Epilogue

Tamsin fumbled with the keys to the front door, her fingers feeling hot, thick and clumsy from the punches she'd thrown earlier. She shuffled through the door once it was unlocked and trudged up the stairs, not bothering to turn on any lights and shedding her shoes, jacket, and bra on her way up. She collided heavily with the doorframe of the bedroom while tugging herself out of her dirt caked jeans, swearing under her breath before holding in a lungful of air to make sure she hadn't woken her girlfriend up. It was pointless though, Lauren was prone to waking up for no other reason than a picture being slightly tilted on the wall and she heard the doctor stir in her sleep, calling out her name groggily.

Tamsin grunted in response, bumbling across the room and flopping onto her stomach on the unoccupied side of the bed, already half asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. The darkness beyond her eyelids flooded into brightness as Lauren turned on the bedside lamp and fluttered about the room, worry evident in her movements even though Tamsin's eyes refused to open to verify the other blonde's concern.

"Tamsin," Lauren repeated, her voice now displaying her wakefulness and concern. "What happened? Are you okay? Is everyone…?"

Tamsin frowned slightly at the tone in the doctor's voice and the bright light beyond her eyelids, groping around for Lauren's hand even though every one of her muscles was screaming a symphony in efforts to get her to stop moving around. She settled on the knee her hand connected with and squeezed to let her know everything was all right. "S'rry, doc." She mumbled sincerely, her voice hoarse with the minimal effort she was putting into speaking. "Bo dropped m'off. Hadda take Kenzi to the lab." She let her hand fall away from the knee under her grip and felt herself being rolled onto her back.

"What happened?" Lauren repeated more firmly. Her weight disappeared from the bed and Tamsin could hear drawers opening and closing. Tamsin wondered if she looked as sore as she felt. She knew from the throbbing heat on her cheek that there was a welt forming on the left side of her face but other than that, she didn't think so, otherwise Lauren would come to bed and stop talking. "Is Kenzi alright? Should I go to the lab?"

Tamsin gestured dismissively and dropped her hand heavily on the bed next to her face. "S'fine." She started, voice slurred with physical exhaustion. "H'arm's broke is all." She blew air through her closed lips briefly. "Bo needs some stitches or a good tumble." She waved the arm hanging off the edge of the bed vaguely towards the pool of dirt-covered jeans by the bedroom door. "Made fi'hundred bucks though." She smiled into the silence that followed because she could hear the frown on Lauren's face.

"Dammit, Tamsin, I told you to stop doing that fight club shit."

Tamsin snorted loudly, unable to laugh properly but her shoulders shook with her silent giggle anyways. It wasn't like Lauren to swear. Only when she was frustrated beyond the point of rationality or she was attempting (and always succeeding) in dousing every one of the Valkyrie's nerve endings in the fires of sudden arousal. Tamsin liked to fight, it was true. She and Bo had a nice little racket going in some of the underground MMA clubs around the city that Kenzi insisted on managing that didn't always turn out to be the easy money they'd wagered it to be. Largely people didn't like losing and took their affronted feelings up with her and Bo after the matches when they could outnumber the two fae, but Tamsin had tried to tone it down in recent months. After all, since the dissolution of the Dark versus Light system several months ago, making them far more of an alliance than they had ever been, Tamsin along with Bo and Dyson had to set some kind of example for everyone else, regardless of her own protestations about that fact.

"Buncha drunk fuckin trolls. Money w'sin their pockets." She hummed, groaning in annoyance, as one of her eyes was pried open and a bight light shown into it. "Got all excited bout the poss'bility of beatin' up the succubus." She jerked her head away from the harsh brightness of the flashlight and screwed her eyes shut again. "Couldn't let her get her ass kicked by herself, could I?"

"You're all heart." Lauren sighed flatly, causing Tamsin to snort again. "Kenzi's okay?"

Tamsin hummed in the affirmative, snatching Lauren's wrist in front of her face before she could shine that damnable light in her eyes again and pulling the doctor down on top of her heavily. "She's fine," she reassured, wrapping a sore arm around Lauren's back to prevent her from sitting up properly though she smiled when she felt the glare burning the skin on her face. "Kenz's fine. Bo's fine. Ev'rybody's fine."

"You're not 'fine.'" She pointed out, her tone reprimanding and resting her head on the valkyrie's chest under her chin.

"There were six of them." Tamsin replied defensively, burying her face in Lauren's hair and breathing in the scent of citrus and something vaguely antiseptic. "Six, doc." She repeated in an effort to drive home her point and mildly offended that Lauren could have possibly thought that anything short of six drunken trolls would cause her to disturb her rest. Trolls were huge and slow, lacking in any manner of agility, but they were incredibly strong and six against three (well, two and a quarter) was quite a challenge. "M'fine, really." She threw her other arm around the doctor and squeezed gently. "Bo just didn't want me to be alone in case I had a concussion or whatever." She chuckled as if the idea was absurd and didn't mention that not only had she been to her own pitifully small apartment so rarely in the last six months that Bo had driven her to Lauren's without a second thought, but that they had driven straight by her place without comment to get to there.

"Well the dilation in your pupils is mostly normal." Lauren informed her, her tone reluctant. "Your left pupil is blown. In a human, I'd suggest possible brain bleeding and a trip to the hospital immediately."

Tamsin hummed, only half paying attention as she stroked Lauren's back through the thin material of the tank top she was wearing. "S'my brain bleeding?"

"No," the doctor admitted with a sigh. "You just got hit really hard."

Tamsin smiled involuntarily when she felt the soft press of lips against her jawline, the doctor's head settling back down on her chest, a cheek pressed firmly against her collarbone.

"How can I stop you from unnecessary fighting?"

The valkyrie shrugged in response, bumping her chin against the top of Lauren's head as her shoulders lifted. "Bury me, I guess." She said nonchalantly, stifling a yawn.

"That's not funny, Tamsin." The human informed her, her staid tone displaying her seriousness.

"S'rry." The apology was automatic, but it was sincere and she sighed into the top of Lauren's head. They were quiet for several long minutes and Tamsin grunted a protest when Lauren rolled away from her, only quieting her whine when the room was plunged into darkness again.

"Tamsin," the doctor asked after a long time. "Are you asleep?"

"Yep." The fae replied, knowing full well Lauren could tell when she wasn't asleep and the question had been slightly rhetorical. She grunted when she felt the resulting poke in her ribs, gentle though it was.

"I've been thinking…" she trailed off for a moment and Tamsin shifted her weight to one side to hold the doctor more firmly, indicating that she was listening. "I've been thinking for a while now." She rephrased before falling silent again.

Tamsin cracked open one eye in curiosity; the room was dim save for the stupid streetlamp forcing light through the blue jacquard curtains, casting everything in a whitish-blue light. She cocked her head to look down at Lauren but could only see the blonde hair on top of her head in the silvery light. "Thinkin what?" she asked curiously, her voice still thick with tiredness.

"I just think that-I mean you've got keys and a bunch of stuff here, right?"

The valkyrie grunted a noise of confusion; not quite processing what Lauren was asking her in her vague terms. She weaved her fingers through the doctor's hair, absently raking over the smoothed tendrils to soothe the nervousness out of the other woman. She thought of the two drawers and half the closet space she'd taken over in Lauren's room already, the guest room across the hall already chock full of boxes and files from cases she'd been working on. "Yeah, I do." She admitted, some of the grogginess leaving her limbs and mind.

"I was just thinking," Lauren started again after a deep intake of air. "That maybe it's time you moved in?" she cleared her throat. "With me, I mean." She added as if that hadn't been clear.

Tamsin opened both eyes fully and shifted her weight to one side, rolling Lauren off of her so she could peer at her in the half-light. The other blonde had her head turned towards the window and Tamsin gripped her girlfriend's chin gently, turning her face back towards her. "Are you serious, Lauren?" she asked, fully awake now though her voice was only just above a whisper.

It was kind of stupid, she knew. They'd been dancing around living together for two months, at least but some part of her still felt like she didn't quite deserve the shorter woman, like she was living on borrowed time until Lauren came to her senses and decided she didn't want to be with her anymore. It was completely owed to her own insecurities rather than how Lauren acted towards her, she knew that, but she had a hard time emotionally conceptualizing things she knew intellectually.

Lauren pressed their lips together, darting her tongue out to taste the slightly bruised skin of Tamsin's lower lip before pulling away and cupping the side of her face, running her thumb against the skin under it, mindful of the bruise blossoming on her face. "I'm serious." She affirmed, knowing that on occasions like this, she had to be completely concrete with the valkyrie, even when she intuitively knew what she was getting at. Her breath stuck sharply and somewhat painfully in her throat when Tamsin kissed her fervidly but instead of pulling away, she threated her hands behind the other blonde's head and pulled her closer.

"We could have our own place now." Tamsin pointed out when she pulled away, resting her weight on one elbow as she followed the curve of Lauren's jaw with her lips and the contours of her body with her free hand.

"Is that a yes?" Lauren groaned, gripping her lower lip between her teeth when Tamsin clamped gently down on the skin where her shoulder turned into her neck. She felt Tamsin laugh against her collarbone as the valkyrie slid her hand underneath her shirt and her touch ghosted over her belly, which was already taught with anticipation.

"F'you think I'm not gonna drive you nuts, I'm for it." Tamsin murmured against the curve of her ear.

The statement had been simple, hopeful even, but somehow completely libidinous and Lauren shivered despite the heat building in her and rolling off the body half on top of her. "Oh, I'm sure you're going to." The doctor teased, tugging Tamsin's shirt over her head and smiling at the ease with which the other woman complied with the action. "I think I can handle that."

Tamsin's laugh sounded strange since she hadn't closed her mouth from running her tongue down the side of Lauren's neck. "First three arguments don't count then." She said playfully.

The valkyrie let out a yelp as she was flipped over and Lauren's strong hands pressed firmly against her shoulders, pinning her to the bed. "Fair deal." She muttered before thoroughly claiming Tamsin's lips. Things weren't going to be easy, things were never easy, but they were both willing to try and make this work, carve a niche out for themselves amid the day-to-day chaos and that's really what mattered. That's really what giving in to each other was all about.

End