A/N: Again, thanks so much for everyone who took the time to review. I love reading your thoughts and I'm happy that most of you are also excited about the Morrigan's appearance. (Btw, now you can see the hidden pun in the title. :D) In this chapter and in the next one, I plan to answer some questions as to why Lauren chose to be with the Dark Fae and the consequences of that action.

I really wish I could post Ch. 8 as well because they're sorta companion pieces like Ch. 5 & 6, but I can only write so much. It's a bit slow going because I want to carefully build the Morrigan and Lewis relationship. After all, they're bound now. And yes, it'll definitely be an interesting hiccup with the Doccubus angle, but I think it'll be fun as well.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter as well. :)

Chapter 7

Lewis adjusted slowly to his new life. In many ways, it resembled the first time he (Lauren) had met the fae but there were radical differences too.

When the Ash had brought Lauren back, she had almost immediately immersed herself in his library, intent on finding a way to cure Nadia's coma. When she hadn't been working in the lab, she had been camped out on either the library or Nadia's chamber and the Ash had mostly left her alone. Eventually, as she had learned more and began to prove her worth, she was assigned heavier workloads and there had been considerably less time for personal research. (And a lessening of hope too, as her heart grew tired and jaded over Nadia's uninterrupted sleep.) That was when she became more aware of her surroundings and the general Light Fae populace. Slowly, she gained a better understanding of her place amongst them and her role to play in the world she had found herself in.

Now though, Lewis had the benefit of already knowing the fae and so he was mostly left to deal with the individual people that he met. True to her word, the Morrigan had sent out an announcement to officially introduce him to the Dark Fae and for a few days, Lewis was unable to do any work as they were bogged down by shocked and curious well-wishers.

By the time they could do the whole tour (the whole factory was actually divided in the same way as the Ash's compound - a council room, a library, a mess kitchen and a small dormitory for the caretakers - except the Morrigan didn't live there and the lab wasn't just for science but for general research and development; which explained why it was so big.) and he was finally let loose in the lab, Lewis was so eager to test out his new toys that he practically lived in it for a week before surfacing out. He found that he badly missed his former work and the research he used to conduct. Fortunately before he left the Light, he had taken with him a hard drive of his research in a faint hope that someday he would be able to publish them, or use them for the benefit of humanity. He was now glad for that foresight.

But it wasn't all fun and games, either.

Although no one recognized him as the former Dr. Lauren Lewis, many people quickly divided themselves into two camps: one was accepting, and the other critical.

The people that he directly worked with in the lab fell into the first camp. While they were wary at first over his arrival, they were quick to recognize his skills and amusingly enough, began to compare her to the Dr. Lauren Lewis of the Light (the alliteration made him cringe). He fed them the same story that the Morrigan had concocted that, no, he didn't know Dr. Lewis of the Light but yes, he was already familiar with the fae because in the Old World, generations of his family were loyal to the Morrigan's. And his new co-workers bought the story because even if they'd heard of Lauren's reputation, they didn't actually know what she looked like and so Lewis was in the clear. (It was still somewhat enlightening to hear what the Dark Fae thought of Lauren. Some were funny - Lauren was apparently an Ice Queen who could dissect a fae alive - but others were hurtful because they stung close to the truth, like the rumour that the Ash sometimes used her... body, to manipulate others.)

There were also random fae whom, like the Morrigan had predicted, were more impressed that he was a body servant, than care for his talents as a doctor. They found reasons to get a medical check-up (Lewis' new lab-mates assured him that there had never been a higher demand for them before.) and engaged him in awkward conversations as they stared at him in unabashed curiosity. They were harmless, for the most part, but it was still a struggle to get used to the unexpected popularity after months of trying to be inconspicuous.

And then there was Vex. He was actually one of the first to offer his congratulations over their new status, barging into the Morrigan's office with a pouting face that had done nothing to detract from his amused gaze.

"Vex..." the Morrigan had warned, irritated at the unwelcome intrusion.

The mesmer cheerfully ignored her and only pouted deeper. "M'sorry, but I really had to see you. I just have to complain about your new assistant because clearly she had somehow lost my invitation to your weddin' and now, here I am, last to know..."

"Vex..." the Morrigan's tone, coupled with her glare was enough to make the mesmer back off.

"Fine, fine. Be a meanie to poor ol' Vexie," he chuckled before continuing. "But really, congratulations Morrigan. I never expected this of you." Something in his features had shifted then, and he looked suspicious.

"Thank you. I'm glad I surprise you," the Morrigan said graciously, her mood shifting quickly. She was smiling now and her earlier irritation was forgotten at the face of her first lieutenant's bafflement.

Lewis had rolled his eyes at the two of them, forgotten in his corner. He wasn't sure he could ever understand how the relationship worked between these two but sometimes, they could really be quite childish.

To say that Vex accepted Lewis, was a bit of an understatement. Because he was the only one else who knew Lewis' former identity, he acted candidly and often used his advantage to tease them about being "married". The Morrigan didn't usually mind if the mesmer joked about them starting on some "sexual shenanigans" (she liked to join in teasing Lewis) but she wouldn't tolerate a mention of any "meaningful" relationship between them. So like a child with a new toy, Vex had taken to seeking him out, to mock or provoke, and Lewis had to learn to tolerate the mesmer's presence in his life.

In the meantime, the people who belonged in the latter camp of critics were also vocal in their disapproval. Lewis had heard it all before back when he (Lauren) was still with the Light Fae - the usual claptrap about his unworthiness because he was human (and that was certainly meant to be dirty word) - and so it was easy for him to ignore it. However, he couldn't completely disregard it because it mattered to the Morrigan.

This was the first time that Lewis truly recognized their bond. All the attention from the other fae had been uncomfortable, but still familiar. Caring about the Morrigan's opinion and well-being on the other hand, was a more novel experience. As Lauren, she had been loyal to the Ash but only up to a point. She had followed orders but didn't care for his political machinations; she had respected his power, but hadn't been concerned for his personal feelings.

With the Morrigan, Lewis actually felt the bond tug at him. It wasn't an insidious feeling, and he knew that he wasn't being controlled. In fact, it felt more like a gentle reminder, that he was connected to someone and he better pay more attention to them.

(After his initial panicky theory that the bond was actually an active empathic link between them, and the few seconds of terror/embarrassment as he imagined his secret feelings revealed to the Morrigan, Lewis' internal scientist had kicked in. His curiosity demanded that he investigate the bond properly: which meant using the scientific method and ensuring the whole process be documented.)

And Lewis found himself heeding the bond. He and the Morrigan had established a routine twice a week where he would drop off pertinent reports, and Lewis initiated small-talk to get the Morrigan to "share". Fortunately, the Morrigan seemed to be in a magnanimous mode lately (Lewis suspected the bond was working on her too.) and didn't mind telling him how irritated she was by all negative uproar about them.

He noticed though, that she was very pleased with the "positive" feedback, especially when he brought up a story that he'd heard in passing from a lab intern he worked with. The intern in question had related that her cousin was planning to imitate the Morrigan and was now currently looking for a servant of her own.

(Later, that same story would bite him in the ass when the Morrigan learned that the parents of that girl had forbidden her to contract the body servant bond and complained to the Elders that the Morrigan was setting a bad example for their youth.)

xxx

Because Vex was really a big child who delighted in people's misery, he made it a point to contact Lewis and drag him to his club once in a while. And Lewis always came, of course, because Vex was also a mesmer who could pretty much tear him from limb to limb if he wanted to - not that Lewis really believed Vex would truly harm him now that he was bound to the Morrigan. Still, the mesmer could still do damage with his pranks.

The first time Lewis came, he was only curious as to why he got the invite in the first place. He always figured that Vex hadn't cared for Lauren and had generally looked down on her.

Then again, he was Lewis now and as he would soon learn, the mesmer planned to enjoy himself with Lewis' new persona.

That night in Vex's club, Lewis found himself flanked by two women, who immediately showed their interest in him. He had been surprised at first but quickly became uncomfortable. In truth, he didn't have much experience dealing with random pick-ups from strangers. When Lauren was younger, she had been too focused on her studies to play this particular game. By the time she had graduated, she met Nadia and it had been the two of them together for years. After Congo and meeting the fae, she had been too guilty (and too busy) to even think about of hooking up.

Now Lewis was more easy going than Lauren, but he still shared this trait with her. He either went out with his friends before, where they provided a buffer from the unwanted attention, or he went to his hell-hole of a bar where no one in their right mind would try to pick anyone up.

He didn't know how to deal with the women properly, beyond being polite. (In the back of his mind, Lewis felt that familiar guilt again. Only this time, he wasn't thinking about Nadia, but yet another woman: Bo. He could really laugh at the irony of his life. Why was it that the dead never haunted her, but the living always did?)

Fortunately for him, Lewis figured out in time that the women had been sent his way by Vex, who had been watching gleefully by his corner. Lewis rejected the women away politely but the mesmer must have decided that it was a fun game and from then on, deliberately sent more people on Lewis' way whenever he was in the club.

Lewis always sent them away but while he first saw them as a bother, he began to find the whole thing amusing as well. Vex seemed to find the weirdest people and everyone had their own brand of pick up lines that ranged from outrageous to pathetic. Both men and women were fair game and it was always funny to see straight men who hadn't realized he was as "he", awkwardly recoil in horror. Sometimes, they're not even legitimate pick-ups but drunken (and probably drugged up) people who would just jump on him when he was unaware. It was no surprise that Vex enjoyed the latter types the best. That pervert.

There were unofficial rules though. First: they'd be there of their free will and not mesmerized, and second: that Vex would only do it once a visit and when Lewis had sent whoever it was away, the mesmer would join him for a drink. (The one time that Vex tried to do it twice, Lewis just up and left and refused to come to the club for a couple of weeks after.) They would chat sometimes but usually, it was just Vex prattling on while Lewis listened quietly.

As far as he could tell, the mesmer thought of him as a pet. Like a dog he could "borrow" on occasion for play dates. Vex seemed to enjoy talking to Lewis and he would often ramble on, jumping from subject to subject. That, and he also seemed to love hearing himself speak.

Still, Lewis managed to learn a lot from those "talks". For one, he was amazed to know that the mesmer was actually a decent businessman and he genuinely cared for his employees. For another, Vex also knew a lot about the Morrigan and had decided to give him tips on how to be with her. Granted, most of those were sex tips - and it was disturbing to know that Vex was well-versed on the Morrigan's kinks - but Lewis gathered enough to gain some insight into her "mistress".

Lewis was seriously thinking of calling Vex a friend (and wasn't that just shocking?) when something happened that almost ruined everything and made him change his mind.

xxx

He hadn't been feeling well that day. His head had been pounding fiercely but he felt restless and shaky. In retrospect, he should have known better than to go to the club. But Vex had become a decent, drinking companion and Lewis thought the mesmer would be able to distract him for a while. So Vex did his ambush thing - a couple this time, man and woman - and Lewis did his part in sending them away. He didn't even wait for their pickup lines and just excused himself quickly, taking his beer with him as he made his way to their usual booth near the back of the club.

Vex was already there, eyes hooded and faintly swaying with the music. He was also frowning at him. "Tsk, bad doctor, wasting a perfectly good couple. Do you know how long I had to talk them into approaching you?"

Lewis knew immediately that he was drunk.

He ignored the slurred question and only he wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell of alcohol wafting away from Vex's body and at the mess left on the table. There were lime peels and scattered salt all over, and an already half-empty bottle of tequila rested near the mesmer's elbow.

"And you, bad mesmer, starting without me." Lewis said it casually but the smell of tequila was actually making his head hurt.

When he tried to sit down, he suddenly lost control and found his body frozen in a squatting position.

"Vex!"

"Ah ah ah! Not yet you don't. Go on. Entertain me first." The mesmer flicked his hands and Lewis' body obeyed. He felt himself stand up abruptly and almost stumbled when the mesmer let go of his hold.

It wasn't the first time that Vex had used his powers on him - after all, the rules only stated that he couldn't mesmerize his "pawns" - and Lewis usually ended up getting embarrassed. He hated it whenever Vex did this, hated the sudden lack of control. But he also never let on to his feelings. He was always patient, waiting for Vex to release him. At most, he'd shoot Vex a frustrated glare, but he was careful to hide the panic and the fear that always welled up inside him.

And Lewis had also learned to tolerate it because the mesmer didn't do it often and not too much.

He wasn't in the mood tonight, though.

Still, he tried to offer a compromise. The mesmer had proven that he could be unpredictable and Lewis just didn't want to have to handle a drunken, out-of-control Vex right now. "Next time, Vex, I promise. How about I join you in your little party? What's the occasion?" He put his beer down on the table. "Here, I'll just grab more drinks for me."

He started to walk away but again, he found himself frozen.

"What drink? I got more here for you... where? Whoops! My bad."

Lewis could still turn his head and saw that Vex had managed to hit the tequila bottle, spilling it on table. Lewis narrowed his eyes in consternation. The mesmer was really drunk.

But he still managed to hold on to Lewis.

"Vex, let go. I'll bring you a rag," he cajoled, feeling his headache stabbing in agony. The club's strobe lights and the pounding music was making him nauseous and he was beginning to feel claustrophobic from the mesmer's continued hold. Lewis longed to move his leg that was beginning to cramp from the unnatural pose. "Vex," he asked again, the plaintive note clear in his voice.

Vex released him long enough for Lewis to stretch but froze him again when he tried to move away.

Lewis tried to reason with him. "Hey, I thought you wanted me to go back to that couple?" When he tried to look back, he found that he was completely frozen this time, no longer able to turn his head. He felt his heart trip and then speed up.

Lewis heard Vex moving around and felt his gaze. The mesmer began to circle him like prey and even frozen, Lewis tried to flinch away. He was really panicking now, his breath catching every couple of seconds.

"Vex..."

Vex smiled at him and stepped closer, until Lewis could almost taste the alcohol in his breath. "Now, isn't this fun?" And he stroked Lewis' face with a gentle finger.

Something snapped in Lewis' then and the aching red pulse of his headache became a red film of rage. He snarled and snapped his teeth fiercely at the interloping finger that dared touch him.

Startled, Vex drew back and his hold on Lewis faltered. Lewis didn't even realize he was free as he lunged at Vex.

"Fucking bastard!"

The mesmer stumbled and hit the table, still not quite sure what was happening.

Furious, Lewis wasn't content and followed Vex. He was panting wildly, as if he had just ran a marathon, and his temple pulsed angrily along the club music's beat. He blindly grabbed for his abandoned beer bottle and used it to hit Vex's head, showering both of them with broken bits of glass.

"Bloody hell! You...!" Vex gasped, clutching his bleeding face. The pain sobered him up but before he could retaliate, Lewis was pushing him again and he fell back onto the booth. Lewis quickly caught his hands and pinned them under his knee as he straddled the flabbergasted mesmer. He leaned over Vex, showing him the broken bottle with its sharp edges and then pushing it carefully under the mesmer's chin.

"You stupid fuck," Lewis growled each word slowly. "If you touch me again," he shifted his weight and moved the beer bottle quickly to Vex's right wrist, "I will cut out your hands and stuff them down your throat." He pressed carefully until blood welled from the cut and continued until Vex winced in fear.

Then he stood up abruptly and left, throwing the bottle carelessly at the mesmer.

xxx

By the time he had reached his apartment, Lewis was a trembling mess.

After he had left the club, he had walked around aimlessly until he received a call from the Morrigan a couple of minutes later, forcing him to concentrate on her and the report she was asking about. (Later he would realize that the call could have been about what happened in the club, and would wonder why Vex hadn't tattled on him yet.) The call didn't take long but it did distract him and allowed him to focus on getting home.

He sat on his couch and tried to parse through his memories of what had happened and why he had reacted that way.

It started earlier, he thought, when he was still in the lab. He had been in the middle of an experiment when he suddenly remembered that today was Nadia's birthday.

It had been confusing at first. Like he hadn't known what to do with the information. How could he almost forget?

Usually, Lauren would take the day off and spend it in the pod chamber where she would set up a small celebratory feast to mark the occasion.

And then his brain had prompted that Nadia was no longer in a coma and Lewis actually felt freaking giddy for a second before he had remembered that (no, no, that's not right either) Nadia was dead.

That was when the headache (and the heartache) started, compounded by the fact that he was suddenly aware that he was working in a Dark Fae laboratory (The shaman that cursed her was Dark Fae; the Ash ordered it but the shaman was Dark Fae.) and that he had bound herself to the Morrigan of the Dark Fae.

Dark.

Fae.

Those two words tormented him the whole afternoon, like a consistent drum beat that pounded at his skull. He quit work when he saw the text from Vex and decided, foolishly, to try and drown his feelings with alcohol and the company of another Dark Fae.

And then... what?

Now Lewis curled on himself and clutched at his skull, although it didn't ache anymore. The rage had wiped out the pain, leaving him feeling empty and tired.

Why?

xxx

He fell asleep that way, curled up on the couch like prickly hedgehog protecting its soft underbelly. (His hair certainly looked fiercely spiked.)

When he woke up, he knew the answer to his question from last night.

He had allowed himself to feel the exhilaration of being with the fae again - of having a wonderful new lab and getting back that rush of studying and solving a real mental challenge - that he ignored his worries of being with the fae again.

Lewis had told himself that he didn't have a choice anyway, once Vex found him. That the Morrigan wouldn't have let him go and that it was better to take her offer. He had convinced himself that he was better off this way and that even if he was worried, he was still genuinely thrilled to be back.

He had pushed his doubts on the Morrigan, asking her again and again if she was sure but it had been him who hadn't been sure.

He had believed that if he ignored his feelings, eventually he would be able to box them up again and bury them deep inside him.

Just as Lauren had always done when she was with the fae.

But it was different back then. Lauren had known the fae as ruthless and unforgiving and sometimes terrible, but she had still trusted them. It was when she had found out about the Ash's involvement in Nadia's coma state that something had broken inside of her.

And Lewis knew now that he needed to fix that.

Running away and trying to have a normal life had helped a little, making him regain his balance and showing him where he wanted to be, but he still had a long way to go. He didn't want...no, he needed not to be afraid anymore and to be able to let go of all the resentment and hurts that he was still keeping inside. Right now, he had no idea how to accomplish that but he would give it his best effort.

xxx

When the Morrigan called that afternoon, Lewis was still feeling drained from that outburst last night and couldn't quite feel nervous, even though he knew he was in trouble.

All he could think to defend himself against Vex was, "He started it."

When he got into the office, the first thing he saw was Vex sitting in front of the Morrigan's desk like a scolded child. Lewis actually grimaced at the mesmer's appearance - one ear and a half of his cheek had bandages and one arm was in a sling - and wondered at his own ability to inflict that much damage.

The Morrigan looked up at him and then turned to Vex, "That's all, Vex. You may go."

To Lewis' surprise, the mesmer only nodded his head to him in passing and left quite meekly. After that, the Morrigan only went on with business as if nothing had happened last night. She didn't even try to tease him.

It was confusing and worrying but the relief he felt from the reprieve tempered any desire to ask questions.

A week later, he would get another club invite from Vex and would learn that the mesmer didn't hold a grudge (aside from some whining about ruining his pretty face) and actually admired his "balls" for attacking him.

Lewis would also be astonished to learn that his actions that night also managed to "improve" his popularity with the critics camp. It seemed that they saw his outburst as a show of strength and courage and elevated him from being a mere human. Pitting himself against the Morrigan's right hand man was suicidal but admirable because it showed that he was serious about his role as the Morrigan's body servant.

xxx

And so just when Lewis thought he was well on his way to becoming accepted by the Dark Fae, someone tried to kill him.

A/N 2: I'm not entirely happy with this. It's another information dump chapter, and I felt that it was somewhat choppy too. I'm sorry about that. I frequently see writing tips about how you should show, not tell and I'm mostly telling everyone what happens here. Unfortunately, it is still quicker to tell than show. Anyway, next chapter should have a bit more action and character interaction.

As for the story itself, I hope that you weren't too shocked by that violence in the latter part. But in my head, this will be a dark!Lauren and she would have a form of PTSD from living with the fae. (Remember all that rage that Reynard tapped into when they got body switched?) I think I got the idea from this movie I saw once (unfortunately, I forgot the title) about a soldier and he was traumatized by the war but when he got back home, he couldn't adjust so in the end, he want back on tour again. Because that's the life he knew and understood now.

Anyway, my goal is for Lauren to work through that and be able to evolve to someone awesome. (More awesome than Lauren already is. :D)