Cara muttered as she buttoned up her pants. Phone in hand, she dialed back the missed call and snatched a leaf out of her hair. Annoyed, she crumbled the leaf up in a fist before she opened her hand, and dropped the crushed remnants to the ground. "Yes?" She asked, head snapping up as the phone was picked up. "What did you want Denna?"
Behind her, Bo grabbed the remnants of the clothing she could find and pulled them back on. As she flicked her hair out, she looked up and watched the topless Cara talking on the phone, her expression becoming increasingly irritated with the person, Denna. When Cara turned around to face her, Bo handed her the red shirt back.
"Thanks," she muttered distractedly, "no not you I was talking to- yes, I understand that- Mistress Denna would you fucking let me talk." She sighed, shutting her eyes before she looked at the shirt in hand. Placing the phone on speaker she put the phone down and finally slid her shirt back on.
"...ahlan's been asking for you." Bo looked down at the phone. The woman's voice had the same odd accent as Cara's. Oddly enough, Bo noticed that both of the voices were hard, trained and careful, as if they were constantly hiding something.
"She has?" Cara said, faking a passive, bored tone. Bo's eyes flicked to her. Studying her, Bo's brow pinched, intrigued about the woman's reaction. Cara's expression was hardened, that in its self said enough.
"Richard as well, but his is for a different reason. By any chance did you manage to piss off an elf back in Washington?"
"Name?" Cara asked.
"No name, one has just has been putting in a complaint to the Mother Confessor. I've had twelve since you left Australia by the way. Thanks for that, it's difficult enough with Berdine and Raina leaving ruins in their wake, I don't need you to add to it as well - and Garen has been leaving a mess in Spain with the Dark Fae who seem to think the dwarves should be used for more...useful means, whatever that means. Dahlia seems to be the only one not leaving any mess - she follows instructions."
"Fantastic," Cara muttered, "look, I've got to go drop Bo off at the Lab, can we continue this extremely interesting conversation there?" Denna's laugh came through the phone, making Bo shiver uncomfortably at the suggestion behind it.
"Do I get to meet the lovely Doctor? Berdine hasn't stopped fawning over her. It's been a while since she's had a crush on anyone outside of our sisterhood, it's really quite adorable. Though from what I've heard, Raina wasn't happy at first, but the doctor is winning her over."
"Do you mean Lauren?" Bo asked, jealously rising up inside of her. There was a pause on the phone. Cara turned to look at Bo, an eyebrow quirked, ready to ask a question before she looked back down at the phone. Slowly, Bo restrained her jealousy. It wasn't her place. After all if she was polygamous, then Lauren had the same right.
"Is that the succubus, Cara? She sounds just like you whenever someone mentions having relations with Kahlan."
"Shut-up, Denna," Cara hissed. Reaching down to phone, as Denna laughed, Cara pushed her finger down on the screen and hung-up the phone. Hotly glaring at it, a series of muttered, odd words were spoken, before she stuffed it in the pocket of her pants.
Bo looked away, becoming suddenly very interested in the landscape as she pulled a twig and a few leaves out of her hair.
"Where did your dog go?" She asked after a moments pause, instead of asking about Kahlan.
"Raina took him," Cara replied gruffly. Grabbing Bo around her waist, she turned her around, and kissed her on the lips.
When Bo pulled away, she took a moment to look into the sea green eyes before grinning at Cara. "We should do this again sometime. Preferably in a bed of some description, or at least on softer surface." Cara raised an eyebrow, a small tugging smile at her lips before she dropped her hand around Bo's waist.
"I agree. You should...come visit sometime. I have quite a large bed."
"A large bed," Bo's eyebrows went up. "Well, I have...no walls."
Cara's expression twisted, not sure if she should take her seriously or not. When Bo looked down at the ground, a slight blush heating her cheeks as she kicked at the leaves nervously, Cara almost laughed. "That's ridiculous."
"I know," Bo sighed. "Believe me, I know."
"Now I have a reason to go visit your house," she said.
Bo smiled before taking in a sharp breath and stepping back, "So...to the lab then?" she asked.
"You don't mind, do you?"
"No, I need to go there anyway," Bo said, almost too quickly. Truth was, she wanted to see Lauren, see that she was okay and not being mistreated by anyone. She liked Cara enough, but she didn't trust her, let alone Raina or Berdine - and least of all the Denna woman.
Nodding her head, Cara lead her through the throng of trees, back over to the motorbike parked off the side of the road. "Hold on tight," Cara told her as she swung a leg over, "I like to break some rules." Bo grinned, climbing onto the back and placing one of the helmets onto her head as Cara placed the other on.
"I thought you drove here," Bo said to her, as she adjusted her feet on the back
"I did. Raina dropped it off before." Bo was about to ask how, before she instead just gave up. At the moment, she didn't really care how things were arriving. They just did and that was good enough for her at this point.
Slowly, she wrapped her arms around Cara's waist, breathing in the woman scent of leather, and the forest, before she heard Cara rev the engine of the motorbike. Before she could take in a breath, they were speeding back onto the road and down the highway back into town.
-x-
Lauren's jaw twitched as she stared at the new blonde. The woman reminded her of the Morrigan in how she spoke to her, and that made her nervous.
Being that Denna was dressed in a white, silk blouse and a tanned pencil skirt, Lauren was more than a little offset. Mainly because she oozed power, and when her blue eyes flicked to her, Lauren had the sudden feeling of being marked as prey.
"She is cute," Denna murmured, stepping closer with her hips swaying in each, careful step. The woman's expensive heels clicked, almost threateningly and Lauren resisted the hard urge, to press up against the wall, behind her. Nervously she looked down at the gripped clipboard, trying to subtly defer Denna's attention from her, back to Berdine.
"I'm always right," Berdine scoffed loudly from the other side of the lab. Looking up, relieved that the woman grabbed the attention for herself, Lauren watched as Raina shook her head, and pushed Berdine out the way before she snatched at the notes and squinted at them. "See, I can easily read her handwriting better than you," Berdine continued.
"No, I'm relatively sure it reads-"
"Why would the confessor want an ox's heart?" Berdine demanded.
"Why would she want an oak's heart - what is an oak's heart?"
"Magic!" Berdine explained before shuffling her feet nervously, "I don't know."
Denna's eyes went from the squabbling couple, back to Lauren. "This isn't your first time around people like us, is it?" she asked. "Don't deny it, you act differently around us then you do with other fae. You're careful, calculating everything you say and making sure that you tell us as much information as you can. You don't lie, not from what I've seen at least."
Lauren didn't point out that the woman had been here for only an hour, most of that spent leaning up against the wall as she watched her and Berdine flick through pages of High D'Haran as Lauren slowly learnt the language.
"No, I...when I first began here a woman was brought here after being attacked by a morragh. She shouldn't have survived the attack but...someone found her, clinging onto life and..." Lauren trailed off, unable to help the smile that twitched at her lips.
"She's always been a survivor," Denna whispered before looking over her shoulder. "Speak of the devil."
"Bo," Lauren said surprised, before even more shock slipped over her features, "Cara?" Forgetting Bo completely, she dropped her clipboard down on the table and grinned at the long-lost friend.
Cara smirked, "I knew you were the Doc working here," she said, swaggering over, "it's been a while since New York happened." Slowly, Lauren nodded. She'd been placed in New York when she was new to the Ash. Word of her, a human who had quite a unique set of skills, had spread like wildfire. She'd been given to New York for a week, settling a debt of some sort, before she returned the next week unscathed, having dealt with the problem with ease.
Cara took a last step forward, leaning as she kissed Lauren's lips affectionately, in greeting. Pulling away after a brief moment, Lauren smiled, unable to hold a masked expression, as she looked at her. "I lost your number," she explained, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling, "but you never called me so I assumed..." she shrugged.
Cara grinned at her, "No, you never gave me your number."
"I did, I...it doesn't matter." She shook her head, smiling down to her feet. An odd assortment of emotions were running inside of her. The last time she'd seen Cara, the night had been quite eventful. Filled with more danger and thrill within a couple of hours, than Lauren ever wanted to go through again, in a year's worth of adventure.
Well, most of it anyway.
"Bo, how are you?" she asked, looking over Cara's shoulder to see a very confused succubus looking at her.
"I..." Bo began. "I think..." she trailed off again, smiling. None of this was quite making sense, and staring between Cara and Lauren's obvious desire for each other was doing her head in. "I need to go see Kenzi," she muttered under her breath, "but...call me if you need anything and I'll, ah, talk to you later sometime..."
"Okay," Lauren whispered, wishing that Bo wouldn't leave. Quietly, and almost longly, she watched Bo give a last smile and exit the lab, leaving Lauren alone in a room filled with four other, intimidating women. She wasn't scared, not necessarily. After all, she'd dealt with the fae before. But she was wary of them.
Denna lifted up a fifty dollar note in between two of her fingers, catching Lauren's eye. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Cara snatched the note from Denna and stuck it in her pocket.
The pale blonde, woman smirked at Lauren, "We have bets with each other," she explained, "and currently, you're a part of ours."
Lauren frowned, "I am?"
"And that's our cue to leave," Berdine said. "Thank you, Lauren, for the translation help. I'll come back tomorrow at ten to continue on, and Raina will get confirmation on if Kahlan meant Ox's heart or Oak's heart."
"Ox," Raina muttered under her breath before smiling goodbye.
Cara turned back to Lauren, and suddenly, the doctor felt cornered between them. "We had a bet that I'd see you again," Cara said, leaning against the table with one hand. "As you can see, I won, which I knew I would." She smirked at Denna, who in turn, rolled her eyes.
"We have another bet," Denna said, "but it requires your participation."
Lauren blinked, "My participation?" she whispered, confused. When her eyes flicked between the two women, Lauren's mind jumped to a conclusion, "Oh...are you asking me...?"
"Yes. We are," Cara nodded, confirming her suspicions.
Lauren breathed in hesitantly, looking up at the clock on the wall. Carefully, she thought over the pros and cons of the situation, before her own desires ran through her, giving a wanting shiver down her spine. Screw it, you only live once, she thought. Deciding, she gave a sure nod and a small smile. "I'd like that," she said to them, her fingers running nervously over her lab coat, "if you could give me a moment to pack up, I'll meet you-"
"I'll wait," Denna said. Slowly, she turned her head and kissed Cara's lips, "You can quickly clean any mess you left."
"I have a housekeeper," Cara muttered under her breath, "it's clean enough." Denna smirked, shaking her head in an affectionate mock, before she looked back at Lauren. "Don't hurt her," Cara said to her, a warning look on her face, before she left.
"I won't, I like her as she is. All curious and sweet. She reminds me of..." she smiled slowly, "Now I see why you liked her."