I'm ready for a thousand naps, but Lara has to do this thing with her lips on my fingers and it's distracting, okay? She looks a little out of it and I think it's time to stop asking questions until we're all recovered, or at least rested. Because recovery is going to take awhile.

She does that thing with her tongue and the tip of my finger that makes me shiver and sends all those bad thoughts fleeing away, but right about then there's lightning and I think I pee my pants a little. Soraya recovers quickly enough but I'm looking back at the scorch in the road and then at Lara, who's eyes are about as wide as mine and I'm pretty sure she pee'd a little too, because her skin is a little paler and she looks like she has something deep and meaningful and terrible to say so I shush her. "Can we just get to some place with a warm shower and Soup Jesus?"

"Okay Sam, who the hell is Soup Jesus?"

"Winston. He produced soup out of nowhere, like a ninja." Okay, so ninja and Jesus are two different things but hey, maybe Jesus was a ninja, you never know!

"He was always pretty good at that," she concedes. "If I was sick or hurt, he'd have just the right sort of remedy always on hand."

"You should see how he fixed up my arm!" I roll my sleeve up, only then remembering the blue marks, but it's like Lara doesn't see them. She's focused on the bandage instead, and half reaches to touch it before stopping, since she's still pretty messed up with blood and dirt. "I'm okay, Lara. I pulled the bullet out myself."

The car swerves again and I catch Soraya giving me a surprised look. I look at her, then at Lara, and both are actually gaping at me. "I'm not totally useless you know."

Lara's expression softens and she's smiling again. "No, you're not useless." She digs around in her pockets, then takes on a distressed look. She pulls out what looks like syringes and looks at them. "Right. They shot me up with this stuff and said it was heroin. I wanted to make sure it wasn't something else."

"Let me see that." Soraya reached behind and Lara handed her the needles. I'm still in shock. I can't believe they had her on something and she was still able to do everything she did back at that place.

I don't know how addictive that stuff is. The hardest I've ever done is pot and some ecstasy, but I knew a guy at University who had been on the stuff. That only makes me more scared for Lara. She must have sensed my apprehension because she takes my hand again.

"I'll be fine, Sam. I wanted to hand that over before I decided it was a good idea to keep it." She smiles at me again and I nod at her. I'm going to call up our doctor and get her some blood work done to make sure she didn't pick up anything from it. It's a miracle she never got anything from Yamatai. Hepetitis or worse.

"Probably a good idea." The mercenary waggled the syringes in the air. "Whatever this is, can't be good. Do you know how many times they shot you up?"

"Two times. Maybe three. They'd beat me, shoot me up, then wait awhile before doing it again." She closes her eyes. The adrenaline has to have left her. The downer from that plus the stuff in those syringes has to be tough. I bite my lip.

"I'll make you an appointment, sweetie. Blood work and check up." I want to turn back around and… I don't know. Do something. I'm so pissed at what they did to her I can't see straight. I try to calm down. Lara is safe and has enough sense to hand that stuff over. It's not like she's ever gotten hooked on all the painkillers she's had to be shot up with before.

She makes a face at me, and I make a face back. "We'll figure out an explanation, don't you worry!"

One of the terrible things about what we've gotten mixed up in is trying to explain things without looking like lunatics. Yamatai had been hard enough, but there had been some intense interest from the Japanese government that had give us some credibility. I'm not sure we really have that when it comes to Peru. And today is going to be even harder. I really don't want to get locked up.

"Shaw isn't going to want to publicize this," Lara pointed out. "And we can just say some gang roughed me up. I got away because I'm who I am. I've got the bruises."

I start to protest but Soraya agrees with her. "That'll keep most noses off the trail. Your father had some tricks that will work too and I'll start working on those."

"About my father…"

"Later. I promise."

Lara lays her head back against the seat with a sigh but doesn't push. I don't either. I just want this to all go away for awhile. "If we need to handle the media. Let me do that, okay? It's kind of my area of expertise."

We make it back to the manor after another hour in the car. That hour had been a lot quieter. We'd stopped long enough for me to crawl into the back with Lara. I didn't care how it looked. I just have to be closer to her. I'm able to think about the day a little more clearly now. And my actions throughout it. All of our actions.

I'll never be like Lara, I'll never have a part of me that can just unleash the Kraken on all my enemies. Not in the same way. Sure, I can get pissed and be really vicious if I need to be, but systematically taking down a dozen men isn't one of them. It's not in my nature. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

Lara though. I watch her as we drive. She's deep in thought, probably reflecting like I am. She has an animal inside of her. It was born in the wreck of the Endurance. Honed and bloodied on Yamatai. She just wants to explore, but with those explorations come a lot of dangers we hadn't been expecting.

It takes another hour at the manor before we're all cleaned up. Soraya offers to take the syringes to someone she knows and Winston has already made the arrangements to get Lara checked out. Soup Jesus strikes again.

With food in our bellies, story time and drinks are just going to have to wait. We'll have to trust Soraya to share her stories tomorrow. I want that syringe tested and I want to get Lara into bed. She doesn't put up much of a protest, which is worrisome all on it's own.

I sit on Lara's bed, not bothering to ask why she picked her old bedroom instead of the master. I get it. I know. There's this adorable velveteen rabbit on the pillow. I pick it up and hug it, watching Lara move around the room.

Her eyes tell me everything. This isn't over. This is a puzzle that she's going to crack. She sits next to me and I nuzzle her. "I'm with you. Whatever happens. If they're really trying to locate more things like the Sun Queen then we have to stop it."

Chuckling, Lara snuggles in. She has to be as exhausted as I am. "You saved my life today."

"Pffft. Did not. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Soraya did all the work." We're both dancing around the last bullets of the day. Our fingers thread together and I squeeze her hand.

"I'll try not to make this into a thing," She promises, and I laugh. I'm making good on my promise to make it up to her for what she did on Yamatai, but she did pretty much rescue herself today, no matter what she thinks. But I'll appreciate it if she doesn't make it a thing.

"Next time you rescue me," I tell her. "Like a little trade off." I get off the bed but hold up a finger. I pull my shirt off then help Lara out of hers. We slide under the covers and I rest my head against her shoulder. She has a dozen new bruises and cuts, and I rest my hand on the big scar on her stomach, tracing it lightly. It's calming. I'm the only one that she lets get away with touching or looking at her scars. I'll bet it calms her too.

"I'm sorry." Her voice is soft in my ear. "About what I said. I don't really think we just shag our way out of arguments. I know it's important to you, and it's important to me. I really don't want you to think I don't want it or that you ever pressure me or-"

"Shush." I lift my head and put my finger to her lips. "I'm a horndog and I know it. I've always worried that something was wrong with me." I press my finger harder against her mouth because she wants to protest but I'm not done talking.

"For such a long time sex became just...something I did, because it was just something I did. It was fun but so empty. And then you kissed me and it's like I woke up again." I move my finger, and Lara looks at me with soulful eyes. "It's not empty when it's with you. We had that fight and I was suddenly wondering if I was right all along."

"Oh god…" She looks so crestfallen that I stroke her face. "Sam, I'm so sorry. There's nothing wrong with you. I'm the person that's broken. You weren't wrong about me. I am a killer, an animal...But I'm selfish. I can't let you go. I think about it and the idea kills me."

"Well that's good, because I'm not going anywhere, sweetie. That part of you is...a part of you now, and one that I have to accept, too. But it doesn't make you a bad person or a monster or anything like that." I don't move my eyes from hers and feel her hand on my cheek. I nuzzle it. "I still love you. I love all of you, all the good parts and even the parts you think are bad. And your annoying parts."

That makes her laugh. Sure, there is plenty wrong with both of us. But I don't think there's anything wrong between us now.