Author's Note: Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Anywho, here's the next chapter for TR VS. TR. I'm cooking up another chapter for Tis The Season right now, can you believe that story is over two years old? It sure has evolved. Anyway, until next time, check out my shiny new domain: this site has both my MiSTing site and my homepage (which I need to update ^^;;;). Also, check out the Meek-Haiygn Press News Letter for more fun.

Lara collapsed onto the bed of the West's spacious guest room. She pulled a pillow over her head and sighed happily. Sleep. There wasn't anything sweeter in the world. She thought that she had gotten on rather well with Alex's family. His brothers all seemed rather nice and his mother had declared herself Lara's new best friend. Lara was a little put off by this, seeing as she was never used to people accepting her as she was. But Lara figured that it might have had something to do with her suspicion that his mother was under the impression that she was Alex's girlfriend. With all that was going on, Lara didn't have the heart to enlighten her.

The wake for Alex's father was the next day at noon and the funeral was to be the following day. Lara wasn't quite sure if she was up to all this. She hated funerals and everything that went with them and she couldn't imagine how she was supposed to deal with Kyra, who was still grieving for her grandfather. Lara rolled over, deep in thought. Alex seemed to be handling himself rather well, he seemed genuinely happy to see his family and acted like his normal charming self. Lara was simply worried that his façade would all come tumbling down at the wake.

There was a soft knock at the door, Lara propped herself up on her elbows and glanced at the door.

"Come in." She said, sitting up.

Alex entered the room and softly shut the door after himself. Lara sat up, drawing her knees against her chest. She hadn't bothered to undress, so she was still clad in a pair of jeans and a tight black shirt.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Lara asked as Alex sat down on the stool by the vanity.

"Pretty good." Alex said, giving her a weary smile. "How are you?"

"Good, but incredibly tired." Lara said, pulling the ponytail holder from the end of her braid and began to unravel her hair from the tight hairstyle.

"You did really well with mom, she adores you. Although, I somehow get the feeling that she thinks you're my girlfriend." Alex said, sheepishly.

"And I take it that you did nothing to disillusion her." Lara said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Alex shrugged. "Let's not talk about this now, okay?"

"Alright, so what do you want to talk about?"

"Kyra."

Lara sighed, deeply. "I was just thinking about her, actually."

"Poor kid." Alex murmured. "She's in such a horrible situation."

"I know. She seemed okay tonight. She enjoyed dinner." Lara shrugged. "I wish there was something else I could do, but there's no replacement for her grandfather."

Alex suddenly smiled at her.

"What?" Lara asked, running hand through her newly un-braided hair.

"Sorry, just a random thought." He said.

"What random thought was that?"

"Nothing. Just thinking how nice it was to have someone to talk to."

"Yes, it is." Lara murmured, taken off guard by his sentiment.

Alex glanced at his watch. "Well, I better get to bed. We're going to have another long day tomorrow."

"Okay, good-night, Alex. Sleep well." Lara nodded.

Suddenly, Alex leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Good-night." He murmured.

*

"Lara, Lara, wake up. Come on, Lara."

The tomb raider rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head. She hadn't had a very restful nights sleep and was still fatigued and frustrated.

"Lara, this is important, come on." The voice insisted.

Lara opened her eyes and looked around, Alex was leaning over her bed with an intent look on his face.

"What's going on?" She asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"There's been some trouble back in England." He said, tightly.

"Trouble? What's wrong?"

"I'll explain later, right now we've got to get out of here."

"What? But the wake, the funeral, what are we supposed to do about that?" Lara asked, running a hand through her hair.

"I'll explain later." Alex repeated. "Now get up, I've booked us a flight back to England." He said, pulling the covers away from the sleepy tomb raider.

"Wait just a minute, I am not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what is going on." Lara said, yanking the covers away from him. "What trouble are you talking about and why can't we resolve it from here?"

"Don't argue with me Lara, I'm not in the mood." Alex said, his eyes cold.

"Yes, well, I'm not really in the mood for putting up with anymore of your pig headed inconsideration. Now either tell me what is going on or I'm going back to bed."

"Look, there's a story in the tabloids that I've been embezzling money from the school. There is going to be a warrant out for my arrest soon and the house is surrounded by reporters. My mom is pissed off at me and ordered me to leave, so now we've got to get out of here and fast."

"This is too much to deal with before I've had my tea." Lara muttered, reaching for her wrist watch.

"Will you just get dressed?" Alex pleaded.

"Alright, I'll be out in a minute. I hope you have Kyra ready."

"Not yet, I'm not entirely sure what to tell her."

"Well, try something other than the line you pulled on me." Lara said, getting out of bed and stretching.

*

ALEX WEST SUSPECTED OF EMBEZZLEMENT! School's prize student admits to helping West launder over a million pounds!

Lara skimmed over the article, catching a grammatical error. She glanced at Alex and sighed deeply. They were on a plane back to England. They had managed to avoid the paparazzi surrounding the West family home and get safely to an airport where they got the first flight out. Kyra had been upset about not being able to attend the wake or the funeral of her grandfather and had cried for a solid half hour. Lara suspected that she wasn't worried about her uncle due to the fact that she didn't quite understand what was going on. The little girl was asleep now, exhausted from all her crying, still cuddling her teddy bear. Lara glanced at Alex.

"Well?" She asked him, shoving the newspaper at him.

"Well what?" He responded, glancing at the paper. 

"Did you do it?" She sighed, dreading the answer.

"I beg your pardon?" Alex coughed.

"Did you do it? Did you embezzle the money from the school?"

"I can't believe you're asking me that." He scoffed.

"Why shouldn't I? You were handling all the money for the school, you would have had ample time to do it and, if I might remind you, you've had a love affair with money longer than I've known you. Besides, if there is money missing, it's my money too, so answer me straight. Did you do it?"

Alex was silent.

"I'll take that as a 'yes' then." Lara sighed, she hated it whenever she went against her better instincts about a person and was then proved so completely wrong.

"I didn't say 'yes'." Alex said, quietly.

"But you didn't say 'no' either."

"I'm not answering that question, Lara. I thought you trusted me. I thought you had even the slightest bit of faith in me. Do you really think that I would try to sell out my life's dream?"

"I had faith in you, Alex. Then you sold me out. And for one lousy artifact that means nothing to you."

"Forget it. You obviously don't trust me." With that, Alex turned away from her and rested his head against the small pillow that was given to him by the stewardess. Within a few minutes Lara could hear his light snoring.

She leaned back in her chair. Honestly, how did he expect her to trust him after all he had done to her. Why had she even trusted him in the first place? Guilt. She felt guilty about the way she had treated him and to make it up to him she invested her time and her money in his little project. Then he had taken her time and stolen her money, all while he sexually harassed her. His audacity was nothing short of astounding.

The ring tone on her cell phone broke her concentration. Lara pulled out her phone and answered it, grateful for the distraction.

"Hullo?" She asked, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes.

"Lara? Darling, it's so nice to hear your voice."

"Oh, hello Preston. It's good to hear from you too." Lara said. Especially since we slept together last week. She added, mentally.

"I suppose you've heard about the scandal."

"Yes, unfortunately." Lara grimaced.

"What was your reaction? I can imagine that it was quite a shock."

"I don't know, Preston, I feel so numb right now. It's like I knew this was coming all along and now that it's happened, I don't know what to feel."

"You knew this was going to happen? What do you mean?"

"I knew that Alex couldn't be so perfect. I mean, the last few weeks he had been so nice to be, really, a total gentleman, now this." She glanced over at the sleeping man. "But what did I expect? There were definite warning signs. Ones I shouldn't have ignored."

"Like what?"

"All the nonsense about him selling my artifacts, really. But enough about my problems, how are you doing?"

"Very well. Very well now that I've talked to you. I can't wait to see you again, Lara."

"Hmm, that sounds nice." Lara smiled.

"How about dinner, Thursday night?"

"Sounds perfect."

"I'll pick you up around seven then."

"I'll be waiting."

"Good, good." There was a pause. "Oh damn, I've got to run Lara, I've got a meeting."

"Alright, I'll see you Thursday then."

"I'll think of nothing else. Good-bye, Lara."

"Bye."

*

"Lara, shall I prepare something for supper?" Hillary asked, poking his head into the TV room where Lara and Kyra were curled up together watching cartoons on Lara's big screen television.

"Yes, that would be wonderful Hillary, thank you." Lara said, softly.

Kyra rubbed her swollen eyes, "can we have spaghetti?" She asked.

"Certainly." Hillary nodded, then left the room.

"Lara?" Kyra asked.

"Yes?" The tomb raider responded.

"What's going to happen to Uncle Alex?"

"Well, I'm not sure."

"Why did those police men take him away?"

"They think that he was involved in something that was illegal. It doesn't mean that he did something wrong, necessarily. It's just that the police have reason to believe that he might have."

"Do you think he did something bad?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Kyra. I'd like to think that you uncle did nothing wrong, but I really should know better than that." Lara stated, bluntly.

"Am I going to be staying with you until they let Uncle Alex go?" She asked, turning her blue eyes towards Lara. They looked so much like Alex's.

"Yes, of course." Which might be longer than you think. She added, negatively.

"Just wait, Uncle Alex will be fine. Then everyone will see that he didn't do anything wrong. Just wait."

Lara sighed. She wished that she could believe that.

*

"Damn it!" Lara shouted. She couldn't believe it. An hour before her date, her only ray of sunshine throughout the hellacious week that this had been, and she had just put a gigantic runner in her last pair of black tights. Lara frantically searched through her dresser drawer for another pair of tights. Her fears confirmed, she only came up with a tan pair and a white pair.

"Bugger." She muttered. After spending a solid hour picking out her outfit and her makeup, she was stuck without tights. Normally she wouldn't have worried about it and would have just gone without, but she had noticed a nasty black and blue mark on her left knee that morning and due to the shortness of her skirt, it was clearly visible. Lara glanced back at her wardrobe, she only long skirt she owned had a gaping hole in the side, made by a clumsy knife throw the night she had gone to pay a syndicate boss a visit. She had meant to get it mended, but it was something she had never gotten around to.

She had no other option, she had to go out and get another pair of tights. Slipping into a pair of pants, Lara grabbed her hand bag from her bed and ran downstairs.

"Hillary, I'll be going out for a bit, I'll be right back." Lara said, racing past her butler, towards the garage.

"Shall I entertain Mr. Miller if he arrives early?" Hillary asked.

"Yes, I'll be right back though, I just need to get a new pair of tights." Lara finished, entering the garage. She selected the keys to her motorcycle and picked up her helmet.

Within minutes she was in front of her favorite department store. Lara parked her motorcycle and unstrapped her helmet, she was just about to enter the store when one of the newspapers, being displayed by a man in a corner shop. Lara walked over, reading, then rereading the headline.

Lara Croft: "I knew it was coming all along"

An insider's story: Lady Croft talks about the scandal and her relationship with Alex West.

Lara grabbed the paper and skimmed through the article. She was totally puzzled, how had they gotten this information? Lara was quoted on things that she had actually said; in a tabloid. While she was quite used to being misquoted in tabloids, these were her exact words, staring back at her accusingly. How had the press gotten this information? Had they bugged her phone? Sent a spy? Then, Lara saw the name of the writer of the article and everything fell into place.

Preston Miller.

Sweet, kind, thoughtful Preston had sold her out for the front page of a tabloid. Lara put the tabloid down and walked away from the stand, her head swimming. She had been totally betrayed by the one person she thought was sane in her crazy world. Lara put her helmet back on and mounted her bike. She could feel the hot tears forming in her eyes.

To be continued. . . .