Iko flipped her vibrant blue hair and sighed dramatically.

"You just don't understand father,"

Concentrating, she managed to create some tears, and one slid down her cheek, emphasising her next words.

"I love him."

"CUT! That's a wrap for today." the director called out.

Iko straightened and smiled at the actor opposite, who was most definitely not old enough to be her father.

"That was amazing!" he said.

Iko smiled and winked. She had been on this soap for almost as long as she'd been able to talk, and the actor opposite her was playing her long lost biological father. She had stopped trying to learn the extra's names years ago. They were never around for more than a few weeks at a time usually anyway.

She headed for her trailer, although the term trailer was a bit of an understatement for the monstrosity that housed her when she had to stay on set. Two stories, three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and she had it all to herself. She came into one of the bedrooms that she had converted into a dressing room and sat down at her armoire, checking out todays makeup work in the mirror. The makeup artists at the studio were amazing. She took a quick photo, hoping that she could emulate the look later and rung for her assistant. Emilie appeared moments later, bearing lavender-scented face wipes. Iko grabbed one and started to scrub her face.

"You did amazing work today Miss Iko," Emilie said nervously.

"Thank you," Iko said absently, checking out her reflection in the mirror. She frowned, seeing that her roots were showing again. "Can you get me some more hair dye?" the assistant nodded before backing out of the room to fulfil her request. Iko remembered she was out of apple juice too and sent a comm making the request.

She took a deep breath and relaxed on her sofa, closing her eyes. It had been a long day of shooting, and she didn't get another day off until next Tuesday. An early night sounded like heaven.

A knock on her trailer door caught her out of her reverie. Scowling, she got up to answer the door.

"Pardon me, but here are the revisions to tomorrows script," the director's assistant handed over the pages and Iko idly flipped through them, looking for highlights to indicate changes. There were a lot. She sighed. She was going to be up for hours trying to memorise the changes. Pouting, she moved to her study and settled in for a night of reading.

"You're changing the whole storyline?!" Iko practically yelled at the director.

Torin looked bored and sighed.

"Kai quit, he's got two weeks left before he off and gets married and so we need to either dramatically kill him off or give him a reason to leave. I'm hoping he'll want to come back eventually, so I thought the reason to leave was the best way to go!"

"You're turning my character into a tramp!"

"I'm doing nothing of the sort. Your character has had more boyfriends in the last three years than most people have in a lifetime!"

Iko fumed. It was true, and she knew it. She tried a different tact.

"But Gregorio was supposed to have changed Jessica, you'll upset the fans!"

Torin rubbed his forehead. Iko had seen the gesture a hundred times since he took over as director two years ago. It usually meant he was striving for patience.

"This is a soap Iko, the fans will get over it."

Iko stared helplessly at the director. She had never fought the writers before, but she had never had such an attractive co-star before. Kai was more than just hot, he was dreamy. She knew the fans went gaga over him, and the writers storyline for her was sure to make them hate her. If her approval ratings got too low, the writers might get the crazy idea to boot her off the show!

"Torin, please," she tried one more time.

"I'm sorry Iko, my hands are tied. Just do your best, you do amazing work, bring Jessica to life the way you are so good at doing."

Iko scowled into the corner of the room.

"Fine, so when do I meet my new co-star?" she pouted.

"He'll be here from tomorrow, don't try to scare him off ok?"

Iko laughed, "I would never!" she got up and winked at the director, who rubbed his forehead again. She breezed out to the set, ready to do her shots for the day. Torin had a good point. She needed to keep her character believable, she needed to do her best work to prove to the writers not to boot her off, even if her ratings would plummet in the next few weeks.

Iko stared at the script in front of her.

"Ugh, when did these scripts get so… puke-inducing?"

She threw it at the wall, too tired to go over the changes right at that moment. She had thrown everything she had into her character today and she was exhausted. What she needed was some hot tub time. Grinning, she quickly changed into a robe and made her way to the master bathroom, turning on the jets and sinking into the steamy goodness of the tub. She closed her eyes, wishing she had thought to turn on some music.

"Emilie!" she called.

Silence was her answer and she glanced at the clock. 9:03pm. Dammit, Emilie was gone for the night. Sighing, Iko got out of the tub and walked over to the radio on the counter. Classical or country? she fiddled between the stations, trying to decide when the bathroom door opened. And she screamed, grabbing for her towel. The intruder screamed too, bolting back out, slamming the door shut, but not before she caught a glimpse of his curvy brown hair, perfect tan skin, and sparkling brown eyes. She went a dull red at the thought of everything he might have gotten a glimpse of, but didn't pause to dwell on it too long. She grabbed her robe, furiously tying it around her before storming out into the hall.

"HEY!"

the guy had disappeared into the guest bedroom, and she was there in a moment, banging on the door indignantly.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHO ARE YOU? WHO LET YOU IN?"

the door opened, and he emerged, not meeting her eyes, his face a dull red. Iko stared at him impatiently, waiting for him to explain. He sighed and looked up, his eyes passing over her hair and what she thought was mild disgust passing over his features. A new wave of rage overtook her, and she trembled from the effort to not strangle him there in her hallway. Eventually he met her eyes and shrugged.

"Sorry about that, Torin told me to stay here, I thought the place was empty."

Iko would have to have another word with the director it seemed.

"Well it's not, so you'll have to find somewhere else to stay!"

Looking into his eyes though, Iko found it hard to keep a hold of her anger. She had thought Kai was dreamy, this guy was something else.

"Sorry, I can't do that, it's late, and I have to be in hair and makeup at 4:30 tomorrow morning." The stranger retreated into his room and flopped down on his bed.

Iko huffed, off put by his arrogance and overall attractiveness, not to mention how tired she was, she thought it best to face this particular battle tomorrow. She raised her chin stubbornly, she could not let him know her weakness.

"Fine, but just for tonight. You'll have to find new lodgings tomorrow." She turned on her heel and marched to her bedroom, walking past the master bathroom where Lady Antebellum crooned out 'I just can't take my eyes off you'. Ignoring it, she slammed her own bedroom door shut, telling herself if she even thought about dreaming about his face tonight, she would run ten miles on the treadmill before hair and makeup tomorrow.

Her threat hadn't worked, and Iko was cursing herself as she pushed the treadmill to its limits the next morning. She wouldn't think about the handsome stranger, she wouldn't think about the handsome stranger.

But did he find her attractive?

Swearing, she pushed the speed up a bit, forcing her mind back to ensuring her feet kept up with the speed of the treadmill. Her heart was racing and her lungs burning by the time she jumped off and into the shower.

With steamy water flowing over her, she decided to put the whole thing behind her. So he had seen her naked, it wasn't like she was hideous to look at, why the entire world had seen her in a bikini, and that was pretty close, so what was the big deal? Resolved to act as though nothing had happened, she steeled herself and reported to hair and makeup, grabbing her script to go over as she went.

"Sup Blue," the casual greeting startled her and made her mad.

"The name is Iko thank you very much." She snarled at the intruder from last night.

"Oh, yeah, I know who you are. Who doesn't?" with a wave he disappeared into the costumer's office. Iko took a deep breath to calm herself. It was no big deal, nothing unusual had happened, and he was definitely NOT the most attractive man she had ever seen! Muttering to herself, she climbed into the makeup chair, closing her eyes and preparing to enjoy the next hour and a half of pampering.

"Blue!" his voice grated on her nerves and she clenched her teeth.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I told you last night, I have hair and makeup this morning. Didn't you read the script for today?"

With everything that had happened last night, she had not. It was sitting on the benchtop in front of her. She reached for it and began flipping through. Of course. Today they were starting the beginning of Jessica's affair with a handsome stranger. It was going to be a long day.

"The names Kinney, Liam Kinney, I thought you might like to know."

Iko closed her eyes again, begging for patience to deal with the arrogant jerk who had walked onto her soap set.

"You know you want me," Kinney turned smouldering eyes onto Iko and she almost forgot how to breathe.

"No," she whispered, "This isn't right, we can't do this!" she turned away, gripping the railing beneath her hands. Kinney came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and whispering in her ear.

"When you change your mind, you know where to find me,"

He left abruptly, exiting the set, and leaving Iko trembling from the lack of his warmth. Red flooded her face, and she just concentrated on breathing.

"CUT! That was fantastic! Now, we just need to get it from one more angle and we are done for the day. Keep up the great work guys! Iko, great acting!" Torin was practically beaming. Iko smiled, and tried to gather herself. An actor. She was an actor. And so was Kinney. He didn't seem to be too affected by her presence. She narrowed her eyes. She could fix that.

By the end of the week Iko wanted to howl in frustration. No matter what she did, Kinney was unflappable! In their hot tub scene, she had worn the skimpiest bikini she could get away with, and still he had walked away from the set as unperturbed as he had walked into it. She had had the makeup artists do amazing things, making her eyes almost look a completely different colour, with just the magic of makeup, she had thrown all of her flirting moves at him both on and off set, and he was the same grinning idiot who had come into her makeup trailer that first morning. Today was her last ditch effort before she gave up and accepted the fact that he could not be broken. Today was the last thing she had in her arsenal. Today, was their kiss scene. And she could kiss. Boy could she kiss. She had had to fight off co-stars before due to her excellent kissing ability. She smirked into the mirror. The makeup artists had done it again, making her into a work of art. Her lips were sumptuous and coloured bright red, full and pouty, and attention grabbing. She walked confidently onto the set, and smirked in satisfaction as Kinney did a double take. She would try to make sure her makeup artists got a raise if this worked. Smiling demurely, she took her place, dressed in an exquisite gown for the party scene, where they sneak out to the balcony for a smooch. She grabbed a champagne glass and waited for the call.

"ACTION!"

Iko sipped from the glass and waited, scanning the room full of extra's and looking nervous.

"I thought you weren't going to come tonight," Kinney's voice in her ear whirled her around. She looked up at him, taking in his features.

"I couldn't stay away," she breathed. Kinney smiled, taking her hand and leading her out to the balcony.

"I want to give you this life, this amazing life, all you have to do is say yes!" Kinney pleaded with her.

"But Gregorio-" Iko looked away, out over the city.

"Forget Gregorio Jessica, what do you want?" Kinney wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her close. She bit her lip and noticed his eyes dipping down towards her mouth. Acting? Or something more? She placed a hand on the side of his face, noticing his eyes looked a little cloudy – not as clear as they usually were. Something else then. She bit her triumphant grin down and kept her smile sweet as she looked him in the eyes.

"You," she said, kissing him softly on the lips and drawing away quickly. Kinney followed her retreat and pressed his lips to hers more urgently, and she internally exalted at her victory, the second kiss had not been in the script! She had finally gotten to him! The kiss continued and her own brain fogged up until she was focused only on the feel of his lips on hers, his hand gripping her waist, his hair beneath her fingers.

"CUT!" Torin's voice cut through the fog.

Kinney abruptly let her go and stepped back. She grabbed the railing to support her shaky legs.

"Nice work Iko, I think we nailed it!" he walked off the set, whistling as he went.

Iko stared after him in shock. NO! She had had him! She had had him right where she wanted him! No one was immune to her! No one! When had he gotten the upper hand again?! Scowling, she stalked off the set in the opposite direction. She wasn't giving up! She would get him if it was the last thing she did.

KC

Hey friends, hope you liked my first attempt at a Kiko scene :) Thanks to DivineAuthorOfSassiness for the prompt :)

Would love you if you would leave a review :)