InsaneJournal

Who: Lara and Bo
What: Dream angst and wedding discussions
when: recently
where: Croft Manor
status: complete
Rating: Pg-13


It seemed that Bo’s dreams were on a roll lately, having the sudden pick up in the frequency of them. And things were getting more and more dire in them. The Garuda was lurking on the horizon, Dyson had gone AWOL, Ciara had left, and Lachlan was actually making nice with her. But then one thing seemed to be happening after another. Lachlan had suspected that one of the high ranking Light Fae members, the Glaive, of having allied herself with the Garuda. Bo had been tasked to neutralize her, bring her in dead or alive. Bo had delivered her alive.

Somewhere in there, she and Kenzi had had a talk regarding Nate and the coming fight. It had pained her, but she’d told Kenzi to take Nate and go somewhere safe, to avoid the fight with the Garuda. Then Nadia had apparently also attacked Kenzi, so Bo had gone over to Lauren’s to confront Nadia. It was not an encounter that ended well. Nadia had begged both Lauren and Bo to kill her, to stop whatever was taking her over. That something was the Garuda. Bo refused to kill her, however as Nadia turned to attack Lauren, Bo grabbed Nadia and stabbed her, killing her.

Another death on her conscience, despite Nadia having asked for it, and thanking her for doing it. This one was more complicated because Nadia was Lauren’s girlfriend. When she got back home, she found Kenzi curled up on her bed, and found out she’d broken up with Nate to protect him and because she chose her life with Bo over him. Overall, it was an emotional dream, one that when Bo woke up, she sat bolt upright, looking down at her hands.

“No, no no no,” she said as tears stung her eyes. There was no blood on her hands, but she slid out of bed and made for the bathroom, having the need to wash her hands even though it wouldn’t wash away what she’d done in her dream.

It always was the worse when dreams suddenly accellerated. Even if Lara’s had slowed to a stop, she still feared the day when her adventures would continue. Not as much as she feared every dream Bo and Kenzi seemed to have. With those dreams came metaphysical baggage, at best.

Bo’s tossing had woken her, and she was alert when her fiance stumbled out of bed. She followed her into the bathroom, and froze, watching her wash her hands. It was a familiar gesture, once she’d done a thousand times. She stepped over, taking Bo’s hands and turning the faucet off. “You could scrub them raw but that won’t wash them clean. Believe me, I’ve tried.” When Bo played those games, she’d probably understand.

She probably didn’t need the games to understand though, Bo’s dreams were enough for that.

It was definitely worse when the dreams seemed to come one after another. Especially as a huge fight was looming on the horizon. Bo was in the middle of a war, and she was desperate to stop it. When Lara took her hands, Bo looked up at her, tears running down her cheeks. She was also shaking a little bit. She didn’t need to play the games to understand the fact that her hands would never be clean.

“I...I killed Nadia…” Her voice wavered with emotion, and she broke into a sob after saying it.

“Nadia?” Lara was momentarily thrown off, thinking of her own Nadia, but then she remembered. “Lauren’s girlfriend? You killed her? What happened?” She started to dry Bo’s hands, then led her back out of the bathroom. She didn’t think anything awful - Nadia could have been possessed, evil all along, self-defence. Any number of things. Bo wasn’t the kind of woman to murder out of jealousy.

Bo moved wherever Lara took her, she didn’t exactly care. She sniffed. “Nadia came to my house, attacked Kenzi and tossed the place while I was busy elsewhere. She was apparently looking for me.” Her sentences were broken up by some sobs, her voice wavering with emotion. “So I went over to Lauren’s to ask what she was doing. Nadia wanted me to leave, but I forced the issue, pulling my dagger and putting it to her throat. But she was scared and Lauren told me to stop, that I was scaring her. So I did. I put my dagger back in my thigh sheath. Then Nadia attacked me, and then attacked Lauren momentarily. She then begged Lauren to kill her, saying there was something evil inside of her. When Lauren refused, Nadia turned to me and asked me to kill her. I didn’t want to, I couldn’t kill her. She was innocent, and I’m not in the business of killing people. But she lost control and moved to attack Lauren, but I grabbed her and I stabbed her.” Another sob came out.

“She thanked me before she collapsed and died in Lauren’s arms. I just...I know the Garuda was using her, but she was still human, an innocent person who didn’t know anything about the fae. Lauren had told me to do it, too, but I still killed her girlfriend.”

Possession. Lara sat Bo down, then wrapped her in her arms. “There was nothing you could do. I know you don’t want to hear this, but ultimately you did the right thing. The only person at fault was that Garuda. Not you, not Lauren, not even Nadia. Bo, even if you’d never been there, there was a good chance that this would have still happened. Only Kenzi would be dead. Would have been dead a long time ago. Lauren too.”

She slid her arms around Lara and sniffed a bit. She knew that Lara was right. Ultimately, she’d done the right thing, and eliminated a source of information that the Garuda had. The Garuda had his hooks in everywhere, and Bo knew that was a fight that was quickly approaching. She needed everyone on board to fight. But it was difficult to swallow Nadia’s death.

“Rationally, I know you’re right. And I did what Nadia wanted me to do. She was suffering, that was obvious. But it doesn’t make the fact that I killed her any easier to take. I couldn’t even tell Kenzi what had happened. Not after what she went through.” It hurt to think about the conversation they’d had before the Nadia thing had happened, about how she’d told Kenzi to get out of there. As much as she’d needed her best friend, she was willing to let her go in order to protect her.

“Rationally, I am right. But I know these things aren’t rational. If you weren’t affected by them, that would...probably be a problem.” There were probably people who couldn’t feel things who weren’t bad people, but that was neither here nor there. “Or if you enjoyed them, even.”

“I don’t enjoy it. It doesn’t really bother me when I kill bad guys because they’re trying to kill me. But things like this? Yeah, they stick with me.” And she really didn’t know how that would play out, and if Lauren would hate her or not in the long run. Her dream self still had it bad for Lauren, but obviously now wasn’t the time to make a move.

“She was a victim, but not yours,” Lara said. She took Bo’s hands again, squeezing them in her own, like she was trying to reassure her that her hands were still worth holding. That even if there was blood on them that didn’t change her own feelings. Or how she looked at her. Bo accepted her despite everything. She could accept Bo. “What do you think happens now?”

Bo looked at Lara, tears still rolling down her cheeks. It would take a while to accept that, to be able to look at the situation as having freed Nadia as opposed to taking her life. But with some time, she could come around to that. She squeezed Lara’s hands. “Nothing good. The Garuda is getting closer. More of the fae are turning to allying themselves with him. Earlier in this dream, the Ash asked me to neutralize the Glaive, a high ranking Light Fae, because he suspected she’d allied herself with the Garuda.”

“Neutralize? That’s a friendly way of saying eliminate,” Lara replied. She frowned, and reached over to wipe at Bo’s tears. It was the only action she could take right now. “What is a Garuda, anyway?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t kill her, obviously. She actually has two hearts, just like her daughter that Kenzi and Hale were babysitting a while earlier. I ‘neutralized’ her by lodging my dagger in one of her hearts, then delivered her to the Ash. A swift punch to the heart in her stomach area brought her back to life.” Bo took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “The Garuda is an ancient being. There used to be an entire race of them, but they died out a long time ago. Except this one somehow survived. The Garuda feeds off of rage and anger that festers between the Light and the Dark Fae. Now he’s bent on destroying all the fae. I’ve been trying to unite the fae, but no one will listen. I tried to unite the clans of the Light Fae, and they’d rather let their petty squabbling keep them from uniting against the greater evil. And don’t fucking get me started on trying to get the Dark Fae to cooperate with the Light.”

It was a giant headache, and it was no wonder why Bo was not wanting to be the champion, the chosen one, anymore. Getting any of the fae to actually work together was next to impossible. The Garuda was also a figure in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Though Bo didn’t quite know that connection, or that the contemporary representations of the Garuda were the phoenix and the brahminy kite. Which would explain why there was references to the Garuda being an eagle and why it was a being of fire.

“People don’t often see what’s coming until it’s too late, they let their own hatreds and histories get in the way. I see it a lot when studying various cultures. Most of Europe’s wars could technically be attributed to something like that.”

“It’s not that. They all are perfectly aware of the Garuda and it will do. Many of them are a combination of being afraid and letting petty grievances get in the way of standing up to the fight.” Bo looked down for some moments. “I told Kenzi to leave, to take Nate and go somewhere safe. I told her that I wasn’t going to stand in the way of her being happy. And I didn’t want her to get hurt, or worse, in the fight that’s coming.”

“Kenzi won’t listen,” Lara pointed out. “Even if you pulled a bitch move and pushed her away, its not really in her nature.” It would take a herculan effort to push Kenzi away. Unless someone knew where to dig. Subtle could work that way, as Lara and Bo had almost found out.

Bo sniffed. “She didn’t. She told me she broke up with Nate, that she chose the life she had with me. I’m happy that I still have my best friend, but I still feel bad that she’s hurting like that.” She really didn’t know what she’d do without Kenzi. It had been meeting Kenzi that had gotten her to settle down in one spot and to stop running.

That was probably both good and bad. It was normal to be selfish. To want your important people there with you. Even if it might make them unhappy. Not that either she or Bo wanted their friends unhappy, it just meant that they meant that much to them.

“She loved you more.”

As with most things, there was good and bad to it. Kenzi was in the line of fire because Bo was in the direct path of the Garuda, whether she wanted to be or not. But it also gave her some strength to carry on despite the blows she’d taken of late. “I suppose she did. I love her, and she is the one constant in my life, the one who believes in me no matter what. She hasn’t broken my heart.” Which is a lot more than can be said for several other people in her life there.

“I believe that soul mates don’t always have to be romantic. That there are people who hold a part of you, and you them and nothing can change that.” It was strange, coming from her mouth. Lara, so matter of fact, so in love with fact and proof.

But she’d seen souls ripped from bodies. They were something that existed. And Sam was her Kenzi.

“Did I just hear Lara Croft say something like that?” Bo said in a bit of a teasing manner. “Though I can see that being true. There are many different kinds of love, after all.” She drew in a slow breath, trying to help calm herself down.

“You’re a hero Bo. You’ll make it through this.” Being a hero maybe wasn’t the greatest thing in the world. There was darkness and self-doubt, questioning oneself. Washing blood from one’s hands. Lara wasn’t a hero, she was just a survivor. But Bo, Bo was a hero. Bo was her hero.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Bo didn’t think of herself as a hero. She just tried to do the right thing. Heroes saved the world and do impossible things most other people couldn’t do. Bo hadn’t yet done anything like that. She drew in a breath, something catching her eye and looked over at the bedside table. A golden bracelet was resting on it. “Oh my god, why is that here?” There was some exasperation in her voice. It probably also looked like something Lara might find on one of her archaeological expeditions.

“What is that?” Lara got up to go to it, but she didn’t touch it until she knew if it was dangerous or not. “Is it an artifact? Dangerous” She looked back at Bo, trying to gauge her reaction. She didn’t seem worried or scared. Annoyed, maybe.

“It’s a bracelet. My birthday present from Ryan before I even knew who he was.” Bo got up and went over to pick it up. There was an inscription on the inside of the bracelet, six characters in total. “It’s not dangerous. It actually kind of saved my life when an ifrit was trying to set me on fire. It absorbed her fireballs.” She held it out for Lara if she wanted a closer look. Knowing Ryan and the fae, it was probably solid gold.

She took it, looking it over. “These are runes. Norse it looks like. Is your boyfriend a viking?” She set it down and slipped out of the bedroom. She returned a moment later carrying a box, she opened it, pulling out a stone belt. The runes on it glowed blue. “See here? Similar lettering. It’s nice to know some things don’t change.” She put Thor’s Belt back in it’s case. “It must be magical too, if it can absorb fireballs. An enchantment, or a property of the metal.”

“He’s a Loki, so yeah I’d assume he’s a viking. Kind of a huge douche. The spoiled rich kid type that like splurging at every turn, and thinks money will solve all his problems.” Bo said as she rolled her eyes. Not for the first time, she was more convinced she’d only dated him for the sex. When Lara came back with the belt, she looked at it. “Definitely similar. Where’d you get that belt?” It was beautiful, and she did like that blue glow to it. “Yeah, I think it is enchanted. I don’t really know if it can do anything else, but I suppose if anything with a flame thrower or the power to throw fireballs attacks Orange County, it will come in handy.”

“Wait, your boyfriend is Loki?” Lara held up her hands. “No wonder he’s a douche.” She dropped her arms, then picked up the bracelet again. “It could be handy.” She lifted her head, then came over to Bo. “So the kind of rich kid I always try not to be?”

“A Loki, not the Loki. Like I’m a succubus. It’s a kind of fae.” Bo looked at Lara as she came over to her. “Yes, exactly that. He wasn’t afraid of throwing money around.” She slid her arms around Lara. “Thank you for not being like that and not being a douche on top of it all.”

“Oh. Well, that still sounds troublesome. Loki, Coyote, Fox. They’re all the same kind of creature. Trickters. Assholes….” She leaned into Bo. “If I ever start doing that, smack me?”

“Tell me about it. He pulled some dick moves with Kenzi and Nate.” Though she wasn’t going to complain about the threesome when Ryan had brought the hostess from that high end, four star restaurant to join them. But she wasn’t about to say that out loud. “I will, though I don’t think you could do that. I make it difficult enough for you to spoil me as it currently is.” She teased.

Lara and threesomes were probably not the best subject. There was only one other person Lara would ever entertain - okay two but that was not a conscious thought on her part. “We should probably make a budget for the wedding.”

She wasn’t one who went into detail about her past love life, both here and in her dreams, anyway. Bo didn’t want to make things uncomfortable and awkward by mentioning any of it. “Ah, yeah, that would be a good idea. Especially since Kenzi and I were going to start looking at dresses one of these days.”

Lara bit her lip, then straightened her back. “Don’t look at the price tag. I don’t care what it costs. Kenzi can text me for the money if we have to but if you find the perfect dress, I want you to have it. This is going to be our only wedding, and..I rather want to give you that traditional experience.” She took Bo’s hand, kissing the knuckles. “You deserve it.”

“Are you certain?” Bo well knew she couldn’t afford overly much when it came to wedding dresses. There was also the whole money thing in general. But it was saying something that she didn’t immediately bristle at Lara’s offer, like she’d tended to do earlier in their relationship. She did just want to be absolutely sure before doing anything. “I know dresses aren’t exactly the cheapest thing in the world.” Not to mention Lara would be getting one for herself as well.

“I’m positive.” Lara swallowed her nerves. This was a touchy subject, but this was also personal. “There are times to use my fortune. Giving you that gift is definitely one of them. If it will make you feel better, we can donate a matching amount to charity. It’s what I usually do when I have to dip into it anyway.” She didn’t even do that because it looked good on taxes or in the media, either. Lady Croft was so very charitable. Her disdain for her money sometimes made it into the British Tabloids.

There was also a particularly noteworthy article about her romantic predilections that she was never going to let Bo see.

“That does make me feel better, yeah. But okay, I’ll have Kenzi look at the price tag when I find it, and we’ll go from there.” Bo said with a smile. She was at least loosening up a bit on the whole money thing. Plus it was kind of pointless to fight about money when there was plenty of it, and it was going to a good cause. “Though I’ll cover some other expenses, or at least add to paying for them. You aren’t going to pay for everything if I can help it.” And that she would be stubborn about. She wanted to pay for something in their wedding, even if it just ended up being for decorations or music or something. Besides, Bo did make really good tips, helped by her ample bosom and low-cut tops she tended to wear, so she was going to chip in where she could.

“Though I have to demand the cake be chocolate. Though you probably already guessed that much.”

Lara wasn’t going to be able to argue that one, she knew. Bo was stubborn. She loved her Bo and the stubbornness was hard to really beat. Bo could out stubborn Lara. Most of the time.

“Chocolate cake was already on the list.” Lara assured her. “Though I do want a small cake on the side that’s a little more traditional.”

They both could be stubborn, which at times could be bad when they had differing opinions. Luckily that didn’t happen often, or they at least stopped before they went into a full on argument.

“Why not just have two cakes? I mean, I don’t care what flavor the frosting or icing is. The whole thing doesn’t have to be chocolate. I’ll just want something for a chocolate fix.” Which also opened up the question of caterers and what food they wanted, and if there was going to be an open bar or not. “Though perhaps it would be best to ask about the overall budget. Obviously we can’t know how much it’ll be for some things yet, but what amount should we not go over?” She anticipated Lara saying there was no overall limit, but Bo had a limit on what she’d feel comfortable with spending on the entire wedding.

And then there was another question that wasn’t related to the budget, but something that had been on her mind lately. “And, uh, I have a question. I know you have a title, or would if you accepted it, but if you do one day accept it, would I get a title by marriage?” She wasn’t certain if she’d like people referring to her with a title. And then there was another question she wanted to ask, about taking names, but she held that one in for the moment since she’d just asked several questions.

“Two cakes it is,” Lara replied, deciding to not mention how much that might cost. “Chocolate is important to you, but something about a traditional wedding cake appeals to me.” She got to her feet, thinking about it. “How about whatever you feel comfortable with?”

At Bo’s next question, she blinked. “I haven’t given that much thought. I think you do get a title by virtue of being my spouse. I’m sure that’s something they’ve considered ever since our kind of marriage was legalized.”

“That is fine with me. Both of us are happy, and it is not worth arguing over cake.” Bo said with a smile. Of all the things they could potentially argue about in wedding preparation, cake would probably be the silliest thing they could argue over. “Alright, that will work.” She’d give Lara the line she would not be comfortable with going over. She wanted a nice, beautiful wedding, but they didn’t need to spend millions of dollars to accomplish that.

She remained sitting, watching Lara. “Okay, I was curious about that. Best to go into the wedding with that knowledge ahead of time.” And time to adjust to having that sort of title. It was definitely a Cinderella story. “Then, uh, there’s the question of taking names. Though it’s not really that much of a question because I’ve been thinking it over lately, and I’ve come to a decision. I want to take your name.”

Lara smiled. It really wasn’t worth arguing over, and she thought that there wasn’t much to even argue about in the first place. They’d agree on all the important things. Probably. As long as they got the traditional parts out of the way, Lara was happy. That was surprising to her on a number of levels. She wasn’t the most traditional sort.

“I’ll look into how the titles thing works, you are after all marrying into nobility.” Her smile only got wider, though she did look at Bo a little worriedly. “Are you sure about that? Being a Croft isn’t exactly easy.”

At heart, Bo was more traditional than she’d really ever noticed. Probably the religious upbringing. Though the one thing she refused to do traditional was get married in a church. Though at least in that regard, Lara had fought her on it. Bo and churches didn’t exactly mesh well these days.

“Alright, it’ll be good to know how that all works.” And yeah. Marrying into nobility. Which would probably mean attending fancy parties at some point in the future with other nobility. That part made her nervous, but it wasn’t a concern at the moment. “Being a lost girl isn’t easy either. But yes, I’m sure. Besides, Ysabeau Croft has a ring to it.” She smiled at that. “In the next little while I am going to file to legally change my name to Ysabeau and give myself McCorrigan as a middle name, just because I want my biological family name somewhere in there, and as I don’t have a middle name, I think that would work.” It was also effectively shedding the name Dennis completely, but considering her feelings on her adoptive parents, that was hardly a surprise.

If Lara never had to attend a fancy party, she wouldn’t. But in her field she needed to schmooze and there was a certain segment of elites that had to be appeased. She hated it. Perhaps Bo might be an advantage in that. She was sexy and smart and it wouldn’t be hard to teach her the things she needed to know.

Okay and showing off Bo in some slinky night gown with a neck line down to her nipples was an appealing thought. Did Bo have one of those? Did Lara just say that out loud? She cleared her throat and hurried on. “Ysabeau Croft actually sounds good. Do you want me to call you that instead of Bo?”

Bo may be smart, but she was definitely not an intellectual. She could certainly try intellectual talk, but she’d blunder and murder her way through it and get everything wrong. Depending on the subject. If she was prepped before hand with bullet points of what to talk about, she could handle that. Stick to the script and nothing more.

Her eyebrows rose at Lara’s comment about the slinky nightgown with plunging neckline. Well. That was something to file away for later. “No, you can still call me Bo. But if we’re ever at some fancy party where we have to be introduced, Ysabeau Croft sounds way better than Ysabeau Dennis-Croft or something.” She stood up and approached Lara, sliding her arms around her waist. “Also better than Ysabeau McCorrigan. Would keep certain people from finding out about the Irish succubus in the family.” She chuckled.

“Ysabeau McCorrigan Croft.” Lara raised her eyebrows “You realize they introduce us with our full names, don’t you? We won’t be able to escape that, i’m afraid.” She sounded more amused than anything else, and pulled Bo close. “I love you. No matter what we’ll make this work.”

She knew how much Bo feared being stuck in one place. Lara just hoped she’d be enough.

“They do? Crap. Oh well, at least if I make McCorrigan my middle name, it won’t sound so out of place because of the lack of a middle name?” She shrugged a shoulder at that with a smile. Hopefully certain people, like Roth, wouldn’t be in earshot. “At least I don’t have an Irish accent to make it all worse.” She could probably try and learn to have one, but she didn’t quite want to go to that level. “And I love you. We will make it work, and I think we’re going to have a beautiful wedding.” She gave Lara a little squeeze in her arms.

“I’m glad that we’re even having these discussions.” Things could have all too easily gone badly for them. The fact that Lara could have let Bo go away (worse, break Bo’s heart), still weighed on her mind. “I never knew I’d want to spend my life with someone. You’ve changed that.”

Bo smiled warmly. Things could have easily not ended up here. Lara could have backed out when the succubus thing came out. Bo wouldn’t have blamed her, but it would have hurt. “That makes two of us. I didn’t think I’d find anyone that would make me want to stop running, and to make a home. You are amazing and smart and kind and strong and beautiful. And you are home to me. You make me feel like I finally belong somewhere, and I don’t want to lose that.” There may or may not have been some tears welling up in her eyes.

Lara was becoming emotional. She leaned in, kissing Bo softly, and gave her a warm smile of her own. “If I hadn’t already proposed I’d be tempted to after a speech like that.”

She returned the kiss, her smile growing wider at Lara’s words. “I’m very flattered by that. Though perhaps one of these days we should start looking at wedding rings. And talk about dates for the wedding.” Bo thought a spring wedding would be romantic. The flowers in bloom, things like that.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Lara murmured. She kissed Bo again, suddenly intent on showing, rather than telling, what her feelings were for her fiance.