Enjoy all, I hope this soothes the wounds from that last episode, which was awful. Your reviews from the last chapter made me feel warm and fuzzy more than usual.

Chapter Twelve

When Bo began to talk, she could see that she lost Lauren very quickly. Lauren was looking at her sceptically - probably wishing that she had that psychiatric training she'd just been talking about.

Still she was too kind to do anything but let Bo talk for a good long while as Bo told her everything she could think of that she might need to know. She kept doubling back to explain things that she'd neglected or to fill in gaps. She couldn't stop stumbling over her words. There was so much information to get through that it was difficult to know where to begin. She wished Kenzi was with her to help tell the story and to back her up.

"And you're saying you're one of these . . . fae ? What did you call yourself?" Lauren asked.

"I'm a succubus. And you were the one who helped me figure that out, Lauren," Bo said, looking at Lauren hopefully. Lauren just looked away from her and Bo felt it like a kick to her stomach. Lauren's feelings right now couldn't be any clearer. She was thinking that she'd gotten herself mixed up with a nut, or some kind of con woman. Bo wished she had photos of them together from before - anything to make her look less stupid.

If only she could think of a more convincing way to tell this story; but then was there any reasonable way of explaining that fairy tales were real? She cast her mind backwards, thinking about what it had been like to reveal her true nature to Kenzi. Once Kenzi had seen what she could do with her own eyes, she didn't have a whole lot of trouble believing that there was something supernatural about Bo. But she couldn't do anything too Succubus-y to Lauren, because then it might compromise the whole free will thing. Maybe if she took her out somewhere, demonstrated her powers on a stranger . . .

"Okay, I understand that this all sounds very out there. But you're a scientist right? So you'd believe evidence if you were able to see it with your own eyes. I can show you things that'll help. Give me today, don't run away, and if you still don't believe me then I'll leave you alone," Bo gambled.

"I'm sorry Bo, but I need to go," Lauren said. Bo watched while she gathered her things, frozen. For the life of her she could not think of a way to make Lauren stay. She got up and followed Lauren to the hallway and watched as she walked away, realizing that she'd never felt so small.

When Kenzi came home hours later she was still lying on the couch. The TV was on but her mind was racing with thoughts, going over her conversation with Lauren repeatedly. She didn't know how she was going to fix this, didn't know if Lauren would even ever speak to her again. Maybe she should have just let things go on as they were – maybe in time Lauren would have fallen in love with her all over again and they could have been happy. But she would have always had to hide, and she didn't know if she would be able to bear lying to Lauren about who she was every day.

Through the numbness she hadn't even realized that she were crying until Kenzi looked at her with worried eyes and motioned for her to sit up so they could cuddle.

"What happened?"

"I tried to tell her. She didn't believe a word of it. Not even close," Bo said bitterly. She felt stupid. She had been naive to think that all she would have to do was come clean to Lauren. She had just believed so firmly that it would have to work, because it was Lauren. Lauren, who was so curious and all-knowing and smart. Lauren, who was always trying to make her feel proud of what she was. She had thought that being receptive to the fae world was second nature to Lauren.

"Aw Bo. It must have been a big shock to her. You'll talk to her again," Kenzi said firmly.

"What if she never believes me?" Bo asked. "What am I going to do?"

"Then you'd need to move on Bo. I know it hurts, but you'd just have to," Kenzi said, touching her hair soothingly, sighing as she felt Bo shake her head against her hand.

X X X

Bo didn't sleep much for the next two nights. She was terrified that she'd screwed it all up. She was just holding her breath until Monday, when she would get the chance to see Lauren at work. She'd already tried to call Lauren a couple of times and the phone had rang out. Anxiously she wondered if Lauren would even be at work. What if she did something extreme like leave just to avoid her? But it wasn't in her nature. If Lauren was going to go, she would do it all by the book and give two weeks notice.

When she arrived, she gathered that Lauren was in her office. Nothing was amiss, nobody had called in sick, and apparently she was expected to just go about her business as usual.

"Hi Casey, hi Bo," Lauren said with a tentative smile at her when she came out to the reception area to pick up some files.

"Hey," Bo said, but could not bring herself to smile back. Like her Lauren looked a little tired, and no matter how much Lauren tried to pretend all was well she could see something very different in the way Lauren looked at her. She grimaced to herself - her patience was running thin. She'd been halfway to contented with the way things were, but now the injustice of their situation was getting on her last nerve. How was she just supposed to wait until Lauren might throw her a bone and want to talk to her again?

Patience had never been one of her virtues, and she was beginning to think she'd used most of what little she had up.

When Casey offered to take a turn locking up the office Bo snapped at her, insisting that she was supposed to be doing it. She refused to spend another night staring at the ceiling, feeling sorry for herself. Lauren was hiding away in her office; she didn't hear a peep while everyone else went home and the clinic became eerily quiet. As soon as she could be sure that it was empty she locked up the front door and then marched down towards Lauren's office.

She didn't bother to knock. When she opened the she saw a startled Lauren looking up at her. To Bo it didn't even look like she were doing anything; she was just sitting there staring off into space, nothing opened in front of her. Bo fought against being upset with her – she had to keep reminding herself that Lauren didn't want to be like this. If Lauren had her way they would be together, and it was up to her to make it happen for both of them.

"Bo, listen -" Lauren started. She had a compassionate look on her face, and Bo couldn't bear the thought that Lauren might actually feel sorry for her.

"No, you listen. You believed this before, I know you're not a closed-minded person. I know you can believe again. Examine me," Bo said, the idea just coming to her.

"What do you mean?" Lauren asked, a confused expression on her face.

"Check me out – I admit I don't really know how to tell you what to look for but you always said my physiology or whatever is different. We're in a doctor's office, it won't be hard," Bo pleaded.

"Bo, I'm not going to do that," Lauren said gently. "I'm sorry, but I think you're having some sort of delusion that involves me. I'll help you if you want to see someone about this, but maybe it's not a good idea for us to spend too much time together any more."

"Ugh!" Bo said. As much as she didn't want to she was starting to lose her temper. "I don't know how to get through to you! Alright, alright," she paced back and forth, thinking. What did she know about Lauren that she couldn't know just from meeting her recently? She wished they'd talked more before the memory wipe – her mind was blank. Lauren was just watching her from her chair. Again she tried to imagine what Lauren would do if she were in her shoes. Maybe Lauren would tell her to use the skills she had available to her; after all she was always talking about how Bo shouldn't be ashamed of them. It couldn't be about forcing Lauren to want her, but there was one thing she had left.

"Okay, I can read libido. Okay, so listen to this, I can tell you things that I shouldn't know about you. I know that you don't have the slightest flicker of interest in men. I've never seen you light up for a man, not even a tiny bit. No, you're all about women. You like it when I wear that black skirt, the one just above the knee?" she put her hand on her leg to indicate where the hemline would be. "That always gets a big reaction. You like it when I wear my hair down. You do find Casey a little bit attractive, not enough to make me jealous but it's there. That surprised me, I didn't think she'd be your type. And you love the way I dress at work, especially that skirt I was talking about, but you like it even better when I'm just wearing a tank top and sweat pants."

Lauren was shifting uncomfortably in her chair. She was holding her hand out, talking quietly as though she didn't want to set Bo off. "You didn't just say anything that you couldn't have guessed or figured out from my body language. I'm sorry, but this needs to stop."

Bo walked over to where she sat and ran her eyes over Lauren. "Well I know you're still into me now, even though your body language says you're trying to give me the brush off."

Lauren shook her head slightly.

"You want more proof? Okay," Bo said. There was nothing to lose, might as well go all out. She leaned over towards Lauren, hoping that she had a good view down her top. It was satisfying to see Lauren's eyes wandering downwards before she could stop them. "Unlike other people I don't have to guess when it comes to sex. I know when someone is faking, either that they like or don't like something. When we were together I could see that you like to take control. That quiet reserved thing you got going on does not extend to the bedroom."

"You could know that from what happened the other day," Lauren pointed out stubbornly.

"Would it help if I were more explicit?"

Lauren got up from her chair and walked away, putting distance between them, but she made no move to leave the room. Bo followed her with her eyes, enjoying the spike in lust that her words had brought on, which she could clearly see.

"You're quite dominant actually, although you're just as happy when I take the lead. Going down on me was probably the thing you liked most . . . and that's lucky for me seeing as you're very good at it. You love it when I kissed your neck, and you like it just a little bit rough sometimes when the moment is right," she said. She'd followed Lauren and was standing close to her again.

"Again Bo, nothing you're saying proves anything. You're just making it up. I don't know if you really believe it or if you're just teasing me, trying to make me uncomfortable. I don't know why you would do that," Lauren replied. She was standing close to her desk, crossing and uncrossing her arms. Despite her discomfort her energy levels were as high as Bo had ever seen them.

"I'm not teasing you," Bo said softly. She reached out and tucked a hair behind Lauren's ear, then drew her hand lightly down Lauren's shirt between her breasts but not touching them. She watched Lauren's throat and saw her swallow hard. "You've got the most beautiful body I've ever seen – your breasts are perfect, and your skin tastes amazing." She was getting hungrier and hungrier the more she spoke. Knowing that she might be likely to get shoved away she moved forward very slowly, watching Lauren's eyes.

She kissed Lauren's face just above her jawline, and she smiled when she felt Lauren's hand come up to her shoulder, not to push her away but to sweep Bo's hair out of the way.

She kissed Lauren's neck, her cheek, her forehead, feathering light kisses everywhere. She could hear Lauren's quickened breath. She wanted to tell Lauren that she loved her but bit it back – that would be way too much. Instead she focused on just doing this, on speaking the way she felt through her touch. She finally moved to Lauren's mouth and kissed her lightly, exhaling sharply at the feel of it.

It took superhuman concentration; trying to seduce Lauren without using her powers. Lauren had once told her that she had enough charm all on her own. She needed Lauren to want her for real, not just to reverse the memory wipe but so that she would always know it no matter what happened.

If Lauren hadn't started moving her mouth she would have pulled away, but she did. Lauren's lips started to yield under her own, increasing their pressure and teasing against Bo's mouth.

Lauren pushed her backwards and she thought that it was over, but all she was doing was moving her around, shoving her up against the desk and kissing her more fully, their teeth and lips and tongues clashing. Lauren started to lift her onto the desk and she helped, moving herself up so that Lauren could stand between her open legs.

Lauren's tongue was in her mouth aggressively pushing into her. Lauren's hands were sliding up her thighs, underneath her skirt. Bo could hear herself moaning as Lauren took her hands away, pulling Bo's shirt out from where it was tucked in and then pushing a hand up under Bo's top. She was grasping almost roughly at Bo's breast, and in that moment it was just what Bo needed. She felt an answering jolt in her stomach, and all the way down.

She could hear their breathing, loud and ragged. Without any warning Bo felt Lauren's hand become still on her chest and then it was gone.

"Please don't stop," Bo said.

"I'm sorry. This is such a bad idea, I'm so sorry," Lauren stepped back from her, looking mortified.

"Why, because you think I'm nuts?" Bo replied. She was struggling to push the heat back down, to ignore her hunger.

Lauren was staring down at the floor. "I wouldn't have used those words. But it's not right."

Bo felt tears spring to her eyes and she looked off to the side. She sensed rather than saw Lauren hesitate and then come closer, putting her arms around Bo. Closing her eyes she leaned into Lauren feeling instantly warm and safe. She wished they could just stay like this.

"You feel something for me, I know you must, " Bo said, holding Lauren more tightly in her arms.

There was silence – at least Lauren didn't try to deny it.

"Just let me try. Give me a few hours, so we can go and see somebody. Will you do that?"

Bo heard Lauren sigh. "Okay, I'll come with you."