So here's the epilogue, the what happens next as I see it. Obviously I've had to create my own idea of the Valkyrie rebrith,I can't imagine it's anything like a human one! Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Thanks again for reading. Truly, it's been lots of fun, and you guys have been so generous with your reviews.

xxxxx

Tamsin

It had been a millennia. At least that long. The Valkyrie had just about forgotten how this death and rebirth thing worked. But even in her spiritual rebirth the Valkyrie had not forgotten Lauren.

Valkyries are reborn to Valhalla as ethereal versions of themselves. They need to train their reborn minds again in the art of warfare and in the texts of dead before a physical form can once again be controlled. But they never forget their previous lives. A Valkyrie must always carry with them the memory of their past so as to never forget those that they brought to the great hall.

For Tamsin this was cruel and unusual punishment. She had the memory of Lauren but no physical form that would allow her to return to her lover. She would need to be re-trained and that would take time. In the meantime the Valkyrie knew that at the very least her spirit essence could visit the Doctor, even if Lauren could never know that she was there. For the time being that was enough, but Tamsin still needed to learn how to get back to mortal dimension, spirit form or otherwise.

Lauren
It was somehow innocuous at the time but reflecting later Lauren was sure she sensed the Valkyrie's presence long before she saw her again for the first time. It happened at night, always at night. Lauren had spent the better part of a year avoiding her bedroom, working herself to the point of exhaustion so when she did come home she was collapsing into her bed. Nothing was worse than the nights laying there, staring at the ceiling unable to sleep. On the worst of those evenings Lauren would take out one of Tamsin's old tanks and hold it close to her face until the tears came. She hated doing it to herself, but for a small instant before the sobs would begin she truly felt as though she had the Valkyrie back in her bed.

And then it stopped. For a time Lauren continued to avoid going home to early but on those evenings when she prepared herself emotionally for the onslaught on tears and grief, something changed. Lauren began to sleep more deeply than she remembered possible. And then there were the dreams, those wonderfully vivid dreams. So hot and always involving the Valkyrie. She knew it wasn't real, it couldn't be, but on some mornings she felt as though she had awoken with the taste of the Valkyrie in her mouth.

Tamsin
She had no earthly body, no way to touch her or feel, but as soon as she could the Valkyrie went to Lauren. In the early days of her rebirth she had no control, she could only make it to the Doctor for brief moments and each time it took intense concentration to stay. She'd watch her lie in bed restless of a night time and so desperately wanted to hold her. When those feelings came Tamsin would lose concentration and control and in an instant find herself back in the gardens of Valhalla.

Over the weeks and months she honed her craft, learning to switch more easily between dimensions, gaining the control required to stay longer in those evenings with Lauren. More time and control brought Tamsin things she didn't want to see. Where previously she would only get a glimpse of the Doctor's grief, now she could watch and listen to her former lover as she whispered Tamsin's name through muted sobs into her pillow. For the Valkyrie it was almost too much to bear. She could provide the human with no relief and instead as emotions bubbled inside her she would again lose control and find herself suddenly lost to another dimension.

The Valkyrie couldn't face seeing Lauren in so much pain and so she stopped her night time visits and instead concentrated on her training. She knew that the sooner she gained her full skills the sooner she would learn to take earthly form once again. Then, maybe then, she'd be able to hold her love once more.

It had been a year since her spirit was reborn to Valhalla and the Valkyrie was excelling in her training. All were in agreement, she would be an exceptional version of herself. It was around this time that the Tamsin ventured back to see the Doctor once again. That first night Tamsin stood in Lauren's bedroom and watched her slowly undress, she could sense her continued reluctance to go to bed. As Lauren packed away her clothes the Valkyrie saw it, the Gram sword wrapped and placed delicately within the wardrobe. Dyson had given her the sword and Lauren had accepted it. The Valkyrie was overjoyed, time was no longer working against her. As Lauren went to bed that night the Valkyrie lay next to her. Although she still could not touch her, feel her or taste her, Tamsin's emerging skills allowed her to plant words of lust and love in the Doctor's subconscious. She noticed how on those nights Lauren slept more peacefully, warm in the dreams the Valkyrie had gifted to her.

Lauren

The first time Lauren became suspicious of the Valkyrie's returned presence in her life came nearly two years after her death. On that night Lauren had somehow found herself at a bar with Kenzi. 'Human Fae Day' as it would become known. The small goth had only seen the Doctor professionally since Tamsin's death. The whole gang was concerned by Lauren's reluctance to return to the Dal for a social drink. While she had accepted some dinner invitations, for the most part Lauren worked and slept. It was not a healthy life at all. Bo had attempted to pull her out of her morose state but sensed the vagary of her 'thing' with Dyson clouded the Doctor further and simply added to her reasoning not to socialize.

Instead it was Kenzi who declared a public holiday for all humans with Fae connections and had the day endorsed by the Ash. Lauren was not allowed access to the lab. The rules for the day were simple. All humans had to do human things. No Fae allowed. Lauren was reluctant to agree to doing anything other than staying home but Kenzi had her removed from the Light compound. Over the course of the day the Doctor began to lighten up. Kenzi quipped her way through Human Fae Day with typical energy, making the Doctor smile and laugh. She was actually enjoying herself.

That afternoon ended in a bar, a human bar, with nothing but humans drinking and socializing in human ways. Lauren had almost forgotten that places like that existed. Unfortunately she also forgot that she had a human's constitution and by the early evening both she and her companion were on the brink of drunken annihilation. They were not alone. It was as if the entire bar was celebrating Human Fae Day to the excess. A drunken crescendo washed across the room and everyone seemed caught up in its rhythm.

Lauren can't remember how it happened, she could recall some not so gentle encouragement from Kenzi, but still, it seemed so unlike her. On the small dance floor of the bar in a close embrace with an attractive redhead. The woman had strong athletic features, a specimen Lauren had thought. But it was her eyes, those deep dark brown orbs, much like Bo's that Lauren fell into. When the woman brought her lips crashing down onto hers Lauren allowed it willingly. She felt a desire burn strongly within her and let herself go as the redhead pulled their bodies together tightly. Lauren had forgotten how this felt, how this wanton lust could overpower all reasonable thought and action. When the woman suggested they leave the Doctor did not hesitate in agreeing.

The two women separated from their kissing and each other but only to say their goodbyes to their respective friends. Lauren mumbled her thanks to Kenzi and waited for her soon to be conquest to re-join her so they could leave. After 15 minutes of waiting the Doctor became frustrated. Did this woman not realize that leaving her alone with rational thoughts was possibly the worst thing that she could do? Lauren began to fight with herself, did she really need to bring a stranger home to her bed? Was this really a healthy thing to do? In the end, she decided the best way to shake those thoughts away was to find the woman and drag her away from her friends, into a taxi and into her bed. She needed this. Months of dreaming of the Valkyrie had her worked up to the point of breaking.

Kenzi, sensing Lauren was beginning to become disheartened at the thought of being stood up, suggested that she provide assistance in tracking down the redhead. After a second lap of the bar the two women went to the bathroom and there on the floor of a cubicle found the redhead cowered in fear and clutching at her head. Lauren's doctor mode found the last corners of her sobriety and she immediately went to the woman's aide. She could see nothing physically wrong with her, no signs of any trauma at all. Lauren had only seen this kind of sudden mind mess once before, and when the woman began incoherently piecing together words filled with doubt about the Doctor touching her Lauren knew, the redhead had clearly had a run in with a Valkyrie.

Tamsin

In the gardens of Valhalla Tamsin always found peace. Whether it was beneath the cooling shades of the Glasir tree or by the majestic waters of the Grimn, this underworld was always home.

It had been a month since the Valkyrie had first managed to take mortal form and her eagerness to seek out the Doctor ended up at a human bar. When she'd seen the Lauren in the embrace of another Tamsin had almost lost her mind. With human form came a rush of human emotions that she'd yet to master a control of. There was a reason Valkyrie needed to be trained in control of their human form for years before entering a battlefield, so often they were ill equipped for the feelings they experienced. Tamsin had recognized it as the reason so many Valkyrie were snarky and void of the human experience, they were simply trained to be so. But when she had cornered the poor unsuspecting redhead in the bathroom of that bar and forced a doubt into her so strong that it almost melted the human's mind, Tamsin knew she needed to stop seeing her Doctor. She was all emotion when it came to Lauren and she hated herself for denying her former lover a minute of the pleasure she so deserved.

The Valkyrie had instead decided to throw herself once again into her study. Relearning the old scripts, watching the swordplay of the fallen in the great hall, finding a concentration that would allow her to go back to the great battles and choose the finest warriors from among them. She didn't want to, in fact she wanted anything else, but Tamsin knew to be fair to the woman she was in love with she needed to let her go.

Lauren

It was eight years, three months and six days. Lauren was in some ways shocked that she knew it but in other ways not surprised at all. Standing once more at the bar in the Dal the days and minutes in between then and now came flooding back to her. The last time she stood here she had lost everything and now here she was once more. This time it was a celebration, this time the occasion was the wedding of one of her closest friends. Her only human friend.

Kenzi and Hale cut a figure across room as they had their first dance. This was not their real first dance of course, that had been in the luxury home of the Ash with only the high elders and noble families there to witness it. What a stir their union had caused. But this was their first dance Kenzi style, in front of only their closest friends and hangers-on. This was less a wedding and more a party. A true celebration of their love in the place where for them it had all begun.

Lauren couldn't help but smile watching the two newly weds crunch their way across the dance floor. She even tapped her feet along.

"Wow, Doctor, are you almost dancing?" Only Bo could get away with teasing Lauren and bringing a smile to her face.

"Me? Never. Ice queen remember?" Lauren gave her friend a warm smile and then they embraced. It had been months. The Great Fae War had begun in the north and Bo had been leading the coalition of those that wanted an end to separation of Dark and Light. It was a fight in the old ways. Open grounds and hand to hand against those who would keep segregation.

There were already stories of Bo's legend on the battlefield and Lauren never tired of hearing the tales relayed back to the city. She had worried for her friend but knew this time was hers. This was Bo's fate. A future to be secured for all those who wanted peace.

"So what news from the front Bo, I hear it's only a matter of time? Are you going to let me travel back with you? I want to be of some use to those injured on the line", It was a request Lauren had been making since the beginning of the war but Hale and Bo had both wanted her to manage the worst of the injured they could get flown back to the city.

"Lauren, we need you with us desperately, but we can't afford to lose you from the work you do here"

Lauren let out an audible growl that made the Succubus laugh. "Don't be cranky with me Lauren I've brought you a surprise, there's someone I need you to meet".

The Doctor eyed Bo suspiciously, "Who?"

Tamsin

The Great Fae War of the north was the second battle that Tamsin had been allowed to participate in. The first battle in a remote Amazonian jungle had been a fizz. The three other Valkyrie sisters she had been sent with took the best of the warriors quickly and before Tamsin knew it the battle was over and won. She'd returned to Valhalla empty handed and became the butt of jokes among her sisters for months. Tamsin had advanced so quickly through her studies that she assumed the practicals of war would come equally as naturally. She was wrong. The second her mortal form set foot in that damn jungle her senses got the better of her. Once again she struggled for control. The humidity, the blood, the screams, everything had overwhelmed her new physical form.

When the opportunity came to participate in the much anticipated Great Fae War Tamsin begged for another chance. In the end Odin had sent her away simply to rid himself of the burden of her persistence.

When the Valkyries had arrived in the north Tamsin was flooded with memories of her most recent life-cycle. Standing in open fields, hand to hand combat, this was real war, the worst kind of war where soldiers were forced to feel the breath of their enemies on their face as they killed them. This was the old ways, the cruel ways of death. On the first morning, as the mist lifted in the fields, Tamsin watched with awe from the hills above as the Succubus led the coalition into battle. There beside her was her former partner, the wolf, with his eyes full of the beast. On that day Tamsin was able to do her job just as her former friends were able to do theirs. When night fell it was time for all to rest, soldiers, leaders and Valkyries too.

It took some courage but Tamsin made her way to the tent city of the coalition and walked through the camp. As soldiers walked by her they shuddered without knowing why. A newborn Valkyrie was nothing if not the epitome of death and everyone could feel her power and strength. Such a figure was she that when she arrived at command tent the guards out the front simply allowed her to pass without even attempting to stop her. Tamsin smirked to herself, she'd forgotten the thrill of power.

Entering the command she looked to Bo, Dyson and half a dozen others sitting around a large table eating and discussing the day's events animatedly. On seeing her the room stopped, most in shock waiting for whatever death the Valkyrie was about to bring upon them.

"Tamsin? Tamsin, do you remember me? It's Bo", the Succubus waited with bated breath for whatever response was to follow.

Looking to the whiskey being consumed Tamsin confirmed herself, "I remember you were always slow to buy a round Succubus, how about you fix me a drink and we catch up on old times?"

Bo

The Succubus had tried to do the right thing. When Tamsin had reemerged Bo's immediate thought was of Lauren. When the Valkyrie told her that she'd stopped visiting the Doctor in ethereal and human form due to the lack of control she possessed in the human's presence the Succubus knew exactly what she was talking about and immediately felt sorry for her. Then it hit her, Kenzi's wedding. While initially reluctant Tamsin took Bo's encouragement and agreed.

"I swear on Odin Succubus if these goes badly your corpse will be the next I'll be taking on a road trip to the underworld."

"Relax TamTam, I know she'll be so happy to see you. She's been miserable since you were…well you know…given the chop"

Next to them the wolf simply rolled his eyes. He knew this was not going to end well at all.

Tamsin

The Ash's wedding was now in full swing. Music, dancing and whiskey all in fine supply. In the furthest corner of the Dal the Valkyrie watched the night unfold unable to take her eyes off the human Doctor who she had not laid eyes on in years. From the second she saw her it all came rushing back, the feelings, the memories, the love.

Tamsin watched Lauren slip into the bathroom of the Dal. From across the room the Succubus eyed her and pointed her head in the Doctor's departing direction encouraging the Valkyrie to follow her. The Doctor still made her sweat. What if after eight years she didn't even remember the Valkyrie let along want to see her? In the end the Succubus simply went over to Tamsin and started to push her in the direction of the bathroom.

"Stop it Bo, what the fuck, I'll do this in my own time!"

"Get moving Valkyrie! It's now or never"

At the door of the bathroom Tamsin managed to remove herself forcefully from Bo's grip, "Alright! What? Do you want accompany me in too?" Bo backed off smiling and clearly excited by the proposition of what was about to unfold just beyond those doors. Tamsin took a strong deep breath and entered.

Lauren didn't look up immediately as Tamsin walked into the bathroom, her eyes fixated on the ritual of cleaning her hands in the sink. Tamsin could barley contain herself, just the physical closeness of the Doctor set something primal off in her and for a moment she was concerned she would lose control of her form and would end up thrown back to the underworld again.

The Valkyrie watched as Lauren looked up from the sink and turned her eyes to her. The human stumbled back, clearly in shock. Tamsin made her way to her palms outstretch but the simple act of doing so had the human floundering backwards further.

"Doc, it's me, Tamsin"

Lauren looked at her for a minute, gained her composure and said nothing before slowly making her way towards the Valkyrie. Tamsin was sure she saw happiness in the Doctor's eyes, so when the solid punch to the jaw came she was not expecting it at all.

"You! You asshole" Lauren was barely able to contain her tears as she walked out the door shaking her burning fist, rushing past a surprised Succubus who poked her head in the bathroom door, "didn't go as well as we hoped?"

Spitting out blood the Valkyrie could only lift an eye of disdain towards the Succubus, "Fuck you Bo. Fuck you."

Lauren

Seeing Tamsin the night of Kenzi's wedding had shook the Doctor to her core. Bo had called multiple times since, leaving messages, trying to explain that she'd encouraged the Valkyrie to surprise her but Lauren wasn't ready to hear it. It had all felt too much. The Doctor had not gone a day between that day, the day of the Valkyrie's execution, and this without thinking of her, but seeing her in the flesh was something else altogether.

It was a month before Tamsin even dared step foot back in the same building as Lauren. The Valkyrie accompanied a heavily wounded solider into the Doctor's surgery, approaching her, Lauren attempted to be cold, "I'm sorry, you'll have to wait outside". Tamsin tilted her head slightly and gave the Doctor a compassionate gaze, "Doc, he's mine, you can't save him".

For the next four hours Lauren did everything she could to save that young solider. When she called his time of death she cursed the Valkyrie, who now was missing from outside the surgery doors. Lauren hated the thought that the Valkyrie was right, that there was a Fae or human that she could not save. She went home that night broken and bitter.

Once again it was the Doctor in bed alone staring at the ceiling. In her mind Lauren knew all her sleepless nights where down to one person, Tamsin. The sooner she rid the Valkyrie from her mind completely the better.

Tamsin

Every day since the wedding Tamsin had gone to the Doctor's apartment door and each time she found herself within an inch of banging it down but stopped herself. Instead, once again she threw herself into her work, heading back north to the front lines where she continued to accompany warriors back to the great hall in Valhalla.

The lowest moment in her reborn life came that night when she took that young solider from Lauren's operating table and led him to the underworld. For a moment the Valkyrie was sure that she saw hate in the Doctor's eyes as she led him away. When she returned to the mortal plain Tamsin went to the Dal and buried herself in the drink. About ten shots in Kenzi joined her at the bar.

"Now this is the TamTam I remember"

The Valkyrie barley registered the newly wed as she took her eleventh shot, "already bored of newly wed life Kenzi? Back at a bar so soon?"

Feigning hurt Kenzi brought her hand to her chest, "Like I said, this is more like the TamTam I remember." The Valkyrie didn't engage any further so the small human placed her hand on her arm, "Tamsin, you left her without saying goodbye, showed up in the bar where she'd returned for the first time since been told you were dead and you expected a cuddle?"

"She hate's me. That's the one thing I didn't want"

"What? You be trippin'! That girl has not stopped being all crazy in love with you, I should know, we've celebrated six Human Fae Day's together and she seriously takes some convincing to get even a little dirty with someone else."

The Valkyrie's attention was now caught and she raised an eyebrow to the small human, "how many has she got dirty with?"

"Not nearly as many and as dirty as someone should in eight years of singledom"

Lauren / Tamsin

It was the middle of the night and the banging on her door was persistent and loud. Lauren took the Gram sword in her hand as she made her way the front door of her apartment, throwing it open and pulling the sword back ready to strike.

"Wowwow, Doc, hold on there, it's just me" Tamsin threw her arms up and watched as Lauren backed off still holding the sword behind her shoulder.

"Tamsin, what the hell, I could have killed you", the words sat heavy in her mouth, verbalizing 'killed' and 'Tamsin' always drove emotions in her.

The Valkyrie almost stumbled in and immediately the Doctor could see she was drunk. As she wafted past her Lauren could smell the mix of alcohol and pheromones that was so familiar to her. In an instant she was aroused.

"What are you doing here Tamsin?"

Tamsin sat herself down on Lauren's couch, looking up with wide eyes. "I need somewhere to sleep, I heard you've been known to give a Valkyrie a couch to lay her head"

Lauren rolled her eyes. Walking over to the corner cupboard she pulled out a blanket and pillow and threw them at her house guest, "I expect you to be gone by the morning".

For Tamsin it did not feel like all that long ago that she'd been in this exact position on Lauren's couch, desperate to be in the human's arms. On that occasion it was the Doctor who had made the first move. On this night, Tamsin would be damned if she lay in wait again. She loved Lauren. She'd never stopped loving her and she was going to make sure that the Doctor knew it.

Walking up the stairs quietly Tamsin got to the human's bedroom and without invitation simply pulled back the covers of Lauren's bed and lay down beside her,

"Tamsin" Lauren's voice was full of warning but when the Valkyrie pushed her body up behind the human she felt little resistance. Leaning into her ear the Valkyrie began to whisper all the things she wanted to say. She told Lauren how she'd been reborn with her as the first thought on her mind, how she'd visited her as soon as she could, how the mere thought of the Doctor sent her torpedoing back to the underworld such was her effect on her.

"Doc, I love you more now than I did that morning I left you. I've never, not for a moment stopped loving you or wanting you"

And with those words Lauren was finished. She could pretend no longer. Rolling over the Doctor held the Valkyrie's gaze for the most intense and brief moment before throwing herself into her lips. She could taste the alcohol on the Valkyrie's breath and she could feel the desire in her fingertips. Everything felt so familiar to her, so absolutely right.

The Valkyrie had been watching and waiting for over eight years. She had thought through exactly how she wanted to the have the Doctor for the first time and with choreographed control somehow was able to remove Lauren's underwear and sleeping tank in an instant leaving the human naked below her. All that Lauren could feel was the Valkyrie's lips and hands upon her. There had been dreams like this over the years but now, feeling the delicious weight of the Valkyrie above her Lauren couldn't help but to moan out her lover's name, demanding more from her, "please Tamsin, fuck, I need you".

Hearing the words, tasting her lips, the Valkyrie felt it impossible not to respond. When Lauren began to pull at her clothes, pushing her hands into her breasts urgently trying to get closer to skin, Tamsin could not help but groan in appreciation. Within moments her chest was exposed and Lauren brought her mouth fast onto her lover, biting down gently and tracing the Valkyrie's nipples with her tongue. From above Tamsin watched on, driving her hands through the Doctor's hair, holding her face to her chest as she arched her back in delight.

Taking back control the Valkyrie forced Lauren down onto the bed and ran her hands down her beautifully exposed torso before running her fingers delicately across her hips. Teasing as she went, Tamsin was herself overflowing with desire for her lover as she drove her fingers inside the Doctor's heat.

Feeling Tamsin inside her was enough to end her, but Lauren desperately wanted more. Placing a hand on the Valkyrie's neck the Doctor brought her mouth to her ear and begged, she needed it harder and she needed it now. Tamsin responded with a devious and pleasure filled moan as she pushed herself deeper inside. Lauren could feel her vision going, as dark spots freckled her sight she knew she was on the edge of everything and had never felt this way before. When Tamsin bucked her hip, forcing Lauren's legs apart more fully and allowing for the Doctor's thigh to push up against her own soaking center the two woman came back to each other's sight. Lauren lifted her head to meet the Valkyrie's mouth, forcing her tongue inside. When she began to become undone Lauren could not help but to bite down on the Valkyrie's lower lip, drawing a gasp from her lover who continued to thrust herself upon the Doctor.

When everything was over, when their breaths were again caught, Tamsin rolled onto her back and allowed Lauren to turn into the warm crook of her neck.

"Fuck Doc, I'd thought I'd never forget how good that felt, but wow…"

Lauren simply laughed and held onto the Valkyrie in a tighter embrace. Tamsin allowed for the moment of silence to linger but after a while she felt compelled to fill the space with words.

"Lauren…."

"Hmmm…."

"I love you"

"I know"

"Wait. Is that all you're going to give me?"

"For now. You've got some work to do Valkyrie"

"Seriously, that's all you're going to say?"

"uh huh"

"Man that whole dying thing really shit you off didn't it?"

"Goodnight Tamsin"

Lauren was in love with the Valkyrie and would be for the rest of her days, but there was not way in hell she wasn't going to make her work for those three elusive words. This was their true beginning and Tamsin needed to know, coming back from the dead was not enough to gain an instant reprieve for dying in the first place.