Julia couldn't stop the exasperated sigh from leaving her lips as her fiancé shifted in the makeup chair, for the millionth time today, smudging her work. She quickly fetched a tissue from the mirrored table in front of them before blotting at the mistake thankfully erasing it without smudging anything else along the way.

She couldn't help but to gently scold him as she tossed the tissue down. "You know the more you wiggle the longer you're stuck in this chair."

Dan managed to give her an apologetic smile. "Sorry I had an itch….and it's hot."

Julia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his excuse. She was tempted to ask if he'd had an itch every time he'd wiggled over the course of the long morning he was having in her chair.

"It's probably hot because you're wearing spandex in the middle of the desert. Please promise me you'll drink as much water as you can stand and don't shy away from those fans they have set up outside. I don't want you overheating." She pointed out shaking her head resisting the urge to call him out on his excuses.

Dan sighed nodding his head. "Yeah I know. I promise I will…I don't want heatstroke either. The director insists that the desert is the only place where we can capture a desolate planet like environment though."

Julia resisted the urge to admit she'd rather be back in the warehouse they'd started filming in a few days before, choosing instead to tease him by changing the subject. "If you don't get out of my chair soon you're going to further stall filming. If you stall much longer Brian is totally going to kill you."

"Brian would never murder me." Dan insisted shaking his head rapidly resembling a toddler more than a grown man in his late thirties.

Julia chuckled as he stilled again allowing her to continue applying the purple and blue galaxy themed makeup he'd requested for this music video. "He kills you all the time in the Ninja Sex Party videos babe. I've seen them. I have like a tab counting the amount of people Brian kills. You're usually on that tab."

"That's a weird hobby baby. Brian doesn't kill people though. That's Ninja Brian and Ninja Brian kills everyone. He kills a man every morning before brushing his teeth. He only kills Danny Sexbang for being rude or an idiot. He wouldn't kill me." Dan insisted doing his best to stay still as he presented his argument.

"Did you just call your alter ego an idiot?" Julia teased as she tried to put her finishing touches with the dark blue glittery powder she'd been using. It was easy to get in the wrong place if her subject wasn't totally still.

Dan grinned nodding his head having zero shame in answering her question. "Danny Sexbang is an idiot…. he's a total master of sex though. So, I think we can all forgive him for his lack of insight and book smarts."

Dan paused for a short moment before speaking again not helping but to shimmy his hips ever so slightly even though it came across a bit clumsily in the chair. "The master of sex trait is the only thing Danny and I share."

Julia chuckled relieved she'd pulled back the makeup brush long enough for him to do his little hip shimmy. She spoke as he finally stilled again. "Be careful Avidan, girls aren't into guys with over inflated egos."

Dan grinned tempted to joke that his ego wasn't the only huge thing about him. He was pretty sure Julia had already heard him make this particular dick joke before though. He instead went with his next choice in response. "Good thing I only have one girl to impress then huh?"

Julia giggled shaking her head at this statement. "Yeah and she's soooo impressed."

She chuckled again as Dan spoke his voice a little softer hinting that he was speaking more to himself than her. "Damn straight she is."

Julia shook her head at the ridiculousness of this entire conversation. A few years ago, if someone had told her she'd be standing in a little trailer in the middle of a desert in southern California applying spacey galaxy makeup to her fiancé's face just so he and his bandmate could film a music video for a song titled Rock It into Uranus, she might have assumed the person supplying this information was either crazy or abusing some pretty intense drugs.

It turned out that life was stranger than fiction though.

Dan and she had met two years before in a somewhat similar environment.

Julia Kelling had been hired to do makeup for another one of Dan's projects Starbomb. The band had been filming a music video and she'd been hired on as one of the makeup artists.

Dan could admit that he'd been pretty infatuated by the pretty brunette applying makeup to the model they'd hired to play Princess Peach.

He'd thought Julia was pretty cute. She was beyond cute, she was stunning. Her dark hair was long and thick with the slightest hint of caramel highlights. Her eyes were a dark brown that made Dan automatically think of milky chocolate.

The sugary little descriptions had only matched the sweetness of her personality.

Being a hot blooded male Dan had of course taken notice of her curves. She was a little chubby but Dan hadn't really noticed. If anything, he found himself a little more than entranced by her body. He would later tease her insisting that he'd noticed her boobs before anything else though that hadn't been exactly true.

Her accent had been the main thing that had captured Dan's attention. It had taken him a moment to place it, but it had hit him that it had to be Louisianan.

Needless to say, Dan had been Julia's long before she'd even realized it.

Arin being the observant shitstirring friend that Dan loved had practically shoved Dan into Julia's makeup chair insisting that Julia put shimmery silver eyeliner on Dan.

Dan could admit that he'd maybe talked Julia's head off when he'd been shoved into that makeup chair. Thankfully Julia hadn't seemed to mind his chattiness easily chatting right back at him.

By the end of the day Arin had once again practically shoved Dan to Julia insisting that if Dan didn't ask her out then Arin would do it for him.

Dan had asked Julia to get a bite to eat and she'd surprised him by actually saying yes. The date had gone well. It had gone great actually.

Dan had discovered that Julia was in fact from Louisiana, a Parish called Lafayette. Dan had been amused to discover that Julia's father was actually originally from New Jersey. He'd been amused to discover that Julia knew something about football given her father was actually a bigger Giants fan than Dan.

Dan had also discovered Julia and he had a similar sense of humor as well. He had discovered that they both shared a love for fantasy and a love for music.

Needless to say, that one date had led to many other dates and a relationship.

The year before Julia had taken Dan to meet her family in Louisiana. Dan could admit he'd been anxious. Julia's family lived outside of the city, out near the swamps.

All Dan had been able to picture was Julia's family feeding him to some gator simply for the crime of being a tall geeky Jewish Yankee from New Jersey.

His fears had been all for nothing though. Her family actually had seemed to like him though they had tried to feed Dan all too much rich spicy food which had made his sensitive stomach rather unhappy. They had maybe taken a little bit too much joy teasing him for being from New Jersey never mind the fact that Julia's father was from New Jersey as well. Julia's father had really liked Dan thanks to Dan's love of sports and probably the fact that Dan was a fellow Jersey Boy.

By the time Julia's family had dropped Dan and she off at the airport Dan had made up his mind. Once they'd made it back to the little rental house they shared together both Dan and Julia tired from the long trip, Dan had taken Julia by shock by dropping to his knee and proposing.

He had of course had to run to the bedroom to fetch the ring he'd been hiding on the top shelf of his closet for months now, but all and all the proposal had been accepted by a stunned Julia.

When Dan had taken Julia to New Jersey to meet his family for Hanukkah Julia had an engagement ring on her finger and an excited Avidan family to meet.

Julia tried to stop the irritated huff from leaving her lips as Dan fidgeted again almost causing her to make another mistake.

Her irritation melted as Dan gave her an all too innocent smile. "Sorry. I swear I'm not doing it on purpose."

"Somehow I don't believe that." Julia remarked trying hard to get the final touches done on his face before she had an annoyed director asking what was taking them so long.

Dan grinned unable to stop himself. "It's the truth. I'm totally not stalling your progress just so I can have your glorious boobs directly in front of my face for just a little longer."

"You do know I'm right at the perfect angle to jab a makeup brush into your eye, right?" Julia replied a hint of a smile on her lips.

Dan let out an overdramatic gasp shaking his head. "You wouldn't blind the father of your child."

Julia chuckled ever so slightly as Dan reached out placing a gentle hand over the slight bump along her belly rubbing it gently as he spoke. "Tell your mommy to be nice to your daddy. He doesn't want to be blind."

The pregnancy had been a shock. She'd worried that Dan would be upset at first. They hadn't been planning this. They had actually wanted to wait at least a year so they could enjoy being newlyweds before they began to start a family.

Dan had stunned her by being over the moon though. He'd called everyone, and that did mean everyone. He'd made midnight phone calls to everyone in his address book announcing the news ignoring the fact that most of the people he'd called had been drowsy messes when he'd dropped the 'I'm going to be a daddy!' news on them.

Dan reluctantly pulled his hand back as Brian stuck his head into the trailer his eyes the only thing visible through his ninja get up. Those eyes rolled Brian's voice monotone. "You better get on set before I kill you."

"See I told you he would kill you." Julia insisted causing Dan to let out a huff.

Dan stood up from the chair ignoring the way his knees protested not liking standing after such a long time spent in a short makeup chair.

He pressed a kiss Julia's forehead his voice a bit firm as he gave an order. "Just sit down and take it easy. I'll help you pack up your stuff when we're done shooting for the day."

Julia was tempted to protest but didn't have a chance as Brian decided to back Dan up all too happy to use the nickname Dan had deposited on her soon after they'd started dating. "Take it easy Jewels."

"I'm not totally helpless you know. Being knocked up doesn't make me incapable of movement. That's not how pregnancy works." Julia replied not getting a response as both men left the trailer.

She rolled her eyes not surprised that her protests were ignored. Dan had become a bit of an overprotective nut since she'd gotten pregnant. It was sweet of course but he drove her a little bananas at times.

Brian had been all too eager to join in Dan on the overprotect Julia and drive her crazy game. Julia had a feeling Brian had only joined in because he knew it irritated Julia. Brian lived to irritate the people he held dearest, it was how he showed love.

She guessed she should be grateful that she had so many people who cared about her. Dan's friends with in the Grumps had easily become her own friends. She went shopping with Suzy, Holly, and Brian's wife Rachel all the time, even more so now that she was pregnant. She had the slightest feeling Suzy was enjoying baby toy shopping a little bit too much.

Julia had been a bit worried that Suzy might be a little disappointed when Dan and she had asked Brian and Rachel to be the baby's godparents. Thankfully if there had been any hurt feelings within any one else in their friend group Dan had soothed them by making it clear that he wanted everyone to have just as big of an involvement in this baby's life, especially if something were ever to happen to Julia and him.

Julia sat back on the makeup chair for a moment bored out of her mind by not having a task to do. She found herself admiring the engagement ring on her finger. It was simple; a rose gold band with a little solliatre diamond in the center.

The ring wasn't anything extravagant, but it had been exactly what she'd wanted. Dan really did know her. She'd never been the type to want anything too fancy. She was the type who would panic and worry if she had something massive on her finger. She'd be too worried about losing it if it was some massive mess of a ring.

The wedding was only a month away. They had scooted the date up once she'd gotten pregnant. They just hoped it didn't look as though they were having a shotgun wedding.

They were keeping things simple. It was just going to be a small backyard wedding in Arin and Suzy's backyard. Dan's family was coming down from New Jersey and Julia's family was coming over from Louisiana.

Dan and she could admit that they were nervous; this was the first time their familes would meet. Dan had been trying to reassure her that it would go well but she still couldn't help but to worry.

Dan and she would be honeymooning in New Zealand. She had never been but Dan had.

She could admit the nerd in her was excited given that New Zealand was were the Lord of the Rings films had been filmed. She had the feeling Dan was just as excited about this fact though.

They really were a couple of nerds.

They had decided that they wanted to put most of their money towards their honeymoon. They'd rather have the experience of a nice honeymoon someone different than a big wedding.

Julia dared to leave the trailer deciding she at least deserved a little can of ice cold ginger ale from the craft table an intern had set up early this morning.

As Julia headed back to the makeup trailer satisfied to have a cold fizzy drink in hand, she found herself catching wind of a bit of gossiping.

She almost resisted the urge to eavesdrop on the conversation happening behind the trailer that had been reserved for costumes, but as hard as she tried she couldn't make her feet move away from the conversation.

Julia quickly recognized the voices as belonging to the two models who had been hired to play sexy aliens for the video. Julia had of course rolled her eyes ever so slightly at this vision, but had kept her mouth shut about it. She wasn't the director after all.

Julia had thought that her fiancé filming with models and porn stars alike for Ninja Sex Party's music videos would bother her more than it did. She'd quickly realized that Dan got attention from the female population pretty quickly after they'd begun to date.

He worked with porn stars and models to shoot the music videos of course. He had more than a few female fans.

Thankfully everyone had always been pretty respectful of Dan's and her relationship at least. To be honest Julia had kind of found the fact that he had fans kind of cool. Dan was so sweet to his fans. She hadn't expected anything less from him.

The porn star and model thing surprisingly hadn't bothered her at all, not really. The women were usually respectful of the fact that Dan had a girlfriend and now that he was engaged.

She'd quickly realized that she could trust Dan to be faithful.

It helped of course that Dan was respectful of everyone. He treated people all equally no matter what their job title was. He saw people as being people at the end of the day.

It was one of the things that had made her fall for Dan in the first place; his kindness. He wasn't the type to judge anyone. He always tried to treat everyone with the kindness and respect he'd want for himself.

He'd hired the models but was respectful enough not to allow the videos to take the route of having any of them rub against him or anything like that. Yes, they were sexy in the videos but he wasn't the type to grind against them just for the excuse of making a video. He treated them like human beings instead of sex objects.

Julia had admired that. She should have known not to be shocked by it. Dan's grandmother and his mother had placed a high expectancy to respect others on Dan as he was growing up.

Even if Julia didn't feel jealous one of the models hired for this particular video had rubbed Julia the wrong way. The tall blonde had been shooting Julia shitty looks from the second she'd realized that Julia was Dan's fiancé.

Dan didn't notice it of course. His mind was too locked on working to make the video perfect. He almost got tunnel vision when it came to work.

Julia had made the decision not to bring up the model's obvious dislike of her to Dan. She didn't want to come across as being the overly jealous fiancée.

She'd never been the type to complain about Dan getting attention from women and she sure as hell wasn't going to start now. She trusted Dan too much to complain or fuss over it.

Julia frowned as she heard the distinct Californian accent belonging to the blonde, Sierra was her name or at least Julia was sure that was the name she'd been told. "I just don't get what he sees in her."

"I don't know. He seems to really love her. I mean the way he looks at her…. he adores her. You can see it." The other voice sounded out sounding a bit more nasally. Julia cringed at this voice knowing it belonged to the other model Ivy.

Ivy was a shorter girl who was a bit plainer without the makeup she'd insisted Julia smack onto her. She was a pretty girl of course but she was almost too much when it came to makeup and hair extensions and fake nails.

Sierra on the other hand was so clearly one of those girls who had been blessed with gorgeous looks from birth and she knew it. She was tall thin and blonde and blessed with a pretty perfectly symmetrical face. She was the type of girl who expecting things because she was beautiful. She was used to getting what she wanted.

Ivy was so clearly submissive in her friendship with Sierra. Sierra was easily the type to take dominance of whatever situation she was in.

Sierra let out a huff sounding annoyed that Ivy would dare disagree with her. "Whatever. She sucks at makeup. Do you see my eyes? They look so stupid. It's a bright puke green glittery mess. She did a sloppy job."

Julia felt her stomach drop it quickly hitting her that she was the subject of this bit of gossip.

She wanted to walk away from this conversation before her confidence took a plummet but she kept her feet locked in place her body refusing to corroborate with her mind.

"I think it's supposed to look like that…. we're supposed to be aliens…and you got into the makeup chair late because you wouldn't put your cigarette out." Ivy supplied the comment almost making Julia laugh despite her irritation that she was being talked about behind her back.

Sierra let out a scoff Julia hearing her clearly stomp her heeled shoed foot against the dry desert floor. "She's supposed to be a professional. She clearly isn't up to the task. She probably only got the job because she's riding Dan's dick."

Julia clinched her fists tempted to march around the trailer and slam Sierra's head into the hot metal trailer.

She couldn't make her feet move though as she continued to listen in.

Ivy let out a shrill chuckle at this. "You're so bad."

"Well it's so the truth. That's probably the only reason he asked her to marry him. She totally trapped him into it. You know that's the only way a fatass like her could have gotten a guy like him. She doesn't deserve him. He totally just feels sorry for her now that he knocked her up." Sierra replied a giggle of her own leaving her lips.

Julia's rage faded into sorrow at these words.

A voice in the back of her head told her that the models were full of shit. Dan had proposed to her long before she'd gotten pregnant. Dan loved her. He loved her body. He told her she was sexy. He said he didn't mind the bit of chunk she carried in her thighs and her belly. He'd kissed her chubbier parts more than once insisting he found her stunning.

Dan insisted he worshiped the ground Julia walked on. Suzy and Arin had been eager to point this out to Julia as well.

Julia wasn't sure if it was just exhaustion, the heat, some past insecurities being drug back up, or just perhaps her raging hormones, but she felt her eyes begin to water.

Any desire she'd previously had to break Sierra's nose against the side of the trailer left her body as Julia made her way to the makeup trailer slamming the door behind her.

She wasn't the type to cry like this. She didn't fall apart like this. Julia would have liked to think that her self esteem had improved since high school.

She hadn't been on the thinner side in high school. All of the boys Julia liked had ignored her thanks to her nerdier interests and her chubby body.

As she'd grown older though she had gained confidence both in her geekiness and her body. She'd started to eat healthier and had made an effort to exercise. She hadn't done it to lose weight. She had done it out of a desire to treat herself with more love than she had in the past.

She had escaped her hometown and started a new life for herself, a fresh start to be the type of person she wanted to be.

She had learned how to apply makeup and had gained the confidence to dress the way she wanted. She had taught herself to be proud of herself and to have some confidence in her abilities.

Julia had gone to school to do makeup professionally and had been working hard since then to get her name out there. She had worked hard and it had paid off so far.

She had thought she'd moved past all that self-loathing and self-hatred but here she was crying her eyes out alone holding a can of sugary ginger ale. It was like she was fifteen years old all over again.

She wasn't sure how long she had allowed herself to cry, but it had to have been a while because before she knew it someone was entering the trailer.

Julia widened her eyes making a quick poor attempt to wipe her tears on the sleeve of her hoodie as the door opened a sweaty Dan entering the trailer.

He frowned knowing that he hadn't been expecting to find this when it had come time to finally take a break.

Dan wasted no time to rush to Julia sitting down beside her to the tiny sofa sitting across from the makeup chair. The little trailer was a little cramped but they'd managed to work with the space.

Dan stroked Julia's cheek attempting to soothe her tears. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Is it the baby? Did you get too hot?"

"The baby is fine." Julia replied trying to soothe his worries despite the fact that she couldn't stop her tears.

Dan yanked her even closer to him practically pulling her into his lap. He continued to stroke her cheek more confused than ever by this turn of events.

Yes, he knew she'd been a bit overemotional since she'd become pregnant, but usually she was just weepy over those ASPCA commercials the ones with the sad looking dogs and a celebrity asking for donations. She also got weepy when the dog Dan and she had adopted last Christmas did something cute.

Dan had a distinct feeling she wasn't sobbing over something cute the little Welsh Corgi Pomeranian mix they'd named Arya had done.

"Talk to me baby. What's wrong?"

Julia shook her head whining a bit as Dan moved his hand back to stroke her long hair. "It's so stupid."

"It can't be stupid if it's making you cry." Dan pointed out beginning to rock her ever so slightly as though she was a small child instead of his fiancée.

Julia let out an exasperated huff feeling so dumb as she allowed the words to spill from her lips. "I heard those models that were hired talking about me…. they said I suck at makeup."

Dan furrowed his brow surprised as he felt a bit of rage peak up in his gut. He wasn't the angry type. He was more the type to cry instead of punch. "You know that's not true."

Julia shook her head continuing with her confession. "They said I was only hired because…because I'm I quote riding your dick. They said I trapped you by getting knocked up…that that's the only reason we're engaged. They said I'm a fatass who doesn't deserve you."

She was stunned by the edge in Dan's voice as he spoke. "They're fired. I'm going to talk to the director and we'll reshoot with new talent. No one talks about you like that."

Julia shook her head ignoring the part of herself that wanted to get some vengeance on Sierra and Ivy. It would serve them right having their asses kicked to the curb. "You can't do that. It's ridiculous. I can't let you fire someone just because they hurt my feelings. I promised myself a long time ago I wasn't going to be that psychotic controlling girlfriend that got jealous over other girls."

"And you aren't that controlling girl. You're going to be my wife and no one talks about my future wife that way…especially when she's the mother to my kid." Dan insisted his lips pressing to her forehead.

He was quick to speak again a heavy huff escaping his lips as he came up with a good compromise. "I'll see if there's any way we can be done filming with the models. There's got to be a way we can fix anything wonky in post. I'll talk to the director and figure something out."

He spoke yet again before Julia had another chance to protest. "I frankly don't want to be force to be anywhere near them right now baby girl. Like I said no one talks about you that way and doesn't have to face consequences."

"You can't fire everyone who's mean to me…You can't get revenge on everyone who makes me cry…if you did that you'd have to take vengeance on most of the people I went to high school with." Julia attempted to joke realizing that there was no way she was talking Dan out of kicking Ivy and Sierra to the curb.

Dan let out a small huff giving her a small playful smile. "I can try. Write down some names and I'll make a few calls. I'll stick Brian on the case. He's capable of making anyone cry with just a few words."

Julia shook her head a small sigh escaping her lips as her tears began to dry. "You're a ridiculous man."

"And you love me for it." Dan replied his lips pressing to hers.

He spoke again continuing to rock her ever so slightly. "You know those girls are full of shit, right? I love you. I love everything about you. You're probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. If anything, I'm the one that doesn't deserve you. You've stuck by me when I've worked myself to exhaustion and have come home a drowsy disoriented mess. You laugh at my raunchy jokes. You like my tall awkward body and my freaky thumbs. You love me enough to actually marry me and have my baby. Just never doubt that I love you Jewels. I love you so much."

Julia felt herself tear up again this time for a much more pleasant reason. She pressed her lips to Dan's overwhelmed with the love she had for him. "I know. I love you too. I love you so much."

The couple was interrupted by their loving exchange by Brian stepping into the trailer. The older man frowned at Julia's wet cheeks. "Who hurt you?"

Dan was quick to speak providing the answers. "Those models were being shitty…she overheard them talking about her and my kid. They're fired. There's no way I'm putting up with that bullshit. We can talk to the director about it."

Brian kept his face monotone but Julia could spot a hint of anger in his pale blue eyes. "Do you want me to kill them for you?...I could make it look like an accident…just a little trip and they'll fall off a canyon."

Julia managed to laugh at this offer shaking her head slightly as she replied. "No thanks. I don't think Dan and I want to take our kid to visit his or her godfather in prison."

"I never said I'd get caught." Brian grumbled as he made his way to the tiny bathroom.

Dan pressed his lips to Julia's the pair chuckling at Brian's response. "I love you."

She smiled her hand reaching up to caress his cheek. "I love you too."

She frowned ever so slightly as she pulled back from the kiss and spotted the slight smear to his makeup. "I think you need to get back in the chair…you're a mess."

Dan giggled at this reluctantly allowing her to pull from him. He had to wonder how long he could stay in the makeup chair this time around.