DISCLAIMER: Ok, so I've decided to explore Lara and Angel a little bit. I can't yet decide though whether or not I want Sam/Lara or the alternative. They both seem great to me at this point :(

Aftermath

-Complications-

ooo

"There she is! Below the bridge!" the man's frantic voice shouted over a rising scream of gunfire. Lara stumbled backward, arms pinwheeling as dynamite kissed the bridge's support beams, causing it to start falling. She bent her legs and leaped onto the next platform, bullets continuously showering the air around her. Reaching up to grab the next platform's edge, she hauled herself upward and then stumbled forward, trying to ignore the relentless tornado of enemy fire. She leaped from platform to platform, sucking in deep breaths as each collapsed behind her, bullets pounding the support beams and shattering them to splinters.

As her foot connected with the last platform, she glanced up to see a rockface looming before her. As the platform she stood upon started to shudder and give way, she pushed off and launched herself at the wall, whipping out her climbing axe in quick succession….

The tool's familiar clink as it bit into the rock brought a sigh of relief as she started to yank herself up, finding a foothold and then pulling the axe back out, slamming it back in above it's previous position. When she finally reached the top edge, she stuck the axe back into it's holster and pulled herself to flat ground…

She grabbed her radio. "Roth, I'm headed in…"

Lara stirred in her sleep, fighting to awaken, but the dreams weren't done. She clenched her fists as another flood of images took the other one's place.

The distant chanting grew louder as she approached the opening within the cave, and with a shuddering breath, she peeked her head slowly around and sucked in a gasp when she saw the crowd of Solarii gathered at the base of what seemed to be the beginnings of a pile of corpses. Whether or not they were fresh, she didn't know and didn't want to. She had seen too many bodies as it was, she didn't need to see any more...

Her eyes wrenched open at that moment and the first thing she noticed was that she was still in bed; not in the geothermal caves with the Solarii and Matthias. She rubbed her eyes with the fist of one hand and sat up, resting her hand beside her and was surprised to feel skin.

"What the…?" she turned to look at the mysterious figure sleeping next to her and was shocked to see Angel. He was obviously bare chested, comforter concealing him from the waist down, and he had one arm thrown carelessly over his face while the other hung over the side of the bed. Lara reached over to move a lock of his dark hair out of his face and gazed at his peaceful expression. He looked so young and innocent while sleeping, though she supposed anyone would look that way when not under the heavy influence of life's constant bandering.

As her hand fell away from his face, he stirred suddenly and opened his eyes, slowly blinking away the remaining effects of sleep before looking up to see her, a lazy smile rising onto his face.

"Hi," he mumbled.

Lara's heart skittered like a leaf. "Oh, hi," she suddenly felt her cheeks warm and a hand flew up to touch her face. Normally, she didn't feel nervous around men, but it wasn't everyday (or ever) that she woke up in bed with one that apparently had full interest in her and her alone. This was a totally surreal experience, and she almost wanted to pinch herself to make sure none of it was a dream.

"Ow," she winced as she pulled her thumb and forefinger away from her ribcage. Yup, it was definitely reality.

"Did you just…pinch yourself?" Angel interrupted her scurried thoughts, a trail of amusement in his voice.

Don't freak out, she reminded herself. Her cheeks flamed as if to spite her and she ran a nervous, shaking hand through her tousled brown hair, unintentionally releasing a nervous sigh. This was all happening so quickly, first the bar, then the flashbacks – which hadn't made another appearance yet, thank God – and then Sam…oh God! Sam!

How could Lara forget? The last time she remembered seeing the other woman, was about a few hours ago and they had both been in bed, surrounded by infinite bliss, relishing in each other's company. Then Angel walked in for some God-knows-why reason and that's when her mind went awry, shifting into overdrive. Then one thing led to another and they had had…one unforgettable night of passion.

It was all quite confusing for Lara Croft.

As she sat up, careful not to make Angel think she was scooting away from him, she reached out for her fuzzy white bathrobe - which had been tossed carelessly to the floor. Wrapping it around herself, swiftly tying the sash loosely about her waist, she wandered out of the room and down the hall toward the small alcove-like balcony looking out over the courtyard that belonged to the villa-esque place that was her apartment complex.

She ran her hands along the cool, steel railing and bent one leg behind the other, allowing her head to tilt to the side in it's usual daydream-y fashion. This was normally the time when sorting one's options out was well-required and Lara was, if not entirely perceptive at times, attune to tradition and thinking about complicated situations was her specialty. It was normally her excuse to escape social encounters; and sometimes it even worked. Her drifting off into deep space tended to aid her in escaping any compromising situation.

Like Yamatai…

"Oh no," she gasped as the third memory of the day surfaced like a wave and crashed over her, drawing her in like an undertow. She collapsed to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, starting to rock rapidly back and forth as…

her eyes flew open in horror, immediately met with an unpleasant feeling of disorientation and the mindboggling sensation of blood rushing to her head. Then she realized why.

She was hanging by her feet, surrounded by what seemed to be dark red candles that reminded her of blood. She whipped her head back and forth, trying to see if the sudden movement would force the lower half of her body to sway her back and forth.

But no matter how fast she shook her head, her body refused to move.

I have to keep trying, she urged herself, trying again, and with a bit more struggling, she started to slowly sway. Back and forth, back and forth.

"Hello! Jonah?! Reyes!? Help!" she yelled out, continuing to swing. "I've got to get down."

As she continued to sway, she was surprised that her momentum was growing more rapid. Good, then maybe she could swing hard enough and fray the rope holding her. Three more seconds of swinging and she felt her body bump against something hard – a body? – and turned her head as she collided with it again, pushing it into a nearby torch, gasping as it easily alighted and burned. A skeleton fell from the casing and clattered to the floor.

That's what I need to do! She squared her shoulders and swung her head around, searching for another torch that was maybe closer to her. Then maybe she could get herself out of whatever kept her to this rope, and then focus on escaping whatever this Godforsaken place was.

Finally, she spotted another torch closer to her and began to sway toward it, increasing momentum with each of her strained efforts. She caught her breath as her feet started to swing closer to the torch…

"This…is gonna hurt," she moaned as one last swing finally allowed her to ignite herself. Then heat seared her flesh and before she could even wrap her mind around anything more…she was falling and then…pain was everywhere.

As she thrashed and scraped along her body, two hands gripped the sides of her face and someone was shouting her name. Did she recognize the voice? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that she wanted, no needed, the horrible pain in her side to go away. It burned like the flames of Hell, and she wanted it all to go away, to leave her alone so she could be at peace.

"Come on," she muttered, trying to pull out whatever was stabbing her with fire. "Come on."

"Lara! Wake up, it's just a dream!" the voice cried out again. This time it was a little more familiar, at least, she knew it's gender. Obviously male, and it sounded beautiful – almost made her forget the terrible searing pain flaring at her ribcage.

Almost. But it still ruled overall. She fought to pull the thing out that was causing her this much agony…clawed at it with fingers that were obviously broken.

"Lara, please stop this," the voice begged her, less frantic now.

This time the voice seemed to act like a string to her ever-wandering kite of a mind, and she grabbed onto it, allowing it to remove the pain she was feeling. And with a silent breath of relief, felt the last of it melt away and she slowly opened her eyes, looking up into Angel's deep-set, soulful eyes.

"Thank you," she whimpered, her voice feeling hoarse.

"What happened, Lara?" he asked her, placing one arm around her shoulders and assisting her to the chaise lounge by the railing overlooking the courtyard.

She couldn't tell him. He wouldn't understand. Couldn't possibly understand the utter freakshow that was her fucked up brain.

That's the fear talking, Lara. You know you can trust him. Sam does, Jonah, and Reyes. Why not Angel? If you ever hope to try a future with this man, you have to trust that he can deal with your past.

When she finally allowed herself to glance up at him, she summoned a long, lungful of air and told him the whole story.

Ooo

The midday sun speared through the café window with a vengeance, casting a long strip of yellow across Sam's little table. She had been sitting there for the last three hours, ordering espresso after espresso, in hopes that the caffeine would boost her spirits and erase the sadness plaguing her like heavy fog, dampening her mood to almost sub-zero-levels.

But how could she ever hope to benefit the normally lifting effects of her favorite beverage when she felt as if her heart had been torn from chest and stamped on with silver-spiked cleats? It seemed that every time she downed each espresso, and thoughtlessly ordered another, it tasted like acid on her tongue, burning her throat on the way down.

"God damn you, Lara Croft. You make it so damn hard to love you," she muttered bitterly as she drained the last few drops of her acid espresso.

"Excuse me?" a women sitting at the table opposite looked up at Sam, a large plate of half-eaten pancakes in front of her. Sam's stomach rumbled and she turned her face toward the woman, lip arcing in an unfriendly snarl.

"Didn't your mum ever tell you it's rude to eavesdrop?" she shoved back from the table, grabbed up her leather bag and stormed out of the café, not bothering to apologize as she nearly tornadoed her way through a young couple on their way in. She was in one of those moods that Lara had long ago nicknamed "Hurricane Samantha", and every time she slipped into it, almost everyone within a five-mile radius of her seemed to be effected.

"We should get you a personal tornado warning device. So people know when to take cover." Lara once said in a her brisk English accent. As the memory faded from Sam's mind, she shook her head and jogged up to her silver Miata, unlocking the drivers side and throwing herself onto the seat. Then she just sat there, head back against the headrest, eyes closed and just allowed herself to soak in all her anger and stow it away.

"She's not worth it, Sam. Not worth a damn tear," she reminded herself, taking steady deep breaths to help cool off the last few ounces of rage before opening her eyes, squinting into the windshield and hastily flipping the visor down in front of her.

She needed to get out of London for awhile, steer clear of Lara.

And she knew exactly where to go.