The rain was still drizzling down over the tent they were in. It wasn't a complete downpour, but it wasn't a light drizzle either. The water was making the trees sing and was almost peaceful in her ears. Ross's arms were wrapped around her loosely, so if she wanted to, she could get up and dance in the rain like she was thinking about doing. But she didn't. She stayed right were she was and cuddled even closer to him. She breathed in his musky scent, her fingers lightly drawing circles over his chest - so lightly that he was still asleep next to her.

She had only woken recently, her eyes adjusting to her surroundings once again and remembering that she was in the middle of the jungle, celebrating her one year anniversary with the man of her dreams. Laura knew that it was early, but the exact hour was lost on her. According to him, they had a breakfast coming with another adventure that ended with a surprise. She was still on the fence about his surprises. Normally, they were good ones. Like when he surprises her with random trips to the beach or when she came home from an audition that went bad and he was cooking up a yummy meal for them to eat. She especially liked the surprises when he was teaching her something. Surfing was one thing and photography was another. She was still trying to understand what speed and what aperture to pair together on his camera when he let her use it. But this surprise...she was skeptical. Unless the surprise ended with Thong Kam drowning him in more water like their first day...

Laura smiled to herself, recalling just how wet he'd gotten from the flirty elephant and sat up, Ross's arms loosening from her body. She turned her head and watched him turn into the middle of the bed, his eyes still shut tight and hair falling over his eyes. She made a mental note to make him get it cut when they got back home. Not that she didn't like it long - she did. A lot - but, she was sure that CBS would make him cut it anyhow. She saw his hand jut out into the space she just occupied, feeling around for her frame, smiling at the way he was still searching for her. His groan came next as he realized he would have to open his eyes to find her and her lips curved even more, just as his hand found the lower part of her back.

Ross's eyes never opened up fully and he was pulling her back to his side and flat onto the bed in seconds, his arms wrapping back around her like she was a stuffed animal or safety blanket. "Mmm, better."

"You found me," her voice was hushed, as she was still listening to the rain music.

"Best snuggle buddy ever," he mumbled, his mouth getting buried in her hair.

She was sure she didn't look her best, but he was used to this. The messy hair, the horrible breath after a night of drinking with friends and more times than not, she would wake up and see him watching her and that was after he had taken a picture on his phone to show her how she really slept - her mouth wide open, arms over his head and the sheets completely off of her and on the floor. Today, she wasn't like that at all. Her hair was still in the condition it was yesterday - a messy ponytail on top of her head, a loose tank top covering the top half of her body and lacy boyshorts that he always said made her look sexy.

"Snuggle buddy?" She felt him nod before he turned back onto the bed, his one arm flying to the other side of the mattress.

"I had some other titles, but figured snuggle buddy was the best," Ross said, while trying to get his eyes adjusted to the lightness of his surroundings. His other arm was tucked underneath her shoulders and he pulled her closer into him. "Morning."

"Morning," she smiled up at him before he connected their lips.

"Did you sleep ok?"

"Yea," she nodded and looked back out to the rain. "I love the jungle rain. I wish LA got rain like this."

He chuckled. "Yea, if that happened though, we wouldn't ever get out of bed."

"Not necessarily a bad thing," Laura pointed out and they really wouldn't. The last time it had rained in LA, which was a while ago, they both called and cancelled all of their appointments and stayed in bed. If she recalled, they only time they actually emerged from the bedroom was to use the bathroom and re-hydrate. She hadn't put one piece of clothing on. Slipping into the crevice of his arm and side, Laura started to draw circles on him again, the tips of her fingers making little marks like she was giving him a tattoo. "Did you ever think we wouldn't work out?" she mused, not actually aware she said that out loud.

Ross caught her hand and made her look up at him. "What? You had doubts?"

"I said that aloud didn't I? I didn't mean to."

"You had doubts?"

"No," she said, confident in that. She truly didn't have doubts, but she knew that others did. "I never had doubts, but I see the things online and all around us. It's us - millions wanted us together and another five million didn't. I was just wondering out loud." Great was to kick off this day, Laura. She tried to pull away, but he only tightened his hold on her.

"You should never have any doubts about us," he said, his own fingers looping in and out of hers.

"I haven't." Laura watched him closely, his breath evening out and his other hand sweeping over her shoulder.

"I've never had any doubts. How could I? It's you and me. The two people who had a crush on the other since the moment they met. The ones who stupidly waited five more years to start something that I'm pretty sure is for life. You shouldn't listen to anyone but you."

Laura nodded, knowing he was right. Hell, she knew without a doubt that she shouldn't worry about anything with him. He'd already proven that he was the best boyfriend ever; you know, with taking care of her when she's sick and taking her paragliding on their very first, official date and let's not forget shooing away and shutting any chance with a very attractive woman who wanted to hook up with him. She pressed her lips against his skin. "I might've doubted when we were younger," she confessed. "But not now. Not when you continue to do stuff like whisk me away to jungles and take me on amazing adventures..."

"So, that's why you're with me? Because I take you places?" Ross raised his eyebrow in amusement, and she saw the small smirk he was trying to hinder.

"You didn't let me finish," she cut him off. "I'm with you because you make my heart happy. I'm with you because even when my hands are sticky and gross, you'll still hold it. I'm with you because you sing when you're cooking or doing everyday things, like Marshall from How I Met Your Mother, who you know is my favorite. It makes me smile," she watched his own smile appear. "I'm with you because you challenge me in the best ways. I'm with you because you fight with me and our fights make us a better couple. I'm with you because you believe in me and..."

"You forgot to mention our sex life."

Laura slapped him playfully at his interjection. Yes, their sex life was amazing, but all the other things she said, plus a dozen more, were on top of that. "Point is, is that I love you."

"And our opinions are the only ones that matter," Ross pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her more like she couldn't escape if she tried. "Want to know what I love about you?" He didn't even wait for an answer before he started rattling off his own list. "I enjoy spending time with you, even if we're just sitting around doing nothing and pretending to be interested in scripts or random programs on television. I look forward to getting off of work just so I can call you or come home to you and have you tell me how incredible your day was or how horrible it went. I love the way you scrunch your nose when you smile, and when you stare me down to get your way," he took a beat as she tried to get out of his hold on her. As much as she loved to snuggle with him, she wanted to be looking him in the eyes when he said all this to her. "There are a million things I could tell you...I get the greatest feeling all over when you laugh, especially when I know it's because of a joke I told. No one else gets that laugh, just me."

"You are funny..."

"I like how when I try to sneak in a glance at you just doing something ordinary, you're sneaking in a glance at me right back. I really love how you're really not afraid to tell me how you feel. If you hate something, you hate it; and if you really like it, you really like it. You know what I love the best though? How you're completely predictable but insanely spontaneous at the same time. It keeps me on my toes and makes me look forward to everything else in life with you."

Suddenly, there was a sting in her eye. Not the sting you get from a bee where it has you screaming bloody murder from the instant pain, but a sting where you know you're tearing up, but don't exactly know how many tears will come out. Making him loosen his grip, Laura wasn't going to give him another chance to say even more things to make her cry with happiness, she just pulled herself on top of him and kissed him. She was for certain that he wasn't going to ask her to marry him, but she kind of couldn't imagine a more perfect proposal. Letting her forehead rest on his and breaking their union for a little oxygen, she faintly brushed her lips over his again. "And you weren't cast as Prince Charming because..."

"Because you weren't my Cinderella," Ross smiled up at her. "Although, you'd make a better Belle. Belle is the best princess anyhow."

Laura rolled her eyes, kissing him again, preventing him from even thinking about talking more about princesses and royalty and roles that passed them both by years ago. She was much more in the mood to show him how much she loved him now. No talking, just showing.

+++

Laura was wearing hiking boots...and not just any hiking boots. The hiking boots he had picked out for her. Well, technically, Rydel did, but he paid. So technically, he picked them out. That's what he was telling himself anyhow. They looked huge on her tiny feet, almost like they would weigh her down and not let her take one step out of their tent...but that was quite the opposite. As an avid Runyon Canyon hiker, Laura was a better hiker than he was for sure. Of course, there, you would only need some good sneakers. Here, on the other hand, you needed hiking boots; and the ones on her feet - a grey and purple color with tough laces that you could double up and a zig zag pattern along the sides - were making her an expert at navigating the trails just behind their personal guide for the day, Kovit (which coincidently meant expert, he learned later).

He was the one trailing behind. It was on purpose and not on purpose all at the same time. While her hiking boots were the best, the ones he had on his feet...well, he should've tried on some at the store himself. The ones he had brought with him were from years ago and he was confident that they would still fit and be fine for this. Who knew he'd be eating his words? Oh yea, Rydel did. There would be no telling her of this though.

They were on the third hike of their full day in the jungle. After stopping at Ban Ja Jor to visit a Lahu hill tribe and learning more about hunting then he would ever need from the locals (thought Kovit), and then stopping at Ban A-Pae, a village that the Akha hill tribe occupied, where they warded off evil spirits and learned of how only five of the thirty some families still practiced their ancestors religion. Now, they were well on their way to the Huay Kaew waterfall and when Laura heard that last word from Kovit's mouth, she turned into a middle schooler who was looking forward to having no more homework for the summer. They'd both been to waterfalls before, but never together. He remembered cliff diving with his brothers while in Hawaii many times and he knew she'd done the same with her family before as well. This was different, of course. This was just him and her and a huge waterfall that others would possibly be at, but he was secretly hoping that it would just be them.

After their early morning "getting real" session in bed, as he was calling it, and having some pretty damn amazing sex right after, they'd finally had breakfast and when he told her to wear her bikini underneath her clothes, she looked at him like he was crazy. He was though and she definitely knew that going in. He was planning on tossing her into that waterfall, just like he threw her into the pool at his parents place.

"Come on, slow poke," Laura's voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up ahead, seeing Laura and Kovit waiting for him like he was a snail walking up the short trail from the last village they had been in.

"Slow poke? Really?"

"I'm sure Kovit and I could've have a five course meal in the time since we've been up here waiting for you."

He rolled his eyes as he took the last step to join the two, grabbing her hand. According to Kovit, who laughed at them, they were only a few trails away from the falls and to him, that only meant a few trails away before he would pick her up and drop her into the water. His camera safely tucked back into his bag for now, they walked behind Kovit, all while dodging some rogue branches on the trees and hopping over fallen ones that had had a very, very, very long life. They were lucky enough that they hadn't been rained on all day...so far. But it was muggy and stuffy and they were hiking through the jungle and he was actually looking forward to welcoming the rain soon...or maybe later when they were back in their tent. That would be better.

"Welcome to Huay Kaew," Kovit waved his arms over the area as they took the last step. Welcome to Huay Kaew, indeed. It was gorgeous. It wasn't just a waterfall either. It was a little Garden of Eden inside a jungle with tiny hills full of green and flowers and trees sprouting out from them. There were huge rocks that Laura was already climbing over in the middle of it all and he hurried to get his camera out to get a shot before he raced after her. Leaving his bag with Kovit, his feet splashed in the river before hopping onto the flat, but slanted rocks jutting out of the ground, trying to catch up with her. The openness of the falls came into a point against cliff, where the water flowed down almost like steps.

He caught up to her, and watched her reach out her hands to catch the water from out of the sprouts, but wasn't expecting her to toss it at him. A full face of water came his way and he had no choice put to retaliate and he liked to think he had a leg up, since his hands were bigger than hers, but somehow he was the one dripping and having to brush sopping hair back from his face. Her, on the other hand, she wasn't sopping, but she wasn't completely dry either.

"How long do we have here?" she asked him, taking off her boots from her feet and slipping them into the cool waters. Sitting down next to her on the flat surface, he shrugged because he honestly didn't know. What he did know was that they were going to enjoy every minute of it though. Starting with him pulling her in. "We have tea next, right?"

"Yea. I think that's a little later in the afternoon though."

He put his own shoes by hers and got up, taking her hands in his, pulling her out into the openness of the pool. The water was cool and welcome on both of their bodies since they'd been hiking in a muggy jungle almost all day. He was almost tempted to strip down right there for a little swim, since she was already throwing her own top off to reveal the cute hot pink top of her bikini. So why not join her? Because he already had plans for later tonight when they'd be the only guests in the pool, or at least that's what he had planned.

Just as soon as they got started in the falls though, they were wrapping up. Kovit led them through the bamboo groves and once they had a history lesson about the tea plantations just above them, Ross and Laura were inside the, what he would call the cutest village ever. They were also in China. That made four countries in three days. If this upcoming promo trip for the movie wasn't going to make them super international travelers, this single trip would. He bowed at the older woman who served them the drink, just like Laura did and took the welcome break from their day long trek through Chiang Rai. They talked with Kovit more and learned about his own family and living in the area before they were back on their feet again and heading towards the last stop on their full day expedition - the hot springs. He had kept his mouth shut about that from her and he was hoping she'd like them just as much as he knew she would. While he didn't end up tossing her in the falls, he wasn't going to chance burning her alive and tossing her there. He'd save that for the pool...maybe tomorrow, because the only thing he had booked for them tomorrow was dinner and the massages, because after all their journeys and hiking and tours, they'd be needing them. Maybe he even had time to sign them up for a little cooking lesson. That would be something he'd definitely enjoy.

"Are you surprised?" Ross came up behind Laura when they arrived at the hot springs. He wrapped his arms around her middle, leaning down just slightly so he could whisper in her ear. He felt her nod furiously and lean back into him. "I knew you'd like them."

"These are hot springs," she turned just a bit, so he could see that smile that made everything he did worth it. "Can we go in these?"

"Yep," he kissed her temple. "It's why you're wearing that bikini that drives me crazy."

+++

"I can't believe you pushed me in. You actually pushed me in."

Laura bit her lip, holding back her chuckle as they arrived back at their tent later in the evening. He let his bag drop to the floor and was still going on about her pushing him into the hot springs. To be completely honest, she didn't intend to push him in, it was just her being a little bit clumsy on the edge of the entrance and he went flying face first while she regained her balance. It was actually funny up until she realized just how hot the hot springs actually were. "I didn't mean to actually push you, Ross."

"But you did. Into the water. Hot, hot water."

Okay, now he was just dragging this out for all he could and trying to make her feel worse than she already did.

"And it wasn't just hot, it was hhhhoooottttt," he enunciated the last t. "I could've gotten really burnt."

"And if you did, I'll be the best girlfriend in the world and rub aloe all over you," she said before being taken by surprise as he pulled her back to him by the edge of the bed.

"All over me?"

His raised eyebrow only made her roll hers more. "All over, but," her fingers walked up the exposed skin that was peaking out of his button up shirt up to his chin, "but only if you let this go."

"Let this go? Pfft, I'll be using this until we die."

Laura stopped her fingers, her palm becoming flat on his chest. "You're mean."

"You pushed me into the hot springs. Hot. Springs."