Ahead Of Our Time
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"Well, this is-fun." She says with her raised brow and smirk, a smirk that the wine glass she keeps pressed to her lips does nothing to hide.
"Isn't it?" I manage to chuckle out, my own smirk doing a fair job to mask just how nervous I really am.
Taking a drink, or rather a gulp from my own glass I take a seat at the edge of my bed. My eyes gradually dancing from the rim of my glass, across the floor, until finally they're back on her. She's still smirking at me, her own eyes shifting between me and the window she's opened for some odd reason. The way she keeps herself positioned, shoulder against the frame not quite facing away from me yet not quite facing me either. She has always been so elegant, like one of those old time actresses—Katharine Hepburn or Lauren Bacall. Effortlessly beautiful with style, and class. She could steal the attention away from anyone in a room with just a glance, a single word.
"Don't." She softly laughs, bringing me back from my doting thoughts.
"What?" My brow raises once again as I take another sip, more as an attempt to keep my cheeks from pinkening than out of thirst.
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?" I can't help but chuckle. She's giving me this smile, the one that's saved solely for me, the same one that makes it near impossible to take her serious.
"You know what." She rolls her eyes at me, before glancing back out the window.
"Nope, sorry. Absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Mm-hm."
"I don't." I try to sound serious, as if I really believed what I was saying. I know all too well she knew what I was thinking about-or at least she has an idea. I know though if I sound just serious enough she'll turn back around and I'll get another glimpse of her smile. God, how I've missed that smile these past few months. I don't think I truly even realized just how much until this moment.
"Bo." Just as I knew, she tilts her face back to me. Smile still there though her eyes have narrowed ever so slightly, the way they do when she is expecting me to admit to something.
"Lauren."
"Admit it." She tries not to chuckle at her own 'order'.
"Admit what?"
"Admit you know what I'm talking about." She manages to get it out without the slightest of laughs, but she can't hide the smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.
"Can't admit it if I really don't know what you're talking about." I have to bite my bottom lip and look down at my nearly empty glass to keep from laughing.
I knew what she meant, and I knew why she was saying it too. I honestly hadn't meant for us to end up in my bedroom but we just always seemed to. I really had no intentions about tonight, no expectations but how could I say that to her without making it sound like that was exactly what I had? How could I make it sound like anything other than an insult? Maybe if this was last year, maybe when we were still close then I could have said any stupid thing that popped into my mind and she would have known how to make sense of it. But this wasn't a year ago-too much has changed.
This is the first time we're 'hanging out' in a long time. Almost 7 months to be exact. We haven't been alone since that time she saw me wearing her necklace for the first time. The night we lost Kenzi. After that night it had all been about bringing Kenzi back. All of us focused 100% on that, so we hadn't really had time to talk about 'us'. Well… we were never good at talking really.
"Where did you go?" She asks with a soft smile as she approaches the bed, sitting next to me, covering my hand with hers on my knee. Amazing how such a simple and innocent gesture from her could make me feel goose-bumps. She always managed to turn me into a nervous teenage girl.
"I'm here." I say as convincingly as possible, looking down at our hands and then back up to meet her eyes, eyes I could lose myself in. I realize it's almost a minute since either of us has said something. Come on Bo, say something-anything. "I'm not looking to have sex." Great going succubus, just great. You could have said anything else and you choose to say that.
"Wha—what?" Her eyebrow raises and she can't help but chuckle, giving me this almost disbelieving look and her cheeks blush ever so slightly, if we weren't so close I would have missed it.
"I mean, I don't want to have sex with you." Keep going genius. "I mean, I don't have sexual intentions with you." Brilliant, simply brilliant. "Shit! I mean that I don't want you to think I only brought you here with those intentions. I just wanted to see you and talk, without ending up in bed like we always do."
Well this is just wonderful, I swear no one would believe that I'm a succubus, a 'master' of seduction. I can see she's enjoying it though; she always loved how easily she could make me nervous.
"I know Bo. I was just kidding before. I know those aren't the only intentions you have." She cups my cheek in the sweetest way and without realizing it I close my eyes for a second, just enjoying her touch, enjoying having her here with me. She always felt like home to me. "I'm glad to be here, just you and me, these past few months have been… chaotic to say the least."
"Yeah I know, it was so crazy". I kiss her palm and take her hand with mine. "But at least we got Kenzi back, which we couldn't have done without you by the way. Your help has always been essential. I'm sorry if I haven't always told you how much I appreciate it, but I want you to know I really do. None of us would be here if it wasn't for you."
"Thank you. Your words mean so much to me." She smiles softly, again that smile that she reserved only for me, but it quickly fades. "I'm not gonna lie, I haven't always felt very appreciated. And I'm not saying I deserve a monument or anything, but just the occasional 'thank you' would be nice."
She looks down at our hands and I feel so much guilt. This is a woman that has put her life on the line for all of us many times, and I honestly can't remember any of us ever thanking her. I feel so ashamed.
"I'm sorry." I gently grab her chin to make her look up at me. "You are completely right, we have been a bunch of ungrateful assholes." I cup her cheek and rub my thumb over her soft skin. "I can't do anything about the past except say how sorry I am, but I can promise to be better from now on."
I see a stray tear running down her cheek, which I wipe away with my thumb. We just look deeply into each other's eyes, it's almost like we're saying 'I see you', I see your soul, and it really feels like that.
Just like a reflex, we both start leaning forward, our lips just a couple of inches apart. A second before our lips finally meet, we hear a loud noise from someone banging on my door like a crazy person.
"Shit!" I say through a clenched jaw. This better be a life or death matter, or else there was about to be a very pissed succubus tonight. Eyes fluttering fully open to find hers already there, sighing softly I pull my hand away and give her an apologetic smile. Always seems that most of my smiles to her are this kind, the apologetic, 'please forgive me for something I've done' kind.
"Ships in the night." She whispers under her breath in almost a sigh, her eyes moving away from my own as she leans back.
"Lauren-" I'm cut off by this maddening knock on my front door, a knock so loud it sounds like it's on my bedroom door rather.
"Get it." She gives me 'permission', along with a shake of her head. I nod and push myself off the bed, placing my glass on the floor. Reaching the doorway, I glance over my shoulder and I can't help but remember the time I left to go undercover with Kenzi. What would ultimately lead to our so called break.
Forcing myself to look away from her-to walk away from her I jog down the stairs. I barely have enough time to reach the bottom step before there is another series of pounds.
"Son of a bitch." I growl under my breath, stomping over to the door. "You're going to break my damn door asshole." I make sure to say it loud enough to be heard through the door. "What is-" my anger replaced with confusion as I open the door to have this girl collapse in my arms. "O—okay." I take a step back pulling her in with me.
"Do—"
"What?" I ask trying to hold her up. She's small, can't weight more than Kenz but she's dead weighting—almost trying to pull herself down. "Shit." I groan out as I stumble a bit but get a better hold, it's good enough to allow me to get her to the couch.
"Doctor Lewis." She mumbles into the cushion.
"Lauren!" I yell, starting to turn the girl onto her back. "Lauren!" I yell a little louder, my eyes focusing in on the giant circle of blood covering the girl's white shirt. Then my eyes focus in on the handle of a blade in the center of the circle.
"It's no bad." The girl says softly, tears running down her cheeks but she seems so—calm.
"N-no. Not bad." I say as if she has phrased her words as a question. Moving onto my knees I wrap my hand around the handle.
"Don't." Lauren orders, causing me to look over my shoulder as she rushes over to us. "What happened?" Her eyes widen slightly looking between the girl and me.
"Light Fae-asshole." The girl bites out, nostrils flaring.
"Light Fae?" My brow shoots up as I remove my hand. "Dyson is going to kill me." I sigh leaning back.
"Really?" Lauren lets out in a snorting chuckle, a head shake following as she moves onto her knees.
"What?" This time I'm really not sure what the attitude is for. "I promised him I wouldn't dig myself any further into the Light—Dark squabbles."
"Would hate to break a promise to Dyson." Another sigh escapes her as she pushes the girl's shirt up.
"It wasn't just him, I promised Trick too."
"Yet somehow it was Dyson you brought up."
"What happened to the buddy-buddy deal you two have had going on?"
"Buddy-buddy?" She looks over at me with a glare. "Get me some water and wash cloth."
"Yes, you and him have been quite friendly for a while now." I continue my previous conversation as I rush off to the kitchen. I grab Kenzi's bunched up tee-shirt off of the table and then grab a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Are you jealous?"
"No, of course not." Possibly-but I'll never say it aloud. "Here." She looks over starting to reach for the water but hesitates for a moment before taking it. "What?"
"Nothing."
"You asked for water."
"I know."
"You only like bottled water." I say stupidly before realizing she's pouring it over the girl's wound. Well that's 'genius' moment number two for tonight. "I wasn't thinking."
"I'm sorry. I can tell you two obviously have some stuff you need to work out, and I'm really sorry for interrupting. But do you think you two could you do it when an eighteenth century blade isn't protruding from my liver."
"From this angle it wouldn't have touched your liver." Lauren says using Kenzi's tee to wipe the area clean. "Eighteenth century you say?"
"Really?" I can't help but smirk at her back. It was amazing how adorable she could be at the strangest of times. Her geeky-ness overriding everything else happening. "What happened to you anyway?" I clear my throat, forcing my eyes away from Lauren.
"I think it's better you don't know the answer." Lauren answers for our 'guest', glancing up at me. "That way you have full deniability when explaining the situation to Dyson," she pauses, looking back down to her current task. "And Trick."
"You two really have some issues, huh?" The young girl snorts out, a snort replaced by a groan as Lauren pulls the blade out.
"That doesn't look very good." I say, hand on Lauren's shoulder as I lean over her looking at the wound. Our current 'guest' covering her face with her arms, her groans muffled. "I think we might need to call someone."
"Like who," she pauses, looking back at me with a smirk. "A doctor?" I can't help but return the smirk, 'genius' moment number three. "It looks like it's starting to heal already." She says turning away, my attention shifting back to the wound.
"HEY!"
I turn to my right at the yell to find something coming at my face.
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Unknown—3 Hours Later
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"Ow." I groan out, as my eyes open to find a blinding light. "What the—" I cut myself off as I roll onto my stomach. "Seriously, what the—" I trail off for the second time as I push myself onto my knees. "Where the hell am I?"
"Well it's not Kansas, Dorothy." I hear a vaguely familiar voice, looking over to my far right, five cages down sits my slumped over, uninvited guest.
"It's a facility of some kind." My head snaps to my left so fast I hear my neck crack. Beside me in another cage sits Lauren. "I'm guessing, medical. Light Fae possibly."
"Oh okay, no biggie right?" I snort, staring at her in near amazement. She's calmly sitting with her back against the bars facing me. Her hands are folded in her lap, legs fully extended out in front of her. "Do you need a pillow?" I snort, seeing a yawn escaping her.
"What? I'm tired." She gives me this 'leave me alone' look.
"We're god knows where, we have no idea who brought us here and on top of everything we are caged… literally." I get no reaction whatsoever from her, she's just looking at me. "How can you be so calm?!"
"It's not the first cage I've been in, and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last." She says with a shrug, and I can't help but feel like an insensitive asshole. I know the Light fae treated her worse than a pet at times. But as bad as I feel for her, I need to get us out of here.
"Yeah well I don't plan on staying here for long." I grab the bars and try to pull them apart, I pull as hard as I can, but they don't even move an inch.
"Wow I think you bent it and everything, you're almost out." I glare at her through heavy breathing and all she does is smirk at me. "Relax Bo, if they took the trouble of getting us here, they must want something from us, we'll find out soon enough."
Before I can say anything, we hear a lock opening and the steel door slides open. I can only see a big silhouette but can't tell who it is because of the blinding light. After a couple of seconds a very tall guy comes in, a guy who would make Bruce look small, and that's saying something. He's all dressed in black, wearing what seems like military boots and his face is masked. He looks like he came out of a James Bond movie.
"Hey asshole! Who the hell are you and why did you bring us here?" He doesn't even look at me. He just walks to the other side of the room to the girl's cage and unlocks it.
"Well it was about time!" She crawls out of the cage and once she's out, she stands up, her shirt all covered in blood but she doesn't seem to be hurting at all, by seeing her you'd think it was just red paint instead of blood. "The plan did not include putting me in a cage too you dumbass!"
"Wait, what?" I look over at Lauren who has this confused look that I'm sure matches mine and then back to the girl. "What the hell is going on here?!"
"Well it's been lovely ladies. They were right, you two wouldn't be able to resist helping a dying young girl, you're too easy and predictable. Ciao." She waves at us and then disappears out of the room, the blinding light not letting me see anything that's outside and she's followed by the guy who slides the door closed and by the sound, locks it again.
"Did that just happened?" I look over at Lauren again who is almost laughing. "Were we seriously played by a teenage girl?" Well 'genius' moment number 5. I'm killing it tonight.
"I guess she's right, we are predictable." She snorts and resumes her initial position, going back to her 'relaxed while being kidnapped' attitude.
"Who the hell took us?!" I grab the cage bars again and try to pull them apart, I'm not good with small spaces and I want to get the hell out of here.
"Like I said, seems like a Light Fae facility." She shrugs again and closes her eyes, resting her head on the bars behind her head. That's great, take a nap cause there's nothing important going on.
"I'm gonna need a little more than that." I try to say as calmly as possible, after all it's not her fault we're trapped here, but it would be nice to see a sign from her that she wants to leave too.
"Well that's all I know at the moment."
"What's the matter with you?"
"With me? Nothing. I'm just used to people, especially fae, using me like a pet, a toy, something they can do whatever they want with. I thought all that was behind me but I guess I was wrong." She look down and I know she must be remembering all the times she's been treated like shit by the fae. She did it to save Nadia and… and she's also done it countless times to save or help me.
Without even realizing it, I feel a single tear running down my face. I'm such an idiot. Here I am, almost mad at her for her attitude of not giving a shit and I can't even stop for a second to think that this situation is a normal occurrence for her. How many situations like this did she have to be in to literally stop caring? To get used to it. Just the thought of that makes me realize how much she's truly sacrificed for me, for all the people she loves.
"I'm sorry." I lost count of how many times I've apologized to her a long time ago, but I don't know what else I can do or say at the moment.
"Don't be, you didn't lock us in here."
"No," I sigh heavily. "But I got us locked in here."
"Really? You called 1-800-Kidnap?" She chuckles to herself. "The thought of having an actual conversation scare you that much?" She does this half wiggle of her eyebrows.
"Yep, you caught me." I shoot a glare her way, before turning my attention back to the walls of my cage.
"You're not going to get them open."
"It makes me feel better." I say, kicking another set of bars further to my right.
"Okay." She says flatly, before falling into silence as I continue kicking at the bars. "Do you think you could do that any quieter?"
"Lauren, I understand that you're okay with being in a cage."
"Okay?" She snorts. 'Genius' moment number six.
"Not okay-okay. I just mean," I turn around to face her. "I mean that you're calm and level headed about it and I'm-not. I wish I was, but small spaces and cages and unknown people holding us captive is not something I am ever going to be okay with."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Okay." I say with a nod starting to turn back to my task. "No, not okay." I spin back around. "Have I done something to upset you?"
"Nope."
"If you have something to say then say it." I walk to the middle of my barely ten foot wide cage and fold my arms.
"I don't want to fight with you, just go back to playing with your bars."
"Playing with-hey. I'm not the one who locked you up."
"I know."
"And you said you didn't blame me for us ending up here."
"I don't."
"Then retract the claws Doctor." I snap, surprising even myself that she's actually managed to make me upset at her.
"Bo," she starts, but then stops herself. "Nothing."
"No, what?" She shakes her head at me. "Say what you were going to say Lauren."
"I was just going to say that you don't know what my claws are like." Her brow raises, nostrils flare slightly and as irritated as it makes me, I can't help but notice how sexy she looks pissed off.
"Is that so?" I can't help but chuckle. "I'm pretty sure I've felt them Lauren-or should I say Karen." It was a low blow, I know it and so does she, and the way she stares up at me lets me know she does.
"Right," she laughs to herself giving me that indigent shrug she does from time to time. "Bo, the only time I have ever come close to intentionally hurting you, has been the times when I was trying to protect you."
"I'd prefer you didn't protect me anymore if that's the cost."
"Right, I almost forgot you have Dyson to save you."
"And we're back to him." I chuckle, shaking my head in disbelief. "Always back to him."
"Because you make sure he's always a part of our lives."
"Because he is! What do you mean?"
"Dyson is a part of your life and a part of mine, but you make sure that he remains a part of ours."
"I don't understand what you're trying to say." My eyes narrow, tone softening as I walk to the end of the cage nearest her.
"He is your best friend next to Kenzi and you have a complicated relationship-I probably have just as complicated one with him-in different ways of course. He will most likely always be a part of your life and probably mine as well. That isn't the problem, the problem is you bring him into our world."
"Our world?" My eyebrow raises and it takes a conscious effort not to laugh. I really am trying to understand but I just seem to be missing something.
"Bo, most couples they have their own-world. I don't know how else to say it." She shakes her head at me, or maybe it's at herself. "They have time where it's just them and nobody else. They have things that only they will understand. Conversations that are only about their own topics, conversations that don't constantly revolve around their sister or ex-boyfriend. They can be in their own little world without anyone else and they are fine with that."
"Oh." It wasn't the brightest of responses but it was honestly all I had to that.
"To most people, their lover is enough to keep them happy."
"You were always enough for that." My tone hardening slightly, a slight twinge of pain in my chest at her words.
"Was I?" She looks up into my eyes and for a moment I forget to breathe.
"You were the one who left me, remember?"
"You were the one who let me."
"I gave you the space you wanted, you asked me for it. You said you needed it." I swallow back the lump in my throat.
"And it was easy for you."
"Of course it wasn't easy for me Lauren, Jesus. Giving you space was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but I did it because I had the expectation that it was just a break."
"It doesn't matter now, none of it does." She tilts her head side to side trying to crack her neck.
"I picked you Lauren." I snap, continuing to glare at her.
"And then I broke your heart." She snorts, starting to sit up as she folds her legs Indian-style.
"That's funny to you?"
"No, but me hurting your feelings equals me breaking your heart. Me breaking your heart seems to always outweigh the actions proceeding."
"That's bullshit and you know it." My voice raising as I turn my back to her, walking back the other side of my cage.
"Our first night together. I did it yes to try and protect you but also because I wanted to be with you, but that would forever destroy your trust in me. With Taft, I saved Dyson and handed Taft right to him. What about sticking around when I had the opportunity to run-several times? What about pledging my loyalty to the Dark? Turning Evony human? What about these past few months-again not running, for you." I glance over my shoulder to find her standing now. "Did I ever once get a thank you? Did I ever once get the hero badge of honor that Dyson gets just for breathing?"
"That isn't fair." I turn back around to face her, breath catching in my throat.
"What isn't fair is your double standards. What isn't fair is how you yell to everyone how much you love me, how much you want to be with me, how much I hurt you but hardly lift a finger to fix it."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I walk toward her.
"It means I know about you and Dyson when you were supposed to be looking for me. It means I know that no matter what I do right it will never be enough for you."
"I don't know what you want from me Lauren." I grab the bars, looking into her eyes. I want so desperately to pull her into my arms. I want so desperately to tell her how I feel, how I really feel but it just never comes out. I want to tell her she's wrong, but something deep inside of me knows she isn't.
"What I want Bo-beyond being free, beyond not having to know the feeling of cages and what it's like to be treated like a slave, what I want is to be to you what you are to me." She hesitates, her eyes starting to shine the way they do when I've hurt her. "I want to be your hero Bo, I want to be your world, your everything. I'm fully aware how stupid and cheesy it sounds but to me you are. I fell in love with you from the first moment I saw you, and in that moment you became my world. My reason to hope and fight and believe that there is still good in the world. You saved me from death countless times, but you also saved me from myself." She pauses, tilting her head away from me. "You are good enough for me Bo, you alone. Not succubus you, not badass you, not champion you, not any of it-just you."
I just stare at her, my body completely frozen at the moment. Even if I can't look at her face, I know she's crying, she's just trying to hide it from me. She's never wanted me to see her in her weak moments, and I think that's partially why I thought that she wasn't weak at all.
"You are enough for me, I've just always been worried that I'm not enough for you." My words come out so quietly that it's almost a whisper. A hard truth I never wanted to admit to myself but that it was always there.
"What?" She turns around and looks at me almost in disbelief, grabbing the bars of her cage. I can't stand to look at her for this, a feeling of shame rushing over me, so I just look down.
"You're the smartest person I've ever met. You're a genius doctor, with a ton of degrees and even awards to prove it, and I'm just… I'm just me, an immature succubus who can't get her life together." I have to fight back the tears that are threatening to escape. Saying all this out loud hurts more than I could ever imagine.
"Bo-"
"No, I need to say this, I've been wanting to say it for a long time now." Might as well keep going, after all, I don't know if I'll ever have the courage to say all this again. "When we got together, that was one of the happiest moments of my life, I couldn't believe that it was finally our time, and for a while everything was amazing. But then, the injections stopped working and that changed everything." I finally gather up the strength to meet her eyes again, but it only brings more guilt.
"What do you mean?"
"I never wanted to need others to sustain me, I was committed to you and I wanted to be with you and only you. Then after what happened with Dyson I felt so guilty, I kept telling myself that I would've died if I didn't have sex with him, but that didn't matter, I still betrayed you and our relationship." I remember my internal bleeding that day hurt less that knowing I had betrayed our agreement, and most of all, betrayed her.
"Bo, you having sex with Dyson that time hurt, I'm not gonna lie, but I understood you didn't have a choice." She says through the most understanding smile, her voice and features soften and it almost feels like she's saying 'I forgive you'.
"That doesn't matter!" I didn't mean to yell, but I can't help it, I've been so angry at myself for so long and I can't hold it in anymore. "We were a committed couple. I know how ridiculous that sounds given what I am but I loved the fact that we were, and I betrayed that. And after that, I had to find others to feed on and it killed me to know you knew you weren't enough." I can barely say those last words before my tears start falling freely down my face, letting all this out brought some relief but it also made it more real than ever before.
"It's who you are Bo, I always knew I wasn't enough for you physically, and it hurt, but I would've been able to get over it. All I needed to know was that I was enough for you emotionally."
"You always were." I wipe away my tears and try to keep myself together. "Still are." Meeting her eyes again I say this in the most convincing way I can to let her know how much I mean it. "I think after our break I kept pushing you away because I was afraid I was gonna hurt you again, even if it hurt so much not to have you, it was better than to hurt you again. Stupid I know, but that was my logic at the moment."
"And now?" Her voice still soft, almost hopeful.
"Now I want another chance. I want another chance to show you we can make this work. You said I let you go once, well I'm not letting you go again, I want to fight for us." I have never meant anything as much as I do now, all I want is for us to try again, all I want is to prove we can be enough for each other.
"I don't know Bo."
"I do, we can do research to come up with new injections, and if that doesn't work then we can make up a system for me to feed as discretely as possible." I was really hoping option number one would work, but we'd have to be prepared in case it didn't, it's a hard thing to admit, but it's part of our reality, and I want us to face that reality together, no more hiding things from each other.
"I want to get to know you Lauren, get to know about your past and everything you've been through. I want to tell you about my past, even if it's not the easiest thing for me to talk about, but I want you to know about it. I want to have date nights where we can dress up and go to some fancy restaurant. I want to have movie nights where we just stay home being lazy, enjoying each other's company. I want all of that, with no one else but you, because I love you." My hand finds its way to my chest. Fingers slipping underneath the pendant of the necklace she gave me, the one that hasn't left my neck since the day I had put it on. Instinctively I tilt my head down just a bit as I bring it up to my lips. Such a simple gesture, but I knew she would understand it, that it would mean as much to her as it does to me.
"I-I love you too Bo. Always have." She puts her hand over her heart, and for a second I can feel like she's right next to me and nothing else matters. "If we're gonna do this, I want us to do it right. I don't want to rush things."
"I agree, there's no rush. And we can start to take things slow as soon as we get out of this, let's say, unusual situation." We can't help but chuckle, it really was a ridiculous situation we were in, a genius doctor and a tough succubus played by a teenage girl, not our brightest moment but at least we had each other.
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3 Hours Later
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"Bo," the soft call of my name seems so distant. "Bo, wake up."
"Lauren?" I can't help but yawn as I say her name, heavy eyelids being forced open. "Wh—what's happening?" I push at the ground, mind racing toward consciousness. "Wait, how are you-?" I trail looking from side to side and then back to her as she kneels in front of me.
"I don't know." She shakes her head, bringing herself to her feet as she reaches out for me. "I was nodding off and then they all just opened."
"All of them?" I hold her hand as I stand, though I don't really need to. "Just-like that?" My eyebrow raises, snort escaping me as I keep ahold of her hand and lead us out of my cage. I look around, the ten cages we're facing all open. Glancing over my shoulder, the cages now behind us all open as well. "What is this, yard time?"
"Perhaps they-" She's cut off as the sound of the door opening fills the room.
"Well then." I think aloud, letting go of her hand I walk over to what I am sure will be our exit all the while making sure to keep in front of her. "Stay behind me."
It's just a long hall, we find ourselves wandering down. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, possibly more cages? Maybe a bunch of scary assholes with pointy objects wanting to turn us into sushi but there's absolutely nothing.
"Am I the only one who feels like that thing, you know the thing where the rat is in the box maze?" I glance over my shoulder, eyebrow raised as we reach the end of the hall to come to another door.
"A rat in a maze."
"Yeah, but isn't there another name for it?" I glance back at her as I push as the door waiting for it to open. "You know, something that sounds more like how you speak."
"No." She laughs to herself, brows raising as she nods her head to the door that's now opening for us.
"This doesn't feel right." I take a deep breath, coming to an abrupt halt causing her to run into me. I glance around another empty hall, only this time the door at the end has a convenient exit sign above it. "Stay close, I think it's a trap."
"Realx Bo, I was wrong." She breathes out in a heavy sigh walking right passed me.
"Lauren wait, they could be—"
"This is a Dark facility Bo," her tone hardens a bit, irritation quickly creeping in and replacing the slight fear she allowed me to see. "This has all just been a big-"
"Game?" I say through a clenched jaw, my own irritation building.
"Test would probably be a better term." She sighs once again as we reach the door. She looks at the sliverish handle extending across the door and then up to me.
"Ladies first." I smirk and start to push the door open, the slightest sliver of fear screaming in the back of my mind. I want to believe her words, after all if anyone would be able to tell the difference between a Light and Dark facility it would be her. There is just something that doesn't click for me. Even after everything I've been through, everything they've put myself and the people I love through—kidnap for nothing? It seems a little much. "Well shit."
I can't help but snort to myself when the door opens and nothing happens. Well nothing other than me following Lauren back out into the world. Glancing around it all look familiar, very familiar actually-like near my house familiar and I can't help but chuckle to myself.
"And we thought Evony was annoying." Lauren says through a smile as she runs her hand through her hair looking out onto the street.
"You thought she was annoying, I thought she was a—"
"Be nice." She says in a soft laugh, her hand gently nudging my arm. I flash a smile at her, for a mere moment forgetting just how pissed I am at the Dark-and her odd affection for Evony.
"Yes ma'am." My smile turning to a smirk as I give her a lazy salute, something that earns a laugh. "So-what now?"
"Um," she lets out, features scrunching in an amused confusion. "I don't know."
"Well, do you think we have an hour before the next kidnapping?"
"It's hard to tell," and there it is, the smile that only I am lucky enough to get. "I'd say it's a safe bet, why?"
"Cause I'm starving." She just looks at me in this mixture of amused confusion and it's one of the cutest expressions I have ever seen. "Dinner?" I extend my hand, nervous smile taking over myself as I watch her look from my hand to my face and then back.
She doesn't say anything, just looks at me for a moment before taking my hand and allowing me to lead the way.
I could be pissed about the events of tonight-and I am. I don't think pissed covers what I am feeling and believe me, those Dark assholes will get a piece of my mind-tomorrow.
Was everything fixed between us with our little impromptu talk? No, of course not. I wish it was, I wish what she said didn't hold any weight but it did and for once I can admit that. I can't be sure what happens next, or even really be sure what I want to happen next but I know that right now I have her.
Our entire relationship has been built upon stolen glances, stolen touches—stolen moments.
This would just be another one of those moments, this would have to be enough.
I glance over at her and she's already looking at me, smile on her lips as her eyes dance over my face as she searches to know what I'm thinking. I return her smile, bringing her hand up as I place a gentle kiss to it. She gives me her, 'what are you doing' look but the only answer I give her is a smile.
Stolen moments might be all we are used to-but I swear it won't be all we ever get.