Disclaimer: Lost Girl belongs to Showcase or SYFY and I am only playing in their universe.
A/N: Well I'm in the part of the world that still is waiting for Lost Girl's new season to start. So I thought why not come up with a new story to fill the void. Once again I am starting from the end of season three and playing with the loose ends that were left. I will adjust the show's story a bit here and there, please forgive. Language and violence are up a bit in this story. Please enjoy and let me know what you think. And our story begins…..
The group in the car worked to provide what medical attention they could for the two women, doing what they could to keep Lauren breathing and to keep Kenzi from going deeper into shock. The crew had no way of knowing the whole history the two friends shared or the year of change they had both been through.
A year earlier…
"How could you be so stupid?" was the question Lauren asked herself for the thousandth time in that day alone. Taft had gone totally mad and had the doctor at his mercy. What had started as an opportunity for Lauren make a fresh start had turned into to a nightmare of epic proportions. In her attempt to make a clean break from her life with the fae, and if she was honest with herself a clean break from Bo. Lauren had found herself ensnared in the plot of a mad man. He was forcing her to use her medical discoveries and procedures, the ones she had created to help the fae, to create hybrids of humans and fae. Her refusal to participate in this scheme now had placed the lives of her friends and loved ones in danger. The only way to save her life, the lives of her friends, and Bo's life was to out think the man. Lauren swallowed hard. Thinking things out had not, for the first time in her life, been working out so well for her. That in itself should have been a warning that Lauren's life was totally out of control.
It had been just a few weeks ago that Lauren had finally made the choice to leave Bo. It was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. Her heart broke in so many pieces that day Lauren could not even now express the pain. On the surface this whole thing was simple, Bo needed to be able to live her life fully as a succubus and her loyalty to Lauren was preventing that. For Lauren, a future of Bo staying with her just because the succubus felt she needed to live up to her promise to be a good girlfriend, well that was not enough for the doctor either. The split was the best thing for both parties if you overlooked the fact that they two people involved were totally in love with each other. Lauren had thought that she could reason her way through the pain. She had been wrong.
On top of Lauren personal life, the fae were requiring more and more from the doctor with little to no consideration for her contributions. She had saved the fae on her own once and then assisted Bo as she saved the fae for a second time. This was the fae community as a whole not just one fae life. It didn't seem to matter, the more Lauren did for the fae she was indentured to the less she seemed to matter in their eyes. It was almost as if they had begun to fear her knowledge of them as a species. Looking back, Lauren decided that the fae's treatment of her might have been to keep her in check and to keep her from realizing the power she was gaining over them. Lauren had not given this idea enough thought and it had come back to bite her.
Feelings of inferiority were not new for the doctor, in fact Lauren had felt she was a lesser being in the presence of the fae many times. Bo had made her feel less from time to time. It hadn't been on purpose but still Lauren had felt it. The fear of Bo causing Lauren harm was an unspoken issue the couple had lived with from the start of their relationship. It had taken its toll on both of them. From a purely scientific point of view it was true. Physically, there was so much that the fae had over the humans. The strength and powers the fae held were beyond anything the most gifted human could achieve.
The questions had always been then, why were humans the more populous species on the planet? Why did the fae hide their existence? Maybe that is the reason as a doctor Lauren worked so hard on research. Lauren knew the fae had their weaknesses and she was finding more and more of them. If she could help the fae with their weaknesses then surely there would be some benefit to humans too. Having no one to discuss these thoughts and finding with she posed careful theoretical questions with vaguely worded scenarios to her trusted peers on-line. Lauren was careful to modify all her questions to focus on viruses or genetic anomalies and their effect on humans. To her knowledge she was the only human researcher that had any idea of the existence of fae so no one would be the wiser.
The wild discussions and entertaining exchanges had been quite rewarding. Lauren had even used some of the suggestions to advance her research. Eventually the dialog had caught the attention of Dr. Issac Taft. The man was so charismatic that Lauren soon fell under his spell. He was intelligent and funny but most of all he saw value in her work. Taft had insisted on meeting her in person and striking up a professional relationship. His presence in her life had given Lauren something that had long been missing, pride in herself as a scientist. This time it had been her lack of thought and her trust of feelings had been her utter undoing.
Now standing as a captive in this crazy man's compound, Lauren found her mind racing as she fought to get through her feeble plan. She had to get Taft to believe that she would truly be willing to hurt Dyson. It had been such a shock to see the detainment area and all the fae held prisoner including Dyson. The two had their differences, especially when it came to Bo, but Lauren would never try to hurt him in any way. For her plan to work she had to change that perspective. Everyone had to believe that she would go beyond hurting the shifter, they had to believe that she would kill him.
The doctor had to appeal to something that Taft's mind would understand. When Lauren entered Taft's office the answer to her problem was right in front of her. Bo. Damned if she did not show up to save the day every time. Lauren knew that she was an afterthought in this rescue, but Bo was here none the less. Taft was watching Lauren closely. He knew of her feelings for the succubus. In his conniving mind, he was using Bo's presence to control Lauren. Taking a deep breath, the good doctor beat him to the punch. She lied, Lauren lied with every fiber of her being, she lied to Bo and to Taft. The doctor gave the man everything he wanted to hear. It cost her everything to do it.
Lauren heard herself saying the words to the love of her life, "You came for Dyson." Of course Bo said she could save both of them and Lauren believed her. Bo could do anything or at least she would die trying. Fighting on the doctor said, "The fae ruined my life." Bo was talking but Lauren couldn't bring herself to listen. Lauren felt her world crumbling as she said everything she needed to say in an effort to convince Taft of her sincerity. Babbling on about "doing something meaningful for humans," and "saving my kind" then Bo said she loved her. Lauren had to respond even through her heart was pounding out of her chest, "I loved you too." The hurt in Bo's eyes was sharp. The truth in the words had been a perfect platform to fool Taft into Lauren's hatred of Dyson. He fell for it. Bo would survive and with a little more luck so would Dyson and everyone else. Everyone except Lauren herself, not all of her anyway, something died in her as she turn her back and walked away from Bo.
Later as Lauren performed the surgery on Taft to make him fae she said a small prayer, to whomever might be listening, that Dyson would figure out her plan when he woke up. He would sense Taft's weakness and kill the evil man. As she hoped for the other doctor's death, she realized her life as a physician was over. No healer harbored feelings like that against another living thing. No, this was just another part of her life that had been destroyed.
The minute the procedure was over and Taft was in the clear and recovering. Lauren had been grabbed by the guards and directed to her room to wait for orders. Lauren had no intention of waiting around for Taft's rebirth as a hybrid. She had put her down time at the compound to good use when she discovered that Taft was a lunatic. For weeks she had been using the computer in her room to revive some skills she had long put aside. Lauren had installed a backdoor program in her digital research. It had been placed deep in the medical records where no one would be looking. The little program had taken sometime to build but she used it to place a nasty virus in a key area of Taft's mainframe. Lauren knew that it was strong enough to overtake any protection Taft had on his system. It would destroy everything on every device in Taft's network. No one, human or fae, could recreate her work, all her research would be destroyed.
Lauren also used some skills from her past to tap into some of the financial pathways the man had. Taft was obscenely rich and his vast wealth was trapped in banks around the world. Like a boy playing Monopoly, Taft was always tinkering with his wealth. Careless with the belief that his compound was a sanctuary, Lauren had back tracked his financials easily. Moving into his accounts with relative ease, the doctor discovered that the man use offshore accounts. He used banks that didn't ask many questions when it came to transfers of money.
She set up her own accounts in the same banks and had started transferring small amounts from Taft's holdings into the accounts under her control. Careful to keep the IP addresses associated with Taft network the transfers seemed to be on the up and up. Using a trickle program, Lauren started with small transfers then by design exponentially increased the amounts over time, one penny became two pennies, four pennies became sixteen and so on. As long as bottom lines for the banks did not change no one would be the wiser.
Setting the transfer requests within the banks own systems, the programs had been hitting Taft's accounts for two weeks and had pulled less than two hundred dollars from each account. The low amounts did not bother Lauren she knew this amount would quickly grow over time. The success was that the transfers were now a regular occurrence in the system. There would be no red flags to stop future transfers, Lauren thought to herself, "the beauty of an automated world." The programs would last almost thirty days then delete itself after a single transfer to a bank that Lauren used for her own banking purposes. Smiling as she did the math in her head. Figuring in the exponential growth, over ten million dollars would be moved at the end of thirty days. The doctor multiplied that by the ten banks she tapped worldwide. "Well," Lauren thought with a grim smile, "Taft did destroy her world and she was owed some compensation for that." It was still not nearly enough. Lauren hoped she would live long enough to put the man's money to some good use.
Lauren called for the guard as she started the virus program on the computer. She tucked a few things in the waistband of her pants and took deep breaths to calm down. When the man entered, she requested to be taken outside for a walk. Her reasoning was that the fresh air was needed after her time in surgery. The guard was not surprised by the request. Everyone knew that Dr. Lewis was a big believer in the power of fresh air. Taft had always approved it so the guard just followed her to the back of the estate and expanse of the back woods. Lauren knew she would have to pick the right moment to run for it to stand any chance of making a successful escape.
Luck was with her for once, the minute they reached the porch Lauren heard the alarm bells go off. Lauren smiled and thought of Bo. This was an unexpected opportunity for her but she took it. The guard grabbed for her but Lauren put a lock hold on his arm and flipped him. The surprised guard slammed into the wood of the porch. Allowing no time for recovery, Lauren hit two pressure points that stunned the man further and then blocked his air way till he passed out. Checking his vitals Lauren was assured she had done no lasting damage she made her escape. The doctor ran and never looked back.
xxxxXXXXXXxxxxx
"Hero to dick in six sentences…you are unbelievable!" Kenzi shook her head. The handsome, infuriating stranger had her totally off balance.
"This kind of information requires this type of tribute. I don't make the rules." said Massimo. He had just the slightest of smirks on his face.
"Fine," Kenzi said and then cussed to herself as this wasn't the first time she had traded a kiss for information, but she thought she had moved beyond that now. She was trapped. All hell had broken loose in the Dahl and she could feel her situation getting worse. This man before her had been a source of frustration all day, but Bo needed her to get the information so she had no alternative. Kenzi leaned in for a fast brush of lips and instead was met by a warm gentle kiss that turned into something much more. What had started as nothing but a business transaction had in mere moments become a life changing event for both parties.
Massimo pulled the needed energy from the kiss but he couldn't leave it at that. The human's essence tasted of whiskey and hot sauce and dark chocolate and…the list could just keep going. God it was intoxicating, she was intoxicating and he almost broke into a laugh at the thrill of this feeling. Finally coming to his senses, Massimo pulled back at the same time the woman he had been holding in his soft embrace did to. There was a pause between them as they just looked into each other's eyes. Breaking the spell and bringing fingers to her lips, Kenzi asked a little breathless, "What the hell was that?"
"That," the man smiled, he couldn't help it. "That was something." Massimo forced himself to walk away. He had to fulfill his bargain with the valkyrie. It was the druid way of life but this was not an easy retreat. The druid thought he would never see this woman again and figured it was for the best. He could get lost in her and could not think of one reason why that would be a bad idea.
It was a week later that Massimo found out how right his thoughts had been. The valkyrie got her trap for the succubus. More importantly, the druid got paid and had enough money to try to make some type of start somewhere new. Everything was as it should be so why the hell did he feel so empty. Maybe he would go find that fine little human and…No that was a bad idea, he had to do something else. Where did one go to not feel empty anymore? The bar of course. Massimo had entered this small poorly lit establishment at some point and now could not figure out how to leave.
The light of the door being opened made all the dwellers of the dark interior cringe. The druid turned away and held up his glass for another. A bar stool creaked as it swiveled to allow a new drinker to take a seat. A second glass was set down on the bar next to his glass as the double whiskey neat was repeated in the new container. He turned to say something to the newcomer but the words froze on his lips. All he could do was smile. Kenzi downed the drink in two gulps and then pulled in a quick breath to let the fire of the alcohol settle.
"What are you doing here?" Massimo said or at least that is what he meant to say. His brow furrowed as he thought about the sounds that had left his mouth. Muttering something about "this is the man who is going to change my life," the small woman rifled his pockets and found his wallet. She paid off the tab and then dragged the druid back into the world of the living.
Massimo vaguely remembered a very large man picking him up and placing him in the back of his own van. There was also some type of exchange where Kenzi hugged and then handed the big guy keys. It was as if the two of them were saying good-bye. The woman jumped in the driver's seat and then after that things all went black.
There was a constant whooshing sound and no matter how Massimo concentrated he could not make it go away. He woke up in the back of his van with the taste of something that had died in his mouth. Recognizing the signs of the massive hangover he moved slowly and with great purpose. Once realizing he was in his own van, Massimo started finding his medicinal supplies with easy. Within five minutes he had thrown together the first part of his hangover tonic. Downing it in three quick gulps he fought the urge to puke. There was the tingle and then the pounding in his head stopped. "Thank you!" the man whispered to some unseen deity.
That is when he smelled the bacon. He must have been out of it to miss bacon. He tried to make himself presentable but it was a hopeless cause. He opened the back and stepped outside. He was at a campsite. He was at a campsite that overlooked a huge lake. Standing next to the grate like object that served as cook top Kenzi had two skillets up, one with bacon and the other with eggs. "You need some help?" the man winced as the words sounded lame.
Kenzi looked over her shoulder and the shook her head. "Aww…no, but you can do something for me." She smiled sweetly and Massimo straightened. "Shower now…buddy you stink." The woman pointed to the nearby facilities and then turned back to her chef duties. The druid was all ready to be offended but then thought better of it as the breeze settled and he got a whiff of himself. Massimo turned and grabbed a few essentials from the van then was off. The coin driven contraption made for a quick wash down. The druid finished with a fast shave and moved back to the van. His breakfast was waiting and even better there was a cup of coffee next to it.
Kenzi had finished her meal and was sitting on the picnic table watching the water with her coffee in her hand. Massimo took a seat and dug in. The two were silent as the coffee was finished and the dishes were burned away in the pit. After a moment in the van for the second round of hangover helper, Massimo took a seat next to Kenzi.
She cleared her throat, "You said you could make me fae. Is that true?" Massimo felt his heart drop and his emotions must have shown on his face. Of course this is why she had found him. He had researched Kenzi for that last job and his angle to approach her had been to prey upon her uneasy relationship with the fae. Kenzi flushed red seeing how his expression changed, "Damn it. I should have known better." she said. It was little more than a whisper. She stood and threw her empty paper coffee cup into the fire. "Take me back to…" Massimo grabbed her arm. She stopped talking and looked at him.
"Why in the hell do you want to be fae?" he asked. There was something so serious in his tone it took Kenzi back. "Kenzi, right?" he said. It was the first time he had used her name. She nodded but said nothing as she was caught by the look in his eyes. "Kenzi there is nothing so bad, so important, that you would need to give up your humanity and become fae. Trust me I know. I know from experience."
A tear ran down Kenzi's face, "You said I looked like an outsider. You were right. I have been the outsider my whole life and now that I have found a... family, better and more accepting than my real one. I need to be able to fit in, be worthy of..."
Massimo couldn't stop himself he pulled her to him. Kenzi moved to push him back but he did not let go. "I am not a good guy, but I think you know that. You said you didn't trust me, and you shouldn't." he pushed her out to arm's length but kept a hold of her. "Listen to me. I know all that you have done for your friends… and for the fae in general." Kenzi went to ask questions he stopped her. "Do you really think that by being fae you could have done more? That maybe you could have done a better job?" The woman looked doubtful and a little confused by his words. "Do you think that you will be better accepted by the people you care about, and who care about you, if you can run faster or read minds or whatever you want to do?" There was a harshness to his voice that cut into Kenzi.
"Massimo, I just need to know if you can do this. Can you make me fae?" Kenzi asked. The need in her voice was telling. This was something she felt so strongly about.
The druid swallowed and then answered, "I can make you fae." He paused and looked at her. "But I won't." Anger flashed in the woman's eyes. "I won't, Kenzi until you realize what you are worth as a human." Massimo release Kenzi so fast she almost fell. "Then when I am convinced that you understand your worth as a human, I will consider your request. This is more than I was offered so don't argue."
He moved to walk away from the now speechless female but turned back. The thought of this person feeling less than her true worth hurt him. She needed to feel something else. "I require a tribute to start this process." he said with a tone to his voice he couldn't hide.
Kenzi sighed and reached a hand into a pocket. He stopped her, "No, I believe you know my price." He looked into those beautiful eyes and continued, "It is the same fee you paid on our first meeting. When I helped you identify that object in the picture." Kenzi eyes flashed with anger and then something else. "I don't make the rules." Massimo said.
"You are a bastard." said Kenzi. "I will not…" She never got the rest of the words out. Massimo closed the distance and had her in his arms. The kiss was not like before. What had been warm and soft on their first encounter, something that held a hint of what could be between them. This kiss was lightning powered and almost overwhelming in its depth of feeling. Massimo pushed Kenzi away afraid of his actions if they continued. Damn what this woman did to him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew something was just not the way it should be, but the sensations of pleasure he was feeling pushed any concerns far, far away.
"What are you doing to me when we kiss?" Kenzi was touching her lips again but there was almost anger in her voice and eyes. "Are you an incubus or something because I don't appreciate the push of power." She shuttered as if the druid was somehow taking advantage of her in some way. The feeling was amazing but she had been taken advantage of too many times to let her guard down.
Massimo looked at her offended, "What?" he was too quick with his answer. "I'm a druid. I don't have any powers like that. When we kiss I don't do anything to you other than…kiss you." They were looking at each other now with curiosity and something more. He was lying, all be it a white lie, but it was almost like he wanted his words to be the truth instead of something more sinister. Kenzi could not explain it but she just knew the guy was hiding something from her. What was more shocking to her was that she found she didn't really care.