Winston was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for Lara. A whole other issue was finding out whether their new guest ate anything at all; but just in case she did he made more than usual.

Winston turned around and almost screamed as he was instantly confronted by Doppelganger, who had somehow snuck up right behind him and had been standing there for who knew how long.

"Oh, um, good morning...ma'am," Winston stammered nervously. Doppelganger just stared at him with a smirk on her lips; for some reason this made her even more frightening. Winston was a veteran of the Second World War and had seen a lot of scary things then, but nothing back then could have ever prepared him for Doppelganger. Fortunately for him, Lara picked that moment to come into the kitchen.

"Doppelganger, stop scaring Winston," Lara playfully scolded.

Doppelganger grinned and backed off, letting Winston breathe again.

"Good morning, Winston. Where's Zip?" Usually he was already up and drinking coffee while working on some diagnostic in his tech center.

"He left, early this morning."

Lara sighed in exasperation and turned to Doppelganger. "Do you eat?"

Doppelganger thought about it, then smiled. "Let's find out."

They both went to the dining room and sat down at the table. Doppelganger eyed the silverware and platters in front of her, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with it all. Winston soon came with a tea tray with tea cups and saucers and a pot of Earl Grey, which was Lara's favorite. Next he brought out a plate of breakfast for each woman. Lara had her favorite, beans on toast; as for Doppelganger, Winston decided to take a chance and give her the works including sausage, eggs, beans, toast, and mushrooms.

Doppelganger wasn't sure what she was supposed to do next, so she took one of the knives and speared a sausage, put it in her mouth and chewed. Her eyes went wide as the sweet taste of English meat hit her taste buds. She dropped the knife and used a fork to shovel the rest of her breakfast in her mouth as fast she could.

Lara and Winston stared at her with their mouths agape as Doppelganger scarfed down her breakfast. When she was done, Doppelganger finally realized they had been staring at her and looked at them. "What?" she asked.

Lara decided not to make an issue of it for now. "Nothing," she replied at she drank her tea.


After breakfast, Lara decided to workout in the gym with Doppelganger.

"Like what you've done with the gym," Doppelganger said as she admired the gym and its new additions. "I would have liked to have tried it out the last time I was here. So, what should we do first?"

"How about a sparring match and then maybe a race, Doppie?"

Doppelganger raised an eyebrow and smiled at Lara's new pseudonym for her.

Lara and Doppelganger moved into ready stances as they faced each other, their feet spread apart and hands ready to strike or parry any attack. Doppelganger made the first move with a roundhouse kick to Lara's head, which was quickly blocked, followed by a spinning kick that Lara avoided by jumping back.

Doppelganger came at her again with a flurry of punches before she dropped and knocked Lara's legs out from under her with a low-sweeping kick, but Lara somersaulted backwards in mid-air and landed on her feet ready for Doppelganger's next move. Doppelganger lunged at her but was knocked to the mat as Lara fist made solid contact with Doppelganger's stomach.

Lara dived to the mat and quickly got Doppelganger in a head-lock. Doppelganger grit her teeth as she tried to pull Lara's arm away but Lara's grip stayed strong. Doppelganger thought she was going to black out before she managed to squeeze a hand between Lara arm and her head. She loosened grip up enough and was able to throw Lara over her.

Lara lay stunned on the ground for a moment, which was more than enough time for Doppelganger. Doppelganger grabbed Lara by the arm and threw her into the gym pool. When Lara surfaced coughing and sputtering, she saw Doppelganger laughing so hard that she was holding her sides. Lara tried to be angry with her, but her furious facade fell away and she started laughing as well.

Finally, Doppelganger calmed down and asked, "Want to go again?"

Lara grinned as she climbed out of the pool. "Absolutely."

For the next four hours, Lara and Doppelganger sparred almost without any rest. Lara became better at anticipating Doppelganger's moves even with her shadow speed activated, and Doppelganger learned some new moves from Lara that she hadn't been originally programmed with. Afterwards, the had a light lunch and then decided to finish up their workout with a race on the obstacle course and equipment in Lara's gym; Lara won but Doppelganger insisted on a rematch. They spent the rest of the day on the course, ending in a tie with each winning fifty runs before they decided to call it a day.

Both Laras sat on the edge of the gym pool with their boots off and dipping their feet in the cool water while sharing the water from Lara's canteen. Sweat poured off their bodies and they were breathing heavily. They also wore very content smiles from their workout.

"That was fun," Doppelganger said handing the canteen back to Lara.

"How about a little Kendo next time?" Doppelganger looked at Lara with an eyebrow raised in interest and Lara smiled.


Lara wiped her face with her towel as she walked to her room for a shower. That was probably the most intensely enjoyable workout Lara had ever had, outside of raiding tombs. She felt better than she had in months; probably better than she had in years as a matter of fact. She would definitely have to work out with Doppelganger more often.

Lara noticed that Doppelganger's bedroom door was wide open. True to her curious nature, Lara peeked her head in. Doppelganger was standing by the window, looking outside at something that fascinated her.

Doppelganger briefly glanced over her shoulder at Lara. "What is that?" she asked, pointing outside at the sky.

Lara came up behind her and looked outside. "It's the moon."

"It's...beautfiul," Doppelganger breathed.

Lara was a bit curious why Doppelganger was asking about something like the moon when she remembered that Doppelganger had probably never seen it before. She had probably spent all her time indoors or was too busy doing Natla's errands to look up at the moon and enjoy it.

Lara looked at the moon again. She had to admit, the moon was quite beautiful tonight. Full and bright, it lit up the sky. She realized it had been some time since she had just taken the time to look at and enjoy the moon as well.

Lara looked without thinking at Doppelganger. The awed expression and moonlight on Doppelganger's face seemed to brighten it more than ever before. In fact, the moonlight actually gave her a rather...exoticlook, Lara decided. It seemed to draw her in; being around Doppelganger made her feel the same comfort she had last night in Doppelganger's arms. But Lara managed to remember that she had been going to take a shower and decided to leave.

"Good night, then." Lara left Doppelganger's bedroom, still having these strange thoughts about her copy.


As Lara stood in the shower and let the hot water run over her body and wash away her fatigue, Doppelganger peeked in her head in to watch her template for a moment. Ever since she had first seen her, she had been very curious. There was something fascinating about the strong, beautiful woman that she was modeled after but she wasn't sure what exactly it was. For some reason being around Lara almost made her weak in the knees, like there was something unimaginably special about her.

Doppelganger went to bed, dreaming about Lara.

AC: Once again, special thanks and credit go to Laciboj. His "Training" series was a god-send for this work-out part of this chapter.

The beans on toast is also a Core-era reference; it was Lara's favorite food.