Twelve years.
It's not a long time, goes by before you know it. Like driving on a highway, and suddenly, you're there. Wherever there may be.
For you, it's with Lauren at a park on a Saturday afternoon. For you, it's the early spring breeze that brushes past your leather jacket. For you, it's Tristen, your daughter, your whole world, as she laughs and plays with other kids her age while you and Lauren watch her from the bench on the sidewalk.
Seven years ago, you stopped your father from reigning over the colony. You and Lauren found a new place to settle down, the clubhouse destroyed with nothing left of it standing, but the Dal was still, is still, your second home.
You got married to the human doctor you were dead set on spending the rest of your life with, a small ceremony of your closest friends and family. Kenzi was your maid of honor, and the most amazing maid of honor there could be.
Six years, one night at the Dal, you didn't drink. You told Lauren the next day.
You named your little girl after Trick, for all that he had done for you, honoring him and the life he lived. When she was three, you remember her getting into Trick's books that he gave to Lauren through his will. You brought her on to your lap and tried to explain to her the different types of Fae in the book. Although you knew she wouldn't understand, it was cute seeing her point at the pictures and strange ancient scripture.
You often say that those five years afterwards were the best years of your life. You didn't take cases for a few years to care for Tristen, Dagny filling in that spot with Kenzi tagging along. You trusted the young Valkyrie to look out for your best friend, and she did. They made a great team like you and Kenzi once were.
Tristen calls a time-out on the game of tag with a raise of her hand. As she runs to you, her dark hair pulled up in a ponytail swaying back and forth, the other kids talk amongst themselves.
"Mama!" She slows down right before the bench. "Mika is getting a new puppy."
"You stopped the game just to tell us that?" Lauren asks, leaning forward to poke Tristen's belly.
Tristen erupts in giggles. "No! That's silly." She turns to you, eyes bright in the sun's rays. "Do you think Mika likes me, Mommy?"
You and Lauren exchange a look. A few months ago, you and the others made a bet on which Fae she'll become—a Succubus or a Shifter. You knew that you wouldn't find out for another several years, but most of the group was drunk, or at least tipsy, when the bet was made. Of course, you would like your daughter to take after you, yet at the same time, you don't want the burden of feeding to fall on her. You don't want her to experience what you had.
Lauren would reassure you when you would express your worries. "We'll make sure that doesn't happen. She has you. Always will."
Mark put his bets on Shifter, as did Dyson, for obvious reasons. Lauren also sided with them because she thought it would be easier to raise a Shifter.
Dagny, Kenzi, and Vex picked Succubus.
As Tristen grows and comes into her own, you notice things, her behaviors and the questions she would ask—wondering if her friends like her and feeling overly upset if they say 'no', that point to her being a Succubus. Your little Succubus. But she's only five, so you can't know for sure. If that is the Succubus in her or if she's just a curious five-year-old.
"C'mere." You hold your arms out for Tristen, and she climbs into them and settles on your lap facing the field. "Why don't you ask him on a playdate? Then Mama and I can talk to his mom about it. How does that sound?"
"Mommy." She glances at you. "But what if he doesn't like me? I want him to be my friend."
You tug her closer and kiss her head. "Well, there are going to be people that like us and people that don't like us. We just have to learn to live with that. It takes two people to make a friendship—"
"Like you and Mama?"
Out of the corner of your eye, Lauren bows her head, twisting her wedding band on her finger, the one that matches yours. "Yes, baby. Like me and Mama." You pause as Mika waves to you and Tristen from the field. You wave back. "Do you wanna know what I think?"
"What, Mommy?"
"I think that Mika wants to be your friend, too."
She gasps. "Really?"
"Of course, Tris." You rub her arm up and down, palms finding scattered goosebumps. Before leaving for the park, you insisted that Tristen wear a jacket. Even Lauren chased her around the house with one, but she still refused, arguing that it's not cold outside. Stubborn, just like you. You hope that it won't be a consistent problem as she gets older. "Go on now. Your friends are waiting for you."
"Okay!" And off she goes, off your lap and joining Mika and her friends on the grass field.
From the bench, you watch Tristen whisper something to him, and in response, he nods and whispers something back. Tristen turns and gives you a thumbs up, then returning to her game.
You shake your head and lean back, crossing your arms over your chest. "Point for Succubus."
"Oh, come on, Bo. Seriously?" Lauren huffs. "She's only five! She's just making a new friend. That's all."
"Lauren, hon, she paused a whole game of tag just to ask us if Mika likes her. You know she's more like me than her father."
Dark brown hair and brown eyes. Stubborn, yet gentle and determined. Protective of her moms, maybe too protective, once pushing a kid down on the playground for "speaking bullshit"—a word she must've picked up from Kenzi—about you and Lauren. You did punish her for it, but her Aunt Kenzi, on the other hand, gave her a high-five.
"Never let anyone talk smack about your parents, kid."
Family means everything to her, and not just her moms. Her father, and her many aunts and uncles, too.
"But that doesn't mean that she can't be a Shifter," Lauren says. "Maybe that's the one thing she got from Dyson."
Or she's both. A Succubus with additional Shifter abilities or the other way around. You inherited some of your abilities from your own father, as much as you hate it, so Tristen might be the same way—born of the two strongest Fae in existence, well, at least in the colony. "You're right. I guess we won't know until…"
A couple walks on to the grass and lays their blanket out. They're setting up a picnic, a basket in hand. Together, they laugh, people watch, pour glasses of wine. Something you once did with Auretta. The moment that old picture held. When things were normal, when you didn't know who you were, when you could live your life without worries or fear.
When you thought that she was going to be your forever.
Toronto. Whiskey. Auretta.
Picnics, and long kisses under the clouds with the sun peeking through.
But things changed after fighting for your right to live among the Fae, rejecting both the light and the dark. After each encounter with your enemies. You became stronger, grew to understand yourself, honed your abilities. You changed.
You're not a lost girl anymore.
You're not alone anymore.
"Bo?"
You peel your eyes away from the couple to meet those of your beautiful wife. "Hmm?"
Lauren rests her hand on top of yours on your thigh. Fingers lace. "You were saying something? About Tristen?"
"Oh. Right. I got caught up in my head, I guess."
"Are you okay?" Lauren asks, concern wrapped in her words.
You nod. "I was just reminded of something, before I met you or Dyson. Trick. During those ten years I was in the dark. The first time I fed off someone who was still alive the next morning. She was Fae. I picked her up from a bar, thinking that night was gonna be her last."
"What happened?"
Two years.
You belonged somewhere. You didn't kill. You were okay, for the most part. Because of her. She was still here, and you stayed.
"She saved my life."