Okay, after almost two years I've decided to continue this story because I can't get it out of my head. Please don't hate me for not uploading in so long but life kept getting in the way :( Hope you still enjoy this longer chapter and please leave a comment :)

'Ahh, crap!'

People could hear a girl's voice ringing throughout the hallway of an apartment in Dunraven Street, near Hyde Park. How come she had been so clumsy these days?

'I'm turning 24 next month and I'm not even able to drink a freaking cup of tea without spilling it all over my new jeans!'

Said girl stood up and rushed into her bedroom in order to find another pair of jeans. She was short on time, but her undertaking turned out to be quite problematic since most of her clothes needed a wash...

'Mon dieu, Lara! It's way too early in the morning! What on earth are you doing?'

A very sleepy roommate stood in the doorframe, watching her friend flying around her clothes.

'I'm so sorry, Elodie. I didn't mean to wake you up.'

'What's wrong?' the red-haired girl asked.

'Well, I can't find a new pair of jeans, it's 7:25 and I need to be at work at 8!'

'Pshh...Calm down, I'll get you one. You had no time to do the laundry for the past two weeks. I've told you that two jobs are too much for you...' Elodie said the last few words while she went to her room, so Lara couldn't hear everything she said, but she knew her friend was right. But for now, she just wanted to be on time.

'Here, take this one.'

Elodie came back with nice black denim and threw it to her roommate.

'Thank god, we share the same size! You know that I love you, right?' Lara chirped as she put on the jeans.

'I don't even get it. You're never late.' Elodie mused.

'Well, it's just not my day, I guess. Take care and enjoy your lecture!' Lara reached for her bag and rushed outside.

'When will you be back?' she could hear Elodie shout through the hallway.

'Maybe tomorrow. I'll give you a call!'

And with that she sprinted to the station where she took the underground to Liverpool Street and entered the SPR headquarters at 8:55.

'Yes! On time!' she thought. She went up to the first storey where she should meet her handsome superior and his assistant. Since she still got five minutes left, she allowed her thoughts to digress. She was thinking about the Davis-son. He was unspeakably hot, that was for sure, but according to her opinion, his academic achievement was far more impressive than his looks. And moreover, the outer appearance can always mislead. That's what she had to find out herself when she was still a university student...

'Are you planning to stand there all day?' A deep and smooth but very annoyed voice asked.

Lara blinked. How didn't she recognise someone was approaching her? She raised an eyebrow in response. What did she just remind herself of a couple of seconds ago? Outer appearance and personality...She already heard from some colleagues that Dr. Oliver Davis was a very reserved and cool person but he has always been professional at his job, so Lara didn't mind since she liked to do a good job, too. This has been one of the main reasons why she agreed to work with that block of ice. Another reason was that she was in Luella Davis' dept. She and her husband were two lovely people and whenever she needed her salary a bit earlier in a month, they would pay it.

'Good morning to you, too.' She responded calmly and nodded towards Mr Koujo, whom she new by face. Wasn't his wife expecting a child? She wanted to ask him, but this would have been the worst timing ever. He returned her gesture and she could tell by his face that he was not pleased by Oliver Davis' attitude. Oh, this case would be so much fun!

'I don't want to waste any time. We've got a two and a half-hour drive lying ahead.' Noll stated.

'Two hours? Where are we going?!'

Lara was a bit taken aback. Luella didn't tell her that they had to drive that far.

Oliver seemed quite annoyed but Lara didn't care. He had to tell her anyway.

'Lin will tell you everything about the case...'

Okay, well, he didn't. How was she supposed to survive a two-hour ride with that self-centred bastard? At least she could talk to Mr Koujo...

They got into the van which parked in front of the tall building and started their journey.

Dr. Oliver Davis himself paid them the compliment to drive so that Lin could inform Lara.

'So, what's the case about?' said woman asked enthusiastically.

'We're dealing with a haunted house. A very common case, actually, so we're hoping that we are going to solve it quickly.'

'And who is living in that house?' Lara asked in a slightly annoyed tone after she realised that her co-worker wouldn't explain the case any further. Holy crap! He wasn't that much different from Oliver! She was part of the team now, too, so they could at least tell her what's going on and who is involved. Maybe they thought she wouldn't be that much of help but they could at least give her a chance, for god's sake. She knew men like them. They always wanted to figure out everything on their own without accepting any kind of help.

'A married couple and their three children.' The tall man simply stated in his slightly Chinese accent.

Lara sighed, leant back into her seat and crossed her arms. Fine. If they didn't want to tell her, she'd find it out on her own...

The moment they got into the van, Noll regretted that he had accepted the case. What on earth was his mother thinking when she hired an assistant for him that had no idea how to deal with ghosts or paranormal phenomena in general? Of course, she was a very attractive young woman with long hair and large eyes but girls like that existed a ten a penny. On top of that, his mother knew all too well that he was not interested in such women who only cared for their looks instead for their brains. A language correspondent. Her presence on this case would be absolutely pointless. With a British dad and an Italian mother or something like that, nothing that she has ever worked for.

After two very long hours, they finally arrived in front of a nice medium-sized detached cottage. It was traditionally British with a front door covered by a dooryard. Before Lara could ring the bell, a short woman opened the door.

'I just saw your car, please, come in.' She greeted them politely while stepping aside. 'I'm Katherine Smith and this is our daughter Emily; it's a pleasure to meet you.'

She was holding a little girl, around the age of two, in her arms that looked a bit shy but as soon as Lara smiled, she smiled back.

Awww...She's too cute! She thought.

'The pleasure's mine, you have a beautiful house.' Lara said and shook her hand.

Both women smiled warmly towards each other.

'Jonathan, Joseph! Come and say hello!'

Two boys, twins to be exact, went down the stairs and shook hands with the three visitors. They had to be around the age of six, Lara assumed. Both children seemed to be quite normal and happy and didn't look frightened at all.

'Please, take a seat. Would you like something to drink?' the mother asked.

'Yes, water, please.' Lara responded. She was parched.

Both of her male companions shook their heads.

As soon as Lara got her glass of water, Oliver cleared his throat and started his interrogation. He must have done it a thousand times because the questions were swift and straight to the point. Even though she hated his attitude, she really liked listening to his smooth and deep voice.

Darn him! Of course everything has to be perfect when it comes to him...

Lara found out that the children were as old as she had assumed.

Katherine told that she was alone with the children most of the time because her husband had to work so much. They have been living in this house for one year now and they have been very happy. But since a couple of months, strange things happened. It started with glasses that dropped on the floor when no one was close, doors were slammed shut and no one was able to open them for a while, the family members felt like they were being watched...

But after a few weeks, everything got worse. Katherine got seriously injured and even broke her wrist and when little Emily got hurt, too, the family needed to do something.

Oliver put his hand towards his chin, deep in thought. Lara couldn't help but staring at him.

Okay, okay! I admit it, he's a hottie...but that's all...

Oliver finally spoke: 'I assume, my mother already informed you that we need a spare room where we can set up our base?'

'Yes, we've prepared everything. I hope you'll soon find out what is wrong with our home.' Katherine answered with a distressed smile.

'Uhm...I'm sorry, but when your children get physically hurt, why do you leave them alone in their room?' Lara asked curiously. Of course a certain person sent a deathly glare towards her but she didn't care. It just seemed strange to her.

'Well, you see, the ghost only attacks at night time...'

'Oh, I see.'

'We can't be sure that we're even dealing with a ghost yet.' Oliver snapped. 'But if you don't stop your small talk, we'll never find out.'

Before she could even react, he already turned his back towards her and went outside. She still tried to pierce through him with an evil glare.

Nevertheless, she got up und followed both men while her mind was fuming.

Why did he have to say something like that? He didn't even ask when the strange occurrences happened in the first place so my question was appropriate! That jerk...This was going to be a long and unnerving day.

'Are you okay with the equipment you're carrying? Isn't it too heavy for you?' Lin asked his new colleague.

'Uhm, no, I'm fine. Thank you.' Lara smiled at him and knew he wouldn't respond, but this was the first time that at least one of them acted a bit human.

'That's almost 40 pounds!' The tall man was impressed. He was right, the camera (or at least she thought it was a huge one) was extremely heavy but thanks to resistance workouts on a regular basis, she could shove it to the room they called base.

After they set everything up, Lara stretched herself. All this heavy stuff made her break a little sweat.

'Good work, that was quick.' Oliver stated matter-of-factly.

Did she hear correctly? Oliver just said something positive to her?

She turned around and looked at him with bewilderment.

'I know, I'm a good-looking man, but don't stare at people. That's rude.' He said while raising an eye brow.

'I'm not staring at you. I just wondered if the words you just uttered a moment ago came out of your mouth.' Lara hissed.

'Then you should go to a doctor and check your auditory functions'

Before she could throw back an answer, Noll raised his left brow and blinked shortly before he asked: 'What's with that accent of yours?' He knew that her level of English had to be at least at C1-Niveau or else she wouldn't have been able to work for his parents but it was really hard to allocate it. This has been the first longer sentence she spoke since they've built a team. Her accent was only slightly noticeable and even weaker than Lin's but she couldn't be a native.

'As if I'd tell you!' Lara spit and went over to Lin who was setting up the cameras, asking him about their functions.

Oliver didn't like to admit it but this girl reminded him a lot of Mai. He couldn't even tell by now if he had fallen for the short girl back in Japan or not but he caught himself thinking of her from time to time. Not only of her, but also of the whole SPR-Team. He missed his friends and he even liked working with them but there was no reason to stay and he had other obligations here in England.

After they checked the temperature in each room and Lara got a brief instruction on most of the devices, Noll asked: ' Lara, are you familiar with some terms concerning exorcism and ghost hunting?'

It was the first time that he directly spoke to her and even used her name. She got a little chill down her spine because he uttered her name like no other guy did she has ever met. It sounded somewhat nicer (she didn't like her name at all) and she hated that fact and quickly tried to push that thought aside.

'Well, Doctor, I've read most of your research papers and publications and I've been working with files from different cases for the past six months. I think I'm quite well-informed when it comes to terms.'

'Very well then, I hope you're a thorough reader.' Oliver didn't show that he was quite impressed. His publications weren't easy to read. Lara had expected him to say something like 'I see, so you're stalking me indirectly.' But much to her surprise he went back to his work. Maybe he took his academic research very serious and appreciated people reading it.

Lara had a good yawn and stretched herself. She and Lin have been sitting in front of the monitors for about two hours now and her watch told her it was already 11pm.

'Lara.' A very low and smooth voice resonated through the silent room.

She turned around and looked at the handsome black-haired man, showing him that he had her attention.

'Go to sleep. Lin and I will keep on watching. Besides, this case won't be too interesting, I suppose.

Lara was very grateful. She was very exhausted and she wanted to leave the room as soon as possible because she thought that her new boss would be totally capable of changing his mind any second.

'All right, boss. Good night, Lin.'

'Good night.' Answered the tall Chinese which was a bit perplexing but caused her to smile.

As soon as she lied down in her room, Lara fell into a deep sleep.

So tell me what you think. I know this chapter might be a bit plain but the story is about to begin :) I don't know if I'm able to upload this week again but I'll try!