Stefani was so professional in everything that she did and they learned that it wasn't a façade. Her eyes were sharp as they surveyed the room as soon as a camera was on, noting every movement and planning her own. Then it was obvious she had been a performer for years, it were her mannerisms that gave it away, from the way she would walk and carry herself, as if there wasn't anything else in the world worth looking at.

Repeating their rehearsed scenes for filming the screen test didn't prove to be easy and Bradley blamed it on the memories that kept coming back to him. The second they parted ways, the moment she was out of his sight, it all came rushing back to him. The way her hand felt as she had kissed him; her warm breath on his cheek as he held her so close against his chest.

He had this nagging feeling that he was supposed to do something differently when they got to his reconciliation scene the next time again. But even in hindsight he wouldn't have been ready for it.

It was on their third day of filming and Stefani had become more comfortable at his house, although she still clung to her phone in breaks, checking for messages from her mother.

Bradley himself was tempted to do so as well, because Irina had offered to pick their daughter up after school and have her stay with her. He knew how that sometimes went and he expected either a text message from his ex wife or a call from Lea herself.

But he couldn't let himself be distracted. All eyes were him and that was something he'd be getting used to with enough preparation. As long as everyone trusted him he knew he could trust himself, too.

And Stefani trusted him to be as professional as she was, even now when he could hear his heartbeat and hoped she couldn't. He only had to replicate their rehearsal and having more people around them had changed the atmosphere considerably.

"Okay?" He asked quietly one last time before letting the cameras roll.

Stefani nodded slightly. He could hardly believe they were about to do this again. She slowly moved her head forwards and met his lips with hers. Bradley closed his eyes briefly, and put his hands on the sides of her face while deepening their kiss.

When she pulled back from him, his face still felt warm and he buried it in the crook of her neck and hugged her tightly.

"You guys were amazing!" exclaimed someone from the crew behind them. "That was a great first take! What did we get on camera?!"

They stared at each other, their eyes wide open and filled with uncertainty. He gently cupped her cheek, before planting a quick kiss on her forehead. "I think this is going to work for the studio."

How had that experience even been real? And now he would have to keep doing this.

She looked up at him disbelievingly as he smiled and put an arm around her shoulder to pull her over to the camera. He couldn't be only imagining this, but he hadn't felt like this in years.

*

Bradley's body froze when he first saw the barrage of text messages Irina had left in the last hour before their break. At first, he assumed something had happened and his trembling fingers made it hard to find the right messages.

"You let Lea sleep over at someone else's house?" was the first thing he read and relief flooded over him again. If it was only that. It was only a matter of time until she would know. "I'm supposed to know where she is at night and you can't just leave her with strangers. I've not even met those people."

He groaned and held back for a moment before answering after all. "They're not strangers, have you met some of the girls Lea talks to when you picked her up from school? It's one of their families and they're safe."

He knew she had only picked her up a handful of times and likely barely remembered the other kids, but she had never been so outright hostile before.

"I guess you know them and that's apparently enough then." She added.

He only hoped she wouldn't be trying to get more information out of their daughter who would very likely forget about those promises she'd made and innocently answer her mother's questions. Irina would easily be able to put two and two together.

Bradley cringed as he followed the thought further down the line. Hopefully it all sounded too much like a made up story to have any truth to it.

*

Even if the studio was going to decline their screen test, wrapping it gave Bradley a certainty that they were on the right track. Todd was impressed with the result he played for him and his friend had always been painfully honest.

He attributed some of the success to Stefani's and his own similar approach to acting. If Warner Bros wouldn't see it, he would find another way.

But for now he didn't want to worry about what might not happen and concentrate on what was happening. They had gone with Todd's suggestion and found a spot at a small Jazz club, too small to be invaded by large groups of people and with security guarding the front door.

It gave everyone the liberating feeling that it was allowed to let go a little. Todd and Stefani were already a few drinks in when someone who had recognized her was approaching them. One woman who had sung with her band earlier hesitantly asked if it was alright to say Hello and to Bradley's surprise, Stefani seemed like she was really flattered and like it was any kind of unexpected.

"Did you say Yes?" He asked when the woman had disappeared behind the stage again.

"I'll sing one song with them."

He hadn't seen her interact with fans very much before and hadn't expected her to agree to it. But when they cheered while she walked up to the other musicians, he didn't see much of Stefani in her and he understood the difference and the act she put on a little better. The person he'd known so far had always rather kept to herself in public spaces.

Gaga on the other hand was comfortably in charge like this, the band following along with her because it was impossible not to. Every time he heard her perform it was like she was reaching every nook and cranny of his heart.

After she had managed to warm up the room, Stefani sat down on his lap and he wrapped his arms around her like it was muscle memory. She was rather tipsy by now and he held onto her tightly while she was trying to have a conversation with the woman who had taken her seat next to them.

He didn't mind the casualness or her divided attention, it was still a welcome distraction from the empty home waiting for him today. Todd was the one who was watching him intently and he was already mentally preparing himself for the interrogation that would follow tomorrow. Unless he would believe he had been drunk enough to have only imagined it.

"Hey." Stefani's finger poked at his shoulder and broke him from his daydreaming.

"Sorry?"

"We were talking about how to approach longer acting jobs. Have you ever stayed in your character for a long time, outside of filming, to make it seem more real?"

Bradley knew the approach and how well it could work for certain characters, but living in the skin of a character he wrote that resembled a past self he didn't like...not a good idea. "Is that something you would like to do?"

She pulled a face he couldn't read and nodded solemnly, her expression serious and determined, like they had just had a whole discussion about it. "Maybe."

They were interrupted by the quiet sound of her phone vibrating on the table, a picture of Christian's face appearing on the screen. She either didn't hear it or chose not to hear it and the call was added to the number of missed ones already showing.

Her eyes were moving over him as if nothing else existed in the world and he wanted more than anything to just hold onto her and never let go.

"You know, it's been a really long time since I've done this, not overthinking everything and doing it instead." She sighed, leaning over him and then brushed her lips against his neck. He shivered at the touch of her mouth, but he smelled the heavy wave of alcohol on her breath. This wasn't how he wanted this either, neither a talk or...

"Stef..."

"Fuck, sorry. I should actually take this." Her face was red and she took her phone in her clumsy hands to disappear with it out of earshot.