Lauren leaned it to whisper. “Did you get everything?”

Kenzi nodded and answered looking straight ahead, her voice uncharacteristically soft and monotone. ”Passports. Medical history. Driver’s licenses. Bank accounts. I still got game, yo. I feel fucked but this stuff I can still do.” She croaked a bit of a laugh, half-heartedly amused at herself. ”And you?”

”Plane tickets, first class,” she smiled with pride. ”Hotel reservations—I only booked a week. We can decide what’s next later. Car rental agreement. Oh, and this—”she fished out a resealable bag from her carry-on.

Kenzi turned and her eyes opened wider, seeing the neat, foil-wrapped wedges. ”Pizza?” she exhaled, absent was the usual excitement pizza would bring.

”Just something familiar to help pass the time. I bought a double cheese and sliced it up for the plane. A snack that plays well both hot and cold.”

Kenzi squeezed the doctor’s hand again. ”Everything familiar is what we’re leaving behind…but it was a nice thought, Hotpants. Thanks.” Kenzi shifted her lithe frame in her seat to face Lauren, her brows pinched low and wrinkling her forehead slightly. ”I didn’t call her. Just so you know. Did you?”

Lauren shook her head.

Kenzi shifted again. ”But do you think we should? I mean, we’re both fucked here but still—”

”—Kenzi,” Lauren stopped her, her voice gentle. ”if you’re having second thoughts—”

”No, Lauren, I’m not.” Her tone changed, her confidence building as she straightened up in the chair. ”Without Hale, there’s nothing left for me there. Not even—” she stopped herself as the face of her ex-best friend flashed across her mind but she recovered herself quickly, throwing a weak smile across her lips. ”It’s Team You and Me now…Team Human and in case I forget to say it, thank you for taking me with you…and for the first class tickets. Wa-bam!”

This was the Kenzi Lauren knew, spritely, spirited, the finder of every silver lining but then her head dropped and Lauren figured it must have been because Kenzi didn’t want Lauren to see her cry. It was just as well. Lauren didn’t handle public crying very well. She, herself, was through with crying. Lauren made a mental note to improve her self-discipline, adopt a more clinical demeanor in as many situations as possible. Easier to recover that way. Easier to think clearer, too.  She was through with feeling anything, at least for a while, and that’s one thing she and Kenzi shared—the overwhelming desire to close off the world and retreat, somewhere, anywhere as long as it wasn’t near the Fae and all the monsters in, over, and under the bed. All connections severed, their resignations tendered and inked in silence. ”You know, Kenzi,” Lauren wanted to soothe her, ”London is a great city. We can try it out, right? And if we don’t like it there, we’ll find someplace else, anywhere you want, move until we find just the spot that—”

A deep voice interrupted from above. ”This is the pre-boarding call for passengers on Air Canada Flight 909 traveling to Heathrow. Passengers in First Class may now make their way to the gate. Please have your boarding passes visible.”

Lauren and Kenzi nodded at each other, holding each other firmly with their eyes. ”Team Human,” Lauren smiled with her lips pressed together. ”This is it. Are you ready?”

Kenzi sniffed and hugged her quickly. ”Let’s do this.”

Together they rose, inching toward the gate and a future of unfamiliar places, faces, and with any hope, peace and anonymity. Their ride with the Fae was over and if they stayed they had but two guarantees: isolation and quite possibly, death. It wasn’t even their fight anymore. Was it ever? Lauren, a woman of science, Kenzi, a survivor of the streets: united in the pointlessness of staying and the need to run. Held together by heartbreak and a little bit of hate, they’d reinvent themselves. Again. That would be enough, wouldn’t it? A desire to mend? To write a new story? One where that goddamn Bo could never find them.