A/N: Thanks for reading. Your reviews make me happy. To one of you anonymous peeps, English is also my second language so no need to apologize. My mother pronounces "ferret" as "parrot" and she's pretty amazing regardless.
As always, errors, gaping huge plot holes, and melodrama are mine.
Kenzi ran as fast as she could and then jumped, feeling weightless for a few seconds...
... And then squealed loudly when her body hit the water.
"It's so cold," she shivered once she emerged, her legs kicking under the water. The sun was high in the sky but the breeze made it a little uncomfortable as her body adjusted.
"You're the one who decided it was warm enough to go swimming," Bo said as she stood on the edge of the pool rubbing the goose-bumps that crawled up her arm when the wind blew. "I can't believe you talked me into this." A niggling part of her brain told her she'd hope Lauren was going to join them in a nice swim suit. It was the doctor's pool after all.
So much for avoiding Lauren.
"Oh, don't be a wuss," Kenzi teased as she bobbed under the water.
"Your lips are turning blue, I think I'll stay here just fine," Bo said.
"I don't think so," a voice said from behind her. Before Bo could react and panic, she felt hands on her shoulders. In the next instant, she was falling inside the pool creating a large splash, every nerve in her body reacted to the shock in temperature.
"It's freezing!" she complained when she broke the surface. Kenzi was cackling and shivering by the shallow end as she sputtered in indignation. She glared up at the person who pushed her, "Lauren."
Lauren's shoulders shook as she tried to suppress her laughter before she gave up and chuckled. Bo admired her then: barefoot, wearing a crisp blue button down shirt, sleeves rolled to her elbows and her hands tucked into her pressed slacks.
She was, in a word, beautiful.
"You suck," Bo pouted before hitting the water with her hand, causing it to splash on Lauren's toes.
"Hey," Lauren said as she moved away, wincing as the crab grass cut her feet. "You needed the extra push." She smirked.
Bo scoffed and dove under the water. After the initial shock, she decided it wasn't too bad.
"Do you really have to go?" Kenzi pouted, batting her eyelashes.
"I should," Lauren shrugged reluctantly. "I mean, I'm still pretty new at the hospital so I do have to introduce myself to the other doctors tonight at the benefit."
Bo swam to the ladder and pulled herself out of the pool. She walked to the table under a large umbrella and grabbed a bite of one of the sandwiches her mother had made for them. Or, at least, that was what Bo pretended to do.
When she thought the doctor was lulled into a false sense of security, she hugged Lauren from the side, soaking her shirt, before using her momentum to drag both of them into the pool.
Lauren gasped as she broke the surface. "Bo!" she yelled shrilly.
"What?" Bo asked innocently, "You needed the extra push."
"You brat," Lauren dunked her.
"Oh, so it's only okay if you do it?" Kenzi sassed at a safe distance.
"Duh, Kenzi." Lauren replied innocently as she held Bo under water before finally letting go.
"You… are an ass," Bo declared, brushing water off her face.
"Of course," Lauren rolled her eyes. "God forbid I retaliate against your childish antics," she said sarcastically.
"You started it!" Bo complained.
Lauren waded up to the shallow end and hoisted herself up the pool edge, water dripping down in streams from her slacks. She stood in front of them, shirt plastered and see-through against her body, revealing the color of her lace bra and the tightness of her stomach to Bo's eyes.
"I feel like a wet dog," Lauren groaned as she wringed out her hair. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of chlorine.
"Hey, what's that?" Kenzi pointed at Lauren's stomach.
Lauren lifted her shirt, "What?"
"Dude, is that a belly ring?" Kenzi's eyebrows rose comically. "Prissy Dr. Lewis has a belly ring."
Lauren laughed and squatted in front of Kenzi to show her. "I got it in college while I was drunk. And no, I am not prissy, Kenzi."
"Evidently not," Bo agreed.
Lauren's face turned wistful, "I did a lot of stupid things a few years ago." She turned their conversation into a mock-serious lecture with a half smirk, "So, take it from me, just because it sounds like a good idea, doesn't mean it is. 'Specially after a few shots."
"You regret it?" Kenzi asked, leaning her elbows against the pool's edge.
Lauren winced but then broke into a smile. "Not all of it."
Bo shivered but it didn't have anything to do with the cold.
"Well, I better change and rinse this chlorine out of my hair if I want to make it in time," Lauren said, standing up. She got twin groans of protest but she walked away, unbottoning her shirt as she went.
She slid open the glass door that led to the living room before disappearing inside the house.
"Well, that blows," Kenzi blew a raspberry.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Bo said, splashing Kenzi and trying to drag her under the pool. The younger girl laughed and squealed as she tried to swim away.
When Lauren came back out the large backyard, she was wearing a flowy, knee-length dress and was trying to put her earring on. "Is everyone still breathing?"
"Bo is using her size against me," Kenzi complained.
"Good, I taught her everything she knows," Lauren boasted.
"Ha," Bo scoffed, "You wish." She swam closer to where Lauren was standing. "Nice dress," she couldn't help but compliment.
Lauren smiled, "Thank you. Which reminds me, as punishment for making me late, I'll drag you to dinner with a colleague and his family tomorrow."
Bo stuck out her tongue, "Bring it on."
Bo turned the picture upside down trying to make sense of what she was seeing. She slid the picture carefully across the coffee table. "Cute," was the word she decided was most appropriate. Dyson, Hale, and Ciara had paid them an impromptu afternoon visit that had them sprawled all over the living room.
Ciara laughed. "Thanks, I think." She was still very excited at seeing the baby's more recognizable features on the ultrasound. "The doctor thinks we're going have a boy. Naturally, Dyson won't stop calling my pooch 'Junior.'"
"Well, what did you want me to call him?" Dyson asked. "We haven't picked out names yet. Back me up, Hale."
Hale held up his hands in surrender, "I am not getting myself into trouble."
"If the baby turns out to be a girl," Kenzi butted in, "She has to be named after me."
Bo smirked, "And if he's not?"
"She'll be named Kenzi," the girl assured.
"How do you know?" Dyson asked.
Kenzi looked at him like he asked a stupid question. "I'm part gypsy."
"We need more proof than that," Hale laughed.
Kenzi frowned and went to fetch Aife's sewing kit and a tool box. She pulled out a length of string and she tied it to the end of the nail.
"Clockwise for vagina, counterclockwise for penis," she informed her audience.
"Where'd you learn that?" Hale asked her.
"My grandmother tries this on expecting goats." Kenzi held the nail to hover by Ciara's lower abdomen.
"Well, I feel very flattered to be compared to a goat, darling," Ciara laughed.
They all watched as the nail spun, supposedly on its own.
"Like I said: girl." Kenzi declared triumphantly. She leaned over to Ciara's still-flat belly. "Don't worry, Junior. Auntie Kenzi will teach you everything you need to know about being a diva."
"I thought you said she was gonna be named after you," Hale said.
"Yeah, so that makes her Kenzi Jr." Kenzi said logically.
Hale scratched his head and Dyson shook his.
Bo and Ciara left Dyson and Hale to entertain Kenzi and went to the kitchen to satisfy Ciara's ice cream craving.
"How you holding up?" Ciara asked her.
Bo glanced at her sideways as she scooped ice cream into a mug and poured some root beer. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? Between Kenzi Jr. and your wedding, I-"
"I asked you first," Ciara said as she grabbed the mug and spooned the soda foam into her mouth. She made an odd squeak of delight that made Bo look at her strangely.
"I'm... fine?" Bo said, brows furrowed but lips curled into a smile. "Kenzi's moved in after a fight with her mom. We fixed up the room we've been using as a storage so she has her own room. Kenzi hasn't said anything more about it. You know how she is, she bounces back quickly or at least pretends to. So far, it seems like she'll be okay."
"That's good," Ciara said, thoroughly entranced by her root beer float. "And Lauren?"
"She's okay," Bo said and looked at her curiously.
"Dyson said you followed her everywhere when you were a kid," Ciara said. "'Like a tail on a dog,' was what he said."
Bo felt the back of her neck and her cheeks burn, "He's exaggerating."
"Come on, now that I look back at it, you totally had a huge crush on her," Dyson said as he strolled in to rinse his mug in the sink.
Bo pressed her lips together in a firm line but Dyson only grinned charmingly at her before he gave Ciara a kiss and walked back into the living room.
"Well, I think she's a great catch, she's single, and you should seize the moment," Ciara said when her fiancé was out of earshot.
"Oh, and then what? Embarrass myself, have her pat my head as she says no, and make our friendship awkward forever after?" Bo asked sarcastically.
"So, you're not denying that you like her," Ciara smirked and pursed her lips in satisfaction.
Bo leaned on the kitchen island on her elbows and groaned into her palms.
Dr. Ahmed, or Hamsa as Lauren called him, was a cheerful guy and welcomed them warmly into his home. As it turns out, Lauren's colleague had a big family and like any family dinner, it was utter chaos.
The men mingled with the other men, doing what is was that men did and the women chatted loudly with the other women talking about whatever it is that women talked about. The children, naturally, clustered off into age groups and ran up to their cousins' rooms. Only the littlest ones were raising hell in the living room, picking fights and pulling on their mother's shirt or the end of a colorful skirt.
Bo sat next to Lauren on the couch, listening politely to the rapid fire conversations. As usual, the women were utterly charmed by one Dr. Lewis who answered questions about the health of their children.
Lauren squeezed her knee, "You okay?"
Bo nodded.
Lauren smiled and turned back to the conversation. She had tried including Bo into the conversation but, being someone who had yet to have children nor a medical expert on them, she could only listen to child development for so long.
A much smaller hand landed on her knee and Bo found a curly haired toddler looking up at her.
"Hi," Bo cooed, dipping her head closer to the little one's face.
The baby smiled and stuck fingers in his mouth.
"Can I pick you up?" Bo asked in her best I'm-talking-to-a-baby voice. She stuck her hands out to his armpits in the universal sign of I'm-gonna-pick-you-up and the baby responded accordingly, raising his arms to be lifted.
"Hali, behave," his mother politely made fussing noises of apology but Bo sat him on her lap.
"It's fine," she told her, "A friend of mine is going to have a baby soon so I might as well get a little more practice in with this cutie."
"Oh, is the baby her first?" another woman chimed in and Bo soon found herself once again included in the circle of baby advice. She figured she could file it away for future use.
She smiled brightly, bouncing the child on her lap while Lauren's hand subtly gave her knee another supportive squeeze.
Unfortunately, by the time dinner was served, she was trying to hold tears back. She side-eyed Lauren's smug face as they all dived into a very delicious but very spicy couscous. Bo tried her best to covertly cover up the fact that her nose was starting to run.
"Are you alright Bo?" Dr. Ahmed asked.
"Yes," Bo insisted, "I'm fine. This is very good." She reached for her glass of water which she had refilled several times. Everyone was skillfully eating with their hands, even Lauren, and Bo inwardly grumbled that it looked easier than it was. She brushed it off when Lauren casually mentioned that they were eating with their hands but she was beginning to regret not watching youtube videos to learn this particular skill.
"You have to finish the food in front of you," Lauren whispered in her ear with glee. After all, their kind hostess was the one who scooped her huge portion for her. "It would hurt Tala's feelings if you don't."
"I know," Bo hissed through smiling teeth. "But did I mention that I hate you?" She clumsily scooped up more food with her fingers.
Lauren merely smiled. "Here," she said as she was able to easily gather some bits of couscous on her cupped fingers. "Don't grab at it, slide it." She pressed her fingers against Bo's bottom lip and used her thumb to push the food into Bo's parted mouth. "Like that, see?"
Bo blushed, thoroughly embarrassed. Inside, she was over-analyzing the seemingly overtly familiar gesture. Argh, Lauren, she thought, you're killing me.
She knew she was probably letting her imagination run wild because no one else seemed to notice or care about the fact that Lauren Irene Lewis's fingers touched her lips.
"You know, Bo," Dr. Ahmed began, "I assumed you would be much younger." He laughed and Lauren rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
"Oh, how come?" Bo asked, after chewing quickly and then gulping down her hundredth glass of water.
"During the mission we were in together, Lauren carried around this small stuffed creature," he said to her, moving his hands to show how big the object was. "What was it? A donkey?"
"It was a unicorn," Lauren said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Bo gave it to me as a present, to adjust to college life." Her lip quirked ironically and the entire table shared a laugh.
"Ah, yes, a unicorn," her fellow doctor said. "She said it belonged to a Bo. At first, I thought Bo was a boy's name."
"Really?" Bo turned to Lauren, "That unicorn is so old now. When was the last time you had it?"
"What are you talking about? I still have it."
"I can't believe you kept the unicorn," Bo said as Lauren pulled the car up to her drive way.
"Well, I do have it," Lauren said. "It's up in my old room, in one of the boxes I haven't unpacked yet."
Bo followed Lauren up the steps to the second floor. The walls were still bare.
Lauren's old room was dark but when the older woman turned on the lamp, it was as if they were visiting some untouched Egyptian tomb. Everything looked the same under the warm yellow light. The framed posters Lauren put up on the walls of constellations and Albert Einstein were exactly how Bo remembered them. On the shelves above Lauren's desk and the one next to it contained so many books and Bo knew Lauren red them all.
She fingered the spine of a Shell Silverstein book before picking up a Spock action figure that had leaned against it. Lauren's Star Trek collection was… impressive. The action figures in the display cases remained off limits but Lauren had given her free game with everything else. Bo remembered dressing Spock up in Barbie clothes and going off into some galactic battle in the latest fashion with a naked Seven of Nine.
The memories made Bo smile.
Lauren disappeared into her closet so Bo followed her in. Inside were properly stacked and labeled boxes.
"What's this?" Bo asked, bumping into a box full of toys she didn't recognize. She picked up a PECS book that had faces draw on them, showing each emotion. "Sad" was printed neatly under a frowning face.
Lauren shrugged at box of assorted fidgets, soft toys, and books, "Some of my patients need a little help focusing or communicating. Some of it's just to help them get through a visit." The doctor was arm-deep in a box labeled "Bo."
Bo walked next to her and peered inside the box. She saw envelopes tied together and knick-knacks in little zip-lock bags. "Woah, are all those the stuff I sent you?" And yet, she found that she was not too surprised with Lauren's OCD tendencies. She herself had a box of Lauren's letters in a box under her bed but it wasn't sorted.
"Stuff that I received in the mail? Yes," Lauren remarked as she pulled out a large plastic bag. Inside it was a unicorn.
"He looks so… clean," Bo remarked dryly as she took it from Lauren. It looked much smaller than she remembered.
"I get him dry-cleaned once in a while," Lauren returned. She looked at the stuffed toy fondly and stepped out of the closet. "He's been everywhere with me."
"Lucky," Bo muttered feeling a wave of melancholy hit her as she held the toy at arm's length by his ears. "What I wouldn't give to see the all places he's been to." She sat on the bed, staring at the creature in her arms like his eyes could reveal the secrets of the universe.
The bed dipped as Lauren sat next to her.
"Lauren." Bo paused, trying to decide if she wanted to ask the question. "Why did you come back here?" She kept her eyes on the mystical horse's snout, not meeting Lauren's gaze.
The doctor took a long moment to answer. Then, she said, "It felt right."
Bo snorted. "Right. Because small towns full of unemployed, bored addicts and retired senior citizens is just so cozy."
The doctor shook her head. There was something more to what she wasn't saying. Things she didn't know how to put into words. Silence enveloped them, heavy with expectation and hesitation.
"I was… unhappy," Lauren said. "I woke up and all I had to look forward to was work and the neighbor's cat that sometimes lingered on my door step. I love what I do as a doctor but… there was nothing else. I didn't know what I was doing or what I was doing it for."
"So you worked even more, you stopped eating, you didn't sleep enough, and you started smoking again," Bo said.
Lauren didn't refute her statement, Bo knew her too well. She said quietly, "I felt suffocated."
"I didn't believe my mom when she told me you didn't look okay. I didn't want to believe her… but it was true. I could count your ribs when I hugged you." Bo's voice cracked as she nearly strangled the unicorn on her lap, worrying her thumbs over his soft ears.
She stumbled through her words and tried to keep her emotions in check. "I kept making excuses -I know how much of a crazy obsessed workaholic geek you are, that maybe you just forgot to eat or was into it that you couldn't sleep- and I keep telling myself that you're okay... that I'm just being nosy... that maybe you really just need your alone time... but I can't-"
"Bo…" Long fingers curled around her wrist.
Bo closed her eyes. "Don't." She blinked back the moisture in her eyes. "I don't know what I could've done to help but I wish you'd told me." Wish that you could have trusted me. "Do you know how much it hurts to know that you're not okay?" she whispered.
"I'm okay now," Lauren said, pulling Bo against her chest. Bo leaned into her without resistance, squishing the unicorn between them.
"No, you're not," Bo mumbled into her shoulder.
"I'm not," Lauren agreed. Her arms tightened, "But I'm getting better." Lauren pressed a kiss to Bo's temple. "You shouldn't worry about me," she told her. "I should be taking care of you."
"But who would take care of you?"
Lauren leaned her cheek against Bo's hair.
A/N: I had almost finished this chapter a week ago but I had to delete about a thousand words editing. Confession Time: They could have kissed this chapter but I'm evil. I do realize that it's chapter 8 so I'll move it along.
Question, though: In the scale of one to a hundred (one hundred being inappropriate), how normal is it to hand fed a friend? I had to ask another person [shout out to my foxy friend] which lead me to thinking this is a cultural thing. I wouldn't mind being fed finger food snacks but to be hand fed meal food sounds weird. In a scale of one to mixed signals, I am convinced it's confusing.
Have a beautiful day whatever the hour is wherever you are.
If not, there's always tomorrow.
