...fourteen...wow...

[bluetears07]

Disclaimer: Ever so sorry boys…the stuff in here never happened.
Paring: Sean A./Elijah
Summary: AU: Some things are just meant to happen while others are simply ripples off of one small mistake that change us forever. (Read AU Description, and also AN; behind cut)
AU Description: Same as before. (Refer to the “Prologue’s” AN for information mentioned previously.)
Rating: R (over-all) Chapter Fourteen: PG-13
AN: I apologies a head of time to frodosweetstuff for use of clove cigarettes. So it’s umm…"think" time for the boys…
Guide: ‘Thoughts’

Flashbacks
+++++++++++++++

Preordained

Chapter Fourteen: Rationalization

Through the thick haze of heavily clove laden smoke, Elijah could barely make out the brightly illuminated numbers of his cordless phone. After taking a long drag, he crushed the still smoking cigarette into the already jam-packed ashtray waiting on his bedside table. He drew his legs up to his chest and pressed his cheek against the bare skin of his knees as he glanced at the wrinkled empty space in his bed. Once he slowly exhaled, sending plumes of smoke issuing from his nostrils, Elijah waved a hand in front of his face in an attempt to dissipate the ever-growing cloud. Finally managing to distinguish one illuminated button from another, he began dialing a well memorized number.

The soft pad of his thumb gently grazed over the rubbery digits with rapid ease before finally hovering above the glowing ‘Talk’ button. Pausing for a moment to consider his actions, the young man made up his mind and pressed down. Within the first beat of the answering trill he quickly changed his mind and hit ‘End’; cutting off the only noise, save Elijah’s heavy breathing, within the silent apartment. Only after repeating the action several more times did he finally let the phone ring long enough for the person on the other line to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Dom,” he paused as the name felt heavy upon his tongue. Suddenly unsure of his own actions, Elijah tried to remember why he had first had the desire to call his friend, until he glanced through the smoke at the glinting silver band on his finger. Dragging an anxious hand through his mussed hair Elijah went on with a stilted voice. “Can you come over for a while, just to talk?”

Within twenty minutes Dominic was sitting cross-legged at the foot of Elijah’s bed, watching as the young man began to compulsively ignite the flame of his lighter before extinguishing it with a flick of his wrist. Dom remembered the nervous habit well and it made his stomach churn, seeing something was clearly eating away at his friend. Now he noticed in his opposite hand, nestled between his thumb and forefinger, a fresh clove cigarette was clutched, waiting to be smoked. Upon the same hand, Dom saw a silver band slid just below the bent knuckle of Elijah’s ring finger.

Elijah looked as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, and his hair was tousled more than usual. Despite the fact it was nearly noon, Elijah had pulled the curtains closed so the bedroom appeared darker, helping to concentrate the thickness of the murky smoke. Clad only in a pair of boxers and a fitted white undershirt, he sat silently with his back resting against the head board, knees drawn up to his chest for a few minutes before opening his mouth to speak slow and purposefully.

“I-I don’t know what to do Dom…,” he trailed off, glancing up to meet Dom’s gaze for the first time since opening his apartment door ten minutes before. Beneath furrowed eyebrows and dusky lashes a helpless, lost and unmistakably vulnerable glint was beginning to glaze over Elijah’s darkened blue eyes. In the seemingly endless depths of the young man’s eyes, Dom could see exactly what was slowly tearing Elijah to pieces. Knowing that his eyes would give away his every thought, Elijah cast his gaze back down to scan over the light blue comforter they both sat upon.

“You mean about Sean?” Dom inquired quietly with a tilt of his head, happily surprised when a bright smile pulled at Elijah’s reluctant lips in spite of his mood at the mention of Sean’s name. After he and Billy had been cast as Tig and Tag and the four men had gone out for a drink, Dom knew, even if Elijah had not admitted his feelings, that his friend had fallen hard and far too fast, especially so close to a breakup, for his married writer. All of Dominic’s preconceived notions and suspicions were now confirmed by the simple gesture of a gentle smile unlike any he had seen upon Elijah’s lips.

“You remember last Saturday, at the party?” The genuine smile faltered and turned bittersweet as he spoke. He glanced up to see Dom nod his head in reply and continued to hold his gaze until he finished his question in full. “When you asked me if my love was requited?” Once hearing the question posed to him, Dom nodded slowly knowing some answer to his question was about to follow. Elijah brought the fresh cigarette to his mouth and lit the end. His eyes slid closed for a moment as he tried to postpone the answer as long as he could by taking a long drag to preoccupy his lips. With a sigh, Elijah leaned towards his night table and flicked the end of the clove cigarette into the ashtray. “The only answer I can give you is both yes and no…”

In the dead silence that followed and consumed the room, Elijah could hear his own skin crawl at his own cynical words. With all his heart he wanted to believe his love was requited without a doubt but in truth he hadn’t the faintest idea where he truly stood with Sean. He didn’t know if it was merely a fleeting thing because Sean was having a premature midlife crisis. But then he would think about Sean’s temperament and he knew the older man would never flirt carelessly with emotions of the heart because he treasured those above all else. ‘Both contradicting yes and no...’ If he could, Elijah would gladly lay bare every guarded emotion locked away in his heart before Sean’s feet, if only he knew the older man had said those three little words before him.

“And you see that’s the fucking problem!” The eerie silence was suddenly broken as Elijah cried in a strained voice, using his hands to emphasize the point. Slipping the cigarette between his lips and lightly biting down on the end, Elijah slid his hands threw the tangled strands of his hair before lacing his fingers together at the back of his neck, just below his hairline. Tilting his face up to look at the ceiling he missed the utterly lost and confused look creasing Dom’s face.

“Yes and no?” Dominic repeated, using the inflection of his voice to change the three words into a request for Elijah to elaborate upon their meaning.

“Yeah,” he started quietly, still gazing up at the ceiling. “Yes, in respect to physical adoration…” Dragging his eyes from the water mark marring the white paint on his ceiling, Elijah looked at Dom for a few minutes. “Meaning, you were right about the ‘fuck-afterglow’ that night.” Elijah finally admitted in a murmur, feeling a heated flush creep up the back of his neck under his fingers up to the tips of his ears. The lit cigarette bobbed up and down in time with his lip’s movement. “I’m sure you’ve probably seen it, but his every physical action meant for me speaks volumes of love…,” he paused for a moment to try and find an example to support his claim. “Like, here,” Unlacing his fingers from behind his neck, Elijah thrust out his right hand to show Dominic the glinting silver ring that was banded around his finger. In the back of Elijah’s mind a voice mocked his ‘feminine’ behavior, ‘Showing off you’re married lover’s promising gift as if it were an engagement ring, now are we Elijah?’ Ignoring the taunting voice, Elijah concentrated on Dominic’s words.

“I was wondering where you got that…” As he leaned forward, pressing his hands into the soft mattress to keep his balance, Dom saw now that there were symbols etched into the metal’s surface. “What’s it say?” Dom prompted as Elijah drew back to tap the end of his cigarette into the ashtray once more.

“Five weeks.” With the tip of his thumb and the base of his pinky, Elijah began to nervously spin the metallic jewelry around his finger; watching it glint in the wayward streams of sunlight that escaped through the shut blinds. “He gave me it yesterday because five Saturdays ago I first turned up on his doorstep wanting to help him get his book turned into a movie.” A sentimental tone filled Elijah’s voice as he remembered the first time he had meet Sean, tongue pressed against his upper lip as he concentrated on buttoning up his shirt properly. “It’s these little things, the simplest inane things, that he does that spell out his loving intentions. Like when he places his hand on the small of my back whenever he walks beside me and, oh, I just can’t help but believe it’s requited…,” he sighed knowing he was rambling nonsense.

But then there was the ‘no’ still needing elaboration. That would be a much simpler explanation.

“And no?” Dom repeated the words with a cocked eyebrow as he shifted his position so his legs lay out before him.

“No…no because he has never verbally confirmed what his actions say so plainly.” Elijah paused to take a drag from his cigarette. Letting the plume of smoke filter from between his lips as he spoke, Elijah threw up one hand to illustrate his point. “And lord knows writers can be so fucking cryptic he might think he’s already communicated it…” He hadn’t realized this until a few moments before he said it. The sudden thought sent images racing through his mind as he tried to discern what might have been a cryptic admission of love.

The entire predicament seemed far to confusing for Dom. A solution was simple, if Elijah did indeed love Sean as much as he protested to, why didn’t he just say the words first and hope Sean said them back? Elijah was obviously getting himself too worked up over nothing. However, Sean was a married man so maybe there was just a little something to be worried about.

“Why don’t you just say it first?” Dom finally suggested with a smile. Pulled from his reverie, Elijah looked at Dom’s confident face with a puzzled look. Dom was sure he’d solved his friend every problem but when he saw Elijah’s face his confidence shattered. The younger man’s expression seemed to reflect his mind’s sudden consideration to assess Dom’s mental health.

“Dom, he’s fucking married…” Snuffing out the last bit of his cigarette in the ashtray, Elijah’s voice dropped lower as if he were talking more to himself than to Dominic. “I’m not going to make him choose between myself and his family, especially Ally, before he’s ready to because I had to go and spill my guts and force him into something he’s not ready for.” He trailed off as he stretched his legs out before him on the mattress. “No matter how much I simply want to hear him say it…just once…” His voice trailed off despondently.

Suddenly swinging his legs off the side and standing up from his bed, Elijah walked over to the covered windows. Dom watched with rapt attention as one of Elijah’s pale fingers slipped between the cloth folds where the two curtains met. A stream of golden sunlight illuminated his alabaster skin as he curled his fingers around one of the curtains. Pulling his hand towards his body the stream grew larger to light up the side of the bed where Sean had laid asleep beside Elijah Friday evening. His eyes never left the clear, shining glass laid in the window frame.

“You see there’s this light that shines from within, I know I can’t rightly put into words, the warmth or power of that light, but when I feel it, for the first time in my life I just get this sense of…completion…like when he’s near I just…know…you know?” Finally he glanced back at Dom’s mystified expression. The only response he could conjure was a low ‘Yeah,’ as he thought about Billy just before his wit caught up to his ears.

“I think you’re the cryptic one now…” Ignoring Dom’s last comment, Elijah turned his face back to the window. The light caught in his eyes, emphasizing the golden hued rays that shimmered within his very eyes and threaded through his clear blue irises.

“Oaths and declarations of love aside, I don’t know what I’d do if I never saw him again…” His voice sounded far too melancholy, Dom had never seen Elijah like this before.

“Awww, you’ll just have to wait for his verbal abilities to catch up to his physical, but as for never seeing him again, that’ll never happen….” It wasn’t much consolation but it was the best Dom could come up with on the spot after seeing his friend in such a strange funk. At least his words got a reaction from Elijah, even if it was a distant one. Pulling closed the fabric curtain, shutting out the sliver of daylight, Elijah echoed, “Yeah…it’ll never happen…”

+++++++++++++++

‘Despite your unlimited imagination, no matter how long you stare at the ceiling it’s not going to change or do anything remotely interesting...’ Sean’s inner literary voice commented as his eyes remained fixed upon the ceiling overhead. He’d spent the morning just lying in bed soaking up everything that had passed in the past five weeks. Everything had been go, go, go, non-stop since meeting Elijah and this was the first time since then that he’d had a chance to just sit quietly and think, trying to rationalize the sudden changes in his life. There was a familiar yet foreign change in his personality. Before he’d met Elijah, he hadn’t had an opportunity to speak in front of a large group and he felt his ability and charisma slipping through his fingers like intangible smoke. But with Elijah, he knew those characteristics had never left his repertoire.

A soft padding of feet covered by socks thumping quietly on carpet sounded down the hall. The noise was quickly followed by a light knocking against the open door to the bedroom Sean lay within. Christine’s voice floated across the room into Sean’s head, digging its way through thoughts of explanations behind actions.

“Sean, you awake?” She paused, waiting for a response from her husband. Finally managing to pull his gaze away from the strangely intriguing ceiling, Sean looked at his wife with a small, very stilted smile. “I’m going to take Ally with me to go run some errands; we’ll be back in a few hours…” Walking into their bedroom she took slow strides to the bed where Sean lie motionless. Somewhere deep within Christine’s eyes, Sean was surer than he had ever been that he saw traces of regret and unguarded loss. Puzzled by her behavior, Sean watched in hushed amazement as she leaned down and pressed a light kiss to his brow before turning away.

‘Too little, too late…’ With his eyebrows knitting together in confusion at the display of affection, Sean followed her slowly retreating back. The guilt he hadn’t felt before began to tear at his heart and well up his throat, forcing his lips to part as he threw out the words that formed on their own accord.

“I’m sorry, Chris…” Sean whispered, causing Christine’s curved figure to halt midway through the doorway. She said nothing, simply breathed deeply before resuming movement and walking out the door. It had been easier before when Christine wouldn’t even look at him…wouldn’t even kiss him good-bye before boarding a plane. Now however, after seeing the lingering traces of love that still burned dully in Chris’ eyes, he felt a wash of guilt crash through his body because he could never, no matter how hard he tried, love her back again like he used to…which was why the apology was the only thing his mind could conjure up in response to unrequited affection.

After what seemed like hours of unbearable silence, Sean heard the unmistakable rev of Christine’s car’s engine. “Fuck!” he finally let the curse rip from his lungs as he flopped over to bury his face into the soft, feather pillow he’d been resting on. “Why?” Sean yelled into his pillow, voice muffled considerably by the thin layer of linen and feathers. “Why now? Why a him?”

‘Stop asking questions you don’t intend on answering...’ Sean stopped and turned his head to the side, resting on the pillow as he saw the golden tinted rays filter through the freshly cleaned glass window. ‘Take a deep breath and we’ll work through this together...it’ll be like writing a character’s thought process.’ Sometimes it actually paid to be an author. No matter how philosophical Sean wanted to be when it came to love, he still couldn’t deny the part of him that needed to rationalize everything far beyond need. ‘All you need to do is understand every aspect of your feelings for this young man and then we’ll go from there.’

The first thing Sean needed to rationalize in his mind was the fact he was suddenly attracted to another man. Searching far back in his memories he could never, ever remember a time before now when he had found another man attractive in a sexual way. ‘Wait...’ Sean’s mind stalled as a sudden dream flashed in the back of his mind. He knew that particular dream well, especially when he found the haunting eyes to belong to a young man who belonged to the real flesh and blood world.

‘Your subconscious, Sean,’ a voice sang as he tried to wrap his mind around the idea. Perhaps it was some sort of subconscious mechanism tapping into a latent bisexuality he hadn’t known existed within himself before hand. It sure flowed in the same vein as ‘love-preordained’ that captivated his and Elijah’s hearts so easily.

‘Attraction, check,’ Sean thought before venturing on to the next stage - why Elijah Wood? He could easily remember the first time he’d met the younger man and being completely blown away by his insights. Despite his appearance, Sean knew there was a soul as old as time beneath his skin. One that was very much in tune with his own; more so than Christine’s had ever been. In addition, on Friday, when he had pressed his lips to Elijah’s, not heated nor lazy, he felt a sense of wholeness wash over his body and resonate within his soul like he’d never felt before. However, Sean thought Ally’s explanation the day before rang truest.

“Why didn’t you give him a proper kiss?” Ally’s blond head popped out from behind Sean’s seat, resting on the folded arm rest that normally separated the driver’s seat from the passenger’s. Her father froze, midway to turning the car on, before forcing a laugh.

“What are you talking about, Ally?” Sean asked, proceeding to turn on the car’s engine.

“Well just now, you seemed happy…” Ally stated simply, pointing back towards Elijah’s apartment building. “And you gave him a silly kiss on the cheek like you would me…” She broke off into giggles seeming to think it funny that her father would kiss his friend like he kissed his daughter. “But I know he makes you happy like Mommy used to make you happy…so why didn’t you give him a proper kiss like you used to give Mommy?” It was a valid question and deserved a valid answer but Sean was not the one to give it to her, at least not just yet.

“It’s…complicated,” Sean sighed, knowing Ally would press on undaunted by her father’s evasive answer.

“It can’t be that complicated…I mean you always say that love is pure and simple…” Ally trailed off, seeing her father’s expression changed; soften like she’d only seen a few times before.

“Love?” Her father echoed back the word, imploring Ally to explain why she had used such a strong word.

“Yes, Daddy, love. I know it might not really make sense when I say it but I’ll try…Whenever you’re with Uncle Elijah you seemed to be happier than you have been in a while. He com-compl-” She stumbled over the word that she faintly knew but yet remained out of her grasp.

“Complements,” Sean whispered, trying to help his daughter.

“Complements! Yes, he complements you. I guess when it really matters you’re very similar to each other, but in some ways you’re very different.” A stretch of silence came over the car as Ally stopped to think. With a sudden gasp she continued with redoubled enthusiasm. “Like today, when Uncle Elijah and I were scared at the movie you were our…uh…anchor? Is that the right word?” Sean nodded with a smile. “See, you were different but you still worked together…you complemented each other…” Ally finished with a grin. “Does that make sense, Daddy?” she asked, needing reassurance, like every young person does after taking risk.

“Actually, I guess it makes perfect sense.”

Ally had been dead on when she had pinpointed the fact Elijah complemented her father, because he simply did. Elijah could show Sean things he would have never have experienced without him, while Sean helped bring new viewpoints into Elijah’s mind and filled his head with literary innuendos to help him understand a greater message. Where Sean wanted to protect Elijah, Elijah wanted protecting.

But Ally had also been right when she said they were also very similar. Many of the same ideas and notions about the world swam in their minds. The same sense of humor flowed in both them and made talking between the two smooth and, normally, devoid of awkward pauses.

They seemed to just fit together. As if they were made for one another.

‘Elijah, check,’ Now Sean’s blood ran cold, knowing the last stage he had to rationalize. But there was no way he could ever begin to attempt to rationalize love…it was something that simply was; it merely existed. All he could think about was what it would be like if he had never met Elijah and his heart physically ached at the prospect of continuing to carry on living in a lie, holding back himself and Christine from finding someone who really did hold a burning flame in their hearts for them.

‘I...I love him.’ A small smile broke out over Sean’s face as the words sent a strange, wild tingling up and down his legs and arms, buzzing just beneath his breastbone. He finally admitted to himself just how far gone he was. In the back of his mind he knew that not for one minute had his relationship with Elijah not been based on some form of love. “I love him…” It was a faint whisper that became lost as it got caught up in the small draft filling the bedroom but was quickly replaced by a louder declaration.

+++++++++++++++

“Ouch! Ouch, ouch you’re poking me!” The cries of dismay only made Sean have to swallow back down his laughter and suppress his grin ten fold. Before him, standing upon a raised platform, stood a dolled up Elijah with a bent tailor working on the hem of the young man’s vest, apparently poking him with some of her pins.

“Stop squirmin’ and maybe you’ll not run into my pins,” was the calm reply from the strawberry blond woman fixing the length of Elijah’s waistcoat with seemingly nimble fingers.

Sean had made sure the week before that they had Elijah’s measurements but apparently from between the time he filmed Eternal Sunshine and now, the young man had lost some weight. In fact, he had spent the entire week before, save Monday and Tuesday when he was at the dojo, working on costumes with Marie, his costume and set designer. Everyone else’s costume was finished and fit perfectly, save Elijah’s.

Leaned against the table blanketed in pieces of paper covered in drawings and sketches of possible costumes, Sean watched Elijah squirm uncomfortably. Despite his downcast face, watching the woman’s every move, and painfully scrunched up nose, Elijah looked breathtaking in his William syndicate costume.

The first layer was a crisp white button up shirt with a red and white stripped silk tie and black dress pants. Added on top of that was a black vest with golden buttons that swooped to the right side. The tight fitted vest stretched over the button up shirt was making Sean rethink his busy schedule that afternoon. The final over layer was a long black trench coat with the same over laid buttoning to the right as well. A golden twined rope attached to one lapel spanned across to the other side to fasten like another button. On the back, across the shoulder blades, embroidered with golden thread, was stitched the name of character the coat belonged to. The cuffs of coat were turned up and angled out to the side and fastened together with small golden dragon head shaped cufflinks.

“Mr. Astin,” a faint voice brought him back down to earth as Marie stood up and moved toward him. “I need to go get something from my car in order to re-sew the buttons properly onto waistcoat.” Sean nodded with a smile as the young girl slipped by and hurried to the parking lot.

“Would you stop looking at me like that?” Elijah pleaded as soon as the girl was out of ear shot. Sean moved away from the desk he had been leaning on and walked slowly towards the platform where Elijah stood. “I feel like I’m on display…,” he trailed off as Sean began to circle around him before stepping up onto the platform behind Elijah. Unsure whether he could move or not with pins stuck in his clothing, Elijah stood still waiting for Sean to do something.

“You look…incredible.” The whispered compliment felt warm and breathy against Elijah’s skin as Sean pressed his lips to the younger man’s ear. Moving around to stand in front of Elijah, Sean continued. “The black with your skin…” At a loss for words, Sean pressed his lips lightly against Elijah’s for a fleeting moment before remembering his place and stepping back. Sean’s lips parted as if there was something more he wished to say but held back as he stepped down from the platform.

‘Say it Sean, just say it...oh please say it...please...Sean...’

+++++++++++++++

Finally the first day of filming, Tuesday, started with a hectic search for all the required pieces of costume for each actor and actress to wear in their scenes. After an hour or so in make-up the four actors, Orlando, Anne, Elijah and an older man playing Patrick’s eldest brother name Ian, (thought to Elijah and especially Orlando it was Sir Ian), were ready to begin filming the scene they would be shooting.

The set, which Sean and Marie had come up with the week before, consisted of a richly furnished spacious office with a grand mahogany desk and deep, rich earth tones. The double doors that were to open into the office were polished several times over and the golden painted knobs shone as if they were real gold. On one side of the desk sat three leather chairs where Orlando, Anne and Elijah would be sitting during the scene. Ian would be seated on the other side of the desk, surveying the scene from behind a barrier of thick wood.

“Alright, you all looked over the scene, right?” Sean asked the actors once the lighting was set up and the cameras were set to film. The group nodded as Sean smiled and took Ian aside to tell him about his character’s perspective on the scene. From where he was standing, Sean had a pretty good view of the rest of the cast and crew. Though he did his job and informed Sir Ian about his character, his eyes kept straying back to where Christine stood talking quietly to his director of cinematography, Viggo. Pulling his gaze back to the actor in front of him, Sean made sure he had in fact spoken. “You understand?” Ian nodded with a knowing smile before taking his seat in the deep leather chair.

“Anne,” Sean took the young woman by the arm and pulled her around to the other side of the set were the double doors would open up. “This is your big entrance as Fey, it’s the first time we see you so make it memorable. You’re alluring and mysterious and confident but as soon as you take one look at Orlando a little bit of your confidence falters because his eyes see right through that façade you’re putting up. But you hold his gaze none the less,” Sean paused, watching the young woman’s brown eyes glow with excitement. “Elijah on the other hand is merely looking at your body and nothing beyond that, but you don’t pay any attention to him because you’re already captivated by Orlando’s manner.” Anne adjusted her snug vest and pulled anxiously at the collar of the trench coat. With a few last words, Sean left to speak finally with Orlando and Elijah.

The two men were already sitting in two of the leather prop chairs chatting quietly with one another while the camera and sound men were double checking everything. All three of the chairs were angled so that they faced the desk but still tilted enough that the conversation could flow between all four people. Settling between the two chairs Elijah and Orlando now occupied, Sean started explaining just what Fey’s appearance meant to their characters. As he had told Anne, Orlando’s character would see straight through the confident façade she would be putting up. However, Orlando would also be intrigued as to why the young woman would want such a barrier. His character would slowly begin to fall in love with Fey as the story moved on.

“Elijah, William on the other hand is seeing nothing more than a nice body and is quickly consumed by lust. However, you catch a glimpse of the way your best friend, Orlando here,” Sean said pointing to Orlando, “is looking at the girl and a sudden flare of jealousy begins to eat away at you…especially when you see the glint in Anne’s eye when she looks at Orlando.” Elijah nodded understanding more than Orlando because he had read the book and knew what was to come later. “Great.” Sean said, finally standing up and slipping off the set to watch what the cameras would capture.

While he tried to busy himself with watching the scene unfold, he couldn’t block out the soft laughter and murmurs of his wife as she talked and even flirted with Viggo a few feet off behind him. Finally the talk died down as soon as the scene started. In the monitor set up off stage, Sean watched the subtle changes in Anne’s eyes and the completely different mannerisms she took on once becoming Fey. The gait of her walk changed to an almost saunter and her eyes flashed confidently but, as Sean had instructed her, once she saw Orlando watching her every move her walk slowed and lost some of its edge.

‘Perfect,’ Sean thought as his eyes then focused on Elijah. Within the mesmerizing blue he could see an undeniable lust burning as his eyes flickered up and down Anne’s body. The illusion was so real that a small flare of envy sparked in the pit of his stomach before he snapped back. In a split second Elijah’s eyes flickered over to see Orlando and the change in his expression was beyond perfect. The way the lust melted into unadulterated jealousy was flawless.

As soon as the scene was over Sean couldn’t stop smiling, his dreams were already in motion. The take hadn’t been completely perfect and they would have to do a portion of it from another angle, but he knew now that his choices of actors couldn’t have been more perfect. There was a real chemistry between Anne and Orlando that had sparked to life the first time their eyes met and her ‘Fey façade’ faltered. Waiting for the new angles to be set up, Sean talked briefly to the actors once more as he pushed out all thought of Christine’s voice laughing as Viggo whispered something in her ear.

+++++++++++++++

Sean couldn’t believe how wonderful everything was turning out. Every scene and set was just as he had imagined it when he first wrote the book. The costumes were near flawless; save a few revamps he liked more in the physical world than in the literary. He couldn’t believe it was all really happening. After filming the last scene of the week in which Orlando, Anne, Elijah, Billy and Dom had all gone out to have a drink at a local bar; which was even funnier than he had imagined when the lines were delivered by the two incorrigible ‘twins’ Tig and Tag, Mrs. Boston found Sean speaking with one of the lighting guys and handed him a stack of papers.

“Mr. Astin, these are a few scenes Focus Features would like you to…alter…There are some notes on the yellow sticky tabs that my co-worker wrote offering some advice as to which way the scene should go.” Victoria was nervously chewing her bottom lip, obviously sorry for having to be the one to deliver the papers. The only thing Sean could do was smile and thanked her nevertheless. After watching her walk away Sean stared down at the thin stack he clutched in his hands.

With bated breath he flipped through the scenes and nearly gagged when he saw what he had been worried about the most; William and Patrick’s final scene.

+++++++++++++++

AN: Thank you to the one and only beta; stellahobbit! *huggles tight* Oh, and if anyone wants to see the costume design. (I did draw them so don't expect much...*blush*) And, thank you everyone for reading. *hugs ya'll*