Two months later

"Lara? Are you alright, dear?" Hillary asked, gently knocking on the bathroom door.

Within a few minutes Lara emerged. Still looking ill and miserable.

"I need some water." Lara muttered as she pushed past Hillary and went into the kitchen.

"Lara, I want an explanation. That's the third time you've vomited today and it's not even noon yet." Hillary said.

"Maybe it was what you cooked for dinner last night." Lara snapped. She took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and took a long drink.

"I doubt that, Lara." Hillary shifted his weight. "I need to ask you something."

"What?" Lara demanded.

"When you and Alex were together, did you use protection?"

Lara shot him an annoyed glance. "I didn't see the point." She said through her gritted teeth. Years earlier Lara had gone to a doctor after she had gotten engaged to Robert to make sure that she was healthy enough to have a child. Having a baby was Robert's idea, but he had convinced Lara to go along with him. Lara had actually started to plan having a baby when the doctor heartlessly informed her that the odds of her being able to conceive and carry a child for nine full months were about the same as her growing a third arm. Lara had been crushed and hadn't had the strength to tell Robert.

"Lara, you're not running a fever, you've never gotten sick from alfredo before and you've been so tried lately, I don't know what else to think." Hillary said.

"Well, come up with something else." Lara snapped. She starred her reflection in one of the kitchen windows.

"I want you to see a doctor." Hillary said, calmly.

"And when you control my life, I just might." Lara said sourly. She walked out of the kitchen, ascended the stairs and walked back to her bedroom. Once there Lara curled up on the sheets that she and Alex had made love on and pulled the blankets to her shoulders. She still felt sick and was too miserable to move. Where ever Alex West was, Lara hoped that he was as unhappy as she was.

***

"Hillary?" Bryce asked, poking his head into the kitchen, where Hillary sat with his head in his hands. "Is Lara alright?"

"I think she's pregnant, Bryce. But other then that she seems fine." Hillary muttered.

"What?!" Bryce demanded. He sat down at the kitchen table across from Hillary. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't suppose you heard about her and Mr. West then." Hillary sighed.

"No. What about Mr. West?"

"He and Lara had a little Christmas fling and as soon as the holiday was over Alex left her and went to Mexico."

"That bastard!"

"Calm down, Bryce. There's no point in getting upset about him. I'm a bit more worried about Lara being pregnant right now. A doctor told her that she would never be able to conceive, let alone carry a child to term so she refuses to go to another doctor."

"Why can't she have kids?"

"Her father told me that a gynecologist she had visited was quiet clear about the fact that she had the fertility rate of a forty-year-old woman. He wasn't even completely sure why, but he didn't bother to find out either. Lara didn't find out about this until she was twenty-one though."

"But if she can't have children, they why do you think she's pregnant?"

"It's not impossible for her to conceive, it's just extremely unlikely. Besides, there are plenty of forty-year-old mothers out there. However, the doctor that Lara went to gave her the impression that she would never become pregnant naturally so she never brought up the subject again. It's also why she gets so annoyed when her friends used to talk about their pregnancies around her."

"So. . . . How are you going to get her to go to a doctor?"

"I'm not sure. I was hoping that she would get tired of the vomiting and at least go see a doctor to prescribe something for her. But she's been in a fowl mood for days and she doesn't want to come out of her room at all, let alone out of the house."

"I know, Donnica's been right lonely. She crawls into my lap to sleep all the time and she keeps standing outside of Lara's door, waiting for her to open it."

"Poor cat. Donnica probably reminds her of Alex."

"Oh, I'd love to run into Alex West sometime. With a rather large shotgun, too. Cor, what a bastard."

"Don't tell that to her. Lara's upset enough as it is without you adding to it. She's still mad at you for your little birthday surprise. Honestly Bryce, setting her up on a blind date with a footballer? I don't even know how you got that Neanderthal to go out with her."

"Hey, he was practically begging me, besides, she had that coming for when she set me up with her friend's daughter."

"Don't you give me that, you nagged Lara for a week to set you up with her."

"Yeah, that's when I thought she was actually a normal person and not some stuck up bitch who thought she was a princess."

"Well, it doesn't seem like you've learned your lesson."

"You haven't either."

"What do you mean?"

"You're still going to through Lara's mail. That's a serious offense, you know."

"I'm doing that for her own protection. Besides, if Alex would stop mailing her then I wouldn't have to go through her mail, would I?"

"Have you read any of his letters?" Bryce asked.

"I read the first one. He obviously got someone to write it for him and copied it down in his illegible handwriting."

"How do you know that someone else wrote it?"

Hillary rolled his eyes. "Can you imagine someone like Alex saying; ' I pray for the days to go faster so I will be back in your arms'?"

"Good lord, no. That's almost funny. I'll be sure to laugh in Alex's face if I ever see him again."

"I pray that will never happen."

***

Alex moaned and turned the TV off. "Sam, this is all your fault." He said, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "Lara won't talk to me, Hillary hangs up on me, she won't answer my letters and I feel like a prick."

"You are a prick." Sam said, flipping the page in the magazine that he was looking through.

"Gee, thanks for your support." Alex grumbled sarcastically.

"Come on, Alex. You're not the settle-down-get-married type. That's what Lara seems to want and she should have had the good sense to know that you're not, so it's her own fault for getting involved with you."

"That doesn't help the present situation any." Alex stated.

"I wasn't even attempting to help, Alex."

"God, I miss her. I wonder what she's doing right now." Alex closed his eyes and imagined several scenarios in his head. "Maybe she's on her assault course." He murmured, picturing Lara leaping from box to box, carelessly soaring through the air, her long braid falling behind her, her body glistening with perspiration.

"Are you going to write a song next?" Sam asked.

"Do you think Lara would take me back if I did?"

Sam put down the magazine. "Alex, I have seen a lifetime of love struck morons but you have surpassed them all. If you miss her so much then why don't you go after her? Go see her in person."

"You're right!" Alex got up from his bed and walked over to his mess of a closet. "Come on, Sam. Pack your bags, you're going with me."

"What? Why?"

"You got me into this mess, you're going to help get me out of it. Besides, I might need you to hold off Bryce and Hillary while I make a break for Lara."

"Alex West, you are insane." Sam said, standing up. "Must be why we get along so well."

***

"Lady Croft?" The doctor asked, re-entering the room.

Lara sat at the end of a padded table, with her arms crosses over her chest. She was very angry and wanted nothing more then the doctor to tell her that she had a simple stomach virus so that she could go home. It took Hillary and Bryce to finally corner her into going to see a doctor. She had been cross and uncooperative the entire time while the doctor attempted to run simple tests on her. But now the tests were over and she was awaiting the results.

"What is it? A cold? A virus?" Lara demanded.

"Oh nothing like that. Congratulations Lady Croft, you're pregnant." He said with a huge friendly smile.

"Are you sure?" Lara asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes, quiet sure. You're about eight weeks along. Would you like to set up a date for you to return for a check up?" He asked.

"Fine." Lara muttered. She didn't wait for the doctor to lead her back to the waiting room. She walked out herself and went to the checkout desk. Hillary, who had been in the waiting room with Bryce got up when he saw her and walked over to her.

"Lara? What are the results?" He asked.

"I'm pregnant." Lara muttered as she signed her name to the credit card bill for the visit.

"Oh, Lady Croft." The doctor asked, catching her attention. "When would be a good time for you to come for another check up? We have a space open a few days from now."

"That's fine." Lara snapped.

"Oh, and one more thing." The doctor said, reaching inside of a desk drawer. "Since you were such a good girl today." He extend a lollipop to her.

Suddenly, Lara grabbed the pudgy doctor by his jacket collar and pulled him over the desk behind the check out window. Lara didn't bother saying anything, her glare of sheer malice spoke all the words needed. She took the lollipop from the his chubby fingers and walked off, leaving Hillary to make the appointment.

Lara walked out to Hillary car and slid into the passenger's seat. She unwrapped the lollipop and sucked on it. She was pregnant. Now what was she going to do?