I know it's been a while, so, thank you for being patient! :) Hope you enjoy!

Alex and Hunt walked back into the living room holding hands. Veronica was typing furiously on her phone. Ethan and Addison were nowhere to be seen.

Veronica looked up over her glasses. "Do I still have a relationship to spin or can I meet George for a night cap?"

"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" Hunt retorted.

She finished her message and placed the phone on the table. "Just reminding you of the sacrifices I make for my favourite clients; means you have to listen to me when you don't want to."

Squeezing Alex's hand, he gazed down. "Alex and I are fine." She leaned into him content.

Pleased, Veronica commented, "Aren't you two just adorable. This is going to be a piece of cake."

"Where's Addison?" and Ethan Alex wanted to add but thought it best she didn't mention his name more than she had to. Veronica wasn't fooled.

"They are in the study. Blondie went to have a chat with Agent Casanova." She passed Hunt a meaningful look. "Will he be sticking around?"

Without hesitation, he said, "That's up to Alex. I have no problem with him staying. Blake's good at his job; it might not hurt to have his help."

Hunt was acting infuriatingly reasonable. Alex feared it may not reflect what was happening inside his head and the last thing she wanted was for him to withhold anything. He had every right to be mad, so, why wasn't he? "You don't have to do that for me. I would completely understand if you wanted him to leave…"

"I believed you outside, and as far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters. Blake likes you; I can hardly punish him for that. If you're okay with it so am I."

This kiss was bothering him, but Hunt struggled with whether that was fair. He didn't doubt Alex's feelings. Confessing she loved him hadn't been calculated; Alex had been genuinely horrified by her admission. A reaction Hunt found enduring. Her early pursuit of him had made him feel like a challenge she needed to conquer. It was part of the reason he'd fought her for so long. But as things progressed between them, however convoluted that process had been, there were subtle hints she'd started protecting herself. He'd correctly interpreted this new seriousness in her approach to mean that she'd begun to care for him on a deeper level. What worried him was the possibility she had feelings for both him and Ethan, but had yet to come to that conclusion herself. Alex was young, it was entirely possible her relationship with Ethan was more complicated than she realized. But, Hunt didn't want to belittle Alex by insisting he knew best, which was why he was trying to error on the side of optimism; if she said she wanted to be with him, he had to trust that.

Althought he never came across as a man that liked to play games, this felt like a test. Alex searched Hunt's face to see if there was more than he was letting on, but was met only with sincerity. "Okay…" She studied his expression further, but nothing changed. "Ethan knows my brand best, and I wouldn't trust anyone else to handle this fiasco."

"Glad to hear it," Ethan stood with Addison in the living room entrance. "Because I know exactly how we're going to do this." He was brimming with confidence, but Alex couldn't quite meet his eyes; behind his bolster Ethan was hurting.

Veronica raised her eyebrows doubtfully. "And what is this brilliant plan, Don Juan?"

Ignoring the dig Ethan went into pitch mode. "What does the public crave more than a good scandal?" He scanned the room expectantly.

"A love story," Hunt responded with understanding. T he answer was an olive branch. Like it or not they were on the same team.

Ethan gave an uneasy smile. Encouraged he elaborated, "Right now, Bianca can spin your relationship as some torrid affair, which is something the public would devour…But what if we beat Bianca to the punch and take control of the story. Make you more Romeo and Juliet, and less Bill and Monica."

Genius.

"Ignoring the fact that 'Romeo and Juliet' is a terrible love story, I like where you're going with this," Alex praised. Her and Hunt wouldn't have to be a secret anymore. The thought made Alex incredibly lighthearted.

Admiration replaced Veronica's skeptical expression; it was exactly what she'd planned to do. "You're as good as they say." She spoke to the room at large. "An additional benefit of Blake's plan is a positive public opinion could sway the university board in your favour. Despite their high and mighty attitude their real concern is bad publicity. Because you're only violating a bylaw, it's an internal university matter, and they can handle it how they see fit. If we do our job right, Hollywood U would risk public backlash for coming down on you too hard making them more likely to leave you be." She turned to the couple. "This, of course, assumes Alex's grades haven't been compromised?"

Deeply offended, Hunt replied, "What do you think, Veronica?"

"I'll take that as a no. D on't get all worked up, I'm just covering my bases," she chided. Veronica tied up her hair and began pacing. In full work mode, she started rapid firing questions. "Thomas, I know your history, but Alex, are there any exes that could come out of the woodworks? Surprise skeletons I should be aware of? What was the actual timeline of this courtship anyway? I'm assuming we're going to have the bend the truth to keep it all as family friendly as possible."

Absorbing the onslaught of information, A lex reflected on the only serious relationships she'd had. Her high school boyfriend, Sam, was no threat and Chris wasn't a malicious person…but he didn't like Hunt, and it wouldn't be difficult for him to conclude that her affections for the other man likely existed near the end of their relationship, if not the entire time. "Chris Winters," she sighed. "He could be an issue. I mean, we've barely spoken since Megan went all single white female on me—"

"—You'rethat Alex?" Veronica interrupted. Internally, Alex groaned. Veronica faced Hunt with an amused grin. "You certainly know how to pick 'em."

"As I was saying," Alex interjected annoyed, "Chris didn't like Thomas when he was only my professor. As you are obviously aware, we didn't end things well and him finding out I'm dating Thomas..." Mostly to Hunt she said, "He was always resentful of you… he hated that I admired someone he so disliked."

Hunt wouldn't admit he was happy to hear of Chris' jealousy, but his look of satisfaction painted a clear picture. Veronica took a moment to consider if she should ask the next question.

"How long after Chris did you and Thomas start?"

The query was simple, but the answer much more complex. It wasn't a source of pride that the masquerade had taken place before her and Chris officially ended things, but for Alex, any semblance of a relationship they'd had vanished when Chris left her crying in the rain at the airport. He'd been incapable of doing what Hunt had a few minutes ago and believed her. Alex's feeling of shame increased when she recalled that the main reason it took so long for something to happen between her and Hunt was due to his restraint, not out of respect for Chris. She would have preferred to explain this to Thomas privately, but there was no time to be shy. Alex blushed and mumbled, "It may have overlapped a little," quickly she added, "not, in a serious way, we were pretty much over. We'd had another big fight about Megan before he left on a multi-week press tour. During which, Chris wouldn't answer any of my calls. I decided if he wanted to ghost on me then I wasn't going to sit around waiting, so, I went to the masquerade."

Hunt hid his shock poorly; he'd assumed they broke up after that disastrous night at the film premiere. Great, Alex thought, another conversation I would have liked to avoid. But she'd have to worry about that later, right now, stopping Bianca was their focus. "I should call him, shouldn't I?" Alex offered reluctantly.

Veronica appreciated that she hadn't had to say it. "We will want his cooperation. If he goes on record saying you were still dating at the time you and Thomas met, then our whole story goes out the window and we can't risk that."

"I'll try tonight." She already dreaded the conversation.

"On a positive note, you met at a masquerade? I couldn't have asked for a better Disney Princess moment if I tried." Veronica beamed; her fairytale was lining up nicely.

"Technically we met in class; Thomas yelled at me for being late." She gave him a jovial nudge glad to have moved on from the Chris talk.

"That sounds more like the Thomas I know," Veronica said sounding like she'd never truly bought the charity ball account. "Unfortunately, we need a setting where you aren't student and teacher. Here's your new 'how we met' story. Everyone saw the Keegan article so it wouldn't be hard to sell that Alex and Chris had been on the rocks for a while. On top of that he'd been away filming for months, with another woman no less, and in a heated exchange you break up –"

Alex saw where she was going with this, "and, because I'm heartbroken, my bestfriend, Addison convinces me to go to the masquerade to take my mind off it. While there I fall for a tall, handsome stranger. He comforts me…we dance the night away, and at the end of the evening, we finally reveal our identities only to discover that he's my professor. We're conflicted, but agree that it would be inappropriate and I leave more heartbroken than when I arrived."

Hunt, Ethan, and Addison all stared at Alex, disturbed. Veronica grinned.

"It's kind of scary how quickly you came up with all that…" Addison looked as though she was seeing Alex for the first time.

"What? Most of it was true, I just TV-ed it up a little bit," she said unabashedly.

Veronica waved Addison off. "Which is the whole point! Are there any other incidents where you two could be placed together in a less than professional fashion?"

Alex decided to have a little fun with Veronica, "Well, we did get locked in overnight at a movie studio where we kind of slept together…"

Captivated, Veronica replied, "Now, we're getting to the meat."

Knowing she had been purposefully ambiguous, Hunt gave Alex a withering stare. "Hate to disappoint you Veronica but what Alex meantwas we slept on the floor together for warmth," he clarified.

"That's significantly less exciting," she said with disappointment. "Regardless, you two spooning on the floor doesn't exactly scream 'appropriate student-teacher interaction.' Did anyone see you?"

Hunt answered. "Sleeping? I don't think so; we were woken up by the janitor opening the door. All he knows is that we were there, alone, for an unknown amount of time."

"I'm sure with a friendly chat we could convince him to keep quiet," Veronica reasoned.

"Why did that sound vaguely threatening?" Alex asked with concern.

"I'm not going to call in an 'enforcer' if that's what you're worried about. You'd be surprised what people are willing to do when asked nicely…and maybe as a thank-you, he gets to be an extra in your next project. All very clean I assure you." Veronica's relaxed demeanor gave Alex the impression that for her this was the minor leagues. "When was your next encounter?"

"Thomas' return to directing. We collaborated on Centaurus Lost…" she paused.

"And?" Veronica inquired impatiently.

Again, Alex wishedt she could have a moment alone with Thomas and was thankful when he took control. "You know how movie sets are, Veronica. We were constantly surrounded by people. Nothing happened." The statement was a fib, there'd been a couple of instances during filming that they could mention but in the midst of all this chaos and exposure he wanted to keep something for them. He also didn't believe sharing those stories would help. Her thumb running along the back of Thomas' hand signaled she agreed with the omission.

Alex glanced at Addison nervously. Being her roommate, she'd witnessed Alex coming home late from set a few times, either furious or elated depending how their debate had gone that night. It was one of the reasons Addison suspected something was up between the pair. Addison gave an encouraging smile to signal she would honour their privacy.

Hunt continued with the narrative, "Then there was Aria Sheridan's date auction."

"Right. Still don't know how she roped you and Priya into that," Veronica chortled. "That shouldn't be a problem. It was a public event in which a variety of students and professors participated in the name of charity. We'll just say that after months of acting like she felt nothing, Alex couldn't resist an innocent opportunity to some alone time with you. All she wanted was to pick the brain of the man she couldn't stop thinking about. I'm assuming you didn't do anything to draw attention to yourselves?" Her tone varied between romance novelist and power attorney.

Alex looked sideways at Hunt who was staring fixedly ahead. There were two moments he was avoiding: their kiss in his office, and… "Thomas punched a frat boy." Alex cherished the moment.

Barely containing a smile, Veronica appraised Hunt. "You hit someone?"

Alex felt pure ice from Thomas as he explained, "He was a complete Neanderthal who was so drunk I doubt he even remembers it was me."

"Hmmm…well, we'll try to avoid that storyline but if it does come out you've got the whole knight in shining armour thing on your side."

Hunt moved on. "After that we didn't see each other outside of the university until I hosted my annual dinner party a few weeks later."

"Trust me, no one suspected a thing," Alex said bitterly. The way he'd treated her for the first half of the party was still a sore spot.

He'd always regret his attitude that night and wanted nothing more than to breeze past it, but there was something he needed to share. "That's not entirely accurate." Alex frowned in response to the admission. "Marianne." Her frown deepened. "She…uh…astutely observed that my reactions to you weren't fueled by irritation, but rather the opposite. I denied it but Marianne is sure of her opinions. I doubt she believed me."

"Marianne," Veronica said with disapproval. She'd never liked the two of them together and found the woman exhausting, but was unworried by the designer's involvement. "If she hasn't said anything now it's unlikely she ever will. The only concern is if anyone else was equally as perceptive."

Marianne's accurate interpretation of his relationship with Alex was a result of knowing him for years. Few people in his life could have reached that conclusion. Before he could explain that, Alex did for him. "I mean…they dated, right? Every other guest was a student, and none of them would have that kind of insight into Thomas. Most of my friends wanted to know what I'd done to piss him off." Having everyone witness his treatment of her had been embarrassing and was something Alex usually tried to forget.

The hurt tone she'd had when they first mentioned the party returned. "Alex—" he started apologetically.

"Forget it," she dismissed. He'd already apologized once tonight and the only reason the discussion upset her was because the stress of Bianca's threat left all Alex's emotions heightened. "Point is we don't have to worry about anyone using that party against us."

Hunt welcomed the deflection and summarized, "That brings us up to Catalina Island, the movie and the ensuing photograph." Since they planned to admit to the date on Catalina Island, there was no need to discuss it further.

"I'm afraid to ask, but what exactly did she get on camera?" Veronica inquired

"Nothing scandalous," Hunt said unconcernedly. "If we're going public with this anyway, us kissing in my living room will hardly be a problem."

Veronica held up her hands. "That's all I needed to know. Now, what about you two?" She gestured to Ethan and Addison who'd been standing in cooperative silence. "I'm hoping I've seen all the drama I'm going to see from you, Mr. Blake. I've heard good things about you, don't disappoint me. As for Blondie here I had an unsettling feeling that you're going to cause trouble. You're damn familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."

Feeling attacked, Addison opened her mouth to respond. Alex stepped in. "You've got nothing to worry about with Addi. You probably saw her at Sundance this year."

Veronica was unconvinced.

Addison let out a breath. "It's okay, Alex. I'll tell her." Noticeably uncomfortable, she began, "You probably remember me from a couple years ago…" She hated saying it. "I had an affair with Brian Ratzik," Addison finally spat out.

Recognition dawned on the agent's face, and she gave a sympathetic nod. "I understand your trepidation, not exactly what we want to be remembered for is it?"

"I've been trying to distance myself from it, yes," Addison said through gritted teeth.

"Thank you for your candor. The last thing we need is May Gordon trying to turn you and Alex into some sort of duo that seduces powerful Hollywood men for kicks."

Alex laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

Veronica's face darkened. "You don't really underestimate her that much, do you? People would eat that up. It doesn't take much to fuel fantastical theories, as I'm sure Addison is aware."

Addison tilted her head in agreement. "She's right, Alex. I wouldn't put it past May Gordon to come up with something that absurd. You've seen how she is about Ratzik and me. I'm pretty sure the only thing that could light her fire more is you two." She smiled at Hunt and Alex.

"I'll leave Ratzik and Addison to Ethan, he knows the ins and outs of it better than I do. My recommendation would be to actively point out the stark contrast between the two relationships but, only if it comes up. This might get a little personal, think you can handle it?" Veronica was testing Addison's resolve.

She passed.

"If it will help Alex I'll do whatever's necessary, and since Brian has recently turned over a new leaf, I'm sure he would be happy to back up anything I say. He certainly owes it to me," she finished sourly.

"Excellent!" Veronica exclaimed before returning to Alex and Hunt. "While you were hooking up on the patio, I managed to get a spot on Harrison Byrd's new talk show. He's been wanting to do some more serious interviews, and I promised him an exclusive tell-all on your relationship."

"Tell-all?" Hunt said uneasily

"Nothing too hard hitting. It's still daytime TV. Mostly you'll just play up the lovey-dovey stuff for those watching at home and let Byrd ask a few pre-approved 'tough' questions."

Hunt furrowed his brow dubiously.

"He's a friendly Thomas. He's a fan of yours and seemed quite fond of Alex, mentioned something about an oath? Anyway, it's the safest announcement platform you could ask for. All you need to do is play the part of star-crossed lovers. Although after watching you two together you may not need to embellish at all." She said it as a critique, but Alex saw her look at hunt Hunt approvingly. It made her wonder about their relationship dynamic. "Alex, your big task is calling Chris. Thomas, you have a little homework as well. Getting the public on our side will make negotiations with the university easier, but it would help if you could get someone well-respected within the school to vouch for your character and professionalism."

Alex sensed Veronica had someone in mind, but knew Hunt wouldn't like who.

"There's only one person that knows you well enough to recognize you wouldn't be doing this lightly. She's also the only one that would care enough to protect you."

"Veronica you can't be serious," he said indignantly.

"Remember when I said you had to listen to me when you didn't want to? Well, I'm playing the 'George' card Thomas. You have to talk to Priya."