Chapter Twenty – Penance

Lauren looked at her toes for a brief second, trying deciding what to say, realizing she probably should've thought about that before she got there, then she remembered how bad she was with words more often than not.

She lifted her head, looking at Bo's expectant face and closed the space between them, her wet hands tangling deep into brown hair. She connected their lips together before Bo had a chance to react. Her lips nipped and she was granted access to the mouth she'd been craving so deeply. She moaned as her tongue explored the mouth she knew so well.

She pressed Bo against the wall in the foyer hard, hearing her head thunk against the wall, now it was Bo's turned to moan. The brunette's hands greedily explored her back, Lauren pressed her knee between Bo's legs, hungrily taking her kisses, demanding them. Bo moaned again, sinking against Lauren's knee, the blonde could feel the heat between her legs and it drove her hunger.

They kissed until they were both breathless, the need for air too great to continue.

"Wait, wait," Bo grabbed her shoulders and held her at arm's length, creating some space between their quickly overheating bodies. They both panted like wild animals, "I - I don't want to do this if there is no future for us."

Lauren smirked, a predatory look in her eyes. "Now you want to be the one who overthinks things?" She gave her a lopsided smile and pushed her back against the wall, pinning her hands over her head as she devoured her neck in licks and bites.

"Lauren," Bo whispered, her voice sounded so small… so like a child.

It broke Lauren, cut through to her bones.

She released Bo's hands and they fell dejectedly to her sides. The brunette cast her eyes to the floor, thinking they were done.

Lauren's heart fluttered and swelled at the sight of her love so sad. She'd never have guessed that Bo would be the one interrupting sex to have a heart to heart. Part of her thought it was so unlike her but the other part, the bigger part of her knew just how big Bo's heart was… it was the very reason she loved her. The blonde reached her hand out and cupped the sad Fae's chin, lifting her head so their eyes could meet.

A little life seemed to come back into Bo then at the gentle touch Lauren had provided her. Bo lifted her hand to the blonde's free hand, interlacing their fingers together with a look that was somehow both pensive and slightly hopeful. Lauren didn't know what else to say except, "Was there ever really a doubt in your mind that we wouldn't come back to each other?"

Bo looked sheepish, the sadness returning to her chocolate eyes. Lauren's heart was breaking. "Well, at first there wasn't… but as time went on, I really thought we were done."

Lauren's other hand came up to cup Bo's cheek, she ran her thumb down the length of it and closed some of the distance between them, standing as close as she could to her love. "Bo, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was stupid and insecure and those things I said to you in the basement of The Dal, I never meant a word of them, I need you to know that. I'd just found out I was Fae and I didn't want to tell you and have us get back together just because you thought that would fix everything. I needed to know what I really was to you, I didn't want to hold you back from finding someone else… But I think you know in your heart of hearts that I could never be done with you, that we could never be done with each other." Bo's other hand came up to rest on the wrist of the hand that Lauren had held to her cheek.

Lauren closed the distance between them, dropping Bo's hands. She wrapped her hands around the sides of Bo's neck and rested their foreheads together, the closeness seemed to ease the brunette further.

Lauren's eyes filled with tears, "I'm so sorry Bo," She whispered softly, her voice trembling with emotion. "The fact that I know that I hurt you makes me wonder how I'll ever be able to live with myself again. I'm so, so sorry," She started to cry and Bo eased her tension by lovingly stroking her face and wrapping her arms loosely around the blondes waist, holding her in place.

Lauren calmed her tears, "We just couldn't go on the way we were going, not without an answer to me being human. As much as we both tried to ignore my mortality, it was killing us… but now we have an answer."

Lauren's eyes shone brightly for a moment until Bo looked up at her, eyes full of tears herself. "Bo, what's wrong?" Lauren whispered so lovingly it made Bo's heart flutter and skip a beat.

"I just – I guess it really just sunk in what this all means for us, that not only do I get to spend one lifetime with you, but hundreds after that."

Lauren bit her lip as she tried and failed to hide the smirk on her face. "You think you're going to spend hundreds of lifetimes with me?"

Bo finally smiled, a smile that finally reached her eyes for the first time in - she couldn't even remember how long, without Lauren it had felt like an eternity.

"Are you kidding? There's no one else for me, you have to know that by now… or else why are you here?" When Bo seemed to actually be asking, Lauren tried to answer her question in the form of a feather soft kiss to her lips. When Lauren pulled back, Bo stared into her loves eyes, trying to delay the tears of joy from falling just yet.

"I don't want to talk about the past and our breakup, it's in the past now, I just want to think of the future and I want to make it clear that I want to spend every moment of it by your side, if it's what you want of course," Lauren said, lovingly brushing a piece of hair behind the brunette's ear.

"Every moment huh? You don't think we'll be sick of each other in a century?"

"In a century? Maybe, but I'll give you a few hundred years. What's a few hundred years after all?"

Bo smirked and swatted Lauren's arm playfully. "You're bad."

"You would know," Lauren purred, the predatory haze had returned to her golden eyes.

"You luuuurve me," Bo said in a sing-songy voice, the twinkle in her eyes had finally returned, her dimples were showing and Lauren shook her head in disbelief of how she could be so lucky.

"More than anything else in this world, I always have, from the first moment I laid eyes on you and I always will, I never stopped. Nothing will ever keep us apart again, I can promise you that Ysabeau Dennis, not even our worst enemy… our own stupidity and stubbornness."

Bo looked at Lauren adoringly and tucked a strand of wet golden hair behind her ear, mirroring Lauren's actions from a moment ago, "You looked so beautiful tonight," She whispered and shook her head in awe that she'd found this incredible creature.

"Oh don't even get me started, I wanted to take you into a back room and tear that beautiful dress off of you," Lauren laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. The Succubus bit her lip and wrapped a golden lock of hair around her finger playfully.

"I wouldn't have minded that."

Lauren bit her own lip hard, "So, can I start atoning for my sins?"

Bo laughed at her and smiled, reveling in their closeness. "What did you have in mind, are you going to clean my kitchen cause it could really use your obsessively organized touch."

The predatory look in Lauren's eye made Bo squirm. The blondes voice game out gravely and rough, "Not exactly."

She kissed Bo with such a fever that the brunette whimpered into her mouth. Lauren knew that the only way she could make up for her behavior and reassure the beautiful woman in her arms that nothing would ever tear them apart again, was with her actions – and what better way to speak a Succubus's language than sexually. Lauren hoped she was up for the challenge.

Her wet clothes had already seeped into Bo's clothes, Bo panted into the blonde's mouth as Lauren lifted her up, wrapping her legs around her waist as she pressed her harder into the wall. Bo groaned as Lauren's lips went to work on her neck, she wrapped her arms around the blondes head, holding her close to her neck, encouraging her lips to lick and bite away the pain.

Lauren sucked creamy white skin into her mouth hard, leaving her mark on her lover. She felt Bo's legs squirm around her waist but she held them in place firmly, not letting her down. "Fuck baby," The Succubus whispered, her heart filling with so much exquisite warmth at the touch of the other woman that she could not even remember the burning emptiness that had been there without her.

Lauren pulled back, panting and looked up at her with tears in her amber eyes again, "I l-love you so-" Lauren broke off, her heart clenching knowing she'd hurt Bo.

Bo lifted her chin with fingers. "I know," Lauren nodded but it wasn't enough. "You're the one who said, let's leave the past in the past and I want to. I really do. I understand okay? I'm to blame for this too so don't take it all on your own shoulders. I realize I led Dyson on for far too long and the fact that I'm a Succubus made it – difficult- to say the least. There is no escaping that that was a huge part of why you felt insecure about things, because how could you not? I thought about how you must've felt sharing me with others because Lauren, there is no way in hell that I could ever share you – that I could ever imagine anyone else's hands on your body but my own. You're stronger than you know for loving me through all of that and the fact that you broke – I don't blame you, I am amazed at you for making it work for as long as you did, you're incredible."

Lauren laughed through her choked up throat, it was amazing how Bo could make her feel so normal so easily, she knew exactly the right thing to say. She suddenly didn't feel crazy and cruel, she wiped her eyes and raked a hand through her hair sighing. She brought her hand back down to hook under Bo's knee, holding her in place once again around her waist. "You never have to worry about anyone else's hands on my body but your own because I'm yours Bo. You're it for me, I love you more than life itself." Lauren looked at her with such genuine honesty that Bo felt the pain lift from her heart, she'd always known deep down that they'd find their way back to each other.

Bo ran her hands over the muscular arms that were now pinning her to the wall. God she'd always loved those arms. Her hands came up to rest on the sides of Lauren's neck. "You're everything I never knew I wanted because I didn't even know it was possible, Lauren Lewis. You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."

Lauren smiled, feeling lighter for the first time in months, "You better mean that because a human lifespan is one thing to commit yourself to but a Fae lifespan is another thing."

Bo bit her lip, resting her head against the wall, looking down at the love of her life with a heart so full she could barely stand it.

"And about that feeding thing, we sort've have an answer for that now too," Lauren smirked.

Bo shook her head in disbelief at their unbelievable luck, "No kidding huh? Not only can I feed from you without worrying I'm going to kill you – but you can heal me without me even needing to feed."

"Not that I'd deny you feeding cause I have to say, it's not so bad on my end either," Lauren bit her lip, remembering the feeling of Bo sharing her chi sent a shiver down her spine.

"Lauren?"

"Yeah baby?"

"Why did we get this lucky?"

Lauren knew what she meant, she didn't just mean them finding each other, she meant that all of their prayers had been answered when Lauren became Fae, "Well, I've been thinking about it and as far as I can see there's only one answer."

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"The universe wants us together babe, forever."

"Forever and eternity," Bo smiled, bliss taking over her brain in the most exquisite way she'd ever experienced.

"Forever and eternity."