"Honey, I'm home!" Bo called out teasingly when she came in at the door, Kenzi strolling behind her. "Is dinner ready?"
A smile flashed over her face by the time she found Lauren lounching on the couch, apparently watching a documentary about penguins. While the blonde tried hard to straighten herself, Bo went over to her and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "Hey, babe."
"Hi," Lauren replied, smiling. "Are you alright?"
Bo and Kenzi had been asked for help on tracing a missing fiancee, who had quickly turned out to have run away with someone else. So they had taken the poor soul along to Trick's bar to buy him a drink. Afterwards, he had thanked them most sincerely and had left, the two women wishing him well.
"No," Kenzi grumbled and took a beer out of the fridge. "Bo wouldn't let him pay us."
"His heart was broken, Kenz," the succubus pointed out for the umpteenth time. "Since when are you that insensitive?"
Kenzi gave a groan of annoyance. "Of course I feel sorry for him, but everyone gets their heart broken at some point or another. Further, we need to eat." She looked at Lauren. "What do you think, hottie? Who's right? And don't you be swayed by the fact that you'll crawl under the sheets with Bo-Bo tonight."
It had been a week since Bo and Lauren had stroken up a relationship with each other, and things were going more than just well between them. Bo could still live in comfort from the chi Lauren was able to spare. They had come to know one another for real; where they had grown up, what had happened to them before they had met, favourite color and food, pets. And also the ceiling was unimpaired so far.
Simply astonishing, however, was that Lauren and Kenzi had become friends. Bo's best friend had stopped to nag at Lauren and had started to respect her. By now, they were even joking around with each other a little.
"Kenzi, be honest," Lauren said seriously. "It's that time of the month for you, right?"
"Bite me," the girl growled at her. "No,wait. Save it for Bo."
Lauren and Bo both started to laugh. They stopped when they heard a loud knock at the door, though, all three of them being put on the alert. "We're not expecting anybody, are we?"
Bo shook her head, putting on a serious face. "No. We're not, Kenz." The knock grew louder and more persistent. "Lauren, make away."
The doctor didn't answer but ran upstairs. After Bo had made sure that the doctor was off, she went to open the door and saw him standing there with two of his henchmen in tow. "Lachlan."
"Bo," he acknowledged her before pushing past her. "I'm here to regain what is mine."
When Bo saw The Ash standing there in the middle of their living room, so overbearingly arrogant, she felt sick. Yet she tried to stay calm. "I don't know what you are talking about, but please be assured that nothing in this house belongs to you. Now go. You have no right to be here, anyway. This is neutral territory."
The succubus wanted to wipe the smirk off his face so desperately. "Listen, I know that Dr. Lewis is here. You really better hand her over to me if you don't want to start an... Well, let's say 'argument'." He pointed at his stooges.
"Lauren, you mean." Bo shrugged her shoulders. "Haven't seen her in ages."
Without a word, Lachlan snapped his fingers, causing the two men in the background to ripple their muscles. Bo already braced herself up for a fight when she heard her girldfriend's clear voice, "Don't hurt her! I'm here."
"Dr. Lewis," The Ash murmured, spotting Lauren at the bottom of the stairs. "How nice to see you again."
"Lauren, no..." Bo's mind was racing. She was aware of being able to take down Lachlan's henchmen, but probably not Lachlan himself. None of them knew what kind of Fae he actually was; they only knew that Bo's powers didn't work on him. She would try anyway if he laid hands on Lauren.
"Listen, I've grown tired of waiting for you to get your senses back, doctor," Lachlan snarled. "So let me make this clear to you. If you do not return to the lab within the next twenty-four hours, I'll pull the plug. Do you know what I mean?"
Lauren swallowed hard. Nadia. He would kill her. "Yes, I will return tomorrow morning."
"No, you won't," Bo snapped without thinking.
"I will," Lauren repeated, looking at the succubus this time. "I will."
When The Ash left, Bo felt like breaking down.
"Bo, I don't have a choice!"
Lauren was sitting on Bo's bed with her head in her hands while Bo herself was pacing up and down the room. They had talked about their messed up situation for the last three hours, making countless plans they knew would never work out like to break into the facility and spring Nadia.
By now, Lauren had resigned. Bo, however, was still going round in circles and absolutely refusing to see that there was nothing they could've done. "There must be some way!"
"We both knew that this moment would come," the blonde sighed heavily. "I told you about Nadia. I told yo-"
"Yes, you did," the succubus whispered, finally shedding bitter tears. "But I don't think I can bear watching you go."
Lauren stood up from the bed and pulled Bo into a tight embrace, planting kisses on her girlfriend's neck. She could hear Bo sniffling, and it broke her heart. "It will be fine, Bo. I'm sure. We'll find a cure for Nadia, we'll wake her up and then we'll be together again. And then we'll go out, we'll have dinner, we'll watch movies." She chuckled softly. "We will do all that corny stuff people in love do. Alright?"
"Alright," Bo breathed, a sad smile on her face.
"Good." Lauren started fumbling with the hem of Bo's shirt. "Now let me make love to you."
The rest of the night was spent with sensual, passionate and tender kissing and touching, with whispered words of love and devotion, with promises of a bright and happy future.
Shortly before dawn, Lauren made her way into the living room where she met Kenzi. "Why are you up so early?"
"I wanted to say goodbye to you," Kenzi answered before she engulfed the doctor in a hug. "Bo won't rest until-"
"I know," Lauren cut in. "Promise me that you'll take good care of her, okay?"
Kenzi nodded. "You really don't wanna wake her up?"
"No, it's easier this way for the both of us. Maybe she'll be so angry with me that she won't miss me."
"You don't really think that, do you?"
"No." Lauren sighed. "I have to go now. Bye, Kenz."
"Bye, doc." Considering that she'd been constantly annoyed by Lauren only a week ago, Kenzi was indeed surprised about the sadness she felt while watching Lauren walk out the door, wondering if they would ever see each other again.
"Lauren? Lauren?"
When Bo entered the living room, already fearing the worst, she saw a teary Kenzi sitting at the kitchen counter. "Kenz, have... have you seen Lauren?"
"She's gone, Bo. She's gone."