Chapter 11

The phone rang. Lara looked up from her cup of morning tea and glanced at the phone on her night stand. She let it ring one more time before wearily picking it up. She had hardly slept the pervious night. Thoughts about Alex and Kyra had kept her up worrying and when she did finally manage to drift off, she had nightmares. That morning Lara had asked Hillary to bring her breakfast in bed. She felt too worn out to get up and face the day yet.

"Hello?" Lara murmured into the receiver.

"Lara? It's Alex."

"Are you alright? You sound worried."

"Can you come over?"

"What's wrong?"

"It's Kyra. She flipped out when she found out that you weren't here."

"Flipped out?" Lara's heart started pounding. "What do you mean?"

"I mean 'flipped out'. She started screaming and crying and now she's hiding under her bed and refuses to come out. She thinks that you're dead and everyone else in the world is going to die and she's going to be left all alone."

"We should have seen this coming. Alex, she's got to go into therapy."

"I know, I know." Alex said, sounding frustrated. "Right now, I'd just like to get her to my dad's funeral and back. After all of that is settled, I'll get her a therapist. Now can you please come over so she can see you're not dead?"

Lara sighed, heavily. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Lara." Alex murmured. "You have no idea how thankful I am."

*

Lara gently stroked Kyra's hair, leaning back against Alex's plush black couch. Kyra sniffled a little, wiping her nose with a very used tissue. She buried her face in Lara's shoulder. It had taken over two hours to convince Kyra to come out from under her bed. When the task was finally accomplished, Kyra had curled up in her arms and snuggled with her while Alex tried to attend to some of the school business.

"Hey, are you hungry, sweetie?" Lara asked, softly.

"A little." Kyra said, rubbing her eyes.

"Why don't we get some breakfast and wait for your uncle to come back, hmm?"

"He's not coming back." Kyra said, sorrowfully. "No one does. They all just leave."

"That's not true, I came back."

"But you'll leave. Maybe not now, but you will. Then I'll be all alone again. Lara, why does everybody leave me? Am I really that bad?"

"No, no, it's not you, darling. Your parents and grandfather didn't leave because they didn't love you. I'm sure they loved you more than anything. I know my father did. But it was just their time to go. They couldn't control it."

"Were you real sad when your daddy died?"

"Yes, I was devastated." Lara murmured. "I thought that my life was over. But I was strong and I moved forward and now look where I am. I still love my father with all my heart and I miss him terribly sometimes."

"What do you do about it?"

"Well, sometimes I think about children who never knew their fathers and how lucky I was to have known mine. And sometimes I think of all the fun we had and I'm grateful for all those memories."

"I remember once when mommy and daddy took me to the beach." Kyra said, her blue eyes brightening. "It was lots of fun. We splashed around in the water and daddy played Marco Polo with me and I laid on the beach with mommy and then we all build a huge sand castle and I got to put the flag on the top."

"That sounds wonderful." Lara said, kissing Kyra's forehead.

"Do you think you could marry Uncle Alex so you could be my new mommy and Uncle Alex would be my new daddy?"

"No, I'm sorry, sweetie, but I don't think your uncle and I are the best match." Lara said, truthfully.

"I think you are." Kyra said. "But he needs to be a little nicer and you need to stop nagging him."

Lara chuckled. "I'll remember that."

The two turned when they heard the front door open and shut. Alex wandered into the living room where they were sitting and tossed his keys onto the end table.

"Hey, how are you feeling, Kyra?" He asked his niece, managing a weary smile.

"Okay." She said. "I'd feel better if we went out for breakfast though."

"You got it." Alex sat down next to Lara and gently cupped Kyra's cheek. "After we go out for breakfast we have to start packing though. Your granddaddy's funeral is going to be on Friday."

Kyra suddenly went rigid in Lara's arms. "Is Lara coming?" She asked.

"No, Lara's got to stay here and take care of the school." Alex said. "She'll be waiting for us when we get back, though." He quickly amended.

"I'm not going if Lara's not." Kyra informed her uncle as she buried her face in Lara's shoulder.

"Honey, Lara can't come with us. She's got to stay here." Alex soothed. "It's okay though, she'll be here when we get back from the states."

"But she's got to come with us." Kyra insisted. "Otherwise you'll get lost and you can't braid and I wanted to braid my hair for the funeral cause granddaddy always liked my hair in braids and you're going to go out with all my other uncles and then I'll be lonely and I need Lara to keep me company. And besides, I need someone that I can talk girl talk to." The little girl concluded.

"Well, no arguing with that." Alex shrugged. He glanced at Lara. "Do you want to come?"

"Please, you've got to, Lara, you've got to!" Kyra insisted.

"But who's going to watch the school?" Lara asked.

"Well, actually, Spring Break is supposed to be next week, but why don't we bump it up a little? That would give us plenty of time. Then we can get the supervisors to watch the place until we get back." Alex suggested.

"Well, alright, I'll go with you." Lara said.

"Yay!" Kyra exclaimed.

"Now why don't you get your shoes on and we'll go get something to eat." Alex said.

Kyra quickly scampered off to go find her shoes, while Alex reclined on the couch. "You didn't have to do that, you know." He said.

"I know. But you have enough on your plate without worrying about Kyra." Lara reminded him.

There was a brief pause between the two.

"Well? Aren't you going to say it?" Alex asked.

"What?"

" 'I told you so'?"

Lara scoffed. "That hardly seems appropriate in this context. I believe you've misjudged me, Mr. West."

Alex gently took her hand in his. "Yeah, I think I have."

*

"Lara, before you go to sleep I need to talk to you." Alex said, gently nudging Lara's arm.

The sleepy Tomb Raider looked up. "What?" She murmured, yawning. She glanced over at Kyra. The little girl was curled up by her window seat, cuddling Marina, a blue teddy bear that Lara had purchased for her, figuring it might offer some comfort to her.

"I kinda wanted to give you the run down on my family before you met them. Just so you know what to expect." Alex said.

"Okay." Lara said, shifting her position. She had desperately wanted to sleep on the plane trip to the states, but she reluctantly turned her attention to Alex. "Go ahead."

"Well, first I have four brothers. There's Matt, the eldest, Howard, Ken and Dillion. I'm the youngest. Dillion is Kyra's father, who, as you know, is dead. Howard and Ken are both married with families and they'll be staying at motels. Matt is still single and he's going to be staying at the house where we're staying."

"Wait, we're staying at your parent's house?" Lara asked. "Are you sure that's not imposing?"

"Yeah, I talked to them before I booked the tickets. Mom wanted us to stay at the house, probably so she can see Kyra and make sure that I haven't screwed her up."

"What about me? I'm not a member of your family."

"She said you're welcome to stay. Don't worry, Lara, mom's going to adore you."

"Well, alright." Lara said, still unsure.

"Anyway, this is Howard's third marriage, so don't say anything to him about it. Matt is kinda oversexed, so when he hits on you, just ignore him. Ken is an okay guy, just don't get into any competitions with him. He's a very sore loser. Also, mom is very old fashioned, she can get offended by the smallest things, so don't take it personally if you piss her off. I'm not sure who else is coming, but I'll tell you about them when they get there."

"Okay, I'll try to remember all that." Lara said, sleepily.

"Oh and be sure to hug mom when you meet her and smile a lot."

"Yes, Alex." She yawned.

Alex sighed. "I hope that's everything. God, Lara have I told you how thankful I am that you're doing this?"

"Yes, Alex."

"Do you know how grateful I am that I have you around?"

"Yes, Alex."

"I love you, Lara."

"Yes, Alex."