You know when you wake up in the morning and your eyes aren't open, but yet you can still feel the sunlight burning your eyelids and beckoning them to open up? That's what was happening right now and all Ross wanted to do was pull the blanket up over his head and go back into the deep sleep that he had been in...but that wasn't going to happen. Not when the light was disappearing and then coming back full force, like someone was opening and closing the blinds to see how long it would take him to get up.

Voices were murmured and almost sounded like the teacher's in the Charlie Brown cartoons. He was trying to go back to sleep, not wake up. He wanted to go back to last night when this room had been anything but quiet and her cries of pleasure turned into the soundtrack of his life.

"Ross...wakey, wakey, Ross..."

He swatted at the older Lynch who had somehow wormed his way into their room and like the older brother he was, was bugging the daylights out of him. Ross knew he had to get up. After all, he had an interview at 8:20am on the dot with some publication that he couldn't recall, but that didn't make him move any faster. Folding his arms over his face, he blocked out even more of the sunlight streaming in from the clear wall of windows, that while impressive, was hindering his morning nap.

"Ross, come on, man," Riker pushed his arms off his head. "As I'm your publicist for this trip," he air quoted the title, "as well as your brother, I need you up. Feet on floor, shuffling to the shower, and out the door in like ten minutes."

"I didn't give you that title," Ross muttered, turning around on the bed, and lying flat on his stomach.

"No, mom did. Don't make me call mom."

"You wouldn't." Ross smiled, knowing Riker would be shrugging his shoulders in defeat at that.

"You're right, I wouldn't. But, I have another trick up my sleeve," Riker paused and the moment he did, Ross's head perked up. But that might've been because finger nails were walking on his back up from his waist to his shoulder and kissing skin in between, before turning to see Laura's smiling face.

"See, if you had woken me up like that, this would've been a whole lot easier," he said, kissing her a good morning before she moved off the bed and back over to the dresser to pull on some more jewelry.

"I told him that," Laura said, looking at him in the reflection of the mirror that was hanging. "But he was giving you the benefit of the doubt that you could get up on your own."

Ross turned back around on the bed, leaning up on his elbows and giving her a once over as Riker went down the schedule on his phone, or so Ross assumed. "You look really good."

His eyes traveled down her fully clothed body again. She was covered in a proper ivory blouse that tied into a rose-like bow at her neck that tucked into her tiny jean shorts. Those shorts, though. Whether or not she had this outfit picked out before hand or not, Ross was sure that she was enjoying torturing him like this. She knew for a fact that legs, especially her legs, were his number one weakness. They looked smooth and shiny and he really, really, really wanted to rub his hands all over them. His eyes roamed up and down them again and again, only really taking notice of her blue and yellow floral printed sandals on her feet.

"You know my eyes are up here, right?" Laura laughed at him, pulling him up from the bed.

"But you know how much of a leg man I am and babe, you are killing me here."

"Oh, I know," Laura flirted right back, kissing him quickly. "Oh, before I leave to get this ready," she pointed to her hair and face, "I wanted to show you this ring which is the best ring ever."

Ross looked at the golden heart hitching a ride on his girlfriend's right hand, and rubbed away a bit of sleepiness to read the inscription. Your eyes are the eyes of a woman in love. "Did they make that especially for you?"

"Nope. It's from a past collection, but had to show it to you. Thought it was kind of funny."

"Kind of is," he smiled down at her, capturing her lips once again before she slithered out of his arms.

"See you both later on. You can throw him in the shower now, Riker."

+++

In a different world, a parallel world, Riker Lynch would make an amazing publicist. They had been doing interviews almost non-stop for three hours now on La Plage, the hotel's private beach, and Riker had been on his game with reporters and cameras and everything. Ross never would have picked that profession at all for his eldest brother, but just in case he wanted to give acting or music up, publicity or marketing of any kind would not be a bad choice for him. Riker had been speaking and showing off his French skills since eight in the morning, apologizing first and foremost with the way he was arriving - fashionably late, he had argued; Sleeping Beauty late, Riker argued back.

"Salut, je suis Riker. Ceci est Ross. Merci d'être patient avec nous. Pouvons-nous vous trouver quelque chose à boire?" Riker shook hands with the next reporter, who was about the cutest thing Ross had ever seen. Her ponytail bobbed as she sat down across from him. er pink cheeks got even pinker as he winked at her. He wasn't exactly sure which outlet would hire a teenager for a Cannes interview, but along with her chaperone, he was gearing up for this to be a cool interview.

"I don't actually speak French," the girl bit on her tongue. "I hope that isn't a problem."

Riker and Ross both smiled at her. "It's not a problem at all. Just habit. Been doing that all morning," Riker explained before giving her the go ahead for her questions. Most were about the movie and worded in insanely cool ways. Some left him stumped, some had him wondering the same things and others, took him by surprise.

"This one, I apologize in advance for. I know we're not supposed to be asking about your and Ms. Marano's relationship, however, I'm under contract to ask it."

"Under contract, really? Well, let me hear it and then I'll tell you if I'll answer it."

"The question is," the girl looked down at her notes, and then back up with a smile on her lips. "Where is away?"

Ross just stared back at the girl, trying to suppress the laughter that was going to come out of him at any moment. "Did she pay you to ask that?"

"Um..."

"How'd she pay you? How much?" The girl kept quiet, but Ross knew exactly that Laura was behind that question. Using a teenage girl to find out about her surprise was a new one and one that he had a perfect answer to. "You're reporting this one back to her, right?" Seeing the girl nod slowly, Ross leaned forward. "Okay. 'Away' is away to one of the most remote locations on earth where technology doesn't work and there's no escape. That's where 'away' is."

Two more interviews later, Ross and Riker were headed back inside the hotel for a little break when Ross caught sight of his girlfriend walking with Yaya and their publicists. Zipping across the lobby and in between some chairs, he stopped her shortly, surprising her a little. In a different look altogether - it was a jumpsuit that covered all the areas he was ogling this morning. From her neck to beyond her ankles, it covered every single bit of her body...except for her entire left arm. It was still sexy as hell. She looked sexy in pretty much anything she put on.

"Whoa, um, hi," her lips, also that candy apple red color that only made him want to kiss them more, moved.

"You are an evil girlfriend, you know that? Getting a teen reporter to ask that question."

"Oh," Laura smiled big at him. "You figured that out did you?"

"Evil, evil, evil."

"Did you spill details? I haven't seen her yet."

"I did say something, but you'll have to find her to find out."

"Now who's evil."

"As much as we'd all like to see what comes next in this little exchange," Amy interrupted their flirting. "You both have to be at Le Grand Journal in a half hour. Ross, go change or whatever. Laura, one more hair change, with Yaya."

Ross looked back at Laura before Amy took her away from him and kissed her before she could object. "See you in a bit."

+++

"No, I think the best thing we actually had going on during filming behind the scenes was betting on Laura and Ross."

The microphone went limp in her hands and she was sure that the shade of her skin was now the same as her jumpsuit and lipstick. It had to be. It just had to be. She couldn't really believe that it was the film's own director that outed them instead of Milo or Godfrey or Jenna. She leaned on her elbow on the chair, hearing Jenna's laugh in her ear before glancing over at her boyfriend, sitting on the opposite side of Stevenson.

"We did! We had this pool that I think Milo started about the two falling in love for real and at first, I didn't think it would actually happen," Stevenson continued the story. "Laura was resisting, Ross was all 'we'll be friends 'til the day we die' and everyone else was secreting yelling at the both of them to just give in."

"So when people ask them about how they ended up together, they have all of us to thank," Milo chimed in and her face turned even redder. "I expect a child named after me."

Laura's jaw dropped then and she caught Ross' gaze, silently telling him to say something, anything actually. So, he did: "But what they're not telling you is that Laura and I actually won the bet."

Not exactly what she had in mind.

"You won the bet? How did that happen?" the moderator questioned.

"They tricked us is what happened," Jenna shared. "Ross had secretly got in on the bet not really thinking that he would actually truly fall in love with her. But really, Ross, you've seen this face before right?" Jenna showed off Laura's still beat red face to her boyfriend, the joke still going on and on and on. "But he got one of the makeup artists to masquerade as him."

"How much did you make?"

"Babe, how much was it?"

"It was about $8,000," she said, the red of her cheeks starting to disappear. She was still proud of what they did with the winnings and knew it went towards saving a lot of animals lives.

The cast talked of visiting the organization and put even more attention on Ross and his favorite feline friends that caused him to trend and almost break the internet with the cute video she had shot before they ventured into actually talking about the movie. Stevenson broke into how they gathered this cast and what went behind the idea of the movie, and even talked about how many different endings they filmed.

"There was a lot we filmed. We had them dying, them saving the day...we even had Laura's character Magellan just disappearing into thin air. Right before Rory's eyes and then he just breaks down and believe it or not, was scratched even before we shot a single scene. I honestly just wanted to see how vulnerable Ross could get. He delivers."

"That was my favorite," Gale chimed in from behind Stevenson. "Now that we know that's not the ending, I can fully say that it's my favorite. It was just myself, Milo, Laura and Ross for the last days and for that particular ending, she disappears like sand and Ross is watching it in front of him like it's not actually happening. You could see this guy who was so hopeful about getting back to where he came from with this woman and then she just goes and Ross just breaks down. Like full on stick broken in half, splintering at every angle possible."

"So, what is the real ending?" the reporter asked, his eyes coming back to Stevenson.

"I think we all want to know that," Karen said.

"None of you know?"

"They see the final version tonight before the premiere tomorrow. I'm actually excited to see all their reactions because the ending we picked, wasn't the one I thought we would," the director adjusted his glasses and leaned back in his seat, giving Laura the perfect opportunity to catch Milo, Gale and Ross's eyes.

"I think we just figured out the ending," she said. "Right guys?"

"He's giving us all the clues right there. I think it's the one we shot first," Milo replied.

Gale shook his head, "Nah, it's the last one."

The four debated on the ending a bit more before their interview wrapped up and they all gathered back outside the hotel and hour later, dressed down in their own clothes for a relaxed rest of the day. Their interviews were pretty much all wrapped up until tomorrow morning at the photo call. While Patricia and Gale, who she recruited as her date, headed off to another premiere tonight, the rest figured out if they all were going to get into the water or just admire it from afar. Laura, of course, was getting in the water. There wasn't even a debate about that and while Ross was going to play it safe with paddleboarding, she was nixing that idea altogether.

"Are you nuts? Paddleboarding? We can do that at home," she rolled her eyes at him like he was crazy and spoke with the coordinator about the Flying Fish. She scribbled their names on the sheet, along with Jenna, Richard, Riker, Amy and her husband Matt, and Margarita. They were doing the Flying Fish and that was that. No one wanted to go shark diving her in South Africa, they were definitely doing her sport in Cannes.

Back on the beach again, Laura pulled on her life jacket over her lemon patterned vintage bustier bikini and watched as Ross got the lowdown on what this sport was actually about. Holding back her laugh, Laura pulled on her hair and threw it into a ponytail as she stepped up beside him. The coordinator put them into two groups: her, Ross, Jenna and Richard and then Amy, Matt, Margarita and Riker before sending them out on the inflatable "fish". Shaped like a hammerhead shark, Laura didn't hesitate in taking that middle driver seat.

"Anxious, aren't we?"

"Yes," Laura turned back to see Ross sliding on the "fish" behind her and Jenna and Richard taking the side positions. "And considering I was the pilot..."

"You know you're not the only one who knows how to fly, right?"

"Only because I took you," she playfully pointed out.

"Did you forget that I flew a plane before you?"

"I'm choosing to ignore that. Plus, that wasn't a fighter plane."

"So, now a fighter plane is better than anything else?"

"You betcha," Laura kissed him, catching Jenna cheekingly smiling at her about all the flirting that was happening. "Who's ready to fly?"

+++

He was actually kind of beat by the time they arrived at screening room inside the hotel. Ross held onto Laura's hand as they met back up with everyone after an insanely fun afternoon on the beach. After taking on the Flying Fish, Ross convinced her to do the parasailing with him...not forgetting that that was their first date adventure...and it was just as thrilling as the first time. Now back in comfortable shorts and a polo, Laura had thrown on a cover up over her bikini before they met up with Riker in the elevator and now, were just moments from seeing the final film.

Each and every chair was filled up with the cast and their families, plus the producers and a few other people. Ross wasn't really a nervous person, but for some reason, he was nervous to see the final product. It was still crazy to him to think that he went in for an audition over a year ago, not knowing anything about the project and now it was the closing film at the Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes Film Festival. That was huge and he wasn't going to let anyone actually see his nervousness...although he was pretty sure Laura could tell, considering just how sweaty his palms were getting.

Riker was already off the moment he saw Godfrey. Just like Ross had bonded with Godfrey on the set in Cape Town, Riker was bonding with him on the water. The people around him were talking and yet, he was still in a trance of sorts. Laura was the one pulling him to a small little sofa towards the middle of the room as the lights flickered, telling everyone to take a seat.

"My beautiful cast," Stevenson spoke up from the front corner of the room, with a glass of wine already in his hand. "I'm going to keep this short because, well, I was instructed too and second because I really want to watch this with you. I'm very proud of this film. You all are getting me an Oscar."

He held his glass high, toasting to them all as hotel staff swooped in and brought them all some popcorn and drinks. The lights dimmed down, darkening the room to a real movie theater and Ross settled into the seat, watching the big Paramount intro light up the screen before fading into a panorama of clouds. Perfect pink and white clouds just floating over a bright blue sky, that changed just as everyone was getting used to the view. The intro for the film showed each of their disappearance stories starting with David's.

He threw some popcorn kernels into his mouth and wrapped an arm around Laura's shoulder beside him, as he kept his eyes glued to the screen. He watched as each of his friends were taken from their homes, their lives for a future, screwed up world. He felt Laura jump when Karen fell backwards into the hole at Houska Castle. He was almost glad Rory only disappeared from touching a piece of stone and didn't fall into the hole to Hell. Scratch that, he was glad. Maybe that's why her character was such a bitch - because she actually fell into the hole that led to Hell.

Did you react as badly as I did? Ross watched Laura, as Magellan, with her crazy curly hair up on the screen, talking to Rory with tears in her eyes as she was just told there was no way back.

I don't think anyone reacted as badly as you did. But you have a good reason, he told her and offered her a piece of cloth. We all do. They took us from our homes, our lives, for something they don't want to tell us.

His eyes followed the story as he readjusted his posture on the seat. While the seat was comfortable, he would kind of give everything for it to lean back just a little bit. Like a real movie theater. His legs switched positions just as Laura and Karen's fight broke out on the screen. Ross leaned over to her, whispering about the scene that came next. "You nervous about this?"

"You have no idea."

Laura actually buried her face into his shoulder as the scene played in front of him. He knew that this was fake movie sex and all, but as far as fake movie sex scenes go, this was good. He silently wondered if this is what it would actually look like with their real sex life...it probably wouldn't. Even these kisses weren't real kisses, the moans weren't real moans, but they sure looked and sounded like it. Hopefully an audience would connect with Magellan and Rory's love story...he certainly did.

Another hour passed by and most of the Ten had been killed or disappeared back to where they came from and he was on a roof with scrapes and bruises on places he hadn't had them in a long, long time. They were bloody and he remembered trying to pull that off of his face the moment he was allowed to, which only caused a burn on his face. This was the ending...the ending of the movie and each and every one of them were anxious to see how it all ended, or if it even did.

"Holy shit!"

Ross whipped around his head, looking at Milo who blurted the words out. "I was wrong."

"We all were," Gale called out after; and they were. They all were wrong about the ending.