Lara woke up crying and sweating for the fourth time this week. Each time it was getting worse. It was pretty much the same dream every time- but still it was getting worse.

The dream was about the island- or should I say The Island because that's how it was now known to Lara and the rest of the shipwrecked crew- and it always focused on or around death. Lara would see herself in the dreams: running from wolves that snapped at and tore up her heals; kindling fires only for the floor to give way and plummet into a waterfall; hiding behind barrels as bullet after bullet cut through the air and skimmed each of her limbs. But the worst part was always Roth. This was the only dream about The Island that Lara had which was a pure memory. All of the others were half-creations of the mind, distorted memories that coined themselves into a linear mess of horror.

There were good dreams about The Island too, believe it or not. Most of those revolved around Sam: Lara saving Sam from an unseen monster or Lara sitting by a campfire as Sam slept, looking out for wolves or any of The Island's 'soldiers'.

Unfortunately, Lara's share of these dreams were limited this week and her fourth uncomfortable awakening had been caused by a 'Rothmare' yet again. She looked across at her alarm clock and squinted at the two red blinking dots that separated the 5 from the 13. As her eyes focused and she realised the time, Lara dropped back onto the pillow and sighed, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. All she could think of was Roth's arms around her protectively as he spun the two of them around. She could still hear the piercing crack and feel the electric buzz that caused her to shudder violently as the axed sliced cleanly into Roth's back. Lara screwed up her eyes as she thought of it and rolled over onto the cold, unused side of the bed to get back to sleep. It took her over an hour.

When Lara awoke again at 10:06, it was with a start. Her phone was vibrating loudly against her wooden bed side table so she rolled across the bed sleepily to retrieve it. 'SAM' was flashing on the screen underneath a picture of Sam and herself grinning together. Lara felt her stomach turn slightly but answered nonetheless.

"Sam," she croaked. "Hi."

Sam clocked the huskiness of Lara's voice. "Lara did you only just wake up?"

"Don't sound so bloody disapproving, I..." Lara trailed off. Sam had enough on her plate with her workload- she didn't need to be worrying about Lara and her stupid dreams on top of that.

"You what?" Sam asked. Even through the phone Lara could tell Sam had a brow raised.

"I went to bed late," Lara muttered.

"Oooh, and why would that be? Have a hot guy round last night, did you?"

"Oh please," Lara sighed. "Look, Sam... not to be rude or anything, but why have you called me?"

"Right," Sam said, remembering. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet at Dale Meadows for lunch?"

Despite its name, Dale Meadows was not a sunny plain that provided the number one family picnic destination- it was an individual-owned cafe at the back of beyond where the only customers welcome were 'regulars'. This puzzled Lara because surely to become a regular you actually had to start going in there in the first place, but it was never something that had been a problem for her as Sam had always been her ticket in. After returning from The Island, Lara had decided to move to the USA full time- as opposed to just as a student- as she thought living closer to Sam and the remnants of the crew would help her get better. Sam had been going to Dale Meadows since she was a kid so when she introduced Lara to the place, they were both more than welcome there.

"What time were you planning?" Lara asked thoughtfully, sitting up in bed to read her training timetable that was pinned up on her wardrobe.

"Maybe 1:30?" Sam suggested

"I need to go to the gym and then shower. Then I'll see what time it is and I'll let you know if I'm gonna be late."

"Seriously Lara? The gym again? Do you really have to go for 5 hours every day?"

She did. Since returning from The Island, the gym had become Lara's only escape. Even though she never used the gym before The Island incident, it had suddenly become her therapy when she returned. If she didn't spend at least 5 hours each day working out, her mind started to shut down on itself. Lara didn't even understand why the gym made her feel better, but she had felt so desperate after the return that she was willing to accept anything that worked.

Lara sighed and got ready to lecture her friend. "Sam-"

"Alright, I know, I don't want a rant. Just text when you've finished showering. I'll pick you up a your house."

"We're not walking?" They always walked to Dale Meadows.

"Text me," Sam said conclusively before hanging up.

Lara frowned to herself but got up and dressed anyway. She spent her usual morning session of two hours in the gym and was home for 1:20pm. She jumped in the shower quickly then texted Sam as soon as she was out. Sam replied with 'I'll be there in ten minutes'. This gave Lara just enough time to dry her hair and pull some clean clothes on before Sam's Range Rover pulled up outside. Sam was wearing light blue jeans and a short-sleeved tee over a long-sleeved one. It was weird seeing Sam like this, like nothing had changed. She was getting on with her life. Not like Lara. Not like Lara, stuck in the past with her pathetic nightmares and crazy gym binges.

"Ready?" Sam asked, setting up to drive.

"Wait," Lara commanded, grabbing Sam's hand on the gear stick. As soon as they made contact a buzz shot through Lara. Not the same buzz that had radiated through her at Roth's death, but a different kind that brought her to life momentarily. It was like all of the past few weeks had been a long rollercoaster of a dream and finally she had woken up and found herself at the top with everything and the only thing she needs: Sam.

"What?" Sam asked. "What's the matter?"

Lara plummeted back to reality. She quickly removed her hand.

"Sorry I just- why aren't we walking?"

"Seriously Lara? You spend five hours a day at the gym and you hardly eat a damn thing. I want to limit the amount of exercise you do... well as much as I can. You're wasting away Lara," she murmured as she pulled away from the curb and started towards Dale Meadows.

"You are taking the piss, aren't you?" Lara snapped. But she knew Sam was right.

Lara only ate when it was absolutely necessary and most of her day was taken up by exercise. She wasn't back at work yet- her therapist had suggested to wait until at least 6 months had passed. It had only been almost 3. Luckily Jonah was the person who paid her and was letting her wage carry on through her sick leave. With all the time off work for exercise and not eating, Lara had to admit that she was getting pretty thin. Very thin.

"I'm being serious," Sam assured her. She sounded exasperated.

Lara didn't answer. She felt guilty that Sam was putting in so much effort. But then again... she never asked her to.

When they got to Dale Meadows they were greeted warmly by Harvey, the manager. He was always there because he served at the counter too.

"Sam, my flower. And Lara, my British flower. Come in, come in," he grinned, his European accent ringing loudly throughout the pokey cafe. The place was buzzing as usual and Lara wondered how it came to be like this when Harvey only allowed regulars to enter.

Sam and Lara got a booth towards the other end of the room.

"Lara."

"Sam."

"I need to speak to you about something," Sam said with the kind of confidence that leads you to think she's not confident at all.

"Okay... Should I be worried?" Lara asked, but she smiled because it was probably going to be something stupid.

"Probably not. I just want to ask you a question..."

"Go on then."

Sam was quiet for a while as she studied the menu. This concerned Lara even more because she knew they both knew the whole menu back to front and neither of them ever gave it a second glance.

"Sam, tell me what's up," Lara said, her smile fading.

"I was just wondering... I mean in light of recent events and how you've been acting around me..." Sam grimaced and trailed off.

"Samantha," Lara said sternly. "Spit it out."

"Okay. Do you like me?"

Lara barked a laugh. "Don't be daft. Of course I do, you're my best friend!" she laughed, obviously misunderstanding Sam's use of 'like'.

"No, Lara, that's not what I meant," she muttered bashfully. There was no hint of a smile on her face.

"Well what do you mean?"

"For a so-called survival prodigy you can be kinda stupid at times," Sam sighed. "I meant... are you attracted to me?"

Lara suddenly stopped. She hadn;t been doing anything in particular but she just stopped. She and Sam had never mentioned anything like this before- as far as Lara was concerned they were both straight. They were friends, fair enough, but they weren't partners. Then again, they have been really close since their adventure on The Island and they did spend a lot of time together... and that feeling in the car earlier- that certainly had not been platonic.

"Sam- I-" Lara stuttered, her eyes still wide and unmoving.

"Forget it," Sam murmured.. Lara could tell Sam was almost in tears as she ran out of Dale Meadows. Sam jumped in the car and started the engine.

"No, Sam, don't you dare!" Lara yelled as Sam set off driving. She ran after her at full pace and managed to jump in the passenger seat when the car stopped at a red light. Sam winced and wouldn't meet Lara's eye.

"Sam. Sam look at me. Now," Lara ordered, a fierce growl setting in her voice.

Sam looked over at her and became mesmerised... resulting in her swerving to avoid a lorry.

"Sam, pull over," Lara mumbled.

She did as she was told, then looked down at her lap.

"Do you like me? Is that why you asked me? To see if we had mutual feelings?" Lara questioned.

Sam shrugged, then nodded after a pause.

"If you want to know the truth, I..." Lara started. "I don't even know what I feel right now."

Sam took a dramatic deep breath then started talking: "Lara I don't want to sound crazy but I also don't want to lie to you. I think I might love you and I know it sounds stupid and absurd and it's not what you need right now but it's the truth. You mean everything to me- absolutely everything- and I can't even begin to explain how much I care about you and how much I worry about you. It's constant. And I-"

Sam's rambling was cut short as Lara's lips pressed against hers. Damn.