Lara took the driver's seat as they climbed in the car, Raziel next to her with Rose still hanging onto him. She started the car in silence and drove back toward her mansion. She glanced down at Rose who was still sniffling, but no longer crying. She ran a finger down Rose's cheek gently.

"We should have taken longer in killing him," Lara stated.

"I agree," Raziel responded, "but if we had given him too much time, he might have found a way to escape and then who knows what hell he would have caused. A quick death was probably the one thing he was not expecting."

Lara's mansion rose out of the mists before them and she pulled the car into the garage. She stepped out and moved to the back of the car the grab one of the duffel bags they had placed back in there. Raziel appeared next to her to help her.

"How did Rose get there with us, anyway?" he inquired. As he picked up one of the bags, a little ball came rolling out of the bag.

"Ball!" Looking much happier, Rose squiggled out of Raziel's arm and picked up her ball. Lara just shook her head and sighed while Raziel smiled down at her. They headed into the house and Lara hid a yawn behind the back of her hand. It was definitely time to go to bed. It had been a long day. She glanced at the clock and saw it read four o'clock in the morning. She turned to her daughter.

"It's time for you to go to bed, Rose."

"All right, Mummy." The little girl climbed the stairs and headed to her room. Lara turned back to Raziel only to be scooped up in an embrace and her lips captured by his. She pressed up against him, too tired and far past caring about what Nigel or the British aristocracy would think. This was what she wanted, and anything else be damned.

He pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss, but refused to release her. He kissed her cheek gently, shaking his head. He sighed.

"Lara, you have no idea how much I have missed this."

"Yes," she responded breathlessly. "Yes, I do know. I understand the feeling completely."

"Do you?"

In answer, she drew his head down and kissed him again. He tugged off the gloves he wore and she felt his claws slip up under her shirt to caress her skin. Passion raced across her body and she gripped the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head.

The door opened suddenly as Bryce came in, blinking sleepily, a mug in one hand. Apparently he had come in for coffee. There was a long moment of silence as Bryce stared at his employer who was pressed tightly against the man who had destroyed Simon. After a moment, he turned away, flinging the mug over his head mumbling something like, "Forget the coffee." Lara felt a giggle rising and viciously suppressed it. She took Raziel by the claw and led him up the stairs to her room where she shut the door so no one else could interrupt. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her toward the bed, kissing her continuously. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off before pressing up against him again, responding to the kisses. Raziel's claws slid up her body and around her back where they found the clip of her bra. After a moment, he snarled in annoyance. She pulled back as he growled, "I never could get that thing." She chuckled, reached back, and pulled the clip apart. She stepped forward into his arms again as he passionately fixed his lips to hers. Not caring about consequences, nor even about tomorrow, she willingly fell into his arms again.

Sunlight lit the back of her eyelids as Lara slowly slid her eyes open. She was on her side, curled tightly against Raziel's body, her head using his chest as a pillow. His right arm curled underneath her and the claws rested lightly on her shoulder. She glanced over at his left arm and saw, nestled in the crook of it, was Rose, asleep. She felt Raziel move and looked up to see he was smiling down at Rose. She snuggled her head down against his chest again and felt his arm tighten around her. She wished the moment would never end.

Eventually, it did end, in the form of Hillary knocking politely on her door.

"Lady Croft?"

Lara sat up with a quiet groan and Rose shifted in Raziel's arms, slowly awakening. She slid out of bed and almost didn't bother to grab a robe, then thought better of it with her child and lover in the room. She flipped on a white bathrobe and answered the door. Hillary stood there, and behind him, Nigel.

'Bugger.'

"Lady Croft, Lord Nigel is here to see you."

"Good morning, Lara," Nigel began in a cheerful tone. "I didn't expect you of ever being the one to sleep in. It's after eleven."

In a normal situation, Lara would not have worried about where everyone was. However, she could hear Raziel moving in the back of the room and walking toward the door to see what was keeping Lara's interest. Lara mentally swore. She knew Raziel was going to be leaving soon, and she still wanted to get out of the house, so having Nigel marry her was still a viable option. She didn't think it would be so for much longer should he see Raziel in her room not wearing anything.

"If you'll excuse me, Nigel, but I'll get freshened up and be out in a minute." She gently, but firmly, shut the door and turned to Raziel. He blinked curiously at the door.

"Nigel," Lara said by way of explanation. Raziel's eyes narrowed in anger and he growled low in his throat. She touched his shoulder.

"Nigel has a bit of a temper problem, so play nicely," she warned.

"Why should I?" he demanded.

Lara, realizing that there were very few answers she could give that would keep him from beating on Nigel, decided it was necessary to use a low blow, though she didn't like the prospect.

"Because he's going to be here after you're gone."

The response wasn't quite what she expected. She found herself caught by the waist and pulled into Raziel's embrace, his eyes looking down into hers intently.

"And do you want me to stay, Lara?" he inquired softly. Lara hesitated, then opened her mouth to respond.

"Mummy?" a voice asked sleepily from the bed, cutting off what Lara would have said. Rose sat up and rubbed her eyes. Lara slipped out of Raziel's embrace and picked her up.

"Why'd you crawl into bed with me, little one?" she asked gently.

"Bad dream," Rose said by way of explanation and locked her arms around Lara's neck. "The evil old man came after me."

Lara shushed her, holding her tightly. "Don't worry. He isn't ever going to come back and get you, all right?"

Rose nodded, then attached herself onto Raziel instead. Lara shook her head slightly. Rose wasn't this grabby even around Nigel. She turned away and quickly got dressed, regressing back to the typical Tomb Raider outfit. As soon as she was done, Raziel plopped Rose in her arms and got dressed himself. He nodded once toward the door.

"Since you don't seem to want to let him know about our relationship, if you'll open the door, I'll shift to the Spectral Realm and meet you out there."

She opened the door and watched as Raziel moved his arms and slipped out of the normal realm. She was glad that problem was solved, but she couldn't get rid of the hard feeling in her gut. She wondered what Raziel was privately thinking of doing to Nigel, then decided for her own sanity reasons, she probably didn't want to know.

Nigel met her in the hallway and embraced her in greeting. She nodded and smiled, but she knew the smile was paper-thin. To go from Raziel to Nigel . . . That was a jump she wasn't sure she could make.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Raziel appear in the doorway and come in, Rose still attached to him. She hadn't realized he had been holding Rose when he shifted, and Rose now had a big-eyed, awed look. She blinked around her as if everything was new and exciting. Then her eyes found Nigel and she smiled happily.

"Nigel!" She squiggled out of Raziel's arm and ran over to give him a hug. Then she quickly ran back to Raziel and climbed into his arms again.

"Lara?" a voice called from another room. Lara recognized the voice of Bryce as he continued, "may I have your help here for a minute? I want your opinion."

Lara sighed. "Coming." She looked at Rose. "Do you want to go annoy pet nerd?"

"YAY!" ^-^ Rose raced over to her and Lara picked her up. Both walked out of the room and silence fell for a long moment in which Nigel stared off where she had left and Raziel studied him as a cat would a mouse. At last, Nigel sighed.

"I don't care what your relationship is with Lara."

This caught Raziel off-guard. He hadn't been expecting the man he was thinking about obliterating to actually start talking to him in such an off-hand manner about Lara.

"I really don't," he continued. "I'm not going to marry her because I love her. I feel affectionate toward her, but God knows there's no love between us. I'm not marrying her for her money, either. The only thing I'm marrying her for is Rose." He looked up at Raziel, meeting his gaze.

"So go ahead and share her bed. Just don't take Rose away from me."

Raziel's voice rumbled with mock amusement and barely-withheld anger. "So you're marrying her because of her child? Doesn't that seem a mite shallow to you?"

Nigel's eyes narrowed in anger. "It may in any other situation, but Lara is one of a kind. I am willing to stay home and watch that child when she's off risking her life in whatever strikes her fancy at the time."

"And why not let her marry someone whom can keep up with her and go with her on her journeys."

"Like you?" Nigel almost laughed until he saw Raziel's serious expression. At that point, he did laugh. "You're far too much of a pretty-boy to even possibly come close to her. And besides, let's face it; you reek with the scent of a man who'll steal another man's wife at any moment it suits you."

Raziel's eyes narrowed and he suppressed the urge for his eyes to turn white. This little, pathetic dribbling man he could barely stand, but insulting him was definitely out of the question. A small growl trickled through his throat.

"Ah, and now the serpent rears his head," Nigel stated, grimacing in distaste. "I suppose Lara only would like a man like an animal in her bed. Very infectious habits, it seems. Perhaps I'll see if I can teach her otherwise."

"It's nice to know you think that way," a female voice interjected from near the doorway. Both men glanced over to see Lara with one arm around Rose, the other down, a pistol naked in it. "I assume that comfortably negates you from ever joining my bed. Perhaps I should just rid you of my . . . infectious habits."

Nigel knew from the subtle body motions that Lara was angry, and that pistol was a serious threat when she was this aggravated.

"Lara," he began. The click of the hammer being pulled back made him gulp. "Lara, think of Rose. This marriage was about Rose from the beginning. Why don't you let her choose?"

Lara narrowed her eyes, but nodded. She kneeled and set Rose down on the ground, looking at her.

"Rose, tell me something."

"Yes, Mummy?"

"If you had to pick which one of these men you'd want to live with you, which would you choose?"

Rose's eyes trailed away as she thought, looking at the two men. With a normal child, Lara wouldn't have thought for a moment of doing this, but for all of Rose's four years of life, she sometimes showed a frighteningly capable and comprehensive (and vicious) mind. After a moment, Rose grinned and raced over to Raziel and hugged him. Nigel stuttered a moment in confusion while Raziel picked her up.

"Why, Rose?" Nigel finally asked.

"Cause he's my Daddy," Rose answered, hugging Raziel. Nigel blinked a few times, then looked at Lara for confirmation. She merely nodded, accepting the fact. Nigel splutter in incomprehension for a long space of moments, then his mind went into shutdown. When a mind becomes too filled, it falls back on instinctual impulses, and in most men's minds, it's to lash out. Nigel in a swift movement punched Raziel. A long moment of silence fell in the room before Lara quickly took Rose out of Raziel's arms and moved back. Raziel cracked his knuckles and chuckled darkly.

"My turn."

Raziel's retributive strike sent Nigel back, smashing into the gun cabinet behind him, and fell to the ground, glass shattering around him. He groaned, then stood up and pulled a pistol around from where he had picked it up. His shot surprised Lara, and it took Raziel in the head. Raziel's body dissolved into mist particles and Nigel looked around, angry and now scared. He looked at Lara a moment as if to silently say, "What have I done?" Then he took a step toward her, apparently to try to take Rose.

From behind him, he heard a voice say, "That hurt, you know." He turned fearfully to see a blue-skinned, white-eyed Raziel. Raziel pointed at him, and the Reaver suddenly swirled into life and extended down his arm toward Nigel menacingly.

"Play nicely," Lara reminded him. Raziel paused, head cocked slightly to the side, then Reaver bolted Nigel, sending falling back. He shot another bolt at him, causing Nigel to go through the window and land on the grass outside. Sufficiently scared out of his mind, Nigel got up and started running toward his car. Raziel fired one more bolt, this one at his heels to keep him going. They watched as he got into his car and started driving away.

"Pity," Raziel sighed, wishing he could have done more. Suddenly, something hard smacked him in the head and rebounded into Lara's hands.

"Ow!" Raziel glared down at the object and started at what it was. It was a grenade. He looked down at Rose who smiled widely back up at him.

"Ball!"

Lara grinned, pulled out the pin, and handed it to Raziel. Throwing his supernatural strength into it, he tossed it and watched it land on the ground in front of Nigel's car. The car passed over it, and then it exploded, causing the car to go spinning. After a time, he got it under control and sent it streaking away. Raziel picked up Rose and hugged her.