Okey, here's a rather long chapter. I also too a bit of poetic license relating to Lord Croft's death. I was a bit confused since the movie showed him being shot by Powel, but his gravestone said "Missing in the field" or something of that nature.
"Lara! Lara, wake up!" Hillary took Lara by her shoulders and gently shook her. "Lara?" The sleepy tomb raider rubbed her eyes, then slowly opened them.
"What's wrong?" She asked, sitting up in bed and stretching.
"Look at this!" Hillary shoved a tabloid newspaper at her. Lara brushed a hand through her long, tangled hair and looked over the front page of the newspaper.
ALEX WEST CLOSES THE SCHOOL OF TOMB RAIDING!
The headline screamed. Lara shrugged, then handed the newspaper back to Hillary.
"Yes, I know." She responded.
Hillary sat down on the edge of her bed and set the newspaper on her nightstand.
"I don't suppose that you have anything to do with the school closing, do you?" He asked.
"Well, Alex did tell me two days ago that if I didn't donate anything to his school that he would be forced to close it. Oh, and I interfered in his student's missions and scared off his sponsors. So yes, I guess I do have something to do with the school closing."
"Why?"
"Why do you think?" Lara snapped, narrowing her eyes. "He used me again. What he did was completely inexcusable and just having his school closed is being very lenient on my part."
"Lara, I think you missed the big picture." Hillary said.
"Oh really, and what is the 'big picture'?" Lara asked, bring her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself. She was becoming sick of people telling her that she was wrong.
"Closing the school didn't just affect Alex. By letting the school close you've put nearly one hundred people out of a job, the students have no choice but to go back to living on the streets and breaking the law again. Lara, I can understand that you wanted to get even with Alex, but this is not the way to do it."
Lara glanced out of her bedroom window and thought for several seconds. Hillary did have a point. Not to mention that Angie and her husband were also out of a job. Lara pushed her bangs back from her forehead.
"Alright. You have a point." Lara acknowledged.
"So are you going to help Alex?"
"After being such a bitch to him two days ago I don't think turning around and offering him enough money to get the school up and running again would make a lot of sense."
"Well, it's your choice, of course. But there's no sense in hurting people that have nothing to do with the situation." Hillary stood. "Until you decide, what would you like for breakfast?"
***
Lara twisted the phone cord around her fingers as she listened to the phone ringing on the other end of the line. Lara paced the length of her bedroom as the ringing continued. She was just about to hang up when a tired voice finally picked up.
"What do you want?" The voice yawned.
"Alex? It's Lara." She said, sitting down at her desk.
"Oh. Hi. What do you want?" Alex asked, slowly.
"Uh, how are you?" Lara blurted out. She had decided to give Alex enough money and help him secure enough sponsors to reopen the school and keep it running, but suddenly, she had lost her nerve.
"I have a hangover." Alex said, flatly. "And I have to get back into the states for my brother's funeral today."
"Oh, my condolences for your bother."
"Yeah. Listen Lara, you didn't call me to talk about my brother. What do you want?"
"Look, I'm sorry that I forced you to close the school down." Lara breathed deeply. There. That wasn't so hard. She thought.
"Okay. . ." Alex said, after several seconds of uneasy silence had transpired between the two. "Anything else?"
"I'll help you reopen the school." Lara added, softly.
"You'll what?" Alex asked.
"I'll help you reopen the school." Lara repeated. "And I'll make sure you can keep it open."
"Why the sudden change of heart."
"Well, I realized that there are much more effective ways of getting back at you other than closing the school."
"You already broke my nose, Lara, let's call it even, eh?"
"I don't think a broken nose is sufficient punishment for what you did."
"What do you want? My head?"
"Which one?"
There were several seconds of silence. "Lara! You try and I'm going to get a restraining order against you!"
"Awww, poor little Alex can't even protect himself from a girl." Lara mocked.
"You are no mere girl, Lara Croft."
"Of course."
"Anyways, give me a while to sober up and I'll get to work on the school. Actually, do you want to come over and give me a hand? There's lots of paper work to do."
"What about that funeral?"
"I don't have to be there for another couple hours."
"How about you write a press release and I'll see what I need to do to get everything running smoothly again, while you go to the funeral?"
"Okay, that sounds better. You know, it's almost like we're partners again."
"We can be business partners, Alex. Nothing more."
"Hm, better than nothing, I guess. Well, I better get going then."
"Yes, me too."
"I'll talk to you later."
"Bye."
Lara hung up the phone and looked around her bedroom.
"I guess I better get dressed then." Lara said aloud.
***
One month later. . .
"Lara, you look gorgeous." Alex said, kissing her hand and leading the tomb raider into the ballroom in the main building of the school.
"Why thank you, Alex. You're looking rather handsome yourself." Lara said, smiling warmly at him. It was the celebration of the first artifact found by a student of the School of Tomb Raiding.
With Lara's help Alex had managed to get more and much better sponsors for the school and had even improved the school. The students were glad to be back in the school, Angie and Richard were overjoyed to have their old job again and even asked Lara to be their son's Godmother. Lara had even started teaching a class in Egyptian history and much to her surprise, loved every second of it. Alex and Lara had become a lot closer, mostly due to their work together for the school. But Lara was still keeping him at arm's length, as she liked to put it.
"Is Joey nervous about his speech?" Lara asked as Alex escorted her into the ballroom.
"Sure is." Alex sighed. Joey was the student who had recovered the school's first artifact, the helmet of Alexander the Great. Alex had asked him to make a speech for the party, but the young man would rather run from moss covered boulders and dodge poison darts than speak in front of a large group of people.
"Hm, I'll talk to him later." Lara said. "Try and calm him down."
"Thanks." Alex murmured. "My pep talks suck."
"So," Lara looked around the ballroom, which was filled with important people, all talking and laughing and admiring the artifact. "How are you feeling?"
"Pretty good." Alex said. "Much better after I saw how lovely you look tonight." He admitted, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Lara gently took his hands from her waist and smirked at him. "Don't get too friendly, Mr. West."
"Right. Er, sorry." Alex murmured. "Oh, Lara, there's something I need to tell you about."
"What?" Lara asked, concern in her eyes.
"Well, there's someone that I want you to meet." He said.
The first thing that flashed across Lara's mind was a new girlfriend, or maybe one of his family members had come for a visit. But before Alex could tell her who the person was, Joey came over and tapped Alex on the shoulder.
"Hi, uh, can we talk?" Joey asked, nervously. He was obviously sweating and kept tugging at his bow tie, as if it was going to strangle him.
"Er, okay. I'll be back in a second, Lara." Alex said, before guiding Joey over to a corner of the ballroom. Lara sighed.
"Punch?" Lara jumped. She turned to see Bryce, offering her a friendly drink.
"Thank you." Lara said, accepting the beverage and taking a sip. "So how are you enjoying the school?"
"Champion!" Bryce said, enthusiastically. "Their tech people are wonderful, not to mention their equipment is state of the art."
"Nice to see you enjoying yourself. By the by, where's Hillary?" She asked, looking around for her butler.
"He's in the kitchen, I believe. He said something about the caterers not knowing how to make proper something or other. I wasn't paying much attention." He admitted.
Lara chuckled. "Once a butler, always a butler."
"Oh, there's Karen." Bryce said, waving to a teenager who had just entered the building. "She's the local fiber optics expert. I've been meaning to talk to her about a few things. I'll see you later, Lara."
"Bye Bryce."
Lara watched Bryce walk away and took another sip of her drink. She glanced at Alex and Joey, we were still talking in the corner of the ballroom. Lara set her drink down on a nearby table and gracefully sat down on one of the chairs that were positioned around the table. She smoothed out the fabric of her red formal dress and was about to take another sip from her glass of punch when she heard a soft sound. She listened closely and realized that it was sobbing. Quizzically, Lara lifted the floor length, silk tablecloth and discovered a small child sitting cross-legged at the opposite end, crying into her hands.
Out of a mixture of curiosity and pity, Lara got down on her hands and knees, ignoring the fact that she was wearing a three hundred pound dress, and crawled under the table. The little girl looked up, her eyes were bright blue and strangely looked like Alex's, her light brown hair was tangled, she was wearing a rather adorable flowered dress..
"W-who are you?" She asked, sniffling then setting her lips in her a firm line.
"My name is Lara." The tomb raider said, gently. "What's your name?"
"Kyra." The little girl sniffed.
"That's a lovely name. It's very nice to meet you, Kyra." Lara said, extending her hand to the child. Kyra slowly reached out her hand, then shook hands with Lara. Her hand was still damp with her tears. Lara opened her purse and took out a small white handkerchief. She gently wiped the tears from Kyra's face.
"Where are your parents?" Lara asked, figuring that she was the daughter of one of the guests.
"M-my parents are in heaven." Kyra told Lara, her eyes filling with tears again.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Lara murmured, softly. "My parents are in heaven too."
"They are?" Kyra asked.
"Uh huh, I have a picture of them." Lara said, returning the handkerchief to her purse and pulling out a small silver locket that she always had with her. Lara opened the locket and showed the two small, black and white photograph clippings to Kyra.
"Did they die in a car crash too?" Kyra asked, looking over the pictures.
"No, my mother died of cancer when I was still a baby. My father died when I was a teenager." Talking of her parents gave Lara a slight twinge of sorrowfulness.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Kyra said, rubbing her nose and sniffling again.
"Who are you here with?" Lara questioned, gently smoothing the child's hair.
"Uncle Alex." The girl answered.
"Alex West?" Lara asked in surprise.
Kyra nodded.
Since when has Alex had a niece? She wondered.
"How long have you been in England?" Lara asked her.
"Two days." Kyra said, her eyes filling with tears. "I had to come live with Uncle Alex because no one else wanted me." She began to cry again, sobbing into her recently dried hands.
Lara picked the little girl up and cradled her on her lap. She gently smoothed her hair as Kyra buried her face in Lara's neck and continued to sob.
"Shh, that's not true, Kyra." Lara soothed. "And don't worry, you'll love it here in England and Alex will take very good care of you." If he doesn't he'll have to answer to me. . . Lara continued mentally.
"But I wanna go h-home." Kyra sobbed. "And I miss my mommy and daddy."
"I know you do, it's very hard to lose someone you're so close to." Lara said, remembering when Hillary told her that her father's body had been found, already decaying in India. Lara hadn't even been told that her father was missing. Hillary had thought it best to remain optimistic when Richard Croft disappeared and told Lara that her father's trip was just taking longer than expected, hoping that Lord Croft would turn up like he always did and everything would be fine.
Lara held Kyra tightly as she remembered going to her father's funeral. She hadn't even gotten into the church before she started sobbing. Lara had been so overcome with grief that she locked herself in her room and refused to come out for a full week. She had been angry with Hillary for not telling her about her father's disappearance, angry at her grandmother, her only living relative now, who had not bothered to attend the funeral of her only child, angry with whomever had killed her father and angry at the fact that she would never be able to see him again.
A tear silently rolled down Lara's cheek. Kyra looked up and noticed that Lara was crying as well.
"Do you still miss your parents?" Kyra sniffled.
"Yes, a great deal." Lara said, wiping the tear from her cheek. "But your mum and dad wouldn't want to see you crying like this, now would they?"
Kyra shook her head.
"Mine wouldn't either." Lara added, picking up her purse and gently wiping the tears from Kyra's face again with her handkerchief. "Now, let's not spend the rest of this lovely party sitting under a table, okay?"
"Okay." Kyra sniffled.
Kyra slowly crawled out from under the table, then held up the table cloth so Lara could crawl out. Lara stood and dusted off her skirt. She glanced around the ballroom and saw Hillary coming towards her.
"There's Uncle Alex." Kyra said, pointing toward her uncle who was talking to the representative of one of their sponsors by the buffet.
"Lara!" Hillary said, happily extending a silver platter containing twelve puffs. "Look, I just got the first batch done. I can't believe how incompetent the caterers I hired were. They cooked the curry puffs for five minutes instead of fifteen. Here, try one of these, tell me how it tastes."
Lara took a curry puff from the platter and took a bite. "Hmm, very good." Lara said after she had swallowed her food.
"May I have one?" Kyra asked, giving Lara's skirt a slight tug.
"Certainly, young lady." Hillary said, happily. He leaned over and extended the plate to Kyra. "Be careful, though. They're spicy."
"Okay." Kyra said, gingerly taking the largest puff and popping it into her mouth. "Tasty." Kyra told Hillary.
"Thank you, young lady, but please don't talk with your mouth full." Hillary corrected.
"Lara, I was just about to see you, then Granger cornered me and started talking about the new computer we're testing for him." Alex said, coming from out of nowhere, as he usually did, and placing his hand on Lara's waist.
"Nice to see you managed to tear yourself away." Lara smirked. Granger could probably bore a person into any form of submission, Alex always joked that he would make an excellent secret weapon for England if there's ever a war.
"Yes, I was going to introduce you to-"
"Ooo! That's hot!" Kyra said, cutting off her uncle as she finally reached the spice in the puff.
Alex blinked at the child. "Kyra." He finished.
"Yes, we've met." Lara informed him. "Uh, Hillary, why don't you take Kyra for some punch?" She asked, glancing at her butler.
"Er, I wouldn't suggest that." Alex said. "It's been spiked." He whispered to Lara.
"Oh dear. Well, Hillary, I'm sure you could make something for Kyra in the kitchen." Lara said.
"Why certainly, ma'm. Come along, Kyra, I'll show you the kitchens and see if we can't whip up something to cut the taste of that curry puff." Hillary said, taking the girl's hand and leading her towards the kitchens.
"Isn't Hillary a girl's name?" Kyra asked, just before the two were out of ear shot.
Lara turned back to Alex and cocked her head at him. "Alex, why didn't you tell me about her?" She asked.
"Well, I tried, but with the party and everything going on, I didn't have time." Alex said, sheepishly. "Not to mention that the kid's barely stopped crying since I brought her here."
"What did you expect, Alex? She's just lost her parents and she's an ocean away from home. How did you end up with her, anyways?"
"My sister was supposed to be taking care of her. But then she found out that being a mother wasn't all warm fuzzy feelings and she promptly dumped Kyra at my parent's house. Then they had a fit and in the end, I was the last relative who could take her."
"Alex, you don't know a thing about parenting, how exactly did you think that you were going to take care of her?"
"Hey, would you prefer me dropping her off at an orphanage and seeing what kind of pervert picks her up?" Alex demanded, defensively.
"Alright, point taken, but still."
"Don't give me the third degree, Lara, I'm doing the best that I can, okay?"
"Alright, Alex. Fair enough."
"Where was she anyways? I was beginning to get worried."
"She was sitting under the table, crying her eyes out."
"You got her to stop crying?" Alex asked, in shook.
"Yes, it wasn't that difficult." Lara said, innocently. "Are you still going to teach, now that you're taking care of Kyra?"
"Yeah, just not as much." Alex shrugged. "Besides, it's almost time for the school to close for the summer."
"What are you going to do next year?"
"Well, Kyra will be starting school next year, so that shouldn't be a problem."
"Alex, are you sure that you taking in Kyra was a good idea?"
"Not entirely. But, let's just see how it works, okay?"
"Don't you think she needs a mother, Alex?"
"Are you volunteering?" Alex smirked.
"No. I simply want to know what you think."
"Well, yeah, she needs a mom, but I've still got to find one. And I'm not marrying someone just so Kyra has a mother, so don't try to hook me up with any of your friends."
"Oh darn, and Emma Bunton recently broke up with her boyfriend too. . ." Lara said, sarcastically.
"Very funny." Alex said, giving her a look.
"Lara, Lara, look!" Lara turned to see Hillary and Kyra, who was holding a large plastic mug with a long straw sticking out of the top, approaching Alex and Lara. "Hillary made me a smoothie!" She said, happily.
"Wonderful. What flavor?" Lara asked, helping the little girl into a chair.
"Strawberry." Kyra beamed. "My favorite." Lara slid into the chair across from her still smiling.
"Yes and you wouldn't believe what those caterers did to the Hawaiian Shrimp Rolls." Hillary told Alex.
"I'm sure I won't Hillary." Alex agreed.
***
Kyra yawned and rested her head on Lara's neck. "What time is it?" Kyra asked in a sleepy voice.
Lara glanced at her wrist watch. "Well, it is way past your bedtime." Lara acknowledged. Kyra had made her way back to Lara after the tomb raider had talked to all of the guests and had said a few words about the school before Joey made his speech. Lara and Kyra talked for the rest of the night, Kyra finally became sleepy and was resting her head on Lara's shoulder.
"Will you tuck me in?" Kyra asked, not lifting her head from Lara's shoulder.
Lara looked around at the room of assorted guests, the majority of which were students in the school.
"Well, I'll have to ask your uncle first." Lara told her.
"Okay." Kyra said, yawning again.
Speaking of the devil, Alex wandered over to the table and raised an eyebrow at Kyra.
"Is she asleep?" He asked Lara.
"Not yet." Lara told him. "But very close." She added. "She asked me to tuck her in, do you mind?"
"Nah, go ahead." Alex dug in his pocket and produced a house key. "I'll be over soon. See you in a few."
"Bye, Alex."
"Night, Kyra." Alex said, affectionately touching Kyra's hair.
"Night, Uncle Alex." Kyra murmured.
***
Lara helped Kyra into a night gown, made sure she brushed her teeth and tucked her into the cot she was sleeping on in her bedroom. The room was full of untouched boxes, which no doubt, contained her things. Lara wondered when Alex was going to get her a proper bed.
"Will you read me a story?" Kyra asked, hopefully.
Lara glanced at her watch. "Sure. But only a short one."
"Goodie," Kyra sat up. "My story books are in that box." Kyra said, indicating the box she was talking about.
Lara opened the beat up cardboard box and selected a thin story book. She glanced at the cover.
Disney's The Little Mermaid
"Okay, here's one of my favorite stories." Lara said, sitting down on the floor beside the low cot and opened the story book. Kyra settled down in the cot as Lara started to read, but before Lara was a quarter of the way through the story, Kyra was sound asleep. Lara closed the book and smiled at the girl. "We'll finish the story later." She promised, before gently kissing Kyra's forehead and standing. Lara replaced the children's book in the cardboard box and left Kyra's bedroom, leaving the door open a crack. Lara descended the stairs to find Alex just opening the front door.
"Hello there." He smiled. "That was a very successful party, all due to my lovely business partner." Alex took Lara's hand and gently kissed it.
"By now, I'm immune to your charms, Mr. West." Lara smirked.
"Aw, too bad. I felt like I was on a roll too. So, is Kyra sleeping?" He asked.
"Yes." Lara nodded. She glanced at her watch, it was nearly one in the morning. "I had better be going." She said, softly.
"Can I kiss you goodnight?" Alex asked, innocently.
"No, Alex." By Lara's look, he knew she didn't appreciate his joke. "We're only business partners. Nothing more."
"But Lara, you can't deny that there's some chemistry between us."
"No, I can't." Lara admitted. "But I refuse to act on it, Alex."
"Lara, I'm sorry about what happened in the past, but you can't expect me to do anything about it now." Alex sighed.
"No, I can't. But there have been too many second chances. Too many fights."
"I know and I'm sorry Lara. But please-" His arms touched hers, their bodies were only a breath apart.
"No." Lara said, sharply cutting Alex off. Alex stepped away from the tomb raider.
"Sorry, Lara. I think I've had too much to drink." Alex said, running a hand through his hair. "You better get home, it's late."
"Goodnight, Alex." Lara said, nodding at him.
"Night, Lara."
Lara left, gently closing the door behind herself.
"I love you." Alex murmured.