Chapter 9 - Reawakening
Author's notes:
Hi guys, yes it is not a joke, after more than a year, chapter 9 is here. I hope you will still find my fanfic interesting even after all this time. Life happened, literally.
Why did I write again? I suddenly found inspiration to write again a few weeks ago. Your reviews surely motivated me, I can assure you, I re-read all of them, and I decided I wanted to continue this fanfic. So thank you for your support and love.
I want to thank my dear, precious and amazing friend Alecs for just being there, for me. As I told you, you are incredible and so so talented. I could not be more happy to have you correcting my mistakes, improving every chapter of this fanfiction.
Anyway, I hope you will like this one. Thanks for your understanding.
In the afternoon, Tamsin was fast asleep on the couch, her head resting in Kenzi's lap. She had ended up like this at the end of a long heart-to-heart, during which the Valkyrie many a time found herself overly emotional and unable to hold back her tears. Not when her heart was in so much pain. Their talk gravitated solely around the blonde, her feelings, hopes and disillusions, and even touched on the Valkyrie bond at some point.
All that crying and feeling was too much for Tamsin. The disgusting, inedible food Kenzi tried to cook with whatever was left in the kitchen that was not yet stale or beyond its expiration date, only made things worse. But the sip of vodka the brunette had added to the mixture was enough for the tall and exhausted blonde to fall fast and deeply asleep.
On one hand, her body was feeling better - it was just a little sore now, thanks to her warrior DNA. On the other hand, her mind was still foggy, but certainly broken and needed time to heal. She would have to be patient in order to be okay.
Right now, the only person, family and friend she needed was by her side: Kenzi. Even if talking ranked rather close to the bottom of her list of favourite things, talking to the little goth was completely different. Every time Tamsin opened her heart to her, she was not disappointed. She always feels safe with Kenzi, there is no judging, no competition, nothing at all that could make her feel uncomfortable. And again, today she had felt safe and protected, able to open her heart one more time, to the one person who would support her and listen to her, no matter what.
She fell asleep in the comforting arms of the black-haired woman who was gently soothing her by running her fingers through her blonde hair. Kenzi was the only person who could do it without endangering her own life. About an hour later, Kenzi decided to take a nap herself, but first shot a text message to Bo, to ask if there was anything she could do to help with her new case.
Her head was pounding and she was feeling tired and nauseous when she arrived at the precinct. Taking a new case and investigating was really the last thing Bo was in the mood for today. She almost regretted saying yes to Dyson's invitation to consult on this case and work with him. By now, it was already too late to go back. Plus, she really needed to stay away from the crackshack, so as to give Tamsin space to breathe and the opportunity to talk to Kenzi. She trusted Kenzi and knew that if someone was capable of comforting the Valkyrie, it was her best friend, without a shadow of a doubt. This case was the perfect opportunity to escape.
Walking into the building, she started realizing that a shower or a hot bath would have done her some good, and also to the people she was going to work with. 'Well it's too late now,' she told herself, rolling her eyes for not thinking about it before leaving the house.
She did not even have the time to take a deep breath and prepare herself for whatever Fae investigation would be waiting for her, when she heard a voice calling her.
"Hey Bo!"
The Succubus looked up to find where the sound was coming from and saw the Wolf waving at her.
"Hi Dyson," she replied while managing to plaster an almost real smile on her face, in an effort to hide her state of mind and the thoughts and feelings that were troubling her. She really did not have the energy to talk about what she was going through and to put up with Dyson's constant worrying about her.
"Well, it is nice of you to show up after like… 200 messages I left on your cell phone," he said ironically. Although he sensed Bo was not really in a mood for bad jokes, he continued. "Normally I wouldn't bother you with a case, really, but my dear and absolutely faithful partner didn't show up this morning and is still not answering my calls. She's probably drunk somewhere or in custody after getting into a bar fight or something. Anyway, yeah, I kinda need a little help. By the way, any chance you saw her today or last night at least?"
The Wolf gave her a curious look when Bo suddenly looked visibly embarrassed.
"Um…" She cleared her throat. "I'll explain it to you in my car," she finally answered in a stern voice, succeeding in masking the overwhelming feeling of guilt that had engulfed her for a second time after the incident with Tamsin.
Dyson did not dare to ask any questions. Judging by the tone of Bo's voice, keeping his mouth shut was the smart thing to do.
The two Fae arrived at the crime scene in Bo's Camaro, about 40 minutes after leaving the compound. The atmosphere in the car had become unbearably tense after the Succubus explained briefly what had happened to Tamsin. The fact that she chose to speak as little as possible about it, instead of explaining in more detail, only made things more tense.
To his credit, Dyson did not ask a lot of questions except for wanting to know how his partner was, who had almost killed her, and how Bo was holding up.
This was what she loved so much about him. The Wolf had a knack for getting straight to the point, and always respected the Succubus's decisions and was mindful of her reactions. Moreover, she knew she could always count on him to help her find Stacy and protect Tamsin at all costs. He was loyal and she respected him deeply for that beautifully human quality.
Approaching the corpse lying onto the ground, Bo realised it had been a while since she had last seen such a crime scene. There was so much blood everywhere. Too much blood.
"Hello, I'm Detective Dyson and this is Bo, a consultant on this case. What do we have here?" the Wolf asked a cop who was already standing near the dead body to examine it.
"Hi…. A woman, around 30 years old, found dead here by a hiker. He's in the ambulance over there if you want to question him but I have to warn you, he's old and still shocked by what he discovered. Anyway, the cause of death seems to be those deep claw wounds you can see all over her torso, they go in pretty deep so she probably bled out. We don't have a lot to go on yet, but this is all the info we were able to gather since we got here. We're waiting for the ME to bag the corpse and take it in for an autopsy. That might help uncover more evidence and a lead."
"Thank you, officer," Bo replied as the cop walked away. "That poor girl… Left for dead here, by herself, in the middle of the forest and right at the entrance of a creepy small cave. Judging by the look on her face, she was certainly terrified. Looks almost like she was scared to death."
Dyson took in a lungful of air and started sniffing. "Whoever or whatever murdered her, wasn't human. I can tell she died pretty recently, around 8 to 10 hours max."
"Can you smell anything that could be useful for the investigation?" Bo asked.
The Wolf focused harder. "I don't recognise any smell except for blood. The victim was human," he said, kneeling down next to the lifeless body. "I've never seen a wound like this. I'll take a few pictures and show them to Trick tomorrow, maybe he'll recognize them and know what type of Fae they could come from," Dyson added, intrigued.
Bo took a closer look at the woman's torso. "What's this?" she frowned.
"What?"
"There's something inside the claw marks. It looks vicious and… green."
"Poison maybe?" the Wolf asked, a puzzled look on his face.
"Maybe. We'll know for sure after the autopsy. Where is that ME, by the way?" the Succubus snapped.
"I'm here, sorry," came the reply from somewhere behind her. A voice way too familiar to Bo. A voice she would be able to recognise amongst thousands of others. Nevertheless, a voice she did not want to hear today. She got up and turned around.
"What are you doing here, Lauren?"
"Whoa... What a charming welcome. I'm here because Dyson called me. I heard you needed a doctor qualified in Fae science," the blonde replied, saddened to see that Bo was still angry at her.
Sensing the tension between the two, Dyson excused himself and almost vanished into thin air.
"Look, Bo, I am really sorry for yesterday. I didn't mean to…"
"I don't want to talk about it," the Succubus cut her off. "Tamsin is all I can think about right now, and what happened to her and the hundreds of things that I could have done, that I could have said to avoid hurting her."
She stopped to take a deep breath and push back the tears that had started welling up in her eyes. "I am still angry at you, Lauren. But I don't want to think or talk about it for the moment. We will talk it out eventually, just not now or things will get worse between us. I don't want that neither, alright? So please, please, let it go and give me some space and time," she finished in a single breath, struggling to keep her emotions under lid and not really succeeding if the slight tremor in her voice was any indication. She took in a deep breath to steady herself and finally added more gently, "Can't we just focus on working together on this case?"
The blonde quickly acquiesced with a small nod of her head, pained to see her ex-girlfriend so devastated by the recent events. She knew that trying to explain herself and offering up her excuses would make things worse between them. So instead of saying anything else, she turned toward the victim, knelt down and switched to full-on doctor mode.
They kept their conversation professional from there on, discussing the investigation and eventually coming to the same conclusions as with Dyson earlier.
As the sun was beginning to set, the Succubus was feeling increasingly tired, exhausted even, and eager to see that long day coming to an end.
"Alright, I'll take the corpse to my lab, do the autopsy and analysis tomorrow morning. I'll get in touch if I find anything relevant," the doctor said, getting up.
"Thank you, Lauren. I'll go see Trick tomorrow with Bo as agreed," Dyson replied.
After saying goodbye to each other, Bo grabbed the case file from the Wolf, took a few pictures of the crime scene, and finally headed back to her car, this time alone.
From the moment she slammed the car door shut, and during the entire drive from the crime scene to the crackshack in her yellow Camaro, Bo's mind was preoccupied…. Mainly by Tamsin, just as it had been every minute that day, and just as it was every day, she realized. Except that this time, thinking about Tamsin brought along feelings of angst and guilt. She missed that time when everything was alright between them. When Tamsin was fine. When she was making her laugh. When she was making her smile. She even missed her unstoppable-and-sometimes-irksome constant sarcasm.
She opened the door to her home - unlocked as always - fighting a terrible headache, and fully feeling the weight of the last couple of days hanging heavily on her shoulders and mind. Nothing was okay; Tamsin; her 'friendship' with Lauren exhausted her; this new case bothered her and would surely turn into something unnecessarily complicated. All she wanted there and then was to lie down in her bed, relax and eventually get some much-needed sleep.
As she was placing the case files delicately on the kitchen counter, now wanting to aggravate her headache, she caught a glimpse of her Valkyrie fast asleep on the couch. She felt slightly relieved to see Tamsin looked less pale than when she had left for the precinct that morning, and that the bruises on her face were already beginning to fade.
Kenzi suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs, interrupting her train of thoughts. She had been so caught up by watching Tamsin sleep that she hadn't even heard her friend come down.
The little goth knew her best friend better than anyone so she could instantly see the anguish on Bo's features, on her furrowed brow and concerned look. "She'll be okay, Bo," she said gently. "Her heart is suffering for sure, I am not going to lie to you, but she'll be okay with time and…"
"And what?" the brunette interrupted, sadness in her voice and tears already welling up in her brown eyes.
"And you, Bo."
The succubus huffed.
"I think, no, I'm certain, that she'll be alright if she is with you. And vice-versa, BoB." Kenzi took a step closer to her best friend. "I did not understand everything she told me about that super-rare, weirdo Valkyrie bond thing, but I got that it's a pretty damn big deal, and she needs you."
Bo's head turned toward the girl the second she heard the words 'Valkyrie bond.' But she did not have the time, nor the willingness to ask any questions and while she hesitated, Kenzi started speaking again.
"Look, it's not my place to say anything about it. Just know that I'm not pressuring you or anything. I know you feel it yourself, Bo. The answer to all this crazy, pretty shitty, situation is in your heart, B. Whatever you are about to do, whatever your decision might be, you need to be extremely serious about it. Not kidding," she finished, delicately tapping two fingers on Bo's chest.
"I know, Kenz, thank you," the Succubus replied, taking the black-haired woman's hand in hers, as if she was looking for some comfort.
"I am your best friend,Bobolicious, and let's admit it, I'm a pretty exceptional friend, I know! But seriously Bo, I love you," Kenzi smiled.
"I love you too, Kenz," Bo answered with a teary-eyed smile.
"Aww, don't make me cry and ruin this beautiful face!" Kenzi joked before Bo grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. "BoBo, I can't breathe," she croaked in jest.
They laughed again, wholeheartedly, and Kenzi softly wiped off a tear that had started running down Bo's left cheek. The little human paused and checked the time.
"Alright, after all this blah-blah-blah, the Kenz is going to sleep. Plus, my skin needs some rest. You don't get to be magnificent at all times by doing nothing."
Bo's wide smile and soft chuckle when hearing Kenzi's words warm the little Russian's heard. 'There you are,' she thought to herself.
"Do you want me to stay here and take care of Tamtam?"
"No, I got her. Thank you, though. You're the best."
"Alright, alright, bye-bye Succulicious, I am going now or you're really gonna make me cry!" she shouted back as she was already halfway up the stairs and outside of Bo's visual range. "Oh and just FYI," she continued just as loudly, "I love coffee and pancakes with a LOT of maple syrup on them in the morning! And also…"
"I think I got the message, roommate!" Bo yelled back.
"Yasss! Love you, g'night!" Kenzi replied quickly and finally entered her bedroom, feeling very proud of herself.
Bo spent at least half an hour cleaning the kitchen and getting her things in order, as she found that this always helped clear her mind.
Suddenly, she realized she couldn't hear Tamsin's light snores any longer. Instead, she heard the blonde stirring on the couch. She approached her silently to check if she was still asleep and couldn't help but smile at how cute the Valkyrie looked, rubbing her eyes and squinting, although there was hardly any light in the room. Bo cleared her throat to let Tamsin know she was right next to her.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to wake you up."
"It's okay, it's not like I haven't heard you breaking the dishes a few minutes ago," Tamsin replied ironically.
Bo smiled even wider, glad to note the blonde hadn't lost her sense of humor.
"I wasn't 'breaking the dishes,' I was washing them, and I'm not surprised you did not recognize that particular sound. You know, cleaning? Does that ring any bells? No?"
The Valkyrie pretended to think really hard for a few moments.
"Never heard of that! Sorry, I guess," she smirked. She rubbed her neck and shoulders before she continued. "Damn, this couch is a fucking nightmare. How can we even sit on this piece of shit?" she grumbled.
Bo huffed. "Come on, go upstairs. Take my bed and I'll take the evil couch tonight," she replied.
"Is that an order?" the blonde asked in a sarcastic tone. She only gave Bo a short moment to blush slightly and clear her throat, before adding, "Seriously, don't be stupid, we can do the same as last night if that's okay with you? I think we can manage, your bed is big enough for at least four people." She made a brief pause again. "Unless you were counting on attacking my irresistible body this night," she ended with a smirk. She really enjoyed teasing Bo, watching the waves of different emotions washing over the Succubus's face when she had mentioned sharing a bed.
"Happy to see your sarcasm is fully back. I missed that, Valkyrie. I was afraid you wouldn't annoy me anymore with your bad jokes," Bo replied with a smirk of her own, an unspoken challenge to the other Fae.
"Me?! Bad jokes?!" the blonde asked in a fake surprised tone. She placed her hands over her heart as if she had been stabbed through it. "Ouch, your cruel, deceitful words have hurt my ego! And for the info, my jokes are AWE-SOME."
Bo laughed. "Come on, Mrs. O'Brien, let's go to bed. And yes, I'm okay with sleeping next to you, blondie. I am not a perv, thank you very much!"
In reply, Tamsin gave a genuine smile. A smile to this woman who made her laugh, who made her cry, who kept her heart beating, who had shattered her heart in a thousand pieces.
That night, Bo fell asleep replaying Kenzi's words in her head, over and over again. 'She'll be okay, Bo. She'll be alright if she is with you.'
Even if she knew everything was not going to be okay tomorrow, nor the day after, she knew for certain that one day, her roommate's words would turn out to be true.
For the first time those last few days, Bo truly believed in those words, in happiness. She had hope. She and Tamsin had made progress that night, she was certain of it. The next day would be even better.
She would make absolutely everything in her power to fix the the consequences of her mistakes.
She would work hard for Tamsin's happiness.
She would give her the love she deserves.
She would be the person Tamsin needs in her life.
She would not let her go a second time. Never again.
Author's notes:
Thoughts ? I can not wait to read your comments :) Please review, it really helps. Thank you so so much for reading. See you at chapter 10, as soon as possible !
R.