Our tale continues in "Indestructible Forces"

Chapter 1 Start Anew

Lara opened her eyes. The warmth of the duvet hugged her as she woke taking in the brightness of her surroundings that she now called home. Kaiba had her possessions moved to the manor as soon as she had agreed to move in and she could not have been happier. Lara turned over onto her side facing the magnificent specimen of a man that she called hers, who was still asleep. It was their first day back in Domino and the last day of their little break before they had to return to work the next morning. Kaiba looked so utterly peaceful that she chose to admire him instead of waking him. His pink lips were slightly parted as he breathed deeply, his long lashes fanned out on his cheek and his soft chestnut hair was tousled. Whenever she saw him like this, it was difficult to believe that he could wake into the fire breathing dragon that had most people quaking in their boots. The thought always made her chuckle. She propped her head on her elbow and gently ran her fingers through his silky locks. He stirred, knitting his brows together. He slowly opened his piercing blue eyes.

"Hey," she greeted with a smile. He replied with his signature smirk. She would fight wars for that smirk. He reached out with his arms, pulling her to his body, wrapping her in a close embrace. Kaiba placed a chaste kiss on her head. It was not like him to sleep in but after a twelve hour return flight and an eight hour time difference, she thought they had earned it.

Kaiba had decided that they should spend some time as a family away from Domino and the three of them flew to Switzerland for their little break. They stayed at a beautiful wooden, castle-like resort in the snow covered mountains of the Alps. It was quiet, discreet and breathtaking. Their suites were warm with their cabin style walls and stone fireplace. Lara's favourite thing though, was the balcony that afforded them and amazing view of the slopes, dotted with tall pine trees, each needle dusted with white snow. It was like being in a fairytale. The only word she could use to describe it was splendorous.

Lara and Mokuba spent much of their time skiing and to their great surprise, Kaiba had joined them a few times. He was a fast learner and became rather good in a short amount of time but he prefered to watch rather than participate. Lara took great pleasure in teaching Mokuba. He was definitely not as graceful as Kaiba but he listened carefully to the instructions and made great progress during their week. Sometimes he would wipe out spectacularly, taking Lara with him. Getting back up was always difficult afterwards because they would both be laughing so hard.

It was a lovely little getaway to spend time together and try to move past all the events that had transpired the year before. Every now and then Lara would think about Leon and how lonely his life had become, it always saddened her. Mokuba was always quick to pick up on her moods and divert her attention; Kaiba, however, simply let her be. He knew that sometimes all it would take for things to get better, was time...