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Kenzi hurriedly slammed the lid of the centrifuge when she saw Lauren enter the lab. She tried to hide the thing behind her diminutive body while simultaneously attempting to look innocent of any wrong-doing. Lauren, as usual, barely acknowledged her presence. The doctor glanced her way, offered a weak smile, and then sought out one of her staff.
Kenzi let out the breath she had been holding and promptly clasped her hands behind her back again, whistling nervously as she walked away. If the doc was here, Bo couldn't be far behind. Kenzi waited a good ten minutes before allowing the ants in her pants to get the better of her.
"Yo, Doc," Kenzi interrupted, sidling up to the blonde. She ignored the irritated look the technician gave her.
"I'm sorry, Joan. We can finish this up later," Lauren said to the tech, handing back the chart she'd been flipping through. When the lab geek had wandered away, Lauren folded her arms across her chest and looked expectantly at Kenzi.
"Where's my friencess?"
"Your—what? I swear I need a pocket urban dictionary just to understand you, Kenzi. Can't you just speak English?"
"No need for knicker-knottage, your royal hotness. Where—Is—Bo?" Kenzi asked, slowly enunciating each word.
Lauren rolled her eyes. "I don't know where she is. I thought she was right behind me."
"Normally she is, trailing a disgusting amount of drool…" Kenzi made a gagging motion with her fingers in her mouth before closing her eyes, screwing up her face and flapping her hands. She danced around chanting, "ew, ew, ew," in an effort to rid herself of the mental image.
Patience wearing thin, Lauren was about to ask Kenzi, as politely as she could possibly muster, to knock it off, when the door to the lab slammed open and two burly guards entered followed by a shorter female. The woman wore long jogging pants, sneakers, a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled tight around her features and slim, leather gloves. It was quite the getup for the heat of the summer and Lauren felt sorry for her.
Kenzi made a strangled coughing noise as she came to an abrupt halt and promptly tucked herself behind Lauren. She peeked around the doctor at the new-comer. "What is she doing here?" Kenzi hissed.
Irritated, Lauren shot Kenzi a look that clearly told her to quit being rude and moved forward to greet the Erised. Without showing any hesitation, the doctor extended her hand. "Cleo. Welcome," Lauren said. When the fae's gloved fingers gripped hers, Lauren covered their hands with her other. The fae guards grunted disgustedly and stepped back.
Cleo laughed at their cowardice. "The Ash wouldn't let me roam the compound without an escort," she explained.
Regarding the two supposedly tough as nails guards, Lauren was amused to see both Ogres were near pissing themselves. Nostrils flared and beads of sweat dotted craggy brows. "You two can go. She's not here to harm us and if we need to go anywhere I will escort her," Lauren said. One of the guards eyed her suspiciously, but his need to escape the vicinity of the Erised outweighed his chagrin at a human ordering him around. They beat a hasty retreat.
"Well, that was pleasant," Cleo muttered.
Lauren frowned, shrugging in apology. "Would you like some water, or something? You must be overheating in those clothes."
Cleo plucked at the neckline of her sweatshirt then pushed the hood back, shaking out long, sweaty locks of auburn hair. She sighed. "Water would be fabulous. I have been wearing these clothes for the last twenty-four hours. I left everything I had at a hotel room in Thunder Bay."
Kenzi, having recovered her brazenness, commented, "I knew something smelled rotten."
Lauren rounded on the young woman, put her hands on her hips and fixed her with a stern glare. "Do you think you could make yourself useful and get a bottle of water out of the employee lunch room?" Pointing to a doorway at the far side of the lab, Lauren shooed Kenzi away. Walking backwards, Kenzi made an 'I'm watching you' gesture to Cleo. Lauren released a breath and returned her attention to Cleo. "Sorry. She hasn't quite forgiven you for surprising Bo the last time you were in town."
There was an awkward silence in which Cleo wondered if Lauren had forgiven her yet, either.
Ignoring the nearly palpable tension in the atmosphere, Cleo said, "You do an awful lot of apologizing for things that are beyond your control, Lauren. Don't worry about Kenzi. I can handle that little fireball."
A quirky grin ghosted Lauren's lips. "I wish we could all say that. Bo loves her, though. That makes her important to me."
Cleo inclined her head as she lowered herself into a nearby chair. "So, how are things?"
"Honestly? Between Bo, work and… other extracurricular activities..." Lauren trailed off, shaking her head. "Uh, things are fine."
"You don't look fine. You look worn out."
Lauren contemplated the futility of complaining about her lot in life. She decided a long time ago that those kinds of thoughts were a waste of precious time. She was also painfully aware that many others were worse off, especially now. So she merely insisted, "I'm well, really. Thank you."
"Sure," Cleo said, attempting to keep disbelief from her voice and therefore betraying her thoughts. Lauren looked a little off, although it wasn't something that a casual observer would discern. Cleo noted that the doctor's blonde hair hung in lackluster waves around shoulders that were subtly rolled forward in fatigue. Dark circles flirted with her eyes muddying their brown depths. Cleo also saw delicate, blackened remnants of tape clinging to the doctor's wrists, which piqued her curiosity. That stuff was hard to get off, regardless of diligent scrubbing. She wondered why Lauren would need to wrap her hands, but out of politeness and respect for the tenuous nature of their relationship, Cleo kept her observations to herself.
"I assume you met with the Ash?" Lauren said, dragging Cleo out of her own thoughts.
"Yes. Thank you for arranging that. I admit I've never met such a pompous prick," Cleo said, keeping her voice low, lest she be overheard by the other fae in the lab. Although a quick glance around revealed she needn't have worried. Miraculously the lab had cleared out with her arrival. In days long ago that fact might have bothered her. These days, however, Cleo was used to solitude.
"He is somewhat ostentatious."
Smiling at Lauren's PC agreement, the Erised opened her mouth to say more but paused when she saw the lab door open.
Bo entered.
Cleo had never seen the colour drain from someone's face so quickly. The doctor stepped back, bumping into an examination table. She had to grip the edge just to keep from slipping to the floor on rubbery legs. Swiftly rising from her chair, Cleo approached Lauren in concern, but the blonde had already recovered and violently waved her away, a wild fury sparking in her eyes.
Confused as to Lauren's reaction to her lover's arrival, Cleo focused on Bo. The succubus was positively glowing. In sharp contrast to Lauren's exhausted appearance, Bo looked invigorated albeit freshly disheveled. The brunette's blouse had been pulled carelessly from her slacks and she carried her suit jacket hooked on two fingers dangling nonchalantly over her shoulder. Her hair was wild as well, as though someone had just run their hands through it.
Cleo felt her stomach clench in sympathy for the doctor. Bo had fed—recently. From someone who wasn't Lauren while Lauren had been in the same building. And the succubus was flaunting it, for reasons Cleo couldn't possibly fathom. Everything about the scene playing out before her felt wrong.
Lauren, for her part, gathered her wits, plastered a poker face over her features and muttered something about needing to be elsewhere. Before Cleo could even say another word, the doctor had disappeared. She looked back at Bo, who raised an eyebrow, accompanied by a tiny shrug of her shoulders, as if wondering what had gotten into the blonde.
"Bo-dacious! Your hair is a mess," Kenzi observed, finally emerging from the staff room with a bottle of water that she tossed to Cleo. She paused and cocked her head to the side. "Hey, where's Lauren?"
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