...and that's just what she did. Her feet were up on the edge of the balcony with music playing from inside her room, a glass of wine on the table paired with a bowl of popcorn and the script in her hands. This was her method - music, wine, popcorn or any other salty snack, a view (most of the time) and nothing else. Unlike most other actors, the music helped her concentrate and memorize everything. Reading over the scene on the paper in her hands, Laura popped another kernel in her mouth and played out the scene like she had it in her mind. She could see Magellan on the steel table getting the attention of a good doctor. She could see him treating her wound that Izel caused and stopping the blood from spilling out. She could feel his hands as they left the rag behind and brushed over the curve of her back onto her shoulder and down to her hand. She could see all of it in her mind and hoped it was going to play that well on the camera too. Picking up her glass of wine, Laura also grabbed the remote for the stereo, positioning it behind her to turn up the volume.

"Dude!" Ross came out of his room and leaned over the full wall between their rooms. "Turn it down."

"Nope. Not going to happen," she told him straight out, giving him a glance before going back to her script line by line.

"But it's distracting, Laur," he whined, his head sagging down. "I need quiet."

"And I need the music," she countered back, the drink flowing down her throat.

"How you can do that, I will never understand."

Laura smirked back at him before turning back to her script. She wasn't expecting him to jump over the wall and onto her balcony, but then again, she wasn't complaining either. "Not turning the music off," she still told him before he reached over her for the remote and turned it off himself.

"Ah, much better," he closed his eyes, the silence surrounding him again. "So, Magellan, how's that wound?"

She rolled her eyes, before becoming suddenly aware of just how close he was. What was going on? She never would have pushed him away before - because they were friends; best friends. Now, after their "date" last night, her body was sending her mixed signals and pushing him away now, she instantly regretted it. He pulled up the seat next to her, his feet up on the edge of the balcony right next to hers and enjoyed the view of Table Mountain. She watched as he didn't wait for her answer and instead got up and went back inside to her room, making some noise in the kitchen. Her eyes darted back to the script in her hands, going over the lines again and making sure she was retaining them. He would ask her how the wound was and she'd reply: "It hurts like hell."

"Izel's always had a stick up her ass," Ross came back onto the balcony, uttering the next line in the scene. "I'm sorry she did this to you. To Amunet," he looked out towards the view, his emotions overwhelming the scene. "I promise you he'll be okay. Sarah is a terrific doctor."

"But you don't like that type of medicine," she said, her voice softer as she imagined his hands on her skin and underneath her shirt.

"You're right, I don't, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work for some people. I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off."

Laura glanced back at the script and re-read the lines again. "Sorry, can we start that again? I want to do it differently."

"Sure," Ross nodded, gulping down the bottle of water he had grabbed from her kitchen. "From the top?"

So they did just that - five more times. Five more times that she read the lines differently and each time she didn't like how she was saying them or how she was performing them. They weren't hard lines; she knew them. She had known them by heart the second time they read through the scene and frustration was getting the best of her. Laura pulled her hair up from her face and her legs came down from the balcony ledge as she let out a short huff.

"Breathe, Laura," he told her. "What aren't you liking about what we just did?"

"I don't know. I don't know if it's because we're just out here or I need to be on set or what. I think I need to actually feel like we're filming the scene for this one. Any other one, I'd be fine."

He didn't wait for her to go on after that. He just grabbed her hand and tossed the script aside on the balcony, leaving it next to her wine glass and popcorn. Taking her inside the room, he left her in the living room as he closed off the balcony with the amazing view that she didn't know was even part of her problem. Turning back to her, Ross discarded his shoes and threw them to the side before his hands came straight to the edge of her shirt.

"What are you doing?" she stepped back.

"Taking your shirt off," he told her and her eyes went even wider. "Look. You just said you needed to feel like you were on set. Your wardrobe is part of your set."

"You're still not taking my shirt off," she put her hands over his and placed them back at his side.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before."

"Excuse me?"

"You do know what you wore that weekend right? That 'shirt'," he airquoted. "Everything was on full display Laura."

"Are you kidding me right now? We're about to go over our lines for a love scene and you're telling me that me taking my shirt off is going to help? And don't get me started on you being all protective over me and what I was wearing almost three weeks ago isn't the issue here!"

"You just said," Ross stopped himself before he said something he regretted. "Let's just get started on the scene. Again. Sit down." He pointed to the sofa and before she could even do just that, he pulled her with him and turned her so she was facing away from him just like the scene called for.

"You're getting rough."

She felt him lean closer to her, whispering into her ear. "How's your wound feel Magellan?"

Suddenly she was very aware of just how close he was to her and how she could feel every breath he was taking, every touch he was giving her. She turned her head ever so slightly, catching just a glimpse of his mouth before her eyes darted up to his eyes. "It hurts like hell."

His hand left the place on her side and skimmed up her bare arm towards where her wound would be tomorrow. Fingers feathered over her, giving her goosebumps along the way and sent a shiver down her spine. This is what she pictured with Magellan and Rory - the sensual start to the love scene; not the heated, rough and wild one she imagined if it was her and Ross. No, Magellan and Rory were the careful ones here; the ones that had fallen in love and even with a comatose person lying in the same room, gave in to their emotions.

"Izel's always had a stick up her ass," he recited the line, his hand now lying softly on her shoulder. "I'm sorry she did this to you. To Amunet, but I promise you he'll be okay. Sarah is a terrific doctor."

Her breath hit a sudden stop as Ross pulled her back into his frame. "But you don't like that type of medicine," she leaned back into him, twisting just so to see his full face and not just half of it.

"You're right, I don't, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work for some people." She saw Ross stop, his eyes flickering between her own orbs and her lips. He wasn't focusing on her shoulder anymore and he needed to. Instead, she saw him lick his own lips again in response to her and just like that, he stood up from the sofa, letting his hands drop from her being and she suddenly felt very alone.

Laura watched Ross brush his hands through his hair and grab the water bottle off the coffee table forcefully. She didn't know if she should move or stay or to just call it a night and see what would happen tomorrow while they were filming. He turned back then and started up again.

"That's what I'm going to have Rory do," he explained. "He's going to leave and come back just as quickly. He can't resist her."

"Good to know."

"So, I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off."

Laura looked back at him, confusion over taking her face again. "Didn't we just..."

"I need to get to the wound and your shirt is getting in the way."

She nodded, surprising both herself and him by lifting up her thin red shirt and exposing her very lacy, very revealing and very red bra. It didn't cover everything either; she knew he was within reach and could see all that the bra covered, and all that it didn't; the lace only covered half of her breast and she was a bit scared that if she didn't control her breathing, he'd get full view of everything. Biting her lip, she tried to avoid Ross' reaction, because if she saw it, she might not have made it to the next part of the scene. She didn't see his eyes almost pop out of their sockets of the satisfied smirk on his lips. She didn't even hear him mutter 'holy crap' under his breath.

"Is that better?" she asked, her arms now crossed across over her breasts just like she'd be doing in the scene tomorrow, seeing as she'd be completely topless then. She did hear him gulp as her breasts came closer together and showed off even more cleavage than she thought she was capable of. Thank you, Agent Provocatuer.

He nodded at her, his hand covering her shoulder again, and kneading it into a light massage that sent more shivers through her. "You're lucky this isn't deeper," he hold her, his head tilting into hers. "This is where we kiss," he whispered as himself and not as Rory.

"Mmhmm," Laura nodded, her forehead rubbing against his own. "Are we going to?"

"Hell yea," Ross didn't waste any time after that, and captured her lips with his.

They were supposed to be kissing as their characters; as these two people who were taken away from everything they knew and thrown together to save a planet from some sort of doom. They were supposed to be these characters who were giving into all their bottled up and tense emotions about each other.

They were not, however, supposed to be Ross and Laura, two people who were actually in almost the same situation as Rory and Magellan. Of course, they didn't disappear off the face of the Earth, but they were in another country without their families for four months. Laura didn't know when she left Magellan behind or when Ross stopped being Rory, all she knew was that they hadn't stopped kissing for twenty minutes and their positions had changed from sitting on the sofa to him on top of her. Her hands trailed up his chest, pulling at his staple white tee shirt he always wore and his were roaming around her silky skin, with one trailing up into her hair. The sensations he was giving her were never going to leave her, and she didn't think she ever wanted them to. They were good sensations, ones that she could stand to feel forever, possibly for the rest of her life. Did she really just think that?

Opening her eyes, Laura broke their kiss apart. She had planned to stop what they were doing right there, but he obviously didn't want to and even though she didn't either, they had to. His lips went right on down her body - from her mouth to her chin to her neck and to just between her breasts. A low moan escaped her, and she fought against everything she wanted. She wanted him to continue, wanted his lips all over her, wanted to feel everything all at once; and she knew right then - she wanted Ross. She wanted him to make love to her just as much as she wanted to make love to him. She wanted to show him just what they could be together...but tonight was not that night.

"Ross," she breathed out his name. "We have to stop."

His eyes snapped open then and his lips stopped moving on her body. Dammit.

"You want to stop?" he asked, but made no motion to move from her.

Laura looked back at him and didn't know what to say then. She wanted this so bad, but she didn't want to compromise anything between them. At least not yet, not now. Not when their emotions were this high and they were preparing for a love scene, of all things. It was turn then to kiss his face with soft, fleeting caresses on his cheek and her hands dragged down his chest to the edge of his shirt. She wanted to take it off of him and feel his skin against hers; wanted to feel his hands all over her; wanted to memorize every crease of his abs...Laura broke off her kiss again. "We have to, we have to stop," she backed up then, trying to sit up and away from him.

"Okay, okay," he backed up as well, leaning back on the sofa while she slipped her shirt back on. "I wish we didn't."

Laura looked over at him as her hands curled against the edge of the sofa. She didn't want to stop either but still didn't know whether he was talking about them as Rory and Magellan or as Ross and Laura, and to be perfectly honest, she was scared to find out. Even though she wanted it to happen more than anything right now, they were still filming a movie and finding what was real and what was for the film was tricky. "We'll get to do more tomorrow. I mean, Rory and Magellan have this passionate love scene and we just gave them some excellent foreplay." What the hell are you talking about, Marano?

"I see," he nodded before getting up from his spot on the sofa. "You thought that was our characters."

"Wasn't it?" Please say no.

Grabbing his shoes on the ground, Ross let them dangle from his fingers and she watched him let out a deep breath before turning around. "Sure, Laura. It was for Rory and Magellan. I'll see you tomorrow on set."

And with that, he walked out of her door and she suddenly felt like the world had stopped. Grabbing the pillow that was next to her, she pulled it to her face and screamed into it. It would take only two seconds to run out her door, stop him from going into his own room and jump him right there. Think about the movie, Laura. Sometimes, her head could be such a bitch.

+++

"I'm sorry, explain this to me again," Godfrey leaned over the table, his hands leaving the warm cup of coffee he was sipping on for Ross' story about last night's events. "You and Laura kind of, finally happened and she thought it was for your scene today and then you didn't confess everything and left?"

"Pretty much."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he shook his head as Eion and Chen came to join them. "You have this girl, this fucking amazing woman in your grasp and you don't go for it? Ross!"

"I know, I know," he ran his hand through his hair again, messing up what the hair department already fixed three times before. "It's Laura though. She's one of my best friends, if not my only best friend. I've known her since I was fifteen. She knows almost everything about me and I know everything about her. How she laughs when she's nervous and how when she cries, it's with her whole body; how her smile can literally light up a room and..."

"And you just turned into the definition of a girl, man," Eion said, hot liquid pouring down his throat.

"It sounds like you've always been in love with her," Chen said, stating the obvious to him.

Ross thought about his words. He never really had thought about it before. Was he in love with her? Ten years. He had known her for ten years and sure, he had had girlfriends along the way and some were amazing girlfriends, but as he thought about them right now, he was honest and none of them really compared to her. She wasn't just the best best friend; she was the one girl he would always go to, the one who he thought of when he was around something he knew she liked. Maybe he was in love with her...all he knew was that last night after the moment their lips first touched again, he wasn't Rory. He was Ross.

They had kissed before, many many times as Austin and Ally. But those kisses were different - they were Disney kisses and weren't as passionate as these new ones were. Those were mere pecks compared to the one last night. The one last night was like he was getting lost in her and if he had to be lost, he'd want it to be with her or in her. When he was playing Austin, he was still a teenager and also had a girlfriend then. While those kisses meant something to Austin, none of them made a deep impact on him as Ross. This time around though...it was a completely different story.

"Ross, on set in ten." He lifted his head to the assistant who called his name and got up from his seat.

"Woah, woah, woah," Godfrey stopped him. "In love? Not in love?"

"Tell you in a week," Ross finished off his water and sent the empty cup to the trash can just beside the table, leaving his cast mates in the wonderment of their lives. Yeah, he would tell them in a week, when he had it all figured out himself.

Meeting up with Nikki, who was possibly the best groomer for the guys on set, she got him ready for the scene ahead - the scene where he'd be kissing Laura again. Wait no, it would be Magellan. While he tried to convince his mind that was the case, it wasn't happening. Who was he kidding? He wanted it to be Laura, not the character she was playing, even though he was convinced she didn't want them to be anything else. Not after last night.

"You're all set," Nikki told him with a bright smile.

"Thanks Nikki," he said, making his way off to set and immediately finding her on the table getting more fake blood applied to her shoulder; the same blood he was about to clean off of her. David was on the opposite end of the room, getting in position for a nice long nap. Turning back to Laura again, she caught his eye and quickly looked away. He was sure that today would go okay, he was making himself believe that. She was Magellan, he was Rory and that was it.

Two takes in, they weren't doing anything right. Everything was awkward, foreheads were knocking together, he was smearing the fake blood on her shoulder the wrong way, not to mention David actually falling asleep during the second take. Yep, this was going as planned.

"Cut!" Stevenson called and walked over to them, telling Alex to stay put in video village. "Okay. You two did run the scene last night right?" he looked between them as they exchanged tell-all looks. "At least you did that. What's the problem then?"

"Um," she started off before he cut her off.

"We ran the scene really late last night. It's a sleep thing."

Stevenson laughed. "Bullshit," he took off his glasses for a moment and wiped them off. "Here's what I'm going to do to get you back in the mood. After this scene, you're never going to see each other again. Make this count."

Ross backed up and circled around the room, letting the director's words sink in. He was never going to see her again. Never again. Okay, he was ready.

"Rolling...and action!"

He placed the cool rag on her shoulder once more, soaking up the red liquid and hearing her hiss at the pain she was meant to be feeling. "You're lucky this isn't deeper."

"Yea, I guess I am."

"Really, really lucky," he whispered, the rag slipping between them and landing on the floor. Never going to see her again. He kissed her then, not urgently, but sensually with his hands cupping her face and trying to bring her even closer than she was. He could feel the skin of her exposed breasts rub against his elbows. Still standing next to her on the table, Ross let his right arm go behind her and settle on her waist and this time, he truly did pull her closer.

"Rory," she breathed out his name and bit on his bottom lip. "What are we doing?"