Hey folks! Our couple starts their tentative dance. Hope you enjoy! Also, here's the solution to my little quiz at the end of chapter 7: I borrowed the character of Emily, aka "Five", from a TV show called Dark Matter. Check it out if you haven't yet; it features Z in one of her most outstanding performances.

Chapter 8 – Encore

"This thing is going to be the end of me", Bo mumbled, impatiently shaking the door of the cursed glass cabinet in front of her.

It was a Saturday around noon, and she was working the day shift at a little café called Cosy Corner. It was situated near campus, and the name said it all – the place was small, but bright and friendly, with colourful posters and paintings on the walls, a misfit assortment of tables and chairs filling the guest area, a well-equipped kitchen, a counter, which harboured the till, and her arch nemesis – the glass cabinet cooler, where all the cakes and goodies sat to keep them fresh throughout the day.

She really enjoyed working here, but that thing was a source of constant headaches, because she kept fighting with the mechanics of the goddamn sliding door. She took a deep breath to calm herself and wiped her sweaty hand on her thigh. Lou, one of the café's owners had told her, the best way to deal with the ancient piece of furniture was patience. So, sticking her tongue out, Bo firmly, but carefully gripped the handle and tried again.

"Ha!", she cried in triumph, when the glass case opened. With a wide grin, she placed a blueberry muffin next to the already-prepared cappuccino on her tray and hurried to serve the order.

The café was packed as ever, which was part of the reason why this job never got boring. Morning through afternoon, guests flocked to the place, and Bo knew exactly why. Because besides serving great coffee and offering an exceptionally friendly atmosphere, the Cosy Corner was famous for its amazing cakes. Both of the owners – Lou and her twin sister Max – were extremely talented pastry chefs. They'd bought the shop a year ago to establish their own business, and in the short amount of time, the Cosy Corner had gone from being completely unknown, to secret tip, to household name.

It was one of the reasons Bo had scouted it out as a potential place to start her student job. Its popularity ensured a steady influx of all kinds of different people, and thus, more anonymity for her. She was always welcoming towards the patrons, but kept her distance. And whenever someone tried to get a little too friendly for her liking, she thralled them, instantly making them forget about their amorous ideas.

It was all part of the strategy she'd devised with Théa's help. They'd discussed, how Bo should best live her life in this timeline, and agreed that keeping a low profile would be the optimal approach in order to not alter the future any more than strictly necessary. In the long run, making new, more lasting contacts would be unavoidable, but for now, Bo was trying to stay under the radar. Which was just as well, because the only person she cared about getting in close contact with was Lauren anyway.

Almost a week had gone by since last weekend's nerd party. During that time, Bo hadn't seen her, but before saying goodbye that night, they'd exchanged phone numbers and regularly texted each other ever since. Their messages remained harmless and light, which Bo was relieved about. Because as much as she wanted to see Lauren again, she felt she needed more time to work on her self-control. The morning after her vow to protect the blonde from everything fae, she'd taken on meditation as a means to get in synch with her Queen, but the task had proven more difficult than expected.

Her beast was fighting her, it seemed. She could sense Lauren's renewed presence, and the more time passed without any major interaction – which for the succubus basically meant sex – she would not be satisfied. Bo had noticed her Queen's unusual fixation on the blonde, even in their original timeline… a more than odd circumstance, because according to Trick's old books, Lauren's genus should've prevented the succubus' dedicated focus. But after her beloved grandfather's passing, scouring his bookshelves for answers had become painful, so she'd stopped looking and simply accepted the fact that the love they shared was somehow special.

Then, Théa had explained their soulmate status to her and things had become clearer. If there indeed was a special connection, of course her Queen would yearn for the doctor. But said connection had always existed, so why was she so hell-bent on devouring Lauren now? As far as Bo was concerned, nothing had changed since her wife's death – aside from the fact that she was younger now. But that could hardly be the reason, because even before meeting the blonde, Bo's beast had never been picky when it came to the age of potential lovers.

Pondering back and forth, she stood behind the counter, absent-mindedly letting her gaze wander, in case someone needed her. The chime of the old-fashioned bell at the entrance caught her attention, and she turned her head to be greeted with a most welcome sight. In the doorframe stood Lauren and her friend Emily, scanning the place for an empty table.

They hadn't yet spotted Bo, whose face split into a wide grin, as she quickly disappeared behind the kitchen door to hide from them. Lauren's visit hadn't been planned at all – she must've spontaneously decided to come by, after Bo had told her about the amazing food. Or maybe it had been Emily, who in this moment, was excitedly grabbing her friend's hand to energetically pull her to the only available free table – a geriatric, pretty wonky piece of oak furniture, which sat on a stack of coasters that kept it from wobbling and was framed by a couple of colourful wooden chairs.

As they sat down and got comfortable – Emily choosing the yellow and blue chair, and Lauren the white and green one – Bo got busy behind the counter. She knew exactly, what she was going to serve Lauren, and she had a hunch about her bubbly friend's food preferences.

"What shall we have?", Emily asked, scanning the menu. She was grinning and making smacking noises with her lips, as if she could already taste all the beautiful goodies listed in front of her. "Mmh, this looks delicious!"

Lauren was looking around the place, searching for Bo. It wasn't like her to just show up unannounced, but it'd been almost a week since she'd last seen the beautiful mystery woman, whom she found herself thinking about a lot lately. And after telling Emily about their lovely night at the party, her friend had insisted on coming.

They both had a busy week behind them. Their brilliant minds demanded constant input, so naturally, their schedules were packed with courses and workshops. But at one point this morning, after sitting in their apartment studying for hours, Emily had snapped her books shut with a loud bang, startling Lauren from her concentrated haze, and announced that it was lunchtime. And then, she'd unceremoniously dragged her friend all the way here to enjoy their much-needed break.

In all honesty, Lauren hadn't really resisted. She felt a little bad about pouncing on Bo like this – especially after their strange first encounter at the party. But she'd so much enjoyed communicating with her through texts all week that in the end, she'd decided it would be okay. Still, now that they were here, she was nervous to see her again in person.

"Hello? Lauren, you're zoning out!", Emily called.

The blonde focused on her friend, who was still grinning from ear to ear. "Right, sorry. Let me check…"

"You were looking for her, right?", the young woman inquired. "You like her a lot, don't you?"

Lauren kept her eyes fixated on the menu, but couldn't help grinning along. "I just have a good feeling about her", she admitted with a little shrug. "Her texts make me laugh, and I think she's really smart, and…" She interrupted herself, as she felt her ears getting hot.

"I get it, Lo", Emily said quietly, reaching out her hand. "And I love that you feel this way. You more than deserve someone special." Her grin had turned into a warm smile, and Lauren gratefully squeezed the offered hand.

"What are you having then?", she asked, pointing at the piece of paper in her hand.

Emily focussed back on the menu, her forehead creased in concentration. "I don't know, it all looks so good…", she said with a dreamy sigh.

"Maybe I can help with that, ladies", a familiar voice coming from the side chimed in.

Lauren flinched and dropped the menu, her head jerking to the right. Her ears grew even hotter. She felt caught – as if she'd done something forbidden.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you", Bo apologised with an enchanting smile and presented her tray. "I saw you guys come in and thought I'd surprise you with some specialties I think you'd like."

Lauren couldn't help but return the other woman's smile, the scare from a second ago forgotten. She pushed the menu to the side to make space.

But before she could say anything, Emily spoke: "Wow, that looks delicious!" She strained her neck to take a good look at what Bo had brought them. "What is it?"

Inwardly, the brunette breathed a sigh of relief at Emily's uncomplicated demeanour. It was as if she was welcoming her into their little circle of friends, like it was no big deal for her to trust Bo without even knowing her. She liked the young woman more and more by the minute and wondered for a second, why Lauren had lost sight of her in their old future.

She placed a couple of plates and cups in front of her special guests. "This is one of our famous donuts, filled with chocolate pudding made from scratch", she described the treat she'd brought for Emily, who gave her a bright smile that warmed Bo's heart. "And because I think there can never be enough chocolate, here's an extra-large hot choc for you to go with it." She served a giant cup containing a steaming milky, light brown fluid. Emily's eyes sparkled.

Then, Bo turned to Lauren. "And for you", she said, "I brought a delicious peanut banana muffin and a nice cup of our best coffee. With just a smidgeon of milk."

Lauren was speechless. Her friend was so busy swooning over the food that she didn't even seem to notice that Bo had managed to just… guess their favourites. Mouth agape, she stared at the brunette.

Bo wasn't sure how to interpret Lauren's gaze. A little nervously, she fiddled with her tray, which she was holding behind her back. "It's on the house", she hurried to inform them. "You didn't order, so you don't have to pay for it, obviously."

The blonde snapped out of her amazed state and shook her head. "Bo, this is my favourite…", she said, pointing at her plate. "Not just the cake, but the coffee, too… 'with a smidgeon of milk', that's what I always say… How did you know?"

For a split-second, Bo was worried she'd given herself away. But then, it occurred to her that Lauren couldn't possibly fathom the real reason why she'd "guessed" her favourite cake and how she liked her coffee. So, she opted for the nonchalant approach and gave the blonde a wink.

"Just a hunch", she said, giving herself an inward high-five.

Before Lauren could inquire any further, she was interrupted by Emily.

"Oh, my god, this is heavenly", she moaned, the small fork still in her mouth, eyes closed and apparently oblivious to their little back-and-forth.

"I'm so glad you like it", Bo said, beaming at her. Finding out what Emily enjoyed had been a little more difficult, of course. But Bo's years of experience as a private investigator had taught her one simple thing – check a person's trash, and you'll learn a lot about how they live their life. She wasn't exactly proud of digging through their stuff to find out more about Emily, but the young woman was clearly a big part of the blonde's life in this time, and Bo was ready to do whatever it took to woo Lauren – even if it meant getting her hands dirty.

"'Like' doesn't even begin to describe it", Emily declared. "This is incredible! Why did we never come here before?", she added, addressing her friend.

"We always go to Marlon's", Lauren offered, and Emily nodded, thoughtfully tapping her chin with the spoon. Marlon's was another small café, situated a lot closer to their apartment, so up until today, it had been their go-to location whenever they craved sweet treats.

Some other guests caught Bo's attention, and she hurried away with an apologetic smile.

The two women spent their time chatting, while they ate the delicious food. Every now and then, Lauren stole a gaze at the brunette darting around the place with grace, charming everyone and seemingly lightening the mood of even the grumpiest patrons. It was a joy to watch her, and Lauren found herself getting lost in her presence. Bo really was exceptionally beautiful – almost perfect, Lauren thought to herself. Her skin was flawless, her figure gorgeous, and her smile… Lauren sighed, the corners of her mouth twitching in amusement at her own infatuation, as she took the last bite of her muffin.

For a moment, she closed her eyes to really savour the texture and unique combination of flavours. "Mmh", she hummed, grinning at Emily, who'd just taken a sip of her hot chocolate.

"I second your 'mmh'", she stated, returning her friend's grin with an even wider one. She'd already finished her donut and was now hugging the large mug with both hands. "We should come here way more often. I mean, no offense to Marlon's – their pancakes are the best, but this is… well, mmh." She took a deep breath, luxuriously inhaling the scent rising from her steaming cup.

Lauren smiled at her. Out of the blue, she felt happy. Content. All through her life, studying and school in general had always been a great source of satisfaction for her, and she counted herself incredibly lucky to have an open-hearted, smart and sweet person such as Emily as her roommate. But she knew, now that Bo had entered her life, there was something more ahead. Something new and exciting. And scary.

Even before fleeing her past, she'd been a careful person, who didn't give away her trust easily. In fact, Bo was the first to ever instantly catch her interest. Her presence gave Lauren a warm feeling inside, which at the same time, made her wary. Affection was a beautiful thing, but in her situation, it could become dangerous quickly.

She took a gulp of coffee, her gaze involuntarily roaming the café in search for the brunette. She found her beside a table, where she was currently serving an order. Their eyes met across the room, and Lauren gave her a quick wave. Her hand had shot up on instinct, and she hastily lowered it again, when she realised what she'd done. So much for being cautious…

But Bo didn't seem to notice her awkwardness and just threw her one of her enchanting dimpled smiles, before refocussing her attention to the current table. Lauren watched as she politely excused herself, coaxing dreamy grins from the two guys she'd just served coffee. To the blonde's surprise, Bo didn't step back behind the counter, but instead, headed to her and Emily's table.

"Anything else I can get for you?", she asked, holding the empty tray in front of her.

"No, thanks", Emily replied, then pointed at her mug. "But this is seriously amazing, Bo. Thank you again."

"It was my pleasure", Bo said and looked around the room. The late-lunch craze was over for now, and she knew she had some time until the next wave of patrons would arrive. "Would you mind, if I sat down for a bit? My feet are killing me." In reality, it wasn't all that bad, but she thought, now that Lauren was here, she wanted to make the most of it.

"Of course!", Emily exclaimed excitedly and scooted to the side to make space for Bo, who grabbed a chair from an empty table and sat down next to them. The young woman felt a little bad for making this decision over her friend's head, but she knew how much it took for Lauren to crawl out of her shell, and she had a really good feeling about the beautiful newcomer, who seemed to be a genuinely nice person. A little helping along wouldn't hurt, she figured.

"So, Bo…", Emily said, ignoring Lauren's lowered gaze and reddening cheeks. "How come you arrived in the middle of term? And why not sooner? I feel we missed out on a lot of great food here."

Bo laughed, thankful for the young woman's easy-going nature. "I got lucky", she replied with a shrug. "I was only able to change college, because of a mishap in administration, and they decided to make an exception, because it was their fault." That was only half true – there had been a mishap, but it'd been caused by Bo. She'd used a combination of her PI skills and succubus powers to make it happen, which, admittedly, hadn't exactly been fair play, but it was the only way she could come up with on such short notice to get in mid-term. Besides, she'd made sure no-one got sacked on her account, so as far as she was concerned, she'd done a minimal amount of damage for an optimal outcome.

"Well, I'm glad you're here now", Emily announced, taking another sip and making a content noise. "We both are", she added, encouragingly smiling at Lauren, who was still awkwardly sitting in her chair with her hands entwined.

Instantly, the blonde felt her ears redden again and was grateful that she'd opted for wearing her hair down, despite the warm day. She looked at Bo, who had turned her attention to her, smiling that wonderful smile of hers.

Lauren cleared her throat. "Yes", she hurried to confirm and untangled her fingers to point at her empty plate. "The cake was truly amazing. Thank you again, Bo."

The brunette basked in the sound of her name rolling off Lauren's lips. More beautifully than ever before, it reverberated all through her form. She still couldn't quite believe that Lauren had come back to life, and the surreal nature of the situation flustered her. So, to distract from her state, she forced her eyes away from Lauren's face and gestured in the general direction of the kitchen area, where Lou and Max were surely busy creating some brand-new cake variations.

"It's those two you should thank, really." She pointed at the sisters, who could be seen through a pass-through window, darting around the kitchen. "They own the place, and they're the ones, who invented all this goodness. Honestly, it's a riddle to me, how they manage to make everything so incredibly fluffy." She rolled her eyes to signal, how much she, too, enjoyed the Cosy Corner's baked treats.

"Oh, I know!", Lauren blurted out, before she could stop herself. "It's the CO2 bubbles. It gives the dough its light, airy texture. You add just the right amount of baking powder and then ensure the fat content to retain the gas bubbles and then throw in the eggs as a… binding… element…" She paused, wide-eyed and suddenly very aware of her rambling. "Sorry, I have no filter when it comes to science", she added, sheepishly biting her lip. But to her delight, Bo neither laughed at her, nor did she seem bored. On the contrary – her gaze showed real interest, and there was that glint in her eyes again, that Lauren had noticed before.

The brunette was enchanted. I know, she thought in reply to Lauren's statement, but what she said was: "Yeah, I got that." Bo smirked at the other woman, whose geek-outs had always been her weak spot. Even if usually, she didn't understand half of what the doctor was saying, she would listen to her rambling for minutes on end, zoning out, as she played with her hair – or her breasts, if they happened to be naked in the bedroom –, basking in the sound of her melodious voice.

The two were staring at each other now, and it seemed like they'd completely forgotten, where they were. Emily looked back and forth between them, grinning from ear to ear. She was fascinated with Lauren's unusual reaction to the new gal. Sure, Bo was beautiful, but the young woman sensed that there was something more between them… a kind of inexplicable chemistry, that intrigued her. For one, because she wanted her friend to find happiness, but secondly, and more importantly, because she really enjoyed the thought of being around as it was happening… It was like a live field study, after all, and even though the social life of her best friend had zero to do with her usual area of expertise, she was still a scientist and thus, curious about absolutely everything.

The second they'd met on Emily's first day on campus, she'd known that she and Lauren were two of a kind. They were able to study in harmonious silence in the same room for hours, but they also spent a lot of time discussing their respective fields of interest. And even though Lauren's specialty was medicine and Emily's was mechanics, their shared passion for science enabled them to pick each other's brains for new ideas on a daily basis. In short – she was grateful for her roomie and wanted only the best for her. And Bo seemed pretty darn close to perfect.

The patrons from before caught Bo's attention, and she got up once more. Lauren followed her with her eyes. God, she's beautiful, she thought.

"You know, I think, she likes you, too", Emily said, ripping the blonde from her dreamy state.

Lauren faced her friend, inwardly chiding herself for being so obvious. Again. She made a dismissive gesture. "That'd be nice", she said evasively, and at Emily's raised eyebrows added: "I just want to get to know her a little better, before… you know."

"I understand", she said, reaching out her hand to take Lauren's. "I'm just telling you, what I saw… the way she looks at you, that's special."

"Well, thank you for your insight, o wise love guru."

"You're very welcome, young Padawan", Emily solemnly replied, but the glint in her eyes betrayed her bemusement. "Never said anything about love though. That was you." She grinned, high-fiving herself for her little victory.

Damn it! Lauren rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, you win." She lowered her voice. "I do like her. A lot… I think. But I only met her a week ago. I need more time."

Emily's grin turned into a warm smile. "Of course, and that's okay", she assured her. "Why don't you try the friend approach for a start? That way, you could get to know her better without any pressure. We could go to the Atlantis together, so you don't have to be alone with her if you're not ready yet… Ooh, we could take Jo as additional backup."

Pensively, Lauren took a sip of her coffee. The idea wasn't half bad. The Atlantis was a bar they knew and liked – a safe environment for Lauren, where she would be surrounded by friends, who she could discreetly signal to leave if she felt like being alone with Bo. She took Emily's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I'd love that. Thanks, Em."

Emily beamed. "Yay!", she cheered under her breath and clapped her hands. "Let me ask Jo", she added and took her phone out of her pocket.

Jonas – or Jo, as most people called him – was a member of their small group of friends. After arriving here, Lauren had been hesitant to meet a lot of new people at first. For one, because she didn't want to draw too much attention, but she also feared for their safety. After all, she was a wanted fugitive, and anyone who got too close to her might be seen as a potential accomplice by the FBI… or whichever other authorities were on her tail. Then, Emily had entered her life, and things had changed. Her unwaveringly positive attitude and personality had put things in perspective for Lauren. She'd realised that she couldn't keep going on like this, permanently checking her six for potential persecutors. Emily had made things easier for Lauren. She was still cautious, because it was in her nature, but she didn't feel so haunted anymore.

She still worried about her friends, but after spending hours in the local law school library, she found that if she made sure nobody had even the least idea about her past, no authority would have a solid enough case to prosecute them. So, that's what she did. Not a single soul in Ithaca knew about those bombings, and she was very careful to never let anything slip… another reason why she disliked getting drunk and losing control.

Mere seconds after she'd hit Send, Emily's phone beeped. "He's in!", she exclaimed excitedly. "He says he can't do this weekend, but suggests next Friday." She looked up at Lauren, her face filled with excitement. "Now, we just have to get Bo to join us."

"Join you where?"

"Jesus!", Emily gasped and stared at Bo, who'd just appeared out of nowhere. "You're like a ninja!"

"Sorry", Bo apologised a little sheepishly. "I just came to check if you needed anything else."

"You already asked us that", Lauren replied with a cheeky grin, and to her surprise, Bo blushed and lowered her head.

"Hey, it's just good service", the brunette defended herself jokingly to cover up her alarmed state. She felt caught. Of course, the real reason she'd come back to their table as soon as she could was because she wanted to spend as much time as possible in Lauren's vicinity. But she felt it was a bit early in her and Lauren's re-blooming relationship to say that kind of thing out loud. Luckily, Emily sensed her discomfort and came to her rescue.

"The best service", she emphasised, throwing Lauren a strict look, before focusing back on Bo. "We were just talking about our plans for next weekend, and I wanted to ask if you'd like to join us."

Inwardly, the brunette was high-fiving herself yet again, as her stomach did somersaults. She could only hope that her excitement over Emily's invite didn't show all over her face. "That sounds great!", she replied with a wide smile.

"Oh, yay!", the young woman said.

"Where are we going?", Bo inquired.

"The Atlantis", Lauren hurried to answer with an apologetic expression on her face. She'd noticed Bo's flustered state over her little joke and instantly felt bad about it. "It's a great bar on Farm Drive… on the other side of the lake?", she explained. "We go there whenever we feel like unwinding… 'we' being Emily, our friend Jonas and myself." She'd added that last bit to make it clear to the other woman that they weren't going on a date. It felt a little clumsy, but she didn't have much experience in that area, and she didn't want Bo to expect anything Lauren wasn't ready for. But the brunette surprised her yet again.

"Unwinding sounds amazing, actually", Bo assured, looking first at Lauren and then back to Emily, before bending down slightly and adding in a conspiratorial tone: "I like this job, but sometimes, the guests can be a bit… difficult." She discreetly nodded her head in the direction of the two guys she'd served before and rolled her eyes in a comically-annoyed manner. Emily snorted into her fist, and Bo gave her a cheeky smirk, before standing upright again. "Besides, I'm still new around here and will gladly take any chance to go out", she added ironically. "The only relationship I have is with that goddamn cooler over there, and all we ever do is fight."

Lauren couldn't help but laugh at Bo's joke and exasperated expression, but Emily immediately scented a challenge.

"Why, what's wrong with it?", she asked with a curious frown.

"Oh, nothing I can't handle", Bo replied with a dismissive gesture. "I think it's just old. The sliding door keeps jamming up."

"But that's my specialty!", Emily exclaimed, turning around and giving the furniture in question an almost yearning look.

"Jammed doors?", Bo inquired with a an irritated-yet-bemused chuckle.

"Mechanics", the young woman replied. "Can I have a look at it?"

Bo threw Lauren a confused look, but the blonde just nodded. "Let her. She'll fix it."

"Um… okay then. Go ahead."

Emily practically jumped up from her chair and followed Bo behind the counter. As Lauren watched them walk away, she caught sight of the two guys Bo had mentioned earlier. They were holding onto their coffee cups, surreptitiously checking out the brunette's curves moving enticingly underneath her work outfit – no big surprise, as Bo's beauty was undeniable. But Lauren felt a sting of jealousy stab her gut. The intensity of it floored her, so she quickly refocused on Emily and Bo to get rid of the image of the two horny guys… and the foreign feeling of possessiveness surging through her. She hadn't been in a long-term relationship before, both due to her young age and troubled past, but she'd had a fair share of flings – enough to know that jealousy was something she only knew from her childhood, when she'd sometimes competed with her brother for their parents' attention – which had been mostly nothing but playful banter.

This, however, was new. She wasn't ready to face what was happening to her quite yet, but deep down, she had a hunch. And that hunch disturbed her, to put it mildly. Frowning and lost in thought, she kept her gaze focused on the two women, who were currently bent over the jammed cooler door. Lauren could see Bo's cleavage through the glass, and she shifted in her seat, forcing herself to not look to the right, from where the two guys were definitely very much enjoying the same view.

She startled, when one of them raised his voice, calling Bo to their table. It took all her willpower not to follow her with her eyes, but she managed and kept watching Emily fiddle with the door. She was so hellbent on not looking, just to not have to experience that disturbing feeling again, that she startled when she heard the bells chime. Her head snapped to the right, but she found the table deserted, and when she turned around to check out the door, she could see the backs of the two guys, who'd apparently just left. She looked back at Bo, who was busy putting the empty plates and cups on her tray, before wiping the table with a wet cloth.

The brunette caught her questioning gaze and gave her a shrug and a little wink. Her succubus had been well aware of the young men's blazing auras all through rush hour, and Bo felt that now was a good time to get rid of them once and for all. After that thrall, they weren't going to come back for a long while, this much was for certain.

She picked up her tray and returned to Emily, who was busy pushing the door back and forth without any difficulty. Bo's jaw dropped. "What the…? How did you do that?", Bo said, putting the tray on the hatch surface.

"Oh, it was easy, really", Emily said happily. "Old functional furniture like this beauty here often causes problems. Jammed doors are my specialty."

"Yeah, I got that", Bo replied with a smile. "So, what was wrong with it, exactly?"

Emily looked at her incredulously. She couldn't believe that someone was actually interested in the how and why. Her knack for mechanics was well-known around campus, and she was constantly helping out her fellow students, who couldn't afford to hire a professional to repair their stuff. But as much as they all truly appreciated her – which they proved by showering her with small thank-you presents – none of them ever cared about why their things broke in the first place… which usually meant that Emily had to come back repeatedly, fixing the same problem over and over again.

"Uh… the adjusting screw", she replied a little hesitantly.

"What's that?", Bo asked.

She did seem honestly interested, which gave Emily confidence. "The lower slide bar", she started to explain. "It was out of synch with the door piece." She opened the sliding door to point at a small screw embedded in the metal bit above the white plastic. "See here? That's the adjusting screw. You can tighten or loosen it to heighten or lower the bar and re-synch it with the door. It's perfectly normal for mechanical pieces go out of synch after years of use. I just… reminded them how to work together again." She happily grinned up at Bo.

Bo was positively enchanted by the young woman. "Wow. I can tell you're very passionate about your field", she said, reaching out her arms. "Thank you, Emily, you're a life saver."

The young woman carefully closed the door and then got up to accept Bo's embrace. "You're very welcome. Hey, now I don't feel as bad about not paying for my food."

Laughing, they returned to the table, where Lauren was waiting for them.

"Fixed it!", Emily announced, and the blonde nodded.

"Course you did", she said, getting up and raising her hand for a high-five.

"Oh, you're leaving?", Bo asked, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"Yeah", Lauren replied, sounding equally bummed out, which in turn cheered Bo up a little. "We have a lot of work on our desks… This was only supposed to be a short break", she added apologetically.

"But we'll see each other next Friday, right?", Emily excitedly chimed in. She'd sensed the change of atmosphere and didn't want anyone to be unhappy.

"Right!", Bo said, already feeling better. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too", Lauren and Emily said in unison, exchanged a glance and laughed.

Bo watched the blonde as they grabbed their stuff and followed them to the door to see them out. Lauren waved back at her, before turning around and disappearing around a corner. When they were out of sight, Bo felt dizzy for a second. Holding onto the doorframe to steady herself, she took a few calming breaths and went back inside.

In less than a week, she would see her again. And although the mere thought made her nervousness return with a bang, she knew that there was nothing in the world she'd rather be doing. Now it was just a matter of having that chat with her inner Queen…