Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer

"Ye'llo." Simon answered his phone.

"Hello Simon, it is I, Liza." I stated.

"Liza?" He sounded surprised. "Hey Princess." He added, striving for more casual tones.

"Hello." I replied, unsure how to proceed.

"Took you long enough to get in touch." He began.

"Sorry. I have had work to do, plus there was the weighing up of the pros and the cons over a dalliance with you." I stated, unable to think of a valid excuse other than that.

"What cons would there be Baby Doll?" Simon questioned while I wished to have this conversation over with.

"That you may have another in mind for your love." I invented quickly.

"You know my heart belongs to you Princess." He stated. "So what's this call all about?"

"I thought I would take you up on that offer." I replied. "Perhaps we could meet up tomorrow?"

"Well I'm kinda busy, I got a shoot in the morning and a showbiz shindig I can't get out of in the night. I also got to go over the script for Friday. Of course you could come distract me from that if you want?" He suggested.

"That sounds delightful." I replied. "What time would you like this distraction to take place and where?"

"I can't give you the location in case the press starts crawling over us, but as for the time, is around four ok?"

"That will be perfect, my last lesson will have finished by then." I said with a smile.

"Great. I'll send a car for you, nothing too flashy of course." He said dryly. "Where would you like it to meet you?"

I gave a place far enough from the college. I realised I did not want Mal to see me going off in a car. What did that mean? I pushed it from my mind as I said my goodbye to Simon and gathered together what I would need for the morning. As much as I would like to dress in something fancy, I had two lectures to attend and comfort would have to take precedence. Besides, if I could not visit Simon in casual clothes during the day how could I expect a prolonged relationship with him?

After my second lecture ended on Thursday I made my way to the rendezvous point. A car pulled up to the curb, it was a non-descript hire car. The window rolled down.

"Are you Baby Doll?" The driver called.

"That's me." I replied.

"What's your real name?" He asked.

"Liza Black, possibly Summers." I stated, unsure which surname Simon would choose.

"That's right." The driver said. "Jump in the back and we'll get going."

I jumped into the back of the car and the driver immediately set off.

"Sorry for not getting the door. I'm not really a chauffer, Si just called in a favour." The driver stated. "So you're Si's Princess?"

"Yes. And I believe you have me at a disadvantage Mr..?" Prompted.

"Oh yeah. Si said you were all formal." He observed. "You can just call me Dean."

"Very well Dean. I am pleased to meet you." I replied. "How long will this journey take?"

"Only five minuets." He replied. "But I got to take you in through the back. The paps found out where Si is staying while he's here filming in Riverside and he doesn't want them bothering you."

"How thoughtful." I observed.

"Yep. It's also the reason for non-descript car. You're just someone turning up to book into the hotel." He explained.

"I see." I replied. "So much subterfuge…"

"Goes hand in hand with being famous. It's a real drag I know, but I'm sure Si is worth it." Dean said cheerfully.

"Yes." I replied. "He is."

"You getting second thoughts hon? I can always turn around and tell Si I went to the wrong street?" Dean offered.

"No. I am merely overawed by the thought of all them photographers." I replied.

"I know what you mean, but they're not photographers, they're scum." He said emphatically. "Don't ever mistake them for being friendly."

"I don't intend to do anything of the sort." I stated.

"Glad to hear. I'd hate it if you were one of those kiss and tell people."

"I am more than averse to having my picture in the tabloids, Simon's reputation is safe with me I assure you."

"Not many people call him Simon." Dean chuckled as he pulled down a back street where there was an entrance to an underground parking lot.

"I have no idea what they call him now, but we always called him Simon in school and thus I will still refer to him. That or Dear Boy."

"Yeah. He said that's what you used to call him." Dean mused as he drew to a stop in a reserved parking space next to an elevator. "Just go straight in there. Button three. It opens on a little anteroom to Si's suite."

"Thank you Dean." I said and picked up my backpack and left the car.

The elevator opened as soon as I pressed the call button. I stepped inside the plush mirrored interior and pressed the button I required. The elevator began to move and I used the mirror to tidy my hair and straighten my clothes somewhat.

I nodded to myself, this was me now, Simon would have to take me as I came. I tried not to snigger childishly at that thought as I felt the elevator car draw to a stop. I turned to the doors as the opened seamlessly onto a small gilt room with a door at the end guarded by a solid looking man in a dark suit.

I walked toward him and looked up at his face some two feet above me.

"I am here to see Simon." I said.

The man blinked down at me over the muscular bulk of his torso and I was too close I was sure. I stepped back and he focused on me.

"Name." He asked.

"Liza." I replied. "Also known as Baby Doll and Princess."

"Right." The man said, consulting the computer tablet in his hand. "Go right on in." He said and pressed a button on the wall behind him.

The door opened and he indicated for me to enter.

I stepped through the door and entered an enormous room that was decorated in a cool pallet but with rich furnishings that not merely hinted at expense but announced it boldly in flashing neon light. I was astounded, I had never been in such an opulent room, with exception to the room Maria had occupied in Monterey. I felt perhaps I should have worn something more formal.

"It's tasteless right?" Simon asked and I looked to my left to find him sitting at a table in a neutral coloured work area. "It's not what I would choose at all but it's the most secure room this hotel has. This city has. This is my life now."

"A gilded cage." I observed.

"Just call me the canary." He said with a sigh.

"If you find this life so hard why enter the world of acting in the first place?" I asked, still standing where I had stopped with my bag held in front of me.

"Because I didn't count on becoming famous. I was just out of college, couldn't find a job and a friend of my parents said they could get me in on a little extra work. I enjoyed that, even if there was a lot of sitting around doing nothing, I could work on applications for real jobs in that time. Then my agent, cause even for extra work you need one, suggested I try out for Nedras. I mean it was a sequel to Our Dark Mistress, it was supposed to be straight to video, but someone pulled strings with the studio at the last minuet. Who knew it would rake in the dough like that? Then there were all these offers coming in and a year on I'm a hot commodity and I live my life in hotel rooms."

"Or go incognito into nightclubs." I stated.

Simon laughed, and then looked embarrassed.

"I offended you last week." He stated.

"What makes you say that?" I asked with a frown.

"It took you a week to get in contact and now you're hiding behind your backpack as if it's a shield." He observed.

"Forgive me Simon, I am merely unfamiliar with this situation. I have never before met a man in a hotel room." I stated, placing my bag down beside a sofa where it looked completely out of place.

"What about other places?" He asked carefully.

"Not really." I said, trailing my hand along the arm of the sofa. "I realise that as close as I have become I have never been this ready."

Was that a lie? I could not look at Simon; possibly it was what I felt.

"Why don't you sit down?" Simon said, indicating the seat next to him, but around the corner of the table.

I sat down and placed my hands in my lap and looked at him expectantly.

"How about… Well it'll be weird just going right into it." He said with a frown. "Why don't… do you want to help me with this script?"

"Very well." I said.

"Just take it from the top. I'm Trystan, feed me Gabriel's lines." He stated, pointing at the lines that were not highlighted.

"Yes." I stated and took up the script. "What is this about?"

"Something about angels manifest on earth. One falls for a mortal and risks expulsion because it's against the rules." He said unenthusiastically.

"Oh. You are the angel on the verge of falling." I realised from the cursory glance I took of the script.

"Yes."

I cleared my throat.

"'Trystan, thou knowst well it be forbidden to love a mortal.' Olde English? How dire." I groaned.

"Yeah. I know. But it puts bread on the table." Simon said despondently.

"Has your Dark Revenge work type cast you in supernatural roles?"

"Yes." He replied, resting his chin on his hands. "I hoped Leeks of Doom would have widened my horizons, but it wasn't as critically acclaimed as I was hoping."

"It didn't have universal appeal being set in Wales and based on a sport that has but a small following in America. I doubt it would have had a cinema release this side of the pond had it not been for your prior role in Dark Revenge. And according to Mal your accent was not the best, it was a bit nomadic in his opinion. And your Welsh pronunciation could have done with a polish, although I took it that your character was merely bad at Welsh. Mal argued that I would be lenient with you because of our history, and I accused him of being jealous and then he almost…" I trailed off and shook away the memory, that was not Simon's business. "It matters not what Mal thought."

"He told me my accent was good." Simon complained.

"Mal was teasing, and he's not that good an actor for you not to pick up on that." I said with a laugh. "And I chastised him there in front of you."

"Yeah. I was a little out of it that night." Simon said with an apologetic laugh. "I still can't handle my drink, but Kat doesn't let your glass run dry."

"She is definitely a character." I observed. "She even made Mal dance in that one evening and I've been trying to get him to do it for a while now. He's never wanted to dance before, not until he saw me dance with you."

"Maybe he didn't realise you were such a good dancer." Simon suggested, sitting up and regarding me now.

"Oh he did. I once preformed a cheer routine in a laundrette to demonstrate. On hind sight that was the first time I know of that I turned…" I trailed off, shook my head, that was none of Simon's business either.

"Liza, is Mal your boyfriend?" Simon asked.

"No." I answered truthfully.

"Was he the other night?" He corrected.

"Perhaps." I replied.

"He either was or he wasn't." Simon said firmly, his eyes watching my face now.

"He was." I replied grudgingly.

"But he's not now?" Simon prompted.

I shook my head.

"Why not?" He asked.

"We had a fight." I answered.

"So you came to me." He remarked. "I'm your hanger."

"My what?" I asked with a frown.

"You got me hanging on a line for whenever you need some fun." He stated.

"That's not true at all." I gasped, I had never intended to do that to anyone.

"So if Mal called you right now and asked to get back together with him you wouldn't go and leave me?" Simon asked.

"No." I answered with conviction. "I broke up with him to come back with you, just as I promised I would ten years ago."

"Liza, you were a kid back then, I'm not gonna hold you to that if you're happy with Mal." Simone stated. "You are happy with him right?"

"Yes." I said warily.

"Then why did you break up with him?"

"Because I have the habit of taking the dramatic route of most resistance. I am a fool in that way." I admitted. "Besides, I was breaking my word to you. It was easy to forget when you were Simon Leighton the movie star up there on the big screen, you were such a great distance from me, but to have you suddenly back in my life. It upset my equilibrium."

"So it wasn't because you suddenly realised you still love me and wanted to rekindle the old romance?" Simon asked.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" Simon prompted. "Because if you're just gonna go back to Mal in a few months, or even a few years, I'd rather make a clean break right now."

"I don't know what the future might bring."

"I think you do." Simon stated. "You are the only one who knows what you want and you've only come here so that I'll tell you to move on with your life. Well I'm not gonna do that, cause it's not my decision to make. I still love you Elizabeth, anyone I ever met will have heard some tale of my Princess and my Baby Doll. It's too cruel for you to ask me to give you my blessing unless I know it is your decision. I don't want to tell you to go off with Mal and have you resent me later because it hasn't worked out."

"What are you saying exactly?" I asked.

"That the only one who can decide your life is you." Simon said solemnly, holding my eyes with his. "So what's it gonna be Baby Doll? Who do you choose?"

I looked up into his green eyes and suddenly I knew…

I will start posting the second Liza story, Dhampir Hereafter, in three weeks. WTST will still continue until that time.