APRIL

In, out. In, out. In, out.

Holding onto the deep breath that filled my lungs for a moment, I listen to my body. I can feel the fullness in my lungs and the expansion of my stomach, the openness of my nose, the way that my shoulders had sunk down. To relax means to calm the mind, the body, or both. Most of the time for me, it ended up being that both were necessary. Picking one or the other didn't work for me. I just ended up as stressed as I was before.

Stress wasn't good for me or my brand. High blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity. Overeating or undereating – although only one of those was really considered a bad thing in my field and I needed to be in tip-top condition for this particular role, it was more than just keeping slender. Our bodies are designed to handle small doses of stress. But, we're not equipped to handle long-term, chronic stress without ill consequences. I wasn't an exception as much as I would have liked to be. My primary care physician and psychiatrist had both reminded me of that many times over the course of the past ten years. I was supposed to be growing, or something like that. My career was. That was what the media cared about, at least, but I needed to look beyond my career. That was something that I often found rather difficult to do.

Hair loss was another one of those little side effects and something that I really needed to avoid at all costs given that I was supposed to be growing out my hair for this particular role. They wanted it long, thick, and sexy. Skin problems went right along with that but I wasn't quite as worried about that. Curology took good care of me ever since I had done some advertisement work for them. My skin was just as important to them as it was to me. At least that was one less thing for me to worry about.

Slender fingers combed through my hair and I took another deep breath through my mouth, releasing it through my nose. Having my hair done and taken care of was usually relaxing. A scalp massage was the only kind of massage that I had ever enjoyed having. One perk of having someone constantly taking care of my hair.

"Ow!" I yelped as my eyes flew open. "Jesus Christ, be careful."

So much for relaxing.

"Sorry, April," Jo apologized from behind me as her fingers pulled a tangle out of my hair. "That was the last one, I swear."

"It's okay." I forced a smile across my lips, shutting my eyes again.

Filming didn't start for another few weeks while the last details of pre-production were finalized and permits were acquired for some of the filming to be done outside of the studio. A photo shoot was to be done today between my co-star and me. I just needed a few extensions placed in my hair to make up for the length for the beach waves.

Stress would only increase once filming actually started, of course, I knew that. I'd had my fair share of big awards since I had hit my early twenties and gotten a breakout role in a thriller about a woman in an abusive relationship and her escape from it. My first big role and I had gotten an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. This movie was supposed to get me another one, theoretically. James Bond was an icon and to take the role and make him into a Jane, that was a big deal. Strong female roles were at an all-time high demand. Everyone in the industry my age and younger had been gunning for this role. The audition process had been brutal and even heartbreaking for some of the actresses involved. All of the gossip magazines had raved about how lucky I was to be able to score it, but between me and the other cast members, I wasn't the lucky one.

Jackson Avery was the lucky one.

Billionaire philanthropist and photographer, and son of the movie's director, Harper Avery, he had barely had any real acting experience. I had scrolled through his IMDB page only to find that it was embarrassing bare beyond this role on it. He just had a few little roles here and there, guest spots that only came around for the name recognition. I had never actually seen him on anything. That was a threat to the success of the movie, as far as I was concerned. I knew that this was important to Harper Avery, too. He was getting old and it might be his last big chance at getting another Best Director Oscar award. Hopefully, he wasn't willing to throw away all of that solely for nepotism. It would have been a huge disappointment for everyone involved.

But he was very attractive. The trope of being a Bond girl was to be an attractive love interest and he could at least check off. Jackson had the strikingly light eyes, too. There was no sexually suggestive name for his character and that was something that I was happy about.

"Okay, your hair is all done," Jo announced as she brought elegant mermaid waves in front of my shoulder. It reached the bottom of my ribcage now that all of the extensions were in place. "Beautiful."

"Thank you, Jo," I breathed out. "You did wonderful, as always."

"Now, to finish off the smokey eye, here." She handed me the eyeliner. I hated having someone else do it.

"Thanks." Taking the pencil and leaning forward, I swiped the thin liquid tip across my lid, just above my eyeliners. No cat eye or anything fancy, just enough to add a little darkness there. I refused fake lashes – it seemed rather pointless given I knew that they were already going to go into photoshop and tweak things here and there for the poster.

"You look smokin' hot, Miss Bond." Jo clapped her hands excitedly as she stepped back.

I smiled at her in the reflection. "This hair seems like it would be a hazard in a spy movie," I remarked. "But it is pretty hot."

"That's what men care about, isn't it? Women looking hot. Even when it's supposed to be some big feminist movie," Jo commented. "But, you'll look hot and you'll kick ass. So at least there's that."

"That's the goal," I remarked with a huff of air. "Is the photographer ready?" I asked.

"Yep. And I just got a text from Deluca, Avery is ready too and apparently looks very sexy." She replied. "I swear, this movie is going to sell off the sex scene alone."

"Definitely not the goal," I rolled my eyes. "Thanks again. I'll see you later."

My contract was already finalized. There was no way that I was going to be getting naked on screen, no matter what the role was. Lingerie was as scantily clad as I was going to get. No nipples or more. From what my manager had told me, the same wasn't necessarily true for Jackson. But that was fine. He was the Bond girl, I was Bond. I wasn't the one who was supposed to be all about sex. I could leave that up to him.

Getting changed and stepping out, the drape and lighting were already set up for the two of us. I felt like I had to look like the Black Widow more than any kind of Bones – he was frequently in suits and tuxedos, especially for movie posters. Black leggings and a tightly-fitted black blouse, holster on my right hip. I had refused to put a dress on for this. Directors either loved or hated the fact that I was quite vocal and, well, so far Harper Avery seemed to be quite on board with it. He seemed content on pleasing me in whatever way possible. My co-star in my last movie had worked with him before, and she had plenty to say about him. His behavior thus far didn't surprise me.

Jackson was easy to spot. He was already there and talking to the photographer – Benjamin Warren. It looked like they were already quite friendly and he was making some kind of suggestion, I assumed, from the way that his hands were moving. I didn't know him well enough to guess otherwise. This was, after all, our first meeting.

He was dressed in a tuxedo but made a bit more casual. The top few buttons on the dress shirt were unbuttoned so that you could see his collarbones and the top of his pectorals. He did look really handsome.

"April!" Ben called out amicably, motioning me over. "My God, you look perfect. A vision."

"Thank you," I smiled back at him. "Are we ready to go?"

"Of course, get out there," he motioned. "We're going to get some solo shots of you first before we get the two of you together." He explained. "Power. Elegance. Superiority. You know the role that you're playing and what you need to emit."

I did. I had been doing my homework for all of this. I wanted to blow Daniel Craig out of the water. My entire life was dedicated to my craft and I had done nothing other than it. It was my life nothing else. Which meant I had to do the best that I was capable of. I couldn't settle for anything less.

Getting on the other side of the camera, I let the assists do their job, little fixes here and there smoothing out wrinkles of the shirt around the prop gun and positioning my hair as they want it. Modeling wasn't something that I had ever had interest in even though I knew that this was necessary to a degree for the movies, posters, and photo shoots, but I could get into character and emit the kind of power and grace that I needed for this. Chin up, shoulders back, chest proud. Angles change and adjustments are made as the camera continued to flash.

Feedback is given and I listen only with half a mind, not wanting the distraction. Getting into character meant getting deep inside of my head. It meant forgetting about April Kepner and thinking solely as Jane Bond.

"Alright, Jackson, let's get you up there with her," Ben stated.

Tossing back the long hair over my shoulder, I straightened up as he came to join me. He was nearly a foot taller than me and seemed to absolutely tower over me. A flat apple box is brought for me to stand on to try and make the height difference between us less imposing than it actually was. The top of my head reaches his nose instead of his chin.

"Now, you two need to be very comfortable around one another," he reminded us. "Ignore that box you're standing on. Jackson, bring your head down a little but make sure that we can see those eyes."

His breath was against my ear, both hands on my hips. I could feel him against my backside, clearly comfortable with me and this photo shoot without any getting to know me. Even though there weren't a ton of rumors around about him and his romantic life, he must have either kept that private or preferred one night relationships over anything long-term, it seemed like he was comfortable around women. Photographers, too, though that made sense. But Jackson seemed utterly comfortable in my personal space. I couldn't decide how I felt. I'd always valued my personal space even if this industry had taught me how to adjust to invasions.

"Here, hold on," Jackson murmured. His fingers brushed against my ear as he fixed my hair. "There."

"Thanks," I murmured, feeling my cheeks heat up.

It was a natural response. A hormonal response, likely. It had been a while since I had any action of that type and he was really, really attractive. I had never wanted to date or be with a co-star, especially not while filming, given all the complications that came from that and the media gossip that would inevitably follow. But maybe once things were over, it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Very, very sexy. You're oozing it." Ben complimented. "Let's try a different pose."

The next one was much more classic Bond, the gun out and flashy, Jackson in the background. I couldn't help but hope a shot more like this would ultimately be chosen for the cover. I wanted the same treatment that every man who had taken this role before me had gotten, even if I had to be a so-called diva for it. I wouldn't have made it this long if I couldn't deal with a double standard.

Shutters of the camera continued to go off as every angle possible is captured between the two of us. After a few minutes spent together, I don't mind the physical contact between the two of us quite as much, the hand on the curve of my hip or on my shoulder. Nothing was too over the top even if anyone who had ever seen a Bond movie could pretty much guarantee there would be some kind of relationship between the two of us. As popular as the movies themselves were, they were also very predictable. It made for a sequence of trying to top whatever came before.

Truthfully, I'm surprised by how quiet and focused Jackson is. Even if he had a background in photography, I would have expected something a little more… air-headed, or obvious to his inexperience in the acting industry. But I guess photoshoots were comfortable for him.

"I think that we have everything we need," Ben announced and Jackson's hand fell away from my side. "Do you want to see the shots?"

"Of course," Jackson answered quickly.

"Sure," I echoed, following him over.

Bending over in front of the computer to look, Ben scrolled through some of the photos that had been taken and pointed out a few of the ones that he particularly liked between us. We looked good next to one another – I looked powerful, like I wanted, in the photos and I was sure that once all of the adjustments had been made, it would all look even better. He looked handsome, commanding, but not the center of attention in the photos. Maybe he would be better at this than I expected him to be.

Most of the other people that I had worked with in the past weren't newcomers to the scene, even when I had been one. It was just the way that things had worked out, never an intention of mine, though it had become more of a conscious thing for my agent to look into as I took bigger and more serious roles. This was the last kind of project that I would have expected to work with someone like him in, but it wasn't enough to veer me away from taking the role. This was way too important to me and I had far too much invested to let Jackson Avery, or anyone else, scare me away from taking the part. I needed to be here. This was my goal, my purpose – it was just where I was meant to be at this point in my life.

"They look really great, Ben," I commented.

"You two look fantastic together," he replied. "Makes it very easy to capture. You'll look great on the big screen and I know this poster is going to be everywhere once it's out."

"Yeah," I agreed and released the breath I was holding onto. "That Avery name will go far."

It's not intended to be a backhanded comment, more just something of the truth, but I feel Jackson's gaze slide onto me after the words. "My grandfather has certainly made a name for himself in the business," he agreed slowly. "But so have you. I'm sure you'll be pulling quite an audience all on your own."

"Thank you." My response is slow as I eyed him skeptically, brows drawing down slightly. "I uh, excuse me, I need to go get changed out of this."

Something about him struck me as odd – he just wasn't what I had expected him to be. People with that kind of money, who grew up in that kind of way, they were always… well, obvious about it, even if they didn't open their mouths up. Child stars went awry more often than not, it seemed. Even if he hadn't been one, he had still grown up in the spotlight in his own way.

It was far from the way that I had grown up, that small and overcrowded farm in Moline, always sharing a bedroom with one of my sisters. Use early in the morning to tend to the animals and busy in the kitchen by evening to help my mother with preparing dinner for all of us. There had been no fancy, light mirrors and organizer trays and drawers filled with make-up, no real diamonds and other jewels worn. I had grown up modestly, though that was putting it nicely. That was what the media reported. I didn't like presenting myself as a rag to riches story. I had gotten here off of my talent an I knew that, but I didn't need to make a big deal out of it. The past was in the past. I was content to just leave it there.

Once I was in the dresser room, I quickly stripped out of the clothes that I was in, putting on a pair of jeans and a button-up blouse. I wiped off my makeup with one of the wipes provided entirely, just putting on a little foundation to cover up any imperfections and lighten a few of my freckles. The extensions could stay for a little while longer. I liked how they looked, actually. This was one of the better hair changes that I had gone through with for a role.

Checking my phone and making sure there was nothing emergent waiting in the notifications was there, I tossed my purse over my shoulder and walked through the studio. People were packing up which meant that nothing more was needed here from me.

"Thanks for being great today, April. You know I love working with you." Ben clapped me on the shoulder.

"Thank you," I smiled back at him and this time it was genuine.

Heading over toward the door, I nearly brush against Jackson as he headed for it at the same time. We both paused and then reached against for the door at the same time, and I let him get it for me with a smile of thanks. Opening the door let in a rush of cold air and noise following a few seconds later. Squinting against the sudden change of light, I realized that there was a group of paparazzi waiting for the two of us to come out of the studio, yelling and cameras clicking again following immediately. Typical.

"April!"

"Jackson!"

"Look over here!"

Both our names are yelled out by the cluster of people and my chin is immediately brought down and gaze on the ground. Ie the paparazzi. It's the aspect of my job that I hate most. I don't like people intruding on all of my personal life and details, getting in my face with their cameras. It always made me immensely uncomfortable but there was little I could do to avoid it.

Looking around for my car, I very quickly realized that it wasn't there and could feel my heart rate spike. I didn't want to be stuck out there with them. There was a car waiting, but it was clear that it was for Jackson and not for me.

"Is your car not here?" He leaned down to ask me.

"No," I shook my head.

"Here, come with me," he offered and waved me over. "Better than standing out here with the vultures. I can give you a ride home."

My heart pounded in my chest as I glanced between Jackson and the paparazzi that were going crazy with questions about how things had gone between the two of us today, most of which I attempted to tune out even if the noise was hard to ignore overall. His offer was a lot better than being stuck out here with all of them, that much was impossible to deny.

"Okay," I agreed with a quick nod.

Jackson's hand fell to the small of the back as he guided me into the car first and I sat down on the leather seat, quickly scooting over to make room for him. There was finally a bit of quiet between us again as the door was shut and the majority of the noise was cut out, drowning away into the distance as the car began to drive. I leaned forward and gave the driver my address.

"That's easily the worst part of all the fame," he remarked as he leaned back and folded one long leg over the other. "They never seem to go away. And damn, are they good at finding you."

"Yeah," I agreed thoughtlessly. "It actually drives me out of my mind."

"You're very good at staying composed," Jackson commented.

"Well, I don't think I would be very good at my job if I wasn't. Acting is kind of demanding." One shoulder lift and fell in a shrug, and I crossed my own legs as I allowed myself to lean back. It was a room vehicle, plenty of room still between the two of us even with his long legs.

His gaze was on me, kind and yet… consuming, at the same time. A rare look. "It is," he murmured. "Yet you still seem to be very dedicated to it. Harper talks very highly of you."

"Good to know, I suppose." I chewed at the inside of my cheek. "He's very well-respected."

"Yeah, I've been hearing that my entire life," Jackson chuckled. "People are always vying to work with him in one way or another. Everyone except for me, I suppose." He stated flippantly.

Furrowing my brows as I looked at him, I tried to make sense of what he was saying. I had assumed that he had asked for the role from Harper. Why else would he be doing this? If Harper had asked him to take it, this was an interesting twist that I hadn't seen coming. Nepotism still, in a different way, but not quite as bad as the first impression that I had on him. My lips pressed into a thin line and I spoke before my silence could become too apparent.

"What, you didn't want to do this role?" I questioned.

"Not really," he answered honestly. I couldn't tell if that made me like him more or less. Less, probably. "But Harper asked me to take it. I gave him the script and… I liked it. I like the movie as a whole, actually. It would have been something I saw without him being involved in it."

"Why did he want you involved?" I asked.

Jackson shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "He just said that he wanted me to take the role, to have a hands on. If I hadn't liked the script, and you, then I probably wouldn't have. But really, you're what convinced me."

"Me?" I stuttered out, suddenly shy. "Why me?"

"Your first movie. I saw it when I came out and I loved it. Harper showed it to me, actually. This was back when he was trying to get me into directing and would pretty much get me to watch whatever he could. He didn't realize then that I just wanted to be behind the camera in a different way. But the way you act… it's genuine. I don't really know how to describe it. You do something with your eyes that sells the audience into believing anything that you say and do. You're really good at it," he said, his words flowing out easily as if he didn't have to think twice about the compliments that he was feeding me. He seemed genuine, even if living in this world makes me a little skeptical of everyone. More often than not, people wanted something.

Rationally, I knew that I had done a good job with the film, even if I hated to watch myself on screen. I always nitpicked at everything I did. Putting so much of myself into the character was important that it felt weird to look at it as myself. But other people had praised the performance and I had won a major award for it. I knew it wasn't terrible, even if sometimes my heart and my brain had a hard time falling onto the same page.

Jackson seemed so nice, though. So genuine. Even if he wasn't very experienced as an actor.

"Well, thank you for that," I smiled as I looked over at him. "I wish I could say the same about you, but…" I let my voice trail off. He knew about his lack of acting just as much as I did, if not more.

"But I'm a complete newbie next to you," he laughed genuinely. He had a nice laugh.

"Yeah," I admitted sheepishly and could feel my cheeks turn red.

Even though it was going to be a big movie, there had been no screening test for the chemistry between the two of us. I couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not. I was seasoned and good with my co-stars, I always made sure that the press about me coming from the people that I worked with was positive. I was a people pleaser, almost compulsively and obsessively so. That was probably why they hadn't gone with one. I had thought there might be and would have been fine it. Prior to today, I probably would have preferred it, actually, given that I knew next to nothing about him and how the two of us would get along. But at the moment, it seemed like we were actually going to get along rather well. That was something to look forward to.

But I couldn't get too attached to all of it, I knew that. I had to be smart and reasonable about everything that I was doing going forward. That didn't mean that the two of us could be friends – but I wasn't sure how it was going to play out in the long term. Not only were movie sets a testy place to be, and stress was often high for many people involved, but this was still about so much more than about just the movie.

"Well, if my experience is anything to go off of, sometimes first movies can be very rewarding." I offered conversationally, not wanting things to turn awkward between the two of us. "Nothing to be nervous about."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Yeah, if I can get anywhere near that, I think I'll be set for a while."

"I think that you're already set," I remarked, referencing to his money. It was just a part of his name. "It should be interesting, working with the both of you. A good friend of mine – Amelia Shepherd – she worked with Harper a couple of films ago. She had a lot to say about her experience working with him."

"Oh yeah?" His eyebrows rose up in his forehead. "Well, I hope they're as good as the things that he's been saying about you."

"Guess that depends on what he's been saying about me," I smirked, tilting my head and leaning toward him slightly. "Do you care to share?"

He wet his lips as he looked at me. "I'm sure it's nothing he hasn't said to your face, honestly. He's very upfront."

"That he is," I leaned back against, chewing at the inside of my cheek.

Jackson wasn't terrible. I could decide that right off the bat even if there was still some worry about how things might play out with him being inexperienced – more shots would be taken, it might be a distraction to some of the other things that I needed to focus on. Focus was important to me and I didn't want to be distracted by a pair of pretty eyes, no matter how nice and distracting his seafoam hues were when I was sitting this close to him. They were really, really nice. I didn't realize that I was staring at them so openly until a few seconds had passed.

"Miss Kepner, we're here." The driver announced suddenly as the car pulled to a stop.

"Thank you, Doug," Jackson spoke up. He got out of the car before the driver could and opened up the door for me, extending his hand to me to help me out. I took it.

"Thank you, Jackson." I smiled up at him as I straightened up. He was still towering over me just the same even if it's a little different now that he's in plain clothes and not a quarter-unbuttoned dress shirt. He was still just as handsome, although it was in a different way. "Really. You kind of saved my butt from getting stuck out with the vultures." I echoed his prior word choice.

"I don't mind," he smiled down at me. "I figure it's nice for us to get to know each other a little bit before we start working together. Even if it's just a quick car ride to save you from the paparazzi. I'm sure they got a hit off of seeing the two of us together."

"Yeah. Sorry, that I haven't reached out – I've been pretty busy." When wasn't I? "But yeah, they probably did."

His shoulders shrugged. "We both have, it's not a big deal." He brushed off. "I'm just glad we had the chance now. And given that I'm on a few of the off-site shoots, I think that'll make it easy, too."

"Oh, definitely." I nodded in agreement. "Obscure sites always have that kind of effect on people compared to the studio. It's just the way that it is. You'll see once we get started."

"Good to know," Jackson smiled. He stepped aside me back toward the car, leaving me by the gate to my house. "It was very nice to meet you, April. I look forward to getting to work with you."

"It was nice to meet you too, Jackson."

The car waited outside of the gate for me as I punched in the code to enter and walked up to the front door. Whatever irritation that I had initially felt upon my own car not showing up at the location was now completely gone from the quick ride and conversation that I had with him. It would make it a lot easier to arrive to set in the coming weeks without being bitter about his presence as my co-star, certainly. It was important to me to like the people that I worked with. Or at the very least, important to get along with them.

Smiling to myself for a brief moment, I looked down at my phone and scrolled through the messages again. There were a few emails from email lists and subscriptions that just needed to be marked as read, one from Amelia, one from Harper, one from my manager. All of it was typical.

Twitter notifications were going off, surprisingly. I wasn't terribly active on Twitter in the first place – I would go on and retweet things relevant to whatever project that I was working on or causes that were important to me, political or social. Occasionally I would post my own content and like things that fans sent me, art or stories, anything creative, really. I liked their passion for the content that I produced. It reminded me why I was so passionate. But today, it wasn't an influx of tweets from typical fans that were catching my attention. Instead, it was the typical Gossip pages that loved to make a mountain out of a molehill no matter what the situation was.

APRIL KEPNER AND JACKSON AVERY SPOTTED TOGETHER.

THE NEW JANE BOND AND HER BOND BOY.

IS APRIL KEPNER ALREADY SEEING HER NEW CO-STAR?

All of that had been managed to put together in such short notice off of the pictures of us leaving together and me getting into the car with him. I probably wouldn't have been surprised by the last one, even if I had been good up until now about avoiding romantic speculation in my life.

There were far worse rumors, that much was certain.