Hey, guys.

So - I know it's been a while since the last post. Funny story about that - I wrote a first draft of this chapter, want to see it? Here it is:

And then everyone died. The end.

So, yeah, I wasn't getting too far, and I tentatively decided to just abandon this fic and move on. It was at that point that my lovely friend, lynedele77 stepped in and screamed at me until a next chapter happened. She was also my beta for this one (which means this chapter is edited - for the first time ever!) So, big shout out to lynedele77 - check out her fic, Fae to Fae, which is a lot better than this one, and is conveniently available on . Remember to review. Also, I think she accepts cash and money orders.

Okay, people, let's get into it. Enjoy!

"Alright," Lauren began, sitting back in her seat and holding her coffee in her left hand. "So, you gave this guy your number?"

"Yes." Vex sounded miserable as he spoke, his arms on his knees, his coffee ignored on the table.

"And, what? He didn't call, or-?"

Vex glanced up. "Of course he called, love, I'm irresistible," he answered.

"Alright. So, you're upset because…?"

Vex sighed dramatically, glancing around as if he were worried that the other patrons of the Starbucks would overhear him. "I wanted him to call me, Lo!" he exclaimed, trying to keep his voice hushed.

Lauren nodded, waiting for Vex to continue, but when he just continued to stare at her, she spoke. "I'm sorry, I just don't get it. You wanted him to call and he did. Why did you have to pull me out of work to tell me that?"

Vex huffed and glanced around again, leaning forward further to speak to Lauren in a low voice. "We slept together, then I gave him my number, and then I wanted him to call me? Do you know what this means?"

"That you have a date?" Lauren questioned with a shrug, taking a sip of her latte.

"I'm catching feelings!" Vex exclaimed in a stage whisper.

Lauren hesitated, a smile threatening the corners of her mouth. "It's not a disease, Vex."

"It is a disease! A fucking sexually transmitted disease!"

"You are such a romantic…"

"This cannot go on. I'm Vex! I don't get feelings. I have to end this."

Lauren shook her head, sighing. "Vex, I have patients. Do you really need me for this meltdown? Because if not, I need to get back to work."

"Oh, come off it, love, you wouldn't have agreed to meet with me at all if things at work were that bad. Now pay attention…focus on Vexie."

Knowing he was correct, Lauren sighed in defeat, her affection for Vex winning out over her irritation. "Alright, look, so you have feelings for this guy. It's fine. Just see where it goes. You've seen him, what, once? It might be nothing. Just go out with him. See what happens."

"No, no I just need to throw his number away. That's it. I'll just throw his number away. And maybe go to that lovely strip club again. That always takes my mind off things."

"What's his name?" Lauren asked.

"Dave," Vex answered.

Lauren paused, a smile spreading across her face. "Come on, seriously? That's just too perfect," she said with a laugh.

"Shut up," Vex replied, sagging back in his chair.

"Dave is real!"

"I hate you."

"Vex is in love with Dave!" Lauren teased.

"I don't know why I called you, honestly, you've been absolutely no help."

"So, are we thinking a June wedding?" Lauren prodded, bringing her coffee back to her lips.

Vex rolled his eyes. "Why anyone would get married is beyond me," he commented.

"You should put that in your toast to Nate and Kenzi," Lauren answered.

"It's two people putting on fancy clothes to telling people they are going to have sex with only each other until they die. It's a bizarre ritual."

"Oh, come on, it's more than that," Lauren argued. "It's about standing up in front of people who love you and telling them you found the person who makes you whole, the person who makes you the best version of yourself."

Vex regarded Lauren for a moment. "When did you get all mushy and romantic?"

Lauren glanced at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I seem to recall that when Nadia brought up the idea of marriage you told her it was just a business arrangement and that you didn't think it was necessary. Seems your views have changed," Vex answered, his eyes remaining focused on Lauren.

Lauren shrugged, looking at her coffee.

A grin split Vex's face. "Oh my, my. Is our little Lauren considering tying the knot?"

Lauren rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm just saying, marriage isn't a terrible thing. That's all."

"Can I be your maid of honor?" Vex teased, smiling widely at Lauren's discomfort.

"Hey, I just heard your phone ring. Is it Dave?"

Vex jumped, grabbing for his phone, and found the screen to be blank. He pouted, before looking up to see Lauren smirking at him.

"Truce?" he offered with a light sigh.

"Truce."

When they had finished their coffee, Vex walked Lauren back to her office. It was an unseasonably hot September day, and by the time they got back, they both felt sticky and overheated.

"Do you keep any water in your office?" Vex asked, crossing over to her desk before she answered.

"There should be a bottle in the drawer," she said, hanging her bag on the hook by the door.

Vex pulled open a drawer and froze. When he didn't say anything for a moment, Lauren turned to look at him.

"What, couldn't find it?" she asked, noting her friend's puzzled expression.

Vex looked up at her, his face contorted. "What is that?" He asked pointing to something in the open drawer.

Lauren walked around the desk to see what he was referring to. When she saw the top drawer was open instead of the bottom one, she stopped. "That's the wrong drawer," she answered.

Vex reached in and pulled out the black velvet box, and the letter that was tucked beside it. Wordlessly, he opened the box and looked inside. "So, when you said marriage wasn't terrible…you really, really meant that…"

"It's…nothing," Lauren interjected. "It was just an impulse thing the other day. It's not like I'm about to ask her to marry me, I just…I don't know, I wanted to have it…in case."

Vex looked up. "People don't buy engagement rings 'just in case,' Lo."

Lauren took the box from his hands carefully, snapping the lid closed. "Don't make a big deal out of this."

Vex started to open the letter, which was still in his hands.

"Don't read that."

"You wrote her a letter?" he asked, allowing Lauren to take the paper from his hands before he unfolded it. She carefully tucked it back into the drawer.

"No. That's just…something Bo wrote to send to my mom."

Vex nodded, walking back around the desk to drop into one of the chairs in Lauren's office. "Sit. Explain."

Lauren sighed, sitting in her desk chair. "She wrote my mom a letter because Michael told her we haven't been talking. She gave it to me so I could decide whether or not I sent it."

"You're not going to?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Lauren shrugged. "The things she said…if my mother hears about our relationship, she needs to hear it from me. If I'm going to repair things with mom, I need to do that, you know? And if she can't accept me, or she can't accept Bo, then I'll just have to be okay with that, I guess."

"And after you read that letter, you bought her a ring?"

Lauren nodded.

"It must have been one hell of a letter."

Lauren nodded again, sighing. "Yeah. It was."

Vex shook his head. "I always knew you were loveable, but what you've pulled off…I've never seen Bo act like this. I don't know how you did it, but cheers."

Lauren bit her lower lip, thinking for a moment. "This is crazy, right? I'm being crazy."

Vex sat quietly, keeping his eyes locked on Lauren's as he waited for her to continue.

"I mean, Rainer proposed and look how that went for him," Lauren continued. "And we haven't been dating that long."

Vex nodded. "True. When Kevin proposed, things went to shit. I mean, they were shit before, but they got…shittier. Then again, she's a different person with you than she was with him."

"So what do I do?"

"Well, given the fact that I'm nearly vomiting over the fact that I want someone to call me back, it's good you came to me with this problem," Vex said, sarcastically. Lauren rolled her eyes at him, and he smiled back. "I don't know, love," he said. "Maybe you just wait. Bring up the idea casually and see how she responds."

"Is there a casual way to say 'hey, want to stay together until one of us dies'?"

"Maybe if you're wearing sweat pants when you say it?"

"Helpful. Thanks."

"Well, that sucked," Bo said as she and Lauren walked back to her car. It was a warm Friday, the heat wave that had plagued Lauren and Vex the day before was still clinging to the air.

Lauren laughed. "What, you didn't want to live with a pervy landlord and mice?"

"I can't believe we both took off work an entire day and we still can't find anything. How are there no good places? This doesn't even make sense," Bo complained as she started the car.

"I'm sure there are, maybe we just aren't looking in the right place."

"We've looked everywhere. These are all the places between my work and yours."

"Well maybe we just need to find something closer to your work then?" Lauren suggested.

Bo sighed. "But that really isn't fair to you. There has to be something."

Lauren shrugged. "I'm open to suggestions, but I'm running out of ideas."

"I guess we could just live at your apartment," Bo said, off handedly.

"That's so far from your work though. And, besides, you said yourself we need a second bedroom, more closet space – plus, that place isn't, I don't know, ours really, you know?"

Bo glanced at Lauren. "It is where we met, you know."

Lauren smiled. "Yeah, I remember." She was quiet for a beat. "As I recall, you came over without being invited."

Bo laughed. "Vex invited me, it's not my fault he didn't clear it with you first."

"Yeah, yeah, you're just lucky I have such great social graces or I would have thrown you out," Lauren said, still smiling.

Another burst of laughter shot from Bo. "Yeah, I forgot about your social graces. Hey, quick question, did you or did you not call my boyfriend a dick the first time you met him?"

"Hey, just because I have social graces, that doesn't mean I can't be honest," Lauren answered.

Bo smiled. "Yeah, yeah."

Lauren was quiet for another moment, thinking as the air from the open car window pushed past her face. "It was just so clear that you were too good for him."

"You didn't even know him," Bo laughed.

Lauren smiled. "Doesn't matter. I still knew."

Bo rolled her eyes. "Alright, well, since you're so smart, why don't you tell me where we're going to live?"

With a sigh, Lauren turned back to the papers in her hands. "The third place really wasn't that bad," she tried to reason.

"It had lead paint. And no shower."

"Rustic charm?" Bo just laughed as she continued to drive. "Alright, so not the third place. You never told me why you didn't like the second place."

"I saw someone I knew who lived there," Bo answered.

"Who?"

"Karl."

"Ex-boyfriend?" Lauren asked.

"Ex-defendant. As I recall, he was busted for cooking meth. In his apartment."

"Crossing number two off the list."

They were quiet for a few moments, both trying to think of more apartments to look at, when Bo's eye was caught by a sign.

"Hey – what about that?" Bo pointed out , slowing the car down and preparing to make a turn.

"What about what?" Lauren asked, looking around. "I don't see any apartments."

"I wasn't looking at an apartment. I was looking at that house," Bo replied, directing Lauren's attention to a sign.

"But…that's a house," Lauren said, slowly.

"Yes," Bo answered with a smile. "That's why I called it a house."

"We were looking for an apartment."

"We were looking for a place to live. We can't seem to find an apartment, so why not look at a house?"

"Is it for rent?"

"The sign says for sale," Bo answered.

Lauren sat quietly for a moment. "Um, that's…you want us to buy a house? Like, a whole house?"

"I don't think they let you just buy rooms," Bo chuckled, still maneuvering the car.

Lauren didn't answer, still processing the idea.

When Bo stopped the car, she twisted the key to kill the ignition before looking at Lauren. "Look, I know a house would be…it's a big deal. I get that it's a bigger deal. But, I don't know, if nothing else maybe we should look at it and it'll give us ideas for apartments we might like. What's the harm in just looking, right?"

Bo's face was bright and open with naked excitement at the prospect of looking at the house, and Lauren felt herself getting sucked in by Bo's knew Bo was worried that she thought this was too big of a step, but in reality all Lauren could think about was the ring in the black velvet box in her office. "Okay. Let's look," she agreed.

Bo and Lauren got out of the car, walking toward the house with the "open house" sign displayed in front of it.

After completing a tour of the house, Bo and Lauren got back in the car, both silent. Bo sat in the driver's seat, making no move to turn the car on. "So," Lauren commented, her eyes staying forward.

"There was definitely a murder in there, right? I mean, that wasn't just me?"

"Oh my God, I was worried it was just me," Lauren confessed, taking a deep breath.

"That dude definitely keeps severed heads in his freezer," Bo speculated, turning to Lauren.

"Shit, is he looking at us? Is that him?" Lauren asked, looking toward the door of the house.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Bo insisted, twisting the key and gunning the engine.

Once they had made it back to the road, Lauren turned to Bo. "So, a house…"

Bo glanced over. "Well, I mean, I'm not setting up appointments at the bank to find out about interest rates, but…I don't know. I mean, I know a house is…a thirty-year mortgage, and legal documents, and something that gets listed in estate planning. I'm not saying that's the way to go. But I am saying that I want to live with you, and to accomplish that we need to find something."

Lauren smiled and nodded. "So you would consider taking on a whole house? Just so we can live together?"

Bo smiled and reached over, taking Lauren's hand as she shifted her eyes back to the road.

The following Wednesday Lauren was sitting in her office when her phone buzzed.

Bo: Can I pick you up for lunch today? I have an errand to run while we're out.

Lauren: Sure, anything that will give us extra time. I actually have something I want to talk to you about.

At 12:30p she walked downstairs to meet Bo, who was waiting outside the hospital.

"Hey," she smiled brightly, as Lauren approached.

"Hi," Lauren smiled back. "You seem happy."

Bo leaned in and gave Lauren a kiss. "It's Wednesday. Obviously I'm happy," she said.

Lauren walked to the passenger seat, her heart pounding. Alright, Bo was in a good mood – a really good mood – that was in her favor, right?

As she sat down she swore she could hear the sound of the ring box shifting in her bag. Shit, was she really doing this?

Ever since Bo had brought up the idea of the house she hadn't been able to get it out of her mind. Bo was thinking about a house. A mortgage, a yard, a legal commitment. If that's where Bo's head was…was a proposal really that crazy? Maybe Bo was ready for this. Maybe it was time.

After looking at the murder house, she had started planning. She wanted it to be special, of course, but really she wanted it to be something that was about them. Wednesday had seemed like the most logical day for it – it was their day, after all. So she would wait until she and Bo got to lunch, and she would bring up the idea of marriage. If that conversation went well…she would propose.

And now, it was Wednesday. And her nerves were so on edge that she wanted to throw up. She took a steadying breath, trying to calm herself down as Bo began to drive.

Ten minutes later Bo was pulling the car up in front of a rundown looking house. Lauren glanced around cautiously. "So, when you said we had to run an errand…it was to investigate a triple homicide, or -?"

Bo glanced over at her. "Come on, walk inside with me."

Uncertainly, Lauren exited the car, following Bo.

Once inside, Lauren looked around. The house was run down and old, in desperate need of repairs, but it was open and spacious. As Lauren glanced around, she noticed Bo intently watching her.

"What do you think?" Bo asked.

Lauren hesitated. "What am I looking at?" she questioned.

Bo grabbed Lauren's hand and moved them further into the house. As they rounded a corner, Lauren was greeted by the sight of a blanket spread out on the floor, a picnic sitting on top of it. "I got us lunch," Bo said.

Lauren looked at the picnic and then looked back up at Bo. "What's going on?"

Bo cleared her throat, looking uncertain. "I…bought it."

"Bought what?"

"This," Bo said. "The house."

Lauren stopped and looked around again before she turned her attention back to Bo. "You bought a house?"

"Look, it's…not great right now, I see that. But, I mean, it has great bones, you know? It's such a cool place. All we have to do is fix it up and it'll be perfect. It has two rooms that would make great offices, so we could each have one, and one of them gets light in the morning and one gets light in the evening, which is great because I like to work in the morning and you like to work at night. The kitchen is huge, I mean – well, come look at the kitchen," she said, walking forward, pulling Lauren behind her.

"So, obviously, we need appliances, but there is so much space in here. And we can knock that wall down," Bo said, pointing to the far wall, "and that would really open the whole thing up. There are four bedrooms, so it's more than enough space."

Lauren nodded along, listening to Bo speaking rapidly. Her head was spinning. Bo had bought a house?

After they had finished going through the entire house, Bo and Lauren returned to the picnic. Bo looked at Lauren, worry starting to crease her face. "Please say something," she begged.

"You bought a house…" Lauren's voice was slow as she struggled to process what was happening.

"Yeah," Bo answered. "I bought us a house."

Lauren glanced at Bo, at the raw joy she could see behind her eyes mixed with the anxiety she clearly had over how Lauren was going to react. "How did you get a house this fast?"

"It was an estate sale, so it was quick," Bo answered. "When I saw it, I just…I don't know, it felt right. I just did it. I mean, I know a house is sort of a weird impulse buy…"

Lauren nodded. "You're insane. Did you even get this place inspected?"

"It's fine," Bo assured, waving her off. "I mean, it looks solid, and we have to do work on it anyway, so we'll just fix it as we go."

Lauren nodded again, still looking around, as her brain struggled to process.

Bo cleared her throat. "Look, if you hate it…I mean, I know you didn't get to see it beforehand or anything, so I can always try to resell it."

"You bought a house," Lauren repeated herself.

Bo nodded. "Yes. I bought us a house."

You bought a house without me. Lauren looked around again. The shock of the initial news was starting wear off as the reality of what Bo had done seeped in. She had bought a house – completely impulsively, without thinking, in true Bo fashion. She had seen a house she thought was perfect, and she had just…bought it.

"You're completely mental," Lauren quipped. Bo didn't say anything, continuing to look at Lauren. A few beats later, Lauren spoke again. "I love you."

A bright smile broke over Bo's face. "I love you, too."

Lauren took a step toward Bo and pulled her in, kissing her.

"We may need to live at your place a while longer," Bo advised, "because we're going to need some time to fix everything up."

Lauren nodded her head in agreement as Bo stepped behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist so they were facing the same way. "I thought maybe we could put the table over there," she said, pointing to various places, talking about all the different things they could do.

As Lauren surveyed the house, her thoughts drifted back to the ring. Bo had bought a house. Bo had bought a house. That changed things.

When she stopped talking, she stepped back and turned Lauren back to face her. "Sorry. I was nervous to show it to you, and I kind of got distracted. What did you want to talk about?"

Lauren smiled at Bo, reaching up to push an errant strand of hair away from her face. "Nothing, it was just about some new leads on apartments."

Bo smiled as she lifted Lauren's chin up to kiss her again.

They spend the rest of their lunch walking around, talking and eating, making plans to come back after work. When Lauren returned to her office, she pulled the ring box back out of her bag. With a sigh, she dropped it back in the desk drawer. Okay, so Bo wasn't ready for this kind of commitment – that was okay. She could be okay with that, right? This was enough.

As always, looking forward to hearing from you