Title: It Costs an Arm and a Leg
Author: vendettadays
Fandom: Tomb Raider (2013)
Characters: Lara Croft, Sam Nishimura
Rating: K+
Length: 1222
Summary: It was a Halloween party that Sam and Lara would never forget, especially not when they stole an arm and a leg for it.

A/N: In my other fic 'It's a Long and Arduous Road to Recovery' Sam mentioned a Halloween party that ended with a trip to the hospital. Here it is and hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

'Sam, I really don't think this is a good idea,' said Lara as she followed closely behind Sam in the dark corridor.

They were sneaking around UCL at ten o'clock in the evening like thieves, all because Sam had wanted the perfect Halloween costume. Lara had scoped out the building earlier in the day for CCTV; there hadn't been any just like Sam had said, but Lara wasn't taking any chances, especially not when it involved Sam and her ridiculous schemes.

'It'll be fine, stop worrying so much,' whispered Sam. She stopped outside the storage room they wanted and pulled two bent paperclips from the back pocket of her jeans. 'The drama society aren't going to miss an arm and a leg.'

'They have one mannequin for their productions, of course they're going to miss an arm and a leg!' said Lara as loudly as she dared. 'And when did you learn to pick a lock?'

The lock clicked and the door swung open. Sam looked triumphant and Lara wished, not for the first time, that Matron Smith had decided to put her into different dorm room when she had moved to St. Margaret's School for Girls. At least that way, she would not have made friends with a future criminal.

'YouTube is a marvel of the Twenty-first Century.'

'And so is our criminal justice system when they find us guilty,' muttered Lara.

Sam rolled her eyes and went inside the storage room, holding the door for Lara in exaggerated impatience. Lara sighed and walked inside reluctantly; she closed the door and squinted in the darkness for the mannequin that Sam wanted. If they did not find that plastic man in the next five minutes, she was going to drag Sam out of the university by her ear. She didn't have to because Sam had found her arm and leg in a box at the back of the room. Lara took the arm Sam held out for her and Sam tucked the leg under her arm.

'Okay, you have what you came for, can we leave?' Lara opened the door and began walking back the way they came, but was stopped when Sam hooked the leg's foot around her waist.

'There's just one more thing I need before we can go.'

'See, totally worth the effort,' said Sam after another person complimented them on their costumes.

'I still think wrapping ourselves in loo roll would have been a better idea.' Lara opened a beer for herself and poured a shot of sambuca for Sam.

It would have been cleaner too, thought Lara. She didn't even want to think about how long it would take to get the red paint, that they'd stolen – 'borrowed' said Sam – from the Art Department, out of her hair. But it had been satisfying to finally rip and ruin their old St Margaret's school uniform.

'Toilet paper mummies are a waste, Lara, and you know how damn expensive toilet paper is.' Sam threw the shot back and grimaced from the burn in her throat, but poured herself another regardless. 'I know you're into your embalmed bodies, but come on, zombie school girls covered in blood, waving arms and legs are way cooler.'

Lara shook her head and ignored Sam's smug grin, but she couldn't stop the smile that quirked at her own lips. Their Halloween costumes were pretty cool with the extra arm and leg, and the red paint and dirt was the cherry on top of an overall impressive first year Halloween costume. But she wasn't going to tell Sam all that, else she would never hear the end of it or worse, get roped into further potentially, criminal activities. She really did not look forward to whatever plans Sam had in mind for next year's costumes.

'It won't be cool when I have to carry you, an arm, and a leg home on the Tube tonight, because you didn't slow down with the sambuca,' warned Lara. She watched Sam down her fifth shot in the last five minutes and they had only arrived ten minutes ago.

Lara thought about taking the bottle away when a guy, painted green, as the Hulk ran into the living room and roared whilst everyone around them cheered. Apparently, the host of the house party had arrived.

'How 'bout you tell that guy to slow down,' snickered Sam.

The Hulk wobbled as he walked around the room laughing and high-fiving everyone he passed, but he ran, with hands outstretched, at Sam the moment he saw the plastic leg she had propped against her shoulder.

'Hey, get the hell off!'

'Come on, let me have it!' The guy grabbed the top of the leg whilst Sam held on tightly to the foot. 'I promise to give it back!'

'Let go!' yelled Sam.

Lara watched as Sam tugged the leg with all her strength just as the guy let go and the last thing she remembered was a very hard, plastic thigh smacking her head before she blacked out.

'L—'

'La—'

'Lara!'

'Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Please don't tell me all that red is blood?'

Lara opened her eyes and groaned at the radiating throb on the left side of her head. Sam's face was blurry and she blinked to clear her vision, but the pain only made the world swim in and out of focus.

'Sweetie, are you okay? Say something.'

'I'm alright.' Lara looked up at Sam and the small crowd of monsters standing behind her. How did she get on the floor?

She tried to get up, but Sam gently pushed her back down and shouted at someone. 'Call a taxi and someone get me some ice. No, I don't want a cold beer, I need ice!'

'Sam, I'm fine, can we go now?' whined Lara as she tapped her foot against the linoleum floor and adjusted the defrosting bag of peas on her head. The dried paint in her hair was wet and she felt it dripping down her neck. She definitely looked worse than she was. 'We've been waiting for two hours and I feel much better.'

'You blacked out for a good ten seconds,' said Sam with her arms crossed against her chest. The arm and leg sat in a chair next to her. 'You might have a concussion and we are not going anywhere until you have seen someone about it.'

It turned out that everyone else waiting to see a doctor in the Accident and Emergency Department had pretty cool costumes too. Sat in front of them was a woman with a very impressive Edward Scissorhands costume. Lara would have joked that it had probably been a bad idea for the woman to use real scissors, but the alcohol in Sam was long gone by now and it was unlikely she would appreciate the joke.

'Is this what you had in mind for our first university Halloween party?' asked Lara, turning to Sam with a wide smile. Maybe it was the concussion talking, but everything about tonight was funny to her and she was the one that got hit in the head.

'No.' Sam pouted and frowned with worry. 'You're the one that's supposed to be carrying me, the arm, and the leg home, not the other way round.'