'Shane'

The caller display on Carmen's phone blinked as it vibrated softly in her hands. A smile crept up onto her face and she looked around to see if anyone else noticed. The actors were rehearsing with the camera on the set and Carmen sneaked outside silently and quickly, hoping to make it before the voicemail took over.

But as she stepped outside into the sunlight, the vibration ended and disappointment set in. Carmen decided to wait a little to see if Shane left her a message and true enough, a few seconds later came the alert for the voice message.

"Hey baby… erm… I guess you are busy now. I'm on my break and I… erm… kinda miss you. Wanted to say hi. Erm… nothing really important. Except that well, I hope to take you out to dinner tonight. I… er… it's our anniversary and I want to treat you. Call me back when you have the chance okay? Erm… yeah so… bye."

A huge grin was plastered on Carmen's face by the end of the message, and she eagerly dialed 1 on the speed dial, which was naturally Shane's number.

"Hey." Carmen's grin grew wider as Shane's chirpy voice came through.

"Hey babe."

"Erm… Did you get my voicemail?"

"Yes… It's sweet, honey, I miss you too." Carmen cooed as she paced around happily.

"Yeah… So dinner tonight?" Carmen could hear the nervousness in Shane's voice, and she decided to tease her girlfriend a little.

"Hmm... I'm rather tired... I think I'll probably just go home."

"…Oh…"

Carmen immediately regretted the teasing as the disappointment in Shane's voice nearly broke her heart. Shane was so insecure with herself that even after all this while, she couldn't trust herself to be wanted.

"Hey hey baby… I was just teasing. Of course I will do dinner with you. But honey, what anniversary are we celebrating?" Carmen had no clue whatsoever.

"Aw, baby, I'm really sorry that I have no clue." Carmen was raking her brains out.

"No… no it's okay… It's just… erm… the 3rd month that we are together, I… er… was looking at the calendar and realized that."

Carmen's heart skipped a beat when she heard what Shane had just said. How could anyone guessed that Shane, the playa, the unattainable one was such a romantic at heart? And she was the only lucky recipient of this elusive woman's attention.

"Carm?"

"You have no idea how touched I am right now. I…" She didn't know what to say. Those three words… she wanted to say those three words, but the words wouldn't come. At least not over the phone.

"Oh… haha." Shane gave out a laugh that was borned from both relief and nervousness. "You could tell me how sweet and ador…"

"CARMEN! Set! Miss Moore needs a coffee!" Screamed the production manager peeking out of studio door.

"Shane… I gotta go… the diva is calling." Carmen said hastily.

"Yeah… So I'll drop by the set at around 6? Is that cool?"

"Yeah… that's the time I get off."

Shane smirked. "I know… I checked your schedule with Vivian."

"Yeah…" Carmen grinned. "I forgot that you have a spy on set for you."

"CARMEN!"

"Oh oh… I really gotta go baby. See you later…" Carmen hung up hastily and ran back into the studio.

"Bye Carm… I… love you." Shane said to the dial tone.

By the time Carmen packed everything and walked out of the studio, it was pushing 6.30pm. She checked her cell to see if Shane had called her, but there wasn't any missed calls or text messages. She strolled to the entrance as she dialed Shane's number, eyes transfixed on the cell instead of where she was going.

"I hope it's my number you are dialling."

Carmen looked up instinctively at the direction of that familiar voice and jumped into the arms of her girlfriend who was standing by her jeep.

"Shane." She placed a soft kiss onto Shane's lips and held her tightly, letting the fatigue of running around crazily the whole day melt away as she leaned into her girlfriend. Just then, a car honked from behind, and the window wound down to reveal Charlize Theron sticking her head out.

"Hey Carmen, thank you for the great job." Charlize Theron said.

"Hey Charlize, glad to be of service." Carmen smiled.

"Yeah… Set wraps in 3 days… Thank god! I hope to get to work with you again."

"Me too. It was really nice working with you."

"Great... Maybe I will try to entice you to be my personal assistant. We'll talk… bye Carmen… and Carmen's girlfriend." Charlize Theron winked and acknowledged Shane who was standing behind Carmen quietly.

"Goodnight."

As Charlize Theron drove away, Shane's gaze followed the car and she let out a low whistle. "She's hot."

The jealousy in Carmen immediately surfaced. "Hey hey… No looking!" She slapped her palm lightly on Shane's cheek and turned her girlfriend's face to fully face her.

Shane answered Carmen's little pout with a firm kiss.

"So set wraps in 3 days huh?" Shane asked in between slow sips of soup.

Carmen rolled her eyes in appreciation. "Yeap… thank god, I really need a break."

Shane brought Carmen to a nice dainty restaurant called 'Jarries' in downtown LA. She didn't want to make it all too fancy, afraid that it would be an overkill, and this restaurant had just the right touch of casual elegance. Carmen insisted that she loved the place and rewarded Shane with a kiss and a sexy wink, hinting at some things that were to come. Shane's heart swelled with happiness as Carmen held on to her by the fingertips, letting her lead the way into the restaurant and allowing Shane to treat her.

"So does that mean that I will be having you all to myself for the next two weeks?" Shane ventured. Since the beginning of the relationship, both of them had been working non-stop and there was hardly any time to spend together.

"Hmm... I was thinking of taking a trip to Bali for a week or so, to take a break." Carmen said as she scooped a spoonful of soup into her mouth. She didn't notice that Shane started swirling the spoon in the soup silently until after a long pause.

"Will you come with me?" Carmen asked as she placed her hand over Shane's left.

"I can't… peak period for the salon." A whimper escaped from Shane.

Carmen pouted at the shattered prospect of going to her favorite island with Shane. But she was determined to go, ever since she visited the place a couple of years ago, she made it a point to get out there for a few days after every movie project that she took up. It was calming and relaxing, and it did so much to help her de-stress.

"I really would like you to go baby…"

"Won't you stay with me?"

"Well… I'll only be gone for a couple of days, not gonna be too long."

"Not even if I plead?"

"I'll spend the rest of my break with you…" Carmen said quietly, and Shane could hear the decision in her voice. "I really need this break, Shane."

"…Yeah…"

"If I plead with you to come?"

"John will never agree." Shane shook her head sadly.

As the meal progressed, both ladies were increasingly troubled in their own thoughts. Carmen needed this vacation badly, and wanted Shane to be there with her. But with or without Shane, she was determined to go for at least a couple of days. She just hoped that Shane was understanding.

Shane on the other hand, was disappointed that Carmen had decided to go even without her. There was nothing she could do to make her stay, and she cursed her boss for being such an ass everytime she asked for time off. Furthermore, this was a peak period, and Shane's appointment book had been filled up to the end of the next month.

They finished their meal in relative silence, and Shane drove Carmen home, the tension heavy in the air. When at last they pulled up in front of Carmen's house, Carmen couldn't stand the silence any longer and said softly, tilting her head down lightly to stare at her shoes.

"I really need this vacation Shane. But if you really don't want me to go, I won't go."

"No… no you should go… you need this vacation." Shane replied, the sadness ringing in her voice.

"I don't want you to be upset with me. I don't like this uncomfortable silence."

"Carm… I want you to go. I'm just disappointed that I can't go with you is all."

"Really baby? I…"

"Carm… it's okay… you will come back after a couple of days right? We can spend time together then."

Shane forced out a weak smile and undid her seatbelt, taking Carmen into her arms. "I'll miss you, and so I am going to see you for every single night until I leave okay?" Carmen whispered in Shane's embrace, and sealed the promise with a kiss.

When they pulled apart, Carmen kept her lips on Shane's cheek. Both unwilling to break contact. At last Shane said in a low voice that burned with desire. "Come home with me." Carmen nodded.

The jeep took off like a speeding bullet, almost as if you could see the desperation of the driver and the passenger burning a trail behind.

Shane gulped down her coffee while listening to Tina talk about baby lessons that Angelica was taking. Everyone was there, Bette was playing with Angie, cooing at her; Dana was busy applying cream cheese to Alice's bagel and Alice returned the favor with occasional kisses on Dana's cheek, all were listening to Tina, who had her hand on Bette's thigh. Even Kit has her new man-toy Angus and Jenny just walked in with Amanda. Shane groaned, everyone in pairs and all cuddly and lovey except her. She missed Carmen already, even though she had just saw her off at the airport. It was a good thing that Shane got Carmen to the airport early, because the goodbyes lasted a whole hour. And a grin crept up at the thought.

Carmen spent the last few days at Shane's place, and even if they were too tired to have sex, Shane was contented with just cuddling. That had never happened before. Shane always wanted sex, wham bam thank you Mam, and then she was out of there. No cuddles, no after kisses, no soft touching. But she wanted to do all that with Carmen. One could even say that she enjoyed those tiny perks better then the real deed. Of course the real deed was great, but the added incentives somehow made it all sweeter, and it was all due to one Carmen De La Pica Morales. Carmen… Carmen's ass…

"Shane!"

Shane looked up stunned as 8 pairs of giggling eyes stared at her. "What." She swallowed an invisible lump and was ready to burrow her head into a hole in the ground, pretty sure that everyone could read the lovelorn look on her face.

Kit lifted her eyebrow, "Someone's got it bad!"

Alice, being the incredible friend that she was, decided to chirp in and add to Shane's embarrassment. "Shane stop thinking of Carmen for a few minutes and say goodbye to everyone except me and Bette."

Everyone laughed and came around to hug Shane, reassuring her that it was a natural process to go through when in a relationship. Shane didn't understand what was natural about it, because her heart seemed like there was a lump settling that couldn't be shaken off.

When at last it was just the 3 of them, Bette asked directly, "So you saw her off at the airport?"

All Shane could do was nod.

"Why didn't you go with her, Shane?" Alice asked.

"Because John will never let me take the time off, and I am booked till the end of next month and…" Alice let her eyes roll and let out a 'pfff'

"Come on Shane, you know those are excuses."

"It is not! Besides, Carmen would like to take the holiday alone." Shane added in a smaller voice, knowing that Alice was right as usual.

"Didn't she ask you to join her?" Bette commented thoughtfully.

"Yeah she did, and you know why Shane is not on the flight right now? That's because she is afraid, afraid of being too needy and too pushy. Right, Shaney-kins?"

Shane gave Alice the death stare, she would never want to admit it to her friends, but Shane knew that Alice was right deep down. And now regretted not even trying to take time off.

"I really miss her." Shane admitted.

"Then go get her Shane!" Bette place a reassuring hand across the table on Shane's elbow, emphasizing her support.

"Yeah, go over there and surprise her and then fuck her brains out." Both Shane and Bette smacked Alice on her arm and hissed. "Alice!"

"What! I am just stating a fact, that's what Shane is going to do."

"I can't just take off work and show up there. She would think I am desperate."

Now it was Alice's turn to smack Shane. "You idiot, you love her, she loves you, you want to be there, I'm sure she wants you to be there. What else is there to think about?" Alice lifted her hands up, "I swear Shane, all these insecurities, they are going to ruin you."

Shane bit the tip of her finger. The more she thought about it, the more tempted she was. If she go, she would surprise Carmen and she would get hugs and kisses and…

"…. Look Bette, Shane has that shitty grin plastered on her face again." Alice cooed mockingly. Bette laughed at both Alice's statement and the priceless look on Shane's face.

"Shut up, Al." Shane attempted a weak comeback.

Bette wanted to convince Shane that it was okay to take risks, to dare to put herself on the line, that it was not impossible that someone loves her for who she was. "Shane, just go."

"I'll think about it." She gives both her friends a look of finality as she finish her coffee.