“I’ve figured out the rest of the plan,” Dom commented, interlacing his fingers with Liberty’s. She smiled and leaned back against him.
Her voice sounded quieter than usual when she spoke, “What plan?”

“The one to smote the magazines.”

“I thought you did that by making their heads spin or something.” The two of them were in the back of a rather huge limo which was taking them to the last premiere, the one in LA. After this, they’d go back to London where Dom would begin filming a new movie and Liberty would move herself into Viggo’s unused flat for awhile.

“I figure the best thing to do is to just set them straight. And then after that, tell them to leave us the bloody hell alone, because honestly…who wants to read about my life, anyway?”

Liberty shrugged, grinning. “I do not know, Dominic. Possibly your adoring fan base.”

“I have a fan base?” he asked, sounding rather pleased.

“Well. Billy and me.”

“And Elijah,” Dom said. “Elijah likes me too.”

“This is true. So that’s three people. Quite good, I’d say.”

Tonight her hair was put up at the top of her head, curled, with pieces of hair falling out artfully around her face. She wore a flowing black gown with tight bodice which was low cut, but not the point where she’d be instructed to wear a corset. She was wearing a very simple, yet elegant necklace and black flats for comfort. It almost looked like a prom dress, except it was much more expensive; Dom had called round many shops and Vera Wang had given her this one for the night.

“I’m so tired,” she yawned when the car pulled to a slow stop. “And so not ready to emerge in front of six hundred people snapping photos.”

Dom took her hand as the door opened. “You’ll be fine, just hold tight to me. You don’t have to leave my side. I won’t let anyone whisk you away like they tend to do towards the end.”

She laughed and allowed him to pull her from the car. Immediately upon their emergence, many girls began screaming, many flashbulbs blinded their eyes and many reporters called out to them. Dom whispered in her ear, “Don’t let me forget to tell you, we’re taking a later flight than everyone else tomorrow.”

“Why?” She whispered back, through her fake smile that she’d plastered on.

“I have some things to take care of. Mainly a guest appearance on Wayne Brady.”

Liberty cast him a confused look, “Wayne Brady? Why?”

“I’ve decided on him for the announcement because I like him. And the magazine I chose is interviewing me while I’m waiting to go on his show. I chose Entertainment Weekly because they gave me a good review once.” Liberty didn’t have time to ask what was going on, as Dom led her over to a patch of reporters and the questions began.

It was the tenth time she’d seen The Two Towers, but as it was a brilliant film, she’d have gone to the theater to see it that many times anyway. She sat this time with Billy, Elijah and Dom and it seemed weird to not have everyone else with them. She missed Raya and Orlando, and decided she’d pick up a few little presents for Priya the next morning, since she felt her baby shower gift just wasn’t enough. Sean and Christine were there, but would not be going to England with them, as they’d be staying in LA until ROTK pick-ups. Elijah, as well, was staying in LA to spend some time with his family and begin shooting a new movie. It would be weird, she knew, when she was back in London and starting this new life she’d set up for herself, far away from three of her favorite people in the world.

When she awoke the next morning, the bed was empty but there was a note from Dom on his pillow. She rolled over, sighed tiredly and opened it.

She wasn’t exactly keen to go to a studio by herself, especially one which offered secrets she had no clue about; the hinting in Dom’s letter did nothing to calm her down. So she picked up the phone and dialed Elijah’s number.

Elijah answered on the fourth ring with his usual morning cheeriness, “Morphwhatthefuckitstoofuckingnearlywhothefuckisthis?”

Liberty replied nervously and rapidly, “I’ll bring you coffee if I can come get you and we can go to the set together.”

There was a groan and rustling of sheets as he turned over in bed, possibly to check the clock. “What set?”

“Wayne Brady. Dom’s doing some random interview and he says I’ll want to see/hear it. I’m a little worried, though, so I thought you’d come and be moral support?”

Elijah groaned again. “Who is this?”

“Elijah.”

There was a humorous tone to his voice now, “No, it’s most certainly not Elijah. I’m Elijah.”

Liberty laughed, “Come on, Elijah. Please?”

“Okay, okay. When?”

“An hour?”

“All right. See you then, Libs. Bye.”

She hung up the phone, jumped up and catapulted into the shower.

*

“Do you even know how to drive a standard?” Elijah asked, cringing as Liberty changed into second gear.

“Yes,” she replied angrily. “Of course I do.”

“It’s just that you wouldn’t drive in LA before. And you STILL don’t have an LA driver’s license.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, waving him off. “You can’t drive, seeing as how you need about 4 Ivs full of coffee into your system before you actually start functioning for the day.”

“Usually, so do you.”

“Yes, but not today. Today I’m running on…fear.”

He cringed again as she changed lanes, “Maybe I should be too.”

“Oh shut up,” she laughed.

It didn’t take much to get into the studio, which both surprised and delighted Liberty. Elijah was on his third cup of Starbucks (Liberty bought four) and was finally coming around into the land of the living.

“Are you shaking?” Elijah asked as they made their way inside to where the Wayne Brady show was shot; the show was already in progress of taping but Liberty felt sure they hadn’t missed Dom. The producer of the show, a very nice woman, was escorting them into the studio so they could stand off to the side and watch. “Did you bring a sweater? Air conditioning is sometimes quite frigid.”

Liberty shot him a helpless look and then continued following the producer, who was politely ignoring their conversation. “I’m just worried what he’s going to say.”

“You think he’ll embarrass you by calling you a hooker or something?”

Liberty laughed, which made Elijah happy, “No, of course not. I just…I know what he’s capable of. I don’t want him to…do anything rash.”

Elijah put a comforting arm around her shoulder. It was lucky she was wearing flat flip flops, otherwise it‘d have been harder for him; without shoes, they were the same height. “Like propose to you on the air?”

“Yes,” she replied quietly.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know what I’ll say.” She sighed. “I’m not Raya. I won’t be able to look calm if I’m on camera. I’ll be a nervous wreck…and I don’t want to let him down, you know? He tries very hard to be romantic and I often ruin it.”

“How’s that?” Elijah chuckled, but stopped when he saw how ragged and nervous she truly looked.

“Well, once he cooked this amazing dinner a while back, you know before The Incident? Well, anyway. He cooked it at his place and invited me over and had wine and everything. It was great. Except I drank too much and by the time the food was served, I was telling him I didn’t like meat and I was about to become a vegetarian. Completely ruined everything.”

“We all have our moments,” Elijah said honestly. “When we’re not really at our best. The drink does that sometimes to me.”

“Oh, I know,” she replied seriously. “When you were hitting on all of us. That was quite bad.”

“Not one of my finer performances, I’ll admit.” He steered her into the room the producer gestured to; then she bustled off, leaving them be. Before ushering her inside, he looked at her seriously and said, “Libs. You know Dom doesn’t want you to be perfect, so don’t try to be for him. He loves you for who you are, not for you you’re trying to be.”

Liberty smiled sincerely at him and hugged him tightly, “I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you, Lij.”

Elijah feigned embarrassment, “Oh, well, you know. Shucks.”

*

“So, Dom,” Wayne said. “You’ve been featured in a lot of magazine articles lately delving into your personal life. Care to comment?” It was halfway through the show, and Wayne had just introduced his ‘surprise guest.’ Dom was dressed in jeans and a white dress shirt which was standard Dom, and always looked hot on him; he tended to keep with the clothes that he knew worked for him.

“Actually, Wayne,” Dom smiled bashfully. “I would like to comment. It’s all been rather difficult.”

“Having a high profile romance usually is,” Wayne replied honestly, nodding and leaning on his desk, looking intently at Dom. “You’re probably not too used to it, being fairly new to the whole business.”

“No, I’m not used to it at all,” Dom agreed, looking solemn.

“Do the articles effect your relationships much?”

“Honestly? I haven’t had relationships plural. I’ve only had one since I’ve started, shall we say, ‘being famous’ and it has been hard on it, but what really caused the trouble was me being dumb.”

Wayne laughed, “You were dumb?”

“Very. I almost let this girl slip away. I almost backed down and gave up ever wooing her. It was quite a travesty, to be honest. She was the first girl in a really long time that I even liked. Besides my friends of course. But I’m talking on a romantic level. The moment I saw her I just knew.”

“Knew what?”

“Knew she was the one,” Dom answered, looking more honest than Liberty ever remembered seeing him. She grasped Elijah’s hand, gasping and he gave it a little squeeze. The two of them were behind the cameras, watching the monitors. “And I refuse to let all the tabloid fodder drive her away. I’ve always liked to keep my private life private, but I decided to come on today to set the record straight. I want her to know how much I truly care for her, and I want everybody else to know it too. This is the proverbial ‘shouting it from the rooftops.’”

Wayne chuckled, “Well, by all means. Shout it out.”

Laughing, Dom continued, glancing quickly around the room and spotting Liberty; he grinned cheekily at her before turning to the camera. She drew in a breath and out of reflex, Elijah began rubbing her back, almost urging her to breathe. “The girl I’m seeing right now is Liberty Crane. She’s from Michigan, she’s twenty-one (or will be soon) and I met her in LA. She was a good friend of Sean Astin and Elijah Wood’s.”

“Your Lord of the Rings co-stars,” Wayne put in. “Just in case some of my viewers have been living under rocks recently.”

“Yes, that’s them,” Dom laughed. “Anyway. We met and I feel completely, madly, utterly, head over heals in love with her.”

“Love at first sight?” Wayne asked, awwing slightly.

Dom nodded vigorously, “Oh, definitely. For her, though, I’m not sure.”

“She didn’t fall in love with you at first sight?” Wayne questioned doubtfully. “Have you looked in a mirror?”

“Every day,” Dom replied, grinning hugely. “Well, she was coming off a really bad breakup which had followed a really awful relationship and she was hesitant. Eventually I turned her round though. She couldn’t resist my charms for too long before she fell under my spell.” He laughed and shrugged.

“How long have you been dating?”

“Erm, about a year and a half.”

“So that should be good enough to put the questions to rest.”

“I hope so,” Dom replied. “I’d hate to have to go around suing everyone like some stars do.”

Wayne laughed loudly, “Yeah, I’d hate that too.” He paused for a second. “There was mention of Liberty ‘attacking’ and ‘mauling’ and all those other similar words, your co-stars. Any truth to that?”

“No,” Dom chuckled. “She’s good friends with my co-stars, but she’s not seducing anyone other than me. And I’m positive about that.”

“Good, good. Now, there was also mention of her turning down your marriage proposal many times?”

“I haven’t proposed yet,” Dom said. “I can’t say I never will, however. It’d make me happier than I ever have been, to marry that girl.”

Wayne smiled at him, “I know the feeling. So wedding bells in the future.”

“Near future, I hope,” Dom laughed. “But we’ll see.”

“I just gotta ask one more question. I read in the entertainment section of the paper today that you’re dating Viggo Mortensen’s illegitimate daughter. Is this the same girl? Or what?”

“Oh, no. I told a reporter that at a premiere in order to confuse everyone. Lib’s not Vig’s daughter, though they’re close like father and daughter might be. They’re both really into photography, and he got her a gallery opening and everything. So, you know.”

“Oh, so what does she do? Is she a photographer?”

“No, she’s in university right now in London.”

“Do you two live together?”

Dom shook his head, “Much to my dismay, no.” He laughed. “I’ll convince her to move in soon enough. She doesn’t want to rush things, she’s still quite young, you see. I don’t mind, I’d wait forever for her.”

“That’s just about the sweetest thing I’ve heard all day,” Wayne laughed. “What’s she studying?”

“I think she and Orlando’s wife, Raya, are going to go into business together. At least, that’s what I was told on the phone this morning when I talked to OB. He said something about fashion design. However, he did just have a daughter so he’s really sleep deprived. Half the stuff he said before was rubbish, anyway. And now…well, you can‘t trust a word he says.”

“I know that feeling too,” Wayne guffawed. “All right, thanks Dom, for being here. It was nice to see you. Good luck with the rest of Lord of the Rings, and come back anytime.” He turned to the camera. “The Two Towers is in theaters now and Return of the King will be out next year in 2003. Next up, we have our musical guest, Maroon 5! Stay tuned!”

The cameras cut off and the beginning of an advertisement could be heard vaguely from somewhere. Dom and Wayne were conversing in low voices; they hugged and then Dom walked over towards Liberty and Elijah.

She threw her arms around him without saying a word and he engulfed her with his arms, smiling happily; Elijah stood back, grinning at the two of them.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Liberty said into his shoulder. “I was okay with everything.”

He smiled against her hair, “You weren’t, but thanks. I wanted to do that. I needed to.”

Liberty pulled away with tears in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away; he pulled her with one arm against him and she leaned into him.

“How’d the magazine interview go?” Elijah asked, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“All right,” Dom shrugged, kissing Liberty’s head. “Pretty much the same. I may have gone into more detail…and stuff.”

Liberty’s eyebrows rose into her hairline. “What do you mean ‘stuff’?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Ready to go? We have to pack to catch the plane.” He steered she and Elijah out the door and into his dressing room, where he gathered his jacket, wrote a quick thank you to Wayne (which they shoved under his dressing room door) and they all left together.

“I would have liked to have seen Maroon 5,” Liberty commented, pulling her long hair into a ponytail as Dom drove down the highway towards Elijah’s.

“Me too,” Elijah said. “It’s too bad Dom didn’t have the balls to explain the interview to you so that you could have lingered there to watch them.”

Dom glared at him in the mirror before flicking his eyes back to the road. “I know not of what you speak, Womanly Screamer.”

“I wish you’d stop calling me that,” Elijah muttered, crossing his arms across his chest.

Liberty looked back at him sympathetically, “Don’t fight, boys. We’ll have to pull off to the side of the road.” Dom turned into Elijah’s driveway; Liberty turned completely around in her seat to speak to Elijah, “When will I see you next?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Return of the King pick-up’s, possibly.”

She frowned, “When are those?”

“Couple months,” Dom grunted from the front.

“Well, can you come to London to see me?”

“Yeah, probably,” Elijah replied. “How long are you at Viggo’s for?”

“Until he gets back from Canada. I think he’s going to sell it then. Or at least he made mention of that.” She shrugged. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too. Have a safe flight.” He reached out to give her a hug which she gratefully returned before he got out of the car. He and Dom shared a manly (and odd) boyish handshake thing before Elijah began tottering up his walk.

“Hey, Lij,” Dom called out to him. “You can come to London, you know. When you’re done filming.”

Elijah nodded, “I shall travel to London and disrupt your lives. Or I’ll go and stay with Billy. He gets lonely.”

Liberty giggled, snorted and tried to turn both into a cough. Dom and Elijah gazed oddly at her. “I just pictured Billy getting lonely in his cold, Scottish castle and going into Elijah’s bed for warmth. Then I pictured all the fan fiction writers having field days and waving flags that read ‘BilLij!’ on them. It was a funny vision.”

“Yes, well. We have a plane to catch in an hour, so we’d better be off. We’ll ring when we get home. And, can you send us a copy of Entertainment Weekly when it hits stands on Friday?”

“’Course,” Elijah answered obligingly. “No problem.”

“Brilliant, thanks, mate.” Dom saluted before turning around and driving out of the driveway; Liberty waving at Elijah as they went.

“We should set him up with someone,” Liberty mused as the two of them rose up in the elevator to their room.

“Why? He’s got Billy for the cold Scottish nights.”

“Eh, maybe Billy’s not enough to satisfy Elijah’s needs.”

“Dear God, Libs,” Dom groaned. “I wish you people would stop putting terribly awful images into my dear, little head.”

She patted his head, “Sorry, Dom.”

“It’s all right. I tolerate things like this from you. But I don’t want you to be Elijah’s matchmaker.”

“Okay fine. But Alexia has always loved him, and I know they’d get along---”

“Libs,” Dom moaned, opening the hotel room door. “I love you dearly, you know that. But I don’t know how much I’ll love you if you go around fixing up my mates like Raya does.”

“I thought you were getting along with Raya,” Liberty replied, tossing some clothes into her suitcase. She didn’t have time to be her normal, organized self; folding was unnecessary.

“Getting along and liking are two very different things.” He threw some pants into his own bag. “Swear to me you won’t turn into her.”

Liberty rolled her eyes and replied halfheartedly, “I swear I won’t turn into Raya.” They were silent for a few minutes before she said, “I couldn’t anyway, she’s a far better dresser than me.”

Dom sighed, but was smiling at her, “If you were rich, you’d be dressing the same as her.”

“I suppose that’s true, but I’ll never be rich.”

“Not until you marry me, that is.”

“No, because that’ll be YOUR money.”

“That YOU will spend.”

“I won’t spend your money. Unless it’s on baby things. Baby things are costly.”

Dom chuckled. “They really are. Hey, where’s that I Heart LA onesie you got for Priya?”

“In your bag,” she answered.

He nodded as he smashed a few of his own shirts into the top of his bulging bag, “You know, I don’t mind you spending my money.”

“Ha ha.”

“No, seriously. When we’re married, have at it. I don’t honestly care as long as I can afford to buy myself lovely little outfits.”

Liberty laughed, “No problem, then. I’m sure you spend more on clothes than I do.”

“It’s expensive to look pretty,” Dom retorted, sniffing and zipping up his bag. “I really want you to move in with me instead of Viggo’s place. I love bickering with you.”

Liberty looked at him like he’d lost his mind, “You love BICKERING with me?”

“Yes,” he said, moving towards her. “And I love doing all that other stuff with you too. Just think, we could do it all twenty-four seven if we lived together.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively and she giggled. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him, causing her to drop some t-shirts onto the floor in surprise. He kissed her neck, “We could do mooooooore of it if we weren’t apart.”

“I know, but I already leased Vig’s place.”

“So lease it to someone else.”

“I don’t want to. I really like his place.”

“Then can I stay with you?”

She laughed and swatted his arm playfully, “No. Your place would be lonely.”

He sighed in false aggravation, “But what if you’re too tired to leave my flat sometimes?”

“I’ll stay, I guess.”

“A little bit more conviction and happiness in your voice would be good.”

“I’m sorry, but you know how I feel, Dom. I don’t want to---”

“Be settled down?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t know. I’m just not ready. I can’t explain it, but I know I’m not.”

He hugged her closer, “I understand. It’s all right.” He released her and spun her around to face him; she laughed. “Can I stay with you sometimes, at Vig‘s?”

“Absolutely,” she kissed him. “As long as you don’t hog the bathroom.”

“Hey, it’s my birthday tomorrow,” Dom said, smiling suddenly.

“Oh, that’s right,” Liberty replied, looking thoughtful.

“Is Billy doing a surprise party?”

“I wouldn’t know. He knows I can’t keep a secret from you.”

“Or from anyone,” Dom joked.

“What do you want?” She asked, hoisting her bags up onto the bed and closing them shut.

“Just you.”

“Oh, cheeky.”

“That’s my lingo, not yours.”

Liberty smiled, “Well. I think your present can be arranged.” He made some suggestive hip movements accompanied by some hands in the air doing a wave-type dance. “But not right now. We’re going to miss the plane.”

Dom frowned, “Bugger.”