The floor above them creaked and Kenzi tried to ignore the noise and continue. Tamsin peered over her cards at her. A loud squeak sounded through the room as the bed upstairs moved across the floor above.
She looked up. "Bo and Lauren are just rearranging Bo's bedroom," Kenzi stuttered.
Nodding, Tamsin tossed a pair of cards to the side. "Two cards, please."
Kenzi dealt two cards to Tamsin and poured over her own hand for a moment before taking one herself. She could hear Bo giggling and wished so much that she couldn't. There was only one thing that could make her chortle like that and if she listened closely she could hear Lauren making with the doctor talk. Kenzi was living her waking nightmare. It wasn't that she begrudged them any happiness, but she sure could deal with not having to hear their "happiness" at every turn. She reached for the remote and pointed it at the television, punching the volume up a few notches.
Tamsin smiled at her, despite slowly growing uncomfortable with the series of long, low moans reverberating throughout the clubhouse now. "Do they do this a lot?"
Kenzi snorted. "Am I the missing Kardashian sister?" Kenzi nodded vigorously.
"Isn't that weird? You know, looking them in the face after?"
"It's just sex," Kenzi shrugged. "I have lived with Bo long enough to know that there are a lot of types of sex. Sometimes it means nothing others it means everything and there's no shame in it, whatever type you're having."
"Wow," Tamsin blinked. "I'm glad we had this talk, Dr. Ruth." Not missing a beat, Tamsin took the remote from Kenzi's lap and turned the volume up again. "I just mean, how many people know what their girlfriend's sex noises sound like?"
Kenzi crossed her arms. "I know what Dyson sounds like, too, you know." She waggled her eyebrows. "You're the only one left."
"That's gross," Tamsin said, making a face. "Are you going to call, or what?"
She laughed, flipping over her cards one at a time. The noise upstairs was reaching a crescendo, the bed moving along the floor, their voices straining against the television that now blared.
"Shit." Tamsin stared at Kenzi's cards. "How'd you do that?"
Kenzi dropped the rest of the deck on the table. "Lesson number one: cheating, ma soeur, will get you everywhere."
Lauren flopped onto her back, out of breath as Bo propped herself up on an elbow, smiling. "That was uh-maze-ing," Bo said, placing emphasis on each fragment of the word. "You got some new moves."
Laughing quietly to herself, Lauren shook her head. "Always had 'em. But I didn't want to intimidate a succubus." She winked.
"Come here." Bo wrapped her arms around Lauren's waist and pulled Lauren against her, laughing. It was joy personified, a show of good humor, and a glorious feeling, to be worry-free and able to laugh at life again.
"Uh," Kenzi cleared her throat and shielded her eyes. "I understand you may have missed the alarm during your… activities. But before round two gets going, can we pause because this just in!" She gestured a marquee. "Someone is breaking in!" Lauren pulled the sheet up to her neck and swallowed. Kenzi pointed at Lauren. "Are you going to be putting some clothes on or am I going to get snatched in the panic room?"
"It's not a panic room," Lauren said slipping into a t-shirt. "It's a nerve center."
Bo smiled. "It's a nerve center," she repeated, bemused.
Kenzi made a sound and rolled her eyes. "Look, hurry up, there is still one bad dude breaking in!"
Bo hurriedly pulled on a pair of pants as Lauren buttoned her jeans and they stood in unison, Bo still fumbling for her top. They rushed downstairs to find Tamsin eating popcorn and watching the camera feed on the laptop. "This guy is the worst. I've seen my share of idiotic criminals, but this dude takes the cake. He's been trying to saw through the padlock on the side door for the past ten minutes." She searched their faces. "Saw through the chain!" She shouted.
Kenzi covered her face.
"Everybody into Lauren's nerve center." Bo said.
"Weren't you just in there?" Kenzi sassed Bo and then looked to Tamsin who was mouthing the word "ew" to her.
"Not now, Kenz," Bo admonished and then took off for the front door.
"Where are you going?" Kenzi and Lauren asked at the same time.
Bo smiled at that. "I'm gonna go deal with the newest Mensa member."
The front door slammed but the burglar seemed undeterred. A few moments passed before Bo's figure entered the frame behind him. Her mouth moved but they couldn't make out what she said. He lunged at Bo and she did what Bo always did. She kicked him in the face.
"Aren't you glad I made her put pants on?"
Lauren lay on the bed, rockabilly music filtering up through the stairs, as she read a scientific journal. They had moved on to Kill Bill. She could hear Bo climbing the stairs, having finished the bottle of wine they had shared earlier. She dropped to the bed unceremoniously and rolled onto her back. Lauren smiled as she studied Bo's face. Eyes closed, make-up wearing off, her lips were an indescribable shade of eggplant, stained from the wine, the corners of her mouth upturned in a sleepy smile and her strong jaw was set with determination even as she remained at ease.
"Can't keep your eyes off of me." Bo opened her eyes and smiled, a radiant display of good humor.
Lauren set the journal aside and exhaled the breath she had been holding. "I'm going to go back with the Fae." It came out in a whoosh of air and stunned Bo.
She sat up unsteadily. "What? Why?"
"This has gone on too long. I've let this go on far too long and it's time I took responsibility for that. This is my burden to bear."
"I can't believe what I am hearing." The anger in Bo's tone already threatened to boil over.
Lauren reached out, caressing the back of Bo's hand with her thumb. "You know Trick won't be satisfied with the research alone. You heard him. I have to give him what he wants to stop this."
"No," Bo said defiantly, pulling her hand away. "I have done everything in my power to stop this from happening and I'm not gonna let you give up on that now."
"I know you have and I appreciate it, but Bo, this was never your fight. Do you really want to live a life where you're always being attacked?"
"Yeah," Bo nodded. "That's pretty much how it always is." Lauren paused, nodding after a few moments had passed. Bo was right. She had made a life's work of defending against attackers and now she was doing it in Lauren's name. "After all these years, I've finally found my way and it may not have been my fight to begin with but it's my fight now. And I'll fight for you."
The declaration made Lauren suck in a breath and she tried not to smile like the idiot she felt like. "Bo…"
"I need you here." Bo took her hand. "And I need you to make this place safe, somewhere you can be at home." She squeezed her fingers with a smile. "And do it quickly because it's been too long since someone came knocking down the door."
The clatter of hammering filled the clubhouse, an table saw buzzed intermittently, and Bo couldn't think straight though she desperately needed to. Her eyes roamed the chaos of the main floor. Men were hammering drywall to their existing studs and it was beginning to look like a home. Lauren stood in the center of the room with the contractor and explained explicitly what they wanted. Bo smiled, her eyes burning into Lauren.
Feeling the weight of Bo's gaze, Lauren looked past the contractor to Bo, who still smiled. When Lauren smiled back, Bo felt her chest tighten and her throat constrict. Suddenly she felt like Wile E. Coyote to Lauren's Road Runner. Stunned by her anvils and yet still pursuing undeterred. It would always be like this, of that Bo was certain.
Lauren nodded at the contractor with her whole body, before turning and hurrying toward Bo with a clipboard in tow. "You're ready?"
Bo nodded. "Yeah." Her voice was barely heard above the cacophony of tools and activity around them.
Lauren took a step forward, extending a hand to cup Bo's cheek. "You can still change your mind…"
Bo bowed her head and laughed heartily. Lauren had been completely serious but Bo laughed because the thought of turning her back on Lauren was absurd. She was the tide that kept pulling Bo back into the ocean and she didn't struggle against it. "Not gonna happen," she said, finally.
Lauren, who had been serious, smiled suddenly. She nodded and took a breath. "Good." She held up a finger. "Hold that thought." Lauren disappeared upstairs. Bo looked around and wondered if she'd recognize her own home when she returned. She heard Lauren on the stairs and looked in her direction. She was carrying the briefcase. Bo watched her, absorbing her into her memory. Bo knew she was doing nothing so drastic as going off to war, but it felt that way. And when Lauren was back, her blonde hair swinging as she approached, there was something lighter in her aura. Bo now recognized that Lauren was relaxed-a phenomena in its own right-Bo, on the other hand, found her heart beginning to beat faster. "Sorry," she said, lifting the briefcase. "Had to get some friends."
Bo smiled. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"
Lauren's expression grew quiet, considering. She wet her lips before she spoke. "No," she laughed. "Not at all. But." She nodded. "We can't go on living like this."
Bo slid her hand down Lauren's arm to her hand, taking the briefcase from her. Bo squeezed her fingers. "I'm gonna make this right."
There was a moment when their eyes met and time stopped. The noise they were surrounded by faded away and it was just them, together, on the edge of something huge and amazing. Lauren took two quick steps towards her, reaching out for her face and when they connected, Bo was awestruck, love struck and hopelessly addicted. Bo couldn't help but stare at Lauren as she backed away and turned towards the door. Sound had returned and the hammering reached a crescendo as Bo walked out the front door.
"Ysabeau, you came." Trick said from behind the bar.
She took a hesitant step forward into the Dal Riata's confines. Bo's boots echoed in the empty pub. Many a night had been spent there, drinking their faces off, forgetting, forgiving, breaking up, making up and even the occasional round of sex.
"Against my better judgment," Bo spoke, finally. She could see Trick eyeing the briefcase she held from across the room.
"Where's Lauren?" He asked.
"She's not here. You can have the research but you can't have Lauren."
"You must know I had been willing to look away, to let Dr. Lewis remain free but I'm sorry that has become impossible now."
And like a switch, Bo was set on her end. Her back straightened and every muscle in her body grew taut. Trick had hit a nerve like no other and it took all the strength in her body to speak carefully when she replied. "You do not own Lauren and she will not be returning to work for the Light. This is it. You get her research and we are done here."
"You know that can't be. She knows too much, she's seen too much to ever leave the Fae."
"So what? You imprison someone for their brilliance? Jesus, you are a piece of work."
"This is how it has been done for thousands of years. This is how we protect our ranks."
"I'm so sick of this Fae bullshit. I'm starting to think I should have stayed human. "
"You would sully your bloodlines with an aspiration that puts us all to shame."
"The only thing I'm ashamed of is sharing blood with you. And you can try to take Lauren but I will fight for her and, as you may have heard, I can be relentless." Bo stood there, defiantly, basking in her own badassery for a long moment. When she moved again, her hands were reaching down, to pop open the latches to the briefcase. As the one side fell open, all of the vials poured out onto the floor, breaking as they went. Once the briefcase was empty, she dropped it, falling to the floor with a clunk. Walking over the broken glass, years of Lauren's life crunching beneath her boots, she leaned over the bar at Trick. "Guess no one gets the research." She smirked.
Pushing off the bar, Bo took three steps backwards before turning her back on her grandfather and coolly making her way back to the Camaro parked outside.
Opening up the throttle, Bo sped toward the clubhouse. She was overwrought, having just destroyed Lauren's research after reaching an impasse with Trick-they were probably no better off than they were before but damn if it didn't feel good to watch the desperation in Trick's eyes as she crunched the research beneath her boots. It wasn't until Bo pulled into the driveway at the clubhouse that she realized she just how much she had to atone for. Lauren's life work lay destroyed on the Dal Riata's floorboards. How would she tell Lauren what she had done?
The exterior of the clubhouse was quiet, the vans and trucks gone. She could hear the alarm sound as she approached the front door and then silence. She opened the door and called out to her compatriots: "Just me."
The clubhouse was a mess and only barely recognizable. Drywall was taped and mudded, ready for paint. Random wires stuck out from various holes in the walls and a few undressed light bulbs hung from the ceiling. Bo found Lauren standing expectantly by her laptop, half covered by a drop sheet, wringing her hands. Kenzi lifted her head from a pillow on the sofa, another drop sheet in a pile on the floor. "Hey Bo-Bo," she said wearily as she channel surfed.
"This place looks…" Bo started
"Unfinished, I know," Lauren completed Bo's thought. "It should be done by the weekend." She walked across the dusty floor and stopped in front of Bo. "Did he accept the offer?"
"Not exactly," Bo said, suddenly feeling on the spot.
"Then what?" Lauren pressed.
"Don't freak out." Bo reached out for Lauren's hands. "But I sort of destroyed the research and I'm not sure if we are in a position to celebrate or to leave the country yet."
"Bo," Lauren covered her mouth.
"Lauren, I'm so sorry." Bo squeezed her hands. "He wouldn't back down and I couldn't let him keep threatening us."
Her eyes were downcast. Bo tried to read her face but it proved impossible, even for her. She turned away and crossed to the laptop once again. A few keystrokes and Bo was following her upstairs. Lauren should have known to expect anarchy when trusting Bo with her research. Ambassador of peace, Bo was not. Impulsive, bringer of chaos was probably a better description.
Lauren sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her hands, Bo sat beside her. "Babe," she started. "I'm so sorry. I know what I did can't be undone and regret that, really I do-"
"I need to show you something."
Bo straightened.
Lauren stood, approaching a stack of trunks in the corner of the room. From there, she pulled another identical briefcase and came to stand before Bo. She popped open the latches on the briefcase and exposed a much more elaborate set of vials, a brown leather journal and a pair of USB keys. "I gave you my duplicate samples. These are the originals."
"You knew I'd do something," Bo said, suddenly absolved.
"I had a hunch." She smiled and sat beside the open briefcase. Her fingers touched the vials carefully, tracing each of them until she looked at Bo and swallowed. "We're the only ones who know this exist," she said, laying her hand across the samples.
Bo was overwhelmed. All she had ever wanted from Lauren at the dawn of the apocalypse was for Lauren to trust her enough to tell her whatever plan she had concocted. Lauren hadn't been prepared then, but now… "Lauren, I don't know what to say."
An uneasy breath escaped Lauren's chest. "Say that you'll help me protect it."
"Yeah," Bo replied, the brilliant smile was hard to contain and she nodded in agreement. "Of course." Bo knew there was a long, hard road ahead of them and there was a good chance Bo was betraying her very essence, but she trusted Lauren despite Trick's warnings. She loved her despite convention. And she needed her beyond reproach. It was the family that Bo had built that insulated her from the consequences of living authentically. Forever known as the unaligned succubus, Bo owned the label and her decisions reflected it. This, like the cursing nail, was one of them and she owned it. She would protect Lauren and the research for as long as it took. She fought through Hel for Kenzi and she would go to the same lengths for Lauren because held between her two humans, her heart remained. And Bo knew it was the same for them. She'd bet her Fae on it.
Fin.