Forgotten Memories
Lara sat in the visitors' chair in the small hospital room. She'd been looking at Trent for sometime, and after verifying the doctor's claims that he was no longer in critical condition, but in a deep, medicine induced sleep ideal for his recuperation. She got up and went to his side, looking at him. She brushed the strands of chestnut hair out of his face, but left her hand there, caressing the cheek. She leaned in and paused, giving a small, friendly peck on the cheek that even she hardly felt. She returned to her position and walked towards the door. The glaive, which she'd brought from the Strahov, lay, forgotten, on a table near the door. She touched it, curious, wanting to take it as an addition to her trophy room, when suddenly it flew up into her hands. She kept it, a smile creeping up her face. She paused in the doorway, still smiling.
"Goodbye, Kurtis Trent" She said before walking out the door and out of the hospital.
She didn't see her smile returned by the man in the hospital bed.
Two Weeks Later
Bang! Lara's shots rang out in the small firing range adjacent to her outdoors assault course. She cocked her gun, waiting for the next target to spring up, but before she could shoot, another gun rang out, hitting dead center of the target.
Lara spun around, gun still cocked and leveled at the presence she now faced.
A shadow of relief and recognition glazed over Lara's face as both her gun and mouth dropped. Slightly shocked, she recovered by spinning around once more to hit the last remaining target with a perfect Bulls- eye.
"Well, well, you certainly made a rapid recovery," Lara smiled slightly as she holstered her weapon.
"Couldn't have done it without your help," Kurtis Trent responded with a cocky, American Half-smile.
"Yes, well then, it appears I've paid off my debts" She returned.
Hillary, Lara's butler, ventured from the house to the assault course, offering two cups of tea.
"I'm sorry, Lara, when our guest rang the doorbell I took the liberties of showing him your location,"
"So we now allow strangers in our home, do we, Hillary," she teased.
"Sorry, Lara." Hillary sighed, sorry to see that a male houseguest did nothing for his lady's manners, although he didn't expect much after Egypt. But still, he hoped that he saw a flicker of…well of something when she saw him.
"Not at all. This is one stranger I'm glad to see," Lara said to Hillary but loudly enough for Kurtis to hear. She gave Hillary a look that requested some privacy, and Hillary obliged, still anxious to spill Bryce in on the details of Lara's male visitor.
"Are you in London for long, Mr. Trent?"
"That depends, sweetheart," Kurtis smirked.
"Right," Lara cringed at the offensive remark her guest had made, "well then, Mr. Trent, welcome to my humble abode. Feel free to take a look around. And I insist that you stay here for the duration of your trip," She smiled in a bored way, cringing once more, though this time at the thought of playing hostess, damn Hillary she thought, recognizing she'd done this without him even being in earshot, and thus wouldn't receive any reward for it.
"A very generous offer Ms. Croft. And I am inclined to acquiesce, I do need to freshen up," Kurtis smirked, imitating her very proper formality. He followed her into a house as they made small talk, discussing the weather and the like, nothing of substance or meaning. Outside of the room Lara had shown him to, Kurtis reached out and grabbed her arm before she turned away, "and please, call me Kurtis," he said.
There was a pause, he obviously waiting for her to say likewise. She stared at him with a cold, interrogating glare. He thought he saw a flicker of trust in there, but it had disappeared before he could be sure. Lara turned to go. A few steps away from the doorway, she turned.
"You know my name, Kurtis Trent," She said coolly before disappearing down the stairs.
Lara had planned to do her assault course, but as soon as she'd descended down the stairs, she was so overwhelmed with thoughts she returned to her study. Collapsing in a chair, she let her thoughts take control. She thought back to Paris, her arguments with Werner, she remembered the Louvre, the monstrum, Prague, the Cabal and the Strahov, and all the terrible events that occurred inside.
Kurtis, having showered and changed, found Lara sitting in her study, spread lazily in a chair, but gazing to some other time and place. She did not notice him as he stood in the doorway, nor when he casually walked over to her and sat next to her. Without thinking, Kurtis reached out his hand to hold hers.
No sooner had he touched her did Lara jump, snatching her hand back before reaching for her pistols, stopping her action when she realized it was only Kurtis. She relaxed slightly as he smiled, concernedly, at her.
"Don't you clean up nicely," Lara looked over at Kurtis, an attempt to forget that he'd held her hand, who smiled in return, his eyes asking a silent apology.
"You must be wondering why I'm here," He said, a question presented as a fact.
"The thought had crossed my mind, yes." She reacted, taking care not to ask, simply to speak.
"Well I can give you a couple of reasons."
"Carry on,"
"I believe you have something of mine."
Lara led Kurtis down the stairs from her study to the ground floor. She'd practically forgotten about the chirugai, having thrust it in her trophy room only moments after she'd arrived at home to the warm embraces of Bryce and Hillary.
"Its right in here," she motioned to the movable wall behind which lay her trophy room. Kurtis looked confused, staring blankly at the apparently normal wall. Lara only laughed before pulling the switch on the wall opposite, back flipping and rolling to sprint and dive through the retreating door. Panting, she pulled the switch, thus allowing Kurtis to enter.
"Nice," Kurtis smirked as he entered the now exposed trophy room, remarking on Lara's impressive acrobatics. "Really nice," he added, now referring to the astonishing collection of artifacts that surrounded him.
Lara just smiled as she went over to the far corner, shrouded in the soft glow emitted by the fire roaring in the fireplace. She found the glaive laying unceremoniously on a corner table, about to pick it up when it suddenly flew into the air, zipping past her slightly cocked head, finding its way to Kurtis's outstretched hands. She smiled at his smirking face, waving the weapon in an offhand salute.
"So what's next?" she asked, moving closer to Kurtis, who took a step closer so he was practically whispering in her ear.
"Well, I was thinking something like…" he hinted suggestively, Lara stepping back and out of the way of any unwanted actions.
"I was referring to the reason you're here," she laughed at him, surprised at how easily she was able to resist him.
Kurtis smirked as though nothing had happened.
"Well, the second reason I'm here, I wondered if you would join me in a dinner, a thank you for saving my life in Prague," he said, casually.
Lara, now standing in the doorway, turned to him.
"You don't owe me anything, Kurtis."
"Well I'd still like to take you out to dinner."
Lara only smiled and nodded a yes before exiting her room, leaving Kurtis on his own as she cleaned and changed for the evening.
sorry, i'm new to this site, and i'm having a few quirks with getting my chapters up--if you see any errors or mistakes, please let me know!