I think for the first time in a long while I slept through the night. We got to sleep really late, but we slept. We were tangled together when I woke up, and it was this crazy, wonderful thing. I've been with women before. Lara calls me a free spirit, which I think is her nice way of calling me a slut. I just like to have fun, and sex is a lot of fun. It can get really empty, though.

Last night wasn't empty. I don't think Lara's ever bothered to be with anyone, but she must had researched. Hah. Leave it to Lara Croft to research that. No complaints, but it's not the orgasms I'm thinking about. That's actually the strangest part about this. Usually? I'm all gung-ho about sex. After a good semester I go on what Lara called sex rampages. I'm sure most of those guys don't mind at all.

I look at her sleeping face. She's at peace. The darkness that so often rests there is gone. I trace her lips, careful to not wake her, and sigh. Last night meant something and I'm terrified of that. But we can't go back to the way things were. We've spent two years chasing demons and being chased by them. We went through hell together, and for each other. God, I thought she'd never smile at me again. For a long time there was just this hardness in her eyes, and those shadows in her face. But wounds heal with time, and a great deal of effort on my part. Somewhere along the way, I'd healed too.

Over the past two years, I'd gone on another sort of sex rampage. Sort of… like I was searching for something, or trying to remind myself I was alive, but it always came down to them not being her. They weren't Lara and I can't imagine how much I've hurt her over this. I wasn't trying to. But the way she looked last night when she started to lose herself in me told me everything. That thing I'd been looking for was her.

There are spots where her tears had dried. I wipe at them, but decide not to point them out to her. They were good tears but I know I wouldn't want her pointing out that I'd cried during sex. I follow the line of her jaw, and then my eyes fall to the gentle rise and fall of her chest, and I tug the blanket down. I caress her tenderly, and get a wicked thought. I replace my fingers with my lips. I'm still tender, I'm still gentle, but she tastes amazing. Even dirty and rumpled like this, her skin is like that...nectar of the gods stuff. Ambrosia.

I get the rest of the blanket off of her, and move to the next stage of my devious plan. I should have realized how stupid it was to shock awake someone who sleeps with an axe under their pillow. I've barely begun and her legs tighten around my head. Nails dig into my scalp. Lara could have snapped my neck with her thighs. That's not a bad way to go (her thighs are amazing) but the look on her face breaks my heart.

Her voice is a little shakey, and gone is the warrior I'd accidently woken. "Sam...oh god...I'm so sorry!"

I place a finger on her lips, crawling up her body and cradling against her. I feel her arms tighten around me. "Lara, shh. I'm sorry. I didn't think. I forgot how jumpy you can get."

"I could have killed you."

"It's okay." I try to still my shaking, especially when I realize her hand is still around the handle of her climbing axe. Instead of freaking out like I want to, I reach down and pry her fingers off of it. "It's okay. It's okay. Now I know to let you wake up more slowly, that's all."

I feel her relax against me, and I start to relax too. Her voice sounds like she's speaking around rocks, "We should look at that footage, and then we'll go explore that other site I marked on the map."

I smile, knowing what she's doing. She's going to her happy place, but better than that, she's taking me with her. We're okay. We'll be okay. "Sweetie. I love you."

She gets this dorky smile on her face.