InsaneJournal

Who: Bo and Lara
What: Lara takes Bo Home. Peeps happen
When: 4/1
Where: Croft Manor
Rating: Pg-13
Status: Complete



The stay in the hospital hadn’t been easy, but at least Bo had finally gotten enough hits of chi that the wound had healed enough for the doctors to let her go home. Bo would much rather spend her time lounging at home than being in the hospital hooked up to machines. She’d been prescribed painkillers, but Bo was hesitant to take them, even though the wound still hurt like hell.

Which was why she moved gingerly. It was still bandaged, the skin had only just managed to heal over, but it did still seep a bit. Bo had noticed the invasion of Peeps on the drive home.

“Happy Easter and April Fool’s Day from Orange County, apparently,” she commented with some humor as Lara pulled into their driveway. “I think you’re going to have to go in first and keep Fae from jumping on me.” She was relatively certain the dog would break her right now if that happened. Bo was also planning on trying to walk into the house on her own, but she wondered if Lara would insist on carrying her inside instead.

“Yes, and in case there’s other things going on.” Lara had noticed eggs here and there. She didn’t know what it meant but wanted to be prepared for it. “We’ll get you settled, then you’re taking your painkillers.”

She got out of the car. First things first, she got Fae locked in one of the bedrooms, then returned to bodily carry Bo into the house.

Bo groaned at the painkillers. She didn’t want to take them despite the fact she was in pain. The pain was going to be a constant, she could already tell, until the wound actually fully healed. Which was something Bo hoped happened sooner or later.

She leaned her head back against the headrest of the car seat and closed her eyes, clenching her jaw as a little jolt of pain ran through her. She was going to wait until it passed before trying to walk inside, but Lara came back before the pain had passed.

It was also entirely possible that Bo had lost a little weight from having been in the hospital and not doing much of anything and having a bit of a restricted diet.

The dagger had been locked away, but every time Lara saw the wound she remembered the way it felt, and wondered what it might have done to Bo. She could only wait and see, which she hated almost as much as Bo did. “Let’s get you onto the couch for now.”

At some point, Bo would ask what Lara had stabbed her with, but right now, that was the least of her concerns. Lifting her head, she nodded a bit. She wanted to slip her arm around Lara’s shoulders while she carried her, but that caused her more pain, so she just kept her arms crossed over her waist.

“You know what we need? A theatre room. It would be far easier to rest in a theatre-style reclining chair.”

“That’s the sort of ostentatious thing I abhor,” Lara retorted. “There’s one in the manor in London, my father used to…”

She set Bo down, bringing over something for her to prop her legs up on. “Actually, he used to use it for work too….”

Searching through old film and pictures, and these days tele conferencing...it was a good idea.

“Alright, then maybe just investing in a good recliner for the living room.” Or wherever Bo was going to be spending most of her time as she recovered, at any rate. She grimaced a bit when Lara set her down on the couch. This was definitely not going to be an easy recovery.

“No, no, we’ve got the space. We could possibly even convert the basement. There’s an entire wall down there that’s more than big enough for a large screen, and we can set up other projectors and monitors for work.” Lara grinned, then left to retrieve Bo’s medication from the truck.

“We need an awesome sound system in it.” Surround sound, obviously. Almost as soon as Lara had left, Grim found his way to Bo’s side and planted himself on her lap. “Well hello there, Grim. Did you miss me?” She asked as she gave him some scritches.

“Well, we might as well make it the best surround sound system possible.” Might help them keep friends. Neither of them had been very good at the whole friend thing. Lara could count them on one hand at the moment.

She carefully sat near Bo. “I think they all missed you. I’ll let Fae out in a little bit.”

“I agree. Best way to experience movies and video games. And you can no doubt make good use of it with your work as well.” It would at least be used for multi-purposes, which would make it worthwhile to build.

“You might want to bring her out on her leash to keep her in line until she settles down.” Bo took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she leaned the back of her head against the couch. “It’s so damn good to be home.”

Lara watched her for a long moment, then nodded her head, and got up to get the leash. Once she was alone and out of either Bo’s view or any possible reflection, she leaned against the wall and pressed her hands to her face. A moment of weakness, but she was feeling the strain. She slammed the side of her fist into the wall, then walked to the room where she’d locked up Fae and got the leash on her. “That’s a good girl. You’re just a puppy. You’re just an innocent.”

Then she picked her up to carry her back to Bo, as if she hadn’t almost had a nervous break down.

Bo closed her eyes, hand still on Grim. She knew eventually that they would need to actually talk about what had happened. She wasn’t actually completely certain of what all had happened given she’d blacked out for most of it. All she knew was that Lara had stabbed her and she’d nearly died.

Or maybe she’d been clinically dead until she’d sucked enough of Lara’s chi to heal her heart and bring her back to life. She didn’t really know, and she refused to dwell on it. It was easy to push away the trauma when she was in pain and on painkillers. It was also why she wanted distractions so she wouldn’t have to think about what had happened.

Eventually, she would need to face the trauma, but that time wasn’t now.

“There she is.” Lara sat down again, Fae in her lap. She kept a good grip on both leash and puppy, leaning in so Fae could lick the ever loving fuck out of her wife. “Someone was missed.”

This was easier than trying to think about what had happened. About what it all meant.

Opening her eyes, Bo smiled at Fae, then proceeded to laugh as the puppy licked her to death, figuratively speaking. She pet Fae with both of her hands. “I missed you too, Fae,” she said between laughs. Which...it hurt to laugh but she was going to withstand the pain because she’d rather laugh right now.

Lara tried to not think about the pain in Bo’s laugh. That was her fault. She’d killed her, she’d literally killed her. Closing her eyes and taking a breath, Lara fought back the memory, focusing instead on the puppy and Bo. And the cat of course.

“That’s enough, Fae, you’ll pull her stitches.”

Bo laughed a bit more, giving Fae a good scratch behind her ears. And now her chest hurt, but at least she was alive. “You’re a good girl, Fae.” She let Lara handle Fae. Grim was still firmly planted on her lap. It was definitely good to be home with Lara and their pets.

Lara let Fae onto the ground. She still had her on the leash, but their puppy was already exhausted. She scooted closer to Bo, reaching for her hand. Despite her self-loathing, she knew Bo needed comfort - and she needed comfort for herself too. “Feeling better?”

When Lara scooted closer and reached for her hand, she took Lara’s hand and threaded their fingers together. She then leaned her head on her wife’s shoulder, taking comfort in her being close. She knew Lara must be dying inside, but she didn’t think either of them were in any position to actually talk about their traumas over what had happened. Bo probably needed to be a little more healed than she currently was to properly talk about it and face the emotions. So for now, she was just going to take and give comfort where she could and ignore her emotions over having been stabbed.

“Yeah. Definitely better to be home with you and the pets than stuck in a hospital.” Everything had gone better than expected, but that wasn’t saying much when Bo’s expectations had been far lower than low of the hospital experience.

Dying was a little bit of an understatement. Lara actually tensed and for several seconds she didn’t move. But she relaxed, leaning into Bo and closing her eyes. She wished for an honest to god tomb to get lost and possibly die in.

“Do you need another hit?” That chest wound wasn’t healing properly at all. Lara suspected she knew why.

Bo sensed Lara tense up, and she knew her wife was having so much trouble handling things. Bo had just gotten really good at ignoring death traumas so that was helping her not fall apart just yet. And it probably said a lot that Bo was used to ignoring death trauma.

“Yeah, I think so.” Bo actually felt that she needed to suck like twenty people dry of chi, but she wasn’t going to do that. And she wasn’t even certain if the wound would heal from that anyway, just based on how little chi had affected it to this point.

Lara could ignore a lot of trauma. This one was different. It would be like if she’d had to kill Sam in her dreams. Only worse.

Somehow it was so much worse.

Nodding, Lara stroked Bo’s cheek and leaned into kiss her.

Bo wouldn’t have guessed that this would’ve been worse than if she’d had to kill Sam in her dreams. Though that wasn’t because she thought Lara loved Sam more, just that Bo thought it would’ve been a hell of a lot more tragic with Sam give the cult and the Sun Queen and all.

She leaned up and kissed Lara, letting it linger for a few moments before she took the hit of chit. She only took enough to dull the pain from the laughter. She didn’t dare take more than that.

Bo didn’t exactly trust herself at the moment, or trust that her dark side wouldn’t suddenly come back.

Lara hadn’t built a life with Sam, seen Sam go through the kind of hell Bo had, and gone through it with her. For all of that pain and anguish to end with Bo’s death at her hand?

In a lot of ways, it was definitely a worse thought in her book.

“Bo… Take more. Just a little more.”

There had been times in the past few days where she’d wondered if she should’ve even asked Lara to do what she’d done to stop her from killing innocent people. But she had known that Lara would’ve done it anyway, even if she hadn’t asked. Bo would rather be dead than have killed everyone, which is what would have happened had she not been stopped.

“Are you sure?” Bo asked. She was afraid of the toll it would have on Lara, and she knew a little more wouldn’t make much of a difference in her wound healing.

“Positive,” Lara assured her. She could take her whole life if she wanted. At this point Lara thought Bo deserved it. Who killed their own wife? What kind of monster was she?

“Please.”

Bo would never take Lara’s life like that. By Lara’s own logic, what kind of monster would that make her if she killed her wife? Well, Bo already was a monster, but they’d already been through that.

“Okay,” she said before leaning in and taking another hit of chi.

Lara groaned, closing her eyes as the Chi hit her. That one hurt a bit, but she thought that Bo was too weak to be gentle. She pulled away, and nodded at Bo. “There. A little bit at a time, every day.”

She was too impatient to wait forever.

After Lara pulled away, Bo settled back against the couch. She was still in pain, and she was questioning whether the wound would ever actually heal, or if she’d just have the wound for the rest of her life.

“Little by little it will heal.” Though she didn’t completely believe that at this point.

Lara couldn’t say. She turned away, looking down at the dog and when she looked back at Bo there was a …. Easter candy on her head. A peep. A purple peep. “What…?”

The peep bounced up and down and made a peeping sound and Lara thought she’d lost her mind.

Bo closed her eyes and took a breath. Though she suddenly felt something on her head, like it was bouncing up and down on it. She opened her eyes and looked at Lara confusedly. “What the hell is peeping?”

“A peep.” Lara picked it up to show Bo, unaware that more were spawning all around them. In fact, one had arrived on her shoulder. And now two were on Bo, using her chest like a trampoline.

Bo blinked, looking at the peep in Lara’s hand, then she saw the one on her shoulder. Then suddenly there were two on her chest. “What the fuck is happening?” Bo stared at the ones that were bouncing on her chest. At least they weren’t bouncing on the wound itself.

“Today is Easter,” Lara said, with dawning realization. “...and I’m not going outside unless my life depends on it.” There could be bunnies, or the literal second coming. Or killer bunnies. Or bunny Jesus. Lara didn’t want to know.

“They’re kind of cute though.”

“It’s also April Fool’s today,” Bo commented. This was definitely unexpected, but given it was Orange County? It should’ve been expected. And, well, it could’ve been worse. She picked up one of the peeps from her chest and held it on the palm of her hand.

“They are kind of cute. And at least you’re seeing them too, otherwise I’d totally think I was high right now.” And then there was another peep bouncing on her head.

“Oh. That’s a …. Yes. That’s a thing.”

Lara managed to grin, until one of the cats chased after one and it screamed. She jumped to her feet, drawing a switch knife from her pocket with smooth, deadly precision. She came back to herself, exhaled, closed the blade and went to save the peep. “I guess we’re not snacking on them.”

She liked seeing that grin on Lara’s face. It was good to see it. It was good to know she hadn’t completely broken her wife. Bo jumped a bit herself when she heard the peep scream, and then promptly groaned a bit in pain and clenched her teeth. Moving suddenly was a very bad idea.

Lara spent a few minutes herding cats and dogs around. At least until the peep situation was contained, she didn’t want to hear any more of that screaming. It was too familiar, too triggering for her. She settled back down on the couch next to Bo and shifted around until she could lay her head in Bo’s lap and watch the peeps. “Except the screaming, they’re not so bad.”

Once Lara came back to the couch, Bo looked down at Lara, brushing her fingers through her hair gently. “It’s definitely not the worst thing Orange County could’ve done today.” She said, then she set the peep in her hand on Lara’s nose. And she promptly snorted at the sight.

“Bo!” Lara laughed quietly, trying to not dislodge the peep, which started to nuzzle her like it wanted to turn her face into a nest.

“Oh my god, where’s a camera when I need one?” Bo asked through some giggles as she watched the peep try to turn Lara’s face into a nest.

“Out of reach, thank god.” Lara tossed a peep at Bo. It bounced on a breast and then waddled up against Bo’s neck and snuggled there. “Out of reach for both of us, damn!”

Bo yelped a little as Lara tossed a peep at her, then she had to chuckle a bit as it snuggled against her neck, tickling her a bit. “This is weird. We’re being snuggled by living candy.” She wondered if a bath was going to be needed later to get the sugar remnants off.

“I’m going to call this a net positive after our week,” Lara admitted. She started to relax again, and felt… happy enough to let herself be close to Bo.

“This is definitely a net positive. They’re at least just snuggling and being cute.” Bo commented with a little smile. She brushed her fingers through Lara’s hair again as she relaxed. And then suddenly the peeps multiplied again. There were a couple trying to nest in Bo’s cleavage. “Well...this is awkward.”

“Maybe, but can you blame them?” With the bad things pushed out of her mind, Lara could focus instead on the good. Like peeps in Bo’s cleavage. “If I were very tiny, those are mountains I could climb, and love it.”

Bo chuckled a bit. “Of course you would climb them and love it. But I guess I can’t blame any of you for loving it.” She looked at Lara, then noticed a couple peeps making their way to her wife’s cleavage. “Well, guess I’m not the only one with likeable cleavage here.”

Lara turned red, and rested her arm over her face, “Of course they’d all be little perverts. Or maybe we’re just that sort of charming.”

Bo laughed, a little pain showing through again because of the laughing. “Maybe it’s a bit of both. Though they could be like real baby chickens and just really like warmth.” Which probably wasn’t all that far off the mark.

“As long as they don’t melt,” Lara mumbled. Her eyes drifted closed. “I hope you don’t need to go anywhere, because I don’t feel like moving right now.”

“I’m not planning on moving. I’m rather content here with you. And the peeps.” So long as they didn’t melt because that would get problematic. Bo would have to check her bandage eventually, but for now? She was content to just lay there, eyes closed, fingers in Lara’s hair and just be content with her wife. Perhaps they could forget about the terrible things that had happened this week and just relax for a little while.