Many thanks to Reasons Lost for beta reading and their support. Also thanks to WhatTheSchmuck for having helped me with some research.

I cut this chapter into 2 parts so that you don't have to read the 7700 words in one go. This is part 2.

Warning! Contains Rise of the Tomb Raider spoilers regarding Lara's father.

"Jesus, Lara," I screeched. I tried to get a hold of the camera in a panic before it could get to the part where my hand was in Sarah's pants. When the car began to swerve, I braked and stopped at the side of the road. Lara was still watching, stone still and blushing.

"What are you doing?" I finally snatched the camera out of her grip and hastily deleted the video with sweating fingers.

"What I'm doing..." The following sarcastic laugh stung. She shook her head and turned away. "I'm sorry I stumbled upon your homemade porn."

"It's not... Sarah, she... I didn't know she was filming. I..." I wasn't even sure what I tried to say. It didn't matter anyway. Lara had shut down and ignored me. Clutching at the camera, I leant forward to rest my head on the steering wheel. If only I'd had the power to erase the previous day.

A loud honk startled me. My head shot up as a car sped off.

Sitting around on the verge of despair wasn't going to help anyone, I managed to figure. It was best to get Lara to the manor so that she could deal with her problems while I had another breakdown. Once the camera was safely stored away on the back seat, I drove the car back onto the road and onwards to the manor.

It wasn't long before we reached the byway leading up to the estate. I drove past the large gate and parked in front of the wall surrounding the premises. The moment we came to a halt, Lara practically dropped out of the car, slammed the door shut, and limped away. With creased brows, I watched her through the rear-view mirror walk up to closed gate. She grabbed the bars and rattled furiously despite there being a huge chain with a heavy lock around the middle. A sign attached to it said, "Do not enter". Lara drew back and hit the gate. I cringed as the metal clanged. She gave it one more kick, faltered, and then leant against it with lowered head.

With a deep sigh and a queasy feeling in my mid, I took the camera and went after her. When my door fell shut, Lara looked up shortly and then walked over to the wall.

Overrun with ivy, it stretched far into both directions and was only interrupted by the ornamented archway. While the gate was big enough that a truck could fit through, the wall was only about seven feet high. It looked easy enough to climb over, even with Lara's injured foot. Clearly, she thought the same, because she was getting ready to jump up the wall.

"Hey, let me help you," I called out.

Lara shifted weight to test her foot and groaned with frustration. It must have ticked her off to rely on me, but she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted her ankle to recover. After taking a tentative look around that no one drove by and saw us, I dropped the camera into the grassy strip that separated the road from the masonry and offered Lara a leg up. She put her good foot in my folded hands, using me for support, and grabbed the top of the wall. She pulled herself up with ease and swung her legs over the top to land in a sitting position. Usually, I'd have called her a show-off.

"Wait for me," I said instead, but before I even had a chance to catch up, she was already down and walking away. Without looking nearly as elegant as her, I heaved myself and the camera to the other side and ran after her. Grudgingly, she let me put her arm around me to help her. At least she didn't push me away. After we'd settled into a working rhythm going forward, I took a good look around with my camera to distract myself from Lara's anger.

Hedges and colorful flowerbeds lined a broad avenue leading up to the mansion. The flowers and tan gravel shone in the forenoon sun. Paths branched off to the left and right through vast lawns, leading past grown trees towards turned off fountains circled by seating accommodations. The area was huge, and, surprisingly, nothing looked unkempt. Lara's uncle must have hired someone to keep the flora in check. It was impressive.

It wasn't like I'd never seen anything like that before. I'd checked out and filmed enough fancy places and more so in the UK in recent years. Not to mention the ones I'd lived in with my parents before I'd come to London.

The thing was that all that could have or had belonged to Lara. I looked at her and tried to imagine her in that picture—and she looked completely out of place. She probably would have taken that as a compliment.

Before my mind could delve deeper into that territory, Lara tugged at my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts. I threw one last glance back through the gate at two cars passing by on the main road and then picked up pace again.

The gravel scrunched beneath our soles as we slowly closed in on the huge building ahead. I'd watched enough TV shows in my time in England about the British aristocracy that my mind got flooded with images of posh little Lara. How she was driven around in an expensive, black limousine. Or her sitting all sniffy on a horse while taking riding lessons. I had to snicker—and was promptly silenced by grown-up Lara's fiery side-eyes.

When we reached the mansion's front, we stepped through the midmost of a series of round arcs supporting the protruding second story. Lara tried the main doors' knobs without looking like she expected them to open. Deadpanning, she dragged me away along the lengthy facade of the house and around the east wing. When we approached a double door at the side of the mansion, Lara left my side and hobbled ahead. While she tried the handles without success once again, I took a look inside through a window. It was a kitchen, fully equipped and about as big as our entire apartment in London.

"One moment," Lara said more to herself than me and began pressing against the door while pushing up the handles. A snap, the door burst open inwards, and she went flying inside with a grunt.

"Lara!" I rushed after her, but she was already back on her feet before I could help. She went back to sort the door out and closed it behind us.

"Do I even wanna know why you know how to open a locked door in your old home without a key?"

"Roth showed me," she said and came limping back to me. That sounded plausible. I made a mental note to bug her about that story another time when she didn't feel like murdering me. As we went towards the kitchen's other exit, we passed a heavy door to our side. It must have been part of one of those huge walk-in fridges.

We stepped out into a dark hallway with no windows. Without missing a beat, Lara dragged me down one direction rather than using me for support. The hallway was decorated with old looking side tables with ornamented vases and porcelain, and several paintings on the wall. Unfortunately, Lara's tempo and the missing light made it impossible to take a closer took at anything. After a short walk in the dark, we stepped through another door and into the sun-flooded lobby. It was a sight to behold. Literally. My camera was glued to my face.

The entrance hall was huge, with tall ceiling and a massive chandelier hanging from it, and columns lining the open space in the middle. The marble floors reflected the light coming in through windows on the second level, which you could reach by a wide staircase on the far side that split up half-way. Visitors entering through the main doors would be drawn to a hefty, ornate stone fireplace on the opposite side with a gigantic landscape painting above. Walls and shelf spaces were covered with a collection of even more porcelain, silver, and paintings.

That had been Lara's home. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around that.

You could still sense the mansion's magnificence of times past, but it had faded. Unlike the gardens, the interior hadn't been taken care of. Just like back in the hallway, the vases and plant pots were empty. Furnishings were covered with blankets and plastics. Plaster had come off the wall above the main doors. Dust, blown up by our entering, glimmered in the sun.

Lara grabbed my hand that was around her mid. I'd been so caught up in taking in the scenery, I hadn't noticed that Lara hadn't moved one bit. Her face cycled through a series of expressions—downcast ones for the most part.

"Are you okay?" I took the camera down.

"I... Yeah." She straightened herself and signaled me with a slight tug to go on. We walked towards and up said staircase and entered another hallway on the second level. It looked like the first one; only that one had windows.

It lead to what seemed to be the family's library. An octagon room, each side covered with bookshelves, and each of them filled to the brim. The only free spots were a large window and a short staircase leading to another level with even more bookcases. Under normal circumstances, I was sure Lara would have been all over it. Instead, she pushed me forward, up the stairs, and through another door.

It was a bureau. Lara stopped dead in her tracks. Her face scrunched up as she stared at the large desk at the head of the room with the sun in its back. Judging by Lara's reaction, it had been her father's. She released a long breath and put her head on my shoulder.

"We can still leave." I didn't actually expect her to take up that offer. The moment I'd said that, her head shot back up and she gave me an odd glance.

"I have to do this." Frowning, she left my side and walked over to the desk to settle into a big chair. Her hands slowly glided over the desktop. Her expression changed from annoyance to increasing sadness. I contemplated giving her a hug. Just as she looked like she was about to crumble, she snapped out of it and began pulling open the drawers.

"This will take a while," she said brusquely without looking up. It meant she wanted me to leave her alone.

"I'll take a look around the mansion and check back later. Call me if you need me—or, y'know, if it's getting dark and you haven't heard of me, because I got lost. Or kidnapped. Or murdered."

Lara wasn't listening. She was already lost in the first bunch of papers. I left the room and quietly closed the door behind me. Leaning over the handrail, I let my head drop into my hands. I watched my camera dangle from my neck for a while and then shouted a hearty "Fuck!" into the library. It did have a nice reverberation.

I knew hooking up with Sarah had been a mistake, but did karma have to be such a bitch? All I wanted was for Lara to understand that I loved her, to give her a big hug and be there for her while she worked through her daddy issues. Instead, she'd told me to wait outside for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. The really painful part was that she still treated me like that after my vocal confession the day before.

I rubbed the palm of my hand against the returning stinging headache. It was obvious I was on the verge of ransacking my brains for the umpteenth time. I needed to distract myself until Lara was ready to leave.

All right, Croft Manor, I thought and forced myself upright. With the camera back in my hand, I went down the stairs and scanned a few of the bookshelves before returning to the lobby.

I didn't have the attention span to look at everything, or really anything, in detail. I strolled around without paying much attention what I filmed or where I went. It felt like I visited most corners of the mansion though because I kept ending up back in the lobby and left through a different door.

It turned out taking footage of the mansion didn't work so well as distraction. Even though I'd never been there before, the fact that it used to be Lara's home was omnipresent. I saw her everywhere in my mind.

At some point, I entered a pool house. A large, illuminated indoor swimming pool with elaborately decorated marble columns, water spout statues in form of women with cornucopias, and a balcony with a diving board.

Not even the many mansions I'd lived in had pool houses that big. Her family had had to be loaded. Everything about the manor looked expensive. Not to mention that entire private library. And Lara had passed up on all that. Her family's inheritance really must have grossed her out. She would rather work her ass off than follow in any of her father's steps.

I did somewhat understand it. I'd actually found out part of it myself. Since the day I'd first met her, I'd found Lara intriguing. I'd sensed there'd been more to the introverted, kind girl I'd quickly become friends with. I hadn't expected anything to come out of it when the curiosity had gotten the better of me and I'd typed her name into the internet search bar. Boy, had I been wrong. She'd never really talked much about it until last year's anniversary. It had obviously been painful for her to open up.

I was back in the lobby when my musings were interrupted by my beeping phone. I thought it was Lara wanting me to pick her up until I realized it wasn't her ring tone.

It was Sarah. A video call.

The uneasy feeling in my stomach probably should have been stronger than it was, but I was glad about the distraction. Anything was better than further agonizing over Lara. I'd told Sarah she could call me, anyway. Though, I wasn't too keen on video chatting. I wasn't feeling so hot.

Before I could decide whether to accept the video call, it ended. I'd lost reception. It rang once more shortly after before going dead again. Well, shit, I thought and looked around. I thought about stepping outside through the kitchen but then remembered Lara had put the door back in place. I didn't want to break anything had it been locked again. Every other way leading outside seemed locked as well as far as I could tell.

I hurried back to the library, which had a two big windows looking out over the gardens in front of the manor. It seemed like my best bet. Also, I could keep an eye on the bureau's door from there. The window creaked as I opened it to lean out on the windowsill. I called Sarah back—audio only. She picked up before the first ring ended.

"Hey, Sam. Still pampering your roomie?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess."

"What's wrong with her anyway?"

"Sprained ankle. Has trouble getting around."

"Tell her to get crutches."

Sarah wasn't wrong. I wondered why Lara didn't have any and figured I should look into getting some for her on Monday. At least she wouldn't have to rely on me anymore until she was better. I pulled a face at that last thought. "Good idea," I said bemused.

"So, is she, like, around right now?" She sounded a lot more cheerful now.

"No. I'm..." I looked back over my shoulder. "Not in her room."

"Wish you were in mine. Or maybe I can come over and—"

"Sorry, but now's not the time." I tried to sound as apologetic as possible.

"Shame." She paused and then continued in a sultry voice. "So, what are you wearing?"

I snorted. "Very smooth."

"You know what's also very smooth? A hint: I'm touching it right now."

"Sarah," I groaned.

She giggled. "What? I'm so bored. I've been waiting for you all the time. I was really hoping you'd let your roomie take care of herself and come here. I can't stop thinking about you. Why didn't you text back yesterday? What was the matter?"

"Please don't remind me," I muttered and pushed myself off the windowsill to take some steps into the library. "Some shit happened."

"Are you oka—"

The phone went dead again. I hurried back to the window and called Sarah. "Sorry, reception sucks," I said the moment she answered the call.

"Wait, where are you? You're not home, are you? I thought your roomie has to stay in and you're taking care of her?"

Well, shit, I thought and rubbed the back of my neck. "Lara has something important to do. Family matters."

"What's so important on a Sunday that she couldn't take a cab? Why couldn't you come over to me?"

"It's an emergency."

"I am an emergency."

"Sarah..."

"No, really," she took an audible, deep breath, "Sam, I can't get you out of my head. And—God—I'm so turned on from yesterday. It's bloody weekend. You said you want to make it up to me. When?"

My head sank into my hand. "Listen, I'm so sorry, but... this is a bad idea."

"What do you mean?"

Sighing, I looked down the outside wall of the mansion at the ground. I had to do this—and it was going to suck so hard. "There's something I need to tell you."

Just when I was about to spill the beans, loud noises caught my attention. They came from the bureau. Then Lara's voice. She shouted. Was she talking to anyone?

"Shit, sorry, I have to go. I'll call you back later," I said to Sarah. I was already half way up the stairs.

"What? Sam, don't hang up on me now! What do you need to tell me? What's the matter?"

Sarah shouted my name once more before I ended the call. When it rang again, I muted my phone and stormed into the office.

"Bloody idiot!" Lara shouted with flushed cheeks and red, glistering eyes. Sheets of paper were scattered all over the floor. A photo frame, pen box, and other supplies that had been on the desk were knocked over or had fallen down. Lara grabbed a handful of sheets and tore them in half. "It's all rubbish! Utter bollocks! You killed yourself for nothing!"

I was dumbfounded. When she drew back her injured leg to kick the desk, I shrieked for her to stop. Her foot crashed into the wood. The pained scream was bloodcurdling. She toppled backwards. I rushed to help her, but Lara pushed me away.

She cursed at the top of her lungs, clutching at her leg. She was as red as a beet now and shook with rage. "Shit! Godbloodydammit!" She stumbled from bookcase to bookcase, tearing their contents out of the shelves and hurling them across the room.

That was a lot of penned up anger, and I wasn't sure I wanted to get in the way of it. I put my camera in a safe spot and carefully made my way to Lara anyway, calling out to her in a soothing tone. It pained me to see her like that. When she was about to throw another pair of books, she tripped over one of her earlier victims, bumped into a table, and hit the floor with a grunt. I was at her side in an instant. She lay face down, fists clenched, her body heaving with heavy breaths.

"What a pillock. Immortality? He was barmy. Completely nuts." She turned to me, trembling chin, tears running down her cheeks. "Nothing. He left me because of nothing. Who does that? What father does that?"

"Oh, Lara." I put a hand on her cheek.

I wanted to help her up but before I could do much, she threw herself at me. Hugging me tightly, she buried her face in the nape of my neck and whimpered. Her body shivered in my arms.

"I'm so sorry," I told her and stroked her head. "You didn't deserve this."

It broke my heart to see her like that. Then again, maybe it was time she released her frustration for once, considering her massive mood swings on those anniversaries.

I kept hugging and caressing her, giving her as much as she needed. Just as she seemed to calm down after a few minutes, she tightened her hold on me again. Her fingers dug into my back and she released a new wave of ragged breaths down my back.

"I don't want to lose you, too," she murmured into my ear, her cheek pressed against mine.

"What?" I said, taken aback. Nervous, I waited for some kind of explanation, but there was none. Unsure how to react to her words, I chose to comfort her for the moment. "You're not gonna get rid of me. I won't leave you."

"I miss you," Lara said.

"But I'm here."

"Not like you used to. I don't know what to do." She leant back to look into my eyes."Tell me what to do. What do you want?"

"I—I don't know," I said, unsure what she wanted to hear.

She kept looking at me with her puffy eyes as if she was searching for something. Then, while I was still trying to figure out what to tell her, Lara cupped my cheeks. She stroked them with her thumbs and slowly closed the gap between us. Before I knew what was happening, she pressed her lips against mine. After just a second that lasted ages, she broke away.

"What are you doing?" I stammered.

"I want you to stay with me," she said with a pleading look. My stomach dropped at the realization that I'd made her doubt that. What a mess I had caused.

"Oh, sweetie." I placed a lengthy kiss on her forehead and then took a deep breath before saying as firmly as I could manage, "I love you. I want nothing more than to be with you, no matter how." I had to force that last part past my lips, and it stung.

Lara slumped against me, relaxing into my chest. I was afraid she could hear how hard my heart was thumping.

"I'm so sorry. For everything I did," I murmured into her hair and clung to her with damp fingers. I didn't want let her go again.

The silence that had settled into the ravaged bureau was broken when she whispered something that kept echoing through my mind.

"I love you, too," she breathed into my shirt and tightly wrapped her arms around my mid.

If she hadn't heard my heartbeat before, I was sure she could now. Light-headed, I looked up at the ceiling and took deep breaths. No, I was so not going to cry now. I couldn't help snorting quietly at the ridiculousness of everything though. "We're such a mess," I said mostly to myself.

Lara snuggled into me a bit more for a while until she said, "Take me home, please. I don't want to be here any longer." She straightened herself and ran a sleeve over her eyes. She looked so done with the world.

I'd lost track of how long I'd been kneeling on the floor with Lara. My legs ached when I got up to help her to her feet. The moment we took the first step towards the door, she faltered with gritted teeth. Holding her upright, I took her to a nearby arm chair, she promptly sunk into with a groan.

"Shit, I need a moment," Lara sighed. She looked around the room and her face scrunched up again. The bureau was in almost as much of a sorry state as herself.

"Take your time," I said and ran a hand over her head. I jumped to my feet and began sorting the books she'd thrown around back into the shelves without system. It gave me something to do to distract myself from the whirlwind of emotions that were making my knees weak.

I was picking up the research papers from the floor and putting them back into a drawer, when Lara stretched out her leg and slowly moved her foot around. I wondered what exactly she'd found in his research that upset her that much. Something about immortality. I'd have to try and ask her another time though.

By the time the desk was tidy again, Lara looked ready to give walking another go. I picked her and the camera up, and we successfully left the bureau and returned through to the kitchen. Fortunately, Lara could open and close the door without much effort that time. Even though she didn't make a fuss about it, it was obvious the long way back to the car was causing her trouble.

"You okay?" I said when she got slower halfway towards the gate.

"I can't wait to get back into my bed and swallow a handful of painkillers," she moaned.

I had to admit that a bed did sound very tempting after the recent restless nights. While I still didn't really know how things would develop between us, that she clung to me just as much took such a load off my mind. The relief was immense. Whatever would happen, we'd stay together, I told myself and gave Lara a tired smile she didn't notice.

Her eyes were fixed on something ahead of us. I followed her gaze and noticed another car standing outside the gate. It was white, with blue and yellow checks on the side.

"Police," I gasped. A strong, queasy feeling settled into my stomach. "What can happen though, right? We didn't do anything."

"Except a break-in."

"But isn't this place, well, kind of your's?"

"You know it's not."

"Shit." I ran a hand through my hair. "I'd suggest to run, but..."

"They got your plate anyway," Lara said matter-of-factly.

An officer appeared next to the patrol car. "Hey, you. Come out here."

I was about to joke that we were doing that anyway, but it got stuck in my throat. I helped Lara up the wall and then struggled over to the other side myself under the bemused look from the cop.

"What were you doing in there? Can't you read?" He pointed at the sign attached to the gate.

"We just looked around," Lara said and shrugged halfheartedly.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "This is Lara Croft and this is Croft Manor. She used to live here. We were just visiting her old home." I held up the camera as if it would explain everything.

He gave Lara a wary look. "I've been patrolling here for quite a while. I know for a fact that the owner of this estate is not called Croft. And, obviously, you don't have any keys for it. Empty all your pockets and put your hands on the roof."

While I still stood bewildered, Lara hobbled to the car and put her wallet and keys on the roof. Deadpanning, she demonstratively turned out all her pockets. Then she put her hands next to her belongings and let her head drop. When the officer gave me a stern look and waved to the car, I grudgingly followed suit. He patted us down and then took our wallets to note down the information from our IDs. With our hands still on the roof, I turned to Lara with a concerned look, but she was just staring at the ground.

After we got our stuff back, I had to open my car for him. Fortunately, it didn't take long for him to find that there was nothing to find. It still was unnerving to see a cop tentatively search through your belongings.

"Well, Miss Nishimura and Croft, you don't seem to have stolen anything. You're free to go for now. The owner of the estate will be informed and an inspection will be conducted. And you better not have touched anything. You wouldn't be the first to break into the manor and vandalize it. If anything is out of place, you'll be in for it. You'll be contacted soon." And with that the officer got into his car and left.

Perplexed, I got into my own car and waited for Lara to get into the passenger seat. "Shit, I hope we won't get into trouble for this."

"I'll talk to my uncle."

"Mom's going to kill me if she somehow gets wind of this," I said, lost in my head and not hearing Lara. I started the engine and drove home on auto-pilot.