Hey folks! It was darkness that led us here, and there is still much work to be done in order to conquer it… Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 12 – Crawling

Bo ran and ran and ran. Her lungs were burning from the immense strain, but she never noticed the pain, nor the random bushes and twigs she collided with. All her brain managed to produce was one single thought – to get away from Lauren, to keep her safe from the fae. From herself. How could she have deluded herself into thinking she could ever protect her in this time, when she'd so miserably failed in their former future? She would cause her death again, of this she was suddenly certain, and there was nothing that could be done to prevent it – least of all by Bo.

Because it wasn't the fae, who had brought about Lauren's doom. It was Bo. And her succubus. As soon as she'd entered the doctor's life, things had started to go bad. First, the reckless search for her mother that had led Trick to opening his veins, helping her to prevent death, but in turn summoning the Garuda, who killed Lauren's only love before Bo.

Their shared relief of triumphing over the powerful fire being and Hale's naming as Ash had coaxed them into trying a relationship. But again, Bo had disappointed Lauren by neglecting her, too caught up in her own issues to realise, how unhappy she was, and as a consequence, losing her to that lunatic Isaac Taft.

But instead of learning from all this, she'd resumed her reckless ways, concerning herself with the quest for the Wanderer, ignoring Lauren's sacrifice of siding with the Dark, because she let a stranger lure her into believing he was her destiny – to this day, the mere memory of it made her shake her head.

And then, when Hades had shown up out of nowhere, following his evil schemes of turning his own daughter into a tool to gain even more power and driving a wedge between her and everyone else in the process, Lauren had stood by her, unwaveringly supporting her, even trying to turn herself fae, so they could be together forever. And again, Bo had failed to see the signs, culminating in the ultimate outcome of losing Trick, Tamsin, and Aife all at once.

In retrospect, their ultimate victory over Hades now seemed to be nothing but dumb luck. Just like most of their previous victories did. Out of nowhere, Bo realised that half the time, she didn't have a clue what to do and heavily relied on everyone else in order to win. Which had worked, for a while. And which had led her to believe that she was some kind of hero – not least thanks to the people surrounding her, who kept patting her on her back, congratulating her on victories that she hadn't even brought about. And she'd let them.

But she was no hero. She was no one. And she was certainly not Lauren's saviour.

She was her doom…

XXX

Four days.

Four whole days had passed since that afternoon, when Emily had last seen more of her roommate than a fleeting shadow, passing by every few hours to go to the bathroom.

Something obviously had transpired. Something so unimaginably awful that Lauren had suffered like a wounded animal ever since.

When Emily had woken up the next morning, she'd expected the blonde to emerge from her room with a giant smile plastered all over her face, as she told her about the amazing kiss she and Bo had shared. But instead, it was like the morning after didn't even exist. Because ever since that fateful night, Lauren had locked herself in her room.

Emily was worried sick. She'd tried everything – from gently knocking at her door, trying to coax her out with her favourite food, science magazines, and books, to eventually yelling at her to please, please tell her, what on earth had happened. She wouldn't have been half as anxious, if her friend at least left the apartment for college, but Lauren had skipped every single one of her courses, and that was something, which… well, it didn't happen. Nothing had ever kept the blonde from her studies, not even that awful flu she'd caught about half a year ago, which gave her bad chills and such terrible fever that she ended up delirious, followed by passing out in the middle of a course, so that the professor had to call an ambulance.

The incident had been horrid and incredibly scary, but faded in comparison to what was happening now. Back then, Emily had at least known what they were dealing with and taken care of her friend the best she could, but this was totally unfamiliar territory…

At least she was almost sure that whatever had happened must have something to do with Bo. As a consequence, she'd tried calling her, bombarded her with text messages and even went to the café to confront her. But when she'd arrived, they told her that she'd taken all week off… for family stuff, allegedly.

So, she'd gone back to loitering next to Lauren's locked door, even set up camp there for a whole day, so that she could keep her friend from going back inside once she came out again. But Lauren was clever and avoided her, sneaking past, when Emily would pass out in her sleeping bag. Eventually, she stopped talking to the door and returned to her own room, only coming out to put food and water next to it, to at least make sure that Lauren wasn't starving herself to death in there.

On the other side of the door, the blonde was lying on her bed, her phone next to her head, and the cheesy soft toy Bo had won for her pressed against her chest. She was staring at the window. Not out the window… just at it. She didn't see the gently swaying green branches of the tree outside, nor did she care to. Nothing mattered anymore. She couldn't even cry at this point. All she felt was emptiness.

If before a few days ago, anyone had asked her whether she thought it possible to have feelings for someone that were so intense that they would destroy her, should said person leave, she would've laughed in their face…

The worst thing was that she didn't understand. She had no clue, what had scared Bo so profoundly that she'd taken off, as if the devil himself was at her heels. Because that's exactly, what Lauren had seen in Bo's eyes. Fear. Pure, naked terror. Which made things even worse, because Lauren couldn't even be mad for abandoning her. An absentminded frown creased her forehead. She remembered Bo's glowing eyes and the blueish substance entering her body. Had the circumstances been different, Lauren would've been fascinated. She'd have wanted to know, what caused the blue shine and whether Bo could control it somehow.

And then suddenly, it occurred to her that this might be the very problem. Maybe there was something about Bo that no-one could know. The blonde was anything but a conspiracy theorist, but she'd always found it realistic that superheroes on TV never revealed their true identities. Humans tended to be rather offended when confronted with someone in possession of great power. They'd probably do all kinds of tests on Bo…

Automatically, her mind started wandering and theories started forming in her head. Who knew, maybe Bo was dangerous, and that was why she'd run. Away from Lauren, of all people.

"Why did you run?", Lauren whispered to the empty room for about the hundredth time in the last few days, and squeezed her eyes shut. "Why didn't you just talk to me?"

She took a deep, calming breath to keep herself from breaking out in sobs once again, and let it out in a long, voiceless sigh. None of her wild hypotheses made any sense. Lauren was so sure, that if Bo truly was dangerous, she would've sensed it. She was a wanted fugitive after all, so she was always on guard. But here… nothing. Never in her life had she felt the kind of deep trust she felt for Bo. She couldn't even imagine her being dangerous… let alone being afraid of her.

And yet, here she was. Alone. No Bo anywhere nearby.

In the first couple of hours after the kiss, she'd been so high that she couldn't even grasp the meaning of Bo's rushed escape, nor its consequences. But as the night went on and turned into the next morning, a terrible foreboding dawned on her… the tenacious idea that Bo had left for good.

The night before, she'd at first sent her a confused text, followed by a joking one, and, when both of them remained unanswered, a worried one. But after waking up, there were still no answers, and naked fear had made its way into her heart. She'd tried calling her, reached the mailbox and left her one message, then two, then ten. She'd begged and cried and screamed and yelled.

And then… she'd stopped living. She functioned. She breathed in and out. She mechanically ate food and regularly drank water, because she was a doctor and couldn't help her instincts to keep herself alive. But that was all she managed. She vaguely noticed Emily's attempts to get her to leave her room, but she couldn't do it. She just… couldn't. Some distant part of her heart ached for her poor friend, who must be incredibly worried, but Lauren couldn't do anything for her.

Instead, she retreated to the somewhat safety of her trusted shell, after deciding to simply stay in bed forever. She squeezed her eyes shut, but for once, the pillow stayed dry. She was in the midst of contemplating whether life was worth living without Bo in it, when something happened…

Maybe she'd dosed off for a second, because she startled, snapping her eyes open, as she felt the ghost of a gentle caress on her cheek. But she was alone. Propping herself up on one elbow, she shook her head, and touched her face, trying to make sense of what just happened. And of how familiar it had felt – an old memory, once welcome, but now… faded. Repudiated, maybe? Whichever it was, it had definitely felt reviving.

Filing the strange incident away for later reassessment, she took a deep breath that felt like her first conscious one in days. Out of the blue, her brain clicked back into science mode. The heavy weight on her chest lifted and made way to the more-than-welcome familiar feeling of scientific curiosity.

The image of Bo's changing irises popped back into her mind and with it a not-so-distant memory. "The party…", she croaked, her voice raspy from crying. That night four days ago hadn't been the first time she'd seen Bo's eyes glow blue!

Suddenly, she was able to see the tree outside her window again. She blinked, trying to get rid of the sandpaper feeling in her eyes, and sat up. Her stomach growled demandingly, but the thought of eating still made her sick, so food would have to wait. First, she had to talk to the only person she could think of, that had the brain capacity to remotely grasp, what was going on. She had to go see Emily.

She'd barely opened the door to her friend's bedroom, when Emily practically jumped off her bed, hauling herself straight into her arms, wrapping her in a massive hug.

At first, neither of them spoke. Lauren was still in the process of organising her thoughts, and Emily was mostly relieved to have her best friend back – whatever that meant at this point, she didn't know and didn't really care. What she did know was that the second they'd locked eyes, she'd seen something in Lauren's gaze. Something positive. A spark. Which was good enough for now. They let go of each other, and Emily led her to her bed, where they sat down, holding hands in silence.

"So…", Emily started. "Do I have to kick her arse?"

Despite herself, Lauren had to chuckle. "No."

Emily breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, because I don't actually want to. I really like Bo."

"Me too."

There was a short pause, before Emily spoke again. "Lauren, what the hell happened?"

The blonde sighed deeply. "We spent a wonderful afternoon, had the most romantic moment looking at the night sky from the top of the Ferris wheel, and shared the most amazing kiss outside on the walkway, after Bo took me home… And then, out of nowhere, she… ran off." Literally, she added in her mind.

"I'm confused."

Lauren nodded. "Tell me about it." She sighed again, sat up straight and turned to face her friend. "Something else happened, and… Emily, I think it scared her, and that's why she ran. I saw it in her eyes, she was terrified. Initially, I thought she was afraid of me… which in turn terrified me. But just now, I realised that she ran away from herself. I wasn't the one, who scared her. She was."

Emily frowned, looking even more confused. "But what happened, exactly? What scared her so much?"

Lauren paused, a little hesitant at first, because even in her head, things suddenly sounded ridiculous. But then, she caught her friend's open, encouraging gaze and told her everything. About Bo's changing eyes, which she'd witnessed that first night at the party and then again, a few days ago. And about the weird blue fog that had entered the brunette's mouth.

"I think Bo may be… superhuman", Lauren finished her story with a deep exhaling breath.

"Or a superhero", Emily mumbled to herself. An outsider might've assumed that she was being sarcastic, but she was dead serious. She didn't laugh, nor did she question her friend's statement. She didn't even frown. Lauren was grateful, but not surprised. If there was one person, who was open to virtually anything, so long as it could be explained scientifically, it was Emily Kolburn. And she was always eager to search for explanations.

"Hmmm", the young woman hummed, getting up from the bed.

Lauren knew, Emily's thought process worked best when she was pacing, so for a while, she just watched her walk back and forth, hand on her chin and her concentrated gaze locked on the floor.

"Have you called her? Texted her?", she asked, looking up.

Lauren slumped. "About a million times. But I think her phone's switched off."

Emily nodded. "I think so, too." She started pacing again. "I can't believe we don't even know, where she lives. How could we be so careless?"

Lauren had to smile. "I guess we didn't assume something like this could happen."

"Right." Emily smirked to herself. "Still… we have to contact her somehow, and as she's MIA at the café and unreachable via phone, her apartment is our only option… or we could simply wait for her to crawl out of her shell", she added absent-mindedly and started pacing again.

Lauren quietly waited, until suddenly, Emily stopped dead in her tracks, whirling around to face Lauren, her eyes wide with excitement. "I could hack the university database!"

Lauren's eyes grew wide. She was torn between the temptation of throwing all caution to the wind and going for it, no matter the consequences, and the fear of getting caught. Which could mean even greater consequences for herself. "I don't know…", she said, hesitantly. "What exactly would you do?"

Emily shrugged. "I'd use the library. Same IP address for about a hundred computers, plus, their firewall sucks."

The blonde smirked. "Now, how would you know something like that?"

Emily grinned. "Huh? Did you hear me say something? I don't think I said anything."

They giggled, and Lauren reached out her hands, which Emily took, returning to the bed. "Let's wait for now, okay? Give her some more time. Maybe she'll come around."

Emily tilted her head. "Okay, we'll give her a few days", she confirmed. "On one condition…"

Lauren raised an eyebrow.

"You return to your courses. You eat properly. You shower. And you never shut me out like that ever again, got it?"

"Got it", Lauren said, leaning in to give her friend a hug. "I'm sorry I scared you."

Emily closed her eyes and sank into her arms with a relieved sigh. "Don't worry, we'll fix this. Plus, if that kiss was even remotely as amazing as you described it to be, there must be feelings on her end. And if I've learned anything from chick flicks, it's that love always wins."

Lauren hugged her even more tightly. "Yes, it does", she whispered, tears stinging in her eyes. But this time, they were tears of gratitude, because she finally had a purpose again. And a possible, albeit a little dangerous, solution to her problem.

XXX

Bo was heartbroken. For herself, but mostly for Lauren. After her escape, she'd locked herself in her apartment, dropped Lou and Max a text with a vague message about a family emergency, and then… she stopped functioning. She spent her days lying on her living room sofa, crying, screaming, feeling sorry for herself, followed by angrily kicking pillows, and going back to crying.

Never in her life had she felt this aimless… not even after Lauren's death. Because back then, at least she'd known, what to do. Which was to die as well. She hadn't lied when she'd told her all those years ago, that she'd be with her, no matter what, and in the end, what was death, but another place to follow Lauren?

But now that she'd defied space and time, travelling to the past… now that she finally had her back, a chance to treat her better, protect her better than ever before… she'd failed. She sobbed into her arms covering her face, both hands buried in her hair, pulling it to feel physical pain, because she could no longer bear the mental one.

Why had this happened? What had even happened? All the preparation, all the meditation sessions… in vain! Bo felt betrayed by her Queen, but she didn't even have the energy to be mad at her. Théa kept telling her they were two sides of the same coin anyway, but at this point, what did it matter? Because neither Bo nor her Queen would ever see Lauren again – Bo would make sure of that.

But as determined as she was to cut the blonde out of her life, it still hurt like hell. And she couldn't even moan about it to Théa, because Lauren's mother had left town for a few days and Bo had no idea, when she'd return. So, she did nothing. Because she had no more goals, and because her body was useless and weak and drained of all strength.

That's how Théa found her daughter-in-law upon her return. Bo was lying on the sofa, surrounded by tissues and general chaos. She was only half-clothed, her hair carelessly done up in a messy bun, and she was apathetically staring into space. Her eyes were red from crying, and she didn't move a centimetre, even when Théa popped into existence, returning from her journey, after making her presence known to the brunette by creating a distinctive swishing sound.

They'd come up with this solution shortly after arriving in 2004, as Bo kept jumping out of her skin, whenever Théa would appear out of nowhere. In addition, Théa had, as usual, carefully checked the premises beforehand, in order to not catch Bo and Lauren in the middle of… things. But this, she had not expected.

"Oh, my god, Bo! What's going on?", she whispered, her eyes widening in shock.

Instead of answering, the brunette produced a whimper, buried her face in her hands and started sobbing.

"Oh, Bo, darling…", Théa said and for once, materialised to step closer and crouch down next to the sofa. She felt, the risk of being detected right now was minimal, and Bo seemed to be in dire need of support… from more than just a disembodied voice. Without another word, she kissed Bo's forehead and started softly caressing her hair and cheek.

"It's okay, honey. It's going to be okay", she whispered.

"No", Bo sobbed, shaking her head in despair. "No, it's all over. I messed up."

"Shh", Théa soothed. "I know you think so now, but it's not true."

Bo grabbed fistfuls of her own hair and pressed her face into her arms. "But it is. You… you don't know, what I did, I…" She interrupted herself, breaking out in wretched sobs.

Silently, Théa held her. She knew, Bo was in no state to give her any kind of information, but she could wait. If in all her years on this earth, she'd learned one thing, it was patience. Bo would come around eventually. She knew her daughter-in-law – in some ways maybe better than Bo knew herself. And she knew that the succubus had always been one to overthink things. She was so used to the heroine mould she'd been pressed into after learning about her being fae that she couldn't help but blame herself whenever things went wrong. Maybe it was leftover guilt from killing those humans in her old life that constantly made her so desperate to do everything right all the time. But as powerful as the daughter of Hades himself may be – underneath all that might, Bo was still just a regular person with flaws and weaknesses. And whatever she might think she'd forever destroyed between herself and Lauren, was likely not half as bad as she now deemed it to be.

So, Théa waited, gently caressing the distraught brunette's hair and cheeks, never ceasing to press small kisses on her head, until after many minutes, the sobbing ebbed away and Bo calmed down. But although her breathing normalised, she was still apathetic. Théa reached for a couple of tissues, dabbing the other woman's puffy face with one, and handing her the second, so she could blow her nose.

"I went to see Lauren", Théa stated after another minute of silence.

Bo's head turned so quickly that her neck cracked. For a few long seconds, she stared at the blonde, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. "When?", she finally dared to ask in a thin voice.

"Just before I came here", Théa replied, and, seeing Bo's eyes water again, quickly added: "She's better now."

"Oh." The brunette swallowed, hanging her head. "Good."

"But she was a mess when I found her. Similar to you, actually", Théa gently added.

"I'm so sorry", Bo whispered.

"Honey, tell me what happened. Please."

So, Bo told her. About their first careful attempts at kissing during their picknick date and the continued interruptions at the funfair, about how brightly Lauren's aura had burned for her, and how happy Bo had been that she didn't seem to have to make much of an effort to re-conquer her wife's heart – or at least her libido, for starters. She talked about how confident she'd been that her meditation sessions had worked, and how determined, that she would finally be able to kiss Lauren without giving herself away…

"But then, it all went sideways", Bo concluded, her shoulders slumped and head still hanging low.

"Don't tell me she didn't want to kiss you", Théa said, incredulously.

"No… on the contrary. She was the one, who initiated it. Outside her apartment, after I'd taken her home from the funfair."

"So…?", Théa inquired, dragging the word.

"So… my succubus came forth. I was helpless. My eyes changed, and before I knew, what was happening, I fed from her. The whole shebang." Bo looked up, a pleading expression in her gaze. "She knows, Théa. And it's all my fault. I thought I was ready, but wasn't."

The blonde frowned. She still didn't fully understand, what was going on. "Did you… hurt her in any way?", she asked. She was pretty sure that her daughter was doing fine, physically, but maybe something had slipped her attention.

"No! Of course I didn't!", Bo exclaimed with a gasp. "My succubus would never hurt her."

"Then why are you so upset, darling?"

Now, it was Bo's turn to frown. "Did you not hear, what I said? She saw my eyes shift. She saw her own chi, for Christ's sake! She knows!"

Inwardly, Théa breathed a sigh of relief. She got up from the floor and made Bo sit up properly, so she could take a seat next to her.

"Okay now, listen to me", she started, looking into Bo's eyes. "When I found Lauren after returning this morning, she was heartbroken. Devastated." She lifted a hand to cut Bo off, who was likely about to unleash a hailstorm of excuses upon her. "I touched her cheek, like I've done all my life, whenever I found her in deep despair, and as always, it somehow calmed her down. Like I said before, she's better now. Talking to her friend Emily, as we speak." Bo closed her mouth and nodded. "But then, I come here and find you in an even worse state. Equally heartbroken." She paused. "Bo, tell me, how is this helping anyone?"

"But… you said… rule number three!", the brunette protested wide-eyed.

"Right. Rule number three." Théa sighed. "Honey, I think you misunderstood. You're right, I asked you to not tell my daughter about the fae, but believe me, this is not, what I meant." Bo hung her head again, and Théa put a comforting hand on her cheek. "More than anything, I want Lauren to be happy, and I believe you are the source of her happiness."

"I'm not so sure about that anymore", Bo whispered.

"Oh, honey, how can you say that? I told you, you're her soulmate – I'm sure of it. And you came all the way here to turn things around, didn't you?" She put a finger underneath the other woman's chin to make her look up. "What's really going on here, Bo? Is there anything you're not telling me?"

For a few seconds, the brunette managed to hold her gaze, resisting the urge to reveal her secret pact with herself. But then, it all broke forth.

"Everything bad that ever happened to her wasn't just because of the fae", she said. "It was because of me!"

Théa sighed deeply. There it was. She'd been right before. Bo was blaming herself again, and this time, it was worse than ever. It was time to take some counter-measures.

"How do you figure that?", she inquired.

"How can you ask that? Things started going downhill, right after she met me… I dragged her into all my shit… my dysfunctional family, all those secrets and lies, then the Lich, the Garuda, that psycho kid, who attacked her in her own home, the megalomaniac druid, my father… None of those things would've happened to her, had it not been for me. She wouldn't have died, if it wasn't for me!"

Théa nodded slowly, pretending to think. "So, what now? You're just going to abandon her?", she asked after a long pause.

"I'm not… I don't know."

"Didn't you swear to protect her?", the blonde pushed.

"I did, but…"

"How are you going to do that, if you're not in her life?"

"I…"

"How are you going to make sure Lauren never learns about the fae? In a couple of months, she'll likely meet Nadia. How are you going to make sure then, that she doesn't go to the Congo with her, only to lose her to a horrible curse? How are you going to make sure she doesn't meet the Ash, who will then turn her into a slave, throwing her into a dungeon whenever he pleases, treating her like chattel…"

"Stop, stop, stop!", Bo cried squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her hands on her ears.

The blonde hated to see her daughter-in-law suffer like this, but Bo was so caught up in her guilt-laden despair, that Théa feared, drastic images were the only way to break through to her at this point.

You are not finished here, she gently reminded her.

Bo's eyes snapped open, as she heard Théa's voice resonate within her head, just like she'd done shortly before meeting her in the year 2022. The gentle, but firm motherly tone caused her to lower her hands and throw the blonde a hopeful look.

"I'm not?", she asked.

"You're not", Théa confirmed with a warm smile. "Far from it."

"But how… how do I fix this?"

"I'd say, talking to her would be a good start", Théa suggested. "Where's your phone?"

Bo got up and looked around the room, until she found the small device underneath a pile of tissues. "Oh, no!", she cried. "The battery died! When did the battery die? Oh, no, she probably tried to call me! I was so out of it, I didn't think… oh, god…"

Sensing an impending panic attack, Théa soothingly placed her hand on Bo's arm. "Yes, she likely did try to contact you", she stated. Actually, Théa was almost 100 percent sure, because she'd seen Lauren's phone sitting right next to her head on her pillow, but Bo didn't need to know that. "Let's not focus on that now. Give it here, we'll charge it."

Bo felt like a small child, as she helplessly handed Théa the device, who plugged it into the charger. It came back to life, and as soon as Bo had unlocked the SIM card, it exploded with messages and missed call notifications.

"Oh, no", she whimpered, her hands shaking so much that she almost dropped the phone. She read Lauren's text messages, and with each new one, her face scrunched up more, ending up in a pained grimace on the final one. "I killed her."

"No, you did not", Théa firmly stated. "I told you, she's better now, remember? Besides, my daughter isn't that easy to get rid of."

Despite herself, Bo had to laugh – a tiny laugh that came out as more of a hiccup, but a laugh, nonetheless. For a minute, she stared at the mailbox message notifications, but couldn't bring herself to listen to them.

"Do you want me to do it?", Théa asked, sensing her uncertainty.

Bo nodded sheepishly and handed her the phone. Théa pressed a few buttons and put the speaker on.

Bo, what's going on? I texted you, but you're not answering. Did your phone break or something?

Click.

Sorry, it's me again. I'm getting worried. Please give me a call, when you hear this.

Click.

Bo? I haven't heard from you all night, and… now it's the morning, and… Please, have I done anything wrong?

Bo sobbed and bit her fist, as to not interrupt the flow of messages.

Bo Dennis, this isn't funny anymore. If you were just playing with me, fine, but I at least deserve to know the truth. Call me back!

Click.

Bo…?

Click.

That was the whole next message. Lauren's voice was a whimper. A plea. She'd obviously been crying. As was Bo, right now. The tears were streaming down her face, and she clutched the phone to her chest, holding it so tight that her fingers were cramping.

Bo, please don't do this to me… to us. I think, I… love… I don't know, I… Just… please don't leave me like this. Give me a sign. Something. Anything? If you can't be with me, I'll… Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat. I'll be okay… eventually. But at least tell me, why. If it's because your eyes did… that thing… don't worry, I'm not going to ask you about that, if it scares you. I promise, Bo, I just… want to be near you. I need you. God, I can't breathe. Bo, please… The message paused for a bit, as she was clearly trying to catch her breath. Please, Bo.

One last time, the line clicked, and the messages stopped. Bo had sunk down on her knees while listening to the last one. Her legs had given out. "Lauren", she sobbed, pressing the phone to her lips. "My love… I'm so sorry… Lauren…"

Again, Théa sat down next to her and started stroking her hair. "Shh", she hushed. "You're going to be okay, honey. Everything's going to be fine."

This time, Bo didn't protest. For one, because she lacked the willpower, but a much bigger part of her wanted to believe the older woman. "I want to protect her", she whispered. "I want her to be safe. Forever."

"I know. And to do that, you must be part of her life", Théa reminded her.

Bo looked up at her. "But how am I supposed to keep the fae secret now? What about your rule?"

Théa swayed her head from side to side. "Sometimes, rules need to be bent. I thought, you of all people knew this."

Bo managed a small smile, but didn't say anything. She was still clueless as to how to bend this rule without doing any more damage than she already had, so she waited for Théa to continue.

The blonde placed a hand on Bo's cheek, wiping away some of her tears. "How about you don't tell her about the fae… just yourself", she suggested.

Bo frowned. "You mean, tell her I'm a succubus, and… nothing else?"

"Exactly. All she saw was blue eyes and some chi. She doesn't need to know you're part of a whole species…"

"Genus", Bo corrected automatically.

"Right." Théa gave her a bemused eyeroll, that reminded Bo so much of Lauren it stung deep in her chest.

She grimaced, and Théa took her hand to squeeze it encouragingly. "Never forget, who you are, Bo Dennis", she said quietly, looking into her eyes, where she finally saw a glint of confidence. "You are my daughter-in-law. You're right, a lot of horrible things happened to Lauren, after you entered her life, but they weren't your fault." Once again, she cupped her face with one hand. "You remember, why the Garuda was summoned, don't you?"

"I do. Trick…"

"He did it to save you. Out of love for you. He made many mistakes in his long life, but he had a good heart, Bo. And so do you. We all make mistakes – sometimes such grave ones that no fae power in the world can ever erase them. But if we make them out of love… we can at least try to fix them. Blaming yourself for everything that ever went wrong in Lauren's old future won't do her any good now. Try to let go of all that and focus on the positive." She looked into her eyes. "Never forget, why you came here. The real reason."

"I want her to live."

Théa tilted her head. "Right, but that's not all." Bo frowned, so the blonde continued: "You came here, because you wanted to. Because you needed to. Because you knew you couldn't live without her for even a second." Théa pointed at Bo's phone and gave her a meaningful look. "And after listening to those messages, I'm pretty sure she feels the same way about you."

"She said she can't breathe without me", Bo whispered.

Théa nodded. "Don't take yourself away from her, Bo. You don't get to decide, who she's allowed to love; that's up to her alone. And she's picked you… again."

Something within Bo clicked back into place, and suddenly, everything made sense. "She loves me", she whimpered, as the whole meaning of Lauren's last message finally found its way into her mind. She pressed her phone to her heart and wrapped the older woman in a fierce hug.

Suddenly, she felt exhausted – the past few days of constant agony had taken it out of her. But tomorrow was going to be the day, she thought with reawakened determination. She didn't yet know how, but she would figure this out and make things right again.

Tomorrow.