Disclaimers: All original property is owned by Showcase, and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Lost Girl' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.
Pairings: Bo/Lauren
Time-Frame: Set directly after Episode 3:02
Rating: M (Contains scenes of violence, sexuality and mild nudity)
Summary: Set directly after Episode 3:02, following an AU storyline of our own creation.. Distinctly Bo/Lauren centric.
Heavenly Resonance. - Part Seven
By: The RainbowWriters
After the clubhouse had quietened down, to leave only herself to listen to the celebration sex-a-thon that was taking place upstairs, Kenzi had found herself breathing out and finally relaxing for the first time in longer then she could pinpoint. But it wasn't a relaxation that lasted long, no despite everything that she'd had to face with Bo in order to prove Lauren was the one, she felt wired and energized.
No matter what they were still facing, she trusted that Bo's love for the blonde was going to be strong enough to help the two of them conquer anything and she planned on being right here to help in any way that she could. After all that was what she'd signed up for when she'd decided she was Team Bo.
Kenzi had managed to occupy her mind for only about another half hour before the hard reality that she wanted to celebrate this victory took hold of her. Of course she knew she couldn't go upstairs and interrupt to explain to Bo and Lauren she was going out. She also had a responsibility to be here until they were ready to finish this nightmare in the morning. No right now she wasn't leaving the clubhouse and that made her more instantly in need of entertainment.
Hearing the shower turn on upstairs, Kenzi knew there would at least be a lull in the activities and she fired off a quick text to Medina to see if the exciting crew leader was available to swing by the clubhouse. With any luck one of her two friends would come down to collect sports drinks and she could tell them of her intention to bow out and party.
As she had expected, she got a quick response, and reading it she was pleased to know the pink haired thief was not only free but in the area and was swinging right by. Expecting things to time out better she waited for the shower upstairs to turn off, but it seemed to just keep running, making Kenzi wonder how unlikely it was that they weren't just having sex in the shower now.
Moving herself to the fridge as she waited, she toyed with writing out a note, after all it was unlikely that the two lovebirds would come up for air for hours now. She opened one of the nuclear green bottles of Gatorade, and wondered just why it seemed like the clubhouse was warmer then it had been in the summer.
Not realizing what she was doing, Kenzi stood in the kitchen for a long ten minutes, her eyes closed just focusing on the events of the last few hours as she tried to consolidate them in her head. Her concentration had grown so deep that she jumped when she heard the knock on the front door.
"Medi." She smiled knowing who it would be almost before she opened it, the other woman not disappointing as she was just pulling off her helmet, dressed in head to toe riding leathers. "You really were close..." She said the words with a smirk.
"Yeah, I was looking for something." She laughed softly and then did a quick scan of the area obviously looking for somewhere to put her helmet.
"Did you find it?" Kenzi backtracked moving to the kitchen on automatic to get them a drink.
"No." The other woman shook her head, sliding the beautiful customized helmet, though it was black on black in design, onto the island as she unzipped her jacket. "But it's okay, I got other places to look." She pushed her gloved hand through her hair and ruffled it a little to give it some life after being in the protective head wear. "So did you send out a crew message, is it party night at Kenzi's?" She grinned as she turned her back to the island and then hopped up to sit in it bringing up one of her leather clad legs to rest her motorcycle boot on the work top. She hung her arm off her knee casually after undoing the zipper on her jacket.
"No, I didn't send out a crew message." Kenzi shook her head and moved over to off her the shot of whiskey and had to laugh as a bumping noise was finished off by a loud groan just as Medi finished the drink. "Bo is celebrating something with her long legged Doctor." She filled in. "I wasn't sure it was the right crew party atmosphere, more..." She felt herself reach out almost like she'd planned it to take the empty shot glass back from Medina to rest both of them on the island, her body close to the side of the other woman. "A private party."
"A private party?" Medi quirked her eyebrow inquisitively at Kenzi. "Did you text the right crew member? Jazz's number is kinda similar to mine, more with the eights and twos less with the sixes and fours, but similar." She cleared her throat. "Is it me or is it hot in here?" She added pulling at the front of her distressed look t-shirt.
"A little..." Kenzi arched her body a bit, feeling a smile cross across her features. Was it not true that she'd just gone to another dimensional maze as an apparent sacrifice and not only made it out alive but got Bo and her honey out too? Didn't she deserve to lose her mind for a change? And Medi was right it was hot in the room, her thoughts were distracted again. "Or are you just trying to cover up for this energy between us?"
"Well now you mention it there is definitely some kind of vibe in here." The pink haired young woman slid her foot off the work top and pushed down off the island, backing up from Kenzi just a little as she took a breath. "Kenzi, I'm not judging or anything but are you high?" She focused on the other woman for a second focusing on bright blue eyes.
"Not yet." Kenzi gave a soft head shake. "Just tell me that I'm reading this wrong, tell me you don't want to kiss me?" She teased not moving backwards but not following Medi's body backwards, she just stood there confidently, for the first time not feeling an ounce of uncertainty about anything.
"Kiss you?" Medina's eyes went a little wider as she looked at Kenzi, forcing herself to swallow. "Kenzi, I barely know you." She replied, but didn't accompany the words with any action like shaking her head or any other motion that denied Kenzi's words, in fact the muscular young woman's tongue slipped out and grazed over her lips as her eyes darted all over Kenzi's face.
"And if you kissed me you'd be getting to know me better, wouldn't you?" Kenzi's pupils stayed wide, the arch in her tiny body making the temperature in the room arch up another five degrees.
"Technically." Medi nodded and though she kept her distance it was obvious that the other woman was having to focus to control her thoughts, words and actions. So much so in fact that she began to lift a leather clad arm out towards Kenzi, her hand out stretched on a path to touch the smaller woman's arm.
Both of their concentration was broken however when just across from where they both were in the kitchen, the toaster suddenly tipped off the side of the kitchen counter, crashing to the tiled floor below.
"When they get going nothing is safe." Kenzi gave a soft laugh. "You look tense do you want another drink?"
"I don't know if drinking would be good to mix with whatever it is you've..." Medi shook her head glancing at the open whiskey bottle on the side near them and then paused to blow up into her hair line. "Really it is warm in here? Is there something wrong with your furnace?" Without thinking she pulled off her biker jacket reaching back to put it on the island behind her.
"I told you I haven't taken anything, I just... have you ever had a night so insanely crazy and so eye opening at the same time because at the end of it all you and the people you loved had won?" Kenzi leaned her back against the island. "Well I've had one of those nights, so maybe I seem a little wired because of that. You know the feeling when you find that car you've been looking for, the rare one worth a boatload of quick money. Just sitting there on a dark street with no chance of a witness?"
"You and Bo cracked a tough case?" Medi breathed a little easier for a second as indeed if this was the case then the other woman's actions did make a little more sense.
"Medi, we cracked the mother of all cases." Kenzi made the easy comparison.
"That's awesome." The striking young woman relaxed a little actually smiling at Kenzi, reaching out with her still gloved hand she patted her mid way up her arm in a congratulatory manner. At least that's what she had meant it to be, though it was like a jolt of electricity passed between them as leather touched cotton.
"I'm glad you understand now." Kenzi gave her an alluring smile as if they shared a secret now.
"But I don't." Medi said shaking her head actually having to pull her hand away from Kenzi arm to stop touching it. "That is... Kenzi you're beautiful..." She said in a soft breath as she gazed into large blue eyes.
"Really? You know the first time you came up to me at the bonfire, I thought you were going to hit on me." Kenzi stepped closer to her. "I have to be honest considering the night I've had, that a part of me was disappointed the cops had interrupted."
"I hate to admit it." Medi glanced at the floor briefly avoiding blue eyes briefly. "But you would have been more disappointed if they hadn't." She breathed a little quickly. "I wouldn't have hit on you no matter how long we'd have had, I'm not..." She looked at Kenzi. "I'm not gay." She shook her head.
"Wow!" Kenzi's expression was suddenly very unreadable as she said the short sharp word in a more shocked tone then anything else. "I am so sorry." She took a deliberate step backwards. "You know maybe you're right, there's a chance during that case I got dosed with something, that has to be it." She was so thrown by the sudden reality to herself of how she'd been acting made her want to crawl under the couch and literally die. It was like suddenly the odd heat in the room made sense, and she tried to retreat to get her head around what was going on but retreat didn't work for once.
"If you did then you shouldn't be alone." Medi followed Kenzi's step backwards instantly with a soft frown replacing any other look on her face as she reached out and put her hand on Kenzi's shoulder, again the touch making the young mechanic give a quick look of puzzlement as she didn't want to pull away. "And Kenzi, you don't have to be sorry." She added her voice softer, shaking her head. "I'm not... that is... I just don't do relationships of any kind, to say to you I'm not gay was wrong, I'm not." she paused. "Anything." She summed up more accurately.
"But you do feel it don't you?" Kenzi reached up and put her hand on Medi's bare forearm.
"I..." Medi looked at the small hand on her tanned muscular arm and then straightened up a little. "You know what Kenzi, if you've just solved the biggest case of your life and you want to celebrate." She breathed a little more evenly. "I can for once stop analyzing everything and just feel." She let her eyes slowly come up and meet Kenzi's. "And yes, I can feel it, whatever it is."
"I'm so glad I'm not crazy." Kenzi found herself transfixed by the brown eyes looking down at her a little. "There is just something about you." She let her hand drift towards Medi's face. "That is so irresistible." She tried to quantify it.
"I'd probably say you were crazy for thinking that." Medi countered with as slight smile, her eyes closing briefly as Kenzi's finger tips just grazed the skin of her cheek. As she did so, bottle of whiskey that had been stood up behind them suddenly tipped over not breaking just falling onto its side with a loud thud, but without its lid, the amber alcohol began pouring out over the counter.
"No, I have known crazy this evening." Kenzi gave a slow shake of her head, laughing lightly even though normally the sight would have made her cringe. "You have this energy, that makes things around you seem alive." She gave another giggle.
"Or this house really can't take your friend's idea of a good celebration with her girlfriend." Medi made the soft joke back. "Are we sure its going to take the strain?"
"You have no idea what those two have gotten up to that this house has lived through." Kenzi let her fingertips touch Medi's cheek again. "It is warm in here though isn't it?" She caught a bead of sweat from the other woman's temple on her fingertip, glancing at the staircase as if there was something she might have remembered but that had left her again.
"I do have my leathers on." Medi made a small noise in the back of her throat.
"Just so you know, I don't go around hitting on beautiful woman either." Kenzi was sure that her skin was going to burst into flame soon if the tension around her didn't seem to break.
"You wouldn't be single if you did." Medi pointed out logically. "Is there a window or something we can open, while I slip my leathers off, I have jeans on underneath I swear." She said not truly realizing how unnecessary the second half of her statement was.
"I can open a window." Kenzi gave a soft nod and moved over to one of the boarded up windows they had rigged to still be accessible. "But do you have on underwear?" She threw back with a cheeky grin.
Medi, who was bent over with her leathers pulled down to her knees, her tight jeans hugging her body stopped mid motion and looked at Kenzi with a smile.
"Yes, I have underwear on." She pulled off her boots and leathers and then finally her gloves, leaving them in a pile she just stepped out over them. "You?" She shot the cheeky question back.
"Does this outfit look like it wouldn't come with fabulously sexy underwear?" Kenzi manhandled the window up, the instant cold January breeze doing little to change the hot temperature around them.
"Actually yes, yes it does." Medina moved across the short space between them coming up close to where Kenzi was leaned out against the window. With just a quick breath she reached out and put both of her hands on Kenzi's slender hips and then eased her back around so that they were facing each other properly again. "That feels a little better." She said, her voice sounding subtly deeper.
"Yes, it does." Kenzi's voice was also thick, as her arms came up to loop around Medi's neck. "The contrast is remarkable."
"Is this where we get back to the kissing question?" Medi's eyes traced over Kenzi's face, lingering for a long while on bright blue eyes before slipping to focus on her lips.
"I'd like to get back to that question." Kenzi leaned her body closer to the muscular woman's, lifting one leg in the air almost like a postcard shot.
Medi tightened her grip, leaned her head down slightly and then in to Kenzi pressing her lips somewhat tentatively to the other woman's, a hesitation that more or less instantly dissipated as the soft jolt that had passed between them earlier at just a brief touch was blown away into memory by the literal wave of charge that flared between them as lips touched lips.
Her hands clenching somewhat unconsciously tighter into the fabric at Kenzi's sides Medi tugged the slender woman closer pressing her lips hard against Kenzi's mouth a loan moan escaping from her lips as she parted them slightly to capture Kenzi's lower lip to briefly suck on and tease before kissing her full on the mouth again.
-x-
Bo laughed almost hysterically as she looked at Lauren who was stood soaking wet in the tub laughing back at her. The reason for their bright unbridled laughter obvious as the succubus had most of the shower curtain hanging from her hand, what little she didn't was hanging on by the narrowest of plastic strands on badly bent metal hooks on the narrow metal pole that ran around the top of the tub.
"You are ticklish." Lauren continued laughing with her lover.
"You broke my shower curtain." Bo said incredulously shaking her head, her laughter even brighter as she looked around her at the wet tiles and the destroyed shower curtain. "You've been my resonant for less than an hour and you're already destroying my house?" She grinned brightly. "And I am not ticklish, I just slipped." She stuck the tip of her tongue out at the blonde.
"Just admit it, you're ticklish." Lauren finally leaned down and turned off the water, saving the rest of the bathroom.
"Maybe, just a little." Bo finally relinquished her hold on the destroyed drapery and moved to wrap her arms back around Lauren's body. "You're sexier than I am ticklish." She nuzzled into Lauren's neck pressing wet kisses onto the wet skin.
"That is not possible, you're a succubus, unless you are admitting you are incredibly ticklish." Lauren's voice fluctuated with arousal as the brunette touched her.
Bo laughed brightly again.
"Do you know I just got you to admit you were incredibly sexy?" She teased. "I think I broke your big brain." She nibbled Lauren's neck. "Though for the record if it makes you believe you are the sexiest woman on the planet, you can believe I am almost the most ticklish Fae on the planet." She slid her hands up Lauren's sides for a long moment and then pulled back a little with a smile and a soft shake of her head. "Is this how we're supposed to feel after this ceremonial ritual thing, because the way my grandfather spoke about it I thought we'd be in bed for weeks or something, and not the good in bed kind." She looked up her eyes sparkling.
"Like always Bo, you found the way to make an impossible situation possible." Lauren caught the look with one of her own. "We weren't supposed to survive the ceremony, but we did. You being safe is all I really care about."
"Well obviously you don't care about my decor." Bo teased grinning madly again before pulling Lauren close, their naked wet bodies pressing as tight together as they could. Bo's eyes traced over Lauren's features for a moment and the succubus took a slightly steadying breath as she moved one hand off Lauren's waist and moved up to push through wet blonde hair. "You look beautiful with blue eyes." She said, her voice small and full of amazement and wonder.
"I'm a part of you now Bo, and you are a part of me." Lauren didn't shy away from what was being point out to her, in fact as she recognized the other telltale signs of arousal in her body the fact that her view of the world had a much more acute focus then she ever experienced and that the edges of it were tinged blue to better amplify the sexual aura around her lover became something she was actually aware of.
"Do you have any idea of what that actually means?" Bo looked at Lauren and asked the question, her voice full of genuine enquiry. "Because I know I don't." She admitted shaking her head.
"What it means is that you and I have a connection Bo, one I know I've always felt even before I got a nifty tattoo." Lauren looked down at the small box maze in black ink on her inner left forearm. "But now it can't be denied by anyone fae, and when you are hurt..." She moved her hand to caress down Bo's shoulder. "I can heal you, when you are hungry, I can feed you."
"God..." Flares of electric blue flashed across Bo's eyes. "Just hearing you say that is such a turn on." Her eyes flared wider as she looked at Lauren for a second like she was seconds away from pouncing on her. "Remind me again why I'm not carrying you back into the bedroom right now."
"I have to run hazmat on the ritual site." Lauren gave a soft frown. "We were a bit messy."
"Right." Bo nodded, a brief flash of the state of the bed intruding into her mind but she pushed it away. "Floor it is." She reached out and grabbed a towel off the towel rack that was in range and threw it on the puddle closest to bath tub before reaching out to grab her lover.
-x-
"If you care, which I know you don't, but I'm not talking to you." Tamsin threw the shot of whiskey she was nursing down her throat and glared at Dyson, as Trick did his best to maintain normalcy by just tending behind the bar till close.
"You'd only care enough to not be talking to me if we'd agreed to be partners." Dyson shot back holding his large hand around the icy beer stein.
"We are partners I don't have a choice about that any more, I'm in with the in crowd that I didn't even want to know existed." She hissed, pushing away the heavy glass Trick had served her drink in. "All of you, the succubus, the gnome king and the two humans should all just be..." She sighed tightly, "Locked away... I don't even care where, just somewhere."
"And now so should you." Dyson gave her a wide smile. "You now know the world's greatest well kept but obvious secret, Bo is a succubus who could rule us all." His smile sobered a little. "This is Bo's world, we just try to keep it from exploding around her."
"Are you listening to yourself?" Tamsin stared at him. "You sound insane. You ARE insane, all of you." The intensity of her look increased. "What if I'm right and Bo is responsible for these deaths?" She asked of the wolf. "What does that mean?"
"Right now I don't know Tamsin." He held her wild eyes seriously. "But we have to be very sure before we truly accuse her of anything." He tried to explain the underlining problem with Bo. She had this way of either going around, or through things in her path. "Right now we only have to focus on getting her through the ritual."
"Yeah about that, what happens is during the feeding part of this ritual she sucks a little too much if you know what I mean, we end up with super succubus and a world ending apocalypse?" Tamsin folded her arms across her chest. "Am I the only one rooting for the human to do a really good job with her nearly lethal wound, you know say go above and beyond like her past history would suggest she likes to, I hear she's a bit of an over achiever." Tamsin made her point more than clear that it would be in everyone's best interests if Lauren just succeeded in killing Bo.
"Tell me you didn't feel it when she swayed you?" Dyson looked at her with a soft look.
"Mostly I just felt wet and then pissed off." Tamsin said bluntly. "Oh wait you're not talking about at the lake, you're talking about at the shack they call a house? Same thing more or less just wet then really pissed off."
"But you didn't feel the overwhelming thought in your brain to protect Lauren?" Dyson challenged her to relive the confusing moments.
"You're the one that got thrown to the gutter for a human wolf boy, not me so no I didn't feel anything more than a really powerful succubus who was pissed off and wanted me to do what she told me to." Tamsin shook her head. "But then again." She added with a tight smile. "I have been told I'm a little hard headed."
"Just... we can't make a move against Lauren, we have to try and help her stabilize Bo by living through this ritual." He gave a dismissive shake of his head and turned away from her.
"I don't want to hurt the human, I want her to kill the succubus." Tamsin shook her head. "Did you not read the part where she has to basically mortally wound her?" The blonde smiled. "Believe me I'm this close to finding a reputable steroid dealer, if I knew one for humans."
"You still don't understand." Dyson rolled his eyes.
"Why no one has put her down yet, you're right I don't." Tamsin shook her head but then she shrugged and seemed to relax slightly. "But then again, at least if all this goes ahead like planned and she comes out all balanced and well, not psychotic, at least we can get on with the real issue, that she is a murderer."
"Trick pour our good friend another drink please." Dyson gave a laugh, almost begging for another of his own in the hopes it would drown out Tamsin or at least soften the time they had to spend together waiting. Taking another long drink of his beer, he thought of Hale and wished good health to the Ash. Sometimes times had to change, and while he did believe his best friend deserved the seat he know held, he knew that ultimately led to him being here faced with Tamsin as a partner.
-x-
Lauren winced slightly as she came fully to consciousness and though the first thing she happily realized was that she was spooned against Bo's warm body, the fact that she was laying on something cold wet and just uncomfortable quickly over shadowed the instant pleasure. As she slid her leg back and her skin went from cold soggy something to ice cold tile, she remembered instantly where she was, indeed where they both were and her frown melted and turned into a soft smile.
"Bo." She leaned to whisper in her lover's ear. "We fell asleep on the bathroom floor." She pointed out trying not to find the whole situation as amusing as it was. "On wet towels." She added the detail, shifting her body slightly, the feeling not a pleasant one. "Well you got most of the towels actually." She added as she extricated herself from the brunette who was stirring slightly. "I got the tiles." She pulled herself to her feet, using the tub behind her to help her get upright.
Brown eyes quickly scanned the room to try and locate anything she could just slip on, considering the fact she was actually verging on freezing cold.
"Hey." She poked Bo's back with a cold toe. "Off the towel, you'll get a chill."
"I was trying to convince myself I hadn't gotten one already." Bo finally pulled up to sit and then lifted herself to her feet, taking a slow deep breath. "I'll get us some clothes." She commented seeing Lauren give another shiver, and knowing she clearly felt more mobile.
As she breached the bathroom area back to the bedroom, her eyes couldn't help but fall on the bed and that instant she felt her stomach turn from the sheer volume of blood.
"I so need a new mattress." Bo pulled her eyes away and went to the dresser, specifically to a pile of blankets and throws. She collected some of the blankets and made her way straight back to the bathroom. "You don't want to go in there." She immediately took one and spread it out to tuck it around Lauren's shivering body.
Lauren rubbed her arms under the new covering.
"I can imagine it's not pretty." The blonde admitted. "I'm sorry if I hurt you." She added for the first time remembering the action she had been forced to carry out on the woman she loved so much, even though there was absolutely no mark left on the succubus flawless skin.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you." Bo leaned down with her meeting brown eyes with her own. "We did it Lauren. You're free, we're both free." She rubbed her hands on Lauren's upper arms through the blanket. "I think that's the only thing we should focus on."
Lauren nodded happy right now to take this base line of thinking.
"It's still dark out, we could take the couch." She offered the relocation to her lover. "A little more comfortable than tiling. We probably need to sleep." She tried to stay logical as she moved closer to Bo lifting up the blanket to close it around the both of them by sliding her arms around the succubus neck.
"You and me on the tiny couch?" Bo wiggled her eyebrows. "Why am I thinking sleep might be interrupted for awhile?"
"Oh come on, don't you think we can be good, when our naked bodies are having to press tight together, probably entangled to a degree so that we can stay secure on three lumpy cushions?" Lauren teased as she leaned in and nudged her nose against the bottom of Bo's ear. "If you think it'll be too hard to sleep one of us could always take the chair."
"Sounds like a challenge." Bo giggled beginning to lead their blanket covered bodies to the hallway. "I bet a certain doctor gets wandering hands before I do." She dared further as they expertly manoeuvred down the stairs.
But Lauren's descent down the last two steps didn't go as planned, as Bo's body just stalled mid step causing the blonde to bump into her softly.
"Kenzi?" Bo's tone didn't immediately give away to Lauren what was wrong, but there was clearly something distressing the brunette enough to make the blonde move to be able to look around Bo.
Clearly neither woman was prepared to find a trail of clothing beginning with motorcycle leathers, then jeans, then Kenzi's over shirt and continuing on through every imaginable piece of clothing two people could be wearing, leading from the kitchen window, which had the glass broken out of the frame, through to the couch.
The couch itself was occupied by the succubus' best friend, who had up until the point when Bo had called her name been asleep, in a typically sprawled 'Kenzi' way, with a leg hanging off the couch, and an arm tucked under her body, the main obvious differences to normal 'couch' Kenzi being that she was completely naked, and that her mattress wasn't the couch cushions, but another naked person, who secured the young woman with and arm loosely around her body.
"Kenzi?" Bo repeated the young woman's name a second time, this time louder purposefully intending on waking her housemate.
Blue eyes snapped open and Kenzi's head popped up over the back of the couch in a second in what had obviously been an innate reaction to what might be a call of alarm from Bo. It was only as a slight groan came from the body beneath her, that she had disturbed as she had shifted to look for her best friend, that Kenzi's eyes suddenly flooded with a whole new level of panic.
"Are you okay?" The question came from Bo, the only one of the four people present who had found a voice. Though to Medina's credit, she was just waking up after Kenzi quick movement and couldn't yet see the two newcomers on the stairs.
"Yes." Kenzi's blue eyes shifted from the stairs to where she was lying, obviously stuck for what she should do especially as right now her ass was on show to the world, a world that included Dr. Hotpants. "Could you both turn around for a minute?" She asked her voice for once very unsure.
Bo looked at her for a moment longer before she did awkwardly turn, as did Lauren in response.
Immediately Kenzi shifted and tried to gather what clothes she could from arms length away.
"Medina? Medi?" She hissed trying to fully rouse the woman who clearly had fallen into a deep deep sleep to have been able to sleep at all in the position she was in.
Light brown eyes fluttered open a little as Medina moved to bring her shoulders out of the horrible scrunched bend she had wedged them into, almost as if she was used to sleeping in similar bad positions and this was just like waking up any other day. That was until she focused on Kenzi and her state of undress and her own similar state.
"Kenzi." She slipped a little as she hurriedly tried to sit up on the couch. "Sorry I must have..." She watched as in a panic the dark haired young woman struggled into clothes, still unaware of Bo and Lauren on the stairs. She pushed up and stood up to the side of the couch frowning slightly as she watched Kenzi. "I get it I'll go." She added as Kenzi didn't actually stop to respond she just hopped around fastening up her tight pants.
"No, no... Medi.." Kenzi pulled a throw off the chair moved to wrap it around her upper body.
"I'm turning around." Bo warned having not liked the immediately apology that slipped from whoever 'Medi' was, apologies suggested bad things, and if something bad had happened to Kenzi, Bo needed to address that and address it instantly.
"Bo?" Medina turned around her light brown eyes going a little wider as she saw the older brunette standing on the stairs wrapped in a sheet with Lauren beside her. The blonde to her credit still had her head turned.
"You?" The succubus stared at the mechanic and then at Kenzi who was doubling her effort to get the throw around Medi's naked body.
"I think everyone just needs to take a moment." Lauren's voice softly tried to interject some calm into the situation, having been forced to turn by the tone Bo had used to say the previous word. When she did, despite Kenzi's intense efforts, Medina's own efforts to get dressed made it easy to see the intense burn scars that marred the tall athletic woman's back and legs.
"Yes... everyone needs a moment." Kenzi flashed Bo an unreadable look as she tried to focus on Medina. "It's okay, she's harmless." She tried to lower the level of tension Bo was injecting into the room.
Bo began to take steps down the stairs, when the torque on the sheet she was holding to her own chest reminded her she was sharing it with Lauren.
"I think we should go and put some clothes on." Lauren continued to expound on her 'take a moment' idea. "And let them do the same." She put her hand softly on the middle of Bo's back and to her relief Bo turned and moved up the stairs with her.
"It's going to be better for you if I'm gone when they come back down right?" Medina fastened her belt buckle and tucked in her t-shirt pushing her hand through her short hair as she looked around for her missing sock.
"I'm not really concerned about either of them right now." Kenzi gave a shake of her head looking down at the general disarray around them. "My concern is you... about last night..." Her voice got softer as for a moment she remembered very acutely she was stood there in nothing but a throw blanket and a pair of skin tight pants, while at the same time she could remember the feel of Medina's mouth on most every area of her body she could mention.
"You really want to talk about that when your best friend looks like she's ready to kill someone?" Medi glanced over her shoulder at the stairs before bending to pick up Kenzi's top from behind the back of the couch and bringing it over to her. "I don't want to make what is clearly a bad situation worse." She held out the soft garment. "We can talk about what happened when you smooth things over, you know where I am."
"I will come by as soon as I can." Kenzi vowed, at the very core of her being she did want the chance to talk about this, whatever this was. She watched rather helplessly as Medina pulled herself back into her jacket and boots, slinging the leather pants over her shoulder and finally picking up her helmet.
"I..." The pink haired girl paused at the door and then just pulled it open with a s soft shake of her head, jogging quickly out into the dark night.
"Fuck me." Kenzi back tracked and sat on the couch, tipping her head back onto it to take a moment to try and figure out what the hell, apart from the obvious, had just happened. Taking a necessary breath, she marched up the stairs, still trying to straighten her shirt and marched right into the Succubus' room. "Okay, I think we need to start..." She began to try to speak when her eyes came on the blood soaked bed. Yes, soaked her brain decided was the only word, this was the type of crime scene they only showed in wide shot on 48 hours. "With who needs 911?" A panic entered her tone.
"Kenzi it's okay." Lauren quickly moved to try and at least block some of the gory scene from view as at the same time she tried to tie the draw string at her waist tight enough for her pants not to slip down.
"Fuck! Fuck, Shit, Damn.. You this was you!" Kenzi stamped her foot loudly on the floor flailing out her arm to hit the succubus door so hard that it flung wider open and even bounced back on its hinges. "You and you." She pointed to Bo who had instantly come to stand next to Lauren somewhat protectively at Kenzi's outburst. "You did the thing didn't you. The mystical make me a thing thing." Wild blue eyes flashed between Bo and Lauren quickly full of a mixture of fear, annoyance and anger. "And people think I'm irresponsible?"
"Kenzi, what the hell are you talking about? I have no idea what was going on down there, naked twister? But I do know I didn't make you do anything, I was up here performing a very hard ritual with Lauren thank you." Bo snapped back at her, partially because of the intensity of emotion that Kenzi was throwing her in the first place.
"You and that holy honey of yours." Kenzi waved her hand towards Lauren as she stared at Bo her tone no less angry. "Didn't think for a moment that that crazy ritual you were doing might have you know, side effects? Like for example a massive succubus sex bubble that enveloped the whole house turning everyone in it into horny nymphos?"
Bo's eyes went wide and she paced away from Lauren and Kenzi, the idea of that indeed being the reality dawning on her.
"Kenzi..." Lauren tried to calm her voice a little, tried to show that no matter what had or hadn't happened her concern was for the young brunette's obvious sense of panic. "If that is what happened last night..."
"If?" Kenzi turned away from Bo. "Medina is my friend, probably was my friend is the term I should be using right now, I don't..." She deliberately 'bleeped' herself. "My friends." She underlined. "It makes for messy fall out like, well like this." She underlined emphatically. "And as everyone noticed thanks to your discovery from the stairs, she's a girl." Kenzi paced in the doorway a little.
"I only said 'if' because we don't know what might have happened Kenzi, but clearly its looking very possible that we affected you, and your friend." Lauren stepped a little closer to her. "I'm sorry, you know it wasn't Bo or my intention to do that to you."
"Leave me alone." Kenzi pulled away and jogged back down the stairs needing for the moment at least to put some distance between them.
"I have to talk to her..." Bo finally moved into some sort of action, trying to cross by Lauren from her position at the far end of the room.
"And say what Bo?" Lauren reached out gently and stopped her lover. "We don't know what might have happened during the ritual, as a result of it." She shook her head as she looked into dark brown eyes. "We have nothing to say to her that can make her feel better right now." She added with a frown as the honest truth of Kenzi's words hit home to the ever rational doctor. They had been incredibly impulsive and irresponsible. She moved closer and breathed out as she reached up and with a soft look of sadness on her face she traced her fingers through Bo's hair. "Because she's right Bo." It was obvious the words pained her to say them though she fought the almost overwhelming drive she felt inside not to continue. "What we did was selfish and careless. It was reckless and..." She stopped watching Bo's face crumple as Lauren's words hit home and hurt her.
The blonde paused for a second as she looked up at the ceiling, her eyes becoming moist with tears as she forced herself to continue knowing that what she was saying would hurt, hurt them both, but was never the less true.
"We weren't thinking of anything but each other..." She licked her suddenly dry lips and stroked her hand on Bo's cheek. "About facing down the hurdle in our way." She breathed out, her breath slightly staggered. "We can't undo it, take it back." She shook her head, trying to at least most of the time keep her eyes on the brunette so close to her. "And even if we didn't make anything happen with her and her friend, right now, that's not the point."
"All Kenzi has been missing in her life is the feeling she's still human, and I just dragged her back into the world of the unpredictable Fae." Bo gave a slow sigh. "She might never forgive me for this."
-x-
"She's gone."
Lauren literally jumped awake when the bedroom door slammed back off its hinges.
After the whole upset with Kenzi Bo and Lauren had stripped the bed and moved the mattress off into the bathroom and had made themselves as comfortable as they could, though both had known they weren't likely to sleep long, just long enough to let tempers cool probably.
"Gone?" Lauren frowned as she held the sheet up to her chest and watched as Bo stalked around the bedroom pulling on tight pants and picking up a shirt.
"Gone." Bo underlined feeling a strange panic in her body. "You don't understand." She moved over and gripped the bedpost. "People like Kenzi, like I used to be... things can freak us so bad we just feel the need to go poof."
"Bo, she hasn't gone." Lauren got up quickly, her mind spinning slightly as she grabbed the clothes from earlier. "She's probably just not here." She re framed what she expected Bo had found out was Kenzi's absence from the club house.
"No, she's gone Lauren. Her pack is gone, her makeup is gone, Ziggy is gone." Bo tried to list off all the things she'd been forced to recognize when she'd opened the door to Kenzi's room when the younger woman hadn't answered any of her calls.
Lauren obviously hadn't been prepared for that as she just stood for a minute and looked at her lover.
"Perhaps she went to Dyson's?" She offered the first thing that came to her head, after all the bond between the young woman and the wolf was hard to deny.
"Then we start there." Bo nodded her agreement to the doctor's logical thinking. "I say we also try the Dal and if I have to, go to where I know I can get a message at least to Medi." She said the other woman's name and realized suddenly the category her brain put her into; innocent human who had by whatever bad luck, randomly entered into the zone in which the ritual had been effecting. She didn't exact relish the idea of being forced to face this tough street thief with a less than honest explanation which is all she could give. After all she knew little to nothing about Medi, her sexual preferences in particular, her interactions with Medi having shown her a very natural shut down zone around her. One Bo had brushed off from experience as hinting to some horrible mistreatment the woman had faced at some time in her life, something if she came to know in time would horrify her. As a succubus the idea of trying to draw sexual energy from a child triggered a reaction of deep abhorrence. Children, when you looked at them, saw them playing games or chasing after their mothers in a shop, did not naturally possess sexual energy. They were innocent, the reality all the more real to her with what she could see and she had seen others who had been so fundamentally hurt their aura was frozen so to speak.
"We'll find her." Lauren frowned slightly watching how distressed Bo was at just the thought that Kenzi might have actually taken off, unable to cope with being around the succubus any more. "It'll be okay babe." She added softer.
"I can't do this, I can't get you as a constant and lose her, the two of you are not inter-changeable like that in my life." Bo shook her head as she slid a boot dagger into her boot. "I need you both." She glanced at Lauren.
"I know Bo." The blonde's voice was gentle as she smiled at her girlfriend. "I know."
-x-
"Kenzi might have just over slept." Dyson redialled the young woman's number and held the phone to his ear as he looked at Tamsin and Trick who were both watching him their eyes wide with anticipation. Trick's were more laced with worry as to where Kenzi, Lauren and Bo were, after all they had arranged with Kenzi that she bring them to the Dal early so that they could do the ritual as soon as could be. "Still no answer." There was the trace of a growl in is voice as he tossed the phone on to the bar top.
"Or the succubus has eaten her resonant already and the skinny human was dessert." Tamsin put in bitchily with a shrug.
"I am sure they will arrive any moment." Trick said more hopeful then confident as he looked to the door. "Until then, more coffee?" He tried to ply both the detective who had switched from alcohol related beverages to the high caffeine alternative about an hour ago.
"Or she will on a dais carried by her worshipping minions." Tamsin pushed her coffee cup forward. "As a blonde do you think I've got a chance she'll like keep me as a pet?' She asked glancing at Dyson, her eyebrow quirked high.
"Do you ever stop." Dyson looked at her with a sigh as he rubbed his face. "Bo won't have done anything to Lauren." He said his voice filled with conviction. "Kenzi isn't known for her punctuality." He added. "And they did have a hard day yesterday." He reminded them all subtly.
"No, come on even though I'm swayed and a sex zombie, will I still get to enjoy the fact I'm watching you being even more humiliated on a daily basis?" The Valkyrie's eyes flared with energy for a moment.
Dyson flared his nostrils in an attempt to not let the blonde's comment get to him, when the door to the Dal was pushed open hard with Bo running through it, Lauren hurrying behind her. The wolf flashed Tamsin a quick 'told you so' look. The look on Trick's face was not as relieved however as he was looking at the look on his granddaughter's face.
"Bo?" He said before she was even half way towards the bar.
"Is she here?" The words were out of the succubus' mouth in a breathy rush as she looked around quickly.
"She?" Trick frowned glancing quickly at Dyson, who couldn't help but tense up in reaction to Bo's entrance and 'vibe'
"Kenzi. Is she here?" Bo reiterated her question.
"No, she's supposed to be escorting you two love birds." Tamsin shook her head trying to get Bo to quickly catch onto the fact they had expected Kenzi to be with her.
"Escorting us?" Bo looked at Tamsin with a hard frown.
"The ritual Bo." Dyson said softly frowning slightly at the succubus' obviously high level of anxiety. "Kenzi was bringing you here this morning so that you and Lauren could..."
"We've done that already." Bo shook her head and looked over her shoulder to Lauren. "She's not here, I'm going to call Ozzie." She pushed her hand into her jacket and stalked towards an emptier space in the Dal to make the call more private.
Lauren just stood there, more than aware that three pairs of eyes were just staring at her right now, a thousand unspoken question on their lips. She took a deep breath and smiled.
"Last night..." She began with a soft eye roll. "Bo and I... successfully completed the ritual." She reiterated what Bo had just said, which in itself caused Trick to take several small steps backwards and lean against the back wall of the bar. "But that's not why we're here. Something... That is..." Again Lauren gave a typical 'I'm not sure how to deal with this' eye roll and a deep breath. "Bo and Kenzi had a disagreement and now Kenzi has gone." She explained the situation that was currently causing the succubus' demeanour.
"So she finally did it, she finally snapped and killed someone..." Tamsin began to rise off her stool, turning to where Bo was huddled with her phone.
Lauren looked at Tamsin a little confused.
"She means Kenzi left." Dyson growled not even bothering to look at his partner his eyes still on Lauren. "When did this happen?" He added.
"Around three, she could have left any time between then and five, five thirty this morning." Lauren breathed out. She stepped a little closer to the wolf. "Help her Dyson please, you know the streets better than me, you have the police angle that I can't even hope to get into." She frowned softly.
"Of course." He nodded.
"Trick." Brown eyes changed their focus to look at the Blood King. "I need to talk to you." She nodded to the back room.
Silently the older Fae nodded and moved with the doctor to the privacy of the back rooms.
"Well isn't this just peachy." Tamsin picked up her coffee and shook her head.
-x-
Lauren stood somewhat awkwardly in front of Trick's desk as the old Fae nodded to her to join him in taking a seat. Slowly the blonde did so, though it was obviously all the while she was thinking about what to say, going over in her mind exactly what and how any conversation right now between them should play out.
"How dare you do that to me?" She began, her dark eyes fixed on the ancient Fae before her. "The decision to begin to even enter into the trial of authentication was Bo and mines alone." Her jaw quivered a little as she locked it in place and kept her stare even. "If you ever treat me like a sacrificial offering again..." Lauren continued a streak of blue flashed across her dark eyes. "It won't be forgotten or hidden away."
"Your eyes... you did complete the ritual." Trick's look that had once been unapologetic turned into one more of pure awe.
"My..." Lauren blinked and frowned in slight confusion of course not having any idea of any change, other than the fact that she was incredibly annoyed and angry at her lover's grandfather for making all this happen way before she herself felt she was ready for it. "Look I don't want to be angry with you, but you had no right." She went back to her point, though this time with a little more restraint. "You know I would do what was best for Bo, I love her..." She stressed. "But I needed to know, to understand what was going to happen, what side effects for other people there might be..." She frowned again as she glanced at the door. "Trick, Kenzi and Bo didn't just fight and Kenzi leave..." She brought up her hand to her brow and rubbed it slightly. "Something happened last night with Kenzi at the club house while Bo and I were doing the ritual. Kenzi believes it's because of what we were doing and I don't know if she's right or wrong because I don't know a thing about the ritual we did." She explained her frustration and anguish at a deeper level. "I don't know what it did to Bo, what anomalies it may have caused in the general area, I don't even know what it did to me." She looked at him imploringly. "You had no right to do this to us, to just push us off this cliff into free fall that we had no control over." She looked at him with a sad frown.
"Not being able to let you finish your research was something I deeply apologize for." Trick gave her the small victory in that he had listened to her and understood what ultimately she was trying to express about what she needed. "And..." He moved closer to her and put out his hands to take hers. "Welcome to the family Lauren."
For a moment Lauren felt a little of the tension filling her body ease as the Blood King held her hand in his. She closed her eyes and let the moment settle her.
"We have to find Kenzi." She said softly as she eased her eyes back open. "But more than that I need answers for her when we do." She added glancing from the old Fae to the desk that had been filled with books, of course the Blood King had long since tidied them away. "From what you know, or can guess Trick, is there anything in the ritual that could..." She paused, "Have influenced Kenzi to act in ways she would normally not have acted, made her do things she wouldn't do."
"I can tell you're hesitant to tell me but it would greatly help to know what it is that Kenzi did while possibly under the influence of the ritual nearby?" Trick urged her to be more frank.
"Well I don't know exactly." Lauren admitted, "As I was obviously..." She stopped for Trick to realize that the blonde had been otherwise occupied at the time.
"Participating in the ritual itself." He gave her a soft smile.
"Yes." Lauren agreed to his very accurate summary. "But from what we saw and what she said, I think she slept with a friend."
"I take it by slept you mean had sexual intercourse?" Trick's voice lowered.
"Yes." Lauren nodded her eyes on Trick's for an idea of whether or not this made any sense.
"Not that I have read of incidents of such in relation to this ritual, there are recordings of how while participating in high level magical or supernatural pursuits, a succubus can create a proximity area around her that will compel those within the radius to also engage in sexual activities." Trick gave her the first thing that came to his mind.
"Similar to a Dionysus being able to create a status of lowered inhibitions and heightened pleasure?" Lauren asked her brow quirked, her brain's curiosity obviously piqued.
"Yes, but as I said I have seen nothing recorded in relation to this particular ritual. All of the documents, what little there are, seem far more concerned with how impossible it would be for both of you to survive the experience." Trick seemed to pause. "You both survived." He looked at her again with a visible feeling of pride.
"A fact you might doubt had you seen the bedroom." Lauren said with a soft smile. "Could I borrow your library, while they're looking?" She asked of Bo's grandfather. "I want to be as sure as I can be about everything for both Bo and Kenzi when the time comes."
"Of course." Trick nodded, "I could help if you would like." He made the offer softly all to aware of how their last 'research' session had ended.
"Thank you." Lauren nodded her agreement with a smile.
-x-
"Really you didn't have to do this." Ozzie slipped into the booth at the fast food joint, pushing his food laden tray onto the table as he went. He glanced across at Bo who simply slid in and sat down looking at him with a slim smile.
"You did ground work for me, it saved me time." Bo watched him as he cracked open his burger box and began munching fries.
"Well no one's heard from her." The young man shook his head. "I called the whole crew and nothing." He gave a small shrug. "But honestly." He glanced across at the beautiful brunette. "Kenzi has lived in or on the streets of this place since she was a kid, she's not just gonna up and run for it." He put forward his opinion frankly.
"I hope not, especially not over something that I don't want her to run away for." Bo said cryptically to herself. "But you promise you'll call me if you hear from her?"
"For sure." He nodded. "What was it anyway?" He asked looking over his burger at the brunette.
"That happened?" Bo looked back at him.
"Yeah, I mean you two are tight." He stopped eating to drink some of his pop. "Man she raves about you all the time." He smiled at Bo. "About how she'd finally found a home with you. What happened to mess that up?"
"Nothing, it's not messed up, not really... just... I can't explain, just please call me if you find her." Bo underlined pushing up to stand. "You've got my number."
"Yeah, ordinarily I'd say I'd ask Medi to drive around a little take a look at some hot spots, but she's the only one I've not heard back from yet." Ozzie explained with a frown, "Soon as I do though, she'll be all over it, she has eyes out on the street you know, looking for pick ups, cars." He underlined in case Bo mistook his meaning.
"If she checks in give her my number as well okay?" Bo gave him a soft smile. "And enjoy your lunch." She urged him before headed back out of the restaurant.
-x-
Sixteen division was not the premier flagship of the city's police force, it hadn't even been back in 1953 when the strangely square and 'prison movie' type decorating had been somehow seen as acceptable. Almost feeling a little other worldly dressed in her expensive tailored suit and pristine pair of designer leather boots, Tamsin used her badge to get by the front desk and didn't object to the young eager officer that escorted her down into the bowels of the building to the female holding cells.
As soon as they were anywhere near the cage, Tamsin asked him to give her some alone time with the perp and he was only to happy to oblige a detective.
"You have a lot of very unstable people looking for you." Tamsin rattled the door to the cage to get the slumped over petite brunette's attention.
"Go away." Kenzi didn't even look up as she mumbled her reply, there was something odd about her voice.
"Come on now Hello Kitty, put a smile on and I might just get you out of here." Tamsin leaned against the bars with a smirk of her own.
"I'm fine where I am." Finally Kenzi lolled her head back slightly revealing the rather shocking fact she had the beginnings of a black eye and a swollen and split lip.
"You had to go and show me that didn't you." Tamsin growled and stalked back out of the holding area.
-x-
Not more than twenty minutes later, Kenzi found herself still handcuffed and pushed into the passenger side of Tamsin's undercover car and being driven away from the precinct without hardly another piece of paperwork or signature.
"I'm sure you had a rough morning and all, but what kind of stunt are you trying to pull?" Tamsin asked directly as she drove down the street.
"Someone tried to steal Ziggy." Kenzi grumbled slouching down as low in her seat as she could, folding her arms over her torn and rather dirty outfit.
"Well thank god someone did, your succubus is trying to tear apart the city looking for you, I thought she had a bad enough thing for the blonde one." The detective continued to prod at her.
"She's probably just trying to contain me on behalf of the Fae." Kenzi huffed. "You can drop me off here." She added looking at the street corners as they whisked by.
"Look I barely know why I am asking you this but you really genuinely seem disillusioned in your little Fae friend, what happened to you this morning?" Tamsin didn't stop the car at her direct request.
For a moment Kenzi opened her mouth to reply and then stopped.
"Like I'd tell you." She shook her head, "You hate her freaking guts already, you think I'm gonna give you anything to add to your succu-bitch pile?" Kenzi sighed hard and looked down again.
"This, this is why I don't try with humans." Tamsin geared the car higher and then sped off into traffic.
-x-
"Call back the hounds." Tamsin led Kenzi into the Dal, still handcuffed more to combat the brunette's foul and spiteful mood more than anything the detective feared physically.
"Oh Kenzi!" Lauren, who had been sat at the bar was off her small stool in a heartbeat a hard frown fixed on her face the instant she saw the younger woman's injuries. "What happened?" She asked of Tamsin, frowning even harder when she saw that Kenzi was in handcuffs.
"Some kind of altercation about a ziggy, I just got a call from 16th precinct that they'd picked her up and read the flag I put on her file." Tamsin gave a shrug. "She refused my offer to take her to the hospital."
"I hate hospitals."
"She hates hospitals."
Lauren and Kenzi said in harmony to the blonde, making the two of them glance at each other for the first time, though the young woman quickly looked away.
"Could you at least take those off her." Lauren looked between Tamsin and the cuffs around Kenzi's wrists.
"If you take responsibility for her." Tamsin eyed the brunette then reached to take them off.
Immediately Lauren led Kenzi down into Trick's private rooms, and the blonde pushed books out of the way to sit the younger injured woman down.
"Tell me what happened? Do you feel dizzy? Disoriented?" Lauren moved to check her facial wounds.
"I'm fine." Kenzi did her best not to pull away although her face did hurt. "Some A-hole tried to steal my backpack while I was trying to take a nap." She explained more. "He had a hard right hook." She admitted with a wince as Lauren pressed lightly on her cheek bone.
"I really think this might need to be x-rayed." Lauren frowned more. "Kenzi..." Her voice softened. "I wish I could say I could explain what went on last night, what you experienced, but I can't yet, but I want you to..."
"Doc, look I get what you're trying to do and it's big of you, it really is because it must be hard for you, there being something happened that you didn't expect, didn't think of. You're always so careful, so neat." The young woman winced as her eye roll stung her injured face. "But it did and there was a casualty." She shrugged. "And I'm not really talking about me." She added looking down at the floor.
"You're friend Medina." Lauren spoke immediately, knowing just the point that Kenzi was making. "Neither of you deserved to have been manipulated like you were last night."
"I'm not saying we did but I'm in the know right? I'm Bo's..." She stopped as she thought about her best friend, about how panicked the succubus no doubt was. "Getting messed up sometimes comes with the territory but Medi..." Kenzi looked away. "I broke Nate's heart so that this wouldn't happen to him, so that he wouldn't get hurt by the Fae, get effected and used by them. Medi's worth no less than that, none of them are, Ozzie, Flash, Jazz, all of them." She shook her head. "I can't have human friends any more." She closed her eyes as gave voice to the revelation that had come to her in the cold hours of morning. "I'm a human in a world that doesn't want me." She blinked open her good eye, the inured one barely opening to look at Lauren sadly.
"It's not that it doesn't want you Kenzi, it just doesn't understand... and I get it." Lauren's voice was soft and tender. "I know you and I don't think we get much about each other but I know exactly what you're talking about, feeling... excluded suddenly." She took a soft breath. "Let's get you to my place, I can take a better look without having to go to the hospital, and we can let Bo know you're safe."
"Okay." Kenzi nodded, the motion small and pained as she let Lauren slip her arm around her shoulders and guide her towards the door.
-x-
"Bo...Bo..." Lauren blocked the stairs from the brunette's approach the moment her lover got through her door and confirmed that Kenzi was upstairs. "She's having a shower, she... give her the chance to come down under her own steam. She knew you were on your way."
"Is she okay? I know you said on the phone she was but I also know you could just have been saying that to keep me focused and keep me safe." Bo looked from the stairs to Lauren, her breath fast and slightly uneven.
"She's okay, she's been in a bit of a fight over Ziggy but... she'll heal in a few days." Lauren assured her not wanting the brunette's face to be a shock when Bo saw her. "Bo, we need to talk about some things." She urged her to move over to the kitchen suite.
The succubus gave one more glance at the stairs and then moved with Lauren to rest near the small kitchen island.
"Okay what do we need to talk about? Your research?" Bo looked into brown eyes.
"No, what your best friend is going through right now." Lauren shook her head and led Bo to sit on one of the stools. "I know it would be easy to just see the obvious; last night somehow the ritual effected Kenzi and when her friend came over, the two of them were influenced to have sex with one another." She held brown eyes. "And while the whole never kissed a girl thing might be the main issue for some, Kenzi is a bit more grounded then that, she is even able to admit that she will get her head around the being influenced thing, she understands that's what she signed up for but her biggest problem right now is that she feels guilty... however Medi got involved, she's innocent in all this Bo."
The succubus took a hard breath in as she listen to and understood her lover's words.
"You and Kenzi are two of the most important people in my life and still I manage to hurt you both without even trying." She frowned softly. "How can I make this better for her?"
"Listen to her, don't jump to want to fix anything, this isn't the kind of thing you can just fix, like her letting go of Nate." Lauren made the subtle reminder. "Support her, I think right now we have to take a lot of our cues from her. How she wants to approach this with Medi is hers to decide, so remember do not go find the pink haired girl and talk to her." She gave a loving smile to the succubus. "I know it seems helpful but its not."
Bo chuckled softly.
"Okay so that might or might not have been my first suggestion." She reached and put her hand on Lauren's knee. "This is insane it's been less than twelve hours since we..." She looked at her lover. "I've not even begun to think about that yet and now Kenzi's life just falling apart and can you believe in the car this afternoon when we were driving around Dyson reminded me that although this..." she motioned between the two of them. "Is all 'done' it's only just begun as far as the Fae are concerned." The succubus drew her hand back off Lauren's knee and sat back up straight. "At least Kenzi is home safe. Right now that's what matters." She admitted.
"Exactly." Lauren nodded holding brown eyes with her own. "How are you feeling by the way? I need to make sure that you're reacting normally to what happened?" She began to fret suddenly.
"What's normal?" Bo asked honestly.
"A loaded question I know but... I might have gotten caught up in all of this, but that doesn't mean I can't stop and start doing what I should have been doing all long. Making sure you're safe, there could be any amount of blow back from the power exchange Bo." She admitted putting her hand up to check Bo's pulse.
"Shouldn't I be asking you the same questions?" Bo patiently tipped her head slightly to allow better access to her pulse point trying almost to will herself to be the calmest she could to give a 'normal' rating.
"I think we have even less of a baseline for me to go on then we do for you." Lauren acknowledged. "But I will take notes about myself when I have a chance."
"Good, you should." Bo smiled at the beautiful blonde. "And you tell me the instant if something, anything feels wrong. Please." She stressed.
"I will, but so far other then your grandfather noting my eyes, I seem to just be me." Lauren reassured her. "I do know, I feel calmer having all three of us under the same roof."
"And just how and why did my grandfather get to see your beautiful new eye shade?" Bo quirked an eyebrow.
"He... and I were having a discussion about how badly they handled approaching you when he figured out things might not be right." Lauren broadened the reason for her agitation. "Seems arousal and annoyance cause me to lose control of my eye colour." She gave a soft smile.
"You got pissed off at my grandfather?" Despite her stress level the succubus smirked.
"A little, he didn't exactly support you at every turn." Lauren had to smile back, the emotion sitting high up on her cheeks. "Why don't I make you a hot chocolate you can bring up to Kenzi?"
"Wait, did you let Kenzi in the whirlpool tub? She's never coming out."
-x-
"You and Hotpants can have the club house, I'm staying here." Kenzi looked up from within the swirling bubbles at the offered hot chocolate the Succubus carried.
"Kenz." Bo hurried to put the mug down on the side of the tub fighting the urge to just reach out and touch her best friend. "Does that hurt as much as it looks like it does?" She asked with a frown.
"More than, Ziggy is priceless." Kenzi looked up at her best friend. "You didn't mean it to happen did you?"
"Kenzi I would have told you to get the heck out of dodge if I had any idea anything would have happened." Bo frowned hard as she shook her head. "I... this...Lauren's still really not sure exactly what happened." She added. "She's working on it."
"The whole clubhouse was hot, like face of the sun hot. It should have tipped me off that something was funky." Kenzi made the small admission.
"None of this is your fault." Bo shook her head. "Have you told Lauren about this? The heat thing in at the club house? Was there anything else? A smell or lights?"
"No, I wasn't abducted Bo." Kenzi had to give a soft laugh. "I just got slipped a mickey by Sappho and the gang." She closed her eyes. "No, I haven't told Lauren but I figured I'd have to get as many details as I could for her. There was just the heat, and I wanted to celebrate so I called Medi to swing by, I was going to tell you two I was going out if you came out for air but then... suddenly all I wanted to do was jump her."
"I am so sorry Kenz." Bo closed her eyes and put her head down. "After everything, all you went through in the Labyrinth with me, in fact just in general the last thing I wanted to happen is for you to get hurt in any way through all of this." She looked up her dark eyes sad. "When you weren't at the club house this morning I was so afraid..." She stopped herself trying to remember what Lauren had said about this not being about her, but about Kenzi. "Anyway." She refocused. "Do you need to go Kenz? Leave? Get away from me? This?" Bo wasn't sure how she managed to say the words.
"Do you want me to go?" Kenzi's response was tiny and a little confused. "Now that you have Lauren." She added pulling herself out of the tub and moving to wrap herself in a towel.
"What?" Bo blinked at the young woman completely confused. "What does Lauren have to do with this? Kenzi I'm asking if you want to leave if you need to leave, this has nothing to do with Lauren and her place in my life. You and I, what you are to me that is something so, so different." She shook her head. "I need you. So much." She stressed. "But if you need to be free I understand that need more than anything else." She frowned more. "I won't be selfish if it means you can't be the person you need to be, can't have the things you need to have." Bo reached out and put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "You've already given up one boyfriend for me, for this." She tightened her grip slightly. "I can't be that selfish."
"Bo... I need you as much as you need me, and come on if there is anything this little incident has proved... I'm in now, I know about the Fae. Going back, its not possible, spies don't get to fit in again." Kenzi shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere, but I would appreciate if we don't make a habit of last night."
"I think the nature of the ritual is that it's a one time deal." Bo tried to smile though she still felt a hard heaviness in her chest, that eased a little as she pulled her best friend into her arms. "Don't ever do that again." She held her close, her voice gentle and quiet.
"Don't be mad but..." Kenzi hugged her tight. "I had to prove I could, if I wanted too."
Bo took a breath for a moment, the meaning of her best friend's words registering on many levels in her head.
"To know that I wasn't controlling you? To know you were free? In charge of your own life?" Bo offered the unspoken details each word hurting more as she said them.
"I realized at the bus station, that while I could..." She hugged Bo tighter. "I didn't want too."
Bo let the embrace linger for a moment before backing away, her face the most unreadable than it had been since she came in.
"I'll let you get dry and dressed and everything." She reached for the door. "Take as long as you need."
"Bo..." Kenzi stalled her reaching out to touch her best friend's arm. "I'm sorry for screwing up your celebration."
"That's not an issue." Bo shook her head and pulled away. "Don't forget your hot chocolate."
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