Lara had spent a tedious day trailing the man around London, but when she finally returned to the manor that evening she was armed with both his office and home address. She went straight through to the kitchen to thank Hillary for the part he played, assuming that he would be there preparing dinner. He was, and he was speaking to someone she couldn't see.

"You know, you don't need to stay here any more, now they think you've sold the artefact they won't be looking for you in your flat."

Lara laughed as she entered and saw Alex leaning back in a chair, feet propped up on the kitchen table and a can of beer in his hand. He gestured at Hillary when he saw her enter and rolled his eyes at her behind the butler's back. "And I thought I was an honoured guest. Just can't get the staff, eh Lara?"

Lara smiled and turned to Hillary. "Is he being a pain?" she asked, reaching out to take a piece of meat from a frying pan, but having her hand slapped gently away.

"Not in comparison to you. Dinner will be ten minutes, if you can contain your impatience that long."

She pouted, walked over to Alex and leant down to kiss him on the lips. He grabbed her by the t-shirt and held her in for a longer kiss.

"Oh please," said Bryce sarcastically, having been enticed into the kitchen by the smell of cooking wafting down to the tech room.

Alex released her and Lara sunk down into a chair next to him. "How long have you been back?" she asked him.

Bryce answered instead of Alex. "He's been here all day, trying to get me to let him train with Simon."

"And what did you say?" Lara asked in amusement.

"He said 'just because you're fucking Lara that doesn't mean you get to play with her toys, you cocky bastard'," Alex repeated. Bryce shot him an evil look.

Alex laughed, then switched to a more serious tone. "Duval just went back to his hotel, then left an hour later with his bags and took a flight to Paris. I didn't quite see the point of following him there. I take it you had more luck with the old guy?"

"Yes, we have his address. But let's eat before we talk business." She shoved Alex's feet off the table to make room for the plates.

*

Two hours later Lara and Alex were sat in her dark green Jaguar, chosen for being the least conspicuous and most comfortable of her extensive vehicle collection, outside a prestigious West London address. The sky was clear and the combination of a full moon and the bright street lights meant they could not count on remaining unseen. They were both dressed entirely in black, and Lara was currently looking through a compact pair of binoculars.

"He's just come out of the shower," she said, "he's getting dressed."

Alex pulled the binoculars out of Lara's hands.

"What did you do that for?" she asked in annoyance.

"I don't want you watching other men naked." He put the binoculars up to his own eyes. "He's putting on a tie...looks like our man's off out. Perfect."

Lara tried to snatch the binoculars back off him but Alex fought her for them, finally pulling them out of her reach. "You have to be nice to me Lara," he warned.

"Why? Why do I have to be nice to you?"

"Because I have something of yours," he teased, grinning.

Lara looked across at him and raised a brow, looking as if she had very little patience for his games. "And what might that be?"

Alex laughed. "Two million pounds."

"Well you know I'd never let you live to enjoy it," Lara chided mildly as she leant in to kiss him.

They sat in silence for a few moments, watching the figure in the house enter a downstairs room and pour himself a glass of something from the bottle on a cabinet. He didn't seem to be going anywhere soon. Lara noticed that Alex had been looking towards her rather than the house for a while now. He leant across and placed a hand on her stomach, which was currently washboard-flat.

"When will you start to get fat?" he asked, only half smiling.

Lara's expression softened. "I don't know, in a couple of months?" she offered. "I've never done this before."

Alex began running his hands through her hair, but Lara kept one eye on the house. "Lara, are you happy about this? I mean about us having a baby?" he asked with a concerned expression. "You've hardly mentioned it all week."

Lara looked across at the figure now visible again at the window and fiddled with the lid on a thermos of coffee. "I am happy that I'm having a baby," she said eventually, "it's just a bit early to be talking about 'us'. And it all seems mixed up together."

Alex nodded seriously. "It's ok, I understand. I didn't mean to put pressure on you Lara - you just don't give much away about your feelings," he gave a lop sided smile and took her hands in his.

"I never said it would be easy, having a relationship with me," Lara said softly.

"So we're having a relationship?" asked Alex, smiling properly this time.

Lara turned her body in the seat to look at him properly. "Don't push me Alex," she said, attempting to sound serious but she couldn't hold back a laugh.

He looked at her for a second, the caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. "He's coming out," he said, gesturing at the house and simultaneously pulling Lara in for a kiss.

"I think he's gone," she mumbled eventually, but Alex continued kissing her deeply. He shifted in his seat to get closer to her and reached a hand around her back. Lara lost herself in the kiss for a while longer, but then pulled away. She pulled on a slim walkie-talkie headset and a pair of leather gloves and Alex followed suit. Finally she lifted herself off the seat as far as possible in the confined space to strap on her gun holsters and load them with twin uzis.

Alex and Lara left the car together and made their way cautiously across the street towards the large townhouse.