Lara hesitated as she reached for the handle. The door she was about to open lead to her past, not so distant past but a past she was not fully ready to confront. Taking a breath she steadied herself but she still felt slightly light headed as if breathing air that was too thin. With a twist of the handle the door opened and she walked in.

The office behind the door was a picture of what most would have thought of as an office of a history professor. History books, reference files, pictures and various antique bits and bobs laying around. At the far end of the room opposite the windows stood a table a small island of order in the sea of chaos. Apart from a computer and a picture frame the table was clear of anything else. Behind the table, in front of a computer sat the man she had come to see. Hearing her enter he raised his head and when he saw her his eyes showed his surprise even as the rest of his face did not. Standing up too quickly he hit his knee against the table knocking the picture frame down and making the computer screen sway dangerously.

"Lara?" he said his deep voice making it both a statement and a question, rubbing his knee absent minded.

"Hi, Evan." she said, suddenly she felt twenty again and unsure of what it is she supposed to say, she looked at him again and could not help but smile. He hadn't changed so much in these three years. He still had that air of being focused on whatever was in front of him to detriment of everything else, this time it was her and she knew that the force of his knee hitting the table hasn't yet registered consciously with him so he was rubbing it simply because he had felt the impact and not the pain.

"It is good to see you Lara, I tried to see you in hospital but I couldn't get in." he said now standing just a few steps from her, his large frame towering over her. At her own five foot six it wasn't that hard but Evan was six foot three and nearly as broad in the shoulders as she was tall and the sleeves of his white shirt strained to contain the powerful arms that she had know so well.

"I know, I..." how she could explain to him why she had not wanted to see him and not hurt him, she had needed time to herself, time to gather up those pieces of self control she had felt scattering after they had made it back to safety after Yamatai. She knew that if she had seen him then the only thing she would have wanted to do was to feel those arms of his around her again and cry like the English rain. Unrelentingly for days. She averted her eyes and looked at the picture frame, it had fallen face up making it easy for her to see the picture in it. It was a picture of two of them taken on a dig on a Greek island that they had been part of as students in the university. It had been taken in their free time and she was wearing a sleeveless brown t-shirt and shorts, it was too hot to wear much of anything else. Holding her from behind was Evan. Both of them were smiling broadly a cliff behind them. It had been one of the best summers she could remember. Days filled with the possibility of discovery, even minute ones and nights spent with a man she loved.

"You still have that?" she said instead of whatever excuse she was going to say before, pointing at the photo.

"I do. What can I do for you?" he said with a sigh. He knew her well enough to know that this was not a social call.

"I need your help getting somewhere." Lara said recognising the tone of his voice, she knew he was frustrated with her and he had every reason to be but he would help her if he could despite the hard feelings he might have.

"I know you have friends in Cuba, I hoped you could help me get there." He looked at her for a moment deciding something and then walked around behind the desk again and sat down.

"I take it you want to have as little government oversight and as much freedom of movement as possible?" he said taking out a notebook from a drawer, she recognised it. She had in fact given it to him as a gift after his phone had died again taking most of his contact numbers with it.

"Yes, I think I can find a local to guide me on my own." she said

"Ok, let me call some people and see what they tell me. Can you wait me in the cafeteria, it will take a while and the coffee they serve there is not that bad." he said making it clear the conversation is finished. Lara walked towards the door, took a last look at Evan as he punched a number into the phone and walked out.

Forty minutes later Evan walked into the cafeteria, he found Lara quickly enough. She had as always taken a seat next to a window. She was watching the rain, a coffee cup in her hands and a mostly eaten sandwich in front of her. She was drawn, even called upon by the world outside. While he could have easily spent days inside pouring over old texts. She was only a few months younger than him and yet he saw the weariness in her eyes, the kind that you see in people who have seen too much, done too much. He knew the look well, had seen it in the mirror often enough. He remembered it well, that drive of hers that made her go to UCL and finance it with multiple jobs, the drive that made her go on that ill-fated expedition to Yamatai. He loved her for it and yet he also resented it, after all it had been that drive that put her in danger. That made him think she had died. Their last words to each other were not kind, it was the kind of stupid, senseless argument that you get to have when you are young, in love and still think in absolutes. He could not remember the cause of it or the words they had used but she left to "cool off" as she had said and then she disappeared at sea. In his grief, blaming himself he had decided to go and see what was it in the world that drawn her so much.

He had thrown himself into every kind of adventure that he had come across. Mysterious ruins in the Amazon? Check. Possibility of what could be the oldest tomb in Egypt? Check. Remnants of an island civilisation gone missing in Pacific? Check. He had expected there to be lack of comfort, lack of funding, some difficulty with the locals. What he didn't expect was to be on the run from the locals who turned out to be either some kind of old cults, terrorists or pirates. Or a curious mix of all three that produced such a volatile cocktail that he wasn't surprised when they blew themselves up, along with the whatever ancient ruin they were occupying at the moment. This time, he promised to himself it's going to be different. He was older, smarter, maybe even wiser.

"The documents will be ready in the morning and I managed to even get a good local guide, the kind that won't sell you out if offered more." he said and squashed the urge to lean down and kiss her as she looked up at him.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." she said and took a sip of her coffee and cringed. It had gone cold and while hot this coffee was indeed not bad as Evan had said, cold it was quite a bit less palatable. Putting the coffee cup down she stood up and put on the leather jacket that she hard draped over her chair.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Evan said before she could pick up her backpack. He had one like it, a go bag, holding essentials you needed while travelling into places that didn't have beds or roofs.

"I will get a hotel room." she said shouldering the bag

"There is no need, my place is big enough for both of us. I have a good shower and I have learned a few new recipes. Iris won't mind." Evan said trying to sound nonchalant as if he gets to invite former lovers to his home after not seeing them for years all the time.

"Iris?" she asked

"You will see." he said a slight smile creasing the corners of his lips.