Chapter 5

"Dammit!" Lauren shut the 6,000 year old book heavily and pounded her fist down upon it in frustration.

Running her hand through her hair, she let out a gust of breath. She stared blankly at nothing in particular before snapping herself out of her self-imposed haze. Rolling her eyes and inhaling, she tugged at her lab coat to regain her composure. She grabbed the corner of the book she had violently shut and opened it at the beginning intending to start again.

"Knock knock..."

Lauren felt a jolt in her chest. Lifting her head, she turned towards the direction of the familiar voice. There she spotted a dark-haired woman, her arm up and leaning on the entry way of the lab. Her eyes dark with intensity she can't read and full lips slightly parted with breath she longed to feel. A smile unknowingly tugged at her lips at the sight of the other woman, "Hey…" she said before fully turning her body around on the stool.

Lauren followed the movement of the woman's hips as she walked in before looking up and meeting her gaze. She absent-mindedly readjusted her lab coat and looked away to save herself the embarrassment of being caught. Had she not looked away, she would have seen the smile that pulled at the other woman's lips; half in shyness, half in satisfaction.

"Wow… some light afternoon reading?" Bo asked jokingly, attempting to shift the focus on something other than the tension building in the air. Though she came with the intent of getting straight to the truth, she found that once around Lauren, her composed, gung-ho attitude and full-proof plan flew right out the window. Instead she found herself stumbling around in her head… and her heart. It made her uncomfortable, yes; but also slightly frustrated at herself since this wasn't the first time, and much to her fears, may not be the last.

"Just… research…" Lauren responded, finally facing Bo.

Bo nodded, "Anything I can do to help?"

Lauren responded, "You already are…"

Both women slightly shifted at the weight of those words.

"I've been through this book front to back… I don't know how many times… and… I just know I'm missing something." Lauren continued to ease the tension.

A frown formed on Bo's brows, "You should slow down… Sleep… Eat…"

"There's no time for that…" Lauren interrupted, "Everyday I don't find a cure…" She trailed off, not wanting to unravel.

Is another day I spend without Nadia… Bo painfully finished in her head. The sting of those unspoken words forced her to look down… anywhere but at Lauren, in fear that the woman would see. What else could she mean? Nadia, after all was the driving force behind Lauren's sacrifice.

"Enough about me… Is everything okay?" Lauren asked. The fact that Bo was in her office despite her current state of being heavily monitored now just rising to full consciousness.

"Well… no…" Bo replied, looking back at Lauren.

"Are you hurt?" Lauren impulsively took a step closer and reached out to caress Bo's hair, worry etched on her face. She then let her fingers slide into its strands to distractedly move them aside. Her hand stopped on the curve of Bo's neck with her thumb resting on the woman's cheek. With her head tilted, her eyes proceeded with their course; thoughtfully examining her from head to toe.

Bo froze – rather, she did not want to move. She responded to the doctor's touch by unconsciously tilting her head to allow more access for the woman's thumb to linger on her cheek. Her heart pounded as she watched Lauren's eyes trace the contours of her body – jawline, shoulders, breast, hips, legs… Bo had to swallow the lump forming in her throat. She knew the doctor was just checking for any sign of violence, but the intensity in which the woman examined her – and knowing their shared history – made it feel all the more intimate.

"No it's nothing like that…" Bo finally was able to mutter. An act she soon regretted as the doctor's hand retreated and she stood at her usual – distant – posturing.

Lauren caught herself standing a little too close for comfort in front of Bo and moved back to allow a more comfortable – less intimate distance between them. "Oh…" She fidgeted in embarrassment, "Sorry… I thought…"

"No, no… it's okay…" Bo quickly defended. "Actually I came here to talk.. about you…"