Shorter than usual today, but it was the neatest way to cut it. Enjoy!

Weeks passed.

In the time that went by, Bo and Lauren began adapting to a new routine. Mondays and Tuesdays, Bo would work late. She would come home quiet and tired, and while at first that made Lauren anxious she began to ease when she noticed how deeply Bo would sleep on those nights, how in the morning the TV would still be on with Netflix irritatedly asking seriously, are you still watching or what?! Get your lives together and just turn this off, damn.

Wednesdays, Lauren and Bo would meet for lunch. They'd go to strip malls, diners near highways, hole-in-the-wall cafes, anywhere they could find. They'd linger slightly too long and Lauren would have to rush back to the hospital, a smile always on her face.

Thursdays, Bo had therapy. She'd come home before Lauren got there and go for a run. Lauren wasn't sure the distance, and she decided that was probably for the best. Lauren often worked later on Thursday nights, so it was easy to not press too much, to not ask too many questions.

Thursday nights, Bo often didn't sleep well.

Fridays, both Lauren and Bo would make an effort to get off work early, or at least on time. Their weekend would come, with Bo going for runs, days of household chores, evenings at the Dal or going out for dates.

All in all, although not perfect, things fell into a routine. There were variations, of course, but things feel into this comfortable constant. Lauren felt like they were finally beginning to breathe again.

The late nights concerned her, however.

On a clear Wednesday morning, Bo arrived at her office at 8:15. She was later than she would have normally liked to be, but Lauren had woken her up and, well, one thing had led to another.

She surveyed her desk. Files were haphazardly strewn about, and she could already see the red light of her voicemail blinking angrily on her phone. She drew a breath as she rotated her head from side to side, cracking her neck.

Alright, if ever a morning called for coffee, it was this one. She walked to the break room and filled her mug. The ceramic quickly warmed under her fingers and she felt her shoulders untense slightly as the burn penetrated her fingertips. Alright, so maybe I do I have slight addiction issue she thought as she moved her hand to the safety of the handle.

"Bo, do you have a minute?" Mae's voice, coming from Helen's office. Bo took a sip as she began to walk, wincing at the bitterness. Black – she forgot to add anything. But hey, at least she was noticing it now. Progress.

She walked into Helen's office and sat in her usual chair, resting the coffee on the small table beside her. When she glanced up, Helen looked irritated. Mae wore an expression of slight worry.

"What's up?" Bo asked, cautiously.

She saw Helen cut her eye at Mae. It was a look Bo knew well – Helen could have a quick temper. She often relied on Mae to give the calm opening before she spoke in tense situations.

"Is…everything going okay?" Mae asked.

Bo was puzzled. "Um…yes?" she offered hesitatingly as her mind scanned through her open cases. "What's going on?"

"How's Lauren?" Helen bit out. Her tone was harsh.

"Lauren?" Bo asked, her confusion setting in more firmly as she scanned her mental list of open files trying to remember if there was a 'Lauren' in them. Coming up with no one, Bo spoke again. "My Lauren?"

"Bo, I swear to God, if you –" Helen began, her voice starting to raise.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on," Bo said, raising her hands to halt Helen. "What's happening? I'm lost."

"Lauren called yesterday," Mae said, her voice even and steady.

Bo felt herself halt. She knew her expression was easy to read, because immediately Helen gave her a withering look. "Want to explain that?" Helen asked.

Bo took a steadying breath. "Why did she call?"

"Oh, I don't think that's the most important question," Helen shot back. "But I'll answer it anyway. She was worried about you. Because you've been working late so many days."

Bo nodded. Okay. Okay, this was salvageable. "Yeah, I've –"

Helen cut her off as if she hadn't spoken at all. "She said you worked late a lot of days recently. Specifically mentioned Monday, too."

"Uh huh, I've been working on –"

"You know what's funny? I was here late on Monday," Helen cut her off again.

Bo froze as she realized what Helen was saying. "Monday was the file audit."

"Yeah, it was the file audit," Helen shot back. "I was here until seven. What's weird is that you left early."

Bo nodded, looking down. Okay, maybe not so salvageable after all.

Mae cleared her throat. "Bo, you know we always support you –"

"Why are you lying to your wife," Helen cut in, her tone clipped. "Because I can only think of a few reasons why you would be lying, and I've got to tell you, none of them are good."

"I'm not…lying, per se," Bo said, haltingly.

"Per se?" Helen shot back incredulously.

Bo sighed a scrubbed a hand down her face. "Okay, so, yes, I've been…misleading, a little bit. But it's nothing bad, I swear."

Helen shot out a mirthless laugh. "Sure, it's positive, happy lying."

"Well, I am a lawyer, it's kind of our thing," Bo said, testing the waters to see if levity would be accepted by Helen.

Helen's harsh look communicated that, no, this was not a good time for a joke.

"Then what is it?" Mae asked, hazarding the conversation forward, as Helen looked on skeptically, clearly not on board with Mae's line of inquiry.

"It's…okay, so I've been working on something. For Lauren. It's a…surprise thing."

"A surprise," Mae repeated, her tone doubtful.

Bo nodded.

"I mean…that sounds really fake," Helen commented.

Bo drew a deep sigh. "Look, I appreciate that you want to protect Lauren. I'm a little annoyed that you think I'm cheating or something, but whatever."

"No one said cheating," Mae interjected.

"You did, but we didn't," Helen added.

Bo rolled her eyes. "Look, I was just trying to work on a surprise for her, and I got a little caught up in it. I'm not lying to her – or, at least, I'm not lying to her in a way that's harmful. I told her I was working, and I was, I just was working on that."

"What's the surprise?" Mae asked.

"I just…I kind of don't want to say? I mean, I want her to know about it first."

Mae nodded. Helen continued to look unsure and angry. "Bo," Helen said, "if I find out that you're lying to us, I'll –"

"Come on, guys, you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt Lauren!" Bo protested.

"And yet she still called looking for you. Because she thought you were here. Because that's what you told her. When you weren't." Each sentence from Helen was punctuated sharply, and Bo felt herself wince at the tone.

Bo took another deep breath. "What did you say? When she called."

Helen gave Bo a withering look. "I covered for you. I said you were fine, just had a lot of cases going on."

Bo nodded, quietly hating that Lauren had been lied to, but grateful at the same time. "Thanks."

"Hey, Bo?" Mae said, her tone still gentle but strong. "Whatever this surprise is? You need to give it to her soon, or tell her about it, or whatever. Because I can't promise that we'll cover for you again."

"To be clear, I won't be covering for you again," Helen added. "I may be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt once, albeit not happily, but I'm not lying to the woman who, from everything I can see, saved you from yourself. So, if you want to blow up something that seems pretty great, you're going to be doing that on your own. I won't be a part of it."

Bo sat quietly, taking in Helen's words. She felt a strange spark of warmth in her chest as it sunk in that Mae and Helen, people who had become like her family because she was lucky enough to walk over the same bits of flooring with them, were willing to go toe to toe with her to protect Lauren. That they wanted to protect Lauren because they saw what she had done for Bo, because they recognized how special Lauren was.

"Lauren is everything to me," Bo said, quietly, as her thoughts continued to gather.

"We know that," Mae said. "That's why we aren't willing to lie to her."

"We aren't going to be a part of any new and spectacular self-destruction," Helen added.

Bo nodded. They lapsed into quiet for a moment before Bo cleared her throat. "I, um…I'm going to be…leaving early today," she said, her voice low, her eyes downcast. "Probably around 2 or 2:30. I have lunch with Lauren at 12, and then I thought I'd come back for an hour before I…before I left."

When neither Mae or Helen answered, she hazarded a look up and immediately met Helen's harsh and unflinching gaze.

"If…if Lauren calls…"

"I'll tell her you left early," Helen shot back immediately.

Bo sighed. "Just…can you just…tell her I'm in a meeting, or something?"

"Absolutely not," Helen countered. Bo and Helen engaged in silent staring contest.

"Where are you actually going?" Mae asked, cutting in to the gathering tension.

Bo sighed. "I can't…I can't tell you that."

"Then we can't tell her that,' Helen fired back.

Bo scrubbed a hand down her face. "Come on, guys, I'm not doing anything bad!"

"We don't know what you're doing at all!" Helen shot back, her voice almost raised.

"Why would you assume I'm doing something wrong?!"

"Two words. Kevin Rainer."

The name stopped Bo cold.

"Yeah," Helen continued. "How many times did we have to cover for you with him? How many 'meetings' were you in when he called?"

"That was different," Bo deflected.

"Which is why we will be acting differently now,' Helen countered.

Bo wanted to argue. She wanted to fight back. Instead, she nodded. "Okay. Okay, you're right."

Mae put a hand over her chest in mock shock. "Oh my God, Hell has frozen over."

Bo gave a weak smile. "Are we…good?" she asked, looking primarily at Helen.

Helen blew out a sigh and shook her head. "Get your shit together, Dennis. Yeah, we're good. For now."

Bo nodded. "Okay. I have to go get ready for court," she said, standing and picking up her rapidly cooling mug. She took a quick sip as she walked out of the room, the bitterness not registering at all.

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