Hey there guys,
I know I'm supposed to be working on Mud and Blood, but my brain is sabotaging me big time and coming up with all sorts of ideas that I just have to get out of my system. So, yeah, here goes a rather awkward attempt at fluff.
What do you think? Drop me a line if you feel like it.
And thanks for reading!
"You… you can't leave me alone here with… her," Lauren whispered, pulling Bo away from the rest of the gang and out of their hearing range, she hoped. "She's dangerous," she added, making sure she had her back turned on the topic of conversation.
Bo looked at her, then tilted her head a little to look past her shoulder and at the person that had gotten the doctor in such a state. The Valkyrie. Of course, the succubus sighed internally.
"Tamsin? Oh, come on, Lauren, she's harmless." She shot another look at the Valkyrie, who seemed entirely oblivious to everything around her, as she was testing the sharpness of her sword and humming a strange tune to herself.
Lauren studied her for a second then turned to Bo with an inquisitive look on her face.
"Fine," Bo conceded sheepishly. "Mostly harmless. Granted, she can be pretty intense… but I know she will do everything she can to protect you."
The doctor was unconvinced. "Why can't you stay? You can protect me just fine. Or Dyson! Even Dyson would be better… I think…"
"Look at you, all friends with wolfboy now," Bo smiled, touching Lauren's arm lightly. The doctor rolled her eyes and sketched a smile. "Trust me, Lauren. It's gonna be fine. Tamsin is perfectly capable of keeping you safe. Despite what everybody thinks, she cares about all of us, you know?"
"I guess…" Lauren nodded. "Besides, I gotta go get Trick and the Morrigan, and Dyson and Kenzi have to recover the amulet from Vex. You and I both know Tamsin doesn't really have the… finesse for either of these jobs," Bo finished lamely after watching Tamsin going all Hulk with her sword on an imaginary enemy.
Lauren managed to put on a real smile this time. "Yes, you're right, Bo. Sorry, I'm sure we'll be fine. I'll be busy working on the evidence, so I don't expect we'll interact much while you're gone, anyway."
"Great," Bo smiled widely. "You'll see, I'll be back before you know it! And if she gives you any grief, just tell Momma Kenz and shell take care of it. Ground her or something," she winked, making Lauren chuckle lightly.
As Bo left, Lauren cast one more glance at the Valkyrie before returning to her desk. The tall, blonde Fae was just about done gulping down a bottle of scotch, and Lauren watched half in admiration, half in disgust how the alcohol seemed to flow freely into the woman without running into any obstacles. As she put the empty bottle down she burped loudly and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Looking around to see if anyone had noticed her, she caught Lauren staring and gave her a smug grin, positively basking in her crassness.
Lauren scoffed and returned to her microscope immediately without saying a single word. She would not play this game. She knew Tamsin always did her best to get a rise out of people, but she wouldn't be provoked.
Just as she was about to resume her work, she cast another glance at the Valkyrie and saw her taking a swig of a bottle of beer, her other hand waving the sharp sword around. It looked more comical than it did dangerous, Lauren thought, wondering what the Valkyrie was going to do if someone indeed decided to attack them. Spank them with the flat of her sword? Challenge them to an inebriated game of whack the weasel? "Oh god, I'm dead…" Lauren sighed.
About an hour later, Lauren was pulled away from her work by the sound of her phone ringing. It was Bo, letting her know that it would take a while longer, "a couple of hours tops," and that Kenzi and Dyson were still trying to get to Vex, who had apparently decided to attend a Fae rave somewhere out of town, right on this very night.
"Will you be alright? Is… You-Know-Who behaving?" Bo asked, and Lauren could feel her grin on the other end of the line, so proud of her pop culture display.
Lauren shot a quick look at the Valkyrie, who was sprawled on the couch, and seemed to have fallen asleep while watching a zombie movie marathon. She really did seem harmless now, the doctor thought, not being able to tear her eyes away from the sleeping Fae's features. She looked so much different now… peaceful even.
"Lauren, you still there?" Bo's voice pulled her back to reality.
"What? Yeah, we're fine, everything's fine, Bo, don't worry. Go, do your thing… and come back safe, okay?"
"I will, babe," Bo said and then she paused, realizing that she wasn't really on such endearing terms with the doctor anymore. They'd recently decided to be just friends, coming to a mutual agreement that this would most likely be the best way of making sure they would actually remain part of each other's life without destroying one another. It was all very mature and since they'd made the decision they had actually managed to be friendly and act as normal pals who don't want to have amazing sex for hours on end. And Bo hated every second of it. "Ummm," she managed, lamely, aware of the tension building up, but didn't know what to say next.
Lauren cringed a bit too, but her response time was a lot better, thanks to so many years of fealty to the Fae teaching her how to react to volatile situations diplomatically. "All right, Bo, we'll be here. Let me know if anything happens, okay? And take care."
"You too guys," Bo almost blurted out in relief that Lauren had jumped to the rescue. "See you soon."
"Sounds good, Bo." The doctor hung up and smiled, thinking that this was actually getting easier. Sure, she was suffering. Sure, she still loved Bo and sometimes it was hard to be in the same room with the succubus without mentally undressing her and doing… things to her, but it was actually a lot easier than she had expected. If she were to be completely honest, she felt relieved that they were just friends now, it made everything so much simpler. And Lauren was pretty sure that simple was what she needed at this point in her life. Especially when a gang of mummified centaurs – apparently that was really a thing - was after them trying to kill them and possibly parade their heads around in victory, at the behest of their leader, an ancient Egyptian sand demon whose sole aim was to take control of both the Light and the Dark and become ruler of all Fae. And right now, their Happy Sunshine Gang was the only thing standing in his way.
"Any progress, Doc?" The voice almost startled her. She really thought the Valkyrie had been asleep, lying so still on the couch. But no. Even now, her eyes were closed and there was no indication that she had actually spoken a word.
"Hmm?" was all Lauren managed.
Tamsin huffed loudly and opened her eyes. "I said, 'Any progress, Doc?'" she questioned in a sharp voice. Lauren opened her mouth to speak. "No, actually you know what? Save it," Tamsin spat, her bright eyes now turned on the doctor. "Just tell me why the fuck do you do that, huh? Go all 'hmm?' whenever somebody asks you a simple question?"
"What? I most certainly do not!" Lauren said, feeling highly offended by Tamsin's tone.
"Ya you do! And let me tell you, others may find it cute, but I know it's just an act." Tamsin had gone up and away from the couch, and was now standing right in front of Lauren's desk, arms crossed over her chest, a smug look on her face.
"How dare you?..." Lauren felt her anger rising, and she stood up, trying to show that she wasn't intimidated by the tall Valkyrie. Which she totally was, by the way.
"Oh spare me the outrage! Yaddy yadda, the poor little human doctor is always so busy thinking of ways to save the world that she can't be bothered to give a straight answer to a simple fucking question without someone having to repeat the said fucking question a million times, right? Cut the bullshit, dude! It's a ruse, to make yourself look and feel more important, when in fact you are perfectly aware of what's going on around you. I can see right through it! "
"You can't see shit, Tamsin!" Lauren yelled back, barely able to contain her rage. "And you know even less!"
"Oh yeah?" Tamsin leaned forward, her face just a few inches from Lauren's, who willed all the courage she could find into standing still and not backing away from the threatening Valkyrie. "I think I can see very clearly that…" Tamsin raised her right hand and pressed her index against Lauren's chest, poking her repeatedly with every word she said. "You. (poke) Are. (poke) Full. (poke) Of. (poke) Shit." Instead of poking her again, the Valkyrie's hand flew at what seemed to be the speed of light to catch Lauren's wrist mid-flight as she was moving to apply a strong slap across the Fae's face.
The Valkyrie's grip was firm, but not tight enough to hurt her. "Look, it was fun the first time, but you try that again, doc, and you're gonna be sorry. Like real sorry, if ya catch my drift," she said in a low, threatening tone. She stared at Lauren intently until she was fairly sure the doctor wasn't going to try to hit her again, then let go of the human's hand. The slap came nonetheless, but from the opposite side, and caught Tamsin by surprise.
Lauren was almost paralyzed with fear, not sure what to expect next. Tamsin looked at her and didn't say a word. Instead, she moved around the desk to where the doctor was standing, and only stopped when she was literally one inch in front of her. Their noses were almost touching, and Lauren could smell the Valkyrie's scent – a mixture of mint and alcohol, and something else that she couldn't quite identify, but reminded her of snow and winter. She tried to take a step back and put some distance between her and the tall Fae, but Tamsin moved to hold her into place, grabbing both her shoulders. This time it hurt a little. The Valkyrie leaned even closer, her lips now almost grazing Lauren's ear lobe. "Doc, if you're planning on making a habit out of this, the least you can do is take me out some place nice first," she whispered into her ear. The words and the Fae's warm breath on her made Lauren tremble involuntarily. Not with fear though, she was shocked to discover, swallowing back a whimper.
Tamsin noticed the response and smirked. She didn't pull back just yet, although her mind was telling her on repeat that this was most definitely a pretty bad idea – no, more than 'pretty bad,' it was a fine candidate to the title of 'starting World War III' bad as bad ideas go – and that moving down this road would definitely land her in a heap of trouble later on with just about everybody in her life. Probably even Vex would give her shit if she pursued this. Still, she found the closeness oddly comforting.
When she had decided to pick on Lauren it was supposed to be a joke, a way of passing time and annoying the human. She wasn't actually that bothered by the doctor's apparent inattentiveness to everything around her – it was a coping mechanism or a delaying tactic she herself had used on multiple occasions, and that's why she was able to see it so clearly. She was just trying to pull Lauren's leg, bring her to the edge of a nervous fit and then make fun of her anger, because she had a fucked up sense of humor most people didn't get, but then one thing led to another and as she found herself breathing into Lauren's ear, her thumbs pressed against the doctor's collarbone, she realized she didn't want to let go. And the fact Lauren hadn't moved to push her away just yet was driving her crazy.
Truth was Lauren was too scared to move. Not scared as before, not afraid Tamsin might hurt her, but scared of what she would do if the Valkyrie would press on. She sensed the change in Tamsin's attitude when the Fae had grabbed her shoulders and heard her badly concealed whimper. She realized the woman was probably as confused as she was and was uncertain what to do next. One minute they were arguing and now they were practically one breath away from doing something they were definitely not supposed to. It was such a bad idea, she knew, but she couldn't bring herself to push the Valkyrie away. Why was this even happening? Tamsin hated her and she most certainly reciprocated the feeling, right? Think, Lewis, think! She tried to get her brain cogwheels spinning faster to find a reasonable explanation for where they were now. Theory #1: This is a cruel game at my expense, it's all part of her plan to make me feel like shit. Theory #2: Tamsin is drunk and hasn't the foggiest about what she's doing. The rationalization made her feel a lot better, if only for a second, because the Valkyrie had just decided to reduce the already very narrow distance between them even further and had placed a light kiss on the doctor's neck, while allowing her hands to glide down Lauren's arms excruciatingly slowly. Lauren cursed her body for responding unwillingly to the touch, but she could now say in all confidence which of the two theories was correct.
"Tamsin, stop, you're drunk," she whispered gently, but firmly, placing both her palms on the Valkyrie's chest and pushing her back. The Fae complied and took a small step back, and Lauren was surprised to notice her usually pale cheeks flush red, and her chest heaving. She stared at the woman in front of her and sought her eyes, looking for some sort of sign, an explanation for what had just happened, but the Valkyrie avoided her gaze.
What the fuck is going on? Tamsin thought, keeping her eyes down because she was sure that if she'd look at the doctor in that moment she would lose all control of the situation. She used to be so much better at hiding this emotional shit but now she felt like an open book almost all the time. And she blamed it on Kenzi. Fine, she'd just say yes, she was drunk and let's forget all this ever happened, and she'd go back to downing a couple of beers or more to feel less awkward, while the doctor would go back to her sciency stuff and that would be that. So she finally raised her head and looked into Lauren's big, brown, beautiful eyes – dude, seriously?, and went, "No, doc, I'm not. I'm really, really not." Way to go, loudmouth.
"Because whatever… this… was," Lauren had already started, determined to be the grown up and try to get them both out of this mess as graciously as possible, but stopped when she heard the Valkyrie's answer. "Oh." So it was just a cruel trick after all, Lauren thought, feeling angry, but also… sorry that this was all there was to it, in a way. The anger prevailed, though. Remembering what she had promised to herself earlier, that she would not be provoked, she did her best not to allow all those feelings of hurt and anger reach the surface – she would not give Tamsin the satisfaction. She steeled herself and cleared her throat before speaking.
"If you're done with this little game of yours, I've got work to do. I'd appreciate it if you didn't come anywhere near me again," she said, coldly, and moved to turn back to her microscope – the tests were probably ruined anyway and she'd have to start all over again.
The sharp retort caught Tamsin by surprise, for the second time that evening, and pulled her away from her thoughts. She was actually thinking of what Bo and the rest of the gang would do to her if she continued her advances, and it wasn't pretty, even if it involved a lot of gory details the Valkyrie would have normally embraced wholeheartedly.
"Wait, what?!" she finally spoke, and cringed when she noticed how desperate she sounded. No no no no no no, she thought as she realized how upset the human doctor really was. Because of her. "Lauren, wait!"
"What do you want, Tamsin? What else could you possibly want?" Lauren turned to face her once more, her anger now more than evident, since the doctor was no longer making any effort to hide it. "You've had your fun, now let me be, please. I have to get back to work," she added, trying to sound as cold and detached as possible, but she was already feeling the tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to make her look even weaker and more pathetic to the Valkyrie.
Tamsin panicked, as she always did when somebody cried or was too emotional around her. "Shit, doc, don't cry," she moved closer to the doctor, but Lauren just raised her hands in defense, urging her to stop. "Please, Lauren," she sighed. "Listen, I wish this was a fucked up game, but it isn't. Truth is, it started as such… earlier… when I was a bitch and I'm sorry about that, but…" she lowered her head in shame. "I don't know… all I can say is that I'm not drunk and I'm not messing with you, Lauren. I'm not."
She shot a look at the doctor, who was standing very still and seemed to have calmed herself a little, but was studying Tamsin very closely. The Fae shifted her weight uncomfortably, hoping the doctor would pick up the ball and help her out but it was quite obvious Lauren had no intention of doing so. They stood there, staring at each other, for a while, Tamsin marveling how wonderfully perfect the doctor's chocolate eyes were – eyes you could get lost in and never get tired of wandering – dude, you have seriously got to cut it out with that poetic crap!, while Lauren wondered why it had taken her so long to notice how beautiful the Valkyrie was, how her perfect face and body seemed to move in unison according to some ethereal music of the spheres, unbeknownst to human ears. Goodness gracious, Lewis, this will probably be your…
But Lauren did not get to finish that thought, as Tasmin crashed into her and pressed her warm lips against her own, pulling her in a tight embrace. She couldn't help herself but moan under the Valkyrie's hungry mouth as her brain only half registered the fact that she had brought both her hands on Tamsin's back and was pulling her closer, craving for more contact. The Fae's kisses were eager and sweet, like she was still trying to find her footing. It wasn't inexperience, Lauren thought, it was rather like Tamsin was trying to explore what the human wanted and how she should be kissed, allowing her to set her own pace and become comfortable with the situation. It was a lot more considerate than her whole attitude before, Lauren thought, or rather only half of Lauren's brain thought, as the other half was too busy trying to coordinate her lips and hands moving all over the Valkyrie's body. Tamsin's touches were determined, yet tentative, giving her time to get used to the closeness. Her kisses never stopped though, as if she did not want to allow Lauren to pull back.
The doctor wasn't sure she would have pulled back even if she wanted to. She was already in way over her head, but for once she decided she wouldn't care. Everything felt right. It was almost like all the pieces had finally clicked into place and Lauren wondered why it had taken so long to both of them to discover this. Because she was absolutely positive that Tamsin was feeling exactly the same.
And she was right. It had never felt like this with anyone else in all the centuries she'd been around. Kissing Lauren, touching her, feeling her warm body pressed against hers… it made her feel whole. It made her feel loved in a way she hadn't experienced before. Even with Bo. Bo. Shit! She knew that technically Bo and Lauren weren't together anymore, but she was pretty sure this 'getting acquainted' with the doctor wouldn't sit well with the Succubus. Reluctantly, she broke the kiss and leaned her forehead against Lauren's, staring into those deep brown eyes that were now filled with lust and… something else she didn't dare to even try to identify at that moment.
"If you're planning on stopping now, I swear I will give you the worst Fae plague ever," Lauren managed to whisper through her heavy breathing. Her hands were still moving around the Valkyrie's back, exploring every muscle and wondering how the Fae's wings would feel to the touch. She had only seen them once, and the sight had left her breathless, although she would never have admitted it, not even under torture.
Tamsin chuckled and place another light kiss on the doctor's lips, allowing the woman to gently nip and suck her lower lip before tilting her head back again. "Your girlfriend's gonna kill me. And then she'll bring me back and everyone else will take turns at killing me in the worst ways possible. And Bo will kill me last and for good, and she'll make it painful," she grinned.
Lauren studied her for a second then moved her right hand to the back of Tamsin's head and pulled her closer, bringing their lips together again. "Oh, shut up," she said in a muffled voice from under the Valkyrie's mouth. "She's not my girlfriend anymore."
And that was probably the moment Tamsin lost any ounce of self-control she had left. She didn't care about anything anymore, all that mattered was how the doctor's soft lips and tongue felt against hers, and how Lauren's hands were pressing her back with a force she didn't think the woman was capable of. She almost tore the clothes off her and the doctor, desperate to feel more of Lauren, of her skin against her own, and explore every inch of the other woman's body with every part of her own being. Is this what love feels like? she wondered briefly before she lost her mind for good somewhere along the perfect lines of Lauren's body. There could be only one answer to this question.
Lauren allowed the Valkyrie to take control, still half stunned by what was happening. A voice at the back of her head was doubting this was even real, but she was already so taken aback with how it felt to be wanted again, and to be wanted so desperately and completely, that she just pushed it further and further back until it faded to a whisper and then to nothingness. Just this once, she would allow her science to take a break and not insist of finding a rational explanation for what was going on. Just this once, she would give in to her instincts and to the raw, powerful passion Tamsin had stirred inside her. Without regrets. So she just let go, for the first time in a very long time.
And about an hour later, as they were lying on the floor, naked and sweaty, wrapped tightly against each other, neither of them willing to tear away, Lauren realized that this was perfection. The two of them together, right there, were flawless. She had never felt so sure of anything in her life. And by the look on Tamsin's face and the strange glow in her bright, green eyes, neither had she. This was perfect. Without any doubt, without second thoughts.