I'm In

By: AgentAyu

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except the story.

A/N: Happy birthday Lara Croft! Song inspiration for this story: New Day by Tamar Kaprelian.

Quietly she walked through the hospital corridors hoping to avoid any attention since she was technically banned from seeing the patient in mind. While she did promise the patient's mother that she didn't need to visit the patient, she couldn't stay away. At least not without a proper goodbye. Turning the corner she froze seeing a nurse walking out of the room, all of the staff fully aware she was not supposed to be there. The nurse spotted her and gave a small sad smile.

"I'm sorry miss, but Miss Nishimura's mother was very specific you were not allowed to visit."

"Please. I'll be in and out. Please allow me to properly say goodbye to her." Lara replied.

The nurse sighed and walked up to Lara. "Miss, I am sorry, but we were given orders to not allow you to visit. Now if you'll excuse me I need to update Miss Nishimura's files. I'll be back in ten minutes." The nurse lightly tapped Lara's arm as she passed the girl.

Lara nodded in gratitude before walking up to room's door. Sam was staring at the unopened box of Jaffa Cakes. The archeologist gave a quiet knock on the door and stood waiting for Sam's permission to enter. "Hey…" Lara spoke softly.

"I thought you were going to run off. After all that fighting you had with my mother."

"I did… or I was about to, but you deserve better than me running off without telling you goodb-"

"Don't." Sam interrupted and then looked up from the box. "Don't tell me goodbye. Himiko might have started possessing me in Mexico, but that was all me when I yelled at you for always needing to be the hero and for needing to dash off to the ends of the earth. That was me. Himiko… she just helped me release all that bottled up anger." Sam waved for Lara to come closer. Once Lara was close enough Sam grabbed hold of one of Lara's hands. "Lara, I was angry because you weren't listening to me. I don't want to constantly be a damsel in distress especially to you. I want to be your partner who has your back when you go out on these adventures even if it is life and death."

Lara sat on the edge of Sam's bed. "Sam, it's not that I don't want you and I'm not saying you're a liability, but I'd be most comfortable knowing you were safe somewhere far away from wherever I am. Especially with recent events. I… There was so much that happened recently while you were in Sweden. I don't even know how to begin to tell you."

"How about what caught your attention to get you to run all the way to Siberia?"

"Jonah?"

"You know I was going to get something out of him when he dropped off your gift."

The archeologist looked out the window figuring out what to say. "There is so much to say and a lot of it involves dangerous people."

Sam gave an exasperated sigh. "Lara, please don't diverge from the question to avoid it all together."

"Alright, then the simple answer to your question is that it was all for my father. After I lost you to Himiko all those months ago I only had what my father couldn't finish and newspapers calling me another 'Crazy Croft'."

"Because of Yamatai."

Lara nodded. "It's not over yet. I found what he was trying to find, but it's so much bigger than I thought. It all started with Yamatai. I can't ask you to come with me."

"Good, because you're not asking and I'm telling you I'm going with you."

"No. Sam, it's too dangerous."

"I know. So you might as well start training me because I'm going with you and that's final."

"Sam-"

Warm lips were suddenly on hers as her eyes widened. Slowly Lara closed her eyes and kissed Sam back as one hand held Sam's and the other gripped the bed sheets tightly. Sam pulled back and leaned her forehead on Lara's.

"Damn it, Lara Croft just shut up. Ever since Yamatai, all you do is run off and leave me behind: Devil's Point, Chernobyl, Mexico, Siberia, and now you're trying to do it again. You know when I was kidnapped and taken back to Yamatai and you saved me a third time, I was willing to let Himiko possess me because I couldn't stand seeing you get hurt. You said you'd be more comfortable knowing I was in a safe place because you'd worry so much about me, how do you think that makes me feel when you run off without me? Why do you think I was so angry with what you did in Mexico?"

"Sa-"

Sam placed a finger on Lara's lips to silence the other girl. "My turn to talk. Your actions spoke plenty for you in the past. Lara, I can't stop you from going wherever it is you need to go and I wouldn't dream of it especially if it involves your family. You're not asking me to come with you and I'm not asking you to let me go with you. I'm in, Croft. I'm all in. We always go together always. That's what we constantly told each other back in university. You'd go on these archeological adventures and I'm there recording you the entire way. If you run be prepared for me to follow you even if you object."

Lara opened her eyes to stare into Sam's. "I'm still objecting profusely with you following me." This time Lara silenced Sam by quickly pecking the Eurasian girl's lips. "Hear me out fully. I'll tell you everything if you're able to get to me before I leave. Unless something happens, I shouldn't be leaving for a while. Do you still have the keys to the flat?"

"I should unless my mother for some ungodly reason got rid of it. Why?"

"I'm leaving the address to Croft Manor there for you. I've kind of moved out of the flat."

"The manor, but I thought your uncle was the executor. That's why we had trouble getting to Mexico in the first place."

The archeologist smirked and stood up. "Well he no longer has control over my estate. He and I severed ties and yes, it was very tempting to shove him out the window again once all the papers were signed." She quickly gave Sam a hug. How she longed to hold Sam and never let her go if she didn't make the hug quick. "There's one thing that your mother and I agree on is keeping you safe, Sam. If you somehow manage to escape your mother and make your way to Croft Manor, I'll tell you everything."

Sam scoffed. "You're talking about her rebellious daughter that she sent to England because of how I was acting. If it wasn't for her, we probably would have never met if I went to school in the States. This isn't going to be goodbye, Lara. I'll be at Croft Manor and I'm going with you on your next adventure. Dangers and all."

"If you say so."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

That was a month ago. Lara stood in front of her family's crest as she ran her fingers over the 'C'. It had been a while since she last had the nightmare of her uncle having some demonic possession and summoned zombies of Solarii and Trinity members all to take away Lara's ownership of her home. Her birthright. Lara huffed over the nightmare, "You're not even a Croft. Mum might have been born a de Mornary, but she was a Croft in the end. Not just in name but spirit too."

Breaking the silence was the doorbell followed by a lot of knocking on the front door. Whoever was at the front door was alternating between knocking and ringing the doorbell. Winston gave Lara a look showing he was not amused with whomever was on the other side of the door. Lara walked down the stairs as Winston opened the door.

"Hello, is Lara home by chance?"

"The Lady of the Manor is present. May I ask who is-"

"Great! Thank you!" Sam walked past Winston and lit up when she spotted Lara. "Hello sweetie!"

Lara smiled at hearing Sam's nickname for her. Sam dropped the few bags she had with her and wrapped her arms around Lara's neck and kissed her. "I'm here and ready to help you in any way I can!"

"Your mum actually let you go?"

"Of course not! She has unofficially disowned me. By the way sorry in advance that my father will be sending a lot of my stuff to the apartment which we'll need to sort out."

Before Lara could reply they were interrupted by a throat clearing from Winston. "Lady Lara, who is this… lovely young woman who has barged in."

"Right, apologies. Sam, this is Winston Smith, my butler. Winston, this is Sam Nishimura, my roommate from uni and my…" Lara trailed of not sure what she and Sam were to each other exactly right now.

"Partner in crime and here to stay. Nice to meet you, Winston." Sam held her hand out to the butler.

"Pleasure, Miss Nishimura." Winston gave Sam's hand a firm grip as he was trying to get a feel for Sam. After learning from Lara about Ana, Winston is not taking any chances with another betrayal amongst the family he served. Especially with Lara being the last Croft.

"Sam?"

"Miss Nishimura." Winston reaffirmed. "Shall I make tea, my Lady?"

"That would be great thank you. We'll have it in the library."

With a nod Winston left Sam and Lara in the foyer. The two stood there for a while with Sam still having her arms wrapped around Lara's neck and the other girl's hands on Sam's waist. Sam moved slightly left to right to have them swaying.

"Are you okay?" Lara asked breaking the silence. "Not that it's a bad thing, but you're awfully chipper considering you were just unofficially disowned and with everything that happened."

"I'm just enjoying this moment right now since it's about to get gloomy as you tell me everything like you promised. Regardless of whatever you tell me, Lara, I'm staying. We always go together. Always. You and I against the world."

Lara let go of Sam and grabbed one of the bags on the ground. "How about a mini tour before we head to the library? And I guess a question of which room you'd want as your quarters."

"What about your room?"

The archaeologist didn't reply right away, but shrugged and head up the stairs to the west wing. "If you say so."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Lara paced as she finished retailing everything that happened between when Sam was arrested to sealing Himiko away. "When you were still asleep in the hospital I promised that I wouldn't let that happen to you again."

Sam hummed as she sat for a while soaking in everything that had happened. She knew there was more to everything that happened, but she got the main points. "So, where are you thinking of heading to next? From what I understood you went to Siberia because of whatever you found in Syria about Kitezh."

"That's correct."

"Was there anything else from your father's search as probably a starting point? Because if I had to pick a random place to start looking into I would think Greece personally. Or Egypt or even the ancient cultures in South America. I'm only thinking how if all these myths hold some truth to them there has to be a lot more with the ancient society than we know of and just have to focus on whichever has something involving immortality. Hell, you proved that Yamatai and Kitezh were real. Himiko also showed how much magic is real too."

"Egypt might be a place to start. Since that was my father's primary focus before he later shifted more to Asia. Specifically Tibet."

"Great! Let's get to it!" Sam clapped her hands as she stood up. "Do you have any books on Greece or Egypt or Tibet in this home library? Or if I can get the wifi password I could start looking for anything that involves immortality since we know the Greeks have a lot of that running around in their mythology. Maybe we should look further into Egypt since that was your father's first expedition."

Lara was flabbergasted. "Sam, did you not hear me for the last two hours where I told you how dangerous Trinity is? Trinity was in charge of the asylum in Sweden. They tortured you causing Himiko to have more power to take possession of you."

"I heard, took it into account, and made my decision back in my hospital room regardless of what you had to say. Also Himiko is sealed away now, she's not going to take control of me again." Sam walked over to the case close to them and began scanning at the books.

"That's what we thought when I destroyed the body during the ritual."

"We'll take it one day at a time, but from what I could feel during the sealing ceremony, she's gone. While it was sort of cute you trying to scare me off with what happened since I've been out of commission because of Himiko. No offense to Jonah, but he doesn't know you. He's a great friend especially after what you two went through in Siberia and of course Yamatai. Can you honestly call him a partner with what you're going to get yourself into?" She pulled out a book and looked at the table of contents to see if there was anything remotely possible for her to use.

"Sam… I just don't want you-"

The Eurasian girl slammed the book shut and glared at Lara. "Sweetie, I swear if you say what I think you were about to say one more time, I'm going to take liberty of the bed and you're going to be sleeping on that couch tonight and maybe the rest of the week."

"But it's my bed and my manor."

"You don't think I'd be able to take the bed away from you?" Sam asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Sadly, I know you'd find away to take the bed away from me. But Sam… are you sure?"

Sam stepped up to Lara and quickly peck her lips. "I'm sure. Like I said, I'm in. I'm all in."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"What are you thinking?"

Lara looked up from Sam's abdomen where Lara was tracing her finger over Sam's scar. "Nothing." Sam gave Lara a look. "Everything. My head is all over the place." Lara gave a loud sigh as she rolled onto her back and stared up at the canopy.

"You're still very much against me going with you wherever it is you'll be going next." The silence was all the answer Sam needed. "I'm not going to keep arguing with you over it, we've been over it too much the last couple of months. Let me ask you this; is there even a small chance you're against me joining has something to do with your father?"

The archaeologist furrowed her brow not sure what to make of Sam's question. Sam rolled over and draped her arm over Lara's midsection as he rested her chin over Lara's chest. She cupped Lara's cheek so the other girl would look at her. "You said after your mother's plane crash he became critically depressed. From what you've told me your parents sounded like they were immensely in love with each other. As if they could take on the whole world. Kind of like how we talked of doing in our respective fields. After Yamatai you were compared to being like your father when he became obsessed with his research. Like the truth and myths, maybe you're a lot like him than you realize."

Sam sat up and Lara followed leaning her back to the headboard with Sam straddling her. The blankets resting around their waist with their upper body exposed to the night air, their scars open to see between the two of them. "Is there a little bit of fear that if something were to happen to me you'd dive so far into your and your father's research that you'll lose yourself? Just like he did."

"Without a doubt." Lara immediately replied. "Sam, I can't lose you. We were hardly out of our teens when I've lost everyone I loved except you. We both have a very good idea how I would have turned out if you never tried talking to me the day we met."

"I'd probably be in rehab for alcoholism or dead. Hey… we're okay though." Sam pecked Lara's lips. "We're okay. What else is on your mind?"

"I think I need to do some more digging in my father's secret room in the basement for any other clues. If we were starting from scratch our map in the library and the study would have a lot more pins and strings attached to them. However, we're trying to play catch up and figure out what my dad was onto and avoid attracting Trinity's attention. I'm already on their radar from Syria and then with Himiko you go on their radar."

"Must really suck having to play catch up, huh? You now kind of understand what I don't like having to follow you. Besides would you have gotten as much done without my help?"

Lara gave a small smile. "No. I'd probably be digging through my father's codex and book still. Having you here has helped me voice my thoughts and your questions help me think of things I wouldn't have thought of too."

"And everything is recorded on video for you to refer back to if need be. With speed throughs of moments we're quiet for a while and recaps of what we just covered. As well as chapters skips on the files based on whichever discussion we had that day. This way I don't lose my skills in filmography."

"Just as long as no filming happens in the bedroom."

"Hey, I'm still down with knocking out a few fantasies in the library with the fire place. Could we film there since it's not the bedroom? We could just spend a night there instead of crawling back to bed after spending hours there trying to figure out our next step."

"Sam! That's the family library. It's sacred. And NO! No, recording of us shagging."

"Sweetie, I'm willing to bet that we are hardly the first in your family to even think of showing some love in the library. Now I wonder how many Crofts were conceived there. Oof!" Lara lightly smacked Sam in the face with a pillow. Sam was laughing. "Just think about it, sweetie." She kissed Lara on the cheek. The two sat there in silence. They've grown fond of the occasional moments of just being present. A state of zen where nothing else mattered but each other. "I just realized something."

"What's that?"

"I like to think based off my family history and your name sake. We were definitely meant to be." This time Lara raised an eyebrow at Sam. "You said you were named after Ra, the Egyptian Sun God. Yet you're in the presence of a Sun Goddess descendent. Coincidence? I think not."

"Allegedly in the presence of a Sun Goddess descendent."

Sam smirked. "I can find ways to make you rephrase what you just said. I was her vessel for a while. I think that proves I'm essentially a Sun Goddess." Sam began lowering herself on Lara and trailing kisses.

"I don't see how you're proud of that. With everything that happened." Her voice caught in her throat when Sam started kissing her chest.

The filmographer stopped kissing to look up at Lara again. "While Himiko is a bitch, I'm taking the good things from the pile of shit and running with the fact you're a Sun God and I'm a Sun Goddess. Now shut up so I can show some more love."

Lara chuckled. "If you say so."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"They say a good test of a relationship is how well you travel together. Well, I'd say Amelia and I have passed that test with flying colors."

Lara smiled as she listened to her father's recording again about their expedition to Egypt that lead to their marriage and her conception. Another couple of months have gone by, Sam and Lara had narrowed their options down to Egypt or Tibet. Go back to her father's first expedition or his last expedition before they lost her mother.

"Despite her decidedly proper upbringing, Amelia's taken to roughing it more than I ever have. She fits in and connects with the local populace with such amazing empathy."

"Hey, what are you listening to?" Sam asked as she draped her arms around Lara's neck from behind and leaned her head on top of Lara's.

"Some of my father's old tapes." She stops the recording before her father talks about asking her mother's hand in marriage.

Sam smiled. "From what I just heard you take after both of them depending on the situation. Though you could be more empathetic with the populace. They really did break the mold when they made you, Lara."

Lara gently removed Sam's arms from around her neck and slowly stood up, not letting go one of Sam's hands. "I want to show you something. Remember that room near our bedroom I have locked?"

"How could I forget? I've been wondering what was in there since I moved here. We also pass it every night, sweetie."

"I'm ready to show it to you. C'mon."

They walked briskly to the west wing of the manor. The archeologist unlocked the door to her mother's studio, but didn't push the doors open. She turned back to Sam. "I kept this locked up not because I'm trying to hide something from you, but because this room holds things very dear to me. I didn't understand when my father locked me out of this part of the manor until I had to find my claim to keep my home."

Together they entered the studio and Lara paused by the piano waiting for Sam's opinion. "This is your mother's studio?" Lara nodded. "Not that I don't appreciate you allowing me to see it now, but why?"

"Because this can be your room now. I can't keep clinging to the past when I have a future with you in it." Sam blushed as she smiled at hearing there being a future with Lara. "I thought you could utilize it for your video editing and stash all your cameras and other filmography tools here. It'll be your studio space."

"What's wrong with our set up for me in the East Wing where your study and the library is located? That way we'd be close with whatever we're working on. I can have edits being rendered while I help you research things."

"When you edit and work your magic with your footage, I lose you for hours just like you lose me when I'm focused on something with my research. And as much as we love each other, we still need our personal space to escape each other even if it's for a few hours. My mother spent hours in here. This was her trade as an artist. You're an artist as well with film and I think maybe you'd be able to feel something here to help you."

"As if your mother is here in spirit?"

Lara nodded. "That's at least how I feel whenever I work in my father's study. More so since I'm continuing his research. You've lived here with me for almost half a year. You need a room to call your own too, honey."

Sam walked around the room taking in the layout. She picked up a photograph and held it up for Lara to see. "I found my favorite childhood photo of you. You were so cute. This one even trumps your eighth birthday photo with the pharaoh's crown. You and your mother looked so happy."

"I honestly don't remember that one being taken. I hardly remember a lot of things involving mum and I. If it weren't for her journals and photographs, I probably wouldn't remember her at all. Just the figment of her."

The filmographer nodded, "I can see in the photo she really loved you, Lara." She continued to look around occasionally stopping to look at the paintings. "Wow! Your mother was amazing. I don't know as well as your mother did about art, but her use of color and tone for them are outstanding. I like this one the most from what I've seen so far."

She was standing in front of the painting with a stone city staked with golden rooftops on a few of them. "Kind of feels like this was inspired from something we'd been researching recently from your father. It's not too cold because of the goldenrod, but just enough goldenrod to balance the painting without overpowering it."

"I'm sure you two would have spent hours conversing in the arts while dad and I were holed up in the library or study." It was then that Lara noticed Winston waiting at the entrance. She had asked him the night before of his opinion of opening Amelia's studio to Sam. "I'll be right back." Lara kissed Sam's temple before leaving her partner enraptured in her mother's paintings. She stood next to Winston and watch Sam wander in her own world trying to connect with Amelia Croft. For months Lara had confided in Winston about her worries with Sam and what it would have been like if her parents were still around. "Did I do the right thing, Winston?"

"Lady Lara, if I may be so bold in saying. I think you did the very right thing. Your mother would have probably chewed you out if you didn't allow her to become part of this. Miss Samantha brings out something in you that I haven't seen since you were a little girl. She reminds me of Lady Amelia in how she handles you just like how she handled Lord Croft when he was deep into his research. Miss Samantha would go the extra mile for you and keep you grounded. I'm sure your parents would have loved her as much as you do. Do not let this one go."

Lara smiled as she continued watching Sam examine her mother's old studio space. She also pulled out the second necklace Lara had been wearing that had Amelia's wedding ring for Winston to see. "I don't plan on it, Winston. Maybe after this next adventure I'll ask her, but not now. Dad did say a relationship is tested on how well we travel together. We did splendid during uni, but now we'll really be tested. As much as it terrifies me, she's in. She's all in. And I'm in too."