Coffee at her lips, she stared back at the emails on her computer. When she had promised Ross to see him the day after, she had meant it. But what she didn't know was how much sleep she actually needed and how much other people needed her. Now, it had been four days since she had seen him and felt like even longer that she talked with him although that had happened just the night before. It was crazy to her that she could miss someone so much in so little time, but it was the damn truth. She missed him like she missed having her Gogurt everyday, it was that bad.

Pressing send on the email she just typed up, Laura brought the coffee to her nose and inhaled the brew. She was not a black coffee person, in fact, she was more of a milk and sugar person with a splash of coffee in her cup. But this black coffee, she kind of needed it to wake herself up and go and do stuff today. First up, was breakfast or something with her mom just to get her outside. Then she had a meeting with her agent and had to swing by her publicist's office as well. After that, she knew exactly where she was headed and there was nothing stopping her. She was headed straight to him, straight into his arms and straight to his lips.

Pulling on her still blonde hair, Laura flipped it up into a messy bun before she headed back to her room to change. While she thought about going out in her pajamas would be just fine (she was pretty sure any paparazzi wouldn't recognize her anyway), she was positive her mom would make her go right back to the house and change. Especially since she had meetings later in the day. Pulling on her favorite, and newly clean, red top and grabbing her skinnies, Laura retraced her steps to find her favorite booties before heading out into the city for the remainder of the day which included that traffic she was not looking forward to. At all. She clutched her phone in her hand as she hopped inside her car, ready to face the day ahead of her and scrolled to the address of the place that he mom had recently found and had been raving about for the past day to her about. Apparently, the cafe had the best cinnamon rolls around and she could not wait to taste them.

She wasn't big on sweet sweet things for breakfast, in fact, she was quite the opposite and always picked out the healthiest of healthy options from the menus. But this was a special case since she had behaved all during her stay in Cape Town and a cinnamon roll to her would be a treat. Now stopped on the highway, Laura glanced down at her phone in one of the cupholders and smiled at who it was from.

Need to see you today. Can not wait another moment.

His message only made her smile more. Glancing at the cars ahead of her to make sure they still weren't moving, she grabbed the gadget and flipped it open to text him back.

Me either. I will be kissing the hell out of you after my meetings.

How many are there?

Just two. Then I'm yours.

Good. Won't be letting you out of my sight until next month.

Her breakfast/lunch date with her mom was quicker than she thought it would be. Laura expected Ellen to make it longer, but in reality, it was shorter. All because Ellen had meetings to go to and she also knew about Laura's meetings. She wasn't complaining anyhow. The quicker she got through the meetings, the quicker she would be back to Ross. That would always be a plus in her opinion. Waiting patiently in the elevator up to her publicist's office, Laura quickly went over what this meeting was about - a fashion deal and she was insanely excited.

"Laura Marano!" a voice yelped as soon as the doors slid open.

She looked up and almost ran into her friend's arms and hugged her tight. She had not seen Amy, one of the office assistant's since before she had left for Cape Town and before Amy had graduated from USC. Laura had grown close with Amy over the years of being with the company and she would definitely call her one of her closest friends. Their reunion was much like Ross and Calum's was months ago. It had been five minutes already and she was not letting her go from her grip.

Amy pulled back and stared back at her. "You're blonde!"

"I am. Until next weekend anyhow," Laura told her, her arm still around the girl as they walked towards Mona's office. "How are you? I feel like we need a full day to catch up. Maybe even a week."

"Oh we do," Amy agreed, just as Laura caught eye of the ring on her left hand finger. "I have so much to tell you."

"Andy proposed?! OMG, and you didn't call or email me? What the hell woman?" Laura swatted at her and grabbed her hand, sizing the shiny piece of new jewelry on her hand. "When and how?"

Amy started to tell her all the details about how her five year boyfriend finally, finally got the messages she was sending about marriage and put a ring on it to shut her up. She told her where and the how and the when, she even told Laura about the pre-planning on his part that she found out from her twin sister. "And you're not scot free either, Laura. I mean, Ross Lynch?"

All Laura could do was bite down on her bottom lip. She wasn't the one to normally gush about her relationships, hell, she never did...but with Amy, she'd tell her everything. "Yea...it happened."

"And I had to find out through an inter-office memo."

"Hello?" Laura held her hand up to Amy's face, pointing out her ring once again. The two laughed about the predicament. An all-girl's day out was definitely in order and soon. They made plans, promising to keep them before Laura was stolen away by Mona and her exec assistant, Darla. They talked the movie and being in second in command on any press for it by the studio, they talked about a few photo shoots next week and they talked about getting in the last press for First Aid before the PaleyFest event next month.

"Also, that email about the TEARS organization. JustJared is interested, as they always are, and so are a few others. Preferences?"

"JustJared, definitely. They've always been amazingly supportive in everything," Laura said without hesitation. "I can give you some new quotes for them too."

Darla took the notes, scribbling away on her notepad as Mona finally came to what she was really here for - the super secret mysterious fashion offer that she had been keeping tight lipped about for months. "It's Valentino."

"Valentino? As in Valentino, Valentino?" Laura's mouth went wide. "Valentino Garavani, from Lombardy, Italy? That Valentino?"

"I don't think there's another Valentino sweetie."

"And they want me?"

Mona nodded just before she freaked out a bit.

"Me? Little old Laura Marano? Really? Why me?"

"I'm going to read this email line for line," Mona pulled out a random piece of paper from her desk and did just that. "We'd love to discuss partnering up with your client, Ms. Laura Marano, for our upcoming Spring campaign. Valentino has been a fan of Ms. Marano's from First Aid and would love the opportunity to work with her on this..."

She read off more dates and concepts from the same email and it only made Laura's stomach flip over and over and over again. The past year had just been one big surprise after another. First there was Calum's engagement in January, then there was First Aid wrapping up and going out with a bang, then the movie happened, she and Ross finally stopped being stupid and got together and now this. Each and every one of those things were huge for her, and being with Valentino for a campaign? That was a huge deal. Laura didn't hesitate in one bit about nodding her head up and down, asking Mona where she needed to sign to make this all happen.

"And you understand that doing this means the campaign, the fashion shows in the fall, and wearing Valentino at every event for possibly the next year?"

"You're saying this like wearing Valentino is a bad thing...it's not. It will never be a bad thing. Where do I sign?"

+++

Four days, eleven hours, sixteen minutes, fifty two seconds...and counting. That's how long it had been since he'd seen her beautiful face. The pictures on his phone did not count and the ones on his actual camera didn't count either, although he loved those the best. While not many knew, Ross was an amateur photographer and he loved taking pictures of whoever, wherever he went. It just happened that most of the photos he had taken in Cape Town featured his girlfriend. Of course there were the obligatory landscape features and snaps of the culture, but every other picture was of Laura. He could create a gallery showing of just her alone and if he was any one else and she was any one else, he would do it in a heartbeat. There was one in particular he loved the most and he remembered how he shot it and why.

"You've got to stop doing that Ross," Laura looked over at him, tossing a popcorn kernel back into his lap.

"But it's fun," he argued with her.

They sat on the balcony, sipping their white wines and enjoying the view while going over the script. Since starting on their own adventure together, they'd found a balance between them on how they prepared their scenes together. She nixed the music she usually had blasting, he let go of the sterile quietness and at the moment, they were studying the next day's scenes - the ones where they're still learning about Magellan and why she was the last to be brought to the new Earth.

"It's not fun. Rory isn't Spanish or Italian, or whatever language you are trying to bring to him."

"Come on. You know you think it's charming."

"You know what I think is charming?" she asked him, pulling down her legs from the balcony and leaning over the table they were sharing. "Your regular voice. It's soothing," she shrugged her shoulders and looked back to her script.

Ross didn't respond to her comment, but could only smile. He stared at her profile as she absorbed the lines for tomorrow and in that moment, could not thing of a single thing on the planet that was as beautiful. Not even the sun setting in front of them. He pulled his camera off the table and just as she scooped a chunk of her hair back from her face, he snapped the picture.

It was still his favorite picture from their entire trip, even topping the kiss with the seals. He peered out the window for the fiftieth time, or so it seemed, since the five o'clock hour passed by. Anxious would not be an accurate word to describe his state of being right now, it was more desperation to see her in front of him, to hold her in his arms and to kiss every part of her. Ross was usually not like this, and had never really missed a girl so much in his life. There had been Heather, who was just there for the fame part; Jana, who was there for the rockstar life; Kayla, who was there to up her own career; Mandy, who was just there to annoy him mostly; Tina, who admitted to even going out with him because she had the hots for Riker; Gabrielle, who was there for the perks of it all; Cristina, who was there for the networking; and Samantha, who also admitted she was only there because he was hot. He hadn't missed any of them. Not one bit. But Laura...damn, his Dad was right. Laura was his Stormie.

Hearing a door shut outside, Ross zoomed back to the window to see if it was her, but when he only saw it was Ellington, his shoulders slumped. Not that he wasn't excited to see his bandmate and friend, it was just that at this moment, it was all about Laura.

"She's upstairs," Ross told the drummer as soon as he walked through the door.

"Thanks. You ok? You look like you lost a puppy man."

"Don't get him started, El," Rydel, who was waiting on the stairwell for her boyfriend, warned. "Really, don't. It'll be hours before we could even leave if you do."

Ross turned to his sister and stuck out his tongue. "How rude."

"You know it's true."

And, sadly, it was, but he didn't care. Being with her every frickin' day for four months, sleeping with her, making love to her, waking up beside her, kissing her, and then suddenly not at all...it was damn torture. Another door sound and he was back at the window again, his shoulders once again going down as Ryland and his own girlfriend came out of the car. "Come on Laura," he muttered to himself, heading back to the kitchen to see what else he could eat to keep himself busy. If he didn't, he'd be going insane and wearing an insanely deep hole in his parent's living room. He didn't know how expensive replacing hardwood floors was, but he knew he didn't want to have to do that.

Ross glanced at the clock, after pulling out some lunch meat and making himself a sandwich to pass the time. Almost six. That made it four days, twelve hours without her. He tried to drag out the minutes, packing on almost all of the meat that was in the box onto the slices of bread before slapping on some mayo and cheese. He placed his hands back on the island counter top and stared at the food. Truth was, he wasn't hungry...well, he was, but not for the sandwich. But he took a bite of the massive sandwich anyway, praying it would pass the time faster. Since he arrived back home, he had slept and slept and slept and answered more phone calls from his manager and agent. His suitcases were still up in his room and he knew that Laura would get after him to actually unpack them later. He had watched television, caught up on actually playing his guitar and worked on some music and all in all, rested from working on a major movie for the past four months. But most of all, in the past four days, he had missed her. He missed waking up next to her and pulling her close to him so he could nip at her earlobe. He missed clutching her fingers in his against the soft pillows and he definitely missed the way he could make her squeal by just running one finger down the length of her tummy. It was almost the perfect way to wake her up.

He was pulled out of his deep thoughts about her by Ellington drumming along the countertop. Ross nodded at the drummer, surprised he actually resurfaced from the media room with Rydel. He was proud of his sister, and how she headed straight back to the books once they had returned from tour and put her all into getting her degree. She had been on a school break for the past week and since he had returned, she had been camped out in the media room most days. Not that he was complaining at all - in fact, she had excellent taste in television and was almost an even better sibling to bounce ideas off of than the others.

"That is one tall sandwich."

"Trinf pasm fim," Ross mumbled, his mouth full of the aforementioned sandwich. Chewing it up as best he could, he cleared his throat again and answered once more. "Trying to pass the time."

"For Laura," Ellington nodded, understanding his anxiousness. "How'd that happen anyhow? One day it was just you two were working on a movie together and the next, Ry is calling me squealing about you and Laura getting together."

Ross wiped his chin, making sure the mayo that dripped was gone and shrugged his shoulders. "It was kind of a spur of the moment thing," he said, and it was. How could he explain that them actually getting together and having sense knocked into them was all thanks to that love scene? "She came to my room, I kissed her, we had sex..."

"Wait, hold up," Rydel was the one to stop him as she came into the kitchen. "You slept with her the moment you confessed your feelings? Isn't that rushing things a bit?"

"It had been five years, Rydel. Five years," he held his hand up, spreading his fingers wide to emphasize his point. "How long did you guys wait?"

"Two days," Ellington blurted out, earning a smack from his girlfriend. "What?"

"I do not need my brother knowing about our sex life. Any of them."

"But, they're my best friends..."

"No," Rydel put her finger to Ellington's lips. "If you want to still have sex, you will not utter a word to them. Got it? Good."

Ross watched as she smirked at her boyfriend and band mate. Rydel definitely had him wrapped around her finger, not that she didn't before, but this time, threatening to take away sex was all Ellington needed. Hell, if it was Laura doing it to him, he would do the exact same thing. They guys watched as Rydel went back to the media room after grabbing the water she'd sent Ellington into the kitchen for and as soon as she was out of sight, Ellington was turning back, doing what he just said he wouldn't do.

"Two days, and fifteen minutes. I know you don't want to hear it, but your sister is amazing."

Ross' lips curled up as he took another bite from the sandwich and he shook his head. "You're right, I don't, but I am happy for you two. I'm glad it's you and her." And he was. Ellington was not only the drummer for R5 but also one of his best friends. If he could've picked out a guy for his sister to be with fully, it would be Ellington in a heart beat. Not the other random ones that he barely remembered. It was always Ellington for her, just like it was always Laura for him. Hearing a light sound of a door shutting, Ross ditched the kitchen and the rest of his sandwich for the door and opened it with a hopeful smile, only to reveal his parents getting home.

"Look more excited to see us, Ross," Mark told him, ushering his wife ahead of him as Ross's shoulders slumped and he let his head hang down. "I'm sure you're be more excited in a minute."

And he was. In sixty seconds he had gone from hopeless to elated because she had been hiding just behind Mark and surprised him with a kiss that he didn't want to stop. The door was still open as he picked her up with both of his arms and kissed her back and back and back. He was really wishing she would've come earlier in the day, when absolutely no one was home but him so he could have his way with her right now against the door. Why did his parents just have to come back now? Laura's lips left his for a moment and her hands moved from around the back of his neck to just under his jawline. "Hi," he breathed against her.

"Hi."

Ross didn't care who was watching behind them, although he could feel their gazes on his back, he just kept kissing Laura and was most likely squeezing all the air supply out of her. He placed her back on the ground gently and moved one arm, from her back up to her soft skin on her cheek, trying to pull her closer to him.

"You taste like turkey," she mumbled, a little laugh coming from her.

He bit the bottom of her lip, stealing a few more before she moved out from his arms and leaped into his sister's instead.

"Can I just say finally?"

"You and every other person on the planet," Laura nodded, laughing at Rydel's comment.

"No, sorry. She's mine for the rest of the night," Ross swooped her away, pulling her up with one arm away from his sister and taking her outside to the backyard. He felt her pounding on his back but he did not care at the moment. Four, almost five full days since he's seen her last and he was almost going insane. "Stop hitting me," he told her, putting her down on the concrete patio instead of flying into the pool which was the other idea he had in his mind.

"I wouldn't have had to if you let me walk." He didn't let her speak anymore, leaning to capture her lips in his once again. "You still taste like turkey."