“I know.” Bo cut her off. “But you were right. It was time.” She zipped up her boot.

“Where are you going?” Lauren asked, running a hand through her hair.

“To see an old friend.” Bo said solemnly.

And Lauren knew she meant Kenzi. Bo had been avoiding visiting for the past month in her grief haze and now she was setting off on her own–something she hadn’t done since Kenzi had died–and Lauren was left to ponder what had finally snapped Bo out of mourning.

While Bo was out, Lauren took the opportunity to return to her apartment and refresh her clothes stock. She’d been living out of a duffel bag at Bo’s since this had all began. Her apartment smelled stale so she opened a window. She sat at the breakfast bar, cool breeze blowing gently on her face as she inhaled deeply. Life was complicated and, in the world of the Fae, often terrifying. When a chill ran through her, Lauren closed the window firmly, her eyes scanned the open space of her living room but she never felt at home there. She felt like a trespasser, an alien in her own home. She zipped the newly-filled duffel and threw the strap over her shoulder. It was definitely time to go.
__

She dropped her bag by the front door when she returned to the clubhouse where there was still no sign of Bo. Pulling the latest issue of Popular Science from her bag, she plopped onto the couch. She licked her thumb, teasing the pages apart carefully. Lauren tried to focus on the article about cold fusion but her thoughts were a jumbled mess and all she could think about was Bo.

The front door slammed and Bo cruised through the inner door shortly thereafter. Lauren dropped the magazine on the coffee table and stood, wiping her palms on her jeans. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Bo said, eyeing the bag by the door. “What about you? Going somewhere?” Bo slid a pizza onto the table.

Lauren shook her head. “I went out for some clean clothes.”

Bo nodded, satisfied with that answer. “Aren’t you tired of going back and forth?”

Lauren didn’t even have to pretend to think about it. The answer was unequivocally yes and when Bo sat on the coffee table, fingering the pages of Popular Science and looked up into Lauren’s eyes, she knew at once what Bo was going to say. “I was thinking…” she started, inhaling deeply. “Why don’t you stay… get rid of that place in Dark Fae territory, and move in with me.”