There is a part that is M-rated

His flight had arrived earlier than he expected it to. He had hopped on his flight from Vancouver, were he was filming one of the last scenes for Permafrost before the cast's hiatus, to Toronto, where he would hop right back on the promo train for Into The Air, which apparently was indeed called Dix in Canada. His bags now safely in his room and him sprawled out all over the bed, he knew he should at least get up and take a shower but he didn't want to at all.

"I need to get over this not being able to sleep on a plane thing," he muttered to himself, kicking off his shoes to the floor and grabbing a pillow to place under his head. He didn't even try and remove the coat over his body because it was cooler than normal in the northern city.

As far as he could remember at the moment, Laura was on her way and should be touching down by seven and their actual first event for the festival was tomorrow in the afternoon. That would give them time to sleep and eat and spend some time together just the two of them. After reconciling at Cinespia, the two had just about two days before she was off to Venice for that film festival and he was back to Vancouver for a re-shoot and new scenes for the show. It didn't give them much time at all to be with each other and he knew that they needed that. He needed it. He needed to have her in his arms and feel her heartbeat next to his and to stare into those gingerbread eyes that made his heart do backflips. He needed that.

Sliding out his phone from his back pocket, Ross quickly checked the charge (65%) and his messages (currently standing at 146 unanswered and unread emails and 2 text messages). Double checking the texts to see if they were from Laura or emergency pertaining (they weren't), he placed it on the side table and closed his eyes tight. It was only 3:30 right now. That gave him just enough time to take the nap his body had been craving, eat a little snack and hopefully get the airplane stink off of him.

His thoughts kept going back to the two days that they had before things picked up again. He thought of her giggle as he chased her down to the pool at their apartment and how much he loved holding her hand while they walked just around the neighborhood. That was a risky move, he had thought, but she said they both needed the fresh air. The other option to that was her taking him hiking which he would crap out on in the first step. He loved her, he hated hiking. He thought of her attempting to make dinner all by herself and him coming to rescue not only his stomach but her own. While he loved all that stuff, he also loved the mundane things they'd ended up filling most of their time with - paying the rent, doing the laundry, making sure their cars were going to be safe and sound while they were out of the country. A little not in his mind scribbled down, thank Laura's parents with something from Oslo, or one of the other cities they'd be visiting after Toronto.

In between everything though, they did talk everything out again. He needed to be sure she was actually all in with them. He'd been in too many relationships that burned him and while he knew Laura would not be like them at all, he needed reassurance. He needed her to tell him that he was being ridiculous and smack him against the head because when Rydel did it, it didn't stick. He let out all his worries, she scoffed at most of them, even though they were warranted. He didn't know why he was so worried. Maybe it was because after seeing her being taken away from him right under his nose when they were teenagers, he thought it would happen again.

"You're being ridiculous Ross."

"Why? Why am I being ridiculous?"

"Because I'm not going to leave you. I'm with you until the moment you get tired of me and even then, I'll still be yours."

"Until I get tired of you? I think it's the other way around."

She paused, leaning against the counter, as they cleaned up from lunch. "Why though? Why are you so worried about me leaving or us not working out?"

"Because you're you."

She crossed her arms. "That explains just about nothing."

"You're Laura," his hands jutted out from his sides and headed up to his hair. "I've just been screwed over so many times before by girls that maybe, just maybe, my heart and mind are leaning towards it happening again. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm insecure because I don't want you to disappear from my life."

"Yep, you're being ridiculous," she nodded, taking a step towards him and grabbing his arms. "My name is Laura and I'm not Gabrielle or Heather or even Tina. I'm definitely not Tina. I'm going to be here, annoying you with burning food and reminding you to pick up your socks because you always miss the basket in the corner. I'll be the one scolding you for paying more attention to a hockey game and making you run lines with me when you'd rather be sleeping."

"I know..."

"Not done," she shushed him. "I'll also be the one giving and showing you love from every which way in our lives together. So, stop worrying."

"I would not have any of these thoughts if you weren't so beautiful you know. Or if you hadn't had doubted us."

She backed away then, crossing her arms again, along with furrowing her brow. "Really? You want to start this again?"

Ross bit his tongue, trying to find the words to make it all better again, even if it was true. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean...argh." She kept quiet as he fumbled over his words, trying to make a complete sentence that sounded like an apology. "Babe, I know you love me, I love you. What you said was out of context and I'm past it."

"Mmhmm..."

It was his turn to step forward and reach for her, his hands rubbing over her arms this time. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that, or even think it."

"All I was looking for," she smiled up at him. "Think you can stop being ridiculous from now on?"

"I can try...for a kiss."

Laura narrowed her eyes, almost sizing up to see if he was worthy. Good thing she thought he was.

Ross smiled in his sleep, remembering the sweet and short kiss that turned into a heated makeout. They had forgotten the mail, and the running over lines that she needed to do for Soleste, and almost forgot to get packing for their trips. Hearing a bit of noise around him, his body flipped around and as much as he didn't want to open his eyes at all, they did it anyhow. A little light met his corneas and fuzzy shapes around the room formed into 3D...there was a chair, and a coat and his own bag still standing where he left it...and then he saw her coming out of the bathroom. Her hair was up in the messiest of buns, no makeup whatsoever and she was bundled in probably the biggest coat he'd ever seen. It didn't just overwhelm her, it swallowed her whole.

He glanced over at the clock on the night stand, opening his eyes wider when he saw it was him who slept more hours than he had planned to. Leaning up on his elbows, he watched as she almost danced around the room with making herself busy. Not once was she moving to take her jacket off though. He wanted to jump right up and welcome her to Toronto and ask more questions than he actually had about her brief time in Venice, but he was enjoying watching her busy herself and tip toe around the room, trying not to wake him up. She took her hair down, the mess of brunette hair that was straight as a board right now flying up a bit as static hit it and he chuckled about it. There went the plan of creepily staring at her from behind.

"I knew you were up you know," her voice came around her big coat and hit his ears.

"You always know, don't you?"

"Pretty much. It's freezing here."

"Are you that cold?" Ross pulled his legs up from the bed and made himself get up, coming over to her. She was finally plugging in her phone, and iPad, and computer and he was now wondering why she needed all that technology. They were only here for a few days before heading back to LA for a day, and then it was off to Berlin.

"Yes. It was so cold in Venice, I had to go and buy another coat, which is stuffed in my suitcase I could barely close. Then I get here and it's freezing and why is it freezing in September? It just turned in Fall, not winter."

Ross tried to find her shoulders inside the big coat still on her body, to ease the tension she was feeling. He knew right away she was tired and needed to probably take the longest bath on Earth to wind down, but he wasn't going to tell her that. She'd, and most likely any other female, would have his head on a stick for it. Instead, he kissed the top of her head and turned her around, unzipping the jacket himself. "I can warm you up better than this coat."

"As much as I love you, I'm not really in the mood for sex right now."

"Wasn't my intention," he said, tossing the coat onto the top of her suitcase. "My intention was to actually warm you up, and get you in the shower to warm you up more and ordering everything on the room service menu and watching cheesy movies on the television where we can make our own commentary."

"Perfect partner ever." Laura smiled up at him, leaning up and kissing him sweetly.

"If you play your cards right, I might even be your Moroello tonight."

"I'm getting you a shirt with that on it if you do. I know I'm Italian and all, but this story and speaking the language is just messing my head up."

Ross kissed her once more before setting out on his mission - starting that shower and hoping she actually wouldn't mind if he joined her for it. He still needed that airplane stink off of his body as well. He fondly remembered that time in Cape Town and her hands all over his body after a long day filming and as much as he wanted to repeat that, it was her turn. "How was your flight anyhow?" he yelled back.

"It was fine. Just long," she was in the bathroom now, her jeans off her legs and just a long sleeved shirt covering her torso. She always drove him crazy when she was dressed down like this. Dressed down and all natural and just pure Laura. She moved past him, opening the clear glass door and testing out the water on her hand to make sure it was the right temperature. "I'll tell you all about it after this," she promised.

"I can't wait," he winked, and backed away out into the room again, not missing her stripping off the shirt and watching her naked body submerge under the water.

It wasn't long before she was back out of the shower and telling him about said flight, where the man next to her wouldn't shut up about watching her in Scandal and needed to know all the gritty details and the flight attendant not being any bit of help. She told him of their stop in New York for about thirty minutes where she didn't think she would make the last flight to Toronto. Why there was a stop in New York at all was beyond him. He knew for a fact that there were non-stops between Venice and here. But then again, if there wasn't, she would've been stuck next to the rude guy for more than ten hours. They went over tomorrow's busy schedule together, and were pleased to see that there were only a few group interviews versus ten individual ones ahead of the premiere. They had portraits in between all that too.

"I know we're supposed to probably do dinner with everyone but how about a late night date?"

"Ditching the cast dinner? Who are you?" he teased her.

"I just really want a date night with just you."

"I like when you ask me out. It's sexy."

Laura rolled her eyes at him. "I'm taking that as a yes."

"It's a hell yes. A just Ross and Laura night."

+++

She draped the camel colored coat over her shoulders, leaning against the wall of the pop up portrait studio at the Bell Lightbox just steps away from their hotel. She had left earlier than Ross to get ready with a Paramount appointed makeup artist and hairstylist, people who she was not as comfortable with as she was with Heather and Paolo, but they weren't bad. Her hair was pin straight, long lashes jutted out from her eyes and a burgundy color stained her lips for the solo session. The color had went onto Ross' lips as he kissed her hello, something she had to wipe off of him before his own session. He had looked good - black slacks replaced his signature torn up jeans, a sharp gray shirt draped around his body and his hair slicked back. In another world, they would look like that high society couple with equally as high society last names with too much money to their name. If he was wearing that same thing to dinner tonight, she'd be in trouble. That would be all she would be thinking about and how fast she could get it off of him later that night.

The cast all gathered together for additional shots before being walked over to the makeshift talk show studio with Variety to talk about Into The Air, or Dix here, some more. Karen and herself talked about their epic fight, Gale talked about how much of an ass his own character was, Ross was the one telling the trade paper about the casts' off set antics and Stevenson was praising just about everyone involved with the project, which was warranted.

"Everyone was the best. I've worked on a lot of movies, from being a key grip to director to a script coordinator and this was really one of the best films with its cast and crew that I've experienced. Cape Town and the South African government were fantastic...I just couldn't have asked for a better project."

"We even had our own love story within the cast," Gale mentioned to the reporter. "It was kind of nice seeing that. You always hear about these celebrity relationships that start on movie sets and you always think that it's PR or it won't last beyond the final cut of the film. This love story, I'm so happy to say, isn't one of those."

Laura glanced over at Ross, checking for his reaction and was surprised to see a little smirk underneath his hand that was covering his mouth. They hadn't even talked about mentioning their off screen relationship to promote the movie; there hadn't been any reason to either. That was off limits. Magellan and Rory's romance was the focus. Seeing Gale talk about them though, and how they were giving him hope about love and everything, was kind of nice. Laura hadn't realized how much the cast was actually rooting for them until now.

"Well, we can scratch that question off of our list," the reporter joked.

"Yes, please do," Gale told him. "And any other question about off-screen stuff. We're here to talk about our movie, not that."

She could honestly kiss Gale right now.

"Rory completely falls in love with Magellan the moment she enters this new world," Stevenson brought up as the interview focused in on their characters again. "He has no idea who the hell she is or what she does or what she's going to bring to the table at all. He just knows he has this unspoken connection with her and I think that's why we cast these two in the parts to begin with. With Laura, we casted her ahead of everyone else, even though she didn't know that until right now."

"Wait, you did?"

"You were the first on our list," the director confirmed. "Then when Ross came in to read, we were impressed but we had no idea which role he would actually be that stand out in, until my daughter came into my office and we - my producers and casting directors and I - were watching the tapes. She mentioned the Austin & Ally program and immediately, my producer remembered the chemistry they had there. I always had this thing in the back of my mind where lightning does not strike in the same place twice and I am so glad I was wrong."

"We have your daughter to thank for that then."

"Most definitely," Stevenson said as the reporter moved onto the movie's true message.

"It's about knowing where your true home is and fighting tooth and nail to get there," Karen said before citing her own home. "My son is that for me."

"I'd say the stage," Gale added. "I'm so predictable."

While Stevenson cited his wife and kids, Laura was on the same wavelength. "Ross."

"I'm home?"

"Did you think I'd say anything else?"

"I was hoping not," he smiled over at her before leaning up to press a sweet kiss to her lips. "You're my home too."

It was hours, and another look, later when he was grabbing her hand and whisking her out of the theater and into the back alley where he had a taxi waiting for them. The high neck bejeweled dress fit perfectly over her petite body and every time she had looked over at him on the carpet, in between short interviews, she could feel him undressing her with his eyes. It didn't take much from him to get her hot, and she felt like it was the same for him. His gray shirt had been shed for a red one - a red one she had definitely wanted to pull at and tug off of him.

She had made reservations at Fifth Grill earlier in the day for their little date night, but was suddenly inclined to skip it and drag him back to the hotel room instead. The car went ahead, taking them to Queen West and giving them tips about just what to order. As they stepped into the small elevator, Ross grabbed for her hand, bringing it up to his lips to kiss and the aroma of the food and wine about to greet them was invading their senses.

Inside the top level, intimate restaurant, she didn't think she saw a bare table in sight. It was after eight and busy, but she didn't mind waiting. The evening had turned from being hot and bothered a minute ago to being super romantic and something she wanted to soak up and pocket for a rainy day. They hadn't really had a romantic night out in a while anyhow and all of the sudden, she didn't even know how to act on a date like this.

Sitting down at their table at the edge of the room, in a private little corner, Laura looked around them as she tucked her clutch next to her on the chair. She looked up to already find Ross ordering them wine and placing the menus to the side for a minute. While she was hungry and wanted to eat sooner rather than later, this little moment he was taking was more than she ever wanted.

"I would ask how your day was, but I already know most of it."

Laura smiled, tucking the hair behind her ears and out of the way of her eyes. "Ask me anyhow."

His smile lit his face up, and hers. "How was your day?"

"Busy. I got up at seven this morning after being on a twelve hour flight the day before," she told him, meeting his gaze. "But I had this amazing snuggle buddy that made everything better."

"Sir, Miss," the waiter announced his arrival, the bottle of Tormaresca Negroamaro Maime from 2006 in his hands. He popped the bottle, pouring a bit in Ross' glass for him to taste and approve before filling it up and giving Laura her own glass. "Can I start you off with an appetizer?"

"We'll take the calamari," Ross told him.

"Very good choice. I'll give you some time to go through the menu and be out with the calamari in a moment."

Laura stared back at Ross, the curved glass in her hand. "Are you going to order my meal for me too?"

Ross beamed. "No. But you love calamari and I love calamari and it was one of the things the driver told us to get."