Hearts can heal.

A/N: Okay, so this story is completely different route to my other story. This idea has been plaguing my thoughts for the past week now so I decided to act upon it and put fingers to keyboard, so to speak. In some ways it was also inspired by Paramore's 'Hate to see your heartbreak' off of their new album. Again, this is set in an all-human world because apparently I love writing Bo as a human lol. Anyway, here's the first chapter, go forth and enjoy.


Chapter 1: The things that you're alive to feel.

The plane ride was long and Lauren Lewis was getting more and more restless. For the first time in three years since Lauren left, she was returning home. After a thirteen-hour shift, Lauren had returned home to a voicemail left by her Dad to call home immediately. For the last six months, her mother had been battling with brain cancer. This was the first time in that six months that Lauren had heard anything about it and had given her Dad a good piece of her mind that night.

'Your mother is dying Laur. You have to come back home.'

Her Dad had sounded tired. Fragile almost. It was kind of a strange contrast to hear the strongest man she's ever known to sound so…fragile. After they hung up, she immediately booked the earliest flight back home.

That had been a solid 15 hours ago. Sighing heavily, she checked her watch again. She had less than two hours before she'd be landing. She hadn't had a wink of sleep since 1 a.m. yesterday morning. Her flight had been delayed by two hours and when she had called her Dad to tell him and ask who was picking her up; he just brushed it off and said someone would be there.

"Someone better be there," she whispered aloud to no one in particular.

"Ahem."

Startled she turned her head to find a flight attendant to her right.

"Sorry to startle you ma'am, I was just wondering if you were alright? You haven't touched your meal since I handed it out earlier. I was just passing, thought maybe something was wrong."

Food. Something she hasn't had any of either.

"Oh…uhm…it's okay. I'm fine. I've just been preoccupied is all. I'll eat it now, thank you."

"Would you like me to heat it up for you?"

"No, no, it's fine. Thanks."

After she watched the flight attendant make her way back up to the front, she took a spoonful of mashed potatoes and popped it into her mouth. She inwardly cringed and started to rethink her decision to have her food heated. Instead, she got through about half of her meal before she called back the flight attendant to say she'd finished.

Coffee. That's what she needed.

'Especially with whatever it is this day is going to throw back at me.'

Lauren was going back to a place that had brought her so much heartache. She knew that it was going to be inevitable to see her again. Lauren was being selfish and she knew it. Her mother was sick and all she could think about is herself.

'Maybe she's out of town,' Lauren thought to herself. Deep down, she knew it wasn't true. She knew that the news of her mother's illness would hit her just as hard as it had hit the blonde. Leaning back in her seat again and she stretched her legs out in front of her and closed her eyes in the hopes of at least an hour worth of sleep before landing. This was going to be a long day and Lauren knew she wasn't too thrilled about it.


When Bo Dennis had received the call from Lauren's Dad, she didn't really know what to say. Bo hadn't seen Lauren in three years. Actually, Bo hadn't seen Lauren for approximately three years, two months and four days. Not that she was counting or anything.

"Uh, Bo honey, are you still there?" Came the concerned voice of Daniel Lewis over the phone.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry Dan, just zoned out there for a second."

"So, do you think you could pick her up? I mean I know you haven't spoken to her in three years, but it's been three years Bo. Laur bear has had time to cool off. But if it is too much trouble, I can always pay for a cab to pick her up."

Leaning back against her headboard, Bo closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. The news that Lauren was coming back home was one thing, but the fact that Lauren's father was the one calling her to pick her up was something else. Bo knew better than to think that Lauren would be happy to see her after all these years. She knew that Lauren coming home was inevitable, especially with the state that her mother was in.

After the messy break up they went through, Bo had managed to keep in touch with Lauren's parents. At first they had been angry with her too and cut all ties with her. However, after saving Sarah, Lauren's older sister, from an abusive boyfriend, her relationship with Lauren's family slowly started to repair itself in time. Now every other weekend, Bo made an effort to stop by and visit them on Sundays for dinner. Her and Sarah would go out to lunch on occasion to catch up and check up on things. Not once did they mention Lauren, just an occasional 'She's doing fine' or 'She's busy working hard' would be the answer whenever Bo had the courage to ask how she was doing.

"No, it's okay Dan. Save your money, I'll go in and pick her up tomorrow."

"Thank you love. I know it's your day off, but you're the only one I could get last minute that wasn't working or out of town. If Laur puts up a fight, call me and I'll come get her. I know she can be stubborn sometimes."

"Don't worry about it. I'll get her home even if I have to drag her kicking and screaming." She chuckled at the image of having to drag the blonde out of the airport and into the car. "If worse comes to worse, I'll have my handcuffs just in case."

"Ha! I'm sure she'd love you even more for that Bo-Bo," Dan said laughing quietly into the phone.

"How's Gemma doing by the way?" Bo asked after the laughter settled.

"She's okay I guess. You know what she's like, always pretending that she's okay even if she's in pain. She still insists that she's tough as nails."

Bo could almost see the sad smile that must be crossing his features at that very moment. Ever since Dan got the news that Gemma had cancer, he'd become kind of lost. Before the diagnostic, he was always one of the strongest people she ever knew. Not to mention a hard ass and incredibly protective of his daughters. The first time Lauren had introduced her to him, Lauren had to keep her hand on her thigh to make sure she wouldn't flee halfway through dinner. He even gave her the infamous 'If you hurt my daughter,' speech that first night. He had been the last one to come around again after the Sarah incident. At times Bo couldn't help but think that maybe Gemma had something to do with it.

"Send her my love, okay?" Bo said finally.

"Will do love. Thank you again Bo. Anyway, I'll let you go. I know you just finished work. I'm glad I caught you before you went to bed."

"It's okay Dan. You know you can call me anytime, day or night."

"Thanks. Goodnight Bo-Bo. Oh, and Bo?"

"Hmm…?"

"Give her some time okay? She'll come around. G'night."

With that, the line goes quiet as Dan hangs up.

"Well, after three years, I should hope so." Bo mumbled aloud. Just seconds later, her room door flies open and Kenzi comes waltzing in munching on a bag of chips.

"You were listening in weren't you?"

Sitting herself on the foot of the bed Kenzi just nodded as she continued to shovel chips into her mouth. Bo watched in amusement as she emptied the remaining contents of the bag into her mouth before tossing the empty packet into the bin near the bedside table.

"She shoots, she scores."

"Where the hell do you put it all?"

"It's a secret," Kenz smiled at her wiping her hands on her pajama pants.

"Soooo…."

"So what?"

"Helloooo. Were you and I not in the same conversation? Ex-girlfriend coming home? You picking said Ex-girlfriend from the airport? You even saying 'yes' to picking up said Ex-girlfriend ring any bells?"

"It was mine and Dan's conversation and your point is?"

"Ah, why did you say yes? Come on Bodacious, you and I both know that, that shituation is going to be a recipe for disaster!"

Bo sighed, she knew where Kenzi was coming from and she was right. This is one recipe she didn't want to cook.

"I know, but what do you want me to do Kenz? I already said yes and I'm the only person available. Besides, maybe he's right. It's been long enough. She can't still be that angry."

"Bullshit and you know it."

Kenzi was right. Bo had hurt Lauren, even when she promised she wouldn't. However, it was too late now.

"Why don't you come with me then?" the brunette suggested giving her friend a hopeful look.

"Oh no. I'm not getting in the middle of that honey pot sweetheart," she said jumping out of the bed again. "Besides, who am I to stand in the way of potential make-up hate sex."

"Not funny," Bo said giving her a dirty look.

"I think it's funny. Anyway, as much as I would lurrrrve to come with, I told Hale I'd help him with a case."

"Some best friend."

"Love you too. G'night sexy mama! Tell Hotpants I said 'Hi',"

With a final wave, she was out the door again.

Dropping back onto the pillows, Bo closed her eyes in the hopes that sleep would overtake quickly. Mentally bracing herself for what tomorrow is going to bring.


When Lauren arrived in baggage claim, it took her almost an hour to find her luggage. This just wasn't turning out the way she hoped. Finally spotting one of her suitcases, she made her way over to drag the thing off of the carousel.

"About time! God! Could things get any fucking worse," she mumbled under her breath as she struggled to drag her suitcase onto a trolley.

Finally spotting another one of her other, smaller suitcases and propping it onto the larger one, she started to make her way through to customs. When Lauren came out into arrivals, she started to search the crowd of people for any signs of someone familiar. Not paying much attention to where she'd been going, she crashed right into someone else's cart.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry sir!"

Rushing over to help him pick up some of the things that fell out of his cart, she could feel her face burning up from embarrassment.

"It's cool, it happens." He said simply shrugging and giving her a toothy smile. "Just eyes in front next time yeah?" With a final chuckle, he went on his way again.

Shaking her head, Lauren made her way over to her own, thankfully un-toppled things. Making sure to make her way out slowly and carefully this time, she surveyed the crowd again.

'Who the hell is picking me up?!'

As she came to a stop by a less chaotic area of the airport, Lauren pulled out her cell phone and started to dial her home number. Just before her finger hit 'Call' on the screen, the sound of a voice she really didn't plan on hearing today caused her back to stiffen and her body to go numb.

"Uhm…do you need help with that?"

When the blood started flowing again, she made an effort to turn around, albeit slowly. Standing there in tight leather pants, black thigh high-heeled boots, a black sleeveless low cut top was Bo Dennis. With her long hair up in a loose ponytail and a pair of aviators perched on top of her head, Lauren couldn't help but inwardly admire how sexy she looked.

"What are you doing here?" Lauren asked not making an effort to hide how bitter it came out. Bo noticed how bitter the question was and visibly winced.

"I— er, your Dad told me you were coming and asked if I could pick you up."

For a moment neither of them made a move. Lauren had definitely not expected Bo to be the one to pick her up.

'It's no wonder why Dad brushed me off.'

Internally Lauren tried to weigh out her options. At the moment, she had no cash on her so taking a cab would be out of the question. Even if someone at home could pay for it, it wasn't exactly cheap to take a cab from the airport to the house. Calling any other family member to come get her was too much trouble and she knew for sure that if she tried to call her sister, she wouldn't even bat an eyelash to come get her. If Sarah knew that Bo was the one picking her up, and Lauren suspected she did, Sarah would make some half assed excuse as to why she couldn't be here. However, being the stubborn person that she was, Lauren decided she'd try her sister anyway.

"It's okay. I'll call Sarah to come get me. I can wait."

"Come on Laur, don't be stubborn. It's just a ride home. Besides, Sarah's at work and she won't be home until tonight."

'Shit, forgot about that.'

"It's Lauren."

There was a time when Lauren loved hearing that nickname pass through Bo's lips, but now, it just annoyed her.

"Fine. Look Lauren I know I'm not your favourite person right now, but your Dad was the one that called me as a last resort. Everyone is at work or not here, your Dad is the only one with your Mom right now and I was the only one that happened to have the day off today. So either I take you home or you can walk home. It's your choice," Bo said shrugging her shoulders and folding her arms across her chest.

Bo had a point and Lauren couldn't stand it. She hated that she was acting so immature and she hated it even more that it was Bo that her Dad had called. The fact that they still kept in touch was even more annoying. At this point, Lauren was having an internal struggle to keep her cool.

"We don't even have to talk to each other. You can sit in the back. It's just a ride Lauren, that's all."

Huffing, she finally relented.

"Fine."

Turning back to her trolley, she turned it around to face Bo again. Bo motioned for her to follow and Lauren begrudgingly followed Bo to her car. When they get there, Lauren shook her head at the familiar site of the yellow Camaro.

'I swear she's never gonna let this thing go.'

After popping open the boot, Bo immediately rushed over to Lauren to help her with her bags.

"No!" Lauren said holding up a hand to stop Bo. "I've got this."

Bo, stopped mid bend and backed off to watch Lauren with her luggage. Putting her smaller suitcase to one side of the trunk, she moved on to the bigger one. Grabbing the handle she managed to pull the thing from the cart without fuss.

'Great. Now the hard part.'

Gathering all the strength she had, Lauren heaved once, then twice but all she could manage was to lift the suitcase about two inches off the ground before dropping it again.

"Shit."

When she looked over at Bo, the brunette quickly covered her look of amusement with a cough. Lauren narrowed her eyes at her and huffed again.

"I'm glad you're finding my struggle amusing. Could you please help me with my enormously larger than necessary suitcase?"

With a smile that didn't fail to warm Lauren's insides, Bo moved over to help Lauren.

"I did offer," she said before bending down to pick up the other end of the suitcase and help heave it into the trunk. "Don't tell me you have your entire lab in that thing?"

Not saying another word, Lauren just gaves Bo a dirty look before making her way around to the passenger's side, hopped inside and slammed the door.

"You're welcome." Bo muttered sarcastically before closing the boot and getting into the drivers seat. Today is going to be a long day indeed.


The entire ride to Lauren's childhood home was spent in entire silence. The whole ride there, Lauren fought the urge to glance at Bo. Her eyes were trained at the passing buildings and houses, which eventually turned into more open spaces, greenery and open road. The blonde spent the entire time sitting there with her hands resting on her lap, clenched in tight fists.

Approaching the long driveway down to the house, Lauren couldn't help the flood of childhood memories that crossed her mind. At that very moment, she realised just how much she missed being home. A silent tear escaped as she continued to stare out the window at the passing scenery of open field that led up to her house.

Lauren chastised herself, before bringing a hand up to quickly wipe away the tear she silently hoped Bo wouldn't notice. The three years she had been in France had gone a lot quicker than she thought. Lauren started to feel guilty that she hadn't been home once since she left. For thinking only of herself when she made the decision to leave.

'Have I really been away for that long?'

When they finally pulled up in front of the house, it looked the same as it always did. Hopping out of the car, Lauren scanned the area taking in the fact that she was finally home. The only other car that was here was her Dad's baby, his cherry red 1951 Chevy 3100 pickup truck. He had bought it five years ago on a whim. Her mom had protested against it vigorously but her protests were met with deaf ears. When he got it, it was a piece of junk, now its shiny cherry red coat gleamed in the sunlight. It was unrecognizable now that it was fixed.

The porch of the house still had the chair swing in place, facing out towards the front yard. Her favourite oak tree was still standing tall with its leaves blowing gently in the wind. It was the tree that she loved to sit under during the summer and read. It was also her favourite thinking spot whenever she needed to clear her head. That tree was also the first place she and Bo had shared their first kiss. Shaking her head to rid the memory, she looked over to find Bo studying her silently, a smile evident on her face. Lauren blushed and quickly brushed past Bo on her way to the front door.

When she knocked on the door, she was greeted by her almost unrecognisable Dad, if not for the blue eyes and his trademark dimples. He'd lost a tremendous amount of weight and his hair was now covered in grey.

"Laur bear? Lauren honey is that really you?" Her Dad threw open the door and pulled her into a tight hug. Tears filled Lauren's eyes as she returned his hug with just as much vigor. Lauren was finally home and one of the things she missed the most while she was away, was her dad's bone crushing hugs.


In the car Bo noticed Lauren's stiff posture and clenched fists on their ride back home. She hated the deafening silence but she just gritted her teeth and gripped the steering wheel a little too hard to keep from reaching out and closing a comforting hand around Lauren's clenched fists. Every now and then she'd chance a glance at Lauren. When she saw her at the airport, she couldn't help the huge smile that crossed her face when she saw the blonde crash into someone else's cart. Even from where she was standing she could recognize the blonde hair anywhere.

Seeing that Lauren had found an empty space to place herself, Bo gathered up her courage and made her way over. Although their first meeting in three years didn't go quite as smoothly as she'd hoped.

'Oh well, least I didn't need to use the handcuffs.'

When she had been watching Lauren struggle to get her luggage into the boot, Bo couldn't help but admire the way the blonde looked. She was still as beautiful as the last time she had seen her. Dressed in a form fitting pair of blue jeans, a white button up shirt and brown boots, she was looking good. Her hair was longer and it cascaded down to the middle of her back in loose curls.

Bo also didn't fail to notice Lauren's hand swoop up to wipe away the tear that had been threatening to fall on their way up driveway. Bo had a feeling that Lauren was going to have a hard time being back home. She started to feel the guilt in the pit of her stomach at the realization that half of the reason had been her.

As they pulled up to the house, Lauren had gotten out of the car promptly before pausing to look around the house. Bo had made her way around the car so she could watch Lauren survey her childhood home. When Lauren's eyes fell on the oak tree, Bo knew it wouldn't be long before the blonde remembered a certain event that had happened at that exact spot. Bo knew it was Lauren's favourite tree. The brunette couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips when Lauren caught her watching. She found it even more amusing when the blonde blushed and quickly brushed past her to make her way up to the front door.

Chuckling quietly to herself, Bo made her way to the trunk of her car, popping it open and staring down at Lauren's luggage.

"This is going to be one hell of a day," she said before heaving Lauren's monstrosity of a suitcase out of her car.

"Fuck me. A hell of a day indeed."


"Hey Dad, it's so good to see you! I've missed you so much!" Lauren whispered as tears started to fall freely down her face. As she pulled back from her Dad, Lauren could see that her Dad's face was also stained with tears. He quickly wiped away any evidence of crying, he gave her a wide smile.

"I've missed you too honey. We all have. By the way if you ever tell your brother about me crying I'll deny it."

As quickly as the light humour arrived, it disappeared again as Dan's face turned serious.

"It just hasn't been the same around here since you left Laur Bear. Your mother and I—" at the mention of Gemma, Dan's voice cracked and he cut himself off mid-sentence and looked down at the floor.

"I'm here now Dad. Where is she?"

"She's in her room. She's waiting for you." He said giving her one final hug before moving towards the door. When he turned back around, he raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"You couldn't help Bo bring your stuff up to the house?"

"She's fine." Lauren said sourly, turning on her heel she made her way over to her mother's bedroom.

When she arrived at the door, her heart broke at the sight of her mother propped up in bed, as she laughed quietly at whatever she watching on TV. Her once vibrant long blonde hair is gone, now completely bare. She too had lost an enormous of weight and it pained Lauren to see how weak she looked. She seemed almost too small now for their king size bed.

"Mom," Lauren whispered softly as she made her way slowly into the room and to her mothers side.

"Lauren? Lauren honey is that really you?"

For the second time today, Lauren let her defenses break down as she allowed herself to cry. She gently pulled her mother into a hug, her guilt increasing ten fold as she held her Mom in her arms.

"Mom…I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for not being here. I—"

"Shhh. Hush now sweetie," Gemma whispered, her own tears falling freely, as she ran a comforting hand up and down her daughters back. "You're here now love and that's all that matters."

Finally gaining her composure, Lauren slowly pulled back from her Mom. She wiped away her tears and surveyed her mother again. Even though her mother looked different, Lauren couldn't help but think how beautiful her mother still looked.

"I'm sorry I interrupted your program." Lauren said smiling at her Mom.

"Meh, it's okay. I was just watching it to pass the time awaiting your arrival. How was your flight? Honey, you look exhausted." Gemma said as she gave her daughter a look of concern and reached up to cup her daughters cheek.

Lauren could only smile as she covered her mothers hand with her own before bringing it down to rest in her lap. Gemma was always an observant person and can always tell when something was wrong with her children. Lauren couldn't help but remember the countless times she tried to lie her way out of something but her mother never failed to notice. Whether she was hurt or upset, her Mom never failed to notice what was going on in her life.

"It was long, but nothing I can't handle."

"I'm so glad you're back. We've all missed you, you know?"

"I've missed you too Mom."

"So tell me. How are you?" Gemma asked animatedly. Lauren couldn't help but feel completely at home again with her Mom. It's as if she had never even left. Unable to stop herself she started to answer her questions just as animatedly.

"Work has kept me busy these last three years of course, but I love my job. France has just been such an eye opening experience. I love it there." Lauren said as her eyes lit up.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it. So, anyone special I should know about?" Gemma asked grinning mischievously at her daughter. Lauren had a feeling this question would come up sooner or later. Lauren knew what her mother really meant by that question and knew which way this conversation was heading.

'Ah well, better sooner rather than later.'

"No Mom. No-one special. I guess you could say I'm married to my job."

"Did you manage to get all your things from baggage claim? It's a good thing Bo had the day off. Did you know that she's a Detective now?"

No, Lauren didn't know. After she left, Lauren had specifically told her family that she didn't want to know anything Bo related. This was the first time Lauren had heard anything about Bo and what she'd been up to lately.

"No Mom, you know I haven't heard anything about Bo. Not to sound like a bitch, but I didn't realize you guys still kept in touch."

"Well, after you left we did cut ties, but then your sister's boyfriend at the time started abusing her and Bo saved her life. She got there just in time Laur. He beat her within an inch of her life."

This is news to Lauren. All those times her sister spoke to her on the phone, not once did she mention this piece of information to her. At this, Lauren starts to feel a hint of anger towards her sister for keeping this from her.

"What? How is it that this is the first time I'm hearing about this?!"

"Lauren, you said you didn't want to hear anything Bo related so we didn't say anything. We wanted to respect your wishes. We couldn't tell you the story without mentioning Bo. She's changed you know?"

"I couldn't care less if she's changed Mom, what I care about is the fact that you guys kept important information from me. Just like how you all kept this a secret until now!" Lauren demanded, gesturing at her mom as angry tears stung her eyes.

A knock at the door startled both women. Lauren's stomach dropped a little at the sight of Bo standing by the door.

"Uh…hey. I just uh, wanted to come and say goodbye and let Lauren know that her things are upstairs." She said quietly before she turned to look right at Lauren.

"It was really good to see you again Lauren." With a sad smile, Lauren watched as Bo disappeared from sight, her fading footsteps echoing in the blonde's ears.

Shit!