Note: A friend of mine made this tumblr for this story, and it features all the images I've been brainstorming with for most of the chapters posted. In case you actually wanted to see the cast's costumes, the dress Laura wore on their date, etc. Link is in my bio

When Laura was a little girl and she stayed with her grandparents over the holidays, her grandmother would tell her the most romantic stories. They were the true fairy tales of love, friendship and life and Laura always wished she could've seen them happen in her own eyes. She recalled one of her favorites that her grandmother told her about the first time she held her grandfather's hand.

He squeezed it so tight I thought I'd have to have my favorite ring cut off of my hand. Luckily, I didn't.

Laura remembered the whole story almost word for word. Her grandmother told her, her sister and their cousins how his palms were sweaty, how he stumbled and grabbed onto her wrist instead and how he was so nervous to hold her hand that he wouldn't stop talking about the weather. This was back in the day when hand holding was the definition of romance. It was when hand holding meant something more than a kiss, more than making love. It meant that the guy was telling everyone and anyone that he was your guy and in turn, you were telling the world you were his girl. It meant that you were now part of a couple. Holding hands, interlocking fingers and squeezing tightly was the thing we did with the person we like the most. It's telling the world that this is happiness, and that's exactly what she was feeling right now.

Their fingers were locked and his thumb was lightly rubbing over her own as they wandered into town; it was happiness, pure happiness and even if she got the absolute worst news in the next minute, if the world was ending in five minutes, she would die the happiest person on the planet. Because she was with him and he was holding her hand.

He walked on her left side, like a gentleman would do and protected her from the street. They walked and walked and walked, passing by restaurants that they saw lines coming out of and others that were closed up, although she was starving like Livhu had been spooked every time Stevenson yelled cut on the Karoo set (note: it was every time and Livhu was a noise maker). Then again, she was okay with walking a bit with him. She had held hands with him before, but it wasn't like it was now. Back then, it was about making sure they both didn't get lost in the sea of fans or it was about them getting as close as possible for Austin & Ally cast photos. This was about them being a couple, an official couple and going out, kind of, on an official date...and it was nice. As Ross and Laura. Not as Rory and Magellan.

"Is this a restaurant?" Ross nodded over to her side, breaking her out of her thoughts. She looked over and peered in the hole in the wall place and just as she was about to say no and pull him along to the next place, the scent of some damn good braai hit her nose.

"If it isn't, I don't care. I'm not above prying that heavenly braai from out of whoever is cooking it's hands."

"There's my Marano," Ross pulled her hand up and kissed it before they walked in and yea, it was definitely an eatery of some sort. They saw a few others spread around the place, sitting on colorful benches and chairs with a deep African beat echoing off the gray walls. Heading up to the counter in the back, he asked about the braai cooking and pulled her off to a random table after that.

Laura remembered her grandmother telling her about the time her grandfather opted to sit right next to her instead of across the table. In fact, he still did it to this day, because in his words, there's no reason for me not to be next to her. But Ross was different. He did sit across from her only to hold on more tightly to both her hands and played major footsie with her under the table. Glancing up quickly, Laura double blinked at the amount of plates the waitress who Ross spoke with was bringing their way. "How much did you exactly order?" she asked as the girl started to unload the plates from her hands. It wasn't that she couldn't eat all that was on the plates alone, it was that she had to share and splitting it up evenly was something she didn't want to do.

"Um, apparently five plates worth," Ross smirked. "Didn't know it would be this much. But it's not like we can't eat it. I know you can." She kicked him playfully under the table for that one.

"Water is here, and milk as well," the girl announced, coming back with a few glasses for them. "You'll need the milk for these two plates which are extremely spicy. The others are mild, so water. Enjoy."

"Extremely spicy?" He raised an eyebrow, picking one of the kabobs up and letting it float between them. "You first."

Laura eyed him, silently accepting the challenge with no hesitation. Leaning over the table, she took the braai stick from his hands in her mouth, a bit of the sauce slipped down her lips. She chewed the piece slowly, and hoped her attempt at teasing him was paying off. Her sandal-ed feet were still locked in his and she made them lock even tighter as the spice her her throat. The waitress with no name tag was right - there was definitely an extreme kick of spice. It wasn't just hot. It was tangy and made her taste buds dance like they were doused with rain of fire. Her tongue tingled with new sensations she hadn't tasted before just as it turned a bit sour. She squeezed her lips together against the feeling and reached for the milk. The minute the cool liquid his her lips, she was better. Thank God for the milk.

"Not bad," she shook her head from side to side, picking up another spicy braai and pointed it towards him. "Your turn." That should be enough for him to want to inhale the food and get back to the hotel for round...what was it now? Eight? Eight.

+++

They had finished all, or at least most of the extremely spicy braai they ordered. It was something he even contemplated putting on his resume under special skills. Eating that much spice in under an hour had to count for something. Ross didn't even know when he started keeping time in how fast they could eat them all, he was just more impressed that his girlfriend could definitely handle some major spice and maybe, just maybe win a couple of eating contests with her skill. Girlfriend: that's what she was to him now. She wasn't just his on-screen love interest or his best friend or one half of the 'Raura' ship. No, she was more. Laura was always more. She was his girlfriend; his now, one and only and maybe she would be the last he'd ever have.

Lacing his fingers in and out of her own, Ross couldn't help but keep looking at her as they roamed around the open market that was filled with little shops with even littler knick-knacks and souvenirs for tourists and locals alike. It was noisy, but not overcrowded inside, but nonetheless, he still pulled her as close as he could possibly get her. He wasn't letting her out of his sight until they had to go back to work the next day. Speaking of, that's something they had to talk about. Do they hide this new relationship or do they tell everyone? As much as he wanted to tell everyone, there was that pool that he dipped into. "So, I have a weird question," he got her attention while they headed out to the boardwalk.

"I don't think there's any question you've ever asked that wasn't weird."

"Ha ha ha," he poked fun at her. "You know I'm in this, all in and I don't want you to think that I'm not."

"Okay..."

"Not sure if you know this, but there's a pool going around the movie about you and me," he nervously confessed, biting his bottom lip. "And I might be in on it." He didn't know how she would take it. Would she be like his previous girlfriends and freak out about the little things like this or would she brush it off? He had to remind himself again, this was Laura. The coolest girl that he would ever meet and be lucky to be around. This was the girl who he subconsciously compared everyone too.

"Yea, I know about the pool. Jenna told me after the night you got wasted on karate water."

"I did not get wasted," he argued.

"Yes, Ross, yes you did. The brandy went straight to your head. It always does. You were such a goner from the first whiff."

"I don't remember anything about that."

"Which is exactly the point of karate water," Laura said, starting to swing their linked arms on their walk.

Ross was telling the truth, he didn't remember much about that night. The only thing he did remember was that she had worn the most revealing top and he couldn't stop thinking about it. He still had dreams about it, and had imagined what the top would look like on the floor of his bedroom - something that had come true last night and he had been more than happy to see everything off of her. "Anyhow, about the pool..."

"How do you know about it?" she cut him off.

"Nikki. Nikki knows everything and well, I...I'm also in on it," he told her again, just in case she didn't hear that part.

"Wait, what?" she stopped their arms, stopped walking and yanked him back before he walked off without her. "You're in on it?"

"Yea. She let it slip one day while everyone else was in wardrobe and I sort of put money in just to be a part of it."

"What?"

"But no one knows it's me. It's under Nikki's name," he quickly explained, pulling her over to an empty bench on the boardwalk to sit down on. "My date is this Wednesday and before you cut me off and think that we only happened because of that, I'm going to tell you that that is complete bullshit and you're wrong. I've wanted you for a long time even though I would not admit that to anyone, not even myself. I actually forgot about the pool until this morning, after you left my place and I looked at the date."

Half of her leg was bunched against the back of the bench, the other hanging over the side and she let her arm rest on the back of the bench with her hand lightly brushing his shoulder. Laura ran her other hand through her hair before resting it on his leg and squinted against the glare of the sun that ricocheted off a surfer's board passing by. "How much?"

"How much what?"

"How much did you put in?"

"A grand."

"You only bet a grand on us?" she playfully hit his leg.

"Sheesh, Laur," he rubbed the spot where she hit him before grabbing her hand again. "And yea. I didn't really know if we would start anything and when it would be...and are we really arguing about a silly pool?"

"Yes, we are because I wish I had got in on it," she confessed, their fingers itching to play a thumb war. "So, that means if we wait until Wednesday, you'd make what...$8,000?"

"Around that, yea. Do you think you could actually keep this a secret?"

"Hey, I can keep a secret."

"Oh, bull. Season four. You totally and single handedly, I might add, ruined the surprise party for Heath and Kevin."

Laura's mouth dropped open. He knew he got her there because she had really turned into Dez Wade and dropped all the secrets to them right in front of him. He remembered it well, having to scramble and rearrange the entire thing just two days before for the creators of Austin & Ally. He also remembered not telling her anything after that and insisted on picking her up so she wouldn't ruin it again.

"I remember saying your name every ten seconds and you still couldn't stop blurting out everything."

"It wasn't my fault. I didn't even know they were right beside me."

"They were always beside you, or me, or Calum and Raini. Always," he emphasized and kept a straight face as she pulled out her pout. "Oh, no. You're not pulling that on me."

"I remember apologizing for this five years ago."

"You did, but now...I think you can do better."

Laura leaned forward and gave him a kiss, pulling at his bottom lip. "And I think you can do better for making me feel guilty again and getting in on a pool about us."

Ross let his head drop and he looked back up at her. "I'm pretty sure we can find a way to both make up for everything," he snuck in another kiss. "So, you think you can hold off until Wednesday?"

"Only if," she nuzzled her nose against his. "Only if we spend the rest of the day making up for the lost ones and once we win this money...at least half goes to a local charity."

"We? Don't you mean I?"

"Nope. From now on, you and I are a 'we'."

Ross opened his eyes more, staring down at her and her tempting lips. He could easily see down the shirt she chose to wear out, but that wasn't what he was interested at the moment. He would be later on, just not right now. "I like 'we'. What do we do with the rest of the money?"

"Oh," she straightened up, backing away from his mouth before he could kiss her again like he had intended to. "That goes to your parents for their future Cape Town vacation."

"This, this is why you are my girlfriend."

Three days. That was 72 hours of no hand holding, no kissing, no doing anything to tick off any of their cast mates or any crew about their relationship...and she was dying. Sure, they had gotten together during the nights and that was great, but she when she said she wanted to go up to Table Mountain and shout it from there that she was Ross' girlfriend, she was serious.

+++

"Did you hear that before we leave, we're going on an excursion or something?"

"I did! I hope it's a safari. I really want to go on one."

"I'd rather go see the penguin colony."

Laura vaguely heard what Jenna, Lala and Summer were talking about, but wasn't really paying attention. She was more concentrated on just when Ross was getting back so she could break the news and show off that he was her boyfriend; that they were finally a couple. The moment she had seen Jenna on set on Monday, she wanted to blurt it all out. She wanted to tell her movie bestie everything and all the details because she was not calling up her sister who was a day behind everything and it would cost her an arm and leg for the call itself. She didn't think Vanessa would be very appreciative of her rambling about Ross and the details of their new sex life anyhow, although she had been hearing about Vanessa's for years. Biting her lip and holding tight on her coffee cup, Laura was brought out of her trance by said movie bestie.

"What kind of excursion do you think it is, Laura?"

"Hmm? Um, I have no idea."

"You seem a little lost today, are you alright?" Jenna sipped her tea, eyeing her a bit suspiciously, but Laura brushed her off.

"Yea, totally fine. Just preparing myself for the big scene today with Karen." It wasn't a lie. There was a big scene and she was mentally preparing herself, just not as much as she was mentally preparing herself to jump into Ross' arms as soon as she saw him. It was actually the scene where Izel takes out all her frustration on Magellan and there's absolutely no one around to save her...until Ridayh comes out of no where and saves the day. It was the turning point for her character, and Milo's as well, where she knew exactly how to get back; how to get them all back to where they came from.

"That's right, you and Karen are finally going to fight it out," Summer said. "I'm so getting a front row seat for that."

Laura smirked at her comment. For the day, the cast, minus Brian and Gale, were back in Little Karoo and at the moment, half of them were off filming bits and pieces for the sequence which left only her, Summer, Jenna and Lala chilling out for the moment before they were called on set.

"And I get to be her knight in shining armor," Milo came up from behind her and gave her a wink.

"And that's when I exploit all your power to get back to my own time."

"That's my girl." Laura swirled around in her seat as soon as she heard his voice. Dressed up as Rory, Ross was without his boxy shirt, but with a few new cuts and scrapes on his face and it took all of her not to fling herself at him. His mouth was the only thing she was concentrating on, ignoring all the rest of the cast talking around her. It was killing her that she couldn't just lean up and kiss them senseless right then and there. It wasn't like she hadn't over the past few days. In fact, every chance she got, hers were on his - even in between running lines with each other and when they came upon a scene with Magellan and Rory, she was the one adding kisses everywhere. On his lips, on his neck, on his nose, on his hand... Only a few more hours, Laura. Only a few more hours.

"Can you believe we only have a few weeks left here?" Milo broke her thoughts and she swung back around as Ross placed his hands on her shoulders, gently rubbing them.

"We were just talking about that. Rumor is that we're going on an excursion before we leave. We've been brainstorming ideas."

"Like safari type excursion?" Ross asked, his interest definitely caught. "I'd so be in for that."

"Jenna was thinking a spa. I was hoping for the penguins, and we're still waiting on Laura's."

"You haven't chosen yet?"

She shrugged her shoulders against his. "I hadn't really thought about it, to be honest. I mean, I flew a plane here so I think that takes care of my excursion requirement."

"There has to be something," Jenna urged.

Laura bit her lip, trying to think of something other than the typical safari, or visiting the cute, but stinky penguin colony and then, she just had it. "Well, cage diving would be cool."

"Are you kidding me?" Lala asked, leaning over the table. "You, Laura Marano, want to go diving with the most feared fish on the planet?"

Laura might be small and look like she's a big scaredy cat, but it was quite the opposite. After booking First Aid, she remembered arriving in Savannah and as a bonding thing, the full cast went on a mud run before taking on the ziplines. It was fun and her full sense of adventure was born in that city. People typically don't think of Savannah as adventurous. They think of it as romantic and full of charm, which is was, but she'd always know it as the place she truly grew a back bone. Especially after Ashley Clements, a co-star, took her bungee jumping in Banning Mills. So, if there was a chance to go diving with the sharks, she'd be 100% in.

"I think I'd have to be there to see it," Margarita added. "And I'd be in that cage with you. It sounds like a thrill."

"Ha, I'm not the only one," Laura laughed and took a drink of her water. "Anyone else in?" she looked back at Ross this time.

"Yea, I'm sticking with the safari. Gotta see my boy Livhu."

"Wimp," she muttered just before Alex came to get her for final run through with Karen. Getting up from her seat, she followed him off to set, sending a sexy (or what she hoped was a sexy) smile to Ross. She didn't see him leave the table right after her to see Nikki, nor did she see the others jump Milo about the pool.

"I'm telling you something happened," Jenna insisted.

"No, not yet, but there's something brewing," Lala argued.

Summer also had an opinion, even if she wasn't in the pool. "I think something actually did happen. She was all out of sorts over it on Friday and they're much more like they used to be before the scene happened."

Jenna tapped on Milo's arm. "Who's got this week?"