Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.
Dawning of a Valkyrie
Chapter One: The Stage is Set
"You can't just storm out of here – you have no idea what we are up against!"
"Ha! How can I know ANYTHING? All anyone ever does is feed me lies and keep secrets from me!"
"Dagny, wait! I can ex-" The door slammed and the young fae was gone. "…plain." The Succubus finished after a second that seemed to last an hour to the closed door in front of her. She sighed heavily and threw her hands up and head back in frustration, asking the ceiling "Why does she have to be so damned stubborn!" Suddenly remembering she wasn't alone, she whirled on the only other occupant of the room – her lover, housemate, partner – and wife.
It was easy to forget she was there as the other person hadn't moved or commented on the running shouting match as it started on the second floor, descended the stairs, migrated to the living room and ended with the young Valkyrie slamming the door on her sister's face as she left the apartment. Dr. Lauren Lewis was busy with her research; the only sound in the room now as her wife stared at her expectantly with arms crossed was her tapping away at the keyboard. Bo couldn't stand the silence anymore and prompted her lover to comment on the situation with a loud clearing of her throat, "Ah uhmm….Well?...aren't you going to say anything?"
The clicking of the keys stopped abruptly, and Lauren looked over the computer screen and the top of her 'cheaters' at her wife with raised eyebrows without moving her head. The ten years that had passed since Dagny's birth had made the reading glasses a necessity for the human, as well as left its mark in the silver highlights in her dark blonde hair and the crow's feet that gradually spread from the corners of her eyes before fading away. But Father Time had not only altered her appearance, as it is with most humans he had also graced her with increased wisdom as a consolation prize. Why is it that the fae gather so much knowledge in their long lifetimes and never learn from it?! she silently mused to herself. Although Dagny was "so donezo" talking about the situation with her sister didn't mean Bo was ready to let it go, and she would invariably look for an endorsement of her decisions from her own wife. Lauren knew the young fae's outrage mirrored the Succubus' own reaction to her grandfather's reluctance to tell her everything he knew about her own family, but telling her in so many words would only start a fight. Bo would eventually see that for herself, once she had calmed down and was open to rational discussion.
But dragging a stubborn horse to a watering hole wouldn't make it drink. "Bo, she is your sister. It isn't my place to interfere and tell you how to deal with your own family." Her eyes and attention turned back to her computer as the tapping of the keyboard began again in earnest.
The sound was soon drown out by the determined footfalls of the Succubus marching across the room, stopping directly in front of the doctor's station at the kitchen island. "Seriously?! Don't you care about her?!" A quick yet stern indignant glace that brooked no argument denied that accusation and didn't interrupt her typing was the only answer. Undeterred in her frustration, Bo pursued the issue, on a different tack, "We are supposed to be a team! Don't you have to say about this?" Bo demanded while leaning down with her hands on the counter, angry eyes trying to catch Lauren's own.
When they did meet, Lauren's expression was neutral; holding the gaze of her fuming wife as she deliberately shut her laptop and took off her glasses. Bo, for her part seemed taken aback a bit as Lauren stood and turned from her, fetching a bottle of wine from the chiller. She placed it on the counter, and soon the corkscrew joined it. The brunette was dumb struck, as the doctor implied without saying a word that Bo was to open it while she retrieved two large wine glasses from the cupboard and made her way to the couch. She settled down gingerly and waited expectantly for her wife to take the hint and do the same, but Bo was still standing at the counter. Mouth agape, she was primed for an argument that didn't happened and was still trying to process how Lauren could remain so cool after their charge, another daughter of Hades, had stormed out so soon before her dawning.
"OK, do you want to talk about it, or just yell at me from the kitchen? Either way, it's obvious I'm not getting any more work done this evening. So, make up your mind! Oh, but open the wine – I'm thirsty." She smirked in a way that Dagny, and her Mother, Tamsin, had done so many times. This old gal is no one trick pony! She gloated to herself.
The doctor's eyeglasses hanging off a chain around her neck and crossed legs beneath her skirt combined with her authoritative, yet cheeky demeanor made the Succubus's anger dissolve as her eyes flashed blue for a moment when her mind wandered. Oh my God! She looks like a sexy school teacher ready to punish a naughty student! And I want to be sooo naughty…." But Bo quickly recovered when a stern look from her wife indicated she knew exactly what was going through her mind, and after getting her carnal thoughts in check and fumbling with the bottle briefly she managed to open it and pour them both a glass.
Settling down on the couch next to her wife with a sigh, she drained the glass and poured another while Lauren calmly sipped her own drink and waited. "First of all, I'm sorry for taking it out on you. You deserve better than to be collateral damage for my family feuds." Bo finally ventured, rocking back and forth slowly and staring at her wine glass. After taking another healthy sip, she calmed her nervous movements and continued, facing her lover "Did you hear everything?"
"No, not everything. Just what was said on the stairs and the living room – she's upset you have been keeping secrets from her and she wants to know everything about her mother. She wants to know what it is to be a Valkyrie, and declare her allegiance to the Dark at her dawning. You are against it, so she left to stay with Vex and do and follow her desires. That's what I heard." Lauren finished, leaving out the insults and expletives the pair exchanged and sipped her wine, carefully eyeing her wife for a reaction. It came instantly.
"She wants to be Dark! She doesn't have to declare AT ALL anymore, things have changed! But she wants to be Dark Fae! For what, because her mother was! That's a BULLSHIT reason! You should have NEVER given her Tamsin's journal!" Bo was shouting again, angry once more.
Lauren poured herself and Bo another glass of wine, giving her time to think before replying. The accusation stung, there was no denying it, but she had given the girl her mother's journal years ago. Dr. Lewis fully believed it was the right thing to do for the young Valkyrie under their care; but Bo vehemently disagreed after the fact. She had thought the issue resolved and over with after her gesture of sharing knowledge with the Succubus's sister was met with unexpected rage from her fiancé, at the time. There had been a fight, oh yes – one hell of a fight when Dagny learned so very abnormally quickly how to read the ancient texts from Dyson and found that her mother was obsessing over the succubus. Then she began asking questions. Questions that Bo evaded or glossed over, and forbidding anyone from revealing to the confused baby fae of the depth of Tamsin's devotion or the circumstances of her pregnancy. Thankfully, the journal was still in Lauren's possession when the Valkyrie gave Bo her declaration of love and was rejected and so the full truth was never recorded by Tamsin. And most of what was written was cryptic to anyone who didn't understand the context. Bo made it clear that she believed it best that Dagny only knew that they shared the same father, and that Tamsin was a dearly loved friend and Valkyrie who died giving birth to her – nothing more. After the dust settled on their spat, Lauren promised never to interfere in Bo's relationship with her sister and all was forgiven.
Now, however, the Succubus was digging up bones long buried. The journal didn't instigate this, Lauren thought to herself as she sat back, Dagny's already read it a hundred times over! I wonder if it wouldn't have been better if Kenzi had told her everything before she sent her back five years ago. Then again, she knows how Bo can be…and is ever loyal to her wishes even when it would be better if she wasn't. OK, since she asked me what I heard, let's find out what I didn't hear!
"So, I doubt you had a fight over something in the journal she has been reading for years, but now you are angry at me – AGAIN- because I gave her the journal. We've already hashed this out, Bo." The Succubus' angry expression fell away into an expression of defensiveness as she opened her mouth to deny her wife's retort, but she never got the chance as Lauren ignored her and continued, "I'm sorry I didn't ask you before I gave it to her, and I haven't told her anything else. I, and everyone else, respect your wish to raise your own sister as you see fit. If you are asking me if I told her something, the answer is NO. If you are fishing for another apology, then OK – I'm sorry. I never had any intention of driving a wedge between you and your only living relative who is searching so desperately to find out who she is and what her place is in this family."
She observed how her wife's shoulders slumped as the Succubus drank slowly drank from her wine glass. When her dark brown eyes turned back to Lauren, they were filled with guilt and remorse, and the acknowledgement that the tumultuous relationship she shared with her sister had nothing to do with Lauren, or her gift of Tamsin's journal. Lauren returned her gaze with love and understanding that made her feel undeserving of such treatment after lashing out at her, and compelled her to voice those feelings. "I'm so sorry, Lauren. None of this is your fault. I –" she sighed and looked away briefly before continuing, "I just don't know what to do! I guess this is how Trick felt when I showed up on his doorstep." She stared at the floor, now morose over where her own epiphany was leading her thoughts. "She doesn't realize how much I love her; how much she means to me. I don't want her to make the same mistakes I did, with Trick." She concluded in a whisper as tears welled up in her eyes following the memory of how she was duped by Jack into thinking the worst of her grandfather and the fight before his horrific murder - and her mother's.
"She knows how much you love her," Lauren soothed while pulling a strand of her own hair behind her ear and leaning towards her wife. She placed a comforting arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer as she continued, "…you tell her all the time."
Bo, now feeling the effects of the alcohol and her own regret, gave her answer punctuated with hitching sobs, "Trick told me he loved me, too! And I let Jack manipulate me to turn against him! I can't let her be out alone in the world while he is still out there, waiting for her! I have to protect her, but I can't tell her everything! I can't Lauren! She'll hate me for it!" With this, the sorrowful brunette collapsed in her arms, sobbing uncontrollably now. The doctor, for her part, wrapped her in an embrace and patiently let her vent her feelings, offering no judgment or comment. When she was cried out, Bo finally asked for her wife's advice, murmuring into her now tear soaked shoulder "What do I do now, Lauren?! How do I fix this?"
This is probably exactly how Trick felt when Bo found out he hid the past from her! Lauren thought as pushed her wife gently away so she could look into her eyes, offering her practical advice instead of her insight, "You dry your eyes, go upstairs, and run a bath…"
"But she's still – " Bo interrupted in protest , eyes and right arm gesturing towards the door. But the good doctor would have none of it. She was asked to interfere now, and so she would.
"…Let me finish!" She interjected sternly, not continuing until she had the succubus' full attention. "I'll call Vex and Mark's place and make sure she made it there OK. They'll take care of her and keep her safe – you know that!" When she didn't receive an affirmation, but a scowl in response, she prompted her wife to acknowledge the truth of her statement. "Answer me Bo - you do know they love her and will keep her safe?"
Under her wife's stern gaze, Bo admitted the pair of dark fae lovers would never cause her sister any harm, no matter her own distain for their choice when it came to dark fae politics, but couldn't help add her own reservations, "Of course they'll protect her, they love her, too! But they are both pledged to the dark and – "
"…and NOTHING." Dr. Lewis' eyes bored into her as she forced Bo to think rationally and not let her prejudices or emotions drive her to anymore rash decisions. When the succubus' expression turned dark with anger in a knee-jerk reaction to her contrary statement, she continued, holding her wife's face gently in both of her hands, but not backing down. "You asked me what to do, and so I am telling you. This isn't about Dark, Light, or Unaligned. It's about family." She received a slight nod and sniffle in answer, so went on, "After I make sure she is safe, I'll come upstairs and join you. Then you can tell me what happened, or not. You can decide what to do tomorrow, and talk with her after you have both calmed down. Nothing is going to get resolved tonight. Not even my fae DNA inheritance analysis." She smiled warmly, letting her lover know that the she didn't take the emotional rollercoaster they had been on this evening personally.
Bo sighed in resignation. "You're right….you're always right." She kissed her wife tenderly before standing up and making her way to the stairs leaving Lauren to phone the Mesmer in private, but grabbed another bottle and the corkscrew on the way as Lauren wasted no time in making sure the headstrong young Valkyrie had made it to Vex's place.
Bo took her clothes off slowly as she waited for the bath to fill. Thinking back to all the times she had retreated to her bubble bath to soothe her troubled mind when she lived in the clubhouse brought a wistful smile to her face. Once fully disrobed, she filled her empty glass and sank gratefully into half-filled tub of warm soapy water with a sigh. She wondered sadly about how everything had become so screwed up in her life and what she possibly could have done to prevent it, current crisis included, and was startled out of her reverie by the appearance of one Lauren Lewis in the bathroom doorway. She was leaning against the door frame smiling at her, wearing nothing but what God had graced her with upon her birth – and it took the succubus' breath away. Yes, her body wasn't as toned as it once was, but it still elicited a lustful response from her partner of more than 10 years.
Sitting with her mouth open, Bo suddenly became aware not only of her wife's surprising nudity but that she had actually spoken. Lauren had always nagged her about leaving clothes on the floor and separating laundry, but from her appearance so soon after Bo came upstairs made the succubus believe that the stairs just may be littered with her wife's garments. She gulped heavily and decided ignore her conjecture over the doctor's sudden lapse in her lifelong habit of neatness. "Ah sorry, did you say something?" Bo was in a daze born of a combination of alcohol and emotional exhaustion now, heightened by her love for her wife and her patience - punctuated by her never fading lust for her.
Lauren grinned, well aware of the effect she was having on her partner, and poured herself another glass of red wine before turning off the water and squeezing in behind Bo in the tub. "I said she's fine. She's venting all of her problems out to Mark, and Vex assured me they will make sure she stays there for the night until you come over to talk to her." She took a drink and set her glass down, picking up a sponge in its place and began slowly bathing the love of her life, kissing the top of her head briefly to let her know there was no grudge between them as far as she was concerned.
The succubus merely hummed in acknowledgement, reveling in the attention her wife was showering upon her. Many minutes passed wordlessly as Lauren sensually took her time with her self-appointed task, and when finished with her lovers back, pulled her gently against her and started bathing the front of her body. Bo, in the midst of her joyous mood, realized how hurtful she had acted in anger this evening, both towards Lauren and Dagny. The only way to she would be able to enjoy fully her lover's attention without guilt would be explain to her what had happened. She sighed, and muttered, "I really screwed up today….again." When the doctor's only response was to pause to top off their glasses of wine, she felt all the more encouraged to get it all off her chest. "Where do I begin?"
Lauren's hands never shirked their task, washing agonizingly slowly yet inexorably southward as she leaned in and whispered into Bo's ear with a smile the Succubus could feel rather than see, "At the beginning…"
Gods below, this woman can play me like a fiddle! The brunette thought as she spilled her guts, "Well, we went over to Dyson's to help him clean out his apartment…"