"Why did you even invite her over?" Kenzi's voice carried across the courtyard to where Bo and Lauren sat under a tree, enjoying their lunch. Two pairs of brown eyes flickered across the expanse of thick, green grass to the small group that meandered slowly toward them. Kenzi, empty-handed again, walked side by side with Dyson, and hand-in-hand with Nate. Hale walked distractedly on Dyson's other side, busily texting on his phone. Everyone but Kenzi carried backpacks slung over their shoulders, and Nate dangled a small brown paper bag from the tips of his fingers carelessly.
"She's new here, Kenz. I was asked to show her around. We have all the same classes," Dyson's voice was laced with exasperation, though his eyes sparkled with amusement. Bo could see them glint in the early afternoon sun from where they sat. It always cheered her to see how well two of her best friends could get along, especially since most of them couldn't. And Dyson and Kenzi were very often at each other's side, almost as much as they were at Bo's, despite the age difference. "You can also thank Mister Class President here for that one," Dyson elbowed Hale in the ribs, throwing the inattentive boy slightly off balance and drawing an indignant shout and a little attention from him, "he was the one who nominated me to play tour guide."
Hale glared at Dyson. Bo could see the way he gripped his phone as they drew nearer, his knuckles were almost white with the intensity of it. Bo knew how much Dyson had missed hanging out with his own best friend, and she had a feeling Hale knew it too, but his new duties as Class President had gotten him little more than anger and resentment from the rest of their gang for the way he always seemed to ditch them for more important stuff. From the way he gripped his phone and shifted his stony glare from Dyson to Kenzi, Bo could see that this anger and resentment really bothered him.
"She's new and she's upper crust. She's also Marquis' new teacher's pet, and it wouldn't kill you to make a little peace with the principal every now and again, would it?" Even at a growl, Hale's voice was melodic.
"Negatory!" Kenzi retorted, almost gloatingly, "She might have been Marquis' pet a few weeks ago, but rumor mill has it," Kenzi's voice hushed to a loud whisper, and she swung her head from side to side in a theatrical show of checking that no one else was listening in, "she's on Marquis' shit list now."
Dyson and Hale both scoffed at that. Hale's phone didn't even dip, and his dark brown eyes never left the glow of its screen.
"Whatevs!" Kenzi's face flushed pink with annoyance. Now the little group had finally joined Bo and Lauren under their tree in the school's courtyard, and Kenzi stopped inches away from Bo's feet. Nate and Lauren exchanged silent, sympathetic glances – they always felt like outsiders among their band of friends – and shared long, exasperated sighs when Kenzi's voice rose a notch with her frustration, "I know it's true. I saw her in Marquis' office on Monday, and that vein in the middle of Marquis' head, the one that pops out whenever she gets pissed, looked like it was having babies!"
Bo couldn't help but laugh. The image of their principal's face flushed with anger, with that huge vein throbbing away in the middle of her forehead, was comical. Especially when that fierce, terrifying face wasn't faced in her direction. Lauren and Nate rolled their eyes at each other, and Dyson snorted in amusement. Only Hale still seemed entirely defensive, and that seemed to goad Kenzi on even further.
"I could hear her shouting from the hallway," Kenzi's tone had softened, at least, but the matter-of-factness had not left her voice, and she still bristled visibly at Hale, still busily tapping away on his phone on Dyson's other side. "And then it got super quiet. But I leaned against the door. I don't think I've ever heard the word 'expelled' sound so threatening before."
Hale finally raised his eyes to look at Kenzi. One eyebrow cocked at her, as if to say 'and what's your point?'
Kenzi's jaw jutted forward stubbornly and her eyebrows knit together in annoyance and exasperation.
"She's bad news, Hale! And you brought her straight to our doorstep!"
Hale threw his hands up in defeat, his own face flushed with his rising temper and he simply strode away without even an angrily shouted goodbye. Bo raised an eyebrow at Kenzi and her lips twitched into a small, sympathetic smile.
"She's not that bad, Kenzi," Dyson grunted as he flopped to the ground beside Bo, "and why do you even care if Tamsin gets herself into trouble? Her expulsion would just get her out of your way."
Kenzi sighed dramatically before dropping to the ground across from her best friend, and Bo had to tune out the rest of her argument with Dyson over the new girl, for the sake of her sanity. Tamsin had been more than just a pain in Bo's ass ever since she'd shown up at Bo's doorstep. She'd been almost a downright terror. But she was friends with Dyson, and she was tough, and there was something in Tamsin's cool green eyes that somehow prevented Bo from really, truly hating her.
So Bo only tossed the last half of her sandwich to Kenzi and curled into Lauren's side. A warm, lingering kiss pressed to the side of Bo's head, and with Lauren's arm draped across her shoulders and the bright sun falling in dappled patches of warmth across her skin and glowing copper past her closed eyelids, Bo felt herself relax. Lauren's voice was a soft murmur in her ear, Nate's rough laughter a gentle accompaniment to her girlfriend's dry, witty humor, and Kenzi's loud, sharp arguments and Dyson's deep, bass tones, despite the aggressiveness in the first and the tense defensiveness in the second, were comforting as well.
Tamsin could have been a million miles away now, or she could have been a hairs' breadth away, for all Bo would have noticed. All there was for her was the soft grass under her, the rough, hard bark behind her, and the strong, affectionate arm that fluttered around her neck every time Lauren gestured when she spoke.
And until the last five minutes of that sleepy forty-five, Bo dozed, blissful in the sun and in the arms of her new girlfriend, surrounded by the people she loved. But when she finally opened her eyes to gather her things around her and leave Lauren with a kiss that lingered sweetly on her lips before heading off to her next class, Bo found that in the spare few minutes before the bell rang that her world would turn on its axis, again.
Everyone split up to get to class. Bo strode by herself across the expanse of the emptying yard, past long wooden picnic tables and other students gathering their things to leave. She was the last to step through the doors into the dimly lit hallway, and as she turned to her right on her way to history, was pulled back sharply by a hard, powerful grip around her arm. Bo spun on her heel, startled and annoyed, to find Tamsin's hard, chilling green eyes staring straight into her own. A frown pulled at the edges of Tamsin's mouth, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. Her nails dug sharply into Bo's skin. Bo yanked her arm out of Tamsin's tight grip with a growl and massaged the little half-moon impressions Tamsin's nails had left there.
"Tamsin, what the hell?!" Bo's voice was sharp, and louder than it should have been, considering they were about to be late to class. Strangely, Tamsin's glare vanished, and a cold, acerbic smile curled across her mouth.
"Let me ask you something, Bo," Tamsin tilted her head, as if in curiosity, "how long have you and Lauren been an item?"
Tamsin's question threw Bo completely off guard. She cocked her head back, and her brow furrowed in abstract confusion. "What?"
The smile on Tamsin's face stretched into a cool, mean grin. The blonde took a step closer and raised her phone, clutched in her hand. The screen glowed with a picture, and Bo squinted at it to make it out.
"Does your precious girlfriend know about the kid you assaulted a few nights ago?" Tamsin's voice was jarring now, harsh and crackling with intensity and threat. The picture on the screen suddenly drew clear, and Bo snatched the phone from Tamsin's grasp to stare at it in horror. It was a picture, rendered in painfully sharp detail, of Bo pressing another scrawny boy against a wall. Her lips were forcefully pushed against his, and her fingers were digging tight into his jacket. The boy's arms were thrown against the wall, as if he had been struggling to get away from her. He looked upset, sick and terrified, even in the low contrast of the image.
"No…" Bo rasped sharply, "I didn't – "
"Didn't hear him when he said no?" Tamsin's voice rose with her anger. The snapping, measured footsteps of the school's security guards rapped against the school's stained tile floor, and Tamsin and Bo sidestepped back outside, under the shade of a tree and just out of line of sight of the security coming to inspect the noise. When the danger had passed, Tamsin snatched her phone back from Bo's grasp and shoved her with enough force to send Bo sprawling to the grass. "He's my classmate, Bo!" Though Tamsin's voice had quieted, it was still sharp and ringing to Bo's ears. Panic flooded Bo's system, she barely remembered that night, she'd been so drunk off stolen liquor and high from the joint she and Kenzi had shared. But it was the night she and Lauren became a couple. Bo's face paled, and she felt cold even in the warmth of the spring air around her.
"He's not pressing charges," Tamsin continued, her voice softer now, but the glint in her flashing green eyes was chilling and hard, "he's too scared. Of you. But you know what I think?" Tamsin knelt to the grass as she talked, so that she could see Bo eye to eye, to convey and press upon her exactly what she thought.
Bo straightened on the grass, and glared defiantly back at Tamsin. She remembered this kid now, this all-knowing, stigmatizing son of a bitch who'd condemned her for who and what she was. He'd deserved every last minute of that searing kiss, and Bo believed that with every fiber of her being. His disgust might have been for Bo, but his fear was of the way he'd risen and stiffened against her.
"I think you can shove it," Bo spat back angrily, and threw her weight against the blonde bearing down on her. They both tumbled to the grass, but Bo pulled herself up quickly to glare down at Tamsin furiously.
That was all anyone had for her: judgment. They never knew the whole story, never cared to. Tamsin didn't know Bo, didn't know what she was born and how she was raised, didn't know why she'd done what she'd done to be thrown out of her last school. She didn't know the struggle she'd been through with her mom, didn't know why they'd abandoned each other. But judging by the frigid awareness in her stare, she knew that it had happened. And that was the way it was with everybody. They only ever took one look at her and decided they knew enough to judge her, and Bo was sick to her stomach of it. She snarled at Tamsin, who scowled up at her furiously, and turned away. The door slammed against the wall of the school in its hurried attempt to get out of Bo's way, and Bo stalked off down the hall to class and left Tamsin alone in the courtyard, glaring furiously back at her.
It was late, and Bo was tired. She'd spent most of the day in training, preparing for her Dawning, and Bo's shins throbbed and her body ached and her mind was numb with exhaustion. All she wanted was to go home and take the world's longest nap…
A pair of soft, warm hands settled over her eyes. Bo recognized that touch and the sweet, faint scent of soap and honey immediately, and her tired expression broke into a smile so wide it threatened to split her face in half. Her heart beat excitedly in her chest.
"If you are a cricket, I will totally kill you," she joked, and the hands over her face slipped away with the warm breath that brushed the back of her neck. Bo spun around, her heart in her chest lighter than it had been all day, and dropped her jacket onto the stool beside her. Lauren grinned at her through tightly pressed lips, her eyes bright and wide with uncontained excitement. They'd spoken only minutes ago over the phone, but seeing Lauren now was infinitely better than waiting until later, for their planned dinner and movie.
Lauren gave a muffled squeal of excitement that brought another light laugh to Bo's lips, and bounced with anticipation.
"I was on my way over when I called – I just – I couldn't wait to see you," Lauren was talking at a mile a minute, her light brown eyes glittered in the bar's low light and her cheeks were flushed.
"Aw, hon, me too," it lightened Bo's heart and brightened her day to see Lauren, always, "but I'm so tired." Her limbs ached and felt heavy with the exhausting exercise Trick and Stella had put her through today. Lauren was still bouncing, she was absolutely twitchy with her delight.
"How'd it go today? Did you kick ass? You look tired, are you a little tired?" Lauren's face scrunched a little in her concern, but the excited gleam in her eyes never left. Bo took a step back, a little startled by Lauren's zeal, and more than a little worried.
"Are you on crack?" Bo had never seen Lauren like this, Lauren's lips pressed together in that huge, thrilled grin she'd come in with and her eyes grew wide again with exhilaration. She rubbed her hands together, and Bo peered at Lauren, mystified by her happy restlessness, and reached out to try to still Lauren's spiritedly twitching hands. "Seriously hon, have you been doing experiments without your respirator-thingy, because I –"
While Bo spoke, Lauren spun around for a piece of paper behind her and eagerly unfolded it before pulling it up in front of Bo's face to read. "Look," Lauren's voice was quiet, but there was such eager anticipation in it that Bo only stared at her over the edge of the paper anxiously for a minute before taking it. It was a letter, and Bo frowned down at it for a moment longer before reading it out loud.
"We congratulate you on being the recipient of the Moses-Gomburg Distinguished Award for Outstanding Contribution in the field of the – "
"The free radicals!" Lauren's voice was tight with her excitement when she interrupted Bo. She brushed her hair away from her face and grinned again, a smile so wide Bo thought it might actually break Lauren's face in half. She nodded excitedly, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, and beamed at Bo. It all went completely over Bo's head, all she understood was that Lauren was being given an award; but that and Lauren's obvious elation about it were all that really mattered. Bo glanced down again at the letter, damned if she would miss such an important event in her girlfriend's life.
"But the banquet is tonight!" Bo exclaimed, her stomach sunk a little with the realization she wouldn't get the quiet evening she'd been hoping for.
"I know," Lauren breathed, her expression turned serious now, "I wasn't their first choice, the award was originally going to Michael Shnood," she said his name with such disdain, and her lip curled into a sneer that brought a grin to Bo's face.
"I take it his science is sucky?"
"He's a total fraud," Lauren agreed, her words racing again so fast they threatened to trip over one another, "he completely fudged his radical numbers, it's all over the message boards!" And then Lauren bounced again and popped her lips and her whole face brightened with her excitement, and Bo was completely taken by her infectious exhilaration. "Oh, Bo, I knew they'd have to choose another recipient, but I didn't think it would be me!"
It was adorable how excited Lauren had gotten herself. Bo had never seen her like this before. It warmed her from the inside out, and Bo grinned at her lover: at the shy, modest, crazy-smart, beautiful woman that bounced and twitched in front of her. How could a quiet night eating dinner and watching a movie possibly compare with seeing the sexiest scientist in the universe being celebrated? Lauren's enthusiasm was beyond infectious, it brought a little energy and vitality to Bo's tired body and such cheer to her tired spirit. They planned their evening quickly, and with Lauren still calling over her shoulder about dresses, and wearing them 'together-like' and a feverishly exclaimed 'I love you', Lauren left. Bo stood for a moment longer in the now empty Dal, a smile lingering still on her lips from the phrase that was so uniquely, eccentrically Lauren, and gathered her jacket.
"Well, well, well, aren't you two cute."
The voice that cracked through the bar's empty silence startled Bo, and she spun on her heel to face the green-eyed blonde that leaned against a support beam. Tamsin grinned at her, amused by her surprise, with her arms crossed over her chest and one ankle crossed over the other. She straightened a bit when Bo lowered her jacket again and stepped a little closer to her.
Bo had never seen Tamsin dressed so nicely. It was a bit of a shock to her, Tamsin was almost always dressed for work, in slacks and sensible shoes that allowed her to move freely, and tank tops and jackets that allowed her to conceal small knives and throwing stars in straps across her torso. But today, she was in a shimmering black top, and an onyx pendant glittered darkly in the half-light of the bar. Black glass beads dangled from it down her chest. And she was in tight-fitting jeans and sleek low heels. Definitely not on-duty detective clothes. Bo threw her jacket on around her shoulders, untempted to stay any longer than she had to.
"Who are you all sparkly for?" Bo was in no mood to play games, and the expression on Tamsin's face looked snarky and bitchy and teasing – a mix of moods that already exhausted the elation of seeing Lauren so happy and excited.
"I'm taking you out to lunch," Tamsin responded as if this were obvious. Her hands fell to her hips, a classic Tamsin pose, and her lips curled again into that cocky grin that always crawled under Bo's skin.
Bo scoffed at the absurdity of Tamsin's statement and shrugged deeper into her jacket.
"And why would you want to do that?" Bo doubted Tamsin could give an argument compelling enough to tear her away from the short nap she still planned to take before Lauren's banquet. But she had to admit, she was curious to hear it.
Tamsin's grin faded for an instant, her chin dipped and her hands fell from her hips. Anxiety flashed through Bo as she watched Tamsin's good humor melt away into the shadows that played under the tables and chairs scattered around them.
"Because everyone's been lying to you."
Author's Note:
Guestie: I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying my version of the Dawning. The Dawning of the series fell a little flat for me, I felt like it had been built up so much, and what we wound up with was Dyson going through Bo's Dawning, without role-reversal, learning, anything more than the faces of Dyson and Lauren switching. When I'd originally finished book 1 and was considering book 2, the Dawning wasn't going to be much more than a footnote, before I realized that I wanted to try my own hand at reconstructing the Dawning and giving it meaning. I think Bo has been slowly devolving in her own way ever since the beginning of S3, not simply as Fae, but as a person, and I wanted to bring attention to that too. There's a lot coming in the next 20 or so chapters of this book, we're opening a can of worms, even as Bo begins to realize just how little she resembles her old self anymore. I think Trick lies and manipulates out of habit, not because he means ill in any way, at least not toward Bo. Having been a king for such a long time can develop certain self-defensive tendencies that never really leave you, and I don't think even he has realized just how much he keeps from Bo that he really shouldn't. I'm so happy to have you on board!
Leader: You know, I hadn't realized how similar that chapter was to that episode in S2! Good call! It was a great episode, such a blast to watch. Dyson was just such a laugh. And I think no matter which alternate universe you throw Bo and Lauren into, they're going to have a powerful attraction to one another. I like to think their love transcends all of that. I read a wonderful fic earlier this year that was a series of vignettes of Doccubus in alternate realities and alternate universes, and in every one, they fall in love. It was a story I wholly buy into. You're right, this set of chapters is about Tamsin, who I find such an interesting and complex character. She's got a serious attitude, but I've always loved a girl with a bitchy side to her. She's such fun. And the layers, my goodness! I try to reveal a few of those more hidden layers in this set of chapters, because as easy as it is to see Tamsin as a villain, I find her just as lost as the other girls in the series, and I feel like she's almost just like Bo, but way ahead in the future. I think that once upon a time, she had some really wonderful ideals, stood up for the little guy and did her best to be good, but lost that somewhere along the way, and finding Bo and her gang is sort of bringing her back to that. Honestly, she's one of my favorite characters on the show, and Rachel Skarsten is such a phenomenal actress. I think if I were to compare Tamsin to an animal, I'd probably think of her as a hedgehog, or some type of creature that's all thorny and prickly on the outside, but so soft and cuddly on the inside.