Lauren woke up slowly, the throbbing in her head making her reluctant to open her eyes at first. When she finally did, the onslaught of pain hit her like a truck – the throbbing in her head increased tenfold, vision immediately becoming blurring and nausea coming at her in waves, her left arm appeared to be a mangled mess from what she could gather, and the rest of her body was in a pulsating sort of pain. The blonde felt around herself blindly, trying to gauge exactly where she had ended up – she felt a cold wall behind her, probably stone, and used her good (well, better) arm to push herself up against it.

Taking deep steadying breaths, Lauren waiting for the majority of the pain to subside before she opened her eyes again. Once she did, she took in her surroundings – she knew she was in a dungeon of some sort, the cold stone floor and walls reminding her of the time she had spent in the small cells underneath the Light compound. There was a solid wooden door on the far side of the small room, but other than that, it was empty, save for the doctor herself. Reluctantly, she allowed her vision to fall down on her own body to asses the damage she must have taken back at Tamsin's loft; without needing to raise her hand to confirm it, she definitely had a concussion and a large laceration on her right temple. Doing her best to raise her left arm, Lauren could tell it was badly broken in several places, but luckily without any protruding bones. Her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises, mainly on her knuckles and knees. Knowing better than to try to call out for help, Lauren let her head fall gently back on the wall behind her; she steeled her jaw and fought the tears that were threatening to spill, from both the pain and the fear.

"Hurry, Tamsin."

**********

Without opening her eyes, Lauren knew Tamsin wasn't in the bed with her. Judging by how cold the sheets next to her were, she had probably gotten up a while ago. The doctor sighs, instantly filled with worry for her poor girlfriend – even since these nightmares started, she hadn't been able to sleep much. Without a doubt, Tamsin had slipped out of the bed so that she wouldn't disturb Lauren (she makes a mental note to scold the valkyrie for not waking her; she is a doctor after all). Lauren swings her legs over the side of Tamsin's bed and scans the bedroom for signs that she had woken up – other than the fact that some of her clothes are missing, everything appears to be the same. Becoming worried when she doesn't see any lights on through the crack in the bedroom door, or hear the TV on in the living room, Lauren grabs a t-shirt off of the floor and throws it on before making her way through the loft softly saying Tamsin's name. The valkyrie is nowhere to be found, and her missing car keys only worry Lauren more. She walks back to the bedroom to pick up her cellphone and call the only person that she thinks would know where Tamsin had run off to – Dyson. He picks up after only two rings, his voice heavy with sleep, the gruff 'hello' sounding foreign in Lauren's ears.

"Dyson. Uh, hello. It's Lauren."

Dyson immediately sits up in his bed, knowing that the doctor wouldn't call him unless it was an emergency. She sounds worried, her voice shaking a little as she speaks, only confirming Dyson's concern that something must be wrong.

"Are you okay, Lauren? It's almost 3 in the morning."

"I know, I, um I'm sorry", she stutters nervously, "i-it's just that Tamsin is gone and I don't know where she went. I'm a little concerned; it's not like her to just not be here."

"No, it's not", Dyson agrees. "Did she come home last night? Maybe she had to pull an extra shift-"

"No, no, she was here. Uh, we went out to dinner. We went to bed together. But when I woke up she was gone. And that's not like her. I was just wondering if you had any idea where she might go."

Dyson thinks for a moment, feeling a little bad for Lauren – they might not get along, they might never get along the way that she does with the rest of the group, but he did have a begrudging amount of the respect for the woman. Anyone that can give up their life for the person they love as she did for Nadia, human or fae, is an amazing person by his standards. If for no other reason, Dyson and her related on that note. The wolf also admired her ability to put aside all the put downs she receives as a human in the fae world – even his own – and consistently do her job and help others selflessly. Suddenly he remembers many a night he and Tamsin would stumble, already drunk, to the police precinct and drink on the steps outside the large building (and on more than one occasion break in and brew themselves a fresh pot of coffee to sober up before having to return to their respective homes).

"I think I know where she is Lauren. Just, hang tight. I'll bring her back safe, alright?"

Lauren feels a little of the weight leave her chest, and smiles into the receiver of the cellphone.

"Thank you Dyson."

She hangs the phone up and sets it on the kitchen counter; once she notices the freezer door slightly ajar, and the new bottle of gin Tamsin had just bought the other day missing, Lauren lets out a frustrated sigh – okay, so Tamsin is a valkyrie. And fae don't react to alcohol the same way humans do, not by a long shot. But man, did the valkyrie ever drink a lot. Lauren can't fault her for probably hundreds of years of heavy drinking, though, and decides to set her anger aside (at least until her girlfriend is home safe to be lecture). She puts on a pot of coffee and patiently waits by it, enjoying the calming smell of fresh coffee filling the loft. Her eyes close for a second – she will later swear up and down that it was a second, maybe two, there is no way it was any longer than that – only to be torn from her temporary serenity by glass breaking in the back of the apartment. In the bedroom, to be exact. Lauren falls into a mindset she hasn't had to fall in to in quite some time – not since Afghanistan. She drops quickly to the floor after pulling the only knife (a steak knife, unfortunately) she could find out of the sink, and waits for the intruder to be close enough for her to attack, or at least intimidate. She expects a burglar, as Tamsin does not live in the best part of town, but is surprised when there are two sets of footfalls coming down the hallways, and two female voices talking in a language Lauren doesn't recognize right away. Gulping hard, Lauren peers around the edge of the counter to try to catch a glimpse of the trespassers – her jaw drops at the sight of the two women. They are statuesque, both inches taller than her, wearing what has to be heavy and intricate metal armor. Their blonde hair and piercing light eyes (piercing enough that Lauren can make them out, even in the darkness) give them away as valkyries without question. The doctor lets out a sigh and stands, brushing off her knees and offering the two women a week smile.

"Are you two looking for Tamsin? Albert Einstein, you scared the hell out of me", Lauren tilts her head back towards the front door, "She has a door, you know."

The woman look at each other, a little shocked.

"Tamsin is not here?" says the taller one, her thick accent making it hard for Lauren to understand her right away.

"No. No, she'll be back soon. She had to-", Lauren stops and thinks about what she could say, but decides that less information is probably better at this point, "She'll be right back."

The two woman approach the doctor cautiously – Lauren takes a step back from them, smiling nervously, and tightens her grip on the knife.

"Actually", says the shorter one, her accent not as think, "it is better that she is not here. Lauren, you need to come with us."

"Come with you? Why?"

Lauren looks between the two woman standing in front of her, confused. Why would they want her to come with them?

"Did something happen to Tamsin? Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

Neither of them answer her – the taller woman sighs, while the other looks at Lauren sadly.

"Please", says the shorter one as she goes to place a hand on Lauren's shoulder, "just come with us. It will be easier this way."

Like a wall of bricks, everything comes full circle for the doctor. She had told Tamsin, however absent mindedly, that she loves her. And she meant it, with every fiber in her being, regardless of how tired she was or how much she didn't mean to say it out loud. She did the one thing Tamsin had all but gotten on her knees and begged her not to do – say it. Now, just as Lauren had read about in all the research she had done or learned from all the stories Tamsin and Trick had told her, these woman would take her away to be judged and sentenced by Odin. No, Lauren told herself, not without a fight. Not before she could at least she Tamsin again. She stood frozen until the valkyrie's hand was fully extended towards her, then quickly stabbed her with the steak knife she had been hiding behind her back. The doctor attempted to jump over the woman, who had knelt down in pain, but the valkyrie was much faster than her – she extended her good hand and caught Lauren around the ankle, causing to fall right into the corner of the kitchen counter. The pain was immediate, as was the blood that bubbled up out of her temple and began running down her face. The taller valkyrie tended to the other's wound, leaving Lauren on the floor in a growing puddle of her own blood as she fought to hold on to her consciousness.

"This is your first job, kid. You have to be more careful!"

The women sound like they are miles away, but Lauren's rational mind knows better. If only she had another weapon to protect herself, she could probably get out of this situation. But she was only human, and new to the fold or not, the two woman in Tamsin's apartment were –

Wait.

Tamsin's gun.

Lauren scrambles up from the floor, using the back of one hand to wipe the blood out of her eyes so she could see and the other hand to shove the woman just behind her into the fridge. She makes in through the hallway and into Tamsin's bedroom, but misfortune strikes her at the worst time and she trips over her jeans from earlier in the evening, allowing the two woman to catch up to her rather easily. Not ready to give up when she's so close to the one thing that could help her, she flails her arms and legs in an attempt to avoiding being grabbed by the pair. Lauren manages to avoid their grasping hands for a moment, and shuffles herself within in arms reach of the gun, when the larger of the two finally gets a grip on her left arm. Smiling down at her as she stops to flail and panic sets it, the woman grabs her arm with one hand around the wrist and another at her elbow. The last thing Lauren hears before blacking out from the pain of the whole ordeal is her bones snapping.

**********

"Human!"

Lauren slowly opens her eyes, better prepared for the almost blinding pain now than she was the first time she woke up. The doctor in her wants to scold herself for falling asleep when she knows she has such a severe concussion, but she is sure she hasn't been sleeping for very long before the booming voice of a woman comes through the crack of the door. She manages a weak 'yes' through her dry throat before the door opens. Another woman in heavy metal armor enters the cell, and grabs Lauren by her broken arm to hoist her up. She lets out a pained yelp, tears falling down her face freely.

"Time to see Odin."