Author's note: Sisterly Love has been completely reloaded and edited a little for content. For the compete, uncut version, check out my homepage http://mine.at/thelair or http://mine.at/mblow0t5 Enjoy!

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Tristen stumbled into the hotel room sobbing, later that night. Alex was in the middle of a poker game with Sam and Victor when she came in. Her dark eye make-up had run down her cheeks, her sleeve was torn and her bandages were already unraveling.

"Shit." Alex got up, pulling a sobbing Tristen into the bedroom. She huddled against him, clinging for him like she was holding on for dear life. "What happened, honey?" Alex asked.

Tristen couldn't answer due to her hysterical sobbing.

"Hey, Alex, we're going to show ourselves out." Sam said, gesturing to himself and Victor.

"See ya later." Alex said, cradling Tristen against him. "Calm down, baby." He murmured. "It's okay, honey." He knew it was probably her manager. The man was an insensitive prick. Alex had witnessed him shouting at Tristen until she was almost in tears one day at rehearsal. When Alex confronted him the manager defended himself, saying that Tristen would work harder this way. Alex cuddled Tristen harder.

Finally, Tristen had calmed down enough to talk. She started babbling about Lara and rambled on about her being there on a date and that she thought Lara had come there to laugh at her. Even while Tristen was pouring her heart out to him, Alex couldn't help but want to hear more about Lara. He didn't know that she dated. He wanted to know more about the man that she was with, were they dating or just on a date? What did this man look like? What kind of job did he have? But he stopped himself, knowing that Tristen would be offended. For reasons still unknown by him, she hated Lara with a vengeance.

***

Alex drained his shot glass of vodka and starred blankly at the wooden table top of the bar. He ran his hand through his dirty hair and watched as the bartender came over.

"Do you want another one, mate?" He asked.

"Yeah." Alex muttered.

"You sure that's healthy?" He inquired, raising his eyebrow.

"Hey, I didn't ask you to lecture me." Alex snapped.

"Right. Sorry, mate." He proceeded to refill the shot glass.

Before Alex could drink the alcohol someone slid into the seat beside him. He glanced over and to his horror he discovered the person next to him was none other then Lara Croft.

"Oh God, what are you doing here?" He moaned. The last person he wanted to see in his misery was the woman he desired with all of his heart, but couldn't have.

"It's lovely to see you too, Alex." Lara answered.

"Why are you bothering me?" Alex asked.

"Well, I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Is something wrong with Tristen?"

"Is there something right with Tristen?" He countered.

"Hmm, good point." Lara said, thoughtfully. The server caught her eye.

"What will you have, love?" He asked, eyeing her figure.

"Rum and coke." Lara answered.

"Ooo, are you going to get drunk with me?" Alex asked, smiling at the woman who sat beside him.

"Why would I want to do that?" Lara asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, when we're completely trashed we could go get a room upstairs and have a night of great sex and forget about it by morning." Alex suggested.

"No, thank you." Lara said, politely. "If I have great sex, I prefer to remember it."

"I'll bet." He said, a delirious smile spreading across his face.

"So, what are you doing here anyways? Where is Tristen?" Lara asked.

"Tristen threw me out." Alex scowled.

"What did you do?"

"Screamed another woman's name in bed." He said, sheepishly.

"Ooo, the cardinal sin of dating." Lara said, slightly amused. "Who's name did you call out?"

"Yours." Alex said.

"You're lying." Lara murmured.

"No, I'm not. I was fantasying about you, then I accidentally screamed your name."

"Why were you fantasying about me?" Lara asked, wondering if he was going to deeply regret this conversation in the morning.

"Why wouldn't I be? You are the leading cause of blue balls in the entire world." Alex told her.

"Hmm, lovely. I don't know whether to feel complimented or slap your face." Lara said, truthfully.

"Well, Tristen already slapped me, so just feel complimented, eh?"

"What exactly is wrong with Tristen anyways? She attacked me in the bathroom of the Ivy and she had bandages all over her arms. What happened to her?"

"She cut herself."

"What?" Lara gave him a look of disbelief.

"I think she's a self mutilator, or a self distorter. . . or is it a self motivator. . . Well, you know what I'm talking about. . ." He muttered.

"Yes. Were you able to talk to her about her family?"

"No. Why do you care?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well, being the fact I doubt you'll remember this in the morning, Tristen is my half sister?"

"What?! No shit?" He asked.

"It's true." Lara said, amused at his vocabulary.

"Wow, I was screwing Lara Croft's little sister. And the whole time I just thought she was a bitchy odd ball." He took a sip from his drink, then turned back to Lara. "Come to think of it, why does she hate your guts?" He asked.

"I have no idea." Lara shrugged. "Even when her mother was trying to get Tristen to play with me when we were children, Tristen hated me."

"She's probably jealous." Alex commented.

"I don't know what she is, but sane is defiantly not it."

"No kidding."

Over the next hour Lara and Alex talked like old friends. Due to his alcohol consumption, he was very open about his relationship with Tristen and his thoughts on Lara. After a while Lara actually found him to be quiet interesting and even a little cute. His delirious smile and ridiculous expression was almost charming.

***