Title: Everything Will Be Alright Tomorrow

Author: h-bomba

Rating: M

Summary: AU. An exploration of zombie tropes with Lost Girl characters. Usual rules apply = Doccubus, even in a zombie apocalypse.

A/N: This is a departure from my usual, but I hope you all will read and enjoy.

Warnings: Character death

Words: 8,300 (complete)

The generator had attracted some unwanted attention. Moaning filtered through the paper-thin walls as Bo and Kenzi stuffed supplies into a pair of bags. Lauren stood behind them double checking the supplies in her med kit. It had been 17 days since the first reported illness. Kenzi loaded her crossbow as Bo unsheathed her sword. The generator sputtered and the lights dimmed before falling silent. The darkness enveloped them.

There was a shuffle of feet and then a match strike. The flame lit the room suddenly and the women huddled together.

"I told you we shouldn't have used the generator." Kenzi finally spoke.

"In my defense, we don't have a flashlight and I'm tired of creeping around in the dark," Bo countered.

"I think we need to be focusing on how we're going to get back to the car," Lauren said.

It had been Kenzi's idea to backtrack to the clubhouse because she knew there were supplies, hoping that they hadn't been pilfered by passing gangs in the days since they left.

"Did you get what we came for?" Bo asked Kenzi.

Things were the same as the day they left. Charred by Molotov cocktails, sofa flipped, magazines shredded like confetti scattering the floor. Kenzi prowled the kitchen. "Yeah, yeah, give me a minute." She rustled through the cabinets. "Aha!" she exclaimed. "Got it," she said, stuffing the object into her backpack.

Bo peered through the wood planks nailed over the window. "A dozen on the lawn, five at the car and a shitload coming up the road," Bo said, tapping her finger on the stud in the wall. "We gotta roll, Kenz."

Kenzi appeared behind her. "Okay, Skeeter, where we rolling to?"

"Higher ground," Bo decreed. Bo led the charge through the front door. She swung the katana with a ferocity like no other. It was on her third beheading when a crossbow bolt sailed past her head. "Jesus, Kenz, watch where you're pointing that."

Kenzi crawled under Bo's arm and into the back seat. Lauren took the passenger seat and when Bo had done away with the fifth infected, she took the helm and brought the Camaro to life again.

"So when did we decide higher ground was the plan?" There was a rustle from the back seat where Kenzi had her very own urban sprawl happening.

"Last night, Lauren told me about this cabin in the woods-"

"She did, did she?" Kenzi's tone was bitter and she kicked the back of the passenger seat in the Camaro.

"What are you eating?" Bo asked.

"Nothing." Kenzi tried to hide her mouthful of pastry. Lauren reached into Kenzi's bag and pulled out a box of pop tarts. "Hey!" she yelped, swinging at the blonde holding her prize.

Bo's eyes met Kenzi's in the rear view mirror. "And this is why you don't get to make the decisions about where we go."

They sat in relative silence until Bo turned on the radio. The Camaro roared as they sped onto the highway, dodging stopped cars in every lane, the trick was not to stop unless you absolutely had to and there was no way in hell Bo was going to stop on a highway full of deserted cars. Their drivers can't have gone far. The moon shone like a sun in the night sky, bright, white, like high beams, illuminating the ditches as they drove.

The outbreak started in a human pharmaceutical company's research department in the heart of the city. An hour after initial exposure, the virus had replicated itself over three hundred times. In the hours to follow, they would see the zombie apocalypse go from joke to reality as friends fell to the zombie menace. Fae or human, it didn't matter, one bite from the infected and they were done for. But Fae infected were literally ticking time bombs who, with their glowing eyes would explode on contact. Lauren hypothesized that the infected Fae were unable to harness their abilities and therefore self-destruct. Of course, the impending commotion would alert the hordes to their location and they'd be in for a night of fighting. Lauren would rather see them get safely to the cabin before dawn.

With one hand, Bo pulled a silver foil pouch from the box of Pop Tarts before tossing the box into the back. She ripped open the foil pouch with her teeth and passed a pastry to Lauren who was looking unsure.

"She doesn't even want it," Kenzi harped.

"Shut up, she does, too." Bo making little progress as she drove around the cars on the highway, paused momentarily and looked at Lauren before taking a bite. "It's strawberry. It's good."

"I've had Pop Tarts before," Lauren said defensively. "I prefer the chocolate ones."

Lauren looked at the silent pair beside her and Bo spoke again. "Give her a chocolate tart."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about." Kenzi sat back and nibbled on the pastry.

"Kenzi," Bo warned.

"Fine." Kenzi dug into the bag and pulled out another box of the illusive Pop Tarts. She snatched the strawberry tart from Lauren's hand from above and replaced it with a chocolate tart.

Lauren smiled happily at the first bite. She hadn't eaten one of these since she was a kid, a kid at a friend's house because her parents would never buy anything with refined sugars in it. She wondered if her parents were safe. Who was she kidding, she knew they were dead. Her parents were not built for roughing it and there's no way they had learned hand to hand combat since she saw them last. She looked at Bo who was happily noshing on a baked treat they had literally risked their lives for.

Bo had saved her life no less than five times.

The first time her life was in jeopardy, she welcomed it. The Lich had held his knife against her throat and she looked into Bo's tearful eyes feeling nothing but peace before Bo had stood and revealed her true powers.

Now, sitting in a bucket seat beside Bo, the feeling came back to her. The awe she still felt was overwhelming and so was the inexplicable feeling of pride.

The next time, Bo had fought poor Nadia, or the Garuda if you wanted to get technical about it. She had thrown Lauren against the wall, choked her before coming at her full force when Bo silenced it with her blade.

The third time, in Hecuba prison when she had washed the Skunk Ape away to deliver the Wombly. The Amazons were going to tear her apart before Bo used her lips to discern the sex of the Warden.

More recently, Bo had rescued her from Taft's Fae prison. She had saved Aife and Dyson and any number of Fae imprisoned there, but Bo had held Lauren's hand all the way out of the compound as if to say don't ever leave me again. She also protected her from the blood thirsty Fae who called for her execution because she abandoned the Light to work with a villain like Taft. They went into hiding for months on end. Lauren would never forget the catacombs at the Dal for their hospitality. Even if she had to feed the under Fae.

And finally, the fifth time. She had followed Bo into battle, her med kit at the ready. They weren't prepared for the ambush that flooded in behind them. Lauren pushed the infected away as Bo swung her sword with authority, beheading all in her range. It was a gruesome end to what she knew wasn't quite life anymore.

It was a time when they were less prepared than they were now, less aware of their weaknesses. It was a time when Bo got separated from Kenzi, and Lauren hadn't developed her inner slugger yet. And soon enough, Lauren was bloodied and hanging onto life by a thread. Bo had dragged her into an abandoned convenience store and held her as she cried. With so few uninfected crossing their path, Bo was as good as human. She was just as vulnerable to their attacks with no way to heal.

"Let me go," Lauren whispered.

"No," Bo shook her head, tears streaming down. "You're not leaving me."

Bo cradled Lauren's head against her shoulder and sobbed.

"I'll be okay," she reassured.

"No. I can fix this."

Bo drew Lauren into a kiss, a soft press before her lips closed over Lauren's. She rocked her back and forth, lifting her chin and expelling her chi into Lauren's open mouth. Lauren gasped, life filling her veins once again. Her revitalization had come at a price. Bo was depleted and far from fighting shape. So they had locked themselves in the cash room for a week as Bo drank from Lauren a little more with each passing day until she was renewed. Locked in that tiny room, away from the end of the world, they had made love repeatedly. It was a practical exchange as much as a passionate one. There wasn't much time or occasion for sex in the zombie apocalypse. And there was even smaller chance of getting ten minutes to oneself with Kenzi around.

"What's up, Doc?" Kenzi leaned in between the front seats and startled Lauren out of her memories. "You gonna eat that?" She pointed to the half-eaten Pop Tart dangling in Lauren's hand.

"What? No, take it." Lauren held the tart out for the younger woman.

Kenzi snatched the Pop Tart and fell back into the back seat, moaning, "Are we there yet?"

"Get comfortable, Kenz, it's gonna be awhile." Bo said, laying a hand on Lauren's thigh.

Kenzi groaned, kicking back and flipping through a fashion magazine. "Stuck with Thelma and Louise at the end of the world and all I got was this stupid Pop Tart." She took a bite of the pastry

Lauren tucked her feet beneath her, curling up into the bucket seat.

"Sleep," Bo said quietly. "I'll wake you when we get there."

The squeal of brakes made her stir. They were screaming down an unpaved road, the bumps were hardly noticeable because the Camaro was floating above the washboard ruts as it sped into the night.

Lauren rubbed her eyes and turned to admire Bo's profile.

She turned to face her. "Won't be long now," Bo said with a lopsided smile.

Lauren smiled and rested her head on Bo's shoulder, hugging her arm against herself. "I hardly remember what life was like before the outbreak."

"I remember," Bo nodded, unable to disguise the twinkle in her eyes.

The yawn escaped Lauren before she had the chance to suppress it. "You'll have to tell me about it some time."

The Camaro decelerated as the road forked. A few more miles down the line and Bo eased into their exit. The forest grew thick around the road and Bo slowed, approaching the cabin at the end of the laneway cautiously.

Bo kicked open her door and, leaving the Camaro running, lifted her sword and approached the cottage. Minutes passed before Bo returned to the car.

"All clear. Let's get the supplies inside."

Hefting the supplies inside took longer than Bo planned and by the time the three women were sitting on the sofa locked inside the cabin, dawn was in full bloom. The sky was neon pink, a light dusting of clouds stretched across it.

Bo sighed. "Kenz, you've got first watch."

"Of course I do."

"Don't get all pouty, you slept the whole way here and I'm exhausted."

"Sure you are, I've heard that one before. Need I remind you about that time you and Hotpants were playing doctor while I was fending off a zombie horde?"

"They aren't zombies," Lauren pointed out.

"It was only a few infected," Bo corrected.

"Whatevs. I got this. Go on, get out of here."

Lauren followed Bo to a bedroom in the back of cabin. The double bed was made and she could tell that despite all of Bo's posturing, she wanted nothing more than to sleep for days. Bo crawled onto the bed and flopped over on her back. Lauren set the baseball bat beside the bed before climbing onto it. It was moments like these that impressed upon her how fleeting life can be.

"See you tomorrow," Bo mumbled as she faded out of consciousness. Bo respected the moment but she was always one step ahead of it. Even now, Bo welcomed the days to come as hellish as they may be.

Lauren didn't know how long they would survive this apocalypse, but every moment that Bo held her like this gave her hope for the next day that they might share this again.

When she awoke, Bo was gone. Lauren stared at the ceiling and exhaled. Another day. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, lifting the baseball bat she had come so accustomed to carrying. After her close call Bo told Lauren that she had to learn self-defense because she couldn't lose her, too. And Lauren remembered the first time she had swung for an infected's head. She swung with conviction and utter terror. When she landed the critical hit the sickening crack of wood on teeth made her faint. She was a doctor, she had told Bo, she should be in a lab trying to find a cure not bashing in the heads of the infected as part of a girl gang criss-crossing the countryside in a battered yellow Camaro.

But this was her life now, her life with Bo and Kenzi. It was her job to keep them safe, to be their doctor, to dress their wounds. And Lauren was okay with that. She emerged into the living room where Kenzi and Bo were playing cards in the midday sun.

Bo set her cards to the side and smiled at Lauren. "Hey."

Sitting on the arm of the couch, Lauren brushed a hand over Bo's hair. It was intimate touches like these that comprised their daily life. Kenzi would 'urgh' and 'ew' but they all knew she was as okay as she was ever going to be about it. Lauren peered at Bo's cards.

"Better watch out, Kenz."

The human bond she had come to share with Kenzi was probably the most startling of everything that had happened. But it was this friendship that kept her calm when Bo would run off on her own and all Lauren could do was wait till she came back. Kenzi would use a colloquialism, make Lauren laugh and ultimately take her mind off of Bo. And late at night when Bo was still absent Lauren would be the one that settled Kenzi's nerves by explaining Bo's physiology, often calling her a "beautiful creature" much to Kenzi's amusement.

Today, however, was like a scene from a sitcom. A succubus and ragamuffin play cards for Oreo cookies as the Yale trained doctor looks on.

"So, what's the plan?" Lauren placed a hand on Bo's shoulder.

"I think we should take it easy for a few days."

"Shiz, dude, we should just stay here."

Unfortunately, there was little to eat in their coolers or other inventory. They would always have to keep moving to collect the food they would need to survive. The apocalypse was exhausting.

On day three, Lauren luxuriated in the feel of reading in bed. She knew it would be a long time before she was able to sleep in a clean bed again or had time to read. She was loathe to admit that she would miss this place. Someone else's cabin, someone else's bed, someone else's book. She felt like Goldilocks.

Bo rushed into the room. Instinctually, Lauren stood up and reached for her bat.

"Easy," Bo warned, reaching behind her and taking the bat away.

Lauren took a step back. "What is it?"

"Settle down, slugger." Bo wrapped her hands around her waist. "Kenzi is asleep."

Lauren knew what that meant. Take off your clothes and tell me how you want it. Bo's mouth descended upon her. This dance wasn't unfamiliar, Bo had needs and Lauren was the only one who could fulfill them now, for which Lauren knew she should be grateful. That's all she ever wanted after all: Bo to herself. Lauren was never one to go from zero to sixty in a kiss or touch but with Bo she was always easily swept up. Her clothes fell away to the floor as Bo pushed her back onto the bed. Stripping away a layer of her own clothing, Bo climbed over her. Her smile was dazzling. Even after losing everything, Bo still found a way to smile for her. To reassure her that it was okay. That they had that moment and nothing mattered beyond it.

Bo was reckless today, wild within her arms. She bucked hard against Lauren's thigh, the staccato of her hips becoming unpredictable and captured Lauren's mouth with her own again. Her lips were sweet and red as cherries was the last thought that crossed her mind before Bo's fingers brushed against her.

Lauren faltered. The sound of Bo's breath in her ear was ragged and untamed. She pressed Lauren into the mattress, pinning her shoulders. She looked up at Bo, her hips eagerly lifting off the mattress. Bo tore at her jeans, stripping her legs quickly. Her hand came to rest on Lauren's waist. The look that flashed in Bo's eyes was fierce and it excited Lauren.

Bo crooked her finger around the waistband of her panties and slowly pulled them down. Carefully, she lowered herself to the bed and covered Lauren with her mouth. All conscious thought escaped her as Bo took her time, teasing her with every twist of her tongue, Lauren was lost in the plot. She looked down at Bo between her legs and the breath caught in her throat. There would come a time when she would wish that she had waited patiently for release but Lauren was hungry for it now and she pushed her hips against Bo's mouth.

When her hips jerked and pure release washed over her skin, still pricked with goosebumps, Lauren called her name. Her chest heaved as Bo crawled over her again, kissing her with an unmatched passion.

Lauren took a mental inventory as she always did after they had sex these days because she never knew when it would be the last time. She was warmed by her orgasm, beyond wet and exhausted. The ache in her body was always there after having sex with Bo. To be touched so deeply, that she could feel it in her bones left Lauren feeling exhilarated.

And love. There was no way for Lauren to quantify the love that she felt. All she knew was that it was overwhelming in every respect and like no other love she had felt before.

End pt. 1