"Wait, you want to meet today? Isn't that a bit presumptuous?" Lauren Lewis laughed playfully as she listened to the man at the other end of the line.

He was speaking of meeting only a few months after they first met at a local diner that they had bumped into each other at, and Lauren was far from suspicious. The man showed her his credentials in neurobiology and had made a big spectacle of having the pleasure to have met her; even by random accident.

The man, Dr. Riley Holiday, had shook her hand nonstop as they were introduced to each other. He had spoken to her excitedly as they chose a booth together and sat down. He was trying a new chemical compound that he wished she could overlook, it wasn't every day a man met someone that was even smarter than he was, and that he would be eternally grateful and add her name into the project if she could look over the notes.

Lauren, who hadn't been doing much of anything ever since Hale had become the active Ash, even though she knew she'd have to pull her name from the project, she had agreed immediately. Working with humans, just simple humans, again for however long was a godsend. It never passed through her mind to check with the Ash, it was Hale for goodness sake, and she had smiled kindly at the man sitting opposite her.

"Um, yeah, today is fine. I can get us a seat outside of the normal place say, in thirty minutes?" Lauren was silent as she heard Holiday agree excitedly, and smiled. "I'll meet you at Rita's then. Alright, bye." Lauren hung up the phone and put it to her chest. She smiled again as the thought of working simply with humans filled her mind again.

She felt important.

Needed, even.

Grabbing her favorite buttoned down trench coat and beanie, Lauren ran to the door excitedly after calling a cab. She was finally useful.

And she loved that.

"Buckle up, partner. We got us a live tip," Dyson yelled across the almost empty police station.

Tamsin looked up drearily, she hadn't had an easy morning, and looked over towards her partner. "Tip for what, on what?"

"The bloody human's that been killing us," Dyson lowered his voice as he looked at Tamsin intensely. "He's meeting a non-conspirator at a local diner. We got him, Tamsin. We got him."

"Not that I'm not happy or whatever, but how do you know this?" Tamsin grabbed her side arm and followed Dyson out of the precinct. Walking towards Dyson's car they didn't speak until he had put it in gear and they drove speedily over to the diner.

"I got a tip, that's it."

"What kind of tip? It's not every day you get someone calling in saying 'Hello, yeah, I'm just a random helpful fae that knows exactly where the rat bastard is that's been killing us'. It doesn't work that way. What aren't you telling me?"

Dyson looked over sidelong and said, "If there was something you needed to know, I'd tell you. We're here." He pulled along the curb a few meters away from the diner and canvased the area. Seeing no one, not even the woman he was spying on- Lauren- he eyed the area around them. No Holiday and no Lauren, all he had to do is keep Tamsin from seeing the human and everything would be fine.

Looking over, Dyson saw Tamsin rest her elbow against the window sill, her foot on the dashboard, looking idly out the window. There was a narrow alley they they had parked in front of and Tamsin was looking down it absently. If Dyson told her he had put a tap on Lauren's phone, especially after the valkyrie herself had ordered him not to, things would get hairy between them. He could handle the quips and the midnight visits to his apartment to beat the crap out of him. But if she found out he, her partner, had disobeyed the only real order she had given him…

The window was cracked and Dyson caught a whiff of something. His eyes went golden yellow, the whites turning black, as he sniffed the air again. The familiar scent filled his senses and, as he narrowed his eyes, he saw Lauren walking down the uncrowded streets. Her head was down, her hair whipping in front of her face nicely from under her beanie, and she bundled herself in her trench coat. It wasn't until seeing how cold Lauren was did Dyson realize he and his partner barely wore any clothes at all. Fae temperature varied and he realized that it really was freezing outside though the fae in the car dressed as if it was seventy-five degrees and upwards.

He realized slowly that Tamsin was still looking down the alleyway and she hadn't seen Lauren walking down the opposite street. The human sat outside, strange she choose an outside seat for how cold it was, and she sat back gently. Listening to the tap on her phone, Dyson knew Lauren didn't know anything about the human she was aligning herself with. She didn't know of his crimes towards the fae or how he had been kidnapping and murdering them without mercy. The human wasn't stupid, Dyson knew, so that would mean Holiday was simply keeping her in the dark. Any anger Dyson had for Holiday was not pushed to Lauren, that much was certain.

As Dyson waited to see Holiday he looked over at his partner and said, "So, what's happening with you and Lauren?"

"Excuse me?" Tamsin looked over quickly, almost dangerously, and eyed Dyson.

"Hey, your business is your own. I just wanted to know why our midnight punching fests haven't been happening for awhile."

Tamsin shrugged her shoulders and looked back out into the alley. "You know why they haven't been happening."

"Because you're finally moving on with your commitment issues and spending the nights at Lauren's place?"

"Something like that."

Dyson chuckled and looked back out towards Lauren. She had ordered herself a hot beverage, tea he thought he smelled, and she was blowing on it so she could drink without burning herself. She was looking around idly and checked her phone's time again. The man was late.

"How did you commit to the succuslut? I mean when, you know, you had your love and she actually wanted to be with you."

Dyson's jaw tightened at his partner's brashness but said, "She still wants to be with me for your information. Things are just… complicated."

"Yeah, moving on from the sap."

"It's not hard to commit, Tamsin. You want to be with Lauren, don't you? Then tell her that. You want to live your life with her, and only her, then say it. For the record, I can see that she really likes you. Don't sleep around, and devote your life to making her happy. That's what commitment is. It's not difficult, not even for you."

Tamsin looked over, something winked in her eye, but she said, "Thanks… or whatever."

"You're welcome." Dyson looked back to Lauren and down the street. "Shit, there he is." Dr. Holiday was walking down the street calmly, if he knew he was being watched he didn't let on. "We've got to take him- Tamsin where the hell are you going!"

Tamsin had bolted out of the car in less time it took for Dyson to notice. Slamming her door shut, she quickly crossed the street and had almost caught the doctor, but he saw her reckless behavior and began to run. Cursing under her breath, she tripped slightly at the slippery ground, and would have gone down hard if not for her hand brushing the pavement slightly, picking herself back up again, and she dashed after the doctor.

Running across the street, Holiday rushed down into the alley Tamsin had been looking down earlier. Dyson would have followed immediately but then he saw Lauren's trench coat fly behind her as she also followed the detective and the criminal down the alley.

"Shit," Dyson whispered as he got out of his car and moved to follow the trio down the alley. Dyson knew Tamsin probably hadn't seen Lauren sitting idly and drinking tea, and if she saw Lauren come up behind her-

bang!

Dyson froze, if only for a second, and pulled out his human issued hand gun. He called for his partner as he moved up the alley and began to run as he heard Lauren yell Tamsin's name.

Coming around the corner, Dyson aimed his firearm, but blinked rapidly and brought it down. There before him was Lauren, strands of hair covered parts of her face, and the look of horror on her face was unmistakeable. Just a few feet away near an metal fence stood Tamsin, looking back at Lauren questioningly. Then, laying on the bloodied fence, was none other than Dr. Holiday. The contents of his head were splayed onto the ground and fence, his face in abstract horror, and a revolver laid in his hand.

The human had taken his own life. Or…

"You killed him," Lauren whispered, pain seeping into her voice. The one thing she had, and the fae had taken it yet again. "You killed him." The conviction in her voice was unmistakeable.

"No, he- Lauren- he killed himself. I didn't…" Tamsin looked back towards Dyson, desperation in her eyes, and back at Lauren. She moved towards her but stopped as Lauren backed away slowly.

Lauren was being unfair, she knew she was being unfair, but she said it nonetheless, "You're a murderer."

The pained look in Tamsin's eyes was almost heartbreaking, but Lauren didn't care. Tamsin the valkyrie, the fae, had taken the only thing she had going for her; to have a somewhat human life again. She had known Dr. Holiday for just a few months but the small hope she had to live a life without the fae, if only for a few seconds, was something she had longed for. And Tamsin had taken it from her.

Pivoting on her heel, Lauren walked briskly out of the alley, not even glancing at Dyson, without looking back.

Tamsin looked down at the human who had killed himself, and wondered how Lauren could really think she had anything to do with his death.

"What happened?" Dyson came over and grabbed Tamsin's arm.

Shaking him off forcefully Tamsin almost yelled, "I came around the corner and tried to talk to the fucker. He pulled out a gun and I…"

"What happened, Tamsin?"

"I tried to… reason with him. And he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. I didn't do anything."

Dyson tried to find his partners eyes and asked, "Are you sure? You didn't do anything?"

"I'm sure! You're my partner, you should believe me!" Tamsin knew Dyson knew of her valkyrie powers of doubt. Knew he, just as Lauren, thought she had used them on him in some type of revenge state. Made him doubt himself to pull the trigger, killing himself. But she hadn't. She hadn't!

Did she?

Dyson sighed and pulled out his phone. Calling a clean up crew, he looked around and smelled the air, checking if anyone could have seen the crime. Looking back at Tamsin he said, "We need to get out of here."

"Just get me back to the station. I need my truck."

"What are you going to do?"

Tamsin looked up dangerously. "I'm going to talk to my goddamn girlfriend. Now get me back to the station."

Tamsin entered her girlfriend's domain without knocking, and was met with a surprised and then angry stare from the doctor.

"You weren't invited here, Tamsin." Lauren glared at her and Tamsin wondered when the human had gotten so aggressive. Usually it was Tamsin that was the aggressive type and Lauren would be passive. But not anymore. Not tonight, anyways.

"We're going to talk about this. I did not kill that human-"

"Riley Holiday, Tamsin. His name was Riley Holiday."

"Fine, whatever, Holiday. I didn't kill him, Lauren. Why were you even there?"

"Don't you dare act like you don't know." Lauren looked dead at Tamsin and threw a small chip in her direction.

Picking it up, Tamsin saw it was one of the small bugs the precinct would plant into informant's phones.

That goddamn wolf, Tamsin thought.

"Lauren, I didn't do this. Okay, I did not do this. I didn't even know about it."

The doctor huffed and smiled without humor. "He was my way out. My way out of all of," Lauren swooped her hands around her, "this! For a few days I could think of something other than the fae and my servitude. And you took that away from me, Tamsin."

"You… were trying to leave?" Tamsin's mind tried to wrap around the human's words but failed.

Lauren's head dipped and she nodded slowly to herself. "No, I was not trying to leave the fae fully. I just wanted a day, maybe just a few days, that I could be like I was. A pure scientist that could live out of this world. I was brilliant, did you know that, Tamsin? I was a brilliant scientist. And now I get to live to be spat on every day by super genetic beings just because I wasn't born with a specific gene."

"I don't see you like that, Lauren-"

Lauren's bitter laughter interrupted Tamsin's words. "God, of course you don't, Tamsin. Not you. You're kind, aren't you, Tamsin? You're kind and gentle and you can actually be different from all other fae. Isn't that right."

"Lauren…"

"Oh, and we can't forget, how well you are committing to someone. We've been doing this song and dance for how long, Tamsin, and you just recently stayed the night with a lowly human. I mean, God, with that record, how can you not see me as just a pathetic human?"

"I killed him!" Tamsin yelled, "Yes, I killed him. Is that what you want to hear? Even if it's not the truth?"

Lauren shook her head slowly, choosing to forget what her lover had just said, and put her delicate fingers to her forehead, "You killed my friend, Tamsin. How can you think I'm just going to be okay with that? You walk into my home like you own the place, like you own me, and you expect me to really be okay with that? God, you're no better than Lachlan and the other Ash's."

Lauren brought her hand to her mouth and gasped. She had been trying to be cruel, but not like that.

Tamsin, who hadn't been there for Lachlan's rule but had heard, was taken aback more than she thought possible. Lauren had really compared the two of them, something Lauren never did, and it hurt deep. Hurt more than it really should.

"I need you to leave," Lauren said after a few seconds of silence. She couldn't believe she had said such a horrible thing to Tamsin, but if she backed down now, all of that evening would be lost.

Tamsin was brought out of her shock and said, "Bullshit. I'm not going anywhere."

"Tamsin, please. I need you to leave." Lauren was near tears from her outburst and she brought her hands in front of her in a defensive position when Tamsin advanced on her.

"What the hell, Lauren. Do… do you think I'm going to hurt you?"

"You just told me you killed an innocent man. How am I supposed to-"

"He was not innocent!" Tamsin lowered her voice and squared her shoulders. "He was not innocent. He murdered countless fae. His aura reeked of blood. That is not innocent."

Lauren laughed bitterly. "And yours doesn't! Dyson or even Bo's isn't bathed in the blood of the hundreds you all have slain?" Lauren looked at Tamsin, fury in her eyes, "My kind is so weak to you. Is that the way you see me? Weak and pathetic. Quivering at your every touch. Jumping at the chance to be with you, one of your kind."

"What the hell has gotten into you? I would never think that. I-"

"You lied to me for months," Lauren cut in. She didn't know if it was real bravery or if it was her anger that was boiling inside for the past few weeks. "You lied to me, putting my life in danger because you're a murderer. Or do you still consider it to be murderer when it's just a lowly human?"

Tamsin's face contorted into one of disobedience one of not understanding anything Lauren had just said. She couldn't believe she had missed the obvious signs of Lauren's abuse. Her thoughts of her supposed weakness. She was caught off guard as Lauren whispered,"I need you to leave. Go, just get out!"

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm not going." Tamsin held out her hands to reach for Lauren's folded ones. The human backed further away and she brought her hands to her face again.

"Get out," she screamed, tears welling up into her eyes visibly "Get out, just leave- go - get out, get out!"

Tamsin stood there for what seemed like hours. Stood there and watched as Lauren wouldn't even look at her. Watched as the human bore a hole into the ground where Tamsin stood. If she tried to go near her again, the human would most likely break down. Would never forgive Tamsin not obeying her words.

Her breathing was heavy. Her hands were clammy. And, finally, she did what the human asked of her.

She left.

And only then did Lauren let the tears fall from her face. Bending down onto the floor, she sat there, cradling her face and legs to her chest, crying into her pant legs.

She just cried.