A/N: So I've written a few fanfics before, most of them are Mass Effect related these days. But after playing the newest Tomb Raider (like a handful of times) game I felt compelled to write something for it. I can't promise a lot of updates, as I'm a full time college student and may need to take a job on the side soon.

Some information on this story idea of mine: I have put a lot of research into some of this stuff. I may still make some inaccuracies so I apologize ahead of time and if anyone has correct information on the things I get wrong please do not hesitate to let me know and I will go back and try to fix it.

This may take some time for me to write out to the fullest. Like I said I have school and the possibility of a job to contend with and I may need to do more research for what I wish to write.

Anyways I will try to update regularly, hopefully you guys will enjoy this. I have no idea what direction to take this, but I figure it'll get somewhere eventually. Hopefully anyways.

This takes place right after the game, so let's get started lol.

Chapter One

Sam felt herself being nudged from her sleep. She slowly blinked her eyes open, finding Jonah kneeled in front of her with an almost regretful look. She reached up rubbing at her eyes slowly, feeling like she just didn't have enough sleep. Yamatai had been a more than exhausting experience. She looked next to her at Lara, who also appeared to have simply fallen asleep. Sam had been leaning against her, having been sitting next to her on the floor of their boat.

"Sorry to wake you so soon, but there's a cargo ship approaching." Jonah said apologetically. Sam simply nodded as she stretched her tired limbs out and yawned heavily as Jonah scooted over a bit to wake Lara.

Sam rubbed at her eyes as she heard Jonah try to coax Lara awake. But as the seconds ticked by with no response from Lara her stomach tightened in an unsettling manner as she looked over to her side. Lara was limp, eyes still closed, as Jonah tried to shake her awake. "Lara?" He tried more loudly, the concern clear in his voice.

Sam panicked as she suddenly turned herself to face Lara. She couldn't be sure by all the grime and dried blood covering Lara's clothes and form but the young archeologist looked pale. "Lara?" Sam tried, the fear evident in her own voice as Jonah looked over his shoulder at Reyes. Reyes looked on with just as much uncertainty. "Oh my god, Lara, don't do this to me!" Sam practically shrieked as she herself tried to shake the younger woman awake.

Still there was no response. Lara was slumped over where she sat, and Sam quickly brought a hand the girl's forehead. "She's burning up!" Sam said panicked, trying to shake her awake again. Jonah stood, looking over to the approaching cargo ship, silently willing for it to move faster. He judged that it would be another ten minutes at most before they ran alongside the cargo vessel.

Sam was still trying to wake Lara when Jonah looked back down. Reyes was trying to keep their PT boat on course with the cargo ship. Her expression was unreadable and she didn't say a word. Jonah didn't know what was going through her mind in that moment but he knew Sam was in a panic for Lara. He gently grabbed Sam, pulling her away from the prone woman.

Sam tried to pull away from the bigger man but he held fast pulling her into a tight hug. She gripped his arms, her eyes never pulling away from Lara, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. "What's wrong with her?" She questioned quietly.

Jonah shrugged gently. "I don't know, but we'll get her help, I promise." He said as gently as possible. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Lara but he assumed she might have an infection. From all her cuts, scrapes and gashes he wouldn't have been too surprised. Especially with that hole in her side. How she managed to go all that time on that island without treatment was beyond him. His little bird was certainly a strong woman, he knew that for a fact.

When the boat finally came alongside the cargo vessel Sam was practically frantic to tell them Lara needed medical attention. They threw down a rope ladder as Jonah scooped Lara up in his massive arms before carefully placing her over his broad shoulder. Sam stood aside so he could climb up first with Lara. Sam watched them closely as Jonah slowly made his way up the ladder, careful to not lose his balance or drop the prone archeologist.

Reyes stepped up next to Sam and she placed her good hand on her shoulder. "I'm scared, Reyes." Sam said meekly, never taking her eyes off Jonah and Lara. She didn't know what she would do without Lara. She was her best friend and after everything that had just happened to them. All the friends they had just lost, everything they just lived through… She didn't know if she could handle losing Lara on top of it.

Reye gave Sam's shoulder a gentle squeeze as they watched Jonah disappear over the edge of the boat. "It'll be ok." Reyes said, letting go for the younger girl's shoulder watching her quickly climb up the ladder after Jonah and Lara.

Sam had never climbed a ladder so fast in her life. She couldn't move fast enough and once she reached the top she spotted Jonah quickly following after a man in large rubber overalls and took off after them, not even waiting for Reyes to catch up. She knew she probably should have waited for the former cop but she was far too concerned about Lara. She needed to make sure Lara would be ok.

Sam ignored the looks she received as she followed Jonah and the other man below decks. She was still in that white ceremonial outfit Mathias had forced her into. She didn't care about that right now, she only cared about Lara. "We don't really have a full medical staff or facility on board, we'll need to get an air lift from Japan if the situation is bad enough." The man in rubber overalls was saying to Jonah as they quickly went down one hall then down another set of metal stairs, Sam hot on their heels.

"Can't you guys do something for her?" Sam asked worriedly as they took a left and half a second later a sharp right into what looked like a small sickbay. There was already an elder man pulling out medical equipment from his small cabinets, Jonah carefully laying Lara out on the hard medical bed.

"I have a limited supplies of antibiotics, some IV drips, and other basic first aid supplies." The elder man said as Sam hovered in the doorway. Jonah stood back as the presumed doctor began listening to Lara's heart and with his stethoscope while he felt about her face with his old leathery looking hands. "Hm… Definitely has a fever, her heartbeat is racing and her breathing sounds short." He muttered to himself more than anyone.

Sam hugged herself tightly unsure of what to say or do as she watched the man begin to hook up an IV. "I don't know what all she might be suffering from but it might be best to get her to a real hospital before long." The elder man said as he hooked Lara to the IV and began to pump her full of clear liquids. Sam felt tears threatening to escape her eyes as she looked on helplessly.

Lara just couldn't die, not like this. Not after all they've been through and all they survived. It wasn't fair. More selfishly yet Sam was angry at the idea of Lara abandoning her now. Not like this. Not when Sam needed Lara the most. "Come with me." The younger man who had led them to the sickbay said as he made his way past Sam and back in the direction they had come from. "We'll radio Japan, see if they can send someone our way, but I can't promise anything." He said as he disappeared around the corner.

Jonah stopped next to Sam who was losing her battle against the threat of tears. Jonah put a strong yet gentle hand on her shoulder. "Sam, we should give the doctor space to do what he has to do…" Jonah tried gently. Sam's brow furrowed just before she reached up to wipe at silent tears that escaped her. She looked up at Jonah, her fears plain as day. He could see it in her eyes, she was afraid of losing Lara.

Sam looked back at Lara who was still lying motionless in the bed as the doctor went about wiping off the dirt, grime and dried blood from her arms and face with a wet cloth. "Ok…" Sam relented as she followed Jonah who followed the other man back up top.

Once they were back up on deck the man in rubber overalls began to lead them towards the bridge which sat above deck as its own level. "The Captain is going to have some questions." He stated as Reyes spotted Jonah and Sam and trotted up to them. He glimpsed over at the woman noticing her injured arm. "I'm sure the old doc can patch that up for you if you want." He said in passing as he began to march up the outer stairs that led to the enclosed bridge above them.

Reyes shrugged her good shoulder once. "I can wait." She commented calmly. He shrugged himself as they approached the open bridge door and stood aside to let them all in first.

The bridge was smaller than it appeared to be on the outside. It was cluttered with all kinds of equipment ranging from ship controls to computers and monitors that observed the different levels and areas of the ship. "Captain, we'll need to radio Japan for air lift for the girl." He said as the older man, who was the apparent captain nodded his head. The man in rubber overalls nodded back and left the three and the captain before walking back down the stairs and out of sight.

The captain walked over to the radio, adjusting the knobs on it. Once he found the appropriate channel he began to request for an emergency medical airlift. "How is Lara doing?" Reyes asked as the captain went about his radio conversation. Sam was once more hugging herself looking out towards the ocean in silence as Jonah shrugged lightly.

"It's hard to say…" was Jonah's only reply.

The captain turned towards the three, finished radioing for a chopper now. "Alright a medical chopper is inbound but it'll be a few hours." He said to the relief of Jonah and Reyes. Sam could only hope Lara had that kind of time. She didn't know how serious her condition was, or how far any infection may have spread. Hell she didn't even know how long they were stuck on Yamatai. All that time there seemed to bleed together as one long never ending nightmare. Only it did end. Or she hoped it was over. Part of her was afraid she'd wake up any moment and was still on that island.

The captain motioned for them to follow him, a younger man taking his place on the bridge as they all exited the cluttered room. "I have questions, but for now let's get you all cleaned up, changed into some new clothes and fed." He said as he led them all back below deck. The deck directly below the top of the ship seemed to be residential for the crew and he showed them to some empty quarters at the very back. "Sorry it isn't exactly luxurious, but the beds aren't bad and the showers have stalls." He informed them. "Once you're all finished the mess is two decks down, you can't miss it." he continued.

"Where can we get some clean clothes?" Reyes asked as she inspected one of the two rooms offered. They weren't much different from the rooms they had on the Endurance. It struck a chord with Reyes but she didn't really show it on her face. She, like the others, was just too tired.

The Captain motioned to the lockers that were leaning against the walls. "You'll find some spare clothes in there. Now, I'll leave you all to it. If you need anything my name is Jack Fletcher, or you can ask one of my crew." He said before giving the three a silent nod and turning on his heel and disappearing back down the hall.

"Come on Sam." Reyes then said as she led the silent Asian into one of the two rooms and towards one of the lockers. "You need to at least get into something warmer than that… thing." Reyes continued as she gave Sam a once over. Sam frowned as she had almost forgotten what she was dressed in. She looked down at herself and the now dirtied white sleeveless robes. She reached for the bracelets on her wrists yanking them off quickly and tossing them onto one of the two bunks.

"I could seriously use a hot shower right now." Sam commented as Reyes cracked the smallest of smiles at the girl. It was nice for a distraction from what they had just dealt with, even if it was a temporary one.

Jonah smiled from the doorway. "Alright, I'll see you girls downstairs." Jonah said before disappearing into his own room. Reyes and Sam both waved at him before he vanished. Reyes opened the locker grabbing a couple of oversized t-shirts and two pairs of pants. She passed the change of clothes to Sam who eyed them almost sorely.

"They may not be pretty but it's got to be better than that." Reyes commented waving her hand over Sam's current outfit. Sam rolled her eyes and scoffed slightly, but accepted the change of clothes.

"At least this is kind of cute." Sam said with a slight humorous tone before wandering down to the showers. Reyes shook her head but smiled a bit to herself. Yes a distraction was direly needed, even though they all knew they were forcing themselves to put on a smile at this point.

After she had her shower and changed into the clothes provided by the captain Sam did not go to the mess hall like Jonah and Reyes did. Despite having gone days with so little to eat Sam was simply not hungry. Instead she chose to spend the time waiting for the chopper at Lara's bedside in the sickbay. The elderly doctor, who introduced himself as Johnson, allowed her to be there. It meant the world to Sam that she was allowed to sit by Lara's bed.

Lara was still unconscious, and now that some of the muck was cleaned from her face it was easy to tell she was pale. Johnson had already flooded Lara's system with antibiotics while trying to hydrate her with a bag of fluid that slowly made its way into Lara's veins. Sam lightly held onto Lara's hand with both of hers feeling just how hot the other's skin was. "Best I can figure," Johnson said as he took note on everything he was able to do for Lara for the medics to take note when they arrived. "Your friend is suffering from sceptic shock." He continued.

Sam looked up to him with tired eyes, worry causing her brows to furrow. "She may have other infections but I couldn't say without proper blood work." He went on. Sam squeezed at Lara's hand as she looked back at the vulnerable woman. Sam honestly didn't know much when it came to these sorts of things but she was pretty sure sceptic shock was life threatening.

Johnson put down his pen and looked over to Sam. "If they get here soon she will be just fine." He tried to assure her with a kind smile. Sam wasn't sure if he was just trying to be nice or if he was being honest at this point. She only nodded at him as she tried to return his kind smile despite the situation. On any other occasion Sam might regard him better but she just didn't have it in her right now.

But before anything more could be said between the two of them a CB radio crackled to life. "Oye, Johnson. Better prep the girl. The rescue chopper is almost here." Some woman said over the radio. Johnson stood from his stool as he moved over to Lara's bed.

"Would you go get your friend, that big fella. We'll need to carry her up top." He said gently as he began to unhook the IV bag from its stand. Sam nodded quickly and shot to her feet rushing out the door and down the flight of steps on the other end of the hall.

It didn't take long before the chopper had arrived. They landed on deck of the ship and rushed out to greet Jonah who cradled Lara in his arms. They quickly secured her onto a stretcher. They were shouting over the loud sound of the helicopter, one man holding up the IV bag, the other taking the notes from old Johnson on what he had done for Lara so far as they loaded her into the chopper.

Sam wasn't about to be left behind either. "I'm coming with you!" She shouted over the loud roar of the engine as she let herself into the helicopter. She wasn't about to take no for an answer. The medical team shared a look amongst each other as Sam seated herself in one of the chairs already buckling herself in. There was no time to argue so they simply allowed it.

"We'll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can!" Reyes called out to Sam who nodded in return.

As the helicopter took off they hooked Lara up to a portable heart monitor and changed her IV bag which was just about empty anyways and began another triage of medication and began to work on redressing wounds with fresh bandages.

Sam watched with growing concerns as the medics looked and sounded frantic and it didn't take long before it got bad. Real bad. "She's going into cardiac arrest!" one medic shouted as another pulled out a defibrillator. Lara's heart monitor suddenly flat lined and with it Sam could feel her own chest tighten and heart threaten to stop.

"Lara!" She cried out as she suddenly unhooked her safety harness. She didn't know what she thought she was going to do and when one medic tried to keep her at bay another began to use the defibrillator on Lara. With each jolt Lara made it killed Sam a little on the inside. She couldn't even hold it back as she broke down into violent sobs, the tears like a waterfall on her cheeks.

After what felt like an eternity Lara's heart monitor began to beep again and Sam couldn't help but clutch onto the woman who was trying to keep her in her seat. It wasn't fair. Lara couldn't leave her, she just couldn't. She was Sam's best friend, the one person in the world Sam could tell everything to, and Lara had risked everything to save them on all on Yamatai. She didn't deserve this, and Sam certainly felt she deserved to not be abandoned.

The rest of the long helicopter ride was very similar. Lara had gone into cardiac arrest one other time when they were getting closer to the hospital. They were radioing ahead about needing emergency surgery for Lara. Sam was so on edge she felt like she was about to have an anxiety attack. Or if not then a complete mental breakdown.

The very millisecond the chopper landed on the roof of a Tokyo hospital they were carting Lara off on the stretcher, Sam chasing behind. They had to practically hold her down to keep her from following them into emergency surgery. At one point they actually threatened to sedate the young Asian but she promised to keep out of the way if they didn't. She was no good to anyone if she was knocked out. She was sure someone would need a medical history or have questions about Lara or something.

In the end they did, and that kept Sam sane for a little while. She filled out paper work, answered questions to the best of her knowledge on Lara, and even kept calm long enough to call her father on his personal cellphone to inform him where she was and a short brief recap of what had happened and what was happening now. She made sure to tell him she needed a new debit card for her bank account so she could cover any medical needs for Lara as well being everything she had either sank with the Endurance or was left behind on that god forsaken island.

Shockingly enough her father had said he would come to the hospital personally. Her history with her parents wasn't exactly smooth so when he said he would be their first thing in the morning it took her off guard. But now she was being tended to by doctors of her own. She was just beyond exhausted and wanted nothing more to sleep, even though her mind was in a constant state of worry, hoping beyond hope that Lara would be alright.

God what she would give for one of Jonah's bear hugs right now. But they were still back on the ship that rescued them. She was alone in a hospital with doctors poking her with needles and setting her up on her own IV to rehydrate her system. In the end it didn't take long before she just passed out from exhaustion in her hospital room. Perhaps it was for the best.

Ok so that's where I will leave this with for right now. Let me all know if it's a decent enough start. I have a fair idea of how to start this whole thing for the first few chapters at least…. But I still need to work out the plot, so updates might take a while and I apologize ahead of time.

Anyways, if anyone also has suggestions for what they'd like to see be sure to leave that in the comments, or give me a message. I'll see you all next time!