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
Time-Frame: Set directly after Episode 3:02
Rating: M (Contains scenes of violence, sexuality and mild nudity)
Summary: Set directly after Episode 3:02, following an AU storyline of our own creation.. Distinctly Bo/Lauren centric.
"Lauren and Bo resonate." Zoie Palmer speaking about Doccubus in an interview on AfterEllen.
Heavenly Resonance - Part Thirty Seven
By: The RainbowWriters
Even though Tamsin's finger was pointed at Kenzi, the entire group at the bar turned to stare at the tall blonde as she continued her stalk across the bar towards them, not in the least because of the heavy smell of alcohol that accompanied her as she moved. On her stool the object of her attention sat up a little straighter and felt Eli's hand come to the small of her back in instant support. On her other side Bo was already cocking an eyebrow, ready to challenge the obviously angry and at least some what inebriated Valkyrie, even Dyson shifted his body slightly ready in case his special form of intervention was necessary.
"Do I look like a fucking mushroom to you?" The blonde narrowed her eyes as she centred in on Kenzi. "Keep me in the dark, feed me shit? Or did you think it would be funny to just not tell me one of the most important little details of the century?" The Valkyrie's tone was biting as she bounced off a chair she walked into that was in the way of her direct march from the door to the bar where the group was gathered. "Or does no one else know about your little secret? Am I about to blow your cover and tell everyone about you and your shady dealing with the Morrigan?" Finally Tamsin reached the bar and literally pushed Dyson out of the way so that she had a straight eye line to Kenzi as she poised the question.
Kenzi's blue eyes flared wide but before she could answer the Succubus stepped a little to the front of her bestie.
"Tamsin, what are you talking about?" She fielded the question deliberately using a low key voice in an attempt to lessen the anger and tension growing rapidly between key Fae in the room.
"Am I talking to you Succubus?" The Valkyrie glared at her briefly and then turned her eyes back to Kenzi, who was looking less than comfortable since the revealing accusation. "So which is it?"
"What are you talking about?" Kenzi forced as much innocence into her repetition of Bo's question as she could.
"I'm talking about you owing the Morrigan a favour? Ringing bells yet?" Tamsin's hand actually came off the bar, looking for a moment as if it were going towards Kenzi, that was until Bo's hand came up to bump it out of the air.
"Look obviously you are upset and angry." The succubus kept her hand over Tamsin's arm where she had grabbed it. "And just a little drunk, so why don't you try calming down as much as you're able to, and telling us where you have been for the few hours, and what happened." Bo forced control into her voice though it was obvious it was difficult for the succubus to do so. "And remember I can make you." She added, not so subtly.
"What happened was that I got picked up, grilled and then blindsided by the Morrigan, that's what." Tamsin growled the words in a tone that showed just how worked up she was. "The blindsided part due to the fact that apparently you..." She flicked angry eyes back towards Kenzi. "Are so far in shit, or up her ass, that she can call favours on you."
Kenzi eyes dipped to the bar top for a moment as she remembered the night at the chic bar when she'd been forced to make her 'deal' with the leader of the Dark Fae to keep her from sucking Nate's talent and his sanity out of him.
"Tamsin, Kenzi has nothing to do with the Morrigan." Dyson's strong assured tone was clipped and no nonsense as he looked at his partner with a serious tone.
"Dyson..." Kenzi's voice was small as sad blue eyes came up to look at him briefly.
"Well at least that's two of us fungi-ing it together." The Valkyrie breathed out hard as she turned and shook her head angrily.
For a moment a world of hurt and confusion filled Dyson's face, but the moment passed in an instant, replaced by his usual look of stoic strength.
"What did the Morrigan say?" It was Lauren that broke the awkward silence.
"That she's calling in the favour and I have to be back with little Miss. Deal-maker there ASAP." Tamsin tossed her head in a general motion towards the raven haired human with a hard sigh.
With this revelation, the so far silent Geist's voice filled joined the conversation.
"That's not happening." It was a simple statement that the young Fae made, but it was eloquent enough to make her point clear and definitive.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Bo instantly echoed Eliyana's sentiment with a nod. "What did you do to make the Morrigan want Kenzi?" The Succubus turned the focus back on the Valkyrie. "What did you say to her?"
"What did I say?" Tamsin's lip twitched, her fading temper reignited. "I am the one who managed to dodge all of her questions and general digging for information, skillfully not revealing anything about the two of you and your nauseating love fest and resulting Resonance, or her..." She made a motion with her hand between Bo and Lauren and then towards Eli's general direction. "Only to have her tell me that David's life hinges on me bringing her the little turn coat over there, anyway but dead." She said the last word in a cold tone.
"Kenzi is not a turn coat, you don't understand anything about what happened." Bo barked at the blonde.
"That's my fucking point!" The Valkyrie bit back just as acidly.
"I think it would be a wise idea if we all took a moment to calm down." It was Trick who spoke into the escalating situation, accompanied with a large glass of whiskey on ice which he handed directly to Tamsin. "You have obviously had quite the trying time, which we would all like to understand, so please, share with us." He continued. "The Morrigan called for you?" He prompted her to begin her story at the beginning.
"Fine." With a hard breath out Tamsin took the glass and nearly emptied it down her throat. "Yes Evony called me in, she wanted the in on what's been going on with the Happy Sunshine Gang. I tried to appease her without revealing anything she didn't already know, which I managed to do and yay, lucky me, my reward was to get pulled off this joint peace venture." She began to spell out the details of her meeting. "But then as my first job, back on the Dark as it were, I have to call in an old debt." She nudged her chin in Kenzi's direction again.
"What does the Morrigan want with me?" Kenzi poised the question, unable to keep the trepidation out of her voice.
Before Tamsin could even try to explain that she didn't have an answer, it was Lauren's voice that broke the silence for the first time.
"Where is your necklace?" The Doctor asked the question with a frown, ever since hearing that David's life hinged on the Valkyrie's action the pull downwards of the corner of her lips had been impossible to fight.
"Like I said Doc, all privileges revoked, I'm not one of the good guys any more, no more working with the Light. I'm strictly Dark only." Tamsin addressed the question with less venom in her voice as she looked at the other blonde. "At least here is neutral territory."
Lauren's frown deepened and her attention caught even more when beside her Bo slammed her hand onto the bar top.
"She's working with my father." The brunette announced. "She has to be. The posturing, trying to get Kenzi..."
"Or she may just be trying to form a better position for herself after the meeting with she had Hale." Trick cleared his throat knowing all eyes would immediately go to him, after all no one else knew about the meeting but him. "Well the Morrigan did have the right to question why Light Fae were on a farm owned by Dark Fae, dead or alive." He frowned as he made the admittance. "Wars have been started over less. When I spoke to Hale he said he had averted the immediate threat of retaliation from the Dark, but he had to reveal that Mikah's Geist had been working in her county without her knowledge and convince her preparing for a war against the Dark King made more sense then them bickering amongst themselves."
"Welcome to the life of a fungus, it's good times." The Valkyrie drained her second whiskey with a sneer as she saw the look on everyone's faces. "Just so you all know I did my best to help convince her the super succubus here had killed the Geist for trying to frame her." She looked at Kenzi again. "Which brings me back to the real problem." Her eyes narrowed on the young woman. "You." She summed up.
"I told you already Kenzi is not going anywhere near the Morrigan." Once again it wasn't Kenzi who spoke up to answer the Valkyrie's words but the Geist who had never moved from Kenzi's side. Her tone was firm and cool, her light brown eyes fixed on the much taller blonde.
"And I'm telling you she is, because if I don't bring her she pulls David's plug, and that is not happening." Tamsin met the disagreement with her own ultimatum. "The fact I am here should tell you that I'm trying to do this without getting her killed, or else I'd have already just taken her and dumped her on Evony's carpet."
"Tamsin that's not the way to make friends or influence people." Lauren frowned even harder and shook her head.
"I'm not interested in either." The Valkyrie turned and met the other blonde's look but looked away again almost immediately, unable to keep the eye contact.
"Why do you think The Morrigan wants to see Kenzi?" Bo asked of the blonde.
"I'm a mushroom remember, how the hell am I supposed to know?" Tamsin found staring at Bo a lot easier to do then staring at Lauren. "My guess now is that if she's been told about Mikah's hard on for you, she wants your pet there as leverage. Either to get her information or to give her to the Dark King as a show of loyalty."
Kenzi's eyes came up to stare at the Valkyrie in horror at the idea, her breathing speeding up as the whole situation became increasingly difficult.
"Do you have access to where David is?" The question came from Lauren who was already stripping off her lab coat.
"What?" The question obviously completely sidetracked the other blonde, who blinked trying to refocus on the question as she turned from looking at Bo to looking at Lauren.
"The facility where your brother-in-law is, can you get in? Or rather, can you get me in?" She rubbed her hands briefly on the thighs of her pants and then used one to flick her hair over her shoulder.
"Babe?" Bo turned to look at her lover, her frown pronounced and worried.
"It's obvious that with David life as a trump card Evony has a winning hand here." Lauren's jaw was locked as she looked at her lover. "If Tamsin can get me to David, I can heal him, take away the ace up her sleeve and we can focus on what's really important."
"Lauren, he's in Dark Fae territory." Bo shook her head. "Evony is going to be watching him in case Tamsin tries to move him, if she finds out you're there she'll just take you instead of Kenzi. We have to figure out a different plan."
"I'll go." Kenzi's voice was small and even as she sat up straight she looked impossibly tiny as she tossed her head and made her wave of black hair reset itself around her shoulders. "I made the deal, I knew she'd call it in. If it's information she wants I can talk. My family have been using their mouths to get in and out of trouble for centuries and if I'm just a gift to..." She stopped and visibly swallowed. "Well let's just hope for information." She settled on.
"You're not going."
Both Eli and Bo's objection sounded at the same time, in almost the same tone, making them both look at each other glad for the agreeing opinion.
"I'll go see the Morrigan with you, tell her that Kenzi doesn't owe her anything." Bo looked at Tamsin.
"Look I know you think you're the unaligned God but you're not, and if the Morrigan wants more than information she'll just deliver you to Mikah instead, which will win her big points with the Dark King." Tamsin gave a soft snort and shook her head. "And Doc, nice idea but getting you in to David without anyone recognizing you is going to be nearly impossible. Dark Fae know Dark Fae and you aren't one of us."
"I think we need to seriously consider our options in this situation." Trick tried to intervene again to get everyone to calm down a bit. "Splitting our focus right now is not something we can afford to do, the Dwarves are expecting me to send my team to them immediately."
At the Blood King's words Dyson straightened himself a little and seemed to focus.
"I need to change." He announced his eyes going to Lauren. "Doctor you'll be needing more suitable clothing." He pointed out subtly.
"Whoa everybody, we haven't made any decisions on anything, not about Kenzi and most certainly not who is going to get the Gemini dagger." Bo put both hands up and shook her head.
"THE Gemini Dagger?" Tamsin's rather bemused voice cut into Bo's panicked one.
"Yes, the one made at the anvil of Ranky." Bo shot her an annoyed look. "The Dwarves say they can help us find it and that it can be used to kill my father."
"Oh." The Valkyrie sounded more than surprised by the summary and then frowned again. "Wait, Tamkl asked for a team to be sent to fetch the Gemini Dagger and you're sending The Wolf and The Doc?" She looked from Bo to Trick and then back to Bo, glancing for a micro second at Lauren. "Not that I'm volunteering or anything but, you do know that this isn't picnic they're being sent on right?" She looked back at Trick. "One of other of them could easily be killed."
"We have been weighing our options in your absence." Trick took a short breath. "I had thought you and Dyson would be the best choice but without the amulet you won't be allowed into the Under City again." He showed how clearly upset he was by this news.
"Neither of us will be killed." Dyson underlined the point with a huff. "I'm not an amateur Tamsin."
"No offence but you have no idea what you'll be asked to do." Tamsin looked at him shaking her head.
"Please can we focus." Rather out of character Lauren spoke loudly above everyone. "As Dyson pointed out I'm going to need other clothes, boots at the very least, and a heavier jacket. I think despite beliefs to the contrary we are all aware of the dangers and the possibilities here but what we're also aware of is that we have limited choices right now. Now unless anyone has anything imperative or beneficial to add to Dyson and I's preparations can I suggest letting Dyson leave to get ready, while I check on my machines and results downstairs." She ran her hands on her thighs again, a true sigh she was nervous and stressed but trying to manage. "Bo, if you could help me." She paused for a second to see if the succubus would just follow her or if anyone would comment or stop them.
"Nobody go anywhere, especially Kenzi." Bo pointed between Tamsin and her best friend, seeing a nod from Eli that confirmed the Geist wasn't about to let such a thing happen. Quickly she followed Lauren downstairs into the newly transformed 'lab' area. "Why does the world have to go crazy all at the same time?"
"Because we don't get to set the timetable." The blonde paused on what seemed to be her way over to one of the monitors that she had set up and leaned against Trick's desk, breathing out heavily. "We don't get to choose so many things." She added in a quieter voice lifting her head up slowly from where she had let it drop forward slightly.
"I don't want you going." Bo moved over to stand in front of her. "I don't care if my father is watching me, I'll sneak over there with Dyson and get the dagger. I want you here safe."
"I'm going Bo, it's not safe for you to go. There are two of us in this relationship and I don't want you going any more than you want me." Lauren pointed out with a soft shake of her head as she reached out and put her hand on the brunette's shoulder. "You're not the only one who worries you know." She added seriously looking into dark chocolate brown eyes.
"I know that but what you said to Trick, it's not true." Bo's mouth curled into a frown. "Just because you've become my Resonant doesn't mean you're not human anymore."
Lauren slowly blinked brown eyes at her lover a gentle smile spreading across her face as she brought her hand up to cup Bo's cheek.
"I'm as human now as you have always been to me." She said, her voice soft, low and tender, filled with all the love she felt for the brunette at that moment and forever. "Bo, what I am, what we are..." She took a slow breath. "Is perfect because it's what we were always meant to be." She moved her thumb over Bo's skin lightly. "And with your strength, spirit and love inside me, guiding me, protecting me and helping me I'll be fine." She smiled softly.
"I'm the one who is supposed to be out there risking my life, you're supposed to be here doing the science. It's not like I can do science while you're gone." Bo's body seemed to relax in surrender to the fact things were going to happen whether she liked it or not. That was the state of the world around her at the moment and there was nothing she could do to change it.
"Actually I want you to do something sciency while I'm gone." The blonde contradicted her.
"What?" Bo raised an eyebrow in question at her.
"Eliyana." Lauren eased her hand back from her lover and moved away a little crossing to one of the white lab tables that had been put up in Trick's main room. She took off it a clip board.
"What exactly do you want me to do to Eliyana?" Bo watched her movement not sure what a clipboard could do.
"I want to take advantage of the 'down time' we have. We've never had her fit and well to get a full spectrum of base line assessments. I was hoping you'd put her through her paces for me. Some simple exercise routines, I'm interested in just how good her base output is." Lauren explained holding out the board with it's accompanying print out record sheets.
"You want me to make her work out and check her heart rate?" Bo gave a soft laugh. "Is there a cup I have to get her to pee in too?"
"It's on the desk." Lauren smirked gently. "I also want you to spar with her and test her teleportation range, the details are on the papers." The blonde tapped the front page. "What do you think? Are you up to being my assistant?" She wiggled her eyebrows holding out the pen temptingly short of Bo's range.
"I have to admit Doc, you've thought out a very good plan to keep me busy while you're off being a super hero." Bo gave a soft laugh. "I'll be your assistant, but you have to agree to taking a few things along with you that you'd never usually think of."
"If you're about to suggest strapping a dagger to my thigh and hiding one in my cleavage I think you'd better take a second look at my cleavage, or find a very tiny dagger." Lauren smirked slightly.
"I have daggers in all kinds of sizes." Bo smirked back. "And yes I was talking weapons."
"You're my expert." Lauren moved back and encircled Bo in her arms. "I love you." She said fixing the succubus with her brown eyes. "You know that don't you?" She asked earnestly. "At times like this when it seems like maybe I'm not listening or that other things make me counter your words or ideas... I still love you." She underlined.
"I love you too." Bo held the blonde tightly against her. "Don't do anything crazy, let Dyson do all the crazy stuff okay?"
Lauren rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic sigh.
"Oh and I was so looking forward to dangling myself over a pit of death or feeding myself to Resonant eating plants." She teased softly, releasing one hand from gripping Bo's waist she brought it up to press through Bo's dark hair, curling it around the succubus' ear. "But if you insist, I'll feed Dyson to the plant instead." She grinned.
"You're funny." Bo shook her head and leaned in to kiss her.
-x-
"Okay so it seems the Doc has settled one problem but we still have the Morrigan." Tamsin broke the silence between the four remaining people at the bar after Dyson had left to get ready for his quest for the dagger. "Now before you give me the death glare GG, she can't be stalled, not without that causing her to cause more trouble."
"She's your problem not ours." Eliyana's tone was cool as she looked at the Valkyrie.
"Really? Seriously that's the shit I'm getting from the Fae who I literally saved the life of less than a day ago?" Tamsin pushed up off her stool and immediately crossed the space between her and the Geist, the tension in the bar soaring back from nothing to ninety in milliseconds.
"When you're proposing taking my girlfriend to your monster of a mistress, yes that's the attitude you'll get from me every time." Eliyana pushed up off her own seat instantly to meet the move. "And don't think I won't back up every word with an action because I will." She added breathing in through her nose and flaring her nostrils a little for effect.
"I'm just proposing tying up an offer deal that was put in motion apparently long ago not by any one of 'my side' as it were, but by your precious girlfriend." Tamsin narrowed her eyes as she stopped right in front of the Geist. "Remember little girl I'm not afraid of you." She looked down at Eliyana, her own breathing shallower and faster than normal. "If it wasn't for some half assed deal your girlfriend made with leader of the Dark Fae, this whole situation would be happening, so why the hell are you giving me grief?"
"Stop it, just stop it." Kenzi stood up suddenly inserting herself physically between them. "I did make a deal with The Morrigan, you don't know why but at the time I did it, it was the only thing I could think of to do." She pushed her hand through her hair and gripped the back of her neck. "I knew then it would bite me in the ass, and well I was right, just like everything." She gave a sigh and slowly closed her eyes turning to look at Eliyana. She let her hand drop from the side of her head and reached to take hold of the Geist's hand lightly before casting a glance over her shoulder at the Valkyrie. "I want to talk to Eli, give us a minute." She moved off to the side urging the small Fae to move with her.
Her eyes locked on Tamsin for a long moment, Eliyana moved awkwardly sideways, until she was sure that the Valkyrie got the subliminal message that in no way was she backing down, she was just going with her lover to wherever she wanted to go, then she turned and walked more normally with Kenzi, who led them over to the furthest corner in the Dal, a small booth with a decorative candle on a small round table affording it a real sense of privacy.
"I know it goes against all that you feel in your heart and all that is logical and..." Kenzi kept hold of Eliyana's hand even after they had sat down and she started talking. "I'm going with Tamsin, to the Morrigan..."
The Geist opened her mouth, a ready prepared tirade of objections ready to be let forth.
"Eli stop." Kenzi shook her head. "I made the deal, I did." She bit at her bottom lip as she carried on. "There's no need to go into details right now other than to tell you it was made, I asked Evony, or rather pleaded with her not to do something and in return I owed her a favour." The young woman explained the bare bones of the facts.
"I don't care." Was the Geists somewhat unpredictable reply.
Kenzi looked at her with a frown.
"Kenzi, no deal made with between a human and a dark Fae is a valid deal. Hell I don't care if she gave you a million dollars and said you owed her, it's still and unfair, invalid deal." The Geist put forward her view. "And the Valkyrie should know that." She glanced over her shoulder towards Tamsin, who was busy drinking again. "She just doesn't care about humans, about anything." She amended her initial statement.
"I'm not sure that's true." Kenzi couldn't actually believe she said the words that quietly slipped from her lips, and even Eli looked back from Tamsin to look at her with a quizzically quirked eyebrow. "You heard her Eli, if she doesn't take me back The Morrigan's going to stop the life support keeping her brother-in-law alive, the brother-in-law that Bo may or may not have put in the coma that has him on the machines in the first place." Kenzi's explanation was said with an emotion filled voice. "I think if there is one thing she does care about it's her family." Blue eyes looked back over to the drinking Valkyrie. "And I don't think I can be the cause of the number of that family dropping by one." She added changing her focus again to look at Eliyana.
Letting a soft curse slip from her lips the Geist dropped her head and looked at the small table in front of them.
"I..." She began but stopped obviously warring with things said and unsaid, felt and feared inside her. "I can't just let you go, with no idea of what will happen, no promises that you will be safe." The young Fae looked up again this time straight into blue eyes, her soft brown ones filled with open worry. "I can't see you just be handed over to the animal who murdered my family, who tortured my father and twisted my brother into a monster." She shook her head. "I would die before I let that happen." She underlined.
"I know Eli I do." Kenzi felt her heart constrict in pain with the honesty and heartfelt words that slipped from her lover. "But can I let a man die because of me?"
-x-
Kenzi eased almost silently down the stairs into the lower rooms of the Dal looking to talk to Bo, as the brunette and the blonde had not yet having reappeared. A small smile crept onto the young woman's face as she breached the bottom and caught sight of the doctor attempting somewhat unsuccessfully to cling on to her shirt, while the succubus tried to remove it from her upper torso while at the same time pepper semi exposed shoulders with kisses.
"Really?" The young woman said after clearing her throat loudly making Lauren stumble a little, blush brightly and knock her clipboard flying to clatter to a stop on the stone floor.
"Kenz!" Bo bolted upright acting very much like the kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "I was just helping Lauren get ready."
"That's not what it looked like from here." Kenzi shook her head. "I didn't mean to interrupt I just wanted to see if I could talk?" She gave Bo the 'look', the one everyone in the room knew that the succubus couldn't deny and indeed given the situation no one expected her to.
"Why don't we get some air?" Bo offered with a soft smile nodding towards the back corridor that led to the door. The brunette exchanged a small look with her lover that confirmed her decision as the 'right' one as the young girl moved off first and then the succubus followed.
Kenzi remained silent until they were both out in the coolness of the alley beside the Dal, only then did she turn and look at her best friend, her eyes full of sadness and worry.
"Remember back when we'd come out here and you'd be all fluttery because you'd made out with Dyson." Kenzi opened the conversation oddly.
"Yeah." Bo took a moment to let the memory solidify in her mind. "Seems like so long ago." She admitted. "And you prodding me for details on how hot he was."
"Well you know he has that body." Kenzi leaned against the wall and tucked up her leg high against the brick work. "And that junk." She added. "I was all Team Dyson back then, had the two of you married off with puppies."
"I don't think I was ever down with the idea of puppies." Bo gave another laugh and moved to mimic her position against the brick. "You want to go see the Morrigan don't you?" She didn't look at Kenzi when she asked the question, she looked across the alley towards the garbage cans and some badly done graffiti.
"Define want." Kenzi focused on the same spot. "Do I want to place myself in mortal danger, hells no, do I know it's the right thing to do for my peeps, yeah, yeah I do." She kept her eyes fixed as she answered.
"That was the want I was talking about." Bo gave a long deep sigh. "Nothing that is happening right now is making me happy, not Lauren having to go to the Dwarf Under City, or you having to go to the Morrigan for a debt you only owe her because of me." For the first time she turned her head to look at the other brunette. "How are you going to convince Eli? For once I might be the easy one to charm with those big blue eyes of yours."
"I'm not, I've secretly asked Tamsin to meet me at the bottom of the alley and we're running for it. I'm calling a bestie favour, big time." For the first time Kenzi turned to her best friend her blue eyes wide and bright and slightly awash with tears.
Bo's jaw dropped a little as the reality of what was being asked of her became clear.
"You're leaving me to deal with the Geist that is insanely in love with you?" Bo took another deep breath. "Wow, you know this is right up there in the biggest favours of all list."
"I thought at least this way Lauren might have sedatives right?" Kenzi was honest as she blinked her eyes at her best friend in the world. "I just... I can't. I tried to explain but she's just lost too much to the dark, to Mikah..." Kenzi shook her head again. "She can't let me walk out that door Bo."
"You remind Tamsin that if she doesn't bring you back here, it's not just me she has to worry about, Eli will hunt her down to the ends of the earth. I'll be driving the car, but Eli will be hanging out the window with an RPG type thing from one of your video games." Bo reached out and patted Kenzi's shoulder.
"You're the best, you know that." Not settling for the pat Kenzi pulled Bo into a tight hug and held on a long time. "And for the record, if this goes shit faced and I get First Class mailed to your Dad, he's getting a taste of a genuine Kenzi Nutcracker, with love from you." She pulled back and winked at the succubus before hugging her tightly again.
"Don't take any shit from him and remember no matter what, I will be coming to get you back." Bo hugged her as tightly as she dared. "Never doubt that." She underlined again.
"Besties for Life." The pair linked pinkes for a second before hugging yet again. "Oh and for the record..." Kenzi eased back and stepped away from the succubus. "Totally Team Lauren now, you're going to have gorgeous babies." She took a couple of steps backwards. "MacKenzi is a great name."
"I'll put it on the top of the list." Bo couldn't keep her hand from going out as if she wanted to pull Kenzi back to her and inside of the bar. In some ways there was so much she wanted to say but the look they shared before Kenzi looked back to see the Valkyrie's truck pull up to the space at the near end of the alley said more than words could.
Bo continued to stand there feeling basically helpless as she watched Kenzi get into the truck and then move out of her sight. Out of the range of her immediate protection, to face something that she didn't want her to have to face, something dangerous and scheming, something none of them could trust under any circumstances. She stood there for a long time before she looked back at the Dal and realized she had to go back inside, mostly to finish really getting Lauren ready to go before Dyson came back but also unfortunately to face the wrath of a righteously pissed off Geist.
-x-
"You've either got balls of steel or you're the biggest coward in the world." Tamsin glanced at Kenzi as she slammed the truck door and pulled into the main flow of traffic in a perfectly synchronized move. "What's to stop a royally pissed of Geist just teleporting into my truck and cussing you out?"
"Your truck's not protected against that kind of shit? What kind of a lousy truck is this?" Kenzi scrunched up her face as she looked at the Valkyrie, not commenting on which of the two choices she had been given she was, after all right now she felt like the latter of the two.
"What kind of piece of shit does it look like?" Tamsin replied just as quickly. "And no there's not much call for anti Geist teleportation wards these days." She added with a shake of her head, turning her attention to the road. "For what it's worth, I get why you did that, she'll understand in time."
"I hope so." Kenzi pulled her legs up and rested her boots against the dash. "Or else I just screwed up the second real relationship I've had a chance in."
"Just so you know, I'm not just going to let you go in there and die or anything." Tamsin took another quick glance at the small woman in the passenger seat. "I promise you both of us or neither of us will walk out of there, okay?" She said her tone firm.
"Thank you, that is surprisingly reassuring to hear for me right now." Kenzi turned to look at the blonde. "I couldn't just let her kill your brother-in-law, I can't believe she even said she would. I mean I know she's the leader of the Dark Fae, but that is just... low."
"Low would be to make sure Sarah and the kids were in attendance." Tamsin looked back to the road. "You don't know or understand the ways of the Dark." She added shaking her head. "Trust me kid, that's a good thing."
"I know you're not like the rest of them, no matter how you try to act." Kenzi knew that the hyper overload of adrenaline and endorphins as her body waited to suddenly hear Eli's angry voice as she teleported into the truck was making her lips as loose as cheap rum did but she didn't want to edit herself.
"You don't know shit about me." Tamsin barked out a laugh. "All you've seen is a washed up version of a Valkyrie who's too stubborn or too stupid to die." The blonde shook her head and checked her rear view mirror. "I used to end the lives of a hundred of your kind a day." She glanced quickly at Kenzi. "My entire body would be stained red with their blood. Clothes, skin and hair alike."
"That must have been a bitch to wash out without a powerful shower head." Kenzi threw back, though the image did make her a bit queasy. "I meant you're not like the Dark, you have lines that are uncrossable, you have people that mean something to you, you have a sense of right and wrong."
"Ones that I've created, not ones that are universally agreed upon." Tamsin pointed out. "I'd slit someones throat if I felt I wanted to, most people would think that was wrong." She gave Kenzi a smile but it faded quickly. "There was a time that I was a proud Dark Fae Valkyrie." She sat up a little in her seat, her eyes focusing more straight out in front. "When I wore a crest and fought under a banner." She took a deep breath in through her nose letting it out in a fast hard push from her lungs out her mouth. "But that was a long time ago."
"That's something you Fae are lucky to have, time. Humans don't have that long to re-invent themselves when they need too." Kenzi continued to look at Tamsin while she drove. "So is the only reason you're hunting the Dark King with us a desire to keep Bo's ass alive in order to punish her for hurting David?"
Oddly enough Tamsin's reaction to that question was laugh brightly.
"I'm driving you to a meeting with the leader of the Dark Fae who may or may not kill you and you're questioning my motives on why I'm helping out your bestie. Are you for real?" The Valkyrie rolled her eyes and glanced at Kenzi to see blue eyes just staring back at her. "God, your loyalty is truly sickening." She shook her head. "Yes I just want to nail the Succubitch's ass to the wall for destroying the only thing left that was good in my life. Happy?"
"No." Kenzi turned in her seat, tucking her legs up under her so she sat as high as the tall Fae did her own seat. "I've seen you looking at her, the way you back down when she says something, you have a girl crush on the Doc don't you?"
"Oh now you've got me, I want to nail the Succubitch to the wall, life in prison no chance of parole, AND steal her resonant, fuck that blonde hottie at least five times a day for the rest of eternity at least one of those times being over her lab desk, preferable while wearing her lab coat, making sure to send Bo the unedited video of the event." Tamsin rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "Better?"
"That was a little too well thought out of a come back." Kenzi didn't give her an inch, just tilted her head to the side slightly. "Come on, I'm on my way to a possible death sentence, you can admit it to me. Lauren does something for you, it's okay, I'm not going to tell Bo." She gave a soft laugh.
"Lauren..." Tamsin began but stopped as she wasn't too sure how to respond to the the somewhat astute question from her passenger. "It's not what you think, nor what you're alluding to." She pointed out immediately. "She saved my life." She tried to find the words to explain but as she wasn't sure what was going on in her head or heart it made it difficult.
"And that means something extra special to a Valkyrie?" Kenzi continued to push for an explanation.
"It means something to this one." Tamsin replied her voice dropping lower.
-x-
"I didn't think the plan was to get you thrown out of your own lab." Eliyana gave Lauren a soft smile as the blonde walked into the bar from the lower area, the Geist attention obviously being focused completely on the small doorway that led down there.
"It's probably a good thing Kenzi came down, Bo and I weren't as focus as we should have been." Lauren admitted as she moved and eased up onto the stool that was empty beside the Geist.
"Oh I am sure you were focused." Eliyana's look spoke volumes for the level of understanding that the she had for how Bo worked, they were in lots of ways similar.
A soft chuckle left Lauren's lips as she turned her head slightly and thanked Trick for the drink the placed down beside her.
"I've asked Bo to do a few basic tests with you for me while I'm gone, I hope that's okay." Lauren said turning her attention back to the younger Fae. "In some ways it's selfish of me to have organized it, it's as much for Bo as it is for me and for you. I mean I need the data on you and everything but I also need Bo to be busy and not to just be sitting around thinking about what may or may not be happening." She explained watching as the Geist looked back at her a soft smile already on her face.
"It's okay." She said her voice soft. "I'll do whatever you have set up. As long as it doesn't involve needles, I'd like to stick with the professionals for some things." She chuckled gently.
Lauren nodded with understanding.
"Absolutely no medical procedures I promise." She vowed holding her hand up slightly. "It's just Bo is a person of action, not of sitting around whilst other people do things, especially people she cares about most of all."
"You're her resonant and you're going on an unknown 'quest'" She used the term in its true sense. "I know how I'd feel..." She glanced back at the door. "How I do feel." She changed her words.
Lauren took a quick breath and glanced over her shoulder in the same direction catching instantly on to the other woman's point.
"She's gone." Eliyana added the point her voice slightly hollow and obviously forcibly restrained.
"No, she's just out back talking to Bo." Lauren made a motion with her hand to the back area of the Dal.
"Tamsin left the bar before she came down to you guys. Kenzi then spent a while making small talk with Trick before coming to talk to Bo..." Eliyana nodded to the theory that Lauren put forward. "My best guess is that Kenzi told Bo her plan and that Tamsin picked her up in the alley at the back door. Right now I'm also guessing that Bo is out there trying to think of a way of breaking the news to me that won't involve me trashing her Grandfather's tavern, or killing myself a Valkyrie."
"Oh." Lauren let out a small puff of air, seeming to weigh her next words. "Are you going to do either of those two things?" She asked the question without malice or judgement in her tone.
"No." Eliyana said the word quietly even letting a soft huff of a laugh escape her lips as she shook her head. "She's my master I'm not hers." She added her voice almost a whisper.
"I know that is true in the sense of your Geist powers, but you have to understand that isn't what Kenzi is thinking about right now." Lauren shook her head. "If I know anything about Kenzi, she didn't want to have to face you objecting to her need to go and face this, the idea that she is your master or could in effect order you into not stopping her didn't cross her mind Eli. If it had, she wouldn't have snuck out."
"She told me she needed to go." Eliyana stayed looking at the door. "I told her I couldn't let her. We were at an impasse, she didn't have a choice." The Geist reasoned. "I can't fault her for finding her own way out of it." She put her small hand on the bar top and flexed her fingers. "I'll watch over Bo for you when you're gone." She turned away from the door and looked at Lauren. "I'm no replacement for you, and cannot come close to you, but I will make sure I do my utmost to keep her occupied and safe."
"Eli... Eliyana..." Lauren turned more to look at the young Geist, her face somber. "I know what it's like to watch the woman you love walk out the door to face something you can't be there to face with her, I know what it's like when she gives you no choice but to be left behind. Until she is back in your arms there isn't a thing I can say to you to make you feel better, but the only thing I will say with all my heart is never give up believing in her. When you least expect it, that will be the thing that pulls her through whatever it is she has to go through." She reached out and placed her hand on the Geist's arm. "I know that you give Kenzi something to fight for, a love like nothing she's ever even dreamed about."
-x-
Bo stood for a long time just looking up and down the empty alley she was left in. A part of her couldn't blame Kenzi for the choice she had made, but she should be happy for it either, nor for the knock on effects it created, the mess it left on her hands, the drama it caused, all of it things she didn't need, things she was ill equipped to deal with considering in her heart of hearts all she wanted to do was curl up, pull Lauren into her arms and not let her go until all this was somehow miraculously over.
This alley had been the back drop for so much over the years, both good and bad, as Kenzi had recalled so many conversations between the two of them had happened out here. Hurried exchanges between her and Dyson, her and other nameless Fae, even her and Lauren on rare occasion. It had been the scene of betrayal and heartbreak and yet the place itself had never changed. The same brickwork, sure the graffiti designs occasionally got renewed or replaced and seasonally lights went up in some windows but the base foundation never changed, it was just a narrow alley, just like a myriad of others in the city. One of a hundred making up the busy network of the bustling community.
Pushing her hand up through her hair Bo decided she had to tackle the situation head on some time, and decided her best course of action was to tell Lauren first and with her support approach the Geist. Everything was made better with Lauren, which just made the fact that probably only minutes after that the blonde would be leaving hurt even more. Trying to push that thought back Bo took another look down the alley where Tamsin's truck had taken off, a vague frown crossing her face when she noted that the bottom was partially blocked off by a car. Her grandfather would hate that, he liked free and clear access at all times.
For a moment the Succubus contemplated walking the short distance down the alley to tell the car to move, but she stopped after just a half step forward. Was she really that desperate for an excuse to not go back inside?
Laughing at herself she shook her head, a bright smile crossing her face as she turned around to head back towards the door, literally walking into a tall broad shouldered man in a black suit as she did so.
"Ysabeau McCorrigan?"
"Maybe..." Bo bounced back a step from the collision and looked upwards to find the man's face to answer. It struck her instantly how average he was, there was nothing remarkable about him other than his imposing height. "Who are you?"
"My employer would like to see you Miss. McCorrigan, if you would please accompany me to my car." Taking a half step back the tall man revealed a long black limousine was parked the other end of the alley.
"Actually I learned along time ago not to go in cars with strangers, you'll have to do better than that and tell me who your employer is." Bo took another step away from him.
For a moment the stranger looked past Bo to the top of the alley where the partially obscuring car was parked, now there were six people milling around there in the enclosed space. Made up of a young couple, the man of which was pushing a small child in a stroller and another child of about five or six who was running in wide circles around his mother. The other two were teenage girls, shopping bags clutched in their hands.
"I'm afraid I don't get to enjoy such casual pleasures. Please Miss. McCorrigan before this becomes unpleasant and... messy." He lowered his voice and his eyes back to Bo.
Bo looked back down the alley again and at second look it became obvious that the group of humans had not been so innocently occupying the area. The man pushing the stroller was looking past the car to someone whose large shadow was cast onto the pavement just in view and the two young girls were talking with someone else also out of the Succubus' sight. With the distance between her and the hostages being as large as it was, there would be nothing she could do to keep them safe from the two out of sight accomplices.
"Very classy, you couldn't think of something more original then threaten the innocents?" Bo turned and flashed angry eyes at him. "Fine, fine, let's take a ride but you hurt any of them and I won't be very co-operative or... nice." She gave him a confident succubus smile, glancing to note he had on a thick jacket with long sleeves and gloves that didn't even show a sliver of his wrist. If she was going to make skin to skin contact with him it would have to be his throat or his face, a notoriously hard place to get too since most goons like him were trained enough in fighting techniques to protect those areas.
"Your cooperation is appreciated." As he spoke he gave a slow nod and literally from the wall stepped two other Fae, their forms totally blended to the hue and texture of the brick work. Shaking themselves their skin reverted first to an all over more flesh colour and then morphed to clothing in the appropriate places before they also changed to look like the first man that had accosted her. They stepped in behind Bo giving her clear distance but obviously covering as a back guard as the first Fae nodded in motion to the limousine, the back door of which had been pushed open from inside.
Bo walked very slowly down the alley glancing at the door to the Dal as she passed it her heart dropping as she did so, wishing she could just run in, do something.
"We will kill them all." The suited Fae said in a low whisper of encouragement. "The children first."
"I'm moving." Bo growled continuing on reaching the limousine, the cold pit in her stomach filling her body with icy chills.
"Get in." The Fae put a hand on the open door, his order direct and short.
Bo flicked him an angry glare and dipped down to slip inside of the luxury car her ass barely on the leather when a familiar voice reached her ears.
"You should have let them kill them." The voice was strained with a mixture of frustration and anguish. The succubus' eyes flared wide as on one side of her the door slammed and on the other that familiar voice broke down into a hard sob. "Now all is lost."
"Mom?"
-x-
"I never really think about it I suppose..." Lauren shook her head and took a sip of the white wine she was nursing as she and Eli did their best to just talk, not focusing on anything in particular, just have a regular conversation and try to keep things relaxed and low key. "I should shouldn't I?" The blonde gave a soft laugh as the young Fae next to her nodded rather emphatically, taking a small handful of nuts from the little saucer on the bar close by. "I just..." Lauren's sentence ended dramatically in a gasp, the wine glass falling from her hand as it was released, the blonde's other hand coming up in a tight ball pressed against her chest.
"Lauren?!" Eli threw a quick glance at Trick before catching the slipping blonde, who had nearly fallen off her bar stool before the agile Geist caught her.
"Bo. It's Bo." The blonde all but mouthed the words, not able to push the breath into them to force volume behind them. "Go. Go." She pushed weakly at Eliyana's arms.
The Geist was obviously torn between leaving Lauren doing as the blonde said, looking up again at the Blood King, she received a quick nod which is all it took for the Geist to with a slight shimmer, literally disappear from out of the bar.
Reappearing on one knee out in the alley the next second Eli was breathing hard, almost gasping for air as forced herself to stand. So much teleportation in such a sort space of time with no kind of recharge was definitely not a good idea. Much to the young Fae's dismay, all she found in the alley was a group of very bewildered looking people, who were all stood around blinking at her.
"Movie... stunt..." Eli panted holding up her hand, wobbling slightly as she walked towards the Dal door trying to pick up any trace of Bo's aura.
"That's what that other guy said." One of the teenage girl's pointed out as her companion looked around still trying to figure out where they were hiding the cameras.
"Other guy?" Eli turned and asked the question, still using all her other senses to confirm that Bo had been there, very recently but was clearly gone.
"The ones painted to look like the wall. They were cool." The teenager explained and there was a murmur of general agreement in the group. "I thought they did all that stuff with CGI nowadays not makeup."
"Didn't recognize the star, nice touch with the limo though, everybody should be kidnapped by goons driving a limo." The man pushing the stroller piped in, making his wife laugh softly.
"Glad you've enjoyed yourself, we've got top notch special effects on this production. I think we've got all the shots we need for now, thanks." Eli had heard all she needed too and deciding against teleporting back for more reasons then just the onlookers, she retraced her steps into the bar at about the same time Trick and Lauren made it to the back door. She made sure they were all inside before she said anymore. "A couple of mimics by the sound of it, a limo, they had a group of people herded up in the alley, they must have used them as leverage against Bo to get her into the car." She spelled out what she'd gleamed from the situation. "She's gone."
"Gone?" Lauren's voice was enough to underline the horror and fear that came with that statement. "No." She shook her head in flat denial. "Call Dyson, call him now. He can find her."
"He won't be able to track them Lauren." Trick made the sad revelation with a shake of his head, though it was clear the news had unnerved the older Fae almost as much as the Doctor. "If Mikah has employed mimics to entrap her, they'll mask any scent trail."
"You might have given the Dark King your daughter, but I will not let him take my Resonant." Lauren's eyes flashed a bright violet colour as she turned to Trick.
"Lauren..." Eli moved to put her hand on the blonde's arm. "No one has given up on Bo, especially not me or Trick..." She looked to the bartender who quickly gave his agreement to this fact. "We're going to get her back."
"Don't touch me!" The blonde's livid iridescent eyes changed their focus. "You would touch a chosen one?"
"Lauren... Lauren?" Eli didn't immediately move her hand back, mostly because she was so shocked by the strange display of power the blonde was putting on. For the Geist it was tangible in the room, like a sudden spray of perfume, a thick heavy scent that couldn't help but permeate not only ones sense of smell but there sense of taste and even the feel of the strange oils on their skin.
Eliyana's questioning seemed somehow to break Lauren's trance of anger and rage, blinking rapidly the blonde refocused on the small Fae, her breathing falling out of the odd slow almost non existent rhythm it had been in to become shallow, fast and panicked, far more as it was to be expected.
"Oh God Eli... Trick... I'm sorry I don't know what..." She shook her head and looked down at her hands that were visibly shaking. "I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Eli quickly reassured her and moved her arm to behind Lauren's back. "Let's get back to the bar, call Dyson..." She looked at Trick who had shaken himself out of his own shock and moved towards the inner door. "We have to figure out a plan, together."
-x-
"Really you did all this for a man? A man?" Tamsin glanced at Kenzi shaking her head. "You girl need that head of yours straightening out. If you're going to be a Geist Master you have to learn what to say nu-huh to." She leaned and popped open her glove compartment and pulled out of it a bottle of whiskey. "And doing anything self detrimental for someone else." She pulled the cork jammed in the top of it out with her teeth, expertly keeping it in the side of her mouth like a tiny blunt cigar as she took a long swig. "Is number one." She suddenly cursed loudly and leaned on her horn, giving the driver in front the finger before passing Kenzi the bottle. "Not even if they give great head."
"For the record he did and..." Kenzi took a long sip of the whiskey, knowing that being a little buzzed wasn't going to hurt considering the life threatening situation. "And isn't doing something self detrimental for someone else what you're doing right now? Are you expecting me to go down on you as a guide?" She arched one perfectly manicured eyebrow.
"Er no thank you, being partially nibbled by something thinner than my pinkie finger isn't on my bucket list." Tamsin spit the cork out of the window in disgust. "Besides you're a Geist Master, don't want that complication in my life." She added shaking her head. "Oh when you're ready for your art work for that by the way, just let me know, I know all the best Fae for the job."
"My artwork? What do I have to get Geist Master tattooed across my back or something?" Kenzi took another swig before holding the bottle out for Tamsin.
"You have to get the Frost clan tattooed or branded on you yes." Tamsin took the bottle. "Duh, you own the only remaining Frost Geist, what did you think she was going to become a who'syerface?" She waved the bottle in Kenzi's direction in the absence of actually knowing Kenzi's surname.
"I'm happy that my years of using many confusing aliases has confused even the police department." Kenzi gave a soft laugh. "I never really thought about the whole last of the Frost thing, and you have to remember Eli wants to be unaligned, we don't demand ritualistic branding or tattoos."
"Doesn't matter what you demand." Tamsin shook her head. "Also if you're interested the Arena still operates, it's all run underground now, so it's not all about fame and glory, but the money's still there. Something for you to think about should we win against His Royal Darkness."
"What the hell is the Arena? Are you telling me Borderlands based its underground mutant fighting on something real?" Kenzi reached out and stole the bottle.
"You in a nice little pair of boxing shorts, a tiny Lycra top, a big GM tat on your back, GG as your secret weapon all small and spunky, you'd be fan favourites in no time, as long as we could keep the fact you were a human on the down low, for a while at least, 'till your name was out there." Tamsin looked at her and winked. "I'll take a 70/30 cut."
"70/30? Who do you think I am Mike Tyson, baby this woman don't do anything above an 80/20 when she's doing all the work." Kenzi shook her head dramatically.
Tamsin laughed lightly as she slowed the truck down, knowing full well that Kenzi hadn't been paying attention to where they had been going for a long while since into the drive. It was only because Tamsin did slow the truck down and in fact stop it that Kenzi lost the slight smile that she had been wearing, her head coming up to look at where they were, dreading the thought that they had reached they destination.
Confusion filled the young woman's eyes as she found herself looking around at old tractor trailer lot, the concrete broke by sporadic chunks of long wild grass. The chain link fence on the far side away from her was falling down in sections.
"The Morrigan's office is now in a field? Is the recession hitting the art industry that hard?" Kenzi tried to keep her lighthearted banter but it was hard under the desolate circumstances.
"Not exactly." Tamsin shook her head, there was no trace of merriment or mirth on her face. "See there's a problem with our plan." She took breath and passed her tongue over her lips. "I can explain to the Morrigan how I just went back to the Dal, talked you into say going with me to get pizza or something, getting you out of the Dal with me isn't an issue..." She continued to explain as she took the bottle back out of brunette's hand and stood it up on the dash. . "But you're a smart cookie and you know the Morrigan's building and so it wouldn't look right is if I just drove you up to the door as a willing delivery."
In perfect synchronicity Tamsin rubbed both of her hands briefly on her thighs while at the same time turning to look Kenzi in the eye.
"So I thought here was better for this, for lots of reasons; noise pollution, risk of pesky busy bodies, and you having a clue how to get anywhere should I screw up." She summed up with a crooked smile. "Sorry Kenzi." She added before grabbing the smaller woman with one hand and hitting her hard with the other, instantly knocking the tiny human out cold. Crimson blood spilling from Kenzi's nose and lip as her head lolled to the side limply. "If I live through this, it'll be a fucking miracle." The Valkyrie cursed harshly as she leaned the brunette against the passenger door and threw the truck into reverse spitting gravel behind her as she pulled out of the field intent on finding the road back into the downtown area.
-x-