A/N: Chapter 13, here we are, damn. This is the first story I've worked on continuously without stopping. You didn't see it but I tots gave myself a high five. Thank you guys again for the continued love, I hope your summer is awesome. Well, let's get to it. Plotty things happen, as it should. Hope y'all like it. I know it's moving a bit slow but I'm just setting things up for chapters to come.
The tall blonde was resting against the kitchen counter, palms flat on the surface. Head dipped down as she peered into the dark liquid in the mug, staring at her deformed reflection. Deep in thought, Tamsin hadn't heard Lauren walk into the living room, hadn't seen her cross the medium sized area to join her from her idle position behind the counter.
That is, until the cozy warmth of a body pressed into her back, a warmth which spread across her midsection as two strong arms snaked their way around her waist. Lauren's damp hair would wet the back of the grey hooded sweater she was clad in – that and the matching sweat pants had all been borrowed from the Doctor's closet, though Tamsin had a sinking suspicion that these articles of clothing were actually hers – but she didn't seem to give one single flying fuck.
Soft words whispered gently pulled the Valkyrie out of her thoughts, "I can't believe you're here." Lauren practically melted in the somewhat one-sided embrace, resting the side of her head between the taller woman's shoulder blades.
Slender fingers closed itself around one of Lauren's hands causing both women to smile at the contact. Tamsin explained her life cycles and rebirths to an eager Doctor who was happy to gather and process all this new information. Lauren also answered the Valkyrie's unspoken questions, revealing that she had left the Fae after Tamsin's funeral and how both Hale and Dyson had taken care of her.
Though infuriated that the Doctor had stayed so long without protection from any side, left open to the Dark, Tamsin felt more relaxed knowing Dyson checked up on her frequently.
The pair was now comfortably sitting on Lauren's previously forlorn couch; they faced each other, both of Tamsin's hands –which were covered with Lauren's own - lay on the blonde's knees. A dominant energy reverberated off of the Valkyrie, as usual - though far less aggressive - while a look of worry adorned the Doctor's features.
"I think it would be best if you'd stay off the radar for a while,"
"You're askin' me to sit here and do jack shit while I need to prepare them, prepare you, for war."
"I've seen war," Lauren retorted somewhat vaguely, watching Tamsin's thumb as it slid back and forth on the side of her hand.
"Not that kind," Leaning forward, she lifted Lauren's soft hands between both of their bodies and squeezed them softly. As her emerald eyes caught sight of whiskey brown ones, Tamsin grew suddenly worried. She couldn't send her away, the whole world will be at war; each place would be worse than the next. She couldn't keep her here either, close to the epicenter of it all. "And I need to know you'll be safe."
"What if I don't want to be, Tamsin? W-what if I want to fight by your side?"
"You know I can't let you do that."
"Because I'm human? Because I'll be the weak link?"
The Detective could see that the she was getting quite agitated: Lauren's brow furrowed and she stumbled on a few words as she spoke. "Lauren-"
"You saved me; even when you were weak you protected me. I want to do the same for you. I-I have the right to fight for my home, for our future."
Shoulders in a slumped position, the Valkyrie closed her eyes as she rubbed the back of her neck. The dominant energy she previously held seemed to have turned against her, and was now resonating from Lauren's aura. "How well can you handle a blade?"
The human was prepared for a far more heated discussion, and now that Tamsin offered her compliance, she was lost for words. "I-I took archery at space camp."
Rising a single brow, Tamsin spoke the next couple of words slowly: "Space…camp." A frown, a shake of the head, she brought her gaze up to the Doctor's brilliant orbs. "Alright, alright. I'm sure the Barkeep could conjure up something for ya, but I need to go the Dal."
Shaking her head vigorously, Lauren scooted forward and the sudden movement caused both of the women's knees to bump against each other. "The Morrigan doesn't know you're alive. You're free. You have the advantage Tamsin, keep it." The Valkyrie pledged to serve Odin for eternity, something Lauren could relate to. Though a human lifetime had its end, reincarnation however didn't offer that kind of salvation and liberty. She may still serve her God, but Tamsin was, for the first time, without a side; unaligned, as it is.
Sighing, she bore her eyes into the ground. She does have a good point, Tamsin reflected.
She rested her hand on top of the taller woman's shoulder. "We need to approach this very carefully."
Letting go of Lauren's hands, Tamsin slumped back into the couch, the back of her head pushing against the backrest. After a moment of silence, she craned her head towards the Doctor's expectant stare. "You think the Ash does house calls?"
"Let's find out." She countered with a small smile as she reached for her phone.
A knock at the door announced their friend's presence. Smoothing down her hands down the front of her loose, silk blouse, Lauren headed towards the door and opened it to greet the leader of the Light. "Come in, Hale." A wide smile spread across her face, though the worry in her eyes was undeniable.
The Ash offered his former Doctor a toothy grin as he crossed under the threshold. "Doctor Lewis, it's so-OH!" Jumping up slightly, he took a sharp step back as he noticed the tall blonde in the living room. Almost scared to move, Hale simply turned his eyes towards Lauren and asked: "Do we have a ghost problem…?"
To which, Tamsin - bless her soul - countered with the popular: "Who you gonna call?"
Chuckling, the human closed the door softly and took a step towards Hale. "This 'urgent matter' I mentioned on the phone, this would be it." Lauren explained, making a hand motion towards the previously dead Detective.
Taking a few tentative steps towards the Valkyrie, Hale raised his right hand and poked the woman's shoulder. "How…in the world?" And he poked her again, just to make sure.
Bouncing both of her eyebrows, Tamsin titled her head sideways. "That would be half of the story," Suddenly growing serious, there was an added edge to her tone: "I'm just gonna cut right through the shit, a serious crap fest is about to go down and the Fae need you."
Lifting his chin up, Hale slipped both of his hands inside his pockets. "I'm listening."
"Odin, you know Odin," Scrunching up her face, Tamsin waved her hand around in the air.
"Big guy, grey beard, long walking stick and a passion for green-eyed blondes."
"Right, he-" Sticking her index in her mouth, Tamsin made an 'O' shape with her mouth and pulled out her finger, grazing it against the inside of her cheek in the shape of a hook to make a loud popping noise. "My essence back into my body, brand spanking new life cycle, so that I could help stop the incoming war."
"Between Light and Dark?"
"No," The Valkyrie drawled out, a tight smile on her lips, "Between Loki and oh, the entire planet." She countered matter-of-factly.
"I don't know what I can do to help-"
Her voice suddenly raised a few octaves, "You're the Ash! The life of millions of Fae and humans are at stake here."
"Odin's all mighty and buff, why can't he contain the 'lil sucker?"
"Loki escaped centuries ago, and Odin can't cross to the underworld."
"First few months on the job and someone's already threatnenin' to destroy the world," Sighing, the suit-clad man rubbed his forehead as she paced back and forth. Stopping in mid stride, his eyes bounced from Lauren to Tamsin. "Alright, what's the plan?"
"Request an audience with The Morrigan, convince her to join forces so we have a fighting chance of winning this." Tamsin knew all too well she could settle the war with a snap of the fingers while eating a burger, sippin' on a beer from the corner of her mouth and lounging on a hammock, but even if she did Loki would be free to cause the same chaos over and over. She needed to play the tactical card, lure him into battle and get rid of him permanently.
The Ash put both of his hands up as he made a time-out signal. "Woah, girl, you got your crazy talk set on high? I'm not going to beg the Dark for help."
"It's not begging unless you get on your knees. Besides, she has a thing for ya."
Lauren stepped into the conversation, half raising her hand almost as if she was requesting to speak. Two sets of eyes were now on her, though she paid attention to only one of them. "Tamsin, are y-you sure there isn't another way? The Morrigan won't accept without some sort of terms that will benefit the Dark, you know that."
"She's right." Hale answered immediately.
Tamsin furrowed her brow, opened her eyes wide and shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'any third grader would know the obvious answer to this problem'. "He's just gotta slap her 'I owe you' post-it on his fridge. It's all good."
"The Light will not be affiliated with Dark." The leader pressed, once again.
Standing up sharply, nostrils flared, the Valkyrie took a threatening step forward as she spoke through gritted teeth, "Maybe I didn't make myself clear: if we don't find a way to stop Loki and his army from Hell, he will destroy everything you love, including your pride and your stupid hat."
"Alright, alright, don't go dissin' the hat." With a slight pout, Hale readjusted said hat on his head. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you, Hale."
Hand curled around the door knob, he turned around and tipped his hat at the Doctor. "It was nice seeing you again Doc," His then turned to the green-eyed blonde, to whom he offered a curt nod. "Tamsin."
As the door closed behind him, Tamsin made a face as she slipped her hands in the kangaroo pocket of her sweater. "I'm guessing my apartment was passed down to another one of Evony's stupid grunts."
"Yes, and," As she spoke, Lauren moved to the kitchen counter where there lay a small bowl filled with keys. She plucked one out of the bunch. "Dyson mentioned that he moved all of your belongings to a storage unit."
"Bless his smelly dog breath," The Valkyrie thought out loud as she grabbed the keys from the smaller woman's outstretched hand. "I'll need to get some of my stuff."
"If you make me a list of the things you want I-"
"You don't know where it is." Tamsin cut in quickly, a triumphant smile on her face.
"Fine, but you'll have to hide."
"And how do you-hey!" The Scandinavian pouted as the hood of her sweater was thrown over her head – obscuring her vision - by a grinning Doctor. Pulling the hood up slightly, Tamsin rolled her eyes as she followed Lauren's hips out of the door. "What? Like the Dark would send an assassin to take me out…"
The Dark sent an assassin to take me out. A Red Cap contract killer had surprised them just as they entered the endless rows of storage units. He had gone for the Doctor first, but Tamsin made sure he wouldn't touch her again. Now trapped in a headlock, on the ground, she cursed herself for jinxing them and made a mental note to never joke of something that had a high enough probability of actually happening.
"Tamsin! The keys!" Lauren shouted as she held her hands up. Both women locked eyes and devised a plan in less than two seconds.
Taking a hand off of the arm choking her out, the struggling Valkyrie fished it out of her pocket and performed a perfect side throw, chucking the brass key straight at the Doctor –whom ran straight for Tamsin's unit and opened it.
The tall blonde wasn't truly struggling, she was simply tiring him out so it would be easier to question him. "Alright, play time's over." With the man still around her neck, Tamsin effortlessly stood straight up and to make a show out of newly found strength, she even took the time to dust herself off.
Straightening her shoulders, she walked to her unit, the wide-eyed assassin trailing behind as he put all his effort into attempting to push her back down; effort which was as fruitless as an apple tree in the middle of winter.
Entering the unit, Lauren searched, and found one of Tamsin's handguns in a glass box. Taking the weapon quickly, she stepped out of the unit and brought the door down just in time for Tamsin to slam the man's head against it. The door shook as the assassin fell back on the ground, semi-conscious and dazed from the harsh impact.
The Valkyrie gripped his dirty and worn white t-shirt, bunching the material around her fist as she pulled half of his body under the door; his clothes and boots roughly sliding against the hard pavement.
The Doctor then slammed the door down onto his stomach, effectively trapping him under and giving him a harsh wakeup call. Lauren kept the armed pistol trained at him as he coughed violently and made a poor attempt to dislodge himself from the heavy metal latch compressing his stomach.
Tamsin took a seat on the man's chest, marking the end of the pair's display of perfect synchrony. Smirking down at him, she cocked her head sideways and slapped the side of his face a few times. "How'd she find out I was alive?"
"Eat…shit…bitch." The man spat between deep coughs.
Flaring her nostrils, the bright emerald in the Valkryie's eyes dimmed until they were completely submerged in darkness. "Answer the question."
"I-I don't even know who-who you are." Gulping, the man looked at Lauren. "The Morrigan hired me to get the h-human doctor."
"You're gonna go back to her, tell her the Doctor's dead, that she left the Fae long ago,"
"But she-she'll kill me if I go back empty handed."
"Not my problem." Pushing her fingers into his jaw, she gripped his face tightly and pulled up his head. "You mention anything about me and the Doc and I will personally find you and skin you alive. Are your orders clear?" For a second, Tamsin almost wanted to laugh. From the jogging pants and sweater she was wearing and how she was interrogating the man, she almost felt like member of the Italian Mafia asking for her money.
"Y-yes ma'am!"
Tamsin stood up and pushed the door upwards with her foot, giving back the Red Cap his freedom. Dusting her hands off, she watched with a satisfied smirk as he scrambled away like a frightened dog. Turning around, her gaze could not be lifted from the gorgeous sight in front of her: Lauren holding a handgun – in the correct manner, might I add. "Damn Doc, you almost look like a badass with that thing."
"That's almost a compliment," Lauren mock curtsey as she handed the pistol back to its rightful owner. "Almost thank you."
Tucking the handgun in the back of her pants, Tamsin eyed the petite woman suspiciously. "You've been hangin' with Dyson way too much."
The pair made their way into the unit, Lauren hooking her arm around Tamsins'. "On the bright side, the Morrigan still thinks you're…you know, unavailable." Glancing at the Detective, she cringed at how harsh that statement could have sounded. "No offense."
Smiling, the Scandinavian chuckled. "None taken."
"I'm sure there's offense to be taken when your girlfriend-I mean," Eyes wide upon realizing the poor choice of words that flew out of her mouth without her approval, a sudden rosy blush crept up her cheeks. "I'm sorry."
Clearing her throat loudly, louder than was probably necessary, the Valkyrie turned on the light and closed the shutter behind them. "No, it's fine, I mean, yeah, totally…okay." The unit wasn't like regular-sized ones most people own. She has been alive for 3567 years; one collects a lot of material possessions during such a long period of time. The room had to be large enough to hold her sixteen feet boat and other motorized toys alike.
The Doctor attempted to distract herself, and the blonde, with a random object lying around. "Hey, what's this?" Though she knew perfectly well what it was: a service medal from the first world war. She was not surprised, however, that Tamsin had been part of the war considering her line of 'work'. Lauren made a note to ask her about it; the history she must have witnessed during those years must have been simply fascinating and she'd love to hear about it from someone whom was actually there.
"Lauren," Stepping forward, Tamsin gently grabbed the old medal and threw it back in the small wooden box it came from. "Don't look so spooked, I'm not gonna split at the first sight of commitment." The taller woman spoke sincerely, holding Lauren's uncertain gaze.
"Do you want a commitment?"
"Do you?"
"I want to be with you, Tamsin."
"Me too, Doc." A genuinely happy smile appeared on both of their faces as the taller blonde took Lauren's hand and brought it up to her lips, laying a kiss on top of her knuckles. She rubbed them with her thumb, letting go of her hand before she and turned and began rummaging through the boxes full of clothes.
Just as few months ago, Tamsin would have never seen herself pledging to be in a relationship until she met the human Doctor. A lot of things changed since then, the Valkyrie thought, a lot of good things. Though a part of her lacked confidence; would she be good enough to honor this commitment? Would the Doctor realize building a future with a jaded Valkyrie was probably not the smoothest road to chose from?
Lauren's question broke Tamsin out of her somber thoughts: "You have a boat?" The woman said, eying the long, aluminum fish boat that was half hidden under a beige tarp.
"I go fishing with the D-man sometimes," Frowning at Lauren's surprised tone, she furthered her explanation: "What? It's relaxing."
"I just never pictured you…fishing."
Now on her knees, Tamsin dug herself a path through the boxes; her voice coming out muffled as she spoke: "Yeah? We should go sometime." Pulling back from her cardboard igloo, she pushed herself up and turned towards the smiling Doctor, "Mind if I stash some clothes at your place until I find somewhere to shack up?"
"I have plenty of room…for the both of us, if hypothetically, you'd want to stay with me." Her hand motions and her small laugh was a good indicator of how nervous she was of actually posing this question to her partner.
Though moving into your girlfriend's apartment was probably a serious conversation for most people, the pair pulled it away from awkward and brought it towards something that would make both slightly more comfortable: humor. "You mean you'd want my lazy and drunk ass hanging around your home all day?"
Shrugging her shoulders, the human raised her hand to push the strands of dark blonde hair, which had fallen in front of her face, behind her ear. "You're practically an unstable psychopath, someone should watch over you."
"That's it; I'm banning you from seeing wolf-breath." Chuckling, the woman shook her head as she pushed a couple of boxes in front of the door with the side of her foot. "Talking about the big bad wolf, I'm gonna swing by his and fill him in."
Nodding, Lauren moved into the Valkyrie's arms. "And I'll go see Trick."
"Alright, be careful. We still don't why the Morrigan's gunnin' for ya. If anything happens I give you permission to use Trick, or anyone else, as a non-human shield."
Taking a pause, lips in a tight line, Lauren sometimes had a hard time distinguishing if Tamsin was serious or not. In this case, she was going with yes and no. Pushing herself up on her tippy toes, she brushed her soft lips against the taller woman's cheek. "I'll keep that in mind."
Tamsin had wanted to walk, as Dyson's apartment was just a few blocks down from the storage unit yard, though Lauren had insisted to give her a ride. If their earlier scramble with a Red Cap wasn't enough of a warning sign to lay low, she didn't want to find out what was.
As she stepped out of the old elevator –so old in fact, that it made Tamsin nervous enough to cause her to pray to a Lord she didn't believe in every time she took it. Crossing the corridor, she knocked on the door with her foot once and didn't wait for an answer as she walked in. leaning against the threshold, grin firmly in place, she watched her former partner remove his waistcoat from his seated position on his bed. "Still wearin' those ugly things, D?"
"Tamsin?" Standing up sharply, his hand instinctively went for the gun under his arm as he eyed the familiar face he had mourned for over two months time. Lifting up his hand to his head, the Wolf rubbed his brow. "What the hell did Trick put in my drink?"
Chuckling, the Valkyrie pushed herself off the door frame and walked in fully. "Considering you're a hot, Chris Martin look-a-like, blonde…probably a roofie or two." The woman half-joked.
Raising an eyebrow, stunned, the words that came out of his mouth next were the fault of several months of exposure with a certain blonde Detective. "Who you gonna call?"
Opening her mouth wide, Tamsin furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey that's my line, dude." Was delivered in a higher pitched tone that usual.