"Hi, Bo! Your fish 'n' chips should be ready in a few… ah, min…utes…Bo, what's wrong dear?" Once Trick looked up from the bar to see his granddaughter's face, he was startled by her red rimmed eyes and tear tracks staining her cheeks. He had never seen her looking so haunted and fragile.

Bo opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. As she stared into Trick's kind eyes, something broke inside her. More tears fell and her lips trembled, but her voice was lost.

"Come, let's go downstairs." Trick came out from behind the bar and placed a comforting hand on her back as he guided her to his quarters downstairs.

He ushered her over to the built-in sofa and then pulled up a chair so he could sit in front of her. "Just breathe and take your time. I'm here to listen."

"It's Lauren… I'm losing Lauren! Oh, god I think I'm gonna be sick." Sobs racked her body and she knew she was on the verge of collapsing. "I don't know how I can survive this!"

"Did you two have a fight?"

"Not exactly. But she's having a personal crisis and wants us to take a break. But I know I'm going to lose her forever unless I can fix this. She's in so much pain, Trick. She's having a nervous breakdown and I've been totally oblivious, wrapped up in my own shit. I couldn't even notice that she felt so broken and lost. The Fae, the years of servitude, Nadia, our relationship issues – it's finally all come crashing down on her at once and she's losing it! I've never felt so helpless in my life!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry Bo, I know that must hurt." He heaved a heavy sigh to gather his thoughts. "But it does make some sense. I can certainly understand that the last few years are finally taking its toll – I imagine she's been under an immense amount of stress since she's been with the Fae. But, uh – she's unhappy with your relationship? I was under the impression things were going well."

"Well that's what I thought too! But apparently I'm a clueless idiot. All the way over here I was racking my brain, trying to figure out where I went wrong. And it finally started to add up. My head's been too far up my ass to pay attention to all the ways I've been pushing her away. She even tried telling me we were out of sync after the Dawning and I just blew her off to run off to juvie camp with Dyson. And to top it all off, my feeding off others has been tearing her apart. She tried putting on a brave face about it and I was so happy to be let off the hook that I didn't notice how much it was hurting her."

Trick frowned sympathetically. "I'm sad to say I was afraid this would happen. There are just too many insurmountable obstacles for you two to have a successful relationship. Succubi simply aren't meant to be monogamous, especially with humans."

Bo jumped up in exasperation and started pacing. "God, Trick! I thought this was the part where you're supposed to give me a pep talk about improving my communication skills, but instead you tell me that the love of my life isn't worth fighting for? Thanks so much for your support."

Trick sighed sadly. This wasn't helping. "You're right. That was insensitive and I apologize."

"Sorry if this is too personal, but…were you and Isabeau monogamous?"

Trick paused, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks and ears. "Truthfully, we weren't at first. We were in love, but she was used to feeding on more than one Fae to sustain herself. Actually, I'm sure she was accustomed to feeding significantly more than you, since she never had to worry about killing people. She was always so powerful, so full of vitality and strength. She was a force to be reckoned with." Trick smiled fondly at the recollection of his wife. "She wanted to be monogamous, and I know it upset her. It was hard for me too, but I knew what I was getting into. It was Isabeau's choice to, for lack of a better term, go on a 'diet.' But she had to reduce her intake of chi gradually. It wasn't until two years after we were married that we were able to be completely monogamous. But I know she was never again as physically powerful as she once was, and though it saddened me, it made me love her more for sacrificing so much for our love."

"Then I should be able to do this for her! With Lauren's injections I've sorta been on a diet. Maybe I just need more time for my body to adjust?"

Trick looked at his granddaughter with sympathetic eyes. "But Bo, no matter how hard you tried, you still wouldn't be able to reduce your need for sustenance enough to safely feed on only one human. Over the long term you would both become gravely ill; you from constantly starving and her from being repeatedly drained."

Crushed, Bo pulled her eyes away from Trick to stare blankly at the floor.

"But, uh… for what it's worth, you do make a valid point about communication issues. It's usually the root of almost any relationship conflict. Are you going to talk to her some more or has she already made up her mind?"

"She agreed to postpone 'the talk' till tomorrow so I can gather my thoughts, but I'm pretty sure she's just humoring me. I don't think she has any real hope. Trick, I only have one chance to make it right."

"Bo this just isn't something you can fix in one conversation. All you can do is prioritize the points you want to address and hopefully your first conversation will open the door to the next one. Just make sure you actually listen to her. And your conversation will be pointless unless it results in productive action. It's not about you saving the day by making the perfect speech."

"I know. But first she needs to know that I'm actually hearing her, that I'm finally paying attention. She thinks she's been shoved aside and when I really thought about it, she has every right to feel that way. For instance – I think she was hurt that she was shut out of all the prep for the Dawning – and don't give me any crap about humans can't be part of the process. We should be a package deal and you know I don't follow rules for the sake of tradition. I should have put my foot down and included her more, but I got swept up in everything and left her waiting on the sidelines. Shit – do you know I never even fully explained to her about that ridiculous wild goose chase I went on to get my Dawning invitation? I just kept saying, just give me another hour, just another hour! I missed her banquet and award speech and for all I know she thought I was just out getting drunk with Tamsin. Did I tell you about that? Right in the middle of our little adventure, I spontaneously became drunk for about an hour. I hadn't had anything to drink but I could actually taste that nasty-ass gnome nectar drink you made me try once. And of course Lauren calls me right when I'm mystically tipsy. God, I'm such an asshole!"

"Sorry, Bo – the cocktail was my fault. That infernal machine made me choose between food or drink. I chose drink and then it said least favorite. But look on the bright side. If I had chosen food, you might have had to eat imaginary haggis with blood sausage."

"Gross, Trick."

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood."

"The point is, even though she wouldn't answer my texts, I should have got off my ass, hunted her down and talked to her in person so I could explain what happened that day and why it was so out of my control. But I was a coward and just sent her a bunch of lame apology messages and left it at that – no more follow-through. That's why I was surprised that she showed up at the Dawning. Oh, shit – so I never told her that Tamsin kissed me! I was going to tell her, full disclosure, you know? But I conveniently let it slip my mind and after a while it was just easier to think it didn't matter. God I'm a terrible girlfriend."

"Wait, Tamsin kissed you?"

"Oh my god! Maybe Lauren found out? Why would Tamsin say anything? Is that what started all this? Lauren thought I was unfaithful? Dammit!"

"Wait a minute, back up! Tamsin kissed you?"

"Trick, it was so weird! It was right after I won the shoot-out, or rather the shoot-and-stab out. Tamsin just runs over and plants one on me. Just out of nowhere! And she seemed to be just as shocked as me. I don't know what's up with that woman. We never spoke of it again. I guess I just wanted to pretend it didn't happen. Ugh…too bad I can't just blame that on that stupid machine."

The color suddenly drained from Trick's face and he stared slack-jawed at Bo.

"What? …Hello, earth to Trick? I'm trying to rant here."

Trick swallowed hard. "Uh. You said it was after you won the duel? And Tamsin seemed shocked as well?"

"Yeah…why are you looking at me like that?"

"About that kiss…um…"

"Spit it out, Trick."

"When you won the duel, Stella and I got caught up in the excitement and we, uh…"

"You what?" And then it dawned on her. "Oh. My. God. You were making out with Stella while you were supposed to be playing puppet master for the scavenger hunt from hell? Shit."

"I'm so sorry."

"Well when I tell Lauren about that kiss and she's looking at me like I'm full of shit, you better damn well be there to back me up!"

"Of course. But she might not even know about it. You don't know if Tamsin said anything."

"Doesn't matter. I owe her full disclosure, and nothing less. And I sure as hell don't need her finding out from someone else. There's no hope for us if she can't trust me."

"A wise approach."

"Listen Trick, as much as I would love to sit here with you and plan my strategy and rehash everything I've done to screw up my relationship, I should get back to Lauren. I hope the kitchen kept our dinners warm."

"I'm sure Fergus has it warming in the oven for you. Go upstairs and I'll bring it right out."

"Thanks. Oh, and Trick? Make sure Lauren gets extra tartar sauce."