Tough Love

"Oh. Em. GEE."

God, when did I become so generous? I thought in regret. Going to Italy, we all finally came to an agreement that all four of us would go. Sure, no one would watch the house- but I honestly didn't mind much, considering we'd be relocating back to the Manor sometime soon anyways. For all I cared, the Doppelganger could go set that one on fire. But, unfortunately, I hadn't even begun to foresee how much of a nit-picker Angela could be.

"Is it usually this hot in Italy? Like, seriously? How are you guys not dying of heat?" Angela complained while fanning herself off with her hand, even though we were settling in the shade of a large tent with all of Zip's technical equipment. From the second we left London, she'd whined over about a total of 20 or more things, repeatedly. And to think all people wondered why I, the "daughter of the famous Richard Croft", didn't have any children. To think.

I was about to pound my own brains out when Angela asked "Do you have any water?" for about the hundredth bloody time. Even worse, she'd settled to finding a small can of beer instead, to which she had no hesitation with drinking to her leisure. And that really ticked me off.

Halting in my help of setting up the devices, I got up and took the can right out of her hands before she could even take a sip. I nearly slammed it on the small, plastic table beside me. "Angela, do you have even the slightest remembrance of what happened to you the other night?"

She looked at me innocently, not knowing how to respond.

I narrowed my eyes on her. "Well, to refresh your memory, you were shot. With a bullet. And you were sent to the hospital. Do you have any idea how much damage alcohol can do to you?"

Angela rolled her eyes.

That did it.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me! This is serious, Angela, I don't want you to go anywhere near anything that can do harm to you, is that clear?"

Finally, she responded. "Okay okay, got it, mom. Jeez." Angela said, in a bit of a teasing way, as she slightly scoffed a giggle at my strict flare-up on her. I just shook my head and ignored her. Instead I headed back to Zip and Kurtis, who seemed to have not made much notice of Angela's actions. Five years, I thought. Only a five year difference, and yet, somehow, she's still considered an adult. How could that possibly be?

"Was she really that bloody annoying when she was a child? How the hell do you deal with her?" I said angrily to Kurtis, in a somewhat hushed voice so Angela wouldn't hear. He looked at me a bit confused, then he sighed.

"Lara, you've never had younger siblings. You wouldn't understand." He said simply, then continued on with what he was doing. I glared at his turned head dully for another moment. I wouldn't understand, huh? Brilliant. Just brilliant. Everyone was just getting on my nerves. At first, I really did enjoy Angela's company. And maybe I enjoyed Kurtis's company as well, however, I'd enjoyed it a little bit too much. But now Angela was just about the last person I wanted to be around, and with Kurtis it was the same situation. Angela was a brat, and Kurtis was...well. He was Kurtis. Even Zip had begun to talk to me less and less like the friend I knew him to be. What on Earth is happening?

After about another thirty minutes of setting up, getting ready, and finding the location of the factory, or whatever it was, I finally decided that I somehow couldn't trust Zip to be the one to take care that Angela stayed out of trouble.

"Kurtis, I need you to stay here with Zip. Angela's coming with me."

There were then a few disapproving outbursts of "What?" in response from each one of them.

"I'm sorry, Zip, but you must admit, neither you or Angela are exactly the most reliable ones here." I explained. "And besides, if Kurtis came with me, then you two wouldn't have anything to defend yourselves with."

"Wha-? Are you sayin' I don't know how to handle a gun? Hell, I don't need no guard dog, Lara. I can take care of myself." Zip exclaimed, clearly insulted. He was right, though- he was actually quite a tough, strong fighter. But that didn't make a difference.

"Hey, watch it." Kurtis retorted fiercely in Zip's use of the term "guard dog" towards him.

"No offense, man." Zip apologized calmly, then turned his attention back to me. "Seriously. Let him go, I'll make sure nothin' happens to Ang. What are the chances of gettin' into trouble out here anyway?"

"That...that's not the point." I started, but was cut off again by Zip.

"Besides, it'd make more sense if Kurtis came with you, right? You could use some brute force to back you up."

I clenched my jaw tightly and pursed my lips. Brute force. Really. So I'll just sit like a duck and play damsel in distress, then, if you call him the brute force.

"Fine then. Angela stays." I unwillingly agreed, through a dramatically fake smile.

-x-

Considering that the streets and canals of Venice were quite lively and bustling with people, and our meeting with Callegar was to be supposedly on mutual grounds, we didn't take any gear. The only thing we brought was the PDA phone, which I always had with me.

As we were walking through the narrow streets, Kurtis started up a conversation. "Hey, are you, um, okay? You seem a little angry."

Oh, do shut up, I thought. "I'm perfectly fine. I'd be even better if you could keep the dialogue to a minimum, thank you very much." I said crossly.

"Yeah, that tone of voice definitely sounds 'perfectly fine'." Kurtis muttered sarcastically. I then stopped abruptly in my steps, grabbed Kurtis by the neck of his shirt, and pulled him into the short alleyway between two stores.

"Listen up, Kurtis. I've been dealing with enough bull for one day, and I don't need more of it from you." I said, a bit threateningly. Then I lowered my voice a bit, though still staying intense. "You don't just go around romancing women with those gazing eyes of yours one day, and then act like a complete douche the next. That's just not how it works. And if you want me to continue giving you, and your sister, the respect and generosity that I've already lent out far too much of, then I suggest you cut it out."

I waited another brief moment to let it sink in, then let go of him and stepped back out of the alley. To my dismay, he had absolutely nothing to come back with. Not a single word. We walked the rest of the way in silence.

I was actually a bit surprised at how agitated I was of his presence, now. Regularly, I wouldn't even be able to speak normally around him. Regularly, I wouldn't be able to do anythingnormally around him. Probably because of all that...mush and soft feelings and whatnot, that he'd just thrown onto me.

I couldn't believe I'd just let myself fall head over heels like some dim-witted teenage schoolgirl. By restraining myself to go any further, I started to think that I was slowly regaining that old, tough-as-nails attitude I used to maintain. Not caring about anyone or anything, but what I needed to do. None of this goddamned gentleness I've come to have. And that's the way I liked it.

So, in my head, I came to an agreement with myself:

Kurtis means nothing to you.