss her, Bo let her lips brush against Lauren's as if asking permission. Lauren's breath hitched in her throat at the contact. She shouldn't, she knew that, but it didn't stop her from pressing her lips against Bo's with conviction. It was a hungry kiss, borne of need and longing.

When Lauren broke away, her chest heaved with effort. Bo wore her best come-fuck-me smile as she spoke. "Look Ma, no hands." Bo held up her hands playfully.

"Bo," she said, her tone a warning. "We can't."

Bo pulled away. "You never think it's the last time until it's over. Lauren, I gotta know if this is it."

She wrestled with what to say. There was no letting Bo down easy, things had gotten way out of hand and now Lauren had to deal with the fallout. "I don't know."

Bo looked away, fast losing her fight. Nothing was more difficult than watching Bo leave that day after her attack. She wanted to tell her to stay, to hold her while she cried. Instead she let her go and sobbed on the couch alone before turning up at the Dal. She went there to take the edge off half-hoping to run into Bo to call it off. In the days following, her resolve grew in Bo's absence. She turned it over and over in her mind for days and weeks on end. She had been hurt deeply by Tamsin's revelation but she had never spoken to Bo about it. Instead, she let herself grudge. She let it grow in her belly until it was a seed of discontent. And she used it to convince herself that she wasn't the one for Bo.

But tonight, seeing Bo after all that time, she felt alive again. Her skin prickled by goosebumps when their lips had met, the flood of heat spreading through her body. She lifted a hand to Bo's cheek and turned to face her. "One more night," Lauren nodded.

At this Bo looked sad, more than when she had arrived. Lauren wondered about the logic involved in her decision but decided it didn't matter. She wanted Bo and Bo wanted her, one more night might decide things that Lauren felt unable to resolve.