XXXX
Bo, lazily, read over the divorce papers, well not read, but looked over them. This was the fourth set she'd gotten, and now there was no choice but to sign them and be done. Lauren wasn't even returning her calls at this point.
She sat, alone, at the Dal with a bottle rum in front of her. She wasn't even sad, anymore. She was angry. Angry that Lauren would leave her. Not trust her judgment with taking cases.
The irony of Lauren, judging anyone's work habits, made her laugh. Talk about a lack of self-awareness.
Lauren would work in that lab until she dropped dead at the microscope, but no she couldn't help people, yeah she was furious.
She'd give Lauren her divorce, fine, have it. No one would control her actions, she would work whatever cases she wanted.
She signed the papers, feeling not better, but empty. Lauren, probably, signed them so easily, she thought.
After staring at the papers, lost in thought. She noticed two bulky Fae men walk into the bar.
They'll do nicely, she thought, strutting up to them with a charming Succubus smile.
XXXX
3 days before the wedding day. Evening.
"Bo!" Mac ran up to Bo, who was standing in the lounge, alone, dinner was scheduled for 30 minutes later. She was early. "What are doing, tomorrow?"
"Hmm, I don't know. What would you like to do?"
Bo tried to ignore her queasy stomach, the pain she felt looking at Mac. It wasn't her fault she looked exactly like Kenzi, Bo knew it wasn't fair to keep dwelling in the past, especially around Mac. She was a magnificent kid, after all.
"Oh, I want to go explore the island. Could we go on a hike?" She pulled out her phone to show Bo different things that the island had available. "Maybe, Lauren could come too. And Mark and Ethan. Everyone!"
Bo bent down to read her Mac's phone.
"There's this hang gliding place, where you can fly over the island. It sounds so cool." Mac's voice was oozing with happiness and excitement and Bo found herself getting just as excited.
"Yeah, that sounds great." She grinned widely.
"Lucy's here?" Mac asked, suddenly, pointing to Dr. Allen, who had entered the lounge. "Lucy!" She called out, and that seemed to surprise Dr. Allen, a bit.
"Hey, Mac," Lucy said, sweetly when she reached them.
"What are you doing here?" Mac asked.
Bo thought about casually walking away, but she planted her feet, instead. She didn't want to talk to this Dr. Allen, for some reason. She just didn't know her was all.
"I'm here for Lauren," Lucy said.
Lucy and Bo's eyes met at that declaration. Bo sensed that was a loaded statement.
Mac smiled. "Poor, Lauren. Can't ever get away from work."
"I think I'm going to go find Charlotte," Bo said, she really didn't want to be there.
Before Bo could leave, Lucy stopped her. "Could you stay, a moment, Bo, I would like to talk to you."
Bo opened her mouth, but Mac spoke first. "Oh, adults stuff got it. I'm going to go find Mark."
Mac waved goodbye, leaving Bo standing with the one person, she really, really didn't want to be talking with. Where's Jasmine when you need her, Bo wondered.
XXXXX
"Ethan, this place is perfect don't you think?" Lauren, proudly, gazed around the brand new lab. "We'll do great things here, I think, get a lot accomplished."
Ethan nodded, unpacking the last on the boxes. "For sure. It's a great lab. You did good, ma."
Lauren put her hands on her hips and continued looking around the lab.
Her phone rang. "Yes." She was silent, listening to the other person. "Oh, really…no." She paused. "That's great news. I'm glad to hear it."
She ended her call and frowned.
"Something wrong?"
She shook her head. "No. Your mother, finally, signed the papers, is all."
Ethan stepped closer to her, to comfort her. She stopped him.
"We have a lot to do. We better get started."
She quickly walked away from him and out of the lab.
Alone, in the hallway, she pushed her back against the wall. She closed her eyes tight and silently wiped the tears from her face.
XXXX
"So, how's everything going? Lauren said there were some problems in New York." Bo offered after they sat in silence.
"It's nothing WE can't handle," Lucy answered.
Bo squinted at her and regarded her, for an instant, after that answer. "Ok. What did you need to discuss with me?"
Lucy peered right in Bo's eyes. "I'm in love with Lauren. And I'm here to tell her that, and I have no intention of letting her turn me down."
Bo laughed. "Letting her? Hmmm."
"She only needs to see how perfect we are for each other. We have the same goals, the same education-"
"Sounds boring. Why doesn't Lauren just date herself then."
"Shared interests are a very important part of a long lasting relationship."
"You don't seem to know Lauren at all, really." Bo leaned closer to her. "She needs someone who challenges her. She needs the push and pull, the passion that comes with that." She leaned back away from Lucy. "She would never be happy with something that was safe and easy. Like I said she'd be bored."
"You mean someone who always disappoints her? Breaks her heart?"
"Why are you talking to me then? Go talk to her." Bo paused, looking her up and down. "Or are you afraid of what she'll say?"
"I wanted to make sure you wouldn't interfere, that you would do what's best for her."
"I am what's best for Lauren," Bo said flatly and decisively.
They both stopped looking at each other and turned as Lauren walked up to them.
She frowned, her eyes on Bo. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." Bo started off. "See you at dinner."
XXXXX
Bo waited, impatiently, for Lauren to answer for her phone. The more rings it took, the angrier she got.
"Hello? Bo? What's wrong?" Lauren, finally, said on the other end. "It's late."
"I'm selling the house. You need to come and get your stuff that's still here."
"Selling the house?" Lauren cleared her throat. "Why? Do you need money?"
"Money really?" Bo asked, annoyed. "No, I don't need money. I also don't need to live in this huge house all by myself."
"Let me buy it from you," Lauren said, after a brief pause.
"You are unbelievable. You know that." Bo's tone was getting more severe, angrier.
"What did I do now?"
Bo didn't answer.
"My thought was, what if Ethan or Charlotte want that house. It's easier to keep in the family. That's all."
"Fine. Do whatever you want. You always do anyways."
Bo hung up the phone before Lauren could respond.
XXXX
"So, after tonight, there's only one more free day until the wedding." Charlotte was standing in front of the table, gushing. "Now, I'll be super busy that day. Finalizing everything with that wedding planner."
Ethan laughed and covered his mouth when the table looked at him. "She still doesn't use that poor woman's name." He laughed, again.
Charlotte glared at him. "I have it written down somewhere. I just need to look for it. Anyway, I will need all of you to try on your outfits one last time tomorrow." She turned to look at Jon. "Some of you have been eating like crazy on this trip." She turned back to the group. "I wouldn't want any of your dresses or suits to not fit."
Charlotte continued going over, what her expectations for the next day were. It went on through the first course.
Finally, at the second course everyone was able to have their own conversations.
"The wedding planner's name is Maggie," Lauren whispered to Ethan.
He smiled. "I know. I just like to tease Charlotte about it. She seems determined not to learn her name."
Lauren patted his knee. "I have something I'd like to discuss with you about work."
He stiffened, and she frowned at his reaction. "Maybe we could sit down and talk sometime tomorrow?"
"Sure, Ma." He poured himself a glass of wine.
"So, Bo, have you read Dr. Spencer's paper on the molecular basis of hereditary diseases?" Lucy casually asked Bo, while serving herself food.
"No, I'm sorry my simple barkeeper's brain might explode reading such advanced material," Bo answered, rolling her eyes.
"Now, now you two. We'll get the grease out after dinner, and you can wrestle this out, like proper ladies." Jasmine said, grinning wide at both Bo and Lucy.
"Oh, Lauren is very fascinated with such reading. You might want to familiarize with some of her interests, sometime." Lucy dramatically took a bit of her food, smiling at Bo.
Bo, irritably, took a bite of bread, a wrestling match did sound appealing right about then.
On the other side of the table, Lauren continued to talk to Ethan about work. "If you want to wait until we're back in the city. I understand." She sensed he was getting upset, and she didn't want to push.
He shook his head. "No, it's fine we can talk tomorrow." He glanced over at Bo. She looked angry. "What's going on over there?" He nodded toward Lucy and Bo, who were still going back and forth.
Lauren shrugged. "I have no idea."
XXXX
Charlotte walked into Bo's house, and it was a mess.
She sighed, searching the house for Bo. She didn't even know if her mom was home at all.
Finally, she found Bo sprawled out on the bed, bloody and bruised.
"Jesus!" Charlotte shouted running over to Bo's side. She shook Bo awake. "What happened?"
Bo looked down at her body. "It's nothing, three…" She trailed off. "I was fighting three… something…" She paused again. "I can't remember, but they were bad news."
Charlotte exhaled and put her hands on her hips. "And why didn't you heal?"
Bo stretched. "I like to feel the pain."
Charlotte looked around the room in an irate gesture. "Oh well, that's super healthy, isn't it?" She pulled the blankets over Bo. "Nothing wrong, there. No. That's perfectly fine."
She huffed and headed out the door.
"Where are you going?" Bo sat up and asked her.
"I'm going to find you, someone, to feed off of."
She slammed the door behind her.
XXXX
After dinner, Lucy was pouring Lauren a glass of wine.
"Thanks." She took the glass. "I've been looking over the information and I do have some thoughts about a few things your team might have missed." She reached for the paperwork.
Lucy held her hand, stopping her. "Can we do that later? I wanted to talk to you about something, else."
"Oh, well you came all this way." She withdrew her hand. "I figured…" She stopped when she saw Lucy looking at her intensely. "Ok. What did you want to discuss?"
XXXX
Bo, Dyson, Mark, and Jasmine were having after dinner drinks, outside.
Bo's foot was nervously tapping on the ground. She knew Lauren was in her "meeting" with Lucy. It didn't bother her really, but that woman was just kind of a bitch.
Jasmine was sitting on Mark's lap, feeding him pretzels. He looked pleased, with the attention.
"Something wrong?" Dyson took a seat next to Bo. "You look upset."
She let out a short laugh. "No, I'm fine."
"Oh, I'm so sure," Jasmine said, still feeding Mark. "You want to rip that hot Dr. Allen apart. I, on the other hand, would just like to rip her clothes off."
"I'm not jealous." Bo looked back and forth between all of them. "I'm not. She's a pretentious bitch. She rubbed me the wrong way."
"You're just afraid she's rubbing Lauren the right way, right about now."
XXXX
"Lauren," Lucy's voice was low, she slid closer to her. "We've known each other for a long time." She put her hand on her knee. "We have so much in common. We almost share the same brain."
Lauren opened her mouth to speak. Lucy put one finger over her lips. "I've known for a long time, that I love you."
Lauren's body went rigid. She leaned back.
Lucy pushed closer. "I know you're scared but…" She grabbed Lauren's head and pulled her into a kiss.
XXXXX
Dyson and Bo were left alone. Jasmine had pulled Mark away, a few minutes previously.
"Bo, don't worry about Dr. Allen." He smiled at Bo. "Lauren loves you. And I say that with 100% certainty."
"Love was never our problem." She stared off at the ocean. "It was never about love with us…"
"You're different now, Bo. You've changed since the divorce."
She shrugged. "But what if it's not enough. What if too much time has passed?"
"It's never too late." He took his beer and walked toward the hotel, leaving Bo watching the waves of the ocean, alone.
XXXX
Lucy moaned into Lauren's mouth and pulled her closer. Lauren brought her hands up the Lucy's hands and pushed her away. "Stop. Don't."
Lucy looked at her confused. Lauren stood up and put some distance between and walked to the other side of the room. "This isn't a good idea."
"You don't have to be scared, Lauren. I would never hurt you."
"I'm not scared. But I'm not interested in any romantic relationships, right now. It wouldn't be fair to that person." She looked down at her feet. "I could never give my heart to anyone else because it's already taken."
Lucy crossed her arms and leaned back. "Sometimes, you need to learn to let go of the things that aren't working. You're divorced for a reason."
"None of those reasons are about love," Lauren answered, flatly.
"Love can't fix everything."
"I'm not naïve, I know that."
"So, you prefer to be alone, forever? Never loving again because you can't let go of your ex?"
"Lucy, I'm sorry if this hurts you or if I somehow led you on, but I'm not interested. I can't love anyone else." She stared her in the eyes. "I don't want to love anyone else."
"How do you know she still loves you? You divorced her."
Lauren was silent.
"And what about what's happening, now? Won't you fall back into the same patterns? What's different?"
Again Lauren was silent.
Lucy tilted her head, appearing sad and sauntered over to Lauren. She took her hand. "I'll be here for you, if things don't work out, the way you hope. No one ever really changes."
She smirked at Lauren and left the room.
Lauren sighed and walked over to the window. She squeezed her arms around her body and stared out at the ocean waves.