Bo turned her head and groaned. She opened her eyes and found herself in the most uncomfortable sleeping position. She tensed when she remembered where she is. She looked at the driveway and sighed in relief. Lauren's car is still there which means, Lauren and Bo's Succubus are still inside the house. She inhaled and pulled her phone out. "Dyson, it's me. Look I won't mince words, I need you to go to the clubhouse and grab a duffel bag in my closet and bring it to me." She had to leave a message but knows Dyson will help her.
Dyson
Dyson had just ordered a beer at the Dal when he felt his phone vibrate. He cursed himself for not answering and listened to the voicemail. He nodded once Bo's message was finished.
"Something wrong? Trick asked.
"It's Bo. She needs me to run an errand for her. I'll be back once we get all of this settled." Dyson stood and threw the bottle into the nearest trash bin.
Trick watched Dyson walk out and stood there staring at the doors for a moment. Either Dyson was being mysterious on purpose, or the wolf is up to something.
Dyson pulled up to the clubhouse and ran inside. He stopped when he spotted someone. "Kenzi?
"Where's Bo? Kenzi asked.
"When did you get back? Dyson smiled.
"Just now. Now, where's Bo? Kenzi asked again. She hadn't been home ten minutes before she realized she was home alone.
"She's busy." Dyson replied.
"You're still chasing her." Kenzi shook her head. Dyson's short answer and his entire demeanor quickly caught her up to speed.
"Not really." Tamsin walked in.
"What do you mean? Kenzi turned around.
"Bo turned us both down. Neither one of us is chasing her anymore. At least I am not." Tamsin took a seat.
"What the hell have I missed? Kenzi's eyes went wide. When she'd been texting Tamsin, the Valkyrie hadn't told her any of this.
"Bo's in a relationship. I am not chasing her." Dyson shook his head. He walked up the stairs and into Bo's bedroom to grab the bag she needs.
"Is he telling me the truth? Kenzi asked. She felt like she needed to be a mother in the clubhouse at that moment. She felt is if while mother was away, the kids would disobey.
"You saw him just now. He's horny for Bo. It's easy to be that way. Bo's wonderful. Even if she's with the wrong one." Tamsin laughed into her drink.
"Dyson mated with Bo. He's always going to be after her. His wolf is anyway. But you, you know better. Bo is in love with Lauren. No matter how many times they fight. She will always love the woman. I should know. I had a front row seat to this for years. Now, as for you, you can get over her. Dyson can't. When he lost his love, he stopped chasing Bo. When he got it back, he was sniffing around her again. With my help, but he went harder than I expected him to. Don't do that to yourself Tamsin, walk away as a lover and be there for her as a friend. I have to know that at least one of my Fae friends will be there for Bo when Lauren and I are long gone." Kenzi sat in front of Tamsin. She used to do this when Tamsin was young and disobedient. Sit in front of her to make sure she was listening.
"Okay." Tamsin smiled. Kenzi had always been good to her. The only human she could always trust. Lauren should have denied reconciling with Bo. She is doomed to the same fate as Dyson. Chasing a woman that will never be completely hers. How could she be? She's a Succubus. It's embarrassing because it's the talk of the colony. The unaligned Succubus and her human gf are at it again.
Lauren's
Lauren was herself as she took a shower. She closed her eyes and stood face first under the shower nozzle. For the first time, in a long time, she actually slept through the night. But now here she is again. Her Doctor mind is wide awake, which means the rest of her is wide awake. Awake with a Succubus inside her too.
She's not dumb. She knows it's not a complete Succubus but enough of her to know she's not all herself either. She dried off and dressed. The place is quiet. Just like she likes it. She knows Bo is still near because her car is like a school bus. Bright and unmistakable.
"Let's get to work." Lauren whispered.
"Of course, I'm here to help." The Succubus said.
Lauren took a seat in the kitchen and read over her notes again. Nothing was popping out that she hadn't noticed before. She took the next thirty minutes rereading everything again. "Back to the drawing board." She huffed as she threw the papers down on the floor and walked towards her home lab.
Bo
She sighed in relief when she spotted Dyson's car pulling up. She grabbed the bag from his front seat and waved him off.
"Bo. No. Let me stay and help." Dyson whispered.
"No, Dyson. Go home. Don't come back here unless, I call you. Which I won't, again." Bo walked away from him. To stay there, would be giving him more time to try and convince her to allow him to stay. This isn't his boxing gym. It's not the Dal. It's Lauren's. Somewhere none of them had been inside before, until yesterday.
"Bo, Kenzi's back." Dyson sighed.
"I can't worry about that right now. Go home." Bo pushed him.
She doesn't like the situation, at all. She doesn't know why the Succubus chose to jump inside of Lauren. But she knows her better than the Doctor. She has dark thoughts and feelings. Which is why Bo can't afford to slip up now. She can't just up and go somewhere. She has to stay where she is. This is the biggest case of her life. The biggest cause. Because Lauren is the most important person in the world to her. Not Trick. Not Kenzi. Not Dyson. Lauren
She set the bag on the hood of her car and looked through it. For years, she always had a bag packed with a change of clothes. She needed a shower and knew exactly how she is going to get one. There's a hose coming from the house across the street and nobody's home. It will give her a little privacy and she'll still be able to see if Lauren leaves before she is done. She ran over and quickly showered. She blotted her hair dry.
She picked up her dirty clothes and ran to her car before the neighbors caught on to what she was doing. She wouldn't do it again. She hopes she won't need to it again. She hopes for answers from Lauren herself. She needs to know why her girlfriend needs her blood. Why her Succubus knows, and she doesn't. She placed a blanket on the hood, climbed on, and made herself comfortable. Lauren is going to know she's here. Lauren is going to know she stayed.
She turned her eyes on the door and took a deep breath. Sure, she could try and go in. But whatever Lauren is working on, must be important. She will give the Doctor that time.
Inside
Lauren walked into her lab and made a beeline for her chalkboard. She looked at all of her writing. She put her head down and paced back and forth.
Lauren? The Succubus spoke.
"Yes? Lauren replied.
This is what has been holding you up? The Succubus asked.
"I've had this for the longest time. Long before I turned Evony human. I can't figure out a way around my own equation." Lauren answered.
"We only need less than an ounce of my blood. The rest we need to get rid of." The Succubus turned Lauren back towards the chalkboard.
Lauren looked and realized the woman was right. After all of those hours she poured over her work. All those times she dismissed Evony's calls and orders to come to her office. All of those times she had no choice but to come to the Morrigan. She worked on this. But something was going wrong. Deathly wrong. Her nurse Lisa had come to her showing her how patient x is deathly sick.
The Doctor had been tired and weak for weeks. But how could she tell anyone? They all call on her with the littlest of problems. When Tamsin called her about Bo's birthday, she was working on it. She had to steal from Evony to even get some money to buy Bo a gift. But what could she give a Succubus? She already has her heart and that is something Lauren has never given freely. Which is why she never dated when Nadia was in her coma. The only women around her were Fae women. Her staff is mostly humans but nobody Lauren would date, even if she were single. Bo.
Bo is outside staring at the building. She can't face her yet. She can't tell her what she knows until she fixes what she knows. Her emotions are too raw not to break down in front of the woman. She has never liked being or feeling weak. But she will be a lot weaker if she doesn't get to work.
"Don't worry about Bo. I know her better than anyone else. She won't be upset about this. She worried about you when we weren't all together. She worried about what was happening to you. She even asked Kenzi, but she didn't tell Bo much. You have a Fae and human friendship in those two. Trust them after all of this." The Succubus spoke up. She couldn't stand Lauren believing she didn't have any friends. She came to the Doctor's defense, herself, more than once.
"I just get tired. Tired of working to prolong my life past the human cycle. I know it's hard for a Fae to completely understand. But I want to live as long as Bo does. I can't lose another girlfriend. I am not strong enough." Lauren sighed into the nearest seat.
"Yes you are. We all know this. This will make you better." The Succubus walked over and added to Lauren's writing.
"That's it." Lauren stood." You're a genius." Lauren smiled. She turned and grabbed the vial of Bo's blood that her Succubus had collected. "Give me some time."
"If you don't create this serum, I will. Let me explain to Bo why you needed it. She'll still need to heal to heal that wound where I jabbed my arm." The Succubus went silent in the Doctor.
Lauren had always known how to trust human science. Then she discovered Fae science. She had learned how to treat and bandage wounds they couldn't heal on their own. At least the Fae that would come to her clinic and not puff their chest in superiority like Dyson used to do. Dyson didn't trust her little needles until she saved his life at Taft's. Any other rival would have let the man die. But she's a Doctor who believes in healing. Besides, she never wanted to be the type of rival to kill her competitor.
But what was she competing for? Bo? They weren't a couple again when she saw Bo at Evony's party. That was evident when she didn't call Dyson to tell her she found her and when Bo asked her to go home to bathe.
Get out of your feelings and into your brain, Lewis. She mouthed to herself. But thinking too much has become her go-to. She needed to learn to be that way to cut herself off from those boring days in the Light Fae labs. To take the insults and let them roll off her back. Shockingly, the only one that never talked down to her was the Morrigan. Probably because she wished the Doctor were Dark Fae. The Dark Fae used to scare her. But they were honest and not cliché-ish like the Light Fae.
She doesn't want to be Fae. She just wants a long, healthy life. Right now, she's not healthy and Bo's Succubus knows it. Is it fair? No. But she will explain it to Bo. It is like Bo's internal bleeding that she didn't tell her Doctor about until after the fact. Is it backhanded revenge? No on that front too. She won't ever knock Bo for being Fae. She was born that way, just as Lauren was born a human.
An hour passed and she was ready for the serum. Taking a deep breath, she injected herself. She threw the rest of the blood into the fireplace. That is blood that never needs to be in anyone but Bo. She'd heard the story about Ryan. She loves Bo, but never wants that type of relationship with her. It sounded like Dyson screaming he mated with Bo, and he can never let go.
She waited a few hours before she ran tests on herself. She'd been running tests on herself for weeks. This is the most grueling. It's an answer she couldn't find on her own. But if she is going to be in a relationship with a Fae, she's going to have to learn to trust that Fae gf. In a way she is right now. She's trusting the Succubus knows what's held her up. Worried her to no end that she'd screwed up and given herself a shorter lifespan.
She took more breaths and waited for another hour before she could check results. She conned Evony out of a hundred-thousand-dollar machine, and never told the former Morrigan that she would be taking said machine home. She pulled the results out and scribbled them down, word for word.
When she was finished writing, she took a seat at her desk. She read and re-read everything three times. Closing her eyes, she smiled. It worked. It really worked. She's glad to be a doctor because nobody needs to know the true healing powers of Bo's blood. But it was more than her blood. It was Lauren's latest science experiment. She threw those notes into the fireplace too. Only she, Hades, and Bo's Succubus had seen her equation.
For years Bo had feared her Succubus, but it seems when it comes to the Doctor, she is exceedingly kind. She can't say much about the dead man that Bo left outside of the Dal that one day. Enough of thinking like that. She needs to find Bo and talk to her. Really talk to her. She threw her medical gauges and needles into the fireplace, watched a small explosion, and then put the fire out.
She went into the bathroom to freshen up and headed for the door. She stopped to take a massive breath and closed her eyes. Pulling the door open, she opened her eyes again and stopped. Bo was asleep on the hood of her car.
Lauren cocked her head to the side and smiled. She walked over and gently shook the woman. "Bo?
Bo mumbled something and slowly opened her eyes. "Lauren? She quickly sat up and stared at the woman like she was just seeing her for the first time. She felt something between her body and Lauren's hands. She knew it was her Succubus returning. Good. She'd hate for such darkness to be in such a beautiful woman. "Lauren, are you okay? She whispered.
"We need to talk. Come with me, please? Lauren pulled on Bo's hands. Bo followed the woman. She waited for Lauren to unlock the door and they walked a short distance to another door.
Bo walked in first and looked around. "I thought you were taking me through a secret door that leads to your place."
"We'll go there, but I thought it would be best to have this talk, here." Lauren pushed two lush chairs into the center of the room and asked Bo to sit.
Bo did as she was told and ran her hands over her legs. This doesn't sound like it's going to be good news. If her Succubus jumped into Lauren, something is clearly off. "What's wrong, Lauren?
Lauren frowned, looked down and up again. "Bo, I had been really, really sick. I couldn't figure out why and after talking with Hades, I thought I found the answer. But it wasn't the answer. I didn't get answers until earlier today. She was the answer. When she jabbed you to take some of your blood, I thought I would need it. Actually, I thought I would need all of it. But I only needed a little. She helped me Bo. I don't know how she knew how to solve my equation, but she did. Long story short, I used a small amount of your blood and disposed of the rest, safely. The injection worked. I'm not as sick as I was and as my own doctor, I am close to writing my own clean bill of health."
Bo closed her shocked mouth and stood and pulled the doctor up and into a bear hug. "Are you sure you're okay?
"From all of my test results, I am doing a lot better." Lauren smiled into Bo's shoulder. The Succubus had not let go yet.
"I won't lie and say that I wasn't scared." Bo admitted.
"I wanted to tell you, Bo. But after what happened with Kenzi. I wanted to resolve this as quickly as I could. I couldn't do that to you. I couldn't die on you." Lauren rubbed the woman's back.
"It's okay, Lauren. You're healthy. I'm healthy. We're healthy. Like this. Talking to each other." Bo gently pulled away but kept Lauren's hands in hers.
"I'm so, so sorry Bo." Lauren replied.
"It's fine babe, really." Bo smiled.
Lauren took a deep breath and bowed her head. This could have been disastrous. Bo used to storm off when she didn't understand the situation or Lauren's motives. This is a different Bo. A loving, and warm Bo.
"Kenzi's home. Let's go see her and I need to pack." Bo gently tugged on Lauren.
"Pack? Lauren asked.
"We're a couple now, and your place looks big enough for two. If Kenzi is going back to Spain, I don't need that big shack all to myself anymore." Bo pulled the blanket from her hood and tossed it into the back seat.
Lauren smiled as she climbed in. They really are better. Healthier. Talkative. Bo wants to move in and that is fine with Lauren. For weeks, she had longed to wake up in Bo's arms again. This would ensure that. She wouldn't have to worry about Hades and Bo anymore either because the Succubus ensured that by murdering him. Now they were off on a clear day and a clearer future.
Finished.