"Oh boy." - Lauren (End of Faes)

Bo and Lauren sat together on the couch, sharing a pizza and watching mindless TV. By mutual agreement, they didn't talk about the prisoner who had stirred up so many old memories by his arrival on their doorstep. It had been a year since they had defeated Hades, and while there had been the usual fae politics and occasional flare-up of violence, it was nothing they couldn't handle.

The elders were unhappy with Bo, who not only continued to declare herself the Unaligned Succubus, but had inspired the entire colony in Toronto to follow suit. The wolf shifter Dyson was the natural successor to Bo's grandfather, Trick, as leader of the Light Fae, but he refused to claim the position of Ash and no one else cared to challenge him for it. The previous Morrigan remained human. Vex, her rival and likeliest candidate as successor, had disappeared on an extended road trip with Dyson's son Mark. The rest of the local Dark Fae showed no inclination to adhere to the old traditions. The blending of light and dark disturbed the fae elders, but they could do little about it. Bo's long-ago choice to live her own life was at last a reality.

But now Bo and Lauren were forced to confront the possibility that their victory had been no more than a brief reprieve. First, Bo's sister Dagny had returned with the mark of Hades glowing on her chest. And then this stranger had turned up with news of their father's survival.

The pizza was finished. The TV show was running the end credits.

Bo aimed the remote at the TV.

Lauren sighed into the ensuing silence. She brushed a stray strand of hair from her face and said reluctantly, "You first?"

Bo shook her head and smiled. "No, you first, Doctor Lewis. What did you find out? You were in your lab all day."

Lauren straightened, going into geek mode, which Bo secretly found inexpressibly endearing. "Yes, I took some samples while he was unconscious. He's definitely not human."

"So he's fae?"

"But he doesn't match any other kind of fae on record, either," said Lauren. "Now, I did manage to get hair and blood samples from your father. Compared to that, and to you, for that matter, there are some superficial similarities."

"Meaning what?"

Lauren shrugged. "Superficial. So it may not mean anything at all."

"He said he was an alien. And my father, too."

Lauren said carefully, "The current evidence does not contradict that hypothesis."

"An alien! Donald Trump was right after all: aliens are murderers and rapists." Bo stopped herself. That had come out more bitterly than she had intended. Her thoughts suddenly filled with an image of her friend Tamsin. The Valkyrie had been deceived into sleeping with Hades (who had taken the shape of Bo) and been impregnated. Childbirth was deadly to a Valkyrie, a fact Bo had not learned until it was too late.

"Bo - " began Lauren. Her air of scientific dispassion changed to one of concern. She put her arms around her friend and held her. "Bo, don't. We beat him before. We can do it again."

"The 'power of love'," said Bo. She forced herself to shake off the bad memories.

"It is a power," said Lauren, her tone serious where Bo's was half-mocking. "I do love you."

"And I love you." Bo closed her eyes and buried her face in Lauren's embrace. She said, her voice muffled, "Don't leave me again. Please."

"I won't," promised Lauren.

"Because if you do, there isn't enough ice cream in the world," said Bo. She turned away, taking a breath and composing herself. Of course Lauren would leave her in the end. A human lifespan was short compared to that of a fae. But they both knew and accepted that. She shifted away and gestured at Lauren to continue her report. "Anyway, what else did you find out?"

"As to what powers Jack's self-proclaimed friend may or may not have, I can't be sure. Physically, he has two hearts, and a more efficient cardio-vascular system than human, as well as exhibiting signs of faster healing." Lauren concluded, "And that's about it. How about you?"

"I went to the Dal and talked to Dyson. He's never heard of any fae calling themselves just 'the Doctor'. There've been a few people called 'Doctor' this or that, and an 'il Dottore' character from 16th century Italian theatre, but definitely no one associated with Hades."

Lauren nodded. "What about that other name he used? 'Zagreus'? I checked it out on Wikipedia, but that was spectacularly unhelpful."

Bo shook her head. "Nothing. Didn't ring a bell with Dyson, or anyone else at the Dal." The Irish-themed pub, now run by Dyson after Trick's death, served as the local hub of fae activity, both Light and Dark.

"So you hit the books?"

"Studying was never my strong suit, but yes." Bo had spent the rest of the day consulting Trick's old books of fae lore. "There was one mention of 'Zagreus'."

"Associated with doom and apocalypse?"

"Judge for yourself." Bo pulled out a memo pad and quoted from her notes. "In 1912, a drunken oracle, on a bet to write out from memory Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem, 'The Walrus and the Carpenter', substituted 'Zagreus' and 'the Yssgaroth' for every mention of the Walrus and the Carpenter respectively. They asked her about it once she was sober again, but she claimed not to remember a thing. The archivist got ahold of the paper and filed it just in case. Nothing's ever come of it."

Lauren frowned. "'The Walrus and the Carpenter'? I remember reading it in school when I had to write an essay on Lewis Carroll. Um, isn't that the one which ends up with all the poor oysters being eaten?"

Bo nodded. "Yeah."

"That doesn't sound promising," said Lauren. "Any mentions of 'the Doctor' in the lore books?"

"Nope." Bo smiled. "As far as the legends of the fae go, you are the definitive Doctor."

"I'm not egotistical enough to claim to be the definitive anything," said Lauren. She stood up and began clearing the empty cans and dirty napkins from the living room.

Bo moved in to help. She picked up the empty pizza box. "The question is, how far can we trust him? He says he has a plan to banish Jack from this universe. He just needs the music box Jack gave me."

"Mmm," said Lauren. "I remember Jack said it could only be used once, and you used it on the Nyx."

"He was lying," Bo pointed out. "About everything."

"Which doesn't mean the Doctor is being honest." Lauren washed her hands in the kitchen sink. "Except about Jack planning something evil. We all saw his hand print on your sister. If the Doctor can help us... we might need every bit of help we can get." Her mouth quirked slightly. "What's that saying about a gift horse?"

"Hey!" Bo punched Lauren's arm in mock-anger. "'Just say no to horse metaphors'?"

"Sorry."

"'Trust but verify,'" decided Bo. "That's a proverb I can get behind."

By the time they got to Trick's old lair beneath the Dal, it had become a circus.

Seeing Bo come in outfitted with her full arsenal of knives and swords, Dyson immediately invited himself along as a backup. Bo bit off her initial refusal, thinking that after all, another pair of watchful eyes couldn't hurt. And his lupine senses might detect what she and Lauren could not.

Bo introduced him to the Doctor. She watched the ensuing duel of suspicious eyebrows with amusement. She broke in at last, "Ok, enough. It's been a long day. Let's go."

At which point Dagny got wind of their activity and wormed her way up to Bo's side. "What's up, sis? Is this, like, one of your famous succubus orgies? Can I watch?"

At which Lauren choked, slapping a palm over her face to cover her embarrassment. "Oh, god. I don't believe this."

Bo sighed and gave Dagny a stern look. "One, you're too young." Accelerated growth meant that Tamsin's daughter, Bo's half-sister, looked like a teenager even though she was really only about a year old. "Two, it's not an orgy. Three, this could be dangerous. So you're still too young."

"I'm a Valkyrie," protested Dagny. "I can handle danger."

"'Valkyrie'?" muttered the Doctor skeptically. "This gets better and better."

Bo shot him an irritated look, then said to Dagny. "You may be a Valkyrie, but have you come into your full powers yet? No?"

Dagny stretched out her fingers and wiggled them, eyes narrowed as she concentrated. A shadow flickered over her face, but it was gone almost before Bo had noticed it. "I...damn. Almost! I almost had it."

Bo rolled her eyes. "So, that's a 'no.' No."

But Dagny only seemed spurred on by the hint of danger. "Oh come on. Please? Please please please? Don't you trust me? Aren't we sisters? Please please please?"

"It's not that," said Bo, annoyed at the hurt expression creeping into her sister's face. She took a deep breath, casting about for a diplomatic refusal.

"It's all right," said Dyson. "I can look after her."

At which point Bo resigned herself to the circus. "Ok, fine. I guess you've done all right so far. With the looking-after. Let's go."

It transpired that the magic music box was in an auxiliary storage room opening off the main room of Trick's old lair. It was more a large closet than a room, and there was no way to fit everyone in. Bo and Lauren wound up doing the searching, while Dyson and Dagny stood at the doorway. The Doctor wandered around, picking up this and putting down that until Dyson ordered him to stop.

Bo didn't pay them any more attention after that, trusting Dyson to keep the Doctor out of trouble. It didn't take long to find the music box. Bo picked it up and returned to the main room. "Here it is." She handed it warily to the Doctor, who accepted it with a grunt of acknowledgement.

He stared at it through his sunglasses. His sunglasses which made a weird whining noise. Another magical artifact, guessed Bo. She turned to ask Lauren about it, but she was still in the storage room. "Lauren?"

"Just a second," came the reply. "I found this box with my name on the label." Lauren reappeared with a cardboard box. She set it down on the floor and rummaged through it. It was less than half full, with papers and envelopes. "I think it's from the offices of the old Ash, the one I originally worked for." She waved a sheaf of papers. "Copies of my old tax returns." She set the papers aside and delved deeper into the box. "All this must have been passed along to Trick."

"And then to Dyson," said Bo, looking over at him.

Dyson shrugged. "I've never enjoyed paperwork."

Lauren took out a sheet. "Not just paper. This is real parchment. See? You can feel it." She rubbed her fingers on it.

"The fae can be old-fashioned," admitted Dyson. "So what does it say?"

"I don't know. I don't recognize the language." She started to show it to Dyson, then said, "Oh wait, the other side is in English."

Bo came to read it over her shoulder. Dagny and the Doctor drifted up behind Bo and peered around her in turn. Bo waved them away impatiently. "It's a contract. A bunch of legalese. Aren't you supposed to be working on the music box, Doctor?"

The Doctor grumbled and returned to his work. He fiddled with the box with a wand of some kind. It blinked and warbled shrilly. Bo was reminded of Ryan, the dark fae she had once dated: he had been fond of high tech gizmos, too. She hoped the Doctor did not share Ryan's fondness for mischief as well.

Apparently bored with trying to read the small print on Lauren's contract, Dagny turned to watch the Doctor. "What the hell are you trying to do with that thing?"

The Doctor didn't answer.

Lauren was still puzzling over her parchment. "I don't remember signing this. But I suppose I must have, when I entered the Ash's service."

"Don't worry about it. It's all void now," Dyson reassured her. He glanced at the contract, flipped it back and forth. "Strange. I don't recognize the language either."

Lauren squatted back down next to the cardboard box and fished out a letter-size envelope. Something heavy slid inside it. Lauren opened the flap and took out a flat, round metallic device attached to a chain. "Huh. What do you think?" She handed it to Bo. "An antique?"

"Family heirloom?" Bo tested its weight. It had strange circular designs etched into the front. "I think it's supposed to open. It looks like one of those old-fashioned watches. You know, the ones you carry around in your pocket. Is it yours, Lauren?" She handed it back.

Lauren rocked back on her heels. She let the chain trail through her fingers, the watch swinging on the end. She had a puzzled, lost look on her face, almost as if listening for something just beneath the threshold of hearing. She said slowly, "I... I don't know. I don't remember it, but it seems... familiar?"

Bo glanced back, meaning to ask Dyson if he knew anything about it. She found that the Doctor and Dagny were both staring at Lauren, with similar shocked expressions on their faces. "What? What's wrong?"

"It's a fob watch," the Doctor said, not taking his eyes off Lauren. "Open it."

Bo tensed, hearing the urgency in his voice. She covered Lauren's hand with her own. "No, don't. It could be a trap."

"If it is, it's one you set for yourself, Dr. Lewis," said the Doctor.

"And years old," Lauren pointed out. She gently lifted Bo's hand away. "No, it does belong to me. That's why it was in this box." She held the fob watch in her palm, studying the designs etched into its surface. "It's not going to explode or anything."

"You never know," said Dagny. She backed away to the doorway, as if that would shelter her.

Dyson frowned, bracing himself, though he did not move to stop Lauren.

Bo hovered protectively over Lauren. "We can check Trick's books first. Or if you want, I can open it first, in case it's booby-trapped."

"It's not," said Lauren, sounding more sure of herself now. Before anyone could utter any more objections, Lauren flipped open the cover of the fob watch.

No one breathed.

A wisp of golden light spiraled up out of the opened watch. Then another, and another. They seemed to whisper secrets, secrets meant for only one pair of ears.

Lauren gasped in shock. The watch slipped from her hand, but the light only increased in strength.

"Lauren!" Bo, heart pounding in terror that her girlfriend had loosed some deadly curse, reached for her to pull her away. Lauren did not resist, but distance made no difference: the light unerringly sought her out.

And then it was done. The cover snapped itself shut again. The light went dark.

Something was wrong with Lauren. Bo sensed it instinctively. She helped Lauren up, but when she turned to face her, Bo saw a stranger looking back. The features were the same, but held... differently. Bo remembered with horror the way that Zee and Heratio had possessed their human hosts. "Lauren!"

And Lauren (not Lauren) stared back at Bo, speaking with Lauren's voice, but in a colder inflection than the human doctor had ever used with Bo. "No. I am... not Lauren Lewis."

Bo recoiled at the tone. Then fury filled her, and determination that she would get Lauren back. From whoever this was. "Who are you?"

"I... I was Lauren. But that is not me. I am, I am..." Lauren (not Lauren) hesitated, her expression unreadable.

"The Rani!" the Doctor leaped up and finished the sentence for her. "She's the Rani."

Author's notes: I'm taking serious liberties with canon and continuity, obviously. And I'm sorry to do this to Lauren, as I love her as a kick-ass human character. However, once I saw Hades as the Master (because Eric Roberts), it was obvious that Lauren was a fob-watched Rani. And once I saw that, I couldn't unsee it. So here we are (even though another Doccubus break-up is the last thing we need!)