Lara Croft flinched under the gentle, administrative hand of her best and closest friend, Samantha Nishimura.
The other woman pressed the antiseptic salve tenderly to her side. "Does that hurt?"
A little gasp escaped her lips as she winced again with another press of the salve, and Samantha's eyes lit up. Lara frowned, brows drawing together at first, but stopped when that hurt her head. "I'm in pain, and you're happy about it? Thanks."
Samantha offered her the effort of a smile, at least, even if her lips couldn't fully form one. Lara understood her hesitation, but she wished the distance wasn't there. Ever since kissing her, Samantha had been more tentative around her. They still hadn't talked about it yet. Lara wanted to, but she didn't want Samantha to shy away from her any further. It was best to wait for her best friend to bring it up… if she would.
"After all you went through, it's silly," Samantha explained quietly, dabbing gently. "That healing makes you complain the most."
"Yeah, well," Lara put a hand to the back of her injured neck, which ached. She cringed. "Maybe it's a good thing you talked me out of Australia."
"We'll go eventually," Samantha soothed, finally putting down the salve in favor of a bandage. "You were a bit too hasty for it, is all. Deep breath, Lara." Lara closed her eyes at the warning, teeth gritted with the press of the wrap Samantha pressed on to keep air bubbles out as she taped the edges. Lara's tender skin around the injury on the back of her shoulder screamed in protest to the touch.
"Turn towards me," Samantha said when it was done. Lara obeyed, naked from the waist up with only her injuries to cover her. Samantha's pretty, chocolate eyes darted over her body again to take in the numerous injuries once more. She stared a moment, but Lara knew it wasn't for the same reasons she wanted. "I can't believe you carried me with two broken ribs."
The pain in Lara's ribs was nothing close to the surge through her body when Samantha's lips had touched hers then, fueling her to carry Samantha back the entire way.
…If only Sam would bring it up. Lara didn't even know if she should be apologizing for it. Samantha had initiated, but Lara had probably, admittedly, enjoyed it more. Samantha's continued silence only spoke to her fears of that. She could be trying to pretend it hadn't happened at all.
"I had to," Lara answered simply enough. "I had to get you out of there. I promised."
"Yeah…" Samantha reached up a hand and pushed back a few, short strands from her face. It reminded Lara of when Samantha had reached up to her, brushing back her hair, and held her cheek in that kiss… God. This wasn't good. Samantha's hesitations had only started after their kiss, marking it the source of them. Lara had to forget it before that hesitation in Samantha's eye grew all-encompassing. "We… we need to check your burn wound," Samantha finally said, meaning her stomach one. "You really screwed that one up."
Lara frowned again as she touched at the bandage edge to unwind it from around her stomach. Samantha took the edge from her at Lara's first wince and did the chore for her. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Samantha added, "I know you had to stop the bleeding. It… must've really hurt." Samantha's eyes roved over all the injuries then, "They all had to." Her eyes roved up to Lara's. "How did you do it, Lara? How'd you keep going with all of this?"
"I couldn't let you die," Lara murmured.
When Samantha's eyes lifted to her again, Lara could feel them piercing. She'd never taken the time to notice how exquisitely beautiful Sam's eyes were before "Thanks for it," Samantha breathed on the exhale. "I mean, really, Lara. Not just saving me… for all of it."
"Sam…" Lara started, aching to tell those pretty eyes that there couldn't have been another way. To tell her how horrified she'd been when Samantha had been taken and that it wouldn't leave her mind for anything else but to get her back and safe. Samantha knew her as her close friend; Lara herself hadn't realized how much she loved her. Even if their kiss had been Samantha's fluke, Lara just wanted to know, to breach this silence between them.
The door opened abruptly. "Lara?"
Lara and Samantha broke out of the trance and Samantha bolted back across the small cabin, as if guilty of something. "Oh," Reyes noted Lara's half-naked state, "You should really lock the door. I could've been Jonah. Anyway, how are the injuries, Lara? Any better today?"
"Yeah," Lara mumbled as Samantha gathered up some burn cream like they hadn't just startled apart. "Getting there."
Reyes nodded. "We'll get you to a hospital soon. Three days out, the captain said. Lunch is ready in any case when you two are done."
"Thanks, Reyes," Samantha affirmed. "I'll be down in a few minutes to pick it up."
Lara started to sit up anxiously. "Should we— "
"Hey," Samantha grabbed her arm to keep her from getting up. She gently pressed Lara back down, "Lara, stop that. We have to take care of your burn wound first." Lara cringed but laid back down to Samantha's command. "It's extremely red around the edges again," Samantha noted, then touched at the spot, which stung almost enough to make Lara scream.
"Sam," Lara gasped, grabbing her hand to keep from further probing. Samantha looked at her with pleading eyes.
"We have to. The infection is already getting worse." She reached up a hand and touched Lara's head before Lara could grab the other hand as well. "You feel warmer, Lara. Are you getting sick?"
"I feel fine," Lara protested, hating this chore worse than any.
"Lie down, Lara," Samantha ordered, not taking any of it. She touched her mostly uninjured shoulder gently. Lara gritted her teeth. "I'll get the towel you can bite."
Worse than the pain, Lara knew how bad Samantha felt about this. She couldn't control how much it hurt when this happened, but Samantha insisted on being the one to care for her. Mostly, Lara liked that best too, the most comfortable with her anyway, but guilting Samantha wasn't something she liked to do. She couldn't control the pain of this cleaning like the others and seeing Samantha's face after always hurt her heart.
Samantha returned only a moment later from the cubby bathroom with two hand towels, a bottle, soap, and rubbing alcohol to cleanse it. Lara sat in her almost-lateral position, not wanting to aggravate the similar wound she had on her back. She lay braced on her arms. "I'll try to be more gentle this time."
"You do fine," Lara assured, taking one of the hand towels from Samantha. She reclined her head so she couldn't see. "I got this one when I first came to the island, you know. It wasn't later." She hoped Samantha understood the implication that it wasn't when she'd been trying to save her.
"Bite down," Samantha coached, her voice quiet. Lara bunched the hand towel in her mouth. As soon as the cool, soapy cloth touched her skin, she clenched at the rushing pain that returned, as bad as it first had been. Lara went taut, eyes closed as Samantha gently rubbed the soap in as cleaning protocol suggested. Lara bit harder into the towel and struggled to hold back the tears.
"Don't be stupid. Cry, Lara." Samantha insisted softly, but firmly when she realized what she was trying to hide. Lara bit back a silent curse. She felt fingers on her cheek and almost gagged with the tender touch, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. "You were already strong once. The tough part's over now." It took another moment, but the cloth at her burn spot finally lifted. Fat, wet drops trickled back into her hairline. Samantha cradled her cheek.
"Alcohol's coming," Samantha warned. A high, toxic sting followed the burning, scalding her so much, she screamed. Samantha held the cloth there and, after a long few minutes of intense burning, she replaced the alcohol with a cold cloth. A slight cool came over the pain. Lara finally breathed easy again and pulled the towel from her mouth.
"Sam." She laid her fingers over Samantha's hand and opened her eyes to the pretty, half-Asian curve of her features, so smooth and rounded, unblemished, and framed with short, straight-laced, dark brown hair, only a tint lighter than Lara's. She was beautiful. "…Thanks."
Samantha smiled at her, unrestrained, but still a little sad. "I'm going to get you better, Lara," Samantha vowed in that quiet voice she almost never used until recently. "That's my promise."
XXX
Samantha woke hours later to stare up at the stark ceiling above. In the top bunk of their small cubby room, she rolled to her side and glanced down to the bunk below. "Lara?"
Her friend didn't answer. Eyes closed, breathing a little labored for the broken ribs she had, she otherwise seemed more peaceful than usual.
Between changing her bandages, keeping down the infection, and getting Lara to keep still without a book to hold her down, Samantha had a full-time job in caring for her broken friend. She knew how taxing the rudimentary treatments were on Lara, and more, how much Lara needed hospital care more than she could give. It'd be better when they reached shore, but until then, Samantha had to be careful in monitoring her condition.
Rolling up in the bed, Samantha grabbed her white, dirtied jeans and started to pull them on again. She ached for a real shower, but that would have to wait a few more days yet. She flinched as the bottom of her right foot nicked her jeans. Stopping, she readjusted the leg carefully and then curled her toes to push it through the rest of the way.
Sucking in a quick breath, she turned up the bottom of her foot to check it. A big ugly blister had started to form on the rightmost pad under her little toe. Samantha cursed it.
Leaning over the far side of her bed, she hung over and grabbed the towel and alcohol she'd used for Lara in addition to a knife. Using the other end of it, she doused the cloth with alcohol and wiped the blade with it. Taking a deep breath, Samantha firmly gripped her foot in a hand, and with careful precision, she prodded into the blister with the tip of the knife.
A white-hot flair of pain hit, and Samantha winced, hand wavering just a fraction, but she didn't quit. A horrible squeak of pain escaped as she carved the loose skin off. Samantha kept her mouth shut to control her whimpers. She re-doused the cloth and pressed it to the bottom of her foot where the blister had been, skin ripped, red, and swollen from where her melted shoe sole had painfully been removed from her foot.
Samantha bit back a silent curse and swallowed down her pain. When the stinging finally cooled a meager bit, Samantha leaned over for the bandages and started to wrap her foot again for the day. At least she had slippers from that nice ship worker to step in, and it was only one foot after all. Her injuries were nothing compared to Lara's. She hadn't told her because she didn't want Lara fretting over it. They'd both get treatment when they reached the hospital.
As she finished up wrapping, a small moan echoed from below her bunk. Samantha checked beneath her again at Lara as she moaned again. "Lara?" Samantha gingerly stepped down, landing on her good foot, and quickly slipped into the borrowed slippers she'd been given. "Sweetie, are you okay?"
Lara rolled flat to her back as Samantha stepped over and winced when her tender shoulder hit the sheets. "Sammie?" Lara croaked in a scratchy voice. Samantha touched her forehead, full weight on the uninjured foot to alleviate the pressure. Lara warmed her fingers instantly.
"Lara, you're hot!"
"I don't… feel so good," Lara admitted, and now that she was this close, Samantha could see the beads of sweat on her forehead. Flushed and feverish, her friend wasn't looking any better. Samantha's heart started to race.
"Are you gonna be sick?"
Lara looked at her bleakly, sickly, and breathed heavily. "Maybe."
"Stay right there," Samantha ordered, though she couldn't move much anyway. "I'm getting you a bucket and water. You have to stay hydrated." Lara bit back another moan as Samantha hurried into the bathroom to the cooler of water bottles. She searched for some kind of bucket and didn't find one, so she dumped out the small cooler instead.
Samantha started to take it back to her, but a sudden, rough jolt had her screaming as she accidentally put pressure on her injured foot and jerked back into the sink. Fire raced through her foot, and Samantha moaned, but the pained cry of her friend brought her attention back to Lara, who'd fallen out of the bed entirely. She rolled on the floor and groaned, her pain probably ten times that of Sam's.
Cursing, biting back the tears, Samantha hurried back to her friend. "Lara!"
Her best friend threw up all over the floor.
"Oh, Lara." Samantha grimaced, rushing back to kneel beside her where Lara struggled to support herself against the wall. Her foot ached, but she paid it little heed as she held the small cooler before her. Lara looked at her for half a second, dizzy, disoriented, and then promptly proceeded to empty the rest of her stomach into the cooler. Samantha reached around her shoulders to support her and took up her hair in the other hand. "Get it out, Sweetie."
Another jolt almost tipped her, but Samantha kept a firm grip on her shoulders, keeping an eye on that vomit still on the floor. Lara moaned and started lowering the bucket. "Hey, hey," Samantha started to reach for it, but Lara shook her head. "No?" Samantha asked as she put it down and capped it. "You done?"
"Yes," Lara breathed raggedly.
"You sure?" Samantha checked, not all that certain with her estimate.
Lara took a moment to respond, eyes closed. Samantha eyed that slowly sliding vomit their way. Finally, Lara confirmed, "Yes," Lara breathed, "I'm done."
"Let's get you up," Samantha urged, dragging Lara up quickly before it could reach them. She pulled her friend back into the bottom bunk as another rough jolt thrust them both back, Samantha cushioning her from the wall. "Oww."
"Water," Lara gasped.
Sam reached over the lip of the low bunk and snatched up one of the rolling bottles before it could become infested with Lara's puke.
"Here, sweetie," she said, pressing the bottle into Lara's hand. Another jerk rocked the boat and Samantha extended a fast arm around Lara's stomach to keep her from falling again, careful to keep her arm just under Lara's chest so she didn't hug the broken rib by mistake.
Lara unscrewed it and drank deeply. "Hey," Samantha grabbed the bottle from her lips and pulled it back, "Go slow," she coached gently, "Or you'll get sick again."
"I'm sorry," Lara apologized meekly.
"You don't have to be sorry, Lara." Samantha chastised. She pressed the bottle back into her fingers but kept a hand on it in case she was too shaken. "This isn't your fault."
"You hate vomit."
"Well, I don't know anyone who likes vomit…" Samantha admitted cautiously. "But I'm willing to forgive you if you don't kick me out of the bed." Lara made another little moany noise that only worried Samantha.
"But— "
"Shhh, Lara. It's my turn to take care of you, okay?" Samantha checked her arm around Lara a third time. "Am I making you too hot?" Samantha started to loosen her arm, but Lara mewled and reached for it.
"No. I'm cold." The boat rocked again, tilting the bed down Lara's way. Samantha strengthened her hold around her friend and Lara winced.
"I'm sorry," Samantha apologized, being extremely careful to keep her arms secure just under Lara's breasts. "Keep sipping slowly," Samantha coached. The closeness, pressed to Lara's back inappropriately reminded her of their kiss. Or supposed kiss, anyway. Samantha still couldn't be sure it'd actually happened or… or if she dreamed it. Lara hadn't said anything about it since, which leaned Samantha towards the latter explanation. Whatever had happened or hadn't happened, it wasn't something she ought to be relishing while Lara was sick like this.
"I'm going to bring you through this, okay?" Samantha told her firmly, distracting her mind away from that warm brush of their lips after Lara had saved her. "We'll be home soon, Lara. But you gotta hang on for me. A few more days. Just a few more. Lara? You hear me?"
"Don't go," Lara asked meekly, eyelids fluttering. "The storm… don't leave me, Sam."
"I'm not going anywhere," Samantha promised. Lara's fingers over hers on the bottle went a little limper. "I'll be here when you wake," Samantha whispered.
Lara curled into her, favoring her good side, and passed out.
XXX
Samantha stayed with her the next few days, but Lara's condition only worsened. When she wasn't conscious, she dreamed. Samantha didn't really know everything she'd been through on their journey, but if the fevered nightmares were any indication of it, she wasn't sure she wanted to.
By the second day, Reyes reluctantly suggested restraints, but Samantha wouldn't allow it. When Lara went into her fits, she held her and tried to keep her friend from hurting herself as best she could. No matter how bad the nightmares seemed, consciousness struck her even worse. Samantha wasn't sure, but Lara seemed to be reliving her experiences in her delirium. On the third day, it got so bad that they had to sedate her. Samantha's heart raced for her friend.
It was a relief when they finally docked on the end of the third day. Samantha sat with her in the back of the emergency bus, praying while they worked and doused her system with antibiotics and sedatives. She could only watch from a distance when they wheeled Lara away. Samantha was crying by the time Jonah reached her in the hospital and hugged her. Samantha sat with him and Reyes for hours.
When the doctor finally came out, he wore one of those faces nobody wanted to see on a physician. Samantha practically lost it until he said, "She's stabilized." Samantha slackened in Jonah's arms.
"Does that mean she's going to be okay?"
"It'll take a few days for the fever to die down," the doctor cautioned, "And her injuries are severe. With multiple scrapes and lacerations, she may have some nerve damage that runs deeper under the tissue. The punctures into her foot have fractured the bone and have been cast, but will have to be removed twice daily for treatments. She has deep lacerations; we've stitched her arm and cauterized the shoulder. Her stomach puncture had to be reopened to burn out the infection. Her hallucinations are from the fever. She won't be out of the ICU for days."
Samantha's head and heart hurt. The doctor seemed to take pity on them then, maybe seeing her faint. "That being said, your friend is very lucky. Whatever happened to her, it missed major arteries and the self-cauterization, crude as it'd been and the source of the infection, probably saved her life. You brought her just in time. Are any of you her family, may I ask?"
"They're dead," Reyes volunteered, "I believe Samantha's listed as the emergency contact."
"Are you Samantha?"
"I am," Samantha volunteered, barely able to breathe. "Can I see her?
The doctor didn't seem happy by the news. "I'm afraid I need to first talk to you about treatment options, costs, medical history and what happened."
"Do you have to do that now?" Reyes almost snapped.
"The sooner we know, the better we'll be able to treat her."
"Cost isn't an issue." Samantha volunteered brazenly. "Give her the absolute best. Call in specialists."
"I'll talk to you about that," Reyes volunteered. "You can fill her in on the confidentials later."
"Samantha needs treatment," Jonah finally said, just remembering maybe by the wince with her step. Samantha had forgotten too, but she didn't have time for this. She had to see Lara.
Before she could step away again, however, Jonah's arms lifted fully around her, taking her straight off the ground. He removed her slipper to reveal her bandaged foot. "Jonah!"
"Sammie, don't."
"I need to see her!" Samantha squirmed to get free.
"Visitors aren't permitted yet." The doctor added unhelpfully. Samantha fought it but ultimately lost. When the doctor saw her foot, he toted her off too where Samantha received some painful, professional treatment to the bottom of her foot and edges. She was sweating it out by the end in pain by the time they bandaged it up. One of the nurses took an incorrect curiosity in her bruising around the eye and ribs. Samantha had completely forgotten they were there; courtesies of her wrestling match with the injured Lara.
"They were an accident. I have to go."
"Is someone abusing you, Samantha?" The nurse held up one of her wrists where rope burns had cut into her skin.
After an annoying, extra half-hour of assuring she wasn't a beaten housewife, Samantha finally got away— against the doctor's recommendation— and struggled on crutches until she found Reyes again, who directed her the right way to Lara's room. When Samantha finally found her, she nearly collapsed on Lara in despair.
Freshly washed, as they'd done to Samantha as well, nearly every visible part of her best friend was wrapped. Bandages wound around her head, shoulder, torso, leg, and foot. Patches over the deep scrapes existed everywhere else. At least she'd been washed, but what little of her Samantha could see through the bandages, Lara still looked sickly as sin.
"They said her ribs fractured," Jonah filled in. "And her legs have bad burns. They've been in and out every hour."
Samantha swallowed. She took Lara's hand and didn't let go for hours. Reyes and Jonah shifted in, bathed somewhere, and brought food back, but Samantha wasn't hungry for any of it. She just wanted Lara back.
In-between the doctor checkups and meager acceptance of bits of food to placate her friends, a few days passed before Samantha's mother finally showed up. After a long debate that had Samantha practically flailing in protest, she finally resigned to stop back at Lara's mansion with her mother to wash up and refresh before returning to the hospital.
XXX
Samantha had finished bathing in the Jacuzzi-sized tub and was dressing her wound when the door opened in. "Mom!"
"Oh, Sweetie," Samantha's six-foot-three, brunette, model-gorgeous mother passed off, entering the room anyway as Samantha covered her exposed chest, only in her panties on the side of the tub. "I gave birth to it. Your body's not going to startle me, darling." Angled cheeks rounded towards the bottom of her chin, Maria had a full face, luscious lips, and eyes that matched Samantha's. She knelt just by the tub and lifted the leg with Samantha's injured foot. "How my baby's foot? Does it still hurt, my girl?"
"Mom, you're being weird again." Samantha pulled her foot away, not wanting her mother to see the raw sole of it.
"Baby," Maria reached out and cradled her cheek with long, slender fingers in a caring, caressing manner, "You escape this… this documentary island by hair, go despondent, and expect no weird?" Maria leaned in and kissed Samantha's cheek. "No, baby. You are mistaken in this. Your father would bind you to the house if he were here."
"I'm going back to the hospital after this," Samantha informed, not wanting to give her mother the wrong impression.
"Yes," Maria noddingly agreed as she took up the bandage Samantha had left off. "This is good. Lara needs you, baby. She's good girl. Very grounded. I always like her influence on you." Samantha rolled her eyes, but when Maria next looked up with those perfectly-plucked, warm, heart-quenching eyes, she knew she was very serious about the favor Lara had with her. Samantha had always known her mother liked her, but this last venture must've solidified that completely. "We spare no expense for her, Samantha. Anything Lara needs, you tell me or your father."
"Well…" Samantha admitted, having had two days to think on this. When Lara finally woke off the sedatives, she wouldn't like waking in a hospital. She'd feel trapped. Lara would be much more comfortable surrounded by familiar things. "I've been thinking about emergency home care for her." Samantha admitted, "It's expensive, but…"
"No expense," Maria promised, meaning the opposite. "We'll pull her out today. I don't like you at that place anyway. Sterile, antiseptic. Is no place for my daughter. Have you looked up good doctor?"
"Not yet."
"This, you must do. For Lara, Samantha."
"I will, Mom. Right after this."
"Good," Maria agreed, "I will call the hospital for transfer here. You find who, and I pull the best wherever you find her. Girl doctor, Samantha. No man touching Lara."
Samantha half shook her head again. "Okay, Mom."
"And you, my girl?" Maria asked. "You are well, Samantha?"
"I'm fine, Mom," Samantha brushed off; she had little to complain about compared to Lara.
"Good, good," Maria said, accepting that, and then added. "And no parties," she warned. "I stay three days, if I hear you invite those boys after— "
"I'm not going to have a party while Lara's sick, Mom."
"Don't give me that look, Samantha. I know you like fun. Your father wants a sitter—"
"Mom!" Samantha protested bleakly. This, she could understand from her dad, who disapproved of her... extracurriculars, career, living with Lara, almost everything she did, really, but if her mother thought she needed someone to babysit her—
"I tell him I call. But I don't." Her mother finished. "Don't make me regret it, baby."
"I won't, Mom." Samantha breathed in relief. "I'm not going to have any parties."
"I know," Maria finished up wrapping her foot and taped it off on the top. "But I'm bad mother if I don't say." Maria leaned in and hugged her. Samantha hugged her mother back.
"You're not a bad mother, Mom."
Maria squeezed her tighter. "I am glad you are safe." Maria articulated, then kissed her forehead. "Bless Lara." When she finally pulled away, she said. "I have maranhos downstairs. You eat before doctor." Casting her foot in the temporary binding once more, her mother handed her clothes. She followed her downstairs to take care of Lara.