Lauren spent the last year living an emotionally tidy existence, lining her heart with iron; and she was nearly free. Bo searched for Lauren’s lips but she would not yield, not this time, not again. As their desire intensified and peaked, bodies writhing against the strain of arousal, a sharp and mournful cry burst from Lauren’s lips nearly piercing her armor and cleaving her chest wide open.

Bo awoke to Lauren lacing up her boots in the chair close to her bedside.

”Hey,” Bo instinctively reached for her but felt constricted; her left arm was in a sling. She looked down to see her left leg was thoroughly wrapped as well.

”You’ll be okay now.” Lauren focused on getting dressed and smoothing out imaginary wrinkles. ”You’ll be able to heal the rest of the way on your own. Just let me know if the pain worsens or—”

”Lauren,” Bo appeared deflated. Not what she wanted to hear from the woman she loved, who was clearly in doctor mode.

Lauren slowly stood, knowing that Bo wouldn’t be able to stop her. ”You’re out of the woods. I’ll check up on you later. You really should rest,” she forced as neutral a smile as she could muster, hurrying past Tamsin, Dyson, and Bruce, not stopping to say much except to say that they could go in and see her. Lauren rushed down the path leading away from the clinic and headed straight for the farthest point on the beach and sat heavily on the sand. She felt her eyes sting and her throat swell with the cry she’d been holding in, not wanting anyone to see her. She sat there, her elbows on her knees; her fingertips brushing over the lips that managed to avoid crashing into Bo’s.

She focused on the lapping of the tide and felt a weight plop down next to her in the sand.

”It’s amazing what you can do with an hour and a telescope,” Kenzi said, lightly.

”Stethoscope.”

”I was kidding.” Kenzi bumped her shoulder against Lauren’s.

”An hour and a broken heart,” she exhaled, wearily.

Kenzi sat back on her hands and nodded, letting the silence grow between them. Kenzi waited for her courage to rise before asking, ”But how was it?”

”Precise.” She tried to sound aloof but they both knew that that was impossible.

Lauren dropped her blonde head onto the back of her arms and just let go, her resolve as twisted and unrecognizable to herself as the heap of metal Bo had driven off the side of the road, and sobbed.