"Hello Lauren," Hale's voice sang over the phone as he heard the doctor answer. "You are a hard woman to track down! How is everything?"
"Hale? Sorry, I mean Ash. Uh good, everything is good. It's good to hear from you," Lauren replied, surprised to be hearing from her friend after almost a year away and silently cringing at herself for stumbling over her words. Though she and Hale had been friends for many years, he was the Ash now and Lauren sometimes needed to remind herself of that.
Lauren heard Hale chuckled softly over the phone. "Lauren, you can call me Hale. We have missed you, but I am glad everything is going well for you in the western territories. "
"Thank you. And how are things with you? I heard they finally dropped the 'interim' from your title and you are now THE Ash."
"Yeah yeah. Things are well. This job is not without its challenges, and I still have a lot to learn, but I am getting there," the Siren replied honestly.
Lauren smiled at the phone happy to hear Hale was doing well, but she wasn't very good at small talk, so an awkward moment of silence lingered between them. Hale was the first to speak and break the silence.
"So, about why I am calling... I am sorry to have to ask this of you, but we need your medical expertise. We have a patient who is dying, and our doctor's are clueless as to why or how to help. Since you are and always have been the best doctor the fae have had, I was hoping you might be willing to consult," Hale said over the phone.
"Of course, " Lauren said immediately, "you know I will help anyway that I can. If your doctor would just send the case files to me I can take a look."
"They are already in your email. But Lauren, I was hoping you would consider coming back for a short while to take over as lead on this case, for two reasons. The first being that our doctor's estimate the patient only has about a week left to live," Hale explained, his voice becoming very serious. He dreaded the next piece he needed to tell Lauren, and paused to get the courage.
"And the other reason?" Lauren queried, getting a nervous feeling in her stomach.
"The patient is Bo."
Lauren felt her heart clench and fear flood through her body at the words. She blinked and stared off into nowhere. "Bo?" was all she could get out, as she felt her heart rate start to quicken in panic.
"Lauren, I am sorry to have to tell you this, but yes, Bo is very sick and we don't know how to help her. You are our last, her last chance," Hale said sadly. "But after everything that has happened, no one would think less of you if you didn't want to come, please believe that. "
Lauren kept blinking trying to get her brain cells to work again. Bo was dying. How could that be possible. She was so alive, so vibrant, so full of life. She couldn't be dying. But Hale wouldn't lie. Not about something like this. She had to try and help Bo. After everything that happened, all the hurt she had caused her, she still did not wish her ill. No, there was no way was she was going to let Bo die. No way.
"I will come Hale" she finally replied.
"Great," Hale said as he let out the breathe he was holding. He knew Lauren was Bo's only chance at this point, and he hoped that he was right in that she would find the cure for her sickness. "I will have a car at your place in an hour. Like I mentioned earlier, all of her files should be in your inbox. And Lauren, thank you. I know this isn't going to be easy for you, but thank you."
"You don't need to thank me Hale. Despite everything that has happened between Bo and I, I am still a doctor and I still care for her. Of course I would come," Lauren replied honestly.
"Yes, but I know it is a lot to ask. I will see you tomorrow Lauren. Oh, and Bo is not at the compound's medical facility. Since there was nothing more they could do, and Kenzi wanted her in some place comfortable, they gave the okay for her to go home," Hale explained. "The driver will take you there tomorrow."
"Ok. See you tomorrow then," Lauren said and hung up. Every possible emotion was swirling around her right now, and she collapsed on her couch, overcome with them all.
Bo was dying.
She had left almost a year ago, and still even the sound of her name brought a shiver to her body. She wanted to hate her, but as much as she tried, she couldn't. The hurt was still there though. The pain she went through, watching her choose Dyson again. Some days she blamed herself, for loving too easily, for being too careless with her heart, especially with a succubus. She should have known better. But being with Bo was indescribable, and she had thrown all logic and common sense out the window and loved her completely. And look where it got her, a broken mess. But that was a year ago. She had gathered up the courage and asked Hale for a transfer, to which he reluctantly agreed, seeing the pain in her eyes. She had moved to the western territories and became their doctor. She was so well known among the fae, both for curing the fae fever and helping to kill the Garuda, that she was quickly welcomed here. She had a new life and she was content. It was different than when she and Bo were together, but she knew now that was too good to be true, and her expectations were lower, more realistic. She was happy she kept telling herself.
Finally tearing herself from her own thoughts, she got off the couch and went to her laptop, downloading the email from Hale on to a flash drive so she could read it in the car. She then went up to her bedroom to pack for what she knew would be a life changing trip.
Bo was dying.
Fuck.