In the time before she had dated Nadia back in college, Lauren had been reserved and focused on her studies. While she did go out on dates and had lost her virginity with her first short-lived girlfriend her freshman year, Lauren had never really been too concerned about her solitude or relationships. She didn't even have any friends beyond study groups and lab partners. Since she had been raised with parents who did not love one another, she did not witness or ever really experience much of a need for relationships; her maternal grandparents were the only real, loving relationship that she ever observed. Subconsciously, Lauren knew she wanted that deep affection and everlasting loyalty her grandparents exuded, but she had learned from her parents that love wasn't a necessity for success or life. That was why Lauren was always so independent and never relied on anybody.

Bo really had no idea how much of an impact and change she made in Lauren's life, because now, she couldn't imagine a life without those loving and close relationships.

Lauren freshman year was th first time she was ever away from her family, and it was wonderful. Even though she knew now that her family was heavily involved in fae politics, Lauren didn't know then why she never felt like she had the freedom to be her own person. Instead, she always did everything she was expected to do, including dating boys. During her first semester, she finally and freely came to terms with her strong sexual attraction to women. She started casually flirting with the girl that worked in the library, which is how Lauren learned the art of flirting. Without realizing there was somebody stocking books next to her, Lauren accidentally dropped a book on the girl's head; she believed she was tall enough to reach Aristotle's Rhetoric without the step stool in the aisle to prevent that very thing from happening. Lauren had apologized for her clumsiness, but the girl smiled at her in response, telling her it happened more than she would think.

That was how she met her first official girlfriend, Amelia, even if it didn't last but a few months and never culminated into anything other than lustful feelings and fun. Lauren had been too focused on school and didn't know how to let loose with her emotions. She didn't know how to be anybody's girlfriend and had just continued with her own life, mixing in Amelia when there was time in her schedule. It became the problem that drove them apart. They only casually waved or smiled at one another the next few years until Amelia graduated. When Roger came the next year, he had made fun of her for dating the weird library girl, but Lauren still freely admitted there was an adorable quirkiness to her. Plus, she had made the first move; if Amelia hadn't been the one to pursue her, Lauren wasn't sure she would have ever dated in college.

Roger was only a year younger than she was, so they were the ones always in seeming competition with the other. He hated that she was better at fencing, sports, and academics. When Lauren had received the full scholarship to the university, he followed her there a year later. He played on the tennis team, declared pre-law, and joined a fraternity. Lauren declared a double major and did nothing but study and box to let out stress and frustration.

In Lauren's senior year, when Roger mentioned his girlfriend Kat had a best friend that would love to meet her, Lauren had said no, especially since it was Roger. Whenever they did see each other on campus, he would never admit that they were related. Lewis was a common last name, and they didn't really look too much like siblings, so it was easy to blend with that lie. Roger was never nice to her and was disrespectful most days, but Lauren always suspected there was something more to the relationship. Why else would he follow her to college? Why try setting her up on a date? Her relationship with Roger was always the most normal human relationship she had, as it was extremely similar to a normal sibling rivalry.

What did surprise Lauren was that neither her brother nor his girlfriend let her rejection of them setting her up stop them from making that relationship happen. Normally, he wanted as little contact with her as possible unless it was to brag about something he did. Lauren had spent the last two years before the "set up" working on school work and prepping for med school, so it was easy to ignore him. The few dates she had gone on never really culminated into anything because she didn't let them. The girls were attractive, and Roger even voiced his opinion that it wasn't fair that one of the cheerleaders asked his sister out but not him. Kat was standing right beside him when he said it, but she didn't really say anything about him being an asshole so Lauren did it for her. She may not have been the best girlfriend, but she did know enough to know you didn't complain about not dating a cheerleader in front of your girlfriend.

Lauren had met Nadia one day in the quad, where Lauren was studying for her Organic Chemistry midterm and getting fresh air outside of her tiny dorm room. For some reason that day, her room had felt stuffy and she had felt trapped and needed to get out, so she donned her light jacket and messenger bag filled with books and notes and headed to find a place to sit. Lauren remembered being in a great mood because she loved Organic Chemistry. Studying things that fascinated her always put her in a good mood, and she knew she was actually ready for the exam already. Her studying was just posturing; giving her something to do that day as though studying were her only hobby, which was not true. She had accumulated quite a few hobbies and skills over the years by then and had only continued to collect them, even if she never did learn how to juggle like she promised herself she would.

Nadia had come over to ask to borrow a pencil from her, since Lauren had several of them sprawled around her on the ground. Without even looking up, Lauren had handed her a pencil, too engrossed in rereading a particularly favorite passage on biopolymers. Nadia cleared her throat and said thanks, which caused Lauren to look up and smile at her. She wasn't prepared for how beautiful Nadia was or how amazing her smile was. In that moment, Lauren had forgotten all about Organic Chemistry. They started dating not long after, when Lauren found out that this was the girl her brother wanted to hook her up with. It was still the only nice thing Roger had ever done for her.

Nadia later confessed that she and Kat had been in the quad, too, and Kat had encouraged her to go talk to Lauren. Nadia said that she wasn't sure about the set up, either, but when she saw how beautiful Lauren was, she didn't hesitate. They became serious and even moved in together for the summer after Lauren graduated. Since she had been doing overloads since she got there and had taken college courses while in high school, she graduated in four years. She and Roger were only ten months apart and had been in the same class, but she had graduated high school a year early and gone to college a year early. Despite all of her achievements, she had still been nervous about getting into med school. Nadia and Kat both had told her she was silly for being nervous. Nadia had even thrown her a mini party, though she had not known most of the people there. It was that night, not long after living together, that Lauren realized she really did love Nadia.

When Lauren had finally gotten enough courage up to tell Nadia she loved her, they were living in a somewhat strange domestic bliss. One month later, Nadia dumped Lauren without an explanation, transferred schools, and moved back home across the country. Lauren was so heartbroken that she didn't register the coinciding events of Kat dumping Nadia after getting married before Nadia dumped Lauren that summer.

Lauren knew now that it was because part of fae marriage meant agreeing to uphold all of the rules, especially the One Rule. Kat was fae; Nadia was human. So, Kat and Nadia were no longer allowed to be best friends and attached at the hip like they had been. Without even knowing it, Lauren had experienced yet another example of the fae controlling her life.

All of this was exactly why Lauren was staring at Nadia now, ten years later, too shocked from the woman's admission that Kat was the one who told Nadia to dump Lauren. It was Kat who got them together, broke them up, and now, all these years later, was trying to get them back together again. What was the woman's endgame? Lauren didn't trust this.

She and Nadia had grabbed lunch a few times the past three weeks since the vacation plans were halted by Bo's emergency champion quest to help Woods capture an insane Dark Fae named Reynard, who had escaped a high security prison. Woods was getting all the glory and money, but Bo was requested as backup since Reynard was so dangerous. Since he had helped her get the Chai Crystal for the Morrigan, Bo decided to return the favor, even if he had been paid then, too. Honestly, they couldn't decide where to go for vacation anyways, so it saved them the trouble of deciding, even if they really needed to get out of the city for a while.

Bo was away again, so Lauren and Kenzi had gone to stay at Gram's for a bit; though, Bo was supposed to be on her way back home today, so they had come back to the Clubhouse last night after work. Nadia had called for lunch, and Kenzi wanted to meet the woman, so they had agreed to have a light lunch together at the clubhouse. Kenzi had stayed silent and mostly observed and took care of Alexie, who was starting to crawl and becoming a comical handful for the young girl. She had taken Alexie into the bedroom for a nap, which is when Nadia jumped into the big confession.

"I should've talked to you about it instead of running like I did." Nadia looked at Lauren with sad, honestly apologetic eyes. "I should've trusted our love was strong enough to help me get through losing my best friend."

"If she told you she didn't want to talk to you ever again, why would you listen to her when she told you to leave me?" Lauren had never really disliked Kat. As far as sisters-in-law went, she was not that bad. She had always been nice to Lauren; at least, she was nice to her face. The doctor was beginning to reassess given the new information.

"I was distraught. You were getting ready to start med school, and you were always so…detached and distant." Nadia leaned forward on the couch, going to grab for the wine glass. Lauren just leaned back in the couch's arm, aware that she was feeling her body start to change more each day. Her belly should start to gradually show soon. "If you weren't detached, you were super fun or super sexual. I needed something different from you other than your rationality and couldn't wait around for the other parts of you to surface whenever."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be what you needed." Lauren felt guilty for a moment, though she thought it silly to apologize since she was the one who was dumped. "But you never even gave me a chance to try."

"And I've had to live with that regret these past ten years." Nadia downed the rest of the wine in her glass before placing it back on the table and moving closer towards Lauren on the couch. "I tried to find you for the past seven years, but you were a difficult woman to find. Somebody didn't want you found."

"I do highly classified work, so that's not surprising." From their conversations these past few weeks, Lauren wasn't too shocked that Nadia knew about the fae world. She admitted she had no clue in college, and she was even more surprised to find Kat, Roger, and Lauren were part of the Light. Lauren assured Nadia that she was human; there was no reason to go into a discussion about hybrids.

"This is incredible. I never would have dreamed that there would be a whole other world of people and creatures right here walking among us." Nadia was a photojournalist, and even in college, she had been forceful about exposes. Lauren remembered Nadia had worked for the college newspaper while they were dating, so it was easy to believe the woman continued in that career. "When I was in Ireland six years ago, I kept coming across these things that kept attacking a rural area. I thought it was ridiculous that these people believed in vampires. Who would have thought that they would turn out to be a real thing?"

"That's fae for you." Lauren smiled lightly. It actually felt good not having to lie about her world. Maybe she could be friends with Nadia again. Lauren had heard that lesbian relationships sometimes turned into friendships after they were over, but she had neither witnessed or experienced it directly. Maybe this was her chance, and since she was already close to Nadia, it was reasonable to believe that they could be friends again. Lauren had no sexual feelings towards the woman, and Bo was worried for nothing. After that first meeting, Nadia had been respectful and had not tried anything.

"Tell me more about Bo." Nadia moved her head to the side slightly, relaxing against the couch. Lauren looked to Kenzi's bedroom door, concerned that the girl had been gone longer than she mentioned. She must have laid down to take a nap with Alexie, which was not an uncommon occurrence. "I get the feeling she's special."

"She is special…to me. We're bound together, which we treat as a marriage. We love each other and are starting a family." Lauren smiled and knew she was glowing a bit. Bo was one of her favorite topics, though it was one that she and Nadia had not tackled yet. "We're going to discover the baby's sex at next week's ultrasound."

"No, I mean special in the fae world." Nadia seemed fixated on the fae world as a topic today, but this didn't alarm Lauren as much as it probably should. She understood wanting to know everything there was about this new world , but Nadia didn't need to really know that much to understand how it worked. Lauren's phone rang, and she smiled when she noticed it was Bo. She sensed her wife was on her way, but she loved that Bo still called to check in anyways. "Wait. Don't answer that."

"Well, it's Bo. I just have to…" Lauren looked at Nadia's pleading expression and was concerned at the sudden neediness.

"Just forget about Bo. It's just you and me right now." Nadia leaned forward on the couch and went to touch Lauren's leg.

"I'll just be a minute." Lauren brushed Nadia aside as she stood from the couch and walked into the kitchen alone to answer her phone. "Hey, babe. On your way home?"

"I'm just a few miles out, and I'm hoping you're already in bed waiting for me." Bo sounded chipper, which did not surprise Lauren given they had been apart for two weeks while Bo was out hunting Reynard. This meant Bo was super hungry and horny. Lauren realized she would need to get rid of Nadia soon if they were going to indulge in a proper reunion. Increased hormones were one of the things Lauren had noticed in her changing body; if that were possible, since she already had an increased libido thanks to Bo's succubus energy exchange during the bonding ritual.

"It's 1:26 in the afternoon, Bo. Why would I be in bed?" Lauren smiled, though she knew that Bo couldn't actually see it. She looked over to see Nadia was acting like she wasn't paying attention to the private conversation.

"I'll bet Kenzi's in bed." Bo's smile could be heard in her tone.

"Touché." Lauren nodded at Nadia when she stood from the couch and started picking up the after lunch mess in the living room. "I'll say goodbye to Nadia and see you in a few?"

"Nadia's there?" Bo was acting more jealous than concerned now. She had made it a point to drop off and pick up Lauren at the exact times mentioned for that first lunch. Since she wasn't here for the past few, Bo's jealousy came from her tone more than anything, though she did admit that she wasn't surprised Lauren would be nice to her ex. After all, Bo was friends with Dyson, and he still had feelings for her, so Lauren explained how silly and one-sided her jealousy was. Bo did let it drop after that and agreed it was good for Lauren to make friends.

"Yeah, and you've known that for a few days now. I even mentioned it to you again this morning on the phone." Lauren smiled. Now she knew why her wife was making an effort to get home faster now. "See you soon? Be careful."

"See you soon." Bo sighed into the phone before disconnecting, though it was more of a "please be naked" sigh than a "dammit, Nadia's there" sigh.

"So, Bo's on her way home?" Nadia was biting her lip, as she placed the glasses in the sink. She and Kenzi had drank wine, but Lauren opted for a healthy and safe glass of water. "I'll get going. I'm sure you're excited she's on her way home. Does she go away often like this for work?"

"Her job has her doing all sorts of interesting things. Travel is part of that on occasion." Lauren was glad that Bo's globe-trotting had diminished exponentially since she returned from the Morrigan's last errand. These last two weeks were harder on Lauren than she wanted to admit; it wasn't uncommon for Bo to be gone for longer periods of time, but she realized how much of a problem that could be when they were raising a child together, especially given that she herself was a workaholic. Lauren didn't want to become her parents, but she was honestly afraid that she would.

"What exactly does she do?" Again, Nadia's interest was more curiosity than anything, but Lauren had still learned never to trust anyone when it came to the fae.

"She's an independent contractor." Lauren picked up Nadia's coat and scarf from the coat rack and handed them to her.

"What kind of fae is she?" Nadia shrugged on her coat, wrapping the scarf around her neck without bothering to zip up her coat first. She used to forget her coat in college, saying it was an unnecessary evil when you were just running from one overheated building to the next and weren't outside for long. It was why Lauren suspected the girl had to see the college doctor more often than the average college student.

"That's not my place to tell." Lauren slipped on her loafers and prepared to walk the woman to her car. The clubhouse wasn't really dangerous, despite Bo's accumulation of random enemies over the years, but she wanted to make sure that Bo and Nadia didn't butt heads if they happened to pass one another outside. "You're asking a lot of questions about my wife today. Should I be worried?"

"Not at all." Nadia opened her car door and stood leaning over it. "I'm not after your wife."

"Should I be concerned you are after something?" Lauren wished she had at least pulled on her coat. Her thermal shirt underneath her sweater was keeping the cold away, but she should have known Nadia would want an official goodbye that lasted longer than her getting in the car and driving away.

"Nothing to be concerned about, Lauren. I'm still into you, because I would be an idiot if I wasn't, but I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize your relationship." Nadia sounded honest, which made Lauren relax. It was exactly what she needed to hear; well, the not doing anything about it part, at least.

"I wish you could tell Bo that."

"Want me to wait?"

"How about another time?" Lauren smiled warmly at Nadia, extending the open invitation for another future lunch. After today, she felt confident they could become friends again. She would gather Kenzi's observation on the matter later.

"Deal." Nadia nodded before sitting down in her car and waving as she drove away.

Since Bo's car could be seen in the distance, Lauren decided to brave the biting cold a few seconds longer in a promise that within moments, she would be pulled into a super warm embrace.

Bo parked, her car smelling like gas, which meant she was driving too fast to get here. She practically fell out of the car trying to get out too fast and slammed the door, not bothering to lock it as she came to pull Lauren in for a tight embrace. Lauren was correct in her assessment in how warm that hug was.

"What the hell are you doing outside? You're freezing!" Bo pulled out of the embrace and pulled her inside the clubhouse, not stopping until they were upstairs in the main floor. Kenzi was still nowhere in sight, but the familiar sounds of two sets of soft snores coming from the open bedroom door told them where she was.

"I've missed you." Lauren waited for Bo to get out of her coat and other winter garments before coming to pull her into an even hotter hug. She was cold from being outside, but she wouldn't admit it. "I hate when you're gone so long."

"Well, I didn't really plan on being gone this long." Bo wrapped her arms fully around Lauren's back, pulling their bodies tightly together and placing soft, sweet kisses along her neck. "Mmm…you have no idea how much I've missed you."

"I have a pretty good idea." Lauren felt Bo's warm hands find the bare skin beneath her layers, and she instantly reacted to the touch. Her body was hypersensitive, which was new. They were both possibly going to love this new side effect to the pregnancy.

"You're supposed to be naked in bed upstairs; not outside in the cold without a coat on. You'll get sick, doctor." Bo pulsed her lightly out of instinct, which was not uncommon when she was so hungry nor was it necessary because Lauren decided to she was ready to go as soon as Bo's hand contacted bare skin. "Reynard was one sneaky and uber creepy fae. I have stories to tell you; one which involves me being inside Woods."

"Inside Woods?" Lauren tried to picture what her wife meant by that.

"Body swap, that's all I'm saying. It was not a pleasant experience, and I never thought I'd say this, but I do not envy guys. I wouldn't want anything dangling between my legs like that all day long. It's…distracting." Bo had not been inside Woods; she had actually been Woods. Lauren just arched an eyebrow at her, making sure that Bo saw her cast her eyes upwards toward their bedroom, knowing her wife knew what she was thinking. "Well, you can remove those things, and it's not like you ever let me use it on you anyways."

"Not my idea of a good time. We got that for you, babe." Lauren blushed again; it was still embarrassing for her to think about being in that adult store with Bo and Kenzi, who had thankfully left Alexie with Gram that day. Bo had begged her to try some new things, and Lauren had learned it was a mistake letting a succubus drag her into a sex store. Of course, Lauren saw how blue Bo's eyes flashed at certain moments, so she couldn't deny the woman her healthy sexual curiosity, even if her own was extremely vanilla, as Kenzi was not bothered to remind her in front of the other patrons in that store. Lauren finally acquiesced, though she did make it clear that the majority of the stuff was more for Bo's pleasure than her own. Lauren wasn't opposed to the toys; she just preferred the intense intimacy of being directly touched by her wife. "I'm sensing that you're running on fumes right now. Did something happen?"

"Flipping Woods was in my body. He does not have the control over my body's hunger like I do. Unfortunately, that meant he drained more reserve and gave my body back almost empty, and we still had to escort Reynard back to the prison." Bo took a deep breath, as she came out of the embrace and pulled Lauren along up the stairs. "So, yeah, I'm starving. Is that okay?"

"We'll need to talk about a game plan to make sure you're fed when I'm in my third trimester." Lauren pulled her sweater and thermal tee over her head in one movement, feeling the cold in the room sharply attack her skin. She pulled them apart and folded them, as she watched Bo kick off her boots and pants. Why her wife insisted on wearing leather pants all the time was a mystery to Lauren, but she was not complaining on how sexy Bo looked in that leather. Then again, Lauren thought Bo looked sexy in anything. Or nothing; she wasn't complaining about Bo wearing nothing, either.

"Can we talk big stuff later? I'm itching." Bo tossed the rest of her clothes away, seemingly not even bothered by the cold much. In the winter months is when Lauren envied Bo's hotter body temperature the most. Still, the woman was cold, and Lauren licked her lips subconsciously seeing her wife's body completely exposed to her, nipples hard from a mixture of the arousal and cold.

"Agreed." Lauren unbuttoned her pants but was too preoccupied in her staring to really pay much attention to getting naked. Bo turned on the portable electric heater they kept in the bedroom, being a loving wife and knowing Lauren was going to freeze tonight, before she came over to pull Lauren over to the bed, pushing her down and pulling her jeans from her body.

Lauren sensed Bo's hunger pangs now, so she knew it was going to be a long afternoon of lovemaking and passionate exchanges. From past experience with her wife, Bo would go slow the first time, to ensure she had her control and take off the biting starvation. Then, the sex and the feeding would gradually become more hurried, quicker, and needier. After Bo was sated, she would either pass out or get up like a newly recharged battery.

Lauren was not wrong in her prediction. They only took a break to eat dinner, giving Bo a chance to officially greet Kenzi and Alexie while Lauren ran out to the car to grab Bo's forgotten duffle bag. Lauren started her wife's trip laundry while Kenzi and Bo cleaned up dinner. They tried to watch a movie, but Alexie fell asleep, which meant Kenzi wasn't far behind. That meant that their extended intermission was over, and Bo and Lauren had no trouble or hesitancy falling into Act II.

Lauren loved when Bo returned from a trip like this. Not so hungry she was close to losing control; but so needy and attentive in bed. These were the moments when Lauren felt her own hyper libido and increased hormones truly feel the sexual connection between them. When Bo was gone, it was like she got just as hungry, even if hers wasn't a biological need. Lauren knew it wasn't common for two people who had been sexually active with each other for two and a half years had this much sex, but Lauren was not complaining. This was just part of what it meant to be mated with a succubus, and Lauren loved every second of it.

Bo even teased her again and tried to get Lauren to agree to using the toys on herself. Lauren knew Bo would never give up trying to get her to open up sexually, especially since Lauren had given into her with that one position. They only pulled that out on special occasions, though. The sexual adventures and misadventures of Bo and Lauren would definitely make for an interesting book; it would have to go next to the Kama Sutra, which Lauren was hoping Kenzi was joking about getting Bo for her birthday. Lauren enjoyed Bo's attentiveness to her, and she did look forward to eventually adventuring. For now, though, Lauren just kept her own sexual pace. Bo didn't seem to mind, despite her teasing and urging. Even though she was a succubus, Bo was not pushy in the bedroom.

For someone who had spent most of her life controlling her desires and emotions, Lauren had no trouble revealing or releasing them with Bo. Why dwell on the past, when her present and future were extremely promising?