The kettle whistled loudly and Lauren lifted it from the burner, tipping the hot water into a mug. She stared into the cup, her reflection beside the tea bag that bobbed there. Looking away and leaning against the counter, Lauren sighed. She had been feeling sorry for herself for much too long, so this was Dr. Lauren Lewis pulling up her big girl britches and getting on with it.
She loved Bo, through it all and if sharing her with faceless, nameless conquests was the sacrifice Lauren must make then she had better get used to it. This business with Dyson had gotten under her skin but she saw the pain in Bo's eyes when she confessed the misstep. Lauren felt shattered to bits by this revelation, but she knew it was a bridge they would have to cross eventually, she never imagined it would come so soon. Only a few weeks in and still she had put on a brave face to forgive her.
That night Bo had held her like she did after Nadia. Encircled by her arms, Lauren let herself cry again. It was her tenuous grip on her emotions-normally not a problem for the good doctor-that was her first clue that she loved Bo more than she ever thought possible. A dangerous prospect, to be sure, as the weeks to come had shown her.
Bo was slowly changing and it had not gone unnoticed. The incident at the club was confusing and yet familiar. She played a hunch and used her touch to bring Bo back as she had so many times before albeit to a much lesser degree. This was the first time Bo had redlined since the Lich, since the Garuda and it was decidedly different. Bo was evolving. She tried to separate Bo, her girlfriend and lover and Bo, the scientifically fascinating succubus whose true powers had not yet fully developed. Bo was an infant in Fae years and she would continue to evolve as she aged. Lauren would do her best to guide her but there was no telling if Bo would outgrow her too.
The thought made her heartsick. A wave of nausea rolled through and she shook it off. Tucking her feet beneath her, she let the couch cushions envelop her. Lauren had wanted to disappear into that couch so many times in the past. To forget, to run away, to start over but today, today she didn't want to disappear. She was resolute in her commitment and there was no place for hiding anymore.
Bo breezed through the open door and skidded to a stop comedically. "You're not ready," Bo said, confused.
Lauren put the book she had been trying to read onto her lap and looked up at Bo. "Sorry, I guess I lost track of time," she apologized. "I'll get ready now."
"It's just a movie. We can catch the next one." Bo plopped down next to her. She lifted the spiral bound book from Lauren's lap. "What are you reading?"
"It's a collection of case reports on rare Fae."
Bo nudged her. "Anything in there about me?"
"That chapter hasn't been written," Lauren smirked.
"Do I smell opportunity?" Bo stretched her arm towards Lauren, her fingers playing in Lauren's hair.
Lauren grew serious. "You're not a research paper."
Bo dropped her hand to Lauren's lap and rubbed her knee. "You're just saying that because we're sleeping together. The doctor in you is intensely interested. Am I right?"
"No," Lauren exhaled and then nodded. "You are an amazing creature. That is both my professional and personal opinion." Lauren smiled coyly.
"Why doctor," Bo started. She leaned into Lauren and kissed her softly. "It would be an honor and privilege if you let me take you to bed."
"What about the movie?" Lauren asked, ever-practical.
"To hell with the movie," she whispered against Lauren's lips as she crawled over her.
Bo propped herself up on her elbow, looking satisfied with herself. "You are really good at that." Her eyes twinkled.
Lauren laughed. "I picked up a few things in med school."
Bo kissed her collarbone. "Be honest. You want to write one of those reports about me."
"No-what?" Lauren stiffened. She kept lying. There was little else that interested Lauren more than Bo's physiology.
"It's okay, you know, if you do," Bo said casually, fingering the emblem that hung between Lauren's breasts.
Lauren's face went through a myriad expressions before she settled on apologetic. "I do. I think you are the most enchanting woman I have ever met. It just so happens that you are also a remarkable Fae specimen and I'm still a doctor to my core."
"Then you should do it."
"You'd be okay with your life held up for all to see?"
Bo kissed her, smiling as she pulled away. "In the name of science, sure. If my story could help someone else-"
Lauren shook her head as she caressed Bo's cheek. "There's nobody else like you."
She wasn't saying that to be romantic, well, maybe a little, but Lauren actually meant there were no other succubae like Bo. She was truly in a class of her own. Lauren sat up abruptly and crossed her legs, holding the sheet against her breasts.
"And I know you aren't really interested in helping a bunch of doctors to understand you but Bo, you are so special. I want you to be understood." She swept a hand along Bo's arm. "And that's what the case report would do in addition to being added to a list of exceptional Fae and validating the approaches of your physician with your special condition."
"And what would this approach be called?" Bo kissed her shoulder.
"This?" She smiled. "This is called the hands on approach."
This was also Lauren Lewis getting over herself. She couldn't let herself feel the sadness that came with sharing Bo any longer. It was her decision, after all. It was time Lauren held up her end of the bargain. She was okay. She was more than okay. She was with Bo and they were happy. Lauren leaned down and pressed her lips against Bo's.
Bo smiled. "If this is science, then count me in."
It happened so fast, Bo had made the decision to feed on Dyson. The ramifications of that decision had rocked Lauren and somehow Bo had come away from it with a better understanding of her lover. But it was Lauren who still grew distant in the days following her confession. She was supportive, maybe even excessively so and Bo knew she needed time, even if she said she was okay with Bo's prowling in theory. Watching it in reality was something entirely different.
But now, her smile was back. That genuine and rare smile that Lauren saved for only her. Their fingers threaded together and Bo smiled back, the corners of her mouth upturned, her lips swollen from their kisses. Bo thought she had irreparably broken their relationship until today when the light seemed to be back in Lauren's eyes. Bo wasn't sure what had changed but was glad that it had.
Bo stretched her arms above her head and sighed happily. She had volunteered to be Lauren's new science project and she wasn't sure what that entailed just yet, but it had made Lauren happy and she couldn't put a price on that. Bo wasn't sure if she had made the right decision but for now, seeing the glint back in Lauren's eyes and the smile still decorating her features, Bo felt justified at least.
"Just to be clear… there will be no probing." Bo waved her arm, sharply cutting through the air.
Lauren propped herself up on an elbow. "This isn't Alien Autopsy. There will be blood and tissue samples routinely taken, but this isn't invasive science. It's observations, facts about the storyline of your life." Lauren smiled and sat up, still gloriously nude as she swung her feet onto the floor. The breath caught in Bo's chest and for a moment she was stolen. Lauren had caught her looking again and she smiled, disappearing behind a curtain of blonde hair when she bowed her head bashfully.
"So this is going to take awhile then?" Bo stifled a grin, reaching across the pillow beside her.
Lauren stood and words failed Bo once again. Her eyes sparkled as Lauren looked over her shoulder at Bo. "Just a lifetime."
It had only been a week since Bo had agreed to submit to Lauren's science experiment and she was already tiring of all the questions, the poking of needles and generally speaking, Dr. Lewis was a real drag. She hadn't seen Lauren without her lab coat in over a week which also meant she hadn't seen Lauren without the rest of her clothing either. Succubae can be cantankerous when their needs aren't being met and Bo was definitely feeling grouchy today.
"Ow!" Bo wrenched her arm away from the blonde. "I'm not a pin cushion."
"I'm sorry, I just need one more sample and we can call it a day," Lauren said apologetically wringing her hands.
"Can't you just use the one you took yesterday?" Bo grumbled.
"I'm afraid I already used that sample for a different test."
Bo rubbed her arm before offering it up to the doctor once again. Lauren moved swiftly, tying the elastic around her bicep and swabbing the site before carefully inserting the needle into Bo's vein.
Bo sat captivated by the blood spraying into the collection tube. Cotton ball in hand, Lauren pulled the needle from Bo's skin and covered the puncture. "Apply pressure," Lauren said to Bo as she had so many times before. She could feel Lauren's eyes on her over the top of that damn clipboard. Lauren reached out and checked the cotton ball to make sure the bleeding had stopped. "You're good to go." Lauren smiled-it was her science smile. The one that dawned at epiphanies and lab results.
Bo slid into her leather jacket and stood, watching Lauren began to process her blood. "Excuse me, Dr. Lewis, may I speak to my girlfriend for a moment?"
Lauren looked up, sliding the plastic goggles from her face. "Yes, of course, what is it?"
She had missed Bo's tone or ignored it and Bo tried not to be put off. Lauren looked at her expectantly. Bo's body was alive with that familiar feeling. Bo took the goggles from Lauren and set them on the desk. "Let's go upstairs," Bo pulled Lauren's waist into her own.
Lauren smiled. "I can't. Call you later?"
"Sure." Bo pulled away and walked toward the door. When she looked back, Lauren was already wearing the goggles again and processing her blood.
If Bo were to have guessed how this succubus as science project would go, it would have surely included some type of physical contact with the fair doctor. Surely spending all that time together answering questions and taking samples would lead to something, anything, physically. But so far Bo had been shut out and she wanted back into the game. Instead she had been sent away again.
It was hard not to feel like she was giving up her very essence for Lauren's experiments and Lauren was giving her best "I'm busy" face at every turn. Bo slid into the Camaro and slapped her hands against the steering wheel. She took a deep breath and rested her forehead on the wheel. She had only tried to make things better and now, she feared, they were only worse. She put her key in the ignition, letting her hand drop to her lap without turning it over. Bo was a fighter and she was ready for a fight. She pulled the key and kicked open the door before strutting back into the building.
Bo stood in the doorway to Lauren's quarters watching the doctor rigorously test her blood. She spoke of her findings into a digital recorder that she held in her hand. Bo watched as she removed vials from the centrifuge.
"I was thinking," Bo called from the door.
Lauren jumped at the sound of her voice, having been so obviously oblivious to Bo's presence. "Jesus, Bo."
The clacking of Bo's boots announced her movement as she walked towards her lover. When she had closed the distance between them, she coolly removed the test tube from Lauren's hands and setting it aside. "I was thinking," she said again taking Lauren's hands in hers. "We should order some take out and stay in tonight." Bo took her by the waist and kissed her neck.
"Bo…" Lauren's eyes drifted shut momentarily. "I can't."
Bo let her arms drop to her sides and stepped back from her. "What gives?"
"I'm just busy." Looking away, Lauren sighed.
"Well, you better clear your calendar because I need you." Bo traced a finger along Lauren's jaw line before withdrawing.
"Bo, I love you but-"
"Then just put it away." Bo said amiably.
"I can't, I mean, I have to finish processing the blood so the samples don't degrade. Besides, your progesterone levels are high, wouldn't a Fae feed be better?"
"I don't want to feed, I want you."
"Bo, you know I can't give you what a Fae feed can, don't be stubborn."
"Is this how it's gonna be?"
"Bo…" Lauren said quietly.
"Are you actually putting me off in the name of science?"
"No-" Lauren blurted.
"Think about that before you answer," Bo warned.
"I know that I've been distracted lately but I'm just so…" Lauren looked to the ceiling. "…into this."
"I want you to be into me." Bo's eyes studied her intensely.
"I am." Lauren softened, sliding her arms around Bo's waist. "I am so into you."
"Then come to bed with me."
"I would, you know I would, but I have to finish this."
"Lauren," Bo said seriously as she took her hands. "Please."
Lauren considered her work and then Bo.
Bo watched the drama play out on Lauren's face. It was hard to take the sting out of this situation. It was intensely personal. Bo was throwing herself at Lauren, doing everything in her power except using her thrall. And Lauren, for her part, was doing an amazing job at avoiding the decision. Lab tests and physiology lessons from test tubes and slides or hands on examinations. It seemed like an obvious choice to Bo but then, Lauren was not your typical woman. She had a hard on for science unlike anything Bo had ever seen. And now that Bo had agreed to blur that line between science and love, she was beginning to regret it.
"Okay then," she dropped Lauren's hands and backed away. "Just let me know when you need more blood samples."
Bo turned to go when she felt Lauren's fingers wrap around her wrist. "Don't go," Lauren said quietly.
Finally, Bo thought. She was starting to doubt her succubus mojo. When Bo turned to look into her eyes, the doubt and confusion was gone. Lauren had made her choice.
"Let's go to bed." Lauren smiled.
"What about your experiments?" Bo asked, not entirely insincerely.
"I'll get more blood from you tomorrow."
"I wouldn't expect anything less."
Lauren had been absorbed in the science of her case report and it took Bo making a stand for her affections to capture her attention. Now, wrapped in her warm embrace, Lauren couldn't understand why it was ever an issue. She had the tendency to be single-minded about science and she wasn't yet used to having an honest to goodness girlfriend again. Before they became official Bo had been a fly by night lover, coming and going in the early morning hours and Lauren was just glad to be the one she chose to be with on any given night. Now the demands of a girlfriend that just so happens to be a succubus were a bit more difficult to manage. She had to give in to the idea that she was never going to be everything Bo needed, her own human physiology made sure of that. And so the pact was born. And after the first awkward experience, Lauren had backed away from Bo's conquests, wanting to know as little as possible. For her head and for her heart. But that was the thing about a succubus, if she had to guess by the way Bo touched her, she couldn't. She wasn't able to tell when Bo had fed except through lab results.
Which brought her to the conundrum. As interesting as Bo's physiology was, the case report was all-encompassing and soon enough she would have to start logging Bo's conquests, defeating her freeze out on information regarding Bo's feeds. Ignorance is bliss they say but it was difficult for Lauren to deny the obvious problems this posed.
Bo brushed Lauren's hair away from her shoulder, kissing the skin she uncovered delicately. "What's on your mind, Doctor?"
Lauren smiled briefly and then sighed. "Inevitability."
"Sounds deep," Bo teased.
"Have you ever been afraid of something, I mean, really afraid?"
"Is this for science or for personal use?"
"I'm serious," Lauren grumped.
"So am I." Bo stared into her eyes, face unchanging.
"Bo, I don't know if I can be objective about your other lovers."
"I'm not asking you to be."
"It's for my research. A case report about a succubus without lovers doesn't really ring true."
"There's you." Bo kissed her on the cheek.
"That is what we call a conflict of interest." Lauren said, propping her head up on her hand.
"And yet, here we are." Bo fingered the chain around her neck. She knew how much Lauren hated to be reminded of the Ash's brand on her and yet she absently ran a fingernail against the chain.
The ticking of Bo's fingernail against the chain began to grate on Lauren's nerves. Her hand covered Bo's wrist. "Please," was the only word Lauren could manage.
"Sorry." Bo replaced the necklace between Lauren's breasts and laid back, pulling Lauren with her. Bo's arms were tightly around her shoulders, fingers stroking her skin.
Lauren could still feel the ticking of the chain in her bones. She shook her head. "What am I going to do? You were going to be my life's work."
Bo's hand stilled and she spoke reassuringly, "You know, maybe I still am. Maybe you just won't write about it in a scientific journal."
Lauren was so single-minded that she hadn't even considered the possibility. That the science of Bo was never meant to be shared. That she could do all the tests in the world and still might never learn why Bo is so special. But there were still so many tests to run, so many serums to try to curb Bo's hunger and Lauren would keep track of them all because the science demanded it of her. Because Bo was her life's work. She was so much more than that, Lauren had found her love, her purpose.
Lauren pulled away and spoke abruptly. "This is never going to work."
"That's a little dramatic, don't you think?"
Lauren shook her head. "Not us. This-this hypothesis. It's flawed. It's strictly a chemical profile. But the anecdotal evidence changes everything. You are so complex." Lauren nodded and her science smile made a return.
"So, what? Back to the drawing board?" Bo looked unsure.
Lauren considered her for a long while. She had missed the woman for the Fae. She could continue as she was, engulfed in her research or she could put science where it belonged, back in the lab. The lines had blurred in such a way that Lauren hadn't realized the problem. But looking at Bo now, she knew that Bo had.
Loving Bo had been a ride unto itself. At times it could be very difficult to love her, in fact, but when it was good it was staggering. Science came easy to Lauren. She was born to be a doctor. Her natural curiosity and respect for the rules of science had led her to this moment.
"No," she said softly. "There's no need."
"Really?" Bo exhaled and Lauren smiled at her.
"I know who you are. I don't need a blood test to tell me that."
Loving Bo could be damned hard but the payoff was huge. Her love made Lauren better. A better doctor, a better lover, a better friend and confidante. Bo had faith in her even when Lauren didn't. Science may be easier and yet it was also cold and lonely. And Lauren couldn't live like that any longer. Not after Bo. Bo had shown her the way. Bo accepted Lauren's science as her mistress just as Lauren accepted the parade of Fae feeds in Bo's bed because she knew how brutal life could be alone. Love was about compromise and Lauren was giving herself over to it.
She reached out for Bo's hand and placed it against her chest; over her heart.
"Your heart's racing," Bo said, surprised.
"I love you," Lauren whispered, barely audible even in the silence between them.
Bo reeled her in again, holding Lauren tightly against her. "I love you."
Now this was Lauren pulling up her big girl britches and getting on with it. For Bo, for herself, for their love and what it meant at the end of the day. Lauren was no longer a lonely cast away. She was loved, revered and adored by Bo. And Bo may be her life's work but she was also the love of her life. And at the end of the day, science be damned, that was all Lauren needed.
FIN.