A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Thank God it's a real Friday, been a long two week stint at work. Read, rant, review as you see fit. Have a good weekend, ya'll.

Chapter 4: What Shall We Use to Fill the Empty Spaces

Lauren's hunger was no more than a mild pang as she made her way downstairs the next morning after her shower to inform her girlfriend that their guest had left sometime the night before, talking all of her meager belongings with her. But her plans to discuss the topics she had put off the night before where once again placed on the back burner when she realized Bo had company. She was talking calmly and seriously with the shifter over a mug of steaming coffee. It seems whatever had upset them earlier was no longer an issue between the pair, or at least something more urgent had occurred that necessitated declaring a truce. As she walked up and kissed her lover 'good morning,' the wolf cheerfully greeted her and offered to pour her a cup of coffee, which she gratefully accepted. From the tone of their interrupted conversation and the smiles she was graced with by the pair, Lauren guessed that both of her suppositions were correct.

"Hey Lauren, how's your patient? Is she ready for a mission?" Bo asked happily.

"Uh, yeah…Well, I'm not really sure about that. She's not here. I think she took off sometime last night." The doctor informed them, frowning in worry.

"Great! Just when we need her!" the succubus threw her hands up in frustration.

Dyson was confused; the Valkyrie seemed in good spirits the day before, and he was sure something of consequence must have occurred to instigate her unannounced departure in the middle of the night. "Bo, what happened last night?" he probed with a soft voice.

"Nothing! We didn't have the movie she wanted to watch, and it pissed her off, that's all!" the brunette told him, her tone defensive.

But the shifter was all too aware of the succubus' blind spot when it came to reading the Valkyrie, and looked to the blonde to affirm or refute the assertion made by her girlfriend. As soon as Lauren caught his eye, he knew there was more to the evening than a catty argument over a movie. But the doctor refused to refute Bo's explanation, and he decided it might be best to drop the matter and move on to finding out just where Tamsin had fled. "I'll try calling her." He took out his phone and unsuccessfully tried to contact their friend. The call went straight to voice mail, and he left an urgent message to call him back before disconnecting. He sighed as he put his phone away and looked pointedly at Bo.

She was immediately offended by his unvoiced accusation; she knew she had done nothing to warrant the still recovering Valkyrie's sudden departure. "Dyson, nothing happened! And she's not answering because she's probably drunk somewhere or sleeping off her latest bender!"

"…Or unconscious in a puddle of her own blood, like I found her last time." He countered with a stern expression.

Bo glared back at him in return as she formulated a retort, before Lauren defused the situation, "Dyson, really it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. She was a bit tired and moody, that's all. And I don't think she wanted to stay here any longer than necessary after…" the doctor trailed off, unsure of what to say. She still didn't know exactly what precipitated the Valkyrie's original exodus from the clubhouse, but was sure it had something to do with the taller blonde's unexpected admission that Bo didn't love her at Zeus's party. She looked expectantly to Bo to fill in the blanks for her, as did the shifter.

The succubus wasn't going to fall into the little trap of discussing her and Tamsin when it was imperative to plan their mission right now. She felt somewhat guilty about using the Valkyrie and bringing her to uncontrollable sobbing with her rejection, but at the same time vindicated in her own belief that the woman didn't really love her when Tamsin subsequently acted cold and aloof towards her. Bo wasn't really sure if her former roommate actually felt hurt or angry by Lauren superseding her in her own affections. And the succubus herself felt more than a little slighted by the sudden return of the Valkyrie's abrasive behavior and brusque dismissal of her attempts at reconnecting as friends. But the issue was irrelevant at the moment – they needed to find Zeus. Tamsin was capable of taking care of herself, and right now there was a sociopathic megalomaniac bent on world domination whose whereabouts were currently unknown.

"…ah…she left of her own free will. She's a big girl, and right now – Zeus is on the loose, plotting gods know what! We need to find her, as soon as possible – with or without Tamsin!" Bo stated emphatically, looking at each of them in turn with arms crossed.

Dyson and Lauren exchanged a brief look of understanding and resignation; Bo had a point. Zee was certainly not going to give up after sacrificing her own daughter and spouse to gain domination of the earth. She had nothing left to lose, and everything to gain.

"You're right." Dyson admitted, before turning to the doctor to fill her in on the discussion she had missed while still upstairs, "I have some men watching Zeus' condo, but so far there is no sign of her. I need to relieve them soon, and Bo thought it would be best for Tamsin to partner up with me while she combed the city for any sign of her. But now it seems…"

"…it's me and you." The succubus finished for him with a smile. She turned to her girlfriend and continued, "Trick is on the phone trying to contact the fae he knows that were at Zeus' party to find out if they might have any clues to her whereabouts. Why don't you stop by the Dal and see if he has any leads yet, before you head back to your clinic?"

Lauren nodded her assent, "I can do that. I'll call you if I find out anything."

Their plans solidified, the group broke up so that the trio could get ready for their mission.


The Dal was nearly empty when Lauren arrived; it was rather early in the day. The buxom, freckle-faced temp bartender greeted her politely as she made her way down to Trick's lair. In the dimly-lit, Tokienesque room the proprietor of the weigh station was just hanging up on his latest phone conversation. Perfect timing. Lauren was anxious to see how Mark was progressing, and if his expedited healing might mean he would soon be able to shift into animal form. The other theory for his rapid recovery was something she didn't want to consider at the present time. Hades had marked him, as well as Bo. The full understanding of the repercussions of bearing the mark of the devil was something that seemed to concern no one in the family save the doctor.

"Lauren! What can I do for you?" Trick's words were warm and welcoming despite the tired and frustrated expression upon his face.

Lauren smiled in return before answering, "Hello Trick. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but Bo asked me to stop by and see if you have found any leads on Zee. I would have called, but I know you have been working the phones all morning. Have you found out anything?"

He hung his head and shook it in defeat as he sighed out his frustration, "No, nothing. None of my fae contacts know anything so far. It was a surprise to them all to be invited to the party in the first place. And they all left before Zee went to the clubhouse where Bo found her."

"Tamsin." The blonde chimed in with her epiphany.

"Yes, Zeus threatened to kill Tamsin. But I wasn't even sure if Zee held her captive, or she merely meant she would track her down and kill her."

"No, she was there – at the condo. All night. Alone with Hera and Zeus." Lauren's glee at the realization the Valkyrie might have some insight into Zeus' mindset dissolved into a crestfallen reminder that they had squandered their chance to pick the Valkyrie's brain over the events of the night of the party in favor of clashing with her over other issues. They all seriously needed to work on communication, priorities, and strategy. But there was so much going on in all their lives, it was hard to stop and take a breath.

"Tamsin? What did she say happened after we left?" Trick inquired, noticing the doctor's pained look.

"Uh, well…she didn't really say, other than Hera getting struck by lightning…and no one asked her. There are a lot of things going on right now, and – "

The barkeep interrupted her, "Well, why don't you ask her now? I'll keep trying my remaining connections." He turned back to his phone, searching through his contact numbers.

"Trick, I can't! She's disappeared again. She's not answering her phone and – "

"Lauren! She's upstairs; drinking her way through my well liquor and raising hell since before I even woke up. Luckily, I've already got the top shelf bottles under lock and key since Mark's arrival." He grumbled testily, not even pulling his eyes away from the phone to look at her. She had, after all, walked through the bar to arrive in his private office. He informed his guest that she should have noticed the tall Nordic blonde; she did stand out in a crowd, and had already had a couple of minor altercations with both staff and patrons, and only the threat of calling Bo to evict her from the premises had calmed her down, but had not stopped her rude quips.

"Tamsin is here?" The doctor was incredulous and blurted out the question superfluously, and when Trick's eyes darted to look at her in confusion – she was already halfway up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, busty and freckled walked into her path inadvertently with a smile and an apology. As the bar employee secured the glasses on her tray to prevent them from falling, Lauren scanned the room for the Valkyrie. There was a young couple playing pool, an older gentleman reading a newspaper, and a three young men eating at a corner table. Before the clumsy server could walk off, Lauren asked urgently, "Have you seen a tall blonde woman?"

The bartender's smile morphed immediately into a scowl. She jerked her head in the direction of the booths at the back of the bar near the restrooms and scurried away. The doctor whirled to scan for any sign of her, but saw nothing. But the reaction of the ginger woman could only mean one thing; Tamsin was here. And so she was, leaning on one elbow resting on the table the Valkyrie wasn't visible until she walked directly in front of the table between the benches. Lauren believed that was probably by design and not coincidence. "Tamsin, what are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious to you?" she grinned, pouring herself another double shot of amber liquor from the bottle in front of her. Tamsin slowly swirled her glass around, waiting expectantly for snide comment in return with raised eyebrows. Her visitor observed her expression and behavior meticulously instead of answering; Tamsin had a way of revealing her feelings not by being confronted directed, but instead used them to fill in the empty spaces of an awkward conversation as if the silence leeched them out of her involuntarily like salt draws moisture. After she downed half of it in a gulp, she tilted her head and looked at the doctor with a smirk, "Well…since you can't guess – It's a day that ends in a 'Y'…I don't have a job…and I don't have shit to do. Party time! I thought you research scientists were good at observation and shit!"

The shorter blonde rolled her eyes. It was something of a revelation, but not nearly as much as she had hoped. It merited trying another tack, "So that's what you're going to do with your last life? Hmmm? Stay as drunk as possible for as long as possible?" Surely such an accusation would rile the Valkyrie into some kind of emotional reaction. It had worked before, after all.

But it didn't; in fact – it seemed to have the opposite effect. Tamsin's grin erupted into a wide, toothy smile, eyes twinkling in agreement with the rest of her expression, "Insha'Allah!" She raised her glass and toasted her companion, then drained down the harsh liquor with relish.

God Willing. Lauren closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy. Best to just dive in head first and get it over with rather than suffer a painful and drawn out immersion. "You left without telling anyone, and we have been trying to call you all morning." She began again, bluntly.

"Huh?" This seemed to surprise the Valkyrie, and she clumsily fished out her cell phone from one of the back pockets of her jeans. After she tried unsuccessfully to turn it on she dropped it unceremoniously on the table before looking back at the doctor with an unexpectedly humorous apology, "Battery's dead. Sorry. But in my defense, it was a shitty movie, Lauren. Admit it."

As Tamsin laughed at her own joke, the doctor realized just how exhausted and inebriated the Valkyrie seemed. She had never seen her before in such a state. But at least she appeared to be in a good mood, despite having obviously antagonized the bartender and all the recent emotional turmoil in her life. Classic Tamsin. But before Lauren could formulate another question, the Valkyrie had an inquiry of her own.

"Well, you found me. What do you want?" the tall fae woman asked, her tone suddenly more sober.

"Uh, well…" Lauren hesitated, taking a short moment to consider what might be running through the mind of her strange companion before speaking. The pair of them had been honest and forthright with each other in the past; Lauren had connected with Tamsin in a way that no one else in the group had ever done. Shoot from the hip, straight to the heart of the matter – that's what the Valkyrie responded to. "I have to go to the clinic to check on Mark, and Hades – whom we are holding captive there. Bo wanted you to go with Dyson to stake out Zee's apartment. We need to find her."

"Hades is at your clinic, and Bo is chasing after Zeus? What the fuck?" she chuckled and shook her head to try as if to shake out a diplomatic answer to the ever patient doctor. "Hhmmm. I see. OK, please tell her I am…" the taller blonde struggled for a word that would impress the doctor rather than offering one of her handy vulgar retorts always on the tip of her tongue, "…indisposed." She grinned at her own cleverness and topped off her glass.

Lauren crossed her arms and looked at her critically. Usually, the love-sick woman would jump at the chance to do anything asked of her by Bo, and would be eager to join in a mission of such importance. And it was also strange that she would dismiss the danger posed by the ancient fae who had nearly succeeded in killing everyone on earth. She was missing the reason the tall blonde had become so nihilistic, but was determined to mine the Valkyrie's experiences with the ancients for any possible helpful intel she could uncover. "What happened after we left Zee's apartment, Tamsin?"

"What?" The Valkyrie nearly choked on the draught of liquor she was trying to swallow. She had thought the conversation over. But the shorter blonde was staring at her with an intense look in her eyes, slowly taking a seat across from her. Tamsin locked eyes with her, following her gaze as she settled into her seat. As she concisely ran down the events of the night in question, she pointed at her inquisitor with the index finger of the hand holding her glass and ticked off each statement with it from left to right to convey the finality of her explanation, "Nothing important that I haven't told you already. You left me there. Zeus zapped Hera. I brought Hera to you. End of story."

The doctor wasn't going to give up so easily, and leaning forward asked urgently, "But why? What happened? Why did Zeus strike Hera in the heart with lightning?"

"Because he loves her and she doesn't love him!" the Valkyrie's eyes were wide open and wild with anguish as she leaned forward suddenly as well and shouted out the answer unthinkingly, slamming her glass on the table, spilling some of the liquid remaining in it. But as quickly as the doctor registered the pain in her expression, Tamsin sucked in a deep breath through her mouth and let it slowly out her nose as she leaned back and turned away from her. Her conversations with Hera and Zee were far too personal to discuss with the girlfriend of the woman she loved. After a moment, she gathered herself and filled her glass again, declaring in a calmer voice, "I mean; it was obvious – who couldn't see that shit coming?"

Surely that emotional outburst had nothing to do with the comatose jilted fae in her clinic. The doctor's eyes expression and tone softened when she replied, "Hera, for one, I guess." She had inadvertently found the crack in the wall the Valkyrie built around her emotions, and it wouldn't be breached by explosive words, but could be eroded down by more gentle forces. If Bo wouldn't resolve the issues between them, she would – they needed Tamsin 100% on board with their missions. "So, all this time, Zee was just using Hera and Iris."

The Valkyrie shrugged, "Apparently."

"How sad that Iris lost her life. And I feel kind of sorry for Hera, too." Dr. Lewis added softly, her tone far too kind to be referring to one of their enemies.

The lovelorn woman didn't reply right away and instead stared at her glass on the table as she turned it around in circles with one hand without lifting it. Just when Lauren was about to give up and head to the clinic, she lifted her eyes to meet the doctor's and responded, "Yeah…what a fucking idiot. How embarrassing."

Bingo. Tamsin was not just hurt or angry, but ashamed. Dr. Lewis deduced that could only mean one thing: the Valkyrie had first confessed her love before Bo had told her she didn't love her. A whole lot of shit started making sense now. Had her girlfriend set the ground rules upfront, the Valkyrie may have drifted away earlier or simply continued to deny her own feelings to save her pride. But pride does go before a fall, and Lauren realized the broken woman in front of her hadn't just lost her dignity but had alienated everyone she owed allegiance to gamble her love on Bo – Freya, the Morrigan, Acacia, and even Hades himself.

Noticing the tears welling in her companion's eyes, she turned away and closed her own. At least Bo had never told anyone of the Valkyrie's unreturned declaration of love; it no doubt embarrassed her girlfriend that she hadn't taken the time to let her roommate down gently before events spiraled so terribly out of control. The friction between the pair of them was compounded by their own pride, stubborn determination to ignore their own character flaws and refusal to even speak of what had happened between them. Lauren mused that locking them in a room together and knocking their heads together until they hashed out their issues might be best for everyone, but sadly not a probable solution.

The doctor looked at her hands as she heard her companion sniffing, not wanting to look her in the eyes as the proud warrior was obviously trying to hide her vulnerability the copious amount of alcohol she had drank laid bare. Lauren decided that there was no need to continue the pretense of talking about the ancients as she stated, "I'm sorry Tamsin. But, I don't think Bo meant to hurt you. I can't speak for her, but I'm sure she thought it was a 'no strings' situation – like Dyson."

Tamsin laughed bitterly at the explanation, "Really? You believe that bullshit, Lauren?" The doctor looked up in shock at the outburst, and the Valkyrie leaned closer as her green eyes darted over the face of her silent companion to find the answer in her unconscious tells. Lauren expression told her she didn't believe it; but Tamsin already knew that. They had had this conversation before. Her eyes narrowed, almost angry but not quite as she continued, "She loves Dyson; he loves her. Those 'strings' are consequences; and there are always consequences. Cause and effect – as a scientist you should know that."

Lauren gulped guiltily at her silent admission of truth, but still defended her lover, "She didn't know you loved her."

"No, you're right about that." The Valkyrie closed her eyes and nodded. Her jaw clenched and her breathing rate increased as she fought an internal battle, trying in vain to hold back something she didn't want to admit to anyone. But it was like a thorn causing a painful infection in her mind that needed to be pushed out, no matter how uncomfortable the process. Opening her eyes and gazing into Lauren's she found her strength at the end of a deep breath. It all came out, "She thought I was free for the taking, like a penny in a tray at the convince store. And it's my fault for believing I could be more than that – because I know I am cursed, and that's all I'll ever be to anyone! So please, both of you, just leave me the fuck alone!"

The Valkyrie's gut-wrenching and unintentional drunken confession triggered her defensive instincts and she pulled back and jumped up quick as a rattlesnake to leave. However, some rational part of her mind remembered the now dead cell phone on the table, and as she reached out to snatch it up Lauren finally reacted and grabbed her hand. "Wait, Tamsin -" she wasn't able to say anymore than that. It happened again – that course of energy between them. Only this time it wasn't a mere tickle to be dismissed as imagination. It was like a shot of pure adrenaline through the doctor's veins. She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply as she gripped the Valkyrie's hand tighter. She felt energy pushed by a thousand emotions and dominated by a strength of will to persevere through her mind; and knew the experiences behind them were too many for a human to gather in their lifetime – or indeed most fae. It was frightening; but she couldn't let go. And she didn't want to. It felt too satisfying, too good.

A sharp pain in her throat at the juncture of her clavicle bones sent her reeling back against the padded bench and releasing the woman's hand. The doctor opened her eyes, panting in exhilaration as her booth-mate stood across the table breathing equally as heavily regarding her with a look of fright, two fingers of her right hand she had apparently struck her with still pointed in an unconscious accusation as she asked, "Lauren, what have you done?"

The dazed woman struggled to find give a response to the question she didn't even know the answer to, "I…I've been experimenting…with DNA…and I've gotten some help…"

Tamsin closed her eyes tightly. She knew just where that 'help' must have originated. "Lewis, didn't you know? Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."