Short one today. Hope you enjoy, regardless. Have a nice holiday weekend and I'll see you all Tuesday!

Lauren got home and found Bo on the couch, staring through the TV. Kenzi was standing in the kitchen, scrolling through her phone. The air felt tense.

She turned to Kenzi. "Everything alright?"

Kenzi shot Lauren a knowing look. "She's all yours."

Lauren nodded and mouthed thank you to Kenzi, who just nodded and left.

Bo gave Kenzi no reaction as she left. Lauren walked over and stood in the living room, crossing her arms and looking at Bo.

Bo didn't look at her for a few moments, but finally rolled her eyes and spoke, her gaze still trained on the TV. "Just stop, okay? I got it. I'm a fucking mess. I need therapy. Whatever. I got it."

Lauren sighed. "That isn't what I've been saying."

"Fine." Bo stood up and walked toward the kitchen, grabbing her sweatshirt. "Where are my keys?"

Lauren closed her eyes against her irritation. "Bo, I swear to God, if you tell me you are going to your office right now –"

"Jesus, Lauren, I'm not going to my office, okay?!" The words exploded out of Bo with a force that surprised them both. Bo took a deep breath and sagged down onto the barstool that had been previously holding her sweatshirt. "Sorry. I just…I need to…I don't know, I need to go do…something."

"What?"

"I don't know, okay? Just…something." She continued to refuse to meet Lauren's eye line.

"Like what, paint another hallway?" Lauren shot back, struggling to keep her own frustration in check.

"Maybe, yeah," Bo answered. "Or maybe I'll put tile in the bathroom. Or maybe I'll go fix the leak in the kitchen sink at Kenzi and Nate's. Or maybe I'll go wash dishes at the Dal."

"Anything to avoid talking about it, right?"

Bo looked up at Lauren, taken aback. "How do you expect me to answer that?"

"I don't," Lauren responded with a shrug.

Bo gave a breath of mirthless laughter and shook her head. "Alright, whatever."

"I'm your wife," Lauren said, forcefully. "I'm your partner. Why won't you just talk to me?"

"And say what? 'Gee, Lauren, it sure does suck that a woman took my advice and it got a bunch of people killed.' I mean, what is it you want from me here? There's nothing to say. There are only things to do. Working on this, fixing the scraps that are left over – that's all I have right now."

Lauren shook her head. "They aren't going to let you try this one, you know that, right?"

Bo went rigid. "What?"

"He told me he was hearing voices."

"He's lying."

"Probably. But do you honestly believe that isn't going to come up again?"

"So what if it does?"

Lauren shook her head and laughed. "He told me, Bo. Me."

Bo froze as Lauren's meaning fell into place in her mind.

"I'm not an idiot," Lauren continued. "We both know there is a reason I've only be a witness for you once. They won't let me be your witness, will they? A prosecutor being in a relationship with or married to a witness…that's a pretty big and clear conflict of interest, isn't it?"

Bo didn't say anything, sitting still. After a period of silence, she spoke, her voice low. "I didn't know you were the one he disclosed to."

"Well, I am."

Bo sagged back in her seat as the silence washed over them. "Where are my keys?" she asked finally, her voice remaining low and calm.

"Can't you just talk to me? Please?"

"Lauren –"

"Because I'm terrified, alright?" Lauren continued, undaunted. "I don't know how to reach you right now. You're going back to who you were before we met, and I don't know that person. I don't know what to do."

Bo glanced up at her, silent.

"I need to know what I'm in for here, with Protector Bo, the magnificent unshakeable bad ass."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lauren laughed. "Oh, really? Is this what you want to do?"

Bo said nothing.

"Okay, fine. Here's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that I'm scared out of my mind that I'm getting ready to meet the Bo who decided she didn't need anyone, ever. The Bo who decided the ideal relationship was the one where she was completely emotionally unattached. Look, I get it, you're strong, and you're tough, and you're independent, and I love you for all that, I honestly do, but I don't know what to do with the version of you that looks at me with a blank stare and just locks me out. I don't know how to deal with this…this…this Bo behind the wall."

Bo didn't look up, but gave a barely perceptible shake of her head.

Lauren ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "Come on, Bo! Give me something. Tell me how I'm supposed to react to all this."

"You don't have to react at all," Bo said quietly. "I'm the problem, so I'll figure it out."

"Because that's always the answer, right? You alone? Unflappable Bo, standing alone in the storm, staring down the problems and conquering them without interference or help. It doesn't matter whose problem it is – Dyson and Kenzi are short staffed? You'll cover the shift, it doesn't matter that you've already logged 80 hours for the week. Tamsin has a crazy girl who she needs to ditch? Bo will cover for her, help that problem go away. Vex is caught with some pills? You'll smooth it over, help him out of trouble.

"How about when I was in that car accident, how fast did you drop your whole life to fly to New Orleans to help me? Or, how about this, when we were just friends and I got sick, how fast did you spend your whole day infecting yourself just to make sure I had soup and a clean house?

"You give and you give and you give, and you know, that's a really beautiful thing, it is, but at some point you have to take a little bit to or it isn't sustainable. You have people that care about you, that love you, and that want to be here for you. You need to use us, too.

"I didn't really know you when you were with Kevin, or that other guy, whatever his name was, or anyone else. But I know what you were like. You didn't need them. You buried everything down, and you kept silent, and you didn't let anyone reach you. And what did that cost you, Bo? What was the fallout from that?

"So, yeah, I need to know what I'm in for here if you suddenly decide not to need me anymore. How many nights am I going to wake up to you having nightmares that you still refuse to talk to me about? How many times am I going to have to find you painting hallways, or sleeping at desks because your secretary doesn't know how to get you home?

"You're so willing to help anyone else. Kenzi needs you? You're there. I need you? You're by my side before I realize it. Your mom needs you? Boom, you're out of town."

"I don't want to talk about my mother," Bo said bitterly.

"My brother comes into town and tells you that I'm not talking to my mom, and what do you do? You identify the problem, find three ways to solve the problem, present me with the answers, and go back to work. And that's…that's incredible, Bo, I'm not pretending it isn't, but what about when you need us? What then? What is the protocol for that?" Lauren stopped to take a breath and was surprised to note she felt tears on her face.

Bo was quiet. "I can't do that right now," she said finally.

The question hit Lauren in exactly the wrong way. "Can't or won't?" she said for the third time in as many days, her voice like ice.

Bo visibly flinched at her tone. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I just…I'm sorry that I've fucked this up. I think we all knew that was coming eventually."

"Goddammit, Bo, I'm not leaving you! I just need you to let me be there for you!"

Bo felt physically drained. She sat quietly a while longer. When she looked up, Lauren was half standing, half leaning on the couch, looking exhausted as well. After a few minutes of no one speaking, she took a deep breath. "Where are my keys," she asked again, the question flat is if it was just a statement, her voice listless and hollow.

Lauren shook her head. "They're in my purse," she answered, walking out of the room and heading towards the bedroom to change. She shut the door firmly behind her.

Bo ran a hand down her face, crossed to Lauren's purse to retrieve her keys, and walked out the door.

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