Hey, everyone

So, it's been a while since I posted. I don't have anything really to say about that. Just an observation.

Hey, guys, have we talked about lynedele77? Because, let me tell you something, people - she is the shit. Like, it's insane, 100% the shit. She is going through an insane few weeks right now, so how about we all take some time to let her know that she is the best? Because, seriously - so fucking amazing. It's nuts.

Have you read her story? It's so fucking good.

She's also on Twitter. Or so she tells me. I don't know that firsthand, but she's pretty honest. I mean, I think she is. Maybe she's fundamentally lying to me about everything. But I doubt it. Find her on Twitter. Her Twitter name is something about her real name, probably. Or her penname. I don't know. I can't do everything for you people, geesh. Just find her, alright? Damn.

Enjoy!

Lauren, wearing a white cotton Oxford shirt, the buttons half open, over a white tank top and pale blue jeans. Barefoot. Her hair down, soft around her face. Smiling. Sunlight streaming in from somewhere – Bo couldn't see where – but following Lauren, making her hair shimmer, warming her face. The house, empty. Or, no, wait…no, it was becoming furnished now. As Lauren spoke and pointed toward things Bo slowly realized that the room had furniture in it, pictures on the walls, rugs on the floor, curtains on the windows.

Zeus ran into the room, coming from behind Bo, and Lauren kneeled down to meet him, her face bright, smiling widely and laughing as she rubbed his ears, mussing his fur. He pushed his face against her, his tail thumping wildly with happiness.

"I told you he'd like you more than me," Bo commented.

Lauren looked up at her and smiled, her eyes appearing light and amused. She glanced around the room again. "There aren't any pictures of us in here," she noted.

Bo glanced around the now furnished room. "No, you're right," she answered with a note of surprise. "Why aren't there any pictures of us?"

"I guess we don't have any," Lauren replied with a shrug.

Bo felt a heaviness press on her chest. "Why don't we have any?"

"I guess we never took them."

"We should take some," Bo noted.

Lauren looked back and Bo and laughed again. "Well, it's too late now," she commented.

"Why is it too late?"

"Well, I mean, we aren't dating anymore…" Lauren answered her, looking at Bo in confusion.

Bo felt her heart accelerate. "We…what?"

"We aren't dating anymore, Bo. You know that."

"No, wait, we are, we –"

Lauren laughed, stopping Bo from speaking. "We aren't dating, Bo."

Lauren turned her attention back to Zeus while Bo stood in a confused silence. Bo looked around the room again, noticing that the furniture seemed to be disappearing. "Then…if we aren't dating, why are we here? What are we doing here?"

Lauren didn't look up, continuing to talk to Zeus.

"Lauren? Are you…can you hear me?"

Lauren still didn't look up. Bo frantically looked around the room again as more furniture vanished, as the rugs faded away, the pictures disappeared from the walls. Bo saw that the curtains were gone now, but for some reason less light appeared in the room. Her gaze returned to Lauren, who was standing up now.

"Did we break up?" Bo asked, trying unsuccessfully to make her voice louder than a whisper.

"You don't remember?" Lauren asked, cocking her head to the side. "You're the one who did it. This is all because of you."

Bo frantically searched her memories, but could find nothing that explained what was happening. "I thought…I thought we were happy."

Lauren shrugged. "I guess it wasn't enough."

The room was empty now. Zeus was no longer at Lauren's feet. Bo paused for a moment, and then asked, "if we aren't dating now, why are we here?"

Lauren looked around the empty space. "Maybe we wanted to see it one last time before it all changed."

Before Bo could ask what Lauren meant, Lauren started walking backwards, away from Bo.

"Where are you going?" Bo asked.

Lauren didn't answer, still slowly walking backwards until she reached the doorframe at the end of the room. "It's time to go," Lauren noted.

"Go? Go where?" Bo started to walk toward Lauren, but as she did the room became longer and longer, preventing her from making progress.

Lauren turned her back to Bo, looking through the black doorway.

"Lauren, what's going on? Where are you going?"

Lauren didn't answer, slowly lifting one foot and stepping into the blackness.

"Lauren?" Bo entreated again.

Lauren stepped fully into the dark and out of Bo's view.

"Lauren!"

"What?" a disembodied voice came back.

"LAUREN!"

"What?"

The room started disintegrating around Bo, the walls crumbling like ash.

"Bo…"

The ground began to shake as if an earthquake was beginning beneath Bo's feet.

"BO."

Bo jerked up, her eyes flying open, frantically searching the darkness only to find Lauren with her hands on Bo's arms, staring at her. "Bo, wake up, wake up."

"Lauren?" Bo asked, her voice groggy and confused.

"Hey," Lauren said, her voice laced with concern. "You must have been having a bad dream. Are you alright?"

Bo took a series of deep breaths, trying to bring her mind back to reality. "Yeah, I, uh…bad dream," she said.

Lauren nodded. "Okay. Are you alright? What happened?"

Bo shook her head, still trying to shake away the remnants of the dream. Her eyes caught the glowing numbers of the clock displaying 5:37a. "Oh, fuck," she muttered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, her mind sinking back into reality. "I have to get up, I needed to be up at 5."

Lauren inched closer to her, running her hand over Bo's bare back. "Hey…are you alright?"

Bo took a last deep breath and looked and Lauren with a small, reassuring smile. "Yeah," she said. "Just a bad dream. I'm fine now." She leaned over and gave Lauren a light kiss before climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

Bo got ready quickly, trying to shake off the remnants of the dream as she did so. It wasn't real, after all. It was just a dream. Just a stupid dream, a result of leftover stress. She forced herself to focus, to think about the things she needed to do at work. Speaking of stress…

She finished in the bathroom and walked back out into the bedroom only to find the bed empty. She felt her heart rate spike slightly, even though she knew it was irrational. She knew Lauren was probably just in the kitchen, or in the living room watching the news, but she felt jittery, anxious, worried. She moved quickly into the living room where she was greeted with the smell of coffee and the sight of Lauren reaching to pull their mugs out of the cabinet.

Bo stood for a moment, watching Lauren, taking deep breaths. Lauren was here. Of course she was here. She knew she would be. And yet, despite knowing that, seeing her here, in the kitchen, moving around and making coffee like always, filled her with an overwhelming sense of relief.

She clearly hadn't heard Bo come in the room, as her attention remained focused on her task. Bo smiled slightly, forcing herself to accept the fact that the dream was over and the real Lauren was here, with her, and that everything was the way it should be.

She crossed the room quietly, but at the sound of her steps, Lauren turned her head slightly. "I went ahead and made the coffee," she commented. As if offering proof, she turned and held up Bo's mug.

Bo smiled and accepted the mug from her hand before placing it back down on the counter. Before Lauren could say anything more, she gathered Lauren in her arms and kissed her deeply, feeling Lauren's initial note of surprise, and then feeling herself get lightheaded as Lauren sunk into her, responding to her touch.

When they pulled apart, Lauren looked at her, seeming dazed. "What was that for?" she asked breathlessly.

Bo pulled Lauren into a hug. "I love you," she said, simply.

She felt Lauren turn her face so it was pressed against her neck. "I love you, too," she hummed.

They stood that way a moment longer, and after a few beats Bo stepped back. "Thank you for the coffee."

Lauren nodded, tucking a piece of Bo's hair behind her ear. "So…bad dream, huh?"

Bo shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Want to talk about it?"

Bo shook her head. "No. I'm just…glad it wasn't real, that's all."

Lauren nodded. "Okay." They were quiet for a few moments. "Hey, Bo…"

Bo glanced up.

"I'm going to go back to work tomorrow."

"What? Lauren, you –"

Lauren put up a hand, stopping Bo. "Listen. I'm fine, okay? I'm feeling good, I'm healing, everything is fine. I have to go back to work sometime, and, well…if I go back tomorrow I'll just have to work one day before I have a weekend off. It'll give me a chance to catch up on some things, to see how things are going, and if I get worn out…well, again, I'll have all weekend."

Bo set her mug down on the counter. "Lauren…"

"I'm not going to overdo it. I'm not going to hurt myself. But I have to go back, and, well…it seems like as a good of a time as any."

Bo sighed deeply. "You need a break. You need to heal."

"I have healed," Lauren defended. "I might not be completely one hundred percent yet, but I have to go back sometime. This is as good a time as any."

Bo regarded her quietly for a moment. "You aren't going to listen to me on this, no matter what I say, are you?"

"No," Lauren answered, honestly.

Bo nodded.

They were quiet for a few moments. After a bit, Bo cleared her throat and took a long sip of her coffee. When she put the mug back down, she commented, "I may have to work late tonight. My desk has gotten a little…piled up."

Lauren gave her a sideways glance. "Are you upset with me?"

Bo couldn't stop the small smile that came to her face. "Would it matter if I was?"

Lauren took a step closer to Bo and kissed her again. "Of course it would. I mean, I'd still go to work tomorrow…"

"Of course you would," Bo huffed with a smile.

"…but I'd care. It would matter to me."

Bo nodded, accepting the answer, and kissed Lauren again. "No, I'm not upset with you. I disagree with you, but I'm not upset with you. I just have a lot on my desk, that's all."

A moment of understanding broke over Lauren, and she nodded. "Right, because you've…been out of the office a lot lately."

Bo shrugged. "No, it's not that, it's just how it goes sometimes. Work gets busy. You know how it is."

Lauren hummed in agreement, smiling. "Right. And taking a week off to sit in a hospital with your girlfriend didn't add to that at all."

Bo smiled, but kept up her pretense. "Not at all."

"And taking an impromptu afternoon off yesterday –"

Bo put a finger over Lauren's lips, stopping her. "You aren't the reason I'm behind." When Lauren nodded, Bo moved her finger and stepped in to Lauren for another quick kiss. When she stepped back, she sighed. "Alright, look, if you insist on working tomorrow –"

"I do."

"—please at least promise you'll take it easy today. Alright?"

Lauren nodded. "Alright."

"So, tell me again, what are you going to do if you get nervous?" Bo asked, doing her best to keep her voice light as she spoke to the young child in front of her.

"I'm going to ask for a break," the girl replied, calmly.

Bo smiled. "That's right, good."

The child nodded, turning her attention back to the legal pad she was drawing on. Bo turned to her secretary, who shrugged at Bo slightly.

"Is everything okay, Kylie?" Bo inquired.

The child didn't look up. "Yeah," she answered without inflection.

"Because, you know, if you're nervous or you want to talk about something, you can talk to me."

"Uh huh."

Bo sat quietly for a moment, trying to think of something else to say, but nothing came to mind. The child continued to draw.

A few moments later, the girl looked up. "Is my mom here? Can I go now?"

Bo held back a sigh. "Yeah, absolutely, she's just in the other room."

"Okay," the child said, standing up. "Thank you for the paper."

Bo nodded, tearing the sheet off and passing it to the child.

The girl shook her head no. "It's for you," she told Bo with a smile. Bo glanced down at the drawing, seeing three figures. "This is you, and me, and Ms. Helen," the child said, indicating to Bo's secretary.

Bo nodded and smiled. "I can see that. I'm going to hang this up right over here, okay?" she commented, using a push pin to put the drawing on her cork board.

The child nodded in satisfaction, walking out of Bo's office to go back to her mother.

After bidding the woman and her daughter goodbye, Bo turned to her secretary. "Alright, was it just me?"

Helen shook her head no. "Someone got to the kid," she commented.

Bo nodded. "I mean, she gave me nothing."

Helen sighed. "Yeah. I mean…I don't know, maybe she was nervous?"

"She didn't seem nervous."

"Well, I guess we'll find out on Monday," Helen noted.

"Yeah, let's hope for the best, I guess."

After Helen left the room, Bo turned her attention back to the file on her desk and sighed. The conversation with Kylie was setting alarm bells off in her head. She hadn't recanted any of her statements – that, at least, was a good sign – but she had seemed off, different. And with trial approaching on Monday, Bo was concerned.

Kylie was a six year old child who had been sexually abused by her biological father. That alone was enough to make the case difficult. Add to that the fact that her biological mother was an addict who had deemed it a good idea to let Kylie live with him in the first place, despite the fact that he was a registered sex offender, and it was a recipe for disaster.

Bo continued to sift through the file, organizing the evidence, deciding on the order she was going to call her witnesses, and prepping questions for them. Time ticked by as Bo got more and more lost in her work. She became immune to the ringing of the phone and the beeping of the door as people came and went from the office.

"Hey, Bo, are you leaving?"

Helen's voice at her door startled her slightly and she looked up. "Hmm?"

Helen smiled. "It's 5:30. Are you leaving?"

Bo glanced at the clock on her computer, double checking the time. Fuck, it really was 5:30. "Yeah, um, yeah, I just need to finish a few more things."

Helen nodded. "Don't stay too late, yeah?"

Bo smiled as Helen left. How had that much time passed that quickly? She sighed, scrubbing her hands over her face. Alright, it was 5:30. She knew she needed to go soon – it was getting late, and she needed to check on Lauren…fuck, Lauren, she hadn't texted Lauren all day.

With another deep sigh she rolled her head on her shoulders. Alright, ten more minutes. Ten more minutes of prep and she would leave.

Bo pulled up in front of Lauren's apartment at 7:05p. As she walked inside she was immediately greeted by the smell of Lauren's cooking, which caused her stomach to growl as she realized she'd forgotten to eat anything all day.

She put her files on the counter and glanced around the room, noting that the entire house appeared to be spotless. She sighed, wondering momentarily where Lauren was, until the sound of soft snoring on the couch caught her attention.

She crossed the room and found Lauren, completely passed out on the couch. She felt herself grow slightly irritated; based on the smell of dinner and the cleanliness of the house, Lauren had definitely not taken it easy. In fact, she appeared to have completely exhausted herself.

Bo sighed, reaching for the blanket draped over the arm of the couch, and spread it out over Lauren's sleeping form before walking to the kitchen to make sure nothing was about to catch on fire. She glanced at the various pots and shrugged – she didn't exactly know what she was looking for, after all. In her best estimation, everything looked fine. With a sigh, she turned to the counter and grabbed her stack of files, settling herself down on a stool at the bar top to do some more work. She could check the food again in a bit if Lauren didn't wake up.

Lauren woke up to the acrid smell of something burning. She jerked awake as her brain immediately registered "dinner." She jumped up and winced, a sudden tightness appearing in her abdomen. She took a deep steadying breath. She needed to be more careful – yes, she was healing, but she wasn't done quite yet.

Once she had her bearings, she moved toward the kitchen and her eyes landed on Bo, files strewn around her, asleep with her head on the counter. Lauren turned everything off and noticed the time – 7:55p – and couldn't help the bubble of irritation that came up her chest. Seriously? She knew Bo was exactly a chef, but she couldn't have at least turned everything off?

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts. She shouldn't blame this on Bo. The truth was she was sore and tired, and she knew that was her fault. She'd tried to do too much. She glanced at Bo's sleeping form again. No way in Hell she was going to admit to Bo that she'd overdone it.

A last survey of dinner confirmed that it was beyond saving. She glanced in the fridge, noting that there weren't many options. Maybe they could just order Chinese…

She was contemplating getting the phone and putting an order in when she heard Bo moving, the papers from her files rustling as she did so. "Hey, baby," she said, softly.

Bo rubbed her face. "Hey. What time is it?"

Lauren's heart swelled with concern. Bo looked exhausted, beaten. Lauren walked over to her, ignoring the protests of her stiff muscles as she did so, and ran her hand through Bo's hair. "Almost 8."

Bo nodded and cleared her throat. "How are you feeling?"

Lauren ran her thumb over Bo's ear and leaned toward her, giving her a kiss. It wasn't intended to be a particularly assertive kiss, but after a moment Lauren found Bo's hand woven through her hair and felt Bo's tongue against her own. She shivered slightly, her own fingers curling around Bo's jaw. Her head was swimming, swirling, and God, they had been together for how long now? How did Bo still affect her this way?

When they separated Lauren's eyes opened slowly to see Bo with her eyes still closed, lightly licking her lips. At the sight of the simple action, Lauren felt her heart hammer in her chest. She gently pushed a strand of hair behind Bo's ear. "Dinner's burned," she commented, quietly.

Bo didn't answer. A moment later she stood up, pushing her files back slightly so they wouldn't fall off the counter, and pulled Lauren back against her, kissing her again. Lauren was adrift, the burnt smell of dinner fading away and she sunk against Bo.

"You didn't take it easy today," Bo whispered, her voice low, when they broke the kiss.

"Hmm?" Lauren hummed, her thoughts centered only on the feeling of Bo's hands on her hips, the smell of Bo in her arms, the taste of Bo on her tongue.

"I asked you to relax today," Bo murmured, her face moving forward to lightly kiss Lauren's jaw. "You didn't."

"I'm fine. I was fine," Lauren mumbled back, her eyes falling closed at the feeling of Bo kissing up her jawline toward her ear.

"You did too much."

Lauren dropped her head slightly forward, bringing her closer to Bo's neck. She exhaled slightly and saw goosebumps rise on Bo's skin as she moved forward. "Why didn't you turn off the stove when you got here?" she inquired, her lips lightly dragging against Bo's skin. "Everything is burned."

Bo shuddered, and swallowed slowly, trying to gather herself. "Are we fighting?" she asked.

"Mmhmm," Lauren confirmed, her lips firmly attached to Bo's pulse point.

"Okay," Bo breathed back, her voice low and husky, as she used her hand to guide Lauren's lips back to her own.

Lauren deepened the kiss almost immediately, her hands fisted in the hair at the base of Bo's neck. Bo felt Lauren leaning into her harder, pressing their bodies together, and her hands found their way to Lauren's waist, her fingers slipping up under Lauren's shirt. She felt Lauren falter as her fingers raked against Lauren's ribs until Bo's fingers made contact with the raised ridge of a scar on Lauren's abdomen.

She gently ran the pad of her thumb against the healing incision. "You have to stop pushing yourself," she murmured into Lauren's mouth.

Lauren hummed lightly in response, resealing her mouth against Bo's, her own hands dropping to the front of Bo's pants, purposefully working the belt from the buckle.

"Lauren…" Bo said, her voice lost somewhere between a warning and a plea.

"Maybe you should stop talking," Lauren answered, her voice low and harsh, her hand moving past the material at Bo's waist. Her mouth returned to Bo's neck, her tongue dragging lightly against the skin, as she undid the clasps of Bo's pants and slid the zipper down, being sure her knuckles pressed lightly against Bo, causing her to hiss in anticipation. Finally, Lauren dipped inside of Bo's underwear, finally coming to a stop, and slightly moaning when her middle finger was met with the wetness between Bo's thighs.

"God, Lauren…we really…we need to talk about…" Bo stuttered as Lauren's finger continued to move against her, lightly.

"I'm fine," Lauren growled against Bo's ear.

"No, you're –"

Lauren pushed her finger inside of Bo suddenly, curling it slightly, and Bo's mind blanked.

Bo mutter a quiet curse under her breath, trying to regain her bearings as Lauren pumped into her slowly, her finger curling inside of her at every pass. Almost without Bo realizing it, Lauren used her free hand to push Bo's pants and underwear completely off of her and to start walking them backwards toward the bedroom slowly.

With great effort, Bo forced her brain to focus. "You aren't fine. You need time to –"

"I've had time," Lauren answered, her voice coming quick and slightly sharp. "And I. Am. Fine," she growled, punctuating each word with a hard thrust.

Bo's breath escaped her as she bore down on Lauren's finger, her body betraying her mind which was agitated with Lauren's dismissal. "You almost died," Bo shot back, in between breaths, trying to steady herself, forcing herself to continue to fight, unwilling to back down.

With an irritated exhale, Lauren gave up her mission to get Bo to the bedroom and forcefully pushed Bo against the nearest living room wall, a second finger roughly pushing into Bo as she did so.

"Fuuu…" Bo moaned, her head falling back against the wall, her brain fogging over anew.

"I'm not dead. I'm not dying. I'm right here. And I'm fine." With each sentence she pushed into Bo sharply, firmly, forcing the air from Bo's lungs as Bo felt her hips thrusting back of their own volition, seeking more contact with Lauren.

A moment later Bo seized on Lauren, grabbing the base of her head and kissing her aggressively, their tongues fighting, and Bo used one hand to roughly grab Lauren's breast as the other hand forced its way into Lauren's pants, past the waistband of her loose sweatpants, and three fingers forced their way into Lauren.

Lauren fingers stilled inside Bo as she released a strangled sound, her entire body tensing as her body contorted against Bo, groaning as she felt Bo's fingers sinking deeper and deeper into her.

"God…Bo…" she groaned, her body jerking slightly, her nerves on high alert as Bo began to thrust into her almost too slowly.

Bo turned them on the wall so Lauren was pressed against it, as she changed the pace and began to push into her harder and deeper, using the leverage of their new found position to aid her. Bo began to suck on Lauren's neck, the pressure of her mouth and tongue matching the pace of her fingers.

Lauren caught her breath and resumed her deep thrusts into Bo, matching Bo's pace – hard, deep, and steady. Lauren snaked her free hand around Bo's waist, helping to keep her upright as Bo slid her free hand under Lauren's shirt, playing with the hard nipple she found.

"Why aren't you naked?" Bo panted against Lauren's neck.

"Because…shit…you wanted to…fight…"

Bo thrust into Lauren sharply and Lauren sucked a quick intake of breath, feeling pleasure shoot through her. "I'm right about this…you need to stay –" Bo stopped speaking suddenly, her mouth dropping open as Lauren firmly pressed her thumb against Bo's clit, working it in tight circles.

With a loud groan, Lauren took Bo's moment of falter to reverse their positions, slamming Bo's back against the wall. Bo's breath escaped her, the will to fight quickly leaving her body. "I think I'm exactly where I need to be," Lauren breathlessly hissed directly into Bo's ear, trying desperately to keep a steady pace against Bo as her own pleasure overtook her senses.

Bo whimpered, moving against Lauren, her body growing desperate for release. "Baby…please…"

Lauren pushed harder against Bo, a string of curses falling from her lips as she felt Bo match her pace. Soon words were lost to them entirely as they writhed against the wall, the anger and frustration they both felt pouring out of them as they forced one another higher and higher.

A short time later release broke over them both, making them cry out and cling onto each other as their muscles contracted wildly.

When they came back to themselves they found themselves resting on the floor, their remaining clothing hanging from them haphazardly. Bo turned to Lauren, and saw her shirt pushed up to her neck line, giving Bo an unobstructed view of the scar marring her abdomen.

Bo's eyes darkened as she looked at it. Lauren caught the direction of her gaze and sighed, trying to straighten out her shirt to cover the healing laceration across her skin.

"Bo…"

Bo seized Lauren's hands, stopping her from pushing down her shirt. She leaned forward and ran her tongue slowly across the scar, making Lauren shiver. She took her time, licking the raised skin.

"It's healing. It's fine, it's –"

Bo ran her tongue against Lauren's lower stomach causing Lauren to hesitate for a moment as the fire within her reignited quickly. When she stopped speaking, Bo looked up into Lauren's eyes. "I'm not done fighting," she noted, hooking her fingers into the waistband of Lauren's sweats, slowly dragging them off her body, before dropping her face back down, shifted herself between Lauren's open thighs.

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