Get your own Free Home Page Title: Diversion
Author: Thesseli
Fandom: Tomb Raider
Pairing: Bryce/Hillary
Rating: PG
Summary: How do you keep from driving yourself crazy, worrying
about someone who doesn't worry about anything?
Disclaimer: These characters are the property of Paramount
Pictures, Core Design Ltd., and Eidos Interactive. No money
is
being made, and no electronics experts or guys who look like
Arnold Rimmer were harmed in the writing of this story.
Diversion
"...Mr. Powell is going to tell me where the second tomb
is."
"He is?" asked Bryce. Maybe the connection
between here and wherever
Lara was in Cambodia was bad, and he'd misheard.
"Well, unless he gets my half of the Triangle and kills me.
Which he will not."
He decided then that he hadn't misheard. "I don't
understand."
Bryce could almost hear the smile in her voice when she
answered. "You
don't have to." Then she hung up.
Bryce shook his head wearily and glanced over at his computer
screen --
and nearly jumped out of his skin at the reflection of a tall
figure looming
over him menacingly.
His head whipped around, only to see Hillary, who had crept up
behind
him to eavesdrop on the conversation.
He sagged back in relief. "Bloody hell, Hilly, you
scared me."
The butler exhaled sharply and folded his arms.
"Where's she off to now?"
"Venice, I think."
"You think?" he repeated disapprovingly.
"You didn't bother to find out
for sure?"
"You know Lara, Hilly..."
"Yes. All too well." He frowned and sat
down beside Bryce. "She
sometimes forgets how her actions affect those closest to
her."
Bryce nodded in agreement, but said nothing. He knew
better. When Hillary
got like this, it was usually best to do just that. Let him fuss,
complain, blow
off steam. Listen patiently and quietly. And
afterwards, offer up a diversion...
something to distract his attention, at least for a little while.
"This isn't just another archaeological investigation, you
know," the other man
proclaimed. "It's secret societies, worldwide
conspiracies, and an artifact of
such great power that these people would kill for it without a
second thought."
"Then she's the best person to go up against them,"
stated Bryce.
"Why does she always have to go in alone? Why not take
a SWAT team,
or a small group of well-trained commandos?"
Bryce couldn't help but smile. He knew the real meaning
behind the butler's
words; he felt the same way, but he had long since given up on
trying to talk
Lady Croft out of doing anything she'd already set her mind
to. "Hilly, we
can't always be there to keep her safe. She knows what
she's doing. We
have to trust her."
He paused for a moment, then looked intensely at Bryce.
"...I worry, you
know."
"I know," he replied simply. He moved a little
closer to the other man,
rubbing his arm. "I know how to take your mind off
it."
The butler rolled his eyes. "Please. Do you
think that your amateurish
attempts at seduction are going to make me forget the danger
she's in?"
"Seduction?" Bryce repeated, pulling his hand away in
mock indignation.
"That was the furthest thing from my mind. I was
thinking more along the
lines of some computer games. I've got a new outer space
adventure,
one with lots of explosions and lasers..." He raised
an eyebrow at the
offended expression on Hillary's face. "...unless you want
me to try
another of my 'amateurish attempts at seduction', of
course." He leaned
in, and began to unbutton the other man's shirt. The butler
made no move
to stop him. "Which aren't so amateur, since you give
in to them every
time."
"True," he admitted. He cleared his throat, as if
trying to stay focused on
what he wanted to say. "But that still has no bearing
on the danger Lara's
in."
"She can handle it," Bryce assured him, smiling as he
ran his hand down
the other man's chest, down to the fastening of his trousers.
The butler gazed at him through narrowed eyes. "And
you can handle me?"
"At every opportunity," Bryce declared, leaning forward
for something he
knew would distract his lover even more. He was not
disappointed. He
never was when it came to finding something to occupy Hillary's
mind...or
indeed, any other part of his body.
Because at times like this, Bryce always knew just the sort of
diversion
that both of them needed.
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