The next morning was cool and overcast again. It was early, just after dawn, the only time Lauren could step outside on her own and feel less paranoid about the next Fae around the corner sent to do her in. She poured herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen after being chased back inside by the rain that started to patter on the roof and wished her mood didn't match the weather as perfectly as it seemed to.
She felt a little better today, she could move a little freer, breathe a little deeper. It was all a fraction better than the day before. Lauren sat in the armchair next to the fireplace and rubbed her face. She looked over at the stairs when she heard the footsteps from above. Kenzi moved quietly, but not silently and stopped short when she noticed Lauren in the chair.
"Good… morning," she said, clearly puzzled by Lauren's presence.
"Just wanted to get some fresh air," Lauren reasoned despite Kenzi not asking. "There's coffee."
"Oh bless you," Kenzi assaulted the machine, licking her lips in anticipation.
She didn't expect to run into Kenzi so early, but there was much different about the petite powerhouse of a human since she had returned from Hel. And Lauren was patient about relearning Kenzi's habits. After all, she had experienced a major upheaval herself and was fully aware that she felt differently then she did before. She smiled when Kenzi nestled into the corner of the couch, tucking a foot under her. They sat in silence for a minute or two before Kenzi spoke.
"You've got a little color back," she said into her mug.
"Yeah?" Lauren touched her face again like it wasn't her own. "It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do."
Kenzi smiled cordially, blinking carefully before deciding to take another sip of coffee. "How long are you going to pretend Bo didn't almost kill you?"
She should have expected the question. Especially from Kenzi. Lauren retreated into her cup before staring at the woman across from her. "It was an accident."
"Didn't you guys swear off that stuff?"
"Bo needed to see if her powers had come back." Lauren sighed. "I didn't want her to go to anyone else."
"Doc," Kenzi leaned forward to put her mug down. "You've been over this. You can't do it, you're human…" She frowned. "Again." Kenzi shook her head. "Point is, isn't it enough that she comes back to you every time?"
"I just…" Lauren stared at her coffee, thumb nail scraping at the side of the mug.
"I know," Kenzi leaned over and rubbed her knee. "She loves you, Lauren. And she feels horrible for hurting you."
Lauren nodded into her lap, squeezing Kenzi's hand. It was almost comical that Bo felt bad for doing something Lauren had asked for. And after all her efforts to convince Bo that she wasn't a monster, Lauren put her in the exact position Bo had worried about since their first time. But in that moment, when Lauren couldn't breathe, or blink, or even move, watching her life pour from her body, she couldn't describe the feeling any other way:
"It was-"
"Sensual?" Kenzi interjected. "Romantic… faetastic?"
Lauren sighed. "Terrifying." Kenzi blinked, her attempt to lighten the mood fell hard against her shoulders. Lauren looked at her suddenly then, seriously, like she gave away a secret. "Please don't tell her that."
Kenzi smiled. "I won't," she whispered.
Lauren nodded her thanks and looked at the coffee in her hands like she'd just remembered it was there. Both women took a moment to sip their coffee, the silence was comfortable between them this time. Lauren's head had cleared a little, saying the things she needed to get out without hurting Bo in the process and the coffee warmed her against the heavy rain. She looked at Kenzi then, who was staring into the distance as she drank.
"So how are you?" Lauren asked.
Kenzi shook her head and smiled sadly. "It's okay, you've got enough to worry about."
"It can't always be about me and Bo."
"And somehow, it is." Kenzi let her words settle. She shook her head again.
"Kenzi."
Kenzi raised her finger in the air. "Okay, if we're gonna exchange sob stories," she stood and took Lauren's coffee cup to the kitchen and opened the freezer door. "Ice cream is essential."
A bell rung as she walked into the Dal Riata. Trick looked up from his perch at the bar. Kenzi, channeling her best Jackie O. approached, hips swinging dramatically as she went. She wore all black from the patent leather pumps to the pillbox hat with netting on her head.
Kenzi's eyes scanned the room, presumably looking for someone who might report back to Bo that they'd seen her at the Dal. Secretly, Kenzi just had an eye out for any threats, after all she had been invited back to a territory where she, Bo and Lauren were a wanted commodity.
Satisfied it was safe, Kenzi tucked her clutch that smartly hid a tazer, back under her arm as she hopped up onto a barstool. Trick smiled disingenuously. "Thank you for coming," he said.
"No bullshit," Kenzi held up a finger. "I'm here for Bo despite having to go behind her back to see what you wanted."
"Of course. I only wish we could have met under different circumstances."
"Bullshit," she said again. "You don't have time for puny humans and you know it."
"Kenzi," he started. "I asked you here because you find yourself in a position to help the Fae, something you have always shown yourself ready to do."
"The only Fae I have ever helped is Bo and that's how it's going to stay."
Trick smiled. "You are very loyal to my granddaughter and don't think it has gone unnoticed."
"What is this? Are you threatening me now?"
"No, nothing of the sort." Trick held up his hands. "Please, have a drink on me." Trick lifted a bottle of vodka from the wall behind him and poured Kenzi a shot.
"You better not have roofied this bottle of vodka." She threw back a shot and patted the bar to ask for more.
"Tell me…" Trick poured another shot. "Can you shed any light on what Lauren is doing with her research?"
"I think you misunderstand why I'm here."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Trick said.
"That's obvious. But here's the thing. I'm not going to betray Lauren. Can't you see that Lauren's sole interest in the Fae is Bo now? That she's not going to bring about the great extinction? She's proven that she's one of us time and time again, why can't you trust her?"
"She wields her power recklessly."
"Some might say the same of you," Kenzi looked at her nails.
"I am the acting Ash. My concerns are for all Fae."
"And mine is for our family. So man up, Gramps, because you're tearing it apart."
The bubbles popped and fizzled in front of her. Lauren stared into the white mass, listening to the rain hammer the roof above her head. The drops in the bucket of water in the middle of the bedroom came quicker than they had last night, when she stumbled over it on her way to the bathroom. She'd need to empty it again when she got out of the tub.
She shifted, the bubbles wobbling along with the disturbance in the water and closed her eyes. The idea of the bath was to relax, to clear her head and get back to her research. It wasn't supposed to go this way. Science came with a measure of risk that could be predicted, and some that could only be hypothesized. But truthfully, she didn't really know how it was supposed to go. Her inability to stop thinking about Bo was distracting, from everything.
All she could see when she closed her eyes was Bo's look of panic when it was clear she couldn't remember how to stop feeding. She arrived at the conclusion a few seconds after Lauren, who now couldn't forget the tightness in her chest, the feeling of her own body failing under Bo's powerful draw. It was miraculous and horrifying.
"Hey."
Lauren opened her eyes with a start and looked over at Bo who leaned her shoulder into the wall in the doorway. She studied Bo's eyes as they traveled from the hair piled loosely on her head, to her face, to her chest where skin disappeared beneath the bubbles. "Something on your mind?" she asked with a smirk.
Bo smiled and crossed her arms, looking at the floor. "Sort of."
But there was something missing in Bo's response. Lauren watched Bo kick at the floor with her toe when the smile faded. "Well if it was that, you wouldn't still be standing there, so…" Lauren paused. "What is it?"
Bo looked at Lauren. "Trick wants your research."
Lauren laughed, she couldn't help it. "Well I hope he's prepared to wait, because he's not going to get it."
"I think you should give it to him," Bo said seriously.
Lauren opened her mouth and then closed it. She took a breath. "You do?" It was as if all the air was let out of her lungs. Lauren suddenly felt alone. "I should have known you'd side with him."
"This isn't going to stop, Lauren." Bo's voice cut through the silence of the bathroom.
"This research has been my life for over seven years. I put everything into it and no one, not even a Blood King, is going to take that away from me."
"The next thing you're gonna say is that your life's work is more important than your life."
"Well…" Lauren considered.
"Aw, come on." Bo spun around, a physical expression of her confusion and frustration.
"Bo, I need you to listen to me." Lauren lifted a sud-covered hand out of the water and placed it on her heart. "I took twenty bullets and recovered in six weeks. I was beaten by ogres and still managed to be up and around in a few days. And when you fed on me you know I would have died if I was one hundred percent human."
Bo shook her head. "What are you saying?"
"Something is different about me now Bo and this research is my only road map to tell me what I've done to myself."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Lauren shrugged. "I needed to be sure."
Bo plopped onto the chair just inside the bedroom and sighed. "What are we gonna do, Lauren?"
"Give me a few days," she said, staring into the bubbles again. "I'll think of something."
Kenzi raised her arm to signal the bartender. She had fled the clubhouse when things got awkward between Bo and Lauren. Now, sitting at the neighborhood pub she was three drinks deep on the verge of an honest to goodness bender. This place didn't have the old world charm that the Dal had but it had liquor and beyond that, Kenzi wasn't choosey. They were fighting because Trick commanded it. That guy is such a disappointment. Kenzi remembered a time when Trick considered her a pet like the rest of them. It was no wonder he couldn't handle Bo's other pet outsmarting everyone.
Kenzi's eyes scanned the room. This place is a total shit show. A trucker and his lady love were making out in the corner booth, it was open mic night and a hippy was playing a revival of songs by Jewel. The bartender was a rotund man, whose white t-shirt was stained with sweat and food and his suspenders were carrying their maximum load. The door swung open and a new challenger approached, boots clomping on the wood floor. A hand slapped the bar top, a twenty dollar bill nestled between her fingers.
"Whiskey," she said in a low voice. "Make it a double." And then she turned her eyes to Kenzi, who watched her carefully. "You want one?"
Kenzi shrugged, never one to turn down a free drink. "Sure. But you should know," she lowered her voice. "I'm not into ladies. I mean, I'm okay with it and everything, it's just not for me. In fact, my roommates are gay ladies."
Her laugh started like a rumble in her belly and rose up through her chest before her teeth flashed and the corners of her mouth turned up. "That is the last thing on my mind, sweet thing. You're not from around here, are you?"
"You could say I'm from the other side of the tracks."
"Clever girl."
The bartender dropped the pair of whiskeys in front of the mysterious stranger and took her money. Kenzi's attention was on the melodrama in the corner, lady love having had enough of the trucker's promises to leave his wife. It was like an episode of Jerry Springer and Kenzi was enthralled. With Kenzi's attention turned elsewhere, the mysterious female lifted her hand over the glass and made a fist, squeezing a liquid into the whiskey before sliding it in front of Kenzi.
Kenzi looked over her shoulder at the stranger. "This place has the best sideshows!" She said with childish glee. When lady love stormed out and the trucker followed, Kenzi spun around on her stool again. "So what's your story? Secret agent? Bounty hunter? Happy homemaker, out on the town?"
"Something like that."
"No shit?" Unwittingly, Kenzi took a long swig of the tainted whiskey.
The rain pounded on the rooftop and as the pub's door opened, she could see the rain coming down in sheets. Slow, deliberate footsteps dragged across the floor toward Kenzi. Her vision grew foggy and her eyes, now heavy, fell on another pair of muddy boots, then drifted back to the original pair. Following her legs to the female stranger's blank expression, she felt alarm in her throat when she swallowed. Her face was hot and in that moment, Kenzi knew she'd been had. "Who the hell are you?"
"Your best friend and your worst enemy."
"I don't understand why you can't just make a decision now," Bo pushed.
"Because unlike you, who rushes headlong into everything you do, I like to consider all the possibilities."
"So what's wrong with being sure about my path?"
"That's not what I said," Lauren sighed.
A crash came from outside the clubhouse and Bo jumped to her feet. "What the hell?" She held a hand up. "Wait here."
Lifting her sword from the island, Bo charged out the front door. When she threw open the door, Lauren was at her side. A fat man in a rain poncho stood beside the Camaro with a crowbar. Her driver's side window was smashed.
"Hey asshole, what did that car ever do to you?"
"Your pet got loose." Bo felt Lauren's hand on her shoulder as a woman approached with Kenzi in front of her. Kenzi's mascara had run as the rain continued to soak her.
"Kenz, you okay?" Bo took a step forward, sweeping her sword through the rain.
"Yeah, sorry guys."
"What do you want?" Lauren called out.
"You know what we want, Doctor," the man called as he smashed another window in the Camaro.
"Hey!" Bo yelled. "You've got our attention."
"Put down your weapon," the woman called.
Bo laid the sword onto the step behind her and continued to walk toward the three of them. "Let her go now."
The woman pushed Kenzi forward and she fell onto her knees in the mud and gravel. Bo helped her up and guided her unsteadily to Lauren. "Go inside." Bo pushed the wet hair from her brow. "I'll be in in a minute." She closed the door and stepped back onto the driveway. "Thank you for your cooperation. I must say, you are both shitty bounty hunters."
"Awfully cocky for a human."
"It's funny you should mention that. There's been a development and you're about to see for yourselves." The sound of a switchblade flicking open made Bo hold up her hand to the woman. "Easy, now." Bo smiled and her eyes flashed blue. Her mouth opened and she began siphoning chi from the fat man.
"No," she shook her head. "They said you were human."
Bo dropped the fat man easily and began to advance on the woman. "Yeah, that woman in there," she nodded her head to the clubhouse. "She's a genius, and now I'm afraid it's your turn. But maybe…" The woman put her hands up and began to back away. "If you take him with you, I'll let you leave with your life."
She grabbed the fat man by his arms with haste and began dragging him to the car, a smile plastered on his lifeless face.
"Let me see."
"It's fine," Kenzi grumbled. Lauren brushed Kenzi's bloodied knees with antiseptic. "I'm so stupid," Kenzi put her head in her hands.
"They drugged you," Lauren said seriously, bandaging her knees.
"You think we should go check on her?"
Lauren smiled. "I think she's just fine."
Kenzi lifted her head. "When are you going to give him what he wants?"
"I can't."
"Of course you can't," Kenzi said, her eyes rolling.
"Ethically speaking, my hands are tied."
"Well, you'd better get used to that feeling, because it won't be long before it's your turn to be kidnapped."
"Kenzi, I know I can't expect you to understand, but you're going to have to trust me. Trick cannot get his hands on my research."
"Everyone okay?" Bo stood a few feet away, water dripping onto the floor.
"Bo." Lauren stood and walked to her, wrapping her up in terry cloth. "Go get changed. We have to talk."
Twenty minutes later, Lauren had made hot toddys for them and Bo emerged from upstairs, still drying her hair with a towel. She walked to the couch and ruffled Kenzi's hair. "How are you feeling, Sassafras?"
Kenzi lifted the hot toddy to her lips and shook her head. "A few more of these and I won't care how I feel."
Lauren passed Bo a steaming mug and watched as Bo sat next to Kenzi. It was so obvious that Lauren was out of her depth with Kenzi, but Bo, she knew exactly how to coax Kenzi back to herself and in a few minutes they were laughing. Sitting beside the other women, Lauren looked into her own mug before speaking. "I know you've both said you were against leaving town, but I was hoping you had reconsidered in light of tonight's events." Lauren sipped her mug.
"I can't, I'm sorry," Bo said. "I promised myself I was done running."
"Circumstances change, Bo." Lauren looked to Kenzi for reinforcements.
"Sorry, Doc," she said, shrugging her shoulders and sinking into the couch.
Lauren sighed. "In that case, I have a proposal."
Bo raised her eyebrows. "That sounds official."
"In a manner of speaking, yes, it is."
"Well? Don't keep a sister hanging!" Kenzi exclaimed.
"Instead of paying for the trip, let me upgrade the clubhouse. We need security, as I think the past few days have shown us."
"What did you have in mind?" Bo asked.
"Perimeter alarms, exit/entry alarms, cameras, a security cage at the entrance."
"Just the basics, then."
Lauren shrugged unapologetically. "Maybe some drywall?"
"I know you're like crazy smart and stuff, L-dot, but is investing all that money in a place we don't even own the smartest idea?"
"No, I don't suppose it is." Lauren stood and pulled a piece of paper from her back pocket and held it out to Bo. "It's the deed to the land."
"How'd you get this?"
"I found it in the basement with a slew of other paperwork."
"We're actually living here legally?" Kenzi scoffed. "Next thing you know we'll be law abiding citizens."
"I just killed someone in the driveway, I really don't think that's a problem."
"So?" Lauren asked. "What do you say?" She held her own hand tightly as Bo waffled, unable to decide.
"Let's do it."