When Liberty woke up in the morning (really afternoon) she found everyone in the dining room with loads of breakfast and lunch foods spread out around them at the sizeable table. Christine was missing, but Liberty figured she had probably gone to work. She hadn’t been drunk, after all. To Liberty, Christine seemed to be the most responsible of all of them, herself included even though she didn’t drink.

“Hey,” greeted Sean, who was the only one without a hangover by the looks. All the other members of the table had their heads in their hands and glasses over their eyes. A large bottle of Tylenol was the center piece this great afternoon. Liberty wondered why Elijah looked so awful, but she refused to care. “We ordered some take-out. Have a seat.” He pulled out the seat beside him and she sank thankfully into it, groaning as if her whole body ached. She said good morning to everyone, but avidly avoided Elijah’s eyes…and really all of Elijah actually. She was embarrassed beyond belief and the last thing she wanted was for their eyes to lock and for her to blush and everyone to guess what happened. Billy (who was quite chipper compared to the rest) was sitting on her other side munching on a hamburger.

“What are we doing today?” He asked the group. Liberty noticed that Elijah hadn’t uttered one word and he noticed she hadn’t either. Avoiding the eyes that you so wanted to stare at for hours at a time was a really hard thing to do but she managed for the most part.

Elijah cleared his throat, “I’ve got this bit part in some movie,” he explained vaguely, “So I can’t hang today.”

“What movie?” Asked Orlando, who had suddenly awoken from being half-dead.

Elijah shrugged, his eyes skimming over Orlando’s plainly stating that he should let the subject drop. “You know. That one.”

“That’s really pin-pointing it, Lijah.” Sean laughed. “What one?”

Elijah pushed himself away from the table. “You know. I told you.” He looked squarely at Liberty forcing her to look back at him. His eyes were commanding, but his voice was soft and pleading. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Outside?”

Liberty sighed, but nodded and then got up and followed him from the room. Once they were gone, the remaining people at the table all exchanged knowing glances before going back to their food.

She stepped into the blinding sunlight and closed the door behind her. Elijah, completely in the sun, pushed his sunglasses back up his nose. She remained silent, not allowing him to get away with not carrying the conversation. He cleared his throat, suddenly sounding hoarse.

“I um…wanted to…um…”

“Spit it out, Lijah,” Liberty said, staring straight at him, her eyes carrying a humorous gleam. He looked up, startled and then smiled at her. She knew why and so did he. The use of his nickname showed him that she wasn’t as angry anymore especially since she’d never called him by that before. He liked it, although he didn’t admit it to her, or really, himself.

“I wanted to apologize for last night,” he said finally. He looked like he’d just told her that World War III was beginning. He was tense, twitchy and nervous, something she wasn’t used to seeing on him. Of course, she didn’t know him that well so she wasn’t used to seeing very many emotions on him as it was.

Liberty didn’t reply; she just watched him, allowing him to elaborate. If he so chose that is, which he didn’t. Instead, he said: “So I’ll see you tonight, maybe? I think I’ll be done by seven and Sean said he and Christine are doing a BBQ.” Elijah’s eyes lit up at the word BBQ, like he was truly looking forward to a nice cookout with friends…and/or co-workers.

“Lij,” she said, her voice low. “Don’t act like this didn’t happen. I wanted to pretend it didn’t because I was embarrassed, but the truth is it shouldn‘t have happened. I‘m just upset about Tyl---”

She was cut off when he stepped forward and grasped her by the shoulders. He pushed his lips to hers in a fiery kiss that left her completely breathless. He backed away after, waved and then walked to his car. She didn’t know what to say, what to do. She was confused and actually a little angry. How could he say he didn’t like her and then KISS her like he did?

Liberty Crane was utterly speechless and that was quite something. Normally you couldn‘t shut her up even if your life was in danger.

Liberty walked back into the dining room looking extremely pissed off. She sat in her seat with a huff, threw a napkin on her lap and bit savagely into a piece of melon.

“I think the melon’s already dead, Lib. You don’t have to try and kill it again.” Billy received a death glare for his comment.

Dom leaned forward, “Are you alright?” He both anticipated the answer and loathed hearing it.

She was bouncing her foot up and down under the table, an action that she did when she was truly annoyed. “I’m fine. Why?” Her voice was venomous and cutting.

“Don’t bite his head off, Liberty,” scolded Orlando, furrowing his brow, “What’s going on?”

Her angry demeanor slowly faded. “It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time,” all four of them said simultaneously.

*

Upon telling the ‘love story’ of Elijah and Liberty, the four Fellowship members and said girl decided to go for a drive around LA. Sean said they should travel in style (a convertible) she he grabbed Liberty and dragged her next door. Dom, Billy and Orlando lounged and watched television while they were gone.

Liberty was looking down at her jean shorts and purple Old Navy t-shirt when Sean rang next door’s bell. “Who lives here?” Liberty asked, a little nervous. She wasn’t sure if it was a star or just a normal person.

A dark haired boy about Liberty’s age answered the door. He wore khaki shorts and a black tank top. He smiled when he saw them. “Yo, dude. What’s up?” He and Sean exchanged some male bonding ritual hand shake thing that Liberty just gawked at.

“Nothing, man. I was wondering if we could borrow your Ferrari.”

The guy laughed, “Yeah. Sure.”

“You can have the keys to the Beemer if you want.” Sean offered, somewhat reluctantly.

Liberty cleared her throat, directing Sean and the guy’s attention towards herself. “I’m Liberty. It’s nice to meet you----?”

“Hayden,” he replied, smiling at her and shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you too.” Hayden looked at Sean, “I’ll trade keys with you, then.” He stepped back inside, motioning for them to follow. Sean pushed Liberty inside and closed the door behind them. Hayden was walking back towards them from down the long hall. He was jangling keys and he tossed them to Sean when they were only a foot or so away.

Sean took his car keys out of his pocket and handed them to Hayden. “Don’t go doing any wheelies or anything,” warned Sean, “because I’ll find out.”

Hayden laughed, “I won’t.” He looked around the hallway and then up the stairs. “I’m surprised Nat isn’t running to come see you.”

Sean followed his gaze up the stairs, “Yeah, how is she?”

Hayden leaned against the banister of the huge staircase. “She’s fine.” He checked his watch. “We’re leaving for the set in ten minutes. We’ll take her car though.”

Liberty was just standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. She had no idea who this was nor who ‘Nat’ was. Sean’s manners replaced his ‘guy mode’ and he turned towards her. “Sorry, Lib. Uh--this is Hayden Christensen. He’s in the new Star Wars film. Nat…Natalie Portman---”

“Oh. Padme, right.” Liberty nodded. “Love Star Wars.”

Hayden grinned, “Me too.” Liberty noticed how lovely his smile was, but she brushed the thought from her mind. She had decided a half hour ago to swear off guys for a while because her signal receiver was very messed up. She intended to have it checked out when she got home. Perhaps some wires were crossed or something.

“So,” said Liberty, “You don’t live here?”

Hayden shook his head, “No, Nat does. I live in Canada most of the time. I’m staying here at the moment. We’re shooting some scenes here and then next week going to Tunisia to finish up.”

Liberty nodded. “That is really cool.” Hayden nodded.

Sean chuckled, seemingly bored of their Star Wars discussion. He looked towards the stairs and bellowed, “NATALIE!”

Shuffling of footsteps could be heard above them as a girl’s head appeared at the top of the stairs. Her long brown hair was falling around her, like a huge sheet. Liberty chuckled inwardly, her hair had once been that long but she’d hated it. “SEAN!” Natalie yelled, running down the stairs and throwing her arms around his neck. “When’d you get home?”

“Two nights ago,” explained Sean. “Leaving for NZ in two weeks, though.”

Natalie nodded, quickly stuffing all her hair into a pony tail. “Hi,” she said to Liberty. “I’m Natalie.”

“Liberty. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too. I love your name.”

Liberty smiled, “Thanks.”

“Well,” said Sean. “We’d better be going. Orlando is probably chewing the furniture. We’re driving around LA today, showing Lib the sights.”

Hayden and Natalie both nodded. Hayden outstretched his arm, “It was nice meeting you.”

Liberty smiled at him and shook his hand. “You too.”

“He’s nice,” commented Liberty as she and Sean walked back to his house. “So is she.”

Sean nodded, “Very. Alright. So you’ve given up guys which means that you’re ready to hang out with Dom, Orlando, Billy and I for the day.”

Liberty laughed, “Absolutely.”

Dom, Billy and Orlando, as if on cue, burst out of Sean’s front door and ran screaming towards them. They picked Liberty up and ran with her to Hayden’s car. Hayden and Natalie (just leaving) were laughing hysterically at their antics. They waved goodbye to them and Sean pealed out of the driveway. They were only about a mile from the house when Billy finally got up the nerve to ask the question that had been bothering him.

“Why DID Lij kiss you?”

Liberty groaned, “I don’t know, Billy. When in doubt, just kiss someone.” She shrugged, “Ridiculous. I was embarrassed enough as it was. And he just up and kissed me. Sending more mixed signals than…a porn channel when you can‘t get it in right.” Billy laughed heartily at that remark.

“When in doubt, kiss someone. Does that work for me?” Dom asked, grinning at her. She snuggled up to him and kissed his cheek. “I take that as a yes.”

Sean and Orlando turned around in their seats (they were at a stoplight) and peered at them. “Get a room you two,” laughed Orlando.

“See?” said Dom, “You should be dating me and not Lij.”

“I’m not dating Elijah,” replied Liberty, sitting up again. Dom draped his arm across the back of her seat. “And will not be because you can’t just kiss someone when you don’t know what to say.”

“That IS complete bullshit,” put in Billy. “Seriously. He shouldn‘t have told you he wasn‘t interested and then just kissed you.” Liberty could only nod because there wasn’t much else to say. She’d told them the entire story and they were all as confused as she was, well a little less seeing as how they weren’t actually in the situation.

The entire day passed as a blur to Liberty. She saw LA, loved it, and forgot it within five seconds. She was too busy thinking about what happened with Tyler and how she felt when Elijah had kissed her. She was too busy with her thoughts to realize what was going on around her. She relied on Dom, who was her tower of strength, so to speak. She leaned on him and walked with him when they walked, she sat beside him in the car and wherever else and she allowed him to lead her to wherever they were going. He didn’t mind and no one else objected. They all knew she was confused and just needed some companionship.

Sean was firing up the grill while Liberty, Dom and Billy sat at a patio table and talked. Orlando was helping Christine in the kitchen; she’d refused the help Liberty had offered. Which Liberty was quite glad of seeing as how she was crap in the kitchen. Orlando, apparently, was a regular Julia Child, though.

“So what are you up to tomorrow?” Dom asked Liberty. Billy raised an eyebrow at his hobbit friend, but received nothing more than a glaring look for his actions.

Liberty looked up from the napkin she was tearing into shreds into her lap (yet another nervous habit) and locked her eyes on Dom’s. “I thought everyone was doing their own things tomorrow.”

“We are,” replied Dom, watching as Billy stood up and walked towards the grill. “Lij has more shooting to do; Christine and Sean are hanging together doing married couple things; Orli is picking his girlfriend up at the airport and then doing whatever with her; Billy is supposed to have an audition…that leaves you and I. Which is why I was asking. Have you made plans already?”

Liberty shook her head, “Nope. I was just going to be miserable and depressed here tomorrow. Maybe watch some soaps or sappy movies to drown my miseries in. I was thinking of inviting Ben and Jerry too.”

“Do you think they’d mind if I joined you?” Dom asked, smiling a very charming smile.

Liberty laughed, “Probably not. They’re not the jealous types.”

“Splendid,” he said, leaning back in his seat. “You and me then. It’s a date.”

Liberty let the napkin shreds drop from her fingertips, “A date?”

“Well, I didn’t---”

“No,” she cut him off. “It’s fine. I’d like that, Dom. Really. Although, I have to warn you. I‘ve sworn off guys for a while and I‘m not looking for relationship.”

He nodded, a goofy grin on his face. “That’s fine by me. I’m not either.“ He paused, “Awesome. I better go help Sean. He is NOT a good griller. Trust me.” He winked and then walked off leaving Liberty alone in her somehow more confused thoughts. While she was staring at the clear table top in front of her, she heard distant shouts of “Hello Elijah’s” which sort of popped her back to the present. Mentally anyway, physically she was just a body sitting in a chair. She felt rather than heard a presence plop themselves into Billy’s previously vacated patio chair.

“Hey again.” Liberty’s head snapped towards the speaker and was relieved to see it was Billy. She let out a long breath, one she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“Hi,” she said, blowing out another breath and then inhaling deeply.

“Lij is back,” he said, sounding as if he was trying to force some normal conversation. Liberty was glad he was trying for normalcy because she was dying for it. Who’d have thought that a regular Spring Break trip to see a boyfriend could result in such…confusion. Was it confusion, though? Or just muddled destiny? That’s exactly what meeting Sean had been. It had been predestined, and thus meeting Elijah had been destiny as well. But why?

Fate can only take you so far and then it’s up to you to make it happen. But the problem is, what do you do next when you have no idea what is going on in the first place?

There’s no way to figure out why fate does what it does. And there’s no way to figure out if something is meant to be or if it’s just coincidental. Liberty had no clue what was going on here…and really, she didn’t want to even find out. She was tired. Of guys in general, of the games played in relationships. Fate, she thought, could go jump off a bridge because she was finished. If any of this was meant to be, she didn’t believe it. There had to have been a mistake. A mistake in the serendipity of Liberty’s love life.

“Liberty?” Billy asked, his voice sounding reluctant and faraway. She pulled her mind back to the present. Billy was peering at her through his glasses anxiously.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I heard you.” She nodded to prove she knew what he’d been saying. “I’m just---”

“Out in left field,” laughed Billy. “No problem.” He stood up, gave her a little smile and then walked off. He could tell she wanted to be left alone; she didn’t have to say it.

Liberty didn’t speak to Elijah throughout the entire dinner. She barely said two words to anyone other than Dom who had her laughing at least once with his impersonation of Jack Nicolas in “The Shining.” She felt lucky to have him there, with her; she was glad she had a buffer. Dominic Monaghan: Buffer from Elijah Wood. The tag line would read, “Want to avoid Elijah? Call on Dom! He’ll be the protective force field!”

She felt foolish for that thought, but felt even more foolish that she couldn’t just put everything behind her and pretend nothing had happened. Pretend just like Elijah had.