i wanted them to have an instant chemistry, it wouldve killed me to just leave them for too long but wait for the next chapter, its going to be better. . .i hope ;-)

Kurtis was standing in the middle of the hall, he looked terrible absolutely terrible. It looked as if he couldn't be standing on his own two feet. Blood was seeping through his shirt and the remains of what looked to be bandages hung below, drenched in blood. 'kurtis?' Lara had said it almost too soft to be a whisper. She threw the bags to zip and walked closer. She didn't want to but she remembered the awful conversation she had had with Karel when he changed into kurtis. She immediately pulled the 9mm out of the gun holsters of which she had put on when she was on her way here. When her gun was ready to fire a bullet between his eyes he had a gun of his own ready.

"hallo Lara did you run into any trouble while I was gone" came the voice from the man she had though to be dead. Lara was shocked but she wasn't going to show it, but inside it was killing her. This couldn't be true, it has to be a dream, he died and people who died isn't suppose to be talking, not even walking. . .was she losing her mind?

"no of course not I was taking vacation, what you expect?" Lara fired back with her own sarcasm

"didn't expect you to give me a warm welcome but to kill me don't ya thing that's a bit unnecessary" he gave that smirk he did way back then. He closed his eyes for a second while starting to get uneasy on his feet. He suddenly fell to his side, Lara completely forgot about Karel and let the gun drop to the floor with a sudden thud. She sat on her knees next to him while placing two fingers against his neck to feel for a pulse, there was one a very faint one. She opened his mouth and proceeded with mouth-to-mouth respiration. 'wake up kurtis, don't you dare die or ill run to the ends of the world to bring you back and then ill kill you myself' she said while pressing on his chest. Lara had given up after ten minutes and sat back, he couldn't just return and die so soon. Its not fair, but so was everything else in her life. Her mother was sent to hell, that wasn't fair, her father had disappeared that wasn't fair, Amanda was now her enemy, that wasn't fair, she had to save the world over and over again and that wasn't fair either.

"nice, Cherrie flavored lip ice" kurtis said while coughing hard to the new oxygen entering his lungs. Lara tried to help him up but he refused help and stood unsteady on his feet. Lara was shocked at how much she wanted this man to live.

"sit down and show me your wrist" he was in too much pain to comment on her demands so he did as she said

Lara took his hand rubbing at his wrist till he spoke again "you're not gonne find it Lara it ain't there" she knew what he was talking about and decided to leave it there. If the symbol wasn't there then he probably wasn't Karel.

"zip quickly get the first aid" zip ran to his tech room and got what she asked, he set it down next to her where she was sitting on her knees. "lift up your shirt kurtis"

"don't ya think it's a bit early for that, we've only seen each other for a few min-" he stopped of the deadly stare Lara gave him and did as instructed.

"this is going to hurt a little" she said while pulling the old bandages off. He had a nasty cut over his stomach. She threw disinfectants on. He bit hard on his teeth while the burning continued. Lara started to give him stitches when he tried to refuse but instead of stopping she just continued. He was almost cleaned up except for the nasty cut on his upper arm, Lara tended to it as well. He needed rest so she helped him to his feet and took him to the guestroom next to her bedroom. She had put his arm around her shoulders, when they reached the bedroom Lara helped him sit down. She gently lifted his arm from her shoulder and went to the closet. "so how did you escape from Karel?" she asked without thinking. She took out a pair of black cargo pants and a white shirt from the wardrobe.

"hold on, how'd you know i where I was" she immediately realized her mistake as she handed the clothes to kurtis.

"its not important" she looked down at the mattress as she sat on a chair she had pulled next to the bed

"Lara. how. did. you. know" he asked again.

"I had dreams, dreams of what Karel did to you. At first I didn't think anything of them but when, I went to Prague to see if I missed anything last time"

"but when?"

"damnit kurtis am I being interrogated. Get some rest you've been through a lot"

before Lara could get up and leave kurtis gently pulled her back by her forearm "thanks croft" he smiled at her and she returned a smile. She was so happy that kurtis was back, he made her feel protected when he was near. She never thought shed feel like this toward someone but she just knew she could trust him, it was like destiny for them to meet. She scolded herself immediately for thinking that since she had already told who ever it was back in Prague that she doesn't believe in fairytales. She hadn't realized she reached the bottom of the stairs until she bumped into Alistair. "sorry Alistair".

"its fine, you should check yourself out, if you remember correct you were in a bloody big explosion"

"it wasn't that big, ill be fine" Alistair nodded and continued up the stairs. Lara grabbed her backpack and walked through the greenish doors of the tech room and went to sit next to zip.

"so you have anything on our friends from earlier?" Lara said when zip anxiously ripped the earphones from his head and looked at Lara with startled eyes.

"that's twice now you've tried to make me jump outa my skin"

"now, now zip no need to get a stroke. As I was saying, anything on Carmichael?"

"oh yeah I got that the day you asked me, you ain't gonne like it"

"I thought you had more faith in me"

"they've been dead for twenty years, died in a gunfight"

"then who was I talking to earlier?" Lara said while standing up with the backpack in her hand. She once again walked up the stairs but this time it was to her own bedroom. She was exhausted to be honest, not even mentioning that it was nine in the evening, her flight was stalled thanks to unforeseen circumstances. She climbed in the shower, all the rubble, dirt as well as dried blood was washed off. She dried her hair with a towel and made it into a braid, she had silk pajamas on after cleaning the cuts she had all over her body. She had missed that sort of adrenaline rush and with kurtis here everything felt normal, well normal to someone like her. She fell asleep quite early, it was a peaceful slumber until a nightmare came by once more to haunt her in an unconscious state. The words the man or whatever he was in Prague played over and over in her head. She suddenly sat straight up in her bed covered in sweat. She got dressed in he combat clothes but she wanted to know what he was talking about so her first stop was the library. She scanned every single book in the library but she couldn't find a single thing on lux veritatis or nephilim, well not anything she hasn't read before. The residents of the house all slowly began to awake and doing their own routine. Lara ran swiftly past Winston toward her bedroom.

"morning Winston, hope you slept well" Winston just rolled his eyes and continued on with what needn't be his duties but those which he refused to retire from

Lara was colleting the disc from her backpack when something caught her eye on a picture frame of her father and a fellow archeologist he knew. But unfortunately his friend had been deceased for years because of a heart attack. Her father was holding a scroll in his hand with the sign of the lux veritatis on. 'oh daddy you always had me blind didn't you but you were always right' Lara said to herself and a smile crept to the corners of her mouth. Lara then went to kurtis's room where he was nowhere to be seen, 'oh bloody hell' she said to herself again. Then she heard a few things break downstairs. This time the noise came from the kitchen. She grabbed a pistol at her side and cautiously walked to the kitchen. Once there, Alistair was standing raising his hands in surrender. Zip was standing over a pan of scrambled eggs and kurtis was also sitting there at the table next to the window. His feet was set on the table and a cigarette was dangling from his mouth. To the scene in front of her Lara could tell that one way or another that the guys didn't care much for the noise they made.

"at least its not another two hundred thousand year old pot. What-happened-in-here" Lara comfortably tucked away the gun in it's holster.

"how the hell do you do that with a clear conscience? scaring people half to death" zip said trying to avoid the situation

"zip just tell me what happened ill try my best to understand it from a morons point of view"

"ouch, I was cooking some breakfast then your friend came in so I turned with the pan and Alistair thought it to be funny if he scared my from behind"

"oh for heavens sake you're worst than a four year old, both of you" Lara corrected herself when Alistair let out a slight laugh

"Alistair go do an inventory for something relating to the lux veritatis, zip you better have me all the information about the second strahov and where's Winston today"

"yes mother" zip sarcastically told Lara while walking out the door

"he went to buy some clothes for our visitor and some groceries for the house" Alistair said to Lara when he picked up the books from behind him on the counter. Kurtis looked at the man as if to say the-visitor-has-a-name .

"im sorry they're not used to having new people around the house, well not any they can trust"

"yeah and you point a gun at everyone you trust, where'd you get my chirugai and what's this about a second strahov" he said when he twitched his fingers and the disc sprang to life in Lara's hand. It returned to it's owners hand from where Lara sat opposite kurtis.

"always expect the worst. Secondly I got the disc on the floor of the arena, it was covered in blood. . .when I went back I found a few things including blueprints to a strahov in turkey" she looked down and kurtis could clearly see that it hurt her somewhat.

"i know about the creature Lara" kurtis said

"how?"

"don't worry I wasn't spying on you, well not directly"

"What aren't you telling me kurtis" Lara asked calmly

"stop worrying Lara its nothing serious" Lara did wanted him to trust her so she decided to leave the conversation for now.

"if you try anything that I don't approve of I will take care of you my way, in any case we need to go clean you wound so come on"

"fine, but I'm telling you there's no need"

As he started to walk and Lara got up from her chair he spoke again "its good to see you Lara" Lara looked happy as she smiled at him and walked after him to his room. When he was sitting on the bed and Lara had once again cleaned the wound and put on new bandages. She stood up and started walking downstairs to where her friends were.

"ill be downstairs if you need me" she closed the door behind her. Alistair was once more in his favorite armchair, reading books on lux veritatis no doubt. Zip as usual had his earphones on and was sitting back in his chair with his hands tucked behind his neck. Both of them sat up as Lara entered the room. Lara was thinking of the picture she saw in her room.

"so are you thinking of how to kill us or what's going on" zip said yet staying as calm as ever.

"im not that bad zip, Id just like it if you would be a bit friendlier to kurtis"

"frankly im kinde used to it you know, but look on the bright side they didn't hold a gun to my head" kurtis said after descending the stairs and calling his bag to him telekinetically

"thin ice kurtis, if you die, don't say I didn't warn you" Lara said not even once turning around.

"I got the message. Lara. . . ." he paused a second till she turned and looked at him, "he wants the grail, if he fills it with water from a sacred well, then he'll have the ability to bring back his kind into this world and not to mention the immortality which he already has, so hell just be twice as strong as he is now."

"where's this fountain and what's it called?"

"I don't know, apparently its only recorded in lux documents further no one knows anything bout' it but that's my problem im not dragging you into it like I did last time" kurtis said while telekinetically calling his duffel bag toward him.

"I don't need you to worry about me I can handle it, damnit I thought these two were bad" Lara sad rolling her eyes

"you don't know what he's capable of" kurtis said looking at the floor, clearly remembering something painful

"and he doesn't know what im capable of. Damnit kurtis what do you think ive been doing the past few years, resting"

"he'll kill you as soon as he sees you, you're expecting me to bring you face to face with the devil and I ain't doing it"

"im not asking!" Lara held a gun in his direction.

"then let me make it easier for you" he walked closer, close enough that the barrel of the gun pointed in between his eyes and he felt the cold metal against his skin.

Lara pulled the trigger but as kurtis reopened his eyes the barrel was still in between his eyes. He hadn't expected Lara to really pull the trigger but now he knew he shouldn't be getting on the wrong side of her. "next time ill do it before target practice"

He smirked then put down the bag that hung in his hand "you've gained some courage since Paris"

"ive had worse, now forget the bag and grab a chair" Lara said as kurtis sat next to her, with the other two opposite them.

"wait'a'min, is anyone gonne tell me why he has super powers" Lara and kurtis exchanged a look before turning to zip.

Kurtis then answered "Ever heard of lux veritatis" Alistair nodded but zip just gave a puzzling look

"a group of warrior monks, light of truth. They fought against evil" Lara added

"well I have abilities, one of them being telekinetic" kurtis continued.

"what're the others?" zip asked but instead of answering kurtis just smirked mischievously.

"now if were done with each others biography, especially mister montsegur's. Alistair have you done the inventory?".

"no nothing, why'd you wanne do an inventory?"

"no reason just to keep you two busy, so where were we. . .the grail?"

Kurtis looked genuinely surprised that Lara knew his real name but said nothing and tucked his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes shut. Lara slightly shook her head and rested her feet on the table while crossing her arms over her chest.

"and im just suppose to guess where it is" she said and kurtis opened one eye to look at her.

"the cittabel of montsegur"

"montsegur, isn't it the same as-"

Alistair was cut off by Lara "the notebook I found and lost in the strahov before it blew up. . .he had a secret room in the arena, he had a map of the strahov in turkey" It looked as if kurtis recognized the name but quickly wiped all emotion from his face.

"you wanne talk about what happened in Prague Lara?" Lara wanted to but what it said to her she wanted to check on it first.

"no I don't, looks like ill be taking a job then after all. Zip you guys know what to do and by the way where the hell does Winston keep disappearing to?" Lara added but her question was answered soon enough when a heap of clothes came crashing down from the third storey

Winston calmly followed and stood with a lighter, ready to send the dirty laundry into oblivion "he wouldn't, no wonder I haven't seen him all morning" zip said as he rushed from the chair and ran swiftly to the heap of clothes. Winston closed the lighter and walked past over to Lara.

"anything I can do for you lady croft"

"please bring kurtis a beer, Alistair will probably have some tea and please take care that zip doesn't go into some sort of panic attack" Winston gave a comforting smile and disappeared into the kitchen. Alistair stood up and started off to the study, probably to prepare for the time ahead.

"you're not having anything?" kurtis asked now sitting up in his chair.

"not before I go to the gym, no" she smiled mischievously and started walking out the tech room. She pushed open the door to the hallway that led out to the beautifully designed fountain and then through the double doors of the gym. She was already dressed in the right attire. Standing ready on a blue mat, she counted to three and started doing the course. Her first obstacle was a horizontal pole followed by a vertical pole, a platform, fake blades, still deadly though, rope, grapple hook, and then the first of five fake golden artifacts. 'one down, four to go' Lara told herself while catching her breath. She grabbed a crack in the wall and climbed towards a slope, she slid off and jumped before reaching the end, grabbing a climbing wall that hung from the roof. She climbed to the top to a trap door and pulled herself in, grabbing the second artifact. Next she jumped out, once again grabbing the climbing wall. She made it round to the other side when a red light began ringing throughout the room. Behind her was a rope and she immediately, by instinct grabbed the rope. As soon as she did the wall she was previously hanging from retracted into the roof. She looked down to see two fake dummies of mercenaries firing blanks at her. They were obviously programmed to fire at Lara since zip upgraded them only days ago. Lara suddenly let go of the rope with her hands, twisting her foot in a loop in the rope while grabbing her pistols in the process. She had her one leg twisted in the rope and the other slightly bended, she was hanging upside down shooting at her targets. Their plastic heads were shot into pieces when Lara pointed the guns between azure eyes that felt as if they could see right through her. She broke the gaze by shaking her head, returning the guns to their right full places and turning right side up on the rope. She dropped to the ground and crouched as soon as her feet came in contact with the hard concrete floor.

"it seems you want to get shot today kurtis" Lara said as she took a towel from the chair and wiped the sweat off her face.

"I know you croft, you wouldn't" Lara looked at him with a surprising expression covering her face, wondering why she always ended up speechless with him. He was so confident, so cocky and so arrogant but those were the qualities that puzzled Lara. . . in a good way.

"why didn't you ever tell me you were alive" Lara suddenly asked while constantly looking down at her feet. Unfortunately she didn't actually want to ask it but it was merely a though that came aloud.

"I wanted to I just couldn't, I ran into a few uhm. . . . complications" he wasn't being completely truth full with her but he had no choice.

'So I'm just suppose to guess what you're thinking' Lara though to herself when a muscular voice spoke deep in her mind 'you should get used to it' Lara looked up with astonished eyes

"how did you-" she was cut off when zip stood in the doorframe, out of breath and barely staying up. She had no need to ask what had happened since he just gestured for them to come, quickly by his expression. Lara and kurtis started jogging toward the main hall. As always zip was sitting at the desk with the main computer monitor. Lara and kurtis both stood questioning in front of him while Alistair shook his head and sat on the armchair, resting his head in his hands while putting his elbows on his knees. Suddenly a picture showed on the screen, a picture that somewhat resembled a news report. 'a building had exploded three hours ago, few survived but those who did had fatal injuries. A small girl however emerged untouched by the flames, a obscure figure of an unknown woman put the girl in the back alley and was seen jumping into darkness from building to building. Police are looking into this and have still not had any good pictures to work with. . .this is Amy Bartowski reporting for twenty four hour news' the woman said before the picture began playing. The figure of a women with long hair in a braid, you could only see that it was a woman, everything else was covered by darkness. One thing that was clear was a crimson red tattoo on her neck, shining even though everything else was hidden.

"look familiar?" zip asked as though expecting that Lara was going to smash the computer into bits and pieces.

"its atlantean" Lara said shaking her head in disbelief.

"atlantean?" kurtis asked looking closer at the screen.

"like I said I've had worse" Lara said while turning to go out the tech room when a question suddenly came to mind "when and where?"

"London, the country side orphanage for seniors" Lara felt as if her heart sank deeper than her feet but did not let the others notice.

i hope you liked it and than for the reviews, it really help, it keeps me positive. If you have ideas feel free to tell me, kay! ;-) *-: :-* ;-)