"Hello, human-face." the voice cut through my fuzzy thoughts and the sounds of the respirator. I opened my eyes slowly, coming face to face with a dark fae shifter, her hard, beautiful features emotionless, almost cruel. But that had been her nature, I'd met this woman years ago.

"Amelia." I wheezed, lifting the oxygen mask, ignoring the way the dried blood cracked and pealed as I pulled. "How are you?" She chuckled and lifted her right hand; the scars marring her wrist were obvious.

"Far better than you." I smiled slightly, weakly. I was tired, blood loss had been extreme. I'd never felt anything like that before. Like I was drowning inside my own body. I'd gasp for air and swallow a mouthful of blood instead. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, for a little while at least. "I never thought you to be one to tangle with a manticore." She added, packing more herb paste around the spines, the juice stung as it leaked into my wounds.

"It caught me with my back turned. How am I still alive? I was haemorrhaging and…"

"And, luck for you, my centuries of medicinal experience let me save you."

"How, exactly, do you two know each other?" Dyson interrupted the conversation, obviously feeling threatened and perplexed by Amelia's presence. She looked at him and back to me.

"Is he always so hostile?" I laughed once and winced.

"Always." I looked back to Dyson. "I save Amelia a long, long time ago…

It'd been the dead of winter. I was walking around a crime scene that I was supposed to be surveying for any evidence that showed which way the person they'd' been tracking had gone. A dark fae shifter had gotten into a fight with a light fae shifter. The light fae had killed the dark one and taken off. Dyson hadn't showed up yet so I took it upon myself to follow the trail. I ended up hiking miles and miles into the mountains surrounding the crime scene when I finally saw her.

A white wolf had her paw snagged in a bear trap, vibrant red blood surrounding her foot and the ground. She whimpered and pulled, cutting the wound deeper and deeper. It was a shifter, I could tell from the look of intelligence in her eyes when she looked at me. The rage when she saw me and snapped her teeth, her eyes locking on the medallion around my neck.

"I'm a doctor." I said softly, taking a step forward, ducking under low tree branches. She snarled and snapped her teeth together. "If you keep struggling." I said cautiously, pulling my medical kit in front of me "you'll lose your hand." She stopped suddenly, looking down at the metal contraption, at the blood and large wound. Her demeanour changed from hostility to pain and the readiness to accept my help. I kneeled down by her front paw, placing both of my hands in between the metal jaws. "On the count of three, I am going to pull them apart, I need you to get your hand out as quickly as possible, ok?"

She shook her head, a signal I took as confirmation. "One, two, three!" I pulled as hard as I could, yanking the strong metal teeth apart. She pulled her foot out instantly and I moved my hands away from the device as quickly as possible, a sudden wave of relief washing over me when it snapped shut and my fingers weren't in it.

She stared at me, her chest rising and falling steadily, eyes locked on me like she thought I'd turn on her now. "Can you shift back?" I asked, pulling a blanket out of my bag, knowing she wasn't going to be dressed. When I looked, she was beautiful.

She had long legs, light skin and elegant features, a face framed by almost-white blonde hair. Her hand shook where the blood ran down the length of her arm. "you're a human." She stated and I smiled

"Your observational skills don't seem to be damaged." I said, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders, helping her pull it around herself. She looked away, an embarrassed smile on her own face.

"That's not exactly the context I intended for." I started digging through the bag, looking for a needle and thread. "I mean you're a human owned by the Ash of the Light Fae. The Doctor of the Light."

"Hadn't realised I'd gained a title. Yet I fail to see your point."

"The Ash would be mighty unhappy if finds out his doctor saved a terrible Dark Fae shifter." I looked at her and saw the caution in her eyes despite the teasing nature of her tone.

"I won't let my morals falter just because of who 'owns' me." She laughed once

"You've got balls for a human."

"I'll take that as a compliment." I said, earning a smile. "As soon as I stitch you up, you'll be free to go, just stay away from where I came from and you'll be fine." I put down the antiseptic swabs and held my hand out to her.

"Lauren, Lauren Lewis." She took it in her own with her good hand.

"Amelia."

"You betrayed the Ash to save a Dark Fae?" Trick asked, looking at the woman dressing my wounds, her lithe body clothed in jeans and a blouse, her long platinum blond hair pulled over one shoulder.

"I saw someone in trouble and I helped her." I looked at him before coughing, spitting out a mouthful of blood into the bowl beside the couch. Amelia set the air mask back on my face.

"I still don't trust her." Dyson growled, arms crossed over his chest. I rolled my eyes, holding the mask firmly in place. Amelia stood up, meeting Dyson eye for eye. Then, after a long moment, she snarled and Dyson leapt back, a genuine look of fear in his eyes for a moment.

"Good thing I don't want your trust, Pup." She smirked and came back to me. Dyson cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. Amelia had been an alpha of her pack the last time I saw her, it must've been an instinctive thing among shifters, they could sense the seniority.

"All that matters right now is that you can help Lauren. I know no one else with as much healing specialties as yourself." Amelia looked over at Trick as he spoke, her light blue eyes appraising and thoughtful.

"She save me a long time ago, I owe her more than just my hand, Trick. I owe her the lives of my children; I wouldn't have been able to feed them if not for what she did for me that day." My eyes started to droop with sudden exhaustion. "So, I'm going to do for her, what hasn't been done for anyone in centuries." The herbs. There must've been something in the herbs she'd packed around the wounds that made me drowsy, that made me this tired. She was preparing me for something, I just couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to figure out. I felt myself being rolled onto my back and pliers gripping the spines, a burning starting in the centre of my chest, slowly seeping in deeper.

I couldn't fight it; I couldn't ask what was happening. I just felt a soft, warm hand smooth over my forehead as my eyes became too heavy to keep open. "Don't worry, Lauren." Amelia's voice echoed in my mind "rest. When you wake, you'll be a new."

Bo

"Bo you have to eat something." Kenzi said, setting down a plate of grilled cheese in front of me.

"I don't have to do anything." I growled, pulling the blanket around me more as I sat on the couch, staring blankly at the TV.

"It's been three days, Trick would've called if something had happened to her. The fact that he didn't call is a good sign."

"He wouldn't let me stay with her. That is not a good sign." I wiped my nose with the tissue crumpled in my hands. Kenzi sighed and laid down on top of me, her cheek pressed against my own.

"You're an emotional wreck. Do you think it would've been good for Lauren, should she have seen you, to see you so destroyed?" I had no answer. "It'll be alright, Bo. Trick knows what he's doing." We were silent for a long moment. "What're you watchin'?" I sighed, and looked for the remote.

"Some moronic kids show I think." I found the remote and she grabbed my hand.

"You might actually learn something" I flicked her nose and she snickered.

"She's real bad, Kenz."

"I know."

"First I lost Dyson because he wanted to save me, then I thought I lost Lauren when the Ash came for her, now I might've lost her for good…"

"Don't say that, Bo. Lauren's like herpes, nothing'll keep her away for long."

"She's dying—"

"She's not."

"She might be dying because she wanted one more night with me."

"It was her choice."

"Then why do I feel so guilty?" To that, she had no answer. Instead, she managed to somehow wiggle under my blanket and wrap her arms around me. Having Kenzi there made it a little better. But I still had no will to eat, no will to move from the couch. Not even to feed. Just knowing that someone I cared about could be lying on a couch, spending her last few moments with some healer hovering over her without me by her side, was torture. I didn't know what was happening over there. I didn't know when or if Lauren would come back. What if the Ash found her? What if they came and took her away? What if I never got the chance to say good bye to her?

"Do you want ice cream?" She asked, pealing her cheek off of mine and looking down at me. I shook my head.

"No, Kenz, thanks for offering though…"

"Anything I can get you?" I laughed once, feeling more tears fill my eyes.

"All I want is for Lauren to be here, healthy and whole."

"Bo"

"If I could just hug her and tell her good bye"

"Bo..!"

"If I could just tell her how much she—"

"How much she what?" I froze, my heart squeezed painfully in my chest. No, no, no. Please, for the love of all that is good, do not let me be insane and hearing things. I held my breath but stood up, turning towards the front door.

My heart skipped a beat.

"Lauren?"

She stood just at the end of the corridor leading into the room I was in. She looked healthy, like the thing that had happened a few days ago was just some messed up nightmare of mine. She was very, very much alive, her eyes trained on me, a look of determination glowing there. "Hello, Bo." She said in her even tone, the voice that screamed professionalism and emotion at the same time. She was alive, standing in my living room, a healthy rosy colour to her cheeks, her hair clean and shiny, an heir to her that was strong, almost intimidating.

I couldn't help myself.

I ran across the room, the tears spilling from my eyes as I jumped on her, throwing my arms around her neck and my legs around her waist. She held me there with ease, cradling my head into her shoulder and holding me up with her other hand. Then I remembered that she'd been near death only fourty-eight hours ago and jumped down. "Oh god, I didn't hurt you did I? You're ok?" She nodded, glancing down at herself.

"I'm fine." I looked at her and pulled down the collar of her sweater, noticing the scarred, but healed, cuts across her chest.

"But…but how?" She pulled my fingers from her collar, pressing them to her lips and then her heart.

"It's a long, long story." She murmured, giving me a warm smile "one we can talk about later." She used one hand to cup my cheek, running her thumb across it. I smiled and leaned my forehead against hers, feeling the tears leak down my face. Happy tears.

Finally, happy tears.

Oh, don't that just suck? Yeah, this is the end of this story but there'll be a sequel.

Eventually.

Reviews MIGHT just sway me to make it faster.

Might.