The Five Ways

Season 3 spoilers. Don't read if you haven't watched. Based off a prompt from livejournal and impish_dragon.

Midweek is not the best time to come to the Dahl, not if you're looking for distractions. Tricks there, of course, and the odd wayfarer stopping in for a drink, but otherwise, nothing. Trick has sent the waitress home, the new one that Hale has been going after like a dog in heat, so tonight it's just Dyson, a tall glass of beer, and a troll at the other end of the bar. But you don't come to a bar midweek to dance or rabble rouse.

Dyson nurses the beer. It's hard to even get interested in that. Since Kenzi got back his love from the Norn (and he still needs to ask her how she managed that) he's been feeling a different kind of emptiness. It's not Bo is with Lauren—if he's honest, he's happy they have each other. He still doesn't trust the blonde doctor, but she's proven her worth after the battle with the Garuda. She'll never be enough for Bo, but he wasn't enough for Bo either. He's not sure anyone will be. He tells himself that's not bitterness, just honesty. She's a succubus after all.

No, the disinterest isn't Bo-related. It's starting to become a problem on the job. He can barely focus on the case, he's driven to distraction.

He catches a scent. It's something sweet. He looks down the bar at the troll and instantly dismisses the possibility. Maybe Trick has opened a bottle of some new wine. Something that smells like sugar and a hint of something else, something wicked. He can't quite put a finger on it. Something ambrosial, and the smell is so intense, he can taste it.

"Trick. Did you just open a bottle of something?" Trick comes back from behind the bar where he was talking to the Troll.

"Just some bagh. Standard troll fare." Trick motions to a bottle of brackish liquid.

"I don't suppose it smells sweet?" Dyson asks. He needs to find the source of that delicious smell.

"It's bog water from his homeland." Trick walks to him, leaving the troll behind. "If I'm going to be perfectly honest, it smells like sewage, but it's considered poor manners to not have some kept just in case."

"I can smell something…it's hard to describe. It's like sugar, but not too sweet. With a kick to it." Dyson puts his hands over his face. "It's been a long day."

"I'm surprised you can smell anything but the bagh." Trick held his nose. "It's pretty pungent stuff. I can't wait til Hale has spoken to all the elder families, so I can start keeping a regular bar again."

Dyson nodded, half paying attention. The scent would not leave him, and to be honest, he didn't want it to. It seemed to fill the part of him that was empty. He took a longer draw from his beer.

Kenzi stumbled into the bar clearly upset, her covered arms wrapping around her waist as she came to sit next to Dyson at the bar.

"Remind me to fuck that Mesmer up the next time I see him." Kenzi puffed. "Trick, beer me."

"Vex? Our little impotent friend?" Trick asked as Kenzi shrugged off her jacket and put it on the back of the chair.

"I'll show him impotence." Kenzi drank a quick swig.

"What did he do this time?" Dyson asked.

"He threw out all of my make-up. Said," She started imitating the Dark Fae's British accent. "That if I wanted to look like a sad doll I was succeeding. Then said something about not knowing how to put on my own mascara." She pointed to her face, slightly less done up than normal. "This is all Bo's stuff, which I had to dig out of the footlocker."

"I'm surprised you didn't make him buy you new make-up." Dyson interjected. "He's still wealthy"

"God." Kenzi jumped off the seat. "You're right. That was probably his plan all along. He just really wants a make-up buddy. That Mesmer is footing the bill tonight!" She left the Dahl with a pep in her step.

Dyson noticed she had forgotten her jacket, but when he bent down to pick it up, he was entranced. There was that scent, almost stitched into the black leather. It was fascinating, a deep combination of sugar and honey, with an edge he couldn't quite describe. He had never smelled anything as fantastic in his life.

He threw down a couple of dollars to pay his tab, and left, carrying Kenzi's jacket. He had to find out what other Fae Kenzi had been tangling with recently.

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