Disclaimer: I do not own the characters they belong to the wonderful people of Lost Girl, Showcase, Prodigy, et al.

Two Weeks Later….

Lauren ran her finger over the spines of the books that were on the shelf as she tried to have a hushed conversation with Bo on the phone. She probably should have left the research library to have the conversation, but she thought it would be a quick phone call. However, that was not the case. They were talking about the wedding and Bo had just informed her that Aife had suggested that they should have doves released after the ceremony.

"Bo, the wedding is going to be held in the mountains, at my family's lodge. What about this is your mother not understanding?" She scoffed. "Doves would probably be eaten by some hawk out there," Lauren retorted as she looked at the books that were in front of her. She was looking for one cell modification but her being on the phone was making it quite difficult for her to focus. She blew out an exasperated breath. "If your mother wants doves she can pay for them, but you and I will not be paying for doves. And another thing, the ceremony is going to be in the evening so your mom-"

"Lauren," Bo said in a calm tone. "I know and I have told her this. Take a deep breath love." Lauren took a deep breath and Bo chuckled. "All right now that you're not going to go off about my mother, I will tell her that she is not allowed to buy doves. That this will be a dove free wedding. Okay?"

Lauren nodded. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath then said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off and thank you."

Bo laughed then remarked, "If you didn't go off at least once or twice while we planned the wedding then you wouldn't be the woman that I love." She drew in a deep breath. "What's our plan for next week?"

Lauren's eyebrows furrowed then she remembered what was happening. "Right, Viv and Piper will be coming into town."

Bo hummed then asked, "Just Piper? No Alex?"

Lauren stopped looking for the book that she needed. "Yeah, Alex is closing her first major contract and Piper will only be down until Thursday."

"That means we will have one full day where it will be just you, me, Viv," Bo pointed out but Lauren could hear the speculation in her voice. Bo had been surprised to hear that Piper was coming down the same time as Viv. Lauren knew that Bo was questioning the reason behind Piper's visit. She also knew that was going to have to tell her the truth at some point.

Lauren walked out of the library and drew in a deep breath before saying, "You know the real reason why Piper is coming to visit don't you?"

Bo was quiet a moment then she stated, "I have my suspicions but I don't know for certain. However I do have several signs telling me that they are correct."

Lauren was proud that she was mature enough to have this conversation with Bo, but at the same time she dreaded to have it because it was a mess that she had created. "She's coming to be my buffer," Lauren admitted with some reluctance.

"Your buffer?" Bo was quiet then she asked, "Your buffer for what?"

Lauren sighed and before she could answer her pager started to go off. She groaned and looked it. It was a page to the emergency room. "I've got to go Bo. I'll give you call when I'm done and we can finish our discussion."

"Yes you will Lauren because I can't wait to hear all about this buffer that Piper is supposed to be," Bo said and even though her tone was playful there was some underlying sarcasm to it. "Bye love."

The call ended and Lauren frowned. She shouldn't have created this shit storm with her insecurities. She shook her head to prevent herself from dwelling on her self-recriminating thoughts and ran to the nearest elevator. She hoped this wasn't another thing that was going to add to the pile of crap that was on her day. Lauren got to the ER and as soon as she walked into the busy area she found Dr. Arizona Robbins tending to a baby on one of the beds. Lauren rushed over and said, "Dr. Robbins I'm sorry-"

"Not now Lauren. Stand over there and keep quiet," the senior pediatric attending told her as she looked over the crying infant that was on gurney.

Lauren watched what Dr. Robbins was doing but at the same time she was focused on the crying infant. The baby couldn't have been more than a month old, and he had a head full of dark hair. Dr. Robbins glanced at the fire fighters that were standing by the gurney and asked, "What happened?"

The older firefighter said, "He was outside of the main door of the station. One of the guys was doing some maintenance out front and found him. We brought him in as fast as possible."

Dr. Robbins nodded then motioned for Lauren to come closer. When she was standing by the gurney the woman said, "Check him over."

Lauren did as she was told and while she was examining him she talked to the baby. "Hey, little guy. It's all going to be okay. I'm going to take a look at you and make sure everything is all right." The baby calmed down at the sound of her voice and he looked at her. His dark brown eyes were fixed on her and Lauren smiled. He was too adorable. Lauren tickled under his chin and that cause him to smile. Her heart melted at the sight of it. "You are precious aren't you little guy?"

Someone cleared their throat and Lauren saw Dr. Robbins looking at her. Lauren felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. "Sorry Dr. Robbins."

Dr. Robbins chuckled and remarked, "No need to apologize. You actually did wonderful. You were able to calm him down which made it easier for you to examine him." She grinned. "You did a great job. Now what did you find?"

Lauren tickled the baby's stomach and said, "Physically he looks fine but we'll wait to see what his labs say. Isn't that right little guy?"

Dr. Robbins chuckled. "Good assessment. We'll admit him because he's probably hungry and we have to wait on his labs. We'll also contact social services to let them know that we have an abandoned baby." Lauren had started playing with the baby again and Dr. Robbins said, "Lauren did you hear me?"

Lauren blushed as she looked at the attending. "Yes Dr. Robbins." A grin came to her face when she glanced at the baby. Lauren was drawn to him and she had to admit that she was developing a soft spot for him. "Dr. Robbins is it okay if I stay on this case? He doesn't have anyone and it seems like he's comfortable with me."

Dr. Robbins nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea and since you'll be up on peds watching this little guy, I want you to shadow my resident for the rest of the day. I'm not on call so you can go home at six tonight."

Lauren nodded. She didn't like the fact that she was going to be monitoring the floor with Dr. Robbins third year resident, but since she was going to be able to hang around this adorable baby it wasn't going to be too bad. A transport bassinet came for him and Lauren moved him to it then they moved him up to the peds department. On the elevator ride up Lauren looked at him then she looked at the orderlies and nurses that were with her then she said, "No one tell Dr. Robbins about this."

She went to go pick up the baby and one of the nurses said, "Dr. Lewis-"

"He doesn't have anyone and the little guy is probably scared." She picked him up and he gave a small whimper as Lauren adjusted him in her arms. She felt a strong wave of emotion for the baby in her arms and she wanted to protect him at all cost. "He shouldn't have to go through this with us being distant from him. If Dr. Robbins has taught me anything thing it's that when it comes to kids policy goes out the window." Lauren gently rocked the baby in her arms. "Isn't that right little guy?" The baby yawned and Lauren chuckled. He was perfect and she was going to make sure that he came out of this horrible ordeal fine and with little damage.

Bo sat at the computer in the guest room and was planning out what topics she wanted to teach for the next month or so. Tomorrow she would be signing her contract with Northeastern. She was excited and nervous. Bo and Mark had spent that last two weeks hammering out the details of her contract, and yesterday they had their final meeting about it. It was an ideal contract and it had her building a sex education empire at Northeastern. The first stepping stone in building that empire began with her giving a few seminars throughout the next few months while she planned her curriculum for the classes that she would be teaching in the fall. Bo was excited to get back into teaching. She couldn't wait.

Bo glanced at the time and realized that she hadn't heard back from Lauren in the last few hours. The two of them were supposed to be discussing why her fiancée needed a buffer for when she met her best friend. Bo knew that Lauren had her insecurities about Viv, but she also had figured that once the two women met then everything would be fine. Lauren needing a buffer did not scream fine. In fact it screamed that Lauren would need a third party to keep her in line while Viv was here. Bo scoffed. She was doing her best and trying not to get upset about the situation but that didn't mean that she wasn't annoyed. However her reeling in her anger was now on short leash since Lauren hadn't called her back.

Bo sighed and picked up her phone then got up from the desk chair. As she walked into the living room she called her mom. When the call was answered she said, "Lauren invited Piper to visit next week because Viv is coming to visit."

"Uh-huh. You two will have a best friends weekend. Hopefully Piper and Viv can light a fire under your asses so that some wedding planning can get done," Aife commented with thinly veiled sarcasm.

Bo scoffed. "Mother this isn't why I'm calling so can we put the wedding stuff on hold for a moment?"

Aife sighed in her ear. "I'm sorry. What's the matter Bo?"

Bo ran her hand through her hair as she walked over to the couch. She plopped down on it and said, "She only invited Piper because of her stupid insecurities. I feel like once she meets Viv everything will be fine."

The line was quiet for a few seconds then her mom wondered, "Bo, what did you expect? She's young and still has those lingering insecurities. Not to mention Vivian is a very attractive woman. I mean she makes me feel insecure and we both know I'm nothing short of perfection."

Bo blew out an exasperated breath and let her head fall onto the back of the couch. "I know she's young and it's the reason why I'm being so patient, but I've told her over and over again that I have no interest in Viv and Viv has no interest in me."

"I thank the universe for that small favor," Aife commented with a chuckle. "Planning a wedding for you two would have probably involved bulletproof vests or something."

Bo scowled. Her mother wasn't being helpful. In fact she was being the opposite of that. Deciding to move the conversation along Bo took a deep breath then said, "Oh, and I am supposed to tell you that we don't want doves at the wedding. But if you want doves, you can buy them yourself." Bo chuckled. "Lauren also mentioned that it wouldn't be a good idea because we are in the mountains so something might eat the doves."

Aife sighed and replied, "I figured as much. It was an asinine idea anyway. Have you two landed on a theme yet?" Bo started to laugh and her mom sighed again. "I'm taking that as a no then."

"That is actually a hell no," Bo told her mom as she caught her breath. When she could form a full sentence she said, "Lauren started her pediatric clerkship a couple of weeks ago and I've been in long ass meetings with Northeastern going over my contract. We haven't had time to discuss themes." She was relieved that contract negotiations were over because now she would be able to focus on the wedding. "Next week, since Lauren has somewhat of a break, we'll get as much done as possible."

Aife hummed then remarked, "Sure Bo. We'll see how much actually gets done."

Bo wanted to scowl but her mother was right. Considering Viv and Piper were going to be in town she was certain that not much would get done. Bo rolled her eyes. She still couldn't believe that Lauren had invited Piper. She blew out a breath and said, "I sign my contract tomorrow."

"Are you excited?"

Bo chuckled at little. "Yes I am. We've worked out things so that I can take my time developing a new program. I'll be teaching as much as I want to and researching until my heart is content. It's a great setup."

Aife chuckled and remarked, "It sounds like it, but you also said the same thing about the Italy program and look what happened there."

Bo released an irritated breath then retorted, "I should have known that bringing this up with you was a bad idea. I'm not going to go through this again." She sighed. "I'm going to go mom. I need to call Lauren so we can talk." She frowned. "Or maybe I should wait until she gets home."

Her mom chuckled and told her, "That is your decision but I will say this: she's at the hospital, doing whatever it is that she does there, and talking about something that is only going to upset the both of you might not end well. Especially if she's not in the state of mind to talk about it."

Bo chuckled a little. "You're right. So I will sit here and contemplate themes, table settings, and food while trying to decide if my first seminar should be a continuation of my psychological sex series or if I should jump into something new." She grinned. "I might do something that's taboo and political just to see what Mark says. He's been on board with everything I've told him, but I wonder how he will feel about something like that."

"And what do you have in mind?" Her mom asked and Bo could hear the amusement in her voice.

Bo chuckled and told her, "You remember that study I had found about sexual deviancy that was from the early seventies?"

Aife hummed then said, "I do remember that. You thought it was interesting and tried to find more leads on it but ended up empty handed. What are you going to do?"

Bo smirked. "I'm going to present those findings in a couple of seminars then, in the last seminar, I am going to introduce my newest research project. I have a few colleagues in Italy that are conducting several studies on deviant sexual behavior and I'm going to ask them to come aboard. It'll be fun research wise until we get to the darker side of things." Bo sighed. That was the one drawback of being a sex researcher. There was always a darker side to things and when the study of deviant behavior was involved the dark side always put Bo through the ringer.

The phone beeped and she pulled it away from her ear. Bo saw that Lauren was calling and she brought the phone back to her ear. "Mom I've got to go. Lauren is calling me."

"Tell her I said hello and that she should ease up on the Viv thing," Aife said. Bo wasn't going to tell Lauren that. It would lead to a pointless conversation since they had had the same discussion before.

"Okay. Bye mom. Love you." She switched over to the other line. "Hey."

"Hey. Sorry I didn't call back. I got involved in a case with Dr. Robbins and now she has me on the floor monitoring her patients with her third year resident. We've been busy," Lauren told her. Bo heard the exhaustion in her voice so she decided not to bring up the Viv and Piper thing.

She smiled and put her feet up on the coffee table as she looked up at the ceiling. "That's a big thing if she thinks you can handle the floor while she off treating patients."

Lauren chuckled and remarked, "It is, but I brought it on myself."

"How so?"

Lauren didn't answer right away and several long seconds had passed before she replied which rose Bo's suspicions. "There is this baby. He is the most adorable kid I have ever seen, and between the practice and my peds clerkship I've seen a lot of babies and kids, but this one he's a cutie." Bo chuckled. Lauren had never gotten this invested in a patient before and she found it funny that it took a little baby to bring out this side of her. "He was abandoned Bo. I mean whoever had him took him to the fire station, but I can't figure out why anyone would want to do that to him. He's the sweetest baby and he's healthy besides his dehydration, which we're treating, so I just don't understand how this could happen to him."

Bo was glad that she had decided to wait until Lauren got home to talk about Viv and Piper because it was obvious that this case was having an effect on her. She sighed then said in a soft voice, "Sometimes people can't take the responsibility that comes with having a kid, Lauren, and the best thing they can do is give them up. I mean it's not an ideal situation for him, but maybe it's for the best." She got a small smile on her face. "Once all the legalities are straightened out I'm sure he'll find a nice home with a loving family. From what you've told me about him, I'm certain that he won't be in the system for too long."

"The system? Wait, what system?" Lauren asked and Bo wanted to laugh. It was a very rare that she knew something that Lauren didn't.

Bo smiled and explained what was going to happen to Lauren. "He was abandoned, love. So child protective services are going to take him and put him in the foster system. He'll get matched up with a family that'll take care of him while everything is being worked out on who he is and finding his parents."

Lauren was silent then she said, "I-I've got to go Bo. I-um-Dr. Morales is going to check on one of Dr. Robbins's patients."

"Okay," Bo said with some hesitation. The sudden end to their conversation was peculiar because it seemed as though Lauren was distracted by something all of a sudden, however, it had happened before. "What time will you be home?"

"I should be home a little after six," Lauren replied quickly.

Bo nodded. "Okay. I'll cook dinner." She smiled. "Go focus on your patients doctor."

She could hear the smile in Lauren's voice when she remarked, "And you go focus on some work professor." Lauren sighed. "I love you Bo."

Bo's smile widened. "I love you too Lo-Lo."

The two of them remained on the line for another second and they didn't say anything. It was one of those moments where they couldn't get off the phone because the love they felt for each other had them missing one another. Bo heard Lauren draw in a breath. "I'll be home in a few hours."

"Okay," Bo whispered.

The call ended and Bo lowered her phone as she closed her eyes. She loved that woman so much. Bo took a deep breath then she blew it out, making a small noise. Bo thought about what she was going to do with the rest of her afternoon when a sudden thought came to her. A baby was causing Lauren to get emotionally invested in a patient that went above being professional, and it wasn't just some random baby. It was a baby that had been abandoned. The thought confused Bo because Lauren had spent the entire month dealing with babies and pregnant women but she had never gotten this emotionally invested. Bo began to wonder if Lauren was crossing a line for this baby.

It was late. Lauren didn't know how late it was, but she was certain that she was supposed to be home several hours ago. Dr. Robbins had told her to go home and Lauren had told the woman that she was going to head home. But here it was, probably close to midnight, and she was still at the hospital watching over baby John Doe. She didn't feel right leaving him all by himself. Lauren knew the nurses would take great care of him, but she felt like he needed more than just the obligated care.

Dr. Robbins third year resident was on call and he had asked why she was still there but Lauren gave him some half-assed excuse about needing to do some research. He told her that since she was going to stick around, then he was going to have her page whenever he got page to give her more exposure to how things were done on the peds floor.

But so far she hadn't been paged and she had spent most of her time in baby John Doe's room writing up the final notes for her dissertation. Lauren was writing out her outline for her paper when the baby started to fuss. She closed the notebook that she was writing in then got up. She walked over to the crib and said, "What's the matter little guy?"

He started to whimper louder and Lauren chuckled. She picked him up and was careful not to disturb the IV line that was giving him fluids. When he was first admitted he hadn't been able to keep down a bottle so they had to put in a line to keep him hydrated. Lauren hoped that he would be able to now. "Are you hungry? I know I would be after going through what you've been through." She said with a small smile as she jostled him lightly in her arms. Lauren walked over to the tray that was in the room and got one of the premade bottles that one of the nurses had brought in. She sat down in the rocking chair that was in the room and after she got the bottle open and put the nipple on it she put it in his mouth. After a couple minutes Lauren smiled. He was keeping the milk down which meant he would be able to have his IV removed.

Lauren continued to smile as she rocked him and watched him eat. This baby was doing something to her and she couldn't quite figure out what it was. She had worked with children and babies for the last two months and she hadn't gotten this attached to them emotionally, but as soon as she saw the baby that was in her arms she felt a deeper connection to him. Lauren exhaled and chuckled a little. Her maternal instincts had picked a fine time to make their presence known. The baby's eyes were closed but he was sucking down the bottle with gusto and Lauren chuckled again. She was going to stop him in a second because she didn't want him to eat too much in case it had been awhile since he had eaten last. She didn't want to overwhelm his stomach.

When Lauren pulled the bottle from his mouth he didn't like it at all and started crying. Loud cries as if she had murdered his best friend or something. Lauren cringed and stood up to retrieve the pacifier form his crib. Once it was in his mouth he sucked on it and began to calm down. Lauren blew out a breath. She wasn't certain on if she possessed maternal instincts but she had medical knowledge and that seemed to work just as well. "Is he all right Dr. Lewis?" Lauren looked up to see that one of the nurses was standing in the doorway.

Lauren chuckled as she looked down at the baby in her arms. "Yeah, everything is perfect. He was finally able to keep down some milk but I didn't want him to get an upset stomach so I stopped his meal." She laughed a little. "He wasn't okay with that, but now it seems like he'll be okay."

She heard the nurse chuckle before she commented, "He seems to have taken a shine to you. You're a natural with him."

Lauren looked up at the woman and shook her head. "No I'm just using common medical knowledge." She looked down at the content baby in her arms. "And I'm glad he has. I didn't want him to think that he had no one in his corner."

"If you need to go I can-"

Lauren shook her head and said, "No I'm fine. I want to be here in case he has a rough night or something." The nurse said okay then left the room. Lauren sat back down in the rocking chair and smiled down at the baby. Lauren was okay with staying through the night for the little guy and if she had to help Dr. Morales with a few of Dr. Robbins's patients then that was okay. It would all be worth it.

Here's an update. This is probably transparent, but I decided to go with it because I am a sap on so many levels.