Air. Air. I desperately needed air. Surface, had to surface. Don't panic, stay focused. Swim, swim Lara. Keep moving. Don't panic. Don't panic.
Reaching the next Panic Button, I hit it, but nothing happened. Hitting it again and again, it became clear that, like the last one, it wasn't working.
I had had underwater tunnels installed off the side of my swimming pool that had mechanical walls that could be closed off or opened up to create mazes, variants on the theme of basic tunnels. I was convinced that training in them, having Bryce set up random configurations, had saved my life on more than one occasion, as they helped me to learn to stay focused and not panic when I was running out of air and lost. Set along the tunnels at intervals were Panic Buttons, which, when hit, opened up every wall, and grates in the floors, draining the tunnels in less than two seconds and creating a more or less open arena so that I could be reached easily.
The Panic Buttons weren't working and I was trapped – though everything had become a blur in the last few seconds, I was certain that there was no way out. Not being able to take any more, my body panicked, and my mouth opened, drawing in a lungful of water. I choked and coughed under water, desperately trying to find air, but breathing in only liquid. I was drowning.
A click and the gush of waterfalls sounded, and as I took in another breath, I brought yet more water into my already flooded and failing lungs, and then as the last of my lung capacity was reached, a gasp of air. The water around me quickly disappeared, and I was lowered to the floor on the falling surface, water expelling from lungs and being replaced with desperately needed air as I choked and grasped at oxygen.
Footsteps clattered towards me, and a pair of arms engulfed me, flipping me over onto my side. I found myself pulled into Hillary's lap, his arms holding me at an angle that allowed me expel the rest of the water from my abused lungs. Bryce's hands were roughly brushing over my face, pulling strands of hair out of my eyes and holding my head up so that no water could get lost in my throat.
"Lara! Lara!" he was saying, urgently looking into my eyes, trying to see if I was still with him.
Hillary was slapping me on my back, helping me to replace liquid with gas. "Relax, Lara, relax. Breathe, just breathe," he told me, but I wasn't listening, I had no control over what my body was doing, acting naturally to overcome the trauma.
I coughed, and wretched, exhaustion suddenly taking over, and Hillary pulled me into a hug, one arm around my waist and the other on my shoulder, pulling me close. I saw him glare up at Kurtis to his right, who was standing rigidly a few feet away, before Bryce caught my eyes.
"Are you alright?" he said, hands holding my head, and I managed to nod, still breathing heavily, shocked and feeling sick. He laid his forehead against mine and closed his eyes, sighing in relief, and I mirrored his actions, one hand on the crook of Bryce's arm and the other clasping tightly in Hillary's.
I heard Kurtis' footsteps as he moved away.

"Hey." Bryce's voice was quiet and un-intruding as I awoke. I opened my eyes fully, blinking, and looked over at him.
I was lying in my bed, I vaguely remembered Hillary bringing me to my room and helping me get dried and into my pyjamas, before putting me to bed, where I quickly fell asleep. Bryce was lying next to me, on top of the covers, his head propped up on one hand and the other tracing my cheekbone.
"How are you feeling?"
I closed my eyes and swallowed, nodding slightly. "Ok."
"You scared me," Bryce said, in the same quiet manner, his voice barely audible even in the silent afternoon.
I laughed and stared at the ceiling. "I scared you?"
My techie smiled and prodded me lightly with his foot.
"Yeah."
"What happened, Bryce?" I asked, reaching out to touch his T-shirt lightly with my fingertips.
His face clouded over and a look of anger flashed through his eyes. He quickly shifted closer to me and gathered me in his arms. I circled his body with my own arms, and he rocked me gently, kissing my temple before laying his head against mine.
"I'm sorry," he croaked, holding me tighter.
"What for?" I asked, genuinely confused, steeling a glance with concerned eyes.
"The virus. It was still there. It compromised the systems – trapped you and disabled the panic buttons." His voice was numb.
"Did it mean to?" I was worried, terrified that someone had planted it on purpose in an effort to kill me.
"No." Bryce shuddered a breath. "No, it was chance, what happened. I've shut down the whole system and purged the memory, there's no way it's still there. I should have done it –"
I knew exactly what he was going to say. Before. He was thinking that he should have done it before the virus had had a chance to kill me.
It wasn't his fault.
I pulled away and took his head in my hands, catching his eyes with mine and holding him in a fixed and solid gaze. "Listen to me. Bryce, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known it was still there. It was not – your – fault."
I held his gaze for a moment longer, but then he blinked and his eyes flickered, looking away shamefully.
"I nearly killed you."
"Bryce," my voice was hard, commanding, all fear and concern for myself gone in the light of seeing my technician blame himself, "how did I get out?" I hoped to god that my suspicions were right, otherwise this argument was going to do more damage than good.
"I saw you were in trouble, I managed to override the computers and drain the tunnel complex." He still wouldn't look at me, apparently unaware that he'd just undermined his own previous statement.
"Then you saved me."
He looked at me, his eyes searching mine for any hidden blame, but finding none. There was none to find. We pulled each other into an embrace again, all shock and trauma gone from my mind as I worried about how Bryce would handle his self-given blame.

Ha. I have the ending pretty much written, and know exactly what happens. You, however, you will have to wait, because I'm going to bed. Hee Hee. evil smirk