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 Set directly to continue after our story "Faethful"
Rating: M (Contains scenes of violence, sexuality and mild nudity)
Faeral: Part Ten
By: The Rainbowwriters.
Driving at a slow and sedate space, kicking up minimal gravel as it left the road the large Crown Vic that brought Bo back to the club house from the compound, drove across the extensive unfinished road surface and pulled up along side Bo's yellow Camaro as quietly as it could in the late hour.
Sitting up in the back seat Bo yawned against the back of her hand and rubbed her face. Dyson had been easier to get to leave the party than she had expected, with Val being far less eager to play along with his intentions than he had expected, the wolf had deemed the whole spectacle 'boring' and was looking for an out. Unfortunately for Bo his behaviour had tainted her evening, making her question not only his actions, but her own earlier in the day when he had come to the house. How he had possibly come away from that with anything other than a bitter taste of rejection.
Her grandfather also hadn't helped, not that that had been his fault. Trick had been almost overwhelmed with fae who wanted to meet with him and talk, fae who had apparently not had the chance to do so since the last time an Ash was crowned.
'Excuse me, that wasn't THAT long ago.' Bo had remembered thinking as she tried to patiently wait to get some kind of time with the Blood King. When eventually they had got a moment to talk, Trick had frowned and made some soft noises of discontent but not a lot more. He had agreed that it was unlike Dyson to drink, but had reminded her unnecessarily of Ciara's death, of her rejection and of the fact that he had 'lost' his partner at a time when his job on the force was still questionable.
Bo had wanted to counter with the fact that those factors didn't give him a pass to act like a complete ass but she had restrained herself and offered up Kenzi's suggestion of a Norn set-up. Trick had deemed this as 'most unlikely', but as was like her grandfather he would not rule it out as impossible or unthinkable.
Finally Bo had grown tired of feeling like the odd fae out, even Kenzi seemed to be fitting in better than she did, flitting from group to group with airy banter whenever she wasn't on Hale's arm. The succubus' head hurt and she was missing being able to just reach out and touch Lauren and so she had decided to give in and go home. It was already early in the morning so it wasn't like she was bailing on the party too soon.
"Is everything alright?" The question came from the driver, who turned in his seat a little to look into the back at Bo when she hadn't left the car. The succubus blinked life back into focus and looked at him.
"Yeah, sorry, thanks for the ride." She apologized softly.
"That's okay, let me get the door." He smiled pleasantly at her and made the offer assuming she must have had a little too much to drink at the party. He had already chauffeured various fae to their homes in worse condition then her.
"No, really it's fine." Bo shook her head and pushed the door open herself getting out of the car to cross quickly to the house.
The succubus tried to be as quiet as she could as she keyed herself into the front door, after all it was way too late to have expected Lauren to have stayed up. Pausing to remove her heels before opening the door, Bo crept into the club house almost silently, pressing the door closed behind her, wincing slightly as it clicked shut.
Moving to put her shoes down close to the entrance of the kitchen, Bo finally looked up to find brown eyes watching her every movement from where Lauren was leaning over the back of the couch.
"You are supposed to be asleep." She said as a warm happy smile spread across her face, just seeing the blonde made her feel better.
"And miss the return of my party girl?" Lauren shifted slightly on the couch tucking her hair behind her ear as she turned, it was as she did so that Bo noticed how incredibly tired she looked compared to how she had when she had left.
"Your partied out girl." Bo corrected as she moved over to give her a soft kiss. "I am so done, but it's okay because Hale is crowned, Kenzi looked stunning, my grandfather and I are talking again." She gave the succinct run down. "What until you see the dress." She rolled her eyes. "Gorgeous." Was the one word sum up she used as she back tracked towards the kitchen. "Though priceless moment, no one told Trick about Hale taking Kenzi, so when they came out I thought..."
Bo's voice literally stopped, as did her movement as she reached the kitchen. She took a minute, looking at the organized counter top, the very obvious pile of straws off one side her first tip that something was wrong. Her second was the new blender missing its glass jug.
"Lauren, what happened?" She turned from the kitchen to look back at Lauren. She watched as her lover breathed out softly and licked her lips. Inside Bo felt her stomach tighten and her head began to pound a little harder just from Lauren's agitation.
"I had a visitor." The doctor she said slowly.
"Who?" Bo asked instantly for clarification.
"Dyson." Lauren replied licking her lips again.
Bo felt her insides go cold.
"Dyson was here?" She felt the muscles across her shoulders tighten, her jaw lock. "Why?" A spark of angry power flared through her as she took long strides back towards Lauren. "What happened?"
"I..." Lauren watched Bo's reaction as she came closer, frowning slightly worried why just the mention of Dyson's name had made her lover go from post party relaxed to stressed in a flash. "He was drunk." She what she considered to be an important fact clear.
"I know that." Bo came to stand in front of the couch. "He showed up to the Gala late and pissed out of his tree. Why did he come here?" She asked again.
"He was angry Bo." Lauren breathed out, not liking the emotion that was meeting her in Bo's stance.
Bo suddenly remembered how Dyson had slipped into the Gala, sightly dishevelled, with broken glass in the cuff of his pant leg.
"Did he hurt you?" Bo's stomach filled with lead, her blood chilling like ice as all the anger drained from her eyes. "Oh God Lauren, did he hurt you?"
"I'm okay." The blonde tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing to the over analytical Bo a large band aid stuck across her palm. The succubus reached out instantly and lifted her hand away from the blonde's head.
"Did he do this?" She held the blonde hand out, her own had shaking as she held Lauren's.
"Bo." Lauren pushed up off the couch a frown creasing her brow. "Bo." She repeated, bringing her other hand up to cup her lover's shoulder. "I cut myself cleaning up the glass." She spoke softly and clearly. The succubus still didn't look at her, nor did the shake in her hand and arm calm. "Bo look at me, calm down."
"Calm down!" Bo let go of Lauren's hand and stalked back to the kitchen. "Lauren Dyson is fae, he's a wolf, he... he came into my house...he did this..." She looked at the emptier counter top. "He could of... you...This is out of control." She shook her head and rubbed her temple as she paced across the tile floor.
"Bo, he was drunk." Lauren pushed off the couch. "He obviously just needed to vent."
"You need to vent, you scream at a wall, you don't go to someone's house and break up their kitchen appliances and terrorize people." Bo breathed in rapidly through her nose. "What did he say to you?" She turned and looked at Lauren.
"You don't need to hear all that Bo." Lauren shook her head and smiled.
"Yes, yes I do because if I don't hear it from you I'm going to fill in my own version of how he broke my kitchen and in my version I'm going to end up castrating him." Bo felt her breath coming in and out of her nose, hot and fast.
"Bo, no." Lauren moved quickly to Bo's side and took her hands. "You need to calm down and not do something rash." She urged. "You're exhausted and emotionally charged right now." She went on. "And I..." She tried to catch Bo's eye, finally managing to do so. "I just want to be held." She whispered. "I don't want you running out looking for explanations, demanding apologies, I want to curl up in your arms and fall asleep feeling safe. Not having to think about what did or didn't happen."
For the first time since the chaos that had hit her on her homecoming, Bo felt something other than anger and power drive her motivations. She found herself having to re-order her thoughts at the soft request. She tried to focus on the fact that if she made this moment about Dyson, she would be leaving her lover to face the fall out alone.
"This needs to be addressed." Bo didn't let it go but she did let it move to the side burner as she let go of a deep tense breath, feeling some of the intense tension in her shoulders loosen. "But you..." She paused, blinked and brushed her hand over Lauren's hair. "You come first." She dropped her voice to a softer tone.
"Is Kenzi staying at the compound?" Lauren tried not to show her relief at Bo's change in demeanour.
"I'm not sure, the last I heard is that she was staying wherever her bubbly minions called to her." Bo quoted her best friend, though her voice didn't hold any of the humour Kenzi's had. "Hale promised to take care of her though." She added. "So I feel okay about it." She breathed out again trying to will herself to calm down more. "Did you take care of your hand properly?" She checked brushing over blonde hair again.
Lauren closed her eyes letting herself be soothed by the motion.
"I'll need to check it tomorrow, I was a little..." She paused. "Shaky when I was cleaning and dressing it but I'm sure it's fine."
"Let's get you to bed." Bo pressed her lips to the blonde's forehead gently. "Tomorrow we'll deal with lots of things."
-x-
"Hey there Trickster." For the first time in the entire evening the stunningly dressed young woman managed to get close to the Blood King. With a smile the older fae bowed a little in her direction and before Kenzi crushed him in a tight hug.
"I was hoping I would get to see you before I left." Trick motioned off to the side a little for them to take a walk. Kenzi easily stepped off with him.
"Do you have serious face because I don't know if I like you having serious face at a party." Kenzi pouted slightly. It was fair to say she had had a bit to drink by this point, not enough to mean anything, but enough to make her a little forgetful about respect and etiquette.
"I do have serious face, but not necessarily for the reasons you think." Trick began. "Bo was speaking to me earlier about Dyson." He looked at her obviously about to continue, but Kenzi interrupted him.
"The guy is being an 'grade A' dick Trick." Kenzi announced and then laughed at the accidental rhyme. "Do you think the Norn did something?" She pushed him for a possible answer to the man's erratic behaviour.
"Kenzi that wasn't what I was going to talk about." He shook his head. "Have you talked to Bo about what happened to you, when you were with the Norn? Has anything happened since?" He pushed her back for information.
"No, I've been fine." Kenzi shook her head. "And no I've not told her because there is nothing to tell." She pointed out. "Back to Dyson, who there is something going on with." The young woman looked at Trick with a soft frown.
"Like I said to Bo, I agree we should watch him, but it could have just been a case of inappropriate celebration." Trick laid out the 'plan'.
"Got ya." Kenzi nodded. "Oh and for the record, I didn't know you didn't know, about this." She motioned generically to her dress and the Gala around them, "About Hale asking me." She qualified.
"Hale doesn't have to get my permission for his decisions." Trick summed up. "His message was quite eloquent and clear, I only hope he understands that beliefs and ideals are not changed by acts of showmanship nor do they change over night."
"Each journey starts with a single step, isn't that what they say?" Kenzi challenged back no too subtly.
"Confucius a remarkable human." Trick pointed out suitably.
"Oh come on." Kenzi raised her hands. "You're pulling fae vs human shit on Confucianism, it's Confucianism, isn't that shit universal?"
Trick actually smiled.
"Enjoy the rest of the party Kenzi." He patted her hand and then moved away.
-x-
The front door of the club house banged off the wall as it slammed open. Clearly whoever had opened it had forgotten that the hinges kept it from going too far and it would ultimately smack into the wall beside it.
"HONEY'S I'M HOME!" Kenzi, still dressed in her beautiful Gala dress, though her feathered head dress was around her her wrist like some crazy over sized bracelet, stepped into the club house and called out loudly in a sing-song voice. Seemingly oblivious to the fact it was fifteen minutes past four in the morning. "YOO-HOO, where are you guys?" She sounded disappointed to find only a nightlight plugged in in the kitchen giving a low level light through out the downstairs. "BO-BO!" She tipped her head back and shouted as she literally kicked her high heels off near the door, one hitting the couch, the other skittering off somewhere into the kitchen.
Bo, who had been sound asleep curled up with Lauren, jumped instantly awake. Her heart pounding, racing a mile a minute as the possibilities of who or what might be going on downstairs rammed into her mind. She athletically rolled off the bed, grabbed her robe and ran for the stairs, only slowing down when she saw her best friend staggering drunkenly around the kitchen.
"Kenzi, are you trying to wake the dead?" Bo shook her head as she walked across from the stairs to the younger woman, picking up a high heeled shoe from the floor as she passed it.
"There she is, the sexiest succubus that ever lived." Kenzi grinned inanely. "C'mere." She waved emphatically at Bo. "Dance with me." She wrangled Bo into a dancing position and waltzed her around the tiled floor drunkenly, humming a badly timed tune.
"Kenz, it's four am, it's time for bed not more dancing." Bo laughed lightly.
"Ooh is it? Time for bed bed?" She bumped into Bo's hip with extreme exaggeration. "Is hot-pants all warmed up and ready because I am ready to be impressed." She clapped her hands together.
"You are going to your bed, not my bed." Bo shook her head with another laugh as she moved behind Kenzi and started to guide her to the staircase.
"But you said earlier that I was pretty." Kenzi stumbled a little on the stairs. "Succubus-sus-es are such teasers." She pouted as she turned to sit on the top step. "You know I'm just kidding right?" She added suddenly sounding more sober than she had. "I still like boys, even drink... drunk. I'm hungry." She stood up the next moment and then moved to go back down the stairs.
"You know if you eat now you'll feel worse in the morning. I'll get you a big glass of water upstairs." Bo nodded that she did understand that Kenzi was joking. "Truth is Kenz, you couldn't handle my sexiness." She slapped her best friend on the butt to encourage her to move faster.
"I was just going to watch." Kenzi pouted more. "And if I don't eat my stomach will start to eat itself, then what will happen?" She trudged back up the stairs.
"If you are really that hungry I will make you some toast while you get ready for bed." Bo encouraged her to keep going up the stairs, though she knew that with any luck that by the time she got Kenzi out of the complicated dress and into bed, she'd be asleep before she would have to do anything else.
-x-
When Bo woke up the next morning it was late, nearly ten thirty and she woke up to an empty bed. A fact that started her whole day off a little unevenly, she liked being able to extend her wake up time with cuddles and snuggles even if they were minimal. Flipping back the sheets the succubus got out of bed and drew on her robe, peeking in at Kenzi on the way past. Only to find the younger woman splayed out on her bed snoring softly, the brunette made her way quickly down stairs to find Lauren.
The blonde was up and dressed, sitting at the 'work desk', her fingers tapping away at the key board on her laptop, a slight frown creasing her face as she occasionally stopped typing and traced her finger over what were obviously written notes on a pad of paper next to the computer.
"You're up early." Bo moved over to the island, resting on the side across from her with a smile.
"Sorry did I wake you?" Lauren's frowned changed to one of apologetic concern. "I tried to be extra quiet."
"You didn't wake me and you can't wake Kenzi without physical intervention." Bo assured her and turned to where the coffee pot was already three quarters full to pour herself a cup. "Busy?"
"Just looking at a few more results from some patients." Lauren shook her head. "I feel like I am so behind." She admitted a soft eye roll.
"Just out of interest, how many fae do you treat on a day to day basis?" Bo moved back to her spot cradling her cup of coffee.
"Well I am, that is, I was the registered doctor for all of the light fae in this county." Lauren didn't give Bo a figure but a more generic answer. "I was never a GP as such, more of a specialist." She reasoned. "Of all things fae." She added the very broad definition with a soft chuckle.
"Have you ever treated dark fae?" Bo found herself remembering a few of the odd questions she'd always meant to ask Lauren about her work.
"Officially no," Lauren shook her head. "Unofficially..." She leaned back a little in her chair and picked up her own coffee that was sat beside the computer. "Yes, a few." She nodded. "Under strict orders from the Ash." She added. "Or the Morrigan."
Bo had listened to everything Lauren was saying and as she did she felt an idea forming in her head.
"When Kenzi proves that you are free..." Bo put down her cup. "Would you want to keep doing what you do, being the specialist on all things fae?"
The question took Lauren by surprise, a surprise that showed itself by the look that the blonde gave her lover.
"You want me to realign myself?" She tried to make it so that her voice didn't squeak, even though her mouth had dried up and her throat tightened.
"No! No, no." Bo put up one hand as she shook her head. "I meant as the unaligned Doctor of all things Fae. Maybe when the smoke has cleared from Kenzi's investigation we can approach both sides and ask them to co-jointly fund a lab for you. So that you can doctor for both sides, still help by being the fae coroner and chief CSI. Unaligned." She stressed again. "Remember you said the Morrigan was worried about her wrinkles, you're probably the one doctor she'd ever trust to mess with her fae face. She gets the wrong botox injection and she's looking permanently wind blown for eternity."
"I think maybe it's just a little early to be thinking about things like what happens after... when Hale was only crowned yesterday." Lauren said softly and steadily, having given a soft laugh to the idea of the Morrigan having frozen facial muscles. "But I'll think about it." She smiled tenderly at the succubus. "Depending on the outcome of Kenzi's investigation, I will have a lot to think about." She admitted her voice soft and quiet.
"It'll be okay Lauren." Bo moved around the island and hugged her from behind. "When Kenzi proves your free, the most important thing is you can do anything you want too."
"I want to be a ballerina." Lauren chuckled as she said the first thing that came into her head.
"Then we'll sign you up for lessons, I think I'll like seeing you in leotards and a tutu." Bo admitted chuckling with her.
"Oh while I remember, not that it has anything to do with leotards or tutu, but as you are officially the one with the super powers in this relationship." She eased off her chair and slipped away from the brunette. She stepped over from the main room to where her large medical bag was stored near the door. She crouched down beside it, looking in it for something as she continued. "I need you to do something for me."
"What?" Bo watched her picking up her coffee again.
Lauren went through the contents of the overly large container for a long time and then stood up holding what looked like a pair of industrial work gloves and a long metal pole with a claw grabber on the end.
"A job." She smiled at Bo brightly.
"What kind of a job needs that?" Bo looked at the bizarre apparatus.
"Well I'm a little worried that Phil and his family has enemies." Lauren moved back over to Bo. "And I need you to look around the out side of the house for holes, possibly entrance holes. I think it's probably a raccoon." The blonde summed up. "Which is the reason for these." She held up the implements she had gathered from her bag. "You see this morning, when I came down, I found one of Phil's relatives..." She winced slightly. "Sans la head, and various entrails." She gave a tight smile.
"I'm a succubus, what exactly does that superpower have to do with rabid racoons?" Bo took the objects and made the claw grab once or twice. "I don't think my powers work on animals."
"Officially they have nothing to do with them at all, but I'm not poking at holes in the side of the building." Lauren gave her lover a smile. "Though on a positive note, fae are not susceptible to rabies, so if it is a raccoon and it does have rabies, and you corner it, scare it and it jumps for your throat..." She stopped. "Sorry, I'm sounding suddenly like Kenzi."
"You were." Bo gave another chuckle. "Let me get something more than a robe on and I'll go poke random holes in the building."
-x-