For the next three months, Rosa pushed herself as hard as she could. By day, she was working on the movie, pouring her soul into every line she delivered. But when night fell, she would sneak away from the set so that she could spend all the time she could with Hugh. And by the next morning, she snuck back to the film before anyone knew she was gone. She didn't regret what she was doing; all she wanted to do was be with Hugh.

During their filming, Rosa and the rest of the cast and crew traveled all over the Sinnoh region, going from Canalave to Jubilife, Jubilife to Hearthome, then to Solaceon, Pastoria, and even Veilstone. Finally, after ending up in Snowpoint City, filming for the movie was finally done, even a few days ahead of schedule. However, it wasn't until her work was done that Rosa realized just how tired she was. Three months of virtually no sleep had really taken its toll on the young brunette. Now that she didn't have to worry about looking her best for the movie, Rosa was finding it hard to stay awake.

Still, despite how tired she really was, Rosa still continued to hide it however she could. She was alone with Hugh in his hotel room celebrating the completion of the movie, and she didn't want to miss a second of her time with him. It was bad enough that he had a later flight back to Unova than she did, so she wanted to enjoy all the time she could with him now.

"Congratulations Rosa," Hugh told her, "All your hard work has finally paid off. I knew you'd be able to do it."

"Yeah," she answered half-heartedly, "Although I couldn't have done it without you here with me to cheer me on."

Rosa prayed that Hugh wouldn't have noticed her lack of energy in responding, but to no avail.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "You seem kind of down today. Definitely not your usual cheerful self."

"I-I'm fine!" she said somewhat defensively, "There's nothing wrong with me. See?"

She smiled at him to show that she was still her usual self, but Hugh wasn't buying it. He leaned in to take a closer look at Rosa's face. She felt her heart racing as he got closer to her. She was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain her mask as he looked deep into her eyes.

"I knew it!" Hugh exclaimed, "Your eyes are bloodshot. You haven't been getting any sleep, have you?"

"Yes I have!" Rosa protested, but she knew it was pointless; she was already caught.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" he continued, "It's all because I came here to distract you that you got in this mess. If only I had been able to stay away…"

"No, please don't think that way," she told him, "I was the one who wanted you here with me. I was the one who wanted to be with you. It's nobody's fault but my own."

"Even still," Hugh insisted, "There's no getting around the fact that I caused this. I can't keep doing this to you, so I have to make this right now. You need to get some rest, so it's probably best for you to leave."

Rosa stood up. "No please," she begged, "Let me stay here with you just a little longer. I promise I'll be fine by tomorrow, really!"

"I'm sorry," he answered, "But I've caused enough trouble for you already. I can't stand seeing you like this knowing that I'm responsible. You need to go to bed now; your flight leaves in the morning, and you've never been able to sleep on an airplane."

"No!" she protested, "I don't wanna go to bed! I want to be here with you!"

"Rosa, just listen to yourself," Hugh told her, "You're acting like a child. You and I both know that you desperately need some sleep, so why are we arguing?"

Rosa couldn't argue with that; she knew he was right. She'd hardly gotten any sleep these past three months, so she was running on empty right now. Leave it to Hugh to give her carefully reasoned logic when she needed it the most. Still…

"Okay fine," she sighed, "I'll go to sleep now, but on one condition."

"What's that?" Hugh asked.

"I want you to sleep with me."

A jolt of electricity ran down Hugh's spine. Realizing what she just said, Rosa quickly corrected herself.

"Not like that," she clarified, "But I… I want to be near you. When I thought that I wasn't going to see you for three months, I've never felt so alone before in my life. I realized that I can't really live without you. I mean… does that sound weird?"

Once the initial shock of Rosa's request had died down, Hugh managed to relax somewhat.

"N-no," he answered, "There's nothing weird about it. I… I've actually been feeling the same way."

Rosa smiled. "Well then," she began, "In that case…"

She gestured towards the bed, and Hugh nodded in acknowledgement. He went to turn off the main lights and climbed into bed with Rosa. Once they were both under the covers, they wrapped their arms around each other.

"You do remember," Hugh started, "The last time we slept together like this, right?"

But Rosa was already asleep. The second her head hit the pillow, the exhaustion had finally caught up to her, and she fell asleep almost instantly. Hugh couldn't help but smile to himself as he turned out the bedside lamp. He caressed her hair gently as she slept in his arms. Subconsciously, Rosa held onto her friend just a little tighter.

"Sleep well, Rosa," Hugh whispered.

The next day, Rosa was humming to herself for the first time in months. She was so joyously – almost euphorically – happy after what she and Hugh had said to each other last night. She kept replaying the events of last night over and over again in her head, imagining all of the different ways it could have ended. The thought that they might have done something… else last night remained in the back of her mind. Unlike last time, however, she wasn't really worried about it. In fact, the thought of them becoming intimate had actually intrigued, and even excited, her this time around. She soon found herself fantasizing over what it would have been like if they had done it.

Lost within the realms of her mind, the fourteen-hour flight back to Nimbasa City seemed to pass by in no time. Once the plane had landed and the doors opened up, Rosa raced out to the lobby. She had memorized what Hugh's return trip was going to be like. Unlike her, he couldn't get a direct flight back to Unova. He had to take the 256 flight out to Hearthome International, then take a connecting flight on the trans-continental flight 452 back to Nimbasa. If all went well, he would be home by the next morning. Rosa wanted to make sure everything was all right. She hurried out of the terminal to check the message board listing all incoming flights. She scanned the board looking for flight 452.

Her heart sank. Not only was flight 452 cancelled, but so were all flights coming out of Hearthome International due to a bomb threat. There would be no way that Hugh would be able to make it back any time soon. Immediately, she felt deflated when she realized that.

"Is everything okay Rosa?"

Rosa jumped. She whirled around to see Christoph, disguised as Curtis, standing right behind her.

"Jeez," she panted, "Don't sneak up on me like that! You startled me!"

"Sorry," Christoph apologized, "I was just kind of worried about you, is all. You seemed to be acting kind of strange."

It was at this point that Rosa thought about what her previous elation must have looked like to him. He knew nothing about Hugh's coming to see her during the movie, so he had no idea why she was so excited to get off the plane. She pulled herself together quickly before he could suspect anything.

"I'm sorry," she told him, "I guess I was just so tired of being stuck on a plane that I wanted to come out and stretch my legs. I'm all better now."

"That's good," Christoph said, "Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you again for coming out to do this film with me."

"Please," Rosa began, "You've thanked me enough already. It was my pleasure to do this with you, Curtis."

"No, I mean it," he insisted, "You've been so helpful to us during filming, you delivered your lines perfectly, and you've always been in such a good mood. I mean it when I say I've never worked with anyone as great as you before."

"Stop!" she squealed, "You're making me blush!"

"Still," Christoph continued, "You've been such a big help that I want to ask one more favor of you."

"What is it?" Rosa inquired.

"Will you let me walk you back to your hotel room?" he asked.

Rosa hesitated for just a moment. Part of her wanted to wait right here for Hugh to finally get back, but she knew it was pointless. She didn't even know what flight he would be taking back to Unova, much less when he would get back. Even worse, she knew that whenever he traveled, he always packed his Xtranceiver in his luggage, so she couldn't even call him. All she could do was to pray that he'd be back safe and sound before too much longer.

"Sure," she answered, "You can walk me back."

The two of them left the airport and headed down the streets of Nimbasa City towards the hotel. They spent the time talking with each other, mostly about the humorous things that happened during the filming, both off camera and on. Eventually, they got back to the hotel where Rosa would be staying. Once they were almost to her hotel room, Christoph then brought up another subject.

"You know," he began, "I've been meaning to ask: does your friend still want to kill me for kissing you back there?"

Rosa looked shocked. "You knew about that?" she asked, "How did you find out about him?"

"Back when we first did the kiss scene," he explained, "I reviewed the video footage from that take and saw him drop out of the sky into the water. I figured he must have seen what we were doing."

"You saw that, did you?" Rosa sighed, "I'd almost forgotten about the footage. Well, I guess the secret's out now. He was a little upset about it, but he calmed down when I explained that it was just a stage kiss."

"Well," Christoph began, "It wasn't just a stage kiss for me."

Rosa let out a small gasp. Her heart rate quickened and her face turned pink. Christoph continued.

"I…" he started, "I don't know if I'm stepping out of bounds or anything, but… could I ask you one more thing? Will you please go out with me tomorrow night?"

She didn't know what to say. Her heart seemed to be conflicted. On the one hand, she wanted to be with Hugh, and she felt obligated to remain loyal to him. But on the other, she knew that there still wasn't anything linking her to him, and she wanted to be with Christoph also. Rosa felt herself being torn between the two.

"Um…" she began, "Could… Could you give me some time to think about it? I think I need to sort a few things out."

"Of course," he told her, "Take all the time you need. When you're ready, just let me know, whatever it is."

The two of them stood in awkward silence for what seemed to be an eternity, neither knowing what to say. Eventually, Christoph broke the silence.

"I-I should probably get going now," he said, "Just call me whenever you feel ready to give me an answer."

"Yeah," Rosa agreed, "I'll… I'll do that."

Christoph headed down the hall back towards the elevators, leaving Rosa more confused than she's ever been before in her life.