For Fake and For Real

13. The Fierce Protector

It was official- Lucy is a bad girlfriend, Tim thought with a groan. Her beauty is incredibly distracting. When they're supposed to be focusing on running lines or performing a scene, her radiant smile is hard to look away from and sidetracks him from the WORK they're supposed to be doing. Plus, she always finds these little ways to make him smile- how can a serious actor with a reputation as a bad boy action star always be SMILING? But worst of all, the second he starts kissing her, he never wants to stop, even when his lungs are empty. He had never been in love like this, and it's all her fault.

"Focus, babe, we gotta get through this scene," Lucy urged as she sat on her mark on set. Tim kept smiling or giggling when they were filming an important, intense ARGUMENT scene.

"I'm blaming you for this," he grumbled.

She raised an eyebrow at him and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "The sooner we get through this scene, the sooner we get to see Kojo."

He nodded, happy to see their dog...not their dog, he corrected himself- Kojo is the SHELTER'S dog.

"We're ready!" Lucy called to the director who seemed less than amused that his main stars couldn't stop giggling, and he called ACTION!

Unsurprisingly, the next 3 takes were perfect, and it was time to wrap for the night.

Tim went to his trailer to change, and when he was ready, he walked over to Lucy's trailer.

"Thank you for telling me...yeah, have a good evening," Tim heard Lucy say, and then she seemed to muffle a scream in a pillow.

Of course he was curious about her conversation, but he assumed she would tell him when she was ready.

A minute or two later and she was stepping out of her trailer looking...detached.

"You okay, honey?" He asked.

She wrapped her arms around his midsection and let out a deep breath. "I will be...I just really don't want to talk about it...not right now."

"Whenever you're ready, I'm here."

"Thank you," she looked up at him with a strange expression on her face that he couldn't quite place- perhaps it was fear?

He pressed a light kiss to her forehead and kept her close until she let go.

••••••••••

Lucy seemed off in a way that time with Kojo hadn't fixed.

Tim started on dinner with a watchful eye on Lucy who was just leaning against the kitchen island playing with a loose thread on the sleeve of her sweater, well it was technically HIS sweater that she loved to wear.

"Can you teach me how to fight?" Lucy finally asked.

He looked at her, assessing her expression.

"You've done perfectly in all of your fight scenes."

"No, Tim, I mean like REALLY fight like in self defense."

"If anyone ever came after you, I would KILL them. These muscles aren't for show."

She was grateful that he was so protective of her, but that wasn't the point. "Please, Tim, can you just show me some moves?"

The pleading look in her eyes made it clear that she was serious.

"Yeah, Lucy, I can teach you some stuff," he agreed.

"Like...now?" She winced.

He set down the spoon in his hand and turned off the stove top. After washing his hands, he lead the way to their gym.