13645/A Surrey Christmas

A Surrey Christmas
Date of Scene:	26 December 2022
Location:	Croft Manor <England>
Synopsis:	At Lara's manor in England, she and Steve exchange some Christmas presents.
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Steve Rogers

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Lara Croft has posed:
Christmas Eve in Surrey, England. It snowed just the night before and in to the wee hours of the morning, Lara and Steve had arrived back at the Manor a few days prior for festivities locally. It likely was a bit awkward for Steve, because it's becoming a lot more well known that he's with Lara, romantically, and the public has a way of making a big deal out of these kind of things. BUT, with all of that aside, here and now, the two are finally alone in Lara's bed chamber. A fire is going in the huge fireplace, and a small six foot Christmas tree is lit up on a wall not too far away... of course, it is dwarfed by the thirty foot tall tree downstairs in the grand hall... but, that's a tree for grander purposes.

Dressed in a dark purple sweater, a pair of baggy sports pants, and a pair of slippers, Lara is making her way toward the chairs before the fireplace. She's holding two tea cups and is offering one to Steve, while tucked under her right arm is a wrapped up present box in red white and blue wrapping paper, with a red bow. She smiles to him as she delivers him the tea. "Here... careful, it's quite hot." She says, before curling one leg underneath herself on the edge of the chair. The tea cup for herself is blown upon once before Lara sets it aside on a small table upon its saucer. She then holds the present on her lap and smiles at him.

"Are you ready for this?" She asks, with a slight raise of her dark eyebrows over her brown eyed gaze.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The added publicity is something that Steve Rogers would be fine doing without. But coming as the price of the being involved in Lara's life, it is one that he's fine with paying. And he usually manages pretty well with the press. Not so much out of media savvy but just out of plain honesty and being himself.

But this? A quiet Christmas back at the manor after Lara has discharged her various obligations? This is shaping up to be one of the nicer Christmases that Steve has had. Certainly in awhile.

He takes the tea with a smile and a soft, "Thank you." His eyes shine at the sight of the young woman, reflecting the smile that is already growing.

"I'm not sure quite sure I'll ever be ready. Equal odds it's a sweater, or a mummified monkey's paw or something like that, I'm thinking," he teases.

He has a gift for Lara too, though it is set over beneath the tree at the moment. It's a box about three or four feet long and a foot in the other dimensions, so he set it beneath the tree upon arriving.

Steve takes a sip of the tea before setting it aside on an end table. "Alright, Lady Croft, hit me with it," he says as he leans forward towards her a little.

Lara Croft has posed:
With that present on her lap, Lara just slowly grins with a twinkling happiness in her eyes at what he says back to her. "Close..." She teases him in that calming voice of hers.

Since they'd been spending a lot of time together, Steve was getting to know her through and through. He'd seen her laughing more than she likely ever has laughed before, at various jokes and situations they'd found themselves in, and he'd seen her at her lowest points, the times where she wakes up with terrors haunting her dreams. Steve had helped her through those nights quite a bit, and she was very thankful for it.

"Now temper your expectations... because you know I'm not exactly a toy giver, or a silly gift giver..." She says as she hands the package over to him, and it's one of those presents where you can tell what it is almost instantly, at least to some degree. The clear edges can be felt through the paper. It's a book.

Lara places her hands together then, interlacing her fingers and holding them between her knees as her elbows go on to the tops of her thighs. "You're not easy to shop for, which may be a cliche to tell people, but I wanted something that I hoped would take you back... so to speak." She tells him, her voice ever soft and warm to the ears.

When he unwraps it, he'll find a very, very old looking book, but one in surprisingly good condition. It's bound together with a leather strap that seems to just be there to help keep it closed and better kept.

On it's spine, and cover, it reads 'The Regulations for the Order and Disciplin of the Troops of the United States' and just beneath the name inside the book it says 'Author: Baron Von Steuben: Printed in Philadelphia 1779.'

Lara gives him a moment to soak all of that in before she cracks another small smile. "It's a first edition... it took a bit of work to track one down, but... it's the first book distributed amongst the armies of the United States of America, for the purpose of... well... turning the American troops in to a fighting force that could ... kick the butts of, us, the dreaded British." She grins at him more openly there after.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers takes the wrapped present from Lara, reaching up to brush her cheek and leaning forward to touch a soft kiss to her lips. He settles back into his seat as he hefts it in his hand as if getting an idea of its weight. "Not a monkey's paw. But it could still be the foot from some gigantic duck," he says, trying to think of something else that is larger and flat.

He shines a grateful smile over to her as he unwraps it. "Oh, what do we have here?" he comments aloud as he turns the book over, showing care as he can tell right away the age of it.

Reading the spine one of his eyebrows goes up a little. "Lara, this is wonderful. Thank you. I know the perfect spot for this in my apartment," he comments to her. That Brooklyn apartment above the old boxing gym that SHIELD had gotten him has a lot of Americana decor, with a tendency towards some military pieces.

Steve very carefully opens it up to examine a page or two. He delicately turns the page, touching just the edges or corners. "Thank you, I can tell how much thought you put into this," he tells her as he carefully close it and binds it with the strap again. He leans over to give her another, slightly longer kiss.

"For yours," he says, he picking up his tea cup to take a sip, "Might be best to move over to the tree. There's three actually. Meant to be opened from biggest first, to smallest last."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had returned the kiss, of course, and watched him unveil the book. She grinned at his reaction. "It'd fit well there, yes... I thought that you'd enjoy having something made for General Washington, and his men." She leaves it at that though, and then looks over to the tree. Her grin persists. "Is it a Red Rider Bee Bee gun?" She asks, enunciating that historic Christmas present as though it was the very first time she'd ever said those words before, hitting all the syllables in that special way her accent does. She looks back to him then. "I'm eager to find out."

And with that said, Lara rises up gracefully from her chair and steps past him, brushing her hand over his cheek as she steps toward the tree.

Beside it now, she leans down to pull the present out from under the tree some, gliding it across the deep red felt tree skirt, then she bends at the knees and lowers down to a squat beside it. She looks over at him.

"I'm sure it's not a cat or a dog, at least, so that's good." She teases him softly before she finally sits down on her left side and extends her legs out beside her as she starts to unwrap the present carefully preserving the paper and trappings covering it. She's quick at it though, like she solve the puzzle of how it was sealed up within seconds...

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve rises from his chair, taking another sip of the hot tea. He likes his with a dash of milk, apparently something he picked up from Peggy Carter during the war. He follows Lara over to the tree, crouching down to sit on his heels beside her as she pulls the larger present out.

As she asks him if it's a Red Rider, one of the man's eyebrows rises slightly in curiosity. It's an expression Lara has learned is likely to happen when there's some reference he doesn't get.

"No, it's not. You'd shoot your eye out," Steve replies with a completely straight face.

He breaks out in a grin then. "Clint," he says in explanation of who made him watch A Christmas Story. It seems Clint has been for Steve a frequent source of those kinds of things. Office Space. Dog Cops.

Along with the larger box, there are two much smaller wrapped presents, one about the dimensions of a book, the other similar to that but smaller.

Steve watches with his own bit of excitement as Lara opens the present. Seeing someone you care about greatly opening a present for them is such a wonderful part of Christmas!

As Lara removes the wrapping paper carefully, she finds that the large box contains a metal detector. The kind that guys in shoes with socks walk around sweeping the beach with, looking for coins or someone's lost watch. This one is a rather nice model, at that.

"I remembered you mentioning you might like to give one of these a try," Steve tells her. "And of course, you need somewhere to use it, so..." he hands over the book-sized present. When she's opened it, she see it is a pictorial history of the frontier days of the East Coast. "Apparently the author is pretty well regarded among historians. And, the part I thought fit well, not only does he cover trade routes and wars and places of interest, but he has photos of each of them, which should make it easier to find them if you wanted to do some exploring at them," Steve tells her.

Lara Croft has posed:
Once Lara has the package unveiled enough to see what lies within it, she's already laughing softly. She moves the paper and ribbons aside, clearing it off as she turns it around to get the face of the box, labeled with all its features that her eyes roam down quickly before she looks to the other two packages. She'll open them next, as he talks, and she runs her hands over what she reveals.

"I love it." She tells him, her eyes going back over to him beside her, and she leans over against him, holding the guides open in front of her, smiling down at them. "You know I'll want to do this at every location. It's part of my 'programming' that I must uncover all the secrets." She says before she looks over to her right, and up at his eyes. "All of them." She says, a big smile making her face light up before she leans up to kiss him again. "Thank you." She says before touching lips to his.

When they part again, she looks back to the gifts. "This is probably far safer treasure hunting than is my typical endeavors too..." She says in a bit dryer tone of her voice.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Which, trying to keep you out of danger, surely did not play into my thoughts on it," Steve says in a voice full of assurance though his blue eyes twinkle a bit.

The man moves to sit behind Lara, sliding his arms around her to hold her as she takes the third present in hand. He gently rests his chin against her shoulder to watch as she opens it. Maybe holding her like that is foreshadowing for the present itself.

As Lara carefully preserves the wrapping paper. which is a midnight blue adorned with silver snowflakes, she reveals a framed photo. "May had taken this and showed it to me. I asked her if she could get me a copy of it," Steve says quietly.

The photo is at the airfield at the Triskelion and shows Steve and Lara together. Lara is wearing snug fitting dark pants and a top. Steve is in khakis and a t-shirt with a leather jacket overtop. He's carrying bags, which would help her place it as their return from New Guinea.

In the photo, Steve is pretty much just Steve. He's generally a bit photogenic so looks good enough. But it's an amazing photo of Lara. Her hair looks a bit windblown and she has an excited look on her face. The camera captured one of those moments that Lara was talking about something that she has great passion for, and it definitely shows in the photo.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara adjusts her seated position some to accomodate him being behind her now, her legs now crossed beneath her as she unwraps that last gift. She turns it over to view the picture within the frame, and she soaks up the details of it. It makes her smile quite warmly too, as she runs her fingers down the edge of the frame, then folds the paper up to set it aside on the other folded piles she'd left upon the floor under the tree.

"I remember this moment." She says softly to him. "I was rambling at you about the trip, and how it'd gone a lot better than I initially thought it would. I was eager to put together all my thoughts, and results from the recovery of the satellite pieces, as well as the experiences with the tribe itself."

She turns to look at him then, and leans back in his arms. "Thank you for coming along. I... wish I'd had you on all of my outings. I imagine many of them would've gone quite a lot better, to say the least." She lingers a stare at him, then smiles once more and glances back down at the picture held before her. "Now I have to find the right place for this..."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve's arms hold Lara close as they sit by the Christmas tree. It's twinkling lights combining with those of the fireplace, and a few candles here and there around the room.

"I wish I could have been there on your other expeditions too," he tells her. "I'll do my best to be there for them from now on," he says, as near to a promise as he can make. "And I don't think you were rambling. You're especially beautiful when you're talking about your work, about history, about the mysteries you're trying to uncover. I think May had some amazing timing in capturing it when she did," he says. Steve's hand brushes gently over Lara's arm and leg as he sits with his arms around her.

"So," Steve says, pausing a moment as if in thought. "There was one other present that I know is meant for you. But apparently it is a little late in arriving. I'm not sure if we'll be here still for you to see it when it arrives, it might have to wait for your return. Would you rather hear about it now, or wait and be surprised the next time back here?"

Lara Croft has posed:
There's some nice Christmas music playing on an old, still in great condition, record player not too far away on a table. It's playing 'Baby it's cold outside', don't tell anyone!

Lara just smiled at what he'd said back to her, but then was laughing softly at his question there at the end. "Uh... well. I'd probably choose to know, rather than not... know. Besides, I'm sure Winston would ring me up and let me know precisely what had arrived before my return visit, less you've gotten to him already." She shows a quick grin at him then.

"And you know, I have another present for you too, but it's the kind you have to unwrap carefully." She arches one eyebrow at the man she's leaning in to, and she pinches her baggy dark sweater to fan herself with it a little, suggesting what he might know to be something hidden beneath.

She grins at him again then, but nods her head once. "But yes, please tell me now, rather than later. Since you're desperately trying to spoil me with all of these great gifts."

Steve Rogers has posed:
As Lara makes a joke of the possibility of Steve Rogers having gotten to her chamberlain who keeps the house, Steve's expression is so absolutely angelic, or at least is meant to be, that it's pretty obvious that yes. Winston and Steve may have conspired in this endeavor.

Though hearing of another present she has for him, and the hint as to its nature presents a certain distraction for Steve's thoughts. Should Lara have any doubts about the effect she has on him, she'd need only see his expression and the way his eyes follow her gesture with the clothing to know how immeasurably she is able to move him.

A few seconds pass before Steve is able to return his mind to the subject of another gift for Lara. Dean Martin's voice fills the gap from the record player, trying to convince them it's too cold to go.

But regain his focus Steve eventually does. "This one I can't take credit for. But it's from people who I've come to notice have a growing love for you," Steve says, leaning close to nuzzle a kiss to Lara's cheek and then down to her throat before he straightens his head to continue.

"Winston had mentioned the renovations on the stable were completed to the point it could start housing horses again. I happened to mention that when we were in town. When you'd gone with the little girl to see the snowman they'd built outside, and I was talking to the other people there outside the restaurant," Steve explains. "Well, one of them when he heard you were going to have a stable, promised you for Christmas the foal that his horse is pregnant with. Apparently they didn't wait for spring and it's expected anytime in the next week or two."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's grin crosses in to a momentary wicked place before she softens up again to listen to his little tale of bringing more life to the Manor's grounds. Her eyebrows raise up first, then she smiles at the thought of what he's suggesting. "That would be perfect. We've been restoring the stables for a couple months now, I believe they're all finished, but we still haven't gotten anywhere toward bringing horses in to it. We have to hire some caretakers for them, and I can't imagine we'd have more than two... maybe three. The stables houses six, but I don't think we need to go quite that far."

She glimmers another grin before she reaches up to touch the side of his face. "If it does come to live here, then we'll have to think up a good name for them." She tells him before leaning forward to give him another peck on the lips, the picture frame resting on her lap now as she leans there against him in front of the Christmas tree.