Sorry for the delay - I was on holiday. No prizes for guessing where. ;-) Yes, I know Lara is intensely unlikeable right now, you don't have to tell me! LOL It's the storyline, I promise she gets better. Reviews, as ever, will brighten my somewhat dull life - eternal gratefulness goes to all who reviewed the last chapter. :-) Hugs!

Akkon - Thankyou! The idea is that Lara didn't intend to fire Winston at all, but she was all Dark Side after getting buried in Egypt (think Nasty Lara as seen in the opening cut scenes of AOD), took one look at her memorial statue which basically says to herthat Winston and Co. had given up on her, and went a bit mental. I guess it was a bit of revenge, but I don't think even Lara knows fully why she did it.

Ms Croft, IPresume- Hey, thanks for keeping up with this! Don't worry, Kurtis escapes Starbucks - though he doesn't exactly end up anywhere much better! >:-) Ooh, by the way, I saw your photo over on LaraCroftOnline - looks like y'all had fun.

Mystique1515 - Yessiree! Look, it says, right there in the category, 'Romance'. Just don't expect it to be too slushy, I don't do slushy! LOL

NFI - Hey, thanks:-) Why do I get the feeling you don't like my Kurtis too much right now? ;-)

Rethink - Hello and welcome! I don't believe we've met before. I'm glad you like my darker approach - apparently I'm incapable of writing anything that might be classed as happy. Hee Hee.

Yamiskoi - Thanks! Yeah, I'm very conscious of the fact that heroes, especially in Hollywood, are rather 'perfect', and I like to get away from that.

Mira - Hello! Imagine no more, for here it is, in all it's gory detail. LOL

harshlightofday - Hey, you! How are you today? Kurtis seems to me to be the kind of person who keeps it all inside, and that's definately how I'm trying to write him here. Whether he's genuine or not in this chapter is entirely up to you to decide, but I think it's pretty obvious which way I'm leaning. :-)

Soundtrack: Someday by Nickelback - Rock

Drop

A month passed, every day the same. Lara would spend the days doing chores and researching the idol and the evenings either relaxing in the house or going out somewhere that would alleviate her boredom without exposing her to too much unwanted human contact. The cinema, or hidden in the corner of a bar with a book, were places she found gave her just enough social contact to prevent her from going crazy without actually having to talk to anyone properly. Maybe it was unhealthy, maybe if she just tried to make a friend she'd magically feel so much better, but if she was honest with herself she rather liked living a completely selfish existence. It meant no-one let you down, at least.

Well, no-one except yourself anyway. Letting out a cry of frustration she swept her arm across the desk, sending the idol falling to the floor. It bounced twice, coming to rest underneath the window in a shaft of midday sun. She used to be so good at this, unravelling ancient puzzles to unlock the secrets of civilisations long dead, but just lately her brain didn't seem to want to do what she told it anymore. No matter how hard she looked she could find no connection between the idol and her research that might suggest the key to the map that legend assured her was contained within, leading her to a dagger that could control a god. It was a tempting offer if only she could work it out.

Blowing at her fringe in annoyance, she leant back in her chair and decided to go and have an early lunch, even though she wasn't hungry. She needed a break.

Rising and moving around the other side of the desk to make for the door, she suddenly stopped dead as her peripheral vision registered what could possibly have been the breakthrough she was looking for.

Lara dropped to her knees and crawled to the idol, gaze fixed on the shadow it projected across her floor. Looking suspiciously like a warped depiction of the stepped pyramids of ancient Mexico, its dark hue contrasted against the winter sun surrounding it. A slow smile spread across her face as she looked at the idol, careful not to disturb its positioning as she lifted it slightly with one finger for a better view before letting it drop back.

The body of the sculpture, carved in relief, held contours that cast a depictive shadow in the sunlight, and when she twisted the idol ever so slightly the shadow suddenly snapped into perfection, the image sharpening to create the unmistakable silhouette of a Mayan or Aztec pyramid.

Lara grinned, and then broke into a laugh. This was definitely something.

She reached out to touch the idol once more…

A shock that could only be described as electric sparked up through her arm from her fingertips as they contacted the statue, reaching her brain and jerking her body as she gasped at the sudden sensation. All comprehension of personal identity, surroundings, time of day, even existence was lost as she found herself immersed in visions.

Playing rapidly like time lapse, the images engulfed her entire being, speeding along with only the swishing of rapidly displaced air to accompany it, as though the visions themselves were corporeal. She was an observer and a participant in one, ineffectual to the surroundings but a part of them nonetheless. She was being swept along a jungle trail, the path sweeping left and right at turns of increasingly dizzying speed until the foliage parted and she slowed and before her was a Mayan stepped pyramid, ancient and eroded, falling under the ravages of time that had only passed since the idol's conception, not before. And then she was moving again, going inside, being whisked along corridors and tunnels with an ever present source of white light that shouldn't have been there, the speed of her movement so fast she could barely comprehend the images - she was in a chamber and rocketing towards a pedestal and then she stopped abruptly but there was no was inertia, no sudden jerk, she was just not moving anymore and the pedestal was in front of her and it was empty, empty, there was nothing there, the prize was already gone and it was all happening so much faster now but she knew the place, recognised it, and suddenly she was somewhere else, watching herself in a place she had never been, firing off rounds and skipping backwards to safety and then suddenly she saw herself sitting in a chair working away feverishly at a computer and she was trying to do something, something important, and there was a voice tinged with desperation telling her to hurry up, hurry up or he was going to die, and she found she had control over what she saw now, so she looked to see who it was and it was Kurtis – Kurtis! – and he was standing with his gun trained on a snarling dog charging at him from down a corridor and there was only an automatic door between him and getting savaged and that was what she was trying to do, she was trying to close the door, but it wouldn't and -

And then she was gulping in air as if the separation of her mind from her body had left it unable to draw breath whilst the vision had played, and she was snatching her hand away from the idol and cradling it to her chest protectively even though there was no residual pain and she had fallen to her side, her eyes fixed accusingly on the idol.

She lay there, breathing heavily, recovering, thinking.

She knew exactly what was meant to be on that pedestal – she'd been there and taken it already. A purple crystal skull, it had been the surprise at the end of one her easier, unplanned raids when she was a teenager, just starting out. In those days she had yet to graduate to searching for legendary prizes protected by ingenious booby traps and mystical riddles and had just ventured into minor tombs with the aim of seeing if anything had escaped the archaeologists. Unfortunately that time had coincided with – nay, been the reason for – the rejection of her parents, and, being fresh out of the nest and short of money, she had sold many of her relics, the purple skull included.

The other part of the vision disturbed her. Kurtis Trent, back in partnership? Lara swallowed, pushed herself to a sitting position, and bit her lip. Had the idol been showing her a possible future? A certain future? Had the whole thing just been some kind of side-effect from the real vision and nothing more than a fevered invention concocted from the tormented memories of Prague?

Lara laughed, almost at herself rather than to. That's probably all it was – an invention created by her brain thanks to the supernatural invasion it had just suffered. She'd felt a little guilty at – so she thought – losing Kurtis to Boaz, and that's all the vision reflected, her own feelings of guilt. As she had thought she'd lost him from her own inability to properly lead in Prague, she now dreamt of losing him from her inability to conquer a computer. It was classic dream imagery, an illustration of anxiousness. It was nothing.


With a little professional help, she found him working in Disneyland Paris, waiting tables. He looked bored. For a moment sympathy flared within Lara for Kurtis, standing there waiting to receive a customer with his eyes cast downwards and to one side, staring sightlessly at the richly carpeted floor of the restaurant as his mind no doubt whirred along in idle mode, too bored to even entertain itself with fantasy or thought.

She ascended the carved wooden stairs to the first floor eating area to stand before him, and then attracted his attention.

"Table pour un, s'il vous plait."

He started, jolted back to reality, and then suddenly realised who was standing before him. "Lara?"

She smiled, somewhat condescendingly. "From dashing deadly adventurer to Disneyland Cast Member…" She looked around, sighing insincerely. "Well, at least you're working in one of the nicer restaurants rather than shovelling popcorn in the rain outside. Still, I can think of better jobs here – your cynical air preclude you from being allowed out into the midst of park guests on the Disney high, did it?"

"If you're here for lunch, fine," Kurtis whispered fiercely, "but if you're here just to insult me, would you mind waiting 'til my shift's over so I can punch you without getting fired?" He shot a sideways look towards the maitre d', checking he hadn't been heard.

Lara smiled, almost sweetly. "My table?"

Sighing angrily, Kurtis marched over to a small two person placing and roughly pulled a chair out for her, dropping a menu unceremoniously in front of her with a clatter of cutlery caught underneath. "I do hope I can rely on your continued service for the duration of my meal?" Lara asked, mischief dancing in her eyes.

"Don't count on it," Kurtis replied bitterly. He stalked off, saying a few words to the only other on duty aside from the maitre d', a waitress, and nodded in Lara's direction before disappearing back towards the top of the stairs ready for the next customer sent up from the ground floor entrance.

Laughing to herself delightedly, Lara took up her menu as the waitress approached to take her order.


Having been called over a while later, the maitre d' whisked Lara's finished entrée away and then skimmed across the restaurant to Kurtis, saying a few low words to him before glaring at the waitress that Kurtis had passed Lara off onto and ordering her into the kitchen for a 'word'.

Kurtis' eyes caught Lara's across the distance, blazing angrily.

"What is your deal?" he demanded in a loud whisper, dodging between the tables as he descended on her from across the room. "Where do you get off lying about Francine?"

"You're accusing me of lying?" Lara asked innocently.

"You told the maitre d' she was rude to you just so you could get me to wait on you!" He leaned in across the table towards her, eyes darting sideways every few moments to check no-one was watching their little exchange. "That was unfair! Francine is a great waitress."

"I didn't like her tone," Lara replied simply.

"Oh that's bull and you know it." Kurtis shoved a menu towards her. "Why don't you just hurry up with your main course, skip dessert, and get out of here before you feel the need to spit on any more of my friends, ok?"

Lara snatched the menu off him, her eyes never leaving his as she suddenly became serious. "I need to talk to you."

His eyes closed, a heavy sigh escaping as his head turned to the side in disbelief. He stared at the wall for a moment, shaking his head at her words as he considered just walking off. At last, he turned back to her. "About?"

"The idol."

His expression never wavered. Not a flash of excitement, no flicker of interest to suggest she'd just fanned the flame that craved his old life of adventure, but neither was there anger or disinterest to suggest that he'd truly settled into his new ways. Lara didn't speak; she didn't know what to say. She had no idea what his reaction told.

"I'm off at six," he said, his tone unreadable. "The park will be emptying by then. Meet me by the waterfall in the caves under Skull Rock. It's dark, it's quiet. You can talk but I'm not guaranteeing I'll listen."

Lara was taken aback by the slightly clichéd meeting place. It wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind. "Why not my hotel room?" she asked, surprised. "Or your place?"

"Well that would imply that we trust each other, wouldn't it?" He took the menu back from her and straightened up, taking a step away from the table. "I'll bring you the chef's special, shall I? And adventurers like you need to stay in shape, so I'm sure you won't be wanting any dessert. Forgive me if I seem rude, but I'd rather spend as little time serving you as possible, as I'm sure Francine felt." He turned and walked away, leaving Lara slightly stunned. Blinking quickly, she bowed her head and busied herself banishing the imaginary crookedness of her silverware.


It was dark and cold in the man-made caves, and when Lara eventually found the waterfall, its descent down a vertical but rocky face left her damp with splashes that were inescapable from the small wooden bridge over the chasm. The park was indeed emptying, and those still around were too busy getting in last turns on rides to encroach on her space in the silent tunnels of Adventure Isle.

It had taken her a while to find the correct place and it was now ten past six. A part of her worried that Kurtis had been and gone, but she forced herself to trust in the knowledge that even after finishing his shift at six he still had to collect his things and make his way clear across the park.

Staring around, awaiting his arrival, Lara moved to the edge of the bridge and stared down. It was dark at the bottom, filled with frothing water and a good distance down. An irrational thought flashed through her mind, that if he came up behind her and hoisted her over the railing then she'd certainly die, and he'd be long gone before anyone even realised her body was down there let alone made the almost impossible connection to a waiter from Walt's.

Catching her breath slightly at the frightening thought, she backed away.

"Peaceful down here, isn't it?" Not making her jump though no doubt that was what he'd wanted, Kurtis' voice shot out of the darkness, preceding him as he stepped from the shadows into the meagre light afforded by a nearby opening in the rock. "Nice place to relax when you've had a hectic shift, though usually I go sit in the jungle and watch people screaming their lungs out on 'Indiana Jones'." He smirked and Lara hesitated, unsure how to begin.

"I had a vision," she blurted out, somewhat clumsily.

Kurtis rolled his eyes, leant on the railing, took out a cigarette. "What?" he said shortly, feeling around for his lighter.

"The Idol of Buluc-Chabtan gave me a vision; a map. It showed me where I had to go to get something for the quest. Then – then it showed you and me, together, on the quest."

"Well," Kurtis said, staring at the waterfall and blowing smoke towards it where it mingled with the water spray, "must have been wishful thinking on somebody's part. Can't have been the future, because I'm not interested, and if I'm not interested then I'm not going to be going with you."

"It wasn't wishful thinking," Lara said quietly.

"No?"

"I recognised the temple the idol showed me. I raided it a few years ago and took the artefact."

"Great," Kurtis interrupted, sounding bored. "Less work for you now, then."

"Listen to me," Lara demanded, taking a step forward and catching his eye to force him to return his attention to her. "I didn't believe the vision of you, either, but the artefact was a Mayan crystal skull that I sold to a scientologist…I called him to see if he still had it and to ask if I could buy it back. He said no, he was keeping it. So I started researching and spying on him to prepare to steal it back. Kurtis…he's got the skull in a private, secret research facility underneath his mansion – and that lab is exactly what I saw in my vision."

"Not interested," Kurtis said simply.

After a moment's surprise at his short answer, Lara's answer was an incredulous look, eyebrows raised and hands on hips.

"Look – after I got out of hospital, life wasn't working so great, y'know?" Kurtis spread his arms, feeling he had to justify himself. "No-one would hire me for any mercenary work, thanks to, I might add, you ensuring that the Nephilim business was nice and messy. I couldn't even get a job at K-Mart, my girlfriend dumped me after two weeks because she said I was being too clingy, so I thought, 'hey, you know what? You were happy in France in the Legion, why don't you go back there? You did the country a service, they'll gratefully give you a visa, and you can start all over on a nice, clean slate'."

Lara was apparently completely uninterested by the hints of Kurtis' previously unmentioned past. "And you decided the best place to do this was the 'Happiest Place On Earth', as they say?"

Kurtis answered with a disdainful conviction. "Yeah. Bodes well, don't you think?"

Lara snorted. "So I dangle this carrot in front of your nose and you ignore it in favour of running desserts, less than a year after you broke into the Louvre and used your Jedi mind tricks to trash the place? You know as well as I do that this isn't your life."

"For your information, the Jedi mind trick is what you use to change somebody's mind, not telekinesis. And actually, yeah, this is my life. I'm actually enjoying it."

"Listen, Trent." Lara stepped closer to him, invading his personal space and shoving her face in his, eyes darting angrily. "I want that dagger. You're coming with me. It's what the idol says is supposed to happen."

"No," Kurtis said, argumentatively, "what's supposed to happen is that I get a pay rise after passing an audition next week to get an acting gig over in Studio 1 hamming up scenes from famous movies alongside the cute, single chick who went to RADA." He smiled condescendingly, turned, and walked slowly towards daylight, leaving Lara standing on the bridge, water still crashing downwards beside her.

"So that's what it's going to be, then?" Lara called after him as he walked away. "Two failures acting out a happy ending for the benefit of the crowds?" It was deeply unfair, she knew, and a last ditch attempt. Kurtis stopped, took a breath.

Then he carried on walking.

By the way - RADA is the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, a top theatre school.