A/N: This story takes place after TR: Underworld...I'd like to think that (if there hadn't been and alternate ending) Lara and Amanda would've worked things out to a degree...and I thought it might be fun to throw Tony Stark aka Ironman into the mix.

It was orignially going to be a collaboration of sorts with the author whispers-of-the-sun, but he couldn't get into the right mindset to do it, so it's just Lara's POV.

This is a femslash, as I love the Lara and Amanda pairing, and there are M rated chapters but I'll put a warning into the A/N just in case you don't want to read that type of thing, this first chapter child friendly so no worries there :)

Hope you enjoy...

Dignified

After Nepal:

The Abbingdon estate was nowhere near the wreck it had been only days after the explosion that had threatened all its occupants, all but one making it out alive.

It had been nearing six months now since then, and life just as surely as it should was slowly settling itself down, yes there was still an Alister shaped hole in all of them but they were dealing. Zip, more than anyone, found it more than difficult to move on so easily, they had after all been like brothers, but the American knew that Lara had had much experience when dealing with the loss of a loved one, more than most people could ever comprehend, and so knew how to get on with things.

And so therefore had gone and hired Amanda, without consulting him or Winston, to take over the now open position.

Zip hadn't been too happy with that, he'd gone off on one, dragging Lara to the side and tried to argue the matter, to all his raging she'd calmly replied with an arched 'brow "Haven't you ever heard the expression: keep your friends close and your enemies closer?"

He knew simply from that that something had happened between the two women during their trek through the Himalayas, but the man didn't question her, he simply stormed away, and then, minutes later the distant revving of an engine sounded, and one of Lara's more expensive cars was seen whizzing down the driveway.

She hadn't been mad at him, she understood he needed the time to adjust; it was of course difficult to greet the woman who, as Zip believed, may as well of pulled the trigger on Alister herself. But Zip had been wrong about that, they all had in fact.

During their cold several days spent together in the mountains the two women had fought, it was their usual 'don't think this makes us even' argument and Lara had almost hit Amanda right before yelling at her about Alister, Amanda had replied that he was collateral damage, just like James had been, before mentioning that she hadn't actually meant for anyone to be killed.

"Oh, so blowing up my house was just for fun, was it?" Lara had asked sarcastically, cocking her head to the side.

"I didn't order your house to be blown up Lara! All I wanted was the Wraith Stone back, no-one was supposed to get hurt!" Amanda had screeched, coming as close to Lara as she dared, throwing her hands into the air, she could feel Lara's breath on her lips.

She'd slumped, remembering how her Doppelganger had thrown Amanda over broad her own ship, Natla had been the one giving the true orders, playing them both, just like she'd said.

Lara had no doubt that Amanda was telling the truth, she had always been a bad liar, it seemed that over the years that hadn't changed, and it was in that moment that Lara saw a piece of the old Amanda re-surface, her blues lined with sympathy and an innocence she once possessed, before Lara had taken all that away long before the events at Paraíso.

Lara had, without thought of consequence, kissed the blonde, her lips crashing down on Amanda's with a rough passion that she thought had died on the same day she believed Amanda to have done. Of course the moment had been interrupted by a rescue helicopter that had been sent out to find the pair. It was one of the many reasons why Lara had hired Amanda in the first place, whether she admitted to it or not.

Winston had become accustomed rather quickly to Amanda's presence within the mansion, he was well aware of the kind of relationship Lara and Amanda had once had, as well as knowing Amanda personally, this however did not stop him from giving her disapproving looks within the first few months of her being here, when he believed her comments to be too harsh and insensitive.

She had however over the months proved herself to be a valuable commodity to Lara's little team, which was something that Zip couldn't deny, she gave advice and information just as well as Alister had done, the only difference being that Amanda did not seem squeamish at the thought of great falls, and Lara sometimes wondered if the blonde secretly wished for her to fall, though she was sure if Amanda did want her dead she would have killed her already.

It was a comfort to know that she hadn't.

And so there it was, a new start for all of them, six months of adjusting, and getting back into the swing of things, six months to get into a rhythm, to put bad air behind them and make amends, it had been a trying half a year, nobody could disagree with that, and now everything seemed to run like clockwork.

It also left Lara a good six months to prepare herself for an exhibitions opening at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C for which she was donating, for a temporary period only, thought to be non-existent artifacts – the non life threatening ones of course - that she had excavated on many of her digs, as well as a few of her father's notebooks.

It was only natural of course for her to ask Amanda to the opening party, she usually would have given some excuse about her not being able to attend certain events such as this, but in truth she had a soft spot for the curator of the museum, Mr. Goodman, and couldn't have said no if she'd tried.

She would've asked Zip, but as good as he looked in a tux, she wasn't fond of the bored shuffling about that usually accompanied him to highly rated affairs, and Winston if she were to be honest would have looked rather odd on her arm.

Reminiscing about the last few months was how she ended up here, in a penthouse suit in one of the finest Hotels Washington had to offer, with serious jet-lag, something which had surprised Amanda, who would never have guessed that some-one as travel happy as Lara could actually feel jet-lagged.

She rubbed the back of her neck trying to loosen the knots before turning the baths taps off, a warm cloud of steam rose from the calm water idly sitting in the oversized tub. She stripped off all of her clothing before carefully placing on foot in to test the temperature before jumping straight in. She took in a deep breath as the warm water hit her skin as she slowly sank down into the bubbles; the sound of U2 surrounded the room.

She closed her eyes and started to feel her muscles loosen up and her mind relax, it might've been the jet-lag, the bath or the glass of wine she'd helped herself to that had her suddenly feeling drowsy, or it might have been a combination of all three.

She sunk further into the water until her head was covered, her face barely visible through the bubble cloud that kissed the surface of the water. U2 became a blur as water filled her ears, she was barely aware of the banging against the bathroom door, or Amanda's panic ridden voice as she knocked against the wood; an hour had passed since Lara stepped into bath.

But within that hour time became irrelevant.

tbc...

A/N: he Smithsonian is the only museum I know of in America thanks to Bones, even though in the show its dubbed the Jeffersonian, Dr. Goodman is of course a Bones character in season 1, and for that I'm borrowing him. Thanks for reading :)