Lauren liked the long weekends in the laboratory. There was some unspoken agreement that the weekend at the Light's lab lasted from early Friday evening to late Monday afternoon so from Saturday to Monday morning barring some kind of emergency or big project, she had the place to herself. The quiet helped her think. Without the incessant questions aimed at her and her compulsive need to put her projects on hold to double check tests and research work, Lauren got the bulk of her work done during these downtimes.
Despite only not working at all for three days and spending two weeks working from home while taking care of Tamsin, she had been left a large stack of proposals, test results and research haphazardly tossed onto her workstation. Sometimes she was truly puzzled on how the lab remained in working condition before she'd gotten there. A good deal of the files piled on her desk weren't overly sensitive or complex and could have easily been done by one of the lab technicians. She knew they weren't stupid; lazy maybe, incompetent on occasion, but they were not stupid even when they pretended at it. Still, it was only a little exasperating; she did like having the work to do and likely would have gone through it even if it hadn't been left for her.
Surprisingly, after all the years she'd been immersed in the fae world, the intricacies of their biology never bored her, not even when it was routine. She was in the midst of scribbling notes in the margins of a paper when the main doors of the lab opened, causing her to look up. She'd been expecting Tamsin, but the smile that touched her lips when Bo strode towards her was genuine.
"I thought I'd find you here." The succubus started, perching on the edge of Lauren's desk. "Aren't you supposed to be taking it easy still?"
Lauren shook her head and leaned back in her chair, welcoming the break. "There would just be more work when I got back." She reasoned. "Besides, thanks to you and Dyson, I feel fine. Better than fine."
Bo beamed, looking rightfully pleased with herself and she leaned over slightly to get a look at the papers in front of the blonde. "What are you working on? Anything important?"
"Comparative substrate and enzyme profiles of fast and slow muscle fibers in trolls and ogres." Lauren laughed slightly at Bo's eager but completely clueless expression and shook her head. "No, nothing important." She clarified. "What brings you here?"
The brunette reached into her back pocket and pulled out a tiny plastic bag, handing it over. "We keep having things going missing." Bo started; watching while Lauren held the bag up to the light before carefully shaking out the contents onto a glass slide and prepping it.
"What kind of things?" the doctor questioned, putting the slide under her microscope and fiddling with the fine focus.
"Little things; jewelry, keys, shirts, cups… nothing serious. Just things we thought we were misplacing. But then we started noticing we'd put something down and look away for a second and it'll be gone. The last week, we've been hearing knocking in the walls and Kenzi has been saying that she hears someone calling her name when I'm not home… and those…scales, or whatever, have been all over the house the last couple days."
Lauren hummed that she was listening and squinted slightly into the eyepiece as if that would help her see better. What indeed had looked like a small rainbow hued scale on first glance was actually a tightly matted mass of multi-colored hair.
"Is it bad?" Bo asked worriedly after several minutes of silence.
Lauren laughed and shook her head as she pulled away from the microscope. "It's from a fatras imp."
"What's that?"
"They're relatively small underfae, about the size of a large mouse. They can and do establish colonies of up to forty though. If you're finding hair mats already, there's definitely more than ten."
Bo frowned and crossed her arms. "Should I be worried? Are they dangerous?"
"Not dangerous, really. More annoying than anything. They're um…" she cleared her throat to hide the chuckle threatening to break free. "They're attracted to clutter, so…"
"So time to clean the clubhouse." Bo finished with a grin.
"Only if you want to get rid of them." Lauren agreed with amusement. "Leave out a bowl of milk and honey the day before you finish cleaning, they might give you your stuff back on their way out."
The succubus nodded and uncrossed her arms, her gaze dropping to her feet. "So, you and Tamsin have a date this week, huh?"
Lauren tilted her head to one side and studied Bo's features carefully. She couldn't imagine that the Valkyrie had spoken to Bo about it. "Yes," she replied uncertainly, not exactly sure where this conversation was going.
Bo flashed an apologetic smile at the blonde's wary tone. "Kenzi told me she asked you."
"Kenzi?" Lauren asked, not bothering to mask her confused tone.
The brunette shrugged slightly. "I suppose when you ask someone for a mercy killing, it's the fastest way to become friends?" she grimaced at the blonde's shocked expression. "You… didn't know about that." It was more of a concerned realization than a question.
"She didn't—she didn't tell me…" Lauren said, trailing off and frowning.
Bo took Lauren's hands to bring her attention back from wherever her faraway gaze had taken her mind and gripped her fingers softly. "She was in a lot of pain then. She's not anymore, okay?"
Lauren nodded and squeezed back, smiling weakly. "I know. I mean, I'm not surprised, no one can go through that kind of pain for so long and not want to…" she shook her head, unwilling to complete the thought. "It's fine. I wish she'd said something, but all that matters is she's okay now."
"Thanks to you." Bo reminded her, smiling encouragingly, squeezing the hands in hers once more before gently extricating herself. "So, when's this big date supposed to be?"
"You don't have to ask about that, Bo." Lauren assured gently. She could tell that the brunette had meant for her tone to be teasing, but there was a distinct strained note to her voice.
"No, I want to know." Bo insisted, smiling to let the blonde know she was being genuine. "Tamsin is my friend and you…well," she shrugged. "You know. I'm interested in whatever and whoever makes you happy."
Lauren returned the easy smile and ran her palms over the tops of her legs a few times to rid herself of nerves. "Tonight." She rolled her eyes. "Well, as long as Kenzi hasn't said anything to Dyson too, I suppose. He's already given me his express disapproval so I'd imagine if he knew he'd make a scene."
"Don't worry about him." Bo said confidently, looking up as the doors to the lab swung open and Tamsin walked in shuffling slowly towards them, fully engrossed in a typing a text message. "He'll leave you alone." She continued, sliding off the table. "Thanks for the heads up, I'll see if I can't bribe Kenz into doing most of the cleaning."
Lauren reached out and took Bo's hand, entwining their fingers briefly and smiling softly. "Thank you, Bo." She said tenderly. "For everything."
The succubus smiled and ran her thumb over Lauren's knuckles before releasing her hand and making her way out of the lab. "Hey," she said quietly just as she was passing the valkyrie, putting her hand on Tamsin's wrist to get her attention.
Tamsin stopped walking and looked up from her phone, arching one eyebrow questioningly. "Hey." She replied cautiously, compelled to use the same hushed volume.
Bo tossed a quick glance over her shoulder at Lauren who had returned to scribbling notes on the research paper she'd been looking over in lieu of trying to eavesdrop on the two women. "Don't mess this up."
Tamsin shifted her weight to one side uncomfortably and tilted her head slightly, trying to gauge the brunette's angle. "Don't plan on it." She said confidently when she detected no threat in the succubus' order.
Bo smiled and dropped her hand from the blonde's wrist, nodding. "See you around, Tamsin."
"Later, succubus." She replied, watching Bo walk out of the lab. She looked back towards Lauren who was bent over her paperwork and shoved her phone back into her pocket, forgetting about the text message she'd been working on and making her way over to the doctor. "We gonna pull these stitches out, or what?" she asked, drawing the other blonde's attention.
Lauren smiled and pushed herself away from her workstation to stand up. "Probably, but I need to look first." She tugged on Tamsin's hand and walked backwards further into the lab. "Take your shirt off and go lie on the exam table, I'll be there in a minute."
Tamsin smirked and put gentle pressure on the hand in hers before letting go. "I kinda like it when you're bossy, doc." She said cockily, pulling her shirt over her head and hopping onto the nearest table, the thin butcher paper crinkling beneath her weight as she leaned back and threw an arm behind her head to offer better access to the stitched area.
"I'll keep that in mind." Lauren laughed from where she was scrubbing her hands in a sink. She pulled on a pair of gloves and scooted a rolling stool over to the table with her foot, flipping on a light near the intensity of a flood lamp and pointing it at the Valkyrie's abdomen. Swiping down the area with an alcohol pad she hummed appreciatively and reached for a pair of medical scissors on the tray next to the table. "Looks pretty good." She informed, using her other hand to grab a pair of tweezers. "You're going to feel some pulling, but it shouldn't hurt."
Tamsin nodded her assent and watched Lauren carefully pull the stitching up, cut the loops and pull the suture free from her skin. "So what's going on with the succubus?" she asked casually after a minute of watching the doctor work silently.
"Fatras imps." Lauren replied without looking up but she smiled when Tamsin snorted.
"I just assumed she's had a colony of those things for years already."
"The clubhouse isn't that bad." Lauren defended lightly. "It's a little run down and a little messy and…" she glanced up to find Tamsin smiling knowingly under raised eyebrows. "Okay, I'm a little surprised they didn't get them before now too."
"That's what I thought." Tamsin said self-satisfactorily.
Lauren rolled her eyes and snipped at another suture. "Bo tells me you and Kenzi are pretty good friends now?" she asked, her voice as nonchalant as she could muster.
The valkyrie shrugged as best she could with one shoulder. "Turns out I kinda like the brat… she grows on you," she said, wrinkling her nose as one of the suture knots got caught on her skin. "Like a fungus. A fungus made of one liners and vodka."
Lauren laughed and shook her head. "I won't argue with that." She sighed noiselessly and her tone sobered. "Bo also told me what facilitated your friendship."
"You start to feel real affectionate towards someone after asking something like that." Tamsin admitted quietly. She watched as the doctor pulled out the last of the stitching and swapped the medical tools for another alcohol wipe. "Are you mad I didn't tell you?"
"No, of course not." Lauren quickly assured. "I just don't want you to think you have to shield me from anything."
"I don't, doc, honest. It's just kind of a mood-killing topic, yanno? I didn't want you to worry over nothing." she watched a smile ghost over the other blonde's face but when she didn't look up Tamsin stilled her ministrations with the hand not tucked under her head. She waited until Lauren looked up at her, her expression troubled. In spite of the concern etched on the human's features causing her stomach to tighten uncomfortably, the valkyrie smiled slightly; unable to quell the flattery she felt that Lauren had been concerned over something that hadn't even happened. "What's wrong? Everything worked out, right?"
"I know." Lauren said, letting out a loud sigh while nodding. She pulled off her gloves and splayed her palms flat against the skin of the valkyrie's stomach. "I'm just…" she lifted her gaze to the ceiling as if the speckled tiles had the right words. "I guess it just doesn't feel fair to have been so close to losing something so new."
Tamsin pulled her arm out from behind her head and trailed her fingers over the doctor's jaw. "I'm fine, Lauren." She said firmly, smiling slightly when the other blonde's eyes slipped close at the sound of her name. "You were kinda touch and go yourself for a while, yanno."
Lauren nodded and gripped the hand against her face, turning her head to press her lips to the palm. "You're right."
"Yeah, get used to that." Tamsin said grinning. She propped herself up on her elbow and met the doctor halfway in a languid kiss. "M'I all healed up, doc?" she asked breathlessly as they pulled away, resting her forehead against Lauren's.
Lauren murmured a noise indicating her endorsement and kissed the Valkyrie again, running her tongue briefly along the fae's lower lip but breaking away before either of them could deepen it. "You've still got to take it easy for a little while." She replied. "You'll be fit for regular duty by next week."
"Fabulous." Tamsin said distractedly, though she was genuinely thankful she wasn't going to be spending an unforeseeable amount of time filing paperwork at her desk. She was going to have to remember to get the peons who normally did the brunt of the paperwork a gift basket or something. Or at least seriously think about getting it anyways. "Wanna get out of here?"
Lauren laughed and shook her head. "Aren't you supposed to work this afternoon?"
Tamsin shrugged and leaned away, picking up her shirt from where it was laying in a crumpled ball between her knees and pulling it on, pleased that the familiar tug of the stitches was gone when she raised her arms over her head. "Can't." she reasoned. "Doctor told me to take it easy and I'm trying to take this hot blonde out and show her a good time."
"Far be it from me to question sound medical advice." Lauren said in a serious manner, nodding her head.
The valkyrie grinned and hopped off the exam table to follow Lauren to her desk to organize her papers, turning equipment off on her way. "S'what I thought." She agreed. "Pretty damn early for dinner though."
"It's a good time for lunch." The blonde human pointed out, turning around after putting her computer into power save mode. She took an exaggerated step into Tamsin's personal space and encircled her arms around the taller woman's waist. "Besides," she continued lowly near Tamsin's ear, eliciting a shiver from the valkyrie that had nothing to do with the chilled air of the lab. "I'm pretty sure I can help you work up an appetite between now and then, don't you?"
Tamsin nodded dumbly, barely able to finish a complete movement of her head before capturing Lauren's lips again, both of them melting into each other. Heat blossomed throughout Tamsin's body and she hummed mostly unconsciously when the doctor's tongue pushed between her lips. Tamsin wasn't generally one for unmitigated compliance, but if this was what giving in felt like, she was unreservedly sure that she could get used to it.