Fic: You and Me and Her Together (Bo/Lauren/Nadia, 6/9)

[fembuck]

  Title: You and Me and Her Together
Author: Janine
Fandom: Lost Girl
Pairing: Bo/Lauren/Nadia 
Rating: Explicit (eventually)
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Summary:  After Kenzi goes on the road with Nate, Bo unexpectedly finds herself spending time with Lauren and Nadia, and as their lives become more entwined they find their relationships growing and changing into something they could never have imagined. 

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

Part VI

Two Days Later …

The lab was dark, except for the office in the back – Lauren's office – when Bo entered and silent but for the whirring of the equipment around her.

There had been a time when the layout of the room was familiar to Bo and she could navigate it in the dark by memory. There had been a time when paying late night visits to Lauren in the office had been part of her routine. She remembered those late night sessions with Lauren with melancholy nostalgia. They'd always started out with the best of intentions but the sessions had always devolved into the two of them eating Chinese take-out (because Lauren never remembered to eat during the day) and talking for hours.

Oh to be young again, Bo thought, releasing a soft sigh as she carefully made her way towards Lauren's office.

Bo lifted her hand when she reached the door to give a knock and announce her presence, but Lauren was hunched over her desk, her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration, and Bo paused. A pair of glasses hung precariously on the tip of Lauren's nose, and as she read she sucked absently on the tip of a pen. Lauren, adorably lost in her nerdy world of medicine, was a sight Bo hadn't seen a while, not sense Lauren had been removed from her house by Lochlyn, and Bo hadn't realized how much she'd missed seeing Lauren like that until she was gloriously before her.

Before things got complicated, Bo would have just leaned against the doorframe and watched Lauren until the blonde became aware of her presence. Lauren would have startled slightly when she became aware of Bo, and then she would have smiled at Bo and placing her hand over her heart as she caught her breath. Bo had loved to witness that. She had loved to see the way Lauren's face transformed when her eyes landed on her. The way her eyes widened and lips curved up as her heart picked up speed.

But that was before things got complicated.

"Knock, knock," Bo said as she rapped lightly on the door. "Sorry," she added at second later when Lauren looked up abruptly and gasped, "Didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine," Lauren breathed out blinking over at Bo a few times before she frowned and gave her head a little shake. "I mean, I'll be fine. I'll live. Hi," she continued, offering Bo a small smile which Bo returned. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Bo responded, her smile turning rueful as she looked down at her boots. "I know you're a doctor and everything, but someone doesn't need to be dying for me to drop by."

"No," Lauren agreed lightly, "But usually," she added, smiling gently when Bo looked over at her.

"I heard you were working late," Bo began a bit awkwardly a second later, shifting her weight from foot to foot as her eyes scanned Lauren's office restlessly. "I thought you might like a care package," she continued, lifting the brown paper bag in her hand up to Lauren's eye level. "It's really unhealthy and completely delicious."

"Sounds wonderful," Lauren replied smiling. "Sit down, you're making me nervous," she continued nodding to the chair on the opposite side of her desk which she started to clear up as Bo walked over. "Heard from who?"

"What?" Bo asked, thrown by the offhand question.

"Who'd you hear I'd be working late from?" Lauren clarified, still tidying and avoiding Bo's eyes.

"Uh …" Bo began.

"Nadia talked to you," Lauren stated, her voice monotone as she finally looked over at Bo.

"Yeah. Is that a bad thing?" Bo asked curiously.

"No," Lauren sighed, giving her head a shake.

She wasn't upset that Bo was there. It was just that when you loved someone you wanted them to see your good attributes and be blind to your flaws, but Nadia knew her too well. She knew Lauren's virtues and her vices, and Nadia knew that she would be too cowardly to approach Bo on her own, which shamed Lauren.

"We should talk," Lauren breathed out.

Bo gave a humourless little laugh as she opened up the bag of take-out.

"That's exactly what Nadia said," Bo commented as she began to remove the food containers. "I just don't know what we have left to talk about," Bo sighed, looking at Lauren for the first time since she'd started taking out the food.

"Well," Lauren said softly as Bo slid a paper box with noodles over to her. "There's the fact that I love you."

Bo stopped moving, and for a second she stopped breathing.

"When we were … when I was staying with you, I," Lauren breathed in deeply and started to blink as tears began to sting her eyes. "I was happier than I ever thought I'd be again. My heart," Lauren gasped pressing her hand to her chest. "I didn't think that I would … that after Nadia, that I could … and then you came along and I fell … so hard," she whispered shakily. "Waking up with you," Lauren began closing her eyes, "I couldn't have been anything other than in love with you, and I didn't want to be. I wanted that … more of that … forever, and then …"

Lauren didn't have to finish the sentence.

They both knew how it ended.

"She was cursed because of me you know," Lauren said sounding so pained that Bo wanted to hop over the desk and hug her. "She lost five years of her life because the old Ash wanted me and he knew that she was my Achilles Heel," Lauren continued, and she was shaking slightly though Bo couldn't tell whether it was from emotion or from trying to contain her emotions. "I owed it to her to be there, to be completely there when she regained consciousness. I had to. I wanted to, but she'd been in that pod for five years and you were in my thoughts, always. Some day's it felt like I couldn't think about anything but you."

Bo was tense, her guts were churning and her heat was hammering so fast that she was worried it might rip its way out of her, but she forced herself to be still and to listen and to wait until Lauren was finished before saying or doing anything.

"When she woke up," Lauren breathed out, "when her eyes opened and looked at me … five years was like five minutes. It was like she had never been gone. I felt … I hadn't been sure what I'd feel. I'd been scared … but I loved her. I still loved her as much as I had before and I thought that was it. I decided that was it … and then I saw you again. I saw you and," Lauren breathed in shakily as she blinked against the tears forming in her eyes. "I still loved you too, Bo. The sight of you made my heart sing," Lauren whispered blinking against the tears in her eyes, her voice so choked the word was almost inaudible, "and I didn't … I've never … how does someone … I don't know, I didn't know, and I think I was really horrible to you at times and I'm sorry, Bo. I'm so sorry. I just didn't know how …"

"To deal with being in love with two people at the same time," Bo finished for her and Lauren nodded. "And you're still …?" Bo began but before she could finish the question Lauren nodded again.

Bo closed her eyes and took a deep breath, bringing her hand up to rub at her eyes a second later. She didn't know what she was feeling, but resentment, anger and frustration were high on the list so she took a minute before speaking to make sure she wouldn't say something that she'd regret.

"Lauren," Bo began carefully. "Why are you telling me this? How is this supposed to help? How," Bo began, voice rising before she paused and took a calming breath. "This is … I can deal with a lot. I've had to deal with a hell of a lot, but this is … what the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

Lauren stared up at Bo for a few seconds and Bo could see the wheels of her brain turning behind her eyes.

"God," Lauren sighed a moment later. "You're going to hate me for this."

Bo snorted at that. Considering what she'd forgiven Lauren so far she couldn't imagine what the blonde had in her back pocket now that she thought it would make Bo hate her.

"How …" Lauren started slowly before stopping to think again.

She ran her hand through her hair agitatedly and then her back straightened and a determined look came into her eyes.

"Do you love me?" Lauren asked, blurting out the question all at once like one would remove an overly sticky bandage.

"What does it matter?" Bo asked and this time she wasn't able to keep the anger completely out of her voice.

She knew it would be like this. She'd told Nadia it would be like this. The outcome had already been determined. There was no point to talking. There was no point to any of this other than to make her more miserable than she had been before.

"I don't want to lose you," Lauren said, her big green eyes shimmering with tears.

"You can't lose me when you've already walked away," Bo replied pushing back her chair and standing up.

"Bo…"

"Lauren, I can't!" Bo exclaimed loudly. "I don't know what this has been about and I don't want to know. I'm going home and I'm …"

"I still want to be with you," Lauren said and Bo stopped talking.

"What?"

"I said that I still want …"

"I heard you," Bo interjected impatiently, "I just wanted to see if you'd have the nerve to say it again," she continued incredulously. "Lauren! What the fuck?"

"That's what I'm trying to explain," Lauren began nervously, shifting anxiously in her chair. "The fuck, I mean. I'm trying to explain the fuck," Lauren responded, her brows creasing together in consternation when she realized that her words weren't coming out the way she wanted them to.

"What about Nadia?" Bo asked impatiently. "Have you suddenly fallen out of love with her in the last five minutes?"

"No," Lauren began carefully.

"Then what the hell?" Bo asked again, emphasizing each word irritably.

"Well," Lauren breathed out, rubbing at her temples. "Nadia and I have talked … a lot," she sighed. She didn't think that she had ever discussed anything except for her dissertation for as long as she and Nadia had talked about this. "And we thought that … well, if it's something that you would be interested in … essentially we thought that maybe we could all … be together?"

Bo was completely silent and still after Lauren stopped speaking, and she stayed that way for long enough that Lauren began to worry, but then Bo's face contorted into a look of bewilderment and she said, "The three of us? Together?"

Lauren nodded.

"This isn't France!" Bo exclaimed indignantly.

"I know," Lauren replied, struggling to keep a straight face.

The situation wasn't funny at all, but the expressions Bo could get on her face were priceless, and Bo was especially cute when she was flummoxed and/or indignant, and she was both at that moment.

"The three of us?" Bo asked again, moving back over to the chair she had abandoned, plopping down in it. "How do you mean the three of us?" she asked, and Lauren relaxed marginally.

Bo was asking questions.

Questions were good.

Questions meant she was thinking about it.

"Do you mean 'me and you' and 'you and Nadia', or …?" Bo trailed off uncertainly.

"You and Nadia as well?" Lauren said softly, following Bo's thought to its logical conclusion.

"Yeah," Bo said slowly, "Is that a thing, or …?"

"Would you like to be with Nadia?" Lauren asked gently, watching Bo carefully.

Bo looked at her suspiciously, as if Lauren had just handed her a pop quiz.

"Yes?" Bo said carefully, studying Lauren's face. "Unless that means I can't be with you."

"It doesn't," Lauren assured her.

"Then yes," Bo stated, firmly this time. "Even if you're not home?" she asked suddenly as if hoping to catch Lauren in a lie.

"Even if I'm not home," Lauren confirmed and Bo looked thoughtful again.

"So, Nadia … she … likes me?" Bo asked softly, her voice hopefully curious.

"She likes you," Lauren breathed out. "Like likes," she added smiling a little. "She's very … smitten with you. I'd be jealous if I didn't understand exactly what she was feeling."

Bo released a long breath of air and leaned against the back of her chair.

"So, you ... and me ... and her ... together," Bo whispered contemplatively. "Wow. Okay," she continued nodding her head once, and then a couple more times in quick succession as her mind fully wrapped around the idea. "Tonight?" Bo asked focusing on Lauren again.

Lauren smiled at that and released a happy and relieved rush of air.

"Would you like that?" she asked as she pushed a box of food over to Bo.

"Yeah," Bo replied trying not to sound as eager as she felt.

"Then we better eat up," Lauren husked, feeling her heart pick up at the thought of finally touching Bo again. "I think we're going to need our energy."

To be continued...