The current look on Kurtis' face told Lara everything she needed to know – they were in trouble.

Lara quickly tucked her shirt in as Kurtis began looking for a way out. The window was an obvious escape, so Kurtis quickly shattered the pane of glass and climbed out. It wasn't far for him, a slight burn in his ankles as he landed but that was all. He looked up at the window, at Lara contemplating the jump. She'd never been afraid of heights before, so what was the holdup?

Lara looked down at the drop, before sliding out of the window and bracing herself for the pain. What she wasn't expecting was the warm arms that held her bridal style – Kurtis had caught her in his arms bridal style.

He was quick to put her down when the sounds of an explosion were heard from inside the hospital. Lara hurried down the street and down an alley, waiting for Kurtis to catch up.

Kurtis watched as Lara ran to the alley. He dashed after her, but not before looking back at the hospital – flames were licking the window panes, the ones that weren't already shattered anyway. He made a gesture at Lara for them to keep going down the alley. She did as she was told, biting her tongue to prevent a witty retort.

After a while, they came across a small, rundown hotel. Kurtis checked them in under false names, and got the keys to the room. They entered the room to find the room was actually quite finely decorated – deep red colour covered the walls, the sheets on the bed were silk and fresh and the bathroom was immaculate.

Lara quickly turned and headed for the shower, locking the door behind her. She took this time to examine the bruises that scattered her pale form before climbing under the cascading water of the shower, her muscles instantly relaxing.

Kurtis was busy closing the velvet curtains, ensuring that no one could see into the room from outside. He then bolted the door shut and sat down, taking a deep breath – one of many to keep himself calm. He knew that he'd had a reason to worry. They could have both been killed in that hospital, but appeared that fate didn't want them dead – at least not yet. Kurtis removed his shirt and khaki pants, leaving himself in his underwear and plain white undershirt. He climbed under the sheets just as Lara stepped out of the bathroom.

Lara quickly towel dried her hair before stepping out of the bathroom in her tank top and underwear. Her jeans had been partly torn so she left them off. She wasn't bothered by Kurtis staring at her lithe body, she'd been getting looks like that her whole life, now was no exception. She climbed under the sheets next to him; the only room that had been available was a room with a massive double bed. However, as awkward as she thought it would be, she was quite surprised that there was a certain ease to their current predicament.

Kurtis had admittedly been staring at her, simply because he hadn't really noticed how amazing she looked underneath all the 'tomb raider' exterior. He watched as she climbed into the bed and curled up tightly, her hair splayed across the pillow gracefully. He knew he wouldn't get much sleep with Lara, the ever beautiful tomb raider, sleeping next to him. Even he knew it wouldn't work. He waited until she was asleep before sitting up slowly to keep watch over her.

It was around 2am when he noticed her slight shiver. He himself wasn't cold, but it appeared that Lara was. Sliding himself back down, he pulled her close, surprised that she didn't flinch at his touch. She made a slight murmur but then began snoring softly. Kurtis held her against him, using his body-heat to keep her warm. He drifted off to sleep, the smell of pineapple scented shampoo being the last thing he remembered.

Lara woke with a start. Nightmares were plaguing her dreams, leaving her startled and unable to sleep. She looked at the arm that was wrapped around her, turning slightly to see Kurtis' sleeping form. She noted how he looked so content, a slight glint of moonlight from a parting in the curtain lighting the dim room illuminating his features.

Sliding out of bed quietly, Lara padded to the bathroom. She flicked the light on, squinting in the bright light she saw her torn jeans hanging from the towel warmer. She sighed softly, pulling them on before looking at her reflection in the mirror. She looked at the bags under her eyes – it had been a long few days and sleep hadn't been much of a necessity. The reflection behind her showed a figure hiding in the shower.

She turned on her heel, grabbing the razor from the bathroom sink. It may not be as effective as her pistols, but it may buy her some time. She moved towards the figure, trying to be stealthy.

All that could be heard then from the bathroom was the sound of a scuffle. Kurtis awoke to the empty bed and looked blearily towards the bathroom. He heard the noise and quickly got out of bed, grabbing his gun and stalking his way towards the bathroom. He pushed the door open to see Lara fighting with some form of assailant.

Kurtis shot at the assailant, his shot just missing Lara. Lara kicked at the assailant, but the assailant was some kind of supernatural being, so her foot went right through it. Kurtis quickly threw his chirugai through the shadow, the glowing orange weapon cutting right through its head. The shadow dissipated, leaving Lara on the floor, confused.

"What the fuck was that?" Lara said, looking from Kurtis to where she shadow had disappeared.

Kurtis knew exactly what it had been, it had been a wreath – a shadow creature that those of the Lux Veritatis had been created to kill. They must have followed him here, to Paris, when he'd travelled here a month ago. He needed to tell Lara, but would she understand why he didn't tell her?

"It was a wreath, a form of shadow creature that are centuries of years old" Kurtis stated, looking down at the floor. Lara looked at him.

"How do you know?" Lara asked, frowning at his sudden fact. She knew from the way he looked down that there was more to this than met the eye.

She got up quickly, brushing her jeans with her hands to make herself look a little respectable. Kurtis watched as she did this, wondering if she was okay. Lara just walked out of the bathroom, not expecting him to reply. She didn't even look at him when he followed her out of that bathroom. She grabbed her denim jacket from the chair and walked out of the hotel room.

'How can he not tell me, yet expect me to be okay with this? I thought he trusted me'

All of those thoughts were running through her head, causing her enough grief to make her see sense – maybe she'd imagined the trust between them. Maybe he just needed a pick-me-up and Lara was the one that had to take the fall? There were so many possibilities to this.

When she looked up, she realized that she was not too far from the airport. She couldn't just hop aboard a plane, could she? She was still classed as a wanted woman. She lived for risk-taking, so she strolled into the airport like she owned the place. She booked herself onto a flight back to England, back to Winston, back to Hillary (Winston's trainee butler) and Bryce, her trusty IT geek. She smiled at the thought of home; the simple thought of getting out of Paris was enough to ease Lara's slight nerves.

Before boarding, they asked for her passport. The one thing that she'd lost not long after being in Paris. But the one thing she did have was luck – a professor from England was boarding the same flight and vouched for her, explaining that she was Lady Lara Croft, of the Croft family line that had once spent a majority of time in Paris.

They allowed her to board without a second glance. She thanked the professor kindly for helping her out and went and found her seat on the plane. She sat next to the window, looking out at the tarmac as she did her seatbelt up. Soon enough the plane was in the air – heading for England.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel...

Kurtis sat staring at the door in disbelief. Lara had just walked out on him, leaving him to deal with the Monstrum mess. He quickly threw his shirt and khakis, and bolted out the door. He checked out of the hotel, knowing that Lara couldn't have gotten that far on foot. He walked down the street, knowing this would have been the way Lara would have gone. He used farsee, just so he'd have a general idea of where she'd gone to.

He was startled, not only had she gotten to an airport on foot, but she'd also gotten onto a plane. He pulled himself out of farsee, quickly running to the airport. He should have gone after her – he should have told her everything. One word kept repeating in his mind – IDIOT.

By the time he got there, Lara's flight had long gone. Kurtis would have to wait until the next flight to catch up with her. He handed over his passport – well, his alias passport. He had enough experience to make a new passport for himself, to ensure no one who was after him would be able to track him down.

Back to Lara

Home was the one place that Lara thought about. She was finally back in London. Home. She dashed to a payphone and quickly rang Winston. He'd been ecstatic to hear of Lara's return and quickly came to pick her up.

Once home, Lara had slept, showered and changed before joining the others for dinner. She sat and listened to them natter on about what had happened since she'd been gone, smiling as she learned that Winston had managed to clear some space more for more bookshelves in the study. Hillary had done most of the heaving lifting, but Winston had seen to the safety of the books and antiques that Lara already had. She laughed when Bryce told her that Hillary had tried to ensure Lara had dresses in her wardrobe, she laughed even more when Bryce did an impression of Hillary saying "a lady should be modest"

Once dinner was over, Lara went up to her room, just climbing into her bed and staring the drapes of her four-poster. She had asked Winston to light the fireplace, to which he did. Lara didn't know what to do. She knew the local authorities would deal with the Monstrum business so that meant Lara wouldn't have much to do. Winston was keeping an eye on her – he knew that Werner had been a worthy adversary to her before the accident, helping her become the tomb raider that she is known as now.

It was about 2 in the morning when Lara was awoken by the security alarm beeping next to her bed. She shot out of bed, grabbing her headset and calling Bryce.

"Hello?" she heard Bryce say sleepily into the phone. She rolled her eyes.
"It's Lara. Do you not hear the security alarm?" she asked, looking out of her window to see if she could see anybody. She could not.
"I don't see anything on the cameras" Bryce said before suddenly going "wait, hang on"

All Lara could hear then was the tapping of keys on a keyboard. Whilst Bryce did that, Lara dashed out of her room, grabbing her pistols on the way out. She crept her way to Winston's room, and told him to stay in his room, and lock the door behind her. She repeated the same to Hillary who was in his quarters. She told Bryce to keep an eye on anything that moved in or around the estate.

Lara quietly made her way down the stairs, ensuring not to step on any of the creaky steps. She slipped over the banister when she got near the bottom. Stepping silently, Lara saw a person by the fireplace. She held both guns out in front of her as she made her way over.

"I won't hesitate to shoot. Now tell me who you are and what you want" Lara demanded.

As the person turned around, it was the last person she'd have expected to see. Joachim Karel.