A/N~ Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback and encouraging reviews. Everyone is very much appreciated. Also just a reminder, this fic is due to a request by Hippychica23, so thanks and kudos to her. ~A

Chapter 7

They were laying in front of the fire, her skin as pale as it was showed every beard burn, hickey and slight bruise he had put upon it. His skin was tanned and a bit sturdier, but still bore scratches, and even a couple of bite marks.

They were both exhausted and were enjoying some fresh air as the tent was now redolent wit the smell of their 24 hours of love making. Even the best of his time with Bo couldn't compare with what he was still experiencing with Kenzi. Her smile was very much the cat with its cream, her eyes closed, as he traced the lone of her throat.

He had drug the air mattress out closer to the fire. Somehow during the night they had managed to roll off the thing. Well considering some of their athletics, it wasn't really all that surprising. The fact Kenzi was shivering with cold on the hard floor of the tent was intolerable to the werewolf though. So after bundling her into the sleeping bag, he had moved first the air bed then the girl out closer to the fire.

He stoked the embers till the fire was blazing merrily again before crawling back into the sleeping bag with her. She had squealed and complained about his cold feet. The pair of them had actually giggled while arguing about who had colder feet. She was still more asleep than awake and practically purring from the attention he was lavishing on her.

"You know a girl could get used to this," Kenzi said stretching luxuriously against his body as she added, "Be careful Mr. Big Bad or Little Miss Riding Hood might get spoiled."

He huffed a little laugh against her cheek, "Maybe I think you should be spoiled."

"You know something, I used to think being spoiled meant loads of money, gifts, jewelry, that sort of thing. This, this right here…you and me in the middle of nowhere, just being with each other. This is being spoiled." she said with a huge grin as she snuggled into his chest. "Okay maybe a bit fewer bugs, ants especially. I hate ants." She snorted with laughter as she looked up at him.

He merely raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh really. Bugs you say. I'll have to find these creatures. After all, I can't have them interfering with my spoilage of Kenzi."

"Spoilage of…" she started to protest when suddenly her voice went up into a high pitched shriek and she started writing uncontrollably under him. As his fingers continued to dive in and nimbly poke and prod at the young woman's ribcage. Finally when she was so breathless from the giggling that she was ready to pass out, he let her breath normally for several minutes as he lay beside her on the mattress.

He says softly, "I never even courted you…before. I'm so sorry Kenzi. All of this time and I never really gave you any idea at all about what my feelings for you were. Never even asked you out on a date or anything."

"True," she says, still a little out of breath before adding, "Well look at it this way, now you have the time to make up for it." Then Kenzi seems to get a little introspective as she says quietly. "How long do you want to date?"

"However long you're comfortable with," Dyson said in a soft voice, "I know how much you cared for Hale and I don't want to belittle your feelings for or memory of him."

She shook her head at him a little wondering as she said, "You are a very good man, Mr. Thornwood. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Dyson huffed a weak chuckle as he admitted, "Not recently, no."

"Well, you are. Don't let anyone tell you differently." the grey eyed woman said as she stroked his bearded cheek lovingly. He caught her hand where she was touching his face and kissed the palm gently.

"So I was thinking we should do a hand fasting," Kenzi said out of the blue and Dyson could freely admit it. He nearly choked on his own tongue.

"Now where did you hear about hand fasting, my fine girl?" he asked, his brogue thickening as he gazed down at her curiously.

"Your parents did mention it, but I already knew about them. I am descended from gypsies you know. We had quite a few traditions that are similar but being Russian does make a few things different." she said giving him a winsome smile. "But you're right a little time out of respect to Hale. It's only right."

He nodded his head absently, his eyes distant and she knew his own version of the plotting look. Snapping out of it suddenly, Dyson looked down at her and said, "Before we go back tomorrow, there's some place I want to take you. It's actually out this way so it won't take too long, that okay with you?"

She could tell by the slightly agitated but eager look he was giving her that this was important for him and agreed easily enough. They cuddle a little longer before the fire before her growling tummy brought the need for food to his attention and they proceed to put together a dinner of supplies from his backpack.

~O~

The next day when she wakes up Kenzi is touched and pleasantly surprised to have a washcloth, soap and a pan of warm water to take a bath with. Not to mention some warm clothes. Winter may still be a few weeks away but the chill is definitely in the air. The decidedly Irish looking sweater is unfamiliar and huge on her small frame but she was glad of it as they were hiking back to where the bike had been left at the ranger station.

To say the ranger was pleasantly stunned to meet Kenzi was an understatement and he kept looking a little strangely at the pair, until Kenzi being as bold as ever said, "Alright guy you're freaking me out do I have leaves in my hair or something."

"No, no nothing like that." the ranger aid reassuringly, "I'm just trying to figure out, if I should go camping wherever your friend here did. If I'll find a fae creature such as yourself out there, too?" Kenzi's eyes snapped to her werewolf who just shook his head to let the tiny not so Goth looking girl that the ranger wasn't in the know about the fae he was just mimicking an Irish brogue badly and happened to use the term in a poetic turn of phrase.

Kenzi found herself charmed at the compliment and fluttered her lashes at the man as she replied, "Why thank you kind sir."

Dyson just grinned at her after he had packed everything back onto the bike and was handing her a helmet. "I can see I'm going to have to keep my eye on you."

"Not a chance D-man. I'm on your team, remember?" Kenzi replied as she worked with the chin strap on the helmet. He moved her fingers aside and fastened the strap securely. "Where's yours?" she asked.

He looked confused for a minute and she repeated more clearly, "Where's your helmet?"

He smiled charmingly and replied, pointing at his head, "Irish remember, we're notorious for our hard heads, plus werewolf. Afraid it'll take a bit more than laying down my bike to do much to me."

"Yeah well I'm Russian we're notorious for our superstitious nature. We're getting you a helmet ASAP. Making statements like that is just asking the Fates, or whatever to put the whammy on you. Wait a minute are the Fates actually a fae thing? Seriously, cause that could suck." Kenzi babbled on for a minute as he climbed on.

Instead of helping her get on behind him on the bike, he had his head tilted to the side and was gazing at her with an odd smile on his face. Finally she noticed his expression and said with an answering smile but also a slight tone of frustration, "What?"

"Kenzi babble who knew I would miss it?" he answered honestly.

Not sure how to respond the brunette just shook her head and smacked the man in the arm affectionately. "Come on big guy, let's get going."

As they traveled down the road towards the highway, Dyson kept one hand on the handlebars and one hand on her hip. More to steady the younger woman than anything. He did his best to avoid the worst of the damage to the road, but it was still a bumpy ride on the uneven path. Kenzi for her part merely squeezed her arms tighter around the werewolves abs. As a form of reassurance it was a bit distracting but did let him know she was secure.

Once they got onto the highway the pair headed in the wrong direction for abut half an hour. Then the motorcycle was guided down a dirt road followed by a well worn driveway, that surprisingly was smoother than the road that had led into the park. They came out into a clearing that was basically a widened area in front of a rock face on one side and a sheer drop off on the end.

The clearing was a few thousand square feet. Then she noticed it. An opening in the cliff face and she couldn't help the flinch as she flashed back to the kitsune, Inari and being trapped in the cave. Hands were on her shoulders reassuringly, "I'm here, Kenzi. You're safe," and strangely enough she was comforted and felt more secure.

She nodded her head and the pair walked inside. It was actually lighter than she imagined inside, the weak sun reflected off the light colored rocks at the front of the cave to bring some of the light inside the cave. He still drew a flashlight out of his jeans pocket to show her the interior of the cave.

"There aren't bats in here are there?" Kenzi asked looking down at her feet, not wanting to look up.

"No. I won't lie, there were, but this cave has another entrance. The whole cave goes throughout this mountain. I managed to encourage the wee rodents back further into the cave until they started heading out that way, and then closed the cave up that way. There's a way through but I closed it up with a door. They go up through that back entrance of the cave now."

Kenzi finally looked up and could make out a surprisingly low ceiling, only about ten or twelve feet high. The other cave was so high she couldn't really make it out. That and it had been covered by bats. The writhing of the bodies had been very disconcerting for her, that and the eyes. She shuddered slightly and he started to guide them back out. Kenzi planted her feet. She had spotted the broad low shelf that someone, her wolf no doubt had put several furs on as a makeshift bed.

It made her look around further. There were a couple of boxes and trunks, signs of where a fire had been. "You want to turn this into a home?" She said, amazed and yet strangely intrigued by the thought.

Her mind suddenly went into overdrive as she said, "You know bat guano is supposed to be some of the best fertilizer in the world. I don't really think anything could survive my black hands but it might just be enough to help any baby plants through."

The werewolf stared at her wonderingly and said, "I think you mean black thumb, love."

"Nope, trust me, black hand. I seem to kill everything, What you think the postage stamp of a yard around the Crack Shack looks that way naturally, even the weeds die if I just look at them." She looked around at the rough floor of the cavern and said woefully, "We'll have to even out the floor though, knowing my luck I'll stub my toe the first night we're here and break it on a rock or something."

"You're not that bad," Dyson said defensively, "Not anymore, you had actually become quite the warrior before…"

"You can say it Dyson," Kenzi said turning back to look at her beloved, "Before I died."

"I don't want to think of it," the werewolf admitted reluctantly.

"I was though." Kenzi said and then thought of something, "Did you know you actually dream in the afterlife?" Then she remembered what she had dreamed about and blushed prettily.

Seeing the blush Dyson smiled a little wolfishly and said, "No but I think I want to hear about this dreaming."

"Later wolf boy, but since we're talking about turning this into an actual home, I feel I should warn you of at least one or two things I'm a big fan of. Indoor plumbing and refrigeration…in that order too, just a little heads up."

"Duly noted duchess." he responded affectionately.

"Why duchess?" Kenzi asked looking at him a little oddly.

"Russian royal title," he explained. Beneath the czar who you survived so that's obviously not you thank heavens. Princess is just too common nowadays and sorry but you're not common by any stretch, so…" He watched as her head tilted to the side and the odd look changed to a charmed one, with a tiny winsome smile. "What?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Apparently, babbling is contagious," she laughed softly.

"Oh no, you take that back." he said and she jumped away as he reached for her. Which of course started a little game of keep away between the two. When he finally caught her there was laughter and kissing and then she said it, "Why Officer Thornwood, I do believe you're a little chubbed up."

"Only for you duchess," he said and there was still laughter in that voice as he knelt before her. He pulled something out of the inner pocket of his leather jacket and took her right hand, and kissed the knuckles before saying, "This is a claddagh," he explained showing her the ring in his hand. "It belonged to my ma, my da gave it to her when they were married. Kenzi will you agree to give me the exquisite pleasure of being my mate forever?"

A shadow appeared in the grey eyes but it was fleeting as the human smiled at him and responded, "As long as that is, my wolf. Yes."

~O~

They were riding back down the highway towards town. They had spent a little more time at what Dyson called the Homestead, mostly making plans. Even though Kenzi still maintained that she had a black hand, she wanted a garden. Dyson thought it was a very practical idea, a vegetable garden would have saved them several trips down the mountain to buy groceries. The duchess though had decided that a few flowers would also be very nice. He had laughed and told her in a slightly doting way that he would create a garden, a way to refrigerate things and a bath and kitchen that would be fit for a czarina. She believed him.

"We have to wait for a bit before I can let the others know you're back," he said as they rode. "We may be able to as soon as we get to Dar's."

"What's Dar's?" Kenzi asked.

"A restaurant, you'll like it I think. It's coming up around the next bend." the werewolf answered.

~O~

She really had enjoyed it. The older woman who waited on them was named Tammy and she considered Dyson a regular, which meant special treatment. Not like the "tourists" who she apparently thought were the bain of her very existence. Kenzi who was the first young woman he had ever brought up this way, was also given some special considerations.

Like a not so virgin Bloody Mary, in a supposedly dry county with the Sheriff sitting on one of the bar stools only 20 yards away. "Don't mind Bert if he wants me to keep his waistline happy while keeping his wife in the dark about it…" the older woman said with a wink. "There is a reason they call it, knowing which side that your bread is buttered on."

Even though she wasn't one to eat whole lot, Kenzi ate most of the steak and eggs that Dyson had ordered fro her as well as something called Spinach Souffle. The younger woman whispered, "Who knew icky green stuff could taste so good"

Tammy was charmed.

It was just after dusk when they arrived at the pub known as the Dahl. Although it was a Friday, the crowd was light right at the moment. They walk in the door to find Vex at one end of the bar faced off against, Bo and Trick at the other. Lauren was in between and really looking like she'd rather be anywhere else.

Bo was yelling at Vex that, "You should keep your filthy paws to yourself Mesmer."

"Just holding her hand succubus and not in a sexual way," the Mesmer said, holding his hands up in surrender as he added, "Just offering comfort, to a friend."

"You don't have any friends, even Kenzi only liked you cause you helped us out once in a while." the succubus said in a snide and cruel manner as she not so surreptitiously tried to manipulate Lauren into moving closer to her side and away from Vex. The dark fae did actually look hurt at Bo's statements, but managed to mask his real feelings under his charm and guile.

Kenzi however had no such compunction as she yelled out, "That's a lie, I actually happen to like Vex because he reminds me of a more badass me." Kenzi said as she seemed to dance over to the Mesmer and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a bear hug. Ignoring Bo for the moment she then moved on to Lauren. The lady doc was stunned but gave into the embrace with good grace. "How are you here? We all saw you go into the portal… "

"Long story, short version Dyson did some research and used some fae magic to get me back…ta da."

Kenzi goes to hug Trick only to have the Blood King stiffen under her touch. If she didn't know any better, she would say that the light fae pub owner is afraid of her. Something that would have been laughable to her before her time in the afterlife. Who knows maybe he thought she was some kind of zombie fae. The thought made her curious and she turned to Dyson to ask, "Are zombies a thing among the fae? I mean like do they really exist?"

"It doesn't matter, zombie or possessed by a demon, you can't be Kenzi. Trick told me there was no way to get you back. So either you're a demon or some other thing that hijacked my friend. I'm not falling for it." Bo reaches out and grabs Lauren by the arm as if she is about to yank the human towards her and away from Kenzi, Dyson and Vex. At the same time the human doctor tried to yank her arm out of the succubus grip, neither action worked unfortunately for both parties, though truthfully Lauren got the worst of it.

A popping noise followed by a sharp cry told them at least to a certain degree what had happened. Bo continued to hold the other woman's arm in shock, while Lauren tried ineffectively. Both Dyson and Vex move forward and Bo reacts by pulling on Lauren's arm again.

Lauren again cries out, which freezes the men in place. Kenzi however reacts. Yanking the Blood King's cudgel off the end of the bar she brings it down across the succubus forearm, not hard enough to break but hard enough to send fiery tingles down the other woman's arm. Causing her suddenly nerveless fingers, to free the lady doctor.

Cradling her injured arm Lauren is swept behind the other human in the pub who suddenly sets fiery eyes on her friend. "What is wrong with you? You know humans aren't as strong as you."

Bo seems to snap out of it as she looks at Lauren who is trying to assess her own arm. Vex has disappeared but reappears carrying the pubs first aid kit from the kitchen. One of the cooks is quick to take over assessing the injuries on the doctor. After checking how well the blond can rotate and move her arm, he tells her she should probably have it x-rayed and checked by her personal physician.

He hands her a personal ice pack before taking the kit back into the pub kitchen.

There is a strained silence for several minutes as Bo stares around at the others for support and finds none. Even her grandfather, won't meet her eyes and Bo begins to realize perhaps for the first time since Kenzi walked through that portal what it is to be truly alone. She makes a run for the last refuge of all female-kind, the ladie's room.

Tamsin suddenly comes through the door and the screams from both the Valkyrie and the Goth are a bit ear shattering. Tamsin using some heretofore unknown ability and with the supervision of her former would be mother, begins the healing process for Dr. Lewis injuries.

Although the wrist could still use further treatment Tamsin is able to draw a great deal of pain out of the wrist. Before she begins draining alcohol out of Trick's pub and just as easily too.

Bo is sobbing in the restroom when she hears a whoop from Tamsin. She had heard the screams of the Valkyrie which were almost earth shattering. Kenzi's answering shrieks were only slightly less impressive. Very slightly.

She hears someone trying to open the door to the bathroom which she had locked and took an inordinately savage amount of pleasure in shouting, "Occupied." at the door.

She had seen the way that Dyson had stayed glued to Kenzi's side, how his eyes followed the other woman's every move. She could admit it, she could recognize it, hell she could practically smell it. The pair were together now and she wasn't sure how she could tell that.

She felt that part of her that had always been set aside for the werewolf shrivel up and die. The part that had been for Kenzi though was still there it was just…empty. As it had been since the gray eyed gypsy girl had sacrificed herself.

Bo was so lost in her own thoughts she didn't even hear the lock click open on he door. The soft almost musical voice snapped her right out of her self though. "So they're wrong, you're not completely heartless, just a little lost."

She turned around and there standing against the far wall of the bathroom was Kenzi, she held up the remains of a paper clip, "I am a thief remember, if a little reformed."

Kenzi smiles at the succubus, "You know you're ruining my welcome home party. And the last time you cried like this was when you were sure Dyson had just been using you."

Bo responds morosely, "Maybe he was all this time. Substituting me for you.

"You know better than that," Kenzi scoffed. "If anyone's been using anyone it's you using him, Bo-ster and we both know that. Not judging."

She tilted her head as she spoke, "You're a succubus, Bo. The problem here is that you're actually not supposed to love your food source. You were raised by humans though, not fae. So you had no way of knowing how things were done."

She smiled reassuringly as she said, "Don't worry I think I know what will help, and I think she owes me," she raised her eyebrow as she huffed a breath, "Big time."