A/N: This rewrite was requested by a guest. I know I've done one of this episode before, but this one is different. And I haven't done another rewrite of this episode since the first couple of chapters of this story. So, I hope you guys enjoy.
I really want to write more, but am having trouble thinking of ones to do myself. So, if you want to see yours then please do let me know in a review or a PM.
Got some free time this week, so I wanted to get a few done.
Enjoy!
Chapter 55: No Regrets – 4x08
Clubhouse
Christmas.
It was supposed to be a time of joy.
But of course, for Bo it was anything but that. As if today hadn't started off rough enough, she was hosting a party for a bunch of people she didn't even know. It was all Kenzi's idea. Who, had problems of her own now that she and Hale had decided to cut the bullshit and become a couple. Bo was happy for them, but that didn't help her current predicament.
For some reason, every time the hands of the clock landed on 11:43 p.m. she found herself starting the last few hours over again. It was like Groundhog Day, except much worse. Because she had no idea what the hell was going on. Every person she tried to explain it to, just laughed at her and congratulated her on an amazing party.
That was no good to her.
So, she thought to herself; who was the most level headed person she knew? Trick! Only, that idea failed before she could even get a word in. Because her once responsible and sober Grandfather, was now passed out in her bathtubs completely off his rocker. She was forced to rethink her decision, and thought of the second most level headed person she knew.
Lauren.
Without disturbing her sleeping Grandfather, she high tailed it to her bedroom where she last saw Lauren sitting with Dyson and Vex. Weird combination, but whatever. "Lauren!" She pushed through the door, to find Dyson and Vex hysterically laughing about something together. "Guys? Where's Lauren? She was here a minute ago" she could've sworn.
Dyson sobered up enough to acknowledge Bo's presence. "Uh, I dunno. One minute, she was here. And the next, she was gone. But, she always comes back the same way. Weird huh?" He was so wasted.
"Thanks, that wasn't helpful at all…" she turned around and left the bedroom, going to the hallway and running into the very person she was looking for. "… Thank god! I found you! We have a major problem!" She was panicking.
Lauren was also panicking, "Funny, I was actually looking for you to tell you the exact same thing…" she'd been searching the house for what felt like forever. "… What's your problem?" It seemed only fair.
"This's gonna sound freaky, but I think I'm stuck in a loop or something. The same thing happens all the time. I talk to some people downstairs, play a few games, eat food, and then bam! I'm right back at the start doing it all over again! You believe me, right?" Bo was counting on her.
But what Bo didn't know, was that Lauren was experiencing the exact same thing. "I thought it was just me…" her ex frowned at her. "… You were right about it being a loop; a time loop, to be exact. I think we're both reliving the same day, or the same couple of hours at least" she didn't think it was then whole day.
"Why us?" Bo asked.
Shrugging, Lauren couldn't find an answer. "Why does anything happen to us?" She was starting to think they had bad luck. "I guess it's just our curse. We need to figure a way outta this. Have you tried Trick?"
Bo rolled her eyes, nodding. "Yeah, he's no help right now. Trust me, you don't wanna go there!" She had to think for a second. "Come on, you're the leading expert on all things Fae. Do you have any idea what this could be?" She was trusting Lauren to find a solution.
It was her thing.
Thinking hard, Lauren thought back to what Hale was saying at the Gas station this morning. "Krampus" she whispered.
Frowning, Bo remember the name. "That demon Santa Clause Hale was spouting about?" Her ex nodded. "What's he gotta do with this?" Then she realised. "Oh shit! He punishes people for being bad, right? Okay. Punishing me, I understand. Because, well; it's me. But, you? You're a Doctor. You're the definition, of good" if saving lives didn't make you a good person, then what did?
"Maybe it's not about punishment?" Lauren wondered, "Maybe it's about something else. Like, soul searching. Maybe there's something about ourselves he wants us to figure out. And we're not gonna break the loop until we do. Think, is there something that's bothering you? Something you're bottling up?" She asked her.
Bo let out a laugh, was that a joke? "Come on Lauren, you know me. I'm an open book!" She liked to believe that. But lately, not so much.
"You're right, I do know you…" Lauren knew her very well. "… And I know when something's bothering you, you keep it to yourself and act like everything's okay so no one worries about you. So, I'll ask again; is anything bothering you?" They had to be honest with each other.
Not wanting to talk about it here, Bo took Lauren downstairs and out the back where her car was parked. "If you must know, I'm still having a little trouble adjusting after my kidnapping. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I also didn't think it'd be this hard either" she admitted.
Lauren could understand that. "Bo, you went through something very traumatic. No one gets over something like that overnight, not even someone as strong as you. I wish there was something I could tell you to make things easier, but the truth is it's just gonna take some time to overcome"
"That's the problem…" Bo said. "… It's taking too long. I just wanna put it behind me. I'm sick of waking up every night wondering if I'm gonna be taken again. And it's even more frustrating, that I don't know who it was, or why they wanted me. I mean, out of all the people in the world; why me?"
Fortunately, Lauren could answer that. "Because your special"
Scoffing, Bo leaned against her car with her arms folded. "Yeah well, being special sucks…" she wanted some of the focus off of her. "… What about you? Any skeletons in your closet that're giving you grief?"
Lauren tried to think. "Well, I guess I'm still a little rattled about the whole Una Mens thing. Even though I'm under Evony's protection, there's no guarantee she can keep me safe. Having them looming over my head is pretty scary, but I don't know if that's a good enough reason to be caught in a time loop" she couldn't explain it.
"You know, if Evony doesn't follow through on her word to protect you; I will…" Bo wanted her to know that. "… No matter what's happened between us, you're still an important part of my life. And I'm not ready to lose you yet" the Una Mens could kiss her ass.
That made Lauren smile. "Good. Because I'm not ready to lose you either-" she got caught in a state with Bo for a few seconds, but then felt something weird. "Whoa! Do you feel that? It's like, dizziness" she felt the ground shaking beneath her feat.
Bo checked the time on her phone, it was just turning 11:43. "Shit!" She couldn't get another word out as all she saw was blackness.
Opening her eyes, Bo found herself in the backseat of her Camaro. For the third time now! She got up, jumping over the seat and then the door and ran back into the house to find Lauren. But again, she couldn't find her. Until, she checked her bedroom, and then came out in the hallway. "There you are!"
Lauren was exhausted, she hated these shenanigans. "Yeah. For some reason I keep waking up in the basement. Don't ask me why!" She'd had enough. "Please tell me you have a way out of this"
Bo shook her head. "Nope. I was hoping you would…" but Lauren didn't. And that made things worse. "… Alright, we've got two hours until we get another repeat; so we need to figure out why we're stuck in this loop. And fast!"
"Confronting our fears didn't work…" Lauren thought hard. "… Maybe it's something else. Something we're not seeing. The whole point of Krampus, is that he tries to torture you until you learn your lesson. So, what's our lesson?" She couldn't think of anything she'd done wrong.
"I have no idea!" Bo was getting really frustrated. "Okay, why don't we just go downstairs and get a drink? Maybe once we take the edge off, ideas will start to flow" she didn't think it would, but it was worth a try. So, they went downstairs and got a strong drink.
Lauren rubbed her eyes, "I can't believe this's happening!" She sighed. "I told Kenzi this party was a bad idea! I was all for trying to make you feel better but, now look what's happened" she knocked back another shot.
Bo didn't know that her friends threw this party just for her. "I never asked for a party either…" she could've done without it. "… But it's Kenzi's way of saying she loves me and that she's here for me. Honestly, I would've been happy with a beer at the Dal"
"So would I" Lauren agreed with her.
Suddenly, an elderly man came up behind them holding a plate of food and a cup of egg nog. "You know, sometimes it's not about what we need to admit. It's about what we regret"
Frowning, Bo turned to him. "Who are you? Do I know you?" She'd never seen him before. Why was he at her party?
"Just a passing guest…" he smiled. "… Enjoy the rest of your night ladies" he gave them a wink and then walked off.
"Okay, because that wasn't odd at all…" Lauren started thinking about what he said. "… But maybe he's right. What if it's about confronting our regrets?" She had a ton of those.
And so did Bo. "How're we supposed to know which regret we need to confront to get outta this?"
"Well, what's the one regret you have that haunts you more than the others? And you have to be honest!" Lauren wanted to get out of this. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life stuck in this loop.
Bo tried to think about it properly. And the only regret she had that took importance, was something she didn't want to talk to Lauren about. Only, she didn't have a choice. "The way you and I ended things" she admitted.
Funnily enough, Lauren's answer was the same. "I regret that too…" she said. "… I know you probably still hate me for that" she was the one who ended it, and then ran off.
But Bo shook her head, "One thing I can never do, is hate you. You needed time to yourself, so you took it. I can't really blame you. I mean, I didn't exactly make the best Girlfriend" she'd put Lauren through so much crap.
"No Bo…" Lauren didn't want her thinking that. "… You were a great Girlfriend. I just don't think we really understood how hard it was gonna be for us. With you being a Succubus and me being Human. I guess we just weren't meant to be"
Only, Bo didn't believe that. "I don't think we'd feel the way we feel, if we weren't. You know, when Dyson ended things with me; I thought that was the worst feeling I could ever have. But when we broke up, I felt like my heart had been ripped out. What does that tell you?"
Ugh, that fateful day.
What a horrible experience.
"It tells me that I'm the heartless bitch who broke your heart for my own selfish reasons-" Lauren was cut off when Bo shook her head, telling her she wasn't heartless and that's not what she meant. "Alright. What does it tell you?"
"That even after all this time, I'm not over it. I can't go a day without thinking about what we had. That's what I regret; not fighting for it. I should've" Bo blamed herself. She gave up to easily.
"We should've" Lauren replied. It wasn't all on Bo.
They spent the next hour and a half, talking about their failed relationship and how much they regretted everything bad that happened. Lauren leaving, Bo's feeding, her unfaithfulness with Dyson and Tamsin. And honestly, they felt a lot better. But now their time was running out.
Bo checked her phone, "Eleven forty one…" she stated the time. "… If we don't find the answer in the next two minutes, we're gonna be back to square one. Do you think talking about our regrets worked?"
Lauren shrugged, "No clue. But judging by the woozy feeling washing over me right now, I'm gonna say no" she held onto the kitchen island, she could feel herself slipping away again.
But Bo couldn't let it happen again, and it was now 11:43 p.m. Time to repeat the hours again. She couldn't let it happen. So, in a state of panic, she did the only thing she could think of. She grabbed both sides of Lauren's face, and kissed her gently. What she didn't know, was that it was now 11:44 p.m.
They were officially out of the loop.
Lauren didn't stop it, instead she held onto Bo's wrists as their kiss deepened. And as they pulled away from each other, she noticed the dizzy feeling had gone. "Why'd you do that?" She didn't expect it.
"I dunno…" Bo honestly didn't. "… It just felt like the right thing to do"
Glancing down at Bo's phone, Lauren noticed the time. "Well, it worked. Eleven forty five, we're back to reality…" she felt a little awkward, so she decided to call it a night. "… As much fun as this has been, it's left me very tired. I'm gonna head home" she backed away from her, and went straight for the front door.
Bo couldn't understand what just happened. Talking about their regrets didn't break the loop, but the kiss did. Why? Then it came to her. It wasn't because she regretted how things ended between them. It was because she regretted not having Lauren at all. Which's probably why the kiss broke the loop.
Because that kiss—which was out of this world, renewed a hope that Bo thought died a long time ago. That maybe they could go back to the way things were. Before everything went wrong.
She couldn't let her leave. Not yet. So, Bo ran. Pushing every party goer out of the way as she got to the front door. When she exited, she found that it had started snowing. Well, it was Christmas. She saw Lauren in the distance, going to her car. "Lauren! Wait!" She ran to her.
"Bo, go back inside its freezing out here!" Lauren herself had jeans on but Bo was wearing the skimpiest dress she'd ever seen. But damn it if she didn't look good.
The snow continued to fall down on them. "I can't, not without telling you the truth" Bo said.
Lauren frowned; "What truth?"
This was harder than Bo thought. "Uh, that I wasn't honest about all my regrets…" she didn't care about how cold it was out here. "… The thing I regret the most, is not waking up to see your face in the morning. When we were together, it was my favourite time of the day" she smiled thinking of it.
And Lauren could understand it, she regretted the same thing. But, it didn't change one important factor. "Bo, we've been over this already. You and me; it just doesn't work" she wanted it to, but they were so different.
"But it could…" Bo said. "… If we did it right this time. You've gotta wonder why it's always us who get roped into these crazy situations. Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something!" She had to believe that.
Otherwise life would be sad.
"Like what?" Lauren was freezing her ass off out here. She could feel the snow getting stuck in her hair.
Bo stammered, why did she always have to question everything? "Like, maybe we're better off together than we are apart? I guess it all depends on how much faith you have in us"
"I have faith…" Lauren said. "… It's just, the Doctor part of me can never stray from looking at things logically. And logically, we don't work" she couldn't help it. As a scientist, it was her job to know the facts. This was one of them.
"Maybe that's our problem…" Bo wondered. "… We're so busy weighing all the factors and thinking about things that'll go wrong; that we lose focus on the thing that's important. Us"
Lauren sighed, she wanted this. She really did. But she didn't know if she could get over the odds stacked against them. Because there were a lot of them. "And what are we Bo?"
Bo chose that moment to stand closer to her, she wasn't going to let herself shiver just yet. "We're two people, who share an amazing connection, and have a little trouble finding their way back to each other. I regret a lot of things in my life Lauren…" she reached up, touching her cold cheek. "… But loving you isn't one of them"
"Well, when you put it that way; I guess logic kinda goes out the window huh?" Lauren chuckled, then fell into Bo's arms. Kissing her and then hugging her tight. The body temperature was much needed.
Yes, they had problems.
No, they weren't culturally suited.
But, it was what laid between those two things that made them perfect for each other.
Hope.
It's what Christmas was built on.
And this year, it had come early.
A/N: Yay! Hope you all enjoyed. All requests are welcome.
